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1 The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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26
27 Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
28
29 Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
30
31 Release Date: March, 1999 [EBook #1661]
32 [Most recently updated: November 29, 2002]
33
34 Edition: 12
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36 Language: English
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38 Character set encoding: ASCII
39
40 *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***
41
42
43
44
45 (Additional editing by Jose Menendez)
46
47
48
49 THE ADVENTURES OF
50 SHERLOCK HOLMES
51
52 BY
53
54 SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
55
56 CONTENTS
57
58 I. A Scandal in Bohemia
59 II. The Red-Headed League
60 III. A Case of Identity
61 IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
62 V. The Five Orange Pips
63 VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip
64 VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
65 VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band
66 IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
67 X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
68 XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
69 XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
70
71
72 ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
73
74 I.
75
76
77 To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.
78
79 I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of my former friend and companion.
80
81 One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own.
82
83 His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.
84
85 "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."
86
87 "Seven!" I answered.
88
89 "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness."
90
91 "Then, how do you know?"
92
93 "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?"
94
95 "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out."
96
97 He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together.
98
99 "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession."
100
101 I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours."
102
103 "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."
104
105 "Frequently."
106
107 "How often?"
108
109 "Well, some hundreds of times."
110
111 "Then how many are there?"
112
113 "How many? I don't know."
114
115 "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed. By the way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."
116
117 The note was undated, and without either signature or address.
118
119 "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask."
120
121 "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that it means?"
122
123 "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. What do you deduce from it?"
124
125 I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was written.
126
127 "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff."
128
129 "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."
130
131 I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.
132
133 "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.
134
135 "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."
136
137 "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette.
138
139 "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.
140
141 "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."
142
143 As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell. Holmes whistled.
144
145 "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else."
146
147 "I think that I had better go, Holmes."
148
149 "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it."
150
151 "But your client--"
152
153 "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best attention."
154
155 A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was a loud and authoritative tap.
156
157 "Come in!" said Holmes.
158
159 A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
160
161 "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address.
162
163 "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"
164
165 "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate with you alone."
166
167 I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."
168
169 The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it may have an influence upon European history."
170
171 "I promise," said Holmes.
172
173 "And I."
174
175 "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have just called myself is not exactly my own."
176
177 "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.
178
179 "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia."
180
181 "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself down in his armchair and closing his eyes.
182
183 Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gigantic client.
184
185 "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he remarked, "I should be better able to advise you."
186
187 The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?"
188
189 "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia."
190
191 "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you."
192
193 "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
194
195 "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
196
197 "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes.
198
199 "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of getting those letters back."
200
201 "Precisely so. But how--"
202
203 "Was there a secret marriage?"
204
205 "None."
206
207 "No legal papers or certificates?"
208
209 "None."
210
211 "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is she to prove their authenticity?"
212
213 "There is the writing."
214
215 "Pooh, pooh! Forgery."
216
217 "My private note-paper."
218
219 "Stolen."
220
221 "My own seal."
222
223 "Imitated."
224
225 "My photograph."
226
227 "Bought."
228
229 "We were both in the photograph."
230
231 "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion."
232
233 "I was mad--insane."
234
235 "You have compromised yourself seriously."
236
237 "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."
238
239 "It must be recovered."
240
241 "We have tried and failed."
242
243 "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."
244
245 "She will not sell."
246
247 "Stolen, then."
248
249 "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid. There has been no result."
250
251 "No sign of it?"
252
253 "Absolutely none."
254
255 Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
256
257 "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
258
259 "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?"
260
261 "To ruin me."
262
263 "But how?"
264
265 "I am about to be married."
266
267 "So I have heard."
268
269 "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."
270
271 "And Irene Adler?"
272
273 "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go--none."
274
275 "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"
276
277 "I am sure."
278
279 "And why?"
280
281 "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."
282
283 "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in London for the present?"
284
285 "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Count Von Kramm."
286
287 "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."
288
289 "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."
290
291 "Then, as to money?"
292
293 "You have carte blanche."
294
295 "Absolutely?"
296
297 "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph."
298
299 "And for present expenses?"
300
301 The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and laid it on the table.
302
303 "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes," he said.
304
305 Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and handed it to him.
306
307 "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
308
309 "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."
310
311 Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the photograph a cabinet?"
312
313 "It was."
314
315 "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you."
316
317 II.
318
319
320 At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head.
321
322 It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
323
324 "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.
325
326 "What is it?"
327
328 "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."
329
330 "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."
331
332 "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without noting anything else of interest.
333
334 "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."
335
336 "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
337
338 "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan of campaign.
339
340 "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation."
341
342 "I am following you closely," I answered.
343
344 "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home.
345
346 "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!'
347
348 "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.
349
350 " 'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'
351
352 "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.
353
354 "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards me.
355
356 " 'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'
357
358 " 'What then?' I asked.
359
360 " 'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'
361
362 "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch chain in memory of the occasion."
363
364 "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what then?"
365
366 "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements."
367
368 "Which are?"
369
370 "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want your co-operation."
371
372 "I shall be delighted."
373
374 "You don't mind breaking the law?"
375
376 "Not in the least."
377
378 "Nor running a chance of arrest?"
379
380 "Not in a good cause."
381
382 "Oh, the cause is excellent!"
383
384 "Then I am your man."
385
386 "I was sure that I might rely on you."
387
388 "But what is it you wish?"
389
390 "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."
391
392 "And what then?"
393
394 "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must not interfere, come what may. You understand?"
395
396 "I am to be neutral?"
397
398 "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close to that open window."
399
400 "Yes."
401
402 "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."
403
404 "Yes."
405
406 "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me?"
407
408 "Entirely."
409
410 "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"
411
412 "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."
413
414 "Precisely."
415
416 "Then you may entirely rely on me."
417
418 "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I prepare for the new role I have to play."
419
420 He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.
421
422 It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cigars in their mouths.
423
424 "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the photograph?"
425
426 "Where, indeed?"
427
428 "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."
429
430 "Where, then?"
431
432 "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."
433
434 "But it has twice been burgled."
435
436 "Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
437
438 "But how will you look?"
439
440 "I will not look."
441
442 "What then?"
443
444 "I will get her to show me."
445
446 "But she will refuse."
447
448 "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."
449
450 As he spoke the gleam of the sidelights of a carriage came round the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but, just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while a number of better dressed people, who had watched the scuffle without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back into the street.
451
452 "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.
453
454 "He is dead," cried several voices.
455
456 "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be gone before you can get him to hospital."
457
458 "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now."
459
460 "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"
461
462 "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sofa. This way, please!"
463
464 Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are but preventing her from injuring another.
465
466 Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and servant maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgeware Road.
467
468 "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could have been better. It is all right."
469
470 "You have the photograph?"
471
472 "I know where it is."
473
474 "And how did you find out?"
475
476 "She showed me, as I told you she would."
477
478 "I am still in the dark."
479
480 "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."
481
482 "I guessed as much."
483
484 "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."
485
486 "That also I could fathom."
487
488 "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance."
489
490 "How did that help you?"
491
492 "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all."
493
494 "And now?" I asked.
495
496 "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain it with his own hands."
497
498 "And when will you call?"
499
500 "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the King without delay."
501
502 We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
503
504 "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."
505
506 There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had hurried by.
507
508 "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have been."
509
510 III.
511
512
513 I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed into the room.
514
515 "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.
516
517 "Not yet."
518
519 "But you have hopes?"
520
521 "I have hopes."
522
523 "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone."
524
525 "We must have a cab."
526
527 "No, my brougham is waiting."
528
529 "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off once more for Briony Lodge.
530
531 "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.
532
533 "Married! When?"
534
535 "Yesterday."
536
537 "But to whom?"
538
539 "To an English lawyer named Norton."
540
541 "But she could not love him."
542
543 "I am in hopes that she does."
544
545 "And why in hopes?"
546
547 "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan."
548
549 "It is true. And yet--! Well! I wish she had been of my own station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine Avenue.
550
551 The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from the brougham.
552
553 "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.
554
555 "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a questioning and rather startled gaze.
556
557 "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Cross for the Continent."
558
559 "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?"
560
561 "Never to return."
562
563 "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost."
564
565 "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend tore it open, and we all three read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way:
566
567 "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had been told that, if the King employed an agent, it would certainly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran upstairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed.
568
569 "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and started for the Temple to see my husband.
570
571 "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
572
573
574 "Very truly yours,
575 "IRENE NORTON, nee ADLER."
576
577 "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"
578
579 "From what I have seen of the lady, she seems, indeed, to be on a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion."
580
581 "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire."
582
583 "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so."
584
585 "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.
586
587 "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly," said Holmes.
588
589 "You have but to name it."
590
591 "This photograph!"
592
593 The King stared at him in amazement.
594
595 "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."
596
597 "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good morning." He bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his chambers.
598
599 And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.
600
601 ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
602
603
604 I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
605
606 "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson," he said cordially.
607
608 "I was afraid that you were engaged."
609
610 "So I am. Very much so."
611
612 "Then I can wait in the next room."
613
614 "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."
615
616 The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small fat-encircled eyes.
617
618 "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures."
619
620 "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I observed.
621
622 "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination."
623
624 "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."
625
626 "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard, it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."
627
628 The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
629
630 I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.
631
632 Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else."
633
634 Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
635
636 "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's carpenter."
637
638 "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed."
639
640 "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
641
642 "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use an arc-and-compass breastpin."
643
644 "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
645
646 "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?"
647
648 "Well, but China?"
649
650 "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple."
651
652 Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it after all."
653
654 "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
655
656 "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
657
658 I took the paper from him and read as follows:
659
660 "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary of $4 a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
661
662 "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice read over the extraordinary announcement.
663
664 Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Doctor, of the paper and the date."
665
666 "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago."
667
668 "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?"
669
670 "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the business."
671
672 "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
673
674 "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?"
675
676 "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employe who comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your advertisement."
677
678 "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in him."
679
680 "He is still with you, I presume?"
681
682 "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.
683
684 "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
685
686 " 'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'
687
688 " 'Why that?' I asks.
689
690 " 'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'
691
692 " 'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
693
694 " 'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he asked with his eyes open.
695
696 " 'Never.'
697
698 " 'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies.'
699
700 " 'And what are they worth?' I asked.
701
702 " 'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations.'
703
704 "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for the business has not been over good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
705
706 " 'Tell me all about it,' said I.
707
708 " 'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to do.'
709
710 " 'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who would apply.'
711
712 " 'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds.'
713
714 "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the address that was given us in the advertisement.
715
716 "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office."
717
718 "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
719
720 "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private word with us.
721
722 " 'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'
723
724 " 'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
725
726 " 'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the manager.
727
728 " 'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'
729
730 "I answered that I had not.
731
732 "His face fell immediately.
733
734 " 'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor.'
735
736 "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for a few minutes he said that it would be all right.
737
738 " 'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?'
739
740 " 'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' said I.
741
742 " 'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'I should be able to look after that for you.'
743
744 " 'What would be the hours?' I asked.
745
746 " 'Ten to two.'
747
748 "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything that turned up.
749
750 " 'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'
751
752 " 'Is $4 a week.'
753
754 " 'And the work?'
755
756 " 'Is purely nominal.'
757
758 " 'What do you call purely nominal?'
759
760 " 'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'
761
762 " 'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' said I.
763
764 " 'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your billet.'
765
766 " 'And the work?'
767
768 " 'Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There is the first volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ready to-morrow?'
769
770 " 'Certainly,' I answered.
771
772 " 'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune.
773
774 "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pope's Court.
775
776 "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, and locked the door of the office after me.
777
778 "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the loss of it.
779
780 "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end."
781
782 "To an end?"
783
784 "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."
785
786 He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of note-paper. It read in this fashion:
787
788
789 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
790
791 IS
792
793 DISSOLVED.
794
795 October 9, 1890.
796
797
798 Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a roar of laughter.
799
800 "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."
801
802 "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door?"
803
804 "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on the ground floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him.
805
806 " 'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'
807
808 " 'What, the red-headed man?'
809
810 " 'Yes.'
811
812 " 'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'
813
814 " 'Where could I find him?'
815
816 " 'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'
817
818 "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."
819
820 "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.
821
822 "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to you."
823
824 "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."
825
826 "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four pound a week."
827
828 "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some $30, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have lost nothing by them."
829
830 "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and thirty pounds."
831
832 "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he been with you?"
833
834 "About a month then."
835
836 "How did he come?"
837
838 "In answer to an advertisement."
839
840 "Was he the only applicant?"
841
842 "No, I had a dozen."
843
844 "Why did you pick him?"
845
846 "Because he was handy and would come cheap."
847
848 "At half wages, in fact."
849
850 "Yes."
851
852 "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"
853
854 "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his forehead."
855
856 Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for earrings?"
857
858 "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he was a lad."
859
860 "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still with you?"
861
862 "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."
863
864 "And has your business been attended to in your absence?"
865
866 "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a morning."
867
868 "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."
869
870 "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what do you make of it all?"
871
872 "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most mysterious business."
873
874 "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter."
875
876 "What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
877
878 "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
879
880 "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a few hours?"
881
882 "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing."
883
884 "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!"
885
886 We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step in.
887
888 "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would go from here to the Strand."
889
890 "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, closing the door.
891
892 "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known something of him before."
893
894 "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you inquired your way merely in order that you might see him."
895
896 "Not him."
897
898 "What then?"
899
900 "The knees of his trousers."
901
902 "And what did you see?"
903
904 "What I expected to see."
905
906 "Why did you beat the pavement?"
907
908 "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."
909
910 The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately business premises that they really abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square which we had just quitted.
911
912 "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums."
913
914 My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.
915
916 "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we emerged.
917
918 "Yes, it would be as well."
919
920 "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This business at Coburg Square is serious."
921
922 "Why serious?"
923
924 "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to-night."
925
926 "At what time?"
927
928 "Ten will be early enough."
929
930 "I shall be at Baker Street at ten."
931
932 "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crowd.
933
934 I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed copier of the Encyclopaedia down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside until night should bring an explanation.
935
936 It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room, I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat.
937
938 "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night's adventure."
939
940 "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the running down."
941
942 "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.
943
944 "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct than the official force."
945
946 "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber."
947
948 "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will be some $30,000; and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."
949
950 "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him yet."
951
952 "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second."
953
954 Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets until we emerged into Farrington Street.
955
956 "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we are, and they are waiting for us."
957
958 We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.
959
960 "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he held up the lantern and gazed about him.
961
962 "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise.
963
964 "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"
965
966 The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and put his glass in his pocket.
967
968 "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at present."
969
970 "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."
971
972 "Your French gold?"
973
974 "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject."
975
976 "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern."
977
978 "And sit in the dark?"
979
980 "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I thought that, as we were a partie carree, you might have your rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no compunction about shooting them down."
981
982 I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the vault.
983
984 "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I asked you, Jones?"
985
986 "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door."
987
988 "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and wait."
989
990 What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light.
991
992 At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the stones.
993
994 Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.
995
996 "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"
997
998 Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.
999
1000 "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no chance at all."
1001
1002 "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails."
1003
1004 "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes.
1005
1006 "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must compliment you."
1007
1008 "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new and effective."
1009
1010 "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the derbies."
1011
1012 "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and 'please.' "
1013
1014 "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station?"
1015
1016 "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective.
1017
1018 "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience."
1019
1020 "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the Red-headed League."
1021
1022 "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the Encyclopaedia, must be to get this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice's hair. The $4 a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive for securing the situation."
1023
1024 "But how could you guess what the motive was?"
1025
1026 "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to some other building.
1027
1028 "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank directors, with the result that you have seen."
1029
1030 "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to-night?" I asked.
1031
1032 "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night."
1033
1034 "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true."
1035
1036 "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so."
1037
1038 "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I.
1039
1040 He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some little use," he remarked. " 'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand."
1041
1042 ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY
1043
1044
1045 "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable."
1046
1047 "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic."
1048
1049 "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
1050
1051 I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking so." I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude."
1052
1053 "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example."
1054
1055 He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it.
1056
1057 "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."
1058
1059 "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.
1060
1061 "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my little problems."
1062
1063 "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest.
1064
1065 "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest. They are important, you understand, without being interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that I may have something better before very many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken."
1066
1067 He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell.
1068
1069 "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts."
1070
1071 As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him.
1072
1073 "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?"
1074
1075 "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know all that?"
1076
1077 "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?"
1078
1079 "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."
1080
1081 "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the ceiling.
1082
1083 Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to you."
1084
1085 "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the name is different."
1086
1087 "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself."
1088
1089 "And your mother is alive?"
1090
1091 "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. They got $4700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have got if he had been alive."
1092
1093 I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.
1094
1095 "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the business?"
1096
1097 "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/4 per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can only touch the interest."
1098
1099 "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely upon an income of about $60."
1100
1101 "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."
1102
1103 "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel."
1104
1105 A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel."
1106
1107 "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball."
1108
1109 "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything to a woman, for she would have her way."
1110
1111 "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel."
1112
1113 "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house any more."
1114
1115 "No?"
1116
1117 "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin with, and I had not got mine yet."
1118
1119 "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see you?"
1120
1121 "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there was no need for father to know."
1122
1123 "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"
1124
1125 "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall Street--and--"
1126
1127 "What office?"
1128
1129 "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know."
1130
1131 "Where did he live, then?"
1132
1133 "He slept on the premises."
1134
1135 "And you don't know his address?"
1136
1137 "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."
1138
1139 "Where did you address your letters, then?"
1140
1141 "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of."
1142
1143 "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
1144
1145 "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."
1146
1147 "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, returned to France?"
1148
1149 "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the very morning of the wedding."
1150
1151 "It missed him, then?"
1152
1153 "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."
1154
1155 "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the Friday. Was it to be in church?"
1156
1157 "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became of him."
1158
1159 "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Holmes.
1160
1161 "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gives a meaning to it."
1162
1163 "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"
1164
1165 "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw happened."
1166
1167 "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"
1168
1169 "None."
1170
1171 "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"
1172
1173 "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter again."
1174
1175 "And your father? Did you tell him?"
1176
1177 "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob heavily into it.
1178
1179 "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."
1180
1181 "Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
1182
1183 "I fear not."
1184
1185 "Then what has happened to him?"
1186
1187 "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can spare."
1188
1189 "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him."
1190
1191 "Thank you. And your address?"
1192
1193 "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."
1194
1195 "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your father's place of business?"
1196
1197 "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of Fenchurch Street."
1198
1199 "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it to affect your life."
1200
1201 "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."
1202
1203 For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she might be summoned.
1204
1205 Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face.
1206
1207 "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the maiden herself was most instructive."
1208
1209 "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible to me," I remarked.
1210
1211 "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe it."
1212
1213 "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, easy-going way."
1214
1215 Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
1216
1217 " 'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most useful material for showing traces. The double line a little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her."
1218
1219 "It surprised me."
1220
1221 "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry."
1222
1223 "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my friend's incisive reasoning.
1224
1225 "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
1226
1227 I held the little printed slip to the light.
1228
1229 "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--"
1230
1231 "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you."
1232
1233 "They are typewritten," I remarked.
1234
1235 "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in fact, we may call it conclusive."
1236
1237 "Of what?"
1238
1239 "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it bears upon the case?"
1240
1241 "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were instituted."
1242
1243 "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for the interim."
1244
1245 I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle indeed which he could not unravel.
1246
1247 I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland.
1248
1249 A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too late to assist at the denouement of the little mystery. I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the chemical work which was so dear to him.
1250
1251 "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.
1252
1253 "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."
1254
1255 "No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
1256
1257 "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel."
1258
1259 "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Sutherland?"
1260
1261 The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the passage and a tap at the door.
1262
1263 "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at six. Come in!"
1264
1265 The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair.
1266
1267 "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment with me for six o'clock?"
1268
1269 "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?"
1270
1271 "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
1272
1273 Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am delighted to hear it," he said.
1274
1275 "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other characteristics, but those are the more obvious."
1276
1277 "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.
1278
1279 "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well."
1280
1281 Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you have done it."
1282
1283 "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"
1284
1285 "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
1286
1287 "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's right! Sit down and let us talk it over."
1288
1289 Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he stammered.
1290
1291 "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."
1292
1293 The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.
1294
1295 "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love himself."
1296
1297 "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never thought that she would have been so carried away."
1298
1299 "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!"
1300
1301 Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face.
1302
1303 "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint."
1304
1305 "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.
1306
1307 "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest."
1308
1309 "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I remarked.
1310
1311 "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same direction."
1312
1313 "And how did you verify them?"
1314
1315 "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me whether it answered to the description of any of their travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the description tallied in every respect with that of their employe, James Windibank. Voila tout!"
1316
1317 "And Miss Sutherland?"
1318
1319 "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world."
1320
1321 ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
1322
1323
1324 We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this way:
1325
1326 "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington by the 11:15."
1327
1328 "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Will you go?"
1329
1330 "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present."
1331
1332 "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases."
1333
1334 "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour."
1335
1336 My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.
1337
1338 "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall get the tickets."
1339
1340 We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
1341
1342 "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked.
1343
1344 "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days."
1345
1346 "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult."
1347
1348 "That sounds a little paradoxical."
1349
1350 "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they have established a very serious case against the son of the murdered man."
1351
1352 "It is a murder, then?"
1353
1354 "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been able to understand it, in a very few words.
1355
1356 "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the families. Now for the facts.
1357
1358 "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came back alive.
1359
1360 "From Hatherley Farmhouse to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.
1361
1362 "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court."
1363
1364 "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here."
1365
1366 "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home."
1367
1368 "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you will find little credit to be gained out of this case."
1369
1370 "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that."
1371
1372 "How on earth--"
1373
1374 "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my metier, and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in the inquest, and which are worth considering."
1375
1376 "What are they?"
1377
1378 "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury."
1379
1380 "It was a confession," I ejaculated.
1381
1382 "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
1383
1384 "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at least a most suspicious remark."
1385
1386 "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a guilty one."
1387
1388 I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence," I remarked.
1389
1390 "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
1391
1392 "What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
1393
1394 "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself."
1395
1396 He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this way:
1397
1398 "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
1399
1400 "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before he died?
1401
1402 "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some allusion to a rat.
1403
1404 "The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
1405
1406 "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was delirious.
1407
1408 "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father had this final quarrel?
1409
1410 "Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
1411
1412 "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
1413
1414 "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which followed.
1415
1416 "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
1417
1418 "Witness: I must still refuse.
1419
1420 "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common signal between you and your father?
1421
1422 "Witness: It was.
1423
1424 "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
1425
1426 "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
1427
1428 "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally injured?
1429
1430 "Witness: Nothing definite.
1431
1432 "The Coroner: What do you mean?
1433
1434 "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was gone.
1435
1436 " 'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
1437
1438 " 'Yes, it was gone.'
1439
1440 " 'You cannot say what it was?'
1441
1442 " 'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
1443
1444 " 'How far from the body?'
1445
1446 " 'A dozen yards or so.'
1447
1448 " 'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
1449
1450 " 'About the same.'
1451
1452 " 'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen yards of it?'
1453
1454 " 'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
1455
1456 "This concluded the examination of the witness."
1457
1458 "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he remarks, very much against the son."
1459
1460 Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness anything so outre as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be there in twenty minutes."
1461
1462 It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a room had already been engaged for us.
1463
1464 "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be happy until you had been on the scene of the crime."
1465
1466 "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It is entirely a question of barometric pressure."
1467
1468 Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
1469
1470 "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I shall use the carriage to-night."
1471
1472 Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my soul! here is her carriage at the door."
1473
1474 He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her overpowering excitement and concern.
1475
1476 "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
1477
1478 "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
1479
1480 "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself think that he is innocent?"
1481
1482 "I think that it is very probable."
1483
1484 "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes."
1485
1486 Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said.
1487
1488 "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because I was concerned in it."
1489
1490 "In what way?" asked Holmes.
1491
1492 "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them."
1493
1494 "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a union?"
1495
1496 "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
1497
1498 "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father if I call to-morrow?"
1499
1500 "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
1501
1502 "The doctor?"
1503
1504 "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive who had known dad in the old days in Victoria."
1505
1506 "Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
1507
1508 "Yes, at the mines."
1509
1510 "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner made his money."
1511
1512 "Yes, certainly."
1513
1514 "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to me."
1515
1516 "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do tell him that I know him to be innocent."
1517
1518 "I will, Miss Turner."
1519
1520 "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.
1521
1522 "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I call it cruel."
1523
1524 "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?"
1525
1526 "Yes, but only for you and me."
1527
1528 "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?"
1529
1530 "Ample."
1531
1532 "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
1533
1534 I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young McCarthy's innocence.
1535
1536 It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.
1537
1538 "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young McCarthy."
1539
1540 "And what did you learn from him?"
1541
1542 "Nothing."
1543
1544 "Could he throw no light?"
1545
1546 "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sound at heart."
1547
1548 "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as this Miss Turner."
1549
1550 "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all that he has suffered."
1551
1552 "But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
1553
1554 "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until to-morrow."
1555
1556 There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool.
1557
1558 "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is despaired of."
1559
1560 "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes.
1561
1562 "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free."
1563
1564 "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes.
1565
1566 "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody about here speaks of his kindness to him."
1567
1568 "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not deduce something from that?"
1569
1570 "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies."
1571
1572 "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to tackle the facts."
1573
1574 "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
1575
1576 "And that is--"
1577
1578 "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
1579
1580 "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Farm upon the left."
1581
1582 "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.
1583
1584 Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a definite end.
1585
1586 The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.
1587
1588 "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.
1589
1590 "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon or other trace. But how on earth--"
1591
1592 "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the highroad, where all traces were lost.
1593
1594 "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and I shall be with you presently."
1595
1596 It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he had picked up in the wood.
1597
1598 "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "The murder was done with it."
1599
1600 "I see no marks."
1601
1602 "There are none."
1603
1604 "How do you know, then?"
1605
1606 "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other weapon."
1607
1608 "And the murderer?"
1609
1610 "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be enough to aid us in our search."
1611
1612 Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hard-headed British jury."
1613
1614 "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, and shall probably return to London by the evening train."
1615
1616 "And leave your case unfinished?"
1617
1618 "No, finished."
1619
1620 "But the mystery?"
1621
1622 "It is solved."
1623
1624 "Who was the criminal, then?"
1625
1626 "The gentleman I describe."
1627
1628 "But who is he?"
1629
1630 "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a populous neighbourhood."
1631
1632 Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."
1633
1634 "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before I leave."
1635
1636 Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds himself in a perplexing position.
1637
1638 "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a cigar and let me expound."
1639
1640 "Pray do so."
1641
1642 "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was the fact that his father should, according to his account, cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double point our research must commence, and we will begin it by presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true."
1643
1644 "What of this 'Cooee!' then?"
1645
1646 "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was someone who had been in Australia."
1647
1648 "What of the rat, then?"
1649
1650 Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand over part of the map. "What do you read?"
1651
1652 "ARAT," I read.
1653
1654 "And now?" He raised his hand.
1655
1656 "BALLARAT."
1657
1658 "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat."
1659
1660 "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.
1661
1662 "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."
1663
1664 "Certainly."
1665
1666 "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could hardly wander."
1667
1668 "Quite so."
1669
1670 "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal."
1671
1672 "But how did you gain them?"
1673
1674 "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles."
1675
1676 "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces."
1677
1678 "Yes, they were peculiar boots."
1679
1680 "But his lameness?"
1681
1682 "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he was lame."
1683
1684 "But his left-handedness."
1685
1686 "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which are rolled in Rotterdam."
1687
1688 "And the cigar-holder?"
1689
1690 "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."
1691
1692 "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--"
1693
1694 "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
1695
1696 The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease.
1697
1698 "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my note?"
1699
1700 "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to see me here to avoid scandal."
1701
1702 "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall."
1703
1704 "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question was already answered.
1705
1706 "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It is so. I know all about McCarthy."
1707
1708 The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the Assizes."
1709
1710 "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely.
1711
1712 "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears that I am arrested."
1713
1714 "It may not come to that," said Holmes.
1715
1716 "What?"
1717
1718 "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Young McCarthy must be got off, however."
1719
1720 "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol."
1721
1722 Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely needed."
1723
1724 "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but will not take me long to tell.
1725
1726 "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be in his power.
1727
1728 "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang.
1729
1730 "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.
1731
1732 "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his foot.
1733
1734 " 'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman within hail.'
1735
1736 "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing which I could not give. He asked for Alice.
1737
1738 "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses to talk it over.
1739
1740 "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that occurred."
1741
1742 "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we may never be exposed to such a temptation."
1743
1744 "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?"
1745
1746 "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or dead, shall be safe with us."
1747
1748 "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.
1749
1750 "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.' "
1751
1752 James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their past.
1753
1754 ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
1755
1756
1757 When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which present strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are points in connection with it which never have been, and probably never will be, entirely cleared up.
1758
1759 The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British barque Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of them present such singular features as the strange train of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
1760
1761 It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.
1762
1763 "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?"
1764
1765 "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage visitors."
1766
1767 "A client, then?"
1768
1769 "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more likely to be some crony of the landlady's."
1770
1771 Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
1772
1773 "Come in!" said he.
1774
1775 The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is weighed down with some great anxiety.
1776
1777 "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber."
1778
1779 "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the south-west, I see."
1780
1781 "Yes, from Horsham."
1782
1783 "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive."
1784
1785 "I have come for advice."
1786
1787 "That is easily got."
1788
1789 "And help."
1790
1791 "That is not always so easy."
1792
1793 "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."
1794
1795 "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards."
1796
1797 "He said that you could solve anything."
1798
1799 "He said too much."
1800
1801 "That you are never beaten."
1802
1803 "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a woman."
1804
1805 "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?"
1806
1807 "It is true that I have been generally successful."
1808
1809 "Then you may be so with me."
1810
1811 "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me with some details as to your case."
1812
1813 "It is no ordinary one."
1814
1815 "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of appeal."
1816
1817 "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events than those which have happened in my own family."
1818
1819 "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards question you as to those details which seem to me to be most important."
1820
1821 The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards the blaze.
1822
1823 "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the affair.
1824
1825 "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome competence.
1826
1827 "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any friends, not even his own brother.
1828
1829 "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would make me his representative both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.
1830
1831 "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'
1832
1833 " 'What is it, uncle?' I cried.
1834
1835 " 'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small brass box, like a cashbox, in the other.
1836
1837 " 'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'
1838
1839 "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
1840
1841 " 'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham shows you.'
1842
1843 "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it were new raised from a basin.
1844
1845 "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and of some $14,000, which lay to his credit at the bank."
1846
1847 "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date of his supposed suicide."
1848
1849 "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2nd."
1850
1851 "Thank you. Pray proceed."
1852
1853 "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag politicians who had been sent down from the North.
1854
1855 "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon himself.
1856
1857 " 'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.
1858
1859 "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I.
1860
1861 "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the very letters. But what is this written above them?'
1862
1863 " 'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shoulder.
1864
1865 " 'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.
1866
1867 " 'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the papers must be those that are destroyed.'
1868
1869 " 'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Where does the thing come from?'
1870
1871 " 'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.
1872
1873 " 'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nonsense.'
1874
1875 " 'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.
1876
1877 " 'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'
1878
1879 " 'Then let me do so?'
1880
1881 " 'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such nonsense.'
1882
1883 "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of forebodings.
1884
1885 "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been woven round him.
1886
1887 "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as pressing in one house as in another.
1888
1889 "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in which it had come upon my father."
1890
1891 The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried orange pips.
1892
1893 "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the papers on the sundial.' "
1894
1895 "What have you done?" asked Holmes.
1896
1897 "Nothing."
1898
1899 "Nothing?"
1900
1901 "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and no precautions can guard against."
1902
1903 "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for despair."
1904
1905 "I have seen the police."
1906
1907 "Ah!"
1908
1909 "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the warnings."
1910
1911 Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible imbecility!" he cried.
1912
1913 "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the house with me."
1914
1915 "Has he come with you to-night?"
1916
1917 "No. His orders were to stay in the house."
1918
1919 Again Holmes raved in the air.
1920
1921 "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you not come at once?"
1922
1923 "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you."
1924
1925 "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which might help us?"
1926
1927 "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is undoubtedly my uncle's."
1928
1929 Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the following enigmatical notices:
1930
1931 "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.
1932
1933 "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and
1934
1935 John Swain, of St. Augustine.
1936
1937 "9th. McCauley cleared.
1938
1939 "10th. John Swain cleared.
1940
1941 "12th. Visited Paramore. All well."
1942
1943 "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me. You must get home instantly and act."
1944
1945 "What shall I do?"
1946
1947 "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?"
1948
1949 "Entirely."
1950
1951 "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the guilty parties."
1952
1953 "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall certainly do as you advise."
1954
1955 "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you go back?"
1956
1957 "By train from Waterloo."
1958
1959 "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too closely."
1960
1961 "I am armed."
1962
1963 "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case."
1964
1965 "I shall see you at Horsham, then?"
1966
1967 "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek it."
1968
1969 "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more.
1970
1971 Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
1972
1973 "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we have had none more fantastic than this."
1974
1975 "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four."
1976
1977 "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Sholtos."
1978
1979 "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?"
1980
1981 "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.
1982
1983 "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue this unhappy family?"
1984
1985 Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits in a very precise fashion."
1986
1987 "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis."
1988
1989 Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the American Encyclopaedia which stands upon the shelf beside you. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those letters?"
1990
1991 "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London."
1992
1993 "From East London. What do you deduce from that?"
1994
1995 "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."
1996
1997 "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Does that suggest anything?"
1998
1999 "A greater distance to travel."
2000
2001 "But the letter had also a greater distance to come."
2002
2003 "Then I do not see the point."
2004
2005 "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send their singular warning or token before them when starting upon their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the writer."
2006
2007 "It is possible."
2008
2009 "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay."
2010
2011 "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless persecution?"
2012
2013 "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an individual and becomes the badge of a society."
2014
2015 "But of what society?"
2016
2017 "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?"
2018
2019 "I never have."
2020
2021 Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it is," said he presently:
2022
2023 " 'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite of the efforts of the United States government and of the better classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.'
2024
2025 "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered."
2026
2027 "Then the page we have seen--"
2028
2029 "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow men."
2030
2031 It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down.
2032
2033 "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of young Openshaw's."
2034
2035 "What steps will you take?" I asked.
2036
2037 "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all."
2038
2039 "You will not go there first?"
2040
2041 "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the maid will bring up your coffee."
2042
2043 As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my heart.
2044
2045 "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."
2046
2047 "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
2048
2049 "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:
2050
2051 " 'Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages.' "
2052
2053 We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and shaken than I had ever seen him.
2054
2055 "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long thin hands.
2056
2057 "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!"
2058
2059 "To the police?"
2060
2061 "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before."
2062
2063 All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, washing it down with a long draught of water.
2064
2065 "You are hungry," I remarked.
2066
2067 "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since breakfast."
2068
2069 "Nothing?"
2070
2071 "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it."
2072
2073 "And how have you succeeded?"
2074
2075 "Well."
2076
2077 "You have a clue?"
2078
2079 "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!"
2080
2081 "What do you mean?"
2082
2083 He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain James Calhoun, Barque Lone Star, Savannah, Georgia."
2084
2085 "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him."
2086
2087 "And who is this Captain Calhoun?"
2088
2089 "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first."
2090
2091 "How did you trace it, then?"
2092
2093 He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with dates and names.
2094
2095 "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were reported there during those months. Of these, one, the Lone Star, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to one of the states of the Union."
2096
2097 "Texas, I think."
2098
2099 "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must have an American origin."
2100
2101 "What then?"
2102
2103 "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Lone Star was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the port of London."
2104
2105 "Yes?"
2106
2107 "The Lone Star had arrived here last week. I went down to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight."
2108
2109 "What will you do, then?"
2110
2111 "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder."
2112
2113 There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for news of the Lone Star of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of the fate of the Lone Star.
2114
2115 ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
2116
2117
2118 Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man.
2119
2120 One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.
2121
2122 "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
2123
2124 I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
2125
2126 We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.
2127
2128 "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help."
2129
2130 "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came in."
2131
2132 "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to a light-house.
2133
2134 "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?"
2135
2136 "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!"
2137
2138 It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we could bring him back to her?
2139
2140 It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?
2141
2142 There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to be.
2143
2144 But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of an emigrant ship.
2145
2146 Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon his knees, staring into the fire.
2147
2148 As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
2149
2150 "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
2151
2152 There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and unkempt, staring out at me.
2153
2154 "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what o'clock is it?"
2155
2156 "Nearly eleven."
2157
2158 "Of what day?"
2159
2160 "Of Friday, June 19th."
2161
2162 "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his arms and began to sob in a high treble key.
2163
2164 "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
2165
2166 "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?"
2167
2168 "Yes, I have one waiting."
2169
2170 "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
2171
2172 I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
2173
2174 "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
2175
2176 "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you."
2177
2178 "I have a cab outside."
2179
2180 "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait outside, I shall be with you in five minutes."
2181
2182 It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney was once confined in the cab my mission was practically accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
2183
2184 "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical views."
2185
2186 "I was certainly surprised to find you there."
2187
2188 "But not more so than I to find you."
2189
2190 "I came to find a friend."
2191
2192 "And I to find an enemy."
2193
2194 "An enemy?"
2195
2196 "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless nights."
2197
2198 "What! You do not mean bodies?"
2199
2200 "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had $1000 for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs.
2201
2202 "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?"
2203
2204 "If I can be of use."
2205
2206 "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
2207
2208 "The Cedars?"
2209
2210 "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I conduct the inquiry."
2211
2212 "Where is it, then?"
2213
2214 "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
2215
2216 "But I am all in the dark."
2217
2218 "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her head. So long, then!"
2219
2220 He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is acting for the best.
2221
2222 "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
2223
2224 "You forget that I know nothing about it."
2225
2226 "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to me."
2227
2228 "Proceed, then."
2229
2230 "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far as we have been able to ascertain, amount to $88 10s., while he has $220 standing to his credit in the Capital and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
2231
2232 "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up in your London, you will know that the office of the company is in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me so far?"
2233
2234 "It is very clear."
2235
2236 "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
2237
2238 "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which you found me to-night--and running through the front room she attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly swore that no one else had been in the front room during the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had promised to bring home.
2239
2240 "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the tragedy.
2241
2242 "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he could not account in any way for the presence of the missing gentleman's clothes.
2243
2244 "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."
2245
2246 "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed against a man in the prime of life?"
2247
2248 "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others."
2249
2250 "Pray continue your narrative."
2251
2252 "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful examination of the premises, but without finding anything which threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes during which he might have communicated with his friend the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.
2253
2254 "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do you think they found in the pockets?"
2255
2256 "I cannot imagine."
2257
2258 "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked away into the river."
2259
2260 "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"
2261
2262 "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the window when the police appeared."
2263
2264 "It certainly sounds feasible."
2265
2266 "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before been anything against him. He had for years been known as a professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot recall any case within my experience which looked at the first glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."
2267
2268 While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.
2269
2270 "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet."
2271
2272 "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I asked.
2273
2274 "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
2275
2276 We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing question.
2277
2278 "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
2279
2280 "No good news?"
2281
2282 "None."
2283
2284 "No bad?"
2285
2286 "No."
2287
2288 "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had a long day."
2289
2290 "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this investigation."
2291
2292 "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so suddenly upon us."
2293
2294 "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be indeed happy."
2295
2296 "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain answer."
2297
2298 "Certainly, madam."
2299
2300 "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
2301
2302 "Upon what point?"
2303
2304 "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
2305
2306 Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.
2307
2308 "Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
2309
2310 "You think that he is dead?"
2311
2312 "I do."
2313
2314 "Murdered?"
2315
2316 "I don't say that. Perhaps."
2317
2318 "And on what day did he meet his death?"
2319
2320 "On Monday."
2321
2322 "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how it is that I have received a letter from him to-day."
2323
2324 Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanised.
2325
2326 "What!" he roared.
2327
2328 "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paper in the air.
2329
2330 "May I see it?"
2331
2332 "Certainly."
2333
2334 He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day before, for it was considerably after midnight.
2335
2336 "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your husband's writing, madam."
2337
2338 "No, but the enclosure is."
2339
2340 "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and inquire as to the address."
2341
2342 "How can you tell that?"
2343
2344 "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! there has been an enclosure here!"
2345
2346 "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
2347
2348 "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
2349
2350 "One of his hands."
2351
2352 "One?"
2353
2354 "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual writing, and yet I know it well."
2355
2356 " 'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's hand, madam?"
2357
2358 "None. Neville wrote those words."
2359
2360 "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger is over."
2361
2362 "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
2363
2364 "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from him."
2365
2366 "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
2367
2368 "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only posted to-day."
2369
2370 "That is possible."
2371
2372 "If so, much may have happened between."
2373
2374 "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?"
2375
2376 "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away from you?"
2377
2378 "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
2379
2380 "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
2381
2382 "No."
2383
2384 "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
2385
2386 "Very much so."
2387
2388 "Was the window open?"
2389
2390 "Yes."
2391
2392 "Then he might have called to you?"
2393
2394 "He might."
2395
2396 "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
2397
2398 "Yes."
2399
2400 "A call for help, you thought?"
2401
2402 "Yes. He waved his hands."
2403
2404 "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
2405
2406 "It is possible."
2407
2408 "And you thought he was pulled back?"
2409
2410 "He disappeared so suddenly."
2411
2412 "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the room?"
2413
2414 "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs."
2415
2416 "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary clothes on?"
2417
2418 "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare throat."
2419
2420 "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
2421
2422 "Never."
2423
2424 "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
2425
2426 "Never."
2427
2428 "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day to-morrow."
2429
2430 A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.
2431
2432 "Awake, Watson?" he asked.
2433
2434 "Yes."
2435
2436 "Game for a morning drive?"
2437
2438 "Certainly."
2439
2440 "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night.
2441
2442 As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was putting in the horse.
2443
2444 "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the key of the affair now."
2445
2446 "And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
2447
2448 "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will not fit the lock."
2449
2450 We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as some city in a dream.
2451
2452 "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all."
2453
2454 In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in.
2455
2456 "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
2457
2458 "Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
2459
2460 "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his desk.
2461
2462 "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
2463
2464 "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Lee."
2465
2466 "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
2467
2468 "So I heard. You have him here?"
2469
2470 "In the cells."
2471
2472 "Is he quiet?"
2473
2474 "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
2475
2476 "Dirty?"
2477
2478 "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it."
2479
2480 "I should like to see him very much."
2481
2482 "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave your bag."
2483
2484 "No, I think that I'll take it."
2485
2486 "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each side.
2487
2488 "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and glanced through.
2489
2490 "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
2491
2492 We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over his eyes and forehead.
2493
2494 "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
2495
2496 "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
2497
2498 "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
2499
2500 "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure."
2501
2502 "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the prisoner's face.
2503
2504 "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Lee, in the county of Kent."
2505
2506 Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
2507
2508 "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing man. I know him from the photograph."
2509
2510 The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I charged with?"
2511
2512 "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake."
2513
2514 "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally detained."
2515
2516 "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted you wife."
2517
2518 "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God! What an exposure! What can I do?"
2519
2520 Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kindly on the shoulder.
2521
2522 "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case would then never go into court at all."
2523
2524 "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
2525
2526 "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no less than 26s. 4d.
2527
2528 "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served upon me for $25. I was at my wit's end where to get the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.
2529
2530 "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at $2 a week when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my secret was safe in his possession.
2531
2532 "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London could earn $700 a year--which is less than my average takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take $2.
2533
2534 "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had business in the City. She little knew what.
2535
2536 "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.
2537
2538 "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to fear."
2539
2540 "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
2541
2542 "Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
2543
2544 "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days."
2545
2546 "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
2547
2548 "Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
2549
2550 "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
2551
2552 "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
2553
2554 "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results."
2555
2556 "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast."
2557
2558 VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
2559
2560
2561 I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the purpose of examination.
2562
2563 "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you."
2564
2565 "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction."
2566
2567 I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery and the punishment of some crime."
2568
2569 "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being criminal. We have already had experience of such."
2570
2571 "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal crime."
2572
2573 "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"
2574
2575 "Yes."
2576
2577 "It is to him that this trophy belongs."
2578
2579 "It is his hat."
2580
2581 "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was returning from some small jollification and was making his way homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose."
2582
2583 "Which surely he restored to their owner?"
2584
2585 "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them."
2586
2587 "What, then, did Peterson do?"
2588
2589 "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner."
2590
2591 "Did he not advertise?"
2592
2593 "No."
2594
2595 "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?"
2596
2597 "Only as much as we can deduce."
2598
2599 "From his hat?"
2600
2601 "Precisely."
2602
2603 "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered felt?"
2604
2605 "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?"
2606
2607 I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.
2608
2609 "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend.
2610
2611 "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences."
2612
2613 "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?"
2614
2615 He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him."
2616
2617 "My dear Holmes!"
2618
2619 "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid on in his house."
2620
2621 "You are certainly joking, Holmes."
2622
2623 "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?"
2624
2625 "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that this man was intellectual?"
2626
2627 For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a brain must have something in it."
2628
2629 "The decline of his fortunes, then?"
2630
2631 "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world."
2632
2633 "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight and the moral retrogression?"
2634
2635 Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect."
2636
2637 "Your reasoning is certainly plausible."
2638
2639 "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the best of training."
2640
2641 "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him."
2642
2643 "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's affection."
2644
2645 "But he might be a bachelor."
2646
2647 "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
2648
2649 "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
2650
2651 "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
2652
2653 "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste of energy."
2654
2655 Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.
2656
2657 "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
2658
2659 "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
2660
2661 "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.
2662
2663 Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?"
2664
2665 "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty."
2666
2667 "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
2668
2669 "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
2670
2671 "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the reward offered of $1000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of the market price."
2672
2673 "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
2674
2675 "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the gem."
2676
2677 "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I remarked.
2678
2679 "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:
2680
2681 "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, where she found matters as described by the last witness. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was carried out of court."
2682
2683 "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods."
2684
2685 "What will you say?"
2686
2687 "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."
2688
2689 "Very. But will he see it?"
2690
2691 "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers."
2692
2693 "In which, sir?"
2694
2695 "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."
2696
2697 "Very well, sir. And this stone?"
2698
2699 "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which your family is now devouring."
2700
2701 When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it."
2702
2703 "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"
2704
2705 "I cannot tell."
2706
2707 "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had anything to do with the matter?"
2708
2709 "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have an answer to our advertisement."
2710
2711 "And you can do nothing until then?"
2712
2713 "Nothing."
2714
2715 "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business."
2716
2717 "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."
2718
2719 I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Holmes' room.
2720
2721 "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"
2722
2723 "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."
2724
2725 He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had ill-usage at the hands of fortune.
2726
2727 "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise."
2728
2729 Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a hopeless attempt at recovering them."
2730
2731 "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat it."
2732
2733 "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement.
2734
2735 "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purpose equally well?"
2736
2737 "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of relief.
2738
2739 "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of your own bird, so if you wish--"
2740
2741 The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive upon the sideboard."
2742
2743 Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
2744
2745 "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a better grown goose."
2746
2747 "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and strode off upon his way.
2748
2749 "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?"
2750
2751 "Not particularly."
2752
2753 "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot."
2754
2755 "By all means."
2756
2757 It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.
2758
2759 "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," said he.
2760
2761 "My geese!" The man seemed surprised.
2762
2763 "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, who was a member of your goose club."
2764
2765 "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese."
2766
2767 "Indeed! Whose, then?"
2768
2769 "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden."
2770
2771 "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?"
2772
2773 "Breckinridge is his name."
2774
2775 "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good-night."
2776
2777 "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick march!"
2778
2779 We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was helping a boy to put up the shutters.
2780
2781 "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.
2782
2783 The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion.
2784
2785 "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the bare slabs of marble.
2786
2787 "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning."
2788
2789 "That's no good."
2790
2791 "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare."
2792
2793 "Ah, but I was recommended to you."
2794
2795 "Who by?"
2796
2797 "The landlord of the Alpha."
2798
2799 "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen."
2800
2801 "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?"
2802
2803 To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman.
2804
2805 "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."
2806
2807 "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese which you supplied to the Alpha."
2808
2809 "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"
2810
2811 "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you should be so warm over such a trifle."
2812
2813 "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made over them."
2814
2815 "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate is country bred."
2816
2817 "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the salesman.
2818
2819 "It's nothing of the kind."
2820
2821 "I say it is."
2822
2823 "I don't believe it."
2824
2825 "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went to the Alpha were town bred."
2826
2827 "You'll never persuade me to believe that."
2828
2829 "Will you bet, then?"
2830
2831 "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be obstinate."
2832
2833 The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said he.
2834
2835 The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.
2836
2837 "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?"
2838
2839 "Well?"
2840
2841 "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just read it out to me."
2842
2843 "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes.
2844
2845 "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger."
2846
2847 Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.' "
2848
2849 "Now, then, what's the last entry?"
2850
2851 " 'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.' "
2852
2853 "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"
2854
2855 " 'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.' "
2856
2857 "What have you to say now?"
2858
2859 Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was peculiar to him.
2860
2861 "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," said he. "I daresay that if I had put $100 down in front of him, that man would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter, and I should--"
2862
2863 His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.
2864
2865 "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with it? Did I buy the geese off you?"
2866
2867 "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little man.
2868
2869 "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it."
2870
2871 "She told me to ask you."
2872
2873 "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
2874
2875 "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of colour had been driven from his face.
2876
2877 "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering voice.
2878
2879 "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I think that I could be of assistance to you."
2880
2881 "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?"
2882
2883 "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know."
2884
2885 "But you can know nothing of this?"
2886
2887 "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Henry Baker is a member."
2888
2889 "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter."
2890
2891 Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting."
2892
2893 The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he answered with a sidelong glance.
2894
2895 "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always awkward doing business with an alias."
2896
2897 A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," said he, "my real name is James Ryder."
2898
2899 "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you everything which you would wish to know."
2900
2901 The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tension within him.
2902
2903 "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! You want to know what became of those geese?"
2904
2905 "Yes, sir."
2906
2907 "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the tail."
2908
2909 Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell me where it went to?"
2910
2911 "It came here."
2912
2913 "Here?"
2914
2915 "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I have it here in my museum."
2916
2917 Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
2918
2919 "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!"
2920
2921 For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring with frightened eyes at his accuser.
2922
2923 "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Countess of Morcar's?"
2924
2925 "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a crackling voice.
2926
2927 "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man arrested. You then--"
2928
2929 Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sake, don't!"
2930
2931 "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."
2932
2933 "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the charge against him will break down."
2934
2935 "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your only hope of safety."
2936
2937 Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would be best to do.
2938
2939 "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.
2940
2941 "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and fluttered off among the others.
2942
2943 " 'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.
2944
2945 " 'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I was feeling which was the fattest.'
2946
2947 " 'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen for the market.'
2948
2949 " 'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.'
2950
2951 " 'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we fattened it expressly for you.'
2952
2953 " 'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I.
2954
2955 " 'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it you want, then?'
2956
2957 " 'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the flock.'
2958
2959 " 'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'
2960
2961 "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There was not a bird to be seen there.
2962
2963 " 'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.
2964
2965 " 'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'
2966
2967 " 'Which dealer's?'
2968
2969 " 'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'
2970
2971 " 'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same as the one I chose?'
2972
2973 " 'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tell them apart.'
2974
2975 "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.
2976
2977 There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
2978
2979 "Get out!" said he.
2980
2981 "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!"
2982
2983 "No more words. Get out!"
2984
2985 And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls from the street.
2986
2987 "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief feature."
2988
2989 VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
2990
2991
2992 On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more terrible than the truth.
2993
2994 It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.
2995
2996 "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you."
2997
2998 "What is it, then--a fire?"
2999
3000 "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should call you and give you the chance."
3001
3002 "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything."
3003
3004 I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the window, rose as we entered.
3005
3006 "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for I observe that you are shivering."
3007
3008 "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low voice, changing her seat as requested.
3009
3010 "What, then?"
3011
3012 "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.
3013
3014 "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see."
3015
3016 "You know me, then?"
3017
3018 "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the station."
3019
3020 The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my companion.
3021
3022 "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit on the left-hand side of the driver."
3023
3024 "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you shall not find me ungrateful."
3025
3026 Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small case-book, which he consulted.
3027
3028 "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the matter."
3029
3030 "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the dangers which encompass me."
3031
3032 "I am all attention, madam."
3033
3034 "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey."
3035
3036 Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.
3037
3038 "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
3039
3040 "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of money--not less than $1000 a year--and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
3041
3042 "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
3043
3044 "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I could gather together that I was able to avert another public exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.
3045
3046 "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun to whiten, even as mine has."
3047
3048 "Your sister is dead, then?"
3049
3050 "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event occurred which has deprived me of my only companion."
3051
3052 Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids now and glanced across at his visitor.
3053
3054 "Pray be precise as to details," said he.
3055
3056 "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?"
3057
3058 "Perfectly so."
3059
3060 "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and looked back.
3061
3062 " 'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of the night?'
3063
3064 " 'Never,' said I.
3065
3066 " 'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in your sleep?'
3067
3068 " 'Certainly not. But why?'
3069
3070 " 'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you whether you had heard it.'
3071
3072 " 'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the plantation.'
3073
3074 " 'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you did not hear it also.'
3075
3076 " 'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
3077
3078 " 'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn in the lock."
3079
3080 "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock yourselves in at night?"
3081
3082 "Always."
3083
3084 "And why?"
3085
3086 "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked."
3087
3088 "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
3089
3090 "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for she slowly sank and died without having recovered her consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
3091
3092 "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
3093
3094 "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have been deceived."
3095
3096 "Was your sister dressed?"
3097
3098 "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box."
3099
3100 "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the coroner come to?"
3101
3102 "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her."
3103
3104 "How about poison?"
3105
3106 "The doctors examined her for it, but without success."
3107
3108 "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?"
3109
3110 "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
3111
3112 "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?"
3113
3114 "Yes, there are nearly always some there."
3115
3116 "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a speckled band?"
3117
3118 "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which she used."
3119
3120 Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
3121
3122 "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your narrative."
3123
3124 "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your advice."
3125
3126 "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me all?"
3127
3128 "Yes, all."
3129
3130 "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
3131
3132 "Why, what do you mean?"
3133
3134 For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.
3135
3136 "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
3137
3138 The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength."
3139
3140 There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
3141
3142 "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your stepfather?"
3143
3144 "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some most important business. It is probable that he will be away all day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of the way."
3145
3146 "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"
3147
3148 "By no means."
3149
3150 "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
3151
3152 "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to be there in time for your coming."
3153
3154 "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and breakfast?"
3155
3156 "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her face and glided from the room.
3157
3158 "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, leaning back in his chair.
3159
3160 "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
3161
3162 "Dark enough and sinister enough."
3163
3164 "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her mysterious end."
3165
3166 "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
3167
3168 "I cannot think."
3169
3170 "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its place, I think that there is good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along those lines."
3171
3172 "But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
3173
3174 "I cannot imagine."
3175
3176 "I see many objections to any such theory."
3177
3178 "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the devil!"
3179
3180 The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey.
3181
3182 "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
3183
3184 "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my companion quietly.
3185
3186 "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
3187
3188 "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
3189
3190 "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
3191
3192 "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.
3193
3194 "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man furiously.
3195
3196 "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my companion imperturbably.
3197
3198 "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
3199
3200 My friend smiled.
3201
3202 "Holmes, the busybody!"
3203
3204 His smile broadened.
3205
3206 "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
3207
3208 Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught."
3209
3210 "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.
3211
3212 "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room.
3213
3214 "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.
3215
3216 "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may help us in this matter."
3217
3218 It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes and figures.
3219
3220 "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little short of $1100, is now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than $750. Each daughter can claim an income of $250, in case of marriage. It is evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need."
3221
3222 At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
3223
3224 "Look there!" said he.
3225
3226 A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion.
3227
3228 "Stoke Moran?" said he.
3229
3230 "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked the driver.
3231
3232 "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is where we are going."
3233
3234 "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking."
3235
3236 "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
3237
3238 We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to Leatherhead.
3239
3240 "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as our word."
3241
3242 Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back before evening."
3243
3244 "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
3245
3246 "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
3247
3248 "So it appears."
3249
3250 "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will he say when he returns?"
3251
3252 "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to examine."
3253
3254 The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows.
3255
3256 "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?"
3257
3258 "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
3259
3260 "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall."
3261
3262 "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room."
3263
3264 "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are windows in it, of course?"
3265
3266 "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through."
3267
3268 "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go into your room and bar your shutters?"
3269
3270 Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the matter."
3271
3272 A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, taking in every detail of the apartment.
3273
3274 "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually lying upon the pillow.
3275
3276 "It goes to the housekeeper's room."
3277
3278 "It looks newer than the other things?"
3279
3280 "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
3281
3282 "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
3283
3284 "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we wanted for ourselves."
3285
3286 "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
3287
3288 "Why, it's a dummy," said he.
3289
3290 "Won't it ring?"
3291
3292 "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little opening for the ventilator is."
3293
3294 "How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
3295
3296 "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are one or two very singular points about this room. For example, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside air!"
3297
3298 "That is also quite modern," said the lady.
3299
3300 "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.
3301
3302 "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time."
3303
3304 "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the inner apartment."
3305
3306 Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and all of them with the keenest interest.
3307
3308 "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
3309
3310 "My stepfather's business papers."
3311
3312 "Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
3313
3314 "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers."
3315
3316 "There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
3317
3318 "No. What a strange idea!"
3319
3320 "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which stood on the top of it.
3321
3322 "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."
3323
3324 "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of it with the greatest attention.
3325
3326 "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
3327
3328 The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord.
3329
3330 "What do you make of that, Watson?"
3331
3332 "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be tied."
3333
3334 "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
3335
3336 I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from his reverie.
3337
3338 "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
3339
3340 "I shall most certainly do so."
3341
3342 "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend upon your compliance."
3343
3344 "I assure you that I am in your hands."
3345
3346 "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room."
3347
3348 Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
3349
3350 "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the village inn over there?"
3351
3352 "Yes, that is the Crown."
3353
3354 "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
3355
3356 "Certainly."
3357
3358 "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night."
3359
3360 "Oh, yes, easily."
3361
3362 "The rest you will leave in our hands."
3363
3364 "But what will you do?"
3365
3366 "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
3367
3368 "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
3369
3370 "Perhaps I have."
3371
3372 "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's death."
3373
3374 "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
3375
3376 "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and if she died from some sudden fright."
3377
3378 "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers that threaten you."
3379
3380 Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
3381
3382 "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
3383
3384 "Can I be of assistance?"
3385
3386 "Your presence might be invaluable."
3387
3388 "Then I shall certainly come."
3389
3390 "It is very kind of you."
3391
3392 "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms than was visible to me."
3393
3394 "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine that you saw all that I did."
3395
3396 "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
3397
3398 "You saw the ventilator, too?"
3399
3400 "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a rat could hardly pass through."
3401
3402 "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Stoke Moran."
3403
3404 "My dear Holmes!"
3405
3406 "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that suggested at once that there must be a communication between the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator."
3407
3408 "But what harm can there be in that?"
3409
3410 "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does not that strike you?"
3411
3412 "I cannot as yet see any connection."
3413
3414 "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
3415
3416 "No."
3417
3418 "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?"
3419
3420 "I cannot say that I have."
3421
3422 "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
3423
3424 "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime."
3425
3426 "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful."
3427
3428 About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
3429
3430 "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it comes from the middle window."
3431
3432 As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
3433
3434 There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
3435
3436 "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
3437
3438 Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh and put his lips to my ear.
3439
3440 "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon."
3441
3442 I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to distinguish the words:
3443
3444 "The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
3445
3446 I nodded to show that I had heard.
3447
3448 "We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator."
3449
3450 I nodded again.
3451
3452 "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the bed, and you in that chair."
3453
3454 I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
3455
3456 Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.
3457
3458 How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
3459
3460 From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.
3461
3462 Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.
3463
3464 "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"
3465
3466 But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it had died away into the silence from which it rose.
3467
3468 "What can it mean?" I gasped.
3469
3470 "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will enter Dr. Roylott's room."
3471
3472 With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand.
3473
3474 It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
3475
3476 "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes.
3477
3478 I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
3479
3480 "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of shelter and let the county police know what has happened."
3481
3482 As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
3483
3484 Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.
3485
3486 "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner or later she must fall a victim.
3487
3488 "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the light and attacked it."
3489
3490 "With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
3491
3492 "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
3493
3494 IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
3495
3496
3497 Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect.
3498
3499 It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence.
3500
3501 One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door tightly behind him.
3502
3503 "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder; "he's all right."
3504
3505 "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
3506
3507 "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even giving me time to thank him.
3508
3509 I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his strength of mind to control.
3510
3511 "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon the side-table."
3512
3513 I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a monotonous occupation."
3514
3515 "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical instincts rose up against that laugh.
3516
3517 "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out some water from a caraffe.
3518
3519 It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very weary and pale-looking.
3520
3521 "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
3522
3523 "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
3524
3525 "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to be."
3526
3527 He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the roots.
3528
3529 "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have bled considerably."
3530
3531 "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
3532
3533 "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
3534
3535 "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own province."
3536
3537 "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very heavy and sharp instrument."
3538
3539 "A thing like a cleaver," said he.
3540
3541 "An accident, I presume?"
3542
3543 "By no means."
3544
3545 "What! a murderous attack?"
3546
3547 "Very murderous indeed."
3548
3549 "You horrify me."
3550
3551 I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
3552
3553 "How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
3554
3555 "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
3556
3557 "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently trying to your nerves."
3558
3559 "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so vague that it is a question whether justice will be done."
3560
3561 "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the official police."
3562
3563 "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me an introduction to him?"
3564
3565 "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
3566
3567 "I should be immensely obliged to you."
3568
3569 "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
3570
3571 "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
3572
3573 "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my new acquaintance to Baker Street.
3574
3575 Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of brandy and water within his reach.
3576
3577 "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
3578
3579 "Thank you," said my patient. "but I have felt another man since the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences."
3580
3581 Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story which our visitor detailed to us.
3582
3583 "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria Street.
3584
3585 "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. During two years I have had three consultations and one small job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought me. My gross takings amount to $27 10s. Every day, from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to believe that I should never have any practice at all.
3586
3587 "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than thirty.
3588
3589 " 'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and capable of preserving a secret.'
3590
3591 "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
3592
3593 " 'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
3594
3595 " 'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that you wished to speak to me?'
3596
3597 " 'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'
3598
3599 " 'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely depend upon my doing so.'
3600
3601 "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
3602
3603 " 'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
3604
3605 " 'Yes, I promise.'
3606
3607 " 'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
3608
3609 " 'I have already given you my word.'
3610
3611 " 'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was empty.
3612
3613 " 'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
3614
3615 "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from showing my impatience.
3616
3617 " 'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words came to my lips.
3618
3619 " 'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
3620
3621 " 'Most admirably.'
3622
3623 " 'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that?'
3624
3625 " 'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
3626
3627 " 'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last train.'
3628
3629 " 'Where to?'
3630
3631 " 'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train from Paddington which would bring you there at about 11:15.'
3632
3633 " 'Very good.'
3634
3635 " 'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
3636
3637 " 'There is a drive, then?'
3638
3639 " 'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven miles from Eyford Station.'
3640
3641 " 'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the night.'
3642
3643 " 'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
3644
3645 " 'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient hour?'
3646
3647 " 'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do so.'
3648
3649 "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to do.'
3650
3651 " 'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers?'
3652
3653 " 'Entirely.'
3654
3655 " 'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found in one or two places in England?'
3656
3657 " 'I have heard so.'
3658
3659 " 'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
3660
3661 " 'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like gravel from a pit.'
3662
3663 " 'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Eyford at 11:15.'
3664
3665 " 'I shall certainly be there.'
3666
3667 " 'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank grasp, he hurried from the room.
3668
3669 "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me, and I could not think that his explanation of the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue.
3670
3671 "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the horse could go."
3672
3673 "One horse?" interjected Holmes.
3674
3675 "Yes, only one."
3676
3677 "Did you observe the colour?"
3678
3679 "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the carriage. It was a chestnut."
3680
3681 "Tired-looking or fresh?"
3682
3683 "Oh, fresh and glossy."
3684
3685 "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement."
3686
3687 "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove away.
3688
3689 "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the lamp in his hand.
3690
3691 " 'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness.
3692
3693 "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
3694
3695 "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
3696
3697 " 'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for you to do.'
3698
3699 " 'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
3700
3701 " 'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too late!'
3702
3703 "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come.
3704
3705 "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
3706
3707 " 'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just now. I fear that you have felt the draught.'
3708
3709 " 'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I felt the room to be a little close.'
3710
3711 "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I will take you up to see the machine.'
3712
3713 " 'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
3714
3715 " 'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
3716
3717 " 'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
3718
3719 " 'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us know what is wrong with it.'
3720
3721 "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at least a fellow-countryman.
3722
3723 "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the colonel ushered me in.
3724
3725 " 'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set it right.'
3726
3727 "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the colonel looking down at me.
3728
3729 " 'What are you doing there?' he asked.
3730
3731 "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used.'
3732
3733 "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in his grey eyes.
3734
3735 " 'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!'
3736
3737 "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope back to my heart.
3738
3739 "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me how narrow had been my escape.
3740
3741 "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.
3742
3743 " 'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the so-precious time, but come!'
3744
3745 "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.
3746
3747 " 'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be that you can jump it.'
3748
3749 "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round him and tried to hold him back.
3750
3751 " 'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be silent! Oh, he will be silent!'
3752
3753 " 'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the garden below.
3754
3755 "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the rose-bushes.
3756
3757 "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
3758
3759 "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three miles off.
3760
3761 "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you advise."
3762
3763 We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his cuttings.
3764
3765 "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
3766
3767 "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the girl said."
3768
3769 "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford."
3770
3771 Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for its centre.
3772
3773 "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
3774
3775 "It was an hour's good drive."
3776
3777 "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you were unconscious?"
3778
3779 "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
3780
3781 "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
3782
3783 "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in my life."
3784
3785 "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the folk that we are in search of are to be found."
3786
3787 "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
3788
3789 "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for the country is more deserted there."
3790
3791 "And I say east," said my patient.
3792
3793 "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are several quiet little villages up there."
3794
3795 "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any."
3796
3797 "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give your casting vote to?"
3798
3799 "You are all wrong."
3800
3801 "But we can't all be."
3802
3803 "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
3804
3805 "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
3806
3807 "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
3808
3809 "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of this gang."
3810
3811 "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the place of silver."
3812
3813 "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."
3814
3815 But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
3816
3817 "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off again on its way.
3818
3819 "Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
3820
3821 "When did it break out?"
3822
3823 "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and the whole place is in a blaze."
3824
3825 "Whose house is it?"
3826
3827 "Dr. Becher's."
3828
3829 "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very thin, with a long, sharp nose?"
3830
3831 The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
3832
3833 The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to keep the flames under.
3834
3835 "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That second window is the one that I jumped from."
3836
3837 "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are a good hundred miles off by now."
3838
3839 And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their whereabouts.
3840
3841 The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been already referred to.
3842
3843 How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out of the way of danger.
3844
3845 "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I gained?"
3846
3847 "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence."
3848
3849 X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR
3850
3851
3852 The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of this remarkable episode.
3853
3854 It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's noble correspondent could be.
3855
3856 "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish-monger and a tide-waiter."
3857
3858 "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
3859
3860 He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.
3861
3862 "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."
3863
3864 "Not social, then?"
3865
3866 "No, distinctly professional."
3867
3868 "And from a noble client?"
3869
3870 "One of the highest in England."
3871
3872 "My dear fellow, I congratulate you."
3873
3874 "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the papers diligently of late, have you not?"
3875
3876 "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the corner. "I have had nothing else to do."
3877
3878 "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his wedding?"
3879
3880 "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest."
3881
3882 "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. This is what he says:
3883
3884 " 'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of paramount importance. Yours faithfully,
3885
3886
3887 " 'ST. SIMON.'
3888
3889 "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes as he folded up the epistle.
3890
3891 "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an hour."
3892
3893 "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting down and flattening it out upon his knee. " 'Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something more solid."
3894
3895 "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the intrusion of other matters."
3896
3897 "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your newspaper selections."
3898
3899 "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all."
3900
3901 "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, thin legs towards the fire.
3902
3903 "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a British peeress.' "
3904
3905 "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.
3906
3907 "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices which appeared before the disappearance of the bride."
3908
3909 "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start.
3910
3911 "The vanishing of the lady."
3912
3913 "When did she vanish, then?"
3914
3915 "At the wedding breakfast."
3916
3917 "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite dramatic, in fact."
3918
3919 "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common."
3920
3921 "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt as this. Pray let me have the details."
3922
3923 "I warn you that they are very incomplete."
3924
3925 "Perhaps we may make them less so."
3926
3927 "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':
3928
3929 " 'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what is a common subject for conversation.
3930
3931 " 'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange disappearance of the bride.' "
3932
3933 "And is that all?"
3934
3935 "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a suggestive one."
3936
3937 "And it is--"
3938
3939 "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the public press."
3940
3941 "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, if only as a check to my own memory."
3942
3943 "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his golden eyeglasses.
3944
3945 "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this matter over."
3946
3947 "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of society."
3948
3949 "No, I am descending."
3950
3951 "I beg pardon."
3952
3953 "My last client of the sort was a king."
3954
3955 "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?"
3956
3957 "The King of Scandinavia."
3958
3959 "What! Had he lost his wife?"
3960
3961 "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to you in yours."
3962
3963 "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may assist you in forming an opinion."
3964
3965 "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride."
3966
3967 Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it goes."
3968
3969 "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most directly by questioning you."
3970
3971 "Pray do so."
3972
3973 "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?"
3974
3975 "In San Francisco, a year ago."
3976
3977 "You were travelling in the States?"
3978
3979 "Yes."
3980
3981 "Did you become engaged then?"
3982
3983 "No."
3984
3985 "But you were on a friendly footing?"
3986
3987 "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was amused."
3988
3989 "Her father is very rich?"
3990
3991 "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope."
3992
3993 "And how did he make his money?"
3994
3995 "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds."
3996
3997 "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your wife's character?"
3998
3999 The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately cough--"had I not thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her."
4000
4001 "Have you her photograph?"
4002
4003 "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
4004
4005 "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your acquaintance?"
4006
4007 "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now married her."
4008
4009 "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?"
4010
4011 "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family."
4012
4013 "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fait accompli?"
4014
4015 "I really have made no inquiries on the subject."
4016
4017 "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wedding?"
4018
4019 "Yes."
4020
4021 "Was she in good spirits?"
4022
4023 "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future lives."
4024
4025 "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wedding?"
4026
4027 "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the ceremony."
4028
4029 "And did you observe any change in her then?"
4030
4031 "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible bearing upon the case."
4032
4033 "Pray let us have it, for all that."
4034
4035 "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause."
4036
4037 "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the general public were present, then?"
4038
4039 "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is open."
4040
4041 "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
4042
4043 "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
4044
4045 "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on re-entering her father's house?"
4046
4047 "I saw her in conversation with her maid."
4048
4049 "And who is her maid?"
4050
4051 "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with her."
4052
4053 "A confidential servant?"
4054
4055 "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they look upon these things in a different way."
4056
4057 "How long did she speak to this Alice?"
4058
4059 "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
4060
4061 "You did not overhear what they said?"
4062
4063 "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she meant."
4064
4065 "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
4066
4067 "She walked into the breakfast-room."
4068
4069 "On your arm?"
4070
4071 "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She never came back."
4072
4073 "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a bonnet, and went out."
4074
4075 "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that morning."
4076
4077 "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, and your relations to her."
4078
4079 Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a row."
4080
4081 "Did your wife hear all this?"
4082
4083 "No, thank goodness, she did not."
4084
4085 "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?"
4086
4087 "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid some terrible trap for her."
4088
4089 "Well, it is a possible supposition."
4090
4091 "You think so, too?"
4092
4093 "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon this as likely?"
4094
4095 "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly."
4096
4097 "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray what is your own theory as to what took place?"
4098
4099 "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous disturbance in my wife."
4100
4101 "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?"
4102
4103 "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion."
4104
4105 "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?"
4106
4107 "We could see the other side of the road and the Park."
4108
4109 "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. I shall communicate with you."
4110
4111 "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our client, rising.
4112
4113 "I have solved it."
4114
4115 "Eh? What was that?"
4116
4117 "I say that I have solved it."
4118
4119 "Where, then, is my wife?"
4120
4121 "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply."
4122
4123 Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.
4124
4125 "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the case before our client came into the room."
4126
4127 "My dear Holmes!"
4128
4129 "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example."
4130
4131 "But I have heard all that you have heard."
4132
4133 "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cigars in the box."
4134
4135 The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him.
4136
4137 "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You look dissatisfied."
4138
4139 "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."
4140
4141 "Really! You surprise me."
4142
4143 "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day."
4144
4145 "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket.
4146
4147 "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine."
4148
4149 "In heaven's name, what for?"
4150
4151 "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon."
4152
4153 Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
4154
4155 "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he asked.
4156
4157 "Why? What do you mean?"
4158
4159 "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the one as in the other."
4160
4161 Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you know all about it," he snarled.
4162
4163 "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up."
4164
4165 "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the matter?"
4166
4167 "I think it very unlikely."
4168
4169 "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Holmes."
4170
4171 "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?"
4172
4173 "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off."
4174
4175 "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope to arrive at through this?"
4176
4177 "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance."
4178
4179 "I am afraid that you will find it difficult."
4180
4181 "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar."
4182
4183 "And how?"
4184
4185 "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will see me when all is ready. Come at once. F. H. M.' Now my theory all along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped into her hand at the door and which lured her within their reach."
4186
4187 "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," said he.
4188
4189 "Ha! you find it so?"
4190
4191 "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly."
4192
4193 Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!"
4194
4195 "On the contrary, this is the right side."
4196
4197 "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil over here."
4198
4199 "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel bill, which interests me deeply."
4200
4201 "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. " 'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that."
4202
4203 "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I congratulate you again."
4204
4205 "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them into the bag, and made for the door.
4206
4207 "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any such person."
4208
4209 Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and hurried away.
4210
4211 He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must leave you to your papers for a little."
4212
4213 It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold woodcock, a pheasant, a pate de foie gras pie with a group of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid for and were ordered to this address.
4214
4215 Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his conclusions.
4216
4217 "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands.
4218
4219 "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five."
4220
4221 "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs."
4222
4223 It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.
4224
4225 "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes.
4226
4227 "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Have you good authority for what you say?"
4228
4229 "The best possible."
4230
4231 Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his forehead.
4232
4233 "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the family has been subjected to such humiliation?"
4234
4235 "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any humiliation."
4236
4237 "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint."
4238
4239 "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she had no one to advise her at such a crisis."
4240
4241 "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, tapping his fingers upon the table.
4242
4243 "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so unprecedented a position."
4244
4245 "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have been shamefully used."
4246
4247 "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I think, you have already met."
4248
4249 At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was one which it was hard to resist.
4250
4251 "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every cause to be."
4252
4253 "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly.
4254
4255 "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't fall down and do a faint right there before the altar."
4256
4257 "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the room while you explain this matter?"
4258
4259 "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner.
4260
4261 "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where Pa was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to nothing. The richer Pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last Pa wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so he followed me there, and he saw me without Pa knowing anything about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had as much as Pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his fortune, and I went back to Pa.
4262
4263 "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, and a marriage was arranged, and Pa was very pleased, but I felt all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.
4264
4265 "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.
4266
4267 "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the very morning of my second wedding."
4268
4269 "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name and the church but not where the lady lived."
4270
4271 "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just sending a line to Pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very meanly of me."
4272
4273 Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this long narrative.
4274
4275 "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most intimate personal affairs in this public manner."
4276
4277 "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?"
4278
4279 "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.
4280
4281 "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us in a friendly supper."
4282
4283 "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and stalked out of the room.
4284
4285 "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes."
4286
4287 "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Lestrade of Scotland Yard."
4288
4289 "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?"
4290
4291 "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America because she had spent so short a time in this country that she could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an American. Then who could this American be, and why should he possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance means taking possession of that which another person has a prior claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter."
4292
4293 "And how in the world did you find them?"
4294
4295 "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held information in his hands the value of which he did not himself know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels."
4296
4297 "How did you deduce the select?"
4298
4299 "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be better in every way that they should make their position a little clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I made him keep the appointment."
4300
4301 "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was certainly not very gracious."
4302
4303 "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings."
4304
4305 XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
4306
4307
4308 "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone."
4309
4310 My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.
4311
4312 He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most extraordinary contortions.
4313
4314 "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is looking up at the numbers of the houses."
4315
4316 "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his hands.
4317
4318 "Here?"
4319
4320 "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging.
4321
4322 A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ.
4323
4324 "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into any little problem which you may submit to me."
4325
4326 The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.
4327
4328 "No doubt you think me mad?" said he.
4329
4330 "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.
4331
4332 "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found out of this horrible affair."
4333
4334 "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you."
4335
4336 "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street."
4337
4338 The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced himself to tell his story.
4339
4340 "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can.
4341
4342 "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction during the last few years, and there are many noble families to whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their pictures, libraries, or plate.
4343
4344 "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry quickly through a disagreeable task.
4345
4346 " 'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the habit of advancing money.'
4347
4348 " 'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.
4349
4350 " 'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have $50,000 at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place one's self under obligations.'
4351
4352 " 'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.
4353
4354 " 'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the money should be paid at once.'
4355
4356 " 'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution should be taken.'
4357
4358 " 'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?'
4359
4360 " 'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' said I.
4361
4362 " 'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my security.'
4363
4364 "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity from it to my illustrious client.
4365
4366 " 'You doubt its value?' he asked.
4367
4368 " 'Not at all. I only doubt--'
4369
4370 " 'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'
4371
4372 " 'Ample.'
4373
4374 " 'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall call for it in person on Monday morning.'
4375
4376 "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty $1000 notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned once more to my work.
4377
4378 "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room.
4379
4380 "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way.
4381
4382 "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I meant it for the best.
4383
4384 "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.
4385
4386 "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into character.
4387
4388 "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late!
4389
4390 "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and I shall continue with my miserable story.
4391
4392 "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it.
4393
4394 " 'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.
4395
4396 " 'In my own bureau.'
4397
4398 " 'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the night.' said he.
4399
4400 " 'It is locked up,' I answered.
4401
4402 " 'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'
4403
4404 "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with a very grave face.
4405
4406 " 'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let me have $200?'
4407
4408 " 'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too generous with you in money matters.'
4409
4410 " 'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.'
4411
4412 " 'And a very good thing, too!' I cried.
4413
4414 " 'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try other means.'
4415
4416 "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which he bowed and left the room without another word.
4417
4418 "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as I approached.
4419
4420 " 'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to-night?'
4421
4422 " 'Certainly not.'
4423
4424 " 'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that it is hardly safe and should be stopped.'
4425
4426 " 'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?'
4427
4428 " 'Quite sure, dad.'
4429
4430 " 'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom again, where I was soon asleep.
4431
4432 "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question me upon any point which I do not make clear."
4433
4434 "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid."
4435
4436 "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an impression behind it as though a window had gently closed somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.
4437
4438 " 'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you touch that coronet?'
4439
4440 "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with three of the beryls in it, was missing.
4441
4442 " 'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the jewels which you have stolen?'
4443
4444 " 'Stolen!' he cried.
4445
4446 " 'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.
4447
4448 " 'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.
4449
4450 " 'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to tear off another piece?'
4451
4452 " 'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in the morning and make my own way in the world.'
4453
4454 " 'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the bottom.'
4455
4456 " 'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to call the police, let the police find what they can.'
4457
4458 "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was national property. I was determined that the law should have its way in everything.
4459
4460 " 'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the house for five minutes.'
4461
4462 " 'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell me what he had done with the three missing stones.
4463
4464 " 'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'
4465
4466 " 'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think necessary. I have already offered a reward of $1000. My God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son in one night. Oh, what shall I do!"
4467
4468 He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got beyond words.
4469
4470 Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire.
4471
4472 "Do you receive much company?" he asked.
4473
4474 "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No one else, I think."
4475
4476 "Do you go out much in society?"
4477
4478 "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for it."
4479
4480 "That is unusual in a young girl."
4481
4482 "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She is four-and-twenty."
4483
4484 "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to her also."
4485
4486 "Terrible! She is even more affected than I."
4487
4488 "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?"
4489
4490 "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet in his hands."
4491
4492 "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the coronet at all injured?"
4493
4494 "Yes, it was twisted."
4495
4496 "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to straighten it?"
4497
4498 "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?"
4499
4500 "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several singular points about the case. What did the police think of the noise which awoke you from your sleep?"
4501
4502 "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his bedroom door."
4503
4504 "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the disappearance of these gems?"
4505
4506 "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture in the hope of finding them."
4507
4508 "Have they thought of looking outside the house?"
4509
4510 "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has already been minutely examined."
4511
4512 "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes. "is it not obvious to you now that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?"
4513
4514 "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain them?"
4515
4516 "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into details."
4517
4518 My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest residence of the great financier.
4519
4520 Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.
4521
4522 "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you not, dad?" she asked.
4523
4524 "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."
4525
4526 "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be sorry for having acted so harshly."
4527
4528 "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"
4529
4530 "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect him."
4531
4532 "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the coronet in his hand?"
4533
4534 "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in prison!"
4535
4536 "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman down from London to inquire more deeply into it."
4537
4538 "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.
4539
4540 "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the stable lane now."
4541
4542 "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime."
4543
4544 "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?"
4545
4546 "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."
4547
4548 "You heard nothing yourself last night?"
4549
4550 "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard that, and I came down."
4551
4552 "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten all the windows?"
4553
4554 "Yes."
4555
4556 "Were they all fastened this morning?"
4557
4558 "Yes."
4559
4560 "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
4561
4562 "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
4563
4564 "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery."
4565
4566 "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the coronet in his hands?"
4567
4568 "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I presume?"
4569
4570 "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
4571
4572 "Do you know him?"
4573
4574 "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. His name is Francis Prosper."
4575
4576 "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
4577
4578 "Yes, he did."
4579
4580 "And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
4581
4582 Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes' thin, eager face.
4583
4584 "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
4585
4586 He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," said he at last.
4587
4588 The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
4589
4590 "Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
4591
4592 "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the lumber-room."
4593
4594 "Have you it here?"
4595
4596 "That is it on the dressing-table."
4597
4598 Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
4599
4600 "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away.
4601
4602 "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I beg that you will break it off."
4603
4604 The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," said he.
4605
4606 "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard nothing of it?"
4607
4608 "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
4609
4610 "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Miss Holder?"
4611
4612 "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
4613
4614 "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
4615
4616 "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
4617
4618 "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations outside."
4619
4620 He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever.
4621
4622 "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my rooms."
4623
4624 "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?"
4625
4626 "I cannot tell."
4627
4628 The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?"
4629
4630 "My opinion is in no way altered."
4631
4632 "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was acted in my house last night?"
4633
4634 "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you place no limit on the sum I may draw."
4635
4636 "I would give my fortune to have them back."
4637
4638 "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here again before evening."
4639
4640 It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he was a perfect sample of the class.
4641
4642 "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition.
4643
4644 I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a cup of tea.
4645
4646 "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on."
4647
4648 "Where to?"
4649
4650 "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be late."
4651
4652 "How are you getting on?"
4653
4654 "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly respectable self."
4655
4656 I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his congenial hunt.
4657
4658 I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the other, as fresh and trim as possible.
4659
4660 "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this morning."
4661
4662 "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."
4663
4664 It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the armchair which I pushed forward for him.
4665
4666 "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Mary, has deserted me."
4667
4668 "Deserted you?"
4669
4670 "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers in this note:
4671
4672 " 'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in death, I am ever your loving
4673
4674
4675 " 'MARY.'
4676
4677 "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it points to suicide?"
4678
4679 "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of your troubles."
4680
4681 "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have learned something! Where are the gems?"
4682
4683 "You would not think $1000 apiece an excessive sum for them?"
4684
4685 "I would pay ten."
4686
4687 "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Here is a pen. Better make it out for $4000."
4688
4689 With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.
4690
4691 With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.
4692
4693 "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!"
4694
4695 The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
4696
4697 "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Holmes rather sternly.
4698
4699 "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it."
4700
4701 "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have one."
4702
4703 "Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
4704
4705 "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not."
4706
4707 "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him know that the truth is known."
4708
4709 "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his lips."
4710
4711 "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary mystery!"
4712
4713 "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fled together."
4714
4715 "My Mary? Impossible!"
4716
4717 "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing him nearly every evening."
4718
4719 "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an ashen face.
4720
4721 "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, which was all perfectly true.
4722
4723 "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
4724
4725 "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you appeared upon the scene."
4726
4727 "Is it possible?" gasped the banker.
4728
4729 "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her secret."
4730
4731 "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!"
4732
4733 "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in front of me.
4734
4735 "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue.
4736
4737 "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who was it brought him the coronet?
4738
4739 "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture became a certainty.
4740
4741 "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his own family.
4742
4743 "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."
4744
4745 "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," said Mr. Holder.
4746
4747 "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give him a price for the stones he held--$1000 apiece. That brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at $1000 apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after what I may call a really hard day's work."
4748
4749 "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now."
4750
4751 "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punishment."
4752
4753 XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES
4754
4755
4756 "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in these little records of our cases which you have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to the many causes celebres and sensational trials in which I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made my special province."
4757
4758 "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my records."
4759
4760 "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about the thing."
4761
4762 "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend's singular character.
4763
4764 "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of lectures into a series of tales."
4765
4766 It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
4767
4768 "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial."
4769
4770 "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to have been novel and of interest."
4771
4772 "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial. I cannot blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to me.
4773
4774 It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran thus:
4775
4776 "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully,
4777
4778
4779 "VIOLET HUNTER."
4780
4781 "Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
4782
4783 "Not I."
4784
4785 "It is half-past ten now."
4786
4787 "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
4788
4789 "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be so in this case, also."
4790
4791 "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
4792
4793 As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had her own way to make in the world.
4794
4795 "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me what I should do."
4796
4797 "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that I can to serve you."
4798
4799 I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
4800
4801 "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success. At last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.
4802
4803 "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.
4804
4805 "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.
4806
4807 " 'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.
4808
4809 " 'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
4810
4811 " 'Yes, sir.'
4812
4813 " 'As governess?'
4814
4815 " 'Yes, sir.'
4816
4817 " 'And what salary do you ask?'
4818
4819 " 'I had $4 a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Munro.'
4820
4821 " 'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions and accomplishments?'
4822
4823 " 'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
4824
4825 " 'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, madam, would commence at $100 a year.'
4826
4827 "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened a pocket-book and took out a note.
4828
4829 " 'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.'
4830
4831 "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know a little more before I quite committed myself.
4832
4833 " 'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
4834
4835 " 'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
4836
4837 " 'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.'
4838
4839 " 'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.
4840
4841 "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.
4842
4843 " 'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single child?'
4844
4845 " 'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided always that they were such commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?'
4846
4847 " 'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
4848
4849 " 'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Heh?'
4850
4851 " 'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
4852
4853 " 'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?'
4854
4855 " 'Oh, no.'
4856
4857 " 'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
4858
4859 "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
4860
4861 " 'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a shadow pass over his face as I spoke.
4862
4863 " 'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'
4864
4865 " 'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
4866
4867 " 'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young ladies.'
4868
4869 "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
4870
4871 " 'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
4872
4873 " 'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
4874
4875 " 'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.
4876
4877 "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the table. I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few governesses in England are getting $100 a year. Besides, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it here and I will read it to you:
4878
4879
4880 " 'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
4881
4882 " 'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of you. We are willing to give $30 a quarter, or $120 a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Yours faithfully,
4883
4884
4885 " 'JEPHRO RUCASTLE.'
4886
4887 "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the whole matter to your consideration."
4888
4889 "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the question," said Holmes, smiling.
4890
4891 "But you would not advise me to refuse?"
4892
4893 "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for."
4894
4895 "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"
4896
4897 "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself formed some opinion?"
4898
4899 "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an outbreak?"
4900
4901 "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a nice household for a young lady."
4902
4903 "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!"
4904
4905 "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what makes me uneasy. Why should they give you $120 a year, when they could have their pick for $40? There must be some strong reason behind."
4906
4907 "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me."
4908
4909 "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt or in danger--"
4910
4911 "Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
4912
4913 Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a telegram would bring me down to your help."
4914
4915 "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both good-night and bustled off upon her way.
4916
4917 "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to take care of herself."
4918
4919 "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past."
4920
4921 It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever have accepted such a situation.
4922
4923 The telegram which we eventually received came late one night just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me.
4924
4925 "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back to his chemical studies.
4926
4927 The summons was a brief and urgent one.
4928
4929 "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end.
4930
4931
4932 "HUNTER."
4933
4934 "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.
4935
4936 "I should wish to."
4937
4938 "Just look it up, then."
4939
4940 "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30."
4941
4942 "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the morning."
4943
4944 By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.
4945
4946 "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
4947
4948 But Holmes shook his head gravely.
4949
4950 "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."
4951
4952 "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?"
4953
4954 "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."
4955
4956 "You horrify me!"
4957
4958 "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is not personally threatened."
4959
4960 "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."
4961
4962 "Quite so. She has her freedom."
4963
4964 "What can be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"
4965
4966 "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to tell."
4967
4968 The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no distance from the station, and there we found the young lady waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch awaited us upon the table.
4969
4970 "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."
4971
4972 "Pray tell us what has happened to you."
4973
4974 "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose."
4975
4976 "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.
4977
4978 "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and I am not easy in my mind about them."
4979
4980 "What can you not understand?"
4981
4982 "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in front of the hall door has given its name to the place.
4983
4984 "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their conversation I have gathered that they have been married about seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her father's young wife.
4985
4986 "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he has little to do with my story."
4987
4988 "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they seem to you to be relevant or not."
4989
4990 "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one corner of the building.
4991
4992 "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after breakfast and whispered something to her husband.
4993
4994 " 'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should both be extremely obliged.'
4995
4996 "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the nursery.
4997
4998 "Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of which my employer had an immense repertoire, and which he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to change my dress.
4999
5000 "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once.
5001
5002 " 'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'
5003
5004 " 'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked.
5005
5006 " 'No, I know no one in these parts.'
5007
5008 " 'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to him to go away.'
5009
5010 " 'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
5011
5012 " 'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn round and wave him away like that.'
5013
5014 "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the man in the road."
5015
5016 "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a most interesting one."
5017
5018 "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about.
5019
5020 " 'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
5021
5022 "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a vague figure huddled up in the darkness.
5023
5024 " 'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life is worth.'
5025
5026 "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not think that any burglar could have done.
5027
5028 "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.
5029
5030 "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had locked.
5031
5032 "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his face which made him a very different person to the round, jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me without a word or a look.
5033
5034 "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.
5035
5036 " 'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with business matters.'
5037
5038 "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of them has the shutters up.'
5039
5040 "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled at my remark.
5041
5042 " 'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and annoyance, but no jest.
5043
5044 "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the forbidden door.
5045
5046 "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped through.
5047
5048 "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting outside.
5049
5050 " 'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it must be when I saw the door open.'
5051
5052 " 'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.
5053
5054 " 'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened you, my dear young lady?'
5055
5056 "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I was keenly on my guard against him.
5057
5058 " 'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in there!'
5059
5060 " 'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.
5061
5062 " 'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
5063
5064 " 'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
5065
5066 " 'I am sure that I do not know.'
5067
5068 " 'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
5069
5070 " 'I am sure if I had known--'
5071
5072 " 'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'
5073
5074 "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should do."
5075
5076 Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his face.
5077
5078 "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
5079
5080 "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do nothing with him."
5081
5082 "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
5083
5084 "Yes."
5085
5086 "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
5087
5088 "Yes, the wine-cellar."
5089
5090 "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think you a quite exceptional woman."
5091
5092 "I will try. What is it?"
5093
5094 "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."
5095
5096 "I will do it."
5097
5098 "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some friend of hers--possibly her fiance--and no doubt, as you wore the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the child."
5099
5100 "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
5101
5102 "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their power."
5103
5104 "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this poor creature."
5105
5106 "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery."
5107
5108 We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.
5109
5110 "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
5111
5112 A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of Mr. Rucastle's."
5113
5114 "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business."
5115
5116 We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes' face clouded over.
5117
5118 "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in."
5119
5120 It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone.
5121
5122 "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim off."
5123
5124 "But how?"
5125
5126 "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it."
5127
5128 "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not there when the Rucastles went away."
5129
5130 "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
5131
5132 The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and confronted him.
5133
5134 "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
5135
5136 The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight.
5137
5138 "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he could go.
5139
5140 "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
5141
5142 "I have my revolver," said I.
5143
5144 "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door.
5145
5146 "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
5147
5148 Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.
5149
5150 "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
5151
5152 "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were wasted."
5153
5154 "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
5155
5156 "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
5157
5158 "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
5159
5160 "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too.
5161
5162 "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
5163
5164 "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system of imprisonment?"
5165
5166 "Yes, sir."
5167
5168 "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
5169
5170 "That was it, sir."
5171
5172 "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were the same as his."
5173
5174 "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs. Toller serenely.
5175
5176 "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment when your master had gone out."
5177
5178 "You have it, sir, just as it happened."
5179
5180 "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a questionable one."
5181
5182 And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
5183
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5500
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5502
5503 The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the United States
5504 by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
5505
5506 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
5507 almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
5508 re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
5509 with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
5510
5511
5512 Title: History of the United States
5513
5514 Author: Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
5515
5516 Release Date: October 28, 2005 [EBook #16960]
5517
5518 Language: English
5519
5520 Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
5521
5522 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ***
5523
5524
5525
5526
5527 Produced by Curtis Weyant, M and the Online Distributed
5528 Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
5529
5530
5531
5532
5533
5534
5535
5536 HISTORY
5537
5538 OF THE
5539
5540 UNITED STATES
5541
5542
5543 BY
5544
5545
5546 CHARLES A. BEARD
5547
5548 AND
5549
5550 MARY R. BEARD
5551
5552
5553
5554 New York
5555
5556 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
5557
5558 1921
5559
5560 _All rights reserved_
5561
5562 COPYRIGHT, 1921,
5563
5564 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
5565
5566
5567 Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1921.
5568
5569
5570
5571
5572 Norwood Press
5573
5574 J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
5575
5576 NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.
5577
5578
5579
5580
5581 PREFACE
5582
5583
5584 As things now stand, the course of instruction in American history in
5585 our public schools embraces three distinct treatments of the subject.
5586 Three separate books are used. First, there is the primary book, which
5587 is usually a very condensed narrative with emphasis on biographies and
5588 anecdotes. Second, there is the advanced text for the seventh or eighth
5589 grade, generally speaking, an expansion of the elementary book by the
5590 addition of forty or fifty thousand words. Finally, there is the high
5591 school manual. This, too, ordinarily follows the beaten path, giving
5592 fuller accounts of the same events and characters. To put it bluntly, we
5593 do not assume that our children obtain permanent possessions from their
5594 study of history in the lower grades. If mathematicians followed the
5595 same method, high school texts on algebra and geometry would include the
5596 multiplication table and fractions.
5597
5598 There is, of course, a ready answer to the criticism advanced above. It
5599 is that teachers have learned from bitter experience how little history
5600 their pupils retain as they pass along the regular route. No teacher of
5601 history will deny this. Still it is a standing challenge to existing
5602 methods of historical instruction. If the study of history cannot be
5603 made truly progressive like the study of mathematics, science, and
5604 languages, then the historians assume a grave responsibility in adding
5605 their subject to the already overloaded curriculum. If the successive
5606 historical texts are only enlarged editions of the first text--more
5607 facts, more dates, more words--then history deserves most of the sharp
5608 criticism which it is receiving from teachers of science, civics, and
5609 economics.
5610
5611 In this condition of affairs we find our justification for offering a
5612 new high school text in American history. Our first contribution is one
5613 of omission. The time-honored stories of exploration and the
5614 biographies of heroes are left out. We frankly hold that, if pupils know
5615 little or nothing about Columbus, Cortes, Magellan, or Captain John
5616 Smith by the time they reach the high school, it is useless to tell the
5617 same stories for perhaps the fourth time. It is worse than useless. It
5618 is an offense against the teachers of those subjects that are
5619 demonstrated to be progressive in character.
5620
5621 In the next place we have omitted all descriptions of battles. Our
5622 reasons for this are simple. The strategy of a campaign or of a single
5623 battle is a highly technical, and usually a highly controversial, matter
5624 about which experts differ widely. In the field of military and naval
5625 operations most writers and teachers of history are mere novices. To
5626 dispose of Gettysburg or the Wilderness in ten lines or ten pages is
5627 equally absurd to the serious student of military affairs. Any one who
5628 compares the ordinary textbook account of a single Civil War campaign
5629 with the account given by Ropes, for instance, will ask for no further
5630 comment. No youth called upon to serve our country in arms would think
5631 of turning to a high school manual for information about the art of
5632 warfare. The dramatic scene or episode, so useful in arousing the
5633 interest of the immature pupil, seems out of place in a book that
5634 deliberately appeals to boys and girls on the very threshold of life's
5635 serious responsibilities.
5636
5637 It is not upon negative features, however, that we rest our case. It is
5638 rather upon constructive features.
5639
5640 _First._ We have written a topical, not a narrative, history. We have
5641 tried to set forth the important aspects, problems, and movements of
5642 each period, bringing in the narrative rather by way of illustration.
5643
5644 _Second._ We have emphasized those historical topics which help to
5645 explain how our nation has come to be what it is to-day.
5646
5647 _Third._ We have dwelt fully upon the social and economic aspects of our
5648 history, especially in relation to the politics of each period.
5649
5650 _Fourth._ We have treated the causes and results of wars, the problems
5651 of financing and sustaining armed forces, rather than military strategy.
5652 These are the subjects which belong to a history for civilians. These
5653 are matters which civilians can understand--matters which they must
5654 understand, if they are to play well their part in war and peace.
5655
5656 _Fifth._ By omitting the period of exploration, we have been able to
5657 enlarge the treatment of our own time. We have given special attention
5658 to the history of those current questions which must form the subject
5659 matter of sound instruction in citizenship.
5660
5661 _Sixth._ We have borne in mind that America, with all her unique
5662 characteristics, is a part of a general civilization. Accordingly we
5663 have given diplomacy, foreign affairs, world relations, and the
5664 reciprocal influences of nations their appropriate place.
5665
5666 _Seventh._ We have deliberately aimed at standards of maturity. The
5667 study of a mere narrative calls mainly for the use of the memory. We
5668 have aimed to stimulate habits of analysis, comparison, association,
5669 reflection, and generalization--habits calculated to enlarge as well as
5670 inform the mind. We have been at great pains to make our text clear,
5671 simple, and direct; but we have earnestly sought to stretch the
5672 intellects of our readers--to put them upon their mettle. Most of them
5673 will receive the last of their formal instruction in the high school.
5674 The world will soon expect maturity from them. Their achievements will
5675 depend upon the possession of other powers than memory alone. The
5676 effectiveness of their citizenship in our republic will be measured by
5677 the excellence of their judgment as well as the fullness of their
5678 information.
5679
5680 C.A.B.
5681 M.R.B.
5682
5683 NEW YORK CITY,
5684 February 8, 1921.
5685
5686
5687
5688
5689 =A SMALL LIBRARY IN AMERICAN HISTORY=
5690
5691
5692 _=SINGLE VOLUMES:=_
5693
5694 BASSETT, J.S. _A Short History of the United States_
5695 ELSON, H.W. _History of the United States of America_
5696
5697
5698 _=SERIES:=_
5699
5700 "EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY," EDITED BY A.B. HART
5701
5702 HART, A.B. _Formation of the Union_
5703 THWAITES, R.G. _The Colonies_
5704 WILSON, WOODROW. _Division and Reunion_
5705
5706 "RIVERSIDE SERIES," EDITED BY W.E. DODD
5707
5708 BECKER, C.L. _Beginnings of the American People_
5709 DODD, W.E. _Expansion and Conflict_
5710 JOHNSON, A. _Union and Democracy_
5711 PAXSON, F.L. _The New Nation_
5712
5713
5714
5715
5716 CONTENTS
5717
5718
5719 PART I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD
5720
5721 CHAPTER PAGE
5722 I. THE GREAT MIGRATION TO AMERICA 1
5723 The Agencies of American Colonization 2
5724 The Colonial Peoples 6
5725 The Process of Colonization 12
5726
5727 II. COLONIAL AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND COMMERCE 20
5728 The Land and the Westward Movement 20
5729 Industrial and Commercial Development 28
5730
5731 III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS 38
5732 The Leadership of the Churches 39
5733 Schools and Colleges 43
5734 The Colonial Press 46
5735 The Evolution in Political Institutions 48
5736
5737 IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLONIAL NATIONALISM 56
5738 Relations with the Indians and the French 57
5739 The Effects of Warfare on the Colonies 61
5740 Colonial Relations with the British Government 64
5741 Summary of Colonial Period 73
5742
5743
5744 PART II. CONFLICT AND INDEPENDENCE
5745
5746 V. THE NEW COURSE IN BRITISH IMPERIAL POLICY 77
5747 George III and His System 77
5748 George III's Ministers and Their Colonial Policies 79
5749 Colonial Resistance Forces Repeal 83
5750 Resumption of British Revenue and Commercial Policies 87
5751 Renewed Resistance in America 90
5752 Retaliation by the British Government 93
5753 From Reform to Revolution in America 95
5754
5755 VI. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 99
5756 Resistance and Retaliation 99
5757 American Independence 101
5758 The Establishment of Government and the New Allegiance 108
5759 Military Affairs 116
5760 The Finances of the Revolution 125
5761 The Diplomacy of the Revolution 127
5762 Peace at Last 132
5763 Summary of the Revolutionary Period 135
5764
5765
5766 PART III. FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNION AND NATIONAL POLITICS
5767
5768 VII. THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION 139
5769 The Promise and the Difficulties of America 139
5770 The Calling of a Constitutional Convention 143
5771 The Framing of the Constitution 146
5772 The Struggle over Ratification 157
5773
5774 VIII. THE CLASH OF POLITICAL PARTIES 162
5775 The Men and Measures of the New Government 162
5776 The Rise of Political Parties 168
5777 Foreign Influences and Domestic Politics 171
5778
5779 IX. THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS IN POWER 186
5780 Republican Principles and Policies 186
5781 The Republicans and the Great West 188
5782 The Republican War for Commercial Independence 193
5783 The Republicans Nationalized 201
5784 The National Decisions of Chief Justice Marshall 208
5785 Summary of Union and National Politics 212
5786
5787
5788 PART IV. THE WEST AND JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY
5789
5790 X. THE FARMERS BEYOND THE APPALACHIANS 217
5791 Preparation for Western Settlement 217
5792 The Western Migration and New States 221
5793 The Spirit of the Frontier 228
5794 The West and the East Meet 230
5795
5796 XI. JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 238
5797 The Democratic Movement in the East 238
5798 The New Democracy Enters the Arena 244
5799 The New Democracy at Washington 250
5800 The Rise of the Whigs 260
5801 The Interaction of American and European Opinion 265
5802
5803 XII. THE MIDDLE BORDER AND THE GREAT WEST 271
5804 The Advance of the Middle Border 271
5805 On to the Pacific--Texas and the Mexican War 276
5806 The Pacific Coast and Utah 284
5807 Summary of Western Development and National Politics 292
5808
5809
5810 PART V. SECTIONAL CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION
5811
5812 XIII. THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM 295
5813 The Industrial Revolution 296
5814 The Industrial Revolution and National Politics 307
5815
5816 XIV. THE PLANTING SYSTEM AND NATIONAL POLITICS 316
5817 Slavery--North and South 316
5818 Slavery in National Politics 324
5819 The Drift of Events toward the Irrepressible Conflict 332
5820
5821 XV. THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION 344
5822 The Southern Confederacy 344
5823 The War Measures of the Federal Government 350
5824 The Results of the Civil War 365
5825 Reconstruction in the South 370
5826 Summary of the Sectional Conflict 375
5827
5828
5829 PART VI. NATIONAL GROWTH AND WORLD POLITICS
5830
5831 XVI. THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTH 379
5832 The South at the Close of the War 379
5833 The Restoration of White Supremacy 382
5834 The Economic Advance of the South 389
5835
5836 XVII. BUSINESS ENTERPRISE AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 401
5837 Railways and Industry 401
5838 The Supremacy of the Republican Party (1861-1885) 412
5839 The Growth of Opposition to Republican Rule 417
5840
5841 XVIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT WEST 425
5842 The Railways as Trail Blazers 425
5843 The Evolution of Grazing and Agriculture 431
5844 Mining and Manufacturing in the West 436
5845 The Admission of New States 440
5846 The Influence of the Far West on National Life 443
5847
5848 XIX. DOMESTIC ISSUES BEFORE THE COUNTRY (1865-1897) 451
5849 The Currency Question 452
5850 The Protective Tariff and Taxation 459
5851 The Railways and Trusts 460
5852 The Minor Parties and Unrest 462
5853 The Sound Money Battle of 1896 466
5854 Republican Measures and Results 472
5855
5856 XX. AMERICA A WORLD POWER (1865-1900) 477
5857 American Foreign Relations (1865-1898) 478
5858 Cuba and the Spanish War 485
5859 American Policies in the Philippines and the Orient 497
5860 Summary of National Growth and World Politics 504
5861
5862
5863 PART VII. PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY AND THE WORLD WAR
5864
5865 XXI. THE EVOLUTION OF REPUBLICAN POLICIES (1901-1913) 507
5866 Foreign Affairs 508
5867 Colonial Administration 515
5868 The Roosevelt Domestic Policies 519
5869 Legislative and Executive Activities 523
5870 The Administration of President Taft 527
5871 Progressive Insurgency and the Election of 1912 530
5872
5873 XXII. THE SPIRIT OF REFORM IN AMERICA 536
5874 An Age of Criticism 536
5875 Political Reforms 538
5876 Measures of Economic Reform 546
5877
5878 XXIII. THE NEW POLITICAL DEMOCRACY 554
5879 The Rise of the Woman Movement 555
5880 The National Struggle for Woman Suffrage 562
5881
5882 XXIV. INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY 570
5883 Cooperation between Employers and Employees 571
5884 The Rise and Growth of Organized Labor 575
5885 The Wider Relations of Organized Labor 577
5886 Immigration and Americanization 582
5887
5888 XXV. PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE WORLD WAR 588
5889 Domestic Legislation 588
5890 Colonial and Foreign Policies 592
5891 The United States and the European War 596
5892 The United States at War 604
5893 The Settlement at Paris 612
5894 Summary of Democracy and the World War 620
5895
5896 APPENDIX 627
5897
5898 A TOPICAL SYLLABUS 645
5899
5900 INDEX 655
5901
5902
5903
5904
5905 MAPS
5906
5907
5908 PAGE
5909 The Original Grants (color map) _Facing_ 4
5910
5911 German and Scotch-Irish Settlements 8
5912
5913 Distribution of Population in 1790 27
5914
5915 English, French, and Spanish Possessions in America, 1750
5916 (color map) _Facing_ 59
5917
5918 The Colonies at the Time of the Declaration of Independence
5919 (color map) _Facing_ 108
5920
5921 North America according to the Treaty of 1783
5922 (color map) _Facing_ 134
5923
5924 The United States in 1805 (color map) _Facing_ 193
5925
5926 Roads and Trails into Western Territory (color map) _Facing_ 224
5927
5928 The Cumberland Road 233
5929
5930 Distribution of Population in 1830 235
5931
5932 Texas and the Territory in Dispute 282
5933
5934 The Oregon Country and the Disputed Boundary 285
5935
5936 The Overland Trails 287
5937
5938 Distribution of Slaves in Southern States 323
5939
5940 The Missouri Compromise 326
5941
5942 Slave and Free Soil on the Eve of the Civil War 335
5943
5944 The United States in 1861 (color map) _Facing_ 345
5945
5946 Railroads of the United States in 1918 405
5947
5948 The United States in 1870 (color map) _Facing_ 427
5949
5950 The United States in 1912 (color map) _Facing_ 443
5951
5952 American Dominions in the Pacific (color map) _Facing_ 500
5953
5954 The Caribbean Region (color map) _Facing_ 592
5955
5956 Battle Lines of the Various Years of the World War 613
5957
5958 Europe in 1919 (color map) _Between_ 618-619
5959
5960 "THE NATIONS OF THE WEST" (popularly called "The
5961 Pioneers"), designed by A. Stirling Calder and modeled by
5962 Mr. Calder, F.G.R. Roth, and Leo Lentelli, topped the Arch
5963 of the Setting Sun at the Panama-Pacific Exposition held at
5964 San Francisco in 1915. Facing the Court of the Universe
5965 moves a group of men and women typical of those who have
5966 made our civilization. From left to right appear the
5967 French-Canadian, the Alaskan, the Latin-American, the
5968 German, the Italian, the Anglo-American, and the American
5969 Indian, squaw and warrior. In the place of honor in the
5970 center of the group, standing between the oxen on the tongue
5971 of the prairie schooner, is a figure, beautiful and almost
5972 girlish, but strong, dignified, and womanly, the Mother of
5973 To-morrow. Above the group rides the Spirit of Enterprise,
5974 flanked right and left by the Hopes of the Future in the
5975 person of two boys. The group as a whole is beautifully
5976 symbolic of the westward march of American civilization.
5977
5978 [Illustration: _Photograph by Cardinell-Vincent Co., San Francisco_
5979
5980 "THE NATIONS OF THE WEST"]
5981
5982
5983
5984
5985 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
5986
5987
5988
5989
5990 PART I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD
5991
5992
5993
5994
5995 CHAPTER I
5996
5997 THE GREAT MIGRATION TO AMERICA
5998
5999
6000 The tide of migration that set in toward the shores of North America
6001 during the early years of the seventeenth century was but one phase in
6002 the restless and eternal movement of mankind upon the surface of the
6003 earth. The ancient Greeks flung out their colonies in every direction,
6004 westward as far as Gaul, across the Mediterranean, and eastward into
6005 Asia Minor, perhaps to the very confines of India. The Romans, supported
6006 by their armies and their government, spread their dominion beyond the
6007 narrow lands of Italy until it stretched from the heather of Scotland to
6008 the sands of Arabia. The Teutonic tribes, from their home beyond the
6009 Danube and the Rhine, poured into the empire of the Caesars and made the
6010 beginnings of modern Europe. Of this great sweep of races and empires
6011 the settlement of America was merely a part. And it was, moreover, only
6012 one aspect of the expansion which finally carried the peoples, the
6013 institutions, and the trade of Europe to the very ends of the earth.
6014
6015 In one vital point, it must be noted, American colonization differed
6016 from that of the ancients. The Greeks usually carried with them
6017 affection for the government they left behind and sacred fire from the
6018 altar of the parent city; but thousands of the immigrants who came to
6019 America disliked the state and disowned the church of the mother
6020 country. They established compacts of government for themselves and set
6021 up altars of their own. They sought not only new soil to till but also
6022 political and religious liberty for themselves and their children.
6023
6024
6025 THE AGENCIES OF AMERICAN COLONIZATION
6026
6027 It was no light matter for the English to cross three thousand miles of
6028 water and found homes in the American wilderness at the opening of the
6029 seventeenth century. Ships, tools, and supplies called for huge outlays
6030 of money. Stores had to be furnished in quantities sufficient to sustain
6031 the life of the settlers until they could gather harvests of their own.
6032 Artisans and laborers of skill and industry had to be induced to risk
6033 the hazards of the new world. Soldiers were required for defense and
6034 mariners for the exploration of inland waters. Leaders of good judgment,
6035 adept in managing men, had to be discovered. Altogether such an
6036 enterprise demanded capital larger than the ordinary merchant or
6037 gentleman could amass and involved risks more imminent than he dared to
6038 assume. Though in later days, after initial tests had been made, wealthy
6039 proprietors were able to establish colonies on their own account, it was
6040 the corporation that furnished the capital and leadership in the
6041 beginning.
6042
6043 =The Trading Company.=--English pioneers in exploration found an
6044 instrument for colonization in companies of merchant adventurers, which
6045 had long been employed in carrying on commerce with foreign countries.
6046 Such a corporation was composed of many persons of different ranks of
6047 society--noblemen, merchants, and gentlemen--who banded together for a
6048 particular undertaking, each contributing a sum of money and sharing in
6049 the profits of the venture. It was organized under royal authority; it
6050 received its charter, its grant of land, and its trading privileges from
6051 the king and carried on its operations under his supervision and
6052 control. The charter named all the persons originally included in the
6053 corporation and gave them certain powers in the management of its
6054 affairs, including the right to admit new members. The company was in
6055 fact a little government set up by the king. When the members of the
6056 corporation remained in England, as in the case of the Virginia Company,
6057 they operated through agents sent to the colony. When they came over the
6058 seas themselves and settled in America, as in the case of Massachusetts,
6059 they became the direct government of the country they possessed. The
6060 stockholders in that instance became the voters and the governor, the
6061 chief magistrate.
6062
6063 [Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP, GOVERNOR OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY
6064 COMPANY]
6065
6066 Four of the thirteen colonies in America owed their origins to the
6067 trading corporation. It was the London Company, created by King James I,
6068 in 1606, that laid during the following year the foundations of Virginia
6069 at Jamestown. It was under the auspices of their West India Company,
6070 chartered in 1621, that the Dutch planted the settlements of the New
6071 Netherland in the valley of the Hudson. The founders of Massachusetts
6072 were Puritan leaders and men of affairs whom King Charles I incorporated
6073 in 1629 under the title: "The governor and company of the Massachusetts
6074 Bay in New England." In this case the law did but incorporate a group
6075 drawn together by religious ties. "We must be knit together as one man,"
6076 wrote John Winthrop, the first Puritan governor in America. Far to the
6077 south, on the banks of the Delaware River, a Swedish commercial company
6078 in 1638 made the beginnings of a settlement, christened New Sweden; it
6079 was destined to pass under the rule of the Dutch, and finally under the
6080 rule of William Penn as the proprietary colony of Delaware.
6081
6082 In a certain sense, Georgia may be included among the "company
6083 colonies." It was, however, originally conceived by the moving spirit,
6084 James Oglethorpe, as an asylum for poor men, especially those imprisoned
6085 for debt. To realize this humane purpose, he secured from King George
6086 II, in 1732, a royal charter uniting several gentlemen, including
6087 himself, into "one body politic and corporate," known as the "Trustees
6088 for establishing the colony of Georgia in America." In the structure of
6089 their organization and their methods of government, the trustees did not
6090 differ materially from the regular companies created for trade and
6091 colonization. Though their purposes were benevolent, their transactions
6092 had to be under the forms of law and according to the rules of business.
6093
6094 =The Religious Congregation.=--A second agency which figured largely in
6095 the settlement of America was the religious brotherhood, or
6096 congregation, of men and women brought together in the bonds of a common
6097 religious faith. By one of the strange fortunes of history, this
6098 institution, founded in the early days of Christianity, proved to be a
6099 potent force in the origin and growth of self-government in a land far
6100 away from Galilee. "And the multitude of them that believed were of one
6101 heart and of one soul," we are told in the Acts describing the Church at
6102 Jerusalem. "We are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of
6103 the Lord ... by virtue of which we hold ourselves strictly tied to all
6104 care of each other's good and of the whole," wrote John Robinson, a
6105 leader among the Pilgrims who founded their tiny colony of Plymouth in
6106 1620. The Mayflower Compact, so famous in American history, was but a
6107 written and signed agreement, incorporating the spirit of obedience to
6108 the common good, which served as a guide to self-government until
6109 Plymouth was annexed to Massachusetts in 1691.
6110
6111 [Illustration: THE ORIGINAL GRANTS]
6112
6113 Three other colonies, all of which retained their identity until the eve
6114 of the American Revolution, likewise sprang directly from the
6115 congregations of the faithful: Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New
6116 Hampshire, mainly offshoots from Massachusetts. They were founded by
6117 small bodies of men and women, "united in solemn covenants with the
6118 Lord," who planted their settlements in the wilderness. Not until many a
6119 year after Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson conducted their followers
6120 to the Narragansett country was Rhode Island granted a charter of
6121 incorporation (1663) by the crown. Not until long after the congregation
6122 of Thomas Hooker from Newtown blazed the way into the Connecticut River
6123 Valley did the king of England give Connecticut a charter of its own
6124 (1662) and a place among the colonies. Half a century elapsed before the
6125 towns laid out beyond the Merrimac River by emigrants from Massachusetts
6126 were formed into the royal province of New Hampshire in 1679.
6127
6128 Even when Connecticut was chartered, the parchment and sealing wax of
6129 the royal lawyers did but confirm rights and habits of self-government
6130 and obedience to law previously established by the congregations. The
6131 towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield had long lived happily
6132 under their "Fundamental Orders" drawn up by themselves in 1639; so had
6133 the settlers dwelt peacefully at New Haven under their "Fundamental
6134 Articles" drafted in the same year. The pioneers on the Connecticut
6135 shore had no difficulty in agreeing that "the Scriptures do hold forth a
6136 perfect rule for the direction and government of all men."
6137
6138 =The Proprietor.=--A third and very important colonial agency was the
6139 proprietor, or proprietary. As the name, associated with the word
6140 "property," implies, the proprietor was a person to whom the king
6141 granted property in lands in North America to have, hold, use, and enjoy
6142 for his own benefit and profit, with the right to hand the estate down
6143 to his heirs in perpetual succession. The proprietor was a rich and
6144 powerful person, prepared to furnish or secure the capital, collect the
6145 ships, supply the stores, and assemble the settlers necessary to found
6146 and sustain a plantation beyond the seas. Sometimes the proprietor
6147 worked alone. Sometimes two or more were associated like partners in the
6148 common undertaking.
6149
6150 Five colonies, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the Carolinas,
6151 owe their formal origins, though not always their first settlements, nor
6152 in most cases their prosperity, to the proprietary system. Maryland,
6153 established in 1634 under a Catholic nobleman, Lord Baltimore, and
6154 blessed with religious toleration by the act of 1649, flourished under
6155 the mild rule of proprietors until it became a state in the American
6156 union. New Jersey, beginning its career under two proprietors, Berkeley
6157 and Carteret, in 1664, passed under the direct government of the crown
6158 in 1702. Pennsylvania was, in a very large measure, the product of the
6159 generous spirit and tireless labors of its first proprietor, the leader
6160 of the Friends, William Penn, to whom it was granted in 1681 and in
6161 whose family it remained until 1776. The two Carolinas were first
6162 organized as one colony in 1663 under the government and patronage of
6163 eight proprietors, including Lord Clarendon; but after more than half a
6164 century both became royal provinces governed by the king.
6165
6166 [Illustration: WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETOR OF PENNSYLVANIA]
6167
6168
6169 THE COLONIAL PEOPLES
6170
6171 =The English.=--In leadership and origin the thirteen colonies, except
6172 New York and Delaware, were English. During the early days of all, save
6173 these two, the main, if not the sole, current of immigration was from
6174 England. The colonists came from every walk of life. They were men,
6175 women, and children of "all sorts and conditions." The major portion
6176 were yeomen, or small land owners, farm laborers, and artisans. With
6177 them were merchants and gentlemen who brought their stocks of goods or
6178 their fortunes to the New World. Scholars came from Oxford and
6179 Cambridge to preach the gospel or to teach. Now and then the son of an
6180 English nobleman left his baronial hall behind and cast his lot with
6181 America. The people represented every religious faith--members of the
6182 Established Church of England; Puritans who had labored to reform that
6183 church; Separatists, Baptists, and Friends, who had left it altogether;
6184 and Catholics, who clung to the religion of their fathers.
6185
6186 New England was almost purely English. During the years between 1629 and
6187 1640, the period of arbitrary Stuart government, about twenty thousand
6188 Puritans emigrated to America, settling in the colonies of the far
6189 North. Although minor additions were made from time to time, the greater
6190 portion of the New England people sprang from this original stock.
6191 Virginia, too, for a long time drew nearly all her immigrants from
6192 England alone. Not until the eve of the Revolution did other
6193 nationalities, mainly the Scotch-Irish and Germans, rival the English in
6194 numbers.
6195
6196 The populations of later English colonies--the Carolinas, New York,
6197 Pennsylvania, and Georgia--while receiving a steady stream of
6198 immigration from England, were constantly augmented by wanderers from
6199 the older settlements. New York was invaded by Puritans from New England
6200 in such numbers as to cause the Anglican clergymen there to lament that
6201 "free thinking spreads almost as fast as the Church." North Carolina was
6202 first settled toward the northern border by immigrants from Virginia.
6203 Some of the North Carolinians, particularly the Quakers, came all the
6204 way from New England, tarrying in Virginia only long enough to learn how
6205 little they were wanted in that Anglican colony.
6206
6207 =The Scotch-Irish.=--Next to the English in numbers and influence were
6208 the Scotch-Irish, Presbyterians in belief, English in tongue. Both
6209 religious and economic reasons sent them across the sea. Their Scotch
6210 ancestors, in the days of Cromwell, had settled in the north of Ireland
6211 whence the native Irish had been driven by the conqueror's sword. There
6212 the Scotch nourished for many years enjoying in peace their own form of
6213 religion and growing prosperous in the manufacture of fine linen and
6214 woolen cloth. Then the blow fell. Toward the end of the seventeenth
6215 century their religious worship was put under the ban and the export of
6216 their cloth was forbidden by the English Parliament. Within two decades
6217 twenty thousand Scotch-Irish left Ulster alone, for America; and all
6218 during the eighteenth century the migration continued to be heavy.
6219 Although no exact record was kept, it is reckoned that the Scotch-Irish
6220 and the Scotch who came directly from Scotland, composed one-sixth of
6221 the entire American population on the eve of the Revolution.
6222
6223 [Illustration: SETTLEMENTS OF GERMAN AND SCOTCH-IRISH
6224 IMMIGRANTS]
6225
6226 These newcomers in America made their homes chiefly in New Jersey,
6227 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Coming late upon
6228 the scene, they found much of the land immediately upon the seaboard
6229 already taken up. For this reason most of them became frontier people
6230 settling the interior and upland regions. There they cleared the land,
6231 laid out their small farms, and worked as "sturdy yeomen on the soil,"
6232 hardy, industrious, and independent in spirit, sharing neither the
6233 luxuries of the rich planters nor the easy life of the leisurely
6234 merchants. To their agriculture they added woolen and linen
6235 manufactures, which, flourishing in the supple fingers of their tireless
6236 women, made heavy inroads upon the trade of the English merchants in
6237 the colonies. Of their labors a poet has sung:
6238
6239 "O, willing hands to toil;
6240 Strong natures tuned to the harvest-song and bound to the kindly soil;
6241 Bold pioneers for the wilderness, defenders in the field."
6242
6243 =The Germans.=--Third among the colonists in order of numerical
6244 importance were the Germans. From the very beginning, they appeared in
6245 colonial records. A number of the artisans and carpenters in the first
6246 Jamestown colony were of German descent. Peter Minuit, the famous
6247 governor of New Motherland, was a German from Wesel on the Rhine, and
6248 Jacob Leisler, leader of a popular uprising against the provincial
6249 administration of New York, was a German from Frankfort-on-Main. The
6250 wholesale migration of Germans began with the founding of Pennsylvania.
6251 Penn was diligent in searching for thrifty farmers to cultivate his
6252 lands and he made a special effort to attract peasants from the Rhine
6253 country. A great association, known as the Frankfort Company, bought
6254 more than twenty thousand acres from him and in 1684 established a
6255 center at Germantown for the distribution of German immigrants. In old
6256 New York, Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson became a similar center for
6257 distribution. All the way from Maine to Georgia inducements were offered
6258 to the German farmers and in nearly every colony were to be found, in
6259 time, German settlements. In fact the migration became so large that
6260 German princes were frightened at the loss of so many subjects and
6261 England was alarmed by the influx of foreigners into her overseas
6262 dominions. Yet nothing could stop the movement. By the end of the
6263 colonial period, the number of Germans had risen to more than two
6264 hundred thousand.
6265
6266 The majority of them were Protestants from the Rhine region, and South
6267 Germany. Wars, religious controversies, oppression, and poverty drove
6268 them forth to America. Though most of them were farmers, there were also
6269 among them skilled artisans who contributed to the rapid growth of
6270 industries in Pennsylvania. Their iron, glass, paper, and woolen mills,
6271 dotted here and there among the thickly settled regions, added to the
6272 wealth and independence of the province.
6273
6274 [Illustration: _From an old print_
6275
6276 A GLIMPSE OF OLD GERMANTOWN]
6277
6278 Unlike the Scotch-Irish, the Germans did not speak the language of the
6279 original colonists or mingle freely with them. They kept to themselves,
6280 built their own schools, founded their own newspapers, and published
6281 their own books. Their clannish habits often irritated their neighbors
6282 and led to occasional agitations against "foreigners." However, no
6283 serious collisions seem to have occurred; and in the days of the
6284 Revolution, German soldiers from Pennsylvania fought in the patriot
6285 armies side by side with soldiers from the English and Scotch-Irish
6286 sections.
6287
6288 =Other Nationalities.=--Though the English, the Scotch-Irish, and the
6289 Germans made up the bulk of the colonial population, there were other
6290 racial strains as well, varying in numerical importance but contributing
6291 their share to colonial life.
6292
6293 From France came the Huguenots fleeing from the decree of the king which
6294 inflicted terrible penalties upon Protestants.
6295
6296 From "Old Ireland" came thousands of native Irish, Celtic in race and
6297 Catholic in religion. Like their Scotch-Irish neighbors to the north,
6298 they revered neither the government nor the church of England imposed
6299 upon them by the sword. How many came we do not know, but shipping
6300 records of the colonial period show that boatload after boatload left
6301 the southern and eastern shores of Ireland for the New World.
6302 Undoubtedly thousands of their passengers were Irish of the native
6303 stock. This surmise is well sustained by the constant appearance of
6304 Celtic names in the records of various colonies.
6305
6306 [Illustration:_From an old print_
6307
6308 OLD DUTCH FORT AND ENGLISH CHURCH NEAR ALBANY]
6309
6310 The Jews, then as ever engaged in their age-long battle for religious
6311 and economic toleration, found in the American colonies, not complete
6312 liberty, but certainly more freedom than they enjoyed in England,
6313 France, Spain, or Portugal. The English law did not actually recognize
6314 their right to live in any of the dominions, but owing to the easy-going
6315 habits of the Americans they were allowed to filter into the seaboard
6316 towns. The treatment they received there varied. On one occasion the
6317 mayor and council of New York forbade them to sell by retail and on
6318 another prohibited the exercise of their religious worship. Newport,
6319 Philadelphia, and Charleston were more hospitable, and there large
6320 Jewish colonies, consisting principally of merchants and their families,
6321 flourished in spite of nominal prohibitions of the law.
6322
6323 Though the small Swedish colony in Delaware was quickly submerged
6324 beneath the tide of English migration, the Dutch in New York continued
6325 to hold their own for more than a hundred years after the English
6326 conquest in 1664. At the end of the colonial period over one-half of the
6327 170,000 inhabitants of the province were descendants of the original
6328 Dutch--still distinct enough to give a decided cast to the life and
6329 manners of New York. Many of them clung as tenaciously to their mother
6330 tongue as they did to their capacious farmhouses or their Dutch ovens;
6331 but they were slowly losing their identity as the English pressed in
6332 beside them to farm and trade.
6333
6334 The melting pot had begun its historic mission.
6335
6336
6337 THE PROCESS OF COLONIZATION
6338
6339 Considered from one side, colonization, whatever the motives of the
6340 emigrants, was an economic matter. It involved the use of capital to pay
6341 for their passage, to sustain them on the voyage, and to start them on
6342 the way of production. Under this stern economic necessity, Puritans,
6343 Scotch-Irish, Germans, and all were alike laid.
6344
6345 =Immigrants Who Paid Their Own Way.=--Many of the immigrants to America
6346 in colonial days were capitalists themselves, in a small or a large way,
6347 and paid their own passage. What proportion of the colonists were able
6348 to finance their voyage across the sea is a matter of pure conjecture.
6349 Undoubtedly a very considerable number could do so, for we can trace the
6350 family fortunes of many early settlers. Henry Cabot Lodge is authority
6351 for the statement that "the settlers of New England were drawn from the
6352 country gentlemen, small farmers, and yeomanry of the mother
6353 country.... Many of the emigrants were men of wealth, as the old lists
6354 show, and all of them, with few exceptions, were men of property and
6355 good standing. They did not belong to the classes from which emigration
6356 is usually supplied, for they all had a stake in the country they left
6357 behind." Though it would be interesting to know how accurate this
6358 statement is or how applicable to the other colonies, no study has as
6359 yet been made to gratify that interest. For the present it is an
6360 unsolved problem just how many of the colonists were able to bear the
6361 cost of their own transfer to the New World.
6362
6363 =Indentured Servants.=--That at least tens of thousands of immigrants
6364 were unable to pay for their passage is established beyond the shadow of
6365 a doubt by the shipping records that have come down to us. The great
6366 barrier in the way of the poor who wanted to go to America was the cost
6367 of the sea voyage. To overcome this difficulty a plan was worked out
6368 whereby shipowners and other persons of means furnished the passage
6369 money to immigrants in return for their promise, or bond, to work for a
6370 term of years to repay the sum advanced. This system was called
6371 indentured servitude.
6372
6373 It is probable that the number of bond servants exceeded the original
6374 twenty thousand Puritans, the yeomen, the Virginia gentlemen, and the
6375 Huguenots combined. All the way down the coast from Massachusetts to
6376 Georgia were to be found in the fields, kitchens, and workshops, men,
6377 women, and children serving out terms of bondage generally ranging from
6378 five to seven years. In the proprietary colonies the proportion of bond
6379 servants was very high. The Baltimores, Penns, Carterets, and other
6380 promoters anxiously sought for workers of every nationality to till
6381 their fields, for land without labor was worth no more than land in the
6382 moon. Hence the gates of the proprietary colonies were flung wide open.
6383 Every inducement was offered to immigrants in the form of cheap land,
6384 and special efforts were made to increase the population by importing
6385 servants. In Pennsylvania, it was not uncommon to find a master with
6386 fifty bond servants on his estate. It has been estimated that two-thirds
6387 of all the immigrants into Pennsylvania between the opening of the
6388 eighteenth century and the outbreak of the Revolution were in bondage.
6389 In the other Middle colonies the number was doubtless not so large; but
6390 it formed a considerable part of the population.
6391
6392 The story of this traffic in white servants is one of the most striking
6393 things in the history of labor. Bondmen differed from the serfs of the
6394 feudal age in that they were not bound to the soil but to the master.
6395 They likewise differed from the negro slaves in that their servitude had
6396 a time limit. Still they were subject to many special disabilities. It
6397 was, for instance, a common practice to impose on them penalties far
6398 heavier than were imposed upon freemen for the same offense. A free
6399 citizen of Pennsylvania who indulged in horse racing and gambling was
6400 let off with a fine; a white servant guilty of the same unlawful conduct
6401 was whipped at the post and fined as well.
6402
6403 The ordinary life of the white servant was also severely restricted. A
6404 bondman could not marry without his master's consent; nor engage in
6405 trade; nor refuse work assigned to him. For an attempt to escape or
6406 indeed for any infraction of the law, the term of service was extended.
6407 The condition of white bondmen in Virginia, according to Lodge, "was
6408 little better than that of slaves. Loose indentures and harsh laws put
6409 them at the mercy of their masters." It would not be unfair to add that
6410 such was their lot in all other colonies. Their fate depended upon the
6411 temper of their masters.
6412
6413 Cruel as was the system in many ways, it gave thousands of people in the
6414 Old World a chance to reach the New--an opportunity to wrestle with fate
6415 for freedom and a home of their own. When their weary years of servitude
6416 were over, if they survived, they might obtain land of their own or
6417 settle as free mechanics in the towns. For many a bondman the gamble
6418 proved to be a losing venture because he found himself unable to rise
6419 out of the state of poverty and dependence into which his servitude
6420 carried him. For thousands, on the contrary, bondage proved to be a real
6421 avenue to freedom and prosperity. Some of the best citizens of America
6422 have the blood of indentured servants in their veins.
6423
6424 =The Transported--Involuntary Servitude.=--In their anxiety to secure
6425 settlers, the companies and proprietors having colonies in America
6426 either resorted to or connived at the practice of kidnapping men, women,
6427 and children from the streets of English cities. In 1680 it was
6428 officially estimated that "ten thousand persons were spirited away" to
6429 America. Many of the victims of the practice were young children, for
6430 the traffic in them was highly profitable. Orphans and dependents were
6431 sometimes disposed of in America by relatives unwilling to support them.
6432 In a single year, 1627, about fifteen hundred children were shipped to
6433 Virginia.
6434
6435 In this gruesome business there lurked many tragedies, and very few
6436 romances. Parents were separated from their children and husbands from
6437 their wives. Hundreds of skilled artisans--carpenters, smiths, and
6438 weavers--utterly disappeared as if swallowed up by death. A few thus
6439 dragged off to the New World to be sold into servitude for a term of
6440 five or seven years later became prosperous and returned home with
6441 fortunes. In one case a young man who was forcibly carried over the sea
6442 lived to make his way back to England and establish his claim to a
6443 peerage.
6444
6445 Akin to the kidnapped, at least in economic position, were convicts
6446 deported to the colonies for life in lieu of fines and imprisonment. The
6447 Americans protested vigorously but ineffectually against this practice.
6448 Indeed, they exaggerated its evils, for many of the "criminals" were
6449 only mild offenders against unduly harsh and cruel laws. A peasant
6450 caught shooting a rabbit on a lord's estate or a luckless servant girl
6451 who purloined a pocket handkerchief was branded as a criminal along with
6452 sturdy thieves and incorrigible rascals. Other transported offenders
6453 were "political criminals"; that is, persons who criticized or opposed
6454 the government. This class included now Irish who revolted against
6455 British rule in Ireland; now Cavaliers who championed the king against
6456 the Puritan revolutionists; Puritans, in turn, dispatched after the
6457 monarchy was restored; and Scotch and English subjects in general who
6458 joined in political uprisings against the king.
6459
6460 =The African Slaves.=--Rivaling in numbers, in the course of time, the
6461 indentured servants and whites carried to America against their will
6462 were the African negroes brought to America and sold into slavery. When
6463 this form of bondage was first introduced into Virginia in 1619, it was
6464 looked upon as a temporary necessity to be discarded with the increase
6465 of the white population. Moreover it does not appear that those planters
6466 who first bought negroes at the auction block intended to establish a
6467 system of permanent bondage. Only by a slow process did chattel slavery
6468 take firm root and become recognized as the leading source of the labor
6469 supply. In 1650, thirty years after the introduction of slavery, there
6470 were only three hundred Africans in Virginia.
6471
6472 The great increase in later years was due in no small measure to the
6473 inordinate zeal for profits that seized slave traders both in Old and in
6474 New England. Finding it relatively easy to secure negroes in Africa,
6475 they crowded the Southern ports with their vessels. The English Royal
6476 African Company sent to America annually between 1713 and 1743 from five
6477 to ten thousand slaves. The ship owners of New England were not far
6478 behind their English brethren in pushing this extraordinary traffic.
6479
6480 As the proportion of the negroes to the free white population steadily
6481 rose, and as whole sections were overrun with slaves and slave traders,
6482 the Southern colonies grew alarmed. In 1710, Virginia sought to curtail
6483 the importation by placing a duty of $5 on each slave. This effort was
6484 futile, for the royal governor promptly vetoed it. From time to time
6485 similar bills were passed, only to meet with royal disapproval. South
6486 Carolina, in 1760, absolutely prohibited importation; but the measure
6487 was killed by the British crown. As late as 1772, Virginia, not daunted
6488 by a century of rebuffs, sent to George III a petition in this vein:
6489 "The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast of Africa
6490 hath long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity and under its
6491 present encouragement, we have too much reason to fear, will endanger
6492 the very existence of Your Majesty's American dominions.... Deeply
6493 impressed with these sentiments, we most humbly beseech Your Majesty to
6494 remove all those restraints on Your Majesty's governors of this colony
6495 which inhibit their assenting to such laws as might check so very
6496 pernicious a commerce."
6497
6498 All such protests were without avail. The negro population grew by leaps
6499 and bounds, until on the eve of the Revolution it amounted to more than
6500 half a million. In five states--Maryland, Virginia, the two Carolinas,
6501 and Georgia--the slaves nearly equalled or actually exceeded the whites
6502 in number. In South Carolina they formed almost two-thirds of the
6503 population. Even in the Middle colonies of Delaware and Pennsylvania
6504 about one-fifth of the inhabitants were from Africa. To the North, the
6505 proportion of slaves steadily diminished although chattel servitude was
6506 on the same legal footing as in the South. In New York approximately one
6507 in six and in New England one in fifty were negroes, including a few
6508 freedmen.
6509
6510 The climate, the soil, the commerce, and the industry of the North were
6511 all unfavorable to the growth of a servile population. Still, slavery,
6512 though sectional, was a part of the national system of economy. Northern
6513 ships carried slaves to the Southern colonies and the produce of the
6514 plantations to Europe. "If the Northern states will consult their
6515 interest, they will not oppose the increase in slaves which will
6516 increase the commodities of which they will become the carriers," said
6517 John Rutledge, of South Carolina, in the convention which framed the
6518 Constitution of the United States. "What enriches a part enriches the
6519 whole and the states are the best judges of their particular interest,"
6520 responded Oliver Ellsworth, the distinguished spokesman of Connecticut.
6521
6522 =References=
6523
6524 E. Charming, _History of the United States_, Vols. I and II.
6525
6526 J.A. Doyle, _The English Colonies in America_ (5 vols.).
6527
6528 J. Fiske, _Old Virginia and Her Neighbors_ (2 vols.).
6529
6530 A.B. Faust, _The German Element in the United States_ (2 vols.).
6531
6532 H.J. Ford, _The Scotch-Irish in America_.
6533
6534 L. Tyler, _England in America_ (American Nation Series).
6535
6536 R. Usher, _The Pilgrims and Their History_.
6537
6538
6539 =Questions=
6540
6541 1. America has been called a nation of immigrants. Explain why.
6542
6543 2. Why were individuals unable to go alone to America in the beginning?
6544 What agencies made colonization possible? Discuss each of them.
6545
6546 3. Make a table of the colonies, showing the methods employed in their
6547 settlement.
6548
6549 4. Why were capital and leadership so very important in early
6550 colonization?
6551
6552 5. What is meant by the "melting pot"? What nationalities were
6553 represented among the early colonists?
6554
6555 6. Compare the way immigrants come to-day with the way they came in
6556 colonial times.
6557
6558 7. Contrast indentured servitude with slavery and serfdom.
6559
6560 8. Account for the anxiety of companies and proprietors to secure
6561 colonists.
6562
6563 9. What forces favored the heavy importation of slaves?
6564
6565 10. In what way did the North derive advantages from slavery?
6566
6567
6568 =Research Topics=
6569
6570 =The Chartered Company.=--Compare the first and third charters of
6571 Virginia in Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book of American History_,
6572 1606-1898, pp. 1-14. Analyze the first and second Massachusetts charters
6573 in Macdonald, pp. 22-84. Special reference: W.A.S. Hewins, _English
6574 Trading Companies_.
6575
6576 =Congregations and Compacts for Self-government.=--A study of the
6577 Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and the
6578 Fundamental Articles of New Haven in Macdonald, pp. 19, 36, 39.
6579 Reference: Charles Borgeaud, _Rise of Modern Democracy_, and C.S.
6580 Lobingier, _The People's Law_, Chaps. I-VII.
6581
6582 =The Proprietary System.=--Analysis of Penn's charter of 1681, in
6583 Macdonald, p. 80. Reference: Lodge, _Short History of the English
6584 Colonies in America_, p. 211.
6585
6586 =Studies of Individual Colonies.=--Review of outstanding events in
6587 history of each colony, using Elson, _History of the United States_, pp.
6588 55-159, as the basis.
6589
6590 =Biographical Studies.=--John Smith, John Winthrop, William Penn, Lord
6591 Baltimore, William Bradford, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Thomas
6592 Hooker, and Peter Stuyvesant, using any good encyclopedia.
6593
6594 =Indentured Servitude.=--In Virginia, Lodge, _Short History_, pp. 69-72;
6595 in Pennsylvania, pp. 242-244. Contemporary account in Callender,
6596 _Economic History of the United States_, pp. 44-51. Special reference:
6597 Karl Geiser, _Redemptioners and Indentured Servants_ (Yale Review, X,
6598 No. 2 Supplement).
6599
6600 =Slavery.=--In Virginia, Lodge, _Short History_, pp. 67-69; in the
6601 Northern colonies, pp. 241, 275, 322, 408, 442.
6602
6603 =The People of the Colonies.=--Virginia, Lodge, _Short History_, pp.
6604 67-73; New England, pp. 406-409, 441-450; Pennsylvania, pp. 227-229,
6605 240-250; New York, pp. 312-313, 322-335.
6606
6607
6608
6609
6610 CHAPTER II
6611
6612 COLONIAL AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, AND COMMERCE
6613
6614 THE LAND AND THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT
6615
6616
6617 =The Significance of Land Tenure.=--The way in which land may be
6618 acquired, held, divided among heirs, and bought and sold exercises a
6619 deep influence on the life and culture of a people. The feudal and
6620 aristocratic societies of Europe were founded on a system of landlordism
6621 which was characterized by two distinct features. In the first place,
6622 the land was nearly all held in great estates, each owned by a single
6623 proprietor. In the second place, every estate was kept intact under the
6624 law of primogeniture, which at the death of a lord transferred all his
6625 landed property to his eldest son. This prevented the subdivision of
6626 estates and the growth of a large body of small farmers or freeholders
6627 owning their own land. It made a form of tenantry or servitude
6628 inevitable for the mass of those who labored on the land. It also
6629 enabled the landlords to maintain themselves in power as a governing
6630 class and kept the tenants and laborers subject to their economic and
6631 political control. If land tenure was so significant in Europe, it was
6632 equally important in the development of America, where practically all
6633 the first immigrants were forced by circumstances to derive their
6634 livelihood from the soil.
6635
6636 =Experiments in Common Tillage.=--In the New World, with its broad
6637 extent of land awaiting the white man's plow, it was impossible to
6638 introduce in its entirety and over the whole area the system of lords
6639 and tenants that existed across the sea. So it happened that almost
6640 every kind of experiment in land tenure, from communism to feudalism,
6641 was tried. In the early days of the Jamestown colony, the land, though
6642 owned by the London Company, was tilled in common by the settlers. No
6643 man had a separate plot of his own. The motto of the community was:
6644 "Labor and share alike." All were supposed to work in the fields and
6645 receive an equal share of the produce. At Plymouth, the Pilgrims
6646 attempted a similar experiment, laying out the fields in common and
6647 distributing the joint produce of their labor with rough equality among
6648 the workers.
6649
6650 In both colonies the communistic experiments were failures. Angry at the
6651 lazy men in Jamestown who idled their time away and yet expected regular
6652 meals, Captain John Smith issued a manifesto: "Everyone that gathereth
6653 not every day as much as I do, the next day shall be set beyond the
6654 river and forever banished from the fort and live there or starve." Even
6655 this terrible threat did not bring a change in production. Not until
6656 each man was given a plot of his own to till, not until each gathered
6657 the fruits of his own labor, did the colony prosper. In Plymouth, where
6658 the communal experiment lasted for five years, the results were similar
6659 to those in Virginia, and the system was given up for one of separate
6660 fields in which every person could "set corn for his own particular."
6661 Some other New England towns, refusing to profit by the experience of
6662 their Plymouth neighbor, also made excursions into common ownership and
6663 labor, only to abandon the idea and go in for individual ownership of
6664 the land. "By degrees it was seen that even the Lord's people could not
6665 carry the complicated communist legislation into perfect and wholesome
6666 practice."
6667
6668 =Feudal Elements in the Colonies--Quit Rents, Manors, and
6669 Plantations.=--At the other end of the scale were the feudal elements of
6670 land tenure found in the proprietary colonies, in the seaboard regions
6671 of the South, and to some extent in New York. The proprietor was in fact
6672 a powerful feudal lord, owning land granted to him by royal charter. He
6673 could retain any part of it for his personal use or dispose of it all in
6674 large or small lots. While he generally kept for himself an estate of
6675 baronial proportions, it was impossible for him to manage directly any
6676 considerable part of the land in his dominion. Consequently he either
6677 sold it in parcels for lump sums or granted it to individuals on
6678 condition that they make to him an annual payment in money, known as
6679 "quit rent." In Maryland, the proprietor sometimes collected as high as
6680 $9000 (equal to about $500,000 to-day) in a single year from this
6681 source. In Pennsylvania, the quit rents brought a handsome annual
6682 tribute into the exchequer of the Penn family. In the royal provinces,
6683 the king of England claimed all revenues collected in this form from the
6684 land, a sum amounting to $19,000 at the time of the Revolution. The quit
6685 rent,--"really a feudal payment from freeholders,"--was thus a material
6686 source of income for the crown as well as for the proprietors. Wherever
6687 it was laid, however, it proved to be a burden, a source of constant
6688 irritation; and it became a formidable item in the long list of
6689 grievances which led to the American Revolution.
6690
6691 Something still more like the feudal system of the Old World appeared in
6692 the numerous manors or the huge landed estates granted by the crown, the
6693 companies, or the proprietors. In the colony of Maryland alone there
6694 were sixty manors of three thousand acres each, owned by wealthy men and
6695 tilled by tenants holding small plots under certain restrictions of
6696 tenure. In New York also there were many manors of wide extent, most of
6697 which originated in the days of the Dutch West India Company, when
6698 extensive concessions were made to patroons to induce them to bring over
6699 settlers. The Van Rensselaer, the Van Cortlandt, and the Livingston
6700 manors were so large and populous that each was entitled to send a
6701 representative to the provincial legislature. The tenants on the New
6702 York manors were in somewhat the same position as serfs on old European
6703 estates. They were bound to pay the owner a rent in money and kind; they
6704 ground their grain at his mill; and they were subject to his judicial
6705 power because he held court and meted out justice, in some instances
6706 extending to capital punishment.
6707
6708 The manors of New York or Maryland were, however, of slight consequence
6709 as compared with the vast plantations of the Southern seaboard--huge
6710 estates, far wider in expanse than many a European barony and tilled by
6711 slaves more servile than any feudal tenants. It must not be forgotten
6712 that this system of land tenure became the dominant feature of a large
6713 section and gave a decided bent to the economic and political life of
6714 America.
6715
6716 [Illustration: SOUTHERN PLANTATION MANSION]
6717
6718 =The Small Freehold.=--In the upland regions of the South, however, and
6719 throughout most of the North, the drift was against all forms of
6720 servitude and tenantry and in the direction of the freehold; that is,
6721 the small farm owned outright and tilled by the possessor and his
6722 family. This was favored by natural circumstances and the spirit of the
6723 immigrants. For one thing, the abundance of land and the scarcity of
6724 labor made it impossible for the companies, the proprietors, or the
6725 crown to develop over the whole continent a network of vast estates. In
6726 many sections, particularly in New England, the climate, the stony soil,
6727 the hills, and the narrow valleys conspired to keep the farms within a
6728 moderate compass. For another thing, the English, Scotch-Irish, and
6729 German peasants, even if they had been tenants in the Old World, did not
6730 propose to accept permanent dependency of any kind in the New. If they
6731 could not get freeholds, they would not settle at all; thus they forced
6732 proprietors and companies to bid for their enterprise by selling land in
6733 small lots. So it happened that the freehold of modest proportions
6734 became the cherished unit of American farmers. The people who tilled the
6735 farms were drawn from every quarter of western Europe; but the freehold
6736 system gave a uniform cast to their economic and social life in America.
6737
6738 [Illustration: _From an old print_
6739
6740 A NEW ENGLAND FARMHOUSE]
6741
6742 =Social Effects of Land Tenure.=--Land tenure and the process of western
6743 settlement thus developed two distinct types of people engaged in the
6744 same pursuit--agriculture. They had a common tie in that they both
6745 cultivated the soil and possessed the local interest and independence
6746 which arise from that occupation. Their methods and their culture,
6747 however, differed widely.
6748
6749 The Southern planter, on his broad acres tilled by slaves, resembled the
6750 English landlord on his estates more than he did the colonial farmer who
6751 labored with his own hands in the fields and forests. He sold his rice
6752 and tobacco in large amounts directly to English factors, who took his
6753 entire crop in exchange for goods and cash. His fine clothes,
6754 silverware, china, and cutlery he bought in English markets. Loving the
6755 ripe old culture of the mother country, he often sent his sons to Oxford
6756 or Cambridge for their education. In short, he depended very largely for
6757 his prosperity and his enjoyment of life upon close relations with the
6758 Old World. He did not even need market towns in which to buy native
6759 goods, for they were made on his own plantation by his own artisans who
6760 were usually gifted slaves.
6761
6762 The economic condition of the small farmer was totally different. His
6763 crops were not big enough to warrant direct connection with English
6764 factors or the personal maintenance of a corps of artisans. He needed
6765 local markets, and they sprang up to meet the need. Smiths, hatters,
6766 weavers, wagon-makers, and potters at neighboring towns supplied him
6767 with the rough products of their native skill. The finer goods, bought
6768 by the rich planter in England, the small farmer ordinarily could not
6769 buy. His wants were restricted to staples like tea and sugar, and
6770 between him and the European market stood the merchant. His community
6771 was therefore more self-sufficient than the seaboard line of great
6772 plantations. It was more isolated, more provincial, more independent,
6773 more American. The planter faced the Old East. The farmer faced the New
6774 West.
6775
6776 =The Westward Movement.=--Yeoman and planter nevertheless were alike in
6777 one respect. Their land hunger was never appeased. Each had the eye of
6778 an expert for new and fertile soil; and so, north and south, as soon as
6779 a foothold was secured on the Atlantic coast, the current of migration
6780 set in westward, creeping through forests, across rivers, and over
6781 mountains. Many of the later immigrants, in their search for cheap
6782 lands, were compelled to go to the border; but in a large part the path
6783 breakers to the West were native Americans of the second and third
6784 generations. Explorers, fired by curiosity and the lure of the
6785 mysterious unknown, and hunters, fur traders, and squatters, following
6786 their own sweet wills, blazed the trail, opening paths and sending back
6787 stories of the new regions they traversed. Then came the regular
6788 settlers with lawful titles to the lands they had purchased, sometimes
6789 singly and sometimes in companies.
6790
6791 In Massachusetts, the westward movement is recorded in the founding of
6792 Springfield in 1636 and Great Barrington in 1725. By the opening of the
6793 eighteenth century the pioneers of Connecticut had pushed north and west
6794 until their outpost towns adjoined the Hudson Valley settlements. In New
6795 York, the inland movement was directed by the Hudson River to Albany,
6796 and from that old Dutch center it radiated in every direction,
6797 particularly westward through the Mohawk Valley. New Jersey was early
6798 filled to its borders, the beginnings of the present city of New
6799 Brunswick being made in 1681 and those of Trenton in 1685. In
6800 Pennsylvania, as in New York, the waterways determined the main lines of
6801 advance. Pioneers, pushing up through the valley of the Schuylkill,
6802 spread over the fertile lands of Berks and Lancaster counties, laying
6803 out Reading in 1748. Another current of migration was directed by the
6804 Susquehanna, and, in 1726, the first farmhouse was built on the bank
6805 where Harrisburg was later founded. Along the southern tier of counties
6806 a thin line of settlements stretched westward to Pittsburgh, reaching
6807 the upper waters of the Ohio while the colony was still under the Penn
6808 family.
6809
6810 In the South the westward march was equally swift. The seaboard was
6811 quickly occupied by large planters and their slaves engaged in the
6812 cultivation of tobacco and rice. The Piedmont Plateau, lying back from
6813 the coast all the way from Maryland to Georgia, was fed by two streams
6814 of migration, one westward from the sea and the other southward from the
6815 other colonies--Germans from Pennsylvania and Scotch-Irish furnishing
6816 the main supply. "By 1770, tide-water Virginia was full to overflowing
6817 and the 'back country' of the Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah was fully
6818 occupied. Even the mountain valleys ... were claimed by sturdy pioneers.
6819 Before the Declaration of Independence, the oncoming tide of
6820 home-seekers had reached the crest of the Alleghanies."
6821
6822 [Illustration: DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION, 1790]
6823
6824 Beyond the mountains pioneers had already ventured, harbingers of an
6825 invasion that was about to break in upon Kentucky and Tennessee. As
6826 early as 1769 that mighty Nimrod, Daniel Boone, curious to hunt
6827 buffaloes, of which he had heard weird reports, passed through the
6828 Cumberland Gap and brought back news of a wonderful country awaiting the
6829 plow. A hint was sufficient. Singly, in pairs, and in groups, settlers
6830 followed the trail he had blazed. A great land corporation, the
6831 Transylvania Company, emulating the merchant adventurers of earlier
6832 times, secured a huge grant of territory and sought profits in quit
6833 rents from lands sold to farmers. By the outbreak of the Revolution
6834 there were several hundred people in the Kentucky region. Like the older
6835 colonists, they did not relish quit rents, and their opposition wrecked
6836 the Transylvania Company. They even carried their protests into the
6837 Continental Congress in 1776, for by that time they were our "embryo
6838 fourteenth colony."
6839
6840
6841 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
6842
6843 Though the labor of the colonists was mainly spent in farming, there was
6844 a steady growth in industrial and commercial pursuits. Most of the
6845 staple industries of to-day, not omitting iron and textiles, have their
6846 beginnings in colonial times. Manufacturing and trade soon gave rise to
6847 towns which enjoyed an importance all out of proportion to their
6848 numbers. The great centers of commerce and finance on the seaboard
6849 originated in the days when the king of England was "lord of these
6850 dominions."
6851
6852 [Illustration: DOMESTIC INDUSTRY: DIPPING TALLOW CANDLES]
6853
6854 =Textile Manufacture as a Domestic Industry.=--Colonial women, in
6855 addition to sharing every hardship of pioneering, often the heavy labor
6856 of the open field, developed in the course of time a national industry
6857 which was almost exclusively their own. Wool and flax were raised in
6858 abundance in the North and South. "Every farm house," says Coman, the
6859 economic historian, "was a workshop where the women spun and wove the
6860 serges, kerseys, and linsey-woolseys which served for the common wear."
6861 By the close of the seventeenth century, New England manufactured cloth
6862 in sufficient quantities to export it to the Southern colonies and to
6863 the West Indies. As the industry developed, mills were erected for the
6864 more difficult process of dyeing, weaving, and fulling, but carding and
6865 spinning continued to be done in the home. The Dutch of New Netherland,
6866 the Swedes of Delaware, and the Scotch-Irish of the interior "were not
6867 one whit behind their Yankee neighbors."
6868
6869 The importance of this enterprise to British economic life can hardly be
6870 overestimated. For many a century the English had employed their fine
6871 woolen cloth as the chief staple in a lucrative foreign trade, and the
6872 government had come to look upon it as an object of special interest and
6873 protection. When the colonies were established, both merchants and
6874 statesmen naturally expected to maintain a monopoly of increasing value;
6875 but before long the Americans, instead of buying cloth, especially of
6876 the coarser varieties, were making it to sell. In the place of
6877 customers, here were rivals. In the place of helpless reliance upon
6878 English markets, here was the germ of economic independence.
6879
6880 If British merchants had not discovered it in the ordinary course of
6881 trade, observant officers in the provinces would have conveyed the news
6882 to them. Even in the early years of the eighteenth century the royal
6883 governor of New York wrote of the industrious Americans to his home
6884 government: "The consequence will be that if they can clothe themselves
6885 once, not only comfortably, but handsomely too, without the help of
6886 England, they who already are not very fond of submitting to government
6887 will soon think of putting in execution designs they have long harboured
6888 in their breasts. This will not seem strange when you consider what sort
6889 of people this country is inhabited by."
6890
6891 =The Iron Industry.=--Almost equally widespread was the art of iron
6892 working--one of the earliest and most picturesque of colonial
6893 industries. Lynn, Massachusetts, had a forge and skilled artisans within
6894 fifteen years after the founding of Boston. The smelting of iron began
6895 at New London and New Haven about 1658; in Litchfield county,
6896 Connecticut, a few years later; at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in
6897 1731; and near by at Lenox some thirty years after that. New Jersey had
6898 iron works at Shrewsbury within ten years after the founding of the
6899 colony in 1665. Iron forges appeared in the valleys of the Delaware and
6900 the Susquehanna early in the following century, and iron masters then
6901 laid the foundations of fortunes in a region destined to become one of
6902 the great iron centers of the world. Virginia began iron working in the
6903 year that saw the introduction of slavery. Although the industry soon
6904 lapsed, it was renewed and flourished in the eighteenth century.
6905 Governor Spotswood was called the "Tubal Cain" of the Old Dominion
6906 because he placed the industry on a firm foundation. Indeed it seems
6907 that every colony, except Georgia, had its iron foundry. Nails, wire,
6908 metallic ware, chains, anchors, bar and pig iron were made in large
6909 quantities; and Great Britain, by an act in 1750, encouraged the
6910 colonists to export rough iron to the British Islands.
6911
6912 =Shipbuilding.=--Of all the specialized industries in the colonies,
6913 shipbuilding was the most important. The abundance of fir for masts, oak
6914 for timbers and boards, pitch for tar and turpentine, and hemp for rope
6915 made the way of the shipbuilder easy. Early in the seventeenth century a
6916 ship was built at New Amsterdam, and by the middle of that century
6917 shipyards were scattered along the New England coast at Newburyport,
6918 Salem, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, New London, and New Haven.
6919 Yards at Albany and Poughkeepsie in New York built ships for the trade
6920 of that colony with England and the Indies. Wilmington and Philadelphia
6921 soon entered the race and outdistanced New York, though unable to equal
6922 the pace set by New England. While Maryland, Virginia, and South
6923 Carolina also built ships, Southern interest was mainly confined to the
6924 lucrative business of producing ship materials: fir, cedar, hemp, and
6925 tar.
6926
6927 =Fishing.=--The greatest single economic resource of New England outside
6928 of agriculture was the fisheries. This industry, started by hardy
6929 sailors from Europe, long before the landing of the Pilgrims, flourished
6930 under the indomitable seamanship of the Puritans, who labored with the
6931 net and the harpoon in almost every quarter of the Atlantic. "Look,"
6932 exclaimed Edmund Burke, in the House of Commons, "at the manner in
6933 which the people of New England have of late carried on the whale
6934 fishery. Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice and
6935 behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay
6936 and Davis's Straits, while we are looking for them beneath the arctic
6937 circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar
6938 cold, that they are at the antipodes and engaged under the frozen
6939 serpent of the south.... Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging
6940 to them than the accumulated winter of both poles. We know that, whilst
6941 some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of
6942 Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along
6943 the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their fisheries. No
6944 climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of
6945 Holland nor the activity of France nor the dexterous and firm sagacity
6946 of English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hard
6947 industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent
6948 people."
6949
6950 The influence of the business was widespread. A large and lucrative
6951 European trade was built upon it. The better quality of the fish caught
6952 for food was sold in the markets of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, or
6953 exchanged for salt, lemons, and raisins for the American market. The
6954 lower grades of fish were carried to the West Indies for slave
6955 consumption, and in part traded for sugar and molasses, which furnished
6956 the raw materials for the thriving rum industry of New England. These
6957 activities, in turn, stimulated shipbuilding, steadily enlarging the
6958 demand for fishing and merchant craft of every kind and thus keeping the
6959 shipwrights, calkers, rope makers, and other artisans of the seaport
6960 towns rushed with work. They also increased trade with the mother
6961 country for, out of the cash collected in the fish markets of Europe and
6962 the West Indies, the colonists paid for English manufactures. So an
6963 ever-widening circle of American enterprise centered around this single
6964 industry, the nursery of seamanship and the maritime spirit.
6965
6966 =Oceanic Commerce and American Merchants.=--All through the eighteenth
6967 century, the commerce of the American colonies spread in every direction
6968 until it rivaled in the number of people employed, the capital engaged,
6969 and the profits gleaned, the commerce of European nations. A modern
6970 historian has said: "The enterprising merchants of New England developed
6971 a network of trade routes that covered well-nigh half the world." This
6972 commerce, destined to be of such significance in the conflict with the
6973 mother country, presented, broadly speaking, two aspects.
6974
6975 On the one side, it involved the export of raw materials and
6976 agricultural produce. The Southern colonies produced for shipping,
6977 tobacco, rice, tar, pitch, and pine; the Middle colonies, grain, flour,
6978 furs, lumber, and salt pork; New England, fish, flour, rum, furs, shoes,
6979 and small articles of manufacture. The variety of products was in fact
6980 astounding. A sarcastic writer, while sneering at the idea of an
6981 American union, once remarked of colonial trade: "What sort of dish will
6982 you make? New England will throw in fish and onions. The middle states,
6983 flax-seed and flour. Maryland and Virginia will add tobacco. North
6984 Carolina, pitch, tar, and turpentine. South Carolina, rice and indigo,
6985 and Georgia will sprinkle the whole composition with sawdust. Such an
6986 absurd jumble will you make if you attempt to form a union among such
6987 discordant materials as the thirteen British provinces."
6988
6989 On the other side, American commerce involved the import trade,
6990 consisting principally of English and continental manufactures, tea, and
6991 "India goods." Sugar and molasses, brought from the West Indies,
6992 supplied the flourishing distilleries of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
6993 and Connecticut. The carriage of slaves from Africa to the Southern
6994 colonies engaged hundreds of New England's sailors and thousands of
6995 pounds of her capital.
6996
6997 The disposition of imported goods in the colonies, though in part
6998 controlled by English factors located in America, employed also a large
6999 and important body of American merchants like the Willings and Morrises
7000 of Philadelphia; the Amorys, Hancocks, and Faneuils of Boston; and the
7001 Livingstons and Lows of New York. In their zeal and enterprise, they
7002 were worthy rivals of their English competitors, so celebrated for
7003 world-wide commercial operations. Though fully aware of the advantages
7004 they enjoyed in British markets and under the protection of the British
7005 navy, the American merchants were high-spirited and mettlesome, ready to
7006 contend with royal officers in order to shield American interests
7007 against outside interference.
7008
7009 [Illustration: THE DUTCH WEST INDIA WAREHOUSE IN NEW AMSTERDAM
7010 (NEW YORK CITY)]
7011
7012 Measured against the immense business of modern times, colonial commerce
7013 seems perhaps trivial. That, however, is not the test of its
7014 significance. It must be considered in relation to the growth of English
7015 colonial trade in its entirety--a relation which can be shown by a few
7016 startling figures. The whole export trade of England, including that to
7017 the colonies, was, in 1704, $6,509,000. On the eve of the American
7018 Revolution, namely, in 1772, English exports to the American colonies
7019 alone amounted to $6,024,000; in other words, almost as much as the
7020 whole foreign business of England two generations before. At the first
7021 date, colonial trade was but one-twelfth of the English export business;
7022 at the second date, it was considerably more than one-third. In 1704,
7023 Pennsylvania bought in English markets goods to the value of $11,459; in
7024 1772 the purchases of the same colony amounted to $507,909. In short,
7025 Pennsylvania imports increased fifty times within sixty-eight years,
7026 amounting in 1772 to almost the entire export trade of England to the
7027 colonies at the opening of the century. The American colonies were
7028 indeed a great source of wealth to English merchants.
7029
7030 =Intercolonial Commerce.=--Although the bad roads of colonial times made
7031 overland transportation difficult and costly, the many rivers and
7032 harbors along the coast favored a lively water-borne trade among the
7033 colonies. The Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers in
7034 the North and the many smaller rivers in the South made it possible for
7035 goods to be brought from, and carried to, the interior regions in little
7036 sailing vessels with comparative ease. Sloops laden with manufactures,
7037 domestic and foreign, collected at some city like Providence, New York,
7038 or Philadelphia, skirted the coasts, visited small ports, and sailed up
7039 the navigable rivers to trade with local merchants who had for exchange
7040 the raw materials which they had gathered in from neighboring farms.
7041 Larger ships carried the grain, live stock, cloth, and hardware of New
7042 England to the Southern colonies, where they were traded for tobacco,
7043 leather, tar, and ship timber. From the harbors along the Connecticut
7044 shores there were frequent sailings down through Long Island Sound to
7045 Maryland, Virginia, and the distant Carolinas.
7046
7047 =Growth of Towns.=--In connection with this thriving trade and industry
7048 there grew up along the coast a number of prosperous commercial centers
7049 which were soon reckoned among the first commercial towns of the whole
7050 British empire, comparing favorably in numbers and wealth with such
7051 ports as Liverpool and Bristol. The statistical records of that time are
7052 mainly guesses; but we know that Philadelphia stood first in size among
7053 these towns. Serving as the port of entry for Pennsylvania, Delaware,
7054 and western Jersey, it had drawn within its borders, just before the
7055 Revolution, about 25,000 inhabitants. Boston was second in rank, with
7056 somewhat more than 20,000 people. New York, the "commercial capital of
7057 Connecticut and old East Jersey," was slightly smaller than Boston, but
7058 growing at a steady rate. The fourth town in size was Charleston, South
7059 Carolina, with about 10,000 inhabitants. Newport in Rhode Island, a
7060 center of rum manufacture and shipping, stood fifth, with a population
7061 of about 7000. Baltimore and Norfolk were counted as "considerable
7062 towns." In the interior, Hartford in Connecticut, Lancaster and York in
7063 Pennsylvania, and Albany in New York, with growing populations and
7064 increasing trade, gave prophecy of an urban America away from the
7065 seaboard. The other towns were straggling villages. Williamsburg,
7066 Virginia, for example, had about two hundred houses, in which dwelt a
7067 dozen families of the gentry and a few score of tradesmen. Inland county
7068 seats often consisted of nothing more than a log courthouse, a prison,
7069 and one wretched inn to house judges, lawyers, and litigants during the
7070 sessions of the court.
7071
7072 The leading towns exercised an influence on colonial opinion all out of
7073 proportion to their population. They were the centers of wealth, for one
7074 thing; of the press and political activity, for another. Merchants and
7075 artisans could readily take concerted action on public questions arising
7076 from their commercial operations. The towns were also centers for news,
7077 gossip, religious controversy, and political discussion. In the market
7078 places the farmers from the countryside learned of British policies and
7079 laws, and so, mingling with the townsmen, were drawn into the main
7080 currents of opinion which set in toward colonial nationalism and
7081 independence.
7082
7083
7084 =References=
7085
7086 J. Bishop, _History of American Manufactures_ (2 vols.).
7087
7088 E.L. Bogart, _Economic History of the United States_.
7089
7090 P.A. Bruce, _Economic History of Virginia_ (2 vols.).
7091
7092 E. Semple, _American History and Its Geographical Conditions_.
7093
7094 W. Weeden, _Economic and Social History of New England_. (2 vols.).
7095
7096
7097 =Questions=
7098
7099 1. Is land in your community parceled out into small farms? Contrast the
7100 system in your community with the feudal system of land tenure.
7101
7102 2. Are any things owned and used in common in your community? Why did
7103 common tillage fail in colonial times?
7104
7105 3. Describe the elements akin to feudalism which were introduced in the
7106 colonies.
7107
7108 4. Explain the success of freehold tillage.
7109
7110 5. Compare the life of the planter with that of the farmer.
7111
7112 6. How far had the western frontier advanced by 1776?
7113
7114 7. What colonial industry was mainly developed by women? Why was it very
7115 important both to the Americans and to the English?
7116
7117 8. What were the centers for iron working? Ship building?
7118
7119 9. Explain how the fisheries affected many branches of trade and
7120 industry.
7121
7122 10. Show how American trade formed a vital part of English business.
7123
7124 11. How was interstate commerce mainly carried on?
7125
7126 12. What were the leading towns? Did they compare in importance with
7127 British towns of the same period?
7128
7129
7130 =Research Topics=
7131
7132 =Land Tenure.=--Coman, _Industrial History_ (rev. ed.), pp. 32-38.
7133 Special reference: Bruce, _Economic History of Virginia_, Vol. I, Chap.
7134 VIII.
7135
7136 =Tobacco Planting in Virginia.=--Callender, _Economic History of the
7137 United States_, pp. 22-28.
7138
7139 =Colonial Agriculture.=--Coman, pp. 48-63. Callender, pp. 69-74.
7140 Reference: J.R.H. Moore, _Industrial History of the American People_,
7141 pp. 131-162.
7142
7143 =Colonial Manufactures.=--Coman, pp. 63-73. Callender, pp. 29-44.
7144 Special reference: Weeden, _Economic and Social History of New England_.
7145
7146 =Colonial Commerce.=--Coman, pp. 73-85. Callender, pp. 51-63, 78-84.
7147 Moore, pp. 163-208. Lodge, _Short History of the English Colonies_, pp.
7148 409-412, 229-231, 312-314.
7149
7150
7151
7152
7153 Chapter III
7154
7155 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS
7156
7157
7158 Colonial life, crowded as it was with hard and unremitting toil, left
7159 scant leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences. There was
7160 little money in private purses or public treasuries to be dedicated to
7161 schools, libraries, and museums. Few there were with time to read long
7162 and widely, and fewer still who could devote their lives to things that
7163 delight the eye and the mind. And yet, poor and meager as the
7164 intellectual life of the colonists may seem by way of comparison, heroic
7165 efforts were made in every community to lift the people above the plane
7166 of mere existence. After the first clearings were opened in the forests
7167 those efforts were redoubled, and with lengthening years told upon the
7168 thought and spirit of the land. The appearance, during the struggle with
7169 England, of an extraordinary group of leaders familiar with history,
7170 political philosophy, and the arts of war, government, and diplomacy
7171 itself bore eloquent testimony to the high quality of the American
7172 intellect. No one, not even the most critical, can run through the
7173 writings of distinguished Americans scattered from Massachusetts to
7174 Georgia--the Adamses, Ellsworth, the Morrises, the Livingstons,
7175 Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, Madison, Marshall, Henry, the Randolphs,
7176 and the Pinckneys--without coming to the conclusion that there was
7177 something in American colonial life which fostered minds of depth and
7178 power. Women surmounted even greater difficulties than the men in the
7179 process of self-education, and their keen interest in public issues is
7180 evident in many a record like the _Letters_ of Mrs. John Adams to her
7181 husband during the Revolution; the writings of Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren,
7182 the sister of James Otis, who measured her pen with the British
7183 propagandists; and the patriot newspapers founded and managed by women.
7184
7185
7186 THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHURCHES
7187
7188 In the intellectual life of America, the churches assumed a role of high
7189 importance. There were abundant reasons for this. In many of the
7190 colonies--Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New England--the religious impulse
7191 had been one of the impelling motives in stimulating immigration. In all
7192 the colonies, the clergy, at least in the beginning, formed the only
7193 class with any leisure to devote to matters of the spirit. They preached
7194 on Sundays and taught school on week days. They led in the discussion of
7195 local problems and in the formation of political opinion, so much of
7196 which was concerned with the relation between church and state. They
7197 wrote books and pamphlets. They filled most of the chairs in the
7198 colleges; under clerical guidance, intellectual and spiritual, the
7199 Americans received their formal education. In several of the provinces
7200 the Anglican Church was established by law. In New England the Puritans
7201 were supreme, notwithstanding the efforts of the crown to overbear their
7202 authority. In the Middle colonies, particularly, the multiplication of
7203 sects made the dominance of any single denomination impossible; and in
7204 all of them there was a growing diversity of faith, which promised in
7205 time a separation of church and state and freedom of opinion.
7206
7207 =The Church of England.=--Virginia was the stronghold of the English
7208 system of church and state. The Anglican faith and worship were
7209 prescribed by law, sustained by taxes imposed on all, and favored by the
7210 governor, the provincial councilors, and the richest planters. "The
7211 Established Church," says Lodge, "was one of the appendages of the
7212 Virginia aristocracy. They controlled the vestries and the ministers,
7213 and the parish church stood not infrequently on the estate of the
7214 planter who built and managed it." As in England, Catholics and
7215 Protestant Dissenters were at first laid under heavy disabilities. Only
7216 slowly and on sufferance were they admitted to the province; but when
7217 once they were even covertly tolerated, they pressed steadily in, until,
7218 by the Revolution, they outnumbered the adherents of the established
7219 order.
7220
7221 The Church was also sanctioned by law and supported by taxes in the
7222 Carolinas after 1704, and in Georgia after that colony passed directly
7223 under the crown in 1754--this in spite of the fact that the majority of
7224 the inhabitants were Dissenters. Against the protests of the Catholics
7225 it was likewise established in Maryland. In New York, too,
7226 notwithstanding the resistance of the Dutch, the Established Church was
7227 fostered by the provincial officials, and the Anglicans, embracing about
7228 one-fifteenth of the population, exerted an influence all out of
7229 proportion to their numbers.
7230
7231 Many factors helped to enhance the power of the English Church in the
7232 colonies. It was supported by the British government and the official
7233 class sent out to the provinces. Its bishops and archbishops in England
7234 were appointed by the king, and its faith and service were set forth by
7235 acts of Parliament. Having its seat of power in the English monarchy, it
7236 could hold its clergy and missionaries loyal to the crown and so
7237 counteract to some extent the independent spirit that was growing up in
7238 America. The Church, always a strong bulwark of the state, therefore had
7239 a political role to play here as in England. Able bishops and far-seeing
7240 leaders firmly grasped this fact about the middle of the eighteenth
7241 century and redoubled their efforts to augment the influence of the
7242 Church in provincial affairs. Unhappily for their plans they failed to
7243 calculate in advance the effect of their methods upon dissenting
7244 Protestants, who still cherished memories of bitter religious conflicts
7245 in the mother country.
7246
7247 =Puritanism in New England.=--If the established faith made for imperial
7248 unity, the same could not be said of Puritanism. The Plymouth Pilgrims
7249 had cast off all allegiance to the Anglican Church and established a
7250 separate and independent congregation before they came to America. The
7251 Puritans, essaying at first the task of reformers within the Church,
7252 soon after their arrival in Massachusetts, likewise flung off their yoke
7253 of union with the Anglicans. In each town a separate congregation was
7254 organized, the male members choosing the pastor, the teachers, and the
7255 other officers. They also composed the voters in the town meeting, where
7256 secular matters were determined. The union of church and government was
7257 thus complete, and uniformity of faith and life prescribed by law and
7258 enforced by civil authorities; but this worked for local autonomy
7259 instead of imperial unity.
7260
7261 The clergy became a powerful class, dominant through their learning and
7262 their fearful denunciations of the faithless. They wrote the books for
7263 the people to read--the famous Cotton Mather having three hundred and
7264 eighty-three books and pamphlets to his credit. In cooperation with the
7265 civil officers they enforced a strict observance of the Puritan
7266 Sabbath--a day of rest that began at six o'clock on Saturday evening and
7267 lasted until sunset on Sunday. All work, all trading, all amusement, and
7268 all worldly conversation were absolutely prohibited during those hours.
7269 A thoughtless maid servant who for some earthly reason smiled in church
7270 was in danger of being banished as a vagabond. Robert Pike, a devout
7271 Puritan, thinking the sun had gone to rest, ventured forth on horseback
7272 one Sunday evening and was luckless enough to have a ray of light strike
7273 him through a rift in the clouds. The next day he was brought into court
7274 and fined for "his ungodly conduct." With persons accused of witchcraft
7275 the Puritans were still more ruthless. When a mania of persecution swept
7276 over Massachusetts in 1692, eighteen people were hanged, one was pressed
7277 to death, many suffered imprisonment, and two died in jail.
7278
7279 Just about this time, however, there came a break in the uniformity of
7280 Puritan rule. The crown and church in England had long looked upon it
7281 with disfavor, and in 1684 King Charles II annulled the old charter of
7282 the Massachusetts Bay Company. A new document issued seven years later
7283 wrested from the Puritans of the colony the right to elect their own
7284 governor and reserved the power of appointment to the king. It also
7285 abolished the rule limiting the suffrage to church members, substituting
7286 for it a simple property qualification. Thus a royal governor and an
7287 official family, certain to be Episcopalian in faith and monarchist in
7288 sympathies, were forced upon Massachusetts; and members of all religious
7289 denominations, if they had the required amount of property, were
7290 permitted to take part in elections. By this act in the name of the
7291 crown, the Puritan monopoly was broken down in Massachusetts, and that
7292 province was brought into line with Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New
7293 Hampshire, where property, not religious faith, was the test for the
7294 suffrage.
7295
7296 =Growth of Religious Toleration.=--Though neither the Anglicans of
7297 Virginia nor the Puritans of Massachusetts believed in toleration for
7298 other denominations, that principle was strictly applied in Rhode
7299 Island. There, under the leadership of Roger Williams, liberty in
7300 matters of conscience was established in the beginning. Maryland, by
7301 granting in 1649 freedom to those who professed to believe in Jesus
7302 Christ, opened its gates to all Christians; and Pennsylvania, true to
7303 the tenets of the Friends, gave freedom of conscience to those "who
7304 confess and acknowledge the one Almighty and Eternal God to be the
7305 creator, upholder, and ruler of the World." By one circumstance or
7306 another, the Middle colonies were thus early characterized by diversity
7307 rather than uniformity of opinion. Dutch Protestants, Huguenots,
7308 Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, New Lights, Moravians, Lutherans,
7309 Catholics, and other denominations became too strongly intrenched and
7310 too widely scattered to permit any one of them to rule, if it had
7311 desired to do so. There were communities and indeed whole sections where
7312 one or another church prevailed, but in no colony was a legislature
7313 steadily controlled by a single group. Toleration encouraged diversity,
7314 and diversity, in turn, worked for greater toleration.
7315
7316 The government and faith of the dissenting denominations conspired with
7317 economic and political tendencies to draw America away from the English
7318 state. Presbyterians, Quakers, Baptists, and Puritans had no hierarchy
7319 of bishops and archbishops to bind them to the seat of power in London.
7320 Neither did they look to that metropolis for guidance in interpreting
7321 articles of faith. Local self-government in matters ecclesiastical
7322 helped to train them for local self-government in matters political. The
7323 spirit of independence which led Dissenters to revolt in the Old World,
7324 nourished as it was amid favorable circumstances in the New World, made
7325 them all the more zealous in the defense of every right against
7326 authority imposed from without.
7327
7328
7329 SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
7330
7331 =Religion and Local Schools.=--One of the first cares of each Protestant
7332 denomination was the education of the children in the faith. In this
7333 work the Bible became the center of interest. The English version was
7334 indeed the one book of the people. Farmers, shopkeepers, and artisans,
7335 whose life had once been bounded by the daily routine of labor, found in
7336 the Scriptures not only an inspiration to religious conduct, but also a
7337 book of romance, travel, and history. "Legend and annal," says John
7338 Richard Green, "war-song and psalm, state-roll and biography, the mighty
7339 voices of prophets, the parables of Evangelists, stories of mission
7340 journeys, of perils by sea and among the heathen, philosophic arguments,
7341 apocalyptic visions, all were flung broadcast over minds unoccupied for
7342 the most part by any rival learning.... As a mere literary monument, the
7343 English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the English
7344 tongue." It was the King James version just from the press that the
7345 Pilgrims brought across the sea with them.
7346
7347 For the authority of the Established Church was substituted the
7348 authority of the Scriptures. The Puritans devised a catechism based upon
7349 their interpretation of the Bible, and, very soon after their arrival in
7350 America, they ordered all parents and masters of servants to be diligent
7351 in seeing that their children and wards were taught to read religious
7352 works and give answers to the religious questions. Massachusetts was
7353 scarcely twenty years old before education of this character was
7354 declared to be compulsory, and provision was made for public schools
7355 where those not taught at home could receive instruction in reading and
7356 writing.
7357
7358 [Illustration: A PAGE FROM A FAMOUS SCHOOLBOOK
7359
7360
7361 A In ADAM'S Fall
7362 We sinned all.
7363
7364 B Heaven to find,
7365 The Bible Mind.
7366
7367 C Christ crucify'd
7368 For sinners dy'd.
7369
7370 D The Deluge drown'd
7371 The Earth around.
7372
7373 E ELIJAH hid
7374 by Ravens fed.
7375
7376 F The judgment made
7377 FELIX afraid.]
7378
7379
7380
7381 Outside of New England the idea of compulsory education was not regarded
7382 with the same favor; but the whole land was nevertheless dotted with
7383 little schools kept by "dames, itinerant teachers, or local parsons."
7384 Whether we turn to the life of Franklin in the North or Washington in
7385 the South, we read of tiny schoolhouses, where boys, and sometimes
7386 girls, were taught to read and write. Where there were no schools,
7387 fathers and mothers of the better kind gave their children the rudiments
7388 of learning. Though illiteracy was widespread, there is evidence to show
7389 that the diffusion of knowledge among the masses was making steady
7390 progress all through the eighteenth century.
7391
7392 =Religion and Higher Learning.=--Religious motives entered into the
7393 establishment of colleges as well as local schools. Harvard, founded in
7394 1636, and Yale, opened in 1718, were intended primarily to train
7395 "learned and godly ministers" for the Puritan churches of New England.
7396 To the far North, Dartmouth, chartered in 1769, was designed first as a
7397 mission to the Indians and then as a college for the sons of New England
7398 farmers preparing to preach, teach, or practice law. The College of New
7399 Jersey, organized in 1746 and removed to Princeton eleven years later,
7400 was sustained by the Presbyterians. Two colleges looked to the
7401 Established Church as their source of inspiration and support: William
7402 and Mary, founded in Virginia in 1693, and King's College, now Columbia
7403 University, chartered by King George II in 1754, on an appeal from the
7404 New York Anglicans, alarmed at the growth of religious dissent and the
7405 "republican tendencies" of the age. Two colleges revealed a drift away
7406 from sectarianism. Brown, established in Rhode Island in 1764, and the
7407 Philadelphia Academy, forerunner of the University of Pennsylvania,
7408 organized by Benjamin Franklin, reflected the spirit of toleration by
7409 giving representation on the board of trustees to several religious
7410 sects. It was Franklin's idea that his college should prepare young men
7411 to serve in public office as leaders of the people and ornaments to
7412 their country.
7413
7414 =Self-education in America.=--Important as were these institutions of
7415 learning, higher education was by no means confined within their walls.
7416 Many well-to-do families sent their sons to Oxford or Cambridge in
7417 England. Private tutoring in the home was common. In still more families
7418 there were intelligent children who grew up in the great colonial school
7419 of adversity and who trained themselves until, in every contest of mind
7420 and wit, they could vie with the sons of Harvard or William and Mary or
7421 any other college. Such, for example, was Benjamin Franklin, whose
7422 charming autobiography, in addition to being an American classic, is a
7423 fine record of self-education. His formal training in the classroom was
7424 limited to a few years at a local school in Boston; but his
7425 self-education continued throughout his life. He early manifested a zeal
7426 for reading, and devoured, he tells us, his father's dry library on
7427 theology, Bunyan's works, Defoe's writings, Plutarch's _Lives_, Locke's
7428 _On the Human Understanding_, and innumerable volumes dealing with
7429 secular subjects. His literary style, perhaps the best of his time,
7430 Franklin acquired by the diligent and repeated analysis of the
7431 _Spectator_. In a life crowded with labors, he found time to read widely
7432 in natural science and to win single-handed recognition at the hands of
7433 European savants for his discoveries in electricity. By his own efforts
7434 he "attained an acquaintance" with Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish,
7435 thus unconsciously preparing himself for the day when he was to speak
7436 for all America at the court of the king of France.
7437
7438 Lesser lights than Franklin, educated by the same process, were found
7439 all over colonial America. From this fruitful source of native ability,
7440 self-educated, the American cause drew great strength in the trials of
7441 the Revolution.
7442
7443
7444 THE COLONIAL PRESS
7445
7446 =The Rise of the Newspaper.=--The evolution of American democracy into a
7447 government by public opinion, enlightened by the open discussion of
7448 political questions, was in no small measure aided by a free press. That
7449 too, like education, was a matter of slow growth. A printing press was
7450 brought to Massachusetts in 1639, but it was put in charge of an
7451 official censor and limited to the publication of religious works. Forty
7452 years elapsed before the first newspaper appeared, bearing the curious
7453 title, _Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic_, and it had not
7454 been running very long before the government of Massachusetts suppressed
7455 it for discussing a political question.
7456
7457 Publishing, indeed, seemed to be a precarious business; but in 1704
7458 there came a second venture in journalism, _The Boston News-Letter_,
7459 which proved to be a more lasting enterprise because it refrained from
7460 criticizing the authorities. Still the public interest languished. When
7461 Franklin's brother, James, began to issue his _New England Courant_
7462 about 1720, his friends sought to dissuade him, saying that one
7463 newspaper was enough for America. Nevertheless he continued it; and his
7464 confidence in the future was rewarded. In nearly every colony a gazette
7465 or chronicle appeared within the next thirty years or more. Benjamin
7466 Franklin was able to record in 1771 that America had twenty-five
7467 newspapers. Boston led with five. Philadelphia had three: two in English
7468 and one in German.
7469
7470 =Censorship and Restraints on the Press.=--The idea of printing,
7471 unlicensed by the government and uncontrolled by the church, was,
7472 however, slow in taking form. The founders of the American colonies had
7473 never known what it was to have the free and open publication of books,
7474 pamphlets, broadsides, and newspapers. When the art of printing was
7475 first discovered, the control of publishing was vested in clerical
7476 authorities. After the establishment of the State Church in England in
7477 the reign of Elizabeth, censorship of the press became a part of royal
7478 prerogative. Printing was restricted to Oxford, Cambridge, and London;
7479 and no one could publish anything without previous approval of the
7480 official censor. When the Puritans were in power, the popular party,
7481 with a zeal which rivaled that of the crown, sought, in turn, to silence
7482 royalist and clerical writers by a vigorous censorship. After the
7483 restoration of the monarchy, control of the press was once more placed
7484 in royal hands, where it remained until 1695, when Parliament, by
7485 failing to renew the licensing act, did away entirely with the official
7486
7487 censorship. By that time political parties were so powerful and so
7488 active and printing presses were so numerous that official review of all
7489 published matter became a sheer impossibility.
7490
7491 In America, likewise, some troublesome questions arose in connection
7492 with freedom of the press. The Puritans of Massachusetts were no less
7493 anxious than King Charles or the Archbishop of London to shut out from
7494 the prying eyes of the people all literature "not mete for them to
7495 read"; and so they established a system of official licensing for
7496 presses, which lasted until 1755. In the other colonies where there was
7497 more diversity of opinion and publishers could set up in business with
7498 impunity, they were nevertheless constantly liable to arrest for
7499 printing anything displeasing to the colonial governments. In 1721 the
7500 editor of the _Mercury_ in Philadelphia was called before the
7501 proprietary council and ordered to apologize for a political article,
7502 and for a later offense of a similar character he was thrown into jail.
7503 A still more famous case was that of Peter Zenger, a New York publisher,
7504 who was arrested in 1735 for criticising the administration. Lawyers who
7505 ventured to defend the unlucky editor were deprived of their licenses to
7506 practice, and it became necessary to bring an attorney all the way from
7507 Philadelphia. By this time the tension of feeling was high, and the
7508 approbation of the public was forthcoming when the lawyer for the
7509 defense exclaimed to the jury that the very cause of liberty itself, not
7510 that of the poor printer, was on trial! The verdict for Zenger, when it
7511 finally came, was the signal for an outburst of popular rejoicing.
7512 Already the people of King George's province knew how precious a thing
7513 is the freedom of the press.
7514
7515 Thanks to the schools, few and scattered as they were, and to the
7516 vigilance of parents, a very large portion, perhaps nearly one-half, of
7517 the colonists could read. Through the newspapers, pamphlets, and
7518 almanacs that streamed from the types, the people could follow the
7519 course of public events and grasp the significance of political
7520 arguments. An American opinion was in the process of making--an
7521 independent opinion nourished by the press and enriched by discussions
7522 around the fireside and at the taverns. When the day of resistance to
7523 British rule came, government by opinion was at hand. For every person
7524 who could hear the voice of Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, there were a
7525 thousand who could see their appeals on the printed page. Men who had
7526 spelled out their letters while poring over Franklin's _Poor Richard's
7527 Almanac_ lived to read Thomas Paine's thrilling call to arms.
7528
7529
7530 THE EVOLUTION IN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
7531
7532 Two very distinct lines of development appeared in colonial politics.
7533 The one, exalting royal rights and aristocratic privileges, was the
7534 drift toward provincial government through royal officers appointed in
7535 England. The other, leading toward democracy and self-government, was
7536 the growth in the power of the popular legislative assembly. Each
7537 movement gave impetus to the other, with increasing force during the
7538 passing years, until at last the final collision between the two ideals
7539 of government came in the war of independence.
7540
7541 =The Royal Provinces.=--Of the thirteen English colonies eight were
7542 royal provinces in 1776, with governors appointed by the king. Virginia
7543 passed under the direct rule of the crown in 1624, when the charter of
7544 the London Company was annulled. The Massachusetts Bay corporation lost
7545 its charter in 1684, and the new instrument granted seven years later
7546 stripped the colonists of the right to choose their chief executive. In
7547 the early decades of the eighteenth century both the Carolinas were
7548 given the provincial instead of the proprietary form. New Hampshire,
7549 severed from Massachusetts in 1679, and Georgia, surrendered by the
7550 trustees in 1752, went into the hands of the crown. New York,
7551 transferred to the Duke of York on its capture from the Dutch in 1664,
7552 became a province when he took the title of James II in 1685. New
7553 Jersey, after remaining for nearly forty years under proprietors, was
7554 brought directly under the king in 1702. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and
7555 Delaware, although they retained their proprietary character until the
7556 Revolution, were in some respects like the royal colonies, for their
7557 governors were as independent of popular choice as were the appointees
7558 of King George. Only two colonies, Rhode Island and Connecticut,
7559 retained full self-government on the eve of the Revolution. They alone
7560 had governors and legislatures entirely of their own choosing.
7561
7562 The chief officer of the royal province was the governor, who enjoyed
7563 high and important powers which he naturally sought to augment at every
7564 turn. He enforced the laws and, usually with the consent of a council,
7565 appointed the civil and military officers. He granted pardons and
7566 reprieves; he was head of the highest court; he was commander-in-chief
7567 of the militia; he levied troops for defense and enforced martial law in
7568 time of invasion, war, and rebellion. In all the provinces, except
7569 Massachusetts, he named the councilors who composed the upper house of
7570 the legislature and was likely to choose those who favored his claims.
7571 He summoned, adjourned, and dissolved the popular assembly, or the lower
7572 house; he laid before it the projects of law desired by the crown; and
7573 he vetoed measures which he thought objectionable. Here were in America
7574 all the elements of royal prerogative against which Hampden had
7575 protested and Cromwell had battled in England.
7576
7577 [Illustration: THE ROYAL GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT NEW BERNE]
7578
7579 The colonial governors were generally surrounded by a body of
7580 office-seekers and hunters for land grants. Some of them were noblemen
7581 of broken estates who had come to America to improve their fortunes. The
7582 pretensions of this circle grated on colonial nerves, and privileges
7583 granted to them, often at the expense of colonists, did much to deepen
7584 popular antipathy to the British government. Favors extended to
7585 adherents of the Established Church displeased Dissenters. The
7586 reappearance of this formidable union of church and state, from which
7587 they had fled, stirred anew the ancient wrath against that combination.
7588
7589 =The Colonial Assembly.=--Coincident with the drift toward
7590 administration through royal governors was the second and opposite
7591 tendency, namely, a steady growth in the practice of self-government.
7592 The voters of England had long been accustomed to share in taxation and
7593 law-making through representatives in Parliament, and the idea was early
7594 introduced in America. Virginia was only twelve years old (1619) when
7595 its first representative assembly appeared. As the towns of
7596 Massachusetts multiplied and it became impossible for all the members of
7597 the corporation to meet at one place, the representative idea was
7598 adopted, in 1633. The river towns of Connecticut formed a representative
7599 system under their "Fundamental Orders" of 1639, and the entire colony
7600 was given a royal charter in 1662. Generosity, as well as practical
7601 considerations, induced such proprietors as Lord Baltimore and William
7602 Penn to invite their colonists to share in the government as soon as any
7603 considerable settlements were made. Thus by one process or another every
7604 one of the colonies secured a popular assembly.
7605
7606 It is true that in the provision for popular elections, the suffrage was
7607 finally restricted to property owners or taxpayers, with a leaning
7608 toward the freehold qualification. In Virginia, the rural voter had to
7609 be a freeholder owning at least fifty acres of land, if there was no
7610 house on it, or twenty-five acres with a house twenty-five feet square.
7611 In Massachusetts, the voter for member of the assembly under the charter
7612 of 1691 had to be a freeholder of an estate worth forty shillings a year
7613 at least or of other property to the value of forty pounds sterling. In
7614 Pennsylvania, the suffrage was granted to freeholders owning fifty acres
7615 or more of land well seated, twelve acres cleared, and to other persons
7616 worth at least fifty pounds in lawful money.
7617
7618 Restrictions like these undoubtedly excluded from the suffrage a very
7619 considerable number of men, particularly the mechanics and artisans of
7620 the towns, who were by no means content with their position.
7621 Nevertheless, it was relatively easy for any man to acquire a small
7622 freehold, so cheap and abundant was land; and in fact a large proportion
7623 of the colonists were land owners. Thus the assemblies, in spite of the
7624 limited suffrage, acquired a democratic tone.
7625
7626 The popular character of the assemblies increased as they became engaged
7627 in battles with the royal and proprietary governors. When called upon by
7628 the executive to make provision for the support of the administration,
7629 the legislature took advantage of the opportunity to make terms in the
7630 interest of the taxpayers. It made annual, not permanent, grants of
7631 money to pay official salaries and then insisted upon electing a
7632 treasurer to dole it out. Thus the colonists learned some of the
7633 mysteries of public finance, as well as the management of rapacious
7634 officials. The legislature also used its power over money grants to
7635 force the governor to sign bills which he would otherwise have vetoed.
7636
7637 =Contests between Legislatures and Governors.=--As may be imagined, many
7638 and bitter were the contests between the royal and proprietary governors
7639 and the colonial assemblies. Franklin relates an amusing story of how
7640 the Pennsylvania assembly held in one hand a bill for the executive to
7641 sign and, in the other hand, the money to pay his salary. Then, with sly
7642 humor, Franklin adds: "Do not, my courteous reader, take pet at our
7643 proprietary constitution for these our bargain and sale proceedings in
7644 legislation. It is a happy country where justice and what was your own
7645 before can be had for ready money. It is another addition to the value
7646 of money and of course another spur to industry. Every land is not so
7647 blessed."
7648
7649 It must not be thought, however, that every governor got off as easily
7650 as Franklin's tale implies. On the contrary, the legislatures, like
7651 Caesar, fed upon meat that made them great and steadily encroached upon
7652 executive prerogatives as they tried out and found their strength. If
7653 we may believe contemporary laments, the power of the crown in America
7654 was diminishing when it was struck down altogether. In New York, the
7655 friends of the governor complained in 1747 that "the inhabitants of
7656 plantations are generally educated in republican principles; upon
7657 republican principles all is conducted. Little more than a shadow of
7658 royal authority remains in the Northern colonies." "Here," echoed the
7659 governor of South Carolina, the following year, "levelling principles
7660 prevail; the frame of the civil government is unhinged; a governor, if
7661 he would be idolized, must betray his trust; the people have got their
7662 whole administration in their hands; the election of the members of the
7663 assembly is by ballot; not civil posts only, but all ecclesiastical
7664 preferments, are in the disposal or election of the people."
7665
7666 Though baffled by the "levelling principles" of the colonial assemblies,
7667 the governors did not give up the case as hopeless. Instead they evolved
7668 a system of policy and action which they thought could bring the
7669 obstinate provincials to terms. That system, traceable in their letters
7670 to the government in London, consisted of three parts: (1) the royal
7671 officers in the colonies were to be made independent of the legislatures
7672 by taxes imposed by acts of Parliament; (2) a British standing army was
7673 to be maintained in America; (3) the remaining colonial charters were to
7674 be revoked and government by direct royal authority was to be enlarged.
7675
7676 Such a system seemed plausible enough to King George III and to many
7677 ministers of the crown in London. With governors, courts, and an army
7678 independent of the colonists, they imagined it would be easy to carry
7679 out both royal orders and acts of Parliament. This reasoning seemed both
7680 practical and logical. Nor was it founded on theory, for it came fresh
7681 from the governors themselves. It was wanting in one respect only. It
7682 failed to take account of the fact that the American people were growing
7683 strong in the practice of self-government and could dispense with the
7684 tutelage of the British ministry, no matter how excellent it might be or
7685 how benevolent its intentions.
7686
7687
7688 =References=
7689
7690 A.M. Earle, _Home Life in Colonial Days_.
7691
7692 A.L. Cross, _The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies_ (Harvard
7693 Studies).
7694
7695 E.G. Dexter, _History of Education in the United States_.
7696
7697 C.A. Duniway, _Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_.
7698
7699 Benjamin Franklin, _Autobiography_.
7700
7701 E.B. Greene, _The Provincial Governor_ (Harvard Studies).
7702
7703 A.E. McKinley, _The Suffrage Franchise in the Thirteen English Colonies_
7704 (Pennsylvania University Studies).
7705
7706 M.C. Tyler, _History of American Literature during the Colonial Times_
7707 (2 vols.).
7708
7709
7710 =Questions=
7711
7712 1. Why is leisure necessary for the production of art and literature?
7713 How may leisure be secured?
7714
7715 2. Explain the position of the church in colonial life.
7716
7717 3. Contrast the political roles of Puritanism and the Established
7718 Church.
7719
7720 4. How did diversity of opinion work for toleration?
7721
7722 5. Show the connection between religion and learning in colonial times.
7723
7724 6. Why is a "free press" such an important thing to American democracy?
7725
7726 7. Relate some of the troubles of early American publishers.
7727
7728 8. Give the undemocratic features of provincial government.
7729
7730 9. How did the colonial assemblies help to create an independent
7731 American spirit, in spite of a restricted suffrage?
7732
7733 10. Explain the nature of the contests between the governors and the
7734 legislatures.
7735
7736
7737 =Research Topics=
7738
7739 =Religious and Intellectual Life.=--Lodge, _Short History of the English
7740 Colonies_: (1) in New England, pp. 418-438, 465-475; (2) in Virginia,
7741 pp. 54-61, 87-89; (3) in Pennsylvania, pp. 232-237, 253-257; (4) in New
7742 York, pp. 316-321. Interesting source materials in Hart, _American
7743 History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. II, pp. 255-275, 276-290.
7744
7745 =The Government of a Royal Province, Virginia.=--Lodge, pp. 43-50.
7746 Special Reference: E.B. Greene, _The Provincial Governor_ (Harvard
7747 Studies).
7748
7749 =The Government of a Proprietary Colony, Pennsylvania.=--Lodge, pp.
7750 230-232.
7751
7752 =Government in New England.=--Lodge, pp. 412-417.
7753
7754 =The Colonial Press.=--Special Reference: G.H. Payne, _History of
7755 Journalism in the United States_ (1920).
7756
7757 =Colonial Life in General.=--John Fiske, _Old Virginia and Her
7758 Neighbors_, Vol. II, pp. 174-269; Elson, _History of the United States_,
7759 pp. 197-210.
7760
7761 =Colonial Government in General.=--Elson, pp. 210-216.
7762
7763
7764
7765
7766 CHAPTER IV
7767
7768 THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLONIAL NATIONALISM
7769
7770
7771 It is one of the well-known facts of history that a people loosely
7772 united by domestic ties of a political and economic nature, even a
7773 people torn by domestic strife, may be welded into a solid and compact
7774 body by an attack from a foreign power. The imperative call to common
7775 defense, the habit of sharing common burdens, the fusing force of common
7776 service--these things, induced by the necessity of resisting outside
7777 interference, act as an amalgam drawing together all elements, except,
7778 perhaps, the most discordant. The presence of the enemy allays the most
7779 virulent of quarrels, temporarily at least. "Politics," runs an old
7780 saying, "stops at the water's edge."
7781
7782 This ancient political principle, so well understood in diplomatic
7783 circles, applied nearly as well to the original thirteen American
7784 colonies as to the countries of Europe. The necessity for common
7785 defense, if not equally great, was certainly always pressing. Though it
7786 has long been the practice to speak of the early settlements as founded
7787 in "a wilderness," this was not actually the case. From the earliest
7788 days of Jamestown on through the years, the American people were
7789 confronted by dangers from without. All about their tiny settlements
7790 were Indians, growing more and more hostile as the frontier advanced and
7791 as sharp conflicts over land aroused angry passions. To the south and
7792 west was the power of Spain, humiliated, it is true, by the disaster to
7793 the Armada, but still presenting an imposing front to the British
7794 empire. To the north and west were the French, ambitious, energetic,
7795 imperial in temper, and prepared to contest on land and water the
7796 advance of British dominion in America.
7797
7798
7799 RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS AND THE FRENCH
7800
7801 =Indian Affairs.=--It is difficult to make general statements about the
7802 relations of the colonists to the Indians. The problem was presented in
7803 different shape in different sections of America. It was not handled
7804 according to any coherent or uniform plan by the British government,
7805 which alone could speak for all the provinces at the same time. Neither
7806 did the proprietors and the governors who succeeded one another, in an
7807 irregular train, have the consistent policy or the matured experience
7808 necessary for dealing wisely with Indian matters. As the difficulties
7809 arose mainly on the frontiers, where the restless and pushing pioneers
7810 were making their way with gun and ax, nearly everything that happened
7811 was the result of chance rather than of calculation. A personal quarrel
7812 between traders and an Indian, a jug of whisky, a keg of gunpowder, the
7813 exchange of guns for furs, personal treachery, or a flash of bad temper
7814 often set in motion destructive forces of the most terrible character.
7815
7816 On one side of the ledger may be set innumerable generous records--of
7817 Squanto and Samoset teaching the Pilgrims the ways of the wilds; of
7818 Roger Williams buying his lands from the friendly natives; or of William
7819 Penn treating with them on his arrival in America. On the other side of
7820 the ledger must be recorded many a cruel and bloody conflict as the
7821 frontier rolled westward with deadly precision. The Pequots on the
7822 Connecticut border, sensing their doom, fell upon the tiny settlements
7823 with awful fury in 1637 only to meet with equally terrible punishment. A
7824 generation later, King Philip, son of Massasoit, the friend of the
7825 Pilgrims, called his tribesmen to a war of extermination which brought
7826 the strength of all New England to the field and ended in his own
7827 destruction. In New York, the relations with the Indians, especially
7828 with the Algonquins and the Mohawks, were marked by periodic and
7829 desperate wars. Virginia and her Southern neighbors suffered as did New
7830 England. In 1622 Opecacano, a brother of Powhatan, the friend of the
7831 Jamestown settlers, launched a general massacre; and in 1644 he
7832 attempted a war of extermination. In 1675 the whole frontier was ablaze.
7833 Nathaniel Bacon vainly attempted to stir the colonial governor to put up
7834 an adequate defense and, failing in that plea, himself headed a revolt
7835 and a successful expedition against the Indians. As the Virginia
7836 outposts advanced into the Kentucky country, the strife with the natives
7837 was transferred to that "dark and bloody ground"; while to the
7838 southeast, a desperate struggle with the Tuscaroras called forth the
7839 combined forces of the two Carolinas and Virginia.
7840
7841 [Illustration: _From an old print._
7842
7843 VIRGINIANS DEFENDING THEMSELVES AGAINST THE INDIANS]
7844
7845 From such horrors New Jersey and Delaware were saved on account of their
7846 geographical location. Pennsylvania, consistently following a policy of
7847 conciliation, was likewise spared until her western vanguard came into
7848 full conflict with the allied French and Indians. Georgia, by clever
7849 negotiations and treaties of alliance, managed to keep on fair terms
7850 with her belligerent Cherokees and Creeks. But neither diplomacy nor
7851 generosity could stay the inevitable conflict as the frontier advanced,
7852 especially after the French soldiers enlisted the Indians in their
7853 imperial enterprises. It was then that desultory fighting became general
7854 warfare.
7855
7856 [Illustration: ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND SPANISH POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA,
7857 1750]
7858
7859 =Early Relations with the French.=--During the first decades of French
7860 exploration and settlement in the St. Lawrence country, the English
7861 colonies, engrossed with their own problems, gave little or no thought
7862 to their distant neighbors. Quebec, founded in 1608, and Montreal, in
7863 1642, were too far away, too small in population, and too slight in
7864 strength to be much of a menace to Boston, Hartford, or New York. It was
7865 the statesmen in France and England, rather than the colonists in
7866 America, who first grasped the significance of the slowly converging
7867 empires in North America. It was the ambition of Louis XIV of France,
7868 rather than the labors of Jesuit missionaries and French rangers, that
7869 sounded the first note of colonial alarm.
7870
7871 Evidence of this lies in the fact that three conflicts between the
7872 English and the French occurred before their advancing frontiers met on
7873 the Pennsylvania border. King William's War (1689-1697), Queen Anne's
7874 War (1701-1713), and King George's War (1744-1748) owed their origins
7875 and their endings mainly to the intrigues and rivalries of European
7876 powers, although they all involved the American colonies in struggles
7877 with the French and their savage allies.
7878
7879 =The Clash in the Ohio Valley.=--The second of these wars had hardly
7880 closed, however, before the English colonists themselves began to be
7881 seriously alarmed about the rapidly expanding French dominion in the
7882 West. Marquette and Joliet, who opened the Lake region, and La Salle,
7883 who in 1682 had gone down the Mississippi to the Gulf, had been followed
7884 by the builders of forts. In 1718, the French founded New Orleans, thus
7885 taking possession of the gateway to the Mississippi as well as the St.
7886 Lawrence. A few years later they built Fort Niagara; in 1731 they
7887 occupied Crown Point; in 1749 they formally announced their dominion
7888 over all the territory drained by the Ohio River. Having asserted this
7889 lofty claim, they set out to make it good by constructing in the years
7890 1752-1754 Fort Le Boeuf near Lake Erie, Fort Venango on the upper
7891 waters of the Allegheny, and Fort Duquesne at the junction of the
7892 streams forming the Ohio. Though they were warned by George Washington,
7893 in the name of the governor of Virginia, to keep out of territory "so
7894 notoriously known to be property of the crown of Great Britain," the
7895 French showed no signs of relinquishing their pretensions.
7896
7897 [Illustration: _From an old print_
7898
7899 BRADDOCK'S RETREAT]
7900
7901 =The Final Phase--the French and Indian War.=--Thus it happened that the
7902 shot which opened the Seven Years' War, known in America as the French
7903 and Indian War, was fired in the wilds of Pennsylvania. There began the
7904 conflict that spread to Europe and even Asia and finally involved
7905 England and Prussia, on the one side, and France, Austria, Spain, and
7906 minor powers on the other. On American soil, the defeat of Braddock in
7907 1755 and Wolfe's exploit in capturing Quebec four years later were the
7908 dramatic features. On the continent of Europe, England subsidized
7909 Prussian arms to hold France at bay. In India, on the banks of the
7910 Ganges, as on the banks of the St. Lawrence, British arms were
7911 triumphant. Well could the historian write: "Conquests equaling in
7912 rapidity and far surpassing in magnitude those of Cortes and Pizarro had
7913 been achieved in the East." Well could the merchants of London declare
7914 that under the administration of William Pitt, the imperial genius of
7915 this world-wide conflict, commerce had been "united with and made to
7916 flourish by war."
7917
7918 From the point of view of the British empire, the results of the war
7919 were momentous. By the peace of 1763, Canada and the territory east of
7920 the Mississippi, except New Orleans, passed under the British flag. The
7921 remainder of the Louisiana territory was transferred to Spain and French
7922 imperial ambitions on the American continent were laid to rest. In
7923 exchange for Havana, which the British had seized during the war, Spain
7924 ceded to King George the colony of Florida. Not without warrant did
7925 Macaulay write in after years that Pitt "was the first Englishman of his
7926 time; and he had made England the first country in the world."
7927
7928
7929 THE EFFECTS OF WARFARE ON THE COLONIES
7930
7931 The various wars with the French and the Indians, trivial in detail as
7932 they seem to-day, had a profound influence on colonial life and on the
7933 destiny of America. Circumstances beyond the control of popular
7934 assemblies, jealous of their individual powers, compelled cooperation
7935 among them, grudging and stingy no doubt, but still cooperation. The
7936 American people, more eager to be busy in their fields or at their
7937 trades, were simply forced to raise and support armies, to learn the
7938 arts of warfare, and to practice, if in a small theater, the science of
7939 statecraft. These forces, all cumulative, drove the colonists, so
7940 tenaciously provincial in their habits, in the direction of nationalism.
7941
7942 =The New England Confederation.=--It was in their efforts to deal with
7943 the problems presented by the Indian and French menace that the
7944 Americans took the first steps toward union. Though there were many
7945 common ties among the settlers of New England, it required a deadly
7946 fear of the Indians to produce in 1643 the New England Confederation,
7947 composed of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. The
7948 colonies so united were bound together in "a firm and perpetual league
7949 of friendship and amity for offense and defense, mutual service and
7950 succor, upon all just occasions." They made provision for distributing
7951 the burdens of wars among the members and provided for a congress of
7952 commissioners from each colony to determine upon common policies. For
7953 some twenty years the Confederation was active and it continued to hold
7954 meetings until after the extinction of the Indian peril on the immediate
7955 border.
7956
7957 Virginia, no less than Massachusetts, was aware of the importance of
7958 intercolonial cooperation. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the
7959 Old Dominion began treaties of commerce and amity with New York and the
7960 colonies of New England. In 1684 delegates from Virginia met at Albany
7961 with the agents of New York and Massachusetts to discuss problems of
7962 mutual defense. A few years later the Old Dominion cooperated loyally
7963 with the Carolinas in defending their borders against Indian forays.
7964
7965 =The Albany Plan of Union.=--An attempt at a general colonial union was
7966 made in 1754. On the suggestion of the Lords of Trade in England, a
7967 conference was held at Albany to consider Indian relations, to devise
7968 measures of defense against the French, and to enter into "articles of
7969 union and confederation for the general defense of his Majesty's
7970 subjects and interests in North America as well in time of peace as of
7971 war." New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York,
7972 Pennsylvania, and Maryland were represented. After a long discussion, a
7973 plan of union, drafted mainly, it seems, by Benjamin Franklin, was
7974 adopted and sent to the colonies and the crown for approval. The
7975 colonies, jealous of their individual rights, refused to accept the
7976 scheme and the king disapproved it for the reason, Franklin said, that
7977 it had "too much weight in the democratic part of the constitution."
7978 Though the Albany union failed, the document is still worthy of study
7979 because it forecast many of the perplexing problems that were not solved
7980 until thirty-three years afterward, when another convention of which
7981 also Franklin was a member drafted the Constitution of the United
7982 States.
7983
7984 [Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN]
7985
7986 =The Military Education of the Colonists.=--The same wars that showed
7987 the provincials the meaning of union likewise instructed them in the art
7988 of defending their institutions. Particularly was this true of the last
7989 French and Indian conflict, which stretched all the way from Maine to
7990 the Carolinas and made heavy calls upon them all for troops. The answer,
7991 it is admitted, was far from satisfactory to the British government and
7992 the conduct of the militiamen was far from professional; but thousands
7993 of Americans got a taste, a strong taste, of actual fighting in the
7994 field. Men like George Washington and Daniel Morgan learned lessons that
7995 were not forgotten in after years. They saw what American militiamen
7996 could do under favorable circumstances and they watched British regulars
7997 operating on American soil. "This whole transaction," shrewdly remarked
7998 Franklin of Braddock's campaign, "gave us Americans the first suspicion
7999 that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular troops had not
8000 been well founded." It was no mere accident that the Virginia colonel
8001 who drew his sword under the elm at Cambridge and took command of the
8002 army of the Revolution was the brave officer who had "spurned the
8003 whistle of bullets" at the memorable battle in western Pennsylvania.
8004
8005 =Financial Burdens and Commercial Disorder.=--While the provincials were
8006 learning lessons in warfare they were also paying the bills. All the
8007 conflicts were costly in treasure as in blood. King Philip's war left
8008 New England weak and almost bankrupt. The French and Indian struggle was
8009 especially expensive. The twenty-five thousand men put in the field by
8010 the colonies were sustained only by huge outlays of money. Paper
8011 currency streamed from the press and debts were accumulated. Commerce
8012 was driven from its usual channels and prices were enhanced. When the
8013 end came, both England and America were staggering under heavy
8014 liabilities, and to make matters worse there was a fall of prices
8015 accompanied by a commercial depression which extended over a period of
8016 ten years. It was in the midst of this crisis that measures of taxation
8017 had to be devised to pay the cost of the war, precipitating the quarrel
8018 which led to American independence.
8019
8020 =The Expulsion of French Power from North America.=--The effects of the
8021 defeat administered to France, as time proved, were difficult to
8022 estimate. Some British statesmen regarded it as a happy circumstance
8023 that the colonists, already restive under their administration, had no
8024 foreign power at hand to aid them in case they struck for independence.
8025 American leaders, on the other hand, now that the soldiers of King Louis
8026 were driven from the continent, thought that they had no other country
8027 to fear if they cast off British sovereignty. At all events, France,
8028 though defeated, was not out of the sphere of American influence; for,
8029 as events proved, it was the fortunate French alliance negotiated by
8030 Franklin that assured the triumph of American arms in the War of the
8031 Revolution.
8032
8033
8034 COLONIAL RELATIONS WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT
8035
8036 It was neither the Indian wars nor the French wars that finally brought
8037 forth American nationality. That was the product of the long strife
8038 with the mother country which culminated in union for the war of
8039 independence. The forces that created this nation did not operate in the
8040 colonies alone. The character of the English sovereigns, the course of
8041 events in English domestic politics, and English measures of control
8042 over the colonies--executive, legislative, and judicial--must all be
8043 taken into account.
8044
8045 =The Last of the Stuarts.=--The struggles between Charles I (1625-49)
8046 and the parliamentary party and the turmoil of the Puritan regime
8047 (1649-60) so engrossed the attention of Englishmen at home that they had
8048 little time to think of colonial policies or to interfere with colonial
8049 affairs. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660, accompanied by
8050 internal peace and the increasing power of the mercantile classes in the
8051 House of Commons, changed all that. In the reign of Charles II
8052 (1660-85), himself an easy-going person, the policy of regulating trade
8053 by act of Parliament was developed into a closely knit system and
8054 powerful agencies to supervise the colonies were created. At the same
8055 time a system of stricter control over the dominions was ushered in by
8056 the annulment of the old charter of Massachusetts which conferred so
8057 much self-government on the Puritans.
8058
8059 Charles' successor, James II, a man of sterner stuff and jealous of his
8060 authority in the colonies as well as at home, continued the policy thus
8061 inaugurated and enlarged upon it. If he could have kept his throne, he
8062 would have bent the Americans under a harsh rule or brought on in his
8063 dominions a revolution like that which he precipitated at home in 1688.
8064 He determined to unite the Northern colonies and introduce a more
8065 efficient administration based on the pattern of the royal provinces. He
8066 made a martinet, Sir Edmund Andros, governor of all New England, New
8067 York, and New Jersey. The charter of Massachusetts, annulled in the last
8068 days of his brother's reign, he continued to ignore, and that of
8069 Connecticut would have been seized if it had not been spirited away and
8070 hidden, according to tradition, in a hollow oak.
8071
8072 For several months, Andros gave the Northern colonies a taste of
8073 ill-tempered despotism. He wrung quit rents from land owners not
8074 accustomed to feudal dues; he abrogated titles to land where, in his
8075 opinion, they were unlawful; he forced the Episcopal service upon the
8076 Old South Church in Boston; and he denied the writ of _habeas corpus_ to
8077 a preacher who denounced taxation without representation. In the middle
8078 of his arbitrary course, however, his hand was stayed. The news came
8079 that King James had been dethroned by his angry subjects, and the people
8080 of Boston, kindling a fire on Beacon Hill, summoned the countryside to
8081 dispose of Andros. The response was prompt and hearty. The hated
8082 governor was arrested, imprisoned, and sent back across the sea under
8083 guard.
8084
8085 The overthrow of James, followed by the accession of William and Mary
8086 and by assured parliamentary supremacy, had an immediate effect in the
8087 colonies. The new order was greeted with thanksgiving. Massachusetts was
8088 given another charter which, though not so liberal as the first,
8089 restored the spirit if not the entire letter of self-government. In the
8090 other colonies where Andros had been operating, the old course of
8091 affairs was resumed.
8092
8093 =The Indifference of the First Two Georges.=--On the death in 1714 of
8094 Queen Anne, the successor of King William, the throne passed to a
8095 Hanoverian prince who, though grateful for English honors and revenues,
8096 was more interested in Hanover than in England. George I and George II,
8097 whose combined reigns extended from 1714 to 1760, never even learned to
8098 speak the English language, at least without an accent. The necessity of
8099 taking thought about colonial affairs bored both of them so that the
8100 stoutest defender of popular privileges in Boston or Charleston had no
8101 ground to complain of the exercise of personal prerogatives by the king.
8102 Moreover, during a large part of this period, the direction of affairs
8103 was in the hands of an astute leader, Sir Robert Walpole, who betrayed
8104 his somewhat cynical view of politics by adopting as his motto: "Let
8105 sleeping dogs lie." He revealed his appreciation of popular sentiment
8106 by exclaiming: "I will not be the minister to enforce taxes at the
8107 expense of blood." Such kings and such ministers were not likely to
8108 arouse the slumbering resistance of the thirteen colonies across the
8109 sea.
8110
8111 =Control of the Crown over the Colonies.=--While no English ruler from
8112 James II to George III ventured to interfere with colonial matters
8113 personally, constant control over the colonies was exercised by royal
8114 officers acting under the authority of the crown. Systematic supervision
8115 began in 1660, when there was created by royal order a committee of the
8116 king's council to meet on Mondays and Thursdays of each week to consider
8117 petitions, memorials, and addresses respecting the plantations. In 1696
8118 a regular board was established, known as the "Lords of Trade and
8119 Plantations," which continued, until the American Revolution, to
8120 scrutinize closely colonial business. The chief duties of the board were
8121 to examine acts of colonial legislatures, to recommend measures to those
8122 assemblies for adoption, and to hear memorials and petitions from the
8123 colonies relative to their affairs.
8124
8125 The methods employed by this board were varied. All laws passed by
8126 American legislatures came before it for review as a matter of routine.
8127 If it found an act unsatisfactory, it recommended to the king the
8128 exercise of his veto power, known as the royal disallowance. Any person
8129 who believed his personal or property rights injured by a colonial law
8130 could be heard by the board in person or by attorney; in such cases it
8131 was the practice to hear at the same time the agent of the colony so
8132 involved. The royal veto power over colonial legislation was not,
8133 therefore, a formal affair, but was constantly employed on the
8134 suggestion of a highly efficient agency of the crown. All this was in
8135 addition to the powers exercised by the governors in the royal
8136 provinces.
8137
8138 =Judicial Control.=--Supplementing this administrative control over the
8139 colonies was a constant supervision by the English courts of law. The
8140 king, by virtue of his inherent authority, claimed and exercised high
8141 appellate powers over all judicial tribunals in the empire. The right
8142 of appeal from local courts, expressly set forth in some charters, was,
8143 on the eve of the Revolution, maintained in every colony. Any subject in
8144 England or America, who, in the regular legal course, was aggrieved by
8145 any act of a colonial legislature or any decision of a colonial court,
8146 had the right, subject to certain regulations, to carry his case to the
8147 king in council, forcing his opponent to follow him across the sea. In
8148 the exercise of appellate power, the king in council acting as a court
8149 could, and frequently did, declare acts of colonial legislatures duly
8150 enacted and approved, null and void, on the ground that they were
8151 contrary to English law.
8152
8153 =Imperial Control in Operation.=--Day after day, week after week, year
8154 after year, the machinery for political and judicial control over
8155 colonial affairs was in operation. At one time the British governors in
8156 the colonies were ordered not to approve any colonial law imposing a
8157 duty on European goods imported in English vessels. Again, when North
8158 Carolina laid a tax on peddlers, the council objected to it as
8159 "restrictive upon the trade and dispersion of English manufactures
8160 throughout the continent." At other times, Indian trade was regulated in
8161 the interests of the whole empire or grants of lands by a colonial
8162 legislature were set aside. Virginia was forbidden to close her ports to
8163 North Carolina lest there should be retaliation.
8164
8165 In short, foreign and intercolonial trade were subjected to a control
8166 higher than that of the colony, foreshadowing a day when the
8167 Constitution of the United States was to commit to Congress the power to
8168 regulate interstate and foreign commerce and commerce with the Indians.
8169 A superior judicial power, towering above that of the colonies, as the
8170 Supreme Court at Washington now towers above the states, kept the
8171 colonial legislatures within the metes and bounds of established law. In
8172 the thousands of appeals, memorials, petitions, and complaints, and the
8173 rulings and decisions upon them, were written the real history of
8174 British imperial control over the American colonies.
8175
8176 So great was the business before the Lords of Trade that the colonies
8177 had to keep skilled agents in London to protect their interests. As
8178 common grievances against the operation of this machinery of control
8179 arose, there appeared in each colony a considerable body of men, with
8180 the merchants in the lead, who chafed at the restraints imposed on their
8181 enterprise. Only a powerful blow was needed to weld these bodies into a
8182 common mass nourishing the spirit of colonial nationalism. When to the
8183 repeated minor irritations were added general and sweeping measures of
8184 Parliament applying to every colony, the rebound came in the Revolution.
8185
8186 =Parliamentary Control over Colonial Affairs.=--As soon as Parliament
8187 gained in power at the expense of the king, it reached out to bring the
8188 American colonies under its sway as well. Between the execution of
8189 Charles I and the accession of George III, there was enacted an immense
8190 body of legislation regulating the shipping, trade, and manufactures of
8191 America. All of it, based on the "mercantile" theory then prevalent in
8192 all countries of Europe, was designed to control the overseas
8193 plantations in such a way as to foster the commercial and business
8194 interests of the mother country, where merchants and men of finance had
8195 got the upper hand. According to this theory, the colonies of the
8196 British empire should be confined to agriculture and the production of
8197 raw materials, and forced to buy their manufactured goods of England.
8198
8199 _The Navigation Acts._--In the first rank among these measures of
8200 British colonial policy must be placed the navigation laws framed for
8201 the purpose of building up the British merchant marine and navy--arms so
8202 essential in defending the colonies against the Spanish, Dutch, and
8203 French. The beginning of this type of legislation was made in 1651 and
8204 it was worked out into a system early in the reign of Charles II
8205 (1660-85).
8206
8207 The Navigation Acts, in effect, gave a monopoly of colonial commerce to
8208 British ships. No trade could be carried on between Great Britain and
8209 her dominions save in vessels built and manned by British subjects. No
8210 European goods could be brought to America save in the ships of the
8211 country that produced them or in English ships. These laws, which were
8212 almost fatal to Dutch shipping in America, fell with severity upon the
8213 colonists, compelling them to pay higher freight rates. The adverse
8214 effect, however, was short-lived, for the measures stimulated
8215 shipbuilding in the colonies, where the abundance of raw materials gave
8216 the master builders of America an advantage over those of the mother
8217 country. Thus the colonists in the end profited from the restrictive
8218 policy written into the Navigation Acts.
8219
8220 _The Acts against Manufactures._--The second group of laws was
8221 deliberately aimed to prevent colonial industries from competing too
8222 sharply with those of England. Among the earliest of these measures may
8223 be counted the Woolen Act of 1699, forbidding the exportation of woolen
8224 goods from the colonies and even the woolen trade between towns and
8225 colonies. When Parliament learned, as the result of an inquiry, that New
8226 England and New York were making thousands of hats a year and sending
8227 large numbers annually to the Southern colonies and to Ireland, Spain,
8228 and Portugal, it enacted in 1732 a law declaring that "no hats or felts,
8229 dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished" should be "put upon any vessel
8230 or laden upon any horse or cart with intent to export to any place
8231 whatever." The effect of this measure upon the hat industry was almost
8232 ruinous. A few years later a similar blow was given to the iron
8233 industry. By an act of 1750, pig and bar iron from the colonies were
8234 given free entry to England to encourage the production of the raw
8235 material; but at the same time the law provided that "no mill or other
8236 engine for slitting or rolling of iron, no plating forge to work with a
8237 tilt hammer, and no furnace for making steel" should be built in the
8238 colonies. As for those already built, they were declared public
8239 nuisances and ordered closed. Thus three important economic interests of
8240 the colonists, the woolen, hat, and iron industries, were laid under the
8241 ban.
8242
8243 _The Trade Laws._--The third group of restrictive measures passed by the
8244 British Parliament related to the sale of colonial produce. An act of
8245 1663 required the colonies to export certain articles to Great Britain
8246 or to her dominions alone; while sugar, tobacco, and ginger consigned to
8247 the continent of Europe had to pass through a British port paying custom
8248 duties and through a British merchant's hands paying the usual
8249 commission. At first tobacco was the only one of the "enumerated
8250 articles" which seriously concerned the American colonies, the rest
8251 coming mainly from the British West Indies. In the course of time,
8252 however, other commodities were added to the list of enumerated
8253 articles, until by 1764 it embraced rice, naval stores, copper, furs,
8254 hides, iron, lumber, and pearl ashes. This was not all. The colonies
8255 were compelled to bring their European purchases back through English
8256 ports, paying duties to the government and commissions to merchants
8257 again.
8258
8259 _The Molasses Act._--Not content with laws enacted in the interest of
8260 English merchants and manufacturers, Parliament sought to protect the
8261 British West Indies against competition from their French and Dutch
8262 neighbors. New England merchants had long carried on a lucrative trade
8263 with the French islands in the West Indies and Dutch Guiana, where sugar
8264 and molasses could be obtained in large quantities at low prices. Acting
8265 on the protests of English planters in the Barbadoes and Jamaica,
8266 Parliament, in 1733, passed the famous Molasses Act imposing duties on
8267 sugar and molasses imported into the colonies from foreign
8268 countries--rates which would have destroyed the American trade with the
8269 French and Dutch if the law had been enforced. The duties, however, were
8270 not collected. The molasses and sugar trade with the foreigners went on
8271 merrily, smuggling taking the place of lawful traffic.
8272
8273 =Effect of the Laws in America.=--As compared with the strict monopoly
8274 of her colonial trade which Spain consistently sought to maintain, the
8275 policy of England was both moderate and liberal. Furthermore, the
8276 restrictive laws were supplemented by many measures intended to be
8277 favorable to colonial prosperity. The Navigation Acts, for example,
8278 redounded to the advantage of American shipbuilders and the producers
8279 of hemp, tar, lumber, and ship stores in general. Favors in British
8280 ports were granted to colonial producers as against foreign competitors
8281 and in some instances bounties were paid by England to encourage
8282 colonial enterprise. Taken all in all, there is much justification in
8283 the argument advanced by some modern scholars to the effect that the
8284 colonists gained more than they lost by British trade and industrial
8285 legislation. Certainly after the establishment of independence, when
8286 free from these old restrictions, the Americans found themselves
8287 handicapped by being treated as foreigners rather than favored traders
8288 and the recipients of bounties in English markets.
8289
8290 Be that as it may, it appears that the colonists felt little irritation
8291 against the mother country on account of the trade and navigation laws
8292 enacted previous to the close of the French and Indian war. Relatively
8293 few were engaged in the hat and iron industries as compared with those
8294 in farming and planting, so that England's policy of restricting America
8295 to agriculture did not conflict with the interests of the majority of
8296 the inhabitants. The woolen industry was largely in the hands of women
8297 and carried on in connection with their domestic duties, so that it was
8298 not the sole support of any considerable number of people.
8299
8300 As a matter of fact, moreover, the restrictive laws, especially those
8301 relating to trade, were not rigidly enforced. Cargoes of tobacco were
8302 boldly sent to continental ports without even so much as a bow to the
8303 English government, to which duties should have been paid. Sugar and
8304 molasses from the French and Dutch colonies were shipped into New
8305 England in spite of the law. Royal officers sometimes protested against
8306 smuggling and sometimes connived at it; but at no time did they succeed
8307 in stopping it. Taken all in all, very little was heard of "the galling
8308 restraints of trade" until after the French war, when the British
8309 government suddenly entered upon a new course.
8310
8311
8312 SUMMARY OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD
8313
8314 In the period between the landing of the English at Jamestown, Virginia,
8315 in 1607, and the close of the French and Indian war in 1763--a period of
8316 a century and a half--a new nation was being prepared on this continent
8317 to take its place among the powers of the earth. It was an epoch of
8318 migration. Western Europe contributed emigrants of many races and
8319 nationalities. The English led the way. Next to them in numerical
8320 importance were the Scotch-Irish and the Germans. Into the melting pot
8321 were also cast Dutch, Swedes, French, Jews, Welsh, and Irish. Thousands
8322 of negroes were brought from Africa to till Southern fields or labor as
8323 domestic servants in the North.
8324
8325 Why did they come? The reasons are various. Some of them, the Pilgrims
8326 and Puritans of New England, the French Huguenots, Scotch-Irish and
8327 Irish, and the Catholics of Maryland, fled from intolerant governments
8328 that denied them the right to worship God according to the dictates of
8329 their consciences. Thousands came to escape the bondage of poverty in
8330 the Old World and to find free homes in America. Thousands, like the
8331 negroes from Africa, were dragged here against their will. The lure of
8332 adventure appealed to the restless and the lure of profits to the
8333 enterprising merchants.
8334
8335 How did they come? In some cases religious brotherhoods banded together
8336 and borrowed or furnished the funds necessary to pay the way. In other
8337 cases great trading companies were organized to found colonies. Again it
8338 was the wealthy proprietor, like Lord Baltimore or William Penn, who
8339 undertook to plant settlements. Many immigrants were able to pay their
8340 own way across the sea. Others bound themselves out for a term of years
8341 in exchange for the cost of the passage. Negroes were brought on account
8342 of the profits derived from their sale as slaves.
8343
8344 Whatever the motive for their coming, however, they managed to get
8345 across the sea. The immigrants set to work with a will. They cut down
8346 forests, built houses, and laid out fields. They founded churches,
8347 schools, and colleges. They set up forges and workshops. They spun and
8348 wove. They fashioned ships and sailed the seas. They bartered and
8349 traded. Here and there on favorable harbors they established centers of
8350 commerce--Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
8351 Charleston. As soon as a firm foothold was secured on the shore line
8352 they pressed westward until, by the close of the colonial period, they
8353 were already on the crest of the Alleghanies.
8354
8355 Though they were widely scattered along a thousand miles of seacoast,
8356 the colonists were united in spirit by many common ties. The major
8357 portion of them were Protestants. The language, the law, and the
8358 literature of England furnished the basis of national unity. Most of the
8359 colonists were engaged in the same hard task; that of conquering a
8360 wilderness. To ties of kinship and language were added ties created by
8361 necessity. They had to unite in defense; first, against the Indians and
8362 later against the French. They were all subjects of the same
8363 sovereign--the king of England. The English Parliament made laws for
8364 them and the English government supervised their local affairs, their
8365 trade, and their manufactures. Common forces assailed them. Common
8366 grievances vexed them. Common hopes inspired them.
8367
8368 Many of the things which tended to unite them likewise tended to throw
8369 them into opposition to the British Crown and Parliament. Most of them
8370 were freeholders; that is, farmers who owned their own land and tilled
8371 it with their own hands. A free soil nourished the spirit of freedom.
8372 The majority of them were Dissenters, critics, not friends, of the
8373 Church of England, that stanch defender of the British monarchy. Each
8374 colony in time developed its own legislature elected by the voters; it
8375 grew accustomed to making laws and laying taxes for itself. Here was a
8376 people learning self-reliance and self-government. The attempts to
8377 strengthen the Church of England in America and the transformation of
8378 colonies into royal provinces only fanned the spirit of independence
8379 which they were designed to quench.
8380
8381 Nevertheless, the Americans owed much of their prosperity to the
8382 assistance of the government that irritated them. It was the protection
8383 of the British navy that prevented Holland, Spain, and France from
8384 wiping out their settlements. Though their manufacture and trade were
8385 controlled in the interests of the mother country, they also enjoyed
8386 great advantages in her markets. Free trade existed nowhere upon the
8387 earth; but the broad empire of Britain was open to American ships and
8388 merchandise. It could be said, with good reason, that the disadvantages
8389 which the colonists suffered through British regulation of their
8390 industry and trade were more than offset by the privileges they enjoyed.
8391 Still that is somewhat beside the point, for mere economic advantage is
8392 not necessarily the determining factor in the fate of peoples. A
8393 thousand circumstances had helped to develop on this continent a nation,
8394 to inspire it with a passion for independence, and to prepare it for a
8395 destiny greater than that of a prosperous dominion of the British
8396 empire. The economists, who tried to prove by logic unassailable that
8397 America would be richer under the British flag, could not change the
8398 spirit of Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, or George
8399 Washington.
8400
8401
8402 =References=
8403
8404 G.L. Beer, _Origin of the British Colonial System_ and _The Old Colonial
8405 System_.
8406
8407 A. Bradley, _The Fight for Canada in North America_.
8408
8409 C.M. Andrews, _Colonial Self-Government_ (American Nation Series).
8410
8411 H. Egerton, _Short History of British Colonial Policy_.
8412
8413 F. Parkman, _France and England in North America_ (12 vols.).
8414
8415 R. Thwaites, _France in America_ (American Nation Series).
8416
8417 J. Winsor, _The Mississippi Valley_ and _Cartier to Frontenac_.
8418
8419
8420 =Questions=
8421
8422 1. How would you define "nationalism"?
8423
8424 2. Can you give any illustrations of the way that war promotes
8425 nationalism?
8426
8427 3. Why was it impossible to establish and maintain a uniform policy in
8428 dealing with the Indians?
8429
8430 4. What was the outcome of the final clash with the French?
8431
8432 5. Enumerate the five chief results of the wars with the French and the
8433 Indians. Discuss each in detail.
8434
8435 6. Explain why it was that the character of the English king mattered to
8436 the colonists.
8437
8438 7. Contrast England under the Stuarts with England under the
8439 Hanoverians.
8440
8441 8. Explain how the English Crown, Courts, and Parliament controlled the
8442 colonies.
8443
8444 9. Name the three important classes of English legislation affecting the
8445 colonies. Explain each.
8446
8447 10. Do you think the English legislation was beneficial or injurious to
8448 the colonies? Why?
8449
8450
8451 =Research Topics=
8452
8453 =Rise of French Power in North America.=--Special reference: Francis
8454 Parkman, _Struggle for a Continent_.
8455
8456 =The French and Indian Wars.=--Special reference: W.M. Sloane, _French
8457 War and the Revolution_, Chaps. VI-IX. Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_,
8458 Vol. II, pp. 195-299. Elson, _History of the United States_, pp.
8459 171-196.
8460
8461 =English Navigation Acts.=--Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp.
8462 55, 72, 78, 90, 103. Coman, _Industrial History_, pp. 79-85.
8463
8464 =British Colonial Policy.=--Callender, _Economic History of the United
8465 States_, pp. 102-108.
8466
8467 =The New England Confederation.=--Analyze the document in Macdonald,
8468 _Source Book_, p. 45. Special reference: Fiske, _Beginnings of New
8469 England_, pp. 140-198.
8470
8471 =The Administration of Andros.=--Fiske, _Beginnings_, pp. 242-278.
8472
8473 =Biographical Studies.=--William Pitt and Sir Robert Walpole. Consult
8474 Green, _Short History of England_, on their policies, using the index.
8475
8476
8477
8478
8479 PART II. CONFLICT AND INDEPENDENCE
8480
8481
8482
8483
8484 CHAPTER V
8485
8486 THE NEW COURSE IN BRITISH IMPERIAL POLICY
8487
8488
8489 On October 25, 1760, King George II died and the British crown passed to
8490 his young grandson. The first George, the son of the Elector of Hanover
8491 and Sophia the granddaughter of James I, was a thorough German who never
8492 even learned to speak the language of the land over which he reigned.
8493 The second George never saw England until he was a man. He spoke English
8494 with an accent and until his death preferred his German home. During
8495 their reign, the principle had become well established that the king did
8496 not govern but acted only through ministers representing the majority in
8497 Parliament.
8498
8499
8500 GEORGE III AND HIS SYSTEM
8501
8502 =The Character of the New King.=--The third George rudely broke the
8503 German tradition of his family. He resented the imputation that he was a
8504 foreigner and on all occasions made a display of his British sympathies.
8505 To the draft of his first speech to Parliament, he added the popular
8506 phrase: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of
8507 Briton." Macaulay, the English historian, certainly of no liking for
8508 high royal prerogative, said of George: "The young king was a born
8509 Englishman. All his tastes and habits, good and bad, were English. No
8510 portion of his subjects had anything to reproach him with.... His age,
8511 his appearance, and all that was known of his character conciliated
8512 public favor. He was in the bloom of youth; his person and address were
8513 pleasing; scandal imputed to him no vice; and flattery might without
8514 glaring absurdity ascribe to him many princely virtues."
8515
8516 Nevertheless George III had been spoiled by his mother, his tutors, and
8517 his courtiers. Under their influence he developed high and mighty
8518 notions about the sacredness of royal authority and his duty to check
8519 the pretensions of Parliament and the ministers dependent upon it. His
8520 mother had dinned into his ears the slogan: "George, be king!" Lord
8521 Bute, his teacher and adviser, had told him that his honor required him
8522 to take an active part in the shaping of public policy and the making of
8523 laws. Thus educated, he surrounded himself with courtiers who encouraged
8524 him in the determination to rule as well as reign, to subdue all
8525 parties, and to place himself at the head of the nation and empire.
8526
8527 [Illustration: _From an old print._
8528
8529 GEORGE III]
8530
8531 =Political Parties and George III.=--The state of the political parties
8532 favored the plans of the king to restore some of the ancient luster of
8533 the crown. The Whigs, who were composed mainly of the smaller
8534 freeholders, merchants, inhabitants of towns, and Protestant
8535 non-conformists, had grown haughty and overbearing through long
8536 continuance in power and had as a consequence raised up many enemies in
8537 their own ranks. Their opponents, the Tories, had by this time given up
8538 all hope of restoring to the throne the direct Stuart line; but they
8539 still cherished their old notions about divine right. With the
8540 accession of George III the coveted opportunity came to them to rally
8541 around the throne again. George received his Tory friends with open
8542 arms, gave them offices, and bought them seats in the House of Commons.
8543
8544 =The British Parliamentary System.=--The peculiarities of the British
8545 Parliament at the time made smooth the way for the king and his allies
8546 with their designs for controlling the entire government. In the first
8547 place, the House of Lords was composed mainly of hereditary nobles whose
8548 number the king could increase by the appointment of his favorites, as
8549 of old. Though the members of the House of Commons were elected by
8550 popular vote, they did not speak for the mass of English people. Great
8551 towns like Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham, for example, had no
8552 representatives at all. While there were about eight million inhabitants
8553 in Great Britain, there were in 1768 only about 160,000 voters; that is
8554 to say, only about one in every ten adult males had a voice in the
8555 government. Many boroughs returned one or more members to the Commons
8556 although they had merely a handful of voters or in some instances no
8557 voters at all. Furthermore, these tiny boroughs were often controlled by
8558 lords who openly sold the right of representation to the highest bidder.
8559 The "rotten-boroughs," as they were called by reformers, were a public
8560 scandal, but George III readily made use of them to get his friends into
8561 the House of Commons.
8562
8563
8564 GEORGE III'S MINISTERS AND THEIR COLONIAL POLICIES
8565
8566 =Grenville and the War Debt.=--Within a year after the accession of
8567 George III, William Pitt was turned out of office, the king treating him
8568 with "gross incivility" and the crowds shouting "Pitt forever!" The
8569 direction of affairs was entrusted to men enjoying the king's
8570 confidence. Leadership in the House of Commons fell to George Grenville,
8571 a grave and laborious man who for years had groaned over the increasing
8572 cost of government.
8573
8574 The first task after the conclusion of peace in 1763 was the adjustment
8575 of the disordered finances of the kingdom. The debt stood at the highest
8576 point in the history of the country. More revenue was absolutely
8577 necessary and Grenville began to search for it, turning his attention
8578 finally to the American colonies. In this quest he had the aid of a
8579 zealous colleague, Charles Townshend, who had long been in public
8580 service and was familiar with the difficulties encountered by royal
8581 governors in America. These two men, with the support of the entire
8582 ministry, inaugurated in February, 1763, "a new system of colonial
8583 government. It was announced by authority that there were to be no more
8584 requisitions from the king to the colonial assemblies for supplies, but
8585 that the colonies were to be taxed instead by act of Parliament.
8586 Colonial governors and judges were to be paid by the Crown; they were to
8587 be supported by a standing army of twenty regiments; and all the
8588 expenses of this force were to be met by parliamentary taxation."
8589
8590 =Restriction of Paper Money (1763).=--Among the many complaints filed
8591 before the board of trade were vigorous protests against the issuance of
8592 paper money by the colonial legislatures. The new ministry provided a
8593 remedy in the act of 1763, which declared void all colonial laws
8594 authorizing paper money or extending the life of outstanding bills. This
8595 law was aimed at the "cheap money" which the Americans were fond of
8596 making when specie was scarce--money which they tried to force on their
8597 English creditors in return for goods and in payment of the interest and
8598 principal of debts. Thus the first chapter was written in the long
8599 battle over sound money on this continent.
8600
8601 =Limitation on Western Land Sales.=--Later in the same year (1763)
8602 George III issued a royal proclamation providing, among other things,
8603 for the government of the territory recently acquired by the treaty of
8604 Paris from the French. One of the provisions in this royal decree
8605 touched frontiersmen to the quick. The contests between the king's
8606 officers and the colonists over the disposition of western lands had
8607 been long and sharp. The Americans chafed at restrictions on
8608 settlement. The more adventurous were continually moving west and
8609 "squatting" on land purchased from the Indians or simply seized without
8610 authority. To put an end to this, the king forbade all further purchases
8611 from the Indians, reserving to the crown the right to acquire such lands
8612 and dispose of them for settlement. A second provision in the same
8613 proclamation vested the power of licensing trade with the Indians,
8614 including the lucrative fur business, in the hands of royal officers in
8615 the colonies. These two limitations on American freedom and enterprise
8616 were declared to be in the interest of the crown and for the
8617 preservation of the rights of the Indians against fraud and abuses.
8618
8619 =The Sugar Act of 1764.=--King George's ministers next turned their
8620 attention to measures of taxation and trade. Since the heavy debt under
8621 which England was laboring had been largely incurred in the defense of
8622 America, nothing seemed more reasonable to them than the proposition
8623 that the colonies should help to bear the burden which fell so heavily
8624 upon the English taxpayer. The Sugar Act of 1764 was the result of this
8625 reasoning. There was no doubt about the purpose of this law, for it was
8626 set forth clearly in the title: "An act for granting certain duties in
8627 the British colonies and plantations in America ... for applying the
8628 produce of such duties ... towards defraying the expenses of defending,
8629 protecting and securing the said colonies and plantations ... and for
8630 more effectually preventing the clandestine conveyance of goods to and
8631 from the said colonies and plantations and improving and securing the
8632 trade between the same and Great Britain." The old Molasses Act had been
8633 prohibitive; the Sugar Act of 1764 was clearly intended as a revenue
8634 measure. Specified duties were laid upon sugar, indigo, calico, silks,
8635 and many other commodities imported into the colonies. The enforcement
8636 of the Molasses Act had been utterly neglected; but this Sugar Act had
8637 "teeth in it." Special precautions as to bonds, security, and
8638 registration of ship masters, accompanied by heavy penalties, promised
8639 a vigorous execution of the new revenue law.
8640
8641 The strict terms of the Sugar Act were strengthened by administrative
8642 measures. Under a law of the previous year the commanders of armed
8643 vessels stationed along the American coast were authorized to stop,
8644 search, and, on suspicion, seize merchant ships approaching colonial
8645 ports. By supplementary orders, the entire British official force in
8646 America was instructed to be diligent in the execution of all trade and
8647 navigation laws. Revenue collectors, officers of the army and navy, and
8648 royal governors were curtly ordered to the front to do their full duty
8649 in the matter of law enforcement. The ordinary motives for the discharge
8650 of official obligations were sharpened by an appeal to avarice, for
8651 naval officers who seized offenders against the law were rewarded by
8652 large prizes out of the forfeitures and penalties.
8653
8654 =The Stamp Act (1765).=--The Grenville-Townshend combination moved
8655 steadily towards its goal. While the Sugar Act was under consideration
8656 in Parliament, Grenville announced a plan for a stamp bill. The next
8657 year it went through both Houses with a speed that must have astounded
8658 its authors. The vote in the Commons stood 205 in favor to 49 against;
8659 while in the Lords it was not even necessary to go through the formality
8660 of a count. As George III was temporarily insane, the measure received
8661 royal assent by a commission acting as a board of regency. Protests of
8662 colonial agents in London were futile. "We might as well have hindered
8663 the sun's progress!" exclaimed Franklin. Protests of a few opponents in
8664 the Commons were equally vain. The ministry was firm in its course and
8665 from all appearances the Stamp Act hardly roused as much as a languid
8666 interest in the city of London. In fact, it is recorded that the fateful
8667 measure attracted less notice than a bill providing for a commission to
8668 act for the king when he was incapacitated.
8669
8670 The Stamp Act, like the Sugar Act, declared the purpose of the British
8671 government to raise revenue in America "towards defraying the expenses
8672 of defending, protecting, and securing the British colonies and
8673 plantations in America." It was a long measure of more than fifty
8674 sections, carefully planned and skillfully drawn. By its provisions
8675 duties were imposed on practically all papers used in legal
8676 transactions,--deeds, mortgages, inventories, writs, bail bonds,--on
8677 licenses to practice law and sell liquor, on college diplomas, playing
8678 cards, dice, pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, calendars, and
8679 advertisements. The drag net was closely knit, for scarcely anything
8680 escaped.
8681
8682 =The Quartering Act (1765).=--The ministers were aware that the Stamp
8683 Act would rouse opposition in America--how great they could not
8684 conjecture. While the measure was being debated, a friend of General
8685 Wolfe, Colonel Barre, who knew America well, gave them an ominous
8686 warning in the Commons. "Believe me--remember I this day told you so--"
8687 he exclaimed, "the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at
8688 first will accompany them still ... a people jealous of their liberties
8689 and who will vindicate them, if ever they should be violated." The
8690 answer of the ministry to a prophecy of force was a threat of force.
8691 Preparations were accordingly made to dispatch a larger number of
8692 soldiers than usual to the colonies, and the ink was hardly dry on the
8693 Stamp Act when Parliament passed the Quartering Act ordering the
8694 colonists to provide accommodations for the soldiers who were to enforce
8695 the new laws. "We have the power to tax them," said one of the ministry,
8696 "and we will tax them."
8697
8698
8699 COLONIAL RESISTANCE FORCES REPEAL
8700
8701 =Popular Opposition.=--The Stamp Act was greeted in America by an
8702 outburst of denunciation. The merchants of the seaboard cities took the
8703 lead in making a dignified but unmistakable protest, agreeing not to
8704 import British goods while the hated law stood upon the books. Lawyers,
8705 some of them incensed at the heavy taxes on their operations and others
8706 intimidated by patriots who refused to permit them to use stamped
8707 papers, joined with the merchants. Aristocratic colonial Whigs, who had
8708 long grumbled at the administration of royal governors, protested
8709 against taxation without their consent, as the Whigs had done in old
8710 England. There were Tories, however, in the colonies as in England--many
8711 of them of the official class--who denounced the merchants, lawyers, and
8712 Whig aristocrats as "seditious, factious and republican." Yet the
8713 opposition to the Stamp Act and its accompanying measure, the Quartering
8714 Act, grew steadily all through the summer of 1765.
8715
8716 In a little while it was taken up in the streets and along the
8717 countryside. All through the North and in some of the Southern colonies,
8718 there sprang up, as if by magic, committees and societies pledged to
8719 resist the Stamp Act to the bitter end. These popular societies were
8720 known as Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty: the former including
8721 artisans, mechanics, and laborers; and the latter, patriotic women. Both
8722 groups were alike in that they had as yet taken little part in public
8723 affairs. Many artisans, as well as all the women, were excluded from the
8724 right to vote for colonial assemblymen.
8725
8726 While the merchants and Whig gentlemen confined their efforts chiefly to
8727 drafting well-phrased protests against British measures, the Sons of
8728 Liberty operated in the streets and chose rougher measures. They stirred
8729 up riots in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston when attempts
8730 were made to sell the stamps. They sacked and burned the residences of
8731 high royal officers. They organized committees of inquisition who by
8732 threats and intimidation curtailed the sale of British goods and the use
8733 of stamped papers. In fact, the Sons of Liberty carried their operations
8734 to such excesses that many mild opponents of the stamp tax were
8735 frightened and drew back in astonishment at the forces they had
8736 unloosed. The Daughters of Liberty in a quieter way were making a very
8737 effective resistance to the sale of the hated goods by spurring on
8738 domestic industries, their own particular province being the manufacture
8739 of clothing, and devising substitutes for taxed foods. They helped to
8740 feed and clothe their families without buying British goods.
8741
8742 =Legislative Action against the Stamp Act.=--Leaders in the colonial
8743 assemblies, accustomed to battle against British policies, supported the
8744 popular protest. The Stamp Act was signed on March 22, 1765. On May 30,
8745 the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a set of resolutions declaring
8746 that the General Assembly of the colony alone had the right to lay taxes
8747 upon the inhabitants and that attempts to impose them otherwise were
8748 "illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust." It was in support of these
8749 resolutions that Patrick Henry uttered the immortal challenge: "Caesar
8750 had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III...." Cries of
8751 "Treason" were calmly met by the orator who finished: "George III may
8752 profit by their example. If that be treason, make the most of it."
8753
8754 [Illustration: PATRICK HENRY]
8755
8756 =The Stamp Act Congress.=--The Massachusetts Assembly answered the call
8757 of Virginia by inviting the colonies to elect delegates to a Congress to
8758 be held in New York to discuss the situation. Nine colonies responded
8759 and sent representatives. The delegates, while professing the warmest
8760 affection for the king's person and government, firmly spread on record
8761 a series of resolutions that admitted of no double meaning. They
8762 declared that taxes could not be imposed without their consent, given
8763 through their respective colonial assemblies; that the Stamp Act showed
8764 a tendency to subvert their rights and liberties; that the recent trade
8765 acts were burdensome and grievous; and that the right to petition the
8766 king and Parliament was their heritage. They thereupon made "humble
8767 supplication" for the repeal of the Stamp Act.
8768
8769 The Stamp Act Congress was more than an assembly of protest. It marked
8770 the rise of a new agency of government to express the will of America.
8771 It was the germ of a government which in time was to supersede the
8772 government of George III in the colonies. It foreshadowed the Congress
8773 of the United States under the Constitution. It was a successful attempt
8774 at union. "There ought to be no New England men," declared Christopher
8775 Gadsden, in the Stamp Act Congress, "no New Yorkers known on the
8776 Continent, but all of us Americans."
8777
8778 =The Repeal of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act.=--The effect of American
8779 resistance on opinion in England was telling. Commerce with the colonies
8780 had been effectively boycotted by the Americans; ships lay idly swinging
8781 at the wharves; bankruptcy threatened hundreds of merchants in London,
8782 Bristol, and Liverpool. Workingmen in the manufacturing towns of England
8783 were thrown out of employment. The government had sown folly and was
8784 reaping, in place of the coveted revenue, rebellion.
8785
8786 Perplexed by the storm they had raised, the ministers summoned to the
8787 bar of the House of Commons, Benjamin Franklin, the agent for
8788 Pennsylvania, who was in London. "Do you think it right," asked
8789 Grenville, "that America should be protected by this country and pay no
8790 part of the expenses?" The answer was brief: "That is not the case; the
8791 colonies raised, clothed, and paid during the last war twenty-five
8792 thousand men and spent many millions." Then came an inquiry whether the
8793 colonists would accept a modified stamp act. "No, never," replied
8794 Franklin, "never! They will never submit to it!" It was next suggested
8795 that military force might compel obedience to law. Franklin had a ready
8796 answer. "They cannot force a man to take stamps.... They may not find a
8797 rebellion; they may, indeed, make one."
8798
8799 The repeal of the Stamp Act was moved in the House of Commons a few days
8800 later. The sponsor for the repeal spoke of commerce interrupted, debts
8801 due British merchants placed in jeopardy, Manchester industries closed,
8802 workingmen unemployed, oppression instituted, and the loss of the
8803 colonies threatened. Pitt and Edmund Burke, the former near the close
8804 of his career, the latter just beginning his, argued cogently in favor
8805 of retracing the steps taken the year before. Grenville refused.
8806 "America must learn," he wailed, "that prayers are not to be brought to
8807 Caesar through riot and sedition." His protests were idle. The Commons
8808 agreed to the repeal on February 22, 1766, amid the cheers of the
8809 victorious majority. It was carried through the Lords in the face of
8810 strong opposition and, on March 18, reluctantly signed by the king, now
8811 restored to his right mind.
8812
8813 In rescinding the Stamp Act, Parliament did not admit the contention of
8814 the Americans that it was without power to tax them. On the contrary, it
8815 accompanied the repeal with a Declaratory Act. It announced that the
8816 colonies were subordinate to the crown and Parliament of Great Britain;
8817 that the king and Parliament therefore had undoubted authority to make
8818 laws binding the colonies in all cases whatsoever; and that the
8819 resolutions and proceedings of the colonists denying such authority were
8820 null and void.
8821
8822 The repeal was greeted by the colonists with great popular
8823 demonstrations. Bells were rung; toasts to the king were drunk; and
8824 trade resumed its normal course. The Declaratory Act, as a mere paper
8825 resolution, did not disturb the good humor of those who again cheered
8826 the name of King George. Their confidence was soon strengthened by the
8827 news that even the Sugar Act had been repealed, thus practically
8828 restoring the condition of affairs before Grenville and Townshend
8829 inaugurated their policy of "thoroughness."
8830
8831
8832 RESUMPTION OF BRITISH REVENUE AND COMMERCIAL POLICIES
8833
8834 =The Townshend Acts (1767).=--The triumph of the colonists was brief.
8835 Though Pitt, the friend of America, was once more prime minister, and
8836 seated in the House of Lords as the Earl of Chatham, his severe illness
8837 gave to Townshend and the Tory party practical control over Parliament.
8838 Unconvinced by the experience with the Stamp Act, Townshend brought
8839 forward and pushed through both Houses of Parliament three measures,
8840 which to this day are associated with his name. First among his
8841 restrictive laws was that of June 29, 1767, which placed the enforcement
8842 of the collection of duties and customs on colonial imports and exports
8843 in the hands of British commissioners appointed by the king, resident in
8844 the colonies, paid from the British treasury, and independent of all
8845 control by the colonists. The second measure of the same date imposed a
8846 tax on lead, glass, paint, tea, and a few other articles imported into
8847 the colonies, the revenue derived from the duties to be applied toward
8848 the payment of the salaries and other expenses of royal colonial
8849 officials. A third measure was the Tea Act of July 2, 1767, aimed at the
8850 tea trade which the Americans carried on illegally with foreigners. This
8851 law abolished the duty which the East India Company had to pay in
8852 England on tea exported to America, for it was thought that English tea
8853 merchants might thus find it possible to undersell American tea
8854 smugglers.
8855
8856 =Writs of Assistance Legalized by Parliament.=--Had Parliament been
8857 content with laying duties, just as a manifestation of power and right,
8858 and neglected their collection, perhaps little would have been heard of
8859 the Townshend Acts. It provided, however, for the strict, even the
8860 harsh, enforcement of the law. It ordered customs officers to remain at
8861 their posts and put an end to smuggling. In the revenue act of June 29,
8862 1767, it expressly authorized the superior courts of the colonies to
8863 issue "writs of assistance," empowering customs officers to enter "any
8864 house, warehouse, shop, cellar, or other place in the British colonies
8865 or plantations in America to search for and seize" prohibited or
8866 smuggled goods.
8867
8868 The writ of assistance, which was a general search warrant issued to
8869 revenue officers, was an ancient device hateful to a people who
8870 cherished the spirit of personal independence and who had made actual
8871 gains in the practice of civil liberty. To allow a "minion of the law"
8872 to enter a man's house and search his papers and premises, was too much
8873 for the emotions of people who had fled to America in a quest for
8874 self-government and free homes, who had braved such hardships to
8875 establish them, and who wanted to trade without official interference.
8876
8877 The writ of assistance had been used in Massachusetts in 1755 to prevent
8878 illicit trade with Canada and had aroused a violent hostility at that
8879 time. In 1761 it was again the subject of a bitter controversy which
8880 arose in connection with the application of a customs officer to a
8881 Massachusetts court for writs of assistance "as usual." This application
8882 was vainly opposed by James Otis in a speech of five hours' duration--a
8883 speech of such fire and eloquence that it sent every man who heard it
8884 away "ready to take up arms against writs of assistance." Otis denounced
8885 the practice as an exercise of arbitrary power which had cost one king
8886 his head and another his throne, a tyrant's device which placed the
8887 liberty of every man in jeopardy, enabling any petty officer to work
8888 possible malice on any innocent citizen on the merest suspicion, and to
8889 spread terror and desolation through the land. "What a scene," he
8890 exclaimed, "does this open! Every man, prompted by revenge, ill-humor,
8891 or wantonness to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a
8892 writ of assistance. Others will ask it from self-defense; one arbitrary
8893 exertion will provoke another until society is involved in tumult and
8894 blood." He did more than attack the writ itself. He said that Parliament
8895 could not establish it because it was against the British constitution.
8896 This was an assertion resting on slender foundation, but it was quickly
8897 echoed by the people. Then and there James Otis sounded the call to
8898 America to resist the exercise of arbitrary power by royal officers.
8899 "Then and there," wrote John Adams, "the child Independence was born."
8900 Such was the hated writ that Townshend proposed to put into the hands of
8901 customs officers in his grim determination to enforce the law.
8902
8903 =The New York Assembly Suspended.=--In the very month that Townshend's
8904 Acts were signed by the king, Parliament took a still more drastic step.
8905 The assembly of New York, protesting against the "ruinous and
8906 insupportable" expense involved, had failed to make provision for the
8907 care of British troops in accordance with the terms of the Quartering
8908 Act. Parliament therefore suspended the assembly until it promised to
8909 obey the law. It was not until a third election was held that compliance
8910 with the Quartering Act was wrung from the reluctant province. In the
8911 meantime, all the colonies had learned on how frail a foundation their
8912 representative bodies rested.
8913
8914
8915 RENEWED RESISTANCE IN AMERICA
8916
8917 =The Massachusetts Circular (1768).=--Massachusetts, under the
8918 leadership of Samuel Adams, resolved to resist the policy of renewed
8919 intervention in America. At his suggestion the assembly adopted a
8920 Circular Letter addressed to the assemblies of the other colonies
8921 informing them of the state of affairs in Massachusetts and roundly
8922 condemning the whole British program. The Circular Letter declared that
8923 Parliament had no right to lay taxes on Americans without their consent
8924 and that the colonists could not, from the nature of the case, be
8925 represented in Parliament. It went on shrewdly to submit to
8926 consideration the question as to whether any people could be called free
8927 who were subjected to governors and judges appointed by the crown and
8928 paid out of funds raised independently. It invited the other colonies,
8929 in the most temperate tones, to take thought about the common
8930 predicament in which they were all placed.
8931
8932 [Illustration: _From an old print._
8933
8934 SAMUEL ADAMS]
8935
8936 =The Dissolution of Assemblies.=--The governor of Massachusetts, hearing
8937 of the Circular Letter, ordered the assembly to rescind its appeal. On
8938 meeting refusal, he promptly dissolved it. The Maryland, Georgia, and
8939 South Carolina assemblies indorsed the Circular Letter and were also
8940 dissolved at once. The Virginia House of Burgesses, thoroughly aroused,
8941 passed resolutions on May 16, 1769, declaring that the sole right of
8942 imposing taxes in Virginia was vested in its legislature, asserting anew
8943 the right of petition to the crown, condemning the transportation of
8944 persons accused of crimes or trial beyond the seas, and beseeching the
8945 king for a redress of the general grievances. The immediate dissolution
8946 of the Virginia assembly, in its turn, was the answer of the royal
8947 governor.
8948
8949 =The Boston Massacre.=--American opposition to the British authorities
8950 kept steadily rising as assemblies were dissolved, the houses of
8951 citizens searched, and troops distributed in increasing numbers among
8952 the centers of discontent. Merchants again agreed not to import British
8953 goods, the Sons of Liberty renewed their agitation, and women set about
8954 the patronage of home products still more loyally.
8955
8956 On the night of March 5, 1770, a crowd on the streets of Boston began to
8957 jostle and tease some British regulars stationed in the town. Things
8958 went from bad to worse until some "boys and young fellows" began to
8959 throw snowballs and stones. Then the exasperated soldiers fired into the
8960 crowd, killing five and wounding half a dozen more. The day after the
8961 "massacre," a mass meeting was held in the town and Samuel Adams was
8962 sent to demand the withdrawal of the soldiers. The governor hesitated
8963 and tried to compromise. Finding Adams relentless, the governor yielded
8964 and ordered the regulars away.
8965
8966 The Boston Massacre stirred the country from New Hampshire to Georgia.
8967 Popular passions ran high. The guilty soldiers were charged with murder.
8968 Their defense was undertaken, in spite of the wrath of the populace, by
8969 John Adams and Josiah Quincy, who as lawyers thought even the worst
8970
8971 offenders entitled to their full rights in law. In his speech to the
8972 jury, however, Adams warned the British government against its course,
8973 saying, that "from the nature of things soldiers quartered in a populous
8974 town will always occasion two mobs where they will prevent one." Two of
8975 the soldiers were convicted and lightly punished.
8976
8977 =Resistance in the South.=--The year following the Boston Massacre some
8978 citizens of North Carolina, goaded by the conduct of the royal governor,
8979 openly resisted his authority. Many were killed as a result and seven
8980 who were taken prisoners were hanged as traitors. A little later royal
8981 troops and local militia met in a pitched battle near Alamance River,
8982 called the "Lexington of the South."
8983
8984 =The _Gaspee_ Affair and the Virginia Resolutions of 1773.=--On sea as
8985 well as on land, friction between the royal officers and the colonists
8986 broke out into overt acts. While patrolling Narragansett Bay looking for
8987 smugglers one day in 1772, the armed ship, _Gaspee_, ran ashore and was
8988 caught fast. During the night several men from Providence boarded the
8989 vessel and, after seizing the crew, set it on fire. A royal commission,
8990 sent to Rhode Island to discover the offenders and bring them to
8991 account, failed because it could not find a single informer. The very
8992 appointment of such a commission aroused the patriots of Virginia to
8993 action; and in March, 1773, the House of Burgesses passed a resolution
8994 creating a standing committee of correspondence to develop cooperation
8995 among the colonies in resistance to British measures.
8996
8997 =The Boston Tea Party.=--Although the British government, finding the
8998 Townshend revenue act a failure, repealed in 1770 all the duties except
8999 that on tea, it in no way relaxed its resolve to enforce the other
9000 commercial regulations it had imposed on the colonies. Moreover,
9001 Parliament decided to relieve the British East India Company of the
9002 financial difficulties into which it had fallen partly by reason of the
9003 Tea Act and the colonial boycott that followed. In 1773 it agreed to
9004 return to the Company the regular import duties, levied in England, on
9005 all tea transshipped to America. A small impost of three pence, to be
9006 collected in America, was left as a reminder of the principle laid down
9007 in the Declaratory Act that Parliament had the right to tax the
9008 colonists.
9009
9010 This arrangement with the East India Company was obnoxious to the
9011 colonists for several reasons. It was an act of favoritism for one
9012 thing, in the interest of a great monopoly. For another thing, it
9013 promised to dump on the American market, suddenly, an immense amount of
9014 cheap tea and so cause heavy losses to American merchants who had large
9015 stocks on hand. It threatened with ruin the business of all those who
9016 were engaged in clandestine trade with the Dutch. It carried with it an
9017 irritating tax of three pence on imports. In Charleston, Annapolis, New
9018 York, and Boston, captains of ships who brought tea under this act were
9019 roughly handled. One night in December, 1773, a band of Boston citizens,
9020 disguised as Indians, boarded the hated tea ships and dumped the cargo
9021 into the harbor. This was serious business, for it was open, flagrant,
9022 determined violation of the law. As such the British government viewed
9023 it.
9024
9025
9026 RETALIATION BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT
9027
9028 =Reception of the News of the Tea Riot.=--The news of the tea riot in
9029 Boston confirmed King George in his conviction that there should be no
9030 soft policy in dealing with his American subjects. "The die is cast," he
9031 stated with evident satisfaction. "The colonies must either triumph or
9032 submit.... If we take the resolute part, they will undoubtedly be very
9033 meek." Lord George Germain characterized the tea party as "the
9034 proceedings of a tumultuous and riotous rabble who ought, if they had
9035 the least prudence, to follow their mercantile employments and not
9036 trouble themselves with politics and government, which they do not
9037 understand." This expressed, in concise form, exactly the sentiments of
9038 Lord North, who had then for three years been the king's chief minister.
9039 Even Pitt, Lord Chatham, was prepared to support the government in
9040 upholding its authority.
9041
9042 =The Five Intolerable Acts.=--Parliament, beginning on March 31, 1774,
9043 passed five stringent measures, known in American history as the five
9044 "intolerable acts." They were aimed at curing the unrest in America. The
9045 _first_ of them was a bill absolutely shutting the port of Boston to
9046 commerce with the outside world. The _second_, following closely,
9047 revoked the Massachusetts charter of 1691 and provided furthermore that
9048 the councilors should be appointed by the king, that all judges should
9049 be named by the royal governor, and that town meetings (except to elect
9050 certain officers) could not be held without the governor's consent. A
9051 _third_ measure, after denouncing the "utter subversion of all lawful
9052 government" in the provinces, authorized royal agents to transfer to
9053 Great Britain or to other colonies the trials of officers or other
9054 persons accused of murder in connection with the enforcement of the law.
9055 The _fourth_ act legalized the quartering of troops in Massachusetts
9056 towns. The _fifth_ of the measures was the Quebec Act, which granted
9057 religious toleration to the Catholics in Canada, extended the boundaries
9058 of Quebec southward to the Ohio River, and established, in this western
9059 region, government by a viceroy.
9060
9061 The intolerable acts went through Parliament with extraordinary
9062 celerity. There was an opposition, alert and informed; but it was
9063 ineffective. Burke spoke eloquently against the Boston port bill,
9064 condemning it roundly for punishing the innocent with the guilty, and
9065 showing how likely it was to bring grave consequences in its train. He
9066 was heard with respect and his pleas were rejected. The bill passed both
9067 houses without a division, the entry "unanimous" being made upon their
9068 journals although it did not accurately represent the state of opinion.
9069 The law destroying the charter of Massachusetts passed the Commons by a
9070 vote of three to one; and the third intolerable act by a vote of four to
9071 one. The triumph of the ministry was complete. "What passed in Boston,"
9072 exclaimed the great jurist, Lord Mansfield, "is the overt act of High
9073 Treason proceeding from our over lenity and want of foresight." The
9074 crown and Parliament were united in resorting to punitive measures.
9075
9076 In the colonies the laws were received with consternation. To the
9077 American Protestants, the Quebec Act was the most offensive. That
9078 project they viewed not as an act of grace or of mercy but as a direct
9079 attempt to enlist French Canadians on the side of Great Britain. The
9080 British government did not grant religious toleration to Catholics
9081 either at home or in Ireland and the Americans could see no good motive
9082 in granting it in North America. The act was also offensive because
9083 Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia had, under their charters,
9084 large claims in the territory thus annexed to Quebec.
9085
9086 To enforce these intolerable acts the military arm of the British
9087 government was brought into play. The commander-in-chief of the armed
9088 forces in America, General Gage, was appointed governor of
9089 Massachusetts. Reinforcements were brought to the colonies, for now King
9090 George was to give "the rebels," as he called them, a taste of strong
9091 medicine. The majesty of his law was to be vindicated by force.
9092
9093
9094 FROM REFORM TO REVOLUTION IN AMERICA
9095
9096 =The Doctrine of Natural Rights.=--The dissolution of assemblies, the
9097 destruction of charters, and the use of troops produced in the colonies
9098 a new phase in the struggle. In the early days of the contest with the
9099 British ministry, the Americans spoke of their "rights as Englishmen"
9100 and condemned the acts of Parliament as unlawful, as violating the
9101 principles of the English constitution under which they all lived. When
9102 they saw that such arguments had no effect on Parliament, they turned
9103 for support to their "natural rights." The latter doctrine, in the form
9104 in which it was employed by the colonists, was as English as the
9105 constitutional argument. John Locke had used it with good effect in
9106 defense of the English revolution in the seventeenth century. American
9107 leaders, familiar with the writings of Locke, also took up his thesis in
9108 the hour of their distress. They openly declared that their rights did
9109 not rest after all upon the English constitution or a charter from the
9110 crown. "Old Magna Carta was not the beginning of all things," retorted
9111 Otis when the constitutional argument failed. "A time may come when
9112 Parliament shall declare every American charter void, but the natural,
9113 inherent, and inseparable rights of the colonists as men and as citizens
9114 would remain and whatever became of charters can never be abolished
9115 until the general conflagration." Of the same opinion was the young and
9116 impetuous Alexander Hamilton. "The sacred rights of mankind," he
9117 exclaimed, "are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty
9118 records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human
9119 destiny by the hand of divinity itself, and can never be erased or
9120 obscured by mortal power."
9121
9122 Firm as the American leaders were in the statement and defense of their
9123 rights, there is every reason for believing that in the beginning they
9124 hoped to confine the conflict to the realm of opinion. They constantly
9125 avowed that they were loyal to the king when protesting in the strongest
9126 language against his policies. Even Otis, regarded by the loyalists as a
9127 firebrand, was in fact attempting to avert revolution by winning
9128 concessions from England. "I argue this cause with the greater
9129 pleasure," he solemnly urged in his speech against the writs of
9130 assistance, "as it is in favor of British liberty ... and as it is in
9131 opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which in former periods
9132 cost one king of England his head and another his throne."
9133
9134 =Burke Offers the Doctrine of Conciliation.=--The flooding tide of
9135 American sentiment was correctly measured by one Englishman at least,
9136 Edmund Burke, who quickly saw that attempts to restrain the rise of
9137 American democracy were efforts to reverse the processes of nature. He
9138 saw how fixed and rooted in the nature of things was the American
9139 spirit--how inevitable, how irresistible. He warned his countrymen that
9140 there were three ways of handling the delicate situation--and only
9141 three. One was to remove the cause of friction by changing the spirit of
9142 the colonists--an utter impossibility because that spirit was grounded
9143 in the essential circumstances of American life. The second was to
9144 prosecute American leaders as criminals; of this he begged his
9145 countrymen to beware lest the colonists declare that "a government
9146 against which a claim of liberty is tantamount to high treason is a
9147 government to which submission is equivalent to slavery." The third and
9148 right way to meet the problem, Burke concluded, was to accept the
9149 American spirit, repeal the obnoxious measures, and receive the colonies
9150 into equal partnership.
9151
9152 =Events Produce the Great Decision.=--The right way, indicated by Burke,
9153 was equally impossible to George III and the majority in Parliament. To
9154 their narrow minds, American opinion was contemptible and American
9155 resistance unlawful, riotous, and treasonable. The correct way, in their
9156 view, was to dispatch more troops to crush the "rebels"; and that very
9157 act took the contest from the realm of opinion. As John Adams said:
9158 "Facts are stubborn things." Opinions were unseen, but marching soldiers
9159 were visible to the veriest street urchin. "Now," said Gouverneur
9160 Morris, "the sheep, simple as they are, cannot be gulled as heretofore."
9161 It was too late to talk about the excellence of the British
9162 constitution. If any one is bewildered by the controversies of modern
9163 historians as to why the crisis came at last, he can clarify his
9164 understanding by reading again Edmund Burke's stately oration, _On
9165 Conciliation with America_.
9166
9167
9168 =References=
9169
9170 G.L. Beer, _British Colonial Policy_ (1754-63).
9171
9172 E. Channing, _History of the United States_, Vol. III.
9173
9174 R. Frothingham, _Rise of the Republic_.
9175
9176 G.E. Howard, _Preliminaries of the Revolution_ (American Nation Series).
9177
9178 J.K. Hosmer, _Samuel Adams_.
9179
9180 J.T. Morse, _Benjamin Franklin_.
9181
9182 M.C. Tyler, _Patrick Henry_.
9183
9184 J.A. Woodburn (editor), _The American Revolution_ (Selections from the
9185 English work by Lecky).
9186
9187
9188 =Questions=
9189
9190 1. Show how the character of George III made for trouble with the
9191 colonies.
9192
9193 2. Explain why the party and parliamentary systems of England favored
9194 the plans of George III.
9195
9196 3. How did the state of English finances affect English policy?
9197
9198 4. Enumerate five important measures of the English government affecting
9199 the colonies between 1763 and 1765. Explain each in detail.
9200
9201 5. Describe American resistance to the Stamp Act. What was the outcome?
9202
9203 6. Show how England renewed her policy of regulation in 1767.
9204
9205 7. Summarize the events connected with American resistance.
9206
9207 8. With what measures did Great Britain retaliate?
9208
9209 9. Contrast "constitutional" with "natural" rights.
9210
9211 10. What solution did Burke offer? Why was it rejected?
9212
9213
9214 =Research Topics=
9215
9216 =Powers Conferred on Revenue Officers by Writs of Assistance.=--See a
9217 writ in Macdonald, _Source Book_, p. 109.
9218
9219 =The Acts of Parliament Respecting America.=--Macdonald, pp. 117-146.
9220 Assign one to each student for report and comment.
9221
9222 =Source Studies on the Stamp Act.=--Hart, _American History Told by
9223 Contemporaries_, Vol. II, pp. 394-412.
9224
9225 =Source Studies of the Townshend Acts.=--Hart, Vol. II, pp. 413-433.
9226
9227 =American Principles.=--Prepare a table of them from the Resolutions of
9228 the Stamp Act Congress and the Massachusetts Circular. Macdonald, pp.
9229 136-146.
9230
9231 =An English Historian's View of the Period.=--Green, _Short History of
9232 England_, Chap. X.
9233
9234 =English Policy Not Injurious to America.=--Callender, _Economic
9235 History_, pp. 85-121.
9236
9237 =A Review of English Policy.=--Woodrow Wilson, _History of the American
9238 People_, Vol. II, pp. 129-170.
9239
9240 =The Opening of the Revolution.=--Elson, _History of the United States_,
9241 pp. 220-235.
9242
9243
9244
9245
9246 CHAPTER VI
9247
9248 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
9249
9250
9251 RESISTANCE AND RETALIATION
9252
9253 =The Continental Congress.=--When the news of the "intolerable acts"
9254 reached America, every one knew what strong medicine Parliament was
9255 prepared to administer to all those who resisted its authority. The
9256 cause of Massachusetts became the cause of all the colonies. Opposition
9257 to British policy, hitherto local and spasmodic, now took on a national
9258 character. To local committees and provincial conventions was added a
9259 Continental Congress, appropriately called by Massachusetts on June 17,
9260 1774, at the instigation of Samuel Adams. The response to the summons
9261 was electric. By hurried and irregular methods delegates were elected
9262 during the summer, and on September 5 the Congress duly assembled in
9263 Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. Many of the greatest men in America
9264 were there--George Washington and Patrick Henry from Virginia and John
9265 and Samuel Adams from Massachusetts. Every shade of opinion was
9266 represented. Some were impatient with mild devices; the majority favored
9267 moderation.
9268
9269 The Congress drew up a declaration of American rights and stated in
9270 clear and dignified language the grievances of the colonists. It
9271 approved the resistance to British measures offered by Massachusetts and
9272 promised the united support of all sections. It prepared an address to
9273 King George and another to the people of England, disavowing the idea of
9274 independence but firmly attacking the policies pursued by the British
9275 government.
9276
9277 =The Non-Importation Agreement.=--The Congress was not content, however,
9278 with professions of faith and with petitions. It took one revolutionary
9279 step. It agreed to stop the importation of British goods into America,
9280 and the enforcement of this agreement it placed in the hands of local
9281 "committees of safety and inspection," to be elected by the qualified
9282 voters. The significance of this action is obvious. Congress threw
9283 itself athwart British law. It made a rule to bind American citizens and
9284 to be carried into effect by American officers. It set up a state within
9285 the British state and laid down a test of allegiance to the new order.
9286 The colonists, who up to this moment had been wavering, had to choose
9287 one authority or the other. They were for the enforcement of the
9288 non-importation agreement or they were against it. They either bought
9289 English goods or they did not. In the spirit of the toast--"May Britain
9290 be wise and America be free"--the first Continental Congress adjourned
9291 in October, having appointed the tenth of May following for the meeting
9292 of a second Congress, should necessity require.
9293
9294 =Lord North's "Olive Branch."=--When the news of the action of the
9295 American Congress reached England, Pitt and Burke warmly urged a repeal
9296 of the obnoxious laws, but in vain. All they could wring from the prime
9297 minister, Lord North, was a set of "conciliatory resolutions" proposing
9298 to relieve from taxation any colony that would assume its share of
9299 imperial defense and make provision for supporting the local officers of
9300 the crown. This "olive branch" was accompanied by a resolution assuring
9301 the king of support at all hazards in suppressing the rebellion and by
9302 the restraining act of March 30, 1775, which in effect destroyed the
9303 commerce of New England.
9304
9305 =Bloodshed at Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775).=--Meanwhile the
9306 British authorities in Massachusetts relaxed none of their efforts in
9307 upholding British sovereignty. General Gage, hearing that military
9308 stores had been collected at Concord, dispatched a small force to seize
9309 them. By this act he precipitated the conflict he had sought to avoid.
9310 At Lexington, on the road to Concord, occurred "the little thing" that
9311 produced "the great event." An unexpected collision beyond the thought
9312 or purpose of any man had transferred the contest from the forum to the
9313 battle field.
9314
9315 =The Second Continental Congress.=--Though blood had been shed and war
9316 was actually at hand, the second Continental Congress, which met at
9317 Philadelphia in May, 1775, was not yet convinced that conciliation was
9318 beyond human power. It petitioned the king to interpose on behalf of the
9319 colonists in order that the empire might avoid the calamities of civil
9320 war. On the last day of July, it made a temperate but firm answer to
9321 Lord North's offer of conciliation, stating that the proposal was
9322 unsatisfactory because it did not renounce the right to tax or repeal
9323 the offensive acts of Parliament.
9324
9325 =Force, the British Answer.=--Just as the representatives of America
9326 were about to present the last petition of Congress to the king on
9327 August 23, 1775, George III issued a proclamation of rebellion. This
9328 announcement declared that the colonists, "misled by dangerous and
9329 ill-designing men," were in a state of insurrection; it called on the
9330 civil and military powers to bring "the traitors to justice"; and it
9331 threatened with "condign punishment the authors, perpetrators, and
9332 abettors of such traitorous designs." It closed with the usual prayer:
9333 "God, save the king." Later in the year, Parliament passed a sweeping
9334 act destroying all trade and intercourse with America. Congress was
9335 silent at last. Force was also America's answer.
9336
9337
9338 AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
9339
9340 =Drifting into War.=--Although the Congress had not given up all hope of
9341 reconciliation in the spring and summer of 1775, it had firmly resolved
9342 to defend American rights by arms if necessary. It transformed the
9343 militiamen who had assembled near Boston, after the battle of Lexington,
9344 into a Continental army and selected Washington as commander-in-chief.
9345 It assumed the powers of a government and prepared to raise money, wage
9346 war, and carry on diplomatic relations with foreign countries.
9347
9348 [Illustration: _From an old print_
9349
9350 SPIRIT OF 1776]
9351
9352 Events followed thick and fast. On June 17, the American militia, by
9353 the stubborn defense of Bunker Hill, showed that it could make British
9354 regulars pay dearly for all they got. On July 3, Washington took command
9355 of the army at Cambridge. In January, 1776, after bitter disappointments
9356 in drumming up recruits for its army in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
9357 the British government concluded a treaty with the Landgrave of
9358 Hesse-Cassel in Germany contracting, at a handsome figure, for thousands
9359 of soldiers and many pieces of cannon. This was the crowning insult to
9360 America. Such was the view of all friends of the colonies on both sides
9361 of the water. Such was, long afterward, the judgment of the conservative
9362 historian Lecky: "The conduct of England in hiring German mercenaries to
9363 subdue the essentially English population beyond the Atlantic made
9364 reconciliation hopeless and independence inevitable." The news of this
9365 wretched transaction in German soldiers had hardly reached America
9366 before there ran all down the coast the thrilling story that Washington
9367 had taken Boston, on March 17, 1776, compelling Lord Howe to sail with
9368 his entire army for Halifax.
9369
9370 =The Growth of Public Sentiment in Favor of Independence.=--Events were
9371 bearing the Americans away from their old position under the British
9372 constitution toward a final separation. Slowly and against their
9373 desires, prudent and honorable men, who cherished the ties that united
9374 them to the old order and dreaded with genuine horror all thought of
9375 revolution, were drawn into the path that led to the great decision. In
9376 all parts of the country and among all classes, the question of the hour
9377 was being debated. "American independence," as the historian Bancroft
9378 says, "was not an act of sudden passion nor the work of one man or one
9379 assembly. It had been discussed in every part of the country by farmers
9380 and merchants, by mechanics and planters, by the fishermen along the
9381 coast and the backwoodsmen of the West; in town meetings and from the
9382 pulpit; at social gatherings and around the camp fires; in county
9383 conventions and conferences or committees; in colonial congresses and
9384 assemblies."
9385
9386 [Illustration: _From an old print_
9387
9388 THOMAS PAINE]
9389
9390 =Paine's "Commonsense."=--In the midst of this ferment of American
9391 opinion, a bold and eloquent pamphleteer broke in upon the hesitating
9392 public with a program for absolute independence, without fears and
9393 without apologies. In the early days of 1776, Thomas Paine issued the
9394 first of his famous tracts, "Commonsense," a passionate attack upon the
9395 British monarchy and an equally passionate plea for American liberty.
9396 Casting aside the language of petition with which Americans had hitherto
9397 addressed George III, Paine went to the other extreme and assailed him
9398 with many a violent epithet. He condemned monarchy itself as a system
9399 which had laid the world "in blood and ashes." Instead of praising the
9400 British constitution under which colonists had been claiming their
9401 rights, he brushed it aside as ridiculous, protesting that it was "owing
9402 to the constitution of the people, not to the constitution of the
9403 government, that the Crown is not as oppressive in England as in
9404 Turkey."
9405
9406 Having thus summarily swept away the grounds of allegiance to the old
9407 order, Paine proceeded relentlessly to an argument for immediate
9408 separation from Great Britain. There was nothing in the sphere of
9409 practical interest, he insisted, which should bind the colonies to the
9410 mother country. Allegiance to her had been responsible for the many wars
9411 in which they had been involved. Reasons of trade were not less weighty
9412 in behalf of independence. "Our corn will fetch its price in any market
9413 in Europe and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we
9414 will." As to matters of government, "it is not in the power of Britain
9415 to do this continent justice; the business of it will soon be too
9416 weighty and intricate to be managed with any tolerable degree of
9417 convenience by a power so distant from us and so very ignorant of us."
9418
9419 There is accordingly no alternative to independence for America.
9420 "Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of
9421 the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries ''tis time to part.' ...
9422 Arms, the last resort, must decide the contest; the appeal was the
9423 choice of the king and the continent hath accepted the challenge.... The
9424 sun never shone on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a
9425 city, a county, a province or a kingdom, but of a continent.... 'Tis not
9426 the concern of a day, a year or an age; posterity is involved in the
9427 contest and will be more or less affected to the end of time by the
9428 proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of Continental union, faith, and
9429 honor.... O! ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the
9430 tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth.... Let names of Whig and Tory be
9431 extinct. Let none other be heard among us than those of a good citizen,
9432 an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of
9433 mankind and of the free and independent states of America." As more than
9434 100,000 copies were scattered broadcast over the country, patriots
9435 exclaimed with Washington: "Sound doctrine and unanswerable reason!"
9436
9437 =The Drift of Events toward Independence.=--Official support for the
9438 idea of independence began to come from many quarters. On the tenth of
9439 February, 1776, Gadsden, in the provincial convention of South Carolina,
9440 advocated a new constitution for the colony and absolute independence
9441 for all America. The convention balked at the latter but went half way
9442 by abolishing the system of royal administration and establishing a
9443 complete plan of self-government. A month later, on April 12, the
9444 neighboring state of North Carolina uttered the daring phrase from which
9445 others shrank. It empowered its representatives in the Congress to
9446 concur with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring
9447 independence. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Virginia quickly
9448 responded to the challenge. The convention of the Old Dominion, on May
9449 15, instructed its delegates at Philadelphia to propose the independence
9450 of the United Colonies and to give the assent of Virginia to the act of
9451 separation. When the resolution was carried the British flag on the
9452 state house was lowered for all time.
9453
9454 Meanwhile the Continental Congress was alive to the course of events
9455 outside. The subject of independence was constantly being raised. "Are
9456 we rebels?" exclaimed Wyeth of Virginia during a debate in February.
9457 "No: we must declare ourselves a free people." Others hesitated and
9458 spoke of waiting for the arrival of commissioners of conciliation. "Is
9459 not America already independent?" asked Samuel Adams a few weeks later.
9460 "Why not then declare it?" Still there was uncertainty and delegates
9461 avoided the direct word. A few more weeks elapsed. At last, on May 10,
9462 Congress declared that the authority of the British crown in America
9463 must be suppressed and advised the colonies to set up governments of
9464 their own.
9465
9466 [Illustration: _From an old print_
9467
9468 THOMAS JEFFERSON READING HIS DRAFT OF THE DECLARATION OF
9469 INDEPENDENCE TO THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS]
9470
9471 =Independence Declared.=--The way was fully prepared, therefore, when,
9472 on June 7, the Virginia delegation in the Congress moved that "these
9473 united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent
9474 states." A committee was immediately appointed to draft a formal
9475 document setting forth the reasons for the act, and on July 2 all the
9476 states save New York went on record in favor of severing their political
9477 connection with Great Britain. Two days later, July 4, Jefferson's draft
9478 of the Declaration of Independence, changed in some slight particulars,
9479 was adopted. The old bell in Independence Hall, as it is now known, rang
9480 out the glad tidings; couriers swiftly carried the news to the uttermost
9481 hamlet and farm. A new nation announced its will to have a place among
9482 the powers of the world.
9483
9484 To some documents is given immortality. The Declaration of Independence
9485 is one of them. American patriotism is forever associated with it; but
9486 patriotism alone does not make it immortal. Neither does the vigor of
9487 its language or the severity of its indictment give it a secure place in
9488 the records of time. The secret of its greatness lies in the simple fact
9489 that it is one of the memorable landmarks in the history of a political
9490 ideal which for three centuries has been taking form and spreading
9491 throughout the earth, challenging kings and potentates, shaking down
9492 thrones and aristocracies, breaking the armies of irresponsible power on
9493 battle fields as far apart as Marston Moor and Chateau-Thierry. That
9494 ideal, now so familiar, then so novel, is summed up in the simple
9495 sentence: "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
9496 governed."
9497
9498 Written in a "decent respect for the opinions of mankind," to set forth
9499 the causes which impelled the American colonists to separate from
9500 Britain, the Declaration contained a long list of "abuses and
9501 usurpations" which had induced them to throw off the government of King
9502 George. That section of the Declaration has passed into "ancient"
9503 history and is seldom read. It is the part laying down a new basis for
9504 government and giving a new dignity to the common man that has become a
9505 household phrase in the Old World as in the New.
9506
9507 In the more enduring passages there are four fundamental ideas which,
9508 from the standpoint of the old system of government, were the essence of
9509 revolution: (1) all men are created equal and are endowed by their
9510 Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the
9511 pursuit of happiness; (2) the purpose of government is to secure these
9512 rights; (3) governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
9513 governed; (4) whenever any form of government becomes destructive of
9514 these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and
9515 institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles and
9516 organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to
9517 effect their safety and happiness. Here was the prelude to the historic
9518 drama of democracy--a challenge to every form of government and every
9519 privilege not founded on popular assent.
9520
9521
9522 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND THE NEW ALLEGIANCE
9523
9524 =The Committees of Correspondence.=--As soon as debate had passed into
9525 armed resistance, the patriots found it necessary to consolidate their
9526 forces by organizing civil government. This was readily effected, for
9527 the means were at hand in town meetings, provincial legislatures, and
9528 committees of correspondence. The working tools of the Revolution were
9529 in fact the committees of correspondence--small, local, unofficial
9530 groups of patriots formed to exchange views and create public sentiment.
9531 As early as November, 1772, such a committee had been created in Boston
9532 under the leadership of Samuel Adams. It held regular meetings, sent
9533 emissaries to neighboring towns, and carried on a campaign of education
9534 in the doctrines of liberty.
9535
9536 [Illustration: THE COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA AT THE TIME OF THE
9537 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]
9538
9539 Upon local organizations similar in character to the Boston committee
9540 were built county committees and then the larger colonial committees,
9541 congresses, and conventions, all unofficial and representing the
9542 revolutionary elements. Ordinarily the provincial convention was merely
9543 the old legislative assembly freed from all royalist sympathizers and
9544 controlled by patriots. Finally, upon these colonial assemblies was
9545 built the Continental Congress, the precursor of union under the
9546 Articles of Confederation and ultimately under the Constitution of the
9547 United States. This was the revolutionary government set up within the
9548 British empire in America.
9549
9550 =State Constitutions Framed.=--With the rise of these new assemblies of
9551 the people, the old colonial governments broke down. From the royal
9552 provinces the governor, the judges, and the high officers fled in haste,
9553 and it became necessary to substitute patriot authorities. The appeal to
9554 the colonies advising them to adopt a new form of government for
9555 themselves, issued by the Congress in May, 1776, was quickly acted upon.
9556 Before the expiration of a year, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
9557 Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, and New York had drafted new constitutions
9558 as states, not as colonies uncertain of their destinies. Connecticut and
9559 Rhode Island, holding that their ancient charters were equal to their
9560 needs, merely renounced their allegiance to the king and went on as
9561 before so far as the form of government was concerned. South Carolina,
9562 which had drafted a temporary plan early in 1776, drew up a new and more
9563 complete constitution in 1778. Two years later Massachusetts with much
9564 deliberation put into force its fundamental law, which in most of its
9565 essential features remains unchanged to-day.
9566
9567 The new state constitutions in their broad outlines followed colonial
9568 models. For the royal governor was substituted a governor or president
9569 chosen usually by the legislature; but in two instances, New York and
9570 Massachusetts, by popular vote. For the provincial council there was
9571 substituted, except in Georgia, a senate; while the lower house, or
9572 assembly, was continued virtually without change. The old property
9573 restriction on the suffrage, though lowered slightly in some states, was
9574 continued in full force to the great discontent of the mechanics thus
9575 deprived of the ballot. The special qualifications, laid down in several
9576 constitutions, for governors, senators, and representatives, indicated
9577 that the revolutionary leaders were not prepared for any radical
9578 experiments in democracy. The protests of a few women, like Mrs. John
9579 Adams of Massachusetts and Mrs. Henry Corbin of Virginia, against a
9580 government which excluded them from political rights were treated as
9581 mild curiosities of no significance, although in New Jersey women were
9582 allowed to vote for many years on the same terms as men.
9583
9584 By the new state constitutions the signs and symbols of royal power, of
9585 authority derived from any source save "the people," were swept aside
9586 and republican governments on an imposing scale presented for the first
9587 time to the modern world. Copies of these remarkable documents prepared
9588 by plain citizens were translated into French and widely circulated in
9589 Europe. There they were destined to serve as a guide and inspiration to
9590 a generation of constitution-makers whose mission it was to begin the
9591 democratic revolution in the Old World.
9592
9593 =The Articles of Confederation.=--The formation of state constitutions
9594 was an easy task for the revolutionary leaders. They had only to build
9595 on foundations already laid. The establishment of a national system of
9596 government was another matter. There had always been, it must be
9597 remembered, a system of central control over the colonies, but Americans
9598 had had little experience in its operation. When the supervision of the
9599 crown of Great Britain was suddenly broken, the patriot leaders,
9600 accustomed merely to provincial statesmanship, were poorly trained for
9601 action on a national stage.
9602
9603 Many forces worked against those who, like Franklin, had a vision of
9604 national destiny. There were differences in economic interest--commerce
9605 and industry in the North and the planting system of the South. There
9606 were contests over the apportionment of taxes and the quotas of troops
9607 for common defense. To these practical difficulties were added local
9608 pride, the vested rights of state and village politicians in their
9609 provincial dignity, and the scarcity of men with a large outlook upon
9610 the common enterprise.
9611
9612 Nevertheless, necessity compelled them to consider some sort of
9613 federation. The second Continental Congress had hardly opened its work
9614 before the most sagacious leaders began to urge the desirability of a
9615 permanent connection. As early as July, 1775, Congress resolved to go
9616 into a committee of the whole on the state of the union, and Franklin,
9617 undaunted by the fate of his Albany plan of twenty years before, again
9618 presented a draft of a constitution. Long and desultory debates followed
9619 and it was not until late in 1777 that Congress presented to the states
9620 the Articles of Confederation. Provincial jealousies delayed
9621 ratification, and it was the spring of 1781, a few months before the
9622 surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, when Maryland, the last of the
9623 states, approved the Articles. This plan of union, though it was all
9624 that could be wrung from the reluctant states, provided for neither a
9625 chief executive nor a system of federal courts. It created simply a
9626 Congress of delegates in which each state had an equal voice and gave it
9627 the right to call upon the state legislatures for the sinews of
9628 government--money and soldiers.
9629
9630 =The Application of Tests of Allegiance.=--As the successive steps were
9631 taken in the direction of independent government, the patriots devised
9632 and applied tests designed to discover who were for and who were against
9633 the new nation in the process of making. When the first Continental
9634 Congress agreed not to allow the importation of British goods, it
9635 provided for the creation of local committees to enforce the rules. Such
9636 agencies were duly formed by the choice of men favoring the scheme, all
9637 opponents being excluded from the elections. Before these bodies those
9638 who persisted in buying British goods were summoned and warned or
9639 punished according to circumstances. As soon as the new state
9640 constitutions were put into effect, local committees set to work in the
9641 same way to ferret out all who were not outspoken in their support of
9642 the new order of things.
9643
9644 [Illustration: MOBBING THE TORIES]
9645
9646 These patriot agencies, bearing different names in different sections,
9647 were sometimes ruthless in their methods. They called upon all men to
9648 sign the test of loyalty, frequently known as the "association test."
9649 Those who refused were promptly branded as outlaws, while some of the
9650 more dangerous were thrown into jail. The prison camp in Connecticut at
9651 one time held the former governor of New Jersey and the mayor of New
9652 York. Thousands were black-listed and subjected to espionage. The
9653 black-list of Pennsylvania contained the names of nearly five hundred
9654 persons of prominence who were under suspicion. Loyalists or Tories who
9655 were bold enough to speak and write against the Revolution were
9656 suppressed and their pamphlets burned. In many places, particularly in
9657 the North, the property of the loyalists was confiscated and the
9658 proceeds applied to the cause of the Revolution.
9659
9660 The work of the official agencies for suppression of opposition was
9661 sometimes supplemented by mob violence. A few Tories were hanged without
9662 trial, and others were tarred and feathered. One was placed upon a cake
9663 of ice and held there "until his loyalty to King George might cool."
9664 Whole families were driven out of their homes to find their way as best
9665 they could within the British lines or into Canada, where the British
9666 government gave them lands. Such excesses were deplored by Washington,
9667 but they were defended on the ground that in effect a civil war, as well
9668 as a war for independence, was being waged.
9669
9670 =The Patriots and Tories.=--Thus, by one process or another, those who
9671 were to be citizens of the new republic were separated from those who
9672 preferred to be subjects of King George. Just what proportion of the
9673 Americans favored independence and what share remained loyal to the
9674 British monarchy there is no way of knowing. The question of revolution
9675 was not submitted to popular vote, and on the point of numbers we have
9676 conflicting evidence. On the patriot side, there is the testimony of a
9677 careful and informed observer, John Adams, who asserted that two-thirds
9678 of the people were for the American cause and not more than one-third
9679 opposed the Revolution at all stages.
9680
9681 On behalf of the loyalists, or Tories as they were popularly known,
9682 extravagant claims were made. Joseph Galloway, who had been a member of
9683 the first Continental Congress and had fled to England when he saw its
9684 temper, testified before a committee of Parliament in 1779 that not
9685 one-fifth of the American people supported the insurrection and that
9686 "many more than four-fifths of the people prefer a union with Great
9687 Britain upon constitutional principles to independence." At the same
9688 time General Robertson, who had lived in America twenty-four years,
9689 declared that "more than two-thirds of the people would prefer the
9690 king's government to the Congress' tyranny." In an address to the king
9691 in that year a committee of American loyalists asserted that "the number
9692 of Americans in his Majesty's army exceeded the number of troops
9693 enlisted by Congress to oppose them."
9694
9695 =The Character of the Loyalists.=--When General Howe evacuated Boston,
9696 more than a thousand people fled with him. This great company, according
9697 to a careful historian, "formed the aristocracy of the province by
9698 virtue of their official rank; of their dignified callings and
9699 professions; of their hereditary wealth and of their culture." The act
9700 of banishment passed by Massachusetts in 1778, listing over 300 Tories,
9701 "reads like the social register of the oldest and noblest families of
9702 New England," more than one out of five being graduates of Harvard
9703 College. The same was true of New York and Philadelphia; namely, that
9704 the leading loyalists were prominent officials of the old order,
9705 clergymen and wealthy merchants. With passion the loyalists fought
9706 against the inevitable or with anguish of heart they left as refugees
9707 for a life of uncertainty in Canada or the mother country.
9708
9709 =Tories Assail the Patriots.=--The Tories who remained in America joined
9710 the British army by the thousands or in other ways aided the royal
9711 cause. Those who were skillful with the pen assailed the patriots in
9712 editorials, rhymes, satires, and political catechisms. They declared
9713 that the members of Congress were "obscure, pettifogging attorneys,
9714 bankrupt shopkeepers, outlawed smugglers, etc." The people and their
9715 leaders they characterized as "wretched banditti ... the refuse and
9716 dregs of mankind." The generals in the army they sneered at as "men of
9717 rank and honor nearly on a par with those of the Congress."
9718
9719 =Patriot Writers Arouse the National Spirit.=--Stung by Tory taunts,
9720 patriot writers devoted themselves to creating and sustaining a public
9721 opinion favorable to the American cause. Moreover, they had to combat
9722 the depression that grew out of the misfortunes in the early days of the
9723 war. A terrible disaster befell Generals Arnold and Montgomery in the
9724 winter of 1775 as they attempted to bring Canada into the revolution--a
9725 disaster that cost 5000 men; repeated calamities harassed Washington in
9726 1776 as he was defeated on Long Island, driven out of New York City, and
9727 beaten at Harlem Heights and White Plains. These reverses were almost
9728 too great for the stoutest patriots.
9729
9730 Pamphleteers, preachers, and publicists rose, however, to meet the needs
9731 of the hour. John Witherspoon, provost of the College of New Jersey,
9732 forsook the classroom for the field of political controversy. The poet,
9733 Philip Freneau, flung taunts of cowardice at the Tories and celebrated
9734 the spirit of liberty in many a stirring poem. Songs, ballads, plays,
9735 and satires flowed from the press in an unending stream. Fast days,
9736 battle anniversaries, celebrations of important steps taken by Congress
9737 afforded to patriotic clergymen abundant opportunities for sermons.
9738 "Does Mr. Wiberd preach against oppression?" anxiously inquired John
9739 Adams in a letter to his wife. The answer was decisive. "The clergy of
9740 every denomination, not excepting the Episcopalian, thunder and lighten
9741 every Sabbath. They pray for Boston and Massachusetts. They thank God
9742 most explicitly and fervently for our remarkable successes. They pray
9743 for the American army."
9744
9745 Thomas Paine never let his pen rest. He had been with the forces of
9746 Washington when they retreated from Fort Lee and were harried from New
9747 Jersey into Pennsylvania. He knew the effect of such reverses on the
9748 army as well as on the public. In December, 1776, he made a second great
9749 appeal to his countrymen in his pamphlet, "The Crisis," the first part
9750 of which he had written while defeat and gloom were all about him. This
9751 tract was a cry for continued support of the Revolution. "These are the
9752 times that try men's souls," he opened. "The summer soldier and the
9753 sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his
9754 country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of men
9755 and women." Paine laid his lash fiercely on the Tories, branding every
9756 one as a coward grounded in "servile, slavish, self-interested fear." He
9757 deplored the inadequacy of the militia and called for a real army. He
9758 refuted the charge that the retreat through New Jersey was a disaster
9759 and he promised victory soon. "By perseverance and fortitude," he
9760 concluded, "we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and
9761 submission the sad choice of a variety of evils--a ravaged country, a
9762 depopulated city, habitations without safety and slavery without
9763 hope.... Look on this picture and weep over it." His ringing call to
9764 arms was followed by another and another until the long contest was
9765 over.
9766
9767
9768 MILITARY AFFAIRS
9769
9770 =The Two Phases of the War.=--The war which opened with the battle of
9771 Lexington, on April 19, 1775, and closed with the surrender of
9772 Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, passed through two distinct
9773 phases--the first lasting until the treaty of alliance with France, in
9774 1778, and the second until the end of the struggle. During the first
9775 phase, the war was confined mainly to the North. The outstanding
9776 features of the contest were the evacuation of Boston by the British,
9777 the expulsion of American forces from New York and their retreat through
9778 New Jersey, the battle of Trenton, the seizure of Philadelphia by the
9779 British (September, 1777), the invasion of New York by Burgoyne and his
9780 capture at Saratoga in October, 1777, and the encampment of American
9781 forces at Valley Forge for the terrible winter of 1777-78.
9782
9783 The final phase of the war, opening with the treaty of alliance with
9784 France on February 6, 1778, was confined mainly to the Middle states,
9785 the West, and the South. In the first sphere of action the chief events
9786 were the withdrawal of the British from Philadelphia, the battle of
9787 Monmouth, and the inclosure of the British in New York by deploying
9788 American forces from Morristown, New Jersey, up to West Point. In the
9789 West, George Rogers Clark, by his famous march into the Illinois
9790 country, secured Kaskaskia and Vincennes and laid a firm grip on the
9791 country between the Ohio and the Great Lakes. In the South, the second
9792 period opened with successes for the British. They captured Savannah,
9793 conquered Georgia, and restored the royal governor. In 1780 they seized
9794 Charleston, administered a crushing defeat to the American forces under
9795 Gates at Camden, and overran South Carolina, though meeting reverses at
9796 Cowpens and King's Mountain. Then came the closing scenes. Cornwallis
9797 began the last of his operations. He pursued General Greene far into
9798 North Carolina, clashed with him at Guilford Court House, retired to the
9799 coast, took charge of British forces engaged in plundering Virginia, and
9800 fortified Yorktown, where he was penned up by the French fleet from the
9801 sea and the combined French and American forces on land.
9802
9803 =The Geographical Aspects of the War.=--For the British the theater of
9804 the war offered many problems. From first to last it extended from
9805 Massachusetts to Georgia, a distance of almost a thousand miles. It was
9806 nearly three thousand miles from the main base of supplies and, though
9807 the British navy kept the channel open, transports were constantly
9808 falling prey to daring privateers and fleet American war vessels. The
9809 sea, on the other hand, offered an easy means of transportation between
9810 points along the coast and gave ready access to the American centers of
9811 wealth and population. Of this the British made good use. Though early
9812 forced to give up Boston, they seized New York and kept it until the end
9813 of the war; they took Philadelphia and retained it until threatened by
9814 the approach of the French fleet; and they captured and held both
9815 Savannah and Charleston. Wars, however, are seldom won by the conquest
9816 of cities.
9817
9818 Particularly was this true in the case of the Revolution. Only a small
9819 portion of the American people lived in towns. Countrymen back from the
9820 coast were in no way dependent upon them for a livelihood. They lived on
9821 the produce of the soil, not upon the profits of trade. This very fact
9822 gave strength to them in the contest. Whenever the British ventured far
9823 from the ports of entry, they encountered reverses. Burgoyne was forced
9824 to surrender at Saratoga because he was surrounded and cut off from his
9825 base of supplies. As soon as the British got away from Charleston, they
9826 were harassed and worried by the guerrilla warriors of Marion, Sumter,
9827 and Pickens. Cornwallis could technically defeat Greene at Guilford far
9828 in the interior; but he could not hold the inland region he had invaded.
9829 Sustained by their own labor, possessing the interior to which their
9830 armies could readily retreat, supplied mainly from native resources, the
9831 Americans could not be hemmed in, penned up, and destroyed at one fell
9832 blow.
9833
9834 =The Sea Power.=--The British made good use of their fleet in cutting
9835 off American trade, but control of the sea did not seriously affect the
9836 United States. As an agricultural country, the ruin of its commerce was
9837 not such a vital matter. All the materials for a comfortable though
9838 somewhat rude life were right at hand. It made little difference to a
9839 nation fighting for existence, if silks, fine linens, and chinaware were
9840 cut off. This was an evil to which submission was necessary.
9841
9842 Nor did the brilliant exploits of John Paul Jones and Captain John Barry
9843 materially change the situation. They demonstrated the skill of American
9844 seamen and their courage as fighting men. They raised the rates of
9845 British marine insurance, but they did not dethrone the mistress of the
9846 seas. Less spectacular, and more distinctive, were the deeds of the
9847 hundreds of privateers and minor captains who overhauled British supply
9848 ships and kept British merchantmen in constant anxiety. Not until the
9849 French fleet was thrown into the scale, were the British compelled to
9850 reckon seriously with the enemy on the sea and make plans based upon the
9851 possibilities of a maritime disaster.
9852
9853 =Commanding Officers.=--On the score of military leadership it is
9854 difficult to compare the contending forces in the revolutionary contest.
9855 There is no doubt that all the British commanders were men of experience
9856 in the art of warfare. Sir William Howe had served in America during the
9857 French War and was accounted an excellent officer, a strict
9858 disciplinarian, and a gallant gentleman. Nevertheless he loved ease,
9859 society, and good living, and his expulsion from Boston, his failure to
9860 overwhelm Washington by sallies from his comfortable bases at New York
9861 and Philadelphia, destroyed every shred of his military reputation. John
9862 Burgoyne, to whom was given the task of penetrating New York from
9863 Canada, had likewise seen service in the French War both in America and
9864 Europe. He had, however, a touch of the theatrical in his nature and
9865 after the collapse of his plans and the surrender of his army in 1777,
9866 he devoted his time mainly to light literature. Sir Henry Clinton, who
9867 directed the movement which ended in the capture of Charleston in 1780,
9868 had "learned his trade on the continent," and was regarded as a man of
9869 discretion and understanding in military matters. Lord Cornwallis, whose
9870 achievements at Camden and Guilford were blotted out by his surrender at
9871 Yorktown, had seen service in the Seven Years' War and had undoubted
9872 talents which he afterward displayed with great credit to himself in
9873 India. Though none of them, perhaps, were men of first-rate ability,
9874 they all had training and experience to guide them.
9875
9876 [Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON]
9877
9878 The Americans had a host in Washington himself. He had long been
9879 interested in military strategy and had tested his coolness under fire
9880 during the first clashes with the French nearly twenty years before. He
9881 had no doubts about the justice of his cause, such as plagued some of
9882 the British generals. He was a stern but reasonable disciplinarian. He
9883 was reserved and patient, little given to exaltation at success or
9884 depression at reverses. In the dark hour of the Revolution, "what held
9885 the patriot forces together?" asks Beveridge in his _Life of John
9886 Marshall_. Then he answers: "George Washington and he alone. Had he
9887 died or been seriously disabled, the Revolution would have ended....
9888 Washington was the soul of the American cause. Washington was the
9889 government. Washington was the Revolution." The weakness of Congress in
9890 furnishing men and supplies, the indolence of civilians, who lived at
9891 ease while the army starved, the intrigues of army officers against him
9892 such as the "Conway cabal," the cowardice of Lee at Monmouth, even the
9893 treason of Benedict Arnold, while they stirred deep emotions in his
9894 breast and aroused him to make passionate pleas to his countrymen, did
9895 not shake his iron will or his firm determination to see the war through
9896 to the bitter end. The weight of Washington's moral force was
9897 immeasurable.
9898
9899 Of the generals who served under him, none can really be said to have
9900 been experienced military men when the war opened. Benedict Arnold, the
9901 unhappy traitor but brave and daring soldier, was a druggist, book
9902 seller, and ship owner at New Haven when the news of Lexington called
9903 him to battle. Horatio Gates was looked upon as a "seasoned soldier"
9904 because he had entered the British army as a youth, had been wounded at
9905 Braddock's memorable defeat, and had served with credit during the Seven
9906 Years' War; but he was the most conspicuous failure of the Revolution.
9907 The triumph over Burgoyne was the work of other men; and his crushing
9908 defeat at Camden put an end to his military pretensions. Nathanael
9909 Greene was a Rhode Island farmer and smith without military experience
9910 who, when convinced that war was coming, read Caesar's _Commentaries_ and
9911 took up the sword. Francis Marion was a shy and modest planter of South
9912 Carolina whose sole passage at arms had been a brief but desperate brush
9913 with the Indians ten or twelve years earlier. Daniel Morgan, one of the
9914 heroes of Cowpens, had been a teamster with Braddock's army and had seen
9915 some fighting during the French and Indian War, but his military
9916 knowledge, from the point of view of a trained British officer, was
9917 negligible. John Sullivan was a successful lawyer at Durham, New
9918 Hampshire, and a major in the local militia when duty summoned him to
9919 lay down his briefs and take up the sword. Anthony Wayne was a
9920 Pennsylvania farmer and land surveyor who, on hearing the clash of arms,
9921 read a few books on war, raised a regiment, and offered himself for
9922 service. Such is the story of the chief American military leaders, and
9923 it is typical of them all. Some had seen fighting with the French and
9924 Indians, but none of them had seen warfare on a large scale with regular
9925 troops commanded according to the strategy evolved in European
9926 experience. Courage, native ability, quickness of mind, and knowledge of
9927 the country they had in abundance, and in battles such as were fought
9928 during the Revolution all those qualities counted heavily in the
9929 balance.
9930
9931 =Foreign Officers in American Service.=--To native genius was added
9932 military talent from beyond the seas. Baron Steuben, well schooled in
9933 the iron regime of Frederick the Great, came over from Prussia, joined
9934 Washington at Valley Forge, and day after day drilled and manoeuvered the
9935 men, laughing and cursing as he turned raw countrymen into regular
9936 soldiers. From France came young Lafayette and the stern De Kalb, from
9937 Poland came Pulaski and Kosciusko;--all acquainted with the arts of war
9938 as waged in Europe and fitted for leadership as well as teaching.
9939 Lafayette came early, in 1776, in a ship of his own, accompanied by
9940 several officers of wide experience, and remained loyally throughout the
9941 war sharing the hardships of American army life. Pulaski fell at the
9942 siege of Savannah and De Kalb at Camden. Kosciusko survived the American
9943 war to defend in vain the independence of his native land. To these
9944 distinguished foreigners, who freely threw in their lot with American
9945 revolutionary fortunes, was due much of that spirit and discipline which
9946 fitted raw recruits and temperamental militiamen to cope with a military
9947 power of the first rank.
9948
9949 =The Soldiers.=--As far as the British soldiers were concerned their
9950 annals are short and simple. The regulars from the standing army who
9951 were sent over at the opening of the contest, the recruits drummed up
9952 by special efforts at home, and the thousands of Hessians bought
9953 outright by King George presented few problems of management to the
9954 British officers. These common soldiers were far away from home and
9955 enlisted for the war. Nearly all of them were well disciplined and many
9956 of them experienced in actual campaigns. The armies of King George
9957 fought bravely, as the records of Bunker Hill, Brandywine, and Monmouth
9958 demonstrate. Many a man and subordinate officer and, for that matter,
9959 some of the high officers expressed a reluctance at fighting against
9960 their own kin; but they obeyed orders.
9961
9962 The Americans, on the other hand, while they fought with grim
9963 determination, as men fighting for their homes, were lacking in
9964 discipline and in the experience of regular troops. When the war broke
9965 in upon them, there were no common preparations for it. There was no
9966 continental army; there were only local bands of militiamen, many of
9967 them experienced in fighting but few of them "regulars" in the military
9968 sense. Moreover they were volunteers serving for a short time,
9969 unaccustomed to severe discipline, and impatient at the restraints
9970 imposed on them by long and arduous campaigns. They were continually
9971 leaving the service just at the most critical moments. "The militia,"
9972 lamented Washington, "come in, you cannot tell how; go, you cannot tell
9973 where; consume your provisions; exhaust your stores; and leave you at
9974 last at a critical moment."
9975
9976 Again and again Washington begged Congress to provide for an army of
9977 regulars enlisted for the war, thoroughly trained and paid according to
9978 some definite plan. At last he was able to overcome, in part at least,
9979 the chronic fear of civilians in Congress and to wring from that
9980 reluctant body an agreement to grant half pay to all officers and a
9981 bonus to all privates who served until the end of the war. Even this
9982 scheme, which Washington regarded as far short of justice to the
9983 soldiers, did not produce quick results. It was near the close of the
9984 conflict before he had an army of well-disciplined veterans capable of
9985 meeting British regulars on equal terms.
9986
9987 Though there were times when militiamen and frontiersmen did valiant and
9988 effective work, it is due to historical accuracy to deny the
9989 time-honored tradition that a few minutemen overwhelmed more numerous
9990 forces of regulars in a seven years' war for independence. They did
9991 nothing of the sort. For the victories of Bennington, Trenton, Saratoga,
9992 and Yorktown there were the defeats of Bunker Hill, Long Island, White
9993 Plains, Germantown, and Camden. Not once did an army of militiamen
9994 overcome an equal number of British regulars in an open trial by battle.
9995 "To bring men to be well acquainted with the duties of a soldier," wrote
9996 Washington, "requires time.... To expect the same service from raw and
9997 undisciplined recruits as from veteran soldiers is to expect what never
9998 did and perhaps never will happen."
9999
10000 =How the War Was Won.=--Then how did the American army win the war? For
10001 one thing there were delays and blunders on the part of the British
10002 generals who, in 1775 and 1776, dallied in Boston and New York with
10003 large bodies of regular troops when they might have been dealing
10004 paralyzing blows at the scattered bands that constituted the American
10005 army. "Nothing but the supineness or folly of the enemy could have saved
10006 us," solemnly averred Washington in 1780. Still it is fair to say that
10007 this apparent supineness was not all due to the British generals. The
10008 ministers behind them believed that a large part of the colonists were
10009 loyal and that compromise would be promoted by inaction rather than by a
10010 war vigorously prosecuted. Victory by masterly inactivity was obviously
10011 better than conquest, and the slighter the wounds the quicker the
10012 healing. Later in the conflict when the seasoned forces of France were
10013 thrown into the scale, the Americans themselves had learned many things
10014 about the practical conduct of campaigns. All along, the British were
10015 embarrassed by the problem of supplies. Their troops could not forage
10016 with the skill of militiamen, as they were in unfamiliar territory. The
10017 long oversea voyages were uncertain at best and doubly so when the
10018 warships of France joined the American privateers in preying on supply
10019 boats.
10020
10021 The British were in fact battered and worn down by a guerrilla war and
10022 outdone on two important occasions by superior forces--at Saratoga and
10023 Yorktown. Stern facts convinced them finally that an immense army, which
10024 could be raised only by a supreme effort, would be necessary to subdue
10025 the colonies if that hazardous enterprise could be accomplished at all.
10026 They learned also that America would then be alienated, fretful, and the
10027 scene of endless uprisings calling for an army of occupation. That was a
10028 price which staggered even Lord North and George III. Moreover, there
10029 were forces of opposition at home with which they had to reckon.
10030
10031 =Women and the War.=--At no time were the women of America indifferent
10032 to the struggle for independence. When it was confined to the realm of
10033 opinion they did their part in creating public sentiment. Mrs. Elizabeth
10034 Timothee, for example, founded in Charleston, in 1773, a newspaper to
10035 espouse the cause of the province. Far to the north the sister of James
10036 Otis, Mrs. Mercy Warren, early begged her countrymen to rest their case
10037 upon their natural rights, and in influential circles she urged the
10038 leaders to stand fast by their principles. While John Adams was tossing
10039 about with uncertainty at the Continental Congress, his wife was writing
10040 letters to him declaring her faith in "independency."
10041
10042 When the war came down upon the country, women helped in every field. In
10043 sustaining public sentiment they were active. Mrs. Warren with a
10044 tireless pen combatted loyalist propaganda in many a drama and satire.
10045 Almost every revolutionary leader had a wife or daughter who rendered
10046 service in the "second line of defense." Mrs. Washington managed the
10047 plantation while the General was at the front and went north to face the
10048 rigors of the awful winter at Valley Forge--an inspiration to her
10049 husband and his men. The daughter of Benjamin Franklin, Mrs. Sarah
10050 Bache, while her father was pleading the American cause in France, set
10051 the women of Pennsylvania to work sewing and collecting supplies. Even
10052 near the firing line women were to be found, aiding the wounded, hauling
10053 powder to the front, and carrying dispatches at the peril of their
10054 lives.
10055
10056 In the economic sphere, the work of women was invaluable. They harvested
10057 crops without enjoying the picturesque title of "farmerettes" and they
10058 canned and preserved for the wounded and the prisoners of war. Of their
10059 labor in spinning and weaving it is recorded: "Immediately on being cut
10060 off from the use of English manufactures, the women engaged within their
10061 own families in manufacturing various kinds of cloth for domestic use.
10062 They thus kept their households decently clad and the surplus of their
10063 labors they sold to such as chose to buy rather than make for
10064 themselves. In this way the female part of families by their industry
10065 and strict economy frequently supported the whole domestic circle,
10066 evincing the strength of their attachment and the value of their
10067 service."
10068
10069 For their war work, women were commended by high authorities on more
10070 than one occasion. They were given medals and public testimonials even
10071 as in our own day. Washington thanked them for their labors and paid
10072 tribute to them for the inspiration and material aid which they had
10073 given to the cause of independence.
10074
10075
10076 THE FINANCES OF THE REVOLUTION
10077
10078 When the Revolution opened, there were thirteen little treasuries in
10079 America but no common treasury, and from first to last the Congress was
10080 in the position of a beggar rather than a sovereign. Having no authority
10081 to lay and collect taxes directly and knowing the hatred of the
10082 provincials for taxation, it resorted mainly to loans and paper money to
10083 finance the war. "Do you think," boldly inquired one of the delegates,
10084 "that I will consent to load my constituents with taxes when we can send
10085 to the printer and get a wagon load of money, one quire of which will
10086 pay for the whole?"
10087
10088 =Paper Money and Loans.=--Acting on this curious but appealing political
10089 economy, Congress issued in June, 1776, two million dollars in bills of
10090 credit to be redeemed by the states on the basis of their respective
10091 populations. Other issues followed in quick succession. In all about
10092 $241,000,000 of continental paper was printed, to which the several
10093 states added nearly $210,000,000 of their own notes. Then came
10094 interest-bearing bonds in ever increasing quantities. Several millions
10095 were also borrowed from France and small sums from Holland and Spain. In
10096 desperation a national lottery was held, producing meager results. The
10097 property of Tories was confiscated and sold, bringing in about
10098 $16,000,000. Begging letters were sent to the states asking them to
10099 raise revenues for the continental treasury, but the states, burdened
10100 with their own affairs, gave little heed.
10101
10102 =Inflation and Depreciation.=--As paper money flowed from the press, it
10103 rapidly declined in purchasing power until in 1779 a dollar was worth
10104 only two or three cents in gold or silver. Attempts were made by
10105 Congress and the states to compel people to accept the notes at face
10106 value; but these were like attempts to make water flow uphill.
10107 Speculators collected at once to fatten on the calamities of the
10108 republic. Fortunes were made and lost gambling on the prices of public
10109 securities while the patriot army, half clothed, was freezing at Valley
10110 Forge. "Speculation, peculation, engrossing, forestalling," exclaimed
10111 Washington, "afford too many melancholy proofs of the decay of public
10112 virtue. Nothing, I am convinced, but the depreciation of our currency
10113 ... aided by stock jobbing and party dissensions has fed the hopes of
10114 the enemy."
10115
10116 =The Patriot Financiers.=--To the efforts of Congress in financing the
10117 war were added the labors of private citizens. Hayn Solomon, a merchant
10118 of Philadelphia, supplied members of Congress, including Madison,
10119 Jefferson, and Monroe, and army officers, like Lee and Steuben, with
10120 money for their daily needs. All together he contributed the huge sum of
10121 half a million dollars to the American cause and died broken in purse,
10122 if not in spirit, a British prisoner of war. Another Philadelphia
10123 merchant, Robert Morris, won for himself the name of the "patriot
10124 financier" because he labored night and day to find the money to meet
10125 the bills which poured in upon the bankrupt government. When his own
10126 funds were exhausted, he borrowed from his friends. Experienced in the
10127 handling of merchandise, he created agencies at important points to
10128 distribute supplies to the troops, thus displaying administrative as
10129 well as financial talents.
10130
10131 [Illustration: ROBERT MORRIS]
10132
10133 Women organized "drives" for money, contributed their plate and their
10134 jewels, and collected from door to door. Farmers took worthless paper in
10135 return for their produce, and soldiers saw many a pay day pass without
10136 yielding them a penny. Thus by the labors and sacrifices of citizens,
10137 the issuance of paper money, lotteries, the floating of loans,
10138 borrowings in Europe, and the impressment of supplies, the Congress
10139 staggered through the Revolution like a pauper who knows not how his
10140 next meal is to be secured but is continuously relieved at a crisis by a
10141 kindly fate.
10142
10143
10144 THE DIPLOMACY OF THE REVOLUTION
10145
10146 When the full measure of honor is given to the soldiers and sailors and
10147 their commanding officers, the civilians who managed finances and
10148 supplies, the writers who sustained the American spirit, and the women
10149 who did well their part, there yet remains the duty of recognizing the
10150 achievements of diplomacy. The importance of this field of activity was
10151 keenly appreciated by the leaders in the Continental Congress. They were
10152 fairly well versed in European history. They knew of the balance of
10153 power and the sympathies, interests, and prejudices of nations and their
10154 rulers. All this information they turned to good account, in opening
10155 relations with continental countries and seeking money, supplies, and
10156 even military assistance. For the transaction of this delicate business,
10157 they created a secret committee on foreign correspondence as early as
10158 1775 and prepared to send agents abroad.
10159
10160 =American Agents Sent Abroad.=--Having heard that France was inclining a
10161 friendly ear to the American cause, the Congress, in March, 1776, sent a
10162 commissioner to Paris, Silas Deane of Connecticut, often styled the
10163 "first American diplomat." Later in the year a form of treaty to be
10164 presented to foreign powers was drawn up, and Franklin, Arthur Lee, and
10165 Deane were selected as American representatives at the court of "His
10166 Most Christian Majesty the King of France." John Jay of New York was
10167 chosen minister to Spain in 1779; John Adams was sent to Holland the
10168 same year; and other agents were dispatched to Florence, Vienna, and
10169 Berlin. The representative selected for St. Petersburg spent two
10170 fruitless years there, "ignored by the court, living in obscurity and
10171 experiencing nothing but humiliation and failure." Frederick the Great,
10172 king of Prussia, expressed a desire to find in America a market for
10173 Silesian linens and woolens, but, fearing England's command of the sea,
10174 he refused to give direct aid to the Revolutionary cause.
10175
10176 =Early French Interest.=--The great diplomatic triumph of the Revolution
10177 was won at Paris, and Benjamin Franklin was the hero of the occasion,
10178 although many circumstances prepared the way for his success. Louis
10179 XVI's foreign minister, Count de Vergennes, before the arrival of any
10180 American representative, had brought to the attention of the king the
10181 opportunity offered by the outbreak of the war between England and her
10182 colonies. He showed him how France could redress her grievances and
10183 "reduce the power and greatness of England"--the empire that in 1763 had
10184 forced upon her a humiliating peace "at the price of our possessions,
10185 of our commerce, and our credit in the Indies, at the price of Canada,
10186 Louisiana, Isle Royale, Acadia, and Senegal." Equally successful in
10187 gaining the king's interest was a curious French adventurer,
10188 Beaumarchais, a man of wealth, a lover of music, and the author of two
10189 popular plays, "Figaro" and "The Barber of Seville." These two men had
10190 already urged upon the king secret aid for America before Deane appeared
10191 on the scene. Shortly after his arrival they made confidential
10192 arrangements to furnish money, clothing, powder, and other supplies to
10193 the struggling colonies, although official requests for them were
10194 officially refused by the French government.
10195
10196 =Franklin at Paris.=--When Franklin reached Paris, he was received only
10197 in private by the king's minister, Vergennes. The French people,
10198 however, made manifest their affection for the "plain republican" in
10199 "his full dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet." He was known among
10200 men of letters as an author, a scientist, and a philosopher of
10201 extraordinary ability. His "Poor Richard" had thrice been translated
10202 into French and was scattered in numerous editions throughout the
10203 kingdom. People of all ranks--ministers, ladies at court, philosophers,
10204 peasants, and stable boys--knew of Franklin and wished him success in
10205 his mission. The queen, Marie Antoinette, fated to lose her head in a
10206 revolution soon to follow, played with fire by encouraging "our dear
10207 republican."
10208
10209 For the king of France, however, this was more serious business. England
10210 resented the presence of this "traitor" in Paris, and Louis had to be
10211 cautious about plunging into another war that might also end
10212 disastrously. Moreover, the early period of Franklin's sojourn in Paris
10213 was a dark hour for the American Revolution. Washington's brilliant
10214 exploit at Trenton on Christmas night, 1776, and the battle with
10215 Cornwallis at Princeton had been followed by the disaster at Brandywine,
10216 the loss of Philadelphia, the defeat at Germantown, and the retirement
10217 to Valley Forge for the winter of 1777-78. New York City and
10218 Philadelphia--two strategic ports--were in British hands; the Hudson
10219 and Delaware rivers were blocked; and General Burgoyne with his British
10220 troops was on his way down through the heart of northern New York,
10221 cutting New England off from the rest of the colonies. No wonder the
10222 king was cautious. Then the unexpected happened. Burgoyne, hemmed in
10223 from all sides by the American forces, his flanks harried, his foraging
10224 parties beaten back, his supplies cut off, surrendered on October 17,
10225 1777, to General Gates, who had superseded General Schuyler in time to
10226 receive the honor.
10227
10228 =Treaties of Alliance and Commerce (1778).=--News of this victory,
10229 placed by historians among the fifteen decisive battles of the world,
10230 reached Franklin one night early in December while he and some friends
10231 sat gloomily at dinner. Beaumarchais, who was with him, grasped at once
10232 the meaning of the situation and set off to the court at Versailles with
10233 such haste that he upset his coach and dislocated his arm. The king and
10234 his ministers were at last convinced that the hour had come to aid the
10235 Revolution. Treaties of commerce and alliance were drawn up and signed
10236 in February, 1778. The independence of the United States was recognized
10237 by France and an alliance was formed to guarantee that independence.
10238 Combined military action was agreed upon and Louis then formally
10239 declared war on England. Men who had, a few short years before, fought
10240 one another in the wilderness of Pennsylvania or on the Plains of
10241 Abraham, were now ranged side by side in a war on the Empire that Pitt
10242 had erected and that George III was pulling down.
10243
10244 =Spain and Holland Involved.=--Within a few months, Spain, remembering
10245 the steady decline of her sea power since the days of the Armada and
10246 hoping to drive the British out of Gibraltar, once more joined the
10247 concert of nations against England. Holland, a member of a league of
10248 armed neutrals formed in protest against British searches on the high
10249 seas, sent her fleet to unite with the forces of Spain, France, and
10250 America to prey upon British commerce. To all this trouble for England
10251 was added the danger of a possible revolt in Ireland, where the spirit
10252 of independence was flaming up.
10253
10254 =The British Offer Terms to America.=--Seeing the colonists about to be
10255 joined by France in a common war on the English empire, Lord North
10256 proposed, in February, 1778, a renewal of negotiations. By solemn
10257 enactment, Parliament declared its intention not to exercise the right
10258 of imposing taxes within the colonies; at the same time it authorized
10259 the opening of negotiations through commissioners to be sent to America.
10260 A truce was to be established, pardons granted, objectionable laws
10261 suspended, and the old imperial constitution, as it stood before the
10262 opening of hostilities, restored to full vigor. It was too late. Events
10263 had taken the affairs of America out of the hands of British
10264 commissioners and diplomats.
10265
10266 =Effects of French Aid.=--The French alliance brought ships of war,
10267 large sums of gold and silver, loads of supplies, and a considerable
10268 body of trained soldiers to the aid of the Americans. Timely as was this
10269 help, it meant no sudden change in the fortunes of war. The British
10270 evacuated Philadelphia in the summer following the alliance, and
10271 Washington's troops were encouraged to come out of Valley Forge. They
10272 inflicted a heavy blow on the British at Monmouth, but the treasonable
10273 conduct of General Charles Lee prevented a triumph. The recovery of
10274 Philadelphia was offset by the treason of Benedict Arnold, the loss of
10275 Savannah and Charleston (1780), and the defeat of Gates at Camden.
10276
10277 The full effect of the French alliance was not felt until 1781, when
10278 Cornwallis went into Virginia and settled at Yorktown. Accompanied by
10279 French troops Washington swept rapidly southward and penned the British
10280 to the shore while a powerful French fleet shut off their escape by sea.
10281 It was this movement, which certainly could not have been executed
10282 without French aid, that put an end to all chance of restoring British
10283 dominion in America. It was the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown that
10284 caused Lord North to pace the floor and cry out: "It is all over! It is
10285 all over!" What might have been done without the French alliance lies
10286 hidden from mankind. What was accomplished with the help of French
10287 soldiers, sailors, officers, money, and supplies, is known to all the
10288 earth. "All the world agree," exultantly wrote Franklin from Paris to
10289 General Washington, "that no expedition was ever better planned or
10290 better executed. It brightens the glory that must accompany your name to
10291 the latest posterity." Diplomacy as well as martial valor had its
10292 reward.
10293
10294
10295 PEACE AT LAST
10296
10297 =British Opposition to the War.=--In measuring the forces that led to
10298 the final discomfiture of King George and Lord North, it is necessary to
10299 remember that from the beginning to the end the British ministry at home
10300 faced a powerful, informed, and relentless opposition. There were
10301 vigorous protests, first against the obnoxious acts which precipitated
10302 the unhappy quarrel, then against the way in which the war was waged,
10303 and finally against the futile struggle to retain a hold upon the
10304 American dominions. Among the members of Parliament who thundered
10305 against the government were the first statesmen and orators of the land.
10306 William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, though he deplored the idea of American
10307 independence, denounced the government as the aggressor and rejoiced in
10308 American resistance. Edmund Burke leveled his heavy batteries against
10309 every measure of coercion and at last strove for a peace which, while
10310 giving independence to America, would work for reconciliation rather
10311 than estrangement. Charles James Fox gave the colonies his generous
10312 sympathy and warmly championed their rights. Outside of the circle of
10313 statesmen there were stout friends of the American cause like David
10314 Hume, the philosopher and historian, and Catherine Macaulay, an author
10315 of wide fame and a republican bold enough to encourage Washington in
10316 seeing it through.
10317
10318 Against this powerful opposition, the government enlisted a whole army
10319 of scribes and journalists to pour out criticism on the Americans and
10320 their friends. Dr. Samuel Johnson, whom it employed in this business,
10321 was so savage that even the ministers had to tone down his pamphlets
10322 before printing them. Far more weighty was Edward Gibbon, who was in
10323 time to win fame as the historian of the _Decline and Fall of the Roman
10324 Empire_. He had at first opposed the government; but, on being given a
10325 lucrative post, he used his sharp pen in its support, causing his
10326 friends to ridicule him in these lines:
10327
10328 "King George, in a fright
10329 Lest Gibbon should write
10330 The story of England's disgrace,
10331 Thought no way so sure
10332 His pen to secure
10333 As to give the historian a place."
10334
10335 =Lord North Yields.=--As time wore on, events bore heavily on the side
10336 of the opponents of the government's measures. They had predicted that
10337 conquest was impossible, and they had urged the advantages of a peace
10338 which would in some measure restore the affections of the Americans.
10339 Every day's news confirmed their predictions and lent support to their
10340 arguments. Moreover, the war, which sprang out of an effort to relieve
10341 English burdens, made those burdens heavier than ever. Military expenses
10342 were daily increasing. Trade with the colonies, the greatest single
10343 outlet for British goods and capital, was paralyzed. The heavy debts due
10344 British merchants in America were not only unpaid but postponed into an
10345 indefinite future. Ireland was on the verge of revolution. The French
10346 had a dangerous fleet on the high seas. In vain did the king assert in
10347 December, 1781, that no difficulties would ever make him consent to a
10348 peace that meant American independence. Parliament knew better, and on
10349 February 27, 1782, in the House of Commons was carried an address to the
10350 throne against continuing the war. Burke, Fox, the younger Pitt, Barre,
10351 and other friends of the colonies voted in the affirmative. Lord North
10352 gave notice then that his ministry was at an end. The king moaned:
10353 "Necessity made me yield."
10354
10355 In April, 1782, Franklin received word from the English government that
10356 it was prepared to enter into negotiations leading to a settlement. This
10357 was embarrassing. In the treaty of alliance with France, the United
10358 States had promised that peace should be a joint affair agreed to by
10359 both nations in open conference. Finding France, however, opposed to
10360 some of their claims respecting boundaries and fisheries, the American
10361 commissioners conferred with the British agents at Paris without
10362 consulting the French minister. They actually signed a preliminary peace
10363 draft before they informed him of their operations. When Vergennes
10364 reproached him, Franklin replied that they "had been guilty of
10365 neglecting _bienseance_ [good manners] but hoped that the great work
10366 would not be ruined by a single indiscretion."
10367
10368 =The Terms of Peace (1783).=--The general settlement at Paris in 1783
10369 was a triumph for America. England recognized the independence of the
10370 United States, naming each state specifically, and agreed to boundaries
10371 extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes
10372 to the Floridas. England held Canada, Newfoundland, and the West Indies
10373 intact, made gains in India, and maintained her supremacy on the seas.
10374 Spain won Florida and Minorca but not the coveted Gibraltar. France
10375 gained nothing important save the satisfaction of seeing England humbled
10376 and the colonies independent.
10377
10378 The generous terms secured by the American commission at Paris called
10379 forth surprise and gratitude in the United States and smoothed the way
10380 for a renewal of commercial relations with the mother country. At the
10381 same time they gave genuine anxiety to European diplomats. "This federal
10382 republic is born a pigmy," wrote the Spanish ambassador to his royal
10383 master. "A day will come when it will be a giant; even a colossus
10384 formidable to these countries. Liberty of conscience and the facility
10385 for establishing a new population on immense lands, as well as the
10386 advantages of the new government, will draw thither farmers and artisans
10387 from all the nations. In a few years we shall watch with grief the
10388 tyrannical existence of the same colossus."
10389
10390 [Illustration: NORTH AMERICA ACCORDING TO THE TREATY OF 1783]
10391
10392
10393 SUMMARY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
10394
10395 The independence of the American colonies was foreseen by many European
10396 statesmen as they watched the growth of their population, wealth, and
10397 power; but no one could fix the hour of the great event. Until 1763 the
10398 American colonists lived fairly happily under British dominion. There
10399 were collisions from time to time, of course. Royal governors clashed
10400 with stiff-necked colonial legislatures. There were protests against the
10401 exercise of the king's veto power in specific cases. Nevertheless, on
10402 the whole, the relations between America and the mother country were
10403 more amicable in 1763 than at any period under the Stuart regime which
10404 closed in 1688.
10405
10406 The crash, when it came, was not deliberately willed by any one. It was
10407 the product of a number of forces that happened to converge about 1763.
10408 Three years before, there had come to the throne George III, a young,
10409 proud, inexperienced, and stubborn king. For nearly fifty years his
10410 predecessors, Germans as they were in language and interest, had allowed
10411 things to drift in England and America. George III decided that he would
10412 be king in fact as well as in name. About the same time England brought
10413 to a close the long and costly French and Indian War and was staggering
10414 under a heavy burden of debt and taxes. The war had been fought partly
10415 in defense of the American colonies and nothing seemed more reasonable
10416 to English statesmen than the idea that the colonies should bear part of
10417 the cost of their own defense. At this juncture there came into
10418 prominence, in royal councils, two men bent on taxing America and
10419 controlling her trade, Grenville and Townshend. The king was willing,
10420 the English taxpayers were thankful for any promise of relief, and
10421 statesmen were found to undertake the experiment. England therefore set
10422 out upon a new course. She imposed taxes upon the colonists, regulated
10423 their trade and set royal officers upon them to enforce the law. This
10424 action evoked protests from the colonists. They held a Stamp Act
10425 Congress to declare their rights and petition for a redress of
10426 grievances. Some of the more restless spirits rioted in the streets,
10427 sacked the houses of the king's officers, and tore up the stamped paper.
10428
10429 Frightened by uprising, the English government drew back and repealed
10430 the Stamp Act. Then it veered again and renewed its policy of
10431 interference. Interference again called forth American protests.
10432 Protests aroused sharper retaliation. More British regulars were sent
10433 over to keep order. More irritating laws were passed by Parliament.
10434 Rioting again appeared: tea was dumped in the harbor of Boston and
10435 seized in the harbor of Charleston. The British answer was more force.
10436 The response of the colonists was a Continental Congress for defense. An
10437 unexpected and unintended clash of arms at Lexington and Concord in the
10438 spring of 1775 brought forth from the king of England a proclamation:
10439 "The Americans are rebels!"
10440
10441 The die was cast. The American Revolution had begun. Washington was made
10442 commander-in-chief. Armies were raised, money was borrowed, a huge
10443 volume of paper currency was issued, and foreign aid was summoned.
10444 Franklin plied his diplomatic arts at Paris until in 1778 he induced
10445 France to throw her sword into the balance. Three years later,
10446 Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. In 1783, by the formal treaty of
10447 peace, George III acknowledged the independence of the United States.
10448 The new nation, endowed with an imperial domain stretching from the
10449 Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, began its career among the
10450 sovereign powers of the earth.
10451
10452 In the sphere of civil government, the results of the Revolution were
10453 equally remarkable. Royal officers and royal authorities were driven
10454 from the former dominions. All power was declared to be in the people.
10455 All the colonies became states, each with its own constitution or plan
10456 of government. The thirteen states were united in common bonds under the
10457 Articles of Confederation. A republic on a large scale was instituted.
10458 Thus there was begun an adventure in popular government such as the
10459 world had never seen. Could it succeed or was it destined to break down
10460 and be supplanted by a monarchy? The fate of whole continents hung upon
10461 the answer.
10462
10463
10464 =References=
10465
10466 J. Fiske, _The American Revolution_ (2 vols.).
10467
10468 H. Lodge, _Life of Washington_ (2 vols.).
10469
10470 W. Sumner, _The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution_.
10471
10472 O. Trevelyan, _The American Revolution_ (4 vols.). A sympathetic account
10473 by an English historian.
10474
10475 M.C. Tyler, _Literary History of the American Revolution_ (2 vols.).
10476
10477 C.H. Van Tyne, _The American Revolution_ (American Nation Series) and
10478 _The Loyalists in the American Revolution_.
10479
10480
10481 =Questions=
10482
10483 1. What was the non-importation agreement? By what body was it adopted?
10484 Why was it revolutionary in character?
10485
10486 2. Contrast the work of the first and second Continental Congresses.
10487
10488 3. Why did efforts at conciliation fail?
10489
10490 4. Trace the growth of American independence from opinion to the sphere
10491 of action.
10492
10493 5. Why is the Declaration of Independence an "immortal" document?
10494
10495 6. What was the effect of the Revolution on colonial governments? On
10496 national union?
10497
10498 7. Describe the contest between "Patriots" and "Tories."
10499
10500 8. What topics are considered under "military affairs"? Discuss each in
10501 detail.
10502
10503 9. Contrast the American forces with the British forces and show how the
10504 war was won.
10505
10506 10. Compare the work of women in the Revolutionary War with their labors
10507 in the World War (1917-18).
10508
10509 11. How was the Revolution financed?
10510
10511 12. Why is diplomacy important in war? Describe the diplomatic triumph
10512 of the Revolution.
10513
10514 13. What was the nature of the opposition in England to the war?
10515
10516 14. Give the events connected with the peace settlement; the terms of
10517 peace.
10518
10519
10520 =Research Topics=
10521
10522 =The Spirit of America.=--Woodrow Wilson, _History of the American
10523 People_, Vol. II, pp. 98-126.
10524
10525 =American Rights.=--Draw up a table showing all the principles laid down
10526 by American leaders in (1) the Resolves of the First Continental
10527 Congress, Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp. 162-166; (2) the
10528 Declaration of the Causes and the Necessity of Taking Up Arms,
10529 Macdonald, pp. 176-183; and (3) the Declaration of Independence.
10530
10531 =The Declaration of Independence.=--Fiske, _The American Revolution_,
10532 Vol. I, pp. 147-197. Elson, _History of the United States_, pp. 250-254.
10533
10534 =Diplomacy and the French Alliance.=--Hart, _American History Told by
10535 Contemporaries_, Vol. II, pp. 574-590. Fiske, Vol. II, pp. 1-24.
10536 Callender, _Economic History of the United States_, pp. 159-168; Elson,
10537 pp. 275-280.
10538
10539 =Biographical Studies.=--Washington, Franklin, Samuel Adams, Patrick
10540 Henry, Thomas Jefferson--emphasizing the peculiar services of each.
10541
10542 =The Tories.=--Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. II, pp. 470-480.
10543
10544 =Valley Forge.=--Fiske, Vol. II, pp. 25-49.
10545
10546 =The Battles of the Revolution.=--Elson, pp. 235-317.
10547
10548 =An English View of the Revolution.=--Green, _Short History of England_,
10549 Chap. X, Sect. 2.
10550
10551 =English Opinion and the Revolution.=--Trevelyan, _The American
10552 Revolution_, Vol. III (or Part 2, Vol. II), Chaps. XXIV-XXVII.
10553
10554
10555
10556
10557 PART III. THE UNION AND NATIONAL POLITICS
10558
10559
10560
10561
10562 CHAPTER VII
10563
10564 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION
10565
10566
10567 THE PROMISE AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF AMERICA
10568
10569 The rise of a young republic composed of thirteen states, each governed
10570 by officials popularly elected under constitutions drafted by "the plain
10571 people," was the most significant feature of the eighteenth century. The
10572 majority of the patriots whose labors and sacrifices had made this
10573 possible naturally looked upon their work and pronounced it good. Those
10574 Americans, however, who peered beneath the surface of things, saw that
10575 the Declaration of Independence, even if splendidly phrased, and paper
10576 constitutions, drawn by finest enthusiasm "uninstructed by experience,"
10577 could not alone make the republic great and prosperous or even free. All
10578 around them they saw chaos in finance and in industry and perils for the
10579 immediate future.
10580
10581 =The Weakness of the Articles of Confederation.=--The government under
10582 the Articles of Confederation had neither the strength nor the resources
10583 necessary to cope with the problems of reconstruction left by the war.
10584 The sole organ of government was a Congress composed of from two to
10585 seven members from each state chosen as the legislature might direct and
10586 paid by the state. In determining all questions, each state had one
10587 vote--Delaware thus enjoying the same weight as Virginia. There was no
10588 president to enforce the laws. Congress was given power to select a
10589 committee of thirteen--one from each state--to act as an executive body
10590 when it was not in session; but this device, on being tried out, proved
10591 a failure. There was no system of national courts to which citizens and
10592 states could appeal for the protection of their rights or through which
10593 they could compel obedience to law. The two great powers of government,
10594 military and financial, were withheld. Congress, it is true, could
10595 authorize expenditures but had to rely upon the states for the payment
10596 of contributions to meet its bills. It could also order the
10597 establishment of an army, but it could only request the states to supply
10598 their respective quotas of soldiers. It could not lay taxes nor bring
10599 any pressure to bear upon a single citizen in the whole country. It
10600 could act only through the medium of the state governments.
10601
10602 =Financial and Commercial Disorders.=--In the field of public finance,
10603 the disorders were pronounced. The huge debt incurred during the war was
10604 still outstanding. Congress was unable to pay either the interest or the
10605 principal. Public creditors were in despair, as the market value of
10606 their bonds sank to twenty-five or even ten cents on the dollar. The
10607 current bills of Congress were unpaid. As some one complained, there was
10608 not enough money in the treasury to buy pen and ink with which to record
10609 the transactions of the shadow legislature. The currency was in utter
10610 chaos. Millions of dollars in notes issued by Congress had become mere
10611 trash worth a cent or two on the dollar. There was no other expression
10612 of contempt so forceful as the popular saying: "not worth a
10613 Continental." To make matters worse, several of the states were pouring
10614 new streams of paper money from the press. Almost the only good money in
10615 circulation consisted of English, French, and Spanish coins, and the
10616 public was even defrauded by them because money changers were busy
10617 clipping and filing away the metal. Foreign commerce was unsettled. The
10618 entire British system of trade discrimination was turned against the
10619 Americans, and Congress, having no power to regulate foreign commerce,
10620 was unable to retaliate or to negotiate treaties which it could enforce.
10621 Domestic commerce was impeded by the jealousies of the states, which
10622 erected tariff barriers against their neighbors. The condition of the
10623 currency made the exchange of money and goods extremely difficult, and,
10624 as if to increase the confusion, backward states enacted laws hindering
10625 the prompt collection of debts within their borders--an evil which
10626 nothing but a national system of courts could cure.
10627
10628 =Congress in Disrepute.=--With treaties set at naught by the states, the
10629 laws unenforced, the treasury empty, and the public credit gone, the
10630 Congress of the United States fell into utter disrepute. It called upon
10631 the states to pay their quotas of money into the treasury, only to be
10632 treated with contempt. Even its own members looked upon it as a solemn
10633 futility. Some of the ablest men refused to accept election to it, and
10634 many who did take the doubtful honor failed to attend the sessions.
10635 Again and again it was impossible to secure a quorum for the transaction
10636 of business.
10637
10638 =Troubles of the State Governments.=--The state governments, free to
10639 pursue their own course with no interference from without, had almost as
10640 many difficulties as the Congress. They too were loaded with
10641 revolutionary debts calling for heavy taxes upon an already restive
10642 population. Oppressed by their financial burdens and discouraged by the
10643 fall in prices which followed the return of peace, the farmers of
10644 several states joined in a concerted effort and compelled their
10645 legislatures to issue large sums of paper money. The currency fell in
10646 value, but nevertheless it was forced on unwilling creditors to square
10647 old accounts.
10648
10649 In every part of the country legislative action fluctuated violently.
10650 Laws were made one year only to be repealed the next and reenacted the
10651 third year. Lands were sold by one legislature and the sales were
10652 canceled by its successor. Uncertainty and distrust were the natural
10653 consequences. Men of substance longed for some power that would forbid
10654 states to issue bills of credit, to make paper money legal tender in
10655 payment of debts, or to impair the obligation of contracts. Men heavily
10656 in debt, on the other hand, urged even more drastic action against
10657 creditors.
10658
10659 So great did the discontent of the farmers in New Hampshire become in
10660 1786 that a mob surrounded the legislature, demanding a repeal of the
10661 taxes and the issuance of paper money. It was with difficulty that an
10662 armed rebellion was avoided. In Massachusetts the malcontents, under the
10663 leadership of Daniel Shays, a captain in the Revolutionary army,
10664 organized that same year open resistance to the government of the state.
10665 Shays and his followers protested against the conduct of creditors in
10666 foreclosing mortgages upon the debt-burdened farmers, against the
10667 lawyers for increasing the costs of legal proceedings, against the
10668 senate of the state the members of which were apportioned among the
10669 towns on the basis of the amount of taxes paid, against heavy taxes, and
10670 against the refusal of the legislature to issue paper money. They seized
10671 the towns of Worcester and Springfield and broke up the courts of
10672 justice. All through the western part of the state the revolt spread,
10673 sending a shock of alarm to every center and section of the young
10674 republic. Only by the most vigorous action was Governor Bowdoin able to
10675 quell the uprising; and when that task was accomplished, the state
10676 government did not dare to execute any of the prisoners because they had
10677 so many sympathizers. Moreover, Bowdoin and several members of the
10678 legislature who had been most zealous in their attacks on the insurgents
10679 were defeated at the ensuing election. The need of national assistance
10680 for state governments in times of domestic violence was everywhere
10681 emphasized by men who were opposed to revolutionary acts.
10682
10683 =Alarm over Dangers to the Republic.=--Leading American citizens,
10684 watching the drift of affairs, were slowly driven to the conclusion that
10685 the new ship of state so proudly launched a few years before was
10686 careening into anarchy. "The facts of our peace and independence," wrote
10687 a friend of Washington, "do not at present wear so promising an
10688 appearance as I had fondly painted in my mind. The prejudices,
10689 jealousies, and turbulence of the people at times almost stagger my
10690 confidence in our political establishments; and almost occasion me to
10691 think that they will show themselves unworthy of the noble prize for
10692 which we have contended."
10693
10694 Washington himself was profoundly discouraged. On hearing of Shays's
10695 rebellion, he exclaimed: "What, gracious God, is man that there should
10696 be such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct! It is but the
10697 other day that we were shedding our blood to obtain the constitutions
10698 under which we now live--constitutions of our own choice and making--and
10699 now we are unsheathing our sword to overturn them." The same year he
10700 burst out in a lament over rumors of restoring royal government. "I am
10701 told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical government
10702 without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking. Hence to acting is
10703 often but a single step. But how irresistible and tremendous! What a
10704 triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions! What a triumph for
10705 the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing
10706 ourselves!"
10707
10708 =Congress Attempts Some Reforms.=--The Congress was not indifferent to
10709 the events that disturbed Washington. On the contrary it put forth many
10710 efforts to check tendencies so dangerous to finance, commerce,
10711 industries, and the Confederation itself. In 1781, even before the
10712 treaty of peace was signed, the Congress, having found out how futile
10713 were its taxing powers, carried a resolution of amendment to the
10714 Articles of Confederation, authorizing the levy of a moderate duty on
10715 imports. Yet this mild measure was rejected by the states. Two years
10716 later the Congress prepared another amendment sanctioning the levy of
10717 duties on imports, to be collected this time by state officers and
10718 applied to the payment of the public debt. This more limited proposal,
10719 designed to save public credit, likewise failed. In 1786, the Congress
10720 made a third appeal to the states for help, declaring that they had been
10721 so irregular and so negligent in paying their quotas that further
10722 reliance upon that mode of raising revenues was dishonorable and
10723 dangerous.
10724
10725
10726 THE CALLING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
10727
10728 =Hamilton and Washington Urge Reform.=--The attempts at reform by the
10729 Congress were accompanied by demand for, both within and without that
10730 body, a convention to frame a new plan of government. In 1780, the
10731 youthful Alexander Hamilton, realizing the weakness of the Articles, so
10732 widely discussed, proposed a general convention for the purpose of
10733 drafting a new constitution on entirely different principles. With
10734 tireless energy he strove to bring his countrymen to his view.
10735 Washington, agreeing with him on every point, declared, in a circular
10736 letter to the governors, that the duration of the union would be short
10737 unless there was lodged somewhere a supreme power "to regulate and
10738 govern the general concerns of the confederated republic." The governor
10739 of Massachusetts, disturbed by the growth of discontent all about him,
10740 suggested to the state legislature in 1785 the advisability of a
10741 national convention to enlarge the powers of the Congress. The
10742 legislature approved the plan, but did not press it to a conclusion.
10743
10744 [Illustration: ALEXANDER HAMILTON]
10745
10746 =The Annapolis Convention.=--Action finally came from the South. The
10747 Virginia legislature, taking things into its own hands, called a
10748 conference of delegates at Annapolis to consider matters of taxation and
10749 commerce. When the convention assembled in 1786, it was found that only
10750 five states had taken the trouble to send representatives. The leaders
10751 were deeply discouraged, but the resourceful Hamilton, a delegate from
10752 New York, turned the affair to good account. He secured the adoption of
10753 a resolution, calling upon the Congress itself to summon another
10754 convention, to meet at Philadelphia.
10755
10756 =A National Convention Called (1787).=--The Congress, as tardy as ever,
10757 at last decided in February, 1787, to issue the call. Fearing drastic
10758 changes, however, it restricted the convention to "the sole and express
10759 purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." Jealous of its own
10760 powers, it added that any alterations proposed should be referred to the
10761 Congress and the states for their approval.
10762
10763 Every state in the union, except Rhode Island, responded to this call.
10764 Indeed some of the states, having the Annapolis resolution before them,
10765 had already anticipated the Congress by selecting delegates before the
10766 formal summons came. Thus, by the persistence of governors,
10767 legislatures, and private citizens, there was brought about the
10768 long-desired national convention. In May, 1787, it assembled in
10769 Philadelphia.
10770
10771 =The Eminent Men of the Convention.=--On the roll of that memorable
10772 convention were fifty-five men, at least half of whom were acknowledged
10773 to be among the foremost statesmen and thinkers in America. Every field
10774 of statecraft was represented by them: war and practical management in
10775 Washington, who was chosen president of the convention; diplomacy in
10776 Franklin, now old and full of honor in his own land as well as abroad;
10777 finance in Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris; law in James Wilson of
10778 Pennsylvania; the philosophy of government in James Madison, called the
10779 "father of the Constitution." They were not theorists but practical men,
10780 rich in political experience and endowed with deep insight into the
10781 springs of human action. Three of them had served in the Stamp Act
10782 Congress: Dickinson of Delaware, William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut,
10783 and John Rutledge of South Carolina. Eight had been signers of the
10784 Declaration of Independence: Read of Delaware, Sherman of Connecticut,
10785 Wythe of Virginia, Gerry of Massachusetts, Franklin, Robert Morris,
10786 George Clymer, and James Wilson of Pennsylvania. All but twelve had at
10787 some time served in the Continental Congress and eighteen were members
10788 of that body in the spring of 1787. Washington, Hamilton, Mifflin, and
10789 Charles Pinckney had been officers in the Revolutionary army. Seven of
10790 the delegates had gained political experience as governors of states.
10791 "The convention as a whole," according to the historian Hildreth,
10792 "represented in a marked manner the talent, intelligence, and
10793 especially the conservative sentiment of the country."
10794
10795
10796 THE FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION
10797
10798 =Problems Involved.=--The great problems before the convention were nine
10799 in number: (1) Shall the Articles of Confederation be revised or a new
10800 system of government constructed? (2) Shall the government be founded on
10801 states equal in power as under the Articles or on the broader and deeper
10802 foundation of population? (3) What direct share shall the people have in
10803 the election of national officers? (4) What shall be the qualifications
10804 for the suffrage? (5) How shall the conflicting interests of the
10805 commercial and the planting states be balanced so as to safeguard the
10806 essential rights of each? (6) What shall be the form of the new
10807 government? (7) What powers shall be conferred on it? (8) How shall the
10808 state legislatures be restrained from their attacks on property rights
10809 such as the issuance of paper money? (9) Shall the approval of all the
10810 states be necessary, as under the Articles, for the adoption and
10811 amendment of the Constitution?
10812
10813 =Revision of the Articles or a New Government?=--The moment the first
10814 problem was raised, representatives of the small states, led by William
10815 Paterson of New Jersey, were on their feet. They feared that, if the
10816 Articles were overthrown, the equality and rights of the states would be
10817 put in jeopardy. Their protest was therefore vigorous. They cited the
10818 call issued by the Congress in summoning the convention which
10819 specifically stated that they were assembled for "the sole and express
10820 purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." They cited also
10821 their instructions from their state legislatures, which authorized them
10822 to "revise and amend" the existing scheme of government, not to make a
10823 revolution in it. To depart from the authorization laid down by the
10824 Congress and the legislatures would be to exceed their powers, they
10825 argued, and to betray the trust reposed in them by their countrymen.
10826
10827 To their contentions, Randolph of Virginia replied: "When the salvation
10828 of the republic is at stake, it would be treason to our trust not to
10829 propose what we find necessary." Hamilton, reminding the delegates that
10830 their work was still subject to the approval of the states, frankly said
10831 that on the point of their powers he had no scruples. With the issue
10832 clear, the convention cast aside the Articles as if they did not exist
10833 and proceeded to the work of drawing up a new constitution, "laying its
10834 foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form"
10835 as to the delegates seemed "most likely to affect their safety and
10836 happiness."
10837
10838 =A Government Founded on States or on People?--The
10839 Compromise.=--Defeated in their attempt to limit the convention to a
10840 mere revision of the Articles, the spokesmen of the smaller states
10841 redoubled their efforts to preserve the equality of the states. The
10842 signal for a radical departure from the Articles on this point was given
10843 early in the sessions when Randolph presented "the Virginia plan." He
10844 proposed that the new national legislature consist of two houses, the
10845 members of which were to be apportioned among the states according to
10846 their wealth or free white population, as the convention might decide.
10847 This plan was vehemently challenged. Paterson of New Jersey flatly
10848 avowed that neither he nor his state would ever bow to such tyranny. As
10849 an alternative, he presented "the New Jersey plan" calling for a
10850 national legislature of one house representing states as such, not
10851 wealth or people--a legislature in which all states, large or small,
10852 would have equal voice. Wilson of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the more
10853 populous states, took up the gauntlet which Paterson had thrown down. It
10854 was absurd, he urged, for 180,000 men in one state to have the same
10855 weight in national counsels as 750,000 men in another state. "The
10856 gentleman from New Jersey," he said, "is candid. He declares his opinion
10857 boldly.... I will be equally candid.... I will never confederate on his
10858 principles." So the bitter controversy ran on through many exciting
10859 sessions.
10860
10861 Greek had met Greek. The convention was hopelessly deadlocked and on the
10862 verge of dissolution, "scarce held together by the strength of a hair,"
10863 as one of the delegates remarked. A crash was averted only by a
10864 compromise. Instead of a Congress of one house as provided by the
10865 Articles, the convention agreed upon a legislature of two houses. In the
10866 Senate, the aspirations of the small states were to be satisfied, for
10867 each state was given two members in that body. In the formation of the
10868 House of Representatives, the larger states were placated, for it was
10869 agreed that the members of that chamber were to be apportioned among the
10870 states on the basis of population, counting three-fifths of the slaves.
10871
10872 =The Question of Popular Election.=--The method of selecting federal
10873 officers and members of Congress also produced an acrimonious debate
10874 which revealed how deep-seated was the distrust of the capacity of the
10875 people to govern themselves. Few there were who believed that no branch
10876 of the government should be elected directly by the voters; still fewer
10877 were there, however, who desired to see all branches so chosen. One or
10878 two even expressed a desire for a monarchy. The dangers of democracy
10879 were stressed by Gerry of Massachusetts: "All the evils we experience
10880 flow from an excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue but are
10881 the dupes of pretended patriots.... I have been too republican
10882 heretofore but have been taught by experience the danger of a leveling
10883 spirit." To the "democratic licentiousness of the state legislatures,"
10884 Randolph sought to oppose a "firm senate." To check the excesses of
10885 popular government Charles Pinckney of South Carolina declared that no
10886 one should be elected President who was not worth $100,000 and that high
10887 property qualifications should be placed on members of Congress and
10888 judges. Other members of the convention were stoutly opposed to such
10889 "high-toned notions of government." Franklin and Wilson, both from
10890 Pennsylvania, vigorously championed popular election; while men like
10891 Madison insisted that at least one part of the government should rest on
10892 the broad foundation of the people.
10893
10894 Out of this clash of opinion also came compromise. One branch, the House
10895 of Representatives, it was agreed, was to be elected directly by the
10896 voters, while the Senators were to be elected indirectly by the state
10897 legislatures. The President was to be chosen by electors selected as the
10898 legislatures of the states might determine, and the judges of the
10899 federal courts, supreme and inferior, by the President and the Senate.
10900
10901 =The Question of the Suffrage.=--The battle over the suffrage was sharp
10902 but brief. Gouverneur Morris proposed that only land owners should be
10903 permitted to vote. Madison replied that the state legislatures, which
10904 had made so much trouble with radical laws, were elected by freeholders.
10905 After the debate, the delegates, unable to agree on any property
10906 limitations on the suffrage, decided that the House of Representatives
10907 should be elected by voters having the "qualifications requisite for
10908 electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature." Thus
10909 they accepted the suffrage provisions of the states.
10910
10911 =The Balance between the Planting and the Commercial States.=--After the
10912 debates had gone on for a few weeks, Madison came to the conclusion that
10913 the real division in the convention was not between the large and the
10914 small states but between the planting section founded on slave labor and
10915 the commercial North. Thus he anticipated by nearly three-quarters of a
10916 century "the irrepressible conflict." The planting states had neither
10917 the free white population nor the wealth of the North. There were,
10918 counting Delaware, six of them as against seven commercial states.
10919 Dependent for their prosperity mainly upon the sale of tobacco, rice,
10920 and other staples abroad, they feared that Congress might impose
10921 restraints upon their enterprise. Being weaker in numbers, they were
10922 afraid that the majority might lay an unfair burden of taxes upon them.
10923
10924 _Representation and Taxation._--The Southern members of the convention
10925 were therefore very anxious to secure for their section the largest
10926 possible representation in Congress, and at the same time to restrain
10927 the taxing power of that body. Two devices were thought adapted to these
10928 ends. One was to count the slaves as people when apportioning
10929 representatives among the states according to their respective
10930 populations; the other was to provide that direct taxes should be
10931 apportioned among the states, in proportion not to their wealth but to
10932 the number of their free white inhabitants. For obvious reasons the
10933 Northern delegates objected to these proposals. Once more a compromise
10934 proved to be the solution. It was agreed that not all the slaves but
10935 three-fifths of them should be counted for both purposes--representation
10936 and direct taxation.
10937
10938 _Commerce and the Slave Trade._--Southern interests were also involved
10939 in the project to confer upon Congress the power to regulate interstate
10940 and foreign commerce. To the manufacturing and trading states this was
10941 essential. It would prevent interstate tariffs and trade jealousies; it
10942 would enable Congress to protect American manufactures and to break
10943 down, by appropriate retaliations, foreign discriminations against
10944 American commerce. To the South the proposal was menacing because
10945 tariffs might interfere with the free exchange of the produce of
10946 plantations in European markets, and navigation acts might confine the
10947 carrying trade to American, that is Northern, ships. The importation of
10948 slaves, moreover, it was feared might be heavily taxed or immediately
10949 prohibited altogether.
10950
10951 The result of this and related controversies was a debate on the merits
10952 of slavery. Gouverneur Morris delivered his mind and heart on that
10953 subject, denouncing slavery as a nefarious institution and the curse of
10954 heaven on the states in which it prevailed. Mason of Virginia, a
10955 slaveholder himself, was hardly less outspoken, saying: "Slavery
10956 discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed
10957 by slaves. They prevent the migration of whites who really strengthen
10958 and enrich a country."
10959
10960 The system, however, had its defenders. Representatives from South
10961 Carolina argued that their entire economic life rested on slave labor
10962 and that the high death rate in the rice swamps made continuous
10963 importation necessary. Ellsworth of Connecticut took the ground that
10964 the convention should not meddle with slavery. "The morality or wisdom
10965 of slavery," he said, "are considerations belonging to the states. What
10966 enriches a part enriches the whole." To the future he turned an
10967 untroubled face: "As population increases, poor laborers will be so
10968 plenty as to render slaves useless. Slavery in time will not be a speck
10969 in our country." Virginia and North Carolina, already overstocked with
10970 slaves, favored prohibiting the traffic in them; but South Carolina was
10971 adamant. She must have fresh supplies of slaves or she would not
10972 federate.
10973
10974 So it was agreed that, while Congress might regulate foreign trade by
10975 majority vote, the importation of slaves should not be forbidden before
10976 the lapse of twenty years, and that any import tax should not exceed $10
10977 a head. At the same time, in connection with the regulation of foreign
10978 trade, it was stipulated that a two-thirds vote in the Senate should be
10979 necessary in the ratification of treaties. A further concession to the
10980 South was made in the provision for the return of runaway slaves--a
10981 provision also useful in the North, where indentured servants were about
10982 as troublesome as slaves in escaping from their masters.
10983
10984 =The Form of the Government.=--As to the details of the frame of
10985 government and the grand principles involved, the opinion of the
10986 convention ebbed and flowed, decisions being taken in the heat of
10987 debate, only to be revoked and taken again.
10988
10989 _The Executive._--There was general agreement that there should be an
10990 executive branch; for reliance upon Congress to enforce its own laws and
10991 treaties had been a broken reed. On the character and functions of the
10992 executive, however, there were many views. The New Jersey plan called
10993 for a council selected by the Congress; the Virginia plan provided that
10994 the executive branch should be chosen by the Congress but did not state
10995 whether it should be composed of one or several persons. On this matter
10996 the convention voted first one way and then another; finally it agreed
10997 on a single executive chosen indirectly by electors selected as the
10998 state legislatures might decide, serving for four years, subject to
10999 impeachment, and endowed with regal powers in the command of the army
11000 and the navy and in the enforcement of the laws.
11001
11002 _The Legislative Branch--Congress._--After the convention had made the
11003 great compromise between the large and small commonwealths by giving
11004 representation to states in the Senate and to population in the House,
11005 the question of methods of election had to be decided. As to the House
11006 of Representatives it was readily agreed that the members should be
11007 elected by direct popular vote. There was also easy agreement on the
11008 proposition that a strong Senate was needed to check the "turbulence" of
11009 the lower house. Four devices were finally selected to accomplish this
11010 purpose. In the first place, the Senators were not to be chosen directly
11011 by the voters but by the legislatures of the states, thus removing their
11012 election one degree from the populace. In the second place, their term
11013 was fixed at six years instead of two, as in the case of the House. In
11014 the third place, provision was made for continuity by having only
11015 one-third of the members go out at a time while two-thirds remained in
11016 service. Finally, it was provided that Senators must be at least thirty
11017 years old while Representatives need be only twenty-five.
11018
11019 _The Judiciary._--The need for federal courts to carry out the law was
11020 hardly open to debate. The feebleness of the Articles of Confederation
11021 was, in a large measure, attributed to the want of a judiciary to hold
11022 states and individuals in obedience to the laws and treaties of the
11023 union. Nevertheless on this point the advocates of states' rights were
11024 extremely sensitive. They looked with distrust upon judges appointed at
11025 the national capital and emancipated from local interests and
11026 traditions; they remembered with what insistence they had claimed
11027 against Britain the right of local trial by jury and with what
11028 consternation they had viewed the proposal to make colonial judges
11029 independent of the assemblies in the matter of their salaries.
11030 Reluctantly they yielded to the demand for federal courts, consenting at
11031 first only to a supreme court to review cases heard in lower state
11032 courts and finally to such additional inferior courts as Congress might
11033 deem necessary.
11034
11035 _The System of Checks and Balances._--It is thus apparent that the
11036 framers of the Constitution, in shaping the form of government, arranged
11037 for a distribution of power among three branches, executive,
11038 legislative, and judicial. Strictly speaking we might say four branches,
11039 for the legislature, or Congress, was composed of two houses, elected in
11040 different ways, and one of them, the Senate, was made a check on the
11041 President through its power of ratifying treaties and appointments. "The
11042 accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, in the
11043 same hands," wrote Madison, "whether of one, a few, or many, and whether
11044 hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the
11045 very definition of tyranny." The devices which the convention adopted to
11046 prevent such a centralization of authority were exceedingly ingenious
11047 and well calculated to accomplish the purposes of the authors.
11048
11049 The legislature consisted of two houses, the members of which were to be
11050 apportioned on a different basis, elected in different ways, and to
11051 serve for different terms. A veto on all its acts was vested in a
11052 President elected in a manner not employed in the choice of either
11053 branch of the legislature, serving for four years, and subject to
11054 removal only by the difficult process of impeachment. After a law had
11055 run the gantlet of both houses and the executive, it was subject to
11056 interpretation and annulment by the judiciary, appointed by the
11057 President with the consent of the Senate and serving for life. Thus it
11058 was made almost impossible for any political party to get possession of
11059 all branches of the government at a single popular election. As Hamilton
11060 remarked, the friends of good government considered "every institution
11061 calculated to restrain the excess of law making and to keep things in
11062 the same state in which they happen to be at any given period as more
11063 likely to do good than harm."
11064
11065 =The Powers of the Federal Government.=--On the question of the powers
11066 to be conferred upon the new government there was less occasion for a
11067 serious dispute. Even the delegates from the small states agreed with
11068 those from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia that new powers
11069 should be added to those intrusted to Congress by the Articles of
11070 Confederation. The New Jersey plan as well as the Virginia plan
11071 recognized this fact. Some of the delegates, like Hamilton and Madison,
11072 even proposed to give Congress a general legislative authority covering
11073 all national matters; but others, frightened by the specter of
11074 nationalism, insisted on specifying each power to be conferred and
11075 finally carried the day.
11076
11077 _Taxation and Commerce._--There were none bold enough to dissent from
11078 the proposition that revenue must be provided to pay current expenses
11079 and discharge the public debt. When once the dispute over the
11080 apportionment of direct taxes among the slave states was settled, it was
11081 an easy matter to decide that Congress should have power to lay and
11082 collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises. In this way the national
11083 government was freed from dependence upon stubborn and tardy
11084 legislatures and enabled to collect funds directly from citizens. There
11085 were likewise none bold enough to contend that the anarchy of state
11086 tariffs and trade discriminations should be longer endured. When the
11087 fears of the planting states were allayed and the "bargain" over the
11088 importation of slaves was reached, the convention vested in Congress the
11089 power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
11090
11091 _National Defense._--The necessity for national defense was realized,
11092 though the fear of huge military establishments was equally present. The
11093 old practice of relying on quotas furnished by the state legislatures
11094 was completely discredited. As in the case of taxes a direct authority
11095 over citizens was demanded. Congress was therefore given full power to
11096 raise and support armies and a navy. It could employ the state militia
11097 when desirable; but it could at the same time maintain a regular army
11098 and call directly upon all able-bodied males if the nature of a crisis
11099 was thought to require it.
11100
11101 _The "Necessary and Proper" Clause._--To the specified power vested in
11102 Congress by the Constitution, the advocates of a strong national
11103 government added a general clause authorizing it to make all laws
11104 "necessary and proper" for carrying into effect any and all of the
11105 enumerated powers. This clause, interpreted by that master mind, Chief
11106 Justice Marshall, was later construed to confer powers as wide as the
11107 requirements of a vast country spanning a continent and taking its place
11108 among the mighty nations of the earth.
11109
11110 =Restraints on the States.=--Framing a government and endowing it with
11111 large powers were by no means the sole concern of the convention. Its
11112 very existence had been due quite as much to the conduct of the state
11113 legislatures as to the futilities of a paralyzed Continental Congress.
11114 In every state, explains Marshall in his _Life of Washington_, there was
11115 a party of men who had "marked out for themselves a more indulgent
11116 course. Viewing with extreme tenderness the case of the debtor, their
11117 efforts were unceasingly directed to his relief. To exact a faithful
11118 compliance with contracts was, in their opinion, a harsh measure which
11119 the people could not bear. They were uniformly in favor of relaxing the
11120 administration of justice, of affording facilities for the payment of
11121 debts, or of suspending their collection, and remitting taxes."
11122
11123 The legislatures under the dominance of these men had enacted paper
11124 money laws enabling debtors to discharge their obligations more easily.
11125 The convention put an end to such practices by providing that no state
11126 should emit bills of credit or make anything but gold or silver legal
11127 tender in the payment of debts. The state legislatures had enacted laws
11128 allowing men to pay their debts by turning over to creditors land or
11129 personal property; they had repealed the charter of an endowed college
11130 and taken the management from the hands of the lawful trustees; and they
11131 had otherwise interfered with the enforcement of private agreements. The
11132 convention, taking notice of such matters, inserted a clause forbidding
11133 states "to impair the obligation of contracts." The more venturous of
11134 the radicals had in Massachusetts raised the standard of revolt against
11135 the authorities of the state. The convention answered by a brief
11136 sentence to the effect that the President of the United States, to be
11137 equipped with a regular army, would send troops to suppress domestic
11138 insurrections whenever called upon by the legislature or, if it was not
11139 in session, by the governor of the state. To make sure that the
11140 restrictions on the states would not be dead letters, the federal
11141 Constitution, laws, and treaties were made the supreme law of the land,
11142 to be enforced whenever necessary by a national judiciary and executive
11143 against violations on the part of any state authorities.
11144
11145 =Provisions for Ratification and Amendment.=--When the frame of
11146 government had been determined, the powers to be vested in it had been
11147 enumerated, and the restrictions upon the states had been written into
11148 the bond, there remained three final questions. How shall the
11149 Constitution be ratified? What number of states shall be necessary to
11150 put it into effect? How shall it be amended in the future?
11151
11152 On the first point, the mandate under which the convention was sitting
11153 seemed positive. The Articles of Confederation were still in effect.
11154 They provided that amendments could be made only by unanimous adoption
11155 in Congress and the approval of all the states. As if to give force to
11156 this provision of law, the call for the convention had expressly stated
11157 that all alterations and revisions should be reported to Congress for
11158 adoption or rejection, Congress itself to transmit the document
11159 thereafter to the states for their review.
11160
11161 To have observed the strict letter of the law would have defeated the
11162 purposes of the delegates, because Congress and the state legislatures
11163 were openly hostile to such drastic changes as had been made. Unanimous
11164 ratification, as events proved, would have been impossible. Therefore
11165 the delegates decided that the Constitution should be sent to Congress
11166 with the recommendation that it, in turn, transmit the document, not to
11167 the state legislatures, but to conventions held in the states for the
11168 special object of deciding upon ratification. This process was followed.
11169 It was their belief that special conventions would be more friendly than
11170 the state legislatures.
11171
11172 The convention was equally positive in dealing with the problem of the
11173 number of states necessary to establish the new Constitution. Attempts
11174 to change the Articles had failed because amendment required the
11175 approval of every state and there was always at least one recalcitrant
11176 member of the union. The opposition to a new Constitution was
11177 undoubtedly formidable. Rhode Island had even refused to take part in
11178 framing it, and her hostility was deep and open. So the convention cast
11179 aside the provision of the Articles of Confederation which required
11180 unanimous approval for any change in the plan of government; it decreed
11181 that the new Constitution should go into effect when ratified by nine
11182 states.
11183
11184 In providing for future changes in the Constitution itself the
11185 convention also thrust aside the old rule of unanimous approval, and
11186 decided that an amendment could be made on a two-thirds vote in both
11187 houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. This
11188 change was of profound significance. Every state agreed to be bound in
11189 the future by amendments duly adopted even in case it did not approve
11190 them itself. America in this way set out upon the high road that led
11191 from a league of states to a nation.
11192
11193
11194 THE STRUGGLE OVER RATIFICATION
11195
11196 On September 17, 1787, the Constitution, having been finally drafted in
11197 clear and simple language, a model to all makers of fundamental law, was
11198 adopted. The convention, after nearly four months of debate in secret
11199 session, flung open the doors and presented to the Americans the
11200 finished plan for the new government. Then the great debate passed to
11201 the people.
11202
11203 =The Opposition.=--Storms of criticism at once descended upon the
11204 Constitution. "Fraudulent usurpation!" exclaimed Gerry, who had refused
11205 to sign it. "A monster" out of the "thick veil of secrecy," declaimed a
11206 Pennsylvania newspaper. "An iron-handed despotism will be the result,"
11207 protested a third. "We, 'the low-born,'" sarcastically wrote a fourth,
11208 "will now admit the 'six hundred well-born' immediately to establish
11209 this most noble, most excellent, and truly divine constitution." The
11210 President will become a king; Congress will be as tyrannical as
11211 Parliament in the old days; the states will be swallowed up; the rights
11212 of the people will be trampled upon; the poor man's justice will be lost
11213 in the endless delays of the federal courts--such was the strain of the
11214 protests against ratification.
11215
11216 [Illustration: AN ADVERTISEMENT OF _The Federalist_]
11217
11218 =Defense of the Constitution.=--Moved by the tempest of opposition,
11219 Hamilton, Madison, and Jay took up their pens in defense of the
11220 Constitution. In a series of newspaper articles they discussed and
11221 expounded with eloquence, learning, and dignity every important clause
11222 and provision of the proposed plan. These papers, afterwards collected
11223 and published in a volume known as _The Federalist_, form the finest
11224 textbook on the Constitution that has ever been printed. It takes its
11225 place, moreover, among the wisest and weightiest treatises on government
11226 ever written in any language in any time. Other men, not so gifted, were
11227 no less earnest in their support of ratification. In private
11228 correspondence, editorials, pamphlets, and letters to the newspapers,
11229 they urged their countrymen to forget their partisanship and accept a
11230 Constitution which, in spite of any defects great or small, was the
11231 only guarantee against dissolution and warfare at home and dishonor and
11232 weakness abroad.
11233
11234 [Illustration: CELEBRATING THE RATIFICATION]
11235
11236 =The Action of the State Conventions.=--Before the end of the year,
11237 1787, three states had ratified the Constitution: Delaware and New
11238 Jersey unanimously and Pennsylvania after a short, though savage,
11239 contest. Connecticut and Georgia followed early the next year. Then came
11240 the battle royal in Massachusetts, ending in ratification in February by
11241 the narrow margin of 187 votes to 168. In the spring came the news that
11242 Maryland and South Carolina were "under the new roof." On June 21, New
11243 Hampshire, where the sentiment was at first strong enough to defeat the
11244 Constitution, joined the new republic, influenced by the favorable
11245 decision in Massachusetts. Swift couriers were sent to carry the news to
11246 New York and Virginia, where the question of ratification was still
11247 undecided. Nine states had accepted it and were united, whether more saw
11248 fit to join or not.
11249
11250 Meanwhile, however, Virginia, after a long and searching debate, had
11251 given her approval by a narrow margin, leaving New York as the next seat
11252 of anxiety. In that state the popular vote for the delegates to the
11253 convention had been clearly and heavily against ratification. Events
11254 finally demonstrated the futility of resistance, and Hamilton by good
11255 judgment and masterly arguments was at last able to marshal a majority
11256 of thirty to twenty-seven votes in favor of ratification.
11257
11258 The great contest was over. All the states, except North Carolina and
11259 Rhode Island, had ratified. "The sloop Anarchy," wrote an ebullient
11260 journalist, "when last heard from was ashore on Union rocks."
11261
11262 =The First Election.=--In the autumn of 1788, elections were held to
11263 fill the places in the new government. Public opinion was overwhelmingly
11264 in favor of Washington as the first President. Yielding to the
11265 importunities of friends, he accepted the post in the spirit of public
11266 service. On April 30, 1789, he took the oath of office at Federal Hall
11267 in New York City. "Long live George Washington, President of the United
11268 States!" cried Chancellor Livingston as soon as the General had kissed
11269 the Bible. The cry was caught by the assembled multitude and given back.
11270 A new experiment in popular government was launched.
11271
11272
11273 =References=
11274
11275 M. Farrand, _The Framing of the Constitution of the United States_.
11276
11277 P.L. Ford, _Essays on the Constitution of the United States_.
11278
11279 _The Federalist_ (in many editions).
11280
11281 G. Hunt, _Life of James Madison_.
11282
11283 A.C. McLaughlin, _The Confederation and the Constitution_ (American
11284 Nation Series).
11285
11286
11287 =Questions=
11288
11289 1. Account for the failure of the Articles of Confederation.
11290
11291 2. Explain the domestic difficulties of the individual states.
11292
11293 3. Why did efforts at reform by the Congress come to naught?
11294
11295 4. Narrate the events leading up to the constitutional convention.
11296
11297 5. Who were some of the leading men in the convention? What had been
11298 their previous training?
11299
11300 6. State the great problems before the convention.
11301
11302 7. In what respects were the planting and commercial states opposed?
11303 What compromises were reached?
11304
11305 8. Show how the "check and balance" system is embodied in our form of
11306 government.
11307
11308 9. How did the powers conferred upon the federal government help cure
11309 the defects of the Articles of Confederation?
11310
11311 10. In what way did the provisions for ratifying and amending the
11312 Constitution depart from the old system?
11313
11314 11. What was the nature of the conflict over ratification?
11315
11316
11317 =Research Topics=
11318
11319 =English Treatment of American Commerce.=--Callender, _Economic History
11320 of the United States_, pp. 210-220.
11321
11322 =Financial Condition of the United States.=--Fiske, _Critical Period of
11323 American History_, pp. 163-186.
11324
11325 =Disordered Commerce.=--Fiske, pp. 134-162.
11326
11327 =Selfish Conduct of the States.=--Callender, pp. 185-191.
11328
11329 =The Failure of the Confederation.=--Elson, _History of the United
11330 States_, pp. 318-326.
11331
11332 =Formation of the Constitution.=--(1) The plans before the convention,
11333 Fiske, pp. 236-249; (2) the great compromise, Fiske, pp. 250-255; (3)
11334 slavery and the convention, Fiske, pp. 256-266; and (4) the frame of
11335 government, Fiske, pp. 275-301; Elson, pp. 328-334.
11336
11337 =Biographical Studies.=--Look up the history and services of the leaders
11338 in the convention in any good encyclopedia.
11339
11340 =Ratification of the Constitution.=--Hart, _History Told by
11341 Contemporaries_, Vol. III, pp. 233-254; Elson, pp. 334-340.
11342
11343 =Source Study.=--Compare the Constitution and Articles of Confederation
11344 under the following heads: (1) frame of government; (2) powers of
11345 Congress; (3) limits on states; and (4) methods of amendment. Every line
11346 of the Constitution should be read and re-read in the light of the
11347 historical circumstances set forth in this chapter.
11348
11349
11350
11351
11352 CHAPTER VIII
11353
11354 THE CLASH OF POLITICAL PARTIES
11355
11356
11357 THE MEN AND MEASURES OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT
11358
11359 =Friends of the Constitution in Power.=--In the first Congress that
11360 assembled after the adoption of the Constitution, there were eleven
11361 Senators, led by Robert Morris, the financier, who had been delegates to
11362 the national convention. Several members of the House of
11363 Representatives, headed by James Madison, had also been at Philadelphia
11364 in 1787. In making his appointments, Washington strengthened the new
11365 system of government still further by a judicious selection of
11366 officials. He chose as Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton,
11367 who had been the most zealous for its success; General Knox, head of the
11368 War Department, and Edmund Randolph, the Attorney-General, were likewise
11369 conspicuous friends of the experiment. Every member of the federal
11370 judiciary whom Washington appointed, from the Chief Justice, John Jay,
11371 down to the justices of the district courts, had favored the
11372 ratification of the Constitution; and a majority of them had served as
11373 members of the national convention that framed the document or of the
11374 state ratifying conventions. Only one man of influence in the new
11375 government, Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, was reckoned as a
11376 doubter in the house of the faithful. He had expressed opinions both for
11377 and against the Constitution; but he had been out of the country acting
11378 as the minister at Paris when the Constitution was drafted and ratified.
11379
11380 =An Opposition to Conciliate.=--The inauguration of Washington amid the
11381 plaudits of his countrymen did not set at rest all the political turmoil
11382 which had been aroused by the angry contest over ratification. "The
11383 interesting nature of the question," wrote John Marshall, "the equality
11384 of the parties, the animation produced inevitably by ardent debate had a
11385 necessary tendency to embitter the dispositions of the vanquished and to
11386 fix more deeply in many bosoms their prejudices against a plan of
11387 government in opposition to which all their passions were enlisted." The
11388 leaders gathered around Washington were well aware of the excited state
11389 of the country. They saw Rhode Island and North Carolina still outside
11390 of the union.[1] They knew by what small margins the Constitution had
11391 been approved in the great states of Massachusetts, Virginia, and New
11392 York. They were equally aware that a majority of the state conventions,
11393 in yielding reluctant approval to the Constitution, had drawn a number
11394 of amendments for immediate submission to the states.
11395
11396 =The First Amendments--a Bill of Rights.=--To meet the opposition,
11397 Madison proposed, and the first Congress adopted, a series of amendments
11398 to the Constitution. Ten of them were soon ratified and became in 1791 a
11399 part of the law of the land. These amendments provided, among other
11400 things, that Congress could make no law respecting the establishment of
11401 religion, abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right
11402 of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a
11403 redress of grievances. They also guaranteed indictment by grand jury and
11404 trial by jury for all persons charged by federal officers with serious
11405 crimes. To reassure those who still feared that local rights might be
11406 invaded by the federal government, the tenth amendment expressly
11407 provided that the powers not delegated to the United States by the
11408 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the
11409 states respectively or to the people. Seven years later, the eleventh
11410 amendment was written in the same spirit as the first ten, after a
11411 heated debate over the action of the Supreme Court in permitting a
11412 citizen to bring a suit against "the sovereign state" of Georgia. The
11413 new amendment was designed to protect states against the federal
11414 judiciary by forbidding it to hear any case in which a state was sued by
11415 a citizen.
11416
11417 =Funding the National Debt.=--Paper declarations of rights, however,
11418 paid no bills. To this task Hamilton turned all his splendid genius. At
11419 the very outset he addressed himself to the problem of the huge public
11420 debt, daily mounting as the unpaid interest accumulated. In a _Report on
11421 Public Credit_ under date of January 9, 1790, one of the first and
11422 greatest of American state papers, he laid before Congress the outlines
11423 of his plan. He proposed that the federal government should call in all
11424 the old bonds, certificates of indebtedness, and other promises to pay
11425 which had been issued by the Congress since the beginning of the
11426 Revolution. These national obligations, he urged, should be put into one
11427 consolidated debt resting on the credit of the United States; to the
11428 holders of the old paper should be issued new bonds drawing interest at
11429 fixed rates. This process was called "funding the debt." Such a
11430 provision for the support of public credit, Hamilton insisted, would
11431 satisfy creditors, restore landed property to its former value, and
11432 furnish new resources to agriculture and commerce in the form of credit
11433 and capital.
11434
11435 =Assumption and Funding of State Debts.=--Hamilton then turned to the
11436 obligations incurred by the several states in support of the Revolution.
11437 These debts he proposed to add to the national debt. They were to be
11438 "assumed" by the United States government and placed on the same secure
11439 foundation as the continental debt. This measure he defended not merely
11440 on grounds of national honor. It would, as he foresaw, give strength to
11441 the new national government by making all public creditors, men of
11442 substance in their several communities, look to the federal, rather than
11443 the state government, for the satisfaction of their claims.
11444
11445 =Funding at Face Value.=--On the question of the terms of consolidation,
11446 assumption, and funding, Hamilton had a firm conviction. That millions
11447 of dollars' worth of the continental and state bonds had passed out of
11448 the hands of those who had originally subscribed their funds to the
11449 support of the government or had sold supplies for the Revolutionary
11450 army was well known. It was also a matter of common knowledge that a
11451 very large part of these bonds had been bought by speculators at ruinous
11452 figures--ten, twenty, and thirty cents on the dollar. Accordingly, it
11453 had been suggested, even in very respectable quarters, that a
11454 discrimination should be made between original holders and speculative
11455 purchasers. Some who held this opinion urged that the speculators who
11456 had paid nominal sums for their bonds should be reimbursed for their
11457 outlays and the original holders paid the difference; others said that
11458 the government should "scale the debt" by redeeming, not at full value
11459 but at a figure reasonably above the market price. Against the
11460 proposition Hamilton set his face like flint. He maintained that the
11461 government was honestly bound to redeem every bond at its face value,
11462 although the difficulty of securing revenue made necessary a lower rate
11463 of interest on a part of the bonds and the deferring of interest on
11464 another part.
11465
11466 =Funding and Assumption Carried.=--There was little difficulty in
11467 securing the approval of both houses of Congress for the funding of the
11468 national debt at full value. The bill for the assumption of state debts,
11469 however, brought the sharpest division of opinions. To the Southern
11470 members of Congress assumption was a gross violation of states' rights,
11471 without any warrant in the Constitution and devised in the interest of
11472 Northern speculators who, anticipating assumption and funding, had
11473 bought up at low prices the Southern bonds and other promises to pay.
11474 New England, on the other hand, was strongly in favor of assumption;
11475 several representatives from that section were rash enough to threaten a
11476 dissolution of the union if the bill was defeated. To this dispute was
11477 added an equally bitter quarrel over the location of the national
11478 capital, then temporarily at New York City.
11479
11480 [Illustration: FIRST UNITED STATES BANK AT PHILADELPHIA]
11481
11482 A deadlock, accompanied by the most surly feelings on both sides,
11483 threatened the very existence of the young government. Washington and
11484 Hamilton were thoroughly alarmed. Hearing of the extremity to which the
11485 contest had been carried and acting on the appeal from the Secretary of
11486 the Treasury, Jefferson intervened at this point. By skillful management
11487 at a good dinner he brought the opposing leaders together; and thus once
11488 more, as on many other occasions, peace was purchased and the union
11489 saved by compromise. The bargain this time consisted of an exchange of
11490 votes for assumption in return for votes for the capital. Enough
11491 Southern members voted for assumption to pass the bill, and a majority
11492 was mustered in favor of building the capital on the banks of the
11493 Potomac, after locating it for a ten-year period at Philadelphia to
11494 satisfy Pennsylvania members.
11495
11496 =The United States Bank.=--Encouraged by the success of his funding and
11497 assumption measures, Hamilton laid before Congress a project for a great
11498 United States Bank. He proposed that a private corporation be chartered
11499 by Congress, authorized to raise a capital stock of $10,000,000
11500 (three-fourths in new six per cent federal bonds and one-fourth in
11501 specie) and empowered to issue paper currency under proper safeguards.
11502 Many advantages, Hamilton contended, would accrue to the government from
11503 this institution. The price of the government bonds would be increased,
11504 thus enhancing public credit. A national currency would be created of
11505 uniform value from one end of the land to the other. The branches of the
11506 bank in various cities would make easy the exchange of funds so vital to
11507 commercial transactions on a national scale. Finally, through the issue
11508 of bank notes, the money capital available for agriculture and industry
11509 would be increased, thus stimulating business enterprise. Jefferson
11510 hotly attacked the bank on the ground that Congress had no power
11511 whatever under the Constitution to charter such a private corporation.
11512 Hamilton defended it with great cogency. Washington, after weighing all
11513 opinions, decided in favor of the proposal. In 1791 the bill
11514 establishing the first United States Bank for a period of twenty years
11515 became a law.
11516
11517 =The Protective Tariff.=--A third part of Hamilton's program was the
11518 protection of American industries. The first revenue act of 1789, though
11519 designed primarily to bring money into the empty treasury, declared in
11520 favor of the principle. The following year Washington referred to the
11521 subject in his address to Congress. Thereupon Hamilton was instructed to
11522 prepare recommendations for legislative action. The result, after a
11523 delay of more than a year, was his _Report on Manufactures_, another
11524 state paper worthy, in closeness of reasoning and keenness of
11525 understanding, of a place beside his report on public credit. Hamilton
11526 based his argument on the broadest national grounds: the protective
11527 tariff would, by encouraging the building of factories, create a home
11528 market for the produce of farms and plantations; by making the United
11529 States independent of other countries in times of peace, it would double
11530 its security in time of war; by making use of the labor of women and
11531 children, it would turn to the production of goods persons otherwise
11532 idle or only partly employed; by increasing the trade between the North
11533 and South it would strengthen the links of union and add to political
11534 ties those of commerce and intercourse. The revenue measure of 1792 bore
11535 the impress of these arguments.
11536
11537
11538 THE RISE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
11539
11540 =Dissensions over Hamilton's Measures.=--Hamilton's plans, touching
11541 deeply as they did the resources of individuals and the interests of the
11542 states, awakened alarm and opposition. Funding at face value, said his
11543 critics, was a government favor to speculators; the assumption of state
11544 debts was a deep design to undermine the state governments; Congress had
11545 no constitutional power to create a bank; the law creating the bank
11546 merely allowed a private corporation to make paper money and lend it at
11547 a high rate of interest; and the tariff was a tax on land and labor for
11548 the benefit of manufacturers.
11549
11550 Hamilton's reply to this bill of indictment was simple and
11551 straightforward. Some rascally speculators had profited from the funding
11552 of the debt at face value, but that was only an incident in the
11553 restoration of public credit. In view of the jealousies of the states it
11554 was a good thing to reduce their powers and pretensions. The
11555 Constitution was not to be interpreted narrowly but in the full light of
11556 national needs. The bank would enlarge the amount of capital so sorely
11557 needed to start up American industries, giving markets to farmers and
11558 planters. The tariff by creating a home market and increasing
11559 opportunities for employment would benefit both land and labor. Out of
11560 such wise policies firmly pursued by the government, he concluded, were
11561 bound to come strength and prosperity for the new government at home,
11562 credit and power abroad. This view Washington fully indorsed, adding
11563 the weight of his great name to the inherent merits of the measures
11564 adopted under his administration.
11565
11566 =The Sharpness of the Partisan Conflict.=--As a result of the clash of
11567 opinion, the people of the country gradually divided into two parties:
11568 Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the former led by Hamilton, the latter
11569 by Jefferson. The strength of the Federalists lay in the cities--Boston,
11570 Providence, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston--among the
11571 manufacturing, financial, and commercial groups of the population who
11572 were eager to extend their business operations. The strength of the
11573 Anti-Federalists lay mainly among the debt-burdened farmers who feared
11574 the growth of what they called "a money power" and planters in all
11575 sections who feared the dominance of commercial and manufacturing
11576 interests. The farming and planting South, outside of the few towns,
11577 finally presented an almost solid front against assumption, the bank,
11578 and the tariff. The conflict between the parties grew steadily in
11579 bitterness, despite the conciliatory and engaging manner in which
11580 Hamilton presented his cause in his state papers and despite the
11581 constant efforts of Washington to soften the asperity of the
11582 contestants.
11583
11584 =The Leadership and Doctrines of Jefferson.=--The party dispute had not
11585 gone far before the opponents of the administration began to look to
11586 Jefferson as their leader. Some of Hamilton's measures he had approved,
11587 declaring afterward that he did not at the time understand their
11588 significance. Others, particularly the bank, he fiercely assailed. More
11589 than once, he and Hamilton, shaking violently with anger, attacked each
11590 other at cabinet meetings, and nothing short of the grave and dignified
11591 pleas of Washington prevented an early and open break between them. In
11592 1794 it finally came. Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State and
11593 retired to his home in Virginia to assume, through correspondence and
11594 negotiation, the leadership of the steadily growing party of opposition.
11595
11596 Shy and modest in manner, halting in speech, disliking the turmoil of
11597 public debate, and deeply interested in science and philosophy,
11598 Jefferson was not very well fitted for the strenuous life of political
11599 contest. Nevertheless, he was an ambitious and shrewd negotiator. He was
11600 also by honest opinion and matured conviction the exact opposite of
11601 Hamilton. The latter believed in a strong, active, "high-toned"
11602 government, vigorously compelling in all its branches. Jefferson looked
11603 upon such government as dangerous to the liberties of citizens and
11604 openly avowed his faith in the desirability of occasional popular
11605 uprisings. Hamilton distrusted the people. "Your people is a great
11606 beast," he is reported to have said. Jefferson professed his faith in
11607 the people with an abandon that was considered reckless in his time.
11608
11609 On economic matters, the opinions of the two leaders were also
11610 hopelessly at variance. Hamilton, while cherishing agriculture, desired
11611 to see America a great commercial and industrial nation. Jefferson was
11612 equally set against this course for his country. He feared the
11613 accumulation of riches and the growth of a large urban working class.
11614 The mobs of great cities, he said, are sores on the body politic;
11615 artisans are usually the dangerous element that make revolutions;
11616 workshops should be kept in Europe and with them the artisans with their
11617 insidious morals and manners. The only substantial foundation for a
11618 republic, Jefferson believed to be agriculture. The spirit of
11619 independence could be kept alive only by free farmers, owning the land
11620 they tilled and looking to the sun in heaven and the labor of their
11621 hands for their sustenance. Trusting as he did in the innate goodness of
11622 human nature when nourished on a free soil, Jefferson advocated those
11623 measures calculated to favor agriculture and to enlarge the rights of
11624 persons rather than the powers of government. Thus he became the
11625 champion of the individual against the interference of the government,
11626 and an ardent advocate of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and
11627 freedom of scientific inquiry. It was, accordingly, no mere factious
11628 spirit that drove him into opposition to Hamilton.
11629
11630 =The Whisky Rebellion.=--The political agitation of the Anti-Federalists
11631 was accompanied by an armed revolt against the government in 1794. The
11632 occasion for this uprising was another of Hamilton's measures, a law
11633 laying an excise tax on distilled spirits, for the purpose of increasing
11634 the revenue needed to pay the interest on the funded debt. It so
11635 happened that a very considerable part of the whisky manufactured in the
11636 country was made by the farmers, especially on the frontier, in their
11637 own stills. The new revenue law meant that federal officers would now
11638 come into the homes of the people, measure their liquor, and take the
11639 tax out of their pockets. All the bitterness which farmers felt against
11640 the fiscal measures of the government was redoubled. In the western
11641 districts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, they refused to
11642 pay the tax. In Pennsylvania, some of them sacked and burned the houses
11643 of the tax collectors, as the Revolutionists thirty years before had
11644 mobbed the agents of King George sent over to sell stamps. They were in
11645 a fair way to nullify the law in whole districts when Washington called
11646 out the troops to suppress "the Whisky Rebellion." Then the movement
11647 collapsed; but it left behind a deep-seated resentment which flared up
11648 in the election of several obdurate Anti-Federalist Congressmen from the
11649 disaffected regions.
11650
11651
11652 FOREIGN INFLUENCES AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
11653
11654 =The French Revolution.=--In this exciting period, when all America was
11655 distracted by partisan disputes, a storm broke in Europe--the
11656 epoch-making French Revolution--which not only shook the thrones of the
11657 Old World but stirred to its depths the young republic of the New World.
11658 The first scene in this dramatic affair occurred in the spring of 1789,
11659 a few days after Washington was inaugurated. The king of France, Louis
11660 XVI, driven into bankruptcy by extravagance and costly wars, was forced
11661 to resort to his people for financial help. Accordingly he called, for
11662 the first time in more than one hundred fifty years, a meeting of the
11663 national parliament, the "Estates General," composed of representatives
11664 of the "three estates"--the clergy, nobility, and commoners. Acting
11665 under powerful leaders, the commoners, or "third estate," swept aside
11666 the clergy and nobility and resolved themselves into a national
11667 assembly. This stirred the country to its depths.
11668
11669 [Illustration: _From an old print_
11670
11671 LOUIS XVI IN THE HANDS OF THE MOB]
11672
11673 Great events followed in swift succession. On July 14, 1789, the
11674 Bastille, an old royal prison, symbol of the king's absolutism, was
11675 stormed by a Paris crowd and destroyed. On the night of August 4, the
11676 feudal privileges of the nobility were abolished by the national
11677 assembly amid great excitement. A few days later came the famous
11678 Declaration of the Rights of Man, proclaiming the sovereignty of the
11679 people and the privileges of citizens. In the autumn of 1791, Louis XVI
11680 was forced to accept a new constitution for France vesting the
11681 legislative power in a popular assembly. Little disorder accompanied
11682 these startling changes. To all appearances a peaceful revolution had
11683 stripped the French king of his royal prerogatives and based the
11684 government of his country on the consent of the governed.
11685
11686 =American Influence in France.=--In undertaking their great political
11687 revolt the French had been encouraged by the outcome of the American
11688 Revolution. Officers and soldiers, who had served in the American war,
11689 reported to their French countrymen marvelous tales. At the frugal table
11690 of General Washington, in council with the unpretentious Franklin, or at
11691 conferences over the strategy of war, French noblemen of ancient lineage
11692 learned to respect both the talents and the simple character of the
11693 leaders in the great republican commonwealth beyond the seas. Travelers,
11694 who had gone to see the experiment in republicanism with their own eyes,
11695 carried home to the king and ruling class stories of an astounding
11696 system of popular government.
11697
11698 On the other hand the dalliance with American democracy was regarded by
11699 French conservatives as playing with fire. "When we think of the false
11700 ideas of government and philanthropy," wrote one of Lafayette's aides,
11701 "which these youths acquired in America and propagated in France with so
11702 much enthusiasm and such deplorable success--for this mania of imitation
11703 powerfully aided the Revolution, though it was not the sole cause of
11704 it--we are bound to confess that it would have been better, both for
11705 themselves and for us, if these young philosophers in red-heeled shoes
11706 had stayed at home in attendance on the court."
11707
11708 =Early American Opinion of the French Revolution.=--So close were the
11709 ties between the two nations that it is not surprising to find every
11710 step in the first stages of the French Revolution greeted with applause
11711 in the United States. "Liberty will have another feather in her cap,"
11712 exultantly wrote a Boston editor. "In no part of the globe," soberly
11713 wrote John Marshall, "was this revolution hailed with more joy than in
11714 America.... But one sentiment existed." The main key to the Bastille,
11715 sent to Washington as a memento, was accepted as "a token of the
11716 victory gained by liberty." Thomas Paine saw in the great event "the
11717 first ripe fruits of American principles transplanted into Europe."
11718 Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarded the new constitution of France
11719 as another vindication of American ideals.
11720
11721 =The Reign of Terror.=--While profuse congratulations were being
11722 exchanged, rumors began to come that all was not well in France. Many
11723 noblemen, enraged at the loss of their special privileges, fled into
11724 Germany and plotted an invasion of France to overthrow the new system of
11725 government. Louis XVI entered into negotiations with his brother
11726 monarchs on the continent to secure their help in the same enterprise,
11727 and he finally betrayed to the French people his true sentiments by
11728 attempting to escape from his kingdom, only to be captured and taken
11729 back to Paris in disgrace.
11730
11731 A new phase of the revolution now opened. The working people, excluded
11732 from all share in the government by the first French constitution,
11733 became restless, especially in Paris. Assembling on the Champs de Mars,
11734 a great open field, they signed a petition calling for another
11735 constitution giving them the suffrage. When told to disperse, they
11736 refused and were fired upon by the national guard. This "massacre," as
11737 it was called, enraged the populace. A radical party, known as
11738 "Jacobins," then sprang up, taking its name from a Jacobin monastery in
11739 which it held its sessions. In a little while it became the master of
11740 the popular convention convoked in September, 1792. The monarchy was
11741 immediately abolished and a republic established. On January 21, 1793,
11742 Louis was sent to the scaffold. To the war on Austria, already raging,
11743 was added a war on England. Then came the Reign of Terror, during which
11744 radicals in possession of the convention executed in large numbers
11745 counter-revolutionists and those suspected of sympathy with the
11746 monarchy. They shot down peasants who rose in insurrection against their
11747 rule and established a relentless dictatorship. Civil war followed.
11748 Terrible atrocities were committed on both sides in the name of liberty,
11749 and in the name of monarchy. To Americans of conservative temper it now
11750 seemed that the Revolution, so auspiciously begun, had degenerated into
11751 anarchy and mere bloodthirsty strife.
11752
11753 =Burke Summons the World to War on France.=--In England, Edmund Burke
11754 led the fight against the new French principles which he feared might
11755 spread to all Europe. In his _Reflections on the French Revolution_,
11756 written in 1790, he attacked with terrible wrath the whole program of
11757 popular government; he called for war, relentless war, upon the French
11758 as monsters and outlaws; he demanded that they be reduced to order by
11759 the restoration of the king to full power under the protection of the
11760 arms of European nations.
11761
11762 =Paine's Defense of the French Revolution.=--To counteract the campaign
11763 of hate against the French, Thomas Paine replied to Burke in another of
11764 his famous tracts, _The Rights of Man_, which was given to the American
11765 public in an edition containing a letter of approval from Jefferson.
11766 Burke, said Paine, had been mourning about the glories of the French
11767 monarchy and aristocracy but had forgotten the starving peasants and the
11768 oppressed people; had wept over the plumage and neglected the dying
11769 bird. Burke had denied the right of the French people to choose their
11770 own governors, blandly forgetting that the English government in which
11771 he saw final perfection itself rested on two revolutions. He had boasted
11772 that the king of England held his crown in contempt of the democratic
11773 societies. Paine answered: "If I ask a man in America if he wants a
11774 king, he retorts and asks me if I take him for an idiot." To the charge
11775 that the doctrines of the rights of man were "new fangled," Paine
11776 replied that the question was not whether they were new or old but
11777 whether they were right or wrong. As to the French disorders and
11778 difficulties, he bade the world wait to see what would be brought forth
11779 in due time.
11780
11781 =The Effect of the French Revolution on American Politics.=--The course
11782 of the French Revolution and the controversies accompanying it,
11783 exercised a profound influence on the formation of the first political
11784 parties in America. The followers of Hamilton, now proud of the name
11785 "Federalists," drew back in fright as they heard of the cruel deeds
11786 committed during the Reign of Terror. They turned savagely upon the
11787 revolutionists and their friends in America, denouncing as "Jacobin"
11788 everybody who did not condemn loudly enough the proceedings of the
11789 French Republic. A Massachusetts preacher roundly assailed "the
11790 atheistical, anarchical, and in other respects immoral principles of the
11791 French Republicans"; he then proceeded with equal passion to attack
11792 Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists, whom he charged with spreading false
11793 French propaganda and betraying America. "The editors, patrons, and
11794 abettors of these vehicles of slander," he exclaimed, "ought to be
11795 considered and treated as enemies to their country.... Of all traitors
11796 they are the most aggravatedly criminal; of all villains, they are the
11797 most infamous and detestable."
11798
11799 The Anti-Federalists, as a matter of fact, were generally favorable to
11800 the Revolution although they deplored many of the events associated with
11801 it. Paine's pamphlet, indorsed by Jefferson, was widely read. Democratic
11802 societies, after the fashion of French political clubs, arose in the
11803 cities; the coalition of European monarchs against France was denounced
11804 as a coalition against the very principles of republicanism; and the
11805 execution of Louis XVI was openly celebrated at a banquet in
11806 Philadelphia. Harmless titles, such as "Sir," "the Honorable," and "His
11807 Excellency," were decried as aristocratic and some of the more excited
11808 insisted on adopting the French title, "Citizen," speaking, for example,
11809 of "Citizen Judge" and "Citizen Toastmaster." Pamphlets in defense of
11810 the French streamed from the press, while subsidized newspapers kept the
11811 propaganda in full swing.
11812
11813 =The European War Disturbs American Commerce.=--This battle of wits, or
11814 rather contest in calumny, might have gone on indefinitely in America
11815 without producing any serious results, had it not been for the war
11816 between England and France, then raging. The English, having command of
11817 the seas, claimed the right to seize American produce bound for French
11818 ports and to confiscate American ships engaged in carrying French goods.
11819 Adding fuel to a fire already hot enough, they began to search American
11820 ships and to carry off British-born sailors found on board American
11821 vessels.
11822
11823 =The French Appeal for Help.=--At the same time the French Republic
11824 turned to the United States for aid in its war on England and sent over
11825 as its diplomatic representative "Citizen" Genet, an ardent supporter of
11826 the new order. On his arrival at Charleston, he was greeted with fervor
11827 by the Anti-Federalists. As he made his way North, he was wined and
11828 dined and given popular ovations that turned his head. He thought the
11829 whole country was ready to join the French Republic in its contest with
11830 England. Genet therefore attempted to use the American ports as the base
11831 of operations for French privateers preying on British merchant ships;
11832 and he insisted that the United States was in honor bound to help France
11833 under the treaty of 1778.
11834
11835 =The Proclamation of Neutrality and the Jay Treaty.=--Unmoved by the
11836
11837 rising tide of popular sympathy for France, Washington took a firm
11838 course. He received Genet coldly. The demand that the United States aid
11839 France under the old treaty of alliance he answered by proclaiming the
11840 neutrality of America and warning American citizens against hostile acts
11841 toward either France or England. When Genet continued to hold meetings,
11842 issue manifestoes, and stir up the people against England, Washington
11843 asked the French government to recall him. This act he followed up by
11844 sending the Chief Justice, John Jay, on a pacific mission to England.
11845
11846 The result was the celebrated Jay treaty of 1794. By its terms Great
11847 Britain agreed to withdraw her troops from the western forts where they
11848 had been since the war for independence and to grant certain slight
11849 trade concessions. The chief sources of bitterness--the failure of the
11850 British to return slaves carried off during the Revolution, the seizure
11851 of American ships, and the impressment of sailors--were not touched,
11852 much to the distress of everybody in America, including loyal
11853 Federalists. Nevertheless, Washington, dreading an armed conflict with
11854 England, urged the Senate to ratify the treaty. The weight of his
11855 influence carried the day.
11856
11857 At this, the hostility of the Anti-Federalists knew no bounds. Jefferson
11858 declared the Jay treaty "an infamous act which is really nothing more
11859 than an alliance between England and the Anglo-men of this country,
11860 against the legislature and the people of the United States." Hamilton,
11861 defending it with his usual courage, was stoned by a mob in New York and
11862 driven from the platform with blood streaming from his face. Jay was
11863 burned in effigy. Even Washington was not spared. The House of
11864 Representatives was openly hostile. To display its feelings, it called
11865 upon the President for the papers relative to the treaty negotiations,
11866 only to be more highly incensed by his flat refusal to present them, on
11867 the ground that the House did not share in the treaty-making power.
11868
11869 =Washington Retires from Politics.=--Such angry contests confirmed the
11870 President in his slowly maturing determination to retire at the end of
11871 his second term in office. He did not believe that a third term was
11872 unconstitutional or improper; but, worn out by his long and arduous
11873 labors in war and in peace and wounded by harsh attacks from former
11874 friends, he longed for the quiet of his beautiful estate at Mount
11875 Vernon.
11876
11877 In September, 1796, on the eve of the presidential election, Washington
11878 issued his Farewell Address, another state paper to be treasured and
11879 read by generations of Americans to come. In this address he directed
11880 the attention of the people to three subjects of lasting interest. He
11881 warned them against sectional jealousies. He remonstrated against the
11882 spirit of partisanship, saying that in government "of the popular
11883 character, in government purely elective, it is a spirit not to be
11884 encouraged." He likewise cautioned the people against "the insidious
11885 wiles of foreign influence," saying: "Europe has a set of primary
11886 interests which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence she
11887 must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are
11888 essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it would be
11889 unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary
11890 vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions
11891 of her friendships or enmities.... Why forego the advantages of so
11892 peculiar a situation?... It is our true policy to steer clear of
11893 permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.... Taking
11894 care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a
11895 respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary
11896 alliances for extraordinary emergencies."
11897
11898 =The Campaign of 1796--Adams Elected.=--On hearing of the retirement of
11899 Washington, the Anti-Federalists cast off all restraints. In honor of
11900 France and in opposition to what they were pleased to call the
11901 monarchical tendencies of the Federalists, they boldly assumed the name
11902 "Republican"; the term "Democrat," then applied only to obscure and
11903 despised radicals, had not come into general use. They selected
11904 Jefferson as their candidate for President against John Adams, the
11905 Federalist nominee, and carried on such a spirited campaign that they
11906 came within four votes of electing him.
11907
11908 The successful candidate, Adams, was not fitted by training or opinion
11909 for conciliating a determined opposition. He was a reserved and studious
11910 man. He was neither a good speaker nor a skillful negotiator. In one of
11911 his books he had declared himself in favor of "government by an
11912 aristocracy of talents and wealth"--an offense which the Republicans
11913 never forgave. While John Marshall found him "a sensible, plain, candid,
11914 good-tempered man," Jefferson could see in him nothing but a "monocrat"
11915 and "Anglo-man." Had it not been for the conduct of the French
11916 government, Adams would hardly have enjoyed a moment's genuine
11917 popularity during his administration.
11918
11919 =The Quarrel with France.=--The French Directory, the executive
11920 department established under the constitution of 1795, managed, however,
11921 to stir the anger of Republicans and Federalists alike. It regarded the
11922 Jay treaty as a rebuke to France and a flagrant violation of obligations
11923 solemnly registered in the treaty of 1778. Accordingly it refused to
11924 receive the American minister, treated him in a humiliating way, and
11925 finally told him to leave the country. Overlooking this affront in his
11926 anxiety to maintain peace, Adams dispatched to France a commission of
11927 eminent men with instructions to reach an understanding with the French
11928 Republic. On their arrival, they were chagrined to find, instead of a
11929 decent reception, an indirect demand for an apology respecting the past
11930 conduct of the American government, a payment in cash, and an annual
11931 tribute as the price of continued friendship. When the news of this
11932 affair reached President Adams, he promptly laid it before Congress,
11933 referring to the Frenchmen who had made the demands as "Mr. X, Mr. Y,
11934 and Mr. Z."
11935
11936 This insult, coupled with the fact that French privateers, like the
11937 British, were preying upon American commerce, enraged even the
11938 Republicans who had been loudest in the profession of their French
11939 sympathies. They forgot their wrath over the Jay treaty and joined with
11940 the Federalists in shouting: "Millions for defense, not a cent for
11941 tribute!" Preparations for war were made on every hand. Washington was
11942 once more called from Mount Vernon to take his old position at the head
11943 of the army. Indeed, fighting actually began upon the high seas and went
11944 on without a formal declaration of war until the year 1800. By that time
11945 the Directory had been overthrown. A treaty was readily made with
11946 Napoleon, the First Consul, who was beginning his remarkable career as
11947 chief of the French Republic, soon to be turned into an empire.
11948
11949 =Alien and Sedition Laws.=--Flushed with success, the Federalists
11950 determined, if possible, to put an end to radical French influence in
11951 America and to silence Republican opposition. They therefore passed two
11952 drastic laws in the summer of 1798: the Alien and Sedition Acts.
11953
11954 The first of these measures empowered the President to expel from the
11955 country or to imprison any alien whom he regarded as "dangerous" or "had
11956 reasonable grounds to suspect" of "any treasonable or secret
11957 machinations against the government."
11958
11959 The second of the measures, the Sedition Act, penalized not only those
11960 who attempted to stir up unlawful combinations against the government
11961 but also every one who wrote, uttered, or published "any false,
11962 scandalous, and malicious writing ... against the government of the
11963 United States or either House of Congress, or the President of the
11964 United States, with intent to defame said government ... or to bring
11965 them or either of them into contempt or disrepute." This measure was
11966 hurried through Congress in spite of the opposition and the clear
11967 provision in the Constitution that Congress shall make no law abridging
11968 the freedom of speech or of the press. Even many Federalists feared the
11969 consequences of the action. Hamilton was alarmed when he read the bill,
11970 exclaiming: "Let us not establish a tyranny. Energy is a very different
11971 thing from violence." John Marshall told his friends in Virginia that,
11972 had he been in Congress, he would have opposed the two bills because he
11973 thought them "useless" and "calculated to create unnecessary discontents
11974 and jealousies."
11975
11976 The Alien law was not enforced; but it gave great offense to the Irish
11977 and French whose activities against the American government's policy
11978 respecting Great Britain put them in danger of prison. The Sedition law,
11979 on the other hand, was vigorously applied. Several editors of Republican
11980 newspapers soon found themselves in jail or broken by ruinous fines for
11981 their caustic criticisms of the Federalist President and his policies.
11982 Bystanders at political meetings, who uttered sentiments which, though
11983 ungenerous and severe, seem harmless enough now, were hurried before
11984 Federalist judges and promptly fined and imprisoned. Although the
11985 prosecutions were not numerous, they aroused a keen resentment. The
11986 Republicans were convinced that their political opponents, having
11987 saddled upon the country Hamilton's fiscal system and the British
11988 treaty, were bent on silencing all censure. The measures therefore had
11989 exactly the opposite effect from that which their authors intended.
11990 Instead of helping the Federalist party, they made criticism of it more
11991 bitter than ever.
11992
11993 =The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.=--Jefferson was quick to take
11994 advantage of the discontent. He drafted a set of resolutions declaring
11995 the Sedition law null and void, as violating the federal Constitution.
11996 His resolutions were passed by the Kentucky legislature late in 1798,
11997 signed by the governor, and transmitted to the other states for their
11998 consideration. Though receiving unfavorable replies from a number of
11999 Northern states, Kentucky the following year reaffirmed its position and
12000 declared that the nullification of all unconstitutional acts of Congress
12001 was the rightful remedy to be used by the states in the redress of
12002 grievances. It thus defied the federal government and announced a
12003 doctrine hostile to nationality and fraught with terrible meaning for
12004 the future. In the neighboring state of Virginia, Madison led a movement
12005 against the Alien and Sedition laws. He induced the legislature to pass
12006 resolutions condemning the acts as unconstitutional and calling upon the
12007 other states to take proper means to preserve their rights and the
12008 rights of the people.
12009
12010 =The Republican Triumph in 1800.=--Thus the way was prepared for the
12011 election of 1800. The Republicans left no stone unturned in their
12012 efforts to place on the Federalist candidate, President Adams, all the
12013 odium of the Alien and Sedition laws, in addition to responsibility for
12014 approving Hamilton's measures and policies. The Federalists, divided in
12015 councils and cold in their affection for Adams, made a poor campaign.
12016 They tried to discredit their opponents with epithets of "Jacobins" and
12017 "Anarchists"--terms which had been weakened by excessive use. When the
12018 vote was counted, it was found that Adams had been defeated; while the
12019 Republicans had carried the entire South and New York also and secured
12020 eight of the fifteen electoral votes cast by Pennsylvania. "Our beloved
12021 Adams will now close his bright career," lamented a Federalist
12022 newspaper. "Sons of faction, demagogues and high priests of anarchy, now
12023 you have cause to triumph!"
12024
12025 [Illustration: _An old cartoon_
12026
12027 A QUARREL BETWEEN A FEDERALIST AND A REPUBLICAN IN THE HOUSE OF
12028 REPRESENTATIVES]
12029
12030 Jefferson's election, however, was still uncertain. By a curious
12031 provision in the Constitution, presidential electors were required to
12032 vote for two persons without indicating which office each was to fill,
12033 the one receiving the highest number of votes to be President and the
12034 candidate standing next to be Vice President. It so happened that Aaron
12035 Burr, the Republican candidate for Vice President, had received the same
12036 number of votes as Jefferson; as neither had a majority the election was
12037 thrown into the House of Representatives, where the Federalists held the
12038 balance of power. Although it was well known that Burr was not even a
12039 candidate for President, his friends and many Federalists began
12040 intriguing for his election to that high office. Had it not been for the
12041 vigorous action of Hamilton the prize might have been snatched out of
12042 Jefferson's hands. Not until the thirty-sixth ballot on February 17,
12043 1801, was the great issue decided in his favor.[2]
12044
12045
12046 =References=
12047
12048 J.S. Bassett, _The Federalist System_ (American Nation Series).
12049
12050 C.A. Beard, _Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy_.
12051
12052 H. Lodge, _Alexander Hamilton_.
12053
12054 J.T. Morse, _Thomas Jefferson_.
12055
12056
12057 =Questions=
12058
12059 1. Who were the leaders in the first administration under the
12060 Constitution?
12061
12062 2. What step was taken to appease the opposition?
12063
12064 3. Enumerate Hamilton's great measures and explain each in detail.
12065
12066 4. Show the connection between the parts of Hamilton's system.
12067
12068 5. Contrast the general political views of Hamilton and Jefferson.
12069
12070 6. What were the important results of the "peaceful" French Revolution
12071 (1789-92)?
12072
12073 7. Explain the interaction of opinion between France and the United
12074 States.
12075
12076 8. How did the "Reign of Terror" change American opinion?
12077
12078 9. What was the Burke-Paine controversy?
12079
12080 10. Show how the war in Europe affected American commerce and involved
12081 America with England and France.
12082
12083 11. What were American policies with regard to each of those countries?
12084
12085 12. What was the outcome of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
12086
12087
12088 =Research Topics=
12089
12090 =Early Federal Legislation.=--Coman, _Industrial History of the United
12091 States_, pp. 133-156; Elson, _History of the United States_, pp.
12092 341-348.
12093
12094 =Hamilton's Report on Public Credit.=--Macdonald, _Documentary Source
12095 Book_, pp. 233-243.
12096
12097 =The French Revolution.=--Robinson and Beard, _Development of Modern
12098 Europe_, Vol. I, pp. 224-282; Elson, pp. 351-354.
12099
12100 =The Burke-Paine Controversy.=--Make an analysis of Burke's _Reflections
12101 on the French Revolution_ and Paine's _Rights of Man_.
12102
12103 =The Alien and Sedition Acts.=--Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_,
12104 pp. 259-267; Elson, pp. 367-375.
12105
12106 =Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.=--Macdonald, pp. 267-278.
12107
12108 =Source Studies.=--Materials in Hart, _American History Told by
12109 Contemporaries_, Vol. III, pp. 255-343.
12110
12111 =Biographical Studies.=--Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas
12112 Jefferson, and Albert Gallatin.
12113
12114 =The Twelfth Amendment.=--Contrast the provision in the original
12115 Constitution with the terms of the Amendment. _See_ Appendix.
12116
12117 FOOTNOTES:
12118
12119 [1] North Carolina ratified in November, 1789, and Rhode Island in May,
12120 1790.
12121
12122 [2] To prevent a repetition of such an unfortunate affair, the twelfth
12123 amendment of the Constitution was adopted in 1804, changing slightly the
12124 method of electing the President.
12125
12126
12127
12128
12129 CHAPTER IX
12130
12131 THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS IN POWER
12132
12133
12134 REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES
12135
12136 =Opposition to Strong Central Government.=--Cherishing especially the
12137 agricultural interest, as Jefferson said, the Republicans were in the
12138 beginning provincial in their concern and outlook. Their attachment to
12139 America was, certainly, as strong as that of Hamilton; but they regarded
12140 the state, rather than the national government, as the proper center of
12141 power and affection. Indeed, a large part of the rank and file had been
12142 among the opponents of the Constitution in the days of its adoption.
12143 Jefferson had entertained doubts about it and Monroe, destined to be the
12144 fifth President, had been one of the bitter foes of ratification. The
12145 former went so far in the direction of local autonomy that he exalted
12146 the state above the nation in the Kentucky resolutions of 1798,
12147 declaring the Constitution to be a mere compact and the states competent
12148 to interpret and nullify federal law. This was provincialism with a
12149 vengeance. "It is jealousy, not confidence, which prescribes limited
12150 constitutions," wrote Jefferson for the Kentucky legislature. Jealousy
12151 of the national government, not confidence in it--this is the ideal that
12152 reflected the provincial and agricultural interest.
12153
12154 =Republican Simplicity.=--Every act of the Jeffersonian party during its
12155 early days of power was in accord with the ideals of government which it
12156 professed. It had opposed all pomp and ceremony, calculated to give
12157 weight and dignity to the chief executive of the nation, as symbols of
12158 monarchy and high prerogative. Appropriately, therefore, Jefferson's
12159 inauguration on March 4, 1801, the first at the new capital at
12160 Washington, was marked by extreme simplicity. In keeping with this
12161 procedure he quit the practice, followed by Washington and Adams, of
12162 reading presidential addresses to Congress in joint assembly and adopted
12163 in its stead the plan of sending his messages in writing--a custom that
12164 was continued unbroken until 1913 when President Wilson returned to the
12165 example set by the first chief magistrate.
12166
12167 =Republican Measures.=--The Republicans had complained of a great
12168 national debt as the source of a dangerous "money power," giving
12169 strength to the federal government; accordingly they began to pay it off
12170 as rapidly as possible. They had held commerce in low esteem and looked
12171 upon a large navy as a mere device to protect it; consequently they
12172 reduced the number of warships. They had objected to excise taxes,
12173 particularly on whisky; these they quickly abolished, to the intense
12174 satisfaction of the farmers. They had protested against the heavy cost
12175 of the federal government; they reduced expenses by discharging hundreds
12176 of men from the army and abolishing many offices.
12177
12178 They had savagely criticized the Sedition law and Jefferson refused to
12179 enforce it. They had been deeply offended by the assault on freedom of
12180 speech and press and they promptly impeached Samuel Chase, a justice of
12181 the Supreme Court, who had been especially severe in his attacks upon
12182 offenders under the Sedition Act. Their failure to convict Justice Chase
12183 by a narrow margin was due to no lack of zeal on their part but to the
12184 Federalist strength in the Senate where the trial was held. They had
12185 regarded the appointment of a large number of federal judges during the
12186 last hours of Adams' administration as an attempt to intrench
12187 Federalists in the judiciary and to enlarge the sphere of the national
12188 government. Accordingly, they at once repealed the act creating the new
12189 judgeships, thus depriving the "midnight appointees" of their posts.
12190 They had considered the federal offices, civil and military, as sources
12191 of great strength to the Federalists and Jefferson, though committed to
12192 the principle that offices should be open to all and distributed
12193 according to merit, was careful to fill most of the vacancies as they
12194 occurred with trusted Republicans. To his credit, however, it must be
12195 said that he did not make wholesale removals to find room for party
12196 workers.
12197
12198 The Republicans thus hewed to the line of their general policy of
12199 restricting the weight, dignity, and activity of the national
12200 government. Yet there were no Republicans, as the Federalists asserted,
12201 prepared to urge serious modifications in the Constitution. "If there be
12202 any among us who wish to dissolve this union or to change its republican
12203 form," wrote Jefferson in his first inaugural, "let them stand
12204 undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may
12205 be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." After reciting the
12206 fortunate circumstances of climate, soil, and isolation which made the
12207 future of America so full of promise, Jefferson concluded: "A wise and
12208 frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another,
12209 shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of
12210 industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labour the
12211 bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is
12212 necessary to close the circle of our felicities."
12213
12214 In all this the Republicans had not reckoned with destiny. In a few
12215 short years that lay ahead it was their fate to double the territory of
12216 the country, making inevitable a continental nation; to give the
12217 Constitution a generous interpretation that shocked many a Federalist;
12218 to wage war on behalf of American commerce; to reestablish the hated
12219 United States Bank; to enact a high protective tariff; to see their
12220 Federalist opponents in their turn discredited as nullifiers and
12221 provincials; to announce high national doctrines in foreign affairs; and
12222 to behold the Constitution exalted and defended against the pretensions
12223 of states by a son of old Virginia, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the
12224 Supreme Court of the United States.
12225
12226
12227 THE REPUBLICANS AND THE GREAT WEST
12228
12229 =Expansion and Land Hunger.=--The first of the great measures which
12230 drove the Republicans out upon this new national course--the purchase
12231 of the Louisiana territory--was the product of circumstances rather than
12232 of their deliberate choosing. It was not the lack of land for his
12233 cherished farmers that led Jefferson to add such an immense domain to
12234 the original possessions of the United States. In the Northwest
12235 territory, now embracing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin,
12236 and a portion of Minnesota, settlements were mainly confined to the
12237 north bank of the Ohio River. To the south, in Kentucky and Tennessee,
12238 where there were more than one hundred thousand white people who had
12239 pushed over the mountains from Virginia and the Carolinas, there were
12240 still wide reaches of untilled soil. The Alabama and Mississippi regions
12241 were vast Indian frontiers of the state of Georgia, unsettled and almost
12242 unexplored. Even to the wildest imagination there seemed to be territory
12243 enough to satisfy the land hunger of the American people for a century
12244 to come.
12245
12246 =The Significance of the Mississippi River.=--At all events the East,
12247 then the center of power, saw no good reason for expansion. The planters
12248 of the Carolinas, the manufacturers of Pennsylvania, the importers of
12249 New York, the shipbuilders of New England, looking to the seaboard and
12250 to Europe for trade, refinements, and sometimes their ideas of
12251 government, were slow to appreciate the place of the West in national
12252 economy. The better educated the Easterners were, the less, it seems,
12253 they comprehended the destiny of the nation. Sons of Federalist fathers
12254 at Williams College, after a long debate decided by a vote of fifteen to
12255 one that the purchase of Louisiana was undesirable.
12256
12257 On the other hand, the pioneers of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee,
12258 unlearned in books, saw with their own eyes the resources of the
12259 wilderness. Many of them had been across the Mississippi and had beheld
12260 the rich lands awaiting the plow of the white man. Down the great river
12261 they floated their wheat, corn, and bacon to ocean-going ships bound for
12262 the ports of the seaboard or for Europe. The land journeys over the
12263 mountain barriers with bulky farm produce, they knew from experience,
12264 were almost impossible, and costly at best. Nails, bolts of cloth, tea,
12265 and coffee could go or come that way, but not corn and bacon. A free
12266 outlet to the sea by the Mississippi was as essential to the pioneers of
12267 the Kentucky region as the harbor of Boston to the merchant princes of
12268 that metropolis.
12269
12270 =Louisiana under Spanish Rule.=--For this reason they watched with deep
12271 solicitude the fortunes of the Spanish king to whom, at the close of the
12272 Seven Years' War, had fallen the Louisiana territory stretching from New
12273 Orleans to the Rocky Mountains. While he controlled the mouth of the
12274 Mississippi there was little to fear, for he had neither the army nor
12275 the navy necessary to resist any invasion of American trade. Moreover,
12276 Washington had been able, by the exercise of great tact, to secure from
12277 Spain in 1795 a trading privilege through New Orleans which satisfied
12278 the present requirements of the frontiersmen even if it did not allay
12279 their fears for the future. So things stood when a swift succession of
12280 events altered the whole situation.
12281
12282 =Louisiana Transferred to France.=--In July, 1802, a royal order from
12283 Spain instructed the officials at New Orleans to close the port to
12284 American produce. About the same time a disturbing rumor, long current,
12285 was confirmed--Napoleon had coerced Spain into returning Louisiana to
12286 France by a secret treaty signed in 1800. "The scalers of the Alps and
12287 conquerors of Venice" now looked across the sea for new scenes of
12288 adventure. The West was ablaze with excitement. A call for war ran
12289 through the frontier; expeditions were organized to prevent the landing
12290 of the French; and petitions for instant action flooded in upon
12291 Jefferson.
12292
12293 =Jefferson Sees the Danger.=--Jefferson, the friend of France and sworn
12294 enemy of England, compelled to choose in the interest of America, never
12295 winced. "The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France,"
12296 he wrote to Livingston, the American minister in Paris, "works sorely on
12297 the United States. It completely reverses all the political relations of
12298 the United States and will form a new epoch in our political course....
12299 There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our
12300 natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans through which the produce
12301 of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market.... France,
12302 placing herself in that door, assumes to us an attitude of defiance.
12303 Spain might have retained it quietly for years. Her pacific
12304 dispositions, her feeble state would induce her to increase our
12305 facilities there.... Not so can it ever be in the hands of France....
12306 The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence
12307 which is to restrain her forever within her low water mark.... It seals
12308 the union of the two nations who in conjunction can maintain exclusive
12309 possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the
12310 British fleet and nation.... This is not a state of things we seek or
12311 desire. It is one which this measure, if adopted by France, forces on us
12312 as necessarily as any other cause by the laws of nature brings on its
12313 necessary effect."
12314
12315 =Louisiana Purchased.=--Acting on this belief, but apparently seeing
12316 only the Mississippi outlet at stake, Jefferson sent his friend, James
12317 Monroe, to France with the power to buy New Orleans and West Florida.
12318 Before Monroe arrived, the regular minister, Livingston, had already
12319 convinced Napoleon that it would be well to sell territory which might
12320 be wrested from him at any moment by the British sea power, especially
12321 as the war, temporarily stopped by the peace of Amiens, was once more
12322 raging in Europe. Wise as he was in his day, Livingston had at first no
12323 thought of buying the whole Louisiana country. He was simply dazed when
12324 Napoleon offered to sell the entire domain and get rid of the business
12325 altogether. Though staggered by the proposal, he and Monroe decided to
12326 accept. On April 30, they signed the treaty of cession, agreeing to pay
12327 $11,250,000 in six per cent bonds and to discharge certain debts due
12328 French citizens, making in all approximately fifteen millions. Spain
12329 protested, Napoleon's brother fumed, French newspapers objected; but the
12330 deed was done.
12331
12332 =Jefferson and His Constitutional Scruples.=--When the news of this
12333 extraordinary event reached the United States, the people were filled
12334 with astonishment, and no one was more surprised than Jefferson himself.
12335 He had thought of buying New Orleans and West Florida for a small sum,
12336 and now a vast domain had been dumped into the lap of the nation. He was
12337 puzzled. On looking into the Constitution he found not a line
12338 authorizing the purchase of more territory and so he drafted an
12339 amendment declaring "Louisiana, as ceded by France,--a part of the
12340 United States." He had belabored the Federalists for piling up a big
12341 national debt and he could hardly endure the thought of issuing more
12342 bonds himself.
12343
12344 In the midst of his doubts came the news that Napoleon might withdraw
12345 from the bargain. Thoroughly alarmed by that, Jefferson pressed the
12346 Senate for a ratification of the treaty. He still clung to his original
12347 idea that the Constitution did not warrant the purchase; but he lamely
12348 concluded: "If our friends shall think differently, I shall certainly
12349 acquiesce with satisfaction; confident that the good sense of our
12350 country will correct the evil of construction when it shall produce ill
12351 effects." Thus the stanch advocate of "strict interpretation" cut loose
12352 from his own doctrine and intrusted the construction of the Constitution
12353 to "the good sense" of his countrymen.
12354
12355 =The Treaty Ratified.=--This unusual transaction, so favorable to the
12356 West, aroused the ire of the seaboard Federalists. Some denounced it as
12357 unconstitutional, easily forgetting Hamilton's masterly defense of the
12358 bank, also not mentioned in the Constitution. Others urged that, if "the
12359 howling wilderness" ever should be settled, it would turn against the
12360 East, form new commercial connections, and escape from federal control.
12361 Still others protested that the purchase would lead inevitably to the
12362 dominance of a "hotch potch of wild men from the Far West." Federalists,
12363 who thought "the broad back of America" could readily bear Hamilton's
12364 consolidated debt, now went into agonies over a bond issue of less than
12365 one-sixth of that amount. But in vain. Jefferson's party with a high
12366 hand carried the day. The Senate, after hearing the Federalist protest,
12367 ratified the treaty. In December, 1803, the French flag was hauled down
12368 from the old government buildings in New Orleans and the Stars and
12369 Stripes were hoisted as a sign that the land of Coronado, De Soto,
12370 Marquette, and La Salle had passed forever to the United States.
12371
12372 [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1805]
12373
12374 By a single stroke, the original territory of the United States was more
12375 than doubled. While the boundaries of the purchase were uncertain, it is
12376 safe to say that the Louisiana territory included what is now Arkansas,
12377 Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and large
12378 portions of Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, Montana, and
12379 Wyoming. The farm lands that the friends of "a little America" on the
12380 seacoast declared a hopeless wilderness were, within a hundred years,
12381 fully occupied and valued at nearly seven billion dollars--almost five
12382 hundred times the price paid to Napoleon.
12383
12384 =Western Explorations.=--Having taken the fateful step, Jefferson wisely
12385 began to make the most of it. He prepared for the opening of the new
12386 country by sending the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore it,
12387 discover its resources, and lay out an overland route through the
12388 Missouri Valley and across the Great Divide to the Pacific. The story of
12389 this mighty exploit, which began in the spring of 1804 and ended in the
12390 autumn of 1806, was set down with skill and pains in the journal of
12391 Lewis and Clark; when published even in a short form, it invited the
12392 forward-looking men of the East to take thought about the western
12393 empire. At the same time Zebulon Pike, in a series of journeys, explored
12394 the sources of the Mississippi River and penetrated the Spanish
12395 territories of the far Southwest. Thus scouts and pioneers continued the
12396 work of diplomats.
12397
12398
12399 THE REPUBLICAN WAR FOR COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE
12400
12401 =The English and French Blockades.=--In addition to bringing Louisiana
12402 to the United States, the reopening of the European War in 1803, after a
12403 short lull, renewed in an acute form the commercial difficulties that
12404 had plagued the country all during the administrations of Washington and
12405 Adams. The Republicans were now plunged into the hornets' nest. The
12406 party whose ardent spirits had burned Jay in effigy, stoned Hamilton for
12407 defending his treaty, jeered Washington's proclamation of neutrality,
12408 and spoken bitterly of "timid traders," could no longer take refuge in
12409 criticism. It had to act.
12410
12411 Its troubles took a serious turn in 1806. England, in a determined
12412 effort to bring France to her knees by starvation, declared the coast of
12413 Europe blockaded from Brest to the mouth of the Elbe River. Napoleon
12414 retaliated by his Berlin Decree of November, 1806, blockading the
12415 British Isles--a measure terrifying to American ship owners whose
12416 vessels were liable to seizure by any French rover, though Napoleon had
12417 no navy to make good his proclamation. Great Britain countered with a
12418 still more irritating decree--the Orders in Council of 1807. It modified
12419 its blockade, but in so doing merely authorized American ships not
12420 carrying munitions of war to complete their voyage to the Continent, on
12421 condition of their stopping at a British port, securing a license, and
12422 paying a tax. This, responded Napoleon, was the height of insolence, and
12423 he denounced it as a gross violation of international law. He then
12424 closed the circle of American troubles by issuing his Milan Decree of
12425 December, 1807. This order declared that any ship which complied with
12426 the British rules would be subject to seizure and confiscation by French
12427 authorities.
12428
12429 =The Impressment of Seamen.=--That was not all. Great Britain, in dire
12430 need of men for her navy, adopted the practice of stopping American
12431 ships, searching them, and carrying away British-born sailors found on
12432 board. British sailors were so badly treated, so cruelly flogged for
12433 trivial causes, and so meanly fed that they fled in crowds to the
12434 American marine. In many cases it was difficult to tell whether seamen
12435 were English or American. They spoke the same language, so that language
12436 was no test. Rovers on the deep and stragglers in the ports of both
12437 countries, they frequently had no papers to show their nativity.
12438 Moreover, Great Britain held to the old rule--"Once an Englishman,
12439 always an Englishman"--a doctrine rejected by the United States in
12440 favor of the principle that a man could choose the nation to which he
12441 would give allegiance. British sea captains, sometimes by mistake, and
12442 often enough with reckless indifference, carried away into servitude in
12443 their own navy genuine American citizens. The process itself, even when
12444 executed with all the civilities of law, was painful enough, for it
12445 meant that American ships were forced to "come to," and compelled to
12446 rest submissively under British guns until the searching party had pried
12447 into records, questioned seamen, seized and handcuffed victims. Saints
12448 could not have done this work without raising angry passions, and only
12449 saints could have endured it with patience and fortitude.
12450
12451 Had the enactment of the scenes been confined to the high seas and
12452 knowledge of them to rumors and newspaper stories, American resentment
12453 might not have been so intense; but many a search and seizure was made
12454 in sight of land. British and French vessels patrolled the coasts,
12455 firing on one another and chasing one another in American waters within
12456 the three-mile limit. When, in the summer of 1807, the American frigate
12457 _Chesapeake_ refused to surrender men alleged to be deserters from King
12458 George's navy, the British warship _Leopard_ opened fire, killing three
12459 men and wounding eighteen more--an act which even the British ministry
12460 could hardly excuse. If the French were less frequently the offenders,
12461 it was not because of their tenderness about American rights but because
12462 so few of their ships escaped the hawk-eyed British navy to operate in
12463 American waters.
12464
12465 =The Losses in American Commerce.=--This high-handed conduct on the part
12466 of European belligerents was very injurious to American trade. By their
12467 enterprise, American shippers had become the foremost carriers on the
12468 Atlantic Ocean. In a decade they had doubled the tonnage of American
12469 merchant ships under the American flag, taking the place of the French
12470 marine when Britain swept that from the seas, and supplying Britain with
12471 the sinews of war for the contest with the Napoleonic empire. The
12472 American shipping engaged in foreign trade embraced 363,110 tons in
12473 1791; 669,921 tons in 1800; and almost 1,000,000 tons in 1810. Such was
12474 the enterprise attacked by the British and French decrees. American
12475 ships bound for Great Britain were liable to be captured by French
12476 privateers which, in spite of the disasters of the Nile and Trafalgar,
12477 ranged the seas. American ships destined for the Continent, if they
12478 failed to stop at British ports and pay tribute, were in great danger of
12479 capture by the sleepless British navy and its swarm of auxiliaries.
12480 American sea captains who, in fear of British vengeance, heeded the
12481 Orders in Council and paid the tax were almost certain to fall a prey to
12482 French vengeance, for the French were vigorous in executing the Milan
12483 Decree.
12484
12485 =Jefferson's Policy.=--The President's dilemma was distressing. Both the
12486 belligerents in Europe were guilty of depredations on American commerce.
12487 War on both of them was out of the question. War on France was
12488 impossible because she had no territory on this side of the water which
12489 could be reached by American troops and her naval forces had been
12490 shattered at the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar. War on Great
12491 Britain, a power which Jefferson's followers feared and distrusted, was
12492 possible but not inviting. Jefferson shrank from it. A man of peace, he
12493 disliked war's brazen clamor; a man of kindly spirit, he was startled at
12494 the death and destruction which it brought in its train. So for the
12495 eight years Jefferson steered an even course, suggesting measure after
12496 measure with a view to avoiding bloodshed. He sent, it is true,
12497 Commodore Preble in 1803 to punish Mediterranean pirates preying upon
12498 American commerce; but a great war he evaded with passionate
12499 earnestness, trying in its place every other expedient to protect
12500 American rights.
12501
12502 =The Embargo and Non-intercourse Acts.=--In 1806, Congress passed and
12503 Jefferson approved a non-importation act closing American ports to
12504 certain products from British dominions--a measure intended as a club
12505 over the British government's head. This law, failing in its purpose,
12506 Jefferson proposed and Congress adopted in December, 1807, the Embargo
12507 Act forbidding all vessels to leave American harbors for foreign ports.
12508 France and England were to be brought to terms by cutting off their
12509 supplies.
12510
12511 The result of the embargo was pathetic. England and France refused to
12512 give up search and seizure. American ship owners who, lured by huge
12513 profits, had formerly been willing to take the risk were now restrained
12514 by law to their home ports. Every section suffered. The South and West
12515 found their markets for cotton, rice, tobacco, corn, and bacon
12516 curtailed. Thus they learned by bitter experience the national
12517 significance of commerce. Ship masters, ship builders, longshoremen, and
12518 sailors were thrown out of employment while the prices of foreign goods
12519 doubled. Those who obeyed the law were ruined; violators of the law
12520 smuggled goods into Canada and Florida for shipment abroad.
12521
12522 Jefferson's friends accepted the medicine with a wry face as the only
12523 alternative to supine submission or open war. His opponents, without
12524 offering any solution of their own, denounced it as a contemptible plan
12525 that brought neither relief nor honor. Beset by the clamor that arose on
12526 all sides, Congress, in the closing days of Jefferson's administration,
12527 repealed the Embargo law and substituted a Non-intercourse act
12528 forbidding trade with England and France while permitting it with other
12529 countries--a measure equally futile in staying the depredations on
12530 American shipping.
12531
12532 =Jefferson Retires in Favor of Madison.=--Jefferson, exhausted by
12533 endless wrangling and wounded, as Washington had been, by savage
12534 criticism, welcomed March 4, 1809. His friends urged him to "stay by the
12535 ship" and accept a third term. He declined, saying that election for
12536 life might result from repeated reelection. In following Washington's
12537 course and defending it on principle, he set an example to all his
12538 successors, making the "third term doctrine" a part of American
12539 unwritten law.
12540
12541 His intimate friend, James Madison, to whom he turned over the burdens
12542 of his high office was, like himself, a man of peace. Madison had been a
12543 leader since the days of the Revolution, but in legislative halls and
12544 council chambers, not on the field of battle. Small in stature,
12545 sensitive in feelings, studious in habits, he was no man for the rough
12546 and tumble of practical politics. He had taken a prominent and
12547 distinguished part in the framing and the adoption of the Constitution.
12548 He had served in the first Congress as a friend of Hamilton's measures.
12549 Later he attached himself to Jefferson's fortunes and served for eight
12550 years as his first counselor, the Secretary of State. The principles of
12551 the Constitution, which he had helped to make and interpret, he was now
12552 as President called upon to apply in one of the most perplexing moments
12553 in all American history. In keeping with his own traditions and
12554 following in the footsteps of Jefferson, he vainly tried to solve the
12555 foreign problem by negotiation.
12556
12557 =The Trend of Events.=--Whatever difficulties Madison had in making up
12558 his mind on war and peace were settled by events beyond his own control.
12559 In the spring of 1811, a British frigate held up an American ship near
12560 the harbor of New York and impressed a seaman alleged to be an American
12561 citizen. Burning with resentment, the captain of the _President_, an
12562 American warship, acting under orders, poured several broadsides into
12563 the _Little Belt_, a British sloop, suspected of being the guilty party.
12564 The British also encouraged the Indian chief Tecumseh, who welded
12565 together the Indians of the Northwest under British protection and gave
12566 signs of restlessness presaging a revolt. This sent a note of alarm
12567 along the frontier that was not checked even when, in November,
12568 Tecumseh's men were badly beaten at Tippecanoe by William Henry
12569 Harrison. The Indians stood in the way of the advancing frontier, and it
12570 seemed to the pioneers that, without support from the British in Canada,
12571 the Red Men would soon be subdued.
12572
12573 =Clay and Calhoun.=--While events were moving swiftly and rumors were
12574 flying thick and fast, the mastery of the government passed from the
12575 uncertain hands of Madison to a party of ardent young men in Congress,
12576 dubbed "Young Republicans," under the leadership of two members destined
12577 to be mighty figures in American history: Henry Clay of Kentucky and
12578 John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. The former contended, in a flair of
12579 folly, that "the militia of Kentucky alone are competent to place
12580 Montreal and Upper Canada at your feet." The latter with a light heart
12581 spoke of conquering Canada in a four weeks' campaign. "It must not be
12582 inferred," says Channing, "that in advocating conquest, the Westerners
12583 were actuated merely by desire for land; they welcomed war because they
12584
12585 thought it would be the easiest way to abate Indian troubles. The
12586 savages were supported by the fur-trading interests that centred at
12587 Quebec and London.... The Southerners on their part wished for Florida
12588 and they thought that the conquest of Canada would obviate some Northern
12589 opposition to this acquisition of slave territory." While Clay and
12590 Calhoun, spokesmen of the West and South, were not unmindful of what
12591 Napoleon had done to American commerce, they knew that their followers
12592 still remembered with deep gratitude the aid of the French in the war
12593 for independence and that the embers of the old hatred for George III,
12594 still on the throne, could be readily blown into flame.
12595
12596 =Madison Accepts War as Inevitable.=--The conduct of the British
12597 ministers with whom Madison had to deal did little to encourage him in
12598 adhering to the policy of "watchful waiting." One of them, a high Tory,
12599 believed that all Americans were alike "except that a few are less
12600 knaves than others" and his methods were colored by his belief. On the
12601 recall of this minister the British government selected another no less
12602 high and mighty in his principles and opinions. So Madison became
12603 thoroughly discouraged about the outcome of pacific measures. When the
12604 pressure from Congress upon him became too heavy, he gave way, signing
12605 on June 18, 1812, the declaration of war on Great Britain. In
12606 proclaiming hostilities, the administration set forth the causes which
12607 justified the declaration; namely, the British had been encouraging the
12608 Indians to attack American citizens on the frontier; they had ruined
12609 American trade by blockades; they had insulted the American flag by
12610 stopping and searching our ships; they had illegally seized American
12611 sailors and driven them into the British navy.
12612
12613 =The Course of the War.=--The war lasted for nearly three years without
12614 bringing victory to either side. The surrender of Detroit by General
12615 Hull to the British and the failure of the American invasion of Canada
12616 were offset by Perry's victory on Lake Erie and a decisive blow
12617 administered to British designs for an invasion of New York by way of
12618 Plattsburgh. The triumph of Jackson at New Orleans helped to atone for
12619 the humiliation suffered in the burning of the Capitol by the British.
12620 The stirring deeds of the _Constitution_, the _United States_, and the
12621 _Argus_ on the seas, the heroic death of Lawrence and the victories of a
12622 hundred privateers furnished consolation for those who suffered from the
12623 iron blockade finally established by the British government when it came
12624 to appreciate the gravity of the situation. While men love the annals of
12625 the sea, they will turn to the running battles, the narrow escapes, and
12626 the reckless daring of American sailors in that naval contest with Great
12627 Britain.
12628
12629 All this was exciting but it was inconclusive. In fact, never was a
12630 government less prepared than was that of the United States in 1812. It
12631 had neither the disciplined troops, the ships of war, nor the supplies
12632 required by the magnitude of the military task. It was fortune that
12633 favored the American cause. Great Britain, harassed, worn, and
12634 financially embarrassed by nearly twenty years of fighting in Europe,
12635 was in no mood to gather her forces for a titanic effort in America even
12636 after Napoleon was overthrown and sent into exile at Elba in the spring
12637 of 1814. War clouds still hung on the European horizon and the conflict
12638 temporarily halted did again break out. To be rid of American anxieties
12639 and free for European eventualities, England was ready to settle with
12640 the United States, especially as that could be done without conceding
12641 anything or surrendering any claims.
12642
12643 =The Treaty of Peace.=--Both countries were in truth sick of a war that
12644 offered neither glory nor profit. Having indulged in the usual
12645 diplomatic skirmishing, they sent representatives to Ghent to discuss
12646 terms of peace. After long negotiations an agreement was reached on
12647 Christmas eve, 1814, a few days before Jackson's victory at New Orleans.
12648 When the treaty reached America the people were surprised to find that
12649 it said nothing about the seizure of American sailors, the destruction
12650 of American trade, the searching of American ships, or the support of
12651 Indians on the frontier. Nevertheless, we are told, the people "passed
12652 from gloom to glory" when the news of peace arrived. The bells were
12653 rung; schools were closed; flags were displayed; and many a rousing
12654 toast was drunk in tavern and private home. The rejoicing could
12655 continue. With Napoleon definitely beaten at Waterloo in June, 1815,
12656 Great Britain had no need to impress sailors, search ships, and
12657 confiscate American goods bound to the Continent. Once more the terrible
12658 sea power sank into the background and the ocean was again white with
12659 the sails of merchantmen.
12660
12661
12662 THE REPUBLICANS NATIONALIZED
12663
12664 =The Federalists Discredited.=--By a strange turn of fortune's wheel,
12665 the party of Hamilton, Washington, Adams, the party of the grand nation,
12666 became the party of provincialism and nullification. New England,
12667 finding its shipping interests crippled in the European conflict and
12668 then penalized by embargoes, opposed the declaration of war on Great
12669 Britain, which meant the completion of the ruin already begun. In the
12670 course of the struggle, the Federalist leaders came perilously near to
12671 treason in their efforts to hamper the government of the United States;
12672 and in their desperation they fell back upon the doctrine of
12673 nullification so recently condemned by them when it came from Kentucky.
12674 The Senate of Massachusetts, while the war was in progress, resolved
12675 that it was waged "without justifiable cause," and refused to approve
12676 military and naval projects not connected with "the defense of our
12677 seacoast and soil." A Boston newspaper declared that the union was
12678 nothing but a treaty among sovereign states, that states could decide
12679 for themselves the question of obeying federal law, and that armed
12680 resistance under the banner of a state would not be rebellion or
12681 treason. The general assembly of Connecticut reminded the administration
12682 at Washington that "the state of Connecticut is a free, sovereign, and
12683 independent state." Gouverneur Morris, a member of the convention which
12684 had drafted the Constitution, suggested the holding of another
12685 conference to consider whether the Northern states should remain in the
12686 union.
12687
12688 [Illustration: _From an old cartoon_
12689
12690 NEW ENGLAND JUMPING INTO THE HANDS OF GEORGE III]
12691
12692 In October, 1814, a convention of delegates from Connecticut,
12693 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and certain counties of New Hampshire and
12694 Vermont was held at Hartford, on the call of Massachusetts. The counsels
12695 of the extremists were rejected but the convention solemnly went on
12696 record to the effect that acts of Congress in violation of the
12697 Constitution are void; that in cases of deliberate, dangerous, and
12698 palpable infractions the state is duty bound to interpose its authority
12699 for the protection of its citizens; and that when emergencies occur the
12700 states must be their own judges and execute their own decisions. Thus
12701 New England answered the challenge of Calhoun and Clay. Fortunately its
12702 actions were not as rash as its words. The Hartford convention merely
12703 proposed certain amendments to the Constitution and adjourned. At the
12704 close of the war, its proposals vanished harmlessly; but the men who
12705 made them were hopelessly discredited.
12706
12707 =The Second United States Bank.=--In driving the Federalists towards
12708 nullification and waging a national war themselves, the Republicans lost
12709 all their old taint of provincialism. Moreover, in turning to measures
12710 of reconstruction called forth by the war, they resorted to the national
12711 devices of the Federalists. In 1816, they chartered for a period of
12712 twenty years a second United States Bank--the institution which
12713 Jefferson and Madison once had condemned as unsound and
12714 unconstitutional. The Constitution remained unchanged; times and
12715 circumstances had changed. Calhoun dismissed the vexed question of
12716 constitutionality with a scant reference to an ancient dispute, while
12717 Madison set aside his scruples and signed the bill.
12718
12719 =The Protective Tariff of 1816.=--The Republicans supplemented the Bank
12720 by another Federalist measure--a high protective tariff. Clay viewed it
12721 as the beginning of his "American system" of protection. Calhoun
12722 defended it on national principles. For this sudden reversal of policy
12723 the young Republicans were taunted by some of their older party
12724 colleagues with betraying the "agricultural interest" that Jefferson had
12725 fostered; but Calhoun refused to listen to their criticisms. "When the
12726 seas are open," he said, "the produce of the South may pour anywhere
12727 into the markets of the Old World.... What are the effects of a war with
12728 a maritime power--with England? Our commerce annihilated ... our
12729 agriculture cut off from its accustomed markets, the surplus of the
12730 farmer perishes on his hands.... The recent war fell with peculiar
12731 pressure on the growers of cotton and tobacco and the other great
12732 staples of the country; and the same state of things will recur in the
12733 event of another war unless prevented by the foresight of this body....
12734 When our manufactures are grown to a certain perfection, as they soon
12735 will be under the fostering care of the government, we shall no longer
12736 experience these evils." With the Republicans nationalized, the
12737 Federalist party, as an organization, disappeared after a crushing
12738 defeat in the presidential campaign of 1816.
12739
12740 =Monroe and the Florida Purchase.=--To the victor in that political
12741 contest, James Monroe of Virginia, fell two tasks of national
12742 importance, adding to the prestige of the whole country and deepening
12743 the sense of patriotism that weaned men away from mere allegiance to
12744 states. The first of these was the purchase of Florida from Spain. The
12745 acquisition of Louisiana let the Mississippi flow "unvexed to the sea";
12746 but it left all the states east of the river cut off from the Gulf,
12747 affording them ground for discontent akin to that which had moved the
12748 pioneers of Kentucky to action a generation earlier. The uncertainty as
12749 to the boundaries of Louisiana gave the United States a claim to West
12750 Florida, setting on foot a movement for occupation. The Florida swamps
12751 were a basis for Indian marauders who periodically swept into the
12752 frontier settlements, and hiding places for runaway slaves. Thus the
12753 sanction of international law was given to punitive expeditions into
12754 alien territory.
12755
12756 The pioneer leaders stood waiting for the signal. It came. President
12757 Monroe, on the occasion of an Indian outbreak, ordered General Jackson
12758 to seize the offenders, in the Floridas, if necessary. The high-spirited
12759 warrior, taking this as a hint that he was to occupy the coveted region,
12760 replied that, if possession was the object of the invasion, he could
12761 occupy the Floridas within sixty days. Without waiting for an answer to
12762 this letter, he launched his expedition, and in the spring of 1818 was
12763 master of the Spanish king's domain to the south.
12764
12765 There was nothing for the king to do but to make the best of the
12766 inevitable by ceding the Floridas to the United States in return for
12767 five million dollars to be paid to American citizens having claims
12768 against Spain. On Washington's birthday, 1819, the treaty was signed. It
12769 ceded the Floridas to the United States and defined the boundary between
12770 Mexico and the United States by drawing a line from the mouth of the
12771 Sabine River in a northwesterly direction to the Pacific. On this
12772 occasion even Monroe, former opponent of the Constitution, forgot to
12773 inquire whether new territory could be constitutionally acquired and
12774 incorporated into the American union. The Republicans seemed far away
12775 from the days of "strict construction." And Jefferson still lived!
12776
12777 =The Monroe Doctrine.=--Even more effective in fashioning the national
12778 idea was Monroe's enunciation of the famous doctrine that bears his
12779 name. The occasion was another European crisis. During the Napoleonic
12780 upheaval and the years of dissolution that ensued, the Spanish colonies
12781 in America, following the example set by their English neighbors in
12782 1776, declared their independence. Unable to conquer them alone, the
12783 king of Spain turned for help to the friendly powers of Europe that
12784 looked upon revolution and republics with undisguised horror.
12785
12786 _The Holy Alliance._--He found them prepared to view his case with
12787 sympathy. Three of them, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, under the
12788 leadership of the Czar, Alexander I, in the autumn of 1815, had entered
12789 into a Holy Alliance to sustain by reciprocal service the autocratic
12790 principle in government. Although the effusive, almost maudlin, language
12791 of the treaty did not express their purpose explicitly, the Alliance was
12792 later regarded as a mere union of monarchs to prevent the rise and
12793 growth of popular government.
12794
12795 The American people thought their worst fears confirmed when, in 1822, a
12796 conference of delegates from Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France met at
12797 Verona to consider, among other things, revolutions that had just broken
12798 out in Spain and Italy. The spirit of the conference is reflected in the
12799 first article of the agreement reached by the delegates: "The high
12800 contracting powers, being convinced that the system of representative
12801 government is equally incompatible with the monarchical principle and
12802 the maxim of the sovereignty of the people with the divine right,
12803 mutually engage in the most solemn manner to use all their efforts to
12804 put an end to the system of representative government in whatever
12805 country it may exist in Europe and to prevent its being introduced in
12806 those countries where it is not yet known." The Czar, who incidentally
12807 coveted the west coast of North America, proposed to send an army to aid
12808 the king of Spain in his troubles at home, thus preparing the way for
12809 intervention in Spanish America. It was material weakness not want of
12810 spirit, that prevented the grand union of monarchs from making open war
12811 on popular government.
12812
12813 _The Position of England._--Unfortunately, too, for the Holy Alliance,
12814 England refused to cooperate. English merchants had built up a large
12815 trade with the independent Latin-American colonies and they protested
12816 against the restoration of Spanish sovereignty, which meant a renewal of
12817 Spain's former trade monopoly. Moreover, divine right doctrines had been
12818 laid to rest in England and the representative principle thoroughly
12819 established. Already there were signs of the coming democratic flood
12820 which was soon to carry the first reform bill of 1832, extending the
12821 suffrage, and sweep on to even greater achievements. British statesmen,
12822 therefore, had to be cautious. In such circumstances, instead of
12823 cooperating with the autocrats of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, they
12824 turned to the minister of the United States in London. The British prime
12825 minister, Canning, proposed that the two countries join in declaring
12826 their unwillingness to see the Spanish colonies transferred to any other
12827 power.
12828
12829 _Jefferson's Advice._--The proposal was rejected; but President Monroe
12830 took up the suggestion with Madison and Jefferson as well as with his
12831 Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. They favored the plan. Jefferson
12832 said: "One nation, most of all, could disturb us in this pursuit [of
12833 freedom]; she now offers to lead, aid, and accompany us in it. By
12834 acceding to her proposition we detach her from the bands, bring her
12835 mighty weight into the scale of free government and emancipate a
12836 continent at one stroke.... With her on our side we need not fear the
12837 whole world. With her then we should most sedulously cherish a cordial
12838 friendship."
12839
12840 _Monroe's Statement of the Doctrine._--Acting on the advice of trusted
12841 friends, President Monroe embodied in his message to Congress, on
12842 December 2, 1823, a statement of principles now famous throughout the
12843 world as the Monroe Doctrine. To the autocrats of Europe he announced
12844 that he would regard "any attempt on their part to extend their system
12845 to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety."
12846 While he did not propose to interfere with existing colonies dependent
12847 on European powers, he ranged himself squarely on the side of those that
12848 had declared their independence. Any attempt by a European power to
12849 oppress them or control their destiny in any manner he characterized as
12850 "a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
12851 Referring in another part of his message to a recent claim which the
12852 Czar had made to the Pacific coast, President Monroe warned the Old
12853 World that "the American continents, by the free and independent
12854 condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to
12855 be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European
12856 powers." The effect of this declaration was immediate and profound. Men
12857 whose political horizon had been limited to a community or state were
12858 led to consider their nation as a great power among the sovereignties of
12859 the earth, taking its part in shaping their international relations.
12860
12861 =The Missouri Compromise.=--Respecting one other important measure of
12862 this period, the Republicans also took a broad view of their obligations
12863 under the Constitution; namely, the Missouri Compromise. It is true,
12864 they insisted on the admission of Missouri as a slave state, balanced
12865 against the free state of Maine; but at the same time they assented to
12866 the prohibition of slavery in the Louisiana territory north of the line
12867 36 o 30'. During the debate on the subject an extreme view had been
12868 presented, to the effect that Congress had no constitutional warrant for
12869 abolishing slavery in the territories. The precedent of the Northwest
12870 Ordinance, ratified by Congress in 1789, seemed a conclusive answer from
12871 practice to this contention; but Monroe submitted the issue to his
12872 cabinet, which included Calhoun of South Carolina, Crawford of Georgia,
12873 and Wirt of Virginia, all presumably adherents to the Jeffersonian
12874 principle of strict construction. He received in reply a unanimous
12875 verdict to the effect that Congress did have the power to prohibit
12876 slavery in the territories governed by it. Acting on this advice he
12877 approved, on March 6, 1820, the bill establishing freedom north of the
12878 compromise line. This generous interpretation of the powers of Congress
12879 stood for nearly forty years, until repudiated by the Supreme Court in
12880 the Dred Scott case.
12881
12882
12883 THE NATIONAL DECISIONS OF CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL
12884
12885 =John Marshall, the Nationalist.=--The Republicans in the lower ranges
12886 of state politics, who did not catch the grand national style of their
12887 leaders charged with responsibilities in the national field, were
12888 assisted in their education by a Federalist from the Old Dominion, John
12889 Marshall, who, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
12890 States from 1801 to 1835, lost no occasion to exalt the Constitution
12891 above the claims of the provinces. No differences of opinion as to his
12892 political views have ever led even his warmest opponents to deny his
12893 superb abilities or his sincere devotion to the national idea. All will
12894 likewise agree that for talents, native and acquired, he was an ornament
12895 to the humble democracy that brought him forth. His whole career was
12896 American. Born on the frontier of Virginia, reared in a log cabin,
12897 granted only the barest rudiments of education, inured to hardship and
12898 rough life, he rose by masterly efforts to the highest judicial honor
12899 America can bestow.
12900
12901 On him the bitter experience of the Revolution and of later days made a
12902 lasting impression. He was no "summer patriot." He had been a soldier in
12903 the Revolutionary army. He had suffered with Washington at Valley Forge.
12904 He had seen his comrades in arms starving and freezing because the
12905 Continental Congress had neither the power nor the inclination to force
12906 the states to do their full duty. To him the Articles of Confederation
12907 were the symbol of futility. Into the struggle for the formation of the
12908 Constitution and its ratification in Virginia he had thrown himself with
12909 the ardor of a soldier. Later, as a member of Congress, a representative
12910 to France, and Secretary of State, he had aided the Federalists in
12911 establishing the new government. When at length they were driven from
12912 power in the executive and legislative branches of the government, he
12913 was chosen for their last stronghold, the Supreme Court. By historic
12914 irony he administered the oath of office to his bitterest enemy, Thomas
12915 Jefferson; and, long after the author of the Declaration of Independence
12916 had retired to private life, the stern Chief Justice continued to
12917 announce the old Federalist principles from the Supreme Bench.
12918
12919 [Illustration: JOHN MARSHALL]
12920
12921 =Marbury _vs._ Madison--An Act of Congress Annulled.=--He had been in
12922 his high office only two years when he laid down for the first time in
12923 the name of the entire Court the doctrine that the judges have the power
12924 to declare an act of Congress null and void when in their opinion it
12925 violates the Constitution. This power was not expressly conferred on the
12926 Court. Though many able men held that the judicial branch of the
12927 government enjoyed it, the principle was not positively established
12928 until 1803 when the case of Marbury _vs._ Madison was decided. In
12929 rendering the opinion of the Court, Marshall cited no precedents. He
12930 sought no foundations for his argument in ancient history. He rested it
12931 on the general nature of the American system. The Constitution, ran his
12932 reasoning, is the supreme law of the land; it limits and binds all who
12933 act in the name of the United States; it limits the powers of Congress
12934 and defines the rights of citizens. If Congress can ignore its
12935 limitations and trespass upon the rights of citizens, Marshall argued,
12936 then the Constitution disappears and Congress is supreme. Since,
12937 however, the Constitution is supreme and superior to Congress, it is the
12938 duty of judges, under their oath of office, to sustain it against
12939 measures which violate it. Therefore, from the nature of the American
12940 constitutional system the courts must declare null and void all acts
12941 which are not authorized. "A law repugnant to the Constitution," he
12942 closed, "is void and the courts as well as other departments are bound
12943 by that instrument." From that day to this the practice of federal and
12944 state courts in passing upon the constitutionality of laws has remained
12945 unshaken.
12946
12947 This doctrine was received by Jefferson and many of his followers with
12948 consternation. If the idea was sound, he exclaimed, "then indeed is our
12949 Constitution a complete _felo de se_ [legally, a suicide]. For,
12950 intending to establish three departments, coordinate and independent
12951 that they might check and balance one another, it has given, according
12952 to this opinion, to one of them alone the right to prescribe rules for
12953 the government of the others, and to that one, too, which is unelected
12954 by and independent of the nation.... The Constitution, on this
12955 hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which
12956 they may twist and shape into any form they please. It should be
12957 remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever
12958 power in any government is independent, is absolute also.... A judiciary
12959 independent of a king or executive alone is a good thing; but
12960 independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a
12961 republican government." But Marshall was mighty and his view prevailed,
12962 though from time to time other men, clinging to Jefferson's opinion,
12963 likewise opposed the exercise by the Courts of the high power of passing
12964 upon the constitutionality of acts of Congress.
12965
12966 =Acts of State Legislatures Declared Unconstitutional.=--Had Marshall
12967 stopped with annulling an act of Congress, he would have heard less
12968 criticism from Republican quarters; but, with the same firmness, he set
12969 aside acts of state legislatures as well, whenever, in his opinion, they
12970 violated the federal Constitution. In 1810, in the case of Fletcher
12971 _vs._ Peck, he annulled an act of the Georgia legislature, informing the
12972 state that it was not sovereign, but "a part of a large empire, ... a
12973 member of the American union; and that union has a constitution ...
12974 which imposes limits to the legislatures of the several states." In the
12975 case of McCulloch _vs._ Maryland, decided in 1819, he declared void an
12976 act of the Maryland legislature designed to paralyze the branches of the
12977 United States Bank established in that state. In the same year, in the
12978 still more memorable Dartmouth College case, he annulled an act of the
12979 New Hampshire legislature which infringed upon the charter received by
12980 the college from King George long before. That charter, he declared, was
12981 a contract between the state and the college, which the legislature
12982 under the federal Constitution could not impair. Two years later he
12983 stirred the wrath of Virginia by summoning her to the bar of the Supreme
12984 Court to answer in a case in which the validity of one of her laws was
12985 involved and then justified his action in a powerful opinion rendered in
12986 the case of Cohens _vs._ Virginia.
12987
12988 All these decisions aroused the legislatures of the states. They passed
12989 sheaves of resolutions protesting and condemning; but Marshall never
12990 turned and never stayed. The Constitution of the United States, he
12991 fairly thundered at them, is the supreme law of the land; the Supreme
12992 Court is the proper tribunal to pass finally upon the validity of the
12993 laws of the states; and "those sovereignties," far from possessing the
12994 right of review and nullification, are irrevocably bound by the
12995 decisions of that Court. This was strong medicine for the authors of the
12996 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and for the members of the Hartford
12997 convention; but they had to take it.
12998
12999 =The Doctrine of Implied Powers.=--While restraining Congress in the
13000 Marbury case and the state legislatures in a score of cases, Marshall
13001 also laid the judicial foundation for a broad and liberal view of the
13002 Constitution as opposed to narrow and strict construction. In McCulloch
13003 _vs._ Maryland, he construed generously the words "necessary and proper"
13004 in such a way as to confer upon Congress a wide range of "implied
13005 powers" in addition to their express powers. That case involved, among
13006 other things, the question whether the act establishing the second
13007 United States Bank was authorized by the Constitution. Marshall answered
13008 in the affirmative. Congress, ran his reasoning, has large powers over
13009 taxation and the currency; a bank is of appropriate use in the exercise
13010 of these enumerated powers; and therefore, though not absolutely
13011 necessary, a bank is entirely proper and constitutional. "With respect
13012 to the means by which the powers that the Constitution confers are to be
13013 carried into execution," he said, Congress must be allowed the
13014 discretion which "will enable that body to perform the high duties
13015 assigned to it, in the manner most beneficial to the people." In short,
13016 the Constitution of the United States is not a strait jacket but a
13017 flexible instrument vesting in Congress the powers necessary to meet
13018 national problems as they arise. In delivering this opinion Marshall
13019 used language almost identical with that employed by Lincoln when,
13020 standing on the battle field of a war waged to preserve the nation, he
13021 said that "a government of the people, by the people, for the people
13022 shall not perish from the earth."
13023
13024
13025 SUMMARY OF THE UNION AND NATIONAL POLITICS
13026
13027 During the strenuous period between the establishment of American
13028 independence and the advent of Jacksonian democracy the great American
13029 experiment was under the direction of the men who had launched it. All
13030 the Presidents in that period, except John Quincy Adams, had taken part
13031 in the Revolution. James Madison, the chief author of the Constitution,
13032 lived until 1836. This age, therefore, was the "age of the fathers." It
13033 saw the threatened ruin of the country under the Articles of
13034 Confederation, the formation of the Constitution, the rise of political
13035 parties, the growth of the West, the second war with England, and the
13036 apparent triumph of the national spirit over sectionalism.
13037
13038 The new republic had hardly been started in 1783 before its troubles
13039 began. The government could not raise money to pay its debts or running
13040 expenses; it could not protect American commerce and manufactures
13041 against European competition; it could not stop the continual issues of
13042 paper money by the states; it could not intervene to put down domestic
13043 uprisings that threatened the existence of the state governments.
13044 Without money, without an army, without courts of law, the union under
13045 the Articles of Confederation was drifting into dissolution. Patriots,
13046 who had risked their lives for independence, began to talk of monarchy
13047 again. Washington, Hamilton, and Madison insisted that a new
13048 constitution alone could save America from disaster.
13049
13050 By dint of much labor the friends of a new form of government induced
13051 the Congress to call a national convention to take into account the
13052 state of America. In May, 1787, it assembled at Philadelphia and for
13053 months it debated and wrangled over plans for a constitution. The small
13054 states clamored for equal rights in the union. The large states vowed
13055 that they would never grant it. A spirit of conciliation, fair play, and
13056 compromise saved the convention from breaking up. In addition, there
13057 were jealousies between the planting states and the commercial states.
13058 Here, too, compromises had to be worked out. Some of the delegates
13059 feared the growth of democracy and others cherished it. These factions
13060 also had to be placated. At last a plan of government was drafted--the
13061 Constitution of the United States--and submitted to the states for
13062 approval. Only after a long and acrimonious debate did enough states
13063 ratify the instrument to put it into effect. On April 30, 1789, George
13064 Washington was inaugurated first President.
13065
13066 The new government proceeded to fund the old debt of the nation, assume
13067 the debts of the states, found a national bank, lay heavy taxes to pay
13068 the bills, and enact laws protecting American industry and commerce.
13069 Hamilton led the way, but he had not gone far before he encountered
13070 opposition. He found a formidable antagonist in Jefferson. In time two
13071 political parties appeared full armed upon the scene: the Federalists
13072 and the Republicans. For ten years they filled the country with
13073 political debate. In 1800 the Federalists were utterly vanquished by the
13074 Republicans with Jefferson in the lead.
13075
13076 By their proclamations of faith the Republicans favored the states
13077 rather than the new national government, but in practice they added
13078 immensely to the prestige and power of the nation. They purchased
13079 Louisiana from France, they waged a war for commercial independence
13080 against England, they created a second United States Bank, they enacted
13081 the protective tariff of 1816, they declared that Congress had power to
13082 abolish slavery north of the Missouri Compromise line, and they spread
13083 the shield of the Monroe Doctrine between the Western Hemisphere and
13084 Europe.
13085
13086 Still America was a part of European civilization. Currents of opinion
13087 flowed to and fro across the Atlantic. Friends of popular government in
13088 Europe looked to America as the great exemplar of their ideals. Events
13089 in Europe reacted upon thought in the United States. The French
13090 Revolution exerted a profound influence on the course of political
13091 debate. While it was in the stage of mere reform all Americans favored
13092 it. When the king was executed and a radical democracy set up, American
13093 opinion was divided. When France fell under the military dominion of
13094 Napoleon and preyed upon American commerce, the United States made ready
13095 for war.
13096
13097 The conduct of England likewise affected American affairs. In 1793 war
13098 broke out between England and France and raged with only a slight
13099 intermission until 1815. England and France both ravaged American
13100 commerce, but England was the more serious offender because she had
13101 command of the seas. Though Jefferson and Madison strove for peace, the
13102 country was swept into war by the vehemence of the "Young Republicans,"
13103 headed by Clay and Calhoun.
13104
13105 When the armed conflict was closed, one in diplomacy opened. The
13106 autocratic powers of Europe threatened to intervene on behalf of Spain
13107 in her attempt to recover possession of her Latin-American colonies.
13108 Their challenge to America brought forth the Monroe Doctrine. The powers
13109 of Europe were warned not to interfere with the independence or the
13110 republican policies of this hemisphere or to attempt any new
13111 colonization in it. It seemed that nationalism was to have a peaceful
13112 triumph over sectionalism.
13113
13114
13115 =References=
13116
13117 H. Adams, _History of the United States, 1800-1817_ (9 vols.).
13118
13119 K.C. Babcock, _Rise of American Nationality_ (American Nation Series).
13120
13121 E. Channing, _The Jeffersonian System_ (Same Series).
13122
13123 D.C. Gilman, _James Monroe_.
13124
13125 W. Reddaway, _The Monroe Doctrine_.
13126
13127 T. Roosevelt, _Naval War of 1812_.
13128
13129
13130 =Questions=
13131
13132 1. What was the leading feature of Jefferson's political theory?
13133
13134 2. Enumerate the chief measures of his administration.
13135
13136 3. Were the Jeffersonians able to apply their theories? Give the
13137 reasons.
13138
13139
13140 4. Explain the importance of the Mississippi River to Western farmers.
13141
13142 5. Show how events in Europe forced the Louisiana Purchase.
13143
13144 6. State the constitutional question involved in the Louisiana Purchase.
13145
13146 7. Show how American trade was affected by the European war.
13147
13148 8. Compare the policies of Jefferson and Madison.
13149
13150 9. Why did the United States become involved with England rather than
13151 with France?
13152
13153 10. Contrast the causes of the War of 1812 with the results.
13154
13155 11. Give the economic reasons for the attitude of New England.
13156
13157 12. Give five "nationalist" measures of the Republicans. Discuss each in
13158 detail.
13159
13160 13. Sketch the career of John Marshall.
13161
13162 14. Discuss the case of Marbury _vs._ Madison.
13163
13164 15. Summarize Marshall's views on: (_a_) states' rights; and (_b_) a
13165 liberal interpretation of the Constitution.
13166
13167
13168 =Research Topics=
13169
13170 =The Louisiana Purchase.=--Text of Treaty in Macdonald, _Documentary
13171 Source Book_, pp. 279-282. Source materials in Hart, _American History
13172 Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. III, pp. 363-384. Narrative, Henry Adams,
13173 _History of the United States_, Vol. II, pp. 25-115; Elson, _History of
13174 the United States_, pp. 383-388.
13175
13176 =The Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts.=--Macdonald, pp. 282-288; Adams,
13177 Vol. IV, pp. 152-177; Elson, pp. 394-405.
13178
13179 =Congress and the War of 1812.=--Adams, Vol. VI, pp. 113-198; Elson, pp.
13180 408-450.
13181
13182 =Proposals of the Hartford Convention.=--Macdonald, pp. 293-302.
13183
13184 =Manufactures and the Tariff of 1816.=--Coman, _Industrial History of
13185 the United States_, pp. 184-194.
13186
13187 =The Second United States Bank.=--Macdonald, pp. 302-306.
13188
13189 =Effect of European War on American Trade.=--Callender, _Economic
13190 History of the United States_, pp. 240-250.
13191
13192 =The Monroe Message.=--Macdonald, pp. 318-320.
13193
13194 =Lewis and Clark Expedition.=--R.G. Thwaites, _Rocky Mountain
13195 Explorations_, pp. 92-187. Schafer, _A History of the Pacific Northwest_
13196 (rev. ed.), pp. 29-61.
13197
13198
13199
13200
13201 PART IV. THE WEST AND JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY
13202
13203
13204
13205
13206 CHAPTER X
13207
13208 THE FARMERS BEYOND THE APPALACHIANS
13209
13210
13211 The nationalism of Hamilton was undemocratic. The democracy of Jefferson
13212 was, in the beginning, provincial. The historic mission of uniting
13213 nationalism and democracy was in the course of time given to new leaders
13214 from a region beyond the mountains, peopled by men and women from all
13215 sections and free from those state traditions which ran back to the
13216 early days of colonization. The voice of the democratic nationalism
13217 nourished in the West was heard when Clay of Kentucky advocated his
13218 American system of protection for industries; when Jackson of Tennessee
13219 condemned nullification in a ringing proclamation that has taken its
13220 place among the great American state papers; and when Lincoln of
13221 Illinois, in a fateful hour, called upon a bewildered people to meet the
13222 supreme test whether this was a nation destined to survive or to perish.
13223 And it will be remembered that Lincoln's party chose for its banner that
13224 earlier device--Republican--which Jefferson had made a sign of power.
13225 The "rail splitter" from Illinois united the nationalism of Hamilton
13226 with the democracy of Jefferson, and his appeal was clothed in the
13227 simple language of the people, not in the sonorous rhetoric which
13228 Webster learned in the schools.
13229
13230
13231 PREPARATION FOR WESTERN SETTLEMENT
13232
13233 =The West and the American Revolution.=--The excessive attention devoted
13234 by historians to the military operations along the coast has obscured
13235 the role played by the frontier in the American Revolution. The action
13236 of Great Britain in closing western land to easy settlement in 1763 was
13237 more than an incident in precipitating the war for independence.
13238 Americans on the frontier did not forget it; when Indians were employed
13239 by England to defend that land, zeal for the patriot cause set the
13240 interior aflame. It was the members of the western vanguard, like Daniel
13241 Boone, John Sevier, and George Rogers Clark, who first understood the
13242 value of the far-away country under the guns of the English forts, where
13243 the Red Men still wielded the tomahawk and the scalping knife. It was
13244 they who gave the East no rest until their vision was seen by the
13245 leaders on the seaboard who directed the course of national policy. It
13246 was one of their number, a seasoned Indian fighter, George Rogers Clark,
13247 who with aid from Virginia seized Kaskaskia and Vincennes and secured
13248 the whole Northwest to the union while the fate of Washington's army was
13249 still hanging in the balance.
13250
13251 =Western Problems at the End of the Revolution.=--The treaty of peace,
13252 signed with Great Britain in 1783, brought the definite cession of the
13253 coveted territory west to the Mississippi River, but it left unsolved
13254 many problems. In the first place, tribes of resentful Indians in the
13255 Ohio region, even though British support was withdrawn at last, had to
13256 be reckoned with; and it was not until after the establishment of the
13257 federal Constitution that a well-equipped army could be provided to
13258 guarantee peace on the border. In the second place, British garrisons
13259 still occupied forts on Lake Erie pending the execution of the terms of
13260 the treaty of 1783--terms which were not fulfilled until after the
13261 ratification of the Jay treaty twelve years later. In the third place,
13262 Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had conflicting claims to the
13263 land in the Northwest based on old English charters and Indian treaties.
13264 It was only after a bitter contest that the states reached an agreement
13265 to transfer their rights to the government of the United States,
13266 Virginia executing her deed of cession on March 1, 1784. In the fourth
13267 place, titles to lands bought by individuals remained uncertain in the
13268 absence of official maps and records. To meet this last situation,
13269 Congress instituted a systematic survey of the Ohio country, laying it
13270 out into townships, sections of 640 acres each, and quarter sections. In
13271 every township one section of land was set aside for the support of
13272 public schools.
13273
13274 =The Northwest Ordinance.=--The final problem which had to be solved
13275 before settlement on a large scale could be begun was that of governing
13276 the territory. Pioneers who looked with hungry eyes on the fertile
13277 valley of the Ohio could hardly restrain their impatience. Soldiers of
13278 the Revolution, who had been paid for their services in land warrants
13279 entitling them to make entries in the West, called for action.
13280
13281 Congress answered by passing in 1787 the famous Northwest Ordinance
13282 providing for temporary territorial government to be followed by the
13283 creation of a popular assembly as soon as there were five thousand free
13284 males in any district. Eventual admission to the union on an equal
13285 footing with the original states was promised to the new territories.
13286 Religious freedom was guaranteed. The safeguards of trial by jury,
13287 regular judicial procedure, and _habeas corpus_ were established, in order
13288 that the methods of civilized life might take the place of the
13289 rough-and-ready justice of lynch law. During the course of the debate on
13290 the Ordinance, Congress added the sixth article forbidding slavery and
13291 involuntary servitude.
13292
13293 This Charter of the Northwest, so well planned by the Congress under the
13294 Articles of Confederation, was continued in force by the first Congress
13295 under the Constitution in 1789. The following year its essential
13296 provisions, except the ban on slavery, were applied to the territory
13297 south of the Ohio, ceded by North Carolina to the national government,
13298 and in 1798 to the Mississippi territory, once held by Georgia. Thus it
13299 was settled for all time that "the new colonies were not to be exploited
13300 for the benefit of the parent states (any more than for the benefit of
13301 England) but were to be autonomous and coordinate commonwealths." This
13302 outcome, bitterly opposed by some Eastern leaders who feared the triumph
13303 of Western states over the seaboard, completed the legal steps necessary
13304 by way of preparation for the flood of settlers.
13305
13306 =The Land Companies, Speculators, and Western Land Tenure.=--As in the
13307 original settlement of America, so in the opening of the West, great
13308 companies and single proprietors of large grants early figured. In 1787
13309 the Ohio Land Company, a New England concern, acquired a million and a
13310 half acres on the Ohio and began operations by planting the town of
13311 Marietta. A professional land speculator, J.C. Symmes, secured a million
13312 acres lower down where the city of Cincinnati was founded. Other
13313 individuals bought up soldiers' claims and so acquired enormous holdings
13314 for speculative purposes. Indeed, there was such a rush to make fortunes
13315 quickly through the rise in land values that Washington was moved to cry
13316 out against the "rage for speculating in and forestalling of land on the
13317 North West of the Ohio," protesting that "scarce a valuable spot within
13318 any tolerable distance of it is left without a claimant." He therefore
13319 urged Congress to fix a reasonable price for the land, not "too
13320 exorbitant and burdensome for real occupiers, but high enough to
13321 discourage monopolizers."
13322
13323 Congress, however, was not prepared to use the public domain for the
13324 sole purpose of developing a body of small freeholders in the West. It
13325 still looked upon the sale of public lands as an important source of
13326 revenue with which to pay off the public debt; consequently it thought
13327 more of instant income than of ultimate results. It placed no limit on
13328 the amount which could be bought when it fixed the price at $2 an acre
13329 in 1796, and it encouraged the professional land operator by making the
13330 first installment only twenty cents an acre in addition to the small
13331 registration and survey fee. On such terms a speculator with a few
13332 thousand dollars could get possession of an enormous plot of land. If he
13333 was fortunate in disposing of it, he could meet the installments, which
13334 were spread over a period of four years, and make a handsome profit for
13335 himself. Even when the credit or installment feature was abolished in
13336 1821 and the price of the land lowered to a cash price of $1.75 an acre,
13337 the opportunity for large speculative purchases continued to attract
13338 capital to land ventures.
13339
13340 =The Development of the Small Freehold.=--The cheapness of land and the
13341 scarcity of labor, nevertheless, made impossible the triumph of the huge
13342 estate with its semi-servile tenantry. For about $45 a man could get a
13343 farm of 160 acres on the installment plan; another payment of $80 was
13344 due in forty days; but a four-year term was allowed for the discharge of
13345 the balance. With a capital of from two to three hundred dollars a
13346 family could embark on a land venture. If it had good crops, it could
13347 meet the deferred payments. It was, however, a hard battle at best. Many
13348 a man forfeited his land through failure to pay the final installment;
13349 yet in the end, in spite of all the handicaps, the small freehold of a
13350 few hundred acres at most became the typical unit of Western
13351 agriculture, except in the planting states of the Gulf. Even the lands
13352 of the great companies were generally broken up and sold in small lots.
13353
13354 The tendency toward moderate holdings, so favored by Western conditions,
13355 was also promoted by a clause in the Northwest Ordinance declaring that
13356 the land of any person dying intestate--that is, without any will
13357 disposing of it--should be divided equally among his descendants.
13358 Hildreth says of this provision: "It established the important
13359 republican principle, not then introduced into all the states, of the
13360 equal distribution of landed as well as personal property." All these
13361 forces combined made the wide dispersion of wealth, in the early days of
13362 the nineteenth century, an American characteristic, in marked contrast
13363 with the European system of family prestige and vast estates based on
13364 the law of primogeniture.
13365
13366
13367 THE WESTERN MIGRATION AND NEW STATES
13368
13369 =The People.=--With government established, federal arms victorious over
13370 the Indians, and the lands surveyed for sale, the way was prepared for
13371 the immigrants. They came with a rush. Young New Englanders, weary of
13372 tilling the stony soil of their native states, poured through New York
13373 and Pennsylvania, some settling on the northern bank of the Ohio but
13374 most of them in the Lake region. Sons and daughters of German farmers in
13375 Pennsylvania and many a redemptioner who had discharged his bond of
13376 servitude pressed out into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, or beyond. From
13377 the exhausted fields and the clay hills of the Southern states came
13378 pioneers of English and Scotch-Irish descent, the latter in great
13379 numbers. Indeed one historian of high authority has ventured to say that
13380 "the rapid expansion of the United States from a coast strip to a
13381 continental area is largely a Scotch-Irish achievement." While native
13382 Americans of mixed stocks led the way into the West, it was not long
13383 before immigrants direct from Europe, under the stimulus of company
13384 enterprise, began to filter into the new settlements in increasing
13385 numbers.
13386
13387 The types of people were as various as the nations they represented.
13388 Timothy Flint, who published his entertaining _Recollections_ in 1826,
13389 found the West a strange mixture of all sorts and conditions of people.
13390 Some of them, he relates, had been hunters in the upper world of the
13391 Mississippi, above the falls of St. Anthony. Some had been still farther
13392 north, in Canada. Still others had wandered from the South--the Gulf of
13393 Mexico, the Red River, and the Spanish country. French boatmen and
13394 trappers, Spanish traders from the Southwest, Virginia planters with
13395 their droves of slaves mingled with English, German, and Scotch-Irish
13396 farmers. Hunters, forest rangers, restless bordermen, and squatters,
13397 like the foaming combers of an advancing tide, went first. Then followed
13398 the farmers, masters of the ax and plow, with their wives who shared
13399 every burden and hardship and introduced some of the features of
13400 civilized life. The hunters and rangers passed on to new scenes; the
13401 home makers built for all time.
13402
13403 =The Number of Immigrants.=--There were no official stations on the
13404 frontier to record the number of immigrants who entered the West during
13405 the decades following the American Revolution. But travelers of the time
13406 record that every road was "crowded" with pioneers and their families,
13407 their wagons and cattle; and that they were seldom out of the sound of
13408 the snapping whip of the teamster urging forward his horses or the crack
13409 of the hunter's rifle as he brought down his evening meal. "During the
13410 latter half of 1787," says Coman, "more than nine hundred boats floated
13411 down the Ohio carrying eighteen thousand men, women, and children, and
13412 twelve thousand horses, sheep, and cattle, and six hundred and fifty
13413 wagons." Other lines of travel were also crowded and with the passing
13414 years the flooding tide of home seekers rose higher and higher.
13415
13416 =The Western Routes.=--Four main routes led into the country beyond the
13417 Appalachians. The Genesee road, beginning at Albany, ran almost due west
13418 to the present site of Buffalo on Lake Erie, through a level country. In
13419 the dry season, wagons laden with goods could easily pass along it into
13420 northern Ohio. A second route, through Pittsburgh, was fed by three
13421 eastern branches, one starting at Philadelphia, one at Baltimore, and
13422 another at Alexandria. A third main route wound through the mountains
13423 from Alexandria to Boonesboro in Kentucky and then westward across the
13424 Ohio to St. Louis. A fourth, the most famous of them all, passed through
13425 the Cumberland Gap and by branches extended into the Cumberland valley
13426 and the Kentucky country.
13427
13428 Of these four lines of travel, the Pittsburgh route offered the most
13429 advantages. Pioneers, no matter from what section they came, when once
13430 they were on the headwaters of the Ohio and in possession of a flatboat,
13431 could find a quick and easy passage into all parts of the West and
13432 Southwest. Whether they wanted to settle in Ohio, Kentucky, or western
13433 Tennessee they could find their way down the drifting flood to their
13434 destination or at least to some spot near it. Many people from the South
13435 as well as the Northern and Middle states chose this route; so it came
13436 about that the sons and daughters of Virginia and the Carolinas mingled
13437 with those of New York, Pennsylvania, and New England in the settlement
13438 of the Northwest territory.
13439
13440 =The Methods of Travel into the West.=--Many stories giving exact
13441 descriptions of methods of travel into the West in the early days have
13442 been preserved. The country was hardly opened before visitors from the
13443 Old World and from the Eastern states, impelled by curiosity, made their
13444 way to the very frontier of civilization and wrote books to inform or
13445 amuse the public. One of them, Gilbert Imlay, an English traveler, has
13446 given us an account of the Pittsburgh route as he found it in 1791. "If
13447 a man ... " he writes, "has a family or goods of any sort to remove, his
13448 best way, then, would be to purchase a waggon and team of horses to
13449 carry his property to Redstone Old Fort or to Pittsburgh, according as
13450 he may come from the Northern or Southern states. A good waggon will
13451 cost, at Philadelphia, about $10 ... and the horses about $12 each; they
13452 would cost something more both at Baltimore and Alexandria. The waggon
13453 may be covered with canvass, and if it is the choice of the people, they
13454 may sleep in it of nights with the greatest safety. But if they dislike
13455 that, there are inns of accommodation the whole distance on the
13456 different roads.... The provisions I would purchase in the same manner
13457 [that is, from the farmers along the road]; and by having two or three
13458 camp kettles and stopping every evening when the weather is fine upon
13459 the brink of some rivulet and by kindling a fire they may soon dress
13460 their own food.... This manner of journeying is so far from being
13461 disagreeable that in a fine season it is extremely pleasant." The
13462 immigrant once at Pittsburgh or Wheeling could then buy a flatboat of a
13463 size required for his goods and stock, and drift down the current to his
13464 journey's end.
13465
13466 [Illustration: ROADS AND TRAILS INTO THE WESTERN TERRITORY]
13467
13468 =The Admission of Kentucky and Tennessee.=--When the eighteenth century
13469 drew to a close, Kentucky had a population larger than Delaware, Rhode
13470 Island, or New Hampshire. Tennessee claimed 60,000 inhabitants. In 1792
13471 Kentucky took her place as a state beside her none too kindly parent,
13472 Virginia. The Eastern Federalists resented her intrusion; but they took
13473 some consolation in the admission of Vermont because the balance of
13474 Eastern power was still retained.
13475
13476 As if to assert their independence of old homes and conservative ideas
13477 the makers of Kentucky's first constitution swept aside the landed
13478 qualification on the suffrage and gave the vote to all free white males.
13479 Four years later, Kentucky's neighbor to the south, Tennessee, followed
13480 this step toward a wider democracy. After encountering fierce opposition
13481 from the Federalists, Tennessee was accepted as the sixteenth state.
13482
13483 =Ohio.=--The door of the union had hardly opened for Tennessee when
13484 another appeal was made to Congress, this time from the pioneers in
13485 Ohio. The little posts founded at Marietta and Cincinnati had grown into
13486 flourishing centers of trade. The stream of immigrants, flowing down the
13487 river, added daily to their numbers and the growing settlements all
13488 around poured produce into their markets to be exchanged for "store
13489 goods." After the Indians were disposed of in 1794 and the last British
13490 soldier left the frontier forts under the terms of the Jay treaty of
13491 1795, tiny settlements of families appeared on Lake Erie in the "Western
13492 Reserve," a region that had been retained by Connecticut when she
13493 surrendered her other rights in the Northwest.
13494
13495 At the close of the century, Ohio, claiming a population of more than
13496 50,000, grew discontented with its territorial status. Indeed, two years
13497 before the enactment of the Northwest Ordinance, squatters in that
13498 region had been invited by one John Emerson to hold a convention after
13499 the fashion of the men of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield in old
13500 Connecticut and draft a frame of government for themselves. This true
13501 son of New England declared that men "have an undoubted right to pass
13502 into every vacant country and there to form their constitution and that
13503 from the confederation of the whole United States Congress is not
13504 empowered to forbid them." This grand convention was never held because
13505 the heavy hand of the government fell upon the leaders; but the spirit
13506 of John Emerson did not perish. In November, 1802, a convention chosen
13507 by voters, assembled under the authority of Congress at Chillicothe,
13508 drew up a constitution. It went into force after a popular ratification.
13509 The roll of the convention bore such names as Abbot, Baldwin, Cutler,
13510 Huntington, Putnam, and Sargent, and the list of counties from which
13511 they came included Adams, Fairfield, Hamilton, Jefferson, Trumbull, and
13512 Washington, showing that the new America in the West was peopled and led
13513 by the old stock. In 1803 Ohio was admitted to the union.
13514
13515 =Indiana and Illinois.=--As in the neighboring state, the frontier in
13516 Indiana advanced northward from the Ohio, mainly under the leadership,
13517 however, of settlers from the South--restless Kentuckians hoping for
13518 better luck in a newer country and pioneers from the far frontiers of
13519 Virginia and North Carolina. As soon as a tier of counties swinging
13520 upward like the horns of the moon against Ohio on the east and in the
13521 Wabash Valley on the west was fairly settled, a clamor went up for
13522 statehood. Under the authority of an act of Congress in 1816 the
13523 Indianians drafted a constitution and inaugurated their government at
13524 Corydon. "The majority of the members of the convention," we are told by
13525 a local historian, "were frontier farmers who had a general idea of what
13526 they wanted and had sense enough to let their more erudite colleagues
13527 put it into shape."
13528
13529 Two years later, the pioneers of Illinois, also settled upward from the
13530 Ohio, like Indiana, elected their delegates to draft a constitution.
13531 Leadership in the convention, quite properly, was taken by a man born in
13532 New York and reared in Tennessee; and the constitution as finally
13533 drafted "was in its principal provisions a copy of the then existing
13534 constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.... Many of the articles
13535 are exact copies in wording although differently arranged and
13536 numbered."
13537
13538 =Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.=--Across the Mississippi to the
13539 far south, clearing and planting had gone on with much bustle and
13540 enterprise. The cotton and sugar lands of Louisiana, opened by French
13541 and Spanish settlers, were widened in every direction by planters with
13542 their armies of slaves from the older states. New Orleans, a good market
13543 and a center of culture not despised even by the pioneer, grew apace. In
13544 1810 the population of lower Louisiana was over 75,000. The time had
13545 come, said the leaders of the people, to fulfill the promise made to
13546 France in the treaty of cession; namely, to grant to the inhabitants of
13547 the territory statehood and the rights of American citizens. Federalists
13548 from New England still having a voice in Congress, if somewhat weaker,
13549 still protested in tones of horror. "I am compelled to declare it as my
13550 deliberate opinion," pronounced Josiah Quincy in the House of
13551 Representatives, "that if this bill [to admit Louisiana] passes, the
13552 bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved ... that as it will be the
13553 right of all, so it will be the duty of some [states] to prepare
13554 definitely for a separation; amicably if they can, violently if they
13555 must.... It is a death blow to the Constitution. It may afterwards
13556 linger; but lingering, its fate will, at no very distant period, be
13557 consummated." Federalists from New York like those from New England had
13558 their doubts about the wisdom of admitting Western states; but the party
13559 of Jefferson and Madison, having the necessary majority, granted the
13560 coveted statehood to Louisiana in 1812.
13561
13562 When, a few years later, Mississippi and Alabama knocked at the doors of
13563 the union, the Federalists had so little influence, on account of their
13564 conduct during the second war with England, that spokesmen from the
13565 Southwest met a kindlier reception at Washington. Mississippi, in 1817,
13566 and Alabama, in 1819, took their places among the United States of
13567 America. Both of them, while granting white manhood suffrage, gave their
13568 constitutions the tone of the old East by providing landed
13569 qualifications for the governor and members of the legislature.
13570
13571 =Missouri.=--Far to the north in the Louisiana purchase, a new
13572 commonwealth was rising to power. It was peopled by immigrants who came
13573 down the Ohio in fleets of boats or crossed the Mississippi from
13574 Kentucky and Tennessee. Thrifty Germans from Pennsylvania, hardy farmers
13575 from Virginia ready to work with their own hands, freemen seeking
13576 freemen's homes, planters with their slaves moving on from worn-out
13577 fields on the seaboard, came together in the widening settlements of the
13578 Missouri country. Peoples from the North and South flowed together,
13579 small farmers and big planters mingling in one community. When their
13580 numbers had reached sixty thousand or more, they precipitated a contest
13581 over their admission to the union, "ringing an alarm bell in the night,"
13582 as Jefferson phrased it. The favorite expedient of compromise with
13583 slavery was brought forth in Congress once more. Maine consequently was
13584 brought into the union without slavery and Missouri with slavery. At the
13585 same time there was drawn westward through the rest of the Louisiana
13586 territory a line separating servitude from slavery.
13587
13588
13589 THE SPIRIT OF THE FRONTIER
13590
13591 =Land Tenure and Liberty.=--Over an immense western area there developed
13592 an unbroken system of freehold farms. In the Gulf states and the lower
13593 Mississippi Valley, it is true, the planter with his many slaves even
13594 led in the pioneer movement; but through large sections of Tennessee and
13595 Kentucky, as well as upper Georgia and Alabama, and all throughout the
13596 Northwest territory the small farmer reigned supreme. In this immense
13597 dominion there sprang up a civilization without caste or class--a body
13598 of people all having about the same amount of this world's goods and
13599 deriving their livelihood from one source: the labor of their own hands
13600 on the soil. The Northwest territory alone almost equaled in area all
13601 the original thirteen states combined, except Georgia, and its system of
13602 agricultural economy was unbroken by plantations and feudal estates. "In
13603 the subdivision of the soil and the great equality of condition," as
13604 Webster said on more than one occasion, "lay the true basis, most
13605 certainly, of popular government." There was the undoubted source of
13606 Jacksonian democracy.
13607
13608 [Illustration: A LOG CABIN--LINCOLN'S BIRTHPLACE]
13609
13610 =The Characteristics of the Western People.=--Travelers into the
13611 Northwest during the early years of the nineteenth century were agreed
13612 that the people of that region were almost uniformly marked by the
13613 characteristics common to an independent yeomanry. A close observer thus
13614 recorded his impressions: "A spirit of adventurous enterprise, a
13615 willingness to go through any hardship to accomplish an object....
13616 Independence of thought and action. They have felt the influence of
13617 these principles from their childhood. Men who can endure anything; that
13618 have lived almost without restraint, free as the mountain air or as the
13619 deer and the buffalo of their forests, and who know they are Americans
13620 all.... An apparent roughness which some would deem rudeness of
13621 manner.... Where there is perfect equality in a neighborhood of people
13622 who know little about each other's previous history or ancestry but
13623 where each is lord of the soil he cultivates. Where a log cabin is all
13624 that the best of families can expect to have for years and of course can
13625 possess few of the external decorations which have so much influence in
13626 creating a diversity of rank in society. These circumstances have laid
13627 the foundation for that equality of intercourse, simplicity of manners,
13628 want of deference, want of reserve, great readiness to make
13629 acquaintances, freedom of speech, indisposition to brook real or
13630 imaginary insults which one witnesses among people of the West."
13631
13632 This equality, this independence, this rudeness so often described by
13633 the traveler as marking a new country, were all accentuated by the
13634 character of the settlers themselves. Traces of the fierce, unsociable,
13635 eagle-eyed, hard-drinking hunter remained. The settlers who followed the
13636 hunter were, with some exceptions, soldiers of the Revolutionary army,
13637 farmers of the "middling order," and mechanics from the towns,--English,
13638 Scotch-Irish, Germans,--poor in possessions and thrown upon the labor of
13639 their own hands for support. Sons and daughters from well-to-do Eastern
13640 homes sometimes brought softer manners; but the equality of life and the
13641 leveling force of labor in forest and field soon made them one in spirit
13642 with their struggling neighbors. Even the preachers and teachers, who
13643 came when the cabins were raised in the clearings and rude churches and
13644 schoolhouses were built, preached sermons and taught lessons that
13645 savored of the frontier, as any one may know who reads Peter
13646 Cartwright's _A Muscular Christian_ or Eggleston's _The Hoosier
13647 Schoolmaster_.
13648
13649
13650 THE WEST AND THE EAST MEET
13651
13652 =The East Alarmed.=--A people so independent as the Westerners and so
13653 attached to local self-government gave the conservative East many a rude
13654 shock, setting gentlemen in powdered wigs and knee breeches agog with
13655 the idea that terrible things might happen in the Mississippi Valley.
13656 Not without good grounds did Washington fear that "a touch of a feather
13657 would turn" the Western settlers away from the seaboard to the
13658 Spaniards; and seriously did he urge the East not to neglect them, lest
13659 they be "drawn into the arms of, or be dependent upon foreigners."
13660 Taking advantage of the restless spirit in the Southwest, Aaron Burr,
13661 having disgraced himself by killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, laid
13662 wild plans, if not to bring about a secession in that region, at least
13663 to build a state of some kind out of the Spanish dominions adjoining
13664 Louisiana. Frightened at such enterprises and fearing the dominance of
13665 the West, the Federalists, with a few conspicuous exceptions, opposed
13666 equality between the sections. Had their narrow views prevailed, the
13667 West, with its new democracy, would have been held in perpetual tutelage
13668 to the seaboard or perhaps been driven into independence as the thirteen
13669 colonies had been not long before.
13670
13671 =Eastern Friends of the West.=--Fortunately for the nation, there were
13672 many Eastern leaders, particularly from the South, who understood the
13673 West, approved its spirit, and sought to bring the two sections together
13674 by common bonds. Washington kept alive and keen the zeal for Western
13675 advancement which he acquired in his youth as a surveyor. He never grew
13676 tired of urging upon his Eastern friends the importance of the lands
13677 beyond the mountains. He pressed upon the governor of Virginia a project
13678 for a wagon road connecting the seaboard with the Ohio country and was
13679 active in a movement to improve the navigation of the Potomac. He
13680 advocated strengthening the ties of commerce. "Smooth the roads," he
13681 said, "and make easy the way for them, and then see what an influx of
13682 articles will be poured upon us; how amazingly our exports will be
13683 increased by them; and how amply we shall be compensated for any trouble
13684 and expense we may encounter to effect it." Jefferson, too, was
13685 interested in every phase of Western development--the survey of lands,
13686 the exploration of waterways, the opening of trade, and even the
13687 discovery of the bones of prehistoric animals. Robert Fulton, the
13688 inventor of the steamboat, was another man of vision who for many years
13689 pressed upon his countrymen the necessity of uniting East and West by a
13690 canal which would cement the union, raise the value of the public lands,
13691 and extend the principles of confederate and republican government.
13692
13693 =The Difficulties of Early Transportation.=--Means of communication
13694 played an important part in the strategy of all those who sought to
13695 bring together the seaboard and the frontier. The produce of the
13696 West--wheat, corn, bacon, hemp, cattle, and tobacco--was bulky and the
13697 cost of overland transportation was prohibitive. In the Eastern market,
13698 "a cow and her calf were given for a bushel of salt, while a suit of
13699 'store clothes' cost as much as a farm." In such circumstances, the
13700 inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley were forced to ship their produce
13701 over a long route by way of New Orleans and to pay high freight rates
13702 for everything that was brought across the mountains. Scows of from five
13703 to fifty tons were built at the towns along the rivers and piloted down
13704 the stream to the Crescent City. In a few cases small ocean-going
13705 vessels were built to transport goods to the West Indies or to the
13706 Eastern coast towns. Salt, iron, guns, powder, and the absolute
13707 essentials which the pioneers had to buy mainly in Eastern markets were
13708 carried over narrow wagon trails that were almost impassable in the
13709 rainy season.
13710
13711 =The National Road.=--To far-sighted men, like Albert Gallatin, "the
13712 father of internal improvements," the solution of this problem was the
13713 construction of roads and canals. Early in Jefferson's administration,
13714 Congress dedicated a part of the proceeds from the sale of lands to
13715 building highways from the headwaters of the navigable waters emptying
13716 into the Atlantic to the Ohio River and beyond into the Northwest
13717 territory. In 1806, after many misgivings, it authorized a great
13718 national highway binding the East and the West. The Cumberland Road, as
13719 it was called, began in northwestern Maryland, wound through southern
13720 Pennsylvania, crossed the narrow neck of Virginia at Wheeling, and then
13721 shot almost straight across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, into Missouri.
13722 By 1817, stagecoaches were running between Washington and Wheeling; by
13723 1833 contractors had carried their work to Columbus, Ohio, and by 1852,
13724 to Vandalia, Illinois. Over this ballasted road mail and passenger
13725 coaches could go at high speed, and heavy freight wagons proceed in
13726 safety at a steady pace.
13727
13728 [Illustration: THE CUMBERLAND ROAD]
13729
13730 =Canals and Steamboats.=--A second epoch in the economic union of the
13731 East and West was reached with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825,
13732 offering an all-water route from New York City to the Great Lakes and
13733 the Mississippi Valley. Pennsylvania, alarmed by the advantages
13734 conferred on New York by this enterprise, began her system of canals and
13735 portages from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, completing the last link in
13736 1834. In the South, the Chesapeake and Ohio Company, chartered in 1825,
13737 was busy with a project to connect Georgetown and Cumberland when
13738 railways broke in upon the undertaking before it was half finished.
13739 About the same time, Ohio built a canal across the state, affording
13740 water communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio River through a rich
13741 wheat belt. Passengers could now travel by canal boat into the West with
13742 comparative ease and comfort, if not at a rapid speed, and the bulkiest
13743 of freight could be easily handled. Moreover, the rate charged for
13744 carrying goods was cut by the Erie Canal from $32 a ton per hundred
13745 miles to $1. New Orleans was destined to lose her primacy in the
13746 Mississippi Valley.
13747
13748 The diversion of traffic to Eastern markets was also stimulated by
13749 steamboats which appeared on the Ohio about 1810, three years after
13750 Fulton had made his famous trip on the Hudson. It took twenty men to
13751 sail and row a five-ton scow up the river at a speed of from ten to
13752 twenty miles a day. In 1825, Timothy Flint traveled a hundred miles a
13753 day on the new steamer _Grecian_ "against the whole weight of the
13754 Mississippi current." Three years later the round trip from Louisville
13755 to New Orleans was cut to eight days. Heavy produce that once had to
13756 float down to New Orleans could be carried upstream and sent to the East
13757 by way of the canal systems.
13758
13759 [Illustration: _From an old print_
13760
13761 AN EARLY MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT]
13762
13763 Thus the far country was brought near. The timid no longer hesitated at
13764 the thought of the perilous journey. All routes were crowded with
13765 Western immigrants. The forests fell before the ax like grain before the
13766 sickle. Clearings scattered through the woods spread out into a great
13767 mosaic of farms stretching from the Southern Appalachians to Lake
13768 Michigan. The national census of 1830 gave 937,000 inhabitants to Ohio;
13769 343,000 to Indiana; 157,000 to Illinois; 687,000 to Kentucky; and
13770 681,000 to Tennessee.
13771
13772 [Illustration: DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION, 1830]
13773
13774 With the increase in population and the growth of agriculture came
13775 political influence. People who had once petitioned Congress now sent
13776 their own representatives. Men who had hitherto accepted without
13777 protests Presidents from the seaboard expressed a new spirit of dissent
13778 in 1824 by giving only three electoral votes for John Quincy Adams; and
13779 four years later they sent a son of the soil from Tennessee, Andrew
13780 Jackson, to take Washington's chair as chief executive of the
13781 nation--the first of a long line of Presidents from the Mississippi
13782 basin.
13783
13784
13785 =References=
13786
13787 W.G. Brown, _The Lower South in American History_.
13788
13789 B.A. Hinsdale, _The Old North West_ (2 vols.).
13790
13791 A.B. Hulbert, _Great American Canals_ and _The Cumberland Road_.
13792
13793 T. Roosevelt, _Thomas H. Benton_.
13794
13795 P.J. Treat, _The National Land System_ (1785-1820).
13796
13797 F.J. Turner, _Rise of the New West_ (American Nation Series).
13798
13799 J. Winsor, _The Westward Movement_.
13800
13801
13802 =Questions=
13803
13804 1. How did the West come to play a role in the Revolution?
13805
13806 2. What preparations were necessary to settlement?
13807
13808 3. Give the principal provisions of the Northwest Ordinance.
13809
13810 4. Explain how freehold land tenure happened to predominate in the West.
13811
13812 5. Who were the early settlers in the West? What routes did they take?
13813 How did they travel?
13814
13815 6. Explain the Eastern opposition to the admission of new Western
13816 states. Show how it was overcome.
13817
13818 7. Trace a connection between the economic system of the West and the
13819 spirit of the people.
13820
13821 8. Who were among the early friends of Western development?
13822
13823 9. Describe the difficulties of trade between the East and the West.
13824
13825 10. Show how trade was promoted.
13826
13827
13828 =Research Topics=
13829
13830 =Northwest Ordinance.=--Analysis of text in Macdonald, _Documentary
13831 Source Book_. Roosevelt, _Winning of the West_, Vol. V, pp. 5-57.
13832
13833 =The West before the Revolution.=--Roosevelt, Vol. I.
13834
13835 =The West during the Revolution.=--Roosevelt, Vols. II and III.
13836
13837 =Tennessee.=--Roosevelt, Vol. V, pp. 95-119 and Vol. VI, pp. 9-87.
13838
13839 =The Cumberland Road.=--A.B. Hulbert, _The Cumberland Road_.
13840
13841 =Early Life in the Middle West.=--Callender, _Economic History of the
13842 United States_, pp. 617-633; 636-641.
13843
13844 =Slavery in the Southwest.=--Callender, pp. 641-652.
13845
13846 =Early Land Policy.=--Callender, pp. 668-680.
13847
13848 =Westward Movement of Peoples.=--Roosevelt, Vol. IV, pp. 7-39.
13849
13850 Lists of books dealing with the early history of Western states are
13851 given in Hart, Channing, and Turner, _Guide to the Study and Reading of
13852 American History_ (rev. ed.), pp. 62-89.
13853
13854 =Kentucky.=--Roosevelt, Vol. IV, pp. 176-263.
13855
13856
13857
13858
13859 CHAPTER XI
13860
13861 JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY
13862
13863
13864 The New England Federalists, at the Hartford convention, prophesied that
13865 in time the West would dominate the East. "At the adoption of the
13866 Constitution," they said, "a certain balance of power among the original
13867 states was considered to exist, and there was at that time and yet is
13868 among those parties a strong affinity between their great and general
13869 interests. By the admission of these [new] states that balance has been
13870 materially affected and unless the practice be modified must ultimately
13871 be destroyed. The Southern states will first avail themselves of their
13872 new confederates to govern the East, and finally the Western states,
13873 multiplied in number, and augmented in population, will control the
13874 interests of the whole." Strangely enough the fulfillment of this
13875 prophecy was being prepared even in Federalist strongholds by the rise
13876 of a new urban democracy that was to make common cause with the farmers
13877 beyond the mountains.
13878
13879
13880 THE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT IN THE EAST
13881
13882 =The Aristocratic Features of the Old Order.=--The Revolutionary
13883 fathers, in setting up their first state constitutions, although they
13884 often spoke of government as founded on the consent of the governed, did
13885 not think that consistency required giving the vote to all adult males.
13886 On the contrary they looked upon property owners as the only safe
13887 "depositary" of political power. They went back to the colonial
13888 tradition that related taxation and representation. This, they argued,
13889 was not only just but a safeguard against the "excesses of democracy."
13890
13891 In carrying their theory into execution they placed taxpaying or
13892 property qualifications on the right to vote. Broadly speaking, these
13893 limitations fell into three classes. Three states, Pennsylvania (1776),
13894 New Hampshire (1784), and Georgia (1798), gave the ballot to all who
13895 paid taxes, without reference to the value of their property. Three,
13896 Virginia, Delaware, and Rhode Island, clung firmly to the ancient
13897 principles that only freeholders could be intrusted with electoral
13898 rights. Still other states, while closely restricting the suffrage,
13899 accepted the ownership of other things as well as land in fulfillment of
13900 the requirements. In Massachusetts, for instance, the vote was granted
13901 to all men who held land yielding an annual income of three pounds or
13902 possessed other property worth sixty pounds.
13903
13904 The electors thus enfranchised, numerous as they were, owing to the wide
13905 distribution of land, often suffered from a very onerous disability. In
13906 many states they were able to vote only for persons of wealth because
13907 heavy property qualifications were imposed on public officers. In New
13908 Hampshire, the governor had to be worth five hundred pounds, one-half in
13909 land; in Massachusetts, one thousand pounds, all freehold; in Maryland,
13910 five thousand pounds, one thousand of which was freehold; in North
13911 Carolina, one thousand pounds freehold; and in South Carolina, ten
13912 thousand pounds freehold. A state senator in Massachusetts had to be the
13913 owner of a freehold worth three hundred pounds or personal property
13914 worth six hundred pounds; in New Jersey, one thousand pounds' worth of
13915 property; in North Carolina, three hundred acres of land; in South
13916 Carolina, two thousand pounds freehold. For members of the lower house
13917 of the legislature lower qualifications were required.
13918
13919 In most of the states the suffrage or office holding or both were
13920 further restricted by religious provisions. No single sect was powerful
13921 enough to dominate after the Revolution, but, for the most part,
13922 Catholics and Jews were either disfranchised or excluded from office.
13923 North Carolina and Georgia denied the ballot to any one who was not a
13924 Protestant. Delaware withheld it from all who did not believe in the
13925 Trinity and the inspiration of the Scriptures. Massachusetts and
13926 Maryland limited it to Christians. Virginia and New York, advanced for
13927 their day, made no discrimination in government on account of religious
13928 opinion.
13929
13930 =The Defense of the Old Order.=--It must not be supposed that property
13931 qualifications were thoughtlessly imposed at the outset or considered of
13932 little consequence in practice. In the beginning they were viewed as
13933 fundamental. As towns grew in size and the number of landless citizens
13934 increased, the restrictions were defended with even more vigor. In
13935 Massachusetts, the great Webster upheld the rights of property in
13936 government, saying: "It is entirely just that property should have its
13937 due weight and consideration in political arrangements.... The
13938 disastrous revolutions which the world has witnessed, those political
13939 thunderstorms and earthquakes which have shaken the pillars of society
13940 to their deepest foundations, have been revolutions against property."
13941 In Pennsylvania, a leader in local affairs cried out against a plan to
13942 remove the taxpaying limitation on the suffrage: "What does the delegate
13943 propose? To place the vicious vagrant, the wandering Arabs, the Tartar
13944 hordes of our large cities on the level with the virtuous and good man?"
13945 In Virginia, Jefferson himself had first believed in property
13946 qualifications and had feared with genuine alarm the "mobs of the great
13947 cities." It was near the end of the eighteenth century before he
13948 accepted the idea of manhood suffrage. Even then he was unable to
13949 convince the constitution-makers of his own state. "It is not an idle
13950 chimera of the brain," urged one of them, "that the possession of land
13951 furnishes the strongest evidence of permanent, common interest with, and
13952 attachment to, the community.... It is upon this foundation I wish to
13953 place the right of suffrage. This is the best general standard which can
13954 be resorted to for the purpose of determining whether the persons to be
13955 invested with the right of suffrage are such persons as could be,
13956 consistently with the safety and well-being of the community, intrusted
13957 with the exercise of that right."
13958
13959 =Attacks on the Restricted Suffrage.=--The changing circumstances of
13960 American life, however, soon challenged the rule of those with property.
13961 Prominent among the new forces were the rising mercantile and business
13962 interests. Where the freehold qualification was applied, business men
13963 who did not own land were deprived of the vote and excluded from office.
13964 In New York, for example, the most illiterate farmer who had one hundred
13965 pounds' worth of land could vote for state senator and governor, while
13966 the landless banker or merchant could not. It is not surprising,
13967 therefore, to find business men taking the lead in breaking down
13968 freehold limitations on the suffrage. The professional classes also were
13969 interested in removing the barriers which excluded many of them from
13970 public affairs. It was a schoolmaster, Thomas Dorr, who led the popular
13971 uprising in Rhode Island which brought the exclusive rule by freeholders
13972 to an end.
13973
13974 In addition to the business and professional classes, the mechanics of
13975 the towns showed a growing hostility to a system of government that
13976 generally barred them from voting or holding office. Though not
13977 numerous, they had early begun to exercise an influence on the course of
13978 public affairs. They had led the riots against the Stamp Act, overturned
13979 King George's statue, and "crammed stamps down the throats of
13980 collectors." When the state constitutions were framed they took a lively
13981 interest, particularly in New York City and Philadelphia. In June, 1776,
13982 the "mechanicks in union" in New York protested against putting the new
13983 state constitution into effect without their approval, declaring that
13984 the right to vote on the acceptance or rejection of a fundamental law
13985 "is the birthright of every man to whatever state he may belong." Though
13986 their petition was rejected, their spirit remained. When, a few years
13987 later, the federal Constitution was being framed, the mechanics watched
13988 the process with deep concern; they knew that one of its main objects
13989 was to promote trade and commerce, affecting directly their daily bread.
13990 During the struggle over ratification, they passed resolutions approving
13991 its provisions and they often joined in parades organized to stir up
13992 sentiment for the Constitution, even though they could not vote for
13993 members of the state conventions and so express their will directly.
13994 After the organization of trade unions they collided with the courts of
13995 law and thus became interested in the election of judges and lawmakers.
13996
13997 Those who attacked the old system of class rule found a strong moral
13998 support in the Declaration of Independence. Was it not said that all men
13999 are created equal? Whoever runs may read. Was it not declared that
14000 governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed?
14001 That doctrine was applied with effect to George III and seemed
14002 appropriate for use against the privileged classes of Massachusetts or
14003 Virginia. "How do the principles thus proclaimed," asked the
14004 non-freeholders of Richmond, in petitioning for the ballot, "accord with
14005 the existing regulation of the suffrage? A regulation which, instead of
14006 the equality nature ordains, creates an odious distinction between
14007 members of the same community ... and vests in a favored class, not in
14008 consideration of their public services but of their private possessions,
14009 the highest of all privileges."
14010
14011 =Abolition of Property Qualifications.=--By many minor victories rather
14012 than by any spectacular triumphs did the advocates of manhood suffrage
14013 carry the day. Slight gains were made even during the Revolution or
14014 shortly afterward. In Pennsylvania, the mechanics, by taking an active
14015 part in the contest over the Constitution of 1776, were able to force
14016 the qualification down to the payment of a small tax. Vermont came into
14017 the union in 1792 without any property restrictions. In the same year
14018 Delaware gave the vote to all men who paid taxes. Maryland, reckoned one
14019 of the most conservative of states, embarked on the experiment of
14020 manhood suffrage in 1809; and nine years later, Connecticut, equally
14021 conservative, decided that all taxpayers were worthy of the ballot.
14022
14023 Five states, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Rhode Island, and North
14024 Carolina, remained obdurate while these changes were going on around
14025 them; finally they had to yield themselves. The last struggle in
14026 Massachusetts took place in the constitutional convention of 1820. There
14027 Webster, in the prime of his manhood, and John Adams, in the closing
14028 years of his old age, alike protested against such radical innovations
14029 as manhood suffrage. Their protests were futile. The property test was
14030 abolished and a small tax-paying qualification was substituted. New York
14031 surrendered the next year and, after trying some minor restrictions for
14032 five years, went completely over to white manhood suffrage in 1826.
14033 Rhode Island clung to her freehold qualification through thirty years of
14034 agitation. Then Dorr's Rebellion, almost culminating in bloodshed,
14035 brought about a reform in 1843 which introduced a slight tax-paying
14036 qualification as an alternative to the freehold. Virginia and North
14037 Carolina were still unconvinced. The former refused to abandon ownership
14038 of land as the test for political rights until 1850 and the latter until
14039 1856. Although religious discriminations and property qualifications for
14040 office holders were sometimes retained after the establishment of
14041 manhood suffrage, they were usually abolished along with the monopoly of
14042 government enjoyed by property owners and taxpayers.
14043
14044 [Illustration: THOMAS DORR AROUSING HIS FOLLOWERS]
14045
14046 At the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the white
14047 male industrial workers and the mechanics of the Northern cities, at
14048 least, could lay aside the petition for the ballot and enjoy with the
14049 free farmer a voice in the government of their common country.
14050 "Universal democracy," sighed Carlyle, who was widely read in the United
14051 States, "whatever we may think of it has declared itself the inevitable
14052 fact of the days in which we live; and he who has any chance to instruct
14053 or lead in these days must begin by admitting that ... Where no
14054 government is wanted, save that of the parish constable, as in America
14055 with its boundless soil, every man being able to find work and
14056 recompense for himself, democracy may subsist; not elsewhere." Amid the
14057 grave misgivings of the first generation of statesmen, America was
14058 committed to the great adventure, in the populous towns of the East as
14059 well as in the forests and fields of the West.
14060
14061
14062 THE NEW DEMOCRACY ENTERS THE ARENA
14063
14064 The spirit of the new order soon had a pronounced effect on the
14065 machinery of government and the practice of politics. The enfranchised
14066 electors were not long in demanding for themselves a larger share in
14067 administration.
14068
14069 =The Spoils System and Rotation in Office.=--First of all they wanted
14070 office for themselves, regardless of their fitness. They therefore
14071 extended the system of rewarding party workers with government
14072 positions--a system early established in several states, notably New
14073 York and Pennsylvania. Closely connected with it was the practice of
14074 fixing short terms for officers and making frequent changes in
14075 personnel. "Long continuance in office," explained a champion of this
14076 idea in Pennsylvania in 1837, "unfits a man for the discharge of its
14077 duties, by rendering him arbitrary and aristocratic, and tends to beget,
14078 first life office, and then hereditary office, which leads to the
14079 destruction of free government." The solution offered was the historic
14080 doctrine of "rotation in office." At the same time the principle of
14081 popular election was extended to an increasing number of officials who
14082 had once been appointed either by the governor or the legislature. Even
14083 geologists, veterinarians, surveyors, and other technical officers were
14084 declared elective on the theory that their appointment "smacked of
14085 monarchy."
14086
14087 =Popular Election of Presidential Electors.=--In a short time the spirit
14088 of democracy, while playing havoc with the old order in state
14089 government, made its way upward into the federal system. The framers of
14090 the Constitution, bewildered by many proposals and unable to agree on
14091 any single plan, had committed the choice of presidential electors to
14092 the discretion of the state legislatures. The legislatures, in turn,
14093 greedy of power, early adopted the practice of choosing the electors
14094 themselves; but they did not enjoy it long undisturbed. Democracy,
14095 thundering at their doors, demanded that they surrender the privilege to
14096 the people. Reluctantly they yielded, sometimes granting popular
14097 election and then withdrawing it. The drift was inevitable, and the
14098 climax came with the advent of Jacksonian democracy. In 1824, Vermont,
14099 New York, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, though some
14100 had experimented with popular election, still left the choice of
14101 electors with the legislature. Eight years later South Carolina alone
14102 held to the old practice. Popular election had become the final word.
14103 The fanciful idea of an electoral college of "good and wise men,"
14104 selected without passion or partisanship by state legislatures acting as
14105 deliberative bodies, was exploded for all time; the election of the
14106 nation's chief magistrate was committed to the tempestuous methods of
14107 democracy.
14108
14109 =The Nominating Convention.=--As the suffrage was widened and the
14110 popular choice of presidential electors extended, there arose a violent
14111 protest against the methods used by the political parties in nominating
14112 candidates. After the retirement of Washington, both the Republicans and
14113 the Federalists found it necessary to agree upon their favorites before
14114 the election, and they adopted a colonial device--the pre-election
14115 caucus. The Federalist members of Congress held a conference and
14116 selected their candidate, and the Republicans followed the example. In
14117 a short time the practice of nominating by a "congressional caucus"
14118 became a recognized institution. The election still remained with the
14119 people; but the power of picking candidates for their approval passed
14120 into the hands of a small body of Senators and Representatives.
14121
14122
14123 A reaction against this was unavoidable. To friends of "the plain
14124 people," like Andrew Jackson, it was intolerable, all the more so
14125 because the caucus never favored him with the nomination. More
14126 conservative men also found grave objections to it. They pointed out
14127 that, whereas the Constitution intended the President to be an
14128 independent officer, he had now fallen under the control of a caucus of
14129 congressmen. The supremacy of the legislative branch had been obtained
14130 by an extra-legal political device. To such objections were added
14131 practical considerations. In 1824, when personal rivalry had taken the
14132 place of party conflicts, the congressional caucus selected as the
14133 candidate, William H. Crawford, of Georgia, a man of distinction but no
14134 great popularity, passing by such an obvious hero as General Jackson.
14135 The followers of the General were enraged and demanded nothing short of
14136 the death of "King Caucus." Their clamor was effective. Under their
14137 attacks, the caucus came to an ignominious end.
14138
14139 In place of it there arose in 1831 a new device, the national nominating
14140 convention, composed of delegates elected by party voters for the sole
14141 purpose of nominating candidates. Senators and Representatives were
14142 still prominent in the party councils, but they were swamped by hundreds
14143 of delegates "fresh from the people," as Jackson was wont to say. In
14144 fact, each convention was made up mainly of office holders and office
14145 seekers, and the new institution was soon denounced as vigorously as
14146 King Caucus had been, particularly by statesmen who failed to obtain a
14147 nomination. Still it grew in strength and by 1840 was firmly
14148 established.
14149
14150 =The End of the Old Generation.=--In the election of 1824, the
14151 representatives of the "aristocracy" made their last successful stand.
14152 Until then the leadership by men of "wealth and talents" had been
14153 undisputed. There had been five Presidents--Washington, John Adams,
14154 Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe--all Eastern men brought up in prosperous
14155 families with the advantages of culture which come from leisure and the
14156 possession of life's refinements. None of them had ever been compelled
14157 to work with his hands for a livelihood. Four of them had been
14158 slaveholders. Jefferson was a philosopher, learned in natural science, a
14159 master of foreign languages, a gentleman of dignity and grace of manner,
14160 notwithstanding his studied simplicity. Madison, it was said, was armed
14161 "with all the culture of his century." Monroe was a graduate of William
14162 and Mary, a gentleman of the old school. Jefferson and his three
14163 successors called themselves Republicans and professed a genuine faith
14164 in the people but they were not "of the people" themselves; they were
14165 not sons of the soil or the workshop. They were all men of "the grand
14166
14167 old order of society" who gave finish and style even to popular
14168 government.
14169
14170 Monroe was the last of the Presidents belonging to the heroic epoch of
14171 the Revolution. He had served in the war for independence, in the
14172 Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and in official capacity
14173 after the adoption of the Constitution. In short, he was of the age that
14174 had wrought American independence and set the government afloat. With
14175 his passing, leadership went to a new generation; but his successor,
14176 John Quincy Adams, formed a bridge between the old and the new in that
14177 he combined a high degree of culture with democratic sympathies.
14178 Washington had died in 1799, preceded but a few months by Patrick Henry
14179 and followed in four years by Samuel Adams. Hamilton had been killed in
14180 a duel with Burr in 1804. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were yet alive
14181 in 1824 but they were soon to pass from the scene, reconciled at last,
14182 full of years and honors. Madison was in dignified retirement, destined
14183 to live long enough to protest against the doctrine of nullification
14184 proclaimed by South Carolina before death carried him away at the ripe
14185 old age of eighty-five.
14186
14187 =The Election of John Quincy Adams (1824).=--The campaign of 1824 marked
14188 the end of the "era of good feeling" inaugurated by the collapse of the
14189 Federalist party after the election of 1816. There were four leading
14190 candidates, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and W.H.
14191 Crawford. The result of the election was a division of the electoral
14192 votes into four parts and no one received a majority. Under the
14193 Constitution, therefore, the selection of President passed to the House
14194 of Representatives. Clay, who stood at the bottom of the poll, threw his
14195 weight to Adams and assured his triumph, much to the chagrin of
14196 Jackson's friends. They thought, with a certain justification, that
14197 inasmuch as the hero of New Orleans had received the largest electoral
14198 vote, the House was morally bound to accept the popular judgment and
14199 make him President. Jackson shook hands cordially with Adams on the day
14200 of the inauguration, but never forgave him for being elected.
14201
14202 While Adams called himself a Republican in politics and often spoke of
14203 "the rule of the people," he was regarded by Jackson's followers as "an
14204 aristocrat." He was not a son of the soil. Neither was he acquainted at
14205 first hand with the labor of farmers and mechanics. He had been educated
14206 at Harvard and in Europe. Like his illustrious father, John Adams, he
14207 was a stern and reserved man, little given to seeking popularity.
14208 Moreover, he was from the East and the frontiersmen of the West regarded
14209 him as a man "born with a silver spoon in his mouth." Jackson's
14210 supporters especially disliked him because they thought their hero
14211 entitled to the presidency. Their anger was deepened when Adams
14212 appointed Clay to the office of Secretary of State; and they set up a
14213 cry that there had been a "deal" by which Clay had helped to elect Adams
14214 to get office for himself.
14215
14216 Though Adams conducted his administration with great dignity and in a
14217 fine spirit of public service, he was unable to overcome the opposition
14218 which he encountered on his election to office or to win popularity in
14219 the West and South. On the contrary, by advocating government assistance
14220 in building roads and canals and public grants in aid of education,
14221 arts, and sciences, he ran counter to the current which had set in
14222 against appropriations of federal funds for internal improvements. By
14223 signing the Tariff Bill of 1828, soon known as the "Tariff of
14224 Abominations," he made new enemies without adding to his friends in New
14225 York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio where he sorely needed them. Handicapped by
14226 the false charge that he had been a party to a "corrupt bargain" with
14227 Clay to secure his first election; attacked for his advocacy of a high
14228 protective tariff; charged with favoring an "aristocracy of
14229 office-holders" in Washington on account of his refusal to discharge
14230 government clerks by the wholesale, Adams was retired from the White
14231 House after he had served four years.
14232
14233 =The Triumph of Jackson in 1828.=--Probably no candidate for the
14234 presidency ever had such passionate popular support as Andrew Jackson
14235 had in 1828. He was truly a man of the people. Born of poor parents in
14236 the upland region of South Carolina, schooled in poverty and adversity,
14237 without the advantages of education or the refinements of cultivated
14238 leisure, he seemed the embodiment of the spirit of the new American
14239 democracy. Early in his youth he had gone into the frontier of Tennessee
14240 where he soon won a name as a fearless and intrepid Indian fighter. On
14241 the march and in camp, he endeared himself to his men by sharing their
14242 hardships, sleeping on the ground with them, and eating parched corn
14243 when nothing better could be found for the privates. From local
14244 prominence he sprang into national fame by his exploit at the battle of
14245 New Orleans. His reputation as a military hero was enhanced by the
14246 feeling that he had been a martyr to political treachery in 1824. The
14247 farmers of the West and South claimed him as their own. The mechanics of
14248 the Eastern cities, newly enfranchised, also looked upon him as their
14249 friend. Though his views on the tariff, internal improvements, and other
14250 issues before the country were either vague or unknown, he was readily
14251 elected President.
14252
14253 The returns of the electoral vote in 1828 revealed the sources of
14254 Jackson's power. In New England, he received but one ballot, from
14255 Maine; he had a majority of the electors in New York and all of them in
14256 Pennsylvania; and he carried every state south of Maryland and beyond
14257 the Appalachians. Adams did not get a single electoral vote in the South
14258 and West. The prophecy of the Hartford convention had been fulfilled.
14259
14260 [Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON]
14261
14262 When Jackson took the oath of office on March 4, 1829, the government of
14263 the United States entered into a new era. Until this time the
14264 inauguration of a President--even that of Jefferson, the apostle of
14265 simplicity--had brought no rude shock to the course of affairs at the
14266 capital. Hitherto the installation of a President meant that an
14267 old-fashioned gentleman, accompanied by a few servants, had driven to
14268 the White House in his own coach, taken the oath with quiet dignity,
14269 appointed a few new men to the higher posts, continued in office the
14270 long list of regular civil employees, and begun his administration with
14271 respectable decorum. Jackson changed all this. When he was inaugurated,
14272 men and women journeyed hundreds of miles to witness the ceremony. Great
14273 throngs pressed into the White House, "upset the bowls of punch, broke
14274 the glasses, and stood with their muddy boots on the satin-covered
14275 chairs to see the people's President." If Jefferson's inauguration was,
14276 as he called it, the "great revolution," Jackson's inauguration was a
14277 cataclysm.
14278
14279
14280 THE NEW DEMOCRACY AT WASHINGTON
14281
14282 =The Spoils System.=--The staid and respectable society of Washington
14283 was disturbed by this influx of farmers and frontiersmen. To speak of
14284 politics became "bad form" among fashionable women. The clerks and
14285 civil servants of the government who had enjoyed long and secure tenure
14286 of office became alarmed at the clamor of new men for their positions.
14287 Doubtless the major portion of them had opposed the election of Jackson
14288 and looked with feelings akin to contempt upon him and his followers.
14289 With a hunter's instinct, Jackson scented his prey. Determined to have
14290 none but his friends in office, he made a clean sweep, expelling old
14291 employees to make room for men "fresh from the people." This was a new
14292 custom. Other Presidents had discharged a few officers for engaging in
14293 opposition politics. They had been careful in making appointments not to
14294 choose inveterate enemies; but they discharged relatively few men on
14295 account of their political views and partisan activities.
14296
14297 By wholesale removals and the frank selection of officers on party
14298 grounds--a practice already well intrenched in New York--Jackson
14299 established the "spoils system" at Washington. The famous slogan, "to
14300 the victor belong the spoils of victory," became the avowed principle of
14301 the national government. Statesmen like Calhoun denounced it; poets like
14302 James Russell Lowell ridiculed it; faithful servants of the government
14303 suffered under it; but it held undisturbed sway for half a century
14304 thereafter, each succeeding generation outdoing, if possible, its
14305 predecessor in the use of public office for political purposes. If any
14306 one remarked that training and experience were necessary qualifications
14307 for important public positions, he met Jackson's own profession of
14308 faith: "The duties of any public office are so simple or admit of being
14309 made so simple that any man can in a short time become master of them."
14310
14311 =The Tariff and Nullification.=--Jackson had not been installed in power
14312 very long before he was compelled to choose between states' rights and
14313 nationalism. The immediate occasion of the trouble was the tariff--a
14314 matter on which Jackson did not have any very decided views. His mind
14315 did not run naturally to abstruse economic questions; and owing to the
14316 divided opinion of the country it was "good politics" to be vague and
14317 ambiguous in the controversy. Especially was this true, because the
14318 tariff issue was threatening to split the country into parties again.
14319
14320 _The Development of the Policy of "Protection."_--The war of 1812 and
14321 the commercial policies of England which followed it had accentuated the
14322 need for American economic independence. During that conflict, the
14323 United States, cut off from English manufactures as during the
14324 Revolution, built up home industries to meet the unusual call for iron,
14325 steel, cloth, and other military and naval supplies as well as the
14326 demands from ordinary markets. Iron foundries and textile mills sprang
14327 up as in the night; hundreds of business men invested fortunes in
14328 industrial enterprises so essential to the military needs of the
14329 government; and the people at large fell into the habit of buying
14330 American-made goods again. As the London _Times_ tersely observed of the
14331 Americans, "their first war with England made them independent; their
14332 second war made them formidable."
14333
14334 In recognition of this state of affairs, the tariff of 1816 was
14335 designed: _first_, to prevent England from ruining these "infant
14336 industries" by dumping the accumulated stores of years suddenly upon
14337 American markets; and, _secondly_, to enlarge in the manufacturing
14338 centers the demand for American agricultural produce. It accomplished
14339 the purposes of its framers. It kept in operation the mills and furnaces
14340 so recently built. It multiplied the number of industrial workers and
14341 enhanced the demand for the produce of the soil. It brought about
14342 another very important result. It turned the capital and enterprise of
14343 New England from shipping to manufacturing, and converted her statesmen,
14344 once friends of low tariffs, into ardent advocates of protection.
14345
14346 In the early years of the nineteenth century, the Yankees had bent their
14347 energies toward building and operating ships to carry produce from
14348 America to Europe and manufactures from Europe to America. For this
14349 reason, they had opposed the tariff of 1816 calculated to increase
14350 domestic production and cut down the carrying trade. Defeated in their
14351 efforts, they accepted the inevitable and turned to manufacturing. Soon
14352 they were powerful friends of protection for American enterprise. As the
14353 money invested and the labor employed in the favored industries
14354 increased, the demand for continued and heavier protection grew apace.
14355 Even the farmers who furnished raw materials, like wool, flax, and hemp,
14356 began to see eye to eye with the manufacturers. So the textile interests
14357 of New England, the iron masters of Connecticut, New Jersey, and
14358 Pennsylvania, the wool, hemp, and flax growers of Ohio, Kentucky, and
14359 Tennessee, and the sugar planters of Louisiana developed into a
14360 formidable combination in support of a high protective tariff.
14361
14362 _The Planting States Oppose the Tariff._--In the meantime, the cotton
14363 states on the seaboard had forgotten about the havoc wrought during the
14364 Napoleonic wars when their produce rotted because there were no ships to
14365 carry it to Europe. The seas were now open. The area devoted to cotton
14366 had swiftly expanded as Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were opened
14367 up. Cotton had in fact become "king" and the planters depended for their
14368 prosperity, as they thought, upon the sale of their staple to English
14369 manufacturers whose spinning and weaving mills were the wonder of the
14370 world. Manufacturing nothing and having to buy nearly everything except
14371 farm produce and even much of that for slaves, the planters naturally
14372 wanted to purchase manufactures in the cheapest market, England, where
14373 they sold most of their cotton. The tariff, they contended, raised the
14374 price of the goods they had to buy and was thus in fact a tribute laid
14375 on them for the benefit of the Northern mill owners.
14376
14377 _The Tariff of Abominations._--They were overborne, however, in 1824 and
14378 again in 1828 when Northern manufacturers and Western farmers forced
14379 Congress to make an upward revision of the tariff. The Act of 1828 known
14380 as "the Tariff of Abominations," though slightly modified in 1832, was
14381 "the straw which broke the camel's back." Southern leaders turned in
14382 rage against the whole system. The legislatures of Virginia, North
14383 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama denounced it; a general
14384 convention of delegates held at Augusta issued a protest of defiance
14385 against it; and South Carolina, weary of verbal battles, decided to
14386 prevent its enforcement.
14387
14388 _South Carolina Nullifies the Tariff._--The legislature of that state,
14389 on October 26, 1832, passed a bill calling for a state convention which
14390 duly assembled in the following month. In no mood for compromise, it
14391 adopted the famous Ordinance of Nullification after a few days' debate.
14392 Every line of this document was clear and firm. The tariff, it opened,
14393 gives "bounties to classes and individuals ... at the expense and to the
14394 injury and oppression of other classes and individuals"; it is a
14395 violation of the Constitution of the United States and therefore null
14396 and void; its enforcement in South Carolina is unlawful; if the federal
14397 government attempts to coerce the state into obeying the law, "the
14398 people of this state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all
14399 further obligations to maintain or preserve their political connection
14400 with the people of the other states and will forthwith proceed to
14401 organize a separate government and do all other acts and things which
14402 sovereign and independent states may of right do."
14403
14404 _Southern States Condemn Nullification._--The answer of the country to
14405 this note of defiance, couched in the language used in the Kentucky
14406 resolutions and by the New England Federalists during the war of 1812,
14407 was quick and positive. The legislatures of the Southern states, while
14408 condemning the tariff, repudiated the step which South Carolina had
14409 taken. Georgia responded: "We abhor the doctrine of nullification as
14410 neither a peaceful nor a constitutional remedy." Alabama found it
14411 "unsound in theory and dangerous in practice." North Carolina replied
14412 that it was "revolutionary in character, subversive of the Constitution
14413 of the United States." Mississippi answered: "It is disunion by
14414 force--it is civil war." Virginia spoke more softly, condemning the
14415 tariff and sustaining the principle of the Virginia resolutions but
14416 denying that South Carolina could find in them any sanction for her
14417 proceedings.
14418
14419 _Jackson Firmly Upholds the Union._--The eyes of the country were turned
14420 upon Andrew Jackson. It was known that he looked with no friendly
14421 feelings upon nullification, for, at a Jefferson dinner in the spring of
14422 1830 while the subject was in the air, he had with laconic firmness
14423 announced a toast: "Our federal union; it must be preserved." When two
14424 years later the open challenge came from South Carolina, he replied that
14425 he would enforce the law, saying with his frontier directness: "If a
14426 single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of
14427 the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hands on
14428 engaged in such conduct upon the first tree that I can reach." He made
14429 ready to keep his word by preparing for the use of military and naval
14430 forces in sustaining the authority of the federal government. Then in a
14431 long and impassioned proclamation to the people of South Carolina he
14432 pointed out the national character of the union, and announced his
14433 solemn resolve to preserve it by all constitutional means. Nullification
14434 he branded as "incompatible with the existence of the union,
14435 contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized
14436 by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was
14437 founded, and destructive of the great objects for which it was formed."
14438
14439 _A Compromise._--In his messages to Congress, however, Jackson spoke the
14440 language of conciliation. A few days before issuing his proclamation he
14441 suggested that protection should be limited to the articles of domestic
14442 manufacture indispensable to safety in war time, and shortly afterward
14443 he asked for new legislation to aid him in enforcing the laws. With two
14444 propositions before it, one to remove the chief grounds for South
14445 Carolina's resistance and the other to apply force if it was continued,
14446 Congress bent its efforts to avoid a crisis. On February 12, 1833,
14447 Henry Clay laid before the Senate a compromise tariff bill providing for
14448 the gradual reduction of the duties until by 1842 they would reach the
14449 level of the law which Calhoun had supported in 1816. About the same
14450 time the "force bill," designed to give the President ample authority in
14451 executing the law in South Carolina, was taken up. After a short but
14452 acrimonious debate, both measures were passed and signed by President
14453 Jackson on the same day, March 2. Looking upon the reduction of the
14454 tariff as a complete vindication of her policy and an undoubted victory,
14455 South Carolina rescinded her ordinance and enacted another nullifying
14456 the force bill.
14457
14458 [Illustration: _From an old print._
14459
14460 DANIEL WEBSTER]
14461
14462 _The Webster-Hayne Debate._--Where the actual victory lay in this
14463 quarrel, long the subject of high dispute, need not concern us to-day.
14464 Perhaps the chief result of the whole affair was a clarification of the
14465 issue between the North and the South--a definite statement of the
14466 principles for which men on both sides were years afterward to lay down
14467 their lives. On behalf of nationalism and a perpetual union, the stanch
14468 old Democrat from Tennessee had, in his proclamation on nullification,
14469 spoken a language that admitted of only one meaning. On behalf of
14470 nullification, Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, a skilled lawyer and
14471 courtly orator, had in a great speech delivered in the Senate in
14472 January, 1830, set forth clearly and cogently the doctrine that the
14473 union is a compact among sovereign states from which the parties may
14474 lawfully withdraw. It was this address that called into the arena
14475 Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts, who, spreading the mantle
14476 of oblivion over the Hartford convention, delivered a reply to Hayne
14477 that has been reckoned among the powerful orations of all time--a plea
14478 for the supremacy of the Constitution and the national character of the
14479 union.
14480
14481 =The War on the United States Bank.=--If events forced the issue of
14482 nationalism and nullification upon Jackson, the same could not be said
14483 of his attack on the bank. That institution, once denounced by every
14484 true Jeffersonian, had been reestablished in 1816 under the
14485 administration of Jefferson's disciple, James Madison. It had not been
14486 in operation very long, however, before it aroused bitter opposition,
14487 especially in the South and the West. Its notes drove out of circulation
14488 the paper currency of unsound banks chartered by the states, to the
14489 great anger of local financiers. It was accused of favoritism in making
14490 loans, of conferring special privileges upon politicians in return for
14491 their support at Washington. To all Jackson's followers it was "an
14492 insidious money power." One of them openly denounced it as an
14493 institution designed "to strengthen the arm of wealth and counterpoise
14494 the influence of extended suffrage in the disposition of public
14495 affairs."
14496
14497 This sentiment President Jackson fully shared. In his first message to
14498 Congress he assailed the bank in vigorous language. He declared that its
14499 constitutionality was in doubt and alleged that it had failed to
14500 establish a sound and uniform currency. If such an institution was
14501 necessary, he continued, it should be a public bank, owned and managed
14502 by the government, not a private concern endowed with special privileges
14503 by it. In his second and third messages, Jackson came back to the
14504 subject, leaving the decision, however, to "an enlightened people and
14505 their representatives."
14506
14507 Moved by this frank hostility and anxious for the future, the bank
14508 applied to Congress for a renewal of its charter in 1832, four years
14509 before the expiration of its life. Clay, with his eye upon the
14510 presidency and an issue for the campaign, warmly supported the
14511 application. Congress, deeply impressed by his leadership, passed the
14512 bill granting the new charter, and sent the open defiance to Jackson.
14513 His response was an instant veto. The battle was on and it raged with
14514 fury until the close of his second administration, ending in the
14515 destruction of the bank, a disordered currency, and a national panic.
14516
14517 In his veto message, Jackson attacked the bank as unconstitutional and
14518 even hinted at corruption. He refused to assent to the proposition that
14519 the Supreme Court had settled the question of constitutionality by the
14520 decision in the McCulloch case. "Each public officer," he argued, "who
14521 takes an oath to support the Constitution, swears that he will support
14522 it as he understands it, not as it is understood by others."
14523
14524 Not satisfied with his veto and his declaration against the bank,
14525 Jackson ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to withdraw the government
14526 deposits which formed a large part of the institution's funds. This
14527 action he followed up by an open charge that the bank had used money
14528 shamefully to secure the return of its supporters to Congress. The
14529 Senate, stung by this charge, solemnly resolved that Jackson had
14530 "assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the
14531 Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both."
14532
14533 The effects of the destruction of the bank were widespread. When its
14534 charter expired in 1836, banking was once more committed to the control
14535 of the states. The state legislatures, under a decision rendered by the
14536 Supreme Court after the death of Marshall, began to charter banks under
14537 state ownership and control, with full power to issue paper money--this
14538 in spite of the provision in the Constitution that states shall not
14539 issue bills of credit or make anything but gold and silver coin legal
14540 tender in the payment of debts. Once more the country was flooded by
14541 paper currency of uncertain value. To make matters worse, Jackson
14542 adopted the practice of depositing huge amounts of government funds in
14543 these banks, not forgetting to render favors to those institutions which
14544 supported him in politics--"pet banks," as they were styled at the
14545 time. In 1837, partially, though by no means entirely, as a result of
14546 the abolition of the bank, the country was plunged into one of the most
14547 disastrous panics which it ever experienced.
14548
14549 =Internal Improvements Checked.=--The bank had presented to Jackson a
14550 very clear problem--one of destruction. Other questions were not so
14551 simple, particularly the subject of federal appropriations in aid of
14552 roads and other internal improvements. Jefferson had strongly favored
14553 government assistance in such matters, but his administration was
14554 followed by a reaction. Both Madison and Monroe vetoed acts of Congress
14555 appropriating public funds for public roads, advancing as their reason
14556 the argument that the Constitution authorized no such laws. Jackson,
14557 puzzled by the clamor on both sides, followed their example without
14558 making the constitutional bar absolute. Congress, he thought, might
14559 lawfully build highways of a national and military value, but he
14560 strongly deprecated attacks by local interests on the federal treasury.
14561
14562 =The Triumph of the Executive Branch.=--Jackson's reelection in 1832
14563 served to confirm his opinion that he was the chosen leader of the
14564 people, freed and instructed to ride rough shod over Congress and even
14565 the courts. No President before or since ever entertained in times of
14566 peace such lofty notions of executive prerogative. The entire body of
14567 federal employees he transformed into obedient servants of his wishes, a
14568 sign or a nod from him making and undoing the fortunes of the humble and
14569 the mighty. His lawful cabinet of advisers, filling all of the high
14570 posts in the government, he treated with scant courtesy, preferring
14571 rather to secure his counsel and advice from an unofficial body of
14572 friends and dependents who, owing to their secret methods and back
14573 stairs arrangements, became known as "the kitchen cabinet." Under the
14574 leadership of a silent, astute, and resourceful politician, Amos
14575 Kendall, this informal gathering of the faithful both gave and carried
14576 out decrees and orders, communicating the President's lightest wish or
14577 strictest command to the uttermost part of the country. Resolutely and
14578 in the face of bitter opposition Jackson had removed the deposits from
14579 the United States Bank. When the Senate protested against this arbitrary
14580 conduct, he did not rest until it was forced to expunge the resolution
14581 of condemnation; in time one of his lieutenants with his own hands was
14582 able to tear the censure from the records. When Chief Justice Marshall
14583 issued a decree against Georgia which did not suit him, Jackson,
14584 according to tradition, blurted out that Marshall could go ahead and
14585 enforce his own orders. To the end he pursued his willful way, finally
14586 even choosing his own successor.
14587
14588
14589 THE RISE OF THE WHIGS
14590
14591 =Jackson's Measures Arouse Opposition.=--Measures so decided, policies
14592 so radical, and conduct so high-handed could not fail to arouse against
14593 Jackson a deep and exasperated opposition. The truth is the conduct of
14594 his entire administration profoundly disturbed the business and finances
14595 of the country. It was accompanied by conditions similar to those which
14596 existed under the Articles of Confederation. A paper currency, almost as
14597 unstable and irritating as the worthless notes of revolutionary days,
14598 flooded the country, hindering the easy transaction of business. The use
14599 of federal funds for internal improvements, so vital to the exchange of
14600 commodities which is the very life of industry, was blocked by executive
14601 vetoes. The Supreme Court, which, under Marshall, had held refractory
14602 states to their obligations under the Constitution, was flouted; states'
14603 rights judges, deliberately selected by Jackson for the bench, began to
14604 sap and undermine the rulings of Marshall. The protective tariff, under
14605 which the textile industry of New England, the iron mills of
14606 Pennsylvania, and the wool, flax, and hemp farms of the West had
14607 flourished, had received a severe blow in the compromise of 1833 which
14608 promised a steady reduction of duties. To cap the climax, Jackson's
14609 party, casting aside the old and reputable name of Republican, boldly
14610 chose for its title the term "Democrat," throwing down the gauntlet to
14611 every conservative who doubted the omniscience of the people. All these
14612 things worked together to evoke an opposition that was sharp and
14613 determined.
14614
14615 [Illustration: AN OLD CARTOON RIDICULING CLAY'S TARIFF AND INTERNAL
14616 IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM]
14617
14618 =Clay and the National Republicans.=--In this opposition movement,
14619 leadership fell to Henry Clay, a son of Kentucky, rather than to Daniel
14620 Webster of Massachusetts. Like Jackson, Clay was born in a home haunted
14621 by poverty. Left fatherless early and thrown upon his own resources, he
14622 went from Virginia into Kentucky where by sheer force of intellect he
14623 rose to eminence in the profession of law. Without the martial gifts or
14624 the martial spirit of Jackson, he slipped more easily into the social
14625 habits of the East at the same time that he retained his hold on the
14626 affections of the boisterous West. Farmers of Ohio, Indiana, and
14627 Kentucky loved him; financiers of New York and Philadelphia trusted him.
14628 He was thus a leader well fitted to gather the forces of opposition
14629 into union against Jackson.
14630
14631 Around Clay's standard assembled a motley collection, representing every
14632 species of political opinion, united by one tie only--hatred for "Old
14633 Hickory." Nullifiers and less strenuous advocates of states' rights were
14634 yoked with nationalists of Webster's school; ardent protectionists were
14635 bound together with equally ardent free traders, all fraternizing in one
14636 grand confusion of ideas under the title of "National Republicans." Thus
14637 the ancient and honorable term selected by Jefferson and his party, now
14638 abandoned by Jacksonian Democracy, was adroitly adopted to cover the
14639 supporters of Clay. The platform of the party, however, embraced all the
14640 old Federalist principles: protection for American industry; internal
14641 improvements; respect for the Supreme Court; resistance to executive
14642 tyranny; and denunciation of the spoils system. Though Jackson was
14643 easily victorious in 1832, the popular vote cast for Clay should have
14644 given him some doubts about the faith of "the whole people" in the
14645 wisdom of his "reign."
14646
14647 =Van Buren and the Panic of 1837.=--Nothing could shake the General's
14648 superb confidence. At the end of his second term he insisted on
14649 selecting his own successor; at a national convention, chosen by party
14650 voters, but packed with his office holders and friends, he nominated
14651 Martin Van Buren of New York. Once more he proved his strength by
14652 carrying the country for the Democrats. With a fine flourish, he
14653 attended the inauguration of Van Buren and then retired, amid the
14654 applause and tears of his devotees, to the Hermitage, his home in
14655 Tennessee.
14656
14657 Fortunately for him, Jackson escaped the odium of a disastrous panic
14658 which struck the country with terrible force in the following summer.
14659 Among the contributory causes of this crisis, no doubt, were the
14660 destruction of the bank and the issuance of the "specie circular" of
14661
14662 1836 which required the purchasers of public lands to pay for them in
14663 coin, instead of the paper notes of state banks. Whatever the dominating
14664 cause, the ruin was widespread. Bank after bank went under; boom towns
14665 in the West collapsed; Eastern mills shut down; and working people in
14666 the industrial centers, starving from unemployment, begged for relief.
14667 Van Buren braved the storm, offering no measure of reform or assistance
14668 to the distracted people. He did seek security for government funds by
14669 suggesting the removal of deposits from private banks and the
14670 establishment of an independent treasury system, with government
14671 depositaries for public funds, in several leading cities. This plan was
14672 finally accepted by Congress in 1840.
14673
14674 Had Van Buren been a captivating figure he might have lived down the
14675 discredit of the panic unjustly laid at his door; but he was far from
14676 being a favorite with the populace. Though a man of many talents, he
14677 owed his position to the quiet and adept management of Jackson rather
14678 than to his own personal qualities. The men of the frontier did not care
14679 for him. They suspected that he ate from "gold plate" and they could not
14680 forgive him for being an astute politician from New York. Still the
14681 Democratic party, remembering Jackson's wishes, renominated him
14682 unanimously in 1840 and saw him go down to utter defeat.
14683
14684 =The Whigs and General Harrison.=--By this time, the National
14685 Republicans, now known as Whigs--a title taken from the party of
14686 opposition to the Crown in England, had learned many lessons. Taking a
14687 leaf out of the Democratic book, they nominated, not Clay of Kentucky,
14688 well known for his views on the bank, the tariff, and internal
14689 improvements, but a military hero, General William Henry Harrison, a man
14690 of uncertain political opinions. Harrison, a son of a Virginia signer of
14691 the Declaration of Independence, sprang into public view by winning a
14692 battle more famous than important, "Tippecanoe"--a brush with the
14693 Indians in Indiana. He added to his laurels by rendering praiseworthy
14694 services during the war of 1812. When days of peace returned he was
14695 rewarded by a grateful people with a seat in Congress. Then he retired
14696 to quiet life in a little village near Cincinnati. Like Jackson he was
14697 held to be a son of the South and the West. Like Jackson he was a
14698 military hero, a lesser light, but still a light. Like Old Hickory he
14699 rode into office on a tide of popular feeling against an Eastern man
14700 accused of being something of an aristocrat. His personal popularity was
14701 sufficient. The Whigs who nominated him shrewdly refused to adopt a
14702 platform or declare their belief in anything. When some Democrat
14703 asserted that Harrison was a backwoodsman whose sole wants were a jug of
14704 hard cider and a log cabin, the Whigs treated the remark not as an
14705 insult but as proof positive that Harrison deserved the votes of Jackson
14706 men. The jug and the cabin they proudly transformed into symbols of the
14707 campaign, and won for their chieftain 234 electoral votes, while Van
14708 Buren got only sixty.
14709
14710 =Harrison and Tyler.=--The Hero of Tippecanoe was not long to enjoy the
14711 fruits of his victory. The hungry horde of Whig office seekers descended
14712 upon him like wolves upon the fold. If he went out they waylaid him; if
14713 he stayed indoors, he was besieged; not even his bed chamber was spared.
14714 He was none too strong at best and he took a deep cold on the day of his
14715 inauguration. Between driving out Democrats and appeasing Whigs, he fell
14716 mortally ill. Before the end of a month he lay dead at the capitol.
14717
14718 Harrison's successor, John Tyler, the Vice President, whom the Whigs had
14719 nominated to catch votes in Virginia, was more of a Democrat than
14720 anything else, though he was not partisan enough to please anybody. The
14721 Whigs railed at him because he would not approve the founding of another
14722 United States Bank. The Democrats stormed at him for refusing, until
14723 near the end of his term, to sanction the annexation of Texas, which had
14724 declared its independence of Mexico in 1836. His entire administration,
14725 marked by unseemly wrangling, produced only two measures of importance.
14726 The Whigs, flushed by victory, with the aid of a few protectionist
14727 Democrats, enacted, in 1842, a new tariff law destroying the compromise
14728 which had brought about the truce between the North and the South, in
14729 the days of nullification. The distinguished leader of the Whigs, Daniel
14730 Webster, as Secretary of State, in negotiation with Lord Ashburton
14731 representing Great Britain, settled the long-standing dispute between
14732 the two countries over the Maine boundary. A year after closing this
14733 chapter in American diplomacy, Webster withdrew to private life, leaving
14734 the President to endure alone the buffets of political fortune.
14735
14736 To the end, the Whigs regarded Tyler as a traitor to their cause; but
14737 the judgment of history is that it was a case of the biter bitten. They
14738 had nominated him for the vice presidency as a man of views acceptable
14739 to Southern Democrats in order to catch their votes, little reckoning
14740 with the chances of his becoming President. Tyler had not deceived them
14741 and, thoroughly soured, he left the White House in 1845 not to appear in
14742 public life again until the days of secession, when he espoused the
14743 Southern confederacy. Jacksonian Democracy, with new leadership, serving
14744 a new cause--slavery--was returned to power under James K. Polk, a
14745 friend of the General from Tennessee. A few grains of sand were to run
14746 through the hour glass before the Whig party was to be broken and
14747 scattered as the Federalists had been more than a generation before.
14748
14749
14750 THE INTERACTION OF AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN OPINION
14751
14752 =Democracy in England and France.=--During the period of Jacksonian
14753 Democracy, as in all epochs of ferment, there was a close relation
14754 between the thought of the New World and the Old. In England, the
14755 successes of the American experiment were used as arguments in favor of
14756 overthrowing the aristocracy which George III had manipulated with such
14757 effect against America half a century before. In the United States, on
14758 the other hand, conservatives like Chancellor Kent, the stout opponent
14759 of manhood suffrage in New York, cited the riots of the British working
14760 classes as a warning against admitting the same classes to a share in
14761 the government of the United States. Along with the agitation of opinion
14762 went epoch-making events. In 1832, the year of Jackson's second
14763 triumph, the British Parliament passed its first reform bill, which
14764 conferred the ballot--not on workingmen as yet--but on mill owners and
14765 shopkeepers whom the landlords regarded with genuine horror. The initial
14766 step was thus taken in breaking down the privileges of the landed
14767 aristocracy and the rich merchants of England.
14768
14769 About the same time a popular revolution occurred in France. The Bourbon
14770 family, restored to the throne of France by the allied powers after
14771 their victory over Napoleon in 1815, had embarked upon a policy of
14772 arbitrary government. To use the familiar phrase, they had learned
14773 nothing and forgotten nothing. Charles X, who came to the throne in
14774 1824, set to work with zeal to undo the results of the French
14775 Revolution, to stifle the press, restrict the suffrage, and restore the
14776 clergy and the nobility to their ancient rights. His policy encountered
14777 equally zealous opposition and in 1830 he was overthrown. The popular
14778 party, under the leadership of Lafayette, established, not a republic as
14779 some of the radicals had hoped, but a "liberal" middle-class monarchy
14780 under Louis Philippe. This second French Revolution made a profound
14781 impression on Americans, convincing them that the whole world was moving
14782 toward democracy. The mayor, aldermen, and citizens of New York City
14783 joined in a great parade to celebrate the fall of the Bourbons. Mingled
14784 with cheers for the new order in France were hurrahs for "the people's
14785 own, Andrew Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans and President of the United
14786 States!"
14787
14788 =European Interest in America.=--To the older and more settled
14789 Europeans, the democratic experiment in America was either a menace or
14790 an inspiration. Conservatives viewed it with anxiety; liberals with
14791 optimism. Far-sighted leaders could see that the tide of democracy was
14792 rising all over the world and could not be stayed. Naturally the country
14793 that had advanced furthest along the new course was the place in which
14794 to find arguments for and against proposals that Europe should make
14795 experiments of the same character.
14796
14797 =De Tocqueville's _Democracy in America_.=--In addition to the casual
14798 traveler there began to visit the United States the thoughtful observer
14799 bent on finding out what manner of nation this was springing up in the
14800 wilderness. Those who looked with sympathy upon the growing popular
14801 forces of England and France found in the United States, in spite of
14802 many blemishes and defects, a guarantee for the future of the people's
14803 rule in the Old World. One of these, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French
14804 liberal of mildly democratic sympathies, made a journey to this country
14805 in 1831; he described in a very remarkable volume, _Democracy in
14806 America_, the grand experiment as he saw it. On the whole he was
14807 convinced. After examining with a critical eye the life and labor of the
14808 American people, as well as the constitutions of the states and the
14809 nation, he came to the conclusion that democracy with all its faults was
14810 both inevitable and successful. Slavery he thought was a painful
14811 contrast to the other features of American life, and he foresaw what
14812 proved to be the irrepressible conflict over it. He believed that
14813 through blundering the people were destined to learn the highest of all
14814 arts, self-government on a grand scale. The absence of a leisure class,
14815 devoted to no calling or profession, merely enjoying the refinements of
14816 life and adding to its graces--the flaw in American culture that gave
14817 deep distress to many a European leader--de Tocqueville thought a
14818 necessary virtue in the republic. "Amongst a democratic people where
14819 there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living, or has
14820 worked, or is born of parents who have worked. A notion of labor is
14821 therefore presented to the mind on every side as the necessary, natural,
14822 and honest condition of human existence." It was this notion of a
14823 government in the hands of people who labored that struck the French
14824 publicist as the most significant fact in the modern world.
14825
14826 =Harriet Martineau's Visit to America.=--This phase of American life
14827 also profoundly impressed the brilliant English writer, Harriet
14828 Martineau. She saw all parts of the country, the homes of the rich and
14829 the log cabins of the frontier; she traveled in stagecoaches, canal
14830 boats, and on horseback; and visited sessions of Congress and auctions
14831 at slave markets. She tried to view the country impartially and the
14832 thing that left the deepest mark on her mind was the solidarity of the
14833 people in one great political body. "However various may be the tribes
14834 of inhabitants in those states, whatever part of the world may have been
14835 their birthplace, or that of their fathers, however broken may be their
14836 language, however servile or noble their employments, however exalted or
14837 despised their state, all are declared to be bound together by equal
14838 political obligations.... In that self-governing country all are held to
14839 have an equal interest in the principles of its institutions and to be
14840 bound in equal duty to watch their workings." Miss Martineau was also
14841 impressed with the passion of Americans for land ownership and
14842 contrasted the United States favorably with England where the tillers of
14843 the soil were either tenants or laborers for wages.
14844
14845 =Adverse Criticism.=--By no means all observers and writers were
14846 convinced that America was a success. The fastidious traveler, Mrs.
14847 Trollope, who thought the English system of church and state was ideal,
14848 saw in the United States only roughness and ignorance. She lamented the
14849 "total and universal want of manners both in males and females," adding
14850 that while "they appear to have clear heads and active intellects,"
14851 there was "no charm, no grace in their conversation." She found
14852 everywhere a lack of reverence for kings, learning, and rank. Other
14853 critics were even more savage. The editor of the _Foreign Quarterly_
14854 petulantly exclaimed that the United States was "a brigand
14855 confederation." Charles Dickens declared the country to be "so maimed
14856 and lame, so full of sores and ulcers that her best friends turn from
14857 the loathsome creature in disgust." Sydney Smith, editor of the
14858 _Edinburgh Review_, was never tired of trying his caustic wit at the
14859 expense of America. "Their Franklins and Washingtons and all the other
14860 sages and heroes of their revolution were born and bred subjects of the
14861 king of England," he observed in 1820. "During the thirty or forty
14862 years of their independence they have done absolutely nothing for the
14863 sciences, for the arts, for literature, or even for the statesmanlike
14864 studies of politics or political economy.... In the four quarters of the
14865 globe who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? Or looks
14866 at an American picture or statue?" To put a sharp sting into his taunt
14867 he added, forgetting by whose authority slavery was introduced and
14868 fostered: "Under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is
14869 every sixth man a slave whom his fellow creatures may buy and sell?"
14870
14871 Some Americans, while resenting the hasty and often superficial
14872 judgments of European writers, winced under their satire and took
14873 thought about certain particulars in the indictments brought against
14874 them. The mass of the people, however, bent on the great experiment,
14875 gave little heed to carping critics who saw the flaws and not the
14876 achievements of our country--critics who were in fact less interested in
14877 America than in preventing the rise and growth of democracy in Europe.
14878
14879
14880 =References=
14881
14882 J.S. Bassett, _Life of Andrew Jackson_.
14883
14884 J.W. Burgess, _The Middle Period_.
14885
14886 H. Lodge, _Daniel Webster_.
14887
14888 W. Macdonald, _Jacksonian Democracy_ (American Nation Series).
14889
14890 Ostrogorski, _Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties_, Vol.
14891 II.
14892
14893 C.H. Peck, _The Jacksonian Epoch_.
14894
14895 C. Schurz, _Henry Clay_.
14896
14897
14898 =Questions=
14899
14900 1. By what devices was democracy limited in the first days of our
14901 Republic?
14902
14903 2. On what grounds were the limitations defended? Attacked?
14904
14905 3. Outline the rise of political democracy in the United States.
14906
14907 4. Describe three important changes in our political system.
14908
14909 5. Contrast the Presidents of the old and the new generations.
14910
14911 6. Account for the unpopularity of John Adams' administration.
14912
14913 7. What had been the career of Andrew Jackson before 1829?
14914
14915 8. Sketch the history of the protective tariff and explain the theory
14916 underlying it.
14917
14918 9. Explain the growth of Southern opposition to the tariff.
14919
14920 10. Relate the leading events connected with nullification in South
14921 Carolina.
14922
14923 11. State Jackson's views and tell the outcome of the controversy.
14924
14925 12. Why was Jackson opposed to the bank? How did he finally destroy it?
14926
14927 13. The Whigs complained of Jackson's "executive tyranny." What did they
14928 mean?
14929
14930 14. Give some of the leading events in Clay's career.
14931
14932 15. How do you account for the triumph of Harrison in 1840?
14933
14934 16. Why was Europe especially interested in America at this period? Who
14935 were some of the European writers on American affairs?
14936
14937
14938 =Research Topics=
14939
14940 =Jackson's Criticisms of the Bank.=--Macdonald, _Documentary Source
14941 Book_, pp. 320-329.
14942
14943 =Financial Aspects of the Bank Controversy.=--Dewey, _Financial History
14944 of the United States_, Sections 86-87; Elson, _History of the United
14945 States_, pp. 492-496.
14946
14947 =Jackson's View of the Union.=--See his proclamation on nullification in
14948 Macdonald, pp. 333-340.
14949
14950 =Nullification.=--McMaster, _History of the People of the United
14951 States_, Vol. VI, pp. 153-182; Elson, pp. 487-492.
14952
14953 =The Webster-Hayne Debate.=--Analyze the arguments. Extensive extracts
14954 are given in Macdonald's larger three-volume work, _Select Documents of
14955 United States History, 1776-1761_, pp. 239-260.
14956
14957 =The Character of Jackson's Administration.=--Woodrow Wilson, _History
14958 of the American People_, Vol. IV, pp. 1-87; Elson, pp. 498-501.
14959
14960 =The People in 1830.=--From contemporary writings in Hart, _American
14961 History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. III, pp. 509-530.
14962
14963 =Biographical Studies.=--Andrew Jackson, J.Q. Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel
14964 Webster, J.C. Calhoun, and W.H. Harrison.
14965
14966
14967
14968
14969 CHAPTER XII
14970
14971 THE MIDDLE BORDER AND THE GREAT WEST
14972
14973
14974 "We shall not send an emigrant beyond the Mississippi in a hundred
14975 years," exclaimed Livingston, the principal author of the Louisiana
14976 purchase. When he made this astounding declaration, he doubtless had
14977 before his mind's eye the great stretches of unoccupied lands between
14978 the Appalachians and the Mississippi. He also had before him the history
14979 of the English colonies, which told him of the two centuries required to
14980 settle the seaboard region. To practical men, his prophecy did not seem
14981 far wrong; but before the lapse of half that time there appeared beyond
14982 the Mississippi a tier of new states, reaching from the Gulf of Mexico
14983 to the southern boundary of Minnesota, and a new commonwealth on the
14984 Pacific Ocean where American emigrants had raised the Bear flag of
14985 California.
14986
14987
14988 THE ADVANCE OF THE MIDDLE BORDER
14989
14990 =Missouri.=--When the middle of the nineteenth century had been reached,
14991 the Mississippi River, which Daniel Boone, the intrepid hunter, had
14992 crossed during Washington's administration "to escape from civilization"
14993 in Kentucky, had become the waterway for a vast empire. The center of
14994 population of the United States had passed to the Ohio Valley. Missouri,
14995 with its wide reaches of rich lands, low-lying, level, and fertile, well
14996 adapted to hemp raising, had drawn to its borders thousands of planters
14997 from the old Southern states--from Virginia and the Carolinas as well as
14998 from Kentucky and Tennessee. When the great compromise of 1820-21
14999 admitted her to the union, wearing "every jewel of sovereignty," as a
15000 florid orator announced, migratory slave owners were assured that their
15001 property would be safe in Missouri. Along the western shore of the
15002 Mississippi and on both banks of the Missouri to the uttermost limits of
15003 the state, plantations tilled by bondmen spread out in broad expanses.
15004 In the neighborhood of Jefferson City the slaves numbered more than a
15005 fourth of the population.
15006
15007 Into this stream of migration from the planting South flowed another
15008 current of land-tilling farmers; some from Kentucky, Tennessee, and
15009 Mississippi, driven out by the onrush of the planters buying and
15010 consolidating small farms into vast estates; and still more from the
15011 East and the Old World. To the northwest over against Iowa and to the
15012 southwest against Arkansas, these yeomen laid out farms to be tilled by
15013 their own labor. In those regions the number of slaves seldom rose above
15014 five or six per cent of the population. The old French post, St. Louis,
15015 enriched by the fur trade of the Far West and the steamboat traffic of
15016 the river, grew into a thriving commercial city, including among its
15017 seventy-five thousand inhabitants in 1850 nearly forty thousand
15018 foreigners, German immigrants from Pennsylvania and Europe being the
15019 largest single element.
15020
15021 =Arkansas.=--Below Missouri lay the territory of Arkansas, which had
15022 long been the paradise of the swarthy hunter and the restless
15023 frontiersman fleeing from the advancing borders of farm and town. In
15024 search of the life, wild and free, where the rifle supplied the game and
15025 a few acres of ground the corn and potatoes, they had filtered into the
15026 territory in an unending drift, "squatting" on the land. Without so much
15027 as asking the leave of any government, territorial or national, they
15028 claimed as their own the soil on which they first planted their feet.
15029 Like the Cherokee Indians, whom they had as neighbors, whose very
15030 customs and dress they sometimes adopted, the squatters spent their days
15031 in the midst of rough plenty, beset by chills, fevers, and the ills of
15032 the flesh, but for many years unvexed by political troubles or the
15033 restrictions of civilized life.
15034
15035 Unfortunately for them, however, the fertile valleys of the Mississippi
15036 and Arkansas were well adapted to the cultivation of cotton and tobacco
15037 and their sylvan peace was soon broken by an invasion of planters. The
15038 newcomers, with their servile workers, spread upward in the valley
15039 toward Missouri and along the southern border westward to the Red River.
15040 In time the slaves in the tier of counties against Louisiana ranged from
15041 thirty to seventy per cent of the population. This marked the doom of
15042 the small farmer, swept Arkansas into the main current of planting
15043 politics, and led to a powerful lobby at Washington in favor of
15044 admission to the union, a boon granted in 1836.
15045
15046 =Michigan.=--In accordance with a well-established custom, a free state
15047 was admitted to the union to balance a slave state. In 1833, the people
15048 of Michigan, a territory ten times the size of Connecticut, announced
15049 that the time had come for them to enjoy the privileges of a
15050 commonwealth. All along the southern border the land had been occupied
15051 largely by pioneers from New England, who built prim farmhouses and
15052 adopted the town-meeting plan of self-government after the fashion of
15053 the old home. The famous post of Detroit was growing into a flourishing
15054 city as the boats plying on the Great Lakes carried travelers, settlers,
15055 and freight through the narrows. In all, according to the census, there
15056 were more than ninety thousand inhabitants in the territory; so it was
15057 not without warrant that they clamored for statehood. Congress, busy as
15058 ever with politics, delayed; and the inhabitants of Michigan, unable to
15059 restrain their impatience, called a convention, drew up a constitution,
15060 and started a lively quarrel with Ohio over the southern boundary. The
15061 hand of Congress was now forced. Objections were made to the new
15062 constitution on the ground that it gave the ballot to all free white
15063 males, including aliens not yet naturalized; but the protests were
15064 overborne in a long debate. The boundary was fixed, and Michigan, though
15065 shorn of some of the land she claimed, came into the union in 1837.
15066
15067 =Wisconsin.=--Across Lake Michigan to the west lay the territory of
15068 Wisconsin, which shared with Michigan the interesting history of the
15069 Northwest, running back into the heroic days when French hunters and
15070 missionaries were planning a French empire for the great monarch, Louis
15071 XIV. It will not be forgotten that the French rangers of the woods, the
15072 black-robed priests, prepared for sacrifice, even to death, the trappers
15073 of the French agencies, and the French explorers--Marquette, Joliet, and
15074 Menard--were the first white men to paddle their frail barks through the
15075 northern waters. They first blazed their trails into the black forests
15076 and left traces of their work in the names of portages and little
15077 villages. It was from these forests that Red Men in full war paint
15078 journeyed far to fight under the _fleur-de-lis_ of France when the
15079 soldiers of King Louis made their last stand at Quebec and Montreal
15080 against the imperial arms of Britain. It was here that the British flag
15081 was planted in 1761 and that the great Pontiac conspiracy was formed two
15082 years later to overthrow British dominion.
15083
15084 When, a generation afterward, the Stars and Stripes supplanted the Union
15085 Jack, the French were still almost the only white men in the region.
15086 They were soon joined by hustling Yankee fur traders who did battle
15087 royal against British interlopers. The traders cut their way through
15088 forest trails and laid out the routes through lake and stream and over
15089 portages for the settlers and their families from the states "back
15090 East." It was the forest ranger who discovered the water power later
15091 used to turn the busy mills grinding the grain from the spreading farm
15092 lands. In the wake of the fur hunters, forest men, and farmers came
15093 miners from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri crowding in to exploit the
15094 lead ores of the northwest, some of them bringing slaves to work their
15095 claims. Had it not been for the gold fever of 1849 that drew the
15096 wielders of pick and shovel to the Far West, Wisconsin would early have
15097 taken high rank among the mining regions of the country.
15098
15099 From a favorable point of vantage on Lake Michigan, the village of
15100 Milwaukee, a center for lumber and grain transport and a place of entry
15101 for Eastern goods, grew into a thriving city. It claimed twenty thousand
15102 inhabitants, when in 1848 Congress admitted Wisconsin to the union.
15103 Already the Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians had found their way into
15104 the territory. They joined Americans from the older states in clearing
15105 forests, building roads, transforming trails into highways, erecting
15106 mills, and connecting streams with canals to make a network of routes
15107 for the traffic that poured to and from the Great Lakes.
15108
15109 =Iowa and Minnesota.=--To the southwest of Wisconsin beyond the
15110 Mississippi, where the tall grass of the prairies waved like the sea,
15111 farmers from New England, New York, and Ohio had prepared Iowa for
15112 statehood. A tide of immigration that might have flowed into Missouri
15113 went northward; for freemen, unaccustomed to slavery and slave markets,
15114 preferred the open country above the compromise line. With incredible
15115 swiftness, they spread farms westward from the Mississippi. With Yankee
15116 ingenuity they turned to trading on the river, building before 1836
15117 three prosperous centers of traffic: Dubuque, Davenport, and Burlington.
15118 True to their old traditions, they founded colleges and academies that
15119 religion and learning might be cherished on the frontier as in the
15120 states from which they came. Prepared for self-government, the Iowans
15121 laid siege to the door of Congress and were admitted to the union in
15122 1846.
15123
15124 Above Iowa, on the Mississippi, lay the territory of Minnesota--the home
15125 of the Dakotas, the Ojibways, and the Sioux. Like Michigan and
15126 Wisconsin, it had been explored early by the French scouts, and the
15127 first white settlement was the little French village of Mendota. To the
15128 people of the United States, the resources of the country were first
15129 revealed by the historic journey of Zebulon Pike in 1805 and by American
15130 fur traders who were quick to take advantage of the opportunity to ply
15131 their arts of hunting and bartering in fresh fields. In 1839 an
15132 American settlement was planted at Marina on the St. Croix, the outpost
15133 of advancing civilization. Within twenty years, the territory, boasting
15134 a population of 150,000, asked for admission to the union. In 1858 the
15135 plea was granted and Minnesota showed her gratitude three years later by
15136 being first among the states to offer troops to Lincoln in the hour of
15137 peril.
15138
15139
15140 ON TO THE PACIFIC--TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR
15141
15142 =The Uniformity of the Middle West.=--There was a certain monotony about
15143 pioneering in the Northwest and on the middle border. As the long
15144 stretches of land were cleared or prepared for the plow, they were laid
15145 out like checkerboards into squares of forty, eighty, one hundred sixty,
15146 or more acres, each the seat of a homestead. There was a striking
15147 uniformity also about the endless succession of fertile fields spreading
15148 far and wide under the hot summer sun. No majestic mountains relieved
15149 the sweep of the prairie. Few monuments of other races and antiquity
15150 were there to awaken curiosity about the region. No sonorous bells in
15151 old missions rang out the time of day. The chaffering Red Man bartering
15152 blankets and furs for powder and whisky had passed farther on. The
15153 population was made up of plain farmers and their families engaged in
15154 severe and unbroken labor, chopping down trees, draining fever-breeding
15155 swamps, breaking new ground, and planting from year to year the same
15156 rotation of crops. Nearly all the settlers were of native American stock
15157 into whose frugal and industrious lives the later Irish and German
15158 immigrants fitted, on the whole, with little friction. Even the Dutch
15159 oven fell before the cast-iron cooking stove. Happiness and sorrow,
15160 despair and hope were there, but all encompassed by the heavy tedium of
15161 prosaic sameness.
15162
15163 [Illustration: SANTA BARBARA MISSION]
15164
15165 =A Contrast in the Far West and Southwest.=--As George Rogers Clark and
15166 Daniel Boone had stirred the snug Americans of the seaboard to seek
15167 their fortunes beyond the Appalachians, so now Kit Carson, James Bowie,
15168 Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and John C. Fremont were to lead the way
15169 into a new land, only a part of which was under the American flag. The
15170 setting for this new scene in the westward movement was thrown out in a
15171 wide sweep from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the banks of the
15172 Rio Grande; from the valleys of the Sabine and Red rivers to Montana and
15173 the Pacific slope. In comparison with the middle border, this region
15174 presented such startling diversities that only the eye of faith could
15175 foresee the unifying power of nationalism binding its communities with
15176 the older sections of the country. What contrasts indeed! The blue grass
15177 region of Kentucky or the rich, black soil of Illinois--the painted
15178 desert, the home of the sage brush and the coyote! The level prairies of
15179 Iowa--the mighty Rockies shouldering themselves high against the
15180 horizon! The long bleak winters of Wisconsin--California of endless
15181 summer! The log churches of Indiana or Illinois--the quaint missions of
15182 San Antonio, Tucson, and Santa Barbara! The little state of
15183 Delaware--the empire of Texas, one hundred and twenty times its area!
15184 And scattered about through the Southwest were signs of an ancient
15185 civilization--fragments of four-and five-story dwellings, ruined dams,
15186 aqueducts, and broken canals, which told of once prosperous peoples
15187 who, by art and science, had conquered the aridity of the desert and
15188 lifted themselves in the scale of culture above the savages of the
15189 plain.
15190
15191 The settlers of this vast empire were to be as diverse in their origins
15192 and habits as those of the colonies on the coast had been. Americans of
15193 English, Irish, and Scotch-Irish descent came as usual from the Eastern
15194 states. To them were added the migratory Germans as well. Now for the
15195 first time came throngs of Scandinavians. Some were to make their homes
15196 on quiet farms as the border advanced against the setting sun. Others
15197 were to be Indian scouts, trappers, fur hunters, miners, cowboys, Texas
15198 planters, keepers of lonely posts on the plain and the desert, stage
15199 drivers, pilots of wagon trains, pony riders, fruit growers, "lumber
15200 jacks," and smelter workers. One common bond united them--a passion for
15201 the self-government accorded to states. As soon as a few thousand
15202 settlers came together in a single territory, there arose a mighty shout
15203 for a position beside the staid commonwealths of the East and the South.
15204 Statehood meant to the pioneers self-government, dignity, and the right
15205 to dispose of land, minerals, and timber in their own way. In the quest
15206 for this local autonomy there arose many a wordy contest in Congress,
15207 each of the political parties lending a helping hand in the admission of
15208 a state when it gave promise of adding new congressmen of the "right
15209 political persuasion," to use the current phrase.
15210
15211 =Southern Planters and Texas.=--While the farmers of the North found the
15212 broad acres of the Western prairies stretching on before them apparently
15213 in endless expanse, it was far different with the Southern planters.
15214 Ever active in their search for new fields as they exhausted the virgin
15215 soil of the older states, the restless subjects of King Cotton quickly
15216 reached the frontier of Louisiana. There they paused; but only for a
15217 moment. The fertile land of Texas just across the boundary lured them on
15218 and the Mexican republic to which it belonged extended to them a more
15219 than generous welcome. Little realizing the perils lurking in a
15220 "peaceful penetration," the authorities at Mexico City opened wide the
15221 doors and made large grants of land to American contractors, who agreed
15222 to bring a number of families into Texas. The omnipresent Yankee, in the
15223 person of Moses Austin of Connecticut, hearing of this good news in the
15224 Southwest, obtained a grant in 1820 to settle three hundred Americans
15225 near Bexar--a commission finally carried out to the letter by his son
15226 and celebrated in the name given to the present capital of the state of
15227 Texas. Within a decade some twenty thousand Americans had crossed the
15228 border.
15229
15230 =Mexico Closes the Door.=--The government of Mexico, unaccustomed to
15231 such enterprise and thoroughly frightened by its extent, drew back in
15232 dismay. Its fears were increased as quarrels broke out between the
15233 Americans and the natives in Texas. Fear grew into consternation when
15234 efforts were made by President Jackson to buy the territory for the
15235 United States. Mexico then sought to close the flood gates. It stopped
15236 all American colonization schemes, canceled many of the land grants, put
15237 a tariff on farming implements, and abolished slavery. These barriers
15238 were raised too late. A call for help ran through the western border of
15239 the United States. The sentinels of the frontier answered. Davy
15240 Crockett, the noted frontiersman, bear hunter, and backwoods politician;
15241 James Bowie, the dexterous wielder of the knife that to this day bears
15242 his name; and Sam Houston, warrior and pioneer, rushed to the aid of
15243 their countrymen in Texas. Unacquainted with the niceties of diplomacy,
15244 impatient at the formalities of international law, they soon made it
15245 known that in spite of Mexican sovereignty they would be their own
15246 masters.
15247
15248 =The Independence of Texas Declared.=--Numbering only about one-fourth
15249 of the population in Texas, they raised the standard of revolt in 1836
15250 and summoned a convention. Following in the footsteps of their
15251 ancestors, they issued a declaration of independence signed mainly by
15252 Americans from the slave states. Anticipating that the government of
15253 Mexico would not quietly accept their word of defiance as final, they
15254 dispatched a force to repel "the invading army," as General Houston
15255 called the troops advancing under the command of Santa Ana, the Mexican
15256 president. A portion of the Texan soldiers took their stand in the
15257 Alamo, an old Spanish mission in the cottonwood trees in the town of San
15258 Antonio. Instead of obeying the order to blow up the mission and retire,
15259 they held their ground until they were completely surrounded and cut off
15260 from all help. Refusing to surrender, they fought to the bitter end, the
15261 last man falling a victim to the sword. Vengeance was swift. Within
15262 three months General Houston overwhelmed Santa Ana at the San Jacinto,
15263 taking him prisoner of war and putting an end to all hopes for the
15264 restoration of Mexican sovereignty over Texas.
15265
15266 The Lone Star Republic, with Houston at the head, then sought admission
15267 to the United States. This seemed at first an easy matter. All that was
15268 required to bring it about appeared to be a treaty annexing Texas to the
15269 union. Moreover, President Jackson, at the height of his popularity, had
15270 a warm regard for General Houston and, with his usual sympathy for rough
15271 and ready ways of doing things, approved the transaction. Through an
15272 American representative in Mexico, Jackson had long and anxiously
15273 labored, by means none too nice, to wring from the Mexican republic the
15274 cession of the coveted territory. When the Texans took matters into
15275 their own hands, he was more than pleased; but he could not marshal the
15276 approval of two-thirds of the Senators required for a treaty of
15277 annexation. Cautious as well as impetuous, Jackson did not press the
15278 issue; he went out of office in 1837 with Texas uncertain as to her
15279 future.
15280
15281 =Northern Opposition to Annexation.=--All through the North the
15282 opposition to annexation was clear and strong. Anti-slavery agitators
15283 could hardly find words savage enough to express their feelings.
15284 "Texas," exclaimed Channing in a letter to Clay, "is but the first step
15285 of aggression. I trust indeed that Providence will beat back and humble
15286 our cupidity and ambition. I now ask whether as a people we are
15287 prepared to seize on a neighboring territory for the end of extending
15288 slavery? I ask whether as a people we can stand forth in the sight of
15289 God, in the sight of nations, and adopt this atrocious policy? Sooner
15290 perish! Sooner be our name blotted out from the record of nations!"
15291 William Lloyd Garrison called for the secession of the Northern states
15292 if Texas was brought into the union with slavery. John Quincy Adams
15293 warned his countrymen that they were treading in the path of the
15294 imperialism that had brought the nations of antiquity to judgment and
15295 destruction. Henry Clay, the Whig candidate for President, taking into
15296 account changing public sentiment, blew hot and cold, losing the state
15297 of New York and the election of 1844 by giving a qualified approval of
15298 annexation. In the same campaign, the Democrats boldly demanded the
15299 "Reannexation of Texas," based on claims which the United States once
15300 had to Spanish territory beyond the Sabine River.
15301
15302 =Annexation.=--The politicians were disposed to walk very warily. Van
15303 Buren, at heart opposed to slavery extension, refused to press the issue
15304 of annexation. Tyler, a pro-slavery Democrat from Virginia, by a strange
15305 fling of fortune carried into office as a nominal Whig, kept his mind
15306 firmly fixed on the idea of reelection and let the troublesome matter
15307 rest until the end of his administration was in sight. He then listened
15308 with favor to the voice of the South. Calhoun stated what seemed to be a
15309 convincing argument: All good Americans have their hearts set on the
15310 Constitution; the admission of Texas is absolutely essential to the
15311 preservation of the union; it will give a balance of power to the South
15312 as against the North growing with incredible swiftness in wealth and
15313 population. Tyler, impressed by the plea, appointed Calhoun to the
15314 office of Secretary of State in 1844, authorizing him to negotiate the
15315 treaty of annexation--a commission at once executed. This scheme was
15316 blocked in the Senate where the necessary two-thirds vote could not be
15317 secured. Balked but not defeated, the advocates of annexation drew up a
15318 joint resolution which required only a majority vote in both houses,
15319 and in February of the next year, just before Tyler gave way to Polk,
15320 they pushed it through Congress. So Texas, amid the groans of Boston and
15321 the hurrahs of Charleston, folded up her flag and came into the union.
15322
15323 [Illustration: TEXAS AND THE TERRITORY IN DISPUTE]
15324
15325 =The Mexican War.=--The inevitable war with Mexico, foretold by the
15326 abolitionists and feared by Henry Clay, ensued, the ostensible cause
15327 being a dispute over the boundaries of the new state. The Texans claimed
15328 all the lands down to the Rio Grande. The Mexicans placed the border of
15329 Texas at the Nueces River and a line drawn thence in a northerly
15330 direction. President Polk, accepting the Texan view of the controversy,
15331 ordered General Zachary Taylor to move beyond the Nueces in defense of
15332 American sovereignty. This act of power, deemed by the Mexicans an
15333 invasion of their territory, was followed by an attack on our troops.
15334
15335 President Polk, not displeased with the turn of events, announced that
15336 American blood had been "spilled on American soil" and that war existed
15337 "by the act of Mexico." Congress, in a burst of patriotic fervor,
15338 brushed aside the protests of those who deplored the conduct of the
15339 government as wanton aggression on a weaker nation and granted money and
15340 supplies to prosecute the war. The few Whigs in the House of
15341 Representatives, who refused to vote in favor of taking up arms,
15342 accepted the inevitable with such good grace as they could command. All
15343 through the South and the West the war was popular. New England
15344 grumbled, but gave loyal, if not enthusiastic, support to a conflict
15345 precipitated by policies not of its own choosing. Only a handful of firm
15346 objectors held out. James Russell Lowell, in his _Biglow Papers_, flung
15347 scorn and sarcasm to the bitter end.
15348
15349 =The Outcome of the War.=--The foregone conclusion was soon reached.
15350 General Taylor might have delivered the fatal thrust from northern
15351 Mexico if politics had not intervened. Polk, anxious to avoid raising up
15352 another military hero for the Whigs to nominate for President, decided
15353 to divide the honors by sending General Scott to strike a blow at the
15354 capital, Mexico City. The deed was done with speed and pomp and two
15355 heroes were lifted into presidential possibilities. In the Far West a
15356 third candidate was made, John C. Fremont, who, in cooperation with
15357 Commodores Sloat and Stockton and General Kearney, planted the Stars and
15358 Stripes on the Pacific slope.
15359
15360 In February, 1848, the Mexicans came to terms, ceding to the victor
15361 California, Arizona, New Mexico, and more--a domain greater in extent
15362 than the combined areas of France and Germany. As a salve to the wound,
15363 the vanquished received fifteen million dollars in cash and the
15364 cancellation of many claims held by American citizens. Five years later,
15365 through the negotiations of James Gadsden, a further cession of lands
15366 along the southern border of Arizona and New Mexico was secured on
15367 payment of ten million dollars.
15368
15369 =General Taylor Elected President.=--The ink was hardly dry upon the
15370 treaty that closed the war before "rough and ready" General Taylor, a
15371 slave owner from Louisiana, "a Whig," as he said, "but not an ultra
15372 Whig," was put forward as the Whig candidate for President. He himself
15373 had not voted for years and he was fairly innocent in matters political.
15374 The tariff, the currency, and internal improvements, with a magnificent
15375 gesture he referred to the people's representatives in Congress,
15376 offering to enforce the laws as made, if elected. Clay's followers
15377 mourned. Polk stormed but could not win even a renomination at the hands
15378 of the Democrats. So it came about that the hero of Buena Vista,
15379 celebrated for his laconic order, "Give 'em a little more grape, Captain
15380 Bragg," became President of the United States.
15381
15382
15383 THE PACIFIC COAST AND UTAH
15384
15385 =Oregon.=--Closely associated in the popular mind with the contest about
15386 the affairs of Texas was a dispute with Great Britain over the
15387 possession of territory in Oregon. In their presidential campaign of
15388 1844, the Democrats had coupled with the slogan, "The Reannexation of
15389 Texas," two other cries, "The Reoccupation of Oregon," and "Fifty-four
15390 Forty or Fight." The last two slogans were founded on American
15391 discoveries and explorations in the Far Northwest. Their appearance in
15392 politics showed that the distant Oregon country, larger in area than New
15393 England, New York, and Pennsylvania combined, was at last receiving from
15394 the nation the attention which its importance warranted.
15395
15396 _Joint Occupation and Settlement._--Both England and the United States
15397 had long laid claim to Oregon and in 1818 they had agreed to occupy the
15398 territory jointly--a contract which was renewed ten years later for an
15399 indefinite period. Under this plan, citizens of both countries were free
15400 to hunt and settle anywhere in the region. The vanguard of British fur
15401 traders and Canadian priests was enlarged by many new recruits, with
15402 Americans not far behind them. John Jacob Astor, the resourceful New
15403 York merchant, sent out trappers and hunters who established a trading
15404 post at Astoria in 1811. Some twenty years later, American
15405 missionaries--among them two very remarkable men, Jason Lee and Marcus
15406 Whitman--were preaching the gospel to the Indians.
15407
15408 Through news from the fur traders and missionaries, Eastern farmers
15409 heard of the fertile lands awaiting their plows on the Pacific slope;
15410 those with the pioneering spirit made ready to take possession of the
15411 new country. In 1839 a band went around by Cape Horn. Four years later a
15412 great expedition went overland. The way once broken, others followed
15413 rapidly. As soon as a few settlements were well established, the
15414 pioneers held a mass meeting and agreed upon a plan of government. "We,
15415 the people of Oregon territory," runs the preamble to their compact,
15416 "for the purposes of mutual protection and to secure peace and
15417 prosperity among ourselves, agree to adopt the following laws and
15418 regulations until such time as the United States of America extend their
15419 jurisdiction over us." Thus self-government made its way across the
15420 Rocky Mountains.
15421
15422 [Illustration: THE OREGON COUNTRY AND THE DISPUTED BOUNDARY]
15423
15424 _The Boundary Dispute with England Adjusted._--By this time it was
15425 evident that the boundaries of Oregon must be fixed. Having made the
15426 question an issue in his campaign, Polk, after his election in 1844,
15427 pressed it upon the attention of the country. In his inaugural address
15428 and his first message to Congress he reiterated the claim of the
15429 Democratic platform that "our title to the whole territory of Oregon is
15430 clear and unquestionable." This pretension Great Britain firmly
15431 rejected, leaving the President a choice between war and compromise.
15432
15433 Polk, already having the contest with Mexico on his hands, sought and
15434 obtained a compromise. The British government, moved by a hint from the
15435 American minister, offered a settlement which would fix the boundary at
15436 the forty-ninth parallel instead of "fifty-four forty," and give it
15437 Vancouver Island. Polk speedily chose this way out of the dilemma.
15438 Instead of making the decision himself, however, and drawing up a
15439 treaty, he turned to the Senate for "counsel." As prearranged with party
15440 leaders, the advice was favorable to the plan. The treaty, duly drawn in
15441 1846, was ratified by the Senate after an acrimonious debate. "Oh!
15442 mountain that was delivered of a mouse," exclaimed Senator Benton, "thy
15443 name shall be fifty-four forty!" Thirteen years later, the southern part
15444 of the territory was admitted to the union as the state of Oregon,
15445 leaving the northern and eastern sections in the status of a territory.
15446
15447 =California.=--With the growth of the northwestern empire, dedicated by
15448 nature to freedom, the planting interests might have been content, had
15449 fortune not wrested from them the fair country of California. Upon this
15450 huge territory they had set their hearts. The mild climate and fertile
15451 soil seemed well suited to slavery and the planters expected to extend
15452 their sway to the entire domain. California was a state of more than
15453 155,000 square miles--about seventy times the size of the state of
15454 Delaware. It could readily be divided into five or six large states, if
15455 that became necessary to preserve the Southern balance of power.
15456
15457 _Early American Relations with California._--Time and tide, it seems,
15458 were not on the side of the planters. Already Americans of a far
15459 different type were invading the Pacific slope. Long before Polk ever
15460 dreamed of California, the Yankee with his cargo of notions had been
15461 around the Horn. Daring skippers had sailed out of New England harbors
15462 with a variety of goods, bent their course around South America to
15463 California, on to China and around the world, trading as they went and
15464 leaving pots, pans, woolen cloth, guns, boots, shoes, salt fish, naval
15465 stores, and rum in their wake. "Home from Californy!" rang the cry in
15466 many a New England port as a good captain let go his anchor on his
15467 return from the long trading voyage in the Pacific.
15468
15469 [Illustration: THE OVERLAND TRAILS]
15470
15471 _The Overland Trails._--Not to be outdone by the mariners of the deep,
15472 western scouts searched for overland routes to the Pacific. Zebulon
15473 Pike, explorer and pathfinder, by his expedition into the Southwest
15474 during Jefferson's administration, had discovered the resources of New
15475 Spain and had shown his countrymen how easy it was to reach Santa Fe
15476 from the upper waters of the Arkansas River. Not long afterward, traders
15477 laid open the route, making Franklin, Missouri, and later Fort
15478 Leavenworth the starting point. Along the trail, once surveyed, poured
15479 caravans heavily guarded by armed men against marauding Indians. Sand
15480 storms often wiped out all signs of the route; hunger and thirst did
15481 many a band of wagoners to death; but the lure of the game and the
15482 profits at the end kept the business thriving. Huge stocks of cottons,
15483 glass, hardware, and ammunition were drawn almost across the continent
15484 to be exchanged at Santa Fe for furs, Indian blankets, silver, and
15485 mules; and many a fortune was made out of the traffic.
15486
15487 _Americans in California._--Why stop at Santa Fe? The question did not
15488 long remain unanswered. In 1829, Ewing Young broke the path to Los
15489 Angeles. Thirteen years later Fremont made the first of his celebrated
15490 expeditions across plain, desert, and mountain, arousing the interest of
15491 the entire country in the Far West. In the wake of the pathfinders went
15492 adventurers, settlers, and artisans. By 1847, more than one-fifth of the
15493 inhabitants in the little post of two thousand on San Francisco Bay were
15494 from the United States. The Mexican War, therefore, was not the
15495 beginning but the end of the American conquest of California--a conquest
15496 initiated by Americans who went to till the soil, to trade, or to follow
15497 some mechanical pursuit.
15498
15499 _The Discovery of Gold._--As if to clinch the hold on California already
15500 secured by the friends of free soil, there came in 1848 the sudden
15501 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in the Sacramento Valley. When this
15502 exciting news reached the East, a mighty rush began to California, over
15503 the trails, across the Isthmus of Panama, and around Cape Horn. Before
15504 two years had passed, it is estimated that a hundred thousand people, in
15505 search of fortunes, had arrived in California--mechanics, teachers,
15506 doctors, lawyers, farmers, miners, and laborers from the four corners of
15507 the earth.
15508
15509 [Illustration: _From an old print_
15510
15511 SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849]
15512
15513 _California a Free State._--With this increase in population there
15514 naturally resulted the usual demand for admission to the union. Instead
15515 of waiting for authority from Washington, the Californians held a
15516 convention in 1849 and framed their constitution. With impatience, the
15517 delegates brushed aside the plea that "the balance of power between the
15518 North and South" required the admission of their state as a slave
15519 commonwealth. Without a dissenting voice, they voted in favor of freedom
15520 and boldly made their request for inclusion among the United States.
15521 President Taylor, though a Southern man, advised Congress to admit the
15522 applicant. Robert Toombs of Georgia vowed to God that he preferred
15523 secession. Henry Clay, the great compromiser, came to the rescue and in
15524 1850 California was admitted as a free state.
15525
15526 =Utah.=--On the long road to California, in the midst of forbidding and
15527 barren wastes, a religious sect, the Mormons, had planted a colony
15528 destined to a stormy career. Founded in 1830 under the leadership of
15529 Joseph Smith of New York, the sect had suffered from many cruel buffets
15530 of fortune. From Ohio they had migrated into Missouri where they were
15531 set upon and beaten. Some of them were murdered by indignant neighbors.
15532 Harried out of Missouri, they went into Illinois only to see their
15533 director and prophet, Smith, first imprisoned by the authorities and
15534 then shot by a mob. Having raised up a cloud of enemies on account of
15535 both their religious faith and their practice of allowing a man to have
15536 more than one wife, they fell in heartily with the suggestion of a new
15537 leader, Brigham Young, that they go into the Far West beyond the plains
15538 of Kansas--into the forlorn desert where the wicked would cease from
15539 troubling and the weary could be at rest, as they read in the Bible. In
15540 1847, Young, with a company of picked men, searched far and wide until
15541 he found a suitable spot overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. Returning to
15542 Illinois, he gathered up his followers, now numbering several thousand,
15543 and in one mighty wagon caravan they all went to their distant haven.
15544
15545 _Brigham Young and His Economic System._--In Brigham Young the Mormons
15546 had a leader of remarkable power who gave direction to the redemption of
15547 the arid soil, the management of property, and the upbuilding of
15548 industry. He promised them to make the desert blossom as the rose, and
15549 verily he did it. He firmly shaped the enterprise of the colony along
15550 co-operative lines, holding down the speculator and profiteer with one
15551 hand and giving encouragement to the industrious poor with the other.
15552 With the shrewdness befitting a good business man, he knew how to draw
15553 the line between public and private interest. Land was given outright to
15554 each family, but great care was exercised in the distribution so that
15555 none should have great advantage over another. The purchase of supplies
15556 and the sale of produce were carried on through a cooperative store, the
15557 profits of which went to the common good. Encountering for the first
15558 time in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race the problem of aridity, the
15559 Mormons surmounted the most perplexing obstacles with astounding skill.
15560 They built irrigation works by cooperative labor and granted water
15561 rights to all families on equitable terms.
15562
15563 _The Growth of Industries._--Though farming long remained the major
15564 interest of the colony, the Mormons, eager to be self-supporting in
15565 every possible way, bent their efforts also to manufacturing and later
15566 to mining. Their missionaries, who hunted in the highways and byways of
15567 Europe for converts, never failed to stress the economic advantages of
15568 the sect. "We want," proclaimed President Young to all the earth, "a
15569 company of woolen manufacturers to come with machinery and take the wool
15570 from the sheep and convert it into the best clothes. We want a company
15571 of potters; we need them; the clay is ready and the dishes wanted.... We
15572 want some men to start a furnace forthwith; the iron, coal, and molders
15573 are waiting.... We have a printing press and any one who can take good
15574 printing and writing paper to the Valley will be a blessing to
15575 themselves and the church." Roads and bridges were built; millions were
15576 spent in experiments in agriculture and manufacturing; missionaries at a
15577 huge cost were maintained in the East and in Europe; an army was kept
15578 for defense against the Indians; and colonies were planted in the
15579 outlying regions. A historian of Deseret, as the colony was called by
15580 the Mormons, estimated in 1895 that by the labor of their hands the
15581 people had produced nearly half a billion dollars in wealth since the
15582 coming of the vanguard.
15583
15584 _Polygamy Forbidden._--The hope of the Mormons that they might forever
15585 remain undisturbed by outsiders was soon dashed to earth, for hundreds
15586 of farmers and artisans belonging to other religious sects came to
15587 settle among them. In 1850 the colony was so populous and prosperous
15588 that it was organized into a territory of the United States and brought
15589 under the supervision of the federal government. Protests against
15590 polygamy were raised in the colony and at the seat of authority three
15591 thousand miles away at Washington. The new Republican party in 1856
15592 proclaimed it "the right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the
15593 Territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery." In
15594 due time the Mormons had to give up their marriage practices which were
15595 condemned by the common opinion of all western civilization; but they
15596 kept their religious faith. Monuments to their early enterprise are seen
15597 in the Temple and the Tabernacle, the irrigation works, and the great
15598 wealth of the Church.
15599
15600
15601 SUMMARY OF WESTERN DEVELOPMENT AND NATIONAL POLITICS
15602
15603 While the statesmen of the old generation were solving the problems of
15604 their age, hunters, pioneers, and home seekers were preparing new
15605 problems beyond the Alleghanies. The West was rising in population and
15606 wealth. Between 1783 and 1829, eleven states were added to the original
15607 thirteen. All but two were in the West. Two of them were in the
15608 Louisiana territory beyond the Mississippi. Here the process of
15609 colonization was repeated. Hardy frontier people cut down the forests,
15610 built log cabins, laid out farms, and cut roads through the wilderness.
15611 They began a new civilization just as the immigrants to Virginia or
15612 Massachusetts had done two centuries earlier.
15613
15614 Like the seaboard colonists before them, they too cherished the spirit
15615 of independence and power. They had not gone far upon their course
15616 before they resented the monopoly of the presidency by the East. In 1829
15617 they actually sent one of their own cherished leaders, Andrew Jackson,
15618 to the White House. Again in 1840, in 1844, in 1848, and in 1860, the
15619 Mississippi Valley could boast that one of its sons had been chosen for
15620 the seat of power at Washington. Its democratic temper evoked a cordial
15621 response in the towns of the East where the old aristocracy had been put
15622 aside and artisans had been given the ballot.
15623
15624 For three decades the West occupied the interest of the nation. Under
15625 Jackson's leadership, it destroyed the second United States Bank. When
15626 he smote nullification in South Carolina, it gave him cordial support.
15627 It approved his policy of parceling out government offices among party
15628 workers--"the spoils system" in all its fullness. On only one point did
15629 it really dissent. The West heartily favored internal improvements, the
15630 appropriation of federal funds for highways, canals, and railways.
15631 Jackson had misgivings on this question and awakened sharp criticism by
15632 vetoing a road improvement bill.
15633
15634 From their point of vantage on the frontier, the pioneers pressed on
15635 westward. They pushed into Texas, created a state, declared their
15636 independence, demanded a place in the union, and precipitated a war with
15637 Mexico. They crossed the trackless plain and desert, laying out trails
15638 to Santa Fe, to Oregon, and to California. They were upon the scene when
15639 the Mexican War brought California under the Stars and Stripes. They had
15640 laid out their farms in the Willamette Valley when the slogan
15641 "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" forced a settlement of the Oregon boundary.
15642 California and Oregon were already in the union when there arose the
15643 Great Civil War testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived
15644 and so dedicated could long endure.
15645
15646
15647 =References=
15648
15649 G.P. Brown, _Westward Expansion_ (American Nation Series).
15650
15651
15652 K. Coman, _Economic Beginnings of the Far West_ (2 vols.).
15653
15654 F. Parkman, _California and the Oregon Trail_.
15655
15656 R.S. Ripley, _The War with Mexico_.
15657
15658 W.C. Rives, _The United States and Mexico, 1821-48_ (2 vols.).
15659
15660
15661 =Questions=
15662
15663 1. Give some of the special features in the history of Missouri,
15664 Arkansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.
15665
15666 2. Contrast the climate and soil of the Middle West and the Far West.
15667
15668 3. How did Mexico at first encourage American immigration?
15669
15670 4. What produced the revolution in Texas? Who led in it?
15671
15672 5. Narrate some of the leading events in the struggle over annexation to
15673 the United States.
15674
15675 6. What action by President Polk precipitated war?
15676
15677 7. Give the details of the peace settlement with Mexico.
15678
15679 8. What is meant by the "joint occupation" of Oregon?
15680
15681 9. How was the Oregon boundary dispute finally settled?
15682
15683 10. Compare the American "invasion" of California with the migration
15684 into Texas.
15685
15686 11. Explain how California became a free state.
15687
15688 12. Describe the early economic policy of the Mormons.
15689
15690
15691 =Research Topics=
15692
15693 =The Independence of Texas.=--McMaster, _History of the People of the
15694 United States_, Vol. VI, pp. 251-270. Woodrow Wilson, _History of the
15695 American People_, Vol. IV, pp. 102-126.
15696
15697 =The Annexation of Texas.=--McMaster, Vol. VII. The passages on
15698 annexation are scattered through this volume and it is an exercise in
15699 ingenuity to make a connected story of them. Source materials in Hart,
15700 _American History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. III, pp. 637-655; Elson,
15701 _History of the United States_, pp. 516-521, 526-527.
15702
15703 =The War with Mexico.=--Elson, pp. 526-538.
15704
15705 =The Oregon Boundary Dispute.=--Schafer, _History of the Pacific
15706 Northwest_ (rev. ed.), pp. 88-104; 173-185.
15707
15708 =The Migration to Oregon.=--Schafer, pp. 105-172. Coman, _Economic
15709 Beginnings of the Far West_, Vol. II, pp. 113-166.
15710
15711 =The Santa Fe Trail.=--Coman, _Economic Beginnings_, Vol. II, pp. 75-93.
15712
15713 =The Conquest of California.=--Coman, Vol. II, pp. 297-319.
15714
15715 =Gold in California.=--McMaster, Vol. VII, pp. 585-614.
15716
15717 =The Mormon Migration.=--Coman, Vol. II, pp. 167-206.
15718
15719 =Biographical Studies.=--Fremont, Generals Scott and Taylor, Sam
15720 Houston, and David Crockett.
15721
15722 =The Romance of Western Exploration.=--J.G. Neihardt, _The Splendid
15723 Wayfaring_. J.G. Neihardt, _The Song of Hugh Glass_.
15724
15725
15726
15727
15728 PART V. SECTIONAL CONFLICT AND RECONSTRUCTION
15729
15730
15731
15732
15733 CHAPTER XIII
15734
15735 THE RISE OF THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM
15736
15737
15738 If Jefferson could have lived to see the Stars and Stripes planted on
15739 the Pacific Coast, the broad empire of Texas added to the planting
15740 states, and the valley of the Willamette waving with wheat sown by
15741 farmers from New England, he would have been more than fortified in his
15742 faith that the future of America lay in agriculture. Even a stanch old
15743 Federalist like Gouverneur Morris or Josiah Quincy would have mournfully
15744 conceded both the prophecy and the claim. Manifest destiny never seemed
15745 more clearly written in the stars.
15746
15747 As the farmers from the Northwest and planters from the Southwest poured
15748 in upon the floor of Congress, the party of Jefferson, christened anew
15749 by Jackson, grew stronger year by year. Opponents there were, no doubt,
15750 disgruntled critics and Whigs by conviction; but in 1852 Franklin
15751 Pierce, the Democratic candidate for President, carried every state in
15752 the union except Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This
15753 victory, a triumph under ordinary circumstances, was all the more
15754 significant in that Pierce was pitted against a hero of the Mexican War,
15755 General Scott, whom the Whigs, hoping to win by rousing the martial
15756 ardor of the voters, had nominated. On looking at the election returns,
15757 the new President calmly assured the planters that "the general
15758 principle of reduction of duties with a view to revenue may now be
15759 regarded as the settled policy of the country." With equal confidence,
15760 he waved aside those agitators who devoted themselves "to the supposed
15761 interests of the relatively few Africans in the United States." Like a
15762 watchman in the night he called to the country: "All's well."
15763
15764 The party of Hamilton and Clay lay in the dust.
15765
15766
15767 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
15768
15769 As pride often goeth before a fall, so sanguine expectation is sometimes
15770 the symbol of defeat. Jackson destroyed the bank. Polk signed the tariff
15771 bill of 1846 striking an effective blow at the principle of protection
15772 for manufactures. Pierce promised to silence the abolitionists. His
15773 successor was to approve a drastic step in the direction of free trade.
15774 Nevertheless all these things left untouched the springs of power that
15775 were in due time to make America the greatest industrial nation on the
15776 earth; namely, vast national resources, business enterprise, inventive
15777 genius, and the free labor supply of Europe. Unseen by the thoughtless,
15778 unrecorded in the diaries of wiseacres, rarely mentioned in the speeches
15779 of statesmen, there was swiftly rising such a tide in the affairs of
15780 America as Jefferson and Hamilton never dreamed of in their little
15781 philosophies.
15782
15783 =The Inventors.=--Watt and Boulton experimenting with steam in England,
15784 Whitney combining wood and steel into a cotton gin, Fulton and Fitch
15785 applying the steam engine to navigation, Stevens and Peter Cooper trying
15786 out the "iron horse" on "iron highways," Slater building spinning mills
15787 in Pawtucket, Howe attaching the needle to the flying wheel, Morse
15788 spanning a continent with the telegraph, Cyrus Field linking the markets
15789 of the new world with the old along the bed of the Atlantic, McCormick
15790 breaking the sickle under the reaper--these men and a thousand more were
15791 destroying in a mighty revolution of industry the world of the
15792 stagecoach and the tallow candle which Washington and Franklin had
15793 inherited little changed from the age of Caesar. Whitney was to make
15794 cotton king. Watt and Fulton were to make steel and steam masters of the
15795 world. Agriculture was to fall behind in the race for supremacy.
15796
15797 =Industry Outstrips Planting.=--The story of invention, that tribute to
15798 the triumph of mind over matter, fascinating as a romance, need not be
15799 treated in detail here. The effects of invention on social and political
15800 life, multitudinous and never-ending, form the very warp and woof of
15801 American progress from the days of Andrew Jackson to the latest hour.
15802 Neither the great civil conflict--the clash of two systems--nor the
15803 problems of the modern age can be approached without an understanding of
15804 the striking phases of industrialism.
15805
15806 [Illustration: A NEW ENGLAND MILL BUILT IN 1793]
15807
15808 First and foremost among them was the uprush of mills managed by
15809 captains of industry and manned by labor drawn from farms, cities, and
15810 foreign lands. For every planter who cleared a domain in the Southwest
15811 and gathered his army of bondmen about him, there rose in the North a
15812 magician of steam and steel who collected under his roof an army of free
15813 workers.
15814
15815 In seven league boots this new giant strode ahead of the Southern giant.
15816 Between 1850 and 1859, to use dollars and cents as the measure of
15817 progress, the value of domestic manufactures including mines and
15818 fisheries rose from $1,019,106,616 to $1,900,000,000, an increase of
15819 eighty-six per cent in ten years. In this same period the total
15820 production of naval stores, rice, sugar, tobacco, and cotton, the
15821 staples of the South, went only from $165,000,000, in round figures, to
15822 $204,000,000. At the halfway point of the century, the capital invested
15823 in industry, commerce, and cities far exceeded the value of all the farm
15824 land between the Atlantic and the Pacific; thus the course of economy
15825 had been reversed in fifty years. Tested by figures of production, King
15826 Cotton had shriveled by 1860 to a petty prince in comparison, for each
15827 year the captains of industry turned out goods worth nearly twenty times
15828 all the bales of cotton picked on Southern plantations. Iron, boots and
15829 shoes, and leather goods pouring from Northern mills surpassed in value
15830 the entire cotton output.
15831
15832 =The Agrarian West Turns to Industry.=--Nor was this vast enterprise
15833 confined to the old Northeast where, as Madison had sagely remarked,
15834 commerce was early dominant. "Cincinnati," runs an official report in
15835 1854, "appears to be a great central depot for ready-made clothing and
15836 its manufacture for the Western markets may be said to be one of the
15837 great trades of that city." There, wrote another traveler, "I heard the
15838 crack of the cattle driver's whip and the hum of the factory: the West
15839 and the East meeting." Louisville and St. Louis were already famous for
15840 their clothing trades and the manufacture of cotton bagging. Five
15841 hundred of the two thousand woolen mills in the country in 1860 were in
15842 the Western states. Of the output of flour and grist mills, which almost
15843 reached in value the cotton crop of 1850, the Ohio Valley furnished a
15844 rapidly growing share. The old home of Jacksonian democracy, where
15845 Federalists had been almost as scarce as monarchists, turned slowly
15846 backward, as the needle to the pole, toward the principle of protection
15847 for domestic industry, espoused by Hamilton and defended by Clay.
15848
15849 =The Extension of Canals and Railways.=--As necessary to mechanical
15850 industry as steel and steam power was the great market, spread over a
15851 wide and diversified area and knit together by efficient means of
15852 transportation. This service was supplied to industry by the steamship,
15853 which began its career on the Hudson in 1807; by the canals, of which
15854 the Erie opened in 1825 was the most noteworthy; and by the railways,
15855 which came into practical operation about 1830.
15856
15857 [Illustration: _From an old print_
15858
15859 AN EARLY RAILWAY]
15860
15861 With sure instinct the Eastern manufacturer reached out for the markets
15862 of the Northwest territory where free farmers were producing annually
15863 staggering crops of corn, wheat, bacon, and wool. The two great canal
15864 systems--the Erie connecting New York City with the waterways of the
15865 Great Lakes and the Pennsylvania chain linking Philadelphia with the
15866 headwaters of the Ohio--gradually turned the tide of trade from New
15867 Orleans to the Eastern seaboard. The railways followed the same paths.
15868 By 1860, New York had rail connections with Chicago and St. Louis, one
15869 of the routes running through the Hudson and Mohawk valleys and along
15870 the Great Lakes, the other through Philadelphia and Pennsylvania and
15871 across the rich wheat fields of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Baltimore,
15872 not to be outdone by her two rivals, reached out over the mountains for
15873 the Western trade and in 1857 had trains running into St. Louis.
15874
15875 In railway enterprise the South took more interest than in canals, and
15876 the friends of that section came to its aid. To offset the magnet
15877 drawing trade away from the Mississippi Valley, lines were built from
15878 the Gulf to Chicago, the Illinois Central part of the project being a
15879 monument to the zeal and industry of a Democrat, better known in
15880 politics than in business, Stephen A. Douglas. The swift movement of
15881 cotton and tobacco to the North or to seaports was of common concern to
15882 planters and manufacturers. Accordingly lines were flung down along the
15883 Southern coast, linking Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah with the
15884 Northern markets. Other lines struck inland from the coast, giving a
15885 rail outlet to the sea for Raleigh, Columbia, Atlanta, Chattanooga,
15886 Nashville, and Montgomery. Nevertheless, in spite of this enterprise,
15887 the mileage of all the Southern states in 1860 did not equal that of
15888 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined.
15889
15890 =Banking and Finance.=--Out of commerce and manufactures and the
15891 construction and operation of railways came such an accumulation of
15892 capital in the Northern states as merchants of old never imagined. The
15893 banks of the four industrial states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
15894 York, and Pennsylvania in 1860 had funds greater than the banks in all
15895 the other states combined. New York City had become the money market of
15896 America, the center to which industrial companies, railway promoters,
15897 farmers, and planters turned for capital to initiate and carry on their
15898 operations. The banks of Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, and
15899 Virginia, it is true, had capital far in excess of the banks of the
15900 Northwest; but still they were relatively small compared with the
15901 financial institutions of the East.
15902
15903 =The Growth of the Industrial Population.=--A revolution of such
15904 magnitude in industry, transport, and finance, overturning as it did the
15905 agrarian civilization of the old Northwest and reaching out to the very
15906 borders of the country, could not fail to bring in its train
15907 consequences of a striking character. Some were immediate and obvious.
15908 Others require a fullness of time not yet reached to reveal their
15909 complete significance. Outstanding among them was the growth of an
15910 industrial population, detached from the land, concentrated in cities,
15911 and, to use Jefferson's phrase, dependent upon "the caprices and
15912 casualties of trade" for a livelihood. This was a result, as the great
15913 Virginian had foreseen, which flowed inevitably from public and private
15914 efforts to stimulate industry as against agriculture.
15915
15916 [Illustration: LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1838, AN EARLY INDUSTRIAL
15917 TOWN]
15918
15919 It was estimated in 1860, on the basis of the census figures, that
15920 mechanical production gave employment to 1,100,000 men and 285,000
15921 women, making, if the average number of dependents upon them be
15922 reckoned, nearly six million people or about one-sixth of the population
15923 of the country sustained from manufactures. "This," runs the official
15924 record, "was exclusive of the number engaged in the production of many
15925 of the raw materials and of the food for manufacturers; in the
15926 distribution of their products, such as merchants, clerks, draymen,
15927 mariners, the employees of railroads, expresses, and steamboats; of
15928 capitalists, various artistic and professional classes, as well as
15929 carpenters, bricklayers, painters, and the members of other mechanical
15930 trades not classed as manufactures. It is safe to assume, then, that
15931 one-third of the whole population is supported, directly, or indirectly,
15932 by manufacturing industry." Taking, however, the number of persons
15933 directly supported by manufactures, namely about six millions, reveals
15934 the astounding fact that the white laboring population, divorced from
15935 the soil, already exceeded the number of slaves on Southern farms and
15936 plantations.
15937
15938 _Immigration._--The more carefully the rapid growth of the industrial
15939 population is examined, the more surprising is the fact that such an
15940 immense body of free laborers could be found, particularly when it is
15941 recalled to what desperate straits the colonial leaders were put in
15942 securing immigrants,--slavery, indentured servitude, and kidnapping
15943 being the fruits of their necessities. The answer to the enigma is to be
15944 found partly in European conditions and partly in the cheapness of
15945 transportation after the opening of the era of steam navigation. Shrewd
15946 observers of the course of events had long foreseen that a flood of
15947 cheap labor was bound to come when the way was made easy. Some, among
15948 them Chief Justice Ellsworth, went so far as to prophesy that white
15949 labor would in time be so abundant that slavery would disappear as the
15950 more costly of the two labor systems. The processes of nature were aided
15951 by the policies of government in England and Germany.
15952
15953 _The Coming of the Irish._--The opposition of the Irish people to the
15954 English government, ever furious and irrepressible, was increased in the
15955 mid forties by an almost total failure of the potato crop, the main
15956 support of the peasants. Catholic in religion, they had been compelled
15957 to support a Protestant church. Tillers of the soil by necessity, they
15958 were forced to pay enormous tributes to absentee landlords in England
15959 whose claim to their estates rested upon the title of conquest and
15960 confiscation. Intensely loyal to their race, the Irish were subjected in
15961 all things to the Parliament at London, in which their small minority of
15962 representatives had little influence save in holding a balance of power
15963 between the two contending English parties. To the constant political
15964 irritation, the potato famine added physical distress beyond
15965 description. In cottages and fields and along the highways the victims
15966 of starvation lay dead by the hundreds, the relief which charity
15967 afforded only bringing misery more sharply to the foreground. Those who
15968 were fortunate enough to secure passage money sought escape to America.
15969 In 1844 the total immigration into the United States was less than
15970 eighty thousand; in 1850 it had risen by leaps and bounds to more than
15971 three hundred thousand. Between 1820 and 1860 the immigrants from the
15972 United Kingdom numbered 2,750,000, of whom more than one-half were
15973 Irish. It has been said with a touch of exaggeration that the American
15974 canals and railways of those days were built by the labor of Irishmen.
15975
15976 _The German Migration._--To political discontent and economic distress,
15977 such as was responsible for the coming of the Irish, may likewise be
15978 traced the source of the Germanic migration. The potato blight that fell
15979 upon Ireland visited the Rhine Valley and Southern Germany at the same
15980 time with results as pitiful, if less extensive. The calamity inflicted
15981 by nature was followed shortly by another inflicted by the despotic
15982 conduct of German kings and princes. In 1848 there had occurred
15983 throughout Europe a popular uprising in behalf of republics and
15984 democratic government. For a time it rode on a full tide of success.
15985 Kings were overthrown, or compelled to promise constitutional
15986 government, and tyrannical ministers fled from their palaces. Then came
15987 reaction. Those who had championed the popular cause were imprisoned,
15988 shot, or driven out of the land. Men of attainments and distinction,
15989 whose sole offense was opposition to the government of kings and
15990 princes, sought an asylum in America, carrying with them to the land of
15991 their adoption the spirit of liberty and democracy. In 1847 over fifty
15992 thousand Germans came to America, the forerunners of a migration that
15993 increased, almost steadily, for many years. The record of 1860 showed
15994 that in the previous twenty years nearly a million and a half had found
15995 homes in the United States. Far and wide they scattered, from the mills
15996 and shops of the seacoast towns to the uttermost frontiers of Wisconsin
15997 and Minnesota.
15998
15999 _The Labor of Women and Children._--If the industries, canals, and
16000 railways of the country were largely manned by foreign labor, still
16001 important native sources must not be overlooked; above all, the women
16002 and children of the New England textile districts. Spinning and weaving,
16003 by a tradition that runs far beyond the written records of mankind,
16004 belonged to women. Indeed it was the dexterous housewives, spinsters,
16005 and boys and girls that laid the foundations of the textile industry in
16006 America, foundations upon which the mechanical revolution was built. As
16007 the wheel and loom were taken out of the homes to the factories operated
16008 by water power or the steam engine, the women and, to use Hamilton's
16009 phrase, "the children of tender years," followed as a matter of course.
16010 "The cotton manufacture alone employs six thousand persons in Lowell,"
16011 wrote a French observer in 1836; "of this number nearly five thousand
16012 are young women from seventeen to twenty-four years of age, the
16013 daughters of farmers from the different New England states." It was not
16014 until after the middle of the century that foreign lands proved to be
16015 the chief source from which workers were recruited for the factories of
16016 New England. It was then that the daughters of the Puritans, outdone by
16017 the competition of foreign labor, both of men and women, left the
16018 spinning jenny and the loom to other hands.
16019
16020 =The Rise of Organized Labor.=--The changing conditions of American
16021 life, marked by the spreading mill towns of New England, New York, and
16022 Pennsylvania and the growth of cities like Buffalo, Cincinnati,
16023 Louisville, St. Louis, Detroit, and Chicago in the West, naturally
16024 brought changes, as Jefferson had prophesied, in "manners and morals." A
16025 few mechanics, smiths, carpenters, and masons, widely scattered through
16026 farming regions and rural villages, raise no such problems as tens of
16027 thousands of workers collected in one center in daily intercourse,
16028 learning the power of cooperation and union.
16029
16030 Even before the coming of steam and machinery, in the "good old days" of
16031 handicrafts, laborers in many trades--printers, shoemakers, carpenters,
16032 for example--had begun to draw together in the towns for the advancement
16033 of their interests in the form of higher wages, shorter days, and
16034 milder laws. The shoemakers of Philadelphia, organized in 1794,
16035 conducted a strike in 1799 and held together until indicted seven years
16036 later for conspiracy. During the twenties and thirties, local labor
16037 unions sprang up in all industrial centers and they led almost
16038 immediately to city federations of the several crafts.
16039
16040 As the thousands who were dependent upon their daily labor for their
16041 livelihood mounted into the millions and industries spread across the
16042 continent, the local unions of craftsmen grew into national craft
16043 organizations bound together by the newspapers, the telegraph, and the
16044 railways. Before 1860 there were several such national trade unions,
16045 including the plumbers, printers, mule spinners, iron molders, and stone
16046 cutters. All over the North labor leaders arose--men unknown to general
16047 history but forceful and resourceful characters who forged links binding
16048 scattered and individual workers into a common brotherhood. An attempt
16049 was even made in 1834 to federate all the crafts into a permanent
16050 national organization; but it perished within three years through lack
16051 of support. Half a century had to elapse before the American Federation
16052 of Labor was to accomplish this task.
16053
16054 All the manifestations of the modern labor movement had appeared, in
16055 germ at least, by the time the mid-century was reached: unions, labor
16056 leaders, strikes, a labor press, a labor political program, and a labor
16057 political party. In every great city industrial disputes were a common
16058 occurrence. The papers recorded about four hundred in two years,
16059 1853-54, local affairs but forecasting economic struggles in a larger
16060 field. The labor press seems to have begun with the founding of the
16061 _Mechanics' Free Press_ in Philadelphia in 1828 and the establishment of
16062 the New York _Workingman's Advocate_ shortly afterward. These
16063 semi-political papers were in later years followed by regular trade
16064 papers designed to weld together and advance the interests of particular
16065 crafts. Edited by able leaders, these little sheets with limited
16066 circulation wielded an enormous influence in the ranks of the workers.
16067
16068 =Labor and Politics.=--As for the political program of labor, the main
16069 planks were clear and specific: the abolition of imprisonment for debt,
16070 manhood suffrage in states where property qualifications still
16071 prevailed, free and universal education, laws protecting the safety and
16072 health of workers in mills and factories, abolition of lotteries, repeal
16073 of laws requiring militia service, and free land in the West.
16074
16075 Into the labor papers and platforms there sometimes crept a note of
16076 hostility to the masters of industry, a sign of bitterness that excited
16077 little alarm while cheap land in the West was open to the discontented.
16078 The Philadelphia workmen, in issuing a call for a local convention,
16079 invited "all those of our fellow citizens who live by their own labor
16080 and none other." In Newcastle county, Delaware, the association of
16081 working people complained in 1830: "The poor have no laws; the laws are
16082 made by the rich and of course for the rich." Here and there an
16083 extremist went to the length of advocating an equal division of wealth
16084 among all the people--the crudest kind of communism.
16085
16086 Agitation of this character produced in labor circles profound distrust
16087 of both Whigs and Democrats who talked principally about tariffs and
16088 banks; it resulted in attempts to found independent labor parties. In
16089 Philadelphia, Albany, New York City, and New England, labor candidates
16090 were put up for elections in the early thirties and in a few cases were
16091 victorious at the polls. "The balance of power has at length got into
16092 the hands of the working people, where it properly belongs,"
16093 triumphantly exclaimed the _Mechanics' Free Press_ of Philadelphia in
16094 1829. But the triumph was illusory. Dissensions appeared in the labor
16095 ranks. The old party leaders, particularly of Tammany Hall, the
16096 Democratic party organization in New York City, offered concessions to
16097 labor in return for votes. Newspapers unsparingly denounced "trade union
16098 politicians" as "demagogues," "levellers," and "rag, tag, and bobtail";
16099 and some of them, deeming labor unrest the sour fruit of manhood
16100 suffrage, suggested disfranchisement as a remedy. Under the influence
16101 of concessions and attacks the political fever quickly died away, and
16102 the end of the decade left no remnant of the labor political parties.
16103 Labor leaders turned to a task which seemed more substantial and
16104 practical, that of organizing workingmen into craft unions for the
16105 definite purpose of raising wages and reducing hours.
16106
16107
16108 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND NATIONAL POLITICS
16109
16110 =Southern Plans for Union with the West.=--It was long the design of
16111 Southern statesmen like Calhoun to hold the West and the South together
16112 in one political party. The theory on which they based their hope was
16113 simple. Both sections were agricultural--the producers of raw materials
16114 and the buyers of manufactured goods. The planters were heavy purchasers
16115 of Western bacon, pork, mules, and grain. The Mississippi River and its
16116 tributaries formed the natural channel for the transportation of heavy
16117 produce southward to the plantations and outward to Europe. Therefore,
16118 ran their political reasoning, the interests of the two sections were
16119 one. By standing together in favor of low tariffs, they could buy their
16120 manufactures cheaply in Europe and pay for them in cotton, tobacco, and
16121 grain. The union of the two sections under Jackson's management seemed
16122 perfect.
16123
16124 =The East Forms Ties with the West.=--Eastern leaders were not blind to
16125 the ambitions of Southern statesmen. On the contrary, they also
16126 recognized the importance of forming strong ties with the agrarian West
16127 and drawing the produce of the Ohio Valley to Philadelphia and New York.
16128 The canals and railways were the physical signs of this economic union,
16129 and the results, commercial and political, were soon evident. By the
16130 middle of the century, Southern economists noted the change, one of
16131 them, De Bow, lamenting that "the great cities of the North have
16132 severally penetrated the interior with artificial lines until they have
16133 taken from the open and untaxed current of the Mississippi the commerce
16134 produced on its borders." To this writer it was an astounding thing to
16135 behold "the number of steamers that now descend the upper Mississippi
16136 River, loaded to the guards with produce, as far as the mouth of the
16137 Illinois River and then turn up that stream with their cargoes to be
16138 shipped to New York _via_ Chicago. The Illinois canal has not only swept
16139 the whole produce along the line of the Illinois River to the East, but
16140 it is drawing the products of the upper Mississippi through the same
16141 channel; thus depriving New Orleans and St. Louis of a rich portion of
16142 their former trade."
16143
16144 If to any shippers the broad current of the great river sweeping down to
16145 New Orleans offered easier means of physical communication to the sea
16146 than the canals and railways, the difference could be overcome by the
16147 credit which Eastern bankers were able to extend to the grain and
16148 produce buyers, in the first instance, and through them to the farmers
16149 on the soil. The acute Southern observer just quoted, De Bow, admitted
16150 with evident regret, in 1852, that "last autumn, the rich regions of
16151 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were flooded with the local bank notes of
16152 the Eastern States, advanced by the New York houses on produce to be
16153 shipped by way of the canals in the spring.... These moneyed facilities
16154 enable the packer, miller, and speculator to hold on to their produce
16155 until the opening of navigation in the spring and they are no longer
16156 obliged, as formerly, to hurry off their shipments during the winter by
16157 the way of New Orleans in order to realize funds by drafts on their
16158 shipments. The banking facilities at the East are doing as much to draw
16159 trade from us as the canals and railways which Eastern capital is
16160 constructing." Thus canals, railways, and financial credit were swiftly
16161 forging bonds of union between the old home of Jacksonian Democracy in
16162 the West and the older home of Federalism in the East. The nationalism
16163 to which Webster paid eloquent tribute became more and more real with
16164 the passing of time. The self-sufficiency of the pioneer was broken down
16165 as he began to watch the produce markets of New York and Philadelphia
16166 where the prices of corn and hogs fixed his earnings for the year.
16167
16168 =The West and Manufactures.=--In addition to the commercial bonds
16169 between the East and the West there was growing up a common interest in
16170 manufactures. As skilled white labor increased in the Ohio Valley, the
16171 industries springing up in the new cities made Western life more like
16172 that of the industrial East than like that of the planting South.
16173 Moreover, the Western states produced some important raw materials for
16174 American factories, which called for protection against foreign
16175 competition, notably, wool, hemp, and flax. As the South had little or
16176 no foreign competition in cotton and tobacco, the East could not offer
16177 protection for her raw materials in exchange for protection for
16178 industries. With the West, however, it became possible to establish
16179 reciprocity in tariffs; that is, for example, to trade a high rate on
16180 wool for a high rate on textiles or iron.
16181
16182 =The South Dependent on the North.=--While East and West were drawing
16183 together, the distinctions between North and South were becoming more
16184 marked; the latter, having few industries and producing little save raw
16185 materials, was being forced into the position of a dependent section. As
16186 a result of the protective tariff, Southern planters were compelled to
16187 turn more and more to Northern mills for their cloth, shoes, hats, hoes,
16188 plows, and machinery. Nearly all the goods which they bought in Europe
16189 in exchange for their produce came overseas to Northern ports, whence
16190 transshipments were made by rail and water to Southern points of
16191 distribution. Their rice, cotton, and tobacco, in as far as they were
16192 not carried to Europe in British bottoms, were transported by Northern
16193 masters. In these ways, a large part of the financial operations
16194 connected with the sale of Southern produce and the purchase of goods in
16195 exchange passed into the hands of Northern merchants and bankers who,
16196 naturally, made profits from their transactions. Finally, Southern
16197 planters who wanted to buy more land and more slaves on credit borrowed
16198 heavily in the North where huge accumulations made the rates of interest
16199 lower than the smaller banks of the South could afford.
16200
16201 =The South Reckons the Cost of Economic Dependence.=--As Southern
16202 dependence upon Northern capital became more and more marked, Southern
16203 leaders began to chafe at what they regarded as restraints laid upon
16204 their enterprise. In a word, they came to look upon the planter as a
16205 tribute-bearer to the manufacturer and financier. "The South,"
16206 expostulated De Bow, "stands in the attitude of feeding ... a vast
16207 population of [Northern] merchants, shipowners, capitalists, and others
16208 who, without claims on her progeny, drink up the life blood of her
16209 trade.... Where goes the value of our labor but to those who, taking
16210 advantage of our folly, ship for us, buy for us, sell to us, and, after
16211 turning our own capital to their profitable account, return laden with
16212 our money to enjoy their easily earned opulence at home."
16213
16214 Southern statisticians, not satisfied with generalities, attempted to
16215 figure out how great was this tribute in dollars and cents. They
16216 estimated that the planters annually lent to Northern merchants the full
16217 value of their exports, a hundred millions or more, "to be used in the
16218 manipulation of foreign imports." They calculated that no less than
16219 forty millions all told had been paid to shipowners in profits. They
16220 reckoned that, if the South were to work up her own cotton, she would
16221 realize from seventy to one hundred millions a year that otherwise went
16222 North. Finally, to cap the climax, they regretted that planters spent
16223 some fifteen millions a year pleasure-seeking in the alluring cities and
16224 summer resorts of the North.
16225
16226 =Southern Opposition to Northern Policies.=--Proceeding from these
16227 premises, Southern leaders drew the logical conclusion that the entire
16228 program of economic measures demanded in the North was without exception
16229 adverse to Southern interests and, by a similar chain of reasoning,
16230 injurious to the corn and wheat producers of the West. Cheap labor
16231 afforded by free immigration, a protective tariff raising prices of
16232 manufactures for the tiller of the soil, ship subsidies increasing the
16233 tonnage of carrying trade in Northern hands, internal improvements
16234 forging new economic bonds between the East and the West, a national
16235 banking system giving strict national control over the currency as a
16236 safeguard against paper inflation--all these devices were regarded in
16237 the South as contrary to the planting interest. They were constantly
16238 compared with the restrictive measures by which Great Britain more than
16239 half a century before had sought to bind American interests.
16240
16241 As oppression justified a war for independence once, statesmen argued,
16242 so it can justify it again. "It is curious as it is melancholy and
16243 distressing," came a broad hint from South Carolina, "to see how
16244 striking is the analogy between the colonial vassalage to which the
16245 manufacturing states have reduced the planting states and that which
16246 formerly bound the Anglo-American colonies to the British empire....
16247 England said to her American colonies: 'You shall not trade with the
16248 rest of the world for such manufactures as are produced in the mother
16249 country.' The manufacturing states say to their Southern colonies: 'You
16250 shall not trade with the rest of the world for such manufactures as we
16251 produce.'" The conclusion was inexorable: either the South must control
16252 the national government and its economic measures, or it must declare,
16253 as America had done four score years before, its political and economic
16254 independence. As Northern mills multiplied, as railways spun their
16255 mighty web over the face of the North, and as accumulated capital rose
16256 into the hundreds of millions, the conviction of the planters and their
16257 statesmen deepened into desperation.
16258
16259 =Efforts to Start Southern Industries Fail.=--A few of them, seeing the
16260 predominance of the North, made determined efforts to introduce
16261 manufactures into the South. To the leaders who were averse to secession
16262 and nullification this seemed the only remedy for the growing disparity
16263 in the power of the two sections. Societies for the encouragement of
16264 mechanical industries were formed, the investment of capital was sought,
16265 and indeed a few mills were built on Southern soil. The results were
16266 meager. The natural resources, coal and water power, were abundant; but
16267 the enterprise for direction and the skilled labor were wanting. The
16268 stream of European immigration flowed North and West, not South. The
16269 Irish or German laborer, even if he finally made his home in a city, had
16270 before him, while in the North, the alternative of a homestead on
16271 Western land. To him slavery was a strange, if not a repelling,
16272 institution. He did not take to it kindly nor care to fix his home where
16273 it flourished. While slavery lasted, the economy of the South was
16274 inevitably agricultural. While agriculture predominated, leadership with
16275 equal necessity fell to the planting interest. While the planting
16276 interest ruled, political opposition to Northern economy was destined to
16277 grow in strength.
16278
16279 =The Southern Theory of Sectionalism.=--In the opinion of the statesmen
16280 who frankly represented the planting interest, the industrial system was
16281 its deadly enemy. Their entire philosophy of American politics was
16282 summed up in a single paragraph by McDuffie, a spokesman for South
16283 Carolina: "Owing to the federative character of our government, the
16284 great geographical extent of our territory, and the diversity of the
16285 pursuits of our citizens in different parts of the union, it has so
16286 happened that two great interests have sprung up, standing directly
16287 opposed to each other. One of these consists of those manufactures which
16288 the Northern and Middle states are capable of producing but which, owing
16289 to the high price of labor and the high profits of capital in those
16290 states, cannot hold competition with foreign manufactures without the
16291 aid of bounties, directly or indirectly given, either by the general
16292 government or by the state governments. The other of these interests
16293 consists of the great agricultural staples of the Southern states which
16294 can find a market only in foreign countries and which can be
16295 advantageously sold only in exchange for foreign manufactures which come
16296 in competition with those of the Northern and Middle states.... These
16297 interests then stand diametrically and irreconcilably opposed to each
16298 other. The interest, the pecuniary interest of the Northern
16299 manufacturer, is directly promoted by every increase of the taxes
16300 imposed upon Southern commerce; and it is unnecessary to add that the
16301 interest of the Southern planter is promoted by every diminution of
16302 taxes imposed upon the productions of their industry. If, under these
16303 circumstances, the manufacturers were clothed with the power of imposing
16304 taxes, at their pleasure, upon the foreign imports of the planter, no
16305 doubt would exist in the mind of any man that it would have all the
16306 characteristics of an absolute and unqualified despotism." The economic
16307 soundness of this reasoning, a subject of interesting speculation for
16308 the economist, is of little concern to the historian. The historical
16309 point is that this opinion was widely held in the South and with the
16310 progress of time became the prevailing doctrine of the planting
16311 statesmen.
16312
16313 Their antagonism was deepened because they also became convinced, on
16314 what grounds it is not necessary to inquire, that the leaders of the
16315 industrial interest thus opposed to planting formed a consolidated
16316 "aristocracy of wealth," bent upon the pursuit and attainment of
16317 political power at Washington. "By the aid of various associated
16318 interests," continued McDuffie, "the manufacturing capitalists have
16319 obtained a complete and permanent control over the legislation of
16320 Congress on this subject [the tariff].... Men confederated together upon
16321 selfish and interested principles, whether in pursuit of the offices or
16322 the bounties of the government, are ever more active and vigilant than
16323 the great majority who act from disinterested and patriotic impulses.
16324 Have we not witnessed it on this floor, sir? Who ever knew the tariff
16325 men to divide on any question affecting their confederated interests?...
16326 The watchword is, stick together, right or wrong upon every question
16327 affecting the common cause. Such, sir, is the concert and vigilance and
16328 such the combinations by which the manufacturing party, acting upon the
16329 interests of some and the prejudices of others, have obtained a decided
16330 and permanent control over public opinion in all the tariff states."
16331 Thus, as the Southern statesman would have it, the North, in matters
16332 affecting national policies, was ruled by a "confederated interest"
16333 which menaced the planting interest. As the former grew in magnitude and
16334 attached to itself the free farmers of the West through channels of
16335 trade and credit, it followed as night the day that in time the planters
16336 would be overshadowed and at length overborne in the struggle of giants.
16337 Whether the theory was sound or not, Southern statesmen believed it and
16338 acted upon it.
16339
16340
16341 =References=
16342
16343 M. Beard, _Short History of the American Labor Movement_.
16344
16345 E.L. Bogart, _Economic History of the United States_.
16346
16347 J.R. Commons, _History of Labour in the United States_ (2 vols.).
16348
16349 E.R. Johnson, _American Railway Transportation_.
16350
16351 C.D. Wright, _Industrial Evolution of the United States_.
16352
16353
16354 =Questions=
16355
16356 1. What signs pointed to a complete Democratic triumph in 1852?
16357
16358 2. What is the explanation of the extraordinary industrial progress of
16359 America?
16360
16361 3. Compare the planting system with the factory system.
16362
16363 4. In what sections did industry flourish before the Civil War? Why?
16364
16365 5. Show why transportation is so vital to modern industry and
16366 agriculture.
16367
16368 6. Explain how it was possible to secure so many people to labor in
16369 American industries.
16370
16371 7. Trace the steps in the rise of organized labor before 1860.
16372
16373 8. What political and economic reforms did labor demand?
16374
16375 9. Why did the East and the South seek closer ties with the West?
16376
16377 10. Describe the economic forces which were drawing the East and the
16378 West together.
16379
16380 11. In what way was the South economically dependent upon the North?
16381
16382 12 State the national policies generally favored in the North and
16383 condemned in the South.
16384
16385 13. Show how economic conditions in the South were unfavorable to
16386 industry.
16387
16388 14. Give the Southern explanation of the antagonism between the North
16389 and the South.
16390
16391
16392 =Research Topics=
16393
16394 =The Inventions.=--Assign one to each student. Satisfactory accounts are
16395 to be found in any good encyclopedia, especially the Britannica.
16396
16397 =River and Lake Commerce.=--Callender, _Economic History of the United
16398 States_, pp. 313-326.
16399
16400 =Railways and Canals.=--Callender, pp. 326-344; 359-387. Coman,
16401 _Industrial History of the United States_, pp. 216-225.
16402
16403 =The Growth of Industry, 1815-1840.=--Callender, pp. 459-471. From 1850
16404 to 1860, Callender, pp. 471-486.
16405
16406 =Early Labor Conditions.=--Callender, pp. 701-718.
16407
16408 =Early Immigration.=--Callender, pp. 719-732.
16409
16410 =Clay's Home Market Theory of the Tariff.=--Callender, pp. 498-503.
16411
16412 =The New England View of the Tariff.=--Callender, pp. 503-514.
16413
16414
16415
16416
16417 CHAPTER XIV
16418
16419 THE PLANTING SYSTEM AND NATIONAL POLITICS
16420
16421
16422 James Madison, the father of the federal Constitution, after he had
16423 watched for many days the battle royal in the national convention of
16424 1787, exclaimed that the contest was not between the large and the small
16425 states, but between the commercial North and the planting South. From
16426 the inauguration of Washington to the election of Lincoln the sectional
16427 conflict, discerned by this penetrating thinker, exercised a profound
16428 influence on the course of American politics. It was latent during the
16429 "era of good feeling" when the Jeffersonian Republicans adopted
16430 Federalist policies; it flamed up in the contest between the Democrats
16431 and Whigs. Finally it raged in the angry political quarrel which
16432 culminated in the Civil War.
16433
16434
16435 SLAVERY--NORTH AND SOUTH
16436
16437 =The Decline of Slavery in the North.=--At the time of the adoption of
16438 the Constitution, slavery was lawful in all the Northern states except
16439 Massachusetts. There were almost as many bondmen in New York as in
16440 Georgia. New Jersey had more than Delaware or Tennessee, indeed nearly
16441 as many as both combined. All told, however, there were only about forty
16442 thousand in the North as against nearly seven hundred thousand in the
16443 South. Moreover, most of the Northern slaves were domestic servants, not
16444 laborers necessary to keep mills going or fields under cultivation.
16445
16446 There was, in the North, a steadily growing moral sentiment against the
16447 system. Massachusetts abandoned it in 1780. In the same year,
16448 Pennsylvania provided for gradual emancipation. New Hampshire, where
16449 there had been only a handful, Connecticut with a few thousand
16450 domestics, and New Jersey early followed these examples. New York, in
16451 1799, declared that all children born of slaves after July 4 of that
16452 year should be free, though held for a term as apprentices; and in 1827
16453 it swept away the last vestiges of slavery. So with the passing of the
16454 generation that had framed the Constitution, chattel servitude
16455 disappeared in the commercial states, leaving behind only such
16456 discriminations as disfranchisement or high property qualifications on
16457 colored voters.
16458
16459 =The Growth of Northern Sentiment against Slavery.=--In both sections of
16460 the country there early existed, among those more or less
16461 philosophically inclined, a strong opposition to slavery on moral as
16462 well as economic grounds. In the constitutional convention of 1787,
16463 Gouverneur Morris had vigorously condemned it and proposed that the
16464 whole country should bear the cost of abolishing it. About the same time
16465 a society for promoting the abolition of slavery, under the presidency
16466 of Benjamin Franklin, laid before Congress a petition that serious
16467 attention be given to the emancipation of "those unhappy men who alone
16468 in this land of freedom are degraded into perpetual bondage." When
16469 Congress, acting on the recommendations of President Jefferson, provided
16470 for the abolition of the foreign slave trade on January 1, 1808, several
16471 Northern members joined with Southern members in condemning the system
16472 as well as the trade. Later, colonization societies were formed to
16473 encourage the emancipation of slaves and their return to Africa. James
16474 Madison was president and Henry Clay vice president of such an
16475 organization.
16476
16477 The anti-slavery sentiment of which these were the signs was
16478 nevertheless confined to narrow circles and bore no trace of bitterness.
16479
16480 "We consider slavery your calamity, not your crime," wrote a
16481 distinguished Boston clergyman to his Southern brethren, "and we will
16482 share with you the burden of putting an end to it. We will consent that
16483 the public lands shall be appropriated to this object.... I deprecate
16484 everything which sows discord and exasperating sectional animosities."
16485
16486 =Uncompromising Abolition.=--In a little while the spirit of generosity
16487 was gone. Just as Jacksonian Democracy rose to power there appeared a
16488 new kind of anti-slavery doctrine--the dogmatism of the abolition
16489 agitator. For mild speculation on the evils of the system was
16490 substituted an imperious and belligerent demand for instant
16491 emancipation. If a date must be fixed for its appearance, the year 1831
16492 may be taken when William Lloyd Garrison founded in Boston his
16493 anti-slavery paper, _The Liberator_. With singleness of purpose and
16494 utter contempt for all opposing opinions and arguments, he pursued his
16495 course of passionate denunciation. He apologized for having ever
16496 "assented to the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition."
16497 He chose for his motto: "Immediate and unconditional emancipation!" He
16498 promised his readers that he would be "harsh as truth and uncompromising
16499 as justice"; that he would not "think or speak or write with
16500 moderation." Then he flung out his defiant call: "I am in earnest--I
16501 will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a single
16502 inch--and I will be heard....
16503
16504 'Such is the vow I take, so help me God.'"
16505
16506 Though Garrison complained that "the apathy of the people is enough to
16507 make every statue leap from its pedestal," he soon learned how alive the
16508 masses were to the meaning of his propaganda. Abolition orators were
16509 stoned in the street and hissed from the platform. Their meeting places
16510 were often attacked and sometimes burned to the ground. Garrison himself
16511 was assaulted in the streets of Boston, finding refuge from the angry
16512 mob behind prison bars. Lovejoy, a publisher in Alton, Illinois, for his
16513 willingness to give abolition a fair hearing, was brutally murdered; his
16514 printing press was broken to pieces as a warning to all those who
16515 disturbed the nation's peace of mind. The South, doubly frightened by a
16516 slave revolt in 1831 which ended in the murder of a number of men,
16517 women, and children, closed all discussion of slavery in that section.
16518 "Now," exclaimed Calhoun, "it is a question which admits of neither
16519 concession nor compromise."
16520
16521 As the opposition hardened, the anti-slavery agitation gathered in force
16522 and intensity. Whittier blew his blast from the New England hills:
16523
16524 "No slave-hunt in our borders--no pirate on our strand;
16525 No fetters in the Bay State--no slave upon our land."
16526
16527 Lowell, looking upon the espousal of a great cause as the noblest aim of
16528 his art, ridiculed and excoriated bondage in the South. Those
16529 abolitionists, not gifted as speakers or writers, signed petitions
16530 against slavery and poured them in upon Congress. The flood of them was
16531 so continuous that the House of Representatives, forgetting its
16532 traditions, adopted in 1836 a "gag rule" which prevented the reading of
16533 appeals and consigned them to the waste basket. Not until the Whigs were
16534 in power nearly ten years later was John Quincy Adams able, after a
16535 relentless campaign, to carry a motion rescinding the rule.
16536
16537 How deep was the impression made upon the country by this agitation for
16538 immediate and unconditional emancipation cannot be measured. If the
16539 popular vote for those candidates who opposed not slavery, but its
16540 extension to the territories, be taken as a standard, it was slight
16541 indeed. In 1844, the Free Soil candidate, Birney, polled 62,000 votes
16542 out of over a million and a half; the Free Soil vote of the next
16543 campaign went beyond a quarter of a million, but the increase was due to
16544 the strength of the leader, Martin Van Buren; four years afterward it
16545 receded to 156,000, affording all the outward signs for the belief that
16546 the pleas of the abolitionist found no widespread response among the
16547 people. Yet the agitation undoubtedly ran deeper than the ballot box.
16548 Young statesmen of the North, in whose hands the destiny of frightful
16549 years was to lie, found their indifference to slavery broken and their
16550 consciences stirred by the unending appeal and the tireless reiteration.
16551 Charles Sumner afterward boasted that he read the _Liberator_ two years
16552 before Wendell Phillips, the young Boston lawyer who cast aside his
16553 profession to take up the dangerous cause.
16554
16555 =Early Southern Opposition to Slavery.=--In the South, the sentiment
16556 against slavery was strong; it led some to believe that it would also
16557 come to an end there in due time. Washington disliked it and directed in
16558 his will that his own slaves should be set free after the death of his
16559 wife. Jefferson, looking into the future, condemned the system by which
16560 he also lived, saying: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure
16561 when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of
16562 the people that their liberties are the gift of God? Are they not to be
16563 violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I
16564 reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." Nor
16565 did Southern men confine their sentiments to expressions of academic
16566 opinion. They accepted in 1787 the Ordinance which excluded slavery from
16567 the Northwest territory forever and also the Missouri Compromise, which
16568 shut it out of a vast section of the Louisiana territory.
16569
16570 =The Revolution in the Slave System.=--Among the representatives of
16571 South Carolina and Georgia, however, the anti-slavery views of
16572 Washington and Jefferson were by no means approved; and the drift of
16573 Southern economy was decidedly in favor of extending and perpetuating,
16574 rather than abolishing, the system of chattel servitude. The invention
16575 of the cotton gin and textile machinery created a market for cotton
16576 which the planters, with all their skill and energy, could hardly
16577 supply. Almost every available acre was brought under cotton culture as
16578 the small farmers were driven steadily from the seaboard into the
16579 uplands or to the Northwest.
16580
16581 The demand for slaves to till the swiftly expanding fields was enormous.
16582 The number of bondmen rose from 700,000 in Washington's day to more than
16583 three millions in 1850. At the same time slavery itself was transformed.
16584 Instead of the homestead where the same family of masters kept the same
16585 families of slaves from generation to generation, came the plantation
16586 system of the Far South and Southwest where masters were ever moving and
16587 ever extending their holdings of lands and slaves. This in turn reacted
16588 on the older South where the raising of slaves for the market became a
16589 regular and highly profitable business.
16590
16591 [Illustration: _From an old print_
16592
16593 JOHN C. CALHOUN]
16594
16595 =Slavery Defended as a Positive Good.=--As the abolition agitation
16596 increased and the planting system expanded, apologies for slavery became
16597 fainter and fainter in the South. Then apologies were superseded by
16598 claims that slavery was a beneficial scheme of labor control. Calhoun,
16599 in a famous speech in the Senate in 1837, sounded the new note by
16600 declaring slavery "instead of an evil, a good--a positive good." His
16601 reasoning was as follows: in every civilized society one portion of the
16602 community must live on the labor of another; learning, science, and the
16603 arts are built upon leisure; the African slave, kindly treated by his
16604 master and mistress and looked after in his old age, is better off than
16605 the free laborers of Europe; and under the slave system conflicts
16606 between capital and labor are avoided. The advantages of slavery in this
16607 respect, he concluded, "will become more and more manifest, if left
16608 undisturbed by interference from without, as the country advances in
16609 wealth and numbers."
16610
16611 =Slave Owners Dominate Politics.=--The new doctrine of Calhoun was
16612 eagerly seized by the planters as they came more and more to overshadow
16613 the small farmers of the South and as they beheld the menace of
16614 abolition growing upon the horizon. It formed, as they viewed matters, a
16615 moral defense for their labor system--sound, logical, invincible. It
16616 warranted them in drawing together for the protection of an institution
16617 so necessary, so inevitable, so beneficent.
16618
16619 Though in 1850 the slave owners were only about three hundred and fifty
16620 thousand in a national population of nearly twenty million whites, they
16621 had an influence all out of proportion to their numbers. They were knit
16622 together by the bonds of a common interest. They had leisure and wealth.
16623 They could travel and attend conferences and conventions. Throughout the
16624 South and largely in the North, they had the press, the schools, and the
16625 pulpits on their side. They formed, as it were, a mighty union for the
16626 protection and advancement of their common cause. Aided by those
16627 mechanics and farmers of the North who stuck by Jacksonian Democracy
16628 through thick and thin, the planters became a power in the federal
16629 government. "We nominate Presidents," exultantly boasted a Richmond
16630 newspaper; "the North elects them."
16631
16632 This jubilant Southern claim was conceded by William H. Seward, a
16633 Republican Senator from New York, in a speech describing the power of
16634 slavery in the national government. "A party," he said, "is in one sense
16635 a joint stock association, in which those who contribute most direct the
16636 action and management of the concern.... The slaveholders, contributing
16637 in an overwhelming proportion to the strength of the Democratic party,
16638 necessarily dictate and prescribe its policy." He went on: "The
16639 slaveholding class has become the governing power in each of the
16640 slaveholding states and it practically chooses thirty of the sixty-two
16641 members of the Senate, ninety of the two hundred and thirty-three
16642 members of the House of Representatives, and one hundred and five of the
16643 two hundred and ninety-five electors of President and Vice-President of
16644 the United States." Then he considered the slave power in the Supreme
16645 Court. "That tribunal," he exclaimed, "consists of a chief justice and
16646 eight associate justices. Of these, five were called from slave states
16647 and four from free states. The opinions and bias of each of them were
16648 carefully considered by the President and Senate when he was appointed.
16649 Not one of them was found wanting in soundness of politics, according to
16650 the slaveholder's exposition of the Constitution." Such was the Northern
16651 view of the planting interest that, from the arena of national politics,
16652 challenged the whole country in 1860.
16653
16654 [Illustration: DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVES IN THE SOUTHERN STATES]
16655
16656
16657 SLAVERY IN NATIONAL POLITICS
16658
16659 =National Aspects of Slavery.=--It may be asked why it was that slavery,
16660 founded originally on state law and subject to state government, was
16661 drawn into the current of national affairs. The answer is simple. There
16662 were, in the first place, constitutional reasons. The Congress of the
16663 United States had to make all needful rules for the government of the
16664 territories, the District of Columbia, the forts and other property
16665 under national authority; so it was compelled to determine whether
16666 slavery should exist in the places subject to its jurisdiction. Upon
16667 Congress was also conferred the power of admitting new states; whenever
16668 a territory asked for admission, the issue could be raised as to whether
16669 slavery should be sanctioned or excluded. Under the Constitution,
16670 provision was made for the return of runaway slaves; Congress had the
16671 power to enforce this clause by appropriate legislation. Since the
16672 control of the post office was vested in the federal government, it had
16673 to face the problem raised by the transmission of abolition literature
16674 through the mails. Finally citizens had the right of petition; it
16675 inheres in all free government and it is expressly guaranteed by the
16676 first amendment to the Constitution. It was therefore legal for
16677 abolitionists to present to Congress their petitions, even if they asked
16678 for something which it had no right to grant. It was thus impossible,
16679 constitutionally, to draw a cordon around the slavery issue and confine
16680 the discussion of it to state politics.
16681
16682 There were, in the second place, economic reasons why slavery was
16683 inevitably drawn into the national sphere. It was the basis of the
16684 planting system which had direct commercial relations with the North and
16685 European countries; it was affected by federal laws respecting tariffs,
16686 bounties, ship subsidies, banking, and kindred matters. The planters of
16687 the South, almost without exception, looked upon the protective tariff
16688 as a tribute laid upon them for the benefit of Northern industries. As
16689 heavy borrowers of money in the North, they were generally in favor of
16690 "easy money," if not paper currency, as an aid in the repayment of their
16691 debts. This threw most of them into opposition to the Whig program for a
16692 United States Bank. All financial aids to American shipping they stoutly
16693 resisted, preferring to rely upon the cheaper service rendered by
16694 English shippers. Internal improvements, those substantial ties that
16695 were binding the West to the East and turning the traffic from New
16696 Orleans to Philadelphia and New York, they viewed with alarm. Free
16697 homesteads from the public lands, which tended to overbalance the South
16698 by building free states, became to them a measure dangerous to their
16699 interests. Thus national economic policies, which could not by any twist
16700 or turn be confined to state control, drew the slave system and its
16701 defenders into the political conflict that centered at Washington.
16702
16703 =Slavery and the Territories--the Missouri Compromise (1820).=--Though
16704 men continually talked about "taking slavery out of politics," it could
16705 not be done. By 1818 slavery had become so entrenched and the
16706 anti-slavery sentiment so strong, that Missouri's quest for admission
16707 brought both houses of Congress into a deadlock that was broken only by
16708 compromise. The South, having half the Senators, could prevent the
16709 admission of Missouri stripped of slavery; and the North, powerful in
16710 the House of Representatives, could keep Missouri with slavery out of
16711 the union indefinitely. An adjustment of pretensions was the last
16712 resort. Maine, separated from the parent state of Massachusetts, was
16713 brought into the union with freedom and Missouri with bondage. At the
16714 same time it was agreed that the remainder of the vast Louisiana
16715 territory north of the parallel of 36 o 30' should be, like the old
16716 Northwest, forever free; while the southern portion was left to slavery.
16717 In reality this was an immense gain for liberty. The area dedicated to
16718 free farmers was many times greater than that left to the planters. The
16719 principle was once more asserted that Congress had full power to prevent
16720 slavery in the territories.
16721
16722 [Illustration: THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE]
16723
16724 =The Territorial Question Reopened by the Wilmot Proviso.=--To the
16725 Southern leaders, the annexation of Texas and the conquest of Mexico
16726 meant renewed security to the planting interest against the increasing
16727 wealth and population of the North. Texas, it was said, could be divided
16728 into four slave states. The new territories secured by the treaty of
16729 peace with Mexico contained the promise of at least three more. Thus, as
16730 each new free soil state knocked for admission into the union, the
16731 South could demand as the price of its consent a new slave state. No
16732 wonder Southern statesmen saw, in the annexation of Texas and the
16733 conquest of Mexico, slavery and King Cotton triumphant--secure for all
16734 time against adverse legislation. Northern leaders were equally
16735 convinced that the Southern prophecy was true. Abolitionists and
16736 moderate opponents of slavery alike were in despair. Texas, they
16737 lamented, would fasten slavery upon the country forevermore. "No living
16738 man," cried one, "will see the end of slavery in the United States!"
16739
16740 It so happened, however, that the events which, it was thought, would
16741 secure slavery let loose a storm against it. A sign appeared first on
16742 August 6, 1846, only a few months after war was declared on Mexico. On
16743 that day, David Wilmot, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, introduced into
16744 the House of Representatives a resolution to the effect that, as an
16745 express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory
16746 from the republic of Mexico, slavery should be forever excluded from
16747 every part of it. "The Wilmot Proviso," as the resolution was popularly
16748 called, though defeated on that occasion, was a challenge to the South.
16749
16750 The South answered the challenge. Speaking in the House of
16751 Representatives, Robert Toombs of Georgia boldly declared: "In the
16752 presence of the living God, if by your legislation you seek to drive us
16753 from the territories of California and New Mexico ... I am for
16754 disunion." South Carolina announced that the day for talk had passed and
16755 the time had come to join her sister states "in resisting the
16756 application of the Wilmot Proviso at any and all hazards." A conference,
16757 assembled at Jackson, Mississippi, in the autumn of 1849, called a
16758 general convention of Southern states to meet at Nashville the following
16759 summer. The avowed purpose was to arrest "the course of aggression" and,
16760 if that was not possible, to provide "in the last resort for their
16761 separate welfare by the formation of a compact and union that will
16762 afford protection to their liberties and rights." States that had
16763 spurned South Carolina's plea for nullification in 1832 responded to
16764 this new appeal with alacrity--an augury of the secession to come.
16765
16766 [Illustration: _From an old print._
16767
16768 HENRY CLAY]
16769
16770 =The Great Debate of 1850.=--The temper of the country was white hot
16771 when Congress convened in December, 1849. It was a memorable session,
16772 memorable for the great men who took part in the debates and memorable
16773 for the grand Compromise of 1850 which it produced. In the Senate sat
16774 for the last time three heroic figures: Webster from the North, Calhoun
16775 from the South, and Clay from a border state. For nearly forty years
16776 these three had been leaders of men. All had grown old and gray in
16777 service. Calhoun was already broken in health and in a few months was to
16778 be borne from the political arena forever. Clay and Webster had but two
16779 more years in their allotted span.
16780
16781 Experience, learning, statecraft--all these things they now marshaled in
16782 a mighty effort to solve the slavery problem. On January 29, 1850, Clay
16783 offered to the Senate a compromise granting concessions to both sides;
16784 and a few days later, in a powerful oration, he made a passionate appeal
16785 for a union of hearts through mutual sacrifices. Calhoun relentlessly
16786 demanded the full measure of justice for the South: equal rights in the
16787 territories bought by common blood; the return of runaway slaves as
16788 required by the Constitution; the suppression of the abolitionists; and
16789 the restoration of the balance of power between the North and the South.
16790 Webster, in his notable "Seventh of March speech," condemned the Wilmot
16791 Proviso, advocated a strict enforcement of the fugitive slave law,
16792 denounced the abolitionists, and made a final plea for the Constitution,
16793 union, and liberty. This was the address which called forth from
16794 Whittier the poem, "Ichabod," deploring the fall of the mighty one whom
16795 he thought lost to all sense of faith and honor.
16796
16797 =The Terms of the Compromise of 1850.=--When the debates were closed,
16798 the results were totaled in a series of compromise measures, all of
16799 which were signed in September, 1850, by the new President, Millard
16800 Fillmore, who had taken office two months before on the death of Zachary
16801 Taylor. By these acts the boundaries of Texas were adjusted and the
16802 territory of New Mexico created, subject to the provision that all or
16803 any part of it might be admitted to the union "with or without slavery
16804 as their constitution may provide at the time of their admission." The
16805 Territory of Utah was similarly organized with the same conditions as to
16806 slavery, thus repudiating the Wilmot Proviso without guaranteeing
16807 slavery to the planters. California was admitted as a free state under a
16808 constitution in which the people of the territory had themselves
16809 prohibited slavery.
16810
16811 The slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, but slavery
16812 itself existed as before at the capital of the nation. This concession
16813 to anti-slavery sentiment was more than offset by a fugitive slave law,
16814 drastic in spirit and in letter. It placed the enforcement of its terms
16815 in the hands of federal officers appointed from Washington and so
16816 removed it from the control of authorities locally elected. It provided
16817 that masters or their agents, on filing claims in due form, might
16818 summarily remove their escaped slaves without affording their "alleged
16819 fugitives" the right of trial by jury, the right to witness, the right
16820 to offer any testimony in evidence. Finally, to "put teeth" into the
16821 act, heavy penalties were prescribed for all who obstructed or assisted
16822 in obstructing the enforcement of the law. Such was the Great Compromise
16823 of 1850.
16824
16825 [Illustration: AN OLD CARTOON REPRESENTING WEBSTER "STEALING CLAY'S
16826 THUNDER"]
16827
16828 =The Pro-slavery Triumph in the Election of 1852.=--The results of the
16829 election of 1852 seemed to show conclusively that the nation was weary
16830 of slavery agitation and wanted peace. Both parties, Whigs and
16831 Democrats, endorsed the fugitive slave law and approved the Great
16832 Compromise. The Democrats, with Franklin Pierce as their leader, swept
16833 the country against the war hero, General Winfield Scott, on whom the
16834 Whigs had staked their hopes. Even Webster, broken with grief at his
16835 failure to receive the nomination, advised his friends to vote for
16836 Pierce and turned away from politics to meditate upon approaching death.
16837 The verdict of the voters would seem to indicate that for the time
16838 everybody, save a handful of disgruntled agitators, looked upon Clay's
16839 settlement as the last word. "The people, especially the business men of
16840 the country," says Elson, "were utterly weary of the agitation and they
16841 gave their suffrages to the party that promised them rest." The Free
16842 Soil party, condemning slavery as "a sin against God and a crime against
16843 man," and advocating freedom for the territories, failed to carry a
16844 single state. In fact it polled fewer votes than it had four years
16845 earlier--156,000 as against nearly 3,000,000, the combined vote of the
16846 Whigs and Democrats. It is not surprising, therefore, that President
16847 Pierce, surrounded in his cabinet by strong Southern sympathizers, could
16848 promise to put an end to slavery agitation and to crush the abolition
16849 movement in the bud.
16850
16851 =Anti-slavery Agitation Continued.=--The promise was more difficult to
16852 fulfill than to utter. In fact, the vigorous execution of one measure
16853 included in the Compromise--the fugitive slave law--only made matters
16854 worse. Designed as security for the planters, it proved a powerful
16855 instrument in their undoing. Slavery five hundred miles away on a
16856 Louisiana plantation was so remote from the North that only the
16857 strongest imagination could maintain a constant rage against it. "Slave
16858 catching," "man hunting" by federal officers on the streets of
16859 Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, or Milwaukee and in the hamlets
16860 and villages of the wide-stretching farm lands of the North was another
16861 matter. It brought the most odious aspects of slavery home to thousands
16862 of men and women who would otherwise have been indifferent to the
16863 system. Law-abiding business men, mechanics, farmers, and women, when
16864 they saw peaceful negroes, who had resided in their neighborhoods
16865 perhaps for years, torn away by federal officers and carried back to
16866 bondage, were transformed into enemies of the law. They helped slaves to
16867 escape; they snatched them away from officers who had captured them;
16868 they broke open jails and carried fugitives off to Canada.
16869
16870 Assistance to runaway slaves, always more or less common in the North,
16871 was by this time organized into a system. Regular routes, known as
16872 "underground railways," were laid out across the free states into
16873 Canada, and trusted friends of freedom maintained "underground stations"
16874 where fugitives were concealed in the daytime between their long night
16875 journeys. Funds were raised and secret agents sent into the South to
16876 help negroes to flee. One negro woman, Harriet Tubman, "the Moses of her
16877 people," with headquarters at Philadelphia, is accredited with nineteen
16878 invasions into slave territory and the emancipation of three hundred
16879 negroes. Those who worked at this business were in constant peril. One
16880 underground operator, Calvin Fairbank, spent nearly twenty years in
16881 prison for aiding fugitives from justice. Yet perils and prisons did not
16882 stay those determined men and women who, in obedience to their
16883 consciences, set themselves to this lawless work.
16884
16885 [Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE]
16886
16887 From thrilling stories of adventure along the underground railways came
16888 some of the scenes and themes of the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe,
16889 "Uncle Tom's Cabin," published two years after the Compromise of 1850.
16890 Her stirring tale set forth the worst features of slavery in vivid word
16891 pictures that caught and held the attention of millions of readers.
16892 Though the book was unfair to the South and was denounced as a hideous
16893 distortion of the truth, it was quickly dramatized and played in every
16894 city and town throughout the North. Topsy, Little Eva, Uncle Tom, the
16895 fleeing slave, Eliza Harris, and the cruel slave driver, Simon Legree,
16896 with his baying blood hounds, became living specters in many a home that
16897 sought to bar the door to the "unpleasant and irritating business of
16898 slavery agitation."
16899
16900
16901 THE DRIFT OF EVENTS TOWARD THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT
16902
16903 =Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.=--To practical men, after all, the
16904 "rub-a-dub" agitation of a few abolitionists, an occasional riot over
16905 fugitive slaves, and the vogue of a popular novel seemed of slight or
16906 transient importance. They could point with satisfaction to the election
16907 returns of 1852; but their very security was founded upon shifting
16908 sands. The magnificent triumph of the pro-slavery Democrats in 1852
16909 brought a turn in affairs that destroyed the foundations under their
16910 feet. Emboldened by their own strength and the weakness of their
16911 opponents, they now dared to repeal the Missouri Compromise. The leader
16912 in this fateful enterprise was Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from
16913 Illinois, and the occasion for the deed was the demand for the
16914 organization of territorial government in the regions west of Iowa and
16915 Missouri.
16916
16917 Douglas, like Clay and Webster before him, was consumed by a strong
16918 passion for the presidency, and, to reach his goal, it was necessary to
16919 win the support of the South. This he undoubtedly sought to do when he
16920 introduced on January 4, 1854, a bill organizing the Nebraska territory
16921 on the principle of the Compromise of 1850; namely, that the people in
16922 the territory might themselves decide whether they would have slavery or
16923 not. Unwittingly the avalanche was started.
16924
16925 After a stormy debate, in which important amendments were forced on
16926 Douglas, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill became a law on May 30, 1854. The
16927 measure created two territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and provided that
16928 they, or territories organized out of them, could come into the union as
16929 states "with or without slavery as their constitutions may prescribe at
16930 the time of their admission." Not content with this, the law went on to
16931 declare the Missouri Compromise null and void as being inconsistent with
16932 the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the states
16933 and territories. Thus by a single blow the very heart of the continent,
16934 dedicated to freedom by solemn agreement, was thrown open to slavery. A
16935 desperate struggle between slave owners and the advocates of freedom was
16936 the outcome in Kansas.
16937
16938 If Douglas fancied that the North would receive the overthrow of the
16939 Missouri Compromise in the same temper that it greeted Clay's
16940 settlement, he was rapidly disillusioned. A blast of rage, terrific in
16941 its fury, swept from Maine to Iowa. Staid old Boston hanged him in
16942 effigy with an inscription--"Stephen A. Douglas, author of the infamous
16943 Nebraska bill: the Benedict Arnold of 1854." City after city burned him
16944 in effigy until, as he himself said, he could travel from the Atlantic
16945 coast to Chicago in the light of the fires. Thousands of Whigs and
16946 Free-soil Democrats deserted their parties which had sanctioned or at
16947 least tolerated the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, declaring that the startling
16948 measure showed an evident resolve on the part of the planters to rule
16949 the whole country. A gage of defiance was thrown down to the
16950 abolitionists. An issue was set even for the moderate and timid who had
16951 been unmoved by the agitation over slavery in the Far South. That issue
16952 was whether slavery was to be confined within its existing boundaries or
16953 be allowed to spread without interference, thereby placing the free
16954 states in the minority and surrendering the federal government wholly to
16955 the slave power.
16956
16957 =The Rise of the Republican Party.=--Events of terrible significance,
16958 swiftly following, drove the country like a ship before a gale straight
16959 into civil war. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill rent the old parties asunder
16960 and called into being the Republican party. While that bill was pending
16961 in Congress, many Northern Whigs and Democrats had come to the
16962 conclusion that a new party dedicated to freedom in the territories must
16963 follow the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Several places claim to be
16964 the original home of the Republican party; but historians generally
16965 yield it to Wisconsin. At Ripon in that state, a mass meeting of Whigs
16966 and Democrats assembled in February, 1854, and resolved to form a new
16967 party if the Kansas-Nebraska Bill should pass. At a second meeting a
16968 fusion committee representing Whigs, Free Soilers, and Democrats was
16969 formed and the name Republican--the name of Jefferson's old party--was
16970 selected. All over the country similar meetings were held and political
16971 committees were organized.
16972
16973 When the presidential campaign of 1856 began the Republicans entered the
16974 contest. After a preliminary conference in Pittsburgh in February, they
16975 held a convention in Philadelphia at which was drawn up a platform
16976 opposing the extension of slavery to the territories. John C. Fremont,
16977 the distinguished explorer, was named for the presidency. The results
16978 of the election were astounding as compared with the Free-soil failure
16979 of the preceding election. Prominent men like Longfellow, Washington
16980 Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and George William
16981 Curtis went over to the new party and 1,341,264 votes were rolled up for
16982 "free labor, free speech, free men, free Kansas, and Fremont."
16983 Nevertheless the victory of the Democrats was decisive. Their candidate,
16984 James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, was elected by a majority of 174 to 114
16985 electoral votes.
16986
16987 [Illustration: SLAVE AND FREE SOIL ON EVE OF CIVIL WAR]
16988
16989 =The Dred Scott Decision (1857).=--In his inaugural, Buchanan vaguely
16990 hinted that in a forthcoming decision the Supreme Court would settle one
16991 of the vital questions of the day. This was a reference to the Dred
16992 Scott case then pending. Scott was a slave who had been taken by his
16993 master into the upper Louisiana territory, where freedom had been
16994 established by the Missouri Compromise, and then carried back into his
16995 old state of Missouri. He brought suit for his liberty on the ground
16996 that his residence in the free territory made him free. This raised the
16997 question whether the law of Congress prohibiting slavery north of 36 o
16998 30' was authorized by the federal Constitution or not. The Court might
16999 have avoided answering it by saying that even though Scott was free in
17000 the territory, he became a slave again in Missouri by virtue of the law
17001 of that state. The Court, however, faced the issue squarely. It held
17002 that Scott had not been free anywhere and that, besides, the Missouri
17003 Compromise violated the Constitution and was null and void.
17004
17005 The decision was a triumph for the South. It meant that Congress after
17006 all had no power to abolish slavery in the territories. Under the decree
17007 of the highest court in the land, that could be done only by an
17008 amendment to the Constitution which required a two-thirds vote in
17009 Congress and the approval of three-fourths of the states. Such an
17010 amendment was obviously impossible--the Southern states were too
17011 numerous; but the Republicans were not daunted. "We know," said Lincoln,
17012 "the Court that made it has often overruled its own decisions and we
17013 shall do what we can to have it overrule this." Legislatures of Northern
17014 states passed resolutions condemning the decision and the Republican
17015 platform of 1860 characterized the dogma that the Constitution carried
17016 slavery into the territories as "a dangerous political heresy at
17017 variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself ... with
17018 legislative and judicial precedent ... revolutionary in tendency and
17019 subversive of the peace and harmony of the country."
17020
17021 =The Panic of 1857.=--In the midst of the acrimonious dispute over the
17022 Dred Scott decision, came one of the worst business panics which ever
17023 afflicted the country. In the spring and summer of 1857, fourteen
17024 railroad corporations, including the Erie, Michigan Central, and the
17025 Illinois Central, failed to meet their obligations; banks and insurance
17026 companies, some of them the largest and strongest institutions in the
17027 North, closed their doors; stocks and bonds came down in a crash on the
17028 markets; manufacturing was paralyzed; tens of thousands of working
17029 people were thrown out of employment; "hunger meetings" of idle men were
17030 held in the cities and banners bearing the inscription, "We want
17031 bread," were flung out. In New York, working men threatened to invade
17032 the Council Chamber to demand "work or bread," and the frightened mayor
17033 called for the police and soldiers. For this distressing state of
17034 affairs many remedies were offered; none with more zeal and persistence
17035 than the proposal for a higher tariff to take the place of the law of
17036 March, 1857, a Democratic measure making drastic reductions in the rates
17037 of duty. In the manufacturing districts of the North, the panic was
17038 ascribed to the "Democratic assault on business." So an old issue was
17039 again vigorously advanced, preparatory to the next presidential
17040 campaign.
17041
17042 =The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.=--The following year the interest of the
17043 whole country was drawn to a series of debates held in Illinois by
17044 Lincoln and Douglas, both candidates for the United States Senate. In
17045 the course of his campaign Lincoln had uttered his trenchant saying that
17046 "a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government
17047 cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." At the same time he
17048 had accused Douglas, Buchanan, and the Supreme Court of acting in
17049 concert to make slavery national. This daring statement arrested the
17050 attention of Douglas, who was making his campaign on the doctrine of
17051 "squatter sovereignty;" that is, the right of the people of each
17052 territory "to vote slavery up or down." After a few long-distance shots
17053 at each other, the candidates agreed to meet face to face and discuss
17054 the issues of the day. Never had such crowds been seen at political
17055 meetings in Illinois. Farmers deserted their plows, smiths their forges,
17056 and housewives their baking to hear "Honest Abe" and "the Little Giant."
17057
17058 The results of the series of debates were momentous. Lincoln clearly
17059 defined his position. The South, he admitted, was entitled under the
17060 Constitution to a fair, fugitive slave law. He hoped that there might be
17061 no new slave states; but he did not see how Congress could exclude the
17062 people of a territory from admission as a state if they saw fit to adopt
17063 a constitution legalizing the ownership of slaves. He favored the
17064 gradual abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and the total
17065 exclusion of it from the territories of the United States by act of
17066 Congress.
17067
17068 Moreover, he drove Douglas into a hole by asking how he squared
17069 "squatter sovereignty" with the Dred Scott decision; how, in other
17070 words, the people of a territory could abolish slavery when the Court
17071 had declared that Congress, the superior power, could not do it under
17072 the Constitution? To this baffling question Douglas lamely replied that
17073 the inhabitants of a territory, by "unfriendly legislation," might make
17074 property in slaves insecure and thus destroy the institution. This
17075 answer to Lincoln's query alienated many Southern Democrats who believed
17076 that the Dred Scott decision settled the question of slavery in the
17077 territories for all time. Douglas won the election to the Senate; but
17078 Lincoln, lifted into national fame by the debates, beat him in the
17079 campaign for President two years later.
17080
17081 =John Brown's Raid.=--To the abolitionists the line of argument pursued
17082 by Lincoln, including his proposal to leave slavery untouched in the
17083 states where it existed, was wholly unsatisfactory. One of them, a grim
17084 and resolute man, inflamed by a hatred for slavery in itself, turned
17085 from agitation to violence. "These men are all talk; what is needed is
17086 action--action!" So spoke John Brown of New York. During the sanguinary
17087 struggle in Kansas he hurried to the frontier, gun and dagger in hand,
17088 to help drive slave owners from the free soil of the West. There he
17089 committed deeds of such daring and cruelty that he was outlawed and a
17090 price put upon his head. Still he kept on the path of "action." Aided by
17091 funds from Northern friends, he gathered a small band of his followers
17092 around him, saying to them: "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
17093 He went into Virginia in the autumn of 1859, hoping, as he explained,
17094 "to effect a mighty conquest even though it be like the last victory of
17095 Samson." He seized the government armory at Harper's Ferry, declared
17096 free the slaves whom he found, and called upon them to take up arms in
17097 defense of their liberty. His was a hope as forlorn as it was desperate.
17098 Armed forces came down upon him and, after a hard battle, captured him.
17099 Tried for treason, Brown was condemned to death. The governor of
17100 Virginia turned a deaf ear to pleas for clemency based on the ground
17101 that the prisoner was simply a lunatic. "This is a beautiful country,"
17102 said the stern old Brown glancing upward to the eternal hills on his way
17103 to the gallows, as calmly as if he were returning home from a long
17104 journey. "So perish all such enemies of Virginia. All such enemies of
17105 the Union. All such foes of the human race," solemnly announced the
17106 executioner as he fulfilled the judgment of the law.
17107
17108 The raid and its grim ending deeply moved the country. Abolitionists
17109 looked upon Brown as a martyr and tolled funeral bells on the day of his
17110 execution. Longfellow wrote in his diary: "This will be a great day in
17111 our history; the date of a new revolution as much needed as the old
17112 one." Jefferson Davis saw in the affair "the invasion of a state by a
17113 murderous gang of abolitionists bent on inciting slaves to murder
17114 helpless women and children"--a crime for which the leader had met a
17115 felon's death. Lincoln spoke of the raid as absurd, the deed of an
17116 enthusiast who had brooded over the oppression of a people until he
17117 fancied himself commissioned by heaven to liberate them--an attempt
17118 which ended in "little else than his own execution." To Republican
17119 leaders as a whole, the event was very embarrassing. They were taunted
17120 by the Democrats with responsibility for the deed. Douglas declared his
17121 "firm and deliberate conviction that the Harper's Ferry crime was the
17122 natural, logical, inevitable result of the doctrines and teachings of
17123 the Republican party." So persistent were such attacks that the
17124 Republicans felt called upon in 1860 to denounce Brown's raid "as among
17125 the gravest of crimes."
17126
17127 =The Democrats Divided.=--When the Democratic convention met at
17128 Charleston in the spring of 1860, a few months after Brown's execution,
17129 it soon became clear that there was danger ahead. Between the extreme
17130 slavery advocates of the Far South and the so-called pro-slavery
17131 Democrats of the Douglas type, there was a chasm which no appeals to
17132 party loyalty could bridge. As the spokesman of the West, Douglas knew
17133 that, while the North was not abolitionist, it was passionately set
17134 against an extension of slavery into the territories by act of Congress;
17135 that squatter sovereignty was the mildest kind of compromise acceptable
17136 to the farmers whose votes would determine the fate of the election.
17137 Southern leaders would not accept his opinion. Yancey, speaking for
17138 Alabama, refused to palter with any plan not built on the proposition
17139 that slavery was in itself right. He taunted the Northern Democrats with
17140 taking the view that slavery was wrong, but that they could not do
17141 anything about it. That, he said, was the fatal error--the cause of all
17142 discord, the source of "Black Republicanism," as well as squatter
17143 sovereignty. The gauntlet was thus thrown down at the feet of the
17144 Northern delegates: "You must not apologize for slavery; you must
17145 declare it right; you must advocate its extension." The challenge, so
17146 bluntly put, was as bluntly answered. "Gentlemen of the South,"
17147 responded a delegate from Ohio, "you mistake us. You mistake us. We will
17148 not do it."
17149
17150 For ten days the Charleston convention wrangled over the platform and
17151 balloted for the nomination of a candidate. Douglas, though in the lead,
17152 could not get the two-thirds vote required for victory. For more than
17153 fifty times the roll of the convention was called without a decision.
17154 Then in sheer desperation the convention adjourned to meet later at
17155 Baltimore. When the delegates again assembled, their passions ran as
17156 high as ever. The division into two irreconcilable factions was
17157 unchanged. Uncompromising delegates from the South withdrew to Richmond,
17158 nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for President, and put forth
17159 a platform asserting the rights of slave owners in the territories and
17160 the duty of the federal government to protect them. The delegates who
17161 remained at Baltimore nominated Douglas and endorsed his doctrine of
17162 squatter sovereignty.
17163
17164 =The Constitutional Union Party.=--While the Democratic party was being
17165 disrupted, a fragment of the former Whig party, known as the
17166 Constitutional Unionists, held a convention at Baltimore and selected
17167 national candidates: John Bell from Tennessee and Edward Everett from
17168 Massachusetts. A melancholy interest attached to this assembly. It was
17169 mainly composed of old men whose political views were those of Clay and
17170 Webster, cherished leaders now dead and gone. In their platform they
17171 sought to exorcise the evil spirit of partisanship by inviting their
17172 fellow citizens to "support the Constitution of the country, the union
17173 of the states, and the enforcement of the laws." The party that
17174 campaigned on this grand sentiment only drew laughter from the Democrats
17175 and derision from the Republicans and polled less than one-fourth the
17176 votes.
17177
17178 =The Republican Convention.=--With the Whigs definitely forced into a
17179 separate group, the Republican convention at Chicago was fated to be
17180 sectional in character, although five slave states did send delegates.
17181 As the Democrats were split, the party that had led a forlorn hope four
17182 years before was on the high road to success at last. New and powerful
17183 recruits were found. The advocates of a high protective tariff and the
17184 friends of free homesteads for farmers and workingmen mingled with
17185 enthusiastic foes of slavery. While still firm in their opposition to
17186 slavery in the territories, the Republicans went on record in favor of a
17187 homestead law granting free lands to settlers and approved customs
17188 duties designed "to encourage the development of the industrial
17189 interests of the whole country." The platform was greeted with cheers
17190 which, according to the stenographic report of the convention, became
17191 loud and prolonged as the protective tariff and homestead planks were
17192 read.
17193
17194 Having skillfully drawn a platform to unite the North in opposition to
17195 slavery and the planting system, the Republicans were also adroit in
17196 their selection of a candidate. The tariff plank might carry
17197 Pennsylvania, a Democratic state; but Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were
17198 equally essential to success at the polls. The southern counties of
17199 these states were filled with settlers from Virginia, North Carolina,
17200 and Kentucky who, even if they had no love for slavery, were no friends
17201 of abolition. Moreover, remembering the old fight on the United States
17202 Bank in Andrew Jackson's day, they were suspicious of men from the East.
17203 Accordingly, they did not favor the candidacy of Seward, the leading
17204 Republican statesman and "favorite son" of New York.
17205
17206 After much trading and discussing, the convention came to the conclusion
17207 that Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was the most "available" candidate. He
17208 was of Southern origin, born in Kentucky in 1809, a fact that told
17209 heavily in the campaign in the Ohio Valley. He was a man of the soil,
17210 the son of poor frontier parents, a pioneer who in his youth had labored
17211 in the fields and forests, celebrated far and wide as "honest Abe, the
17212 rail-splitter." It was well-known that he disliked slavery, but was no
17213 abolitionist. He had come dangerously near to Seward's radicalism in his
17214 "house-divided-against-itself" speech but he had never committed himself
17215 to the reckless doctrine that there was a "higher law" than the
17216 Constitution. Slavery in the South he tolerated as a bitter fact;
17217 slavery in the territories he opposed with all his strength. Of his
17218 sincerity there could be no doubt. He was a speaker and writer of
17219 singular power, commanding, by the use of simple and homely language,
17220 the hearts and minds of those who heard him speak or read his printed
17221 words. He had gone far enough in his opposition to slavery; but not too
17222 far. He was the man of the hour! Amid lusty cheers from ten thousand
17223 throats, Lincoln was nominated for the presidency by the Republicans. In
17224 the ensuing election, he carried all the free states except New Jersey.
17225
17226
17227 =References=
17228
17229 P.E. Chadwick, _Causes of the Civil War_ (American Nation Series).
17230
17231 W.E. Dodd, _Statesmen of the Old South_.
17232
17233 E. Engle, _Southern Sidelights_ (Sympathetic account of the Old South).
17234
17235 A.B. Hart, _Slavery and Abolition_ (American Nation Series).
17236
17237 J.F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vols. I and II.
17238
17239 T.C. Smith, _Parties and Slavery_ (American Nation Series).
17240
17241
17242 =Questions=
17243
17244 1. Trace the decline of slavery in the North and explain it.
17245
17246 2. Describe the character of early opposition to slavery.
17247
17248 3. What was the effect of abolition agitation?
17249
17250 4. Why did anti-slavery sentiment practically disappear in the South?
17251
17252 5. On what grounds did Calhoun defend slavery?
17253
17254 6. Explain how slave owners became powerful in politics.
17255
17256 7. Why was it impossible to keep the slavery issue out of national
17257 politics?
17258
17259 8. Give the leading steps in the long controversy over slavery in the
17260 territories.
17261
17262 9. State the terms of the Compromise of 1850 and explain its failure.
17263
17264 10. What were the startling events between 1850 and 1860?
17265
17266 11. Account for the rise of the Republican party. What party had used
17267 the title before?
17268
17269 12. How did the Dred Scott decision become a political issue?
17270
17271 13. What were some of the points brought out in the Lincoln-Douglas
17272 debates?
17273
17274 14. Describe the party division in 1860.
17275
17276 15. What were the main planks in the Republican platform?
17277
17278
17279 =Research Topics=
17280
17281 =The Extension of Cotton Planting.=--Callender, _Economic History of the
17282 United States_, pp. 760-768.
17283
17284 =Abolition Agitation.=--McMaster, _History of the People of the United
17285 States_, Vol. VI, pp. 271-298.
17286
17287 =Calhoun's Defense of Slavery.=--Harding, _Select Orations Illustrating
17288 American History_, pp. 247-257.
17289
17290 =The Compromise of 1850.=--Clay's speech in Harding, _Select Orations_,
17291 pp. 267-289. The compromise laws in Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book
17292 of American History_, pp. 383-394. Narrative account in McMaster, Vol.
17293 VIII, pp. 1-55; Elson, _History of the United States_, pp. 540-548.
17294
17295 =The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.=--McMaster, Vol. VIII, pp.
17296 192-231; Elson, pp. 571-582.
17297
17298 =The Dred Scott Case.=--McMaster, Vol. VIII, pp. 278-282. Compare the
17299 opinion of Taney and the dissent of Curtis in Macdonald, _Documentary
17300 Source Book_, pp. 405-420; Elson, pp. 595-598.
17301
17302 =The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.=--Analysis of original speeches in
17303 Harding, _Select Orations_ pp. 309-341; Elson, pp. 598-604.
17304
17305 =Biographical Studies.=--Calhoun, Clay, Webster, A.H. Stephens, Douglas,
17306 W.H. Seward, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Harriet
17307 Beecher Stowe.
17308
17309
17310
17311
17312 CHAPTER XV
17313
17314 THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
17315
17316
17317 "The irrepressible conflict is about to be visited upon us through the
17318 Black Republican nominee and his fanatical, diabolical Republican
17319 party," ran an appeal to the voters of South Carolina during the
17320 campaign of 1860. If that calamity comes to pass, responded the governor
17321 of the state, the answer should be a declaration of independence. In a
17322 few days the suspense was over. The news of Lincoln's election came
17323 speeding along the wires. Prepared for the event, the editor of the
17324 Charleston _Mercury_ unfurled the flag of his state amid wild cheers
17325 from an excited throng in the streets. Then he seized his pen and wrote:
17326 "The tea has been thrown overboard; the revolution of 1860 has been
17327 initiated." The issue was submitted to the voters in the choice of
17328 delegates to a state convention called to cast off the yoke of the
17329 Constitution.
17330
17331
17332 THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY
17333
17334 =Secession.=--As arranged, the convention of South Carolina assembled in
17335 December and without a dissenting voice passed the ordinance of
17336 secession withdrawing from the union. Bells were rung exultantly, the
17337 roar of cannon carried the news to outlying counties, fireworks lighted
17338 up the heavens, and champagne flowed. The crisis so long expected had
17339 come at last; even the conservatives who had prayed that they might
17340 escape the dreadful crash greeted it with a sigh of relief.
17341
17342 [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1861
17343
17344 The border states (in purple) remained loyal.]
17345
17346 South Carolina now sent forth an appeal to her sister states--states
17347 that had in Jackson's day repudiated nullification as leading to "the
17348 dissolution of the union." The answer that came this time was in a
17349 different vein. A month had hardly elapsed before five other
17350 states--Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana--had
17351 withdrawn from the union. In February, Texas followed. Virginia,
17352 hesitating until the bombardment of Fort Sumter forced a conclusion,
17353 seceded in April; but fifty-five of the one hundred and forty-three
17354 delegates dissented, foreshadowing the creation of the new state of West
17355 Virginia which Congress admitted to the union in 1863. In May, North
17356 Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee announced their independence.
17357
17358 =Secession and the Theories of the Union.=--In severing their relations
17359 with the union, the seceding states denied every point in the Northern
17360 theory of the Constitution. That theory, as every one knows, was
17361 carefully formulated by Webster and elaborated by Lincoln. According to
17362 it, the union was older than the states; it was created before the
17363 Declaration of Independence for the purpose of common defense. The
17364 Articles of Confederation did but strengthen this national bond and the
17365 Constitution sealed it forever. The federal government was not a
17366 creature of state governments. It was erected by the people and derived
17367 its powers directly from them. "It is," said Webster, "the people's
17368 Constitution, the people's government; made for the people; made by the
17369 people; and answerable to the people. The people of the United States
17370 have declared that this Constitution shall be the supreme law." When a
17371 state questions the lawfulness of any act of the federal government, it
17372 cannot nullify that act or withdraw from the union; it must abide by the
17373 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. The union of these
17374 states is perpetual, ran Lincoln's simple argument in the first
17375 inaugural; the federal Constitution has no provision for its own
17376 termination; it can be destroyed only by some action not provided for in
17377 the instrument itself; even if it is a compact among all the states the
17378 consent of all must be necessary to its dissolution; therefore no state
17379 can lawfully get out of the union and acts of violence against the
17380 United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary. This was the system
17381 which he believed himself bound to defend by his oath of office
17382 "registered in heaven."
17383
17384 All this reasoning Southern statesmen utterly rejected. In their opinion
17385 the thirteen original states won their independence as separate and
17386 sovereign powers. The treaty of peace with Great Britain named them all
17387 and acknowledged them "to be free, sovereign, and independent states."
17388 The Articles of Confederation very explicitly declared that "each state
17389 retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence." The Constitution
17390 was a "league of nations" formed by an alliance of thirteen separate
17391 powers, each one of which ratified the instrument before it was put into
17392 effect. They voluntarily entered the union under the Constitution and
17393 voluntarily they could leave it. Such was the constitutional doctrine of
17394 Hayne, Calhoun, and Jefferson Davis. In seceding, the Southern states
17395 had only to follow legal methods, and the transaction would be correct
17396 in every particular. So conventions were summoned, elections were held,
17397 and "sovereign assemblies of the people" set aside the Constitution in
17398 the same manner as it had been ratified nearly four score years before.
17399 Thus, said the Southern people, the moral judgment was fulfilled and the
17400 letter of the law carried into effect.
17401
17402 [Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS]
17403
17404 =The Formation of the Confederacy.=--Acting on the call of Mississippi,
17405 a congress of delegates from the seceded states met at Montgomery,
17406 Alabama, and on February 8, 1861, adopted a temporary plan of union. It
17407 selected, as provisional president, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, a
17408 man well fitted by experience and moderation for leadership, a graduate
17409 of West Point, who had rendered distinguished service on the field of
17410 battle in the Mexican War, in public office, and as a member of
17411 Congress.
17412
17413 In March, a permanent constitution of the Confederate states was
17414 drafted. It was quickly ratified by the states; elections were held in
17415 November; and the government under it went into effect the next year.
17416 This new constitution, in form, was very much like the famous instrument
17417 drafted at Philadelphia in 1787. It provided for a President, a Senate,
17418 and a House of Representatives along almost identical lines. In the
17419 powers conferred upon them, however, there were striking differences.
17420 The right to appropriate money for internal improvements was expressly
17421 withheld; bounties were not to be granted from the treasury nor import
17422 duties so laid as to promote or foster any branch of industry. The
17423 dignity of the state, if any might be bold enough to question it, was
17424 safeguarded in the opening line by the declaration that each acted "in
17425 its sovereign and independent character" in forming the Southern union.
17426
17427 =Financing the Confederacy.=--No government ever set out upon its career
17428 with more perplexing tasks in front of it. The North had a monetary
17429 system; the South had to create one. The North had a scheme of taxation
17430 that produced large revenues from numerous sources; the South had to
17431 formulate and carry out a financial plan. Like the North, the
17432 Confederacy expected to secure a large revenue from customs duties,
17433 easily collected and little felt among the masses. To this expectation
17434 the blockade of Southern ports inaugurated by Lincoln in April, 1861,
17435 soon put an end. Following the precedent set by Congress under the
17436 Articles of Confederation, the Southern Congress resorted to a direct
17437 property tax apportioned among the states, only to meet the failure that
17438 might have been foretold.
17439
17440 The Confederacy also sold bonds, the first issue bringing into the
17441 treasury nearly all the specie available in the Southern banks. This
17442 specie by unhappy management was early sent abroad to pay for supplies,
17443 sapping the foundations of a sound currency system. Large amounts of
17444 bonds were sold overseas, commanding at first better terms than those
17445 of the North in the markets of London, Paris, and Amsterdam, many an
17446 English lord and statesman buying with enthusiasm and confidence to
17447 lament within a few years the proofs of his folly. The difficulties of
17448 bringing through the blockade any supplies purchased by foreign bond
17449 issues, however, nullified the effect of foreign credit and forced the
17450 Confederacy back upon the device of paper money. In all approximately
17451 one billion dollars streamed from the printing presses, to fall in value
17452 at an alarming rate, reaching in January, 1863, the astounding figure of
17453 fifty dollars in paper money for one in gold. Every known device was
17454 used to prevent its depreciation, without result. To the issues of the
17455 Confederate Congress were added untold millions poured out by the states
17456 and by private banks.
17457
17458 =Human and Material Resources.=--When we measure strength for strength
17459 in those signs of power--men, money, and supplies--it is difficult to
17460 see how the South was able to embark on secession and war with such
17461 confidence in the outcome. In the Confederacy at the final reckoning
17462 there were eleven states in all, to be pitted against twenty-two; a
17463 population of nine millions, nearly one-half servile, to be pitted
17464 against twenty-two millions; a land without great industries to produce
17465 war supplies and without vast capital to furnish war finances, joined in
17466 battle with a nation already industrial and fortified by property worth
17467 eleven billion dollars. Even after the Confederate Congress authorized
17468 conscription in 1862, Southern man power, measured in numbers, was
17469 wholly inadequate to uphold the independence which had been declared.
17470 How, therefore, could the Confederacy hope to sustain itself against
17471
17472 such a combination of men, money, and materials as the North could
17473 marshal?
17474
17475 =Southern Expectations.=--The answer to this question is to be found in
17476 the ideas that prevailed among Southern leaders. First of all, they
17477 hoped, in vain, to carry the Confederacy up to the Ohio River; and, with
17478 the aid of Missouri, to gain possession of the Mississippi Valley, the
17479 granary of the nation. In the second place, they reckoned upon a large
17480 and continuous trade with Great Britain--the exchange of cotton for war
17481 materials. They likewise expected to receive recognition and open aid
17482 from European powers that looked with satisfaction upon the breakup of
17483 the great American republic. In the third place, they believed that
17484 their control over several staples so essential to Northern industry
17485 would enable them to bring on an industrial crisis in the manufacturing
17486 states. "I firmly believe," wrote Senator Hammond, of South Carolina, in
17487 1860, "that the slave-holding South is now the controlling power of the
17488 world; that no other power would face us in hostility. Cotton, rice,
17489 tobacco, and naval stores command the world; and we have the sense to
17490 know it and are sufficiently Teutonic to carry it out successfully. The
17491 North without us would be a motherless calf, bleating about, and die of
17492 mange and starvation."
17493
17494 There were other grounds for confidence. Having seized all of the
17495 federal military and naval supplies in the South, and having left the
17496 national government weak in armed power during their possession of the
17497 presidency, Southern leaders looked to a swift war, if it came at all,
17498 to put the finishing stroke to independence. "The greasy mechanics of
17499 the North," it was repeatedly said, "will not fight." As to disparity in
17500 numbers they drew historic parallels. "Our fathers, a mere handful,
17501 overcame the enormous power of Great Britain," a saying of ex-President
17502 Tyler, ran current to reassure the doubtful. Finally, and this point
17503 cannot be too strongly emphasized, the South expected to see a weakened
17504 and divided North. It knew that the abolitionists and the Southern
17505 sympathizers were ready to let the Confederate states go in peace; that
17506 Lincoln represented only a little more than one-third the voters of the
17507 country; and that the vote for Douglas, Bell, and Breckinridge meant a
17508 decided opposition to the Republicans and their policies.
17509
17510 =Efforts at Compromise.=--Republican leaders, on reviewing the same
17511 facts, were themselves uncertain as to the outcome of a civil war and
17512 made many efforts to avoid a crisis. Thurlow Weed, an Albany journalist
17513 and politician who had done much to carry New York for Lincoln, proposed
17514 a plan for extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific.
17515 Jefferson Davis, warning his followers that a war if it came would be
17516 terrible, was prepared to accept the offer; but Lincoln, remembering his
17517 campaign pledges, stood firm as a rock against it. His followers in
17518 Congress took the same position with regard to a similar settlement
17519 suggested by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky.
17520
17521 Though unwilling to surrender his solemn promises respecting slavery in
17522 the territories, Lincoln was prepared to give to Southern leaders a
17523 strong guarantee that his administration would not interfere directly or
17524 indirectly with slavery in the states. Anxious to reassure the South on
17525 this point, the Republicans in Congress proposed to write into the
17526 Constitution a declaration that no amendment should ever be made
17527 authorizing the abolition of or interference with slavery in any state.
17528 The resolution, duly passed, was sent forth on March 4, 1861, with the
17529 approval of Lincoln; it was actually ratified by three states before the
17530 storm of war destroyed it. By the irony of fate the thirteenth amendment
17531 was to abolish, not guarantee, slavery.
17532
17533
17534 THE WAR MEASURES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
17535
17536 =Raising the Armies.=--The crisis at Fort Sumter, on April 12-14, 1861,
17537 forced the President and Congress to turn from negotiations to problems
17538 of warfare. Little did they realize the magnitude of the task before
17539 them. Lincoln's first call for volunteers, issued on April 15, 1861,
17540 limited the number to 75,000, put their term of service at three months,
17541 and prescribed their duty as the enforcement of the law against
17542 combinations too powerful to be overcome by ordinary judicial process.
17543 Disillusionment swiftly followed. The terrible defeat of the Federals at
17544 Bull Run on July 21 revealed the serious character of the task before
17545 them; and by a series of measures Congress put the entire man power of
17546 the country at the President's command. Under these acts, he issued new
17547 calls for volunteers. Early in August, 1862, he ordered a draft of
17548 militiamen numbering 300,000 for nine months' service. The results were
17549 disappointing--ominous--for only about 87,000 soldiers were added to the
17550 army. Something more drastic was clearly necessary.
17551
17552 In March, 1863, Lincoln signed the inevitable draft law; it enrolled in
17553 the national forces liable to military duty all able-bodied male
17554 citizens and persons of foreign birth who had declared their intention
17555 to become citizens, between the ages of twenty and forty-five
17556 years--with exemptions on grounds of physical weakness and dependency.
17557 From the men enrolled were drawn by lot those destined to active
17558 service. Unhappily the measure struck a mortal blow at the principle of
17559 universal liability by excusing any person who found a substitute for
17560 himself or paid into the war office a sum, not exceeding three hundred
17561 dollars, to be fixed by general order. This provision, so crass and so
17562 obviously favoring the well-to-do, sowed seeds of bitterness which
17563 sprang up a hundredfold in the North.
17564
17565 [Illustration: THE DRAFT RIOTS IN NEW YORK CITY]
17566
17567 The beginning of the drawings under the draft act in New York City, on
17568 Monday, July 13, 1863, was the signal for four days of rioting. In the
17569 course of this uprising, draft headquarters were destroyed; the office
17570 of the _Tribune_ was gutted; negroes were seized, hanged, and shot; the
17571 homes of obnoxious Unionists were burned down; the residence of the
17572 mayor of the city was attacked; and regular battles were fought in the
17573 streets between the rioters and the police. Business stopped and a large
17574 part of the city passed absolutely into the control of the mob. Not
17575 until late the following Wednesday did enough troops arrive to restore
17576 order and enable the residents of the city to resume their daily
17577 activities. At least a thousand people had been killed or wounded and
17578 more than a million dollars' worth of damage done to property. The draft
17579 temporarily interrupted by this outbreak was then resumed and carried
17580 out without further trouble.
17581
17582 The results of the draft were in the end distinctly disappointing to the
17583 government. The exemptions were numerous and the number who preferred
17584 and were able to pay $300 rather than serve exceeded all expectations.
17585 Volunteering, it is true, was stimulated, but even that resource could
17586 hardly keep the thinning ranks of the army filled. With reluctance
17587 Congress struck out the $300 exemption clause, but still favored the
17588 well-to-do by allowing them to hire substitutes if they could find them.
17589 With all this power in its hands the administration was able by January,
17590 1865, to construct a union army that outnumbered the Confederates two to
17591 one.
17592
17593 =War Finance.=--In the financial sphere the North faced immense
17594 difficulties. The surplus in the treasury had been dissipated by 1861
17595 and the tariff of 1857 had failed to produce an income sufficient to
17596 meet the ordinary expenses of the government. Confronted by military and
17597 naval expenditures of appalling magnitude, rising from $35,000,000 in
17598 the first year of the war to $1,153,000,000 in the last year, the
17599 administration had to tap every available source of income. The duties
17600 on imports were increased, not once but many times, producing huge
17601 revenues and also meeting the most extravagant demands of the
17602 manufacturers for protection. Direct taxes were imposed on the states
17603 according to their respective populations, but the returns were
17604 meager--all out of proportion to the irritation involved. Stamp taxes
17605 and taxes on luxuries, occupations, and the earnings of corporations
17606 were laid with a weight that, in ordinary times, would have drawn forth
17607 opposition of ominous strength. The whole gamut of taxation was run.
17608 Even a tax on incomes and gains by the year, the first in the history of
17609 the federal government, was included in the long list.
17610
17611 Revenues were supplemented by bond issues, mounting in size and interest
17612 rate, until in October, at the end of the war, the debt stood at
17613 $2,208,000,000. The total cost of the war was many times the money value
17614 of all the slaves in the Southern states. To the debt must be added
17615 nearly half a billion dollars in "greenbacks"--paper money issued by
17616 Congress in desperation as bond sales and revenues from taxes failed to
17617 meet the rising expenditures. This currency issued at par on
17618 questionable warrant from the Constitution, like all such paper, quickly
17619 began to decline until in the worst fortunes of 1864 one dollar in gold
17620 was worth nearly three in greenbacks.
17621
17622 =The Blockade of Southern Ports.=--Four days after his call for
17623 volunteers, April 19, 1861, President Lincoln issued a proclamation
17624 blockading the ports of the Southern Confederacy. Later the blockade was
17625 extended to Virginia and North Carolina, as they withdrew from the
17626 union. Vessels attempting to enter or leave these ports, if they
17627 disregarded the warnings of a blockading ship, were to be captured and
17628 brought as prizes to the nearest convenient port. To make the order
17629 effective, immediate steps were taken to increase the naval forces,
17630 depleted by neglect, until the entire coast line was patrolled with such
17631 a number of ships that it was a rare captain who ventured to run the
17632 gantlet. The collision between the _Merrimac_ and the _Monitor_ in
17633 March, 1862, sealed the fate of the Confederacy. The exploits of the
17634 union navy are recorded in the falling export of cotton: $202,000,000 in
17635 1860; $42,000,000 in 1861; and $4,000,000 in 1862.
17636
17637 The deadly effect of this paralysis of trade upon Southern war power may
17638 be readily imagined. Foreign loans, payable in cotton, could be
17639 negotiated but not paid off. Supplies could be purchased on credit but
17640 not brought through the drag net. With extreme difficulty could the
17641 Confederate government secure even paper for the issue of money and
17642 bonds. Publishers, in despair at the loss of supplies, were finally
17643 driven to the use of brown wrapping paper and wall paper. As the
17644 railways and rolling stock wore out, it became impossible to renew them
17645 from England or France. Unable to export their cotton, planters on the
17646 seaboard burned it in what were called "fires of patriotism." In their
17647 lurid light the fatal weakness of Southern economy stood revealed.
17648
17649 [Illustration: A BLOCKADE RUNNER]
17650
17651 =Diplomacy.=--The war had not advanced far before the federal government
17652 became involved in many perplexing problems of diplomacy in Europe. The
17653 Confederacy early turned to England and France for financial aid and for
17654 recognition as an independent power. Davis believed that the industrial
17655 crisis created by the cotton blockade would in time literally compel
17656 Europe to intervene in order to get this essential staple. The crisis
17657 came as he expected but not the result. Thousands of English textile
17658 workers were thrown out of employment; and yet, while on the point of
17659 starvation, they adopted resolutions favoring the North instead of
17660 petitioning their government to aid the South by breaking the blockade.
17661
17662 With the ruling classes it was far otherwise. Napoleon III, the Emperor
17663 of the French, was eager to help in disrupting the American republic; if
17664 he could have won England's support, he would have carried out his
17665 designs. As it turned out he found plenty of sympathy across the Channel
17666 but not open and official cooperation. According to the eminent
17667 historian, Rhodes, "four-fifths of the British House of Lords and most
17668 members of the House of Commons were favorable to the Confederacy and
17669 anxious for its triumph." Late in 1862 the British ministers, thus
17670 sustained, were on the point of recognizing the independence of the
17671 Confederacy. Had it not been for their extreme caution, for the constant
17672 and harassing criticism by English friends of the United States--like
17673 John Bright--and for the victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, both
17674
17675 England and France would have doubtless declared the Confederacy to be
17676 one of the independent powers of the earth.
17677
17678 [Illustration: JOHN BRIGHT]
17679
17680 While stopping short of recognizing its independence, England and France
17681 took several steps that were in favor of the South. In proclaiming
17682 neutrality, they early accepted the Confederates as "belligerents" and
17683 accorded them the rights of people at war--a measure which aroused anger
17684 in the North at first but was later admitted to be sound. Otherwise
17685 Confederates taken in battle would have been regarded as "rebels" or
17686 "traitors" to be hanged or shot. Napoleon III proposed to Russia in 1861
17687 a coalition of powers against the North, only to meet a firm refusal.
17688 The next year he suggested intervention to Great Britain, encountering
17689 this time a conditional rejection of his plans. In 1863, not daunted by
17690 rebuffs, he offered his services to Lincoln as a mediator, receiving in
17691 reply a polite letter declining his proposal and a sharp resolution from
17692 Congress suggesting that he attend to his own affairs.
17693
17694 In both England and France the governments pursued a policy of
17695 friendliness to the Confederate agents. The British ministry, with
17696 indifference if not connivance, permitted rams and ships to be built in
17697 British docks and allowed them to escape to play havoc under the
17698 Confederate flag with American commerce. One of them, the _Alabama_,
17699 built in Liverpool by a British firm and paid for by bonds sold in
17700 England, ran an extraordinary career and threatened to break the
17701 blockade. The course followed by the British government, against the
17702 protests of the American minister in London, was later regretted. By an
17703 award of a tribunal of arbitration at Geneva in 1872, Great Britain was
17704 required to pay the huge sum of $15,500,000 to cover the damages wrought
17705 by Confederate cruisers fitted out in England.
17706
17707 [Illustration: WILLIAM H. SEWARD]
17708
17709 In all fairness it should be said that the conduct of the North
17710 contributed to the irritation between the two countries. Seward, the
17711 Secretary of State, was vindictive in dealing with Great Britain; had it
17712 not been for the moderation of Lincoln, he would have pursued a course
17713 verging in the direction of open war. The New York and Boston papers
17714 were severe in their attacks on England. Words were, on one occasion at
17715 least, accompanied by an act savoring of open hostility. In November,
17716 1861, Captain Wilkes, commanding a union vessel, overhauled the British
17717 steamer _Trent_, and carried off by force two Confederate agents, Mason
17718 and Slidell, sent by President Davis to represent the Confederacy at
17719 London and Paris respectively. This was a clear violation of the right
17720 of merchant vessels to be immune from search and impressment; and, in
17721 answer to the demand of Great Britain for the release of the two men,
17722 the United States conceded that it was in the wrong. It surrendered the
17723 two Confederate agents to a British vessel for safe conduct abroad, and
17724 made appropriate apologies.
17725
17726 =Emancipation.=--Among the extreme war measures adopted by the Northern
17727 government must be counted the emancipation of the slaves in the states
17728 in arms against the union. This step was early and repeatedly suggested
17729 to Lincoln by the abolitionists; but was steadily put aside. He knew
17730 that the abolitionists were a mere handful, that emancipation might
17731 drive the border states into secession, and that the Northern soldiers
17732 had enlisted to save the union. Moreover, he had before him a solemn
17733 resolution passed by Congress on July 22, 1861, declaring the sole
17734 purpose of the war to be the salvation of the union and disavowing any
17735 intention of interfering with slavery.
17736
17737 The federal government, though pledged to the preservation of slavery,
17738 soon found itself beaten back upon its course and out upon a new tack.
17739 Before a year had elapsed, namely on April 10, 1862, Congress resolved
17740 that financial aid should be given to any state that might adopt gradual
17741 emancipation. Six days later it abolished slavery in the District of
17742 Columbia. Two short months elapsed. On June 19, 1862, it swept slavery
17743 forever from the territories of the United States. Chief Justice Taney
17744 still lived, the Dred Scott decision stood as written in the book, but
17745 the Constitution had been re-read in the light of the Civil War. The
17746 drift of public sentiment in the North was being revealed.
17747
17748 While these measures were pending in Congress, Lincoln was slowly making
17749 up his mind. By July of that year he had come to his great decision.
17750 Near the end of that month he read to his cabinet the draft of a
17751 proclamation of emancipation; but he laid it aside until a military
17752 achievement would make it something more than an idle gesture. In
17753 September, the severe check administered to Lee at Antietam seemed to
17754 offer the golden opportunity. On the 22d, the immortal document was
17755 given to the world announcing that, unless the states in arms returned
17756 to the union by January 1, 1863, the fatal blow at their "peculiar
17757 institution" would be delivered. Southern leaders treated it with slight
17758 regard, and so on the date set the promise was fulfilled. The
17759 proclamation was issued as a war measure, adopted by the President as
17760 commander-in-chief of the armed forces, on grounds of military
17761 necessity. It did not abolish slavery. It simply emancipated slaves in
17762 places then in arms against federal authority. Everywhere else slavery,
17763 as far as the Proclamation was concerned, remained lawful.
17764
17765 [Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN]
17766
17767 To seal forever the proclamation of emancipation, and to extend freedom
17768 to the whole country, Congress, in January, 1865, on the urgent
17769 recommendation of Lincoln, transmitted to the states the thirteenth
17770 amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the United States. By the end
17771 of 1865 the amendment was ratified. The house was not divided against
17772 itself; it did not fall; it was all free.
17773
17774 =The Restraint of Civil Liberty.=--As in all great wars, particularly
17775 those in the nature of a civil strife, it was found necessary to use
17776 strong measures to sustain opinion favorable to the administration's
17777 military policies and to frustrate the designs of those who sought to
17778 hamper its action. Within two weeks of his first call for volunteers,
17779 Lincoln empowered General Scott to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_
17780 along the line of march between Philadelphia and Washington and thus to
17781 arrest and hold without interference from civil courts any one whom he
17782 deemed a menace to the union. At a later date the area thus ruled by
17783 military officers was extended by executive proclamation. By an act of
17784 March 3, 1863, Congress, desiring to lay all doubts about the
17785 President's power, authorized him to suspend the writ throughout the
17786 United States or in any part thereof. It also freed military officers
17787 from the necessity of surrendering to civil courts persons arrested
17788 under their orders, or even making answers to writs issued from such
17789 courts. In the autumn of that year the President, acting under the terms
17790 of this law, declared this ancient and honorable instrument for the
17791 protection of civil liberties, the _habeas corpus_, suspended throughout
17792 the length and breadth of the land. The power of the government was also
17793 strengthened by an act defining and punishing certain conspiracies,
17794 passed on July 31, 1861--a measure which imposed heavy penalties on
17795 those who by force, intimidation, or threat interfered with the
17796 execution of the law.
17797
17798 Thus doubly armed, the military authorities spared no one suspected of
17799 active sympathy with the Southern cause. Editors were arrested and
17800 imprisoned, their papers suspended, and their newsboys locked up. Those
17801 who organized "peace meetings" soon found themselves in the toils of the
17802 law. Members of the Maryland legislature, the mayor of Baltimore, and
17803 local editors suspected of entertaining secessionist opinions, were
17804 imprisoned on military orders although charged with no offense, and were
17805 denied the privilege of examination before a civil magistrate. A Vermont
17806 farmer, too outspoken in his criticism of the government, found himself
17807 behind the bars until the government, in its good pleasure, saw fit to
17808 release him. These measures were not confined to the theater of war nor
17809 to the border states where the spirit of secession was strong enough to
17810 endanger the cause of union. They were applied all through the Northern
17811 states up to the very boundaries of Canada. Zeal for the national cause,
17812 too often supplemented by a zeal for persecution, spread terror among
17813 those who wavered in the singleness of their devotion to the union.
17814
17815 These drastic operations on the part of military authorities, so foreign
17816 to the normal course of civilized life, naturally aroused intense and
17817 bitter hostility. Meetings of protest were held throughout the country.
17818 Thirty-six members of the House of Representatives sought to put on
17819 record their condemnation of the suspension of the _habeas corpus_ act,
17820 only to meet a firm denial by the supporters of the act. Chief Justice
17821 Taney, before whom the case of a man arrested under the President's
17822 military authority was brought, emphatically declared, in a long and
17823 learned opinion bristling with historical examples, that the President
17824 had no power to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_. In Congress and
17825 out, Democrats, abolitionists, and champions of civil liberty denounced
17826 Lincoln and his Cabinet in unsparing terms. Vallandigham, a Democratic
17827 leader of Ohio, afterward banished to the South for his opposition to
17828 the war, constantly applied to Lincoln the epithet of "Caesar." Wendell
17829 Phillips saw in him "a more unlimited despot than the world knows this
17830 side of China."
17831
17832 Sensitive to such stinging thrusts and no friend of wanton persecution,
17833 Lincoln attempted to mitigate the rigors of the law by paroling many
17834 political prisoners. The general policy, however, he defended in homely
17835 language, very different in tone and meaning from the involved reasoning
17836 of the lawyers. "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,
17837 while I must not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to
17838 desert?" he asked in a quiet way of some spokesmen for those who
17839 protested against arresting people for "talking against the war." This
17840 summed up his philosophy. He was engaged in a war to save the union, and
17841 all measures necessary and proper to accomplish that purpose were
17842 warranted by the Constitution which he had sworn to uphold.
17843
17844 =Military Strategy--North and South.=--The broad outlines of military
17845 strategy followed by the commanders of the opposing forces are clear
17846 even to the layman who cannot be expected to master the details of a
17847 campaign or, for that matter, the maneuvers of a single great battle.
17848 The problem for the South was one of defense mainly, though even for
17849 defense swift and paralyzing strokes at the North were later deemed
17850 imperative measures. The problem of the North was, to put it baldly, one
17851 of invasion and conquest. Southern territory had to be invaded and
17852 Southern armies beaten on their own ground or worn down to exhaustion
17853 there.
17854
17855 In the execution of this undertaking, geography, as usual, played a
17856 significant part in the disposition of forces. The Appalachian ranges,
17857 stretching through the Confederacy to Northern Alabama, divided the
17858 campaigns into Eastern and Western enterprises. Both were of signal
17859 importance. Victory in the East promised the capture of the Confederate
17860 capital of Richmond, a stroke of moral worth, hardly to be
17861 overestimated. Victory in the West meant severing the Confederacy and
17862 opening the Mississippi Valley down to the Gulf.
17863
17864 As it turned out, the Western forces accomplished their task first,
17865 vindicating the military powers of union soldiers and shaking the
17866 confidence of opposing commanders. In February, 1862, Grant captured
17867 Fort Donelson on the Tennessee River, rallied wavering unionists in
17868 Kentucky, forced the evacuation of Nashville, and opened the way for two
17869 hundred miles into the Confederacy. At Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Vicksburg,
17870 Chickamauga, Chattanooga, desperate fighting followed and, in spite of
17871 varying fortunes, it resulted in the discomfiture and retirement of
17872 Confederate forces to the Southeast into Georgia. By the middle of 1863,
17873 the Mississippi Valley was open to the Gulf, the initiative taken out of
17874 the hands of Southern commanders in the West, and the way prepared for
17875 Sherman's final stroke--the march from Atlanta to the sea--a maneuver
17876 executed with needless severity in the autumn of 1864.
17877
17878 [Illustration: GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT]
17879
17880 [Illustration: GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE]
17881
17882 For the almost unbroken succession of achievements in the West by
17883 Generals Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Hooker against Albert Sidney
17884 Johnston, Bragg, Pemberton, and Hood, the union forces in the East
17885 offered at first an almost equally unbroken series of misfortunes and
17886 disasters. Far from capturing Richmond, they had been thrown on the
17887 defensive. General after general--McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, and
17888 Meade--was tried and found wanting. None of them could administer a
17889 crushing defeat to the Confederate troops and more than once the union
17890 soldiers were beaten in a fair battle. They did succeed, however, in
17891 delivering a severe check to advancing Confederates under General Robert
17892 E. Lee, first at Antietam in September, 1862, and then at Gettysburg in
17893 July, 1863--checks reckoned as victories though in each instance the
17894 Confederates escaped without demoralization. Not until the beginning of
17895 the next year, when General Grant, supplied with almost unlimited men
17896 and munitions, began his irresistible hammering at Lee's army, did the
17897 final phase of the war commence. The pitiless drive told at last.
17898 General Lee, on April 9, 1865, seeing the futility of further conflict,
17899 surrendered an army still capable of hard fighting, at Appomattox, not
17900 far from the capital of the Confederacy.
17901
17902 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
17903
17904 THE FEDERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL AT GETTYSBURG]
17905
17906 =Abraham Lincoln.=--The services of Lincoln to the cause of union defy
17907 description. A judicial scrutiny of the war reveals his thought and
17908 planning in every part of the varied activity that finally crowned
17909 Northern arms with victory. Is it in the field of diplomacy? Does
17910 Seward, the Secretary of State, propose harsh and caustic measures
17911 likely to draw England's sword into the scale? Lincoln counsels
17912 moderation. He takes the irritating message and with his own hand
17913 strikes out, erases, tones down, and interlines, exchanging for words
17914 that sting and burn the language of prudence and caution. Is it a matter
17915 of compromise with the South, so often proposed by men on both sides
17916 sick of carnage? Lincoln is always ready to listen and turns away only
17917 when he is invited to surrender principles essential to the safety of
17918 the union. Is it high strategy of war, a question of the general best
17919 fitted to win Gettysburg--Hooker, Sedgwick, or Meade? Lincoln goes in
17920 person to the War Department in the dead of night to take counsel with
17921 his Secretary and to make the fateful choice.
17922
17923 Is it a complaint from a citizen, deprived, as he believes, of his civil
17924 liberties unjustly or in violation of the Constitution? Lincoln is ready
17925 to hear it and anxious to afford relief, if warrant can be found for it.
17926 Is a mother begging for the life of a son sentenced to be shot as a
17927 deserter? Lincoln hears her petition, and grants it even against the
17928 protests made by his generals in the name of military discipline. Do
17929 politicians sow dissensions in the army and among civilians? Lincoln
17930 grandly waves aside their petty personalities and invites them to think
17931 of the greater cause. Is it a question of securing votes to ratify the
17932 thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery? Lincoln thinks it not beneath
17933 his dignity to traffic and huckster with politicians over the trifling
17934 jobs asked in return by the members who hold out against him. Does a New
17935 York newspaper call him an ignorant Western boor? Lincoln's reply is a
17936 letter to a mother who has given her all--her sons on the field of
17937 battle--and an address at Gettysburg, both of which will live as long as
17938 the tongue in which they were written. These are tributes not only to
17939 his mastery of the English language but also to his mastery of all those
17940 sentiments of sweetness and strength which are the finest flowers of
17941 culture.
17942
17943 Throughout the entire span of service, however, Lincoln was beset by
17944 merciless critics. The fiery apostles of abolition accused him of
17945 cowardice when he delayed the bold stroke at slavery. Anti-war Democrats
17946 lashed out at every step he took. Even in his own party he found no
17947 peace. Charles Sumner complained: "Our President is now dictator,
17948 _imperator_--whichever you like; but how vain to have the power of a
17949 god and not to use it godlike." Leaders among the Republicans sought to
17950 put him aside in 1864 and place Chase in his chair. "I hope we may never
17951 have a worse man," was Lincoln's quiet answer.
17952
17953 Wide were the dissensions in the North during that year and the
17954 Republicans, while selecting Lincoln as their candidate again, cast off
17955 their old name and chose the simple title of the "Union party."
17956 Moreover, they selected a Southern man, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, to
17957 be associated with him as candidate for Vice President. This combination
17958 the Northern Democrats boldly confronted with a platform declaring that
17959 "after four years of failure to restore the union by the experiment of
17960 war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity or war power
17961 higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been
17962 disregarded in every part and public liberty and private right alike
17963 trodden down ... justice, humanity, liberty, and public welfare demand
17964 that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, to the
17965 end that peace may be restored on the basis of the federal union of the
17966 states." It is true that the Democratic candidate, General McClellan,
17967 sought to break the yoke imposed upon him by the platform, saying that
17968 he could not look his old comrades in the face and pronounce their
17969 efforts vain; but the party call to the nation to repudiate Lincoln and
17970 his works had gone forth. The response came, giving Lincoln 2,200,000
17971 votes against 1,800,000 for his opponent. The bitter things said about
17972 him during the campaign, he forgot and forgave. When in April, 1865, he
17973 was struck down by the assassin's hand, he above all others in
17974 Washington was planning measures of moderation and healing.
17975
17976
17977 THE RESULTS OF THE CIVIL WAR
17978
17979 There is a strong and natural tendency on the part of writers to stress
17980 the dramatic and heroic aspects of war; but the long judgment of history
17981 requires us to include all other significant phases as well. Like every
17982 great armed conflict, the Civil War outran the purposes of those who
17983 took part in it. Waged over the nature of the union, it made a
17984 revolution in the union, changing public policies and constitutional
17985 principles and giving a new direction to agriculture and industry.
17986
17987 =The Supremacy of the Union.=--First and foremost, the war settled for
17988 all time the long dispute as to the nature of the federal system. The
17989 doctrine of state sovereignty was laid to rest. Men might still speak of
17990 the rights of states and think of their commonwealths with affection,
17991 but nullification and secession were destroyed. The nation was supreme.
17992
17993 =The Destruction of the Slave Power.=--Next to the vindication of
17994 national supremacy was the destruction of the planting aristocracy of
17995 the South--that great power which had furnished leadership of undoubted
17996 ability and had so long contested with the industrial and commercial
17997 interests of the North. The first paralyzing blow at the planters was
17998 struck by the abolition of slavery. The second and third came with the
17999 fourteenth (1868) and fifteenth (1870) amendments, giving the ballot to
18000 freedmen and excluding from public office the Confederate
18001 leaders--driving from the work of reconstruction the finest talents of
18002 the South. As if to add bitterness to gall and wormwood, the fourteenth
18003 amendment forbade the United States or any state to pay any debts
18004 incurred in aid of the Confederacy or in the emancipation of the
18005 slaves--plunging into utter bankruptcy the Southern financiers who had
18006 stripped their section of capital to support their cause. So the
18007 Southern planters found themselves excluded from public office and ruled
18008 over by their former bondmen under the tutelage of Republican leaders.
18009 Their labor system was wrecked and their money and bonds were as
18010 worthless as waste paper. The South was subject to the North. That which
18011 neither the Federalists nor the Whigs had been able to accomplish in the
18012 realm of statecraft was accomplished on the field of battle.
18013
18014
18015 =The Triumph of Industry.=--The wreck of the planting system was
18016 accompanied by a mighty upswing of Northern industry which made the old
18017 Whigs of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania stare in wonderment. The demands
18018 of the federal government for manufactured goods at unrestricted prices
18019 gave a stimulus to business which more than replaced the lost markets of
18020 the South. Between 1860 and 1870 the number of manufacturing
18021 establishments increased 79.6 per cent as against 14.2 for the previous
18022 decade; while the number of persons employed almost doubled. There was
18023 no doubt about the future of American industry.
18024
18025 =The Victory for the Protective Tariff.=--Moreover, it was henceforth to
18026 be well protected. For many years before the war the friends of
18027 protection had been on the defensive. The tariff act of 1857 imposed
18028 duties so low as to presage a tariff for revenue only. The war changed
18029 all that. The extraordinary military expenditures, requiring heavy taxes
18030 on all sources, justified tariffs so high that a follower of Clay or
18031 Webster might well have gasped with astonishment. After the war was over
18032 the debt remained and both interest and principal had to be paid.
18033 Protective arguments based on economic reasoning were supported by a
18034 plain necessity for revenue which admitted no dispute.
18035
18036 =A Liberal Immigration Policy.=--Linked with industry was the labor
18037 supply. The problem of manning industries became a pressing matter, and
18038 Republican leaders grappled with it. In the platform of the Union party
18039 adopted in 1864 it was declared "that foreign immigration, which in the
18040 past has added so much to the wealth, the development of resources, and
18041 the increase of power to this nation--the asylum of the oppressed of all
18042 nations--should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just
18043 policy." In that very year Congress, recognizing the importance of the
18044 problem, passed a measure of high significance, creating a bureau of
18045 immigration, and authorizing a modified form of indentured labor, by
18046 making it legal for immigrants to pledge their wages in advance to pay
18047 their passage over. Though the bill was soon repealed, the practice
18048 authorized by it was long continued. The cheapness of the passage
18049 shortened the term of service; but the principle was older than the
18050 days of William Penn.
18051
18052 =The Homestead Act of 1862.=--In the immigration measure guaranteeing a
18053 continuous and adequate labor supply, the manufacturers saw an offset to
18054 the Homestead Act of 1862 granting free lands to settlers. The Homestead
18055 law they had resisted in a long and bitter congressional battle.
18056 Naturally, they had not taken kindly to a scheme which lured men away
18057 from the factories or enabled them to make unlimited demands for higher
18058 wages as the price of remaining. Southern planters likewise had feared
18059 free homesteads for the very good reason that they only promised to add
18060 to the overbalancing power of the North.
18061
18062 In spite of the opposition, supporters of a liberal land policy made
18063 steady gains. Free-soil Democrats,--Jacksonian farmers and
18064 mechanics,--labor reformers, and political leaders, like Stephen A.
18065 Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, kept up the
18066 agitation in season and out. More than once were they able to force a
18067 homestead bill through the House of Representatives only to have it
18068 blocked in the Senate where Southern interests were intrenched. Then,
18069 after the Senate was won over, a Democratic President, James Buchanan,
18070 vetoed the bill. Still the issue lived. The Republicans, strong among
18071 the farmers of the Northwest, favored it from the beginning and pressed
18072 it upon the attention of the country. Finally the manufacturers yielded;
18073 they received their compensation in the contract labor law. In 1862
18074 Congress provided for the free distribution of land in 160-acre lots
18075 among men and women of strong arms and willing hearts ready to build
18076 their serried lines of homesteads to the Rockies and beyond.
18077
18078 =Internal Improvements.=--If farmers and manufacturers were early
18079 divided on the matter of free homesteads, the same could hardly be said
18080 of internal improvements. The Western tiller of the soil was as eager
18081 for some easy way of sending his produce to market as the manufacturer
18082 was for the same means to transport his goods to the consumer on the
18083 farm. While the Confederate leaders were writing into their
18084 constitution a clause forbidding all appropriations for internal
18085 improvements, the Republican leaders at Washington were planning such
18086 expenditures from the treasury in the form of public land grants to
18087 railways as would have dazed the authors of the national road bill half
18088 a century earlier.
18089
18090 =Sound Finance--National Banking.=--From Hamilton's day to Lincoln's,
18091 business men in the East had contended for a sound system of national
18092 currency. The experience of the states with paper money, painfully
18093 impressive in the years before the framing of the Constitution, had been
18094 convincing to those who understood the economy of business. The
18095 Constitution, as we have seen, bore the signs of this experience. States
18096 were forbidden to emit bills of credit: paper money, in short. This
18097 provision stood clear in the document; but judicial ingenuity had
18098 circumvented it in the age of Jacksonian Democracy. The states had
18099 enacted and the Supreme Court, after the death of John Marshall, had
18100 sustained laws chartering banking companies and authorizing them to
18101 issue paper money. So the country was beset by the old curse, the banks
18102 of Western and Southern states issuing reams of paper notes to help
18103 borrowers pay their debts.
18104
18105 In dealing with war finances, the Republicans attacked this ancient
18106 evil. By act of Congress in 1864, they authorized a series of national
18107 banks founded on the credit of government bonds and empowered to issue
18108 notes. The next year they stopped all bank paper sent forth under the
18109 authority of the states by means of a prohibitive tax. In this way, by
18110 two measures Congress restored federal control over the monetary system
18111 although it did not reestablish the United States Bank so hated by
18112 Jacksonian Democracy.
18113
18114 =Destruction of States' Rights by Fourteenth Amendment.=--These acts and
18115 others not cited here were measures of centralization and consolidation
18116 at the expense of the powers and dignity of the states. They were all of
18117 high import, but the crowning act of nationalism was the fourteenth
18118 amendment which, among other things, forbade states to "deprive any
18119 person of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The
18120 immediate occasion, though not the actual cause of this provision, was
18121 the need for protecting the rights of freedmen against hostile
18122 legislatures in the South. The result of the amendment, as was
18123 prophesied in protests loud and long from every quarter of the
18124 Democratic party, was the subjection of every act of state, municipal,
18125 and county authorities to possible annulment by the Supreme Court at
18126 Washington. The expected happened.
18127
18128 Few negroes ever brought cases under the fourteenth amendment to the
18129 attention of the courts; but thousands of state laws, municipal
18130 ordinances, and acts of local authorities were set aside as null and
18131 void under it. Laws of states regulating railway rates, fixing hours of
18132 labor in bakeshops, and taxing corporations were in due time to be
18133 annulled as conflicting with an amendment erroneously supposed to be
18134 designed solely for the protection of negroes. As centralized power over
18135 tariffs, railways, public lands, and other national concerns went to
18136 Congress, so centralized power over the acts of state and local
18137 authorities involving an infringement of personal and property rights
18138 was conferred on the federal judiciary, the apex of which was the
18139 Supreme Court at Washington. Thus the old federation of "independent
18140 states," all equal in rights and dignity, each wearing the "jewel of
18141 sovereignty" so celebrated in Southern oratory, had gone the way of all
18142 flesh under the withering blasts of Civil War.
18143
18144
18145 RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH
18146
18147 =Theories about the Position of the Seceded States.=--On the morning of
18148 April 9, 1865, when General Lee surrendered his army to General Grant,
18149 eleven states stood in a peculiar relation to the union now declared
18150 perpetual. Lawyers and political philosophers were much perturbed and
18151 had been for some time as to what should be done with the members of the
18152 former Confederacy. Radical Republicans held that they were "conquered
18153 provinces" at the mercy of Congress, to be governed under such laws as
18154 it saw fit to enact and until in its wisdom it decided to readmit any or
18155 all of them to the union. Men of more conservative views held that, as
18156 the war had been waged by the North on the theory that no state could
18157 secede from the union, the Confederate states had merely attempted to
18158 withdraw and had failed. The corollary of this latter line of argument
18159 was simple: "The Southern states are still in the union and it is the
18160 duty of the President, as commander-in-chief, to remove the federal
18161 troops as soon as order is restored and the state governments ready to
18162 function once more as usual."
18163
18164 =Lincoln's Proposal.=--Some such simple and conservative form of
18165 reconstruction had been suggested by Lincoln in a proclamation of
18166 December 8, 1863. He proposed pardon and a restoration of property,
18167 except in slaves, to nearly all who had "directly or by implication
18168 participated in the existing rebellion," on condition that they take an
18169 oath of loyalty to the union. He then announced that when, in any of the
18170 states named, a body of voters, qualified under the law as it stood
18171 before secession and equal in number to one-tenth the votes cast in
18172 1860, took the oath of allegiance, they should be permitted to
18173 reestablish a state government. Such a government, he added, should be
18174 recognized as a lawful authority and entitled to protection under the
18175 federal Constitution. With reference to the status of the former slaves
18176 Lincoln made it clear that, while their freedom must be recognized, he
18177 would not object to any legislation "which may yet be consistent as a
18178 temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring,
18179 landless, and homeless class."
18180
18181 =Andrew Johnson's Plan--His Impeachment.=--Lincoln's successor, Andrew
18182 Johnson, the Vice President, soon after taking office, proposed to
18183 pursue a somewhat similar course. In a number of states he appointed
18184 military governors, instructing them at the earliest possible moment to
18185 assemble conventions, chosen "by that portion of the people of the said
18186 states who are loyal to the United States," and proceed to the
18187 organization of regular civil government. Johnson, a Southern man and a
18188 Democrat, was immediately charged by the Republicans with being too
18189 ready to restore the Southern states. As the months went by, the
18190 opposition to his measures and policies in Congress grew in size and
18191 bitterness. The contest resulted in the impeachment of Johnson by the
18192 House of Representatives in March, 1868, and his acquittal by the Senate
18193 merely because his opponents lacked one vote of the two-thirds required
18194 for conviction.
18195
18196 =Congress Enacts "Reconstruction Laws."=--In fact, Congress was in a
18197 strategic position. It was the law-making body, and it could, moreover,
18198 determine the conditions under which Senators and Representatives from
18199 the South were to be readmitted. It therefore proceeded to pass a series
18200 of reconstruction acts--carrying all of them over Johnson's veto. These
18201 measures, the first of which became a law on March 2, 1867, betrayed an
18202 animus not found anywhere in Lincoln's plans or Johnson's proclamations.
18203
18204 They laid off the ten states--the whole Confederacy with the exception
18205 of Tennessee--still outside the pale, into five military districts, each
18206 commanded by a military officer appointed by the President. They ordered
18207 the commanding general to prepare a register of voters for the election
18208 of delegates to conventions chosen for the purpose of drafting new
18209 constitutions. Such voters, however, were not to be, as Lincoln had
18210 suggested, loyal persons duly qualified under the law existing before
18211 secession but "the male citizens of said state, twenty-one years old and
18212 upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, ... except such
18213 as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion or for felony
18214 at common law." This was the death knell to the idea that the leaders of
18215 the Confederacy and their white supporters might be permitted to share
18216 in the establishment of the new order. Power was thus arbitrarily thrust
18217 into the hands of the newly emancipated male negroes and the handful of
18218 whites who could show a record of loyalty. That was not all. Each state
18219 was, under the reconstruction acts, compelled to ratify the fourteenth
18220 amendment to the federal Constitution as a price of restoration to the
18221 union.
18222
18223 The composition of the conventions thus authorized may be imagined.
18224 Bondmen without the asking and without preparation found themselves the
18225 governing power. An army of adventurers from the North, "carpet baggers"
18226 as they were called, poured in upon the scene to aid in
18227 "reconstruction." Undoubtedly many men of honor and fine intentions gave
18228 unstinted service, but the results of their deliberations only
18229 aggravated the open wound left by the war. Any number of political
18230 doctors offered their prescriptions; but no effective remedy could be
18231 found. Under measures admittedly open to grave objections, the Southern
18232 states were one after another restored to the union by the grace of
18233 Congress, the last one in 1870. Even this grudging concession of the
18234 formalities of statehood did not mean a full restoration of honors and
18235 privileges. The last soldier was not withdrawn from the last Southern
18236 capital until 1877, and federal control over elections long remained as
18237 a sign of congressional supremacy.
18238
18239 =The Status of the Freedmen.=--Even more intricate than the issues
18240 involved in restoring the seceded states to the union was the question
18241 of what to do with the newly emancipated slaves. That problem, often put
18242 to abolitionists before the war, had become at last a real concern. The
18243 thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery had not touched it at all. It
18244 declared bondmen free, but did nothing to provide them with work or
18245 homes and did not mention the subject of political rights. All these
18246 matters were left to the states, and the legislatures of some of them,
18247 by their famous "black codes," restored a form of servitude under the
18248 guise of vagrancy and apprentice laws. Such methods were in fact partly
18249 responsible for the reaction that led Congress to abandon Lincoln's
18250 policies and undertake its own program of reconstruction.
18251
18252 Still no extensive effort was made to solve by law the economic problems
18253 of the bondmen. Radical abolitionists had advocated that the slaves when
18254 emancipated should be given outright the fields of their former
18255 masters; but Congress steadily rejected the very idea of confiscation.
18256 The necessity of immediate assistance it recognized by creating in 1865
18257 the Freedmen's Bureau to take care of refugees. It authorized the issue
18258 of food and clothing to the destitute and the renting of abandoned and
18259 certain other lands under federal control to former slaves at reasonable
18260 rates. But the larger problem of the relation of the freedmen to the
18261 land, it left to the slow working of time.
18262
18263 Against sharp protests from conservative men, particularly among the
18264 Democrats, Congress did insist, however, on conferring upon the freedmen
18265 certain rights by national law. These rights fell into broad divisions,
18266 civil and political. By an act passed in 1866, Congress gave to former
18267 slaves the rights of white citizens in the matter of making contracts,
18268 giving testimony in courts, and purchasing, selling, and leasing
18269 property. As it was doubtful whether Congress had the power to enact
18270 this law, there was passed and submitted to the states the fourteenth
18271 amendment which gave citizenship to the freedmen, assured them of the
18272 privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, and declared
18273 that no state should deprive any person of his life, liberty, or
18274 property without due process of law. Not yet satisfied, Congress
18275 attempted to give social equality to negroes by the second civil rights
18276 bill of 1875 which promised to them, among other things, the full and
18277 equal enjoyment of inns, theaters, public conveyances, and places of
18278 amusement--a law later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
18279
18280 The matter of political rights was even more hotly contested; but the
18281 radical Republicans, like Charles Sumner, asserted that civil rights
18282 were not secure unless supported by the suffrage. In this same
18283 fourteenth amendment they attempted to guarantee the ballot to all negro
18284 men, leaving the women to take care of themselves. The amendment
18285 declared in effect that when any state deprived adult male citizens of
18286 the right to vote, its representation in Congress should be reduced in
18287 the proportion such persons bore to the voting population.
18288
18289 This provision having failed to accomplish its purpose, the fifteenth
18290 amendment was passed and ratified, expressly declaring that no citizen
18291 should be deprived of the right to vote "on account of race, color, or
18292 previous condition of servitude." To make assurance doubly secure,
18293 Congress enacted in 1870, 1872, and 1873 three drastic laws, sometimes
18294 known as "force bills," providing for the use of federal authorities,
18295 civil and military, in supervising elections in all parts of the Union.
18296 So the federal government, having destroyed chattel slavery, sought by
18297 legal decree to sweep away all its signs and badges, civil, social, and
18298 political. Never, save perhaps in some of the civil conflicts of Greece
18299 or Rome, had there occurred in the affairs of a nation a social
18300 revolution so complete, so drastic, and far-reaching in its results.
18301
18302
18303 SUMMARY OF THE SECTIONAL CONFLICT
18304
18305 Just as the United States, under the impetus of Western enterprise,
18306 rounded out the continental domain, its very existence as a nation was
18307 challenged by a fratricidal conflict between two sections. This storm
18308 had been long gathering upon the horizon. From the very beginning in
18309 colonial times there had been a marked difference between the South and
18310 the North. The former by climate and soil was dedicated to a planting
18311 system--the cultivation of tobacco, rice, cotton, and sugar cane--and in
18312 the course of time slave labor became the foundation of the system. The
18313 North, on the other hand, supplemented agriculture by commerce, trade,
18314 and manufacturing. Slavery, though lawful, did not flourish there. An
18315 abundant supply of free labor kept the Northern wheels turning.
18316
18317 This difference between the two sections, early noted by close
18318 observers, was increased with the advent of the steam engine and the
18319 factory system. Between 1815 and 1860 an industrial revolution took
18320 place in the North. Its signs were gigantic factories, huge aggregations
18321 of industrial workers, immense cities, a flourishing commerce, and
18322 prosperous banks. Finding an unfavorable reception in the South, the new
18323 industrial system was confined mainly to the North. By canals and
18324 railways New York, Boston, and Philadelphia were linked with the
18325 wheatfields of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. A steel net wove North and
18326 Northwest together. A commercial net supplemented it. Western trade was
18327 diverted from New Orleans to the East and Eastern credit sustained
18328 Western enterprise.
18329
18330 In time, the industrial North and the planting South evolved different
18331 ideas of political policy. The former looked with favor on protective
18332 tariffs, ship subsidies, a sound national banking system, and internal
18333 improvements. The farmers of the West demanded that the public domain be
18334 divided up into free homesteads for farmers. The South steadily swung
18335 around to the opposite view. Its spokesmen came to regard most of these
18336 policies as injurious to the planting interests.
18337
18338 The economic questions were all involved in a moral issue. The Northern
18339 states, in which slavery was of slight consequence, had early abolished
18340 the institution. In the course of a few years there appeared
18341 uncompromising advocates of universal emancipation. Far and wide the
18342 agitation spread. The South was thoroughly frightened. It demanded
18343 protection against the agitators, the enforcement of its rights in the
18344 case of runaway slaves, and equal privileges for slavery in the new
18345 territories.
18346
18347 With the passing years the conflict between the two sections increased
18348 in bitterness. It flamed up in 1820 and was allayed by the Missouri
18349 compromise. It took on the form of a tariff controversy and
18350 nullification in 1832. It appeared again after the Mexican war when the
18351 question of slavery in the new territories was raised. Again
18352 compromise--the great settlement of 1850--seemed to restore peace, only
18353 to prove an illusion. A series of startling events swept the country
18354 into war: the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854, the rise of the
18355 Republican party pledged to the prohibition of slavery in the
18356 territories, the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Lincoln-Douglas
18357 debates, John Brown's raid, the election of Lincoln, and secession.
18358
18359 The Civil War, lasting for four years, tested the strength of both North
18360 and South, in leadership, in finance, in diplomatic skill, in material
18361 resources, in industry, and in armed forces. By the blockade of Southern
18362 ports, by an overwhelming weight of men and materials, and by relentless
18363 hammering on the field of battle, the North was victorious.
18364
18365 The results of the war were revolutionary in character. Slavery was
18366 abolished and the freedmen given the ballot. The Southern planters who
18367 had been the leaders of their section were ruined financially and almost
18368 to a man excluded from taking part in political affairs. The union was
18369 declared to be perpetual and the right of a state to secede settled by
18370 the judgment of battle. Federal control over the affairs of states,
18371 counties, and cities was established by the fourteenth amendment. The
18372 power and prestige of the federal government were enhanced beyond
18373 imagination. The North was now free to pursue its economic policies: a
18374 protective tariff, a national banking system, land grants for railways,
18375 free lands for farmers. Planting had dominated the country for nearly a
18376 generation. Business enterprise was to take its place.
18377
18378
18379 =References=
18380
18381 NORTHERN ACCOUNTS
18382
18383 J.K. Hosmer, _The Appeal to Arms_ and _The Outcome of the Civil War_
18384 (American Nation Series).
18385
18386 J. Ropes, _History of the Civil War_ (best account of military
18387 campaigns).
18388
18389 J.F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vols. III, IV, and V.
18390
18391 J.T. Morse, _Abraham Lincoln_ (2 vols.).
18392
18393
18394 SOUTHERN ACCOUNTS
18395
18396 W.E. Dodd, _Jefferson Davis_.
18397
18398 Jefferson Davis, _Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_.
18399
18400 E. Pollard, _The Lost Cause_.
18401
18402 A.H. Stephens, _The War between the States_.
18403
18404
18405 =Questions=
18406
18407 1. Contrast the reception of secession in 1860 with that given to
18408 nullification in 1832.
18409
18410 2. Compare the Northern and Southern views of the union.
18411
18412 3. What were the peculiar features of the Confederate constitution?
18413
18414 4. How was the Confederacy financed?
18415
18416 5. Compare the resources of the two sections.
18417
18418 6. On what foundations did Southern hopes rest?
18419
18420 7. Describe the attempts at a peaceful settlement.
18421
18422 8. Compare the raising of armies for the Civil War with the methods
18423 employed in the World War. (See below, chapter XXV.)
18424
18425 9. Compare the financial methods of the government in the two wars.
18426
18427 10. Explain why the blockade was such a deadly weapon.
18428
18429 11. Give the leading diplomatic events of the war.
18430
18431 12. Trace the growth of anti-slavery sentiment.
18432
18433 13. What measures were taken to restrain criticism of the government?
18434
18435 14. What part did Lincoln play in all phases of the war?
18436
18437 15. State the principal results of the war.
18438
18439 16. Compare Lincoln's plan of reconstruction with that adopted by
18440 Congress.
18441
18442 17. What rights did Congress attempt to confer upon the former slaves?
18443
18444
18445 =Research Topics=
18446
18447 =Was Secession Lawful?=--The Southern view by Jefferson Davis in
18448 Harding, _Select Orations Illustrating American History_, pp. 364-369.
18449 Lincoln's view, Harding, pp. 371-381.
18450
18451 =The Confederate Constitution.=--Compare with the federal Constitution
18452 in Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp. 424-433 and pp. 271-279.
18453
18454 =Federal Legislative Measures.=--Prepare a table and brief digest of the
18455 important laws relating to the war. Macdonald, pp. 433-482.
18456
18457 =Economic Aspects of the War.=--Coman, _Industrial History of the United
18458 States_, pp. 279-301. Dewey, _Financial History of the United States_,
18459 Chaps. XII and XIII. Tabulate the economic measures of Congress in
18460 Macdonald.
18461
18462 =Military Campaigns.=--The great battles are fully treated in Rhodes,
18463 _History of the Civil War_, and teachers desiring to emphasize military
18464 affairs may assign campaigns to members of the class for study and
18465 report. A briefer treatment in Elson, _History of the United States_,
18466 pp. 641-785.
18467
18468 =Biographical Studies.=--Lincoln, Davis, Lee, Grant, Sherman, and other
18469 leaders in civil and military affairs, with reference to local "war
18470 governors."
18471
18472 =English and French Opinion of the War.=--Rhodes, _History of the United
18473 States_, Vol. IV, pp. 337-394.
18474
18475 =The South during the War.=--Rhodes, Vol. V, pp. 343-382.
18476
18477 =The North during the War.=--Rhodes, Vol. V, pp. 189-342.
18478
18479 =Reconstruction Measures.=--Macdonald, _Source Book_, pp. 500-511;
18480 514-518; 529-530; Elson, pp. 786-799.
18481
18482 =The Force Bills.=--Macdonald, pp. 547-551; 554-564.
18483
18484
18485
18486
18487 PART VI. NATIONAL GROWTH AND WORLD POLITICS
18488
18489
18490
18491
18492 CHAPTER XVI
18493
18494 THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTH
18495
18496
18497 The outcome of the Civil War in the South was nothing short of a
18498 revolution. The ruling class, the law, and the government of the old
18499 order had been subverted. To political chaos was added the havoc wrought
18500 in agriculture, business, and transportation by military operations. And
18501 as if to fill the cup to the brim, the task of reconstruction was
18502 committed to political leaders from another section of the country,
18503 strangers to the life and traditions of the South.
18504
18505
18506 THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR
18507
18508 =A Ruling Class Disfranchised.=--As the sovereignty of the planters had
18509 been the striking feature of the old regime, so their ruin was the
18510 outstanding fact of the new. The situation was extraordinary. The
18511 American Revolution was carried out by people experienced in the arts of
18512 self-government, and at its close they were free to follow the general
18513 course to which they had long been accustomed. The French Revolution
18514 witnessed the overthrow of the clergy and the nobility; but middle
18515 classes who took their places had been steadily rising in intelligence
18516 and wealth.
18517
18518 The Southern Revolution was unlike either of these cataclysms. It was
18519 not brought about by a social upheaval, but by an external crisis. It
18520 did not enfranchise a class that sought and understood power, but
18521 bondmen who had played no part in the struggle. Moreover it struck down
18522 a class equipped to rule. The leading planters were almost to a man
18523 excluded from state and federal offices, and the fourteenth amendment
18524 was a bar to their return. All civil and military places under the
18525 authority of the United States and of the states were closed to every
18526 man who had taken an oath to support the Constitution as a member of
18527 Congress, as a state legislator, or as a state or federal officer, and
18528 afterward engaged in "insurrection or rebellion," or "given aid and
18529 comfort to the enemies" of the United States. This sweeping provision,
18530 supplemented by the reconstruction acts, laid under the ban most of the
18531 talent, energy, and spirit of the South.
18532
18533 =The Condition of the State Governments.=--The legislative, executive,
18534 and judicial branches of the state governments thus passed into the
18535 control of former slaves, led principally by Northern adventurers or
18536 Southern novices, known as "Scalawags." The result was a carnival of
18537 waste, folly, and corruption. The "reconstruction" assembly of South
18538 Carolina bought clocks at $480 apiece and chandeliers at $650. To
18539 purchase land for former bondmen the sum of $800,000 was appropriated;
18540 and swamps bought at seventy-five cents an acre were sold to the state
18541 at five times the cost. In the years between 1868 and 1873, the debt of
18542 the state rose from about $5,800,000 to $24,000,000, and millions of the
18543 increase could not be accounted for by the authorities responsible for
18544 it.
18545
18546 =Economic Ruin--Urban and Rural.=--No matter where Southern men turned
18547 in 1865 they found devastation--in the towns, in the country, and along
18548 the highways. Atlanta, the city to which Sherman applied the torch, lay
18549 in ashes; Nashville and Chattanooga had been partially wrecked; Richmond
18550 and Augusta had suffered severely from fires. Charleston was described
18551 by a visitor as "a city of ruins, of desolation, of vacant houses, of
18552 rotten wharves, of deserted warehouses, of weed gardens, of miles of
18553 grass-grown streets.... How few young men there are, how generally the
18554 young women are dressed in black! The flower of their proud aristocracy
18555 is buried on scores of battle fields."
18556
18557 Those who journeyed through the country about the same time reported
18558 desolation equally widespread and equally pathetic. An English traveler
18559 who made his way along the course of the Tennessee River in 1870 wrote:
18560 "The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burnt-up gin
18561 houses, ruined bridges, mills, and factories ... and large tracts of
18562 once cultivated land are stripped of every vestige of fencing. The
18563 roads, long neglected, are in disorder and, having in many places become
18564 impassable, new tracks have been made through the woods and fields
18565 without much respect to boundaries." Many a great plantation had been
18566 confiscated by the federal authorities while the owner was in
18567 Confederate service. Many more lay in waste. In the wake of the armies
18568 the homes of rich and poor alike, if spared the torch, had been
18569 despoiled of the stock and seeds necessary to renew agriculture.
18570
18571 =Railways Dilapidated.=--Transportation was still more demoralized. This
18572 is revealed in the pages of congressional reports based upon first-hand
18573 investigations. One eloquent passage illustrates all the rest. From
18574 Pocahontas to Decatur, Alabama, a distance of 114 miles, we are told,
18575 the railroad was "almost entirely destroyed, except the road bed and
18576 iron rails, and they were in a very bad condition--every bridge and
18577 trestle destroyed, cross-ties rotten, buildings burned, water tanks
18578 gone, tracks grown up in weeds and bushes, not a saw mill near the line
18579 and the labor system of the country gone. About forty miles of the track
18580 were burned, the cross-ties entirely destroyed, and the rails bent and
18581 twisted in such a manner as to require great labor to straighten and a
18582 large portion of them requiring renewal."
18583
18584 =Capital and Credit Destroyed.=--The fluid capital of the South, money
18585 and credit, was in the same prostrate condition as the material capital.
18586 The Confederate currency, inflated to the bursting point, had utterly
18587 collapsed and was as worthless as waste paper. The bonds of the
18588 Confederate government were equally valueless. Specie had nearly
18589 disappeared from circulation. The fourteenth amendment to the federal
18590 Constitution had made all "debts, obligations, and claims" incurred in
18591 aid of the Confederate cause "illegal and void." Millions of dollars
18592 owed to Northern creditors before the war were overdue and payment was
18593 pressed upon the debtors. Where such debts were secured by mortgages on
18594 land, executions against the property could be obtained in federal
18595 courts.
18596
18597
18598 THE RESTORATION OF WHITE SUPREMACY
18599
18600 =Intimidation.=--In both politics and economics, the process of
18601 reconstruction in the South was slow and arduous. The first battle in
18602 the political contest for white supremacy was won outside the halls of
18603 legislatures and the courts of law. It was waged, in the main, by secret
18604 organizations, among which the Ku Klux Klan and the White Camelia were
18605 the most prominent. The first of these societies appeared in Tennessee
18606 in 1866 and held its first national convention the following year. It
18607 was in origin a social club. According to its announcement, its objects
18608 were "to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless from the
18609 indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the
18610 brutal; and to succor the suffering, especially the widows and orphans
18611 of the Confederate soldiers." The whole South was called "the Empire"
18612 and was ruled by a "Grand Wizard." Each state was a realm and each
18613 county a province. In the secret orders there were enrolled over half a
18614 million men.
18615
18616 The methods of the Ku Klux and the White Camelia were similar. Solemn
18617 parades of masked men on horses decked in long robes were held,
18618 sometimes in the daytime and sometimes at the dead of night. Notices
18619 were sent to obnoxious persons warning them to stop certain practices.
18620 If warning failed, something more convincing was tried. Fright was the
18621 emotion most commonly stirred. A horseman, at the witching hour of
18622 midnight, would ride up to the house of some offender, lift his head
18623 gear, take off a skull, and hand it to the trembling victim with the
18624 request that he hold it for a few minutes. Frequently violence was
18625 employed either officially or unofficially by members of the Klan. Tar
18626 and feathers were freely applied; the whip was sometimes laid on
18627 unmercifully, and occasionally a brutal murder was committed. Often the
18628 members were fired upon from bushes or behind trees, and swift
18629 retaliation followed. So alarming did the clashes become that in 1870
18630 Congress forbade interference with electors or going in disguise for the
18631 purpose of obstructing the exercise of the rights enjoyed under federal
18632 law.
18633
18634 In anticipation of such a step on the part of the federal government,
18635 the Ku Klux was officially dissolved by the "Grand Wizard" in 1869.
18636 Nevertheless, the local societies continued their organization and
18637 methods. The spirit survived the national association. "On the whole,"
18638 says a Southern writer, "it is not easy to see what other course was
18639 open to the South.... Armed resistance was out of the question. And yet
18640 there must be some control had of the situation.... If force was denied,
18641 craft was inevitable."
18642
18643 =The Struggle for the Ballot Box.=--The effects of intimidation were
18644 soon seen at elections. The freedman, into whose inexperienced hand the
18645 ballot had been thrust, was ordinarily loath to risk his head by the
18646 exercise of his new rights. He had not attained them by a long and
18647 laborious contest of his own and he saw no urgent reason why he should
18648 battle for the privilege of using them. The mere show of force, the mere
18649 existence of a threat, deterred thousands of ex-slaves from appearing at
18650 the polls. Thus the whites steadily recovered their dominance. Nothing
18651 could prevent it. Congress enacted force bills establishing federal
18652 supervision of elections and the Northern politicians protested against
18653 the return of former Confederates to practical, if not official, power;
18654 but all such opposition was like resistance to the course of nature.
18655
18656 =Amnesty for Southerners.=--The recovery of white supremacy in this way
18657 was quickly felt in national councils. The Democratic party in the North
18658 welcomed it as a sign of its return to power. The more moderate
18659 Republicans, anxious to heal the breach in American unity, sought to
18660 encourage rather than to repress it. So it came about that amnesty for
18661 Confederates was widely advocated. Yet it must be said that the struggle
18662 for the removal of disabilities was stubborn and bitter. Lincoln, with
18663 characteristic generosity, in the midst of the war had issued a general
18664 proclamation of amnesty to nearly all who had been in arms against the
18665 Union, on condition that they take an oath of loyalty; but Johnson,
18666 vindictive toward Southern leaders and determined to make "treason
18667 infamous," had extended the list of exceptions. Congress, even more
18668 relentless in its pursuit of Confederates, pushed through the fourteenth
18669 amendment which worked the sweeping disabilities we have just described.
18670
18671 To appeals for comprehensive clemency, Congress was at first adamant. In
18672 vain did men like Carl Schurz exhort their colleagues to crown their
18673 victory in battle with a noble act of universal pardon and oblivion.
18674 Congress would not yield. It would grant amnesty in individual cases;
18675 for the principle of proscription it stood fast. When finally in 1872,
18676 seven years after the surrender at Appomattox, it did pass the general
18677 amnesty bill, it insisted on certain exceptions. Confederates who had
18678 been members of Congress just before the war, or had served in other
18679 high posts, civil or military, under the federal government, were still
18680 excluded from important offices. Not until the summer of 1898, when the
18681 war with Spain produced once more a union of hearts, did Congress relent
18682 and abolish the last of the disabilities imposed on the Confederates.
18683
18684 =The Force Bills Attacked and Nullified.=--The granting of amnesty
18685 encouraged the Democrats to redouble their efforts all along the line.
18686 In 1874 they captured the House of Representatives and declared war on
18687 the "force bills." As a Republican Senate blocked immediate repeal, they
18688 resorted to an ingenious parliamentary trick. To the appropriation bill
18689 for the support of the army they attached a "rider," or condition, to
18690 the effect that no troops should be used to sustain the Republican
18691 government in Louisiana. The Senate rejected the proposal. A deadlock
18692 ensued and Congress adjourned without making provision for the army.
18693 Satisfied with the technical victory, the Democrats let the army bill
18694 pass the next session, but kept up their fight on the force laws until
18695 they wrung from President Hayes a measure forbidding the use of United
18696 States troops in supervising elections. The following year they again
18697 had recourse to a rider on the army bill and carried it through, putting
18698 an end to the use of money for military control of elections. The
18699 reconstruction program was clearly going to pieces, and the Supreme
18700 Court helped along the process of dissolution by declaring parts of the
18701 laws invalid. In 1878 the Democrats even won a majority in the Senate
18702 and returned to power a large number of men once prominent in the
18703 Confederate cause.
18704
18705 The passions of the war by this time were evidently cooling. A new
18706 generation of men was coming on the scene. The supremacy of the whites
18707 in the South, if not yet complete, was at least assured. Federal
18708 marshals, their deputies, and supervisors of elections still possessed
18709 authority over the polls, but their strength had been shorn by the
18710 withdrawal of United States troops. The war on the remaining remnants of
18711 the "force bills" lapsed into desultory skirmishing. When in 1894 the
18712 last fragment was swept away, the country took little note of the fact.
18713 The only task that lay before the Southern leaders was to write in the
18714 constitutions of their respective states the provisions of law which
18715 would clinch the gains so far secured and establish white supremacy
18716 beyond the reach of outside intervention.
18717
18718 =White Supremacy Sealed by New State Constitutions.=--The impetus to
18719 this final step was given by the rise of the Populist movement in the
18720 South, which sharply divided the whites and in many communities threw
18721 the balance of power into the hands of the few colored voters who
18722 survived the process of intimidation. Southern leaders now devised new
18723 constitutions so constructed as to deprive negroes of the ballot by law.
18724 Mississippi took the lead in 1890; South Carolina followed five years
18725 later; Louisiana, in 1898; North Carolina, in 1900; Alabama and
18726 Maryland, in 1901; and Virginia, in 1902.
18727
18728 The authors of these measures made no attempt to conceal their purposes.
18729 "The intelligent white men of the South," said Governor Tillman, "intend
18730 to govern here." The fifteenth amendment to the federal Constitution,
18731 however, forbade them to deprive any citizen of the right to vote on
18732 account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This made
18733 necessary the devices of indirection. They were few, simple, and
18734 effective. The first and most easily administered was the ingenious
18735 provision requiring each prospective voter to read a section of the
18736 state constitution or "understand and explain it" when read to him by
18737 the election officers. As an alternative, the payment of taxes or the
18738 ownership of a small amount of property was accepted as a qualification
18739 for voting. Southern leaders, unwilling to disfranchise any of the poor
18740 white men who had stood side by side with them "in the dark days of
18741 reconstruction," also resorted to a famous provision known as "the
18742 grandfather clause." This plan admitted to the suffrage any man who did
18743 not have either property or educational qualifications, provided he had
18744 voted on or before 1867 or was the son or grandson of any such person.
18745
18746 The devices worked effectively. Of the 147,000 negroes in Mississippi
18747 above the age of twenty-one, only about 8600 registered under the
18748 constitution of 1890. Louisiana had 127,000 colored voters enrolled in
18749 1896; under the constitution drafted two years later the registration
18750 fell to 5300. An analysis of the figures for South Carolina in 1900
18751 indicates that only about one negro out of every hundred adult males of
18752 that race took part in elections. Thus was closed this chapter of
18753 reconstruction.
18754
18755 =The Supreme Court Refuses to Intervene.=--Numerous efforts were made to
18756 prevail upon the Supreme Court of the United States to declare such laws
18757 unconstitutional; but the Court, usually on technical grounds, avoided
18758 coming to a direct decision on the merits of the matter. In one case
18759 the Court remarked that it could not take charge of and operate the
18760 election machinery of Alabama; it concluded that "relief from a great
18761 political wrong, if done as alleged, by the people of a state and by the
18762 state itself, must be given by them, or by the legislative and executive
18763 departments of the government of the United States." Only one of the
18764 several schemes employed, namely, the "grandfather clause," was held to
18765 be a violation of the federal Constitution. This blow, effected in 1915
18766 by the decision in the Oklahoma and Maryland cases, left, however, the
18767 main structure of disfranchisement unimpaired.
18768
18769 =Proposals to Reduce Southern Representation in Congress.=--These
18770 provisions excluding thousands of male citizens from the ballot did not,
18771 in express terms, deprive any one of the vote on account of race or
18772 color. They did not, therefore, run counter to the letter of the
18773 fifteenth amendment; but they did unquestionably make the states which
18774 adopted them liable to the operations of the fourteenth amendment. The
18775 latter very explicitly provides that whenever any state deprives adult
18776 male citizens of the right to vote (except in certain minor cases) the
18777 representation of the state in Congress shall be reduced in the
18778 proportion which such number of disfranchised citizens bears to the
18779 whole number of male citizens over twenty-one years of age.
18780
18781 Mindful of this provision, those who protested against disfranchisement
18782 in the South turned to the Republican party for relief, asking for
18783 action by the political branches of the federal government as the
18784 Supreme Court had suggested. The Republicans responded in their platform
18785 of 1908 by condemning all devices designed to deprive any one of the
18786 ballot for reasons of color alone; they demanded the enforcement in
18787 letter and spirit of the fourteenth as well as all other amendments.
18788 Though victorious in the election, the Republicans refrained from
18789 reopening the ancient contest; they made no attempt to reduce Southern
18790 representation in the House. Southern leaders, while protesting against
18791 the declarations of their opponents, were able to view them as idle
18792 threats in no way endangering the security of the measures by which
18793 political reconstruction had been undone.
18794
18795 =The Solid South.=--Out of the thirty-year conflict against "carpet-bag
18796 rule" there emerged what was long known as the "solid South"--a South
18797 that, except occasionally in the border states, never gave an electoral
18798 vote to a Republican candidate for President. Before the Civil War, the
18799 Southern people had been divided on political questions. Take, for
18800 example, the election of 1860. In all the fifteen slave states the
18801 variety of opinion was marked. In nine of them--Delaware, Virginia,
18802 Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia, and
18803 Arkansas--the combined vote against the representative of the extreme
18804 Southern point of view, Breckinridge, constituted a safe majority. In
18805 each of the six states which were carried by Breckinridge, there was a
18806 large and powerful minority. In North Carolina Breckinridge's majority
18807 over Bell and Douglas was only 849 votes. Equally astounding to those
18808 who imagine the South united in defense of extreme views in 1860 was the
18809 vote for Bell, the Unionist candidate, who stood firmly for the
18810 Constitution and silence on slavery. In every Southern state Bell's vote
18811 was large. In Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee it was greater
18812 than that received by Breckinridge; in Georgia, it was 42,000 against
18813 51,000; in Louisiana, 20,000 against 22,000; in Mississippi, 25,000
18814 against 40,000.
18815
18816 The effect of the Civil War upon these divisions was immediate and
18817 decisive, save in the border states where thousands of men continued to
18818 adhere to the cause of Union. In the Confederacy itself nearly all
18819 dissent was silenced by war. Men who had been bitter opponents joined
18820 hands in defense of their homes; when the armed conflict was over they
18821 remained side by side working against "Republican misrule and negro
18822 domination." By 1890, after Northern supremacy was definitely broken,
18823 they boasted that there were at least twelve Southern states in which no
18824 Republican candidate for President could win a single electoral vote.
18825
18826 =Dissent in the Solid South.=--Though every one grew accustomed to speak
18827 of the South as "solid," it did not escape close observers that in a
18828 number of Southern states there appeared from time to time a fairly
18829 large body of dissenters. In 1892 the Populists made heavy inroads upon
18830 the Democratic ranks. On other occasions, the contests between factions
18831 within the Democratic party over the nomination of candidates revealed
18832 sharp differences of opinion. In some places, moreover, there grew up a
18833 Republican minority of respectable size. For example, in Georgia, Mr.
18834 Taft in 1908 polled 41,000 votes against 72,000 for Mr. Bryan; in North
18835 Carolina, 114,000 against 136,000; in Tennessee, 118,000 against
18836 135,000; in Kentucky, 235,000 against 244,000. In 1920, Senator Harding,
18837 the Republican candidate, broke the record by carrying Tennessee as well
18838 as Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Maryland.
18839
18840
18841 THE ECONOMIC ADVANCE OF THE SOUTH
18842
18843 =The Break-up of the Great Estates.=--In the dissolution of chattel
18844 slavery it was inevitable that the great estate should give way before
18845 the small farm. The plantation was in fact founded on slavery. It was
18846 continued and expanded by slavery. Before the war the prosperous
18847 planter, either by inclination or necessity, invested his surplus in
18848 more land to add to his original domain. As his slaves increased in
18849 number, he was forced to increase his acreage or sell them, and he
18850 usually preferred the former, especially in the Far South. Still another
18851 element favored the large estate. Slave labor quickly exhausted the soil
18852 and of its own force compelled the cutting of the forests and the
18853 extension of the area under cultivation. Finally, the planter took a
18854 natural pride in his great estate; it was a sign of his prowess and his
18855 social prestige.
18856
18857 In 1865 the foundations of the planting system were gone. It was
18858 difficult to get efficient labor to till the vast plantations. The
18859 planters themselves were burdened with debts and handicapped by lack of
18860 capital. Negroes commonly preferred tilling plots of their own, rented
18861 or bought under mortgage, to the more irksome wage labor under white
18862 supervision. The land hunger of the white farmer, once checked by the
18863 planting system, reasserted itself. Before these forces the plantation
18864 broke up. The small farm became the unit of cultivation in the South as
18865 in the North. Between 1870 and 1900 the number of farms doubled in every
18866 state south of the line of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, except in
18867 Arkansas and Louisiana. From year to year the process of breaking up
18868 continued, with all that it implied in the creation of land-owning
18869 farmers.
18870
18871 =The Diversification of Crops.=--No less significant was the concurrent
18872 diversification of crops. Under slavery, tobacco, rice, and sugar were
18873 staples and "cotton was king." These were standard crops. The methods of
18874 cultivation were simple and easily learned. They tested neither the
18875 skill nor the ingenuity of the slaves. As the returns were quick, they
18876 did not call for long-time investments of capital. After slavery was
18877 abolished, they still remained the staples, but far-sighted
18878 agriculturists saw the dangers of depending upon a few crops. The mild
18879 climate all the way around the coast from Virginia to Texas and the
18880 character of the alluvial soil invited the exercise of more imagination.
18881 Peaches, oranges, peanuts, and other fruits and vegetables were found to
18882 grow luxuriantly. Refrigeration for steamships and freight cars put the
18883 markets of great cities at the doors of Southern fruit and vegetable
18884 gardeners. The South, which in planting days had relied so heavily upon
18885 the Northwest for its foodstuffs, began to battle for independence.
18886 Between 1880 and the close of the century the value of its farm crops
18887 increased from $660,000,000 to $1,270,000,000.
18888
18889 =The Industrial and Commercial Revolution.=--On top of the radical
18890 changes in agriculture came an industrial and commercial revolution. The
18891 South had long been rich in natural resources, but the slave system had
18892 been unfavorable to their development. Rivers that would have turned
18893 millions of spindles tumbled unheeded to the seas. Coal and iron beds
18894 lay unopened. Timber was largely sacrificed in clearing lands for
18895 planting, or fell to earth in decay. Southern enterprise was consumed in
18896 planting. Slavery kept out the white immigrants who might have supplied
18897 the skilled labor for industry.
18898
18899 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
18900
18901 STEEL MILLS--BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA]
18902
18903 After 1865, achievement and fortune no longer lay on the land alone. As
18904 soon as the paralysis of the war was over, the South caught the
18905 industrial spirit that had conquered feudal Europe and the agricultural
18906 North. In the development of mineral wealth, enormous strides were
18907 taken. Iron ore of every quality was found, the chief beds being in
18908 Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia,
18909 Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. Five important coal basins were uncovered:
18910 in Virginia, North Carolina, the Appalachian chain from Maryland to
18911 Northern Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Texas. Oil pools were found
18912 in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas. Within two decades, 1880 to 1900, the
18913 output of mineral wealth multiplied tenfold: from ten millions a year to
18914 one hundred millions. The iron industries of West Virginia and Alabama
18915 began to rival those of Pennsylvania. Birmingham became the Pittsburgh
18916 and Atlanta the Chicago of the South.
18917
18918 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
18919
18920 A SOUTHERN COTTON MILL IN A COTTON FIELD]
18921
18922 In other lines of industry, lumbering and cotton manufacturing took a
18923 high rank. The development of Southern timber resources was in every
18924 respect remarkable, particularly in Louisiana, Arkansas, and
18925 Mississippi. At the end of the first decade of the twentieth century,
18926 primacy in lumber had passed from the Great Lakes region to the South.
18927 In 1913 eight Southern states produced nearly four times as much lumber
18928 as the Lake states and twice as much as the vast forests of Washington
18929 and Oregon.
18930
18931 The development of the cotton industry, in the meantime, was similarly
18932 astounding. In 1865 cotton spinning was a negligible matter in the
18933 Southern states. In 1880 they had one-fourth of the mills of the
18934 country. At the end of the century they had one-half the mills, the two
18935 Carolinas taking the lead by consuming more than one-third of their
18936 entire cotton crop. Having both the raw materials and the power at hand,
18937 they enjoyed many advantages over the New England rivals, and at the
18938 opening of the new century were outstripping the latter in the
18939 proportion of spindles annually put into operation. Moreover, the cotton
18940 planters, finding a market at the neighboring mills, began to look
18941 forward to a day when they would be somewhat emancipated from absolute
18942 dependence upon the cotton exchanges of New York, New Orleans, and
18943 Liverpool.
18944
18945 Transportation kept pace with industry. In 1860, the South had about ten
18946 thousand miles of railway. By 1880 the figure had doubled. During the
18947 next twenty years over thirty thousand miles were added, most of the
18948 increase being in Texas. About 1898 there opened a period of
18949 consolidation in which scores of short lines were united, mainly under
18950 the leadership of Northern capitalists, and new through service opened
18951 to the North and West. Thus Southern industries were given easy outlets
18952 to the markets of the nation and brought within the main currents of
18953 national business enterprise.
18954
18955 =The Social Effects of the Economic Changes.=--As long as the slave
18956 system lasted and planting was the major interest, the South was bound
18957 to be sectional in character. With slavery gone, crops diversified,
18958 natural resources developed, and industries promoted, the social order
18959 of the ante-bellum days inevitably dissolved; the South became more and
18960 more assimilated to the system of the North. In this process several
18961 lines of development are evident.
18962
18963 In the first place we see the steady rise of the small farmer. Even in
18964 the old days there had been a large class of white yeomen who owned no
18965 slaves and tilled the soil with their own hands, but they labored under
18966 severe handicaps. They found the fertile lands of the coast and river
18967 valleys nearly all monopolized by planters, and they were by the force
18968 of circumstances driven into the uplands where the soil was thin and the
18969 crops were light. Still they increased in numbers and zealously worked
18970 their freeholds.
18971
18972 The war proved to be their opportunity. With the break-up of the
18973 plantations, they managed to buy land more worthy of their plows. By
18974 intelligent labor and intensive cultivation they were able to restore
18975 much of the worn-out soil to its original fertility. In the meantime
18976 they rose with their prosperity in the social and political scale. It
18977 became common for the sons of white farmers to enter the professions,
18978 while their daughters went away to college and prepared for teaching.
18979 Thus a more democratic tone was given to the white society of the South.
18980 Moreover the migration to the North and West, which had formerly carried
18981 thousands of energetic sons and daughters to search for new homesteads,
18982 was materially reduced. The energy of the agricultural population went
18983 into rehabilitation.
18984
18985 The increase in the number of independent farmers was accompanied by the
18986 rise of small towns and villages which gave diversity to the life of the
18987 South. Before 1860 it was possible to travel through endless stretches
18988 of cotton and tobacco. The social affairs of the planter's family
18989 centered in the homestead even if they were occasionally interrupted by
18990 trips to distant cities or abroad. Carpentry, bricklaying, and
18991 blacksmithing were usually done by slaves skilled in simple handicrafts.
18992 Supplies were bought wholesale. In this way there was little place in
18993 plantation economy for villages and towns with their stores and
18994 mechanics.
18995
18996 The abolition of slavery altered this. Small farms spread out where
18997 plantations had once stood. The skilled freedmen turned to agriculture
18998 rather than to handicrafts; white men of a business or mechanical bent
18999 found an opportunity to serve the needs of their communities. So local
19000 merchants and mechanics became an important element in the social
19001 system. In the county seats, once dominated by the planters, business
19002 and professional men assumed the leadership.
19003
19004 Another vital outcome of this revolution was the transference of a large
19005 part of planting enterprise to business. Mr. Bruce, a Southern historian
19006 of fine scholarship, has summed up this process in a single telling
19007 paragraph: "The higher planting class that under the old system gave so
19008 much distinction to rural life has, so far as it has survived at all,
19009 been concentrated in the cities. The families that in the time of
19010 slavery would have been found only in the country are now found, with a
19011 few exceptions, in the towns. The transplantation has been practically
19012 universal. The talent, the energy, the ambition that formerly sought
19013 expression in the management of great estates and the control of hosts
19014 of slaves, now seek a field of action in trade, in manufacturing
19015 enterprises, or in the general enterprises of development. This was for
19016 the ruling class of the South the natural outcome of the great economic
19017 revolution that followed the war."
19018
19019 As in all other parts of the world, the mechanical revolution was
19020 attended by the growth of a population of industrial workers dependent
19021 not upon the soil but upon wages for their livelihood. When Jefferson
19022 Davis was inaugurated President of the Southern Confederacy, there were
19023 approximately only one hundred thousand persons employed in Southern
19024 manufactures as against more than a million in Northern mills. Fifty
19025 years later, Georgia and Alabama alone had more than one hundred and
19026 fifty thousand wage-earners. Necessarily this meant also a material
19027 increase in urban population, although the wide dispersion of cotton
19028 spinning among small centers prevented the congestion that had
19029 accompanied the rise of the textile industry in New England. In 1910,
19030 New Orleans, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, and Houston stood in the same
19031 relation to the New South that Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, and
19032 Detroit had stood to the New West fifty years before. The problems of
19033 labor and capital and municipal administration, which the earlier
19034 writers boasted would never perplex the planting South, had come in full
19035 force.
19036
19037 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
19038
19039 A GLIMPSE OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE]
19040
19041 =The Revolution in the Status of the Slaves.=--No part of Southern
19042 society was so profoundly affected by the Civil War and economic
19043 reconstruction as the former slaves. On the day of emancipation, they
19044 stood free, but empty-handed, the owners of no tools or property, the
19045 masters of no trade and wholly inexperienced in the arts of self-help
19046 that characterized the whites in general. They had never been accustomed
19047 to looking out for themselves. The plantation bell had called them to
19048 labor and released them. Doles of food and clothing had been regularly
19049 made in given quantities. They did not understand wages, ownership,
19050 renting, contracts, mortgages, leases, bills, or accounts.
19051
19052 When they were emancipated, four courses were open to them. They could
19053 flee from the plantation to the nearest town or city, or to the distant
19054 North, to seek a livelihood. Thousands of them chose this way,
19055 overcrowding cities where disease mowed them down. They could remain
19056 where they, were in their cabins and work for daily wages instead of
19057 food, clothing, and shelter. This second course the major portion of
19058 them chose; but, as few masters had cash to dispense, the new relation
19059 was much like the old, in fact. It was still one of barter. The planter
19060 offered food, clothing, and shelter; the former slaves gave their labor
19061 in return. That was the best that many of them could do.
19062
19063 A third course open to freedmen was that of renting from the former
19064 master, paying him usually with a share of the produce of the land. This
19065 way a large number of them chose. It offered them a chance to become
19066 land owners in time and it afforded an easier life, the renter being, to
19067 a certain extent at least, master of his own hours of labor. The final
19068 and most difficult path was that to ownership of land. Many a master
19069 helped his former slaves to acquire small holdings by offering easy
19070 terms. The more enterprising and the more fortunate who started life as
19071 renters or wage-earners made their way upward to ownership in so many
19072 cases that by the end of the century, one-fourth of the colored laborers
19073 on the land owned the soil they tilled.
19074
19075 In the meantime, the South, though relatively poor, made relatively
19076 large expenditures for the education of the colored population. By the
19077 opening of the twentieth century, facilities were provided for more than
19078 one-half of the colored children of school age. While in many respects
19079 this progress was disappointing, its significance, to be appreciated,
19080 must be derived from a comparison with the total illiteracy which
19081 prevailed under slavery.
19082
19083 In spite of all that happened, however, the status of the negroes in the
19084 South continued to give a peculiar character to that section of the
19085 country. They were almost entirely excluded from the exercise of the
19086 suffrage, especially in the Far South. Special rooms were set aside for
19087 them at the railway stations and special cars on the railway lines. In
19088 the field of industry calling for technical skill, it appears, from the
19089 census figures, that they lost ground between 1890 and 1900--a condition
19090 which their friends ascribed to discriminations against them in law and
19091 in labor organizations and their critics ascribed to their lack of
19092 aptitude. Whatever may be the truth, the fact remained that at the
19093 opening of the twentieth century neither the hopes of the emancipators
19094 nor the fears of their opponents were realized. The marks of the
19095 "peculiar institution" were still largely impressed upon Southern
19096 society.
19097
19098 The situation, however, was by no means unchanging. On the contrary
19099 there was a decided drift in affairs. For one thing, the proportion of
19100 negroes in the South had slowly declined. By 1900 they were in a
19101 majority in only two states, South Carolina and Mississippi. In
19102 Arkansas, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina the proportion of
19103 the white population was steadily growing. The colored migration
19104 northward increased while the westward movement of white farmers which
19105 characterized pioneer days declined. At the same time a part of the
19106 foreign immigration into the United States was diverted southward. As
19107 the years passed these tendencies gained momentum. The already huge
19108 colored quarters in some Northern cities were widely expanded, as whole
19109 counties in the South were stripped of their colored laborers. The race
19110 question, in its political and economic aspects, became less and less
19111 sectional, more and more national. The South was drawn into the main
19112 stream of national life. The separatist forces which produced the
19113 cataclysm of 1861 sank irresistibly into the background.
19114
19115
19116 =References=
19117
19118 H.W. Grady, _The New South_ (1890).
19119
19120 H.A. Herbert, _Why the Solid South_.
19121
19122 W.G. Brown, _The Lower South_.
19123
19124 E.G. Murphy, _Problems of the Present South_.
19125
19126 B.T. Washington, _The Negro Problem_; _The Story of the Negro_; _The
19127 Future of the Negro_.
19128
19129 A.B. Hart, _The Southern South_ and R.S. Baker, _Following the Color
19130 Line_ (two works by Northern writers).
19131
19132 T.N. Page, _The Negro, the Southerner's Problem_.
19133
19134
19135 =Questions=
19136
19137 1. Give the three main subdivisions of the chapter.
19138
19139 2. Compare the condition of the South in 1865 with that of the North.
19140 Compare with the condition of the United States at the close of the
19141 Revolutionary War. At the close of the World War in 1918.
19142
19143 3. Contrast the enfranchisement of the slaves with the enfranchisement
19144 of white men fifty years earlier.
19145
19146 4. What was the condition of the planters as compared with that of the
19147 Northern manufacturers?
19148
19149 5. How does money capital contribute to prosperity? Describe the plight
19150 of Southern finance.
19151
19152 6. Give the chief steps in the restoration of white supremacy.
19153
19154 7. Do you know of any other societies to compare with the Ku Klux Klan?
19155
19156 8. Give Lincoln's plan for amnesty. What principles do you think should
19157 govern the granting of amnesty?
19158
19159 9. How were the "Force bills" overcome?
19160
19161 10. Compare the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments with regard to the
19162 suffrage provisions.
19163
19164 11. Explain how they may be circumvented.
19165
19166 12. Account for the Solid South. What was the situation before 1860?
19167
19168 13. In what ways did Southern agriculture tend to become like that of
19169 the North? What were the social results?
19170
19171 14. Name the chief results of an "industrial revolution" in general. In
19172 the South, in particular.
19173
19174 15. What courses were open to freedmen in 1865?
19175
19176 16. Give the main features in the economic and social status of the
19177 colored population in the South.
19178
19179 17. Explain why the race question is national now, rather than
19180 sectional.
19181
19182
19183
19184 =Research Topics=
19185
19186 =Amnesty for Confederates.=--Study carefully the provisions of the
19187 fourteenth amendment in the Appendix. Macdonald, _Documentary Source
19188 Book of American History_, pp. 470 and 564. A plea for amnesty in
19189 Harding, _Select Orations Illustrating American History_, pp. 467-488.
19190
19191 =Political Conditions in the South in 1868.=--Dunning, _Reconstruction,
19192 Political and Economic_ (American Nation Series), pp. 109-123; Hart,
19193 _American History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 445-458,
19194 497-500; Elson, _History of the United States_, pp. 799-805.
19195
19196 =Movement for White Supremacy.=--Dunning, _Reconstruction_, pp. 266-280;
19197 Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside Series), pp. 39-58; Beard, _American
19198 Government and Politics_, pp. 454-457.
19199
19200 =The Withdrawal of Federal Troops from the South.=--Sparks, _National
19201 Development_ (American Nation Series), pp. 84-102; Rhodes, _History of
19202 the United States_, Vol. VIII, pp. 1-12.
19203
19204 =Southern Industry.=--Paxson, _The New Nation_, pp. 192-207; T.M. Young,
19205 _The American Cotton Industry_, pp. 54-99.
19206
19207 =The Race Question.=--B.T. Washington, _Up From Slavery_ (sympathetic
19208 presentation); A.H. Stone, _Studies in the American Race Problem_
19209 (coldly analytical); Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 647-649,
19210 652-654, 663-669.
19211
19212
19213
19214
19215 CHAPTER XVII
19216
19217 BUSINESS ENTERPRISE AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
19218
19219
19220 If a single phrase be chosen to characterize American life during the
19221 generation that followed the age of Douglas and Lincoln, it must be
19222 "business enterprise"--the tremendous, irresistible energy of a virile
19223 people, mounting in numbers toward a hundred million and applied without
19224 let or hindrance to the developing of natural resources of unparalleled
19225 richness. The chief goal of this effort was high profits for the
19226 captains of industry, on the one hand; and high wages for the workers,
19227 on the other. Its signs, to use the language of a Republican orator in
19228 1876, were golden harvest fields, whirling spindles, turning wheels,
19229 open furnace doors, flaming forges, and chimneys filled with eager fire.
19230 The device blazoned on its shield and written over its factory doors was
19231 "prosperity." A Republican President was its "advance agent." Released
19232 from the hampering interference of the Southern planters and the
19233 confusing issues of the slavery controversy, business enterprise sprang
19234 forward to the task of winning the entire country. Then it flung its
19235 outposts to the uttermost parts of the earth--Europe, Africa, and the
19236 Orient--where were to be found markets for American goods and natural
19237 resources for American capital to develop.
19238
19239
19240 RAILWAYS AND INDUSTRY
19241
19242 =The Outward Signs of Enterprise.=--It is difficult to comprehend all
19243 the multitudinous activities of American business energy or to appraise
19244 its effects upon the life and destiny of the American people; for beyond
19245 the horizon of the twentieth century lie consequences as yet undreamed
19246 of in our poor philosophy. Statisticians attempt to record its
19247 achievements in terms of miles of railways built, factories opened, men
19248 and women employed, fortunes made, wages paid, cities founded, rivers
19249 spanned, boxes, bales, and tons produced. Historians apply standards of
19250 comparison with the past. Against the slow and leisurely stagecoach,
19251 they set the swift express, rushing from New York to San Francisco in
19252 less time than Washington consumed in his triumphal tour from Mt. Vernon
19253 to New York for his first inaugural. Against the lazy sailing vessel
19254 drifting before a genial breeze, they place the turbine steamer crossing
19255 the Atlantic in five days or the still swifter airplane, in fifteen
19256 hours. For the old workshop where a master and a dozen workmen and
19257 apprentices wrought by hand, they offer the giant factory where ten
19258 thousand persons attend the whirling wheels driven by steam. They write
19259 of the "romance of invention" and the "captains of industry."
19260
19261 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
19262
19263 A CORNER IN THE BETHLEHEM STEEL WORKS]
19264
19265 =The Service of the Railway.=--All this is fitting in its way. Figures
19266 and contrasts cannot, however, tell the whole story. Take, for example,
19267 the extension of railways. It is easy to relate that there were 30,000
19268 miles in 1860; 166,000 in 1890; and 242,000 in 1910. It is easy to show
19269 upon the map how a few straggling lines became a perfect mesh of closely
19270 knitted railways; or how, like the tentacles of a great monster, the few
19271 roads ending in the Mississippi Valley in 1860 were extended and
19272 multiplied until they tapped every wheat field, mine, and forest beyond
19273 the valley. All this, eloquent of enterprise as it truly is, does not
19274 reveal the significance of railways for American life. It does not
19275 indicate how railways made a continental market for American goods; nor
19276 how they standardized the whole country, giving to cities on the
19277 advancing frontier the leading features of cities in the old East; nor
19278 how they carried to the pioneer the comforts of civilization; nor yet
19279 how in the West they were the forerunners of civilization, the makers of
19280 homesteads, the builders of states.
19281
19282 =Government Aid for Railways.=--Still the story is not ended. The
19283 significant relation between railways and politics must not be
19284 overlooked. The bounty of a lavish government, for example, made
19285 possible the work of railway promoters. By the year 1872 the Federal
19286 government had granted in aid of railways 155,000,000 acres of land--an
19287 area estimated as almost equal to Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut,
19288 Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The
19289 Union Pacific Company alone secured from the federal government a free
19290 right of way through the public domain, twenty sections of land with
19291 each mile of railway, and a loan up to fifty millions of dollars secured
19292 by a second mortgage on the company's property. More than half of the
19293 northern tier of states lying against Canada from Lake Michigan to the
19294 Pacific was granted to private companies in aid of railways and wagon
19295 roads. About half of New Mexico, Arizona, and California was also given
19296 outright to railway companies. These vast grants from the federal
19297 government were supplemented by gifts from the states in land and by
19298 subscriptions amounting to more than two hundred million dollars. The
19299 history of these gifts and their relation to the political leaders that
19300 engineered them would alone fill a large and interesting volume.
19301
19302 =Railway Fortunes and Capital.=--Out of this gigantic railway promotion,
19303 the first really immense American fortunes were made. Henry Adams, the
19304 grandson of John Quincy Adams, related that his grandfather on his
19305 mother's side, Peter Brooks, on his death in 1849, left a fortune of two
19306 million dollars, "supposed to be the largest estate in Boston," then one
19307 of the few centers of great riches. Compared with the opulence that
19308 sprang out of the Union Pacific, the Northern Pacific, the Southern
19309 Pacific, with their subsidiary and component lines, the estate of Peter
19310 Brooks was a poor man's heritage.
19311
19312 The capital invested in these railways was enormous beyond the
19313 imagination of the men of the stagecoach generation. The total debt of
19314 the United States incurred in the Revolutionary War--a debt which those
19315 of little faith thought the country could never pay--was reckoned at a
19316 figure well under $75,000,000. When the Union Pacific Railroad was
19317 completed, there were outstanding against it $27,000,000 in first
19318 mortgage bonds, $27,000,000 in second mortgage bonds held by the
19319 government, $10,000,000 in income bonds, $10,000,000 in land grant
19320 bonds, and, on top of that huge bonded indebtedness, $36,000,000 in
19321 stock--making $110,000,000 in all. If the amount due the United States
19322 government be subtracted, still there remained, in private hands, stocks
19323 and bonds exceeding in value the whole national debt of Hamilton's
19324 day--a debt that strained all the resources of the Federal government in
19325 1790. Such was the financial significance of the railways.
19326
19327 [Illustration: RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1918]
19328
19329 =Growth and Extension of Industry.=--In the field of manufacturing,
19330 mining, and metal working, the results of business enterprise far
19331 outstripped, if measured in mere dollars, the results of railway
19332 construction. By the end of the century there were about ten billion
19333 dollars invested in factories alone and five million wage-earners
19334 employed in them; while the total value of the output, fourteen billion
19335 dollars, was fifteen times the figure for 1860. In the Eastern states
19336 industries multiplied. In the Northwest territory, the old home of
19337 Jacksonian Democracy, they overtopped agriculture. By the end of the
19338 century, Ohio had almost reached and Illinois had surpassed
19339 Massachusetts in the annual value of manufacturing output.
19340
19341 That was not all. Untold wealth in the form of natural resources was
19342 discovered in the South and West. Coal deposits were found in the
19343 Appalachians stretching from Pennsylvania down to Alabama, in Michigan,
19344 in the Mississippi Valley, and in the Western mountains from North
19345 Dakota to New Mexico. In nearly every coal-bearing region, iron was also
19346 discovered and the great fields of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota
19347 soon rivaled those of the Appalachian area. Copper, lead, gold, and
19348 silver in fabulous quantities were unearthed by the restless prospectors
19349 who left no plain or mountain fastness unexplored. Petroleum, first
19350 pumped from the wells of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1859, made new
19351 fortunes equaling those of trade, railways, and land speculation. It
19352 scattered its riches with an especially lavish hand through Oklahoma,
19353 Texas, and California.
19354
19355 =The Trust--an Instrument of Industrial Progress.=--Business enterprise,
19356 under the direction of powerful men working single-handed, or of small
19357 groups of men pooling their capital for one or more undertakings, had
19358 not advanced far before there appeared upon the scene still mightier
19359 leaders of even greater imagination. New constructive genius now brought
19360 together and combined under one management hundreds of concerns or
19361 thousands of miles of railways, revealing the magic strength of
19362 cooperation on a national scale. Price-cutting in oil, threatening ruin
19363 to those engaged in the industry, as early as 1879, led a number of
19364 companies in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia to unite in
19365 price-fixing. Three years later a group of oil interests formed a close
19366 organization, placing all their stocks in the hands of trustees, among
19367 whom was John D. Rockefeller. The trustees, in turn, issued
19368 certificates representing the share to which each participant was
19369 entitled; and took over the management of the entire business. Such was
19370 the nature of the "trust," which was to play such an unique role in the
19371 progress of America.
19372
19373 The idea of combination was applied in time to iron and steel, copper,
19374 lead, sugar, cordage, coal, and other commodities, until in each field
19375 there loomed a giant trust or corporation, controlling, if not most of
19376 the output, at least enough to determine in a large measure the prices
19377 charged to consumers. With the passing years, the railways, mills,
19378 mines, and other business concerns were transferred from individual
19379 owners to corporations. At the end of the nineteenth century, the whole
19380 face of American business was changed. Three-fourths of the output from
19381 industries came from factories under corporate management and only
19382 one-fourth from individual and partnership undertakings.
19383
19384 [Illustration: JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER]
19385
19386 =The Banking Corporation.=--Very closely related to the growth of
19387 business enterprise on a large scale was the system of banking. In the
19388 old days before banks, a person with savings either employed them in his
19389 own undertakings, lent them to a neighbor, or hid them away where they
19390 set no industry in motion. Even in the early stages of modern business,
19391 it was common for a manufacturer to rise from small beginnings by
19392 financing extensions out of his own earnings and profits. This state of
19393 affairs was profoundly altered by the growth of the huge corporations
19394 requiring millions and even billions of capital. The banks, once an
19395 adjunct to business, became the leaders in business.
19396
19397 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
19398
19399 WALL STREET, NEW YORK CITY]
19400
19401 It was the banks that undertook to sell the stocks and bonds issued by
19402 new corporations and trusts and to supply them with credit to carry on
19403 their operations. Indeed, many of the great mergers or combinations in
19404 business were initiated by magnates in the banking world with millions
19405 and billions under their control. Through their connections with one
19406 another, the banks formed a perfect network of agencies gathering up the
19407 pennies and dollars of the masses as well as the thousands of the rich
19408 and pouring them all into the channels of business and manufacturing.
19409 In this growth of banking on a national scale, it was inevitable that a
19410 few great centers, like Wall Street in New York or State Street in
19411 Boston, should rise to a position of dominance both in concentrating the
19412 savings and profits of the nation and in financing new as well as old
19413 corporations.
19414
19415 =The Significance of the Corporation.=--The corporation, in fact, became
19416 the striking feature of American business life, one of the most
19417 marvelous institutions of all time, comparable in wealth and power and
19418 the number of its servants with kingdoms and states of old. The effect
19419 of its rise and growth cannot be summarily estimated; but some special
19420 facts are obvious. It made possible gigantic enterprises once entirely
19421 beyond the reach of any individual, no matter how rich. It eliminated
19422 many of the futile and costly wastes of competition in connection with
19423 manufacture, advertising, and selling. It studied the cheapest methods
19424 of production and shut down mills that were poorly equipped or
19425 disadvantageously located. It established laboratories for research in
19426 industry, chemistry, and mechanical inventions. Through the sale of
19427 stocks and bonds, it enabled tens of thousands of people to become
19428 capitalists, if only in a small way. The corporation made it possible
19429 for one person to own, for instance, a $50 share in a million dollar
19430 business concern--a thing entirely impossible under a regime of
19431 individual owners and partnerships.
19432
19433 There was, of course, another side to the picture. Many of the
19434 corporations sought to become monopolies and to make profits, not by
19435 economies and good management, but by extortion from purchasers.
19436 Sometimes they mercilessly crushed small business men, their
19437 competitors, bribed members of legislatures to secure favorable laws,
19438 and contributed to the campaign funds of both leading parties. Wherever
19439 a trust approached the position of a monopoly, it acquired a dominion
19440 over the labor market which enabled it to break even the strongest trade
19441 unions. In short, the power of the trust in finance, in manufacturing,
19442 in politics, and in the field of labor control can hardly be measured.
19443
19444 =The Corporation and Labor.=--In the development of the corporation
19445 there was to be observed a distinct severing of the old ties between
19446 master and workmen, which existed in the days of small industries. For
19447 the personal bond between the owner and the employees was substituted a
19448 new relation. "In most parts of our country," as President Wilson once
19449 said, "men work, not for themselves, not as partners in the old way in
19450 which they used to work, but generally as employees--in a higher or
19451 lower grade--of great corporations." The owner disappeared from the
19452 factory and in his place came the manager, representing the usually
19453 invisible stockholders and dependent for his success upon his ability to
19454 make profits for the owners. Hence the term "soulless corporation,"
19455 which was to exert such a deep influence on American thinking about
19456 industrial relations.
19457
19458 =Cities and Immigration.=--Expressed in terms of human life, this era of
19459 unprecedented enterprise meant huge industrial cities and an immense
19460 labor supply, derived mainly from European immigration. Here, too,
19461 figures tell only a part of the story. In Washington's day nine-tenths
19462 of the American people were engaged in agriculture and lived in the
19463 country; in 1890 more than one-third of the population dwelt in towns of
19464 2500 and over; in 1920 more than half of the population lived in towns
19465 of over 2500. In forty years, between 1860 and 1900, Greater New York
19466 had grown from 1,174,000 to 3,437,000; San Francisco from 56,000 to
19467 342,000; Chicago from 109,000 to 1,698,000. The miles of city tenements
19468 began to rival, in the number of their residents, the farm homesteads of
19469 the West. The time so dreaded by Jefferson had arrived. People were
19470 "piled upon one another in great cities" and the republic of small
19471 farmers had passed away.
19472
19473 To these industrial centers flowed annually an ever-increasing tide of
19474 immigration, reaching the half million point in 1880; rising to
19475 three-quarters of a million three years later; and passing the million
19476 mark in a single year at the opening of the new century. Immigration was
19477 as old as America but new elements now entered the situation. In the
19478 first place, there were radical changes in the nationality of the
19479 newcomers. The migration from Northern Europe--England, Ireland,
19480 Germany, and Scandinavia--diminished; that from Italy, Russia, and
19481 Austria-Hungary increased, more than three-fourths of the entire number
19482 coming from these three lands between the years 1900 and 1910. These
19483 later immigrants were Italians, Poles, Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks,
19484 Russians, and Jews, who came from countries far removed from the
19485 language and the traditions of England whence came the founders of
19486 America.
19487
19488 In the second place, the reception accorded the newcomers differed from
19489 that given to the immigrants in the early days. By 1890 all the free
19490 land was gone. They could not, therefore, be dispersed widely among the
19491 native Americans to assimilate quickly and unconsciously the habits and
19492 ideas of American life. On the contrary, they were diverted mainly to
19493 the industrial centers. There they crowded--nay, overcrowded--into
19494 colonies of their own where they preserved their languages, their
19495 newspapers, and their old-world customs and views.
19496
19497 So eager were American business men to get an enormous labor supply that
19498 they asked few questions about the effect of this "alien invasion" upon
19499 the old America inherited from the fathers. They even stimulated the
19500 invasion artificially by importing huge armies of foreigners under
19501 contract to work in specified mines and mills. There seemed to be no
19502 limit to the factories, forges, refineries, and railways that could be
19503 built, to the multitudes that could be employed in conquering a
19504 continent. As for the future, that was in the hands of Providence!
19505
19506 =Business Theories of Politics.=--As the statesmen of Hamilton's school
19507 and the planters of Calhoun's had their theories of government and
19508 politics, so the leaders in business enterprise had theirs. It was
19509 simple and easily stated. "It is the duty of the government," they
19510 urged, "to protect American industry against foreign competition by
19511 means of high tariffs on imported goods, to aid railways by generous
19512 grants of land, to sell mineral and timber lands at low prices to
19513 energetic men ready to develop them, and then to leave the rest to the
19514 initiative and drive of individuals and companies." All government
19515 interference with the management, prices, rates, charges, and conduct of
19516 private business they held to be either wholly pernicious or intolerably
19517 impertinent. Judging from their speeches and writings, they conceived
19518 the nation as a great collection of individuals, companies, and labor
19519 unions all struggling for profits or high wages and held together by a
19520 government whose principal duty was to keep the peace among them and
19521 protect industry against the foreign manufacturer. Such was the
19522 political theory of business during the generation that followed the
19523 Civil War.
19524
19525
19526 THE SUPREMACY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY (1861-85)
19527
19528 =Business Men and Republican Policies.=--Most of the leaders in industry
19529 gravitated to the Republican ranks. They worked in the North and the
19530 Republican party was essentially Northern. It was moreover--at least so
19531 far as the majority of its members were concerned--committed to
19532 protective tariffs, a sound monetary and banking system, the promotion
19533 of railways and industry by land grants, and the development of internal
19534 improvements. It was furthermore generous in its immigration policy. It
19535 proclaimed America to be an asylum for the oppressed of all countries
19536 and flung wide the doors for immigrants eager to fill the factories, man
19537 the mines, and settle upon Western lands. In a word the Republicans
19538 stood for all those specific measures which favored the enlargement and
19539 prosperity of business. At the same time they resisted government
19540 interference with private enterprise. They did not regulate railway
19541 rates, prosecute trusts for forming combinations, or prevent railway
19542 companies from giving lower rates to some shippers than to others. To
19543 sum it up, the political theories of the Republican party for three
19544 decades after the Civil War were the theories of American
19545 business--prosperous and profitable industries for the owners and "the
19546 full dinner pail" for the workmen. Naturally a large portion of those
19547 who flourished under its policies gave their support to it, voted for
19548 its candidates, and subscribed to its campaign funds.
19549
19550 =Sources of Republican Strength in the North.=--The Republican party was
19551 in fact a political organization of singular power. It originated in a
19552 wave of moral enthusiasm, having attracted to itself, if not the
19553 abolitionists, certainly all those idealists, like James Russell Lowell
19554 and George William Curtis, who had opposed slavery when opposition was
19555 neither safe nor popular. To moral principles it added practical
19556 considerations. Business men had confidence in it. Workingmen, who
19557 longed for the independence of the farmer, owed to its indulgent land
19558 policy the opportunity of securing free homesteads in the West. The
19559 immigrant, landing penniless on these shores, as a result of the same
19560 beneficent system, often found himself in a little while with an estate
19561 as large as many a baronial domain in the Old World. Under a Republican
19562 administration, the union had been saved. To it the veterans of the war
19563 could turn with confidence for those rewards of service which the
19564 government could bestow: pensions surpassing in liberality anything that
19565 the world had ever seen. Under a Republican administration also the
19566 great debt had been created in the defense of the union, and to the
19567 Republican party every investor in government bonds could look for the
19568 full and honorable discharge of the interest and principal. The spoils
19569 system, inaugurated by Jacksonian Democracy, in turn placed all the
19570 federal offices in Republican hands, furnishing an army of party workers
19571 to be counted on for loyal service in every campaign.
19572
19573 Of all these things Republican leaders made full and vigorous use,
19574 sometimes ascribing to the party, in accordance with ancient political
19575 usage, merits and achievements not wholly its own. Particularly was this
19576 true in the case of saving the union. "When in the economy of
19577 Providence, this land was to be purged of human slavery ... the
19578 Republican party came into power," ran a declaration in one platform.
19579 "The Republican party suppressed a gigantic rebellion, emancipated four
19580 million slaves, decreed the equal citizenship of all, and established
19581 universal suffrage," ran another. As for the aid rendered by the
19582 millions of Northern Democrats who stood by the union and the tens of
19583 thousands of them who actually fought in the union army, the Republicans
19584 in their zeal were inclined to be oblivious. They repeatedly charged the
19585 Democratic party "with being the same in character and spirit as when it
19586 sympathized with treason."
19587
19588 =Republican Control of the South.=--To the strength enjoyed in the
19589 North, the Republicans for a long time added the advantages that came
19590 from control over the former Confederate states where the newly
19591 enfranchised negroes, under white leadership, gave a grateful support to
19592 the party responsible for their freedom. In this branch of politics,
19593 motives were so mixed that no historian can hope to appraise them all at
19594 their proper values. On the one side of the ledger must be set the
19595 vigorous efforts of the honest and sincere friends of the freedmen to
19596 win for them complete civil and political equality, wiping out not only
19597 slavery but all its badges of misery and servitude. On the same side
19598 must be placed the labor of those who had valiantly fought in forum and
19599 field to save the union and who regarded continued Republican supremacy
19600 after the war as absolutely necessary to prevent the former leaders in
19601 secession from coming back to power. At the same time there were
19602 undoubtedly some men of the baser sort who looked on politics as a game
19603 and who made use of "carpet-bagging" in the South to win the spoils that
19604 might result from it. At all events, both by laws and presidential acts,
19605 the Republicans for many years kept a keen eye upon the maintenance of
19606 their dominion in the South. Their declaration that neither the law nor
19607 its administration should admit any discrimination in respect of
19608 citizens by reason of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
19609 appealed to idealists and brought results in elections. Even South
19610 Carolina, where reposed the ashes of John C. Calhoun, went Republican in
19611 1872 by a vote of three to one!
19612
19613 Republican control was made easy by the force bills described in a
19614 previous chapter--measures which vested the supervision of elections in
19615 federal officers appointed by Republican Presidents. These drastic
19616 measures, departing from American tradition, the Republican authors
19617 urged, were necessary to safeguard the purity of the ballot, not merely
19618 in the South where the timid freedman might readily be frightened from
19619 using it; but also in the North, particularly in New York City, where it
19620 was claimed that fraud was regularly practiced by Democratic leaders.
19621
19622 The Democrats, on their side, indignantly denied the charges, replying
19623 that the force bills were nothing but devices created by the Republicans
19624 for the purpose of securing their continued rule through systematic
19625 interference with elections. Even the measures of reconstruction were
19626 deemed by Democratic leaders as thinly veiled schemes to establish
19627 Republican power throughout the country. "Nor is there the slightest
19628 doubt," exclaimed Samuel J. Tilden, spokesman of the Democrats in New
19629 York and candidate for President in 1876, "that the paramount object and
19630 motive of the Republican party is by these means to secure itself
19631 against a reaction of opinion adverse to it in our great populous
19632 Northern commonwealths.... When the Republican party resolved to
19633 establish negro supremacy in the ten states in order to gain to itself
19634 the representation of those states in Congress, it had to begin by
19635 governing the people of those states by the sword.... The next was the
19636 creation of new electoral bodies for those ten states, in which, by
19637 exclusions, by disfranchisements and proscriptions, by control over
19638 registration, by applying test oaths ... by intimidation and by every
19639 form of influence, three million negroes are made to predominate over
19640 four and a half million whites."
19641
19642 =The War as a Campaign Issue.=--Even the repeal of force bills could not
19643 allay the sectional feelings engendered by the war. The Republicans
19644 could not forgive the men who had so recently been in arms against the
19645 union and insisted on calling them "traitors" and "rebels." The
19646 Southerners, smarting under the reconstruction acts, could regard the
19647 Republicans only as political oppressors. The passions of the war had
19648 been too strong; the distress too deep to be soon forgotten. The
19649 generation that went through it all remembered it all. For twenty
19650 years, the Republicans, in their speeches and platforms, made "a
19651 straight appeal to the patriotism of the Northern voters." They
19652 maintained that their party, which had saved the union and emancipated
19653 the slaves, was alone worthy of protecting the union and uplifting the
19654 freedmen.
19655
19656 Though the Democrats, especially in the North, resented this policy and
19657 dubbed it with the expressive but inelegant phrase, "waving the bloody
19658 shirt," the Republicans refused to surrender a slogan which made such a
19659 ready popular appeal. As late as 1884, a leader expressed the hope that
19660 they might "wring one more President from the bloody shirt." They
19661 refused to let the country forget that the Democratic candidate, Grover
19662 Cleveland, had escaped military service by hiring a substitute; and they
19663 made political capital out of the fact that he had "insulted the
19664 veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic" by going fishing on
19665 Decoration Day.
19666
19667 =Three Republican Presidents.=--Fortified by all these elements of
19668 strength, the Republicans held the presidency from 1869 to 1885. The
19669 three Presidents elected in this period, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield, had
19670 certain striking characteristics in common. They were all of origin
19671 humble enough to please the most exacting Jacksonian Democrat. They had
19672 been generals in the union army. Grant, next to Lincoln, was regarded as
19673 the savior of the Constitution. Hayes and Garfield, though lesser lights
19674 in the military firmament, had honorable records duly appreciated by
19675 veterans of the war, now thoroughly organized into the Grand Army of the
19676 Republic. It is true that Grant was not a politician and had never voted
19677 the Republican ticket; but this was readily overlooked. Hayes and
19678 Garfield on the other hand were loyal party men. The former had served
19679 in Congress and for three terms as governor of his state. The latter had
19680 long been a member of the House of Representatives and was Senator-elect
19681 when he received the nomination for President.
19682
19683 All of them possessed, moreover, another important asset, which was not
19684 forgotten by the astute managers who led in selecting candidates. All
19685 of them were from Ohio--though Grant had been in Illinois when the
19686 summons to military duties came--and Ohio was a strategic state. It lay
19687 between the manufacturing East and the agrarian country to the West.
19688 Having growing industries and wool to sell it benefited from the
19689 protective tariff. Yet being mainly agricultural still, it was not
19690
19691 without sympathy for the farmers who showed low tariff or free trade
19692 tendencies. Whatever share the East had in shaping laws and framing
19693 policies, it was clear that the West was to have the candidates. This
19694 division in privileges--not uncommon in political management--was always
19695 accompanied by a judicious selection of the candidate for Vice
19696 President. With Garfield, for example, was associated a prominent New
19697 York politician, Chester A. Arthur, who, as fate decreed, was destined
19698 to more than three years' service as chief magistrate, on the
19699 assassination of his superior in office.
19700
19701 =The Disputed Election of 1876.=--While taking note of the long years of
19702 Republican supremacy, it must be recorded that grave doubts exist in the
19703 minds of many historians as to whether one of the three Presidents,
19704 Hayes, was actually the victor in 1876 or not. His Democratic opponent,
19705 Samuel J. Tilden, received a popular plurality of a quarter of a million
19706 and had a plausible claim to a majority of the electoral vote. At all
19707 events, four states sent in double returns, one set for Tilden and
19708 another for Hayes; and a deadlock ensued. Both parties vehemently
19709 claimed the election and the passions ran so high that sober men did not
19710 shrink from speaking of civil war again. Fortunately, in the end, the
19711 counsels of peace prevailed. Congress provided for an electoral
19712 commission of fifteen men to review the contested returns. The
19713 Democrats, inspired by Tilden's moderation, accepted the judgment in
19714 favor of Hayes even though they were not convinced that he was really
19715 entitled to the office.
19716
19717
19718 THE GROWTH OF OPPOSITION TO REPUBLICAN RULE
19719
19720 =Abuses in American Political Life.=--During their long tenure of
19721 office, the Republicans could not escape the inevitable consequences of
19722 power; that is, evil practices and corrupt conduct on the part of some
19723 who found shelter within the party. For that matter neither did the
19724 Democrats manage to avoid such difficulties in those states and cities
19725 where they had the majority. In New York City, for instance, the local
19726 Democratic organization, known as Tammany Hall, passed under the sway of
19727 a group of politicians headed by "Boss" Tweed. He plundered the city
19728 treasury until public-spirited citizens, supported by Samuel J. Tilden,
19729 the Democratic leader of the state, rose in revolt, drove the ringleader
19730 from power, and sent him to jail. In Philadelphia, the local Republican
19731 bosses were guilty of offenses as odious as those committed by New York
19732 politicians. Indeed, the decade that followed the Civil War was marred
19733 by so many scandals in public life that one acute editor was moved to
19734 inquire: "Are not all the great communities of the Western World growing
19735 more corrupt as they grow in wealth?"
19736
19737 In the sphere of national politics, where the opportunities were
19738 greater, betrayals of public trust were even more flagrant. One
19739 revelation after another showed officers, high and low, possessed with
19740 the spirit of peculation. Members of Congress, it was found, accepted
19741 railway stock in exchange for votes in favor of land grants and other
19742 concessions to the companies. In the administration as well as the
19743 legislature the disease was rife. Revenue officers permitted whisky
19744 distillers to evade their taxes and received heavy bribes in return. A
19745 probe into the post-office department revealed the malodorous "star
19746 route frauds"--the deliberate overpayment of certain mail carriers whose
19747 lines were indicated in the official record by asterisks or stars. Even
19748 cabinet officers did not escape suspicion, for the trail of the serpent
19749 led straight to the door of one of them.
19750
19751 In the lower ranges of official life, the spoils system became more
19752 virulent as the number of federal employees increased. The holders of
19753 offices and the seekers after them constituted a veritable political
19754 army. They crowded into Republican councils, for the Republicans, being
19755 in power, could alone dispense federal favors. They filled positions in
19756 the party ranging from the lowest township committee to the national
19757 convention. They helped to nominate candidates and draft platforms and
19758 elbowed to one side the busy citizen, not conversant with party
19759 intrigues, who could only give an occasional day to political matters.
19760 Even the Civil Service Act of 1883, wrung from a reluctant Congress two
19761 years after the assassination of Garfield, made little change for a long
19762 time. It took away from the spoilsmen a few thousand government
19763 positions, but it formed no check on the practice of rewarding party
19764 workers from the public treasury.
19765
19766 On viewing this state of affairs, many a distinguished citizen became
19767 profoundly discouraged. James Russell Lowell, for example, thought he
19768 saw a steady decline in public morals. In 1865, hearing of Lee's
19769 surrender, he had exclaimed: "There is something magnificent in having a
19770 country to love!" Ten years later, when asked to write an ode for the
19771 centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, he could think only of a biting
19772 satire on the nation:
19773
19774 "Show your state legislatures; show your Rings;
19775 And challenge Europe to produce such things
19776 As high officials sitting half in sight
19777 To share the plunder and fix things right.
19778 If that don't fetch her, why, you need only
19779 To show your latest style in martyrs,--Tweed:
19780 She'll find it hard to hide her spiteful tears
19781 At such advance in one poor hundred years."
19782
19783 When his critics condemned him for this "attack upon his native land,"
19784 Lowell replied in sadness: "These fellows have no notion of what love of
19785 country means. It was in my very blood and bones. If I am not an
19786 American who ever was?... What fills me with doubt and dismay is the
19787 degradation of the moral tone. Is it or is it not a result of democracy?
19788 Is ours a 'government of the people, by the people, for the people,' or
19789 a Kakistocracy [a government of the worst], rather for the benefit of
19790 knaves at the cost of fools?"
19791
19792 =The Reform Movement in Republican Ranks.=--The sentiments expressed by
19793 Lowell, himself a Republican and for a time American ambassador to
19794 England, were shared by many men in his party. Very soon after the close
19795 of the Civil War some of them began to protest vigorously against the
19796 policies and conduct of their leaders. In 1872, the dissenters, calling
19797 themselves Liberal Republicans, broke away altogether, nominated a
19798 candidate of their own, Horace Greeley, and put forward a platform
19799 indicting the Republican President fiercely enough to please the most
19800 uncompromising Democrat. They accused Grant of using "the powers and
19801 opportunities of his high office for the promotion of personal ends."
19802 They charged him with retaining "notoriously corrupt and unworthy men in
19803 places of power and responsibility." They alleged that the Republican
19804 party kept "alive the passions and resentments of the late civil war to
19805 use them for their own advantages," and employed the "public service of
19806 the government as a machinery of corruption and personal influence."
19807
19808 It was not apparent, however, from the ensuing election that any
19809 considerable number of Republicans accepted the views of the Liberals.
19810 Greeley, though indorsed by the Democrats, was utterly routed and died
19811 of a broken heart. The lesson of his discomfiture seemed to be that
19812 independent action was futile. So, at least, it was regarded by most men
19813 of the rising generation like Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, and
19814 Theodore Roosevelt, of New York. Profiting by the experience of Greeley
19815 they insisted in season and out that reformers who desired to rid the
19816 party of abuses should remain loyal to it and do their work "on the
19817 inside."
19818
19819 =The Mugwumps and Cleveland Democracy in 1884.=--Though aided by
19820 Republican dissensions, the Democrats were slow in making headway
19821 against the political current. They were deprived of the energetic and
19822 capable leadership once afforded by the planters, like Calhoun, Davis,
19823 and Toombs; they were saddled by their opponents with responsibility for
19824 secession; and they were stripped of the support of the prostrate
19825 South. Not until the last Southern state was restored to the union, not
19826 until a general amnesty was wrung from Congress, not until white
19827 supremacy was established at the polls, and the last federal soldier
19828 withdrawn from Southern capitals did they succeed in capturing the
19829 presidency.
19830
19831 The opportune moment for them came in 1884 when a number of
19832 circumstances favored their aspirations. The Republicans, leaving the
19833 Ohio Valley in their search for a candidate, nominated James G. Blaine
19834 of Maine, a vigorous and popular leader but a man under fire from the
19835 reformers in his own party. The Democrats on their side were able to
19836 find at this juncture an able candidate who had no political enemies in
19837 the sphere of national politics, Grover Cleveland, then governor of New
19838 York and widely celebrated as a man of "sterling honesty." At the same
19839 time a number of dissatisfied Republicans openly espoused the Democratic
19840 cause,--among them Carl Schurz, George William Curtis, Henry Ward
19841 Beecher, and William Everett, men of fine ideals and undoubted
19842 integrity. Though the "regular" Republicans called them "Mugwumps" and
19843 laughed at them as the "men milliners, the dilettanti, and carpet
19844 knights of politics," they had a following that was not to be despised.
19845
19846 The campaign which took place that year was one of the most savage in
19847 American history. Issues were thrust into the background. The tariff,
19848 though mentioned, was not taken seriously. Abuse of the opposition was
19849 the favorite resource of party orators. The Democrats insisted that "the
19850 Republican party so far as principle is concerned is a reminiscence. In
19851 practice it is an organization for enriching those who control its
19852 machinery." For the Republican candidate, Blaine, they could hardly find
19853 words to express their contempt. The Republicans retaliated in kind.
19854 They praised their own good works, as of old, in saving the union, and
19855 denounced the "fraud and violence practiced by the Democracy in the
19856 Southern states." Seeing little objectionable in the public record of
19857 Cleveland as mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York, they attacked
19858 his personal character. Perhaps never in the history of political
19859 campaigns did the discussions on the platform and in the press sink to
19860 so low a level. Decent people were sickened. Even hot partisans shrank
19861 from their own words when, after the election, they had time to reflect
19862 on their heedless passions. Moreover, nothing was decided by the
19863 balloting. Cleveland was elected, but his victory was a narrow one. A
19864 change of a few hundred votes in New York would have sent his opponent
19865 to the White House instead.
19866
19867 =Changing Political Fortunes (1888-96).=--After the Democrats had
19868 settled down to the enjoyment of their hard-earned victory, President
19869 Cleveland in his message of 1887 attacked the tariff as "vicious,
19870 inequitable, and illogical"; as a system of taxation that laid a burden
19871 upon "every consumer in the land for the benefit of our manufacturers."
19872 Business enterprise was thoroughly alarmed. The Republicans
19873 characterized the tariff message as a free-trade assault upon the
19874 industries of the country. Mainly on that issue they elected in 1888
19875 Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, a shrewd lawyer, a reticent politician, a
19876 descendant of the hero of Tippecanoe, and a son of the old Northwest.
19877 Accepting the outcome of the election as a vindication of their
19878 principles, the Republicans, under the leadership of William McKinley in
19879 the House of Representatives, enacted in 1890 a tariff law imposing the
19880 highest duties yet laid in our history. To their utter surprise,
19881 however, they were instantly informed by the country that their program
19882 was not approved. That very autumn they lost in the congressional
19883 elections, and two years later they were decisively beaten in the
19884 presidential campaign, Cleveland once more leading his party to victory.
19885
19886
19887 =References=
19888
19889 L.H. Haney, _Congressional History of Railways_ (2 vols.).
19890
19891 J.P. Davis, _Union Pacific Railway_.
19892
19893 J.M. Swank, _History of the Manufacture of Iron_.
19894
19895 M.T. Copeland, _The Cotton Manufacturing Industry in the United States_
19896 (Harvard Studies).
19897
19898 E.W. Bryce, _Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century_.
19899
19900 Ida Tarbell, _History of the Standard Oil Company_ (Critical).
19901
19902 G.H. Montague, _Rise and Progress of the Standard Oil Company_
19903 (Friendly).
19904
19905 H.P. Fairchild, _Immigration_, and F.J. Warne, _The Immigrant Invasion_
19906 (Both works favor exclusion).
19907
19908 I.A. Hourwich, _Immigration_ (Against exclusionist policies).
19909
19910 J.F. Rhodes, _History of the United States, 1877-1896_, Vol. VIII.
19911
19912 Edward Stanwood, _A History of the Presidency_, Vol. I, for the
19913 presidential elections of the period.
19914
19915
19916 =Questions=
19917
19918 1. Contrast the state of industry and commerce at the close of the Civil
19919 War with its condition at the close of the Revolutionary War.
19920
19921 2. Enumerate the services rendered to the nation by the railways.
19922
19923 3. Explain the peculiar relation of railways to government.
19924
19925 4. What sections of the country have been industrialized?
19926
19927 5. How do you account for the rise and growth of the trusts? Explain
19928 some of the economic advantages of the trust.
19929
19930 6. Are the people in cities more or less independent than the farmers?
19931 What was Jefferson's view?
19932
19933 7. State some of the problems raised by unrestricted immigration.
19934
19935 8. What was the theory of the relation of government to business in this
19936 period? Has it changed in recent times?
19937
19938 9. State the leading economic policies sponsored by the Republican
19939 party.
19940
19941 10. Why were the Republicans especially strong immediately after the
19942 Civil War?
19943
19944 11. What illustrations can you give showing the influence of war in
19945 American political campaigns?
19946
19947 12. Account for the strength of middle-western candidates.
19948
19949 13. Enumerate some of the abuses that appeared in American political
19950 life after 1865.
19951
19952 14. Sketch the rise and growth of the reform movement.
19953
19954 15. How is the fluctuating state of public opinion reflected in the
19955 elections from 1880 to 1896?
19956
19957
19958 =Research Topics=
19959
19960 =Invention, Discovery, and Transportation.=--Sparks, _National
19961 Development_ (American Nation Series), pp. 37-67; Bogart, _Economic
19962 History of the United States_, Chaps. XXI, XXII, and XXIII.
19963
19964 =Business and Politics.=--Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside Series),
19965 pp. 92-107; Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol. VII, pp. 1-29,
19966 64-73, 175-206; Wilson, _History of the American People_, Vol. IV, pp.
19967 78-96.
19968
19969 =Immigration.=--Coman, _Industrial History of the United States_ (2d
19970 ed.), pp. 369-374; E.L. Bogart, _Economic History of the United States_,
19971 pp. 420-422, 434-437; Jenks and Lauck, _Immigration Problems_, Commons,
19972 _Races and Immigrants_.
19973
19974 =The Disputed Election of 1876.=--Haworth, _The United States in Our Own
19975 Time_, pp. 82-94; Dunning, _Reconstruction, Political and Economic_
19976 (American Nation Series), pp. 294-341; Elson, _History of the United
19977 States_, pp. 835-841.
19978
19979 =Abuses in Political Life.=--Dunning, _Reconstruction_, pp. 281-293; see
19980 criticisms in party platforms in Stanwood, _History of the Presidency_,
19981 Vol. I; Bryce, _American Commonwealth_ (1910 ed.), Vol. II, pp. 379-448;
19982 136-167.
19983
19984 =Studies of Presidential Administrations.=--(_a_) Grant, (_b_) Hayes,
19985 (_c_) Garfield-Arthur, (_d_) Cleveland, and (_e_) Harrison, in Haworth,
19986 _The United States in Our Own Time_, or in Paxson, _The New Nation_
19987 (Riverside Series), or still more briefly in Elson.
19988
19989 =Cleveland Democracy.=--Haworth, _The United States_, pp. 164-183;
19990 Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol. VIII, pp. 240-327; Elson,
19991 pp. 857-887.
19992
19993 =Analysis of Modern Immigration Problems.=--_Syllabus in History_ (New
19994 York State, 1919), pp. 110-112.
19995
19996
19997
19998
19999 CHAPTER XVIII
20000
20001 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT WEST
20002
20003
20004 At the close of the Civil War, Kansas and Texas were sentinel states on
20005 the middle border. Beyond the Rockies, California, Oregon, and Nevada
20006 stood guard, the last of them having been just admitted to furnish
20007 another vote for the fifteenth amendment abolishing slavery. Between the
20008 near and far frontiers lay a vast reach of plain, desert, plateau, and
20009 mountain, almost wholly undeveloped. A broad domain, extending from
20010 Canada to Mexico, and embracing the regions now included in Washington,
20011 Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, the Dakotas, and
20012 Oklahoma, had fewer than half a million inhabitants. It was laid out
20013 into territories, each administered under a governor appointed by the
20014 President and Senate and, as soon as there was the requisite number of
20015 inhabitants, a legislature elected by the voters. No railway line
20016 stretched across the desert. St. Joseph on the Missouri was the terminus
20017 of the Eastern lines. It required twenty-five days for a passenger to
20018 make the overland journey to California by the stagecoach system,
20019 established in 1858, and more than ten days for the swift pony express,
20020 organized in 1860, to carry a letter to San Francisco. Indians still
20021 roamed the plain and desert and more than one powerful tribe disputed
20022 the white man's title to the soil.
20023
20024
20025 THE RAILWAYS AS TRAIL BLAZERS
20026
20027 =Opening Railways to the Pacific.=--A decade before the Civil War the
20028 importance of rail connection between the East and the Pacific Coast had
20029 been recognized. Pressure had already been brought to bear on Congress
20030 to authorize the construction of a line and to grant land and money in
20031 its aid. Both the Democrats and Republicans approved the idea, but it
20032 was involved in the slavery controversy. Indeed it was submerged in it.
20033 Southern statesmen wanted connections between the Gulf and the Pacific
20034 through Texas, while Northerners stood out for a central route.
20035
20036 The North had its way during the war. Congress, by legislation initiated
20037 in 1862, provided for the immediate organization of companies to build a
20038 line from the Missouri River to California and made grants of land and
20039 loans of money to aid in the enterprise. The Western end, the Central
20040 Pacific, was laid out under the supervision of Leland Stanford. It was
20041 heavily financed by the Mormons of Utah and also by the state
20042 government, the ranchmen, miners, and business men of California; and it
20043 was built principally by Chinese labor. The Eastern end, the Union
20044 Pacific, starting at Omaha, was constructed mainly by veterans of the
20045 Civil War and immigrants from Ireland and Germany. In 1869 the two
20046 companies met near Ogden in Utah and the driving of the last spike,
20047 uniting the Atlantic and the Pacific, was the occasion of a great
20048 demonstration.
20049
20050 Other lines to the Pacific were projected at the same time; but the
20051 panic of 1873 checked railway enterprise for a while. With the revival
20052 of prosperity at the end of that decade, construction was renewed with
20053 vigor and the year 1883 marked a series of railway triumphs. In February
20054 trains were running from New Orleans through Houston, San Antonio, and
20055 Yuma to San Francisco, as a result of a union of the Texas Pacific with
20056 the Southern Pacific and its subsidiary corporations. In September the
20057 last spike was driven in the Northern Pacific at Helena, Montana. Lake
20058 Superior was connected with Puget Sound. The waters explored by Joliet
20059 and Marquette were joined to the waters plowed by Sir Francis Drake
20060 while he was searching for a route around the world. That same year also
20061 a third line was opened to the Pacific by way of the Atchison, Topeka
20062 and Santa Fe, making connections through Albuquerque and Needles with
20063 San Francisco. The fondest hopes of railway promoters seemed to be
20064 realized.
20065
20066 [Illustration: UNITED STATES IN 1870]
20067
20068 =Western Railways Precede Settlement.=--In the Old World and on our
20069 Atlantic seaboard, railways followed population and markets. In the Far
20070 West, railways usually preceded the people. Railway builders planned
20071 cities on paper before they laid tracks connecting them. They sent
20072 missionaries to spread the gospel of "Western opportunity" to people in
20073 the Middle West, in the Eastern cities, and in Southern states. Then
20074 they carried their enthusiastic converts bag and baggage in long trains
20075 to the distant Dakotas and still farther afield. So the development of
20076 the Far West was not left to the tedious processes of time. It was
20077 pushed by men of imagination--adventurers who made a romance of
20078 money-making and who had dreams of empire unequaled by many kings of the
20079 past.
20080
20081 These empire builders bought railway lands in huge tracts; they got more
20082 from the government; they overcame every obstacle of canon, mountain,
20083 and stream with the aid of science; they built cities according to the
20084 plans made by the engineers. Having the towns ready and railway and
20085 steamboat connections formed with the rest of the world, they carried
20086 out the people to use the railways, the steamships, the houses, and the
20087 land. It was in this way that "the frontier speculator paved the way for
20088 the frontier agriculturalist who had to be near a market before he could
20089 farm." The spirit of this imaginative enterprise, which laid out
20090 railways and towns in advance of the people, is seen in an advertisement
20091 of that day: "This extension will run 42 miles from York, northeast
20092 through the Island Lake country, and will have five good North Dakota
20093 towns. The stations on the line will be well equipped with elevators and
20094 will be constructed and ready for operation at the commencement of the
20095 grain season. Prospective merchants have been active in securing
20096 desirable locations at the different towns on the line. There are still
20097 opportunities for hotels, general merchandise, hardware, furniture, and
20098 drug stores, etc."
20099
20100 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
20101
20102 A TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE]
20103
20104 Among the railway promoters and builders in the West, James J. Hill,
20105 of the Great Northern and allied lines, was one of the most forceful
20106 figures. He knew that tracks and trains were useless without passengers
20107 and freight; without a population of farmers and town dwellers. He
20108 therefore organized publicity in the Virginias, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana,
20109 Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska especially. He sent out agents to tell
20110 the story of Western opportunity in this vein: "You see your children
20111 come out of school with no chance to get farms of their own because the
20112 cost of land in your older part of the country is so high that you can't
20113 afford to buy land to start your sons out in life around you. They have
20114 to go to the cities to make a living or become laborers in the mills or
20115 hire out as farm hands. There is no future for them there. If you are
20116 doing well where you are and can safeguard the future of your children
20117 and see them prosper around you, don't leave here. But if you want
20118 independence, if you are renting your land, if the money-lender is
20119 carrying you along and you are running behind year after year, you can
20120 do no worse by moving.... You farmers talk of free trade and protection
20121 and what this or that political party will do for you. Why don't you
20122 vote a homestead for yourself? That is the only thing Uncle Sam will
20123 ever give you. Jim Hill hasn't an acre of land to sell you. We are not
20124 in the real estate business. We don't want you to go out West and make a
20125 failure of it because the rates at which we haul you and your goods make
20126 the first transaction a loss.... We must have landless men for a manless
20127 land."
20128
20129 Unlike steamship companies stimulating immigration to get the fares,
20130 Hill was seeking permanent settlers who would produce, manufacture, and
20131 use the railways as the means of exchange. Consequently he fixed low
20132 rates and let his passengers take a good deal of live stock and
20133 household furniture free. By doing this he made an appeal that was
20134 answered by eager families. In 1894 the vanguard of home seekers left
20135 Indiana in fourteen passenger coaches, filled with men, women, and
20136 children, and forty-eight freight cars carrying their household goods
20137 and live stock. In the ten years that followed, 100,000 people from the
20138 Middle West and the South, responding to his call, went to the Western
20139 country where they brought eight million acres of prairie land under
20140 cultivation.
20141
20142 When Hill got his people on the land, he took an interest in everything
20143 that increased the productivity of their labor. Was the output of food
20144 for his freight cars limited by bad drainage on the farms? Hill then
20145 interested himself in practical ways of ditching and tiling. Were
20146 farmers hampered in hauling their goods to his trains by bad roads? In
20147 that case, he urged upon the states the improvement of highways. Did the
20148 traffic slacken because the food shipped was not of the best quality?
20149 Then live stock must be improved and scientific farming promoted. Did
20150 the farmers need credit? Banks must be established close at hand to
20151 advance it. In all conferences on scientific farm management,
20152 conservation of natural resources, banking and credit in relation to
20153 agriculture and industry, Hill was an active participant. His was the
20154 long vision, seeing in conservation and permanent improvements the
20155 foundation of prosperity for the railways and the people.
20156
20157 Indeed, he neglected no opportunity to increase the traffic on the
20158 lines. He wanted no empty cars running in either direction and no wheat
20159 stored in warehouses for the lack of markets. So he looked to the Orient
20160 as well as to Europe as an outlet for the surplus of the farms. He sent
20161 agents to China and Japan to discover what American goods and produce
20162 those countries would consume and what manufactures they had to offer to
20163 Americans in exchange. To open the Pacific trade he bought two ocean
20164 monsters, the _Minnesota_ and the _Dakota_, thus preparing for
20165 emergencies West as well as East. When some Japanese came to the United
20166 States on their way to Europe to buy steel rails, Hill showed them how
20167 easy it was for them to make their purchase in this country and ship by
20168 way of American railways and American vessels. So the railway builder
20169 and promoter, who helped to break the virgin soil of the prairies, lived
20170 through the pioneer epoch and into the age of great finance. Before he
20171 died he saw the wheat fields of North Dakota linked with the spinning
20172 jennies of Manchester and the docks of Yokohama.
20173
20174
20175 THE EVOLUTION OF GRAZING AND AGRICULTURE
20176
20177 =The Removal of the Indians.=--Unlike the frontier of New England in
20178 colonial days or that of Kentucky later, the advancing lines of home
20179 builders in the Far West had little difficulty with warlike natives.
20180 Indian attacks were made on the railway construction gangs; General
20181 Custer had his fatal battle with the Sioux in 1876 and there were minor
20182 brushes; but they were all of relatively slight consequence. The former
20183 practice of treating with the Indians as independent nations was
20184 abandoned in 1871 and most of them were concentrated in reservations
20185 where they were mainly supported by the government. The supervision of
20186 their affairs was vested in a board of commissioners created in 1869 and
20187 instructed to treat them as wards of the nation--a trust which
20188 unfortunately was often betrayed. A further step in Indian policy was
20189 taken in 1887 when provision was made for issuing lands to individual
20190 Indians, thus permitting them to become citizens and settle down among
20191 their white neighbors as farmers or cattle raisers. The disappearance of
20192 the buffalo, the main food supply of the wild Indians, had made them
20193 more tractable and more willing to surrender the freedom of the hunter
20194 for the routine of the reservation, ranch, or wheat field.
20195
20196 =The Cowboy and Cattle Ranger.=--Between the frontier of farms and the
20197 mountains were plains and semi-arid regions in vast reaches suitable for
20198 grazing. As soon as the railways were open into the Missouri Valley,
20199 affording an outlet for stock, there sprang up to the westward cattle
20200 and sheep raising on an immense scale. The far-famed American cowboy was
20201 the hero in this scene. Great herds of cattle were bred in Texas; with
20202 the advancing spring and summer seasons, they were driven northward
20203 across the plains and over the buffalo trails. In a single year, 1884,
20204 it is estimated that nearly one million head of cattle were moved out of
20205 Texas to the North by four thousand cowboys, supplied with 30,000
20206 horses and ponies.
20207
20208 During the two decades from 1870 to 1890 both the cattle men and the
20209 sheep raisers had an almost free run of the plains, using public lands
20210 without paying for the privilege and waging war on one another over the
20211 possession of ranges. At length, however, both had to go, as the
20212 homesteaders and land companies came and fenced in the plain and desert
20213 with endless lines of barbed wire. Already in 1893 a writer familiar
20214 with the frontier lamented the passing of the picturesque days: "The
20215 unique position of the cowboys among the Americans is jeopardized in a
20216 thousand ways. Towns are growing up on their pasture lands; irrigation
20217 schemes of a dozen sorts threaten to turn bunch-grass scenery into
20218 farm-land views; farmers are pre-empting valleys and the sides of
20219 waterways; and the day is not far distant when stock-raising must be
20220 done mainly in small herds, with winter corrals, and then the cowboy's
20221 days will end. Even now his condition disappoints those who knew him
20222 only half a dozen years ago. His breed seems to have deteriorated and
20223 his ranks are filling with men who work for wages rather than for the
20224 love of the free life and bold companionship that once tempted men into
20225 that calling. Splendid Cheyenne saddles are less and less numerous in
20226 the outfits; the distinctive hat that made its way up from Mexico may or
20227 may not be worn; all the civil authorities in nearly all towns in the
20228 grazing country forbid the wearing of side arms; nobody shoots up these
20229 towns any more. The fact is the old simon-pure cowboy days are gone
20230 already."
20231
20232 =Settlement under the Homestead Act of 1862.=--Two factors gave a
20233 special stimulus to the rapid settlement of Western lands which swept
20234 away the Indians and the cattle rangers. The first was the policy of the
20235 railway companies in selling large blocks of land received from the
20236 government at low prices to induce immigration. The second was the
20237 operation of the Homestead law passed in 1862. This measure practically
20238 closed the long controversy over the disposition of the public domain
20239 that was suitable for agriculture. It provided for granting, without any
20240 cost save a small registration fee, public lands in lots of 160 acres
20241 each to citizens and aliens who declared their intention of becoming
20242 citizens. The one important condition attached was that the settler
20243 should occupy the farm for five years before his title was finally
20244 confirmed. Even this stipulation was waived in the case of the Civil War
20245 veterans who were allowed to count their term of military service as a
20246 part of the five years' occupancy required. As the soldiers of the
20247 Revolutionary and Mexican wars had advanced in great numbers to the
20248 frontier in earlier days, so now veterans led in the settlement of the
20249 middle border. Along with them went thousands of German, Irish, and
20250 Scandinavian immigrants, fresh from the Old World. Between 1867 and
20251 1874, 27,000,000 acres were staked out in quarter-section farms. In
20252 twenty years (1860-80), the population of Nebraska leaped from 28,000 to
20253 almost half a million; Kansas from 100,000 to a million; Iowa from
20254 600,000 to 1,600,000; and the Dakotas from 5000 to 140,000.
20255
20256 =The Diversity of Western Agriculture.=--In soil, produce, and
20257 management, Western agriculture presented many contrasts to that of the
20258 East and South. In the region of arable and watered lands the typical
20259 American unit--the small farm tilled by the owner--appeared as usual;
20260 but by the side of it many a huge domain owned by foreign or Eastern
20261 companies and tilled by hired labor. Sometimes the great estate took the
20262 shape of the "bonanza farm" devoted mainly to wheat and corn and
20263 cultivated on a large scale by machinery. Again it assumed the form of
20264 the cattle ranch embracing tens of thousands of acres. Again it was a
20265 vast holding of diversified interest, such as the Santa Anita ranch near
20266 Los Angeles, a domain of 60,000 acres "cultivated in a glorious sweep of
20267 vineyards and orange and olive orchards, rich sheep and cattle pastures
20268 and horse ranches, their life and customs handed down from the Spanish
20269 owners of the various ranches which were swept into one estate."
20270
20271 =Irrigation.=--In one respect agriculture in the Far West was unique. In
20272 a large area spreading through eight states, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
20273 Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of adjoining
20274 states, the rainfall was so slight that the ordinary crops to which the
20275 American farmer was accustomed could not be grown at all. The Mormons
20276 were the first Anglo-Saxons to encounter aridity, and they were baffled
20277 at first; but they studied it and mastered it by magnificent irrigation
20278 systems. As other settlers poured into the West the problem of the
20279 desert was attacked with a will, some of them replying to the
20280 commiseration of Eastern farmers by saying that it was easier to scoop
20281 out an irrigation ditch than to cut forests and wrestle with stumps and
20282 stones. Private companies bought immense areas at low prices, built
20283 irrigation works, and disposed of their lands in small plots. Some
20284 ranchers with an instinct for water, like that of the miner for metal,
20285 sank wells into the dry sand and were rewarded with gushers that "soused
20286 the thirsty desert and turned its good-for-nothing sand into
20287 good-for-anything loam." The federal government came to the aid of the
20288 arid regions in 1894 by granting lands to the states to be used for
20289 irrigation purposes. In this work Wyoming took the lead with a law which
20290 induced capitalists to invest in irrigation and at the same time
20291 provided for the sale of the redeemed lands to actual settlers. Finally
20292 in 1902 the federal government by its liberal Reclamation Act added its
20293 strength to that of individuals, companies, and states in conquering
20294 "arid America."
20295
20296 "Nowhere," writes Powell, a historian of the West, in his picturesque
20297 _End of the Trail_, "has the white man fought a more courageous fight or
20298 won a more brilliant victory than in Arizona. His weapons have been the
20299 transit and the level, the drill and the dredge, the pick and the spade;
20300 and the enemy which he has conquered has been the most stubborn of all
20301 foes--the hostile forces of Nature.... The story of how the white man
20302 within the space of less than thirty years penetrated, explored, and
20303 mapped this almost unknown region; of how he carried law, order, and
20304 justice into a section which had never had so much as a speaking
20305 acquaintance with any one of the three before; of how, realizing the
20306 necessity for means of communication, he built highways of steel across
20307 this territory from east to west and from north to south; of how,
20308 undismayed by the savageness of the countenance which the desert turned
20309 upon him, he laughed and rolled up his sleeves, and spat upon his hands,
20310 and slashed the face of the desert with canals and irrigating ditches,
20311 and filled those ditches with water brought from deep in the earth or
20312 high in the mountains; and of how, in the conquered and submissive soil,
20313 he replaced the aloe with alfalfa, the mesquite with maize, the cactus
20314 with cotton, forms one of the most inspiring chapters in our history. It
20315 is one of the epics of civilization, this reclamation of the Southwest,
20316 and its heroes, thank God, are Americans.
20317
20318 "Other desert regions have been redeemed by irrigation--Egypt, for
20319 example, and Mesopotamia and parts of the Sudan--but the people of all
20320 those regions lay stretched out in the shade of a convenient palm,
20321 metaphorically speaking, and waited for some one with more energy than
20322 themselves to come along and do the work. But the Arizonians, mindful of
20323 the fact that God, the government, and Carnegie help those who help
20324 themselves, spent their days wielding the pick and shovel, and their
20325 evenings in writing letters to Washington with toil-hardened hands.
20326 After a time the government was prodded into action and the great dams
20327 at Laguna and Roosevelt are the result. Then the people, organizing
20328 themselves into cooperative leagues and water-users' associations, took
20329 up the work of reclamation where the government left off; it is to these
20330 energetic, persevering men who have drilled wells, plowed fields, and
20331 dug ditches through the length and breadth of that great region which
20332 stretches from Yuma to Tucson, that the metamorphosis of Arizona is
20333 due."
20334
20335 The effect of irrigation wherever introduced was amazing. Stretches of
20336 sand and sagebrush gave way to fertile fields bearing crops of wheat,
20337 corn, fruits, vegetables, and grass. Huge ranches grazed by browsing
20338 sheep were broken up into small plots. The cowboy and ranchman vanished.
20339 In their place rose the prosperous community--a community unlike the
20340 township of Iowa or the industrial center of the East. Its intensive
20341 tillage left little room for hired labor. Its small holdings drew
20342 families together in village life rather than dispersing them on the
20343 lonely plain. Often the development of water power in connection with
20344 irrigation afforded electricity for labor-saving devices and lifted many
20345 a burden that in other days fell heavily upon the shoulders of the
20346 farmer and his family.
20347
20348
20349 MINING AND MANUFACTURING IN THE WEST
20350
20351 =Mineral Resources.=--In another important particular the Far West
20352 differed from the Mississippi Valley states. That was in the
20353 predominance of mining over agriculture throughout a vast section.
20354 Indeed it was the minerals rather than the land that attracted the
20355 pioneers who first opened the country. The discovery of gold in
20356 California in 1848 was the signal for the great rush of prospectors,
20357 miners, and promoters who explored the valleys, climbed the hills,
20358 washed the sands, and dug up the soil in their feverish search for gold,
20359 silver, copper, coal, and other minerals. In Nevada and Montana the
20360 development of mineral resources went on all during the Civil War. Alder
20361 Gulch became Virginia City in 1863; Last Chance Gulch was named Helena
20362 in 1864; and Confederate Gulch was christened Diamond City in 1865. At
20363 Butte the miners began operations in 1864 and within five years had
20364 washed out eight million dollars' worth of gold. Under the gold they
20365 found silver; under silver they found copper.
20366
20367 Even at the end of the nineteenth century, after agriculture was well
20368 advanced and stock and sheep raising introduced on a large scale,
20369 minerals continued to be the chief source of wealth in a number of
20370 states. This was revealed by the figures for 1910. The gold, silver,
20371 iron, and copper of Colorado were worth more than the wheat, corn, and
20372 oats combined; the copper of Montana sold for more than all the cereals
20373 and four times the price of the wheat. The interest of Nevada was also
20374 mainly mining, the receipts from the mineral output being $43,000,000 or
20375 more than one-half the national debt of Hamilton's day. The yield of the
20376 mines of Utah was worth four or five times the wheat crop; the coal of
20377 Wyoming brought twice as much as the great wool clip; the minerals of
20378 Arizona were totaled at $43,000,000 as against a wool clip reckoned at
20379 $1,200,000; while in Idaho alone of this group of states did the wheat
20380 crop exceed in value the output of the mines.
20381
20382 [Illustration: _Photograph from Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
20383
20384 LOGGING]
20385
20386 =Timber Resources.=--The forests of the great West, unlike those of the
20387 Ohio Valley, proved a boon to the pioneers rather than a foe to be
20388 attacked. In Ohio and Indiana, for example, the frontier line of
20389 homemakers had to cut, roll, and burn thousands of trees before they
20390 could put out a crop of any size. Beyond the Mississippi, however,
20391 there were all ready for the breaking plow great reaches of almost
20392 treeless prairie, where every stick of timber was precious. In the other
20393 parts, often rough and mountainous, where stood primeval forests of the
20394 finest woods, the railroads made good use of the timber. They consumed
20395 acres of forests themselves in making ties, bridge timbers, and
20396 telegraph poles, and they laid a heavy tribute upon the forests for
20397 their annual upkeep. The surplus trees, such as had burdened the
20398 pioneers of the Northwest Territory a hundred years before, they carried
20399 off to markets on the east and west coasts.
20400
20401 =Western Industries.=--The peculiar conditions of the Far West
20402 stimulated a rise of industries more rapid than is usual in new country.
20403 The mining activities which in many sections preceded agriculture called
20404 for sawmills to furnish timber for the mines and smelters to reduce and
20405 refine ores. The ranches supplied sheep and cattle for the packing
20406 houses of Kansas City as well as Chicago. The waters of the Northwest
20407 afforded salmon for 4000 cases in 1866 and for 1,400,000 cases in 1916.
20408 The fruits and vegetables of California brought into existence
20409 innumerable canneries. The lumber industry, starting with crude sawmills
20410 to furnish rough timbers for railways and mines, ended in specialized
20411 factories for paper, boxes, and furniture. As the railways preceded
20412 settlement and furnished a ready outlet for local manufactures, so they
20413 encouraged the early establishment of varied industries, thus creating a
20414 state of affairs quite unlike that which obtained in the Ohio Valley in
20415 the early days before the opening of the Erie Canal.
20416
20417 =Social Effects of Economic Activities.=--In many respects the social
20418 life of the Far West also differed from that of the Ohio Valley. The
20419 treeless prairies, though open to homesteads, favored the great estate
20420 tilled in part by tenant labor and in part by migratory seasonal labor,
20421 summoned from all sections of the country for the harvests. The mineral
20422 resources created hundreds of huge fortunes which made the accumulations
20423 of eastern mercantile families look trivial by comparison. Other
20424 millionaires won their fortunes in the railway business and still more
20425 from the cattle and sheep ranges. In many sections the "cattle king," as
20426 he was called, was as dominant as the planter had been in the old South.
20427 Everywhere in the grazing country he was a conspicuous and important
20428 person. He "sometimes invested money in banks, in railroad stocks, or in
20429 city property.... He had his rating in the commercial reviews and could
20430 hobnob with bankers, railroad presidents, and metropolitan merchants....
20431 He attended party caucuses and conventions, ran for the state
20432 legislature, and sometimes defeated a lawyer or metropolitan 'business
20433 man' in the race for a seat in Congress. In proportion to their numbers,
20434 the ranchers ... have constituted a highly impressive class."
20435
20436 Although many of the early capitalists of the great West, especially
20437 from Nevada, spent their money principally in the East, others took
20438 leadership in promoting the sections in which they had made their
20439 fortunes. A railroad pioneer, General Palmer, built his home at Colorado
20440 Springs, founded the town, and encouraged local improvements. Denver
20441 owed its first impressive buildings to the civic patriotism of Horace
20442 Tabor, a wealthy mine owner. Leland Stanford paid his tribute to
20443 California in the endowment of a large university. Colonel W.F. Cody,
20444 better known as "Buffalo Bill," started his career by building a "boom
20445 town" which collapsed, and made a large sum of money supplying buffalo
20446 meat to construction hands (hence his popular name). By his famous Wild
20447 West Show, he increased it to a fortune which he devoted mainly to the
20448 promotion of a western reclamation scheme.
20449
20450 While the Far West was developing this vigorous, aggressive leadership
20451 in business, a considerable industrial population was springing up. Even
20452 the cattle ranges and hundreds of farms were conducted like factories in
20453 that they were managed through overseers who hired plowmen, harvesters,
20454 and cattlemen at regular wages. At the same time there appeared other
20455 peculiar features which made a lasting impression on western economic
20456 life. Mining, lumbering, and fruit growing, for instance, employed
20457 thousands of workers during the rush months and turned them out at other
20458 times. The inevitable result was an army of migratory laborers wandering
20459 from camp to camp, from town to town, and from ranch to ranch, without
20460 fixed homes or established habits of life. From this extraordinary
20461 condition there issued many a long and lawless conflict between capital
20462 and labor, giving a distinct color to the labor movement in whole
20463 sections of the mountain and coast states.
20464
20465
20466 THE ADMISSION OF NEW STATES
20467
20468 =The Spirit of Self-Government.=--The instinct of self-government was
20469 strong in the western communities. In the very beginning, it led to the
20470 organization of volunteer committees, known as "vigilantes," to suppress
20471 crime and punish criminals. As soon as enough people were settled
20472 permanently in a region, they took care to form a more stable kind of
20473 government. An illustration of this process is found in the Oregon
20474 compact made by the pioneers in 1843, the spirit of which is reflected
20475 in an editorial in an old copy of the _Rocky Mountain News_: "We claim
20476 that any body or community of American citizens which from any cause or
20477 under any circumstances is cut off from or from isolation is so situated
20478 as not to be under any active and protecting branch of the central
20479 government, have a right, if on American soil, to frame a government and
20480 enact such laws and regulations as may be necessary for their own
20481 safety, protection, and happiness, always with the condition precedent,
20482 that they shall, at the earliest moment when the central government
20483 shall extend an effective organization and laws over them, give it their
20484 unqualified support and obedience."
20485
20486 People who turned so naturally to the organization of local
20487 administration were equally eager for admission to the union as soon as
20488 any shadow of a claim to statehood could be advanced. As long as a
20489 region was merely one of the territories of the United States, the
20490 appointment of the governor and other officers was controlled by
20491 politics at Washington. Moreover the disposition of land, mineral
20492 rights, forests, and water power was also in the hands of national
20493 leaders. Thus practical considerations were united with the spirit of
20494 independence in the quest for local autonomy.
20495
20496 =Nebraska and Colorado.=--Two states, Nebraska and Colorado, had little
20497 difficulty in securing admission to the union. The first, Nebraska, had
20498 been organized as a territory by the famous Kansas-Nebraska bill which
20499 did so much to precipitate the Civil War. Lying to the north of Kansas,
20500 which had been admitted in 1861, it escaped the invasion of slave owners
20501 from Missouri and was settled mainly by farmers from the North. Though
20502 it claimed a population of only 67,000, it was regarded with kindly
20503 interest by the Republican Congress at Washington and, reduced to its
20504 present boundaries, it received the coveted statehood in 1867.
20505
20506 This was hardly accomplished before the people of Colorado to the
20507 southwest began to make known their demands. They had been organized
20508 under territorial government in 1861 when they numbered only a handful;
20509 but within ten years the aspect of their affairs had completely changed.
20510 The silver and gold deposits of the Leadville and Cripple Creek regions
20511 had attracted an army of miners and prospectors. The city of Denver,
20512 founded in 1858 and named after the governor of Kansas whence came many
20513 of the early settlers, had grown from a straggling camp of log huts into
20514 a prosperous center of trade. By 1875 it was reckoned that the
20515 population of the territory was not less than one hundred thousand; the
20516 following year Congress, yielding to the popular appeal, made Colorado a
20517 member of the American union.
20518
20519 =Six New States (1889-1890).=--For many years there was a deadlock in
20520 Congress over the admission of new states. The spell was broken in 1889
20521 under the leadership of the Dakotas. For a long time the Dakota
20522 territory, organized in 1861, had been looked upon as the home of the
20523 powerful Sioux Indians whose enormous reservation blocked the advance of
20524 the frontier. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, however, marked
20525 their doom. Even before Congress could open their lands to prospectors,
20526 pioneers were swarming over the country. Farmers from the adjoining
20527 Minnesota and the Eastern states, Scandinavians, Germans, and Canadians,
20528 came in swelling waves to occupy the fertile Dakota lands, now famous
20529 even as far away as the fjords of Norway. Seldom had the plow of man cut
20530 through richer soil than was found in the bottoms of the Red River
20531 Valley, and it became all the more precious when the opening of the
20532 Northern Pacific in 1883 afforded a means of transportation east and
20533 west. The population, which had numbered 135,000 in 1880, passed the
20534 half million mark before ten years had elapsed.
20535
20536 Remembering that Nebraska had been admitted with only 67,000
20537 inhabitants, the Dakotans could not see why they should be kept under
20538 federal tutelage. At the same time Washington, far away on the Pacific
20539 Coast, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, boasting of their populations and
20540 their riches, put in their own eloquent pleas. But the members of
20541 Congress were busy with politics. The Democrats saw no good reason for
20542 admitting new Republican states until after their defeat in 1888. Near
20543 the end of their term the next year they opened the door for North and
20544 South Dakota, Washington, and Montana. In 1890, a Republican Congress
20545 brought Idaho and Wyoming into the union, the latter with woman
20546 suffrage, which had been granted twenty-one years before.
20547
20548 =Utah.=--Although Utah had long presented all the elements of a
20549 well-settled and industrious community, its admission to the union was
20550 delayed on account of popular hostility to the practice of polygamy. The
20551 custom, it is true, had been prohibited by act of Congress in 1862; but
20552 the law had been systematically evaded. In 1882 Congress made another
20553 and more effective effort to stamp out polygamy. Five years later it
20554 even went so far as to authorize the confiscation of the property of the
20555 Mormon Church in case the practice of plural marriages was not stopped.
20556 Meanwhile the Gentile or non-Mormon population was steadily increasing
20557 and the leaders in the Church became convinced that the battle
20558 against the sentiment of the country was futile. At last in 1896 Utah
20559 was admitted as a state under a constitution which forbade plural
20560 marriages absolutely and forever. Horace Greeley, who visited Utah in
20561 1859, had prophesied that the Pacific Railroad would work a revolution
20562 in the land of Brigham Young. His prophecy had come true.
20563
20564 [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1912]
20565
20566 =Rounding out the Continent.=--Three more territories now remained out
20567 of the Union. Oklahoma, long an Indian reservation, had been opened for
20568 settlement to white men in 1889. The rush upon the fertile lands of this
20569 region, the last in the history of America, was marked by all the frenzy
20570 of the final, desperate chance. At a signal from a bugle an army of men
20571 with families in wagons, men and women on horseback and on foot, burst
20572 into the territory. During the first night a city of tents was raised at
20573 Guthrie and Oklahoma City. In ten days wooden houses rose on the plains.
20574 In a single year there were schools, churches, business blocks, and
20575 newspapers. Within fifteen years there was a population of more than
20576 half a million. To the west, Arizona with a population of about 125,000
20577 and New Mexico with 200,000 inhabitants joined Oklahoma in asking for
20578 statehood. Congress, then Republican, looked with reluctance upon the
20579 addition of more Democratic states; but in 1907 it was literally
20580 compelled by public sentiment and a sense of justice to admit Oklahoma.
20581 In 1910 the House of Representatives went to the Democrats and within
20582 two years Arizona and New Mexico were "under the roof." So the
20583 continental domain was rounded out.
20584
20585
20586 THE INFLUENCE OF THE FAR WEST ON NATIONAL LIFE
20587
20588 =The Last of the Frontier.=--When Horace Greeley made his trip west in
20589 1859 he thus recorded the progress of civilization in his journal:
20590
20591 "May 12th, Chicago.--Chocolate and morning journals last
20592 seen on the hotel breakfast table.
20593
20594 23rd, Leavenworth (Kansas).--Room bells and bath tubs make
20595 their final appearance.
20596
20597 26th, Manhattan.--Potatoes and eggs last recognized among
20598 the blessings that 'brighten as they take their flight.'
20599
20600 27th, Junction City.--Last visitation of a boot-black, with
20601 dissolving views of a board bedroom. Beds bid us good-by."
20602
20603 [Illustration: _Copyright by Panama-California Exposition_
20604
20605 THE CANADIAN BUILDING AT THE PANAMA-CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL
20606 EXPOSITION, SAN DIEGO, 1915]
20607
20608 Within thirty years travelers were riding across that country in Pullman
20609 cars and enjoying at the hotels all the comforts of a standardized
20610 civilization. The "wild west" was gone, and with it that frontier of
20611 pioneers and settlers who had long given such a bent and tone to
20612 American life and had "poured in upon the floor of Congress" such a long
20613 line of "backwoods politicians," as they were scornfully styled.
20614
20615 =Free Land and Eastern Labor.=--It was not only the picturesque features
20616 of the frontier that were gone. Of far more consequence was the
20617 disappearance of free lands with all that meant for American labor. For
20618 more than a hundred years, any man of even moderate means had been able
20619 to secure a homestead of his own and an independent livelihood. For a
20620 hundred years America had been able to supply farms to as many
20621 immigrants as cared to till the soil. Every new pair of strong arms
20622 meant more farms and more wealth. Workmen in Eastern factories, mines,
20623 or mills who did not like their hours, wages, or conditions of labor,
20624 could readily find an outlet to the land. Now all that was over. By
20625 about 1890 most of the desirable land available under the Homestead act
20626 had disappeared. American industrial workers confronted a new situation.
20627
20628 =Grain Supplants King Cotton.=--In the meantime a revolution was taking
20629 place in agriculture. Until 1860 the chief staples sold by America were
20630 cotton and tobacco. With the advance of the frontier, corn and wheat
20631 supplanted them both in agrarian economy. The West became the granary of
20632 the East and of Western Europe. The scoop shovel once used to handle
20633 grain was superseded by the towering elevator, loading and unloading
20634 thousands of bushels every hour. The refrigerator car and ship made the
20635 packing industry as stable as the production of cotton or corn, and gave
20636 an immense impetus to cattle raising and sheep farming. So the meat of
20637 the West took its place on the English dinner table by the side of bread
20638 baked from Dakotan wheat.
20639
20640 =Aid in American Economic Independence.=--The effects of this economic
20641 movement were manifold and striking. Billions of dollars' worth of
20642 American grain, dairy produce, and meat were poured into European
20643 markets where they paid off debts due money lenders and acquired
20644 capital to develop American resources. Thus they accelerated the
20645 progress of American financiers toward national independence. The
20646 country, which had timidly turned to the Old World for capital in
20647 Hamilton's day and had borrowed at high rates of interest in London in
20648 Lincoln's day, moved swiftly toward the time when it would be among the
20649 world's first bankers and money lenders itself. Every grain of wheat and
20650 corn pulled the balance down on the American side of the scale.
20651
20652 =Eastern Agriculture Affected.=--In the East as well as abroad the
20653 opening of the western granary produced momentous results. The
20654 agricultural economy of that part of the country was changed in many
20655 respects. Whole sections of the poorest land went almost out of
20656 cultivation, the abandoned farms of the New England hills bearing solemn
20657 witness to the competing power of western wheat fields. Sheep and cattle
20658 raising, as well as wheat and corn production, suffered at least a
20659 relative decline. Thousands of farmers cultivating land of the lower
20660 grade were forced to go West or were driven to the margin of
20661 subsistence. Even the herds that supplied Eastern cities with milk were
20662 fed upon grain brought halfway across the continent.
20663
20664 =The Expansion of the American Market.=--Upon industry as well as
20665 agriculture, the opening of vast food-producing regions told in a
20666 thousand ways. The demand for farm machinery, clothing, boots, shoes,
20667 and other manufactures gave to American industries such a market as even
20668 Hamilton had never foreseen. Moreover it helped to expand far into the
20669 Mississippi Valley the industrial area once confined to the Northern
20670 seaboard states and to transform the region of the Great Lakes into an
20671 industrial empire. Herein lies the explanation of the growth of
20672 mid-western cities after 1865. Chicago, with its thirty-five railways,
20673 tapped every locality of the West and South. To the railways were added
20674 the water routes of the Lakes, thus creating a strategic center for
20675 industries. Long foresight carried the McCormick reaper works to
20676 Chicago before 1860. From Troy, New York, went a large stove plant. That
20677 was followed by a shoe factory from Massachusetts. The packing industry
20678 rose as a matter of course at a point so advantageous for cattle raisers
20679 and shippers and so well connected with Eastern markets.
20680
20681 To the opening of the Far West also the Lake region was indebted for a
20682 large part of that water-borne traffic which made it "the Mediterranean
20683 basin of North America." The produce of the West and the manufactures of
20684 the East poured through it in an endless stream. The swift growth of
20685 shipbuilding on the Great Lakes helped to compensate for the decline of
20686 the American marine on the high seas. In response to this stimulus
20687 Detroit could boast that her shipwrights were able to turn out a ten
20688 thousand ton Leviathan for ore or grain about "as quickly as carpenters
20689 could put up an eight-room house." Thus in relation to the Far West the
20690 old Northwest territory--the wilderness of Jefferson's time--had taken
20691 the position formerly occupied by New England alone. It was supplying
20692 capital and manufactures for a vast agricultural empire West and South.
20693
20694 =America on the Pacific.=--It has been said that the Mediterranean Sea
20695 was the center of ancient civilization; that modern civilization has
20696 developed on the shores of the Atlantic; and that the future belongs to
20697 the Pacific. At any rate, the sweep of the United States to the shores
20698 of the Pacific quickly exercised a powerful influence on world affairs
20699 and it undoubtedly has a still greater significance for the future.
20700
20701 Very early regular traffic sprang up between the Pacific ports and the
20702 Hawaiian Islands, China, and Japan. Two years before the adjustment of
20703 the Oregon controversy with England, namely in 1844, the United States
20704 had established official and trading relations with China. Ten years
20705 later, four years after the admission of California to the union, the
20706 barred door of Japan was forced open by Commodore Perry. The commerce
20707 which had long before developed between the Pacific ports and Hawaii,
20708 China, and Japan now flourished under official care. In 1865 a ship
20709 from Honolulu carried sugar, molasses, and fruits from Hawaii to the
20710 Oregon port of Astoria. The next year a vessel from Hongkong brought
20711 rice, mats, and tea from China. An era of lucrative trade was opened.
20712 The annexation of Hawaii in 1898, the addition of the Philippines at the
20713 same time, and the participation of American troops in the suppression
20714 of the Boxer rebellion in Peking in 1900, were but signs and symbols of
20715 American power on the Pacific.
20716
20717 [Illustration: _From an old print_
20718
20719 COMMODORE PERRY'S MEN MAKING PRESENTS TO THE JAPANESE]
20720
20721 =Conservation and the Land Problem.=--The disappearance of the frontier
20722 also brought new and serious problems to the governments of the states
20723 and the nation. The people of the whole United States suddenly were
20724 forced to realize that there was a limit to the rich, new land to
20725 exploit and to the forests and minerals awaiting the ax and the pick.
20726 Then arose in America the questions which had long perplexed the
20727 countries of the Old World--the scientific use of the soils and
20728 conservation of natural resources. Hitherto the government had followed
20729 the easy path of giving away arable land and selling forest and mineral
20730 lands at low prices. Now it had to face far more difficult and complex
20731 problems. It also had to consider questions of land tenure again,
20732 especially if the ideal of a nation of home-owning farmers was to be
20733 maintained. While there was plenty of land for every man or woman who
20734 wanted a home on the soil, it made little difference if single landlords
20735 or companies got possession of millions of acres, if a hundred men in
20736 one western river valley owned 17,000,000 acres; but when the good land
20737 for small homesteads was all gone, then was raised the real issue. At
20738 the opening of the twentieth century the nation, which a hundred years
20739 before had land and natural resources apparently without limit, was
20740 compelled to enact law after law conserving its forests and minerals.
20741 Then it was that the great state of California, on the very border of
20742 the continent, felt constrained to enact a land settlement measure
20743 providing government assistance in an effort to break up large holdings
20744 into small lots and to make it easy for actual settlers to acquire small
20745 farms. America was passing into a new epoch.
20746
20747
20748 =References=
20749
20750 Henry Inman, _The Old Santa Fe Trail_.
20751
20752 R.I. Dodge, _The Plains of the Great West_ (1877).
20753
20754 C.H. Shinn, _The Story of the Mine_.
20755
20756 Cy Warman, _The Story of the Railroad_.
20757
20758 Emerson Hough, _The Story of the Cowboy_.
20759
20760 H.H. Bancroft is the author of many works on the West but his writings
20761 will be found only in the larger libraries.
20762
20763 Joseph Schafer, _History of the Pacific Northwest_ (ed. 1918).
20764
20765 T.H. Hittel, _History of California_ (4 vols.).
20766
20767 W.H. Olin, _American Irrigation Farming_.
20768
20769 W.E. Smythe, _The Conquest of Arid America_.
20770
20771 H.A. Millis, _The American-Japanese Problem_.
20772
20773 E.S. Meany, _History of the State of Washington_.
20774
20775 H.K. Norton, _The Story of California_.
20776
20777
20778 =Questions=
20779
20780 1. Name the states west of the Mississippi in 1865.
20781
20782 2. In what manner was the rest of the western region governed?
20783
20784 3. How far had settlement been carried?
20785
20786 4. What were the striking physical features of the West?
20787
20788 5. How was settlement promoted after 1865?
20789
20790 6. Why was admission to the union so eagerly sought?
20791
20792 7. Explain how politics became involved in the creation of new states.
20793
20794 8. Did the West rapidly become like the older sections of the country?
20795
20796 9. What economic peculiarities did it retain or develop?
20797
20798 10. How did the federal government aid in western agriculture?
20799
20800 11. How did the development of the West affect the East? The South?
20801
20802 12. What relation did the opening of the great grain areas of the West
20803 bear to the growth of America's commercial and financial power?
20804
20805 13. State some of the new problems of the West.
20806
20807 14. Discuss the significance of American expansion to the Pacific Ocean.
20808
20809
20810 =Research Topics=
20811
20812 =The Passing of the Wild West.=--Haworth, _The United States in Our Own
20813 Times_, pp. 100-124.
20814
20815 =The Indian Question.=--Sparks, _National Development_ (American Nation
20816 Series), pp. 265-281.
20817
20818 =The Chinese Question.=--Sparks, _National Development_, pp. 229-250;
20819 Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol. VIII, pp. 180-196.
20820
20821 =The Railway Age.=--Schafer, _History of the Pacific Northwest_, pp.
20822 230-245; E.V. Smalley, _The Northern Pacific Railroad_; Paxson, _The New
20823 Nation_ (Riverside Series), pp. 20-26, especially the map on p. 23, and
20824 pp. 142-148.
20825
20826 =Agriculture and Business.=--Schafer, _Pacific Northwest_, pp. 246-289.
20827
20828 =Ranching in the Northwest.=--Theodore Roosevelt, _Ranch Life_, and
20829 _Autobiography_, pp. 103-143.
20830
20831 =The Conquest of the Desert.=--W.E. Smythe, _The Conquest of Arid
20832 America_.
20833
20834 =Studies of Individual Western States.=--Consult any good encyclopedia.
20835
20836
20837
20838
20839 CHAPTER XIX
20840
20841 DOMESTIC ISSUES BEFORE THE COUNTRY (1865-1897)
20842
20843
20844 For thirty years after the Civil War the leading political parties,
20845 although they engaged in heated presidential campaigns, were not sharply
20846 and clearly opposed on many matters of vital significance. During none
20847 of that time was there a clash of opinion over specific issues such as
20848 rent the country in 1800 when Jefferson rode a popular wave to victory,
20849 or again in 1828 when Jackson's western hordes came sweeping into power.
20850 The Democrats, who before 1860 definitely opposed protective tariffs,
20851 federal banking, internal improvements, and heavy taxes, now spoke
20852 cautiously on all these points. The Republicans, conscious of the fact
20853 that they had been a minority of the voters in 1860 and warned by the
20854 early loss of the House of Representatives in 1874, also moved with
20855 considerable prudence among the perplexing problems of the day. Again
20856 and again the votes in Congress showed that no clear line separated all
20857 the Democrats from all the Republicans. There were Republicans who
20858 favored tariff reductions and "cheap money." There were Democrats who
20859 looked with partiality upon high protection or with indulgence upon the
20860 contraction of the currency. Only on matters relating to the coercion of
20861 the South was the division between the parties fairly definite; this
20862 could be readily accounted for on practical as well as sentimental
20863 grounds.
20864
20865 After all, the vague criticisms and proposals that found their way into
20866 the political platforms did but reflect the confusion of mind prevailing
20867 in the country. The fact that, out of the eighteen years between 1875
20868 and 1893, the Democrats held the House of Representatives for fourteen
20869 years while the Republicans had every President but one showed that the
20870 voters, like the politicians, were in a state of indecision. Hayes had a
20871 Democratic House during his entire term and a Democratic Senate for two
20872 years of the four. Cleveland was confronted by a belligerent Republican
20873 majority in the Senate during his first administration; and at the same
20874 time was supported by a Democratic majority in the House. Harrison was
20875 sustained by continuous Republican successes in Senatorial elections;
20876 but in the House he had the barest majority from 1889 to 1891 and lost
20877 that altogether at the election held in the middle of his term. The
20878 opinion of the country was evidently unsettled and fluctuating. It was
20879 still distracted by memories of the dead past and uncertain as to the
20880 trend of the future.
20881
20882
20883 THE CURRENCY QUESTION
20884
20885 Nevertheless these years of muddled politics and nebulous issues proved
20886 to be a period in which social forces were gathering for the great
20887 campaign of 1896. Except for three new features--the railways, the
20888 trusts, and the trade unions--the subjects of debate among the people
20889 were the same as those that had engaged their attention since the
20890 foundation of the republic: the currency, the national debt, banking,
20891 the tariff, and taxation.
20892
20893 =Debtors and the Fall in Prices.=--For many reasons the currency
20894 question occupied the center of interest. As of old, the farmers and
20895 planters of the West and South were heavily in debt to the East for
20896 borrowed money secured by farm mortgages; and they counted upon the sale
20897 of cotton, corn, wheat, and hogs to meet interest and principal when
20898 due. During the war, the Western farmers had been able to dispose of
20899 their produce at high prices and thus discharge their debts with
20900 comparative ease; but after the war prices declined. Wheat that sold at
20901 two dollars a bushel in 1865 brought sixty-four cents twenty years
20902 later. The meaning of this for the farmers in debt--and nearly
20903 three-fourths of them were in that class--can be shown by a single
20904 illustration. A thousand-dollar mortgage on a Western farm could be paid
20905 off by five hundred bushels of wheat when prices were high; whereas it
20906 took about fifteen hundred bushels to pay the same debt when wheat was
20907 at the bottom of the scale. For the farmer, it must be remembered, wheat
20908 was the measure of his labor, the product of his toil under the summer
20909 sun; and in its price he found the test of his prosperity.
20910
20911 =Creditors and Falling Prices.=--To the bondholders or creditors, on the
20912 other hand, falling prices were clear gain. If a fifty-dollar coupon on
20913 a bond bought seventy or eighty bushels of wheat instead of twenty or
20914 thirty, the advantage to the owner of the coupon was obvious. Moreover
20915 the advantage seemed to him entirely just. Creditors had suffered heavy
20916 losses when the Civil War carried prices skyward while the interest
20917 rates on their old bonds remained stationary. For example, if a man had
20918 a $1000 bond issued before 1860 and paying interest at five per cent, he
20919 received fifty dollars a year from it. Before the war each dollar would
20920 buy a bushel of wheat; in 1865 it would only buy half a bushel. When
20921 prices--that is, the cost of living--began to go down, creditors
20922 therefore generally regarded the change with satisfaction as a return to
20923 normal conditions.
20924
20925 =The Cause of Falling Prices.=--The fall in prices was due, no doubt, to
20926 many factors. Among them must be reckoned the discontinuance of
20927 government buying for war purposes, labor-saving farm machinery,
20928 immigration, and the opening of new wheat-growing regions. The currency,
20929 too, was an element in the situation. Whatever the cause, the
20930 discontented farmers believed that the way to raise prices was to issue
20931 more money. They viewed it as a case of supply and demand. If there was
20932 a small volume of currency in circulation, prices would be low; if there
20933 was a large volume, prices would be high. Hence they looked with favor
20934 upon all plans to increase the amount of money in circulation. First
20935 they advocated more paper notes--greenbacks--and then they turned to
20936 silver as the remedy. The creditors, on the other hand, naturally
20937 approved the reduction of the volume of currency. They wished to see the
20938 greenbacks withdrawn from circulation and gold--a metal more limited in
20939 volume than silver--made the sole basis of the national monetary system.
20940
20941 =The Battle over the Greenbacks.=--The contest between these factions
20942 began as early as 1866. In that year, Congress enacted a law authorizing
20943 the Treasury to withdraw the greenbacks from circulation. The paper
20944 money party set up a shrill cry of protest, and kept up the fight until,
20945 in 1878, it forced Congress to provide for the continuous re-issue of
20946 the legal tender notes as they came into the Treasury in payment of
20947 taxes and other dues. Then could the friends of easy money rejoice:
20948
20949 "Thou, Greenback, 'tis of thee
20950 Fair money of the free,
20951 Of thee we sing."
20952
20953 =Resumption of Specie Payment.=--There was, however, another side to
20954 this victory. The opponents of the greenbacks, unable to stop the
20955 circulation of paper, induced Congress to pass a law in 1875 providing
20956 that on and after January 1, 1879, "the Secretary of the Treasury shall
20957 redeem in coin the United States legal tender notes then outstanding on
20958 their presentation at the office of the Assistant Treasurer of the
20959 United States in the City of New York in sums of not less than fifty
20960 dollars." "The way to resume," John Sherman had said, "is to resume."
20961 When the hour for redemption arrived, the Treasury was prepared with a
20962 large hoard of gold. "On the appointed day," wrote the assistant
20963 secretary, "anxiety reigned in the office of the Treasury. Hour after
20964 hour passed; no news from New York. Inquiry by wire showed that all was
20965 quiet. At the close of the day this message came: '$135,000 of notes
20966 presented for coin--$400,000 of gold for notes.' That was all.
20967 Resumption was accomplished with no disturbance. By five o'clock the
20968 news was all over the land, and the New York bankers were sipping their
20969 tea in absolute safety."
20970
20971 =The Specie Problem--the Parity of Gold and Silver.=--Defeated in their
20972 efforts to stop "the present suicidal and destructive policy of
20973 contraction," the advocates of an abundant currency demanded an increase
20974 in the volume of silver in circulation. This precipitated one of the
20975 sharpest political battles in American history. The issue turned on
20976 legal as well as economic points. The Constitution gave Congress the
20977 power to coin money and it forbade the states to make anything but gold
20978 and silver legal tender in the payment of debts. It evidently
20979 contemplated the use of both metals in the currency system. Such, at
20980 least, was the view of many eminent statesmen, including no less a
20981 personage than James G. Blaine. The difficulty, however, lay in
20982 maintaining gold and silver coins on a level which would permit them to
20983 circulate with equal facility. Obviously, if the gold in a gold dollar
20984 exceeds the value of the silver in a silver dollar on the open market,
20985 men will hoard gold money and leave silver money in circulation. When,
20986 for example, Congress in 1792 fixed the ratio of the two metals at one
20987 to fifteen--one ounce of gold declared worth fifteen of silver--it was
20988 soon found that gold had been undervalued. When again in 1834 the ratio
20989 was put at one to sixteen, it was found that silver was undervalued.
20990 Consequently the latter metal was not brought in for coinage and silver
20991 almost dropped out of circulation. Many a silver dollar was melted down
20992 by silverware factories.
20993
20994 =Silver Demonetized in 1873.=--So things stood in 1873. At that time,
20995 Congress, in enacting a mintage law, discontinued the coinage of the
20996 standard silver dollar, then practically out of circulation. This act
20997 was denounced later by the friends of silver as "the crime of '73," a
20998 conspiracy devised by the money power and secretly carried out. This
20999 contention the debates in Congress do not seem to sustain. In the course
21000 of the argument on the mint law it was distinctly said by one speaker at
21001 least: "This bill provides for the making of changes in the legal tender
21002 coin of the country and for substituting as legal tender, coin of only
21003 one metal instead of two as heretofore."
21004
21005 =The Decline in the Value of Silver.=--Absorbed in the greenback
21006 controversy, the people apparently did not appreciate, at the time, the
21007 significance of the "demonetization" of silver; but within a few years
21008 several events united in making it the center of a political storm.
21009 Germany, having abandoned silver in 1871, steadily increased her demand
21010 for gold. Three years later, the countries of the Latin Union followed
21011 this example, thus helping to enhance the price of the yellow metal. All
21012 the while, new silver lodes, discovered in the Far West, were pouring
21013 into the market great streams of the white metal, bearing down the
21014 price. Then came the resumption of specie payment, which, in effect,
21015 placed the paper money on a gold basis. Within twenty years silver was
21016 worth in gold only about half the price of 1870.
21017
21018 That there had been a real decline in silver was denied by the friends
21019 of that metal. They alleged that gold had gone up because it had been
21020 given a monopoly in the coinage markets of civilized governments. This
21021 monopoly, they continued, was the fruit of a conspiracy against the
21022 people conceived by the bankers of the world. Moreover, they went on,
21023 the placing of the greenbacks on a gold basis had itself worked a
21024 contraction of the currency; it lowered the prices of labor and produce
21025 to the advantage of the holders of long-term investments bearing a fixed
21026 rate of interest. When wheat sold at sixty-four cents a bushel, their
21027 search for relief became desperate, and they at last concentrated their
21028 efforts on opening the mints of the government for the free coinage of
21029 silver at the ratio of sixteen to one.
21030
21031 =Republicans and Democrats Divided.=--On this question both Republicans
21032 and Democrats were divided, the line being drawn between the East on the
21033 one hand and the South and West on the other, rather than between the
21034 two leading parties. So trusted a leader as James G. Blaine avowed, in a
21035 speech delivered in the Senate in 1878, that, as the Constitution
21036 required Congress to make both gold and silver the money of the land,
21037 the only question left was that of fixing the ratio between them. He
21038 affirmed, moreover, the main contention of the silver faction that a
21039 reopening of the government mints of the world to silver would bring it
21040 up to its old relation with gold. He admitted also that their most
21041 ominous warnings were well founded, saying: "I believe the struggle now
21042 going on in this country and in other countries for a single gold
21043 standard would, if successful, produce widespread disaster throughout
21044 the commercial world. The destruction of silver as money and the
21045 establishment of gold as the sole unit of value must have a ruinous
21046 effect on all forms of property, except those investments which yield a
21047 fixed return."
21048
21049 This was exactly the concession that the silver party wanted.
21050 "Three-fourths of the business enterprises of this country are conducted
21051 on borrowed capital," said Senator Jones, of Nevada. "Three-fourths of
21052 the homes and farms that stand in the names of the actual occupants have
21053 been bought on time and a very large proportion of them are mortgaged
21054 for the payment of some part of the purchase money. Under the operation
21055 of a shrinkage in the volume of money, this enormous mass of borrowers,
21056 at the maturity of their respective debts, though nominally paying no
21057 more than the amount borrowed, with interest, are in reality, in the
21058 amount of the principal alone, returning a percentage of value greater
21059 than they received--more in equity than they contracted to pay.... In
21060 all discussions of the subject the creditors attempt to brush aside the
21061 equities involved by sneering at the debtors."
21062
21063 =The Silver Purchase Act (1878).=--Even before the actual resumption of
21064 specie payment, the advocates of free silver were a power to be reckoned
21065 with, particularly in the Democratic party. They had a majority in the
21066 House of Representatives in 1878 and they carried a silver bill through
21067 that chamber. Blocked by the Republican Senate they accepted a
21068 compromise in the Bland-Allison bill, which provided for huge monthly
21069 purchases of silver by the government for coinage into dollars. So
21070 strong was the sentiment that a two-thirds majority was mustered after
21071 President Hayes vetoed the measure.
21072
21073 The effect of this act, as some had anticipated, was disappointing. It
21074 did not stay silver on its downward course. Thereupon the silver faction
21075 pressed through Congress in 1886 a bill providing for the issue of paper
21076 certificates based on the silver accumulated in the Treasury. Still
21077 silver continued to fall. Then the advocates of inflation declared that
21078 they would be content with nothing short of free coinage at the ratio of
21079 sixteen to one. If the issue had been squarely presented in 1890, there
21080 is good reason for believing that free silver would have received a
21081 majority in both houses of Congress; but it was not presented.
21082
21083 =The Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the Bond Sales.=--Republican
21084 leaders, particularly from the East, stemmed the silver tide by a
21085 diversion of forces. They passed the Sherman Act of 1890 providing for
21086 large monthly purchases of silver and for the issue of notes redeemable
21087 in gold or silver at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. In
21088 a clause of superb ambiguity they announced that it was "the established
21089 policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with
21090 each other upon the present legal ratio or such other ratio as may be
21091 provided by law." For a while silver was buoyed up. Then it turned once
21092 more on its downward course. In the meantime the Treasury was in a sad
21093 plight. To maintain the gold reserve, President Cleveland felt compelled
21094 to sell government bonds; and to his dismay he found that as soon as the
21095 gold was brought in at the front door of the Treasury, notes were
21096 presented for redemption and the gold was quickly carried out at the
21097 back door. Alarmed at the vicious circle thus created, he urged upon
21098 Congress the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. For this he was
21099 roundly condemned by many of his own followers who branded his conduct
21100 as "treason to the party"; but the Republicans, especially from the
21101 East, came to his rescue and in 1893 swept the troublesome sections of
21102 the law from the statute book. The anger of the silver faction knew no
21103 bounds, and the leaders made ready for the approaching presidential
21104 campaign.
21105
21106
21107 THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF AND TAXATION
21108
21109 =Fluctuation in Tariff Policy.=--As each of the old parties was divided
21110 on the currency question, it is not surprising that there was some
21111 confusion in their ranks over the tariff. Like the silver issue, the
21112 tariff tended to align the manufacturing East against the agricultural
21113 West and South rather than to cut directly between the two parties.
21114 Still the Republicans on the whole stood firmly by the rates imposed
21115 during the Civil War. If we except the reductions of 1872 which were
21116 soon offset by increases, we may say that those rates were substantially
21117 unchanged for nearly twenty years. When a revision was brought about,
21118 however, it was initiated by Republican leaders. Seeing a huge surplus
21119 of revenue in the Treasury in 1883, they anticipated popular clamor by
21120 revising the tariff on the theory that it ought to be reformed by its
21121 friends rather than by its enemies. On the other hand, it was the
21122 Republicans also who enacted the McKinley tariff bill of 1890, which
21123 carried protection to its highest point up to that time.
21124
21125 The Democrats on their part were not all confirmed free traders or even
21126 advocates of tariff for revenue only. In Cleveland's first
21127 administration they did attack the protective system in the House, where
21128 they had a majority, and in this they were vigorously supported by the
21129 President. The assault, however, proved to be a futile gesture for it
21130 was blocked by the Republicans in the Senate. When, after the sweeping
21131 victory of 1892, the Democrats in the House again attempted to bring
21132 down the tariff by the Wilson bill of 1894, they were checkmated by
21133 their own party colleagues in the upper chamber. In the end they were
21134 driven into a compromise that looked more like a McKinley than a Calhoun
21135 tariff. The Republicans taunted them with being "babes in the woods."
21136 President Cleveland was so dissatisfied with the bill that he refused to
21137 sign it, allowing it to become a law, on the lapse of ten days, without
21138 his approval.
21139
21140 =The Income Tax of 1894.=--The advocates of tariff reduction usually
21141 associated with their proposal a tax on incomes. The argument which
21142 they advanced in support of their program was simple. Most of the
21143 industries, they said, are in the East and the protective tariff which
21144 taxes consumers for the benefit of manufacturers is, in effect, a
21145 tribute laid upon the rest of the country. As an offset they offered a
21146 tax on large incomes; this owing to the heavy concentration of rich
21147 people in the East, would fall mainly upon the beneficiaries of
21148 protection. "We propose," said one of them, "to place a part of the
21149 burden upon the accumulated wealth of the country instead of placing it
21150 all upon the consumption of the people." In this spirit the sponsors of
21151 the Wilson tariff bill laid a tax upon all incomes of $4000 a year or
21152 more.
21153
21154 In taking this step, the Democrats encountered opposition in their own
21155 party. Senator Hill, of New York, turned fiercely upon them, exclaiming:
21156 "The professors with their books, the socialists with their schemes, the
21157 anarchists with their bombs are all instructing the people in the ...
21158 principles of taxation." Even the Eastern Republicans were hardly as
21159 savage in their denunciation of the tax. But all this labor was wasted.
21160 The next year the Supreme Court of the United States declared the income
21161 tax to be a direct tax, and therefore null and void because it was laid
21162 on incomes wherever found and not apportioned among the states according
21163 to population. The fact that four of the nine judges dissented from this
21164 decision was also an index to the diversity of opinion that divided both
21165 parties.
21166
21167
21168 THE RAILWAYS AND TRUSTS
21169
21170 =The Grangers and State Regulation.=--The same uncertainty about the
21171 railways and trusts pervaded the ranks of the Republicans and Democrats.
21172 As to the railways, the first firm and consistent demand for their
21173 regulation came from the West. There the farmers, in the early
21174 seventies, having got control in state legislatures, particularly in
21175 Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, enacted drastic laws prescribing the
21176 maximum charges which companies could make for carrying freight and
21177 passengers. The application of these measures, however, was limited
21178 because the state could not fix the rates for transporting goods and
21179 passengers beyond its own borders. The power of regulating interstate
21180 commerce, under the Constitution, belonged to Congress.
21181
21182 =The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887.=--Within a few years, the movement
21183 which had been so effective in western legislatures appeared at
21184 Washington in the form of demands for the federal regulation of
21185 interstate rates. In 1887, the pressure became so strong that Congress
21186 created the interstate commerce commission and forbade many abuses on
21187 the part of railways; such as discriminating in charges between one
21188 shipper and another and granting secret rebates to favored persons. This
21189 law was a significant beginning; but it left the main question of
21190 rate-fixing untouched, much to the discontent of farmers and shippers.
21191
21192 =The Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1890.=--As in the case of the railways,
21193 attacks upon the trusts were first made in state legislatures, where it
21194 became the fashion to provide severe penalties for those who formed
21195 monopolies and "conspired to enhance prices." Republicans and Democrats
21196 united in the promotion of measures of this kind. As in the case of the
21197 railways also, the movement to curb the trusts soon had spokesmen at
21198 Washington. Though Blaine had declared that "trusts were largely a
21199 private affair with which neither the President nor any private citizen
21200 had any particular right to interfere," it was a Republican Congress
21201 that enacted in 1890 the first measure--the Sherman Anti-Trust
21202 Law--directed against great combinations in business. This act declared
21203 illegal "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise,
21204 or conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce among the several
21205 states or with foreign nations."
21206
21207 =The Futility of the Anti-Trust Law.=--Whether the Sherman law was
21208 directed against all combinations or merely those which placed an
21209 "unreasonable restraint" on trade and competition was not apparent.
21210 Senator Platt of Connecticut, a careful statesman of the old school,
21211 averred: "The questions of whether the bill would be operative, of how
21212 it would operate, or whether it was within the power of Congress to
21213 enact it, have been whistled down the wind in this Senate as idle talk
21214 and the whole effort has been to get some bill headed: 'A bill to punish
21215 trusts,' with which to go to the country." Whatever its purpose, its
21216 effect upon existing trusts and upon the formation of new combinations
21217 was negligible. It was practically unenforced by President Harrison and
21218 President Cleveland, in spite of the constant demand for harsh action
21219 against "monopolies." It was patent that neither the Republicans nor the
21220 Democrats were prepared for a war on the trusts to the bitter end.
21221
21222
21223 THE MINOR PARTIES AND UNREST
21224
21225 =The Demands of Dissenting Parties.=--From the election of 1872, when
21226 Horace Greeley made his ill-fated excursion into politics, onward, there
21227 appeared in each presidential campaign one, and sometimes two or more
21228 parties, stressing issues that appealed mainly to wage-earners and
21229 farmers. Whether they chose to call themselves Labor Reformers,
21230 Greenbackers, or Anti-monopolists, their slogans and their platforms all
21231 pointed in one direction. Even the Prohibitionists, who in 1872 started
21232 on their career with a single issue, the abolition of the liquor
21233 traffic, found themselves making declarations of faith on other matters
21234 and hopelessly split over the money question in 1896.
21235
21236 A composite view of the platforms put forth by the dissenting parties
21237 from the administration of Grant to the close of Cleveland's second term
21238 reveals certain notions common to them all. These included among many
21239 others: the earliest possible payment of the national debt; regulation
21240 of the rates of railways and telegraph companies; repeal of the specie
21241 resumption act of 1875; the issue of legal tender notes by the
21242 government convertible into interest-bearing obligations on demand;
21243 unlimited coinage of silver as well as gold; a graduated inheritance
21244 tax; legislation to take from "land, railroad, money, and other gigantic
21245 corporate monopolies ... the powers they have so corruptly and unjustly
21246 usurped"; popular or direct election of United States Senators; woman
21247 suffrage; and a graduated income tax, "placing the burden of government
21248 on those who can best afford to pay instead of laying it on the farmers
21249 and producers."
21250
21251 =Criticism of the Old Parties.=--To this long program of measures the
21252 reformers added harsh and acrid criticism of the old parties and
21253 sometimes, it must be said, of established institutions of government.
21254 "We denounce," exclaimed the Labor party in 1888, "the Democratic and
21255 Republican parties as hopelessly and shamelessly corrupt and by reason
21256 of their affiliation with monopolies equally unworthy of the suffrages
21257 of those who do not live upon public plunder." "The United States
21258 Senate," insisted the Greenbackers, "is a body composed largely of
21259 aristocratic millionaires who according to their own party papers
21260 generally purchased their elections in order to protect the great
21261 monopolies which they represent." Indeed, if their platforms are to be
21262 accepted at face value, the Greenbackers believed that the entire
21263 government had passed out of the hands of the people.
21264
21265 =The Grangers.=--This unsparing, not to say revolutionary, criticism of
21266 American political life, appealed, it seems, mainly to farmers in the
21267 Middle West. Always active in politics, they had, before the Civil War,
21268 cast their lot as a rule with one or the other of the leading parties.
21269 In 1867, however, there grew up among them an association known as the
21270 "Patrons of Husbandry," which was destined to play a large role in the
21271 partisan contests of the succeeding decades. This society, which
21272 organized local lodges or "granges" on principles of secrecy and
21273 fraternity, was originally designed to promote in a general way the
21274 interests of the farmers. Its political bearings were apparently not
21275 grasped at first by its promoters. Yet, appealing as it did to the most
21276 active and independent spirits among the farmers and gathering to itself
21277 the strength that always comes from organization, it soon found itself
21278 in the hands of leaders more or less involved in politics. Where a few
21279 votes are marshaled together in a democracy, there is power.
21280
21281 =The Greenback Party.=--The first extensive activity of the Grangers was
21282 connected with the attack on the railways in the Middle West which
21283 forced several state legislatures to reduce freight and passenger rates
21284 by law. At the same time, some leaders in the movement, no doubt
21285 emboldened by this success, launched in 1876 a new political party,
21286 popularly known as the Greenbackers, favoring a continued re-issue of
21287 the legal tenders. The beginnings were disappointing; but two years
21288 later, in the congressional elections, the Greenbackers swept whole
21289 sections of the country. Their candidates polled more than a million
21290 votes and fourteen of them were returned to the House of
21291 Representatives. To all outward signs a new and formidable party had
21292 entered the lists.
21293
21294 The sanguine hopes of the leaders proved to be illusory. The quiet
21295 operations of the resumption act the following year, a revival of
21296 industry from a severe panic which had set in during 1873, the Silver
21297 Purchase Act, and the re-issue of Greenbacks cut away some of the
21298 grounds of agitation. There was also a diversion of forces to the silver
21299 faction which had a substantial support in the silver mine owners of the
21300 West. At all events the Greenback vote fell to about 300,000 in the
21301 election of 1880. A still greater drop came four years later and the
21302 party gave up the ghost, its sponsors returning to their former
21303 allegiance or sulking in their tents.
21304
21305 =The Rise of the Populist Party.=--Those leaders of the old parties who
21306 now looked for a happy future unvexed by new factions were doomed to
21307 disappointment. The funeral of the Greenback party was hardly over
21308 before there arose two other political specters in the agrarian
21309 sections: the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union,
21310 particularly strong in the South and West; and the Farmers' Alliance,
21311 operating in the North. By 1890 the two orders claimed over three
21312 million members. As in the case of the Grangers many years before, the
21313 leaders among them found an easy way into politics. In 1892 they held a
21314 convention, nominated a candidate for President, and adopted the name of
21315 "People's Party," from which they were known as Populists. Their
21316 platform, in every line, breathed a spirit of radicalism. They declared
21317 that "the newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled; public opinion
21318 silenced; business prostrate; our homes covered with mortgages; and the
21319 land concentrating in the hands of capitalists.... The fruits of the
21320 toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a
21321 few." Having delivered this sweeping indictment, the Populists put
21322 forward their remedies: the free coinage of silver, a graduated income
21323 tax, postal savings banks, and government ownership of railways and
21324 telegraphs. At the same time they approved the initiative, referendum,
21325 and popular election of Senators, and condemned the use of federal
21326 troops in labor disputes. On this platform, the Populists polled over a
21327 million votes, captured twenty-two presidential electors, and sent a
21328 powerful delegation to Congress.
21329
21330 =Industrial Distress Augments Unrest.=--The four years intervening
21331 between the campaign of 1892 and the next presidential election brought
21332 forth many events which aggravated the ill-feeling expressed in the
21333 portentous platform of Populism. Cleveland, a consistent enemy of free
21334 silver, gave his powerful support to the gold standard and insisted on
21335 the repeal of the Silver Purchase Act, thus alienating an increasing
21336 number of his own party. In 1893 a grave industrial crisis fell upon the
21337 land: banks and business houses went into bankruptcy with startling
21338 rapidity; factories were closed; idle men thronged the streets hunting
21339 for work; and the prices of wheat and corn dropped to a ruinous level.
21340 Labor disputes also filled the crowded record. A strike at the Pullman
21341 car works in Chicago spread to the railways. Disorders ensued. President
21342 Cleveland, against the protests of the governor of Illinois, John P.
21343 Altgeld, dispatched troops to the scene of action. The United States
21344 district court at Chicago issued an injunction forbidding the president
21345 of the Railway Union, Eugene V. Debs, or his assistants to interfere
21346 with the transmission of the mails or interstate commerce in any form.
21347 For refusing to obey the order, Debs was arrested and imprisoned. With
21348 federal troops in possession of the field, with their leader in jail,
21349 the strikers gave up the battle, defeated but not subdued. To cap the
21350 climax the Supreme Court of the United States, the following year (1895)
21351 declared null and void the income tax law just enacted by Congress, thus
21352 fanning the flames of Populist discontent all over the West and South.
21353
21354
21355 THE SOUND MONEY BATTLE OF 1896
21356
21357 =Conservative Men Alarmed.=--Men of conservative thought and leaning in
21358 both parties were by this time thoroughly disturbed. They looked upon
21359 the rise of Populism and the growth of labor disputes as the signs of a
21360 revolutionary spirit, indeed nothing short of a menace to American
21361 institutions and ideals. The income tax law of 1894, exclaimed the
21362 distinguished New York advocate, Joseph H. Choate, in an impassioned
21363 speech before the Supreme Court, "is communistic in its purposes and
21364 tendencies and is defended here upon principles as communistic,
21365 socialistic--what shall I call them--populistic as ever have been
21366 addressed to any political assembly in the world." Mr. Justice Field in
21367 the name of the Court replied: "The present assault upon capital is but
21368 the beginning. It will be but the stepping stone to others larger and
21369 more sweeping till our political conditions will become a war of the
21370 poor against the rich." In declaring the income tax unconstitutional, he
21371 believed that he was but averting greater evils lurking under its guise.
21372 As for free silver, nearly all conservative men were united in calling
21373 it a measure of confiscation and repudiation; an effort of the debtors
21374 to pay their obligations with money worth fifty cents on the dollar; the
21375 climax of villainies openly defended; a challenge to law, order, and
21376 honor.
21377
21378 =The Republicans Come Out for the Gold Standard.=--It was among the
21379 Republicans that this opinion was most widely shared and firmly held. It
21380 was they who picked up the gauge thrown down by the Populists, though a
21381 host of Democrats, like Cleveland and Hill of New York, also battled
21382 against the growing Populist defection in Democratic ranks. When the
21383 Republican national convention assembled in 1896, the die was soon
21384 cast; a declaration of opposition to free silver save by international
21385 agreement was carried by a vote of eight to one. The Republican party,
21386 to use the vigorous language of Mr. Lodge, arrayed itself against "not
21387 only that organized failure, the Democratic party, but all the wandering
21388 forces of political chaos and social disorder ... in these bitter times
21389 when the forces of disorder are loose and the wreckers with their false
21390 lights gather at the shore to lure the ship of state upon the rocks."
21391 Yet it is due to historic truth to state that McKinley, whom the
21392 Republicans nominated, had voted in Congress for the free coinage of
21393 silver, was widely known as a bimetallist, and was only with difficulty
21394 persuaded to accept the unequivocal indorsement of the gold standard
21395 which was pressed upon him by his counselors. Having accepted it,
21396 however, he proved to be a valiant champion, though his major interest
21397 was undoubtedly in the protective tariff. To him nothing was more
21398 reprehensible than attempts "to array class against class, 'the classes
21399 against the masses,' section against section, labor against capital,
21400 'the poor against the rich,' or interest against interest." Such was the
21401 language of his acceptance speech. The whole program of Populism he now
21402 viewed as a "sudden, dangerous, and revolutionary assault upon law and
21403 order."
21404
21405 =The Democratic Convention at Chicago.=--Never, save at the great
21406 disruption on the eve of the Civil War, did a Democratic national
21407 convention display more feeling than at Chicago in 1896. From the
21408 opening prayer to the last motion before the house, every act, every
21409 speech, every scene, every resolution evoked passions and sowed
21410 dissensions. Departing from long party custom, it voted down in anger a
21411 proposal to praise the administration of the Democratic President,
21412 Cleveland. When the platform with its radical planks, including free
21413 silver, was reported, a veritable storm broke. Senator Hill, trembling
21414 with emotion, protested against the departure from old tests of
21415 Democratic allegiance; against principles that must drive out of the
21416 party men who had grown gray in its service; against revolutionary,
21417 unwise, and unprecedented steps in the history of the party. Senator
21418 Vilas of Wisconsin, in great fervor, avowed that there was no difference
21419 in principle between the free coinage of silver--"the confiscation of
21420 one-half of the credits of the nation for the benefit of debtors"--and
21421 communism itself--"a universal distribution of property." In the triumph
21422 of that cause he saw the beginning of "the overthrow of all law, all
21423 justice, all security and repose in the social order."
21424
21425 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
21426
21427 WILLIAM J. BRYAN IN 1898]
21428
21429 =The Crown of Thorns Speech.=--The champions of free silver replied in
21430 strident tones. They accused the gold advocates of being the aggressors
21431 who had assailed the labor and the homes of the people. William Jennings
21432 Bryan, of Nebraska, voiced their sentiments in a memorable oration. He
21433 declared that their cause "was as holy as the cause of liberty--the
21434 cause of humanity." He exclaimed that the contest was between the idle
21435 holders of idle capital and the toiling millions. Then he named those
21436 for whom he spoke--the wage-earner, the country lawyer, the small
21437 merchant, the farmer, and the miner. "The man who is employed for wages
21438 is as much a business man as his employer. The attorney in a country
21439 town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great
21440 metropolis. The merchant at the cross roads store is as much a business
21441 man as the merchant of New York. The farmer ... is as much a business
21442 man as the man who goes upon the board of trade and bets upon the price
21443 of grain. The miners who go a thousand feet into the earth or climb two
21444 thousand feet upon the cliffs ... are as much business men as the few
21445 financial magnates who in a back room corner the money of the world....
21446 It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Ours is not
21447 a war of conquest. We are fighting in defense of our homes, our
21448 families, and our posterity. We have petitioned and our petitions have
21449 been scorned. We have entreated and our entreaties have been
21450 disregarded. We have begged and they have mocked when our calamity came.
21451 We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy
21452 them.... We shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to
21453 them, 'You shall not press upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns.
21454 You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.'"
21455
21456 =Bryan Nominated.=--In all the history of national conventions never had
21457 an orator so completely swayed a multitude; not even Yancey in his
21458 memorable plea in the Charleston convention of 1860 when, with grave and
21459 moving eloquence, he espoused the Southern cause against the impending
21460 fates. The delegates, after cheering Mr. Bryan until they could cheer no
21461 more, tore the standards from the floor and gathered around the Nebraska
21462 delegation to renew the deafening applause. The platform as reported was
21463 carried by a vote of two to one and the young orator from the West,
21464 hailed as America's Tiberius Gracchus, was nominated as the Democratic
21465 candidate for President. The South and West had triumphed over the East.
21466 The division was sectional, admittedly sectional--the old combination of
21467 power which Calhoun had so anxiously labored to build up a century
21468 earlier. The Gold Democrats were repudiated in terms which were clear to
21469 all. A few, unable to endure the thought of voting the Republican
21470 ticket, held a convention at Indianapolis where, with the sanction of
21471 Cleveland, they nominated candidates of their own and endorsed the gold
21472 standard in a forlorn hope.
21473
21474 =The Democratic Platform.=--It was to the call from Chicago that the
21475 Democrats gave heed and the Republicans made answer. The platform on
21476 which Mr. Bryan stood, unlike most party manifestoes, was explicit in
21477 its language and its appeal. It denounced the practice of allowing
21478 national banks to issue notes intended to circulate as money on the
21479 ground that it was "in derogation of the Constitution," recalling
21480 Jackson's famous attack on the Bank in 1832. It declared that tariff
21481 duties should be laid "for the purpose of revenue"--Calhoun's doctrine.
21482 In demanding the free coinage of silver, it recurred to the practice
21483 abandoned in 1873. The income tax came next on the program. The platform
21484 alleged that the law of 1894, passed by a Democratic Congress, was "in
21485 strict pursuance of the uniform decisions of the Supreme Court for
21486 nearly a hundred years," and then hinted that the decision annulling the
21487 law might be reversed by the same body "as it may hereafter be
21488 constituted."
21489
21490 The appeal to labor voiced by Mr. Bryan in his "crown of thorns" speech
21491 was reinforced in the platform. "As labor creates the wealth of the
21492 country," ran one plank, "we demand the passage of such laws as may be
21493 necessary to protect it in all its rights." Referring to the recent
21494 Pullman strike, the passions of which had not yet died away, the
21495 platform denounced "arbitrary interference by federal authorities in
21496 local affairs as a violation of the Constitution of the United States
21497 and a crime against free institutions." A special objection was lodged
21498 against "government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of
21499 oppression by which federal judges, in contempt of the laws of states
21500 and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges, and
21501 executioners." The remedy advanced was a federal law assuring trial by
21502 jury in all cases of contempt in labor disputes. Having made this
21503 declaration of faith, the Democrats, with Mr. Bryan at the head, raised
21504 their standard of battle.
21505
21506 =The Heated Campaign.=--The campaign which ensued outrivaled in the
21507 range of its educational activities and the bitterness of its tone all
21508 other political conflicts in American history, not excepting the fateful
21509 struggle of 1860. Immense sums of money were contributed to the funds of
21510 both parties. Railway, banking, and other corporations gave generously
21511 to the Republicans; the silver miners, less lavishly but with the same
21512 anxiety, supported the Democrats. The country was flooded with
21513 pamphlets, posters, and handbills. Every public forum, from the great
21514 auditoriums of the cities to the "red schoolhouses" on the countryside,
21515 was occupied by the opposing forces.
21516
21517 Mr. Bryan took the stump himself, visiting all parts of the country in
21518 special trains and addressing literally millions of people in the open
21519 air. Mr. McKinley chose the older and more formal plan. He received
21520 delegations at his home in Canton and discussed the issues of the
21521 campaign from his front porch, leaving to an army of well-organized
21522 orators the task of reaching the people in their home towns. Parades,
21523 processions, and monster demonstrations filled the land with politics.
21524 Whole states were polled in advance by the Republicans and the doubtful
21525 voters personally visited by men equipped with arguments and literature.
21526 Manufacturers, frightened at the possibility of disordered public
21527 credit, announced that they would close their doors if the Democrats won
21528 the election. Men were dismissed from public and private places on
21529 account of their political views, one eminent college president being
21530 forced out for advocating free silver. The language employed by
21531 impassioned and embittered speakers on both sides roused the public to a
21532 state of frenzy, once more showing the lengths to which men could go in
21533 personal and political abuse.
21534
21535 =The Republican Victory.=--The verdict of the nation was decisive.
21536 McKinley received 271 of the 447 electoral votes, and 7,111,000 popular
21537 votes as against Bryan's 6,509,000. The congressional elections were
21538 equally positive although, on account of the composition of the Senate,
21539 the "hold-over" Democrats and Populists still enjoyed a power out of
21540 proportion to their strength as measured at the polls. Even as it was,
21541 the Republicans got full control of both houses--a dominion of the
21542 entire government which they were to hold for fourteen years--until the
21543 second half of Mr. Taft's administration, when they lost possession of
21544 the House of Representatives. The yoke of indecision was broken. The
21545 party of sound finance and protective tariffs set out upon its lease of
21546 power with untroubled assurance.
21547
21548
21549 REPUBLICAN MEASURES AND RESULTS
21550
21551 =The Gold Standard and the Tariff.=--Yet strange as it may seem, the
21552 Republicans did not at once enact legislation making the gold dollar the
21553 standard for the national currency. Not until 1900 did they take that
21554 positive step. In his first inaugural President McKinley, as if still
21555 uncertain in his own mind or fearing a revival of the contest just
21556 closed, placed the tariff, not the money question, in the forefront.
21557 "The people have decided," he said, "that such legislation should be had
21558 as will give ample protection and encouragement to the industries and
21559 development of our country." Protection for American industries,
21560 therefore, he urged, is the task before Congress. "With adequate revenue
21561 secured, but not until then, we can enter upon changes in our fiscal
21562 laws." As the Republicans had only forty-six of the ninety Senators, and
21563 at least four of them were known advocates of free silver, the
21564 discretion exercised by the President in selecting the tariff for
21565 congressional debate was the better part of valor.
21566
21567 Congress gave heed to the warning. Under the direction of Nelson P.
21568 Dingley, whose name was given to the bill, a tariff measure levying the
21569 highest rates yet laid in the history of American imposts was prepared
21570 and driven through the House of Representatives. The opposition
21571 encountered in the Senate, especially from the West, was overcome by
21572 concessions in favor of that section; but the duties on sugar, tin,
21573 steel, lumber, hemp, and in fact all of the essential commodities
21574 handled by combinations and trusts, were materially raised.
21575
21576 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
21577
21578 PRESIDENT MCKINLEY AND HIS CABINET]
21579
21580 =Growth of Combinations.=--The years that followed the enactment of the
21581 Dingley law were, whatever the cause, the most prosperous the country
21582 had witnessed for many a decade. Industries of every kind were soon
21583 running full blast; labor was employed; commerce spread more swiftly
21584 than ever to the markets of the world. Coincident with this progress was
21585 the organization of the greatest combinations and trusts the world had
21586 yet seen. In 1899 the smelters formed a trust with a capital of
21587 $65,000,000; in the same year the Standard Oil Company with a capital of
21588 over one hundred millions took the place of the old trust; and the
21589 Copper Trust was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey, its par
21590 value capital being fixed shortly afterward at $175,000,000. A year
21591 later the National Sugar Refining Company, of New Jersey, started with a
21592 capital of $90,000,000, adopting the policy of issuing to the
21593 stockholders no public statement of its earnings or financial condition.
21594 Before another twelvemonth had elapsed all previous corporate financing
21595 was reduced to small proportions by the flotation of the United States
21596 Steel Corporation with a capital of more than a billion dollars, an
21597 enterprise set in motion by the famous Morgan banking house of New York.
21598
21599 In nearly all these gigantic undertakings, the same great leaders in
21600 finance were more or less intimately associated. To use the language of
21601 an eminent authority: "They are all allied and intertwined by their
21602 various mutual interests. For instance, the Pennsylvania Railroad
21603 interests are on the one hand allied with the Vanderbilts and on the
21604 other with the Rockefellers. The Vanderbilts are closely allied with the
21605 Morgan group.... Viewed as a whole we find the dominating influences in
21606 the trusts to be made up of a network of large and small capitalists,
21607 many allied to one another by ties of more or less importance, but all
21608 being appendages to or parts of the greater groups which are themselves
21609 dependent on and allied with the two mammoth or Rockefeller and Morgan
21610 groups. These two mammoth groups jointly ... constitute the heart of the
21611 business and commercial life of the nation." Such was the picture of
21612 triumphant business enterprise drawn by a financier within a few years
21613 after the memorable campaign of 1896.
21614
21615 America had become one of the first workshops of the world. It was, by
21616 virtue of the closely knit organization of its business and finance, one
21617 of the most powerful and energetic leaders in the struggle of the giants
21618 for the business of the earth. The capital of the Steel Corporation
21619 alone was more than ten times the total national debt which the apostles
21620 of calamity in the days of Washington and Hamilton declared the nation
21621 could never pay. American industry, filling domestic markets to
21622 overflowing, was ready for new worlds to conquer.
21623
21624
21625 =References=
21626
21627 F.W. Taussig, _Tariff History of the United States_.
21628
21629 J.L. Laughlin, _Bimetallism in the United States_.
21630
21631 A.B. Hepburn, _History of Coinage and Currency in the United States_.
21632
21633 E.R.A. Seligman, _The Income Tax_.
21634
21635 S.J. Buck, _The Granger Movement_ (Harvard Studies).
21636
21637 F.H. Dixon, _State Railroad Control_.
21638
21639 H.R. Meyer, _Government Regulation of Railway Rates_.
21640
21641 W.Z. Ripley (editor), _Trusts, Pools, and Corporations_.
21642
21643 R.T. Ely, _Monopolies and Trusts_.
21644
21645 J.B. Clark, _The Control of Trusts_.
21646
21647
21648 =Questions=
21649
21650 1. What proof have we that the political parties were not clearly
21651 divided over issues between 1865 and 1896?
21652
21653 2. Why is a fall in prices a loss to farmers and a gain to holders of
21654 fixed investments?
21655
21656 3. Explain the theory that the quantity of money determines the prices
21657 of commodities.
21658
21659 4. Why was it difficult, if not impossible, to keep gold and silver at a
21660 parity?
21661
21662 5. What special conditions favored a fall in silver between 1870 and
21663 1896?
21664
21665 6. Describe some of the measures taken to raise the value of silver.
21666
21667 7. Explain the relation between the tariff and the income tax in 1894.
21668
21669 8. How did it happen that the farmers led in regulating railway rates?
21670
21671 9. Give the terms of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. What was its immediate
21672 effect?
21673
21674 10. Name some of the minor parties. Enumerate the reforms they
21675 advocated.
21676
21677 11. Describe briefly the experiments of the farmers in politics.
21678
21679 12. How did industrial conditions increase unrest?
21680
21681 13. Why were conservative men disturbed in the early nineties?
21682
21683 14. Explain the Republican position in 1896.
21684
21685 15. Give Mr. Bryan's doctrines in 1896. Enumerate the chief features of
21686 the Democratic platform.
21687
21688 16. What were the leading measures adopted by the Republicans after
21689 their victory in 1896?
21690
21691
21692 =Research Topics=
21693
21694 =Greenbacks and Resumption.=--Dewey, _Financial History of the United
21695 States_ (6th ed.), Sections 122-125, 154, and 378; MacDonald,
21696 _Documentary Source Book of American History_, pp. 446, 566; Hart,
21697 _American History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 531-533; Rhodes,
21698 _History of the United States_, Vol. VIII, pp. 97-101.
21699
21700 =Demonetization and Coinage of Silver.=--Dewey, _Financial History_,
21701 Sections 170-173, 186, 189, 194; MacDonald, _Documentary Source Book_,
21702 pp. 174, 573, 593, 595; Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 529-531;
21703 Rhodes, _History_, Vol. VIII, pp. 93-97.
21704
21705 =Free Silver and the Campaign of 1896.=--Dewey, _National Problems_
21706 (American Nation Series), pp. 220-237, 314-328; Hart, _Contemporaries_,
21707 Vol. IV, pp. 533-538.
21708
21709 =Tariff Revision.=--Dewey, _Financial History_, Sections 167, 180, 181,
21710 187, 192, 196; Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 518-525; Rhodes,
21711 _History_, Vol. VIII, pp. 168-179, 346-351, 418-422.
21712
21713 =Federal Regulation of Railways.=--Dewey, _National Problems_, pp.
21714 91-111; MacDonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp. 581-590; Hart,
21715 _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 521-523; Rhodes, _History_, Vol. VIII,
21716 pp. 288-292.
21717
21718 =The Rise and Regulation of Trusts.=--Dewey, _National Problems_, pp.
21719 188-202; MacDonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp. 591-593.
21720
21721 =The Grangers and Populism.=--Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside
21722 Series), pp. 20-37, 177-191, 208-223.
21723
21724 =General Analysis of Domestic Problems.=--_Syllabus in History_ (New
21725 York State, 1920), pp. 137-142.
21726
21727
21728
21729
21730 CHAPTER XX
21731
21732 AMERICA A WORLD POWER (1865-1900)
21733
21734
21735 It has now become a fashion, sanctioned by wide usage and by eminent
21736 historians, to speak of America, triumphant over Spain and possessed of
21737 new colonies, as entering the twentieth century in the role of "a world
21738 power," for the first time. Perhaps at this late day, it is useless to
21739 protest against the currency of the idea. Nevertheless, the truth is
21740 that from the fateful moment in March, 1775, when Edmund Burke unfolded
21741 to his colleagues in the British Parliament the resources of an
21742 invincible America, down to the settlement at Versailles in 1919 closing
21743 the drama of the World War, this nation has been a world power,
21744 influencing by its example, by its institutions, by its wealth, trade,
21745 and arms the course of international affairs. And it should be said also
21746 that neither in the field of commercial enterprise nor in that of
21747 diplomacy has it been wanting in spirit or ingenuity.
21748
21749 When John Hay, Secretary of State, heard that an American citizen,
21750 Perdicaris, had been seized by Raisuli, a Moroccan bandit, in 1904, he
21751 wired his brusque message: "We want Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead."
21752 This was but an echo of Commodore Decatur's equally characteristic
21753 answer, "Not a minute," given nearly a hundred years before to the
21754 pirates of Algiers begging for time to consider whether they would cease
21755 preying upon American merchantmen. Was it not as early as 1844 that the
21756 American commissioner, Caleb Cushing, taking advantage of the British
21757 Opium War on China, negotiated with the Celestial Empire a successful
21758 commercial treaty? Did he not then exultantly exclaim: "The laws of the
21759 Union follow its citizens and its banner protects them even within the
21760 domain of the Chinese Empire"? Was it not almost half a century before
21761 the battle of Manila Bay in 1898, that Commodore Perry with an adequate
21762 naval force "gently coerced Japan into friendship with us," leading all
21763 the nations of the earth in the opening of that empire to the trade of
21764 the Occident? Nor is it inappropriate in this connection to recall the
21765 fact that the Monroe Doctrine celebrates in 1923 its hundredth
21766 anniversary.
21767
21768
21769 AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS (1865-98)
21770
21771 =French Intrigues in Mexico Blocked.=--Between the war for the union and
21772 the war with Spain, the Department of State had many an occasion to
21773 present the rights of America among the powers of the world. Only a
21774 little while after the civil conflict came to a close, it was called
21775 upon to deal with a dangerous situation created in Mexico by the
21776 ambitions of Napoleon III. During the administration of Buchanan, Mexico
21777 had fallen into disorder through the strife of the Liberal and the
21778 Clerical parties; the President asked for authority to use American
21779 troops to bring to a peaceful haven "a wreck upon the ocean, drifting
21780 about as she is impelled by different factions." Our own domestic crisis
21781 then intervened.
21782
21783 Observing the United States heavily involved in its own problems, the
21784 great powers, England, France, and Spain, decided in the autumn of 1861
21785 to take a hand themselves in restoring order in Mexico. They entered
21786 into an agreement to enforce the claims of their citizens against Mexico
21787 and to protect their subjects residing in that republic. They invited
21788 the United States to join them, and, on meeting a polite refusal, they
21789 prepared for a combined military and naval demonstration on their own
21790 account. In the midst of this action England and Spain, discovering the
21791 sinister purposes of Napoleon, withdrew their troops and left the field
21792 to him.
21793
21794 The French Emperor, it was well known, looked with jealousy upon the
21795 growth of the United States and dreamed of establishing in the Western
21796 hemisphere an imperial power to offset the American republic.
21797 Intervention to collect debts was only a cloak for his deeper designs.
21798 Throwing off that guise in due time, he made the Archduke Maximilian, a
21799 brother of the ruler of Austria, emperor in Mexico, and surrounded his
21800 throne by French soldiers, in spite of all protests.
21801
21802 This insolent attack upon the Mexican republic, deeply resented in the
21803 United States, was allowed to drift in its course until 1865. At that
21804 juncture General Sheridan was dispatched to the Mexican border with a
21805 large armed force; General Grant urged the use of the American army to
21806 expel the French from this continent. The Secretary of State, Seward,
21807 counseled negotiation first, and, applying the Monroe Doctrine, was able
21808 to prevail upon Napoleon III to withdraw his troops. Without the support
21809 of French arms, the sham empire in Mexico collapsed like a house of
21810 cards and the unhappy Maximilian, the victim of French ambition and
21811 intrigue, met his death at the hands of a Mexican firing squad.
21812
21813 =Alaska Purchased.=--The Mexican affair had not been brought to a close
21814 before the Department of State was busy with negotiations which resulted
21815 in the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The treaty of cession, signed on
21816 March 30, 1867, added to the United States a domain of nearly six
21817 hundred thousand square miles, a territory larger than Texas and nearly
21818 three-fourths the size of the Louisiana purchase. Though it was a
21819 distant colony separated from our continental domain by a thousand miles
21820 of water, no question of "imperialism" or "colonization foreign to
21821 American doctrines" seems to have been raised at the time. The treaty
21822 was ratified promptly by the Senate. The purchase price, $7,200,000, was
21823 voted by the House of Representatives after the display of some
21824 resentment against a system that compelled it to appropriate money to
21825 fulfill an obligation which it had no part in making. Seward, who
21826 formulated the treaty, rejoiced, as he afterwards said, that he had kept
21827 Alaska out of the hands of England.
21828
21829 =American Interest in the Caribbean.=--Having achieved this diplomatic
21830 triumph, Seward turned to the increase of American power in another
21831 direction. He negotiated, with Denmark, a treaty providing for the
21832 purchase of the islands of St. John and St. Thomas in the West Indies,
21833 strategic points in the Caribbean for sea power. This project, long
21834 afterward brought to fruition by other men, was defeated on this
21835 occasion by the refusal of the Senate to ratify the treaty. Evidently it
21836 was not yet prepared to exercise colonial dominion over other races.
21837
21838 Undaunted by the misadventure in Caribbean policies, President Grant
21839 warmly advocated the acquisition of Santo Domingo. This little republic
21840 had long been in a state of general disorder. In 1869 a treaty of
21841 annexation was concluded with its president. The document Grant
21842 transmitted to the Senate with his cordial approval, only to have it
21843 rejected. Not at all changed in his opinion by the outcome of his
21844 effort, he continued to urge the subject of annexation. Even in his last
21845 message to Congress he referred to it, saying that time had only proved
21846 the wisdom of his early course. The addition of Santo Domingo to the
21847 American sphere of protection was the work of a later generation. The
21848 State Department, temporarily checked, had to bide its time.
21849
21850 =The _Alabama_ Claims Arbitrated.=--Indeed, it had in hand a far more
21851 serious matter, a vexing issue that grew out of Civil War diplomacy. The
21852 British government, as already pointed out in other connections, had
21853 permitted Confederate cruisers, including the famous _Alabama_, built in
21854 British ports, to escape and prey upon the commerce of the Northern
21855 states. This action, denounced at the time by our government as a grave
21856 breach of neutrality as well as a grievous injury to American citizens,
21857 led first to remonstrances and finally to repeated claims for damages
21858 done to American ships and goods. For a long time Great Britain was
21859 firm. Her foreign secretary denied all obligations in the premises,
21860 adding somewhat curtly that "he wished to say once for all that Her
21861 Majesty's government disclaimed any responsibility for the losses and
21862 hoped that they had made their position perfectly clear." Still
21863 President Grant was not persuaded that the door of diplomacy, though
21864 closed, was barred. Hamilton Fish, his Secretary of State, renewed the
21865 demand. Finally he secured from the British government in 1871 the
21866 treaty of Washington providing for the arbitration not merely of the
21867 _Alabama_ and other claims but also all points of serious controversy
21868 between the two countries.
21869
21870 The tribunal of arbitration thus authorized sat at Geneva in
21871 Switzerland, and after a long and careful review of the arguments on
21872 both sides awarded to the United States the lump sum of $15,500,000 to
21873 be distributed among the American claimants. The damages thus allowed
21874 were large, unquestionably larger than strict justice required and it is
21875 not surprising that the decision excited much adverse comment in
21876 England. Nevertheless, the prompt payment by the British government
21877 swept away at once a great cloud of ill-feeling in America. Moreover,
21878 the spectacle of two powerful nations choosing the way of peaceful
21879 arbitration to settle an angry dispute seemed a happy, if illusory, omen
21880 of a modern method for avoiding the arbitrament of war.
21881
21882 =Samoa.=--If the Senate had its doubts at first about the wisdom of
21883 acquiring strategic points for naval power in distant seas, the same
21884 could not be said of the State Department or naval officers. In 1872
21885 Commander Meade, of the United States navy, alive to the importance of
21886 coaling stations even in mid-ocean, made a commercial agreement with the
21887 chief of Tutuila, one of the Samoan Islands, far below the equator, in
21888 the southern Pacific, nearer to Australia than to California. This
21889 agreement, providing among other things for our use of the harbor of
21890 Pago Pago as a naval base, was six years later changed into a formal
21891 treaty ratified by the Senate.
21892
21893 Such enterprise could not escape the vigilant eyes of England and
21894 Germany, both mindful of the course of the sea power in history. The
21895 German emperor, seizing as a pretext a quarrel between his consul in the
21896 islands and a native king, laid claim to an interest in the Samoan
21897 group. England, aware of the dangers arising from German outposts in the
21898 southern seas so near to Australia, was not content to stand aside. So
21899 it happened that all three countries sent battleships to the Samoan
21900 waters, threatening a crisis that was fortunately averted by friendly
21901 settlement. If, as is alleged, Germany entertained a notion of
21902 challenging American sea power then and there, the presence of British
21903 ships must have dispelled that dream.
21904
21905 The result of the affair was a tripartite agreement by which the three
21906 powers in 1889 undertook a protectorate over the islands. But joint
21907 control proved unsatisfactory. There was constant friction between the
21908 Germans and the English. The spheres of authority being vague and open
21909 to dispute, the plan had to be abandoned at the end of ten years.
21910 England withdrew altogether, leaving to Germany all the islands except
21911 Tutuila, which was ceded outright to the United States. Thus one of the
21912 finest harbors in the Pacific, to the intense delight of the American
21913 navy, passed permanently under American dominion. Another triumph in
21914 diplomacy was set down to the credit of the State Department.
21915
21916 =Cleveland and the Venezuela Affair.=--In the relations with South
21917 America, as well as in those with the distant Pacific, the diplomacy of
21918 the government at Washington was put to the test. For some time it had
21919 been watching a dispute between England and Venezuela over the western
21920 boundary of British Guiana and, on an appeal from Venezuela, it had
21921 taken a lively interest in the contest. In 1895 President Cleveland saw
21922 that Great Britain would yield none of her claims. After hearing the
21923 arguments of Venezuela, his Secretary of State, Richard T. Olney, in a
21924 note none too conciliatory, asked the British government whether it was
21925 willing to arbitrate the points in controversy. This inquiry he
21926 accompanied by a warning to the effect that the United States could not
21927 permit any European power to contest its mastery in this hemisphere.
21928 "The United States," said the Secretary, "is practically sovereign on
21929 this continent and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it
21930 confines its interposition.... Its infinite resources, combined with its
21931 isolated position, render it master of the situation and practically
21932 invulnerable against any or all other powers."
21933
21934 The reply evoked from the British government by this strong statement
21935 was firm and clear. The Monroe Doctrine, it said, even if not so widely
21936 stretched by interpretation, was not binding in international law; the
21937 dispute with Venezuela was a matter of interest merely to the parties
21938 involved; and arbitration of the question was impossible. This response
21939 called forth President Cleveland's startling message of 1895. He asked
21940 Congress to create a commission authorized to ascertain by researches
21941 the true boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana. He added that it
21942 would be the duty of this country "to resist by every means in its
21943 power, as a willful aggression upon its rights and interests, the
21944 appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or the exercise of
21945 governmental jurisdiction over any territory which, after investigation,
21946 we have determined of right belongs to Venezuela." The serious character
21947 of this statement he thoroughly understood. He declared that he was
21948 conscious of his responsibilities, intimating that war, much as it was
21949 to be deplored, was not comparable to "a supine submission to wrong and
21950 injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor."
21951
21952 [Illustration: GROVER CLEVELAND]
21953
21954 The note of defiance which ran through this message, greeted by shrill
21955 cries of enthusiasm in many circles, was viewed in other quarters as a
21956 portent of war. Responsible newspapers in both countries spoke of an
21957 armed settlement of the dispute as inevitable. Congress created the
21958 commission and appropriated money for the investigation; a body of
21959 learned men was appointed to determine the merits of the conflicting
21960 boundary claims. The British government, deaf to the clamor of the
21961 bellicose section of the London press, deplored the incident,
21962 courteously replied in the affirmative to a request for assistance in
21963 the search for evidence, and finally agreed to the proposition that the
21964 issue be submitted to arbitration. The outcome of this somewhat perilous
21965 dispute contributed not a little to Cleveland's reputation as "a
21966 sterling representative of the true American spirit." This was not
21967 diminished when the tribunal of arbitration found that Great Britain was
21968 on the whole right in her territorial claims against Venezuela.
21969
21970 =The Annexation of Hawaii.=--While engaged in the dangerous Venezuela
21971 controversy, President Cleveland was compelled by a strange turn in
21972 events to consider the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands in the
21973 mid-Pacific. For more than half a century American missionaries had been
21974 active in converting the natives to the Christian faith and enterprising
21975 American business men had been developing the fertile sugar plantations.
21976 Both the Department of State and the Navy Department were fully
21977 conscious of the strategic relation of the islands to the growth of sea
21978 power and watched with anxiety any developments likely to bring them
21979 under some other Dominion.
21980
21981 The country at large was indifferent, however, until 1893, when a
21982 revolution, headed by Americans, broke out, ending in the overthrow of
21983 the native government, the abolition of the primitive monarchy, and the
21984 retirement of Queen Liliuokalani to private life. This crisis, a
21985 repetition of the Texas affair in a small theater, was immediately
21986 followed by a demand from the new Hawaiian government for annexation to
21987 the United States. President Harrison looked with favor on the proposal,
21988 negotiated the treaty of annexation, and laid it before the Senate for
21989 approval. There it still rested when his term of office was brought to a
21990 close.
21991
21992 Harrison's successor, Cleveland, it was well known, had doubts about the
21993 propriety of American action in Hawaii. For the purpose of making an
21994 inquiry into the matter, he sent a special commissioner to the islands.
21995 On the basis of the report of his agent, Cleveland came to the
21996 conclusion that "the revolution in the island kingdom had been
21997 accomplished by the improper use of the armed forces of the United
21998 States and that the wrong should be righted by a restoration of the
21999 queen to her throne." Such being his matured conviction, though the
22000 facts upon which he rested it were warmly controverted, he could do
22001 nothing but withdraw the treaty from the Senate and close the incident.
22002
22003 To the Republicans this sharp and cavalier disposal of their plans,
22004 carried out in a way that impugned the motives of a Republican
22005 President, was nothing less than "a betrayal of American interests." In
22006 their platform of 1896 they made clear their position: "Our foreign
22007 policy should be at all times firm, vigorous, and dignified and all our
22008 interests in the Western hemisphere carefully watched and guarded. The
22009 Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States and no
22010 foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them." There was no
22011 mistaking this view of the issue. As the vote in the election gave
22012 popular sanction to Republican policies, Congress by a joint resolution,
22013 passed on July 6, 1898, annexed the islands to the United States and
22014 later conferred upon them the ordinary territorial form of government.
22015
22016
22017 CUBA AND THE SPANISH WAR
22018
22019 =Early American Relations with Cuba.=--The year that brought Hawaii
22020 finally under the American flag likewise drew to a conclusion another
22021 long controversy over a similar outpost in the Atlantic, one of the last
22022 remnants of the once glorious Spanish empire--the island of Cuba.
22023
22024 For a century the Department of State had kept an anxious eye upon this
22025 base of power, knowing full well that both France and England, already
22026 well established in the West Indies, had their attention also fixed upon
22027 Cuba. In the administration of President Fillmore they had united in
22028 proposing to the United States a tripartite treaty guaranteeing Spain in
22029 her none too certain ownership. This proposal, squarely rejected,
22030 furnished the occasion for a statement of American policy which stood
22031 the test of all the years that followed; namely, that the affair was one
22032 between Spain and the United States alone.
22033
22034 In that long contest in the United States for the balance of power
22035 between the North and South, leaders in the latter section often thought
22036 of bringing Cuba into the union to offset the free states. An
22037 opportunity to announce their purposes publicly was afforded in 1854 by
22038 a controversy over the seizure of an American ship by Cuban authorities.
22039 On that occasion three American ministers abroad, stationed at Madrid,
22040 Paris, and London respectively, held a conference and issued the
22041 celebrated "Ostend Manifesto." They united in declaring that Cuba, by
22042 her geographical position, formed a part of the United States, that
22043 possession by a foreign power was inimical to American interests, and
22044 that an effort should be made to purchase the island from Spain. In case
22045 the owner refused to sell, they concluded, with a menacing flourish, "by
22046 every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from
22047 Spain if we possess the power." This startling proclamation to the world
22048 was promptly disowned by the United States government.
22049
22050 [Illustration: _=An old cartoon.=_
22051
22052 A SIGHT TOO BAD
22053
22054 _Struggling Cuba._ "You must be awfully near-sighted, Mr. President, not
22055 to recognize me." _U.S.G._ "No, I am far-sighted: for I can recognize
22056 France."]
22057
22058 =Revolutions in Cuba.=--For nearly twenty years afterwards the Cuban
22059 question rested. Then it was revived in another form during President
22060 Grant's administrations, when the natives became engaged in a
22061 destructive revolt against Spanish officials. For ten years--1868-78--a
22062 guerrilla warfare raged in the island. American citizens, by virtue of
22063 their ancient traditions of democracy, naturally sympathized with a war
22064 for independence and self-government. Expeditions to help the insurgents
22065 were fitted out secretly in American ports. Arms and supplies were
22066 smuggled into Cuba. American soldiers of fortune joined their ranks. The
22067 enforcement of neutrality against the friends of Cuban independence, no
22068 pleasing task for a sympathetic President, the protection of American
22069 lives and property in the revolutionary area, and similar matters kept
22070 our government busy with Cuba for a whole decade.
22071
22072 A brief lull in Cuban disorders was followed in 1895 by a renewal of the
22073 revolutionary movement. The contest between the rebels and the Spanish
22074 troops, marked by extreme cruelty and a total disregard for life and
22075 property, exceeded all bounds of decency, and once more raised the old
22076 questions that had tormented Grant's administration. Gomez, the leader
22077 of the revolt, intent upon provoking American interference, laid waste
22078 the land with fire and sword. By a proclamation of November 6, 1895, he
22079 ordered the destruction of sugar plantations and railway connections and
22080 the closure of all sugar factories. The work of ruin was completed by
22081 the ruthless Spanish general, Weyler, who concentrated the inhabitants
22082 from rural regions into military camps, where they died by the hundreds
22083 of disease and starvation. Stories of the atrocities, bad enough in
22084 simple form, became lurid when transmuted into American news and deeply
22085 moved the sympathies of the American people. Sermons were preached about
22086 Spanish misdeeds; orators demanded that the Cubans be sustained "in
22087 their heroic struggle for independence"; newspapers, scouting the
22088 ordinary forms of diplomatic negotiation, spurned mediation and demanded
22089 intervention and war if necessary.
22090
22091 [Illustration: _Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
22092
22093 CUBAN REVOLUTIONISTS]
22094
22095 =President Cleveland's Policy.=--Cleveland chose the way of peace. He
22096 ordered the observance of the rule of neutrality. He declined to act on
22097 a resolution of Congress in favor of giving to the Cubans the rights of
22098 belligerents. Anxious to bring order to the distracted island, he
22099 tendered to Spain the good offices of the United States as mediator in
22100 the contest--a tender rejected by the Spanish government with the broad
22101 hint that President Cleveland might be more vigorous in putting a stop
22102 to the unlawful aid in money, arms, and supplies, afforded to the
22103 insurgents by American sympathizers. Thereupon the President returned to
22104 the course he had marked out for himself, leaving "the public nuisance"
22105 to his successor, President McKinley.
22106
22107 =Republican Policies.=--The Republicans in 1897 found themselves in a
22108 position to employ that "firm, vigorous, and dignified" foreign policy
22109 which they had approved in their platform. They had declared: "The
22110 government of Spain having lost control of Cuba and being unable to
22111
22112 protect the property or lives of resident American citizens or to comply
22113 with its treaty obligations, we believe that the government of the
22114 United States should actively use its influence and good offices to
22115 restore peace and give independence to the island." The American
22116 property in Cuba to which the Republicans referred in their platform
22117 amounted by this time to more than fifty million dollars; the commerce
22118 with the island reached more than one hundred millions annually; and the
22119 claims of American citizens against Spain for property destroyed totaled
22120 sixteen millions. To the pleas of humanity which made such an effective
22121 appeal to the hearts of the American people, there were thus added
22122 practical considerations of great weight.
22123
22124 =President McKinley Negotiates.=--In the face of the swelling tide of
22125 popular opinion in favor of quick, drastic, and positive action,
22126 McKinley chose first the way of diplomacy. A short time after his
22127 inauguration he lodged with the Spanish government a dignified protest
22128 against its policies in Cuba, thus opening a game of thrust and parry
22129 with the suave ministers at Madrid. The results of the exchange of
22130 notes were the recall of the obnoxious General Weyler, the appointment
22131 of a governor-general less bloodthirsty in his methods, a change in the
22132 policy of concentrating civilians in military camps, and finally a
22133 promise of "home rule" for Cuba. There is no doubt that the Spanish
22134 government was eager to avoid a war that could have but one outcome. The
22135 American minister at Madrid, General Woodford, was convinced that firm
22136 and patient pressure would have resulted in the final surrender of Cuba
22137 by the Spanish government.
22138
22139 =The De Lome and the _Maine_ Incidents.=--Such a policy was defeated by
22140 events. In February, 1898, a private letter written by Senor de Lome,
22141 the Spanish ambassador at Washington, expressing contempt for the
22142 President of the United States, was filched from the mails and passed
22143 into the hands of a journalist, William R. Hearst, who published it to
22144 the world. In the excited state of American opinion, few gave heed to
22145 the grave breach of diplomatic courtesy committed by breaking open
22146 private correspondence. The Spanish government was compelled to recall
22147 De Lome, thus officially condemning his conduct.
22148
22149 At this point a far more serious crisis put the pacific relations of the
22150 two negotiating countries in dire peril. On February 15, the battleship
22151 _Maine_, riding in the harbor of Havana, was blown up and sunk, carrying
22152 to death two officers and two hundred and fifty-eight members of the
22153 crew. This tragedy, ascribed by the American public to the malevolence
22154 of Spanish officials, profoundly stirred an already furious nation.
22155 When, on March 21, a commission of inquiry reported that the ill-fated
22156 ship had been blown up by a submarine mine which had in turn set off
22157 some of the ship's magazines, the worst suspicions seemed confirmed. If
22158 any one was inclined to be indifferent to the Cuban war for
22159 independence, he was now met by the vehement cry: "Remember the
22160 _Maine_!"
22161
22162 =Spanish Concessions.=--Still the State Department, under McKinley's
22163 steady hand, pursued the path of negotiation, Spain proving more pliable
22164 and more ready with promises of reform in the island. Early in April,
22165 however, there came a decided change in the tenor of American diplomacy.
22166 On the 4th, McKinley, evidently convinced that promises did not mean
22167 performances, instructed our minister at Madrid to warn the Spanish
22168 government that as no effective armistice had been offered to the
22169 Cubans, he would lay the whole matter before Congress. This decision,
22170 every one knew, from the temper of Congress, meant war--a prospect which
22171 excited all the European powers. The Pope took an active interest in the
22172 crisis. France and Germany, foreseeing from long experience in world
22173 politics an increase of American power and prestige through war, sought
22174 to prevent it. Spain, hopeless and conscious of her weakness, at last
22175 dispatched to the President a note promising to suspend hostilities, to
22176 call a Cuban parliament, and to grant all the autonomy that could be
22177 reasonably asked.
22178
22179 =President McKinley Calls for War.=--For reasons of his own--reasons
22180 which have never yet been fully explained--McKinley ignored the final
22181 program of concessions presented by Spain. At the very moment when his
22182 patient negotiations seemed to bear full fruit, he veered sharply from
22183 his course and launched the country into the war by sending to Congress
22184 his militant message of April 11, 1898. Without making public the last
22185 note he had received from Spain, he declared that he was brought to the
22186 end of his effort and the cause was in the hands of Congress. Humanity,
22187 the protection of American citizens and property, the injuries to
22188 American commerce and business, the inability of Spain to bring about
22189 permanent peace in the island--these were the grounds for action that
22190 induced him to ask for authority to employ military and naval forces in
22191 establishing a stable government in Cuba. They were sufficient for a
22192 public already straining at the leash.
22193
22194 =The Resolution of Congress.=--There was no doubt of the outcome when
22195 the issue was withdrawn from diplomacy and placed in charge of Congress.
22196 Resolutions were soon introduced into the House of Representatives
22197 authorizing the President to employ armed force in securing peace and
22198 order in the island and "establishing by the free action of the people
22199 thereof a stable and independent government of their own." To the form
22200 and spirit of this proposal the Democrats and Populists took exception.
22201 In the Senate, where they were stronger, their position had to be
22202 reckoned with by the narrow Republican majority. As the resolution
22203 finally read, the independence of Cuba was recognized; Spain was called
22204 upon to relinquish her authority and withdraw from the island; and the
22205 President was empowered to use force to the extent necessary to carry
22206 the resolutions into effect. Furthermore the United States disclaimed
22207 "any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or
22208 control over said island except for the pacification thereof." Final
22209 action was taken by Congress on April 19, 1898, and approved by the
22210 President on the following day.
22211
22212 =War and Victory.=--Startling events then followed in swift succession.
22213 The navy, as a result in no small measure of the alertness of Theodore
22214 Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Department, was ready for the
22215 trial by battle. On May 1, Commodore Dewey at Manila Bay shattered the
22216 Spanish fleet, marking the doom of Spanish dominion in the Philippines.
22217 On July 3, the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera, in attempting to
22218 escape from Havana, was utterly destroyed by American forces under
22219 Commodore Schley. On July 17, Santiago, invested by American troops
22220 under General Shafter and shelled by the American ships, gave up the
22221 struggle. On July 25 General Miles landed in Porto Rico. On August 13,
22222 General Merritt and Admiral Dewey carried Manila by storm. The war was
22223 over.
22224
22225 =The Peace Protocol.=--Spain had already taken cognizance of stern
22226 facts. As early as July 26, 1898, acting through the French ambassador,
22227 M. Cambon, the Madrid government approached President McKinley for a
22228 statement of the terms on which hostilities could be brought to a close.
22229 After some skirmishing Spain yielded reluctantly to the ultimatum. On
22230 August 12, the preliminary peace protocol was signed, stipulating that
22231 Cuba should be free, Porto Rico ceded to the United States, and Manila
22232 occupied by American troops pending the formal treaty of peace. On
22233 October 1, the commissioners of the two countries met at Paris to bring
22234 about the final settlement.
22235
22236 =Peace Negotiations.=--When the day for the first session of the
22237 conference arrived, the government at Washington apparently had not made
22238 up its mind on the final disposition of the Philippines. Perhaps, before
22239 the battle of Manila Bay, not ten thousand people in the United States
22240 knew or cared where the Philippines were. Certainly there was in the
22241 autumn of 1898 no decided opinion as to what should be done with the
22242 fruits of Dewey's victory. President McKinley doubtless voiced the
22243 sentiment of the people when he stated to the peace commissioners on the
22244 eve of their departure that there had originally been no thought of
22245 conquest in the Pacific.
22246
22247 The march of events, he added, had imposed new duties on the country.
22248 "Incidental to our tenure in the Philippines," he said, "is the
22249 commercial opportunity to which American statesmanship cannot be
22250 indifferent. It is just to use every legitimate means for the
22251 enlargement of American trade." On this ground he directed the
22252 commissioners to accept not less than the cession of the island of
22253 Luzon, the chief of the Philippine group, with its harbor of Manila. It
22254 was not until the latter part of October that he definitely instructed
22255 them to demand the entire archipelago, on the theory that the occupation
22256 of Luzon alone could not be justified "on political, commercial, or
22257 humanitarian grounds." This departure from the letter of the peace
22258 protocol was bitterly resented by the Spanish agents. It was with
22259 heaviness of heart that they surrendered the last sign of Spain's
22260 ancient dominion in the far Pacific.
22261
22262 =The Final Terms of Peace.=--The treaty of peace, as finally agreed
22263 upon, embraced the following terms: the independence of Cuba; the
22264 cession of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States;
22265 the settlement of claims filed by the citizens of both countries; the
22266 payment of twenty million dollars to Spain by the United States for the
22267 Philippines; and the determination of the status of the inhabitants of
22268 the ceded territories by Congress. The great decision had been made. Its
22269 issue was in the hands of the Senate where the Democrats and the
22270 Populists held the balance of power under the requirement of the
22271 two-thirds vote for ratification.
22272
22273 =The Contest in America over the Treaty of Peace.=--The publication of
22274 the treaty committing the United States to the administration of distant
22275 colonies directed the shifting tides of public opinion into two distinct
22276 channels: support of the policy and opposition to it. The trend in
22277 Republican leadership, long in the direction marked out by the treaty,
22278 now came into the open. Perhaps a majority of the men highest in the
22279 councils of that party had undergone the change of heart reflected in
22280 the letters of John Hay, Secretary of State. In August of 1898 he had
22281 hinted, in a friendly letter to Andrew Carnegie, that he sympathized
22282 with the latter's opposition to "imperialism"; but he had added quickly:
22283 "The only question in my mind is how far it is now possible for us to
22284 withdraw from the Philippines." In November of the same year he wrote to
22285 Whitelaw Reid, one of the peace commissioners at Paris: "There is a wild
22286 and frantic attack now going on in the press against the whole
22287 Philippine transaction. Andrew Carnegie really seems to be off his
22288 head.... But all this confusion of tongues will go its way. The country
22289 will applaud the resolution that has been reached and you will return in
22290 the role of conquering heroes with your 'brows bound with oak.'"
22291
22292 Senator Beveridge of Indiana and Senator Platt of Connecticut, accepting
22293 the verdict of history as the proof of manifest destiny, called for
22294 unquestioning support of the administration in its final step. "Every
22295 expansion of our territory," said the latter, "has been in accordance
22296 with the irresistible law of growth. We could no more resist the
22297 successive expansions by which we have grown to be the strongest nation
22298 on earth than a tree can resist its growth. The history of territorial
22299 expansion is the history of our nation's progress and glory. It is a
22300 matter to be proud of, not to lament. We should rejoice that Providence
22301 has given us the opportunity to extend our influence, our institutions,
22302 and our civilization into regions hitherto closed to us, rather than
22303 contrive how we can thwart its designs."
22304
22305 This doctrine was savagely attacked by opponents of McKinley's policy,
22306 many a stanch Republican joining with the majority of Democrats in
22307 denouncing the treaty as a departure from the ideals of the republic.
22308 Senator Vest introduced in the Senate a resolution that "under the
22309 Constitution of the United States, no power is given to the federal
22310 Government to acquire territory to be held and governed permanently as
22311 colonies." Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, whose long and honorable
22312 career gave weight to his lightest words, inveighed against the whole
22313 procedure and to the end of his days believed that the new drift into
22314 rivalry with European nations as a colonial power was fraught with
22315 genuine danger. "Our imperialistic friends," he said, "seem to have
22316 forgotten the use of the vocabulary of liberty. They talk about giving
22317 good government. 'We shall give them such a government as we think they
22318 are fitted for.' 'We shall give them a better government than they had
22319 before.' Why, Mr. President, that one phrase conveys to a free man and a
22320 free people the most stinging of insults. In that little phrase, as in a
22321 seed, is contained the germ of all despotism and of all tyranny.
22322 Government is not a gift. Free government is not to be given by all the
22323 blended powers of earth and heaven. It is a birthright. It belongs, as
22324 our fathers said, and as their children said, as Jefferson said, and as
22325 President McKinley said, to human nature itself."
22326
22327 The Senate, more conservative on the question of annexation than the
22328 House of Representatives composed of men freshly elected in the stirring
22329 campaign of 1896, was deliberate about ratification of the treaty. The
22330 Democrats and Populists were especially recalcitrant. Mr. Bryan hurried
22331 to Washington and brought his personal influence to bear in favor of
22332 speedy action. Patriotism required ratification, it was said in one
22333 quarter. The country desires peace and the Senate ought not to delay, it
22334 was urged in another. Finally, on February 6, 1899, the requisite
22335 majority of two-thirds was mustered, many a Senator who voted for the
22336 treaty, however, sharing the misgivings of Senator Hoar as to the
22337 "dangers of imperialism." Indeed at the time, the Senators passed a
22338 resolution declaring that the policy to be adopted in the Philippines
22339 was still an open question, leaving to the future, in this way, the
22340 possibility of retracing their steps.
22341
22342 =The Attitude of England.=--The Spanish war, while accomplishing the
22343 simple objects of those who launched the nation on that course, like all
22344 other wars, produced results wholly unforeseen. In the first place, it
22345 exercised a profound influence on the drift of opinion among European
22346 powers. In England, sympathy with the United States was from the first
22347 positive and outspoken. "The state of feeling here," wrote Mr. Hay, then
22348 ambassador in London, "is the best I have ever known. From every quarter
22349 the evidences of it come to me. The royal family by habit and tradition
22350 are most careful not to break the rules of strict neutrality, but even
22351 among them I find nothing but hearty kindness and--so far as is
22352 consistent with propriety--sympathy. Among the political leaders on both
22353 sides I find not only sympathy but a somewhat eager desire that 'the
22354 other fellows' shall not seem more friendly."
22355
22356 Joseph Chamberlain, the distinguished Liberal statesman, thinking no
22357 doubt of the continental situation, said in a political address at the
22358 very opening of the war that the next duty of Englishmen "is to
22359 establish and maintain bonds of permanent unity with our kinsmen across
22360 the Atlantic.... I even go so far as to say that, terrible as war may
22361 be, even war would be cheaply purchased if, in a great and noble cause,
22362 the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack should wave together over an
22363 Anglo-Saxon alliance." To the American ambassador he added
22364 significantly that he did not "care a hang what they say about it on the
22365 continent," which was another way of expressing the hope that the
22366 warning to Germany and France was sufficient. This friendly English
22367 opinion, so useful to the United States when a combination of powers to
22368 support Spain was more than possible, removed all fears as to the
22369 consequences of the war. Henry Adams, recalling days of humiliation in
22370 London during the Civil War, when his father was the American
22371 ambassador, coolly remarked that it was "the sudden appearance of
22372 Germany as the grizzly terror" that "frightened England into America's
22373 arms"; but the net result in keeping the field free for an easy triumph
22374 of American arms was none the less appreciated in Washington where,
22375 despite outward calm, fears of European complications were never absent.
22376
22377
22378 AMERICAN POLICIES IN THE PHILIPPINES AND THE ORIENT
22379
22380 =The Filipino Revolt against American Rule.=--In the sphere of domestic
22381 politics, as well as in the field of foreign relations, the outcome of
22382 the Spanish war exercised a marked influence. It introduced at once
22383 problems of colonial administration and difficulties in adjusting trade
22384 relations with the outlying dominions. These were furthermore
22385 complicated in the very beginning by the outbreak of an insurrection
22386 against American sovereignty in the Philippines. The leader of the
22387 revolt, Aguinaldo, had been invited to join the American forces in
22388 overthrowing Spanish dominion, and he had assumed, apparently without
22389 warrant, that independence would be the result of the joint operations.
22390 When the news reached him that the American flag had been substituted
22391 for the Spanish flag, his resentment was keen. In February, 1899, there
22392 occurred a slight collision between his men and some American soldiers.
22393 The conflict thus begun was followed by serious fighting which finally
22394 dwindled into a vexatious guerrilla warfare lasting three years and
22395 costing heavily in men and money. Atrocities were committed by the
22396 native insurrectionists and, sad to relate, they were repaid in kind;
22397 it was argued in defense of the army that the ordinary rules of warfare
22398 were without terror to men accustomed to fighting like savages. In vain
22399 did McKinley assure the Filipinos that the institutions and laws
22400 established in the islands would be designed "not for our satisfaction
22401 or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness,
22402 peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands." Nothing
22403 short of military pressure could bring the warring revolutionists to
22404 terms.
22405
22406 =Attacks on Republican "Imperialism."=--The Filipino insurrection,
22407 following so quickly upon the ratification of the treaty with Spain,
22408 moved the American opponents of McKinley's colonial policies to redouble
22409 their denunciation of what they were pleased to call "imperialism."
22410 Senator Hoar was more than usually caustic in his indictment of the new
22411 course. The revolt against American rule did but convince him of the
22412 folly hidden in the first fateful measures. Everywhere he saw a
22413 conspiracy of silence and injustice. "I have failed to discover in the
22414 speeches, public or private, of the advocates of this war," he contended
22415 in the Senate, "or in the press which supports it and them, a single
22416 expression anywhere of a desire to do justice to the people of the
22417 Philippine Islands, or of a desire to make known to the people of the
22418 United States the truth of the case.... The catchwords, the cries, the
22419 pithy and pregnant phrases of which their speech is full, all mean
22420 dominion. They mean perpetual dominion.... There is not one of these
22421 gentlemen who will rise in his place and affirm that if he were a
22422 Filipino he would not do exactly as the Filipinos are doing; that he
22423 would not despise them if they were to do otherwise. So much at least
22424 they owe of respect to the dead and buried history--the dead and buried
22425 history so far as they can slay and bury it--of their country." In the
22426 way of practical suggestions, the Senator offered as a solution of the
22427 problem: the recognition of independence, assistance in establishing
22428 self-government, and an invitation to all powers to join in a guarantee
22429 of freedom to the islands.
22430
22431 =The Republican Answer.=--To McKinley and his supporters, engaged in a
22432 sanguinary struggle to maintain American supremacy, such talk was more
22433 than quixotic; it was scarcely short of treasonable. They pointed out
22434 the practical obstacles in the way of uniform self-government for a
22435 collection of seven million people ranging in civilization from the most
22436 ignorant hill men to the highly cultivated inhabitants of Manila. The
22437 incidents of the revolt and its repression, they admitted, were painful
22438 enough; but still nothing as compared with the chaos that would follow
22439 the attempt of a people who had never had experience in such matters to
22440 set up and sustain democratic institutions. They preferred rather the
22441 gradual process of fitting the inhabitants of the islands for
22442 self-government. This course, in their eyes, though less poetic, was
22443 more in harmony with the ideals of humanity. Having set out upon it,
22444 they pursued it steadfastly to the end. First, they applied force
22445 without stint to the suppression of the revolt. Then they devoted such
22446 genius for colonial administration as they could command to the
22447 development of civil government, commerce, and industry.
22448
22449 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
22450
22451 A PHILIPPINE HOME]
22452
22453 =The Boxer Rebellion in China.=--For a nation with a world-wide trade,
22454 steadily growing, as the progress of home industries redoubled the zeal
22455 for new markets, isolation was obviously impossible. Never was this
22456 clearer than in 1900 when a native revolt against foreigners in China,
22457 known as the Boxer uprising, compelled the United States to join with
22458 the powers of Europe in a military expedition and a diplomatic
22459 settlement. The Boxers, a Chinese association, had for some time carried
22460 on a campaign of hatred against all aliens in the Celestial empire,
22461 calling upon the natives to rise in patriotic wrath and drive out the
22462 foreigners who, they said, "were lacerating China like tigers." In the
22463 summer of 1900 the revolt flamed up in deeds of cruelty. Missionaries
22464 and traders were murdered in the provinces; foreign legations were
22465 stoned; the German ambassador, one of the most cordially despised
22466 foreigners, was killed in the streets of Peking; and to all appearances
22467 a frightful war of extermination had begun. In the month of June nearly
22468 five hundred men, women, and children, representing all nations, were
22469 besieged in the British quarters in Peking under constant fire of
22470 Chinese guns and in peril of a terrible death.
22471
22472 =Intervention in China.=--Nothing but the arrival of armed forces, made
22473 up of Japanese, Russian, British, American, French, and German soldiers
22474 and marines, prevented the destruction of the beleaguered aliens. When
22475 once the foreign troops were in possession of the Chinese capital,
22476 diplomatic questions of the most delicate character arose. For more than
22477 half a century, the imperial powers of Europe had been carving up the
22478 Chinese empire, taking to themselves territory, railway concessions,
22479 mining rights, ports, and commercial privileges at the expense of the
22480 huge but helpless victim. The United States alone among the great
22481 nations, while as zealous as any in the pursuit of peaceful trade, had
22482 refrained from seizing Chinese territory or ports. Moreover, the
22483 Department of State had been urging European countries to treat China
22484 with fairness, to respect her territorial integrity, and to give her
22485 equal trading privileges with all nations.
22486
22487 =The American Policy of the "Open Door."=--In the autumn of 1899,
22488 Secretary Hay had addressed to London, Berlin, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, and
22489 St. Petersburg his famous note on the "open door" policy in China. In
22490 this document he proposed that existing treaty ports and vested
22491 interests of the several foreign countries should be respected; that
22492 the Chinese government should be permitted to extend its tariffs to all
22493 ports held by alien powers except the few free ports; and that there
22494 should be no discrimination in railway and port charges among the
22495 citizens of foreign countries operating in the empire. To these
22496 principles the governments addressed by Mr. Hay, finally acceded with
22497 evident reluctance.
22498
22499 [Illustration: AMERICAN DOMINIONS IN THE PACIFIC]
22500
22501 On this basis he then proposed the settlement that had to follow the
22502 Boxer uprising. "The policy of the Government of the United States," he
22503 said to the great powers, in the summer of 1900, "is to seek a solution
22504 which may bring about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve
22505 Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights
22506 guaranteed to friendly powers by treaty and international law, and
22507 safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with
22508 all parts of the Chinese empire." This was a friendly warning to the
22509 world that the United States would not join in a scramble to punish the
22510 Chinese by carving out more territory. "The moment we acted," said Mr.
22511 Hay, "the rest of the world paused and finally came over to our ground;
22512 and the German government, which is generally brutal but seldom silly,
22513 recovered its senses, and climbed down off its perch."
22514
22515 In taking this position, the Secretary of State did but reflect the
22516 common sense of America. "We are, of course," he explained, "opposed to
22517 the dismemberment of that empire and we do not think that the public
22518 opinion of the United States would justify this government in taking
22519 part in the great game of spoliation now going on." Heavy damages were
22520 collected by the European powers from China for the injuries inflicted
22521 upon their citizens by the Boxers; but the United States, finding the
22522 sum awarded in excess of the legitimate claims, returned the balance in
22523 the form of a fund to be applied to the education of Chinese students in
22524 American universities. "I would rather be, I think," said Mr. Hay, "the
22525 dupe of China than the chum of the Kaiser." By pursuing a liberal
22526 policy, he strengthened the hold of the United States upon the
22527 affections of the Chinese people and, in the long run, as he remarked
22528 himself, safeguarded "our great commercial interests in that Empire."
22529
22530 =Imperialism in the Presidential Campaign of 1900.=--It is not strange
22531 that the policy pursued by the Republican administration in disposing of
22532 the questions raised by the Spanish War became one of the first issues
22533 in the presidential campaign of 1900. Anticipating attacks from every
22534 quarter, the Republicans, in renominating McKinley, set forth their
22535 position in clear and ringing phrases: "In accepting by the treaty of
22536 Paris the just responsibility of our victories in the Spanish War the
22537 President and Senate won the undoubted approval of the American people.
22538 No other course was possible than to destroy Spain's sovereignty
22539 throughout the West Indies and in the Philippine Islands. That course
22540 created our responsibility, before the world and with the unorganized
22541 population whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to provide for
22542 the maintenance of law and order, and for the establishment of good
22543 government and for the performance of international obligations. Our
22544 authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever
22545 sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the government
22546 to maintain its authority, to put down armed insurrection, and to confer
22547 the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued peoples.
22548 The largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and
22549 our duties shall be secured to them by law." To give more strength to
22550 their ticket, the Republican convention, in a whirlwind of enthusiasm,
22551 nominated for the vice presidency, against his protest, Theodore
22552 Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the hero of the Rough Riders, so
22553 popular on account of their Cuban campaign.
22554
22555 The Democrats, as expected, picked up the gauntlet thrown down with such
22556 defiance by the Republicans. Mr. Bryan, whom they selected as their
22557 candidate, still clung to the currency issue; but the main emphasis,
22558 both of the platform and the appeal for votes, was on the "imperialistic
22559 program" of the Republican administration. The Democrats denounced the
22560 treatment of Cuba and Porto Rico and condemned the Philippine policy in
22561 sharp and vigorous terms. "As we are not willing," ran the platform, "to
22562 surrender our civilization or to convert the Republic into an empire, we
22563 favor an immediate declaration of the Nation's purpose to give to the
22564 Filipinos, first, a stable form of government; second, independence;
22565 third, protection from outside interference.... The greedy commercialism
22566 which dictated the Philippine policy of the Republican administration
22567 attempts to justify it with the plea that it will pay, but even this
22568 sordid and unworthy plea fails when brought to the test of facts. The
22569 war of 'criminal aggression' against the Filipinos entailing an annual
22570 expense of many millions has already cost more than any possible profit
22571 that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade for years to come....
22572 We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimidation and
22573 oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has ever been fatal to
22574 free institutions. It is what millions of our citizens have fled from in
22575 Europe. It will impose upon our peace-loving people a large standing
22576 army, an unnecessary burden of taxation, and would be a constant menace
22577 to their liberties." Such was the tenor of their appeal to the voters.
22578
22579 With the issues clearly joined, the country rejected the Democratic
22580 candidate even more positively than four years before. The popular vote
22581 cast for McKinley was larger and that cast for Bryan smaller than in the
22582 silver election. Thus vindicated at the polls, McKinley turned with
22583 renewed confidence to the development of the policies he had so far
22584 advanced. But fate cut short his designs. In the September following his
22585 second inauguration, he was shot by an anarchist while attending the
22586 Buffalo exposition. "What a strange and tragic fate it has been of
22587 mine," wrote the Secretary of State, John Hay, on the day of the
22588 President's death, "to stand by the bier of three of my dearest friends,
22589 Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, three of the gentlest of men, all risen
22590 to the head of the state and all done to death by assassins." On
22591 September 14, 1901, the Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, took up the
22592 lines of power that had fallen from the hands of his distinguished
22593 chief, promising to continue "absolutely unbroken" the policies he had
22594 inherited.
22595
22596
22597 SUMMARY OF NATIONAL GROWTH AND WORLD POLITICS
22598
22599 The economic aspects of the period between 1865 and 1900 may be readily
22600 summed up: the recovery of the South from the ruin of the Civil War, the
22601 extension of the railways, the development of the Great West, and the
22602 triumph of industry and business enterprise. In the South many of the
22603 great plantations were broken up and sold in small farms, crops were
22604 diversified, the small farming class was raised in the scale of social
22605 importance, the cotton industry was launched, and the coal, iron,
22606 timber, and other resources were brought into use. In the West the free
22607 arable land was practically exhausted by 1890 under the terms of the
22608 Homestead Act; gold, silver, copper, coal and other minerals were
22609 discovered in abundance; numerous rail connections were formed with the
22610 Atlantic seaboard; the cowboy and the Indian were swept away before a
22611 standardized civilization of electric lights and bathtubs. By the end of
22612 the century the American frontier had disappeared. The wild, primitive
22613 life so long associated with America was gone. The unity of the nation
22614 was established.
22615
22616 In the field of business enterprise, progress was most marked. The
22617 industrial system, which had risen and flourished before the Civil War,
22618 grew into immense proportions and the industrial area was extended from
22619 the Northeast into all parts of the country. Small business concerns
22620 were transformed into huge corporations. Individual plants were merged
22621 under the management of gigantic trusts. Short railway lines were
22622 consolidated into national systems. The industrial population of
22623 wage-earners rose into the tens of millions. The immigration of aliens
22624 increased by leaps and bounds. The cities overshadowed the country. The
22625 nation that had once depended upon Europe for most of its manufactured
22626 goods became a competitor of Europe in the markets of the earth.
22627
22628 In the sphere of politics, the period witnessed the recovery of white
22629 supremacy in the South; the continued discussion of the old questions,
22630 such as the currency, the tariff, and national banking; and the
22631 injection of new issues like the trusts and labor problems. As of old,
22632 foreign affairs were kept well at the front. Alaska was purchased from
22633 Russia; attempts were made to extend American influence in the Caribbean
22634 region; a Samoan island was brought under the flag; and the Hawaiian
22635 islands were annexed. The Monroe Doctrine was applied with vigor in the
22636 dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain.
22637
22638 Assistance was given to the Cubans in their revolutionary struggle
22639 against Spain and thus there was precipitated a war which ended in the
22640 annexation of Porto Rico and the Philippines. American influence in the
22641 Pacific and the Orient was so enlarged as to be a factor of great weight
22642 in world affairs. Thus questions connected with foreign and "imperial"
22643 policies were united with domestic issues to make up the warp and woof
22644 of politics. In the direction of affairs, the Republicans took the
22645 leadership, for they held the presidency during all the years, except
22646 eight, between 1865 and 1900.
22647
22648
22649 =References=
22650
22651 J.W. Foster, _A Century of American Diplomacy_; _American Diplomacy in
22652 the Orient_.
22653
22654 W.F. Reddaway, _The Monroe Doctrine_.
22655
22656 J.H. Latane, _The United States and Spanish America_.
22657
22658 A.C. Coolidge, _United States as a World Power_.
22659
22660 A.T. Mahan, _Interest of the United States in the Sea Power_.
22661
22662 F.E. Chadwick, _Spanish-American War_.
22663
22664 D.C. Worcester, _The Philippine Islands and Their People_.
22665
22666 M.M. Kalaw, _Self-Government in the Philippines_.
22667
22668 L.S. Rowe, _The United States and Porto Rico_.
22669
22670 F.E. Chadwick, _The Relations of the United States and Spain_.
22671
22672 W.R. Shepherd, _Latin America_; _Central and South America_.
22673
22674
22675 =Questions=
22676
22677 1. Tell the story of the international crisis that developed soon after
22678 the Civil War with regard to Mexico.
22679
22680 2. Give the essential facts relating to the purchase of Alaska.
22681
22682 3. Review the early history of our interest in the Caribbean.
22683
22684 4. Amid what circumstances was the Monroe Doctrine applied in
22685 Cleveland's administration?
22686
22687 5. Give the causes that led to the war with Spain.
22688
22689 6. Tell the leading events in that war.
22690
22691 7. What was the outcome as far as Cuba was concerned? The outcome for
22692 the United States?
22693
22694 8. Discuss the attitude of the Filipinos toward American sovereignty in
22695 the islands.
22696
22697 9. Describe McKinley's colonial policy.
22698
22699 10. How was the Spanish War viewed in England? On the Continent?
22700
22701 11. Was there a unified American opinion on American expansion?
22702
22703 12. Was this expansion a departure from our traditions?
22704
22705 13. What events led to foreign intervention in China?
22706
22707 14. Explain the policy of the "open door."
22708
22709
22710 =Research Topics=
22711
22712 =Hawaii and Venezuela.=--Dewey, _National Problems_ (American Nation
22713 Series), pp. 279-313; Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp. 600-602;
22714 Hart, _American History Told by Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 612-616.
22715
22716 =Intervention in Cuba.=--Latane, _America as a World Power_ (American
22717 Nation Series), pp. 3-28; Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book_, pp.
22718 597-598; Roosevelt, _Autobiography_, pp. 223-277; Haworth, _The United
22719 States in Our Own Time_, pp. 232-256; Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV,
22720 pp. 573-578.
22721
22722 =The War with Spain.=--Elson, _History of the United States_, pp.
22723 889-896.
22724
22725 =Terms of Peace with Spain.=--Latane, pp. 63-81; Macdonald, pp. 602-608;
22726 Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 588-590.
22727
22728 =The Philippine Insurrection.=--Latane, pp. 82-99.
22729
22730 =Imperialism as a Campaign Issue.=--Latane, pp. 120-132; Haworth, pp.
22731 257-277; Hart, _Contemporaries_, Vol. IV, pp. 604-611.
22732
22733 =Biographical Studies.=--William McKinley, M.A. Hanna, John Hay;
22734 Admirals, George Dewey, W.T. Sampson, and W.S. Schley; and Generals,
22735 W.R. Shafter, Joseph Wheeler, and H.W. Lawton.
22736
22737 =General Analysis of American Expansion.=--_Syllabus in History_ (New
22738 York State, 1920), pp. 142-147.
22739
22740
22741
22742
22743 PART VII. PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY AND THE WORLD WAR
22744
22745
22746
22747
22748 CHAPTER XXI
22749
22750 THE EVOLUTION OF REPUBLICAN POLICIES (1901-13)
22751
22752
22753 =The Personality and Early Career of Roosevelt.=--On September 14, 1901,
22754 when Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office, the presidency passed
22755 to a new generation and a leader of a new type recalling, if comparisons
22756 must be made, Andrew Jackson rather than any Republican predecessor.
22757 Roosevelt was brusque, hearty, restless, and fond of action--"a young
22758 fellow of infinite dash and originality," as John Hay remarked of him;
22759 combining the spirit of his old college, Harvard, with the breezy
22760 freedom of the plains; interested in everything--a new species of game,
22761 a new book, a diplomatic riddle, or a novel theory of history or
22762 biology. Though only forty-three years old he was well versed in the art
22763 of practical politics. Coming upon the political scene in the early
22764 eighties, he had associated himself with the reformers in the Republican
22765 party; but he was no Mugwump. From the first he vehemently preached the
22766 doctrine of party loyalty; if beaten in the convention, he voted the
22767 straight ticket in the election. For twenty years he adhered to this
22768 rule and during a considerable portion of that period he held office as
22769 a spokesman of his party. He served in the New York legislature, as head
22770 of the metropolitan police force, as federal civil service commissioner
22771 under President Harrison, as assistant secretary of the navy under
22772 President McKinley, and as governor of the Empire state. Political
22773 managers of the old school spoke of him as "brilliant but erratic"; they
22774 soon found him equal to the shrewdest in negotiation and action.
22775
22776 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
22777
22778 ROOSEVELT TALKING TO THE ENGINEER OF A RAILROAD TRAIN]
22779
22780
22781 FOREIGN AFFAIRS
22782
22783 =The Panama Canal.=--The most important foreign question confronting
22784 President Roosevelt on the day of his inauguration, that of the Panama
22785 Canal, was a heritage from his predecessor. The idea of a water route
22786 across the isthmus, long a dream of navigators, had become a living
22787 issue after the historic voyage of the battleship _Oregon_ around South
22788 America during the Spanish War. But before the United States could act
22789 it had to undo the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, made with Great Britain in
22790 1850, providing for the construction of the canal under joint
22791 supervision. This was finally effected by the Hay-Pauncefote treaty of
22792 1901 authorizing the United States to proceed alone, on condition that
22793 there should be no discriminations against other nations in the matter
22794 of rates and charges.
22795
22796 This accomplished, it was necessary to decide just where the canal
22797 should be built. One group in Congress favored the route through
22798 Nicaragua; in fact, two official commissions had already approved that
22799 location. Another group favored cutting the way through Panama after
22800 purchasing the rights of the old French company which, under the
22801 direction of De Lesseps, the hero of the Suez Canal, had made a costly
22802 failure some twenty years before. After a heated argument over the
22803 merits of the two plans, preference was given to the Panama route. As
22804 the isthmus was then a part of Colombia, President Roosevelt proceeded
22805 to negotiate with the government at Bogota a treaty authorizing the
22806 United States to cut a canal through its territory. The treaty was
22807 easily framed, but it was rejected by the Colombian senate, much to the
22808 President's exasperation. "You could no more make an agreement with the
22809 Colombian rulers," he exclaimed, "than you could nail jelly to a wall."
22810 He was spared the necessity by a timely revolution. On November 3, 1903,
22811 Panama renounced its allegiance to Colombia and three days later the
22812 United States recognized its independence.
22813
22814 [Illustration: _Courtesy of Panama Canal, Washington, D.C._
22815
22816 DEEPEST EXCAVATED PORTION OF PANAMA CANAL, SHOWING GOLD HILL ON
22817 RIGHT AND CONTRACTOR'S HILL ON LEFT. JUNE, 1913]
22818
22819 This amazing incident was followed shortly by the signature of a treaty
22820 between Panama and the United States in which the latter secured the
22821 right to construct the long-discussed canal, in return for a guarantee
22822 of independence and certain cash payments. The rights and property of
22823 the French concern were then bought, and the final details settled. A
22824 lock rather than a sea-level canal was agreed upon. Construction by the
22825 government directly instead of by private contractors was adopted.
22826 Scientific medicine was summoned to stamp out the tropical diseases
22827 that had made Panama a plague spot. Finally, in 1904, as the President
22828 said, "the dirt began to fly." After surmounting formidable
22829 difficulties--engineering, labor, and sanitary--the American forces in
22830 1913 joined the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Nearly eight
22831 thousand miles were cut off the sea voyage from New York to San
22832 Francisco. If any were inclined to criticize President Roosevelt for
22833 the way in which he snapped off negotiations with Colombia and
22834 recognized the Panama revolutionists, their attention was drawn to the
22835 magnificent outcome of the affair. Notwithstanding the treaty with Great
22836 Britain, Congress passed a tolls bill discriminating in rates in favor
22837 of American ships. It was only on the urgent insistence of President
22838 Wilson that the measure was later repealed.
22839
22840 =The Conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War.=--The applause which greeted
22841 the President's next diplomatic stroke was unmarred by censure of any
22842 kind. In the winter of 1904 there broke out between Japan and Russia a
22843 terrible conflict over the division of spoils in Manchuria. The fortunes
22844 of war were with the agile forces of Nippon. In this struggle, it seems,
22845 President Roosevelt's sympathies were mainly with the Japanese, although
22846 he observed the proprieties of neutrality. At all events, Secretary Hay
22847 wrote in his diary on New Year's Day, 1905, that the President was
22848 "quite firm in his view that we cannot permit Japan to be robbed a
22849 second time of her victory," referring to the fact that Japan, ten years
22850 before, after defeating China on the field of battle, had been forced by
22851 Russia, Germany, and France to forego the fruits of conquest.
22852
22853 Whatever the President's personal feelings may have been, he was aware
22854 that Japan, despite her triumphs over Russia, was staggering under a
22855 heavy burden of debt. At a suggestion from Tokyo, he invited both
22856 belligerents in the summer of 1905 to join in a peace conference. The
22857 celerity of their reply was aided by the pressure of European bankers,
22858 who had already come to a substantial agreement that the war must stop.
22859 After some delay, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was chosen as the meeting
22860 place for the spokesmen of the two warring powers. Roosevelt presided
22861 over the opening ceremonies with fine urbanity, thoroughly enjoying the
22862 justly earned honor of being for the moment at the center of the world's
22863 interest. He had the satisfaction of seeing the conference end in a
22864 treaty of peace and amity.
22865
22866 =The Monroe Doctrine Applied to Germany.=--Less spectacular than the
22867 Russo-Japanese settlement but not less important was a diplomatic
22868 passage-at-arms with Germany over the Monroe Doctrine. This clash grew
22869 out of the inability or unwillingness of the Venezuelan government to
22870 pay debts due foreign creditors. Having exhausted their patience in
22871 negotiations, England and Germany, in December 1901, sent battleships to
22872 establish what they characterized as "a peaceful blockade" of Venezuelan
22873 ports. Their action was followed by the rupture of diplomatic relations;
22874 there was a possibility that war and the occupation of Venezuelan
22875 territory might result.
22876
22877 While unwilling to stand between a Latin-American country and its
22878 creditors, President Roosevelt was determined that debt collecting
22879 should not be made an excuse for European countries to seize territory.
22880 He therefore urged arbitration of the dispute, winning the assent of
22881 England and Italy. Germany, with a somewhat haughty air, refused to take
22882 the milder course. The President, learning of this refusal, called the
22883 German ambassador to the White House and informed him in very precise
22884 terms that, unless the Imperial German Government consented to
22885 arbitrate, Admiral Dewey would be ordered to the scene with instructions
22886 to prevent Germany from seizing any Venezuelan territory. A week passed
22887 and no answer came from Berlin. Not baffled, the President again took
22888 the matter up with the ambassador, this time with even more firmness; he
22889 stated in language admitting of but one meaning that, unless within
22890 forty-eight hours the Emperor consented to arbitration, American
22891 battleships, already coaled and cleared, would sail for Venezuelan
22892 waters. The hint was sufficient. The Kaiser accepted the proposal and
22893 the President, with the fine irony of diplomacy, complimented him
22894 publicly on "being so stanch an advocate of arbitration." In terms of
22895 the Monroe Doctrine this action meant that the United States, while not
22896 denying the obligations of debtors, would not permit any move on the
22897 part of European powers that might easily lead to the temporary or
22898 permanent occupation of Latin-American territory.
22899
22900 =The Santo Domingo Affair.=--The same issue was involved in a
22901 controversy over Santo Domingo which arose in 1904. The Dominican
22902 republic, like Venezuela, was heavily in debt, and certain European
22903 countries declared that, unless the United States undertook to look
22904 after the finances of the embarrassed debtor, they would resort to armed
22905 coercion. What was the United States to do? The danger of having some
22906 European power strongly intrenched in Santo Domingo was too imminent to
22907 be denied. President Roosevelt acted with characteristic speed, and
22908 notwithstanding strong opposition in the Senate was able, in 1907, to
22909 effect a treaty arrangement which placed Dominican finances under
22910 American supervision.
22911
22912 In the course of the debate over this settlement, a number of
22913 interesting questions arose. It was pertinently asked whether the
22914 American navy should be used to help creditors collect their debts
22915 anywhere in Latin-America. It was suggested also that no sanction should
22916 be given to the practice among European governments of using armed force
22917 to collect private claims. Opponents of President Roosevelt's policy,
22918 and they were neither few nor insignificant, urged that such matters
22919 should be referred to the Hague Court or to special international
22920 commissions for arbitration. To this the answer was made that the United
22921 States could not surrender any question coming under the terms of the
22922 Monroe Doctrine to the decision of an international tribunal. The
22923 position of the administration was very clearly stated by President
22924 Roosevelt himself. "The country," he said, "would certainly decline to
22925 go to war to prevent a foreign government from collecting a just debt;
22926 on the other hand, it is very inadvisable to permit any foreign power to
22927 take possession, even temporarily, of the customs houses of an American
22928 republic in order to enforce the payment of its obligations; for such a
22929 temporary occupation might turn into a permanent occupation. The only
22930 escape from these alternatives may at any time be that we must
22931 ourselves undertake to bring about some arrangement by which so much as
22932 possible of a just obligation shall be paid." The Monroe Doctrine was
22933 negative. It denied to European powers a certain liberty of operation in
22934 this hemisphere. The positive obligations resulting from its application
22935 by the United States were points now emphasized and developed.
22936
22937 =The Hague Conference.=--The controversies over Latin-American relations
22938 and his part in bringing the Russo-Japanese War to a close naturally
22939 made a deep impression upon Roosevelt, turning his mind in the direction
22940 of the peaceful settlement of international disputes. The subject was
22941 moreover in the air. As if conscious of impending calamity, the
22942 statesmen of the Old World, to all outward signs at least, seemed
22943 searching for a way to reduce armaments and avoid the bloody and costly
22944 trial of international causes by the ancient process of battle. It was
22945 the Czar, Nicholas II, fated to die in one of the terrible holocausts
22946 which he helped to bring upon mankind, who summoned the delegates of the
22947 nations in the first Hague Peace Conference in 1899. The conference did
22948 nothing to reduce military burdens or avoid wars but it did recognize
22949 the right of friendly nations to offer the services of mediation to
22950 countries at war and did establish a Court at the Hague for the
22951 arbitration of international disputes.
22952
22953 Encouraged by this experiment, feeble as it was, President Roosevelt in
22954 1904 proposed a second conference, yielding to the Czar the honor of
22955 issuing the call. At this great international assembly, held at the
22956 Hague in 1907, the representatives of the United States proposed a plan
22957 for the compulsory arbitration of certain matters of international
22958 dispute. This was rejected with contempt by Germany. Reduction of
22959 armaments, likewise proposed in the conference, was again deferred. In
22960 fact, nothing was accomplished beyond agreement upon certain rules for
22961 the conduct of "civilized warfare," casting a somewhat lurid light upon
22962 the "pacific" intentions of most of the powers assembled.
22963
22964 =The World Tour of the Fleet.=--As if to assure the world then that the
22965 United States placed little reliance upon the frail reed of peace
22966 conferences, Roosevelt the following year (1908) made an imposing
22967 display of American naval power by sending a fleet of sixteen
22968 battleships on a tour around the globe. On his own authority, he ordered
22969 the ships to sail out of Hampton Roads and circle the earth by way of
22970 the Straits of Magellan, San Francisco, Australia, the Philippines,
22971 China, Japan, and the Suez Canal. This enterprise was not, as some
22972 critics claimed, a "mere boyish flourish." President Roosevelt knew how
22973 deep was the influence of sea power on the fate of nations. He was aware
22974 that no country could have a wide empire of trade and dominion without
22975 force adequate to sustain it. The voyage around the world therefore
22976 served a double purpose. It interested his own country in the naval
22977 program of the government, and it reminded other powers that the
22978 American giant, though quiet, was not sleeping in the midst of
22979 international rivalries.
22980
22981
22982 COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION
22983
22984 =A Constitutional Question Settled.=--In colonial administration, as in
22985 foreign policy, President Roosevelt advanced with firm step in a path
22986 already marked out. President McKinley had defined the principles that
22987 were to control the development of Porto Rico and the Philippines. The
22988 Republican party had announced a program of pacification, gradual
22989 self-government, and commercial improvement. The only remaining question
22990 of importance, to use the popular phrase,--"Does the Constitution follow
22991 the flag?"--had been answered by the Supreme Court of the United States.
22992 Although it was well known that the Constitution did not contemplate the
22993 government of dependencies, such as the Philippines and Porto Rico, the
22994 Court, by generous and ingenious interpretations, found a way for
22995 Congress to apply any reasonable rules required by the occasion.
22996
22997 =Porto Rico.=--The government of Porto Rico was a relatively simple
22998 matter. It was a single island with a fairly homogeneous population
22999 apart from the Spanish upper class. For a time after military occupation
23000 in 1898, it was administered under military rule. This was succeeded by
23001 the establishment of civil government under the "organic act" passed by
23002 Congress in 1900. The law assured to the Porto Ricans American
23003 protection but withheld American citizenship--a boon finally granted in
23004 1917. It provided for a governor and six executive secretaries appointed
23005 by the President with the approval of the Senate; and for a legislature
23006 of two houses--one elected by popular native vote, and an upper chamber
23007 composed of the executive secretaries and five other persons appointed
23008 in the same manner. Thus the United States turned back to the provincial
23009 system maintained by England in Virginia or New York in old colonial
23010 days. The natives were given a voice in their government and the power
23011 of initiating laws; but the final word both in law-making and
23012 administration was vested in officers appointed in Washington. Such was
23013 the plan under which the affairs of Porto Rico were conducted by
23014 President Roosevelt. It lasted until the new organic act of 1917.
23015
23016 [Illustration: _Photograph from Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
23017
23018 A SUGAR MILL, PORTO RICO]
23019
23020 =The Philippines.=--The administration of the Philippines presented far
23021 more difficult questions. The number of islands, the variety of
23022 languages and races, the differences in civilization all combined to
23023 challenge the skill of the government. Moreover, there was raging in
23024 1901 a stubborn revolt against American authority, which had to be
23025 faced. Following the lines laid down by President McKinley, the
23026 evolution of American policy fell into three stages. At first the
23027 islands were governed directly by the President under his supreme
23028 military power. In 1901 a civilian commission, headed by William Howard
23029 Taft, was selected by the President and charged with the government of
23030 the provinces in which order had been restored. Six years later, under
23031 the terms of an organic act, passed by Congress in 1902, the third stage
23032 was reached. The local government passed into the hands of a governor
23033 and commission, appointed by the President and Senate, and a
23034 legislature--one house elected by popular vote and an upper chamber
23035
23036 composed of the commission. This scheme, like that obtaining in Porto
23037 Rico, remained intact until a Democratic Congress under President
23038 Wilson's leadership carried the colonial administration into its fourth
23039 phase by making both houses elective. Thus, by the steady pursuit of a
23040 liberal policy, self-government was extended to the dependencies; but it
23041 encouraged rather than extinguished the vigorous movement among the
23042 Philippine natives for independence.
23043
23044 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
23045
23046 MR TAFT IN THE PHILIPPINES]
23047
23048 =Cuban Relations.=--Within the sphere of colonial affairs, Cuba, though
23049 nominally independent, also presented problems to the government at
23050 Washington. In the fine enthusiasm that accompanied the declaration of
23051 war on Spain, Congress, unmindful of practical considerations,
23052 recognized the independence of Cuba and disclaimed "any disposition or
23053 intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said
23054 island except for the pacification thereof." In the settlement that
23055 followed the war, however, it was deemed undesirable to set the young
23056 republic adrift upon the stormy sea of international politics without a
23057 guiding hand. Before withdrawing American troops from the island,
23058 Congress, in March, 1901, enacted, and required Cuba to approve, a
23059 series of restrictions known as the Platt amendment, limiting her power
23060 to incur indebtedness, securing the right of the United States to
23061 intervene whenever necessary to protect life and property, and reserving
23062 to the United States coaling stations at certain points to be agreed
23063 upon. The Cubans made strong protests against what they deemed
23064 "infringements of their sovereignty"; but finally with good grace
23065 accepted their fate. Even when in 1906 President Roosevelt landed
23066 American troops in the island to quell a domestic dissension, they
23067 acquiesced in the action, evidently regarding it as a distinct warning
23068 that they should learn to manage their elections in an orderly manner.
23069
23070
23071 THE ROOSEVELT DOMESTIC POLICIES
23072
23073 =Social Questions to the Front.=--From the day of his inauguration to
23074 the close of his service in 1909, President Roosevelt, in messages,
23075 speeches, and interviews, kept up a lively and interesting discussion of
23076 trusts, capital, labor, poverty, riches, lawbreaking, good citizenship,
23077 and kindred themes. Many a subject previously touched upon only by
23078 representatives of the minor and dissenting parties, he dignified by a
23079 careful examination. That he did this with any fixed design or policy in
23080 mind does not seem to be the case. He admitted himself that when he
23081 became President he did not have in hand any settled or far-reaching
23082 plan of social betterment. He did have, however, serious convictions on
23083 general principles. "I was bent upon making the government," he wrote,
23084 "the most efficient possible instrument in helping the people of the
23085 United States to better themselves in every way, politically, socially,
23086 and industrially. I believed with all my heart in real and
23087 thorough-going democracy and I wished to make the democracy industrial
23088 as well as political, although I had only partially formulated the
23089 method I believed we should follow." It is thus evident at least that he
23090 had departed a long way from the old idea of the government as nothing
23091 but a great policeman keeping order among the people in a struggle over
23092 the distribution of the nation's wealth and resources.
23093
23094 =Roosevelt's View of the Constitution.=--Equally significant was
23095 Roosevelt's attitude toward the Constitution and the office of
23096 President. He utterly repudiated the narrow construction of our national
23097 charter. He held that the Constitution "should be treated as the
23098 greatest document ever devised by the wit of man to aid a people in
23099 exercising every power necessary for its own betterment, not as a
23100 strait-jacket cunningly fashioned to strangle growth." He viewed the
23101 presidency as he did the Constitution. Strict constructionists of the
23102 Jeffersonian school, of whom there were many on occasion even in the
23103 Republican party, had taken a view that the President could do nothing
23104 that he was not specifically authorized by the Constitution to do.
23105 Roosevelt took exactly the opposite position. It was his opinion that it
23106 was not only the President's right but his duty "to do anything that the
23107 needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the
23108 Constitution or the laws." He went on to say that he acted "for the
23109 common well-being of all our people whenever and in whatever manner was
23110 necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative
23111 prohibition."
23112
23113 =The Trusts and Railways.=--To the trust question, Roosevelt devoted
23114 especial attention. This was unavoidable. By far the larger part of the
23115 business of the country was done by corporations as distinguished from
23116 partnerships and individual owners. The growth of these gigantic
23117 aggregations of capital had been the leading feature in American
23118 industrial development during the last two decades of the nineteenth
23119 century. In the conquest of business by trusts and "the resulting
23120 private fortunes of great magnitude," the Populists and the Democrats
23121 had seen a grievous danger to the republic. "Plutocracy has taken the
23122 place of democracy; the tariff breeds trusts; let us destroy therefore
23123 the tariff and the trusts"--such was the battle cry which had been taken
23124 up by Bryan and his followers.
23125
23126 President Roosevelt countered vigorously. He rejected the idea that the
23127 trusts were the product of the tariff or of governmental action of any
23128 kind. He insisted that they were the outcome of "natural economic
23129 forces": (1) destructive competition among business men compelling them
23130 to avoid ruin by cooperation in fixing prices; (2) the growth of markets
23131 on a national scale and even international scale calling for vast
23132 accumulations of capital to carry on such business; (3) the possibility
23133 of immense savings by the union of many plants under one management. In
23134 the corporation he saw a new stage in the development of American
23135 industry. Unregulated competition he regarded as "the source of evils
23136 which all men concede must be remedied if this civilization of ours is
23137 to survive." The notion, therefore, that these immense business concerns
23138 should be or could be broken up by a decree of law, Roosevelt considered
23139 absurd.
23140
23141 At the same time he proposed that "evil trusts" should be prevented from
23142 "wrong-doing of any kind"; that is, punished for plain swindling, for
23143 making agreements to limit output, for refusing to sell to customers who
23144 dealt with rival firms, and for conspiracies with railways to ruin
23145 competitors by charging high freight rates and for similar abuses.
23146 Accordingly, he proposed, not the destruction of the trusts, but their
23147 regulation by the government. This, he contended, would preserve the
23148 advantages of business on a national scale while preventing the evils
23149 that accompanied it. The railway company he declared to be a public
23150 servant. "Its rates should be just to and open to all shippers alike."
23151 So he answered those who thought that trusts and railway combinations
23152 were private concerns to be managed solely by their owners without let
23153 or hindrance and also those who thought trusts and railway combinations
23154 could be abolished by tariff reduction or criminal prosecution.
23155
23156 =The Labor Question.=--On the labor question, then pressing to the front
23157 in public interest, President Roosevelt took advanced ground for his
23158 time. He declared that the working-man, single-handed and empty-handed,
23159 threatened with starvation if unemployed, was no match for the employer
23160 who was able to bargain and wait. This led him, accordingly, to accept
23161 the principle of the trade union; namely, that only by collective
23162 bargaining can labor be put on a footing to measure its strength equally
23163 with capital. While he severely arraigned labor leaders who advocated
23164 violence and destructive doctrines, he held that "the organization of
23165 labor into trade unions and federations is necessary, is beneficent, and
23166 is one of the greatest possible agencies in the attainment of a true
23167 industrial, as well as a true political, democracy in the United
23168 States." The last resort of trade unions in labor disputes, the strike,
23169 he approved in case negotiations failed to secure "a fair deal."
23170
23171 He thought, however, that labor organizations, even if wisely managed,
23172 could not solve all the pressing social questions of the time. The aid
23173 of the government at many points he believed to be necessary to
23174 eliminate undeserved poverty, industrial diseases, unemployment, and the
23175 unfortunate consequences of industrial accidents. In his first message
23176 of 1901, for instance, he urged that workers injured in industry should
23177 have certain and ample compensation. From time to time he advocated
23178 other legislation to obtain what he called "a larger measure of social
23179 and industrial justice."
23180
23181 =Great Riches and Taxation.=--Even the challenge of the radicals, such
23182 as the Populists, who alleged that "the toil of millions is boldly
23183 stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few"--challenges which his
23184 predecessors did not consider worthy of notice--President Roosevelt
23185 refused to let pass without an answer. In his first message he denied
23186 the truth of the common saying that the rich were growing richer and the
23187 poor were growing poorer. He asserted that, on the contrary, the average
23188 man, wage worker, farmer, and small business man, was better off than
23189 ever before in the history of our country. That there had been abuses in
23190 the accumulation of wealth he did not pretend to ignore, but he believed
23191 that even immense fortunes, on the whole, represented positive benefits
23192 conferred upon the country. Nevertheless he felt that grave dangers to
23193 the safety and the happiness of the people lurked in great inequalities
23194 of wealth. In 1906 he wrote that he wished it were in his power to
23195 prevent the heaping up of enormous fortunes. The next year, to the
23196 astonishment of many leaders in his own party, he boldly announced in a
23197 message to Congress that he approved both income and inheritance taxes,
23198 then generally viewed as Populist or Democratic measures. He even took
23199 the stand that such taxes should be laid in order to bring about a more
23200 equitable distribution of wealth and greater equality of opportunity
23201 among citizens.
23202
23203
23204 LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE ACTIVITIES
23205
23206 =Economic Legislation.=--When President Roosevelt turned from the field
23207 of opinion he found himself in a different sphere. Many of his views
23208 were too advanced for the members of his party in Congress, and where
23209 results depended upon the making of new laws, his progress was slow.
23210 Nevertheless, in his administrations several measures were enacted that
23211 bore the stamp of his theories, though it could hardly be said that he
23212 dominated Congress to the same degree as did some other Presidents. The
23213 Hepburn Railway Act of 1906 enlarged the interstate commerce commission;
23214 it extended the commission's power over oil pipe lines, express
23215 companies, and other interstate carriers; it gave the commission the
23216 right to reduce rates found to be unreasonable and discriminatory; it
23217 forbade "midnight tariffs," that is, sudden changes in rates favoring
23218 certain shippers; and it prohibited common carriers from transporting
23219 goods owned by themselves, especially coal, except for their own proper
23220 use. Two important pure food and drug laws, enacted during the same
23221 year, were designed to protect the public against diseased meats and
23222 deleterious foods and drugs. A significant piece of labor legislation
23223 was an act of the same Congress making interstate railways liable to
23224 damages for injuries sustained by their employees. When this measure was
23225 declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court it was reenacted with the
23226 objectionable clauses removed. A second installment of labor legislation
23227 was offered in the law of 1908 limiting the hours of railway employees
23228 engaged as trainmen or telegraph operators.
23229
23230 [Illustration: _Courtesy United States Reclamation Service._
23231
23232 THE ROOSEVELT DAM, PHOENIX, ARIZONA]
23233
23234 =Reclamation and Conservation.=--The open country--the deserts, the
23235 forests, waterways, and the public lands--interested President Roosevelt
23236 no less than railway and industrial questions. Indeed, in his first
23237 message to Congress he placed the conservation of natural resources
23238 among "the most vital internal problems" of the age, and forcibly
23239 emphasized an issue that had been discussed in a casual way since
23240 Cleveland's first administration. The suggestion evoked an immediate
23241 response in Congress. Under the leadership of Senator Newlands, of
23242 Nevada, the Reclamation Act of 1902 was passed, providing for the
23243 redemption of the desert areas of the West. The proceeds from the sale
23244 of public lands were dedicated to the construction of storage dams and
23245 sluiceways to hold water and divert it as needed to the thirsty sands.
23246 Furthermore it was stipulated that the rents paid by water users should
23247 go into a reclamation fund to continue the good work forever.
23248 Construction was started immediately under the terms of the law. Within
23249 seventeen years about 1,600,000 acres had been reclaimed and more than a
23250 million were actually irrigated. In the single year 1918, the crops of
23251 the irrigated districts were valued at approximately $100,000,000.
23252
23253 In his first message, also, President Roosevelt urged the transfer of
23254 all control over national forests to trained men in the Bureau of
23255 Forestry--a recommendation carried out in 1907 when the Forestry Service
23256 was created. In every direction noteworthy advances were made in the
23257 administration of the national domain. The science of forestry was
23258 improved and knowledge of the subject spread among the people. Lands in
23259 the national forest available for agriculture were opened to settlers.
23260 Water power sites on the public domain were leased for a term of years
23261 to private companies instead of being sold outright. The area of the
23262 national forests was enlarged from 43 million acres to 194 million acres
23263 by presidential proclamation--more than 43 million acres being added in
23264 one year, 1907. The men who turned sheep and cattle to graze on the
23265 public lands were compelled to pay a fair rental, much to their
23266 dissatisfaction. Fire prevention work was undertaken in the forests on a
23267 large scale, reducing the appalling, annual destruction of timber.
23268 Millions of acres of coal land, such as the government had been
23269 carelessly selling to mining companies at low figures, were withdrawn
23270 from sale and held until Congress was prepared to enact laws for the
23271 disposition of them in the public interest. Prosecutions were
23272 instituted against men who had obtained public lands by fraud and vast
23273 tracts were recovered for the national domain. An agitation was begun
23274 which bore fruit under the administrations of Taft and Wilson in laws
23275 reserving to the federal government the ownership of coal, water power,
23276 phosphates, and other natural resources while authorizing corporations
23277 to develop them under leases for a period of years.
23278
23279 =The Prosecution of the Trusts.=--As an executive, President Roosevelt
23280 was also a distinct "personality." His discrimination between "good" and
23281 "bad" trusts led him to prosecute some of them with vigor. On his
23282 initiative, the Northern Securities Company, formed to obtain control of
23283 certain great western railways, was dissolved by order of the Supreme
23284 Court. Proceedings were instituted against the American Tobacco Company
23285 and the Standard Oil Company as monopolies in violation of the Sherman
23286 Anti-Trust law. The Sugar Trust was found guilty of cheating the New
23287 York customs house and some of the minor officers were sent to prison.
23288 Frauds in the Post-office Department were uncovered and the offenders
23289 brought to book. In fact hardly a week passed without stirring news of
23290 "wrong doers" and "malefactors" haled into federal courts.
23291
23292 =The Great Coal Strike.=--The Roosevelt theory that the President could
23293 do anything for public welfare not forbidden by the Constitution and the
23294 laws was put to a severe test in 1902. A strike of the anthracite coal
23295 miners, which started in the summer, ran late into the autumn.
23296 Industries were paralyzed for the want of coal; cities were threatened
23297 with the appalling menace of a winter without heat. Governors and mayors
23298 were powerless and appealed for aid. The mine owners rejected the
23299 demands of the men and refused to permit the arbitration of the points
23300 in dispute, although John Mitchell, the leader of the miners, repeatedly
23301 urged it. After observing closely the course affairs, President
23302 Roosevelt made up his mind that the situation was intolerable. He
23303 arranged to have the federal troops, if necessary, take possession of
23304 the mines and operate them until the strike could be settled. He then
23305 invited the contestants to the White House and by dint of hard labor
23306 induced them to accept, as a substitute or compromise, arbitration by a
23307 commission which he appointed. Thus, by stepping outside the
23308 Constitution and acting as the first citizen of the land, President
23309 Roosevelt averted a crisis of great magnitude.
23310
23311 =The Election of 1904.=--The views and measures which he advocated with
23312 such vigor aroused deep hostility within as well as without his party.
23313 There were rumors of a Republican movement to defeat his nomination in
23314 1904 and it was said that the "financial and corporation interests" were
23315 in arms against him. A prominent Republican paper in New York City
23316 accused him of having "stolen Mr. Bryan's thunder," by harrying the
23317 trusts and favoring labor unions. When the Republican convention
23318 assembled in Chicago, however, the opposition disappeared and Roosevelt
23319 was nominated by acclamation.
23320
23321 This was the signal for a change on the part of Democratic leaders. They
23322 denounced the President as erratic, dangerous, and radical and decided
23323 to assume the moderate role themselves. They put aside Mr. Bryan and
23324 selected as their candidate, Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York, a man
23325
23326 who repudiated free silver and made a direct appeal for the conservative
23327 vote. The outcome of the reversal was astounding. Judge Parker's vote
23328 fell more than a million below that cast for Bryan in 1900; of the 476
23329 electoral votes he received only 140. Roosevelt, in addition to sweeping
23330 the Republican sections, even invaded Democratic territory, carrying the
23331 state of Missouri. Thus vindicated at the polls, he became more
23332 outspoken than ever. His leadership in the party was so widely
23333 recognized that he virtually selected his own successor.
23334
23335
23336 THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TAFT
23337
23338 =The Campaign of 1908.=--Long before the end of his elective term,
23339 President Roosevelt let it be known that he favored as his successor,
23340 William Howard Taft, of Ohio, his Secretary of War. To attain this end
23341 he used every shred of his powerful influence. When the Republican
23342 convention assembled, Mr. Taft easily won the nomination. Though the
23343 party platform was conservative in tone, he gave it a progressive tinge
23344 by expressing his personal belief in the popular election of United
23345 States Senators, an income tax, and other liberal measures. President
23346 Roosevelt announced his faith in the Republican candidate and appealed
23347 to the country for his election.
23348
23349 The turn in Republican affairs now convinced Mr. Bryan that the signs
23350 were propitious for a third attempt to win the presidency. The disaster
23351 to Judge Parker had taught the party that victory did not lie in a
23352 conservative policy. With little difficulty, therefore, the veteran
23353 leader from Nebraska once more rallied the Democrats around his
23354 standard, won the nomination, and wrote a platform vigorously attacking
23355 the tariff, trusts, and monopolies. Supported by a loyal following, he
23356 entered the lists, only to meet another defeat. Though he polled almost
23357 a million and a half more votes than did Judge Parker in 1904, the palm
23358 went to Mr. Taft.
23359
23360 =The Tariff Revision and Party Dissensions.=--At the very beginning of
23361 his term, President Taft had to face the tariff issue. He had met it in
23362 the campaign. Moved by the Democratic demand for a drastic reduction, he
23363 had expressed opinions which were thought to imply a "downward
23364 revision." The Democrats made much of the implication and the
23365 Republicans from the Middle West rejoiced in it. Pressure was coming
23366 from all sides. More than ten years had elapsed since the enactment of
23367 the Dingley bill and the position of many industries had been altered
23368 with the course of time. Evidently the day for revision--at best a
23369 thankless task--had arrived. Taft accepted the inevitable and called
23370 Congress in a special session. Until the midsummer of 1909, Republican
23371 Senators and Representatives wrangled over tariff schedules, the
23372 President making little effort to influence their decisions. When on
23373 August 5 the Payne-Aldrich bill became a law, a breach had been made in
23374 Republican ranks. Powerful Senators from the Middle West had spoken
23375 angrily against many of the high rates imposed by the bill. They had
23376 even broken with their party colleagues to vote against the entire
23377 scheme of tariff revision.
23378
23379 =The Income Tax Amendment.=--The rift in party harmony was widened by
23380 another serious difference of opinion. During the debate on the tariff
23381 bill, there was a concerted movement to include in it an income tax
23382 provision--this in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court in 1895
23383 declaring it unconstitutional. Conservative men were alarmed by the
23384 evident willingness of some members to flout a solemn decree of that
23385 eminent tribunal. At the same time they saw a powerful combination of
23386 Republicans and Democrats determined upon shifting some of the burden of
23387 taxation to large incomes. In the press of circumstances, a compromise
23388 was reached. The income tax bill was dropped for the present; but
23389 Congress passed the sixteenth amendment to the Constitution, authorizing
23390 taxes upon incomes from whatever source they might be derived, without
23391 reference to any apportionment among the states on the basis of
23392 population. The states ratified the amendment and early in 1913 it was
23393 proclaimed.
23394
23395 =President Taft's Policies.=--After the enactment of the tariff bill,
23396 Taft continued to push forward with his legislative program. He
23397 recommended, and Congress created, a special court of commerce with
23398 jurisdiction, among other things, over appeals from the interstate
23399 commerce commission, thus facilitating judicial review of the railway
23400 rates fixed and the orders issued by that body. This measure was quickly
23401 followed by an act establishing a system of postal savings banks in
23402 connection with the post office--a scheme which had long been opposed by
23403 private banks. Two years later, Congress defied the lobby of the express
23404 companies and supplemented the savings banks with a parcels post system,
23405 thus enabling the American postal service to catch up with that of other
23406 progressive nations. With a view to improving the business
23407 administration of the federal government, the President obtained from
23408 Congress a large appropriation for an economy and efficiency commission
23409 charged with the duty of inquiring into wasteful and obsolete methods
23410 and recommending improved devices and practices. The chief result of
23411 this investigation was a vigorous report in favor of a national budget
23412 system, which soon found public backing.
23413
23414 President Taft negotiated with England and France general treaties
23415 providing for the arbitration of disputes which were "justiciable" in
23416 character even though they might involve questions of "vital interest
23417 and national honor." They were coldly received in the Senate and so
23418 amended that Taft abandoned them altogether. A tariff reciprocity
23419 agreement with Canada, however, he forced through Congress in the face
23420 of strong opposition from his own party. After making a serious breach
23421 in Republican ranks, he was chagrined to see the whole scheme come to
23422 naught by the overthrow of the Liberals in the Canadian elections of
23423 1911.
23424
23425 =Prosecution of the Trusts.=--The party schism was even enlarged by what
23426 appeared to be the successful prosecution of several great combinations.
23427 In two important cases, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the
23428 Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company on the ground that
23429 they violated the Sherman Anti-Trust law. In taking this step Chief
23430 Justice White was at some pains to state that the law did not apply to
23431 combinations which did not "unduly" restrain trade. His remark,
23432 construed to mean that the Court would not interfere with corporations
23433 as such, became the subject of a popular outcry against the President
23434 and the judges.
23435
23436
23437 PROGRESSIVE INSURGENCY AND THE ELECTION OF 1912
23438
23439 =Growing Dissensions.=--All in all, Taft's administration from the first
23440 day had been disturbed by party discord. High words had passed over the
23441 tariff bill and disgruntled members of Congress could not forget them.
23442 To differences over issues were added quarrels between youth and old
23443 age. In the House of Representatives there developed a group of young
23444 "insurgent" Republicans who resented the dominance of the Speaker,
23445 Joseph G. Cannon, and other members of the "old guard," as they named
23446 the men of long service and conservative minds. In 1910, the insurgents
23447 went so far as to join with the Democrats in a movement to break the
23448 Speaker's sway by ousting him from the rules committee and depriving him
23449 of the power to appoint its members. The storm was brewing. In the
23450 autumn of that year the Democrats won a clear majority in the House of
23451 Representatives and began an open battle with President Taft by
23452 demanding an immediate downward revision of the tariff.
23453
23454 =The Rise of the Progressive Republicans.=--Preparatory to the campaign
23455 of 1912, the dissenters within the Republican party added the prefix
23456 "Progressive" to their old title and began to organize a movement to
23457 prevent the renomination of Mr. Taft. As early as January 21, 1911, they
23458 formed a Progressive Republican League at the home of Senator La
23459 Follette of Wisconsin and launched an attack on the Taft measures and
23460 policies. In October they indorsed Mr. La Follette as "the logical
23461 Republican candidate" and appealed to the party for support. The
23462 controversy over the tariff had grown into a formidable revolt against
23463 the occupant of the White House.
23464
23465 =Roosevelt in the Field.=--After looking on for a while, ex-President
23466 Roosevelt took a hand in the fray. Soon after his return in 1910 from a
23467 hunting trip in Africa and a tour in Europe, he made a series of
23468 addresses in which he formulated a progressive program. In a speech in
23469 Kansas, he favored regulation of the trusts, a graduated income tax
23470 bearing heavily on great fortunes, tariff revision schedule by schedule,
23471 conservation of natural resources, labor legislation, the direct
23472 primary, and the recall of elective officials. In an address before the
23473 Ohio state constitutional convention in February, 1912, he indorsed the
23474 initiative and referendum and announced a doctrine known as the "recall
23475 of judicial decisions." This was a new and radical note in American
23476 politics. An ex-President of the United States proposed that the people
23477 at the polls should have the right to reverse the decision of a judge
23478 who set aside any act of a state legislature passed in the interests of
23479 social welfare. The Progressive Republicans, impressed by these
23480 addresses, turned from La Follette to Roosevelt and on February 24,
23481 induced him to come out openly as a candidate against Taft for the
23482 Republican nomination.
23483
23484 =The Split in the Republican Party.=--The country then witnessed the
23485 strange spectacle of two men who had once been close companions engaged
23486 in a bitter rivalry to secure a majority of the delegates to the
23487 Republican convention to be held at Chicago. When the convention
23488 assembled, about one-fourth of the seats were contested, the delegates
23489 for both candidates loudly proclaiming the regularity of their election.
23490 In deciding between the contestants the national committee, after the
23491 usual hearings, settled the disputes in such a way that Taft received a
23492 safe majority. After a week of negotiation, Roosevelt and his followers
23493 left the Republican party. Most of his supporters withdrew from the
23494 convention and the few who remained behind refused to answer the roll
23495 call. Undisturbed by this formidable bolt, the regular Republicans went
23496 on with their work. They renominated Mr. Taft and put forth a platform
23497 roundly condemning such Progressive doctrines as the recall of judges.
23498
23499 =The Formation of the Progressive Party.=--The action of the Republicans
23500 in seating the Taft delegates was vigorously denounced by Roosevelt. He
23501 declared that the convention had no claim to represent the voters of the
23502 Republican party; that any candidate named by it would be "the
23503 beneficiary of a successful fraud"; and that it would be deeply
23504 discreditable to any man to accept the convention's approval under such
23505 circumstances. The bitterness of his followers was extreme. On July 8, a
23506 call went forth for a "Progressive" convention to be held in Chicago on
23507 August 5. The assembly which duly met on that day was a unique political
23508 conference. Prominence was given to women delegates, and "politicians"
23509 were notably absent. Roosevelt himself, who was cheered as a conquering
23510 hero, made an impassioned speech setting forth his "confession of
23511 faith." He was nominated by acclamation; Governor Hiram Johnson of
23512 California was selected as his companion candidate for Vice President.
23513 The platform endorsed such political reforms as woman suffrage, direct
23514 primaries, the initiative, referendum, and recall, popular election of
23515 United States Senators, and the short ballot. It favored a program of
23516 social legislation, including the prohibition of child labor and minimum
23517 wages for women. It approved the regulation, rather than the
23518 dissolution, of the trusts. Like apostles in a new and lofty cause, the
23519 Progressives entered a vigorous campaign for the election of their
23520 distinguished leader.
23521
23522 =Woodrow Wilson and the Election of 1912.=--With the Republicans
23523 divided, victory loomed up before the Democrats. Naturally, a terrific
23524 contest over the nomination occurred at their convention in Baltimore.
23525 Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Governor
23526 Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey, were the chief contestants. After tossing
23527 to and fro for seven long, hot days, and taking forty-six ballots, the
23528 delegates, powerfully influenced by Mr. Bryan, finally decided in favor
23529 of the governor. As a professor, a writer on historical and political
23530 subjects, and the president of Princeton University, Mr. Wilson had
23531 become widely known in public life. As the governor of New Jersey he had
23532 attracted the support of the progressives in both parties. With grim
23533 determination he had "waged war on the bosses," and pushed through the
23534 legislature measures establishing direct primaries, regulating public
23535 utilities, and creating a system of workmen's compensation in
23536 industries. During the presidential campaign that followed Governor
23537 Wilson toured the country and aroused great enthusiasm by a series of
23538 addresses later published under the title of _The New Freedom_. He
23539 declared that "the government of the United States is at present the
23540 foster child of the special interests." He proposed to free the country
23541 by breaking the dominance of "the big bankers, the big manufacturers,
23542 the big masters of commerce, the heads of railroad corporations and of
23543 steamship corporations."
23544
23545 In the election Governor Wilson easily secured a majority of the
23546 electoral votes, and his party, while retaining possession of the House
23547 of Representatives, captured the Senate as well. The popular verdict,
23548 however, indicated a state of confusion in the country. The combined
23549 Progressive and Republican vote exceeded that of the Democrats by
23550 1,300,000. The Socialists, with Eugene V. Debs as their candidate again,
23551 polled about 900,000 votes, more than double the number received four
23552 years before. Thus, as the result of an extraordinary upheaval the
23553 Republicans, after holding the office of President for sixteen years,
23554 passed out of power, and the government of the country was intrusted to
23555 the Democrats under the leadership of a man destined to be one of the
23556 outstanding figures of the modern age, Woodrow Wilson.
23557
23558
23559 =General References=
23560
23561 J.B. Bishop, _Theodore Roosevelt and His Time_ (2 vols.).
23562
23563 Theodore Roosevelt, _Autobiography_; _New Nationalism_; _Progressive
23564 Principles_.
23565
23566 W.H. Taft, _Popular Government_.
23567
23568 Walter Weyl, _The New Democracy_.
23569
23570 H. Croly, _The Promise of American Life_.
23571
23572 J.B. Bishop, _The Panama Gateway_.
23573
23574 J.B. Scott, _The Hague Peace Conferences_.
23575
23576 W.B. Munro (ed.), _Initiative, Referendum, and Recall_.
23577
23578 C.R. Van Hise, _The Conservation of Natural Resources_.
23579
23580 Gifford Pinchot, _The Fight for Conservation_.
23581
23582 W.F. Willoughby, _Territories and Dependencies of the United States_
23583 (1905).
23584
23585
23586 =Research Topics=
23587
23588 =Roosevelt and "Big Business."=--Haworth, _The United States in Our Own
23589 Time_, pp. 281-289; F.A. Ogg, _National Progress_ (American Nation
23590 Series), pp. 40-75; Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside Series), pp.
23591 293-307.
23592
23593 =Our Insular Possessions.=--Elson, _History of the United States_, pp.
23594 896-904.
23595
23596 =Latin-American Relations.=--Haworth, pp. 294-299; Ogg, pp. 254-257.
23597
23598 =The Panama Canal.=--Haworth, pp. 300-309; Ogg, pp. 266-277; Paxson, pp.
23599 286-292; Elson, pp. 906-911.
23600
23601 =Conservation.=--Haworth, pp. 331-334; Ogg, pp. 96-115; Beard, _American
23602 Government and Politics_ (3d ed.), pp. 401-416.
23603
23604 =Republican Dissensions under Taft's Administration.=--Haworth, pp.
23605 351-360; Ogg, pp. 167-186; Paxson, pp. 324-342; Elson, pp. 916-924.
23606
23607 =The Campaign of 1912.=--Haworth, pp. 360-379; Ogg, pp. 187-208.
23608
23609
23610 =Questions=
23611
23612 1. Compare the early career of Roosevelt with that of some other
23613 President.
23614
23615 2. Name the chief foreign and domestic questions of the Roosevelt-Taft
23616 administrations.
23617
23618 3. What international complications were involved in the Panama Canal
23619 problem?
23620
23621 4. Review the Monroe Doctrine. Discuss Roosevelt's applications of it.
23622
23623 5. What is the strategic importance of the Caribbean to the United
23624 States?
23625
23626 6. What is meant by the sea power? Trace the voyage of the fleet around
23627 the world and mention the significant imperial and commercial points
23628 touched.
23629
23630 7. What is meant by the question: "Does the Constitution follow the
23631 flag?"
23632
23633 8. Trace the history of self-government in Porto Rico. In the
23634 Philippines.
23635
23636 9. What is Cuba's relation to the United States?
23637
23638 10. What was Roosevelt's theory of our Constitution?
23639
23640 11. Give Roosevelt's views on trusts, labor, taxation.
23641
23642 12. Outline the domestic phases of Roosevelt's administrations.
23643
23644 13. Account for the dissensions under Taft.
23645
23646 14. Trace the rise of the Progressive movement.
23647
23648 15. What was Roosevelt's progressive program?
23649
23650 16. Review Wilson's early career and explain the underlying theory of
23651 _The New Freedom_.
23652
23653
23654
23655
23656 CHAPTER XXII
23657
23658 THE SPIRIT OF REFORM IN AMERICA
23659
23660
23661 AN AGE OF CRITICISM
23662
23663 =Attacks on Abuses in American Life.=--The crisis precipitated by the
23664 Progressive uprising was not a sudden and unexpected one. It had been
23665 long in preparation. The revolt against corruption in politics which
23666 produced the Liberal Republican outbreak in the seventies and the
23667 Mugwump movement of the eighties was followed by continuous criticism of
23668 American political and economic development. From 1880 until his death
23669 in 1892, George William Curtis, as president of the Civil Service Reform
23670 Association, kept up a running fire upon the abuses of the spoils
23671 system. James Bryce, an observant English scholar and man of affairs, in
23672 his great work, _The American Commonwealth_, published in 1888, by
23673 picturing fearlessly the political rings and machines which dominated
23674 the cities, gave the whole country a fresh shock. Six years later Henry
23675 D. Lloyd, in a powerful book entitled _Wealth against Commonwealth_,
23676 attacked in scathing language certain trusts which had destroyed their
23677 rivals and bribed public officials. In 1903 Miss Ida Tarbell, an author
23678 of established reputation in the historical field, gave to the public an
23679 account of the Standard Oil Company, revealing the ruthless methods of
23680 that corporation in crushing competition. About the same time Lincoln
23681 Steffens exposed the sordid character of politics in several
23682 municipalities in a series of articles bearing the painful heading: _The
23683 Shame of the Cities_. The critical spirit appeared in almost every form;
23684 in weekly and monthly magazines, in essays and pamphlets, in editorials
23685 and news stories, in novels like Churchill's _Coniston_ and Sinclair's
23686 _The Jungle_. It became so savage and so wanton that the opening years
23687 of the twentieth century were well named "the age of the muckrakers."
23688
23689 =The Subjects of the Criticism.=--In this outburst of invective, nothing
23690 was spared. It was charged that each of the political parties had fallen
23691 into the hands of professional politicians who devoted their time to
23692 managing conventions, making platforms, nominating candidates, and
23693 dictating to officials; in return for their "services" they sold offices
23694 and privileges. It was alleged that mayors and councils had bargained
23695 away for private benefit street railway and other franchises. It was
23696 asserted that many powerful labor unions were dominated by men who
23697 blackmailed employers. Some critics specialized in descriptions of the
23698 poverty, slums, and misery of great cities. Others took up "frenzied
23699 finance" and accused financiers of selling worthless stocks and bonds to
23700 an innocent public. Still others professed to see in the accumulations
23701 of millionaires the downfall of our republic.
23702
23703 =The Attack on "Invisible Government."=--Some even maintained that the
23704 control of public affairs had passed from the people to a sinister
23705 minority called "the invisible government." So eminent and conservative
23706 a statesman as the Hon. Elihu Root lent the weight of his great name to
23707 such an imputation. Speaking of his native state, New York, he said:
23708 "What is the government of this state? What has it been during the forty
23709 years of my acquaintance with it? The government of the Constitution?
23710 Oh, no; not half the time or half way.... From the days of Fenton and
23711 Conkling and Arthur and Cornell and Platt, from the days of David B.
23712 Hill down to the present time, the government of the state has presented
23713 two different lines of activity: one, of the constitutional and
23714 statutory officers of the state and the other of the party leaders; they
23715 call them party bosses. They call the system--I don't coin the
23716 phrase--the system they call 'invisible government.' For I don't know
23717 how many years Mr. Conkling was the supreme ruler in this state. The
23718 governor did not count, the legislature did not count, comptrollers and
23719 secretaries of state and what not did not count. It was what Mr.
23720 Conkling said, and in a great outburst of public rage he was pulled
23721 down. Then Mr. Platt ruled the state; for nigh upon twenty years he
23722 ruled it. It was not the governor; it was not the legislature; it was
23723 Mr. Platt. And the capital was not here [in Albany]; it was at 49
23724 Broadway; Mr. Platt and his lieutenants. It makes no difference what
23725 name you give, whether you call it Fenton or Conkling or Cornell or
23726 Arthur or Platt or by the names of men now living. The ruler of the
23727 state during the greater part of the forty years of my acquaintance with
23728 the state government has not been any man authorized by the constitution
23729 or by law.... The party leader is elected by no one, accountable to no
23730 one, bound by no oath of office, removable by no one."
23731
23732 =The Nation Aroused.=--With the spirit of criticism came also the spirit
23733 of reform. The charges were usually exaggerated; often wholly false; but
23734 there was enough truth in them to warrant renewed vigilance on the part
23735 of American democracy. President Roosevelt doubtless summed up the
23736 sentiment of the great majority of citizens when he demanded the
23737 punishment of wrong-doers in 1907, saying: "It makes not a particle of
23738 difference whether these crimes are committed by a capitalist or by a
23739 laborer, by a leading banker or manufacturer or railroad man or by a
23740 leading representative of a labor union. Swindling in stocks, corrupting
23741 legislatures, making fortunes by the inflation of securities, by
23742 wrecking railroads, by destroying competitors through rebates--these
23743 forms of wrong-doing in the capitalist are far more infamous than any
23744 ordinary form of embezzlement or forgery." The time had come, he added,
23745 to stop "muckraking" and proceed to the constructive work of removing
23746 the abuses that had grown up.
23747
23748
23749 POLITICAL REFORMS
23750
23751 =The Public Service.=--It was a wise comprehension of the needs of
23752 American democracy that led the friends of reform to launch and to
23753 sustain for more than half a century a movement to improve the public
23754 service. On the one side they struck at the spoils system; at the right
23755 of the politicians to use public offices as mere rewards for partisan
23756 work. The federal civil service act of 1883 opened the way to reform by
23757 establishing five vital principles in law: (1) admission to office, not
23758 on the recommendation of party workers, but on the basis of competitive
23759 examinations; (2) promotion for meritorious service of the government
23760 rather than of parties; (3) no assessment of office holders for campaign
23761 funds; (4) permanent tenure during good behavior; and (5) no dismissals
23762 for political reasons. The act itself at first applied to only 14,000
23763 federal offices, but under the constant pressure from the reformers it
23764 was extended until in 1916 it covered nearly 300,000 employees out of an
23765 executive force of approximately 414,000. While gaining steadily at
23766 Washington, civil service reformers carried their agitation into the
23767 states and cities. By 1920 they were able to report ten states with
23768 civil service commissions and the merit system well intrenched in more
23769 than three hundred municipalities.
23770
23771 In excluding spoilsmen from public office, the reformers were, in a
23772 sense, engaged in a negative work: that of "keeping the rascals out."
23773 But there was a second and larger phase to their movement, one
23774 constructive in character: that of getting skilled, loyal, and efficient
23775 servants into the places of responsibility. Everywhere on land and sea,
23776 in town and country, new burdens were laid upon public officers. They
23777 were called upon to supervise the ships sailing to and from our ports;
23778 to inspect the water and milk supplies of our cities; to construct and
23779 operate great public works, such as the Panama and Erie canals; to
23780 regulate the complicated rates of railway companies; to safeguard health
23781 and safety in a thousand ways; to climb the mountains to fight forest
23782 fires; and to descend into the deeps of the earth to combat the deadly
23783 coal gases that assail the miners. In a word, those who labored to
23784 master the secrets and the powers of nature were summoned to the aid of
23785 the government: chemists, engineers, architects, nurses, surgeons,
23786 foresters--the skilled in all the sciences, arts, and crafts.
23787
23788 Keeping rascals out was no task at all compared with the problem of
23789 finding competent people for all the technical offices. "Now," said the
23790 reformers, "we must make attractive careers in the government work for
23791 the best American talent; we must train those applying for admission and
23792 increase the skill of those already in positions of trust; we must see
23793 to it that those entering at the bottom have a chance to rise to the
23794 top; in short, we must work for a government as skilled and efficient as
23795 it is strong, one commanding all the wisdom and talent of America that
23796 public welfare requires."
23797
23798 =The Australian Ballot.=--A second line of attack on the political
23799 machines was made in connection with the ballot. In the early days
23800 elections were frequently held in the open air and the poll was taken by
23801 a show of hands or by the enrollment of the voters under names of their
23802 favorite candidates. When this ancient practice was abandoned in favor
23803 of the printed ballot, there was still no secrecy about elections. Each
23804 party prepared its own ballot, often of a distinctive color, containing
23805 the names of its candidates. On election day, these papers were handed
23806 out to the voters by party workers. Any one could tell from the color of
23807 the ballot dropped into the box, or from some mark on the outside of the
23808 folded ballot, just how each man voted. Those who bought votes were sure
23809 that their purchases were "delivered." Those who intimidated voters
23810 could know when their intimidation was effective. In this way the party
23811 ballot strengthened the party machine.
23812
23813 As a remedy for such abuses, reformers, learning from the experience of
23814 Australia, urged the adoption of the "Australian ballot." That ballot,
23815 though it appeared in many forms, had certain constant features. It was
23816 official, that is, furnished by the government, not by party workers; it
23817 contained the names of all candidates of all parties; it was given out
23818 only in the polling places; and it was marked in secret. The first state
23819 to introduce it was Massachusetts. The year was 1888. Before the end of
23820 the century it had been adopted by nearly all the states in the union.
23821 The salutary effect of the reform in reducing the amount of cheating
23822 and bribery in elections was beyond all question.
23823
23824 =The Direct Primary.=--In connection with the uprising against machine
23825 politics, came a call for the abolition of the old method of nominating
23826 candidates by conventions. These time-honored party assemblies, which
23827 had come down from the days of Andrew Jackson, were, it was said, merely
23828 conclaves of party workers, sustained by the spoils system, and
23829 dominated by an inner circle of bosses. The remedy offered in this case
23830 was again "more democracy," namely, the abolition of the party
23831 convention and the adoption of the direct primary. Candidates were no
23832 longer to be chosen by secret conferences. Any member of a party was to
23833 be allowed to run for any office, to present his name to his party by
23834 securing signatures to a petition, and to submit his candidacy to his
23835 fellow partisans at a direct primary--an election within the party. In
23836 this movement Governor La Follette of Wisconsin took the lead and his
23837 state was the first in the union to adopt the direct primary for
23838 state-wide purposes. The idea spread, rapidly in the West, more slowly
23839 in the East. The public, already angered against "the bosses," grasped
23840 eagerly at it. Governor Hughes in New York pressed it upon the unwilling
23841 legislature. State after state accepted it until by 1918 Rhode Island,
23842 Delaware, Connecticut, and New Mexico were the only states that had not
23843 bowed to the storm. Still the results were disappointing and at that
23844 very time the pendulum was beginning to swing backward.
23845
23846 =Popular Election of Federal Senators.=--While the movement for direct
23847 primaries was still advancing everywhere, a demand for the popular
23848 election of Senators, usually associated with it, swept forward to
23849 victory. Under the original Constitution, it had been expressly provided
23850 that Senators should be chosen by the legislatures of the states. In
23851 practice this rule transferred the selection of Senators to secret
23852 caucuses of party members in the state legislatures. In connection with
23853 these caucuses there had been many scandals, some direct proofs of
23854 brazen bribery and corruption, and dark hints besides. The Senate was
23855 called by its detractors "a millionaires' club" and it was looked upon
23856 as the "citadel of conservatism." The prescription in this case was
23857 likewise "more democracy"--direct election of Senators by popular vote.
23858
23859 This reform was not a new idea. It had been proposed in Congress as
23860 early as 1826. President Johnson, an ardent advocate, made it the
23861 subject of a special message in 1868 Not long afterward it appeared in
23862 Congress. At last in 1893, the year after the great Populist upheaval,
23863 the House of Representatives by the requisite two-thirds vote
23864 incorporated it in an amendment to the federal Constitution. Again and
23865 again it passed the House; but the Senate itself was obdurate. Able
23866 Senators leveled their batteries against it. Mr. Hoar of Massachusetts
23867 declared that it would transfer the seat of power to the "great cities
23868 and masses of population"; that it would "overthrow the whole scheme of
23869 the Senate and in the end the whole scheme of the national Constitution
23870 as designed and established by the framers of the Constitution and the
23871 people who adopted it."
23872
23873 Failing in the Senate, advocates of popular election made a rear assault
23874 through the states. They induced state legislatures to enact laws
23875 requiring the nomination of candidates for the Senate by the direct
23876 primary, and then they bound the legislatures to abide by the popular
23877 choice. Nevada took the lead in 1899. Shortly afterward Oregon, by the
23878 use of the initiative and referendum, practically bound legislators to
23879 accept the popular nominee and the country witnessed the spectacle of a
23880 Republican legislature "electing" a Democrat to represent the state in
23881 the Senate at Washington. By 1910 three-fourths of the states had
23882 applied the direct primary in some form to the choice of Senators. Men
23883 selected by that method began to pour in upon the floors of Congress;
23884 finally in 1912 the two-thirds majority was secured for an amendment to
23885 the federal Constitution providing for the popular election of Senators.
23886 It was quickly ratified by the states. The following year it was
23887 proclaimed in effect.
23888
23889 =The Initiative and Referendum.=--As a corrective for the evils which
23890 had grown up in state legislatures there arose a demand for the
23891 introduction of a Swiss device known as the initiative and referendum.
23892 The initiative permits any one to draw up a proposed bill; and, on
23893 securing a certain number of signatures among the voters, to require the
23894 submission of the measure to the people at an election. If the bill thus
23895 initiated receives a sufficient majority, it becomes a law. The
23896 referendum allows citizens who disapprove any act passed by the
23897 legislature to get up a petition against it and thus bring about a
23898 reference of the measure to the voters at the polls for approval or
23899 rejection. These two practices constitute a form of "direct government."
23900
23901 These devices were prescribed "to restore the government to the people."
23902 The Populists favored them in their platform of 1896. Mr. Bryan, two
23903 years later, made them a part of his program, and in the same year South
23904 Dakota adopted them. In 1902 Oregon, after a strenuous campaign, added a
23905 direct legislation amendment to the state constitution. Within ten years
23906 all the Southwestern, Mountain, and Pacific states, except Texas and
23907 Wyoming, had followed this example. To the east of the Mississippi,
23908 however, direct legislation met a chilly reception. By 1920 only five
23909 states in this section had accepted it: Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio,
23910 Michigan, and Maryland, the last approving the referendum only.
23911
23912 =The Recall.=--Executive officers and judges, as well as legislatures,
23913 had come in for their share of criticism, and it was proposed that they
23914 should likewise be subjected to a closer scrutiny by the public. For
23915 this purpose there was advanced a scheme known as the recall--which
23916 permitted a certain percentage of the voters to compel any officer, at
23917 any time during his term, to go before the people at a new election.
23918 This feature of direct government, tried out first in the city of Los
23919 Angeles, was extended to state-wide uses in Oregon in 1908. It failed,
23920 however, to capture popular imagination to the same degree as the
23921 initiative and referendum. At the end of ten years' agitation, only ten
23922 states, mainly in the West, had adopted it for general purposes, and
23923 four of them did not apply it to the judges of the courts. Still it was
23924 extensively acclaimed in cities and incorporated into hundreds of
23925 municipal laws and charters.
23926
23927 As a general proposition, direct government in all its forms was
23928 bitterly opposed by men of a conservative cast of mind. It was denounced
23929 by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge as "nothing less than a complete revolution
23930 in the fabric of our government and in the fundamental principles upon
23931 which that government rests." In his opinion, it promised to break down
23932 the representative principle and "undermine and overthrow the bulwarks
23933 of ordered liberty and individual freedom." Mr. Taft shared Mr. Lodge's
23934 views and spoke of direct government with scorn. "Votes," he exclaimed,
23935 "are not bread ... referendums do not pay rent or furnish houses,
23936 recalls do not furnish clothes, initiatives do not supply employment or
23937 relieve inequalities of condition or of opportunity."
23938
23939 =Commission Government for Cities.=--In the restless searching out of
23940 evils, the management of cities early came under critical scrutiny. City
23941 government, Mr. Bryce had remarked, was the one conspicuous failure in
23942 America. This sharp thrust, though resented by some, was accepted as a
23943 warning by others. Many prescriptions were offered by doctors of the
23944 body politic. Chief among them was the idea of simplifying the city
23945 government so that the light of public scrutiny could shine through it.
23946 "Let us elect only a few men and make them clearly responsible for the
23947 city government!" was the new cry in municipal reform. So, many city
23948 councils were reduced in size; one of the two houses, which several
23949 cities had adopted in imitation of the federal government, was
23950 abolished; and in order that the mayor could be held to account, he was
23951 given the power to appoint all the chief officials. This made the mayor,
23952 in some cases, the only elective city official and gave the voters a
23953 "short ballot" containing only a few names--an idea which some proposed
23954 to apply also to the state government.
23955
23956 A further step in the concentration of authority was taken in Galveston,
23957 Texas, where the people, looking upon the ruin of their city wrought by
23958 the devastating storm of 1901, and confronted by the difficult problems
23959 of reconstruction, felt the necessity for a more businesslike management
23960 of city affairs and instituted a new form of local administration. They
23961 abolished the old scheme of mayor and council and vested all power in
23962 five commissioners, one of whom, without any special prerogatives, was
23963 assigned to the office of "mayor president." In 1908, the commission
23964 form of government, as it was soon characterized, was adopted by Des
23965 Moines, Iowa. The attention of all municipal reformers was drawn to it
23966 and it was hailed as the guarantee of a better day. By 1920, more than
23967 four hundred cities, including Memphis, Spokane, Birmingham, Newark, and
23968 Buffalo, had adopted it. Still the larger cities like New York and
23969 Chicago kept their boards of aldermen.
23970
23971 =The City Manager Plan.=--A few years' experience with commission
23972 government revealed certain patent defects. The division of the work
23973 among five men was frequently found to introduce dissensions and
23974 irresponsibility. Commissioners were often lacking in the technical
23975 ability required to manage such difficult matters as fire and police
23976 protection, public health, public works, and public utilities. Some one
23977 then proposed to carry over into city government an idea from the
23978 business world. In that sphere the stockholders of each corporation
23979 elect the directors and the directors, in turn, choose a business
23980 manager to conduct the affairs of the company. It was suggested that the
23981 city commissioners, instead of attempting to supervise the details of
23982 the city administration, should select a manager to do this. The scheme
23983 was put into effect in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1912. Like the
23984 commission plan, it became popular. Within eight years more than one
23985 hundred and fifty towns and cities had adopted it. Among the larger
23986 municipalities were Dayton, Springfield (Ohio), Akron, Kalamazoo, and
23987 Phoenix. It promised to create a new public service profession, that of
23988 city manager.
23989
23990
23991 MEASURES OF ECONOMIC REFORM
23992
23993 =The Spirit of American Reform.=--The purification of the ballot, the
23994 restriction of the spoils system, the enlargement of direct popular
23995 control over the organs of government were not the sole answers made by
23996 the reformers to the critics of American institutions. Nor were they the
23997 most important. In fact, they were regarded not as ends in themselves,
23998 but as means to serve a wider purpose. That purpose was the promotion of
23999 the "general welfare." The concrete objects covered by that broad term
24000 were many and varied; but they included the prevention of extortion by
24001 railway and other corporations, the protection of public health, the
24002 extension of education, the improvement of living conditions in the
24003 cities, the elimination of undeserved poverty, the removal of gross
24004 inequalities in wealth, and more equality of opportunity.
24005
24006 All these things involved the use of the powers of government. Although
24007 a few clung to the ancient doctrine that the government should not
24008 interfere with private business at all, the American people at large
24009 rejected that theory as vigorously as they rejected the doctrines of an
24010 extreme socialism which exalts the state above the individual. Leaders
24011 representing every shade of opinion proclaimed the government an
24012 instrument of common welfare to be used in the public interest. "We must
24013 abandon definitely," said Roosevelt, "the _laissez-faire_ theory of
24014 political economy and fearlessly champion a system of increased
24015 governmental control, paying no attention to the cries of worthy people
24016 who denounce this as socialistic." This view was shared by Mr. Taft, who
24017 observed: "Undoubtedly the government can wisely do much more ... to
24018 relieve the oppressed, to create greater equality of opportunity, to
24019 make reasonable terms for labor in employment, and to furnish vocational
24020 education." He was quick to add his caution that "there is a line beyond
24021 which the government cannot go with any good practical results in
24022 seeking to make men and society better."
24023
24024 =The Regulation of Railways.=--The first attempts to use the government
24025 in a large way to control private enterprise in the public interest were
24026 made by the Northwestern states in the decade between 1870 and 1880.
24027 Charges were advanced by the farmers, particularly those organized into
24028 Granges, that the railways extorted the highest possible rates for
24029 freight and passengers, that favoritism was shown to large shippers,
24030 that fraudulent stocks and bonds were sold to the innocent public. It
24031 was claimed that railways were not like other enterprises, but were
24032 "quasi-public" concerns, like the roads and ferries, and thus subject to
24033 government control. Accordingly laws were enacted bringing the railroads
24034 under state supervision. In some cases the state legislature fixed the
24035 maximum rates to be charged by common carriers, and in other cases
24036 commissions were created with the power to establish the rates after an
24037 investigation. This legislation was at first denounced in the East as
24038 nothing less than the "confiscation" of the railways in the interest of
24039 the farmers. Attempts to have the Supreme Court of the United States
24040 declare it unconstitutional were made without avail; still a principle
24041 was finally laid down to the effect that in fixing rates state
24042 legislatures and commissions must permit railway companies to earn a
24043 "fair" return on the capital invested.
24044
24045 In a few years the Granger spirit appeared in Congress. An investigation
24046 revealed a long list of abuses committed by the railways against
24047 shippers and travelers. The result was the interstate commerce act of
24048 1887, which created the Interstate Commerce Commission, forbade
24049 discriminations in rates, and prohibited other objectionable practices
24050 on the part of railways. This measure was loosely enforced and the
24051 abuses against which it was directed continued almost unabated. A demand
24052 for stricter control grew louder and louder. Congress was forced to
24053 heed. In 1903 it enacted the Elkins law, forbidding railways to charge
24054 rates other than those published, and laid penalties upon the officers
24055 and agents of companies, who granted secret favors to shippers, and upon
24056 shippers who accepted them. Three years later a still more drastic step
24057 was taken by the passage of the Hepburn act. The Interstate Commerce
24058 Commission was authorized, upon complaint of some party aggrieved, and
24059 after a public hearing, to determine whether just and reasonable rates
24060 had been charged by the companies. In effect, the right to fix freight
24061 and passenger rates was taken out of the hands of the owners of the
24062 railways engaged in interstate commerce and vested in the hands of the
24063 Interstate Commerce Commission. Thus private property to the value of
24064 $20,000,000,000 or more was declared to be a matter of public concern
24065 and subject to government regulation in the common interest.
24066
24067 =Municipal Utilities.=--Similar problems arose in connection with the
24068 street railways, electric light plants, and other utilities in the great
24069 cities. In the beginning the right to construct such undertakings was
24070 freely, and often corruptly, granted to private companies by city
24071 councils. Distressing abuses arose in connection with such practices.
24072 Many grants or franchises were made perpetual, or perhaps for a term of
24073 999 years. The rates charged and services rendered were left largely to
24074 the will of the companies holding the franchises. Mergers or unions of
24075 companies were common and the public was deluged with stocks and bonds
24076 of doubtful value; bankruptcies were frequent. The connection between
24077 the utility companies and the politicians was, to say the least, not
24078 always in the public interest.
24079
24080 American ingenuity was quick to devise methods for eliminating such
24081 evils. Three lines of progress were laid out by the reformers. One group
24082 proposed that such utilities should be subject to municipal or state
24083 regulation, that the formation of utility companies should be under
24084 public control, and that the issue of stocks and bonds must be approved
24085 by public authority. In some cases state, and in other cases municipal,
24086 commissions were created to exercise this great power over "quasi-public
24087 corporations." Wisconsin, by laws enacted in 1907, put all heat, light,
24088 water works, telephone, and street railway companies under the
24089 supervision of a single railway commission. Other states followed this
24090 example rapidly. By 1920 the principle of public control over municipal
24091 utilities was accepted in nearly every section of the union.
24092
24093 A second line of reform appeared in the "model franchise" for utility
24094 corporations. An illustration of this tendency was afforded by the
24095 Chicago street railway settlement of 1906. The total capital of the
24096 company was fixed at a definite sum, its earnings were agreed upon, and
24097 the city was given the right to buy and operate the system if it desired
24098 to do so. In many states, about the same time, it was provided that no
24099 franchises to utility companies could run more than twenty-five years.
24100
24101 A third group of reformers were satisfied with nothing short of
24102 municipal ownership. They proposed to drive private companies entirely
24103 out of the field and vest the ownership and management of municipal
24104 plants in the city itself. This idea was extensively applied to electric
24105 light and water works plants, but to street railways in only a few
24106 cities, including San Francisco and Seattle. In New York the subways are
24107 owned by the city but leased for operation.
24108
24109 =Tenement House Control.=--Among the other pressing problems of the
24110 cities was the overcrowding in houses unfit for habitation. An inquiry
24111 in New York City made under the authority of the state in 1902 revealed
24112 poverty, misery, slums, dirt, and disease almost beyond imagination. The
24113 immediate answer was the enactment of a tenement house law prescribing
24114 in great detail the size of the rooms, the air space, the light and the
24115 sanitary arrangement for all new buildings. An immense improvement
24116 followed and the idea was quickly taken up in other states having large
24117 industrial centers. In 1920 New York made a further invasion of the
24118 rights of landlords by assuring to the public "reasonable rents" for
24119 flats and apartments.
24120
24121 =Workmen's Compensation.=--No small part of the poverty in cities was
24122 due to the injury of wage-earners while at their trade. Every year the
24123 number of men and women killed or wounded in industry mounted higher.
24124 Under the old law, the workman or his family had to bear the loss unless
24125 the employer had been guilty of some extraordinary negligence. Even in
24126 that case an expensive lawsuit was usually necessary to recover
24127 "damages." In short, although employers insured their buildings and
24128 machinery against necessary risks from fire and storm, they allowed
24129 their employees to assume the heavy losses due to accidents. The
24130 injustice of this, though apparent enough now, was once not generally
24131 recognized. It was said to be unfair to make the employer pay for
24132 injuries for which he was not personally responsible; but the argument
24133 was overborne.
24134
24135 [Illustration: AN EAST SIDE STREET IN NEW YORK]
24136
24137 About 1910 there set in a decided movement in the direction of lifting
24138 the burden of accidents from the unfortunate victims. In the first
24139 place, laws were enacted requiring employers to pay damages in certain
24140 amounts according to the nature of the case, no matter how the accident
24141 occurred, as long as the injured person was not guilty of willful
24142 negligence. By 1914 more than one-half the states had such laws. In the
24143 second place, there developed schemes of industrial insurance in the
24144 form of automatic grants made by state commissions to persons injured in
24145 industries, the funds to be provided by the employers or the state or by
24146 both. By 1917 thirty-six states had legislation of this type.
24147
24148 =Minimum Wages and Mothers' Pensions.=--Another source of poverty,
24149 especially among women and children, was found to be the low wages paid
24150 for their labor. Report after report showed this. In 1912 Massachusetts
24151 took a significant step in the direction of declaring the minimum wages
24152 which might be paid to women and children. Oregon, the following year,
24153 created a commission with power to prescribe minimum wages in certain
24154 industries, based on the cost of living, and to enforce the rates fixed.
24155 Within a short time one-third of the states had legislation of this
24156 character. To cut away some of the evils of poverty and enable widows to
24157 keep their homes intact and bring up their children, a device known as
24158 mothers' pensions became popular during the second decade of the
24159 twentieth century. At the opening of 1913 two states, Colorado and
24160 Illinois, had laws authorizing the payment from public funds of definite
24161 sums to widows with children. Within four years, thirty-five states had
24162 similar legislation.
24163
24164 =Taxation and Great Fortunes.=--As a part of the campaign waged against
24165 poverty by reformers there came a demand for heavy taxes upon great
24166 fortunes, particularly taxes upon inheritances or estates passing to
24167 heirs on the decease of the owners. Roosevelt was an ardent champion of
24168 this type of taxation and dwelt upon it at length in his message to
24169 Congress in 1907. "Such a tax," he said, "would help to preserve a
24170 measurable equality of opportunity for the people of the generations
24171 growing to manhood.... Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out:
24172 the fact that there are some respects in which men are obviously not
24173 equal; but also to insist that there should be equality of self-respect
24174 and of mutual respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at
24175 least an approximate equality in the conditions under which each man
24176 obtains the chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared with
24177 his fellows."
24178
24179 The spirit of the new age was, therefore, one of reform, not of
24180 revolution. It called for no evolutionary or utopian experiments, but
24181 for the steady and progressive enactment of measures aimed at admitted
24182 abuses and designed to accomplish tangible results in the name of public
24183 welfare.
24184
24185
24186 =General References=
24187
24188 J. Bryce, _The American Commonwealth_.
24189
24190 R.C. Brooks, _Corruption in American Life_.
24191
24192 E.A. Ross, _Changing America_.
24193
24194 P.L. Haworth, _America in Ferment_.
24195
24196 E.R.A. Seligman, _The Income Tax_.
24197
24198 W.Z. Ripley, _Railroads: Rates and Regulation_.
24199
24200 E.S. Bradford, _Commission Government in American Cities_.
24201
24202 H.R. Seager, _A Program of Social Reform_.
24203
24204 C. Zueblin, _American Municipal Progress_.
24205
24206 W.E. Walling, _Progressivism and After_.
24207
24208 _The American Year Book_ (an annual publication which contains reviews
24209 of reform legislation).
24210
24211
24212 =Research Topics=
24213
24214 ="The Muckrakers."=--Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside Series), pp.
24215 309-323.
24216
24217 =Civil Service Reform.=--Beard, _American Government and Politics_ (3d
24218 ed.), pp. 222-230; Ogg, _National Progress_ (American Nation Series),
24219 pp. 135-142.
24220
24221 =Direct Government.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 461-473; Ogg,
24222 pp. 160-166.
24223
24224 =Popular Election of Senators.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp.
24225 241-244; Ogg, pp. 149-150.
24226
24227 =Party Methods.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 656-672.
24228
24229 =Ballot Reform.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 672-705.
24230
24231 =Social and Economic Legislation.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp.
24232 721-752.
24233
24234
24235 =Questions=
24236
24237 1. Who were some of the critics of abuses in American life?
24238
24239 2. What particular criticisms were advanced?
24240
24241 3. How did Elihu Root define "invisible government"?
24242
24243 4. Discuss the use of criticism as an aid to progress in a democracy.
24244
24245 5. Explain what is meant by the "merit system" in the civil service.
24246 Review the rise of the spoils system.
24247
24248 6. Why is the public service of increasing importance? Give some of its
24249 new problems.
24250
24251 7. Describe the Australian ballot and the abuses against which it is
24252 directed.
24253
24254 8. What are the elements of direct government? Sketch their progress in
24255 the United States.
24256
24257 9. Trace the history of popular election of Senators.
24258
24259 10. Explain the direct primary. Commission government. The city manager
24260 plan.
24261
24262 11. How does modern reform involve government action? On what theory is
24263 it justified?
24264
24265 12. Enumerate five lines of recent economic reform.
24266
24267
24268
24269
24270 CHAPTER XXIII
24271
24272 THE NEW POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
24273
24274
24275 =Women in Public Affairs.=--The social legislation enacted in response
24276 to the spirit of reform vitally affected women in the home and in
24277 industry and was promoted by their organizations. Where they did not
24278 lead, they were affiliated with movements for social improvement. No
24279 cause escaped their attention; no year passed without widening the range
24280 of their interests. They served on committees that inquired into the
24281 problems of the day; they appeared before legislative assemblies to
24282 advocate remedies for the evils they discovered. By 1912 they were a
24283 force to be reckoned with in national politics. In nine states complete
24284 and equal suffrage had been established, and a widespread campaign for a
24285 national suffrage amendment was in full swing. On every hand lay
24286 evidences that their sphere had been broadened to include public
24287 affairs. This was the culmination of forces that had long been
24288 operating.
24289
24290 =A New Emphasis in History.=--A movement so deeply affecting important
24291 interests could not fail to find a place in time in the written record
24292 of human progress. History often began as a chronicle of kings and
24293 queens, knights and ladies, written partly to amuse and partly to
24294 instruct the classes that appeared in its pages. With the growth of
24295 commerce, parliaments, and international relations, politics and
24296 diplomacy were added to such chronicles of royal and princely doings.
24297 After the rise of democracy, industry, and organized labor, the
24298 transactions of everyday life were deemed worthy of a place in the pages
24299 of history. In each case history was rewritten and the past rediscovered
24300 in the light of the new age. So it will be with the rise and growth of
24301 women's political power. The history of their labor, their education,
24302 their status in society, their influence on the course of events will be
24303 explored and given its place in the general record.
24304
24305 It will be a history of change. The superior position which women enjoy
24306 in America to-day is the result of a slow evolution from an almost
24307 rightless condition in colonial times. The founders of America brought
24308 with them the English common law. Under that law, a married woman's
24309 personal property--jewels, money, furniture, and the like--became her
24310 husband's property; the management of her lands passed into his control.
24311 Even the wages she earned, if she worked for some one else, belonged to
24312 him. Custom, if not law, prescribed that women should not take part in
24313 town meetings or enter into public discussions of religious questions.
24314 Indeed it is a far cry from the banishment of Anne Hutchinson from
24315 Massachusetts in 1637, for daring to dispute with the church fathers, to
24316 the political conventions of 1920 in which women sat as delegates, made
24317 nominating speeches, and served on committees. In the contrast between
24318 these two scenes may be measured the change in the privileges of women
24319 since the landing of the Pilgrims. The account of this progress is a
24320 narrative of individual effort on the part of women, of organizations
24321 among them, of generous aid from sympathetic men in the long agitation
24322 for the removal of civil and political disabilities. It is in part also
24323 a narrative of irresistible economic change which drew women into
24324 industry, created a leisure class, gave women wages and incomes, and
24325 therewith economic independence.
24326
24327
24328 THE RISE OF THE WOMAN MOVEMENT
24329
24330 =Protests of Colonial Women.=--The republican spirit which produced
24331 American independence was of slow and steady growth. It did not spring
24332 up full-armed in a single night. It was, on the contrary, nourished
24333 during a long period of time by fireside discussions as well as by
24334 debates in the public forum. Women shared that fireside sifting of
24335 political principles and passed on the findings of that scrutiny in
24336 letters to their friends, newspaper articles, and every form of written
24337 word. How widespread was this potent, though not spectacular force, is
24338 revealed in the collections of women's letters, articles, songs, dramas,
24339 and satirical "skits" on English rule that have come down to us. In this
24340 search into the reasons of government, some women began to take thought
24341 about laws that excluded them from the ballot. Two women at least left
24342 their protests on record. Abigail, the ingenious and witty wife of John
24343 Adams, wrote to her husband, in March, 1776, that women objected "to all
24344 arbitrary power whether of state or males" and demanded political
24345 privileges in the new order then being created. Hannah Lee Corbin, the
24346 sister of "Lighthorse" Harry Lee, protested to her brother against the
24347 taxation of women without representation.
24348
24349 [Illustration: ABIGAIL ADAMS]
24350
24351 =The Stir among European Women.=--Ferment in America, in the case of
24352 women as of men, was quickened by events in Europe. In 1792, Mary
24353 Wollstonecraft published in England the _Vindication of the Rights of
24354 Women_--a book that was destined to serve the cause of liberty among
24355 women as the writings of Locke and Paine had served that of men. The
24356 specific grievances which stirred English women were men's invasion of
24357 women's industries, such as spinning and weaving; the denial of equal
24358 educational opportunities; and political disabilities. In France also
24359 the great Revolution raised questionings about the status of women. The
24360 rights of "citizenesses" as well as the rights of "citizens" were
24361 examined by the boldest thinkers. This in turn reacted upon women in the
24362 United States.
24363
24364 =Leadership in America.=--The origins of the American woman movement are
24365 to be found in the writings of a few early intellectual leaders. During
24366 the first decades of the nineteenth century, books, articles, and
24367 pamphlets about women came in increasing numbers from the press. Lydia
24368 Maria Child wrote a history of women; Margaret Fuller made a critical
24369 examination of the status of women in her time; and Mrs. Elizabeth Ellet
24370 supplemented the older histories by showing what an important part women
24371 had played in the American Revolution.
24372
24373 =The Struggle for Education.=--Along with criticism, there was carried
24374 on a constructive struggle for better educational facilities for women
24375 who had been from the beginning excluded from every college in the
24376 country. In this long battle, Emma Willard and Mary Lyon led the way;
24377 the former founded a seminary at Troy, New York; and the latter made the
24378 beginnings of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Oberlin College in
24379 Ohio, established in 1833, opened its doors to girls and from it were
24380 graduated young students to lead in the woman movement. Sarah J. Hale,
24381 who in 1827 became the editor of a "Ladies' Magazine," published in
24382 Boston, conducted a campaign for equal educational opportunities which
24383 helped to bear fruit in the founding of Vassar College shortly after the
24384 Civil War.
24385
24386 =The Desire to Effect Reforms.=--As they came to study their own history
24387 and their own part in civilization, women naturally became deeply
24388 interested in all the controversies going on around them. The temperance
24389 question made a special appeal to them and they organized to demand the
24390 right to be heard on it. In 1846 the "Daughters of Temperance" formed a
24391 secret society favoring prohibition. They dared to criticize the
24392 churches for their indifference and were so bold as to ask that
24393 drunkenness be made a ground for divorce.
24394
24395 The slavery issue even more than temperance called women into public
24396 life. The Grimke sisters of South Carolina emancipated their bondmen,
24397 and one of these sisters, exiled from Charleston for her "Appeal to the
24398 Christian Women of the South," went North to work against the slavery
24399 system. In 1837 the National Women's Anti-Slavery Convention met in New
24400 York; seventy-one women delegates represented eight states. Three years
24401 later eight American women, five of them in Quaker costume, attended the
24402 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, much to the horror of the men,
24403 who promptly excluded them from the sessions on the ground that it was
24404 not fitting for women to take part in such meetings.
24405
24406 In other spheres of activity, especially social service, women steadily
24407 enlarged their interest. Nothing human did they consider alien to them.
24408 They inveighed against cruel criminal laws and unsanitary prisons. They
24409 organized poor relief and led in private philanthropy. Dorothea Dix
24410 directed the movement that induced the New York legislature to establish
24411 in 1845 a separate asylum for the criminal insane. In the same year
24412 Sarah G. Bagley organized the Lowell Female Reform Association for the
24413 purpose of reducing the long hours of labor for women, safeguarding "the
24414 constitutions of future generations." Mrs. Eliza Woodson Farnham, matron
24415 in Sing Sing penitentiary, was known throughout the nation for her
24416 social work, especially prison reform. Wherever there were misery and
24417 suffering, women were preparing programs of relief.
24418
24419 =Freedom of Speech for Women.=--In the advancement of their causes, of
24420 whatever kind, women of necessity had to make public appeals and take
24421 part in open meetings. Here they encountered difficulties. The
24422 appearance of women on the platform was new and strange. Naturally it
24423 was widely resented. Antoinette Brown, although she had credentials as a
24424 delegate, was driven off the platform of a temperance convention in New
24425 York City simply because she was a woman. James Russell Lowell, editor
24426 of the "Atlantic Monthly," declined a poem from Julia Ward Howe on the
24427 theory that no woman could write a poem; but he added on second thought
24428 that he might consider an article in prose. Nathaniel Hawthorne,
24429 another editor, even objected to something in prose because to him "all
24430 ink-stained women were equally detestable." To the natural resentment
24431 against their intrusion into new fields was added that aroused by their
24432 ideas and methods. As temperance reformers, they criticized in a caustic
24433 manner those who would not accept their opinions. As opponents of
24434 slavery they were especially bitter. One of their conventions, held at
24435 Philadelphia in 1833, passed a resolution calling on all women to leave
24436 those churches that would not condemn every form of human bondage. This
24437 stirred against them many of the clergy who, accustomed to having women
24438 sit silent during services, were in no mood to treat such a revolt
24439 leniently. Then came the last straw. Women decided that they would
24440 preach--out of the pulpit first, and finally in it.
24441
24442 =Women in Industry.=--The period of this ferment was also the age of the
24443 industrial revolution in America, the rise of the factory system, and
24444 the growth of mill towns. The labor of women was transferred from the
24445 homes to the factories. Then arose many questions: the hours of labor,
24446 the sanitary conditions of the mills, the pressure of foreign
24447 immigration on native labor, the wages of women as compared with those
24448 of men, and the right of married women to their own earnings. Labor
24449 organizations sprang up among working women. The mill girls of Lowell,
24450 Massachusetts, mainly the daughters of New England farmers, published a
24451 magazine, "The Lowell Offering." So excellent were their writings that
24452 the French statesman, Thiers, carried a copy of their paper into the
24453 Chamber of Deputies to show what working women could achieve in a
24454 republic. As women were now admittedly earning their own way in the
24455 world by their own labor, they began to talk of their "economic
24456 independence."
24457
24458 =The World Shaken by Revolution.=--Such was the quickening of women's
24459 minds in 1848 when the world was startled once more by a revolution in
24460 France which spread to Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Italy.
24461 Once more the people of the earth began to explore the principles of
24462 democracy and expound human rights. Women, now better educated and more
24463 "advanced" in their ideas, played a role of still greater importance in
24464 that revolution. They led in agitations and uprisings. They suffered
24465 from reaction and persecution. From their prison in France, two of them
24466 who had been jailed for too much insistence on women's rights exchanged
24467 greetings with American women who were raising the same issue here. By
24468 this time the women had more supporters among the men. Horace Greeley,
24469 editor of the New York _Tribune_, though he afterwards recanted, used
24470 his powerful pen in their behalf. Anti-slavery leaders welcomed their
24471 aid and repaid them by urging the enfranchisement of women.
24472
24473 =The Woman's Rights Convention of 1848.=--The forces, moral and
24474 intellectual, which had been stirring among women, crystallized a few
24475 months after the outbreak of the European revolution in the first
24476 Woman's Rights Convention in the history of America. It met at Seneca
24477 Falls, New York, in 1848, on the call of Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright,
24478 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Ann McClintock, three of them Quakers.
24479 Accustomed to take part in church meetings with men, the Quakers
24480 naturally suggested that men as well as women be invited to attend the
24481 convention. Indeed, a man presided over the conference, for that
24482 position seemed too presumptuous even for such stout advocates of
24483 woman's rights.
24484
24485 The deliberations of the Seneca Falls convention resulted in a
24486 Declaration of Rights modeled after the Declaration of Independence. For
24487 example, the preamble began: "When in the course of human events it
24488 becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among
24489 the people of the earth a position different from that which they have
24490 hitherto occupied...." So also it closed: "Such has been the patient
24491 suffering of women under this government and such is now the necessity
24492 which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are
24493 entitled." Then followed the list of grievances, the same number which
24494 had been exhibited to George III in 1776. Especially did they assail the
24495 disabilities imposed upon them by the English common law imported into
24496 America--the law which denied married women their property, their wages,
24497 and their legal existence as separate persons. All these grievances they
24498 recited to "a candid world." The remedies for the evils which they
24499 endured were then set forth in detail. They demanded "equal rights" in
24500 the colleges, trades, and professions; equal suffrage; the right to
24501 share in all political offices, honors, and emoluments; the right to
24502 complete equality in marriage, including equal guardianship of the
24503 children; and for married women the right to own property, to keep
24504 wages, to make contracts, to transact business, and to testify in the
24505 courts of justice. In short, they declared women to be persons as men
24506 are persons and entitled to all the rights and privileges of human
24507 beings. Such was the clarion call which went forth to the world in
24508 1848--to an amused and contemptuous world, it must be admitted--but to a
24509 world fated to heed and obey.
24510
24511 =The First Gains in Civil Liberty.=--The convention of 1848 did not make
24512 political enfranchisement the leading issue. Rather did it emphasize the
24513 civil disabilities of women which were most seriously under discussion
24514 at the time. Indeed, the New York legislature of that very year, as the
24515 result of a twelve years' agitation, passed the Married Woman's Property
24516 Act setting aside the general principles of the English common law as
24517 applied to women and giving them many of the "rights of man." California
24518 and Wisconsin followed in 1850; Massachusetts in 1854; and Kansas in
24519 1859. Other states soon fell into line. Women's earnings and
24520 inheritances were at last their own in some states at least. In a little
24521 while laws were passed granting women rights as equal guardians of their
24522 children and permitting them to divorce their husbands on the grounds of
24523 cruelty and drunkenness.
24524
24525 By degrees other steps were taken. The Woman's Medical College of
24526 Pennsylvania was founded in 1850, and the Philadelphia School of Design
24527 for Women three years later. In 1852 the American Women's Educational
24528 Association was formed to initiate an agitation for enlarged
24529 educational opportunities for women. Other colleges soon emulated the
24530 example of Oberlin: the University of Utah in 1850; Hillsdale College in
24531 Michigan in 1855; Baker University in Kansas in 1858; and the University
24532 of Iowa in 1860. New trades and professions were opened to women and old
24533 prejudices against their activities and demands slowly gave way.
24534
24535
24536 THE NATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE
24537
24538 =The Beginnings of Organization.=--As women surmounted one obstacle
24539 after another, the agitation for equal suffrage came to the front. If
24540 any year is to be fixed as the date of its beginning, it may very well
24541 be 1850, when the suffragists of Ohio urged the state constitutional
24542 convention to confer the vote upon them. With apparent spontaneity there
24543 were held in the same year state suffrage conferences in Indiana,
24544 Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts; and connections were formed among the
24545 leaders of these meetings. At the same time the first national suffrage
24546 convention was held in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the call of
24547 eighty-nine leading men and women representing six states. Accounts of
24548 the convention were widely circulated in this country and abroad.
24549 English women,--for instance, Harriet Martineau,--sent words of
24550 appreciation for the work thus inaugurated. It inspired a leading
24551 article in the "Westminster Review," which deeply interested the
24552 distinguished economist, John Stuart Mill. Soon he was the champion of
24553 woman suffrage in the British Parliament and the author of a powerful
24554 tract _The Subjection of Women_, widely read throughout the
24555 English-speaking world. Thus do world movements grow. Strange to relate
24556 the women of England were enfranchised before the adoption of the
24557 federal suffrage amendment in America.
24558
24559 The national suffrage convention of 1850 was followed by an
24560 extraordinary outburst of agitation. Pamphlets streamed from the press.
24561 Petitions to legislative bodies were drafted, signed, and presented.
24562 There were addresses by favorite orators like Garrison, Phillips, and
24563 Curtis, and lectures and poems by men like Emerson, Longfellow, and
24564 Whittier. In 1853 the first suffrage paper was founded by the wife of a
24565 member of Congress from Rhode Island. By this time the last barrier to
24566 white manhood suffrage in the North had been swept away and the woman's
24567 movement was gaining momentum every year.
24568
24569 =The Suffrage Movement Checked by the Civil War.=--Advocates of woman
24570 suffrage believed themselves on the high road to success when the Civil
24571 War engaged the energies and labors of the nation. Northern women became
24572 absorbed in the struggle to preserve the union. They held no suffrage
24573 conventions for five years. They transformed their associations into
24574 Loyalty Leagues. They banded together to buy only domestic goods when
24575 foreign imports threatened to ruin American markets. They rolled up
24576 monster petitions in favor of the emancipation of slaves. In hospitals,
24577 in military prisons, in agriculture, and in industry they bore their
24578 full share of responsibility. Even when the New York legislature took
24579 advantage of their unguarded moments and repealed the law giving the
24580 mother equal rights with the father in the guardianship of children,
24581 they refused to lay aside war work for agitation. As in all other wars,
24582 their devotion was unstinted and their sacrifices equal to the
24583 necessities of the hour.
24584
24585 =The Federal Suffrage Amendment.=--Their plans and activities, when the
24586 war closed, were shaped by events beyond their control. The emancipation
24587 of the slaves and their proposed enfranchisement made prominent the
24588 question of a national suffrage for the first time in our history.
24589 Friends of the colored man insisted that his civil liberties would not
24590 be safe unless he was granted the right to vote. The woman suffragists
24591 very pertinently asked why the same principle did not apply to women.
24592 The answer which they received was negative. The fourteenth amendment to
24593 the federal Constitution, adopted in 1868, definitely put women aside by
24594 limiting the scope of its application, so far as the suffrage was
24595 concerned, to the male sex. In making manhood suffrage national,
24596 however, it nationalized the issue.
24597
24598 This was the signal for the advocates of woman suffrage. In March, 1869,
24599 their proposed amendment was introduced in Congress by George W. Julian
24600 of Indiana. It provided that no citizen should be deprived of the vote
24601 on account of sex, following the language of the fifteenth amendment
24602 which forbade disfranchisement on account of race. Support for the
24603 amendment, coming from many directions, led the suffragists to believe
24604 that their case was hopeful. In their platform of 1872, for example, the
24605 Republicans praised the women for their loyal devotion to freedom,
24606 welcomed them to spheres of wider usefulness, and declared that the
24607 demand of any class of citizens for additional rights deserved
24608 "respectful consideration."
24609
24610 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
24611
24612 SUSAN B. ANTHONY]
24613
24614 Experience soon demonstrated, however, that praise was not the ballot.
24615 Indeed the suffragists already had realized that a tedious contest lay
24616 before them. They had revived in 1866 their regular national convention.
24617 They gave the name of "The Revolution" to their paper, edited by
24618 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They formed a national
24619 suffrage association and organized annual pilgrimages to Congress to
24620 present their claims. Such activities bore some results. Many eminent
24621 congressmen were converted to their cause and presented it ably to their
24622 colleagues of both chambers. Still the subject was ridiculed by the
24623 newspapers and looked upon as freakish by the masses.
24624
24625 =The State Campaigns.=--Discouraged by the outcome of the national
24626 campaign, suffragists turned to the voters of the individual states and
24627 sought the ballot at their hands. Gains by this process were painfully
24628 slow. Wyoming, it is true, while still a territory, granted suffrage to
24629 women in 1869 and continued it on becoming a state twenty years later,
24630 in spite of strong protests in Congress. In 1893 Colorado established
24631 complete political equality. In Utah, the third suffrage state, the
24632 cause suffered many vicissitudes. Women were enfranchised by the
24633 territorial legislature; they were deprived of the ballot by Congress in
24634 1887; finally in 1896 on the admission of Utah to the union they
24635 recovered their former rights. During the same year, 1896, Idaho
24636 conferred equal suffrage upon the women. This was the last suffrage
24637 victory for more than a decade.
24638
24639 =The Suffrage Cause in Congress.=--In the midst of the meager gains
24640 among the states there were occasional flurries of hope for immediate
24641 action on the federal amendment. Between 1878 and 1896 the Senate
24642 committee reported the suffrage resolution by a favorable majority on
24643 five different occasions. During the same period, however, there were
24644 nine unfavorable reports and only once did the subject reach the point
24645 of a general debate. At no time could anything like the required
24646 two-thirds vote be obtained.
24647
24648 =The Changing Status of Women.=--While the suffrage movement was
24649 lagging, the activities of women in other directions were steadily
24650 multiplying. College after college--Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Wellesley,
24651 to mention a few--was founded to give them the advantages of higher
24652 education. Other institutions, especially the state universities of the
24653 West, opened their doors to women, and women were received into the
24654 professions of law and medicine. By the rapid growth of public high
24655 schools in which girls enjoyed the same rights as boys, education was
24656 extended still more widely. The number of women teachers increased by
24657 leaps and bounds.
24658
24659 Meanwhile women were entering nearly every branch of industry and
24660 business. How many of them worked at gainful occupations before 1870 we
24661 do not know; but from that year forward we have the records of the
24662 census. Between 1870 and 1900 the proportion of women in the professions
24663 rose from less than two per cent to more than ten per cent; in trade and
24664 transportation from 24.8 per cent to 43.2 per cent; and in manufacturing
24665 from 13 to 19 per cent. In 1910, there were over 8,000,000 women
24666 gainfully employed as compared with 30,000,000 men. When, during the war
24667 on Germany, the government established the principle of equal pay for
24668 equal work and gave official recognition to the value of their services
24669 in industry, it was discovered how far women had traveled along the road
24670 forecast by the leaders of 1848.
24671
24672 =The Club Movement among Women.=--All over the country women's societies
24673 and clubs were started to advance this or that reform or merely to study
24674 literature, art, and science. In time these women's organizations of all
24675 kinds were federated into city, state, and national associations and
24676 drawn into the consideration of public questions. Under the leadership
24677 of Frances Willard they made temperance reform a vital issue. They took
24678 an interest in legislation pertaining to prisons, pure food, public
24679 health, and municipal government, among other things. At their sessions
24680 and conferences local, state, and national issues were discussed until
24681 finally, it seems, everything led to the quest of the franchise. By
24682 solemn resolution in 1914 the National Federation of Women's Clubs,
24683 representing nearly two million club women, formally endorsed woman
24684 suffrage. In the same year the National Education Association, speaking
24685 for the public school teachers of the land, added its seal of approval.
24686
24687 =State and National Action.=--Again the suffrage movement was in full
24688 swing in the states. Washington in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon,
24689 Kansas, and Arizona in 1912, Nevada and Montana in 1914 by popular vote
24690 enfranchised their women. Illinois in 1913 conferred upon them the right
24691 to vote for President of the United States. The time had arrived for a
24692 new movement. A number of younger suffragists sought to use the votes of
24693 women in the equal suffrage states to compel one or both of the national
24694 political parties to endorse and carry through Congress the federal
24695 suffrage amendment. Pressure then came upon Congress from every
24696 direction: from the suffragists who made a straight appeal on the
24697 grounds of justice; and from the suffragists who besought the women of
24698 the West to vote against candidates for President, who would not approve
24699 the federal amendment. In 1916, for the first time, a leading
24700 presidential candidate, Mr. Charles E. Hughes, speaking for the
24701 Republicans, endorsed the federal amendment and a distinguished
24702 ex-President, Roosevelt, exerted a powerful influence to keep it an
24703 issue in the campaign.
24704
24705 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
24706
24707 CONFERENCE OF MEN AND WOMEN DELEGATES AT A NATIONAL CONVENTION IN
24708 1920]
24709
24710 =National Enfranchisement.=--After that, events moved rapidly. The great
24711 state of New York adopted equal suffrage in 1917. Oklahoma, South
24712 Dakota, and Michigan swung into line the following year; several other
24713 states, by legislative action, gave women the right to vote for
24714 President. In the meantime the suffrage battle at Washington grew
24715 intense. Appeals and petitions poured in upon Congress and the
24716 President. Militant suffragists held daily demonstrations in Washington.
24717 On September 30, 1918, President Wilson, who, two years before, had
24718 opposed federal action and endorsed suffrage by state adoption only,
24719 went before Congress and urged the passage of the suffrage amendment to
24720 the Constitution. In June, 1919, the requisite two-thirds vote was
24721 secured; the resolution was carried and transmitted to the states for
24722 ratification. On August 28, 1920, the thirty-sixth state, Tennessee,
24723 approved the amendment, making three-fourths of the states as required
24724 by the Constitution. Thus woman suffrage became the law of the land. A
24725 new political democracy had been created. The age of agitation was
24726 closed and the epoch of responsible citizenship opened.
24727
24728
24729 =General References=
24730
24731 Edith Abbott, _Women in Industry_.
24732
24733 C.P. Gilman, _Woman and Economics_.
24734
24735 I.H. Harper, _Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony_.
24736
24737 E.R. Hecker, _Short History of Woman's Rights_.
24738
24739 S.B. Anthony and I.H. Harper, _History of Woman Suffrage_ (4 vols.).
24740
24741 J.W. Taylor, _Before Vassar Opened_.
24742
24743 A.H. Shaw, _The Story of a Pioneer_.
24744
24745
24746 =Research Topics=
24747
24748 =The Rise of the Woman Suffrage Movement.=--McMaster, _History of the
24749 People of the United States_, Vol. VIII, pp. 116-121; K. Porter,
24750 _History of Suffrage in the United States_, pp. 135-145.
24751
24752 =The Development of the Suffrage Movement.=--Porter, pp. 228-254; Ogg,
24753 _National Progress_ (American Nation Series), pp. 151-156 and p. 382.
24754
24755 =Women's Labor in the Colonial Period.=--E. Abbott, _Women in Industry_,
24756 pp. 10-34.
24757
24758 =Women and the Factory System.=--Abbott, pp. 35-62.
24759
24760 =Early Occupations for Women.=--Abbott, pp. 63-85.
24761
24762 =Women's Wages.=--Abbott, pp. 262-316.
24763
24764
24765 =Questions=
24766
24767 1. Why were women involved in the reform movements of the new century?
24768
24769 2. What is history? What determines the topics that appear in written
24770 history?
24771
24772 3. State the position of women under the old common law.
24773
24774 4. What part did women play in the intellectual movement that preceded
24775 the American Revolution?
24776
24777 5. Explain the rise of the discussion of women's rights.
24778
24779 6. What were some of the early writings about women?
24780
24781 7. Why was there a struggle for educational opportunities?
24782
24783 8. How did reform movements draw women into public affairs and what were
24784 the chief results?
24785
24786 9. Show how the rise of the factory affected the life and labor of
24787 women.
24788
24789 10. Why is the year 1848 an important year in the woman movement?
24790 Discuss the work of the Seneca Falls convention.
24791
24792 11. Enumerate some of the early gains in civil liberty for women.
24793
24794 12. Trace the rise of the suffrage movement. Show the effect of the
24795 Civil War.
24796
24797 13. Review the history of the federal suffrage amendment.
24798
24799 14. Summarize the history of the suffrage in the states.
24800
24801
24802
24803
24804 CHAPTER XXIV
24805
24806 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
24807
24808
24809 =The New Economic Age.=--The spirit of criticism and the measures of
24810 reform designed to meet it, which characterized the opening years of the
24811 twentieth century, were merely the signs of a new age. The nation had
24812 definitely passed into industrialism. The number of city dwellers
24813 employed for wages as contrasted with the farmers working on their own
24814 land was steadily mounting. The free land, once the refuge of restless
24815 workingmen of the East and the immigrants from Europe, was a thing of
24816 the past. As President Roosevelt later said in speaking of the great
24817 coal strike, "a few generations ago, the American workman could have
24818 saved money, gone West, and taken up a homestead. Now the free lands
24819 were gone. In earlier days, a man who began with a pick and shovel might
24820 come to own a mine. That outlet was now closed as regards the immense
24821 majority.... The majority of men who earned wages in the coal industry,
24822 if they wished to progress at all, were compelled to progress not by
24823 ceasing to be wage-earners but by improving the conditions under which
24824 all the wage-earners of the country lived and worked."
24825
24826 The disappearance of the free land, President Roosevelt went on to say,
24827 also produced "a crass inequality in the bargaining relation of the
24828 employer and the individual employee standing alone. The great
24829 coal-mining and coal-carrying companies which employed their tens of
24830 thousands could easily dispense with the services of any particular
24831 miner. The miner, on the other hand, however expert, could not dispense
24832 with the companies. He needed a job; his wife and children would starve
24833 if he did not get one.... Individually the miners were impotent when
24834 they sought to enter a wage contract with the great companies; they
24835 could make fair terms only by uniting into trade unions to bargain
24836 collectively." It was of this state of affairs that President Taft spoke
24837 when he favored the modification of the common law "so as to put
24838 employees of little power and means on a level with their employers in
24839 adjusting and agreeing upon their mutual obligations."
24840
24841 John D. Rockefeller, Jr., on the side of the great captains of industry,
24842 recognized the same facts. He said: "In the early days of the
24843 development of industry, the employer and capital investor were
24844 frequently one. Daily contact was had between him and his employees, who
24845 were his friends and neighbors.... Because of the proportions which
24846 modern industry has attained, employers and employees are too often
24847 strangers to each other.... Personal relations can be revived only
24848 through adequate representation of the employees. Representation is a
24849 principle which is fundamentally just and vital to the successful
24850 conduct of industry.... It is not consistent for us as Americans to
24851 demand democracy in government and practice autocracy in industry....
24852 With the developments what they are in industry to-day, there is sure to
24853 come a progressive evolution from aristocratic single control, whether
24854 by capital, labor, or the state, to democratic, cooperative control by
24855 all three."
24856
24857
24858 COOPERATION BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES
24859
24860 =Company Unions.=--The changed economic life described by the three
24861 eminent men just quoted was acknowledged by several great companies and
24862 business concerns. All over the country decided efforts were made to
24863 bridge the gulf which industry and the corporation had created. Among
24864 the devices adopted was that of the "company union." In one of the
24865 Western lumber mills, for example, all the employees were invited to
24866 join a company organization; they held monthly meetings to discuss
24867 matters of common concern; they elected a "shop committee" to confer
24868 with the representatives of the company; and periodically the agents of
24869 the employers attended the conferences of the men to talk over matters
24870 of mutual interest. The function of the shop committee was to consider
24871 wages, hours, safety rules, sanitation, recreation and other problems.
24872 Whenever any employee had a grievance he took it up with the foreman
24873 and, if it was not settled to his satisfaction, he brought it before the
24874 shop committee. If the members of the shop committee decided in favor of
24875 the man with a grievance, they attempted to settle the matter with the
24876 company's agents. All these things failing, the dispute was transferred
24877 to a grand meeting of all the employees with the employers'
24878 representatives, in common council. A deadlock, if it ensued from such a
24879 conference, was broken by calling in impartial arbitrators selected by
24880 both sides from among citizens outside the mill. Thus the employees were
24881 given a voice in all decisions affecting their work and welfare; rights
24882 and grievances were treated as matters of mutual interest rather than
24883 individual concern. Representatives of trade unions from outside,
24884 however, were rigidly excluded from all negotiations between employers
24885 and the employees.
24886
24887 =Profit-sharing.=--Another proposal for drawing capital and labor
24888 together was to supplement the wage system by other ties. Sometimes lump
24889 sums were paid to employees who remained in a company's service for a
24890 definite period of years. Again they were given a certain percentage of
24891 the annual profits. In other instances, employees were allowed to buy
24892 stock on easy terms and thus become part owners in the concern. This
24893 last plan was carried so far by a large soap manufacturing company that
24894 the employees, besides becoming stockholders, secured the right to elect
24895 representatives to serve on the board of directors who managed the
24896 entire business. So extensive had profit-sharing become by 1914 that the
24897 Federal Industrial Relations Committee, appointed by the President,
24898 deemed it worthy of a special study. Though opposed by regular trade
24899 unions, it was undoubtedly growing in popularity.
24900
24901 =Labor Managers and Welfare Work.=--Another effort of employers to meet
24902 the problems of the new age appeared in the appointment of specialists,
24903 known as employment managers, whose task it was to study the relations
24904 existing between masters and workers and discover practical methods for
24905 dealing with each grievance as it arose. By 1918, hundreds of big
24906 companies had recognized this modern "profession" and universities were
24907 giving courses of instruction on the subject to young men and women. In
24908 that year a national conference of employment managers was held at
24909 Rochester, New York. The discussion revealed a wide range of duties
24910 assigned to managers, including questions of wages, hours, sanitation,
24911 rest rooms, recreational facilities, and welfare work of every kind
24912 designed to make the conditions in mills and factories safer and more
24913 humane. Thus it was evident that hundreds of employers had abandoned the
24914 old idea that they were dealing merely with individual employees and
24915 that their obligations ended with the payment of any wages they saw fit
24916 to fix. In short, they were seeking to develop a spirit of cooperation
24917 to take the place of competition and enmity; and to increase the
24918 production of commodities by promoting the efficiency and happiness of
24919 the producers.
24920
24921
24922 THE RISE AND GROWTH OF ORGANIZED LABOR
24923
24924 =The American Federation of Labor.=--Meanwhile a powerful association of
24925 workers representing all the leading trades and crafts, organized into
24926 unions of their own, had been built up outside the control of employers.
24927 This was the American Federation of Labor, a nation-wide union of
24928 unions, founded in 1886 on the basis of beginnings made five years
24929 before. At the time of its establishment it had approximately 150,000
24930 members. Its growth up to the end of the century was slow, for the total
24931 enrollment in 1900 was only 300,000. At that point the increase became
24932 marked. The membership reached 1,650,000 in 1904 and more than 3,000,000
24933 in 1919. To be counted in the ranks of organized labor were several
24934 strong unions, friendly to the Federation, though not affiliated with
24935 it. Such, for example, were the Railway Brotherhoods with more than half
24936 a million members. By the opening of 1920 the total strength of
24937 organized labor was put at about 4,000,000 members, meaning, if we
24938 include their families, that nearly one-fifth of the people of the
24939 United States were in some positive way dependent upon the operations of
24940 trade unions.
24941
24942 =Historical Background.=--This was the culmination of a long and
24943 significant history. Before the end of the eighteenth century, the
24944 skilled workmen--printers, shoemakers, tailors, and carpenters--had, as
24945 we have seen, formed local unions in the large cities. Between 1830 and
24946 1860, several aggressive steps were taken in the American labor
24947 movement. For one thing, the number of local unions increased by leaps
24948 and bounds in all the industrial towns. For another, there was
24949 established in every large manufacturing city a central labor body
24950 composed of delegates from the unions of the separate trades. In the
24951 local union the printers or the cordwainers, for example, considered
24952 only their special trade problems. In the central labor union, printers,
24953 cordwainers, iron molders, and other craftsmen considered common
24954 problems and learned to cooperate with one another in enforcing the
24955 demands of each craft. A third step was the federation of the unions of
24956 the same craftsmen in different cities. The printers of New York,
24957 Philadelphia, Boston, and other towns, for instance, drew together and
24958 formed a national trade union of printers built upon the local unions of
24959 that craft. By the eve of the Civil War there were four or five powerful
24960 national unions of this character. The expansion of the railway made
24961 travel and correspondence easier and national conventions possible even
24962 for workmen of small means. About 1834 an attempt was made to federate
24963 the unions of all the different crafts into a national organization; but
24964 the effort was premature.
24965
24966 _The National Labor Union._--The plan which failed in 1834 was tried
24967 again in the sixties. During the war, industries and railways had
24968 flourished as never before; prices had risen rapidly; the demand for
24969 labor had increased; wages had mounted slowly, but steadily. Hundreds of
24970 new local unions had been founded and eight or ten national trade unions
24971 had sprung into being. The time was ripe, it seemed, for a national
24972 consolidation of all labor's forces; and in 1866, the year after the
24973 surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, the "National Labor Union" was
24974 formed at Baltimore under the leadership of an experienced organizer,
24975 W.H. Sylvis of the iron molders. The purpose of the National Labor Union
24976 was not merely to secure labor's standard demands touching hours, wages,
24977 and conditions of work or to maintain the gains already won. It leaned
24978 toward political action and radical opinions. Above all, it sought to
24979 eliminate the conflict between capital and labor by making workingmen
24980 the owners of shops through the formation of cooperative industries. For
24981 six years the National Labor Union continued to hold conferences and
24982 carry on its propaganda; but most of the cooperative enterprises failed,
24983 political dissensions arose, and by 1872 the experiment had come to an
24984 end.
24985
24986 _The Knights of Labor._--While the National Labor Union was
24987 experimenting, there grew up in the industrial world a more radical
24988 organization known as the "Noble Order of the Knights of Labor." It was
24989 founded in Philadelphia in 1869, first as a secret society with rituals,
24990 signs, and pass words; "so that no spy of the boss can find his way into
24991 the lodge room to betray his fellows," as the Knights put it. In form
24992 the new organization was simple. It sought to bring all laborers,
24993 skilled and unskilled, men and women, white and colored, into a mighty
24994 body of local and national unions without distinction of trade or craft.
24995 By 1885, ten years after the national organization was established, it
24996 boasted a membership of over 700,000. In philosophy, the Knights of
24997 Labor were socialistic, for they advocated public ownership of the
24998 railways and other utilities and the formation of cooperative societies
24999 to own and manage stores and factories.
25000
25001 As the Knights were radical in spirit and their strikes, numerous and
25002 prolonged, were often accompanied by violence, the organization alarmed
25003 employers and the general public, raising up against itself a vigorous
25004 opposition. Weaknesses within, as well as foes from without, started the
25005 Knights on the path to dissolution. They waged more strikes than they
25006 could carry on successfully; their cooperative experiments failed as
25007 those of other labor groups before them had failed; and the rank and
25008 file could not be kept in line. The majority of the members wanted
25009 immediate gains in wages or the reduction of hours; when their hopes
25010 were not realized they drifted away from the order. The troubles were
25011 increased by the appearance of the American Federation of Labor, a still
25012 mightier organization composed mainly of skilled workers who held
25013 strategic positions in industry. When they failed to secure the
25014 effective support of the Federation in their efforts to organize the
25015 unskilled, the employers closed in upon them; then the Knights declined
25016 rapidly in power. By 1890 they were a negligible factor and in a short
25017 time they passed into the limbo of dead experiments.
25018
25019 =The Policies of the American Federation.=--Unlike the Knights of Labor,
25020 the American Federation of Labor sought, first of all, to be very
25021 practical in its objects and methods. It avoided all kinds of
25022 socialistic theories and attended strictly to the business of organizing
25023 unions for the purpose of increasing wages, shortening hours, and
25024 improving working conditions for its members. It did not try to include
25025 everybody in one big union but brought together the employees of each
25026 particular craft whose interests were clearly the same. To prepare for
25027 strikes and periods of unemployment, it raised large funds by imposing
25028 heavy dues and created a benefit system to hold men loyally to the
25029 union. In order to permit action on a national scale, it gave the
25030 superior officers extensive powers over local unions.
25031
25032 While declaring that employers and employees had much in common, the
25033 Federation strongly opposed company unions. Employers, it argued, were
25034 affiliated with the National Manufacturers' Association or with similar
25035 employers' organizations; every important industry was now national in
25036 scope; and wages and hours, in view of competition with other shops,
25037 could not be determined in a single factory, no matter how amicable
25038 might be the relations of the company and its workers in that particular
25039 plant. For these reasons, the Federation declared company unions and
25040 local shop committees inherently weak; it insisted that hours, wages,
25041 and other labor standards should be fixed by general trade agreements
25042 applicable to all the plants of a given industry, even if subject to
25043 local modifications.
25044
25045 At the same time, the Federation, far from deliberately antagonizing
25046 employers, sought to enlist their cooperation and support. It affiliated
25047 with the National Civic Federation, an association of business men,
25048 financiers, and professional men, founded in 1900 to promote friendly
25049 relations in the industrial world. In brief, the American Federation of
25050 Labor accepted the modern industrial system and, by organization within
25051 it, endeavored to secure certain definite terms and conditions for trade
25052 unionists.
25053
25054
25055 THE WIDER RELATIONS OF ORGANIZED LABOR
25056
25057 =The Socialists.=--The trade unionism "pure and simple," espoused by the
25058 American Federation of Labor, seemed to involve at first glance nothing
25059 but businesslike negotiations with employers. In practice it did not
25060 work out that way. The Federation was only six years old when a new
25061 organization, appealing directly for the labor vote--namely, the
25062 Socialist Labor Party--nominated a candidate for President, launched
25063 into a national campaign, and called upon trade unionists to desert the
25064 older parties and enter its fold.
25065
25066 The socialistic idea, introduced into national politics in 1892, had
25067 been long in germination. Before the Civil War, a number of reformers,
25068 including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horace Greeley, and Wendell Phillips,
25069 deeply moved by the poverty of the great industrial cities, had
25070 earnestly sought relief in the establishment of cooperative or
25071 communistic colonies. They believed that people should go into the
25072 country, secure land and tools, own them in common so that no one could
25073 profit from exclusive ownership, and produce by common labor the food
25074 and clothing necessary for their support. For a time this movement
25075 attracted wide interest, but it had little vitality. Nearly all the
25076 colonies failed. Selfishness and indolence usually disrupted the best of
25077 them.
25078
25079 In the course of time this "Utopian" idea was abandoned, and another set
25080 of socialist doctrines, claiming to be more "scientific," appeared
25081 instead. The new school of socialists, adopting the principles of a
25082 German writer and agitator, Karl Marx, appealed directly to workingmen.
25083 It urged them to unite against the capitalists, to get possession of the
25084 machinery of government, and to introduce collective or public ownership
25085 of railways, land, mines, mills, and other means of production. The
25086 Marxian socialists, therefore, became political. They sought to organize
25087 labor and to win elections. Like the other parties they put forward
25088 candidates and platforms. The Socialist Labor party in 1892, for
25089 example, declared in favor of government ownership of utilities, free
25090 school books, woman suffrage, heavy income taxes, and the referendum.
25091 The Socialist party, founded in 1900, with Eugene V. Debs, the leader of
25092 the Pullman strike, as its candidate, called for public ownership of all
25093 trusts, monopolies, mines, railways; and the chief means of production.
25094 In the course of time the vote of the latter organization rose to
25095 considerable proportions, reaching almost a million in 1912. It declined
25096 four years later and then rose in 1920 to about the same figure.
25097
25098 In their appeal for votes, the socialists of every type turned first to
25099 labor. At the annual conventions of the American Federation of Labor
25100 they besought the delegates to endorse socialism. The president of the
25101 Federation, Samuel Gompers, on each occasion took the floor against
25102 them. He repudiated socialism and the socialists, on both theoretical
25103 and practical grounds. He opposed too much public ownership, declaring
25104 that the government was as likely as any private employer to oppress
25105 labor. The approval of socialism, he maintained, would split the
25106 Federation on the rock of politics, weaken it in its fight for higher
25107 wages and shorter hours, and prejudice the public against it. At every
25108 turn he was able to vanquish the socialists in the Federation, although
25109 he could not prevent it from endorsing public ownership of the railways
25110 at the convention of 1920.
25111
25112 =The Extreme Radicals.=--Some of the socialists, defeated in their
25113 efforts to capture organized labor and seeing that the gains in
25114 elections were very meager, broke away from both trade unionism and
25115 politics. One faction, the Industrial Workers of the World, founded in
25116 1905, declared themselves opposed to all capitalists, the wages system,
25117 and craft unions. They asserted that the "working class and the
25118 employing class have nothing in common" and that trade unions only
25119 pitted one set of workers against another set. They repudiated all
25120 government ownership and the government itself, boldly proclaiming their
25121 intention to unite all employees into one big union and seize the
25122 railways, mines, and mills of the country. This doctrine, so
25123 revolutionary in tone, called down upon the extremists the condemnation
25124 of the American Federation of Labor as well as of the general public. At
25125 its convention in 1919, the Federation went on record as "opposed to
25126 Bolshevism, I.W.W.-ism, and the irresponsible leadership that encourages
25127 such a policy." It announced its "firm adherence to American ideals."
25128
25129 =The Federation and Political Issues.=--The hostility of the Federation
25130 to the socialists did not mean, however, that it was indifferent to
25131 political issues or political parties. On the contrary, from time to
25132 time, at its annual conventions, it endorsed political and social
25133 reforms, such as the initiative, referendum, and recall, the abolition
25134 of child labor, the exclusion of Oriental labor, old-age pensions, and
25135 government ownership. Moreover it adopted the policy of "rewarding
25136 friends and punishing enemies" by advising members to vote for or
25137 against candidates according to their stand on the demands of organized
25138 labor.
25139
25140 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
25141
25142 SAMUEL GOMPERS AND OTHER LABOR LEADERS]
25143
25144 This policy was pursued with especial zeal in connection with disputes
25145 over the use of injunctions in labor controversies. An injunction is a
25146 bill or writ issued by a judge ordering some person or corporation to do
25147 or to refrain from doing something. For example, a judge may order a
25148 trade union to refrain from interfering with non-union men or to
25149 continue at work handling goods made by non-union labor; and he may fine
25150 or imprison those who disobey his injunction, the penalty being
25151 inflicted for "contempt of court." This ancient legal device came into
25152 prominence in connection with nation-wide railway strikes in 1877. It
25153 was applied with increasing frequency after its effective use against
25154 Eugene V. Debs in the Pullman strike of 1894.
25155
25156 Aroused by the extensive use of the writ, organized labor demanded that
25157 the power of judges to issue injunctions in labor disputes be limited by
25158 law. Representatives of the unions sought support from the Democrats and
25159 the Republicans; they received from the former very specific and cordial
25160 endorsement. In 1896 the Democratic platform denounced "government by
25161 injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression." Mr.
25162 Gompers, while refusing to commit the Federation to Democratic politics,
25163 privately supported Mr. Bryan. In 1908, he came out openly and boasted
25164 that eighty per cent of the votes of the Federation had been cast for
25165 the Democratic candidate. Again in 1912 the same policy was pursued. The
25166 reward was the enactment in 1914 of a federal law exempting trade unions
25167 from prosecution as combinations in restraint of trade, limiting the use
25168 of the injunction in labor disputes, and prescribing trial by jury in
25169 case of contempt of court. This measure was hailed by Mr. Gompers as the
25170 "Magna Carta of Labor" and a vindication of his policy. As a matter of
25171 fact, however, it did not prevent the continued use of injunctions
25172 against trade unions. Nevertheless Mr. Gompers was unshaken in his
25173 conviction that organized labor should not attempt to form an
25174 independent political party or endorse socialist or other radical
25175 economic theories.
25176
25177 =Organized Labor and the Public.=--Besides its relations to employers,
25178 radicals within its own ranks, and political questions, the Federation
25179 had to face responsibilities to the general public. With the passing of
25180 time these became heavy and grave. While industries were small and
25181 conflicts were local in character, a strike seldom affected anybody but
25182 the employer and the employees immediately involved in it. When,
25183 however, industries and trade unions became organized on a national
25184 scale and a strike could paralyze a basic enterprise like coal mining or
25185 railways, the vital interests of all citizens were put in jeopardy.
25186 Moreover, as increases in wages and reductions in hours often added
25187 directly to the cost of living, the action of the unions affected the
25188 well-being of all--the food, clothing, and shelter of the whole people.
25189
25190 For the purpose of meeting the issue raised by this state of affairs, it
25191 was suggested that employers and employees should lay their disputes
25192 before commissions of arbitration for decision and settlement. President
25193 Cleveland, in a message of April 2, 1886, proposed such a method for
25194 disposing of industrial controversies, and two years later Congress
25195 enacted a voluntary arbitration law applicable to the railways. The
25196 principle was extended in 1898 and again in 1913, and under the
25197 authority of the federal government many contentions in the railway
25198 world were settled by arbitration.
25199
25200 The success of such legislation induced some students of industrial
25201 questions to urge that unions and employers should be compelled to
25202 submit all disputes to official tribunals of arbitration. Kansas
25203 actually passed such a law in 1920. Congress in the Esch-Cummins railway
25204 bill of the same year created a federal board of nine members to which
25205 all railway controversies, not settled by negotiation, must be
25206 submitted. Strikes, however, were not absolutely forbidden. Generally
25207 speaking, both employers and employees opposed compulsory adjustments
25208 without offering any substitute in case voluntary arbitration should not
25209 be accepted by both parties to a dispute.
25210
25211
25212 IMMIGRATION AND AMERICANIZATION
25213
25214 =The Problems of Immigration.=--From its very inception, the American
25215 Federation of Labor, like the Knights of Labor before it, was confronted
25216 by numerous questions raised by the ever swelling tide of aliens coming
25217 to our shores. In its effort to make each trade union all-inclusive, it
25218 had to wrestle with a score or more languages. When it succeeded in
25219 thoroughly organizing a craft, it often found its purposes defeated by
25220 an influx of foreigners ready to work for lower wages and thus undermine
25221 the foundations of the union.
25222
25223 At the same time, persons outside the labor movement began to be
25224 apprehensive as they contemplated the undoubted evil, as well as the
25225 good, that seemed to be associated with the "alien invasion." They saw
25226 whole sections of great cities occupied by people speaking foreign
25227 tongues, reading only foreign newspapers, and looking to the Old World
25228 alone for their ideas and their customs. They witnessed an expanding
25229 army of total illiterates, men and women who could read and write no
25230 language at all; while among those aliens who could read few there were
25231 who knew anything of American history, traditions, and ideals. Official
25232 reports revealed that over twenty per cent of the men of the draft army
25233 during the World War could not read a newspaper or write a letter home.
25234 Perhaps most alarming of all was the discovery that thousands of alien
25235 men are in the United States only on a temporary sojourn, solely to make
25236 money and return home with their savings. These men, willing to work for
25237 low wages and live in places unfit for human beings, have no stake in
25238 this country and do not care what becomes of it.
25239
25240 =The Restriction of Immigration.=--In all this there was, strictly
25241 speaking, no cause for surprise. Since the foundation of our republic
25242 the policy of the government had been to encourage the coming of the
25243 alien. For nearly one hundred years no restraining act was passed by
25244 Congress, while two important laws positively encouraged it; namely, the
25245 homestead act of 1862 and the contract immigration law of 1864. Not
25246 until American workingmen came into open collision with cheap Chinese
25247 labor on the Pacific Coast did the federal government spread the first
25248 measure of limitation on the statute books. After the discovery of gold,
25249 and particularly after the opening of the railway construction era, a
25250 horde of laborers from China descended upon California. Accustomed to
25251 starvation wages and indifferent to the conditions of living, they
25252 threatened to cut the American standard to the point of subsistence. By
25253 1876 the protest of American labor was loud and long and both the
25254 Republicans and the Democrats gave heed to it. In 1882 Congress enacted
25255 a law prohibiting the admission of Chinese laborers to the United States
25256 for a term of ten years--later extended by legislation. In a little
25257 while the demand arose for the exclusion of the Japanese as well. In
25258 this case no exclusion law was passed; but an understanding was reached
25259 by which Japan agreed not to issue passports to her laborers authorizing
25260 them to come to the United States. By act of Congress in 1907 the
25261 President was empowered to exclude any laborers who, having passports to
25262 Canada, Hawaii, or Mexico, attempted to enter our country.
25263
25264 These laws and agreements, however, did not remove all grounds for the
25265 agitation of the subject. They were difficult to enforce and it was
25266 claimed by residents of the Coast that in spite of federal authority
25267 Oriental laborers were finding their way into American ports. Moreover,
25268 several Western states, anxious to preserve the soil for American
25269 ownership, enacted laws making it impossible for Chinese and Japanese to
25270 buy land outright; and in other ways they discriminated against
25271 Orientals. Such proceedings placed the federal government in an
25272 embarrassing position. By treaty it had guaranteed specific rights to
25273 Japanese citizens in the United States, and the government at Tokyo
25274 contended that the state laws just cited violated the terms of the
25275 international agreement. The Western states were fixed in their
25276 determination to control Oriental residents; Japan was equally
25277 persistent in asking that no badge of inferiority be attached to her
25278 citizens. Subjected to pressure on both sides, the federal government
25279 sought a way out of the deadlock.
25280
25281 Having embarked upon the policy of restriction in 1882, Congress readily
25282 extended it. In that same year it barred paupers, criminals, convicts,
25283 and the insane. Three years later, mainly owing to the pressure of the
25284 Knights of Labor, it forbade any person, company, or association to
25285 import aliens under contract. By an act of 1887, the contract labor
25286 restriction was made even more severe. In 1903, anarchists were excluded
25287 and the bureau of immigration was transferred from the Treasury
25288 Department to the Department of Commerce and Labor, in order to provide
25289 for a more rigid execution of the law. In 1907 the classes of persons
25290 denied admission were widened to embrace those suffering from physical
25291 and mental defects and otherwise unfit for effective citizenship. When
25292 the Department of Labor was established in 1913 the enforcement of the
25293 law was placed in the hands of the Secretary of Labor, W.B. Wilson, who
25294 was a former leader in the American Federation of Labor.
25295
25296 =The Literacy Test.=--Still the advocates of restriction were not
25297 satisfied. Still organized labor protested and demanded more protection
25298 against the competition of immigrants. In 1917 it won a thirty-year
25299 battle in the passage of a bill excluding "all aliens over sixteen years
25300 of age, physically capable of reading, who cannot read the English
25301 language or some other language or dialect, including Hebrew or
25302 Yiddish." Even President Wilson could not block it, for a two-thirds
25303 vote to overcome his veto was mustered in Congress.
25304
25305 This act, while it served to exclude illiterates, made no drastic cut in
25306 the volume of immigration. Indeed a material reduction was resolutely
25307 opposed in many quarters. People of certain nationalities already in the
25308 United States objected to every barrier that shut out their own kinsmen.
25309 Some Americans of the old stock still held to the idea that the United
25310 States should continue to be an asylum for "the oppressed of the earth."
25311 Many employers looked upon an increased labor supply as the means of
25312 escaping what they called "the domination of trade unions." In the babel
25313 of countless voices, the discussion of these vital matters went on in
25314 town and country.
25315
25316 =Americanization.=--Intimately connected with the subject of immigration
25317 was a call for the "Americanization" of the alien already within our
25318 gates. The revelation of the illiteracy in the army raised the cry and
25319 the demand was intensified when it was found that many of the leaders
25320 among the extreme radicals were foreign in birth and citizenship.
25321 Innumerable programs for assimilating the alien to American life were
25322 drawn up, and in 1919 a national conference on the subject was held in
25323 Washington under the auspices of the Department of the Interior. All
25324 were agreed that the foreigner should be taught to speak and write the
25325 language and understand the government of our country. Congress was
25326 urged to lend aid in this vast undertaking. America, as ex-President
25327 Roosevelt had said, was to find out "whether it was a nation or a
25328 boarding-house."
25329
25330
25331 =General References=
25332
25333 J.R. Commons and Associates, _History of Labor in the United States_ (2
25334 vols.).
25335
25336 Samuel Gompers, _Labor and the Common Welfare_.
25337
25338 W.E. Walling, _Socialism as It Is_.
25339
25340 W.E. Walling (and Others), _The Socialism of Today_.
25341
25342 R.T. Ely, _The Labor Movement in America_.
25343
25344 T.S. Adams and H. Sumner, _Labor Problems_.
25345
25346 J.G. Brooks, _American Syndicalism_ and _Social Unrest_.
25347
25348 P.F. Hall, _Immigration and Its Effects on the United States_.
25349
25350
25351 =Research Topics=
25352
25353 =The Rise of Trade Unionism.=--Mary Beard, _Short History of the
25354 American Labor Movement_, pp. 10-18, 47-53, 62-79; Carlton, _Organized
25355 Labor in American History_, pp. 11-44.
25356
25357 =Labor and Politics.=--Beard, _Short History_, pp. 33-46, 54-61,
25358 103-112; Carlton, pp. 169-197; Ogg, _National Progress_ (American Nation
25359 Series), pp. 76-85.
25360
25361 =The Knights of Labor.=--Beard, _Short History_, pp. 116-126; Dewey,
25362 _National Problems_ (American Nation Series), pp. 40-49.
25363
25364 =The American Federation of Labor--Organization and Policies.=--Beard,
25365 _Short History_, pp. 86-112.
25366
25367 =Organized Labor and the Socialists.=--Beard, _Short History_, pp.
25368 126-149.
25369
25370 =Labor and the Great War.=--Carlton, pp. 282-306; Beard, _Short
25371 History_, pp. 150-170.
25372
25373
25374 =Questions=
25375
25376 1. What are the striking features of the new economic age?
25377
25378 2. Give Mr. Rockefeller's view of industrial democracy.
25379
25380 3. Outline the efforts made by employers to establish closer relations
25381 with their employees.
25382
25383 4. Sketch the rise and growth of the American Federation of Labor.
25384
25385 5. How far back in our history does the labor movement extend?
25386
25387 6. Describe the purposes and outcome of the National Labor Union and the
25388 Knights of Labor.
25389
25390 7. State the chief policies of the American Federation of Labor.
25391
25392 8. How does organized labor become involved with outside forces?
25393
25394 9. Outline the rise of the socialist movement. How did it come into
25395 contact with the American Federation?
25396
25397 10. What was the relation of the Federation to the extreme radicals? To
25398 national politics? To the public?
25399
25400 11. Explain the injunction.
25401
25402 12. Why are labor and immigration closely related?
25403
25404 13. Outline the history of restrictions on immigration.
25405
25406 14. What problems arise in connection with the assimilation of the alien
25407 to American life?
25408
25409
25410
25411
25412 CHAPTER XXV
25413
25414 PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE WORLD WAR
25415
25416
25417 "The welfare, the happiness, the energy, and the spirit of the men and
25418 women who do the daily work in our mines and factories, on our
25419 railroads, in our offices and ports of trade, on our farms, and on the
25420 sea are the underlying necessity of all prosperity." Thus spoke Woodrow
25421 Wilson during his campaign for election. In this spirit, as President,
25422 he gave the signal for work by summoning Congress in a special session
25423 on April 7, 1913. He invited the cooperation of all "forward-looking
25424 men" and indicated that he would assume the role of leadership. As an
25425 evidence of his resolve, he appeared before Congress in person to read
25426 his first message, reviving the old custom of Washington and Adams. Then
25427 he let it be known that he would not give his party any rest until it
25428 fulfilled its pledges to the country. When Democratic Senators balked at
25429 tariff reductions, they were sharply informed that the party had
25430 plighted its word and that no excuses or delays would be tolerated.
25431
25432
25433 DOMESTIC LEGISLATION
25434
25435 =Financial Measures.=--Under this spirited leadership Congress went to
25436 work, passing first the Underwood tariff act of 1913, which made a
25437 downward revision in the rates of duty, fixing them on the average about
25438 twenty-six per cent lower than the figures of 1907. The protective
25439 principle was retained, but an effort was made to permit a moderate
25440 element of foreign competition. As a part of the revenue act Congress
25441 levied a tax on incomes as authorized by the sixteenth amendment to the
25442 Constitution. The tax which roused such party passions twenty years
25443 before was now accepted as a matter of course.
25444
25445 Having disposed of the tariff, Congress took up the old and vexatious
25446 currency question and offered a new solution in the form of the federal
25447 reserve law of December, 1913. This measure, one of the most interesting
25448 in the history of federal finance, embraced four leading features. In
25449 the first place, it continued the prohibition on the issuance of notes
25450 by state banks and provided for a national currency. In the second
25451 place, it put the new banking system under the control of a federal
25452 reserve board composed entirely of government officials. To prevent the
25453 growth of a "central money power," it provided, in the third place, for
25454 the creation of twelve federal reserve banks, one in each of twelve
25455 great districts into which the country is divided. All local national
25456 banks were required and certain other banks permitted to become members
25457 of the new system and share in its control. Finally, with a view to
25458 expanding the currency, a step which the Democrats had long urged upon
25459 the country, the issuance of paper money, under definite safeguards, was
25460 authorized.
25461
25462 Mindful of the agricultural interest, ever dear to the heart of
25463 Jefferson's followers, the Democrats supplemented the reserve law by the
25464 Farm Loan Act of 1916, creating federal agencies to lend money on farm
25465 mortgages at moderate rates of interest. Within a year $20,000,000 had
25466 been lent to farmers, the heaviest borrowing being in nine Western and
25467 Southern states, with Texas in the lead.
25468
25469 =Anti-trust Legislation.=--The tariff and currency laws were followed by
25470 three significant measures relative to trusts. Rejecting utterly the
25471 Progressive doctrine of government regulation, President Wilson
25472 announced that it was the purpose of the Democrats "to destroy monopoly
25473 and maintain competition as the only effective instrument of business
25474 liberty." The first step in this direction, the Clayton Anti-trust Act,
25475 carried into great detail the Sherman law of 1890 forbidding and
25476 penalizing combinations in restraint of interstate and foreign trade. In
25477 every line it revealed a determined effort to tear apart the great
25478 trusts and to put all business on a competitive basis. Its terms were
25479 reinforced in the same year by a law creating a Federal Trade Commission
25480 empowered to inquire into the methods of corporations and lodge
25481 complaints against concerns "using any unfair method of competition." In
25482 only one respect was the severity of the Democratic policy relaxed. An
25483 act of 1918 provided that the Sherman law should not apply to companies
25484 engaged in export trade, the purpose being to encourage large
25485 corporations to enter foreign commerce.
25486
25487 The effect of this whole body of anti-trust legislation, in spite of
25488 much labor on it, remained problematical. Very few combinations were
25489 dissolved as a result of it. Startling investigations were made into
25490 alleged abuses on the part of trusts; but it could hardly be said that
25491 huge business concerns had lost any of their predominance in American
25492 industry.
25493
25494 =Labor Legislation.=--By no mere coincidence, the Clayton Anti-trust law
25495 of 1914 made many concessions to organized labor. It declared that "the
25496 labor of a human being is not a commodity or an article of commerce,"
25497 and it exempted unions from prosecution as "combinations in restraint of
25498 trade." It likewise defined and limited the uses which the federal
25499 courts might make of injunctions in labor disputes and guaranteed trial
25500 by jury to those guilty of disobedience (see p. 581).
25501
25502 The Clayton law was followed the next year by the Seamen's Act giving
25503 greater liberty of contract to American sailors and requiring an
25504 improvement of living conditions on shipboard. This was such a drastic
25505 law that shipowners declared themselves unable to meet foreign
25506 competition under its terms, owing to the low labor standards of other
25507 countries.
25508
25509 Still more extraordinary than the Seamen's Act was the Adamson law of
25510 1916 fixing a standard eight-hour work-day for trainmen on railroads--a
25511 measure wrung from Congress under a threat of a great strike by the four
25512 Railway Brotherhoods. This act, viewed by union leaders as a triumph,
25513 called forth a bitter denunciation of "trade union domination," but it
25514 was easier to criticize than to find another solution of the problem.
25515
25516 Three other laws enacted during President Wilson's administration were
25517 popular in the labor world. One of them provided compensation for
25518 federal employees injured in the discharge of their duties. Another
25519 prohibited the labor of children under a certain age in the industries
25520 of the nation. A third prescribed for coal miners in Alaska an
25521 eight-hour day and modern safeguards for life and health. There were
25522 positive proofs that organized labor had obtained a large share of power
25523 in the councils of the country.
25524
25525 =Federal and State Relations.=--If the interference of the government
25526 with business and labor represented a departure from the old idea of
25527 "the less government the better," what can be said of a large body of
25528 laws affecting the rights of states? The prohibition of child labor
25529 everywhere was one indication of the new tendency. Mr. Wilson had once
25530 declared such legislation unconstitutional; the Supreme Court declared
25531 it unconstitutional; but Congress, undaunted, carried it into effect
25532 under the guise of a tax on goods made by children below the age limit.
25533 There were other indications of the drift. Large sums of money were
25534 appropriated by Congress in 1916 to assist the states in building and
25535 maintaining highways. The same year the Farm Loan Act projected the
25536 federal government into the sphere of local money lending. In 1917
25537 millions of dollars were granted to states in aid of vocational
25538 education, incidentally imposing uniform standards throughout the
25539 country. Evidently the government was no longer limited to the duties of
25540 the policeman.
25541
25542 =The Prohibition Amendment.=--A still more significant form of
25543 intervention in state affairs was the passage, in December, 1917, of an
25544 amendment to the federal Constitution establishing national prohibition
25545 of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors as beverages. This
25546 was the climax of a historical movement extending over half a century.
25547 In 1872, a National Prohibition party, launched three years before,
25548 nominated its first presidential candidate and inaugurated a campaign of
25549 agitation. Though its vote was never large, the cause for which it
25550 stood found increasing favor among the people. State after state by
25551 popular referendum abolished the liquor traffic within its borders. By
25552 1917 at least thirty-two of the forty-eight were "dry." When the federal
25553 amendment was submitted for approval, the ratification was surprisingly
25554 swift. In a little more than a year, namely, on January 16, 1919, it was
25555 proclaimed. Twelve months later the amendment went into effect.
25556
25557
25558 COLONIAL AND FOREIGN POLICIES
25559
25560 =The Philippines and Porto Rico.=--Independence for the Philippines and
25561 larger self-government for Porto Rico had been among the policies of the
25562 Democratic party since the campaign of 1900. President Wilson in his
25563 annual messages urged upon Congress more autonomy for the Filipinos and
25564 a definite promise of final independence. The result was the Jones
25565 Organic Act for the Philippines passed in 1916. This measure provided
25566 that the upper as well as the lower house of the Philippine legislature
25567 should be elected by popular vote, and declared it to be the intention
25568 of the United States to grant independence "as soon as a stable
25569 government can be established." This, said President Wilson on signing
25570 the bill, is "a very satisfactory advance in our policy of extending to
25571 them self-government and control of their own affairs." The following
25572 year Congress, yielding to President Wilson's insistence, passed a new
25573
25574 organic act for Porto Rico, making both houses of the legislature
25575 elective and conferring American citizenship upon the inhabitants of the
25576 island.
25577
25578 [Illustration: THE CARIBBEAN REGION]
25579
25580 =American Power in the Caribbean.=--While extending more self-government
25581 to its dominions, the United States enlarged its sphere of influence in
25582 the Caribbean. The supervision of finances in Santo Domingo, inaugurated
25583 in Roosevelt's administration, was transformed into a protectorate under
25584 Wilson. In 1914 dissensions in the republic led to the landing of
25585 American marines to "supervise" the elections. Two years later, an
25586 officer in the American navy, with authority from Washington, placed
25587 the entire republic "in a state of military occupation." He proceeded to
25588 suspend the government and laws of the country, exile the president,
25589 suppress the congress, and substitute American military authority. In
25590 1919 a consulting board of four prominent Dominicans was appointed to
25591 aid the American military governor; but it resigned the next year after
25592 making a plea for the restoration of independence to the republic. For
25593 all practical purposes, it seemed, the sovereignty of Santo Domingo had
25594 been transferred to the United States.
25595
25596 In the neighboring republic of Haiti, a similar state of affairs
25597 existed. In the summer of 1915 a revolution broke out there--one of a
25598 long series beginning in 1804--and our marines were landed to restore
25599 order. Elections were held under the supervision of American officers,
25600 and a treaty was drawn up placing the management of Haitian finances and
25601 the local constabulary under American authority. In taking this action,
25602 our Secretary of State was careful to announce: "The United States
25603 government has no purpose of aggression and is entirely disinterested in
25604 promoting this protectorate." Still it must be said that there were
25605 vigorous protests on the part of natives and American citizens against
25606 the conduct of our agents in the island. In 1921 President Wilson was
25607 considering withdrawal.
25608
25609 In line with American policy in the West Indian waters was the purchase
25610 in 1917 of the Danish Islands just off the coast of Porto Rico. The
25611 strategic position of the islands, especially in relation to Haiti and
25612 Porto Rico, made them an object of American concern as early as 1867,
25613 when a treaty of purchase was negotiated only to be rejected by the
25614 Senate of the United States. In 1902 a second arrangement was made, but
25615 this time it was defeated by the upper house of the Danish parliament.
25616 The third treaty brought an end to fifty years of bargaining and the
25617 Stars and Stripes were raised over St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and
25618 numerous minor islands scattered about in the neighborhood. "It would be
25619 suicidal," commented a New York newspaper, "for America, on the
25620 threshold of a great commercial expansion in South America, to suffer a
25621 Heligoland, or a Gibraltar, or an Aden to be erected by her rivals at
25622 the mouth of her Suez." On the mainland American power was strengthened
25623 by the establishment of a protectorate over Nicaragua in 1916.
25624
25625 =Mexican Relations.=--The extension of American enterprise southward
25626 into Latin America, of which the operations in the Caribbean regions
25627 were merely one phase, naturally carried Americans into Mexico to
25628 develop the natural resources of that country. Under the iron rule of
25629 General Porfirio Diaz, established in 1876 and maintained with only a
25630 short break until 1911, Mexico had become increasingly attractive to our
25631 business men. On the invitation of President Diaz, they had invested
25632 huge sums in Mexican lands, oil fields, and mines, and had laid the
25633 foundations of a new industrial order. The severe regime instituted by
25634 Diaz, however, stirred popular discontent. The peons, or serfs, demanded
25635 the break-up of the great estates, some of which had come down from the
25636 days of Cortez. Their clamor for "the restoration of the land to the
25637 people could not be silenced." In 1911 Diaz was forced to resign and
25638 left the country.
25639
25640 Mexico now slid down the path to disorder. Revolutions and civil
25641 commotions followed in swift succession. A liberal president, Madero,
25642 installed as the successor to Diaz, was deposed in 1913 and brutally
25643 murdered. Huerta, a military adventurer, hailed for a time as another
25644 "strong man," succeeded Madero whose murder he was accused of
25645 instigating. Although Great Britain and nearly all the powers of Europe
25646 accepted the new government as lawful, the United States steadily
25647 withheld recognition. In the meantime Mexico was torn by insurrections
25648 under the leadership of Carranza, a friend of Madero, Villa, a bandit of
25649 generous pretensions, and Zapata, a radical leader of the peons. Without
25650 the support of the United States, Huerta was doomed.
25651
25652 In the summer of 1914, the dictator resigned and fled from the capital,
25653 leaving the field to Carranza. For six years the new president,
25654 recognized by the United States, held a precarious position which he
25655 vigorously strove to strengthen against various revolutionary movements.
25656 At length in 1920, he too was deposed and murdered, and another military
25657 chieftain, Obregon, installed in power.
25658
25659 These events right at our door could not fail to involve the government
25660 of the United States. In the disorders many American citizens lost their
25661 lives. American property was destroyed and land owned by Americans was
25662 confiscated. A new Mexican constitution, in effect nationalizing the
25663 natural resources of the country, struck at the rights of foreign
25664 investors. Moreover the Mexican border was in constant turmoil. Even in
25665 the last days of his administration, Mr. Taft felt compelled to issue a
25666 solemn warning to the Mexican government protesting against the
25667 violation of American rights.
25668
25669 President Wilson, soon after his inauguration, sent a commissioner to
25670 Mexico to inquire into the situation. Although he declared a general
25671 policy of "watchful waiting," he twice came to blows with Mexican
25672 forces. In 1914 some American sailors at Tampico were arrested by a
25673 Mexican officer; the Mexican government, although it immediately
25674 released the men, refused to make the required apology for the incident.
25675 As a result President Wilson ordered the landing of American forces at
25676 Vera Cruz and the occupation of the city. A clash of arms followed in
25677 which several Americans were killed. War seemed inevitable, but at this
25678 juncture the governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile tendered their
25679 good offices as mediators. After a few weeks of negotiation, during
25680 which Huerta was forced out of power, American forces were withdrawn
25681 from Vera Cruz and the incident closed.
25682
25683 In 1916 a second break in amicable relations occurred. In the spring of
25684 that year a band of Villa's men raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico,
25685 killing several citizens and committing robberies. A punitive expedition
25686 under the command of General Pershing was quickly sent out to capture
25687 the offenders. Against the protests of President Carranza, American
25688 forces penetrated deeply into Mexico without effecting the object of
25689 the undertaking. This operation lasted until January, 1917, when the
25690 imminence of war with Germany led to the withdrawal of the American
25691 soldiers. Friendly relations were resumed with the Mexican government
25692 and the policy of "watchful waiting" was continued.
25693
25694
25695 THE UNITED STATES AND THE EUROPEAN WAR
25696
25697 =The Outbreak of the War.=--In the opening days of August, 1914, the
25698 age-long jealousies of European nations, sharpened by new imperial
25699 ambitions, broke out in another general conflict such as had shaken the
25700 world in the days of Napoleon. On June 28, the heir to the
25701 Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated at Serajevo, the capital of
25702 Bosnia, an Austrian province occupied mainly by Serbs. With a view to
25703 stopping Serbian agitation for independence, Austria-Hungary laid the
25704 blame for this incident on the government of Serbia and made humiliating
25705 demands on that country. Germany at once proposed that the issue should
25706 be regarded as "an affair which should be settled solely between
25707 Austria-Hungary and Serbia"; meaning that the small nation should be
25708 left to the tender mercies of a great power. Russia refused to take this
25709 view. Great Britain proposed a settlement by mediation. Germany backed
25710 up Austria to the limit. To use the language of the German authorities:
25711 "We were perfectly aware that a possible warlike attitude of
25712 Austria-Hungary against Serbia might bring Russia upon the field and
25713 that it might therefore involve us in a war, in accordance with our
25714 duties as allies. We could not, however, in these vital interests of
25715 Austria-Hungary which were at stake, advise our ally to take a yielding
25716 attitude not compatible with his dignity nor deny him our assistance."
25717 That made the war inevitable.
25718
25719 Every day of the fateful August, 1914, was crowded with momentous
25720 events. On the 1st, Germany declared war on Russia. On the 2d, the
25721 Germans invaded the little duchy of Luxemburg and notified the King of
25722 Belgium that they were preparing to violate the neutrality of his realm
25723 on their way to Paris. On the same day, Great Britain, anxiously
25724 besought by the French government, promised the aid of the British navy
25725 if German warships made hostile demonstrations in the Channel. August
25726 3d, the German government declared war on France. The following day,
25727 Great Britain demanded of Germany respect for Belgian neutrality and,
25728 failing to receive the guarantee, broke off diplomatic relations. On the
25729 5th, the British prime minister announced that war had opened between
25730 England and Germany. The storm now broke in all its pitiless fury.
25731
25732 =The State of American Opinion.=--Although President Wilson promptly
25733 proclaimed the neutrality of the United States, the sympathies of a
25734 large majority of the American people were without doubt on the side of
25735 Great Britain and France. To them the invasion of the little kingdom of
25736 Belgium and the horrors that accompanied German occupation were odious
25737 in the extreme. Moreover, they regarded the German imperial government
25738 as an autocratic power wielded in the interest of an ambitious military
25739 party. The Kaiser, William II, and the Crown Prince were the symbols of
25740 royal arrogance. On the other hand, many Americans of German descent, in
25741 memory of their ties with the Fatherland, openly sympathized with the
25742 Central Powers; and many Americans of Irish descent, recalling their
25743 long and bitter struggle for home rule in Ireland, would have regarded
25744 British defeat as a merited redress of ancient grievances.
25745
25746 Extremely sensitive to American opinion, but ill informed about it, the
25747 German government soon began systematic efforts to present its cause to
25748 the people of the United States in the most favorable light possible.
25749 Dr. Bernhard Dernburg, the former colonial secretary of the German
25750 empire, was sent to America as a special agent. For months he filled the
25751 newspapers, magazines, and periodicals with interviews, articles, and
25752 notes on the justice of the Teutonic cause. From a press bureau in New
25753 York flowed a stream of pamphlets, leaflets, and cartoons. A magazine,
25754 "The Fatherland," was founded to secure "fair play for Germany and
25755 Austria." Several professors in American universities, who had received
25756 their training in Germany, took up the pen in defense of the Central
25757 Empires. The German language press, without exception it seems, the
25758 National German Alliance, minor German societies, and Lutheran churches
25759 came to the support of the German cause. Even the English language
25760 papers, though generally favorable to the Entente Allies, opened their
25761 columns in the interest of equal justice to the spokesmen for all the
25762 contending powers of Europe.
25763
25764 Before two weeks had elapsed the controversy had become so intense that
25765 President Wilson (August 18, 1914) was moved to caution his countrymen
25766 against falling into angry disputes. "Every man," he said, "who really
25767 loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality which
25768 is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all
25769 concerned.... We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must
25770 put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that
25771 might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before
25772 another."
25773
25774 =The Clash over American Trade.=--As in the time of the Napoleonic wars,
25775 the conflict in Europe raised fundamental questions respecting rights of
25776 Americans trading with countries at peace as well as those at war. On
25777 this point there existed on August 1, 1914, a fairly definite body of
25778 principles by which nations were bound. Among them the following were of
25779 vital significance. In the first place, it was recognized that an enemy
25780 merchant ship caught on the high seas was a legitimate prize of war
25781 which might be seized and confiscated. In the second place, it was
25782 agreed that "contraband of war" found on an enemy or neutral ship was a
25783 lawful prize; any ship suspected of carrying it was liable to search and
25784 if caught with forbidden goods was subject to seizure. In the third
25785 place, international law prescribed that a peaceful merchant ship,
25786 whether belonging to an enemy or to a neutral country, should not be
25787 destroyed or sunk without provision for the safety of crew and
25788 passengers. In the fourth place, it was understood that a belligerent
25789 had the right, if it could, to blockade the ports of an enemy and
25790 prevent the ingress and egress of all ships; but such a blockade, to be
25791 lawful, had to be effective.
25792
25793 These general principles left undetermined two important matters: "What
25794 is an effective blockade?" and "What is contraband of war?" The task of
25795 answering these questions fell to Great Britain as mistress of the seas.
25796 Although the German submarines made it impossible for her battleships to
25797 maintain a continuous patrol of the waters in front of blockaded ports,
25798
25799 she declared the blockade to be none the less "effective" because her
25800 navy was supreme. As to contraband of war Great Britain put such a broad
25801 interpretation upon the term as to include nearly every important
25802 article of commerce. Early in 1915 she declared even cargoes of grain
25803 and flour to be contraband, defending the action on the ground that the
25804 German government had recently taken possession of all domestic stocks
25805 of corn, wheat, and flour.
25806
25807 A new question arose in connection with American trade with the neutral
25808 countries surrounding Germany. Great Britain early began to intercept
25809 ships carrying oil, gasoline, and copper--all war materials of prime
25810 importance--on the ground that they either were destined ultimately to
25811 Germany or would release goods for sale to Germans. On November 2, 1914,
25812 the English government announced that the Germans wore sowing mines in
25813 open waters and that therefore the whole of the North Sea was a military
25814 zone. Ships bound for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were ordered to come
25815 by the English Channel for inspection and sailing directions. In effect,
25816 Americans were now licensed by Great Britain to trade in certain
25817 commodities and in certain amounts with neutral countries.
25818
25819 Against these extraordinary measures, the State Department at Washington
25820 lodged pointed objections, saying: "This government is reluctantly
25821 forced to the conclusion that the present policy of His Majesty's
25822 government toward neutral ships and cargoes exceeds the manifest
25823 necessity of a belligerent and constitutes restrictions upon the rights
25824 of American citizens on the high seas, which are not justified by the
25825 rules of international law or required under the principle of
25826 self-preservation."
25827
25828 =Germany Begins the Submarine Campaign.=--Germany now announced that, on
25829 and after February 18, 1915, the whole of the English Channel and the
25830 waters around Great Britain would be deemed a war zone and that every
25831 enemy ship found therein would be destroyed. The German decree added
25832 that, as the British admiralty had ordered the use of neutral flags by
25833 English ships in time of distress, neutral vessels would be in danger of
25834 destruction if found in the forbidden area. It was clear that Germany
25835 intended to employ submarines to destroy shipping. A new factor was thus
25836 introduced into naval warfare, one not provided for in the accepted laws
25837 of war. A warship overhauling a merchant vessel could easily take its
25838 crew and passengers on board for safe keeping as prescribed by
25839 international law; but a submarine ordinarily could do nothing of the
25840 sort. Of necessity the lives and the ships of neutrals, as well as of
25841 belligerents, were put in mortal peril. This amazing conduct Germany
25842 justified on the ground that it was mere retaliation against Great
25843 Britain for her violations of international law.
25844
25845 The response of the United States to the ominous German order was swift
25846 and direct. On February 10, 1915, it warned Germany that if her
25847 commanders destroyed American lives and ships in obedience to that
25848 decree, the action would "be very hard indeed to reconcile with the
25849 friendly relations happily subsisting between the two governments." The
25850 American note added that the German imperial government would be held to
25851 "strict accountability" and all necessary steps would be taken to
25852 safeguard American lives and American rights. This was firm and clear
25853 language, but the only response which it evoked from Germany was a
25854 suggestion that, if Great Britain would allow food supplies to pass
25855 through the blockade, the submarine campaign would be dropped.
25856
25857 =Violations of American Rights.=--Meanwhile Germany continued to ravage
25858 shipping on the high seas. On January 28, a German raider sank the
25859 American ship, _William P. Frye_, in the South Atlantic; on March 28, a
25860 British ship, the _Falaba_, was sunk by a submarine and many on board,
25861 including an American citizen, were killed; and on April 28, a German
25862 airplane dropped bombs on the American steamer _Cushing_. On the morning
25863 of May 1, 1915, Americans were astounded to see in the newspapers an
25864 advertisement, signed by the German Imperial Embassy, warning travelers
25865 of the dangers in the war zone and notifying them that any who ventured
25866 on British ships into that area did so at their own risk. On that day,
25867 the _Lusitania_, a British steamer, sailed from New York for Liverpool.
25868 On May 7, without warning, the ship was struck by two torpedoes and in a
25869 few minutes went down by the bow, carrying to death 1153 persons
25870 including 114 American men, women, and children. A cry of horror ran
25871 through the country. The German papers in America and a few American
25872 people argued that American citizens had been duly warned of the danger
25873 and had deliberately taken their lives into their own hands; but the
25874 terrible deed was almost universally condemned by public opinion.
25875
25876 =The _Lusitania_ Notes.=--On May 14, the Department of State at
25877 Washington made public the first of three famous notes on the
25878 _Lusitania_ case. It solemnly informed the German government that "no
25879 warning that an unlawful and inhumane act will be committed can possibly
25880 be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act or as an abatement
25881 of the responsibility for its commission." It called upon the German
25882 government to disavow the act, make reparation as far as possible, and
25883 take steps to prevent "the recurrence of anything so obviously
25884 subversive of the principles of warfare." The note closed with a clear
25885 caution to Germany that the government of the United States would not
25886 "omit any word or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred
25887 duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens and
25888 of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." The die was cast;
25889 but Germany in reply merely temporized.
25890
25891 In a second note, made public on June 11, the position of the United
25892 States was again affirmed. William Jennings Bryan, the Secretary of
25893 State, had resigned because the drift of President Wilson's policy was
25894 not toward mediation but the strict maintenance of American rights, if
25895 need be, by force of arms. The German reply was still evasive and German
25896 naval commanders continued their course of sinking merchant ships. In a
25897 third and final note of July 21, 1915, President Wilson made it clear to
25898 Germany that he meant what he said when he wrote that he would maintain
25899 the rights of American citizens. Finally after much discussion and
25900 shifting about, the German ambassador on September 1, 1915, sent a brief
25901 note to the Secretary of State: "Liners will not be sunk by our
25902 submarines without warning and without safety of the lives of
25903 non-combatants, provided the liners do not try to escape or offer
25904 resistance." Editorially, the New York _Times_ declared: "It is a
25905 triumph not only of diplomacy but of reason, of humanity, of justice,
25906 and of truth." The Secretary of State saw in it "a recognition of the
25907 fundamental principles for which we have contended."
25908
25909 =The Presidential Election of 1916.=--In the midst of this crisis came
25910 the presidential campaign. On the Republican side everything seemed to
25911 depend upon the action of the Progressives. If the breach created in
25912 1912 could be closed, victory was possible; if not, defeat was certain.
25913 A promise of unity lay in the fact that the conventions of the
25914 Republicans and Progressives were held simultaneously in Chicago. The
25915 friends of Roosevelt hoped that both parties would select him as their
25916 candidate; but this hope was not realized. The Republicans chose, and
25917 the Progressives accepted, Charles E. Hughes, an associate justice of
25918 the federal Supreme Court who, as governor of New York, had won a
25919 national reputation by waging war on "machine politicians."
25920
25921 In the face of the clamor for expressions of sympathy with one or the
25922 other of the contending powers of Europe, the Republicans chose a middle
25923 course, declaring that they would uphold all American rights "at home
25924 and abroad, by land and by sea." This sentiment Mr. Hughes echoed in his
25925 acceptance speech. By some it was interpreted to mean a firmer policy in
25926 dealing with Great Britain; by others, a more vigorous handling of the
25927 submarine menace. The Democrats, on their side, renominated President
25928 Wilson by acclamation, reviewed with pride the legislative achievements
25929 of the party, and commended "the splendid diplomatic victories of our
25930 great President who has preserved the vital interests of our government
25931 and its citizens and kept us out of war."
25932
25933 In the election which ensued President Wilson's popular vote exceeded
25934 that cast for Mr. Hughes by more than half a million, while his
25935 electoral vote stood 277 to 254. The result was regarded, and not
25936 without warrant, as a great personal triumph for the President. He had
25937 received the largest vote yet cast for a presidential candidate. The
25938 Progressive party practically disappeared, and the Socialists suffered a
25939 severe set-back, falling far behind the vote of 1912.
25940
25941 =President Wilson Urges Peace upon the Warring Nations.=--Apparently
25942 convinced that his pacific policies had been profoundly approved by his
25943 countrymen, President Wilson, soon after the election, addressed "peace
25944 notes" to the European belligerents. On December 16, the German Emperor
25945 proposed to the Allied Powers that they enter into peace negotiations, a
25946 suggestion that was treated as a mere political maneuver by the opposing
25947 governments. Two days later President Wilson sent a note to the warring
25948 nations asking them to avow "the terms upon which war might be
25949 concluded." To these notes the Central Powers replied that they were
25950 ready to meet their antagonists in a peace conference; and Allied Powers
25951 answered by presenting certain conditions precedent to a satisfactory
25952 settlement. On January 22, 1917, President Wilson in an address before
25953 the Senate, declared it to be a duty of the United States to take part
25954 in the establishment of a stable peace on the basis of certain
25955 principles. These were, in short: "peace without victory"; the right of
25956 nationalities to freedom and self-government; the independence of
25957 Poland; freedom of the seas; the reduction of armaments; and the
25958 abolition of entangling alliances. The whole world was discussing the
25959 President's remarkable message, when it was dumbfounded to hear, on
25960 January 31, that the German ambassador at Washington had announced the
25961 official renewal of ruthless submarine warfare.
25962
25963
25964 THE UNITED STATES AT WAR
25965
25966 =Steps toward War.=--Three days after the receipt of the news that the
25967 German government intended to return to its former submarine policy,
25968 President Wilson severed diplomatic relations with the German empire. At
25969 the same time he explained to Congress that he desired no conflict with
25970 Germany and would await an "overt act" before taking further steps to
25971 preserve American rights. "God grant," he concluded, "that we may not be
25972 challenged to defend them by acts of willful injustice on the part of
25973 the government of Germany." Yet the challenge came. Between February 26
25974 and April 2, six American merchant vessels were torpedoed, in most cases
25975 without any warning and without regard to the loss of American lives.
25976 President Wilson therefore called upon Congress to answer the German
25977 menace. The reply of Congress on April 6 was a resolution, passed with
25978 only a few dissenting votes, declaring the existence of a state of war
25979 with Germany. Austria-Hungary at once severed diplomatic relations with
25980 the United States; but it was not until December 7 that Congress, acting
25981 on the President's advice, declared war also on that "vassal of the
25982 German government."
25983
25984 =American War Aims.=--In many addresses at the beginning and during the
25985 course of the war, President Wilson stated the purposes which actuated
25986 our government in taking up arms. He first made it clear that it was a
25987 war of self-defense. "The military masters of Germany," he exclaimed,
25988 "denied us the right to be neutral." Proof of that lay on every hand.
25989 Agents of the German imperial government had destroyed American lives
25990 and American property on the high seas. They had filled our communities
25991 with spies. They had planted bombs in ships and munition works. They had
25992 fomented divisions among American citizens.
25993
25994 Though assailed in many ways and compelled to resort to war, the United
25995 States sought no material rewards. "The world must be made safe for
25996 democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of
25997 political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no
25998 conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves."
25999
26000 In a very remarkable message read to Congress on January 8, 1918,
26001 President Wilson laid down his famous "fourteen points" summarizing the
26002 ideals for which we were fighting. They included open treaties of peace,
26003 openly arrived at; absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas; the
26004 removal, as far as possible, of trade barriers among nations; reduction
26005 of armaments; adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the
26006 populations concerned; fair and friendly treatment of Russia; the
26007 restoration of Belgium; righting the wrong done to France in 1871 in the
26008 matter of Alsace-Lorraine; adjustment of Italian frontiers along the
26009 lines of nationality; more liberty for the peoples of Austria-Hungary;
26010 the restoration of Serbia and Rumania; the readjustment of the Turkish
26011 Empire; an independent Poland; and an association of nations to afford
26012 mutual guarantees to all states great and small. On a later occasion
26013 President Wilson elaborated the last point, namely, the formation of a
26014 league of nations to guarantee peace and establish justice among the
26015 powers of the world. Democracy, the right of nations to determine their
26016 own fate, a covenant of enduring peace--these were the ideals for which
26017 the American people were to pour out their blood and treasure.
26018
26019 =The Selective Draft.=--The World War became a war of nations. The
26020 powers against which we were arrayed had every able-bodied man in
26021 service and all their resources, human and material, thrown into the
26022 scale. For this reason, President Wilson summoned the whole people of
26023 the United States to make every sacrifice necessary for victory.
26024 Congress by law decreed that the national army should be chosen from all
26025 male citizens and males not enemy aliens who had declared their
26026 intention of becoming citizens. By the first act of May 18, 1917, it
26027 fixed the age limits at twenty-one to thirty-one inclusive. Later, in
26028 August, 1918, it extended them to eighteen and forty-five. From the men
26029 of the first group so enrolled were chosen by lot the soldiers for the
26030 World War who, with the regular army and the national guard, formed the
26031 American Expeditionary Force upholding the American cause on the
26032 battlefields of Europe. "The whole nation," said the President, "must be
26033 a team in which each man shall play the part for which he is best
26034 fitted."
26035
26036 =Liberty Loans and Taxes.=--In order that the military and naval forces
26037 should be stinted in no respect, the nation was called upon to place its
26038 financial resources at the service of the government. Some urged the
26039 "conscription of wealth as well as men," meaning the support of the war
26040 out of taxes upon great fortunes; but more conservative counsels
26041 prevailed. Four great Liberty Loans were floated, all the agencies of
26042 modern publicity being employed to enlist popular interest. The first
26043 loan had four and a half million subscribers; the fourth more than
26044 twenty million. Combined with loans were heavy taxes. A progressive tax
26045 was laid upon incomes beginning with four per cent on incomes in the
26046 lower ranges and rising to sixty-three per cent of that part of any
26047 income above $2,000,000. A progressive tax was levied upon inheritances.
26048 An excess profits tax was laid upon all corporations and partnerships,
26049 rising in amount to sixty per cent of the net income in excess of
26050 thirty-three per cent on the invested capital. "This," said a
26051 distinguished economist, "is the high-water mark in the history of
26052 taxation. Never before in the annals of civilization has an attempt been
26053 made to take as much as two-thirds of a man's income by taxation."
26054
26055 =Mobilizing Material Resources.=--No stone was left unturned to provide
26056 the arms, munitions, supplies, and transportation required in the
26057 gigantic undertaking. Between the declaration of war and the armistice,
26058 Congress enacted law after law relative to food supplies, raw materials,
26059 railways, mines, ships, forests, and industrial enterprises. No power
26060 over the lives and property of citizens, deemed necessary to the
26061 prosecution of the armed conflict, was withheld from the government. The
26062 farmer's wheat, the housewife's sugar, coal at the mines, labor in the
26063 factories, ships at the wharves, trade with friendly countries, the
26064 railways, banks, stores, private fortunes--all were mobilized and laid
26065 under whatever obligations the government deemed imperative. Never was a
26066 nation more completely devoted to a single cause.
26067
26068 A law of August 10, 1917, gave the President power to fix the prices of
26069 wheat and coal and to take almost any steps necessary to prevent
26070 monopoly and excessive prices. By a series of measures, enlarging the
26071 principles of the shipping act of 1916, ships and shipyards were brought
26072 under public control and the government was empowered to embark upon a
26073 great ship-building program. In December, 1917, the government assumed
26074 for the period of the war the operation of the railways under a
26075 presidential proclamation which was elaborated in March, 1918, by act of
26076 Congress. In the summer of 1918 the express, telephone, and telegraph
26077 business of the entire country passed under government control. By war
26078 risk insurance acts allowances were made for the families of enlisted
26079 men, compensation for injuries was provided, death benefits were
26080 instituted, and a system of national insurance was established in the
26081 interest of the men in service. Never before in the history of the
26082 country had the government taken such a wise and humane view of its
26083 obligations to those who served on the field of battle or on the seas.
26084
26085 =The Espionage and Sedition Acts.=--By the Espionage law of June 15,
26086 1917, and the amending law, known as the Sedition act, passed in May of
26087 the following year, the government was given a drastic power over the
26088 expression of opinion. The first measure penalized those who conveyed
26089 information to a foreign country to be used to the injury of the United
26090 States; those who made false statements designed to interfere with the
26091 military or naval forces of the United States; those who attempted to
26092 stir up insubordination or disloyalty in the army and navy; and those
26093 who willfully obstructed enlistment. The Sedition act was still more
26094 severe and sweeping in its terms. It imposed heavy penalties upon any
26095 person who used "abusive language about the government or institutions
26096 of the country." It authorized the dismissal of any officer of the
26097 government who committed "disloyal acts" or uttered "disloyal language,"
26098 and empowered the Postmaster General to close the mails to persons
26099 violating the law. This measure, prepared by the Department of Justice,
26100 encountered vigorous opposition in the Senate, where twenty-four
26101 Republicans and two Democrats voted against it. Senator Johnson of
26102 California denounced it as a law "to suppress the freedom of the press
26103 in the United States and to prevent any man, no matter who he is, from
26104 expressing legitimate criticism concerning the present government." The
26105 constitutionality of the acts was attacked; but they were sustained by
26106 the Supreme Court and stringently enforced.
26107
26108 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
26109
26110 THE LAUNCHING OF A SHIP AT THE GREAT NAVAL YARDS, NEWARK, N.J.]
26111
26112 =Labor and the War.=--In view of the restlessness of European labor
26113 during the war and especially the proletarian revolution in Russia in
26114 November, 1917, some anxiety was early expressed as to the stand which
26115 organized labor might take in the United States. It was, however, soon
26116 dispelled. Samuel Gompers, speaking for the American Federation of
26117 Labor, declared that "this is labor's war," and pledged the united
26118 support of all the unions. There was some dissent. The Socialist party
26119 denounced the war as a capitalist quarrel; but all the protests combined
26120 were too slight to have much effect. American labor leaders were sent to
26121 Europe to strengthen the wavering ranks of trade unionists in war-worn
26122 England, France, and Italy. Labor was given representation on the
26123 important boards and commissions dealing with industrial questions.
26124 Trade union standards were accepted by the government and generally
26125 applied in industry. The Department of Labor became one of the powerful
26126 war centers of the nation. In a memorable address to the American
26127 Federation of Labor, President Wilson assured the trade unionists that
26128 labor conditions should not be made unduly onerous by the war and
26129 received in return a pledge of loyalty from the Federation. Recognition
26130 of labor's contribution to winning the war was embodied in the treaty of
26131 peace, which provided for a permanent international organization to
26132 promote the world-wide effort of labor to improve social conditions.
26133 "The league of nations has for its object the establishment of universal
26134 peace," runs the preamble to the labor section of the treaty, "and such
26135 a peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice....
26136 The failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labor is an
26137 obstacle in the way of other nations which desire to improve the
26138 conditions in their own countries."
26139
26140 =The American Navy in the War.=--As soon as Congress declared war the
26141 fleet was mobilized, American ports were thrown open to the warships of
26142 the Allies, immediate provision was made for increasing the number of
26143 men and ships, and a contingent of war vessels was sent to cooperate
26144 with the British and French in their life-and-death contest with
26145 submarines. Special effort was made to stimulate the production of
26146 "submarine chasers" and "scout cruisers" to be sent to the danger zone.
26147 Convoys were provided to accompany the transports conveying soldiers to
26148 France. Before the end of the war more than three hundred American
26149 vessels and 75,000 officers and men were operating in European waters.
26150 Though the German fleet failed to come out and challenge the sea power
26151 of the Allies, the battleships of the United States were always ready to
26152 do their full duty in such an event. As things turned out, the service
26153 of the American navy was limited mainly to helping in the campaign that
26154 wore down the submarine menace to Allied shipping.
26155
26156 =The War in France.=--Owing to the peculiar character of the warfare in
26157 France, it required a longer time for American military forces to get
26158 into action; but there was no unnecessary delay. Soon after the
26159 declaration of war, steps were taken to give military assistance to the
26160 Allies. The regular army was enlarged and the troops of the national
26161 guard were brought into national service. On June 13, General John J.
26162 Pershing, chosen head of the American Expeditionary Forces, reached
26163 Paris and began preparations for the arrival of our troops. In June, the
26164 vanguard of the army reached France. A slow and steady stream followed.
26165 As soon as the men enrolled under the draft were ready, it became a
26166 flood. During the period of the war the army was enlarged from about
26167 190,000 men to 3,665,000, of whom more than 2,000,000 were in France
26168 when the armistice was signed.
26169
26170 Although American troops did not take part on a large scale until the
26171 last phase of the war in 1918, several battalions of infantry were in
26172 the trenches by October, 1917, and had their first severe encounter with
26173 the Germans early in November. In January, 1918, they took over a part
26174 of the front line as an American sector. In March, General Pershing
26175 placed our forces at the disposal of General Foch, commander-in-chief of
26176 the Allied armies. The first division, which entered the Montdidier
26177 salient in April, soon was engaged with the enemy, "taking with splendid
26178 dash the town of Cantigny and all other objectives, which were organized
26179 and held steadfastly against vicious counter attacks and galling
26180 artillery fire."
26181
26182 [Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
26183
26184 TROOPS RETURNING FROM FRANCE]
26185
26186 When the Germans launched their grand drives toward the Marne and Paris,
26187 in June and July, 1918, every available man was placed at General Foch's
26188 command. At Belleau Wood, at Chateau-Thierry, and other points along the
26189 deep salient made by the Germans into the French lines, American
26190 soldiers distinguished themselves by heroic action. They also played an
26191 important role in the counter attack that "smashed" the salient and
26192 drove the Germans back.
26193
26194 In September, American troops, with French aid, "wiped out" the German
26195 salient at St. Mihiel. By this time General Pershing was ready for the
26196 great American drive to the northeast in the Argonne forest, while he
26197 also cooperated with the British in the assault on the Hindenburg line.
26198 In the Meuse-Argonne battle, our soldiers encountered some of the most
26199 severe fighting of the war and pressed forward steadily against the most
26200 stubborn resistance from the enemy. On the 6th of November, reported
26201 General Pershing, "a division of the first corps reached a point on the
26202 Meuse opposite Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of departure. The
26203 strategical goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the
26204 enemy's main line of communications and nothing but a surrender or an
26205 armistice could save his army from complete disaster." Five days later
26206 the end came. On the morning of November 11, the order to cease firing
26207 went into effect. The German army was in rapid retreat and
26208 demoralization had begun. The Kaiser had abdicated and fled into
26209 Holland. The Hohenzollern dreams of empire were shattered. In the
26210 fifty-second month, the World War, involving nearly every civilized
26211 nation on the globe, was brought to a close. More than 75,000 American
26212 soldiers and sailors had given their lives. More than 250,000 had been
26213 wounded or were missing or in German prison camps.
26214
26215 [Illustration: WESTERN BATTLE LINES OF THE VARIOUS YEARS OF THE
26216 WORLD WAR]
26217
26218
26219 THE SETTLEMENT AT PARIS
26220
26221 =The Peace Conference.=--On January 18, 1919, a conference of the Allied
26222 and Associated Powers assembled to pronounce judgment upon the German
26223 empire and its defeated satellites: Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and
26224 Turkey. It was a moving spectacle. Seventy-two delegates spoke for
26225 thirty-two states. The United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and
26226 Japan had five delegates each. Belgium, Brazil, and Serbia were each
26227 assigned three. Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, China, Greece,
26228 Hedjaz, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Siam, and Czechoslovakia were
26229 allotted two apiece. The remaining states of New Zealand, Bolivia, Cuba,
26230 Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,
26231 and Uruguay each had one delegate. President Wilson spoke in person for
26232 the United States. England, France, and Italy were represented by their
26233 premiers: David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Vittorio Orlando.
26234
26235 [Illustration: PREMIERS LLOYD GEORGE, ORLANDO AND CLEMENCEAU AND
26236 PRESIDENT WILSON AT PARIS]
26237
26238 =The Supreme Council.=--The real work of the settlement was first
26239 committed to a Supreme Council of ten representing the United States,
26240 Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. This was later reduced to five
26241 members. Then Japan dropped out and finally Italy, leaving only
26242 President Wilson and the Premiers, Lloyd George and Clemenceau, the
26243 "Big Three," who assumed the burden of mighty decisions. On May 6, their
26244 work was completed and in a secret session of the full conference the
26245 whole treaty of peace was approved, though a few of the powers made
26246 reservations or objections. The next day the treaty was presented to the
26247 Germans who, after prolonged protests, signed on the last day of grace,
26248 June 28. This German treaty was followed by agreements with Austria,
26249 Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Collectively these great documents formed
26250 the legal basis of the general European settlement.
26251
26252 =The Terms of the Settlement.=--The combined treaties make a huge
26253 volume. The German treaty alone embraces about 80,000 words.
26254 Collectively they cover an immense range of subjects which may be
26255 summarized under five heads: (1) The territorial settlement in Europe;
26256 (2) the destruction of German military power; (3) reparations for
26257 damages done by Germany and her allies; (4) the disposition of German
26258 colonies and protectorates; and (5) the League of Nations.
26259
26260 Germany was reduced by the cession of Alsace-Lorraine to France and the
26261 loss of several other provinces. Austria-Hungary was dissolved and
26262 dismembered. Russia was reduced by the creation of new states on the
26263 west. Bulgaria was stripped of her gains in the recent Balkan wars.
26264 Turkey was dismembered. Nine new independent states were created:
26265 Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Esthonia, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia,
26266 Armenia, and Hedjaz. Italy, Greece, Rumania, and Serbia were enlarged by
26267 cessions of territory and Serbia was transformed into the great state of
26268 Jugoslavia.
26269
26270 The destruction of German military power was thorough. The entire navy,
26271 with minor exceptions, was turned over to the Allied and Associated
26272 Powers; Germany's total equipment for the future was limited to six
26273 battleships and six light cruisers, with certain small vessels but no
26274 submarines. The number of enlisted men and officers for the army was
26275 fixed at not more than 100,000; the General Staff was dissolved; and the
26276 manufacture of munitions restricted.
26277
26278 Germany was compelled to accept full responsibility for all damages; to
26279 pay five billion dollars in cash and goods, and to make certain other
26280 payments which might be ordered from time to time by an inter-allied
26281 reparations commission. She was also required to deliver to Belgium,
26282 France, and Italy, millions of tons of coal every year for ten years;
26283 while by way of additional compensation to France the rich coal basin of
26284 the Saar was placed under inter-allied control to be exploited under
26285 French administration for a period of at least fifteen years. Austria
26286 and the other associates of Germany were also laid under heavy
26287 obligations to the victors. Damages done to shipping by submarines and
26288 other vessels were to be paid for on the basis of ton for ton.
26289
26290 The disposition of the German colonies and the old Ottoman empire
26291 presented knotty problems. It was finally agreed that the German
26292 colonies and Turkish provinces which were in a backward stage of
26293 development should be placed under the tutelage of certain powers acting
26294 as "mandatories" holding them in "a sacred trust of civilization." An
26295 exception to the mandatory principle arose in the case of German rights
26296 in Shantung, all of which were transferred directly to Japan. It was
26297 this arrangement that led the Chinese delegation to withhold their
26298 signatures from the treaty.
26299
26300 =The League of Nations.=--High among the purposes which he had in mind
26301 in summoning the nation to arms, President Wilson placed the desire to
26302 put an end to war. All through the United States the people spoke of the
26303 "war to end war." No slogan called forth a deeper response from the
26304 public. The President himself repeatedly declared that a general
26305 association of nations must be formed to guard the peace and protect all
26306 against the ambitions of the few. "As I see it," he said in his address
26307 on opening the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign, "the constitution of the
26308 League of Nations and the clear definition of its objects must be a
26309 part, in a sense the most essential part, of the peace settlement
26310 itself."
26311
26312 Nothing was more natural, therefore, than Wilson's insistence at Paris
26313 upon the formation of an international association. Indeed he had gone
26314 to Europe in person largely to accomplish that end. Part One of the
26315 treaty with Germany, the Covenant of the League of Nations, was due to
26316 his labors more than to any other influence. Within the League thus
26317 created were to be embraced all the Allied and Associated Powers and
26318 nearly all the neutrals. By a two-thirds vote of the League Assembly the
26319 excluded nations might be admitted.
26320
26321 The agencies of the League of Nations were to be three in number: (1) a
26322 permanent secretariat located at Geneva; (2) an Assembly consisting of
26323 one delegate from each country, dominion, or self-governing colony
26324 (including Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and India); (3)
26325 and a Council consisting of representatives of the United States, Great
26326 Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, and four other representatives
26327 selected by the Assembly from time to time.
26328
26329 The duties imposed on the League and the obligations accepted by its
26330 members were numerous and important. The Council was to take steps to
26331 formulate a scheme for the reduction of armaments and to submit a plan
26332 for the establishment of a permanent Court of International Justice. The
26333 members of the League (Article X) were to respect and preserve as
26334 against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing
26335 political independence of all the associated nations. They were to
26336 submit to arbitration or inquiry by the Council all disputes which could
26337 not be adjusted by diplomacy and in no case to resort to war until three
26338 months after the award. Should any member disregard its covenants, its
26339 action would be considered an act of war against the League, which would
26340 accordingly cut off the trade and business of the hostile member and
26341 recommend through the Council to the several associated governments the
26342 military measures to be taken. In case the decision in any arbitration
26343 of a dispute was unanimous, the members of the League affected by it
26344 were to abide by it.
26345
26346 Such was the settlement at Paris and such was the association of nations
26347 formed to promote the peace of the world. They were quickly approved by
26348 most of the powers, and the first Assembly of the League of Nations met
26349 at Geneva late in 1920.
26350
26351 =The Treaty in the United States.=--When the treaty was presented to the
26352 United States Senate for approval, a violent opposition appeared. In
26353 that chamber the Republicans had a slight majority and a two-thirds vote
26354 was necessary for ratification. The sentiment for and against the treaty
26355 ran mainly along party lines; but the Republicans were themselves
26356 divided. The major portion, known as "reservationists," favored
26357 ratification with certain conditions respecting American rights; while a
26358 small though active minority rejected the League of Nations in its
26359 entirety, announcing themselves to be "irreconcilables." The grounds of
26360 this Republican opposition lay partly in the terms of peace imposed on
26361 Germany and partly in the Covenant of the League of Nations. Exception
26362 was taken to the clauses which affected the rights of American citizens
26363 in property involved in the adjustment with Germany, but the burden of
26364 criticism was directed against the League. Article X guaranteeing
26365 against external aggression the political independence and territorial
26366 integrity of the members of the League was subjected to a specially
26367 heavy fire; while the treatment accorded to China and the sections
26368 affecting American internal affairs were likewise attacked as "unjust
26369 and dangerous." As an outcome of their deliberations, the Republicans
26370 proposed a long list of reservations which touched upon many of the
26371 vital parts of the treaty. These were rejected by President Wilson as
26372 amounting in effect to a "nullification of the treaty." As a deadlock
26373 ensued the treaty was definitely rejected, owing to the failure of its
26374 sponsors to secure the requisite two-thirds vote.
26375
26376 [Illustration: EUROPE]
26377
26378 =The League of Nations in the Campaign of 1920.=--At this juncture the
26379 presidential campaign of 1920 opened. The Republicans, while condemning
26380 the terms of the proposed League, endorsed the general idea of an
26381 international agreement to prevent war. Their candidate, Senator
26382 Warren G. Harding of Ohio, maintained a similar position without saying
26383 definitely whether the League devised at Paris could be recast in such a
26384 manner as to meet his requirements. The Democrats, on the other hand,
26385 while not opposing limitations clarifying the obligations of the United
26386 States, demanded "the immediate ratification of the treaty without
26387 reservations which would impair its essential integrity." The Democratic
26388 candidate, Governor James M. Cox, of Ohio, announced his firm conviction
26389 that the United States should "go into the League," without closing the
26390 door to mild reservations; he appealed to the country largely on that
26391 issue. The election of Senator Harding, in an extraordinary "landslide,"
26392 coupled with the return of a majority of Republicans to the Senate, made
26393 uncertain American participation in the League of Nations.
26394
26395 =The United States and International Entanglements.=--Whether America
26396 entered the League or not, it could not close its doors to the world and
26397 escape perplexing international complications. It had ever-increasing
26398 financial and commercial connections with all other countries. Our
26399 associates in the recent war were heavily indebted to our government.
26400 The prosperity of American industries depended to a considerable extent
26401 upon the recovery of the impoverished and battle-torn countries of
26402 Europe.
26403
26404 There were other complications no less specific. The United States was
26405 compelled by force of circumstances to adopt a Russian policy. The
26406 government of the Czar had been overthrown by a liberal revolution,
26407 which in turn had been succeeded by an extreme, communist
26408 "dictatorship." The Bolsheviki, or majority faction of the socialists,
26409 had obtained control of the national council of peasants, workingmen,
26410 and soldiers, called the soviet, and inaugurated a radical regime. They
26411 had made peace with Germany in March, 1918. Thereupon the United States
26412 joined England, France, and Japan in an unofficial war upon them. After
26413 the general settlement at Paris in 1919, our government, while
26414 withdrawing troops from Siberia and Archangel, continued in its refusal
26415 to recognize the Bolshevists or to permit unhampered trade with them.
26416 President Wilson repeatedly denounced them as the enemies of
26417 civilization and undertook to lay down for all countries the principles
26418 which should govern intercourse with Russia.
26419
26420 Further international complications were created in connection with the
26421 World War, wholly apart from the terms of peace or the League of
26422 Nations. The United States had participated in a general European
26423 conflict which changed the boundaries of countries, called into being
26424 new nations, and reduced the power and territories of the vanquished.
26425 Accordingly, it was bound to face the problem of how far it was prepared
26426 to cooperate with the victors in any settlement of Europe's
26427 difficulties. By no conceivable process, therefore, could America be
26428 disentangled from the web of world affairs. Isolation, if desirable, had
26429 become impossible. Within three hundred years from the founding of the
26430 tiny settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth, America, by virtue of its
26431 institutions, its population, its wealth, and its commerce, had become
26432 first among the nations of the earth. By moral obligations and by
26433 practical interests its fate was thus linked with the destiny of all
26434 mankind.
26435
26436
26437 SUMMARY OF DEMOCRACY AND THE WORLD WAR
26438
26439 The astounding industrial progress that characterized the period
26440 following the Civil War bequeathed to the new generation many perplexing
26441 problems connected with the growth of trusts and railways, the
26442 accumulation of great fortunes, the increase of poverty in the
26443 industrial cities, the exhaustion of the free land, and the acquisition
26444 of dominions in distant seas. As long as there was an abundance of land
26445 in the West any able-bodied man with initiative and industry could
26446 become an independent farmer. People from the cities and immigrants from
26447 Europe had always before them that gateway to property and prosperity.
26448 When the land was all gone, American economic conditions inevitably
26449 became more like those of Europe.
26450
26451 Though the new economic questions had been vigorously debated in many
26452 circles before his day, it was President Roosevelt who first discussed
26453 them continuously from the White House. The natural resources of the
26454 country were being exhausted; he advocated their conservation. Huge
26455 fortunes were being made in business creating inequalities in
26456 opportunity; he favored reducing them by income and inheritance taxes.
26457 Industries were disturbed by strikes; he pressed arbitration upon
26458 capital and labor. The free land was gone; he declared that labor was in
26459 a less favorable position to bargain with capital and therefore should
26460 organize in unions for collective bargaining. There had been wrong-doing
26461 on the part of certain great trusts; those responsible should be
26462 punished.
26463
26464 The spirit of reform was abroad in the land. The spoils system was
26465 attacked. It was alleged that the political parties were dominated by
26466 "rings and bosses." The United States Senate was called "a millionaires'
26467 club." Poverty and misery were observed in the cities. State
26468 legislatures and city governments were accused of corruption.
26469
26470 In answer to the charges, remedies were proposed and adopted. Civil
26471 service reform was approved. The Australian ballot, popular election of
26472 Senators, the initiative, referendum, and recall, commission and city
26473 manager plans for cities, public regulation of railways, compensation
26474 for those injured in industries, minimum wages for women and children,
26475 pensions for widows, the control of housing in the cities--these and a
26476 hundred other reforms were adopted and tried out. The national watchword
26477 became: "America, Improve Thyself."
26478
26479 The spirit of reform broke into both political parties. It appeared in
26480 many statutes enacted by Congress under President Taft's leadership. It
26481 disrupted the Republicans temporarily in 1912 when the Progressive party
26482 entered the field. It led the Democratic candidate in that year,
26483 Governor Wilson, to make a "progressive appeal" to the voters. It
26484 inspired a considerable program of national legislation under President
26485 Wilson's two administrations.
26486
26487 In the age of change, four important amendments to the federal
26488 constitution, the first in more than forty years, were adopted. The
26489 sixteenth empowered Congress to lay an income tax. The seventeenth
26490 assured popular election of Senators. The eighteenth made prohibition
26491 national. The nineteenth, following upon the adoption of woman suffrage
26492 in many states, enfranchised the women of the nation.
26493
26494 In the sphere of industry, equally great changes took place. The major
26495 portion of the nation's business passed into the hands of corporations.
26496 In all the leading industries of the country labor was organized into
26497 trade unions and federated in a national organization. The power of
26498 organized capital and organized labor loomed upon the horizon. Their
26499 struggles, their rights, and their place in the economy of the nation
26500 raised problems of the first magnitude.
26501
26502 While the country was engaged in a heated debate upon its domestic
26503 issues, the World War broke out in Europe in 1914. As a hundred years
26504 before, American rights upon the high seas became involved at once. They
26505 were invaded on both sides; but Germany, in addition to assailing
26506 American ships and property, ruthlessly destroyed American lives. She
26507 set at naught the rules of civilized warfare upon the sea. Warnings from
26508 President Wilson were without avail. Nothing could stay the hand of the
26509 German war party.
26510
26511 After long and patient negotiations, President Wilson in 1917 called
26512 upon the nation to take up arms against an assailant that had in effect
26513 declared war upon America. The answer was swift and firm. The national
26514 resources, human and material, were mobilized. The navy was enlarged, a
26515 draft army created, huge loans floated, heavy taxes laid, and the spirit
26516 of sacrifice called forth in a titanic struggle against an autocratic
26517 power that threatened to dominate Europe and the World.
26518
26519 In the end, American financial, naval, and military assistance counted
26520 heavily in the scale. American sailors scoured the seas searching for
26521 the terrible submarines. American soldiers took part in the last great
26522 drives that broke the might of Germany's army. Such was the nation's
26523 response to the President's summons to arms in a war "for democracy" and
26524 "to end war."
26525
26526 When victory crowned the arms of the powers united against Germany,
26527 President Wilson in person took part in the peace council. He sought to
26528 redeem his pledge to end wars by forming a League of Nations to keep the
26529 peace. In the treaty drawn at the close of the war the first part was a
26530 covenant binding the nations in a permanent association for the
26531 settlement of international disputes. This treaty, the President offered
26532 to the United States Senate for ratification and to his country for
26533 approval.
26534
26535 Once again, as in the days of the Napoleonic wars, the people seriously
26536 discussed the place of America among the powers of the earth. The Senate
26537 refused to ratify the treaty. World politics then became an issue in the
26538 campaign of 1920. Though some Americans talked as if the United States
26539 could close its doors and windows against all mankind, the victor in the
26540 election, Senator Harding, of Ohio, knew better. The election returns
26541 were hardly announced before he began to ask the advice of his
26542 countrymen on the pressing theme that would not be downed: "What part
26543 shall America--first among the nations of the earth in wealth and
26544 power--assume at the council table of the world?"
26545
26546
26547 =General References=
26548
26549 Woodrow Wilson, _The New Freedom_.
26550
26551 C.L. Jones, _The Caribbean Interests of the United States_.
26552
26553 H.P. Willis, _The Federal Reserve_.
26554
26555 C.W. Barron, _The Mexican Problem_ (critical toward Mexico).
26556
26557 L.J. de Bekker, _The Plot against Mexico_ (against American
26558 intervention).
26559
26560 Theodore Roosevelt, _America and the World War_.
26561
26562 E.E. Robinson and V.J. West, _The Foreign Policy of Woodrow Wilson_.
26563
26564 J.S. Bassett, _Our War with Germany_.
26565
26566 Carlton J.H. Hayes, _A Brief History of the Great War_.
26567
26568 J.B. McMaster, _The United States in the World War_.
26569
26570
26571 =Research Topics=
26572
26573 =President Wilson's First Term.=--Elson, _History of the United States_,
26574 pp. 925-941.
26575
26576 =The Underwood Tariff Act.=--Ogg, _National Progress_ (The American
26577 Nation Series), pp. 209-226.
26578
26579 =The Federal Reserve System.=--Ogg, pp. 228-232.
26580
26581 =Trust and Labor Legislation.=--Ogg, pp. 232-236.
26582
26583 =Legislation Respecting the Territories.=--Ogg, pp. 236-245.
26584
26585 =American Interests in the Caribbean.=--Ogg, pp. 246-265.
26586
26587 =American Interests in the Pacific.=--Ogg, pp. 304-324.
26588
26589 =Mexican Affairs.=--Haworth, pp. 388-395; Ogg, pp. 284-304.
26590
26591 =The First Phases of the European War.=--Haworth, pp. 395-412; Ogg, pp.
26592 325-343.
26593
26594 =The Campaign of 1916.=--Haworth, pp. 412-418; Ogg, pp. 364-383.
26595
26596 =America Enters the War.=--Haworth, pp. 422-440; pp. 454-475. Ogg, pp.
26597 384-399; Elson, pp. 951-970.
26598
26599 =Mobilizing the Nation.=--Haworth, pp. 441-453.
26600
26601 =The Peace Settlement.=--Haworth, pp. 475-497; Elson, pp. 971-982.
26602
26603
26604 =Questions=
26605
26606 1. Enumerate the chief financial measures of the Wilson administration.
26607 Review the history of banks and currency and give the details of the
26608 Federal reserve law.
26609
26610 2. What was the Wilson policy toward trusts? Toward labor?
26611
26612 3. Review again the theory of states' rights. How has it fared in recent
26613 years?
26614
26615 4. What steps were taken in colonial policies? In the Caribbean?
26616
26617 5. Outline American-Mexican relations under Wilson.
26618
26619 6. How did the World War break out in Europe?
26620
26621 7. Account for the divided state of opinion in America.
26622
26623 8. Review the events leading up to the War of 1812. Compare them with
26624 the events from 1914 to 1917.
26625
26626 9. State the leading principles of international law involved and show
26627 how they were violated.
26628
26629 10. What American rights were assailed in the submarine campaign?
26630
26631 11. Give Wilson's position on the _Lusitania_ affair.
26632
26633 12. How did the World War affect the presidential campaign of 1916?
26634
26635 13. How did Germany finally drive the United States into war?
26636
26637 14. State the American war aims given by the President.
26638
26639 15. Enumerate the measures taken by the government to win the war.
26640
26641 16. Review the part of the navy in the war. The army.
26642
26643 17. How were the terms of peace formulated?
26644
26645 18. Enumerate the principal results of the war.
26646
26647 19. Describe the League of Nations.
26648
26649 20. Trace the fate of the treaty in American politics.
26650
26651 21. Can there be a policy of isolation for America?
26652
26653
26654
26655
26656 APPENDIX
26657
26658 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
26659
26660
26661 We the people of the United States, in order to form a more
26662 perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide
26663 for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the
26664 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
26665 establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
26666
26667
26668 ARTICLE I
26669
26670 SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a
26671 Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House
26672 of Representatives.
26673
26674
26675 SECTION 2. 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members
26676 chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the
26677 electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for
26678 electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.
26679
26680 2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to
26681 the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the
26682 United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that
26683 State in which he shall be chosen.
26684
26685 3. Representatives and direct taxes[3] shall be apportioned among the
26686 several States which may be included within this Union, according to
26687 their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
26688 whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a
26689 term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all
26690 other persons.[3] The actual enumeration shall be made within three
26691 years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and
26692 within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall
26693 by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for
26694 every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one
26695 representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of
26696 New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight,
26697 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York
26698 six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six,
26699 Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia
26700 three.
26701
26702 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the
26703 executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such
26704 vacancies.
26705
26706 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other
26707 officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
26708
26709
26710 SECTION 3. 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
26711 senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six
26712 years; and each senator shall have one vote.[4]
26713
26714 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first
26715 election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes.
26716 The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the
26717 expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of
26718 the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth
26719 year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if
26720 vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the
26721 legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary
26722 appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then
26723 fill such vacancies.[5]
26724
26725 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age
26726 of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and
26727 who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he
26728 shall be chosen.
26729
26730 4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the
26731 Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
26732
26733 5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President
26734 _pro tempore_, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall
26735 exercise the office of President of the United States.
26736
26737 6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When
26738 sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the
26739 President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall
26740 preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of
26741 two-thirds of the members present.
26742
26743 7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to
26744 removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office
26745 of honor, trust, or profit under the United States: but the party
26746 convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial,
26747 judgment, and punishment, according to law.
26748
26749
26750 SECTION 4. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for
26751 senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the
26752 legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or
26753 alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.
26754
26755 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
26756 meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by
26757 law appoint a different day.
26758
26759
26760 SECTION 5. 1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns
26761 and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall
26762 constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn
26763 from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of
26764 absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House
26765 may provide.
26766
26767 2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
26768 members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of
26769 two-thirds, expel a member.
26770
26771 3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to
26772 time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment
26773 require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on
26774 any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be
26775 entered on the journal.
26776
26777 4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the
26778 consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other
26779 place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
26780
26781
26782 SECTION 6. 1. The senators and representatives shall receive a
26783 compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out
26784 of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except
26785 treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest
26786 during their attendance at the sessions of their respective Houses, and
26787 in going to and returning from the same; and, for any speech or debate
26788 in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
26789
26790 2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was
26791 elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the
26792 United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof
26793 shall have been increased during such time; and no person, holding any
26794 office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during
26795 his continuance in office.
26796
26797
26798 SECTION 7. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House
26799 of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments
26800 as on other bills.
26801
26802 2. Every bill, which shall have passed the House of Representatives; and
26803 the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President
26804 of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he
26805 shall return it with his objections to that House, in which it shall
26806 have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their
26807 journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration
26808 two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent,
26809 together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall
26810 likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House,
26811 it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses
26812 shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons
26813 voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each
26814 House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President
26815 within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to
26816 him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it,
26817 unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which
26818 case it shall not be a law.
26819
26820 3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the
26821 Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a
26822 question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the
26823 United States and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved
26824 by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of
26825 the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and
26826 limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
26827
26828
26829 SECTION 8. The Congress shall have power: 1. To lay and collect taxes,
26830 duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the
26831 common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties,
26832 imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
26833
26834 2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
26835
26836 3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
26837 States, and with the Indian tribes;
26838
26839 4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on
26840 the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
26841
26842 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and
26843 fix the standard of weights and measures;
26844
26845 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and
26846 current coin of the United States;
26847
26848 7. To establish post offices and post roads;
26849
26850 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for
26851 limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
26852 respective writings and discoveries;
26853
26854 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
26855
26856 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high
26857 seas, and offences against the law of nations;
26858
26859 11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
26860 concerning captures on land and water;
26861
26862 12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that
26863 use shall be for a longer term than two years;
26864
26865 13. To provide and maintain a navy;
26866
26867 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and
26868 naval forces;
26869
26870 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
26871 Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
26872
26873 16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia,
26874 and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service
26875 of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the
26876 appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia
26877 according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
26878
26879 17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such
26880 district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of
26881 particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the
26882 government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all
26883 places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which
26884 the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,
26885 dock-yards, and other needful buildings;--and
26886
26887 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
26888 into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
26889 Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any
26890 department or officer thereof.
26891
26892
26893 SECTION 9. 1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the
26894 States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited
26895 by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight,
26896 but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten
26897 dollars for each person.
26898
26899 2. The privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be suspended,
26900 unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
26901 require it.
26902
26903 3. No bill of attainder or _ex post facto_ law shall be passed.
26904
26905 4. No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in
26906 proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be
26907 taken.[6]
26908
26909 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.
26910
26911 6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue
26912 to the ports of one State over those of another: nor shall vessels bound
26913 to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in
26914 another.
26915
26916 7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of
26917 appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the
26918 receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from
26919 time to time.
26920
26921 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no
26922 person, holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without
26923 the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office,
26924 or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State.
26925
26926
26927 SECTION 10. 1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
26928 confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit
26929 bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
26930 payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or
26931 law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of
26932 nobility.
26933
26934 2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts
26935 or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
26936 for executing its inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and
26937 imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use
26938 of the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject
26939 to the revision and control of the Congress.
26940
26941 3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of
26942 tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any
26943 agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or
26944 engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as
26945 will not admit of delay.
26946
26947
26948 ARTICLE II
26949
26950 SECTION 1. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the
26951 United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of
26952 four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same
26953 term, be elected, as follows:
26954
26955 2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof
26956 may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators
26957 and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress;
26958 but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust
26959 or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.[7] The
26960 electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for
26961 two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same
26962 State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons
26963 voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall
26964 sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of
26965 the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The
26966 President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House
26967 of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then
26968 be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the
26969 President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors
26970 appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and
26971 have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall
26972 immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person
26973 have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House
26974 shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the
26975 President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from
26976 each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a
26977 member or members from two-thirds of the States and a majority of all
26978 the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the
26979 choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes
26980 of the electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain
26981 two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by
26982 ballot the Vice-President.[8]
26983
26984 3. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the
26985 day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same
26986 throughout the United States.
26987
26988 4. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
26989 States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be
26990 eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be
26991 eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of
26992 thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United
26993 States.
26994
26995 5. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death,
26996 resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said
26997 office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress
26998 may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or
26999 inability both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what
27000 officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act
27001 accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be
27002 elected.
27003
27004 6. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
27005 compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the
27006 period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive
27007 within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of
27008 them.
27009
27010 7. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the
27011 following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I
27012 will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,
27013 and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the
27014 Constitution of the United States."
27015
27016
27017 SECTION 2. 1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and
27018 navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States,
27019 when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require
27020 the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the
27021 executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their
27022 respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and
27023 pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of
27024 impeachment.
27025
27026 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the
27027 Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present
27028 concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of
27029 the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and
27030 consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the
27031 United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for,
27032 and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest
27033 the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the
27034 President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
27035
27036 3. The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen
27037 during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall
27038 expire at the end of their next session.
27039
27040
27041 SECTION 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information
27042 on the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such
27043 measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on
27044 extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in
27045 case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of
27046 adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper;
27047 he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take
27048 care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
27049 officers of the United States.
27050
27051
27052 SECTION 4. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the
27053 United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and
27054 conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
27055
27056
27057 ARTICLE III
27058
27059 SECTION 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in
27060 one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from
27061 time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and
27062 inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and
27063 shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which
27064 shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
27065
27066
27067 SECTION 2. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and
27068 equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States,
27069 and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to
27070 all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to
27071 all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to
27072 which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two
27073 or more States;--between a State and citizens of another
27074 State;[9]--between citizens of different States;--between citizens of
27075 the same State claiming lands under grants of different States;--and
27076 between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens,
27077 or subjects.
27078
27079 2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
27080 consuls and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court
27081 shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before
27082 mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as
27083 to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the
27084 Congress shall make.
27085
27086 3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by
27087 jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes
27088 shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the
27089 trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have
27090 directed.
27091
27092
27093 SECTION 3. 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in
27094 levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them
27095 aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
27096 testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in
27097 open court.
27098
27099 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason,
27100 but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture
27101 except during the life of the person attainted.
27102
27103
27104 ARTICLE IV
27105
27106 SECTION 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the
27107 public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And
27108 the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such
27109 acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
27110
27111
27112 SECTION 2. 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
27113 privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
27114
27115 2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime,
27116 who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on
27117 demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be
27118 delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the
27119 crime.
27120
27121 3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
27122 thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
27123 regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall
27124 be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may
27125 be due.
27126
27127
27128 SECTION 3. 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this
27129 Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the
27130 jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction
27131 of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the
27132 legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
27133
27134 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful
27135 rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property
27136 belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall
27137 be so construed as to prejudice any claims, of the United States, or of
27138 any particular State.
27139
27140
27141 SECTION 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this
27142 Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them
27143 against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the
27144 executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic
27145 violence.
27146
27147
27148 ARTICLE V
27149
27150 The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it
27151 necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
27152 application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States,
27153 shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case,
27154 shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution,
27155 when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several
27156 States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the
27157 other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided
27158 that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight
27159 hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth
27160 clauses in the ninth Section of the first article; and that no State,
27161 without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
27162 Senate.
27163
27164
27165 ARTICLE VI
27166
27167 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the
27168 adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United
27169 States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
27170
27171 2. This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be
27172 made in pursuance thereof and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
27173 under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of
27174 the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything
27175 in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
27176 notwithstanding.
27177
27178 3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of
27179 the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers,
27180 both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by
27181 oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test
27182 shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust
27183 under the United States.
27184
27185
27186 ARTICLE VII
27187
27188 The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient
27189 for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so
27190 ratifying the same.
27191
27192 Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present the
27193 seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
27194 hundred and eighty-seven and of the independence of the United States of
27195 America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our
27196 names,
27197
27198 G^O. WASHINGTON--
27199 Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia
27200
27201 [and thirty-eight members from all the States except Rhode Island.]
27202
27203 * * * * *
27204
27205
27206 Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the
27207 United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the
27208 legislatures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of the
27209 original Constitution.
27210
27211
27212 ARTICLE I[10]
27213
27214 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
27215 prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
27216 speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
27217 assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
27218
27219
27220 ARTICLE II
27221
27222 A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free
27223 State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
27224 infringed.
27225
27226
27227 ARTICLE III
27228
27229 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without
27230 the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
27231 prescribed by law.
27232
27233
27234 ARTICLE IV
27235
27236 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
27237 and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
27238 violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
27239 supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
27240 to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
27241
27242
27243 ARTICLE V
27244
27245 No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
27246 crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in
27247 cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in
27248 actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be
27249 subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
27250 limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness
27251 against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
27252 due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
27253 without just compensation.
27254
27255
27256 ARTICLE VI
27257
27258 In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
27259 speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
27260 wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
27261 been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and
27262 cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against
27263 him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,
27264 and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.
27265
27266
27267 ARTICLE VII
27268
27269 In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
27270 twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
27271 fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the
27272 United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
27273
27274
27275 ARTICLE VIII
27276
27277 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
27278 cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
27279
27280
27281 ARTICLE IX
27282
27283 The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
27284 construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
27285
27286
27287 ARTICLE X
27288
27289 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
27290 prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
27291 or to the people.
27292
27293
27294 ARTICLE XI[11]
27295
27296 The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend
27297 to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the
27298 United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects
27299 of any foreign State.
27300
27301
27302 ARTICLE XII[12]
27303
27304 The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot
27305 for President and Vice-President, one of whom at least shall not be an
27306 inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their
27307 ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the
27308 person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists
27309 of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
27310 Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they
27311 shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the
27312 government of the United States, directed to the President of the
27313 Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate
27314 and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes
27315 shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of votes
27316 for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of
27317 the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such
27318 majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding
27319 three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of
27320 Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But
27321 in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the
27322 representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this
27323 purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the
27324 States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice.
27325 And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President
27326 whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth
27327 day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as
27328 President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional
27329 disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of
27330 votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be
27331 a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person
27332 have a majority, then from the two highest members on the list, the
27333 Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall
27334 consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of
27335 the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person
27336 constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible
27337 to that of Vice-President of the United States.
27338
27339
27340 ARTICLE XIII[13]
27341
27342 SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
27343 punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
27344 shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
27345 jurisdiction.
27346
27347 SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
27348 appropriate legislation.
27349
27350
27351 ARTICLE XIV[14]
27352
27353 SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
27354 subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
27355 and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any
27356 law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
27357 United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
27358 or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
27359 its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
27360
27361 SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
27362 according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
27363 persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right
27364 to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and
27365 Vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the
27366 executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
27367 legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
27368 State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,
27369 or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other
27370 crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
27371 proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the
27372 whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
27373
27374 SECTION 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress,
27375 or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
27376 military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
27377 previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
27378 the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an
27379 executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
27380 of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
27381 against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
27382 Congress may by two-thirds vote of each House, remove such disability.
27383
27384 SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
27385 authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
27386 bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall
27387 not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall
27388 assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or
27389 rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
27390 emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims
27391 shall be held illegal and void.
27392
27393 SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
27394 legislation, the provisions of this article.
27395
27396
27397 ARTICLE XV[15]
27398
27399 SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
27400 be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
27401 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
27402
27403 SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
27404 appropriate legislation.
27405
27406
27407 ARTICLE XVI[16]
27408
27409 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from
27410 whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States,
27411 and without regard to any census or enumeration.
27412
27413
27414 ARTICLE XVII[17]
27415
27416 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from
27417 each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each
27418 senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the
27419 qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the
27420 State legislature.
27421
27422 When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate,
27423 the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to
27424 fill such vacancies: _Provided_ that the legislature of any State may
27425 empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the
27426 people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
27427
27428 This amendment shall not be so construed as to effect the election or
27429 term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the
27430 Constitution.
27431
27432
27433 ARTICLE XVIII[18]
27434
27435 SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the
27436 manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
27437 importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United
27438 States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for
27439 beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
27440
27441 SECTION 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent
27442 power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
27443
27444 SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
27445 ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the
27446 several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from
27447 the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
27448
27449
27450 ARTICLE XIX[19]
27451
27452 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied
27453 or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.
27454
27455 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
27456 legislation.
27457
27458
27459
27460 POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, BY STATES: 1920, 1910, 1900
27461
27462 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------+
27463 | STATES | POPULATION |
27464 + +--------------+--------------+--------------+
27465 | | 1920 | 1910 | 1900 |
27466 +---------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
27467 |United States | 105,708,771 | 91,972,266 | 75,994,575 |
27468 +---------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
27469 |Alabama | 2,348,174 | 2,138,093 | 1,828,697 |
27470 |Arizona | 333,903 | 204,354 | 122,931 |
27471 |Arkansas | 1,752,204 | 1,574,449 | 1,311,564 |
27472 |California | 3,426,861 | 2,377,549 | 1,485,053 |
27473 |Colorado | 939,629 | 799,024 | 539,700 |
27474 |Connecticut | 1,380,631 | 1,114,756 | 908,420 |
27475 |Delaware | 223,003 | 202,322 | 184,735 |
27476 |District of Columbia | 437,571 | 331,069 | 278,718 |
27477 |Florida | 968,470 | 752,619 | 528,542 |
27478 |Georgia | 2,895,832 | 2,609,121 | 2,216,331 |
27479 |Idaho | 431,866 | 325,594 | 161,772 |
27480 |Illinois | 6,485,280 | 5,638,591 | 4,821,550 |
27481 |Indiana | 2,930,390 | 2,700,876 | 2,516,462 |
27482 |Iowa | 2,404,021 | 2,224,771 | 2,231,853 |
27483 |Kansas | 1,769,257 | 1,690,949 | 1,470,495 |
27484 |Kentucky | 2,416,630 | 2,289,905 | 2,147,174 |
27485 |Louisiana | 1,798,509 | 1,656,388 | 1,381,625 |
27486 |Maine | 768,014 | 742,371 | 694,466 |
27487 |Maryland | 1,449,661 | 1,295,346 | 1,188,044 |
27488 |Massachusetts | 3,852,356 | 3,366,416 | 2,805,346 |
27489 |Michigan | 3,668,412 | 2,810,173 | 2,420,982 |
27490 |Minnesota | 2,387,125 | 2,075,708 | 1,751,394 |
27491 |Mississippi | 1,790,618 | 1,797,114 | 1,551,270 |
27492 |Missouri | 3,404,055 | 3,293,335 | 3,106,665 |
27493 |Montana | 548,889 | 376,053 | 243,329 |
27494 |Nebraska | 1,296,372 | 1,192,214 | 1,066,300 |
27495 |Nevada | 77,407 | 81,875 | 42,335 |
27496 |New Hampshire | 443,407 | 430,572 | 411,588 |
27497 |New Jersey | 3,155,900 | 2,537,167 | 1,883,669 |
27498 |New Mexico | 360,350 | 327,301 | 195,310 |
27499 |New York | 10,384,829 | 9,113,614 | 7,268,894 |
27500 |North Carolina | 2,559,123 | 2,206,287 | 1,893,810 |
27501 |North Dakota | 645,680 | 577,056 | 319,146 |
27502 |Ohio | 5,759,394 | 4,767,121 | 4,157,545 |
27503 |Oklahoma | 2,028,283 | 1,657,155 | 790,391 |
27504 |Oregon | 783,389 | 672,765 | 413,536 |
27505 |Pennsylvania | 8,720,017 | 7,665,111 | 6,302,115 |
27506 |Rhode Island | 604,397 | 542,610 | 428,556 |
27507 |South Carolina | 1,683,724 | 1,515,400 | 1,340,316 |
27508 |South Dakota | 636,547 | 583,888 | 401,570 |
27509 |Tennessee | 2,337,885 | 2,184,789 | 2,020,616 |
27510 |Texas | 4,663,228 | 3,896,542 | 3,048,710 |
27511 |Utah | 449,396 | 373,351 | 276,749 |
27512 |Vermont | 352,428 | 355,956 | 343,641 |
27513 |Virginia | 2,309,187 | 2,061,612 | 1,854,184 |
27514 |Washington | 1,356,621 | 1,141,990 | 518,103 |
27515 |West Virginia | 1,463,701 | 1,221,119 | 958,800 |
27516 |Wisconsin | 2,632,067 | 2,333,860 | 2,069,042 |
27517 |Wyoming | 194,402 | 145,965 | 92,531 |
27518 +---------------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
27519
27520 FOOTNOTES:
27521
27522 [3] Partly superseded by the 14th Amendment, p. 639.
27523
27524 [4] See the 17th Amendment, p. 641.
27525
27526 [5] _Ibid._, p. 641.
27527
27528 [6] See the 16th Amendment, p. 640.
27529
27530 [7] The following paragraph was in force only from 1788 to 1803.
27531
27532 [8] Superseded by the 12th Amendment, p. 638.
27533
27534 [9] See the 11th Amendment, p. 638.
27535
27536 [10] First ten amendments proposed by Congress, Sept. 25, 1789.
27537 Proclaimed to be in force Dec. 15, 1791.
27538
27539 [11] Proposed Sept. 5, 1794. Declared in force January 8, 1798.
27540
27541 [12] Adopted in 1804.
27542
27543 [13] Adopted in 1865.
27544
27545 [14] Adopted in 1868.
27546
27547 [15] Proposed February 27, 1869. Declared in force March 30, 1870.
27548
27549 [16] Passed July, 1909; proclaimed February 25, 1913.
27550
27551 [17] Passed May, 1912, in lieu of paragraph one, Section 3, Article I,
27552 of the Constitution and so much of paragraph two of the same Section as
27553 relates to the filling of vacancies; proclaimed May 31, 1913.
27554
27555 [18] Ratified January 16, 1919.
27556
27557 [19] Ratified August 26, 1920.
27558
27559
27560
27561
27562 APPENDIX
27563
27564 TABLE OF PRESIDENTS
27565
27566 NAME STATE PARTY YEAR IN VICE-PRESIDENT
27567 OFFICE
27568 1 George Washington Va. Fed. 1789-1797 John Adams
27569 2 John Adams Mass. Fed. 1797-1801 Thomas Jefferson
27570 3 Thomas Jefferson Va. Rep. 1801-1809 Aaron Burr
27571 George Clinton
27572 4 James Madison Va. Rep. 1809-1817 George Clinton
27573 Elbridge Gerry
27574 5 James Monroe Va. Rep. 1817-1825 Daniel D. Tompkins
27575 6 John Q. Adams Mass. Rep. 1825-1829 John C. Calhoun
27576 7 Andrew Jackson Tenn. Dem. 1829-1837 John C. Calhoun
27577 Martin Van Buren
27578 8 Martin Van Buren N.Y. Dem. 1837-1841 Richard M. Johnson
27579 9 Wm. H. Harrison Ohio Whig 1841-1841 John Tyler
27580 10 John Tyler[20] Va. Whig 1841-1845
27581 11 James K. Polk Tenn. Dem. 1845-1849 George M. Dallas
27582 12 Zachary Taylor La. Whig 1849-1850 Millard Fillmore
27583 13 Millard Fillmore[20] N.Y. Whig 1850-1853
27584 14 Franklin Pierce N.H. Dem. 1853-1857 William R. King
27585 15 James Buchanan Pa. Dem. 1857-1861 J.C. Breckinridge
27586 16 Abraham Lincoln Ill. Rep. 1861-1865 Hannibal Hamlin
27587 Andrew Johnson
27588 17 Andrew Johnson[20] Tenn. Rep. 1865-1869
27589 18 Ulysses S. Grant Ill. Rep. 1869-1877 Schuyler Colfax
27590 Henry Wilson
27591 19 Rutherford B. Hayes Ohio Rep. 1877-1881 Wm. A. Wheeler
27592 20 James A. Garfield Ohio Rep. 1881-1881 Chester A. Arthur
27593 21 Chester A. Arthur[20] N.Y. Rep. 1881-1885
27594 22 Grover Cleveland N.Y. Dem. 1885-1889 Thomas A. Hendricks
27595 23 Benjamin Harrison Ind. Rep. 1889-1893 Levi P. Morton
27596 24 Grover Cleveland N.Y. Dem. 1893-1897 Adlai E. Stevenson
27597 25 William McKinley Ohio Rep. 1897-1901 Garrett A. Hobart
27598 Theodore Roosevelt
27599 26 Theodore Roosevelt[20]N.Y. Rep. 1901-1909 Chas. W. Fairbanks
27600 27 William H. Taft Ohio Rep. 1909-1913 James S. Sherman
27601 28 Woodrow Wilson N.J. Dem. 1913-1921 Thomas R. Marshall
27602 29 Warren G. Harding Ohio Rep. 1921- Calvin Coolidge
27603
27604
27605 FOOTNOTES:
27606
27607 [20] Promoted from the vice-presidency on the death of the president.
27608
27609 POPULATION OF THE OUTLYING POSSESSIONS: 1920 AND 1910
27610
27611 ----------------------------------------+--------------+---------------
27612 AREA | 1920 | 1910
27613 ----------------------------------------+--------------+---------------
27614 United States with outlying possessions |117,857,509 | 101,146,530
27615 +--------------+---------------
27616 Continental United States |105,708,771 | 91,972,266
27617 Outlying Possessions | 12,148,738 | 9,174,264
27618 +--------------|---------------
27619 Alaska | 54,899 | 64,356
27620 American Samoa | 8,056 | 7,251[21]
27621 Guam | 13,275 | 11,806
27622 Hawaii | 255,912 | 191,909
27623 Panama Canal Zone | 22,858 | 62,810[21]
27624 Porto Rico | 1,299,809 | 1,118,012
27625 Military and naval, etc., service | |
27626 abroad | 117,238 | 55,608
27627 Philippine Islands |10,350,640[22]| 7,635,426[23]
27628 Virgin Islands of the United States | 26,051[24]| 27,086[25]
27629 ----------------------------------------+--------------+---------------
27630
27631 FOOTNOTES:
27632
27633 [21] Population in 1912.
27634
27635 [22] Population in 1918.
27636
27637 [23] Population in 1903.
27638
27639 [24] Population in 1917.
27640
27641 [25] Population in 1911.
27642
27643
27644
27645
27646 A TOPICAL SYLLABUS
27647
27648 As a result of a wholesome reaction against the purely chronological
27649 treatment of history, there is now a marked tendency in the direction of
27650 a purely topical handling of the subject. The topical method, however,
27651 may also be pushed too far. Each successive stage of any topic can be
27652 understood only in relation to the forces of the time. For that reason,
27653 the best results are reached when there is a combination of the
27654 chronological and the topical methods. It is therefore suggested that
27655 the teacher first follow the text closely and then review the subject
27656 with the aid of this topical syllabus. The references are to pages.
27657
27658
27659 =Immigration=
27660
27661 I. Causes: religious (1-2, 4-11, 302), economic (12-17, 302-303),
27662 and political (302-303).
27663 II. Colonial immigration.
27664 1. Diversified character: English, Scotch-Irish, Irish, Jews,
27665 Germans and other peoples (6-12).
27666 2. Assimilation to an American type; influence of the land
27667 system (23-25, 411).
27668 3. Enforced immigration: indentured servitude, slavery, etc.
27669 (13-17).
27670 III. Immigration between 1789-1890.
27671 1. Nationalities: English, Irish, Germans, and Scandinavians
27672 (278, 302-303).
27673 2. Relations to American life (432-433, 445).
27674 IV. Immigration and immigration questions after 1890.
27675 1. Change in nationalities (410-411).
27676 2. Changes in economic opportunities (411).
27677 3. Problems of congestion and assimilation (410).
27678 4. Relations to labor and illiteracy (582-586).
27679 5. Oriental immigration (583).
27680 6. The restriction of immigration (583-585).
27681
27682 =Expansion of the United States=
27683
27684 I. Territorial growth.
27685 1. Territory of the United States in 1783 (134 and color map).
27686 2. Louisiana purchase, 1803 (188-193 and color map).
27687 3. Florida purchase, 1819 (204).
27688 4. Annexation of Texas, 1845 (278-281).
27689 5. Acquisition of Arizona, New Mexico, California, and other
27690 territory at close of Mexican War, 1848 (282-283).
27691 6. The Gadsden purchase, 1853 (283).
27692 7. Settlement of the Oregon boundary question, 1846 (284-286).
27693 8. Purchase of Alaska from Russia, 1867 (479).
27694 9. Acquisition of Tutuila in Samoan group, 1899 (481-482).
27695 10. Annexation of Hawaii, 1898 (484).
27696 11. Acquisition of Porto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam at
27697 close of Spanish War, 1898 (493-494).
27698 12. Acquisition of Panama Canal strip, 1904 (508-510).
27699 13. Purchase of Danish West Indies, 1917 (593).
27700 14. Extension of protectorate over Haiti, Santo Domingo, and
27701 Nicaragua (593-594).
27702 II. Development of colonial self-government.
27703 1. Hawaii (485).
27704 2. Philippines (516-518).
27705 3. Porto Rico (515-516).
27706 III. Sea power.
27707 1. In American Revolution (118).
27708 2. In the War of 1812 (193-201).
27709 3. In the Civil War (353-354).
27710 4. In the Spanish-American War (492).
27711 5. In the Caribbean region (512-519).
27712 6. In the Pacific (447-448, 481).
27713 7. The role of the American navy (515).
27714
27715 =The Westward Advance of the People=
27716
27717 I. Beyond the Appalachians.
27718 1. Government and land system (217-231).
27719 2. The routes (222-224).
27720 3. The settlers (221-223, 228-230).
27721 4. Relations with the East (230-236).
27722 II. Beyond the Mississippi.
27723 1. The lower valley (271-273).
27724 2. The upper valley (275-276).
27725 III. Prairies, plains, and desert.
27726 1. Cattle ranges and cowboys (276-278, 431-432).
27727 2. The free homesteads (432-433).
27728 3. Irrigation (434-436, 523-525).
27729 IV. The Far West.
27730 1. Peculiarities of the West (433-440).
27731 2. The railways (425-431).
27732 3. Relations to the East and Europe (443-447).
27733 4. American power in the Pacific (447-449).
27734
27735 =The Wars of American History=
27736
27737 I. Indian wars (57-59).
27738 II. Early colonial wars: King William's, Queen Anne's, and King
27739 George's (59).
27740 III. French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), 1754-1763 (59-61).
27741 IV. Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 (99-135).
27742 V. The War of 1812, 1812-1815 (193-201).
27743 VI. The Mexican War, 1845-1848 (276-284).
27744 VII. The Civil War, 1861-1865 (344-375).
27745 VIII. The Spanish War, 1898 (485-497).
27746 IX. The World War, 1914-1918 [American participation, 1917-1918]
27747 (596-625).
27748
27749 =Government=
27750
27751 I. Development of the American system of government.
27752 1. Origin and growth of state government.
27753 _a._ The trading corporation (2-4), religious congregation
27754 (4-5), and proprietary system (5-6).
27755 _b._ Government of the colonies (48-53).
27756 _c._ Formation of the first state constitutions (108-110).
27757 _d._ The admission of new states (_see_ Index under each
27758 state).
27759 _e._ Influence of Jacksonian Democracy (238-247).
27760 _f._ Growth of manhood suffrage (238-244).
27761 _g._ Nullification and state sovereignty (180-182, 251-257).
27762 _h._ The doctrine of secession (345-346).
27763 _i._ Effects of the Civil War on position of states (366,
27764 369-375).
27765 _j._ Political reform--direct government--initiative,
27766 referendum, and recall (540-544).
27767 2. Origin and growth of national government.
27768 _a._ British imperial control over the colonies (64-72).
27769 _b._ Attempts at intercolonial union--New England
27770 Confederation, Albany plan (61-62).
27771 _c._ The Stamp Act Congress (85-86).
27772 _d._ The Continental Congresses (99-101).
27773 _e._ The Articles of Confederation (110-111, 139-143).
27774 _f._ The formation of the federal Constitution (143-160).
27775 _g._ Development of the federal Constitution.
27776 (1) Amendments 1-11--rights of persons and states (163).
27777 (2) Twelfth amendment--election of President (184, note).
27778 (3) Amendments 13-15--Civil War settlement (358, 366, 369,
27779 370, 374, 375).
27780 (4) Sixteenth amendment--income tax (528-529).
27781 (5) Seventeenth amendment--election of Senators (541-542).
27782 (6) Eighteenth amendment--prohibition (591-592).
27783 (7) Nineteenth amendment--woman suffrage (563-568).
27784 3. Development of the suffrage.
27785 _a._ Colonial restrictions (51-52).
27786 _b._ Provisions of the first state constitutions
27787 (110, 238-240).
27788 _c._ Position under federal Constitution of 1787 (149).
27789 _d._ Extension of manhood suffrage (241-244).
27790 _e._ Extension and limitation of negro suffrage (373-375,
27791 382-387).
27792 _f._ Woman suffrage (560-568).
27793 II. Relation of government to economic and social welfare.
27794 1. Debt and currency.
27795 _a._ Colonial paper money (80).
27796 _b._ Revolutionary currency and debt (125-127).
27797 _c._ Disorders under Articles of Confederation (140-141).
27798 _d._ Powers of Congress under the Constitution to coin money
27799 (_see_ Constitution in the Appendix).
27800 _e._ First United States bank notes (167).
27801 _f._ Second United States bank notes (257).
27802 _g._ State bank notes (258).
27803 _h._ Civil War greenbacks and specie payment (352-353, 454).
27804 _i._ The Civil War debt (252).
27805 _j._ Notes of National Banks under act of 1864 (369).
27806 _k._ Demonetization of silver and silver legislation
27807 (452-458).
27808 _l._ The gold standard (472).
27809 _m._ The federal reserve notes (589).
27810 _n._ Liberty bonds (606).
27811 2. Banking systems.
27812 _a._ The first United States bank (167).
27813 _b._ The second United States bank--origin and destruction
27814 (203, 257-259).
27815 _c._ United States treasury system (263).
27816 _d._ State banks (258).
27817 _e._ The national banking system of 1864 (369).
27818 _f._ Services of banks (407-409).
27819 _g._ Federal reserve system (589).
27820 3. The tariff.
27821 _a._ British colonial system (69-72).
27822 _b._ Disorders under Articles of Confederation (140).
27823 _c._ The first tariff under the Constitution (150, 167-168).
27824 _d._ Development of the tariff, 1816-1832 (252-254).
27825 _f._ Tariff and nullification (254-256).
27826 _g._ Development to the Civil War--attitude of South and West
27827 (264, 309-314, 357).
27828 _h._ Republicans and Civil War tariffs (352, 367).
27829 _i._ Revival of the tariff controversy under Cleveland (422).
27830 _j._ Tariff legislation after 1890--McKinley bill (422),
27831 Wilson bill (459), Dingley bill (472), Payne-Aldrich bill
27832 (528), Underwood bill (588).
27833 4. Foreign and domestic commerce and transportation
27834 (_see_ Tariff, Immigration, and Foreign Relations).
27835 _a._ British imperial regulations (69-72).
27836 _b._ Confusion under Articles of Confederation (140).
27837 _c._ Provisions of federal Constitution (150).
27838 _d._ Internal improvements--aid to roads, canals, etc.
27839 (230-236).
27840 _e._ Aid to railways (403).
27841 _f._ Service of railways (402).
27842 _g._ Regulation of railways (460-461, 547-548).
27843 _h._ Control of trusts and corporations (461-462, 589-590).
27844 5. Land and natural resources.
27845 _a._ British control over lands (80).
27846 _b._ Early federal land measures (219-221).
27847 _c._ The Homestead act (368, 432-445).
27848 _d._ Irrigation and reclamation (434-436, 523-525).
27849 _e._ Conservation of natural resources (523-526).
27850 6. Legislation advancing human rights and general welfare
27851 (_see_ Suffrage).
27852 _a._ Abolition of slavery: civil and political rights of
27853 negroes (357-358, 373-375).
27854 _b._ Extension of civil and political rights to women
27855 (554-568).
27856 _c._ Legislation relative to labor conditions (549-551,
27857 579-581, 590-591).
27858 _d._ Control of public utilities (547-549).
27859 _e._ Social reform and the war on poverty (549-551).
27860 _f._ Taxation and equality of opportunity (551-552).
27861
27862 =Political Parties and Political Issues=
27863
27864 I. The Federalists _versus_ the Anti-Federalists [Jeffersonian
27865 Republicans] from about 1790 to about 1816 (168-208, 201-203).
27866 1. Federalist leaders: Hamilton, John Adams, John Marshall,
27867 Robert Morris.
27868 2. Anti-Federalist leaders: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe.
27869 3. Issues: funding the debt, assumption of state debts, first
27870 United States bank, taxation, tariff, strong central
27871 government _versus_ states' rights, and the Alien and
27872 Sedition acts.
27873 II. Era of "Good Feeling" from about 1816 to about 1824, a period
27874 of no organized party opposition (248).
27875 III. The Democrats [former Jeffersonian Republicans] _versus_ the
27876 Whigs [or National Republicans] from about 1832 to 1856
27877 (238-265, 276-290, 324-334).
27878 1. Democratic leaders: Jackson, Van Buren, Calhoun, Benton.
27879
27880 2. Whig leaders: Webster and Clay.
27881 3. Issues: second United States bank, tariff, nullification,
27882 Texas, internal improvements, and disposition of Western
27883 lands.
27884 IV. The Democrats _versus_ the Republicans from about 1856 to the
27885 present time (334-377, 388-389, 412-422, 451-475, 489-534,
27886 588-620).
27887 1. Democratic leaders: Jefferson Davis, Tilden, Cleveland,
27888 Bryan, and Wilson.
27889 2. Republican leaders: Lincoln, Blaine, McKinley, Roosevelt.
27890 3. Issues: Civil War and reconstruction, currency, tariff,
27891 taxation, trusts, railways, foreign policies, imperialism,
27892 labor questions, and policies with regard to land and
27893 conservation.
27894 V. Minor political parties.
27895 1. Before the Civil War: Free Soil (319) and Labor Parties
27896 (306-307).
27897 2. Since the Civil War: Greenback (463-464), Populist (464),
27898 Liberal Republican (420), Socialistic (577-579), Progressive
27899 (531-534, 602-603).
27900
27901 =The Economic Development of the United States=
27902
27903 I. The land and natural resources.
27904 1. The colonial land system: freehold, plantation, and manor
27905 (20-25).
27906 2. Development of the freehold in the West (220-221, 228-230).
27907 3. The Homestead act and its results (368, 432-433).
27908 4. The cattle range and cowboy (431-432).
27909 5. Disappearance of free land (443-445).
27910 6. Irrigation and reclamation (434-436).
27911 7. Movement for the conservation of resources (523-526).
27912 II. Industry.
27913 1. The rise of local and domestic industries (28-32).
27914 2. British restrictions on American enterprise (67-69, 70-72).
27915 3. Protective tariffs (see above, 648-649).
27916 4. Development of industry previous to the Civil War (295-307).
27917 5. Great progress of industry after the war (401-406).
27918 6. Rise and growth of trusts and combinations (406-412,
27919 472-474).
27920 III. Commerce and transportation.
27921 1. Extent of colonial trade and commerce (32-35).
27922 2. British regulation (69-70).
27923 3. Effects of the Revolution and the Constitution
27924 (139-140, 154).
27925 4. Growth of American shipping (195-196).
27926 5. Waterways and canals (230-236).
27927 6. Rise and extension of the railway system (298-300).
27928 7. Growth of American foreign trade (445-449).
27929 IV. Rise of organized labor.
27930 1. Early phases before the Civil War: local unions, city
27931 federations, and national unions in specific trades
27932 (304-307).
27933 2. The National Trade Union, 1866-1872 (574-575).
27934 3. The Knights of Labor (575-576).
27935 4. The American Federation of Labor (573-574).
27936 _a._ Policies of the Federation (576-577).
27937 _b._ Relations to politics (579-581).
27938 _c._ Contests with socialists and radicals (577-579).
27939 _d._ Problems of immigration (582-585).
27940 5. The relations of capital and labor.
27941 _a._ The corporation and labor (410, 570-571).
27942 _b._ Company unions and profit-sharing (571-572).
27943 _c._ Welfare work (573).
27944 _d._ Strikes (465, 526, 580-581).
27945 _e._ Arbitration (581-582).
27946
27947 =American Foreign Relations=
27948
27949 I. Colonial period.
27950 1. Indian relations (57-59).
27951 2. French relations (59-61).
27952 II. Period of conflict and independence.
27953 1. Relations with Great Britain (77-108, 116-125, 132-135).
27954 2. Establishment of connections with European powers (128).
27955 3. The French alliance of 1778 (128-130).
27956 4. Assistance of Holland and Spain (130).
27957 III. Relations with Great Britain since 1783.
27958 1. Commercial settlement in Jay treaty of 1794 (177-178).
27959 2. Questions arising out of European wars [1793-1801]
27960 (176-177, 180).
27961 3. Blockade and embargo problems (193-199).
27962 4. War of 1812 (199-201).
27963 5. Monroe Doctrine and Holy Alliance (205-207).
27964 6. Maine boundary--Webster-Ashburton treaty (265).
27965 7. Oregon boundary (284-286).
27966 8. Attitude of Great Britain during Civil War (354-355).
27967 9. Arbitration of _Alabama_ claims (480-481).
27968 10. The Samoan question (481-482)
27969 11. The Venezuelan question (482-484).
27970 12. British policy during Spanish-American War (496-497).
27971 13. Controversy over blockade, 1914-1917 (598-600).
27972 14. The World War (603-620).
27973 IV. Relations with France.
27974 1. The colonial wars (59-61).
27975 2. The French alliance of 1778 (128-130).
27976 3. Controversies over the French Revolution (128-130).
27977 4. Commercial questions arising out of the European wars
27978 (176-177, 180, 193-199).
27979 5. Attitude of Napoleon III toward the Civil War (354-355).
27980 6. The Mexican entanglement (478-479).
27981 7. The World War (596-620).
27982 V. Relations with Germany.
27983 1. Negotiations with Frederick, king of Prussia (128).
27984 2. The Samoan controversy (481-482).
27985 3. Spanish-American War (491).
27986 4. The Venezuelan controversy (512).
27987 5. The World War (596-620).
27988 VI. Relations with the Orient.
27989 1. Early trading connections (486-487).
27990 2. The opening of China (447).
27991 3. The opening of Japan (448).
27992 4. The Boxer rebellion and the "open door" policy (499-502).
27993 5. Roosevelt and the close of the Russo-Japanese War (511).
27994 6. The Oriental immigration question (583-584).
27995 VII. The United States and Latin America.
27996 1. Mexican relations.
27997 _a._ Mexican independence and the Monroe Doctrine (205-207).
27998 _b._ Mexico and French intervention--policy of the United
27999 States (478-479).
28000 _c._ The overthrow of Diaz (1911) and recent questions
28001 (594-596).
28002 2. Cuban relations.
28003 _a._ Slavery and the "Ostend Manifesto" (485-486).
28004 _b._ The revolutionary period, 1867-1877 (487).
28005 _c._ The revival of revolution (487-491).
28006 _d._ American intervention and the Spanish War (491-496).
28007 _e._ The Platt amendment and American protection (518-519).
28008 3. Caribbean and other relations.
28009 _a._ Acquisition of Porto Rico (493).
28010 _b._ The acquisition of the Panama Canal strip (508-510).
28011 _c._ Purchase of Danish West Indies (593).
28012 _d._ Venezuelan controversies (482-484, 512).
28013 _e._ Extension of protectorate over Haiti, Santo Domingo,
28014 and Nicaragua (513-514, 592-594).
28015
28016
28017
28018
28019 INDEX
28020
28021
28022 Abolition, 318, 331
28023
28024 Adams, Abigail, 556
28025
28026 Adams, John, 97, 128, 179ff.
28027
28028 Adams, J.Q., 247, 319
28029
28030 Adams, Samuel, 90, 99, 108
28031
28032 Adamson law, 590
28033
28034 Aguinaldo, 497
28035
28036 Alabama, admission, 227
28037
28038 _Alabama_ claims, 480
28039
28040 Alamance, battle, 92
28041
28042 Alamo, 280
28043
28044 Alaska, purchase, 479
28045
28046 Albany, plan of union, 62
28047
28048 Algonquins, 57
28049
28050 Alien law, 180
28051
28052 Amendment, method of, 156
28053
28054 Amendments to federal Constitution: first eleven, 163
28055 twelfth, 184, note
28056 thirteenth, 358
28057 fourteenth, 366, 369, 387
28058 fifteenth, 358
28059 sixteenth, 528
28060 seventeenth, 542
28061 eighteenth, 591
28062 nineteenth, 563ff.
28063
28064 American expeditionary force, 610
28065
28066 American Federation of Labor, 573, 608
28067
28068 Americanization, 585
28069
28070 Amnesty, for Confederates, 383
28071
28072 Andros, 65
28073
28074 Annapolis, convention, 144
28075
28076 Antietam, 357
28077
28078 Anti-Federalists, 169
28079
28080 Anti-slavery. _See_ Abolition
28081
28082 Anthony, Susan, 564
28083
28084 Appomattox, 363
28085
28086 Arbitration: international, 480, 514, 617
28087 labor disputes, 582
28088
28089 Arizona, admission, 443
28090
28091 Arkansas, admission, 272
28092
28093 Arnold, Benedict, 114, 120
28094
28095 Articles of Confederation, 110, 139ff., 146
28096
28097 Ashburton, treaty, 265
28098
28099 Assembly, colonial, 49ff., 89ff.
28100
28101 Assumption, 164ff.
28102
28103 Atlanta, 361
28104
28105 Australian ballot, 540
28106
28107
28108 Bacon, Nathaniel, 58
28109
28110 Ballot: Australian, 540
28111 short, 544
28112
28113 Baltimore, Lord, 6
28114
28115 Bank: first U.S., 167
28116 second, 203, 257ff.
28117
28118 Banking system: state, 300
28119 U.S. national, 369
28120 services of, 407
28121 _See also_ Federal reserve
28122
28123 Barry, John, 118
28124
28125 Bastille, 172
28126
28127 Bell, John, 341
28128
28129 Belleau Wood, 611
28130
28131 Berlin decree, 194
28132
28133 Blockade: by England and France, 193ff.
28134 Southern ports, 353
28135 law and practice in 1914, 598ff.
28136
28137 Bond servants, 13ff.
28138
28139 Boone, Daniel, 28, 218
28140
28141 Boston: massacre, 91
28142 evacuation, 116
28143 port bill, 94
28144
28145 Bowdoin, Governor, 142
28146
28147 Boxer rebellion, 499
28148
28149 Brandywine, 129
28150
28151 Breckinridge, J.C., 340
28152
28153 Bright, John, 355
28154
28155 Brown, John, 338
28156
28157 Brown University, 45
28158
28159 Bryan, W.J., 468ff., 495, 502, 503, 527
28160
28161 Buchanan, James, 335, 368
28162
28163 Budget system, 529
28164
28165 Bull Run, 350
28166
28167 Bunker Hill, 102
28168
28169 Burgoyne, General, 116, 118, 130
28170
28171 Burke, Edmund, 87, 96ff., 132, 175
28172
28173 Burr, Aaron, 183, 231
28174
28175 Business. _See_ Industry
28176
28177
28178 Calhoun, J.C., 198ff., 203, 208, 281, 321, 328
28179
28180 California, 286ff.
28181
28182 Canada, 61, 114, 530
28183
28184 Canals, 233, 298, 508
28185
28186 Canning, British premier, 206
28187
28188 Cannon, J.G., 530
28189
28190 Cantigny, 611
28191
28192 Caribbean, 479
28193
28194 Carpet baggers, 373
28195
28196 Cattle ranger, 431ff.
28197
28198 Caucus, 245
28199
28200 Censorship. _See_ Newspapers
28201
28202 Charles I, 3
28203
28204 Charles II, 65
28205
28206 Charleston, 36, 116
28207
28208 Charters, colonial, 2ff., 41
28209
28210 Chase, Justice, 187
28211
28212 Chateau-Thierry, 611
28213
28214 Checks and balances, 153
28215
28216 _Chesapeake_, the, 195
28217
28218 Chickamauga, 361
28219
28220 Child labor law, 591
28221
28222 China, 447, 499ff.
28223
28224 Chinese labor, 583
28225
28226 Churches, colonial, 39ff., 42, 43
28227
28228 Cities, 35, 36, 300ff., 395, 410, 544
28229
28230 City manager plan, 545
28231
28232 Civil liberty, 358ff., 561
28233
28234 Civil service, 419, 536, 538ff.
28235
28236 Clarendon, Lord, 6
28237
28238 Clark, G.R., 116, 218
28239
28240 Clay, Henry, 198, 203, 248, 261, 328
28241
28242 Clayton anti-trust act, 489
28243
28244 Clergy. _See_ Churches
28245
28246 Cleveland, Grover, 421, 465, 482, 484, 489, 582
28247
28248 Clinton, Sir Henry, 119
28249
28250 Colorado, admission, 441
28251
28252 Combination. _See_ Trusts
28253
28254 Commerce, colonial, 33ff.
28255 disorders after 1781, 140
28256 Constitutional provisions on, 154
28257 Napoleonic wars, 176, 193ff.
28258 domestic growth of, 307
28259 congressional regulation of, 460ff., 547
28260 _See also_ Trusts and Railways
28261
28262 Commission government, 544
28263
28264 Committees of correspondence, 108
28265
28266 _Commonsense_, pamphlet, 103
28267
28268 Communism, colonial, 20f.
28269
28270 Company, trading, 2f.
28271
28272 Compromises: of Constitution, 148, 150, 151
28273 Missouri, 325, 332
28274 of 1850, 328ff.
28275 Crittenden, 350
28276
28277 Conciliation, with England, 131
28278
28279 Concord, battle, 100
28280
28281 Confederacy, Southern, 346ff.
28282
28283 Confederation: New England, 61f.
28284 _See also_ Articles of
28285
28286 Congregation, religious, 4
28287
28288 Congress: stamp act, 85
28289 continental, 99ff.
28290 under Articles, 139f.
28291 under Constitution, 152
28292 powers of, 153
28293
28294 Connecticut: founded, 4ff.
28295 self-government, 49
28296 _See also_ Suffrage
28297 constitutions, state
28298
28299 Conservation, 523ff.
28300
28301 Constitution: formation of, 143ff.
28302 _See also_ Amendment
28303
28304 _Constitution_, the, 200
28305
28306 Constitutions, state, 109ff., 238ff., 385ff.
28307
28308 Constitutional union party, 340
28309
28310 Contract labor law, 584
28311
28312 Convention: 1787, 144ff.
28313 nominating, 405
28314
28315 Convicts, colonial, 15
28316
28317 Conway Cabal, 120
28318
28319 Cornwallis, General, 116, 119, 131
28320
28321 Corporation and labor, 571. _See also_ Trusts
28322
28323 Cotton. _See_ Planting system
28324
28325 Cowboy, 431ff.
28326
28327 Cowpens, battle, 116
28328
28329 Cox, J.M., 619
28330
28331 _Crisis, The_, pamphlet, 115
28332
28333 Crittenden Compromise, 350
28334
28335 Cuba, 485ff., 518
28336
28337 Cumberland Gap, 223
28338
28339 Currency. _See_ Banking
28340
28341
28342 Danish West Indies, purchased, 593
28343
28344 Dartmouth College, 45
28345
28346 Daughters of liberty, 84
28347
28348 Davis, Jefferson, 346ff.
28349
28350 Deane, Silas, 128
28351
28352 Debs, E.V., 465, 534
28353
28354 Debt, national, 164ff.
28355
28356 Decatur, Commodore, 477
28357
28358 Declaration of Independence, 101ff.
28359
28360 Defense, national, 154
28361
28362 De Kalb, 121
28363
28364 Delaware, 3, 49
28365
28366 De Lome affair, 490
28367
28368 Democratic party, name assumed, 260
28369 _See also_ Anti-Federalists
28370
28371 Dewey, Admiral, 492
28372
28373 Diplomacy: of the Revolution, 127ff.
28374 Civil War, 354
28375
28376 Domestic industry, 28
28377
28378 Donelson, Fort, 361
28379
28380 Dorr Rebellion, 243
28381
28382 Douglas, Stephen A., 333, 337, 368
28383
28384 Draft: Civil War, 351
28385 World War, 605
28386
28387 Draft riots, 351
28388
28389 Dred Scott case, 335, 338
28390
28391 Drug act, 523
28392
28393 Duquesne, Fort, 60
28394
28395 Dutch, 3, 12
28396
28397
28398 East India Company, 93
28399
28400 Education, 43ff., 557, 591
28401
28402 Electors, popular election of, 245
28403
28404 Elkins law, 547
28405
28406 Emancipation, 357ff.
28407
28408 Embargo acts, 186ff.
28409
28410 England: Colonial policy of, 64ff.
28411 Revolutionary War, 99ff.
28412 Jay treaty, 177
28413 War of 1812, 198ff.
28414 Monroe Doctrine, 206
28415 Ashburton treaty, 265
28416 Civil War, 354
28417 _Alabama_ claims, 480
28418 Samoa, 481
28419 Venezuela question, 482
28420 Spanish War, 496
28421 World War, 596ff.
28422
28423 Erie Canal, 233
28424
28425 Esch-Cummins bill, 582
28426
28427 Espionage act, 607
28428
28429 Excess profits tax, 606
28430
28431 Executive, federal, plans for, 151
28432
28433 Expunging resolution, 260
28434
28435
28436 Farm loan act, 589
28437
28438 Federal reserve act, 589
28439
28440 Federal trade commission, 590
28441
28442 _Federalist_, the, 158
28443
28444 Federalists, 168ff., 201ff.
28445
28446 Feudal elements in colonies, 21f.
28447
28448 Filipino revolt. _See_ Philippines
28449
28450 Fillmore, President, 485
28451
28452 Finances: colonial, 64
28453 revolutionary, 125ff.
28454 disorders, 140
28455 Civil War, 347, 352ff.
28456 World War, 606
28457 _See also_ Banking
28458
28459 Fishing industry, 31
28460
28461 Fleet, world tour, 515
28462
28463 Florida, 134, 204
28464
28465 Foch, General, 611
28466
28467 Food and fuel law, 607
28468
28469 Force bills, 384 ff., 375
28470
28471 Forests, national, 525ff.
28472
28473 Fourteen points, 605
28474
28475 Fox, C.J., 132
28476
28477 France: colonization, 59ff.
28478 French and Indian War, 60ff.
28479 American Revolution, 116, 123, 128ff.
28480 French Revolution, 165ff.
28481 Quarrel with, 180
28482 Napoleonic wars, 193ff.
28483 Louisiana purchase, 190
28484 French Revolution of 1830, 266
28485 Civil War, 354
28486 Mexican affair, 478
28487 World War, 596ff.
28488
28489 Franchises, utility, 548
28490
28491 Franklin, Benjamin, 45, 62, 82, 86, 128, 134
28492
28493 Freedmen. _See_ Negro
28494
28495 Freehold. _See_ Land
28496
28497 Free-soil party, 319
28498
28499 Fremont, J.C., 288, 334
28500
28501 French. _See_ France
28502
28503 Friends, the, 5
28504
28505 Frontier. _See_ Land
28506
28507 Fugitive slave act, 329
28508
28509 Fulton, Robert, 231, 234
28510
28511 Fundamental articles, 5
28512
28513 Fundamental orders, 5
28514
28515
28516 Gage, General, 95, 100
28517
28518 Garfield, President, 416
28519
28520 Garrison, William Lloyd, 318
28521
28522 _Gaspee_, the, 92
28523
28524 Gates, General, 116, 120, 131
28525
28526 Genet, 177
28527
28528 George I, 66
28529
28530 George II, 4, 66, 82
28531
28532 George III, 77ff.
28533
28534 Georgia: founded, 4
28535 royal province, 49
28536 state constitution, 109
28537 _See also_ Secession
28538
28539 Germans: colonial immigration, 9ff.
28540 in Revolutionary War, 102ff.
28541 later immigration, 303
28542
28543 Germany: Samoa, 481
28544 Venezuela affair, 512
28545 World War, 596f.
28546
28547 Gerry, Elbridge, 148
28548
28549 Gettysburg, 362
28550
28551 Gibbon, Edward, 133
28552
28553 Gold: discovery, 288
28554 standard, 466, 472
28555
28556 Gompers, Samuel, 573, 608
28557
28558 Governor, royal, 49ff.
28559
28560 Grandfather clause, 386f.
28561
28562 Grangers, 460ff.
28563
28564 Grant, General, 361, 416, 480, 487
28565
28566 Great Britain. _See_ England
28567
28568 Greeley, Horace, 420
28569
28570 Greenbacks, 454ff.
28571
28572 Greenbackers, 462ff.
28573
28574 Greene, General, 117, 120
28575
28576 Grenville, 79ff.
28577
28578 Guilford, battle, 117
28579
28580
28581 Habeas corpus, 358
28582
28583 Hague conferences, 514
28584
28585 Haiti, 593
28586
28587 Hamilton, Alexander, 95, 143, 158, 162, 168ff., 231
28588
28589 Harding, W.G., 389, 619
28590
28591 Harlem Heights, battle, 114
28592
28593 Harper's Ferry, 339
28594
28595 Harrison, Benjamin, 422, 484
28596
28597 Harrison, W.H., 198, 263f.
28598
28599 Hartford convention, 201ff., 238
28600
28601 Harvard, 44
28602
28603 Hawaii, 484f.
28604
28605 Hay, John, 477, 500ff.
28606
28607 Hayne, Robert, 256
28608
28609 Hays, President, 416f.
28610
28611 Henry, Patrick, 85
28612
28613 Hepburn act, 523
28614
28615 Hill, James J., 429
28616
28617 Holland, 130
28618
28619 Holy Alliance, 205
28620
28621 Homestead act, 368, 432
28622
28623 Hooker, Thomas, 5
28624
28625 Houston, Sam, 279ff.
28626
28627 Howe, General, 118
28628
28629 Hughes, Charles E., 602
28630
28631 Huguenots, 10
28632
28633 Hume, David, 132
28634
28635 Hutchinson, Anne, 5
28636
28637
28638 Idaho, admission, 442
28639
28640 Income tax, 459, 466, 528, 588, 606
28641
28642 Inheritance tax, 606
28643
28644 Illinois, admission, 226
28645
28646 Illiteracy, 585
28647
28648 Immigration: colonial, 1-17
28649 before Civil War, 302, 367
28650 after Civil War, 410ff.
28651 problems of, 582ff.
28652
28653 Imperialism, 494ff., 498f., 502ff.
28654
28655 Implied powers, 212
28656
28657 Impressment of seamen, 194
28658
28659 Indentured servants, 13f.
28660
28661 Independence, Declaration of, 107
28662
28663 Indiana, admission, 226
28664
28665 Indians, 57ff., 81, 431
28666
28667 Industry: colonial, 28ff.
28668 growth of, 296ff.
28669 during Civil War, 366
28670 after 1865, 390ff., 401ff., 436ff., 559
28671 _See also_ Trusts
28672
28673 Initiative, the, 543
28674
28675 Injunction, 465, 580
28676
28677 Internal improvements, 260, 368
28678
28679 Interstate commerce act, 461, 529
28680
28681 Intolerable acts, 93
28682
28683 Invisible government, 537
28684
28685 Iowa, admission, 275
28686
28687 Irish, 11, 302
28688
28689 Iron. _See_ Industry
28690
28691 Irrigation, 434ff., 523ff.
28692
28693
28694 Jackson, Andrew, 201, 204, 246, 280
28695
28696 Jacobins, 174
28697
28698 James I, 3
28699
28700 James II, 65
28701
28702 Jamestown, 3, 21
28703
28704 Japan, relations with, 447, 511, 583
28705
28706 Jay, John, 128, 158, 177
28707
28708 Jefferson, Thomas: Declaration of Independence, 107
28709 Secretary of State, 162ff.
28710 political leader, 169
28711 as President, 183ff.
28712 Monroe Doctrine, 206, 231
28713
28714 Jews, migration of, 11
28715
28716 Johnson, Andrew, 365, 368, 371f.
28717
28718 Johnson, Samuel, 132
28719
28720 Joliet, 59
28721
28722 Jones, John Paul, 118
28723
28724 Judiciary: British system, 67
28725 federal, 152
28726
28727
28728 Kansas, admission, 441
28729
28730 Kansas-Nebraska bill, 333
28731
28732 Kentucky: admission, 224
28733 Resolutions, 182
28734
28735 King George's War, 59
28736
28737 King Philip's War, 57
28738
28739 King William's War, 59
28740
28741 King's College (Columbia), 45
28742
28743 Knights of Labor, 575ff.
28744
28745 Kosciusko, 121
28746
28747 Ku Klux Klan, 382
28748
28749
28750 Labor: rise of organized, 304
28751 parties, 462ff.
28752 question, 521
28753 American Federation, 573ff.
28754 legislation, 590
28755 World War, 608ff.
28756
28757 Lafayette, 121
28758
28759 La Follette, Senator, 531
28760
28761 Land: tenure 20ff.
28762 sales restricted, 80
28763 Western survey, 219
28764 federal sales policy, 220
28765 Western tenure, 228
28766 disappearance of free, 445
28767 new problems, 449
28768 _See also_ Homestead act
28769
28770 La Salle, 59
28771
28772 Lawrence, Captain, 200
28773
28774 League of Nations, 616ff.
28775
28776 Le Boeuf, Fort, 59
28777
28778 Lee, General Charles, 131
28779
28780 Lee, R.E., 357
28781
28782 Lewis and Clark expedition, 193
28783
28784 Lexington, battle, 100
28785
28786 Liberal Republicans, 420
28787
28788 Liberty loan, 606
28789
28790 Lincoln: Mexican War, 282
28791 Douglas debates, 336f.
28792 election, 341
28793 Civil War, 344ff.
28794 reconstruction, 371
28795
28796 Literacy test, 585
28797
28798 Livingston, R.R., 191
28799
28800 Locke, John, 95
28801
28802 London Company, 3
28803
28804 Long Island, battle, 114
28805
28806 Lords of trade, 67ff.
28807
28808 Louis XVI, 171ff.
28809
28810 Louisiana: ceded to Spain, 61
28811 purchase, 190ff.
28812 admission, 227
28813
28814 Loyalists. _See_ Tories
28815
28816 _Lusitania_, the, 601ff.
28817
28818
28819 McClellan, General, 362, 365
28820
28821 McCulloch _vs._ Maryland, 211
28822
28823 McKinley, William, 422, 467ff., 489ff.
28824
28825 Macaulay, Catherine, 132
28826
28827 Madison, James, 158, 197ff.
28828
28829 Maine, 325
28830
28831 _Maine_, the, 490
28832
28833 Manila Bay, battle, 492
28834
28835 Manors, colonial, 22
28836
28837 Manufactures. _See_ Industry
28838
28839 Marbury _vs._ Madison, 209
28840
28841 Marietta, 220
28842
28843 Marion, Francis, 117, 120
28844
28845 Marquette, 59
28846
28847 Marshall, John, 208ff.
28848
28849 Martineau, Harriet, 267
28850
28851 Maryland, founded, 6, 49, 109, 239, 242
28852
28853 Massachusetts: founded, 3ff.
28854 _See also_ Immigration, Royal province, Industry, Revolutionary War,
28855 Constitutions, state, Suffrage, Commerce, and Industry
28856
28857 Massachusetts Bay Company, 3
28858 founded, 3ff.
28859 _See also_ Immigration, Royal province
28860
28861 _Mayflower_ compact, 4
28862
28863 Mercantile theory, 69
28864
28865 Merchants. _See_ Commerce
28866
28867 _Merrimac_, the, 353
28868
28869 Meuse-Argonne, battle, 612
28870
28871 Mexico: and Texas, 278ff.
28872 later relations, 594f.
28873
28874 Michigan, admission, 273
28875
28876 Midnight appointees, 187
28877
28878 Milan Decree, 194
28879
28880 Militia, Revolutionary War, 122
28881
28882 Minimum wages, 551
28883
28884 Minnesota, admission, 275
28885
28886 Mississippi River, and West, 189f.
28887
28888 Missouri Compromise, 207, 227, 271, 325, 332
28889
28890 Molasses act, 71
28891
28892 Money, paper, 80, 126, 155, 369
28893
28894 _Monitor_, the, 353
28895
28896 Monroe, James, 204ff., 191
28897
28898 Monroe Doctrine, 205, 512
28899
28900 Montana, admission, 442
28901
28902 Montgomery, General, 114
28903
28904 Morris, Robert, 127
28905
28906 Mothers' pensions, 551
28907
28908 Mohawks, 57
28909
28910 Muckraking, 536f.
28911
28912 Mugwumps, 420
28913
28914 Municipal ownership, 549
28915
28916
28917 Napoleon I, 190
28918
28919 Napoleon III: Civil War, 354f.
28920 Mexico, 477
28921
28922 National Labor Union, 574
28923
28924 National road, 232
28925
28926 Nationalism, colonial, 56ff.
28927
28928 Natural rights, 95
28929
28930 Navigation acts, 69
28931
28932 Navy: in Revolution, 188
28933 War of 1812, 195
28934 Civil War, 353
28935 World War, 610.
28936 _See also_ Sea Power
28937
28938 Nebraska, admission, 441
28939
28940 Negro: Civil rights, 370ff.
28941 in agriculture, 393ff.
28942 status of, 396ff.
28943 _See also_ Slavery
28944
28945 New England: colonial times, 6ff., 35, 40ff.
28946 _See also_ Industry, Suffrage, Commerce, and Wars
28947
28948 New Hampshire: founded, 4ff.
28949 _See also_ Immigration, Royal province, Suffrage, and Constitutions,
28950 state
28951
28952 New Jersey, founded, 6.
28953 _See also_ Immigration, Royal province, Suffrage, and
28954 Constitutions, state
28955
28956 Newlands, Senator, 524
28957
28958 New Mexico, admission, 443
28959
28960 New Orleans, 59, 190
28961 battle, 201
28962
28963 Newspapers, colonial, 46ff.
28964
28965 New York: founded by Dutch, 3
28966 transferred to English, 49
28967 _See also_ Dutch, Immigration, Royal province, Commerce, Suffrage,
28968 and Constitutions, state
28969
28970 New York City, colonial, 36
28971
28972 Niagara, Fort, 59
28973
28974 Nicaragua protectorate, 594
28975
28976 Non-intercourse act, 196ff.
28977
28978 Non-importation, 84ff., 99
28979
28980 North, Lord, 100, 131, 133
28981
28982 North Carolina: founded, 6.
28983 _See also_ Royal province, Immigration, Suffrage, and Constitutions,
28984 state
28985
28986 North Dakota, admission, 442
28987
28988 Northwest Ordinance, 219
28989
28990 Nullification, 182, 251ff.
28991
28992
28993 Oglethorpe, James, 3
28994
28995 Ohio, admission, 225
28996
28997 Oklahoma, admission, 443
28998
28999 Open door policy, 500
29000
29001 Oregon, 284ff.
29002
29003 Ostend Manifesto, 486
29004
29005 Otis, James, 88, 95f.
29006
29007
29008 Pacific, American influence, 447
29009
29010 Paine, Thomas, 103, 115, 175
29011
29012 Panama Canal, 508ff.
29013
29014 Panics: 1837, 262
29015 1857, 336
29016 1873, 464
29017 1893, 465
29018
29019 Parcel post, 529
29020
29021 Parker, A.B., 527
29022
29023 Parties: rise of, 168ff.
29024 Federalists, 169ff.
29025 Anti-Federalists (Jeffersonian Republicans), 169ff.
29026 Democrats, 260
29027 Whigs, 260ff.
29028 Republicans, 334ff.
29029 Liberal Republicans, 420
29030 Constitutional union, 340
29031 minor parties, 462ff.
29032
29033 Paterson, William, 196ff.
29034
29035 Penn, William, 6
29036
29037 Pennsylvania: founded, 6
29038 _See also_ Penn, Germans, Immigration, Industry, Revolutionary War,
29039 Constitutions, state, Suffrage
29040
29041 Pennsylvania University, 45
29042
29043 Pensions, soldiers and sailors, 413, 607
29044 mothers', 551
29045
29046 Pequots, 57
29047
29048 Perry, O.H., 200
29049
29050 Pershing, General, 610
29051
29052 Philadelphia, 36, 116
29053
29054 Philippines, 492ff., 516ff., 592
29055
29056 Phillips, Wendell, 320
29057
29058 Pierce, Franklin, 295, 330
29059
29060 Pike, Z., 193, 287
29061
29062 Pilgrims, 4
29063
29064 Pinckney, Charles, 148
29065
29066 Pitt, William, 61, 79, 87, 132
29067
29068 Planting system, 22f., 25, 149, 389, 393ff.
29069
29070 Plymouth, 4, 21
29071
29072 Polk, J.K., 265, 285f.
29073
29074 Polygamy, 290f.
29075
29076 Populist party, 464
29077
29078 Porto Rico, 515, 592
29079
29080 Postal savings bank, 529
29081
29082 Preble, Commodore, 196
29083
29084 Press. _See_ Newspapers
29085
29086 Primary, direct, 541
29087
29088 Princeton, battle, 129
29089 University, 45
29090
29091 Profit sharing, 572
29092
29093 Progressive party, 531f.
29094
29095 Prohibition, 591f.
29096
29097 Proprietary colonies, 3, 6
29098
29099 Provinces, royal, 49ff.
29100
29101 Public service, 538ff.
29102
29103 Pulaski, 121
29104
29105 Pullman strike, 465
29106
29107 Pure food act, 523
29108
29109 Puritans, 3, 7, 40ff.
29110
29111
29112 Quakers, 6ff.
29113
29114 Quartering act, 83
29115
29116 Quebec act, 94
29117
29118 Queen Anne's War, 59
29119
29120 Quit rents, 21f.
29121
29122
29123 Radicals, 579
29124
29125 Railways, 298, 402, 425, 460ff., 547, 621
29126
29127 Randolph, Edmund, 146, 147, 162
29128
29129 Ratification, of Constitution, 156ff.
29130
29131 Recall, 543
29132
29133 Reclamation, 523ff.
29134
29135 Reconstruction, 370ff.
29136
29137 Referendum, the, 543
29138
29139 Reign of terror, 174
29140
29141 Republicans: Jeffersonian, 179
29142 rise of present party, 334ff.
29143 supremacy of, 412ff.
29144 _See also_ McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft
29145
29146 Resumption, 454
29147
29148 Revolution: American, 99ff.
29149 French, 171ff.
29150 Russian, 619
29151
29152 Rhode Island: founded, 4ff.
29153 self-government, 49
29154 _See also_ Suffrage
29155
29156 Roosevelt, Theodore, 492, 500ff., 531, 570
29157
29158 Royal province, 49ff.
29159
29160 Russia, 205, 207, 355, 479, 619
29161
29162 Russo-Japanese War, 511f.
29163
29164
29165 Saint Mihiel, 612
29166
29167 Samoa, 481
29168
29169 San Jacinto, 280
29170
29171 Santa Fe trail, 287
29172
29173 Santo Domingo, 480, 513, 592
29174
29175 Saratoga, battle, 116, 130
29176
29177 Savannah, 116, 131
29178
29179 Scandinavians, 278
29180
29181 Schools. _See_ Education
29182
29183 Scott, General, 283, 330
29184
29185 Scotch-Irish, 7ff.
29186
29187 Seamen's act, 590
29188
29189 Sea power: American Revolution, 118
29190 Napoleonic wars, 193ff.
29191 Civil War, 353
29192 Caribbean, 593
29193 Pacific, 447
29194 World War, 610ff.
29195
29196 Secession, 344ff.
29197
29198 Sedition: act of 1798, 180ff., 187
29199 of 1918, 608
29200
29201 Senators, popular election, 527, 541ff.
29202
29203 Seven Years' War, 60ff.
29204
29205 Sevier, John, 218
29206
29207 Seward, W.H., 322, 342
29208
29209 Shafter, General, 492
29210
29211 Shays's rebellion, 142
29212
29213 Sherman, General, 361
29214
29215 Sherman: anti-trust law, 461
29216 silver act, 458
29217
29218 Shiloh, 361
29219
29220 Shipping. _See_ Commerce
29221
29222 Shipping act, 607
29223
29224 Silver, free, 455ff.
29225
29226 Slavery: colonial, 16f.
29227 trade, 150
29228 in Northwest, 219
29229 decline in North, 316f.
29230 growth in South, 320ff.
29231 and the Constitution, 324
29232 and territories, 325ff.
29233 compromises, 350
29234 abolished, 357ff.
29235
29236 Smith, Joseph, 290
29237
29238 Socialism, 577ff.
29239
29240 Solid South, 388
29241
29242 Solomon, Hayn, 126
29243
29244 Sons of liberty, 82
29245
29246 South: economic and political views, 309ff.
29247 _See also_ Slavery and Planting system, and Reconstruction
29248
29249 South Carolina: founded, 6
29250 nullification, 253ff.
29251 _See also_ Constitutions, state, Suffrage, Slavery, and Secession
29252
29253 South Dakota, 442
29254
29255 Spain: and Revolution, 130
29256 Louisiana, 190
29257 Monroe Doctrine, 205
29258 Spanish War, 490ff.
29259
29260 Spoils system, 244, 250, 418, 536ff.
29261
29262 Stamp act, 82ff.
29263
29264 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 564
29265
29266 States: disorders under Articles of Confederation, 141
29267 constitutions, federal limits on, 155
29268 position after Civil War, 366ff.
29269 _See also_ Suffrage, Nullification, and Secession
29270
29271 Steamboat, 234
29272
29273 Stowe, H.B., 332
29274
29275 Strikes: of 1877, 581
29276 Pullman, 581
29277 coal, 526
29278 _See also_ Labor
29279
29280 Submarine campaign, 600ff.
29281
29282 Suffrage: colonial, 42, 51
29283 first state constitutions, 239
29284 White manhood, 242
29285 Negro, 374ff., 385f.
29286 Woman, 110, 562ff.
29287
29288 Sugar act, 81
29289
29290 Sumner, Charles, 319
29291
29292 Sumter, Fort, 350
29293
29294 Swedes, 3, 13
29295
29296
29297 Taft, W.H., 527ff.
29298
29299 Tammany Hall, 306, 418
29300
29301 Taney, Chief Justice, 357
29302
29303 Tariff: first, 167
29304 of 1816, 203
29305 development of, 251ff.
29306 abominations, 249, 253
29307 nullification, 251
29308 of 1842, 264
29309 Southern views of, 309ff.
29310 of 1857, 337
29311 Civil War, 367
29312 Wilson bill, 459
29313 McKinley bill, 422
29314 Dingley bill, 472
29315 Payne-Aldrich, 528
29316 Underwood, 588
29317
29318 Taxation: and representation, 149
29319 and Constitution, 154
29320 Civil War, 353
29321 and wealth, 522, 551
29322 and World War, 606
29323
29324 Tea act, 88
29325
29326 Tea party, 92
29327
29328 Tenement house reform, 549
29329
29330 Tennessee, 28, 224
29331
29332 Territories, Northwest, 219
29333 South of the Ohio, 219
29334 _See also_ Slavery and Compromise
29335
29336 Texas, 278ff.
29337
29338 Tippecanoe, battle, 198
29339
29340 Tocqueville, 267
29341
29342 Toleration, religious, 42
29343
29344 Tories, colonial, 84
29345 in Revolution, 112
29346
29347 Townshend acts, 80, 87
29348
29349 Trade, colonial, 70
29350 legislation, 70. _See_ Commerce
29351
29352 Transylvania company, 28
29353
29354 Treasury, independent, 263
29355
29356 Treaties, of 1763, 61
29357 alliance with France, 177
29358 of 1783 with England, 134
29359 Jay, 177, 218
29360 Louisiana purchase, 191f.
29361 of 1815, 201
29362 Ashburton, 265
29363 of 1848 with Mexico, 283
29364 Washington with England, 481
29365 with Spain, 492
29366 Versailles (1919), 612ff.
29367
29368 Trenton, battle, 116
29369
29370 Trollope, Mrs., 268
29371
29372 Trusts, 405ff., 461, 472ff., 521, 526, 530
29373
29374 Tweed, W.M., 418
29375
29376 Tyler, President, 264ff., 281, 349
29377
29378
29379 "Uncle Tom's Cabin," 332
29380
29381 Union party, 365
29382
29383 Unions. _See_ Labor
29384
29385 Utah, 290ff., 329, 442
29386
29387 Utilities, municipal, 548
29388
29389
29390 Vallandigham, 360
29391
29392 Valley Forge, 116, 129
29393
29394 Van Buren, Martin, 262
29395
29396 Venango, Fort, 59
29397
29398 Venezuela, 482ff., 512
29399
29400 Vermont, 223
29401
29402 Vicksburg, 361
29403
29404 Virginia: founded, 3.
29405 _See also_ Royal province, Constitutions, state, Planting system,
29406 Slavery, Secession, and Immigration
29407
29408
29409 Walpole, Sir Robert, 66
29410
29411 Wars: colonial, 57ff.
29412 Revolutionary, 99ff.
29413 of 1812, 199ff.
29414 Mexican, 282ff.
29415 Civil, 344ff.
29416 Spanish, 490ff.
29417 World, 596ff.
29418
29419 Washington: warns French, 60
29420 in French war, 63
29421 commander-in-chief, 101ff.
29422 and movement for Constitution, 142ff.
29423 as President, 166ff.
29424 Farewell Address, 178
29425
29426 Washington City, 166
29427
29428 Washington State, 442
29429
29430 Webster, 256, 265, 328
29431
29432 Welfare work, 573
29433
29434 Whigs: English, 78
29435 colonial, 83
29436 rise of party, 260ff., 334, 340
29437
29438 Whisky Rebellion, 171
29439
29440 White Camelia, 382
29441
29442 White Plains, battle, 114
29443
29444 Whitman, Marcus, 284
29445
29446 William and Mary College, 45
29447
29448 Williams, Roger, 5, 42
29449
29450 Wilmot Proviso, 326
29451
29452 Wilson, James, 147
29453
29454 Wilson, Woodrow, election, 533f.
29455 administrations, 588ff.
29456
29457 Winthrop, John, 3
29458
29459 Wisconsin, admission, 274
29460
29461 Witchcraft, 41
29462
29463 Wollstonecraft, Mary, 556
29464
29465 Women: colonial, 28
29466 Revolutionary War, 124
29467 labor, 305
29468 education and civil rights, 554ff.
29469 suffrage, 562ff.
29470
29471 Workmen's compensation, 549
29472
29473 Writs of assistance, 88
29474
29475 Wyoming, admission, 442
29476
29477
29478 X, Y, Z affair, 180
29479
29480
29481 Yale, 44
29482
29483 Young, Brigham, 290
29484
29485
29486 Zenger, Peter, 48
29487
29488 * * * * *
29489
29490 Printed in the United States of America.
29491
29492 * * * * *
29493
29494 [Transcriber's notes:
29495
29496 Punctuation normalized in all _Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._
29497
29498 Superscripted letters are denoted with a caret. For example, G^O
29499 WASHINGTON.
29500
29501 Period added after Mass on verso page. Original read "Mass, U.S.A."
29502
29503 Chapter I, page 19, period added to pp. 55-159 and pp. 242-244.
29504
29505 Chapter IV, page 61 cooperation changed to cooperation twice to match
29506 rest of text usage. Also on page 620.
29507
29508 Chapter VI, page 121 changed maneuvered to manoevered.
29509
29510 Chapter VIII, page 185, period added to "Vol." Original read "Vol III,"
29511
29512 Chapter X, page 219, changed coordinate to coordinate to reflect rest of
29513 text usage.
29514
29515 Chapter X, page 234, Italicized habeus corpus to match rest of text.
29516
29517 Chapter XI, page 257 changed reestablished to reestablished to conform
29518 to rest of text usage.
29519
29520 Chapter XI, page 259 changed reelection to reelection
29521
29522 Chapter XII, page 269 added period after "Vol" Vol. II
29523
29524 Chapter XII, page 270. Title of work reads "_Selected Documents of
29525 United States History, 1776-1761_". Research shows the document does
29526 have this title.
29527
29528 Chapter XV, page 351. changed "bout" to "about". "for only about"
29529
29530 Chapter XVI, page 385. changed "provisons" to "provisions".
29531
29532 Chapter XX, page 478. changed "aniversary" to "anniversary".
29533
29534 Chapter XXIV, page 579 word "on" changed to "one" "five commissioners,
29535 one of whom,"
29536
29537 Topical Syllabus. Missing periods added to normalize punctuation in
29538 entries such as on page 648 (4) Sixteenth Amendment--income tax
29539 (528-529).
29540
29541 Appendix, page 631, comma changed to semi-colon on "bills of credit;" to
29542 match rest of list. Also on "obligation of contracts;"
29543
29544 Index, page 657, changed "Freesoil" to Free-soil to match rest of text
29545 usage.
29546
29547 Index, page 660, space removed from "396 ff." changed to "status of,
29548 396ff."
29549
29550 Index, Page 662, added comma to States: disorders under Articles of
29551 Constitution, 141]
29552
29553
29554
29555
29556
29557 End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the United States
29558 by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
29559
29560 *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ***
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29921 Project Gutenberg's Manual of Surgery, by Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles
29922
29923 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
29924 almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
29925 re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
29926 with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
29927
29928
29929 Title: Manual of Surgery
29930 Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition.
29931
29932 Author: Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles
29933
29934 Release Date: March 4, 2006 [EBook #17921]
29935
29936 Language: English
29937
29938 Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
29939
29940 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MANUAL OF SURGERY ***
29941
29942
29943
29944
29945 Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Laura Wisewell and the Online
29946 Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
29947
29948
29949
29950
29951
29952 +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
29953 | |
29954 | Transcriber's note: The original text used the apothecaries' |
29955 | symbols here rendered as [ounce] and [dram]. The substitutions |
29956 | used for other special characters, such as the oe ligature, are |
29957 | standard. All the special characters are preserved in the UTF-8 |
29958 | and HTML versions of this text. |
29959 | |
29960 | In addition, a number of printing errors have been corrected. |
29961 | These are marked in the HTML version only. |
29962 | |
29963 +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
29964
29965
29966
29967
29968 OXFORD MEDICAL PUBLICATIONS
29969
29970
29971
29972 MANUAL OF SURGERY
29973
29974
29975
29976 BY
29977
29978 ALEXIS THOMSON, F.R.C.S.Ed.
29979 _PROFESSOR OF SURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH_
29980 SURGEON EDINBURGH ROYAL INFIRMARY
29981
29982 AND
29983
29984 ALEXANDER MILES, F.R.C.S.Ed.
29985 SURGEON EDINBURGH ROYAL INFIRMARY
29986
29987
29988 VOLUME FIRST
29989 GENERAL SURGERY
29990
29991
29992 _SIXTH EDITION REVISED_
29993 _WITH 169 ILLUSTRATIONS_
29994
29995
29996
29997 LONDON
29998 HENRY FROWDE and HODDER & STOUGHTON
29999 THE _LANCET_ BUILDING
30000 1 & 2 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C.2
30001
30002
30003
30004
30005
30006
30007 First Edition 1904
30008 Second Edition 1907
30009 Third Edition 1909
30010 Fourth Edition 1911
30011 " " Second Impression 1913
30012 Fifth Edition 1915
30013 " " Second Impression 1919
30014 Sixth Edition 1921
30015
30016
30017
30018 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
30019 MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH
30020
30021
30022
30023
30024 PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION
30025
30026
30027 Much has happened since this Manual was last revised, and many surgical
30028 lessons have been learned in the hard school of war. Some may yet have
30029 to be unlearned, and others have but little bearing on the problems
30030 presented to the civilian surgeon. Save in its broadest principles, the
30031 surgery of warfare is a thing apart from the general surgery of civil
30032 life, and the exhaustive literature now available on every aspect of it
30033 makes it unnecessary that it should receive detailed consideration in a
30034 manual for students. In preparing this new edition, therefore, we have
30035 endeavoured to incorporate only such additions to our knowledge and
30036 resources as our experience leads us to believe will prove of permanent
30037 value in civil practice.
30038
30039 For the rest, the text has been revised, condensed, and in places
30040 rearranged; a number of old illustrations have been discarded, and a
30041 greater number of new ones added. Descriptions of operative procedures
30042 have been omitted from the _Manual_, as they are to be found in the
30043 companion volume on _Operative Surgery_, the third edition of which
30044 appeared some months ago.
30045
30046 We have retained the Basle anatomical nomenclature, as extended
30047 experience has confirmed our preference for it. For the convenience of
30048 readers who still employ the old terms, these are given in brackets
30049 after the new.
30050
30051 This edition of the _Manual_ appears in three volumes; the first being
30052 devoted to General Surgery, the other two to Regional Surgery. This
30053 arrangement has enabled us to deal in a more consecutive manner than
30054 hitherto with the surgery of the Extremities, including Fractures and
30055 Dislocations.
30056
30057 We have once more to express our thanks to colleagues in the Edinburgh
30058 School and to other friends for aiding us in providing new
30059 illustrations, and for other valuable help, as well as to our publishers
30060 for their generosity in the matter of illustrations.
30061
30062 EDINBURGH,
30063 _March_ 1921.
30064
30065
30066
30067
30068 CONTENTS
30069
30070
30071 PAGE
30072 CHAPTER I
30073 REPAIR 1
30074
30075 CHAPTER II
30076 CONDITIONS WHICH INTERFERE WITH REPAIR 17
30077
30078 CHAPTER III
30079 INFLAMMATION 31
30080
30081 CHAPTER IV
30082 SUPPURATION 45
30083
30084 CHAPTER V
30085 ULCERATION AND ULCERS 68
30086
30087 CHAPTER VI
30088 GANGRENE 86
30089
30090 CHAPTER VII
30091 BACTERIAL AND OTHER WOUND INFECTIONS 107
30092
30093 CHAPTER VIII
30094 TUBERCULOSIS 133
30095
30096 CHAPTER IX
30097 SYPHILIS 146
30098
30099 CHAPTER X
30100 TUMOURS 181
30101
30102 CHAPTER XI
30103 INJURIES 218
30104
30105 CHAPTER XII
30106 METHODS OF WOUND TREATMENT 241
30107
30108 CHAPTER XIII
30109 CONSTITUTIONAL EFFECTS OF INJURIES 249
30110
30111 CHAPTER XIV
30112 THE BLOOD VESSELS 258
30113
30114 CHAPTER XV
30115 THE LYMPH VESSELS AND GLANDS 321
30116
30117 CHAPTER XVI
30118 THE NERVES 342
30119
30120 CHAPTER XVII
30121 SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUES 376
30122
30123 CHAPTER XVIII
30124 THE MUSCLES, TENDONS, AND TENDON SHEATHS 405
30125
30126 CHAPTER XIX
30127 THE BURSAE 426
30128
30129 CHAPTER XX
30130 DISEASES OF BONE 434
30131
30132 CHAPTER XXI
30133 DISEASES OF JOINTS 501
30134
30135 INDEX 547
30136
30137
30138
30139
30140 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
30141
30142
30143 FIG. PAGE
30144
30145 1. Ulcer of Back of Hand grafted from Abdominal Wall 15
30146
30147 2. Staphylococcus aureus in Pus from case of Osteomyelitis 25
30148
30149 3. Streptococci in Pus from case of Diffuse Cellulitis 26
30150
30151 4. Bacillus coli communis in Pus from Abdominal Abscess 27
30152
30153 5. Fraenkel's Pneumococci in Pus from Empyema following 28
30154 Pneumonia
30155
30156 6. Passive Hyperaemia of Hand and Forearm induced by Bier's 37
30157 Bandage
30158
30159 7. Passive Hyperaemia of Finger induced by Klapp's Suction 38
30160 Bell
30161
30162 8. Passive Hyperaemia induced by Klapp's Suction Bell for 39
30163 Inflammation of Inguinal Gland
30164
30165 9. Diagram of various forms of Whitlow 56
30166
30167 10. Charts of Acute Sapraemia 61
30168
30169 11. Chart of Hectic Fever 62
30170
30171 12. Chart of Septicaemia followed by Pyaemia 63
30172
30173 13. Chart of Pyaemia following on Acute Osteomyelitis 65
30174
30175 14. Leg Ulcers associated with Varicose Veins 71
30176
30177 15. Perforating Ulcers of Sole of Foot 74
30178
30179 16. Bazin's Disease in a girl aet. 16 75
30180
30181 17. Syphilitic Ulcers in region of Knee 76
30182
30183 18. Callous Ulcer showing thickened edges 78
30184
30185 19. Tibia and Fibula, showing changes due to Chronic Ulcer of 80
30186 Leg
30187
30188 20. Senile Gangrene of the Foot 89
30189
30190 21. Embolic Gangrene of Hand and Arm 92
30191
30192 22. Gangrene of Terminal Phalanx of Index-Finger 100
30193
30194 23. Cancrum Oris 103
30195
30196 24. Acute Bed Sores over right Buttock 104
30197
30198 25. Chart of Erysipelas occurring in a wound 108
30199
30200 26. Bacillus of Tetanus 113
30201
30202 27. Bacillus of Anthrax 120
30203
30204 28. Malignant Pustule third day after infection 122
30205
30206 29. Malignant Pustule fourteen days after infection 122
30207
30208 30. Colony of Actinomyces 126
30209
30210 31. Actinomycosis of Maxilla 128
30211
30212 32. Mycetoma, or Madura Foot 130
30213
30214 33. Tubercle bacilli 134
30215
30216 34. Tuberculous Abscess in Lumbar Region 141
30217
30218 35. Tuberculous Sinus injected through its opening in the 144
30219 Forearm with Bismuth Paste
30220
30221 36. Spirochaete pallida 147
30222
30223 37. Spirochaeta refrigerans from scraping of Vagina 148
30224
30225 38. Primary Lesion on Thumb, with Secondary Eruption on 154
30226 Forearm
30227
30228 39. Syphilitic Rupia 159
30229
30230 40. Ulcerating Gumma of Lips 169
30231
30232 41. Ulceration in inherited Syphilis 170
30233
30234 42. Tertiary Syphilitic Ulceration in region of Knee and on 171
30235 both Thumbs
30236
30237 43. Facies of Inherited Syphilis 174
30238
30239 44. Facies of Inherited Syphilis 175
30240
30241 45. Subcutaneous Lipoma 185
30242
30243 46. Pedunculated Lipoma of Buttock 186
30244
30245 47. Diffuse Lipomatosis of Neck 187
30246
30247 48. Zanthoma of Hands 188
30248
30249 49. Zanthoma of Buttock 189
30250
30251 50. Chondroma growing from Infra-Spinous Fossa of Scapula 190
30252
30253 51. Chondroma of Metacarpal Bone of Thumb 190
30254
30255 52. Cancellous Osteoma of Lower End of Femur 192
30256
30257 53. Myeloma of Shaft of Humerus 195
30258
30259 54. Fibro-myoma of Uterus 196
30260
30261 55. Recurrent Sarcoma of Sciatic Nerve 198
30262
30263 56. Sarcoma of Arm fungating 199
30264
30265 57. Carcinoma of Breast 206
30266
30267 58. Epithelioma of Lip 209
30268
30269 59. Dermoid Cyst of Ovary 213
30270
30271 60. Carpal Ganglion in a woman aet. 25 215
30272
30273 61. Ganglion on lateral aspect of Knee 216
30274
30275 62. Radiogram showing pellets embedded in Arm 228
30276
30277 63. Cicatricial Contraction following Severe Burn 236
30278
30279 64. Genealogical Tree of Haemophilic Family 278
30280
30281 65. Radiogram showing calcareous degeneration of Arteries 284
30282
30283 66. Varicose Vein with Thrombosis 289
30284
30285 67. Extensive Varix of Internal Saphena System on Left Leg 291
30286
30287 68. Mixed Naevus of Nose 296
30288
30289 69. Cirsoid Aneurysm of Forehead 299
30290
30291 70. Cirsoid Aneurysm of Orbit and Face 300
30292
30293 71. Radiogram of Aneurysm of Aorta 303
30294
30295 72. Sacculated Aneurysm of Abdominal Aorta 304
30296
30297 73. Radiogram of Innominate Aneurysm after Treatment by 309
30298 Moore-Corradi method
30299
30300 74. Thoracic Aneurysm threatening to rupture 313
30301
30302 75. Innominate Aneurysm in a woman 315
30303
30304 76. Congenital Cystic Tumour or Hygroma of Axilla 328
30305
30306 77. Tuberculous Cervical Gland with Abscess formation 331
30307
30308 78. Mass of Tuberculous Glands removed from Axilla 333
30309
30310 79. Tuberculous Axillary Glands 335
30311
30312 80. Chronic Hodgkin's Disease in boy aet. 11 337
30313
30314 81. Lymphadenoma in a woman aet. 44 338
30315
30316 82. Lympho Sarcoma removed from Groin 339
30317
30318 83. Cancerous Glands in Neck, secondary to Epithelioma of Lip 341
30319
30320 84. Stump Neuromas of Sciatic Nerve 345
30321
30322 85. Stump Neuromas, showing changes at ends of divided Nerves 354
30323
30324 86. Diffuse Enlargement of Nerves in generalised 356
30325 Neuro-Fibromatosis
30326
30327 87. Plexiform Neuroma of small Sciatic Nerve 357
30328
30329 88. Multiple Neuro-Fibromas of Skin (Molluscum fibrosum) 358
30330
30331 89. Elephantiasis Neuromatosa in a woman aet. 28 359
30332
30333 90. Drop-Wrist following Fracture of Shaft of Humerus 365
30334
30335 91. To illustrate the Loss of Sensation produced by Division 367
30336 of the Median Nerve
30337
30338 92. To illustrate Loss of Sensation produced by Complete 368
30339 Division of Ulnar Nerve
30340
30341 93. Callosities and Corns on Sole of Foot 377
30342
30343 94. Ulcerated Chilblains on Fingers 378
30344
30345 95. Carbuncle on Back of Neck 381
30346
30347 96. Tuberculous Elephantiasis 383
30348
30349 97. Elephantiasis in a woman aet. 45 387
30350
30351 98. Elephantiasis of Penis and Scrotum 388
30352
30353 99. Multiple Sebaceous Cysts or Wens 390
30354
30355 100. Sebaceous Horn growing from Auricle 392
30356
30357 101. Paraffin Epithelioma 394
30358
30359 102. Rodent Cancer of Inner Canthus 395
30360
30361 103. Rodent Cancer with destruction of contents of Orbit 396
30362
30363 104. Diffuse Melanotic Cancer of Lymphatics of Skin 398
30364
30365 105. Melanotic Cancer of Forehead with Metastasis in Lymph 399
30366 Glands
30367
30368 106. Recurrent Keloid 401
30369
30370 107. Subungual Exostosis 403
30371
30372 108. Avulsion of Tendon 410
30373
30374 109. Volkmann's Ischaemic Contracture 414
30375
30376 110. Ossification in Tendon of Ilio-psoas Muscle 417
30377
30378 111. Radiogram of Calcification and Ossification in Biceps and 418
30379 Triceps
30380
30381 112. Ossification in Muscles of Trunk in generalised Ossifying 419
30382 Myositis
30383
30384 113. Hydrops of Prepatellar Bursa 427
30385
30386 114. Section through Gouty Bursa 428
30387
30388 115. Tuberculous Disease of Sub-Deltoid Bursa 429
30389
30390 116. Great Enlargement of the Ischial Bursa 431
30391
30392 117. Gouty Disease of Bursae 432
30393
30394 118. Shaft of the Femur after Acute Osteomyelitis 444
30395
30396 119. Femur and Tibia showing results of Acute Osteomyelitis 445
30397
30398 120. Segment of Tibia resected for Brodie's Abscess 449
30399
30400 121. Radiogram of Brodie's Abscess in Lower End of Tibia 451
30401
30402 122. Sequestrum of Femur after Amputation 453
30403
30404 123. New Periosteal Bone on Surface of Femur from Amputation 454
30405 Stump
30406
30407 124. Tuberculous Osteomyelitis of Os Magnum 456
30408
30409 125. Tuberculous Disease of Tibia 457
30410
30411 126. Diffuse Tuberculous Osteomyelitis of Right Tibia 458
30412
30413 127. Advanced Tuberculous Disease in Region of Ankle 459
30414
30415 128. Tuberculous Dactylitis 460
30416
30417 129. Shortening of Middle Finger of Adult, the result of 461
30418 Tuberculous Dactylitis in Childhood
30419
30420 130. Syphilitic Disease of Skull 463
30421
30422 131. Syphilitic Hyperostosis and Sclerosis of Tibia 464
30423
30424 132. Sabre-blade Deformity of Tibia 467
30425
30426 133. Skeleton of Rickety Dwarf 470
30427
30428 134. Changes in the Skull resulting from Ostitis Deformans 474
30429
30430 135. Cadaver, illustrating the alterations in the Lower Limbs 475
30431 resulting from Ostitis Deformans
30432
30433 136. Osteomyelitis Fibrosa affecting Femora 476
30434
30435 137. Radiogram of Upper End of Femur in Osteomyelitis Fibrosa 478
30436
30437 138. Radiogram of Right Knee showing Multiple Exostoses 482
30438
30439 139. Multiple Exostoses of Limbs 483
30440
30441 140. Multiple Cartilaginous Exostoses 484
30442
30443 141. Multiple Cartilaginous Exostoses 486
30444
30445 142. Multiple Chondromas of Phalanges and Metacarpals 488
30446
30447 143. Skiagram of Multiple Chondromas 489
30448
30449 144. Multiple Chondromas in Hand 490
30450
30451 145. Radiogram of Myeloma of Humerus 492
30452
30453 146. Periosteal Sarcoma of Femur 493
30454
30455 147. Periosteal Sarcoma of Humerus 493
30456
30457 148. Chondro-Sarcoma of Scapula 494
30458
30459 149. Central Sarcoma of Femur invading Knee Joint 495
30460
30461 150. Osseous Shell of Osteo-Sarcoma of Femur 495
30462
30463 151. Radiogram of Osteo-Sarcoma of Femur 496
30464
30465 152. Radiogram of Chondro-Sarcoma of Humerus 497
30466
30467 153. Epitheliomatus Ulcer of Leg invading Tibia 499
30468
30469 154. Osseous Ankylosis of Femur and Tibia 503
30470
30471 155. Osseous Ankylosis of Knee 504
30472
30473 156. Caseating focus in Upper End of Fibula 513
30474
30475 157. Arthritis Deformans of Elbow 525
30476
30477 158. Arthritis Deformans of Knee 526
30478
30479 159. Hypertrophied Fringes of Synovial Membrane of Knee 527
30480
30481 160. Arthritis Deformans of Hands 529
30482
30483 161. Arthritis Deformans of several Joints 530
30484
30485 162. Bones of Knee in Charcot's Disease 533
30486
30487 163. Charcot's Disease of Left Knee 534
30488
30489 164. Charcot's Disease of both Ankles: front view 535
30490
30491 165. Charcot's Disease of both Ankles: back view 536
30492
30493 166. Radiogram of Multiple Loose Bodies in Knee-joint 540
30494
30495 167. Loose Body from Knee-joint 541
30496
30497 168. Multiple partially ossified Chondromas of Synovial 542
30498 Membrane from Shoulder-joint
30499
30500 169. Multiple Cartilaginous Loose Bodies from Knee-joint 543
30501
30502
30503
30504
30505 MANUAL OF SURGERY
30506
30507
30508
30509
30510 CHAPTER I
30511
30512 REPAIR
30513
30514
30515 Introduction--Process of repair--Healing by primary union--Granulation
30516 tissue--Cicatricial tissue--Modifications of process of
30517 repair--Repair in individual tissues--Transplantation or grafting
30518 of tissues--Conditions--Sources of grafts--Grafting of individual
30519 tissues--Methods.
30520
30521
30522 INTRODUCTION
30523
30524 To prolong human life and to alleviate suffering are the ultimate
30525 objects of scientific medicine. The two great branches of the healing
30526 art--Medicine and Surgery--are so intimately related that it is
30527 impossible to draw a hard-and-fast line between them, but for
30528 convenience Surgery may be defined as "the art of treating lesions and
30529 malformations of the human body by manual operations, mediate and
30530 immediate." To apply his art intelligently and successfully, it is
30531 essential that the surgeon should be conversant not only with the normal
30532 anatomy and physiology of the body and with the various pathological
30533 conditions to which it is liable, but also with the nature of the
30534 process by which repair of injured or diseased tissues is effected.
30535 Without this knowledge he is unable to recognise such deviations from
30536 the normal as result from mal-development, injury, or disease, or
30537 rationally to direct his efforts towards the correction or removal of
30538 these.
30539
30540
30541 PROCESS OF REPAIR
30542
30543 The process of repair in living tissue depends upon an inherent power
30544 possessed by vital cells of reacting to the irritation caused by injury
30545 or disease. The cells of the damaged tissues, under the influence of
30546 this irritation, undergo certain proliferative changes, which are
30547 designed to restore the normal structure and configuration of the part.
30548 The process by which this restoration is effected is essentially the
30549 same in all tissues, but the extent to which different tissues can carry
30550 the recuperative process varies. Simple structures, such as skin,
30551 cartilage, bone, periosteum, and tendon, for example, have a high power
30552 of regeneration, and in them the reparative process may result in almost
30553 perfect restitution to the normal. More complex structures, on the other
30554 hand, such as secreting glands, muscle, and the tissues of the central
30555 nervous system, are but imperfectly restored, simple cicatricial
30556 connective tissue taking the place of what has been lost or destroyed.
30557 Any given tissue can be replaced only by tissue of a similar kind, and
30558 in a damaged part each element takes its share in the reparative process
30559 by producing new material which approximates more or less closely to the
30560 normal according to the recuperative capacity of the particular tissue.
30561 The normal process of repair may be interfered with by various
30562 extraneous agencies, the most important of which are infection by
30563 disease-producing micro-organisms, the presence of foreign substances,
30564 undue movement of the affected part, and improper applications and
30565 dressings. The effect of these agencies is to delay repair or to prevent
30566 the individual tissues carrying the process to the furthest degree of
30567 which they are capable.
30568
30569 In the management of wounds and other diseased conditions the main
30570 object of the surgeon is to promote the natural reparative process by
30571 preventing or eliminating any factor by which it may be disturbed.
30572
30573 #Healing by Primary Union.#--The most favourable conditions for the
30574 progress of the reparative process are to be found in a clean-cut wound
30575 of the integument, which is uncomplicated by loss of tissue, by the
30576 presence of foreign substances, or by infection with disease-producing
30577 micro-organisms, and its edges are in contact. Such a wound in virtue of
30578 the absence of infection is said to be _aseptic_, and under these
30579 conditions healing takes place by what is called "primary union"--the
30580 "healing by first intention" of the older writers.
30581
30582 #Granulation Tissue.#--The essential and invariable medium of repair in
30583 all structures is an elementary form of new tissue known as _granulation
30584 tissue_, which is produced in the damaged area in response to the
30585 irritation caused by injury or disease. The vital reaction induced by
30586 such irritation results in dilatation of the vessels of the part,
30587 emigration of leucocytes, transudation of lymph, and certain
30588 proliferative changes in the fixed tissue cells. These changes are
30589 common to the processes of inflammation and repair; no hard-and-fast
30590 line can be drawn between these processes, and the two may go on
30591 together. It is, however, only when the proliferative changes have come
30592 to predominate that the reparative process is effectively established by
30593 the production of healthy granulation tissue.
30594
30595 _Formation of Granulation Tissue._--When a wound is made in the
30596 integument under aseptic conditions, the passage of the knife through
30597 the tissues is immediately followed by an oozing of blood, which soon
30598 coagulates on the cut surfaces. In each of the divided vessels a clot
30599 forms, and extends as far as the nearest collateral branch; and on the
30600 surface of the wound there is a microscopic layer of bruised and
30601 devitalised tissue. If the wound is closed, the narrow space between its
30602 edges is occupied by blood-clot, which consists of red and white
30603 corpuscles mixed with a quantity of fibrin, and this forms a temporary
30604 uniting medium between the divided surfaces. During the first twelve
30605 hours, the minute vessels in the vicinity of the wound dilate, and from
30606 them lymph exudes and leucocytes migrate into the tissues. In from
30607 twenty-four to thirty-six hours, the capillaries of the part adjacent to
30608 the wound begin to throw out minute buds and fine processes, which
30609 bridge the gap and form a firmer, but still temporary, connection
30610 between the two sides. Each bud begins in the wall of the capillary as a
30611 small accumulation of granular protoplasm, which gradually elongates
30612 into a filament containing a nucleus. This filament either joins with a
30613 neighbouring capillary or with a similar filament, and in time these
30614 become hollow and are filled with blood from the vessels that gave them
30615 origin. In this way a series of young _capillary loops_ is formed.
30616
30617 The spaces between these loops are filled by cells of various kinds, the
30618 most important being the _fibroblasts_, which are destined to form
30619 cicatricial fibrous tissue. These fibroblasts are large irregular
30620 nucleated cells derived mainly from the proliferation of the fixed
30621 connective-tissue cells of the part, and to a less extent from the
30622 lymphocytes and other mononuclear cells which have migrated from the
30623 vessels. Among the fibroblasts, larger multi-nucleated cells--_giant
30624 cells_--are sometimes found, particularly when resistant substances,
30625 such as silk ligatures or fragments of bone, are embedded in the
30626 tissues, and their function seems to be to soften such substances
30627 preliminary to their being removed by the phagocytes. Numerous
30628 _polymorpho-nuclear leucocytes_, which have wandered from the vessels,
30629 are also present in the spaces. These act as phagocytes, their function
30630 being to remove the red corpuscles and fibrin of the original clot, and
30631 this performed, they either pass back into the circulation in virtue of
30632 their amoeboid movement, or are themselves eaten up by the growing
30633 fibroblasts. Beyond this phagocytic action, they do not appear to play
30634 any direct part in the reparative process. These young capillary loops,
30635 with their supporting cells and fluids, constitute granulation tissue,
30636 which is usually fully formed in from three to five days, after which it
30637 begins to be replaced by cicatricial or scar tissue.
30638
30639 _Formation of Cicatricial Tissue._--The transformation of this temporary
30640 granulation tissue into scar tissue is effected by the fibroblasts,
30641 which become elongated and spindle-shaped, and produce in and around
30642 them a fine fibrillated material which gradually increases in quantity
30643 till it replaces the cell protoplasm. In this way white fibrous tissue
30644 is formed, the cells of which are arranged in parallel lines and
30645 eventually become grouped in bundles, constituting fully formed white
30646 fibrous tissue. In its growth it gradually obliterates the capillaries,
30647 until at the end of two, three, or four weeks both vessels and cells
30648 have almost entirely disappeared, and the original wound is occupied by
30649 cicatricial tissue. In course of time this tissue becomes consolidated,
30650 and the cicatrix undergoes a certain amount of contraction--_cicatricial
30651 contraction_.
30652
30653 _Healing of Epidermis._--While these changes are taking place in the
30654 deeper parts of the wound, the surface is being covered over by
30655 _epidermis_ growing in from the margins. Within twelve hours the cells
30656 of the rete Malpighii close to the cut edge begin to sprout on to the
30657 surface of the wound, and by their proliferation gradually cover the
30658 granulations with a thin pink pellicle. As the epithelium increases in
30659 thickness it assumes a bluish hue and eventually the cells become
30660 cornified and the epithelium assumes a greyish-white colour.
30661
30662 _Clinical Aspects._--So long as the process of repair is not complicated
30663 by infection with micro-organisms, there is no interference with the
30664 general health of the patient. The temperature remains normal; the
30665 circulatory, gastro-intestinal, nervous, and other functions are
30666 undisturbed; locally, the part is cool, of natural colour and free from
30667 pain.
30668
30669 #Modifications of the Process of Repair.#--The process of repair by
30670 primary union, above described, is to be looked upon as the type of all
30671 reparative processes, such modifications as are met with depending
30672 merely upon incidental differences in the conditions present, such as
30673 loss of tissue, infection by micro-organisms, etc.
30674
30675 _Repair after Loss or Destruction of Tissue._--When the edges of a wound
30676 cannot be approximated either because tissue has been lost, for example
30677 in excising a tumour or because a drainage tube or gauze packing has
30678 been necessary, a greater amount of granulation tissue is required to
30679 fill the gap, but the process is essentially the same as in the ideal
30680 method of repair.
30681
30682 The raw surface is first covered by a layer of coagulated blood and
30683 fibrin. An extensive new formation of capillary loops and fibroblasts
30684 takes place towards the free surface, and goes on until the gap is
30685 filled by a fine velvet-like mass of granulation tissue. This
30686 granulation tissue is gradually replaced by young cicatricial tissue,
30687 and the surface is covered by the ingrowth of epithelium from the edges.
30688
30689 This modification of the reparative process can be best studied
30690 clinically in a recent wound which has been packed with gauze. When the
30691 plug is introduced, the walls of the cavity consist of raw tissue with
30692 numerous oozing blood vessels. On removing the packing on the fifth or
30693 sixth day, the surface is found to be covered with minute, red,
30694 papillary granulations, which are beginning to fill up the cavity. At
30695 the edges the epithelium has proliferated and is covering over the newly
30696 formed granulation tissue. As lymph and leucocytes escape from the
30697 exposed surface there is a certain amount of serous or sero-purulent
30698 discharge. On examining the wound at intervals of a few days, it is
30699 found that the granulation tissue gradually increases in amount till the
30700 gap is completely filled up, and that coincidently the epithelium
30701 spreads in and covers over its surface. In course of time the epithelium
30702 thickens, and as the granulation tissue is slowly replaced by young
30703 cicatricial tissue, which has a peculiar tendency to contract and so to
30704 obliterate the blood vessels in it, the scar that is left becomes
30705 smooth, pale, and depressed. This method of healing is sometimes spoken
30706 of as "healing by granulation"--although, as we have seen, it is by
30707 granulation that all repair takes place.
30708
30709 _Healing by Union of two Granulating Surfaces._--In gaping wounds union
30710 is sometimes obtained by bringing the two surfaces into apposition after
30711 each has become covered with healthy granulations. The exudate on the
30712 surfaces causes them to adhere, capillary loops pass from one to the
30713 other, and their final fusion takes place by the further development of
30714 granulation and cicatricial tissue.
30715
30716 _Reunion of Parts entirely Separated from the Body._--Small portions of
30717 tissue, such as the end of a finger, the tip of the nose or a portion of
30718 the external ear, accidentally separated from the body, if accurately
30719 replaced and fixed in position, occasionally adhere by primary union.
30720
30721 In the course of operations also, portions of skin, fascia, or bone, or
30722 even a complete joint may be transplanted, and unite by primary union.
30723
30724 _Healing under a Scab._--When a small superficial wound is exposed to
30725 the air, the blood and serum exuded on its surface may dry and form a
30726 hard crust or _scab_, which serves to protect the surface from external
30727 irritation in the same way as would a dry pad of sterilised gauze. Under
30728 this scab the formation of granulation tissue, its transformation into
30729 cicatricial tissue, and the growth of epithelium on the surface, go on
30730 until in the course of time the crust separates, leaving a scar.
30731
30732 _Healing by Blood-clot._--In subcutaneous wounds, for example tenotomy,
30733 in amputation wounds, and in wounds made in excising tumours or in
30734 operating upon bones, the space left between the divided tissues becomes
30735 filled with blood-clot, which acts as a temporary scaffolding in which
30736 granulation tissue is built up. Capillary loops grow into the coagulum,
30737 and migrated leucocytes from the adjacent blood vessels destroy the red
30738 corpuscles, and are in turn disposed of by the developing fibroblasts,
30739 which by their growth and proliferation fill up the gap with young
30740 connective tissue. It will be evident that this process only differs
30741 from healing by primary union in the _amount_ of blood-clot that is
30742 present.
30743
30744 _Presence of a Foreign Body._--When an aseptic foreign body is present
30745 in the tissues, _e.g._ a piece of unabsorbable chromicised catgut, the
30746 healing process may be modified. After primary union has taken place the
30747 scar may broaden, become raised above the surface, and assume a
30748 bluish-brown colour; the epidermis gradually thins and gives way,
30749 revealing the softened portion of catgut, which can be pulled out in
30750 pieces, after which the wound rapidly heals and resumes a normal
30751 appearance.
30752
30753
30754 REPAIR IN INDIVIDUAL TISSUES
30755
30756 _Skin and Connective Tissue._--The mode of regeneration of these tissues
30757 under aseptic conditions has already been described as the type of ideal
30758 repair. In highly vascular parts, such as the face, the reparative
30759 process goes on with great rapidity, and even extensive wounds may be
30760 firmly united in from three to five days. Where the anastomosis is less
30761 free the process is more prolonged. The more highly organised elements
30762 of the skin, such as the hair follicles, the sweat and sebaceous glands,
30763 are imperfectly reproduced; hence the scar remains smooth, dry, and
30764 hairless.
30765
30766 _Epithelium._--Epithelium is only reproduced from pre-existing
30767 epithelium, and, as a rule, from one of a similar type, although
30768 metaplastic transformation of cells of one kind of epithelium into
30769 another kind can take place. Thus a granulating surface may be covered
30770 entirely by the ingrowing of the cutaneous epithelium from the margins;
30771 or islets, originating in surviving cells of sebaceous glands or sweat
30772 glands, or of hair follicles, may spring up in the centre of the raw
30773 area. Such islets may also be due to the accidental transference of
30774 loose epithelial cells from the edges. Even the fluid from a blister, in
30775 virtue of the isolated cells of the rete Malpighii which it contains, is
30776 capable of starting epithelial growth on a granulating surface. Hairs
30777 and nails may be completely regenerated if a sufficient amount of the
30778 hair follicles or of the nail matrix has escaped destruction. The
30779 epithelium of a mucous membrane is regenerated in the same way as that
30780 on a cutaneous surface.
30781
30782 Epithelial cells have the power of living for some time after being
30783 separated from their normal surroundings, and of growing again when once
30784 more placed in favourable circumstances. On this fact the practice of
30785 skin grafting is based (p. 11).
30786
30787 _Cartilage._--When an articular cartilage is divided by incision or by
30788 being implicated in a fracture involving the articular end of a bone, it
30789 is repaired by ordinary cicatricial fibrous tissue derived from the
30790 proliferating cells of the perichondrium. Cartilage being a non-vascular
30791 tissue, the reparative process goes on slowly, and it may be many weeks
30792 before it is complete.
30793
30794 It is possible for a metaplastic transformation of connective-tissue
30795 cells into cartilage cells to take place, the characteristic hyaline
30796 matrix being secreted by the new cells. This is sometimes observed as an
30797 intermediary stage in the healing of fractures, especially in young
30798 bones. It may also take place in the regeneration of lost portions of
30799 cartilage, provided the new tissue is so situated as to constitute part
30800 of a joint and to be subjected to pressure by an opposing cartilaginous
30801 surface. This is illustrated by what takes place after excision of
30802 joints where it is desired to restore the function of the articulation.
30803 By carrying out movements between the constituent parts, the fibrous
30804 tissue covering the ends of the bones becomes moulded into shape, its
30805 cells take on the characters of cartilage cells, and, forming a matrix,
30806 so develop a new cartilage.
30807
30808 Conversely, it is observed that when articular cartilage is no longer
30809 subjected to pressure by an opposing cartilage, it tends to be
30810 transformed into fibrous tissue, as may be seen in deformities attended
30811 with displacement of articular surfaces, such as hallux valgus and
30812 club-foot.
30813
30814 After fractures of costal cartilage or of the cartilages of the larynx
30815 the cicatricial tissue may be ultimately replaced by bone.
30816
30817 _Tendons._--When a tendon is divided, for example by subcutaneous
30818 tenotomy, the end nearer the muscle fibres is drawn away from the other,
30819 leaving a gap which is speedily filled by blood-clot. In the course of a
30820 few days this clot becomes permeated by granulation tissue, the
30821 fibroblasts of which are derived from the sheath of the tendon, the
30822 surrounding connective tissue, and probably also from the divided ends
30823 of the tendon itself. These fibroblasts ultimately develop into typical
30824 tendon cells, and the fibres which they form constitute the new tendon
30825 fibres. Under aseptic conditions repair is complete in from two to three
30826 weeks. In the course of the reparative process the tendon and its sheath
30827 may become adherent, which leads to impaired movement and stiffness. If
30828 the ends of an accidentally divided tendon are at once brought into
30829 accurate apposition and secured by sutures, they unite directly with a
30830 minimum amount of scar tissue, and function is perfectly restored.
30831
30832 _Muscle._--Unstriped muscle does not seem to be capable of being
30833 regenerated to any but a moderate degree. If the ends of a divided
30834 striped muscle are at once brought into apposition by stitches, primary
30835 union takes place with a minimum of intervening fibrous tissue. The
30836 nuclei of the muscle fibres in close proximity to this young cicatricial
30837 tissue proliferate, and a few new muscle fibres may be developed, but
30838 any gross loss of muscular tissue is replaced by a fibrous cicatrix. It
30839 would appear that portions of muscle transplanted from animals to fill
30840 up gaps in human muscle are similarly replaced by fibrous tissue. When a
30841 muscle is paralysed from loss of its nerve supply and undergoes complete
30842 degeneration, it is not capable of being regenerated, even should the
30843 integrity of the nerve be restored, and so its function is permanently
30844 lost.
30845
30846 _Secretory Glands._--The regeneration of secretory glands is usually
30847 incomplete, cicatricial tissue taking the place of the glandular
30848 substance which has been destroyed. In wounds of the liver, for example,
30849 the gap is filled by fibrous tissue, but towards the periphery of the
30850
30851 wound the liver cells proliferate and a certain amount of regeneration
30852 takes place. In the kidney also, repair mainly takes place by
30853 cicatricial tissue, and although a few collecting tubules may be
30854 reformed, no regeneration of secreting tissue takes place. After the
30855 operation of decapsulation of the kidney a new capsule is formed, and
30856 during the process young blood vessels permeate the superficial parts
30857 of the kidney and temporarily increase its blood supply, but in the
30858 consolidation of the new fibrous tissue these vessels are ultimately
30859 obliterated. This does not prove that the operation is useless, as the
30860 temporary improvement of the circulation in the kidney may serve to tide
30861 the patient over a critical period of renal insufficiency.
30862
30863 _Stomach and Intestine._--Provided the peritoneal surfaces are
30864 accurately apposed, wounds of the stomach and intestine heal with great
30865 rapidity. Within a few hours the peritoneal surfaces are glued together
30866 by a thin layer of fibrin and leucocytes, which is speedily organised
30867 and replaced by fibrous tissue. Fibrous tissue takes the place of the
30868 muscular elements, which are not regenerated. The mucous lining is
30869 restored by ingrowth from the margins, and there is evidence that some
30870 of the secreting glands may be reproduced.
30871
30872 Hollow viscera, like the oesophagus and urinary bladder, in so far
30873 as they are not covered by peritoneum, heal less rapidly.
30874
30875 _Nerve Tissues._--There is no trustworthy evidence that regeneration of
30876 the tissues of the brain or spinal cord in man ever takes place. Any
30877 loss of substance is replaced by cicatricial tissue.
30878
30879 The repair of _Bone_, _Blood Vessels_, and _Peripheral Nerves_ is more
30880 conveniently considered in the chapters dealing with these structures.
30881
30882 #Rate of Healing.#--While the rate at which wounds heal is remarkably
30883 constant there are certain factors that influence it in one direction or
30884 the other. Healing is more rapid when the edges are in contact, when
30885 there is a minimum amount of blood-clot between them, when the patient
30886 is in normal health and the vitality of the tissues has not been
30887 impaired. Wounds heal slightly more quickly in the young than in the
30888 old, although the difference is so small that it can only be
30889 demonstrated by the most careful observations.
30890
30891 Certain tissues take longer to heal than others: for example, a fracture
30892 of one of the larger long bones takes about six weeks to unite, and
30893 divided nerve trunks take much longer--about a year.
30894
30895 Wounds of certain parts of the body heal more quickly than others: those
30896 of the scalp, face, and neck, for example, heal more quickly than those
30897 over the buttock or sacrum, probably because of their greater
30898 vascularity.
30899
30900 The extent of the wound influences the rate of healing; it is only
30901
30902 natural that a long and deep wound should take longer to heal than a
30903 short and superficial one, because there is so much more work to be
30904 done in the conversion of blood-clot into granulation tissue, and this
30905 again into scar tissue that will be strong enough to stand the strain on
30906 the edges of the wound.
30907
30908
30909 THE TRANSPLANTATION OR GRAFTING OF TISSUES
30910
30911 Conditions are not infrequently met with in which healing is promoted
30912 and restoration of function made possible by the transference of a
30913 portion of tissue from one part of the body to another; the tissue
30914 transferred is known as the _graft_ or the _transplant_. The simplest
30915 example of grafting is the transplantation of skin.
30916
30917 In order that the graft may survive and have a favourable chance of
30918 "taking," as it is called, the transplanted tissue must retain its
30919 vitality until it has formed an organic connection with the tissue in
30920 which it is placed, so that it may derive the necessary nourishment from
30921 its new bed. When these conditions are fulfilled the tissues of the
30922 graft continue to proliferate, producing new tissue elements to replace
30923 those that are lost and making it possible for the graft to become
30924 incorporated with the tissue with which it is in contact.
30925
30926 Dead tissue, on the other hand, can do neither of these things; it is
30927 only capable of acting as a model, or, at the most, as a scaffolding for
30928 such mobile tissue elements as may be derived from, the parent tissue
30929 with which the graft is in contact: a portion of sterilised marine
30930 sponge, for example, may be observed to become permeated with
30931 granulation tissue when it is embedded in the tissues.
30932
30933 A successful graft of living tissue is not only capable of regeneration,
30934 but it acquires a system of lymph and blood vessels, so that in time it
30935 bleeds when cut into, and is permeated by new nerve fibres spreading in
30936 from the periphery towards the centre.
30937
30938 It is instructive to associate the period of survival of the different
30939 tissues of the body after death, with their capacity of being used for
30940 grafting purposes; the higher tissues such as those of the central
30941 nervous system and highly specialised glandular tissues like those of
30942 the kidney lose their vitality quickly after death and are therefore
30943 useless for grafting; connective tissues, on the other hand, such as
30944 fat, cartilage, and bone retain their vitality for several hours after
30945 death, so that when they are transplanted, they readily "take" and do
30946 all that is required of them: the same is true of the skin and its
30947 appendages.
30948
30949 _Sources of Grafts._--It is convenient to differentiate between
30950 _autoplastic_ grafts, that is those derived from the same individual;
30951 _homoplastic_ grafts, derived from another animal of the same species;
30952 and _heteroplastic_ grafts, derived from an animal of another species.
30953 Other conditions being equal, the prospects of success are greatest with
30954 autoplastic grafts, and these are therefore preferred whenever possible.
30955
30956 There are certain details making for success that merit attention: the
30957 graft must not be roughly handled or allowed to dry, or be subjected to
30958 chemical irritation; it must be brought into accurate contact with the
30959 new soil, no blood-clot intervening between the two, no movement of the
30960 one upon the other should be possible and all infection must be
30961 excluded; it will be observed that these are exactly the same conditions
30962 that permit of the primary healing of wounds, with which of course the
30963 healing of grafts is exactly comparable.
30964
30965 _Preservation of Tissues for Grafting._--It was at one time believed
30966 that tissues might be taken from the operating theatre and kept in cold
30967 storage until they were required. It is now agreed that tissues which
30968 have been separated from the body for some time inevitably lose their
30969 vitality, become incapable of regeneration, and are therefore unsuited
30970 for grafting purposes. If it is intended to preserve a portion of tissue
30971 for future grafting, it should be embedded in the subcutaneous tissue of
30972 the abdominal wall until it is wanted; this has been carried out with
30973 portions of costal cartilage and of bone.
30974
30975
30976 INDIVIDUAL TISSUES AS GRAFTS
30977
30978 #The Blood# lends itself in an ideal manner to transplantation, or, as
30979 it has long been called, _transfusion_. Being always a homoplastic
30980 transfer, the new blood is not always tolerated by the old, in which
30981 case biochemical changes occur, resulting in haemolysis, which
30982 corresponds to the disintegration of other unsuccessful homoplastic
30983 grafts. (See article on Transfusion, _Op. Surg._, p. 37.)
30984
30985 #The Skin.#--The skin was the first tissue to be used for grafting
30986 purposes, and it is still employed with greater frequency than any
30987 other, as lesions causing defects of skin are extremely common and
30988 without the aid of grafts are tedious in healing.
30989
30990 Skin grafts may be applied to a raw surface or to one that is covered
30991 with granulations.
30992
30993 _Skin grafting of raw surfaces_ is commonly indicated after operations
30994 for malignant disease in which considerable areas of skin must be
30995 sacrificed, and after accidents, such as avulsion of the scalp by
30996 machinery.
30997
30998 _Skin grafting of granulating surfaces_ is chiefly employed to promote
30999 healing in the large defects of skin caused by severe burns; the
31000 grafting is carried out when the surface is covered by a uniform layer
31001 of healthy granulations and before the inevitable contraction of scar
31002 tissue makes itself manifest. Before applying the grafts it is usual to
31003 scrape away the granulations until the young fibrous tissue underneath
31004 is exposed, but, if the granulations are healthy and can be rendered
31005 aseptic, the grafts may be placed on them directly.
31006
31007 If it is decided to scrape away the granulations, the oozing must be
31008 arrested by pressure with a pad of gauze, a sheet of dental rubber or
31009 green protective is placed next the raw surface to prevent the gauze
31010 adhering and starting the bleeding afresh when it is removed.
31011
31012 #Methods of Skin-Grafting.#--Two methods are employed: one in which the
31013 epidermis is mainly or exclusively employed--epidermis or epithelial
31014 grafting; the other, in which the graft consists of the whole thickness
31015 of the true skin--cutis-grafting.
31016
31017 _Epidermis or Epithelial Grafting._--The method introduced by the late
31018 Professor Thiersch of Leipsic is that almost universally practised. It
31019 consists in transplanting strips of epidermis shaved from the surface of
31020 the skin, the razor passing through the tips of the papillae, which
31021 appear as tiny red points yielding a moderate ooze of blood.
31022
31023 The strips are obtained from the front and lateral aspects of the thigh
31024 or upper arm, the skin in those regions being pliable and comparatively
31025 free from hairs.
31026
31027 They are cut with a sharp hollow-ground razor or with Thiersch's
31028 grafting knife, the blade of which is rinsed in alcohol and kept
31029 moistened with warm saline solution. The cutting is made easier if the
31030 skin is well stretched and kept flat and perfectly steady, the
31031 operator's left hand exerting traction on the skin behind, the hands of
31032 the assistant on the skin in front, one above and the other below the
31033 seat of operation. To ensure uniform strips being cut, the razor is kept
31034 parallel with the surface and used with a short, rapid, sawing movement,
31035 so that, with a little practice, grafts six or eight inches long by one
31036 or two inches broad can readily be cut. The patient is given a general
31037 anaesthetic, or regional anaesthesia is obtained by injections of a
31038 solution of one per cent. novocain into the line of the lateral and
31039 middle cutaneous nerves; the disinfection of the skin is carried out on
31040 the usual lines, any chemical agent being finally got rid of, however,
31041 by means of alcohol followed by saline solution.
31042
31043 The strips of epidermis wrinkle up on the knife and are directly
31044 transferred to the surface, for which they should be made to form a
31045 complete carpet, slightly overlapping the edges of the area and of one
31046 another; some blunt instrument is used to straighten out the strips,
31047 which are then subjected to firm pressure with a pad of gauze to express
31048 blood and air-bells and to ensure accurate contact, for this must be as
31049 close as that between a postage stamp and the paper to which it is
31050 affixed.
31051
31052 As a dressing for the grafted area and of that also from which the
31053 grafts have been taken, gauze soaked in _liquid paraffin_--the patent
31054 variety known as _ambrine_ is excellent--appears to be the best; the
31055 gauze should be moistened every other day or so with fresh paraffin, so
31056 that, at the end of a week, when the grafts should have united, the
31057 gauze can be removed without risk of detaching them. _Dental wax_ is
31058 another useful type of dressing; as is also _picric acid_ solution. Over
31059 the gauze, there is applied a thick layer of cotton wool, and the whole
31060 dressing is kept in place by a firmly applied bandage, and in the case
31061 of the limbs some form of splint should be added to prevent movement.
31062
31063 A dressing may be dispensed with altogether, the grafts being protected
31064 by a wire cage such as is used after vaccination, but they tend to dry
31065 up and come to resemble a scab.
31066
31067 When the grafts have healed, it is well to protect them from injury and
31068 to prevent them drying up and cracking by the liberal application of
31069 lanoline or vaseline.
31070
31071 The new skin is at first insensitive and is fixed to the underlying
31072 connective tissue or bone, but in course of time (from six weeks
31073 onwards) sensation returns and the formation of elastic tissue beneath
31074 renders the skin pliant and movable so that it can be pinched up between
31075 the finger and thumb.
31076
31077 _Reverdin's_ method consists in planting out pieces of skin not bigger
31078 than a pin-head over a granulating surface. It is seldom employed.
31079
31080 _Grafts of the Cutis Vera._--Grafts consisting of the entire thickness
31081 of the true skin were specially advocated by Wolff and are often
31082 associated with his name. They should be cut oval or spindle-shaped, to
31083 facilitate the approximation of the edges of the resulting wound. The
31084 graft should be cut to the exact size of the surface it is to cover;
31085 Gillies believes that tension of the graft favours its taking. These
31086 grafts may be placed either on a fresh raw surface or on healthy
31087 granulations. It is sometimes an advantage to stitch them in position,
31088 especially on the face. The dressing and the after-treatment are the
31089 same as in epidermis grafting.
31090
31091 There is a degree of uncertainty about the graft retaining its vitality
31092 long enough to permit of its deriving the necessary nourishment from its
31093 new surroundings; in a certain number of cases the flap dies and is
31094 thrown off as a slough--moist or dry according to the presence or
31095 absence of septic infection.
31096
31097 The technique for cutis-grafting must be without a flaw, and the asepsis
31098 absolute; there must not only be a complete absence of movement, but
31099 there must be no traction on the flap that will endanger its blood
31100 supply.
31101
31102 Owing to the uncertainty in the results of cutis-grafting the
31103 _two-stage_ or _indirect method_ has been introduced, and its almost
31104 uniform success has led to its sphere of application being widely
31105 extended. The flap is raised as in the direct method but is left
31106 attached at one of its margins for a period ranging from 14 to 21 days
31107 until its blood supply from its new bed is assured; the detachment is
31108 then made complete. The blood supply of the proposed flap may influence
31109 its selection and the way in which it is fashioned; for example, a flap
31110 cut from the side of the head to fill a defect in the cheek, having in
31111 its margin of attachment or pedicle the superficial temporal artery, is
31112 more likely to take than a flap cut with its base above.
31113
31114 Another modification is to raise the flap but leave it connected at both
31115 ends like the piers of a bridge; this method is well suited to defects
31116 of skin on the dorsum of the fingers, hand and forearm, the bridge of
31117 skin is raised from the abdominal wall and the hand is passed beneath it
31118 and securely fixed in position; after an interval of 14 to 21 days, when
31119 the flap is assured of its blood supply, the piers of the bridge are
31120 divided (Fig. 1). With undermining it is usually easy to bring the
31121 edges of the gap in the abdominal wall together, even in children; the
31122 skin flap on the dorsum of the hand appears rather thick and
31123 prominent--almost like the pad of a boxing-glove--for some time, but
31124 the restoration of function in the capacity to flex the fingers is
31125 gratifying in the extreme.
31126
31127 [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Ulcer of back of Hand covered by flap of skin
31128 raised from anterior abdominal wall. The lateral edges of the flap are
31129 divided after the graft has adhered.]
31130
31131 The indirect element of this method of skin-grafting may be carried
31132 still further by transferring the flap of skin first to one part of the
31133 body and then, after it has taken, transferring it to a third part.
31134 Gillies has especially developed this method in the remedying of
31135 deformities of the face caused by gunshot wounds and by petrol burns in
31136 air-men. A rectangular flap of skin is marked out in the neck and chest,
31137 the lateral margins of the flap are raised sufficiently to enable them
31138 to be brought together so as to form a tube of skin: after the
31139 circulation has been restored, the lower end of the tube is detached and
31140 is brought up to the lip or cheek, or eyelid, where it is wanted; when
31141 this end has derived its new blood supply, the other end is detached
31142 from the neck and brought up to where it is wanted. In this way, skin
31143 from the chest may be brought up to form a new forehead and eyelids.
31144
31145 Grafts of _mucous membrane_ are used to cover defects in the lip, cheek,
31146 and conjunctiva. The technique is similar to that employed in
31147 skin-grafting; the sources of mucous membrane are limited and the
31148 element of septic infection cannot always be excluded.
31149
31150 _Fat._--Adipose tissue has a low vitality, but it is easily retained and
31151 it readily lends itself to transplantation. Portions of fat are often
31152 obtainable at operations--from the omentum, for example, otherwise the
31153 subcutaneous fat of the buttock is the most accessible; it may be
31154 employed to fill up cavities of all kinds in order to obtain more rapid
31155 and sounder healing and also to remedy deformity, as in filling up a
31156 depression in the cheek or forehead. It is ultimately converted into
31157 ordinary connective tissue _pari passu_ with the absorption of the fat.
31158
31159 The _fascia lata of the thigh_ is widely and successfully used as a
31160 graft to fill defects in the dura mater, and interposed between the
31161 bones of a joint--if the articular cartilage has been destroyed--to
31162 prevent the occurrence of ankylosis.
31163
31164 The _peritoneum_ of hydrocele and hernial sacs and of the omentum
31165 readily lends itself to transplantation.
31166
31167 _Cartilage and bone_, next to skin, are the tissues most frequently
31168 employed for grafting purposes; their sphere of action is so extensive
31169 and includes so much of technical detail in their employment, that they
31170 will be considered later with the surgery of the bones and joints and
31171 with the methods of re-forming the nose.
31172
31173 _Tendons and blood vessels_ readily lend themselves to transplantation
31174 and will also be referred to later.
31175
31176 _Muscle and nerve_, on the other hand, do not retain their vitality when
31177 severed from their surroundings and do not functionate as grafts except
31178 for their connective-tissue elements, which it goes without saying are
31179 more readily obtainable from other sources.
31180
31181 Portions of the _ovary_ and of the _thyreoid_ have been successfully
31182 transplanted into the subcutaneous cellular tissue of the abdominal wall
31183 by Tuffier and others. In these new surroundings, the ovary or thyreoid
31184 is vascularised and has been shown to functionate, but there is not
31185 sufficient regeneration of the essential tissue elements to "carry on";
31186 the secreting tissue is gradually replaced by connective tissue and the
31187 special function comes to an end. Even such temporary function may,
31188 however, tide a patient over a difficult period.
31189
31190
31191
31192
31193 CHAPTER II
31194
31195 CONDITIONS WHICH INTERFERE WITH REPAIR
31196
31197
31198 SURGICAL BACTERIOLOGY
31199
31200 Want of rest--Irritation--Unhealthy tissues--Pathogenic bacteria.
31201 SURGICAL BACTERIOLOGY--General characters of
31202 bacteria--Classification of bacteria--Conditions of bacterial
31203 life--Pathogenic powers of bacteria--Results of bacterial
31204 growth--Death of bacteria--Immunity--Antitoxic sera--Identification
31205 of bacteria--Pyogenic bacteria.
31206
31207 In the management of wounds and other surgical conditions it is
31208 necessary to eliminate various extraneous influences which tend to delay
31209 or arrest the natural process of repair.
31210
31211 Of these, one of the most important is undue movement of the affected
31212 part. "The first and great requisite for the restoration of injured
31213 parts is _rest_," said John Hunter; and physiological and mechanical
31214 rest as the chief of natural therapeutic agents was the theme of John
31215 Hilton's classical work--_Rest and Pain_. In this connection it must be
31216 understood that "rest" implies more than the mere state of physical
31217 repose: all physiological as well as mechanical function must be
31218 prevented as far as is possible. For instance, the constituent bones of
31219 a joint affected with tuberculosis must be controlled by splints or
31220 other appliances so that no movement can take place between them, and
31221 the limb may not be used for any purpose; physiological rest may be
31222 secured to an inflamed colon by making an artificial anus in the caecum;
31223 the activity of a diseased kidney may be diminished by regulating the
31224 quantity and quality of the fluids taken by the patient.
31225
31226 Another source of interference with repair in wounds is _irritation_,
31227 either by mechanical agents such as rough, unsuitable dressings,
31228 bandages, or ill-fitting splints; or by chemical agents in the form of
31229 strong lotions or other applications.
31230
31231 An _unhealthy or devitalised condition of the patient's tissues_ also
31232 hinders the reparative process. Bruised or lacerated skin heals less
31233 kindly than skin cut with a smooth, sharp instrument; and persistent
31234
31235 venous congestion of a part, such as occurs, for example, in the leg
31236 when the veins are varicose, by preventing the access of healthy blood,
31237 tends to delay the healing of open wounds. The existence of grave
31238 constitutional disease, such as Bright's disease, diabetes, syphilis,
31239 scurvy, or alcoholism, also impedes healing.
31240
31241 Infection by disease-producing micro-organisms or _pathogenic bacteria_
31242 is, however, the most potent factor in disturbing the natural process of
31243 repair in wounds.
31244
31245
31246 SURGICAL BACTERIOLOGY
31247
31248 The influence of micro-organisms in the causation of disease, and the
31249 role played by them in interfering with the natural process of repair,
31250 are so important that the science of applied bacteriology has now come
31251 to dominate every department of surgery, and it is from the standpoint
31252 of bacteriology that nearly all surgical questions have to be
31253 considered.
31254
31255 The term _sepsis_ as now used in clinical surgery no longer retains its
31256 original meaning as synonymous with "putrefaction," but is employed to
31257 denote all conditions in which bacterial infection has taken place, and
31258 more particularly those in which pyogenic bacteria are present. In the
31259 same way the term _aseptic_ conveys the idea of freedom from all forms
31260 of bacteria, putrefactive or otherwise; and the term _antiseptic_ is
31261 used to denote a power of counteracting bacteria and their products.
31262
31263 #General Characters of Bacteria.#--A _bacterium_ consists of a finely
31264 granular mass of protoplasm, enclosed in a thin gelatinous envelope.
31265 Many forms are motile--some in virtue of fine thread-like flagella, and
31266 others through contractility of the protoplasm. The great majority
31267 multiply by simple fission, each parent cell giving rise to two daughter
31268 cells, and this process goes on with extraordinary rapidity. Other
31269 varieties, particularly bacilli, are propagated by the formation of
31270 _spores_. A spore is a minute mass of protoplasm surrounded by a dense,
31271 tough membrane, developed in the interior of the parent cell. Spores are
31272 remarkable for their tenacity of life, and for the resistance they offer
31273 to the action of heat and chemical germicides.
31274
31275 Bacteria are most conveniently classified according to their shape. Thus
31276 we recognise (1) those that are globular--_cocci_; (2) those that
31277 resemble a rod--_bacilli_; (3) the spiral or wavy forms--_spirilla_.
31278
31279 _Cocci_ or _micrococci_ are minute round bodies, averaging about 1 u in
31280 diameter. The great majority are non-motile. They multiply by fission;
31281 and when they divide in such a way that the resulting cells remain in
31282 pairs, are called _diplococci_, of which the bacteria of gonorrhoea and
31283 pneumonia are examples (Fig. 5). When they divide irregularly, and form
31284 grape-like bunches, they are known as _staphylococci_, and to this
31285
31286 variety the commonest pyogenic or pus-forming organisms belong (Fig. 2).
31287 When division takes place only in one axis, so that long chains are
31288 formed, the term _streptococcus_ is applied (Fig. 3). Streptococci are
31289 met with in erysipelas and various other inflammatory and suppurative
31290 processes of a spreading character.
31291
31292 _Bacilli_ are rod-shaped bacteria, usually at least twice as long as
31293 they are broad (Fig. 4). Some multiply by fission, others by
31294 sporulation. Some forms are motile, others are non-motile. Tuberculosis,
31295 tetanus, anthrax, and many other surgical diseases are due to different
31296 forms of bacilli.
31297
31298 _Spirilla_ are long, slender, thread-like cells, more or less spiral or
31299 wavy. Some move by a screw-like contraction of the protoplasm, some by
31300 flagellae. The spirochaete associated with syphilis (Fig. 36) is the most
31301 important member of this group.
31302
31303 #Conditions of Bacterial Life.#--Bacteria require for their growth and
31304 development a suitable food-supply in the form of proteins,
31305 carbohydrates, and salts of calcium and potassium which they break up
31306 into simpler elements. An alkaline medium favours bacterial growth; and
31307 moisture is a necessary condition; spores, however, can survive the want
31308 of water for much longer periods than fully developed bacteria. The
31309 necessity for oxygen varies in different species. Those that require
31310 oxygen are known as _aerobic bacilli_ or _aerobes_; those that cannot
31311 live in the presence of oxygen are spoken of as _anaerobes_. The great
31312 majority of bacteria, however, while they prefer to have oxygen, are
31313 able to live without it, and are called _facultative anaerobes_.
31314
31315 The most suitable temperature for bacterial life is from 95 o to 102 o F.,
31316 roughly that of the human body. Extreme or prolonged cold paralyses but
31317 does not kill micro-organisms. Few, however, survive being raised to a
31318 temperature of 134 1/2 o F. Boiling for ten to twenty minutes will kill all
31319 bacteria, and the great majority of spores. Steam applied in an
31320 autoclave under a pressure of two atmospheres destroys even the most
31321 resistant spores in a few minutes. Direct sunlight, electric light, or
31322 even diffuse daylight, is inimical to the growth of bacteria, as are
31323 also Rontgen rays and radium emanations.
31324
31325 #Pathogenic Properties of Bacteria.#--We are now only concerned with
31326 pathogenic bacteria--that is, bacteria capable of producing disease in
31327 the human subject. This capacity depends upon two sets of factors--(1)
31328 certain features peculiar to the invading bacteria, and (2) others
31329 peculiar to the host. Many bacteria have only the power of living upon
31330 dead matter, and are known as _saphrophytes_. Such as do nourish in
31331 living tissue are, by distinction, known as _parasites_. The power a
31332 given parasitic micro-organism has of multiplying in the body and giving
31333 rise to disease is spoken of as its _virulence_, and this varies not
31334 only with different species, but in the same species at different times
31335 and under varying circumstances. The actual number of organisms
31336 introduced is also an important factor in determining their pathogenic
31337 power. Healthy tissues can resist the invasion of a certain number of
31338 bacteria of a given species, but when that number is exceeded, the
31339 organisms get the upper hand and disease results. When the organisms
31340 gain access directly to the blood-stream, as a rule they produce their
31341 effects more certainly and with greater intensity than when they are
31342 introduced into the tissues.
31343
31344 Further, the virulence of an organism is modified by the condition of
31345 the patient into whose tissues it is introduced. So long as a person is
31346 in good health, the tissues are able to resist the attacks of moderate
31347 numbers of most bacteria. Any lowering of the vitality of the
31348 individual, however, either locally or generally, at once renders him
31349 more susceptible to infection. Thus bruised or torn tissue is much more
31350 liable to infection with pus-producing organisms than tissues clean-cut
31351 with a knife; also, after certain diseases, the liability to infection
31352 by the organisms of diphtheria, pneumonia, or erysipelas is much
31353 increased. Even such slight depression of vitality as results from
31354 bodily fatigue, or exposure to cold and damp, may be sufficient to turn
31355 the scale in the battle between the tissues and the bacteria. Age is an
31356 important factor in regard to the action of certain bacteria. Young
31357 subjects are attacked by diphtheria, tuberculosis, acute osteomyelitis,
31358 and some other diseases with greater frequency and severity than those
31359 of more advanced years.
31360
31361 In different races, localities, environment, and seasons, the pathogenic
31362 powers of certain organisms, such as those of erysipelas, diphtheria,
31363 and acute osteomyelitis, vary considerably.
31364
31365 There is evidence that a _mixed infection_--that is, the introduction of
31366 more than one species of organism, for example, the tubercle bacillus
31367 and a pyogenic staphylococcus--increases the severity of the resulting
31368 disease. If one of the varieties gain the ascendancy, the poisons
31369 produced by the others so devitalise the tissue cells, and diminish
31370 their power of resistance, that the virulence of the most active
31371 organisms is increased. On the other hand, there is reason to believe
31372 that the products of certain organisms antagonise one another--for
31373 example, an attack of erysipelas may effect the cure of a patch of
31374 tuberculous lupus.
31375
31376 Lastly, in patients suffering from chronic wasting diseases, bacteria
31377 may invade the internal organs by the blood-stream in enormous numbers
31378 and with great rapidity, during the period of extreme debility which
31379 shortly precedes death. The discovery of such collections of organisms
31380 on post-mortem examination may lead to erroneous conclusions being drawn
31381 as to the cause of death.
31382
31383 #Results of Bacterial Growth.#--Some organisms, such as those of tetanus
31384 and erysipelas, and certain of the pyogenic bacteria, show little
31385 tendency to pass far beyond the point at which they gain an entrance to
31386 the body. Others, on the contrary--for example, the tubercle bacillus
31387 and the organism of acute osteomyelitis--although frequently remaining
31388 localised at the seat of inoculation, tend to pass to distant parts,
31389 lodging in the capillaries of joints, bones, kidney, or lungs, and there
31390 producing their deleterious effects.
31391
31392 In the human subject, multiplication in the blood-stream does not occur
31393 to any great extent. In some general acute pyogenic infections, such as
31394 osteomyelitis, cellulitis, etc., pure cultures of staphylococci or of
31395 streptococci may be obtained from the blood. In pneumococcal and typhoid
31396 infections, also, the organisms may be found in the blood.
31397
31398 It is by the vital changes they bring about in the parts where they
31399 settle that micro-organisms disturb the health of the patient. In
31400 deriving nourishment from the complex organic compounds in which they
31401 nourish, the organisms evolve, probably by means of a ferment, certain
31402 chemical products of unknown composition, but probably colloidal in
31403 nature, and known as _toxins_. When these poisons are absorbed into the
31404 general circulation they give rise to certain groups of symptoms--such
31405 as rise of temperature, associated circulatory and respiratory
31406 derangements, interference with the gastro-intestinal functions and also
31407 with those of the nervous system--which go to make up the condition
31408 known as blood-poisoning, toxaemia, or _bacterial intoxication_. In
31409 addition to this, certain bacteria produce toxins that give rise to
31410 definite and distinct groups of symptoms--such as the convulsions of
31411 tetanus, or the paralyses that follow diphtheria.
31412
31413 _Death of Bacteria._--Under certain circumstances, it would appear that
31414 the accumulation of the toxic products of bacterial action tends to
31415 interfere with the continued life and growth of the organisms
31416 themselves, and in this way the natural cure of certain diseases is
31417 brought about. Outside the body, bacteria may be killed by starvation,
31418 by want of moisture, by being subjected to high temperature, or by the
31419 action of certain chemical agents of which carbolic acid, the
31420 perchloride and biniodide of mercury, and various chlorine preparations
31421 are the most powerful.
31422
31423 #Immunity.#--Some persons are insusceptible to infection by certain
31424 diseases, from which they are said to enjoy a _natural immunity_. In
31425 many acute diseases one attack protects the patient, for a time at
31426 least, from a second attack--_acquired immunity_.
31427
31428 _Phagocytosis._--In the production of immunity the leucocytes and
31429 certain other cells play an important part in virtue of the power they
31430 possess of ingesting bacteria and of destroying them by a process of
31431 intra-cellular digestion. To this process Metchnikoff gave the name of
31432 _phagocytosis_, and he recognised two forms of _phagocytes_: (1) the
31433 _microphages_, which are the polymorpho-nuclear leucocytes of the blood;
31434 and (2) the _macrophages_, which include the larger hyaline leucocytes,
31435 endothelial cells, and connective-tissue corpuscles.
31436
31437 During the process of phagocytosis, the polymorpho-nuclear leucocytes in
31438 the circulating blood increase greatly in numbers (_leucocytosis_), as
31439 well as in their phagocytic action, and in the course of destroying the
31440 bacteria they produce certain ferments which enter the blood serum.
31441 These are known as _opsonins_ or _alexins_, and they act on the bacteria
31442 by a process comparable to narcotisation, and render them an easy prey
31443 for the phagocytes.
31444
31445 _Artificial or Passive Immunity._--A form of immunity can be induced by
31446 the introduction of protective substances obtained from an animal which
31447 has been actively immunised. The process by which passive immunity is
31448 acquired depends upon the fact that as a result of the reaction between
31449 the specific virus of a particular disease (the _antigen_) and the
31450 tissues of the animal attacked, certain substances--_antibodies_--are
31451 produced, which when transferred to the body of a susceptible animal
31452 protect it against that disease. The most important of these antibodies
31453 are the _antitoxins_. From the study of the processes by which immunity
31454 is secured against the effects of bacterial action the serum and vaccine
31455 methods of treating certain infective diseases have been evolved. The
31456 _serum treatment_ is designed to furnish the patient with a sufficiency
31457 of antibodies to neutralise the infection. The anti-diphtheritic and the
31458 anti-tetanic act by neutralising the specific toxins of the
31459 disease--_antitoxic serums_; the anti-streptcoccic and the serum for
31460 anthrax act upon the bacteria--_anti-bacterial serums_.
31461
31462 A _polyvalent_ serum, that is, one derived from an animal which has been
31463 immunised by numerous strains of the organism derived from various
31464 sources, is much more efficacious than when a single strain has been
31465 used.
31466
31467 _Clinical Use of Serums._--Every precaution must be taken to prevent
31468 organismal contamination of the serum or of the apparatus by means of
31469 which it is injected. Syringes are so made that they can be sterilised
31470 by boiling. The best situations for injection are under the skin of the
31471 abdomen, the thorax, or the buttock, and the skin should be purified at
31472 the seat of puncture. If the bulk of the full dose is large, it should
31473 be divided and injected into different parts of the body, not more than
31474 20 c.c. being injected at one place. The serum may be introduced
31475 directly into a vein, or into the spinal canal, _e.g._ anti-tetanic
31476 serum. The immunity produced by injections of antitoxic sera lasts only
31477 for a comparatively short time, seldom longer than a few weeks.
31478
31479 _"Serum Disease" and Anaphylaxis._--It is to be borne in mind that some
31480 patients exhibit a supersensitiveness with regard to protective sera, an
31481 injection being followed in a few days by the appearance of an
31482 urticarial or erythematous rash, pain and swelling of the joints, and a
31483 variable degree of fever. These symptoms, to which the name _serum
31484 disease_ is applied, usually disappear in the course of a few days.
31485
31486 The term _anaphylaxis_ is applied to an allied condition of
31487 supersensitiveness which appears to be induced by the injection of
31488 certain substances, including toxins and sera, that are capable of
31489 acting as antigens. When a second injection is given after an interval
31490 of some days, if anaphylaxis has been established by the first dose, the
31491 patient suddenly manifests toxic symptoms of the nature of profound
31492 shock which may even prove fatal. The conditions which render a person
31493 liable to develop anaphylaxis and the mechanism by which it is
31494 established are as yet imperfectly understood.
31495
31496 _Vaccine Treatment._--The vaccine treatment elaborated by A. E. Wright
31497 consists in injecting, while the disease is still active, specially
31498 prepared dead cultures of the causative organisms, and is based on the
31499 fact that these "vaccines" render the bacteria in the tissues less able
31500 to resist the attacks of the phagocytes. The method is most successful
31501 when the vaccine is prepared from organisms isolated from the patient
31502 himself, _autogenous vaccine_, but when this is impracticable, or takes
31503 a considerable time, laboratory-prepared polyvalent _stock vaccines_ may
31504 be used.
31505
31506 _Clinical Use of Vaccines._--Vaccines should not be given while a
31507 patient is in a negative phase, as a certain amount of the opsonin in
31508 the blood is used up in neutralising the substances injected, and this
31509 may reduce the opsonic index to such an extent that the vaccines
31510 themselves become dangerous. As a rule, the propriety of using a vaccine
31511 can be determined from the general condition of the patient. The initial
31512 dose should always be a small one, particularly if the disease is acute,
31513 and the subsequent dosage will be regulated by the effect produced. If
31514 marked constitutional disturbance with rise of temperature follows the
31515 use of a vaccine, it indicates a negative phase, and calls for a
31516 diminution in the next dose. If, on the other hand, the local as well as
31517 the general condition of the patient improves after the injection, it
31518 indicates a positive phase, and the original dose may be repeated or
31519 even increased. Vaccines are best introduced subcutaneously, a part
31520 being selected which is not liable to pressure, as there is sometimes
31521 considerable local reaction. Repeated doses may be necessary at
31522 intervals of a few days.
31523
31524 The vaccine treatment has been successfully employed in various
31525 tuberculous lesions, in pyogenic infections such as acne, boils,
31526 sycosis, streptococcal, pneumococcal, and gonococcal conditions, in
31527 infections of the accessory air sinuses, and in other diseases caused by
31528 bacteria.
31529
31530
31531 PYOGENIC BACTERIA
31532
31533 From the point of view of the surgeon the most important varieties of
31534 micro-organisms are those that cause inflammation and suppuration--the
31535 _pyogenic bacteria_. This group includes a great many species, and these
31536 are so widely distributed that they are to be met with under all
31537 conditions of everyday life.
31538
31539 The nature of the inflammatory and suppurative processes will be
31540 considered in detail later; suffice it here to say that they are brought
31541 about by the action of one or other of the organisms that we have now to
31542 consider.
31543
31544 It is found that the _staphylococci_, which cluster into groups, tend to
31545 produce localised lesions; while the chain-forms--_streptococci_--give
31546 rise to diffuse, spreading conditions. Many varieties of pyogenic
31547 bacteria have now been differentiated, the best known being the
31548 staphylococcus aureus, the streptococcus, and the bacillus coli
31549 communis.
31550
31551 [Illustration: FIG. 2.--Staphylococcus aureus in Pus from case of
31552 Osteomyelitis. x 1000 diam. Gram's stain.]
31553
31554 _Staphylococcus Aureus._--This is the commonest organism found in
31555 localised inflammatory and suppurative conditions. It varies greatly in
31556 its virulence, and is found in such widely different conditions as skin
31557 pustules, boils, carbuncles, and some acute inflammations of bone. As
31558 seen by the microscope it occurs in grape-like clusters, fission of the
31559 individual cells taking place irregularly (Fig. 2). When grown in
31560 artificial media, the colonies assume an orange-yellow colour--hence the
31561 name _aureus_. It is of high vitality and resists more prolonged
31562 exposure to high temperatures than most non-sporing bacteria. It is
31563 capable of lying latent in the tissues for long periods, for example, in
31564 the marrow of long bones, and of again becoming active and causing a
31565 fresh outbreak of suppuration. This organism is widely distributed: it
31566 is found on the skin, in the mouth, and in other situations in the body,
31567 and as it is present in the dust of the air and on all objects upon
31568 which dust has settled, it is a continual source of infection unless
31569 means are taken to exclude it from wounds.
31570
31571 The _staphylococcus albus_ is much less common than the aureus, but has
31572 the same properties and characters, save that its growth on artificial
31573 media assumes a white colour. It is the common cause of stitch
31574 abscesses, the skin being its normal habitat.
31575
31576 [Illustration: FIG. 3.--Streptococci in Pus from an acute abscess in
31577 subcutaneous tissue. x 1000 diam. Gram's stain.]
31578
31579 _Streptococcus Pyogenes._--This organism also varies greatly in its
31580 virulence; in some instances--for example in erysipelas--it causes a
31581 sharp attack of acute spreading inflammation, which soon subsides
31582 without showing any tendency to end in suppuration; under other
31583 conditions it gives rise to a generalised infection which rapidly proves
31584 fatal. The streptococcus has less capacity of liquefying the tissues
31585 than the staphylococcus, so that pus formation takes place more slowly.
31586 At the same time its products are very potent in destroying the tissues
31587 in their vicinity, and so interfering with the exudation of leucocytes
31588 which would otherwise exercise their protective influence. Streptococci
31589 invade the lymph spaces, and are associated with acute spreading
31590 conditions such as phlegmonous or erysipelatous inflammations and
31591 suppurations, lymphangitis and suppuration in lymph glands, and
31592 inflammation of serous and synovial membranes, also with a form of
31593 pneumonia which is prone to follow on severe operations in the mouth and
31594 throat. Streptococci are also concerned in the production of spreading
31595 gangrene and pyaemia.
31596
31597 Division takes place in one axis, so that chains of varying length are
31598 formed (Fig. 3). It is less easily cultivated by artificial media than
31599 the staphylococcus; it forms a whitish growth.
31600
31601 [Illustration: FIG. 4.--Bacillus coli communis in Urine, from a case of
31602 Cystitis. x 1000 diam. Leishman's stain.]
31603
31604 _Bacillus Coli Communis._--This organism, which is a normal inhabitant
31605 of the intestinal tract, shows a great tendency to invade any organ or
31606 tissue whose vitality is lowered. It is causatively associated with such
31607 conditions as peritonitis and peritoneal suppuration resulting from
31608 strangulated hernia, appendicitis, or perforation in any part of the
31609 alimentary canal. In cystitis, pyelitis, abscess of the kidney,
31610 suppuration in the bile-ducts or liver, and in many other abdominal
31611 conditions, it plays a most important part. The discharge from wounds
31612 infected by this organism has usually a foetid, or even a faecal odour,
31613 and often contains gases resulting from putrefaction.
31614
31615 It is a small rod-shaped organism with short flagellae, which render it
31616 motile (Fig. 4). It closely resembles the typhoid bacillus, but is
31617 distinguished from it by its behaviour in artificial culture media.
31618
31619 [Illustration: FIG. 5.--Fraenkel's Pneumococci in Pus from Empyema
31620 following Pneumonia. x 100 diam. Stained with Muir's capsule stain.]
31621
31622 _Pneumo-bacteria._--Two forms of organism associated with
31623 pneumonia--_Fraenkel's pneumococcus_ (one of the diplococci) (Fig. 5)
31624 and _Friedlander's pneumo-bacillus_ (a short rod-shaped form)--are
31625 frequently met with in inflammations of the serous and synovial
31626 membranes, in suppuration in the liver, and in various other
31627 inflammatory and suppurative conditions.
31628
31629 _Bacillus Typhosus._--This organism has been found in pure culture in
31630 suppurative conditions of bone, of cellular tissue, and of internal
31631 organs, especially during convalescence from typhoid fever. Like the
31632 staphylococcus, it is capable of lying latent in the tissues for long
31633 periods.
31634
31635 _Other Pyogenic Bacteria._--It is not necessary to do more than name
31636 some of the other organisms that are known to be pyogenic, such as the
31637 bacillus pyocyaneus, which is found in green and blue pus, the
31638 micrococcus tetragenus, the gonococcus, actinomyces, the glanders
31639 bacillus, and the tubercle bacillus. Most of these will receive further
31640 mention in connection with the diseases to which they give rise.
31641
31642 #Leucocytosis.#--Most bacterial diseases, as well as certain other
31643 pathological conditions, are associated with an increase in the number
31644 of leucocytes in the blood throughout the circulatory system. This
31645 condition of the blood, which is known as _leucocytosis_, is believed to
31646 be due to an excessive output and rapid formation of leucocytes by the
31647 bone marrow, and it probably has as its object the arrest and
31648 destruction of the invading organisms or toxins. To increase the
31649 resisting power of the system to pathogenic organisms, an artificial
31650 leucocytosis may be induced by subcutaneous injection of a solution of
31651 nucleinate of soda (16 minims of a 5 per cent. solution).
31652
31653 The _normal_ number of leucocytes per cubic millimetre varies in
31654 different individuals, and in the same individual under different
31655 conditions, from 5000 to 10,000: 7500 is a normal average, and anything
31656 above 12,000 is considered abnormal. When leucocytosis is present, the
31657 number may range from 12,000 to 30,000 or even higher; 40,000 is looked
31658 upon as a high degree of leucocytosis. According to Ehrlich, the
31659 following may be taken as the standard proportion of the various forms
31660 of leucocytes in normal blood: polynuclear neutrophile leucocytes, 70 to
31661 72 per cent.; lymphocytes, 22 to 25 per cent.; eosinophile cells, 2 to 4
31662 per cent.; large mononuclear and transitional leucocytes, 2 to 4 per
31663 cent.; mast-cells, 0.5 to 2 per cent.
31664
31665 In estimating the clinical importance of a leucocytosis, it is not
31666 sufficient merely to count the aggregate number of leucocytes present. A
31667 differential count must be made to determine which variety of cells is
31668 in excess. In the majority of surgical affections it is chiefly the
31669 granular polymorpho-nuclear neutrophile leucocytes that are in excess
31670 (_ordinary leucocytosis_). In some cases, and particularly in parasitic
31671 diseases such as trichiniasis and hydatid disease, the eosinophile
31672 leucocytes also show a proportionate increase (_eosinophilia_). The term
31673 _lymphocytosis_ is applied when there is an increase in the number of
31674 circulating lymphocytes, as occurs, for example, in lymphatic leucaemia,
31675 and in certain cases of syphilis.
31676
31677 Leucocytosis is met with in nearly all acute infective diseases, and in
31678 acute pyogenic inflammatory affections, particularly in those attended
31679 with suppuration. In exceptionally acute septic conditions the extreme
31680 virulence of the toxins may prevent the leucocytes reacting, and
31681 leucocytosis may be absent. The absence of leucocytosis in a disease in
31682 which it is usually present is therefore to be looked upon as a grave
31683 omen, particularly when the general symptoms are severe. In some cases
31684 of malignant disease the number of leucocytes is increased to 15,000 or
31685 20,000. A few hours after a severe haemorrhage also there is usually a
31686 leucocytosis of from 15,000 to 30,000, which lasts for three or four
31687 days (Lyon). In cases of haemorrhage the leucocytosis is increased by
31688 infusion of fluids into the circulation. After all operations there is
31689 at least a transient leucocytosis (_post-operative leucocytosis_)
31690 (F. I. Dawson).
31691
31692 The leucocytosis begins soon after the infection manifests itself--for
31693 example, by shivering, rigor, or rise of temperature. The number of
31694 leucocytes rises somewhat rapidly, increases while the condition is
31695 progressing, and remains high during the febrile period, but there is no
31696 constant correspondence between the number of leucocytes and the height
31697 of the temperature. The arrest of the inflammation and its resolution
31698 are accompanied by a fall in the number of leucocytes, while the
31699 occurrence of suppuration is attended with a further increase in their
31700 number.
31701
31702 In interpreting the "blood count," it is to be kept in mind that a
31703 _physiological leucocytosis_ occurs within three or four hours of taking
31704 a meal, especially one rich in proteins, from 1500 to 2000 being added
31705 to the normal number. In this _digestion leucocytosis_ the increase is
31706 chiefly in the polynuclear neutrophile leucocytes. Immediately before
31707 and after delivery, particularly in primiparae, there is usually a
31708 moderate degree of leucocytosis. If the labour is normal and the
31709 puerperium uncomplicated, the number of leucocytes regains the normal in
31710 about a week. Lactation has no appreciable effect on the number of
31711 leucocytes. In new-born infants the leucocyte count is abnormally high,
31712 ranging from 15,000 to 20,000. In children under one year of age, the
31713 normal average is from 10,000 to 20,000.
31714
31715 _Absence of Leucocytosis--Leucopenia._--In certain infective diseases
31716 the number of leucocytes in the circulating blood is abnormally
31717 low--3000 or 4000--and this condition is known as _leucopenia_. It
31718 occurs in typhoid fever, especially in the later stages of the disease,
31719 in tuberculous lesions unaccompanied by suppuration, in malaria, and in
31720 most cases of uncomplicated influenza. The occurrence of leucocytosis in
31721 any of these conditions is to be looked upon as an indication that a
31722 mixed infection has taken place, and that some suppurative process is
31723 present.
31724
31725 The absence of leucocytosis in some cases of virulent septic poisoning
31726 has already been referred to.
31727
31728 It will be evident that too much reliance must not be placed upon a
31729 single observation, particularly in emergency cases. Whenever possible,
31730 a series of observations should be made, the blood being examined about
31731 four hours after meals, and about the same hour each day.
31732
31733 The clinical significance of the blood count in individual diseases will
31734 be further referred to.
31735
31736 _The Iodine or Glycogen Reaction._--The leucocyte count may be
31737 supplemented by staining films of the blood with a watery solution of
31738 iodine and potassium iodide. In all advancing purulent conditions, in
31739 septic poisonings, in pneumonia, and in cancerous growths associated
31740 with ulceration, a certain number of the polynuclear leucocytes are
31741 stained a brown or reddish-brown colour, due to the action of the iodine
31742 on some substance in the cells of the nature of glycogen. This reaction
31743 is absent in serous effusions, in unmixed tuberculous infections, in
31744 uncomplicated typhoid fever, and in the early stages of cancerous
31745 growths.
31746
31747
31748
31749
31750 CHAPTER III
31751
31752 INFLAMMATION
31753
31754
31755 Definition--Nature of inflammation from surgical point of
31756 view--Sequence of changes in bacterial inflammation--Clinical
31757 aspects of inflammation--General principles of treatment--Chronic
31758 inflammation.
31759
31760 Inflammation may be defined as the series of vital changes that occurs
31761 in the tissues in response to irritation. These changes represent the
31762 reaction of the tissue elements to the irritant, and constitute the
31763 attempt made by nature to arrest or to limit its injurious effects, and
31764 to repair the damage done by it.
31765
31766 The phenomena which characterise the inflammatory reaction can be
31767 induced by any form of irritation--such, for example, as mechanical
31768 injury, the application of heat or of chemical substances, or the action
31769 of pathogenic bacteria and their toxins--and they are essentially
31770 similar in kind whatever the irritant may be. The extent to which the
31771 process may go, however, and its effects on the part implicated and on
31772 the system as a whole, vary with different irritants and with the
31773 intensity and duration of their action. A mechanical, a thermal, or a
31774 chemical irritant, acting alone, induces a degree of reaction directly
31775 proportionate to its physical properties, and so long as it does not
31776 completely destroy the vitality of the part involved, the changes in the
31777 tissues are chiefly directed towards repairing the damage done to the
31778 part, and the inflammatory reaction is not only compatible with the
31779 occurrence of ideal repair, but may be looked upon as an integral step
31780 in the reparative process.
31781
31782 The irritation caused by infection with bacteria, on the other hand, is
31783 cumulative, as the organisms not only multiply in the tissues, but in
31784 addition produce chemical poisons (toxins) which aggravate the
31785 irritative effects. The resulting reaction is correspondingly
31786 progressive, and has as its primary object the expulsion of the irritant
31787 and the limitation of its action. If the natural protective effort is
31788 successful, the resulting tissue changes subserve the process of repair,
31789 but if the bacteria gain the upper hand in the struggle, the
31790 inflammatory reaction becomes more intense, certain of the tissue
31791 elements succumb, and the process for the time being is a destructive
31792 one. During the stage of bacterial inflammation, reparative processes
31793 are in abeyance, and it is only after the inflammation has been allayed,
31794 either by natural means or by the aid of the surgeon, that repair takes
31795 place.
31796
31797 In applying the antiseptic principle to the treatment of wounds, our
31798 main object is to exclude or to eliminate the bacterial factor, and so
31799 to prevent the inflammatory reaction going beyond the stage in which it
31800 is protective, and just in proportion as we succeed in attaining this
31801 object, do we favour the occurrence of ideal repair.
31802
31803 #Sequence of Changes in Bacterial Inflammation.#--As the form of
31804 inflammation with which we are most concerned is that due to the action
31805 of bacteria, in describing the process by which the protective influence
31806 of the inflammatory reaction is brought into play, we shall assume the
31807 presence of a bacterial irritant.
31808
31809 The introduction of a colony of micro-organisms is quickly followed by
31810 an accumulation of wandering cells, and proliferation of
31811 connective-tissue cells in the tissues at the site of infection. The
31812 various cells are attracted to the bacteria by a peculiar chemical or
31813 biological power known as _chemotaxis_, which seems to result from
31814 variations in the surface tension of different varieties of cells,
31815 probably caused by some substance produced by the micro-organisms.
31816 Changes in the blood vessels then ensue, the arteries becoming dilated
31817 and the rate of the current in them being for a time increased--_active
31818 hyperaemia_. Soon, however, the rate of the blood flow becomes slower
31819 than normal, and in course of time the current may cease (_stasis_), and
31820 the blood in the vessels may even coagulate (_thrombosis_). Coincidently
31821 with these changes in the vessels, the leucocytes in the blood of the
31822 inflamed part rapidly increase in number, and they become viscous and
31823 adhere to the vessel wall, where they may accumulate in large numbers.
31824 In course of time the leucocytes pass through the vessel
31825 wall--_emigration of leucocytes_--and move towards the seat of
31826 infection, giving rise to a marked degree of _local leucocytosis_.
31827 Through the openings by which the leucocytes have escaped from the
31828 vessels, red corpuscles may be passively extruded--_diapedesis of red
31829 corpuscles_. These processes are accompanied by changes in the
31830 endothelium of the vessel walls, which result in an increased formation
31831 of lymph, which transudes into the meshes of the connective tissue
31832 giving rise to an _inflammatory oedema_, or, if the inflammation is on a
31833 free surface, forming an _inflammatory exudate_. The quantity and
31834 characters of this exudate vary in different parts of the body, and
31835 according to the nature, virulence, and location of the organisms
31836 causing the inflammation. Thus it may be _serous_, as in some forms of
31837 synovitis; _sero-fibrinous_, as in certain varieties of peritonitis, the
31838 fibrin tending to limit the spread of the inflammation by forming
31839 adhesions; _croupous_, when it coagulates on a free surface and forms a
31840 false membrane, as in diphtheria; _haemorrhagic_ when mixed with blood;
31841 or _purulent_, when suppuration has occurred. The protective effects of
31842 the inflammatory reaction depend for the most part upon the transudation
31843 of lymph and the emigration of leucocytes. The lymph contains the
31844 opsonins which act on the bacteria and render them less able to resist
31845 the attack of the phagocytes, as well as the various protective
31846 antibodies which neutralise the toxins. The polymorph leucocytes are the
31847 principal agents in the process of phagocytosis (p. 22), and together
31848 with the other forms of phagocytes they ingest and destroy the bacteria.
31849
31850 If the attempt to repel the invading organisms is successful, the
31851 irritant effects are overcome, the inflammation is arrested, and
31852 _resolution_ is said to take place.
31853
31854 Certain of the vascular and cellular changes are now utilised to restore
31855 the condition to the normal, and _repair_ ensues after the manner
31856 already described. In certain situations, notably in tendon sheaths, in
31857 the cavities of joints, and in the interior of serous cavities, for
31858 example the pleura and peritoneum, the restoration to the normal is not
31859 perfect, adhesions forming between the opposing surfaces.
31860
31861 If, however, the reaction induced by the infection is insufficient to
31862 check the growth and spread of the organisms, or to inhibit their toxin
31863 production, local necrosis of tissue may take place, either in the form
31864 of suppuration or of gangrene, or the toxins absorbed into the
31865 circulation may produce blood-poisoning, which may even prove fatal.
31866
31867 #Clinical Aspects of Inflammation.#--It must clearly be understood that
31868 inflammation is not to be looked upon as a disease in itself, but rather
31869 as an evidence of some infective process going on in the tissues in
31870 which it occurs, and of an effort on the part of these tissues to
31871 overcome the invading organisms and their products. The chief danger to
31872 the patient lies, not in the reactive changes that constitute the
31873 inflammatory process, but in the fact that he is liable to be poisoned
31874 by the toxins of the bacteria at work in the inflamed area.
31875
31876 Since the days of Celsus (first century A.D.), heat, redness, swelling,
31877 and pain have been recognised as cardinal signs of inflammation, and to
31878 these may be added, interference with function in the inflamed part, and
31879 general constitutional disturbance. Variations in these signs and
31880 symptoms depend upon the acuteness of the condition, the nature of the
31881 causative organism and of the tissue attacked, the situation of the part
31882 in relation to the surface, and other factors.
31883
31884 The _heat_ of the inflamed part is to be attributed to the increased
31885 quantity of blood present in it, and the more superficial the affected
31886 area the more readily is the local increase of temperature detected by
31887 the hand. This clinical point is best tested by placing the palm of the
31888 hand and fingers for a few seconds alternately over an uninflamed and an
31889 inflamed area, otherwise under similar conditions as to coverings and
31890 exposure. In this way even slight differences may be recognised.
31891
31892 _Redness_, similarly, is due to the increased afflux of blood to the
31893 inflamed part. The shade of colour varies with the stage of the
31894 inflammation, being lighter and brighter in the early, hyperaemic stages,
31895 and darker and duskier when the blood flow is slowed or when stasis has
31896 occurred and the oxygenation of the blood is defective. In the
31897 thrombotic stage the part may assume a purplish hue.
31898
31899 The _swelling_ is partly due to the increased amount of blood in the
31900 affected part and to the accumulation of leucocytes and proliferated
31901 tissue cells, but chiefly to the exudate in the connective
31902 tissue--_inflammatory oedema_. The more open the structure of the tissue
31903 of the part, the greater is the amount of swelling--witness the marked
31904 degree of oedema that occurs in such parts as the scrotum or the eyelids.
31905
31906 _Pain_ is a symptom seldom absent in inflammation. _Tenderness_--that
31907 is, pain elicited on pressure--is one of the most valuable diagnostic
31908 signs we possess, and is often present before pain is experienced by the
31909 patient. That the area of tenderness corresponds to the area of
31910 inflammation is almost an axiom of surgery. Pain and tenderness are due
31911 to the irritation of nerve filaments of the part, rendered all the more
31912 sensitive by the abnormal conditions of their blood supply. In
31913 inflammatory conditions of internal organs, for example the abdominal
31914 viscera, the pain is frequently referred to other parts, usually to an
31915 area supplied by branches from the same segment of the cord as that
31916 supplying the inflamed part.
31917
31918 For purposes of diagnosis, attention should be paid to the terms in
31919 which the patient describes his pain. For example, the pain caused by
31920 an inflammation of the skin is usually described as of a _burning_ or
31921 _itching_ character; that of inflammation in dense tissues like
31922 periosteum or bone, or in encapsuled organs, as _dull_, _boring_, or
31923 _aching_. When inflammation is passing on to suppuration the pain
31924 assumes a _throbbing_ character, and as the pus reaches the surface, or
31925 "points," as it is called, sharp, _darting_, or _lancinating_ pains are
31926 experienced. Inflammation involving a nerve-trunk may cause a _boring_
31927 or a _tingling_ pain; while the implication of a serous membrane such as
31928 the pleura or peritoneum gives rise to a pain of a sharp, _stabbing_
31929 character.
31930
31931 _Interference with the function_ of the inflamed part is always present
31932 to a greater or less extent.
31933
31934 #Constitutional Disturbances.#--Under the term constitutional
31935 disturbances are included the presence of fever or elevation of
31936 temperature; certain changes in the pulse rate and the respiration;
31937 gastro-intestinal and urinary disturbances; and derangements of the
31938 central nervous system. These are all due to the absorption of toxins
31939 into the general circulation.
31940
31941 _Temperature._--A marked rise of temperature is one of the most constant
31942 and important concomitants of acute inflammatory conditions, and the
31943 temperature chart forms a fairly reliable index of the state of the
31944 patient. The toxins interfere with the nerve-centres in the medulla that
31945 regulate the balance between the production and the loss of body heat.
31946
31947 Clinically the temperature is estimated by means of a self-registering
31948 thermometer placed, for from one to five minutes, in close contact with
31949 the skin in the axilla, or in the mouth. Sometimes the thermometer is
31950 inserted into the rectum, where, however, the temperature is normally
31951 3/4 o F. higher than in the axilla.
31952
31953 _In health_ the temperature of the body is maintained at a mean of about
31954 98.4 o F. (37 o C.) by the heat-regulating mechanism. It varies from hour
31955 to hour even in health, reaching its maximum between four and eight in
31956 the evening, when it may rise to 99 o F., and is at its lowest between
31957 four and six in the morning, when it may be about 97 o F.
31958
31959 The temperature is more easily disturbed in children than in adults, and
31960 may become markedly elevated (104 o or 105 o F.) from comparatively slight
31961 causes; in the aged it is less liable to change, so that a rise to 103 o
31962 or 104 o F. is to be looked upon as indicating a high state of fever.
31963
31964 A sudden rise of temperature is usually associated with a feeling of
31965 chilliness down the back and in the limbs, which may be so marked that
31966 the patient shivers violently, while the skin becomes cold, pale, and
31967 shrivelled--_cutis anserina_. This is a nervous reaction due to a want
31968 of correspondence between the internal and the surface temperature of
31969 the body, and is known clinically as a _rigor_. When the temperature
31970 rises gradually the chill is usually slight and may be unobserved. Even
31971 during the cold stage, however, the internal temperature is already
31972 raised, and by the time the chill has passed off its maximum has been
31973 reached.
31974
31975 The _pulse_ is always increased in frequency, and usually varies
31976 directly with the height of the temperature. _Respiration_ is more
31977 active during the progress of an inflammation; and bronchial catarrh is
31978 common apart from any antecedent respiratory disease.
31979
31980 _Gastro-intestinal disturbances_ take the form of loss of appetite,
31981 vomiting, diminished secretion of the alimentary juices, and weakening
31982 of the peristalsis of the bowel, leading to thirst, dry, furred tongue,
31983 and constipation. Diarrhoea is sometimes present. The _urine_ is usually
31984 scanty, of high specific gravity, rich in nitrogenous substances,
31985 especially urea and uric acid, and in calcium salts, while sodium
31986 chloride is deficient. Albumin and hyaline casts may be present in cases
31987 of severe inflammation with high temperature. The significance of
31988 general _leucocytosis_ has already been referred to.
31989
31990 #General Principles of Treatment.#--The capacity of the inflammatory
31991 reaction for dealing with bacterial infections being limited, it often
31992 becomes necessary for the surgeon to aid the natural defensive
31993 processes, as well as to counteract the local and general effects of the
31994 reaction, and to relieve symptoms.
31995
31996 The ideal means of helping the tissues is by removing the focus of
31997 infection, and when this can be done, as for example in a carbuncle or
31998 an anthrax pustule, the infected area may be completely excised. When
31999 the focus is not sufficiently limited to admit of this, the infected
32000 tissue may be scraped away with the sharp spoon, or destroyed by
32001 caustics or by the actual cautery. If this is inadvisable, the organisms
32002 may be attacked by strong antiseptics, such as pure carbolic acid.
32003
32004 Moist dressings favour the removal of bacteria by promoting the escape
32005 of the inflammatory exudate, in which they are washed out.
32006
32007 #Artificial Hyperaemia.#--When such direct means as the above are
32008 impracticable, much can be done to aid the tissues in their struggle by
32009 improving the condition of the circulation in the inflamed area, so as
32010 to ensure that a plentiful supply of fresh arterial blood reaches it.
32011 The beneficial effects of _hot fomentations and poultices_ depend on
32012 their causing a dilatation of the vessels, and so inducing a hyperaemia
32013 in the affected area. It has been shown experimentally that repeated,
32014 short applications of moist heat (not exceeding 106 o F.) are more
32015 efficacious than continuous application. It is now believed that the
32016 so-called _counter-irritants_--mustard, iodine, cantharides, actual
32017 cautery--act in the same way; and the method of treating erysipelas by
32018 applying a strong solution of iodine around the affected area is based
32019 on the same principle.
32020
32021 [Illustration: FIG. 6.--Passive Hyperaemia of Hand and Forearm induced by
32022 Bier's Bandage.]
32023
32024 While these and similar methods have long been employed in the treatment
32025 of inflammatory conditions, it is only within comparatively recent years
32026 that their mode of action has been properly understood, and to August
32027 Bier belongs the credit of having put the treatment of inflammation on a
32028 scientific and rational basis. Recognising the "beneficent intention" of
32029 the inflammatory reaction, and the protective action of the leucocytosis
32030 which accompanies the hyperaemic stages of the process, Bier was led to
32031 study the effects of increasing the hyperaemia by artificial means. As a
32032 result of his observations, he has formulated a method of treatment
32033 which consists in inducing an artificial hyperaemia in the inflamed area,
32034 either by obstructing the venous return from the part (_passive
32035 hyperaemia_), or by stimulating the arterial flow through it (_active
32036 hyperaemia_).
32037
32038 _Bier's Constricting Bandage._--To induce a _passive hyperaemia_ in a
32039 limb, an elastic bandage is applied some distance above the inflamed
32040 area sufficiently tightly to obstruct the venous return from the distal
32041 parts without arresting in any way the inflow of arterial blood (Fig. 6).
32042 If the constricting band is correctly applied, the parts beyond
32043 become swollen and oedematous, and assume a bluish-red hue, but they
32044 retain their normal temperature, the pulse is unchanged, and there is no
32045 pain. If the part becomes blue, cold, or painful, or if any existing
32046 pain is increased, the band has been applied too tightly. The hyperaemia
32047 is kept up from twenty to twenty-two hours out of the twenty-four, and
32048 in the intervals the limb is elevated to get rid of the oedema and to
32049 empty it of impure blood, and so make room for a fresh supply of healthy
32050 blood when the bandage is re-applied. As the inflammation subsides, the
32051 period during which the band is kept on each day is diminished; but the
32052 treatment should be continued for some days after all signs of
32053 inflammation have subsided.
32054
32055 This method of treating acute inflammatory conditions necessitates
32056 close supervision until the correct degree of tightness of the band has
32057 been determined.
32058
32059 [Illustration: FIG. 7.--Passive Hyperaemia of Finger induced by Klapp's
32060 Suction Bell.]
32061
32062 _Klapp's Suction Bells._--In inflammatory conditions to which the
32063 constricting band cannot be applied, as for example an acute mastitis, a
32064 bubo in the groin, or a boil on the neck, the affected area may be
32065 rendered hyperaemic by an appropriately shaped glass bell applied over it
32066 and exhausted by means of a suction-pump, the rarefaction of the air in
32067 the bell determining a flow of blood into the tissues enclosed within it
32068 (Figs. 7 and 8). The edge of the bell is smeared with vaseline, and the
32069 suction applied for from five to ten minutes at a time, with a
32070 corresponding interval between the applications. Each sitting lasts for
32071 from half an hour to an hour, and the treatment may be carried out once
32072 or twice a day according to circumstances. This apparatus acts in the
32073 same way as the old-fashioned _dry cup_, and is more convenient and
32074 equally efficacious.
32075
32076 [Illustration: FIG. 8.--Passive Hyperaemia induced by Klapp's Suction
32077 Bell for Inflammation of Inguinal Gland.]
32078
32079 _Active hyperaemia_ is induced by the local application of heat,
32080 particularly by means of hot air. It has not proved so useful in acute
32081 inflammation as passive hyperaemia, but is of great value in hastening
32082 the absorption of inflammatory products and in overcoming adhesions and
32083 stiffness in tendons and joints.
32084
32085 _General Treatment._--The patient should be kept at rest, preferably in
32086 bed, to diminish the general tissue waste; and the diet should be
32087 restricted to fluids, such as milk, beef-tea, meat juices or gruel, and
32088 these may be rendered more easily assimilable by artificial digestion if
32089 necessary. To counteract the general effect of toxins absorbed into
32090 the circulation, specific antitoxic sera are employed in certain forms
32091 of infection, such as diphtheria, streptococcal septicaemia, and tetanus.
32092 In other forms of infection, vaccines are employed to increase the
32093 opsonic power of the blood. When such means are not available, the
32094 circulating toxins may to some extent be diluted by giving plenty of
32095 bland fluids by the mouth or normal salt solution by the rectum.
32096
32097 The elimination of the toxins is promoted by securing free action of the
32098 emunctories. A saline purge, such as half an ounce of sulphate of
32099 magnesium in a small quantity of water, ensures a free evacuation of the
32100 bowels. The kidneys are flushed by such diluent drinks as equal parts of
32101 milk and lime water, or milk with a dram of liquor calcis saccharatus
32102 added to each tumblerful. Barley-water and "Imperial drink," which
32103 consists of a dram and a half of cream of tartar added to a pint of
32104 boiling water and sweetened with sugar after cooling, are also useful
32105 and non-irritating diuretics. The skin may be stimulated by Dover's
32106 powder (10 grains) or liquor ammoniae acetatis in three-dram doses every
32107 four hours.
32108
32109 Various drugs administered internally, such as quinine, salol,
32110 salicylate of iron, and others, have a reputation, more or less
32111 deserved, as internal antiseptics.
32112
32113 Weakness of the heart, as indicated by the condition of the pulse, is
32114 treated by the use of such drugs as digitalis, strophanthus, or
32115 strychnin, according to circumstances.
32116
32117 Gastro-intestinal disturbances are met by ordinary medical means.
32118 Vomiting, for example, can sometimes be checked by effervescing drinks,
32119 such as citrate of caffein, or by dilute hydrocyanic acid and bismuth.
32120 In severe cases, and especially when the vomited matter resembles
32121 coffee-grounds from admixture with altered blood--the so-called
32122 post-operative haematemesis--the best means of arresting the vomiting is
32123 by washing out the stomach. Thirst is relieved by rectal injections of
32124 saline solution. The introduction of saline solution into the veins or
32125 by the rectum is also useful in diluting and hastening the elimination
32126 of circulating toxins.
32127
32128 In surgical inflammations, as a rule, nothing is gained by lowering the
32129 temperature, unless at the same time the cause is removed. When severe
32130 or prolonged pyrexia becomes a source of danger, the use of hot or cold
32131 sponging, or even the cold bath, is preferable to the administration of
32132 drugs.
32133
32134 _Relief of Symptoms._--For the relief of _pain_, rest is essential. The
32135 inflamed part should be placed in a splint or other appliance which will
32136 prevent movement, and steps must be taken to reduce its functional
32137 activity as far as possible. Locally, warm and moist dressings, such as
32138 a poultice or fomentation, may be used. To make a fomentation, a piece
32139 of flannel or lint is wrung out of very hot water or antiseptic lotion
32140 and applied under a sheet of mackintosh. Fomentations should be renewed
32141 as often as they cool. An ordinary india-rubber bag filled with hot
32142 water and fixed over the fomentation, by retaining the heat, obviates
32143 the necessity of frequently changing the application. The addition of a
32144 few drops of laudanum sprinkled on the flannel has a soothing effect.
32145 Lead and opium lotion is a useful, soothing application employed as a
32146 fomentation. We prefer the application of lint soaked in a 10 per cent.
32147 aqueous or glycerine solution of ichthyol, or smeared with ichthyol
32148 ointment (1 in 3). Belladonna and glycerine, equal parts, may be used.
32149
32150 Dry cold obtained by means of icebags, or by Leiter's lead tubes through
32151 which a continuous stream of ice-cold water is kept flowing, is
32152 sometimes soothing to the patient, but when the vessels in the inflamed
32153 part are greatly congested its use is attended with considerable risk,
32154 as it not only contracts the arterioles supplying the part, but also
32155 diminishes the outflow of venous blood, and so may determine gangrene of
32156 tissues already devitalised.
32157
32158 A milder form of employing cold is by means of evaporating lotions: a
32159 thin piece of lint or gauze is applied over the inflamed part and kept
32160 constantly moist with the lotion, the dressing being left freely exposed
32161 to allow of continuous evaporation. A useful evaporating lotion is made
32162 up as follows: take of chloride of ammonium, half an ounce; rectified
32163 spirit, one ounce; and water, seven ounces.
32164
32165 The administration of opiates may be necessary for the relief of pain.
32166
32167 The accumulation of an excessive amount of inflammatory exudate may
32168 endanger the vitality of the tissues by pressing on the blood vessels to
32169 such an extent as to cause stasis, and by concentrating the local action
32170 of the toxins. Under such conditions the tension should be relieved and
32171 the exudate with its contained toxins removed by making an incision into
32172 the inflamed tissues, and applying a suction bell. When the exudate has
32173 collected in a synovial cavity, such as a joint or bursa, it may be
32174 withdrawn by means of a trocar and cannula. There are other methods of
32175 withdrawing blood and exudate from an inflamed area, for example by
32176 leeches or wet-cupping, but they are seldom employed now.
32177
32178 Before applying leeches the part must be thoroughly cleansed, and if
32179 the leech is slow to bite, may be smeared with cream. The leech is
32180 retained in position under an inverted wine-glass or wide test-tube till
32181 it takes hold. After it has sucked its fill it usually drops off, having
32182 withdrawn a dram or a dram and a half of blood. If it be desirable to
32183 withdraw more blood, hot fomentations should be applied to the bite. As
32184 it is sometimes necessary to employ considerable pressure to stop the
32185 bleeding, leeches should, if possible, be applied over a bone which will
32186 furnish the necessary resistance. The use of styptics may be called for.
32187
32188 _Wet-cupping_ has almost entirely been superseded by the use of Klapp's
32189 suction bells.
32190
32191 _General blood-letting_ consists in opening a superficial vein
32192 (venesection) and allowing from eight to ten ounces of blood to flow
32193 from it. It is seldom used in the treatment of surgical forms of
32194 inflammation.
32195
32196 _Counter-irritants._--In deep-seated inflammations, counter-irritants
32197 are sometimes employed in the form of mustard leaves or blisters,
32198 according to the degree of irritation required. A mustard leaf or
32199 plaster should not be left on longer than ten or fifteen minutes, unless
32200 it is desired to produce a blister. Blistering may be produced by a
32201 _cantharides plaster_, or by painting with _liquor epispasticus_. The
32202 plaster should be left on from eight to ten hours, and if it has failed
32203 to raise a blister, a hot fomentation should be applied to the part.
32204 _Liquor epispasticus_, alone or mixed with equal parts of collodion, is
32205 painted on the part with a brush. Several paintings are often required
32206 before a blister is raised. The preliminary removal of the natural
32207 grease from the skin favours the action of these applications.
32208
32209 The treatment of inflammation in special tissues and organs will be
32210 considered in the sections devoted to regional surgery.
32211
32212 #Chronic Inflammation.#--A variety of types of chronic and subacute
32213 inflammation are met with which, owing to ignorance of their causations,
32214 cannot at present be satisfactorily classified.
32215
32216 The best defined group is that of the _granulomata_, which includes such
32217 important diseases as tuberculosis and syphilis, and in which different
32218 types of chronic inflammation are caused by infection with a specific
32219 organism, all having the common character, however, that abundant
32220 granulation tissue is formed in which cellular changes are more in
32221 evidence than changes in the blood vessels, and in which the subsequent
32222 degeneration and necrosis of the granulation tissue results in the
32223 breaking down and destruction of the tissue in which it is formed.
32224 Another group is that in which chronic inflammation is due to mild or
32225 attenuated forms of pyogenic infection affecting especially the lymph
32226 glands and the bone marrow. In the glands of the groin, for example,
32227 associated with various forms of irritation about the external genitals,
32228 different types of _chronic lymphadenitis_ are met with; they do not
32229 frankly suppurate as do the acute types, but are attended with a
32230 hyperplasia of the tissue elements which results in enlargement of the
32231 affected glands of a persistent, and sometimes of a relapsing character.
32232 Similar varieties of _osteomyelitis_ are met with that do not, like the
32233 acute forms, go on to suppuration or to death of bone, but result in
32234 thickening of the bone affected, both on the surface and in the
32235 interior, resulting in obliteration of the medullary canal.
32236
32237 A third group of chronic inflammations are those that begin as an acute
32238 pyogenic inflammation, which, instead of resolving completely, persists
32239 in a chronic form. It does so apparently because there is some factor
32240 aiding the organisms and handicapping the tissues, such as the presence
32241 of a foreign body, a piece of glass or metal, or a piece of dead bone;
32242 in these circumstances the inflammation persists in a chronic form,
32243 attended with the formation of fibrous tissue, and, in the case of bone,
32244 with the formation of new bone in excess. It will be evident that in
32245 this group, chronic inflammation and repair are practically
32246 interchangeable terms.
32247
32248 There are other groups of chronic inflammation, the origin of which
32249 continues to be the subject of controversy. Reference is here made to
32250 the chronic inflammations of the synovial membrane of joints, of tendon
32251 sheaths and of bursae--_chronic synovitis_, _teno-synovitis_ and
32252 _bursitis_; of the fibrous tissues of joints--chronic forms of
32253 _arthritis_; of the blood vessels--chronic forms of _endarteritis_ and
32254 of _phlebitis_ and of the peripheral nerves--_neuritis_. Also in the
32255 breast and in the prostate, with the waning of sexual life there may
32256 occur a formation of fibrous tissue--chronic _interstitial mastitis_,
32257 _chronic prostatitis_, having analogies with the chronic interstitial
32258 inflammations of internal organs like the kidney--_chronic interstitial
32259 nephritis_; and in the breast and prostate, as in the kidney, the
32260 formation of fibrous tissue leads to changes in the secreting epithelium
32261 resulting in the formation of cysts.
32262
32263 Lastly, there are still other types of chronic inflammation attended
32264 with the formation of fibrous tissue on such a liberal scale as to
32265 suggest analogies with new growths. The best known of these are the
32266 systematic forms of fibromatosis met with in the central nervous system
32267 and in the peripheral nerves--_neuro-fibromatosis_; in the submucous
32268 coat of the stomach--_gastric fibromatosis_; and in the
32269 colon--_intestinal fibromatosis_.
32270
32271 These conditions will be described with the tissues and organs in which
32272 they occur.
32273
32274 In the _treatment of chronic inflammations_, pending further knowledge
32275 as to their causation, and beyond such obvious indications as to help
32276 the tissues by removing a foreign body or a piece of dead bone, there
32277 are employed--empirically--a number of procedures such as the induction
32278 of hyperaemia, exposure to the X-rays, and the employment of blisters,
32279 cauteries, and setons. Vaccines may be had recourse to in those of
32280 bacterial origin.
32281
32282
32283
32284
32285 CHAPTER IV
32286
32287 SUPPURATION
32288
32289
32290 Definition--Pus--_Varieties_--Acute circumscribed abscess--_Acute
32291 suppuration in a wound_--_Acute Suppuration in a mucous
32292 membrane_--Diffuse cellulitis and diffuse suppuration--
32293 _Whitlow_--_Suppurative cellulitis in different situations_--Chronic
32294 suppuration--Sinus, Fistula--Constitutional manifestations of
32295 pyogenic infection--_Sapraemia_--_Septicaemia_--_Pyaemia_.
32296
32297 Suppuration, or the formation of pus, is one of the results of the
32298 action of bacteria on the tissues. The invading organism is usually one
32299 of the staphylococci, less frequently a streptococcus, and still less
32300 frequently one of the other bacteria capable of producing pus, such as
32301 the bacillus coli communis, the gonococcus, the pneumococcus, or the
32302 typhoid bacillus.
32303
32304 So long as the tissues are in a healthy condition they are able to
32305 withstand the attacks of moderate numbers of pyogenic bacteria of
32306 ordinary virulence, but when devitalised by disease, by injury, or by
32307 inflammation due to the action of other pathogenic organisms,
32308 suppuration ensues.
32309
32310 It would appear, for example, that pyogenic organisms can pass through
32311 the healthy urinary tract without doing any damage, but if the pelvis of
32312 the kidney, the ureter, or the bladder is the seat of stone, they give
32313 rise to suppuration. Similarly, a calculus in one of the salivary ducts
32314 frequently results in an abscess forming in the floor of the mouth. When
32315 the lumen of a tubular organ, such as the appendix or the Fallopian tube
32316 is blocked also, the action of pyogenic organisms is favoured and
32317 suppuration ensues.
32318
32319 #Pus.#--The fluid resulting from the process of suppuration is known
32320 as _pus_. In its typical form it is a yellowish creamy substance, of
32321 alkaline reaction, with a specific gravity of about 1030, and it has a
32322 peculiar mawkish odour. If allowed to stand in a test-tube it does not
32323 coagulate, but separates into two layers: the upper, transparent,
32324 straw-coloured fluid, the _liquor puris_ or pus serum, closely
32325 resembling blood serum in its composition, but containing less protein
32326 and more cholestrol; it also contains leucin, tyrosin, and certain
32327 albumoses which prevent coagulation.
32328
32329 The layer at the bottom of the tube consists for the most part of
32330 polymorph leucocytes, and proliferated connective tissue and endothelial
32331 cells (_pus corpuscles_). Other forms of leucocytes may be present,
32332 especially in long-standing suppurations; and there are usually some red
32333 corpuscles, dead bacteria, fat cells and shreds of tissue, cholestrol
32334 crystals, and other detritus in the deposit.
32335
32336 If a film of fresh pus is examined under the microscope, the pus cells
32337 are seen to have a well-defined rounded outline, and to contain a finely
32338 granular protoplasm and a multi-partite nucleus; if still warm, the
32339 cells may exhibit amoeboid movement. In stained films the nuclei take the
32340 stain well. In older pus cells the outline is irregular, the protoplasm
32341 coarsely granular, and the nuclei disintegrated, no longer taking the
32342 stain.
32343
32344 _Variations from Typical Pus._--Pus from old-standing sinuses is often
32345 watery in consistence (ichorous), with few cells. Where the granulations
32346 are vascular and bleed easily, it becomes sanious from admixture with
32347 red corpuscles; while, if a blood-clot be broken down and the debris
32348 mixed with the pus, it contains granules of blood pigment and is said to
32349 be "grumous." The _odour_ of pus varies with the different bacteria
32350 producing it. Pus due to ordinary pyogenic cocci has a mawkish odour;
32351 when putrefactive organisms are present it has a putrid odour; when it
32352 forms in the vicinity of the intestinal canal it usually contains the
32353 bacillus coli communis and has a faecal odour.
32354
32355 The _colour_ of pus also varies: when due to one or other of the
32356 varieties of the bacillus pyocyaneus, it is usually of a blue or green
32357 colour; when mixed with bile derivatives or altered blood pigment, it
32358 may be of a bright orange colour. In wounds inflicted with rough iron
32359 implements from which rust is deposited, the pus often presents the same
32360 colour.
32361
32362 The pus may form and collect within a circumscribed area, constituting a
32363 localised _abscess_; or it may infiltrate the tissues over a wide
32364 area--_diffuse suppuration_.
32365
32366
32367 ACUTE CIRCUMSCRIBED ABSCESS
32368
32369 Any tissue of the body may be the seat of an acute abscess, and there
32370 are many routes by which the bacteria may gain access to the affected
32371 area. For example: an abscess in the integument or subcutaneous
32372 cellular tissue usually results from infection by organisms which have
32373 entered through a wound or abrasion of the surface, or along the ducts
32374 of the skin; an abscess in the breast from organisms which have passed
32375 along the milk ducts opening on the nipple, or along the lymphatics
32376 which accompany these. An abscess in a lymph gland is usually due to
32377 infection passing by way of the lymph channels from the area of skin or
32378 mucous membrane drained by them. Abscesses in internal organs, such as
32379 the kidney, liver, or brain, usually result from organisms carried in
32380 the blood-stream from some focus of infection elsewhere in the body.
32381
32382 A knowledge of the possible avenues of infection is of clinical
32383 importance, as it may enable the source of a given abscess to be traced
32384 and dealt with. In suppuration in the Fallopian tube (pyosalpynx), for
32385 example, the fact that the most common origin of the infection is in the
32386 genital passage, leads to examination for vaginal discharge; and if none
32387 is present, the abscess is probably due to infection carried in the
32388 blood-stream from some primary focus about the mouth, such as a gumboil
32389 or an infective sore throat.
32390
32391 The exact location of an abscess also may furnish a key to its source;
32392 in axillary abscess, for example, if the suppuration is in the lymph
32393 glands the infection has come through the afferent lymphatics; if in the
32394 cellular tissue, it has spread from the neck or chest wall; if in the
32395 hair follicles, it is a local infection through the skin.
32396
32397 #Formation of an Abscess.#--When pyogenic bacteria are introduced into
32398 the tissue there ensues an inflammatory reaction, which is characterised
32399 by dilatation of the blood vessels, exudation of large numbers of
32400 leucocytes, and proliferation of connective-tissue cells. These
32401 wandering cells soon accumulate round the focus of infection, and form a
32402 protective barrier which tends to prevent the spread of the organisms
32403 and to restrict their field of action. Within the area thus
32404 circumscribed the struggle between the bacteria and the phagocytes takes
32405 place, and in the process toxins are formed by the organisms, a certain
32406 number of the leucocytes succumb, and, becoming degenerated, set free
32407 certain proteolytic enzymes or ferments. The toxins cause
32408 coagulation-necrosis of the tissue cells with which they come in
32409 contact, the ferments liquefy the exudate and other albuminous
32410 substances, and in this way _pus_ is formed.
32411
32412 If the bacteria gain the upper hand, this process of liquefaction which
32413 is characteristic of suppuration, extends into the surrounding tissues,
32414 the protective barrier of leucocytes is broken down, and the
32415 suppurative process spreads. A fresh accession of leucocytes, however,
32416 forms a new barrier, and eventually the spread is arrested, and the
32417 collection of pus so hemmed in constitutes an _abscess_.
32418
32419 Owing to the swelling and condensation of the parts around, the pus thus
32420 formed is under considerable pressure, and this causes it to burrow
32421 along the lines of least resistance. In the case of a subcutaneous
32422 abscess the pus usually works its way towards the surface, and "points,"
32423 as it is called. Where it approaches the surface the skin becomes soft
32424 and thin, and eventually sloughs, allowing the pus to escape.
32425
32426 An abscess forming in the deeper planes is prevented from pointing
32427 directly to the surface by the firm fasciae and other fibrous structures.
32428 The pus therefore tends to burrow along the line of the blood vessels
32429 and in the connective-tissue septa, till it either finds a weak spot or
32430 causes a portion of fascia to undergo necrosis and so reaches the
32431 surface. Accordingly, many abscess cavities resulting from deep-seated
32432 suppuration are of irregular shape, with pouches and loculi in various
32433 directions--an arrangement which interferes with their successful
32434 treatment by incision and drainage.
32435
32436 The relief of tension which follows the bursting of an abscess, the
32437 removal of irritation by the escape of pus, and the casting off of
32438 bacteria and toxins, allow the tissues once more to assert themselves,
32439 and a process of repair sets in. The walls of the abscess fall in;
32440 granulation tissue grows into the space and gradually fills it; and
32441 later this is replaced by cicatricial tissue. As a result of the
32442 subsequent contraction of the cicatricial tissue, the scar is usually
32443 depressed below the level of the surrounding skin surface.
32444
32445 If an abscess is prevented from healing--for example, by the presence of
32446 a foreign body or a piece of necrosed bone--a sinus results, and from it
32447 pus escapes until the foreign body is removed.
32448
32449 #Clinical Features of an Acute Circumscribed Abscess.#--In the initial
32450 stages the usual symptoms of inflammation are present. Increased
32451 elevation of temperature, with or without a rigor, progressive
32452 leucocytosis, and sweating, mark the transition between inflammation and
32453 suppuration. An increasing leucocytosis is evidence that a suppurative
32454 process is spreading.
32455
32456 The local symptoms vary with the seat of the abscess. When it is
32457 situated superficially--for example, in the breast tissue--the affected
32458 area is hot, the redness of inflammation gives place to a dusky purple
32459 colour, with a pale, sometimes yellow, spot where the pus is near the
32460 surface. The swelling increases in size, the firm brawny centre becomes
32461 soft, projects as a cone beyond the level of the rest of the swollen
32462 area, and is usually surrounded by a zone of induration.
32463
32464 By gently palpating with the finger-tips over the softened area, a fluid
32465 wave may be detected--_fluctuation_--and when present this is a certain
32466 indication of the existence of fluid in the swelling. Its recognition,
32467 however, is by no means easy, and various fallacies are to be guarded
32468 against in applying this test clinically. When, for example, the walls
32469 of the abscess are thick and rigid, or when its contents are under
32470 excessive tension, the fluid wave cannot be elicited. On the other hand,
32471 a sensation closely resembling fluctuation may often be recognised in
32472 oedematous tissues, in certain soft, solid tumours such as fatty tumours
32473 or vascular sarcomata, in aneurysm, and in a muscle when it is palpated
32474 in its transverse axis.
32475
32476 When pus has formed in deeper parts, and before it has reached the
32477 surface, oedema of the overlying skin is frequently present, and the skin
32478 pits on pressure.
32479
32480 With the formation of pus the continuous burning or boring pain of
32481 inflammation assumes a throbbing character, with occasional sharp,
32482 lancinating twinges. Should doubt remain as to the presence of pus,
32483 recourse may be had to the use of an exploring needle.
32484
32485 _Differential Diagnosis of Acute Abscess._--A practical difficulty which
32486 frequently arises is to decide whether or not pus has actually formed.
32487 It may be accepted as a working rule in practice that when an acute
32488 inflammation has lasted for four or five days without showing signs of
32489 abatement, suppuration has almost certainly occurred. In deep-seated
32490 suppuration, marked oedema of the skin and the occurrence of rigors and
32491 sweating may be taken to indicate the formation of pus.
32492
32493 There are cases on record where rapidly growing sarcomatous and
32494 angiomatous tumours, aneurysms, and the bruises that occur in
32495 haemophylics, have been mistaken for acute abscesses and incised, with
32496 disastrous results.
32497
32498 #Treatment of Acute Abscesses.#--The dictum of John Bell, "Where there
32499 is pus, let it out," summarises the treatment of abscess. The extent and
32500 situation of the incision and the means taken to drain the cavity,
32501 however, vary with the nature, site, and relations of the abscess. In a
32502 superficial abscess, for example a bubo, or an abscess in the breast or
32503 face where a disfiguring scar is undesirable, a small puncture should be
32504 made where the pus threatens to point, and a Klapp's suction bell be
32505 applied as already described (p. 39). A drain is not necessary, and in
32506 the intervals between the applications of the bell the part is covered
32507 with a moist antiseptic dressing.
32508
32509 In abscesses deeply placed, as for example under the gluteal or pectoral
32510 muscles, one or more incisions should be made, and the cavity drained by
32511 glass or rubber tubes or by strips of rubber tissue.
32512
32513 The wound should be dressed the next day, and the tube shortened, in the
32514 case of a rubber tube, by cutting off a portion of its outer end. On the
32515 second day or later, according to circumstances, the tube is removed,
32516 and after this the dressing need not be repeated oftener than every
32517 second or third day.
32518
32519 Where pus has formed in relation to important structures--as, for
32520 example, in the deeper planes of the neck--_Hilton's method_ of opening
32521 the abscess may be employed. An incision is made through the skin and
32522 fascia, a grooved director is gently pushed through the deeper tissues
32523 till pus escapes along its groove, and then the track is widened by
32524 passing in a pair of dressing forceps and expanding the blades. A tube,
32525 or strip of rubber tissue, is introduced, and the subsequent treatment
32526 carried out as in other abscesses. When the drain lies in proximity to a
32527 large blood vessel, care must be taken not to leave it in position long
32528 enough to cause ulceration of the vessel wall by pressure.
32529
32530 In some abscesses, such as those in the vicinity of the anus, the cavity
32531 should be laid freely open in its whole extent, stuffed with iodoform or
32532 bismuth gauze, and treated by the open method.
32533
32534 It is seldom advisable to wash out an abscess cavity, and squeezing out
32535 the pus is also to be avoided, lest the protective zone be broken down
32536 and the infection be diffused into the surrounding tissues.
32537
32538 The importance of taking precautions against further infection in
32539 opening an abscess can scarcely be exaggerated, and the rapidity with
32540 which healing occurs when the access of fresh bacteria is prevented is
32541 in marked contrast to what occurs when such precautions are neglected
32542 and further infection is allowed to take place.
32543
32544 _Acute Suppuration in a Wound._--If in the course of an operation
32545 infection of the wound has occurred, a marked inflammatory reaction soon
32546 manifests itself, and the same changes as occur in the formation of an
32547 acute abscess take place, modified, however, by the fact that the pus
32548 can more readily reach the surface. In from twenty-four to forty-eight
32549 hours the patient is conscious of a sensation of chilliness, or may
32550 even have a rigor. At the same time he feels generally out of sorts,
32551 with impaired appetite, headache, and it may be looseness of the bowels.
32552 His temperature rises to 100 o or 101 o F., and the pulse quickens to 100
32553 or 110.
32554
32555 On exposing the wound it is found that the parts for some distance
32556 around are red, glazed, and oedematous. The discoloration and swelling
32557 are most intense in the immediate vicinity of the wound, the edges of
32558 which are everted and moist. Any stitches that may have been introduced
32559 are tight, and the deep ones may be cutting into the tissues. There is
32560 heat, and a constant burning or throbbing pain, which is increased by
32561 pressure. If the stitches be cut, pus escapes, the wound gapes, and its
32562 surfaces are found to be inflamed and covered with pus.
32563
32564 The open method is the only safe means of treating such wounds. The
32565 infected surface may be sponged over with pure carbolic acid, the excess
32566 of which is washed off with absolute alcohol, and the wound either
32567 drained by tubes or packed with iodoform gauze. The practice of scraping
32568 such surfaces with the sharp spoon, squeezing or even of washing them
32569 out with antiseptic lotions, is attended with the risk of further
32570 diffusing the organisms in the tissue, and is only to be employed under
32571 exceptional circumstances. Continuous irrigation of infected wounds or
32572 their immersion in antiseptic baths is sometimes useful. The free
32573 opening up of the wound is almost immediately followed by a fall in the
32574 temperature. The surrounding inflammation subsides, the discharge of pus
32575 lessens, and healing takes place by the formation of granulation
32576 tissue--the so-called "healing by second intention."
32577
32578 Wound infection may take place from _catgut_ which has not been
32579 efficiently prepared. The local and general reactions may be slight,
32580 and, as a rule, do not appear for seven or eight days after the
32581 operation, and, it may be, not till after the skin edges have united.
32582 The suppuration is strictly localised to the part of the wound where
32583 catgut was employed for stitches or ligatures, and shows little tendency
32584 to spread. The infected part, however, is often long of healing. The
32585 irritation in these cases is probably due to toxins in the catgut and
32586 not to bacteria.
32587
32588 When suppuration occurs in connection with buried sutures of
32589 unabsorbable materials, such as silk, silkworm gut, or silver wire, it
32590 is apt to persist till the foreign material is cast off or removed.
32591
32592 Suppuration may occur in the track of a skin stitch, producing a _stitch
32593 abscess_. The infection may arise from the material used, especially
32594 catgut or silk, or, more frequently perhaps, from the growth of
32595 staphylococcus albus from the skin of the patient when this has been
32596 imperfectly disinfected. The formation of pus under these conditions may
32597 not be attended with any of the usual signs of suppuration, and beyond
32598 some induration around the wound and a slight tenderness on pressure
32599 there may be nothing to suggest the presence of an abscess.
32600
32601 _Acute Suppuration of a Mucous Membrane._--When pyogenic organisms gain
32602 access to a mucous membrane, such as that of the bladder, urethra, or
32603 middle ear, the usual phenomena of acute inflammation and suppuration
32604 ensue, followed by the discharge of pus on the free surface. It would
32605 appear that the most marked changes take place in the submucous tissue,
32606 causing the covering epithelium in places to die and leave small
32607 superficial ulcers, for example in gonorrhoeal urethritis, the
32608 cicatricial contraction of the scar subsequently leading to the
32609 formation of stricture. When mucous glands are present in the membrane,
32610 the pus is mixed with mucus--_muco-pus_.
32611
32612
32613 DIFFUSE CELLULITIS AND DIFFUSE SUPPURATION
32614
32615 Cellulitis is an acute affection resulting from the introduction of some
32616 organism--commonly the _streptococcus pyogenes_--into the cellular
32617 connective tissue of the integument, intermuscular septa, tendon
32618 sheaths, or other structures. Infection always takes place through a
32619 breach of the surface, although this may be superficial and
32620 insignificant, such as a pin-prick, a scratch, or a crack under a nail,
32621 and the wound may have been healed for some time before the inflammation
32622 becomes manifest. The cellulitis, also, may develop at some distance
32623 from the seat of inoculation, the organisms having travelled by the
32624 lymphatics.
32625
32626 The virulence of the organisms, the loose, open nature of the tissues in
32627 which they develop, and the free lymphatic circulation by means of which
32628 they are spread, account for the diffuse nature of the process.
32629 Sometimes numbers of cocci are carried for a considerable distance from
32630 the primary area before they are arrested in the lymphatics, and thus
32631 several patches of inflammation may appear with healthy areas between.
32632
32633 The pus infiltrates the meshes of the cellular tissue, there is
32634 sloughing of considerable portions of tissue of low vitality, such as
32635 fat, fascia, or tendon, and if the process continues for some time
32636 several collections of pus may form.
32637
32638 _Clinical Features._--The reaction in cases of diffuse cellulitis is
32639 severe, and is usually ushered in by a distinct chill or even a rigor,
32640 while the temperature rises to 103 o, 104 o, or 105 o F. The pulse is
32641 proportionately increased in frequency, and is small, feeble, and often
32642 irregular. The face is flushed, the tongue dry and brown, and the
32643 patient may become delirious, especially during the night. Leucocytosis
32644 is present in cases of moderate severity; but in severe cases the
32645 virulence of the toxins prevents reaction taking place, and leucocytosis
32646 is absent.
32647
32648 The local manifestations vary with the relation of the seat of the
32649 inflammation to the surface. When the superficial cellular tissue is
32650 involved, the skin assumes a dark bluish-red colour, is swollen,
32651 oedematous, and the seat of burning pain. To the touch it is firm, hot,
32652 and tender. When the primary focus is in the deeper tissues, the
32653 constitutional disturbance is aggravated, while the local signs are
32654 delayed, and only become prominent when pus forms and approaches the
32655 surface. It is not uncommon for blebs containing dark serous fluid to
32656 form on the skin. The infection frequently spreads along the line of the
32657 main lymph vessels of the part (_septic lymphangitis_) and may reach the
32658 lymph glands (_septic lymphadenitis_).
32659
32660 With the formation of pus the skin becomes soft and boggy at several
32661 points, and eventually breaks, giving exit to a quantity of thick
32662 grumous discharge. Sometimes several small collections under the skin
32663 fuse, and an abscess is formed in which fluctuation can be detected.
32664 Occasionally gases are evolved in the tissues, giving rise to emphysema.
32665 It is common for portions of fascia, ligaments, or tendons to slough,
32666 and this may often be recognised clinically by a peculiar crunching or
32667 grating sensation transmitted to the fingers on making firm pressure on
32668 the part.
32669
32670 If it is not let out by incision, the pus, travelling along the lines of
32671 least resistance, tends to point at several places on the surface, or to
32672 open into joints or other cavities.
32673
32674 _Prognosis._--The occurrence of _septicaemia_ is the most serious risk,
32675 and it is in cases of diffuse suppurative cellulitis that this form of
32676 blood-poisoning assumes its most aggravated forms. The toxins of the
32677 streptococci are exceedingly virulent, and induce local death of tissue
32678 so rapidly that the protective emigration of leucocytes fails to take
32679 place. In some cases the passage of masses of free cocci in the
32680 lymphatics, or of infective emboli in the blood vessels, leads to the
32681 formation of _pyogenic abscesses_ in vital organs, such as the brain,
32682 lungs, liver, kidneys, or other viscera. _Haemorrhage_ from erosion of
32683 arterial or venous trunks may take place and endanger life.
32684
32685 _Treatment._--The treatment of diffuse cellulitis depends to a large
32686 extent on the situation and extent of the affected area, and on the
32687 stage of the process.
32688
32689 _In the limbs_, for example, where the application of a constricting
32690 band is practicable, Bier's method of inducing passive hyperaemia yields
32691 excellent results. If pus is formed, one or more small incisions are
32692 made and a light moist dressing placed over the wounds to absorb the
32693 discharge, but no drain is inserted. The whole of the inflamed area
32694 should be covered with gauze wrung out of a 1 in 10 solution of ichthyol
32695 in glycerine. The dressing is changed as often as necessary, and in the
32696 intervals when the band is off, gentle active and passive movements
32697 should be carried out to prevent the formation of adhesions. After
32698 incisions have been made, we have found the _immersion_ of the limb, for
32699 a few hours at a time, in a water-bath containing warm boracic lotion or
32700 eusol a useful adjuvant to the passive hyperaemia.
32701
32702 _Continuous irrigation_ of the part by a slow, steady stream of lotion,
32703 at the body temperature, such as eusol, or Dakin's solution, or boracic
32704 acid, or frequent washing with peroxide of hydrogen, has been found of
32705 value.
32706
32707 A suitably arranged splint adds to the comfort of the patient; and the
32708 limb should be placed in the attitude which, in the event of stiffness
32709 resulting, will least interfere with its usefulness. The elbow, for
32710 example, should be flexed to a little less than a right angle; at the
32711 wrist, the hand should be dorsiflexed and the fingers flexed slightly
32712 towards the palm.
32713
32714 Massage, passive movement, hot and cold douching, and other measures,
32715 may be necessary to get rid of the chronic oedema, adhesions of tendons,
32716 and stiffness of joints which sometimes remain.
32717
32718 In situations where a constricting band cannot be applied, for example,
32719 on the trunk or the neck, Klapp's suction bells may be used, small
32720 incisions being made to admit of the escape of pus.
32721
32722 If these measures fail or are impracticable, it may be necessary to make
32723 one or more free incisions, and to insert drainage-tubes, portions of
32724 rubber dam, or iodoform worsted.
32725
32726 The general treatment of toxaemia must be carried out, and in cases due
32727 to infection by streptococci, anti-streptococcic serum may be used.
32728
32729 In a few cases, amputation well above the seat of disease, by removing
32730 the source of toxin production, offers the only means of saving the
32731 patient.
32732
32733
32734 WHITLOW
32735
32736 The clinical term whitlow is applied to an acute infection, usually
32737 followed by suppuration, commonly met with in the fingers, less
32738 frequently in the toes. The point of infection is often trivial--a
32739 pin-prick, a puncture caused by a splinter of wood, a scratch, or even
32740 an imperceptible lesion of the skin.
32741
32742 Several varieties of whitlow are recognised, but while it is convenient
32743 to describe them separately, it is to be clearly understood that
32744 clinically they merge one into another, and it is not always possible to
32745 determine in which connective-tissue plane a given infection has
32746 originated.
32747
32748 _Initial Stage._--Attention is usually first attracted to the condition
32749 by a sensation of tightness in the finger and tenderness when the part
32750 is squeezed or knocked against anything. In the course of a few hours
32751 the part becomes red and swollen; there is continuous pain, which soon
32752 assumes a throbbing character, particularly when the hand is dependent,
32753 and may be so severe as to prevent sleep, and the patient may feel
32754 generally out of sorts.
32755
32756 If a constricting band is applied at this stage, the infection can
32757 usually be checked and the occurrence of suppuration prevented. If this
32758 fails, or if the condition is allowed to go untreated, the inflammatory
32759 reaction increases and terminates in suppuration, giving rise to one or
32760 other of the forms of whitlow to be described.
32761
32762 _The Purulent Blister._--In the most superficial variety, pus forms
32763 between the rete Malpighii and the stratum corneum of the skin, the
32764 latter being raised as a blister in which fluctuation can be detected
32765 (Fig. 9, a). This is commonly met with in the palm of the hand of
32766 labouring men who have recently resumed work after a spell of idleness.
32767 When the blister forms near the tip of the finger, the pus burrows under
32768 the nail--which corresponds to the stratum corneum--raising it from its
32769 bed.
32770
32771 There is some local heat and discoloration, and considerable pain and
32772 tenderness, but little or no constitutional disturbance. Superficial
32773 lymphangitis may extend a short distance up the forearm. By clipping
32774 away the raised epidermis, and if necessary the nail, the pus is allowed
32775 to escape, and healing speedily takes place.
32776
32777 _Whitlow at the Nail Fold._--This variety, which is met with among those
32778 who handle septic material, occurs in the sulcus between the nail and
32779 the skin, and is due to the introduction of infective matter at the root
32780 of the nail (Fig. 9, b). A small focus of suppuration forms under the
32781 nail, with swelling and redness of the nail fold, causing intense pain
32782 and discomfort, interfering with sleep, and producing a constitutional
32783 reaction out of all proportion to the local lesion.
32784
32785 To allow the pus to escape, it is necessary, under local anaesthesia, to
32786 cut away the nail fold as well as the portion of nail in the infected
32787 area, or, it may be, to remove the nail entirely. If only a small
32788 opening is made in the nail it is apt to be blocked by granulations.
32789
32790 [Illustration: FIG. 9.--Diagram of various forms of Whitlow.
32791 a = Purulent blister.
32792 b = Suppuration at nail fold.
32793 c = Subcutaneous whitlow.
32794 d = Whitlow in sheath of flexor tendon (e). ]
32795
32796 _Subcutaneous Whitlow._--In this variety the infection manifests itself
32797 as a cellulitis of the pulp of the finger (Fig. 9, c), which sometimes
32798 spreads towards the palm of the hand. The finger becomes red, swollen,
32799 and tense; there is severe throbbing pain, which is usually worst at
32800 night and prevents sleep, and the part is extremely tender on pressure.
32801 When the palm is invaded there may be marked oedema of the back of the
32802 hand, the dense integument of the palm preventing the swelling from
32803 appearing on the front. The pus may be under such tension that
32804 fluctuation cannot be detected. The patient is usually able to flex the
32805 finger to a certain extent without increasing the pain--a point which
32806 indicates that the tendon sheaths have not been invaded. The
32807 suppurative process may, however, spread to the tendon sheaths, or even
32808 to the bone. Sometimes the excessive tension and virulent toxins induce
32809 actual gangrene of the distal part, or even of the whole finger. There
32810 is considerable constitutional disturbance, the temperature often
32811 reaching 101 o or 102 o F.
32812
32813 The treatment consists in applying a constriction band and making an
32814 incision over the centre of the most tender area, care being taken to
32815 avoid opening the tendon sheath lest the infection be conveyed to it.
32816 Moist dressings should be employed while the suppuration lasts. Carbolic
32817 fomentations, however, are to be avoided on account of the risk of
32818 inducing gangrene.
32819
32820 _Whitlow of the Tendon Sheaths._--In this form the main incidence of the
32821 infection is on the sheaths of the flexor tendons, but it is not always
32822 possible to determine whether it started there or spread thither from
32823 the subcutaneous cellular tissue (Fig. 9, d). In some cases both
32824 connective tissue planes are involved. The affected finger becomes red,
32825 painful, and swollen, the swelling spreading to the dorsum. The
32826 involvement of the tendon sheath is usually indicated by the patient
32827 being unable to flex the finger, and by the pain being increased when he
32828 attempts to do so. On account of the anatomical arrangement of the
32829 tendon sheaths, the process may spread into the forearm--directly in the
32830 case of the thumb and little finger, and after invading the palm in the
32831 case of the other fingers--and there give rise to a diffuse cellulitis
32832 which may result in sloughing of fasciae and tendons. When the infection
32833 spreads into the common flexor sheath under the transverse carpal
32834 (anterior annular) ligament, it is not uncommon for the intercarpal and
32835 wrist joints to become implicated. Impaired movement of tendons and
32836 joints is, therefore, a common sequel to this variety of whitlow.
32837
32838 The _treatment_ consists in inducing passive hyperaemia by Bier's method,
32839 and, if this is done early, suppuration may be avoided. If pus forms,
32840 small incisions are made, under local anaesthesia, to relieve the tension
32841 in the sheath and to diminish the risk of the tendons sloughing. No form
32842 of drain should be inserted. In the fingers the incisions should be made
32843 in the middle line, and in the palm they should be made over the
32844 metacarpal bones to avoid the digital vessels and nerves. If pus has
32845 spread under the transverse carpal ligament, the incision must be made
32846 above the wrist. Passive movements and massage must be commenced as
32847 early as possible and be perseveringly employed to diminish the
32848 formation of adhesions and resulting stiffness.
32849
32850 _Subperiosteal Whitlow._--This form is usually an extension of the
32851 subcutaneous or of the thecal variety, but in some cases the
32852 inflammation begins in the periosteum--usually of the terminal phalanx.
32853 It may lead to necrosis of a portion or even of the entire phalanx. This
32854 is usually recognised by the persistence of suppuration long after the
32855 acute symptoms have passed off, and by feeling bare bone with the probe.
32856 In such cases one or more of the joints are usually implicated also, and
32857 lateral mobility and grating may be elicited. Recovery does not take
32858 place until the dead bone is removed, and the usefulness of the finger
32859 is often seriously impaired by fibrous or bony ankylosis of the
32860 interphalangeal joints. This may render amputation advisable when a
32861 stiff finger is likely to interfere with the patient's occupation.
32862
32863
32864 SUPPURATIVE CELLULITIS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
32865
32866 _Cellulitis of the forearm_ is usually a sequel to one of the deeper
32867 varieties of whitlow.
32868
32869 In the _region of the elbow-joint_, cellulitis is common around the
32870 olecranon. It may originate as an inflammation of the olecranon bursa,
32871 or may invade the bursa secondarily. In exceptional cases the
32872 elbow-joint is also involved.
32873
32874 Cellulitis of the _axilla_ may originate in suppuration in the lymph
32875 glands, following an infected wound of the hand, or it may spread from a
32876 septic wound on the chest wall or in the neck. In some cases it is
32877 impossible to discover the primary seat of infection. A firm, brawny
32878 swelling forms in the armpit and extends on to the chest wall. It is
32879 attended with great pain, which is increased on moving the arm, and
32880 there is marked constitutional disturbance. When suppuration occurs, its
32881 spread is limited by the attachments of the axillary fascia, and the pus
32882 tends to burrow on to the chest wall beneath the pectoral muscles, and
32883 upwards towards the shoulder-joint, which may become infected. When the
32884 pus forms in the axillary space, the treatment consists in making free
32885 incisions, which should be placed on the thoracic side of the axilla to
32886 avoid the axillary vessels and nerves. If the pus spreads on to the
32887 chest wall, the abscess should be opened below the clavicle by Hilton's
32888 method, and a counter opening may be made in the axilla.
32889
32890 Cellulitis of the _sole of the foot_ may follow whitlow of the toes.
32891
32892 In the _region of the ankle_ cellulitis is not common; but _around the
32893 knee_ it frequently occurs in relation to the prepatellar bursa and to
32894 the popliteal lymph glands, and may endanger the knee-joint. It is also
32895 met with in the _groin_ following on inflammation and suppuration of the
32896 inguinal glands, and cases are recorded in which the sloughing process
32897 has implicated the femoral vessels and led to secondary haemorrhage.
32898
32899 Cellulitis of the scalp, orbit, neck, pelvis, and perineum will be
32900 considered with the diseases of these regions.
32901
32902
32903 CHRONIC SUPPURATION
32904
32905 While it is true that a chronic pyogenic abscess is sometimes met
32906 with--for example, in the breast and in the marrow of long bones--in the
32907 great majority of instances the formation of a chronic or cold abscess
32908 is the result of the action of the tubercle bacillus. It is therefore
32909 more convenient to study this form of suppuration with tuberculosis
32910 (p. 139).
32911
32912
32913 SINUS AND FISTULA
32914
32915 #Sinus.#--A sinus is a track leading from a focus of suppuration to a
32916 cutaneous or mucous surface. It usually represents the path by which the
32917 discharge escapes from an abscess cavity that has been prevented from
32918 closing completely, either from mechanical causes or from the persistent
32919 formation of discharge which must find an exit. A sinus is lined by
32920 granulation tissue, and when it is of long standing the opening may be
32921 dragged below the level of the surrounding skin by contraction of the
32922 scar tissue around it. As a sinus will persist until the obstacle to
32923 closure of the original abscess is removed, it is necessary that this
32924 should be sought for. It may be a foreign body, such as a piece of dead
32925 bone, an infected ligature, or a bullet, acting mechanically or by
32926 keeping up discharge, and if the body is removed the sinus usually
32927 heals. The presence of a foreign body is often suggested by a mass of
32928 redundant granulations at the mouth of the sinus. If a sinus passes
32929 through a muscle, the repeated contractions tend to prevent healing
32930 until the muscle is kept at rest by a splint, or put out of action by
32931 division of its fibres. The sinuses associated with empyema are
32932 prevented from healing by the rigidity of the chest wall, and will only
32933 close after an operation which admits of the cavity being obliterated.
32934 In any case it is necessary to disinfect the track, and, it may be, to
32935 remove the unhealthy granulations lining it, by means of the sharp
32936 spoon, or to excise it bodily. To encourage healing from the bottom the
32937 cavity should be packed with bismuth or iodoform gauze. The healing of
32938 long and tortuous sinuses is often hastened by the injection of Beck's
32939 bismuth paste (p. 145). If disfigurement is likely to follow from
32940 cicatricial contraction--for example, in a sinus over the lower jaw
32941 associated with a carious tooth--the sinus should be excised and the raw
32942 surfaces approximated with stitches.
32943
32944 The _tuberculous sinus_ is described under Tuberculosis.
32945
32946 A #fistula# is an abnormal canal passing from a mucous surface to the
32947 skin or to another mucous surface. Fistulae resulting from suppuration
32948 usually occur near the natural openings of mucous canals--for example,
32949 on the cheek, as a salivary fistula; beside the inner angle of the eye,
32950 as a lacrymal fistula; near the ear, as a mastoid fistula; or close to
32951 the anus, as a fistula-in-ano. Intestinal fistulae are sometimes met with
32952 in the abdominal wall after strangulated hernia, operations for
32953 appendicitis, tuberculous peritonitis, and other conditions. In the
32954 perineum, fistulae frequently complicate stricture of the urethra.
32955
32956 Fistulae also occur between the bladder and vagina (_vesico-vaginal
32957 fistula_), or between the bladder and the rectum (_recto-vesical
32958 fistula_).
32959
32960 The _treatment_ of these various forms of fistula will be described in
32961 the sections dealing with the regions in which they occur.
32962
32963 _Congenital fistulae_, such as occur in the neck from imperfect closure
32964 of branchial clefts, or in the abdomen from unobliterated foetal ducts
32965 such as the urachus or Meckel's diverticulum, will be described in their
32966 proper places.
32967
32968
32969 CONSTITUTIONAL MANIFESTATIONS OF PYOGENIC INFECTION
32970
32971 We have here to consider under the terms Sapraemia, Septicaemia, and
32972 Pyaemia certain general effects of pyogenic infection, which, although
32973 their clinical manifestations may vary, are all associated with the
32974 action of the same forms of bacteria. They may occur separately or in
32975 combination, or one may follow on and merge into another.
32976
32977 #Sapraemia#, or septic intoxication, is the name applied to a form of
32978 poisoning resulting from the absorption into the blood of the toxic
32979 products of pyogenic bacteria. These products, which are of the nature
32980 of alkaloids, act immediately on their entrance into the circulation,
32981 and produce effects in direct proportion to the amount absorbed. As the
32982 toxins are gradually eliminated from the body the symptoms abate, and if
32983 no more are introduced they disappear. Sapraemia in these respects,
32984 therefore, is comparable to poisoning by any other form of alkaloid,
32985 such as strychnin or morphin.
32986
32987 _Clinical Features._--The symptoms of sapraemia seldom manifest
32988 themselves within twenty-four hours of an operation or injury, because
32989 it takes some time for the bacteria to produce a sufficient dose of
32990 their poisons. The onset of the condition is marked by a feeling of
32991 chilliness, sometimes amounting to a rigor, and a rise of temperature to
32992 102 o, 103 o, or 104 o F., with morning remissions (Fig. 10). The heart's
32993 action is markedly depressed, and the pulse is soft and compressible.
32994 The appetite is lost, the tongue dry and covered with a thin
32995 brownish-red fur, so that it has the appearance of "dried beef." The
32996 urine is scanty and loaded with urates. In severe cases diarrhoea and
32997 vomiting of dark coffee-ground material are often prominent features.
32998 Death is usually impending when the skin becomes cold and clammy, the
32999 mucous membranes livid, the pulse feeble and fluttering, the discharges
33000 involuntary, and when a low form of muttering delirium is present.
33001
33002 [Illustration: FIG. 10.--Charts of Acute sapraemia from (a) case of
33003 crushed foot, and (b) case of incomplete abortion.]
33004
33005 A local form of septic infection is always present--it may be an
33006 abscess, an infected compound fracture, or an infection of the cavity of
33007 the uterus, for example, from a retained portion of placenta.
33008
33009 _Treatment._--The first indication is the immediate and complete removal
33010 of the infected material. The wound must be freely opened, all
33011 blood-clot, discharge, or necrosed tissue removed, and the area
33012 disinfected by washing with sterilised salt solution, peroxide of
33013 hydrogen, or eusol. Stronger lotions are to be avoided as being likely
33014 to depress the tissues, and so interfere with protective phagocytosis.
33015 On account of its power of neutralising toxins, iodoform is useful in
33016 these cases, and is best employed by packing the wound with iodoform
33017 gauze, and treating it by the open method, if this is possible.
33018
33019 The general treatment is carried out on the same lines as for other
33020 infective conditions.
33021
33022 #Chronic sapraemia or Hectic Fever.#--Hectic fever differs from acute
33023 sapraemia merely in degree. It usually occurs in connection with
33024 tuberculous conditions, such as bone or joint disease, psoas abscess, or
33025 empyema, which have opened externally, and have thereby become infected
33026 with pyogenic organisms. It is gradual in its development, and is of a
33027 mild type throughout.
33028
33029 [Illustration: FIG. 11.--Chart of Hectic Fever.]
33030
33031 The pulse is small, feeble, and compressible, and the temperature rises
33032 in the afternoon or evening to 102 o or 103 o F. (Fig. 11), the cheeks
33033 becoming characteristically flushed. In the early morning the
33034 temperature falls to normal or below it, and the patient breaks into a
33035 profuse perspiration, which leaves him pale, weak, and exhausted. He
33036 becomes rapidly and markedly emaciated, even although in some cases the
33037 appetite remains good and is even voracious.
33038
33039 The poisons circulating in the blood produce _waxy degeneration_ in
33040 certain viscera, notably the liver, spleen, kidneys, and intestines. The
33041 process begins in the arterial walls, and spreads thence to the
33042 connective-tissue structures, causing marked enlargement of the affected
33043 organs. Albuminuria, ascites, oedema of the lower limbs, clubbing of the
33044 fingers, and diarrhoea are among the most prominent symptoms of this
33045 condition.
33046
33047 The _prognosis_ in hectic fever depends on the completeness with which
33048 the further absorption of toxins can be prevented. In many cases this
33049 can only be effected by an operation which provides for free drainage,
33050 and, if possible, the removal of infected tissues. The resulting wound
33051 is best treated by the open method. Even advanced waxy degeneration does
33052 not contra-indicate this line of treatment, as the diseased organs
33053 usually recover if the focus from which absorption of toxic material is
33054 taking place is completely eradicated.
33055
33056 [Illustration: FIG. 12.--Chart of case of Septicaemia followed by
33057 Pyaemia.]
33058
33059 #Septicaemia.#--This form of blood-poisoning is the result of the action
33060 of pyogenic bacteria, which not only produce their toxins at the primary
33061 seat of infection, but themselves enter the blood-stream and are carried
33062 to other parts, where they settle and produce further effects.
33063
33064 _Clinical Features._--There may be an incubation period of some hours
33065 between the infection and the first manifestation of acute septicaemia.
33066 In such conditions as acute osteomyelitis or acute peritonitis, we see
33067 the most typical clinical pictures of this condition. The onset is
33068 marked by a chill, or a rigor, which may be repeated, while the
33069 temperature rises to 103 o or 104 o F., although in very severe cases the
33070 temperature may remain subnormal throughout, the virulence of the toxins
33071 preventing reaction. It is in the general appearance of the patient and
33072 in the condition of the pulse that we have our best guides as to the
33073 severity of the condition. If the pulse remains firm, full, and regular,
33074 and does not exceed 110 or even 120, while the temperature is moderately
33075 raised, the outlook is hopeful; but when the pulse becomes small and
33076 compressible, and reaches 130 or more, especially if at the same time
33077 the temperature is low, a grave prognosis is indicated. The tongue is
33078 often dry and coated with a black crust down the centre, while the sides
33079 are red. It is a good omen when the tongue becomes moist again. Thirst
33080 is most distressing, especially in septicaemia of intestinal origin.
33081 Persistent vomiting of dark-brown material is often present, and
33082 diarrhoea with blood-stained stools is not uncommon. The urine is small
33083 in amount, and contains a large proportion of urates. As the poisons
33084 accumulate, the respiration becomes shallow and laboured, the face of a
33085 dull ashy grey, the nose pinched, and the skin cold and clammy.
33086 Capillary haemorrhages sometimes take place in the skin or mucous
33087 membranes; and in a certain proportion of cases cutaneous eruptions
33088 simulating those of scarlet fever or measles appear, and are apt to lead
33089 to errors in diagnosis. In other cases there is slight jaundice. The
33090 mental state is often one of complete apathy, the patient failing to
33091 realise the gravity of his condition; sometimes there is delirium.
33092
33093 The _prognosis_ is always grave, and depends on the possibility of
33094 completely eradicating the focus of infection, and on the reserve force
33095 the patient has to carry him over the period during which he is
33096 eliminating the poison already circulating in his blood.
33097
33098 The _treatment_ is carried out on the same lines as in sapraemia, but it
33099 is less likely to be successful owing to the organisms having entered
33100 the circulation. When possible, the primary focus of infection should be
33101 dealt with.
33102
33103 #Pyaemia# is a form of blood-poisoning characterised by the development
33104 of secondary foci of suppuration in different parts of the body. Toxins
33105 are thus introduced into the blood, not only at the primary seat of
33106 infection, but also from each of these metastatic collections. Like
33107 septicaemia, this condition is due to pyogenic bacteria, the
33108 _streptococcus pyogenes_ being the commonest organism found. The primary
33109 infection is usually in a wound--for example, a compound fracture--but
33110 cases occur in which the point of entrance of the bacteria is not
33111 discoverable. The dissemination of the organisms takes place through the
33112 medium of infected emboli which form in a thrombosed vein in the
33113 vicinity of the original lesion, and, breaking loose, are carried
33114 thence in the blood-stream. These emboli lodge in the minute vessels of
33115 the lungs, spleen, liver, kidneys, pleura, brain, synovial membranes, or
33116 cellular tissue, and the bacteria they contain give rise to secondary
33117 foci of suppuration. Secondary abscesses are thus formed in those parts,
33118 and these in turn may be the starting-point of new emboli which give
33119 rise to fresh areas of pus formation. The organs above named are the
33120 commonest situations of pyaemic abscesses, but these may also occur in
33121 the bone marrow, the substance of muscles, the heart and pericardium,
33122 lymph glands, subcutaneous tissue, or, in fact, in any tissue of the
33123 body. Organisms circulating in the blood are prone to lodge on the
33124 valves of the heart and give rise to endocarditis.
33125
33126 [Illustration: FIG. 13.--Chart of Pyaemia following on Acute
33127 Osteomyelitis.]
33128
33129 _Clinical Features._--Before antiseptic surgery was practised, pyaemia
33130 was a common complication of wounds. In the present day it is not only
33131 infinitely less common, but appears also to be of a less severe type.
33132 Its rarity and its mildness may be related as cause and effect, because
33133 it was formerly found that pyaemia contracted from a pyaemic patient was
33134 more virulent than that from other sources.
33135
33136 In contrast with sapraemia and septicaemia, pyaemia is late of developing,
33137 and it seldom begins within a week of the primary infection. The first
33138 sign is a feeling of chilliness, or a violent rigor lasting for perhaps
33139 half an hour, during which time the temperature rises to 103 o, 104 o, or
33140 105 o F. In the course of an hour it begins to fall again, and the
33141 patient breaks into a profuse sweat. The temperature may fall several
33142 degrees, but seldom reaches the normal. In a few days there is a second
33143 rigor with rise of temperature, and another remission, and such attacks
33144 may be repeated at diminishing intervals during the course of the
33145 illness (Figs. 12 and 13). The pulse is soft, and tends to remain
33146 abnormally rapid even when the temperature falls nearly to normal.
33147
33148 The face is flushed, and wears a drawn, anxious expression, and the eyes
33149 are bright. A characteristic sweetish odour, which has been compared to
33150 that of new-mown hay, can be detected in the breath and may pervade the
33151 patient. The appetite is lost; there may be sickness and vomiting and
33152 profuse diarrhoea; and the patient emaciates rapidly. The skin is
33153 continuously hot, and has often a peculiar pungent feel. Patches of
33154 erythema sometimes appear scattered over the body. The skin may assume a
33155 dull sallow or earthy hue, or a bright yellow icteric tint may appear.
33156 The conjunctivae also may be yellow. In the latter stages of the disease
33157 the pulse becomes small and fluttering; the tongue becomes dry and
33158 brown; sordes collect on the teeth; and a low muttering form of delirium
33159 supervenes.
33160
33161 Secondary infection of the parotid gland frequently occurs, and gives
33162 rise to a suppurative parotitis. This condition is associated with
33163 severe pain, gradually extending from behind the angle of the jaw on to
33164 the face. There is also swelling over the gland, and eventually
33165 suppuration and sloughing of the gland tissue and overlying skin.
33166
33167 Secondary abscesses in the lymph glands, subcutaneous tissue, or joints
33168 are often so insidious and painless in their development that they are
33169 only discovered accidentally. When the abscess is evacuated, healing
33170 often takes place with remarkable rapidity, and with little impairment
33171 of function.
33172
33173 The general symptoms may be simulated by an attack of malaria.
33174
33175 _Prognosis._--The prognosis in acute pyaemia is much less hopeless than
33176 it once was, a considerable proportion of the patients recovering. In
33177 acute cases the disease proves fatal in ten days or a fortnight, death
33178 being due to toxaemia. Chronic cases often run a long course, lasting for
33179 weeks or even months, and prove fatal from exhaustion and waxy disease
33180 following on prolonged suppuration.
33181
33182 _Treatment._--In such conditions as compound fractures and severe
33183 lacerated wounds, much can be done to avert the conditions which lead to
33184 pyaemia, by applying a Bier's constricting bandage as soon as there is
33185 evidence of infection having taken place, or even if there is reason to
33186 suspect that the wound is not aseptic.
33187
33188 If sepsis is already established, and evidence of general infection is
33189 present, the wound should be opened up sufficiently to admit of thorough
33190 disinfection and drainage, and the constricting bandage applied to aid
33191 the defensive processes going on in the tissues. If these measures fail,
33192 amputation of the limb may be the only means of preventing further
33193 dissemination of infective material from the primary source of
33194 infection.
33195
33196 Attempts have been made to interrupt the channel along which the
33197 infective emboli spread, by ligating or resecting the main vein of the
33198 affected part, but this is seldom feasible except in the case of the
33199 internal jugular vein for infection of the transverse sinus.
33200
33201 Secondary abscesses must be aspirated or opened and drained whenever
33202 possible.
33203
33204 The general treatment is conducted on the same lines as on other forms
33205 of pyogenic infection.
33206
33207
33208
33209
33210 CHAPTER V
33211
33212 ULCERATION AND ULCERS
33213
33214
33215 Definitions--Clinical examination of an ulcer--The healing
33216 sore.--Classification of ulcers--A. According to cause:
33217 _Traumatism_, _Imperfect circulation_, _Imperfect nerve-supply_,
33218 _Constitutional causes_--B. According to condition: _Healing_,
33219 _Stationary_, _Spreading_.--Treatment.
33220
33221 The process of _ulceration_ may be defined as the molecular or cellular
33222 death of tissue taking place on a free surface. It is essentially of the
33223 same nature as the process of suppuration, only that the purulent
33224 discharge, instead of collecting in a closed cavity and forming an
33225 abscess, at once escapes on the surface.
33226
33227 An _ulcer_ is an open wound or sore in which there are present certain
33228 conditions tending to prevent it undergoing the natural process of
33229 repair. Of these, one of the most important is the presence of
33230 pathogenic bacteria, which by their action not only prevent healing, but
33231 so irritate and destroy the tissues as to lead to an actual increase in
33232 the size of the sore. Interference with the nutrition of a part by oedema
33233 or chronic venous congestion may impede healing; as may also induration
33234 of the surrounding area, by preventing the contraction which is such an
33235 important factor in repair. Defective innervation, such as occurs in
33236 injuries and diseases of the spinal cord, also plays an important part
33237 in delaying repair. In certain constitutional conditions, too--for
33238 example, Bright's disease, diabetes, or syphilis--the vitiated state of
33239 the tissues is an impediment to repair. Mechanical causes, such as
33240 unsuitable dressings or ill-fitting appliances, may also act in the same
33241 direction.
33242
33243 #Clinical Examination of an Ulcer.#--In examining any ulcer, we
33244 observe--(1) Its _base_ or _floor_, noting the presence or absence of
33245 granulations, their disposition, size, colour, vascularity, and whether
33246 they are depressed or elevated in relation to the surrounding parts. (2)
33247 The _discharge_ as to quantity, consistence, colour, composition, and
33248 odour. (3) The _edges_, noting particularly whether or not the marginal
33249 epithelium is attempting to grow over the surface; also their shape,
33250 regularity, thickness, and whether undermined or overlapping, everted or
33251 depressed. (4) The _surrounding tissues_, as to whether they are
33252 congested, oedematous, inflamed, indurated, or otherwise. (5) Whether or
33253 not there is _pain_ or tenderness in the raw surface or its
33254 surroundings. (6) The _part of the body_ on which it occurs, because
33255 certain ulcers have special seats of election--for example, the varicose
33256 ulcer in the lower third of the leg, the perforating ulcer on the sole
33257 of the foot, and so on.
33258
33259 #The Healing Sore.#--If a portion of skin be excised aseptically, and no
33260 attempt made to close the wound, the raw surface left is soon covered
33261 over with a layer of coagulated blood and lymph. In the course of a few
33262 days this is replaced by the growth of _granulations_, which are of
33263 uniform size, of a pinkish-red colour, and moist with a slight serous
33264 exudate containing a few dead leucocytes. They grow until they reach the
33265 level of the surrounding skin, and so fill the gap with a fine velvety
33266 mass of granulation tissue. At the edges, the young epithelium may be
33267 seen spreading in over the granulations as a fine bluish-white pellicle,
33268 which gradually covers the sore, becoming paler in colour as it
33269 thickens, and eventually forming the smooth, non-vascular covering of
33270 the cicatrix. There is no pain, and the surrounding parts are healthy.
33271
33272 This may be used as a type with which to compare the ulcers seen at the
33273 bedside, so that we may determine how far, and in what particulars,
33274 these differ from the type; and that we may in addition recognise the
33275 conditions that have to be counteracted before the characters of the
33276 typical healing sore are assumed.
33277
33278 For purposes of contrast we may indicate the characters of an open sore
33279 in which bacterial infection with pathogenic bacteria has taken place.
33280 The layer of coagulated blood and lymph becomes liquefied and is thrown
33281 off, and instead of granulations being formed, the tissues exposed on
33282 the floor of the ulcer are destroyed by the bacterial toxins, with the
33283 formation of minute sloughs and a quantity of pus.
33284
33285 The discharge is profuse, thin, acrid, and offensive, and consists of
33286 pus, broken-down blood-clot, and sloughs. The edges are inflamed,
33287 irregular, and ragged, showing no sign of growing epithelium--on the
33288 contrary, the sore may be actually increasing in area by the
33289 breaking-down of the tissues at its margins. The surrounding parts are
33290 hot, red, swollen, and oedematous; and there is pain and tenderness both
33291 in the sore itself and in the parts around.
33292
33293 #Classification of Ulcers.#--The nomenclature of ulcers is much involved
33294 and gives rise to great confusion, chiefly for the reason that no one
33295 basis of classification has been adopted. Thus some ulcers are named
33296 according to the causes at work in producing or maintaining them--for
33297 example, the traumatic, the septic, and the varicose ulcer; some from
33298 the constitutional element present, as the gouty and the diabetic ulcer;
33299 and others according to the condition in which they happen to be when
33300 seen by the surgeon, such as the weak, the inflamed, and the callous
33301 ulcer.
33302
33303 So long as we retain these names it will be impossible to find a single
33304 basis for classification; and yet many of the terms are so descriptive
33305 and so generally understood that it is undesirable to abolish them. We
33306 must therefore remain content with a clinical arrangement of ulcers,--it
33307 cannot be called a classification,--considering any given ulcer from two
33308 points of view: first its _cause_, and second its _present condition_.
33309 This method of studying ulcers has the practical advantage that it
33310 furnishes us with the main indications for treatment as well as for
33311 diagnosis: the cause must be removed, and the condition so modified as
33312 to convert the ulcer into an aseptic healing sore.
33313
33314 A. #Arrangement of Ulcers according to their Cause.#--Although any given
33315 ulcer may be due to a combination of causes, it is convenient to
33316 describe the following groups:
33317
33318 _Ulcers due to Traumatism._--Traumatism in the form of a _crush_ or
33319 _bruise_ is a frequent cause of ulcer formation, acting either by
33320 directly destroying the skin, or by so diminishing its vitality that it
33321 is rendered a suitable soil for bacteria. If these gain access, in the
33322 course of a few days the damaged area of skin becomes of a greyish
33323 colour, blebs form on it, and it undergoes necrosis, leaving an
33324 unhealthy raw surface when the slough separates.
33325
33326 _Heat_ and _prolonged exposure to the Rontgen rays_ or _to radium
33327 emanations_ act in a similar way.
33328
33329 The _pressure_ of improperly padded splints or other appliances may so
33330 far interfere with the circulation of the part pressed upon, that the
33331 skin sloughs, leaving an open sore. This is most liable to occur in
33332 patients who suffer from some nerve lesion--such as anterior
33333 poliomyelitis, or injury of the spinal cord or nerve-trunks.
33334 Splint-pressure sores are usually situated over bony prominences, such
33335 as the malleoli, the condyles of the femur or humerus, the head of the
33336 fibula, the dorsum of the foot, or the base of the fifth metatarsal
33337 bone. On removing the splint, the skin of the part pressed upon is found
33338 to be of a red or pink colour, with a pale grey patch in the centre,
33339 which eventually sloughs and leaves an ulcer. Certain forms of
33340 _bed-sore_ are also due to prolonged pressure.
33341
33342 Pressure sores are also known to have been produced artificially by
33343 malingerers and hysterical subjects.
33344
33345 [Illustration: FIG. 14.--Leg Ulcers associated with Varicose Veins and
33346 Pigmentation of the Skin.]
33347
33348 _Ulcers due to Imperfect Circulation._--Imperfect circulation is an
33349 important causative factor in ulceration, especially when it is the
33350 _venous return_ that is defective. This is best illustrated in the
33351 so-called _leg ulcer_, which occurs most frequently on the front and
33352 medial aspect of the lower third of the leg. At this point the
33353 anastomosis between the superficial and deep veins of the leg is less
33354 free than elsewhere, so that the extra stress thrown upon the surface
33355 veins interferes with the nutrition of the skin (Hilton). The importance
33356 of imperfect venous return in the causation of such ulcers is evidenced
33357 by the fact that as soon as the condition of the circulation is improved
33358 by confining the patient to bed and elevating the limb, the ulcer begins
33359 to heal, even although all methods of local treatment have hitherto
33360 proved ineffectual. In a considerable number of cases, but by no means
33361 in all, this form of ulcer is associated with the presence of varicose
33362 veins, and in such cases it is spoken of as the _varicose ulcer_ (Fig. 14).
33363 The presence of varicose veins is frequently associated with a
33364 diffuse brownish or bluish pigmentation of the skin of the lower third
33365 of the leg, or with an obstinate form of dermatitis (_varicose eczema_),
33366 and the scratching or rubbing of the part is liable to cause a breach of
33367 the surface and permit of infection which leads to ulceration. Varicose
33368 ulcers may also originate from the bursting of a small peri-phlebitic
33369 abscess.
33370
33371 Varicose veins in immediate relation to the base of a large chronic
33372 ulcer usually become thrombosed, and in time are reduced to fibrous
33373 cords, and therefore in such cases haemorrhage is not a common
33374 complication. In smaller and more superficial ulcers, however, the
33375 destructive process is liable to implicate the wall of the vessel before
33376 the occurrence of thrombosis, and to lead to profuse and it may be
33377 dangerous bleeding.
33378
33379 These ulcers are at first small and superficial, but from want of care,
33380 from continued standing or walking, or from injudicious treatment, they
33381 gradually become larger and deeper. They are not infrequently multiple,
33382 and this, together with their depth, may lead to their being mistaken
33383 for ulcers due to syphilis. The base of the ulcer is covered with
33384 imperfectly formed, soft, oedematous granulations, which give off a thin
33385 sero-purulent discharge. The edges are slightly inflamed, and show no
33386 evidence of healing. The parts around are usually pigmented and slightly
33387 oedematous, and as a rule there is little pain. This variety of ulcer is
33388 particularly prone to pass into the condition known as callous.
33389
33390 In _anaemic_ patients, especially young girls, ulcers are occasionally
33391 met with which have many of the clinical characters of those associated
33392 with imperfect venous return. They are slow to heal, and tend to pass
33393 into the condition known as weak.
33394
33395 _Ulcers due to Interference with Nerve-Supply._--Any interference with
33396 the nerve-supply of the superficial tissues predisposes to ulceration.
33397 For example, _trophic_ ulcers are liable to occur in injuries or
33398 diseases of the spinal cord, in cerebral paralysis, in limbs weakened by
33399 poliomyelitis, in ascending or peripheral neuritis, or after injuries of
33400 nerve-trunks.
33401
33402 The _acute bed-sore_ is a rapidly progressing form of ulceration, often
33403 amounting to gangrene, of portions of skin exposed to pressure when
33404 their trophic nerve-supply has been interfered with.
33405
33406 [Illustration: FIG. 15.--Perforating Ulcers of Sole of Foot.
33407
33408 (From Photograph lent by Sir Montagu Cotterill.)]
33409
33410 The _perforating ulcer of the foot_ is a peculiar type of sore which
33411 occurs in association with the different forms of peripheral neuritis,
33412 and with various lesions of the brain and spinal cord, such as general
33413 paralysis, locomotor ataxia, or syringo-myelia (Fig. 15). It also occurs
33414 in patients suffering from glycosuria, and is usually associated with
33415 arterio-sclerosis--local or general. Perforating ulcer is met with most
33416 frequently under the head of the metatarsal bone of the great toe. A
33417 callosity forms and suppuration occurs under it, the pus escaping
33418 through a small hole in the centre. The process slowly and gradually
33419 spreads deeper and deeper, till eventually the bone or joint is reached,
33420 and becomes implicated in the destructive process--hence the term
33421 "perforating ulcer." The flexor tendons are sometimes destroyed, the toe
33422 being dorsiflexed by the unopposed extensors. The depth of the track
33423 being so disproportionate to its superficial area, the condition closely
33424 simulates a tuberculous sinus, for which it is liable to be mistaken.
33425 The raw surface is absolutely insensitive, so that the probe can be
33426 freely employed without the patient even being aware of it or suffering
33427 the least discomfort--a significant fact in diagnosis. The cavity is
33428 filled with effete and decomposing epidermis, which has a most offensive
33429 odour. The chronic and intractable character of the ulcer is due to
33430 interference with the trophic nerve-supply of the parts, and to the fact
33431 that the epithelium of the skin grows in and lines the track leading
33432 down to the deepest part of the ulcer and so prevents closure. While
33433 they are commonest on the sole of the foot and other parts subjected to
33434 pressure, perforating ulcers are met with on the sides and dorsum of the
33435 foot and toes, on the hands, and on other parts where no pressure has
33436 been exerted.
33437
33438 The _tuberculous ulcer_, so often seen in the neck, in the vicinity of
33439 joints, or over the ribs and sternum, usually results from the bursting
33440 through the skin of a tuberculous abscess. The base is soft, pale, and
33441 covered with feeble granulations and grey shreddy sloughs. The edges are
33442 of a dull blue or purple colour, and gradually thin out towards their
33443 free margins, and in addition are characteristically undermined, so that
33444 a probe can be passed for some distance between the floor of the ulcer
33445 and the thinned-out edges. Thin, devitalised tags of skin often stretch
33446 from side to side of the ulcer. The outline is irregular; small
33447 perforations often occur through the skin, and a thin, watery discharge,
33448 containing grey shreds of tuberculous debris, escapes.
33449
33450 _Bazin's Disease._--This term is applied to an affection of the skin and
33451 subcutaneous tissue which bears certain resemblances to tuberculosis. It
33452 is met with almost exclusively between the knee and the ankle, and it
33453 usually affects both legs. It is commonest in girls of delicate
33454 constitution, in whose family history there is evidence of a tuberculous
33455 taint. The patient often presents other lesions of a tuberculous
33456 character, notably enlarged cervical glands, and phlyctenular
33457 ophthalmia. The tubercle bacillus has rarely been found, but we have
33458 always observed characteristic epithelioid cells and giant cells in
33459 sections made from the edge or floor of the ulcer.
33460
33461 [Illustration: FIG. 16.--Bazin's Disease in a girl aet. 16.]
33462
33463 The condition begins by the formation in the skin and subcutaneous
33464 tissue of dusky or livid nodules of induration, which soften and
33465 ulcerate, forming small open sores with ragged and undermined edges, not
33466 unlike those resulting from the breaking down of superficial syphilitic
33467 gummata (Fig. 16). Fresh crops of nodules appear in the neighbourhood of
33468 the ulcers, and in turn break down. While in the nodular stage the
33469 affection is sometimes painful, but with the formation of the ulcer the
33470 pain subsides.
33471
33472 The disease runs a chronic course, and may slowly extend over a wide
33473 area in spite of the usual methods of treatment. After lasting for some
33474 months, or even years, however, it may eventually undergo spontaneous
33475 cure. The most satisfactory treatment is to excise the affected tissues
33476 and fill the gap with skin-grafts.
33477
33478 [Illustration: FIG. 17.--Syphilitic Ulcers in region of Knee, showing
33479 punched-out appearance and raised indurated edges.]
33480
33481 The _syphilitic ulcer_ is usually formed by the breaking down of a
33482 cutaneous or subcutaneous gumma in the tertiary stage of syphilis. When
33483 the gummatous tissue is first exposed by the destruction of the skin or
33484 mucous membrane covering it, it appears as a tough greyish slough,
33485 compared to "wash leather," which slowly separates and leaves a more or
33486 less circular, deep, punched-out gap which shows a few feeble unhealthy
33487 granulations and small sloughs on its floor. The edges are raised and
33488 indurated; and the discharge is thick, glairy, and peculiarly offensive.
33489 The parts around the ulcer are congested and of a dark brown colour.
33490 There are usually several such ulcers together, and as they tend to heal
33491 at one part while they spread at another, the affected area assumes a
33492 sinuous or serpiginous outline. Syphilitic ulcers may be met with in any
33493 part of the body, but are most frequent in the upper part of the leg
33494 (Fig. 17), especially around the knee-joint in women, and over the ribs
33495 and sternum. On healing, they usually leave a depressed and adherent
33496 cicatrix.
33497
33498 The _scorbutic ulcer_ occurs in patients suffering from scurvy, and is
33499 characterised by its prominent granulations, which show a marked
33500 tendency to bleed, with the formation of clots, which dry and form a
33501 spongy crust on the surface.
33502
33503 In _gouty_ patients small ulcers which are exceedingly irritable and
33504 painful are liable to occur.
33505
33506 _Ulcers associated with Malignant Disease._--Cancer and sarcoma when
33507 situated in the subcutaneous tissue may destroy the overlying skin so
33508 that the substance of the tumour is exposed. The fungating masses thus
33509 produced are sometimes spoken of as malignant ulcers, but as they are
33510 essentially different in their nature from all other forms of ulcers,
33511 and call for totally different treatment, it is best to consider them
33512 along with the tumours with which they are associated. Rodent ulcer,
33513 which is one form of cancer of the skin, will be discussed with new
33514 growths of the skin.
33515
33516 B. #Arrangement of Ulcers according to their Condition.#--Having arrived
33517 at an opinion as to the cause of a given ulcer, and placed it in one or
33518 other of the preceding groups, the next question to ask is, In what
33519 condition do I find this ulcer at the present moment?
33520
33521 Any ulcer is in one of three states--healing, stationary, or spreading;
33522 although it is not uncommon to find healing going on at one part while
33523 the destructive process is extending at another.
33524
33525 _The Healing Condition._--The process of healing in an ulcer has already
33526 been studied, and we have learned that it takes place by the formation
33527 of granulation tissue, which becomes converted into connective tissue,
33528 and is covered over by epithelium growing in from the edges.
33529
33530 Those ulcers which are _stationary_--that is, neither healing nor
33531 spreading--may be in one of several conditions.
33532
33533 _The Weak Condition._--Any ulcer may get into a weak state from
33534 receiving a blood supply which is defective either in quantity or in
33535 quality. The granulations are small and smooth, and of a pale yellow or
33536 grey colour, the discharge is small in amount, and consists of thin
33537 serum and a few pus cells, and as this dries on the edges it forms scabs
33538 which interfere with the growth of epithelium.
33539
33540 Should the part become oedematous, either from general causes, such as
33541 heart or kidney disease, or from local causes, such as varicose veins,
33542 the granulations share in the oedema, and there is an abundant serous
33543 discharge.
33544
33545 The excessive use of moist dressings leads to a third variety of weak
33546 ulcer--namely, one in which the granulations become large, soft, pale,
33547 and flabby, projecting beyond the level of the skin and overlapping the
33548 edges, which become pale and sodden. The term "proud flesh" is popularly
33549 applied to such redundant granulations.
33550
33551 [Illustration: FIG. 18.--Callous Ulcer, showing thickened edges and
33552 indurated swelling of surrounding parts.]
33553
33554 _The Callous Condition._--This condition is usually met with in ulcers
33555 on the lower third of the leg, and is often associated with the presence
33556 of varicose veins. It is chiefly met with in hospital practice. The want
33557 of healing is mainly due to impeded venous return and to oedema and
33558 induration of the surrounding skin and cellular tissues (Fig. 18). The
33559 induration results from coagulation and partial organisation of the
33560 inflammatory effusion, and prevents the necessary contraction of the
33561 sore. The base of a callous ulcer lies at some distance below the level
33562 of the swollen, thickened, and white edges, and presents a glazed
33563 appearance, such granulations as are present being unhealthy and
33564 irregular. The discharge is usually watery, and cakes in the dressing.
33565 When from neglect and want of cleanliness the ulcer becomes inflamed,
33566 there is considerable pain, and the discharge is purulent and often
33567 offensive.
33568
33569 The prolonged hyperaemia of the tissues in relation to a callous ulcer of
33570 the leg often leads to changes in the underlying bones. The periosteum
33571 is abnormally thick and vascular, the superficial layers of the bone
33572 become injected and porous, and the bones, as a whole, are thickened. In
33573 the macerated bone "the surface is covered with irregular,
33574 stalactite-like processes or foliaceous masses, which, to a certain
33575 extent, follow the line of attachment of the interosseous membrane and
33576 of the intermuscular septa" (Cathcart) (Fig. 19). When the whole
33577 thickness of the soft tissues is destroyed by the ulcerative process,
33578 the area of bone that comes to form the base of the ulcer projects as a
33579 flat, porous node, which in its turn may be eroded. These changes as
33580 seen in the macerated specimen are often mistaken for disease
33581 originating in the bone.
33582
33583 [Illustration: FIG. 19.--Tibia and Fibula, showing changes due to
33584 chronic ulcer of leg.]
33585
33586 The _irritable condition_ is met with in ulcers which occur, as a rule,
33587 just above the external malleolus in women of neurotic temperament. They
33588 are small in size and have prominent granulations, and by the aid of a
33589 probe points of excessive tenderness may be discovered. These, Hilton
33590 believed, correspond to exposed nerve filaments.
33591
33592 _Ulcers which are spreading_ may be met with in one of several
33593 conditions.
33594
33595 _The Inflamed Condition._--Any ulcer may become acutely inflamed from
33596 the access of fresh organisms, aided by mechanical irritation from
33597 trauma, ill-fitting splints or bandages, or want of rest, or from
33598 chemical irritants, such as strong antiseptics. The best clinical
33599 example of an inflamed ulcer is the venereal soft sore. The base of the
33600 ulcer becomes red and angry-looking, the granulations disappear, and a
33601 copious discharge of thin yellow pus, mixed with blood, escapes. Sloughs
33602 of granulation tissue or of connective tissue may form. The edges become
33603 red, ragged, and everted, and the ulcer increases in size by spreading
33604 into the inflamed and oedematous surrounding tissues. Such ulcers are
33605 frequently multiple. Pain is a constant symptom, and is often severe,
33606 and there is usually some constitutional disturbance.
33607
33608 The _phagedaenic condition_ is the result of an ulcer being infected with
33609 specially virulent bacteria. It occurs in syphilitic ulcers, and rapidly
33610 leads to a widespread destruction of tissue. It is also met with in the
33611 throat in some cases of scarlet fever, and may give rise to fatal
33612 haemorrhage by ulcerating into large blood vessels. All the local and
33613 constitutional signs of a severe septic infection are present.
33614
33615 #Treatment of Ulcers.#--An ulcer is not only an immediate cause of
33616 suffering to the patient, crippling and incapacitating him for his work,
33617 but is a distinct and constant menace to his health: the prolonged
33618 discharge reduces his strength; the open sore is a possible source of
33619 infection by the organisms of suppuration, erysipelas, or other specific
33620 diseases; phlebitis, with formation of septic emboli, leading to pyaemia,
33621 is liable to occur; and in old persons it is not uncommon for ulcers of
33622 long standing to become the seat of cancer. In addition, the offensive
33623 odour of many ulcers renders the patient a source of annoyance and
33624 discomfort to others. The primary object of treatment in any ulcer is to
33625 bring it into the condition of a healing sore. When this has been
33626 effected, nature will do the rest, provided extraneous sources of
33627 irritation are excluded.
33628
33629 Steps must be taken to facilitate the venous return from the ulcerated
33630 part, and to ensure that a sufficient supply of fresh, healthy blood
33631 reaches it. The septic element must be eliminated by disinfecting the
33632 ulcer and its surroundings, and any other sources of irritation must be
33633 removed.
33634
33635 If the patient's health is below par, good nourishing food, tonics, and
33636 general hygienic treatment are indicated.
33637
33638 _Management of a Healing Sore._--Perhaps the best dressing for a healing
33639 sore is a layer of Lister's perforated oiled-silk protective, which is
33640 made to cover the raw surface and the skin for about a quarter of an
33641 inch beyond the margins of the sore. Over this three or four thicknesses
33642 of sterilised gauze, wrung out of eusol, creolin, or sterilised water,
33643 are applied, and covered by a pad of absorbent wool. As far as possible
33644 the part should be kept at rest, and the position should be adjusted so
33645 as to favour the circulation in the affected area.
33646
33647 The dressing may be renewed at intervals, and care must be taken to
33648 avoid any rough handling of the sore. Any discharge that lies on the
33649 surface should be removed by a gentle stream of lotion rather than by
33650 wiping. The area round the sore should be cleansed before the fresh
33651 dressing is applied.
33652
33653 In some cases, healing goes on more rapidly under a dressing of weak
33654 boracic ointment (one-quarter the strength of the pharmacopoeial
33655 preparation). The growth of epithelium may be stimulated by a 6 to 8 per
33656 cent. ointment of scarlet-red.
33657
33658 Dusting powders and poultice dressings are best avoided in the treatment
33659 of healing sores.
33660
33661 In extensive ulcers resulting from recent burns, if the granulations are
33662 healthy and aseptic, skin-grafts may safely be placed on them directly.
33663 If, however, their asepticity cannot be relied upon, it is necessary to
33664 scrape away the superficial layer of the granulations, the young fibrous
33665 tissue underneath being conserved, as it is sufficiently vascular to
33666 nourish the grafts placed on it.
33667
33668 #Treatment of Special Varieties of Ulcers.#--Before beginning to treat a
33669 given ulcer, two questions have to be answered--first, What are the
33670 causative conditions present? and second, In what condition do I find
33671 the ulcer?--in other words, In what particulars does it differ from a
33672 healthy healing sore?
33673
33674 If the cause is a local one, it must be removed; if a constitutional
33675 one, means must be taken to counteract it. This done, the condition of
33676 the ulcer must be so modified as to bring it into the state of a healing
33677 sore, after which it will be managed on the lines already laid down.
33678
33679 #Treatment in relation to the Cause of the Ulcer.#--_Traumatic
33680 Group._--The _prophylaxis_ of these ulcers consists in excluding
33681 bacteria, by cleansing crushed or bruised parts, and applying sterilised
33682 dressings and properly adjusted splints. If there is reason to fear that
33683 the disinfection has not been complete, a Bier's constricting bandage
33684 should be applied for some hours each day. These measures will often
33685 prevent a grossly injured portion of skin dying, and will ensure
33686 asepticity should it do so. In the event of the skin giving way, the
33687 same form of dressing should be continued till the slough has separated
33688 and a healthy granulating surface is formed. The protective dressing
33689 appropriate to a healing sore is then substituted. _Pressure sores_ are
33690 treated on the same lines.
33691
33692 The treatment of ulcers caused by _burns and scalds_ will be described
33693 later.
33694
33695 In _ulcers of the leg due to interference with the venous return_, the
33696 primary indication is to elevate the limb in order to facilitate the
33697 flow of the blood in the veins, and so admit of fresh blood reaching the
33698 part. The limb may be placed on pillows, or the foot of the bed raised
33699 on blocks, so that the ulcer lies on a higher level than the heart.
33700 Should varicose veins be present, the question of operative treatment
33701 must be considered.
33702
33703 When an _imperfect nerve supply_ is the main factor underlying ulcer
33704 formation, prophylaxis is the chief consideration. In patients suffering
33705 from spinal injuries or diseases, cerebral paralysis, or affections of
33706 the peripheral nerves, all sources of irritation, such as ill-fitting
33707 splints, tight bandages, moist applications, and hot bottles, should be
33708 avoided. Any part liable to pressure, from the position of the patient
33709 or otherwise, must be carefully protected by pads of wool, air-cushions,
33710 or water-bags, and must be kept absolutely dry. The skin should be
33711 hardened by daily applications of methylated spirit.
33712
33713 Should an ulcer form in spite of these precautions, the mildest
33714 antiseptics must be employed for bathing and dressing it, and as far as
33715 possible all dressings should be dry.
33716
33717 The _perforating ulcer_ of the foot calls for special treatment. To
33718 avoid pressure on the sole of the foot, the patient must be confined to
33719 bed. As the main local obstacle to healing is the down-growth of
33720 epithelium along the sides of the ulcer, this must be removed by the
33721 knife or sharp spoon. The base also should be excised, and any bone
33722 which may have become involved should be gouged away, so as to leave a
33723 healthy and vascular surface. The cavity thus formed is stuffed with
33724 bismuth or iodoform gauze and encouraged to heal from the bottom. As the
33725 parts are insensitive an anaesthetic is not required. After the ulcer has
33726 healed, the patient should wear in his boot a thick felt sole with a
33727 hole cut out opposite the situation of the cicatrix. When a joint has
33728 been opened into, the difficulty of thoroughly getting rid of all
33729 unhealthy and infected granulations is so great that amputation may be
33730 advisable, but it is to be remembered that ulceration may recur in the
33731 stump if pressure is put upon it. The treatment of any nervous disease
33732 or glycosuria which may coexist is, of course, indicated.
33733
33734 Exposure of the plantar nerves by an incision behind the medial
33735 malleolus, and subjecting them to forcible stretching, has been employed
33736 by Chipault and others in the treatment of perforating ulcers of the
33737 foot.
33738
33739 The ulcer that forms in relation to callosities on the sole of the foot
33740 is treated by paring away all the thickened skin, after softening it
33741 with soda fomentations, removing the unhealthy granulations, and
33742 applying stimulating dressings.
33743
33744 _Treatment of Ulcers due to Constitutional Causes._--When ulcers are
33745 associated with such diseases as tuberculosis, syphilis, diabetes,
33746 Bright's disease, scurvy, or gout, these must receive appropriate
33747 treatment.
33748
33749 The local treatment of the _tuberculous ulcer_ calls for special
33750 mention. If the ulcer is of limited extent and situated on an exposed
33751 part of the body, the most satisfactory method is complete removal, by
33752 means of the knife, scissors, or sharp spoon, of the ulcerated surface
33753 and of all the infected area around it, so as to leave a healthy surface
33754 from which granulations may spring up. Should the raw surface left be
33755 likely to result in an unsightly scar or in cicatricial contraction,
33756 skin-grafting should be employed.
33757
33758 For extensive ulcers on the limbs, the chest wall, or on other covered
33759 parts, or when operative treatment is contra-indicated, the use of
33760 tuberculin and exposure to the Rontgen rays have proved beneficial. The
33761 induction of passive hyperaemia, by Bier's or by Klapp's apparatus,
33762 should also be used, either alone or supplementary to other measures.
33763
33764 No ulcerative process responds so readily to medicinal treatment as the
33765 _syphilitic ulcer_ does to the intra-venous administration of arsenical
33766 preparations of the "606" or "914" groups or to full doses of iodide of
33767 potassium and mercury, and the local application of black wash. When the
33768 ulceration has lasted for a long time, however, and is widespread and
33769 deep, the duration of treatment is materially shortened by a thorough
33770 scraping with the sharp spoon.
33771
33772 #Treatment in relation to the Condition of the Ulcer.#--_Ulcers in a
33773 weak condition._--If the weak condition of the ulcer is due to anaemia
33774 or kidney disease, these affections must first be treated. Locally, the
33775 imperfect granulations should be scraped away, and some stimulating
33776 agent applied to the raw surface to promote the growth of healthy
33777 granulations. For this purpose the sore may be covered with gauze
33778 smeared with a 6 to 8 per cent. ointment of scarlet-red, the surrounding
33779 parts being protected from the irritant action of the scarlet-red by a
33780 layer of vaseline. A dressing of gauze moistened with eusol or of
33781 boracic lint wrung out of red lotion (2 grains of sulphate of zinc, and
33782 10 minims of compound tincture of lavender, to an ounce of water), and
33783 covered with a layer of gutta-percha tissue, is also useful.
33784
33785 When the condition has resulted from the prolonged use of moist
33786 dressings, these must be stopped, the redundant granulations clipped
33787 away with scissors, the surface rubbed with silver nitrate or sulphate
33788 of copper (blue-stone), and dry dressings applied.
33789
33790 When the ulcer has assumed the characters of a healing sore, skin-grafts
33791 may be applied to hasten cicatrisation.
33792
33793 _Ulcers in a callous condition_ call for treatment in three
33794 directions--(1) The infective element must be eliminated. When the ulcer
33795 is foul, relays of charcoal poultices (three parts of linseed meal to
33796 one of charcoal), maintained for thirty-six to forty-eight hours, are
33797 useful as a preliminary step. The base of the ulcer and the thickened
33798 edges should then be freely scraped with a sharp spoon, and the
33799 resulting raw surface sponged over with undiluted carbolic acid or
33800 iodine, after which an antiseptic dressing is applied, and changed daily
33801 till healthy granulations appear. (2) The venous return must be
33802 facilitated by elevation of the limb and massage. (3) The induration of
33803 the surrounding parts must be got rid of before contraction of the sore
33804 is possible. For this purpose the free application of blisters, as first
33805 recommended by Syme, leaves little to be desired. Liquor epispasticus
33806 painted over the parts, or a large fly-blister (emplastrum cantharidis)
33807 applied all round the ulcer, speedily disperses the inflammatory
33808 products which cause the induration. The use of elastic pressure or of
33809 strapping, of hot-air baths, or the making of multiple incisions in the
33810 skin around the ulcer, fulfils the same object.
33811
33812 As soon as the ulcer assumes the characters of a healing sore, it should
33813 be covered with skin-grafts, which furnish a much better cicatrix than
33814 that which forms when the ulcer is allowed to heal without such aid.
33815
33816 A more radical method of treatment consists in excising the whole
33817 ulcer, including its edges and about a quarter of an inch of the
33818 surrounding tissue, as well as the underlying fibrous tissue, and
33819 grafting the raw surface.
33820
33821 _Ambulatory Treatment._--When the circumstances of the patient forbid
33822 his lying up in bed, the healing of the ulcer is much delayed. He should
33823 be instructed to take every possible opportunity of placing the limb in
33824 an elevated position, and must constantly wear a firm bandage of
33825 _elastic webbing_. This webbing is porous and admits of evaporation of
33826 the skin and wound secretions--an advantage it has over Martin's rubber
33827 bandage. The bandage should extend from the toes to well above the knee,
33828 and should always be applied while the patient is in the recumbent
33829 position with the leg elevated, preferably before getting out of bed in
33830 the morning. Additional support is given to the veins if the bandage is
33831 applied as a figure of eight.
33832
33833 We have found the following method satisfactory in out-patient
33834 practice. The patient lying on a couch, the limb is raised about
33835 eighteen inches and kept in this position for five minutes--till the
33836 excess of blood has left it. With the limb still raised, the ulcer with
33837 the surrounding skin is covered with a layer, about half an inch thick,
33838 of finely powdered boracic acid, and the leg, from foot to knee,
33839 excluding the sole, is enveloped in a thick layer of wood-wool wadding.
33840 This is held in position by ordinary cotton bandages, painted over with
33841 liquid starch; while the starch is drying the limb is kept elevated.
33842 With this appliance the patient may continue to work, and the dressing
33843 does not require to be changed oftener than once in three or four weeks
33844 (W. G. Richardson).
33845
33846 When an ulcer becomes acutely _inflamed_ as a result of superadded
33847 infection, antiseptic measures are employed to overcome the infection,
33848 and ichthyol or other soothing applications may be used to allay the
33849 pain.
33850
33851 The _phagedaenic ulcer_ calls for more energetic means of disinfection;
33852 the whole of the affected surface is touched with the actual cautery at
33853 a white heat, or is painted with pure carbolic acid. Relays of charcoal
33854 poultices are then applied until the spread of the disease is arrested.
33855
33856 For the _irritable ulcer_ the most satisfactory treatment is complete
33857 excision and subsequent skin-grafting.
33858
33859
33860
33861
33862 CHAPTER VI
33863
33864 GANGRENE
33865
33866
33867 Definition--Types: _Dry_, _Moist_--Varieties--Gangrene primarily due to
33868 interference with circulation: _Senile gangrene_; _Embolic
33869 gangrene_; _Gangrene following ligation of arteries_; _Gangrene
33870 from mechanical causes_; _Gangrene from heat, chemical agents, and
33871 cold_; _Diabetic gangrene_; _Gangrene associated with spasm of
33872 blood vessels_; _Raynaud's disease_; _Angio-sclerotic gangrene_;
33873 _Gangrene from ergot_. Bacterial varieties of gangrene.
33874 _Pathology_--clinical varieties--_Acute infective gangrene_;
33875 _Malignant oedema_; _Acute emphysematous_ or _gas gangrene_;
33876 _Cancrum oris_, _etc_. Bed-sores: _Acute_; _chronic_.
33877
33878 Gangrene or mortification is the process by which a portion of tissue
33879 dies _en masse_, as distinguished from the molecular or cellular death
33880 which constitutes ulceration. The dead portion is known as a _slough_.
33881
33882 In this chapter we shall confine our attention to the process as it
33883 affects the limbs and superficial parts, leaving gangrene of the viscera
33884 to be described in regional surgery.
33885
33886
33887 TYPES OF GANGRENE
33888
33889 Two distinct types of gangrene are met with, which, from their most
33890 obvious point of difference, are known respectively as _dry_ and
33891 _moist_, and there are several clinical varieties of each type.
33892
33893 Speaking generally, it may be said that dry gangrene is essentially due
33894 to a simple _interference with the blood supply_ of a part; while the
33895 main factor in the production of moist gangrene is _bacterial
33896 infection_.
33897
33898 The cardinal signs of gangrene are: change in the colour of the part,
33899 coldness, loss of sensation and motor power, and, lastly, loss of
33900 pulsation in the arteries.
33901
33902 #Dry Gangrene# or #Mummification# is a comparatively slow form of local
33903 death due, as a rule, to a diminution in the arterial blood supply of
33904 the affected part, resulting from such causes as the gradual narrowing
33905 of the lumen of the arteries by disease of their coats, or the blocking
33906 of the main vessel by an embolus.
33907
33908 As the fluids in the tissues are lost by evaporation the part becomes
33909 dry and shrivelled, and as the skin is usually intact, infection does
33910 not take place, or if it does, the want of moisture renders the part an
33911 unsuitable soil, and the organisms do not readily find a footing. Any
33912 spread of the process that may take place is chiefly influenced by the
33913 anatomical distribution of the blocked arteries, and is arrested as soon
33914 as it reaches an area rich in anastomotic vessels. The dead portion is
33915 then cast off, the irritation resulting from the contact of the dead
33916 with the still living tissue inducing the formation of granulations on
33917 the proximal side of the junction, and these by slowly eating into the
33918 dead portion produce a furrow--the _line of demarcation_--which
33919 gradually deepens until complete separation is effected. As the muscles
33920 and bones have a richer blood supply than the integument, the death of
33921 skin and subcutaneous tissues extends higher than that of muscles and
33922 bone, with the result that the stump left after spontaneous separation
33923 is conical, the end of the bone projecting beyond the soft parts.
33924
33925 _Clinical Features._--The part undergoing mortification becomes colder
33926 than normal, the temperature falling to that of the surrounding
33927 atmosphere. In many instances, but not in all, the onset of the process
33928 is accompanied by severe neuralgic pain in the part, probably due to
33929 anaemia of the nerves, to neuritis, or to the irritation of the exposed
33930 axis cylinders by the dead and dying tissues around them. This pain soon
33931 ceases and gives place to a complete loss of sensation. The dead part
33932 becomes dry, horny, shrivelled, and semi-transparent--at first of a dark
33933 brown, but finally of a black colour, from the dissemination of blood
33934 pigment throughout the tissues. There is no putrefaction, and therefore
33935 no putrid odour; and the condition being non-infective, there is not
33936 necessarily any constitutional disturbance. In itself, therefore, dry
33937 gangrene does not involve immediate risk to life; the danger lies in the
33938 fact that the breach of surface at the line of demarcation furnishes a
33939 possible means of entrance for bacteria, which may lead to infective
33940 complications.
33941
33942 #Moist Gangrene# is an acute process, the dead part retaining its fluids
33943 and so affording a favourable soil for the development of bacteria. The
33944 action of the organisms and their toxins on the adjacent tissues leads
33945 to a rapid and wide spread of the process. The skin becomes moist and
33946 macerated, and bullae, containing dark-coloured fluid or gases, form
33947 under the epidermis. The putrefactive gases evolved cause the skin to
33948 become emphysematous and crepitant and produce an offensive odour. The
33949 tissues assume a greenish-black colour from the formation in them of a
33950 sulphide of iron resulting from decomposition of the blood pigment.
33951 Under certain conditions the dead part may undergo changes resembling
33952 more closely those of ordinary post-mortem decomposition. Owing to its
33953 nature the spread of the gangrene is seldom arrested by the natural
33954 protective processes, and it usually continues until the condition
33955 proves fatal from the absorption of toxins into the circulation.
33956
33957 The _clinical features_ vary in the different varieties of moist
33958 gangrene, but the local results of bacterial action and the
33959 constitutional disturbance associated with toxin absorption are present
33960 in all; the prognosis therefore is grave in the extreme.
33961
33962 From what has been said, it will be gathered that in dry gangrene there
33963 is no urgent call for operation to save the patient's life, the primary
33964 indication being to prevent the access of bacteria to the dead part, and
33965 especially to the surface exposed at the line of demarcation. In moist
33966 gangrene, on the contrary, organisms having already obtained a footing,
33967 immediate removal of the dead and dying tissues, as a rule, offers the
33968 only hope of saving life.
33969
33970
33971 VARIETIES OF GANGRENE
33972
33973 #Varieties of Gangrene essentially due to Interference with the
33974 Circulation#
33975
33976 While the varieties of gangrene included in this group depend primarily
33977 on interference with the circulation, it is to be borne in mind that the
33978 clinical course of the affection may be profoundly influenced by
33979 superadded infection with micro-organisms. Although the bacteria do not
33980 play the most important part in producing tissue necrosis, their
33981
33982 subsequent introduction is an accident of such importance that it may
33983 change the whole aspect of affairs and convert a dry form of gangrene
33984 into one of the moist type. Moreover, the low state of vitality of the
33985 tissues, and the extreme difficulty of securing and maintaining asepsis,
33986 make it a sequel of great frequency.
33987
33988 #Senile Gangrene.#--Senile gangrene is the commonest example of local
33989 death produced by a _gradual_ diminution in the quantity of blood
33990 passing through the parts, as a result of arterio-sclerosis or other
33991 chronic disease of the arteries leading to diminution of their calibre.
33992 It is the most characteristic example of the dry type of gangrene. As
33993 the term indicates, it occurs in old persons, but the patient's age is
33994 to be reckoned by the condition of his arteries rather than by the
33995 number of his years. Thus the vessels of a comparatively young man who
33996 has suffered from syphilis and been addicted to alcohol are more liable
33997 to atheromatous degeneration leading to this form of gangrene than are
33998 those of a much older man who has lived a regular and abstemious life.
33999 This form of gangrene is much more common in men than in women. While it
34000 usually attacks only one foot, it is not uncommon for the other foot to
34001 be affected after an interval, and in some cases it is bilateral from
34002 the outset. It must clearly be understood that any form of gangrene may
34003
34004 occur in old persons, the term senile being here restricted to that
34005 variety which results from arterio-sclerosis.
34006
34007 [Illustration: FIG. 20.--Senile Gangrene of the Foot, showing line of
34008 demarcation.]
34009
34010 _Clinical Features._--The commonest seat of the disease is in the toes,
34011 especially the great toe, whence it spreads up the foot to the heel, or
34012 even to the leg (Fig. 20). There is often a history of some slight
34013 injury preceding its onset. The vitality of the tissues is so low that
34014 the balance between life and death may be turned by the most trivial
34015 injury, such as a cut while paring a toe-nail or a corn, a blister
34016 caused by an ill-fitting shoe or the contact of a hot-bottle. In some
34017 cases the actual gangrene is determined by thrombosis of the popliteal
34018 or tibial arteries, which are already narrowed by obliterating
34019 endarteritis.
34020
34021 It is common to find that the patient has been troubled for a long time
34022 before the onset of definite signs of gangrene, with cold feet, with
34023 tingling and loss of feeling, or a peculiar sensation as if walking on
34024 cotton wool.
34025
34026 The first evidence of the death of the part varies in different cases.
34027 Sometimes a dark-blue spot appears on the medial side of the great toe
34028 and gradually increases in size; or a blister containing blood-stained
34029 fluid may form. Streaks or patches of dark-blue mottling appear higher
34030 up on the foot or leg. In other cases a small sore surrounded by a
34031 congested areola forms in relation to the nail and refuses to heal. Such
34032 sores on the toes of old persons are always to be looked upon with
34033 suspicion and treated with the greatest care; and the urine should be
34034 examined for sugar. There is often severe, deep-seated pain of a
34035 neuralgic character, with cramps in the limb, and these may persist long
34036 after a line of demarcation has formed. The dying part loses sensibility
34037 to touch and becomes cold and shrivelled.
34038
34039 All the physical appearances and clinical symptoms associated with dry
34040 gangrene supervene, and the dead portion is delimited by a line of
34041 demarcation. If this forms slowly and irregularly it indicates a very
34042 unsatisfactory condition of the circulation; while, if it forms quickly
34043 and decidedly, the presumption is that the circulation in the parts
34044 above is fairly good. The separation of the dead part is always attended
34045 with the risk of infection taking place, and should this occur, the
34046 temperature rises and other evidences of toxaemia appear.
34047
34048 _Prophylaxis._--The toes and feet of old people, the condition of whose
34049 circulation predisposes them to gangrene, should be protected from
34050 slight injuries such as may be received while paring nails, cutting
34051 corns, or wearing ill-fitting boots. The patient should also be warned
34052 of the risk of exposure to cold, the use of hot-bottles, and of placing
34053 the feet near a fire. Attempts have been made to improve the peripheral
34054 circulation by establishing an anastomosis between the main artery of a
34055 limb and its companion vein, so that arterial blood may reach the
34056 peripheral capillaries--reversal of the circulation--but the clinical
34057 results have proved disappointing. (See _Op. Surg._, p. 29.)
34058
34059 _Treatment._--When there is evidence that gangrene has occurred, the
34060 first indication is to prevent infection by purifying the part, and
34061 after careful drying to wrap it in a thick layer of absorbent and
34062 antiseptic wool, retained in place by a loosely applied bandage. A
34063 slight degree of elevation of the limb is an advantage, but it must not
34064 be sufficient to diminish the amount of blood entering the part.
34065 Hot-bottles are to be used with the utmost caution. As absolute dryness
34066 is essential, ointments or other greasy dressings are to be avoided, as
34067 they tend to prevent evaporation from the skin. Opium should be given
34068 freely to alleviate pain. Stimulation is to be avoided, and the patient
34069 should be carefully dieted.
34070
34071 When the gangrene is limited to the toes in old and feeble patients,
34072 some surgeons advocate the expectant method of treatment, waiting for a
34073 line of demarcation to form and allowing the dead part to be separated.
34074 This takes place so slowly, however, that it necessitates the patient
34075 being laid up for many weeks, or even months; and we agree with the
34076 majority in advising early amputation.
34077
34078 In this connection it is worthy of note that there are certain points at
34079 which gangrene naturally tends to become arrested--namely, at the highly
34080 vascular areas in the neighbourhood of joints. Thus gangrene of the
34081 great toe often stops when it reaches the metatarso-phalangeal joint; or
34082 if it trespasses this limit it may be arrested either at the
34083 tarso-metatarsal or at the ankle joint. If these be passed, it usually
34084 spreads up the leg to just below the knee before signs of arrestment
34085 appear. Further, it is seen from pathological specimens that the spread
34086 is greater on the dorsal than on the plantar aspect, and that the death
34087 of skin and subcutaneous tissues extends higher than that of bone and
34088 muscle.
34089
34090 These facts furnish us with indications as to the seat and method of
34091 amputation. Experience has proved that in senile gangrene of the lower
34092 extremity the most reliable and satisfactory results are obtained by
34093 amputating in the region of the knee, care being taken to perform the
34094 operation so as to leave the prepatellar anastomosis intact by retaining
34095 the patella in the anterior flap. The most satisfactory operation in
34096 these cases is Gritti's supra-condylar amputation. Haemorrhage is easily
34097 controlled by digital pressure, and the use of a tourniquet should be
34098 dispensed with, as the constriction of the limb is liable to interfere
34099 with the vitality of the flaps.
34100
34101 When the tibial vessels can be felt pulsating at the ankle it may be
34102 justifiable, if the patient urgently desires it, to amputate lower than
34103 the knee; but there is considerable risk of gangrene recurring in the
34104 stump and necessitating a second operation.
34105
34106 That amputation for senile gangrene performed between the ankle and the
34107 knee seldom succeeds, is explained by the fact that the vascular
34108 obstruction is usually in the upper part of the posterior tibial artery,
34109 and the operation is therefore performed through tissues with an
34110 inadequate blood supply. It is not uncommon, indeed, on amputating above
34111 the knee, to find even the popliteal artery plugged by a clot. This
34112 should be removed at the amputation by squeezing the vessel from above
34113 downward by a "milking" movement, or by "catheterising the artery" with
34114 the aid of a cannula with a terminal aperture.
34115
34116 It is to be borne in mind that the object of amputation in these cases
34117 is merely to remove the gangrenous part, and so relieve the patient of
34118 the discomfort and the risks from infection which its presence involves.
34119 While it is true that in many of these patients the operation is borne
34120 remarkably well, it must be borne in mind that those who suffer from
34121 senile gangrene are of necessity bad lives, and a guarded opinion should
34122 be expressed as to the prospects of survival. The possibility of the
34123 disease developing in the other limb has already been referred to.
34124
34125 [Illustration: FIG. 21.--Embolic Gangrene of Hand and Arm.]
34126
34127 #Embolic Gangrene# (Fig. 21).--This is the most typical form of gangrene
34128 resulting from the _sudden_ occlusion of the main artery of a part,
34129 whether by the impaction of an embolus or the formation of a thrombus in
34130 its lumen, when the collateral circulation is not sufficiently free to
34131 maintain the vitality of the tissues.
34132
34133 There is sudden pain at the site of impaction of the embolus, and the
34134 pulses beyond are lost. The limb becomes cold, numb, insensitive, and
34135 powerless. It is often pale at first--hence the term "white gangrene"
34136 sometimes applicable to the early appearances, which closely resemble
34137 those presented by the limb of a corpse.
34138
34139 If the part is aseptic it shrivels, and presents the ordinary features
34140 of dry gangrene. It is liable, however, especially in the lower
34141 extremity and when the veins also are obstructed, to become infected and
34142 to assume the characters of the moist type.
34143
34144 The extent of the gangrene depends upon the site of impaction of the
34145 embolus, thus if the _abdominal aorta_ becomes suddenly occluded by an
34146 embolus at its bifurcation, the obstruction of the iliacs and femorals
34147 induces symmetrical gangrene of both extremities as high as the inguinal
34148 ligaments. When gangrene follows occlusion of the _external iliac_ or of
34149 the _femoral artery_ above the origin of its deep branch, the death of
34150 the limb extends as high as the middle or upper third of the thigh. When
34151 the _femoral_ below the origin of its deep branch or the _popliteal
34152 artery_ is obstructed, the veins remaining pervious, the anastomosis
34153 through the profunda is sufficient to maintain the vascular supply, and
34154 gangrene does not necessarily follow. The rupture of a popliteal
34155 aneurysm, however, by compressing the vein and the articular branches,
34156 usually determines gangrene. When an embolus becomes impacted at the
34157 _bifurcation of the popliteal_, if gangrene ensues it usually spreads
34158 well up the leg.
34159
34160 When the _axillary artery_ is the seat of embolic impaction, and
34161 gangrene ensues, the process usually reaches the middle of the upper
34162 arm. Gangrene following the blocking of the _brachial_ at its
34163 bifurcation usually extends as far as the junction of the lower and
34164 middle thirds of the forearm.
34165
34166 Gangrene due to thrombosis or embolism is sometimes met with in patients
34167 recovering from typhus, typhoid, or other fevers, such as that
34168 associated with child-bed. It occurs in peripheral parts, such as the
34169 toes, fingers, nose, or ears.
34170
34171 _Treatment._--The general treatment of embolic gangrene is the same as
34172 that for the senile form. Success has followed opening the artery and
34173 removing the embolus. The artery is exposed at the seat of impaction
34174 and, having been clamped above and below, a longitudinal opening is made
34175 and the clot carefully extracted with the aid of forceps; it is
34176 sometimes unexpectedly long (one recorded from the femoral artery
34177 measured nearly 34 inches); the wound in the artery is then sewn up with
34178 fine silk soaked in paraffin. When amputation is indicated, it must be
34179 performed sufficiently high to ensure a free vascular supply to the
34180 flaps.
34181
34182 #Gangrene following Ligation of Arteries.#--After the ligation of an
34183 artery in its continuity--for example, in the treatment of aneurysm--the
34184 limb may for some days remain in a condition verging on gangrene, the
34185 distal parts being cold, devoid of sensation, and powerless. As the
34186 collateral circulation is established, the vitality of the tissues is
34187 gradually restored and these symptoms pass off. In some cases,
34188 however,--and especially in the lower extremity--gangrene ensues and
34189 presents the same characters as those resulting from embolism. It tends
34190 to be of the dry type. The occlusion of the vein as well as the artery
34191 is not found to increase the risk of gangrene.
34192
34193 #Gangrene from Mechanical Constriction of the Vessels of the part.#--The
34194 application of a bandage or plaster-of-Paris case too tightly, or of a
34195 tourniquet for too long a time, has been known to lead to death of the
34196 part beyond; but such cases are rare, as are also those due to the
34197 pressure of a fractured bone or of a tumour on a large artery or vein.
34198 When gangrene occurs from such causes, it tends to be of the moist type.
34199
34200 Much commoner is it to meet with localised areas of necrosis due to the
34201 excessive _pressure of splints_ over bony prominences, such as the
34202 lateral malleolus, the medial condyle of the humerus, or femur, or over
34203 the dorsum of the foot. This is especially liable to occur when the
34204 nutrition of the skin is depressed by any interference with its
34205 nerve-supply, such as follows injuries to the spine or peripheral
34206 nerves, disease of the brain, or acute anterior poliomyelitis. When the
34207 splint is removed the skin pressed upon is found to be of a pale yellow
34208 or grey colour, and is surrounded by a ring of hyperaemia. If protected
34209 from infection, the clinical course is that of dry gangrene.
34210
34211 Bed-sores, which are closely allied to pressure sores, will be described
34212 at the end of this chapter.
34213
34214 When a localised portion of tissue, for example, a piece of skin, is so
34215 severely _crushed_ or _bruised_ that its blood vessels are occluded and
34216 its structure destroyed, it dies, and, if not infected with bacteria,
34217 dries up, and the shrivelled brown skin is slowly separated by the
34218 growth of granulation tissue beneath and around it.
34219
34220 Fingers, toes, or even considerable portions of limbs may in the same
34221 way be suddenly destroyed by severe trauma, and undergo mummification.
34222 If organisms gain access, typical moist gangrene may ensue, or changes
34223 similar to those of ordinary post-mortem decomposition may take place.
34224
34225 _Treatment._--The first indication is to exclude bacteria by purifying
34226 the damaged part and its surroundings, and applying dry, non-irritating
34227 dressings.
34228
34229 When these measures are successful, dry gangrene ensues. The raw surface
34230 left after the separation of the dead skin may be allowed to heal by
34231 granulation, or may be covered by skin-grafts. In the case of a finger
34232 or a limb it is not necessary to wait until spontaneous separation takes
34233 place, as this is often a slow process. When a well-marked line of
34234 demarcation has formed, amputation may be performed just sufficiently
34235 far above it to enable suitable flaps to be made.
34236
34237 The end of a stump, after spontaneous separation of the gangrenous
34238 portion, requires to be trimmed, sufficient bone being removed to permit
34239 of the soft parts coming together.
34240
34241 If moist gangrene supervenes, amputation must be performed without
34242 delay, and at a higher level.
34243
34244 #Gangrene from Heat, Chemical Agents, and Cold.#--Severe #burns# and
34245 #scalds# may be followed by necrosis of tissue. So long as the parts are
34246 kept absolutely dry--as, for example, by the picric acid method of
34247 treatment--the grossly damaged portions of tissue undergo dry gangrene;
34248 but when wet or oily dressings are applied and organisms gain access,
34249 moist gangrene follows.
34250
34251 Strong #chemical agents#, such as caustic potash, nitric or sulphuric
34252 acid, may also induce local tissue necrosis, the general appearances of
34253 the lesions produced being like those of severe burns. The resulting
34254 sloughs are slow to separate, and leave deep punched-out cavities which
34255 are long of healing.
34256
34257 #Carbolic Gangrene.#--Carbolic acid, even in comparatively weak
34258 solution, is liable to induce dry gangrene when applied as a fomentation
34259 to a finger, especially in women and children. Thrombosis occurs in the
34260 blood vessels of the part, which at first is pale and soft, but later
34261 becomes dark and leathery. On account of the anaesthetic action of
34262 carbolic acid, the onset of the process is painless, and the patient
34263 does not realise his danger. A line of demarcation soon forms, but the
34264 dead part separates very slowly.
34265
34266 #Gangrene from Frost-bite.#--It is difficult to draw the line between
34267 the third degree of chilblain and the milder forms of true frost-bite;
34268 the difference is merely one of degree. Frost-bite affects chiefly the
34269 toes and fingers--especially the great toe and the little finger--the
34270 ears, and the nose. In this country it is seldom seen except in members
34271 of the tramp class, who, in addition to being exposed to cold by
34272 sleeping in the open air, are ill-fed and generally debilitated. The
34273 condition usually manifests itself after the parts, having been
34274 subjected to extreme cold, are brought into warm surroundings. The first
34275 symptom is numbness in the part, followed by a sense of weight,
34276 tingling, and finally by complete loss of sensation. The part attacked
34277 becomes white and bleached-looking, feels icy cold, and is insensitive
34278 to touch. Either immediately, or, it may be, not for several days, it
34279 becomes discoloured and swollen, and finally contracts and shrivels.
34280 Above the dead area the limb may be the seat of excruciating pain. The
34281 dead portion is cast off, as in other forms of dry gangrene, by the
34282 formation of a line of demarcation.
34283
34284 To prevent the occurrence of gangrene from frost-bite it is necessary to
34285 avoid the sudden application of heat. The patient should be placed in a
34286 cold room, and the part rubbed with snow, or put in a cold bath, and
34287 have light friction applied to it. As the circulation is restored the
34288 general surroundings and the local applications are gradually made
34289 warmer. Elevation of the part, wrapping it in cotton wool, and removal
34290 to a warmer room, are then permissible, and stimulants and warm drinks
34291 may be given with caution. When by these means the occurrence of
34292 gangrene is averted, recovery ensues, its onset being indicated by the
34293 white parts assuming a livid red hue and becoming the seat of an acute
34294 burning sensation.
34295
34296 A condition known as _Trench feet_ was widely prevalent amongst the
34297 troops in France during the European War. Although allied to frost-bite,
34298 cold appears to play a less important part in its causation than
34299 humidity and constriction of the limbs producing ischaemia of the feet.
34300 Changes were found in the endothelium of the blood vessels, the axis
34301 cylinders of nerves, and the muscles. The condition does not occur in
34302 civil life.
34303
34304 #Diabetic Gangrene.#--This form of gangrene is prone to occur in persons
34305 over fifty years of age who suffer from glycosuria. The arteries are
34306 often markedly diseased. In some cases the existence of the glycosuria
34307 is unsuspected before the onset of the gangrene, and it is only on
34308 examining the urine that the cause of the condition is discovered. The
34309 gangrenous process seldom begins as suddenly as that associated with
34310 embolism, and, like senile gangrene, which it may closely simulate in
34311 its early stages, it not infrequently begins after a slight injury to
34312 one of the toes. It but rarely, however, assumes the dry, shrivelling
34313 type, as a rule being attended with swelling, oedema, and dusky redness
34314 of the foot, and severe pain. According to Paget, the dead part remains
34315 warm longer than in other forms of senile gangrene; there is a greater
34316 tendency for patches of skin at some distance from the primary seat of
34317 disease to become gangrenous, and for the death of tissue to extend
34318 upwards in the subcutaneous planes, leaving the overlying skin
34319 unaffected. The low vitality of the tissues favours the growth of
34320 bacteria, and if these gain access, the gangrene assumes the characters
34321 of the moist type and spreads rapidly.
34322
34323 The rules for amputation are the same as those governing the treatment
34324 of senile gangrene, the level at which the limb is removed depending
34325 upon whether the gangrene is of the dry or moist type. The general
34326 treatment for diabetes must, of course, be employed whether amputation
34327 is performed or not. Paget recommended that the dietetic treatment
34328 should not be so rigid as in uncomplicated diabetes, and that opium
34329 should be given freely.
34330
34331 The _prognosis_ even after amputation is unfavourable. In many cases the
34332 patient dies with symptoms of diabetic coma within a few days of the
34333 operation; or, if he survives this, he may eventually succumb to
34334 diabetes. In others there is sloughing of the flaps and death results
34335 from toxaemia. Occasionally the other limb becomes gangrenous. On the
34336 other hand, the glycosuria may diminish or may even disappear after
34337 amputation.
34338
34339 #Gangrene associated with Spasm of Blood Vessels.#--#Raynaud's Disease#,
34340 or symmetrical gangrene, is supposed to be due to spasm of the
34341 arterioles, resulting from peripheral neuritis. It occurs oftenest in
34342 women, between the ages of eighteen and thirty, who are the subjects of
34343 uterine disorders, anaemia, or chlorosis. Cold is an aggravating factor,
34344 as the disease is commonest during the winter months. The digits of both
34345 hands or the toes of both feet are simultaneously attacked, and the
34346 disease seldom spreads beyond the phalanges or deeper than the skin.
34347
34348 The first evidence is that the fingers become cold, white, and
34349 insensitive to touch and pain. These attacks of _local syncope_ recur at
34350 varying intervals for months or even years. They last for a few minutes
34351 or even for some hours, and as they pass off the parts become hyperaemic
34352 and painful.
34353
34354 A more advanced stage of the disease is known as _local asphyxia_. The
34355 circulation through the fingers becomes exceedingly sluggish, and the
34356 parts assume a dull, livid hue. There is swelling and burning or
34357 shooting pain. This may pass off in a few days, or may increase in
34358 severity, with the formation of bullae, and end in dry gangrene. As a
34359 rule, the slough which forms is comparatively small and superficial,
34360 but it may take some months to separate. The condition tends to recur in
34361 successive winters.
34362
34363 The _treatment_ consists in remedying any nervous or uterine disorder
34364 that may be present, keeping the parts warm by wrapping them in cotton
34365 wool, and in the use of hot-air or electric baths, the parts being
34366 immersed in water through which a constant current is passed. When
34367 gangrene occurs, it is treated on the same lines as other forms of dry
34368 gangrene, but if amputation is called for it is only with a view to
34369 removing the dead part.
34370
34371 #Angio-sclerotic Gangrene.#--A form of gangrene due to _angio-sclerosis_
34372 is occasionally met with in young persons, even in children. It bears
34373 certain analogies to Raynaud's disease in that spasm of the vessels
34374 plays a part in determining the local death.
34375
34376 The main arteries are narrowed by hyperplastic endarteritis followed by
34377 thrombosis, and similar changes are found in the veins. The condition is
34378 usually met with in the feet, but the upper extremity may be affected,
34379 and is attended with very severe pain, rendering sleep impossible.
34380
34381 The patient is liable to sudden attacks of numbness, tingling and
34382 weakness of the limbs which pass off with rest--_intermittent
34383 claudication_. During these attacks the large arteries--femoral,
34384 brachial, and subclavian--can be felt as firm cords, while pulsation is
34385 lost in the peripheral vessels. Gangrene eventually ensues, is attended
34386 with great pain and runs a slow course. It is treated on the same lines
34387 as Raynaud's disease.
34388
34389 #Gangrene from Ergot.#--Gangrene may occur from interference with blood
34390 supply, the result of tetanic contraction of the minute vessels, such as
34391 results in ill-nourished persons who eat large quantities of coarse rye
34392 bread contaminated with the _claviceps purpurea_ and containing the
34393 ergot of rye. It has also occurred in the fingers of patients who have
34394 taken ergot medicinally over long periods. The gangrene, which attacks
34395 the toes, fingers, ears, or nose, is preceded by formication, numbness,
34396 and pains in the parts to be affected, and is of the dry variety.
34397
34398 In this country it is usually met with in sailors off foreign ships,
34399 whose dietary largely consists of rye bread. Trivial injuries may be the
34400 starting-point, the anaesthesia produced by the ergotin preventing the
34401 patient taking notice of them. Alcoholism is a potent predisposing
34402 cause.
34403
34404 As it is impossible to predict how far the process will spread, it is
34405 advisable to wait for the formation of a line of demarcation before
34406 operating, and then to amputate immediately above the dead part.
34407
34408
34409 BACTERIAL VARIETIES OF GANGRENE
34410
34411 The acute bacillary forms of gangrene all assume the moist type from the
34412 first, and, spreading rapidly, result in extensive necrosis of tissue,
34413 and often end fatally.
34414
34415 The infection is usually a mixed one in which anaerobic bacteria
34416 predominate. The anaerobe most constantly present is the _bacillus
34417 aerogenes capsulatus_, usually in association with other anaerobes, and
34418 sometimes with pyogenic diplo- and streptococci. According to the mode of
34419 action of the associated organisms and the combined effects of their
34420 toxins on the tissues, the gangrenous process presents different
34421 pathological and clinical features. Some combinations, for example,
34422 result in a rapidly spreading cellulitis with early necrosis of
34423 connective tissue accompanied by thrombosis throughout the capillary and
34424 venous circulation of the parts implicated; other combinations cause
34425 great oedema of the part, and others again lead to the formation of gases
34426 in the tissues, particularly in the muscles.
34427
34428 These different effects do not appear to be due to a specific action of
34429 any one of the organisms present, but to the combined effect of a
34430 particular group living in symbiosis.
34431
34432 According as the cellulitic, the oedematous, or the gaseous
34433 characteristics predominate, the clinical varieties of bacillary
34434 gangrene may be separately described, but it must be clearly understood
34435 that they frequently overlap and cannot always be distinguished from one
34436 another.
34437
34438 #Clinical Varieties of Bacillary Gangrene.#--#Acute infective gangrene#
34439 is the form most commonly met with in civil practice. It may follow such
34440 trivial injuries as a pin-prick or a scratch, the signs of acute
34441 cellulitis rapidly giving place to those of a spreading gangrene. Or it
34442 may ensue on a severe railway, machinery, or street accident, when
34443 lacerated and bruised tissues are contaminated with gross dirt. Often
34444 within a few hours of the injury the whole part rapidly becomes painful,
34445 swollen, oedematous, and tense. The skin is at first glazed, and perhaps
34446 paler than normal, but soon assumes a dull red or purplish hue, and
34447 bullae form on the surface. Putrefactive gases may be evolved in the
34448 tissues, and their presence is indicated by emphysematous crackling when
34449 the part is handled. The spread of the disease is so rapid that its
34450 progress is quite visible from hour to hour, and may be traced by the
34451 occurrence of red lines along the course of the lymphatics of the limb.
34452 In the most acute cases the death of the affected part takes place so
34453 rapidly that the local changes indicative of gangrene have not time to
34454 occur, and the fact that the part is dead may be overlooked.
34455
34456 [Illustration: FIG. 22.--Gangrene of Terminal Phalanx of Index-Finger,
34457 following cellulitis of hand resulting from a scratch on the palm of the
34458 hand.]
34459
34460 Rigors may occur, but the temperature is not necessarily raised--indeed,
34461 it is sometimes subnormal. The pulse is small, feeble, rapid, and
34462 irregular. Unless amputation is promptly performed, death usually
34463 follows within thirty-six or forty-eight hours. Even early operation
34464 does not always avert the fatal issue, because the quantity of toxin
34465 absorbed and its extreme virulence are often more than even a robust
34466 subject can outlive.
34467
34468 _Treatment._--Every effort must be made to purify all such wounds as are
34469 contaminated by earth, street dust, stable refuse, or other forms of
34470 gross dirt. Devitalised and contaminated tissue is removed with the
34471 knife or scissors and the wound purified with antiseptics of the
34472 chlorine group or with hydrogen peroxide. If there is a reasonable
34473 prospect that infection has been overcome, the wound may be at once
34474 sutured, but if this is doubtful it is left open and packed or
34475 irrigated.
34476
34477 When acute gangrene has set in no treatment short of amputation is of
34478 any avail, and the sooner this is done, the greater is the hope of
34479 saving the patient. The limb must be amputated well beyond the apparent
34480 limits of the infected area, and stringent precautions must be taken to
34481 avoid discharge from the already gangrenous area reaching the operation
34482 wound. An assistant or nurse, who is to take no other part in the
34483 operation, is told off to carry out the preliminary purification, and to
34484 hold the limb during the operation.
34485
34486 #Malignant Oedema.#--This form of acute gangrene has been defined as
34487 "a spreading inflammatory oedema attended with emphysema, and ultimately
34488 followed by gangrene of the skin and adjacent parts." The predominant
34489 organism is the _bacillus of malignant oedema_ or _vibrion septique_ of
34490 Pasteur, which is found in garden soil, dung, and various putrefying
34491 substances. It is anaerobic, and occurs as long, thick rods with
34492 somewhat rounded ends and several laterally placed flagella. Spores,
34493 which have a high power of resistance, form in the centre of the rods,
34494 and bulge out the sides so as to give the organisms a spindle-shaped
34495 outline. Other pathogenic organisms are also present and aid the
34496 specific bacillus in its action.
34497
34498 At the bedside it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish it
34499 from acute infective gangrene. Both follow on the same kinds of injury
34500 and run an exceedingly rapid course. In malignant oedema, however, the
34501 incidence of the disease is mainly on the superficial parts, which
34502 become oedematous and emphysematous, and acquire a marbled appearance
34503 with the veins clearly outlined. Early disappearance of sensation is a
34504 particularly grave symptom. Bullae form on the skin, and the tissues
34505 have "a peculiar heavy but not putrid odour." The constitutional effects
34506 are extremely severe, and death may ensue within a few hours.
34507
34508 #Acute Emphysematous# or #Gas Gangrene# was prevalent in certain areas
34509 at various periods during the European War. It follows infection of
34510 lacerated wounds with the _bacillus aerogenes capsulatus_, usually in
34511 combination with other anaerobes, and its main incidence is on the
34512 muscles, which rapidly become infiltrated with gas that spreads
34513 throughout the whole extent of the muscle, disintegrating its fibres and
34514 leading to necrosis. The gangrenous process spreads with appalling
34515 rapidity, the limb becoming enormously swollen, painful, and crepitant
34516 or even tympanitic. Patches of coppery or purple colour appear on the
34517 skin, and bullae containing blood-stained serum form on the surface. The
34518 toxaemia is profound, and the face and lips assume a characteristic
34519 cyanosis. The condition is attended with a high mortality. Only in the
34520 early stages and when the infection is limited are local measures
34521 successful in arresting the spread; in more severe cases amputation is
34522 the only means of saving life.
34523
34524 #Cancrum Oris# or #Noma#.--This disease is believed to be due to a
34525 specific bacillus, which occurs in long delicate rods, and is chiefly
34526 found at the margin of the gangrenous area. It is prone to attack
34527 unhealthy children from two to five years of age, especially during
34528 their convalescence from such diseases as measles, scarlet fever, or
34529 typhoid, but may attack adults when they are debilitated. It is most
34530 common in the mouth, but sometimes occurs on the vulva. In the mouth it
34531 begins as an ulcerative stomatitis, more especially affecting the gums
34532 or inner aspect of the cheek. The child lies prostrated, and from the
34533 open mouth foul-smelling saliva, streaked with blood, escapes; the face
34534 is of an ashy-grey colour, the lips dark and swollen. On the inner
34535 aspect of the cheek is a deeply ulcerated surface, with sloughy shreds
34536 of dark-brown or black tissue covering its base; the edges are
34537 irregular, firm, and swollen, and the surrounding mucous membrane is
34538 infiltrated and oedematous. In the course of a few hours a dark spot
34539 appears on the outer aspect of the cheek, and rapidly increases in size;
34540 towards the centre it is black, shading off through blue and grey into a
34541 dark-red area which extends over the cheek (Fig. 23). The tissue
34542 implicated is at first firm and indurated, but as it loses its vitality
34543 it becomes doughy and sodden. Finally a slough forms, and, when it
34544 separates, the cheek is perforated.
34545
34546 Meanwhile the process spreads inside the mouth, and the gums, the floor
34547 of the mouth, or even the jaws, may become gangrenous and the teeth fall
34548 out. The constitutional disturbance is severe, the temperature raised,
34549 and the pulse feeble and rapid.
34550
34551 The extremely foetid odour which pervades the room or even the house the
34552 patient occupies, is usually sufficient to suggest the diagnosis of
34553 cancrum oris. The odour must not be mistaken for that due to
34554 decomposition of sordes on the teeth and gums of a debilitated patient.
34555
34556 The _prognosis_ is always grave in the extreme, the main risks being
34557 general toxaemia and septic pneumonia. When recovery takes place there is
34558 serious deformity, and considerable portions of the jaws may be lost by
34559 necrosis.
34560
34561 [Illustration: FIG. 23.--Cancrum oris.
34562
34563 (From a photograph lent by Sir George T. Beatson.)]
34564
34565 _Treatment._--The only satisfactory treatment is thorough removal under
34566 an anaesthetic of all the sloughy tissue, with the surrounding zone in
34567 which the organisms are active. This is most efficiently accomplished by
34568 the knife or scissors, cutting until the tissue bleeds freely, after
34569 which the raw surface is painted with undiluted carbolic acid and
34570 dressed with iodoform gauze. It may be necessary to remove large pieces
34571 of bone when the necrotic process has implicated the jaws. The mouth
34572 must be constantly sprayed with peroxide of hydrogen, and washed out
34573 with a disinfectant and deodorant lotion, such as Condy's fluid. The
34574 patient's general condition calls for free stimulation.
34575
34576 The deformity resulting from these necessarily heroic measures is not so
34577 great as might be expected, and can be further diminished by plastic
34578 operations, which should be undertaken before cicatricial contraction
34579 has occurred.
34580
34581
34582 BED-SORES
34583
34584 Bed-sores are most frequently met with in old and debilitated patients,
34585 or in those whose tissues are devitalised by acute or chronic diseases
34586 associated with stagnation of blood in the peripheral veins. Any
34587 interference with the nerve-supply of the skin, whether from injury or
34588 disease of the central nervous system or of the peripheral nerves,
34589 strongly predisposes to the formation of bed-sores. Prolonged and
34590 excessive pressure over a bony prominence, especially if the parts be
34591 moist with skin secretions, urine, or wound discharges, determines the
34592 formation of a sore. Excoriations, which may develop into true
34593 bed-sores, sometimes form where two skin surfaces remain constantly
34594 apposed, as in the region of the scrotum or labium, under pendulous
34595 mammae, or between fingers or toes confined in a splint.
34596
34597 [Illustration: FIG. 24.--Acute Bed-Sores over Right Buttock.]
34598
34599 _Clinical Features._--Two clinical varieties are met with--the acute
34600 and the chronic bed-sore.
34601
34602 The _acute_ bed-sore usually occurs over the sacrum or buttock. It
34603 develops rapidly after spinal injuries and in the course of certain
34604 brain diseases. The part affected becomes red and congested, while the
34605 surrounding parts are oedematous and swollen, blisters form, and the skin
34606 loses its vitality (Fig. 24).
34607
34608 In advanced cases of general paralysis of the insane, a peculiar form of
34609 acute bed-sore beginning as a blister, and passing on to the formation
34610 of a black, dry eschar, which slowly separates, occurs on such parts as
34611 the medial side of the knee, the angle of the scapula, and the heel.
34612
34613 The _chronic_ bed-sore begins as a dusky reddish purple patch, which
34614 gradually becomes darker till it is almost black. The parts around are
34615 oedematous, and a blister may form. This bursts and exposes the papillae
34616 of the skin, which are of a greenish hue. A tough greyish-black slough
34617 forms, and is slowly separated. It is not uncommon for the gangrenous
34618 area to continue to spread both in width and in depth till it reaches
34619 the periosteum or bone. Bed-sores over the sacrum sometimes implicate
34620 the vertebral canal and lead to spinal meningitis, which usually proves
34621 fatal.
34622
34623 In old and debilitated patients the septic absorption taking place from
34624 a bed-sore often proves a serious complication of other surgical
34625 conditions. From this cause, for example, old people may succumb during
34626 the treatment of a fractured thigh.
34627
34628 The granulating surface left on the separation of the slough tends to
34629 heal comparatively rapidly.
34630
34631 _Prevention of Bed-sores._--The first essential in the prevention of
34632 bed-sores is the regular changing of the patient's position, so that no
34633 one part of the body is continuously pressed upon for any length of
34634 time. Ring-pads of wool, air-cushions, or water-beds are necessary to
34635 remove pressure from prominent parts. Absolute dryness of the skin is
34636 all-important. At least once a day, the sacrum, buttocks,
34637 shoulder-blades, heels, elbows, malleoli, or other parts exposed to
34638 pressure, must be sponged with soap and water, thoroughly dried, and
34639 then rubbed with methylated spirit, which is allowed to dry on the skin.
34640 Dusting the part with boracic acid powder not only keeps it dry, but
34641 prevents the development of bacteria in the skin secretions.
34642
34643 In operation cases, care must be taken that irritating chemicals used to
34644 purify the skin do not collect under the patient and remain in contact
34645 with the skin of the sacrum and buttocks during the time he is on the
34646 operating-table. There is reason to believe that the so-called
34647 "post-operation bed-sore" may be due to such causes. A similar result
34648 has been known to follow soiling of the sheets by the escape of a
34649 turpentine enema.
34650
34651 _Treatment._--Once a bed-sore has formed, every effort must be made to
34652 prevent its spread. Alcohol is used to cleanse the broken surface, and
34653 dry absorbent dressings are applied and frequently changed. It is
34654 sometimes found necessary to employ moist or oily substances, such as
34655 boracic poultices, eucalyptus ointment, or balsam of Peru, to facilitate
34656 the separation of sloughs, or to promote the growth of granulations. In
34657 patients who are not extremely debilitated the slough may be excised,
34658 the raw surface scraped, and then painted with iodine.
34659
34660 Skin-grafting is sometimes useful in covering in the large raw surface
34661 left after separation or removal of sloughs.
34662
34663
34664
34665
34666 CHAPTER VII
34667
34668 BACTERIAL AND OTHER WOUND INFECTIONS
34669
34670
34671 _Erysipelas_--_Diphtheria_--_Tetanus_--_Hydrophobia_--_Anthrax_--
34672 _Glanders_--_Actinomycosis_--_Mycetoma_--_Delhi
34673 boil_--_Chigoe_--_Poisoning by insects_--_Snake-bites_.
34674
34675
34676 ERYSIPELAS
34677
34678 Erysipelas, popularly known as "rose," is an acute spreading infective
34679 disease of the skin or of a mucous membrane due to the action of a
34680 streptococcus. Infection invariably takes place through an abrasion of
34681 the surface, although this may be so slight that it escapes observation
34682 even when sought for. The streptococci are found most abundantly in the
34683 lymph spaces just beyond the swollen margin of the inflammatory area,
34684 and in the serous blebs which sometimes form on the surface.
34685
34686 #Clinical Features.#--_Facial erysipelas_ is the commonest clinical
34687 variety, infection usually occurring through some slight abrasion in the
34688 region of the mouth or nose, or from an operation wound in this area.
34689 From this point of origin the inflammation may spread all over the face
34690 and scalp as far back as the nape of the neck. It stops, however, at the
34691 chin, and never extends on to the front of the neck. There is great
34692 oedema of the face, the eyes becoming closed up, and the features
34693 unrecognisable. The inflammation may spread to the meninges, the
34694 intracranial venous sinuses, the eye, or the ear. In some cases the
34695 erysipelas invades the mucous membrane of the mouth, and spreads to the
34696 fauces and larynx, setting up an oedema of the glottis which may prove
34697 dangerous to life.
34698
34699 Erysipelas occasionally attacks an operation wound that has become
34700 septic; and it may accompany septic infection of the genital tract in
34701 puerperal women, or the separation of the umbilical cord in infants
34702 (_erysipelas neonatorum_). After an incubation period, which varies from
34703 fifteen to sixty hours, the patient complains of headache, pains in the
34704 back and limbs, loss of appetite, nausea, and frequently there is
34705 vomiting. He has a chill or slight rigor, initiating a rise of
34706 temperature to 103 o, 104 o, or 105 o F.; and a full bounding pulse of
34707 about 100 (Fig. 25). The tongue is foul, the breath heavy, and, as a
34708 rule, the bowels are constipated. There is frequently albuminuria, and
34709 occasionally nocturnal delirium. A moderate degree of leucocytosis
34710 (15,000 to 20,000) is usually present.
34711
34712 Around the seat of inoculation a diffuse red patch forms, varying in hue
34713 from a bright scarlet to a dull brick-red. The edges are slightly raised
34714 above the level of the surrounding skin, as may readily be recognised by
34715 gently stroking the part from the healthy towards the affected area. The
34716 skin is smooth, tense, and glossy, and presents here and there blisters
34717 filled with serous fluid. The local temperature is raised, and the part
34718 is the seat of a burning sensation and is tender to the touch, the most
34719 tender area being the actively spreading zone which lies about half an
34720 inch beyond the red margin.
34721
34722 [Illustration: FIG. 25.--Chart of Erysipelas occurring in a wound.]
34723
34724 The disease tends to spread spasmodically and irregularly, and the
34725 direction and extent of its progress may be recognised by mapping out
34726 the peripheral zone of tenderness. Red streaks appear along the lines of
34727 the superficial lymph vessels, and the deep lymphatics may sometimes be
34728 palpated as firm, tender cords. The neighbouring glands, also, are
34729 generally enlarged and tender.
34730
34731 The disease lasts for from two or three days to as many weeks, and
34732 relapses are frequent. Spontaneous resolution usually takes place, but
34733 the disease may prove fatal from absorption of toxins, involvement of
34734 the brain or meninges, or from general streptococcal infection.
34735
34736 #Complications.#--_Diffuse suppurative cellulitis_ is the most serious
34737 local complication, and results from a mixed infection with other
34738 pyogenic bacteria. Small _localised superficial abscesses_ may form
34739 during the convalescent stage. They are doubtless due to the action of
34740 skin bacteria, which attack the tissues devitalised by the erysipelas. A
34741 persistent form of _oedema_ sometimes remains after recurrent attacks of
34742 erysipelas, especially when they affect the face or the lower extremity,
34743 a condition which is referred to with elephantiasis.
34744
34745 #Treatment.#--The first indication is to endeavour to arrest the spread
34746 of the process. We have found that by painting with linimentum iodi, a
34747 ring half an inch broad, about an inch in front of the peripheral tender
34748 zone--not the red margin--an artificial leucocytosis is produced, and
34749 the advancing streptococci are thereby arrested. Several coats of the
34750 iodine are applied, one after the other, and this is repeated daily for
34751 several days, even although the erysipelas has not overstepped the ring.
34752 Success depends upon using the liniment of iodine (the tincture is not
34753 strong enough), and in applying it well in front of the disease. To
34754 allay pain the most useful local applications are ichthyol ointment (1
34755 in 6), or lead and opium fomentations.
34756
34757 The general treatment consists in attending to the emunctories, in
34758 administrating quinine in small--two-grain--doses every four hours, or
34759 salicylate of iron (2-5 gr. every three hours), and in giving plenty of
34760 fluid nourishment. It is worthy of note that the anti-streptococcic
34761 serum has proved of less value in the treatment of erysipelas than might
34762 have been expected, probably because the serum is not made from the
34763 proper strain of streptococcus.
34764
34765 It is not necessary to isolate cases of erysipelas, provided the usual
34766 precautions against carrying infection from one patient to another are
34767 rigidly carried out.
34768
34769
34770 DIPHTHERIA
34771
34772 Diphtheria is an acute infective disease due to the action of a specific
34773 bacterium, the _bacillus diphtheriae_ or _Klebs-Loffler bacillus_. The
34774 disease is usually transmitted from one patient to another, but it may
34775 be contracted from cats, fowls, or through the milk of infected cows.
34776 Cases have occurred in which the surgeon has carried the infection from
34777 one patient to another through neglect of antiseptic precautions. The
34778 incubation period varies from two to seven days.
34779
34780 #Clinical Features.#--In _pharyngeal diphtheria_, on the first or
34781 second day of the disease, redness and swelling of the mucous membrane
34782 of the pharynx, tonsils, and palate are well marked, and small, circular
34783 greenish or grey patches of false membrane, composed of necrosed
34784 epithelium, fibrin, leucocytes, and red blood corpuscles, begin to
34785 appear. These rapidly increase in area and thickness, till they coalesce
34786 and form a complete covering to the parts. In the pharynx the false
34787 membrane is less adherent to the surface than it is when the disease
34788 affects the air-passages. The diphtheritic process may spread from the
34789 pharynx to the nasal cavities, causing blocking of the nares, with a
34790 profuse ichorous discharge from the nostrils, and sometimes severe
34791 epistaxis. The infection may spread along the nasal duct to the
34792 conjunctiva. The middle ear also may become involved by spread along the
34793 auditory (Eustachian) tube.
34794
34795 The lymph glands behind the angle of the jaw enlarge and become tender,
34796 and may suppurate from superadded infection. There is pain on
34797 swallowing, and often earache; and the patient speaks with a nasal
34798 accent. He becomes weak and anaemic, and loses his appetite. There is
34799 often albuminuria. Leucocytosis is usually well marked before the
34800 injection of antitoxin; after the injection there is usually a
34801 diminution in the number of leucocytes. The false membrane may separate
34802 and be cast off, after which the patient gradually recovers. Death may
34803 take place from gradual failure of the heart's action or from syncope
34804 during some slight exertion.
34805
34806 _Laryngeal Diphtheria._--The disease may arise in the larynx, although,
34807 as a rule, it spreads thence from the pharynx. It first manifests itself
34808 by a short, dry, croupy cough, and hoarseness of the voice. The first
34809 difficulty in breathing usually takes place during the night, and once
34810 it begins, it rapidly gets worse. Inspiration becomes noisy, sometimes
34811 stridulous or metallic or sibilant, and there is marked indrawing of the
34812 epigastrium and lower intercostal spaces. The hoarseness becomes more
34813 marked, the cough more severe, and the patient restless. The difficulty
34814 of breathing occurs in paroxysms, which gradually increase in frequency
34815 and severity, until at length the patient becomes asphyxiated. The
34816 duration of the disease varies from a few hours to four or five days.
34817
34818 After the acute symptoms have passed off, various localised
34819 paralyses may develop, affecting particularly the nerves of the palatal
34820 and orbital muscles, less frequently the lower limbs.
34821
34822 #Diagnosis.#--The finding of the Klebs-Loffler bacillus is the only
34823 conclusive evidence of the disease. The bacillus may be obtained by
34824 swabbing the throat with a piece of aseptic--not antiseptic--cotton wool
34825 or clean linen rag held in a pair of forceps, and rotated so as to
34826 entangle portions of the false membrane or exudate. The swab thus
34827 obtained is placed in a test-tube, previously sterilised by having had
34828 some water boiled in it, and sent to a laboratory for investigation. To
34829 identify the bacillus a piece of the membrane from the swab is rubbed on
34830 a cover glass, dried, and stained with methylene blue or other basic
34831 stain; or cultures may be made on agar or other suitable medium. When a
34832 bacteriological examination is impossible, or when the clinical features
34833 do not coincide with the results obtained, the patient should always be
34834 treated on the assumption that he suffers from diphtheria. So much doubt
34835 exists as to the real nature of membranous croup and its relationship to
34836 true diphtheria, that when the diagnosis between the two is uncertain
34837 the safest plan is to treat the case as one of diphtheria.
34838
34839 In children, diphtheria may occur on the vulva, vagina, prepuce, or
34840 glans penis, and give rise to difficulty in diagnosis, which is only
34841 cleared up by demonstration of the bacillus.
34842
34843 #Treatment.#--An attempt may be made to destroy or to counteract the
34844 organisms by swabbing the throat with strong antiseptic solutions, such
34845 as 1 in 1000 corrosive sublimate or 1 in 30 carbolic acid, or by
34846 spraying with peroxide of hydrogen.
34847
34848 The antitoxic serum is our sheet-anchor in the treatment of diphtheria,
34849 and recourse should be had to its use as early as possible.
34850
34851 Difficulty of swallowing may be met by the use of a stomach tube passed
34852 either through the mouth or nose. When this is impracticable, nutrient
34853 enemata are called for.
34854
34855 In laryngeal diphtheria, the interference with respiration may call for
34856 intubation of the larynx, or tracheotomy, but the antitoxin treatment
34857 has greatly diminished the number of cases in which it becomes necessary
34858 to have recourse to these measures.
34859
34860 Intubation consists in introducing through the mouth into the larynx a
34861 tube which allows the patient to breathe freely during the period while
34862 the membrane is becoming separated and thrown off. This is best done
34863 with the apparatus of O'Dwyer; but when this instrument is not
34864 available, a simple gum-elastic catheter with a terminal opening (as
34865 suggested by Macewen and Annandale) may be employed.
34866
34867 When intubation is impracticable, the operation of tracheotomy is
34868 called for if the patient's life is endangered by embarrassment of
34869 respiration. Unless the patient is in hospital with skilled assistance
34870 available, tracheotomy is the safer of the two procedures.
34871
34872
34873 TETANUS
34874
34875 Tetanus is a disease resulting from infection of a wound by a specific
34876 micro-organism, the _bacillus tetani_, and characterised by increased
34877 reflex excitability, hypertonus, and spasm of one or more groups of
34878 voluntary muscles.
34879
34880 _Etiology and Morbid Anatomy._--The tetanus bacillus, which is a perfect
34881 anaerobe, is widely distributed in nature and can be isolated from
34882 garden earth, dung-heaps, and stable refuse. It is a slender rod-shaped
34883 bacillus, with a single large spore at one end giving it the shape of a
34884 drum-stick (Fig. 26). The spores, which are the active agents in
34885 producing tetanus, are highly resistant to chemical agents, retain their
34886 vitality in a dry condition, and even survive boiling for five minutes.
34887
34888 The organism does not readily establish itself in the human body, and
34889 seems to flourish best when it finds a nidus in necrotic tissue and is
34890 accompanied by aerobic organisms, which, by using up the oxygen in the
34891 tissues, provide for it a suitable environment. The presence of a
34892 foreign body in the wound seems to favour its action. The infection is
34893 for all practical purposes a local one, the symptoms of the disease
34894 being due to the toxins produced in the wound of infection acting upon
34895 the central nervous system.
34896
34897 The toxin acts principally on the nerve centres in the spinal medulla,
34898 to which it travels from the focus of infection by way of the nerve
34899 fibres supplying the voluntary muscles. Its first effect on the motor
34900 ganglia of the cord is to render them hypersensitive, so that they are
34901 excited by mild stimuli, which under ordinary conditions would produce
34902 no reaction. As the toxin accumulates the reflex arc is affected, with
34903 the result that when a stimulus reaches the ganglia a motor discharge
34904 takes place, which spreads by ascending and descending collaterals to
34905 the reflex apparatus of the whole cord. As the toxin spreads it causes
34906 both motor hyper-tonus and hyper-excitability, which accounts for the
34907 tonic contraction and the clonic spasms characteristic of tetanus.
34908
34909 [Illustration: FIG. 26.--Bacillus of Tetanus from scraping of a wound of
34910 finger, x 1000 diam. Basic fuchsin stain.]
34911
34912 #Clinical Varieties of Tetanus.#--_Acute_ or _Fulminating
34913 Tetanus_.--This variety is characterised by the shortness of the
34914 incubation period, the rapidity of its progress, the severity of its
34915 symptoms, and its all but universally fatal issue in spite of
34916 treatment, death taking place in from one to four days. The
34917 characteristic symptoms may appear within three or four days of the
34918 infliction of the wound, but the incubation period may extend to three
34919 weeks, and the wound may be quite healed before the disease declares
34920 itself--_delayed tetanus_. Usually, however, the wound is inflamed and
34921 suppurating, with ragged and sloughy edges. A slight feverish attack may
34922 mark the onset of the tetanic condition, or the patient may feel
34923 perfectly well until the spasms begin. If careful observations be made,
34924 it may be found that the muscles in the immediate neighbourhood of the
34925 wound are the first to become contracted; but in the majority of
34926 instances the patient's first complaint is of pain and stiffness in the
34927 muscles of mastication, notably the masseter, so that he has difficulty
34928 in opening the mouth--hence the popular name "lock-jaw." The muscles of
34929 expression soon share in the rigidity, and the face assumes a taut,
34930 mask-like aspect. The angles of the mouth may be retracted, producing a
34931 grinning expression known as the _risus sardonicus_.
34932
34933 The next muscles to become stiff and painful are those of the neck,
34934 especially the sterno-mastoid and trapezius. The patient is inclined to
34935 attribute the pain and stiffness to exposure to cold or rheumatism. At
34936 an early stage the diaphragm and the muscles of the anterior abdominal
34937 wall become contracted; later the muscles of the back and thorax are
34938 involved; and lastly those of the limbs. Although this is the typical
34939 order of involvement of the different groups of muscles, it is not
34940 always adhered to.
34941
34942 To this permanent tonic contraction of the muscles there are soon added
34943 clonic spasms. These spasms are at first slight and transient, with
34944 prolonged intervals between the attacks, but rapidly tend to become more
34945 frequent, more severe, and of longer duration, until eventually the
34946 patient simply passes out of one seizure into another.
34947
34948 The distribution of the spasms varies in different cases: in some it is
34949 confined to particular groups of muscles, such as those of the neck,
34950 back, abdominal walls, or limbs; in others all these groups are
34951 simultaneously involved.
34952
34953 When the muscles of the back become spasmodically contracted, the body
34954 is raised from the bed, sometimes to such an extent that the patient
34955 rests only on his heels and occiput--the position of _opisthotonos_.
34956 Lateral arching of the body from excessive action of the muscles on one
34957 side--_pleurosthotonos_--is not uncommon, the arching usually taking
34958 place towards the side on which the wound of infection exists. Less
34959 frequently the body is bent forward so that the knees and chin almost
34960 meet (_emprosthotonos_). Sometimes all the muscles simultaneously become
34961 rigid, so that the body assumes a statuesque attitude (_orthotonos_).
34962 When the thoracic muscles, including the diaphragm, are thrown into
34963 spasm, the patient experiences a distressing sensation as if he were
34964 gripped in a vice, and has extreme difficulty in getting breath. Between
34965 the attacks the limbs are kept rigidly extended. The clonic spasms may
34966 be so severe as to rupture muscles or even to fracture one of the long
34967 bones.
34968
34969 As time goes on, the clonic exacerbations become more and more frequent,
34970 and the slightest external stimulus, such as the feeling of the pulse, a
34971 whisper in the room, a noise in the street, a draught of cold air, the
34972 effort to swallow, a question addressed to the patient or his attempt to
34973 answer, is sufficient to determine an attack. The movements are so
34974 forcible and so continuous that the nurse has great difficulty in
34975 keeping the bedclothes on the patient, or even in keeping him in bed.
34976
34977 The general condition of the patient is pitiful in the extreme. He is
34978 fully conscious of the gravity of the disease, and his mind remains
34979 clear to the end. The suffering induced by the cramp-like spasms of the
34980 muscles keeps him in a constant state of fearful apprehension of the
34981 next seizure, and he is unable to sleep until he becomes utterly
34982 exhausted.
34983
34984 The temperature is moderately raised (100 o to 102 o F.), or may remain
34985 normal throughout. Shortly before death very high temperatures (110 o F.)
34986 have been recorded, and it has been observed that the thermometer
34987 sometimes continues to rise after death, and may reach as high as
34988 112 o F. or more.
34989
34990 The pulse corresponds with the febrile condition. It is accelerated
34991 during the spasms, and may become exceedingly rapid and feeble before
34992 death, probably from paralysis of the vagus. Sudden death from cardiac
34993 paralysis or from cardiac spasm is not uncommon.
34994
34995 The respiration is affected in so far as the spasms of the respiratory
34996 muscles produce dyspnoea, and a feeling of impending suffocation which
34997 adds to the horrors of the disease.
34998
34999 One of the most constant symptoms is a copious perspiration, the patient
35000 being literally bathed in sweat. The urine is diminished in quantity,
35001 but as a rule is normal in composition; as in other acute infective
35002 conditions, albumen and blood may be present. Retention of urine may
35003 result from spasm of the urethral muscles, and necessitate the use of
35004 the catheter.
35005
35006 The fits may cease some time before death, or, on the other hand, death
35007 may occur during a paroxysm from fixation of the diaphragm and arrest of
35008 respiration.
35009
35010 _Differential Diagnosis._--There is little difficulty, as a rule, in
35011 diagnosing a case of fulminating tetanus, but there are several
35012 conditions with which it may occasionally be confused. In _strychnin
35013 poisoning_, for example, the spasms come on immediately after the
35014 patient has taken a toxic dose of the drug; they are clonic in
35015 character, but the muscles are relaxed between the fits. If the dose is
35016 not lethal, the spasms soon cease. In _hydrophobia_ a history of having
35017 been bitten by a rabid animal is usually forthcoming; the spasms, which
35018 are clonic in character, affect chiefly the muscles of respiration and
35019 deglutition, and pass off entirely in the intervals between attacks.
35020 Certain cases of _haemorrhage into the lateral ventricles_ of the brain
35021 also simulate tetanus, but an analysis of the symptoms will prevent
35022 errors in diagnosis. _Cerebro-spinal meningitis_ and _basal meningitis_
35023 present certain superficial resemblances to tetanus, but there is no
35024 trismus, and the spasms chiefly affect the muscles of the neck and
35025 back. _Hysteria and catalepsy_ may assume characters resembling those
35026 of tetanus, but there is little difficulty in distinguishing between
35027 these diseases. Lastly, in the _tetany_ of children, or that following
35028 operations on the thyreoid gland, the spasms are of a jerking character,
35029 affect chiefly the hands and fingers, and yield to medicinal treatment.
35030
35031 #Chronic Tetanus.#--The difference between this and acute tetanus is
35032 mainly one of degree. Its incubation period is longer, it is more slow
35033 and insidious in its progress, and it never reaches the same degree of
35034 severity. Trismus is the most marked and constant form of spasm; and
35035 while the trunk muscles may be involved, those of respiration as a rule
35036 escape. Every additional day the patient lives adds to the probability
35037 of his ultimate recovery. When the disease does prove fatal, it is from
35038 exhaustion, and not from respiratory or cardiac spasm. The usual
35039 duration is from six to ten weeks.
35040
35041 #Delayed Tetanus.#--During the European War acute tetanus occasionally
35042 developed many weeks or even months after a patient had been injured,
35043 and when the original wound had completely healed. It usually followed
35044 some secondary operation, _e.g._, for the removal of a foreign body, or
35045 the breaking down of adhesions, which aroused latent organisms.
35046
35047 #Local Tetanus.#--This term is applied to a form of the disease in which
35048 the hypertonus and spasms are localised to the muscles in the vicinity
35049 of the wound. It usually occurs in patients who have had prophylactic
35050 injections of anti-tetanic serum, the toxins entering the blood being
35051 probably neutralised by the antibodies in circulation, while those
35052 passing along the motor nerves are unaffected.
35053
35054 When it occurs in the _limbs_, attention is usually directed to the fact
35055 by pain accompanying the spasms; the muscles are found to be hard and
35056 there are frequent twitchings of the limb. A characteristic reflex is
35057 present in the lower extremity, namely, extension of the foot and leg
35058 when the sole is tickled.
35059
35060 _Cephalic Tetanus_ is another localised variety which follows injury in
35061 the distribution of the facial nerve. It is characterised by the
35062 occurrence on the same side as the injury, of facial spasm, rapidly
35063 followed by more or less complete paralysis of the muscles of
35064 expression, with unilateral trismus and difficulty in swallowing. Other
35065 cranial nerves, particularly the oculomotor and the hypoglossal, may
35066 also be implicated. A remarkable feature of this condition is that
35067 although the muscles are irresponsive to ordinary physiological stimuli,
35068 they are thrown into spasm by the abnormal impulses of tetanus.
35069
35070 _Trismus._--This term is used to denote a form of tetanic spasm limited
35071 to the muscles of mastication. It is really a mild form of chronic
35072 tetanus, and the prognosis is favourable. It must not be confused with
35073 the fixation of the jaw sometimes associated with a wisdom-tooth
35074 gumboil, with tonsillitis, or with affections of the temporo-mandibular
35075 articulation.
35076
35077 _Tetanus neonatorum_ is a form of tetanus occurring in infants of about
35078 a week old. Infection takes place through the umbilicus, and manifests
35079 itself clinically by spasms of the muscles of mastication. It is almost
35080 invariably fatal within a few days.
35081
35082 _Prophylaxis._--Experience in the European War has established the
35083 fact that the routine injection of anti-tetanic serum to all patients
35084 with lacerated and contaminated wounds greatly reduces the frequency of
35085 tetanus. The sooner the serum is given after the injury, the more
35086 certain is its effect; within twenty-four hours 1500 units injected
35087 subcutaneously is sufficient for the initial dose; if a longer period
35088 has elapsed, 2000 to 3000 units should be given intra-muscularly, as
35089 this ensures more rapid absorption. A second injection is given a week
35090 after the first.
35091
35092 The wound must be purified in the usual way, and all instruments and
35093 appliances used for operations on tetanic patients must be immediately
35094 sterilised by prolonged boiling.
35095
35096 _Treatment._--When tetanus has developed the main indications are to
35097 prevent the further production of toxins in the wound, and to neutralise
35098 those that have been absorbed into the nervous system. Thorough
35099 purification with antiseptics, excision of devitalised tissues, and
35100 drainage of the wound are first carried out. To arrest the absorption of
35101 toxins intra-muscular injections of 10,000 units of serum are given
35102 daily into the muscles of the affected limb, or directly into the nerve
35103 trunks leading from the focus of infection, in the hope of "blocking"
35104 the nerves with antitoxin and so preventing the passage of toxins
35105 towards the spinal cord.
35106
35107 To neutralise the toxins that have already reached the spinal cord, 5000
35108 units should be injected intra-thecally daily for four or five days, the
35109 foot of the bed being raised to enable the serum to reach the upper
35110 parts of the cord.
35111
35112 The quantity of toxin circulating in the blood is so small as to be
35113 practically negligible, and the risk of anaphylactic shock attending
35114 intra-venous injection outweighs any benefit likely to follow this
35115 procedure.
35116
35117 Baccelli recommends the injection of 20 c.c. of a 1 in 100 solution of
35118 carbolic acid into the subcutaneous tissues every four hours during the
35119 period that the contractions persist. Opinions vary as to the
35120 efficiency of this treatment. The intra-thecal injection of 10 c.c. of a
35121 15 per cent. solution of magnesium sulphate has proved beneficial in
35122 alleviating the severity of the spasms, but does not appear to have a
35123 curative effect.
35124
35125 To conserve the patient's strength by preventing or diminishing the
35126 severity of the spasms, he should be placed in a quiet room, and every
35127 form of disturbance avoided. Sedatives, such as bromides, paraldehyde,
35128 or opium, must be given in large doses. Chloral is perhaps the best, and
35129 the patient should rarely have less than 150 grains in twenty-four
35130 hours. When he is unable to swallow, it should be given by the rectum.
35131 The administration of chloroform is of value in conserving the strength
35132 of the patient, by abolishing the spasms, and enabling the attendants to
35133 administer nourishment or drugs either through a stomach tube or by the
35134 rectum. Extreme elevation of temperature is met by tepid sponging. It is
35135 necessary to use the catheter if retention of urine occurs.
35136
35137
35138 HYDROPHOBIA
35139
35140 Hydrophobia is an acute infective disease following on the bite of a
35141 rabid animal. It most commonly follows the bite or lick of a rabid dog
35142 or cat. The virus appears to be communicated through the saliva of the
35143 animal, and to show a marked affinity for nerve tissues; and the disease
35144 is most likely to develop when the patient is infected on the face or
35145 other uncovered part, or in a part richly endowed with nerves.
35146
35147 A dog which has bitten a person should on no account be killed until its
35148 condition has been proved one way or the other. Should rabies develop
35149 and its destruction become necessary, the head and spinal cord should be
35150 retained and forwarded, packed in ice, to a competent observer. Much
35151 anxiety to the person bitten and to his friends would be avoided if
35152 these rules were observed, because in many cases it will be shown that
35153 the animal did not after all suffer from rabies, and that the patient
35154 consequently runs no risk. If, on the other hand, rabies is proved to be
35155 present, the patient should be submitted to the Pasteur treatment.
35156
35157 _Clinical Features._--There is almost always a history of the patient
35158 having been bitten or licked by an animal supposed to suffer from
35159 rabies. The incubation period averages about forty days, but varies from
35160 a fortnight to seven or eight months, and is shorter in young than in
35161 old persons. The original wound has long since healed, and beyond a
35162 slight itchiness or pain shooting along the nerves of the part, shows no
35163 sign of disturbance. A few days of general malaise, with chills and
35164 giddiness precede the onset of the acute manifestations, which affect
35165 chiefly the muscles of deglutition and respiration. One of the earliest
35166 signs is that the patient has periodically a sudden catch in his
35167 breathing "resembling what often occurs when a person goes into a cold
35168 bath." This is due to spasm of the diaphragm, and is frequently
35169 accompanied by a loud-sounding hiccough, likened by the laity to the
35170 barking of a dog. Difficulty in swallowing fluids may be the first
35171 symptom.
35172
35173 The spasms rapidly spread to all the muscles of deglutition and
35174 respiration, so that the patient not only has the greatest difficulty in
35175 swallowing, but has a constant sense of impending suffocation. To add to
35176 his distress, a copious secretion of viscid saliva fills his mouth. Any
35177 voluntary effort, as well as all forms of external stimuli, only serve
35178 to aggravate the spasms which are always induced by the attempt to
35179 swallow fluid, or even by the sound of running water.
35180
35181 The temperature is raised; the pulse is small, rapid, and intermittent;
35182 and the urine may contain sugar and albumen.
35183
35184 The mind may remain clear to the end, or the patient may have delusions,
35185 supposing himself to be surrounded by terrifying forms. There is always
35186 extreme mental agitation and despair, and the sufferer is in constant
35187 fear of his impending fate. Happily the inevitable issue is not long
35188 delayed, death usually occurring in from two to four days from the
35189 onset. The symptoms of the disease are so characteristic that there is
35190 no difficulty in diagnosis. The only condition with which it is liable
35191 to be confused is the variety of cephalic tetanus in which the muscles
35192 of deglutition are specially involved--the so-called tetanus
35193 hydrophobicus.
35194
35195 _Prophylaxis._--The bite of an animal suspected of being rabid should be
35196 cauterised at once by means of the actual or Paquelin cautery, or by a
35197 strong chemical escharotic such as pure carbolic acid, after which
35198 antiseptic dressings are applied.
35199
35200 It is, however, to Pasteur's _preventive inoculation_ that we must look
35201 for our best hope of averting the onset of symptoms. "It may now be
35202 taken as established that a grave responsibility rests on those
35203 concerned if a person bitten by a mad animal is not subjected to the
35204 Pasteur treatment" (Muir and Ritchie).
35205
35206 This method is based on the fact that the long incubation period of the
35207 disease admits of the patient being inoculated with a modified virus
35208 producing a mild attack, which protects him from the natural disease.
35209
35210 _Treatment._--When the symptoms have once developed they can only be
35211 palliated. The patient must be kept absolutely quiet and free from all
35212 sources of irritation. The spasms may be diminished by means of chloral
35213 and bromides, or by chloroform inhalation.
35214
35215
35216 ANTHRAX
35217
35218 Anthrax is a comparatively rare disease, communicable to man from
35219 certain of the lower animals, such as sheep, oxen, horses, deer, and
35220 other herbivora. In animals it is characterised by symptoms of acute
35221 general poisoning, and, from the fact that it produces a marked
35222 enlargement of the spleen, is known in veterinary surgery as "splenic
35223 fever."
35224
35225 The _bacillus anthracis_ (Fig. 27), the largest of the known pathogenic
35226 bacteria, occurs in groups or in chains made up of numerous bacilli,
35227 each bacillus measuring from 6 to 8 u in length. The organisms are found
35228 in enormous numbers throughout the bodies of animals that have died of
35229 anthrax, and are readily recognised and cultivated. Sporulation only
35230 takes place outside the body, probably because free oxygen is necessary
35231 to the process. In the spore-free condition, the organisms are readily
35232 destroyed by ordinary germicides, and by the gastric juice. The spores,
35233 on the other hand, have a high degree of resistance. Not only do they
35234 remain viable in the dry state for long periods, even up to a year, but
35235 they survive boiling for five minutes, and must be subjected to dry heat
35236 at 140 o C. for several hours before they are destroyed.
35237
35238 [Illustration: FIG. 27.--Bacillus of Anthrax in section of skin, from a
35239 case of malignant pustule; shows vesicle containing bacilli. x 400 diam.
35240 Gram's stain.]
35241
35242 _Clinical Varieties of Anthrax._--In man, anthrax may manifest itself in
35243 one of three clinical forms.
35244
35245 It may be transmitted by means of spores or bacilli directly from a
35246 diseased animal to those who, by their occupation or otherwise, are
35247 brought into contact with it--for example, shepherds, butchers,
35248 veterinary surgeons, or hide-porters. Infection may occur on the face by
35249 the use of a shaving-brush contaminated by spores. The path of infection
35250 is usually through an abrasion of the skin, and the primary
35251 manifestations are local, constituting what is known as _the malignant
35252 pustule_.
35253
35254 In other cases the disease is contracted through the inhalation of the
35255 dried spores into the respiratory passages. This occurs oftenest in
35256 those who work amongst wool, fur, and rags, and a form of acute
35257 pneumonia of great virulence ensues. This affection is known as
35258 _wool-sorter's disease_, and is almost universally fatal.
35259
35260 There is reason to believe that infection may also take place by means
35261 of spores ingested into the alimentary canal in meat or milk derived
35262 from diseased animals, or in infected water.
35263
35264 #Clinical Features of Malignant Pustule.#--We shall here confine
35265 ourselves to the consideration of the local lesion as it occurs in the
35266 skin--_the malignant pustule_.
35267
35268 The point of infection is usually on an uncovered part of the body, such
35269 as the face, hands, arms, or back of the neck, and the wound may be
35270 exceedingly minute. After an incubation period varying from a few hours
35271 to several days, a reddish nodule resembling a small boil appears at the
35272 seat of inoculation, the immediately surrounding skin becomes swollen
35273 and indurated, and over the indurated area there appear a number of
35274 small vesicles containing serum, which at first is clear but soon
35275 becomes blood-stained (Fig. 28). Coincidently the subcutaneous tissue
35276 for a considerable distance around becomes markedly oedematous, and the
35277 skin red and tense. Within a few hours, blood is extravasated in the
35278 centre of the indurated area, the blisters burst, and a dark brown or
35279 black eschar, composed of necrosed skin and subcutaneous tissue and
35280 altered blood, forms (Fig. 29). Meanwhile the induration extends, fresh
35281 vesicles form and in turn burst, and the eschar increases in size. The
35282 neighbouring lymph glands soon become swollen and tender. The affected
35283 part is hot and itchy, but the patient does not complain of great pain.
35284 There is a moderate degree of constitutional disturbance, with headache,
35285 nausea, and sometimes shivering.
35286
35287 If the infection becomes generalised--_anthracaemia_--the temperature
35288 rises to 103 o or 104 o F., the pulse becomes feeble and rapid, and other
35289 signs of severe blood-poisoning appear: vomiting, diarrhoea, pains in the
35290 limbs, headache and delirium, and the condition proves fatal in from
35291 five to eight days.
35292
35293 _Differential Diagnosis._--When the malignant pustule is fully
35294 developed, the central slough with the surrounding vesicles and the
35295 widespread oedema are characteristic. The bacillus can be obtained from
35296 the peripheral portion of the slough, from the blisters, and from the
35297 adjacent lymph vessels and glands. The occupation of the patient may
35298 suggest the possibility of anthrax infection.
35299
35300 [Illustration: FIG. 28.--Malignant Pustule, third day after infection
35301 with Anthrax, showing great oedema of upper extremity and pectoral region
35302 (cf. Fig. 29).]
35303
35304 [Illustration: FIG. 29.--Malignant Pustule, fourteen days after
35305 infection, showing black eschar in process of separation. The oedema has
35306 largely disappeared. Treated by Sclavo's serum (cf. Fig. 28).]
35307
35308 _Prophylaxis._--Any wound suspected of being infected with anthrax
35309 should at once be cauterised with caustic potash, the actual cautery, or
35310 pure carbolic acid.
35311
35312 _Treatment._--The best results hitherto obtained have followed the use
35313 of the anti-anthrax serum introduced by Sclavo. The initial dose is 40
35314 c.c., and if the serum is given early in the disease, the beneficial
35315 effects are manifest in a few hours. Favourable results have also
35316 followed the use of pyocyanase, a vaccine prepared from the bacillus
35317 pyocyaneus.
35318
35319 By some it is recommended that the local lesion should be freely
35320 excised; others advocate cauterisation of the affected part with solid
35321 caustic potash till all the indurated area is softened. Graf has had
35322 excellent results by the latter method in a large series of cases, the
35323 oedema subsiding in about twenty-four hours and the constitutional
35324 symptoms rapidly improving. Wolff and Wiewiorowski, on the other hand,
35325 have had equally good results by simply protecting the local lesion with
35326 a mild antiseptic dressing, and relying upon general treatment.
35327
35328 The general treatment consists in feeding and stimulating the patient as
35329 freely as possible. Quinine, in 5 to 10 grain doses every four hours,
35330 and powdered ipecacuanha, in 40 to 60 grain doses every four hours, have
35331 also been employed with apparent benefit.
35332
35333
35334 GLANDERS
35335
35336 Glanders is due to the action of a specific bacterium, the _bacillus
35337 mallei_, which resembles the tubercle bacillus, save that it is somewhat
35338 shorter and broader, and does not stain by Gram's method. It requires
35339 higher temperatures for its cultivation than the tubercle bacillus, and
35340 its growth on potato is of a characteristic chocolate-brown colour, with
35341 a greenish-yellow ring at the margin of the growth. The bacillus mallei
35342 retains its vitality for long periods under ordinary conditions, but is
35343 readily killed by heat and chemical agents. It does not form spores.
35344
35345 _Clinical Features._--Both in the lower animals and in man the bacillus
35346 gives rise to two distinct types of disease--_acute glanders_, and
35347 _chronic glanders_ or _farcy_.
35348
35349 Acute Glanders is most commonly met with in the horse and in other
35350 equine animals, horned cattle being immune. It affects the septum of the
35351 nose and adjacent parts, firm, translucent, greyish nodules containing
35352 lymphoid and epithelioid cells appearing in the mucous membrane. These
35353 nodules subsequently break down in the centre, forming irregular
35354 ulcers, which are attended with profuse discharge, and marked
35355 inflammatory swelling. The cervical lymph glands, as well as the lungs,
35356 spleen, and liver, may be the seat of secondary nodules.
35357
35358 _In man_, acute glanders is commoner than the chronic variety. Infection
35359 always takes place through an abraded surface, and usually on one of the
35360 uncovered parts of the body--most commonly the skin of the hands, arms,
35361 or face; or on the mucous membrane of the mouth, nose, or eye. The
35362 disease has been acquired by accidental inoculation in the course of
35363 experimental investigations in the laboratory, and proved fatal. The
35364 incubation period is from three to five days.
35365
35366 The _local_ manifestations are pain and swelling in the region of the
35367 infected wound, with inflammatory redness around it and along the lines
35368 of the superficial lymphatics. In the course of a week, small, firm
35369 nodules appear, and are rapidly transformed into pustules. These may
35370 occur on the face and in the vicinity of joints, and may be mistaken for
35371 the eruption of small-pox.
35372
35373 After breaking down, these pustules give rise to irregular ulcers, which
35374 by their confluence lead to extensive destruction of skin. Sometimes the
35375 nasal mucous membrane becomes affected, and produces a discharge--at
35376 first watery, but later sanious and purulent. Necrosis of the bones of
35377 the nose may take place, in which case the discharge becomes peculiarly
35378 offensive. In nearly every case metastatic abscesses form in different
35379 parts of the body, such as the lungs, joints, or muscles.
35380
35381 During the development of the disease the patient feels ill, complains
35382 of headache and pains in the limbs, the temperature rises to 104 o or
35383 even to 106 o F., and assumes a pyaemic type. The pulse becomes rapid and
35384 weak. The tongue is dry and brown. There is profuse sweating,
35385 albuminuria, and often insomnia with delirium. Death may take place
35386 within a week, but more frequently occurs during the second or third
35387 week.
35388
35389 _Differential Diagnosis._--There is nothing characteristic in the site
35390 of the primary lesion in man, and the condition may, during the early
35391 stages, be mistaken for a boil or carbuncle, or for any acute
35392 inflammatory condition. Later, the disease may simulate acute articular
35393 rheumatism, or may manifest all the symptoms of acute septicaemia or
35394 pyaemia. The diagnosis is established by the recognition of the bacillus.
35395 Veterinary surgeons attach great importance to the mallein test as a
35396 means of diagnosis in animals, but in the human subject its use is
35397 attended with considerable risk and is not to be recommended.
35398
35399 _Treatment._--Excision of the primary nodule, followed by the
35400 application of the thermo-cautery and sponging with pure carbolic acid,
35401 should be carried out, provided the condition is sufficiently limited to
35402 render complete removal practicable.
35403
35404 When secondary abscesses form in accessible situations, they must be
35405 incised, disinfected, and drained. The general treatment is carried out
35406 on the same lines as in other acute infective diseases.
35407
35408 #Chronic Glanders.#--_In the horse_ the chronic form of glanders is
35409 known as _farcy_, and follows infection through an abrasion of the skin,
35410 involving chiefly the superficial lymph vessels and glands. The
35411 lymphatics become indurated and nodular, constituting what veterinarians
35412 call _farcy pipes_ and _farcy buds_.
35413
35414 _In man_ also the clinical features of the chronic variety of the
35415 disease are somewhat different from those of the acute form. Here, too,
35416 infection takes place through a broken cutaneous surface, and leads to a
35417 superficial lymphangitis with nodular thickening of the lymphatics
35418 (_farcy buds_). The neighbouring glands soon become swollen and
35419 indurated. The primary lesion meanwhile inflames, suppurates, and, after
35420 breaking down, leaves a large, irregular ulcer with thickened edges and
35421 a foul, purulent or bloody discharge. The glands break down in the same
35422 way, and lead to wide destruction of skin, and the resulting sinuses and
35423 ulcers are exceedingly intractable. Secondary deposits in the
35424 subcutaneous tissue, the muscles, and other parts, are not uncommon, and
35425 the nasal mucous membrane may become involved. The disease often runs a
35426 chronic course, extending to four or five months, or even longer.
35427 Recovery takes place in about 50 per cent. of cases, but the
35428 convalescence is prolonged, and at any time the disease may assume the
35429 characters of the acute variety and speedily prove fatal.
35430
35431 The _differential diagnosis_ is often difficult, especially in the
35432 chronic nodules, in which it may be impossible to demonstrate the
35433 bacillus. The ulcerated lesions of farcy have to be distinguished from
35434 those of tubercle, syphilis, and other forms of infective granuloma.
35435
35436 _Treatment._--Limited areas of disease should be completely excised. The
35437 general condition of the patient must be improved by tonics, good food,
35438 and favourable hygienic surroundings. In some cases potassium iodide
35439 acts beneficially.
35440
35441
35442 ACTINOMYCOSIS
35443
35444 Actinomycosis is a chronic disease due to the action of an organism
35445 somewhat higher in the vegetable scale than ordinary bacteria--the
35446 _streptothrix actinomyces_ or _ray fungus_.
35447
35448 [Illustration: FIG. 30.--Section of Actinomycosis Colony in Pus from
35449 Abscess of Liver, showing filaments and clubs of streptothrix
35450 actinomyces. x 400 diam. Gram's stain.]
35451
35452 _Etiology and Morbid Anatomy._--The actinomyces, which has never been
35453 met with outside the body, gives rise in oxen, horses, and other animals
35454 to tumour-like masses composed of granulation tissue; and in man to
35455 chronic suppurative processes which may result in a condition resembling
35456 chronic pyaemia. The actinomyces is more complex in structure than other
35457 pathogenic organisms, and occurs in the tissues in the form of small,
35458 round, semi-translucent bodies, about the size of a pin-head or less,
35459 and consisting of colonies of the fungus. On account of their yellow
35460 tint they are spoken of as "sulphur grains." Each colony is made up of a
35461 series of thin, interlacing, and branching _filaments_, some of which
35462 are broken up so as to form masses or chains of _cocci_; and around the
35463 periphery of the colony are elongated, pear-shaped, hyaline, _club-like
35464 bodies_ (Fig. 30).
35465
35466 Infection is believed to be conveyed by the husks of cereals, especially
35467 barley; and the organism has been found adhering to particles of grain
35468 embedded in the tissues of animals suffering from the disease. In the
35469 human subject there is often a history of exposure to infection from
35470 such sources, and the disease is said to be most common during the
35471 harvesting months.
35472
35473 Around each colony of actinomyces is a zone of granulation tissue in
35474 which suppuration usually occurs, so that the fungus comes to lie in a
35475 bath of greenish-yellow pus. As the process spreads these purulent foci
35476 become confluent and form abscess cavities. When metastasis takes place,
35477 as it occasionally does, the fungus is transmitted by the blood vessels,
35478 as in pyaemia.
35479
35480 _Clinical features._--In man the disease may be met with in the skin,
35481 the organisms gaining access through an abrasion, and spreading by the
35482 formation of new nodules in the same way as tuberculosis.
35483
35484 The region of the mouth and jaws is one of the commonest sites of
35485 surgical actinomycosis. Infection takes place, as a rule, along the side
35486 of a carious tooth, and spreads to the lower jaw. A swelling is slowly
35487 and insidiously developed, but when the loose connective tissue of the
35488 neck becomes infiltrated, the spread is more rapid. The whole region
35489 becomes infiltrated and swollen, and the skin ultimately gives way and
35490 free suppuration occurs, resulting in the formation of sinuses. The
35491 characteristic greenish-grey or yellow granules are seen in the pus, and
35492 when examined microscopically reveal the colonies of actinomyces.
35493
35494 Less frequently the maxilla becomes affected, and the disease may spread
35495 to the base of the skull and brain. The vertebrae may become involved by
35496 infection taking place through the pharynx or oesophagus, and leading to
35497 a condition simulating tuberculous disease of the spine. When it
35498 implicates the intestinal canal and its accessory glands, the lungs,
35499 pleura, and bronchial tubes, or the brain, the disease is not amenable
35500 to surgical treatment.
35501
35502 _Differential Diagnosis._--The conditions likely to be mistaken for
35503 surgical actinomycosis are sarcoma, tubercle, and syphilis. In the early
35504 stages the differential diagnosis is exceedingly difficult. In many
35505 cases it is only possible when suppuration has occurred and the fungus
35506 can be demonstrated.
35507
35508 The slow destruction of the affected tissue by suppuration, the absence
35509 of pain, tenderness, and redness, simulate tuberculosis, but the absence
35510 of glandular involvement helps to distinguish it.
35511
35512 Syphilitic lesions are liable to be mistaken for actinomycosis, all the
35513 more that in both diseases improvement follows the administration of
35514 iodides. When it affects the lower jaw, in its early stages,
35515 actinomycosis may closely simulate a periosteal sarcoma.
35516
35517 [Illustration: FIG. 31.--Actinomycosis of Maxilla. The disease spread to
35518 opposite side; finally implicated base of skull, and proved fatal.
35519 Treated by radium.
35520
35521 (Mr. D. P. D. Wilkie's case.)]
35522
35523 The recognition of the fungus is the crucial point in diagnosis.
35524
35525 _Prognosis._--Spontaneous cure rarely occurs. When the disease
35526 implicates internal organs, it is almost always fatal. On external parts
35527 the destructive process gradually spreads, and the patient eventually
35528 succumbs to superadded septic infection. When, from its situation, the
35529 primary focus admits of removal, the prognosis is more favourable.
35530
35531 _Treatment._--The surgical treatment is early and free removal of the
35532 affected tissues, after which the wound is cauterised by the actual
35533 cautery, and sponged over with pure carbolic acid. The cavity is packed
35534 with iodoform gauze, no attempt being made to close the wound.
35535
35536 Success has attended the use of a vaccine prepared from cultures of the
35537 organism; and the X-rays and radium, combined with the administration of
35538 iodides in large doses, or with intra-muscular injections of a 10 per
35539 cent. solution of cacodylate of soda, have proved of benefit.
35540
35541 MYCETOMA, OR MADURA FOOT.--Mycetoma is a chronic disease due to
35542 an organism resembling that of actinomycosis, but not identical with it.
35543 It is endemic in certain tropical countries, and is most frequently met
35544 with in India. Infection takes place through an abrasion of the skin,
35545 and the disease usually occurs on the feet of adult males who work
35546 barefooted in the fields.
35547
35548 _Clinical Features._--The disease begins on the foot as an indurated
35549 patch, which becomes discoloured and permeated by black or yellow
35550 nodules containing the organism. These nodules break down by
35551 suppuration, and numerous minute abscesses lined by granulation tissues
35552 are thus formed. In the pus are found yellow particles likened to
35553 fish-roe, or black pigmented granules like gunpowder. Sinuses form, and
35554 the whole foot becomes greatly swollen and distorted by flattening of
35555 the sole and dorsiflexion of the toes. Areas of caries or necrosis occur
35556 in the bones, and the disease gradually extends up the leg (Fig. 32).
35557 There is but little pain, and no glandular involvement or constitutional
35558 disturbance. The disease runs a prolonged course, sometimes lasting for
35559 twenty or thirty years. Spontaneous cure never takes place, and the risk
35560 to life is that of prolonged suppuration.
35561
35562 If the disease is localised, it may be removed by the knife or sharp
35563 spoon, and the part afterwards cauterised. As a rule, amputation well
35564 above the disease is the best line of treatment. Unlike actinomycosis,
35565 this disease does not appear to be benefited by iodides.
35566
35567 [Illustration: FIG. 32.--Mycetoma, or Madura Foot. (Museum of Royal
35568 College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.)]
35569
35570 DELHI BOIL.--_Synonyms_--Aleppo boil, Biskra button, Furunculus
35571 orientalis, Natal sore.
35572
35573 Delhi boil is a chronic inflammatory disease, most commonly met with in
35574 India, especially towards the end of the wet season. The disease occurs
35575 oftenest on the face, and is believed to be due to an organism, although
35576 this has not been demonstrated. The infection is supposed to be conveyed
35577 through water used for washing, or by the bites of insects.
35578
35579 _Clinical Features._--A red spot, resembling the mark of a mosquito
35580 bite, appears on the affected part, and is attended with itching. After
35581 becoming papular and increasing to the size of a pea, desquamation takes
35582 place, leaving a dull-red surface, over which in the course of several
35583 weeks there develops a series of small yellowish-white spots, from which
35584 serum exudes, and, drying, forms a thick scab. Under this scab the skin
35585 ulcerates, leaving small oval sores with sharply bevelled edges, and an
35586 uneven floor covered with yellow or sanious pus. These sores vary in
35587 number from one to forty or fifty. They may last for months and then
35588 heal spontaneously, or may continue to spread until arrested by suitable
35589 treatment. There is no enlargement of adjacent glands, and but little
35590 inflammatory reaction in the surrounding tissues; nor is there any
35591 marked constitutional disturbance. Recovery is often followed by
35592 cicatricial contraction leading to deformity of the face.
35593
35594 The _treatment_ consists in destroying the original papule by the actual
35595 cautery, acid nitrate of mercury, or pure carbolic acid. The ulcers
35596 should be scraped with the sharp spoon, and cauterised.
35597
35598 CHIGOE.--Chigoe or jigger results from the introduction of the
35599 eggs of the sand-flea (_Pulex penetrans_) into the tissues. It occurs in
35600 tropical Africa, South America, and the West Indies. The impregnated
35601 female flea remains attached to the part till the eggs mature, when by
35602 their irritation they cause localised inflammation with pustules or
35603 vesicles on the surface. Children are most commonly attacked,
35604 particularly about the toe-nails and on the scrotum. The treatment
35605 consists in picking out the insect with a blunt needle, special care
35606 being taken not to break it up. The puncture is then cauterised. The
35607 application of essential oils to the feet acts as a preventive.
35608
35609 POISONING BY INSECTS.--The bites of certain insects, such as
35610 mosquitoes, midges, different varieties of flies, wasps, and spiders,
35611 may be followed by serious complications. The effects are mainly due to
35612 the injection of an irritant acid secretion, the exact nature of which
35613 has not been ascertained.
35614
35615 The local lesion is a puncture, surrounded by a zone of hyperaemia,
35616 wheals, or vesicles, and is associated with burning sensations and
35617 itching which usually pass off in a few hours, but may recur at
35618 intervals, especially when the patient is warm in bed. Scratching also
35619 reproduces the local signs and symptoms. Where the connective tissue is
35620 loose--for example, in the eyelid or scrotum--there is often
35621 considerable swelling; and in the mouth and fauces this may lead to
35622 oedema of the glottis, which may prove fatal.
35623
35624 The _treatment_ consists in the local application of dilute alkalies
35625 such as ammonia water, solutions of carbonate or bicarbonate of soda, or
35626 sal-volatile. Weak carbolic lotions, or lead and opium lotion, are
35627 useful in allaying the local irritation. One of the best means of
35628 neutralising the poison is to apply to the sting a drop of a mixture
35629 containing equal parts of pure carbolic acid and liquor ammoniae.
35630
35631 Free stimulation is called for when severe constitutional symptoms are
35632 present.
35633
35634 SNAKE-BITES.--We are here only concerned with the injuries
35635 inflicted by the venomous varieties of snakes, the most important of
35636 which are the hooded snakes of India, the rattle-snakes of America, the
35637 horned snakes of Africa, the viper of Europe, and the adder of the
35638 United Kingdom.
35639
35640 While the virulence of these creatures varies widely, they are all
35641 capable of producing in a greater or less degree symptoms of acute
35642 poisoning in man and other animals. By means of two recurved fangs
35643 attached to the upper jaw, and connected by a duct with poison-secreting
35644 glands, they introduce into their prey a thick, transparent, yellowish
35645 fluid, of acid reaction, probably of the nature of an albumose, and
35646 known as the _venom_.
35647
35648 The _clinical features_ resulting from the injection of the venom vary
35649 directly in intensity with the amount of the poison introduced, and the
35650 rapidity with which it reaches the circulating blood, being most marked
35651 when it immediately enters a large vein. The poison is innocuous when
35652 taken into the stomach.
35653
35654 _Locally_ the snake inflicts a double wound, passing vertically into the
35655 subcutaneous tissue; the edges of the punctures are ecchymosed, and the
35656 adjacent vessels the seat of thrombosis. Immediately there is intense
35657 pain, and considerable swelling with congestion, which tends to spread
35658 towards the trunk. Extensive gangrene may ensue. There is no special
35659 involvement of the lymphatics.
35660
35661 The _general symptoms_ may come on at once if the snake is a
35662 particularly venomous one, or not for some hours if less virulent. In
35663 the majority of viper or adder bites the constitutional disturbance is
35664 slight and transient, if it appears at all. Snake-bites in children are
35665 particularly dangerous.
35666
35667 The patient's condition is one of profound shock with faintness,
35668 giddiness, dimness of sight, and a feeling of great terror. The pupils
35669 dilate, the skin becomes moist with a clammy sweat, and nausea with
35670 vomiting, sometimes of blood, ensues. High fever, cramps, loss of
35671 sensation, haematuria, and melaena are among the other symptoms that may
35672 be present. The pulse becomes feeble and rapid, the respiratory nerve
35673 centres are profoundly depressed, and delirium followed by coma usually
35674 precedes the fatal issue, which may take place in from five to
35675 forty-eight hours. If the patient survives for two days the prognosis is
35676 favourable.
35677
35678 _Treatment._--A broad ligature should be tied tightly round the limb
35679 above the seat of infection, to prevent the poison passing into the
35680 general circulation, and bleeding from the wound should be encouraged.
35681 The application of an elastic bandage from above downward to empty the
35682 blood out of the infected portion of the limb has been recommended. The
35683 whole of the bite should at once be excised, and crystals of
35684 permanganate of potash rubbed into the wound until it is black, or
35685 peroxide of hydrogen applied with the object of destroying the poison by
35686 oxidation.
35687
35688 The general treatment consists in free stimulation with whisky, brandy,
35689 ammonia, digitalis, etc. Hypodermic injections of strychnin in doses
35690 sufficiently large to produce a slight degree of poisoning by the drug
35691 are particularly useful. The most rational treatment, when it is
35692 available, is the use of the _antivenin_ introduced by Fraser and
35693 Calmette.
35694
35695
35696
35697
35698 CHAPTER VIII
35699
35700 TUBERCULOSIS
35701
35702
35703 Tubercle bacillus--Methods of infection--Inherited and acquired
35704 predisposition--Relationship of tuberculosis to injury--Human and
35705 bovine tuberculosis--Action of the bacillus upon the
35706 tissues--Tuberculous granulation tissue--Natural cure--Recrudescence
35707 of the disease--THE TUBERCULOUS ABSCESS--Contents and wall of the
35708 abscess--Tuberculous sinuses.
35709
35710 Tuberculosis occurs more frequently in some situations than in others;
35711 it is common, for example, in lymph glands, in bones and joints, in the
35712 peritoneum, the intestine, the kidney, prostate and testis, and in the
35713 skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue; it is seldom met with in the
35714 breast or in muscles, and it rarely affects the ovary, the pancreas, the
35715 parotid, or the thyreoid.
35716
35717 _Tubercle bacilli_ vary widely in their virulence, and they are more
35718 tenacious of life than the common pyogenic bacteria. In a dry state, for
35719 example, they can retain their vitality for months; and they can also
35720 survive immersion in water for prolonged periods. They resist the action
35721 of the products of putrefaction for a considerable time, and are not
35722 destroyed by digestive processes in the stomach and intestine. They may
35723 be killed in a few minutes by boiling, or by exposure to steam under
35724 pressure, or by immersion for less than a minute in 1 in 20 carbolic
35725 lotion.
35726
35727 #Methods of Infection.#--In marked contrast to what obtains in the
35728 infective diseases that have already been described, tuberculosis rarely
35729 results from the _infection of a wound_. In exceptional instances,
35730 however, this does occur, and in illustration of the fact may be cited
35731 the case of a servant who cut her finger with a broken spittoon
35732 containing the sputum of her consumptive master; the wound subsequently
35733 showed evidence of tuberculous infection, which ultimately spread up
35734 along the lymph vessels of the arm. Pathologists, too, whose hands,
35735 before the days of rubber gloves, were frequently exposed to the contact
35736 of tuberculous tissues and pus, were liable to suffer from a form of
35737 tuberculosis of the skin of the finger, known as _anatomical tubercle_.
35738 Slight wounds of the feet in children who go about barefoot in towns
35739 sometimes become infected with tubercle. Operation wounds made with
35740 instruments contaminated with tuberculous material have also been known
35741 to become infected. It is highly probable that the common form of
35742 tuberculosis of the skin known as "lupus" arises by direct infection
35743 from without.
35744
35745 [Illustration: FIG. 33.--Tubercle Bacilli in caseous material
35746 x 1000 diam. Z. Neilsen stain.]
35747
35748 In the vast majority of cases the tubercle bacillus gains entrance to
35749 the body by way of the mucous surfaces, the organisms being either
35750 inhaled or swallowed; those inhaled are mostly derived from the human
35751 subject, those swallowed, from cattle. Bacilli, whether inhaled or
35752 swallowed, are especially apt to lodge about the pharynx and pass to the
35753 pharyngeal lymphoid tissue and tonsils, and by way of the lymph vessels
35754 to the glands. The glands most frequently infected in this way are the
35755 cervical glands, and those within the cavity of the chest--particularly
35756 the bronchial glands at the root of the lung. From these, infection
35757 extends at any later period in life to the bones, joints, and internal
35758 organs.
35759
35760 There is reason to believe that the organisms may lie in a dormant
35761 condition for an indefinite period in these glands, and only become
35762 active long afterwards, when some depression of the patient's health
35763 produces conditions which favour their growth. When the organisms become
35764 active in this way, the tuberculous tissue undergoes softening and
35765 disintegration, and the infective material, by bursting into an adjacent
35766 vein, may enter the blood-stream, in which it is carried to distant
35767 parts of the body. In this way a _general tuberculosis_ may be set up,
35768 or localised foci of tuberculosis may develop in the tissues in which
35769 the organisms lodge. Many tuberculous patients are to be regarded as
35770 possessing in their bronchial glands, or elsewhere, an internal store of
35771 bacilli, to which the disease for which advice is sought owes its
35772 origin, and from which similar outbreaks of tuberculosis may originate
35773 in the future.
35774
35775 _The alimentary mucous membrane_, especially that of the lower ileum and
35776 caecum, is exposed to infection by swallowed sputum and by food
35777 materials, such as milk, containing tubercle bacilli. The organisms may
35778 lodge in the mucous membrane and cause tuberculous ulceration, or they
35779 may be carried through the wall of the bowel into the lacteals, along
35780 which they pass to the mesenteric glands where they become arrested and
35781 give rise to tuberculous disease.
35782
35783 #Relationship of Tuberculosis to Trauma.#--Any tissue whose vitality has
35784 been lowered by injury or disease furnishes a favourable nidus for the
35785 lodgment and growth of tubercle bacilli. The injury or disease, however,
35786 is to be looked upon as determining the _localisation_ of the
35787 tuberculous lesion rather than as an essential factor in its causation.
35788 In a person, for example, in whose blood tubercle bacilli are
35789 circulating and reaching every tissue and organ of the body, the
35790 occurrence of tuberculous disease in a particular part may be determined
35791 by the depression of the tissues resulting from an injury of that part.
35792 There can be no doubt that excessive movement and jarring of a limb
35793 aggravates tuberculous disease of a joint; also that an injury may light
35794 up a focus that has been long quiescent, but we do not agree with
35795 those--Da Costa, for example--who maintain that injury may be a
35796 determining cause of tuberculosis. The question is not one of mere
35797 academic interest, but one that may raise important issues in the law
35798 courts.
35799
35800 #Human and Bovine Tuberculosis.#--The frequency of the bovine bacillus
35801 in the abdominal and in the glandular and osseous tuberculous lesions of
35802 children would appear to justify the conclusion that the disease is
35803 transmissible from the ox to the human subject, and that the milk of
35804 tuberculous cows is probably a common vehicle of transmission.
35805
35806 #Changes in the Tissues following upon the successful Lodgment of
35807 Tubercle Bacilli.#--The action of the bacilli on the tissues results in
35808 the formation of granulation tissue comprising characteristic tissue
35809 elements and with a marked tendency to undergo caseation.
35810
35811 The recognition of the characteristic elements, with or without
35812 caseation, is usually sufficient evidence of the tuberculous nature of
35813 any portion of tissue examined for diagnostic purposes. The recognition
35814 of the bacillus itself by appropriate methods of staining makes the
35815 diagnosis a certainty; but as it is by no means easy to identify the
35816 organism in many forms of surgical tuberculosis, it may be necessary to
35817 have recourse to experimental inoculation of susceptible animals such as
35818 guinea-pigs.
35819
35820 The changes subsequent to the formation of tuberculous granulation
35821 tissue are liable to many variations. It must always be borne in mind
35822 that although the bacilli have effected a lodgment and have inaugurated
35823 disease, the relation between them and the tissues remains one of mutual
35824 antagonism; which of them is to gain and keep the upper hand in the
35825 conflict depends on their relative powers of resistance.
35826
35827 If the tissues prevail, there ensues a process of repair. In the
35828 immediate vicinity of the area of infection young connective tissue, and
35829 later, fibrous tissue, is formed. This may replace the tuberculous
35830 tissue and bring about repair--a fibrous cicatrix remaining to mark the
35831 scene of the previous contest. Scars of this nature are frequently
35832 discovered at the apex of the lung after death in persons who have at
35833 one time suffered from pulmonary phthisis. Under other circumstances,
35834 the tuberculous tissue that has undergone caseation, or even
35835 calcification, is only encapsulated by the new fibrous tissue, like a
35836 foreign body. Although this may be regarded as a victory for the
35837 tissues, the cure, if such it may be called, is not necessarily a
35838 permanent one, for at any subsequent period, if the part affected is
35839 disturbed by injury or through some other influence, the encapsulated
35840 tubercle may again become active and get the upper hand of the tissues,
35841 and there results a relapse or recrudescence of the disease. This
35842 _tendency to relapse_ after apparent cure is a notable feature of
35843 tuberculous disease as it is met with in the spine, or in the
35844 hip-joint, and it necessitates a prolonged course of treatment to give
35845 the best chance of a lasting cure.
35846
35847 If, however, at the inauguration of the tuberculous disease the bacilli
35848 prevail, the infection tends to spread into the tissues surrounding
35849 those originally infected, and more and more tuberculous granulation
35850 tissue is formed. Finally the tuberculous tissue breaks down and
35851 liquefies, resulting in the formation of a cold abscess. In their
35852 struggle with the tissues, tubercle bacilli receive considerable support
35853 and assistance from any pyogenic organisms that may be present. A
35854 tuberculous infection may exhibit its aggressive qualities in a more
35855 serious manner by sending off detachments of bacilli, which are carried
35856 by the lymphatics to the nearest glands, or by the blood-stream to more
35857 distant, and it may be to all, parts of the body. When the infection is
35858 thus generalised, the condition is called _general tuberculosis_.
35859 Considering the extraordinary frequency of localised forms of surgical
35860 tuberculosis, general dissemination of the disease is rare.
35861
35862 #The clinical features# of surgical tuberculosis will be described with
35863 the individual tissues and organs, as they vary widely according to the
35864 situation of the lesion.
35865
35866 #The general treatment# consists in combating the adverse influences
35867 that have been mentioned as increasing the liability to tuberculous
35868 infection. Within recent years the value of the "open-air" treatment has
35869 been widely recognised. An open-air life, even in the centre of a city,
35870 may be followed by marked improvement, especially in the hospital class
35871 of patient, whose home surroundings tend to favour the progress of the
35872 disease. The purer air of places away from centres of population is
35873 still better; and, according to the idiosyncrasies of the individual
35874 patient, mountain air or that of the sea coast may be preferred. In view
35875 of the possible discomforts and gastric disturbance which may attend a
35876 sea-voyage, this should be recommended to patients suffering from
35877 tuberculous lesions with more caution than has hitherto been exercised.
35878 The diet must be a liberal one, and should include those articles which
35879 are at the same time easily digested and nourishing, especially proteids
35880 and fats; milk obtained from a reliable source and underdone
35881 butcher-meat are among the best. When the ordinary nourishment taken is
35882 insufficient, it may be supplemented by such articles as malt extract,
35883 stout, and cod-liver oil. The last is specially beneficial in patients
35884 who do not take enough fat in other forms. It is noteworthy that many
35885 tuberculous patients show an aversion to fat.
35886
35887 For _the use of tuberculin in diagnosis_ and for _the vaccine treatment
35888 of tuberculosis_ the reader is referred to text-books on medicine.
35889
35890 In addition to increasing the resisting power of the patient, it is
35891 important to enable the fluids of the body, so altered, to come into
35892 contact with the tuberculous focus. One of the obstacles to this is that
35893 the focus is often surrounded by tissues or fluids which have been
35894 almost entirely deprived of bactericidal substances. In the case of
35895 caseated glands in the neck, for example, it is obvious that the removal
35896 of this inert material is necessary before the tissues can be irrigated
35897 with fluids of high bactericidal value. Again, in tuberculous ascites
35898 the abdominal cavity is filled with a fluid practically devoid of
35899 anti-bacterial substances, so that the bacilli are able to thrive and
35900 work their will on the tissues. When the stagnant fluid is got rid of by
35901 laparotomy, the parts are immediately douched with lymph charged with
35902 protective substances, the bactericidal power of which may be many times
35903 that of the fluid displaced.
35904
35905 It is probable that the beneficial influence of _counter-irritants_,
35906 such as blisters, and exposure to the _Finsen light_ and other forms of
35907 _rays_, is to be attributed in part to the increased flow of blood to
35908 the infected tissues.
35909
35910 _Artificial Hyperaemia._--As has been explained, the induction of
35911 hyperaemia by the method devised by Bier, constitutes one of our most
35912 efficient means of combating bacterial infection. The treatment of
35913 tuberculosis on this plan has been proved by experience to be a valuable
35914 addition to our therapeutic measures, and the simplicity of its
35915 application has led to its being widely adopted in practice. It results
35916 in an increase in the reactive changes around the tuberculous focus, an
35917 increase in the immigration of leucocytes, and infiltration with the
35918 lymphocytes.
35919
35920 The constricting bandage should be applied at some distance above the
35921 seat of infection; for instance, in disease of the wrist, it is put on
35922 above the elbow, and it must not cause pain either where it is applied
35923 or in the diseased part. The bandage is only applied for a few hours
35924 each day, either two hours at a time or twice a day for one hour, and,
35925 while it is on, all dressings are removed save a piece of sterile gauze
35926 over any wound or sinus that may be present. The process of cure takes a
35927 long time--nine or even twelve months in the case of a severe joint
35928 affection.
35929
35930 In cases in which a constricting bandage is inapplicable, for example,
35931 in cold abscesses, tuberculous glands or tendon sheaths, Klapp's suction
35932 bell is employed. The cup is applied for five minutes at a time and then
35933 taken off for three minutes, and this is repeated over a period of
35934 about three-quarters of an hour. The pus is allowed to escape by a small
35935 incision, and no packing or drain should be introduced.
35936
35937 It has been found that tuberculous lesions tend to undergo cure
35938 when the infected tissues are exposed to the rays of the
35939 sun--_heliotherapy_--therefore whenever practicable this therapeutic
35940 measure should be had recourse to.
35941
35942 Since the introduction of the methods of treatment described above, and
35943 especially by their employment at an early stage in the disease, the
35944 number of cases of tuberculosis requiring operative interference has
35945 greatly diminished. There are still circumstances, however, in which an
35946 operation is required; for example, in disease of the lymph glands for
35947 the removal of inert masses of caseous material, in disease of bone for
35948 the removal of sequestra, or in disease of joints to improve the
35949 function of the limb. It is to be understood, however, that operative
35950 treatment must always be preceded by and combined with other therapeutic
35951 measures.
35952
35953
35954 TUBERCULOUS ABSCESS
35955
35956 The caseation of tuberculous granulation tissue and its liquefaction is
35957 a slow and insidious process, and is unattended with the classical signs
35958 of inflammation--hence the terms "cold" and "chronic" applied to the
35959 tuberculous abscess.
35960
35961 In a cold abscess, such as that which results from tuberculous disease
35962 of the vertebrae, the clinical appearances are those of a soft, fluid
35963 swelling without heat, redness, pain, or fever. When toxic symptoms are
35964 present, they are usually due to a mixed infection.
35965
35966 A tuberculous abscess results from the disintegration and liquefaction
35967 of tuberculous granulation tissue which has undergone caseation. Fluid
35968 and cells from the adjacent blood vessels exude into the cavity, and
35969 lead to variations in the character of its contents. In some cases the
35970 contents consist of a clear amber-coloured fluid, in which are suspended
35971 fragments of caseated tissue; in others, of a white material like
35972 cream-cheese. From the addition of a sufficient number of leucocytes,
35973 the contents may resemble the pus of an ordinary abscess.
35974
35975 The wall of the abscess is lined with tuberculous granulation tissue,
35976 the inner layers of which are undergoing caseation and disintegration,
35977 and present a shreddy appearance; the outer layers consist of
35978 tuberculous tissue which has not yet undergone caseation. The abscess
35979 tends to increase in size by progressive liquefaction of the inner
35980 layers, caseation of the outer layers, and the further invasion of the
35981 surrounding tissues by tubercle bacilli. In this way a tuberculous
35982 abscess is capable of indefinite extension and increase in size until it
35983 reaches a free surface and ruptures externally. The direction in which
35984 it spreads is influenced by the anatomical arrangement of the tissues,
35985 and possibly to some extent by gravity, and the abscess may reach the
35986 surface at a considerable distance from its seat of origin. The best
35987 illustration of this is seen in the psoas abscess, which may originate
35988 in the dorsal vertebrae, extend downwards within the sheath of the psoas
35989 muscle, and finally appear in the thigh.
35990
35991 #Clinical Features.#--The insidious development of the tuberculous
35992 abscess is one of its characteristic features. The swelling may attain a
35993 considerable size without the patient being aware of its existence, and,
35994 as a matter of fact, it is often discovered accidentally. The absence of
35995 toxaemia is to be associated with the incapacity of the wall of the
35996 abscess to permit of absorption; this is shown also by the fact that
35997 when even a large quantity of iodoform is inserted into the cavity of
35998 the abscess, there are no symptoms of poisoning. The abscess varies in
35999 size from a small cherry to a cavity containing several pints of pus.
36000 Its shape also varies; it is usually that of a flattened sphere, but it
36001 may present pockets or burrows running in various directions. Sometimes
36002 it is hour-glass or dumb-bell shaped, as is well illustrated in the
36003 region of the groin in disease of the spine or pelvis, where there may
36004 be a large sac occupying the venter ilii, and a smaller one in the
36005 thigh, the two communicating by a narrow channel under Poupart's
36006 ligament. By pressing with the fingers the pus may be displaced from one
36007 compartment to the other. The usual course of events is that the abscess
36008 progresses slowly, and finally reaches a free surface--generally the
36009 skin. As it does so there may be some pain, redness, and local elevation
36010 of temperature. Fluctuation becomes evident and superficial, and the
36011 skin becomes livid and finally gives way. If the case is left to nature,
36012 the discharge of pus continues, and the track opening on the skin
36013 remains as a _sinus_. The persistence of suppuration is due to the
36014 presence in the wall of the abscess and of the sinus, of tuberculous
36015 granulation tissue, which, so long as it remains, continues to furnish
36016 discharge, and so prevents healing. Sooner or later pyogenic organisms
36017 gain access to the sinus, and through it to the wall of the abscess.
36018 They tend further to depress the resisting power of the tissues, and
36019 thereby aggravate and perpetuate the tuberculous disease. This
36020 superadded infection with pyogenic organisms exposes the patient to the
36021 further risks of septic intoxication, especially in the form of hectic
36022 fever and septicaemia, and increases the liability to general
36023 tuberculosis, and to waxy degeneration of the internal organs. The mixed
36024 infection is chiefly responsible for the pyrexia, sweating, and
36025 emaciation which the laity associate with consumptive disease. A
36026 tuberculous abscess may in one or other of these ways be a cause of
36027 death.
36028
36029 _Residual abscess_ is the name given to an abscess that makes its
36030 appearance months, or even years, after the apparent cure of tuberculous
36031 disease--as, for example, in the hip-joint or spine. It is called
36032 residual because it has its origin in the remains of the original
36033 disease.
36034
36035 [Illustration: FIG. 34.--Tuberculous Abscess in right lumbar region in a
36036 woman aged thirty.]
36037
36038 #Diagnosis.#--A cold abscess is to be diagnosed from a syphilitic gumma,
36039 a cyst, and from lipoma and other soft tumours. The differential
36040 diagnosis of these affections will be considered later; it is often made
36041 easier by recognising the presence of a lesion that is likely to cause a
36042 cold abscess, such as tuberculous disease of the spine or of the
36043 sacro-iliac joint. When it is about to burst externally, it may be
36044 difficult to distinguish a tuberculous abscess from one due to infection
36045 with pyogenic organisms. Even when the abscess is opened, the
36046 appearances of the pus may not supply the desired information, and it
36047 may be necessary to submit it to bacteriological examination. When the
36048 pus is found to be sterile, it is usually safe to assume that the
36049 condition is tuberculous, as in other forms of suppuration the causative
36050 organisms can usually be recognised. Experimental inoculation will
36051 establish a definite diagnosis, but it implies a delay of two to three
36052 weeks.
36053
36054 #Treatment.#--The tuberculous abscess may recede and disappear under
36055 general treatment. Many surgeons advise that so long as the abscess is
36056 quiescent it should be left alone. All agree, however, that if it shows
36057 a tendency to spread, to increase in size, or to approach the skin or a
36058 mucous membrane, something should be done to avoid the danger of its
36059 bursting and becoming infected with pyogenic organisms. Simple
36060 evacuation of the abscess by a hollow needle may suffice, or bismuth or
36061 iodoform may be introduced after withdrawal of the contents.
36062
36063 _Evacuation of the Abscess and Injection of Iodoform._--The iodoform is
36064 employed in the form of a 10 per cent. solution in ether or the same
36065 proportion suspended in glycerin. Either form becomes sterile soon after
36066 it is prepared. Its curative effects would appear to depend upon the
36067 liberation of iodine, which restrains the activity of the bacilli, and
36068 upon its capacity for irritating the tissues and so inducing a
36069 protective leucocytosis, and also of stimulating the formation of scar
36070 tissue. An anaesthetic is rarely called for, except in children. The
36071 abscess is first evacuated by means of a large trocar and cannula
36072 introduced obliquely through the overlying soft parts, avoiding any part
36073 where the skin is thin or red. If the cannula becomes blocked with
36074 caseous material, it may be cleared with a probe, or a small quantity of
36075 saline solution is forced in by the syringe. The iodoform is injected by
36076 means of a glass-barrelled syringe, which is firmly screwed on to the
36077 cannula. The amount injected varies with the size of the abscess and the
36078 age of the patient; it may be said to range from two or three drams in
36079 the case of children to several ounces in large abscesses in adults. The
36080 cannula is withdrawn, the puncture is closed by a Michel's clip, and a
36081 dressing applied so as to exert a certain amount of compression. If the
36082 abscess fills up again, the procedure should be repeated; in doing so,
36083 the contents show the coloration due to liberated iodine. When the
36084 contents are semi-solid, and cannot be withdrawn even through a large
36085 cannula, an incision must be made, and, after the cavity has been
36086 emptied, the iodoform is introduced through a short rubber tube attached
36087 to the syringe. Experience has shown that even large abscesses, such as
36088 those associated with spinal disease, may be cured by iodoform
36089 injection, and this even when rupture of the abscess on the skin surface
36090 has appeared to be imminent.
36091
36092 Another method of treatment which is less popular now than it used to
36093 be, and which is chiefly applicable in abscesses of moderate size, is by
36094 _incision of the abscess and removal of the tuberculous tissue in its
36095 wall_ with the sharp spoon. An incision is made which will give free
36096 access to the interior of the abscess, so that outlying pockets or
36097 recesses may not be overlooked. After removal of the pus, the wall of
36098 the abscess is scraped with the Volkmann spoon or with Barker's flushing
36099 spoon, to get rid of the tuberculous tissue with which it is lined. In
36100 using the spoon, care must be taken that its sharp edge does not
36101 perforate the wall of a vein or other important structure. Any debris
36102 which may adhere to the walls is removed by rubbing with dry gauze. The
36103 oozing of blood is arrested by packing the cavity for a few minutes with
36104 gauze. After the packing is removed, iodoform powder is rubbed into the
36105 raw surface. The soft parts divided by the incision are sutured in
36106 layers so as to ensure primary union. If, on the other hand, there is
36107 fear of a mixed infection, especially in abscesses near the rectum or
36108 anus, it is safer to treat it by the open method, packing the cavity
36109 with iodoform worsted or bismuth gauze, which is renewed at intervals of
36110 a week or ten days as the cavity heals from the bottom.
36111
36112 Another method is to incise the abscess, cleanse the cavity with gauze,
36113 irrigate with Carrel-Dakin solution and pack with gauze smeared with the
36114 dilute non-toxic B.I.P.P. (bismuth and iodoform 2 parts, vaseline 12
36115 parts, hard paraffin, sufficient to give the consistence of butter). The
36116 wound is closed with "bipped" silk sutures; one of these--the "waiting
36117 suture"--is left loose to permit of withdrawal of the gauze after
36118 forty-eight hours; the waiting suture is then tied, and delayed primary
36119 union is thus effected.
36120
36121 When the skin over the abscess is red, thin, and about to give way, as
36122 is frequently the case when the abscess is situated in the subcutaneous
36123 cellular tissue, any skin which is undermined and infected with tubercle
36124 should be removed with the scissors at the same time that the abscess is
36125 dealt with.
36126
36127 In abscesses treated by the open method, when the cavity has become
36128 lined with healthy granulations, it may be closed by secondary suture,
36129 or, if the granulating surface is flush with the skin, healing may be
36130 hastened by skin-grafting.
36131
36132 If the tuberculous abscess has burst and left a _sinus_, this is apt to
36133 persist because of the presence of tuberculous tissue in its wall, and
36134 of superadded pyogenic infection, or because it serves as an avenue for
36135 the escape of discharge from a focus of tubercle in a bone or a lymph
36136 gland.
36137
36138 [Illustration: FIG. 35.--Tuberculous Sinus injected through its opening
36139 in the forearm with bismuth paste.
36140
36141 (Mr. Pirie Watson's case--Radiogram by Dr. Hope Fowler.)]
36142
36143 The treatment varies with the conditions present, and must include
36144 measures directed to the lesion from which the sinus has originated. The
36145 extent and direction of any given sinus may be demonstrated by the use
36146 of the probe, or, more accurately, by injecting the sinus with a paste
36147 consisting of white vaseline containing 10 to 30 per cent. of bismuth
36148 subcarbonate, and following its track with the X-rays (Fig. 35).
36149
36150 It was found by Beck of Chicago that the injection of bismuth paste is
36151 frequently followed by healing of the sinus, and that, if one injection
36152 fails to bring about a cure, repeating the injection every second day
36153 may be successful. Some caution must be observed in this treatment, as
36154 symptoms of poisoning have been observed to follow its use. If they
36155 manifest themselves, an injection of warm olive oil should be given; the
36156 oil, left in for twelve hours or so, forms an emulsion with the bismuth,
36157 which can be withdrawn by aspiration. Iodoform suspended in glycerin may
36158 be employed in a similar manner. When these and other non-operative
36159 measures fail, and the whole track of the sinus is accessible, it should
36160 be laid open, scraped, and packed with bismuth or iodoform gauze until
36161 it heals from the bottom.
36162
36163 The _tuberculous ulcer_ is described in the chapter on ulcers.
36164
36165
36166
36167
36168 CHAPTER IX
36169
36170 SYPHILIS
36171
36172
36173 Definition.--Virus.--ACQUIRED SYPHILIS--Primary period:
36174 _Incubation, primary chancre, glandular enlargement_;
36175 _Extra-genital chancres_--Treatment--Secondary period: _General
36176 symptoms, skin affections, mucous patches, affections of bones,
36177 joints, eyes_, etc.--Treatment: _Salvarsan_--_Methods of
36178 administering mercury_--Syphilis and marriage--Intermediate
36179 stage--_Reminders_--Tertiary period: _General symptoms_,
36180 _gummata_, _tertiary ulcers_, _tertiary lesions of skin, mucous
36181 membrane, bones, joints_, etc.--Second attacks.--INHERITED
36182 SYPHILIS--Transmission--_Clinical features in infancy, in later
36183 life_--Contagiousness--Treatment.
36184
36185 Syphilis is an infective disease due to the entrance into the body of a
36186 specific virus. It is nearly always communicated from one individual to
36187 another by contact infection, the discharge from a syphilitic lesion
36188 being the medium through which the virus is transmitted, and the seat of
36189 inoculation is almost invariably a surface covered by squamous
36190 epithelium. The disease was unknown in Europe before the year 1493, when
36191 it was introduced into Spain by Columbus' crew, who were infected in
36192 Haiti, where the disease had been endemic from time immemorial (Bloch).
36193
36194 The granulation tissue which forms as a result of the reaction of the
36195 tissues to the presence of the virus is chiefly composed of lymphocytes
36196 and plasma cells, along with an abundant new formation of capillary
36197 blood vessels. Giant cells are not uncommon, but the endothelioid cells,
36198 which are so marked a feature of tuberculous granulation tissue, are
36199 practically absent.
36200
36201 When syphilis is communicated from one individual to another by contact
36202 infection, the condition is spoken of as _acquired syphilis_, and the
36203 first visible sign of the disease appears at the site of inoculation,
36204 and is known as _the primary lesion_. Those who have thus acquired the
36205 disease may transmit it to their offspring, who are then said to suffer
36206 from _inherited syphilis_.
36207
36208 #The Virus of Syphilis.#--The cause of syphilis, whether acquired or
36209 inherited, is the organism, described by Schaudinn and Hoffman, in 1905,
36210 under the name of _spirochaeta pallida_ or _spironema pallidum_. It is a
36211 delicate, thread-like spirilla, in length averaging from 8 to 10 u and
36212 in width about 0.25 u, and is distinguished from other spirochaetes by
36213 its delicate shape, its dead-white appearance, together with its closely
36214 twisted spiral form, with numerous undulations (10 to 26), which are
36215 perfectly regular, and are characteristic in that they remain the same
36216 during rest and in active movement (Fig. 36). In a fresh specimen, such
36217 as a scraping from a hard chancre suspended in a little salt solution,
36218 it shows active movements. The organism is readily destroyed by heat,
36219 and perishes in the absence of moisture. It has been proved
36220 experimentally that it remains infective only up to six hours after its
36221 removal from the body. Noguchi has succeeded in obtaining pure cultures
36222 from the infected tissues of the rabbit.
36223
36224 [Illustration: FIG. 36.--Spirochaeta pallida from scraping of hard
36225 Chancre of Prepuce. x 1000 diam. Burri method.]
36226
36227 The spirochaete may be recognised in films made by scraping the deeper
36228 parts of the primary lesion, from papules on the skin, or from blisters
36229 artificially raised on lesions of the skin or on the immediately
36230 adjacent portion of healthy skin. It is readily found in the mucous
36231 patches and condylomata of the secondary period. It is best stained by
36232 Giemsa's method, and its recognition is greatly aided by the use of the
36233 ultra-microscope.
36234
36235 The spirochaete has been demonstrated in every form of syphilitic lesion,
36236 and has been isolated from the blood--with difficulty--and from lymph
36237 withdrawn by a hollow needle from enlarged lymph glands. The saliva of
36238 persons suffering from syphilitic lesions of the mouth also contains the
36239 organism.
36240
36241 [Illustration: FIG. 37.--Spirochaeta refrigerans from scraping of Vagina.
36242 x 1000 diam. Burri method.]
36243
36244 In tertiary lesions there is greater difficulty in demonstrating the
36245 spirochaete, but small numbers have been found in the peripheral parts of
36246 gummata and in the thickened patches in syphilitic disease of the aorta.
36247 Noguchi and Moore have discovered the spirochaete in the brain in a
36248 number of cases of general paralysis of the insane. The spirochaete may
36249 persist in the body for a long time after infection; its presence has
36250 been demonstrated as long as sixteen years after the original
36251 acquisition of the disease.
36252
36253 In inherited syphilis the spirochaete is present in enormous numbers
36254 throughout all the organs and fluids of the body.
36255
36256 Considerable interest attaches to the observations of Metchnikoff, Roux,
36257 and Neisser, who have succeeded in conveying syphilis to the chimpanzee
36258 and other members of the ape tribe, obtaining primary and secondary
36259 lesions similar to those observed in man, and also containing the
36260 spirochaete. In animals the disease has been transmitted by material from
36261 all kinds of syphilitic lesions, including even the blood in the
36262 secondary and tertiary stages of the disease. The primary lesion is in
36263 the form of an indurated papule, in every respect resembling the
36264 corresponding lesion in man, and associated with enlargement and
36265 induration of the lymph glands. The primary lesion usually appears about
36266 thirty days after inoculation, to be followed, in about half the cases,
36267 by secondary manifestations, which are usually of a mild character; in
36268 no instance has any tertiary lesion been observed. The severity of the
36269 affection amongst apes would appear to be in proportion to the nearness
36270 of the relationship of the animal to the human subject. The eye of the
36271 rabbit is also susceptible to inoculation from syphilitic lesions; the
36272 material in a finely divided state is introduced into the anterior
36273 chamber of the eye.
36274
36275 Attempts to immunise against the disease have so far proved negative,
36276 but Metchnikoff has shown that the inunction of the part inoculated with
36277 an ointment containing 33 per cent. of calomel, within one hour of
36278 infection, suffices to neutralise the virus in man, and up to eighteen
36279 hours in monkeys. He recommends the adoption of this procedure in the
36280 prophylaxis of syphilis.
36281
36282 Noguchi has made an emulsion of dead spirochaetes which he calls
36283 _luetin_, and which gives a specific reaction resembling that of
36284 tuberculin in tuberculosis, a papule or a pustule forming at the site of
36285 the intra-dermal injection. It is said to be most efficacious in the
36286 tertiary and latent forms of syphilis, which are precisely those forms
36287 in which the diagnosis is surrounded with difficulties.
36288
36289
36290 ACQUIRED SYPHILIS
36291
36292 In the vast majority of cases, infection takes place during the congress
36293 of the sexes. Delicate, easily abraded surfaces are then brought into
36294 contact, and the discharge from lesions containing the virus is placed
36295 under favourable conditions for conveying the disease from one person to
36296 the other. In the male the possibility of infection taking place is
36297 increased if the virus is retained under cover of a long and tight
36298 prepuce, and if there are abrasions on the surface with which it comes
36299 in contact. The frequency with which infection takes place on the
36300 genitals during sexual intercourse warrants syphilis being considered a
36301 venereal disease, although there are other ways in which it may be
36302 contracted.
36303
36304 Some of these imply direct contact--such, for example, as kissing, the
36305 digital examination of syphilitic patients by doctors or nurses, or
36306 infection of the surgeon's fingers while operating upon a syphilitic
36307 patient. In suckling, a syphilitic wet nurse may infect a healthy
36308 infant, or a syphilitic infant may infect a healthy wet nurse. In other
36309 cases the infection is by indirect contact, the virus being conveyed
36310 through the medium of articles contaminated by a syphilitic
36311 patient--such, for example, as surgical instruments, tobacco pipes, wind
36312 instruments, table utensils, towels, or underclothing. Physiological
36313 secretions, such as saliva, milk, or tears, are not capable of
36314 communicating the disease unless contaminated by discharge from a
36315 syphilitic sore. While the saliva itself is innocuous, it can be, and
36316 often is, contaminated by the discharge from mucous patches or other
36317 syphilitic lesions in the mouth and throat, and is then a dangerous
36318 medium of infection. Unless these extra-genital sources of infection are
36319 borne in mind, there is a danger of failing to recognise the primary
36320 lesion of syphilis in unusual positions, such as the lip, finger, or
36321 nipple. When the disease is thus acquired by innocent transfer, it is
36322 known as _syphilis insontium_.
36323
36324 #Stages or Periods of Syphilis.#--Following the teaching of Ricord, it
36325 is customary to divide the life-history of syphilis into three periods
36326 or stages, referred to, for convenience, as primary, secondary, and
36327 tertiary. This division is to some extent arbitrary and artificial, as
36328 the different stages overlap one another, and the lesions of one stage
36329 merge insensibly into those of another. Wide variations are met with in
36330 the manifestations of the secondary stage, and histologically there is
36331 no valid distinction to be drawn between secondary and tertiary lesions.
36332
36333 _The primary period_ embraces the interval that elapses between the
36334 initial infection and the first constitutional manifestations,--roughly,
36335 from four to eight weeks,--and includes the period of incubation, the
36336 development of the primary sore, and the enlargement of the nearest
36337 lymph glands.
36338
36339 _The secondary period_ varies in duration from one to two years, during
36340 which time the patient is liable to suffer from manifestations which are
36341 for the most part superficial in character, affecting the skin and its
36342 appendages, the mucous membranes, and the lymph glands.
36343
36344 _The tertiary period_ has no time-limit except that it follows upon the
36345 secondary, so that during the remainder of his life the patient is
36346 liable to suffer from manifestations which may affect the deeper tissues
36347 and internal organs as well as the skin and mucous membranes.
36348
36349 #Primary Syphilis.#--_The period of incubation_ represents the interval
36350 that elapses between the occurrence of infection and the appearance of
36351 the primary lesion at the site of inoculation. Its limits may be stated
36352 as varying from two to six weeks, with an average of from twenty-one to
36353 twenty-eight days. While the disease is incubating, there is nothing to
36354 show that infection has occurred.
36355
36356 _The Primary Lesion._--The incubation period having elapsed, there
36357 appears at the site of inoculation a circumscribed area of infiltration
36358 which represents the reaction of the tissues to the entrance of the
36359 virus. The first appearance is that of a sharply defined papule, rarely
36360 larger than a split pea. Its surface is at first smooth and shiny, but
36361 as necrosis of the tissue elements takes place in the centre, it becomes
36362 concave, and in many cases the epithelium is shed, and an ulcer is
36363 formed. Such an ulcer has an elevated border, sharply cut edges, an
36364 indurated base, and exudes a scanty serous discharge; its surface is at
36365 first occupied by yellow necrosed tissue, but in time this is replaced
36366 by smooth, pale-pink granulation tissue; finally, epithelium may spread
36367 over the surface, and the ulcer heals. As a rule, the patient suffers
36368 little discomfort, and may even be ignorant of the existence of the
36369 lesion, unless, as a result of exposure to mechanical or septic
36370 irritation, ulceration ensues, and the sore becomes painful and tender,
36371 and yields a purulent discharge. The primary lesion may persist until
36372 the secondary manifestations make their appearance, that is, for several
36373 weeks.
36374
36375 It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the induration of the primary
36376 lesion, which has obtained for it the name of "hard chancre," is its
36377 most important characteristic. It is best appreciated when the sore is
36378 grasped from side to side between the finger and thumb. The sensation on
36379 grasping it has been aptly compared to that imparted by a nodule of
36380 cartilage, or by a button felt through a layer of cloth. The evidence
36381 obtained by touch is more valuable than that obtained by inspection, a
36382 fact which is made use of in the recognition of _concealed
36383 chancres_--that is, those which are hidden by a tight prepuce. The
36384 induration is due not only to the dense packing of the connective-tissue
36385 spaces with lymphocytes and plasma cells, but also to the formation of
36386 new connective-tissue elements. It is most marked in chancres situated
36387 in the furrow between the glans and the prepuce.
36388
36389 _In the male_, the primary lesion specially affects certain
36390 _situations_, and the appearances vary with these: (1) On the inner
36391 aspect of the prepuce, and in the fold between the prepuce and the
36392 glans; in the latter situation the induration imparts a "collar-like"
36393 rigidity to the prepuce, which is most apparent when it is rolled back
36394 over the corona. (2) At the orifice of the prepuce the primary lesion
36395 assumes the form of multiple linear ulcers or fissures, and as each of
36396 these is attended with infiltration, the prepuce cannot be pulled
36397 back--a condition known as _syphilitic phimosis_. (3) On the glans penis
36398 the infiltration may be so superficial that it resembles a layer of
36399 parchment, but if it invades the cavernous tissue there is a dense mass
36400 of induration. (4) On the external aspect of the prepuce or on the skin
36401 of the penis itself. (5) At either end of the torn fraenum, in the form
36402 of a diamond-shaped ulcer raised above the surroundings. (6) In relation
36403 to the meatus and canal of the urethra, in either of which situations
36404 the swelling and induration may lead to narrowing of the urethra, so
36405 that the urine is passed with pain and difficulty and in a minute
36406 stream; stricture results only in the exceptional cases in which the
36407 chancre has ulcerated and caused destruction of tissue. A chancre within
36408 the orifice of the urethra is rare, and, being concealed from view, it
36409 can only be recognised by the discharge from the meatus and by the
36410 induration felt between the finger and thumb on palpating the urethra.
36411
36412 _In the female_, the primary lesion is not so typical or so easily
36413 recognised as in men; it is usually met with on the labia; the
36414 induration is rarely characteristic and does not last so long. The
36415 primary lesion may take the form of condylomata. Indurated oedema, with
36416 brownish-red or livid discoloration of one or both labia, is diagnostic
36417 of syphilis.
36418
36419 The hard chancre is usually solitary, but sometimes there are two or
36420 more; when there are several, they are individually smaller than the
36421 solitary chancre.
36422
36423 It is the exception for a hard chancre to leave a visible scar, hence,
36424 in examining patients with a doubtful history of syphilis, little
36425 reliance can be placed on the presence or absence of a scar on the
36426 genitals. When the primary lesion has taken the form of an open ulcer
36427 with purulent discharge, or has sloughed, there is a permanent scar.
36428
36429 _Infection of the adjacent lymph glands_ is usually found to have taken
36430 place by the time the primary lesion has acquired its characteristic
36431 induration. Several of the glands along Poupart's ligament, on one or on
36432 both sides, become enlarged, rounded, and indurated; they are usually
36433 freely movable, and are rarely sensitive unless there is superadded
36434 septic infection. The term _bullet-bubo_ has been applied to them, and
36435 their presence is of great value in diagnosis. In a certain number of
36436 cases, one of the main _lymph vessels_ on the dorsum of the penis is
36437 transformed into a fibrous cord easily recognisable on palpation, and
36438 when grasped between the fingers appears to be in size and consistence
36439 not unlike the vas deferens.
36440
36441 _Concealed chancre_ is the term applied when one or more chancres are
36442 situated within the sac of a prepuce which cannot be retracted. If the
36443 induration is well marked, the chancre can be palpated through the
36444 prepuce, and is tender on pressure. As under these conditions it is
36445 impossible for the patient to keep the parts clean, septic infection
36446 becomes a prominent feature, the prepuce is oedematous and inflamed, and
36447 there is an abundant discharge of pus from its orifice. It occasionally
36448 happens that the infection assumes a virulent character and causes
36449 sloughing of the prepuce--a condition known as _phagedaena_. The
36450 discharge is then foul and blood-stained, and the prepuce becomes of a
36451 dusky red or purple colour, and may finally slough, exposing the glans.
36452
36453 _Extra-genital or Erratic Chancres_ (Fig. 38).--Erratic chancre is the
36454 term applied by Jonathan Hutchinson to the primary lesion of syphilis
36455 when it appears on parts of the body other than the genitals. It differs
36456 in some respects from the hard chancre as met with on the penis; it is
36457 usually larger, the induration is more diffused, and the enlarged glands
36458 are softer and more sensitive. The glands in nearest relation to the
36459 sore are those first affected, for example, the epitrochlear or axillary
36460 glands in chancre of the finger; the submaxillary glands in chancre of
36461 the lip or mouth; or the pre-auricular gland in chancre of the eyelid or
36462 forehead. In consequence of their divergence from the typical chancre,
36463 and of their being often met with in persons who, from age,
36464 surroundings, or moral character, are unlikely subjects of venereal
36465 disease, the true nature of erratic chancres is often overlooked until
36466 the persistence of the lesion, its want of resemblance to anything else,
36467 or the onset of constitutional symptoms, determines the diagnosis of
36468 syphilis. A solitary, indolent sore occurring on the lip, eyelid,
36469 finger, or nipple, which does not heal but tends to increase in size,
36470 and is associated with induration and enlargement of the adjacent
36471 glands, is most likely to be the primary lesion of syphilis.
36472
36473 [Illustration: FIG. 38.--Primary Lesion on Thumb, with Secondary
36474 Eruption on Forearm.[1]]
36475
36476 [1] From _A System of Syphilis_, vol. ii., edited by D'Arcy Power and
36477 J. Keogh Murphy, Oxford Medical Publications.
36478
36479 #The Soft Sore, Soft Chancre, or Chancroid.#--The differential diagnosis
36480 of syphilis necessitates the consideration of the _soft sore_, _soft
36481 chancre_, or _chancroid_, which is also a common form of venereal
36482 disease, and is due to infection with a virulent pus-forming bacillus,
36483 first described by Ducrey in 1889. Ducrey's bacillus occurs in the form
36484 of minute oval rods measuring about 1.5 u in length, which stain readily
36485 with any basic aniline dye, but are quickly decolorised by Gram's
36486 method. They are found mixed with other organisms in the purulent
36487 discharge from the sore, and are chiefly arranged in small groups or in
36488 short chains. Soft sores are always contracted by direct contact from
36489 another individual, and the incubation period is a short one of from two
36490 to five days. They are usually situated in the vicinity of the fraenum,
36491 and, in women, about the labia minora or fourchette; they probably
36492 originate in abrasions in these situations. They appear as pustules,
36493 which are rapidly converted into small, acutely inflamed ulcers with
36494 sharply cut, irregular margins, which bleed easily and yield an abundant
36495 yellow purulent discharge. They are devoid of the induration of
36496 syphilis, are painful, and nearly always multiple, reproducing
36497 themselves in successive crops by auto-inoculation. Soft sores are often
36498 complicated by phimosis and balanitis, and they frequently lead to
36499 infection of the glands in the groin. The resulting bubo is ill-defined,
36500 painful, and tender, and suppuration occurs in about one-fourth of the
36501 cases. The overlying skin becomes adherent and red, and suppuration
36502 takes place either in the form of separate foci in the interior of the
36503 individual glands, or around them; in the latter case, on incision, the
36504 glands are found lying bathed in pus. Ducrey's bacillus is found in pure
36505 culture in the pus. Sometimes other pyogenic organisms are superadded.
36506 After the bubo has been opened the wound may take on the characters of a
36507 soft sore.
36508
36509 _Treatment._--Soft sores heal rapidly when kept clean. If concealed
36510 under a tight prepuce, an incision should be made along the dorsum to
36511 give access to the sores. They should be washed with eusol, and dusted
36512 with a mixture of one part iodoform and two parts boracic or salicylic
36513 acid, or, when the odour of iodoform is objected to, of equal parts of
36514 boracic acid and carbonate of zinc. Immersion of the penis in a bath of
36515 eusol for some hours daily is useful. The sore is then covered with a
36516 piece of gauze kept in position by drawing the prepuce over it, or by a
36517 few turns of a narrow bandage. Sublimed sulphur frequently rubbed into
36518 the sore is recommended by C. H. Mills. If the sores spread in spite of
36519 this, they should be painted with cocaine and then cauterised. When the
36520 glands in the groin are infected, the patient must be confined to bed,
36521 and a dressing impregnated with ichthyol and glycerin (10 per cent.)
36522 applied; the repeated use of a suction bell is of great service.
36523 Harrison recommends aspiration of a bubonic abscess, followed by
36524 injection of 1 in 20 solution of tincture of iodine into the cavity;
36525 this is in turn aspirated, and then 1 or 2 c.c. of the solution injected
36526 and left in. This is repeated as often as the cavity refills. It is
36527 sometimes necessary to let the pus out by one or more small incisions
36528 and continue the use of the suction bell.
36529
36530 _Diagnosis of Primary Syphilis._--In cases in which there is a history
36531 of an incubation period of from three to five weeks, when the sore is
36532 indurated, persistent, and indolent, and attended with bullet-buboes in
36533 the groin, the diagnosis of primary syphilis is not difficult. Owing,
36534 however, to the great importance of instituting treatment at the
36535 earliest possible stage of the infection, an effort should be made to
36536 establish the diagnosis without delay by demonstrating the spirochaete.
36537 Before any antiseptic is applied, the margin of the suspected sore is
36538 rubbed with gauze, and the serum that exudes on pressure is collected
36539 in a capillary tube and sent to a pathologist for microscopical
36540 examination. A better specimen can sometimes be obtained by puncturing
36541 an enlarged lymph gland with a hypodermic needle, injecting a few minims
36542 of sterile saline solution and then aspirating the blood-stained fluid.
36543
36544 The Wassermann test must not be relied upon for diagnosis in the early
36545 stage, as it does not appear until the disease has become generalised
36546 and the secondary manifestations are about to begin. The practice of
36547 waiting in doubtful cases before making a diagnosis until secondary
36548 manifestations appear is to be condemned.
36549
36550 Extra-genital chancres, _e.g._ sores on the fingers of doctors or
36551 nurses, are specially liable to be overlooked, if the possibility of
36552 syphilis is not kept in mind.
36553
36554 It is important to bear in mind _the possibility of a patient having
36555 acquired a mixed infection_ with the virus of soft chancre, which will
36556 manifest itself a few days after infection, and the virus of syphilis,
36557 which shows itself after an interval of several weeks. This occurrence
36558 was formerly the source of much confusion in diagnosis, and it was
36559 believed at one time that syphilis might result from soft sores, but it
36560 is now established that syphilis does not follow upon soft sores unless
36561 the virus of syphilis has been introduced at the same time. The
36562 practitioner must be on his guard, therefore, when a patient asks his
36563 advice concerning a venereal sore which has appeared within a few days
36564 of exposure to infection. Such a patient is naturally anxious to know
36565 whether he has contracted syphilis or not, but neither a positive nor a
36566 negative answer can be given--unless the spirochaete can be identified.
36567
36568 Syphilis is also to be diagnosed from _epithelioma_, the common form of
36569 cancer of the penis. It is especially in elderly patients with a tight
36570 prepuce that the induration of syphilis is liable to be mistaken for
36571 that associated with epithelioma. In difficult cases the prepuce must be
36572 slit open.
36573
36574 Difficulty may occur in the diagnosis of primary syphilis from _herpes_,
36575 as this may appear as late as ten days after connection; it commences as
36576 a group of vesicles which soon burst and leave shallow ulcers with a
36577 yellow floor; these disappear quickly on the use of an antiseptic
36578 dusting powder.
36579
36580 Apprehensive patients who have committed sexual indiscretions are apt to
36581 regard as syphilitic any lesion which happens to be located on the
36582 penis--for example, acne pustules, eczema, psoriasis papules, boils,
36583 balanitis, or venereal warts.
36584
36585 _The local treatment_ of the primary sore consists in attempting to
36586 destroy the organisms _in situ_. An ointment made up of calomel 33
36587 parts, lanoline 67 parts, and vaseline 10 parts (Metchnikoff's cream) is
36588 rubbed into the sore several times a day. If the surface is unbroken, it
36589 may be dusted lightly with a powder composed of equal parts of calomel
36590 and carbonate of zinc. A gauze dressing is applied, and the penis and
36591 scrotum should be supported against the abdominal wall by a triangular
36592 handkerchief or bathing-drawers; if there is inflammatory oedema the
36593 patient should be confined to bed.
36594
36595 In _concealed chancres_ with phimosis, the sac of the prepuce should be
36596 slit up along the dorsum to admit of the ointment being applied. If
36597 phagedaena occurs, the prepuce must be slit open along the dorsum, or if
36598 sloughing, cut away, and the patient should have frequent sitz baths of
36599 weak sublimate lotion. When the chancre is within the meatus, iodoform
36600 bougies are inserted into the urethra, and the urine should be rendered
36601 bland by drinking large quantities of fluid.
36602
36603 General treatment is considered on p. 149.
36604
36605 #Secondary Syphilis.#--The following description of secondary syphilis
36606 is based on the average course of the disease in untreated cases. The
36607 onset of constitutional symptoms occurs from six to twelve weeks after
36608 infection, and the manifestations are the result of the entrance of the
36609 virus into the general circulation, and its being carried to all parts
36610 of the body. The period during which the patient is liable to suffer
36611 from secondary symptoms ranges from six months to two years.
36612
36613 In some cases the general health is not disturbed; in others the patient
36614 is feverish and out of sorts, losing appetite, becoming pale and anaemic,
36615 complaining of lassitude, incapacity for exertion, headache, and pains
36616 of a rheumatic type referred to the bones. There is a moderate degree of
36617 leucocytosis, but the increase is due not to the polymorpho-nuclear
36618 leucocytes but to lymphocytes. In isolated cases the temperature rises
36619 to 101 o or 102 o F. and the patient loses flesh. The lymph glands,
36620 particularly those along the posterior border of the sterno-mastoid,
36621 become enlarged and slightly tender. The hair comes out, eruptions
36622 appear on the skin and mucous membranes, and the patient may suffer from
36623 sore throat and affections of the eyes. The local lesions are to be
36624 regarded as being of the nature of reactions against accumulations of
36625 the parasite, lymphocytes and plasma cells being the elements chiefly
36626 concerned in the reactive process.
36627
36628 _Affections of the Skin_ are among the most constant manifestations. An
36629 evanescent macular rash, not unlike that of measles--_roseola_--is the
36630 first to appear, usually in from six to eight weeks from the date of
36631 infection; it is widely diffused over the trunk, and the original dull
36632 rose-colour soon fades, leaving brownish stains, which in time
36633 disappear. It is usually followed by a _papular eruption_, the
36634 individual papules being raised above the surface of the skin, smooth or
36635 scaly, and as they are due to infiltration of the skin they are more
36636 persistent than the roseoles. They vary in size and distribution, being
36637 sometimes small, hard, polished, and closely aggregated like lichen,
36638 sometimes as large as a shilling-piece, with an accumulation of scales
36639 on the surface like that seen in psoriasis. The co-existence of scaly
36640 papules and faded roseoles is very suggestive of syphilis.
36641
36642 Other types of eruption are less common, and are met with from the third
36643 month onwards. A _pustular_ eruption, not unlike that of acne, is
36644 sometimes a prominent feature, but is not characteristic of syphilis
36645 unless it affects the scalp and forehead and is associated with the
36646 remains of the papular eruption. The term _ecthyma_ is applied when the
36647 pustules are of large size, and, after breaking on the surface, give
36648 rise to superficial ulcers; the discharge from the ulcer often dries up
36649 and forms a scab or crust which is continually added to from below as
36650 the ulcer extends in area and depth. The term _rupia_ is applied when
36651 the crusts are prominent, dark in colour, and conical in shape, roughly
36652 resembling the shell of a limpet. If the crust is detached, a sharply
36653 defined ulcer is exposed, and when this heals it leaves a scar which is
36654 usually circular, thin, white, shining like satin, and the surrounding
36655 skin is darkly pigmented; in the case of deep ulcers, the scar is
36656 depressed and adherent (Fig. 39).
36657
36658 [Illustration: FIG. 39.--Syphilitic Rupia, showing the limpet-shaped
36659 crusts or scabs.]
36660
36661 In the later stages there may occur a form of creeping or _spreading
36662 ulceration of the skin_ of the face, groin, or scrotum, healing at one
36663 edge and spreading at another like tuberculous lupus, but distinguished
36664 from this by its more rapid progress and by the pigmentation of the
36665 scar.
36666
36667 _Condylomata_ are more characteristic of syphilis than any other type of
36668 skin lesion. They are papules occurring on those parts of the body where
36669 the skin is habitually moist, and especially where two skin surfaces are
36670 in contact. They are chiefly met with on the external genitals,
36671 especially in women, around the anus, beneath large pendulous mammae,
36672 between the toes, and at the angles of the mouth, and in these
36673 situations their development is greatly favoured by neglect of
36674 cleanliness. They present the appearance of well-defined circular or
36675 ovoid areas in which the skin is thickened and raised above the surface;
36676 they are covered with a white sodden epidermis, and furnish a scanty but
36677 very infective discharge. Under the influence of irritation and want of
36678 rest, as at the anus or at the angle of the mouth, they are apt to
36679 become fissured and superficially ulcerated, and the discharge then
36680 becomes abundant and may crust on the surface, forming yellow scabs. At
36681 the angle of the mouth the condylomatous patches may spread to the
36682 cheek, and when they ulcerate may leave fissure-like scars radiating
36683 from the mouth--an appearance best seen in inherited syphilis (Fig. 44).
36684
36685 _The Appendages of the Skin._--The _hair_ loses its gloss, becomes dry
36686 and brittle, and readily falls out, either as an exaggeration of the
36687 normal shedding of the hair, or in scattered areas over the scalp
36688 (_syphilitic alopoecia_). The hair is not re-formed in the scars which
36689 result from ulcerated lesions of the scalp. The _nail-folds_
36690 occasionally present a pustular eruption and superficial ulceration, to
36691 which the name _syphilitic onychia_ has been applied; more commonly the
36692 nails become brittle and ragged, and they may even be shed.
36693
36694 _The Mucous Membranes_, and especially those of the _mouth_ and
36695 _throat_, suffer from lesions similar to those met with on the skin. On
36696 a mucous surface the papular eruption assumes the form of _mucous
36697 patches_, which are areas with a congested base covered with a thin
36698 white film of sodden epithelium like wet tissue-paper. They are best
36699 seen on the inner aspect of the cheeks, the soft palate, uvula, pillars
36700 of the fauces, and tonsils. In addition to mucous patches, there may be
36701 a number of small, _superficial, kidney-shaped ulcers_, especially along
36702 the margins of the tongue and on the tonsils. In the absence of mucous
36703 patches and ulcers, the sore throat may be characterised by a bluish
36704 tinge of the inflamed mucous membrane and a thin film of shed epithelium
36705 on the surface. Sometimes there is an elongated sinuous film which has
36706 been likened to the track of a snail. In the _larynx_ the presence of
36707 congestion, oedema, and mucous patches may be the cause of persistent
36708 hoarseness. The _tongue_ often presents a combination of lesions,
36709 including ulcers, patches where the papillae are absent, fissures, and
36710 raised white papules resembling warts, especially towards the centre of
36711 the dorsum. These lesions are specially apt to occur in those who smoke,
36712 drink undiluted alcohol or spirits, or eat hot condiments to excess, or
36713 who have irregular, sharp-cornered teeth. At a later period, and in
36714 those who are broken down in health from intemperance or other cause,
36715 the sore throat may take the form of rapidly spreading, penetrating
36716 ulcers in the soft palate and pillars of the fauces, which may lead to
36717 extensive destruction of tissue, with subsequent scars and deformity
36718 highly characteristic of previous syphilis.
36719
36720 In the _Bones_, lesions occur which assume the clinical features of an
36721 evanescent periostitis, the patient complaining of nocturnal pains over
36722 the frontal bone, sternum, tibiae, and ulnae, and localised tenderness on
36723 tapping over these bones.
36724
36725 In the _Joints_, a serous synovitis or hydrops may occur, chiefly in the
36726 knee, on one or on both sides.
36727
36728 _The Affections of the Eyes_, although fortunately rare, are of great
36729 importance because of the serious results which may follow if they are
36730 not recognised and treated. _Iritis_ is the commonest of these, and may
36731 occur in one or in both eyes, one after the other, from three to eight
36732 months after infection. The patient complains of impairment of sight and
36733 of frontal or supraorbital pain. The eye waters and is hypersensitive,
36734 the iris is discoloured and reacts sluggishly to light, and there is a
36735 zone of ciliary congestion around the cornea. The appearance of minute
36736 white nodules or flakes of lymph at the margin of the pupil is
36737 especially characteristic of syphilitic iritis. When adhesions have
36738 formed between the iris and the structures in relation to it, the pupil
36739 dilates irregularly under atropin. Although complete recovery is to be
36740 expected under early and energetic treatment, if neglected, _iritis_ may
36741 result in occlusion of the pupil and permanent impairment or loss of
36742 sight.
36743
36744 The other lesions of the eye are much rarer, and can only be discovered
36745 on ophthalmoscopic examination.
36746
36747 The virus of syphilis exerts a special influence upon the _Blood
36748 Vessels_, exciting a proliferation of the endothelial lining which
36749 results in narrowing of their lumen, _endarteritis_, and a perivascular
36750 infiltration in the form of accumulations of plasma cells around the
36751 vessels and in the lymphatics that accompany them.
36752
36753 In the _Brain_, in the later periods of secondary and in tertiary
36754 syphilis, changes occur as a result of the narrowing of the lumen of the
36755 arteries, or of their complete obliteration by thrombosis. By
36756 interfering with the nutrition of those parts of the brain supplied by
36757 the affected arteries, these lesions give rise to clinical features of
36758 which severe headache and paralysis are the most prominent.
36759
36760 Affections of the _Spinal Cord_ are extremely rare, but paraplegia from
36761 myelitis has been observed.
36762
36763 Lastly, attention must be directed to the remarkable variations observed
36764 in different patients. Sometimes the virulent character of the disease
36765 can only be accounted for by an idiosyncrasy of the patient.
36766 Constitutional symptoms, particularly pyrexia and anaemia, are most often
36767 met with in young women. Patients over forty years of age have greater
36768 difficulty in overcoming the infection than younger adults. Malarial and
36769 other infections, and the conditions attending life in tropical
36770 countries, from the debility which they cause, tend to aggravate and
36771 prolong the disease, which then assumes the characters of what has been
36772 called _malignant syphilis_. All chronic ailments have a similar
36773 influence, and alcoholic intemperance is universally regarded as a
36774 serious aggravating factor.
36775
36776 _Diagnosis of Secondary Syphilis._--A routine examination should be made
36777 of the parts of the body which are most often affected in this
36778 disease--the scalp, mouth, throat, posterior cervical glands, and the
36779 trunk, the patient being stripped and examined by daylight. Among the
36780 _diagnostic features of the skin affections_ the following may be
36781 mentioned: They are frequently, and sometimes to a marked degree,
36782 symmetrical; more than one type of eruption--papules and pustules, for
36783 example--are present at the same time; there is little itching; they are
36784 at first a dull-red colour, but later present a brown pigmentation which
36785 has been likened to the colour of raw ham; they exhibit a predilection
36786 for those parts of the forehead and neck which are close to the roots of
36787 the hair; they tend to pass off spontaneously; and they disappear
36788 rapidly under treatment.
36789
36790 #Serum Diagnosis--Wassermann Reaction.#--Wassermann found that if an
36791 extract of syphilitic liver rich in spirochaetes is mixed with the serum
36792 from a syphilitic patient, a large amount of complement is fixed. The
36793 application of the test is highly complicated and can only be carried
36794 out by an expert pathologist. For the purpose he is supplied with from 5
36795 c.c. to 10 c.c. of the patient's blood, withdrawn under aseptic
36796 conditions from the median basilic vein by means of a serum syringe, and
36797 transferred to a clean and dry glass tube. There is abundant evidence
36798 that the Wassermann test is a reliable means of establishing a diagnosis
36799 of syphilis.
36800
36801 A definitely positive reaction can usually be obtained between the
36802 fifteenth and thirtieth day after the appearance of the primary lesion,
36803 and as time goes on it becomes more marked. During the secondary period
36804 the reaction is practically always positive. In the tertiary stage also
36805 it is positive except in so far as it is modified by the results of
36806 treatment. In para-syphilitic lesions such as general paralysis and
36807 tabes a positive reaction is almost always present. In inherited
36808 syphilis the reaction is positive in every case. A positive reaction may
36809 be present in other diseases, for example, frambesia, trypanosomiasis,
36810 and leprosy.
36811
36812 As the presence of the reaction is an evidence of the activity of the
36813 spirochaetes, repeated applications of the test furnish a valuable means
36814 of estimating the efficacy of treatment. The object aimed at is to
36815 change a persistently positive reaction to a permanently negative one.
36816
36817 #Treatment of Syphilis.#--In the treatment of syphilis the two main
36818 objects are to maintain the general health at the highest possible
36819 standard, and to introduce into the system therapeutic agents which will
36820 inhibit or destroy the invading parasite.
36821
36822 The second of these objects has been achieved by the researches of
36823 Ehrlich, who, in conjunction with his pupil, Hata, has built up a
36824 compound, the dihydrochloride of dioxydiamido-arseno-benzol, popularly
36825 known as salvarsan or "606." Other preparations, such as kharsivan,
36826 arseno-billon, and diarsenol, are chemically equivalent to salvarsan,
36827 containing from 27 to 31 per cent. of arsenic, and are equally
36828 efficient. The full dose is 0.6 grm. All these members of the "606"
36829 group form an acid solution when dissolved in water, and must be
36830 rendered alkaline before being injected. As subcutaneous and
36831 intra-muscular injections cause considerable pain, and may cause
36832 sloughing of the tissues, "606" preparations must be injected
36833 intravenously. Ehrlich has devised a preparation--neo-salvarsan, or
36834 "914," which is more easily prepared and forms a neutral solution. It
36835 contains from 18 to 20 per cent. of arsenic. Neo-kharsivan,
36836 novo-arseno-billon, and neo-diarsenol belong to the "914" group, the
36837 full dosage of which is 0.9 grm. As subcutaneous and intra-muscular
36838 injections of the "914" group are not painful, and even more efficient
36839 than intravenous injections, the administration is simpler.
36840
36841 Galyl, luargol, and other preparations act in the same way as the "606"
36842 and "914" groups.
36843
36844 The "606" preparations may be introduced into the veins by injection or
36845 by means of an apparatus which allows the solution to flow in by
36846 gravity. The left median basilic vein is selected, and a platino-iridium
36847 needle with a short point and a bore larger than that of the ordinary
36848 hypodermic syringe is used. The needle is passed for a few millimetres
36849 along the vein, and the solution is then slowly introduced; before
36850 withdrawing the needle some saline is run in to diminish the risk of
36851 thrombosis.
36852
36853 The "914" preparations may be injected either into the subcutaneous
36854 tissue of the buttock or into the substance of the gluteus muscle. The
36855 part is then massaged for a few minutes, and the massage is repeated
36856 daily for a few days.
36857
36858 No hard-and-fast rules can be laid down as to what constitutes a
36859 complete course of treatment. Harrison recommends as a _minimum_ course
36860 of one of the "914" preparations in _early primary cases_ an initial
36861 dose of 0.45 grm. given intra-muscularly or into the deep subcutaneous
36862 tissue; the same dose a week later; 0.6 grm. the following week; then
36863 miss a week and give 9.6 grms. on two successive weeks; then miss two
36864 weeks and give 0.6 grm. on two more successive weeks.
36865
36866 When a _positive Wassermann reaction_ is present before treatment is
36867 commenced, the above course is prolonged as follows: for three weeks is
36868 given a course of potassium iodide, after which four more weekly
36869 injections of 0.6 grm. of "914" are given.
36870
36871 With each injection of "914" after the first, throughout the whole
36872 course 1 grain of mercury is injected intra-muscularly.
36873
36874 In the course of a few hours, there is usually some indisposition, with
36875 a feeling of chilliness and slight rise of temperature; these symptoms
36876 pass off within twenty-four hours, and in a few days there is a decided
36877 improvement of health. Three or four days after an intra-muscular
36878 injection there may be pain and stiffness in the gluteal region.
36879
36880 These preparations are the most efficient therapeutic agents that have
36881 yet been employed in the treatment of syphilis.
36882
36883 The manifestations of the disease disappear with remarkable rapidity.
36884 Observations show that the spirochaetes lose their capacity for movement
36885 within an hour or two of the administration, and usually disappear
36886 altogether in from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Wassermann's
36887 reaction usually yields a negative result in from three weeks to two
36888 months, but later may again become positive. Subsequent doses of the
36889 arsenical preparation are therefore usually indicated, and should be
36890 given in from 7 to 21 days according to the dose.
36891
36892 When syphilis occurs in a _pregnant woman_, she should be given in the
36893 early months an ordinary course of "914," followed by 10-grain doses of
36894 potassium iodide twice daily. The injections may be repeated two months
36895 later, and during the remainder of the pregnancy 2-grain mercury pills
36896 are given twice daily (A. Campbell). The presence of albumen in the
36897 urine contra-indicates arsenical treatment.
36898
36899 It need scarcely be pointed out that the use of powerful drugs like
36900 "606" and "914" is not free from risk; it may be mentioned that each
36901 dose contains nearly three grains of arsenic. Before the administration
36902 the patient must be overhauled; its administration is contra-indicated
36903 in the presence of disease of the heart and blood vessels, especially a
36904 combination of syphilitic aortitis and sclerosis of the coronary
36905 arteries, with degeneration of the heart muscle; in affections of the
36906 central nervous system, especially advanced paralysis, and in such
36907 disturbances of metabolism as are associated with diabetes and Bright's
36908 disease. Its use is not contra-indicated in any lesion of active
36909 syphilis.
36910
36911 The administration is controlled by the systematic examination of the
36912 urine for arsenic.
36913
36914 _The Administration of Mercury._--The success of the arsenical
36915 preparations has diminished the importance of mercury in the treatment
36916 of syphilis, but it is still used to supplement the effect of the
36917 injections. The amount of mercury to be given in any case must be
36918 proportioned to the idiosyncrasies of the patient, and it is advisable,
36919 before commencing the treatment, to test his urine and record his
36920 body-weight. The small amount of mercury given at the outset is
36921 gradually increased. If the body-weight falls, or if the gums become
36922 sore and the breath foul, the mercury should be stopped for a time. If
36923 salivation occurs, the drinking of hot water and the taking of hot baths
36924 should be insisted upon, and half-dram doses of the alkaline sulphates
36925 prescribed.
36926
36927 _Methods of Administering Mercury._--(1) _By the Mouth._--This was for
36928 long the most popular method in this country, the preparation usually
36929 employed being grey powder, in pills or tablets, each of which contains
36930 one grain of the powder. Three of these are given daily in the first
36931 instance, and the daily dose is increased to five or even seven grains
36932 till the standard for the individual patient is arrived at. As the grey
36933 powder alone sometimes causes irritation of the bowels, it should be
36934 combined with iron, as in the following formula: Hydrarg. c. cret. gr. 1;
36935 ferri sulph. exsiccat. gr. 1 or 2.
36936
36937 (2) _By Inunction._--Inunction consists in rubbing into the pores of the
36938 skin an ointment composed of equal parts of 20 per cent. oleate of
36939 mercury and lanolin. Every night after a hot bath, a dram of the
36940 ointment (made up by the chemist in paper packets) is rubbed for fifteen
36941 minutes into the skin where it is soft and comparatively free from
36942 hairs. When the patient has been brought under the influence of the
36943 mercury, inunction may be replaced by one of the other methods, of
36944 administering the drug.
36945
36946 (3) _By Intra-muscular Injection._--This consists in introducing the
36947 drug by means of a hypodermic syringe into the substance of the gluteal
36948 muscles. The syringe is made of glass, and has a solid glass piston; the
36949 needle of platino-iridium should be 5 cm. long and of a larger calibre
36950 than the ordinary hypodermic needle. The preparation usually employed
36951 consists of: metallic mercury or calomel 1 dram, lanolin and olive oil
36952 each 2 drams; it must be warmed to allow of its passage through the
36953 needle. Five minims--containing one grain of metallic mercury--represent
36954 a dose, and this is injected into the muscles above and behind the great
36955 trochanter once a week. The contents of the syringe are slowly
36956 expressed, and, after withdrawing the needle, gentle massage of the
36957 buttock should be employed. Four courses each of ten injections are
36958 given the first year, three courses of the same number during the second
36959 and third years, and two courses during the fourth year (Lambkin).
36960
36961 _The General Health._--The patient must lead a regular life and
36962 cultivate the fresh-air habit, which is as beneficial in syphilis as in
36963 tuberculosis. Anaemia, malaria, and other sources of debility must
36964 receive appropriate treatment. The diet should be simple and easily
36965 digested, and should include a full supply of milk. Alcohol is
36966 prohibited. The excretory organs are encouraged to act by the liberal
36967 drinking of hot water between meals, say five or six tumblerfuls in the
36968 twenty-four hours. The functions of the skin are further aided by
36969 frequent hot baths, and by the wearing of warm underclothing. While the
36970 patient should avoid exposure to cold, and taxing his energies by undue
36971 exertion, he should be advised to take exercise in the open air. On
36972 account of the liability to lesions of the mouth and throat, he should
36973 use tobacco in moderation, his teeth should be thoroughly overhauled by
36974 the dentist, and he should brush them after every meal, using an
36975 antiseptic tooth powder or wash. The mouth and throat should be rinsed
36976 out night and morning with a solution of chlorate of potash and alum, or
36977 with peroxide of hydrogen.
36978
36979 _Treatment of the Local Manifestations._--_The skin lesions_ are treated
36980 on the same lines as similar eruptions of other origin. As local
36981 applications, preparations of mercury are usually selected, notably the
36982 ointments of the red oxide of mercury, ammoniated mercury, or oleate of
36983 mercury (5 per cent.), or the mercurial plaster introduced by Unna. In
36984 the treatment of condylomata the greatest attention must be paid to
36985 cleanliness and dryness. After washing and drying the affected patches,
36986 they are dusted with a powder consisting of equal parts of calomel and
36987 carbonate of zinc; and apposed skin surfaces, such as the nates or
36988 labia, are separated by sublimate wool. In the ulcers of later secondary
36989 syphilis, crusts are got rid of in the first instance by means of a
36990 boracic poultice, after which a piece of lint or gauze cut to the size
36991 of the ulcer and soaked in black wash is applied and covered with
36992 oil-silk. If the ulcer tends to spread in area or in depth, it should be
36993 scraped with a sharp spoon, and painted over with acid nitrate of
36994 mercury, or a local hyperaemia may be induced by Klapp's suction
36995 apparatus.
36996
36997 _In lesions of the mouth and throat_, the teeth should be attended to;
36998 the best local application is a solution of chromic acid--10 grains to
36999 the ounce--painted on with a brush once daily. If this fails, the
37000 lesions may be dusted with calomel the last thing at night. For deep
37001 ulcers of the throat the patient should gargle frequently with chlorine
37002 water or with perchloride of mercury (1 in 2000); if the ulcer continues
37003 to spread it should be painted with acid nitrate of mercury.
37004
37005 In the treatment of _iritis_ the eyes are shaded from the light and
37006 completely rested, and the pupil is well dilated by atropin to prevent
37007 adhesions. If there is much pain, a blister may be applied to the
37008 temple.
37009
37010 _The Relations of Syphilis to Marriage._--Before the introduction of the
37011 Ehrlich-Hata treatment no patient was allowed to marry until three years
37012 had elapsed after the disappearance of the last manifestation. While
37013 marriage might be entered upon under these conditions without risk of
37014 the husband infecting the wife, the possibility of his conveying the
37015 disease to the offspring cannot be absolutely excluded. It is
37016 recommended, as a precautionary measure, to give a further mercurial
37017 course of two or three months' duration before marriage, and an
37018 intravenous injection of an arsenical preparation.
37019
37020 #Intermediate Stage.#--After the dying away of the secondary
37021 manifestations and before the appearance of tertiary lesions, the
37022 patient may present certain symptoms which Hutchinson called
37023 _reminders_. These usually consist of relapses of certain of the
37024 affections of the skin, mouth, or throat, already described. In the
37025 skin, they may assume the form of peeling patches in the palms, or may
37026 appear as spreading and confluent circles of a scaly papular eruption,
37027 which if neglected may lead to the formation of fissures and superficial
37028 ulcers. Less frequently there is a relapse of the eye affections, or of
37029 paralytic symptoms from disease of the cerebral arteries.
37030
37031 #Tertiary Syphilis.#--While the manifestations of primary and secondary
37032 syphilis are common, those of the tertiary period are by comparison
37033 rare, and are observed chiefly in those who have either neglected
37034 treatment or who have had their powers of resistance lowered by
37035 privation, by alcoholic indulgence, or by tropical disease.
37036
37037 It is to be borne in mind that in a certain proportion of men and in a
37038 larger proportion of women, the patient has no knowledge of having
37039 suffered from syphilis. Certain slight but important signs may give the
37040 clue in a number of cases, such as irregularity of the pupils or failure
37041 to react to light, abnormality of the reflexes, and the discovery of
37042 patches of leucoplakia on the tongue, cheek, or palate.
37043
37044 The _general character of tertiary manifestations_ may be stated as
37045 follows: They attack by preference the tissues derived from the
37046 mesoblastic layer of the embryo--the cellular tissue, bones, muscles,
37047 and viscera. They are often localised to one particular tissue or organ,
37048 such, for example, as the subcutaneous cellular tissue, the bones, or
37049 the liver, and they are rarely symmetrical. They are usually aggressive
37050 and persistent, with little tendency to natural cure, and they may be
37051 dangerous to life, because of the destructive changes produced in such
37052 organs as the brain or the larynx. They are remarkably amenable to
37053 treatment if instituted before the stage which is attended with
37054 destruction of tissue is reached. Early tertiary lesions may be
37055 infective, and the disease may be transmitted by the discharges from
37056 them; but the later the lesions the less is the risk of their containing
37057 an infective virus.
37058
37059 The most prominent feature of tertiary syphilis consists in the
37060 formation of granulation tissue, and this takes place on a scale
37061 considerably larger than that observed in lesions of the secondary
37062 period. The granulation tissue frequently forms a definite swelling or
37063 tumour-like mass (syphiloma), which, from its peculiar elastic
37064 consistence, is known as a _gumma_. In its early stages a gumma is a
37065 firm, semi-translucent greyish or greyish-red mass of tissue; later it
37066 becomes opaque, yellow, and caseous, with a tendency to soften and
37067 liquefy. The gumma does harm by displacing and replacing the normal
37068 tissue elements of the part affected, and by involving these in the
37069 degenerative changes, of the nature of caseation and necrosis, which
37070 produce the destructive lesions of the skin, mucous membranes, and
37071 internal organs. This is true not only of the circumscribed gumma, but
37072 of the condition known as _gummatous infiltration_ or _syphilitic
37073 cirrhosis_, in which the granulation tissue is diffused throughout the
37074 connective-tissue framework of such organs as the tongue or liver. Both
37075 the gummatous lesions and the fibrosis of tertiary syphilis are directly
37076 excited by the spirochaetes.
37077
37078 The life-history of an untreated gumma varies with its environment. When
37079 protected from injury and irritation in the substance of an internal
37080 organ such as the liver, it may become encapsulated by fibrous tissue,
37081 and persist in this condition for an indefinite period, or it may be
37082 absorbed and leave in its place a fibrous cicatrix. In the interior of a
37083 long bone it may replace the rigid framework of the shaft to such an
37084 extent as to lead to pathological fracture. If it is near the surface of
37085 the body--as, for example, in the subcutaneous or submucous cellular
37086 tissue, or in the periosteum of a superficial bone, such as the palate,
37087 the skull, or the tibia--the tissue of which it is composed is apt to
37088 undergo necrosis, in which the overlying skin or mucous membrane
37089 frequently participates, the result being an ulcer--the tertiary
37090 syphilitic ulcer (Figs. 40 and 41).
37091
37092 _Tertiary Lesions of the Skin and Subcutaneous Cellular Tissue._--The
37093 clinical features of a _subcutaneous gumma_ are those of an indolent,
37094 painless, elastic swelling, varying in size from a pea to an almond or
37095 walnut. After a variable period it usually softens in the centre, the
37096 skin over it becomes livid and dusky, and finally separates as a slough,
37097 exposing the tissue of the gumma, which sometimes appears as a mucoid,
37098 yellowish, honey-like substance, more frequently as a sodden, caseated
37099 tissue resembling wash-leather. The caseated tissue of a gumma differs
37100 from that of a tuberculous lesion in being tough and firm, of a buff
37101 colour like wash-leather, or whitish, like boiled fish. The degenerated
37102 tissue separates slowly and gradually, and in untreated cases may be
37103 visible for weeks in the floor of the ulcer.
37104
37105 [Illustration: FIG. 40.--Ulcerating Gumma of Lips.
37106
37107 (From a photograph lent by Dr. Stopford Taylor and Dr. R. W. Mackenna.)]
37108
37109 _The tertiary ulcer_ may be situated anywhere, but is most frequently
37110 met with on the leg, especially in the region of the knee (Fig. 42) and
37111 over the calf. There may be one or more ulcers, and also scars of
37112 antecedent ulcers. The edges are sharply cut, as if punched out; the
37113 margins are rounded in outline, firm, and congested; the base is
37114 occupied by gummatous tissue, or, if this has already separated and
37115 sloughed out, by unhealthy granulations and a thick purulent discharge.
37116 When the ulcer has healed it leaves a scar which is depressed, and if
37117 over a bone, is adherent to it. The features of the tertiary ulcer,
37118 however, are not always so characteristic as the above description would
37119 imply. It is to be diagnosed from the "leg ulcer," which occurs almost
37120 exclusively on the lower third of the leg; from Bazin's disease (p. 74);
37121 from the ulcers that result from certain forms of malignant disease,
37122 such as rodent cancer, and from those met with in chronic glanders.
37123
37124 _Gummatous Infiltration of the Skin_ ("Syphilitic Lupus").--This is a
37125 lesion, met with chiefly on the face and in the region of the external
37126 genitals, in which the skin becomes infiltrated with granulation tissue
37127 so that it is thickened, raised above the surface, and of a brownish-red
37128 colour. It appears as isolated nodules, which may fuse together; the
37129 epidermis becomes scaly and is shed, giving rise to superficial ulcers
37130 which are usually covered by crusted discharge. The disease tends to
37131 spread, creeping over the skin with a serpiginous, crescentic, or
37132 horse-shoe margin, while the central portion may heal and leave a scar.
37133 From the fact of its healing in the centre while it spreads at the
37134 margin, it may resemble tuberculous disease of the skin. It can usually
37135 be differentiated by observing that the infiltration is on a larger
37136 scale; the progress is much more rapid, involving in the course of
37137 months an area which in the case of tuberculosis would require as many
37138 years; the scars are sounder and are less liable to break down again;
37139 and the disease rapidly yields to anti-syphilitic treatment.
37140
37141 [Illustration: FIG. 41.--Ulceration of nineteen year's duration
37142 in a woman aet. 24, the subject of inherited syphilis, showing active
37143 ulceration, cicatricial contraction, and sabre-blade deformity of
37144 tibiae.]
37145
37146 _Tertiary lesions of mucous membrane and of the submucous cellular
37147 tissue_ are met with chiefly in the tongue, nose, throat, larynx, and
37148 rectum. They originate as gummata or as gummatous infiltrations, which
37149 are liable to break down and lead to the formation of ulcers which may
37150 prove locally destructive, and, in such situations as the larynx, even
37151 dangerous to life. In the tongue the tertiary ulcer may prove the
37152 starting-point of cancer; and in the larynx or rectum the healing of the
37153 ulcer may lead to cicatricial stenosis.
37154
37155 Tertiary lesions of the _bones and joints_, of the _muscles_, and of the
37156 _internal organs_, will be described under these heads. The part played
37157 by syphilis in the production of disease of arteries and of aneurysm
37158 will be referred to along with diseases of blood vessels.
37159
37160 [Illustration: FIG. 42.--Tertiary Syphilitic Ulceration in region of
37161 Knee and on both Thumbs of woman aet. 37.]
37162
37163 _Treatment._--The most valuable drugs for the treatment of the
37164 manifestations of the tertiary period are the arsenical preparations and
37165 the iodides of sodium and potassium. On account of their depressing
37166 effects, the latter are frequently prescribed along with carbonate of
37167 ammonium. The dose is usually a matter of experiment in each individual
37168 case; 5 grains three times a day may suffice, or it may be necessary to
37169 increase each dose to 20 or 25 grains. The symptoms of iodism which may
37170 follow from the smaller doses usually disappear on giving a larger
37171 amount of the drug. It should be taken after meals, with abundant water
37172 or other fluid, especially if given in tablet form. It is advisable to
37173 continue the iodides for from one to three months after the lesions for
37174 which they are given have cleared up. If the potassium salt is not
37175 tolerated, it may be replaced by the ammonium or sodium iodide.
37176
37177 _Local Treatment._--The absorption of a subcutaneous gumma is often
37178 hastened by the application of a fly-blister. When a gumma has broken on
37179 the surface and caused an ulcer, this is treated on general principles,
37180 with a preference, however, for applications containing mercury or
37181 iodine, or both. If a wet dressing is required to cleanse the ulcer,
37182 black wash may be used; if a powder to promote dryness, one containing
37183 iodoform; if an ointment is indicated, the choice lies between the red
37184 oxide of mercury or the dilute nitrate of mercury ointment, and one
37185 consisting of equal parts of lanolin and vaselin with 2 per cent. of
37186 iodine. Deep ulcers, and obstinate lesions of the bones, larynx, and
37187 other parts may be treated by excision or scraping with the sharp spoon.
37188
37189 #Second Attacks of Syphilis.#--Instances of re-infection of syphilis
37190 have been recorded with greater frequency since the more general
37191 introduction of arsenical treatment. A remarkable feature in such cases
37192 is the shortness of the interval between the original infection and the
37193 alleged re-infection; in a recent series of twenty-eight cases, this
37194 interval was less than a year. Another feature of interest is that when
37195 patients in the tertiary stage of syphilis are inoculated with the virus
37196 from lesions from these in the primary and secondary stage lesions of
37197 the tertiary type are produced.
37198
37199 Reference may be made to the #relapsing false indurated chancre#,
37200 described by Hutchinson and by Fournier, as it may be the source of
37201 difficulty in diagnosis. A patient who has had an infecting chancre one
37202 or more years before, may present a slightly raised induration on the
37203 penis at or close to the site of his original sore. This relapsed
37204 induration is often so like that of a primary chancre that it is
37205 impossible to distinguish between them, except by the history. If there
37206 has been a recent exposure to venereal infection, it is liable to be
37207 regarded as the primary lesion of a second attack of syphilis, but the
37208 further progress shows that neither bullet-buboes nor secondary
37209 manifestations develop. These facts, together with the disappearance of
37210 the induration under treatment, make it very likely that the lesion is
37211 really gummatous in character.
37212
37213
37214 INHERITED SYPHILIS
37215
37216 One of the most striking features of syphilis is that it may be
37217 transmitted from infected parents to their offspring, the children
37218 exhibiting the manifestations that characterise the acquired form of the
37219 disease.
37220
37221 The more recent the syphilis in the parent, the greater is the risk of
37222 the disease being communicated to the offspring; so that if either
37223 parent suffers from secondary syphilis the infection is almost
37224 inevitably transmitted.
37225
37226 While it is certain that either parent may be responsible for
37227 transmitting the disease to the next generation, the method of
37228 transmission is not known. In the case of a syphilitic mother it is most
37229 probable that the infection is conveyed to the foetus by the placental
37230 circulation. In the case of a syphilitic father, it is commonly believed
37231 that the infection is conveyed to the ovum through the seminal fluid at
37232 the moment of conception. If a series of children, one after the other,
37233 suffer from inherited syphilis, it is almost invariably the case that
37234 the mother has been infected.
37235
37236 In contrast to the acquired form, inherited syphilis is remarkable for
37237 the absence of any primary stage, the infection being a general one from
37238 the outset. The spirochaete is demonstrated in incredible numbers in the
37239 liver, spleen, lung, and other organs, and in the nasal secretion, and,
37240 from any of these, successful inoculations in monkeys can readily be
37241 made. The manifestations differ in degree rather than in kind from those
37242 of the acquired disease; the difference is partly due to the fact that
37243 the virus is attacking developing instead of fully formed tissues.
37244
37245 The virus exercises an injurious influence on the foetus, which in many
37246 cases dies during the early months of intra-uterine life, so that
37247 miscarriage results, and this may take place in repeated pregnancies,
37248 the date at which the miscarriage occurs becoming later as the virus in
37249 the mother becomes attenuated. Eventually a child is carried to full
37250 term, and it may be still-born, or, if born alive, may suffer from
37251 syphilitic manifestations. It is difficult to explain such vagaries of
37252 syphilitic inheritance as the infection of one twin and the escape of
37253 the other.
37254
37255 _Clinical Features._--We are not here concerned with the severe forms of
37256 the disease which prove fatal, but with the milder forms in which the
37257 infant is apparently healthy when born, but after from two to six weeks
37258 begins to show evidence of the syphilitic taint.
37259
37260 The usual phenomena are that the child ceases to thrive, becomes thin
37261 and sallow, and suffers from eruptions on the skin and mucous membranes.
37262 There is frequently a condition known as _snuffles_, in which the nasal
37263 passages are obstructed by an accumulation of thin muco-purulent
37264 discharge which causes the breathing to be noisy. It usually begins
37265 within a month after birth and before the eruptions on the skin appear.
37266 When long continued it is liable to interfere with the development of
37267 the nasal bones, so that when the child grows up there results a
37268 condition known as the "saddle-nose" deformity (Figs. 43 and 44).
37269
37270 [Illustration: FIG. 43.--Facies of Inherited Syphilis.
37271
37272 (From Dr. Byrom Bramwell's _Atlas of Clinical Medicine_.)]
37273
37274 _Affections of the Skin._--Although all types of skin affection are met
37275 with in the inherited disease, the most important is a _papular_
37276 eruption, the papules being of large size, with a smooth shining top and
37277 of a reddish-brown colour. It affects chiefly the buttocks and thighs,
37278 the genitals, and other parts which are constantly moist. It is
37279 necessary to distinguish this specific eruption from a form of eczema
37280 which occurs in these situations in non-syphilitic children, the points
37281 that characterise the syphilitic condition being the infiltration of the
37282 skin and the coppery colour of the eruption. At the anus the papules
37283 acquire the characters of _condylomata_, also at the angles of the
37284 mouth, where they often ulcerate and leave radiating scars.
37285
37286 _Affections of the Mucous Membranes._--The inflammation of the nasal
37287 mucous membrane that causes snuffles has already been referred to. There
37288 may be mucous patches in the mouth, or a stomatitis which is of
37289 importance, because it results in interference with the development of
37290 the permanent teeth. The mucous membrane of the larynx may be the seat
37291 of mucous patches or of catarrh, and as a result the child's cry is
37292 hoarse.
37293
37294 _Affections of the Bones._--Swellings at the ends of the long bones, due
37295 to inflammation at the epiphysial junctions, are most often observed at
37296 the upper end of the humerus and in the bones in the region of the
37297 elbow. Partial displacement and mobility at the ossifying junction may
37298 be observed. The infant cries when the part is touched; and as it does
37299 not move the limb voluntarily, the condition is spoken of as _the
37300 pseudo-paralysis of syphilis_. Recovery takes place under
37301 anti-syphilitic treatment and immobilisation of the limb.
37302
37303 Diffuse thickening of the shafts of the long bones, due to a deposit of
37304 new bone by the periosteum, is sometimes met with.
37305
37306 [Illustration: FIG. 44.--Facies of Inherited Syphilis.]
37307
37308 The conditions of the skull known as Parrot's nodes or bosses, and
37309 craniotabes, were formerly believed to be characteristic of inherited
37310 syphilis, but they are now known to occur, particularly in rickety
37311 children, from other causes. The _bosses_ result from the heaping up of
37312 new spongy bone beneath the pericranium, and they may be grouped
37313 symmetrically around the anterior fontanelle, or may extend along either
37314 side of the sagittal suture, which appears as a deep groove--the
37315 "natiform skull." The bosses disappear in time, but the skull may remain
37316 permanently altered in shape, the frontal and parietal eminences
37317 appearing unduly prominent. The term _craniotabes_ is applied when the
37318 bone becomes thin and soft, reverting to its original membranous
37319 condition, so that the affected areas dimple under the finger like
37320 parchment or thin cardboard; its localisation in the posterior parts of
37321 the skull suggests that the disappearance of the osseous tissue is
37322 influenced by the pressure of the head on the pillow. Craniotabes is
37323 recovered from as the child improves in health.
37324
37325 Between the ages of three and six months, certain other phenomena may be
37326 met with, such as _effusion into the joints_, especially the knees;
37327 _iritis_, in one or in both eyes, and enlargement of the spleen and
37328 liver.
37329
37330 In the majority of cases the child recovers from these early
37331 manifestations, especially when efficiently treated, and may enjoy an
37332 indefinite period of good health. On the other hand, when it attains the
37333 age of from two to four years, it may begin to manifest lesions which
37334 correspond to those of the tertiary period of acquired syphilis.
37335
37336 #Later Lesions.#--In the skin and subcutaneous tissue, the later
37337 manifestations may take the form of localised gummata, which tend to
37338 break down and form ulcers, on the leg for example, or of a spreading
37339 gummatous infiltration which is also liable to ulcerate, leaving
37340 disfiguring scars, especially on the face. The palate and fauces may be
37341 destroyed by ulceration. In the nose, especially when the ulcerative
37342 process is associated with a putrid discharge--ozaena--the destruction of
37343 tissue may be considerable and result in unsightly deformity. The entire
37344 palatal portions of the upper jaws, the vomer, turbinate, and other
37345 bones bounding the nasal and oral cavities, may disappear, so that on
37346 looking into the mouth the base of the skull is readily seen. Gummatous
37347 disease is frequently observed also in the flat bones of the skull, in
37348 the bones of the hand, as syphilitic dactylitis, and in the bones of the
37349 forearm and leg. When the tibia is affected the disease is frequently
37350 bilateral, and may assume the form of gummatous ulcers and sinuses. In
37351 later years the tibia may present alterations in shape resulting from
37352 antecedent gummatous disease--for example, nodular thickenings of the
37353 shaft, flattening of the crest, or a more uniform increase in thickness
37354 and length of the shaft of the bone, which, when it is curved in
37355 addition, is described as the "sabre-blade" deformity. Among lesions of
37356 the viscera, mention should be made of gumma of the testis, which causes
37357 the organ to become enlarged, uneven, and indurated. This has even been
37358 observed in infants a few months old.
37359
37360 Occasionally a syphilitic child suffers from a succession of these
37361 gummatous lesions with resulting ill-health, and, it may be, waxy
37362 disease of the internal organs; on the other hand, it may recover and
37363 present no further manifestations of the inherited taint.
37364
37365 _Affections of the Eyes._--At or near puberty there is frequently
37366 observed an affection of the eyes, known as _chronic interstitial
37367 keratitis_, the relationship of which to inherited syphilis was first
37368 established by Hutchinson. It occurs between the ages of six and sixteen
37369 years, and usually affects one eye before the other. It commences as a
37370 diffuse haziness or steaminess near the centre of the cornea, and as it
37371 spreads the entire cornea assumes the appearance of ground glass. The
37372 chief complaint is of dimness of sight, which may almost amount to
37373 blindness, but there is little pain or photophobia; a certain amount of
37374 conjunctival and ciliary congestion is usually present, and there may be
37375 _iritis_ in addition. The cornea, or parts of it, may become of a deep
37376 pink or salmon colour from the formation in it of new blood vessels. The
37377 affection may last for from eighteen months to two years. Complete
37378 recovery usually takes place, but slight opacities, especially in the
37379 site of former salmon patches, may persist, and the disease occasionally
37380 relapses. _Choroiditis_ and _retinitis_ may also occur, and leave
37381 permanent changes easily recognised on examination with the
37382 ophthalmoscope.
37383
37384 Among the rarer and more serious lesions of the inherited disease may be
37385 mentioned gummatous disease in the _larynx and trachea_, attended with
37386 ulceration and resulting in stenosis; and lesions of the _nervous
37387 system_ which may result in convulsions, paralysis, or dementia.
37388
37389 In a limited number of cases, about the period of puberty there may
37390 develop _deafness_, which is usually bilateral and may become absolute.
37391
37392 _Changes in the Permanent Teeth._--These affect specially the upper
37393 central incisors, which are dwarfed and stand somewhat apart in the gum,
37394 with their free edges converging towards one another. They are tapering
37395 or peg-shaped, and present at their cutting margin a deep semilunar
37396 notch. These appearances are commonly associated with the name of
37397 Hutchinson, who first described them. Affecting as they do the
37398 permanent teeth, they are not available for diagnosis until the child is
37399 over eight years of age. Henry Moon drew attention to a change in the
37400 first molars; these are reduced in size and dome-shaped through dwarfing
37401 of the central tubercle of each cusp.
37402
37403 #Diagnosis of Inherited Syphilis.#--When there is a typical eruption on
37404 the buttocks and snuffles there is no difficulty in recognising the
37405 disease. When, however, the rash is scanty or is obscured by co-existing
37406 eczema, most reliance should be placed on the distribution of the
37407 eruption, on the brown stains which are left after it has passed off, on
37408 the presence of condylomata, and of fissuring and scarring at the angles
37409 of the mouth. The history of the mother relative to repeated
37410 miscarriages and still-born children may afford confirmatory evidence.
37411 In doubtful cases, the diagnosis may be aided by the Wassermann test and
37412 by noting the therapeutic effects of grey powder, which, in syphilitic
37413 infants, usually effects a marked and rapid improvement both in the
37414 symptoms and in the general health.
37415
37416 While a considerable number of syphilitic children grow up without
37417 showing any trace of their syphilitic inheritance, the majority retain
37418 throughout life one or more of the following characteristics, which may
37419 therefore be described as _permanent signs of the inherited disease_:
37420 Dwarfing of stature from interference with growth at the epiphysial
37421 junctions; the forehead low and vertical, and the parietal and frontal
37422 eminences unduly prominent; the bridge of the nose sunken and rounded;
37423 radiating scars at the angles of the mouth; perforation or destruction
37424 of the hard palate; Hutchinson's teeth; opacities of the cornea from
37425 antecedent keratitis; alterations in the fundus oculi from choroiditis;
37426 deafness; depressed scars or nodes on the bones from previous gummata;
37427 "sabre-blade" or other deformity of the tibiae.
37428
37429 #The Contagiousness of Inherited Syphilis.#--In 1837, Colles of Dublin
37430 stated his belief that, while a syphilitic infant may convey the disease
37431 to a healthy wet nurse, it is incapable of infecting its own mother if
37432 nursed by her, even although she may never have shown symptoms of the
37433 disease. This doctrine, which is known as _Colles' law_, is generally
37434 accepted in spite of the alleged occurrence of occasional exceptions.
37435 The older the child, the less risk there is of its communicating the
37436 disease to others, until eventually the tendency dies out altogether, as
37437 it does in the tertiary period of acquired syphilis. It should be
37438 added, however, that the contagiousness of inherited syphilis is denied
37439 by some observers, who affirm that, when syphilitic infants prove
37440 infective, the disease has been really acquired at or soon after birth.
37441
37442 There is general agreement that the subjects of inherited syphilis
37443 cannot transmit the disease by inheritance to their offspring, and that,
37444 although they very rarely acquire the disease _de novo_, it is possible
37445 for them to do so.
37446
37447 #Prognosis of Inherited Syphilis.#--Although inherited syphilis is
37448 responsible for a large but apparently diminishing mortality in infancy,
37449 the subjects of this disease may grow up to be as strong and healthy as
37450 their neighbours. Hutchinson insisted on the fact that there is little
37451 bad health in the general community that can be attributed to inherited
37452 syphilis.
37453
37454 #Treatment.#--Arsenical injections are as beneficial in the inherited as
37455 in the acquired disease. An infant the subject of inherited syphilis
37456 should, if possible, be nursed by its mother, and failing this it should
37457 be fed by hand. In infants at the breast, the drug may be given to the
37458 mother; in others, it is administered in the same manner as already
37459 described--only in smaller doses. On the first appearance of syphilitic
37460 manifestations it should be given 0.05 grm, novarsenbillon, injected
37461 into the deep subcutaneous tissues every week for six weeks, followed by
37462 one year's mercurial inunction--a piece of mercurial ointment the size
37463 of a pea being inserted under the infant's binder. In older children the
37464 dose is proportionately increased. The general health should be improved
37465 in every possible direction; considerable benefit may be derived from
37466 the use of cod-liver oil, and from preparations containing iron and
37467 calcium. Surgical interference may be required in the destructive
37468 gummatous lesions of the nose, throat, larynx, and bones, either with
37469 the object of arresting the spread of the disease, or of removing or
37470 alleviating the resulting deformities. In children suffering from
37471 keratitis, the eyes should be protected from the light by smoked or
37472 coloured glasses, and the pupils should be dilated with atropin from
37473 time to time, especially in cases complicated with iritis.
37474
37475 #Acquired Syphilis in Infants and Young Children.#--When syphilis is met
37476 with in infants and young children, it is apt to be taken for granted
37477 that the disease has been inherited. It is possible, however, for them
37478 to acquire the disease--as, for example, while passing through the
37479 maternal passages during birth, through being nursed or kissed by
37480 infected women, or through the rite of circumcision. The risk of
37481 infection which formerly existed by the arm-to-arm method of
37482 vaccination has been abolished by the use of calf lymph.
37483
37484 The clinical features of the acquired disease in infants and young
37485 children are similar to those observed in the adult, with a tendency,
37486 however, to be more severe, probably because the disease is often late
37487 in being recognised and treated.
37488
37489
37490
37491
37492 CHAPTER X
37493
37494 TUMOURS[2]
37495
37496
37497 Definition--Etiology--General characters of innocent and malignant
37498 tumours. CLASSIFICATION OF TUMOURS: I. Connective-tissue tumours:
37499 (1) _Innocent_: _Lipoma_, _Xanthoma_, _Chondroma_, _Osteoma_,
37500 _Odontoma_, _Fibroma_, _Myxoma_, _Endothelioma_, etc.; (2)
37501 _Malignant_: _Sarcoma_--II. Epithelial tumours: (1) _Innocent_:
37502 _Papilloma_, _Adenoma_, _Cystic Adenoma_; (2) _Malignant_:
37503 _Epithelioma_, _Glandular Cancer_, _Rodent Cancer_, _Melanotic
37504 Cancer_--III. Dermoids--IV. Teratoma. Cysts: _Retention_,
37505 _Exudation_, _Implantation_, _Parasitic_, _Lymphatic or Serous_.
37506 Ganglion.
37507
37508 [2] For the histology of tumours the reader is referred to a text-book
37509 of pathology.
37510
37511 A tumour or neoplasm is a localised swelling composed of newly formed
37512 tissue which fulfils no physiological function. Tumours increase in size
37513 quite independently of the growth of the body, and there is no natural
37514 termination to their growth. They are to be distinguished from such
37515 over-growths as are of the nature of simple hypertrophy or local
37516 giantism, and also from inflammatory swellings, which usually develop
37517 under the influence of a definite cause, have a natural termination, and
37518 tend to disappear when the cause ceases to act.
37519
37520 The _etiology of tumours_ is imperfectly understood. Various factors,
37521 acting either singly or in combination, may be concerned in their
37522 development. Certain tumours, for example, are the result of some
37523 congenital malformation of the particular tissue from which they take
37524 origin. This would appear to be the case in many tumours of blood
37525 vessels (angioma), of cartilage (chondroma), of bone (osteoma), and of
37526 secreting gland tissue (adenoma). The theory that tumours originate from
37527 foetal residues or "rests," is associated with the name of Cohnheim.
37528 These rests are supposed to be undifferentiated embryonic cells which
37529 remain embedded amongst fully formed tissue elements, and lie dormant
37530 until they are excited into active growth and give rise to a tumour.
37531 This mode of origin is illustrated by the development of dermoids from
37532 sequestrated portions of epidermis.
37533
37534 Among the local factors concerned in the development of tumours,
37535 reference must be made to the influence of irritation. This is probably
37536 an important agent in the causation of many of the tumours met with in
37537 the skin and in mucous membranes--for example, cancer of the skin, of
37538 the lip, and of the tongue. The part played by injury is doubtful. It
37539 not infrequently happens that the development of a tumour is preceded by
37540 an injury of the part in which it grows, but it does not necessarily
37541 follow that the injury and the tumour are related as cause and effect.
37542 It is possible that an injury may stimulate into active growth
37543 undifferentiated tissue elements or "rests," and so determine the growth
37544 of a tumour, or that it may alter the characters of a tumour which
37545 already exists, causing it to grow more rapidly.
37546
37547 The popular belief that there is some constitutional peculiarity
37548 concerned in the causation of tumours is largely based on the fact that
37549 certain forms of new growth--for example, cancer--are known to occur
37550 with undue frequency in certain families. The same influence is more
37551 striking in the case of certain innocent tumours--particularly multiple
37552 osteomas and lipomas--which are hereditary in the same sense as
37553 supernumerary or webbed fingers, and appear in members of the same
37554 family through several generations.
37555
37556
37557 INNOCENT AND MALIGNANT TUMOURS
37558
37559 For clinical purposes, tumours are arbitrarily divided into two
37560 classes--the innocent and the malignant. The outstanding difference
37561 between them is, that while the evil effects of innocent tumours are
37562 entirely local and depend for their severity on the environment of the
37563 growth, malignant tumours wherever situated, in addition to producing
37564 similar local effects, injure the general health and ultimately cause
37565 death.
37566
37567 _Innocent_, benign, or simple tumours present a close structural
37568 resemblance to the normal tissues of the body. They grow slowly, and are
37569 usually definitely circumscribed by a fibrous capsule, from which they
37570 are easily enucleated, and they do not tend to recur after removal. In
37571 their growth they merely push aside and compress adjacent parts, and
37572 they present no tendency to ulcerate and bleed unless the overlying skin
37573 or mucous membrane is injured. Although usually solitary, some are
37574 multiple from the outset--for example, fatty, fibrous, and bony tumours,
37575 warts, and fibroid tumours of the uterus. They produce no constitutional
37576 disturbance. They only threaten life when growing in the vicinity of
37577 vital organs, and then only in virtue of their situation--for example,
37578 death may result from an innocent tumour in the air-passage causing
37579 suffocation, in the intestine causing obstruction of the bowels, or in
37580 the vertebral canal causing pressure on the spinal medulla.
37581
37582 _Malignant tumours_ usually show a marked departure from the structure
37583 and arrangement of the normal tissues of the body. Although the cells of
37584 which they are composed are derived from normal tissue cells, they tend
37585 to take on a lower, more vegetative form; they may be regarded as
37586 parasites living at the expense of the organism, multiplying
37587 indefinitely and destroying everything with which they come in contact.
37588
37589 Malignant tumours grow more rapidly than innocent tumours, and tend to
37590 infiltrate their surroundings by sending out prolongations or offshoots;
37591 they are therefore liable to recur after an operation which is
37592 restricted to the removal of the main tumour. They are not encapsulated,
37593 although they may appear to be circumscribed by condensation of the
37594 surrounding tissues; they are rarely multiple at the outset, but show a
37595 marked tendency to spread to other parts of the body. Fragments of the
37596 parent tumour may become separated and be carried off in the lymph or
37597 blood-stream and deposited in other parts of the body, where they give
37598 rise to secondary growths. Malignant tumours tend to invade and destroy
37599 the overlying skin or mucous membrane, and thus give rise to bleeding
37600 ulcers; if the tumour tissue protrudes through the gap in the skin, it
37601 is said to _fungate_. In course of time they give rise to a condition of
37602 ill-health or _cachexia_, the patient becoming pale, sallow, feverish,
37603 and emaciated, probably as a result of chronic poisoning from the
37604 absorption of toxic products from the tumour. They ultimately destroy
37605 life, it may be by their local effects, such as ulceration and
37606 haemorrhage, by favouring the entrance of septic infection, by
37607 interfering with the function of organs which are essential to life, by
37608 cachexia, or by a combination of these effects.
37609
37610 The situation of a malignant tumour exercises considerable influence on
37611 the rapidity, as well as on the mode, in which it causes death. Some
37612 cancers, such as that known as "rodent," show malignant features which
37613 are entirely local, while others, such as melanotic cancer, exhibit a
37614 malignancy characterised by rapid generalisation of growths throughout
37615 the body. Tumours that are structurally alike may show variations in
37616 malignancy, according to their situation and to the age of the patient,
37617 as well as to other factors which are as yet unknown.
37618
37619 In attempting to arrive at a conclusion as to the innocence or
37620 malignancy of any tumour, too much reliance must not be placed on its
37621 histological features; its situation, rate of growth, and other clinical
37622 features must also be taken into consideration. It cannot be too
37623 emphatically stated that there is no hard-and-fast line between innocent
37624 and malignant growths; there is an indefinite transition from one to the
37625 other. The possibility of the transformation of a benign into a
37626 malignant tumour must be admitted. Such a transformation implies a
37627 change in the structure of the growth, and has been observed especially
37628 in fibrous and cartilaginous tumours, in tumours of the thyreoid gland,
37629 and in uterine fibroids. The alteration in character may take place
37630 under the influence of injury, prolonged or repeated irritation,
37631 incomplete removal of the benign tumour by operation, or the altered
37632 physiological conditions of the tissues which attend upon advancing
37633 years.
37634
37635 After a tumour has been removed by operation it should as a routine
37636 measure be subjected to microscopical examination; the results are often
37637 instructive and sometimes other than what was expected.
37638
37639 #Varieties of Tumours.#--In the following description, tumours are
37640 classified on an anatomical basis, taking in order first the
37641 connective-tissue group and subsequently those that originate in
37642 epithelium.
37643
37644
37645 INNOCENT CONNECTIVE-TISSUE TUMOURS
37646
37647 #Lipoma.#--A lipoma is composed of fat resembling that normally present
37648 in the body. The commonest variety is the _subcutaneous lipoma_, which
37649 grows from the subcutaneous fat, and forms a soft, irregularly lobulated
37650 tumour (Fig. 45). The fat is arranged in lobules separated by
37651 connective-tissue septa, which are continuous with the capsule
37652 surrounding the tumour and with the overlying skin, which becomes
37653 dimpled or puckered when an attempt is made to pinch it up. As the fat
37654 is almost fluid at the body temperature, fluctuation can usually be
37655 detected. These tumours vary greatly in size, occur at all ages, grow
37656 slowly, and, while generally solitary, are sometimes multiple. They are
37657 most commonly met with on the shoulder, buttock, or back. In certain
37658 situations, such as the thigh and perineum, they tend to become
37659 pedunculated (Fig. 46).
37660
37661 A fatty tumour is to be diagnosed from a cold abscess and from a cyst.
37662 The distinguishing features of the lipoma are the tacking down and
37663 dimpling of the overlying skin, the lobulation of the tumour, which is
37664 recognised when it is pressed upon with the flat of the hand, and, more
37665 reliable than either of these, the mobility, the tumour slipping away
37666 when pressed upon at its margin.
37667
37668 [Illustration: FIG. 45.--Subcutaneous Lipoma showing lobulation.]
37669
37670 The prognosis is more favourable than in any other tumour as it never
37671 changes its characters; the only reasons for its removal by operation
37672 are its unsightliness and its probable increase in size in the course of
37673 years. The operation consists in dividing the skin and capsule over the
37674 tumour and shelling it out. Care must be taken that none of the outlying
37675 lobules are left behind. If the overlying skin is damaged or closely
37676 adherent, it should be removed along with the tumour.
37677
37678 [Illustration: FIG. 46.--Pedunculated Lipoma of Buttock of forty years'
37679 duration in a woman aet. 68.]
37680
37681 _Multiple subcutaneous lipomas_ are frequently symmetrical, and in a
37682 certain group of cases, met with chiefly in women, pain is a prominent
37683 symptom, hence the term _adiposis dolorosa_ (Dercum). These multiple
37684 tumours show little or no tendency to increase in size, and the pain
37685 which attends their development does not persist.
37686
37687 In the neck, axilla, and pubes a diffuse overgrowth of the subcutaneous
37688 fat is sometimes met with, forming symmetrical tumour-like masses, known
37689 as _diffuse lipoma_. As this is not, strictly speaking, a tumour, the
37690 term _diffuse lipomatosis_ is to be preferred. A similar condition was
37691 described by Jonathan Hutchinson as being met with in the domestic
37692 animals. If causing disfigurement, the mass of fat may be removed by
37693 operation.
37694
37695 [Illustration: FIG. 47.--Diffuse Lipomatosis of Neck.]
37696
37697 _Lipoma in other Situations._--The _periosteal lipoma_ is usually
37698 congenital, and is most often met with in the hand; it forms a
37699 projecting lobulated tumour, which, when situated in the palm, resembles
37700 an angioma or a lymphangioma. The _subserous lipoma_ arises from the
37701 extra-peritoneal fat in the posterior abdominal wall, in which case it
37702 tends to grow forwards between the layers of the mesentery and to give
37703 rise to an abdominal tumour; or it may grow from the extra-peritoneal
37704 fat in the anterior abdominal wall and protrude from one of the hernial
37705 openings or through an abnormal opening in the parietes, constituting a
37706 _fatty hernia_. A _subsynovial lipoma_ grows from the fat surrounding
37707 the synovial membrane of a joint, and projects into its interior, giving
37708 rise to the symptoms of loose body. Lipomas are also met with growing
37709 from the adipose connective tissue _between or in the substance of
37710 muscles_, and, when situated beneath the deep fascia, such as the fascia
37711 lata of the thigh, the characteristic signs are obscured and a
37712 differential diagnosis is difficult. It may be differentiated from a
37713 cold abscess by puncture with an exploring needle.
37714
37715 [Illustration: FIG. 48.--Zanthoma of Hands in a girl aet. 14, showing
37716 multiple subcutaneous tumours (cf. Fig. 49).
37717
37718 (Sir H. J. Stiles' case.)]
37719
37720 #Zanthoma# is a rare but interesting form of tumour, composed of a
37721 fibrous and fatty tissue, containing a granular orange-yellow pigment,
37722 resembling that of the corpus luteum. It originates in the corium and
37723 presents two clinical varieties. In the first of these, it occurs in the
37724 form of raised yellow patches, usually in the skin of the eyelids of
37725 persons after middle life, and in many instances is associated with
37726 chronic jaundice; the patches are often symmetrical, and as they
37727 increase in size they tend to fuse with another.
37728
37729 The second form occurs in children and adolescents; it may affect
37730 several generations of the same family, and is often multiple, there
37731 being a combination of thickened yellow patches of skin and projecting
37732 tumours, some of which may attain a considerable size (Figs. 48 and 49).
37733 On section, the tumour tissue presents a brilliant orange or saffron
37734 colour.
37735
37736 There is no indication for removing the tumours unless for the deformity
37737 which they cause; exposure to the X-rays is to be preferred to
37738 operation.
37739
37740 [Illustration: FIG. 49.--Zanthoma showing Subcutaneous Tumours on
37741 Buttocks. From same patient as Fig. 48.]
37742
37743 #Chondroma.#--A chondroma is mainly composed of cartilage. Processes of
37744 vascular connective tissue pass in between the nodules of cartilage
37745 composing the tumour from the fibrous capsule which surrounds it. On
37746 section it is of a greyish-blue colour and semi-translucent. The tumour
37747 is firm and elastic in consistence, but certain portions may be densely
37748 hard from calcification or ossification, while other portions may be
37749 soft and fluctuating as a result of myxomatous degeneration and
37750 liquefaction. These tumours grow slowly and painlessly, and may surround
37751 nerves and arteries without injuring them. They may cause a deep hollow
37752 in the bone from which they originate. All intermediate forms between
37753 the innocent chondroma and the malignant chondro-sarcoma are met with.
37754 Chondroma may occur in a multiple form, especially in relation to the
37755 phalanges and metacarpal bones. When growing in the interior of a bone
37756 it causes a spindle-shaped enlargement of the shaft, which in the case
37757 of a phalanx or metacarpal bone may resemble the dactylitis resulting
37758 from tubercle or syphilis. A chondroma appears as a clear area in a
37759 skiagram.
37760
37761 A _skiagram_ of a bone in which there is a chondroma shows a clear
37762 rounded area in the position of the tumour, which must be differentiated
37763 from similar clear areas due to other kinds of tumour, especially the
37764 myeloma; when it has undergone calcification or ossification, it gives a
37765 shadow as dark as bone.
37766
37767 [Illustration: FIG. 50.--Chondroma growing from infraspinous fossa of
37768 Scapula.]
37769
37770 [Illustration: FIG. 51.--Chondroma of Metacarpal Bone of Thumb.]
37771
37772 _Treatment._--In view of the unstable quality of the chondroma,
37773 especially of its liability to become malignant, it should be removed as
37774 soon as it is recognised. In those projecting from the surface of a
37775 bone, both the tumour and its capsule should be removed. If in the
37776 interior, a sufficient amount of the cortex should be removed to allow
37777 of the tumour being scraped out, and care must be taken that no nodules
37778 of cartilage are left behind. In multiple chondromas of the hand, when
37779 the fingers are crippled and useless, exposure to the X-rays should be
37780 given a trial, and in extreme cases the question of amputation may have
37781 to be considered. When a cartilaginous tumour takes on active growth, it
37782 must be treated as malignant.
37783
37784 The chondromas that are met with at the ends of the long bones in
37785 children and young adults form a group by themselves. They are usually
37786 related to the epiphysial cartilage, and it was suggested by Virchow
37787 that they take origin from islands of cartilage which have not been used
37788 up in the process of ossification. They are believed to occur more
37789 frequently in those who have suffered from rickets. They have no
37790 malignant tendencies and tend to undergo ossification concurrently with
37791 the epiphysial cartilage from which they take origin, and constitute
37792 what are known as _cartilaginous exostoses_. These are sometimes met
37793 with in a multiple form, and may occur in several generations of the
37794 same family. They are considered in greater detail in the chapter
37795 dealing with tumours of bone.
37796
37797 Minute nodules of cartilage sometimes form in the synovial membrane of
37798 joints and lining of tendon sheaths and bursae: they tend to become
37799 detached from the membrane and constitute loose bodies; they also
37800 undergo a variable amount of calcification and ossification, so as to be
37801 visible in skiagrams. They are further considered with loose bodies in
37802 joints.
37803
37804 Cartilaginous tumours in the parotid, submaxillary gland, and testicle
37805 belong to a class of "mixed tumours" that will be referred to later.
37806
37807 #Osteoma.#--The true osteoma is composed of bony tissue, and originates
37808 from the skeleton. Two varieties are recognised--the spongy or
37809 cancellous, and the ivory or compact. The _spongy_ or _cancellous
37810 osteoma_ is really an ossified chondroma, and is met with at the ends of
37811 the long bones (Fig. 52). From the fact that it projects from the
37812 surface of the bone it is often spoken of as an _exostosis_. It grows
37813 slowly, and rarely causes any discomfort unless it presses upon a
37814 nerve-trunk or upon a bursa which has developed over it. The Rontgen
37815 rays show a dark shadow corresponding to the ossified portion of the
37816 tumour, and continuous with that of the bone from which it is growing
37817 (Fig. 138). Operative interference is only indicated when the tumour is
37818 giving rise to inconvenience. It is then removed, its base or neck being
37819 divided by means of the chisel. The multiple variety of osteoma is
37820 considered with the diseases of bone.
37821
37822 The bony outgrowth from the terminal phalanx of the great toe--known as
37823 the _subungual exostosis_--is described and figured on p. 404. Bony
37824 projections or "spurs" sometimes occur on the under surface of the
37825 calcaneus, and, projecting downwards and forwards from the greater
37826 process, cause pain on putting the heel to the ground.
37827
37828 [Illustration: FIG. 52.--Cancellous Osteoma of lower end of Femur.]
37829
37830 The _ivory_ or _compact osteoma_ is composed of dense bone, and usually
37831 grows from the skull. It is generally sessile and solitary, and may grow
37832 into the interior of the skull, into the frontal sinus, into the cavity
37833 of the orbit or nose, or may fill up the external auditory meatus,
37834 causing most unsightly deformity and interference with sight, breathing,
37835 and hearing.
37836
37837 Bony formations occur in _muscles and tendons_, especially at their
37838 points of attachment to the skeleton, and are known as false exostoses;
37839 they are described with the diseases of muscles.
37840
37841 #Odontoma.#--An odontoma is composed of dental tissues in varying
37842 proportions and different degrees of development, arising from
37843 tooth-germs or from teeth still in process of growth (Bland Sutton).
37844 Odontomas resemble teeth in so far that during their development they
37845 remain hidden below the mucous membrane and give no evidence of their
37846 existence. There then succeeds, usually between the twentieth and
37847 twenty-fifth years, an eruptive stage, which is often attended with
37848 suppuration, and this may be the means of drawing attention to the
37849 tumour. Following Bland Sutton, several varieties of odontoma may be
37850 distinguished according to the part of the tooth-germ concerned in their
37851 formation.
37852
37853 The _epithelial odontoma_ is derived from persistent portions of the
37854 epithelium of the enamel organ, and constitutes a multilocular cystic
37855 tumour which is chiefly met with in the mandible. The cystic spaces of
37856 the tumour contain a brownish glairy fluid. These tumours have been
37857 described by Eve under the name of multilocular cystic epithelial
37858 tumours of the jaw.
37859
37860 The _follicular odontoma_, also known as a _dentigerous cyst_, is
37861 derived from the distension of a tooth follicle. It constitutes a cyst
37862 containing a viscid fluid, and an imperfectly formed tooth is often
37863 found embedded in its wall. The cyst usually forms in relation to one of
37864 the permanent molars, and may attain considerable dimensions.
37865
37866 The _fibrous odontoma_ is the result of an overgrowth of fibrous tissue
37867 surrounding the tooth sac, which encapsulates the tooth and prevents its
37868 eruption. The thickened tooth sac is usually mistaken for a fibrous
37869 tumour, until, after removal, the tooth is recognised in its interior.
37870
37871 _Composite Odontoma._--This is a convenient term to apply to certain
37872 hard dental tumours which are met with in the jaws, and consist of
37873 enamel, dentine, and cement. The tumour is to be regarded as being
37874 derived from an abnormal growth of all the elements of a tooth germ, or
37875 of two or more tooth germs, indiscriminately fused with one another. It
37876 may appear in childhood, and form a smooth unyielding tumour, often of
37877 considerable size, replacing the corresponding permanent tooth. It may
37878 cause a purulent discharge, and in some cases it has been extruded after
37879 sloughing of the overlying soft parts. Many examples of this variety of
37880 odontoma, growing in the nasal cavity or in the maxillary sinus, have
37881 been erroneously regarded as osteomas even after removal.
37882
37883 On section, the tumour is usually laminated, and is seen to consist
37884 mainly of dentine with a partial covering of enamel and cement.
37885
37886 _Diagnosis._--Odontomas are often only diagnosed after removal. When
37887 attended with suppuration, the condition has been mistaken for disease
37888 of the jaw. Fibrous odontomas have been mistaken for sarcoma, and
37889 portions of the maxilla removed unnecessarily. Any circumscribed tumour
37890 of the jaw, particularly when met with in a young adult, should suggest
37891 the possibility of an odontoma. Skiagrams often give useful information
37892 both for diagnosis and for treatment.
37893
37894 _Treatment._--The solid varieties of odontoma can usually be shelled out
37895 after dividing the overlying soft parts. In the follicular variety, it
37896 is usually sufficient to excise a portion of the wall, scrape out the
37897 interior, and remove any tooth that may be present. The cavity is then
37898 packed and allowed to heal from the bottom.
37899
37900 #Fibroma.#--A fibroma is a tumour composed of fibrous connective tissue.
37901 A distinction may be made between the _soft fibroma_, which is
37902 comparatively rich in cells and blood vessels, and in which the fibres
37903 are arranged loosely; and the _hard fibroma_, which is composed of
37904 closely packed bundles of fibres often arranged in a concentric fashion
37905 around the blood vessels. The cut surface of the soft fibroma presents a
37906 pinkish-white, fleshy appearance, resembling the slowly growing forms of
37907 sarcoma; that of a hard fibroma presents a dry, glistening appearance,
37908 aptly compared to watered silk. The soft variety grows much more rapidly
37909 than the hard. In certain fibromas--in those, for example, which grow
37910 from the periosteum of the base of the skull and project into the
37911 naso-pharynx--the blood vessels are dilated into sinuses and have no
37912 proper sheaths; they therefore tend to remain open when divided, and to
37913 bleed excessively. Transition forms between soft fibroma and sarcoma are
37914 met with, so that in operating for their removal it is safer to take
37915 away the capsule along with the tumour, and the patient should be kept
37916 under observation in view of the risk of recurrence.
37917
37918 The skin--especially the skin of the buttock--is one of the favourite
37919 seats of fibroma, and it may occur in a multiple form. It is met with
37920 also in the subcutaneous and intermuscular cellular tissue, and in the
37921 abdominal wall, where it sometimes attains considerable dimensions.
37922 Various forms of fibroma are met with in the mamma and are described
37923 with diseases of that organ. The fibrous overgrowths in the skin, known
37924 as _keloid_ and _molluscum fibrosum_, and those met with in the _sheaths
37925 of nerves_, are described elsewhere. Fibroid tumours of the uterus are
37926 described with myoma.
37927
37928 _Diffuse fibroma_ or _Fibromatosis_, analogous to lipomatosis, is met
37929 with in the connective tissue of the skin and sheaths of nerves, and
37930 constitutes one form of neuro-fibromatosis; a similar change is also met
37931 with in the stomach and colon.
37932
37933 #Myxoma.#--A myxoma is composed of tissue of a soft gelatinous,
37934 semifluid consistence. The pure myxoma is extremely rare, and
37935 clinically resembles the lipoma. Myxomatous tissue is, however,
37936 frequently found in other connective-tissue tumours as a result of
37937 degeneration, for example, in cartilaginous tumours and in sarcomas.
37938 Myxomatous tissue is also a prominent constituent of the "innocent
37939 parotid tumour." Mucous polypus of the nose, which is often described as
37940 a myxoma, is merely a pendulous process of oedematous mucous membrane.
37941
37942 [Illustration: FIG. 53.--Myeloma of Shaft of Humerus, causing
37943 pathological fracture. (Mr. J. W. Struthers' case.)
37944
37945 (The unusual site of the tumour is to be noted.)]
37946
37947 #Myeloma.#--A myeloma is composed of large multinuclear giant cells
37948 surrounded by round and spindle cells. The cut surface of the tumour
37949 presents a deep red or maroon colour. While occasionally met with in
37950 tendon sheaths and bursae, and is then of an orange-yellow colour, the
37951 myeloma occurs most frequently in the cancellous tissue at the ends of
37952 the long bones, its favourite site being the upper end of the tibia.
37953 Although formerly classified as a sarcoma, it is the exception for it to
37954 present malignant features, and it can usually be extirpated by local
37955 measures without fear of recurrence. The diagnosis, X-ray appearances,
37956 and the method of removal are considered with the diseases of bone.
37957 Sometimes the myeloma is met with in multiple form in the skeleton, in
37958 association with an unusual form of protein in the urine (Bence Jones).
37959
37960 #Myoma.#--A myoma is composed of non-striped muscle fibres. A pure myoma
37961 is very rare, and is met with in organs possessed of non-striped muscle,
37962 such as the stomach, intestine, urinary bladder, and prostate. In the
37963 uterus, which is the most common situation, these tumours contain a
37964 considerable admixture of fibrous tissue, and are known as _fibroids_ or
37965 _fibro-myomas_. They present on section a fasciculated appearance, which
37966 may resemble that of a section of balls of cotton (Fig. 54). They are
37967 encapsulated and vascular, frequently attain a large size, and may be
37968 single or multiple. While they may occasion neither inconvenience nor
37969 suffering, they frequently give rise to profuse haemorrhage from the
37970 uterus, and may cause serious symptoms by pressing injuriously on the
37971 ureters or the intestine, or by complicating pregnancy and parturition.
37972
37973 The #Rhabdomyoma# is an extremely rare form of tumour, met with in the
37974 kidney, uterus, and testicle. It contains striped muscle fibres, and is
37975 supposed to originate from a residue of muscular tissue which has become
37976 sequestrated during development.
37977
37978 [Illustration: FIG. 54.--Fibro-myoma of Uterus.
37979
37980 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
37981
37982 #Glioma.#--A glioma is a tumour composed of neuroglia. It is met with
37983 exclusively in the central nervous system, retina, and optic nerve. It
37984 is a slowly growing, soft, ill-defined tumour, which displaces the
37985 adjacent nerve centres and nerve tracts, and is liable to become the
37986 seat of haemorrhage and thus to give rise to pressure symptoms resembling
37987 apoplexy. The glioma of the retina tends to grow into the vitreous
37988 humour and to perforate the globe. It is usually of the nature of a
37989 glio-sarcoma and is highly malignant.
37990
37991 #Endotheliomas# take origin from the endothelium of lymph vessels and
37992 blood vessels, and serous cavities. They show great variation in type,
37993 partly because of the number of different kinds of endothelium from
37994 which they are derived, and partly because the new connective tissue
37995 which is formed is liable to undergo transformation into other tissues.
37996 They may be soft or hard, solid or cystic, diffuse or circumscribed;
37997 they grow very slowly, and are almost always innocent, although
37998 recurrence has been occasionally observed. Cases of multiple
37999 endotheliomata of the skin have recently been described by Wise.
38000
38001 _Angioma_, _lymphangioma_, and _neuroma_ are described with the disease
38002 of the individual tissues.
38003
38004
38005 MALIGNANT CONNECTIVE-TISSUE TUMOURS--SARCOMA
38006
38007 The term sarcoma is applied to any connective-tissue tumour which
38008 exhibits malignant characters. The essential structural feature is the
38009 predominance of the cellular elements over the intercellular substance
38010 or stroma, in which respect a sarcoma resembles the connective tissue of
38011 the embryo. The typical sarcoma consists chiefly of immature or
38012 embryonic connective tissue. It most frequently originates from fascia,
38013 intermuscular connective tissue, periosteum, bone-marrow, and skin, and
38014 forms a rounded or nodulated tumour which appears to be encapsulated,
38015 but the capsule merely consists of the condensed surrounding tissues,
38016 and usually contains sarcomatous elements. The consistence of the tumour
38017 depends on the nature and amount of the stroma, and on the presence of
38018 degenerative changes. The softer medullary forms are composed almost
38019 exclusively of cells; while the harder forms--such as the fibro-,
38020 chondro-, and osteo-sarcoma--are provided with an abundant stroma and
38021 are relatively poor in cells. Degenerative changes may produce areas of
38022 softening or liquefaction which result in the formation of cystic
38023 cavities in the interior of the tumour. The colour depends on the amount
38024 of blood in the tumour, and on the presence of the products of
38025 degeneration.
38026
38027 The blood vessels are usually represented by mere chinks or spaces
38028 between the cells. This peculiarity accounts for the facility with which
38029 haemorrhage takes place into the substance of the tumour, the persistence
38030 of the bleeding when it is incised or ulcerates through the skin, and
38031 the readiness with which the sarcomatous cells are carried off and
38032 infect distant parts through the blood-stream. Sarcomas are devoid of
38033 lymphatics, and unless originating in lymphatic structures--for example,
38034 in the tonsil--they rarely infect the lymph glands. Minute portions of
38035 the tumour grow into the small veins, and, becoming detached, are
38036 transported by the blood-current to distant organs, where they are
38037 arrested in the capillaries and give rise to secondary growths. These
38038 are most frequently situated in the lungs, except when the primary
38039 growth lies within the territory of the portal circulation, in which
38040 case they occur in the liver. The secondary growths closely resemble the
38041 parent tumour. Sarcoma may invade an adjacent vein on such a scale that
38042 if the invading portion becomes detached it may constitute a dangerous
38043 embolus. This may be observed in sarcoma of the kidney, the growth
38044 taking place along the renal vein until it projects into the vena cava.
38045
38046 [Illustration: FIG. 55.--Recurrent Sarcoma of Sciatic Nerve in a woman
38047 aet. 27. Recurrence twenty months after removal of primary growth.]
38048
38049 In its growth, a sarcoma compresses and destroys neighbouring parts,
38050 surrounds vessels and nerves, and may lead to destruction of the skin,
38051 either by invading it, or more commonly by causing sloughing from
38052 pressure. Inflammatory and suppurative changes may take place as a
38053 result of pyogenic infection following upon sloughing of the overlying
38054 skin or upon an exploratory incision. Once the skin is broken the tumour
38055 fungates through the opening. Sarcomas vary in malignancy, especially as
38056 regards rapidity of growth and capacity for dissemination. Certain of
38057 them, such as the so-called "recurrent fibroid of Paget," grow
38058 comparatively slowly, and are only malignant in the sense that they tend
38059 to recur locally after removal; others--especially the more cellular
38060 ones--grow with extreme rapidity, and are early disseminated throughout
38061 the body, resembling in these respects the most malignant forms of
38062 cancer. They are usually solitary in the first instance, although
38063 primary multiple growths are occasionally met with in the skin and in
38064 the bones.
38065
38066 Many varieties of sarcoma are recognised, according to its structural
38067 peculiarities. Thus, in virtue of the size and character of the cells,
38068 we have the _small round-celled_ and the _large round-celled_ sarcoma,
38069 the _small_ and the _large spindle-celled_, the _giant-celled_ and the
38070 _mixed-celled_ sarcoma. The _lympho-sarcoma_ presents a structure
38071 similar to that of lymph-follicular tissue, and the _alveolar sarcoma_
38072 an arrangement of cells in alveoli resembling that seen in cancers. When
38073 there is a considerable amount of intercellular fibrous tissue, the
38074 tumour is called a _fibro-sarcoma_.
38075
38076 [Illustration: FIG. 56.--Fungating Sarcoma of Arm.
38077
38078 (Dr. J. M'Watt's case.)]
38079
38080 The term _lymphangio-sarcoma_ is applied when the cells of the tumour
38081 are derived from the endothelium of lymph spaces and vessels. The
38082 _angio-sarcomas_ are those in which blood vessels form a prominent
38083 element in the structure of the tumour. They are sometimes derived from
38084 innocent angiomas, and they may be so vascular as to pulsate and on
38085 auscultation yield a blowing murmur like an aneurysm. The
38086 _glio-sarcoma_, _myxo-sarcoma_, _chondro-sarcoma_, and _myo-sarcoma_ are
38087 mixed forms which usually develop in pre-existing innocent tumours. The
38088 _osteo-sarcoma_ is characterised by the formation in the tumour of bone,
38089 the medullary spaces being occupied by sarcomatous cells in place of
38090 marrow. The _osteoid sarcoma_ is characterised by the formation of a
38091 tissue resembling bone but deficient in lime salts, and the _petrifying
38092 sarcoma_ by the formation of calcified areas in the stroma. These
38093 varieties, although met with chiefly in the bones, may occur in soft
38094 tissues such as muscle, and in such organs as the mamma. The pigmented
38095 varieties include the _chloroma_, which is of a light-green colour, and
38096 the _melanotic sarcoma_, which is brown or black. The _psammoma_ is a
38097 sarcoma containing a material resembling sand; it is chiefly met with in
38098 the membranes of the brain. The _chordoma_ is a rare form of tumour
38099 originating from the remains of the notochord in the region of the
38100 spheno-occipital synchondrosis or in the sacro-coccygeal region.
38101
38102 _Diagnosis of Sarcoma._--A sarcoma is to be differentiated from an
38103 inflammatory swelling such as results from tubercle, actinomycosis, or
38104 syphilis, from an innocent tumour, and from a cancer. The points on
38105 which the diagnosis is founded are discussed with the different tissues
38106 and organs.
38107
38108 _Treatment._--The removal of the tumour by operation is the most
38109 reliable method of treatment; in order to be successful it must be
38110 undertaken before dissemination has taken place, and a considerable area
38111 of healthy tissue beyond the apparent margin of the growth must be
38112 removed, and in tumours near the surface of the body, the overlying skin
38113 also.
38114
38115 In order to prevent recurrence, a tube of _radium_, to which a silk
38116 thread is attached, is inserted into the space from which the tumour was
38117 removed; the thread is brought out at the drain-opening, and at the end
38118 of a week or ten days the tube of radium is removed by pulling on the
38119 thread. Radium causes a reaction in the tissues attended with exudation
38120 from the vessels, for the escape of which provision must be made. If
38121 radium is not available, the affected area is repeatedly exposed to the
38122 action of the _X-rays_ as soon as the wound has healed. The employment
38123 of these measures has diminished to a remarkable degree the recurrence
38124 of sarcoma after operation.
38125
38126 It will readily be understood that the less thoroughly or radically the
38127 growth has been removed, the more do we depend upon radium or the X-rays
38128 for bringing about a permanent cure, and that in advanced cases of
38129 sarcoma and in cases in which, on account of their anatomical situation,
38130 removal by operation is necessarily incomplete, the prospect of cure is
38131 still more dependent on the use of radium or of the X-rays. Finally,
38132 there are cases in which removal by operation is impossible, the
38133 so-called _inoperable sarcoma_; a tube of radium, to which a silk thread
38134 is attached, is inserted into the substance of the tumour, either
38135 through an opening made by a large trocar, or, when necessary, by open
38136 dissection. A second tube of radium is placed upon the skin over the
38137 tumour and is secured there by a stitch or by a strip of plaster, thus
38138 securing a cross-fire action of the radium rays, both from within and
38139 without, as this is found to be much more efficacious in destroying or
38140 inhibiting the cellular elements of the growth. The tubes of radium are
38141 left _in situ_ for from eight to fourteen days, according to the power
38142 of the radium employed, but are moved about every second day or so in
38143 order that every part of the tumour may be efficiently radiated. If the
38144 tumour shrinks in size after the use of radium and becomes operable, it
38145 should be removed before time is given it to resume its growth. It will
38146 depend upon the subsequent course of the disease, whether or not a
38147 second, or it may be even a third, application of radium will be
38148 required.
38149
38150 Where neither radium nor X-rays is available or applicable, recourse may
38151 be had to the injection of Coley's fluid, a preparation containing the
38152 mixed toxins of the streptococcus of erysipelas and the bacillus
38153 prodigiosus; or of selenium.
38154
38155
38156 EPITHELIAL TUMOURS
38157
38158 An excessive and erratic growth of epithelium is the essential and
38159 distinguishing feature of these tumours. The innocent forms are the
38160 papilloma and the adenoma; the malignant, the carcinoma or cancer.
38161
38162 #Papilloma.#--A papilloma is a tumour which projects from a cutaneous or
38163 mucous surface, and consists of a central axis of vascular fibrous
38164 tissue with a covering of epithelium resembling that of the surface from
38165 which the tumour grows. In the papillomas of the skin--commonly known as
38166 _warts_--the covering consists of epidermis; in those growing from
38167 mucous surfaces it consists of the epithelium covering the mucous
38168 membrane. When the surface epithelium projects as filiform processes,
38169 the tumour is called a _villous papilloma_, the best-known example of
38170 which is met with in the urinary bladder. Papillomatous growths are
38171 also met with in the larynx, in the ducts of the breast, and in the
38172 interior of certain cystic tumours of the breast and of the ovary.
38173 Although papillomas are primarily innocent, they may become the
38174 starting-point of cancer, especially in persons past middle life and if
38175 the papilloma has been subjected to irritation and has ulcerated. The
38176 clinical features and treatment of the various forms of papilloma are
38177 considered with the individual tissues and organs.
38178
38179 #Adenoma.#--An adenoma is a tumour constructed on the type of, and
38180 growing in connection with, a secreting gland. In the substance of such
38181 glands as the mamma, parotid, thyreoid, and prostate, adenomas are met
38182 with as encapsulated tumours. When they originate from the glands of the
38183 skin or of a mucous membrane, they tend to project from the surface, and
38184 form pedunculated tumours or polypi.
38185
38186 Adenomas may be single or multiple, and they vary greatly in size. The
38187 tumour is seldom composed entirely of gland tissue; it usually contains
38188 a considerable proportion of fibrous tissue, and is then called a
38189 _fibro-adenoma_. When it contains myxomatous tissue it is called a
38190 _myxo-adenoma_, and when the gland spaces of the tumour become distended
38191 with accumulated secretion, a _cystic adenoma_, the best examples of
38192 which are met with in the mamma and ovary. A characteristic feature of
38193 the cystic variety is the tendency the tumour tissue exhibits to project
38194 into the interior of the cysts, constituting what are known as
38195 _intracystic growths_. They are essentially innocent, but intracystic
38196 growths, especially in the mamma of women over fifty, should be regarded
38197 with suspicion and therefore should be removed on radical lines.
38198 Transition forms between adenoma and carcinoma are also met with in the
38199 rectum and large intestine, and these should be treated on the same
38200 lines as cancer.
38201
38202
38203 CARCINOMA OR CANCER
38204
38205 A cancer is a malignant tumour which originates in epithelium. The
38206 cancer cells are derived by proliferation from already existing
38207 epithelium, and they invade the sub-epithelial connective tissue in the
38208 form of simple or branching columns. These columns are enclosed in
38209 spaces--termed alveoli--which are probably dilated lymph spaces, and
38210 which communicate freely with the lymph vessels. The cells composing the
38211 columns and filling the alveoli vary with the character of the
38212 epithelium in which the cancer originates. The malignancy of cancer
38213 depends on the tendency which the epithelium has of invading the tissues
38214 in its neighbourhood, and on the capacity of the cells, when
38215 transported elsewhere by the lymph or blood-stream, of giving rise to
38216 secondary growths.
38217
38218 Cancer may arise on any surface covered by epithelium or in any of the
38219 secreting glands of the body, but it is much more common in some
38220 situations than in others. It is frequently met with, for example, in
38221 the skin, in the stomach and large intestine, in the breast, the uterus,
38222 and the external genitals; less frequently in the gall-bladder, larynx,
38223 thyreoid, prostate, and urinary bladder.
38224
38225 Tissues appear to be most liable to cancer when, having attained
38226 maturity, they enter upon the phase of decadence or involution, and this
38227 phase is reached by different tissues at different periods. It is not so
38228 much, therefore, the age of the person in whom it occurs, as the age of
38229 the tissue in which it arises, that determines the maximum incidence of
38230 cancer. Cancer of the stomach appears and attains a maximum frequency
38231 earlier than cancer of the skin; cancer of the uterus and mamma is more
38232 frequent towards the decline of reproductive activity than in the later
38233 years of life; rectal cancer is not infrequently met with during the
38234 second and third decades. There is evidence that the irritation caused
38235 by alcohol and tobacco plays a part in the causation of cancer, in the
38236 fact that a large proportion of those who become the subjects of cancer
38237 of the mouth are excessive drinkers and smokers.
38238
38239 A cancer may appear as a papillary growth on a mucous or a skin surface,
38240 as a nodule in the substance of an organ, or as a diffuse thickening of
38241 a tubular organ such as the stomach or intestine. The absence of
38242 definition in cancerous tumours explains the difficulty of completely
38243 removing them by surgical measures, and has led to the practice of
38244 complete extirpation of cancerous organs wherever this is possible. The
38245 boundaries of the affected organ, moreover, are frequently transgressed
38246 by the disease, and the epithelial infiltration implicates the
38247 surrounding parts. In cancer of the breast, for example, the disease
38248 often extends to the adjacent skin, fat, and muscle; in cancer of the
38249 lip or tongue, to the mandible; in cancer of the uterus or intestine, to
38250 the investing peritoneum.
38251
38252 In addition to its tendency to infiltrate adjacent tissues and organs,
38253 cancer is also liable to give rise to _secondary growths_. These are
38254 most often met with in the nearest lymph glands; those in the neck, for
38255 example, becoming infected from cancer of the lip, tongue, or throat;
38256 those in the axilla, from cancer of the breast; those along the
38257 curvatures of the stomach, from cancer of the pylorus; and those in the
38258 groin, from cancer of the external genitals. In lymph vessels the cancer
38259 cells may merely accumulate so as to fill the lumen and form indurated
38260 cords, or they may proliferate and give rise to secondary nodules along
38261 the course of the vessels. When the lymphatic network in the skin is
38262 diffusely infected, the appearance is either that of a multitude of
38263 secondary nodules or of a diffuse thickening, so that the skin comes to
38264 resemble coarse leather. On the wall of the chest this condition is
38265 known as _cancer en cuirasse_. Although the cancer cells constantly
38266 attack the walls of the adjacent veins and spread into their interior at
38267 a comparatively early period, secondary growths due to dissemination by
38268 the blood-stream rarely show themselves clinically until late in the
38269 course of the disease. It is probable that many of the cancer cells
38270 which are carried away in the blood or lymph stream undergo necrosis and
38271 fail to give rise to secondary growths. Secondary growths present a
38272 faithful reproduction of the structure of the primary tumour. Apart from
38273 the lymph glands, the chief seats of secondary growths are the liver,
38274 lungs, serous membranes, and bone marrow.
38275
38276 It is generally believed that the secondary growths in cancer that
38277 develop at a distance from the primary tumour, those, for example, in
38278 the medullary canal of the femur or in the diploe of the skull occurring
38279 in advanced cases of cancer of the breast, are the result of
38280 dissemination of cancer cells by way of the blood-stream and are to be
38281 regarded as emboli. Sampson Handley disagrees with this view; he
38282 believes that the dissemination is accomplished in a more subtle way,
38283 namely, by the actual growth of cancer cells along the finer vessels of
38284 the lymph plexuses that ramify in the deep fascia, a method of spread
38285 which he calls _permeation_. It is maintained also that permeation
38286 occurs as readily against the lymph stream as with it. He compares the
38287 spread of cancer to that of an invisible annular ringworm. The growing
38288 edge extends in a wider and wider circle, within which a healing process
38289 may occur, so that the area of permeation is a ring, rather than a disc.
38290 Healing occurs by a process of "peri-lymphatic fibrosis," but as the
38291 natural process of healing may fail at isolated points, nodules of
38292 cancer appear, which, although apparently separate from the primary
38293 growth, have developed in continuity with it, peri-lymphatic fibrosis
38294 having destroyed the cancer chain connecting the nodule with the primary
38295 growth. This centrifugal spread of cancer is clearly seen in the
38296 distribution of the subcutaneous secondary nodules so frequently met
38297 with in the late stages of mammary cancer. The area within which the
38298 secondary nodules occur is a circle of continually increasing diameter
38299 with the primary growth in the centre.
38300
38301 In the rare cases in which the skin of the greater part of the body is
38302 affected, the nodules rarely appear below the level of the deltoid or
38303 the middle third of the thigh, the patient dying before the spread can
38304 reach the distal portions of the limbs.
38305
38306 Handley argues against the embolic origin of the metastases in the bones
38307 because of the rarity of these in the bones of the distal parts of the
38308 limbs, because of the fact that secondary cancer of the femur nearly
38309 always commences in the upper third of the shaft, which harmonises with
38310 the intimate connection of the deep fascia with the periosteum over the
38311 great trochanter, thus favouring invasion of the bone marrow when
38312 permeation has spread thus far. He claims support for the permeation
38313 theory from the fact that the humerus is rarely involved below the
38314 insertion of the deltoid, and that spontaneous fracture of the femur is
38315 three times more common on the side on which the breast cancer is
38316 situated.
38317
38318 The tumour tissue may undergo necrosis, and when the overlying skin or
38319 mucous membrane gives way an ulcer is formed. The margins of a
38320 _cancerous ulcer_ (Fig. 57) are made up of tumour tissue which has not
38321 broken down. Usually they are irregular, nodularly thickened or
38322 indurated; sometimes they are raised and crater-like. The floor of the
38323 ulcer is smooth and glazed, or occupied by necrosed tissue, and the
38324 discharge is watery and blood-stained, and as a result of putrefactive
38325 changes may become offensive. Haemorrhage is rarely a prominent feature,
38326 but discharge of blood may constitute a symptom of considerable
38327 diagnostic importance in cancer of internal organs such as the rectum,
38328 the bladder, or the uterus.
38329
38330 [Illustration: FIG. 57.--Carcinoma of Breast with Cancerous Ulcer.]
38331
38332 _The Contagiousness of Cancer._--A limited number of cases are on record
38333 in which a cancer appears to have been transferred by contact, as from
38334 the lower to the upper lip, from one labium majus to the other, from the
38335 tongue to the cheek, and from one vocal cord to the other; these being
38336 all examples of cancer involving surfaces which are constantly or
38337 frequently in contact. The transference of cancer from one human being
38338 to another, whether by accident, as in the case of a surgeon wounding
38339 his finger while operating for cancer, or by the deliberate introduction
38340 of a portion of cancerous tumour into the tissues, has never been known
38341 to occur. It is by no means infrequent, however, that when recurrence
38342 takes place after an operation for the removal of cancer, the recurrent
38343 nodules make their appearance in the main scar or in the scars of
38344 stitches in its neighbourhood. In the lower animals the grafting of
38345 cancer only succeeds in animals of the same species; for example, a
38346 cancer taken from a mouse will not grow in the tissues of a rat, but
38347 only in a mouse of the same variety as that from which the graft was
38348 taken.
38349
38350 While cancer cannot be regarded as either contagious or infectious, it
38351 is important to bear in mind the possibility of infection of a wound
38352 with cancer when operating for the disease. A cancer should not be cut
38353 into unless this is essential for purposes of diagnosis, and the wound
38354 made for exploration should be tightly closed by stitches before the
38355 curative operation is proceeded with; the instruments used for the
38356 exploration must not be used again until they have been boiled. The
38357 greatest care should be taken that a cancer which has softened or broken
38358 down is not opened into during the operation.
38359
38360 Investigations regarding the cause of cancer have been prosecuted with
38361 great energy during recent years, but as yet without positive result. It
38362 is recognised that there are a number of conditions which favour the
38363 development of cancer, such as prolonged irritation, and a considerable
38364 number of cases have been recorded in which cancer of the skin of the
38365 hands has followed prolonged and repeated exposure to the Rontgen rays.
38366
38367 _The Alleged Increase of Cancer._--Regarding the alleged increase of
38368 cancer, it may be pointed out that it is impossible to ascertain how
38369 much of the apparent increase is due to more accurate diagnosis and
38370 improved registration. It is probable also that some increase has taken
38371 place in consequence of the increased average duration of life; a larger
38372 proportion of persons now reach the age at which cancer is frequent.
38373
38374 _The prognosis_ largely depends on the variety of cancer and on its
38375 situation. Certain varieties--such as the atrophic cancer of the breast
38376 which occurs in old people, and some forms of cancer in the rectum--are
38377 so indolent in their progress that they can scarcely be said to shorten
38378 life; while others--such as the softer varieties of mammary cancer
38379 occurring in young women--are among the most malignant of tumours. The
38380 mode in which cancer causes death depends to a large extent upon its
38381 situation. In the gullet, for example, it usually causes death by
38382 starvation; in the larynx or thyreoid, by suffocation; in the intestine,
38383 by obstruction of the bowels; in the uterus, prostate, and bladder, by
38384 haemorrhage or by implication of the ureters and kidneys. Independently
38385 of their situation, however, cancers frequently cause death by giving
38386 rise to a progressive impairment of health known as the _cancerous
38387 cachexia_, a condition which is due to the continued absorption of
38388 poisonous products from the tumour. The patient loses appetite, becomes
38389 emaciated, pale, and feverish, and gradually loses strength until he
38390 dies. In many cases, especially those in which ulceration has occurred,
38391 the addition of pyogenic infection may also be concerned in the failure
38392 of health.
38393
38394 _Treatment._--Removal by surgical means affords the best prospect of
38395 cure. If carcinomatous disease is to be rooted out, its mode of spread
38396 by means of the lymph vessels must be borne in mind, and as this occurs
38397 at an early stage, and is not evident on examination, a wide area must
38398 be included in the operation. The organ from which the original growth
38399 springs should, if practicable, be altogether removed, because its lymph
38400 vessels generally communicate freely with each other, and secondary
38401 deposits have probably already taken place in various parts of it. In
38402 addition, the nearest chain of lymph glands must also be removed, even
38403 though they may not be noticeably enlarged, and in some cases--in cancer
38404 of the breast, for example--the intervening lymph vessels should be
38405 removed at the same time.
38406
38407 The treatment of cancer by other than operative methods has received a
38408 great deal of attention within recent years, and many agents have been
38409 put to the test, _e.g._ colloidal suspensions of selenium, but without
38410 any positive results. Most benefit has resulted from the use of radium
38411 and of the X-rays, and one or other should be employed as a routine
38412 measure after every operation for cancer.
38413
38414 It has been demonstrated that cancer cells are more sensitive to radium
38415 and to the Rontgen rays than the normal cells of the body, and are more
38416 easily killed. The effect varies a good deal with the nature and seat of
38417 the tumour. In rodent cancers of the skin, for example, both radium and
38418 X-ray treatment are very successful, and are to be preferred to
38419 operation because they yield a better cosmetic result. While small
38420 epitheliomas of the skin may be cured by means of the rays, they are not
38421 so amenable as rodent cancers.
38422
38423 Cancers of mucous membranes are less amenable to ray treatment because
38424 they are less circumscribed and are difficult of access. In cancers
38425 under the skin, the Rontgen rays are less efficient; if radium is
38426 employed, the tube containing it should be inserted into the substance
38427 of the tumour after the method described in connection with sarcoma--and
38428 another tube should be placed on the overlying skin.
38429
38430 In the employment of X-rays and of radium in the treatment of cancer,
38431 experience is required, not only to obtain the maximum effect of the
38432 rays, but to avoid damage to the adjacent and overlying tissues.
38433
38434 Ray treatment is not to be looked upon as a rival but as a powerful
38435 supplement to the operative treatment of cancer.
38436
38437
38438 VARIETIES OF CANCER
38439
38440 The varieties of cancer are distinguished according to the character and
38441 arrangement of the epithelial cells.
38442
38443 The _squamous epithelial cancer_ or _epithelioma_ originates from a
38444 surface covered by squamous epithelium, such as the skin, or the mucous
38445 membrane of the mouth, gullet, or larynx. The cancer cells retain the
38446 characters of squamous epithelium, and, being confined within the lymph
38447 spaces of the sub-epithelial connective tissue, become compressed and
38448 undergo a horny change. This results in the formation of concentrically
38449 laminated masses known as cell nests.
38450
38451 The clinical features are those of a slowly growing indurated tumour,
38452 which nearly always ulcerates; there is a characteristic induration of
38453 the edges and floor of the ulcer, and its surface is often covered with
38454 warty or cauliflower-like outgrowths (Fig. 58). The infection of the
38455 lymph glands is early and constant, and constitutes the most dangerous
38456 feature of the disease; the secondary growths in the glands exhibit the
38457 characteristic induration, and may themselves break down and lead to the
38458 formation of ulcers.
38459
38460 [Illustration: FIG. 58.--Epithelioma of Lip.]
38461
38462 Epithelioma frequently originates in long-standing ulcers or sinuses,
38463 and in scars, and probably results from the displacement and
38464 sequestration of epithelial cells during the process of cicatrisation.
38465
38466 The _columnar epithelial cancer_ or _columnar epithelioma_ originates in
38467 mucous membranes covered with columnar epithelium, and is chiefly met
38468 with in the stomach and intestine. As it resembles an adenoma in
38469 structure it is sometimes described as a _malignant adenoma_. Its
38470 malignancy is shown by the proliferating epithelium invading the other
38471 coats of the stomach or intestine, and by the development of secondary
38472 growths.
38473
38474 _Glandular carcinoma_ originates in organs such as the breast, and in
38475 the glands of mucous membranes and skin. The epithelial cells are not
38476 arranged on any definite plan, but are closely packed in irregularly
38477 shaped alveoli. If the alveoli are large and the intervening stroma is
38478 scanty and delicate, the tumour is soft and brain-like, and is described
38479 as a _medullary_ or _encephaloid cancer_. If the alveoli are small and
38480 the intervening stroma is abundant and composed of dense fibrous tissue,
38481 the tumour is hard, and is known as a _scirrhous cancer_--a form which
38482 is most frequently met with in the breast. If the cells undergo
38483 degeneration and absorption and the stroma contracts, the tumour becomes
38484 still harder, and tends to shrink and to draw in the surrounding parts,
38485 leading, in the breast, to retraction of the nipple and overlying skin,
38486 and in the stomach and colon to narrowing of the lumen. When the cells
38487 of the tumour undergo colloid degeneration, a _colloid cancer_ results;
38488 if the degeneration is complete, as may occur in the breast, the
38489 malignancy is thereby greatly diminished; if only partial, as is more
38490 common in rectal cancer, the malignancy is not appreciably affected.
38491 Melanin pigment is formed in relation to the cells and stroma of certain
38492 epithelial tumours, giving rise to _melanotic cancer_, one of the most
38493 malignant of all new growths. Cyst-like spaces may form in the tumour by
38494 the accumulation of the secretion of the epithelial cells, or as a
38495 result of their degeneration--_cystic carcinoma_. This is met with
38496 chiefly in the breast and ovary, and the tumour resembles the cystic
38497 adenoma, but it tends to infect its surroundings and gives rise to
38498 secondary growths.
38499
38500 _Rodent cancer_ originates in the glands of the skin, and presents a
38501 special tendency to break down and ulcerate on the surface (Figs. 102
38502 and 103). It almost never infects the lymph glands.
38503
38504
38505 DERMOIDS
38506
38507 A dermoid is a tumour containing skin or mucous membrane, occurring in a
38508 situation where these tissues are not met under normal conditions.
38509
38510 The _skin dermoid_, or _derma-cyst_ as it has been called by Askanazy,
38511 arises from a portion of epiblast, which has become sequestrated during
38512 the process of coalescence of two cutaneous surfaces in development.
38513 This form is therefore most frequently met with on the face and neck in
38514 the situations which correspond to the various clefts and fissures of
38515 the embryo. It occurs also on the trunk in situations where the lateral
38516 halves of the body coalesce during development. Such a dermoid usually
38517 takes the form of a globular cyst, the wall of which consists of skin,
38518 and the contents of turbid fluid containing desquamated epithelium, fat
38519 droplets, cholestrol crystals, and detached hairs. Delicate hairs may
38520 also be found projecting from the epithelial lining of the cyst.
38521
38522 Faulty coalescence of the cutaneous covering of the back occurs most
38523 frequently over the lower sacral vertebrae, giving rise to small
38524 congenital recesses, known as post-anal dimples and coccygeal sinuses.
38525 These recesses are lined with skin, which is furnished with hairs,
38526 sebaceous and sweat glands. If the external orifice becomes occluded,
38527 there results a dermoid cyst.
38528
38529 _Tubulo-dermoids_ arise from embryonic ducts and passages that are
38530 normally obliterated at birth, for example, _lingual dermoids_ develop
38531 in relation to the thyreo-glossal duct; _rectal and post-rectal_
38532 dermoids to the post-anal gut; and _branchial dermoids_ in relation to
38533 the branchial clefts. Tubulo-dermoids present the same structure as skin
38534 dermoids, save that mucous membrane takes the place of skin in the wall
38535 of the cyst, and the contents consist of the pent-up secretion of mucous
38536 glands.
38537
38538 _Clinical Features._--Although dermoids are of congenital origin, they
38539 are rarely evident at birth, and may not give rise to visible tumours
38540 until puberty, when the skin and its appendages become more active, or
38541 not till adult life. Superficial dermoids, such as those met with at the
38542 outer angle of the orbit, form rounded, definitely limited tumours over
38543 which the skin is freely movable. They are usually adherent to the
38544 deeper parts, and when situated over the skull may be lodged in a
38545 depression or actual gap in the bone. Sometimes the cyst becomes
38546 infected and suppurates, and finally ruptures on the surface. This may
38547 lead to a natural cure, or a persistent sinus may form. Dermoids more
38548 deeply placed, such as those within the thorax, or those situated
38549 between the rectum and sacrum, give rise to difficulty in diagnosis,
38550 even with the help of the X-rays, and their nature is seldom recognised
38551 until the escape of the contents--particularly hairs--supplies the clue.
38552 The literature of dermoid cysts is full of accounts of puzzling tumours
38553 met with in all sorts of situations.
38554
38555 The treatment is to remove the cyst. When it is impossible to remove the
38556 whole of the lining membrane by dissection, the portion that is left
38557 should be destroyed with the cautery.
38558
38559 _Ovarian Dermoids._--Dermoids are not uncommon in the ovary (Fig. 59).
38560 They usually take the form of unilocular or multilocular cysts, the
38561 wall of which contains skin, mucous membrane, hair follicles, sebaceous,
38562 sweat, and mucous glands, nails, teeth, nipples, and mammary glands. The
38563 cavity of the cyst usually contains a pultaceous mixture of shed
38564 epithelium, fluid fat, and hair. If the cyst ruptures, the epithelial
38565 elements are diffused over the peritoneum, and may give rise to
38566 secondary dermoids.
38567
38568 [Illustration: FIG. 59.--Dermoid Cyst of Ovary showing Teeth in its
38569 interior.]
38570
38571 The ovarian dermoid appears clinically as an abdominal or pelvic tumour
38572 provided with a pedicle; if the pedicle becomes twisted, the tumour
38573 undergoes strangulation, an event which is attended with urgent
38574 symptoms, not unlike those of strangulated hernia.
38575
38576 The treatment consists in removing the tumour by laparotomy.
38577
38578 #Teratoma.#--A teratoma is believed to result from partial dichotomy or
38579 cleavage of the trunk axis of the embryo, and is found exclusively in
38580 connection with the skull and vertebral column. It may take the form of
38581 a monstrosity such as conjoined twins or a parasitic foetus, but more
38582 commonly it is met with as an irregularly shaped tumour, usually growing
38583 from the sacrum. On dissection, such a tumour is found to contain a
38584 curious mixture of tissues--bones, skin, and portions of viscera, such
38585 as the intestine or liver. The question of the removal of the tumour
38586 requires to be considered in relation to the conditions present in each
38587 individual case.
38588
38589
38590 CYSTS[3]
38591
38592 [3] Cysts which form in relation to new-growths have been considered
38593 with tumours.
38594
38595 Cysts are rounded sacs, the wall being composed of fibrous tissue lined
38596 by epithelium or endothelium; the contents are fluid or semi-solid, and
38597 vary in character according to the tissue in which the cyst has
38598 originated.
38599
38600 _Retention and Exudation Cysts._--_Retention cysts_ develop when the
38601 duct of a secreting gland is partly obstructed; the secretion
38602 accumulates, and the gland and its duct become distended into a cyst.
38603 They are met with in the mamma and in the salivary glands. Sebaceous
38604 cysts or wens are described with diseases of the skin. _Exudation cysts_
38605 arise from the distension of cavities which are not provided with
38606 excretory ducts, such as those in the thyreoid.
38607
38608 _Implantation cysts_ are caused by the accidental transference of
38609 portions of the epidermis into the underlying connective tissue, as may
38610 occur in wounds by needles, awls, forks, or thorns. The implanted
38611 epidermis proliferates and forms a small cyst. They are met with chiefly
38612 on the palmar aspect of the fingers, and vary in size from a split pea
38613 to a cherry. The treatment consists in removing them by dissection.
38614
38615 _Parasitic cysts_ are produced by the growth within the tissues of
38616 cyst-forming parasites, the best known being the taenia echinococcus,
38617 which gives rise to the _hydatid cyst_. The liver is by far the most
38618 common site of hydatid cysts in the human subject.
38619
38620 With regard to the further life-history of hydatids, the living elements
38621 of the cyst may die and degenerate, or the cyst may increase in size
38622 until it ruptures. As a result of pyogenic infection the cyst may be
38623 converted into an abscess.
38624
38625 The _clinical features_ of hydatids vary so much with their situation
38626 and size, that they are best discussed with the individual organs. In
38627 general it may be said that there is a slow formation of a globular,
38628 elastic, fluctuating, painless swelling. Fluctuation is detected when
38629 the cyst approaches the surface, and it is then also that percussion
38630 may elicit the "hydatid thrill" or fremitus. This thrill is not often
38631 obtainable, and in any case is not pathognomonic of hydatids, as it may
38632 be elicited in ascites and in other abdominal cysts. Pressure of the
38633 cyst upon adjacent structures, and the occurrence of suppuration, are
38634 attended with characteristic clinical features.
38635
38636 The _diagnosis_ of hydatids will be considered with the individual
38637 organs. The disease is more common in certain parts of Australia and in
38638 Shetland and Iceland than in countries where the association of dogs in
38639 the domestic life of the inhabitants is less intimate. Pfeiler, who has
38640 worked at the _serum diagnosis of hydatid disease_, regards the
38641 complement deviation method as the most reliable; he believes that a
38642 positive reaction may almost be regarded as absolutely diagnostic of an
38643 echinococcal lesion.
38644
38645 The _treatment_ is to excise the cyst completely, or to inject into it a
38646 1 per cent. solution of formalin. In operating upon hydatids the utmost
38647 care must be taken to avoid leakage of the contents of the cyst, as
38648 these may readily disseminate the infection.
38649
38650 A _blood cyst_ or haematoma results from the encapsulation of
38651 extravasated blood in the tissues, from haemorrhage taking place into a
38652 preformed cyst, or from the saccular pouching of a varicose vein.
38653
38654 A _lymph cyst_ usually results from a contusion in which the skin is
38655 forcibly displaced from the subjacent tissues, and lymph vessels are
38656 thereby torn across. The cyst is usually situated between the skin and
38657 fascia, and contains clear or blood-stained serum. At first it is lax
38658 and fluctuates readily, later it becomes larger and more tense. The
38659 treatment consists in drawing off the contents through a hollow needle
38660 and applying firm pressure. Apart from injury, lymph cysts are met with
38661 as the result of the distension of lymph spaces and vessels
38662 (_lymphangiectasis_); and in lymphangiomas, of which the best-known
38663 example is the cystic hygroma or hydrocele of the neck.
38664
38665
38666 GANGLION
38667
38668 This term is applied to a cyst filled with a clear colourless jelly or
38669 colloid material, met with in the vicinity of a joint or tendon sheath.
38670
38671 The commonest variety--the _carpal ganglion_--popularly known as a
38672 sprained sinew--is met with as a smooth, rounded, or oval swelling on
38673 the dorsal aspect of the carpus, usually towards its radial side (Fig. 60).
38674 It is situated over one of the intercarpal or other joints in this
38675 region, and may be connected with one or other of the extensor tendons.
38676 The skin and fascia are movable over the cyst. The cyst varies in size
38677 from a pea to a pigeon's egg, and usually attains its maximum size
38678 within a few months and then remains stationary. It becomes tense and
38679 prominent when the hand is flexed towards the palm. Its appearance is
38680 usually ascribed to some strain of the wrist--for example, in girls
38681 learning gymnastics. It may cause no symptoms or it may interfere with
38682 the use of the hand, especially in grasping movements and when the hand
38683 is dorsiflexed. In girls it may give rise to pain which shoots up the
38684 arm. Ganglia are also met with on the dorsum of the metacarpus and on
38685 the palmar aspect of the wrist.
38686
38687 [Illustration: FIG. 60.--Carpal Ganglion in a woman aet. 25.]
38688
38689 The _tarsal ganglion_ is situated on the dorsum of the foot over one or
38690 other of the intertarsal joints. It is usually smaller, flatter, and
38691 more tense than that met with over the wrist, so that it is sometimes
38692 mistaken for a bony tumour. It rarely causes symptoms, unless so
38693 situated as to be pressed upon by the boot.
38694
38695 _Ganglia in the region of the knee_ are usually situated over the
38696 interval between the femur and tibia, most often on the lateral aspect
38697 of the joint in front of the tendon of the biceps (Fig. 61). The
38698 swelling, which may attain the size of half a walnut, is tense and hard
38699 when the knee is extended, and becomes softer and more prominent when it
38700 is flexed. They are met with in young adults who follow laborious
38701 occupations or who indulge in athletics, and they cause stiffness,
38702 discomfort, and impairment of the use of the limb. A ganglion is
38703 sometimes met with on the median aspect of the head of the metatarsal
38704 bone of the great toe and may be the cause of considerable suffering; it
38705 is indistinguishable from the thickened and enlarged bursa so commonly
38706 present in this situation in the condition known as bunion.
38707
38708 [Illustration: FIG. 61.--Ganglion on lateral aspect of Knee in a young
38709 woman.]
38710
38711 Ganglionic cysts are met with in other situations than those mentioned,
38712 but they are so rare as not to require separate description.
38713
38714 Ganglia are to be diagnosed by their situation and physical characters;
38715 enlarged bursae, synovial cysts, and new-growths are the swellings most
38716 likely to be mistaken for them. The diagnosis is sometimes only cleared
38717 up by withdrawing the clear, jelly-like contents through a hollow
38718 needle.
38719
38720 _Pathological Anatomy._--The wall of the cyst is composed of fibrous
38721 tissue closely adherent to or fused with the surrounding tissues, so
38722 that it cannot be shelled out. There is no endothelial lining, and the
38723 fibrous tissue of the wall is in immediate contact with the colloid
38724 material in the interior, which appears to be derived by a process of
38725 degeneration from the surrounding connective tissue. In the region of
38726 the knee the ganglion is usually multilocular, and consists of a
38727 meshwork of fibrous tissue, the meshes of which are occupied by colloid
38728 material.
38729
38730 It is often stated that a ganglion originates from a hernial protrusion
38731 of the synovial membrane of a joint or tendon sheath. We have not been
38732 able to demonstrate any communication between the cavity of the cyst
38733 and that of an adjacent tendon sheath or joint. It is possible, however,
38734 that the cyst may originate from a minute portion of synovial membrane
38735 being protruded and strangulated so that it becomes disconnected from
38736 that to which it originally belonged; it may then degenerate and give
38737 rise to colloid material, which accumulates and forms a cyst. Ledderhose
38738 and others regard ganglia as entirely new formations in the
38739 peri-articular tissues, resulting from colloid degeneration of the
38740 fibrous tissue of the capsular ligament, occurring at first in numerous
38741 small areas which later coalesce. Ganglia are probably, therefore, of
38742 the nature of degeneration cysts arising in the capsule of joints, in
38743 tendons, and in their sheaths.
38744
38745 _Treatment._--A ganglion can usually be got rid of by a modification of
38746 the old-fashioned seton. The skin and cyst wall are transfixed by a
38747 stout needle carrying a double thread of silkworm gut; some of the
38748 colourless jelly escapes from the punctures; the ends of the thread are
38749 tied and cut short, and a dressing is applied. A week later the threads
38750 are removed and the minute punctures are sealed with collodion. The
38751 action of the threads is to convert the cyst wall into granulation
38752 tissue, which undergoes the usual conversion into scar tissue. If the
38753 cyst re-forms, it should be removed by open dissection under local
38754 anaesthesia. Puncture with a tenotomy knife and scraping the interior,
38755 and the injection of irritants, are alternative, but less satisfactory,
38756 methods of treatment.
38757
38758 _Ganglia_ in the substance of _tendons_ are rare. The diagnosis rests on
38759 the observation that the small tumour is cystic, and that it follows the
38760 movements of the tendon. The cyst is at first multiple, but the
38761 partitions disappear, and the spaces are thrown into one. The tendon is
38762 so weakened that it readily ruptures. The best treatment is to resect
38763 the affected segment of tendon.
38764
38765 The so-called "compound palmar ganglion" is a tuberculous disease of the
38766 tendon sheaths, and is described with diseases of tendon sheaths.
38767
38768
38769
38770
38771 CHAPTER XI
38772
38773 INJURIES
38774
38775
38776 CONTUSIONS--WOUNDS: _Varieties_--WOUNDS BY FIREARMS AND
38777 EXPLOSIVES: _Pistol-shot wounds_; _Wounds by sporting guns_;
38778 _Wounds by rifle bullets_; _Wounds received in warfare_; _Shell
38779 wounds_. _Embedded foreign bodies_--BURNS AND
38780 SCALDS--INJURIES PRODUCED BY ELECTRICITY: _X-ray and
38781 radium_; _Electrical burns_; _Lightning stroke_.
38782
38783
38784 CONTUSIONS
38785
38786 A contusion or bruise is a laceration of the subcutaneous soft tissues,
38787 without solution of continuity of the skin. When the integument gives
38788 way at the same time, a _contused-wound_ results. Bruising occurs when
38789 force is applied to a part by means of a blunt object, whether as a
38790 direct blow, a crush, or a grazing form of violence. If the force acts
38791 at right angles to the part, it tends to produce localised lesions which
38792 extend deeply; while, if it acts obliquely, it gives rise to lesions
38793 which are more diffuse, but comparatively superficial. It is well to
38794 remember that those who suffer from scurvy, or haemophilia (bleeders),
38795 and fat and anaemic females, are liable to be bruised by comparatively
38796 trivial injuries.
38797
38798 _Clinical Features._--The less severe forms of contusion are associated
38799 with _ecchymosis_, numerous minute and discrete punctate haemorrhages
38800 being scattered through the superficial layers of the skin, which is
38801 slightly oedematous. The effused blood is soon reabsorbed.
38802
38803 The more severe forms are attended with _extravasation_, the
38804 extravasated blood being widely diffused through the cellular tissue of
38805 the part, especially where this is loose and lax, as in the region of
38806 the orbit, the scrotum and perineum, and on the chest wall. A blue or
38807 bluish-black discoloration occurs in patches, varying in size and depth
38808 with the degree of force which produced the injury, and in shape with
38809 the instrument employed. It is most intense in regions where the skin is
38810 naturally thin and pigmented. In parts where the extravasated blood is
38811 only separated from the oxygen of the air by a thin layer of epidermis
38812 or by a mucous membrane, it retains its bright arterial colour. These
38813 points are often well illustrated in cases of black eye, where the blood
38814 effused under the conjunctiva is bright red, while that in the eyelids
38815 is almost black. In severe contusions associated with great tension of
38816 the skin--for example, over the front of the tibia or around the
38817 ankle--blisters often form on the surface and constitute a possible
38818 avenue of infection. When deeply situated, the blood tends to spread
38819 along the lines of least resistance, partly under the influence of
38820 gravity, passing under fasciae, between muscles, along the sheaths of
38821 vessels, or in connective-tissue spaces, so that it may only reach the
38822 surface after some time, and at a considerable distance from the seat of
38823 injury. This fact is sometimes of importance in diagnosis, as, for
38824 example, in certain fractures of the base of the skull, where
38825 discoloration appears under the conjunctiva or behind the mastoid
38826 process some days after the accident.
38827
38828 Blood extravasated deeply in the tissues gives rise to a firm,
38829 resistant, doughy swelling, in which there may be elicited on deep
38830 palpation a peculiar sensation, not unlike the crepitus of fracture.
38831
38832 It frequently happens that, from the tearing of lymph vessels, serous
38833 fluid is extravasated, and a _lymphatic_ or _serous cyst_ may form.
38834
38835 In all contusions accompanied by extravasation, there is marked swelling
38836 of the area involved, as well as pain and tenderness. The temperature
38837 may rise to 101 o F., or, in the large extravasations that occur in
38838 bleeders, even higher--a form of aseptic fever. The degree of shock is
38839 variable, but sudden syncope frequently results from severe bruises of
38840 the testicle, abdomen, or head, and occasionally marked nervous
38841 depression follows these injuries.
38842
38843 Contusion of muscles or nerves may produce partial atrophy and paresis,
38844 as is often seen after injuries in the region of the shoulder.
38845
38846 In alcoholic or other debilitated patients, suppuration is liable to
38847 ensue in bruised parts, infection taking place from cocci circulating in
38848 the blood, or through the overlying skin.
38849
38850 _Terminations of Contusions._--The usual termination is a complete
38851 return to the normal, some of the extravasated blood being organised,
38852 but most of it being reabsorbed. During the process characteristic
38853 alterations in the colour of the effused blood take place as a result of
38854 changes in the blood pigment. In from twenty-four to forty-eight hours
38855 the margins of the blue area become of a violet hue, and as time goes on
38856 the discoloured area increases in size, and becomes successively green,
38857 yellow, and lemon-coloured at its margins, the central part being the
38858 last to change. The rate at which this play of colours proceeds is so
38859 variable, and depends on so many circumstances, that no time-limits can
38860 be laid down. During the disintegration of the effused blood the
38861 adjacent lymph glands may become enlarged, and on dissection may be
38862 found to be pigmented. Sometimes the blood persists as a collection of
38863 fluid with a newly formed connective-tissue capsule, constituting a
38864 _haematoma_ or _blood cyst_, more often met with in the scalp than in
38865 other parts.
38866
38867 The impairment of the blood supply of the skin may lead to the formation
38868 of _blisters_, or to _necrosis_. Death of skin is more liable to occur
38869 in bleeders, and when the slough separates the blood-clot is exposed and
38870 the reparative changes go on extremely slowly. _Suppuration_ may occur
38871 and lead to the formation of an abscess as a result of direct infection
38872 from the skin or through the circulation.
38873
38874 _Treatment._--If the patient is seen immediately after the accident,
38875 elevation of the part, and firm pressure applied by means of a thick pad
38876 of cotton wool and an elastic bandage, are useful in preventing effusion
38877 of blood. Ice-bags and evaporating lotions are to be used with caution,
38878 as they are liable to lower the vitality of the damaged tissues and lead
38879 to necrosis of the skin.
38880
38881 When extravasation has already taken place, massage is the most speedy
38882 and efficacious means of dispersing the effused blood. The part should
38883 be massaged several times a day, unless the presence of blebs or
38884 abrasions of the skin prevents this being done. When this is the case,
38885 the use of antiseptic dressings is called for to prevent infection and
38886 to promote healing, after which massage is employed.
38887
38888 When the tension caused by the extravasated blood threatens the vitality
38889 of the skin, incisions may be made, if asepsis can be assured. The blood
38890 from a haematoma may be withdrawn by an exploring needle, and the
38891 puncture sealed with collodion. Infective complications must be looked
38892 for and dealt with on general principles.
38893
38894
38895 WOUNDS
38896
38897 A wound is a solution in the continuity of the skin or mucous membrane
38898 and of the underlying tissues, caused by violence.
38899
38900 Three varieties of wounds are described: incised, punctured, and
38901 contused and lacerated.
38902
38903 #Incised Wounds.#--Typical examples of incised wounds are those made by
38904 the surgeon in the course of an operation, wounds accidentally inflicted
38905 by cutting instruments, and suicidal cut-throat wounds. It should be
38906 borne in mind in connection with medico-legal inquiries, that wounds of
38907 soft parts that closely overlie a bone, such as the skull, the tibia, or
38908 the patella, although, inflicted by a blunt instrument, may have all the
38909 appearances of incised wounds.
38910
38911 _Clinical Features._--One of the characteristic features of an incised
38912 wound is its tendency to gape. This is evident in long skin wounds, and
38913 especially when the cut runs across the part, or when it extends deeply
38914 enough to divide muscular fibres at right angles to their long axis. The
38915 gaping of a wound, further, is more marked when the underlying tissues
38916 are in a state of tension--as, for example, in inflamed parts. Incised
38917 wounds in the palm of the hand, the sole of the foot, or the scalp,
38918 however, have little tendency to gape, because of the close attachment
38919 of the skin to the underlying fascia.
38920
38921 Incised wounds, especially in inflamed tissues, tend to bleed profusely;
38922 and when a vessel is only partly divided and is therefore unable to
38923 contract, it continues to bleed longer than when completely cut across.
38924
38925 The _special risks_ of incised wounds are: (1) division of large blood
38926 vessels, leading to profuse haemorrhage; (2) division of nerve-trunks,
38927 resulting in motor and sensory disturbances; and (3) division of tendons
38928 or muscles, interfering with movement.
38929
38930 _Treatment._--If haemorrhage is still going on, it must be arrested by
38931 pressure, torsion, or ligature, as the accumulation of blood in a wound
38932 interferes with union. If necessary, the wound should be purified by
38933 washing with saline solution or eusol, and the surrounding skin painted
38934 with iodine, after which the edges are approximated by sutures. The raw
38935 surfaces must be brought into accurate apposition, care being taken that
38936 no inversion of the cutaneous surface takes place. In extensive and deep
38937 wounds, to ensure more complete closure and to prevent subsequent
38938 stretching of the scar, it is advisable to unite the different
38939 structures--muscles, fasciae, and subcutaneous tissue--by separate series
38940 of _buried sutures_ of catgut or other absorbable material. For the
38941 approximation of the skin edges, stitches of horse-hair, fishing-gut, or
38942 fine silk are the most appropriate. These _stitches of coaptation_ may
38943 be interrupted or continuous. In small superficial wounds on exposed
38944 parts, stitch marks may be avoided by approximating the edges with
38945 strips of gauze fixed in position by collodion, or by subcutaneous
38946 sutures of fine catgut. Where the skin is loose, as, for example, in the
38947 neck, on the limbs, or in the scrotum, the use of Michel's clips is
38948 advantageous in so far as these bring the deep surfaces of the skin into
38949 accurate apposition, are introduced with comparatively little pain, and
38950 leave only a slight mark if removed within forty-eight hours.
38951
38952 When there is any difficulty in bringing the edges of the wound into
38953 apposition, a few interrupted _relaxation stitches_ may be introduced
38954 wide of the margins, to take the strain off the coaptation stitches.
38955 Stout silk, fishing-gut, or silver wire may be employed for this
38956 purpose. When the tension is extreme, Lister's button suture may be
38957 employed. The tension is relieved and death of skin prevented by scoring
38958 it freely with a sharp knife. Relaxation stitches should be removed in
38959 four or five days, and stitches of coaptation in from seven to ten days.
38960 On the face and neck, wounds heal rapidly, and stitches may be removed
38961 in two or three days, thus diminishing the marks they leave.
38962
38963 _Drainage._--In wounds in which no cavity has been left, and in which
38964 there is no reason to suspect infection, drainage is unnecessary. When,
38965 however, the deeper parts of an extensive wound cannot be brought into
38966 accurate apposition, and especially when there is any prospect of oozing
38967 of blood or serum--as in amputation stumps or after excision of the
38968 breast--drainage is indicated. It is a wise precaution also to insert
38969 drainage tubes into wounds in fat patients when there is the slightest
38970 reason to suspect the presence of infection. Glass or rubber tubes are
38971 the best drains; but where it is desirable to leave little mark, a few
38972 strands of horse-hair, or a small roll of rubber, form a satisfactory
38973 substitute. Except when infection occurs, the drain is removed in from
38974 one to four days and the opening closed with a Michel's clip or a
38975 suture.
38976
38977 #Punctured Wounds.#--Punctured wounds are produced by narrow, pointed
38978 instruments, and the sharper and smoother the instrument the more does
38979 the resulting injury resemble an incised wound; while from more rounded
38980 and rougher instruments the edges of the wound are more or less contused
38981 or lacerated. The depth of punctured wounds greatly exceeds their width,
38982 and the damage to subcutaneous parts is usually greater than that to the
38983 skin. When the instrument transfixes a part, the edges of the wound of
38984 entrance may be inverted, and those of the exit wound everted. If the
38985 instrument is a rough one, these conditions may be reversed by its
38986 sudden withdrawal.
38987
38988 Punctured wounds neither gape nor bleed much. Even when a large vessel
38989 is implicated, the bleeding usually takes place into the tissues rather
38990 than externally.
38991
38992 The _risks_ incident to this class of wounds are: (1) the extreme
38993 difficulty, especially when a dense fascia has been perforated, of
38994 rendering them aseptic, on account of the uncertainty as to their depth,
38995 and of the way in which the surface wound closes on the withdrawal of
38996 the instrument; (2) different forms of aneurysm may result from the
38997 puncture of a large vessel; (3) perforation of a joint, or of a serous
38998 cavity, such as the abdomen, thorax, or skull, materially adds to the
38999 danger.
39000
39001 _Treatment._--The first indication is to purify the whole extent of the
39002 wound, and to remove any foreign body or blood-clot that may be in it.
39003 It is usually necessary to enlarge the wound, freely dividing injured
39004 fasciae, paring away bruised tissues, and purifying the whole
39005 wound-surface. Any blood vessel that is punctured should be cut across
39006 and tied; and divided muscles, tendons, or nerves must be sutured. After
39007 haemorrhage has been arrested, iodoform and bismuth paste is rubbed into
39008 the raw surface, and the wound closed. If there is any reason to doubt
39009 the asepticity of the wound, it is better treated by the open method,
39010 and a Bier's bandage should be applied.
39011
39012 #Contused and Lacerated Wounds.#--These may be considered together, as
39013 they so occur in practice. They are produced by crushing, biting, or
39014 tearing forms of violence--such as result from machinery accidents,
39015 firearms, or the bites of animals. In addition to the irregular wound of
39016 the integument, there is always more or less bruising of the parts
39017 beneath and around, and the subcutaneous lesions are much wider than
39018 appears on the surface.
39019
39020 Wounds of this variety usually gape considerably, especially when there
39021 is much laceration of the skin. It is not uncommon to have considerable
39022 portions of skin, muscle, or tendon completely torn away.
39023
39024 Haemorrhage is seldom a prominent feature, as the crushing or tearing of
39025 the vessel wall leads to the obliteration of the lumen.
39026
39027 The _special risks_ of these wounds are: (1) Sloughing of the bruised
39028 tissues, especially when attempts to sterilise the wound have not been
39029 successful. (2) Reactionary haemorrhage after the initial shock has
39030 passed off. (3) Secondary haemorrhage as a result of infective processes
39031 ensuing in the wound. (4) Loss of muscle or tendon, interfering with
39032 motion. (5) Cicatricial contraction. (6) Gangrene, which may follow
39033 occlusion of main vessels, or virulent infective processes. (7) It is
39034 not uncommon to have particles of carbon embedded in the tissues after
39035 lacerated wounds, leaving unsightly, pigmented scars. This is often seen
39036 in coal-miners, and in those injured by firearms, and is to be prevented
39037 by removing all gross dirt from the edges of the wound.
39038
39039 _Treatment._--In severe wounds of this class implicating the
39040 extremities, the most important question that arises is whether or not
39041 the limb can be saved. In examining the limb, attention should first be
39042 directed to the state of the main blood vessels, in order to determine
39043 if the vascular supply of the part beyond the lesion is sufficient to
39044 maintain its vitality. Amputation is usually called for if there is
39045 complete absence of pulsation in the distal arteries and if the part
39046 beyond is cold. If at the same time important nerve-trunks are
39047 lacerated, so that the function of the limb would be seriously impaired,
39048 it is not worth running the risk of attempting to save it. If, in
39049 addition, there is extensive destruction of large muscular masses or of
39050 important tendons, or comminution of the bones, amputation is usually
39051 imperative. Stripping of large areas of skin is not in itself a reason
39052 for removing a limb, as much can be done by skin grafting, but when it
39053 is associated with other lesions it favours amputation. In considering
39054 these points, it must be borne in mind that the damage to the deeper
39055 tissues is always more extensive than appears on the surface, and that
39056 in many cases it is only possible to estimate the real extent of the
39057 injury by administering an anaesthetic and exploring the wound. In
39058 doubtful cases the possibility of rendering the parts aseptic will often
39059 decide the question for or against amputation. If thorough purification
39060 is accomplished, the success which attends conservative measures is
39061 often remarkable. It is permissible to run an amount of risk to save an
39062 upper extremity which would be unjustifiable in the case of a lower
39063 limb. The age and occupation of the patient must also be taken into
39064 account.
39065
39066 It having been decided to try and save the limb, the question is only
39067 settled for the moment; it may have to be reconsidered from day to day,
39068 or even from hour to hour, according to the progress of the case.
39069
39070 When it is decided to make the attempt to save the limb, the wound must
39071 be thoroughly purified. All bruised tissue in which gross dirt has
39072 become engrained should be cut away with knife or scissors. The raw
39073 surface is then cleansed with eusol, washed with sterilised salt
39074 solution followed by methylated spirit, and rubbed all over with "bipp"
39075 paste. If the purification is considered satisfactory the wound may be
39076 closed, otherwise it is left open, freely drained or packed with gauze,
39077 and the limb is immobilised by suitable splints.
39078
39079
39080 WOUNDS BY FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
39081
39082 It is not necessary here to do more than indicate the general characters
39083 of wounds produced by modern weapons. For further details the reader is
39084 referred to works on military surgery. Experience has shown that the
39085 nature and severity of the injuries sustained in warfare vary widely in
39086
39087 different campaigns, and even in different fields of the same campaign.
39088 Slight variations in the size, shape, and weight of rifle bullets, for
39089 example, may profoundly modify the lesions they produce: witness the
39090 destructive effect of the pointed bullet compared with that of the
39091 conical form previously used. The conditions under which the fighting is
39092 carried on also influence the wounds. Those sustained in the open,
39093 long-range fighting of the South African campaign of 1899-1902 were very
39094 different from those met with in the entrenched warfare in France in
39095 1914-1918. It has been found also that the infective complications are
39096 greatly influenced by the terrain in which the fighting takes place. In
39097 the dry, sandy, uncultivated veldt of South Africa, bullet wounds seldom
39098 became infected, while those sustained in the highly manured fields of
39099 Belgium were almost invariably contaminated with putrefactive organisms,
39100 and gaseous gangrene and tetanus were common complications. It has been
39101 found also that wounds inflicted in naval engagements present different
39102 characters from those sustained on land. Many other factors, such as the
39103 physical and mental condition of the men, the facilities for affording
39104 first aid, and the transport arrangements, also play a part in
39105 determining the nature and condition of the wounds that have to be dealt
39106 with by military surgeons.
39107
39108 Whatever the nature of the weapon concerned, the wound is of the
39109 _punctured, contused, and lacerated_ variety. Its severity depends on
39110 the size, shape, and velocity of the missile, the range at which the
39111 weapon is discharged, and the part of the body struck.
39112
39113 Shock is a prominent feature, but its degree, as well as the time of its
39114 onset, varies with the extent and seat of the injury, and with the
39115 mental state of the patient when wounded. We have observed pronounced
39116 shock in children after being shot even when no serious injury was
39117 sustained. At the moment of injury the patient experiences a sensation
39118 which is variously described as being like the lash of a whip, a blow
39119 with a stick, or an electric shock. There is not much pain at first, but
39120 later it may become severe, and is usually associated with intense
39121 thirst, especially when much blood has been lost.
39122
39123 In all forms of wounds sustained in warfare, septic infection
39124 constitutes the main risk, particularly that resulting from
39125 streptococci. The presence of anaerobic organisms introduces the
39126 additional danger of gaseous forms of gangrene.
39127
39128 The earlier the wound is disinfected the greater is the possibility of
39129 diminishing this risk. If cleansing is carried out within the first six
39130 hours the chance of eliminating sepsis is good; with every succeeding
39131 six hours it diminishes, until after twenty-four hours it is seldom
39132 possible to do more than mitigate sepsis. (J. T. Morrison.)
39133
39134 The presence of a metallic foreign body having been determined and its
39135 position localised by means of the X-rays, all devitalised and
39136 contaminated tissue is excised, the foreign material, _e.g._, a missile,
39137 fragments of clothing, gravel and blood-clot, removed, the wound
39138 purified with antiseptics and closed or drained according to
39139 circumstances.
39140
39141 #Pistol-shot Wounds.#--Wounds inflicted by pistols, revolvers, and small
39142 air-guns are of frequent occurrence in civil practice, the weapon being
39143 discharged usually by accident, but frequently with suicidal, and
39144 sometimes with homicidal intent.
39145
39146 With all calibres and at all ranges, except actual contact, the wound of
39147 entrance is smaller than the bullet. If the weapon is discharged within
39148 a foot of the body, the skin surrounding the wound is usually stained
39149 with powder and burned, and the hair singed. At ranges varying from six
39150 inches to thirty feet, grains of powder may be found embedded in the
39151 skin or lying loose on the surface, the greater the range the wider
39152 being the area of spread. When black powder is used, the embedded grains
39153 usually leave a permanent bluish-black tattooing of the skin. When the
39154 weapon is placed in contact with the skin, the subcutaneous tissues are
39155 lacerated over an area of two or three inches around the opening made by
39156 the bullet and smoke and powder-staining and scorching are more marked
39157 than at longer ranges.
39158
39159 When the bullet perforates, the exit wound is usually larger and more
39160 extensively lacerated than the wound of entrance. Its margins are as a
39161 rule everted, and it shows no marks of flame, smoke, or powder. These
39162 features are common to all perforations caused by bullets.
39163
39164 Pistol wounds only produce dangerous effects when fired at close range,
39165 and when the cavities of the skull, the thorax, or the abdomen are
39166 implicated. In the abdomen a lethal injury may readily be caused even by
39167 pistols of the "toy" order. These injuries will be described with
39168 regional surgery.
39169
39170 Pistol-shot wounds of _joints_ and _soft parts_ are seldom of serious
39171 import apart from the risk of haemorrhage and of infection.
39172
39173 _Treatment._--The treatment of wounds of the soft parts consists in
39174 purifying the wounds of entrance and exit and the surrounding skin, and
39175 in providing for drainage if this is indicated.
39176
39177 There being no urgency for the removal of the bullet, time should be
39178 taken to have it localised by the X-rays, preferably by stereoscopic
39179 plates. In some cases it is not necessary to remove the bullet.
39180
39181 #Wounds by Sporting Guns.#--In the common sporting or scatter gun, with
39182 which accidents so commonly occur during the shooting season, the charge
39183 of small shot or pellets leave the muzzle of the gun as a solid mass
39184 which makes a single ragged wound having much the appearance of that
39185 caused by a single bullet. At a distance of from four to five feet from
39186 the muzzle the pellets begin to disperse so that there are separate
39187 punctures around the main central wound. As the range increases, these
39188 outlying punctures make a wider and wider pattern, until at a distance
39189 of from eighteen to twenty feet from the muzzle, the scattering is
39190 complete, there is no longer any central wound, and each individual
39191 pellet makes its own puncture. From these elementary data, it is usually
39192 possible, from the features of the wound, to arrive at an approximately
39193 accurate conclusion regarding the range at which the gun was discharged,
39194 and this may have an important bearing on the question of accident,
39195 suicide, or murder.
39196
39197 As regards the effects on the tissues at close range, that is, within a
39198 few feet, there is widespread laceration and disruption; if a bone is
39199 struck it is shattered, and portions of bone may be displaced or even
39200 driven out through the exit wound.
39201
39202 When the charge impinges over one of the large cavities of the body, the
39203 shot may scatter widely through the contained viscera, and there is
39204 often no exit wound. In the thorax, for example, if a rib is struck, the
39205 charge and possibly fragments of bone, will penetrate the pleura, and be
39206 dispersed throughout the lung; in the head, the skull may be shattered
39207 and the brain torn up; and in the abdomen, the hollow viscera may be
39208 perforated in many places and the solid organs lacerated.
39209
39210 On covered parts the clothing, by deflecting the shot, influences the
39211 size and shape of the wound; the entrance wound is increased in size and
39212 more ragged, and portions of the clothes may be driven into the tissues.
39213
39214 [Illustration: FIG. 62.--Radiogram showing Pellets embedded in Arm.
39215
39216 (Mr. J. W. Dowden's case.)]
39217
39218 A charge of small shot is much more destructive to blood vessels,
39219 tendons, and ligaments than a single bullet, which in many cases pushes
39220 such structures aside without dividing them. In the abdomen and chest,
39221 also, the damage done by a full charge of shot is much more extensive
39222 than that inflicted by a single bullet, the deflection of the pellets
39223 leading to a greater number of perforations of the intestine and more
39224 widespread laceration of solid viscera.
39225
39226 When the charge impinges on one of the extremities at close range, we
39227 often have the opportunity of observing that the exit wound is larger,
39228 more ragged than that of entrance, and that its edges are everted; the
39229 extensive tearing and bruising of all the tissues, including the bones,
39230 and the marked tendency to early and progressive septic infection,
39231 render amputation compulsory in the majority of such cases.
39232
39233 At a range of from twenty to thirty feet, although the scatter is
39234 complete, the pellets are still close together, so that if they
39235 encounter the shaft of a long bone, even the femur, they fracture the
39236 bone across, often along with some longitudinal splintering.
39237
39238 Individual pellets striking the shafts of long bones become flattened or
39239 distorted, and when cancellated bone is struck they become embedded in
39240 it (Fig. 62).
39241
39242 The skin, when it is closely peppered with shot, is liable to lose its
39243 vitality, and with the addition of a little sepsis, readily necroses and
39244 comes away as a slough.
39245
39246 When the shot have diverged so as to strike singly, they seldom do much
39247 harm, but fatal damage may be done to the brain or to the aorta, or the
39248 eye may be seriously injured by a single pellet.
39249
39250 Small shot fired at longer ranges--over about a hundred and fifty
39251 feet--usually go through the skin, but seldom pierce the fascia, and lie
39252 embedded in the subcutaneous tissue, from which they can readily be
39253 extracted.
39254
39255 The wad of the cartridge behaves erratically: so long as it remains flat
39256 it goes off with the rest of the charge, and is often buried in the
39257 wound; but if it curls up or turns on its side, it is usually deflected
39258 and flies clear of the shot. It may make a separate wound.
39259
39260 Wounds from sporting guns are to be _treated_ on the usual lines, the
39261 early efforts being directed to the alleviation of shock and the
39262 prevention of septic infection. There is rarely any urgency in the
39263 removal of pellets from the tissues.
39264
39265 #Wounds by Rifle Bullets.#--The vast majority of wounds inflicted by
39266 rifle bullets are met with in the field during active warfare, and fall
39267 to be treated by military surgeons. They occasionally occur
39268 accidentally, however, during range practice for example, and may then
39269 come under the notice of the civil surgeon.
39270
39271 It is only necessary here to consider the effects of modern small-bore
39272 rifle or machine-gun bullets.
39273
39274 The trajectory is practically flat up to 675 yards. In destructive
39275 effect there is not much difference between the various high velocity
39276 bullets used in different armies; they will kill up to a distance of two
39277 miles. The hard covering is employed to enable the bullet to take the
39278 grooves in the rifle, and to prevent it stripping as it passes through
39279 the barrel. It also increases the penetrating power of the missile, but
39280 diminishes its "stopping" power, unless a vital part or a long bone is
39281 struck. By removing the covering from the point of the bullet, as is
39282 done in the Dum-Dum bullet, or by splitting the end, the bullet is made
39283 to expand or "mushroom" when it strikes the body, and its stopping power
39284 is thereby greatly increased, the resulting wound being much more
39285 severe. These "soft-nosed" expanding bullets are to be distinguished
39286 from "explosive" bullets which contain substances which detonate on
39287 impact. High velocity bullets are unlikely to lodge in the body unless
39288 spent, or pulled up by a sandbag, or metal buckle on a belt, or a book
39289 in the pocket, or the core and the case separating--"stripping" of the
39290 bullet. Spent shot may merely cause bruising of the surface, or they may
39291 pass through the skin and lodge in the subcutaneous tissue, or may even
39292 damage some deeper structure such as a nerve trunk.
39293
39294 A blank cartridge fired at close range may cause a severe wound, and, if
39295 charged with black powder, may leave a permanent bluish-black
39296 pigmentation of the skin.
39297
39298 The lesions of individual tissues--bones, nerves, blood vessels--are
39299 considered with these.
39300
39301 #Treatment of Gunshot Wounds under War Conditions.#--It is only
39302 necessary to indicate briefly the method of dealing with gunshot wounds
39303 in warfare as practised in the European War.
39304
39305 1. _On the Field._--Haemorrhage is arrested in the limbs by an improvised
39306 tourniquet; in the head by a pad and bandage; in the thorax or abdomen
39307 by packing if necessary, but this should be avoided if possible, as it
39308 favours septic infection. If a limb is all but detached it should be
39309 completely severed. A full dose of morphin is given hypodermically. The
39310 ampoule of iodine carried by the wounded man is broken, and its contents
39311 are poured over and around the wound, after which the field dressing is
39312 applied. In extensive wounds, the "shell-dressing" carried by the
39313 stretcher bearers is preferred. All bandages are applied loosely to
39314 allow for subsequent swelling. The fragments of fractured bones are
39315 immobilised by some form of emergency splint.
39316
39317 2. _At the Advanced Dressing Station_, after the patient has had a
39318 liberal allowance of warm fluid nourishment, such as soup or tea, a full
39319 dose of anti-tetanic serum is injected. The tourniquet is removed and
39320 the wound inspected. Urgent amputations are performed. Moribund patients
39321 are detained lest they die _en route_.
39322
39323 3. _In the Field Ambulance or Casualty Clearing Station_ further
39324 measures are employed for the relief of shock, and urgent operations are
39325 performed, such as amputation for gangrene, tracheotomy for dyspnoea, or
39326 laparotomy for perforated or lacerated intestine. In the majority of
39327 cases the main object is to guard against infection; the skin is
39328 disinfected over a wide area and surrounded with towels; damaged tissue,
39329 especially muscle, is removed with the knife or scissors, and foreign
39330 bodies are extracted. Torn blood vessels, and, if possible, nerves and
39331 tendons are repaired. The wound is then partly closed, provision being
39332 made for free drainage, or some special method of irrigation, such as
39333 that of Carrel, is adopted. Sometimes the wound is treated with bismuth,
39334 iodoform, and paraffin paste (B.I.P.P.) and sutured.
39335
39336 4. _In the Base Hospital or Hospital Ship_ various measures may be
39337 called for according to the progress of the wound and the condition of
39338 the patient.
39339
39340 #Shell Wounds and Wounds produced by Explosions.#--It is convenient to
39341 consider together the effects of the bursting of shells fired from heavy
39342 ordnance and those resulting in the course of blasting operations from
39343 the discharge of dynamite or other explosives, or from the bursting of
39344 steam boilers or pipes, the breaking of machinery, and similar accidents
39345 met with in civil practice.
39346
39347 Wounds inflicted by shell fragments and shrapnel bullets tend to be
39348 extensive in area, and show great contusion, laceration, and destruction
39349 of the tissues. The missiles frequently lodge and carry portions of the
39350 clothing and, it may be, articles from the man's pocket, with them.
39351 Shell wounds are attended with a considerable degree of shock. On
39352 account of the wide area of contusion which surrounds the actual wound
39353 produced by shell fragments, amputation, when called for, should be
39354 performed some distance above the torn tissues, as there is considerable
39355 risk of sloughing of the flaps.
39356
39357 Wounds produced by dynamite explosions and the bursting of boilers have
39358 the same general characters as shell wounds. Fragments of stone, coal,
39359 or metal may lodge in the tissues, and favour the occurrence of
39360 infective complications.
39361
39362 All such injuries are to be treated on the general principles governing
39363 contused and lacerated wounds.
39364
39365
39366 EMBEDDED FOREIGN BODIES
39367
39368 In the course of many operations foreign substances are introduced into
39369 the tissues and intentionally left there, for example, suture and
39370 ligature materials, steel or aluminium plates, silver wire or ivory pegs
39371 used to secure the fixation of bones, or solid paraffin employed to
39372 correct deformities. Other substances, such as gauze, drainage tubes,
39373 or metal instruments, may be unintentionally left in a wound.
39374
39375 Foreign bodies may also lodge in accidentally inflicted wounds, for
39376 example, bullets, needles, splinters of wood, or fragments of clothing.
39377 The needles of hypodermic syringes sometimes break and a portion remains
39378 embedded in the tissues. As a result of explosions, particles of carbon,
39379 in the form of coal-dust or gunpowder, or portions of shale, may lodge
39380 in a wound.
39381
39382 The embedded foreign body at first acts as an irritant, and induces a
39383 reaction in the tissues in which it lodges, in the form of hyperaemia,
39384 local leucocytosis, proliferation of fibroblasts, and the formation of
39385 granulation tissue. The subsequent changes depend upon whether or not
39386 the wound is infected with pyogenic bacteria. If it is so infected,
39387 suppuration ensues, a sinus forms, and persists until the foreign body
39388 is either cast out or removed.
39389
39390 If the wound is aseptic, the fate of the foreign body varies with its
39391 character. A substance that is absorbable, such as catgut or fine silk,
39392 is surrounded and permeated by the phagocytes, which soften and
39393 disintegrate it, the debris being gradually absorbed in much the same
39394 manner as a fibrinous exudate. Minute bodies that are not capable of
39395 being absorbed, such as particles of carbon, or of pigment used in
39396 tattooing, are taken up by the phagocytes, and in course of time
39397 removed. Larger bodies, such as needles or bullets, which are not
39398 capable of being destroyed by the phagocytes, become encapsulated. In
39399 the granulation tissue by which they are surrounded large multinuclear
39400 giant-cells appear ("_foreign-body giant-cells_") and attach themselves
39401 to the foreign body, the fibroblasts proliferate and a capsule of scar
39402 tissue is eventually formed around the body. The tissues of the capsule
39403 may show evidence of iron pigmentation. Sometimes fluid accumulates
39404 around a foreign body within its capsule, constituting a cyst.
39405
39406 Substances like paraffin, strands of silk used to bridge a gap in a
39407 tendon, or portions of calcined bone, instead of being encapsulated, are
39408 gradually permeated and eventually replaced by new connective tissue.
39409
39410 Embedded bodies may remain in the tissues for an indefinite period
39411 without giving rise to inconvenience. At any time, however, they may
39412 cause trouble, either as a result of infective complications, or by
39413 inducing the formation of a mass of inflammatory tissue around them,
39414 which may simulate a gumma, a tuberculous focus, or a sarcoma. This
39415 latter condition may give rise to difficulties in diagnosis,
39416 particularly if there is no history forthcoming of the entrance of the
39417 foreign body. The ignorance of patients regarding the possible lodgment
39418 in the tissues of a foreign body--even of considerable size--is
39419 remarkable. In such cases the X-rays will reveal the presence of the
39420 foreign body if it is sufficiently opaque to cast a shadow. The heavy,
39421 lead-containing varieties of glass throw very definite shadows little
39422 inferior in sharpness and definition to those of metal; almost all the
39423 ordinary forms of commercial glass also may be shown up by the X-rays.
39424
39425 Foreign bodies encapsulated in the peritoneal cavity are specially
39426 dangerous, as the proximity of the intestine furnishes a constant
39427 possibility of infection.
39428
39429 The question of removal of the foreign body must be decided according to
39430 the conditions present in individual cases; in searching for a foreign
39431 body in the tissues, unless it has been accurately located, a general
39432 anaesthetic is to be preferred.
39433
39434
39435 BURNS AND SCALDS
39436
39437 The distinction between a burn which results from the action of dry heat
39438 on the tissues of the body and a scald which results from the action of
39439 moist heat, has no clinical significance.
39440
39441 In young and debilitated subjects hot poultices may produce injuries of
39442 the nature of burns. In old people with enfeebled circulation mere
39443 exposure to a strong fire may cause severe degrees of burning, the
39444 clothes covering the part being uninjured. This may also occur about the
39445 feet, legs, or knees of persons while intoxicated who have fallen asleep
39446 before the fire.
39447
39448 The damage done to the tissues by strong caustics, such as fuming nitric
39449 acid, sulphuric acid, caustic potash, nitrate of silver, or arsenical
39450 paste, presents pathological and clinical features almost identical with
39451 those resulting from heat. Electricity and the Rontgen rays also produce
39452 lesions of the nature of burns.
39453
39454 _Pathology of Burns._--Much discussion has taken place regarding the
39455 explanation of the rapidly fatal issue in extensive superficial burns.
39456 On post-mortem examination the lesions found in these cases are: (1)
39457 general hyperaemia of all the organs of the abdominal, thoracic, and
39458 cerebro-spinal cavities; (2) marked leucocytosis, with destruction of
39459 red corpuscles, setting free haemoglobin which lodges in the epithelial
39460 cells of the tubules of the kidneys; (3) minute thrombi and
39461 extravasations throughout the tissues of the body; (4) degeneration of
39462 the ganglion cells of the solar plexus; (5) oedema and degeneration of
39463 the lymphoid tissue throughout the body; (6) cloudy swelling of the
39464 liver and kidneys, and softening and enlargement of the spleen. Bardeen
39465 suggests that these morbid phenomena correspond so closely to those met
39466 with where the presence of a toxin is known to produce them, that in all
39467 probability death is similarly due to the action of some poison produced
39468 by the action of heat on the skin and on the proteins of the blood.
39469
39470 #Clinical Features--Local Phenomena.#--The most generally accepted
39471 classification of burns is that of Dupuytren, which is based upon the
39472 depth of the lesion. Six degrees are thus, recognised: (1) hyperaemia or
39473 erythema; (2) vesication; (3) partial destruction of the true skin; (4)
39474 total destruction of the true skin; (5) charring of muscles; (6)
39475 charring of bones.
39476
39477 It must be observed, however, that burns met with at the bedside always
39478 illustrate more than one of these degrees, the deeper forms always being
39479 associated with those less deep, and the clinical picture is made up of
39480 the combined characters of all. A burn is classified in terms of its
39481 most severe portion. It is also to be remarked that the extent and
39482 severity of a burn usually prove to be greater than at first sight
39483 appears.
39484
39485 _Burns of the first degree_ are associated with erythema of the skin,
39486 due to hyperaemia of its blood vessels, and result from scorching by
39487 flame, from contact with solids or fluids below 212 o F., or from
39488 exposure to the sun's rays. They are characterised clinically by acute
39489 pain, redness, transitory swelling from oedema, and subsequent
39490 desquamation of the surface layers of the epidermis. A special form of
39491 pigmentation of the skin is seen on the front of the legs of women from
39492 exposure to the heat of the fire.
39493
39494 _Burns of Second Degree--Vesication of the Skin._--These are
39495 characterised by the occurrence of vesicles or blisters which are
39496 scattered over the hyperaemic area, and contain a clear yellowish or
39497 brownish fluid. On removing the raised epidermis, the congested and
39498 highly sensitive papillae of the skin are exposed. Unna has found that
39499 pyogenic bacteria are invariably present in these blisters. Burns of the
39500 second degree leave no scar but frequently a persistent discoloration.
39501 In rare instances the burned area becomes the seat of a peculiar
39502 overgrowth of fibrous tissue of the nature of keloid (p 401).
39503
39504 _Burns of Third Degree--Partial Destruction of the Skin._--The epidermis
39505 and papillae are destroyed in patches, leaving hard, dry, and insensitive
39506 sloughs of a yellow or black colour. The pain in these burns is
39507 intense, but passes off during the first or second day, to return again,
39508 however, when, about the end of a week, the sloughs separate and expose
39509 the nerve filaments of the underlying skin. Granulations spring up to
39510 fill the gap, and are rapidly covered by epithelium, derived partly from
39511 the margins and partly from the remains of skin glands which have not
39512 been completely destroyed. These latter appear on the surface of the
39513 granulations as small bluish islets which gradually increase in size,
39514 become of a greyish-white colour, and ultimately blend with one another
39515 and with the edges. The resulting cicatrix may be slightly depressed,
39516 but otherwise exhibits little tendency to contract and cause deformity.
39517
39518 _Burns of Fourth Degree--Total Destruction of the Skin._--These follow
39519 the more prolonged action of any form of intense heat. Large, black, dry
39520 eschars are formed, surrounded by a zone of intense congestion. Pain is
39521 less severe, and is referred to the parts that have been burned to a
39522 less degree. Infection is liable to occur and to lead to wide
39523 destruction of the surrounding skin. The amount of granulation tissue
39524 necessary to fill the gap is therefore great; and as the epithelial
39525 covering can only be derived from the margins--the skin glands being
39526 completely destroyed--the healing process is slow. The resulting scars
39527 are irregular, deep and puckered, and show a great tendency to contract.
39528 Keloid frequently develops in such cicatrices. When situated in the
39529 region of the face, neck, or flexures of joints, much deformity and
39530 impairment of function may result (Fig. 63).
39531
39532 [Illustration: FIG. 63.--Cicatricial Contraction following Severe Burn.]
39533
39534 In _burns of the fifth degree_ the lesion extends through the
39535 subcutaneous tissue and involves the muscles; while in those of the
39536 _sixth degree_ it passes still more deeply and implicates the bones.
39537 These burns are comparatively limited in area, as they are usually
39538 produced by prolonged contact with hot metal or caustics. Burns of the
39539 fifth and sixth degrees are met with in epileptics or intoxicated
39540 persons who fall into the fire. Large blood vessels, nerve-trunks,
39541 joints, or serous cavities may be implicated.
39542
39543 #General Phenomena.#--It is customary to divide the clinical history of
39544 a severe burn into three periods; but it is to be observed that the
39545 features characteristic of the periods have been greatly modified since
39546 burns have been treated on the same lines as other wounds.
39547
39548 _The first period_ lasts for from thirty-six to forty-eight hours,
39549 during which time the patient remains in a more or less profound state
39550 of _shock_, and there is a remarkable absence of pain. When shock is
39551 absent or little marked, however, the amount of suffering may be great.
39552 When the injury proves fatal during this period, death is due to shock,
39553 probably aggravated by the absorption of poisonous substances produced
39554 in the burned tissues. In fatal cases there is often evidence of
39555 cerebral congestion and oedema.
39556
39557 The _second period_ begins when the shock passes off, and lasts till the
39558 sloughs separate. The outstanding feature of this period is _toxaemia_,
39559 manifested by fever, the temperature rising to 102 o, 103 o, or 104 o F.,
39560 and congestive or inflammatory conditions of internal organs, giving
39561 rise to such clinical complications as bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, or
39562 pleurisy--especially in burns of the thorax; or meningitis and
39563 cerebritis, when the neck or head is the seat of the burn. Intestinal
39564 catarrh associated with diarrhoea is not uncommon; and ulceration of the
39565 duodenum leading to perforation has been met with in a few cases. These
39566 phenomena are much more prominent when bacterial infection has taken
39567 place, and it seems probable that they are to be attributed chiefly to
39568 the infection, as they have become less frequent and less severe since
39569 burns have been treated like other breaches of the surface. Albuminuria
39570 is a fairly constant symptom in severe burns, and is associated with
39571 congestion of the kidneys. In burns implicating the face, neck, mouth,
39572 or pharynx, oedema of the glottis is a dangerous complication, entailing
39573 as it does the risk of suffocation.
39574
39575 The _third period_ begins when the sloughs separate, usually between
39576 the seventh and fourteenth days, and lasts till the wound heals, its
39577 duration depending upon the size, depth, and asepticity of the raw area.
39578 The chief causes of death during this period are toxin absorption in any
39579 of its forms; waxy disease of the liver, kidneys, or intestine; less
39580 commonly erysipelas, tetanus, or other diseases due to infection by
39581 specific organisms. We have seen nothing to substantiate the belief that
39582 duodenal ulcers are liable to perforate during the third period.
39583
39584 The _prognosis_ in burns depends on (1) the superficial extent, and, to
39585 a much less degree, the depth of the injury. When more than one-third of
39586 the entire surface of the body is involved, even in a mild degree, the
39587 prognosis is grave. (2) The situation of the burn is important. Burns
39588 over the serous cavities--abdomen, thorax, or skull--are, other things
39589 being equal, much more dangerous than burns of the limbs. The risk of
39590 oedema of the glottis in burns about the neck and mouth has already been
39591 referred to. (3) Children are more liable to succumb to shock during the
39592 early period, but withstand prolonged suppuration better than adults.
39593 (4) When the patient survives the shock, the presence or absence of
39594 infection is the all-important factor in prognosis.
39595
39596 #Treatment.#--The _general treatment_ consists in combating the shock.
39597 When pain is severe, morphin must be injected.
39598
39599 _Local Treatment._--The local treatment must be carried out on
39600 antiseptic lines, a general anaesthetic being administered, if necessary,
39601 to enable the purification to be carried out thoroughly. After carefully
39602 removing the clothing, the whole of the burned area is gently, but
39603 thoroughly, cleansed with peroxide of hydrogen or warm boracic lotion,
39604 followed by sterilised saline solution. As pyogenic bacteria are
39605 invariably found in the blisters of burns, these must be opened and the
39606 raised epithelium removed.
39607
39608 The dressings subsequently applied should meet the following
39609 indications: the relief of pain; the prevention of sepsis; and the
39610 promotion of cicatrisation.
39611
39612 An application which satisfactorily fulfils these requirements is
39613 _picric acid_. Pads of lint or gauze are lightly wrung out of a solution
39614 made up of picric acid, 1 1/2 drams; absolute alcohol, 3 ounces;
39615 distilled water, 40 ounces, and applied over the whole of the reddened
39616 area. These are covered with antiseptic wool, _without_ any waterproof
39617 covering, and retained in position by a many-tailed bandage. The
39618 dressing should be changed once or twice a week, under the guidance of
39619 the temperature chart, any portion of the original dressing which
39620 remains perfectly dry being left undisturbed. The value of a general
39621 anaesthetic in dressing extensive burns, especially in children, can
39622 scarcely be overestimated.
39623
39624 Picric acid yields its best results in superficial burns, and it is
39625 useful as _a primary dressing_ in all. As soon as the sloughs separate
39626 and a granulating surface forms, the ordinary treatment for a healing
39627 sore is instituted. Any slough under which pus has collected should be
39628 cut away with scissors to permit of free drainage.
39629
39630 An occlusive dressing of melted _paraffin_ has also been employed. A
39631 useful preparation consists of: Paraffin molle 25 per cent., paraffin
39632 durum 67 per cent., olive oil 5 per cent., oil of eucalyptus 2 per
39633 cent., and beta-naphthol 1/4 per cent. It has a melting point of 48 o C.
39634 It is also known as _Ambrine_ and _Burnol_. After the burned area has
39635 been cleansed and thoroughly dried, it is sponged or painted with the
39636 melted paraffin, and before solidification takes place a layer of
39637 sterilised gauze is applied and covered with a second coating of
39638 paraffin. Further coats of paraffin are applied every other day to
39639 prevent the gauze sticking to the skin.
39640
39641 An alternative method of treating extensive burns is by immersing the
39642 part, or even the whole body when the trunk is affected, in a bath of
39643 boracic lotion kept at the body temperature, the lotion being frequently
39644 renewed.
39645
39646 If a burn is already infected when first seen, it is to be treated on
39647 the same principles as govern the treatment of other infected wounds.
39648
39649 All moist or greasy applications, such as Carron oil, carbolic oil and
39650 ointments, and all substances like collodion and dry powders, which
39651 retain discharges, entirely fail to meet the indications for the
39652 rational treatment of burns, and should be abandoned.
39653
39654 Skin-grafting is of great value in hastening healing after extensive
39655 burns, and in preventing cicatricial contraction. The _deformities_
39656 which are so liable to develop from contraction of the cicatrices are
39657 treated on general principles. In the region of the face, neck, and
39658 flexures of joints (Fig. 63), where they are most marked, the contracted
39659 bands may be divided and the parts stretched, the raw surface left being
39660 covered by Thiersch grafts or by flaps of skin raised from adjacent
39661 surfaces or from other parts of the body (Fig. 1).
39662
39663
39664 INJURIES PRODUCED BY ELECTRICITY
39665
39666 #Injuries produced by Exposure to X-Rays and Radium.#--In the routine
39667 treatment of disease by radiations, injury is sometimes done to the
39668 tissues, even when the greatest care is exercised as to dosage and
39669 frequency of application. Robert Knox describes the following
39670 ill-effects.
39671
39672 _Acute dermatitis_ varying in degree from a slight erythema to deep
39673 ulceration or even necrosis of skin. When ulcers form they are extremely
39674 painful and slow to heal. When hair-bearing areas are affected,
39675 epilation may occur without destroying the hair follicles and the hairs
39676 are reproduced, but if the reaction is excessive permanent alopecia may
39677 result.
39678
39679 _Chronic dermatitis_, which results from persistence of the acute form,
39680 is most intractable and may assume malignant characters. X-ray warts are
39681 a late manifestation of chronic dermatitis and may become malignant.
39682
39683 Among the _late manifestations_ are neuritis, telangiectasis, and a
39684 painful and intractable form of ulceration, any of which may come on
39685 months or even years after the cessation of exposure. _Sterility_ may be
39686 induced in X-ray workers who are imperfectly protected from the effects
39687 of the rays.
39688
39689 #Electrical burns# usually occur in those who are engaged in industrial
39690 undertakings where powerful electrical currents are employed.
39691
39692 The lesions--which vary from a slight superficial scorching to complete
39693 charring of parts--are most evident at the points of entrance and exit
39694 of the current, the intervening tissues apparently escaping injury.
39695
39696 The more superficial degrees of electrical burns differ from those
39697 produced by heat in being almost painless, and in healing very slowly,
39698 although as a rule they remain dry and aseptic.
39699
39700 The more severe forms are attended with a considerable degree of shock,
39701 which is not only more profound, but also lasts much longer than the
39702 shock in an ordinary burn of corresponding severity. The parts at the
39703 point of entrance of the current are charred to a greater or lesser
39704 depth. The eschar is at first dry and crisp, and is surrounded by a zone
39705 of pallor. For the first thirty-six to forty-eight hours there is
39706 comparatively little suffering, but at the end of that time the parts
39707 become exceedingly painful. In a majority of cases, in spite of careful
39708 purification, a slow form of moist gangrene sets in, and the slough
39709 spreads both in area and in depth, until the muscles and often the
39710 large blood vessels and nerves are exposed. A line of demarcation
39711 eventually forms, but the sloughs are exceedingly slow to separate,
39712 taking from three to five times as long as in an ordinary burn, and
39713 during the process of separation there is considerable risk of secondary
39714 haemorrhage from erosion of large vessels.
39715
39716 _Treatment._--Electrical burns are treated on the same lines as ordinary
39717 burns, by thorough purification and the application of dry dressings,
39718 with a view to avoiding the onset of moist gangrene. After granulations
39719 have formed, skin-grafting is of value in hastening healing.
39720
39721 #Lightning-stroke.#--In a large proportion of cases lightning-stroke
39722 proves instantly fatal. In non-fatal cases the patient suffers from a
39723 profound degree of shock, and there may or may not be any external
39724 evidence of injury. In the mildest cases red spots or wheals--closely
39725 resembling those of urticaria--may appear on the body, but they usually
39726 fade again in the course of twenty-four hours. Sometimes large patches
39727 of skin are scorched or stained, the discoloured area showing an
39728 arborescent appearance. In other cases the injured skin becomes dry and
39729 glazed, resembling parchment. Appearances are occasionally met with
39730 corresponding to those of a superficial burn produced by heat. The chief
39731 difference from ordinary burns is the extreme slowness with which
39732 healing takes place. Localised paralysis of groups of muscles, or even
39733 of a whole limb, may follow any degree of lightning-stroke. Treatment is
39734 mainly directed towards combating the shock, the surface-lesions being
39735 treated on the same lines as ordinary burns.
39736
39737
39738
39739
39740 CHAPTER XII
39741
39742 METHODS OF WOUND TREATMENT
39743
39744
39745 Varieties of wounds--Modes of infection--Lister's work--Means taken to
39746 prevent infection of wounds: _heat_; _chemical antiseptics_;
39747 _disinfection of hands_; _preparation of skin of patient_;
39748 _instruments_; _ligatures_; _dressings_--Means taken to combat
39749 infection: _purification_; _open-wound method_.
39750
39751 The surgeon is called upon to treat two distinct classes of wounds: (1)
39752 those resulting from injury or disease in which _the skin is already
39753 broken_, or in which a communication with a mucous surface exists; and
39754 (2) those that he himself makes _through intact skin_, no infected
39755 mucous surface being involved.
39756
39757 Infection by bacteria must be assumed to have taken place in all wounds
39758 made in any other way than by the knife of the surgeon operating through
39759 unbroken skin. On this assumption the modern system of wound treatment
39760 is based. Pathogenic bacteria are so widely distributed, that in the
39761 ordinary circumstances of everyday life, no matter how trivial a wound
39762 may be, or how short a time it may remain exposed, the access of
39763 organisms to it is almost certain unless preventive measures are
39764 employed.
39765
39766 It cannot be emphasised too strongly that rigid precautions are to be
39767 taken to exclude fresh infection, not only in dealing with wounds that
39768 are free of organisms, but equally in the management of wounds and other
39769 lesions that are already infected. Any laxity in our methods which
39770 admits of fresh organisms reaching an infected wound adds materially to
39771 the severity of the infective process and consequently to the patient's
39772 risk.
39773
39774 There are many ways in which accidental infection may occur. Take, for
39775 example, the case of a person who receives a cut on the face by being
39776 knocked down in a carriage accident on the street. Organisms may be
39777 introduced to such a wound from the shaft or wheel by which he was
39778 struck, from the ground on which he lay, from any portion of his
39779 clothing that may have come in contact with the wound, or from his own
39780 skin. Or, again, the hands of those who render first aid, the water used
39781 to bathe the wound, the handkerchief or other extemporised dressing
39782 applied to it, may be the means of conveying bacterial infection. Should
39783 the wound open on a mucous surface, such as the mouth or nasal cavity,
39784 the organisms constantly present in such situations are liable to prove
39785 agents of infection.
39786
39787 Even after the patient has come under professional care the risks of his
39788 wound becoming infected are not past, because the hands of the doctor,
39789 his instruments, dressings, or other appliances may all, unless
39790 purified, become the sources of infection.
39791
39792 In the case of an operation carried out through unbroken skin, organisms
39793 may be introduced into the wound from the patient's own skin, from the
39794 hands of the surgeon or his assistants, through the medium of
39795 contaminated instruments, swabs, ligature or suture materials, or other
39796 things used in the course of the operation, or from the dressings
39797 applied to the wound.
39798
39799 Further, bacteria may gain access to devitalised tissues by way of the
39800 blood-stream, being carried hither from some infected area elsewhere in
39801 the body.
39802
39803 _The Antiseptic System of Surgery._--Those who only know the surgical
39804 conditions of to-day can scarcely realise the state of matters which
39805 existed before the introduction of the antiseptic system by Joseph
39806 Lister in 1867. In those days few wounds escaped the ravages of pyogenic
39807 and other bacteria, with the result that suppuration ensued after most
39808 operations, and such diseases as erysipelas, pyaemia, and "hospital
39809 gangrene" were of everyday occurrence. The mortality after compound
39810 fractures, amputations, and many other operations was appalling, and
39811 death from blood-poisoning frequently followed even the most trivial
39812 operations. An operation was looked upon as a last resource, and the
39813 inherent risk from blood-poisoning seemed to have set an impassable
39814 barrier to the further progress of surgery. To the genius of Lister we
39815 owe it that this barrier was removed. Having satisfied himself that the
39816 septic process was due to bacterial infection, he devised a means of
39817 preventing the access of organisms to wounds or of counteracting their
39818 effects. Carbolic acid was the first antiseptic agent he employed, and
39819 by its use in compound fractures he soon obtained results such as had
39820 never before been attained. The principle was applied to other
39821 conditions with like success, and so profoundly has it affected the
39822 whole aspect of surgical pathology, that many of the infective diseases
39823 with which surgeons formerly had to deal are now all but unknown. The
39824 broad principles upon which Lister founded his system remain unchanged,
39825 although the methods employed to put them into practice have been
39826 modified.
39827
39828 #Means taken to Prevent Infection of Wounds.#--The avenues by which
39829 infective agents may gain access to surgical wounds are so numerous and
39830 so wide, that it requires the greatest care and the most watchful
39831 attention on the part of the surgeon to guard them all. It is only by
39832 constant practice and patient attention to technical details in the
39833 operating room and at the bedside, that the carrying out of surgical
39834 manipulations in such a way as to avoid bacterial infection will become
39835 an instinctive act and a second nature. It is only possible here to
39836 indicate the chief directions in which danger lies, and to describe the
39837 means most generally adopted to avoid it.
39838
39839 To prevent infection, it is essential that everything which comes into
39840 contact with a wound should be sterilised or disinfected, and to ensure
39841 the best results it is necessary that the efficiency of our methods of
39842 sterilisation should be periodically tested. The two chief agencies at
39843 our disposal are heat and chemical antiseptics.
39844
39845 #Sterilisation by Heat.#--The most reliable, and at the same time the
39846 most convenient and generally applicable, means of sterilisation is by
39847 heat. All bacteria and spores are completely destroyed by being
39848 subjected for fifteen minutes to _saturated circulating steam_ at a
39849 temperature of 130 o to 145 o C. (= 266 o to 293 o F.). The articles to be
39850 sterilised are enclosed in a perforated tin casket, which is placed in a
39851 specially constructed steriliser, such as that of Schimmelbusch. This
39852 apparatus is so arranged that the steam circulates under a pressure of
39853 from two to three atmospheres, and permeates everything contained in it.
39854 Objects so sterilised are dry when removed from the steriliser. This
39855 method is specially suitable for appliances which are not damaged by
39856 steam, such, for example, as gauze swabs, towels, aprons, gloves, and
39857 metal instruments; it is essential that the efficiency of the steriliser
39858 be tested from time to time by a self-registering thermometer or other
39859 means.
39860
39861 The best substitute for circulating steam is _boiling_. The articles are
39862 placed in a "fish-kettle steriliser" and boiled for fifteen minutes in a
39863 1 per cent. solution of washing soda.
39864
39865 To prevent contamination of objects that have been sterilised they must
39866 on no account be touched by any one whose hands have not been
39867 disinfected and protected by sterilised gloves.
39868
39869 #Sterilisation by Chemical Agents.#--For the purification of the skin of
39870 the patient, the hands of the surgeon, and knives and other instruments
39871 that are damaged by heat, recourse must be had to chemical agents.
39872 These, however, are less reliable than heat, and are open to certain
39873 other objections.
39874
39875 #Disinfection of the Hands.#--It is now generally recognised that one of
39876 the most likely sources of wound infection is the hands of the surgeon
39877 and his assistants. It is only by carefully studying to avoid all
39878 contact with infective matter that the hands can be kept surgically
39879 pure, and that this source of wound infection can be reduced to a
39880 minimum. The risk of infection from this source has further been greatly
39881 reduced by the systematic use of rubber gloves by house-surgeons,
39882 dressers, and nurses. The habitual use of gloves has also been adopted
39883 by the great majority of surgeons; the minority, who find they are
39884 handicapped by wearing gloves as a routine measure, are obliged to do so
39885 when operating in infective cases or dressing infected wounds, and in
39886 making rectal and vaginal examinations.
39887
39888 The gloves may be sterilised by steam, and are then put on dry, or by
39889 boiling, in which case they are put on wet. The gauntlet of the glove
39890 should overlap and confine the end of the sleeve of the sterilised
39891 overall, and the gloved hands are rinsed in lotion before and at
39892 frequent intervals during the operation. The hands are sterilised before
39893 putting on the gloves, preferably by a method which dehydrates the skin.
39894 Cotton gloves may be worn by the surgeon when tying ligatures, or
39895 between operations, and by the anaesthetist during operations on the
39896 head, neck, and chest.
39897
39898 The first step in the disinfection of the hands is the mechanical
39899 removal of gross surface dirt and loose epithelium by soap, a stream of
39900 running water as hot as can be borne, and a loofah or nail-brush, that
39901 has been previously sterilised by heat. The nails should be cut down
39902 till there is no sulcus between the nail edge and the pulp of the finger
39903 in which organisms may lodge. They are next washed for three minutes in
39904 methylated spirit to dehydrate the skin, and then for two or three
39905 minutes in 70 per cent. sublimate or biniodide alcohol (1 in 1000).
39906 Finally, the hands are rubbed with dry sterilised gauze.
39907
39908 #Preparation of the Skin of the Patient.#--In the purification of the
39909 skin of the patient before operation, reliance is to be placed chiefly
39910 in the mechanical removal of dirt and grease by the same means as are
39911 taken for the cleansing of the surgeon's hands. Hair-covered parts
39912 should be shaved. The skin is then dehydrated by washing with methylated
39913 spirit, followed by 70 per cent. sublimate or biniodide alcohol (1 in
39914 1000). This is done some hours before the operation, and the part is
39915 then covered with pads of dry sterilised gauze or a sterilised towel.
39916 Immediately before the operation the skin is again purified in the same
39917 way.
39918
39919 The _iodine method_ of disinfecting the skin introduced by Grossich is
39920 simple, and equally efficient. The day before operation the skin, after
39921 being washed with soap and water, is shaved, dehydrated by means of
39922 methylated spirit, and then painted with a 5 per cent. solution of
39923 iodine in rectified spirit. The painting with iodine is repeated just
39924 before the operation commences, and again after it is completed. The
39925 final application is omitted in the case of children. In emergency
39926 operations the skin is shaved dry and dehydrated with spirit, after
39927 which the iodine is applied as described above. The staining of the skin
39928 is an advantage, as it enables the operator to recognise the area that
39929 has been prepared.
39930
39931 If any acne pustules or infected sinuses are present, they should be
39932 destroyed or purified by means of the thermo-cautery or pure carbolic
39933 acid, after the patient is anaesthetised.
39934
39935 #Appliances used at Operation.#--_Instruments_ that are not damaged by
39936 heat must be boiled in a fish-kettle or other suitable steriliser for
39937 fifteen minutes in a 1 per cent. solution of cresol or washing soda.
39938 Just before the operation begins they are removed in the tray of the
39939 steriliser and placed on a sterilised towel within reach of the surgeon
39940 or his assistant. Knives and instruments that are liable to be damaged
39941 by heat should be purified by being soaked in pure cresol for a few
39942 minutes, or in 1 in 20 carbolic for at least an hour.
39943
39944 _Pads of Gauze_ sterilised by compressed circulating steam have almost
39945 entirely superseded marine sponges for operative purposes. To avoid the
39946 risk of leaving swabs in the peritoneal cavity, large square pads of
39947 gauze, to one corner of which a piece of strong tape about a foot long
39948 is securely stitched, should be employed. They should be removed from
39949 the caskets in which they are sterilised by means of sterilised forceps,
39950 and handed direct to the surgeon. The assistant who attends to the swabs
39951 should wear sterilised gloves.
39952
39953 _Ligatures and Sutures._--To avoid the risk of implanting infective
39954 matter in a wound by means of the materials used for ligatures and
39955 sutures, great care must be taken in their preparation.
39956
39957 _Catgut._--The following methods of preparing catgut have proved
39958 satisfactory: (1) The gut is soaked in juniper oil for at least a month;
39959 the juniper oil is then removed by ether and alcohol, and the gut
39960 preserved in 1 in 1000 solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol
39961 (Kocher). (2) The gut is placed in a brass receiver and boiled for
39962 three-quarters of an hour in a solution consisting of 85 per cent.
39963 absolute alcohol, 10 per cent. water, and 5 per cent. carbolic acid, and
39964 is then stored in 90 per cent. alcohol. (3) Cladius recommends that the
39965 catgut, just as it is bought from the dealers, be loosely rolled on a
39966 spool, and then immersed in a solution of--iodine, 1 part; iodide of
39967 potassium, 1 part; distilled water, 100 parts. At the end of eight days
39968 it is ready for use. Moschcowitz has found that the tensile strength of
39969 catgut so prepared is increased if it is kept dry in a sterile vessel,
39970 instead of being left indefinitely in the iodine solution. If
39971 Salkindsohn's formula is used--tincture of iodine, 1 part; proof spirit,
39972 15 parts--the gut can be kept permanently in the solution without
39973 becoming brittle. To avoid contamination from the hands, catgut should
39974 be removed from the bottle with aseptic forceps and passed direct to the
39975 surgeon. Any portion unused should be thrown away.
39976
39977 _Silk_ is prepared by being soaked for twelve hours in ether, for other
39978 twelve in alcohol, and then boiled for ten minutes in 1 in 1000
39979 sublimate solution. It is then wound on spools with purified hands
39980 protected by sterilised gloves, and kept in absolute alcohol. Before an
39981 operation the silk is again boiled for ten minutes in the same solution,
39982 and is used directly from this (Kocher). Linen thread is sterilised in
39983 the same way as silk.
39984
39985 Fishing-gut and silver wire, as well as the needles, should be boiled
39986 along with the instruments. Horse-hair and fishing-gut may be sterilised
39987 by prolonged immersion in 1 in 20 carbolic, or in the iodine solutions
39988 employed to sterilise catgut.
39989
39990 The field of operation is surrounded by sterilised towels, clipped to
39991 the edges of the wound, and securely fixed in position so that no
39992 contamination may take place from the surroundings.
39993
39994 The surgeon and his assistants, including the anaesthetist, wear
39995 overalls sterilised by steam. To avoid the risk of infection from dust,
39996 scurf, or drops of perspiration falling from the head, the surgeon and
39997 his assistants may wear sterilised cotton caps. To obviate the risk of
39998 infection taking place by drops of saliva projected from the mouth in
39999 talking or coughing in the vicinity of a wound, a simple mask may be
40000 worn.
40001
40002 The risk of infection from the _air_ is now known to be very small, so
40003 long as there is no excess of floating dust. All sweeping, dusting, and
40004 disturbing of curtains, blinds, or furniture must therefore be avoided
40005 before or during an operation.
40006
40007 It has been shown that the presence of spectators increases the number
40008 of organisms in the atmosphere. In teaching clinics, therefore, the risk
40009 from air infection is greater than in private practice.
40010
40011 To facilitate primary union, all haemorrhage should be arrested, and the
40012 accumulation of fluid in the wound prevented. When much oozing is
40013 anticipated, a glass or rubber drainage-tube is inserted through a small
40014 opening specially made for the purpose. In aseptic wounds the tube may
40015 be removed in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and where it is
40016 important to avoid a scar, the opening should be closed with a Michel's
40017 clip; in infected wounds the tube must remain as long as the discharge
40018 continues.
40019
40020 The fascia and skin should be brought into accurate apposition by
40021 sutures. If any cavity exists in the deeper part of the wound it should
40022 be obliterated by buried sutures, or by so adjusting the dressing as to
40023 bring its walls into apposition.
40024
40025 If these precautions have been successful, the wound will heal under the
40026 original dressing, which need not be interfered with for from seven to
40027 ten days, according to the nature of the case.
40028
40029 #Dressings.#--_Gauze_, sterilised by heat, is almost universally
40030 employed for the dressing of wounds. _Double cyanide gauze_ may be used
40031 in such regions as the neck, axilla, or groin, where complete
40032 sterilisation of the skin is difficult to attain, and where it is
40033 desirable to leave the dressing undisturbed for ten days or more.
40034 _Iodoform_ or _bismuth gauze_ is of special value for the packing of
40035 wounds treated by the open method.
40036
40037 One variety or another of _wool_, rendered absorbent by the extraction
40038 of its fat, and sterilised by heat, forms a part of almost every
40039 surgical dressing, and various antiseptic agents may be added to it. Of
40040 these, corrosive sublimate is the most generally used. Wood-wool
40041 dressings are more highly and more uniformly absorbent than cotton
40042 wools. As evaporation takes place through wool dressings, the discharge
40043 becomes dried, and so forms an unfavourable medium for bacterial growth.
40044
40045 Pads of _sphagnum moss_, sterilised by heat, are highly absorbent, and
40046 being economical are used when there is much discharge, and in cases
40047 where a leakage of urine has to be soaked up.
40048
40049 #Means adopted to combat Infection.#--As has already been indicated, the
40050 same antiseptic precautions are to be taken in dealing with infected as
40051 with aseptic wounds.
40052
40053 In _recent injuries_ such as result from railway or machinery accidents,
40054 with bruising and crushing of the tissues and grinding of gross dirt
40055 into the wounds, the scissors must be freely used to remove the tissues
40056 that have been devitalised or impregnated with foreign material.
40057 Hair-covered parts should be shaved and the surrounding skin painted
40058 with iodine. Crushed and contaminated portions of bone should be
40059 chiselled away. Opinions differ as to the benefit derived from washing
40060 such wounds with chemical antiseptics, which are liable to devitalise
40061 the tissues with which they come in contact, and so render them less
40062 able to resist the action of any organisms that may remain in them. All
40063 are agreed, however, that free washing with normal salt solution is
40064 useful in mechanically cleansing the injured parts. Peroxide of hydrogen
40065 sprayed over such wounds is also beneficial in virtue of its oxidising
40066 properties. Efficient drainage must be provided, and stitches should be
40067 used sparingly, if at all.
40068
40069 The best way in which to treat such wounds is by the _open method_. This
40070 consists in packing the wound with iodoform or bismuth gauze, which is
40071 left in position as long as it adheres to the raw surface. The packing
40072 may be renewed at intervals until the wound is filled by granulations;
40073 or, in the course of a few days when it becomes evident that the
40074 infection has been overcome, _secondary_ sutures may be introduced and
40075 the edges drawn together, provision being made at the ends for further
40076 packing or for drainage-tubes.
40077
40078 If earth or street dirt has entered the wound, the surface may with
40079 advantage be painted over with pure carbolic acid, as virulent
40080 organisms, such as those of tetanus or spreading gangrene, are liable to
40081 be present. Prophylactic injection of tetanus antitoxin may be
40082 indicated.
40083
40084
40085
40086
40087 CHAPTER XIII
40088
40089 CONSTITUTIONAL EFFECTS OF INJURIES
40090
40091
40092 SYNCOPE--SHOCK--COLLAPSE--FAT EMBOLISM--TRAUMATIC ASPHYXIA--DELIRIUM
40093 IN SURGICAL PATIENTS: _Delirium in general_; _Delirium tremens_;
40094 _Traumatic delirium_.
40095
40096
40097 SYNCOPE, SHOCK, AND COLLAPSE
40098
40099 Syncope, shock, and collapse are clinical conditions which, although
40100 depending on different causes, bear a superficial resemblance to one
40101 another.
40102
40103 #Syncope or Fainting.#--Syncope is the result of a suddenly produced
40104 anaemia of the brain from temporary weakening or arrest of the heart's
40105 action. In surgical practice, this condition is usually observed in
40106 nervous persons who have been subjected to pain, as in the reduction of
40107 a dislocation or the incision of a whitlow; or in those who have rapidly
40108 lost a considerable quantity of blood. It may also follow the sudden
40109 withdrawal of fluid from a large cavity, as in tapping an abdomen for
40110 ascites, or withdrawing fluid from the pleural cavity. Syncope sometimes
40111 occurs also during the administration of a general anaesthetic,
40112 especially if there is a tendency to sickness and the patient is not
40113 completely under. During an operation the onset of syncope is often
40114 recognised by the cessation of oozing from the divided vessels before
40115 the general symptoms become manifest.
40116
40117 _Clinical Features._--When a person is about to faint he feels giddy,
40118 has surging sounds in his ears, and haziness of vision; he yawns,
40119 becomes pale and sick, and a free flow of saliva takes place into the
40120 mouth. The pupils dilate; the pulse becomes small and almost
40121 imperceptible; the respirations shallow and hurried; consciousness
40122 gradually fades away, and he falls in a heap on the floor.
40123
40124 Sometimes vomiting ensues before the patient completely loses
40125 consciousness, and the muscular exertion entailed may ward off the
40126 actual faint. This is frequently seen in threatened syncopal attacks
40127 during chloroform administration.
40128
40129 Recovery begins in a few seconds, the patient sighing or gasping, or, it
40130 may be, vomiting; the strength of the pulse gradually increases, and
40131 consciousness slowly returns. In some cases, however, syncope is fatal.
40132
40133 _Treatment._--The head should at once be lowered--in imitation of
40134 nature's method--to encourage the flow of blood to the brain, the
40135 patient, if necessary, being held up by the heels. All tight clothing,
40136 especially round the neck or chest, must be loosened. The heart may be
40137 stimulated reflexly by dashing cold water over the face or chest, or by
40138 rubbing the face vigorously with a rough towel. The application of
40139 volatile substances, such as ammonia or smelling-salts, to the nose; the
40140 administration by the mouth of sal-volatile, whisky or brandy, and the
40141 intra-muscular injection of ether, are the most speedily efficacious
40142 remedies. In severe cases the application of hot cloths over the heart,
40143 or of the faradic current over the line of the phrenic nerve, just above
40144 the clavicle, may be called for.
40145
40146 #Surgical Shock.#--The condition known as surgical shock may be looked
40147 upon as a state of profound exhaustion of the mechanism that exists in
40148 the body for the transformation of energy. This mechanism consists of
40149 (1) the _brain_, which, through certain special centres, regulates all
40150 vital activity; (2) the _adrenal glands_, the secretion of
40151 which--adrenalin--acting as a stimulant of the sympathetic system, so
40152 controls the tone of the blood vessels as to maintain efficient
40153 oxidation of the tissues; and (3) _the liver_, which stores and delivers
40154 glycogen as it is required by the muscles, and in addition, deals with
40155 the by-products of metabolism.
40156
40157 Crile and his co-workers have shown that in surgical shock histological
40158 changes occur in the cells of the brain, the adrenals, and the liver,
40159 and that these are identical, whatever be the cause that leads to the
40160 exhaustion of the energy-transforming mechanism. These changes vary in
40161 degree, and range from slight alterations in the structure of the
40162 protoplasm to complete disorganisation of the cell elements.
40163
40164 The influences which contribute to bring about this form of exhaustion
40165 that we call shock are varied, and include such emotional states as
40166 fear, anxiety, or worry, physical injury and toxic infection, and the
40167 effects of these factors are augmented by anything that tends to lower
40168 the vitality, such as loss of blood, exposure, insufficient food, loss
40169 of sleep or antecedent illness.
40170
40171 Any one or any combination of these influences may cause shock, but the
40172 most potent, and the one which most concerns the surgeon, is physical
40173 injury, _e.g._, a severe accident or an operation (_traumatic shock_).
40174 This is usually associated with some emotional disturbance, such as fear
40175 or anxiety (_emotional shock_), or with haemorrhage; and may be followed
40176 by septic infection (_toxic shock_).
40177
40178 The exaggerated afferent impulses reaching the brain as a result of
40179 trauma, inhibit the action of the nuclei in the region of the fourth
40180 ventricle and cerebellum which maintain the muscular tone, with the
40181 result that the muscular tone is diminished and there is a marked fall
40182 in the arterial blood pressure. The capillaries dilate--the blood
40183 stagnating in them and giving off its oxygen and transuding its fluid
40184 elements into the tissues--with the result that an insufficient quantity
40185 of oxygenated blood reaches the heart to enable it to maintain an
40186 efficient circulation. As the sarco-lactic acid liberated in the muscles
40187 is not oxygenated a condition of acidosis ensues.
40188
40189 The more highly the injured part is endowed with sensory nerves the more
40190 marked is the shock; a crush of the hand, for example, is attended with
40191 a more intense degree of shock than a correspondingly severe crush of
40192 the foot; and injuries of such specially innervated parts as the testis,
40193 the urethra, the face, or the spinal cord, are associated with severe
40194 degrees, as are also those of parts innervated from the sympathetic
40195 system, such as the abdominal or thoracic viscera. It is to be borne in
40196 mind that a state of general anaesthesia does not prevent injurious
40197 impulses reaching the brain and causing shock during an operation. If
40198 the main nerves of the part are "blocked" by injection of a local
40199 anaesthetic, however, the central nervous system is protected from these
40200 impulses.
40201
40202 While the aged frequently manifest but few signs of shock, they have a
40203 correspondingly feeble power of recovery; and while many young children
40204 suffer little, even after severe operations, others with much less cause
40205 succumb to shock.
40206
40207 When the injured person's mind is absorbed with other matters than his
40208 own condition,--as, for example, during the heat of a battle or in the
40209 excitement of a railway accident or a conflagration,--even severe
40210 injuries may be unattended by pain or shock at the time, although when
40211 the period of excitement is over, the severity of the shock is all the
40212 greater. The same thing is observed in persons injured while under the
40213 influence of alcohol.
40214
40215 _Clinical Features._--The patient is in a state of prostration. He is
40216 roused from his condition of indifference with difficulty, but answers
40217 questions intelligently, if only in a whisper. The face is pale, beads
40218 of sweat stand out on the brow, the features are drawn, the eyes
40219 sunken, and the cheeks hollow. The lips and ears are pallid; the skin of
40220 the body of a greyish colour, cold, and clammy. The pulse is rapid,
40221 fluttering, and often all but imperceptible at the wrist; the
40222 respiration is irregular, shallow, and sighing; and the temperature may
40223 fall to 96 o F. or even lower. The mouth is parched, and the patient
40224 complains of thirst. There is little sensibility to pain.
40225
40226 Except in very severe cases, shock tends towards recovery within a few
40227 hours, the _reaction_, as it is called, being often ushered in by
40228 vomiting. The colour improves; the pulse becomes full and bounding; the
40229 respiration deeper and more regular; the temperature rises to 100 o F. or
40230 higher; and the patient begins to take notice of his surroundings. The
40231 condition of neurasthenia which sometimes follows an operation may be
40232 associated with the degenerative changes in nerve cells described by
40233 Crile.
40234
40235 In certain cases the symptoms of traumatic shock blend with those
40236 resulting from toxin absorption, and it is difficult to estimate the
40237 relative importance of the two factors in the causation of the
40238 condition. The conditions formerly known as "delayed shock" and
40239 "prostration with excitement" are now generally recognised to be due to
40240 toxaemia.
40241
40242 _Question of Operating during Shock._--Most authorities agree that
40243 operations should only be undertaken during profound shock when they are
40244 imperatively demanded for the arrest of haemorrhage, the prevention of
40245 infection of serous cavities, or for the relief of pain which is
40246 producing or intensifying the condition.
40247
40248 _Prevention of Operation Shock._--In the preparation of a patient for
40249 operation, drastic purgation and prolonged fasting must be avoided, and
40250 about half an hour before a severe operation a pint of saline solution
40251 should be slowly introduced into the rectum; this is repeated, if
40252 necessary, during the operation, and at its conclusion. The
40253 operating-room must be warm--not less than 70 o F.--and the patient
40254 should be wrapped in cotton wool and blankets, and surrounded by
40255 hot-bottles. All lotions used must be warm (100 o F.); and the operation
40256 should be completed as speedily and as bloodlessly as possible. The
40257 element of fear may to some extent be eliminated by the preliminary
40258 administration of such drugs as scopolamin or morphin, and with a view
40259 to preventing the passage of exciting afferent impulses, Crile advocates
40260 "blocking" of the nerves by the injection of a 1 per cent. solution of
40261 novocaine into their substance on the proximal side of the field of
40262 operation. To prevent after-pain in abdominal wounds he recommends
40263 injecting the edges with quinine and urea hydrochlorate before suturing,
40264 the resulting anaesthesia lasting for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
40265 To these preventive measures the term _anoci-association_ has been
40266 applied. In selecting an anaesthetic, it may be borne in mind that
40267 chloroform lowers the blood pressure more than ether does, and that with
40268 spinal anaesthesia there is no lowering of the blood pressure.
40269
40270 _Treatment._--A patient suffering from shock should be placed in the
40271 recumbent position, with the foot of the bed raised to facilitate the
40272 return circulation in the large veins, and so to increase the flow of
40273 blood to the brain. His bed should be placed near a large fire, and the
40274 patient himself surrounded by cotton wool and blankets and hot-bottles.
40275 If he has lost much blood, the limbs should be wrapped in cotton wool
40276 and firmly bandaged from below upwards, to conserve as much of the
40277 circulating blood as possible in the trunk and head. If the shock is
40278 moderate in degree, as soon as the patient has been put to bed, about a
40279 pint of saline solution should be introduced into the rectum, and 10 to
40280 15 minims of adrenalin chloride (1 in 1000) may with advantage be added
40281 to the fluid. The injection should be repeated every two hours until the
40282 circulation is sufficiently restored. In severe cases, especially when
40283 associated with haemorrhage, transfusion of whole blood from a compatible
40284 donor, is the most efficient means (_Op. Surg._, p. 37). Cardiac
40285 stimulants such as strychnin, digitalin, or strophanthin are
40286 contra-indicated in shock, as they merely exhaust the already impaired
40287 vaso-motor centre.
40288
40289 Artificial respiration may be useful in tiding a patient over the
40290 critical period of shock, especially at the end of a severe operation.
40291
40292 Failing this, the introduction of saline solution at a temperature of
40293 about 105 o F. into a vein or into the subcutaneous tissue is useful
40294 where much blood has been lost (p. 276). Two or three pints may be
40295 injected into a vein, or smaller quantities under the skin.
40296
40297 Thirst is best met by giving small quantities of warm water by the
40298 mouth, or by the introduction of saline solution into the rectum. Ice
40299 only relieves thirst for a short time, and as it is liable to induce
40300 flatulence should be avoided, especially in abdominal cases. Dryness of
40301 the tongue may be relieved by swabbing the mouth with a mixture of
40302 glycerine and lemon juice.
40303
40304 If severe pain calls for the use of morphin, 1/120th grain of atropin
40305 should be added, or heroin alone may be given in doses of 1/24th to
40306 1/12th grain.
40307
40308 #Collapse# is a clinical condition which comes on more insidiously than
40309 shock, and which does not attain its maximum degree of severity for
40310 several hours. It is met with in the course of severe illnesses,
40311 especially such as are associated with the loss of large quantities of
40312 fluid from the body--for example, by severe diarrhoea, notably in Asiatic
40313 cholera; by persistent vomiting; or by profuse sweating, as in some
40314 cases of heat-stroke. Severe degrees of collapse follow sudden and
40315 profuse loss of blood.
40316
40317 Collapse often follows upon shock--for example, in intestinal
40318 perforations, or after abdominal operations complicated by peritonitis,
40319 especially if there is vomiting, as in cases of obstruction high up in
40320 the intestine. The symptoms of collapse are aggravated if toxin
40321 absorption is superadded to the loss of fluid.
40322
40323 The _clinical features_ of this condition are practically the same as
40324 those of shock; and it is treated on the same lines.
40325
40326 FAT EMBOLISM.--After various injuries and operations, but
40327 especially such as implicate the marrow of long bones--for example,
40328 comminuted fractures, osteotomies, resections of joints, or the forcible
40329 correction of deformities--fluid fat may enter the circulation in
40330 variable quantity. In the vast majority of cases no ill effects follow,
40331 but when the quantity is large or when the absorption is long continued
40332 certain symptoms ensue, either immediately, or more frequently not for
40333 two or three days. These are mostly referable to the lungs and brain.
40334
40335 In the lung the fat collects in the minute blood vessels and produces
40336 venous congestion and oedema, and sometimes pneumonia. Dyspnoea, with
40337 cyanosis, a persistent cough and frothy or blood-stained sputum, a
40338 feeble pulse and low temperature, are the chief symptoms.
40339
40340 When the fat lodges in the capillaries of the brain, the pulse becomes
40341 small, rapid, and irregular, delirium followed by coma ensues, and the
40342 condition is usually rapidly fatal.
40343
40344 Fat is usually to be detected in the urine, even in mild cases.
40345
40346 The _treatment_ consists in tiding the patient over the acute stage of
40347 his illness, until the fat is eliminated from the blood vessels.
40348
40349 TRAUMATIC ASPHYXIA OR TRAUMATIC CYANOSIS.--This term has been
40350 applied to a condition which results when the thorax is so forcibly
40351 compressed that respiration is mechanically arrested for several
40352 minutes. It has occurred from being crushed in a struggling crowd, or
40353 under a fall of masonry, and in machinery accidents. When the patient is
40354 released, the face and the neck as low down as the level of the
40355 clavicles present an intense coloration, varying from deep purple to
40356 blue-black. The affected area is sharply defined, and on close
40357 inspection the appearance is found to be due to the presence of
40358 countless minute reddish-blue or black spots, with small areas or
40359 streaks of normal skin between them. The punctate nature of the
40360 coloration is best recognised towards the periphery of the affected
40361 area--at the junction of the brow with the hairy scalp, and where the
40362 dark patch meets the normal skin of the chest (Beach and Cobb). Pressure
40363 over the skin does not cause the colour to disappear as in ordinary
40364 cyanosis. It has been shown by Wright of Boston, that the coloration is
40365 due to stasis from mechanical over-distension of the veins and
40366 capillaries; actual extravasation into the tissues is exceptional. The
40367 sharply defined distribution of the coloration is attributed to the
40368 absence of functionating valves in the veins of the head and neck, so
40369 that when the increased intra-thoracic pressure is transmitted to these
40370 veins they become engorged. Under the conjunctivae there are
40371 extravasations of bright red blood; and sublingual haematoma has been
40372 observed (Beatson).
40373
40374 The discoloration begins to fade within a few hours, and after the
40375 second or third day it disappears, without showing any of the chromatic
40376 changes which characterise a bruise. The sub-conjunctival ecchymosis,
40377 however, persists for several weeks and disappears like other
40378 extravasations. Apart from combating the shock, or dealing with
40379 concomitant injuries, no treatment is called for.
40380
40381
40382 DELIRIUM IN SURGICAL PATIENTS
40383
40384 Delirium is a temporary disturbance of mind which occurs in the course
40385 of certain diseases, and sometimes after injuries or operations. It may
40386 be associated with any of the acute pyogenic infections; with
40387 erysipelas, especially when it affects the head or face; or with chronic
40388 infective diseases of the urinary organs. In the various forms of
40389 meningitis also, and in some cases of injury to the head, it is common;
40390 and it is sometimes met with after severe haemorrhage, and in cases of
40391 poisoning by such drugs as iodoform, cocain, or alcohol. Delirium may
40392 also, of course, be a symptom of insanity.
40393
40394 Often there is merely incoherent muttering regarding past incidents or
40395 occupations, or about absent friends; or the condition may assume the
40396 form of excitement, of dementia, or of melancholia; and the symptoms are
40397 usually worst at night.
40398
40399 #Delirium Tremens# is seen in persons addicted to alcohol, who, as the
40400 result of accident or operation, are suddenly compelled to lie in bed.
40401 Although oftenest met with in habitual drunkards or chronic tipplers, it
40402 is by no means uncommon in moderate drinkers, and has even been seen in
40403 children.
40404
40405 _Clinical Features._--The delirium, which has been aptly described as
40406 being of a "busy" character, usually manifests itself within a few days
40407 of the patient being laid up. For two or three days he refuses food, is
40408 depressed, suspicious, sleepless and restless, demanding to be allowed
40409 up. Then he begins to mutter incoherently, to pull off the bedclothes,
40410 and to attempt to get out of bed. There is general muscular tremor, most
40411 marked in the tongue, the lips, and the hands. The patient imagines that
40412 he sees all sorts of horrible beings around him, and is sometimes
40413 greatly distressed because of rats, mice, beetles, or snakes, which he
40414 fancies are crawling over him. The pulse is soft, rapid, and
40415 compressible; the temperature is only moderately raised (100 o-101 o F.),
40416 and as a rule there is profuse sweating. The digestion is markedly
40417 impaired, and there is often vomiting. Patients in this condition are
40418 peculiarly insensitive to pain, and may even walk about with a fractured
40419 leg without apparent discomfort.
40420
40421 In most cases the symptoms begin to pass off in three or four days; the
40422 patient sleeps, the hallucinations and tremors cease, and he gradually
40423 recovers. In other cases the temperature rises, the pulse becomes rapid,
40424 and death results from exhaustion.
40425
40426 The main indication in _treatment_ is to secure sleep, and this is done
40427 by the administration of bromides, chloral, or paraldehyde, or of one or
40428 other of the drugs of which sulphonal, trional, and veronal are
40429 examples. Heroin in doses of from 1/24th to 1/12th grain is often of
40430 service. Morphin must be used with great caution. In some cases hyoscin
40431 (1/200 grain) injected hypodermically is found efficacious when all
40432 other means have failed, but this drug must be used with great
40433 discrimination. The patient must be encouraged to take plenty of easily
40434 digested fluid food, supplemented, if necessary, by nutrient enemata and
40435 saline infusions.
40436
40437 In the early stage a brisk mercurial purge is often of value. Alcohol
40438 should be withheld, unless failing of the pulse strongly indicates its
40439 use, and then it should be given along with the food.
40440
40441 A delirious patient must be constantly watched by a trained attendant or
40442 other competent person, lest he get out of bed and do harm to himself or
40443 others. Mechanical restraint is often necessary, but must be avoided if
40444 possible, as it is apt to increase the excitement and exhaust the
40445 patient. On account of the extreme restlessness, there is often great
40446 difficulty in carrying out the proper treatment of the primary surgical
40447 condition, and considerable modifications in splints and other
40448 appliances are often rendered necessary.
40449
40450 A form of delirium, sometimes spoken of as #Traumatic Delirium#, may
40451 follow on severe injuries or operations in persons of neurotic
40452 temperament, or in those whose nervous system is exhausted by overwork.
40453 It is met with apart from alcoholic intemperance. This form of delirium
40454 seems to be specially prone to ensue on operations on the face, the
40455 thyreoid gland, or the genito-urinary organs. The symptoms appear in
40456 from two to five days after the operation, and take the form of
40457 restlessness, sleeplessness, low incoherent muttering, and picking at
40458 the bedclothes. It is not necessarily attended by fever or by muscular
40459 tremors. The patient may show hysterical symptoms. This condition is
40460 probably to be regarded as a form of insanity, as it is liable to merge
40461 into mania or melancholia.
40462
40463 The _treatment_ is carried out on the same lines as that of delirium
40464 tremens.
40465
40466
40467
40468
40469 CHAPTER XIV
40470
40471 THE BLOOD VESSELS
40472
40473
40474 Anatomy--INJURIES OF ARTERIES: _Varieties_--INJURIES OF
40475 VEINS: _Air Embolism_--Repair of blood vessels and natural
40476 arrest of haemorrhage--HAEMORRHAGE: _Varieties_;
40477 _Prevention_; _Arrest_--Constitutional effects of
40478 haemorrhage--Haemophilia--DISEASES OF BLOOD VESSELS:
40479 Thrombosis; Embolism--Arteritis: _Varieties_;
40480 Arterio-sclerosis--Thrombo-phlebitis--Phlebitis:
40481 _Varieties_--VARIX--ANGIOMATA--Naevus: _Varieties_;
40482 _Electrolysis_--Cirsoid aneurysm--ANEURYSM: _Varieties_;
40483 _Methods of treatment_--ANEURYSMS OF INDIVIDUAL ARTERIES.
40484
40485 #Surgical Anatomy.#--An _artery_ has three coats: an internal coat--the
40486 _tunica intima_--made up of a single layer of endothelial cells lining
40487 the lumen; outside of this a layer of delicate connective tissue; and
40488 still farther out a dense tissue composed of longitudinally arranged
40489 elastic fibres--the internal elastic lamina. The tunica intima is easily
40490 ruptured. The middle coat, or _tunica media_, consists of non-striped
40491 muscular fibres, arranged for the most part concentrically round the
40492 vessel. In this coat also there is a considerable proportion of elastic
40493 tissue, especially in the larger vessels. The thickness of the vessel
40494 wall depends chiefly on the development of the muscular coat. The
40495 external coat, or _tunica externa_, is composed of fibrous tissue,
40496 containing, especially in vessels of medium calibre, some yellow elastic
40497 fibres in its deeper layers.
40498
40499 In most parts of the body the arteries lie in a sheath of connective
40500 tissue, from which fine fibrous processes pass to the tunica externa.
40501 The connection, however, is not a close one, and the artery when divided
40502 transversely is capable of retracting for a considerable distance within
40503 its sheath. In some of the larger arteries the sheath assumes the form
40504 of a definite membrane.
40505
40506 The arteries are nourished by small vessels--the _vasa vasorum_--which
40507 ramify chiefly in the outer coat. They are also well supplied with
40508 nerves, which regulate the size of the lumen by inducing contraction or
40509 relaxation of the muscular coat.
40510
40511 The _veins_ are constructed on the same general plan as the arteries,
40512 the individual coats, however, being thinner. The inner coat is less
40513 easily ruptured, and the middle coat contains a smaller proportion of
40514 muscular tissue. In one important point veins differ structurally from
40515 arteries--namely, in being provided with valves which prevent reflux of
40516 the blood. These valves are composed of semilunar folds of the tunica
40517 intima strengthened by an addition of connective tissue. Each valve
40518 usually consists of two semilunar flaps attached to opposite sides of
40519 the vessel wall, each flap having a small sinus on its cardiac side.
40520 The distension of these sinuses with blood closes the valve and
40521 prevents regurgitation. Valves are absent from the superior and inferior
40522 venae cavae, the portal vein and its tributaries, the hepatic, renal,
40523 uterine, and spermatic veins, and from the veins in the lower part of
40524 the rectum. They are ill-developed or absent also in the iliac and
40525 common femoral veins--a fact which has an important bearing on the
40526 production of varix in the veins of the lower extremity.
40527
40528 The wall of _capillaries_ consists of a single layer of endothelial
40529 cells.
40530
40531
40532 HAEMORRHAGE
40533
40534 Various terms are employed in relation to haemorrhage, according to its
40535 seat, its origin, the time at which it occurs, and other circumstances.
40536
40537 The term _external haemorrhage_ is employed when the blood escapes on the
40538 surface; when the bleeding takes place into the tissues or into a cavity
40539 it is spoken of as _internal_. The blood may infiltrate the connective
40540 tissue, constituting an _extravasation_ of blood; or it may collect in a
40541 space or cavity and form a _haematoma_.
40542
40543 The coughing up of blood from the lungs is known as _haemoptysis_;
40544 vomiting of blood from the stomach, as _haematemesis_; the passage of
40545 black-coloured stools due to the presence of blood altered by digestion,
40546 as _melaena_; and the passage of bloody urine, as _haematuria_.
40547
40548 Haemorrhage is known as arterial, venous, or capillary, according to the
40549 nature of the vessel from which it takes place.
40550
40551 In _arterial_ haemorrhage the blood is bright red in colour, and escapes
40552 from the cardiac end of the divided vessel in pulsating jets
40553 synchronously with the systole of the heart. In vascular parts--for
40554 example the face--both ends of a divided artery bleed freely. The blood
40555 flowing from an artery may be dark in colour if the respiration is
40556 impeded. When the heart's action is weak and the blood tension low the
40557 flow may appear to be continuous and not in jets. The blood from a
40558 divided artery at the bottom of a deep wound, escapes on the surface in
40559 a steady flow.
40560
40561 _Venous_ bleeding is not pulsatile, but occurs in a continuous stream,
40562 which, although both ends of the vessel may bleed, is more copious from
40563 the distal end. The blood is dark red under ordinary conditions, but may
40564 be purplish, or even black, if the respiration is interfered with. When
40565 one of the large veins in the neck is wounded, the effects of
40566 respiration produce a rise and fall in the stream which may resemble
40567 arterial pulsation.
40568
40569 In _capillary_ haemorrhage, red blood escapes from numerous points on the
40570 surface of the wound in a steady ooze. This form of bleeding is serious
40571 in those who are the subjects of haemophilia.
40572
40573
40574 INJURIES OF ARTERIES
40575
40576 The following description of the injuries of arteries refers to the
40577 larger, named trunks. The injuries of smaller, unnamed vessels are
40578 included in the consideration of wounds and contusions.
40579
40580 #Contusion.#--An artery may be contused by a blow or crush, or by the
40581 oblique impact of a bullet. The bruising of the vessel wall, especially
40582 if it is diseased, may result in the formation of a thrombus which
40583 occludes the lumen temporarily or even permanently, and in rare cases
40584 may lead to gangrene of the limb beyond.
40585
40586 #Subcutaneous Rupture.#--An artery may be ruptured subcutaneously by a
40587 blow or crush, or by a displaced fragment of bone. This injury has been
40588 produced also during attempts to reduce dislocations, especially those
40589 of old standing at the shoulder. It is most liable to occur when the
40590 vessels are diseased. The rupture may be incomplete or complete.
40591
40592 _Incomplete Subcutaneous Rupture._--In the majority of cases the rupture
40593 is incomplete--the inner and middle coats being torn, while the outer
40594 remains intact. The middle coat contracts and retracts, and the
40595 internal, because of its elasticity, curls up in the interior of the
40596 vessel, forming a valvular obstruction to the blood-flow. In most cases
40597 this results in the formation of a thrombus which occludes the vessel.
40598 In some cases the blood-pressure gradually distends the injured segment
40599 of the vessel wall and leads to the formation of an aneurysm.
40600
40601 The pulsation in the vessels beyond the seat of rupture is arrested--for
40602 a time at least--owing to the occlusion of the vessel, and the limb
40603 becomes cold and powerless. The pulsation seldom returns within five or
40604 six weeks of the injury, if indeed it is not permanently arrested, but,
40605 as a rule, a collateral circulation is rapidly established, sufficient
40606 to nourish the parts beyond. If the pulsation returns within a week of
40607 the injury, the presumption is that the occlusion was due to pressure
40608 from without--for example, by haemorrhage into the sheath or the pressure
40609 of a fragment of bone.
40610
40611 _Complete Subcutaneous Rupture._--When the rupture is complete, all the
40612 coats of the vessel are torn and the blood escapes into the surrounding
40613 tissues. If the original injury is attended with much shock, the
40614 bleeding may not take place until the period of reaction. Rupture of the
40615 popliteal artery in association with fracture of the femur, or of the
40616 axillary or brachial artery with fracture of the humerus or dislocation
40617 of the shoulder, are familiar examples of this injury.
40618
40619 Like incomplete rupture, this lesion is accompanied by loss of pulsation
40620 and power, and by coldness of the limb beyond; a tense and excessively
40621 painful swelling rapidly appears in the region of the injury, and, where
40622 the cellular tissue is loose, may attain a considerable size. The
40623 pressure of the effused blood occludes the veins and leads to congestion
40624 and oedema of the limb beyond. The interference with the circulation, and
40625 the damage to the tissues, may be so great that gangrene ensues.
40626
40627 _Treatment._--When an artery has been contused or ruptured, the limb
40628 must be placed in the most favourable condition for restoration of the
40629 circulation. The skin is disinfected and the limb wrapped in cotton wool
40630 to conserve its heat, and elevated to such an extent as to promote the
40631 venous return without at the same time interfering with the inflow of
40632 blood. A careful watch must be kept on the state of nutrition of the
40633 limb, lest gangrene occurs.
40634
40635 If no complications supervene, the swelling subsides, and recovery may
40636 be complete in six or eight weeks. If the extravasation is great and the
40637 skin threatens to give way, or if the vitality of the limb is seriously
40638 endangered, it is advisable to expose the injured vessel, and, after
40639 clearing away the clots, to attempt to suture the rent in the artery,
40640 or, if torn across, to join the ends after paring the bruised edges. If
40641 this is impracticable, a ligature is applied above and below the
40642 rupture. If gangrene ensues, amputation must be performed.
40643
40644 These descriptions apply to the larger arteries of the extremities. A
40645 good illustration of subcutaneous rupture of the arteries of the head is
40646 afforded by the tearing of the middle meningeal artery caused by the
40647 application of blunt violence to the skull; and of the arteries of the
40648 trunk--caused by the tearing of the renal artery in rupture of the
40649 kidney.
40650
40651 #Open Wounds of Arteries--Laceration.#--Laceration of large arteries is
40652 a common complication of machinery and railway accidents. The violence
40653 being usually of a tearing, twisting, or crushing nature, such injuries
40654 are seldom associated with much haemorrhage, as torn or crushed vessels
40655 quickly become occluded by contraction and retraction of their coats and
40656 by the formation of a clot. A whole limb even may be avulsed from the
40657 body with comparatively little loss of blood. The risk in such cases is
40658 secondary haemorrhage resulting from pyogenic infection.
40659
40660 The _treatment_ is that applicable to all wounds, with, in addition, the
40661 ligation of the lacerated vessels.
40662
40663 #Punctured wounds# of blood vessels may result from stabs, or they may
40664 be accidentally inflicted in the course of an operation.
40665
40666 The division of the coats of the vessel being incomplete, the natural
40667 haemostasis that results from curling up of the intima and contraction of
40668 the media, fails to take place, and bleeding goes on into the
40669 surrounding tissues, and externally. If the sheath of the vessel is not
40670 widely damaged, the gradually increasing tension of the extravasated
40671 blood retained within it may ultimately arrest the haemorrhage. A clot
40672 then forms between the lips of the wound in the vessel wall and projects
40673 for a short distance into the lumen, without, however, materially
40674 interfering with the flow through the vessel. The organisation of this
40675 clot results in the healing of the wound in the vessel wall.
40676
40677 In other cases the blood escapes beyond the sheath and collects in the
40678 surrounding tissues, and a traumatic aneurysm results. Secondary
40679 haemorrhage may occur if the wound becomes infected.
40680
40681 The _treatment_ consists in enlarging the external wound to permit of
40682 the damaged vessel being ligated above and below the puncture. In some
40683 cases it may be possible to suture the opening in the vessel wall. When
40684 circumstances prevent these measures being taken, the bleeding may be
40685 arrested by making firm pressure over the wound with a pad; but this
40686 procedure is liable to be followed by the formation of an aneurysm.
40687
40688 _Minute puncture of arteries_ such as frequently occur in the hypodermic
40689 administration of drugs and in the use of exploring needles, are not
40690 attended with any escape of blood, chiefly because of the elastic recoil
40691 of the arterial wall; a tiny thrombus of platelets and thrombus forms at
40692 the point where the intima is punctured.
40693
40694 #Incised Wounds.#--We here refer only to such incised wounds as partly
40695 divide the vessel wall.
40696
40697 Longitudinal wounds show little tendency to gape, and are therefore not
40698 attended with much bleeding. They usually heal rapidly, but, like
40699 punctured wounds, are liable to be followed by the formation of an
40700 aneurysm.
40701
40702 When, however, the incision in the vessel wall is oblique or transverse,
40703 the retraction of the muscular coat causes the opening to gape, with the
40704 result that there is haemorrhage, which, even in comparatively small
40705 arteries, may be so profuse as to prove dangerous. When the associated
40706 wound in the soft parts is valvular the haemorrhage is arrested and an
40707 aneurysm may develop.
40708
40709 When a large arterial trunk, such as the external iliac, the femoral,
40710 the common carotid, the brachial, or the popliteal, has been partly
40711 divided, for example, in the course of an operation, the opening should
40712 be closed with sutures--_arteriorrhaphy_. The circulation being
40713 controlled by a tourniquet, or the artery itself occluded by a clamp,
40714 fine silk or catgut stitches are passed through the outer and middle
40715 coats after the method of Lembert, a fine, round needle being employed.
40716 The sheath of the vessel or an adjacent fascia should be stitched
40717 over the line of suture in the vessel wall. If infection be excluded,
40718 there is little risk of thrombosis or secondary haemorrhage; and even if
40719 thrombosis should develop at the point of suture, the artery is
40720 obstructed gradually, and the establishment of a collateral circulation
40721 takes place better than after ligation. In the case of smaller trunks,
40722 or when suture is impracticable, the artery should be tied above and
40723 below the opening, and divided between the ligatures.
40724
40725 #Gunshot Wounds of Blood Vessels.#--In the majority of cases injuries of
40726 large vessels are associated with an external wound; the profusion of
40727 the bleeding indicates the size of the damaged vessel, and the colour of
40728 the blood and the nature of the flow denote whether an artery or a vein
40729 is implicated.
40730
40731 When an artery is wounded a firm _haematoma_ may form, with an expansile
40732 pulsation and a palpable thrill--whether such a haematoma remains
40733 circumscribed or becomes diffuse depends upon the density or laxity of
40734 the tissues around it. In course of time a _traumatic arterial aneurysm_
40735 may develop from such a haematoma.
40736
40737 When an artery and its companion vein are injured simultaneously an
40738 _arterio-venous aneurysm_ (p. 310) may develop. This frequently takes
40739 place without the formation of a haematoma as the arterial blood finds
40740 its way into the vein and so does not escape into the tissues. Even if a
40741 haematoma forms it seldom assumes a great size. In time a swelling is
40742 recognised, with a palpable thrill and a systolic bruit, loudest at the
40743 level of the communication and accompanied by a continuous venous hum.
40744
40745 If leakage occurs into the tissues, the extravasated blood may occlude
40746 the vein by pressure, and the symptoms of arterial aneurysm replace
40747 those of the arterio-venous form, the systolic bruit persisting, while
40748 the venous hum disappears.
40749
40750 _Gangrene_ may ensue if the blood supply is seriously interfered with,
40751 or the signs of _ischaemia_ may develop; the muscles lose their
40752 elasticity, become hard and paralysed, and anaesthesia of the "glove" or
40753 "stocking" type, with other alterations of sensation ensue. Apart from
40754 ischaemia, _reflex paralysis_ of motion and sensation of a transient kind
40755 may follow injury of a large vessel.
40756
40757 _Treatment_ is carried out on the same lines as for similar injuries due
40758 to other causes.
40759
40760
40761 INJURIES OF VEINS
40762
40763 Veins are subject to the same forms of injury as arteries, and the
40764 results are alike in both, such variations as occur being dependent
40765 partly on the difference in their anatomical structure, and partly on
40766 the conditions of the circulation through them.
40767
40768 #Subcutaneous rupture# of veins occur most frequently in association
40769 with fractures and in the reduction of dislocations. The veins most
40770 commonly ruptured are the popliteal, the axillary, the femoral, and the
40771 subclavian. On account of the smaller amount of elastic and muscular
40772 tissue in the wall of a vein, the contraction and retraction of its
40773 walls are less than in an artery, and so bleeding may continue for a
40774 longer period. On the other hand, owing to the lower blood-pressure the
40775 outflow goes on more slowly, and the gradually increasing pressure
40776 produced by the extravasated blood is usually sufficient to arrest the
40777 haemorrhage before it becomes serious. As an aid in diagnosing the source
40778 of the bleeding, it should be remembered that the rupture of a vein does
40779 not affect the pulsation in the limb beyond. The risks are practically
40780 the same as when an artery is ruptured, excepting that of aneurysm, and
40781 the treatment is carried out on the same lines, but it is seldom
40782 necessary to operate for the purpose of applying a ligature to the
40783 injured vein.
40784
40785 #Wounds# of veins--punctured and incised--frequently occur in the course
40786 of operations; for example, in the removal of tumours or diseased glands
40787 from the neck, the axilla, or the groin. They are also met with as a
40788 result of accidental stabs and of suicidal or homicidal injuries. The
40789 haemorrhage from a large vein so damaged is usually profuse, but it is
40790 more readily controlled by external pressure than that from an artery.
40791 When a vein is merely punctured, the bleeding may be arrested by
40792 pressure with a pad of gauze, or by a lateral ligature--that is, picking
40793 up the margins of the rent in the wall and securing them with a
40794 ligature without occluding the lumen. In the large veins, such as the
40795 internal jugular, the femoral, or the axillary, it is usually possible
40796 to suture the opening in the wall. This does not necessarily result in
40797 thrombosis in the vessel, or in obliteration of its lumen.
40798
40799 When an _artery and vein are simultaneously wounded_, the features
40800 peculiar to each are present in greater or less degree. In the limbs
40801 gangrene may ensue, especially if the wound is infected. Punctured and
40802 gun-shot wounds implicating both artery and vein are liable to be
40803 followed by the development of arterio-venous aneurysm.
40804
40805 #Entrance of Air into Veins--Air Embolism.#--This serious, though
40806 fortunately rare, accident is apt to occur in the course of operations
40807 in the region of the thorax, neck, or axilla, if a large vein is opened
40808 and fails to collapse on account of the rigidity of its walls, its
40809 incorporation in a dense fascia, or from traction being made upon it. If
40810 the wound in a vein is thus held open, the negative pressure during
40811 inspiration sucks air into the right side of the heart. This is
40812 accompanied by a hissing or gurgling sound, and with the next expiration
40813 some frothy blood escapes from the wound. The patient instantly becomes
40814 pale, the pupils dilate, respiration becomes laboured, and although the
40815 heart may continue to beat forcibly, the peripheral pulse is weak, and
40816 may even be imperceptible. On auscultating the heart, a churning sound
40817 may be heard. Death may result in a few minutes; or the heart may slowly
40818 regain its power and recovery take place.
40819
40820 _Prevention._--In operations in the "dangerous area"--as the region of
40821 the root of the neck is called in this connection--care must be taken
40822 not to cut or divide any vein before it has been secured by forceps, and
40823 to apply ligatures securely and at once. Deep wounds in this region
40824 should be kept filled with normal salt solution. Immediately a cut is
40825 recognised in a vein, a finger should be placed over the vessel on the
40826 cardiac side of the wound, and kept there until the opening is secured.
40827
40828 _Treatment._--Little can be done after the air has actually entered the
40829 vein beyond endeavouring to maintain the heart's action by hypodermic
40830 injections of ether or strychnin and the application of mustard or hot
40831 cloths over the chest. The head at the same time should be lowered to
40832 prevent syncope. Attempts to withdraw the air by suction, and the
40833 employment of artificial respiration, have proved futile, and are, by
40834 some, considered dangerous. In a desperate case massage of the heart
40835 might be tried.
40836
40837
40838 THE NATURAL ARREST OF HAEMORRHAGE AND THE REPAIR OF BLOOD
40839 VESSELS
40840
40841 #Primary Haemorrhage.#--The term primary haemorrhage is applied to the
40842 bleeding which follows immediately on the wounding of a blood vessel.
40843 The natural process by which such haemorrhage is arrested varies with the
40844 character of the wound in the vessel and may be modified by accidental
40845 circumstances.
40846
40847 (a) _Repair of completely divided Artery._--When an artery is
40848 _completely_ divided, the circular fibres of the muscular coat contract,
40849 so that the lumen of the cut ends is diminished, and at the same time
40850 each segment retracts within its sheath in virtue of the recoil of the
40851 elastic elements in its walls, the tunica intima curls up in the
40852 interior of the vessel, and the tunica externa collapses over the cut
40853 ends. The blood that escapes from the injured vessel fills the
40854 interstices of the tissues, and, coagulating, forms a clot which
40855 temporarily arrests the bleeding. That part of the clot which lies
40856 between the divided ends of the vessel and in the cellular tissue
40857 outside, is known as the _external clot_, while the portion which
40858 projects into the lumen of the vessel is known as the _internal clot_,
40859 and it usually extends as far as the nearest collateral branch. These
40860 processes constitute what is known as the _temporary arrest of
40861 haemorrhage_, which, it will be observed, is effected by the contraction
40862 and retraction of the divided artery and by clotting.
40863
40864 The _permanent arrest_ takes place by the transformation of the clot
40865 into scar tissue. The internal clot plays the most important part in the
40866 process; it becomes invaded by leucocytes and proliferating endothelial
40867 and connective-tissue cells, and new blood vessels permeate the mass,
40868 which is thus converted into granulation tissue. This is ultimately
40869 replaced by fibrous tissue, which permanently occludes the end of the
40870 vessel. Concurrently and by the same process the external clot is
40871 converted into scar tissue.
40872
40873 If a divided artery is _ligated at its cut end_, the tension of the
40874 ligature is usually sufficient to rupture the inner and middle coats,
40875 which curl up within the lumen, the outer coat alone being held in the
40876 grasp of the ligature. An internal clot forms and, becoming organised,
40877 permanently occludes the vessel as above described. The ligature and the
40878 small portion of vessel beyond it are subsequently absorbed.
40879
40880 In course of time the collateral branches of the vessel above and below
40881 the level of section enlarge and their inter-communication becomes more
40882 free, so that even when large trunks have been divided the vascular
40883 supply of the parts beyond may be completely restored. This is known as
40884 the development of the _collateral circulation_.
40885
40886 _Imperfect Collateral Circulation._--While the development of the
40887 collateral circulation after the ligation or obstruction from other
40888 cause of a main arterial trunk may be sufficient to prevent gangrene of
40889 the limb, it may be insufficient for its adequate nourishment; it may be
40890 cold, bluish in colour, and there may be necrosis of the skin over bony
40891 points; this is notably the case in the lower extremity after ligation
40892 of the femoral or popliteal artery, when patches of skin may die over
40893 the prominence of the heel, the balls of the toes, the projecting base
40894 of the fifth metatarsal and the external malleolus.
40895
40896 If, during the period of reaction, the blood-pressure rises
40897
40898 considerably, the occluding clot at the divided end of the vessel may be
40899 washed away or the ligature displaced, permitting of fresh bleeding
40900 taking place--_reactionary_ or _intermediary haemorrhage_ (p. 272).
40901
40902 In the event of the wound becoming infected with pyogenic organisms, the
40903 occluding blood-clot or the young fibrous tissue may become
40904 disintegrated in the suppurative process, and the bleeding start
40905 afresh--_secondary haemorrhage_ (p. 273).
40906
40907 (b) If an artery is only _partly cut across_, the divided fibres of
40908 the tunica muscularis contract and those of the tunica externa retract,
40909 with the result that a more or less circular hole is formed in the wall
40910 of the vessel, from which free bleeding takes place, as the conditions
40911 are unfavourable for the formation of an occluding clot. Even if a clot
40912 does form, when the blood-pressure rises it is readily displaced,
40913 leading to reactionary haemorrhage. Should the wound become infected,
40914 secondary haemorrhage is specially liable to occur. A further risk
40915 attends this form of injury, in that the intra-vascular tension may in
40916 time lead to gradual stretching of the scar tissue which closes the gap
40917 in the vessel wall, with the result that a localised dilatation or
40918 diverticulum forms, constituting a _traumatic aneurysm_.
40919
40920 (c) When the injury merely takes the form of a _puncture_ or _small
40921 incision_ a blood-clot forms between the edges, becomes organised, and
40922 is converted into cicatricial tissue which seals the aperture. Such
40923 wounds may also be followed by reactionary or secondary haemorrhage, or
40924 later by the formation of a traumatic aneurysm.
40925
40926 _Conditions which influence the Natural Arrest of Haemorrhage._--The
40927 natural arrest of bleeding is favoured by tearing or crushing of the
40928 vessel walls, owing to the contraction and retraction of the coats and
40929 the tendency of blood to coagulate when in contact with damaged tissue.
40930 Hence the primary haemorrhage following lacerated wounds is seldom
40931 copious. The occurrence of syncope or of profound shock also helps to
40932 stop bleeding by reducing the force of the heart's action.
40933
40934 On the other hand, there are conditions which retard the natural arrest.
40935 When, for example, a vessel is only partly divided, the contraction and
40936 retraction of the muscular coat, instead of diminishing the calibre of
40937 the artery, causes the wound in the vessel to gape; by completing the
40938 division of the vessel under these circumstances the bleeding can often
40939 be arrested. In certain situations, also, the arteries are so intimately
40940 connected with their sheaths, that when cut across they were unable to
40941 retract and contract--for example, in the scalp, in the penis, and in
40942 bones--and copious bleeding may take place from comparatively small
40943 vessels. This inability of the vessels to contract and retract is met
40944 with also in inflamed and oedematous parts and in scar tissue. Arteries
40945 divided in the substance of a muscle also sometimes bleed unduly. Any
40946 increase in the force of the heart's action, such as may result from
40947 exertion, excitement, or over-stimulation, also interferes with the
40948 natural arrest. Lastly, in bleeders, there are conditions which
40949 interfere with the natural arrest of haemorrhage.
40950
40951 #Repair of a Vessel ligated in its Continuity.#--When a ligature is
40952 applied to an artery it should be pulled sufficiently tight to occlude
40953 the lumen without causing rupture of its coats. It often happens,
40954 however, that the compression causes rupture of the inner and middle
40955 coats, so that only the outer coat remains in the grasp of the ligature.
40956 While this weakens the wall of the vessel, it has the advantage of
40957 hastening coagulation, by bringing the blood into contact with damaged
40958 tissue. Whether the inner and middle coats are ruptured or not, blood
40959 coagulates both above and below the ligature, the proximal clot being
40960 longer and broader than that on the distal side. In small arteries these
40961 clots extend as far as the nearest collateral branch, but in the larger
40962 trunks their length varies. The permanent occlusion of those portions of
40963 the vessel occupied by clot is brought about by the formation of
40964 granulation tissue, and its replacement by cicatricial tissue, so that
40965 the occluded segment of the vessel is represented by a fibrous cord. In
40966 this process the coagulum only plays a passive role by forming a
40967 scaffolding on which the granulation tissue is built up. The ligature
40968 surrounding the vessel, and the elements of the clot, are ultimately
40969 absorbed.
40970
40971 #Repair of Veins.#--The process of repair in veins is the same as that
40972 in arteries, but the thrombosed area may become canalised and the
40973 circulation through the vessel be re-established.
40974
40975
40976 HAEMORRHAGE IN SURGICAL OPERATIONS
40977
40978 The management of the haemorrhage which accompanies an operation includes
40979 (a) preventive measures, and (b) the arrest of the bleeding.
40980
40981 #Prevention of Haemorrhage.#--Whenever possible, haemorrhage should be
40982 controlled by _digital compression_ of the main artery supplying the
40983 limb rather than by a tourniquet. If efficiently applied compression
40984 reduces the immediate loss of blood to a minimum, and the bleeding from
40985 small vessels that follows the removal of the tourniquet is avoided.
40986 Further, the pressure of a tourniquet has been shown to be a material
40987 factor in producing shock.
40988
40989 In selecting a point at which to apply digital compression, it is
40990 essential that the vessel should be lying over a bone which will furnish
40991 the necessary resistance. The common carotid, for example, is pressed
40992 backward and medially against the transverse process (carotid tubercle)
40993 of the sixth cervical vertebra; the temporal against the temporal
40994 process (zygoma) in front of the ear; and the facial against the
40995 mandible at the anterior edge of the masseter.
40996
40997 In the upper extremity, the subclavian is pressed against the first rib
40998 by making pressure downwards and backwards in the hollow above the
40999 clavicle; the axillary and brachial by pressing against the shaft of the
41000 humerus.
41001
41002 In the lower extremity, the femoral is controlled by pressing in a
41003 direction backward and slightly upward against the brim of the pelvis,
41004 midway between the symphysis pubis and the anterior superior iliac
41005 spine.
41006
41007 The abdominal aorta may be compressed against the bodies of the lumbar
41008 vertebrae opposite the umbilicus, if the spine is arched well forwards
41009 over a pillow or sand-bag, or by the method suggested by Macewen, in
41010 which the patient's spine is arched forwards by allowing the lower
41011 extremities and pelvis to hang over the end of the table, while the
41012 assistant, standing on a stool, applies his closed fist over the
41013 abdominal aorta and compresses it against the vertebral column.
41014 Momburg recommends an elastic cord wound round the body between the
41015 iliac crest and the lower border of the ribs, but this procedure has
41016 caused serious damage to the intestine.
41017
41018 When digital compression is not available, the most convenient and
41019 certain means of preventing haemorrhage--say in an amputation--is by the
41020 use of some form of _tourniquet_, such as the elastic tube of Esmarch or
41021 of Foulis, or an elastic bandage, or the screw tourniquet of Petit.
41022 Before applying any of these it is advisable to empty the limb of blood.
41023 This is best done after the manner suggested by Lister: the limb is held
41024 vertical for three or four minutes; the veins are thus emptied by
41025 gravitation, and they collapse, and as a physiological result of this
41026 the arteries reflexly contract, so that the quantity of blood entering
41027 the limb is reduced to a minimum. With the limb still elevated the
41028 tourniquet is firmly applied, a part being selected where the vessel can
41029 be pressed directly against a bone, and where there is no risk of
41030 exerting injurious pressure on the nerve-trunks. The tourniquet should
41031 be applied over several layers of gauze or lint to protect the skin, and
41032 the first turn of the tourniquet must be rapidly and tightly applied to
41033 arrest completely the arterial flow, otherwise the veins only are
41034 obstructed and the limb becomes congested. In the lower extremity the
41035 best place to apply a tourniquet is the middle third of the thigh; in
41036 the upper extremity, in the middle of the arm. A tourniquet should never
41037 be applied tighter or left on longer than is absolutely necessary.
41038
41039 The screw tourniquet of Petit is to be preferred when it is desired to
41040 intermit the flow through the main artery as in operations for aneurysm.
41041
41042 When a tourniquet cannot conveniently be applied, or when its presence
41043 interferes with the carrying out of the operation--as, for example, in
41044 amputations at the hip or shoulder--the haemorrhage may be controlled by
41045 preliminary ligation of the main artery above the seat of operation--for
41046 instance, the external iliac or the subclavian. For such contingencies
41047 also the steel skewers used by Spence and Wyeth, or a special clamp or
41048 forceps, such as that suggested by Lynn Thomas, may be employed. In the
41049 case of vessels which it is undesirable to occlude permanently, such as
41050 the common carotid, the temporary application of a ligature or clamp is
41051 useful.
41052
41053 #Arrest of Haemorrhage.#--_Ligature._--This is the best means of securing
41054 the larger vessels. The divided vessel having been caught with forceps
41055 as near to its cut end as possible, a ligature of catgut or silk is tied
41056 round it. When there is difficulty in applying a ligature securely, for
41057 example in a dense tissue like the scalp or periosteum, or in a friable
41058 tissue like the thyreoid gland or the mesentery, a stitch should be
41059 passed so as to surround the bleeding vessel a short distance from its
41060 end, in this way ensuring a better hold and preventing the ligature from
41061 slipping.
41062
41063 If the haemorrhage is from a partly divided vessel, this should be
41064 completely cut across to enable its walls to contract and retract, and
41065 to facilitate the application of forceps and ligatures.
41066
41067 _Torsion._--This method is seldom employed except for comparatively
41068 small vessels, but it is applicable to even the largest arteries. In
41069 employing torsion, the end of the vessel is caught with forceps, and the
41070 terminal portion twisted round several times. The object is to tear the
41071 inner and middle coats so that they curl up inside the lumen, while the
41072 outer fibrous coat is twisted into a cord which occludes the end of the
41073 vessel.
41074
41075 _Forci-pressure._--Bleeding from the smallest arteries and from
41076 arterioles can usually be arrested by firmly squeezing them for a few
41077 minutes with artery forceps. It is usually found that on the removal of
41078 the forceps at the end of an operation no further haemorrhage takes
41079 place. By the use of specially strong clamps, such as the angiotribes of
41080 Doyen, large trunks may be occluded by pressure.
41081
41082 _Cautery._--The actual cautery or Paquelin's thermo-cautery is seldom
41083 employed to arrest haemorrhage, but is frequently useful in preventing
41084 it, as, for example, in the removal of piles, or in opening the bowel in
41085 colostomy. It is used at a dull-red heat, which sears the divided ends
41086 of the vessel and so occludes the lumen. A bright-red or a white heat
41087 cuts the vessel across without occluding it. The separation of the
41088 slough produced by the charring of the tissues is sometimes attended
41089 with secondary bleeding.
41090
41091 _Haemostatics_ or _Styptics_.--The local application of haemostatics is
41092 seldom to be recommended. In the treatment of epistaxis or bleeding from
41093 the nose, of haemorrhage from the socket of a tooth, and sometimes from
41094 ulcerating or granulating surfaces, however, they may be useful. All
41095 clots must be removed and the drug applied directly to the bleeding
41096 surface. Adrenalin and turpentine are the most useful drugs for this
41097 purpose.
41098
41099 Haemorrhage from bone, for example the skull, may be arrested by means of
41100 Horsley's aseptic plastic wax. To stop persistent oozing from soft
41101 tissues, Horsley successfully applied a portion of living vascular
41102 tissue, such as a fragment of muscle, which readily adheres to the
41103 oozing surface and yields elements that cause coagulation of the blood
41104 by thrombo-kinetic processes. When examined after two or three days the
41105 muscle has been found to be closely adherent and undergoing
41106 organisation.
41107
41108 #Arrest of Accidental Haemorrhage.#--The most efficient means of
41109 temporarily controlling haemorrhage is by pressure applied with the
41110 finger, or with a pad of gauze, directly over the bleeding point. While
41111 this is maintained an assistant makes digital pressure, or applies a
41112 tourniquet, over the main vessel of the limb on the proximal side of the
41113 bleeding point. A useful _emergency tourniquet_ may be improvised by
41114 folding a large handkerchief _en cravatte_, with a cork or piece of wood
41115 in the fold to act as a pad. The handkerchief is applied round the
41116 limb, with the pad over the main artery, and the ends knotted on the
41117 lateral aspect of the limb. With a strong piece of wood the handkerchief
41118 is wound up like a Spanish windlass, until sufficient pressure is
41119 exerted to arrest the bleeding.
41120
41121 When haemorrhage is taking place from a number of small vessels, its
41122 arrest may be effected by elevation of the bleeding part, particularly
41123 if it is a limb. By this means the force of the circulation is
41124 diminished and the formation of coagula favoured. Similarly, in wounds
41125 of the hand or forearm, or of the foot or leg, bleeding may be arrested
41126 by placing a pad in the flexure and acutely flexing the limb at the
41127 elbow or knee respectively.
41128
41129 #Reactionary Haemorrhage.#--Reactionary or intermediary haemorrhage
41130 is really a recurrence of primary bleeding. As the name indicates, it
41131 occurs during the period of reaction--that is, within the first twelve
41132 hours after an operation or injury. It may be due to the increase in the
41133 blood-pressure that accompanies reaction displacing clots which have
41134 formed in the vessels, or causing vessels to bleed which did not bleed
41135 during the operation; to the slipping of a ligature; or to the giving
41136 way of a grossly damaged portion of the vessel wall. In the scrotum, the
41137 relaxation of the dartos during the first few hours after operation
41138 occasionally leads to reactionary haemorrhage.
41139
41140 As a rule, reactionary haemorrhage takes place from small vessels as a
41141 result of the displacement of occluding clots, and in many cases the
41142 haemorrhage stops when the bandages and soaked dressings are removed. If
41143 not, it is usually sufficient to remove the clots and apply firm
41144 pressure, and in the case of a limb to elevate it. Should the haemorrhage
41145 recur, the wound must be reopened, and ligatures applied to the bleeding
41146 vessels. Douching the wound with hot sterilised water (about 110 o F.),
41147 and plugging it tightly with gauze, are often successful in arresting
41148 capillary oozing. When the bleeding is more copious, it is usually due
41149 to a ligature having slipped from a large vessel such as the external
41150 jugular vein after operations in the neck, and the wound must be opened
41151 up and the vessel again secured. The internal administration of heroin
41152 or morphin, by keeping the patient quiet, may prove useful in preventing
41153 the recurrence of haemorrhage.
41154
41155 #Secondary Haemorrhage.#--The term secondary haemorrhage refers to
41156 bleeding that is delayed in its onset and is due to pyogenic infection
41157 of the tissues around an artery. The septic process causes softening and
41158 erosion of the wall of the artery so that it gives way under the
41159 pressure of the contained blood. The leakage may occur in drops, or as a
41160 rush of blood, according to the extent of the erosion, the size of the
41161 artery concerned, and the relations of the erosion to the surrounding
41162 tissues. When met with as a complication of a wound there is an
41163 interval--usually a week to ten days--between the receipt of the wound
41164 and the first haemorrhage, this time being required for the extension of
41165 the septic process to the wall of the artery and the consequent erosion
41166 of its coats. When secondary haemorrhage occurs apart from a wound, there
41167 is a similar septic process attacking the wall of the artery from the
41168 outside; for example in sloughing sore-throat, the separation of a
41169 slough may implicate the wall of an artery and be followed by serious
41170 and it may be fatal haemorrhage. The mechanical pressure of a fragment of
41171 bone or of a rubber drainage tube upon the vessel may aid the septic
41172 process in causing erosion of the artery. In pre-Listerian days, the
41173 silk ligature around the artery likewise favoured the changes that lead
41174 to secondary haemorrhage, and the interesting observation was often made,
41175 that when the collateral circulation was well established, the leakage
41176 occurred on the _distal_ side of the ligature. While it may happen that
41177 the initial haemorrhage is rapidly fatal, as for example when the
41178 external carotid or one of its branches suddenly gives way, it is quite
41179 common to have one, two or more _warning haemorrhages_ before the leakage
41180 on a large scale, which is rapidly fatal.
41181
41182 The _appearances of the wound_ in cases complicated by secondary
41183 haemorrhage are only characteristic in so far that while obviously
41184 infected, there is an absence of all reaction; instead of frankly
41185 suppurating, there is little or no discharge and the surrounding
41186 cellular tissue and the limb beyond are oedematous and pit on pressure.
41187
41188 The _general symptoms_ of septic poisoning in cases of secondary
41189 haemorrhage vary widely in severity: they may be so slight that the
41190 general health is scarcely affected and the convalescence from an
41191 operation, for example, may be apparently normal except that the wound
41192 does not heal satisfactorily. For example, a patient may be recovering
41193 from an operation such as the removal of an epithelioma of the mouth,
41194 pharynx or larynx and the associated lymph glands in the neck, and be
41195 able to be up and going about his room, when, suddenly, without warning
41196 and without obvious cause, a rush of blood occurs from the mouth or the
41197 incompletely healed wound in the neck, causing death within a few
41198 minutes.
41199
41200 On the other hand, the toxaemia may be of a profound type associated with
41201 marked pallor and progressive failure of strength, which, of itself,
41202 even when the danger from haemorrhage has been overcome, may have a fatal
41203 termination. The _prognosis_ therefore in cases of secondary haemorrhage
41204 can never be other than uncertain and unfavourable; the danger from loss
41205 of blood _per se_ is less when the artery concerned is amenable to
41206 control by surgical measures.
41207
41208 _Treatment._--The treatment of secondary haemorrhage includes the use of
41209 local measures to arrest the bleeding, the employment of general
41210 measures to counteract the accompanying toxaemia, and when the loss of
41211 blood has been considerable, the treatment of the bloodless state.
41212
41213 _Local Measures to arrest the Haemorrhage._--The occurrence of even
41214 slight haemorrhages from a septic wound in the vicinity of a large blood
41215 vessel is to be taken seriously; it is usually necessary to _open up the
41216 wound_, clear out the clots and infected tissues with a sharp spoon,
41217 disinfect the walls of the cavity with eusol or hydrogen peroxide, and
41218 _pack_ it carefully but not too tightly with gauze impregnated with some
41219 antiseptic, such as "bipp," so that, if the bleeding does not recur, it
41220 may be left undisturbed for several days. The packing should if possible
41221 be brought into actual contact with the leaking point in the vessel, and
41222 so arranged as to make pressure on the artery above the erosion. The
41223 dressings and bandage are then applied, with the limb in the attitude
41224 that will diminish the force of the stream through the main artery, for
41225 example, flexion at the elbow in haemorrhage from the deep palmar arch.
41226 Other measures for combating the local sepsis, such as the irrigation
41227 method of Carrel, may be considered.
41228
41229 If the wound involves one of the extremities, it may be useful; and it
41230 imparts confidence to the nurse, and, it may be, to the patient, if a
41231 Petit's tourniquet is loosely applied above the wound, which the nurse
41232 is instructed to tighten up in the event of bleeding taking place.
41233
41234 _Ligation of the Artery._--If the haemorrhage recurs in spite of packing
41235 the wound, or if it is serious from the outset and likely to be critical
41236 if repeated, ligation of the artery itself or of the trunk from which it
41237 springs, at a selected spot higher up, should be considered. This is
41238 most often indicated in wounds of the extremities.
41239
41240 As examples of proximal ligation for secondary haemorrhage may be cited
41241 ligation of the hypogastric artery for haemorrhage in the buttock, of the
41242 common iliac for haemorrhage in the thigh, of the brachial in the upper
41243 arm for haemorrhage from the deep palmar arch, and of the posterior
41244 tibial behind the medial malleolus for haemorrhage from the sole of the
41245 foot.
41246
41247 _Amputation_ is the last resource, and should be decided upon if the
41248 haemorrhage recurs after proximal ligation, or if this has been followed
41249 by gangrene of the limb; it should also be considered if the nature of
41250 the wound and the virulence of the sepsis would of themselves justify
41251 removal of the limb. Every surgeon can recall cases in which a timely
41252 amputation has been the means of saving life.
41253
41254 The _counteraction of the toxaemia_ and the _treatment of the bloodless
41255 state_, are carried out on the usual lines.
41256
41257 #Haemorrhage of Toxic Origin.#--Mention must also be made of haemorrhages
41258 which depend upon infective or toxic conditions and in which no gross
41259 lesion of the vessels can be discovered. The bleeding occurs as an
41260 oozing, which may be comparatively slight and unimportant, or by its
41261 persistence may become serious. It takes place into the superficial
41262 layers of the skin, from mucous membranes, and into the substance of
41263 such organs as the pancreas. Haemorrhage from the stomach and intestine,
41264 attended with a brown or black discoloration of the vomit and of the
41265 stools, is one of the best known examples: it is not uncommonly met with
41266 in infective conditions originating in the appendix, intestine,
41267 gall-bladder, and other abdominal organs. Haemorrhage from the mucous
41268 membrane of the stomach after abdominal operations--apparently also due
41269 to toxic causes and not to the operation--gives rise to the so-called
41270 _post-operative haematemesis_.
41271
41272 #Constitutional Effects of Haemorrhage.#--The severity of the symptoms
41273 resulting from haemorrhage depends as much on the rapidity with which the
41274 bleeding takes place as on the amount of blood lost. The sudden loss of
41275 a large quantity, whether from an open wound or into a serous
41276 cavity--for example, after rupture of the liver or spleen--is attended
41277 with marked pallor of the surface of the body and coldness of the skin,
41278 especially of the face, feet, and hands. The skin is moist with a cold,
41279 clammy sweat, and beads of perspiration stand out on the forehead. The
41280 pulse becomes feeble, soft, and rapid, and the patient is dull and
41281 listless, and complains of extreme thirst. The temperature is usually
41282 sub-normal; and the respiration rapid, shallow, and sighing in
41283 character. Abnormal visual sensations, in the form of flashes of light
41284 or spots before the eyes; and rushing, buzzing, or ringing sounds in the
41285 ears, are often complained of.
41286
41287 In extreme cases, phenomena which have been aptly described as those of
41288 "air-hunger" ensue. On account of the small quantity of blood
41289 circulating through the body, and the diminished haemoglobin content of
41290 the blood, the tissues are imperfectly oxygenated, and the patient
41291 becomes extremely restless, gasping for breath, constantly throwing
41292 about his arms and baring his chest in the vain attempt to breath more
41293 freely. Faintness and giddiness are marked features. The diminished
41294 supply of oxygen to the brain and to the muscles produces muscular
41295 twitchings, and sometimes convulsions. Finally the pupils dilate, the
41296 sphincters relax, and death ensues.
41297
41298 Young children stand the loss of blood badly, but they quickly recover,
41299 as the regeneration of blood takes place rapidly. In old people also,
41300 and especially when they are fat, the loss of blood is badly borne, and
41301 the ill effects last longer. Women, on the whole, stand loss of blood
41302 better than men, and in them the blood is more rapidly re-formed. A few
41303 hours after a severe haemorrhage there is usually a leucocytosis of from
41304 15,000 to 30,000.
41305
41306 #Treatment of the Bloodless State.#--The patient should be placed in a
41307 warm, well-ventilated room, and the foot of the bed elevated. Cardiac
41308 stimulants, such as strychnin or alcohol, must be judiciously
41309 administered, over-stimulation being avoided. The inhalation of oxygen
41310 has been found useful in relieving the urgent symptoms of dyspnoea.
41311
41312 The blood may be emptied from the limbs into the vessels of the trunk,
41313 where it is more needed, by holding them vertically in the air for a few
41314 minutes, and then applying a firm elastic bandage over a layer of cotton
41315 wool, from the periphery towards the trunk.
41316
41317 _Introduction of Fluids into the Circulation._--The most valuable
41318 measure for maintaining the circulation, however, is by transfusion of
41319 blood (_Op. Surg._, p. 37). If this is not immediately available the
41320 introduction of from one to three pints of physiological salt
41321 solution (a teaspoonful of common salt to a pint of water) into a vein,
41322 or a 6 per cent. solution of gum acacia, is a useful expedient. The
41323 solution is sterilised by boiling, and cooled to a temperature of about
41324 105 o F. The addition of 5 to 10 minims of adrenalin solution (1 in 1000)
41325 is advantageous in raising the blood-pressure (_Op. Surg._, p. 565).
41326
41327 When the intra-venous method is not available, one or two pints of
41328 saline solution with adrenalin should be slowly introduced into the
41329 rectum, by means of a long rubber tube and a filler. Satisfactory,
41330 although less rapidly obtained results follow the introduction of saline
41331 solution into the cellular tissue--for example, under the mamma, into
41332 the axilla, or under the skin of the back.
41333
41334 If the patient can retain fluids taken by the mouth--such as hot coffee,
41335 barley water, or soda water--these should be freely given, unless the
41336 injury necessitates operative treatment under a general anaesthetic.
41337
41338 Transfusion of blood is most valuable as _a preliminary to operation_ in
41339 patients who are bloodless as a result of haemorrhage from gastric and
41340 duodenal ulcers, and in bleeders.
41341
41342
41343 HAEMOPHILIA
41344
41345 The term haemophilia is applied to an inherited disease which renders the
41346 patient liable to serious haemorrhage from even the most trivial
41347 injuries; and the subjects of it are popularly known as "bleeders."
41348
41349 The cause of the disease and its true nature are as yet unknown. There
41350 is no proof of any structural defect in the blood vessels, and beyond
41351 the fact that there is a diminution in the number of blood-plates, it
41352 has not been demonstrated that there is any alteration in the
41353 composition of the blood.
41354
41355 The affection is in a marked degree hereditary, all the branches of an
41356 affected family being liable to suffer. Its mode of transmission to
41357 individuals, moreover, is characteristic: the male members of the stock
41358 alone suffer from the affection in its typical form, while the tendency
41359 is transmitted through the female line. Thus the daughters of a father
41360 who is a bleeder, whilst they do not themselves suffer from the disease,
41361 transmit the tendency to their male offspring. The sons, on the other
41362 hand, neither suffer themselves nor transmit the disease to their
41363 children (Fig. 64). The female members of a haemophilic stock are often
41364 very prolific, and there is usually a predominance of daughters in their
41365 families.
41366
41367
41368 FIG 64.--Genealogical Tree of a Haemophilic Family.
41369
41370 Great-Great-Grandmother Great-Great-Grandfather
41371 Mrs D. (Lancashire) F M (History not known
41372 .| | as to bleeding)
41373 .| |
41374 .+----------+-------+
41375 ............|
41376 .|
41377 ....|
41378 .+---------+--------+
41379 Great-Grandmother .| | |
41380 (Married three .F MB MB
41381 times) .|
41382 .|
41383 .|
41384 By First Husband .| By Second By Third
41385 ..............| Husband Husband
41386 +-----------+------------+----------+-------+-------+-----------+------+
41387 | .| | | +-------+-----------+------+
41388 M .F F F | | +------+
41389 | .| | | MB F Died in No
41390 Died Grandmother | | | Childbed Family
41391 aet. .| | +-----------+ +----+---
41392 70 .| +------+ |had family | |
41393 .| | | |but history| |
41394 .| MB MB |not known | MB
41395 .|
41396 .|
41397 .|.............................
41398 +-----+----------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
41399 | | | | |. | |
41400 | | | | |. | |
41401 M M M MB F. F F
41402 | |. | |
41403 | Mother +--+--+---+--+--+ |
41404 +----+ |. | | | | | | |
41405 | | |. M M MB F F F |
41406 M F |. |
41407 Not Married |. +---+---+---+---+
41408 |. | | | | |
41409 |. MB M MB M M
41410 .............|.
41411 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
41412 | .| .| | | |
41413 | .|* .|* | | |
41414 M MB MB F F F
41415
41416
41417 F = Females. M = Males (not bleeders). MB = Males (bleeders)
41418
41419 ** the patients observed by the authors. The dotted line shows the
41420 transmission of the disease to our patients through four
41421 generations.
41422
41423
41424 The disease is met with in boys who are otherwise healthy, and usually
41425 manifests itself during the first few years of life. In rare instances
41426 profuse haemorrhage takes place when the umbilical cord separates. As a
41427 rule the first evidence is the occurrence of long-continued and
41428 uncontrollable bleeding from a comparatively slight injury, such as the
41429 scratch of a pin, the extraction of a tooth, or after the operation of
41430 circumcision. The blood oozes slowly from the capillaries; at first it
41431 appears normal, but after flowing for some days, or it may be weeks, it
41432 becomes pale, thin, and watery, and shows less and less tendency to
41433 coagulate.
41434
41435 Female members of haemophilia families sometimes show a tendency to
41436 excessive haemorrhage, but they seldom manifest the characteristic
41437 features met with in the male members.
41438
41439 Sometimes the haemorrhage takes place apparently spontaneously from the
41440 gums, the nasal or the intestinal mucous membrane. In other cases the
41441 bleeding occurs into the cellular tissue under the skin or mucous
41442 membrane, producing large areas of ecchymosis and discoloration. One of
41443 the commonest manifestations of the disease is the occurrence of
41444 haemorrhage into the cavities of the large joints, especially the knee,
41445 elbow, or hip. The patient suffers repeatedly from such haemorrhages, the
41446 determining injury being often so slight as to have passed unobserved.
41447
41448 There is evidence that the tendency to bleed is greater at certain times
41449 than at others--in some cases showing almost a cyclical
41450 character--although nothing is known as to the cause of the variation.
41451
41452 After a severe haemorrhage into the cellular tissue or into a joint, the
41453 patient becomes pale and anaemic, the temperature may rise to 102 o or
41454 103 o F., the pulse become small and rapid, and haemic murmurs are
41455 sometimes developed over the heart and large arteries. The swelling is
41456 tense, fluctuating, and hot, and there is considerable pain and
41457 tenderness.
41458
41459 In exceptional cases, blisters form over the seat of the effusion, or
41460 the skin may even slough, and the clinical features may therefore come
41461 to simulate closely those of an acute suppurative condition. When the
41462 skin sloughs, an ulcer is formed with altered blood-clot in its floor
41463 like that seen in scurvy, and there is a remarkable absence of any
41464 attempt at healing.
41465
41466 The acute symptoms gradually subside, and the blood is slowly absorbed,
41467 the discoloration of the skin passing through the same series of changes
41468 as occur after an ordinary bruise. The patients seldom manifest the
41469 symptoms of the bloodless state, and the blood is rapidly regenerated.
41470
41471 The _diagnosis_ is easy if the patient or his friends are aware of the
41472 family tendency to haemorrhage and inform the doctor of it, but they are
41473 often sensitive and reticent regarding the fact, and it may only be
41474 elicited after close investigation. From the history it is usually easy
41475 to exclude scurvy and purpura. Repeated haemorrhages into a joint may
41476 result in appearances which closely simulate those of tuberculous
41477 disease. Recent haemorrhages into the cellular tissue often present
41478 clinical features closely resembling those of acute cellulitis or
41479 osteomyelitis. A careful examination, however, may reveal ecchymoses on
41480 other parts of the body which give a clue to the nature of the
41481 condition, and may prevent the disastrous consequences that may follow
41482 incision.
41483
41484 These patients usually succumb sooner or later to haemorrhage, although
41485 they often survive several severe attacks. After middle life the
41486 tendency to bleed appears to diminish.
41487
41488 _Treatment._--As a rule the ordinary means of arresting haemorrhage are
41489 of little avail. From among the numerous means suggested, the following
41490 may be mentioned: The application to the bleeding point of gauze soaked
41491 in a 1 in 1000 solution of adrenalin; prolonged inhalation of oxygen;
41492 freezing the part with a spray of ethyl-chloride; one or more
41493 subcutaneous injections of gelatin--5 ounces of a 2 1/2 per cent.
41494 solution of white gelatin in normal salt solution being injected at a
41495 temperature of about 100 o F.; the injection of pituitary extract. The
41496 application of a pad of gauze soaked in the blood of a normal person
41497 sometimes arrests the bleeding.
41498
41499 To prevent bleeding in haemophilics, intra-venous or subcutaneous
41500 injections of fresh blood serum, taken from the human subject, the
41501 sheep, the dog, or the horse, have proved useful. If fresh serum is not
41502 available, anti-diphtheritic or anti-tetanic serum or trade
41503 preparations, such as hemoplastin, may be employed. We have removed the
41504 appendix and amputated through the thigh in haemophilic subjects without
41505 excessive loss of blood after a course of fresh sheep's serum given by
41506 the mouth over a period of several weeks.
41507
41508 The chloride and lactate of calcium, and extract of thymus gland have
41509 been employed to increase the coagulability of the blood. The patient
41510 should drink large quantities of milk, which also increases the
41511 coagulability of the blood. Monro has observed remarkable results from
41512 the hypodermic injection of emetin hydrochloride in 1/2-grain doses.
41513
41514
41515 THROMBOSIS AND EMBOLISM
41516
41517 The processes known as thrombosis and embolism are so intimately
41518 associated with the diseases of blood vessels that it is convenient to
41519 define these terms in the first instance.
41520
41521 #Thrombosis.#--The term _thrombus_ is applied to a clot of blood formed
41522 in the interior of the heart or of a blood vessel, and the process by
41523 which such a clot forms is known as _thrombosis_. It would appear that
41524 slowing or stagnation of the blood-stream, and interference with the
41525 integrity of the lining membrane of the vessel wall, are the most
41526 important factors determining the formation of the clot. Alterations in
41527 the blood itself, such as occur, for example, in certain toxaemias, also
41528 favour coagulation. When the thrombus is formed slowly, it consists of
41529 white blood cells with a small proportion of fibrin, and, being
41530 deposited in successive layers, has a distinctly laminated appearance on
41531 section. It is known as a _white thrombus_ or laminated clot, and is
41532 often met with in the sac of an aneurysm (Fig. 72). When rapidly formed
41533 in a vessel in which the blood is almost stagnant--as, for example, in a
41534 pouched varicose vein--the blood coagulates _en masse_, and the clot
41535 consists of all the elements of the blood, constituting a _red thrombus_
41536 (Fig. 66). Sometimes the thrombus is _mixed_--a red thrombus being
41537 deposited on a white one, it may be in alternate layers.
41538
41539 When aseptic, a thrombus may become detached and be carried off in the
41540 blood-stream as an embolus; it may become organised; or it may
41541 degenerate and undergo calcification. Occasionally a small thrombus
41542 situated behind a valve in a varicose vein or in the terminal end of a
41543 dilated vein--for example in a pile--undergoes calcification, and is
41544 then spoken of as a _phlebolith_; it gives a shadow with the X-rays.
41545
41546 When infected with pyogenic bacteria, the thrombus becomes converted
41547 into pus and a localised abscess forms; or portions of the thrombus may
41548 be carried as emboli in the circulation to distant parts, where they
41549 give rise to secondary foci of suppuration--pyaemic abscesses.
41550
41551 #Embolism.#--The term _embolus_ is applied to any body carried along in
41552 the circulation and ultimately becoming impacted in a blood vessel. This
41553 occurrence is known as _embolism_. The commonest forms of embolus are
41554 portions of thrombi or of fibrinous formations on the valves of the
41555 heart, the latter being usually infected with micro-organisms.
41556
41557 Embolism plays an important part in determining one form of gangrene, as
41558 has already been described. Infective emboli are the direct cause of the
41559 secondary abscesses that occur in pyaemia; and they are sometimes
41560 responsible for the formation of aneurysm.
41561
41562 Portions of malignant tumours also may form emboli, and their impaction
41563 in the vessels may lead to the development of secondary growths in
41564 distant parts of the body.
41565
41566 Fat and air embolism have already been referred to.
41567
41568
41569 ARTERITIS
41570
41571 _Pyogenic._--Non-suppurative inflammation of the coats of an artery may
41572 so soften the wall of the vessel as to lead to aneurysmal dilatation. It
41573 is not uncommon in children, and explains the occurrence of aneurysm in
41574 young subjects.
41575
41576 When suppuration occurs, the vessel wall becomes disintegrated and gives
41577 way, leading to secondary haemorrhage. If the vessel ruptures into an
41578 abscess cavity, dangerous bleeding may occur when the abscess bursts or
41579 is opened.
41580
41581 _Syphilitic._--The inflammation associated with syphilis results in
41582 thickening of the tunica intima, whereby the lumen of the vessel becomes
41583 narrowed, or even obliterated--_endarteritis obliterans_. The middle
41584 coat usually escapes, but the tunica externa is generally thickened.
41585 These changes cause serious interference with the nutrition of the parts
41586 supplied by the affected arteries. In large trunks, by diminishing the
41587 elasticity of the vessel wall, they are liable to lead to the formation
41588 of aneurysm.
41589
41590 Changes in the arterial walls closely resembling those of syphilitic
41591 arteritis are sometimes met with in _tuberculous_ lesions.
41592
41593 #Arterio-sclerosis# or #Chronic Arteritis#.--These terms are applied to
41594 certain changes which result in narrowing of the lumen and loss of
41595 elasticity in the arteries. The condition may affect the whole vascular
41596 system or may be confined to particular areas. In the smaller arteries
41597 there is more or less uniform thickening of the tunica intima from
41598 proliferation of the endothelium and increase in the connective tissue
41599 in the elastic lamina--a form of obliterative endarteritis. The
41600 narrowing of the vessels may be sufficient to determine gangrene in the
41601 extremities. In course of time, particularly in the larger arteries,
41602 this new tissue undergoes degeneration, at first of a fatty nature, but
41603 progressing in the direction of calcification, and this is followed by
41604 the deposit of lime salts in the young connective tissue and the
41605 formation of calcareous plates or rings over a considerable area of the
41606 vessel wall. To this stage in the process the term _atheroma_ is
41607 applied. The endothelium over these plates often disappears, leaving
41608 them exposed to the blood-stream.
41609
41610 Changes of a similar kind sometimes occur in the middle coat, the lime
41611 salts being deposited among the muscle fibres in concentric rings.
41612
41613 The primary cause of arterio-sclerosis is not definitely known, but its
41614 almost constant occurrence, to a greater or less degree, in the aged
41615 suggests that it is of the nature of a senile degeneration. It is
41616 favoured by anything which throws excessive strain on the vessel walls,
41617 such as heavy muscular work; by chronic alcoholism and syphilis; or by
41618 such general diseases as tend to raise the blood-pressure--for example,
41619 chronic Bright's disease or gout. It occurs with greater frequency and
41620 with greater severity in men than in women.
41621
41622 Atheromatous degeneration is most common in the large arterial trunks,
41623 and the changes are most marked at the arch of the aorta, opposite the
41624 flexures of joints, at the mouths of large branches, and at parts where
41625 the vessel lies in contact with bone. The presence of diseased patches
41626 in the wall of an artery diminishes its elasticity and favours
41627 aneurysmal dilatation. Such a vessel also is liable to be ruptured by
41628 external violence and so give rise to traumatic aneurysm. Thrombosis is
41629 liable to occur when calcareous plates are exposed in the lumen of the
41630 vessel by destruction of the endothelium, and this predisposes to
41631 embolism. Arterio-sclerosis also interferes with the natural arrest of
41632 haemorrhage, and by rendering the vessels brittle, makes it difficult to
41633 secure them by ligature. In advanced cases the accessible arteries--such
41634 as the radial, the temporal or the femoral--may be felt as firm,
41635 tortuous cords, which are sometimes so hard that they have been aptly
41636 compared to "pipe-stems." The pulse is smaller and less compressible
41637 than normal, and the vessel moves bodily with each pulsation. It must be
41638 borne in mind, however, that the condition of the radial artery may fail
41639 to afford a clue to that of the larger arteries. Calcified arteries are
41640 readily identified in skiagrams (Fig. 65).
41641
41642 [Illustration: FIG. 65.--Radiogram showing Calcareous Degeneration
41643 (Atheroma) of Arteries.]
41644
41645 We have met with a chronic form of arterial degeneration in elderly
41646 women, affecting especially the great vessels at the root of the neck,
41647 in which the artery is remarkably attenuated and dilated, and so friable
41648 that the wall readily tears when seized with an artery-forceps,
41649 rendering ligation of the vessel in the ordinary way well-nigh
41650 impossible. Matas suggests infolding the wall of the vessel with
41651 interrupted sutures that do not pierce the intima, and wrapping it
41652 round with a strip of peritoneum or omentum.
41653
41654 The most serious form of arterial _thrombosis_ is that met with _in the
41655 abdominal aorta_, which is attended with violent pains in the lower
41656 limbs, rapidly followed by paralysis and arrest of the circulation.
41657
41658
41659 THROMBO-PHLEBITIS AND THROMBOSIS IN VEINS
41660
41661 #Thrombosis# is more common in veins than in arteries, because slowing
41662 of the blood-stream and irritation of the endothelium of the vessel wall
41663 are, owing to the conditions of the venous circulation, more readily
41664 induced in veins.
41665
41666 Venous thrombosis may occur from purely mechanical causes--as, for
41667 example, when the wall of a vein is incised, or the vessel included in a
41668 ligature, or when it is bruised or crushed by a fragment of a broken
41669 bone or by a bandage too tightly applied. Under these conditions
41670 thrombosis is essentially a reparative process, and has already been
41671 considered in relation to the repair of blood vessels.
41672
41673 In other cases thrombosis is associated with certain constitutional
41674 diseases--gout, for example; the endothelium of the veins undergoing
41675 changes--possibly the result of irritation by abnormal constituents in
41676 the blood--which favour the formation of thrombi.
41677
41678 Under these various conditions the formation of a thrombus is not
41679 necessarily associated with the action of bacteria, although in any
41680 of them this additional factor may be present.
41681
41682 The most common cause of venous thrombosis, however, is inflammation of
41683 the wall of the vein--phlebitis.
41684
41685 #Phlebitis.#--Various forms of phlebitis are met with, but for practical
41686 purposes they may be divided into two groups--one in which there is a
41687 tendency to the formation of a thrombus; the other in which the
41688 infective element predominates.
41689
41690 In surgical patients, the _thrombotic form_ is almost invariably met
41691 with in the lower extremity, and usually occurs in those who are
41692 debilitated and anaemic, and who are confined to bed for prolonged
41693 periods--for example, during the treatment of fractures of the leg or
41694 pelvis, or after such operations as herniotomy, prostatectomy, or
41695 appendectomy.
41696
41697 _Clinical Features._--The most typical example of this form of phlebitis
41698 is that so frequently met with in the great saphena vein, especially
41699 when it is varicose. The onset of the attack is indicated by a sudden
41700 pain in the lower limb--sometimes below, sometimes above the knee. This
41701 initial pain may be associated with shivering or even with a rigor, and
41702 the temperature usually rises one or two degrees. There is swelling and
41703 tenderness along the line of the affected vein, and the skin over it is
41704 a dull-red or purple colour. The swollen vein may be felt as a firm
41705 cord, with bead-like enlargements in the position of the valves. The
41706 patient experiences a feeling of stiffness and tightness throughout the
41707 limb. There is often oedema of the leg and foot, especially when the limb
41708 is in the dependent position. The acute symptoms pass off in a few days,
41709 but the swelling and tenderness of the vein and the oedema of the limb
41710 may last for many weeks.
41711
41712 When the deep veins--iliac, femoral, popliteal--are involved, there is
41713 great swelling of the whole limb, which is of a firm almost "wooden"
41714 consistence, and of a pale-white colour; the oedema may be so great that
41715 it is impossible to feel the affected vein until the swelling has
41716 subsided. This is most often seen in puerperal women, and is known as
41717 _phlegmasia alba dolens_.
41718
41719 _Treatment._--The patient must be placed at absolute rest, with the foot
41720 of the bed raised on blocks 10 or 12 inches high, and the limb
41721 immobilised by sand-bags or splints. It is necessary to avoid handling
41722 the parts, lest the clot be displaced and embolism occur. To avoid
41723 frequent movement of the limb, the necessary dressings should be kept in
41724 position by means of a many-tailed rather than a roller bandage.
41725
41726 To relieve the pain, warm fomentations or lead and opium lotion should
41727 be applied. Later, ichthyol-glycerin, or glycerin and belladonna, may be
41728 substituted.
41729
41730 When, at the end of three weeks, the danger of embolism is past,
41731 douching and gentle massage may be employed to disperse the oedema; and
41732 when the patient gets up he should wear a supporting elastic bandage.
41733
41734 The _infective_ form usually begins as a peri-phlebitis arising in
41735 connection with some focus of infection in the adjacent tissues. The
41736 elements of the vessel wall are destroyed by suppuration, and the
41737 thrombus in its lumen becomes infected with pyogenic bacteria and
41738 undergoes softening.
41739
41740 _Occlusion of the inferior vena cava_ as a result of infective
41741 thrombosis is a well-known condition, the thrombosis extending into the
41742 main trunk from some of its tributaries, either from the femoral or
41743 iliac veins below or from the hepatic veins above.
41744
41745 Portions of the softened thrombus are liable to become detached and to
41746 enter the circulating blood, in which they are carried as emboli. These
41747 may lodge in distant parts, and give rise to secondary foci of
41748 suppuration--pyaemic abscesses.
41749
41750 _Clinical Features._--Infective phlebitis is most frequently met with in
41751 the transverse sinus as a sequel to chronic suppuration in the mastoid
41752 antrum and middle ear. It also occurs in relation to the peripheral
41753 veins, but in these it can seldom be recognised as a separate entity,
41754 being merged in the general infective process from which it takes
41755 origin. Its occurrence may be inferred, if in the course of a
41756 suppurative lesion there is a sudden rise of temperature, with pain,
41757 redness, and swelling along the line of a venous trunk, and a rapidly
41758 developed oedema of the limb, with pitting of the skin on pressure. In
41759 rare cases a localised abscess forms in the vein and points towards the
41760 surface.
41761
41762 _Treatment._--Attention must be directed towards the condition with
41763 which the phlebitis is associated. Ligation of the vein on the cardiac
41764 side of the thrombus with a view to preventing embolism is seldom
41765 feasible in the peripheral veins, although, as will be pointed out
41766 later, the jugular vein is ligated with this object in cases of
41767 phlebitis of the transverse sinus.
41768
41769
41770 VARIX--VARICOSE VEINS
41771
41772 The term varix is applied to a condition in which veins are so altered
41773 in structure that they remain permanently dilated, and are at the same
41774 time lengthened and tortuous. Two types are met with: one in which
41775 dilatation of a large superficial vein and its tributaries is the most
41776 obvious feature; the other, in which bunches of distended and tortuous
41777 vessels develop at one or more points in the course of a vein, a
41778 condition to which Virchow applied the term _angioma racemosum venosum_.
41779 The two types may occur in combination.
41780
41781 Any vein in the body may become varicose, but the condition is rare
41782 except in the veins of the lower extremity, in the veins of the
41783 spermatic cord (varicocele), and in the veins of the anal canal
41784 (haemorrhoids).
41785
41786 We are here concerned with varix as it occurs in the veins of the lower
41787 extremity.
41788
41789 _Etiology._--Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the
41790 essential cause of varix. The weight of evidence is in favour of the
41791 view that, when dilatation is the predominant element, it results from a
41792 congenital deficiency in the number, size, and strength of the valves of
41793 the affected veins, and in an inherent weakness in the vessel walls.
41794 The _angioma racemosum venosum_ is probably also due to a congenital
41795 alteration in the structure of the vessels, and is allied to tumours of
41796 blood vessels. The view that varix is congenital in origin, as was first
41797 suggested by Virchow, is supported by the fact that in a large
41798 proportion of cases the condition is hereditary; not only may several
41799 members of the same family in succeeding generations suffer from varix,
41800 but it is often found that the same vein, or segment of a vein, is
41801 involved in all of them. The frequent occurrence of varix in youth is
41802 also an indication of its congenital origin.
41803
41804 In the majority of cases it is only when some exciting factor comes into
41805 operation that the clinical phenomena associated with varix appear. The
41806 most common exciting cause is increased pressure within the veins, and
41807 this may be produced in a variety of ways. In certain diseases of the
41808 heart, lungs, and liver, for example, the venous pressure may be so
41809 raised as to cause a localised dilatation of such veins as are
41810 congenitally weak. The direct pressure of a tumour, or of the gravid
41811 uterus on the large venous trunks in the pelvis, may so obstruct the
41812 flow as to distend the veins of the lower extremity. It is a common
41813 experience in women that the signs of varix date from an antecedent
41814 pregnancy. The importance of the wearing of tight garters as a factor in
41815 the production of varicose veins has been exaggerated, although it must
41816 be admitted that this practice is calculated to aggravate the condition
41817 when it is once established. It has been proved experimentally that the
41818 backward pressure in the veins may be greatly increased by straining, a
41819 fact which helps to explain the frequency with which varicosity occurs
41820 in the lower limbs of athletes and of those whose occupation involves
41821 repeated and violent muscular efforts. There is reason to believe,
41822 moreover, that a sudden strain may, by rupturing the valves and so
41823 rendering them incompetent, induce varicosity independently of any
41824 congenital defect. Prolonged standing or walking, by allowing gravity to
41825 act on the column of blood in the veins of the lower limbs, is also an
41826 important determining factor in the production of varix.
41827
41828 Thrombosis of the deep veins--in the leg, for example--may induce marked
41829 dilatation of the superficial veins, by throwing an increased amount of
41830 work upon them. This is to be looked upon rather as a compensatory
41831 hypertrophy of the superficial vessels than as a true varix.
41832
41833 _Morbid Anatomy._--In the lower extremity the varicosity most commonly
41834 affects the vessels of the great saphena system; less frequently those
41835 of the small saphena system. Sometimes both systems are involved, and
41836 large communicating branches may develop between the two.
41837
41838 The essential lesion is the absence or deficiency of valves, so that
41839 they are incompetent and fail to support the column of blood which bears
41840 back upon them. Normally the valves in the femoral and iliac veins and
41841 in the inferior vena cava are imperfectly developed, so that in the
41842 erect posture the great saphena receives a large share of the backward
41843 pressure of the column of venous blood.
41844
41845 The whole length of the vein may be affected, but as a rule the disease
41846 is confined to one or more segments, which are not only dilated, but are
41847 also increased in length, so that they become convoluted. The adjacent
41848 loops of the convoluted vein are often bound together by fibrous tissue.
41849 All the coats are thickened, chiefly by an increased development of
41850 connective tissue, and in some cases changes similar to those of
41851 arterio-sclerosis occur. The walls of varicose veins are often
41852 exceedingly brittle. In some cases the thickening is uniform, and in
41853 others it is irregular, so that here and there thin-walled sacs or
41854 pouches project from the side of the vein. These pouches vary in size
41855 from a bean to a hen's egg, the larger forms being called _venous
41856 cysts_, and being most commonly met with in the region of the saphenous
41857 opening and of the opening in the popliteal fascia. Such pouches, being
41858 exposed to injury, are frequently the seat of thrombosis (Fig. 66).
41859
41860 [Illustration: FIG. 66.--Thrombosis in Tortuous and Pouched Great
41861 Saphena Vein, in longitudinal section.]
41862
41863 _Clinical Features._--Varix is most frequently met with between puberty
41864 and the age of thirty, and the sexes appear to suffer about equally.
41865
41866 The amount of discomfort bears no direct proportion to the extent of
41867 the varicosity. It depends rather upon the degree of pressure in the
41868 veins, as is shown by the fact that it is relieved by elevation of the
41869 limb. When the whole length of the main trunk of the great saphena is
41870 implicated, the pressure in the vein is high and the patient suffers a
41871 good deal of pain and discomfort. When, on the contrary, the upper part
41872 of the saphena and its valves are intact, and only the more distal veins
41873 are involved, the pressure is not so high and there is comparatively
41874 little suffering. The usual complaint is of a sense of weight and
41875 fulness in the limb after standing or walking, sometimes accompanied by
41876 actual pain, from which relief is at once obtained by raising the limb.
41877 Cramp-like pains in the muscles are often associated with varix of the
41878 deep veins.
41879
41880 The dilated and tortuous vein can be readily seen and felt when the
41881 patient is examined in the upright posture. In advanced cases, bead-like
41882 swellings are sometimes to be detected over the position of the valves,
41883 and, on running the fingers along the course of the vessel, a firm
41884 ridge, due to periphlebitis, may be detected on each side of the vein.
41885 When the limb is oedematous, the outline of the veins is obscured, but
41886 they can be identified on palpation as gutter-like tracks. When large
41887 veins are implicated, a distinct impulse on coughing may be seen to pass
41888 down as far as the knee; and if the vessel is sharply percussed a fluid
41889 wave may be detected passing both up and down the vein.
41890
41891 If the patient is placed on a couch and the limb elevated, the veins are
41892 emptied, and if pressure is then made over the region of the saphenous
41893 opening and the patient allowed to stand up, so long as the great
41894 saphena system alone is involved, the veins fill again very slowly from
41895 below. If the small saphena system also is involved, and if
41896 communicating branches are dilated, the veins fill up from below more
41897 rapidly. When the pressure over the saphenous opening is removed, the
41898 blood rapidly rushes into the varicose vessels from above; this is known
41899 as Trendelenburg's test.
41900
41901 The most marked dilatation usually occurs on the medial side of the
41902 limb, between the middle of the thigh and the middle of the calf, the
41903 arrangement of the veins showing great variety (Fig. 67).
41904
41905 There are usually one or more bunches of enlarged and tortuous veins in
41906 the region of the knee. Frequently a large branch establishes a
41907 communication between the systems of the great and small saphenous veins
41908 in the region of the popliteal space, or across the front of the upper
41909 part of the tibia. The superficial position of this last branch and its
41910 proximity to the bone render it liable to injury.
41911
41912 [Illustration: FIG. 67.--Extensive Varix of Internal Saphena System on
41913 Left Leg, of many years' standing.]
41914
41915 The small veins of the skin of the ankle and foot often show as fine
41916 blue streaks arranged in a stellate or arborescent manner, especially in
41917 women who have borne children.
41918
41919 _Complications._--When the varix is of long standing, the skin in the
41920 lower part of the leg sometimes assumes a mahogany-brown or bluish hue,
41921 as a result of the _deposit of blood pigment_ in the tissues, and this
41922 is frequently a precursor of ulceration.
41923
41924 _Chronic dermatitis_ (_varicose eczema_) is often met with in the lower
41925 part of the leg, and is due to interference with the nutrition of the
41926 skin. The incompetence of the valves allows the pressure in the varicose
41927 veins to equal that in the arterioles, so that the capillary circulation
41928 is impeded. From the same cause the blood in the deep veins is enabled
41929 to enter the superficial veins, where the backward pressure is so great
41930 that the blood flows down again, and so a vicious circle is established.
41931 The blood therefore loses more and more of its oxygen, and so fails to
41932 nourish the tissues.
41933
41934 The _ulcer_ of the leg associated with varicose veins has already been
41935 described.
41936
41937 _Haemorrhage_ may take place from a varicose vein as a result of a wound
41938 or of ulceration of its wall. Increased intra-venous pressure produced
41939 by severe muscular strain may determine rupture of a vein exposed in the
41940 floor of an ulcer. If the limb is dependent, the incompetency of the
41941 valves permits of rapid and copious bleeding, which may prove fatal,
41942 particularly if the patient is intoxicated when the rupture takes place
41943 and no means are taken to arrest the haemorrhage. The bleeding may be
41944 arrested at once by elevating the limb, or by applying pressure directly
41945 over the bleeding point.
41946
41947 _Phlebitis and thrombosis_ are common sequelae of varix, and may prove
41948 dangerous, either by spreading into the large venous trunks or by giving
41949 rise to emboli. The larger the varix the greater is the tendency for a
41950 thrombus to spread upwards and to involve the deep veins. Thrombi
41951 usually originate in venous cysts or pouches, and at acute bends on the
41952 vessel, especially when these are situated in the vicinity of the knee,
41953 and are subjected to repeated injuries--for example in riding.
41954 Phleboliths sometimes form in such pouches, and may be recognised in a
41955 radiogram. In a certain proportion of cases, especially in elderly
41956 people, the occurrence of thrombosis leads to cure of the condition by
41957 the thrombus becoming organised and obliterating the vein.
41958
41959 _Treatment._--At best the treatment of varicose veins is only
41960 palliative, as it is obviously impossible to restore to the vessels
41961 their normal structure. The patient must avoid wearing anything, such as
41962 a garter, which constricts the limb, and any obvious cause of direct
41963 pressure on the pelvic veins, such as a tumour, persistent
41964 constipation, or an ill-fitting truss, should be removed. Cardiac,
41965 renal, or pulmonary causes of venous congestion must also be treated,
41966 and the functions of the liver regulated. Severe forms of muscular
41967 exertion and prolonged standing or walking are to be avoided, and the
41968 patient may with benefit rest the limb in an elevated position for a few
41969 hours each day. To support the distended vessels, a closely woven silk
41970 or worsted stocking, or a light and porous form of elastic bandage,
41971 applied as a puttee, should be worn. These appliances should be put on
41972 before the patient leaves his bed in the morning, and should only be
41973 removed after he lies down at night. In this way the vessels are never
41974 allowed to become dilated. Elastic stockings, and bandages made entirely
41975 of india-rubber, are to be avoided. In early and mild cases these
41976 measures are usually sufficient to relieve the patient's discomfort.
41977
41978 _Operative Treatment._--In aggravated cases, when the patient is
41979 suffering pain, when his occupation is interfered with by repeated
41980 attacks of phlebitis, or when there are large pouches on the veins,
41981 operative treatment is called for. The younger the patient the clearer
41982 is the indication to operate. It may be necessary to operate to enable a
41983 patient to enter one of the public services, even although no symptoms
41984 are present. The presence of an ulcer does not contra-indicate
41985 operation; the ulcer should be excised, and the raw surface covered with
41986 skin grafts, before dealing with the veins.
41987
41988 The _operation of Trendelenburg_ is especially appropriate to cases in
41989 which the trunk of the great saphena vein in the thigh is alone
41990 involved. It consists in exposing three or four inches of the vein in
41991 its upper part, applying a ligature at the upper and lower ends of the
41992 exposed portion, and, after tying all tributary branches, resecting this
41993 portion of the vein.
41994
41995 The procedure of C. H. Mayo is adapted to cases in which it is desirable
41996 to remove longer segments of the veins. It consists in the employment of
41997 special instruments known as "ring-enucleators" or "vein-strippers," by
41998 means of which long portions of the vein are removed through
41999 comparatively small incisions.
42000
42001 An alternative procedure consists in avulsing segments of the vein by
42002 means of Babcock's stylet, which consists of a flexible steel rod, 30
42003 inches in length, with acorn-shaped terminals. The instrument is passed
42004 along the lumen of the segment to be dealt with, and a ligature applied
42005 around the vein above the bulbous end of the stylet enables nearly the
42006 whole length of the great saphena vein to be dragged out in one piece.
42007 These methods are not suitable when the veins are brittle, when there
42008 are pouches or calcareous deposits in their walls, or where there has
42009 been periphlebitis binding the coils together.
42010
42011 Mitchell of Belfast advises exposing the varices at numerous points by
42012 half-inch incisions, and, after clamping the vein between two pairs of
42013 forceps, cutting it across and twisting out the segments of the vein
42014 between adjacent incisions. The edges of the incisions are sutured; and
42015 the limb is firmly bandaged from below upwards, and kept in an elevated
42016 position. We have employed this method with satisfactory results.
42017
42018 The treatment of the complications of varix has already been considered.
42019
42020
42021 ANGIOMA[4]
42022
42023 [4] In the description of angiomas we have followed the teaching of the
42024 late John Duncan.
42025
42026 Tumours of blood vessels may be divided, according to the nature of the
42027 vessels of which they are composed, into the capillary, the venous, and
42028 the arterial angiomas.
42029
42030
42031 CAPILLARY ANGIOMA
42032
42033 The most common form of capillary angioma is the naevus or congenital
42034 telangiectasis.
42035
42036 #Naevus.#--A naevus is a collection of dilated capillaries, the afferent
42037 arterioles and the efferent venules of which often share in the
42038 dilatation. Little is known regarding the _etiology_ of naevi beyond the
42039 fact that they are of congenital origin. They often escape notice until
42040 the child is some days old, but attention is usually drawn to them
42041 within a fortnight of birth. For practical purposes the most useful
42042 classification of naevi is into the cutaneous, the subcutaneous, and the
42043 mixed forms.
42044
42045 _The cutaneous naevus_, "mother's mark," or "port-wine stain," consists
42046 of an aggregation of dilated capillaries in the substance of the skin.
42047 On stretching the skin the vessels can be seen to form a fine network,
42048 or to run in leashes parallel to one another. A dilated arteriole or a
42049 vein winding about among the capillaries may sometimes be detected.
42050 These naevi occur on any part of the body, but they are most frequently
42051 met with on the face. They may be multiple, and vary greatly in size,
42052 some being no bigger than a pin-head, while others cover large areas of
42053 the body. In colour they present every tint from purple to brilliant
42054 red; in the majority there is a considerable dash of blue, especially in
42055 cold weather.
42056
42057 Unlike the other forms of naevi, the cutaneous variety shows little
42058 tendency to disappear, and it is especially persistent when associated
42059 with overgrowth of the epidermis and of the hairs--_naevoid mole_.
42060
42061 The _treatment_ of the cutaneous naevus is unsatisfactory, owing to the
42062 difficulty of removing the naevus without leaving a scar which is even
42063 more disfiguring. Very small naevi may be destroyed by a fine pointed
42064 Paquelin thermo-cautery, or by escharotics, such as nitric acid. For
42065 larger naevi, radium and solidified carbon dioxide ("CO_2 snow") may be
42066 used. The extensive port-wine stains so often met with on the face are
42067 best left alone.
42068
42069 The _subcutaneous naevus_ is comparatively rare. It constitutes a
42070 well-defined, localised tumour, which may possess a distinct capsule,
42071 especially when it has ceased to grow or is retrogressing. On section,
42072 it presents the appearance of a finely reticulated sponge.
42073
42074 Although it may be noticed at, or within a few days of, birth, a
42075 subcutaneous naevus is often overlooked, especially when on a covered
42076 part of the body, and may not be discovered till the patient is some
42077 years old. It forms a rounded, lobulated swelling, seldom of large size
42078 and yielding a sensation like that of a sponge; the skin over it is
42079 normal, or may exhibit a bluish tinge, especially in cold weather. In
42080 some cases the tumour is diminished by pressing the blood out of it, but
42081 slowly fills again when the pressure is relaxed, and it swells up when
42082 the child struggles or cries. From a cold abscess it is diagnosed by the
42083 history and progress of the swelling and by the absence of fluctuation.
42084 When situated over one of the hernial openings, it closely simulates a
42085 hernia; and when it occurs in the middle line of the face, head, or
42086 back, it may be mistaken for such other congenital conditions as
42087 meningocele or spina bifida. When other means fail, the use of an
42088 exploring needle clears up the diagnosis.
42089
42090 _Mixed Naevus._--As its name indicates, the mixed naevus partakes of the
42091 characters of the other two varieties; that is, it is a subcutaneous
42092 naevus with involvement of the skin.
42093
42094 It is frequently met with on the face and head, but may occur on any
42095 part of the body. It also affects parts covered by mucous membrane, such
42096 as the cheek, tongue, and soft palate. The swelling is rounded or
42097 lobulated, and projects beyond the level of its surroundings. Sometimes
42098 the skin is invaded by the naevoid tissue over the whole extent of the
42099 tumour, sometimes only over a limited area. Frequently the margin only
42100 is of a bright-red colour, while the skin in the centre resembles a
42101 cicatrix. The swelling is reduced by steady pressure, and increases in
42102 size and becomes tense when the child cries.
42103
42104 [Illustration: FIG. 68.--Mixed Naevus of Nose which was subsequently
42105 cured by Electrolysis.]
42106
42107 _Prognosis._--The rate of growth of the subcutaneous and mixed forms of
42108 naevi varies greatly. They sometimes increase rapidly, especially during
42109 the first few months of life; after this they usually grow at the same
42110 rate as the child, or more slowly. There is a decided tendency to
42111 disappearance of these varieties, fully 50 per cent. undergoing natural
42112 cure by a process of obliteration, similar to the obliteration of
42113 vessels in cicatricial tissue. This usually begins about the period of
42114 the first dentition, sometimes at the second dentition, and sometimes at
42115 puberty. On the other hand, an increased activity of growth may be shown
42116 at these periods. The onset of natural cure is recognised by the tumour
42117 becoming firmer and less compressible, and, in the mixed variety, by the
42118 colour becoming less bright. Injury, infection, or ulceration of the
42119 overlying skin may initiate the curative process.
42120
42121 Towards adult life the spaces in a subcutaneous naevus may become greatly
42122 enlarged, leading to the formation of a cavernous angioma.
42123
42124 _Treatment._--In view of the frequency with which subcutaneous and mixed
42125 naevi disappear spontaneously, interference is only called for when the
42126 growth of the tumour is out of proportion to that of the child, or when,
42127 from its situation--for example in the vicinity of the eye--any marked
42128 increase in its size would render it less amenable to treatment.
42129
42130 The methods of treatment most generally applicable are the use of radium
42131 and carbon dioxide snow, igni-puncture, electrolysis, and excision.
42132
42133 For naevi situated on exposed parts, where it is desirable to avoid a
42134 scar, the use of _radium_ is to be preferred. The tube of radium is
42135 applied at intervals to different parts of the naevus, the duration and
42136 frequency of the applications varying with the strength of the
42137 emanations and the reaction produced. The object aimed at is to induce
42138 obliteration of the naevoid tissue by cicatricial contraction without
42139 destroying the overlying skin. _Carbon-dioxide snow_ may be employed in
42140 the same manner, but the results are inferior to those obtained by
42141 radium.
42142
42143 _Igni-puncture_ consists in making a number of punctures at different
42144 parts of the naevus with a fine-pointed thermo-cautery, with the object
42145 of starting at each point a process of cicatrisation which extends
42146 throughout the naevoid tissue and so obliterates the vessels.
42147
42148 _Electrolysis_ acts by decomposing the blood and tissues into their
42149 constituent elements--oxygen and acids appearing at the positive,
42150 hydrogen and bases at the negative electrode. These substances and gases
42151 being given off in a nascent condition, at once enter into new
42152 combinations with anything in the vicinity with which they have a
42153 chemical affinity. In the naevus the practical result of this reaction is
42154 that at the positive pole nitric acid, and at the negative pole caustic
42155 potash, both in a state of minute subdivision, make their appearance.
42156 The effect on the tissues around the positive pole, therefore, is
42157 equivalent to that of an acid cauterisation, and on those round the
42158 negative pole, to an alkaline cauterisation.
42159
42160 As the process is painful, a general anaesthetic is necessary. The
42161 current used should be from 20 to 80 milliamperes, gradually increasing
42162 from zero, without shock; three to six large Bunsen cells give a
42163 sufficient current, and no galvanometer is required. Steel needles,
42164 insulated with vulcanite to within an eighth of an inch of their points,
42165 are the best. Both poles are introduced into the naevus, the positive
42166 being kept fixed at one spot, while the negative is moved about so as to
42167 produce a number of different tracks of cauterisation. On no account
42168 must either pole be allowed to come in contact with the skin, lest a
42169 slough be formed. The duration of the sitting is determined by the
42170 effect produced, as indicated by the hardening of the tumour, the
42171 average duration being from fifteen to twenty minutes. If pallor of the
42172 skin appears, it indicates that the needles are too near the surface, or
42173 that the blood supply to the integument is being cut off, and is an
42174 indication to stop. To cauterise the track and so prevent bleeding, the
42175 needles should be slowly withdrawn while the current is flowing. When
42176 the skin is reached the current is turned off. The punctures are covered
42177 with collodion. Six or eight weeks should be allowed to elapse before
42178 repeating the procedure. From two to eight or ten sittings may be
42179 necessary, according to the size and character of the naevus.
42180
42181 _Excision_ is to be preferred for naevi of moderate size situated on
42182 covered parts of the body, where a scar is of no importance. Its chief
42183 advantages over electrolysis are that a single operation is sufficient,
42184 and that the cure is speedy and certain. The operation is attended with
42185 much less haemorrhage than might be expected.
42186
42187 #Cavernous Angioma.#--This form of angioma consists of a series of large
42188 blood spaces which are usually derived from the dilatation of the
42189 capillaries of a subcutaneous naevus. The spaces come to communicate
42190 freely with one another by the disappearance of adjacent capillary
42191 walls. While the most common situation is in the subcutaneous tissue, a
42192 cavernous angioma is sometimes met with in internal organs. It may
42193 appear at any age from early youth to middle life, and is of slow growth
42194 and may become stationary. The swelling is rounded or oval, there is no
42195 pulsation or bruit, and the tumour is but slightly compressible. The
42196 treatment consists in dissecting it out.
42197
42198 #Aneurysm by Anastomosis# is the name applied to a vascular tumour in
42199 which the arteries, veins, and capillaries are all involved. It is met
42200 with chiefly on the upper part of the trunk, the neck, and the scalp. It
42201 tends gradually to increase in size, and may, after many years, attain
42202 an enormous size. The tumour is ill-defined, and varies in consistence.
42203 It is pulsatile, and a systolic bruit or a "thrilling" murmur may be
42204 heard over it. The chief risk is haemorrhage from injury or ulceration.
42205
42206 [Illustration: FIG. 69.--Cirsoid Aneurysm of Forehead in a boy aet. 10.
42207
42208 (Mr. J. W. Dowden's case.)]
42209
42210 The _treatment_ is conducted on the same lines as for naevus. When
42211 electrolysis is employed, it should be directed towards the afferent
42212 vessels; and if it fails to arrest the flow through these, it is useless
42213 to persist with it. In some cases ligation of the afferent vessels has
42214 been successful.
42215
42216 #Arterial Angioma# or #Cirsoid Aneurysm#.--This is composed of the
42217 enlarged branches of an arterial trunk. It originates in the smaller
42218 branches of an artery--usually the temporal--and may spread to the main
42219 trunk, and may even involve branches of other trunks with which the
42220 affected artery anastomoses.
42221
42222 The condition is probably congenital in origin, though its appearance is
42223 frequently preceded by an injury. It almost invariably occurs in the
42224 scalp, and is usually met with in adolescent young adults.
42225
42226 The affected vessels slowly increase in size, and become tortuous, with
42227 narrowings and dilatations here and there. Grooves and gutters are
42228 frequently found in the bone underlying the dilated vessels.
42229
42230 There is a constant loud bruit in the tumour, which greatly troubles the
42231 patient and may interfere with sleep. There is no tendency either to
42232 natural cure or to rupture, but severe and even fatal haemorrhage may
42233 follow a wound of the dilated vessels.
42234
42235 [Illustration: FIG. 70.--Cirsoid Aneurysm of Orbit and Face, which
42236 developed after a blow on the Orbit with a cricket ball.
42237
42238 (From a photograph lent by Sir Montagu Cotterill.)]
42239
42240 The condition may be treated by excision or by electrolysis. In excision
42241 the haemorrhage is controlled by an elastic tourniquet applied
42242 horizontally round the head, or by ligation of the feeding trunks. In
42243 large tumours the bleeding is formidable. In many cases electrolysis is
42244 to be preferred, and is performed in the same way as for naevus. The
42245 positive pole is placed in the centre of the tumour, while the negative
42246 is introduced into the main affluents one after another.
42247
42248
42249 ANEURYSM
42250
42251 An aneurysm is a sac communicating with an artery, and containing fluid
42252 or coagulated blood.
42253
42254 Two types are met with--the pathological and the traumatic. It is
42255 convenient to describe in this section also certain conditions in which
42256 there is an abnormal communication between an artery and a
42257 vein--arterio-venous aneurysm.
42258
42259
42260 PATHOLOGICAL ANEURYSM
42261
42262 In this class are included such dilatations as result from weakening of
42263 the arterial coats, combined, in most cases, with a loss of elasticity
42264 in the walls and increase in the arterial tension due to
42265 arterio-sclerosis. In some cases the vessel wall is softened by
42266 arteritis--especially the embolic form--so that it yields before the
42267 pressure of the blood.
42268
42269 Repeated and sudden raising of the arterial tension, as a result, for
42270 example, of violent muscular efforts or of excessive indulgence in
42271 alcohol, plays an important part in the causation of aneurysm. These
42272 factors probably explain the comparative frequency of aneurysm in those
42273 who follow such arduous occupations as soldiers, sailors,
42274 dock-labourers, and navvies. In these classes the condition usually
42275 manifests itself between the ages of thirty and fifty--that is, when the
42276 vessels are beginning to degenerate, although the heart is still
42277 vigorous and the men are hard at work. The comparative immunity of women
42278 may also be explained by the less severe muscular strain involved by
42279 their occupations and recreations.
42280
42281 Syphilis plays an important part in the production of aneurysm, probably
42282 by predisposing the patient to arterio-sclerosis and atheroma, and
42283 inducing an increase in the vascular tension in the peripheral vessels,
42284 from loss of elasticity of the vessel wall and narrowing of the lumen as
42285 a result of syphilitic arteritis. It is a striking fact that aneurysm is
42286 seldom met with in women who have not suffered from syphilis.
42287
42288 #Varieties--Fusiform Aneurysm.#--When the _whole circumference_ of an
42289 artery has been weakened, the tension of the blood causes the walls to
42290 dilate uniformly, so that a fusiform or tubular aneurysm results. All
42291 the coats of the vessel are stretched and form the sac of the aneurysm,
42292 and the affected portion is not only dilated but is also increased in
42293 length. This form is chiefly met with in the arch of the aorta, but may
42294 occur in any of the main arterial trunks. As the sac of the aneurysm
42295 includes all three coats, and as the inner and outer coats are usually
42296 thickened by the deposit in them of connective tissue, this variety
42297 increases in size slowly and seldom gives rise to urgent symptoms.
42298
42299 As a rule a fusiform aneurysm contains fluid blood, but when the intima
42300 is roughened by disease, especially in the form of calcareous plates,
42301 shreds of clot may adhere to it.
42302
42303 It has little tendency to natural cure, although this is occasionally
42304 effected by the emerging artery becoming occluded by a clot; it has also
42305 little tendency to rupture.
42306
42307 #Sacculated Aneurysm.#--When a _limited area_ of the vessel wall is
42308 weakened--for example by atheroma or by other form of arteritis--this
42309 portion yields before the pressure of the blood, and a sacculated
42310 aneurysm results. The internal and middle coats being already damaged,
42311 or, it may be, destroyed, by the primary disease, the stress falls on
42312 the external coat, which in the majority of cases constitutes the sac.
42313 To withstand the pressure the external coat becomes thickened, and as
42314 the aneurysm increases in size it forms adhesions to surrounding
42315 tissues, so that fasciae, tendons, nerves, and other structures may be
42316 found matted together in its wall. The wall is further strengthened by
42317 the deposit on its inner aspect of blood-clot, which may eventually
42318 become organised.
42319
42320 The contents of the sac consist of fluid blood and a varying amount of
42321 clot which is deposited in concentric layers on the inner aspect of the
42322 sac, where it forms a pale, striated, firm mass, which constitutes a
42323 laminated clot. Near the blood-current the clot is soft, red, and
42324 friable (Fig. 72). The laminated clot not only strengthens the sac,
42325 enabling it to resist the blood-pressure and so prevent rupture, but, if
42326 it increases sufficiently to fill the cavity, may bring about cure. The
42327 principle upon which all methods of treatment are based is to imitate
42328 nature in producing such a clot.
42329
42330 Sacculated aneurysm, as compared with the fusiform variety, tends to
42331 rupture and also to cure by the formation of laminated clot; natural
42332 cure is sometimes all but complete when extension and rupture occur and
42333 cause death.
42334
42335 An aneurysm is said to be _diffused_ when the sac ruptures and the blood
42336 escapes into the cellular tissue.
42337
42338 #Clinical Features of Aneurysm.#--Surgically, the sacculated is by far
42339 the most important variety. The outstanding feature is the existence in
42340 the line of an artery of a globular swelling, which pulsates. The
42341 pulsation is of an expansile character, which is detected by observing
42342 that when both hands are placed over the swelling they are separated
42343 with each beat of the heart. If the main artery be compressed on the
42344 cardiac side of the swelling, the pulsation is arrested and the tumour
42345 becomes smaller and less tense, and it may be still further reduced in
42346 size by gentle pressure being made over it so as to empty it of fluid
42347 blood. On allowing the blood again to flow through the artery, the
42348 pulsation returns at once, but several beats are required before the sac
42349 regains its former size. In most cases a distinct thrill is felt on
42350 placing the hand over the swelling, and a blowing, systolic murmur may
42351 be heard with the stethoscope. It is to be borne in mind that
42352 occasionally, when the interchange of blood between an aneurysm and the
42353 artery from which it arises is small, pulsation and bruit may be slight
42354 or even absent. This is also the case when the sac contains a
42355 considerable quantity of clot. When it becomes filled with
42356 clot--_consolidated aneurysm_--these signs disappear, and the clinical
42357 features are those of a solid tumour lying in contact with an artery,
42358 and transmitting its pulsation.
42359
42360 A comparison of the pulse in the artery beyond the seat of the aneurysm
42361 with that in the corresponding artery on the healthy side, shows that on
42362 the affected side the wave is smaller in volume, and delayed in time. A
42363 pulse tracing shows that the normal impulse and dicrotic waves are lost,
42364 and that the force and rapidity of the tidal wave are diminished.
42365
42366 [Illustration: FIG. 71.--Radiogram of Aneurysm of Aorta, showing
42367 laminated clot and erosion of bodies of vertebrae. The intervertebral
42368 discs are intact.]
42369
42370 An aneurysm exerts pressure on the surrounding structures, which are
42371 usually thickened and adherent to it and to one another. Adjacent veins
42372 may be so compressed that congestion and oedema of the parts beyond are
42373 produced. Pain, disturbances of sensation, and muscular paralyses may
42374 result from pressure on nerves. Such bones as the sternum and vertebrae
42375 undergo erosion and are absorbed by the gradually increasing pressure of
42376 the aneurysm. Cartilage, on the other hand, being elastic, yields before
42377 the pressure, so that the intervertebral discs or the costal cartilages
42378 may escape while the adjacent bones are destroyed (Fig. 71). The skin
42379 over the tumour becomes thinned and stretched, until finally a slough
42380 forms, and when it separates haemorrhage takes place.
42381
42382 [Illustration: FIG. 72.--Sacculated Aneurysm of Abdominal Aorta nearly
42383 filled with laminated clot. Note greater density of clot towards
42384 periphery.]
42385
42386 In the progress of an aneurysm towards rupture, timely clotting may
42387 avert death for the moment, but while extension in one direction has
42388 been arrested there is apt to be extension in another, with imminence of
42389 rupture, or it may be again postponed.
42390
42391 #Differential Diagnosis.#--The diagnosis is to be made from other
42392 pulsatile swellings. Pulsation is sometimes transmitted from a large
42393 artery to a tumour, a mass of enlarged lymph glands, or an inflammatory
42394 swelling which lies in its vicinity, but the pulsation is not
42395 expansile--a most important point in differential diagnosis. Such
42396 swellings may, by appropriate manipulation, be moved from the artery and
42397 the pulsation ceases, and compression of the artery on the cardiac side
42398 of the swelling, although it arrests the pulsation, does not produce any
42399 diminution in the size or tension of the swelling, and when the pressure
42400 is removed the pulsation is restored immediately.
42401
42402 Fluid swellings overlying an artery, such as cysts, abscesses, or
42403 enlarged bursae, may closely simulate aneurysm. An apparent expansion may
42404 accompany the pulsation, but careful examination usually enables this to
42405 be distinguished from the true expansion of an aneurysm. Compression of
42406 the artery makes no difference in the size or tension of the swelling.
42407
42408 Vascular tumours, such as sarcoma and goitre, may yield an expansile
42409 pulsation and a soft, whifling bruit, but they differ from an aneurysm
42410 in that they are not diminished in size by compression of the main
42411 artery, nor can they be emptied by pressure.
42412
42413 The exaggerated pulsation sometimes observed in the abdominal aorta, the
42414 "pulsating aorta" seen in women, should not be mistaken for aneurysm.
42415
42416 #Prognosis.#--When _natural cure_ occurs it is usually brought about by
42417 the formation of laminated clot, which gradually increases in amount
42418 till it fills the sac. Sometimes a portion of the clot in the sac is
42419 separated and becomes impacted as an embolus in the artery beyond,
42420 leading to thrombosis which first occludes the artery and then extends
42421 into the sac.
42422
42423 The progress of natural cure is indicated by the aneurysm becoming
42424 smaller, firmer, less expansile, and less compressible; the murmur and
42425 thrill diminish and the pressure effects become less marked. When the
42426 cure is complete the expansile pulsation is lost, and there remains a
42427 firm swelling attached to the vessel (_consolidated aneurysm_). While
42428 these changes are taking place the collateral arteries become enlarged,
42429 and an anastomotic circulation is established.
42430
42431 An aneurysm may prove _fatal_ by exerting pressure on important
42432 structures, by causing syncope, by rupture, or from the occurrence of
42433 suppuration. _Pressure_ symptoms are usually most serious from aneurysms
42434 situated in the neck, thorax, or skull. Sudden fatal _syncope_ is not
42435 infrequent in cases of aneurysm of the thoracic aorta.
42436
42437 _Rupture_ may take place through the skin, on a mucous or serous
42438 surface, or into the cellular tissue. The first haemorrhage is often
42439 slight and stops naturally, but it soon recurs, and is so profuse,
42440 especially when the blood escapes externally, that it rapidly proves
42441 fatal. When the bleeding takes place into the cellular tissue, the
42442 aneurysm is said to become _diffused_, and the extravasated blood
42443 spreads widely through the tissues, exerting great pressure on the
42444 surrounding structures.
42445
42446 The _clinical features_ associated with rupture are sudden and severe
42447 pain in the part, and the patient becomes pale, cold, and faint. If a
42448 comparatively small escape of blood takes place into the tissues, the
42449 sudden alteration in the size, shape, and tension of the aneurysm,
42450 together with loss of pulsation, may be the only local signs. When the
42451 bleeding is profuse, however, the parts beyond the aneurysm become
42452 greatly swollen, livid, and cold, and the pulse beyond is completely
42453 lost. The arrest of the blood supply may result in gangrene. Sometimes
42454 the pressure of the extravasated blood causes the skin to slough and,
42455 later, give way, and fatal haemorrhage results.
42456
42457 The _treatment_ is carried out on the same lines as for a ruptured
42458 artery (p. 261), it being remembered, however, that the artery is
42459 diseased and does not lend itself to reconstructive procedures.
42460
42461 _Suppuration_ may occur in the vicinity of an aneurysm, and the aneurysm
42462 may burst into the abscess which forms, so that when the latter points
42463 the pus is mixed with broken-down blood-clot, and finally free
42464 haemorrhage takes place. It has more than once happened that a surgeon
42465 has incised such an abscess without having recognised its association
42466 with aneurysm, with tragic results.
42467
42468 #Treatment.#--In treating an aneurysm, the indications are to imitate
42469 Nature's method of cure by means of laminated clot.
42470
42471 _Constitutional treatment_ consists in taking measures to reduce the
42472 arterial tension and to diminish the force of the heart's action. The
42473 patient must be kept in bed. A dry and non-stimulating diet is
42474 indicated, the quantity being gradually reduced till it is just
42475 sufficient to maintain nutrition. Saline purges are employed to reduce
42476 the vascular tension. The benefit derived from potassium iodide
42477 administered in full doses, as first recommended by George W. Balfour,
42478 probably depends on its depressing action on the heart and its
42479 therapeutic benefit in syphilis. Pain or restlessness may call for the
42480 use of opiates, of which heroin is the most efficient.
42481
42482 _Local Treatment._--When constitutional treatment fails, local measures
42483 must be adopted, and many methods are available.
42484
42485 #Endo-aneurysmorrhaphy.#--The operation devised by Rudolf Matas in 1888
42486 aims at closing the opening between the sac and its feeding artery, and
42487 in addition, folding the wall of the sac in such a way as to leave no
42488 vacant space. If there is marked disease of the vessel, Matas' operation
42489 is not possible and recourse is then had to ligation of the artery just
42490 above the sac.
42491
42492 _Extirpation of the Sac--The Old Operation._--The procedure which goes
42493 by this name consists in exposing the aneurysm, incising the sac,
42494 clearing out the clots, and ligating the artery above and below the sac.
42495 This method is suitable to sacculated aneurysm of the limbs, so long as
42496 they are circumscribed and free from complications. It has been
42497 successfully practised also in aneurysm of the subclavian, carotid, and
42498 external iliac arteries. It is not applicable to cases in which there is
42499 such a degree of atheroma as would interfere with the successful
42500 ligation of the artery. The continuity of the artery may be restored by
42501 grafting into the gap left after excision of the sac a segment of the
42502 great saphena vein.
42503
42504 _Ligation of the Artery._--The object of tying the artery is to diminish
42505 or to arrest the flow of blood through the aneurysm so that the blood
42506 coagulates both in the sac and in the feeding artery. The ligature may
42507 be applied on the cardiac side of the aneurysm--proximal ligation, or to
42508 the artery beyond--distal ligation.
42509
42510 _Proximal Ligation._--The ligature may be applied immediately above the
42511 sac (Anel, 1710) or at a distance above (John Hunter, 1785). The
42512 _Hunterian operation_ ensures that the ligature is applied to a part of
42513 the artery that is presumably healthy and where relations are
42514 undisturbed by the proximity of the sac; the best example is the
42515 ligation of the superficial femoral artery in Scarpa's triangle or in
42516 Hunter's canal for popliteal aneurysm; it is on record that Syme
42517 performed this operation with cure of the aneurysm on thirty-nine
42518 occasions.
42519
42520 It is to be noted that the Hunterian ligature does not aim at
42521 _arresting_ the flow of blood through the sac, but is designed so to
42522 diminish its volume and force as to favour the deposition within the sac
42523 of laminated clot. The development of the collateral circulation which
42524 follows upon ligation of the artery at a distance above the sac may be
42525 attended with just that amount of return stream which favours the
42526 deposit of laminated clot, and consequently the cure of the aneurysm;
42527 the return stream may, however, be so forcible as to prevent coagulation
42528 of the blood in the sac, or only to allow of the formation of a red
42529 thrombus which may in its turn be dispersed so that pulsation in the sac
42530 recurs. This does not necessarily imply failure to cure, as the
42531 recurrent pulsation may only be temporary; the formation of laminated
42532 clot may ultimately take place and lead to consolidation of the
42533 aneurysm.
42534
42535 The least desirable result of the Hunterian ligature is met with in
42536 cases where, owing to widespread arterial disease, the collateral
42537 circulation does not develop and gangrene of the limb supervenes.
42538
42539 _Anel's ligature_ is only practised as part of the operation which deals
42540 with the sac directly.
42541
42542 _Distal Ligation._--The tying of the artery beyond the sac, or of its
42543 two branches where it bifurcates (Brasdor, 1760, and Wardrop, 1825), may
42544 arrest or only diminish the flow of blood through the sac. It is less
42545 successful than the proximal ligature, and is therefore restricted to
42546 aneurysms so situated as not to be amenable to other methods; for
42547 example, in aneurysm of the common carotid near its origin, the artery
42548 may be ligated near its bifurcation, or in aneurysm of the innominate
42549 artery, the carotid and subclavian arteries are tied at the seat of
42550 election.
42551
42552 _Compression._--Digital compression of the feeding artery has been given
42553 up except as a preparation for operations on the sac with a view to
42554 favouring the development of a collateral circulation.
42555
42556 _Macewen's acupuncture or "needling"_ consists in passing one or more
42557 fine, highly tempered steel needles through the tissues overlying the
42558 aneurysm, and through its outer wall. The needles are made to touch the
42559 opposite wall of the sac, and the pulsation of the aneurysm imparts a
42560 movement to them which causes them to scarify the inner surface of the
42561 sac. White thrombus forms on the rough surface produced, and leads to
42562 further coagulation. The needles may be left in position for some hours,
42563 being shifted from time to time, the projecting ends being surrounded
42564 with sterile gauze.
42565
42566 The _Moore-Corradi method_ consists in introducing through the wall of
42567 the aneurysm a hollow insulated needle, through the lumen of which from
42568 10 to 20 feet of highly drawn silver or other wire is passed into the
42569 sac, where it coils up into an open meshwork (Fig. 73). The positive
42570 pole of a galvanic battery is attached to the wire, and the negative
42571 pole placed over the patient's back. A current, varying in strength from
42572 20 to 70 milliamperes, is allowed to flow for about an hour. The hollow
42573 needle is then withdrawn, but the wire is left _in situ_. The results
42574 are somewhat similar to those obtained by needling, but the clot formed
42575 on the large coil of wire is more extensive.
42576
42577 [Illustration: FIG. 73.--Radiogram of Innominate Aneurysm after
42578 treatment by the Moore-Corradi method. Two feet of finely drawn silver
42579 wire were introduced. The patient, a woman, aet. 47, lived for ten months
42580 after operation, free from pain (cf. Fig. 75).]
42581
42582 Colt's method of wiring has been mainly used in the treatment of
42583 abdominal aneurysm; gilt wire in the form of a wisp is introduced
42584 through the cannula and expands into an umbrella shape.
42585
42586 _Subcutaneous Injections of Gelatin._--Three or four ounces of a 2 per
42587 cent. solution of white gelatin in sterilised water, at a temperature of
42588 about 100 o F., are injected into the subcutaneous tissue of the abdomen
42589 every two, three, or four days. In the course of a fortnight or three
42590 weeks improvement may begin. The clot which forms is liable to soften
42591 and be absorbed, but a repetition of the injection has in several cases
42592 established a permanent cure.
42593
42594 _Amputation of the limb_ is indicated in cases complicated by
42595 suppuration, by secondary haemorrhage after excision or ligation, or by
42596 gangrene. Amputation at the shoulder was performed by Fergusson in a
42597 case of subclavian aneurysm, as a means of arresting the blood-flow
42598 through the sac.
42599
42600
42601 TRAUMATIC ANEURYSM
42602
42603 The essential feature of a traumatic aneurysm is that it is produced by
42604 some form of injury which divides all the coats of the artery. The walls
42605 of the injured vessel are presumably healthy, but they form no part of
42606 the sac of the aneurysm. The sac consists of the condensed and thickened
42607 tissues around the artery.
42608
42609 The injury to the artery may be a subcutaneous one such as a tear by a
42610 fragment of bone: much more commonly it is a punctured wound from a stab
42611 or from a bullet.
42612
42613 The aneurysm usually forms soon after the injury is inflicted; the blood
42614 slowly escapes into the surrounding tissues, gradually displacing and
42615 condensing them, until they form a sac enclosing the effused blood.
42616
42617 Less frequently a traumatic aneurysm forms some considerable time after
42618 the injury, from gradual stretching of the fibrous cicatrix by which the
42619 wound in the wall of the artery has been closed. The gradual stretching
42620 of this cicatrix results in condensation of the surrounding structures
42621 which form the sac, on the inner aspect of which laminated clot is
42622 deposited.
42623
42624 A traumatic aneurysm is almost always sacculated, and, so long as it
42625 remains circumscribed, has the same characters as a pathological
42626 sacculated aneurysm, with the addition that there is a scar in the
42627 overlying skin. A traumatic aneurysm is liable to become diffuse--a
42628 change which, although attended with considerable risk of gangrene, has
42629 sometimes been the means of bringing about a cure.
42630
42631 The treatment is governed by the same principles as apply to the
42632 pathological varieties, but as the walls of the artery are not diseased,
42633 operative measures dealing with the sac and the adjacent segment of the
42634 affected artery are to be preferred.
42635
42636
42637 ARTERIO-VENOUS ANEURYSM
42638
42639 An abnormal communication between an artery and a vein constitutes an
42640 arterio-venous aneurysm. Two varieties are recognised--one in which the
42641 communication is direct--_aneurysmal varix_; the other in which the
42642 vein communicates with the artery through the medium of a sac--_varicose
42643 aneurysm_.
42644
42645 Either variety may result from pathological causes, but in the majority
42646 of cases they are traumatic in origin, being due to such injuries as
42647 stabs, punctured wounds, and gun-shot injuries which involve both artery
42648 and vein. In former times the most common situation was at the bend of
42649 the elbow, the brachial artery being accidentally punctured in
42650 blood-letting from the median basilic vein. Arterio-venous aneurysm is a
42651 frequent result of injuries by modern high-velocity bullets--for
42652 example, in the neck or groin.
42653
42654 In _aneurysmal varix_ the higher blood pressure in the artery forces
42655 arterial blood into the vein, which near the point of communication with
42656 the artery tends to become dilated, and to form a thick-walled sac,
42657 beyond which the vessel and its tributaries are distended and tortuous.
42658 The clinical features resemble those associated with varicose veins, but
42659 the entrance of arterial blood into the dilated veins causes them to
42660 pulsate, and produces in them a vibratory thrill and a loud murmur. In
42661 those at the groin, the distension of the veins may be so great that
42662 they look like sinuses running through the muscles, a feature that must
42663 be taken into account in any operation.
42664
42665 As the condition tends to remain stationary, the support of an elastic
42666 bandage is all that is required; but when the condition progresses and
42667 causes serious inconvenience, it may be necessary to cut down and expose
42668 the communication between the artery and vein, and, after separating the
42669 vessels, to close the opening in each by suture; this may be difficult
42670 or impossible if the parts are matted from former suppuration. If it is
42671 impossible thus to obliterate the communication, the artery should be
42672 ligated above and below the point of communication; although the risk of
42673 gangrene is considerable unless means are taken to develop the
42674 collateral circulation beforehand (Makins).
42675
42676 _Varicose aneurysm_ usually develops in relation to a traumatic
42677 aneurysm, the sac becoming adherent to an adjacent vein, and ultimately
42678 opening into it. In this way a communication between the artery and the
42679 vein is established, and the clinical features are those of a
42680 combination of aneurysm and aneurysmal varix.
42681
42682 As there is little tendency to spontaneous cure, and as the aneurysm is
42683 liable to increase in size and finally to rupture, operative treatment
42684 is usually called for. This is carried out on the same lines as for
42685 aneurysmal varix, and at the same time incising the sac, turning out the
42686 clots, and ligating any branches which open into the sac. If it can be
42687 avoided, the vein should not be ligated.
42688
42689
42690 ANEURYSMS OF INDIVIDUAL ARTERIES
42691
42692 #Thoracic Aneurysm.#--All varieties of aneurysm occur in the aorta, the
42693 fusiform being the most common, although a sacculated aneurysm
42694 frequently springs from a fusiform dilatation.
42695
42696 The _clinical features_ depend chiefly on the direction in which the
42697 aneurysm enlarges, and are not always well marked even when the sac is
42698 of considerable size. They consist in a pulsatile swelling--sometimes in
42699 the supra-sternal notch, but usually towards the right side of the
42700 sternum--with an increased area of dulness on percussion. With the
42701 X-rays a dark shadow is seen corresponding to the sac. Pain is usually a
42702 prominent symptom, and is largely referable to the pressure of the
42703 aneurysm on the vertebrae or the sternum, causing erosion of these bones.
42704 Pressure on the thoracic veins and on the air-passage causes cyanosis
42705 and dyspnoea. When the oesophagus is pressed upon, the patient may have
42706 difficulty in swallowing. The left recurrent nerve may be stretched or
42707 pressed upon as it hooks round the arch of the aorta, and hoarseness of
42708 the voice and a characteristic "brassy" cough may result from paralysis
42709 of the muscles of the larynx which it supplies. The vagus, the phrenic,
42710 and the spinal nerves may also be pressed upon. When the aneurysm is on
42711 the transverse part of the arch, the trachea is pulled down with each
42712 beat of the heart--a clinical phenomena known as the "tracheal tug."
42713 Aneurysm of the descending aorta may, after eroding the bodies of the
42714 vertebrae (Fig. 71) and posterior portions of the ribs, form a swelling
42715 in the back to the left of the spine.
42716
42717 Inasmuch as obliteration of the sac and the feeding artery is out of the
42718 question, surgical treatment is confined to causing coagulation of the
42719 blood in an extension or pouching of the sac, which, making its way
42720 through the parietes of the chest, threatens to rupture externally. This
42721 may be achieved by Macewen's needles or by the introduction of wire into
42722 the sac. We have had cases under observation in which the treatment
42723 referred to has been followed by such an amount of improvement that the
42724 patient has been able to resume a laborious occupation for one or more
42725 years. Christopher Heath found that improvement followed ligation of the
42726 left common carotid in aneurysm of the transverse part of the aortic
42727 arch.
42728
42729 [Illustration: FIG. 74.--Thoracic Aneurysm, threatening to rupture
42730 externally, but prevented from doing so by Macewen's needling. The
42731 needles were left in for forty-eight hours.]
42732
42733 #Abdominal Aneurysm.#--Aneurysm is much less frequent in the abdominal
42734 than in the thoracic aorta. While any of the large branches in the
42735 abdomen may be affected, the most common seats are in the aorta itself,
42736 just above the origin of the coeliac artery and at the bifurcation.
42737
42738 The _clinical features_ vary with the site of the aneurysm and with its
42739 rapidity and direction of growth. A smooth, rounded swelling, which
42740 exhibits expansile pulsation, forms, usually towards the left of the
42741 middle line. It may extend upwards under cover of the ribs, downwards
42742 towards the pelvis, or backward towards the loin. On palpation a
42743 systolic thrill may be detected, but the presence of a murmur is neither
42744 constant nor characteristic. Pain is usually present; it may be
42745 neuralgic in character, or may simulate renal colic. When the aneurysm
42746 presses on the vertebrae and erodes them, the symptoms simulate those of
42747 spinal caries, particularly if, as sometimes happens, symptoms of
42748 compression paraplegia ensue. In its growth the swelling may press upon
42749 and displace the adjacent viscera, and so interfere with their
42750 functions.
42751
42752 The _diagnosis_ has to be made from solid or cystic tumours overlying
42753 the artery; from a "pulsating aorta"; and from spinal caries; much help
42754 is obtained by the use of the X-rays.
42755
42756 The condition usually proves fatal, either by the aneurysm bursting into
42757 the peritoneal cavity, or by slow leakage into the retro-peritoneal
42758 tissue.
42759
42760 The Moore-Corradi method has been successfully employed, access to the
42761 sac having been obtained by opening the abdomen. Ligation of the aorta
42762 has so far been unsuccessful, but in one case operated upon by Keen the
42763 patient survived forty-eight days.
42764
42765 #Innominate aneurysm# may be of the fusiform or of the sacculated
42766 variety, and is frequently associated with pouching of the aorta. It
42767 usually grows upwards and laterally, projecting above the sternum and
42768 right clavicle, which may be eroded or displaced (Fig. 75). Symptoms of
42769 pressure on the structures in the neck, similar to those produced by
42770 aortic aneurysm, occur. The pulses in the right upper extremity and in
42771 the right carotid and its branches are diminished and delayed. Pressure
42772 on the right brachial plexus causes shooting pain down the arm and
42773 muscular paresis on that side. Vaso-motor disturbances and contraction
42774 of the pupil on the right side may result from pressure on the
42775 sympathetic. Death may take place from rupture, or from pressure on the
42776 air-passage.
42777
42778 [Illustration: FIG. 75.--Innominate Aneurysm in a woman, aet. 47, eight
42779 months after treatment by Moore-Corradi method (cf. Fig. 73).]
42780
42781 The available methods of treatment are ligation of the right common
42782 carotid and third part of the right subclavian (Wardrop's operation), of
42783 which a number of successful cases have been recorded. Those most
42784 suitable for ligation are cases in which the aneurysm is circumscribed
42785 and globular (Sheen). If ligation is found to be impracticable, the
42786 Moore-Corradi method or Macewen's needling may be tried.
42787
42788 #Carotid Aneurysms.#--Aneurysm of the _common carotid_ is more frequent
42789 on the right than on the left side, and is usually situated either at
42790 the root of the neck or near the bifurcation. It is the aneurysm most
42791 frequently met with in women. From its position the swelling is liable
42792 to press on the vagus, recurrent and sympathetic nerves, on the
42793 air-passage, and on the oesophagus, giving rise to symptoms referable to
42794 such pressure. There may be cerebral symptoms from interference with the
42795 blood supply of the brain.
42796
42797 Aneurysm near the origin has to be diagnosed from subclavian,
42798 innominate, and aortic aneurysm, and from other swellings--solid or
42799 fluid--met with in the neck. It is often difficult to determine with
42800 precision the trunk from which an aneurysm at the root of the neck
42801 originates, and not infrequently more than one vessel shares in the
42802 dilatation. A careful consideration of the position in which the
42803 swelling first appeared, of the direction in which it has progressed, of
42804 its pressure effects, and of the condition of the pulses beyond, may
42805 help in distinguishing between aortic, innominate, carotid, and
42806 subclavian aneurysms. Skiagraphy is also of assistance in recognising
42807 the vessel involved.
42808
42809 Tumours of the thyreoid, enlarged lymph glands, and fatty and
42810 sarcomatous tumours can usually be distinguished from aneurysm by the
42811 history of the swelling and by physical examination. Cystic tumours and
42812 abscesses in the neck are sometimes more difficult to differentiate on
42813 account of the apparently expansile character of the pulsation
42814 transmitted to them. The fact that compression of the vessel does not
42815 affect the size and tension of these fluid swellings is useful in
42816 distinguishing them from aneurysm.
42817
42818 _Treatment._--Digital compression of the vessel against the transverse
42819 process of the sixth cervical vertebra--the "carotid tubercle"--has been
42820 successfully employed in the treatment of aneurysm near the bifurcation.
42821 Proximal ligation in the case of high aneurysms, or distal ligation in
42822 those situated at the root of the neck, is more certain. Extirpation of
42823 the sac is probably the best method of treatment, especially in those of
42824 traumatic origin. These operations are attended with considerable risk
42825 of hemiplegia from interference with the blood supply of the brain.
42826
42827 The _external carotid_ and the cervical portion of the _internal
42828 carotid_ are seldom the primary seat of aneurysm, although they are
42829 liable to be implicated by the upward spread of an aneurysm at the
42830 bifurcation of the common trunk. In addition to the ordinary signs of
42831 aneurysm, the clinical manifestations are chiefly referable to pressure
42832 on the pharynx and larynx, and on the hypoglossal nerve. Aneurysm of the
42833 internal carotid is of special importance on account of the way in which
42834 it bulges into the pharynx in the region of the tonsil, in some cases
42835 closely simulating a tonsillar abscess. Cases are on record in which
42836 such an aneurysm has been mistaken for an abscess and incised, with
42837 disastrous results.
42838
42839 _Aneurysmal varix_ may occur in the neck as a result of stabs or bullet
42840 wounds. The communication is usually between the common carotid artery
42841 and the internal jugular vein. The resulting interference with the
42842 cerebral circulation causes headache, giddiness, and other brain
42843 symptoms, and a persistent loud murmur is usually a source of annoyance
42844 to the patient and may be sufficient indication for operative treatment.
42845
42846 #Intracranial aneurysm# involves the internal carotid and its branches,
42847 or the basilar artery, and appears to be more frequently associated with
42848 syphilis and with valvular disease of the heart than are external
42849 aneurysms. It gives rise to symptoms similar to those of other
42850 intracranial tumours, and there is sometimes a loud murmur. It usually
42851 proves fatal by rupture, and intracranial haemorrhage. The treatment is
42852 to ligate the common carotid or the vertebral artery in the neck,
42853 according to the seat of the aneurysm.
42854
42855 #Orbital Aneurysm.#--The term pulsating exophthalmos is employed to
42856 embrace a number of pathological conditions, including aneurysm, in
42857 which the chief symptoms are pulsation in the orbit and protrusion of
42858 the eyeball. There may be, in addition, congestion and oedema of the
42859 eyelids, and a distinct thrill and murmur, which can be controlled by
42860 compression of the common carotid in the neck. Varying degrees of ocular
42861 paralysis and of interference with vision may also be present.
42862
42863 These symptoms are due, in the majority of cases, to an aneurysmal varix
42864 of the internal carotid artery and cavernous sinus, which is often
42865 traumatic in origin, being produced either by fracture of the base of
42866 the skull or by a punctured wound of the orbit. In other cases they are
42867 due to aneurysm of the ophthalmic artery, to thrombosis of the cavernous
42868 sinus, and, in rare instances, to cirsoid aneurysm.
42869
42870 If compression of the common carotid is found to arrest the pulsation,
42871 ligation of this vessel is indicated.
42872
42873 #Subclavian Aneurysm.#--Subclavian aneurysm is usually met with in men
42874 who follow occupations involving constant use of the shoulder--for
42875 example, dock-porters and coal-heavers. It is more common on the right
42876 side.
42877
42878 The aneurysm usually springs from the third part of the artery, and
42879 appears as a tense, rounded, pulsatile swelling just above the clavicle
42880 and to the outer side of the sterno-mastoid muscle. It occasionally
42881 extends towards the thorax, where it may become adherent to the pleura.
42882 The radial pulse on the same side is small and delayed. Congestion and
42883 oedema of the arm, with pain, numbness, and muscular weakness, may result
42884 from pressure on the veins and nerves as they pass under the clavicle;
42885 and pressure on the phrenic nerve may induce hiccough. The aneurysm is
42886 of slow growth, and occasionally undergoes spontaneous cure.
42887
42888 The conditions most likely to be mistaken for it are a soft, rapidly
42889 growing sarcoma, and a normal artery raised on a cervical rib.
42890
42891 On account of the relations of the artery and of its branches, treatment
42892 is attended with greater difficulty and danger in subclavian than in
42893 almost any other form of external aneurysm. The available operative
42894 measures are proximal ligation of the innominate, and distal ligation.
42895 In some cases it has been found necessary to combine distal ligation
42896 with amputation at the shoulder-joint, to prevent the collateral
42897 circulation maintaining the flow through the aneurysm. Matas' operation
42898 has been successfully performed by Hogarth Pringle.
42899
42900 #Axillary Aneurysm.#--This is usually met with in the right arm of
42901 labouring men and sailors, and not infrequently follows an injury in the
42902 region of the shoulder. The vessel may be damaged by the head of a
42903 dislocated humerus or in attempts to reduce the dislocation, by the
42904 fragments of a fractured bone, or by a stab or cut. Sometimes the vein
42905 also is injured and an arterio-venous aneurysm established.
42906
42907 Owing to the laxity of the tissues, it increases rapidly, and it may
42908 soon attain a large size, filling up the axilla, and displacing the
42909 clavicle upwards. This renders compression of the third part of the
42910 subclavian difficult or impossible. It may extend beneath the clavicle
42911 into the neck, or, extending inwards may form adhesions to the chest
42912 wall, and, after eroding the ribs, to the pleura.
42913
42914 The usual symptoms of aneurysm are present, and the pressure effects on
42915 the veins and nerves are similar to those produced by an aneurysm of the
42916 subclavian. Intra-thoracic complications, such as pleurisy or pneumonia,
42917 are not infrequent when there are adhesions to the chest wall and
42918 pleura. Rupture may take place externally, into the shoulder-joint, or
42919 into the pleura.
42920
42921 Extirpation of the sac is the operation of choice, but, if this is
42922 impracticable, ligation of the third part of the subclavian may be had
42923 recourse to.
42924
42925 #Brachial aneurysm# usually occurs at the bend of the elbow, is of
42926 traumatic origin, and is best treated by excision of the sac.
42927
42928 _Aneurysmal varix_, which was frequently met with in this situation in
42929 the days of the barber-surgeons,--usually as a result of the artery
42930 having been accidentally wounded while performing venesection of the
42931 median basilic vein,--may be treated, according to the amount of
42932 discomfort it causes, by a supporting bandage, or by ligation of the
42933 artery above and below the point of communication.
42934
42935 Aneurysms of the vessels of the #forearm and hand# call for no special
42936 mention; they are almost invariably traumatic, and are treated by
42937 excision of the sac.
42938
42939 #Inguinal Aneurysm# (_Aneurysm of the Iliac and Femoral
42940 Arteries_).--Aneurysms appearing in the region of Poupart's ligament may
42941 have their origin in the external or common iliac arteries or in the
42942 upper part of the femoral. On account of the tension of the fascia lata,
42943 they tend to spread upwards towards the abdomen, and, to a less extent,
42944 downwards into the thigh. Sometimes a constriction occurs across the
42945 sac at the level of Poupart's ligament.
42946
42947 The pressure exerted on the nerves and veins of the lower extremity
42948 causes pain, congestion, and oedema of the limb. Rupture may take place
42949 externally, or into the cellular tissue of the iliac fossa.
42950
42951 These aneurysms have to be diagnosed from pulsating sarcoma growing from
42952 the pelvic bones, and from an abscess or a mass of enlarged lymph glands
42953 overlying the artery and transmitting its pulsation.
42954
42955 The method of treatment that has met with most success is ligation of
42956 the common or external iliac, reached either by reflecting the
42957 peritoneum from off the iliac fossa (extra-peritoneal operation), or by
42958 going through the peritoneal cavity (trans-peritoneal operation).
42959
42960 #Gluteal Aneurysm.#--An aneurysm in the buttock may arise from the
42961 superior or from the inferior gluteal artery, but by the time it forms a
42962 salient swelling it is seldom possible to recognise by external
42963 examination in which vessel it takes origin. The special symptoms to
42964 which it gives rise are pain down the limb from pressure on the sciatic
42965 nerve, and interference with the movements at the hip.
42966
42967 Ligation of the hypogastric (internal iliac) by the trans-peritoneal
42968 route is the most satisfactory method of treatment. Extirpation of the
42969 sac is difficult and dangerous, especially when the aneurysm has spread
42970 into the pelvis.
42971
42972 #Femoral Aneurysm.#--Aneurysm of the femoral artery beyond the origin of
42973 the profunda branch is usually traumatic in origin, and is more common
42974 in Scarpa's triangle than in Hunter's canal. Any of the methods already
42975 described is available for their treatment--the choice lying between
42976 Matas' operation and ligation of the external iliac.
42977
42978 Aneurysm of the _profunda femoris_ is distinguished from that of the
42979 main trunk by the fact that the pulses beyond are, in the former,
42980 unaffected, and by the normal artery being felt pulsating over or
42981 alongside the sac.
42982
42983 In _aneurysmal varix_, a not infrequent result of a bullet wound or a
42984 stab, the communication with the vein may involve the main trunk of the
42985 femoral artery. Should operative interference become necessary as a
42986 result of progressive increase in size of the tumour, or progressive
42987 distension of the veins of the limb, an attempt should be made to
42988 separate the vessels concerned and to close the opening in each by
42989 suture. If this is impracticable, the artery is tied above and below the
42990 communication; gangrene of the limb may supervene, and we have observed
42991 a case in which the gangrene extended up to the junction of the middle
42992 and lower thirds of the thigh, and in which recovery followed upon
42993 amputation of the thigh.
42994
42995 #Popliteal Aneurysm.#--This is the most common surgical aneurysm, and is
42996 not infrequently met with in both limbs. It is generally due to disease
42997 of the artery, and repeated slight strains, which are so liable to occur
42998 at the knee, play an important part in its formation. In former times it
42999 was common in post-boys, from the repeated flexion and extension of the
43000 knee in riding.
43001
43002 The aneurysm is usually of the sacculated variety, and may spring from
43003 the front or from the back of the vessel. It may exert pressure on the
43004 bones and ligaments of the joint, and it has been known to rupture into
43005 the articulation. The pain, stiffness, and effusion into the joint which
43006 accompany these changes often lead to an erroneous diagnosis of joint
43007 disease. The sac may press upon the popliteal artery or vein and their
43008 branches, causing congestion and oedema of the leg, and lead to gangrene.
43009 Pressure on the tibial and common peroneal nerves gives rise to severe
43010 pain, muscular cramp, and weakness of the leg.
43011
43012 The differential diagnosis is to be made from abscess, bursal cyst,
43013 enlarged glands, and sarcoma, especially pulsating sarcoma of one of the
43014 bones entering into the knee joint.
43015
43016 The choice of operation lies between ligation of the femoral artery in
43017 Hunter's canal, and Matas' operation of aneurysmo-arteriorrhaphy. The
43018 success which attends the Hunterian operation is evidenced by the fact
43019 that Syme performed it thirty-seven times without a single failure. If
43020 it fails, the old operation should be considered, but it is a more
43021 serious operation, and one which is more liable to be followed by
43022 gangrene of the limb. Experience shows that ligation of the vein, or
43023 even the removal of a portion of it, is not necessarily followed by
43024 gangrene. The risk of gangrene is diminished by a course of digital
43025 compression of the femoral artery, before operating on the aneurysm.
43026
43027 _Aneurysmal varix_ is sometimes met with in the region of the popliteal
43028 space. It is characterised by the usual symptoms, and is treated by
43029 palliative measures, or by ligation of the artery above and below the
43030 point of communication.
43031
43032 _Aneurysm_ in the #leg and foot# is rare. It is almost always traumatic,
43033 and is treated by excision of the sac.
43034
43035
43036
43037
43038 CHAPTER XV
43039
43040 THE LYMPH VESSELS AND GLANDS
43041
43042
43043 Anatomy and Physiology--INJURIES OF LYMPH VESSELS--_Wounds of
43044 thoracic duct_--DISEASES OF LYMPH VESSELS--Lymphangitis:
43045 _Varieties_--Lymphangiectasis--Filarial
43046 disease--Lymphangioma--DISEASES OF LYMPH
43047 GLANDS--Lymphadenitis: _Septic_; _Tuberculous_;
43048 _Syphilitic_--Lymphadenoma--Leucocythaemia--TUMOURS.
43049
43050 #Surgical Anatomy and Physiology.#--Lymph is essentially blood plasma,
43051 which has passed through the walls of capillaries. After bathing
43052 and nourishing the tissues, it is collected by lymph vessels, which
43053 return it to the blood stream by way of the thoracic duct. These lymph
43054 vessels take origin in the lymph spaces of the tissues and in the
43055 walls of serous cavities, and they usually run alongside blood
43056 vessels--_perivascular lymph vessels_. They have a structure similar to
43057 that of veins, but are more abundantly provided with valves. Along the
43058 course of the lymph trunks are the _lymph glands_, which possess a
43059 definite capsule and are composed of a reticulated connective tissue,
43060 the spaces of which are packed with leucocytes. The glands act as
43061 filters, arresting not only inert substances, such as blood pigment
43062 circulating in the lymph, but also living elements, such as cancer cells
43063 or bacteria. As it passes through a gland the lymph is brought into
43064 intimate contact with the leucocytes, and in bacterial infections there
43065 is always a struggle between the organisms and the leucocytes, so that
43066 the glands may be looked upon as an important line of defence, retarding
43067 or preventing the passage of bacteria and their products into the
43068 general circulation. The infective agent, moreover, in order to reach
43069 the blood stream, must usually overcome the resistance of several
43070 glands.
43071
43072 Lymph glands are, for the most part, arranged in groups or chains, such
43073 as those in the axilla, neck, and groin. In any given situation they
43074 vary in number and size in different individuals, and fresh glands may
43075 be formed on comparatively slight stimulus, and disappear when the
43076 stimulus is withdrawn. The best-known example of this is the increase in
43077 the number of glands in the axilla which takes place during lactation;
43078 when this function ceases, many of the glands become involuted and are
43079 transformed into fat, and in the event of a subsequent lactation they
43080 are again developed. After glands have been removed by operation, new
43081 ones may be formed.
43082
43083 The following are the more important groups of glands, and the areas
43084 drained by them in the head and neck and in the extremities.
43085
43086 #Head and Neck.#--_The anterior auricular (parotid and pre-auricular)
43087 glands_ lie beneath the parotid fascia in front of the ear, and some
43088 are partly embedded in the substance of the parotid gland; they drain
43089 the parts about the temple, cheek, eyelids, and auricle, and are
43090 frequently the seat of tuberculous disease. _The occipital gland_,
43091 situated over the origin of the trapezius from the superior curved line,
43092 drains the top and back of the head; it is rarely infected. _The
43093 posterior auricular (mastoid) glands_ lie over the mastoid process, and
43094 drain the side of the head and auricle. These three groups pour their
43095 lymph into the superficial cervical glands. _The submaxillary_--two to
43096 six in number--lie along the lower order of the mandible from the
43097 symphysis to the angle, the posterior ones (paramandibular) being
43098 closely connected with the submaxillary salivary gland. They receive
43099 lymph from the face, lips, floor of the mouth, gums, teeth, anterior
43100 part of tongue, and the alae nasi, and from the pre-auricular glands. The
43101 lymph passes from them into the deeper cervical glands. They are
43102 frequently infected with tubercle, with epithelioma which has spread to
43103 them from the mouth, and also with pyogenic organisms. _The submental
43104 glands_ lie in or close to the median line between the anterior bellies
43105 of the digastric muscles, and receive lymph from the lips. It is rare
43106 for them to be the seat of tubercle, but in epithelioma of the lower lip
43107 and floor of the mouth they are infected at an early stage of the
43108 disease. _The supra-hyoid gland_ lies a little farther back, immediately
43109 above the hyoid bone, and receives lymph from the tongue. _The
43110 superficial cervical (external jugular) glands_, when present, lie along
43111 the external jugular vein, and receives lymph from the occipital and
43112 auricular glands and from the auricle. _The sterno-mastoid
43113 glands_--glandulae concatinatae--form a chain along the posterior edge of
43114 the sterno-mastoid muscle, some of them lying beneath the muscle. They
43115 are commonly enlarged in secondary syphilis. _The superior deep cervical
43116 (internal jugular) glands_--from six to twenty in number--form a
43117 continuous chain along the internal jugular vein, beneath the
43118 sterno-mastoid muscle. They drain the various groups of glands which lie
43119 nearer the surface, also the interior of the skull, the larynx, trachea,
43120 thyreoid, and lower part of the pharynx, and pour their lymph into the
43121 main trunks at the root of the neck. Belonging to this group is one
43122 large gland (the tonsillar gland) which lies behind the posterior belly
43123 of the digastric, and rests in the angle between the internal jugular
43124 and common facial veins. It is commonly enlarged in affections of the
43125 tonsil and posterior part of the tongue. In the same group are three or
43126 four glands which lie entirely under cover of the upper end of the
43127 sterno-mastoid muscle, and surround the accessory nerve before it
43128 perforates the muscle. The deep cervical glands are commonly infected by
43129 tubercle and also by epithelioma secondary to disease in the tongue or
43130 throat. _The inferior deep cervical (supra-clavicular) glands_ lie in
43131 the posterior triangle, above the clavicle. They receive lymph from the
43132 lowest cervical glands, from the upper part of the chest wall, and from
43133 the highest axillary glands. They are frequently infected in cancer of
43134 the breast; those on the left side also in cancer of the stomach. The
43135 removal of diseased supra-clavicular glands is not to be lightly
43136 undertaken, as difficulties are liable to ensue in connection with the
43137 thoracic duct, the pleura, or the junction of the subclavian and
43138 internal jugular veins. _The retro-pharyngeal glands_ lie on each side
43139 of the median line upon the rectus capitis anticus major muscle and in
43140 front of the pre-vertebral layer of the cervical fascia. They receive
43141 part of the lymph from the posterior wall of the pharynx, the interior
43142 of the nose and its accessory cavities, the auditory (Eustachian) tube,
43143 and the tympanum. When they are infected with pyogenic organisms or
43144 with tubercle bacilli, they may lead to the formation of one form of
43145 retro-pharyngeal abscess.
43146
43147 #Upper Extremity.#--_The epi-trochlear and cubital glands_ vary in
43148 number, that most commonly present lying about an inch and a half above
43149 the medial epi-condyle, and other and smaller glands may lie along the
43150 medial (internal) bicipital groove or at the bend of the elbow. They
43151 drain the ulnar side of the hand and forearm, and pour their lymph into
43152 the axillary group. The epi-trochlear gland is sometimes enlarged in
43153 syphilis. _The axillary glands_ are arranged in groups: a central group
43154 lies embedded in the axillary fascia and fat, and is often related to an
43155 opening in it; a posterior or subscapular group lies along the line of
43156 the subscapular vessels; anterior or pectoral groups lie behind the
43157 pectoralis minor, along the medial side of the axillary vein, and an
43158 inter-pectoral group, between the two pectoral muscles. The axillary
43159 glands receive lymph from the arm, mamma, and side of the chest, and
43160 pass it on into the lowest cervical glands and the main lymph trunk.
43161 They are frequently the seat of pyogenic, tuberculous, and cancerous
43162 infection, and their complete removal is an essential part of the
43163 operation for cancer of the breast.
43164
43165 #Lower Extremity.#--_The popliteal glands_ include one superficial gland
43166 at the termination of the small saphenous vein, and several deeper ones
43167 in relation to the popliteal vessels. They receive lymph from the toes
43168 and foot, and transmit it to the inguinal glands. _The femoral glands_
43169 lie vertically along the upper part of the great saphenous vein, and
43170 receive lymph from the leg and foot; from them the lymph passes to the
43171 deep inguinal and external iliac glands. The femoral glands often
43172 participate in pyogenic infections entering through the skin of the toes
43173 and sole of the foot. _The superficial inguinal glands_ lie along the
43174 inguinal (Poupart's) ligament, and receive lymph from the external
43175 genitals, anus, perineum, buttock, and anterior abdominal wall. The
43176 lymph passes on to the deep inguinal and external iliac glands. The
43177 superficial glands through their relations to the genitals are
43178 frequently the subject of venereal infection, and also of epithelioma
43179 when this disease affects the genitals or anus; they are rarely the seat
43180 of tuberculosis. _The deep inguinal glands_ lie on the medial side of
43181 the femoral vein, and sometimes within the femoral canal. They receive
43182 lymph from the deep lymphatics of the lower limb, and some of the
43183 efferent vessels from the femoral and superficial inguinal glands. The
43184 lymph then passes on through the femoral canal to the external iliac
43185 glands. The extension of malignant disease, whether cancer or sarcoma,
43186 can often be traced along these deeper lymphatics into the pelvis, and
43187 as the obstruction to the flow of lymph increases there is a
43188 corresponding increase in the swollen dropsical condition of the lower
43189 limb on the same side.
43190
43191 The glands of the _thorax_ and _abdomen_ will be considered with the
43192 surgery of these regions.
43193
43194
43195 INJURIES OF LYMPH VESSELS
43196
43197 Lymph vessels are divided in all wounds, and the lymph that escapes from
43198 them is added to any discharge that may be present. In injuries of
43199 larger trunks the lymph may escape in considerable quantity as a
43200 colourless, watery fluid--_lymphorrhagia_; and the opening through which
43201 it escapes is known as a _lymphatic fistula_. This has been observed
43202 chiefly after extensive operation for the removal of malignant glands in
43203 the groin where there already exists a considerable degree of
43204 obstruction to the lymph stream, and in such cases the lymph, including
43205 that which has accumulated in the vessels of the limb, may escape in
43206 such abundance as to soak through large dressings and delay healing.
43207 Ultimately new lymph channels are formed, so that at the end of from
43208 four to six weeks the discharge of lymph ceases and the wound heals.
43209
43210 _Lymphatic Oedema._--When the lymphatic return from a limb has been
43211 seriously interfered with,--as, for example, when the axillary contents
43212 has been completely cleared out in operating for cancer of the
43213 breast,--a condition of lymphatic oedema may result, the arm becoming
43214 swollen, tight, and heavy.
43215
43216 Various degrees of the conditions are met with; in the severe forms,
43217 there is pain, as well as incapacity of the limb. As in ordinary oedema,
43218 the condition is relieved by elevation of the limb, but not nearly to
43219 the same degree; in time the tissues become so hard and tense as
43220 scarcely to pit on pressure; this is in part due to the formation of new
43221 connective tissue and hypertrophy of the skin; in advanced cases there
43222 is a gradual transition into one form of elephantiasis.
43223
43224 Handley has devised a method of treatment--_lymphangioplasty_--the
43225 object of which is to drain the lymph by embedding a number of silk
43226 threads in the subcutaneous cellular tissue.
43227
43228 #Wounds of the Thoracic Duct.#--The thoracic duct usually opens at the
43229 angle formed by the junction of the left internal jugular and subclavian
43230 veins, but it may open into either of these vessels by one or by several
43231 channels, or the duct may be double throughout its course. There is a
43232 smaller duct on the right side--the right lymphatic duct. The duct or
43233 ducts may be displaced by a tumour or a mass of enlarged glands, and may
43234 be accidentally wounded in dissections at the root of the neck; jets of
43235 milky fluid--chyle--may at once escape from it. The jets are rhythmical
43236 and coincide with expiration. The injury may, however, not be observed
43237 at the time of operation, but later through the dressings being soaked
43238 with chyle--_chylorrhoea_. If the wound involves the only existing main
43239 duct and all the chyle escapes, the patient suffers from intense thirst,
43240 emaciation, and weakness, and may die of inanition; but if, as is
43241 usually the case, only one of several collateral channels is implicated,
43242 the loss of chyle may be of little moment, as the discharge usually
43243 ceases. If the wound heals so that the chyle is prevented from escaping,
43244 a fluctuating swelling may form beneath the scar; in course of time it
43245 gradually disappears.
43246
43247 An attempt should be made to close the wound in the duct by means of a
43248 fine suture; failing this, the duct must be occluded by a ligature as if
43249 it were a bleeding artery. The tissues are then stitched over it and the
43250 skin wound accurately closed, so as to obtain primary union, firm
43251 pressure being applied by dressings and an elastic webbing bandage. Even
43252 if the main duct is obliterated, a collateral circulation is usually
43253 established. A wound of the right lymphatic duct is of less importance.
43254
43255 _Subcutaneous rupture of the thoracic duct_ may result from a crush of
43256 the thorax. The chyle escapes and accumulates in the cellular tissue of
43257 the posterior mediastinum, behind the peritoneum, in the pleural cavity
43258 (_chylo-thorax_), or in the peritoneal cavity (_chylous ascites_). There
43259 are physical signs of fluid in one or other of these situations, but, as
43260 a rule, the nature of the lesion is only recognised when chyle is
43261 withdrawn by the exploring needle.
43262
43263
43264 DISEASES OF LYMPH VESSELS
43265
43266 #Lymphangitis.#--Inflammation of peripheral lymph vessels usually
43267 results from some primary source of pyogenic infection in the skin. This
43268 may be a wound or a purulent blister, and the streptococcus pyogenes is
43269 the organism most frequently present. _Septic_ lymphangitis is commonly
43270 met with in those who, from the nature of their occupation, handle
43271 infective material. A _gonococcal_ form has been observed in those
43272 suffering from gonorrhoea.
43273
43274 The inflammation affects chiefly the walls of the vessels, and is
43275 attended with clotting of the lymph. There is also some degree of
43276 inflammation of the surrounding cellular tissue--_peri-lymphangitis_.
43277 One or more abscesses may form along the course of the vessels, or a
43278 spreading cellulitis may supervene.
43279
43280 The _clinical features_ resemble those of other pyogenic infections, and
43281 there are wavy red lines running from the source of infection towards
43282 the nearest lymph glands. These correspond to the inflamed vessels, and
43283 are the seat of burning pain and tenderness. The associated glands are
43284 enlarged and painful. In severe cases the symptoms merge into those of
43285 septicaemia. When the deep lymph vessels alone are involved, the
43286 superficial red lines are absent, but the limb becomes greatly swollen
43287 and pits on pressure.
43288
43289 In cases of extensive lymphangitis, especially when there are repeated
43290 attacks, the vessels are obliterated by the formation of new connective
43291 tissue and a persistent solid oedema results, culminating in one form of
43292 elephantiasis.
43293
43294 _Treatment._--The primary source of infection is dealt with on the usual
43295 lines. If the lymphangitis affects an extremity, Bier's elastic bandage
43296 is applied, and if suppuration occurs, the pus is let out through one or
43297 more small incisions; in other parts of the body Klapp's suction bells
43298 are employed. An autogenous vaccine may be prepared and injected. When
43299 the condition has subsided, the limb is massaged and evenly bandaged to
43300 promote the disappearance of oedema.
43301
43302 _Tuberculous Lymphangitis._--Although lymph vessels play an important
43303 role in the spread of tuberculosis, the clinical recognition of the
43304 disease in them is exceptional. The infection spreads upwards along the
43305 superficial lymphatics, which become nodularly thickened; at one or more
43306 points, larger, peri-lymphangitic nodules may form and break down into
43307 abscesses and ulcers; the nearest group of glands become infected at an
43308 early stage. When the disease is widely distributed throughout the
43309 lymphatics of the limb, it becomes swollen and hard--a condition
43310 illustrated by lupus elephantiasis.
43311
43312 _Syphilitic lymphangitis_ is observed in cases of primary syphilis, in
43313 which the vessels of the dorsum of the penis can be felt as indurated
43314 cords.
43315
43316 In addition to acting as channels for the conveyance of bacterial
43317 infection, _lymph vessels frequently convey the cells of malignant
43318 tumours_, and especially cancer, from the seat of the primary disease to
43319 the nearest lymph glands, and they may themselves become the seat of
43320 cancerous growth forming nodular cords. The permeation of cancer by way
43321 of the lymphatics, described by Sampson Handley, has already been
43322 referred to.
43323
43324 #Lymphangiectasis# is a dilated or varicose condition of lymph vessels.
43325 It is met with as a congenital affection in the tongue and lips, or it
43326 may be acquired as the result of any condition which is attended with
43327 extensive obliteration or blocking of the main lymph trunks. An
43328 interesting type of lymphangiectasis is that which results from the
43329 presence of the _filaria Bancrofti_ in the vessels, and is observed
43330 chiefly in the groin, spermatic cord, and scrotum of persons who have
43331 lived in the tropics.
43332
43333 _Filarial disease in the lymphatics of the groin_ appears as a soft,
43334 doughy swelling, varying in size from a walnut to a cocoa-nut; it may
43335 partly disappear on pressure and when the patient lies down.
43336
43337 The patient gives a history of feverish attacks of the nature of
43338 lymphangitis during which the swelling becomes painful and tender. These
43339 attacks may show a remarkable periodicity, and each may be followed by
43340 an increase in the size of the swelling, which may extend along the
43341 inguinal canal into the abdomen, or down the spermatic cord into the
43342 scrotum. On dissection, the swelling is found to be made up of dilated,
43343 tortuous, and thickened lymph vessels in which the parent worm is
43344 sometimes found, and of greatly enlarged lymph glands which have
43345 undergone fibrosis, with giant-cell formation and eosinophile
43346 aggregations. The fluid in the dilated vessels is either clear or
43347 turbid, in the latter case resembling chyle. The affection is frequently
43348 bilateral, and may be associated with lymph scrotum, with elephantiasis,
43349 and with chyluria.
43350
43351 The _diagnosis_ is to be made from such other swellings in the groin as
43352 hernia, lipoma, or cystic pouching of the great saphenous vein. It is
43353 confirmed by finding the recently dead or dying worms in the inflamed
43354 lymph glands.
43355
43356 _Treatment._--When the disease is limited to the groin or scrotum,
43357 excision may bring about a permanent cure, but it may result in the
43358 formation of lymphatic sinuses and only afford temporary relief.
43359
43360 #Lymphangioma.#--A lymphangioma is a swelling composed of a series of
43361 cavities and channels filled with lymph and freely communicating with
43362 one another. The cavities result either from the new formation of lymph
43363 spaces or vessels, or from the dilatation of those which already exist;
43364 their walls are composed of fibro-areolar tissue lined by endothelium
43365 and strengthened by non-striped muscle. They are rarely provided with a
43366 definite capsule, and frequently send prolongations of their substance
43367 between and into muscles and other structures in their vicinity. They
43368 are of congenital origin and usually make their appearance at or shortly
43369 after birth. When the tumour is made up of a meshwork of caverns and
43370 channels, it is called a _cavernous lymphangioma_; when it is composed
43371 of one or more cysts, it is called a _cystic lymphangioma_. It is
43372 probable that the cysts are derived from the caverns by breaking down
43373 and absorption of the intervening septa, as transition forms between the
43374 cavernous and cystic varieties are sometimes met with.
43375
43376 The _cavernous lymphangioma_ appears as an ill-defined, soft swelling,
43377 presenting many of the characters of a subcutaneous haemangioma, but it
43378 is not capable of being emptied by pressure, it does not become tense
43379 when the blood pressure is raised, as in crying, and if the tumour is
43380 punctured, it yields lymph instead of blood. It also resembles a lipoma,
43381 especially the congenital variety which grows from the periosteum, and
43382 the differential diagnosis between these is rarely completed until the
43383 swelling is punctured or explored by operation. If treatment is called
43384 for, it is carried out on the same lines as for haemangioma, by means of
43385 electrolysis, igni-puncture, or excision. Complete excision is rarely
43386 possible because of the want of definition and encapsulation, but it is
43387 not necessary for cure, as the parts that remain undergo cicatrisation.
43388
43389 [Illustration: FIG. 76.--Congenital Cystic Tumour or Hygroma of Axilla.
43390
43391 (From a photograph lent by Dr. Lediard.)]
43392
43393 The _cystic lymphangioma_, _lymphatic cyst_, or _congenital cystic
43394 hygroma_ is most often met with in the neck--_hydrocele of the neck_; it
43395 is situated beneath the deep fascia, and projects either in front of or
43396 behind the sterno-mastoid muscle. It may attain a large size, the
43397 overlying skin and cyst wall may be so thin as to be translucent, and it
43398 has been known to cause serious impairment of respiration through
43399 pressing on the trachea. In the axilla also the cystic tumour may attain
43400 a considerable size (Fig. 76); less frequent situations are the groin,
43401 and the floor of the mouth, where it constitutes one form of ranula.
43402
43403 The nature of these swellings is to be recognised by their situation, by
43404 their having existed from infancy, and, if necessary, by drawing off
43405 some of the contents of the cyst through a fine needle. They are usually
43406 remarkably indolent, persisting often for a long term of years without
43407 change, and, like the haemangioma, they sometimes undergo spontaneous
43408 cicatrisation and cure. Sometimes the cystic tumour becomes infected and
43409 forms an abscess--another, although less desirable, method of cure.
43410 Those situated in the neck are most liable to suppurate, probably
43411 because of pyogenic organisms being brought to them by the lymphatics
43412 taking origin in the scalp, ear, or throat.
43413
43414 If operative interference is called for, the cysts may be tapped and
43415 injected with iodine, or excised; the operation for removal may entail a
43416 considerable dissection amongst the deeper structures at the root of the
43417 neck, and should not be lightly undertaken; parts left behind may be
43418 induced to cicatrise by inserting a tube of radium and leaving it for a
43419 few days.
43420
43421 Lymphangiomas are met with in the abdomen in the form of _omental
43422 cysts_.
43423
43424
43425 DISEASES OF LYMPH GLANDS
43426
43427 #Lymphadenitis.#--Inflammation of lymph glands results from the advent
43428 of an irritant, usually bacterial or toxic, brought to the glands by the
43429 afferent lymph vessels. These vessels may share in the inflammation and
43430 be the seat of lymphangitis, or they may show no evidence of the passage
43431 of the noxa. It is exceptional for the irritant to reach the gland
43432 through the blood-stream.
43433
43434 A strain or other form of trauma is sometimes blamed for the onset of
43435 lymphadenitis, especially in the glands of the groin (bubo), but it is
43436 usually possible to discover some source of pyogenic infection which is
43437 responsible for the mischief, or to obtain a history of some antecedent
43438 infection such as gonorrhoea. It is possible for gonococci to lie latent
43439 in the inguinal glands for long periods, and only give rise to
43440 lymphadenitis if the glands be subsequently subjected to injury. The
43441 glands most frequently affected are those in the neck, axilla, and
43442 groin.
43443
43444 The characters of the lymphadenitis vary with the nature of the
43445 irritant. Sometimes it is mild and evanescent, as in the glandular
43446 enlargement in the neck which attends tonsillitis and other forms of
43447 sore throat. Sometimes it is more persistent, as in the enlargement
43448 that is associated with adenoids, hypertrophied tonsils, carious teeth,
43449 eczema of the scalp, and otorrhoea; and it is possible that this indolent
43450 enlargement predisposes to tuberculous infection. A similar enlargement
43451 is met with in the axilla in cases of chronic interstitial mastitis, and
43452 in the groin as a result of chronic irritation about the external
43453 genitals, such as balanitis.
43454
43455 Sometimes the lymphadenitis is of an acute character, and the tendency
43456 is towards the formation of an abscess. This is illustrated in the
43457 axillary glands as a result of infected wounds of the fingers; in the
43458 femoral glands in infected wounds or purulent blisters on the foot; in
43459 the inguinal glands in gonorrhoea and soft sore; and in the cervical
43460 glands in the severer forms of sore throat associated with diphtheria
43461 and scarlet fever. The most acute suppurations result from infection
43462 with streptococci.
43463
43464 Superficial glands, when inflamed and suppurating, become enlarged,
43465 tender, fixed, and matted to one another. In the glands of the groin the
43466 suppurative process is often remarkably sluggish; purulent foci form in
43467 the interior of individual glands, and some time may elapse before the
43468 pus erupts through their respective capsules. In the deeply placed
43469 cervical glands, especially in cases of streptococcal throat infections,
43470 the suppuration rapidly involves the surrounding cellular tissue, and
43471 the clinical features are those of an acute cellulitis and deeply seated
43472 abscess. When this is incised the necrosed glands may be found lying in
43473 the pus, and on bacteriological examination are found to be swarming
43474 with streptococci. In suppuration of the axillary glands the abscess may
43475 be quite superficial, or it may be deeply placed beneath the strong
43476 fascia and pectoral muscles, according to the group of glands involved.
43477
43478 The _diagnosis_ of septic lymphadenitis is usually easy. The indolent
43479 enlargements are not always to be distinguished, however, from
43480 commencing tuberculous disease, except by the use of the tuberculin
43481 test, and by the fact that they usually disappear on removing the
43482 peripheral source of irritation.
43483
43484 _Treatment._--The first indication is to discover and deal with the
43485 source of infection, and in the indolent forms of lymphadenitis this
43486 will usually be followed by recovery. In the acute forms following on
43487 pyogenic infection, the best results are obtained from the hyperaemic
43488 treatment carried out by means of suction bells. If suppuration is not
43489 thereby prevented, or if it has already taken place, each separate
43490 collection of pus is punctured with a narrow-bladed knife and the use of
43491 the suction bell is persevered with. If there is a large periglandular
43492 abscess, as is often the case, in the neck and axilla, the opening may
43493 require to be made by Hilton's method, and it may be necessary to insert
43494 a drainage-tube.
43495
43496 [Illustration: FIG. 77.--Tuberculous Cervical Gland with abscess
43497 formation in subcutaneous cellular tissue, in a boy aet. 10.]
43498
43499 #Tuberculous Disease of Glands.#--This is a disease of great frequency
43500 and importance. The tubercle bacilli usually gain access to the gland
43501 through the afferent lymph vessels, which convey them from some lesion
43502 of the surface within the area drained by them. Tuberculous infection
43503 may supervene in glands that are already enlarged as a result of chronic
43504 septic irritation. While any of the glands in the body may be affected,
43505 the disease is most often met with in the cervical groups which derive
43506 their lymph from the mouth, nose, throat, and ear.
43507
43508 _The appearance of the glands on section_ varies with the stage of the
43509 disease. In the early stages the gland is enlarged, it may be to many
43510 times its natural size, is normal in appearance and consistence, and as
43511 there is no peri-adenitis it is easily shelled out from its
43512 surroundings. On microscopical examination, however, there is evidence
43513 of infection in the shape of bacilli and of characteristic giant and
43514 epithelioid cells. At a later stage, the gland tissue is studded with
43515 minute yellow foci which tend to enlarge and in time to become
43516 confluent, so that the whole gland is ultimately converted into a
43517 caseous mass. This caseous material is surrounded by the thickened
43518 capsule which, as a result of peri-adenitis, tends to become adherent to
43519 and fused with surrounding structures, and particularly with layers of
43520 fascia and with the walls of veins. The caseated tissue often remains
43521 unchanged for long periods; it may become calcified, but more frequently
43522 it breaks down and liquefies.
43523
43524 #Tuberculous disease in the cervical glands# is a common accompaniment
43525 or sequel of adenoids, enlarged tonsils, carious teeth, pharyngitis,
43526 middle-ear disease, and conjunctivitis. These lesions afford the bacilli
43527 a chance of entry into the lymph vessels, in which they are carried to
43528 the glands, where they give rise to disease.
43529
43530 The enlargement may affect only one gland, usually below the angle of
43531 the mandible, and remain confined to it, the gland reaching the size of
43532 a hazel-nut, and being ovoid, firm, and painless. More commonly the
43533 disease affects several glands, on one or on both sides of the neck.
43534 When the disease commences in the pre-auricular or submaxillary glands,
43535 it tends to spread to those along the carotid sheath: when the posterior
43536 auricular and occipital glands are first involved, the spread is to
43537 those along the posterior border of the sterno-mastoid. In many cases
43538 all the chains in front of, beneath, and behind this muscle are
43539 involved, the enlarged glands extending from the mastoid to the
43540 clavicle. They are at first discrete and movable, and may even vary in
43541 size from time to time; but with the addition of peri-adenitis they
43542 become fixed and matted together, forming lobulated or nodular masses
43543 (Fig. 78). They become adherent not only to one another, but also to the
43544 structures in their vicinity,--and notably to the internal jugular
43545 vein,--a point of importance in regard to their removal by operation.
43546
43547 At any stage the disease may be arrested and the glands remain for long
43548 periods without further change. It is possible that the tuberculous
43549 tissue may undergo cicatrisation. More commonly suppuration ensues, and
43550 a cold abscess forms, but if there is a mixed infection, the pyogenic
43551 factor being usually derived from the throat, it may take on active
43552 features.
43553
43554 [Illustration: FIG. 78.--Mass of Tuberculous Glands removed from Axilla
43555 (cf. Fig. 79).]
43556
43557 The transition from the solid to the liquefied stage is attended with
43558 pain and tenderness in the gland, which at the same time becomes fixed
43559 and globular, and finally fluctuation can be elicited.
43560
43561 If left to itself, the softened tubercle erupts through the capsule of
43562 the gland and infects the cellular tissue. The cervical fascia is
43563 perforated and a cold abscess, often much larger than the gland from
43564 which it took origin, forms between the fascia and the overlying skin.
43565 The further stages--reddening, undermining of skin and external rupture,
43566 with the formation of ulcers and sinuses--have been described with
43567 tuberculous abscess. The ulcers and sinuses persist indefinitely, or
43568 they heal and then break out again; sometimes the skin becomes infected,
43569 and a condition like lupus spreads over a considerable area. Spontaneous
43570 healing finally takes place after the caseous tubercle has been
43571 extruded; the resulting scars are extremely unsightly, being puckered or
43572 bridled, or hypertrophied like keloid.
43573
43574 While the disease is most common in childhood and youth, it may be met
43575 with even in advanced life; and although often associated with impaired
43576 health and unhealthy surroundings, it may affect those who are
43577 apparently robust and are in affluent circumstances.
43578
43579 _Diagnosis._--The chief importance lies in differentiating tuberculous
43580 disease from lympho-sarcoma and from lymphadenoma, and this is usually
43581 possible from the history and from the nature of the enlargement. Signs
43582 of liquefaction and suppuration support the diagnosis of tubercle. If
43583 any doubt remains, one of the glands should be removed and submitted to
43584 microscopical examination. Other forms of sarcoma, and the enlargement
43585 of an accessory thyreoid, are less likely to be confused with
43586 tuberculous glands. Calcified tuberculous glands give definite shadows
43587 with the X-rays.
43588
43589 Enlargement of the cervical glands from secondary cancer may simulate
43590 tuberculosis, but is differentiated by its association with cancer in
43591 the mouth or throat, and by the characteristic, stone-like induration of
43592 epithelioma.
43593
43594 The cold abscess which results from tuberculous glands is to be
43595 distinguished from that due to disease in the cervical spine,
43596 retro-pharyngeal abscess, as well as from congenital and other cystic
43597 swellings in the neck.
43598
43599 _Prognosis._--Next to lupus, glandular disease is of all tuberculous
43600 lesions the least dangerous to life; but while it is the rule to recover
43601 from tuberculous disease of glands with or without an operation, it is
43602 unfortunately quite common for such persons to become the subjects of
43603 tuberculosis in other parts of the body at any subsequent period of
43604 life.
43605
43606 _Treatment._--There is considerable difference of opinion regarding the
43607 treatment of glandular tuberculosis. Some authorities, impressed with
43608 the undoubted possibility of natural cure, are satisfied with promoting
43609 this by measures directed towards improving the general health, by the
43610 prolonged administration of tuberculin, and by repeated exposures to the
43611 X-rays and to sunlight. Others again, influenced by the risk of
43612 extension of the disease and by the destruction of tissue and
43613 disfigurement caused by breaking down of the tuberculous tissue and
43614 mixed infection, advocate the removal of the glands by operation.
43615
43616 The conditions vary widely in different cases, and the treatment should
43617 be adapted to the individual requirements. If the disease remains
43618 confined to the glands originally infected and there are no signs of
43619 breaking down, "expectant measures" may be persevered with.
43620
43621 [Illustration: FIG. 79.--Tuberculous Axillary Glands (cf. Fig. 78).]
43622
43623 If, on the other hand, the disease exhibits aggressive tendencies, the
43624 question of operation should be considered. The undesirable results of
43625 the breaking down and liquefaction of the diseased gland may be avoided
43626 by the timely withdrawal of the fluid contents through a hollow needle.
43627
43628 _The excision of tuberculous glands_ is often a difficult operation,
43629 because of the number and deep situation of the glands to be removed,
43630 and of the adhesions to surrounding structures. The skin incision must
43631 be sufficiently extensive to give access to the whole of the affected
43632 area, and to avoid disfigurement should, whenever possible, be made in
43633 the line of the natural creases of the skin. In exposing the glands the
43634 common facial and other venous trunks may require to be clamped and
43635 tied. Care must be taken not to injure the important nerves,
43636 particularly the accessory, the vagus, and the phrenic. The
43637 inframaxillary branches of the facial, the hypoglossal and its
43638 descending branches, and the motor branches of the deep cervical plexus,
43639 are also liable to be injured. The dissection is rendered easier and is
43640 attended with less risk of injury to the nerves, if the patient is
43641 placed in the sitting posture so as to empty the veins, and, instead of
43642 a knife, the conical scissors of Mayo are employed. When the glands are
43643 extensively affected on both sides of the neck, it is advisable to allow
43644 an interval to elapse rather than to operate on both sides at one
43645 sitting. (_Op. Surg._, p. 189.)
43646
43647 If the tonsils are enlarged they should not be removed at the same time,
43648 as, by so doing, there is a risk of pyogenic infection from the throat
43649 being carried to the wound in the neck, but they should be removed,
43650 after an interval, to prevent relapse of disease in the glands.
43651
43652 _When the skin is broken_ and caseous tuberculous tissue is exposed,
43653 healing is promoted by cutting away diseased skin, removing the
43654 granulation tissue with the spoon, scraping sinuses, and packing the
43655 cavity with iodoform worsted and treating it by the open method and
43656 secondary suture if necessary. Exposure to the sunshine on the seashore
43657 and to the X-rays is often beneficial in these cases.
43658
43659 #Tuberculous disease in the axillary glands# may be a result of
43660 extension from those in the neck, from the mamma, ribs, or sternum, or
43661 more rarely from the upper extremity. We have seen it from an infected
43662 wound of a finger. In some cases no source of infection is discoverable.
43663 The individual glands attain a considerable size, and they fuse together
43664 to form a large tumour which fills up the axillary space. The disease
43665 progresses more rapidly than it does in the cervical glands, and almost
43666 always goes on to suppuration with the formation of sinuses.
43667 Conservative measures need not be considered, as the only satisfactory
43668 treatment is excision, and that without delay.
43669
43670 #Tuberculous disease in the glands of the groin# is comparatively rare.
43671 We have chiefly observed it in the femoral glands as a result of
43672 inoculation tubercle on the toes or sole of the foot. The affected
43673 glands nearly always break down and suppurate, and after destroying the
43674 overlying skin give rise to fungating ulcers. The treatment consists in
43675 excising the glands and the affected skin. The dissection may be
43676 attended with troublesome haemorrhage from the numerous veins that
43677 converge towards the femoral trunk.
43678
43679 Tuberculous disease in the _mesenteric_ and _bronchial glands_ is
43680 described with the surgery of regions.
43681
43682 #Syphilitic Disease of Glands.#--Enlargement of lymph glands is a
43683 prominent feature of acquired syphilis, especially in the form of the
43684 indolent or bullet-bubo which accompanies the primary lesion, and the
43685 general enlargement of glands that occurs in secondary syphilis.
43686 Gummatous disease in glands is extremely rare; the affected gland
43687 rapidly enlarges to the size of a walnut, and may then persist for a
43688 long period without further change; if it breaks down, the overlying
43689 skin is destroyed and the caseated tissue of the gumma exposed.
43690
43691 #Lymphadenoma.#--_Hodgkin's Disease_ (Pseudo-leukaemia of German
43692 authors).--This is a rare disease, the origin of which is as yet
43693 unknown, but analogy would suggest that it is due to infection with a
43694 slowly growing micro-organism. It is chiefly met with in young subjects,
43695 and is characterised by a painless enlargement of a particular group of
43696 glands, most commonly those in the cervical region (Fig. 80).
43697
43698 [Illustration: FIG. 80.--Chronic Hodgkin's Disease in a boy aet. 11.]
43699
43700 The glands are usually larger than in tuberculosis, and they remain
43701 longer discrete and movable; they are firm in consistence, and on
43702 section present a granular appearance due to overgrowth of the
43703 connective-tissue framework. In time the glandular masses may form
43704 enormous projecting tumours, the swelling being added to by lymphatic
43705 oedema of the overlying cellular tissue and skin.
43706
43707 The enlargement spreads along the chain of glands to those above the
43708 clavicle, to those in the axilla, and to those of the opposite side
43709 (Fig. 81). Later, the glands in the groin become enlarged, and it is
43710 probable that the infection has spread from the neck along the
43711 mediastinal, bronchial, retro-peritoneal, and mesenteric glands, and has
43712 branched off to the iliac and inguinal groups.
43713
43714 Two clinical types are recognised, one in which the disease progresses
43715 slowly and remains confined to the cervical glands for two or more
43716 years; the other, in which the disease is more rapidly disseminated and
43717 causes death in from twelve to eighteen months.
43718
43719 [Illustration: FIG. 81.--Lymphadenoma (Hodgkin's Disease) affecting left
43720 side of neck and left axilla, in a woman aet. 44. Three years' duration.]
43721
43722 In the acute form, the health suffers, there is fever, and the glands
43723 may vary in size with variations in the temperature; the blood presents
43724 the characters met with in secondary anaemia. The spleen, liver, testes,
43725 and mammae may be enlarged; the glandular swellings press on important
43726 structures, such as the trachea, oesophagus, or great veins, and symptoms
43727 referable to such pressure manifest themselves.
43728
43729 _Diagnosis._--Considerable difficulty attends the diagnosis of
43730 lymphadenoma at an early stage. The negative results of tuberculin tests
43731 may assist in the differentiation from tuberculous disease, but the more
43732 certain means of excising one of the suspected glands and submitting it
43733 to microscopical examination should be had recourse to. The sections
43734 show proliferation of endothelial cells, the formation of numerous giant
43735 cells quite unlike those of tuberculosis and a progressive fibrosis.
43736 Lympho-sarcoma can usually be differentiated by the rapid assumption of
43737 the local features of malignant disease, and in a gland removed for
43738 examination, a predominance of small round cells with scanty protoplasm.
43739 The enlargement associated with leucocythaemia is differentiated by the
43740 characteristic changes in the blood.
43741
43742 _Treatment._--In the acute form of lymphadenoma, treatment is of little
43743 avail. Arsenic may be given in full doses either by the mouth or by
43744 subcutaneous injection; the intravenous administration of neo-salvarsan
43745 may be tried. Exposure to the X-rays and to radium has been more
43746 successful than any other form of treatment. Excision of glands,
43747 although sometimes beneficial, seldom arrests the progress of the
43748 disease. The ease and rapidity with which large masses of glands may be
43749 shelled out is in remarkable contrast to what is observed in tuberculous
43750 disease. Surgical interference may give relief when important structures
43751 are being pressed upon--tracheotomy, for example, may be required where
43752 life is threatened by asphyxia.
43753
43754 #Leucocythaemia.#--This is a disease of the blood and of the
43755 blood-forming organs, in which there is a great increase in the number,
43756 and an alteration of the character, of the leucocytes present in the
43757 blood. It may simulate lymphadenoma, because, in certain forms of the
43758 disease, the lymph glands, especially those in the neck, axilla, and
43759 groin, are greatly enlarged.
43760
43761
43762 TUMOURS OF LYMPH GLANDS
43763
43764 #Primary Tumours.#--_Lympho-sarcoma_, which may be regarded as a sarcoma
43765 starting in a lymph gland, appears in the neck, axilla, or groin as a
43766 rapidly growing tumour consisting of one enlarged gland with numerous
43767 satellites. As the tumour increases in size, the sarcomatous tissue
43768 erupts through the capsule of the gland, and infiltrates the surrounding
43769 tissues, whereby it becomes fixed to these and to the skin.
43770
43771 [Illustration: FIG. 82.--Lympho-Sarcoma removed from Groin. It will be
43772 observed that there is one large central parent tumour surrounded by
43773 satellites.]
43774
43775 The prognosis is grave in the extreme, and the only hope is in early
43776 excision, followed by the use of radium and X-rays. We have observed a
43777 case of lympho-sarcoma above the clavicle, in which excision of all that
43778 was removable, followed by the insertion of a tube of radium for ten
43779 days, was followed by a disappearance of the disease over a period which
43780 extended to nearly five years, when death resulted from a tumour in the
43781 mediastinum. In a second case in which the growth was in the groin, the
43782 patient, a young man, remained well for over two years and was then lost
43783 sight of.
43784
43785 #Secondary Tumours.#--Next to tuberculosis, _secondary cancer_ is the
43786 most common disease of lymph glands. In the neck it is met with in
43787 association with epithelioma of the lip, tongue, or fauces. The glands
43788 form tumours of variable size, and are often larger than the primary
43789 growth, the characters of which they reproduce. The glands are at first
43790 movable, but soon become fixed both to each other and to their
43791 surroundings; when fixed to the mandible they form a swelling of
43792 bone-like hardness; in time they soften, liquefy, and burst through the
43793 skin, forming foul, fungating ulcers. A similar condition is met with in
43794 the groin from epithelioma of the penis, scrotum, or vulva. In cancer of
43795 the breast, the infection of the axillary glands is an important
43796 complication.
43797
43798 In _pigmented_ or _melanotic cancers_ of the skin, the glands are early
43799 infected and increase rapidly, so that, when the primary growth is still
43800 of small size--as, for example, on the sole of the foot--the femoral
43801 glands may already constitute large pigmented tumours.
43802
43803 [Illustration: FIG. 83.--Cancerous Glands in Neck secondary to
43804 Epithelioma of Lip.
43805
43806 (Mr. G. L. Chiene's case.)]
43807
43808 The implication of the glands in other forms of cancer will be
43809 considered with regional surgery.
43810
43811 _Secondary sarcoma_ is seldom met with in the lymph glands except when
43812 the primary growth is a lympho-sarcoma and is situated in the tonsil,
43813 thyreoid, or testicle.
43814
43815
43816
43817
43818 CHAPTER XVI
43819
43820 THE NERVES
43821
43822
43823 Anatomy--INJURIES OF NERVES: Changes in nerves after division;
43824 Repair and its modifications; Clinical features; _Primary and
43825 secondary suture_--SUBCUTANEOUS INJURIES OF
43826 NERVES--DISEASES: _Neuritis_; _Tumours_--Surgery of
43827 the individual nerves: _Brachial neuralgia_; _Sciatica_;
43828 _Trigeminal neuralgia_.
43829
43830 #Anatomy.#--A nerve-trunk is made up of a variable number of bundles of
43831 nerve fibres surrounded and supported by a framework of connective
43832 tissue. The nerve fibres are chiefly of the medullated type, and they
43833 run without interruption from a nerve cell or _neuron_ in the brain or
43834 spinal medulla to their peripheral terminations in muscle, skin, and
43835 secretory glands.
43836
43837 Each nerve fibre consists of a number of nerve fibrils collected into a
43838 central bundle--the axis cylinder--which is surrounded by an envelope,
43839 the neurolemma or sheath of Schwann. Between the neurolemma and the axis
43840 cylinder is the medullated sheath, composed of a fatty substance known
43841 as myelin. This medullated sheath is interrupted at the nodes of
43842 Ranvier, and in each internode is a nucleus lying between the myelin and
43843 the neurolemma. The axis cylinder is the essential conducting structure
43844 of the nerve, while the neurolemma and the myelin act as insulating
43845 agents. The axis cylinder depends for its nutrition on the central
43846 neuron with which it is connected, and from which it originally
43847 developed, and it degenerates if it is separated from its neuron.
43848
43849 The connective-tissue framework of a nerve-trunk consists of the
43850 _perineurium_, or general sheath, which surrounds all the bundles; the
43851 _epineurium_, surrounding individual groups of bundles; and the
43852 _endoneurium_, a delicate connective tissue separating the individual
43853 nerve fibres. The blood vessels and lymphatics run in these
43854 connective-tissue sheaths.
43855
43856 According to Head and his co-workers, Sherren and Rivers, the afferent
43857 fibres in the peripheral nerves can be divided into three systems:--
43858
43859 1. Those which subserve _deep sensibility_ and conduct the impulses
43860 produced by pressure as well as those which enable the patient to
43861 recognise the position of a joint on passive movement (joint-sensation),
43862 and the kinaesthetic sense, which recognises that active contraction of
43863 the muscle is taking place (active muscle-sensation). The fibres of this
43864 system run with the motor nerves, and pass to muscles, tendons, and
43865 joints. Even division of both the ulnar and the median nerves above the
43866 wrist produces little loss of deep sensibility, unless the tendons are
43867 also cut through. The failure to recognise this form of sensibility has
43868 been largely responsible for the conflicting statements as to the
43869 sensory phenomena following operations for the repair of divided nerves.
43870
43871 2. Those which subserve _protopathic_ sensibility--that is, are capable
43872 of responding to painful cutaneous stimuli and to the extremes of heat
43873 and cold. These also endow the hairs with sensibility to pain. They are
43874 the first to regenerate after division.
43875
43876 3. Those which subserve _epicritic_ sensibility, the most highly
43877 specialised, capable of appreciating light touch, _e.g._ with a wisp of
43878 cotton wool, as a well-localised sensation, and the finer grades of
43879 temperature, called cool and warm (72 o-104 o F.), and of discriminating
43880 as separate the points of a pair of compasses 2 cms. apart. These are
43881 the last to regenerate.
43882
43883 A nerve also exerts a trophic influence on the tissues in which it is
43884 distributed.
43885
43886 The researches of Stoffel on the minute anatomy of the larger nerves,
43887 and the disposition in them of the bundles of nerve fibres supplying
43888 different groups of muscles, have opened up what promises to be a
43889 fruitful field of clinical investigation and therapeutics. He has shown
43890 that in the larger nerve-trunks the nerve bundles for special groups of
43891 muscles are not, as was formerly supposed, arranged irregularly and
43892 fortuitously, but that on the contrary the nerve fibres to a particular
43893 group of muscles have a typical and practically constant position within
43894 the nerve.
43895
43896 In the large nerve-trunks of the limbs he has worked out the exact
43897 position of the bundles for the various groups of muscles, so that in a
43898 cross section of a particular nerve the component bundles can be
43899 labelled as confidently and accurately as can be the cortical areas in
43900 the brain. In the living subject, by using a fine needle-like electrode
43901 and a very weak galvanic current, he has been able to differentiate the
43902 nerve bundles for the various groups of muscles. In several cases of
43903 spastic paralysis he succeeded in picking out in the nerve-trunk of the
43904 affected limb the nerve bundles supplying the spastic muscles, and, by
43905 resecting portions of them, in relieving the spasm. In a case of spastic
43906 contracture of the pronator muscles of the forearm, for example, an
43907 incision is made along the line of the median nerve above the bend of
43908 the elbow. At the lateral side of the median nerve, where it lies in
43909 contact with the biceps muscle, is situated a well-defined and easily
43910 isolated bundle of fibres which supplies the pronator teres, the flexor
43911 carpi radialis, and the palmaris longus muscles. On incising the sheath
43912 of the nerve this bundle can be readily dissected up and its identity
43913 confirmed by stimulating it with a very weak galvanic current. An inch
43914 or more of the bundle is then resected.
43915
43916
43917 INJURIES OF NERVES
43918
43919 Nerves are liable to be cut or torn across, bruised, compressed,
43920 stretched, or torn away from their connections with the spinal medulla.
43921
43922 #Complete Division of a Mixed Nerve.#--Complete division is a common
43923 result of accidental wounds, especially above the wrist, where the
43924 ulnar, median, and radial nerves are frequently cut across, and in
43925 gun-shot injuries.
43926
43927 _Changes in Structure and Function._--The mere interruption of the
43928 continuity of a nerve results in degeneration of its fibres, the myelin
43929 being broken up into droplets and absorbed, while the axis cylinders
43930 swell up, disintegrate, and finally disappear. Both the conducting and
43931 the insulating elements are thus lost. The degeneration in the central
43932 end of the divided nerve is usually limited to the immediate proximity
43933 of the lesion, and does not even involve all the nerve fibres. In the
43934 distal end, it extends throughout the entire peripheral distribution of
43935 the nerve, and appears to be due to the cutting off of the fibres from
43936 their trophic nerve cells in the spinal medulla. Immediate suturing of
43937 the ends does not affect the degeneration of the distal segment. The
43938 peripheral end undergoes complete degeneration in from six weeks to two
43939 months.
43940
43941 The physiological effects of complete division are that the muscles
43942 supplied by the nerve are immediately paralysed, the area to which it
43943 furnishes the sole cutaneous supply becomes insensitive, and the other
43944 structures, including tendons, bones, and joints, lose sensation, and
43945 begin to atrophy from loss of the trophic influence.
43946
43947 #Nerves divided in Amputation.#--In the case of nerves divided in an
43948 amputation, there is an active, although necessarily abortive, attempt
43949 at regeneration, which results in the formation of bulbous swellings at
43950 the cut ends of the nerves. When there has been suppuration, and
43951 especially if the nerves have been cut so as to be exposed in the wound,
43952 these bulbous swellings may attain an abnormal size, and are then known
43953 as "amputation" or "stump neuromas" (Fig. 84).
43954
43955 When the nerves in a stump have not been cut sufficiently short, they
43956 may become involved in the cicatrix, and it may be necessary, on account
43957 of pain, to free them from their adhesions, and to resect enough of the
43958 terminal portions to prevent them again becoming adherent. When this is
43959 difficult, a portion may be resected from each of the nerve-trunks at a
43960 higher level; and if this fails to give relief, a fresh amputation may
43961 be performed. When there is agonising pain dependent upon an ascending
43962 neuritis, it may be necessary to resect the corresponding posterior
43963 nerve roots within the vertebral canal.
43964
43965 [Illustration: FIG. 84.--Stump Neuromas of Sciatic Nerve, excised forty
43966 years after the original amputation by Mr. A. G. Miller.]
43967
43968 #Other Injuries of Nerves.#--_Contusion_ of a nerve-trunk is attended
43969 with extravasation of blood into the connective-tissue sheaths, and is
43970 followed by degeneration of the contused nerve fibres. Function is
43971 usually restored, the conducting paths being re-established by the
43972 formation of new nerve fibres.
43973
43974 When a nerve is _torn across_ or badly _crushed_--as, for example, by a
43975 fractured bone--the changes are similar to those in a divided nerve, and
43976 the ultimate result depends on the amount of separation between the ends
43977 and the possibility of the young axis cylinders bridging the gap.
43978
43979 _Involvement of Nerves in Scar Tissue._--Pressure or traction may be
43980 exerted upon a nerve by contracting scar tissue, or a process of
43981 neuritis or perineuritis may be induced.
43982
43983 When terminal filaments are involved in a scar, it is best to dissect
43984 out the scar, and along with it the ends of the nerves pressed upon.
43985 When a nerve-trunk, such as the sciatic, is involved in cicatricial
43986 tissue, the nerve must be exposed and freed from its surroundings
43987 (_neurolysis_), and then stretched so as to tear any adhesions that may
43988 be present above or below the part exposed. It may be advisable to
43989 displace the liberated nerve from its original position so as to
43990 minimise the risk of its incorporation in the scar of the original wound
43991 or in that resulting from the operation--for example, the radial nerve
43992 may be buried in the substance of the triceps, or it may be surrounded
43993 by a segment of vein or portion of fat-bearing fascia.
43994
43995 _Injuries of nerves resulting from_ #gun-shot wounds# include: (1) those
43996 in which the nerve is directly damaged by the bullet, and (2) those in
43997 which the nerve-trunk is involved secondarily either by scar tissue in
43998 its vicinity or by callus following fracture of an adjacent bone. The
43999 primary injuries include contusion, partial or complete division, and
44000 perforation of the nerve-trunk. One of the most constant symptoms is the
44001 early occurrence of severe neuralgic pain, and this is usually
44002 associated with marked hyperaesthesia.
44003
44004 #Regeneration.#--_Process of Repair when the Ends are in Contact._--_If
44005 the wound is aseptic_, and the ends of the divided nerve are sutured or
44006 remain in contact, they become united, and the conducting paths are
44007 re-established by a regeneration of nerve fibres. There is a difference
44008 of opinion as to the method of regeneration. The Wallerian doctrine is
44009 that the axis cylinders in the central end grow downwards, and enter the
44010 nerve sheaths of the distal portion, and continue growing until they
44011 reach the peripheral terminations in muscle and skin, and in course of
44012 time acquire a myelin sheath; the cells of the neurolemma multiply and
44013 form long chains in both ends of the nerve, and are believed to provide
44014 for the nourishment and support of the actively lengthening axis
44015 cylinders. Another view is that the formation of new axis cylinders is
44016 not confined to the central end, but that it goes on also in the
44017 peripheral segment, in which, however, the new axis cylinders do not
44018 attain maturity until continuity with the central end has been
44019 re-established.
44020
44021 _If the wound becomes infected_ and suppuration occurs, the young nerve
44022 fibres are destroyed and efficient regeneration is prevented; the
44023 formation of scar tissue also may constitute a permanent obstacle to new
44024 nerve fibres bridging the gap.
44025
44026 _When the ends are not in contact_, reunion of the divided nerve fibres
44027 does not take place whether the wound is infected or not. At the
44028 proximal end there forms a bulbous swelling, which becomes adherent to
44029 the scar tissue. It consists of branching axis cylinders running in all
44030 directions, these having failed to reach the distal end because of the
44031 extent of the gap. The peripheral end is completely degenerated, and is
44032 represented by a fibrous cord, the cut end of which is often slightly
44033 swollen or bulbous, and is also incorporated with the scar tissue of
44034 the wound.
44035
44036 #Clinical Features.#--The symptoms resulting from division and non-union
44037 of a nerve-trunk necessarily vary with the functions of the affected
44038 nerve. The following description refers to a mixed sensori-motor trunk,
44039 such as the median or radial (musculo-spiral) nerve.
44040
44041 _Sensory Phenomena._--Superficial touch is tested by means of a wisp of
44042 cotton wool stroked gently across the skin; the capacity of
44043 discriminating two points as separate, by a pair of blunt-pointed
44044 compasses; the sensation of pressure, by means of a pencil or other
44045 blunt object; of pain, by pricking or scratching with a needle; and of
44046 sensibility to heat and cold, by test-tubes containing water at
44047 different temperatures. While these tests are being carried out, the
44048 patient's eyes are screened off.
44049
44050 After division of a nerve containing sensory fibres, there is an area of
44051 absolute cutaneous insensibility to touch (anaesthesia), to pain
44052 (analgesia), and to all degrees of temperature--_loss of protopathic
44053 sensibility_; surrounded by an area in which there is loss of sensation
44054 to light touch, inability to recognise minor differences of temperature
44055 (72 o-104 o F.), and to appreciate as separate impressions the contact of
44056 the two points of a compass--_loss of epicritic sensibility_ (Head and
44057 Sherren) (Figs. 91, 92).
44058
44059 _Motor Phenomena._--There is immediate and complete loss of voluntary
44060 power in the muscles supplied by the divided nerve. The muscles rapidly
44061 waste, and within from three to five days, they cease to react to the
44062 faradic current. When tested with the galvanic current, it is found that
44063 a stronger current must be used to call forth contraction than in a
44064 healthy muscle, and the contraction appears first at the closing of the
44065 circuit when the anode is used as the testing electrode. The loss of
44066 excitability to the interrupted current, and the specific alteration in
44067 the type of contraction with the constant current, is known as the
44068 _reaction of degeneration_. After a few weeks all electric excitability
44069 is lost. The paralysed muscles undergo fatty degeneration, which attains
44070 its maximum three or four months after the division of the nerve.
44071 Further changes may take place, and result in the transformation of the
44072 muscle into fibrous tissue, which by undergoing shortening may cause
44073 deformity known as _paralytic contracture_.
44074
44075 _Vaso-motor Phenomena._--In the majority of cases there is an initial
44076 rise in the temperature of the part (2 o to 3 o F.), with redness and
44077 increased vascularity. This is followed by a fall in the local
44078 temperature, which may amount to 8 o or 10 o F., the parts becoming pale
44079 and cold. Sometimes the hyperaemia resulting from vaso-motor paralysis is
44080 more persistent, and is associated with swelling of the parts from
44081 oedema--the so-called _angio-neurotic oedema_. The vascularity varies with
44082 external influences, and in cold weather the parts present a bluish
44083 appearance.
44084
44085 _Trophic Phenomena._--Owing to the disappearance of the subcutaneous
44086 fat, the skin is smooth and thin, and may be abnormally dry. The hair is
44087 harsh, dry, and easily shed. The nails become brittle and furrowed, or
44088 thick and curved, and the ends of the fingers become club-shaped. Skin
44089 eruptions, especially in the form of blisters, occur, or there may be
44090 actual ulcers of the skin, especially in winter. In aggravated cases the
44091 tips of the fingers disappear from progressive ulceration, and in the
44092 sole of the foot a perforating ulcer may develop. Arthropathies are
44093 occasionally met with, the joints becoming the seat of a painless
44094 effusion or hydrops, which is followed by fibrous thickening of the
44095 capsular and other ligaments, and terminates in stiffness and fibrous
44096 ankylosis. In this way the fingers are seriously crippled and deformed.
44097
44098 #Treatment of Divided Nerves.#--The treatment consists in approximating
44099 the divided ends of the nerve and placing them under the most favourable
44100 conditions for repair, and this should be done at the earliest possible
44101 opportunity. (_Op. Surg._, pp. 45, 46.)
44102
44103 #Primary Suture.#--The reunion of a recently divided nerve is spoken of
44104 as primary suture, and for its success asepsis is essential. As the
44105 suturing of the ends of the nerve is extremely painful, an anaesthetic is
44106 required.
44107
44108 When the wound is healed and while waiting for the restoration of
44109 function, measures are employed to maintain the nutrition of the damaged
44110 nerve and of the parts supplied by it. The limb is exercised, massaged,
44111 and douched, and protected from cold and other injurious influences. The
44112 nutrition of the paralysed muscles is further improved by electricity.
44113 The galvanic current is employed, using at first a mild current of not
44114 more than 5 milliamperes for about ten minutes, the current being made
44115 to flow downwards in the course of the nerve, with the positive
44116 electrode applied to the spine, and the negative over the affected nerve
44117 near its termination. It is an advantage to have a metronome in the
44118 circuit whereby the current is opened and closed automatically at
44119 intervals, so as to cause contraction of the muscles.
44120
44121 _The results_ of primary suture, when it has been performed under
44122 favourable conditions, are usually satisfactory. In a series of cases
44123 investigated by Head and Sherren, the period between the operation and
44124 the first return of sensation averaged 65 days. According to Purves
44125 Stewart protopathic sensation commences to appear in about six weeks and
44126 is completely restored in six months; electric sensation and motor power
44127 reappear together in about six months, and restoration is complete in a
44128 year. When sensation returns, the area of insensibility to pain steadily
44129 diminishes and disappears; sensibility to extremes of temperature
44130 appears soon after; and last of all, after a considerable interval,
44131 there is simultaneous return of appreciation of light touch, moderate
44132 degrees of temperature, and the points of a compass.
44133
44134 A clinical means of estimating how regeneration in a divided nerve is
44135 progressing has been described by Tinel. He found that a tingling
44136 sensation, similar to that experienced in the foot, when it is
44137 recovering from the "sleeping" condition induced by prolonged pressure
44138 on the sciatic nerve from sitting on a hard bench, can be elicited on
44139 percussing over _growing_ axis cylinders. Tapping over the proximal end
44140 of a _newly divided nerve_, _e.g._ the common peroneal behind the head
44141 of the fibula, produces no tingling, but when in about three weeks
44142 axis cylinders begin to grow in the proximal end-bulb, local tingling is
44143 induced by tapping there. The downward growth of the axis cylinders can
44144 be traced by tapping over the distal segment of the nerve, the tingling
44145 sensation being elicited as far down as the young axis cylinders have
44146 reached. When the regeneration of the axis cylinders is complete,
44147 tapping no longer causes tingling. It usually takes about one hundred
44148 days for this stage to be reached.
44149
44150 Tinel's sign is present before voluntary movement, muscular tone, or the
44151 normal electrical reactions reappear.
44152
44153 In cases of complete nerve paralysis that have not been operated upon,
44154 the tingling test is helpful in determining whether or not regeneration
44155 is taking place. Its detection may prevent an unnecessary operation
44156 being performed.
44157
44158 Primary suture should not be attempted so long as the wound shows signs
44159 of infection, as it is almost certain to end in failure. The ends should
44160 be sutured, however, as soon as the wound is aseptic or has healed.
44161
44162 #Secondary Suture.#--The term secondary suture is applied to the
44163 operation of stitching the ends of the divided nerve after the wound has
44164 healed.
44165
44166 _Results of Secondary Suture._--When secondary suture has been performed
44167 under favourable conditions, the prognosis is good, but a longer time is
44168 required for restoration of function than after primary suture. Purves
44169 Stewart says protopathic sensation is sometimes observed much earlier
44170 than in primary suture, because partial regeneration of axis cylinders
44171 in the peripheral segment has already taken place. Sensation is
44172 recovered first, but it seldom returns before three or four months.
44173 There then follows an improvement or disappearance of any trophic
44174 disturbances that may be present. Recovery of motion may be deferred for
44175 long periods--rather because of the changes in the muscles than from
44176 want of conductivity in the nerve--and if the muscles have undergone
44177 complete degeneration, it may never take place at all. While waiting for
44178 recovery, every effort should be made to maintain the nutrition of the
44179 damaged nerve, and of the parts which it supplies.
44180
44181 When suture is found to be impossible, recourse must be had to other
44182 methods, known as nerve bridging and nerve implantation.
44183
44184 #Incomplete Division of a Mixed Nerve.#--The effects of partial division
44185 of a mixed nerve vary according to the destination of the nerve bundles
44186 that have been interrupted. Within their area of distribution the
44187 paralysis is as complete as if the whole trunk had been cut across. The
44188 uninjured nerve-bundles continue to transmit impulses with the result
44189 that there is a _dissociated paralysis_ within the distribution of the
44190 affected nerve, some muscles continuing to act and to respond normally
44191 to electric stimulation, while others behave as if the whole nerve-trunk
44192 had been severed.
44193
44194 In addition to vasomotor and trophic changes, there is often severe pain
44195 of a burning kind (_causalgia_ or _thermalgia_) which comes on about a
44196 fortnight after the injury and causes intense and continuous suffering
44197 which may last for months. Paroxysms of pain may be excited by the
44198 slightest touch or by heat, and the patient usually learns for himself
44199 that the constant application of cold wet cloths allays the pain. The
44200 thermalgic area sweats profusely.
44201
44202 Operative treatment is indicated where there is no sign of improvement
44203 within three months, when recovery is arrested before complete
44204 restoration of function is attained, or when thermalgic pain is
44205 excessive.
44206
44207 #Subcutaneous Injuries of Nerves.#--Several varieties of subcutaneous
44208 injuries of nerves are met with. One of the best known is the
44209 compression paralysis of the nerves of the upper arm which results from
44210 sleeping with the arm resting on the back of a chair or the edge of a
44211 table--the so-called "drunkard's palsy"; and from the pressure of a
44212 crutch in the axilla--"crutch paralysis." In some of these injuries,
44213 notably "drunkard's palsy," the disability appears to be due not to
44214 damage of the nerve, but to overstretching of the extensors of the wrist
44215 and fingers (Jones). A similar form of paralysis is sometimes met with
44216 from the pressure of a tourniquet, from tight bandages or splints, from
44217 the pressure exerted by a dislocated bone or by excessive callus, and
44218 from hyper-extension of the arm during anaesthesia.
44219
44220 In all these forms there is impaired sensation, rarely amounting to
44221 anaesthesia, marked muscular wasting, and diminution or loss of voluntary
44222 motor power, while--and this is a point of great importance--the normal
44223 electrical reactions are preserved. There may also develop trophic
44224 changes such as blisters, superficial ulcers, and clubbing of the tips
44225 of the fingers. The prognosis is usually favourable, as recovery is the
44226 rule within from one to three months. If, however, neuritis supervenes,
44227 the electrical reactions are altered, the muscles degenerate, and
44228 recovery may be retarded or may fail to take place.
44229
44230 Injuries which act abruptly or instantaneously are illustrated in the
44231 crushing of a nerve by the sudden displacement of a sharp-edged fragment
44232 of bone, as may occur in comminuted fractures of the humerus. The
44233 symptoms include perversion or loss of sensation, motor paralysis, and
44234 atrophy of muscles, which show the reaction of degeneration from the
44235 eighth day onwards. The presence of the reaction of degeneration
44236 influences both the prognosis and the treatment, for it implies a lesion
44237 which is probably incapable of spontaneous recovery, and which can only
44238 be remedied by operation.
44239
44240 The _treatment_ varies with the cause and nature of the lesion. When,
44241 for example, a displaced bone or a mass of callus is pressing upon the
44242 nerve, steps must be taken to relieve the pressure, by operation if
44243 necessary. When there is reason to believe that the nerve is severely
44244 crushed or torn across, it should be exposed by incision, and, after
44245 removal of the damaged ends, should be united by sutures. When it is
44246 impossible to make a definite diagnosis as to the state of the nerve, it
44247 is better to expose it by operation, and thus learn the exact state of
44248 affairs without delay; in the event of the nerve being torn, the ends
44249 should be united by sutures.
44250
44251 #Dislocation of Nerves.#--This injury, which resembles the dislocation
44252 of tendons from their grooves, is seldom met with except in the ulnar
44253 nerve at the elbow, and is described with injuries of that nerve.
44254
44255
44256 DISEASES OF NERVES
44257
44258 #Traumatic Neuritis.#--This consists in an overgrowth of the
44259 connective-tissue framework of a nerve, which causes irritation and
44260 pressure upon the nerve fibres, sometimes resulting in their
44261 degeneration. It may originate in connection with a wound in the
44262 vicinity of a nerve, as, for example, when the brachial nerves are
44263 involved in scar tissue subsequent to an operation for clearing out the
44264 axilla for cancer; or in contusion and compression of a nerve--for
44265 example, by the pressure of the head of the humerus in a dislocation of
44266 the shoulder. Some weeks or months after the injury, the patient
44267 complains of increasing hyperaesthesia and of neuralgic pains in the
44268 course of the nerve. The nerve is very sensitive to pressure, and, if
44269 superficial, may be felt to be swollen. The associated muscles are
44270 wasted and weak, and are subject to twitchings. There are also trophic
44271 disturbances. It is rare to have complete sensory and motor paralysis.
44272 The disease is commonest in the nerves of the upper extremity, and the
44273 hand may become crippled and useless.
44274
44275 _Treatment._--Any constitutional condition which predisposes to
44276 neuritis, such as gout, diabetes, or syphilis, must receive appropriate
44277 treatment. The symptoms may be relieved by rest and by soothing
44278 applications, such as belladonna, ichthyol, or menthol, by the use of
44279 hot-air and electric baths, and in obstinate cases by blistering or by
44280 the application of Corrigan's button. When such treatment fails the
44281 nerve may be stretched, or, in the case of a purely sensory trunk, a
44282 portion may be excised. Local causes, such as involvement of the nerve
44283 in a scar or in adhesions, may afford indications for operative
44284 treatment.
44285
44286 #Multiple Peripheral Neuritis.#--Although this disease mainly comes
44287 under the cognizance of the physician, it may be attended with phenomena
44288 which call for surgical interference. In this country it is commonly due
44289 to alcoholism, but it may result from diabetes or from chronic poisoning
44290 with lead or arsenic, or from bacterial infections and intoxications
44291 such as occur in diphtheria, gonorrhoea, syphilis, leprosy, typhoid,
44292 influenza, beri-beri, and many other diseases.
44293
44294 It is, as a rule, widely distributed throughout the peripheral nerves,
44295 but the distribution frequently varies with the cause--the alcoholic
44296 form, for example, mainly affecting the legs, the diphtheritic form the
44297 soft palate and pharynx, and that associated with lead poisoning the
44298 forearms. The essential lesion is a degeneration of the conducting
44299 fibres of the affected nerves, and the prominent symptoms are the result
44300 of this. In alcoholic neuritis there is great tenderness of the muscles.
44301 When the legs are affected the patient may be unable to walk, and the
44302 toes may droop and the heel be drawn up, resulting in one variety of pes
44303 equino-varus. Pressure sores and perforating ulcer of the foot are the
44304 most important trophic phenomena.
44305
44306 Apart from the medical _treatment_, measures must be taken to prevent
44307 deformity, especially when the legs are affected. The bedclothes are
44308 supported by a cage, and the foot maintained at right angles to the leg
44309 by sand-bags or splints. When the disease is subsiding, the nutrition of
44310 the damaged nerves and muscles should be maintained by massage, baths,
44311 passive movements, and the use of the galvanic current. When deformity
44312 has been allowed to take place, operative measures may be required for
44313 its correction.
44314
44315
44316 NEUROMA[5]
44317
44318 [5] We have followed the classification adopted by Alexis Thomson in his
44319 work _On Neuroma, and Neuro-fibromatosis_ (Edinburgh: 1900).
44320
44321 Neuroma is a clinical term applied to all tumours, irrespective of their
44322 structure, which have their seat in nerves.
44323
44324 A tumour composed of newly formed nerve tissue is spoken of as a #true
44325 neuroma#; when ganglionic cells are present in addition to nerve fibres,
44326 the name _ganglionic neuroma_ is applied. These tumours are rare, and
44327 are chiefly met with in the main cords or abdominal plexuses of the
44328 sympathetic system of children or young adults. They are quite
44329 insensitive, and their removal is only called for if they cause pain or
44330 show signs of malignancy.
44331
44332 A #false neuroma# is an overgrowth of the sheath of a nerve. This
44333 overgrowth may result in the formation of a circumscribed tumour, or may
44334 take the form of a diffuse fibromatosis.
44335
44336 _The circumscribed or solitary tumour_ grows from the sheath of a nerve
44337 which is otherwise healthy, and it may be innocent or malignant.
44338
44339 _The innocent_ form is usually fibrous or myxomatous, and is definitely
44340 encapsulated. It may become cystic as a result of haemorrhage or of
44341 myxomatous degeneration. It grows very slowly, is usually elliptical in
44342 shape, and the solid form is rarely larger than a hazel-nut. The nerve
44343 fibres may be spread out all round the tumour, or may run only on one
44344 side of it. When subcutaneous and related to the smaller unnamed
44345 cutaneous nerves, it is known as a _painful subcutaneous nodule_ or
44346 _tubercle_. It is chiefly met with about the ankle, and most often in
44347 women. It is remarkably sensitive, even gentle handling causing intense
44348 pain, which usually radiates to the periphery of the nerve affected.
44349 When related to a deeper, named nerve-trunk, it is known as a
44350 _trunk-neuroma_. It is usually less sensitive than the "subcutaneous
44351 nodule," and rarely gives rise to motor symptoms unless it involves the
44352 nerve roots where they pass through bony canals.
44353
44354 A trunk-neuroma is recognised clinically by its position in the line of
44355 a nerve, by the fact that it is movable in the transverse axis of the
44356 nerve but not in its long axis, and by being unduly painful and
44357 sensitive.
44358
44359 [Illustration: FIG. 85.--Amputation Stump of Upper Arm, showing bulbous
44360 thickening of the ends of the nerves, embedded in scar tissue at the
44361 apex of the stamp.]
44362
44363 _Treatment._--If the tumour causes suffering it should be removed,
44364 preferably by shelling it out from the investing nerve sheath or
44365 capsule. In the subcutaneous nodule the nerve is rarely recognisable,
44366 and is usually sacrificed. When removal of the tumour is incomplete, a
44367 tube of radium should be inserted into the cavity, to prevent recurrence
44368 of the tumour in a malignant form.
44369
44370 _The malignant neuroma_ is a sarcoma growing from the sheath of a nerve.
44371 It has the same characters and clinical features as the innocent
44372 variety, only it grows more rapidly, and by destroying the nerve fibres
44373 causes motor symptoms--jerkings followed by paralysis. The sarcoma tends
44374 to spread along the lymph spaces in the long axis of the nerve, as well
44375 as to implicate the surrounding tissues, and it is liable to give rise
44376 to secondary growths. The malignant neuroma is met with chiefly in the
44377 sciatic and other large nerves of the limbs.
44378
44379 The _treatment_ is conducted on the same lines as sarcoma in other
44380 situations; the insertion of a tube of radium after removal of the
44381 tumour diminishes the tendency to recurrence; a portion of the
44382 nerve-trunk being sacrificed, means must be taken to bridge the gap. In
44383 inoperable cases it may be possible to relieve pain by excising a
44384 portion of the nerve above the tumour, or, when this is impracticable,
44385 by resecting the posterior nerve roots and their ganglia within the
44386 vertebral canal.
44387
44388 The so-called _amputation neuroma_ has already been referred to (p. 344).
44389
44390 _Diffuse or Generalised Neuro-Fibromatosis--Recklinghausen's
44391 Disease._--These terms are now used to include what were formerly known
44392 as "multiple neuromata," as well as certain other overgrowths related to
44393 nerves. The essential lesion is an overgrowth of the endoneural
44394 connective tissue throughout the nerves of both the cerebro-spinal and
44395 sympathetic systems. The nerves are diffusely and unequally thickened,
44396 so that small twigs may become enlarged to the size of the median, while
44397 at irregular intervals along their course the connective-tissue
44398 overgrowth is exaggerated so as to form tumour-like swellings similar to
44399 the trunk-neuroma already described. The tumours, which vary greatly in
44400 size and number--as many as a thousand have been counted in one
44401 case--are enclosed in a capsule derived from the perineurium. The
44402 fibromatosis may also affect the cranial nerves, the ganglia on the
44403 posterior nerve roots, the nerves within the vertebral canal, and the
44404 sympathetic nerves and ganglia, as well as the continuations of the
44405 motor nerves within the muscles. The nerve fibres, although mechanically
44406 displaced and dissociated by the overgrown endoneurium, undergo no
44407 structural change except when compressed in passing through a bony
44408 canal.
44409
44410 The disease probably originates before birth, although it may not make
44411 its appearance till adolescence or even till adult life. It is sometimes
44412 met with in several members of one family. It is recognised clinically
44413 by the presence of multiple tumours in the course of the nerves, and
44414 sometimes by palpable enlargement of the superficial nerve-trunks
44415 (Fig. 86). The tumours resemble the solitary trunk-neuroma, are usually
44416 quite insensitive, and many of them are unknown to the patient. As a
44417 result of injury or other exciting cause, however, one or other tumour
44418 may increase in size and become extremely sensitive; the pain is then
44419 agonising; it is increased by handling, and interferes with sleep. In
44420 these conditions, a malignant transformation of the fibroma into sarcoma
44421 is to be suspected. Motor disturbances are exceptional, unless in the
44422 case of tumours within the vertebral canal, which press on the spinal
44423 medulla and cause paraplegia.
44424
44425 [Illustration: FIG. 86.--Diffuse enlargement of Nerves in generalised
44426 Neuro-fibromatosis.
44427
44428 (After R. W. Smith.)]
44429
44430 Neuro-fibromatosis is frequently accompanied by _pigmentation of the
44431 skin_ in the form of brown spots or patches scattered over the trunk.
44432
44433 The disease is often stationary for long periods. In progressive cases
44434 the patient becomes exhausted, and usually dies of some intercurrent
44435 affection, particularly phthisis. The treatment is restricted to
44436 relieving symptoms and complications; removal of one of the tumours is
44437 to be strongly deprecated.
44438
44439 In a considerable proportion of cases one of the multiple tumours takes
44440 on the characters of a malignant growth ("secondary malignant neuroma,"
44441 Garre). This malignant transformation may follow upon injury, or on an
44442 unsuccessful attempt to remove the tumour. The features are those of a
44443 rapidly growing sarcoma involving a nerve-trunk, with agonising pain
44444 and muscular cramps, followed by paralysis from destruction of the
44445 nerve fibres. The removal of the tumour is usually followed by
44446 recurrence, so that high amputation is the only treatment to be
44447 recommended. Metastasis to internal organs is exceptional.
44448
44449 [Illustration: FIG. 87.--Plexiform Neuroma of small Sciatic Nerve, from
44450 a girl aet. 16.
44451
44452 (Mr. Annandale's case.)]
44453
44454 There are other types of neuro-fibromatosis which require brief mention.
44455
44456 _The plexiform neuroma_ (Fig. 87) is a fibromatosis confined to the
44457 distribution of one or more contiguous nerves or of a plexus of nerves,
44458 and it may occur either by itself or along with multiple tumours of the
44459 nerve-trunks and with pigmentation of the skin. The clinical features
44460 are those of an ill-defined swelling composed of a number of tortuous,
44461 convoluted cords, lying in a loose areolar tissue and freely movable on
44462 one another. It is rarely the seat of pain or tenderness. It most often
44463 appears in the early years of life, sometimes in relation to a pigmented
44464 or hairy mole. It is of slow growth, may remain stationary for long
44465 periods, and has little or no tendency to become malignant. It is
44466 usually subcutaneous, and is frequently situated on the head or neck in
44467 the distribution of the trigeminal or superficial cervical nerves. There
44468 is no necessity for its removal, but this may be indicated because of
44469 disfigurement, especially on the face or scalp or because its bulk
44470 interferes with function. When involving the ophthalmic division of the
44471 trigeminus, for example, it may cause enlargement of the upper lid and
44472 proptosis, with danger to the function of the globe. The results of
44473 excision are usually satisfactory, even if the removal is not complete.
44474
44475 [Illustration: FIG. 88.--Multiple Neuro-fibromas of Skin (Molluscum
44476 fibrosum, or Recklinghausen's disease).]
44477
44478 _The cutaneous neuro-fibroma_ or _molluscum fibrosum_ has been shown by
44479 Recklinghausen to be a soft fibroma related to the terminal filaments of
44480 one of the cutaneous nerves (Fig. 88). The disease appears in the form
44481 of multiple, soft, projecting tumours, scattered all over the body,
44482 except the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The tumours are of
44483 all sizes, some being no larger than a pin's head, whilst many are as
44484 big as a filbert and a few even larger. Many are sessile and others are
44485 distinctly pedunculated, but all are covered with skin. They are mobile,
44486 soft to the touch, and of the consistence of firm fat. In exceptional
44487 cases one of the skin tumours may attain an enormous size and cause a
44488 hideous deformity, hanging down by its own weight in lobulated or folded
44489 masses (pachy-dermatocele). The treatment consists in removing the
44490 larger swellings. In some cases molluscum fibrosum is associated with
44491 pigmentation of the skin and with multiple tumours of the nerve-trunks.
44492 The small multiple tumours rarely call for interference.
44493
44494 [Illustration: FIG. 89.--Elephantiasis Neuromatosa in a woman aet. 28]
44495
44496 _Elephantiasis neuromatosa_ is the name applied by Virchow to a
44497 condition in which a limb is swollen and misshapen as a result of the
44498 extension of a neuro-fibromatosis to the skin and subcutaneous cellular
44499 tissue of the extremity as a whole (Fig. 89). It usually begins in early
44500 life without apparent cause, and it may be associated with multiple
44501 tumours of the nerve-trunks. The inconvenience caused by the bulk and
44502 weight of the limb may justify its removal.
44503
44504
44505 SURGERY OF THE INDIVIDUAL NERVES[6]
44506
44507 [6] We desire here to acknowledge our indebtedness to Mr. James
44508 Sherren's work on _Injuries of Nerves and their Treatment_.
44509
44510 #The Brachial Plexus.#--Lesions of the brachial plexus may be divided
44511 into those above the clavicle and those below that bone.
44512
44513 In the #supra-clavicular injuries#, the violence applied to the head or
44514 shoulder causes over-stretching of the anterior branches (primary
44515 divisions) of the cervical nerves, the fifth, or the fifth and sixth
44516 being those most liable to suffer. Sometimes the traction is exerted
44517 upon the plexus from below, as when a man in falling from a height
44518 endeavours to save himself by clutching at some projection, and the
44519 lesion then mainly affects the first dorsal nerve. There is tearing of
44520 the nerve sheaths, with haemorrhage, but in severe cases partial or
44521 complete severance of nerve fibres may occur and these give way at
44522 different levels. During the healing process an excess of fibrous tissue
44523 is formed, which may interfere with regeneration.
44524
44525 _Post-anaesthetic paralysis_ occurs in patients in whom, during the
44526 course of an operation, the arm is abducted and rotated laterally or
44527 extended above the head, causing over-stretching of the plexus,
44528 especially of the fifth, or fifth and sixth, anterior branches.
44529
44530 A _cervical rib_ may damage the plexus by direct pressure, the part
44531 usually affected being the medial cord, which is made up of fibres from
44532 the eighth cervical and first dorsal nerves.
44533
44534 When a lesion of the plexus complicates a _fracture of the clavicle_,
44535 the nerve injury is due, not to pressure on or laceration of the nerves
44536 by fragments of bone, but to the violence causing the fracture, and this
44537 is usually applied to the point of the shoulder.
44538
44539 Penetrating _wounds_, apart from those met with in military practice,
44540 are rare.
44541
44542 In the #infra-clavicular injuries#, the lesion most often results from
44543 the pressure of the dislocated head of the humerus; occasionally from
44544 attempts made to reduce the dislocation by the heel-in-the-axilla
44545 method, or from fracture of the upper end of the humerus or of the neck
44546 of the scapula. The whole plexus may suffer, but more frequently the
44547 medial cord is alone implicated.
44548
44549 _Clinical Features._--Three types of lesion result from indirect
44550 violence: the whole plexus; the upper-arm type; and the lower-arm type.
44551
44552 _When the whole plexus is involved_, sensibility is lost over the entire
44553 forearm and hand and over the lateral surface of the arm in its distal
44554 two-thirds. All the muscles of the arm, forearm, and hand are paralysed,
44555 and, as a rule, also the pectorals and spinati, but the rhomboids and
44556 serratus anterior escape. There is paralysis of the sympathetic fibres
44557 to the eye and orbit, with narrowing of the palpebral fissure, recession
44558 of the globe, and the pupil is slow to dilate when shaded from the
44559 light.
44560
44561 The _upper-arm type_--Erb-Duchenne paralysis--is that most frequently
44562 met with, and it is due to a lesion of the fifth anterior branch, or, it
44563 may be, also of the sixth. The position of the upper limb is typical:
44564 the arm and forearm hang close to the side, with the forearm extended
44565 and pronated; the deltoid, spinati, biceps, brachialis, and supinators
44566 are paralysed, and in some cases the radial extensors of the wrist and
44567 the pronator teres are also affected. The patient is unable to supinate
44568 the forearm or to abduct the arm, and in most cases to flex the forearm.
44569 He may, however, regain some power of flexing the forearm when it is
44570 fully pronated, the extensors of the wrist becoming feeble flexors of
44571 the elbow. There is, as a rule, no loss of sensibility, but complaint
44572 may be made of tickling and of pins-and-needles over the lateral aspect
44573 of the arm. The abnormal position of the limb may persist although the
44574 muscles regain the power of voluntary movement, and as the condition
44575 frequently follows a fall on the shoulder, great care is necessary in
44576 diagnosis, as the condition is apt to be attributed to an injury to the
44577 axillary (circumflex) nerve.
44578
44579 The _lower-arm type_ of paralysis, associated with the name of Klumpke,
44580 is usually due to over-stretching of the plexus, and especially affects
44581 the anterior branch of the first dorsal nerve. In typical cases all the
44582 intrinsic muscles of the hand are affected, and the hand assumes the
44583 claw shape. Sensibility is usually altered over the medial side of the
44584 arm and forearm, and there is paralysis of the sympathetic.
44585
44586 _Infra-clavicular injuries_, as already stated, are most often produced
44587 by a sub-coracoid dislocation of the humerus; the medial cord is that
44588 most frequently injured, and the muscles paralysed are those supplied by
44589 the ulnar nerve, with, in addition, those intrinsic muscles of the hand
44590 supplied by the median. Sensibility is affected over the medial surface
44591 of the forearm and ulnar area of the hand. Injury of the lateral and
44592 posterior cords is very rare.
44593
44594 _Treatment_ is carried out on the lines already laid down for nerve
44595 injuries in general. It is impossible to diagnose between complete and
44596 incomplete rupture of the nerve cords, until sufficient time has elapsed
44597 to allow of the establishment of the reaction of degeneration. If this
44598 is present at the end of fourteen days, operation should not be delayed.
44599 Access to the cords of the plexus is obtained by a dissection similar to
44600 that employed for the subclavian artery, and the nerves are sought for
44601 as they emerge from under cover of the scalenus anterior, and are then
44602 traced until the seat of injury is found. In the case of the first
44603 dorsal nerve, it may be necessary temporarily to resect the clavicle.
44604 The usual after-treatment must be persisted in until recovery ensues,
44605 and care must be taken that the paralysed muscles do not become
44606 over-stretched. The prognosis is less favourable in the supra-clavicular
44607 lesions than in those below the clavicle, which nearly always recover
44608 without surgical intervention.
44609
44610 In the _brachial birth-paralysis_ met with in infants, the lesion is due
44611 to over-stretching of the plexus, and is nearly always of the
44612 Erb-Duchenne type. The injury is usually unilateral, it occurs with
44613 almost equal frequency in breech and in vertex presentations, and the
44614 left arm is more often affected than the right. The lesion is seldom
44615 recognised at birth. The first symptom noticed is tenderness in the
44616 supra-clavicular region, the child crying when this part is touched or
44617 the arm is moved. The attitude may be that of the Erb-Duchenne type, or
44618 the whole of the muscles of the upper limb may be flaccid, and the arm
44619 hangs powerless. A considerable proportion of the cases recover
44620 spontaneously. The arm is to be kept at rest, with the affected muscles
44621 relaxed, and, as soon as tenderness has disappeared, daily massage and
44622 passive movements are employed. The reaction of degeneration can rarely
44623 be satisfactorily tested before the child is three months old, but if it
44624 is present, an operation should be performed. After operation, the
44625 shoulder should be elevated so that no traction is exerted on the
44626 affected cords.
44627
44628 #The long thoracic nerve# (nerve of Bell), which supplies the serratus
44629 anterior, is rarely injured. In those whose occupation entails carrying
44630 weights upon the shoulder it may be contused, and the resulting
44631 paralysis of the serratus is usually combined with paralysis of the
44632 lower part of the trapezius, the branches from the third and fourth
44633 cervical nerves which supply this muscle also being exposed to pressure
44634 as they pass across the root of the neck. There is complaint of pain
44635 above the clavicle, and winging of the scapula; the patient is unable to
44636 raise the arm in front of the body above the level of the shoulder or to
44637 perform any forward pushing movements; on attempting either of these the
44638 winging of the scapula is at once increased. If the scapula is compared
44639 with that on the sound side, it is seen that, in addition to the lower
44640 angle being more prominent, the spine is more horizontal and the lower
44641 angle nearer the middle line. The majority of these cases recover if the
44642 limb is placed at absolute rest, the elbow supported, and massage and
44643 galvanism persevered with. If the paralysis persists, the sterno-costal
44644 portion of the pectoralis major may be transplanted to the lower angle
44645 of the scapula.
44646
44647 The long thoracic nerve may be cut across while clearing out the axilla
44648 in operating for cancer of the breast. The displacement of the scapula
44649 is not so marked as in the preceding type, and the patient is able to
44650 perform pushing movements below the level of the shoulder. If the
44651 reaction of degeneration develops, an operation may be performed, the
44652 ends of the nerve being sutured, or the distal end grafted into the
44653 posterior cord of the brachial plexus.
44654
44655 #The Axillary (Circumflex) Nerve.#--In the majority of cases in which
44656 paralysis of the deltoid follows upon an injury of the shoulder, it is
44657 due to a lesion of the fifth cervical nerve, as has already been
44658 described in injuries of the brachial plexus. The axillary nerve itself
44659 as it passes round the neck of the humerus is most liable to be injured
44660 from the pressure of a crutch, or of the head of the humerus in
44661 sub-glenoid dislocation, or in fracture of the neck of the scapula or of
44662 the humerus. In miners, who work for long periods lying on the side, the
44663 muscle may be paralysed by direct pressure on the terminal filaments of
44664 the nerve, and the nerve may also be involved as a result of disease in
44665 the sub-deltoid bursa.
44666
44667 The deltoid is wasted, and the acromion unduly prominent. In recent
44668 cases paralysis of the muscle is easily detected. In cases of long
44669 standing it is not so simple, because other muscles, the spinati, the
44670 clavicular fibres of the pectoral and the serratus, take its place and
44671 elevate the arm; there is always loss of sensation on the lateral aspect
44672 of the shoulder. There is rarely any call for operative treatment, as
44673 the paralysis is usually compensated for by other muscles.
44674
44675 When the _supra-scapular nerve_ is contused or stretched in injuries of
44676 the shoulder, the spinati muscles are paralysed and wasted, the spine of
44677 the scapula is unduly prominent, and there is impairment in the power of
44678 abducting the arm and rotating it laterally.
44679
44680 The _musculo-cutaneous nerve_ is very rarely injured; when cut across,
44681 there is paralysis of the coraco-brachialis, biceps, and part of the
44682 brachialis, but no movements are abolished, the forearm being flexed, in
44683 the pronated position, by the brachio-radialis and long radial extensor
44684 of the wrist; in the supinated position, by that portion of the
44685 brachialis supplied by the radial nerve. Supination is feebly performed
44686 by the supinator muscle. Protopathic and epicritic sensibility are lost
44687 over the radial side of the forearm.
44688
44689 #Radial (Musculo-Spiral) Nerve.#--From its anatomical relationships this
44690 trunk is more exposed to injury than any other nerve in the body. It is
44691 frequently compressed against the humerus in sleeping with the arm
44692 resting on the back of a chair, especially in the deep sleep of
44693 alcoholic intoxication (drunkard's palsy). It may be pressed upon by a
44694 crutch in the axilla, by the dislocated head of the humerus, or by
44695 violent compression of the arm, as when an elastic tourniquet is applied
44696 too tightly. The most serious and permanent injuries of this nerve are
44697 associated with fractures of the humerus, especially those from direct
44698 violence attended with comminution of the bone. The nerve may be crushed
44699 or torn by one of the fragments at the time of the injury, or at a later
44700 period may be compressed by callus.
44701
44702 _Clinical Features._--Immediately after the injury it is impossible to
44703 tell whether the nerve is torn across or merely compressed. The patient
44704 may complain of numbness and tingling in the distribution of the
44705 superficial branch of the nerve, but it is a striking fact, that so long
44706 as the nerve is divided below the level at which it gives off the dorsal
44707 cutaneous nerve of the forearm (external cutaneous branch), there is no
44708 loss of sensation. When it is divided above the origin of the dorsal
44709 cutaneous branch, or when the dorsal branch of the musculo-cutaneous
44710 nerve is also divided, there is a loss of sensibility on the dorsum
44711 of the hand.
44712
44713 The motor symptoms predominate, the muscles affected being the extensors
44714 of the wrist and fingers, and the supinators. There is a characteristic
44715 "drop-wrist"; the wrist is flexed and pronated, and the patient is
44716 unable to dorsiflex the wrist or fingers (Fig. 90). If the hand and
44717 proximal phalanges are supported, the second and third phalanges may be
44718 partly extended by the interossei and lumbricals. There is also
44719 considerable impairment of power in the muscles which antagonise those
44720 that are paralysed, so that the grasp of the hand is feeble, and the
44721 patient almost loses the use of it; in some cases this would appear to
44722 be due to the median nerve having been injured at the same time.
44723
44724 [Illustration: FIG. 90.--Drop-wrist following Fracture of Shaft of
44725 Humerus.]
44726
44727 If the lesion is high up, as it is, for example, in crutch paralysis,
44728 the triceps and anconeus may also suffer.
44729
44730 _Treatment._--The slighter forms of injury by compression recover under
44731 massage, douching, and electricity. If there is drop-wrist, the hand and
44732 forearm are placed on a palmar splint, with the hand dorsiflexed to
44733 nearly a right angle, and this position is maintained until voluntary
44734 dorsiflexion at the wrist returns to the normal. Recovery is sometimes
44735 delayed for several months.
44736
44737 In the more severe injuries associated with fracture of the humerus and
44738 attended with the reaction of degeneration, it is necessary to cut down
44739 upon the nerve and free it from the pressure of a fragment of bone or
44740 from callus or adhesions. If the nerve is torn across, the ends must be
44741 sutured, and if this is impossible owing to loss of tissue, the gap may
44742 be bridged by a graft taken from the superficial branch of the radial
44743 nerve, or the ends may be implanted into the median.
44744
44745 Finally, in cases in which the paralysis is permanent and incurable, the
44746 disability may be relieved by operation. A fascial graft can be employed
44747 to act as a ligament permanently extending the wrist; it is attached to
44748 the third and fourth metacarpal bones distally and to the radius or ulna
44749 proximally. The flexor carpi radialis can then be joined up with the
44750 extensor digitorum communis by passing its tendon through an aperture in
44751 the interosseous membrane, or better still, through the pronator
44752 quadratus, as there is less likelihood of the formation of adhesions
44753 when the tendon passes through muscle than through interosseous
44754 membrane. The palmaris longus is anastomosed with the abductor pollicis
44755 longus (extensor ossis metacarpi pollicis), thus securing a fair amount
44756 of abduction of the thumb. The flexor carpi ulnaris may also be
44757 anastomosed with the common extensor of the fingers. The extensors of
44758 the wrist may be shortened, so as to place the hand in the position of
44759 dorsal flexion, and thus improve the attitude and grasp of the hand.
44760
44761 _The superficial branch of the radial_ (radial nerve) _and the deep
44762 branch_ (posterior interosseous), apart from suffering in lesions of the
44763 radial, are liable to be contused or torn is dislocation of the head of
44764 the radius, and in fracture of the neck of the bone. The deep branch may
44765 be divided as it passes through the supinator in operations on old
44766 fractures and dislocations in the region of the elbow. Division of the
44767 superficial branch in the upper two-thirds of the forearm produces no
44768 loss of sensibility; division in the lower third after the nerve has
44769 become associated with branches from the musculo-cutaneous is followed
44770 by a loss of sensibility on the radial side of the hand and thumb. Wounds
44771 on the dorsal surface of the wrist and forearm are often followed by
44772 loss of sensibility over a larger area, because the musculo-cutaneous
44773 nerve is divided as well, and some of the fibres of the lower lateral
44774 cutaneous branch of the radial.
44775
44776 [Illustration: FIG. 91.--To illustrate the Loss of Sensation produced by
44777 Division of the Median Nerve. The area of complete cutaneous
44778 insensibility is shaded black. The parts insensitive to light touch and
44779 to intermediate degrees of temperature are enclosed within the dotted
44780 line.
44781
44782 (After Head and Sherren.)]
44783
44784 #The Median Nerve# is most frequently injured in wounds made by broken
44785 glass in the region of the wrist. It may also be injured in fractures of
44786 the lower end of the humerus, in fractures of both bones of the forearm,
44787 and as a result of pressure by splints. After _division at the elbow_,
44788 there is impairment of mobility which affects the thumb, and to a less
44789 extent the index finger: the terminal phalanx of the thumb cannot be
44790 flexed owing to the paralysis of the flexor pollicis longus, and the
44791 index can only be flexed at its metacarpo-phalangeal joint by the
44792 interosseous muscles attached to it. Pronation of the forearm is feeble,
44793 and is completed by the weight of the hand. After _division at the
44794 wrist_, the abductor-opponens group of muscles and the two lateral
44795 lumbricals only are affected; the abduction of the thumb can be feebly
44796 imitated by the short extensor and the long abductor (ext. ossis
44797 metacarpi pollicis), while opposition may be simulated by contraction of
44798 the long flexor and the short abductor of the thumb; the paralysis of
44799 the two medial lumbricals produces no symptoms that can be recognised.
44800 It is important to remember that when the median nerve is divided at the
44801 wrist, deep touch can be appreciated over the whole of the area
44802 supplied by the nerve; the injury, therefore, is liable to be over
44803 looked. If, however, the tendons are divided as well as the nerve, there
44804 is insensibility to deep touch. The areas of epicritic and of
44805 protopathic insensibility are illustrated in Fig. 91. The division of
44806 the nerve at the elbow, or even at the axilla, does not increase the
44807 extent of the loss of epicritic or protopathic sensibility, but usually
44808 affects deep sensibility.
44809
44810 [Illustration: FIG. 92.--To illustrate Loss of Sensation produced by
44811 complete Division of Ulnar Nerve. Loss of all forms of cutaneous
44812 sensibility is represented by the shaded area. The parts insensitive to
44813 light touch and to intermediate degrees of heat and cold are enclosed
44814 within the dotted line.
44815
44816 (Head and Sherren.)]
44817
44818 #The Ulnar Nerve.#--The most common injury of this nerve is its division
44819 in transverse accidental wounds just above the wrist. In the arm it may
44820 be contused, along with the radial, in crutch paralysis; in the region
44821 of the elbow it may be injured in fractures or dislocations, or it may
44822 be accidentally divided in the operation for excising the elbow-joint.
44823
44824 When it is injured _at or above the elbow_, there is paralysis of the
44825 flexor carpi ulnaris, the ulnar half of the flexor digitorum profundus,
44826 all the interossei, the two medial lumbricals, and the adductors of the
44827 thumb. The hand assumes a characteristic attitude: the index and middle
44828 fingers are extended at the metacarpo-phalangeal joints owing to
44829 paralysis of the interosseous muscles attached to them; the little and
44830 ring fingers are hyper-extended at these joints in consequence of the
44831 paralysis of the lumbricals; all the fingers are flexed at the
44832 inter-phalangeal joints, the flexion being most marked in the little and
44833 ring fingers--claw-hand or _main en griffe_. On flexing the wrist, the
44834 hand is tilted to the radial side, but the paralysis of the flexor carpi
44835 ulnaris is often compensated for by the action of the palmaris longus.
44836 The little and ring fingers can be flexed to a slight degree by the
44837 slips of the flexor sublimis attached to them and supplied by the median
44838 nerve; flexion of the terminal phalanx of the little finger is almost
44839 impossible. Adduction and abduction movements of the fingers are lost.
44840 Adduction of the thumb is carried out, not by the paralysed adductor
44841 pollicis, but the movement may be simulated by the long flexor and
44842 extensor muscles of the thumb. Epicritic sensibility is lost over the
44843 little finger, the ulnar half of the ring finger, and that part of the
44844 palm and dorsum of the hand to the ulnar side of a line drawn
44845 longitudinally through the ring finger and continued upwards.
44846 Protopathic sensibility is lost over an area which varies in different
44847 cases. Deep sensibility is usually lost over an area almost as extensive
44848 as that of protopathic insensibility.
44849
44850 When the nerve is _divided at the wrist_, the adjacent tendons are also
44851 frequently severed. If divided below the point at which its dorsal
44852 branch is given off, the sensory paralysis is much less marked, and the
44853 injury is therefore liable to be overlooked until the wasting of muscles
44854 and typical _main en griffe_ ensue. The loss of sensibility after
44855 division of the nerve before the dorsal branch is given off resembles
44856 that after division at the elbow, except that in uncomplicated cases
44857 deep sensibility is usually retained. If the tendons are divided as
44858 well, however, deep touch is also lost.
44859
44860 Care must be taken in all these injuries to prevent deformity; a splint
44861 must be worn, at least during the night, until the muscles regain their
44862 power of voluntary movement, and then exercises should be instituted.
44863
44864 #Dislocation of the ulnar nerve# at the elbow results from sudden and
44865 violent flexion of the joint, the muscular effort causing stretching or
44866 laceration of the fascia that holds the nerve in its groove; it is
44867 predisposed to if the groove is shallow as a result of imperfect
44868 development of the medial condyle of the humerus, and by cubitus valgus.
44869
44870 The nerve slips forward, and may be felt lying on the medial aspect of
44871 the condyle. It may retain this position, or it may slip backwards and
44872 forwards with the movements of the arm. The symptoms at the time of the
44873 displacement are some disability at the elbow, and pain and tingling
44874 along the nerve, which are exaggerated by movement and by pressure. The
44875 symptoms may subside altogether, or a neuritis may develop, with severe
44876 pain shooting up the nerve.
44877
44878 The dislocated nerve is easily replaced, but is difficult to retain in
44879 position. In recent cases the arm may be placed in the extended position
44880 with a pad over the condyle, care being taken to avoid pressure on the
44881 nerve. Failing relief, it is better to make a bed for the nerve by
44882 dividing the deep fascia behind the medial condyle and to stitch the
44883 edges of the fascia over the nerve. This operation has been successful
44884 in all the recorded cases.
44885
44886 #The Sciatic Nerve.#--When this nerve is compressed, as by sitting on a
44887 fence, there is tingling and powerlessness in the limb as a whole, known
44888 as "sleeping" of the limb, but these phenomena are evanescent. _Injuries
44889 to the great sciatic nerve_ are rare except in war. Partial division is
44890 more common than complete, and it is noteworthy that the fibres destined
44891 for the peroneal nerve are more often and more severely injured than
44892 those for the tibial (internal popliteal). After complete division, all
44893 the muscles of the leg are paralysed; if the section is in the upper
44894 part of the thigh, the hamstrings are also paralysed. The limb is at
44895 first quite powerless, but the patient usually recovers sufficiently to
44896 be able to walk with a little support, and although the hamstrings are
44897 paralysed the knee can be flexed by the sartorius and gracilis. The
44898 chief feature is drop-foot. There is also loss of sensation below the
44899 knee except along the course of the long saphenous nerve on the medial
44900 side of the leg and foot. Sensibility to deep touch is only lost over a
44901 comparatively small area on the dorsum of the foot.
44902
44903 #The Common Peroneal (external popliteal) nerve# is exposed to injury
44904 where it winds round the neck of the fibula, because it is superficial
44905 and lies against the unyielding bone. It may be compressed by a
44906 tourniquet, or it may be bruised or torn in fractures of the upper end
44907 of the bone. It has been divided in accidental wounds,--by a scythe, for
44908 example,--in incising for cellulitis, and in performing subcutaneous
44909 tenotomy of the biceps tendon. Cases have been observed of paralysis of
44910 the nerve as a result of prolonged acute flexion of the knee in certain
44911 occupations.
44912
44913 When the nerve is divided, the most obvious result is "drop-foot"; the
44914 patient is unable to dorsiflex the foot and cannot lift his toes off the
44915 ground, so that in walking he is obliged to jerk the foot forwards and
44916 laterally. The loss of sensibility depends upon whether the nerve is
44917 divided above or below the origin of the large cutaneous branch which
44918 comes off just before it passes round the neck of the fibula. In course
44919 of time the foot becomes inverted and the toes are pointed--pes
44920 equino-varus--and trophic sores are liable to form.
44921
44922 #The Tibial (internal popliteal) nerve# is rarely injured.
44923
44924 #The Cranial nerves# are considered with affections of the head and neck
44925 (Vol. II.).
44926
44927
44928 NEURALGIA
44929
44930 The term neuralgia is applied clinically to any pain which follows the
44931 course of a nerve, and is not referable to any discoverable cause. It
44932 should not be applied to pain which results from pressure on a nerve by
44933 a tumour, a mass of callus, an aneurysm, or by any similar gross lesion.
44934 We shall only consider here those forms of neuralgia which are amenable
44935 to surgical treatment.
44936
44937 #Brachial Neuralgia.#--The pain is definitely located in the
44938 distribution of one of the branches or nerve roots, is often
44939 intermittent, and is usually associated with tingling and disturbance of
44940 tactile sensation. The root of the neck should be examined to exclude
44941 pressure as the cause of the pain by a cervical rib, a tumour, or an
44942 aneurysm. When medical treatment fails, the nerve-trunks may be injected
44943 with saline solution or recourse may be had to operative measures, the
44944 affected cords being exposed and stretched through an incision in the
44945 posterior triangle of the neck. If this fails to give relief, the more
44946 serious operation of resecting the posterior roots of the affected
44947 nerves within the vertebral canal may be considered.
44948
44949 _Neuralgia of the sciatic nerve_--#sciatica#--is the most common form of
44950 neuralgia met with in surgical practice.
44951
44952 It is chiefly met with in adults of gouty or rheumatic tendencies who
44953 suffer from indigestion, constipation, and oxaluria--in fact, the same
44954 type of patients who are liable to lumbago, and the two affections are
44955 frequently associated. In hospital practice it is commonly met with in
44956 coal-miners and others who assume a squatting position at work. The
44957 onset of the pain may follow over-exertion and exposure to cold and wet,
44958 especially in those who do not take regular exercise. Any error of diet
44959 or indulgence in beer or wine may contribute to its development.
44960
44961 The essential symptom is paroxysmal or continuous pain along the course
44962 of the nerve in the buttock, thigh, or leg. It may be comparatively
44963 slight, or it may be so severe as to prevent sleep. It is aggravated by
44964 movement, so that the patient walks lame or is obliged to lie up. It is
44965 aggravated also by any movement which tends to put the nerve on the
44966 stretch, as in bending down to put on the shoes, such movements also
44967 causing tingling down the nerve, and sometimes numbness in the foot.
44968 This may be demonstrated by flexing the thigh on the abdomen, the knee
44969 being kept extended; there is no pain if the same manoeuvre is repeated
44970 with the knee flexed. The nerve is sensitive to pressure, the most
44971 tender points being its emergence from the greater sciatic foramen, the
44972 hollow between the trochanter and the ischial tuberosity, and where the
44973 common peroneal nerve winds round the neck of the fibula. The muscles of
44974 the thigh are often wasted and are liable to twitch.
44975
44976 The clinical features vary a good deal in different cases; the affection
44977 is often obstinate, and may last for many weeks or even months.
44978
44979 In the sciatica that results from neuritis and perineuritis, there is
44980 marked tenderness on pressure due to the involvement of the nerve
44981 filaments in the sheath of the nerve, and there may be patches of
44982 cutaneous anaesthesia, loss of tendon reflexes, localised wasting of
44983 muscles, and vaso-motor and trophic changes. The presence of the
44984 reaction of degeneration confirms the diagnosis of neuritis. In
44985 long-standing cases the pain and discomfort may lead to a postural
44986 scoliosis (_ischias-scoliotica_).
44987
44988 _Diagnosis._--Pain referred along the course of the sciatic nerve on one
44989 side, or, as is sometimes the case, on both sides, is a symptom of
44990 tumours of the uterus, the rectum, or the pelvic bones. It may result
44991 also from the pressure of an abscess or an aneurysm either inside the
44992 pelvis or in the buttock, and is sometimes associated with disease of
44993 the spinal medulla, such as tabes. Gluteal fibrositis may be mistaken
44994 for sciatica. It is also necessary to exclude such conditions as disease
44995 in the hip or sacro-iliac joint, especially tuberculous disease and
44996 arthritis deformans, before arriving at a diagnosis of sciatica. A
44997 digital examination of the rectum or vagina is of great value in
44998 excluding intra-pelvic tumours.
44999
45000 _Treatment_ is both general and local. Any constitutional tendency, such
45001 as gout or rheumatism, must be counteracted, and indigestion, oxaluria,
45002 and constipation should receive appropriate treatment. In acute cases
45003 the patient is confined to bed between blankets, the limb is wrapped in
45004 thermogene wool, and the knee is flexed over a pillow; in some cases
45005 relief is experienced from the use of a long splint, or slinging the leg
45006 in a Salter's cradle. A rubber hot-bottle may be applied over the seat
45007 of greatest pain. The bowels should be well opened by castor oil or by
45008 calomel followed by a saline. Salicylate of soda in full doses, or
45009 aspirin, usually proves effectual in relieving pain, but when this is
45010 very intense it may call for injections of heroin or morphin. Potassium
45011 iodide is of benefit in chronic cases.
45012
45013 Relief usually results from bathing, douching, and massage, and from
45014 repeated gentle stretching of the nerve. This may be carried out by
45015 passive movements of the limb--the hip being flexed while the knee is
45016 kept extended; and by active movements--the patient flexing the limb at
45017 the hip, the knee being maintained in the extended position. These
45018 exercises, which may be preceded by massage, are carried out night and
45019 morning, and should be practised systematically by those who are liable
45020 to sciatica.
45021
45022 Benefit has followed the injection into the nerve itself, or into the
45023 tissues surrounding it, of normal saline solution; from 70-100 c.c. are
45024 injected at one time. If the pain recurs, the injection may require to
45025 be repeated on many occasions at different points up and down the nerve.
45026 Needling or acupuncture consists in piercing the nerve at intervals in
45027 the buttock and thigh with long steel needles. Six or eight needles are
45028 inserted and left in position for from fifteen to thirty minutes.
45029
45030 In obstinate and severe cases the nerve may be _forcibly stretched_.
45031 This may be done bloodlessly by placing the patient on his back with the
45032 hip flexed to a right angle, and then gradually extending the knee until
45033 it is in a straight line with the thigh (Billroth). A general anaesthetic
45034 is usually required. A more effectual method is to expose the nerve
45035 through an incision at the fold of the buttock, and forcibly pull upon
45036 it. This operation is most successful when the pain is due to the nerve
45037 being involved in adhesions.
45038
45039 #Trigeminal Neuralgia.#--A severe form of epileptiform neuralgia occurs
45040 in the branches of the fifth nerve, and is one of the most painful
45041 affections to which human flesh is liable. So far as its pathology is
45042 known, it is believed to be due to degenerative changes in the semilunar
45043 (Gasserian) ganglion. It is met with in adults, is almost invariably
45044 unilateral, and develops without apparent cause. The pain, which occurs
45045 in paroxysms, is at first of moderate severity, but gradually becomes
45046 agonising. In the early stages the paroxysms occur at wide intervals,
45047 but later they recur with such frequency as to be almost continuous.
45048 They are usually excited by some trivial cause, such as moving the jaws
45049 in eating or speaking, touching the face as in washing, or exposure to a
45050 draught of cold air. Between the paroxysms the patient is free from
45051 pain, but is in constant terror of its return, and the face wears an
45052 expression of extreme suffering and anxiety. When the paroxysm is
45053 accompanied by twitching of the facial muscles, it is called _spasmodic
45054 tic_.
45055
45056 The skin of the affected area may be glazed and red, or may be pale and
45057 moist with inspissated sweat, the patient not daring to touch or wash
45058 it.
45059
45060 There is excessive tenderness at the points of emergence of the
45061 different branches on the face, and pressure over one or other of these
45062 points may excite a paroxysm. In typical cases the patient is unable to
45063 take any active part in life. The attempt to eat is attended with such
45064 severe pain that he avoids taking food. In some cases the suffering is
45065 so great that the patient only obtains sleep by the use of hypnotics,
45066 and he is often on the verge of suicide.
45067
45068 _Diagnosis._--There is seldom any difficulty in recognising the disease.
45069 It is important, however, to exclude the hysterical form of neuralgia,
45070 which is characterised by its occurrence earlier in life, by the pain
45071 varying in situation, being frequently bilateral, and being more often
45072 constant than paroxysmal.
45073
45074 _Treatment._--Before having recourse to the measures described below, it
45075 is advisable to give a thorough trial to the medical measures used in
45076 the treatment of neuralgia.
45077
45078 _The Injection of Alcohol into the Nerve._--The alcohol acts by
45079 destroying the nerve fibres, and must be brought into direct contact
45080 with them; if the nerve has been properly struck the injection is
45081 followed by complete anaesthesia in the distribution of the nerve. The
45082 relief may last for from six months to three years; if the pain returns,
45083 the injection may be repeated. The strength of the alcohol should be 85
45084 per cent., and the amount injected about 2 c.c.; a general, or
45085 preferably a local, anaesthetic (novocain) should be employed
45086 (Schlosser); the needle is 8 cm. long, and 0.7 mm. in diameter. The
45087 severe pain which the alcohol causes may be lessened, after the needle
45088 has penetrated to the necessary depth, by passing a few cubic
45089 centimetres of a 2 per cent. solution of _novocain-suprarenin_ through
45090 it before the alcohol is injected. The treatment by injection of alcohol
45091 is superior to the resection of branches of the nerve, for though
45092 relapses occur after the treatment with alcohol, renewed freedom from
45093 pain may be obtained by its repetition. The ophthalmic division should
45094 not, however, be treated in this manner, for the alcohol may escape into
45095 the orbit and endanger other nerves in this region. Harris recommends
45096 the injection of alcohol into the semilunar ganglion.
45097
45098 _Operative Treatment._--This consists in the removal of the affected
45099 nerve or nerves, either by resection--_neurectomy_; or by a combination
45100 of resection with twisting or tearing of the nerve from its central
45101 connections--_avulsion_. To prevent the regeneration of the nerve after
45102 these operations, the canal of exit through the bone should be
45103 obliterated; this is best accomplished by a silver screw-nail driven
45104 home by an ordinary screw-driver (Charles H. Mayo).
45105
45106 When the neuralgia involves branches of two or of all three trunks, or
45107 when it has recurred after temporary relief following resection of
45108 individual branches, the _removal of the semilunar ganglion_, along with
45109 the main trunks of the maxillary and mandibular divisions, should be
45110 considered.
45111
45112 The operation is a difficult and serious one, but the results are
45113 satisfactory so far as the cure of the neuralgia is concerned. There is
45114 little or no disability from the unilateral paralysis of the muscles of
45115 mastication; but on account of the insensitiveness of the cornea, the
45116 eye must be protected from irritation, especially during the first month
45117 or two after the operation; this may be done by fixing a large
45118 watch-glass around the edge of the orbit with adhesive plaster.
45119
45120 If the ophthalmic branch is not involved, neither it nor the ganglion
45121 should be interfered with; the maxillary and mandibular divisions should
45122 be divided within the skull, and the foramen rotundum and foramen ovale
45123 obliterated.
45124
45125
45126
45127
45128 CHAPTER XVII
45129
45130 THE SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUE
45131
45132
45133 Structure of skin--_Blisters_--_Callosities_--_Corns_--_Chilblains_
45134 --_Boils_--_Carbuncle_--_Abscess_--_Veldt sores_--Tuberculosis of
45135 skin: _Inoculation tubercle_--_Lupus_: _Varieties_--Sporotrichosis
45136 --Elephantiasis--Sebaceous cysts or wens--Moles--Horns--New growths:
45137 _Fibroma_; _Papilloma_; _Adenoma_; _Epithelioma_; _Rodent cancer_;
45138 _Melanotic cancer_; _Sarcoma_--AFFECTIONS OF CICATRICES--_Varieties
45139 of scars_--_Keloid_--_Tumours_--AFFECTIONS OF NAILS.
45140
45141 #Structure of Skin.#--The skin is composed of a superficial cellular
45142 layer--the epidermis, and the corium or true skin. The _epidermis_ is
45143 differentiated from without inwards into the stratum corneum, the
45144 stratum lucidum, the stratum granulosum, and the rete Malpighii or
45145 germinal layer, from which all the others are developed. The _corium_ or
45146 _true skin_ consists of connective tissue, in which ramify the blood
45147 vessels, lymphatics, and nerves. That part of the corium immediately
45148 adjoining the epidermis is known as the papillary portion, and contains
45149 the terminal loops of the cutaneous blood vessels and the terminations
45150 of the cutaneous nerves. The deeper portion of the true skin is known as
45151 the reticular portion, and is largely composed of adipose tissue.
45152
45153 #Blisters# result from the exudation of serous fluid beneath the horny
45154 layer of the epidermis. The fluid may be clear, as in the blisters of a
45155 recent burn, or blood-stained, as in the blisters commonly accompanying
45156 fractures of the leg. It may become purulent as a result of infection,
45157 and this may be the starting-point of lymphangitis or cellulitis.
45158
45159 The skin should be disinfected and the blisters punctured. When
45160 infected, the separated horny layer must be cut away with scissors to
45161 allow of the necessary purification.
45162
45163 #Callosities# are prominent, indurated masses of the horny layer of the
45164 epidermis, where it has been exposed to prolonged friction and pressure.
45165 They occur on the fingers and hand as a result of certain occupations
45166 and sports, but are most common under the balls of the toes or heel. A
45167 bursa may form beneath a callosity, and if it becomes inflamed may cause
45168 considerable suffering; if suppuration ensues, a sinus may form,
45169 resembling a perforating ulcer of the foot.
45170
45171 The _treatment_ of callosities on the foot consists in removing pressure
45172 by wearing properly fitting boots, and in applying a ring pad around the
45173 callosity; another method is to fit a sock of spongiopilene with a hole
45174 cut out opposite the callosity. After soaking in hot water, the
45175 overgrown horny layer is pared away, and the part painted daily with a
45176 saturated solution of salicylic acid in flexile collodion.
45177
45178 [Illustration: FIG. 93.--Callosities and Corns on the Sole and Plantar
45179 Aspect of the Toes in a woman who was also the subject of flat-foot.]
45180
45181 #Corns.#--A corn is a localised overgrowth of the horny layer of the
45182 epidermis, which grows downwards, pressing upon and displacing the
45183 sensitive papillae of the corium. Corns are due to the friction and
45184 pressure of ill-fitting boots, and are met with chiefly on the toes and
45185 sole of the foot. A corn is usually hard, dry, and white; but it may be
45186 sodden from moisture, as in "soft corns" between the toes. A bursa may
45187 form beneath a corn, and if inflamed constitutes one form of bunion.
45188 When suppuration takes place in relation to a corn, there is great pain
45189 and disability, and it may prove the starting-point of lymphangitis.
45190
45191 The _treatment_ consists in the wearing of properly fitting boots and
45192 stockings, and, if the symptoms persist, the corn should be removed.
45193 This is done after the manner of chiropodists by digging out the corn
45194 with a suitably shaped knife. A more radical procedure is to excise,
45195 under local anaesthesia, the portion of skin containing the corn and
45196 the underlying bursa. The majority of so-called corn solvents consist of
45197 a solution of salicylic acid in collodion; if this is painted on daily,
45198 the epidermis dies and can then be pared away. The unskilful paring of
45199 corns may determine the occurrence of senile gangrene in those who are
45200 predisposed to it by disease of the arteries.
45201
45202 [Illustration: FIG. 94.--Ulcerated Chilblains on Fingers of a Child.]
45203
45204 #Chilblains.#--Chilblain or _erythema pernio_ is a vascular disturbance
45205 resulting from the alternate action of cold and heat on the distal parts
45206 of the body. Chilblains are met with chiefly on the fingers and toes in
45207 children and anaemic girls. In the mild form there is a sensation of
45208 burning and itching, the part becomes swollen, of a dusky red colour,
45209 and the skin is tense and shiny. In more severe cases the burning and
45210 itching are attended with pain, and the skin becomes of a violet or
45211 wine-red colour. There is a third degree, closely approaching
45212 frost-bite, in which the skin tends to blister and give way, leaving an
45213 indolent raw surface popularly known as a "broken chilblain."
45214
45215 Those liable to chilblains should take open-air exercise, nourishing
45216 food, cod-liver oil, and tonics. Woollen stockings and gloves should be
45217 worn in cold weather, and sudden changes of temperature avoided. The
45218 symptoms may be relieved by ichthyol ointment, glycerin and belladonna,
45219 or a mixture of Venice turpentine, castor oil, and collodion applied on
45220 lint which is wrapped round the toe. Another favourite application is
45221 one of equal parts of tincture of capsicum and compound liniment of
45222 camphor, painted over the area night and morning. Balsam of Peru or
45223 resin ointment spread on gauze should be applied to broken chilblains.
45224 The most effective treatment is Bier's bandage applied for about six
45225 hours twice daily; it can be worn while the patient is following his
45226 occupation; in chronic cases this may be supplemented with hot-air
45227 baths.
45228
45229 #Boils and Carbuncles.#--These result from infection with the
45230 staphylococcus aureus, which enters the orifices of the ducts of the
45231 skin under the influence of friction and pressure, as was demonstrated
45232 by the well-known experiment of Garre, who produced a crop of pustules
45233 and boils on his own forearm by rubbing in a culture of the
45234 staphylococcus aureus.
45235
45236 A #boil# results when the infection is located in a hair follicle or
45237 sebaceous gland. A hard, painful, conical swelling develops, to which,
45238 so long as the skin retains its normal appearance, the term "blind
45239 boil" is applied. Usually, however, the skin becomes red, and after a
45240 time breaks, giving exit to a drop or two of thick pus. After an
45241 interval of from six to ten days a soft white slough is discharged; this
45242 is known as the "core," and consists of the necrosed hair follicle or
45243 sebaceous gland. After the separation of the core the boil heals
45244 rapidly, leaving a small depressed scar.
45245
45246 Boils are most frequently met with on the back of the neck and the
45247 buttocks, and on other parts where the skin is coarse and thick and is
45248 exposed to friction and pressure. The occurrence of a number or a
45249 succession of boils is due to spread of the infection, the cocci from
45250 the original boil obtaining access to adjacent hair follicles. The
45251 spread of boils may be unwittingly promoted by the use of a domestic
45252 poultice or the wearing of infected underclothing.
45253
45254 While boils are frequently met with in debilitated persons, and
45255 particularly in those suffering from diabetes or Bright's disease, they
45256 also occur in those who enjoy vigorous health. They seldom prove
45257 dangerous to life except in diabetic subjects, but when they occur on
45258 the face there is a risk of lymphatic and of general pyogenic infection.
45259 Boils may be differentiated from syphilitic lesions of the skin by
45260 their acute onset and progress, and by the absence of other evidence of
45261 syphilis; and from the malignant or anthrax pustule by the absence of
45262 the central black eschar and of the circumstances which attend upon
45263 anthrax infection.
45264
45265 _Treatment._--The skin of the affected area should be painted with
45266 iodine, and a Klapp's suction bell applied thrice daily. If pus forms,
45267 the skin is frozen with ethyl-chloride and a small incision made, after
45268 which the application of the suction bell is persevered with. The
45269 further treatment consists in the use of diluted boracic or resin
45270 ointment. In multiple boils on the trunk and limbs, lysol or boracic
45271 baths are of service; the underclothing should be frequently changed,
45272 and that which is discarded must be disinfected. In patients with
45273 recurrence of boils about the neck, re-infection frequently takes place
45274 from the scalp, to which therefore treatment should be directed.
45275
45276 Any impaired condition of health should be corrected; when, there is
45277 sugar or albumen in the urine the conditions on which these depend must
45278 receive appropriate treatment. When there are successive crops of boils,
45279 recourse should be had to vaccines. In refractory cases benefit has
45280 followed the subcutaneous injection of lipoid solution containing tin.
45281
45282 #Carbuncle# may be looked upon as an aggregation of boils, and is
45283 characterised by a densely hard base and a brownish-red discoloration of
45284 the skin. It is usually about the size of a crown-piece, but it may
45285 continue to enlarge until it attains the size of a dinner-plate. The
45286 patient is ill and feverish, and the pain may be so severe as to prevent
45287 sleep. As time goes on several points of suppuration appear, and when
45288 these burst there are formed a number of openings in the skin, giving it
45289 a cribriform appearance; these openings exude pus. The different
45290 openings ultimately fuse and the large adherent greyish-white slough is
45291 exposed. The separation of the slough is a tedious process, and the
45292 patient may become exhausted by pain, discharge, and toxin absorption.
45293 When the slough is finally thrown off, a deep gap is left, which takes a
45294 long time to heal. A large carbuncle is a grave disease, especially in a
45295 weakly person suffering from diabetes or chronic alcoholism; we have on
45296 several occasions seen diabetic coma supervene and the patient die
45297 without recovering consciousness. In the majority of cases the patient
45298 is laid aside for several months. It is most common in male adults over
45299 forty years of age, and is usually situated on the back between the
45300 shoulders. When it occurs on the face or anterior part of the neck it is
45301 especially dangerous, because of the greater risk of dissemination of
45302 the infection.
45303
45304 A carbuncle is to be differentiated from an ulcerated gumma and from
45305 anthrax pustule.
45306
45307 [Illustration: FIG. 95.--Carbuncle of seventeen days' duration in a
45308 woman aet. 57.]
45309
45310 _Treatment._--Pain is relieved by full doses of opium or codein, and
45311 these drugs are specially indicated when sugar is present in the urine.
45312 Vaccines may be given a trial. The diet should be liberal and easily
45313 digested, and strychnin and other stimulants may be of service. Locally
45314 the treatment is carried out on the same lines as for boils.
45315
45316 In some cases it is advisable to excise the carbuncle or to make
45317 incisions across it in different directions, so that the resulting wound
45318 presents a stellate appearance.
45319
45320 #Acute Abscesses of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue in Young
45321 Children.#--In young infants, abscesses are not infrequently met with
45322 scattered over the trunk and limbs, and are probably the result of
45323 infection of the sebaceous glands from dirty underclothing. The
45324 abscesses should be opened, and the further spread of infection
45325 prevented by cleansing of the skin and by the use of clean under-linen.
45326 Similar abscesses are met with on the scalp in association with eczema,
45327 impetigo, and pediculosis.
45328
45329 #Veldt Sore.#--This sore usually originates in an abrasion of the
45330 epidermis, such as a sun blister, the bite of an insect, or a scratch. A
45331 pustule forms and bursts, and a brownish-yellow scab forms over it. When
45332 this is removed, an ulcer is left which has little tendency to heal.
45333 These sores are most common about the hands, arms, neck, and feet, and
45334 are most apt to occur in those who have had no opportunities of washing,
45335 and who have lived for a long time on tinned foods.
45336
45337 #Tuberculosis of the Skin.#--Interest attaches chiefly to the primary
45338 forms of tuberculosis of the skin in which the bacilli penetrate from
45339 without--inoculation tubercle and lupus.
45340
45341 #Inoculation Tubercle.#--The appearances vary with the conditions under
45342 which the inoculation takes place. As observed on the fingers of adults,
45343 the affection takes the form of an indolent painless swelling, the
45344 epidermis being red and glazed, or warty, and irregularly fissured.
45345 Sometimes the epidermis gives way, forming an ulcer with flabby
45346 granulations. The infection rarely spreads to the lymphatics, but we
45347 have seen inoculation tubercle of the index-finger followed by a large
45348 cold abscess on the median side of the upper arm and by a huge mass of
45349 breaking down glands in the axilla.
45350
45351 In children who run about barefooted in towns, tubercle may be
45352 inoculated into wounds in the sole or about the toes, and although the
45353 local appearances may not be characteristic, the nature of the infection
45354 is revealed by its tendency to spread up the limb along the lymph
45355 vessels, giving rise to abscesses and fungating ulcers in relation to
45356 the femoral glands.
45357
45358 #Tuberculous Lupus.#--This is an extremely chronic affection of the
45359 skin. It rarely extends to the lymph glands, and of all tuberculous
45360 lesions is the least dangerous to life. The commonest form of
45361 lupus--_lupus vulgaris_--usually commences in childhood or youth, and is
45362 most often met with on the nose or cheek. The early and typical
45363 appearance is that of brownish-yellow or pink nodules in the skin, about
45364 the size of hemp seed. Healing frequently occurs in the centre of the
45365 affected area while the disease continues to extend at the margin.
45366
45367 When there is actual destruction of tissue and ulceration--the so-called
45368 "_lupus excedens_" or "_ulcerans_"--healing is attended with
45369 cicatricial contraction, which may cause unsightly deformity. When the
45370 cheek is affected, the lower eyelid may be drawn down and everted; when
45371 the lips are affected, the mouth may be distorted or seriously
45372 diminished in size. When the nose is attacked, both the skin and mucous
45373 surfaces are usually involved, and the nasal orifices may be narrowed or
45374 even obliterated; sometimes the soft parts, including the cartilages,
45375 are destroyed, leaving only the bones covered by tightly stretched scar
45376 tissue.
45377
45378 The disease progresses slowly, healing in some places and spreading at
45379 others. The patient complains of a burning sensation, but little of
45380 pain, and is chiefly concerned about the disfigurement. Nothing is more
45381 characteristic of lupus than the appearance of fresh nodules in parts
45382 which have already healed. In the course of years large tracts of the
45383 face and neck may become affected. From the lips it may spread to the
45384 gum and palate, giving to the mucous membrane the appearance of a
45385 raised, bright-red, papillary or villous surface. When the disease
45386 affects the gums, the teeth may become loose and fall out.
45387
45388 [Illustration: FIG. 96.--Tuberculous Elephantiasis in a woman aet. 35.]
45389
45390 On parts of the body other than the face, the disease is even more
45391 chronic, and is often attended with a considerable production of dense
45392 fibrous tissue--the so-called _fibroid lupus_. Sometimes there is a
45393 warty thickening of the epidermis--_lupus verrucosus_. In the fingers
45394 and toes it may lead to a progressive destruction of tissue like that
45395 observed in leprosy, and from the resulting loss of portions of the
45396 digits it has been called _lupus mutilans_. In the lower extremity a
45397 remarkable form of the disease is sometimes met with, to which the term
45398 _lupus elephantiasis_ (Fig. 96) has been applied. It commences as an
45399 ordinary lupus of the toes or dorsum of the foot, from which the
45400 tuberculous infection spreads to the lymph vessels, and the limb as a
45401 whole becomes enormously swollen and unshapely.
45402
45403 Finally, a long-standing lupus, especially on the cheek, may become the
45404 seat of epithelioma--_lupus epithelioma_--usually of the exuberant or
45405 cauliflower type, which, like other epitheliomas that originate in scar
45406 tissue, presents little tendency to infect the lymphatics.
45407
45408 The _diagnosis_ of lupus is founded on the chronic progress and long
45409 duration, and the central scarring with peripheral extension of the
45410 disease. On the face it is most liable to be confused with syphilis and
45411 with rodent cancer. The syphilitic lesion belongs to the tertiary
45412 period, and although presenting a superficial resemblance to
45413 tuberculosis, its progress is more rapid, so that within a few months it
45414 may involve an area of skin as wide as would be affected by lupus in as
45415 many years. Further, it readily yields to anti-syphilitic treatment. In
45416 cases of tertiary syphilis in which the nose is destroyed, it will be
45417 noticed that the bones have suffered most, while in lupus the
45418 destruction of tissue involves chiefly the soft parts.
45419
45420 Rodent cancer is liable to be mistaken for lupus, because it affects the
45421 same parts of the face; it is equally chronic, and may partly heal. It
45422 begins later in life, however, the margin of the ulcer is more sharply
45423 defined, and often presents a "rolled" appearance.
45424
45425 _Treatment._--When the disease is confined to a limited area, the most
45426 rapid and certain cure is obtained by _excision_; larger areas are
45427 scraped with the sharp spoon. The _ray treatment_ includes the use of
45428 luminous, Rontgen, or radium rays, and possesses the advantage of being
45429 comparatively painless and of being followed by the least amount of
45430 scarring and deformity.
45431
45432 Encouraging results have also been obtained by the application of carbon
45433 dioxide snow.
45434
45435 #Multiple subcutaneous tuberculous nodules# are met with chiefly in
45436 children. They are indolent and painless, and rarely attract attention
45437 until they break down and form abscesses, which are usually about the
45438 size of a cherry, and when these burst sinuses or ulcers result. If the
45439 overlying skin is still intact, the best treatment is excision. If the
45440 abscess has already infected the skin, each focus should be scraped and
45441 packed.
45442
45443 #Sporotrichosis# is a mycotic infection due to the sporothrix Shenkii.
45444 It presents so many features resembling syphilis and tubercle that it is
45445 frequently mistaken for one or other of these affections. It occurs
45446 chiefly in males between fifteen and forty-five, who are farmers, fruit
45447 and vegetable dealers, or florists. There is usually a history of trauma
45448 of the nature of a scratch or a cut, and after a long incubation period
45449 there develop a series of small, hard, round nodules in the skin and
45450 subcutaneous tissue which, without pain or temperature, soften into
45451 cold abscesses and leave indolent ulcers or sinuses. The infection is
45452 of slow progress and follows the course of the lymphatics. From the
45453 gelatinous pus the organism is cultivated without difficulty, and this
45454 is the essential step in arriving at a diagnosis. The disease yields in
45455 a few weeks to full doses of iodide of potassium.
45456
45457 #Elephantiasis.#--This term is applied to an excessive enlargement of a
45458 part depending upon an overgrowth of the skin and subcutaneous cellular
45459 tissue, and it may result from a number of causes, acting independently
45460 or in combination. The condition is observed chiefly in the extremities
45461 and in the external organs of generation.
45462
45463 _Elephantiasis from Lymphatic or Venous Obstruction._--Of this the
45464 best-known example is _tropical elephantiasis_ (E. arabum), which is
45465 endemic in Samoa, Barbadoes, and other places. It attacks the lower
45466 extremity or the genitals in either sex (Figs. 97, 98). The disease is
45467 usually ushered in with fever, and signs of lymphangitis in the part
45468 affected. After a number of such attacks, the lymph vessels appear to
45469 become obliterated, and the skin and subcutaneous cellular tissue, being
45470 bathed in stagnant lymph--which possibly contains the products of
45471 streptococci--take on an overgrowth, which continues until the part
45472 assumes gigantic proportions. In certain cases the lymph trunks have
45473 been found to be blocked with the parent worms of the filaria Bancrofti.
45474 Cases of elephantiasis of the lower extremity are met with in this
45475 country in which there are no filarial parasites in the lymph vessels,
45476 and these present features closely resembling the tropical variety, and
45477 usually follow upon repeated attacks of lymphangitis or erysipelas.
45478
45479 The part affected is enormously increased in size, and causes
45480 inconvenience from its bulk and weight. In contrast to ordinary dropsy,
45481 there is no pitting on pressure, and the swelling does not disappear on
45482 elevation of the limb. The skin becomes rough and warty, and may hang
45483 down in pendulous folds. Blisters form on the surface and yield an
45484 abundant exudate of clear lymph. From neglect of cleanliness, the skin
45485 becomes the seat of eczema or even of ulceration attended with foul
45486 discharge.
45487
45488 Samson Handley has sought to replace the blocked lymph vessels by
45489 burying in the subcutaneous tissue of the swollen part a number of stout
45490 silk threads--_lymphangioplasty_. By their capillary action they drain
45491 the lymph to a healthy region above, and thus enable it to enter the
45492 circulation. It has been more successful in the face and upper limb than
45493 in the lower extremity. If the tissues are infected with pus organisms,
45494 a course of vaccines should precede the operation.
45495
45496 [Illustration: FIG. 97.--Elephantiasis in a woman aet. 45.]
45497
45498 A similar type of elephantiasis may occur after extirpation of the lymph
45499 glands in the axilla or groin; in the leg in long-standing standing
45500 varix and phlebitis with chronic ulcer; in the arm as a result of
45501 extensive cancerous disease of the lymphatics in the axilla secondarily
45502 to cancer of the breast; and in extensive tuberculous disease of the
45503 lymphatics. The last-named is chiefly observed in the lower limb in
45504 young adult women, and from its following upon lupus of the toes or foot
45505 it has been called _lupus elephantiasis_. The tuberculous infection
45506 spreads slowly up the limb by way of the lymph vessels, and as these are
45507 obliterated the skin and cellular tissues become hypertrophied, and the
45508 surface is studded over with fungating tuberculous masses of a livid
45509 blue colour. As the more severe forms of the disease may prove dangerous
45510 to life by pyogenic complications inducing gangrene of the limb, the
45511 question of amputation may have to be considered.
45512
45513 [Illustration: FIG. 98.--Elephantiasis of Penis and Scrotum in native of
45514 Demerara.
45515
45516 (Mr. Annandale's case.)]
45517
45518 Belonging to this group also is a form of _congenital elephantiasis_
45519 resulting from the circular constriction of a limb _in utero_ by
45520 amniotic bands.
45521
45522 _Elephantiasis occurring apart from lymphatic or venous obstruction_ is
45523 illustrated by _elephantiasis nervorum_, in which there is an overgrowth
45524 of the skin and cellular tissue of an extremity in association with
45525 neuro-fibromatosis of the cutaneous nerves (Fig. 89); and by
45526 _elephantiasis Graecorum_--a form of leprosy in which the skin of the
45527 face becomes the seat of tumour-like masses consisting of leprous
45528 nodules. It is also illustrated by _elephantiasis involving the scrotum_
45529 as a result of prolonged irritation by the urine in cases in which the
45530 penis has been amputated and the urine has infiltrated the scrotal
45531 tissues over a period of years.
45532
45533 #Sebaceous Cysts.#--Atheromatous cysts or wens are formed in relation to
45534 the sebaceous glands and hair follicles. They are commonly met with in
45535 adults, on the scalp (Fig. 99), face, neck, back, and external genitals.
45536 Sometimes they are multiple, and they may be met with in several members
45537 of the same family. They are smooth, rounded, or discoid cysts, varying
45538 in size from a split-pea to a Tangerine orange. In consistence they are
45539 firm and elastic, or fluctuating, and are incorporated with the
45540 overlying skin, but movable on the deeper structures. The orifice of the
45541 partly blocked sebaceous follicle is sometimes visible, and the contents
45542 of the cyst can be squeezed through the opening. The wall of the cyst is
45543 composed of a connective-tissue capsule lined by stratified squamous
45544 epithelium. The contents consist of accumulated epithelial cells, and
45545 are at first dry and pearly white in appearance, but as a result of
45546 fatty degeneration they break down into a greyish-yellow pultaceous and
45547 semi-fluid material having a peculiar stale odour. It is probable that
45548 the decomposition of the contents is the result of the presence of
45549 bacteria, and that from the surgical point of view they should be
45550 regarded as infective. A sebaceous cyst may remain indefinitely without
45551 change, or may slowly increase in size, the skin over it becoming
45552 stretched and closely adherent to the cyst wall as a result of friction
45553 and pressure. The contents may ooze from the orifice of the duct and dry
45554 on the skin surface, leading to the formation of a sebaceous horn
45555 (Fig. 100). As a result of injury the cyst may undergo sudden
45556 enlargement from haemorrhage into its interior.
45557
45558 Recurrent attacks of inflammation frequently occur, especially in wens
45559 of the face and scalp. Suppuration may ensue and be followed by cure of
45560 the cyst, or an offensive fungating ulcer forms which may be mistaken
45561 for epithelioma. True cancerous transformation is rare.
45562
45563 Wens are to be _diagnosed_ from dermoids, from fatty tumours, and from
45564 cold abscesses. Dermoids usually appear before adult life, and as they
45565 nearly always lie beneath the fascia, the skin is movable over them. A
45566 fatty tumour is movable, and is often lobulated. The confusion with a
45567 cold abscess is most likely to occur in wens of the neck or back, and it
45568 may be impossible without the use of an exploring needle to
45569 differentiate between them.
45570
45571 [Illustration: FIG. 99.--Multiple Sebaceous Cysts or Wens; the larger
45572 ones are of many years' duration.]
45573
45574 _Treatment._--The removal of wens is to be recommended while they are
45575 small and freely movable, as they are then easily shelled out after
45576 incising the overlying skin; sometimes splitting the cyst makes its
45577 removal easier. Local anaesthesia is to be preferred. It is important
45578 that none of the cyst wall be left behind. In large and adherent wens an
45579 ellipse of skin is removed along with the cyst. When inflamed, it may be
45580 impossible to dissect out the cyst, and the wall should be destroyed
45581 with carbolic acid, the resulting wound being treated by the open
45582 method.
45583
45584 #Moles.#--The term mole is applied to a pigmented, and usually hairy,
45585 patch of skin, present at or appearing shortly after birth. The colour
45586 varies from brown to black, according to the amount of melanin pigment
45587 present. The lesion consists in an overgrowth of epidermis which often
45588 presents an alveolar arrangement. Moles vary greatly in size: some are
45589 mere dots, others are as large as the palm of the hand, and occasionally
45590 a mole covers half the face. In addition to being unsightly, they bleed
45591 freely when abraded, are liable to ulcerate from friction and pressure,
45592 and occasionally become the starting-point of melanotic cancer. Rodent
45593 cancer sometimes originates in the slightly pigmented moles met with on
45594 the face. Overgrowths in relation to the cutaneous nerves, especially
45595 the plexiform neuroma, occasionally originate in pigmented moles. Soldau
45596 believes that the pigmentation and overgrowth of the epidermis in moles
45597 are associated with, and probably result from, a fibromatosis of the
45598 cutaneous nerves.
45599
45600 _Treatment._--The quickest way to get rid of a mole is to excise it; if
45601 the edges of the gap cannot be brought together with sutures, recourse
45602 should be had to grafting. In large hairy moles of the face whose size
45603 forbids excision, radium or the X-rays should be employed. Excellent
45604 results have been obtained by refrigeration with solid carbon dioxide.
45605 In children and women with delicate skin, applications of from ten to
45606 thirty seconds suffice. In persons with coarse skin an application of
45607 one minute may be necessary, and it may have to be repeated.
45608
45609 #Horns.#--The _sebaceous_ horn results from the accumulation of the
45610 dried contents of a wen on the surface of the skin: the sebaceous
45611 material after drying up becomes cornified, and as fresh material is
45612 added to the base the horn increases in length (Fig. 100). The _wart_
45613 horn grows from a warty papilloma of the skin. _Cicatrix_ horns are
45614 formed by the heaping up of epidermis in the scars that result from
45615 burns. _Nail_ horns are overgrown nails (keratomata of the nail bed),
45616 and are met with chiefly in the great toe of elderly bedridden patients.
45617 If an ulcer forms at the base of a horn, it may prove the starting-point
45618 of epithelioma, and for this reason, as well as for others, horns should
45619 be removed.
45620
45621 [Illustration: FIG. 100.--Sebaceous Horn growing from Auricle.
45622
45623 (Dr. Kenneth Maclachan's case.)]
45624
45625 #New Growths in the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue.#--The _Angioma_ has
45626 been described with diseases of blood vessels. _Fibroma._--Various types
45627 of fibroma occur in the skin. A soft pedunculated fibroma, about the
45628 size of a pea, is commonly met with, especially on the neck and trunk;
45629 it is usually solitary, and is easily removed with scissors. The
45630 multiple, soft fibroma known as _molluscum fibrosum_, which depends upon
45631 a neuro-fibromatosis of the cutaneous nerves, is described with the
45632 tumours of nerves. Hard fibromas occurring singly or in groups may be
45633 met with, especially in the skin of the buttock, and may present a local
45634 malignancy, recurring after removal like the "recurrent fibroid" of
45635 Paget. The "painful subcutaneous nodule" is a solitary fibroma related
45636 to one of the cutaneous nerves. The hard fibroma known as _keloid_ is
45637 described with the affections of scars.
45638
45639 #Papilloma.#--The _common wart_ or verruca is an outgrowth of the
45640 surface epidermis. It may be sessile or pedunculated hard or soft. The
45641 surface may be smooth, or fissured and foliated like a cauliflower, or
45642 it may be divided up into a number of spines. Warts are met with chiefly
45643 on the hands, and are often multiple, occurring in clusters or in
45644 successive crops. Multiple warts appear to result from some contagion,
45645 the nature of which is unknown; they sometimes occur in an epidemic form
45646 among school-children, and show a remarkable tendency to disappear
45647 spontaneously. The solitary flat-topped wart which occurs on the face
45648 of old people may, if irritated, become the seat of epithelioma. A warty
45649 growth of the epidermis is a frequent accompaniment of moles and of that
45650 variety of lupus known as _lupus verrucosus_.
45651
45652 _Treatment._--In the multiple warts of children the health should be
45653 braced up by a change to the seaside. A dusting-powder, consisting of
45654 boracic acid with 5 per cent. salicylic acid, may be rubbed into the
45655 hands after washing and drying. The persistent warts of young adults
45656 should be excised after freezing with chloride of ethyl. When cutting is
45657 objected to, they may be painted night and morning with salicylic
45658 collodion, the epidermis being dehydrated with alcohol before each
45659 application.
45660
45661 _Venereal warts_ occur on the genitals of either sex, and may form large
45662 cauliflower-like masses on the inner surface of the prepuce or of the
45663 labia majora. Although frequently co-existing with gonorrhoea or
45664 syphilis, they occur independently of these diseases, being probably
45665 acquired by contact with another individual suffering from warts
45666 (C. W. Cathcart). They give rise to considerable irritation and
45667 suffering, and when cleanliness is neglected there may be an offensive
45668 discharge.
45669
45670 In the female, the cauliflower-like masses are dissected from the labia;
45671 in the male, the prepuce is removed and the warts on the glans are
45672 snipped off with scissors. In milder cases, the warts usually disappear
45673 if the parts are kept absolutely dry and clean. A useful dusting-powder
45674 is one consisting of calamine and 5 per cent. salicylic acid; the
45675 exsiccated sulphate of iron, in the form of a powder, may be employed in
45676 cases which resist this treatment.
45677
45678 #Adenoma.#--This is a comparatively rare tumour growing from the glands
45679 of the skin. One variety, known as the "tomato tumour," which apparently
45680 originates from _the sweat glands_, is met with on the scalp and face in
45681 women past middle life. These growths are often multiple; the individual
45682 tumours vary in size, and the skin, which is almost devoid of hairs, is
45683 glistening and tightly stretched over them. A similar tumour may occur
45684 on the nose. The _sebaceous adenoma_, which originates from the
45685 sebaceous glands, forms a projecting tumour on the face or scalp, and
45686 when the skin is irritated it may ulcerate and fungate. The treatment
45687 consists in the removal of the tumour along with the overlying skin.
45688
45689 The exuberant masses on the nose known as "rhinophyma," "lipoma nasi,"
45690 or "potato nose" are of the nature of sebaceous adenoma, and are removed
45691 by shaving them off with a knife until the normal shape of the nose is
45692 restored Healing takes place with remarkable rapidity.
45693
45694 #Cancer.#--There are several types of primary cancer of the skin, the
45695 most important being squamous epithelioma, rodent cancer, and melanotic
45696 cancer.
45697
45698 [Illustration: FIG. 101.--Paraffin Epithelioma.]
45699
45700 #Epithelioma# occurs in a variety of forms. When originating in a small
45701 ulcer or wart-for example on the face in old people--it presents the
45702 features of a chronic indurated ulcer. A more exuberant and rapidly
45703 growing form of epithelial cancer, described by Hutchinson as the
45704 _crateriform ulcer_, commences on the face as a small red pimple which
45705 rapidly develops into an elevated mass shaped like a bee-hive, and
45706 breaks down in the centre. Epithelioma may develop anywhere on the body
45707 in relation to long-standing ulcers, especially that resulting from a
45708 burn or from lupus; this form usually presents an exuberant outgrowth of
45709 epidermis not unlike a cauliflower. An interesting example of
45710 epithelioma has been described by Neve of Kashmir. The natives in that
45711 province are in the habit of carrying a fire-basket suspended from the
45712 waist, which often burns the skin and causes a chronic ulcer, and many
45713 of these ulcers become the seat of epithelioma, due, in Neve's opinion,
45714 to the actual contact of the sooty pan with the skin.
45715
45716 The term _trade epithelioma_ has been applied to that form met with in
45717 those who follow certain occupations, such as paraffin workers and
45718 chimney-sweeps. The most recent member of this group is the _X-ray
45719 carcinoma_, which is met with in those who are constantly exposed to the
45720 irritation of the X-rays; there is first a chronic dermatitis with warty
45721 overgrowth of the surface epithelium, pigmentation, and the formation of
45722 fissures and warts. The trade epithelioma varies a good deal in
45723 malignancy, but it tends to cause death in the same manner as other
45724 epitheliomas.
45725
45726 Epithelial cancer has also been observed in those who have taken arsenic
45727 over long periods for medicinal purposes.
45728
45729 [Illustration: FIG. 102.--Rodent Cancer of Inner Canthus.]
45730
45731 #Rodent Cancer# (Rodent Ulcer).--This is a cancer originating in the
45732 sweat glands or sebaceous follicles, or in the foetal residues of
45733 cutaneous glands. The cells are small and closely packed together in
45734 alveoli or in reticulated columns; cell nests are rare. It is remarkably
45735 constant in its seat of origin, being nearly always located on the
45736 lateral aspect of the nose or in the vicinity of the lower eyelid
45737 (Fig. 102). It is rare on the trunk or limbs. It commences as a small
45738 flattened nodule in the skin, the epidermis over it being stretched and
45739 shining. The centre becomes depressed, while the margins extend in the
45740 form of an elevated ridge. Sooner or later the epidermis gives way in
45741 the centre, exposing a smooth raw surface devoid of granulations.
45742
45743 [Illustration: FIG. 103.--Rodent Cancer of fifteen years' duration,
45744 which has destroyed the contents of the Orbit.
45745
45746 (Sir Montagu Cotterill's case)]
45747
45748 The margin, while in parts irregular, is typically represented by a
45749 well-defined "rolled" border which consists of the peripheral portion of
45750 the cancer that has not broken down. The central ulcer may temporarily
45751 heal. There is itching but little pain, and the condition progresses
45752 extremely slowly; rodent cancers which have existed for many years are
45753 frequently met with. The disease attacks and destroys every structure
45754 with which it comes in contact, such as the eyelids, the walls of the
45755 nasal cavities, and the bones of the face; hence it may produce the most
45756 hideous deformities (Fig. 103). The patient may succumb to haemorrhage or
45757 to infective complications such as erysipelas or meningitis.
45758
45759 Secondary growths in the lymph glands, while not unknown, are extremely
45760 rare. We have only seen them once--in a case of rodent cancer in the
45761 groin.
45762
45763 _Diagnosis._--Lupus is the disease most often mistaken for rodent
45764 cancer. Lupus usually begins earlier in life, it presents apple-jelly
45765 nodules, and lacks the rounded, elevated border. Syphilitic lesions
45766 progress more rapidly, and also lack the characteristic margin. The
45767 differentiation from squamous epithelioma is of considerable importance,
45768 as the latter affection spreads more rapidly, involves the lymph glands
45769 early, and is much more dangerous to life.
45770
45771 _Treatment._--In rodent cancers of limited size--say less than one inch
45772 in diameter--free excision is the most rapid and certain method of
45773 treatment. The alternative is the application of radium or of the
45774 Rontgen rays, which, although requiring many exposures, results in cure
45775 with the minimum of disfigurement. If the cancer already covers an
45776 extensive area, or has invaded the cavity of the orbit or nose, radium
45777 or X-rays yield the best results. The effect is soon shown by the
45778 ingrowth of healthy epithelium from the surrounding skin, and at the
45779 same time the discharge is lessened. Good results are also reported from
45780 the application of carbon dioxide snow, especially when this follows
45781 upon a course of X-ray treatment.
45782
45783 #Paget's disease# of the nipple is an epithelioma occurring in women
45784 over forty years of age: a similar form of epithelioma is sometimes met
45785 with at the umbilicus or on the genitals.
45786
45787 #Melanotic Cancer.#--Under this head are included all new growths which
45788 contain an excess of melanin pigment. Many of these were formerly
45789 described as melanotic sarcoma. They nearly always originate in a
45790 pigmented mole which has been subjected to irritation. The primary
45791 growth may remain so small that its presence is not even suspected, or
45792 it may increase in size, ulcerate, and fungate. The amount of pigment
45793 varies: when small in amount the growth is brown, when abundant it is a
45794 deep black. The most remarkable feature is the rapidity with which the
45795 disease becomes disseminated along the lymphatics, the first evidence of
45796 which is an enlargement of the lymph glands. As the primary growth is
45797 often situated on the sole of the foot or in the matrix of the nail of
45798 the great toe, the femoral and inguinal glands become enlarged in
45799 succession, forming tumours much larger than the primary growth.
45800 Sometimes the dissemination involves the lymph vessels of the limb,
45801 forming a series of indurated pigmented cords and nodules (Fig. 104).
45802 Lastly, the dissemination may be universal throughout the body, and this
45803 usually occurs at a comparatively early stage. The secondary growths are
45804 deeply pigmented, being usually of a coal-black colour, and melanin
45805 pigment may be present in the urine. When recurrence takes place in or
45806 near the scar left by the operation, the cancer nodules are not
45807 necessarily pigmented.
45808
45809 [Illustration: FIG. 104.--Diffuse Melanotic Cancer of Lymphatics of Skin
45810 secondary to a Growth in the Sole of the Foot.]
45811
45812 To extirpate the disease it is necessary to excise the tumour, with a
45813 zone of healthy skin around it and a somewhat large zone of the
45814 underlying subcutaneous tissue and deep fascia. Hogarth Pringle
45815 recommends that a broad strip of subcutaneous fascia up to and including
45816 the nearest anatomical group of glands should be removed with the tumour
45817 in one continuous piece.
45818
45819 #Secondary Cancer of the Skin.#--Cancer may spread to the skin from a
45820 subjacent growth by direct continuity or by way of the lymphatics. Both
45821 of these processes are so well illustrated in cases of mammary cancer
45822 that they will be described in relation to that disease.
45823
45824 #Sarcoma# of various types is met with in the skin. The fibroma, after
45825 excision, may recur as a fibro-sarcoma. The alveolar sarcoma commences
45826 as a hard lump and increases in size until the epidermis gives way and
45827 an ulcer is formed.
45828
45829 [Illustration: FIG. 105.--Melanotic Cancer of Forehead with Metastases
45830 in Lymph Vessels and Glands.
45831
45832 (Mr. D. P. D. Wilkie's case.)]
45833
45834 A number of fresh tumours may spring up around the original growth.
45835 Sometimes the primary growth appears in the form of multiple nodules
45836 which tend to become confluent. Excision, unless performed early, is of
45837 little avail, and in any case should be followed up by exposure to
45838 radium.
45839
45840
45841 AFFECTIONS OF CICATRICES
45842
45843 A cicatrix or scar consists of closely packed bundles of white fibres
45844 covered by epidermis; the skin glands and hair follicles are usually
45845 absent. The size, shape, and level of the cicatrix depend upon the
45846 conditions which preceded healing.
45847
45848 A healthy scar, when recently formed, has a smooth, glossy surface of a
45849 pinkish colour, which tends to become whiter as a result of obliteration
45850 of the blood vessels concerned in its formation.
45851
45852 _Weak Scars._--A scar is said to be weak when it readily breaks down as
45853 a result of irritation or pressure. The scars resulting from severe
45854 burns and those over amputation stumps are especially liable to break
45855 down from trivial causes. The treatment is to excise the weak portion of
45856 the scar and bring the edges of the gap together.
45857
45858 _Contracted scars_ frequently cause deformity either by displacing
45859 parts, such as the eyelid or lip, or by fixing parts and preventing the
45860 normal movements--for example, a scar on the flexor aspect of a joint
45861 may prevent extension of the forearm (Fig. 63). These are treated by
45862 dividing the scar, correcting the deformity, and filling up the gap with
45863 epithelial grafts, or with a flap of the whole thickness of the skin.
45864 When deformity results from _depression of a scar_, as is not uncommon
45865 after the healing of a sinus, the treatment is to excise the scar.
45866 Depressed scars may be raised by the injection of paraffin into the
45867 subcutaneous tissue.
45868
45869 _Painful Scars._--Pain in relation to a scar is usually due to nerve
45870 fibres being compressed or stretched in the cicatricial tissue; and in
45871 some cases to ascending neuritis. The treatment consists in excising the
45872 scar or in stretching or excising a portion of the nerve affected.
45873
45874 _Pigmented or Discoloured Scars._--The best-known examples are the blue
45875 coloration which results from coal-dust or gunpowder, the brown scars
45876 resulting from chronic ulcer with venous congestion of the leg, and the
45877 variously coloured scars caused by tattooing. The only satisfactory
45878 method of getting rid of the coloration is to excise the scar; the edges
45879 are brought together by sutures, or the raw surface is covered with
45880 skin-grafts according to the size of the gap.
45881
45882 _Hypertrophied Scars._--Scars occasionally broaden out and become
45883 prominent, and on exposed parts this may prove a source of
45884 disappointment after operations such as those for goitre or tuberculous
45885 glands in the neck. There is sometimes considerable improvement from
45886 exposure to the X-rays.
45887
45888 _Keloid._--This term is applied to an overgrowth of scar tissue which
45889 extends beyond the area of the original wound, and the name is derived
45890 from the fact that this extension occurs in the form of radiating
45891 processes, suggesting the claws of a crab. It is essentially a fibroma
45892 or new growth of fibrous tissue, which commences in relation to the
45893 walls of the smaller blood vessels; the bundles of fibrous tissue are
45894 for the most part parallel with the surface, and the epidermis is
45895 tightly stretched over them. It is more frequent in the negro and in
45896 those who are, or have been, the subjects of tuberculous disease.
45897
45898 [Illustration: FIG. 106.--Recurrent Keloid in scar left by operation for
45899 tuberculous glands in a girl aet. 7.]
45900
45901 Keloid may attack scars of any kind, such as those resulting from
45902 leech-bites, acne pustules, boils or blisters; those resulting from
45903 operation or accidental wounds; and the scars resulting from burns,
45904 especially when situated over the sternum, appear to be specially
45905 liable. The scar becomes more and more conspicuous, is elevated above
45906 the surface, of a pinkish or brownish-pink pink colour, and sends out
45907 irregular prolongations around its margins. The patient may complain of
45908 itching and burning, and of great sensitiveness of the scar, even to
45909 contact with the clothing.
45910
45911 There is a natural hesitation to excise keloid because of the fear of
45912 its returning in the new scar. The application of radium is, so far as
45913 we know, the only means of preventing such return. The irritation
45914 associated with keloid may be relieved by the application of salicylic
45915 collodion or of salicylic and creosote plaster.
45916
45917 _Epithelioma_ is liable to attack scars in old people, especially those
45918 which result from burns sustained early in childhood and have never
45919 really healed. From the absence of lymphatics in scar tissue, the
45920 disease does not spread to the glands until it has invaded the tissues
45921 outside the scar; the prognosis is therefore better than in epithelioma
45922 in general. It should be excised widely; in the lower extremity when
45923 there is also extensive destruction of tissue from an antecedent chronic
45924 ulcer or osteomyelitis, it may be better to amputate the limb.
45925
45926
45927 AFFECTION OF THE NAILS
45928
45929 _Injuries._--When a nail is contused or crushed, blood is extravasated
45930 beneath it, and the nail is usually shed, a new one growing in its
45931 place. A splinter driven underneath the nail causes great pain, and if
45932 organisms are carried in along with it, may give rise to infective
45933 complications. The free edge of the nail should be clipped away to allow
45934 of the removal of the foreign body and the necessary disinfection.
45935
45936 _Trophic Changes._--The growth of the nails may be interfered with in
45937 any disturbance of the general health. In nerve lesions, such as a
45938 divided nerve-trunk, the nails are apt to suffer, becoming curved,
45939 brittle, or furrowed, or they may be shed.
45940
45941 _Onychia_ is the term applied to an infection of the soft parts around
45942 the nail or of the matrix beneath it. The commonest form of onychia has
45943 already been referred to with whitlow. There is a superficial variety
45944 resulting from the extension of a purulent blister beneath the nail
45945 lifting it up from its bed, the pus being visible through the nail. The
45946 nail as well as the raised horny layer of the epidermis should be
45947 removed. A deeper and more troublesome onychia results from infection at
45948 the nail-fold; the infection spreads slowly beneath the fold until it
45949 reaches the matrix, and a drop or two of pus forms beneath the nail,
45950 usually in the region of the lunule. This affection entails a
45951 disability of the finger which may last for weeks unless it is properly
45952 treated. Treatment by hyperaemia, using a suction bell, should first be
45953 tried, and, failing improvement, the nail-fold and lunule should be
45954 frozen, and a considerable portion removed with the knife; if only a
45955 small portion of the nail is removed, the opening is blocked by
45956 granulations springing from the matrix. A new nail is formed, but it is
45957 liable to be misshapen.
45958
45959 _Tuberculous onychia_ is met with in children and adolescents. It
45960 appears as a livid or red swelling at the root of the nail and spreading
45961 around its margins. The epidermis, which is thin and shiny, gives way,
45962 and the nail is usually shed.
45963
45964 [Illustration: FIG. 107.--Subungual Exostosis growing from Distal
45965 Phalanx of Great Toe, showing Ulceration of Skin and Displacement of
45966 Nail.
45967
45968 _a._ Surface view. _b._ On section.]
45969
45970 _Syphilitic_ affections of the nails assume various aspects. A primary
45971 chancre at the edge of the nail may be mistaken for a whitlow,
45972 especially if it is attended with much pain. Other forms of onychia
45973 occur during secondary syphilis simultaneously with the skin eruptions,
45974 and may prove obstinate and lead to shedding of the nails. They also
45975 occur in inherited syphilis. In addition to general treatment, an
45976 ointment containing 5 per cent. of oleate of mercury should be applied
45977 locally.
45978
45979 _Ingrowing Toe-nail._--This is more accurately described as an
45980 overgrowth of the soft tissues along the edge of the nail. It is most
45981 frequently met with in the great toe in young adults with flat-foot
45982 whose feet perspire freely, who wear ill-fitting shoes, and who cut
45983 their toe-nails carelessly or tear them with their fingers. Where the
45984 soft tissues are pressed against the edge of the nail, the skin gives
45985 way and there is the formation of exuberant granulations and of
45986 discharge which is sometimes foetid. The affection is a painful one and
45987 may unfit the patient for work. In mild cases the condition may be
45988 remedied by getting rid of contributing causes and by disinfecting the
45989 skin and nail; the nail is cut evenly, and the groove between it and the
45990 skin packed with an antiseptic dusting-powder, such as boracic acid. In
45991 more severe cases it may be necessary to remove an ellipse of tissue
45992 consisting of the edge of the nail, together with the subjacent matrix
45993 and the redundant nail-fold.
45994
45995 _Subungual exostosis_ is an osteoma growing from the terminal phalanx of
45996 the great toe (Fig. 107). It raises the nail and may be accompanied by
45997 ulceration of the skin over the most prominent part of the growth. The
45998 soft parts, including the nail, should be reflected towards the dorsum
45999 in the form of a flap, the base of the exostosis divided with the
46000 chisel, and the exostosis removed.
46001
46002 _Malignant disease_ in relation to the nails is rare. Squamous
46003 epithelioma and melanotic cancer are the forms met with. Treatment
46004 consists in amputating the digit concerned, and in removing the
46005 associated lymph glands.
46006
46007
46008
46009
46010 CHAPTER XVIII
46011
46012 THE MUSCLES, TENDONS, AND TENDON SHEATHS
46013
46014
46015 INJURIES: _Contusion_; _Sprain_; _Rupture_--Hernia of
46016 muscle--Dislocation of tendons--Wounds--Avulsion of tendon.
46017 DISEASES OF MUSCLE AND OF TENDONS: _Atrophy_; _"Muscular
46018 rheumatism"_--_Fibrositis_; _Contracture_; _Myositis_;
46019 _Calcification and Ossification_; _Tumours_. DISEASES OF TENDON
46020 SHEATHS: _Teno-synovitis_.
46021
46022
46023 INJURIES
46024
46025 #Contusion of Muscle.#--Contusion of muscle, which consists in bruising
46026 of its fibres and blood vessels, may be due to violence acting from
46027 without, as in a blow, a kick, or a fall; or from within, as by the
46028 displacement of bone in a fracture or dislocation.
46029
46030 The symptoms are those common to all contusions, and the patient
46031 complains of severe pain on attempting to use the muscle, and maintains
46032 an attitude which relaxes it. If the sheath of the muscle also is torn,
46033 there is subcutaneous ecchymosis, and the accumulation of blood may
46034 result in the formation of a haematoma.
46035
46036 Restoration of function is usually complete; but when the nerve
46037 supplying the muscle is bruised at the same time, as may occur in the
46038 deltoid, wasting and loss of function may be persistent. In exceptional
46039 cases the process of repair may be attended with the formation of bone
46040 in the substance of the muscle, and this may likewise impair its
46041 function.
46042
46043 A contused muscle should be placed at rest and supported by cotton wool
46044 and a bandage; after an interval, massage and appropriate exercises are
46045 employed.
46046
46047 #Sprain and Partial Rupture of Muscle.#--This lesion consists in
46048 overstretching and partial rupture of the fibres of a muscle or its
46049 aponeurosis. It is of common occurrence in athletes and in those who
46050 follow laborious occupations. It may follow upon a single or repeated
46051 effort--especially in those who are out of training. Familiar examples
46052 of muscular sprain are the "labourer's" or "golfer's back," affecting
46053 the latissimus dorsi or the sacrospinalis (erector spinae); the
46054 "tennis-player's elbow," and the "sculler's sprain," affecting the
46055 muscles and ligaments about the elbow; the "angler's elbow," affecting
46056 the common origin of the extensors and supinators; the "sprinter's
46057 sprain," affecting the flexors of the hip; and the "jumper's and
46058 dancer's sprain," affecting the muscles of the calf. The patient
46059 complains of pain, often sudden in onset, of tenderness on pressure, and
46060 of inability to carry out the particular movement by which the sprain
46061 was produced. The disability varies in different cases, and it may
46062 incapacitate the patient from following his occupation or sport for
46063 weeks or, if imperfectly treated, even for months.
46064
46065 The _treatment_ consists in resting the muscle from the particular
46066 effort concerned in the production of the sprain, in gently exercising
46067 it in other directions, in the use of massage, and the induction of
46068 hyperaemia by means of heat. In neglected cases, that is, where the
46069 muscle has not been exercised, the patient shrinks from using it and the
46070 disablement threatens to be permanent; it is sometimes said that
46071 adhesions have formed and that these interfere with the recovery of
46072 function. The condition may be overcome by graduated movements or by a
46073 sudden forcible movement under an anaesthetic. These cases afford a
46074 fruitful field for the bone-setter.
46075
46076 #Rupture of Muscle or Tendon.#--A muscle or a tendon may be ruptured in
46077 its continuity or torn from its attachment to bone. The site of rupture
46078 in individual muscles is remarkably constant, and is usually at the
46079 junction of the muscular and tendinous portions. When rupture takes
46080 place through the belly of a muscle, the ends retract, the amount of
46081 retraction depending on the length of the muscle, and the extent of its
46082 attachment to adjacent aponeurosis or bone. The biceps in the arm, and
46083 the sartorius in the thigh, furnish examples of muscles in which the
46084 separation between the ends may be considerable.
46085
46086 The gap in the muscle becomes filled with blood, and this in time is
46087 replaced by connective tissue, which forms a bond of union between the
46088 ends. When the space is considerable the connecting medium consists of
46089 fibrous tissue, but when the ends are in contact it contains a number of
46090 newly formed muscle fibres. In the process of repair, one or both ends
46091 of the muscle or tendon may become fixed by adhesions to adjacent
46092 structures, and if the distal portion of a muscle is deprived of its
46093 nerve supply it may undergo degeneration and so have its function
46094 impaired.
46095
46096 Rupture of a muscle or tendon is usually the result of a sudden, and
46097 often involuntary, movement. As examples may be cited the rupture of
46098 the quadriceps extensor in attempting to regain the balance when falling
46099 backwards; of the gastrocnemius, plantaris, or tendo-calcaneus in
46100 jumping or dancing; of the adductors of the thigh in gripping a horse
46101 when it swerves--"rider's sprain"; of the abdominal muscles in vomiting,
46102 and of the biceps in sudden movements of the arm. Sometimes the effort
46103 is one that would scarcely be thought likely to rupture a muscle, as in
46104 the case recorded by Pagenstecher, where a professional athlete, while
46105 sitting at table, ruptured his biceps in a sudden effort to catch a
46106 falling glass. It would appear that the rupture is brought about not so
46107 much by the contraction of the muscle concerned, as by the contraction
46108 of the antagonistic muscles taking place before that of the muscle which
46109 undergoes rupture is completed. The violent muscular contractions of
46110 epilepsy, tetanus, or delirium rarely cause rupture.
46111
46112 The _clinical features_ are usually characteristic. The patient
46113 experiences a sudden pain, with the sensation of being struck with a
46114 whip, and of something giving way; sometimes a distant snap is heard.
46115 The limb becomes powerless. At the seat of rupture there is tenderness
46116 and swelling, and there may be ecchymosis. As the swelling subsides, a
46117 gap may be felt between the retracted ends, and this becomes wider when
46118 the muscle is thrown into contraction. If untreated, a hard, fibrous
46119 cord remains at the seat of rupture.
46120
46121 _Treatment._--The ends are approximated by placing the limb in an
46122 attitude which relaxes the muscle, and the position is maintained by
46123 bandages, splints, or special apparatus. When it is impossible thus to
46124 approximate the ends satisfactorily, the muscle or tendon is exposed by
46125 incision, and the ends brought into accurate contact by catgut sutures.
46126 This operation of primary suture yields the most satisfactory results,
46127 and is most successful when it is done within five or six days of the
46128 accident. Secondary suture after an interval of months is rendered
46129 difficult by the retraction of the ends and by their adhesion to
46130 adjacent structures.
46131
46132 _Rupture of the biceps of the arm_ may involve the long or the short
46133 head, or the belly of the muscle. Most interest attaches to rupture of
46134 the long tendon of origin. There is pain and tenderness in front of the
46135 upper end of the humerus, the patient is unable to abduct or to elevate
46136 the arm, and he may be unable to flex the elbow when the forearm is
46137 supinated. The long axis of the muscle, instead of being parallel with
46138 the humerus, inclines downwards and outwards. When the patient is asked
46139 to contract the muscle, its belly is seen to be drawn towards the
46140 elbow.
46141
46142 The _adductor longus_ may be ruptured, or torn from the pubes, by a
46143 violent effort to adduct the limb. A swelling forms in the upper and
46144 medial part of the thigh, which becomes smaller and harder when the
46145 muscle is thrown into contraction.
46146
46147 The _quadriceps femoris_ is usually ruptured close to its insertion into
46148 the patella, in the attempt to avoid falling backwards. The injury is
46149 sometimes bilateral. The injured limb is rendered useless for
46150 progression, as it suddenly gives way whenever the knee is flexed.
46151 Treatment is conducted on the same lines as in transverse fracture of
46152 the patella; in the majority of cases the continuity of the quadriceps
46153 should be re-established by suture within five or six days of the
46154 accident.
46155
46156 The _tendo calcaneus_ (Achillis) is comparatively easily ruptured, and
46157 the symptoms are sometimes so slight that the nature of the injury may
46158 be overlooked. The limb should be put up with the knee flexed and the
46159 toes pointed. This may be effected by attaching one end of an elastic
46160 band to the heel of a slipper, and securing the other to the lower third
46161 of the thigh. If this is not sufficient to bring the ends into
46162 apposition they should be approximated by an open operation.
46163
46164 The _plantaris_ is not infrequently ruptured from trivial causes, such
46165 as a sudden movement in boxing, tennis, or hockey. A sharp stinging pain
46166 like the stroke of a whip is felt in the calf; there is marked
46167 tenderness at the seat of rupture, and the patient is unable to raise
46168 the heel without pain. The injury is of little importance, and if the
46169 patient does not raise the heel from the ground in walking, it is
46170 recovered from in a couple of weeks or so, without it being necessary to
46171 lay him up.
46172
46173 #Hernia of Muscle.#--This is a rare condition, in which, owing to the
46174 fascia covering a muscle becoming stretched or torn, the muscular
46175 substance is protruded through the rent. It has been observed chiefly in
46176 the adductor longus. An oval swelling forms in the upper part of the
46177 thigh, is soft and prominent when the muscle is relaxed, less prominent
46178 when it is passively extended, and disappears when the muscle is thrown
46179 into contraction. It is liable to be mistaken, according to its
46180 situation, for a tumour, a cyst, a pouched vein, or a femoral or
46181 obturator hernia. Treatment is only called for when it is causing
46182 inconvenience, the muscle being exposed by a suitable incision, the
46183 herniated portion excised, and the rent in the sheath closed by sutures.
46184
46185 #Dislocation of Tendons.#--Tendons which run in grooves may be displaced
46186 as a result of rupture of the confining sheath. This injury is met with
46187 chiefly in the tendons at the ankle and in the long tendon of the
46188 biceps.
46189
46190 Dislocation of the _peronei tendons_ may occur, for example, from a
46191 violent twist of the foot. There is severe pain and considerable
46192 swelling on the lateral aspect of the ankle; the peroneus longus by
46193 itself, or together with the brevis, can be felt on the lateral aspect
46194 or in front of the lateral malleolus; the patient is unable to move the
46195 foot. By a little manipulation the tendons are replaced in their
46196 grooves, and are retained there by a series of strips of plaster. At the
46197 end of three weeks massage and exercises are employed.
46198
46199 In other cases there is no history of injury, but whenever the foot is
46200 everted the tendon of the peroneus longus is liable to be jerked
46201 forwards out of its groove, sometimes with an audible snap. The patient
46202 suffers pain and is disabled until the tendon is replaced. Reduction is
46203 easy, but as the displacement tends to recur, an operation is required
46204 to fix the tendon in its place. An incision is made over the tendon; if
46205 the sheath is slack or torn, it is tightened up or closed with catgut
46206 sutures; or an artificial sheath is made by raising up a quadrilateral
46207 flap of periosteum from the lateral aspect of the fibula, and stitching
46208 it over the tendon.
46209
46210 Similarly the _tibialis posterior_ may be displaced over the medial
46211 malleolus as a result of inversion of the foot.
46212
46213 The _long tendon of the biceps_ may be dislocated laterally--or more
46214 frequently medially--as a result of violent or repeated rotation
46215 movements of the arm, such as are performed in wringing clothes. The
46216 patient is aware of the displacement taking place, and is unable to
46217 extend the forearm until the displaced tendon has been reduced by
46218 abducting the arm. In recurrent cases the patient may be able to
46219 dislocate the tendon at will, but the disability is so inconsiderable
46220 that there is rarely any occasion for interference.
46221
46222 #Wounds of Muscles and Tendons.#--When a muscle is cut across in a
46223 wound, its ends should be brought together with sutures. If the ends are
46224 allowed to retract, and especially if the wound suppurates, they become
46225 united by scar tissue and fixed to bone or other adjacent structure. In
46226 a limb this interferes with the functions of the muscle; in the
46227 abdominal wall the scar tissue may stretch, and so favour the
46228 development of a ventral hernia.
46229
46230 Tendons may be cut across accidentally, especially in those wounds so
46231 commonly met with above the wrist as a result, for example, of the hand
46232 being thrust through a pane of glass. It is essential that the ends
46233 should be sutured to each other, and as the proximal end is retracted
46234 the original wound may require to be enlarged in an upward direction.
46235 When primary suture has been omitted, or has failed in consequence of
46236 suppuration, the separated ends of the tendon become adherent to
46237 adjacent structures, and the function of the associated muscle is
46238 impaired or lost. Under these conditions the operation of secondary
46239 suture is indicated.
46240
46241 A free incision is necessary to discover and isolate the ends of the
46242 tendon; if the interval is too wide to admit of their being approximated
46243 by sutures, means must be taken to lengthen the tendon, or one from some
46244 other part may be inserted in the gap. A new sheath may be provided for
46245 the tendon by resecting a portion of the great saphenous vein.
46246
46247 _Injuries of the tendons of the fingers_ are comparatively common. One
46248 of the best known is the partial or complete rupture of the aponeurosis
46249 of the extensor tendon close to its insertion into the terminal
46250 phalanx--_drop-_ or _mallet-finger_. This may result from comparatively
46251 slight violence, such as striking the tip of the extended finger against
46252 an object, or the violence may be more severe, as in attempting to catch
46253 a cricket ball or in falling. The terminal phalanx is flexed towards the
46254 palm and the patient is unable to extend it. The treatment consists in
46255 putting up the finger with the middle joint strongly flexed. In
46256 neglected cases, a perfect functional result can only be obtained by
46257 operation; under a local anaesthetic, the ruptured tendon is exposed and
46258 is sutured to the base of the phalanx, which may be drilled for the
46259 passage of the sutures.
46260
46261 _Subcutaneous rupture_ of one or other _of the digital tendons_ in the
46262 hand or at the wrist can be remedied only by operation. When some time
46263 has elapsed since the accident, the proximal end may be so retracted
46264 that it cannot be brought down into contact with the distal end, in
46265 which case a slip may be taken from an adjacent tendon; in the case of
46266 one of the extensors of the thumb, the extensor carpi radialis longus
46267 may be detached from its insertion and stitched to the distal end of the
46268 tendon of the thumb.
46269
46270 Subcutaneous _rupture of the tendon of the extensor pollicis longus_ at
46271 the wrist takes place just after its emergence from beneath the annular
46272 ligament; the actual rupture may occur painlessly, more frequently a
46273 sharp pain is felt over the back of the wrist. The prominence of the
46274 tendon, which normally forms the ulnar border of the snuff-box,
46275 disappears. This lesion is chiefly met with in drummer-boys and is the
46276 cause of drummer's palsy. The only chance of restoring function is in
46277 uniting the ruptured tendon by open operation.
46278
46279 [Illustration: FIG. 108.--Avulsion of Tendon with Terminal Phalanx of
46280 Thumb.
46281
46282 (Surgical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
46283
46284 _Avulsion of Tendons._--This is a rare injury, in which the tendons of a
46285 finger or toe are torn from their attachments along with a portion of
46286 the digit concerned. In the hand, it is usually brought about by the
46287 fingers being caught in the reins of a runaway horse, or being seized in
46288 a horse's teeth, or in machinery. It is usually the terminal phalanx
46289 that is separated, and with it the tendon of the deep flexor, which
46290 ruptures at its junction with the belly of the muscle (Fig. 108). The
46291 treatment consists in disinfecting the wound, closing the tendon-sheath,
46292 and trimming the mutilated finger so as to provide a useful stump.
46293
46294
46295 DISEASES OF MUSCLES AND TENDONS
46296
46297 _Congenital absence_ of muscles is sometimes met with, usually in
46298 association with other deformities. The pectoralis major, for example,
46299 may be absent on one or on both sides, without, however, causing any
46300 disability, as other muscles enlarge and take on its functions.
46301
46302 _Atrophy of Muscle._--Simple atrophy, in which the muscle elements are
46303 merely diminished in size without undergoing any structural alteration,
46304 is commonly met with as a result of disuse, as when a patient is
46305 confined to bed for a long period.
46306
46307 In cases of joint disease, the muscles acting on the joint become
46308 atrophied more rapidly than is accounted for by disuse alone, and this
46309 is attributed to an interference with the trophic innervation of the
46310 muscles reflected from centres in the spinal medulla. It is more marked
46311 in the extensor than in the flexor groups of muscles. Those affected
46312 become soft and flaccid, exhibit tremors on attempted movement, and
46313 their excitability to the faradic current is diminished.
46314
46315 _Neuropathic atrophy_ is associated with lesions of the nervous system.
46316 It is most pronounced in lesions of the motor nerve-trunks, probably
46317 because vaso-motor and trophic fibres are involved as well as those that
46318 are purely motor in function. It is attended with definite structural
46319 alterations, the muscle elements first undergoing fatty degeneration,
46320 and then being absorbed, and replaced to a large extent by ordinary
46321 connective tissue and fat. At a certain stage the muscles exhibit the
46322 reaction of degeneration. In the common form of paralysis resulting from
46323 poliomyelitis, many fibres undergo fatty degeneration and are replaced
46324 by fat, while at the same time there is a regeneration of muscle fibres.
46325
46326 #Fibrositis# or "#Muscular Rheumatism#."--This clinical term is applied
46327 to a group of affections of which lumbago is the best-known example. The
46328 group includes lumbago, stiff-neck, and pleurodynia--conditions which
46329 have this in common, that sudden and severe pain is excited by movement
46330 of the affected part. The lesion consists in inflammatory hyperplasia of
46331 the connective tissue; the new tissue differs from normal fibrous tissue
46332 in its tendency to contract, in being swollen, painful and tender on
46333 pressure, and in the fact that it can be massaged away (Stockman). It
46334 would appear to involve mainly the fibrous tissue of muscles, although
46335 it may extend from this to aponeuroses, ligaments, periosteum, and the
46336 sheaths of nerves. The term _fibrositis_ was applied to it by Gowers in
46337 1904.
46338
46339 In _lumbago_--_lumbo-sacral fibrositis_--the pain is usually located
46340 over the sacrum, the sacro-iliac joint, or the aponeurosis of the lumbar
46341 muscles on one or both sides. The amount of tenderness varies, and so
46342 long as the patient is still he is free from pain. The slightest
46343 attempt to alter his position, however, is attended by pain, which may
46344 be so severe as to render him helpless for the moment. The pain is most
46345 marked on rising from the stooping or sitting posture, and may extend
46346 down the back of the hip, especially if, as is commonly the case,
46347 lumbago and gluteal fibrosis coexist. Once a patient has suffered from
46348 lumbago, it is liable to recur, and an attack may be determined by
46349 errors of diet, changes of weather, exposure to cold or unwonted
46350 exertion. It is met with chiefly in male adults, and is most apt to
46351 occur in those who are gouty or are the subjects of oxaluric dyspepsia.
46352
46353 _Gluteal fibrositis_ usually follows exposure to wet, and affects the
46354 gluteal muscles, particularly the medius, and their aponeurotic
46355 coverings. When the condition has lasted for some time, indurated
46356 strands or nodules can be detected on palpating the relaxed muscles. The
46357 patient complains of persistent aching and stiffness over the buttock,
46358 and sometimes extending down the lateral aspect of the thigh. The pain
46359 is aggravated by such movements as bring the affected muscles into
46360 action. It is not referred to the line of the sciatic nerve, nor is
46361 there tenderness on pressing over the nerve, or sensations of tingling
46362 or numbness in the leg or foot.
46363
46364 If untreated, the morbid process may implicate the sheath of the sciatic
46365 nerve and cause genuine sciatic neuralgia (Llewellyn and Jones). A
46366 similar condition may implicate the fascia lata of the thigh, or the
46367 calf muscles and their aponeuroses--_crural fibrositis_.
46368
46369 In _painful stiff-neck_, or "rheumatic torticollis," the pain is located
46370 in one side of the neck, and is excited by some inadvertent movement.
46371 The head is held stiffly on one side as in wry-neck, the patient
46372 contracting the sterno-mastoid. There may be tenderness over the
46373 vertebral spines or in the lines of the cervical nerves, and the
46374 sterno-mastoid may undergo atrophy. This affection is more often met
46375 with in children.
46376
46377 In _pleurodynia_--_intercostal fibrositis_--the pain is in the line of
46378 the intercostal nerves, and is excited by movement of the chest, as in
46379 coughing, or by any bodily exertion. There is often marked tenderness.
46380
46381 A similar affection is met with in the _shoulder and arm_--_brachial
46382 fibrositis_--especially on waking from sleep. There is acute pain on
46383 attempting to abduct the arm, and there may be localised tenderness in
46384 the region of the axillary nerve.
46385
46386 _Treatment._--The general treatment is concerned with the diet,
46387 attention to the stomach, bowels, and kidneys and with the correction
46388 of any gouty tendencies that may be present. Remedies such as
46389 salicylates are given for the relief of pain, and for this purpose drugs
46390 of the aspirin type are to be preferred, and these may be followed by
46391 large doses of iodide of potassium. Great benefit is derived from
46392 massage, and from the induction of hyperaemia by means of heat. Cupping
46393 or needling, or, in exceptional cases, hypodermic injections of
46394 antipyrin or morphin, may be called for. To prevent relapses of lumbago,
46395 the patient must take systematic exercises of all kinds, especially such
46396 as bring out the movements of the vertebral column and hip-joints.
46397
46398 [Illustration: FIG. 109.--Volkmann's Ischaemic Contracture. When the
46399 wrist is flexed to a right angle it is possible to extend the fingers.
46400
46401 (Photographs lent by Mr. Lawford Knaggs)]
46402
46403 #Contracture of Muscles.#--Permanent shortening of muscles results from
46404 the prolonged approximation of their points of attachment, or from
46405 structural changes in their substance produced by injury or by disease.
46406 It is a frequent accompaniment and sometimes a cause of deformities, in
46407 the treatment of which lengthening of the shortened muscles or their
46408 tendons may be an essential step.
46409
46410 #Myositis.#--_Ischaemic Myositis._--Volkmann was the first to describe a
46411 form of myositis followed by contracture, resulting from interference
46412 with the arterial blood supply. It is most frequently observed in the
46413 flexor muscles of the forearm in children and young persons under
46414 treatment for fractures in the region of the elbow, the splints and
46415 bandages causing compression of the blood vessels. There is considerable
46416 effusion of blood, the skin is tense, and the muscles, vessels, and
46417 nerves are compressed; this is further increased if the elbow is flexed
46418 and splints and tight bandages are applied. The muscles acquire a
46419 board-like hardness and no longer contract under the will, and passive
46420 motion is painful and restricted. Slight contracture of the fingers is
46421 usually the first sign of the malady; in time the muscles undergo
46422 further contraction, and this brings about a claw-like deformity of the
46423 hand. The affected muscles usually show the reaction of degeneration. In
46424 severe cases the median and ulnar nerves are also the seat of
46425 cicatricial changes (ischaemic neuritis).
46426
46427 By means of splints, the interphalangeal, metacarpo-phalangeal, and
46428 wrist joints should be gradually extended until the deformity is
46429 over-corrected (R. Jones). Murphy advises resection of the radius and
46430 ulna sufficient to admit of dorsiflexion of the joints and lengthening
46431 of the flexor tendons.
46432
46433 Various forms of _pyogenic_ infection are met with in muscle, most
46434 frequently in relation to pyaemia and to typhoid fever. These may result
46435 in overgrowth of the connective-tissue framework of the muscle and
46436 degeneration of its fibres, or in suppuration and the formation of one
46437 or more abscesses in the muscle substance. Repair may be associated with
46438 contracture.
46439
46440 A _gonorrhoeal_ form of myositis is sometimes met with; it is painful,
46441 but rarely goes on to suppuration.
46442
46443 In the early secondary period of _syphilis_, the muscles may be the seat
46444 of dull, aching, nocturnal pains, especially in the neck and back.
46445 _Syphilitic contracture_ is a condition which has been observed chiefly
46446 in the later secondary period; the biceps of the arm and the hamstrings
46447 in the thigh are the muscles more commonly affected. The striking
46448 feature is a gradually increasing difficulty of extending the limb at
46449 the elbow or knee, and progressive flexion of the joint. The affected
46450 muscle is larger and firmer than normal, and its electric excitability
46451 is diminished. In tertiary syphilis, individual muscles may become the
46452 seat of interstitial myositis or of gummata, and these affections
46453 readily yield to anti-syphilitic remedies.
46454
46455 _Tuberculous disease_ in muscle, while usually due to extension from
46456 adjacent tissues, is sometimes the result of a primary infection through
46457 the blood-stream. Tuberculous nodules are found disseminated throughout
46458 the muscle; the surrounding tissues are indurated, and central caseation
46459 may take place and lead to abscess formation and sinuses. We have
46460 observed this form of tuberculous disease in the gastrocnemius and in
46461 the psoas--in the latter muscle apart from tuberculous disease in the
46462 vertebrae.
46463
46464 #Tendinitis.#--German authors describe an inflammation of tendon as
46465 distinguished from inflammation of its sheath, and give it the name
46466 tendinitis. It is met with most frequently in the tendo-calcaneus in
46467 gouty and rheumatic subjects who have overstrained the tendon,
46468 especially during cold and damp weather. There is localised pain which
46469 is aggravated by walking, and the tendon is sensitive and swollen from a
46470 little above its insertion to its junction with the muscle. Gouty
46471 nodules may form in its substance. Constitutional measures, massage, and
46472 douching should be employed, and the tendon should be protected from
46473 strain.
46474
46475 #Calcification and Ossification in Muscles, Tendons, and
46476 Fasciae.#--_Myositis ossificans._--Ossifications in muscles, tendons,
46477 fasciae, and ligaments, in those who are the subjects of arthritis
46478 deformans, are seldom recognised clinically, but are frequently met with
46479 in dissecting-rooms and museums. Similar localised ossifications are met
46480 with in Charcot's disease of joints, and in fractures which have
46481 repaired with exuberant callus. The new bone may be in the form of
46482 spicules, plates, or irregular masses, which, when connected with a
46483 bone, are called _false exostoses_ (Fig. 110).
46484
46485 [Illustration: FIG. 110.--Ossification in Tendon of Ilio-psoas Muscle.]
46486
46487 _Traumatic Ossification in Relation to Muscle._--Various forms of
46488 ossification are met with in muscle as the result of a single or of
46489 repeated injury. Ossification in the crureus or vastus lateralis muscle
46490 has been frequently observed as a result of a kick from a horse. Within
46491 a week or two a swelling appears at the site of injury, and becomes
46492 progressively harder until its consistence is that of bone. If the mass
46493 of new bone moves with the affected muscle, it causes little
46494 inconvenience. If, as is commonly the case, it is fixed to the femur,
46495 the action of the muscle is impaired, and the patient complains of pain
46496 and difficulty in flexing the knee. A skiagram shows the extent of the
46497 mass and its relationship to the femur. The treatment consists in
46498 excising the bony mass.
46499
46500 Difficulty may arise in differentiating such a mass of bone from
46501 sarcoma; the ossification in muscle is uniformly hard, while the sarcoma
46502 varies in consistence at different parts, and the X-ray picture shows a
46503 clear outline of the bone in the vicinity of the ossification in
46504 muscle, whereas in sarcoma the involvement of the bone is shown by
46505 indentations and irregularity in its contour.
46506
46507 A similar ossification has been observed in relation to the insertion of
46508 the brachialis muscle as a sequel of dislocation of the elbow. After
46509 reduction of the dislocation, the range of movement gradually diminishes
46510 and a hard swelling appears in front of the lower end of the humerus.
46511 The lump continues to increase in size and in three to four weeks the
46512 disability becomes complete. A radiogram shows a shadow in the muscle,
46513 attached at one part as a rule to the coronoid process. During the next
46514 three or four months, the lump in front of the elbow remains stationary
46515 in size; a gradual decrease then ensues, but the swelling persists, as a
46516 rule, for several years.
46517
46518 [Illustration: FIG. 111.--Calcification and Ossification in Biceps and
46519 Triceps.
46520
46521 (From a radiogram lent by Dr. C. A. Adair Dighton.)]
46522
46523 Ossification in the adductor longus was first described by Billroth
46524 under the name of "rider's bone." It follows bruising and partial
46525 rupture of the muscle, and has been observed chiefly in cavalry
46526 soldiers. If it causes inconvenience the bone may be removed by
46527 operation.
46528
46529 Ossification in the deltoid and pectoral muscles has been observed in
46530 foot-soldiers in the German army, and has received the name of
46531 "drill-bone"; it is due to bruising of the muscle by the recoil of the
46532 rifle.
46533
46534 _Progressive Ossifying Myositis._--This is a rare and interesting
46535 disease, in which the muscles, tendons, and fasciae throughout the body
46536 become the seat of ossification. It affects almost exclusively the male
46537 sex, and usually begins in childhood or youth, sometimes after an
46538 injury, sometimes without apparent cause. The muscles of the back,
46539 especially the trapezius and latissimus, are the first to be affected,
46540 and the initial complaint is limitation of movement.
46541
46542 [Illustration: FIG. 112.--Ossification in Muscles of Trunk in a case of
46543 generalised Ossifying Myositis.
46544
46545 (Photograph lent by Dr. Rustomjee.)]
46546
46547 The affected muscles show swellings which are rounded or oval, firm and
46548 elastic, sharply defined, without tenderness and without discoloration
46549 of the overlying skin. Skiagrams show that a considerable deposit of
46550 lime salts may precede the formation of bone, as is seen in Fig. 111. In
46551 course of time the vertebral column becomes rigid, the head is bent
46552 forward, the hips are flexed, and abduction and other movements of the
46553 arms are limited. The disease progresses by fits and starts, until all
46554 the striped muscles of the body are replaced by bone, and all movements,
46555 even those of the jaws, are abolished. The subjects of this disease
46556 usually succumb to pulmonary tuberculosis.
46557
46558 There is no means of arresting the disease, and surgical treatment is
46559 restricted to the removal or division of any mass of bone that
46560 interferes with an important movement.
46561
46562 A remarkable feature of this disease is the frequent presence of a
46563 deformity of the great toe, which usually takes the form of hallux
46564 valgus, the great toe coming to lie beneath the second one; the
46565 shortening is usually ascribed to absence of the first phalanx, but it
46566 has been shown to depend also on a synostosis and imperfect development
46567 of the phalanges. A similar deformity of the thumb is sometimes met
46568 with.
46569
46570 Microscopical examination of the muscles shows that, prior to the
46571 deposition of lime salts and the formation of bone, there occurs a
46572 proliferation of the intra-muscular connective tissue and a gradual
46573 replacement and absorption of the muscle fibres. The bone is spongy in
46574 character, and its development takes place along similar lines to those
46575 observed in ossification from the periosteum.
46576
46577 #Tumours of Muscle.#--With the exception of congenital varieties, such
46578 as the rhabdomyoma, tumours of muscle grow from the connective-tissue
46579 framework and not from the muscle fibres. Innocent tumours, such as the
46580 fibroma, lipoma, angioma, and neuro-fibroma, are rare. Malignant tumours
46581 may be primary in the muscle, or may result from extension from adjacent
46582 growths--for example, implication of the pectoral muscle in cancer of
46583 the breast--or they may be derived from tumours situated elsewhere. The
46584 diagnosis of an intra-muscular tumour is made by observing that the
46585 swelling is situated beneath the deep fascia, that it becomes firm and
46586 fixed when the muscle contracts, and that, when the muscle is relaxed,
46587 it becomes softer, and can be moved in the transverse axis of the
46588 muscle, but not in its long axis.
46589
46590 Clinical interest attaches to that form of slowly growing
46591 fibro-sarcoma--_the recurrent fibroid of Paget_--which is most
46592 frequently met with in the muscles of the abdominal wall. A rarer
46593 variety is the ossifying chondro-sarcoma, which undergoes ossification
46594 to such an extent as to be visible in skiagrams.
46595
46596 In primary sarcoma the treatment consists in removing the muscle. In the
46597 limbs, the function of the muscle that is removed may be retained by
46598 transplanting an adjacent muscle in its place.
46599
46600 _Hydatid cysts_ of muscle resemble those developing in other tissues.
46601
46602
46603 DISEASES OF TENDON SHEATHS
46604
46605 Tendon sheaths have the same structure and function as the synovial
46606 membranes of joints, and are liable to the same diseases. Apart from the
46607 tendon sheaths displayed in anatomical dissections, there is a loose
46608 peritendinous and perimuscular cellular tissue which is subject to the
46609 same pathological conditions as the tendon sheaths proper.
46610
46611 #Teno-synovitis.#--The toxic or infective agent is conveyed to the
46612 tendon sheaths through the blood-stream, as in the gouty, gonorrhoeal,
46613 and tuberculous varieties, or is introduced directly through a wound, as
46614 in the common pyogenic form of teno-synovitis.
46615
46616 _Teno-synovitis Crepitans._--In the simple or traumatic form of
46617 teno-synovitis, although the most prominent etiological factor is a
46618 strain or over-use of the tendon, there would appear to be some other,
46619 probably a toxic, factor in its production, otherwise the affection
46620 would be much more common than it is: only a small proportion of those
46621 who strain or over-use their tendons become the subjects of
46622 teno-synovitis. The opposed surfaces of the tendon and its sheath are
46623 covered with fibrinous lymph, so that there is friction when they move
46624 on one another.
46625
46626 The _clinical features_ are pain on movement, tenderness on pressure
46627 over the affected tendon, and a sensation of crepitation or friction
46628 when the tendon is moved in its sheath. The crepitation may be soft like
46629 the friction of snow, or may resemble the creaking of new
46630 leather--"saddle-back creaking." There may be swelling in the long axis
46631 of the tendon, and redness and oedema of the skin. If there is an
46632 effusion of fluid into the sheath, the swelling is more marked and
46633 crepitation is absent. There is little tendency to the formation of
46634 adhesions.
46635
46636 In the upper extremity, the sheath of the long tendon of the biceps may
46637 be affected, but the condition is most common in the tendons about the
46638 wrist, particularly in the extensors of the thumb, and it is most
46639 frequently met with in those who follow occupations which involve
46640 prolonged use or excessive straining of these tendons--for example,
46641 washerwomen or riveters. It also occurs as a result of excessive
46642 piano-playing, fencing, or rowing.
46643
46644 At the ankle it affects the peronei, the extensor digitorum longus, or
46645 the tibialis anterior. It is most often met with in relation to the
46646 tendo-calcaneus--_Achillo-dynia_--and results from the pressure of
46647 ill-fitting boots or from the excessive use and strain of the tendon in
46648 cycling, walking, or dancing. There is pain in raising the heel from the
46649 ground, and creaking can be felt on palpation.
46650
46651 The _treatment_ consists in putting the affected tendon at rest, and
46652 with this object a splint may be helpful; the usual remedies for
46653 inflammation are indicated: Bier's hyperaemia, lead and opium
46654 fomentations, and ichthyol and glycerine. The affection readily subsides
46655 under treatment, but is liable to relapse on a repetition of the
46656 exciting cause.
46657
46658 _Gouty Teno-synovitis._--A deposit of urate of soda beneath the
46659 endothelial covering of tendons or of that lining their sheaths is
46660 commonly met with in gouty subjects. The accumulation of urates may
46661 result in the formation of visible nodular swellings, varying in size
46662 from a pea to a cherry, attached to the tendon and moving with it. They
46663 may be merely unsightly, or they may interfere with the use of the
46664 tendon. Recurrent attacks of inflammation are prone to occur. We have
46665 removed such gouty masses with satisfactory results.
46666
46667 _Suppurative Teno-synovitis._--This form usually follows upon infected
46668 wounds of the fingers--especially of the thumb or little finger--and is
46669 a frequent sequel to whitlow; it may also follow amputation of a finger.
46670 Once the infection has gained access to the sheath, it tends to spread,
46671 and may reach the palm or even the forearm, being then associated with
46672 cellulitis. In moderately acute cases the tendon and its sheath become
46673 covered with granulations, which subsequently lead to the formation of
46674 adhesions; while in more acute cases the tendon sloughs. The pus may
46675 burst into the cellular tissue outside the sheath, and the suppuration
46676 is liable to spread to neighbouring sheaths or to adjacent bones or
46677 joints--for example, those of the wrist.
46678
46679 The _treatment_ consists in inducing hyperaemia and making small
46680 incisions for the escape of pus. The site of incision is determined by
46681 the point of greatest tenderness on pressure. After the inflammation has
46682 subsided, active and passive movements are employed to prevent the
46683 formation of adhesions between the tendon and its sheath. If the tendon
46684 sloughs, the dead portion should be cut away, as its separation is
46685 extremely slow and is attended with prolonged suppuration.
46686
46687 _Gonorrhoeal Teno-synovitis._--This is met with especially in the tendon
46688 sheaths about the wrist and ankle. It may occur in a mild form, with
46689 pain, impairment of movement, and oedema, and sometimes an elongated,
46690 fluctuating swelling, the result of serous effusion into the sheath.
46691 This condition may alternate with a gonorrhoeal affection of one of the
46692 larger joints. It may subside under rest and soothing applications, but
46693 is liable to relapse. In the more severe variety the skin is red, and
46694 the swelling partakes of the characters of a phlegmon with threatening
46695 suppuration; it may result in crippling from adhesions. Even if pus
46696 forms in the sheath, the tendon rarely sloughs. The treatment consists
46697 in inducing hyperaemia by Bier's method; and a vaccine may be employed
46698 with satisfactory results.
46699
46700 #Tuberculous Disease of Tendon Sheaths.#--This is a comparatively common
46701 affection, and is analogous to tuberculous disease of the synovial
46702 membrane of joints. It may originate in the sheath, or may spread to it
46703 from an adjacent bone.
46704
46705 The commonest form--hydrops--is that in which the synovial sheath is
46706 distended with a viscous fluid, and the fibrinous material on the free
46707 surface becomes detached and is moulded into melon-seed bodies by the
46708 movement of the tendon. The sheath itself is thickened by the growth of
46709 tuberculous granulation tissue. The bodies are smooth and of a
46710 dull-white colour, and vary greatly in size and shape. There may be an
46711 overgrowth of the fatty fringes of the synovial sheath, a condition
46712 described as "arborescent lipoma."
46713
46714 The _clinical features_ vary with the tendon sheath affected. In the
46715 common flexor sheath of the hand an hour-glass-shaped swelling is
46716 formed, bulging above and below the transverse carpal (anterior annular)
46717 ligament--formerly known as _compound palmar ganglion_. There is little
46718 or no pain, but the fingers tend to be stiff and weak, and to become
46719 flexed. On palpation, it is usually possible to displace the contents of
46720 the sheath from one compartment to the other, and this may yield
46721 fluctuation, and, what is more characteristic, a peculiar soft crepitant
46722 sensation from the movement of the melon-seed bodies. In the sheath of
46723 the peronei or other tendons about the ankle, the swelling is
46724 sausage-shaped, and is constricted opposite the annular ligament.
46725
46726 The onset and progress of the affection are most insidious, and the
46727 condition may remain stationary for long periods. It is aggravated by
46728 use or strain of the tendons involved. In exceptional cases the skin is
46729 thinned and gives way, resulting in the formation of a sinus.
46730
46731 _Treatment._--In the common flexor sheath of the palm, an attempt may be
46732 made to cure the condition by removing the contents through a small
46733 incision and filling the cavity with iodoform glycerine, followed by the
46734 use of Bier's bandage. If this fails, the distended sheath is laid open,
46735 the contents removed, the wall scraped, and the wound closed.
46736
46737 A less common form of tuberculous disease is that in which the sheath
46738 becomes the seat of _a diffuse tuberculous thickening_, not unlike the
46739 white swelling met with in joints, and with a similar tendency to
46740 caseation. A painless swelling of an elastic character forms in relation
46741 to the tendon sheath. It is hour-glass-shaped in the common flexor
46742 sheath of the palm, elongated or sausage-shaped in the extensors of the
46743 wrist and in the tendons at the ankle. The tuberculous granulation
46744 tissue is liable to break down and lead to the formation of a cold
46745 abscess and sinuses, and in our experience is often associated with
46746 disease in an adjacent bone or joint. In the peronei tendons, for
46747 example, it may result from disease of the fibula or of the ankle-joint.
46748
46749 When conservative measures fail, excision of the affected sheath should
46750 be performed; the whole of the diseased area being exposed by free
46751 incision of the overlying soft parts, the sheath is carefully isolated
46752 from the surrounding tissues and is cut across above and below. Any
46753 tuberculous tissue on the tendon itself is removed with a sharp spoon.
46754 Associated bone or joint lesions are dealt with at the same time. In the
46755 after-treatment the functions of the tendons must be preserved by
46756 voluntary and passive movements.
46757
46758 #Syphilitic Affections of Tendon Sheaths.#--These closely resemble the
46759 syphilitic affections of the synovial membrane of joints. During the
46760 secondary period the lesion usually consists in effusion into the
46761 sheath; gummata are met with during the tertiary period.
46762
46763 Arborescent lipoma has been found in the sheaths of tendons about the
46764 wrist and ankle, sometimes in a multiple and symmetrical form,
46765 unattended by symptoms and disappearing under anti-syphilitic treatment.
46766
46767 #Tumours of Tendon Sheaths.#--Innocent tumours, such as _lipoma_,
46768 _fibroma_, and _myxoma_, are rare. Special mention should be made of the
46769 _myeloma_ which is met with at the wrist or ankle as an elongated
46770 swelling of slow development, or over the phalanx of a finger as a small
46771 rounded swelling. The tumour tissue, when exposed by dissection, is of a
46772 chocolate or chamois-yellow colour, and consists almost entirely of
46773 giant cells. The treatment consists in dissecting the tumour tissue off
46774 the tendons, and this is usually successful in bringing about a
46775 permanent cure.
46776
46777 All varieties of _sarcoma_ are met with, but their origin from tendon
46778 sheaths is not associated with special features.
46779
46780
46781
46782
46783 CHAPTER XIX
46784
46785 THE BURSAE
46786
46787
46788 Anatomy--Normal and adventitious bursae--Injuries: Bursal
46789 haematoma--DISEASES: Infective bursitis; Traumatic or trade
46790 bursitis; Bursal hydrops; Solid bursal tumour; Gonorrhoeal and
46791 suppurative forms of bursitis; Tuberculous and syphilitic
46792 disease--Tumours--_Diseases of individual bursae in the upper and
46793 lower extremities_.
46794
46795 A bursa is a closed sac lined by endothelium and containing synovia.
46796 Some are normally present--for instance, that between the skin and the
46797 patella, and that between the aponeurosis of the gluteus maximus and the
46798 great trochanter. _Adventitious bursae_ are developed as a result of
46799 abnormal pressure--for example, over the tarsal bones in cases of
46800 club-foot.
46801
46802 #Injuries of Bursae.#--As a result of contusion, especially in bleeders,
46803 haemorrhage may occur into the cavity of a bursa and give rise to a
46804 _bursal haematoma_. Such a haematoma may mask a fracture of the bone
46805 beneath--for example, fracture of the olecranon.
46806
46807 #Diseases of Bursae.#--The lining membrane of bursae resembles that of
46808 joints and tendon sheaths, and is liable to the same forms of disease.
46809
46810 #Infective bursitis# frequently follows abrasions, scratches, and wounds
46811 of the skin over the prepatellar or olecranon bursa, and in neglected
46812 cases the infection transgresses the wall of the bursa and gives rise to
46813 a spreading cellulitis.
46814
46815 #Traumatic or Trade Bursitis.#--This term may be conveniently applied to
46816 those affections of bursae which result from repeated slight traumatism
46817 incident to particular occupations. The most familiar examples of these
46818 are the enlargement of the prepatellar bursa met with in housemaids--the
46819 "housemaid's knee" (Fig. 113); the enlargement of the olecranon
46820 bursa--"miner's elbow"; and of the ischial bursa--"weaver's" or
46821 "tailor's bottom" (Fig. 116). These affections are characterised by an
46822 effusion of fluid into the sac of the bursa with thickening of its
46823 lining membrane. While friction and pressure are the most evident
46824 factors in their production, it is probable that there is also some
46825 toxic agent concerned, otherwise these affections would be much more
46826 common than they are. Of the countless housemaids in whom the
46827 prepatellar bursa is subjected to friction and pressure, only a small
46828 proportion become the subjects of housemaid's knee.
46829
46830 _Clinical Features._--As these are best illustrated in the different
46831 varieties of prepatellar bursitis, it is convenient to take this as the
46832 type. In a number of cases the inflammation is acute and the patient is
46833 unable to use the limb; the part is hot, swollen, and tender, and
46834 fluctuation can be detected in the bursa. In the majority the condition
46835 is chronic, and the chief feature is the gradual accumulation of fluid
46836 constituting the _bursal hydrops_ or _hygroma_. When the affection has
46837 lasted some time, or has frequently relapsed, the wall of the bursa
46838 becomes thickened by fibrous tissue, which may be deposited irregularly,
46839 so that septa, bands, or fringes are formed, not unlike those met with
46840 in arthritis deformans. These fringes may be detached and form loose
46841 bodies like those met with in joints; less frequently there are
46842 fibrinous bodies of the melon-seed type, sometimes moulded into circular
46843 discs like wafers. The presence of irregular thickenings of the wall, or
46844 of loose bodies, may be recognised on palpation, especially in
46845 superficial bursae, if the sac is not tensely filled with fluid. The
46846 thickening of the wall may take place in a uniform and concentric
46847 fashion, resulting in the formation of a fibrous tumour--_the solid
46848 bursal tumour_--a small cavity remaining in the centre which serves to
46849 distinguish it from a new growth or neoplasm.
46850
46851 [Illustration: FIG. 113.--Hydrops of Prepatellar Bursa in a housemaid.]
46852
46853 The _treatment_ varies according to the variety and stage of the
46854 affection. In recent cases the symptoms subside under rest and the
46855 application of fomentations. Hydrops may be got rid of by blistering,
46856 by tapping, or by incision and drainage. When the wall is thickened, the
46857 most satisfactory treatment is to excise the bursa; the overlying skin
46858 being reflected in the shape of a horse-shoe flap or being removed along
46859 with the bursa.
46860
46861 #Other Diseases of Bursae# are associated with _gonorrhoeal infection_,
46862 and with _rheumatism_, especially that following scarlet fever, and are
46863 apt to be persistent or to relapse after apparent cure. In the _gouty_
46864 form, urate of soda is deposited in the wall of the bursa, and may
46865 result in the formation of chalky tumours, sometimes of considerable
46866 size (Fig. 114).
46867
46868 [Illustration: FIG. 114.--Section through Bursa over external malleolus,
46869 showing deposit of urate of soda. (Cf. Fig. 117.)]
46870
46871 _Tuberculous disease_ of bursae closely resembles that of tendon sheaths.
46872 It may occur as an independent affection, or may be associated with
46873 disease in an adjacent bone or joint. It is met with chiefly in the
46874 prepatellar and subdeltoid bursae, or in one of the bursae over the great
46875 trochanter. The clinical features are those of an indolent hydrops, with
46876 or without melon-seed bodies, or of uniform thickening of the wall of
46877 the bursa; the tuberculous granulation tissue may break down into a cold
46878 abscess, and give rise to sinuses. The best treatment is to excise the
46879 affected bursa, or, when this is impracticable, to lay it freely open,
46880 remove the tuberculous tissue with the sharp spoon or knife, and treat
46881 the cavity by the open method.
46882
46883 _Syphilitic disease_ is rarely recognised except in the form of bursal
46884 and peri-bursal gummata in front of the knee-joint.
46885
46886 _New growths_ include the fibroma, the myxoma, the myeloma or
46887 giant-celled tumour, and various forms of sarcoma.
46888
46889 #Diseases of Individual Bursae.#--The _olecranon bursa_ is frequently
46890 the seat of pyogenic infection and of traumatic or trade bursitis, the
46891 latter being known as "miner's" or "student's elbow."
46892
46893 [Illustration: FIG. 115.--Tuberculous Disease of Sub-deltoid Bursa.
46894
46895 (From a photograph lent by Sir George T. Beatson.)]
46896
46897 The _sub-deltoid_ or _sub-acromial bursa_, which usually presents a
46898 single cavity and does not normally communicate with the shoulder-joint,
46899 is indispensable in abduction and rotation of the humerus. When the arm
46900 is abducted, the fixed lower part or floor of the bursa is carried under
46901 the acromion, and the upper part or roof is rolled up in the same
46902 direction, hence tenderness over the inflamed bursa may disappear when
46903 the arm is abducted (Dawbarn's sign). It is liable to traumatic
46904 affections from a fall on the shoulder, pressure, or over-use of the
46905 limb. Pain, located commonly at the insertion of the deltoid, is a
46906 constant symptom and is especially annoying at night, the patient being
46907 unable to get into a comfortable position. Tenderness may be elicited
46908 over the anatomical limits of the bursa, and is usually most marked over
46909 the great tuberosity, just external to the inter-tubercular (bicipital)
46910 groove. When adhesions are present, abduction beyond 10 degrees is
46911 impossible. Demonstrable effusion is not uncommon, but is disguised by
46912 the overlying tissues. If left to himself, the patient tends to maintain
46913 the limb in the "sling position," and resists movements in the direction
46914 of abduction and rotation. In the treatment of this affection the arm
46915 should be maintained at a right angle to the body, the arm being rotated
46916 medially (Codman). When pain does not prevent it, movements of the arm
46917 and massage are persevered with. In neglected cases, when adhesions have
46918 formed and the shoulder is fixed, it may be necessary to break down the
46919 adhesions under an anaesthetic.
46920
46921 The bursa is also liable to infective conditions, such as acute
46922 rheumatism, gonorrhoea, suppuration, or tubercle. In tuberculous disease
46923 a large fluctuating swelling may form and acquire the characters of a
46924 cold abscess (Fig. 115).
46925
46926 The bursa underneath the tendon of the _subscapularis_ muscle when
46927 inflamed causes alteration in the attitude of the shoulder and
46928 impairment of its movements.
46929
46930 An adventitious bursa forms over the _acromion_ process in porters and
46931 others who carry weights on the shoulder, and may be the seat of
46932 traumatic bursitis.
46933
46934 The bursa under the _tendon of insertion of the biceps_, when the seat
46935 of disease, is attended with pain and swelling about a finger's breadth
46936 below the bend of the elbow; there is pain and difficulty in effecting
46937 the combined movement of flexion and supination, slight limitation of
46938 extension, and restriction of pronation.
46939
46940 In the lower extremity, a large number of normal and adventitious bursae
46941 are met with and may be the seat of bursitis. That over the _tuberosity
46942 of the ischium_, when enlarged as a trade disease, is known as
46943 "weaver's" or "tailor's bottom." It may form a fluctuating swelling of
46944 great size, projecting on the buttock and extending down the thigh, and
46945 causing great inconvenience in sitting (Fig. 116). It sometimes contains
46946 a number of loose bodies.
46947
46948 There are two bursae over the _great trochanter_, one superficial to, the
46949 other beneath the aponeurosis of the gluteus maximus; the latter is not
46950 infrequently infected by tuberculous disease that has spread from the
46951 trochanter.
46952
46953 The bursa _between the psoas muscle and the capsule of the hip-joint_
46954 may be the seat of tuberculous disease, and give rise to clinical
46955 features not unlike those of disease of the hip-joint. The limb is
46956 flexed, abducted and rotated out; there is a swelling in the upper part
46957 of Scarpa's triangle, but the movements are not restricted in directions
46958 which do not entail putting the ilio-psoas muscle on the stretch.
46959
46960 Cartilaginous and partly ossified loose bodies may accumulate in the
46961 ilio-psoas bursa and distend it, both in a downward direction towards
46962 the hip-joint, with which it communicates, and upwards, projecting
46963 towards the abdomen.
46964
46965 The bursa beneath the quadriceps extensor--_subcrural bursa_--usually
46966 communicates with the knee-joint and shares in its diseases. When shut
46967 off from the joint it may suffer independently, and when distended with
46968 fluid forms a horse-shoe swelling above the patella.
46969
46970 In front of the patella and its ligament is the _prepatellar bursa_,
46971 which may have one, two, or three compartments, usually communicating
46972 with one another. It is the seat of the affection known as "housemaid's
46973 knee," which is very common and is sometimes bilateral, and, less
46974 frequently, of tuberculous disease which usually originates in the
46975 patella.
46976
46977 [Illustration: FIG. 116.--Great Enlargement of the Ischial Bursa.
46978
46979 (Mr. Scot-Skirving's case.)]
46980
46981 The bursa _between the ligamentum patellae and the tibia_ is rarely the
46982 seat of disease. When it is, there is pain and tenderness referred to
46983 the ligament, the patient is unable to extend the limb completely, the
46984 tuberosity of the tibia is apparently enlarged, and there is a
46985 fluctuating swelling on either side of the ligament, most marked in the
46986 extended position of the limb.
46987
46988 Of the numerous bursae in the popliteal space, that _between the
46989 semi-membranosus and the medial head of the gastrocnemius_ is most
46990 frequently the seat of disease, which is usually of the nature of a
46991 simple hydrops, forming a fluctuating egg-or sausage-shaped swelling at
46992 the medial side of the popliteal space. It is flaccid in the flexed, and
46993 tense in the extended position. As a rule it causes little
46994 inconvenience, and may be left alone. Otherwise it should be dissected
46995 out, and if, as is frequently the case, there is a communication with
46996 the knee-joint, this should be closed with sutures.
46997
46998 [Illustration: FIG. 117.--Gouty Disease of Bursae in a tailor. The bursal
46999 tumours were almost entirely composed of urate of soda. (Cf. Fig. 114.)]
47000
47001 An adventitious bursa may form over the _lateral malleolus_, especially
47002 in tailors, giving rise to the condition known as "tailor's ankle"
47003 (Fig. 117).
47004
47005 The bursa _between the tendo-calcaneus (Achillis) and the upper part of
47006 the calcaneus_ may become inflamed--especially as a result of
47007 post-scarlatinal rheumatism or gonorrhoea. The affection is known as
47008 Achillo-bursitis. There is severe pain in the region of the insertion of
47009 the tendo-calcaneus, the movements at the ankle-joint are restricted,
47010 and the patient may be unable to walk. There is a tender swelling on
47011 either side of the tendon. When, in spite of palliative treatment, the
47012 affection persists or relapses, it is best to excise the bursa. The
47013 tendo-calcaneus is detached from the calcaneus, the bursa dissected out,
47014 and the tendon replaced. If there is a bony projection from the
47015 calcaneus, it should be shaved off with the chisel.
47016
47017 The bursa that is sometimes met with on the under aspect of the
47018 calcaneus--_the subcalcanean bursa_--when inflamed, gives rise to pain
47019 and tenderness in the sole of the foot. This affection may be associated
47020 with a spinous projection from the bone, which is capable of being
47021 recognised in a skiagram. The soft parts of the heel are turned forwards
47022 as a flap, the bursa is dissected out, and the projection of bone, if
47023 present, is removed.
47024
47025 The enlargement of adventitious bursae over the head of the first
47026 metatarsal in hallux valgus; over the tarsus, metatarsus, and digits in
47027 the different forms of club-foot; over the angular projection in Pott's
47028 disease of the spine; over the end of the bone in amputation stumps, and
47029 over hard tumours such as chondroma and osteoma, are described
47030 elsewhere.
47031
47032
47033
47034
47035 CHAPTER XX
47036
47037 DISEASES OF BONE
47038
47039
47040 Anatomy and physiology--Regeneration of bone--Transplantation of bone.
47041 DISEASES OF BONE--Definition of terms--Pyogenic diseases:
47042 _Acute osteomyelitis and periostitis_; _Chronic and relapsing
47043 osteomyelitis_; _Abscess of bone_--Tuberculous disease--Syphilitic
47044 disease--Hydatids; Rickets; Osteomalacia--Ostitis deformans of
47045 Paget--Osteomyelitis fibrosa--Affections of bones in diseases of
47046 the nervous system--Fragilitas ossium--Tumours and cysts of bone.
47047
47048 #Surgical Anatomy.#--During the period of growth, a long bone such as
47049 the tibia consists of a shaft or _diaphysis_, and two extremities or
47050 _epiphyses_. So long as growth continues there intervenes between the
47051 shaft and each of the epiphyses a disc of actively growing
47052 cartilage--_the epiphysial cartilage_; and at the junction of this
47053 cartilage with the shaft is a zone of young, vascular, spongy bone known
47054 as the _metaphysis_ or _epiphysial junction_. The shaft is a cylinder of
47055 compact bone enclosing the medullary canal, which is filled with yellow
47056 marrow. The extremities, which include the ossifying junctions, consist
47057 of spongy bone, the spaces of which are filled with red marrow. The
47058 articular aspect of the epiphysis is invested with a thick layer of
47059 hyaline cartilage, known as the _articular cartilage_, which would
47060 appear to be mainly nourished from the synovia.
47061
47062 The external investment--the _periosteum_--is thick and vascular during
47063 the period of growth, but becomes thin and less vascular when the
47064 skeleton has attained maturity. Except where muscles are attached it is
47065 easily separated from the bone; at the extremities it is intimately
47066 connected with the epiphysial cartilage and with the epiphysis, and at
47067 the margin of the latter it becomes continuous with the capsule of the
47068 adjacent joint. It consists of two layers, an outer fibrous and an inner
47069 cellular layer; the cells, which are called osteoblasts, are continuous
47070 with those lining the Haversian canals and the medullary cavity.
47071
47072 The arrangement of the _blood vessels_ determines to some extent the
47073 incidence of disease in bone. The nutrient artery, after entering the
47074 medullary canal through a special foramen in the cortex, bifurcates, and
47075 one main division runs towards each of the extremities, and terminates
47076 at the ossifying junction in a series of capillary loops projected
47077 against the epiphysial cartilage. This arrangement favours the lodgment
47078 of any organisms that may be circulating in the blood, and partly
47079 accounts for the frequency with which diseases of bacterial origin
47080 develop in the region of the ossifying junction. The diaphysis is also
47081 nourished by numerous blood vessels from the periosteum, which penetrate
47082 the cortex through the Haversian canals and anastomose with those
47083 derived from the nutrient artery. The epiphyses are nourished by a
47084 separate system of blood vessels, derived from the arteries which supply
47085 the adjacent joint. The veins of the marrow are of large calibre and are
47086 devoid of valves.
47087
47088 The _nerves_ enter the marrow along with the arteries, and, being
47089 derived from the sympathetic system, are probably chiefly concerned with
47090 the innervation of the blood vessels, but they are also capable of
47091 transmitting sensory impulses, as pain is a prominent feature of many
47092 bone affections.
47093
47094 It has long been believed that _the function of the periosteum_ is to
47095 form new bone, but this view has been questioned by Sir William Macewen,
47096 who maintains that its chief function is to limit the formation of new
47097 bone. His experimental observations appear to show that new bone is
47098 exclusively formed by the cellular elements or osteoblasts: these are
47099 found on the surface of the bone, lining the Haversian canals and in the
47100 marrow. We believe that it will avoid confusion in the study of the
47101 diseases of bone if the osteoblasts on the surface of the bone are still
47102 regarded as forming the deeper layer of the periosteum.
47103
47104 The formation of new bone by the osteoblasts may be _defective_ as a
47105 result of physiological conditions, such as old age and disease of a
47106 part, and defective formation is often associated with atrophy, or more
47107 strictly speaking, absorption, of the existing bone, as is well seen in
47108 the edentulous jaw and in the neck of the femur of a person advanced in
47109 years. Defective formation associated with atrophy is also illustrated
47110 in the bones of the lower limbs of persons who are unable to stand or
47111 walk, and in the distal portion of a bone which is the seat of an
47112 ununited fracture. The same combination is seen in an exaggerated degree
47113 in the bones of limbs that are paralysed; in the case of adults, atrophy
47114 of bone predominates; in children and adolescents, defective formation
47115 is the more prominent feature, and the affected bones are attenuated,
47116 smooth on the surface, and abnormally light.
47117
47118 On the other hand, the formation of new bone may be _exaggerated_, the
47119 osteoblasts being excited to abnormal activity by stimuli of different
47120 kinds: for example, the secretion of certain glandular organs, such as
47121 the pituitary and thyreoid; the diluted toxins of certain
47122 micro-organisms, such as the staphylococcus aureus and the spirochaete of
47123 syphilis; a condition of hyperaemia, such as that produced artificially
47124 by the application of a Bier's bandage or that which accompanies a
47125 chronic leg-ulcer.
47126
47127 The new bone is laid down on the surface, in the Haversian canals, or
47128 in the cancellous spaces and medullary canal, or in all three
47129 situations. The new bone on the surface sometimes takes the form of a
47130 diffuse _encrustation_ of porous or spongy bone as in secondary
47131 syphilis, sometimes as a uniform increase in the girth of the
47132 bone--_hyperostosis_, sometimes as a localised heaping up of bone or
47133 _node_, and sometimes in the form of spicules, spoken of as
47134 _osteophytes_. When the new bone is laid down in the Haversian canals,
47135 cancellous spaces and medulla, the bone becomes denser and heavier, and
47136 is said to be _sclerosed_; in extreme instances this may result in
47137 obliteration of the medullary canal. Hyperostosis and sclerosis are
47138 frequently met with in combination, a condition that is well illustrated
47139 in the femur and tibia in tertiary syphilis; if the subject of this
47140 condition is confined to bed for several months before his death, the
47141 sclerosis may be undone, and rarefaction may even proceed beyond the
47142 normal, the bone becoming lighter and richer in fat, although retaining
47143 its abnormal girth.
47144
47145 The _function of the epiphysial cartilage_ is to provide for the growth
47146 of the shaft in length. While all epiphysial cartilages contribute to
47147 this result, certain of them functionate more actively and for a longer
47148 period than others. Those at the knee, for example, contribute more to
47149 the length of limb than do those at the hip or ankle, and they are also
47150 the last to unite. In the upper limb the more active epiphyses are at
47151 the shoulder and wrist, and these also are the last to unite.
47152
47153 The activity of the epiphysial cartilage may be modified as a result of
47154 disease. In rickets, for example, the formation of new bone may take
47155 place unequally, and may go on more rapidly in one half of the disc than
47156 in the other, with the result that the axis of the shaft comes to
47157 deviate from the normal, giving rise to knock-knee or bow-knee. In
47158 bacterial diseases originating in the marrow, if the epiphysial junction
47159 is directly involved in the destructive process, its bone-forming
47160 functions may be retarded or abolished, and the subsequent growth of the
47161 bone be seriously interfered with. On the other hand, if it is not
47162 directly involved but is merely influenced by the proximity of an
47163 infective focus, its bone-forming functions may be stimulated by the
47164 diluted toxins and the growth of the bone in length exaggerated. In
47165 paralysed limbs the growth from the epiphyses is usually little short of
47166 the normal. The result of interference with growth is more injurious in
47167 the lower than in the upper limb, because, from the functional point of
47168 view, it is essential that the lower extremities should be approximately
47169 of equal length. In the forearm or leg, where there are two parallel
47170 bones, if the growth of one is arrested the continued growth of the
47171 other results in a deviation of the hand or foot to one side.
47172
47173 In certain diseases, such as rickets and inherited syphilis, and in
47174 developmental anomalies such as achondroplasia, _dwarfing_ of the
47175 skeleton results from defective growth of bone at the ossifying
47176 junctions. Conversely, excessive growth of bone at the ossifying
47177 junctions results in abnormal height of the skeleton or _giantism_ as a
47178 result, for example, of increased activity of the pituitary in
47179 adolescents, and in eunuchs who have been castrated in childhood or
47180 adolescence; in the latter, union of the epiphyses at the ends of the
47181 long bones is delayed beyond the usual period at which the skeleton
47182 attains maturity.
47183
47184 #Regeneration of Bone.#--When bone has been lost or destroyed as a
47185 result of injury or disease, it is capable of being reproduced, the
47186 extent to which regeneration takes place varying under different
47187 conditions. The chief part in the regeneration of bone is played by the
47188 osteoblasts in the adjacent marrow and in the deeper layer of the
47189 periosteum. The shaft of a long bone may be reproduced after having been
47190 destroyed by disease or removed by operation. The flat bones of the
47191 skull and the bones of the face, which are primarily developed in
47192 membrane, have little capacity of regeneration; hence, when bone has
47193 been lost or removed in these situations, there results a permanent
47194 defect.
47195
47196 Wounds or defects in articular cartilage are repaired by fibrous or
47197 osseous tissue derived from the subjacent cancellous spaces.
47198
47199 _Transplantation of Bone--Bone-grafting._--Clinical experience is
47200 conclusive that a portion of bone which has been completely detached
47201 from its surroundings--for example, a trephine circle, or a flap of bone
47202 detached with the saw, or the loose fragments in a compound
47203 fracture--may become, if replaced in position, firmly and permanently
47204 incorporated with the surrounding bone. Embedded foreign bodies, on the
47205 other hand, such as ivory pegs or decalcified bone, exhibit, on removal
47206 after a sufficient interval, evidence of having been eroded, in the
47207 shape of worm-eaten depressions and perforations, and do not become
47208 united or fused to the surrounding bone. It follows from this that the
47209 implanting of living bone is to be preferred to the implanting of dead
47210 bone or of foreign material. We believe that transplanted living bone
47211 when placed under favourable conditions survives and becomes
47212 incorporated with the bone with which it is in contact, and does not
47213 merely act as a scaffolding. We believe also that the retention of the
47214 periosteum on the graft is not essential, but, by favouring the
47215 establishment of vascular connections, it contributes to the survival of
47216 the graft and the success of the transplantation. Macewen maintains that
47217 bone grafts "take" better if broken up into small fragments; we regard
47218 this as unnecessary. Bone grafts yield better functional results when
47219 they are immovably fixed to the adjacent bone by suture, pegs, or
47220 plates. As in all grafting procedures, asepsis is essential.
47221
47222 Transplanted bone retains its vitality when embedded in the soft parts,
47223 but is gradually absorbed and replaced by fibrous tissue.
47224
47225
47226 DISEASES OF BONE
47227
47228 The morbid processes met with in bone originate in the same way and lead
47229 to the same results as do similar processes in other tissues. The
47230 structural peculiarities of bone, however, and the important changes
47231 which take place in the skeleton during the period of growth, modify
47232 certain of the clinical and pathological features.
47233
47234 _Definition of Terms._--Any diseased process that affects the periosteum
47235 is spoken of as _periostitis_; the term _osteomyelitis_ is employed when
47236 it is located in the marrow. The term _epiphysitis_ has been applied to
47237 an inflammatory process in two distinct situations--namely, the
47238 ossifying nucleus in the epiphysis, and the ossifying junction or
47239 metaphysis between the epiphysial cartilage and the diaphysis. We shall
47240 restrict the term to inflammation in the first of these situations.
47241 Inflammation at the ossifying junction is included under the term
47242 osteomyelitis.
47243
47244 The term _rarefying ostitis_ is applied to any process that is attended
47245 with excessive absorption of the framework of a bone, whereby it becomes
47246 more porous or spongy than it was before, a condition known as
47247 _osteoporosis_.
47248
47249 The term _caries_ is employed to indicate any diseased process
47250 associated with crumbling away of the trabecular framework of a bone. It
47251 may be considered as the equivalent of ulceration or molecular
47252 destruction in the soft parts. The carious process is preceded by the
47253 formation of granulation tissue in the marrow or periosteum, which eats
47254 away and replaces the bone in contact with it. The subsequent
47255 degeneration and death of the granulation tissue under the necrotic
47256 influence of bacterial toxins results in disintegration and crumbling
47257 away of the trabecular framework of the portion of bone affected.
47258 Clinically, carious bone yields a soft grating sensation under the
47259 pressure of the probe. The macerated bone presents a rough, eroded
47260 surface.
47261
47262 The term _dry caries_ (_caries sicca_) is applied to that variety which
47263 is unattended with suppuration.
47264
47265 _Necrosis_ is the term applied to the death of a tangible portion of
47266 bone, and the dead portion when separated is called a _sequestrum_. The
47267 term _exfoliation_ is sometimes employed to indicate the separation or
47268 throwing off of a superficial sequestrum. The edges and deep surface of
47269 the sequestrum present a serrated or worm-eaten appearance due to the
47270 process of erosion by which the dead bone has been separated from the
47271 living.
47272
47273
47274 BACTERIAL DISEASES
47275
47276 The most important diseases in this group are the pyogenic, the
47277 tuberculous, and the syphilitic.
47278
47279 PYOGENIC DISEASES OF BONE.--These diseases result from
47280 infection with pyogenic organisms, and two varieties or types are
47281 recognised according to whether the organisms concerned reach their seat
47282 of action by way of the blood-stream, or through an infection of the
47283 soft parts in contact with the bone.
47284
47285
47286 INFECTIONS THROUGH THE BLOOD-STREAM
47287
47288 #Diseases caused by the Staphylococcus Aureus.#--As the majority of
47289 pyogenic diseases are due to infection with the staphylococcus aureus,
47290 these will be described first.
47291
47292 #Acute osteomyelitis# is a suppurative process beginning in the marrow
47293 and tending to spread to the periosteum. The disease is common in
47294 children, but is rare after the skeleton has attained maturity. Boys are
47295 affected more often than girls, in the proportion of three to one,
47296 probably because they are more liable to exposure, to injury, and to
47297 violent exertion.
47298
47299 _Etiology._--Staphylococci gain access to the blood-stream in various
47300 ways, it may be through the skin or through a mucous surface.
47301
47302 Such conditions as, for example, a blow, some extra exertion such as a
47303 long walk, or exposure to cold, as in wading, may act as localising
47304 factors.
47305
47306 The long bones are chiefly affected, and the commonest sites are: either
47307 end of the tibia and the lower end of the femur; the other bones of the
47308 skeleton are affected in rare instances.
47309
47310 _Pathology._--The disease commences and is most intense in the marrow of
47311 the ossifying junction at one end of the diaphysis; it may commence at
47312 both ends simultaneously--_bipolar osteomyelitis_; or, commencing at one
47313 end, may spread to the other.
47314
47315 The changes observed are those of intense engorgement of the marrow,
47316 going on to greenish-yellow purulent infiltration. Where the process is
47317 most advanced--that is, at the ossifying junction--there are evidences
47318 of absorption of the framework of the bone; the marrow spaces and
47319 Haversian canals undergo enlargement and become filled with
47320 greenish-yellow pus. This rarefaction of the spongy bone is the earliest
47321 change seen with the X-rays.
47322
47323 The process may remain localised to the ossifying junction, but usually
47324 spreads along the medullary canal for a varying distance, and also
47325 extends to the periosteum by way of the enlarged Haversian canals. The
47326 pus accumulates under the periosteum and lifts it up from the bone. The
47327 extent of spread in the medullary canal and beneath the periosteum is in
47328 close correspondence. The periosteum of the diaphysis is easily
47329 separated--hence the facility with which the pus spreads along the
47330 shaft; but in the region of the ossifying junction it is raised with
47331 difficulty because of its intimate connection with the epiphysial
47332 cartilage. Less frequently there is more than one collection of pus
47333 under the periosteum, each being derived from a focus of suppuration in
47334 the subjacent marrow. The pus perforates the periosteum, and makes its
47335 way to the surface by the easiest anatomical route, and discharges
47336 externally, forming one or more sinuses through which fresh infection
47337 may take place. The infection may spread to the adjacent joint, either
47338 directly through the epiphysis and articular cartilage, or along the
47339 deep layer of the periosteum and its continuation--the capsular
47340 ligament. When the epiphysis is intra-articular, as, for example, in the
47341 head of the femur, the pus when it reaches the surface of the bone
47342 necessarily erupts directly into the joint.
47343
47344 While the occurrence of purely periosteal suppuration is regarded as
47345 possible, we are of opinion that the embolic form of staphylococcal
47346 osteomyelitis always originates in the marrow.
47347
47348 The portion of the diaphysis which has sustained the action of the
47349 concentrated toxins has its vitality further impaired as a result of the
47350 stripping of the periosteum and thrombosis of the blood vessels of the
47351 marrow, so that _necrosis_ of bone is one of the most striking results
47352 of the disease, and as this takes place rapidly, that is, in a day or
47353 two, the term _acute necrosis_, formerly applied to the disease, was
47354 amply justified.
47355
47356 When there is marked rarefaction of the bone at the ossifying junction,
47357 the epiphysis is liable to be separated--_epiphysiolysis_. The
47358 separation usually takes place through the young bone of the ossifying
47359 junction, and the surfaces of the diaphysis and epiphysis are opposed to
47360 each other by irregular eroded surfaces bathed in pus. The separated
47361 epiphysis may be kept in place by the periosteum, but when this has been
47362 detached by the formation of pus beneath it, the epiphysis is liable to
47363 be displaced by muscular action or by some movement of the limb, or it
47364 is the diaphysis that is displaced, for example, the lower end of the
47365 diaphysis of the femur may be projected into the popliteal space.
47366
47367 The epiphysial cartilage usually continues its bone-forming functions,
47368 but when it has been seriously damaged or displaced, the further growth
47369 of the bone in length may be interfered with. Sometimes the separated
47370 and displaced epiphysis dies and constitutes a sequestrum.
47371
47372 The adjacent joint may become filled at an early stage with a serous
47373 effusion, which may be sterile. When the cocci gain access to the joint,
47374 the lesion assumes the characters of a purulent arthritis, which, from
47375 its frequency during the earlier years of life, has been called _the
47376 acute arthritis of infants_.
47377
47378 Separation of an epiphysis nearly always results in infection and
47379 destruction of the adjacent joint.
47380
47381 Osteomyelitis is rare in the bones of the carpus and tarsus, and the
47382 associated joints are usually infected from the outset. In flat bones,
47383 such as the skull, the scapula, or the ilium, suppuration usually occurs
47384 on both aspects of the bone as well as in the marrow.
47385
47386 _Clinical Features._--The constitutional symptoms, which are due to the
47387 associated toxaemia, vary considerably in different cases. In mild cases
47388 they may be so slight as to escape recognition. In exceptionally severe
47389 cases the patient may succumb before there are obvious signs of the
47390 localisation of the staphylococci in the bone marrow. In average cases
47391 the temperature rises rapidly with a rigor and runs an irregular course
47392 with morning remissions, there is marked general illness accompanied by
47393 headache, vomiting, and sometimes delirium.
47394
47395 The local manifestations are pain and tenderness in relation to one of
47396 the long bones; the pain may be so severe as to prevent sleep and to
47397 cause the child to cry out. Tenderness on pressure over the bone is the
47398 most valuable diagnostic sign. At a later stage there is an ill-defined
47399 swelling in the region of the ossifying junction, with oedema of the
47400 overlying skin and dilatation of the superficial veins.
47401
47402 The swelling appears earlier and is more definite in superficial bones
47403 such as the tibia, than in those more deeply placed such as the upper
47404 end of the femur. It may be less evident to the eye than to the fingers,
47405 and is best appreciated by gently stroking the bone from the middle of
47406 its shaft towards the end. The maximum thickening and tenderness usually
47407 correspond to the junction of the diaphysis with the epiphysis, and the
47408 swelling tails off gradually along the shaft. As time goes on there is
47409 redness of the skin, especially over a superficial bone, such as the
47410 tibia, the swelling becomes softer, and gives evidence of fluctuation.
47411 This stage may be reached at the end of twenty-four hours, or not for
47412 some days.
47413
47414 Suppuration spreads towards the surface, until, some days later, the
47415 skin sloughs and pus escapes, after which the fever usually remits and
47416 the pain and other symptoms are relieved. The pus may contain blood and
47417 droplets of fat derived from the marrow, and in some cases minute
47418 particles of bone are present also. The presence of fat and bony
47419 particles in the pus confirms the medullary origin of the suppuration.
47420
47421 If an incision is made, the periosteum is found to be raised from the
47422 bone; the extent of the bare bone will be found to correspond fairly
47423 accurately with the extent of the lesion in the marrow.
47424
47425 _Local Complications._--The adjacent joint may exhibit symptoms which
47426 vary from those of a simple effusion to those of a purulent _arthritis_.
47427 The joint symptoms may count for little in the clinical picture, or, as
47428 in the case of the hip, may so predominate as to overshadow those of the
47429 bone lesion from which they originated.
47430
47431 _Separation and displacement of the epiphysis_ usually reveals itself by
47432 an alteration in the attitude of the limb; it is nearly always
47433 associated with suppuration in the adjacent joint.
47434
47435 When _pathological fracture_ of the shaft occurs, as it may do, from
47436 some muscular effort or strain, it is attended with the usual signs of
47437 fracture.
47438
47439 _Dislocation_ of the adjacent joint has been chiefly observed at the
47440 hip; it may result from effusion into the joint and stretching of the
47441 ligaments, or may be the sequel of a purulent arthritis; the signs of
47442 dislocation are not so obvious as might be expected, but it is attended
47443 with an alteration in the attitude of the limb, and the displacement of
47444 the head of the bone is readily shown in a skiagram.
47445
47446 _General Complications._--In some cases a _multiplicity of lesions_ in
47447 the bones and joints imparts to the disease the features of pyaemia. The
47448 occurrence of endocarditis, as indicated by alterations in the heart
47449 sounds and the development of murmurs, may cause widespread infective
47450 embolism, and metastatic suppurations in the kidneys, heart-wall, and
47451 lungs, as well as in other bones and joints than those primarily
47452 affected. The secondary suppurations are liable to be overlooked unless
47453 sought for, as they are rarely attended with much pain.
47454
47455 In these multiple forms of osteomyelitis the toxaemic symptoms
47456 predominate; the patient is dull and listless, or he may be restless and
47457 talkative, or actually delirious. The tongue is dry and coated, the lips
47458 and teeth are covered with sordes, the motions are loose and offensive,
47459 and may be passed involuntarily. The temperature is remittent and
47460 irregular, the pulse small and rapid, and the urine may contain blood
47461 and albumen. Sometimes the skin shows erythematous and purpuric rashes,
47462 and the patient may cry out as in meningitis. The post-mortem
47463 appearances are those of pyaemia.
47464
47465 _Differential Diagnosis._--Acute osteomyelitis is to be diagnosed from
47466 infections of the soft parts, such as erysipelas and cellulitis, and, in
47467 the case of the tibia, from erythema nodosum. Tenderness localised to
47468 the ossifying junction is the most valuable diagnostic sign of
47469 osteomyelitis.
47470
47471 When there is early and pronounced general intoxication, there is likely
47472 to be confusion with other acute febrile illnesses, such as scarlet
47473 fever. In all febrile conditions in children and adolescents, the
47474 ossifying junctions of the long bones should be examined for areas of
47475 pain and tenderness.
47476
47477 Osteomyelitis has many features in common with acute articular
47478 rheumatism, and some authorities believe them to be different forms of
47479 the same disease (Kocher). In acute rheumatism, however, the joint
47480 symptoms predominate, there is an absence of suppuration, and the pains
47481 and temperature yield to salicylates.
47482
47483 The _prognosis_ varies with the type of the disease, with its
47484 location--the vertebrae, skull, pelvis, and lower jaw being specially
47485 unfavourable--with the multiplicity of the lesions, and with the
47486 development of endocarditis and internal metastases.
47487
47488 _Treatment._--This is carried out on the same lines as in other pyogenic
47489 infections.
47490
47491 In the earliest stages of the disease, the induction of hyperaemia is
47492 indicated, and should be employed until the diagnosis is definitely
47493 established, and in the meantime preparations for operation should be
47494 made. An incision is made down to and through the periosteum, and
47495 whether pus is found or not, the bone should be opened in the vicinity
47496 of the ossifying junction by means of a drill, gouge, or trephine. If
47497 pus is found, the opening in the bone is extended along the shaft as far
47498 as the periosteum has been separated, and the infected marrow is removed
47499 with the spoon. The cavity is then lightly packed with rubber dam, or,
47500 as recommended by Bier, the skin edges are brought together by sutures
47501 which are loosely tied to afford sufficient space between them for the
47502 exit of discharge, and the hyperaemic treatment is continued.
47503
47504 When there is widespread suppuration in the marrow, and the shaft is
47505 extensively bared of periosteum and appears likely to die, it may be
47506 resected straight away or after an interval of a day or two. Early
47507 resection of the shaft is also indicated if the opening of the medullary
47508 canal is not followed by relief of symptoms. In the leg and forearm, the
47509 unaffected bone maintains the length and contour of the limb; in the
47510 case of the femur and humerus, extension with weight and pulley along
47511 with some form of moulded gutter splint is employed with a similar
47512 object.
47513
47514 Amputation of the limb is reserved for grave cases, in which life is
47515 endangered by toxaemia, which is attributed to the primary lesion. It may
47516 be called for later if the limb is likely to be useless, as, for
47517 example, when the whole shaft of the bone is dead without the formation
47518 of a new case, when the epiphyses are separated and displaced, and the
47519 joints are disorganised.
47520
47521 Flat bones, such as the skull or ilium, must be trephined and the pus
47522 cleared out from both aspects of the bone. In the vertebrae, operative
47523 interference is usually restricted to opening and draining the
47524 associated abscess.
47525
47526 #Nature's Effort at Repair.#--_In cases which are left to nature_, and
47527 in which necrosis of bone has occurred, those portions of the periosteum
47528 and marrow which have retained their vitality resume their osteogenetic
47529 functions, often to an exaggerated degree. Where the periosteum has been
47530 lifted up by an accumulation of pus, or is in contact with bone that is
47531 dead, it proceeds to form new bone with great activity, so that the dead
47532 shaft becomes surrounded by a sheath or case of new bone, known as the
47533 _involucrum_ (Fig. 118). Where the periosteum has been perforated by pus
47534 making its way to the surface, there are defects or holes in the
47535 involucrum, called _cloacae_. As these correspond more or less in
47536 position to the sinuses in the skin, in passing a probe down one of the
47537 sinuses it usually passes through a cloaca and strikes the dead bone
47538 lying in the interior. If the periosteum has been extensively
47539 destroyed, new bone may only be formed in patches, or not at all. The
47540 dead bone is separated from the living by the agency of granulation
47541 tissue with its usual complements of phagocytes and osteoclasts, so that
47542 the sequestrum presents along its margins and on its deep surface a
47543 pitted, grooved, and worm-eaten appearance, except on the periosteal
47544 aspect, which is unaltered. Ultimately the dead bone becomes loose and
47545 lies in a cavity a little larger than itself; the wall of the cavity is
47546 formed by the new case, lined with granulation tissue. The separation of
47547 the sequestrum takes place more rapidly in the spongy bone of the
47548 ossifying junction than in the compact bone of the shaft.
47549
47550 When foci of suppuration have been scattered up and down the medullary
47551 cavity, and the bone has died in patches, several sequestra may be
47552 included by the new case; each portion of dead bone is slowly separated,
47553 and comes to lie in a cavity lined by granulations.
47554
47555 Even at a distance from the actual necrosis there is formation of new
47556 bone by the marrow; the medullary canal is often obliterated, and the
47557 bone becomes heavier and denser--sclerosis; and the new bone which is
47558 deposited on the original shaft results in an increase in the girth of
47559 the bone--hyperostosis.
47560
47561 [Illustration: FIG. 118.--Shaft of Femur after Acute Osteomyelitis. The
47562 shaft has undergone extensive necrosis, and a shell of new bone has been
47563 formed by the periosteum.]
47564
47565 _Pathological fracture_ of the shaft may occur at the site of necrosis,
47566 when the new case is incapable of resisting the strain put upon it, and
47567 is most frequently met with in the shaft of the femur. Short of
47568 fracture, there may be bending or curving of the new case, and this
47569 results in deformity and shortening of the limb (Fig. 119).
47570
47571 The _extrusion of a sequestrum_ may occur, provided there is a cloaca
47572 large enough to allow of its escape, but the surgeon has usually to
47573 interfere by performing the operation of sequestrectomy. Displacement or
47574 partial extrusion of the dead bone may cause complications, as when a
47575 sequestrum derived from the trigone of the femur perforates the
47576 popliteal artery or the cavity of the knee-joint, or a sequestrum of the
47577 pelvis perforates the wall of the urinary bladder.
47578
47579 The extent to which bone which has been lost is reproduced varies in
47580 different parts of the skeleton: while the long bones, the scapula, the
47581 mandible, and other bones which are developed in cartilage are almost
47582 completely re-formed, bones which are entirely developed in membrane,
47583 such as the flat bones of the skull and the maxilla, are not reproduced.
47584
47585 [Illustration: FIG. 119.--Femur and Tibia showing results of Acute
47586 Osteomyelitis affecting Trigone of Femur; sequestrum partly surrounded
47587 by new case; backward displacement of lower epiphysis and implication of
47588 knee-joint.]
47589
47590 It may be instructive to describe _the X-ray appearances of a long bone
47591 that has passed through an attack of acute osteomyelitis_ severe enough
47592 to have caused necrosis of part of the diaphysis. The shadow of the dead
47593 bone is seen in the position of the original shaft which it represents;
47594 it is of the same shape and density as the original shaft, while its
47595 margins present an irregular contour from the erosion concerned in its
47596 separation. The sequestrum is separated from the living bone by a clear
47597 zone which corresponds to the layer of granulations lining the cavity in
47598 which it lies. This clear zone separating the shadow of the dead bone
47599 from that of the living bone by which it is surrounded is conclusive
47600 evidence of a sequestrum. The medullary canal in the vicinity of the
47601 sequestrum being obliterated, is represented by a shadow of varying
47602 density, continuous with that of the surrounding bone. The shadow of the
47603 new case or involucrum with its wavy contour is also in evidence, with
47604 its openings or cloacae, and is mainly responsible for the increase in
47605 the diameter of the bone.
47606
47607 The skiagram may also show separation and displacement of the adjacent
47608 epiphysis and destruction of the articular surfaces or dislocation of
47609 the joint.
47610
47611 _Sequelae of Acute Suppurative Osteomyelitis._--The commonest sequel is
47612 the presence of a sequestrum with one or more discharging sinuses; owing
47613 to the abundant formation of scar tissue these sinuses have rigid edges
47614 which are usually depressed and adherent to the bone.
47615
47616 _The Recognition and Removal of Sequestra._--So long as there is dead
47617 bone there will be suppuration from the granulations lining the cavity
47618 in which it lies, and a discharge of pus from the sinuses, so that the
47619 mere persistence of discharge after an attack of osteomyelitis, is
47620 presumptive evidence of the occurrence of necrosis. Where there are one
47621 or more sinuses, the passage of a probe which strikes bare bone affords
47622 corroboration of the view that the bone has perished. When the dead bone
47623 has been separated from the living, the X-rays yield the most exact
47624 information.
47625
47626 The traditional practice is to wait until the dead bone is entirely
47627 separated before undertaking an operation for its removal, from fear, on
47628 the one hand, of leaving portions behind which may keep up the
47629 discharge, and, on the other, of removing more bone than is necessary.
47630 This practice need not be adhered to, as by operating at an earlier
47631 stage healing is greatly hastened. If it is decided to wait for
47632 separation of the dead bone, drainage should be improved, and the
47633 infective element combated by the induction of hyperaemia.
47634
47635 _The operation_ for the removal of the dead bone (_sequestrectomy_)
47636 consists in opening up the periosteum and the new case sufficiently to
47637 allow of the removal of all the dead bone, including the most minute
47638 sequestra. The limb having been rendered bloodless, existing sinuses are
47639 enlarged, but if these are inconveniently situated--for example, in the
47640 centre of the popliteal space in necrosis of the femoral trigone--it is
47641 better to make a fresh wound down to the bone on that aspect of the
47642 limb which affords best access, and which entails the least injury of
47643 the soft parts. The periosteum, which is thick and easily separable, is
47644 raised from the new case with an elevator, and with the chisel or gouge
47645 enough of the new bone is taken away to allow of the removal of the
47646 sequestrum. Care must be taken not to leave behind any fragment of dead
47647 bone, as this will interfere with healing, and may determine a relapse
47648 of suppuration.
47649
47650 The dead bone having been removed, the lining granulations are scraped
47651 away with a spoon, and the cavity is disinfected.
47652
47653 There are different ways of dealing with a _bone cavity_. It may be
47654 packed with gauze (impregnated with "bipp" or with iodoform), which is
47655 changed at intervals until healing takes place from the bottom; it may
47656 be filled with a flap of bone and periosteum raised from the vicinity,
47657 or with bone grafts; or the wall of bone on one side of the cavity may
47658 be chiselled through at its base, so that it can be brought into contact
47659 with the opposite wall. The method of filling bone cavities devised by
47660 Mosetig-Moorhof, consists in disinfecting and drying the cavity by a
47661 current of hot air, and filling it with a mixture of powdered iodoform
47662 (60 parts) and oil of sesame and spermaceti (each 40 parts), which is
47663 fluid at a temperature of 112 o F.; the soft parts are then brought
47664 together without drainage. As the cavity fills up with new bone the
47665 iodoform is gradually absorbed. Iodoform gives a dark shadow with the
47666 X-rays, so that the process of its absorption can be followed in
47667 skiagrams taken at intervals.
47668
47669 These procedures may be carried out at the same time as the sequestrum
47670 is removed, or after an interval. In all of them, asepsis is essential
47671 for success.
47672
47673 The _deformities_ resulting from osteomyelitis are more marked the
47674 earlier in life the disease occurs. Even under favourable conditions,
47675 and with the continuous effort at reconstruction of the bone by Nature's
47676 method, the return to normal is often far from perfect, and there
47677 usually remains a variable amount of hyperostosis and sclerosis and
47678 sometimes curving of the bone. Under less favourable conditions, the
47679 late results of osteomyelitis may be more serious. _Shortening_ is not
47680 uncommon from interference with growth at the ossifying junction.
47681 _Exaggerated growth_ in the length of a bone is rare, and has been
47682 observed chiefly in the bones of the leg. Where there are two parallel
47683 bones--as in the leg, for example--the growth of the diseased bone may
47684 be impaired, and the other continuing its normal growth becomes
47685 disproportionately long; less frequently the growth of the diseased
47686 bone is exaggerated, and it becomes the longer of the two. In either
47687 case, the longer bone becomes curved. An _obliquity_ of the bone may
47688 result when one half of the epiphysial cartilage is destroyed and the
47689 other half continues to form bone, giving rise to such deformities as
47690 knock-knee and club-hand.
47691
47692 Deformity may also result from vicious union of a pathological fracture,
47693 permanent displacement of an epiphysis, contracture, ankylosis, or
47694 dislocation of the adjacent joint.
47695
47696 #Relapsing Osteomyelitis.#--As the term indicates, the various forms of
47697 relapsing osteomyelitis date back to an antecedent attack, and their
47698 occurrence depends on the capacity of staphylococci to lie latent in the
47699 marrow.
47700
47701 Relapse may take place within a few months of the original attack, or
47702 not for many years. Cases are sometimes met with in which relapses recur
47703 at regular intervals for several years, the tendency, however, being for
47704 the attacks to become milder as the virulence of the organisms becomes
47705 more and more attenuated.
47706
47707 _Clinical Features._--Osteomyelitis in a patient over twenty-five is
47708 nearly always of the relapsing variety. In some cases the bone becomes
47709 enlarged, with pain and tenderness on pressure; in others there are the
47710 usual phenomena which attend suppuration, but the pus is slow in coming
47711 to the surface, and the constitutional symptoms are slight. The pus may
47712 escape by new channels, or one of the old sinuses may re-open.
47713 Radiograms usually furnish useful information as to the condition of the
47714 bone, both as it is altered by the original attack and by the changes
47715 that attend the relapse of the infective process.
47716
47717 _Treatment._--In cases of thickening of the bone with persistent and
47718 severe pain, if relief is not afforded by the repeated application of
47719 blisters, the thickened periosteum should be incised, and the bone
47720 opened up with the chisel or trephine. In cases attended with
47721 suppuration, the swelling is incised and drained, and if there is a
47722 sequestrum, it must be removed.
47723
47724 #Circumscribed Abscess of Bone--"Brodie's Abscess."#--The most important
47725 form of relapsing osteomyelitis is the circumscribed abscess of bone
47726 first described by Benjamin Brodie. It is usually met with in young
47727 adults, but we have met with it in patients over fifty. Several years
47728 may intervene between the original attack of osteomyelitis and the onset
47729 of symptoms of abscess.
47730
47731 _Morbid Anatomy._[7]--The abscess is nearly always situated in the
47732 central axis of the bone in the region of the ossifying junction,
47733 although cases are occasionally met with in which it lies nearer the
47734 middle of the shaft. In exceptional cases there is more than one abscess
47735 (Fig. 120). The tibia is the bone most commonly affected, but the lower
47736 end of the femur, or either end of the humerus, may be the seat of the
47737 abscess. In the quiescent stage the lesion is represented by a small
47738 cavity in the bone, filled with clear serum, and lined by a fibrous
47739 membrane which is engaged in forming bone. Around the cavity the bone is
47740 sclerosed, and the medullary canal is obliterated. When the infection
47741 becomes active, the contents of the cavity are transformed into a
47742 greenish-yellow pus from which the staphylococcus can be isolated, and
47743 the cavity is lined by a thin film of granulation tissue which erodes
47744 the surrounding bone and so causes the abscess to increase in size. If
47745 the erosion proceeds uniformly, the cavity is spherical or oval; if it
47746 is more active at some points than others, diverticula or tunnels are
47747 formed, and one of these may finally erupt through the shell of the bone
47748 or into an adjacent joint. Small irregular sequestra are occasionally
47749 found within the abscess cavity. In long-standing cases it is common to
47750 find extensive obliteration of the medullary canal, and a considerable
47751 increase in the girth of the bone.
47752
47753 [7] Alexis Thomson, _Edin. Med. Journ._, 1906.
47754
47755 [Illustration: FIG. 120.--Segment of Tibia resected for Brodie's
47756 Abscess. The specimen shows two separate abscesses in the centre of the
47757 shaft, the lower one quiescent, the upper one active and increasing in
47758 size.]
47759
47760 The size of the abscess ranges from that of a cherry to that of a
47761 walnut, but specimens in museums show that, if left to Nature, the
47762 abscess may attain much greater dimensions.
47763
47764 The affected bone is not only thicker and heavier than normal, but may
47765 also be curved or otherwise deformed as a result of the original attack
47766 of osteomyelitis.
47767
47768 The _clinical features_ are almost exclusively local. Pain, due to
47769 tension within the abscess, is the dominant symptom. At first it is
47770 vague and difficult to localise, later it is referred to the interior of
47771 the bone, and is described as "boring." It is aggravated by use of the
47772 limb, and there are often, especially during the night, exacerbations in
47773 which the pain becomes excruciating. In the early stages there are
47774 periods of days or weeks during which the symptoms abate, but as the
47775 abscess increases these become shorter, until the patient is hardly ever
47776 free from pain. Localised tenderness can almost always be elicited by
47777 percussion, or by compressing the bone between the fingers and thumb.
47778 The pain induced by the traction of muscles attached to the bone, or by
47779 the weight of the body, may interfere with the function of the limb, and
47780 in the lower extremity cause a limp in walking. The limb may be disabled
47781 from _involvement of the adjacent joint_, in which there may be an
47782 intermittent hydrops which comes and goes coincidently with
47783 exacerbations of pain; or the abscess may perforate the joint and set up
47784 an acute arthritis.
47785
47786 The _diagnosis_ of Brodie's abscess from other affections met with at
47787 the ends of long bones, and particularly from tuberculosis, syphilis,
47788 and new growths, is made by a consideration of the previous history,
47789 especially with reference to an antecedent attack of osteomyelitis. When
47790 the adjacent joint is implicated, the surgeon may be misled by the
47791 patient referring all the symptoms to the joint.
47792
47793 The X-ray picture is usually diagnostic chiefly because all the lesions
47794 which are liable to be confused with Brodie's abscess--gumma, tubercle,
47795 myeloma, chondroma, and sarcoma--give a well-marked central clear area;
47796 the sclerosis around Brodie's abscess gives a dense shadow in which the
47797 central clear area is either not seen at all or only faintly (Fig. 121).
47798
47799 _Treatment._--If an abscess is suspected, there should be no hesitation
47800 in exploring the interior of the bone. It is exposed by a suitable
47801 incision; the periosteum is reflected and the bone is opened up by a
47802 trephine or chisel, and the presence of an abscess may be at once
47803 indicated by the escape of pus. If, owing to the small size of the
47804 abscess or the density of the bone surrounding it, the pus is not
47805 reached by this procedure, the bone should be drilled in different
47806 directions.
47807
47808 [Illustration: FIG. 121.--Radiogram of Brodie's Abscess in Lower End of
47809 Tibia.]
47810
47811 #Other Forms of Acute Osteomyelitis.#--Among the less severe forms of
47812 osteomyelitis resulting from the action of attenuated organisms are the
47813 _serous_ variety, in which an effusion of serous fluid forms under the
47814 periosteum; and _growth fever_, in which the child complains of vague
47815 evanescent pains (growing pains), and of feeling tired and disinclined
47816 to play; there may be some rise of temperature in the evening.
47817
47818 Infection with the _staphylococcus albus_, the _streptococcus_, or the
47819 _pneumococcus_ also causes a mild form of osteomyelitis which may go on
47820 to suppuration.
47821
47822 _Necrosis without suppuration_, described by Paget under the name "quiet
47823 necrosis," is a rare disease, and would appear to be associated with an
47824 attenuated form of staphylococcal infection (Tavel). It occurs in
47825 adults, being met with up to the age of fifty or sixty, and is
47826 characterised by the insidious development of a swelling which involves
47827 a considerable extent of a long bone. The pain varies in intensity, and
47828 may be continuous or intermittent, and there is tenderness on pressure.
47829 The shaft is increased in girth as a result of its being surrounded by a
47830 new case of bone. The resemblance to sarcoma may be very close, but the
47831 swelling is not as defined as in sarcoma, nor does it ever assume the
47832 characteristic "leg of mutton" shape. In both diseases there is a
47833 tendency to pathological fracture. It is difficult also in the absence
47834 of skiagrams to differentiate the condition from syphilitic and from
47835 tuberculous disease. If the diagnosis is not established after
47836 examination with the X-rays, an exploratory incision should be made; if
47837 dead bone is found, it is removed.
47838
47839 In typhoid fever the bone marrow is liable to be invaded by _the typhoid
47840 bacillus_, which may set up osteomyelitis soon after its lodgment, or it
47841 may lie latent for a considerable period before doing so. The lesions
47842 may be single or multiple, they involve the marrow or the periosteum or
47843 both, and they may or may not be attended with suppuration. They are
47844 most commonly met with in the tibia and in the ribs at the
47845 costo-chondral junctions.
47846
47847 The bone lesions usually occur during the seventh or eighth week of the
47848 fever, but have been known to occur much later. The chief complaint is
47849 of vague pains, at first referred to several bones, later becoming
47850 localised in one; they are aggravated by movement, or by handling the
47851 bone, and are worst at night. There is redness and oedema of the
47852 overlying soft parts, and swelling with vague fluctuation, and on
47853 incision there escapes a yellow creamy pus, or a brown syrupy fluid
47854 containing the typhoid bacillus in pure culture. Necrosis is
47855 exceptional.
47856
47857 When the abscess develops slowly, the condition resembles tuberculous
47858 disease, from which it may be diagnosed by the history of typhoid fever,
47859 and by obtaining a positive Widal reaction.
47860
47861 The prognosis is favourable, but recovery is apt to be slow, and relapse
47862 is not uncommon.
47863
47864 It is usually sufficient to incise the periosteum, but when the disease
47865 occurs in a rib it may be necessary to resect a portion of bone.
47866
47867 #Pyogenic Osteomyelitis due to Spread of Infection from the Soft
47868 Parts.#--There still remain those forms of osteomyelitis which result
47869 from infection through a wound involving the bone--for example, compound
47870 fractures, gun-shot injuries, osteotomies, amputations, resections, or
47871 operations for un-united fracture. In all of these the marrow is exposed
47872 to infection by such organisms as are present in the wound. A similar
47873 form of osteomyelitis may occur apart from a wound--for example,
47874 infection may spread to the jaws from lesions of the mouth; to the
47875 skull, from lesions of the scalp or of the cranial bones
47876 themselves--such as a syphilitic gumma or a sarcoma which has fungated
47877 externally; or to the petrous temporal, from suppuration in the middle
47878 ear.
47879
47880 The most common is an osteomyelitis commencing in the marrow exposed in
47881 a wound infected with pyogenic organisms. In amputation stumps,
47882 fungating granulations protrude from the sawn end of the bone, and if
47883 necrosis takes place, the sequestrum is annular, affecting the
47884 cross-section of the bone at the saw-line; or tubular, extending up the
47885 shaft, and tapering off above. The periosteum is more easily detached,
47886 is thicker than normal, and is actively engaged in forming bone. In the
47887 macerated specimen, the new bone presents a characteristic coral-like
47888 appearance, and may be perforated by cloacae (Fig. 122).
47889
47890 [Illustration: FIG. 122.--Tubular Sequestrum resulting from Septic
47891 Osteomyelitis in Amputation Stump.]
47892
47893 Like other pyogenic infections, it may terminate in pyaemia, as a result
47894 of septic phlebitis in the marrow.
47895
47896 The _clinical features_ of osteomyelitis in _an amputation stump_ are
47897 those of ordinary pyogenic infection; the involvement of the bone may be
47898 suspected from the clinical course, the absence of improvement from
47899 measures directed towards overcoming the sepsis in the soft parts, and
47900 the persistence of suppuration in spite of free drainage, but it is not
47901 recognised unless the bone is exposed by opening up the stump or the
47902 changes in the bone are shown by the X-rays. The first change is due to
47903 the deposit of new bone on the periosteal surface; later, there is the
47904 shadow of the sequestrum.
47905
47906 Healing does not take place until the sequestrum is extruded or removed
47907 by operation.
47908
47909 _In compound fractures_, if a fragment dies and forms a sequestrum, it
47910 is apt to be walled in by new bone; the sinuses continue to discharge
47911 until the sequestrum is removed. Even after healing has taken place,
47912 relapse is liable to occur, especially in gun-shot injuries. Months or
47913 years afterwards, the bone may become painful and tender. The symptoms
47914 may subside under rest and elevation of the limb and the application of
47915 a compress, or an abscess forms and bursts with comparatively little
47916 suffering. The contents may be clear yellow serum or watery pus;
47917 sometimes a small spicule of bone is discharged. Valuable information,
47918 both for diagnosis and treatment, is afforded by skiagrams.
47919
47920 [Illustration: FIG. 123.--New Periosteal Bone on surface of Femur from
47921 Amputation Stump. Osteomyelitis supervened on the amputation, and
47922 resulted in necrosis at the sawn section of the bone. (Anatomical
47923 Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
47924
47925
47926 TUBERCULOUS DISEASE
47927
47928 The tuberculous diseases of bone result from infection of the marrow or
47929 periosteum by tubercle bacilli conveyed through the arteries; it is
47930 exceedingly rare for tubercle to appear in bone as a primary infection,
47931 the bacilli being usually derived from some pre-existing focus in the
47932 bronchial glands or elsewhere. According to the observations of John
47933 Fraser, 60 per cent. of the cases of bone and joint tubercle in children
47934 are due to the bovine bacillus, 37 per cent. to the human variety, and
47935 in 3 per cent. both types are present.
47936
47937 Tuberculous disease in bone is characterised by its insidious onset and
47938 slow progress, and by the frequency with which it is associated with
47939 disease of the adjacent joint.
47940
47941 #Periosteal tuberculosis# is met with in the ribs, sternum, vertebral
47942 column, skull, and less frequently in the long bones of the limbs. It
47943 may originate in the periosteum, or may spread thence from the marrow,
47944 or from synovial membrane.
47945
47946 _In superficial bones_, such as the sternum, the formation of
47947 tuberculous granulation tissue in the deeper layer of the periosteum,
47948 and its subsequent caseation and liquefaction, is attended by the
47949 insidious development of a doughy swelling, which is not as a rule
47950 painful, although tender on pressure. While the swelling often remains
47951 quiescent for some time, it tends to increase in size, to become boggy
47952 or fluctuating, and to assume the characters of a cold abscess. The pus
47953 perforates the fibrous layer of the periosteum, invading and infecting
47954 the overlying soft parts, its spread being influenced by the anatomical
47955 arrangement of the tissues. The size of the abscess affords no
47956 indication of the extent of the bone lesion from which it originates. As
47957 the abscess reaches the surface, the skin becomes of a dusky red or
47958 livid colour, is gradually thinned out, and finally sloughs, forming a
47959 sinus. A probe passed into the sinus strikes carious bone. Small
47960 sequestra may be found embedded in the granulation tissue. The sinus
47961 persists as long as any active tubercle remains in the tissues, and is
47962 apt to form an avenue for pyogenic infection.
47963
47964 _In deeply seated bones_, such as the upper end of the femur, the
47965 formation of a cold abscess in the soft parts is often the first
47966 evidence of the disease.
47967
47968 _Diagnosis._--Before the stage of cold abscess is reached, the localised
47969 swelling is to be differentiated from a gumma, from chronic forms of
47970 staphylococcal osteomyelitis, from enlarged bursa or ganglion, from
47971 sub-periosteal lipoma, and from sarcoma. Most difficulty is met with in
47972 relation to periosteal sarcoma, which must be differentiated either by
47973 the X-ray appearances or by an exploratory incision.
47974
47975 _X-ray appearances in periosteal tubercle_: the surface of the cortical
47976 bone in the area of disease is roughened and irregular by erosion, and
47977 in the vicinity there may be a deposit of new bone on the surface,
47978 particularly if a sinus is present and mixed infection has occurred; in
47979 _syphilis_ the shadow of the bone is denser as a result of sclerosis,
47980 and there is usually more new bone on the surface--hyperostosis; in
47981 _periosteal sarcoma_ there is greater erosion and consequently greater
47982 irregularity in the contour of the cortical bone, and frequently there
47983 is evidence of formation of bone in the form of characteristic spicules
47984 projecting from the surface at a right angle.
47985
47986 The early recognition of periosteal lesions in the articular ends of
47987 bones is of importance, as the disease, if left to itself, is liable to
47988 spread to the adjacent joint.
47989
47990 The _treatment_ is that of tuberculous lesions in general; if
47991 conservative measures fail, the choice lies between the injection of
47992 iodoform, and removal of the infected tissues with the sharp spoon. In
47993 the ribs it is more satisfactory to remove the diseased portion of bone
47994 along with the wall of the associated abscess or sinus. If all the
47995 tubercle has been removed and there is no pyogenic infection, the wound
47996 is stitched up with the object of obtaining primary union; otherwise it
47997 is treated by the open method.
47998
47999 #Tuberculous Osteomyelitis.#--Tuberculous lesions in the marrow occur as
48000 isolated or as multiple foci of granulation tissue, which replace the
48001 marrow and erode the trabeculae of bone in the vicinity (Fig. 124). The
48002 individual focus varies in size from a pea to a walnut. The changes that
48003 ensue resemble in character those in other tissues, and the extent of
48004 the destruction varies according to the way in which the tubercle
48005 bacillus and the marrow interact upon one another. The granulation
48006 tissue may undergo caseation and liquefaction, or may become
48007 encapsulated by fibrous tissue--"encysted tubercle."
48008
48009 [Illustration: FIG. 124.--Tuberculous Osteomyelitis of Os Magnum,
48010 excised from a boy aet. 8. Note well-defined caseous focus, with several
48011 minute foci in surrounding marrow.]
48012
48013 Sometimes the tuberculous granulation tissue spreads in the marrow,
48014 assuming the characters of a diffuse infiltration--diffuse tuberculous
48015 osteomyelitis. The trabecular framework of the bone undergoes erosion
48016 and absorption--rarefying ostitis--and either disappears altogether or
48017 only irregular fragments or sequestra of microscopic dimensions remain
48018 in the area affected. Less frequently the trabecular framework is added
48019 to by the formation of new bone, resulting in a remarkable degree of
48020 sclerosis, and if, following upon this, there is caseation of the
48021 tubercle and death of the affected portion of bone, there results a
48022 sequestrum often of considerable size and characteristic shape, which,
48023 because of the sclerosis and surrounding endarteritis, is exceedingly
48024 slow in separating. When the sequestrum involves an articular surface it
48025 is often wedge-shaped; in other situations it is rounded or truncated
48026 and lies in the long axis of the medullary canal (Fig. 125). Finally,
48027 the sequestrum lies loose in a cavity lined by tuberculous granulation
48028 tissue, and is readily identified in a radiogram. This type of sclerosis
48029 preceding death of the bone is highly characteristic of tuberculosis.
48030
48031 [Illustration: FIG. 125.--Tuberculous Disease of Child's Tibia,
48032 showing sequestrum in medullary cavity, and increase in girth from
48033 excess of new bone.]
48034
48035 _Clinical Features._--As a rule, it is only in superficially placed
48036 bones, such as the tibia, ulna, clavicle, mandible, or phalanges, that
48037 tuberculous disease in the marrow gives rise to signs sufficiently
48038 definite to allow of its clinical recognition. In the vertebrae, or in
48039 the bones of deeply seated joints, such as the hip or shoulder, the
48040 existence of tuberculous lesions in the marrow can only be inferred from
48041 indirect signs--such, for example, as rigidity and curvature in the case
48042 of the spine, or from the symptoms of grave and persistent joint-disease
48043 in the case of the hip or shoulder.
48044
48045 With few exceptions, tuberculous disease in the interior of a bone does
48046 not reveal its presence until by extension it reaches one or other of
48047 the surfaces of the bone. In the shaft of a long bone its eruption on
48048 the periosteal surface is usually followed by the formation of a cold
48049 abscess in the overlying soft parts. When situated in the articular ends
48050 of bones, the disease more often erupts in relation to the reflection of
48051 the synovial membrane or directly on the articular surface--in either
48052 case giving rise to disease of the joint (Fig. 156).
48053
48054 [Illustration: Fig. 126.--Diffuse Tuberculous Osteomyelitis of Right
48055 Tibia.
48056
48057 (Photograph lent by Sir H. J. Stiles.)]
48058
48059 #Diffuse Tuberculous Osteomyelitis in the shaft of a long bone# is
48060 comparatively rare, and has been observed chiefly in the tibia and the
48061 ulna in children (Fig. 126). It commences at the growing extremity of
48062 the diaphysis, and spreads along the medulla to a variable extent; it is
48063 attended by the formation of vascular and porous bone on the surface,
48064 which causes thickening of the diaphysis; this is most marked at the
48065 ossifying junction and tapers off along the shaft. The infection not
48066 only spreads along the medulla, but it invades the spongy bone
48067 surrounding this, and then the cortical bone, and is only prevented from
48068 reaching the soft parts by the new bone formed by the periosteum. The
48069 bone is replaced by granulation tissue, and disappears, or part of it
48070 may become sclerosed and in time form a sequestrum. In the macerated
48071 specimen, the sequestrum appears small in proportion to the large cavity
48072 in which it lies. All these changes are revealed in a good skiagram,
48073 which not only confirms the diagnosis, but, in many instances,
48074 demonstrates the extent of the disease, the presence or absence of a
48075 sequestrum, and the amount of new bone on the surface. Finally the
48076 periosteum gives way, and an abscess forms in the soft parts; and if
48077 left to itself ruptures externally, leaving a sinus. The most
48078 satisfactory _treatment_ is to resect sub-periosteally the diseased
48079 portion of the diaphysis.
48080
48081 _In cancellous bones, such as those of the tarsus_, there is a similar
48082 caseous infiltration in the marrow, and this may be attended with the
48083 formation of a sequestrum either in the interior of the bone or
48084 involving its outer shell, as shown in Fig. 127. The situation and
48085 extent of the disease are shown in X-ray photographs. After the
48086 tuberculous granulation tissue erupts through the cortex of the bone, it
48087 gives rise to a cold abscess or infects adjacent joints or tendon
48088 sheaths.
48089
48090 [Illustration: FIG. 127.--Advanced Tuberculous Disease in region of
48091 Ankle. The ankle-joint is ankylosed, and there is a large sequestrum in
48092 the calcaneus.
48093
48094 (Specimen in Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
48095
48096 If an exact diagnosis is made at an early stage of the disease--and this
48097 is often possible with the aid of X-rays--the affected bone is excised
48098 sub-periosteally or its interior is cleared out with the sharp spoon and
48099 gouge, the latter procedure being preferred in the case of the
48100 _calcaneus_ to conserve the stability of the heel. When several bones
48101 and joints are simultaneously affected, and there are sinuses with
48102 mixed infection, amputation is usually indicated, especially in adults.
48103
48104 #Tuberculous dactylitis# is the name applied to a diffuse form of the
48105 disease as it affects the phalanges, metacarpal or metatarsal bones. The
48106 lesion presents, on a small scale, all the anatomical changes that have
48107 been described as occurring in the medulla of the tibia or ulna, and
48108 they are easily followed in skiagrams. A periosteal type of dactylitis
48109 is also met with.
48110
48111 The _clinical features_ are those of a spindle-shaped swelling of a
48112 finger or toe, indolent, painless, and interfering but little with the
48113 function of the digit. Recovery may eventually occur without
48114 suppuration, but it is common to have the formation of a cold abscess,
48115 which bursts and forms one or more sinuses. It may be difficult to
48116 differentiate tuberculous dactylitis from the enlargement of the
48117 phalanges in inherited syphilis (syphilitic dactylitis), especially when
48118 the tuberculous lesion occurs in a child who is the subject of inherited
48119 syphilis.
48120
48121 [Illustration: FIG. 128.--Tuberculous Dactylitis.]
48122
48123 In the syphilitic lesion, skiagrams usually show a more abundant
48124 formation of new bone, but in many cases the doubt is only cleared up by
48125 observing the results of the tuberculin test or the effects of
48126 anti-syphilitic treatment.
48127
48128 Sarcoma of a phalanx or metacarpal bone may closely resemble a
48129 dactylitis both clinically and in skiagrams, but it is rare.
48130
48131 _Treatment._--Recovery under conservative measures is not uncommon, and
48132 the functional results are usually better than those following upon
48133 operative treatment, although in either case the affected finger is
48134 liable to be dwarfed (Fig. 129). The finger should be immobilised in a
48135 splint, and a Bier's bandage applied to the upper arm. Operative
48136 interference is indicated if a cold abscess develops, if there is a
48137 persistent sinus, or if a sequestrum has formed, a point upon which
48138 information is obtained by examination with the X-rays. When a toe is
48139 affected, amputation is the best treatment, but in the case of a finger
48140 it is rarely called for. In the case of a metacarpal or metatarsal bone,
48141 sub-periosteal resection is the procedure of choice, saving the
48142 articular ends if possible.
48143
48144 [Illustration: FIG. 129.--Shortening of Middle Finger of Adult, the
48145 result of Tuberculous Dactylitis in childhood.]
48146
48147
48148 SYPHILITIC DISEASE
48149
48150 Syphilitic affections of bone may be met with at any period of the
48151 disease, but the graver forms occur in the tertiary stage of acquired
48152 and inherited syphilis. The virus is carried by the blood-stream to all
48153 parts of the skeleton, but the local development of the disease appears
48154 to be influenced by a predisposition on the part of individual bones.
48155
48156 Syphilitic diseases of bone are much less common in practice than those
48157 due to pyogenic and tuberculous infectious, and they show a marked
48158 predilection for the tibia, sternum, and skull. They differ from
48159 tuberculous affections in the frequency with which they attack the
48160 shafts of bones rather than the articular ends, and in the comparative
48161 rarity of joint complications.
48162
48163 _Evanescent periostitis_ is met with in acquired syphilis during the
48164 period of the early skin eruptions. The patient complains, especially at
48165 night, of pains over the frontal bone, ribs, sternum, tibiae, or ulnae.
48166 Localised tenderness is elicited on pressure, and there is slight
48167 swelling, which, however, rarely amounts to what may be described as a
48168 _periosteal node_.
48169
48170 In the later stages of acquired syphilis, _gummatous periostitis and
48171 osteomyelitis_ occur, and are characterised by the formation in the
48172 periosteum and marrow of circumscribed gummata or of a diffuse gummatous
48173 infiltration. The framework of the bone is rarefied in the area
48174 immediately involved, and sclerosed in the parts beyond. If the
48175 gummatous tissue degenerates and breaks down, and especially if the
48176 overlying skin is perforated and septic infection is superadded, the
48177 bone disintegrates and exhibits the condition known as _syphilitic
48178 caries_; sometimes a portion of bone has its blood supply so far
48179 interfered with that it dies--_syphilitic necrosis_. Syphilitic
48180 sequestra are heavier and denser than normal bone, because sclerosis
48181 usually precedes death of the bone. The bones especially affected by
48182 gummatous disease are: the skull, the septum of the nose, the nasal
48183 bones, palate, sternum, femur, tibia, and the bones of the forearm.
48184
48185 _In the bones of the skull_, gummata may form in the peri-cranium,
48186 diploe, or dura mater. An isolated gumma forms a firm elastic swelling,
48187 shading off into the surroundings. In the macerated bone there is a
48188 depression or an actual perforation of the calvaria; multiple gummata
48189 tend to fuse with one another at their margins, giving the appearance of
48190 a combination of circles: these sometimes surround an area of bone and
48191 cut it off from its blood supply (Fig. 130). If the overlying skin is
48192 destroyed and septic infection superadded, such an isolated area of bone
48193 is apt to die and furnish a sequestrum; the separation of the dead bone
48194 is extremely slow, partly from the want of vascularity in the sclerosed
48195 bone round about, and partly from the density of the sequestrum. In
48196 exceptional cases the necrosis involves the entire vertical plate of the
48197 frontal bone. Pus is formed between the bone and the dura (suppurative
48198 pachymeningitis), and this may be followed by cerebral abscess or by
48199 pyaemia. Gummatous disease in the wall of the orbit may cause
48200 displacement of the eye and paralysis of the ocular muscles.
48201
48202 [Illustration: FIG. 130.--Syphilitic Disease of Skull, showing a
48203 sequestrum in process of separation.]
48204
48205 On the inner surface of the skull, the formation of gummatous tissue may
48206 cause pressure on the brain and give rise to intense pain in the head,
48207 Jacksonian epilepsy, or paralysis, the symptoms varying with the seat
48208 and extent of the disease. The cranial nerves may be pressed upon at the
48209 base, especially at their points of exit, and this gives rise to
48210 symptoms of irritation or paralysis in the area of distribution of the
48211 nerves affected.
48212
48213 _In the septum of the nose, the nasal bones, and the hard palate_,
48214 gummatous disease causes ulceration, which, beginning in the mucous
48215 membrane, spreads to the bones, and being complicated with septic
48216 infection leads to caries and necrosis. In the nose, the disease is
48217 attended with stinking discharge (ozoena), the extrusion of portions of
48218 dead bone, and subsequently with deformity characterised by loss of the
48219 bridge of the nose; in the palate, it is common to have a perforation,
48220 so that the air escapes through the nose in speaking, giving to the
48221 voice a characteristic nasal tone.
48222
48223 _Syphilitic disease of the tibia_ may be taken as the type of the
48224 affection as it occurs _in the long bones_. Gummatous disease in the
48225 periosteum may be localised and result in the formation of a
48226 well-defined node, or the whole shaft may become the seat of an
48227 irregular nodular enlargement (Fig. 132). If the bone is macerated, it
48228 is found to be heavier and bulkier than normal; there is diffuse
48229 sclerosis with obliteration of the medullary canal, and the surface is
48230 uneven from heaping up of new bone--hyperostosis (Fig. 131). If a
48231 periosteal gumma breaks down and invades the skin, a syphilitic ulcer is
48232 formed with carious bone at the bottom. A central gumma may eat away the
48233 surrounding bone to such an extent that the shaft undergoes pathological
48234 fracture. In the rare cases in which it attacks the articular end of a
48235 long bone, gummatous disease may implicate the adjacent joint and give
48236 rise to syphilitic arthritis.
48237
48238 [Illustration: FIG. 131.--Syphilitic Hyperostosis and Sclerosis of
48239 Tibia, on section and on surface view.]
48240
48241 _Clinical Features._--There is severe boring pain--as if a gimlet were
48242 being driven into the bone. It is worst at night, preventing sleep, and
48243 has been ascribed to compression of the nerves in the narrowed Haversian
48244 canals.
48245
48246 The _periosteal gumma_ appears as a smooth, circumscribed swelling which
48247 is soft and elastic in the centre and firm at the margins, and shades
48248 off into the surrounding bone. The gumma may be completely absorbed or
48249 it may give place to a hard node. In some cases the gumma softens in the
48250 centre, the skin becomes adherent, thin, and red, and finally gives way.
48251 The opening in the skin persists as a sinus, or develops into a typical
48252 ulcer with irregular, crescentic margins; in either case a probe reveals
48253 the presence of carious bone or of a sequestrum. The health may be
48254 impaired as a result of mixed infection, and the absorption of toxins
48255 and waxy degeneration in the viscera may ultimately be induced.
48256
48257 A _central gumma_ in a long bone may not reveal its presence until it
48258 erupts through the shell and reaches the periosteal surface or invades
48259 an adjacent joint. Sometimes the first manifestation is a fracture of
48260 the bone produced by slight violence.
48261
48262 In radiograms the appearance of syphilitic bones is usually
48263 characteristic. When there is hyperostosis and sclerosis, the shaft
48264 appears denser and broader than normal, and the contour is uneven or
48265 wavy. When there is a central gumma, the shadow is interrupted by a
48266 rounded clear area, like that of a chondroma or myeloma, but there is
48267 sclerosis round about.
48268
48269 _Diagnosis._--The conditions most liable to be mistaken for syphilitic
48270 disease of bone are chronic staphylococcal osteomyelitis, tuberculosis,
48271 and sarcoma; and the diagnosis is to be made by the history and progress
48272 of the disease, the result of examination with the X-rays, and the
48273 results of specific tests and treatment.
48274
48275 _Treatment._--The general health is to be improved by open air, by
48276 nourishing food, and by the administration of cod-liver oil, iron, and
48277 arsenic. Anti-syphilitic remedies should be given, and if they are
48278 administered before there is any destruction of tissue, the benefit
48279 derived from them is usually marked.
48280
48281 Radiograms show the rapid absorption of the new bone both on the surface
48282 and in the marrow, and are of value in establishing the therapeutic
48283 diagnosis.
48284
48285 In certain cases, and particularly when there are destructive changes in
48286 the bone complicated with pyogenic infection, specific remedies have
48287 little effect. In cases of persistent or relapsing gummatous disease
48288 with ulceration of skin, it is often necessary to remove the diseased
48289 soft parts with the sharp spoon and scissors, and to gouge or chisel
48290 away the unhealthy bone, on the same lines as in tuberculous disease.
48291 When hyperostosis and sclerosis of the bone is attended with severe pain
48292 which does not yield to blistering, the periosteum may be incised and
48293 the sclerosed bone perforated with a drill or trephine.
48294
48295 #Lesions of Bone in Inherited Syphilis.#--_Craniotabes_, in which the
48296 flat bones of the skull undergo absorption in patches, was formerly
48297 regarded as syphilitic, but it is now known to result from prolonged
48298 malnutrition from any cause. _Bossing of the skull_ resulting in the
48299 formation of Parrot's nodes is also being withdrawn from the category of
48300 syphilitic affections. The lesions in infancy--epiphysitis, bossing of
48301 the skull, and craniotabes--have been referred to in the chapter on
48302 inherited syphilis.
48303
48304 _Epiphysitis or Syphilitic Perichondritis._--The first of these terms is
48305 misleading, because the lesion involves the ossifying junction and the
48306 shaft of the bone, and the epiphysis only indirectly. The young bone is
48307 replaced by granulation tissue, so that large clear areas are seen with
48308 the X-rays. The symptoms are referred to the joint, because it is there
48309 that the muscles are inserted and drag on the perichondrium when
48310 movement occurs; swelling is most marked in the vicinity of the joint,
48311 and it may be added to by effusion into the synovial cavity. The baby,
48312 usually under six months, is noticed to be feverish and fretful and to
48313 cry when touched. The mother discovers that the pain is caused by moving
48314 a particular limb, usually the arm, as the humerus, radius, and ulna are
48315 the bones most commonly affected; the limb, moreover, hangs useless at
48316 the side as if paralysed, and the condition was formerly described as
48317 _syphilitic pseudo-paralysis_.
48318
48319 The lesions met with later correspond to those of the tertiary period of
48320 the acquired disease, but as they affect bones which are still actively
48321 growing, the effects are more striking. Gummatous disease may come and
48322 go over periods of many years, with the result that the external
48323 appearance and architectural arrangement of a long bone come to be
48324 profoundly altered. In the tibia, for example, the shaft is bowed
48325 forward in a gentle curve, which is compared to the curve of a
48326 sabre--"sabre-blade" deformity (Fig. 132). The diffuse thickening all
48327 round the bone obscures the sharp margins so that the bone becomes
48328 circular in section and the anterior and mesial edges are blunted, and
48329 the comparison to a cucumber is deserved. In some cases the tibia is
48330 actually increased in length as well as in girth.
48331
48332 [Illustration: FIG. 132.--Sabre-blade Deformity of Left Tibia in
48333 Inherited Syphilis.
48334
48335 (From a photograph lent by Sir George T. Beatson.)]
48336
48337 The contrast between the grossly enlarged and misshapen tibia and the
48338 normal or even attenuated fibula is a striking one.
48339
48340 _Treatment_ is carried out on lines similar to those recommended in the
48341 acquired disease. When curving of the tibia causes disability in
48342 walking, the bone may be straightened by a cuneiform resection.
48343
48344 _Syphilitic dactylitis_ is met with chiefly in children. It may affect
48345 any of the fingers or toes, but is commonest in the first phalanx of the
48346 index-finger or of the thumb. Several fingers may be attacked at the
48347 same time or in succession. The lesion consists in a gummatous
48348 infiltration of the soft parts surrounding the phalanx, or a gummatous
48349 osteomyelitis, but there is practically no tendency to break down and
48350 discharge, or to the formation of a sequestrum as is so common in
48351 tuberculous dactylitis.
48352
48353 The finger becomes the seat of a swelling, which is more evident on the
48354 dorsal aspect, and, according to the distribution and extent of the
48355 disease, it is acorn-shaped, fusiform, or cylindrical. It is firm and
48356 elastic, and usually painless. The movements are impaired, especially if
48357 the joints are involved. In its early stages the disease is amenable to
48358 anti-syphilitic treatment, and complete recovery is the rule.
48359
48360
48361 HYDATID DISEASE
48362
48363 This rare disease results from the lodgment of the embryos of the taenia
48364 echinoccus, which are conveyed to the marrow by the blood-stream. The
48365 cysts are small, usually about the size of a pin-head, and they are
48366 present in enormous numbers scattered throughout the marrow. The parts
48367 of the skeleton most often affected are the articular ends of the long
48368 bones, the bodies of the vertebrae, and the pelvis.
48369
48370 As the cysts increase in number and in size, the framework of the bone
48371 is gradually absorbed, and there result excavations or cavities. The
48372 marrow and spongy bone first disappear, the compact tissue then becomes
48373 thin, and pathological fracture may result. The bone becomes expanded,
48374 and the cysts may escape through perforations into the surrounding
48375 cellular tissue, and when thus freed from confinement may attain
48376 considerable dimensions. Suppuration from superadded pyogenic infection
48377 may be attended with extensive necrosis, and lead to disorganisation of
48378 the adjacent joint.
48379
48380 _Clinical Features._--The patient complains of deep-seated pains. In
48381 superficial bones, such as the tibia, there is enlargement, and it may
48382 be possible to recognise egg-shell crackling, or unequal consistence of
48383 the bone, which is hard in some parts, and doughy and elastic in others.
48384 The disease may pursue an indolent course during months or years until
48385 some complication occurs, such as suppuration or fracture. With the
48386 occurrence of suppuration the disease becomes more active, and abscesses
48387 may form in the soft parts and in the adjacent joint. In the vertebral
48388 column, hydatids give rise to angular deformity and paraplegia. In the
48389 pelvis, there is usually great enlargement of the bones, and when
48390 suppuration occurs it is apt to infect the hip-joint and to terminate
48391 fatally.
48392
48393 Examination with the X-rays shows the characteristic excavations of the
48394 bone caused by the cysts. The disease is liable to be mistaken for
48395 central tumour, gumma, tuberculosis, or abscess of bone.
48396
48397 The _treatment_ consists in thorough eradication of the parasite by
48398 operation. The bone is laid open and scraped or resected according to
48399 the extent of the disease, and the raw surfaces swabbed with 1 per cent.
48400 formalin. In advanced cases complicated with spontaneous fracture or
48401 with suppuration, amputation affords the best chance of recovery.
48402
48403 The lesions in the bones resulting from _actinomycosis_ and from
48404 _mycetoma_, have been described with these diseases.
48405
48406
48407 CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES ATTENDED WITH LESIONS IN THE BONES
48408
48409 These include rickets, scurvy-rickets, osteomalacia, ostitis deformans,
48410 osteomyelitis fibrosa, fragilitas ossium, and diseases of the nervous
48411 system.
48412
48413
48414 RICKETS
48415
48416 Rickets or rachitis is a constitutional disease associated with
48417 disturbance of nutrition, and attended with changes in the skeleton.
48418 The disease is most common and most severe among the children of the
48419 poorer classes in large cities, who are improperly fed and are brought
48420 up in unhealthy surroundings. There is evidence that the most important
48421 factors in the causation of rickets are ill-health of the mother during
48422 pregnancy, and the administration to the child after its birth of food
48423 which is defective in animal fat, proteids, and salts of lime, or which
48424 contains these in such a form that they are not readily assimilated. The
48425 occurrence of the disease is favoured, and its features are aggravated,
48426 by imperfect oxygenation of the blood as the result of a deficiency of
48427 fresh air and sunlight, want of exercise, and by other conditions which
48428 prevail in the slums of large towns.
48429
48430 _Pathological Anatomy._--The most striking feature is the softness
48431 (malacia) of the bones, due to excessive absorption of osseous tissue,
48432 and the formation of an imperfectly calcified tissue at the sites of
48433 ossification. The affected bones lose their rigidity, so that they are
48434 bent under the weight of the body, by the traction of muscles, and by
48435 other mechanical forces.
48436
48437 The _periosteum_ is thick and vascular, and when detached carries with
48438 it plates and spicules of soft porous bone. The new bone may be so
48439 abundant that it forms a thick crust on the surface, and in the flat
48440 bones of the skull this may be heaped up in the form of bosses or ridges
48441 resembling those ascribed to inherited syphilis.
48442
48443 In the epiphysial cartilages and at the ossifying junctions, all the
48444 processes concerned in ossification, excepting the deposition of lime
48445 salts, occur to an exaggerated degree. The cartilage of the epiphysial
48446 disc proliferates actively and irregularly, so that it becomes softer,
48447 thicker, and wider, and gives rise to a visible swelling, best seen at
48448 the lower end of the radius and lower end of the tibia, and at the
48449 costo-chondral junctions where the series of beaded swellings is known
48450 as the "rickety rosary."
48451
48452 The ossifying zone is increased in depth; the marrow is abnormally
48453 vascular; and the new bone that is formed is imperfectly calcified. The
48454 result is that the bones may never attain their normal length, and they
48455 remain stunted throughout life as in rickety dwarfs (Fig. 133), or the
48456 shafts may grow unequally and come to deviate from their normal axes as
48457 in knock-knee and bow-knee.
48458
48459 [Illustration: FIG. 133.--Skeleton of Rickety Dwarf, known as
48460 "Bowed Joseph," leader of the Meal Riots in Edinburgh, who died in 1780.
48461
48462 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
48463
48464 These changes are well brought out in skiagrams; instead of the
48465 well-defined narrow line which represents the epiphysial cartilage,
48466 there is an ill-defined, blurred zone of considerable depth.
48467
48468 In the shafts of the long bones, owing to the excessive absorption of
48469 bone, the cortex becomes porous, the spongy bone is rarefied, and the
48470 bones readily bend or break under mechanical influences. When the
48471 disease is arrested, a process of repair sets in which often results in
48472 the bones becoming denser and heavier than normal. In the flat bones of
48473 the skull, the absorption may result in the entire disappearance of
48474 areas of bone, leaving a membrane which dimples like thin cardboard
48475 under the pressure of the finger--a condition known as _craniotabes_.
48476
48477 _Changes in the Skeleton before the Child is able to walk._--The
48478 fontanelles remain open until the end of the second year or longer, and
48479 the frontal and parietal eminences are unduly prominent. There is
48480 sometimes hydrocephalus, and the head is characteristically enlarged.
48481 The jaws are altered so that while the upper jaw is contracted into the
48482 shape of a #V#, the lower jaw is square instead of rounded in outline,
48483 and the teeth do not oppose one another. In the _thorax_, the chief
48484 feature may be the beading at the costo-chondral junctions, principally
48485 of the fifth and sixth ribs or its walls may be contracted,
48486 particularly if respiration is interfered with as a result of bronchial
48487 catarrh or adenoids. The contraction may take the form of a vertical
48488 groove on each side, or of a horizontal groove at the level of the upper
48489 end of the xiphi-sternum; when the sternum and cartilages form a
48490 projection in front, the deformity is known as "pigeon-breast."
48491
48492 The _spine_ may be curved backwards--_kyphosis_--throughout its
48493 whole extent or only in one part; or it may be curved to one
48494 side--_scoliosis_.
48495
48496 In the _limbs_, the prominent features are the deficient growth in
48497 length of the long bones, the enlargements at the epiphysial junctions,
48498 and the bending, and occasional greenstick fracture, of the shafts. The
48499 degree of enlargement of the epiphysial junctions is directly
48500 proportionate to the amount of movement to which the bone is subjected
48501 (John Thomson). The curves at this stage depend on the attitude of the
48502 child while sitting or being carried--for example, the arm bones become
48503 bent in children who paddle about the floor with the aid of their arms;
48504 and in a child who lies on its back with the lower limbs everted, the
48505 weight of the limb may lead to curvature of the neck of the femur--coxa
48506 vara. The clavicle or humerus may sustain greenstick fracture from the
48507 child being lifted by the arms; the femur, by a fall. From the extreme
48508 laxity of the ligaments, the joints can be moved beyond the normal
48509 limits, and the child is often observed to twist its limbs into abnormal
48510 attitudes.
48511
48512 _In Children who have walked._--In these children the most important
48513 deformities occur in the spine, pelvis, and lower extremities, and
48514 result for the most part from yielding of the softened bones under the
48515 weight of the body. Scoliosis is the usual type of spinal curvature, and
48516 in extreme cases it may lead to a pronounced form of hump-back. The
48517 pelvis may remain small (_justo-minor pelvis_), or it may be contracted
48518 in the sagittal plane (_flat pelvis_); when the bones are unusually
48519 soft, the acetabular portions are pushed inwards by the femora bearing
48520 the weight of the body, and the pelvis assumes the shape of a trefoil,
48521 as in the malacia of women. The shaft of the femur is curved forwards
48522 and laterally; the bones of the leg laterally as in bow-leg, or
48523 forwards, or forwards and laterally just above the ankle. The
48524 deformities at the knee (genu valgum, genu varum, and genu recurvatum),
48525 and at the hip (coxa vara), will be described in the volume dealing with
48526 the Extremities.
48527
48528 The majority of cases seen in surgical practice suffer from the
48529 deformities resulting from rickets rather than from the active disease.
48530 The examination of a large series of children at different ages shows
48531 that the deformities become less and less frequent with each year. Those
48532 who recover may ultimately show no trace of rickets, and this is
48533 especially true of children who grow at the average rate; in those,
48534 however, in whom growth is retarded, especially from the fifth to the
48535 seventh year, the deformities are apt to be permanent. It may be noted
48536 that the scoliosis due to rickets has little tendency towards recovery.
48537
48538 _Treatment._--The treatment of the disease consists in regulating the
48539 diet, improving the surroundings, and preventing deformity. Phosphorus
48540 in doses of 100th grain may be given dissolved in cod-liver oil, and
48541 preparations of iron and lime may be added with advantage. To avoid
48542 those postures which predispose to deformities, the child should lie as
48543 much as possible. In the well-to-do classes this is readily accomplished
48544 by the aid of a nurse and the use of a perambulator. In hospital
48545 out-patients the child is kept off its feet by the use of a light wooden
48546 splint applied to the lateral aspect of each lower extremity, and
48547 extending from the pelvis to 6 inches beyond the sole.
48548
48549 When deformities are already present, the treatment depends upon whether
48550 or not there is any prospect of the bone straightening naturally. Under
48551 five years of age this may, as a rule, be confidently expected; the
48552 child should be kept off its feet, and the limbs bathed and massaged. In
48553 children of five or six and upwards, the prospect of natural
48554 straightening is a diminishing one, and it is more satisfactory to
48555 correct the deformity by operation. In rickety curvature of the spine,
48556 the child should lie on a firm mattress, or, to allow of its being taken
48557 into the open air, upon a double Thomas' splint extending from the
48558 occiput to the heels; the muscles acting on the trunk should be braced
48559 up by massage and appropriate exercises.
48560
48561 #Late Rickets# or #Rachitis Adolescentium# is met with at any age from
48562 nine to seventeen, and is generally believed to be due to a
48563 recrudescence of rickets which had been present in childhood. The
48564 disease is not attended with any disturbance of the general health; the
48565 pathological changes are the same as in infantile rickets, but are for
48566 the most part confined to the ossifying junctions, especially those
48567 which are most active during adolescence, for example at the knee-joint.
48568 The patient is easily tired, complains of pain in the bones, and, unless
48569 care is taken, deformity is liable to ensue. There can be no doubt that
48570 adolescent rickets plays an important part in the production of the
48571 deformities which occur at or near puberty, especially knock-knee and
48572 bow-knee.
48573
48574 #Scurvy-Rickets# or #Infantile Scurvy#.--This disease, described by
48575 Barlow and Cheadle, is met with in infants under two years who have been
48576 brought up upon sterilised or condensed milk and other proprietary
48577 foods, and is most common in the well-to-do classes. The haemorrhages,
48578 which are so characteristic of the disease, are usually preceded for
48579 some weeks by a cachectic condition, with listlessness and debility and
48580 disinclination for movement. Very commonly the child ceases to move one
48581 of his lower limbs--pseudo-paralysis--and screams if it is touched; a
48582 swelling is found over one of the bones, usually the femur, accompanied
48583 by exquisite tenderness; the skin is tense and shiny, and there may be
48584 some oedema. These symptoms are due to a sub-periosteal haemorrhage, and
48585 associated with this there may be crepitus from separation of an
48586 epiphysis, rarely from fracture of the shaft of the bone. X-ray
48587 photographs show enlargement of the bone, the periosteum being raised
48588 from the shaft and new bone formed in relation to it. Haemorrhages also
48589 occur into the skin, presenting the appearance of bruises, into the
48590 orbit and conjunctiva, and from the mucous membranes.
48591
48592 The _treatment_ consists in correcting the errors in diet. The infant
48593 should have a wet nurse or a plentiful supply of cow's milk in its
48594 natural state. Anti-scorbutics in the form of orange, lemon, or grape
48595 juice, and of potatoes bruised down in milk, may be given.
48596
48597 #Osteomalacia.#--The term osteomalacia includes a group of conditions,
48598 closely allied to rickets, in which the bones of adults become soft and
48599 yielding, so that they are unduly liable to bend or break.
48600
48601 One form occurs in _pregnant and puerperal women_, affecting most
48602 commonly the pelvis and lumbar vertebrae, but sometimes the entire
48603 skeleton. The lime salts are absorbed, the bones lose their rigidity and
48604 bend under the weight of the body and other mechanical influences, with
48605 the result that gross deformities are produced, particularly in the
48606 pelvis, the lumbar spine, and the hip-joints.
48607
48608 _Neuropathic_ forms occur in certain chronic diseases of the brain and
48609 cord; in some cases the bones lose their lime salts and bend, in others
48610 they become brittle.
48611
48612 _Osteomalacia associated with New Growths in the Skeleton._--When
48613 _secondary cancer_ is widely distributed throughout the skeleton, it is
48614 associated with softening of the bones, as a result of which they
48615 readily bend or break, and after death are easily cut with a knife. In
48616 the disease known as _multiple myeloma_, the interior of the ribs,
48617 sternum, and bodies of the vertebrae is occupied by a reddish gelatinous
48618 pulp, the structure of which resembles sarcoma; the bones are reduced to
48619 a mere shell, and may break on the slightest pressure; the urine
48620 contains albumose, a substance resembling albumen but coagulating at a
48621 comparatively low temperature (140 o F.), and the coagulum is
48622 re-dissolved on boiling, and it is readily precipitated by hydrochloric
48623 acid (Bence-Jones).
48624
48625 #Ostitis Deformans--Paget's Disease of Bone.#--This rare disease was
48626 first described by Sir James Paget in 1877. In the early stages, the
48627 marrow is transformed into a vascular connective tissue; its bone-eating
48628 functions are exaggerated, and the framework of the bone becomes
48629 rarefied, so that it bends under pressure as in osteomalacia. In course
48630 of time, however, new bone is formed in great abundance; it is at first
48631 devoid of lime salts, but later becomes calcified, so that the bones
48632 regain their rigidity. This formation of new bone is much in excess of
48633 the normal, the bones become large and bulky, their surfaces rough and
48634 uneven, their texture sclerosed in parts, and the medullary canal is
48635 frequently obliterated. These changes are well brought out in X-ray
48636 photographs. The curving of the long bones, which is such a striking
48637 feature of the disease, may be associated with actual lengthening, and
48638 the changes are sometimes remarkably symmetrical (Fig. 135). The bones
48639 forming the cranium may be enormously thickened, the sutures are
48640 obliterated, the distinction into tables and diploe is lost, and, while
48641 the general texture is finely porous, there may be areas as dense as
48642 ivory (Fig. 134).
48643
48644 [Illustration: FIG. 134.--Changes in the Skull resulting from Ostitis
48645 Deformans.
48646
48647 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
48648
48649 _Clinical Features._--The disease is usually met with in persons over
48650 fifty years of age. It is insidious in its onset, and, the patient's
48651 attention may be first attracted by the occurrence of vague pains in the
48652 back or limbs; by the enlargement and bending of such bones as the tibia
48653 or femur; or by a gradual increase in the size of the head,
48654 necessitating the wearing of larger hats. When the condition is fully
48655 developed, the attitude and general appearance are eminently
48656 characteristic. The height is diminished, and, owing to the curving of
48657 the lower limbs and spine, the arms appear unnaturally long; the head
48658 and upper part of the spine are bent forwards; the legs are held apart,
48659 slightly flexed at the knees, and are rotated out as well as curved; the
48660 whole appearance suggests that of one of the large anthropoid apes. The
48661 muscles of the limbs may waste to such an extent as to leave the large,
48662 curved, misshapen bones covered only by the skin (Fig. 135). In the
48663 majority of cases the bones of the lower extremities are much earlier
48664 and more severely affected than those of the upper extremity, but the
48665 capacity of walking is usually maintained even in the presence of great
48666 deformity. In a case observed by Byrom Bramwell, the patient suffered
48667 from a succession of fractures over a period of years.
48668
48669 [Illustration: FIG. 135.--Cadaver, illustrating the alterations in the
48670 Lower Limbs resulting from Ostitis Deformans.]
48671
48672 The disease may last for an indefinite period, the general health
48673 remaining long unaffected. In a considerable number of the recorded
48674 cases one of the bones became the seat of sarcoma.
48675
48676 #Osteomyelitis Fibrosa.#--This comparatively rare disease, which was
48677 first described by Recklinghausen, presents many interesting features.
48678 Because of its causing deformities of the bones and an undue liability
48679 to fracture, and being chiefly met with in adolescents, it is regarded
48680 by some authors as a juvenile form of Paget's disease. It may be
48681 diffused throughout the skeleton--we have seen it in the skull and in
48682 the bones of the extremities--or it may be confined to a single bone,
48683 usually the femur, or, what is more remarkable, the condition may affect
48684 a portion only of the shaft of a long bone and be sharply defined from
48685 the normal bone in contact with it.
48686
48687 [Illustration: FIG. 136.--Osteomyelitis Fibrosa affecting Femora in a
48688 man aet. 19. The curving of the bones is due to multiple fractures.]
48689
48690 On longitudinal section of a long bone during the active stage of the
48691 disease, the marrow is seen to be replaced by a vascular young
48692 connective tissue which encroaches on the surrounding spongy bone,
48693 reducing it to the slenderest proportions; the formation of bone from
48694 the periosteum does not keep pace with the absorption and replacement
48695 going on in the interior, and the cortex may be reduced to a thin shell
48696 of imperfectly calcified bone which can be cut with a knife. The young
48697 connective tissue which replaces the marrow is not unlike that seen in
48698 osteomalacia; it is highly vascular and may show haemorrhages of various
48699 date; there are abundant giant cells of the myeloma type, and
48700 degeneration and liquefaction of tissue may result in the formation of
48701 cysts, which, when they constitute a prominent feature, are responsible
48702 for the name--_osteomyelitis fibrosa cystica_--sometimes applied to the
48703 condition.
48704
48705 It would appear that most of the recorded cases of _cysts of bone_ owe
48706 their origin to this disease, while the abundance of giant cells with
48707 occasional islands of cartilage in the wall of such cysts is responsible
48708 for the view formerly held that they owed their origin to the
48709 liquefaction of a solid tumour, such as a myeloma, a chondroma, or even
48710 a sarcoma. Although the tissue elements in this disease resemble those
48711 of a new growth arising in the marrow, they differ in their arrangement
48712 and in their method of growth; there is no tendency to erupt through the
48713 cortex of the bone, to invade the soft parts, or to give rise to
48714 secondary growths.
48715
48716 _Clinical Features._--The onset of the disease is insidious, and
48717 attention is usually first directed to it by the occurrence of fracture
48718 of the shaft of one of the long bones--usually the femur--from violence
48719 that would be insufficient to break a healthy bone. Apart from fracture,
48720 the great increase in the size of one of the long bones and its uneven
48721 contour are sufficiently remarkable to suggest examination with the
48722 X-rays, by means of which the condition is at once recognised. A
48723 systematic examination of the other long bones will often reveal the
48724 presence of the disease at a stage before the bone is altered
48725 externally.
48726
48727 Symmetrical bossing of the skull was present in the case shown in
48728 Figs. 136 and 137, and there were also scattered patches of brown
48729 pigmentation of the skin of the face, neck, and trunk, similar to those
48730 met with in generalised neuro-fibromatosis. Apart from fracture, the
48731 disease is recognised by the thickening and usually also by the curving
48732 of the shafts of the long bones. It is easy to understand the curvature
48733 of bones that have passed through a soft stage and also of those that
48734 have been broken and badly united, but it is difficult to account for
48735 the curvatures that have no such cause; for example, we have seen
48736 marked curve of the radius in a forearm of which the ulna was quite
48737 straight. The curvature probably resulted from exaggerated growth in
48738 length.
48739
48740 [Illustration: FIG. 137.--Radiogram of Upper End of Femur showing
48741 appearances in Osteomyelitis Fibrosa.]
48742
48743 The X-ray appearances vary with the stage of the malady, not estimated
48744 in time, for the condition is chronic and may become stationary, but
48745 according to whether it is progressive or undergoing repair. The shadow
48746 of the bone presents a poor contrast to the soft parts, and no trace of
48747 its original architecture; in extreme cases the shadow of the femur
48748 resembles an unevenly filled sausage (Fig. 137); there is no cortical
48749 layer, the interior shows no trabecular structure, and some of the many
48750 clear areas are probably cysts. The condition extends right up to the
48751 articular cartilage, or, in the case of adolescent bones, up to the
48752 epiphysial cartilage.
48753
48754 _Prognosis._--The condition does not appear to affect the general
48755 health. The future is concerned with the local conditions, and,
48756 especially in the case of the femur, with its liability to fracture; so
48757 far as we know there is no time limit to this.
48758
48759 _Treatment_ is confined to protecting the affected bone--usually the
48760 femur--from injury. Operative treatment may be required for lameness due
48761 to a badly united fracture.
48762
48763 #Neuropathic Atrophy of Bone.#--The conditions included under this
48764 heading occur in association with diseases of the nervous system.
48765
48766 Most importance attaches to the fragility of the bones met with in
48767 general paralysis of the insane, locomotor ataxia, and other chronic
48768 diseases of the brain and spinal cord. The bones are liable to be
48769 fractured by forces which would be insufficient to break a healthy bone.
48770 In _locomotor ataxia_ the fractures affect especially the bones of the
48771 lower extremity, and may occur before there are any definite nerve
48772 symptoms, but they are more often met with in the ataxic stage, when the
48773 abrupt and uncontrolled movements of the limbs may play a part in their
48774 causation. They may be unattended with pain, and may fail to unite; when
48775 repair does take place, it is sometimes attended with an excessive
48776 formation of callus. Joint lesions of the nature of Charcot's disease
48777 may occur simultaneously with the alterations in the bones. In
48778 _syringomyelia_ pathological fracture is not so frequent as in locomotor
48779 ataxia; it is more likely to occur in the bones of the upper extremity,
48780 and especially in the humerus. In some cases of _epilepsy_ the bones
48781 break when the patient falls in a fit, and there is usually an
48782 exaggerated amount of comminution.
48783
48784 In these affections the bones present no histological or chemical
48785 alterations, and the X-ray shadow does not differ from the normal. It is
48786 maintained, therefore, that the disposition to fracture does not depend
48787 upon a fragility of the bone, but on the loss of the muscular sense and
48788 of common sensation in the bones, as a result of which there is an
48789 inability properly to throw the muscles into action and dispose the
48790 limbs so as to place them under the most favourable conditions to meet
48791 external violence.
48792
48793 #Osteogenesis Imperfecta#, #Fragilitas Ossium#, or #Congenital
48794 Osteopsathyrosis#.--These terms are used to describe a condition in
48795 which an undue fragility of the bones dates from intra-uterine life. It
48796 may occur in several members of the same family. In severe cases,
48797 intra-uterine fractures occur, and during parturition fresh fractures
48798 are almost sure to be produced, so that at birth there is a combination
48799 of recent fractures and old fractures united and partly united, with
48800 bendings and thickenings of the bones. Large areas of the cranial vault
48801 may remain membranous.
48802
48803 After birth the predisposition to fracture continues, the bones are
48804 easily broken, the fractures are attended with little or no pain, the
48805 crepitus is soft, and although union may take place, it may be delayed
48806 and be attended with excess of callus. Cases have been observed in which
48807 a child has sustained over a hundred fractures.
48808
48809 The bones show a feeble shadow with the X-rays, and appear thin and
48810 atrophied; the medullary canal is increased at the expense of the
48811 cortex.
48812
48813 In young infants in whom multiple fractures occur the prognosis as to
48814 life is unfavourable, and no satisfactory treatment of the disease has
48815 been formulated. If the patient survives, the tendency to fracture
48816 gradually disappears.
48817
48818 #Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteo-Arthropathy.#--This condition, which was
48819 described by Marie in 1890, is secondary to disease in the chest, such
48820 as chronic phthisis, empyema, bronchiectasis, or sarcoma of the lung.
48821
48822 There is symmetrical enlargement and deformity of the hands and feet;
48823 the shafts of the bones are thickened, and the soft tissues of the
48824 terminal segments of the digits hypertrophied. The fingers come to
48825 resemble drum-sticks, and the thumb the clapper of a bell. The nails are
48826 convex, and incurved at their free ends, suggesting a resemblance to the
48827 beak of a parrot. There is also enlargement of the lower ends of the
48828 bones of the forearm and leg, and effusion into the wrist and
48829 ankle-joints. Skiagrams of the hands and feet show a deposit of new bone
48830 along the shafts of the phalanges.
48831
48832
48833 TUMOURS OF BONE
48834
48835 New growths which originate in the skeleton are spoken of as _primary
48836 tumours_; those which invade the bones, either by metastasis from other
48837 parts of the body or by spread from adjacent tissues, as _secondary_. A
48838 tumour of bone may grow from the cellular elements of the periosteum,
48839 the marrow, or the epiphysial cartilage.
48840
48841 Primary tumours are of the connective-tissue type, and are usually
48842 solitary, although certain forms, such as the chondroma, may be multiple
48843 from the outset.
48844
48845 _Periosteal tumours_ are at first situated on one side of the bone, but
48846 as they grow they tend to surround it completely. Innocent periosteal
48847 tumours retain the outer fibrous layer as a capsule. Malignant tumours
48848 tend to perforate the periosteal capsule and invade the soft parts.
48849
48850 _Central_ or _medullary tumours_ as they increase in size replace the
48851 surrounding bone, and simultaneously new bone is formed on the surface;
48852 as this is in its turn absorbed, further bone is formed beneath the
48853 periosteum, so that in time the bone is increased in girth, and is said
48854 to be "expanded" by the growth in its interior.
48855
48856 #Primary Tumours--Osteoma.#--When the tumour projects from the surface
48857 of a bone it is called an _exostosis_. When growing from bones developed
48858 in membrane, such as the flat bones of the skull, it is usually dense
48859 like ivory, and the term _ivory exostosis_ is employed. When derived
48860 from hyaline cartilage--for example, at the ends of the long bones--it
48861 is known as a _cartilaginous exostosis_. This is invested with a cap of
48862 cartilage from which it continues to grow until the skeleton attains
48863 maturity.
48864
48865 An exostosis forms a rounded or mushroom-shaped tumour of limited size,
48866 which may be either sessile or pedunculated, and its surface is smooth
48867 or nodulated (Figs. 138 and 139). A cartilaginous exostosis in the
48868 vicinity of a joint may be invested with a synovial sac or bursa--the
48869 so-called _exostosis bursata_. The bursa may be derived from the
48870 synovial membrane of the adjacent joint with which its cavity sometimes
48871 communicates, or it may be of adventitious origin; when it is the seat
48872 of bursitis and becomes distended with fluid, it may mask the underlying
48873 exostosis, which then requires a radiogram for its demonstration.
48874
48875 [Illustration: FIG. 138.--Radiogram of Right Knee showing Multiple
48876 Exostoses.]
48877
48878 _Clinically_, the osteoma forms a hard, indolent tumour attached to a
48879 bone. The symptoms to which it gives rise depend on its situation. In
48880 the vicinity of a joint, it may interfere with movement; on the medial
48881 side of the knee it may incapacitate the patient from riding. When
48882 growing from the dorsum of the terminal phalanx of the great
48883 toe--_subungual exostosis_--it displaces the nail, and may project
48884 through its matrix at the point of the toe, while the soft parts over it
48885 may be ulcerated from pressure (Fig. 107). It incapacitates the patient
48886 from wearing a boot. When it presses on a nerve-trunk it causes pains
48887 and cramps. In the orbit it displaces the eyeball; in the nasal fossae
48888 and in the external auditory meatus it causes obstruction, which may be
48889 attended with ulceration and discharge. In the skull it may project
48890 from the outer table, forming a smooth rounded swelling, or it may
48891 project from the inner table and press upon the brain.
48892
48893 The diagnosis is to be made by the slow growth of the tumour, its
48894 hardness, and by the shadow which it presents with the X-rays (Fig. 138).
48895
48896 An osteoma which does not cause symptoms may be left alone, as it ceases
48897 to grow when the skeleton is mature and has no tendency to change its
48898 benign character. If causing symptoms, it is removed by dividing the
48899 neck or base of the tumour with a chisel, care being taken to remove the
48900 whole of the overlying cartilage. The dense varieties met with in the
48901 bones of the skull present greater difficulties; if it is necessary to
48902 remove them, the base or neck of the tumour is perforated in many
48903 directions with highly tempered drills rotated by some form of engine,
48904 and the division is completed with the chisel.
48905
48906 [Illustration: FIG. 139.--Multiple Exotoses of both limbs.
48907
48908 (Photograph lent by Sir George T. Beatson.)]
48909
48910 #Multiple Exostoses.#--This disease, which, by custom, is still placed
48911 in the category of tumours, is to be regarded as a disorder of growth,
48912 dating from intra-uterine life and probably due to a disturbance in the
48913 function of the glands of internal secretion, the thyreoid being the one
48914 which is most likely to be at fault (Arthur Keith). The disorder of
48915 growth is confined to those elements of the skeleton where a core of
48916 bone formed in cartilage comes to be encased in a sheath of bone formed
48917 beneath the periosteum. To indicate this abnormality the name
48918 _diaphysial aclasis_ has been employed by Arthur Keith at the suggestion
48919 of Morley Roberts.
48920
48921 Bones formed entirely in cartilage are exempt, namely, the tarsal and
48922 carpal bones, the epiphyses of the long bones, the sternum, and the
48923 bodies of the vertebrae. Bones formed entirely in membrane, that is,
48924 those of the face and of the cranial vault, are also exempt. The
48925 disorder mainly affects the ossifying junctions of the long bones of the
48926 extremities, the vertebral border of the scapula, and the cristal border
48927 of the ilium.
48928
48929 _Clinically_ the disease is attended with the gradual and painless
48930 development during childhood or adolescence of a number of tumours or
48931 irregular projections of bone, at the ends of the long bones, the
48932 vertebral border of the scapula, and the cristal border of the ilium.
48933 They exhibit a rough symmetry; they rarely attain any size; and they
48934 usually cease growing when the skeleton attains maturity--the conversion
48935 of cartilage into bone being then completed. While they originate from
48936 the ossifying junctions of the long bones, they tend, as the shaft
48937 increases in length, to project from the surface of the bone at some
48938 distance from the ossifying junction and to "point" away from it. They
48939 may cause symptoms by "locking" the adjacent joint or by pressing upon
48940 nerve-trunks or blood vessels.
48941
48942 In a considerable proportion of cases, the disturbance of growth is
48943 further manifested by dwarfing of the long bones; these are not only
48944 deficient in length but are sometimes also curved and misshapen, which
48945 accounts for the condition being occasionally confused with the
48946 disturbances of growth resulting from rickets. In about one-third of the
48947 recorded cases there is a dislocation of the head of the radius on one
48948 or on both sides, a result of unequal growth between the bones of the
48949 forearm.
48950
48951 [Illustration: FIG. 140.--Multiple Cartilaginous Exostoses in a
48952 man aet. 27. The scapular tumour projecting above the right clavicle has
48953 taken on active growth and pressed injuriously on the cords of the
48954 brachial plexus.]
48955
48956 In early adult life, one of the tumours, instead of undergoing
48957 ossification, may take on active growth and exhibit the features of a
48958 chondro-sarcoma, pressing injuriously upon adjacent structures (Fig. 140)
48959 and giving rise later to metastases in the lungs.
48960
48961 The _X-ray appearances_ of the bones affected are of a striking
48962 character; apart from the outgrowths of bone or "tumours" there is
48963 evident a widespread alteration in the internal architecture of the
48964 bones, which suggests analogies with other disturbances of ossification
48965 such as achondroplasia and osteomyelitis fibrosa. The condition is one
48966 that runs in families, sometimes through several generations; we have
48967 more than once seen a father and son together in the hospital
48968 waiting-room.
48969
48970 As regards _treatment_, there is no indication for surgical interference
48971 except when one or other tumour is a source of disability as by pressing
48972 upon a nerve-trunk or by locking a joint, in which case it is easily
48973 removed by chiselling through its neck.
48974
48975 [Illustration: FIG. 141.--Multiple Cartilaginous Exostoses in a
48976 man aet. 27, the same as in Fig. 140.]
48977
48978 _Diffuse Osteoma, Leontiasis Ossea._--This rare affection was described
48979 by Virchow, and named leontiasis ossea because of the disfigurement to
48980 which it gives rise. It usually commences in adolescence as a diffuse
48981 overgrowth first of one and then of both maxillae; these bones are
48982 enlarged in all directions and project on the face, and the nasal fossae
48983 and the maxillary and frontal sinuses become filled up with bone, which
48984 encroaches also on the orbital cavities. In addition to the hideous
48985 deformity, the patient suffers from blocking of the nose, loss of smell,
48986 and protrusion of the eyes, sometimes followed by loss of sight. The
48987 condition is liable to spread to the zygomatic and frontal bones, the
48988 vault of the skull, and to the mandible. The base of the skull is not
48989 affected. The disease is of slow progress and may become arrested; life
48990 may be prolonged for many years, or may be terminated by brain
48991 complications or by intercurrent affections. In certain cases it is
48992 possible to remove some of the more disfiguring of the bony masses.
48993
48994 A less aggressive form, confined to the maxilla on one side, is
48995 sometimes met with, and, in a case of this variety under our own
48996 observation, the disfigurement, which was the only subject of complaint,
48997 was removed, after reflecting the soft parts, by paring away the excess
48998 of bone; this is easily done as the bone is spongy, and at an early
48999 stage, imperfectly calcified.
49000
49001 A remarkable form of _unilateral hypertrophy and diffuse osteoma of the
49002 skull_, following the distribution of the fifth nerve, has seen
49003 described by Jonathan Hutchinson and Alexis Thomson.
49004
49005 #Chondroma.#--Cartilaginous tumours, apart from those giving rise to
49006 multiple exostoses, grow from the long bones and from the scapula,
49007 ilium, ribs, or jaws. They usually project from the surface of the bone,
49008 and may attain an enormous size; sometimes they grow in the interior of
49009 a bone, the so-called _enchondroma_.
49010
49011 The hyaline cartilage composing the tumour frequently undergoes
49012 myxomatous degeneration, resulting in the formation of a glairy,
49013 semi-fluid jelly, and if this change takes place throughout the tumour
49014 it comes to resemble a cyst. On the other hand, the cartilage may
49015 undergo calcification or ossification. The most important transition of
49016 all is that into sarcoma, the so-called _malignant chondroma_ or
49017 _chondro-sarcoma_, which is associated with rapid increase in size,
49018 and parts of the tumour may be carried off in the blood-stream and give
49019 rise to secondary growths, especially in the lungs.
49020
49021 Cases have been met with in which certain parts of the skeleton--only
49022 those developed in cartilage--were so uniformly permeated with cartilage
49023 that the condition has been described as a "chondromatosis" and is
49024 regarded as dating from an early period of foetal life. Unlike the
49025 condition known as multiple cartilaginous exostoses, it is a malignant
49026 disease.
49027
49028 [Illustration: FIG. 142.--Multiple Chondromas of Phalanges and
49029 Metacarpals in a boy aet. 10 (cf. Fig. 143).]
49030
49031 The chondroma is met with as a slowly growing tumour which is specially
49032 common in the bones of the hand, often in a multiple form (Figs. 142 and
49033 144). The surface is smooth or lobulated, and in consistence the tumour
49034 may be dense and elastic like normal cartilage, or may present areas of
49035 softening, or of bony hardness. The skin moves freely over it, except in
49036 relation to the bones of the fingers, where it may become adherent and
49037 ulcerate, simulating the appearance of a malignant tumour. Large tumours
49038 growing from the bones of the extremities may implicate the main
49039 vessels and nerves, either surrounding them or pressing on them.
49040
49041 Portions of a chondroma, which have undergone calcification or
49042 ossification, throw a dark shadow with the X-rays; unaltered cartilage
49043 and myxomatous tissue appear as clear areas.
49044
49045 [Illustration: FIG. 143.--Skiagram of Multiple Chondromas shown
49046 in Fig. 142.]
49047
49048 _Treatment._--It is necessary to remove the whole tumour, and in
49049 chondromas growing from the surface of the bone, especially if they are
49050 pedunculated, this is comparatively easy. When a bone, such as the
49051 scapula or mandible, is involved, it is better to excise the bone, or at
49052 least the part of it which bears the tumour. In the case of central
49053 tumours the shell of bone is removed over an area sufficient to allow of
49054 the enucleation of the tumour, or the affected portion of bone is
49055 resected. Should there be evidence of malignancy, such as increased rate
49056 of growth, a tube of radium should be inserted, and in advanced cases
49057 with destruction of tissue, amputation may be called for.
49058
49059 [Illustration: FIG. 144.--Multiple Chondromas in Hand of boy aet. 8]
49060
49061 In multiple chondromas of the hand in young subjects, it was formerly
49062 the custom to amputate the limb; an attempt should be made to avoid this
49063 by shelling out the larger tumours individually, and persevering with
49064 the application of the X-rays or of radium to inhibit the growth of the
49065 smaller ones.
49066
49067 Chondromas springing from the pelvic bones usually arise in the region
49068 of the sacro-iliac joint; they project into the pelvis and press on the
49069 bladder and rectum, and on the sciatic and obturator nerves; sometimes
49070 also on the iliac veins, causing oedema of the legs. They are liable to
49071 take on malignant characters, and rarely lend themselves to complete
49072 removal by operation.
49073
49074 #Fibroma# is met with chiefly as a periosteal growth in relation to the
49075 mouth and pharynx, the _simple epulis_ of the alveolar margin and the
49076 _naso-pharyngeal polypus_ being the most common examples. We have met
49077 with a fibroma in the interior of the lower end of the femur of an
49078 adult, causing expansion of the bone with decided increase in girth and
49079 liability to pathological fracture; it is possible that this represents
49080 the cured stage of osteomyelitis fibrosa.
49081
49082 _Myxoma_, _lipoma_, and _angioma_ of bone are all rare.
49083
49084 #Myeloma.#--The myeloid tumour, which is sometimes classified with the
49085 sarcomas, contains as its chief elements large giant cells, like those
49086 normally present in the marrow. On section these tumours present a
49087 brownish-red or chocolate colour, and, being highly vascular, are liable
49088 to haemorrhages, and therefore also to pigmentation, and to the formation
49089 of blood cysts. Sometimes the arterial vessels are so dilated as to
49090 impart to the tumour an aneurysmal pulsation and bruit. The enlargement
49091 or "expansion" of the bone results in the cortex being represented by a
49092 thin shell of bone, which may crackle on pressure--parchment or
49093 egg-shell crackling.
49094
49095 The myeloma is most often met with between the ages of twenty-five and
49096 forty in the upper end of the tibia or lower end of the femur. It grows
49097 slowly and causes little pain, and may long escape recognition unless an
49098 examination is made with the X-rays. Although these tumours have been
49099 known to give rise to metastases, they are, as a rule, innocent and are
49100 to be treated as such. When located in the shaft of a long bone,
49101 pathological fracture is liable to occur.
49102
49103 _Diagnosis and X-ray Appearances of Myeloma._--The early diagnosis of
49104 myeloma is made with the aid of the X-rays: the typical appearance is
49105 that of a rounded or oval clear area bounded by a shell of bone of
49106 diminishing thickness (Fig. 145). The inflammatory lesions at the ends
49107 of the long bones--tubercle, syphilitic gumma, and Brodie's abscess,
49108 that resemble myeloma, are all attended with the formation of new bone
49109 in greater or lesser amount. The myeloma is also to be diagnosed from
49110 chondroma, from sarcoma, and from osteomyelitis fibrosa cystica.
49111
49112 [Illustration: FIG. 145.--Radiogram of Myeloma of Humerus.
49113
49114 (Mr. J. W. Struthers' case.)]
49115
49116 _Treatment._--In early cases the cortex is opened up to give free access
49117 to the tumour tissue, which is scraped out with the spoon. Bloodgood
49118 advises the use of Esmarch's tourniquet, and that the curetting be
49119 followed by painting with pure carbolic acid and then rinsing with
49120 alcohol; a rod of bone is inserted to fill the gap. In advanced cases
49121 the segment of bone is resected and a portion of the tibia or fibula
49122 from the other limb inserted into the gap; a tube of radium should also
49123 be introduced.
49124
49125 The coexistence of diffuse myelomatosis of the skeleton and albumosuria
49126 (Bence-Jones) is referred to on p. 474. Myeloma occurs in the jaws,
49127 taking origin in the marrow or from the periosteum of the alveolar
49128 process, and is described elsewhere.
49129
49130 #Sarcoma# and #endothelioma# are the commonest tumours of bone, and
49131 present wide variations in structure and in clinical features.
49132 Structurally, two main groups may be differentiated: (1) the soft,
49133 rapidly growing cellular tumours, and (2) those containing fully formed
49134 fibrous tissue, cartilage, or bone.
49135
49136 (1) The _soft cellular tumours_ are composed mainly of spindle or round
49137 cells; they grow from the marrow of the spongy ends or from the
49138 periosteum of the long bones, the diploe of the skull, the pelvis,
49139 vertebrae, and jaws. As they grow they may cause little alteration in the
49140 contour of the bone, but they eat away its framework and replace it, so
49141 that the continuity of the bone is maintained only by tumour tissue, and
49142 pathological fracture is a frequent result. The small round-celled
49143 sarcomas are among the most malignant tumours of bone, growing with
49144 great rapidity, and at an early stage giving rise to secondary growths.
49145
49146 (2) The second group includes the _fibro-_, _osteo-_, and
49147 _chondro-sarcomas_, and combinations of these; in all of them fully
49148 formed tissues or attempts at fully formed tissues predominate over the
49149 cellular elements. They grow chiefly from the deeper layer of the
49150 periosteum, and at first form a projection on the surface, but later
49151 tend to surround the bone (Fig. 150), and to invade its interior,
49152 filling up the marrow spaces with a white, bone-like substance; in the
49153 flat bones of the skull they may traverse the diploe and erupt on the
49154 inner table. The tumour tissue next the shaft consists of a dense,
49155 white, homogeneous material, from which there radiate into the softer
49156 parts of the tumour, spicules, needles, and plates, often exhibiting a
49157 fan-like arrangement (Fig. 151). The peripheral portion consists of soft
49158 sarcomatous tissue, which invades the overlying soft parts. The
49159 articular cartilage long resists destruction. The ossifying sarcoma is
49160 met with most often in the femur and tibia, less frequently in the
49161 humerus, skull, pelvis, and jaws. In the long bones it may grow from the
49162 shaft, while the chondro-sarcoma more often originates at the
49163 extremities. Sometimes they are multiple, several tumours appearing
49164 simultaneously or one after another. Secondary growths are met with
49165 chiefly in the lungs, metastasis taking place by way of the veins.
49166
49167 [Illustration: FIG. 146.--Periosteal Sarcoma of Femur in a young
49168 subject.]
49169
49170 [Illustration: FIG. 147.--Periosteal Sarcoma of Humerus, after
49171 maceration.
49172
49173 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
49174
49175 _Clinical Features._--Sarcoma is usually met with before the age of
49176 thirty, and is comparatively common in children. Males suffer oftener
49177 than females, in the proportion of two to one.
49178
49179 In _periosteal sarcoma_ the presence of a swelling is usually the first
49180 symptom; the tumour is fusiform, firm, and regular in outline, and when
49181 it occurs near the end of a long bone the limb frequently assumes a
49182 characteristic "leg of mutton" shape (Fig. 146). The surface may be
49183 uniform or bossed, the consistence varies at different parts, and the
49184 swelling gradually tapers off along the shaft. On firm pressure, fine
49185 crepitation may be felt from crushing of the delicate framework of new
49186 bone.
49187
49188 [Illustration: FIG. 148.--Chondro-Sarcoma of Scapula in a man aet. 63;
49189 removal of the scapula was followed two years later by metastases and
49190 death.]
49191
49192 In _central sarcoma_ pain is the first symptom, and it is usually
49193 constant, dull, and aching; is not obviously increased by use of the
49194 limb, but is often worse at night. Swelling occurs late, and is due to
49195 expansion of the bone; it is fusiform or globular, and is at first
49196 densely hard, but in time there may be parchment-like or egg-shell
49197 crackling from yielding of the thin shell. The swelling may pulsate, and
49198 a bruit may be heard over it. In advanced cases it may be impossible to
49199 differentiate between a periosteal and a central tumour, either
49200 clinically or after the specimen has been laid open.
49201
49202 Pathological fracture is more common in central tumours, and sometimes
49203 is the first sign that calls attention to the condition. Consolidation
49204 rarely takes place, although there is often an attempt at union by the
49205 formation of cartilaginous callus.
49206
49207 [Illustration: FIG. 149.--Central Sarcoma of Lower End of Femur,
49208 invading the knee-joint.
49209
49210 (Museum of Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.)]
49211
49212 [Illustration: FIG. 150.--Osseous Shell of Osteo-Sarcoma of Upper Third
49213 of Femur, after maceration.]
49214
49215 The soft parts over the tumour for a long time preserve their normal
49216 appearance; or they become oedematous, and the subcutaneous venous
49217 network is evident through the skin. Elevation of the temperature over
49218 the tumour, which may amount to two degrees or more, is a point of
49219 diagnostic significance, as it suggests an inflammatory lesion.
49220
49221 The adjacent joint usually remains intact, although its movements may be
49222 impaired by the bulk of the tumour or by effusion into the cavity.
49223
49224 Enlargement of the neighbouring lymph glands does not necessarily imply
49225 that they have become infected with sarcoma for the enlargement may
49226 disappear after removal of the primary growth; actual infection of the
49227 glands, however, does sometimes occur, and in them the histological
49228 structure of the parent tumour is reproduced.
49229
49230 To obtain a reasonable prospect of cure, the _diagnosis_ must be made at
49231 an early stage. Great reliance is to be placed on information gained by
49232 examination with the X-rays.
49233
49234 [Illustration: FIG. 151.--Radiogram of Osteo-Sarcoma of Upper Third
49235 of Femur.]
49236
49237 _X-ray Appearances._--In periosteal tumours that do not ossify, there is
49238 merely erosion of bone, and the shadow is not unlike that given by
49239 caries; in ossifying tumours, the arrangement of the new bone on the
49240 surface is characteristic, and when it takes the form of spicules at
49241 right angles to the shaft, it is pathognomic.
49242
49243 In soft central tumours, there is disappearance of bone shadow in the
49244 area of the tumour, while above and below or around this, the shadow is
49245 that of normal bone right up to the clear area. In many respects the
49246 X-ray appearances resemble those of myeloma. In tumours in which there
49247 is a considerable amount of imperfectly formed new bone, this gives a
49248 shadow which barely replaces that of the original bone, in parts it may
49249 even add to it--the resulting picture differing widely in different
49250 cases; but it is usually possible to differentiate it from that caused
49251 by bacterial infections of the bone and from lesions of the adjacent
49252 joint.
49253
49254 [Illustration: FIG. 152.--Radiogram of Chondro-Sarcoma of Upper End of
49255 Humerus in a woman aet. 29.]
49256
49257 Skiagraphy is not only of assistance in differentiating new growths from
49258 other diseases of bone, but may also yield information as to the
49259 situation and nature of the tumour, which may have important bearings on
49260 its treatment by operation.
49261
49262 When fracture of a long bone takes place in an adolescent or young adult
49263 from comparatively slight violence, disease of the bone should be
49264 suspected and an X-ray examination made.
49265
49266 In difficult cases the final appeal is to exploratory incision and
49267 microscopical examination of a portion of the tumour; this should be
49268 done when the major operation has been arranged for, the surgeon waiting
49269 until the examination is completed.
49270
49271 The _prognosis_ varies widely. In general, it may be said that
49272 periosteal tumours are less favourable than central ones, because they
49273 are more liable to give rise to metastases. Permanent cures are
49274 unfortunately the exception.
49275
49276 _Treatment._--When one of the bones of a limb is involved, the usual
49277 practice has been to perform amputation well above the growth, and this
49278 may still be recommended as a routine procedure. There are reasons,
49279 however, which may be urged against its continuance. High amputation is
49280 unnecessary in the more benign sarcomas, and in the more malignant forms
49281 is usually unavailing to prevent a fatal issue either from local
49282 recurrence or from metastases in the lungs or elsewhere. Following
49283 the lead of Mikulicz, a considerable number of permanent cures have been
49284 obtained by resecting the portion of bone which is the seat of the
49285 tumour, and substituting for it a corresponding portion from the tibia
49286 or fibula of the other limb. In a cellular sarcoma of the humerus of a
49287 boy we resected the shaft and inserted his fibula ten years ago, and he
49288 shows no sign of recurrence. When resection is impracticable, a
49289 subcapsular enucleation is performed, followed by the insertion of
49290 radium.
49291
49292 #Pulsating Haematoma# or #Aneurysm of Bone#.--A limited number of these
49293 are innocent cavernous tumours dating from a congenital angioma. The
49294 majority would appear to be the result of changes in a sarcoma,
49295 endothelioma, or myeloma. The tumour tissue largely disappears, while
49296 the vessels and vascular spaces undergo a remarkable development. The
49297 tumour may come to be represented by one large blood-containing space
49298 communicating with the arteries of the limb; the walls of the space
49299 consist of the remains of the original tumour, plus a shell of bone of
49300 varying thickness. The most common seats of the condition are the lower
49301 end of the femur, the upper end of the tibia, and the bones of the
49302 pelvis.
49303
49304 The _clinical features_ are those of a pulsating tumour of slow
49305 development, and as in true aneurysm, the pulsation and bruit disappear
49306 on compression of the main artery. The origin of the tumour from bone
49307 may be revealed by the presence of egg-shell crackling, and by
49308 examination with the X-rays.
49309
49310 If the condition is believed to be innocent, the treatment is the same
49311 as for aneurysm--preferably by ligation of the main artery; if
49312 malignant, it is the same as for sarcoma.
49313
49314 #Secondary Tumours of Bone.#--These embrace two groups of new growth,
49315 those which give rise to secondary growths in the marrow of bones and
49316 those which spread to bone by direct continuity.
49317
49318 _Metastatic Tumours._--Excepting certain cancers which give rise to
49319 metastases by lymphatic permeation (Handley), the common metastases
49320 arising in the bone-marrow reach their destination through the
49321 blood-stream.
49322
49323 [Illustration: FIG. 153.--Epitheliomatous Ulcer of Leg with direct
49324 extension to Tibia.
49325
49326 (Lord Lister's specimen. Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
49327
49328 Secondary cancer is a comparatively common disease, and, as in
49329 metastases in other tissues, the secondary growths resemble the parent
49330 tumour. The soft forms grow rapidly, and eat away the bone, without
49331 altering its shape or form. In slowly growing forms there may be
49332 considerable formation of imperfectly formed bone, often deficient in
49333 lime salts; this condition may be widely diffused throughout the
49334 skeleton, and, as it is associated with softening and bending of the
49335 bones, it is known as _cancerous osteomalacia_. Secondary cancer of bone
49336 is attended with pain, or it suddenly attracts notice by the occurrence
49337 of pathological fracture--as, for example, in the shaft of the femur or
49338 humerus. In the vertebrae, it is attended with a painful form of
49339 paraplegia, which may involve the lower or all four extremities. On the
49340 other hand, the disease may show itself clinically as a tumour of bone,
49341 which may attain a considerable size, and may be mistaken for a sarcoma,
49342 unless the existence of the primary cancer is discovered.
49343
49344 The cancers most liable to give rise to metastasis in bone are those of
49345 the breast, liver, uterus, prostate, colon, and rectum; hyper-nephroma
49346 of the kidney may also give rise to metastases in bone.
49347
49348 _Secondary tumours derived from the thyreoid gland_ require special
49349 mention, because they are peculiar in that neither the primary growth in
49350 the thyreoid nor the secondary growth in the bones is necessarily
49351 malignant. They are therefore amenable to operative treatment.
49352
49353 _Secondary sarcoma_, whether derived from a primary growth in the bone
49354 or in the soft parts, is much rarer than secondary cancer. Its removal
49355 by operation is usually contra-indicated, but we have known of cases
49356 terminating fatally in which the _section_ revealed only one metastasis,
49357 the removal of which would have benefited the patient.
49358
49359 In all of these conditions, examination of the bones with the X-rays
49360 gives valuable information and often disclose unsuspected metastases.
49361
49362 _Cancer of Bone resulting from Direct Extension from Soft Parts._--In
49363 this group there are also two clinical types. The first is met with in
49364 relation to _epithelioma of a mucous surface_--for example, the palate,
49365 tongue, gums, antrum, frontal sinus, auditory meatus, or middle ear.
49366 They will be described under these special regions.
49367
49368 The second type is met with in relation to _epithelioma occurring in a
49369 sinus_, the sequel of suppurative osteomyelitis, compound fracture, or
49370 tuberculous disease. The patient has usually had a discharging sinus for
49371 a great number of years: we have known it to last as many as fifty. The
49372 epithelioma originates at the skin orifice of the sinus, and spreads to
49373 the bone and into its interior, where the progress of the cancer is
49374 resisted by dense bone, which obliterates the medullary canal. Although
49375 its progress is slow, the infiltration of the bone is usually more
49376 extensive than appears externally. It is recognised clinically by the
49377 characteristic cauliflower growth at the orifice of the sinus, and by
49378 the offensive nature of the discharge. A similar epithelioma may arise
49379 in connection with a _chronic ulcer of the leg_. The cancer may infect
49380 the femoral lymph glands. The operative treatment is influenced by the
49381 extent of the disease in the soft parts overlying the bone, and consists
49382 in wide removal of the diseased tissues and resection of the bone, or in
49383 amputation.
49384
49385 #Cysts of Bone.#--With the exception of hydatid cysts, cysts in the
49386 interior of bone are the result of the liquefaction of solid tissue;
49387 this may be that of chondroma, myeloma, or sarcoma, but more commonly of
49388 the marrow in osteomyelitis fibrosa.
49389
49390
49391
49392
49393 CHAPTER XXI
49394
49395 DISEASES OF JOINTS
49396
49397
49398 Definition of terms--Ankylosis. DISEASES: Errors of
49399 development--Bacterial diseases: _Pyogenic_; _Gonorrhoeal_;
49400 _Tuberculous_; _Syphilitic_; _Acute rheumatism_--Diseases
49401 associated with certain constitutional conditions: _Gout_; _Chronic
49402 articular rheumatism_; _Arthritis deformans_;
49403 _Haemophilia_--Diseases associated with affections of the nervous
49404 system: _Neuro-arthropathies_; _Charcot's disease_--Hysterical or
49405 mimetic affections of joints--Tumours and cysts--Loose bodies.
49406
49407 #Definition of Terms.#--The term _synovitis_ is applied to any reaction
49408 which affects the synovial membrane of a joint. It is usually associated
49409 with effusion of fluid, and this may be serous, sero-fibrinous, or
49410 purulent. As the term synovitis merely refers to the tissue involved, it
49411 should always be used with an adjective--such as gouty, gonorrhoeal, or
49412 tuberculous--which indicates its pathological nature.
49413
49414 The terms _hydrops_, _hydrarthrosis_, and _chronic serous synovitis_ are
49415 synonymous, and are employed when a serous effusion into the joint is
49416 the prominent clinical feature. Hydrops may occur apart from
49417 disease--for example, in the knee-joint from repeated sprains, or when
49418 there is a loose body in the joint--but is met with chiefly in the
49419 chronic forms of synovitis which result from gonorrhoea, tuberculosis,
49420 syphilis, arthritis deformans, or arthropathies of nerve origin.
49421
49422 _Arthritis_ is the term applied when not only the synovial membrane but
49423 the articular surfaces, and it may be also the ends of the bones, are
49424 involved, and it is necessary to prefix a qualifying adjective which
49425 indicates its nature. When effusion is present, it may be serous, as in
49426 arthritis deformans, or sero-fibrinous or purulent, as in certain forms
49427 of pyogenic and tuberculous arthritis. Wasting of the muscles,
49428 especially the extensors, in the vicinity of the joint is a constant
49429 accompaniment of arthritis. On account of the involvement of the
49430 articular surfaces, arthritis is apt to be followed by ankylosis.
49431
49432 The term _empyema_ is sometimes employed to indicate that the cavity of
49433 the joint contains pus. This is observed chiefly in chronic disease of
49434 pyogenic or tuberculous origin, and is usually attended with the
49435 formation of abscesses outside the joint.
49436
49437 _Ulceration of cartilage_ and _caries of the articular surfaces_ are
49438 common accompaniments of the more serious and progressive forms of joint
49439 disease, especially those of bacterial origin. The destruction of
49440 cartilage may be secondary to disease of the synovial membrane or of the
49441 subjacent bone. When the disease begins as a synovitis, the synovial
49442 membrane spreads over the articular surface, fuses with the cartilage
49443 and eats into it, causing defects or holes which are spoken of as
49444 ulcers. When the disease begins in the bone, the marrow is converted
49445 into granulation tissue, which eats into the cartilage and separates it
49446 from the bone. Following on the destruction of the cartilage, the
49447 articular surface of the bone undergoes disintegration, a condition
49448 spoken of as _caries of the articular surface_. The occurrence of
49449 ulceration of cartilage and of articular caries is attended with the
49450 clinical signs of fixation of the joint from involuntary muscular
49451 contraction, wasting of muscles, and starting pains. These _starting
49452 pains_ are the result of sudden involuntary movements of the joint. They
49453 occur most frequently as the patient is dropping off to sleep; the
49454 muscles becoming relaxed, the sensitive ulcerated surfaces jar on one
49455 another, which causes sudden reflex contraction of the muscles, and the
49456 resulting movement being attended with severe pain, wakens the patient
49457 with a start. Advanced articular caries is usually associated with some
49458 abnormal attitude and with shortening of the limb. It may be possible to
49459 feel the bony surfaces grate upon one another. When all its constituent
49460 elements are damaged or destroyed, a joint is said to be _disorganised_.
49461 Should recovery take place, repair is usually attended with union of the
49462 opposing articular surfaces either by fibrous tissue or by bone.
49463
49464 #Conditions of Impaired Mobility of Joints.#--There are four conditions
49465 of impaired mobility in joints: rigidity, contracture, ankylosis, and
49466 locking. _Rigidity_ is the fixation of a joint by involuntary
49467 contraction of muscles, and is of value as a sign of disease in
49468 deep-seated joints, such as the hip. It disappears under anaesthesia.
49469
49470 _Contracture_ is the term applied when the fixation is due to permanent
49471 shortening of the soft parts around a joint--muscles, tendons,
49472 ligaments, fasciae, or skin. As the structures on the flexor aspect are
49473 more liable to undergo such shortening, contracture is nearly always
49474 associated with flexion. Contracture may result from disease of the
49475 joint, or from conditions outside it--for example, disease in one of
49476 the adjacent bones, or lesions of the nerves.
49477
49478 _Ankylosis_ is the term applied when impaired mobility results from
49479 changes involving the articular surfaces. It is frequently combined with
49480 contracture. Three anatomical varieties of ankylosis are
49481 recognised--(a) The _fibrous_, in which there are adhesions between
49482 the opposing surfaces, which may be in the form of loose isolated bands
49483 of fibrous tissue, or may bind the bones so closely together as to
49484 obliterate the cavity of the joint. The resulting stiffness, therefore,
49485 varies from a mere restriction of the normal range of movement, up to a
49486 close union of the bones which prevents movement. Fibrous ankylosis may
49487 follow upon injury, especially dislocation or fracture implicating a
49488 joint, or it may result from any form of arthritis. (b) _Cartilaginous
49489 ankylosis_ implies the fusion of two apposed cartilaginous surfaces. It
49490 is often found between the patella and the trochlear surface of the
49491 femur in tuberculous disease of the knee. The fusion of the
49492 cartilaginous surfaces is preceded by the spreading of a vascular
49493 connective tissue, derived from the synovial membrane, over the
49494 articular cartilage. Clinically, it is associated with absolute
49495 immobility, (c) _Bony ankylosis_ or _synostosis_ is an osseous union
49496 between articulating surfaces (Figs. 154 and 155). It may follow upon
49497 fibrous or cartilaginous ankylosis, or may result from the fusion of two
49498 articular surfaces which have lost their cartilage and become covered
49499 with granulations. In the majority of cases it is to be regarded as a
49500 reparative process, presenting analogies with the union of fracture.
49501
49502 [Illustration: FIG. 154.--Osseous Ankylosis of Femur and Tibia in
49503 position of flexion.]
49504
49505 The term _arthritis ossificans_ has been applied by Joseph Griffiths to
49506 a condition in which the articular surfaces become fused without evident
49507 cause.
49508
49509 The occurrence of ankylosis in a joint before the skeleton has attained
49510 maturity does not appear to impair the growth in length of the bones
49511 affected; ankylosis of the temporo-maxillary joints, however, greatly
49512 impairs the growth of the mandible. When there is arrest of growth
49513 accompanying ankylosis, it usually depends on changes in the ossifying
49514 junctions caused by the original disease.
49515
49516 To differentiate by manipulation between muscular fixation and
49517 ankylosis, it may be necessary to anaesthetise the patient. The nature
49518 and extent of ankylosis may be learned by skiagraphy; in osseous
49519 ankylosis the shadow of the two bones is a continuous one. In fibrous as
49520 contrasted with osseous ankylosis mobility may be elicited, although
49521 only to a limited extent; while in osseous ankylosis the joint is
49522 rigidly fixed, and attempts to move it are painless.
49523
49524 [Illustration: FIG. 155.--Osseous Ankylosis of Knee in the flexed
49525 position following upon Tuberculous Arthritis.
49526
49527 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
49528
49529 The _treatment_ is influenced by the nature of the original lesion, the
49530 variety of the ankylosis, and the attitude of the joint. When there is
49531 restriction of movement due to fibrous adhesions, these may be elongated
49532 or ruptured. Elongation of the adhesions may be effected by
49533 manipulations, exercises, and the use of special forms of
49534 apparatus--such as the application of weights to the limb. It may be
49535 necessary to administer an anaesthetic before rupturing strong fibrous
49536 adhesions, and this procedure must be carried out with caution, in view
49537 of such risks as fracture of the bone--which is often rarefied--or
49538 separation of an epiphysis. There is also the risk of fat embolism, and
49539 of re-starting the original disease. The giving way of adhesions may be
49540 attended with an audible crack; and the procedure is often followed by
49541 considerable pain and effusion into the joint, which necessitate rest
49542 for some days before exercises and manipulations can be resumed.
49543
49544 _Operative treatment_ may be called for in cases in which the bones are
49545 closely bound to one another by fibrous or by osseous tissue.
49546
49547 _Arthrolysis_, which consists in opening the joint and dividing the
49548 fibrous adhesions, is almost inevitably followed by their reunion.
49549
49550 _Arthroplasty._--Murphy of Chicago devised this operation for restoring
49551 movement to an ankylosed joint. It consists in transplanting between the
49552 bones a flap of fat-bearing tissue, from which a bursal cavity lined
49553 with endothelium and containing a fluid rich in mucin is ultimately
49554 formed.
49555
49556 Arthroplasty is most successful in ankylosis following upon injury; when
49557 the ankylosis results from some infective condition such as tuberculosis
49558 or gonorrhoea, it is liable to result in failure either because of a
49559 fresh outbreak of the infection or because the ankylosis recurs.
49560
49561 When arthroplasty is impracticable, and a movable joint is desired--for
49562 example at the elbow--a considerable amount of bone, and it may be also
49563 of periosteum and capsular ligament, is resected to allow of the
49564 formation of a false joint.
49565
49566 When bony ankylosis has occurred with the joint in an undesirable
49567 attitude--for example flexion at the hip or knee--it can sometimes be
49568 remedied by osteotomy or by a wedge-shaped resection of the bone, with
49569 or without such additional division of the contracted soft parts as will
49570 permit of the limb being placed in the attitude desired.
49571
49572 Bony ankylosis of the joints of a finger, whether the result of injury
49573 or disease, is difficult to remedy by any operative procedure, for while
49574 it is possible to restore mobility, the new joint is apt to be
49575 flail-like.
49576
49577 _Locking._--A joint is said to lock when its movements are abruptly
49578 arrested by the coming together of bony outgrowths around the joint. It
49579 is best illustrated in arthritis deformans of the hip in which new bone
49580 formed round the rim of the acetabulum mechanically arrests the
49581 excursions of the head of the femur. The new bone, which limits the
49582 movements, is readily demonstrated in skiagrams; it may be removed by
49583 operative means. Locking of joints is more often met with as a result of
49584 injuries, especially in fractures occurring in the region of the elbow.
49585 In certain injuries of the semilunar menisci of the knee, also, the
49586 joint is liable to a variety of locking, which differs, however, in many
49587 respects from that described above.
49588
49589 #Errors of Development.#--These include congenital dislocations and
49590 other deformities of intra-uterine origin, such as abnormal laxity of
49591 joints, absence, displacement, or defective growth of one or other of
49592 the essential constituents of a joint. The more important of these are
49593 described along with the surgery of the Extremities.
49594
49595
49596 DISEASES OF JOINTS
49597
49598 #Bacterial Diseases.#--In most bacterial diseases the organisms are
49599 carried to the joint in the blood-stream, and they lodge either in the
49600 synovial membrane or in one of the bones, whence the disease
49601 subsequently spreads to the other structures of the joint. Organisms may
49602 also be introduced through accidental wounds. It has been shown
49603 experimentally that joints are among the most susceptible parts of the
49604 body to infection, and this would appear to be due to the viscid
49605 character of the synovial fluid, which protects organisms from
49606 bactericidal agents in the tissues and fluids.
49607
49608
49609 PYOGENIC DISEASES
49610
49611 The commoner pyogenic diseases are the result of infection of one or
49612 other of the joint structures with _staphylococci_ or _streptococci_,
49613 which may be demonstrated in the exudate in the joint and in the
49614 substance of the synovial membrane. The mode of infection is the same as
49615 in the pyogenic diseases of bone, the metastasis occurring most
49616 frequently from the mucous membrane of the pharynx (J. B. Murphy). The
49617 localisation of the infection in a particular joint is determined by
49618 injury, exposure to cold, antecedent disease of the joint, or other
49619 factors, the nature of which is not always apparent.
49620
49621 The effects on the joint vary in severity. In the milder forms, there is
49622 engorgement and infiltration of the synovial membrane, and an effusion
49623 into the cavity of the joint of serous fluid mixed with flakes of
49624 fibrin--_serous synovitis_. In more severe infections the exudate
49625 consists of pus mixed with fibrin, and, it may be, red blood
49626 corpuscles--_purulent_ or _suppurative synovitis_; the synovial membrane
49627 and the ligaments are softened, and the surface of the membrane presents
49628 granulations resembling those on an ulcer; foci of suppuration may
49629 develop in the peri-articular cellular tissue and result in abscesses.
49630 In _acute arthritis_, all the structures of the joint are involved; the
49631 articular cartilage is invaded by granulation tissue derived from the
49632 synovial membrane, and from the marrow of the subjacent bone; it
49633 presents a worm-eaten or ulcerated appearance, or it may undergo
49634 necrosis and separate, exposing the subjacent bone and leading to
49635 disintegration of the osseous trabeculae--_caries_. With the destruction
49636 of the ligaments, the stability of the joint is lost, and it becomes
49637 disorganised.
49638
49639 The _clinical features_ vary with the extent of the infection. When
49640 this is confined to the synovial and peri-synovial tissues--_acute
49641 serous_ and _purulent synovitis_--there is the usual general reaction,
49642 associated with pyrexia and great pain in the joint. The part is hot and
49643 swollen, the swelling assuming the shape of the distended synovial sac,
49644 fluctuation can usually be elicited, and the joint is held in the flexed
49645 position.
49646
49647 When the joint is infected by extension from the surrounding cellular
49648 tissue, the joint lesion may not be recognised at an early stage because
49649 of the swollen condition of the limb, and because there are already
49650 symptoms of toxaemia. We have observed a case in which both the hip and
49651 knee joints were infected from the cellular tissue.
49652
49653 If the infection involves all the joint structures--_acute
49654 arthritis_--the general and local phenomena are intensified, the
49655 temperature rises quickly, often with a rigor, and remains high; the
49656 patient looks ill, and is either unable to sleep or the sleep is
49657 disturbed by starting pains. The joint is held rigid in the flexed
49658 position, and the least attempt at movement causes severe pain; the
49659 slightest jar--even the shaking of the bed--may cause agony. The joint
49660 is hot, tensely distended, and there may be oedema of the peri-articular
49661 tissues or of the limb as a whole. If the pus perforates the joint
49662 capsule, there are signs of abscess or of diffuse suppuration in the
49663 cellular tissue. The final disorganisation of the joint is indicated by
49664 abnormal mobility and grating of the articular surfaces, or by
49665 spontaneous displacement of the bones, and this may amount to
49666 dislocation. In the acute arthritis of infants, the epiphysis concerned
49667 may be separated and displaced.
49668
49669 When the _joint is infected through an external wound_, the anatomical
49670 features are similar to those observed when the infection has reached
49671 the joint by the blood-stream, but the destructive changes tend to be
49672 more severe and are more likely to result in disorganisation.
49673
49674 The _terminations_ vary with the gravity of the infection and with the
49675 stage at which treatment is instituted. In the milder forms recovery is
49676 the rule, with more or less complete restoration of function. In more
49677 severe forms the joint may be permanently damaged as a result of fibrous
49678 or bony ankylosis, or from displacement or dislocation. From changes in
49679 the peri-articular structures there may be contracture in an undesirable
49680 position, and in young subjects the growth of the limb may be interfered
49681 with. The persistence of sinuses is usually due to disease in one or
49682 other of the adjacent bones. In the most severe forms, and especially
49683 when several joints are involved, death may result from toxaemia.
49684
49685 The _treatment_ is carried out on the same principles as in other
49686 pyogenic infections. The limb is immobilised in such an attitude that
49687 should stiffness occur there will be the least interference with
49688 function. Extension by weight and pulley is the most valuable means of
49689 allaying muscular spasm and relieving intra-articular tension and of
49690 counteracting the tendency to flexion; as much as 15 or 20 pounds may be
49691 required to relieve the pain.
49692
49693 The induction of hyperaemia is sometimes remarkably efficacious in
49694 relieving pain and in arresting the progress of the infection. If the
49695 fluid in the joint is in sufficient quantity to cause tension, if it
49696 persists, or if there is reason to suspect that it is purulent, it
49697 should be withdrawn without delay; an exploring syringe usually
49698 suffices, the skin being punctured with a tenotomy knife, and, as
49699 practised by Murphy, 5 to 15 c.c. of a 2 per cent. solution of formalin
49700 in glycerin are injected and the wound is closed. In virulent infections
49701 the injection may be repeated in twenty-four hours. Drainage by tube or
49702 otherwise is to be condemned (Murphy). A vaccine may be prepared from
49703 the fluid in the joint and injected into the subcutaneous cellular
49704 tissue.
49705
49706 Suppuration in the peri-articular soft parts or in one of the adjacent
49707 bones must be looked for and dealt with.
49708
49709 When convalescence is established, attention is directed to the
49710 restoration of the functions of the limb, and to the prevention of
49711 stiffness and deformity by movements and massage, and the use of hot-air
49712 and other baths.
49713
49714 At a later stage, and especially in neglected cases, operative and other
49715 measures may be required for deformity or ankylosis.
49716
49717
49718 #Metastatic Forms of Pyogenic Infection#
49719
49720 In #pyaemia#, one or more joints may fill with pus without marked
49721 symptoms or signs, and if the pus is aspirated without delay the joint
49722 often recovers without impairment of function.
49723
49724 In #typhoid fever#, joint lesions result from infection with the typhoid
49725 bacillus alone or along with pyogenic organisms, and run their course
49726 with or without suppuration; there is again a remarkable absence of
49727 symptoms, and attention may only be called to the condition by the
49728 occurrence of dislocation.
49729
49730 Joint lesions are comparatively common in #scarlet fever#, and were
49731 formerly described as scarlatinal rheumatism. The most frequent clinical
49732 type is that of a serous synovitis, occurring within a week or ten days
49733 from the onset of the fever. Its favourite seat is in the hand and
49734 wrist, the sheaths of the extensor tendons as well as the synovial
49735 membrane of the joints being involved. It does not tend to migrate to
49736 other joints, and rarely lasts longer than a few days. It is probably
49737 due to the specific virus of scarlet fever.
49738
49739 At a later stage, especially in children and in cases in which the
49740 throat lesion is severe, an arthritis is sometimes observed that is
49741 believed to be a metastasis from the throat; it may be acute and
49742 suppurative, affect several joints, and exhibit a septicaemic or pyaemic
49743 character.
49744
49745 The joints of the lower extremity are especially apt to suffer; the
49746 child is seriously ill, is delirious at night, develops bed-sores over
49747 the sacrum and, it may happen that, not being expected to recover, the
49748 legs are allowed to assume contracture deformities with ankylosis or
49749 dislocation at the hip and flexion ankylosis at the knees; should the
49750 child survive, the degree of crippling may be pitiable in the extreme;
49751 prolonged orthopaedic treatment and a series of operations--arthroplasty,
49752 osteotomies, and resections--may be required to restore even a limited
49753 capacity of locomotion.
49754
49755 #Pneumococcal affections of joints#, the result of infection with the
49756 pneumococcus of Fraenkel, are being met with in increasing numbers. The
49757 local lesion varies from a _synovitis_ with infiltration of the synovial
49758 membrane and effusion of serum or pus, to an _acute arthritis_ with
49759 erosion of cartilage, caries of the articular surfaces, and
49760 disorganisation of the joint. The knee is most frequently affected, but
49761 several joints may suffer at the same time. In most cases the joint
49762 affection makes its appearance a few days after the commencement of a
49763 pneumonia, but in a number of instances, especially among children, the
49764 lung is not specially involved, and the condition is an indication of a
49765 generalised pneumococcal infection, which may manifest itself by
49766 endocarditis, empyema, meningitis, or peritonitis, and frequently has a
49767 fatal termination. The differential diagnosis from other forms of
49768 pyogenic infection is established by bacteriological examination of the
49769 fluid withdrawn from the joint. The treatment is carried out on the same
49770 lines as in other pyogenic infections, considerable reliance being
49771 placed on the use of autogenous vaccines.
49772
49773 In #measles#, #diphtheria#, #smallpox#, #influenza#, and #dysentery#,
49774 similar joint lesions may occur.
49775
49776 The joint lesions which accompany #acute rheumatism# or "rheumatic
49777 fever" are believed to be due to a diplococcus. In the course of a
49778 general illness in which there is moderate pyrexia and profuse sweating,
49779 some of the larger joints, and not infrequently the smaller ones also,
49780 become swollen and extremely sensitive, so that the sufferer lies in bed
49781 helpless, dreading the slightest movement. From day to day fresh joints
49782 are attacked, while those first affected subside, often with great
49783 rapidity. Affections of the heart-valves and of the pericardium are
49784 commonly present. On recovery from the acute illness, it may be found
49785 that the joints have entirely recovered, but in a small proportion of
49786 cases certain of them remain stiff and pass into the crippled condition
49787 described under chronic rheumatism. There is no call for operative
49788 interference.
49789
49790 #Gonococcal Affections of Joints.#--These include all forms of joint
49791 lesion occurring in association with gonorrhoeal urethritis,
49792 vulvo-vaginitis, or gonorrhoeal ophthalmia. They may develop at any stage
49793 of the urethritis, but are most frequently met with from the eighteenth
49794 to the twenty-second day after the primary infection, when the organisms
49795 have reached the posterior urethra; they have been observed, however,
49796 after the discharge has ceased. There is no connection between the
49797 severity of the gonorrhoea and the incidence of joint disease. In women,
49798 the gonorrhoeal nature of the discharge must be established by
49799 bacteriological examination.
49800
49801 As a complication of ophthalmia, the joint lesions are met with in
49802 infants, and occur more commonly towards the end of the second or during
49803 the third week.
49804
49805 The gonococcus is carried to the joint in the blood-stream and is first
49806 deposited in the synovial membrane, in the tissues of which it can
49807 usually be found; it may be impossible to find it in the exudate within
49808 the joint. The joint lesions may be the only evidence of metastasis, or
49809 they may be part of a general infection involving the endocardium,
49810 pleura, and tendon sheaths.
49811
49812 The joints most frequently affected are the knee, elbow, ankle, wrist,
49813 and fingers. Usually two or more joints are affected.
49814
49815 Several clinical types are differentiated. (1) A _dry poly-arthritis_
49816 met with in the joints and tendon sheaths of the wrist and hand,
49817 formerly described as gonorrhoeal rheumatism, which in some cases is
49818 trifling and evanescent, and in others is persistent and progressive,
49819 and results in stiffness of the affected joints and permanent crippling
49820 of the hand and fingers.
49821
49822 (2) The commonest type is a _chronic synovitis_ or _hydrops_, in which
49823 the joint--very often the knee--becomes filled with a serous or
49824 sero-fibrinous exudate. There are no reactive changes in the synovial
49825 membrane, cellular tissue, or skin, nor is there any fever or
49826 disturbance of health. The movements are free except in so far as they
49827 are restricted by the amount of fluid in the joint. It usually subsides
49828 in two or three weeks under rest, but tends to relapse.
49829
49830 (3) An _acute synovitis_ with peri-articular phlegmon is most often met
49831 with in the elbow, but it occurs also in the knee and ankle. There is a
49832 sudden onset of severe pain and swelling in and around the joint, with
49833 considerable fever and disturbance of health. The slightest movement
49834 causes pain, and the part is sensitive to touch. The skin is hot and
49835 tense, and in the case of the elbow may be red and fiery as in
49836 erysipelas.
49837
49838 The deposit of fibrin on the synovial membrane and on the articular
49839 surfaces may lead to the formation of adhesions, sometimes in the form
49840 of isolated bands, sometimes in the form of a close fibrous union
49841 between the bones.
49842
49843 (4) A _suppurative arthritis_, like that caused by ordinary pus
49844 microbes, may be the result of gonococcal infection alone or of a mixed
49845 infection. Usually only one joint is affected, but the condition may be
49846 multiple. The articular cartilages are destroyed, the ends of the bones
49847 are covered with granulations, extra-articular abscesses form, and
49848 complete osseous ankylosis results.
49849
49850 The _diagnosis_ is often missed because the possibility of gonorrhoea is
49851 not suspected.
49852
49853 The denial of the disease by the patient is not always to be relied
49854 upon, especially in the case of women, as they may be ignorant of its
49855 presence. The chief points in the differential diagnosis from acute
49856 articular rheumatism are, that the gonorrhoeal affection is more often
49857 confined to one or two joints, has little tendency to wander from joint
49858 to joint, and its progress is not appreciably influenced by salicylates,
49859 although these drugs may relieve pain. The conclusive point is the
49860 recognition of a gonorrhoeal discharge or of threads in the urine.
49861
49862 The disease may persist or may relapse, and the patient may be laid up
49863 for weeks or months, and may finally be crippled in one or in several
49864 joints.
49865
49866 The _treatment_--besides that of the urethral disease or of the
49867 ophthalmia--consists in rest until all pain and sensitiveness have
49868 disappeared. The pain is relieved by salicylates, but most benefit
49869 follows weight extension, the induction of hyperaemia by the rubber
49870 bandage and hot-air baths; if the joint is greatly distended, the fluid
49871 may be withdrawn by a needle and syringe. Detoxicated vaccines should be
49872 given from the first, and in afebrile cases the injection of a foreign
49873 protein, such as anti-typhoid vaccine, is beneficial (Harrison).
49874
49875 Murphy has found benefit from the introduction into the joint, in the
49876 early stages, of from 5 to 15 c.c. of a 2 per cent. solution of formalin
49877 in glycerin. This may be repeated within a week, the patient being kept
49878 in bed with light weight extension. In the chronic hydrops the fluid is
49879 withdrawn, and about an ounce of a 1 per cent. solution of protargol
49880 injected; the patient should be warned of the marked reaction which
49881 follows.
49882
49883 After all symptoms have settled down, but not till then, for fear of
49884 exciting relapse or metastasis, the joint is massaged and exercised.
49885 Stiffness from adhesions is most intractable, and may, in spite of every
49886 attention, terminate in ankylosis even in cases where there has been no
49887 suppuration. Forcible breaking down of adhesions under anaesthesia is
49888 not recommended, as it is followed by great suffering and the adhesions
49889 re-form. Operation for ankylosis--arthroplasty--should not be
49890 undertaken, as the ankylosis recurs.
49891
49892
49893 TUBERCULOUS DISEASE
49894
49895 Tuberculous disease of joints results from bacillary infection through
49896 the arteries. The disease may commence in the synovial membrane or in
49897 the marrow of one of the adjacent bones, and the relative frequency of
49898 these two seats of infection has been the subject of considerable
49899 difference of opinion. The traditional view of Konig is that in the knee
49900 and most of the larger joints the disease arises in the bone and in the
49901 synovial membrane in about equal proportion, and that in the hip the
49902 number of cases beginning in the bones is about five times greater than
49903 that originating in the membrane. This estimate, so far as the actual
49904 frequency of bone lesions is concerned, has been generally accepted, but
49905 recent observers, notably John Fraser, do not accept the presence of
49906 bone lesions as necessarily proving that the disease commenced in the
49907 bones; he maintains, and we think with good grounds, that in many cases
49908 the disease having commenced in the synovial membrane, slowly spreads to
49909 the bone by way of the blood vessels and lymphatics, and gives rise to
49910 lesions in the marrow.
49911
49912 #Morbid Anatomy.#--Tuberculous disease in the articular end of a long
49913 bone may give rise to _reactive changes_ in the adjacent joint,
49914 characterised by effusion and by the extension of the synovial membrane
49915 over the articular surfaces. This may result in the formation of
49916 adhesions which obliterate the cavity of the joint or divide it into
49917 compartments. These lesions are comparatively common, and are not
49918 necessarily due to actual tuberculous infection of the joint.
49919
49920 The _infection of the joint_ by tubercle originating in the adjacent
49921 bone may take place at the periphery, the osseous focus reaching the
49922 surface of the bone at the site of reflection of the synovial membrane,
49923 and the infection which begins at this point then spreads to the rest of
49924 the membrane. Or it may take place in the central area, by the
49925 projection of tuberculous granulation tissue into the joint following
49926 upon erosion of the cartilage (Fig. 156).
49927
49928 [Illustration: FIG. 156.--Section of Upper End of Fibula, showing
49929 caseating focus in marrow, erupting on articular surface and infecting
49930 joint.]
49931
49932 _Changes in the Synovial Membrane._--In the majority of cases there is a
49933 _diffuse thickening of the synovial membrane_, due to the formation of
49934 granulation tissue, or of young connective tissue, in its substance.
49935 This new tissue is arranged in two layers--the outer composed of fully
49936 formed connective or fibrous tissue, the inner of embryonic tissue,
49937 usually permeated with miliary tubercles. On opening the joint, these
49938 tubercles may be seen on the surface of the membrane, or the surface may
49939 be covered with a layer of fibrinous or caseating tissue. Where there is
49940 greater resistance on the part of the tissues, there is active formation
49941 of young connective tissue which circumscribes or encapsulates the
49942 tubercles, so that they remain embedded in the substance of the
49943 membrane, and are only seen on cutting into it.
49944
49945 The thickened synovial membrane is projected into the cavity of the
49946 joint, filling up its pouches and recesses, and spreading over the
49947 surface of the articular cartilage "like ivy growing on a wall."
49948 Wherever the synovial tissue covers the cartilage it becomes adherent to
49949 and fused with it. The morbid process may be arrested at this stage, and
49950 fibrous adhesions form between the opposing articular surfaces, or it
49951 may progress, in which case further changes occur, resulting in
49952 destruction of the articular cartilage and exposure of the subjacent
49953 bone.
49954
49955 In rare instances the synovial membrane presents nodular masses or
49956 lumps, resembling the tuberculous tumours met with in the brain; they
49957 project into the cavity of the joint, are often pedunculated, and may
49958 give rise to the symptoms of loose body. The fringes of synovial
49959 membrane may also undergo a remarkable development, like that observed
49960 in arthritis deformans, and described as arborescent lipoma. Both these
49961 types are almost exclusively met with in the knee.
49962
49963 _The Contents of Tuberculous Joints._--In a large proportion of cases of
49964 synovial tuberculosis the joint is entirely filled up by the diffuse
49965 thickening of the synovial membrane. In a small number there is an
49966 abundant serous exudate, and with this there may be a considerable
49967 formation of fibrin, covering the surface of the membrane and floating
49968 in the fluid as flakes or masses; under the influence of movement it may
49969 assume the shape of melon-seed bodies. More rarely the joint contains
49970 pus, and the surface of the synovial membrane resembles the wall of a
49971 cold abscess.
49972
49973 _Ulceration and Necrosis of Cartilage._--The synovial tissue covering
49974 the cartilage causes pitting and perforation of the cartilage and makes
49975 its way through it, and often spreads widely between it and the
49976 subjacent bone; the cartilage may be detached in portions of
49977 considerable size. It may be similarly ulcerated or detached as a result
49978 of disease in the bone.
49979
49980 _Caries of Articular Surfaces._--Tuberculous infiltration of the marrow
49981 in the surface cancelli breaks up the spongy framework of the bone into
49982 minute irregular fragments, so that it disintegrates or crumbles
49983 away--caries. When there is an absence of caseation and suppuration, the
49984 condition is called _caries sicca_.
49985
49986 The pressure of the articular surfaces against one another favours the
49987 progress of ulceration of cartilage and of articular caries. These
49988 processes are usually more advanced in the areas most exposed to
49989 pressure--for example, in the hip-joint, on the superior aspect of the
49990 head of the femur, and on the posterior and upper segment of the
49991 acetabulum.
49992
49993 The occurrence of _pathological dislocation_ is due to softening and
49994 stretching of the ligaments which normally retain the bones in position,
49995 and to some factor causing displacement, which may be the accumulation
49996 of fluid or of granulations in the joint, the involuntary contraction of
49997 muscles, or some movement or twist of the limb. The occurrence of
49998 dislocation is also favoured by destructive changes in the bones.
49999
50000 _Peri-articular tubercle and abscess_ may result from the spread of
50001 disease from the bone or joint into the surrounding tissues, either
50002 directly or by way of the lymphatics. A peri-articular abscess may
50003 spread in several directions, sometimes invading tendon sheaths or
50004 bursae, and finally reaching the skin surface by tortuous sinuses.
50005
50006 Reactive changes in the vicinity of tuberculous joints are of common
50007 occurrence, and play a considerable part in the production of what is
50008 clinically known as _white swelling_. New connective tissue forms in the
50009 peri-articular fat and between muscles and tendons. It may be tough and
50010 fibrous, or soft, vascular, and oedematous, and the peri-articular fat
50011 becomes swollen and gelatinous, constituting a layer of considerable
50012 thickness. The fat disappears and is replaced by a mucoid effusion
50013 between the fibrous bundles of connective tissue. This is what was
50014 formerly known as _gelatinous degeneration_ of the synovial membrane. In
50015 the case of the wrist the newly formed connective tissue may fix the
50016 tendons in their sheaths, interfering with the movements of the fingers.
50017 In relation to the bones also there may be reactive changes, resulting
50018 in the formation of spicules of new bone on the periosteal surfaces and
50019 at the attachment of the capsular and other ligaments; these are only
50020 met with where pyogenic infection has been superadded.
50021
50022 _Terminations and Sequelae._--A natural process of cure may occur at any
50023 stage, the tuberculous tissue being replaced by scar tissue. Recovery is
50024 apt to be attended with impairment of movement due to adhesions,
50025 ankylosis, or contracture of the peri-articular structures. Caseous foci
50026 in the interior of the bones may become encapsulated, and a cure be thus
50027 effected, or they may be the cause of a relapse of the disease at a
50028 later date. Interference with growth is comparatively common, and may
50029 involve only the epiphysial junctions in the immediate vicinity of the
50030 joint affected, or those of all the bones of the limb. This is well seen
50031 in adults who have suffered from severe disease of the hip in
50032 childhood--the entire limb, including the foot, being shorter and
50033 smaller than the corresponding parts of the opposite side.
50034
50035 Atrophic conditions are also met with, the bones undergoing fatty
50036 atrophy, so that in extreme cases they may be cut with a knife or be
50037 easily fractured. These atrophic conditions are most marked in bedridden
50038 patients, and are largely due to disuse of the limb; they are recovered
50039 from if it is able to resume its functions.
50040
50041 #Clinical Features.#--These vary with the different anatomical forms of
50042 the disease, and with the joint affected.
50043
50044 Sometimes the disease is ushered in by a febrile attack attended with
50045 pains in several joints--described by John Duncan as _tuberculous
50046 arthritic fever_. This is liable to be mistaken for rheumatic fever,
50047 from which, however, it differs in that there is no real migration from
50048 joint to joint; there is an absence of sweating and of cardiac
50049 complications; and no benefit follows the administration of salicylates.
50050
50051 In exceptional cases, tuberculous joint disease follows an acute course
50052 resembling that of the pyogenic arthritis of infants. This has been
50053 observed in children, especially in the knee, the lesion being in the
50054 synovial membrane, and attended with an accumulation of pus in the
50055 joint. If promptly treated by incision and drainage, recovery is rapid,
50056 and free movement of the joint, may be preserved.
50057
50058 The onset and early stages of tuberculous disease, however, are more
50059 often insidious, and are attended with so few symptoms that the disease
50060 may have obtained a considerable hold before it attracts notice. It is
50061 not uncommon for patients or their friends to attribute the condition to
50062 injury, as it often first attracts attention after some slight trauma or
50063 excessive use of the limb. The symptoms usually subside under rest, only
50064 to relapse again with use of the limb.
50065
50066 The initial local symptoms may be due to the presence of a focus in the
50067 neighbouring bone, perhaps causing neuralgic pains in the joint, or
50068 weakness, tiredness, stiffness, and inability to use the limb, these
50069 symptoms improving with rest and being aggravated by exertion.
50070
50071 It is rarely possible by external examination to recognise deep-seated
50072 osseous foci in the vicinity of joints; but if they are near the surface
50073 in a superficial bone--such as the head of the tibia--there may be local
50074 thickening of the periosteum, oedema, pain, and tenderness on pressure
50075 and on percussion.
50076
50077 _X-ray Appearances of Tuberculous Joints._--Gross lesions such as
50078 caseous foci in the marrow of the adjacent bone show as clear areas with
50079 an ill-defined margin; a sclerosed focus gives a denser shadow than the
50080 surrounding bone, and a sequestrum presents a dark shadow of irregular
50081 contour, and a clear interval between it and the surrounding bone.
50082
50083 Caries of the articular surface imparts a woolly appearance or irregular
50084 contour in place of the well-defined outline of the articular end of the
50085 bone. In bony ankylosis the shadow of the two bones is a continuous one,
50086 the joint interval having been filled up. The minor changes are best
50087 appreciated on comparison with the normal joint of the other limb.
50088
50089 _Wasting of muscles_ is a constant accompaniment of tuberculous joint
50090 disease. It is to be attributed partly to want of use, but chiefly to
50091 reflex interference with the trophic innervation of the muscles. It is
50092 specially well seen in the extensor and adductor muscles of the thigh in
50093 disease of the knee, and in the deltoid in disease of the shoulder. The
50094 muscles become soft and flaccid, they exhibit tremors on attempted
50095 movement, and their excitability to the faradic current is diminished.
50096 The muscular tissue may be largely replaced by fat.
50097
50098 _Impairment of the normal movements_ is one of the most valuable
50099 diagnostic signs, particularly in deeply seated joints such as the
50100 shoulder, hip, and spine. It is due to a protective contraction of the
50101 muscles around the joint, designed to prevent movement. This muscular
50102 fixation disappears under anaesthesia.
50103
50104 _Abnormal attitudes of the limb_ occur earlier, and are more pronounced
50105 in cases in which pain and other irritative symptoms of articular
50106 disease are well marked, and are best illustrated by the attitudes
50107 assumed in disease of the hip. They are due to reflex or involuntary
50108 contraction of the muscles acting on the joint, with the object of
50109 placing it in the attitude of greatest ease; they also disappear under
50110 anaesthesia. With the lapse of time they not only become exaggerated, but
50111 may become permanent from ankylosis or from contracture of the soft
50112 parts round the joint.
50113
50114 _Startings at night_ are to be regarded as an indication that there is
50115 progressive disease involving the articular surfaces.
50116
50117 _The formation of extra-articular abscess_ may take place early, or it
50118 may not occur till long after the disease has subsided. The abscess may
50119 develop so insidiously that it does not attract attention until it has
50120 attained considerable size, especially when associated with disease of
50121 the spine, pelvis, or hip. The position of the abscess in relation to
50122 different joints is fairly constant and is determined by the anatomical
50123 relationships of the capsule and synovial membrane to the surrounding
50124 tissues. The bursae and tendon sheaths in the vicinity may influence the
50125 direction of spread of the abscess and the situation of resulting
50126 sinuses. When the abscess is allowed to burst, or is opened and becomes
50127 infected with pyogenic bacteria, there is not only the risk of
50128 aggravation of the disease and persistent suppuration, but there is a
50129 greater liability to general tuberculosis.
50130
50131 The sinuses may be so tortuous that a probe cannot be passed to the
50132 primary focus of disease, and their course and disposition can only be
50133 demonstrated by injecting the sinuses with an emulsion of bismuth and
50134 taking X-ray photographs.
50135
50136 Tuberculous infection of the lymph glands of the limb is exceptional,
50137 but may follow upon infection of the skin around the orifice of a sinus.
50138
50139 A slight rise of temperature in the evening may be induced in quiescent
50140 joint lesions by injury or by movement of the joint under anaesthesia, or
50141 by the fatigue of a railway journey. When sinuses have formed and become
50142 infected with pyogenic bacteria, there may be a diurnal variation in the
50143 temperature of the type known as hectic fever (Fig. 11).
50144
50145 _Relative Frequency of Tuberculous Disease in Different
50146 Joints._--Hospital statistics show that joints are affected in the
50147 following order of frequency: Spine, knee, hip, ankle and tarsus, elbow,
50148 wrist, shoulder. The hip and spine are most often affected in childhood
50149 and youth, the shoulder and wrist in adults; the knee, ankle, and elbow
50150 show little age preference.
50151
50152 _Clinical Variations of Tuberculous Joint Disease._--The above
50153 description applies to tuberculous joint disease in general; it must be
50154 modified to include special manifestations or varieties.
50155
50156 When the main incidence of the infection affects the synovial membrane,
50157 the clinical picture may assume the form of a _hydrops_, or of an
50158 _empyema_ in which the joint is filled with pus. More common than either
50159 of these is the well-known _white swelling_ or _tumor albus_ (Wiseman,
50160 1676) which is the clinical manifestation of diffuse thickening of the
50161 synovial membrane along with mucoid degeneration of the peri-synovial
50162 cellular tissue. It is well seen in joints which are superficial--such
50163 as the knee, ankle, elbow, and wrist. The swelling, which is the first
50164 and most prominent clinical feature, develops gradually and painlessly,
50165 obliterating the bony prominences by filling up the natural hollows. It
50166 appears greater to the eye than is borne out by measurement, being
50167 thrown into relief by the wasting of the muscles above and below the
50168 joint. In the early stage the swelling is elastic, doughy, and
50169 non-sensitive, and corresponds to the superficial area of the synovial
50170 membrane involved, and there is comparatively little complaint on the
50171 part of the patient, because the articular surfaces and ligaments are
50172 still intact. There may be a feeling of weight in the limb, and in the
50173 case of the knee and ankle the patient tires on walking and drags the
50174 leg with more or less of a limp. Movements of the joint are permitted,
50175 but are limited in range. The disability is increased by use and
50176 exertion, but, for a time at least, it improves under rest.
50177
50178 If the disease is not arrested, there follow the symptoms and signs of
50179 involvement of the articular surfaces.
50180
50181 _Influence of Tuberculous Joint Disease on the General
50182 Health._--Experience shows that the early stages of tuberculous joint
50183 disease are compatible with the appearance of good health. As a rule,
50184 however, and especially if there is mixed infection, the health suffers,
50185 the appetite is impaired, the patient is easily tired, and there may be
50186 some loss of weight.
50187
50188 #Treatment.#--In addition to the general treatment of tuberculosis,
50189 local measures are employed. These may be described under two heads--the
50190 conservative and the operative.
50191
50192 _Conservative treatment_ is almost always to be employed in the first
50193 instance, as by it a larger proportion of cures is obtained with a
50194 smaller mortality and with better functional results than by operation.
50195
50196 _Treatment by rest_ implies the immobilisation of the diseased limb
50197 until pain and tenderness have disappeared. The attitude in which the
50198 limb is immobilised should be that in which, in the event of subsequent
50199 stiffness, it will be most serviceable to the patient. Immobilisation
50200 may be secured by bandages, splints, extension, or other apparatus.
50201 _Extension_ with weight and pulley is of value in securing rest,
50202 especially in disease of the hip or knee; it eliminates muscular spasm,
50203 relieves pain and startings at night, and prevents abnormal attitudes of
50204 the limb. If, when the patient first comes under observation, the limb
50205 is in a deformed attitude which does not readily yield to extension, the
50206 deformity should be corrected under an anaesthetic.
50207
50208 _The induction of hyperaemia_ is often helpful, the rubber bandage or the
50209 hot-air chamber being employed for an hour or so morning and evening.
50210
50211 _Injection of Iodoform._--This is carried out on the same lines as have
50212 been described for tuberculous abscess. After the fluid contents of the
50213 joint are withdrawn, the iodoform is injected; and this may require to
50214 be repeated in a month or six weeks.
50215
50216 After the injection of iodoform there is usually considerable reaction,
50217 attended with fever (101 o F.), headache, and malaise, and considerable
50218 pain and swelling of the joint. In some cases there is sickness, and
50219 there may be blood pigment in the urine. The severity of these phenomena
50220 diminishes with each subsequent injection.
50221
50222 The use of Scott's dressing and of blisters and of the actual cautery
50223 has largely gone out of fashion, but the cautery may still be employed
50224 with benefit for the relief of pain in cases in which ulceration of
50225 cartilage is a prominent feature.
50226
50227 The application of the X-rays has proved beneficial in synovial lesions
50228 in superficial joints such as the wrist or elbow; prolonged exposures
50229 are made at fortnightly intervals, and on account of the cicatricial
50230 contraction which attends upon recovery, the joint must be kept in good
50231 position.
50232
50233 Conservative treatment is only abandoned if improvement does not show
50234 itself after a thorough trial, or if the disease relapses after apparent
50235 cure.
50236
50237 _Operative Treatment._--Other things being equal, operation is more
50238 often indicated in adults than in children, because after the age of
50239 twenty there is less prospect of recovery under conservative treatment,
50240 there is more tendency for the disease to relapse and to invade the
50241 internal organs, and there is no fear of interfering with the growth of
50242 the bones. The state of the general health may necessitate operation as
50243 the most rapid method of removing the disease. The social status of the
50244 patient must also be taken into account; the bread-winner, under
50245 existing social conditions, may be unable to give up his work for a
50246 sufficient time to give conservative measures a fair trial.
50247
50248 The _local conditions_ which decide for or against operation are
50249 differently regarded by different surgeons, but it may be said in
50250 general terms that operative interference is indicated in cases in which
50251 the disease continues to progress in spite of a fair trial of
50252 conservative measures; in cases unsuited for conservative
50253 treatment--that is to say, where there are severe bone lesions.
50254 Operative interference is indicated also when the functional result will
50255 be better than that likely to be obtained by conservative measures, as
50256 is often the case in the knee and elbow. Cold abscesses should, if
50257 possible, be dealt with before operating on the joint.
50258
50259 In many cases the extent of the operation can only be decided after
50260 exploration. The aim is to remove all the disease with the least
50261 impairment of function and the minimum sacrifice of healthy tissue. The
50262 more open the method of operating the better, so that all parts of the
50263 joint may be available for inspection. The methods of Kocher, which
50264 permit of dislocating the joint, are specially to be recommended, as
50265 this procedure affords the freest possible access. Diseased synovial
50266 membrane is removed with the scissors or knife. If the cartilages are
50267 sound, and if a movable joint is aimed at, they may be left; but if
50268 ankylosis is desired, they must be removed. Localised disease of the
50269 cartilage should be removed with the spoon or gouge, and the bone
50270 beneath investigated. If the articular surface is extensively diseased,
50271 a thin slice of bone should be removed, and if foci in the marrow are
50272 then revealed, it is better to gouge them out than to remove further
50273 slices of bone, as this involves sacrifice of the cortex and periosteum.
50274
50275 Operative treatment of deformities resulting from tuberculous joint
50276 disease has almost entirely replaced reduction by force; the contracted
50277 soft parts are divided, and the bone is resected.
50278
50279 _Amputation_ for tuberculous joint disease has become one of the rare
50280 operations of surgery, and is only justified when less radical measures
50281 have failed and the condition of the limb is affecting the general
50282 health. Amputation is more frequently called for in persons past middle
50283 life who are the subjects of pulmonary tuberculosis.
50284
50285
50286 SYPHILITIC DISEASE
50287
50288 Syphilitic affections of joints are comparatively rare. As in
50289 tuberculosis, the disease may be first located in the synovial membrane,
50290 or it may spread to the joint from one of the bones.
50291
50292 In #acquired syphilis#, at an early stage and before the skin eruptions
50293 appear, one of the large joints, such as the shoulder or knee, may be
50294 the seat of pain--_arthralgia_--which is worse at night. In the
50295 secondary stage, a _synovitis_ with serous effusion is not uncommon, and
50296 may affect several joints. Syphilitic _hydrops_ is met with almost
50297 exclusively in the knee; it is frequently bilateral, and is insidious in
50298 its onset and progress, the patient usually being able to go about.
50299
50300 In the _tertiary stage_ the joint lesions are persistent and
50301 destructive, and result from the formation of gummata, either in the
50302 deeper layers of the synovial membrane or in the adjacent bone or
50303 periosteum.
50304
50305 _Peri-synovial_ and _peri-bursal gummata_ are met with in relation to
50306 the knee-joint of middle-aged adults, especially women. They are usually
50307 multiple, develop slowly, and are rarely sensitive or painful. One or
50308 more of the gummata may break down and give rise to tertiary ulcers. The
50309 co-existence of indolent swellings, ulcers, and depressed scars in the
50310 vicinity of the knee is characteristic of tertiary syphilis.
50311
50312 The disease spreads throughout the capsule and synovial membrane, which
50313 becomes diffusely thickened and infiltrated with granulation tissue
50314 which eats into and replaces the articular cartilage. Clinically, the
50315 condition resembles tuberculous disease of the synovial membrane, for
50316 which it is probably frequently mistaken, but in the syphilitic
50317 affection the swelling is nodular and uneven, and the subjective
50318 symptoms are slight, mobility is little impaired, and yet the deformity
50319 is considerable.
50320
50321 _Syphilitic osteo-arthritis_ results from a gumma in the periosteum or
50322 marrow of one of the adjacent bones. There is gradual enlargement of one
50323 of the bones, the patient complains of pains, which are worst at night.
50324 The disease may extend to the synovial membrane and be attended with
50325 effusion into the joint, or it may erupt on the periosteal surface and
50326 invade the skin, forming one or more sinuses. The further progress is
50327 complicated by the occurrence of pyogenic infection leading to necrosis
50328 of bone, in the knee-joint, for example, the patella or one of the
50329 condyles of the femur or tibia, may furnish a sequestrum. In such cases,
50330 anti-syphilitic treatment must be supplemented by operation for the
50331 removal of the diseased tissues. In the knee, excision is rarely
50332 necessary; but in the elbow it may be called for to obtain a movable
50333 joint.
50334
50335 In #inherited syphilis# the earliest joint affections are those in which
50336 there is an effusion into the joint, especially the knee or elbow; and
50337 in exceptional cases pyogenic infection may be superadded, and pus form
50338 in the joint.
50339
50340 In older children, a gummatous synovitis is met with of which the most
50341 striking features are: its insidious development, its chronic course,
50342 symmetrical distribution, freedom from pain, the free mobility of the
50343 joint, its tendency to relapse, and its association with other
50344 syphilitic stigmata, especially in the eyes. The knees are the joints
50345 most frequently affected, and the condition usually yields readily to
50346 anti-syphilitic treatment without impairment of function.
50347
50348
50349 JOINT DISEASES ACCOMPANYING CERTAIN CONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS
50350
50351 #Gout.#--_Arthritis Urica._--One of the manifestations of gout is that
50352 certain joints are liable to attacks of inflammation associated with the
50353 deposit of a chalk-like material composed of sodium biurate, chiefly in
50354 the matrix of the articular cartilage, it may be in streaks or patches
50355 towards the central area of the joint, or throughout the entire extent
50356 of the cartilage, which appears as if it had been painted over with
50357 plaster of Paris. As a result of this uratic infiltration, the cartilage
50358 loses its vitality and crumbles away, leading to the formation of what
50359 are known as gouty ulcers, and these may extend through the cartilage
50360 and invade the bone. The deposit of urates in the synovial membrane is
50361 attended with effusion into the joint and the formation of adhesions,
50362 while in the ligaments and peri-articular structures it leads to the
50363 formation of scar tissue. The metatarso-phalangeal joint of the great
50364 toe, on one or on both sides, is that most frequently affected. The
50365 disease is met with in men after middle life, and while common enough in
50366 England and Ireland, is almost unknown in hospital practice in Scotland.
50367
50368 The _clinical features_ are characteristic. There is a sudden onset of
50369 excruciating pain, usually during the early hours of the morning, the
50370 joint becomes swollen, red, and glistening, with engorgement of the
50371 veins and some fever and disturbance of health and temper. In the course
50372 of a week or ten days there is a gradual return to the normal. Such
50373 attacks may recur only once a year or they may be more frequent; the
50374 successive attacks tend to become less acute but last longer, and the
50375 local phenomena persist, the joint remaining permanently swollen and
50376 stiff. Masses of chalk form in and around the joint, and those in the
50377 subcutaneous tissue may break through the skin, forming indolent ulcers
50378 with exposure of the chalky masses (_tophi_). The hands may become
50379 seriously crippled, especially when the tendon sheaths and bursae also
50380 are affected; the crippling resembles that resulting from arthritis
50381 deformans but it differs in not being symmetrical.
50382
50383 The local _treatment_ consists in employing soothing applications and a
50384 Bier's bandage for two or three hours twice daily while the symptoms are
50385 acute; later, hot-air baths, massage, and exercises are indicated. It is
50386 remarkable how completely even the most deformed joints may recover
50387 their function. Dietetic and medicinal treatment must also be employed.
50388
50389 #Chronic Rheumatism.#--This term is applied to a condition which
50390 sometimes follows upon acute articular rheumatism in persons presenting
50391 a family tendency to acute rheumatism or to inflammations of serous
50392 membranes, and manifesting other evidence of the rheumatic taint, such
50393 as chorea or rheumatic nodules.
50394
50395 The changes in the joints involve almost exclusively the synovial
50396 membrane and the ligaments; they consist in cellular infiltration and
50397 exudation, resulting in the formation of new connective tissue which
50398 encroaches on the cavity of the joint and gives rise to adhesions, and
50399 by contracting causes stiffness and deformity. The articular cartilages
50400 may subsequently be transformed into connective tissue, with consequent
50401 fibrous ankylosis and obliteration of the joint. The bones are affected
50402 only in so far as they undergo fatty atrophy from disuse of the limb, or
50403 alteration in their configuration as a result of partial dislocation.
50404 Osseous ankylosis may occur, especially in the small joints of the hand
50405 and foot.
50406
50407 The disease is generally poly-articular and may be met with in childhood
50408 and youth as well as in adult life. In some cases pain is so severe that
50409 the patient resists the least attempt at movement. In others, the
50410 joints, although stiff, can be moved but exhibit pronounced crackings.
50411 When there is much connective tissue formed in relation to the synovial
50412 membrane, the joint is swollen, and as the muscles waste above and
50413 below, the swelling is spindle-shaped. Subacute exacerbations occur from
50414 time to time, with fever and aggravation of the local symptoms and
50415 implication of other joints. After repeated recurrences, there is
50416 ankylosis with deformity, the patient becoming a helpless cripple. On
50417 account of the tendency to visceral complications, the tenure of life is
50418 uncertain.
50419
50420 From the nature of the disease, _treatment_ is for the most part
50421 palliative. Salicylates are only of service during the exacerbations
50422 attended with pyrexia. The application of soda fomentations, turpentine
50423 cloths, or electric or hot-air baths may be useful. Improvement may
50424 result from the general and local therapeutics available at such places
50425 as Bath, Buxton, Harrogate, Strathpeffer, Wiesbaden, or Aix. In selected
50426 cases, a certain measure of success has followed operative interference,
50427 which consists in a modified excision. The deformities resulting from
50428 chronic rheumatism are but little amenable to surgical treatment, and
50429 forcible attempts to remedy stiffness or deformity are to be avoided.
50430
50431 #Arthritis Deformans# (_Osteo-arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatic
50432 Gout, Malum Senile, Traumatic or Mechanical Arthritis_).--Under the term
50433 arthritis deformans, which was first employed by Virchow, it is
50434 convenient to include a number of joint affections which have many
50435 anatomical and clinical features in common.
50436
50437 The disease is widely distributed in the animal kingdom, both in
50438 domestic species and in wild animals in the natural state such as the
50439 larger carnivora and the gorilla; evidence of it has also been found in
50440 the bones of animals buried with prehistoric man.
50441
50442 The morbid changes in the joints present a remarkable combination of
50443 atrophy and degeneration on the one hand and overgrowth on the other,
50444 indicating a profound disturbance of nutrition in the joint structures.
50445 The nature of this disturbance and its etiology are imperfectly known.
50446 By many writers it is believed to depend upon some form of
50447 auto-intoxication, the toxins being absorbed from the gastro-intestinal
50448 tract, and those who suffer are supposed to possess what has been called
50449 an "arthritic diathesis."
50450
50451 The localisation of the disease in a particular joint may be determined
50452 by several factors, of which trauma appears to be the most important.
50453 The condition is frequently observed to follow, either directly or after
50454 an interval, upon a lesion which involves gross injury of the joint or
50455 of one of the neighbouring bones. It occurs with greater frequency after
50456 repeated minor injuries affecting the joint and its vicinity, such as
50457 sprains and contusions, and particularly those sustained in laborious
50458 occupations. This connection between trauma and arthritis deformans led
50459 Arbuthnot Lane to apply to it the term _traumatic_ or _trade arthritis_.
50460
50461 The traumatic or strain factor in the production of the disease may be
50462 manifested in a less obvious fashion. In the lower extremity, for
50463 example, _any condition which disturbs the static equilibrium of the
50464 limb as a whole_ would appear to predispose to the disease in one or
50465 other of the joints. The static equilibrium may be disturbed by such
50466 deformities as flat-foot or knock-knee, and badly united fractures of
50467 the lower extremity. In hallux valgus, the metatarso-phalangeal joint of
50468 the great toe undergoes changes characteristic of arthritis deformans.
50469
50470 A number of cases have been recorded in which arthritis deformans has
50471 followed upon antecedent disease of the joint, such as pyogenic or
50472 gonorrhoeal synovitis, upon repeated haemorrhages into the knee-joint in
50473 bleeders, and in unreduced dislocations in which a new joint has been
50474 established.
50475
50476 [Illustration: FIG. 157.--Arthritis Deformans of Elbow, showing
50477 destruction of articular surfaces and masses of new bone around the
50478 articular margins.
50479
50480 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
50481
50482 Lastly, Poncet and other members of the Lyons school regard arthritis
50483 deformans as due to an attenuated form of tuberculous infection, and
50484 draw attention to the fact that a tuberculous family history is often
50485 met with in the subjects of the disease.
50486
50487 [Illustration: FIG. 158.--Arthritis Deformans of Knee, showing
50488 eburnation and grooving of articular surfaces.
50489
50490 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh.)]
50491
50492 _Morbid Anatomy._--The commonest type is that in which the articular
50493 surfaces undergo degenerative changes. The primary change involves the
50494 articular cartilage, which becomes softened and fibrillated and is worn
50495 away until the subjacent bone is exposed. If the bone is rarefied, the
50496 enlarged cancellous spaces are opened into and an eroded and worm-eaten
50497 appearance is brought about; with further use of the joint, the bone is
50498 worn away, so that in a ball-and-socket joint like the hip, the head of
50499 the femur and the acetabulum are markedly altered in size and shape.
50500 More commonly, the bone exposed as a result of disappearance of the
50501 cartilage is denser than normal, and under the influence of the
50502 movements of the joint, becomes smooth and polished--a change described
50503 as _eburnation_ of the articular surfaces (Fig. 158). In hinge-joints
50504 such as the knee and elbow, the influence of movement is shown by a
50505 series of parallel grooves corresponding to the lines of friction
50506 (Fig. 158).
50507
50508 [Illustration: FIG. 159.--Hypertrophied Fringes of Synovial Membrane in
50509 Arthritis Deformans of Knee.
50510
50511 (Museum of Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.)]
50512
50513 While these degenerative changes are gradually causing destruction of
50514 the articular surfaces, reparative and hypertrophic changes are taking
50515 place at the periphery. Along the line of the junction between the
50516 cartilage and synovial membrane, the proliferation of tissue leads to
50517 the formation of nodules or masses of cartilage--_ecchondroses_--which
50518 are subsequently converted into bone (Fig. 157). Gross alterations in
50519 the ends of the bone are thus brought about which can be recognised
50520 clinically and in skiagrams, and which tend to restrict the normal range
50521 of movement. The extension of the ossification into the synovial
50522 reflection and capsular ligament adds a collar or "lip" of new bone,
50523 known as "lipping" of the articular margins, and also into other
50524 ligaments, insertions of tendons and intermuscular septa giving rise to
50525 bony outgrowths or osteophytes not unlike those met with in the
50526 neuro-arthropathies.
50527
50528 Proliferative changes in the synovial membrane are attended with
50529 increased vascularity and thickening of the membrane and an enlargement
50530 of its villi and fringes. When the fatty fringes are developed to an
50531 exaggerated degree, the condition is described as an _arborescent
50532 lipoma_ (Fig. 159). Individual fringes may attain the size of a hazel
50533 nut, and the fibro-fatty tissue of which they are composed may be
50534 converted into cartilage and bone; such a body may remain attached by a
50535 narrow pedicle or stalk, or this may be torn across and the body becomes
50536 loose and, unless confined in a recess of the joint, it wanders about
50537 and may become impacted between the articular surfaces. These changes in
50538 the synovial membrane are often associated with an abundant exudate or
50539 hydrops. These degenerative and hypertrophic changes, while usually
50540 attended with marked restriction of movement and sometimes by "locking"
50541 of the joint, practically never result in ankylosis.
50542
50543 The _ankylosing type_ of chronic arthritis is fortunately much rarer
50544 than those described above, and is chiefly met with in the joints of the
50545 fingers and toes and in those of the vertebral column. The synovial
50546 membrane proliferates, grows over the cartilage, and replaces it, and
50547 when two such articular surfaces are in contact they tend to adhere,
50548 thus obliterating the joint, cavity, and resulting in fibrous or bony
50549 ankylosis. The changes progress slowly and, before they result in
50550 ankylosis, various sub-luxations and dislocations may occur with
50551 distortion and deformity which, in the case of the fingers, is extremely
50552 disabling and unsightly (Fig. 160).
50553
50554 _Clinical Features._--It is usually observed that in patients who are
50555 still young the tendency is for the disease to advance with considerable
50556 rapidity, so that in the course of months it may cause crippling of
50557 several joints. The course of the disease as met with in persons past
50558 middle life is more chronic; it begins insidiously, and many years may
50559 pass before there is pronounced disability. The earliest symptom is
50560 stiffness, especially in the morning after rest, which passes off
50561 temporarily with use of the limb. As time goes on, the range of movement
50562 becomes restricted, and crackings occur. This stage of the disease may
50563 be prolonged indefinitely; if it progresses, stiffness becomes more
50564 pronounced, certain movements are lost, others develop in abnormal
50565 directions, and deformed attitudes add to the disablement. The disease
50566 is compatible with long life, but not with any active occupation, hence
50567 those of the hospital class who suffer from it tend to accumulate in
50568 workhouse infirmaries.
50569
50570 _Hydrops_ is most marked in the knee, and may affect also the adjacent
50571 bursae. As the joint becomes distended with fluid, the ligaments are
50572 stretched, the limb becomes weak and unstable, and the patient complains
50573 of a feeling of weight, of insecurity, and of tiredness. Pain is
50574 occasional and evanescent, and is usually the result of some extra
50575 exertion, or exposure to cold and wet. This form of the disease is
50576 extremely chronic, and may last for an indefinite number of years. It is
50577 to be diagnosed from the other forms of hydrops already considered--the
50578 purely traumatic, the pyogenic, gonorrhoeal, tuberculous, and
50579 syphilitic--and from that associated with Charcot's disease.
50580
50581 _Hypertrophied fringes and pedunculated or loose bodies_ often co-exist
50582 with hydrops, and give rise to characteristic clinical features,
50583 particularly in the knee. The fringes, especially when they assume the
50584 type of the arborescent lipoma, project into the cavity of the joint,
50585 filling up its recesses and distending its capsule so that the joint is
50586 swollen and slightly flexed. Pain is not a prominent feature, and the
50587 patient may walk fairly well. On grasping the joint while it is being
50588 actively flexed and extended, the fringes may be felt moving under the
50589 fingers. Symptoms from impaction of a loose body are exceptional.
50590
50591 [Illustration: FIG. 160.--Arthritis Deformans of Hands, showing
50592 symmetry of lesions, ulnar deviation of fingers, and nodular thickening
50593 at inter-phalangeal joints.]
50594
50595 _The dry form of arthritis deformans_, although specially common in the
50596 knee, is met with in other joints, either as a mon-articular or
50597 poly-articular disease; and it is also met with in the joints of the
50598 spine and of the fingers as well as in the temporo-mandibular joint. In
50599 the joints of the fingers the disease is remarkably symmetrical, and
50600 tends to assume a nodular type (Heberden's nodes) (Fig. 160); in younger
50601 subjects it assumes a more painful and progressive fusiform type
50602 (Fig. 161). In the larger joints the subjective symptoms usually precede
50603
50604 any palpable evidence of disease, the patient complaining of stiffness,
50605 crackings, and aching, aggravated by changes in the weather. The
50606 roughness due to fibrillation of the articular cartilages causes coarse
50607 friction on moving the joint, or, in the knee, on moving the patella on
50608 the condyles of the femur. It may be months or even years before the
50609 lipping and other hypertrophic changes in the ends of the bones are
50610 recognisable, and before the joint assumes the deformed features which
50611 the name of the disease suggests.
50612
50613 The capsular ligament, except in hydrops, is the seat of
50614 connective-tissue overgrowth, and tends to become contracted and rigid.
50615 Intra-articular ligaments, such as the ligamentum teres in the hip, are
50616 usually worn away and disappear. The surrounding muscles undergo
50617 atrophy, tendons become adherent to their sheaths and may be ossified,
50618 and the sheaths of nerves may be involved by the cicatricial changes in
50619 the surrounding tissues.
50620
50621 _The X-ray appearances of arthritis deformans_ necessarily vary with the
50622 type of the disease and the joint affected; in the joints of the fingers
50623 there is a narrowing of the spaces between the articular ends of the
50624 bones as a result of absorption of the articular cartilage, and
50625 rarefaction of the cancellous tissue in the vicinity of the joints; in
50626 the larger joints there is "lipping" of the articular margins,
50627 osteophytes, and other evidence of abnormal ossification in and around
50628 the joint. Eburnation of the articular surfaces is shown by increase in
50629 the density of the shadow of the bone in the areas affected.
50630
50631 [Illustration: FIG. 161.--Arthritis Deformans affecting several
50632 Joints, in a boy aet. 10.
50633
50634 (Dr. Dickson's case.)]
50635
50636 _Treatment._--Treatment is for the most part limited to the relief of
50637 symptoms. On no account should the affected joints be kept at rest by
50638 means of splints or other apparatus. Active movements and exercises of
50639 all kinds are to be persevered with. When pain is a prominent feature,
50640 it may be relieved either by douches of iodine and hot water (tincture
50641 of iodine 1 oz. to the quart), or by the application of lint saturated
50642 with a lotion made up of chloral hydrate, gr. v, glycerin [dram]j, water
50643 [ounce]j, and covered with oil-silk. Strain and over-use of the joint
50644 and sudden changes of temperature are to be avoided. The induction of
50645 hyperaemia by means of massage, the elastic bandage, and hot-air baths is
50646 often of service. Operative interference is indicated when the disease
50647 is of a severe type, when it is mon-articular, and when the general
50648 condition of the patient is otherwise favourable. Excision has been
50649 practised with success in the hip, knee, elbow, and temporo-mandibular
50650 joints. Limitation of movement and locking at the hip-joint when due to
50651 new bone round the edge of the acetabulum may be greatly relieved by
50652 removal of the bone--a procedure known as _cheilotomy_. Loose bodies and
50653 hypertrophied fringes if causing symptoms may also be removed by
50654 operation.
50655
50656 When stiffness and grating on movement are prominent features we have
50657 found the injection of from half to one ounce of sterilised white
50658 vaseline afford decided relief.
50659
50660 The patient should be nourished well, and there need be no restriction
50661 in the diet such as is required in gouty patients, so long as the
50662 digestion is not impaired. Benefit is also derived from the
50663 administration of cod-liver oil, and of tonics, such as strychnin,
50664 arsenic, and iron, and in some cases of iodide of potassium. Luff
50665 recommends the administration over long periods of guaiacol carbonate,
50666 in cachets beginning with doses of 5-10 grs. and increased to 15-20 grs.
50667 thrice daily. A course of treatment at one of the reputed spas--Aix,
50668 Bath, Buxton, Gastein, Harrogate, Strathpeffer, Wiesbaden, Wildbad--is
50669 often beneficial.
50670
50671 In some cases benefit has followed the prolonged internal administration
50672 of liquid paraffin.
50673
50674 On the assumption that the condition is the result of an
50675 auto-intoxication from the intestinal tract, saline purges and
50676 irrigation of the colon are indicated, and Arbuthnot Lane claims to have
50677 brought about improvement by short-circuiting or by resecting the colon.
50678
50679 Residence in a warm and dry climate, with an open-air life, has been
50680 known to arrest the disease when other measures have failed to give
50681 relief.
50682
50683 The application of radium and the ingestion of radio-active waters have
50684 also been recommended.
50685
50686 #Haemophilic# or #Bleeder's Joint#.--This is a rare but characteristic
50687 affection met with chiefly in the knee-joint of boys who are the
50688 subjects of haemophilia. After some trivial injury, or even without
50689 apparent cause, a haemorrhage takes place into the joint. The joint is
50690 tensely swollen, cannot be completely extended, and is so painful that
50691 the patient is obliged to lie up. The temperature is often raised (101 o
50692 to 102 o F.), especially if there are also haemorrhages elsewhere. The
50693 blood in the joint is slowly re-absorbed, and by the end of a fortnight
50694 or so, the symptoms completely disappear. As a rule these attacks are
50695 repeated; the pain attending them diminishes, but the joint becomes the
50696 seat of permanent changes: the synovial membrane is thickened,
50697 abnormally vascular, and coloured brown from the deposit of blood
50698 pigment; on its surface, and in parts of the articular cartilage, there
50699 is a deposit of rust-coloured fibrin; there may be extensive adhesions,
50700 and in some cases changes occur like those observed in arthritis
50701 deformans with erosion and ulceration of the cartilage and a form of dry
50702 caries of the articular surfaces, which may terminate in ankylosis.
50703
50704 As the swelling of the joint is associated with wasting of the muscles,
50705 with stiffness, and with flexion, the condition closely resembles
50706 tuberculous disease of the synovial membrane. From errors in diagnosis
50707 such joints have been operated upon, with disastrous results due to
50708 haemorrhage.
50709
50710 The treatment of a recent haemorrhage consists in securing absolute rest
50711 and applying elastic compression. The introduction of blood-serum (10-15
50712 c.c.) into a vein may assist in arresting the haemorrhage;
50713 anti-diphtheritic serum is that most readily obtainable.
50714
50715 After an interval, measures should be adopted to promote the absorption
50716 of blood and to prevent stiffness and flexion; these include massage,
50717 movements, and extension with weight and pulley.
50718
50719
50720 JOINT DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH LESIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM:
50721 NEURO-ARTHROPATHIES
50722
50723 _In Lesions of Peripheral Nerves._--In the hand, and more rarely in the
50724 foot, when one or other of the main nerve-trunks has been divided or
50725 compressed, the joints may become swollen and painful and afterwards
50726 become stiff and deformed. Bony ankylosis has been observed.
50727
50728 _In Affections of the Spinal Medulla._--In myelitis, progressive
50729 muscular atrophy, poliomyelitis, insular sclerosis, and in traumatic
50730 lesions, joint affections are occasionally met with.
50731
50732 The occurrence of joint lesions in _locomotor ataxia_ (tabes dorsalis)
50733 was first described by Charcot in 1868--hence the term "Charcot's
50734 disease" applied to them. Although they usually develop in the ataxic
50735 stage, one or more years after the initial spinal symptoms, they may
50736 appear before there is any evidence of tabes. The onset is frequently
50737 determined by some injury. The joints of the lower extremity are most
50738 commonly affected, and the disease is bilateral in a considerable
50739 proportion of cases--both knees or both hips, for instance, being
50740 implicated.
50741
50742 Among the theories suggested in explanation of these arthropathies the
50743 most recent is that by Babinski and Barre, which traces the condition to
50744 vascular lesions of a syphilitic type in the articular arteries.
50745
50746 The first symptom is usually a swelling of the joint and its vicinity.
50747 There is no redness or heat and no pain on movement. The peri-articular
50748 swelling, unlike ordinary oedema, scarcely pits even on firm pressure.
50749
50750 [Illustration: FIG. 162.--Bones of Knee-joint in advanced stage of
50751 Charcot's Disease. The medial part of the head of the tibia has
50752 disappeared.
50753
50754 (Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh).]
50755
50756 In mild cases this condition of affairs may persist for months; in
50757 severe cases destructive changes ensue with remarkable rapidity. The
50758 joint becomes enormously swollen, loses its normal contour, and the ends
50759 of the bones become irregularly deformed (Fig. 162). Sometimes, and
50760 especially in the knee, the clinical features are those of an enormous
50761 hydrops with fibrinous and other loose bodies and hypertrophied
50762 fringes--and great oedema of the peri-articular tissues (Fig. 163). The
50763 joint is wobbly or flail-like from stretching and destruction of the
50764 controlling ligaments, and is devoid of sensation. In other cases,
50765 wearing down and total disappearance of the ends of the bones is the
50766 prominent feature, attended with flail-like movements and with coarse
50767 grating. Dislocation is observed chiefly at the hip, and is rather a
50768 gross displacement with unnatural mobility than a typical dislocation,
50769 and it is usually possible to move the bones freely upon one another and
50770 to reduce the displacement. A striking feature is the extensive
50771 formation of new bone in the capsular ligament and surrounding muscles.
50772 The enormous swelling and its rapid development may suggest the growth
50773 of a malignant tumour. The most useful factor in diagnosis is the entire
50774 absence of pain, of tenderness, and of common sensibility. The freedom
50775 with which a tabetic patient will allow his disorganised joint to be
50776 handled requires to be seen to be appreciated.
50777
50778 [Illustration: FIG. 163.--Charcot's Disease of Left Knee. The joint is
50779 distended with fluid and the whole limb is oedematous.]
50780
50781 The rapidity of the destructive changes in certain cases of tabes, and
50782 the entire absence of joint lesions in others, would favour the view
50783 that special parts of the spinal medulla must be implicated in the
50784 former group.
50785
50786 In _syringomyelia_, joint affections (gliomatous arthropathies) are more
50787 frequent than in tabes, and they usually involve the upper extremity in
50788 correspondence with the seat of the spinal lesion, which usually affects
50789 the lower cervical and upper thoracic segments. Except that the joint
50790 disease is seldom symmetrical, it closely resembles the arthropathy of
50791 tabes. The completeness of the analgesia of the articular structures
50792 and of the overlying soft parts is illustrated by the fact that in one
50793 case the patient himself was in the habit of letting out the fluid from
50794 his elbow with the aid of a pair of scissors, and that in another the
50795 joint was painlessly excised without an anaesthetic.
50796
50797 [Illustration: FIG. 164.--Charcot's Disease of both Ankles: front view.
50798 Man, aet. 32.]
50799
50800 The disease may become arrested or may go on to complete
50801 disorganisation; suppuration may ensue from infection through a breach
50802 of the surface, and in rare cases the joint has become the seat of
50803 tuberculosis.
50804
50805 [Illustration: FIG. 165.--Charcot's Disease of both Ankles: back view.
50806 Man, aet. 32.]
50807
50808 _Treatment_, in addition to that of the nerve lesion underlying the
50809 arthropathy, consists in supporting and protecting the joint by means of
50810 bandages, splints, and other apparatus. In the lower extremity, the use
50811 of crutches is helpful in taking the strain off the affected limb. When
50812 there is much distension of the joint, considerable relief follows upon
50813 withdrawal of fluid. The best possible result being rigid ankylosis in a
50814 good position, it may be advisable to bring this about artificially by
50815 arthrodesis or resection. Operation is indicated when only one joint is
50816 affected and when the cord lesion is such as will permit of the patient
50817 using the limb. The wounds heal well, but the victims of tabes are
50818 unfavourable subjects for operative interference, on account of their
50819 liability to intercurrent complications. When the limb is quite useless,
50820 amputation may be the best course.
50821
50822 _In cerebral lesions_ attended with hemiplegia, joint affections,
50823 characterised by evanescent pain, redness, and swelling, are
50824 occasionally met with. The secondary changes in joints which are the
50825 seat of paralytic contracture are considered with the surgery of the
50826 Extremities.
50827
50828 In cases of _hysteria_ and other _functional affections of the
50829 nervous system_, an intermittent neuropathic hydrops has been
50830 observed--especially in the knee. Without apparent cause, the joint
50831 fills with fluid and its movements become restricted, and after from two
50832 to eight days the swelling subsides and the joint returns to normal. A
50833 remarkable feature of the condition is that the effusion into the joint
50834 recurs at regular intervals, it may be over a period of years. Psychic
50835 conditions have been known to induce attacks, and sometimes to abort
50836 them or even to cause their disappearance. Hence it has been recommended
50837 that treatment by suggestion should be employed along with tonic doses
50838 of quinine and arsenic.
50839
50840
50841 HYSTERICAL OR MIMETIC JOINT AFFECTIONS
50842
50843 Under this heading, Sir Benjamin Brodie, in 1822, described an affection
50844 of joints, characterised by the prominence of subjective symptoms and
50845 the absence of pathological changes. Although most frequently met with
50846 in young women with an impressionable nervous system, and especially
50847 among those in good social circumstances, it occurs occasionally in men.
50848 The onset may be referred to injury or exposure to cold, or may be
50849 associated with some disturbance of the emotions or of the generative
50850 organs; or the condition may be an involuntary imitation of the symptoms
50851 of organic joint disease presented by a relative or friend.
50852
50853 It is characteristic that the symptoms develop abruptly without
50854 satisfactory cause, that they are exaggerated and wanting in harmony
50855 with one another, and that they do not correspond with the features of
50856 any of the known forms of organic disease. In some cases the only
50857 complaint is of severe pain; more often this is associated with
50858 excessive tenderness and with impairment of the functions of the joint.
50859 On examination the joint presents a normal appearance, but the skin
50860 over it is remarkably sensitive. A light touch is more likely to excite
50861 pain than deep and firm pressure. Stiffness is a variable feature--in
50862 some cases amounting to absolute rigidity, so that no ordinary force
50863 will elicit movement. It is characteristic of this, as of other
50864 neuroses, that the symptoms come and go without sufficient cause. When
50865 the patient's attention is diverted, the pain and stiffness may
50866 disappear. There is no actual swelling of the joint, although there may
50867 be an appearance of this from wasting of the muscles above and below. If
50868 the joint is kept rigid for long periods, secondary contracture may
50869 occur--in the knee with flexion, in the hip with flexion and adduction.
50870
50871 The _diagnosis_ is often a matter of considerable difficulty, and the
50872 condition is liable to be mistaken for such organic lesions as a
50873 tuberculous or pyogenic focus in the bone close to the joint.
50874
50875 The greatest difficulty is met with in the knee and hip, where the
50876 condition may closely simulate tuberculous disease. The use of the
50877 Rontgen rays, or examination of the joint under anaesthesia, is helpful.
50878
50879 The _local treatment_ consists chiefly in improving the nutrition of the
50880 affected limb by means of massage, exercises, baths, and electricity.
50881 Splints are to be avoided. In refractory cases, benefit may follow the
50882 application of blisters or of Corrigan's button. The general condition
50883 of the patient must be treated on the same lines as in other neuroses.
50884 The Weir-Mitchell treatment may have to be employed in obstinate cases,
50885 the patient being secluded from her friends and placed in charge of a
50886 nurse. Complete recovery is the rule, but when the muscles are weak and
50887 wasted from prolonged disuse, a considerable time may elapse before the
50888 limb returns to normal.
50889
50890
50891 TUMOURS AND CYSTS
50892
50893 New growths taking origin in the synovial membrane are rare, and are not
50894 usually diagnosed before operation. They are attended with exudation
50895 into the joint, and in the case of _sarcoma_ the fluid is usually
50896 blood-stained. If the tumour projects in a polypoidal manner into the
50897 joint, it may cause symptoms of loose body. One or two cases have been
50898 recorded in which a _cartilaginous tumour_ growing from the synovial
50899 membrane has erupted through the joint capsule and infiltrated the
50900 adjoining muscles. _Multiple cartilaginous tumours_ forming loose bodies
50901 are described on p. 544.
50902
50903 _Cysts of joints_ constitute an ill-defined group which includes ganglia
50904 formed in relation to the capsular ligament. Cystic distension of bursae
50905 which communicate with the joint is most often met with in the region of
50906 the knee in cases of long-standing hydrops. It was suggested by Morrant
50907 Baker that cystic swellings may result from the hernial protrusion of
50908 the synovial membrane between the stretched fibres of the capsular
50909 ligament, and the name "Baker's cysts" has been applied to these.
50910
50911 In the majority of cases, cysts in relation to joints give rise to
50912 little inconvenience and may be left alone. If interfered with at all,
50913 they should be excised.
50914
50915
50916 LOOSE BODIES
50917
50918 It is convenient to describe the varieties of loose bodies under two
50919 heads: those composed of fibrin, and those composed of organised
50920 connective tissue.
50921
50922 #Fibrinous Loose Bodies# (Corpora oryzoidea).--These are homogeneous or
50923 concentrically laminated masses of fibrin, sometimes resembling rice
50924 grains, melon seeds, or adhesive wafers, sometimes quite irregular in
50925 shape. Usually they are present in large numbers, but sometimes there is
50926 only one, and it may attain considerable dimensions. They are not
50927 peculiar to joints, for they are met with in tendon sheaths and bursae,
50928 and their origin from synovial membrane may be accepted as proved. They
50929 occur in tuberculosis, arthritis deformans, and in Charcot's disease,
50930 and their presence is almost invariably associated with an effusion of
50931 fluid into the joint. While they may result from the coagulation of
50932 fibrin-forming elements in the exudate, their occurrence in tuberculous
50933 hydrops would appear to be the result of coagulation necrosis, or of
50934 fibrinous degeneration of the surface layer of the diseased synovial
50935 membrane. However formed, their shape is the result of mechanical
50936 influences, and especially of the movement of the joint.
50937
50938 _Clinically_, loose bodies composed of fibrin constitute an unimportant
50939 addition to the features of the disease with which they are associated.
50940 They never give rise to the classical symptoms associated with impaction
50941 of a loose body between the articular surfaces. Their presence may be
50942 recognised, especially in the knee, by the crepitating sensation
50943 imparted to the fingers of the hand grasping the joint while it is
50944 flexed and extended by the patient.
50945
50946 The _treatment_ is directed towards the disease underlying the hydrops.
50947 If it is desired to empty the joint, this is best done by open
50948 incision.
50949
50950 [Illustration: FIG. 166.--Radiogram of Multiple Loose Bodies in
50951 Knee-joint and Semi-membranosus Bursa in a man aet. 38.
50952
50953 (Mr. J. W. Dowden's case.)]
50954
50955 #Bodies composed of Organised Connective Tissue.#--These are
50956 comparatively common in joints that are already the seat of some chronic
50957 disease, such as arthritis deformans, Charcot's arthropathy, or synovial
50958 tuberculosis. They take origin almost exclusively from an erratic
50959 overgrowth of the fringes of the synovial membrane, and may consist
50960 entirely of fat, the arborescent lipoma (Fig. 159) being the most
50961 pronounced example of this variety. Fibrous tissue or cartilage may
50962 form in one or more of the fatty fringes and give rise to hard nodular
50963 masses, which may attain a considerable size, and in course of time may
50964 undergo ossification.
50965
50966 Like other hypertrophies on a free surface, they tend to become
50967 pedunculated, and so acquire a limited range of movement. The pedicle
50968 may give way and the body become free. In this condition it may wander
50969 about the joint, or lie snugly in one of its recesses until disturbed by
50970 some sudden movement. A loose body free in a joint is capable of growth,
50971 deriving the necessary nutriment from the surrounding fluid. The size
50972 and number of the bodies vary widely. Single specimens have been known
50973 to attain the size of the patella. The smaller varieties may number
50974 considerably over a hundred.
50975
50976 [Illustration: FIG. 167.--Loose Body from Knee-joint of man aet. 25.
50977 Natural size.
50978
50979 a = Convex surface. b = Concave surface.]
50980
50981 In arthritis deformans a rarer type of loose body is met with, a portion
50982 of the lipping of one of the articular margins being detached by injury.
50983 In Charcot's disease, bodies composed of bone are formed in relation to
50984 the capsular and other ligaments, and may be made to grate upon one
50985 another.
50986
50987 The _clinical features_ in this group are mainly those of the disease
50988 which has given rise to the loose bodies, and it is exceptional to meet
50989 with symptoms from impaction of the body between the articular surfaces.
50990 Treatment is to be directed towards the primary disease in the joint, as
50991 well as to the removal of the loose bodies.
50992
50993 [Illustration: FIG. 168.--Multiple partially ossified Chondromas of
50994 Synovial Membrane, from Shoulder-joint, the seat of arthritis deformans,
50995 from a man aet. 35.]
50996
50997 _Loose Bodies in Joints which are otherwise healthy._--It is in joints
50998 otherwise healthy that loose bodies causing the classical symptoms and
50999 calling for operative treatment are most frequently met with. They occur
51000 chiefly in the knee and elbow of healthy males under the age of thirty.
51001 The complaint may be of vague pains, of occasional cracking on moving
51002 the joint, or of impairment of function--usually an inability to extend
51003 or flex the joint completely. In many cases a clear account is given of
51004 the symptoms which arise when the body is impacted between the articular
51005 surfaces, namely, sudden onset of intense sickening pain, loss of power
51006 in the limb and locking of the joint, followed by effusion and other
51007 accompaniments of a severe sprain. On some particular movement, the
51008 body is disengaged, the locking disappears, and recovery takes place.
51009 Attacks of this kind may recur at irregular intervals, during a period
51010 of many years. On examining the joint, it is usually found to contain
51011 fluid, and there may be points of special tenderness corresponding to
51012 the ligaments that have been overstretched. In cases in which there has
51013 been recurrent attacks of locking, the ligaments become slack, the joint
51014 is wobbly, and the quadriceps is wasted. The patient himself, or the
51015 surgeon, may discover the loose body and feel it roll beneath his
51016 fingers, especially if it is lodged in the supra-patellar pouch in the
51017 knee, or on one or other side of the olecranon in the elbow. In most
51018 instances the patient has carefully observed his own symptoms, and is
51019 aware not only of the existence of the loose body, but of its erratic
51020 appearance at different parts of the joint. This feature serves to
51021 differentiate the lesions from a torn medial meniscus in which the pain
51022 and tenderness are always in the same spot. As the body usually contains
51023 bone, it is recognisable in a skiagram.
51024
51025 [Illustration: FIG. 169.--Multiple Cartilaginous Loose Bodies from
51026 Knee-joint.]
51027
51028 There are two methods of _removing the body_; the first and simpler
51029 method is applicable when the body can be palpated, usually in the
51030 supra-patellar pouch; it is preferably transfixed by a needle and can
51031 then be removed through a small incision; otherwise, the joint must be
51032 freely opened and explored, firstly to find the body and further to
51033 remove it.
51034
51035 The characters of this type of loose body are remarkably constant. It is
51036 usually solitary, about the size of a bean or almond, concavo-convex in
51037 shape, the convex aspect being smooth like an articular surface, the
51038 concave aspect uneven and nodulated and showing reparative changes,
51039 healing over of the raw surface, and the new formation of fibrous
51040 tissue, hyaline cartilage and bone, the necessary nutriment being
51041 derived from the synovial fluid (Fig. 167). The body is sometimes found
51042 to be lodged in a defect or excavation in one of the articular surfaces,
51043 usually the medial condyle of the femur, from which it is readily
51044 shelled out by means of an elevator. It presents on section a layer of
51045 articular cartilage on the convex aspect and a variable thickness of
51046 spongy bone beneath this.
51047
51048 The origin of these bodies is one of the most debated questions in
51049 surgical pathology; they obviously consist of a portion of the articular
51050 surface of one of the bones, but how this is detached still remains a
51051 mystery; some maintain that it is purely traumatic; Konig regards them
51052 as portions of the articular surface which have been detached by a
51053 morbid process which he calls "osteochondritis dessicans."
51054
51055 _Multiple Chondromas and Osteomas of the Synovial Membrane._--In this
51056 rare type of loose body, the surface of the synovial membrane is studded
51057 with small sessile or pedunculated tumours composed of pure hyaline
51058 cartilage, or of bone, or of transition stages between cartilage and
51059 bone. They are pearly white in colour, pitted and nodular on the
51060 surface, rarely larger than a pea, although when compressed they may
51061 cake into masses of considerable size. With the movements of the joint
51062 many of the tumours become detached and lie in the serous exudate
51063 excited by their presence. They are found also in the diverticula of the
51064 synovial membrane, in the shoulder in the downward prolongation along
51065 the tendon of the biceps, in the hip in the bursal extension beneath the
51066 psoas.
51067
51068 The patient complains of increasing disability of the limb, movements of
51069 the joint becoming more and more restricted and painful. There is
51070 swelling corresponding to the distended capsule of the joint, and on
51071 palpation the bodies moving under the fingers yield a sensation as of
51072 grains of rice shifting in a bag. If the bodies are so numerous as to be
51073 tightly packed together, the impression is that of a plastic mass having
51074 the shape of the synovial sac. The stiffness and the cracking on
51075 movement may suggest arthritis deformans, but the X-ray appearances make
51076 the diagnosis an easy one. We have observed two cases of this affection
51077 in the knee-joint of adult women, one in the shoulder-joint of an adult
51078 male (Fig. 168), and Caird has observed one in the hip. The treatment
51079 consists in opening the joint by free incision and removing the bodies.
51080
51081 _Displacement of the menisci_ of the knee is referred to with injuries
51082 of that joint.
51083
51084
51085
51086
51087 INDEX
51088
51089
51090 Abdominal aneurysm, 313
51091 aorta, compression of, 269
51092 embolus of, 93
51093
51094 Abscess, 46
51095 acute circumscribed, 46
51096 of bone, 448
51097 Brodie's, 448
51098 chronic, 139
51099 cold, 139
51100 embolic, 66
51101 formation of, 47
51102 Hilton's method of opening, 50
51103 pointing of, 48
51104 pyaemic, 287
51105 residual, 141
51106 of skin, multiple, 382
51107 stitch, 51
51108 treatment of, 49
51109 tuberculous, 139, 141
51110 peri-articular, 514, 517
51111
51112 Achillo-bursitis, 432
51113
51114 Achillo-dynia, 422
51115
51116 Acidosis, 251
51117
51118 Acromion bursa, 429
51119
51120 Actinomycosis, 126
51121
51122 Active hyperaemia, 39
51123
51124 Acupuncture in aneurysm, 308
51125
51126 Acute arthritis of infants, 440
51127 necrosis of bone, 439
51128
51129 Adductor longus muscle, rupture of, 408
51130
51131 Adenoma, 202
51132 malignant, 209
51133 sebaceous, 393
51134 of skin, 393
51135 varieties of, 202
51136
51137 Adiposus dolorosa, 186
51138
51139 Aerobes, 19
51140
51141 Air embolism, 265
51142 hunger, 276
51143
51144 Albumosuria, 195, 474, 492
51145
51146 Aleppo boil, 129
51147
51148 Alexins, 22
51149
51150 Ambrine, 13, 238
51151
51152 Amputation neuroma, 344
51153
51154 Anaerobes, 19
51155
51156 Anaesthesia, after nerve injuries, 347
51157
51158 Analgesia, 347
51159
51160 Anaphylaxis, 23
51161
51162 Anatomical tubercle, 134
51163
51164 Anatomy. _See_ Surgical Anatomy
51165
51166 Anel's operation for aneurysm, 307
51167
51168 Aneurysm, 300. _See also_ Individual Arteries
51169 abdominal, 313
51170 acupuncture in, 308
51171 amputation in, 310
51172 by anastomosis, 298
51173 Anel's operation for, 307, 310
51174 arterio-venous, 263
51175 axillary, 318
51176 of bone, 498
51177 brachial, 318
51178 Brasdor's operation for, 308
51179 cirsoid, 299
51180 Colt's method of wiring for, 309
51181 compression for, 308
51182 consolidated, 304, 305
51183 differential diagnosis of, 305
51184 diffused, 302
51185 digital compression in, 308
51186 excision of, 307
51187 of forearm and hand, 318
51188 fusiform, 301
51189 gelatin injections in, 309
51190 Hunter's operation for, 307
51191 iliac, 318
51192 of individual arteries, 312
51193 inguinal, 318
51194 innominate, 314
51195 intracranial, 316
51196 of leg and foot, 320
51197 ligation of artery for, 307
51198 Macewen's acupuncture for, 308
51199 Matas' operation for, 307
51200 Moore-Corradi method, 308
51201 natural cure of, 305
51202 old operation for, 307
51203 of ophthalmic artery, 317
51204 orbital, 317
51205 pathological, 301
51206 pulse in, 304
51207 rupture of, 306
51208 sacculated, 302
51209 suppuration in, 306
51210 thoracic, 312
51211 traumatic, 263, 310
51212 treatment of, 306
51213 varicose, 311
51214 Wardrop's operation for, 308
51215 X-rays in diagnosis of, 304
51216
51217 Aneurysmal varix, 311, 316, 318, 319, 320
51218
51219 Angioma, 284
51220 arterial, 299
51221 capillary, 294
51222 cavernous, 297
51223 racemosum venosum, 287
51224 venous, 294
51225
51226 Angio-neurotic oedema, 348
51227 sarcoma, 199
51228
51229 Angler's elbow, 406
51230
51231 Ankle, cellulitis of, 58
51232
51233 Ankylosis of joints, 503. _See also_ Individual Joints
51234
51235 Anoci-association, 253
51236
51237 Anthracaemia, 121
51238
51239 Anthrax, 119
51240
51241 Anti-bacterial sera, 23
51242 -diphtheritic serum, 111
51243 -streptococcic serum, 23, 109
51244 -tetanic serum, 117
51245
51246 Antibodies, 22
51247
51248 Antigens, 22
51249
51250 Antiseptics, 242
51251
51252 Antitoxic sera, 23
51253
51254 Antitoxins, 22
51255
51256 Antivenin, 132
51257
51258 Aorta, abdominal, compression of, 269
51259 aneurysm of, 313
51260 embolism of, 93
51261 ligation of, 314
51262 pulsating, 305, 314
51263
51264 Arborescent lipoma, 423
51265
51266 Arseno-billon, 163
51267
51268 Arteries, anatomy of, 258
51269 compression of individual, 269
51270 contusion of, 260
51271 digital compression of, 269
51272 gangrene following ligation of, 94
51273 gunshot wounds of, 263
51274
51275 Arteries, ligation of, for aneurysm, 307
51276 punctured wounds of, 262
51277 repair of, 266, 268
51278 rupture of, 260
51279 wounds of, 261, 262
51280
51281 Arterio-sclerosis, 282
51282
51283 Arterio-venous aneurysm, 310
51284
51285 Arteritis, varieties of, 282
51286
51287 Arthritis, 501. _See also_ Individual Joints
51288 acute, 506
51289 of infants, 440
51290 deformans, 524
51291 gonococcal, 510
51292 neuropathic, 532
51293 ossificans, 503
51294 pneumococcal, 509
51295 pyogenic, 506
51296 rheumatic, 523
51297 rheumatoid, 524
51298 septic, 506
51299 scarlatinal, 508
51300 trade, 525
51301 traumatic, 524
51302 tuberculous, 512
51303 urica, 522
51304
51305 Arthrolysis, 505
51306
51307 Arthropathies, 532
51308 gliomatous, 534
51309
51310 Arthroplasty, 505
51311
51312 Articular caries, 502, 514
51313
51314 Artificial hyperaemia, 39
51315
51316 Ascites, chylous, 325
51317
51318 Asepsis, 18
51319
51320 Asphyxia, local, 97
51321 traumatic, 254
51322
51323 Atheroma, 283
51324
51325 Avulsion of nerves, 375
51326 of tendons, 411
51327
51328 Axilla, cellulitis of, 58
51329 hygroma of, 328
51330
51331 Axillary aneurysm, 318
51332 artery, embolus of, 93
51333 lymph glands, 336
51334 nerve, injuries of, 363
51335
51336
51337 Bacilli, 19
51338
51339 Bacillus aerogenes capsulatus, 99
51340 anthracis, 119
51341 coli communis, 27
51342 diphtheriae 109
51343 drum-stick, 112
51344 of Ducrey, 154
51345 of glanders, 123
51346 Klebs-Loffler, 109
51347 of malignant oedema, 101
51348 mallei, 123
51349 pyocyaneus, 29
51350 of soft sore, 154
51351 of tetanus, 112
51352 tubercle, 133
51353 typhosus, 29, 452
51354
51355 Bacteria, death of, 21
51356 general characters of, 18
51357 pathogenic properties of, 19
51358 pyogenic, 24, 29
51359
51360 Bacterial intoxication, 21
51361
51362 Bacteriology, surgical, 17
51363
51364 Baker's cysts, 539
51365
51366 Bazin's disease, 74, 169
51367
51368 Beck's paste in sinuses, 145
51369
51370 Bed-sores, 73, 103
51371
51372 Bence-Jones on albumosuria, 195, 474, 492
51373
51374 Biceps, bursa under, 430
51375 dislocation of long tendon of, 409
51376 rupture of, 407
51377
51378 Bier's artificial hyperaemia, 38
51379
51380 B.I.P.P., 143
51381
51382 Birth palsies, 362
51383
51384 Biskra button, 129
51385
51386 Bismuth gauze, 247
51387 injections in sinuses, 145
51388
51389 Bites of animals, 223
51390
51391 Black eye, 219
51392
51393 Bleeder's joint, 531
51394
51395 Bleeders, 277
51396 bruises in, 218
51397
51398 Blisters, 376
51399 purulent, 55
51400
51401 Blocking of nerves for shock, 252
51402
51403 Blood, count, 30
51404 cysts, 214, 220
51405 transfusion of, 11, 253
51406
51407 Blood vessels. _See_ Arteries and Veins
51408
51409 Bloodless state, treatment of, 276
51410
51411 Blood letting, general, 42
51412
51413 Boil, 379
51414 Aleppo, 129
51415 Delhi, 129
51416
51417 Bone. _See also_ Individual Bones
51418 abscess of, 448
51419 aneurysm of, 498
51420 angioma of, 491
51421 atrophy of, 479
51422 bacterial diseases of, 438
51423 Brodie's abscess of, 448
51424 cancer of, secondary, 499
51425 caries of, 437, 438
51426 changes in ulcers of leg, 79
51427 chondroma of, 487
51428 cysts of, 477, 500
51429 diseases of, 434
51430 due to staphylococcus aureus, 438
51431 endothelioma of, 492
51432 exostoses of, 191, 481
51433 fibroma of, 491
51434 fragility of, 479
51435 grafting, 16, 436
51436 gumma of, 464
51437 hydatid disease of, 467
51438 hyperostosis, 435, 464
51439 hypertrophic pulmonary osteo-arthropathy, 480
51440 hypertrophy of, 435
51441 lipoma of, 491
51442 lipping of, 527
51443 malacia of, 473
51444 marrow, function of, 434
51445 myeloma of, 491
51446 myxoma of, 491
51447 necrosis of, 438
51448 neuropathic atrophy of, 479
51449 osteoma of, 481
51450 osteomalacia of, 473
51451 osteomyelitis of, 65, 437, 438, 451, 453, 473
51452 fibrosa, 476
51453 osteoporosis of, 437
51454 osteopsathyrosis, 479
51455 ostitis deformans, 474
51456 Paget's disease of, 474
51457 periosteum, function of, 435
51458 periostitis, 437
51459 pulsating haematoma of, 498
51460 pyogenic diseases of, 438
51461 regeneration of, 436
51462 rickety affections of, 468
51463 sarcoma of, 492
51464 sclerosis of, 435
51465 scurvy affecting, 473
51466 secondary tumours of, 499
51467 surgical anatomy of, 434
51468 staphylococcal diseases of, 438
51469 syphilitic diseases of, 461, 465
51470 transplantation of, 436
51471 tuberculous diseases of, 454
51472 tumours of, 480
51473 malignant, 492, 499
51474 metastatic, 499
51475 thyreoid, 500
51476 typhoid, infection of, 452
51477 X-ray appearances in diseases of, 445, 455, 485, 491, 496
51478
51479 Bovine tuberculosis, 136
51480
51481 Brachial aneurysm, 318
51482 artery, embolus of, 93
51483 compression of, 269
51484 birth-paralysis, 362
51485 fibrositis, 413
51486 neuralgia, 371
51487 plexus, lesions of, 360
51488
51489 Brain, joint affections in lesions of, 537
51490 syphilitic lesions of, 161
51491
51492 Branchial dermoids, 211
51493
51494 Brasdor's operation for aneurysm, 308
51495
51496 Brodie's abscess, 448
51497
51498 Bruises, 218
51499
51500 Bubo, 329
51501 bullet, 153
51502 of soft sores, 155
51503
51504 Bullet bubo, 153
51505
51506 Bullets, embedded, 231
51507 varieties of, 230
51508
51509 Burnol, 238
51510
51511 Burns, 233
51512 classification, of, 234
51513 electrical, 239
51514 pathology of, 233
51515 by X-rays, 239
51516
51517 Bursae. _See also_ Individual Bursae
51518 adventitious, 426
51519 affections of, 426
51520 individual, 428
51521 diseases of, 426, 428
51522 haematoma of, 426
51523 hydrops of, 427
51524 hygroma of, 423
51525 inflammation of, 426
51526 injuries of, 426
51527 loose bodies in, 427
51528 syphilis of, 428
51529 tuberculosis of, 428
51530 tumours of, 427, 428
51531
51532
51533 Cachexia, cancerous, 207
51534
51535 Calcanean bursa, 432
51536
51537 Calcification in arteries, 282
51538 in muscles, 416
51539 in tuberculosis, 136
51540
51541 Callosities, 376
51542
51543 Callous ulcers, 79, 84
51544
51545 Cancer, 202
51546 arsenic, 395
51547 of bone, 499
51548 cachexia in, 207
51549 chimney-sweep's, 395
51550 colloid, 210
51551 columnar epithelial, 209
51552 contagiousness of, 205
51553 cystic, 210
51554 definition of, 202
51555 degeneration of, 205
51556 encephaloid, 210
51557 _en cuirasse_, 204
51558 glandular, 210
51559 glandular infection in, 203
51560 increase of, 207
51561 of lymph glands, 340
51562 medullary, 210
51563 melanotic, 210, 341, 397
51564 paraffin, 395
51565 pigmented, 210
51566 radium treatment of, 208
51567 rodent, 210, 395
51568 scirrhous, 210
51569 of skin, 394
51570 spread of, 204
51571 squamous epithelial, 208
51572 ulceration of, 205
51573 varieties of, 208
51574 X-ray, 208
51575
51576 Cancrum oris, 102
51577
51578 Cantharides plaster, 42
51579
51580 Capillaries, anatomy of, 258
51581
51582 Capillary angioma, 294
51583 loops, 3
51584
51585 Carbolic gangrene, 95
51586
51587 Carbon-dioxide snow, 297
51588
51589 Carbuncle, 380
51590
51591 Carcinoma. _See_ Cancer
51592
51593 Caries, 437, 438
51594 of articular surfaces, 502, 514
51595 sicca, 438
51596 syphilitic, 462
51597 tuberculous, 455
51598
51599 Carotid aneurysm, 314
51600 artery, compression of, 269
51601 tubercle, 269
51602
51603 Carpal ganglion, 214
51604
51605 Carron oil, 238
51606
51607 Cartilage, grafting of, 16
51608 repair of, 7
51609 ulceration of, 502, 514
51610
51611 Cartilaginous exostosis, 191, 481
51612
51613 Caseation in tuberculosis, 136
51614
51615 Catalepsy, 116
51616
51617 Catgut, infection by, 51
51618 preparation of, 245
51619
51620 Cautery in haemorrhage, 271
51621
51622 Cavernous angioma, 298
51623 lymphangioma, 327
51624
51625 Cellulitis, 52
51626 in different situations, 58
51627 diffuse, 52
51628
51629 Cephalic or Kopf tetanus, 116
51630
51631 Cerebro-spinal meningitis, 115
51632
51633 Cervical adenitis, 332
51634 rib, 360
51635
51636 Chalk stones in gouty joints, 523
51637
51638 Chancre, concealed, 152, 153, 157
51639 erratic, 153
51640 extra-genital, 153
51641 hard, 151
51642 meatal, 152
51643 multiple, 152
51644 relapsing false indurated, 172
51645 soft, 154
51646 urethral, 152
51647
51648 Chancroid, 154
51649
51650 Charcoal poultice, 84
51651
51652 Charcot's disease, 533
51653
51654 Cheloid. _See_ Keloid
51655
51656 Chemiotaxis, 32
51657
51658 Chigoe, 130
51659
51660 Chilblain, 378
51661
51662 Chimney-sweep's cancer, 395
51663
51664 Chloroma, 200
51665
51666 Chondroma, 189, 487
51667 multiple, 544
51668
51669 Chondromatosis, 488
51670
51671 Chondro-sarcoma, 189, 200, 487
51672
51673 Chordoma, 200
51674
51675 Choroiditis, syphilitic, 177
51676
51677 Chylorrhoea, 325
51678
51679 Chylo-thorax, 325
51680
51681 Chylous ascites, 325
51682
51683 Cicatrices, varieties of, 400
51684
51685 Cicatricial contraction, 4
51686 tissue, 4
51687
51688 Circumflex nerve. _See_ Axillary Nerve
51689
51690 Cirsoid aneurysm, 299
51691
51692 Claw-hand, 369
51693
51694 Cloacae in bone, 443
51695
51696 Cocci, 18
51697
51698 Coeliac artery, aneurysm of, 313
51699
51700 Coley's fluid, 201
51701
51702 Collapse, 254
51703
51704 Collateral circulation, 267
51705
51706 Colles' law, 178
51707
51708 Colloid cancer, 210
51709
51710 Common peroneal nerve, 370
51711
51712 Compound palmar ganglion, 217, 423
51713
51714 Condylomata, 158, 174
51715
51716 Congenital fistulas, 60
51717 telangiectasis, 294
51718
51719 Connective tissue, repair of, 6
51720
51721 Contracture of joints, 502
51722 of muscles, 415
51723 paralytic, 347
51724
51725 Contusions, 218
51726
51727 Cornea, syphilitic ulceration of, 177
51728
51729 Corns, 377
51730
51731 Corpora oryzoidea, 539
51732
51733 Counter-irritants, 37, 42
51734
51735 Craniotabes, 175, 176, 465
51736
51737 Crural fibrositis, 413
51738
51739 Crutch paralysis, 351
51740
51741 Cupping dry, 39
51742 wet, 42
51743
51744 Cutis anserina, 36
51745
51746 Cyanosis, traumatic, 254
51747
51748 Cyst, 212
51749 atheromatous, 389
51750 Baker's, 539
51751 blood 214, 220
51752 of bone, 477, 500
51753 dentigerous, 193
51754 derma, 210
51755 exudation, 212
51756 ganglionic, 215
51757 haemorrhagic, 220
51758 hydatid, 213
51759 implantation, 212
51760 of joints, 538
51761 lymph, 214
51762 lymphatic, 219, 328
51763 omental, 329
51764 parasitic, 213
51765 retention, 212
51766 sebaceous, 212, 389
51767 serous, 219
51768 venous, 289
51769
51770 Cystic adenoma, 202
51771 carcinoma, 210
51772 hygroma of neck, 328
51773 lymphangioma, 327, 328
51774
51775
51776 Dactylitis, syphilitic, 176, 460, 466
51777 tuberculous, 460
51778
51779 Dancer's sprain, 406
51780
51781 Deafness, syphilitic, 178
51782
51783 Deformities. _See_ Individual Regions
51784
51785 Delhi boil, 129
51786
51787 Delirium, in surgical patients, 255
51788 traumatic, 257
51789
51790 Delirium tremens, 256
51791
51792 Dentigerous cyst, 193
51793
51794 Dercum on adiposus dolorosa, 186
51795
51796 Derma-cysts, 210
51797
51798 Dermatitis, 239, 292
51799
51800 Dermoids, 210
51801
51802 Diabetic gangrene, 96
51803
51804 Diarsenol, 163
51805
51806 Diapedesis of red corpuscles, 32
51807
51808 Diaphysial aclasis, 483
51809
51810 Diffuse aneurysm, 302
51811 cellulitis, 52
51812 fibromatosis, 194
51813 lipomatosis, 187
51814 neuro-fibromatosis, 355
51815 osteoma, 485
51816 suppuration, 52
51817
51818 Diphtheria, 109
51819 antitoxin in, 111
51820 intubation in, 111
51821
51822 Diplococci, 19
51823
51824 Dislocation of nerves, 351, 369
51825 pathological, 514
51826 of tendons, 408
51827
51828 Double cyanide gauze, 247
51829
51830 Drainage of wounds, 222
51831
51832 Dressings, surgical, 247
51833
51834 Drill-bone, 418
51835
51836 Drop-finger, 411
51837 -foot, 370
51838 -wrist, 365
51839
51840 Drunkard's palsy, 351, 364
51841
51842 Duchenne's paralysis, 361
51843
51844 Ducrey's bacillus, 154
51845
51846 Duodenum, ulceration of, in burns, 236
51847
51848 Dwarf, rickety, 469
51849 syphilitic, 178
51850
51851
51852 Eburnation of articular surfaces, 557
51853
51854 Ecchondroses, 527
51855
51856 Ecchymosis, 218
51857
51858 Echinococcus, 213
51859
51860 Echthyma, 158
51861
51862 Eczema, varicose, 292
51863
51864 Elbow, angler's, 406
51865 cellulitis of, 58
51866 tennis, 406
51867
51868 Electricity, injuries by, 239
51869
51870 Electrolysis in angioma, 297
51871
51872 Elephantiasis, varieties of, 360, 384, 386
51873
51874 Embolism, 281
51875 air, 265
51876
51877 Embolism, fat, 254
51878 of individual arteries, 93
51879
51880 Embolus, 281
51881
51882 Emigration of leucocytes, 32
51883
51884 Emotional shock, 251
51885
51886 Emphysema, 99, 102
51887
51888 Emprosthotonos, 214
51889
51890 Empyema of joints, 501, 518
51891
51892 Encephaloid cancer, 210
51893
51894 Endarteritis obliterans, 282
51895 syphilitic, 161
51896
51897 Endo-aneurysmorrhaphy, 307
51898
51899 Endothelioma, 196
51900 of bone, 492
51901
51902 Epicritic sensibility of nerves, 343
51903
51904 Epidermis, grafting, 12
51905 repair of, 4
51906
51907 Epiphysial cartilage, 434
51908 junction, 434
51909 in rickets, 469
51910
51911 Epiphysiolysis, 440
51912
51913 Epiphysitis, 437
51914 syphilitic, 465
51915
51916 Epithelial tumours, 201
51917
51918 Epithelioma, 208
51919 chimney-sweep's, 395
51920 lupus, 384
51921 paraffin, 395
51922 in scars, 402
51923 sinus, 500
51924 of skin, 394
51925 trade, 395
51926 varieties of, 208
51927 X-ray, 395
51928
51929 Epithelium grafting, 12
51930 repair of, 6
51931
51932 Epulis, 491
51933
51934 Erb's paralysis, 361
51935
51936 Erysipelas, varieties of, 107
51937
51938 Erythema pernio, 378
51939 nodosum, 442
51940
51941 Evaporating lotions, 41
51942
51943 Exfoliation, 438
51944
51945 Exophthalmos, pulsating, 317
51946
51947 Exostosis, 191, 481
51948 bursata, 481
51949 cancellous, 481
51950 cartilaginous, 191, 481
51951 false, 192
51952 ivory, 481
51953 multiple, 483
51954 spongy, 191, 481
51955 subungual, 191, 404, 481
51956
51957 Explosives, wounds by, 231
51958
51959 External iliac artery, embolus of, 93
51960
51961 External popliteal nerve. _See_ Common Peroneal Nerve
51962
51963 Extravasation of blood, 259
51964
51965 Exudates, varieties of, 33
51966
51967 Exudation cysts, 212
51968
51969 Eye, syphilitic lesions of, 160, 176, 177
51970
51971
51972 Facial artery, compression of, 269
51973 erysipelas, 107
51974
51975 Fainting, 249
51976
51977 Farcy, 125
51978
51979 Fascia, grafting of, 16
51980
51981 Fat embolism, 254
51982 grafting of, 16
51983
51984 Fatty hernia, 187
51985 tumours, 184
51986
51987 Feet, trench, 96
51988
51989 Femoral aneurysm, 318
51990 artery compression of, 269
51991 embolus of, 93
51992 lymph glands, 323
51993
51994 Fever, 35
51995
51996 Fibro-adenoma, 202
51997
51998 Fibroblasts, 3
51999
52000 Fibroid, recurrent, of Paget, 199, 392, 420
52001 uterine, 195
52002
52003 Fibroma, 194
52004 of bone, 491
52005 diffuse, 194
52006 recurrent, of Paget, 199, 392, 420
52007 of skin, 391
52008 varieties of, 194
52009
52010 Fibromatosis, diffuse, 194
52011
52012 Fibro-myoma, 195
52013
52014 Fibro-sarcoma, 199
52015
52016 Fibrositis, varieties of, 372, 412
52017
52018 Filaria Bancrofti, 326
52019
52020 Filarial disease, 326
52021
52022 Finger, chancre of, 154
52023 drop-, 411
52024 mallet-, 411
52025
52026 Fingers, gouty affections of, 523
52027 whitlow of, 55
52028
52029 Finsen light treatment, 138
52030
52031 Firearms, wounds by, 225, 227, 230
52032
52033 First intention, healing by, 2
52034
52035 Fistula, 60
52036 congenital, 60
52037 lymphatic, 325
52038 varieties of, 60
52039
52040 Fluctuation, 49
52041
52042 Fomentations, 37, 41
52043
52044 Foot, cellulitis of, 58
52045 drop-, 370
52046 Madura, 129
52047 perforating ulcer of, 73
52048
52049 Forci-pressure in haemorrhage, 271
52050
52051 Forearm, aneurysm of, 318
52052 cellulitis of, 58
52053
52054 Foreign bodies, embedded, 6, 231
52055
52056 Fracture, pathological, 444
52057
52058 Fraenkel's pneumococcus, 28
52059
52060 Fragilitas ossium, 479
52061
52062 Friedlander's pneumo-bacillus, 28
52063
52064 Frost-bite, gangrene from, 95
52065
52066 Furunculus orientalis, 129
52067
52068
52069 Galyl, 163
52070
52071 Ganglion, 214, 215, 217
52072 compound palmar, 217, 423
52073
52074 Ganglionic neuroma, 353
52075
52076 Gangrene, 86
52077 acute infective, 99
52078 emphysematous, 102
52079 from angio-sclerosis, 98
52080 bacterial varieties of, 99
52081 from burns and scalds, 95
52082 cancrum oris, 102
52083 carbolic, 95
52084 from chemical agents, 95
52085 clinical types of, 86
52086 varieties of, 88
52087 from constriction of vessels, 94
52088 diabetic, 96
52089 dry, 86
52090 embolic, 92
52091 from ergot, 98
52092 from frost-bite, 95
52093 gas, 102
52094 from interference with circulation, 86
52095 following ligation of arteries, 94
52096 line of demarcation in, 87
52097 malignant oedema, 101
52098 moist, 87
52099 noma, 102
52100 phagedaena, 153
52101 Raynaud's disease, 97
52102 senile, 88
52103 traumatic, 94
52104 from trench feet, 96
52105 white, 93
52106 from whitlow, 99
52107
52108 Gas gangrene, 102
52109
52110 Gasserian ganglion, removal of, 375
52111
52112 Gauze, varieties of, 247
52113
52114 Gauze, sterilisation of, 245
52115
52116 Gelatin, injection of, in aneurysm, 309
52117 in haemophilia, 280
52118
52119 Gelatinous degeneration of joints, 515
52120
52121 Giant cells, 3
52122
52123 Glanders, 123
52124
52125 Glands, lymph. _See_ Lymph Glands
52126
52127 Glioma, 196
52128
52129 Gliomatous arthropathies, 534
52130
52131 Glio-sarcoma, 200
52132
52133 Gloves in surgery, 244
52134
52135 Gluteal aneurysm, 319
52136 fibrositis, 372, 413
52137
52138 Glycogen reaction, 30
52139
52140 Glycosuria in perforating ulcer, 73
52141
52142 Golfer's back, 405
52143
52144 Gonorrhoeal bursitis, 428
52145 joint lesions, 510
52146 lymphangitis, 325
52147 myositis, 416
52148 ophthalmia, joint lesions following, 510
52149 rheumatism, 510
52150 teno-synovitis, 423
52151
52152 Gout, joint affections in, 522
52153
52154 Gouty bursitis, 428
52155 joints, 522
52156 teno-synovitis, 422
52157 tophi, 523
52158 ulcers, 77
52159
52160 Grafting of bone, 436
52161 of epithelium, 12
52162 of mucous membrane, 16
52163 of skin, 11
52164 of tissues, 10
52165
52166 Granulation, healing by, 5
52167 tissue, formation of, 2
52168 syphilitic, 146
52169 tuberculous, 136
52170
52171 Granulations, 2
52172
52173 Granuloma, 42
52174
52175 Groin, cellulitis of, 59
52176 filarial disease in lymphatics of, 326
52177
52178 Growing pains, 451
52179
52180 Growth fever, 451
52181
52182 Gumma, 168
52183 of bone, 464
52184 peri-bursal, 521
52185 periosteal, 521
52186 peri-synovial, 521
52187 subcutaneous, 76
52188 syphilitic, 168
52189
52190 Gummatous infiltration, 168
52191
52192 Gunshot wounds, 225, 227, 230
52193
52194
52195 Haematemesis, 259
52196 post-operative, 275
52197
52198 Haematoma, 220
52199 bursal, 426
52200 pulsating, of bone, 498
52201
52202 Haematuria, 259
52203
52204 Haemophilia, 277
52205
52206 Haemophilic joint, 531
52207
52208 Haemoptysis, 259
52209
52210 Haemorrhage, 266
52211 arrest of, 266, 270, 272, 274
52212 arterial, 259
52213 capillary, 260
52214 cautery in, 271
52215 constitutional effects of, 275
52216 digital compression in, 269
52217 external, 259
52218 forci-pressure in, 271
52219 intermediate, 272
52220 internal, 259
52221 ligature in, 270
52222 in operations, 269
52223 prevention of, 269
52224 primary, 266
52225 reactionary, 272
52226 saline infusions in, 276
52227 secondary, 273
52228 styptics in, 271
52229 torsion in, 271
52230 tourniquets in, 270, 272
52231 toxic, 275
52232 from varicose veins, 292
52233 venous, 259
52234
52235 Haemorrhagic diathesis, 277
52236
52237 Haemostatics, 271
52238
52239 Hair, syphilitic lesions of, 159
52240
52241 Hand, claw-, 369
52242
52243 Hands, disinfection of, 244
52244
52245 Hard chancre, 151
52246
52247 Healing by blood-clot, 6
52248 by first intention, 2
52249 by granulation, 5
52250 by primary union, 2
52251 rate of, 9
52252 under scab, 6
52253 by second intention, 5
52254 sore, 69, 81
52255 ulcer, 77
52256 by union of granulating surfaces, 5
52257
52258 Heart, massage of, 265
52259
52260 Heberden's nodes, 529
52261
52262 Hectic fever, 62
52263
52264 Heliotherapy, 139
52265
52266 Hernia, fatty, 187
52267 of muscle, 408
52268
52269 Herpes, syphilitic, 156
52270
52271 Hilton's method of opening abscess, 50
52272
52273 Hodgkin's disease, 377
52274
52275 Horns, varieties of, 389, 391
52276
52277 Housemaid's knee, 426, 431
52278
52279 Hunter's operation for aneurysm, 307
52280
52281 Hutchinson's teeth, 177
52282
52283 Hydatid cysts, 213
52284 of bone, 467
52285 of muscle, 421
52286 thrill, 214
52287
52288 Hydrocele of neck, 328
52289
52290 Hydrophobia, 115, 118
52291
52292 Hydrops, 501, 518
52293
52294 Hygroma of axilla, 328
52295 bursal, 427
52296 of neck, 328
52297
52298 Hyperaemia, 32
52299 active, 39
52300 artificial, 36
52301 passive, 38
52302 in tuberculosis, 138
52303
52304 Hyperostosis, 435
52305 syphilitic, 464
52306
52307 Hypertrophic pulmonary osteo-arthropathy, 480
52308
52309 Hysterical joint affections, 537
52310
52311
52312 Ice-bags, 41
52313
52314 Ichthyma, syphilitic, 158
52315
52316 Igni-puncture in naevus, 297
52317
52318 Iliac aneurysm, 318
52319
52320 Immunity, 22
52321
52322 Imperial drink, 40
52323
52324 Implantation cysts, 212
52325
52326 Infantile scurvy, 473
52327
52328 Infection, accidental, 241
52329 by catgut, 51
52330 mixed, 20
52331 prevention of, 243
52332 of wounds, 241
52333
52334 Inflammation, 31
52335 changes in, 32
52336 chronic, 42
52337 clinical aspects of, 33
52338 constitutional disturbance in, 35
52339 general principles of treatment in, 36, 39
52340
52341 Inflammation, leucocytosis in, 36
52342 stages of, 32
52343
52344 Infusion of saline solution, 276
52345
52346 Ingrowing toe-nail, 403
52347
52348 Inguinal aneurysm, 318
52349 lymph glands, 323
52350
52351 Injuries, 218. _See also_ Individual Tissues and Regions
52352 constitutional effects of, 249
52353
52354 Innominate aneurysm, 314
52355
52356 Inoculation tubercle, 382
52357
52358 Insects, poisoning by, 130
52359
52360 Instruments, sterilisation of, 245
52361
52362 Intercostal fibrositis, 413
52363
52364 Intermittent claudication of vessels, 98
52365
52366 Internal popliteal nerve. _See_ Tibial Nerve
52367
52368 Interstitial keratitis, 177
52369
52370 Intestine, repair of, 9
52371
52372 Intoxication, bacterial, 21
52373
52374 Intracranial aneurysm, 316
52375
52376 Intra-cystic growths, 202
52377
52378 Intubation of larynx, 111
52379
52380 Involucrum, 443
52381
52382 Iodine, catgut, 246
52383 for disinfection of skin, 245
52384 reaction, 30
52385
52386 Iodoform gauze, 247
52387 injection of, 142
52388 in joint diseases, 519
52389
52390 Iritis, syphilitic, 160
52391
52392 Irrigation, continuous, 54
52393
52394 Irritable ulcers, 79
52395
52396 Ischaemic contracture of muscles, 415
52397
52398 Ischial bursa, 430
52399
52400 Ischias scoliotica, 372
52401
52402 Ivory exostosis, 481
52403
52404
52405 Jaws, actinomycosis of, 127
52406 changes in, in rickets, 470
52407 cystic tumours of, 193
52408
52409 Jigger, 130
52410
52411 Joints. _See also_ Individual Joints
52412 ankylosis of, 503
52413 bacterial diseases of, 506
52414 bleeder's, 531
52415 Charcot's disease of, 533
52416 chondromata, multiple, of, 544
52417 contracture of, 502
52418 cysts of, 538
52419 developmental errors of, 505
52420 diseases of, general, 501, 506
52421 disorganisation of, 502
52422 empyema of, 501
52423 gelatinous degeneration of, 515
52424 gliomatous arthropathies, 534
52425 gonococcal affections of, 510
52426 gouty affections of, 522
52427 haemophilic, 531
52428 hydrops of, 501
52429 hysterical affections of, 537
52430 impaired mobility of, 502
52431 iodoform in diseases of, 519
52432 loose bodies in, 529, 539
52433 mimetic affections of, 537
52434 nerve lesions affecting, 532
52435 neuro-arthropathies, 532
52436 osteo-arthritis, 524
52437 pneumococcal infection of, 509
52438 pyaemic affections of, 508
52439 pyogenic diseases of, 506
52440 rheumatic affections of, 523, 524
52441 rigidity of, 502
52442 scarlet fever, infection of, in 508
52443 spinal diseases affecting, 532
52444 starting pains in, 502, 517
52445 synostosis, 503
52446 syphilitic diseases of, 521
52447 tuberculous diseases of, 512
52448 tumours of, 538
52449 typhoid infection of, 508
52450 white swelling of, 515, 518
52451
52452 Jumper's sprain, 406
52453
52454
52455 Keloid, 194, 401
52456
52457 Keratitis, interstitial, in syphilis, 177
52458
52459 Keratoma of nail bed, 391
52460
52461 Kharsivan, 163
52462
52463 Klapp's suction bells, 39
52464
52465 Klebs-Loffler bacillus, 109
52466
52467 Klumpke's paralysis, 361
52468
52469 Knee, cellulitis of, 58
52470 ganglion of, 215
52471 housemaid's, 426, 431
52472
52473 Kopf or cephalic tetanus, 116
52474
52475 Kyphosis, 471
52476
52477
52478 Labourer's back, 405
52479
52480 Larynx, syphilis of, 177
52481
52482 Leeches, 41
52483
52484 Leg ulcer, 72
52485 varicose veins of, 287
52486
52487 Leiter's lead tubes, 41
52488
52489 Leontiasis ossea, 485
52490
52491 Leucocytes, emigration of, 32
52492 varieties of, 29
52493 wandering, 3
52494
52495 Leucocythaemia, 340
52496
52497 Leucocytosis, 22, 29
52498 absence of, 30
52499 digestion, 30
52500 after haemorrhage, 30
52501 local, 32
52502 physiological, 29, 30
52503 post-operative, 30
52504
52505 Leucopenia, 30
52506
52507 Leucoplakia, 167
52508
52509 Lightning stroke, 240
52510
52511 Line of demarcation in gangrene, 87
52512
52513 Lingual dermoids, 211
52514
52515 Lipoma, 184
52516 arborescent, 423
52517 of bone, 187, 491
52518 diffuse, 187
52519 intra-muscular, 188
52520 multiple, 186
52521 nasi, 393
52522 periosteal, 187
52523 subcutaneous, 184, 186
52524 subserous, 187
52525 subsynovial, 187
52526
52527 Lipomatosis, diffuse, 187
52528
52529 Lipping of bone, 527
52530
52531 Liquor epispasticus, 42
52532 puris, 45
52533
52534 Listerian methods of wound treatment, 242
52535
52536 Locking of joints, 505
52537
52538 Lock-jaw, 113
52539
52540 Locomotor ataxia, joint lesions in, 532
52541
52542 Long thoracic nerve, injuries of, 363
52543
52544 Loose bodies in bursae, 427
52545 in joints, 529, 539
52546 in tendon sheaths, 423
52547 varieties of, 539
52548
52549 Lotion, evaporating, 41
52550
52551 Luargol, 163
52552
52553 Luetin, 149
52554
52555 Lumbago, 412
52556
52557 Lumbo-sacral fibrositis, 412
52558
52559 Lupus, 134, 382
52560 epithelioma, 384
52561 syphilitic, 169
52562 tuberculous, 382
52563 varieties of, 383, 393
52564
52565 Lymph, 321
52566 cysts, 214
52567 glands, cancer of, 340
52568 diseases of, 329
52569 functions of, 221
52570 sarcoma of, 341
52571 surgical anatomy of, 321
52572 syphilitic diseases of, 337
52573 tuberculosis of, 331
52574 tumours of, 340
52575 oedema, 325
52576 scrotum, 389
52577 vessels, diseases of, 325
52578 injuries of, 323
52579
52580 Lymphadenitis, 53, 329
52581
52582 Lymphadenoma, 337
52583
52584 Lymphangiectasis, 214, 326
52585
52586 Lymphangioma, varieties of, 327
52587
52588 Lymphangioplasty, 325, 386
52589
52590 Lymphangio-sarcoma, 199
52591
52592 Lymphangitis, 325
52593 septic, 53
52594 varieties of, 325
52595
52596 Lymphatic cyst, 328
52597 fistula, 324
52598 oedema, 325
52599
52600 Lymphatics, 321
52601
52602 Lymphocytosis, 29
52603
52604 Lymphorrhagia, 323
52605
52606 Lympho-sarcoma, 199, 340
52607
52608
52609 Macewen's method of compressing abdominal aorta, 269
52610
52611 Macrophages, 22
52612
52613 Madura foot, 129
52614 _Main en griffe_, 369
52615
52616 Malacia of bones, 473
52617
52618 Malignant adenoma, 209
52619 cachexia, 207
52620 oedema, 101
52621 pustule, 120
52622 tumours, 183
52623 ulcers, 77
52624
52625 Mallein test, 125
52626
52627 Mallet-finger, 411
52628
52629 Malum senile, 524
52630
52631 Marriage and syphilis, 167
52632
52633 Matas' operation for aneurysm, 307
52634
52635 Median nerve, lesions of, 367
52636
52637 Medullary cancer, 210
52638
52639 Melaena, 259
52640
52641 Melanotic cancer, 210, 397
52642 sarcoma, 200
52643
52644 Melon-seed bodies, 539
52645
52646 Meningitis, basal, 115
52647 cerebro-spinal, 115
52648
52649 Mercury in syphilis, administration of, 165
52650
52651 Metchnikoff's cream, 157
52652
52653 Michel's clips, 222
52654
52655 Micrococci, 18
52656
52657 Micrococcus tetragenus, 29
52658
52659 Micro-organisms, 18
52660
52661 Microphages, 22
52662
52663 Mimetic joint affections, 537
52664
52665 Miner's elbow, 426
52666
52667 Mitchell's operation for varicose veins, 294
52668
52669 Mixed infection, 20
52670 naevus, 295
52671 venereal infection, 156
52672
52673 Moist gangrene, 87
52674
52675 Moles, 390
52676 naevoid, 295
52677
52678 Molluscum fibrosum, 194, 359, 391
52679
52680 Moore-Corradi method of treating aneurysm, 308
52681
52682 Mosetig-Moorhof on filling of bone cavities, 447
52683
52684 Mother's mark, 294
52685
52686 Muco-pus, 52
52687
52688 Mucous membrane, grafting of, 16
52689 suppuration in, 51
52690 patches, 160, 174
52691
52692 Multilocular cystic tumours of jaw, 193
52693
52694 Mummification, 86
52695
52696 Muscle, affections of, 405
52697 atrophy of, 412
52698 calcification of, 416
52699 congenital absence of, 411
52700 contracture of, 415
52701 contusion of, 405
52702 diseases of, 411
52703 gonorrhoea of, 416
52704 grafting of, 16
52705 hernia of, 408
52706 hydatid cysts of, 421
52707 inflammation of, 415
52708 injuries of, 405
52709 ossification in, 416
52710 repair of, 8
52711 rheumatism of, 412
52712 rupture of, 405, 406
52713 sprain of, 405
52714 syphilis of, 416
52715 tuberculosis of, 416
52716 tumours of, 420
52717 wounds of, 409
52718
52719 Muscular rheumatism, 412
52720
52721 Musculo-cutaneous nerve, 364
52722
52723 Musculo-spiral nerve. _See_ Radial Nerve
52724
52725 Mustard leaves, 42
52726
52727 Mycetoma, 129
52728
52729 Myelitis, syphilitic, 161
52730
52731 Myeloma, 195, 491
52732 of bone, 491
52733 of tendon sheaths, 424
52734
52735 Myoma, 195
52736
52737 Myo-sarcoma, 200
52738
52739 Myositis ossificans, 416, 418
52740 varieties of, 415
52741
52742 Myxo-adenoma, 202
52743
52744 Myxoma, 194
52745 of bone, 491
52746
52747 Myxo-sarcoma, 200
52748
52749
52750 Naevoid mole, 295
52751
52752 Naevus, 294
52753 electrolysis of, 297
52754 operations for, 298
52755 radium treatment of, 297
52756 varieties of, 294
52757
52758 Nail fold, whitlow of, 56
52759 horns, 391
52760
52761 Nails, affections of, 402
52762 ingrowing, 403
52763 regeneration of, 7
52764 syphilitic lesions of, 159, 402
52765
52766 Nasal bones, syphilitic disease of, 188, 462
52767
52768 Naso-pharyngeal polypus, 491
52769
52770 Natal sore, 129
52771
52772 Neck, cystic hygroma of, 328
52773 glands of, diseases, 332
52774 hydrocele of, 328
52775 lipomatosis of, 187
52776 painful stiff-, 413
52777
52778 Necrosis, acute, 439
52779 of bone, 438
52780 quiet, of Paget, 452
52781 syphilitic, 462
52782
52783 Neo-diarsenol, 163
52784 -kharsivan, 163
52785 -salvarsan, 163
52786
52787 Neoplasms, 181
52788
52789 Nerve of Bell. _See_ Long Thoracic Nerve
52790
52791 Nerves, 342. _See also_ Individual Nerves
52792 alcohol injections of, 374
52793 anatomy of, 342
52794 avulsion of, 375
52795 blocking of, 251, 252
52796 bullet wounds of, 346
52797 contusion of, 345
52798 crushing of, 345
52799 diseases of, 352
52800 dislocation of, 351, 369
52801 effects of division of, 344
52802 gun-shot wounds of, 346
52803 grafting of, 16
52804 implicated in scar tissue, 345
52805 individual, surgery of, 360
52806 injuries of, 344
52807 joint affections in lesions of, 532
52808 reaction of degeneration, 347
52809 regeneration of, 9, 346
52810 in scar tissue, 345
52811 sensibility, forms of, 343
52812 subcutaneous injuries of, 350
52813 suture of, primary, 348
52814 secondary, 349
52815 Tinel's sign, 349
52816 torn, 345
52817 tumours of, 353
52818 ulcers in lesions of, 73, 82
52819
52820 Neuralgia, varieties of, 371
52821
52822 Neurectomy, 375
52823
52824 Neuritis, multiple peripheral, varieties of, 352
52825 traumatic, 352
52826
52827 Neuro-arthropathies, 352. _See also_ Individual Joints
52828
52829 Neuro-fibromatosis, 355, 359
52830
52831 Neurolysis, 345
52832
52833 Neuroma, stump, 344
52834 varieties of, 353
52835 "914," 613
52836
52837 Nodes, periosteal, 464
52838 Heberden's 529
52839
52840 Noma, 102
52841
52842 Nose, sebaceous adenoma of, 393
52843
52844 Novo-arseno-billon, 163
52845
52846 Nucleinate of soda, 29
52847
52848
52849 Odontoma, 192
52850 varieties of, 193
52851
52852 O'Dwyer's intubation apparatus, 111
52853
52854 Oedema, 32, 34
52855 angio-neurotic, 348
52856 lymphatic, 325
52857 malignant, 101
52858 persistent, 109
52859
52860 Olecranon bursa, 428
52861
52862 Omental cyst, 329
52863
52864 Onychia, varieties of, 402
52865
52866 Operations during shock, 252
52867
52868 Opisthotonos, 114
52869
52870 Opsonins, 22
52871
52872 Orbital aneurysm, 317
52873
52874 Orthotonos, 114
52875
52876 Ossification in muscles, tendons, and fasciae, 416
52877
52878 Ossifying junction, 434
52879
52880 Osteo-arthritis, 524
52881 syphilitic, 522
52882
52883 Osteo-arthropathy, pulmonary, 480
52884
52885 Osteochondritis dessicans, 544
52886
52887 Osteogenesis imperfecta, 479
52888
52889 Osteoid sarcoma, 200
52890
52891 Osteoma, 191, 481
52892 cancellous, 191
52893 compact, 192
52894 diffuse, 485
52895 ivory, 192
52896 multiple, 544
52897 in muscles and tendons, 416
52898 spongy, 191
52899 subungual, 191, 404, 481
52900
52901 Osteomalacia, varieties of, 473
52902
52903 Osteomyelitis, 65, 437
52904 acute, 65, 438, 451, 453
52905 after amputation, 453
52906 bipolar, 439
52907 fibrosa, 476
52908 gummatous, 462
52909 from infection from soft parts, 453
52910 pyogenic, 438
52911 relapsing, 448
52912 sequelae of, 443
52913 streptococcal, 451
52914 tuberculous, 456, 458
52915 in typhoid fever, 452
52916
52917 Osteophytes, 435
52918
52919 Osteoporosis, 437
52920
52921 Osteopsathyrosis, 479
52922
52923 Osteosarcoma, 200
52924
52925 Osteosclerosis, 435
52926
52927 Ostitis deformans, 474
52928 rarefying, 474
52929
52930 Ovarian dermoids, 211
52931
52932 Ovary, grafting of, 16
52933
52934 Ozoena, 176
52935
52936
52937 Pachydermatocele, 360
52938
52939 Paget's disease of bone, 474
52940 of nipple, 397
52941 recurrent fibroma, 199, 392, 420
52942
52943 Pain, starting, in joint disease, 502, 517
52944 varieties of, 35
52945
52946 Painful subcutaneous nodules, 354, 392
52947
52948 Palate, syphilitic lesions of, 178, 462
52949
52950 Palmar ganglion, compound, 217, 423
52951
52952 Papilloma, varieties of, 201, 392
52953
52954 Paraffin cancer, 395
52955
52956 Paralysis, brachial birth, 362
52957 Erb-Duchenne, 361
52958 Klumpke's, 361
52959 post-anaesthetic, 360
52960 pseudo, of syphilis, 174, 466
52961
52962 Parasitic bacteria, 20
52963 cysts, 213
52964
52965 Paronychia. _See_ Onychia
52966
52967 Parotid abscess in pyaemia, 66
52968 lymph glands, 321
52969 tumours, 195
52970
52971 Parotitis, 66
52972
52973 Parrot's nodes, 175, 465
52974
52975 Passive hyperaemia, Bier's, 38
52976
52977 Pasteur's treatment for hydrophobia, 119
52978
52979 Pelvis, rickety changes in, 471
52980
52981 Perforating ulcer, 73, 82
52982
52983 Perichondritis, syphilitic, 465
52984
52985 Peri-lymphangitis, 325
52986
52987 Periosteum, function of, 434
52988 gumma of, 464
52989 in rickets, 469
52990
52991 Periostitis, 437. _See also_ Osteomyelitis
52992 syphilitic, 461
52993 tuberculous, 455
52994
52995 Peripheral neuritis, 352
52996
52997 Peroneal nerve, 370
52998
52999 Peronei tendons, dislocation of, 409
53000
53001 Petrifying sarcoma, 200
53002
53003 Phagedaena, 153
53004
53005 Phagedaenic ulcers, 80, 85
53006
53007 Phagocytes, 3, 22
53008
53009 Phagocytosis, 22
53010
53011 Phimosis, with hard chancre, 152
53012 with soft sores, 155
53013
53014 Phlebitis, 285, 292
53015
53016 Phlegmasia alba dolens, 286
53017
53018 Picric acid, 13, 237
53019
53020 Pigeon-breast, 471
53021
53022 Plantaris, rupture of, 408
53023
53024 Pleurodynia, 413
53025
53026 Pleurosthotonos, 114
53027
53028 Pneumo-bacillus, Friedlander's bacteria, 28
53029
53030 Pneumococcal arthritis, 509
53031
53032 Pneumococcus, 28
53033
53034 Polypi, 195
53035
53036 Popliteal aneurysm, 320
53037 artery, embolus of, 93
53038 bursae, 432
53039
53040 lymph glands, 323
53041 nerves. _See_ Common Peroneal Nerve and Tibial Nerve
53042
53043 Port-wine stain, 294
53044
53045 Post-anaesthetic paralysis, 360
53046 -anal dimple, 211
53047
53048 Posterior auricular lymph glands, 322
53049
53050 Post-rectal dermoids, 211
53051
53052 Potato-nose, 393
53053
53054 Poultice, 37
53055 charcoal, 84
53056
53057 Pre-auricular lymph glands, 322
53058
53059 Prepatellar bursa, 431
53060
53061 Pressure sores, 70, 82
53062
53063 Primary union of wounds, 2
53064
53065 Protopathic sensibility of nerves, 343
53066
53067 Proud flesh, 79
53068
53069 Psammoma, 200
53070
53071 Pseudo-leucaemia, 337
53072
53073 Pseudo-paralysis of syphilis, 174, 466
53074
53075 Psoas bursa, 430
53076
53077 Pulmonary osteo-arthropathy, 480
53078
53079 Pulsating aorta, 305, 314
53080 exophthalmos, 317
53081 haematoma of bone, 498
53082
53083 Punctured wounds, 222
53084
53085 Purpura, 280
53086
53087 Purulent blister, 55
53088
53089 Pus, 45
53090 varieties of, 46
53091
53092 Pyaemia, 64
53093 abscess in joints in, 508
53094
53095 Pyogenic bacteria, 24, 29
53096
53097
53098 Quadriceps extensor femoris, rupture of, 408
53099
53100
53101 Rabies, 118
53102
53103 Rachitis, 468
53104 adolescentium, 472
53105
53106 Radial nerve, lesions of, 364
53107
53108 Radium, in lupus, 385
53109 in cancer, 208
53110 in naevus, 297
53111 ulceration from, 239
53112
53113 Ranula, 329
53114
53115 Rarefying ostitis, 437
53116
53117 Ray fungus, 126
53118
53119 Raynaud's disease, 97
53120
53121 Reaction of degeneration, 347
53122
53123 Reactionary haemorrhage, 272
53124
53125 Recklinghausen's disease, 355
53126
53127 Recurrent fibroid of Paget, 199, 392, 420
53128
53129 Repair. _See_ Individual Tissues
53130 conditions interfering with, 17
53131 after loss of tissue, 4
53132 modifications of, 4
53133 of separated parts, 5
53134
53135 Rest, 17
53136
53137 Rests, foetal, 181
53138
53139 Retention cysts, 212
53140
53141 Retro-pharyngeal lymph glands, 322
53142
53143 Reverdin's method of skin-grafting, 13
53144
53145 Rhabdomyoma, 196
53146
53147 Rheumatic arthritis, 524
53148 fever, 509
53149 gout, 524
53150 torticollis, 413
53151
53152 Rheumatism, acute, 509
53153 chronic, 523
53154 gonorrhoeal, 510
53155 muscular, 412
53156 scarlatinal, 508
53157
53158 Rheumatoid arthritis, 524
53159
53160 Rhinophyma, 393
53161
53162 Rickets, 468
53163 bone lesions in, 469
53164 changes in skeleton in, 470
53165 late, 472
53166 scurvy, 473
53167
53168 Rickety, dwarf, 469
53169 pelvis, 471
53170 rosary, 469
53171 scoliosis, 471
53172
53173 Rider's bone, 418
53174 sprain, 407
53175
53176 Rigidity of joints, 502
53177
53178 Rigor, 36
53179
53180 Risus sardonicus, 114
53181
53182 Rodent cancer, 210, 395
53183 ulcer, 210, 395
53184
53185 Rontgen rays. _See_ X-rays
53186
53187 Rose or erysipelas, 107
53188
53189 Roseola, syphilitic, 158
53190
53191 Rupia, syphilitic, 158
53192
53193
53194 Sabre-blade deformity of tibia, 466
53195
53196 Sacculated aneurysm, 302
53197
53198 Saddle-nose deformity, 174
53199
53200 Saline infusions in haemorrhage, 276
53201
53202 Salvarsan in syphilis, 162
53203
53204 Sapraemia, 60
53205 chronic, 62
53206
53207 Saprophytic bacteria, 20
53208
53209 Sarcoma, 197
53210 of bone, 492
53211 inoperable, 201
53212 of joints, 538
53213 of lymph glands, 341
53214 melanotic, 200
53215 periosteal, 493
53216 of skin, 398
53217 of synovial membrane, 538
53218 of tendon sheaths, 424
53219 varieties, 199
53220
53221 Scab, healing under, 6
53222
53223 Scalds, 233
53224
53225 Scapula, winged, 363
53226
53227 Scarlet fever, joint lesions in, 508
53228
53229 Scars. _See_ Cicatrices
53230
53231 Sciatic nerve, lesions of, 370
53232
53233 Sciatica, 371
53234
53235 Scirrhous cancer, 210
53236
53237 Sclavo's serum, 123
53238
53239 Scoliosis, rickety, 471
53240 in sciatica, 372
53241
53242 Scorbutic ulcers, 77
53243
53244 Scrotum, elephantiasis of, 389
53245
53246 Sculler's sprain, 406
53247
53248 Scurvy, 473
53249 rickets, 473
53250
53251 Sebaceous adenoma, 393
53252 cysts, 389
53253 horns, 389
53254
53255 Secondary haemorrhage, 273
53256 syphilis, 151, 147
53257
53258 Selenium in malignant tumours, 201, 208
53259
53260 Semilunar ganglion, 375
53261
53262 Semi-membranosus bursa, 432
53263
53264 Sepsis, 18
53265
53266 Septicaemia, 53, 63
53267
53268 Sequestrectomy, 446
53269
53270 Sequestrum of bone, 438
53271
53272 Serratus anterior muscle, paralysis of, 363
53273
53274 Serum, anti-diphtheritic, 109
53275 anti-bacterial, 23
53276 anti-tetanic, 117
53277 disease, 23
53278 in haemophilia, 280
53279 polyvalent, 23
53280 Sclavo's, for anthrax, 123
53281 treatment, 23
53282
53283 Seton, 217
53284
53285 Shell wounds, 231
53286
53287 Shock, 250
53288 delayed, 252
53289
53290 Shoulder, fibrositis of, 413
53291
53292 Sinus, 59
53293 epithelioma, 500
53294 tuberculous, 143
53295
53296 "606," 162
53297
53298 Skewers for prevention of haemorrhage, 270
53299
53300 Skin, 376
53301 abscesses of, 382
53302 actinomycosis of, 126
53303 cancer of, 394, 398
53304 dermoids, 210
53305 grafting of, 11, 14
53306 preparation of, for operation, 244
53307 repair of, 6
53308 sporotrichosis of, 385
53309 structure of, 376
53310 syphilitic lesions of, 157, 166
53311 tuberculosis of, 382, 385
53312 tumours of, 391
53313
53314 Skull, bossing of, 465
53315 craniotabes of, 175, 176, 465
53316 diffuse osteoma of, 485
53317 natiform, 176
53318 Parrot's nodes, 465
53319 syphilitic disease of, 462
53320 unilateral hypertrophy of, 487
53321
53322 Slough, 86
53323
53324 Snake-bites, 131
53325
53326 Snuffles, 173
53327
53328 Soft chancre, 154
53329 corns, 377
53330 sore, 154
53331
53332 Spas, 531
53333
53334 Spasmodic tic, 373
53335
53336 Sphagnum moss, 247
53337
53338 Spinal arthropathies, 532
53339 cord, joint affections in lesions of, 532
53340 repair of, 9
53341 syphilis of, 161
53342
53343 Spine, changes in rickets, 471
53344
53345 Spirilla, 19
53346
53347 Spirochaete pallida, 147
53348
53349 Spironema pallidum, 147
53350
53351 Splenic fever, 119
53352
53353 Spores, 18
53354
53355 Sporotrichosis, 385
53356
53357 Sprain of muscle, 405, 407
53358
53359 Sprinter's sprain, 406
53360
53361 Staphylococci, 19, 24, 438
53362
53363 Staphylococcus albus, 26
53364 aureus, 25
53365
53366 Starting pains in joints, 502, 517
53367
53368 Stasis, 32
53369
53370 Sterilisation, surgical, 243
53371
53372 Sterno-mastoid lymph glands, 322
53373
53374 Stitch abscess, 51
53375
53376 Stitches. _See_ Sutures
53377
53378 Streptococci, 19, 24
53379
53380 Streptococcus pyogenes, 26
53381
53382 Streptothrix actinomyces, 126
53383
53384 Strychnin poisoning, 115
53385
53386 Stump neuroma, 344
53387
53388 Styptics, 271
53389
53390 Sub-acromial bursa, 429
53391
53392 Sub-calcanean bursa, 433
53393
53394 Subclavian aneurysm, 317
53395
53396 Sub-crural bursa, 430
53397
53398 Sub-deltoid bursa, 429
53399
53400 Submaxillary lymph glands, 322
53401
53402 Submental lymph glands, 322
53403
53404 Sub-patellar bursa, 431
53405
53406 Subscapularis bursa, 430
53407
53408 Subungual exostosis, 191, 404, 481
53409
53410 Suction bells, 39
53411
53412 Suppuration, 45
53413 chronic, 59
53414 diffuse, 52
53415 in mucous membranes, 52
53416 in wounds, 50
53417
53418 Supra-clavicular lymph glands, 322
53419
53420 Supra-hyoid lymph glands, 322
53421
53422 Supra-scapular nerve, lesions of, 364
53423
53424 Surgery, definition of, 1
53425 Listerian, 242
53426
53427 Surgical anatomy of blood vessels, 258
53428 of bone, 434
53429 of epiphyses, 434
53430 of lymphatics, 321
53431 of nerves, 342
53432 of skin, 376
53433
53434 Surgical bacteriology, 17, 18
53435 shock, 250
53436
53437 Sutures, 221
53438 sterilisation of, 245
53439
53440 Sweat-glands, tumours of, 393
53441
53442 Syncope, 249
53443 local, 97
53444
53445 Synostosis, 503
53446
53447 Synovial membrane, tumours of, 538
53448
53449 Synovitis, 501, 506
53450 gonococcal, 510
53451 septic, 506
53452 serous, 506, 507
53453 suppurative, 507
53454 syphilitic, 521
53455
53456 Syphilis, 147. _See also_ Individual Tissues and Organs
53457
53458 Syphilis, acquired, 146, 149
53459 in infants, 179
53460 arsenical preparations in, 162
53461 arteritis in, 282
53462 bones, lesions in, 461, 465
53463 brain, lesions in, 161
53464 of bursae, 428
53465 cirrhosis in, 168
53466 Colles' law, 178
53467 contracture of muscle in, 416
53468 dactylitis in, 176, 460, 466
53469 epiphysitis of infants, 465
53470 extra-genital, 153
53471 in female, 152, 164
53472 gumma, 168, 462
53473 hydrops in, 521
53474 incubation of, 151
53475 in infants, 179
53476 inherited, 146, 172
53477 contagiousness of, 178
53478 diagnosis of, 178
53479 facies of, 174, 175
53480 lesions of bone in, 465
53481 eyes in, 176, 177
53482 joints in, 522
53483 skin in, 173, 174
53484 teeth in, 177
53485 treatment of, 179
53486 insontium, 153
53487 intermediate stage of, 167
53488 interstitial keratitis in, 177
53489 iodides in, 171
53490 iritis in, 166
53491 joint lesions in, 521
53492 of larynx, 177
53493 lupus, 169
53494 lymphadenitis, 153, 337
53495 lymphangitis, 326
53496 in male, 152
53497 malignant, 161
53498 and marriage, 167
53499 mercury in, 164
53500 mixed infection, 156
53501 of mouth, 166
53502 of mucous membranes, 160, 173, 174
53503 mucous patches, 160, 174
53504 of muscle, 416
53505 of nails, 159
53506 of nose, 188
53507 onychia in, 403
53508 osteo-arthritis, 522
53509 of palate, 178, 462
53510 phagedaena, 153
53511 phimosis in, 152
53512 in pregnant women, 164
53513 primary, 151
53514 diagnosis of, 155
53515 lesion of, 146, 151
53516 treatment of, 163
53517 prophylaxis of, 149
53518 pseudo-paralysis of, 174, 466
53519 reminders, 167
53520 second attacks of, 172
53521 secondary, 151, 157
53522 diagnosis of, 161
53523 lesions of eye in, 160
53524 hair in, 159
53525 nails in, 159, 402
53526 skin in, 162
53527 treatment of, 162
53528 serum diagnosis, 149
53529 skin affections in, 157, 166
53530 skull, lesions of, 462
53531 spirochaete pallida in, 147
53532 stages of, 150
53533 stomatitis, 174
53534 synovitis, 521
53535 teeth in, 177
53536 of tendon sheaths, 424
53537 tertiary, 151, 167
53538 diagnosis of, 167
53539 general manifestations of, 167
53540 lesions of mucous membrane in, 171
53541 skin in, 168, 169
53542 treatment of, 171
53543 ulcer, 169
53544 ulcers in, 76, 83, 169
53545 virus of, 147
53546 Wassermann reaction in, 156
53547
53548 Syphiloma, 168
53549
53550 Syringomyelia, joint lesions in, 534
53551
53552
53553 Tabes dorsales, joint lesions in, 532
53554
53555 Taenia echinococcus, 213
53556
53557 Tailor's ankle, 432
53558
53559 Tailor's bottom, 426, 430
53560
53561 Tarsal ganglion, 215
53562
53563 Tarsus, tuberculosis of, 459
53564
53565 Teeth in inherited syphilis, 177
53566
53567 Telangiectasis, congenital, 294
53568
53569 Temperature in surgical diseases, 35, 40
53570
53571 Temporal artery, compression of, 269
53572
53573 Tenderness, 34
53574
53575 Tendinitis, 416
53576
53577 Tendon sheaths, affections of, 421
53578 syphilitic affections of, 424
53579 tuberculosis of, 423, 424
53580 tumours of, 424
53581 whitlow of, 57
53582
53583 Tendons. _See also_ Individual Tendons
53584 avulsion of, 411
53585 calcification in, 416
53586 diseases of, 411
53587 dislocation of, 408
53588 ganglion of, 217
53589 grafting of, 16
53590 inflammation of, 416
53591 ossification of, 416
53592 repair of, 8
53593 rupture of, 406, 408
53594 tumours of, 420
53595 wounds of, 409
53596
53597 Tennis-player's elbow, 406
53598
53599 Teno-synovitis, varieties of, 421
53600
53601 Teratoma, 212
53602
53603 Tertiary syphilis, 151, 167
53604
53605 Tetanus, varieties of, 112
53606
53607 Tetany, 116
53608
53609 Thiersch's method of skin-grafting, 12
53610
53611 Thirst, treatment of, 40
53612
53613 Thoracic aneurysm, 312
53614 duct, subcutaneous rupture of, 325
53615 surgical anatomy of, 324
53616 wounds of, 325
53617
53618 Thorax, rickety changes in, 469
53619
53620 Thrombo-phlebitis, 285
53621
53622 Thrombosis, 32, 281, 285, 292
53623
53624 Thyreoid gland, grafting of, 16
53625 secondary tumours derived from, 500
53626
53627 Tibia, sabre-blade deformity of, 466
53628
53629 Tibial nerve, lesions of, 371
53630
53631 Tic, spasmodic, 373
53632
53633 Tinel's sign, 349
53634
53635 Toe-nail, ingrowing, 403
53636
53637 Toes, gouty affections of, 522
53638 syphilitic dactylitis of, 176, 460, 466
53639 tuberculous dactylitis, 460
53640
53641 Tomato tumour, 393
53642
53643 Tophi, gouty, 523
53644
53645 Torsion of blood vessels, 271
53646
53647 Torticollis, rheumatic, 413
53648
53649 Tourniquet, varieties of, 270, 272
53650
53651 Toxaemia, 21
53652
53653 Toxins, 21, 33
53654
53655 Tracheal tug in aneurysm, 312
53656
53657 Tracheotomy, 111
53658
53659 Trade arthritis, 525
53660 bursitis, 426
53661 epithelionia, 395
53662
53663 Transfusion of blood, 276
53664
53665 Transplantation of tissues, 10
53666
53667 Trench feet, 96
53668
53669 Trendelenburg's operation for varicose veins, 293
53670
53671 Treponema pallidum, 147
53672
53673 Trifacial neuralgia, 373
53674
53675 Trigeminal neuralgia, 373
53676
53677 Trismus, 117
53678
53679 Trochanteric bursa, 430
53680
53681 Trophic changes after nerve injuries, 348
53682 ulcer, 73
53683
53684 Tropical elephantiasis, 386
53685
53686 Trunk neuroma, 354
53687
53688 Tubercle, anatomical, 134
53689 bacillus, 133
53690
53691 Tuberculin, 138
53692
53693 Tuberculosis, 133. _See also_ Individual Tissues and Organs
53694 bacillus of, 133
53695 of bone, 454, 456, 458
53696 bovine, 136
53697 of bursae, 428
53698 calcification in, 136
53699 caseation in, 136
53700 general, 135
53701 human, 136
53702 of joints, 512
53703 of lymph glands, 331
53704 of lymph vessels, 326
53705 modes of infection, 136
53706 of muscle, 416
53707 of nails, 403
53708 open-air treatment of, 137
53709 passive hyperaemia in, 138
53710 principles of treatment of, 137
53711 of skin, 382, 385
53712 of tendon sheaths, 423, 424
53713 trauma in causation of, 135
53714 vaccine treatment in, 138
53715
53716 Tuberculous abscess, 139
53717 arthritic fever, 516
53718 dactylitis, 460
53719 granulation tissue, 136
53720 lupus, 382
53721 lymphadenitis, 331
53722 lymphangitis, 326
53723 onychia, 403
53724 sinus, 143
53725
53726 Tuberculous ulcers, 73, 83
53727
53728 Tubulo-dermoids, 211
53729
53730 Tumor albus, 518
53731
53732 Tumours, 181. _See also_ Individual Tumours and Tissues
53733
53734 Typhoid, joint lesions in, 508
53735 osteomyelitis in, 452
53736
53737
53738 Ulceration, of cartilage, 502, 514
53739 definition of, 68
53740
53741 Ulcers, 68
53742 ambulatory treatment of, 85
53743 Bazin's disease, 74, 169
53744 bone changes in, 79
53745 callous, 79, 84
53746 cancerous, 205
53747 classification of, 70
53748 clinical examination of, 68
53749 conditions of, 77
53750 crateriform, 395
53751 duodenal, in burns, 236
53752 epithelioma in, 500
53753 healing, 77
53754 gouty, 77
53755 due to imperfect circulation, 71, 82
53756 due to imperfect nerve-supply, 73, 82
53757 inflamed, 79, 85
53758 irritable, 79, 85
53759 leg, 72, 169
53760 malignant, 77
53761 perforating, 73, 82
53762 phagedaenic, 80, 85
53763 pressure, 70
53764 from radium, 70
53765 rodent, 395
53766 from Rontgen rays, 70
53767 scorbutic, 77
53768 skin-grafting, 14
53769 spreading, 79
53770 syphilitic, 76, 83, 158, 160, 169
53771 traumatic, 70, 81
53772 treatment of, 80
53773 trophic, 73
53774 tuberculous, 73, 83
53775 varicose, 72
53776 weak, 77, 83
53777
53778 Ulnar nerve, lesions of, 368
53779
53780 Uterine fibroids, 195
53781
53782
53783 Vaccine treatment, 23, 40
53784
53785 Varicose aneurysm, 311
53786 eczema, 292
53787 ulcer, 72
53788 veins, 287
53789
53790 Varix, 287
53791
53792 Veins, anatomy of, 258
53793 entrance of air into, 265
53794 injuries of, 264
53795 repair of, 269
53796 rupture of, 264
53797 thrombosis of, 281
53798 varicose, 287
53799 wounds of, 264
53800
53801 Veldt sores, 382
53802
53803 Venereal disease. _See_ Syphilis
53804 soft sore, 154
53805
53806 Venesection, 42
53807
53808 Venous cysts, 289
53809
53810 Verruca, 392
53811
53812 Vibrion septique, 101
53813
53814 Villous papilloma, 201
53815
53816 Volkmann's ischaemic contracture, 415
53817
53818 Vulva, diphtheria of, 111
53819
53820
53821 Wardrop's operation for aneurysm, 308
53822
53823 Wart, 201, 392
53824 venereal, 393
53825 X-ray, 239
53826
53827 Wassermann's reaction, 156, 162
53828
53829 Weaver's bottom, 426, 430
53830
53831 Weir-Mitchell treatment in hysterical joint affections, 538
53832
53833 Wens, 389
53834
53835 Wet-cupping, 42
53836
53837 White swelling of joints, 515, 518
53838
53839 Whitlow, 55
53840 gangrene from, 99
53841 at nail fold, 56
53842 purulent blister, 55
53843 subcutaneous, 56
53844 subperiosteal, 58
53845 of tendon sheaths, 57
53846 thecal, 57
53847
53848 Whitlow, of toes, 55
53849 varieties of, 55
53850
53851 Winged scapula, 363
53852
53853 Wool-sorter's disease, 121
53854
53855 Wounds, 220. _See also_ Individual Tissues and Regions
53856 acute suppuration in, 50
53857 bullet, 229
53858 contused, 218, 223
53859 drainage of, 222
53860 by electricity, 239
53861 by explosives, 231
53862 by firearms, 225, 227, 230
53863 incised, 221
53864 infection of, 107
53865 lacerated, 223
53866 open method of treating, 247, 248
53867 pistol-shot, 226
53868 punctured, 222
53869 shell, 231
53870 treatment, 241
53871 in warfare, 225, 230
53872
53873 Wrist, drop-, 365
53874
53875 Wry-neck, rheumatic, 413
53876
53877
53878 Xanthoma, 188
53879
53880 X-rays, burns by, 239
53881 cancer from, 395
53882 dermatitis from, 239
53883 ulcers from, 239
53884 warts from, 239
53885 in diagnosis of aneurysm, 304
53886 arthritis deformans, 530
53887 bone diseases, 445
53888 tumours, 485, 491, 496
53889 tuberculosis, 455
53890 foreign bodies, 233
53891 joint tuberculosis, 516
53892 in treatment of cancer, 208
53893 lupus, 385
53894 sarcoma, 201
53895 tuberculosis, 138
53896
53897
53898
53899
53900
53901 End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Manual of Surgery, by
53902 Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles
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54265 The Project Gutenberg EBook of War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
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54288
54289
54290 Title: War and Peace
54291
54292 Author: Leo Tolstoy
54293
54294 Translator: Louise and Aylmer Maude
54295
54296 Release Date: April, 2001 [EBook #2600]
54297 [This file was first posted on October 7, 2003]
54298 [Most recently updated: May 21, 2006]
54299
54300 Edition: 11
54301
54302 Language: English
54303
54304 Character set encoding: US-ASCII
54305
54306 *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, WAR AND PEACE ***
54307
54308
54309
54310
54311
54312
54313
54314
54315
54316
54317 War and Peace
54318
54319 by Leo Tolstoy/Tolstoi
54320
54321
54322
54323
54324 BOOK ONE: 1805
54325
54326
54327
54328
54329 CHAPTER I
54330
54331
54332 "Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the
54333 Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war,
54334 if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by
54335 that Antichrist--I really believe he is Antichrist--I will have
54336 nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer
54337 my 'faithful slave,' as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see
54338 I have frightened you--sit down and tell me all the news."
54339
54340 It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna
54341 Pavlovna Scherer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya
54342 Fedorovna. With these words she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man
54343 of high rank and importance, who was the first to arrive at her
54344 reception. Anna Pavlovna had had a cough for some days. She was, as
54345 she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe being then a new word in
54346 St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.
54347
54348 All her invitations without exception, written in French, and
54349 delivered by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:
54350
54351 "If you have nothing better to do, Count [or Prince], and if the
54352 prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too
54353 terrible, I shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10-
54354 Annette Scherer."
54355
54356 "Heavens! what a virulent attack!" replied the prince, not in the
54357 least disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing
54358 an embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had
54359 stars on his breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke
54360 in that refined French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but
54361 thought, and with the gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a
54362 man of importance who had grown old in society and at court. He went
54363 up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald,
54364 scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the
54365 sofa.
54366
54367 "First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend's
54368 mind at rest," said he without altering his tone, beneath the
54369 politeness and affected sympathy of which indifference and even
54370 irony could be discerned.
54371
54372 "Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times
54373 like these if one has any feeling?" said Anna Pavlovna. "You are
54374 staying the whole evening, I hope?"
54375
54376 "And the fete at the English ambassador's? Today is Wednesday. I
54377 must put in an appearance there," said the prince. "My daughter is
54378 coming for me to take me there."
54379
54380 "I thought today's fete had been canceled. I confess all these
54381 festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome."
54382
54383 "If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would
54384 have been put off," said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by
54385 force of habit said things he did not even wish to be believed.
54386
54387 "Don't tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosiltsev's
54388 dispatch? You know everything."
54389
54390 "What can one say about it?" replied the prince in a cold,
54391 listless tone. "What has been decided? They have decided that
54392 Buonaparte has burnt his boats, and I believe that we are ready to
54393 burn ours."
54394
54395 Prince Vasili always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a
54396 stale part. Anna Pavlovna Scherer on the contrary, despite her forty
54397 years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an
54398 enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she
54399 did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to
54400 disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile
54401 which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played
54402 round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual
54403 consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor
54404 could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.
54405
54406 In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna
54407 burst out:
54408
54409 "Oh, don't speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don't understand
54410 things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war.
54411 She is betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious
54412 sovereign recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is
54413 the one thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to
54414 perform the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble
54415 that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and
54416 crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible than
54417 ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must
54418 avenge the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely
54419 on?... England with her commercial spirit will not and cannot
54420 understand the Emperor Alexander's loftiness of soul. She has
54421 refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and still seeks, some
54422 secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosiltsev get? None.
54423 The English have not understood and cannot understand the
54424 self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only
54425 desires the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And
54426 what little they have promised they will not perform! Prussia has
54427 always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe
54428 is powerless before him.... And I don't believe a word that Hardenburg
54429 says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian neutrality is just a
54430 trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny of our adored
54431 monarch. He will save Europe!"
54432
54433 She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.
54434
54435 "I think," said the prince with a smile, "that if you had been
54436 sent instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the
54437 King of Prussia's consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you
54438 give me a cup of tea?"
54439
54440 "In a moment. A propos," she added, becoming calm again, "I am
54441 expecting two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart,
54442 who is connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of
54443 the best French families. He is one of the genuine emigres, the good
54444 ones. And also the Abbe Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He
54445 has been received by the Emperor. Had you heard?"
54446
54447 "I shall be delighted to meet them," said the prince. "But tell me,"
54448 he added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred
54449 to him, though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive
54450 of his visit, "is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke
54451 to be appointed first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts
54452 is a poor creature."
54453
54454 Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others
54455 were trying through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it
54456 for the baron.
54457
54458 Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she
54459 nor anyone else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or
54460 was pleased with.
54461
54462 "Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her
54463 sister," was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone.
54464
54465 As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an
54466 expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with
54467 sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious
54468 patroness. She added that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron
54469 Funke beaucoup d'estime, and again her face clouded over with sadness.
54470
54471 The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the
54472 womanly and courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna
54473 Pavlovna wished both to rebuke him (for daring to speak he had done of
54474 a man recommended to the Empress) and at the same time to console him,
54475 so she said:
54476
54477 "Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came
54478 out everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly
54479 beautiful."
54480
54481 The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude.
54482
54483 "I often think," she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer
54484 to the prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that
54485 political and social topics were ended and the time had come for
54486 intimate conversation--"I often think how unfairly sometimes the
54487 joys of life are distributed. Why has fate given you two such splendid
54488 children? I don't speak of Anatole, your youngest. I don't like
54489 him," she added in a tone admitting of no rejoinder and raising her
54490 eyebrows. "Two such charming children. And really you appreciate
54491 them less than anyone, and so you don't deserve to have them."
54492
54493 And she smiled her ecstatic smile.
54494
54495 "I can't help it," said the prince. "Lavater would have said I
54496 lack the bump of paternity."
54497
54498 "Don't joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I
54499 am dissatisfied with your younger son? Between ourselves" (and her
54500 face assumed its melancholy expression), "he was mentioned at Her
54501 Majesty's and you were pitied...."
54502
54503 The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly,
54504 awaiting a reply. He frowned.
54505
54506 "What would you have me do?" he said at last. "You know I did all
54507 a father could for their education, and they have both turned out
54508 fools. Hippolyte is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active
54509 one. That is the only difference between them." He said this smiling
54510 in a way more natural and animated than usual, so that the wrinkles
54511 round his mouth very clearly revealed something unexpectedly coarse
54512 and unpleasant.
54513
54514 "And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a
54515 father there would be nothing I could reproach you with," said Anna
54516 Pavlovna, looking up pensively.
54517
54518 "I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my
54519 children are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That
54520 is how I explain it to myself. It can't be helped!"
54521
54522 He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a
54523 gesture. Anna Pavlovna meditated.
54524
54525 "Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?"
54526 she asked. "They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and
54527 though I don't feel that weakness in myself as yet, I know a little
54528 person who is very unhappy with her father. She is a relation of
54529 yours, Princess Mary Bolkonskaya."
54530
54531 Prince Vasili did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory
54532 and perception befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a
54533 movement of the head that he was considering this information.
54534
54535 "Do you know," he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad
54536 current of his thoughts, "that Anatole is costing me forty thousand
54537 rubles a year? And," he went on after a pause, "what will it be in
54538 five years, if he goes on like this?" Presently he added: "That's what
54539 we fathers have to put up with.... Is this princess of yours rich?"
54540
54541 "Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He
54542 is the well-known Prince Bolkonski who had to retire from the army
54543 under the late Emperor, and was nicknamed 'the King of Prussia.' He is
54544 very clever but eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very
54545 unhappy. She has a brother; I think you know him, he married Lise
54546 Meinen lately. He is an aide-de-camp of Kutuzov's and will be here
54547 tonight."
54548
54549 "Listen, dear Annette," said the prince, suddenly taking Anna
54550 Pavlovna's hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. "Arrange
54551 that affair for me and I shall always be your most devoted slave-
54552 slafe with an f, as a village elder of mine writes in his reports.
54553 She is rich and of good family and that's all I want."
54554
54555 And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised
54556 the maid of honor's hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and
54557 fro as he lay back in his armchair, looking in another direction.
54558
54559 "Attendez," said Anna Pavlovna, reflecting, "I'll speak to Lise,
54560 young Bolkonski's wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can
54561 be arranged. It shall be on your family's behalf that I'll start my
54562 apprenticeship as old maid."
54563
54564
54565
54566
54567
54568 CHAPTER II
54569
54570
54571 Anna Pavlovna's drawing room was gradually filling. The highest
54572 Petersburg society was assembled there: people differing widely in age
54573 and character but alike in the social circle to which they belonged.
54574 Prince Vasili's daughter, the beautiful Helene, came to take her
54575 father to the ambassador's entertainment; she wore a ball dress and
54576 her badge as maid of honor. The youthful little Princess
54577 Bolkonskaya, known as la femme la plus seduisante de Petersbourg,* was
54578 also there. She had been married during the previous winter, and being
54579 pregnant did not go to any large gatherings, but only to small
54580 receptions. Prince Vasili's son, Hippolyte, had come with Mortemart,
54581 whom he introduced. The Abbe Morio and many others had also come.
54582
54583
54584 *The most fascinating woman in Petersburg.
54585
54586
54587 To each new arrival Anna Pavlovna said, "You have not yet seen my
54588 aunt," or "You do not know my aunt?" and very gravely conducted him or
54589 her to a little old lady, wearing large bows of ribbon in her cap, who
54590 had come sailing in from another room as soon as the guests began to
54591 arrive; and slowly turning her eyes from the visitor to her aunt, Anna
54592 Pavlovna mentioned each one's name and then left them.
54593
54594 Each visitor performed the ceremony of greeting this old aunt whom
54595 not one of them knew, not one of them wanted to know, and not one of
54596 them cared about; Anna Pavlovna observed these greetings with mournful
54597 and solemn interest and silent approval. The aunt spoke to each of
54598 them in the same words, about their health and her own, and the health
54599 of Her Majesty, "who, thank God, was better today." And each
54600 visitor, though politeness prevented his showing impatience, left
54601 the old woman with a sense of relief at having performed a vexatious
54602 duty and did not return to her the whole evening.
54603
54604 The young Princess Bolkonskaya had brought some work in a
54605 gold-embroidered velvet bag. Her pretty little upper lip, on which a
54606 delicate dark down was just perceptible, was too short for her
54607 teeth, but it lifted all the more sweetly, and was especially charming
54608 when she occasionally drew it down to meet the lower lip. As is always
54609 the case with a thoroughly attractive woman, her defect--the shortness
54610 of her upper lip and her half-open mouth--seemed to be her own special
54611 and peculiar form of beauty. Everyone brightened at the sight of
54612 this pretty young woman, so soon to become a mother, so full of life
54613 and health, and carrying her burden so lightly. Old men and dull
54614 dispirited young ones who looked at her, after being in her company
54615 and talking to her a little while, felt as if they too were
54616 becoming, like her, full of life and health. All who talked to her,
54617 and at each word saw her bright smile and the constant gleam of her
54618 white teeth, thought that they were in a specially amiable mood that
54619 day.
54620
54621 The little princess went round the table with quick, short,
54622 swaying steps, her workbag on her arm, and gaily spreading out her
54623 dress sat down on a sofa near the silver samovar, as if all she was
54624 doing was a pleasure to herself and to all around her. "I have brought
54625 my work," said she in French, displaying her bag and addressing all
54626 present. "Mind, Annette, I hope you have not played a wicked trick
54627 on me," she added, turning to her hostess. "You wrote that it was to
54628 be quite a small reception, and just see how badly I am dressed."
54629 And she spread out her arms to show her short-waisted, lace-trimmed,
54630 dainty gray dress, girdled with a broad ribbon just below the breast.
54631
54632 "Soyez tranquille, Lise, you will always be prettier than anyone
54633 else," replied Anna Pavlovna.
54634
54635 "You know," said the princess in the same tone of voice and still in
54636 French, turning to a general, "my husband is deserting me? He is going
54637 to get himself killed. Tell me what this wretched war is for?" she
54638 added, addressing Prince Vasili, and without waiting for an answer she
54639 turned to speak to his daughter, the beautiful Helene.
54640
54641 "What a delightful woman this little princess is!" said Prince
54642 Vasili to Anna Pavlovna.
54643
54644 One of the next arrivals was a stout, heavily built young man with
54645 close-cropped hair, spectacles, the light-colored breeches fashionable
54646 at that time, a very high ruffle, and a brown dress coat. This stout
54647 young man was an illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a well-known
54648 grandee of Catherine's time who now lay dying in Moscow. The young man
54649 had not yet entered either the military or civil service, as he had
54650 only just returned from abroad where he had been educated, and this
54651 was his first appearance in society. Anna Pavlovna greeted him with
54652 the nod she accorded to the lowest hierarchy in her drawing room.
54653 But in spite of this lowest-grade greeting, a look of anxiety and
54654 fear, as at the sight of something too large and unsuited to the
54655 place, came over her face when she saw Pierre enter. Though he was
54656 certainly rather bigger than the other men in the room, her anxiety
54657 could only have reference to the clever though shy, but observant
54658 and natural, expression which distinguished him from everyone else
54659 in that drawing room.
54660
54661 "It is very good of you, Monsieur Pierre, to come and visit a poor
54662 invalid," said Anna Pavlovna, exchanging an alarmed glance with her
54663 aunt as she conducted him to her.
54664
54665 Pierre murmured something unintelligible, and continued to look
54666 round as if in search of something. On his way to the aunt he bowed to
54667 the little princess with a pleased smile, as to an intimate
54668 acquaintance.
54669
54670 Anna Pavlovna's alarm was justified, for Pierre turned away from the
54671 aunt without waiting to hear her speech about Her Majesty's health.
54672 Anna Pavlovna in dismay detained him with the words: "Do you know
54673 the Abbe Morio? He is a most interesting man."
54674
54675 "Yes, I have heard of his scheme for perpetual peace, and it is very
54676 interesting but hardly feasible."
54677
54678 "You think so?" rejoined Anna Pavlovna in order to say something and
54679 get away to attend to her duties as hostess. But Pierre now
54680 committed a reverse act of impoliteness. First he had left a lady
54681 before she had finished speaking to him, and now he continued to speak
54682 to another who wished to get away. With his head bent, and his big
54683 feet spread apart, he began explaining his reasons for thinking the
54684 abbe's plan chimerical.
54685
54686 "We will talk of it later," said Anna Pavlovna with a smile.
54687
54688 And having got rid of this young man who did not know how to behave,
54689 she resumed her duties as hostess and continued to listen and watch,
54690 ready to help at any point where the conversation might happen to
54691 flag. As the foreman of a spinning mill, when he has set the hands
54692 to work, goes round and notices here a spindle that has stopped or
54693 there one that creaks or makes more noise than it should, and
54694 hastens to check the machine or set it in proper motion, so Anna
54695 Pavlovna moved about her drawing room, approaching now a silent, now a
54696 too-noisy group, and by a word or slight rearrangement kept the
54697 conversational machine in steady, proper, and regular motion. But amid
54698 these cares her anxiety about Pierre was evident. She kept an
54699 anxious watch on him when he approached the group round Mortemart to
54700 listen to what was being said there, and again when he passed to
54701 another group whose center was the abbe.
54702
54703 Pierre had been educated abroad, and this reception at Anna
54704 Pavlovna's was the first he had attended in Russia. He knew that all
54705 the intellectual lights of Petersburg were gathered there and, like
54706 a child in a toyshop, did not know which way to look, afraid of
54707 missing any clever conversation that was to be heard. Seeing the
54708 self-confident and refined expression on the faces of those present he
54709 was always expecting to hear something very profound. At last he
54710 came up to Morio. Here the conversation seemed interesting and he
54711 stood waiting for an opportunity to express his own views, as young
54712 people are fond of doing.
54713
54714
54715
54716
54717 CHAPTER III
54718
54719
54720 Anna Pavlovna's reception was in full swing. The spindles hummed
54721 steadily and ceaselessly on all sides. With the exception of the aunt,
54722 beside whom sat only one elderly lady, who with her thin careworn face
54723 was rather out of place in this brilliant society, the whole company
54724 had settled into three groups. One, chiefly masculine, had formed
54725 round the abbe. Another, of young people, was grouped round the
54726 beautiful Princess Helene, Prince Vasili's daughter, and the little
54727 Princess Bolkonskaya, very pretty and rosy, though rather too plump
54728 for her age. The third group was gathered round Mortemart and Anna
54729 Pavlovna.
54730
54731 The vicomte was a nice-looking young man with soft features and
54732 polished manners, who evidently considered himself a celebrity but out
54733 of politeness modestly placed himself at the disposal of the circle in
54734 which he found himself. Anna Pavlovna was obviously serving him up
54735 as a treat to her guests. As a clever maitre d'hotel serves up as a
54736 specially choice delicacy a piece of meat that no one who had seen
54737 it in the kitchen would have cared to eat, so Anna Pavlovna served
54738 up to her guests, first the vicomte and then the abbe, as peculiarly
54739 choice morsels. The group about Mortemart immediately began discussing
54740 the murder of the Duc d'Enghien. The vicomte said that the Duc
54741 d'Enghien had perished by his own magnanimity, and that there were
54742 particular reasons for Buonaparte's hatred of him.
54743
54744 "Ah, yes! Do tell us all about it, Vicomte," said Anna Pavlovna,
54745 with a pleasant feeling that there was something a la Louis XV in
54746 the sound of that sentence: "Contez nous cela, Vicomte."
54747
54748 The vicomte bowed and smiled courteously in token of his willingness
54749 to comply. Anna Pavlovna arranged a group round him, inviting everyone
54750 to listen to his tale.
54751
54752 "The vicomte knew the duc personally," whispered Anna Pavlovna to of
54753 the guests. "The vicomte is a wonderful raconteur," said she to
54754 another. "How evidently he belongs to the best society," said she to a
54755 third; and the vicomte was served up to the company in the choicest
54756 and most advantageous style, like a well-garnished joint of roast beef
54757 on a hot dish.
54758
54759 The vicomte wished to begin his story and gave a subtle smile.
54760
54761 "Come over here, Helene, dear," said Anna Pavlovna to the
54762 beautiful young princess who was sitting some way off, the center of
54763 another group.
54764
54765 The princess smiled. She rose with the same unchanging smile with
54766 which she had first entered the room--the smile of a perfectly
54767 beautiful woman. With a slight rustle of her white dress trimmed
54768 with moss and ivy, with a gleam of white shoulders, glossy hair, and
54769 sparkling diamonds, she passed between the men who made way for her,
54770 not looking at any of them but smiling on all, as if graciously
54771 allowing each the privilege of admiring her beautiful figure and
54772 shapely shoulders, back, and bosom--which in the fashion of those days
54773 were very much exposed--and she seemed to bring the glamour of a
54774 ballroom with her as she moved toward Anna Pavlovna. Helene was so
54775 lovely that not only did she not show any trace of coquetry, but on
54776 the contrary she even appeared shy of her unquestionable and all too
54777 victorious beauty. She seemed to wish, but to be unable, to diminish
54778 its effect.
54779
54780 "How lovely!" said everyone who saw her; and the vicomte lifted
54781 his shoulders and dropped his eyes as if startled by something
54782 extraordinary when she took her seat opposite and beamed upon him also
54783 with her unchanging smile.
54784
54785 "Madame, I doubt my ability before such an audience," said he,
54786 smilingly inclining his head.
54787
54788 The princess rested her bare round arm on a little table and
54789 considered a reply unnecessary. She smilingly waited. All the time the
54790 story was being told she sat upright, glancing now at her beautiful
54791 round arm, altered in shape by its pressure on the table, now at her
54792 still more beautiful bosom, on which she readjusted a diamond
54793 necklace. From time to time she smoothed the folds of her dress, and
54794 whenever the story produced an effect she glanced at Anna Pavlovna, at
54795 once adopted just the expression she saw on the maid of honor's
54796 face, and again relapsed into her radiant smile.
54797
54798 The little princess had also left the tea table and followed Helene.
54799
54800 "Wait a moment, I'll get my work.... Now then, what are you thinking
54801 of?" she went on, turning to Prince Hippolyte. "Fetch me my workbag."
54802
54803 There was a general movement as the princess, smiling and talking
54804 merrily to everyone at once, sat down and gaily arranged herself in
54805 her seat.
54806
54807 "Now I am all right," she said, and asking the vicomte to begin, she
54808 took up her work.
54809
54810 Prince Hippolyte, having brought the workbag, joined the circle
54811 and moving a chair close to hers seated himself beside her.
54812
54813 Le charmant Hippolyte was surprising by his extraordinary
54814 resemblance to his beautiful sister, but yet more by the fact that
54815 in spite of this resemblance he was exceedingly ugly. His features
54816 were like his sister's, but while in her case everything was lit up by
54817 a joyous, self-satisfied, youthful, and constant smile of animation,
54818 and by the wonderful classic beauty of her figure, his face on the
54819 contrary was dulled by imbecility and a constant expression of
54820 sullen self-confidence, while his body was thin and weak. His eyes,
54821 nose, and mouth all seemed puckered into a vacant, wearied grimace,
54822 and his arms and legs always fell into unnatural positions.
54823
54824 "It's not going to be a ghost story?" said he, sitting down beside
54825 the princess and hastily adjusting his lorgnette, as if without this
54826 instrument he could not begin to speak.
54827
54828 "Why no, my dear fellow," said the astonished narrator, shrugging
54829 his shoulders.
54830
54831 "Because I hate ghost stories," said Prince Hippolyte in a tone
54832 which showed that he only understood the meaning of his words after he
54833 had uttered them.
54834
54835 He spoke with such self-confidence that his hearers could not be
54836 sure whether what he said was very witty or very stupid. He was
54837 dressed in a dark-green dress coat, knee breeches of the color of
54838 cuisse de nymphe effrayee, as he called it, shoes, and silk stockings.
54839
54840 The vicomte told his tale very neatly. It was an anecdote, then
54841 current, to the effect that the Duc d'Enghien had gone secretly to
54842 Paris to visit Mademoiselle George; that at her house he came upon
54843 Bonaparte, who also enjoyed the famous actress' favors, and that in
54844 his presence Napoleon happened to fall into one of the fainting fits
54845 to which he was subject, and was thus at the duc's mercy. The latter
54846 spared him, and this magnanimity Bonaparte subsequently repaid by
54847 death.
54848
54849 The story was very pretty and interesting, especially at the point
54850 where the rivals suddenly recognized one another; and the ladies
54851 looked agitated.
54852
54853 "Charming!" said Anna Pavlovna with an inquiring glance at the
54854 little princess.
54855
54856 "Charming!" whispered the little princess, sticking the needle
54857 into her work as if to testify that the interest and fascination of
54858 the story prevented her from going on with it.
54859
54860 The vicomte appreciated this silent praise and smiling gratefully
54861 prepared to continue, but just then Anna Pavlovna, who had kept a
54862 watchful eye on the young man who so alarmed her, noticed that he
54863 was talking too loudly and vehemently with the abbe, so she hurried to
54864 the rescue. Pierre had managed to start a conversation with the abbe
54865 about the balance of power, and the latter, evidently interested by
54866 the young man's simple-minded eagerness, was explaining his pet
54867 theory. Both were talking and listening too eagerly and too naturally,
54868 which was why Anna Pavlovna disapproved.
54869
54870 "The means are... the balance of power in Europe and the rights of
54871 the people," the abbe was saying. "It is only necessary for one
54872 powerful nation like Russia--barbaric as she is said to be--to place
54873 herself disinterestedly at the head of an alliance having for its
54874 object the maintenance of the balance of power of Europe, and it would
54875 save the world!"
54876
54877 "But how are you to get that balance?" Pierre was beginning.
54878
54879 At that moment Anna Pavlovna came up and, looking severely at
54880 Pierre, asked the Italian how he stood Russian climate. The
54881 Italian's face instantly changed and assumed an offensively
54882 affected, sugary expression, evidently habitual to him when conversing
54883 with women.
54884
54885 "I am so enchanted by the brilliancy of the wit and culture of the
54886 society, more especially of the feminine society, in which I have
54887 had the honor of being received, that I have not yet had time to think
54888 of the climate," said he.
54889
54890 Not letting the abbe and Pierre escape, Anna Pavlovna, the more
54891 conveniently to keep them under observation, brought them into the
54892 larger circle.
54893
54894
54895
54896
54897
54898 CHAPTER IV
54899
54900
54901 Just then another visitor entered the drawing room: Prince Andrew
54902 Bolkonski, the little princess' husband. He was a very handsome
54903 young man, of medium height, with firm, clearcut features.
54904 Everything about him, from his weary, bored expression to his quiet,
54905 measured step, offered a most striking contrast to his quiet, little
54906 wife. It was evident that he not only knew everyone in the drawing
54907 room, but had found them to be so tiresome that it wearied him to look
54908 at or listen to them. And among all these faces that he found so
54909 tedious, none seemed to bore him so much as that of his pretty wife.
54910 He turned away from her with a grimace that distorted his handsome
54911 face, kissed Anna Pavlovna's hand, and screwing up his eyes scanned
54912 the whole company.
54913
54914 "You are off to the war, Prince?" said Anna Pavlovna.
54915
54916 "General Kutuzov," said Bolkonski, speaking French and stressing the
54917 last syllable of the general's name like a Frenchman, "has been
54918 pleased to take me as an aide-de-camp...."
54919
54920 "And Lise, your wife?"
54921
54922 "She will go to the country."
54923
54924 "Are you not ashamed to deprive us of your charming wife?"
54925
54926 "Andre," said his wife, addressing her husband in the same
54927 coquettish manner in which she spoke to other men, "the vicomte has
54928 been telling us such a tale about Mademoiselle George and Buonaparte!"
54929
54930 Prince Andrew screwed up his eyes and turned away. Pierre, who
54931 from the moment Prince Andrew entered the room had watched him with
54932 glad, affectionate eyes, now came up and took his arm. Before he
54933 looked round Prince Andrew frowned again, expressing his annoyance
54934 with whoever was touching his arm, but when he saw Pierre's beaming
54935 face he gave him an unexpectedly kind and pleasant smile.
54936
54937 "There now!... So you, too, are in the great world?" said he to
54938 Pierre.
54939
54940 "I knew you would be here," replied Pierre. "I will come to supper
54941 with you. May I?" he added in a low voice so as not to disturb the
54942 vicomte who was continuing his story.
54943
54944 "No, impossible!" said Prince Andrew, laughing and pressing Pierre's
54945 hand to show that there was no need to ask the question. He wished
54946 to say something more, but at that moment Prince Vasili and his
54947 daughter got up to go and the two young men rose to let them pass.
54948
54949 "You must excuse me, dear Vicomte," said Prince Vasili to the
54950 Frenchman, holding him down by the sleeve in a friendly way to prevent
54951 his rising. "This unfortunate fete at the ambassador's deprives me
54952 of a pleasure, and obliges me to interrupt you. I am very sorry to
54953 leave your enchanting party," said he, turning to Anna Pavlovna.
54954
54955 His daughter, Princess Helene, passed between the chairs, lightly
54956 holding up the folds of her dress, and the smile shone still more
54957 radiantly on her beautiful face. Pierre gazed at her with rapturous,
54958 almost frightened, eyes as she passed him.
54959
54960 "Very lovely," said Prince Andrew.
54961
54962 "Very," said Pierre.
54963
54964 In passing Prince Vasili seized Pierre's hand and said to Anna
54965 Pavlovna: "Educate this bear for me! He has been staying with me a
54966 whole month and this is the first time I have seen him in society.
54967 Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the society of clever
54968 women."
54969
54970
54971 Anna Pavlovna smiled and promised to take Pierre in hand. She knew
54972 his father to be a connection of Prince Vasili's. The elderly lady who
54973 had been sitting with the old aunt rose hurriedly and overtook
54974 Prince Vasili in the anteroom. All the affectation of interest she had
54975 assumed had left her kindly and tearworn face and it now expressed
54976 only anxiety and fear.
54977
54978 "How about my son Boris, Prince?" said she, hurrying after him
54979 into the anteroom. "I can't remain any longer in Petersburg. Tell me
54980 what news I may take back to my poor boy."
54981
54982
54983 Although Prince Vasili listened reluctantly and not very politely to
54984 the elderly lady, even betraying some impatience, she gave him an
54985 ingratiating and appealing smile, and took his hand that he might
54986 not go away.
54987
54988 "What would it cost you to say a word to the Emperor, and then he
54989 would be transferred to the Guards at once?" said she.
54990
54991 "Believe me, Princess, I am ready to do all I can," answered
54992 Prince Vasili, "but it is difficult for me to ask the Emperor. I
54993 should advise you to appeal to Rumyantsev through Prince Golitsyn.
54994 That would be the best way."
54995
54996 The elderly lady was a Princess Drubetskaya, belonging to one of the
54997 best families in Russia, but she was poor, and having long been out of
54998 society had lost her former influential connections. She had now
54999 come to Petersburg to procure an appointment in the Guards for her
55000 only son. It was, in fact, solely to meet Prince Vasili that she had
55001 obtained an invitation to Anna Pavlovna's reception and had sat
55002 listening to the vicomte's story. Prince Vasili's words frightened
55003 her, an embittered look clouded her once handsome face, but only for a
55004 moment; then she smiled again and clutched Prince Vasili's arm more
55005 tightly.
55006
55007 "Listen to me, Prince," said she. "I have never yet asked you for
55008 anything and I never will again, nor have I ever reminded you of my
55009 father's friendship for you; but now I entreat you for God's sake to
55010 do this for my son--and I shall always regard you as a benefactor,"
55011 she added hurriedly. "No, don't be angry, but promise! I have asked
55012 Golitsyn and he has refused. Be the kindhearted man you always
55013 were," she said, trying to smile though tears were in her eyes.
55014
55015 "Papa, we shall be late," said Princess Helene, turning her
55016 beautiful head and looking over her classically molded shoulder as she
55017 stood waiting by the door.
55018
55019 Influence in society, however, is a capital which has to be
55020 economized if it is to last. Prince Vasili knew this, and having
55021 once realized that if he asked on behalf of all who begged of him,
55022 he would soon be unable to ask for himself, he became chary of using
55023 his influence. But in Princess Drubetskaya's case he felt, after her
55024 second appeal, something like qualms of conscience. She had reminded
55025 him of what was quite true; he had been indebted to her father for the
55026 first steps in his career. Moreover, he could see by her manners
55027 that she was one of those women--mostly mothers--who, having once made
55028 up their minds, will not rest until they have gained their end, and
55029 are prepared if necessary to go on insisting day after day and hour
55030 after hour, and even to make scenes. This last consideration moved
55031 him.
55032
55033 "My dear Anna Mikhaylovna," said he with his usual familiarity and
55034 weariness of tone, "it is almost impossible for me to do what you ask;
55035 but to prove my devotion to you and how I respect your father's
55036 memory, I will do the impossible--your son shall be transferred to the
55037 Guards. Here is my hand on it. Are you satisfied?"
55038
55039 "My dear benefactor! This is what I expected from you--I knew your
55040 kindness!" He turned to go.
55041
55042 "Wait--just a word! When he has been transferred to the Guards..."
55043 she faltered. "You are on good terms with Michael Ilarionovich
55044 Kutuzov... recommend Boris to him as adjutant! Then I shall be at
55045 rest, and then..."
55046
55047 Prince Vasili smiled.
55048
55049 "No, I won't promise that. You don't know how Kutuzov is pestered
55050 since his appointment as Commander in Chief. He told me himself that
55051 all the Moscow ladies have conspired to give him all their sons as
55052 adjutants."
55053
55054 "No, but do promise! I won't let you go! My dear benefactor..."
55055
55056 "Papa," said his beautiful daughter in the same tone as before,
55057 "we shall be late."
55058
55059 "Well, au revoir! Good-by! You hear her?"
55060
55061 "Then tomorrow you will speak to the Emperor?"
55062
55063 "Certainly; but about Kutuzov, I don't promise."
55064
55065 "Do promise, do promise, Vasili!" cried Anna Mikhaylovna as he went,
55066 with the smile of a coquettish girl, which at one time probably came
55067 naturally to her, but was now very ill-suited to her careworn face.
55068
55069 Apparently she had forgotten her age and by force of habit
55070 employed all the old feminine arts. But as soon as the prince had gone
55071 her face resumed its former cold, artificial expression. She
55072 returned to the group where the vicomte was still talking, and again
55073 pretended to listen, while waiting till it would be time to leave. Her
55074 task was accomplished.
55075
55076
55077
55078
55079
55080 CHAPTER V
55081
55082
55083 "And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at
55084 Milan?" asked Anna Pavlovna, "and of the comedy of the people of Genoa
55085 and Lucca laying their petitions before Monsieur Buonaparte, and
55086 Monsieur Buonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions
55087 of the nations? Adorable! It is enough to make one's head whirl! It is
55088 as if the whole world had gone crazy."
55089
55090 Prince Andrew looked Anna Pavlovna straight in the face with a
55091 sarcastic smile.
55092
55093 "'Dieu me la donne, gare a qui la touche!'* They say he was very
55094 fine when he said that," he remarked, repeating the words in
55095 Italian: "'Dio mi l'ha dato. Guai a chi la tocchi!'"
55096
55097
55098 *God has given it to me, let him who touches it beware!
55099
55100
55101 "I hope this will prove the last drop that will make the glass run
55102 over," Anna Pavlovna continued. "The sovereigns will not be able to
55103 endure this man who is a menace to everything."
55104
55105 "The sovereigns? I do not speak of Russia," said the vicomte, polite
55106 but hopeless: "The sovereigns, madame... What have they done for Louis
55107 XVII, for the Queen, or for Madame Elizabeth? Nothing!" and he
55108 became more animated. "And believe me, they are reaping the reward
55109 of their betrayal of the Bourbon cause. The sovereigns! Why, they
55110 are sending ambassadors to compliment the usurper."
55111
55112 And sighing disdainfully, he again changed his position.
55113
55114 Prince Hippolyte, who had been gazing at the vicomte for some time
55115 through his lorgnette, suddenly turned completely round toward the
55116 little princess, and having asked for a needle began tracing the Conde
55117 coat of arms on the table. He explained this to her with as much
55118 gravity as if she had asked him to do it.
55119
55120 "Baton de gueules, engrele de gueules d' azur--maison Conde," said
55121 he.
55122
55123 The princess listened, smiling.
55124
55125 "If Buonaparte remains on the throne of France a year longer," the
55126 vicomte continued, with the air of a man who, in a matter with which
55127 he is better acquainted than anyone else, does not listen to others
55128 but follows the current of his own thoughts, "things will have gone
55129 too far. By intrigues, violence, exile, and executions, French
55130 society--I mean good French society--will have been forever destroyed,
55131 and then..."
55132
55133 He shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands. Pierre wished to
55134 make a remark, for the conversation interested him, but Anna Pavlovna,
55135 who had him under observation, interrupted:
55136
55137 "The Emperor Alexander," said she, with the melancholy which
55138 always accompanied any reference of hers to the Imperial family,
55139
55140 "has declared that he will leave it to the French people themselves to
55141 choose their own form of government; and I believe that once free from
55142 the usurper, the whole nation will certainly throw itself into the
55143 arms of its rightful king," she concluded, trying to be amiable to the
55144 royalist emigrant.
55145
55146 "That is doubtful," said Prince Andrew. "Monsieur le Vicomte quite
55147 rightly supposes that matters have already gone too far. I think it
55148 will be difficult to return to the old regime."
55149
55150 "From what I have heard," said Pierre, blushing and breaking into
55151 the conversation, "almost all the aristocracy has already gone over to
55152 Bonaparte's side."
55153
55154 "It is the Buonapartists who say that," replied the vicomte
55155 without looking at Pierre. "At the present time it is difficult to
55156 know the real state of French public opinion."
55157
55158 "Bonaparte has said so," remarked Prince Andrew with a sarcastic
55159 smile.
55160
55161 It was evident that he did not like the vicomte and was aiming his
55162 remarks at him, though without looking at him.
55163
55164 "'I showed them the path to glory, but they did not follow it,'"
55165 Prince Andrew continued after a short silence, again quoting
55166 Napoleon's words. "'I opened my antechambers and they crowded in.' I
55167 do not know how far he was justified in saying so."
55168
55169 "Not in the least," replied the vicomte. "After the murder of the
55170 duc even the most partial ceased to regard him as a hero. If to some
55171 people," he went on, turning to Anna Pavlovna, "he ever was a hero,
55172 after the murder of the duc there was one martyr more in heaven and
55173 one hero less on earth."
55174
55175 Before Anna Pavlovna and the others had time to smile their
55176 appreciation of the vicomte's epigram, Pierre again broke into the
55177 conversation, and though Anna Pavlovna felt sure he would say
55178 something inappropriate, she was unable to stop him.
55179
55180 "The execution of the Duc d'Enghien," declared Monsieur Pierre, "was
55181 a political necessity, and it seems to me that Napoleon showed
55182 greatness of soul by not fearing to take on himself the whole
55183 responsibility of that deed."
55184
55185 "Dieu! Mon Dieu!" muttered Anna Pavlovna in a terrified whisper.
55186
55187 "What, Monsieur Pierre... Do you consider that assassination shows
55188 greatness of soul?" said the little princess, smiling and drawing
55189 her work nearer to her.
55190
55191 "Oh! Oh!" exclaimed several voices.
55192
55193 "Capital!" said Prince Hippolyte in English, and began slapping
55194 his knee with the palm of his hand.
55195
55196 The vicomte merely shrugged his shoulders. Pierre looked solemnly at
55197 his audience over his spectacles and continued.
55198
55199 "I say so," he continued desperately, "because the Bourbons fled
55200 from the Revolution leaving the people to anarchy, and Napoleon
55201 alone understood the Revolution and quelled it, and so for the general
55202 good, he could not stop short for the sake of one man's life."
55203
55204 "Won't you come over to the other table?" suggested Anna Pavlovna.
55205
55206 But Pierre continued his speech without heeding her.
55207
55208 "No," cried he, becoming more and more eager, "Napoleon is great
55209 because he rose superior to the Revolution, suppressed its abuses,
55210 preserved all that was good in it--equality of citizenship and freedom
55211 of speech and of the press--and only for that reason did he obtain
55212 power."
55213
55214 "Yes, if having obtained power, without availing himself of it to
55215 commit murder he had restored it to the rightful king, I should have
55216 called him a great man," remarked the vicomte.
55217
55218 "He could not do that. The people only gave him power that he
55219 might rid them of the Bourbons and because they saw that he was a
55220 great man. The Revolution was a grand thing!" continued Monsieur
55221 Pierre, betraying by this desperate and provocative proposition his
55222 extreme youth and his wish to express all that was in his mind.
55223
55224 "What? Revolution and regicide a grand thing?... Well, after that...
55225 But won't you come to this other table?" repeated Anna Pavlovna.
55226
55227 "Rousseau's Contrat social," said the vicomte with a tolerant smile.
55228
55229 "I am not speaking of regicide, I am speaking about ideas."
55230
55231 "Yes: ideas of robbery, murder, and regicide," again interjected
55232 an ironical voice.
55233
55234 "Those were extremes, no doubt, but they are not what is most
55235 important. What is important are the rights of man, emancipation
55236 from prejudices, and equality of citizenship, and all these ideas
55237 Napoleon has retained in full force."
55238
55239 "Liberty and equality," said the vicomte contemptuously, as if at
55240 last deciding seriously to prove to this youth how foolish his words
55241 were, "high-sounding words which have long been discredited. Who
55242 does not love liberty and equality? Even our Saviour preached
55243 liberty and equality. Have people since the Revolution become happier?
55244 On the contrary. We wanted liberty, but Buonaparte has destroyed it."
55245
55246 Prince Andrew kept looking with an amused smile from Pierre to the
55247 vicomte and from the vicomte to their hostess. In the first moment
55248 of Pierre's outburst Anna Pavlovna, despite her social experience, was
55249 horror-struck. But when she saw that Pierre's sacrilegious words had
55250 not exasperated the vicomte, and had convinced herself that it was
55251 impossible to stop him, she rallied her forces and joined the
55252 vicomte in a vigorous attack on the orator.
55253
55254 "But, my dear Monsieur Pierre," said she, "how do you explain the
55255 fact of a great man executing a duc--or even an ordinary man who--is
55256 innocent and untried?"
55257
55258 "I should like," said the vicomte, "to ask how monsieur explains the
55259 18th Brumaire; was not that an imposture? It was a swindle, and not at
55260 all like the conduct of a great man!"
55261
55262 "And the prisoners he killed in Africa? That was horrible!" said the
55263 little princess, shrugging her shoulders.
55264
55265 "He's a low fellow, say what you will," remarked Prince Hippolyte.
55266
55267 Pierre, not knowing whom to answer, looked at them all and smiled.
55268 His smile was unlike the half-smile of other people. When he smiled,
55269 his grave, even rather gloomy, look was instantaneously replaced by
55270 another--a childlike, kindly, even rather silly look, which seemed
55271 to ask forgiveness.
55272
55273 The vicomte who was meeting him for the first time saw clearly
55274 that this young Jacobin was not so terrible as his words suggested.
55275 All were silent.
55276
55277 "How do you expect him to answer you all at once?" said Prince
55278 Andrew. "Besides, in the actions of a statesman one has to distinguish
55279 between his acts as a private person, as a general, and as an emperor.
55280 So it seems to me."
55281
55282 "Yes, yes, of course!" Pierre chimed in, pleased at the arrival of
55283 this reinforcement.
55284
55285 "One must admit," continued Prince Andrew, "that Napoleon as a man
55286 was great on the bridge of Arcola, and in the hospital at Jaffa
55287 where he gave his hand to the plague-stricken; but... but there are
55288 other acts which it is difficult to justify."
55289
55290 Prince Andrew, who had evidently wished to tone down the awkwardness
55291 of Pierre's remarks, rose and made a sign to his wife that it was time
55292 to go.
55293
55294
55295 Suddenly Prince Hippolyte started up making signs to everyone to
55296 attend, and asking them all to be seated began:
55297
55298 "I was told a charming Moscow story today and must treat you to
55299 it. Excuse me, Vicomte--I must tell it in Russian or the point will be
55300 lost...." And Prince Hippolyte began to tell his story in such Russian
55301 as a Frenchman would speak after spending about a year in Russia.
55302 Everyone waited, so emphatically and eagerly did he demand their
55303 attention to his story.
55304
55305 "There is in Moscow a lady, une dame, and she is very stingy. She
55306 must have two footmen behind her carriage, and very big ones. That was
55307 her taste. And she had a lady's maid, also big. She said..."
55308
55309 Here Prince Hippolyte paused, evidently collecting his ideas with
55310 difficulty.
55311
55312 "She said... Oh yes! She said, 'Girl,' to the maid, 'put on a
55313 livery, get up behind the carriage, and come with me while I make some
55314 calls.'"
55315
55316 Here Prince Hippolyte spluttered and burst out laughing long
55317 before his audience, which produced an effect unfavorable to the
55318 narrator. Several persons, among them the elderly lady and Anna
55319 Pavlovna, did however smile.
55320
55321 "She went. Suddenly there was a great wind. The girl lost her hat
55322 and her long hair came down...." Here he could contain himself no
55323 longer and went on, between gasps of laughter: "And the whole world
55324 knew...."
55325
55326 And so the anecdote ended. Though it was unintelligible why he had
55327 told it, or why it had to be told in Russian, still Anna Pavlovna
55328 and the others appreciated Prince Hippolyte's social tact in so
55329 agreeably ending Pierre's unpleasant and unamiable outburst. After the
55330 anecdote the conversation broke up into insignificant small talk about
55331 the last and next balls, about theatricals, and who would meet whom,
55332 and when and where.
55333
55334
55335
55336
55337
55338 CHAPTER VI
55339
55340
55341 Having thanked Anna Pavlovna for her charming soiree, the guests
55342 began to take their leave.
55343
55344 Pierre was ungainly. Stout, about the average height, broad, with
55345 huge red hands; he did not know, as the saying is, how to enter a
55346 drawing room and still less how to leave one; that is, how to say
55347 something particularly agreeable before going away. Besides this he
55348 was absent-minded. When he rose to go, he took up instead of his
55349 own, the general's three-cornered hat, and held it, pulling at the
55350 plume, till the general asked him to restore it. All his
55351 absent-mindedness and inability to enter a room and converse in it
55352 was, however, redeemed by his kindly, simple, and modest expression.
55353 Anna Pavlovna turned toward him and, with a Christian mildness that
55354 expressed forgiveness of his indiscretion, nodded and said: "I hope to
55355 see you again, but I also hope you will change your opinions, my
55356 dear Monsieur Pierre."
55357
55358 When she said this, he did not reply and only bowed, but again
55359 everybody saw his smile, which said nothing, unless perhaps, "Opinions
55360 are opinions, but you see what a capital, good-natured fellow I am."
55361 And everyone, including Anna Pavlovna, felt this.
55362
55363 Prince Andrew had gone out into the hall, and, turning his shoulders
55364 to the footman who was helping him on with his cloak, listened
55365 indifferently to his wife's chatter with Prince Hippolyte who had also
55366 come into the hall. Prince Hippolyte stood close to the pretty,
55367 pregnant princess, and stared fixedly at her through his eyeglass.
55368
55369 "Go in, Annette, or you will catch cold," said the little
55370 princess, taking leave of Anna Pavlovna. "It is settled," she added in
55371 a low voice.
55372
55373 Anna Pavlovna had already managed to speak to Lise about the match
55374 she contemplated between Anatole and the little princess'
55375 sister-in-law.
55376
55377 "I rely on you, my dear," said Anna Pavlovna, also in a low tone.
55378 "Write to her and let me know how her father looks at the matter. Au
55379 revoir!"--and she left the hall.
55380
55381 Prince Hippolyte approached the little princess and, bending his
55382 face close to her, began to whisper something.
55383
55384 Two footmen, the princess' and his own, stood holding a shawl and
55385 a cloak, waiting for the conversation to finish. They listened to
55386 the French sentences which to them were meaningless, with an air of
55387 understanding but not wishing to appear to do so. The princess as
55388 usual spoke smilingly and listened with a laugh.
55389
55390 "I am very glad I did not go to the ambassador's," said Prince
55391 Hippolyte "-so dull-. It has been a delightful evening, has it not?
55392 Delightful!"
55393
55394 "They say the ball will be very good," replied the princess, drawing
55395 up her downy little lip. "All the pretty women in society will be
55396 there."
55397
55398 "Not all, for you will not be there; not all," said Prince Hippolyte
55399 smiling joyfully; and snatching the shawl from the footman, whom he
55400 even pushed aside, he began wrapping it round the princess. Either
55401 from awkwardness or intentionally (no one could have said which) after
55402 the shawl had been adjusted he kept his arm around her for a long
55403 time, as though embracing her.
55404
55405 Still smiling, she gracefully moved away, turning and glancing at
55406 her husband. Prince Andrew's eyes were closed, so weary and sleepy did
55407 he seem.
55408
55409 "Are you ready?" he asked his wife, looking past her.
55410
55411 Prince Hippolyte hurriedly put on his cloak, which in the latest
55412 fashion reached to his very heels, and, stumbling in it, ran out
55413 into the porch following the princess, whom a footman was helping into
55414 the carriage.
55415
55416 "Princesse, au revoir," cried he, stumbling with his tongue as
55417 well as with his feet.
55418
55419 The princess, picking up her dress, was taking her seat in the
55420 dark carriage, her husband was adjusting his saber; Prince
55421 Hippolyte, under pretense of helping, was in everyone's way.
55422
55423 "Allow me, sir," said Prince Andrew in Russian in a cold,
55424 disagreeable tone to Prince Hippolyte who was blocking his path.
55425
55426 "I am expecting you, Pierre," said the same voice, but gently and
55427 affectionately.
55428
55429 The postilion started, the carriage wheels rattled. Prince Hippolyte
55430 laughed spasmodically as he stood in the porch waiting for the vicomte
55431 whom he had promised to take home.
55432
55433 "Well, mon cher," said the vicomte, having seated himself beside
55434 Hippolyte in the carriage, "your little princess is very nice, very
55435 nice indeed, quite French," and he kissed the tips of his fingers.
55436 Hippolyte burst out laughing.
55437
55438 "Do you know, you are a terrible chap for all your innocent airs,"
55439 continued the vicomte. "I pity the poor husband, that little officer
55440 who gives himself the airs of a monarch."
55441
55442 Hippolyte spluttered again, and amid his laughter said, "And you
55443 were saying that the Russian ladies are not equal to the French? One
55444 has to know how to deal with them."
55445
55446
55447 Pierre reaching the house first went into Prince Andrew's study like
55448 one quite at home, and from habit immediately lay down on the sofa,
55449 took from the shelf the first book that came to his hand (it was
55450 Caesar's Commentaries), and resting on his elbow, began reading it
55451 in the middle.
55452
55453 "What have you done to Mlle Scherer? She will be quite ill now,"
55454 said Prince Andrew, as he entered the study, rubbing his small white
55455 hands.
55456
55457 Pierre turned his whole body, making the sofa creak. He lifted his
55458 eager face to Prince Andrew, smiled, and waved his hand.
55459
55460 "That abbe is very interesting but he does not see the thing in
55461 the right light.... In my opinion perpetual peace is possible but--I
55462 do not know how to express it... not by a balance of political
55463 power...."
55464
55465 It was evident that Prince Andrew was not interested in such
55466 abstract conversation.
55467
55468 "One can't everywhere say all one thinks, mon cher. Well, have you
55469 at last decided on anything? Are you going to be a guardsman or a
55470 diplomatist?" asked Prince Andrew after a momentary silence.
55471
55472 Pierre sat up on the sofa, with his legs tucked under him.
55473
55474 "Really, I don't yet know. I don't like either the one or the
55475 other."
55476
55477 "But you must decide on something! Your father expects it."
55478
55479 Pierre at the age of ten had been sent abroad with an abbe as tutor,
55480 and had remained away till he was twenty. When he returned to Moscow
55481 his father dismissed the abbe and said to the young man, "Now go to
55482 Petersburg, look round, and choose your profession. I will agree to
55483 anything. Here is a letter to Prince Vasili, and here is money.
55484 Write to me all about it, and I will help you in everything." Pierre
55485 had already been choosing a career for three months, and had not
55486 decided on anything. It was about this choice that Prince Andrew was
55487 speaking. Pierre rubbed his forehead.
55488
55489 "But he must be a Freemason," said he, referring to the abbe whom he
55490 had met that evening.
55491
55492 "That is all nonsense." Prince Andrew again interrupted him, "let us
55493 talk business. Have you been to the Horse Guards?"
55494
55495 "No, I have not; but this is what I have been thinking and wanted to
55496 tell you. There is a war now against Napoleon. If it were a war for
55497 freedom I could understand it and should be the first to enter the
55498 army; but to help England and Austria against the greatest man in
55499 the world is not right."
55500
55501 Prince Andrew only shrugged his shoulders at Pierre's childish
55502 words. He put on the air of one who finds it impossible to reply to
55503 such nonsense, but it would in fact have been difficult to give any
55504 other answer than the one Prince Andrew gave to this naive question.
55505
55506 "If no one fought except on his own conviction, there would be no
55507 wars," he said.
55508
55509 "And that would be splendid," said Pierre.
55510
55511 Prince Andrew smiled ironically.
55512
55513 "Very likely it would be splendid, but it will never come about..."
55514
55515 "Well, why are you going to the war?" asked Pierre.
55516
55517 "What for? I don't know. I must. Besides that I am going..." He
55518 paused. "I am going because the life I am leading here does not suit
55519 me!"
55520
55521
55522
55523
55524
55525 CHAPTER VII
55526
55527
55528 The rustle of a woman's dress was heard in the next room. Prince
55529 Andrew shook himself as if waking up, and his face assumed the look it
55530 had had in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room. Pierre removed his feet
55531 from the sofa. The princess came in. She had changed her gown for a
55532 house dress as fresh and elegant as the other. Prince Andrew rose
55533 and politely placed a chair for her.
55534
55535 "How is it," she began, as usual in French, settling down briskly
55536 and fussily in the easy chair, "how is it Annette never got married?
55537 How stupid you men all are not to have married her! Excuse me for
55538 saying so, but you have no sense about women. What an argumentative
55539 fellow you are, Monsieur Pierre!"
55540
55541 "And I am still arguing with your husband. I can't understand why he
55542 wants to go to the war," replied Pierre, addressing the princess
55543 with none of the embarrassment so commonly shown by young men in their
55544 intercourse with young women.
55545
55546 The princess started. Evidently Pierre's words touched her to the
55547 quick.
55548
55549 "Ah, that is just what I tell him!" said she. "I don't understand
55550 it; I don't in the least understand why men can't live without wars.
55551 How is it that we women don't want anything of the kind, don't need
55552 it? Now you shall judge between us. I always tell him: Here he is
55553 Uncle's aide-de-camp, a most brilliant position. He is so well
55554 known, so much appreciated by everyone. The other day at the
55555 Apraksins' I heard a lady asking, 'Is that the famous Prince
55556 Andrew?' I did indeed." She laughed. "He is so well received
55557 everywhere. He might easily become aide-de-camp to the Emperor. You
55558 know the Emperor spoke to him most graciously. Annette and I were
55559 speaking of how to arrange it. What do you think?"
55560
55561 Pierre looked at his friend and, noticing that he did not like the
55562 conversation, gave no reply.
55563
55564 "When are you starting?" he asked.
55565
55566 "Oh, don't speak of his going, don't! I won't hear it spoken of,"
55567 said the princess in the same petulantly playful tone in which she had
55568 spoken to Hippolyte in the drawing room and which was so plainly
55569 ill-suited to the family circle of which Pierre was almost a member.
55570 "Today when I remembered that all these delightful associations must
55571 be broken off... and then you know, Andre..." (she looked
55572 significantly at her husband) "I'm afraid, I'm afraid!" she whispered,
55573 and a shudder ran down her back.
55574
55575 Her husband looked at her as if surprised to notice that someone
55576 besides Pierre and himself was in the room, and addressed her in a
55577 tone of frigid politeness.
55578
55579 "What is it you are afraid of, Lise? I don't understand," said he.
55580
55581 "There, what egotists men all are: all, all egotists! Just for a
55582 whim of his own, goodness only knows why, he leaves me and locks me up
55583 alone in the country."
55584
55585 "With my father and sister, remember," said Prince Andrew gently.
55586
55587 "Alone all the same, without my friends.... And he expects me not to
55588 be afraid."
55589
55590 Her tone was now querulous and her lip drawn up, giving her not a
55591 joyful, but an animal, squirrel-like expression. She paused as if
55592 she felt it indecorous to speak of her pregnancy before Pierre, though
55593 the gist of the matter lay in that.
55594
55595 "I still can't understand what you are afraid of," said Prince
55596 Andrew slowly, not taking his eyes off his wife.
55597
55598 The princess blushed, and raised her arms with a gesture of despair.
55599
55600 "No, Andrew, I must say you have changed. Oh, how you have..."
55601
55602 "Your doctor tells you to go to bed earlier," said Prince Andrew.
55603 "You had better go."
55604
55605 The princess said nothing, but suddenly her short downy lip
55606 quivered. Prince Andrew rose, shrugged his shoulders, and walked about
55607 the room.
55608
55609 Pierre looked over his spectacles with naive surprise, now at him
55610 and now at her, moved as if about to rise too, but changed his mind.
55611
55612 "Why should I mind Monsieur Pierre being here?" exclaimed the little
55613 princess suddenly, her pretty face all at once distorted by a
55614 tearful grimace. "I have long wanted to ask you, Andrew, why you
55615 have changed so to me? What have I done to you? You are going to the
55616 war and have no pity for me. Why is it?"
55617
55618 "Lise!" was all Prince Andrew said. But that one word expressed an
55619 entreaty, a threat, and above all conviction that she would herself
55620 regret her words. But she went on hurriedly:
55621
55622 "You treat me like an invalid or a child. I see it all! Did you
55623 behave like that six months ago?"
55624
55625 "Lise, I beg you to desist," said Prince Andrew still more
55626 emphatically.
55627
55628 Pierre, who had been growing more and more agitated as he listened
55629 to all this, rose and approached the princess. He seemed unable to
55630 bear the sight of tears and was ready to cry himself.
55631
55632 "Calm yourself, Princess! It seems so to you because... I assure you
55633 I myself have experienced... and so... because... No, excuse me! An
55634 outsider is out of place here... No, don't distress yourself...
55635 Good-by!"
55636
55637 Prince Andrew caught him by the hand.
55638
55639 "No, wait, Pierre! The princess is too kind to wish to deprive me of
55640 the pleasure of spending the evening with you."
55641
55642 "No, he thinks only of himself," muttered the princess without
55643 restraining her angry tears.
55644
55645 "Lise!" said Prince Andrew dryly, raising his voice to the pitch
55646 which indicates that patience is exhausted.
55647
55648 Suddenly the angry, squirrel-like expression of the princess' pretty
55649 face changed into a winning and piteous look of fear. Her beautiful
55650 eyes glanced askance at her husband's face, and her own assumed the
55651 timid, deprecating expression of a dog when it rapidly but feebly wags
55652 its drooping tail.
55653
55654 "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu!" she muttered, and lifting her dress with one
55655 hand she went up to her husband and kissed him on the forehead.
55656
55657 "Good night, Lise," said he, rising and courteously kissing her hand
55658 as he would have done to a stranger.
55659
55660
55661
55662
55663
55664 CHAPTER VIII
55665
55666
55667 The friends were silent. Neither cared to begin talking. Pierre
55668 continually glanced at Prince Andrew; Prince Andrew rubbed his
55669 forehead with his small hand.
55670
55671 "Let us go and have supper," he said with a sigh, going to the door.
55672
55673 They entered the elegant, newly decorated, and luxurious dining
55674 room. Everything from the table napkins to the silver, china, and
55675 glass bore that imprint of newness found in the households of the
55676 newly married. Halfway through supper Prince Andrew leaned his
55677 elbows on the table and, with a look of nervous agitation such as
55678 Pierre had never before seen on his face, began to talk--as one who
55679 has long had something on his mind and suddenly determines to speak
55680 out.
55681
55682 "Never, never marry, my dear fellow! That's my advice: never marry
55683 till you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable
55684 of, and until you have ceased to love the woman of your choice and
55685 have seen her plainly as she is, or else you will make a cruel and
55686 irrevocable mistake. Marry when you are old and good for nothing--or
55687 all that is good and noble in you will be lost. It will all be
55688 wasted on trifles. Yes! Yes! Yes! Don't look at me with such surprise.
55689 If you marry expecting anything from yourself in the future, you
55690 will feel at every step that for you all is ended, all is closed
55691 except the drawing room, where you will be ranged side by side with
55692 a court lackey and an idiot!... But what's the good?..." and he
55693 waved his arm.
55694
55695 Pierre took off his spectacles, which made his face seem different
55696 and the good-natured expression still more apparent, and gazed at
55697 his friend in amazement.
55698
55699 "My wife," continued Prince Andrew, "is an excellent woman, one of
55700 those rare women with whom a man's honor is safe; but, O God, what
55701 would I not give now to be unmarried! You are the first and only one
55702 to whom I mention this, because I like you."
55703
55704 As he said this Prince Andrew was less than ever like that Bolkonski
55705 who had lolled in Anna Pavlovna's easy chairs and with half-closed
55706 eyes had uttered French phrases between his teeth. Every muscle of his
55707 thin face was now quivering with nervous excitement; his eyes, in
55708 which the fire of life had seemed extinguished, now flashed with
55709 brilliant light. It was evident that the more lifeless he seemed at
55710 ordinary times, the more impassioned he became in these moments of
55711 almost morbid irritation.
55712
55713 "You don't understand why I say this," he continued, "but it is
55714 the whole story of life. You talk of Bonaparte and his career," said
55715 he (though Pierre had not mentioned Bonaparte), "but Bonaparte when he
55716 worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had
55717 nothing but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie yourself
55718 up with a woman and, like a chained convict, you lose all freedom! And
55719 all you have of hope and strength merely weighs you down and
55720 torments you with regret. Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, and
55721 triviality--these are the enchanted circle I cannot escape from. I
55722 am now going to the war, the greatest war there ever was, and I know
55723 nothing and am fit for nothing. I am very amiable and have a caustic
55724 wit," continued Prince Andrew, "and at Anna Pavlovna's they listen
55725 to me. And that stupid set without whom my wife cannot exist, and
55726 those women... If you only knew what those society women are, and
55727 women in general! My father is right. Selfish, vain, stupid, trivial
55728 in everything--that's what women are when you see them in their true
55729 colors! When you meet them in society it seems as if there were
55730 something in them, but there's nothing, nothing, nothing! No, don't
55731 marry, my dear fellow; don't marry!" concluded Prince Andrew.
55732
55733 "It seems funny to me," said Pierre, "that you, you should
55734 consider yourself incapable and your life a spoiled life. You have
55735 everything before you, everything. And you..."
55736
55737 He did not finish his sentence, but his tone showed how highly he
55738 thought of his friend and how much he expected of him in the future.
55739
55740 "How can he talk like that?" thought Pierre. He considered his
55741 friend a model of perfection because Prince Andrew possessed in the
55742 highest degree just the very qualities Pierre lacked, and which
55743 might be best described as strength of will. Pierre was always
55744 astonished at Prince Andrew's calm manner of treating everybody, his
55745 extraordinary memory, his extensive reading (he had read everything,
55746 knew everything, and had an opinion about everything), but above all
55747 at his capacity for work and study. And if Pierre was often struck
55748 by Andrew's lack of capacity for philosophical meditation (to which he
55749 himself was particularly addicted), he regarded even this not as a
55750 defect but as a sign of strength.
55751
55752 Even in the best, most friendly and simplest relations of life,
55753 praise and commendation are essential, just as grease is necessary
55754 to wheels that they may run smoothly.
55755
55756 "My part is played out," said Prince Andrew. "What's the use of
55757 talking about me? Let us talk about you," he added after a silence,
55758 smiling at his reassuring thoughts.
55759
55760 That smile was immediately reflected on Pierre's face.
55761
55762 "But what is there to say about me?" said Pierre, his face
55763 relaxing into a careless, merry smile. "What am I? An illegitimate
55764 son!" He suddenly blushed crimson, and it was plain that he had made a
55765 great effort to say this. "Without a name and without means... And
55766 it really..." But he did not say what "it really" was. "For the
55767 present I am free and am all right. Only I haven't the least idea what
55768 I am to do; I wanted to consult you seriously."
55769
55770 Prince Andrew looked kindly at him, yet his glance--friendly and
55771 affectionate as it was--expressed a sense of his own superiority.
55772
55773 "I am fond of you, especially as you are the one live man among
55774 our whole set. Yes, you're all right! Choose what you will; it's all
55775 the same. You'll be all right anywhere. But look here: give up
55776 visiting those Kuragins and leading that sort of life. It suits you so
55777 badly--all this debauchery, dissipation, and the rest of it!"
55778
55779 "What would you have, my dear fellow?" answered Pierre, shrugging
55780 his shoulders. "Women, my dear fellow; women!"
55781
55782 "I don't understand it," replied Prince Andrew. "Women who are comme
55783 il faut, that's a different matter; but the Kuragins' set of women,
55784 'women and wine' I don't understand!"
55785
55786 Pierre was staying at Prince Vasili Kuragin's and sharing the
55787 dissipated life of his son Anatole, the son whom they were planning to
55788 reform by marrying him to Prince Andrew's sister.
55789
55790 "Do you know?" said Pierre, as if suddenly struck by a happy
55791 thought, "seriously, I have long been thinking of it.... Leading
55792 such a life I can't decide or think properly about anything. One's
55793 head aches, and one spends all one's money. He asked me for tonight,
55794 but I won't go."
55795
55796 "You give me your word of honor not to go?"
55797
55798 "On my honor!"
55799
55800
55801
55802
55803
55804 CHAPTER IX
55805
55806
55807 It was past one o'clock when Pierre left his friend. It was a
55808 cloudless, northern, summer night. Pierre took an open cab intending
55809 to drive straight home. But the nearer he drew to the house the more
55810 he felt the impossibility of going to sleep on such a night. It was
55811 light enough to see a long way in the deserted street and it seemed
55812 more like morning or evening than night. On the way Pierre
55813 remembered that Anatole Kuragin was expecting the usual set for
55814 cards that evening, after which there was generally a drinking bout,
55815 finishing with visits of a kind Pierre was very fond of.
55816
55817 "I should like to go to Kuragin's," thought he.
55818
55819 But he immediately recalled his promise to Prince Andrew not to go
55820 there. Then, as happens to people of weak character, he desired so
55821 passionately once more to enjoy that dissipation he was so
55822 accustomed to that he decided to go. The thought immediately
55823 occurred to him that his promise to Prince Andrew was of no account,
55824 because before he gave it he had already promised Prince Anatole to
55825 come to his gathering; "besides," thought he, "all such 'words of
55826 honor' are conventional things with no definite meaning, especially if
55827 one considers that by tomorrow one may be dead, or something so
55828 extraordinary may happen to one that honor and dishonor will be all
55829 the same!" Pierre often indulged in reflections of this sort,
55830 nullifying all his decisions and intentions. He went to Kuragin's.
55831
55832 Reaching the large house near the Horse Guards' barracks, in which
55833 Anatole lived, Pierre entered the lighted porch, ascended the
55834 stairs, and went in at the open door. There was no one in the
55835 anteroom; empty bottles, cloaks, and overshoes were lying about; there
55836 was a smell of alcohol, and sounds of voices and shouting in the
55837 distance.
55838
55839 Cards and supper were over, but the visitors had not yet
55840 dispersed. Pierre threw off his cloak and entered the first room, in
55841 which were the remains of supper. A footman, thinking no one saw
55842 him, was drinking on the sly what was left in the glasses. From the
55843 third room came sounds of laughter, the shouting of familiar voices,
55844 the growling of a bear, and general commotion. Some eight or nine
55845 young men were crowding anxiously round an open window. Three others
55846 were romping with a young bear, one pulling him by the chain and
55847 trying to set him at the others.
55848
55849 "I bet a hundred on Stevens!" shouted one.
55850
55851 "Mind, no holding on!" cried another.
55852
55853 "I bet on Dolokhov!" cried a third. "Kuragin, you part our hands."
55854
55855 "There, leave Bruin alone; here's a bet on."
55856
55857 "At one draught, or he loses!" shouted a fourth.
55858
55859 "Jacob, bring a bottle!" shouted the host, a tall, handsome fellow
55860 who stood in the midst of the group, without a coat, and with his fine
55861 linen shirt unfastened in front. "Wait a bit, you fellows.... Here
55862 is Petya! Good man!" cried he, addressing Pierre.
55863
55864 Another voice, from a man of medium height with clear blue eyes,
55865 particularly striking among all these drunken voices by its sober
55866 ring, cried from the window: "Come here; part the bets!" This was
55867 Dolokhov, an officer of the Semenov regiment, a notorious gambler
55868 and duelist, who was living with Anatole. Pierre smiled, looking about
55869 him merrily.
55870
55871 "I don't understand. What's it all about?"
55872
55873 "Wait a bit, he is not drunk yet! A bottle here," said Anatole,
55874 taking a glass from the table he went up to Pierre.
55875
55876 "First of all you must drink!"
55877
55878 Pierre drank one glass after another, looking from under his brows
55879 at the tipsy guests who were again crowding round the window, and
55880 listening to their chatter. Anatole kept on refilling Pierre's glass
55881 while explaining that Dolokhov was betting with Stevens, an English
55882 naval officer, that he would drink a bottle of rum sitting on the
55883 outer ledge of the third floor window with his legs hanging out.
55884
55885 "Go on, you must drink it all," said Anatole, giving Pierre the last
55886 glass, "or I won't let you go!"
55887
55888 "No, I won't," said Pierre, pushing Anatole aside, and he went up to
55889 the window.
55890
55891 Dolokhov was holding the Englishman's hand and clearly and
55892 distinctly repeating the terms of the bet, addressing himself
55893 particularly to Anatole and Pierre.
55894
55895 Dolokhov was of medium height, with curly hair and light-blue
55896 eyes. He was about twenty-five. Like all infantry officers he wore
55897 no mustache, so that his mouth, the most striking feature of his face,
55898 was clearly seen. The lines of that mouth were remarkably finely
55899 curved. The middle of the upper lip formed a sharp wedge and closed
55900 firmly on the firm lower one, and something like two distinct smiles
55901 played continually round the two corners of the mouth; this,
55902 together with the resolute, insolent intelligence of his eyes,
55903 produced an effect which made it impossible not to notice his face.
55904 Dolokhov was a man of small means and no connections. Yet, though
55905 Anatole spent tens of thousands of rubles, Dolokhov lived with him and
55906 had placed himself on such a footing that all who knew them, including
55907 Anatole himself, respected him more than they did Anatole. Dolokhov
55908 could play all games and nearly always won. However much he drank,
55909 he never lost his clearheadedness. Both Kuragin and Dolokhov were at
55910 that time notorious among the rakes and scapegraces of Petersburg.
55911
55912 The bottle of rum was brought. The window frame which prevented
55913 anyone from sitting on the outer sill was being forced out by two
55914 footmen, who were evidently flurried and intimidated by the directions
55915 and shouts of the gentlemen around.
55916
55917 Anatole with his swaggering air strode up to the window. He wanted
55918 to smash something. Pushing away the footmen he tugged at the frame,
55919 but could not move it. He smashed a pane.
55920
55921 "You have a try, Hercules," said he, turning to Pierre.
55922
55923 Pierre seized the crossbeam, tugged, and wrenched the oak frame
55924 out with a crash.
55925
55926 "Take it right out, or they'll think I'm holding on," said Dolokhov.
55927
55928 "Is the Englishman bragging?... Eh? Is it all right?" said Anatole.
55929
55930 "First-rate," said Pierre, looking at Dolokhov, who with a bottle of
55931 rum in his hand was approaching the window, from which the light of
55932 the sky, the dawn merging with the afterglow of sunset, was visible.
55933
55934 Dolokhov, the bottle of rum still in his hand, jumped onto the
55935 window sill. "Listen!" cried he, standing there and addressing those
55936 in the room. All were silent.
55937
55938 "I bet fifty imperials"--he spoke French that the Englishman might
55939 understand him, but he did, not speak it very well--"I bet fifty
55940 imperials... or do you wish to make it a hundred?" added he,
55941 addressing the Englishman.
55942
55943 "No, fifty," replied the latter.
55944
55945 "All right. Fifty imperials... that I will drink a whole bottle of
55946 rum without taking it from my mouth, sitting outside the window on
55947 this spot" (he stooped and pointed to the sloping ledge outside the
55948 window) "and without holding on to anything. Is that right?"
55949
55950 "Quite right," said the Englishman.
55951
55952 Anatole turned to the Englishman and taking him by one of the
55953 buttons of his coat and looking down at him--the Englishman was short-
55954 began repeating the terms of the wager to him in English.
55955
55956 "Wait!" cried Dolokhov, hammering with the bottle on the window sill
55957 to attract attention. "Wait a bit, Kuragin. Listen! If anyone else
55958 does the same, I will pay him a hundred imperials. Do you understand?"
55959
55960 The Englishman nodded, but gave no indication whether he intended to
55961 accept this challenge or not. Anatole did not release him, and
55962 though he kept nodding to show that he understood, Anatole went on
55963 translating Dolokhov's words into English. A thin young lad, an hussar
55964 of the Life Guards, who had been losing that evening, climbed on the
55965 window sill, leaned over, and looked down.
55966
55967 "Oh! Oh! Oh!" he muttered, looking down from the window at the
55968 stones of the pavement.
55969
55970 "Shut up!" cried Dolokhov, pushing him away from the window. The lad
55971 jumped awkwardly back into the room, tripping over his spurs.
55972
55973 Placing the bottle on the window sill where he could reach it
55974 easily, Dolokhov climbed carefully and slowly through the window and
55975 lowered his legs. Pressing against both sides of the window, he
55976 adjusted himself on his seat, lowered his hands, moved a little to the
55977 right and then to the left, and took up the bottle. Anatole brought
55978 two candles and placed them on the window sill, though it was
55979 already quite light. Dolokhov's back in his white shirt, and his curly
55980 head, were lit up from both sides. Everyone crowded to the window, the
55981 Englishman in front. Pierre stood smiling but silent. One man, older
55982 than the others present, suddenly pushed forward with a scared and
55983 angry look and wanted to seize hold of Dolokhov's shirt.
55984
55985 "I say, this is folly! He'll be killed," said this more sensible
55986 man.
55987
55988 Anatole stopped him.
55989
55990 "Don't touch him! You'll startle him and then he'll be killed.
55991 Eh?... What then?... Eh?"
55992
55993 Dolokhov turned round and, again holding on with both hands,
55994 arranged himself on his seat.
55995
55996 "If anyone comes meddling again," said he, emitting the words
55997 separately through his thin compressed lips, "I will throw him down
55998 there. Now then!"
55999
56000 Saying this he again turned round, dropped his hands, took the
56001 bottle and lifted it to his lips, threw back his head, and raised
56002 his free hand to balance himself. One of the footmen who had stooped
56003 to pick up some broken glass remained in that position without
56004 taking his eyes from the window and from Dolokhov's back. Anatole
56005 stood erect with staring eyes. The Englishman looked on sideways,
56006 pursing up his lips. The man who had wished to stop the affair ran
56007 to a corner of the room and threw himself on a sofa with his face to
56008 the wall. Pierre hid his face, from which a faint smile forgot to fade
56009 though his features now expressed horror and fear. All were still.
56010 Pierre took his hands from his eyes. Dolokhov still sat in the same
56011 position, only his head was thrown further back till his curly hair
56012 touched his shirt collar, and the hand holding the bottle was lifted
56013 higher and higher and trembled with the effort. The bottle was
56014 emptying perceptibly and rising still higher and his head tilting
56015 yet further back. "Why is it so long?" thought Pierre. It seemed to
56016 him that more than half an hour had elapsed. Suddenly Dolokhov made
56017 a backward movement with his spine, and his arm trembled nervously;
56018 this was sufficient to cause his whole body to slip as he sat on the
56019 sloping ledge. As he began slipping down, his head and arm wavered
56020 still more with the strain. One hand moved as if to clutch the
56021 window sill, but refrained from touching it. Pierre again covered
56022 his eyes and thought he would never never them again. Suddenly he
56023 was aware of a stir all around. He looked up: Dolokhov was standing on
56024 the window sill, with a pale but radiant face.
56025
56026 "It's empty."
56027
56028 He threw the bottle to the Englishman, who caught it neatly.
56029 Dolokhov jumped down. He smelt strongly of rum.
56030
56031 "Well done!... Fine fellow!... There's a bet for you!... Devil
56032 take you!" came from different sides.
56033
56034 The Englishman took out his purse and began counting out the
56035 money. Dolokhov stood frowning and did not speak. Pierre jumped upon
56036 the window sill.
56037
56038 "Gentlemen, who wishes to bet with me? I'll do the same thing!" he
56039 suddenly cried. "Even without a bet, there! Tell them to bring me a
56040 bottle. I'll do it.... Bring a bottle!"
56041
56042 "Let him do it, let him do it," said Dolokhov, smiling.
56043
56044 "What next? Have you gone mad?... No one would let you!... Why,
56045 you go giddy even on a staircase," exclaimed several voices.
56046
56047 "I'll drink it! Let's have a bottle of rum!" shouted Pierre, banging
56048 the table with a determined and drunken gesture and preparing to climb
56049 out of the window.
56050
56051 They seized him by his arms; but he was so strong that everyone
56052 who touched him was sent flying.
56053
56054 "No, you'll never manage him that way," said Anatole. "Wait a bit
56055 and I'll get round him.... Listen! I'll take your bet tomorrow, but
56056 now we are all going to ----'s."
56057
56058 "Come on then," cried Pierre. "Come on!... And we'll take Bruin with
56059 us."
56060
56061 And he caught the bear, took it in his arms, lifted it from the
56062 ground, and began dancing round the room with it.
56063
56064
56065
56066
56067
56068 CHAPTER X
56069
56070
56071 Prince Vasili kept the promise he had given to Princess
56072 Drubetskaya who had spoken to him on behalf of her only son Boris on
56073 the evening of Anna Pavlovna's soiree. The matter was mentioned to the
56074 Emperor, an exception made, and Boris transferred into the regiment of
56075 Semenov Guards with the rank of cornet. He received, however, no
56076 appointment to Kutuzov's staff despite all Anna Mikhaylovna's
56077 endeavors and entreaties. Soon after Anna Pavlovna's reception Anna
56078 Mikhaylovna returned to Moscow and went straight to her rich
56079 relations, the Rostovs, with whom she stayed when in the town and
56080 where her darling Bory, who had only just entered a regiment
56081 of the line and was being at once transferred to the Guards as a
56082 cornet, had been educated from childhood and lived for years at a
56083 time. The Guards had already left Petersburg on the tenth of August,
56084 and her son, who had remained in Moscow for his equipment, was to join
56085 them on the march to Radzivilov.
56086
56087 It was St. Natalia's day and the name day of two of the Rostovs--the
56088 mother and the youngest daughter--both named Nataly. Ever since the
56089 morning, carriages with six horses had been coming and going
56090 continually, bringing visitors to the Countess Rostova's big house
56091 on the Povarskaya, so well known to all Moscow. The countess herself
56092 and her handsome eldest daughter were in the drawing-room with the
56093 visitors who came to congratulate, and who constantly succeeded one
56094 another in relays.
56095
56096 The countess was a woman of about forty-five, with a thin Oriental
56097 type of face, evidently worn out with childbearing--she had had
56098 twelve. A languor of motion and speech, resulting from weakness,
56099 gave her a distinguished air which inspired respect. Princess Anna
56100
56101 Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya, who as a member of the household was also
56102 seated in the drawing room, helped to receive and entertain the
56103 visitors. The young people were in one of the inner rooms, not
56104 considering it necessary to take part in receiving the visitors. The
56105 count met the guests and saw them off, inviting them all to dinner.
56106
56107 "I am very, very grateful to you, mon cher," or "ma chere"--he
56108 called everyone without exception and without the slightest
56109 variation in his tone, "my dear," whether they were above or below him
56110 in rank--"I thank you for myself and for our two dear ones whose
56111 name day we are keeping. But mind you come to dinner or I shall be
56112 offended, ma chere! On behalf of the whole family I beg you to come,
56113 mon cher!" These words he repeated to everyone without exception or
56114 variation, and with the same expression on his full, cheerful,
56115 clean-shaven face, the same firm pressure of the hand and the same
56116 quick, repeated bows. As soon as he had seen a visitor off he returned
56117 to one of those who were still in the drawing room, drew a chair
56118 toward him or her, and jauntily spreading out his legs and putting his
56119 hands on his knees with the air of a man who enjoys life and knows how
56120 to live, he swayed to and fro with dignity, offered surmises about the
56121 weather, or touched on questions of health, sometimes in Russian and
56122 sometimes in very bad but self-confident French; then again, like a
56123 man weary but unflinching in the fulfillment of duty, he rose to see
56124 some visitors off and, stroking his scanty gray hairs over his bald
56125 patch, also asked them to dinner. Sometimes on his way back from the
56126 anteroom he would pass through the conservatory and pantry into the
56127 large marble dining hall, where tables were being set out for eighty
56128 people; and looking at the footmen, who were bringing in silver and
56129 china, moving tables, and unfolding damask table linen, he would
56130 call Dmitri Vasilevich, a man of good family and the manager of all
56131 his affairs, and while looking with pleasure at the enormous table
56132 would say: "Well, Dmitri, you'll see that things are all as they
56133 should be? That's right! The great thing is the serving, that's it."
56134 And with a complacent sigh he would return to the drawing room.
56135
56136 "Marya Lvovna Karagina and her daughter!" announced the countess'
56137 gigantic footman in his bass voice, entering the drawing room. The
56138 countess reflected a moment and took a pinch from a gold snuffbox with
56139 her husband's portrait on it.
56140
56141 "I'm quite worn out by these callers. However, I'll see her and no
56142 more. She is so affected. Ask her in," she said to the footman in a
56143 sad voice, as if saying: "Very well, finish me off."
56144
56145 A tall, stout, and proud-looking woman, with a round-faced smiling
56146 daughter, entered the drawing room, their dresses rustling.
56147
56148 "Dear Countess, what an age... She has been laid up, poor child...
56149 at the Razumovski's ball... and Countess Apraksina... I was so
56150 delighted..." came the sounds of animated feminine voices,
56151 interrupting one another and mingling with the rustling of dresses and
56152 the scraping of chairs. Then one of those conversations began which
56153 last out until, at the first pause, the guests rise with a rustle of
56154 dresses and say, "I am so delighted... Mamma's health... and
56155 Countess Apraksina..." and then, again rustling, pass into the
56156 anteroom, put on cloaks or mantles, and drive away. The conversation
56157 was on the chief topic of the day: the illness of the wealthy and
56158 celebrated beau of Catherine's day, Count Bezukhov, and about his
56159 illegitimate son Pierre, the one who had behaved so improperly at Anna
56160 Pavlovna's reception.
56161
56162 "I am so sorry for the poor count," said the visitor. "He is in such
56163 bad health, and now this vexation about his son is enough to kill
56164 him!"
56165
56166 "What is that?" asked the countess as if she did not know what the
56167 visitor alluded to, though she had already heard about the cause of
56168 Count Bezukhov's distress some fifteen times.
56169
56170 "That's what comes of a modern education," exclaimed the visitor.
56171 "It seems that while he was abroad this young man was allowed to do as
56172 he liked, now in Petersburg I hear he has been doing such terrible
56173 things that he has been expelled by the police."
56174
56175 "You don't say so!" replied the countess.
56176
56177 "He chose his friends badly," interposed Anna Mikhaylovna. "Prince
56178 Vasili's son, he, and a certain Dolokhov have, it is said, been up
56179 to heaven only knows what! And they have had to suffer for it.
56180 Dolokhov has been degraded to the ranks and Bezukhov's son sent back
56181 to Moscow. Anatole Kuragin's father managed somehow to get his son's
56182 affair hushed up, but even he was ordered out of Petersburg."
56183
56184 "But what have they been up to?" asked the countess.
56185
56186 "They are regular brigands, especially Dolokhov," replied the
56187 visitor. "He is a son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a worthy
56188 woman, but there, just fancy! Those three got hold of a bear
56189 somewhere, put it in a carriage, and set off with it to visit some
56190 actresses! The police tried to interfere, and what did the young men
56191 do? They tied a policeman and the bear back to back and put the bear
56192 into the Moyka Canal. And there was the bear swimming about with the
56193 policeman on his back!"
56194
56195 "What a nice figure the policeman must have cut, my dear!" shouted
56196 the count, dying with laughter.
56197
56198 "Oh, how dreadful! How can you laugh at it, Count?"
56199
56200 Yet the ladies themselves could not help laughing.
56201
56202 "It was all they could do to rescue the poor man," continued the
56203 visitor. "And to think it is Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov's son who
56204 amuses himself in this sensible manner! And he was said to be so
56205 well educated and clever. This is all that his foreign education has
56206 done for him! I hope that here in Moscow no one will receive him, in
56207 spite of his money. They wanted to introduce him to me, but I quite
56208 declined: I have my daughters to consider."
56209
56210 "Why do you say this young man is so rich?" asked the countess,
56211 turning away from the girls, who at once assumed an air of
56212 inattention. "His children are all illegitimate. I think Pierre also
56213 is illegitimate."
56214
56215 The visitor made a gesture with her hand.
56216
56217 "I should think he has a score of them."
56218
56219 Princess Anna Mikhaylovna intervened in the conversation,
56220 evidently wishing to show her connections and knowledge of what went
56221 on in society.
56222
56223 "The fact of the matter is," said she significantly, and also in a
56224 half whisper, "everyone knows Count Cyril's reputation.... He has lost
56225 count of his children, but this Pierre was his favorite."
56226
56227 "How handsome the old man still was only a year ago!" remarked the
56228 countess. "I have never seen a handsomer man."
56229
56230 "He is very much altered now," said Anna Mikhaylovna. "Well, as I
56231 was saying, Prince Vasili is the next heir through his wife, but the
56232 count is very fond of Pierre, looked after his education, and wrote to
56233 the Emperor about him; so that in the case of his death--and he is
56234 so ill that he may die at any moment, and Dr. Lorrain has come from
56235 Petersburg--no one knows who will inherit his immense fortune,
56236 Pierre or Prince Vasili. Forty thousand serfs and millions of
56237 rubles! I know it all very well for Prince Vasili told me himself.
56238 Besides, Cyril Vladimirovich is my mother's second cousin. He's also
56239 my Bory's godfather," she added, as if she attached no importance at
56240 all to the fact.
56241
56242 "Prince Vasili arrived in Moscow yesterday. I hear he has come on
56243 some inspection business," remarked the visitor.
56244
56245 "Yes, but between ourselves," said the princess, "that is a
56246 pretext. The fact is he has come to see Count Cyril Vladimirovich,
56247 hearing how ill he is."
56248
56249 "But do you know, my dear, that was a capital joke," said the count;
56250 and seeing that the elder visitor was not listening, he turned to
56251 the young ladies. "I can just imagine what a funny figure that
56252 policeman cut!"
56253
56254 And as he waved his arms to impersonate the policeman, his portly
56255 form again shook with a deep ringing laugh, the laugh of one who
56256 always eats well and, in particular, drinks well. "So do come and dine
56257 with us!" he said.
56258
56259
56260
56261
56262
56263 CHAPTER XI
56264
56265
56266 Silence ensued. The countess looked at her callers, smiling affably,
56267 but not concealing the fact that she would not be distressed if they
56268 now rose and took their leave. The visitor's daughter was already
56269 smoothing down her dress with an inquiring look at her mother, when
56270 suddenly from the next room were heard the footsteps of boys and girls
56271 running to the door and the noise of a chair falling over, and a
56272 girl of thirteen, hiding something in the folds of her short muslin
56273 frock, darted in and stopped short in the middle of the room. It was
56274 evident that she had not intended her flight to bring her so far.
56275 Behind her in the doorway appeared a student with a crimson coat
56276 collar, an officer of the Guards, a girl of fifteen, and a plump
56277 rosy-faced boy in a short jacket.
56278
56279 The count jumped up and, swaying from side to side, spread his
56280 arms wide and threw them round the little girl who had run in.
56281
56282 "Ah, here she is!" he exclaimed laughing. "My pet, whose name day it
56283 is. My dear pet!"
56284
56285 "Ma chere, there is a time for everything," said the countess with
56286 feigned severity. "You spoil her, Ilya," she added, turning to her
56287 husband.
56288
56289 "How do you do, my dear? I wish you many happy returns of your
56290 name day," said the visitor. "What a charming child," she added,
56291 addressing the mother.
56292
56293 This black-eyed, wide-mouthed girl, not pretty but full of life-
56294 with childish bare shoulders which after her run heaved and shook
56295 her bodice, with black curls tossed backward, thin bare arms, little
56296 legs in lace-frilled drawers, and feet in low slippers--was just at
56297 that charming age when a girl is no longer a child, though the child
56298 is not yet a young woman. Escaping from her father she ran to hide her
56299 flushed face in the lace of her mother's mantilla--not paying the
56300 least attention to her severe remark--and began to laugh. She laughed,
56301 and in fragmentary sentences tried to explain about a doll which she
56302 produced from the folds of her frock.
56303
56304 "Do you see?... My doll... Mimi... You see..." was all Natasha
56305 managed to utter (to her everything seemed funny). She leaned
56306 against her mother and burst into such a loud, ringing fit of laughter
56307 that even the prim visitor could not help joining in.
56308
56309 "Now then, go away and take your monstrosity with you," said the
56310 mother, pushing away her daughter with pretended sternness, and
56311 turning to the visitor she added: "She is my youngest girl."
56312
56313 Natasha, raising her face for a moment from her mother's mantilla,
56314 glanced up at her through tears of laughter, and again hid her face.
56315
56316 The visitor, compelled to look on at this family scene, thought it
56317 necessary to take some part in it.
56318
56319 "Tell me, my dear," said she to Natasha, "is Mimi a relation of
56320 yours? A daughter, I suppose?"
56321
56322 Natasha did not like the visitor's tone of condescension to childish
56323 things. She did not reply, but looked at her seriously.
56324
56325 Meanwhile the younger generation: Boris, the officer, Anna
56326 Mikhaylovna's son; Nicholas, the undergraduate, the count's eldest
56327 son; Sonya, the count's fifteen-year-old niece, and little Petya,
56328 his youngest boy, had all settled down in the drawing room and were
56329 obviously trying to restrain within the bounds of decorum the
56330 excitement and mirth that shone in all their faces. Evidently in the
56331 back rooms, from which they had dashed out so impetuously, the
56332 conversation had been more amusing than the drawing-room talk of
56333 society scandals, the weather, and Countess Apraksina. Now and then
56334 they glanced at one another, hardly able to suppress their laughter.
56335
56336 The two young men, the student and the officer, friends from
56337 childhood, were of the same age and both handsome fellows, though
56338 not alike. Boris was tall and fair, and his calm and handsome face had
56339 regular, delicate features. Nicholas was short with curly hair and
56340 an open expression. Dark hairs were already showing on his upper
56341 lip, and his whole face expressed impetuosity and enthusiasm. Nicholas
56342 blushed when he entered the drawing room. He evidently tried to find
56343 something to say, but failed. Boris on the contrary at once found
56344 his footing, and related quietly and humorously how he had know that
56345 doll Mimi when she was still quite a young lady, before her nose was
56346 broken; how she had aged during the five years he had known her, and
56347 how her head had cracked right across the skull. Having said this he
56348 glanced at Natasha. She turned away from him and glanced at her
56349 younger brother, who was screwing up his eyes and shaking with
56350 suppressed laughter, and unable to control herself any longer, she
56351 jumped up and rushed from the room as fast as her nimble little feet
56352 would carry her. Boris did not laugh.
56353
56354 "You were meaning to go out, weren't you, Mamma? Do you want the
56355 carriage?" he asked his mother with a smile.
56356
56357 "Yes, yes, go and tell them to get it ready," she answered,
56358 returning his smile.
56359
56360 Boris quietly left the room and went in search of Natasha. The plump
56361 boy ran after them angrily, as if vexed that their program had been
56362 disturbed.
56363
56364
56365
56366
56367
56368 CHAPTER XII
56369
56370
56371 The only young people remaining in the drawing room, not counting
56372 the young lady visitor and the countess' eldest daughter (who was four
56373 years older than her sister and behaved already like a grown-up
56374 person), were Nicholas and Sonya, the niece. Sonya was a slender
56375 little brunette with a tender look in her eyes which were veiled by
56376 long lashes, thick black plaits coiling twice round her head, and a
56377 tawny tint in her complexion and especially in the color of her
56378 slender but graceful and muscular arms and neck. By the grace of her
56379 movements, by the softness and flexibility of her small limbs, and
56380 by a certain coyness and reserve of manner, she reminded one of a
56381 pretty, half-grown kitten which promises to become a beautiful
56382 little cat. She evidently considered it proper to show an interest
56383 in the general conversation by smiling, but in spite of herself her
56384 eyes under their thick long lashes watched her cousin who was going to
56385 join the army, with such passionate girlish adoration that her smile
56386 could not for a single instant impose upon anyone, and it was clear
56387 that the kitten had settled down only to spring up with more energy
56388 and again play with her cousin as soon as they too could, like Natasha
56389 and Boris, escape from the drawing room.
56390
56391 "Ah yes, my dear," said the count, addressing the visitor and
56392 pointing to Nicholas, "his friend Boris has become an officer, and
56393 so for friendship's sake he is leaving the university and me, his
56394 old father, and entering the military service, my dear. And there
56395 was a place and everything waiting for him in the Archives Department!
56396 Isn't that friendship?" remarked the count in an inquiring tone.
56397
56398 "But they say that war has been declared," replied the visitor.
56399
56400 "They've been saying so a long while," said the count, "and
56401 they'll say so again and again, and that will be the end of it. My
56402 dear, there's friendship for you," he repeated. "He's joining the
56403 hussars."
56404
56405 The visitor, not knowing what to say, shook her head.
56406
56407 "It's not at all from friendship," declared Nicholas, flaring up and
56408 turning away as if from a shameful aspersion. "It is not from
56409 friendship at all; I simply feel that the army is my vocation."
56410
56411 He glanced at his cousin and the young lady visitor; and they were
56412 both regarding him with a smile of approbation.
56413
56414 "Schubert, the colonel of the Pavlograd Hussars, is dining with us
56415 today. He has been here on leave and is taking Nicholas back with him.
56416 It can't be helped!" said the count, shrugging his shoulders and
56417 speaking playfully of a matter that evidently distressed him.
56418
56419 "I have already told you, Papa," said his son, "that if you don't
56420 wish to let me go, I'll stay. But I know I am no use anywhere except
56421 in the army; I am not a diplomat or a government clerk.--I don't
56422 know how to hide what I feel." As he spoke he kept glancing with the
56423 flirtatiousness of a handsome youth at Sonya and the young lady
56424 visitor.
56425
56426 The little kitten, feasting her eyes on him, seemed ready at any
56427 moment to start her gambols again and display her kittenish nature.
56428
56429 "All right, all right!" said the old count. "He always flares up!
56430 This Buonaparte has turned all their heads; they all think of how he
56431 rose from an ensign and became Emperor. Well, well, God grant it,"
56432 he added, not noticing his visitor's sarcastic smile.
56433
56434 The elders began talking about Bonaparte. Julie Karagina turned to
56435 young Rostov.
56436
56437 "What a pity you weren't at the Arkharovs' on Thursday. It was so
56438 dull without you," said she, giving him a tender smile.
56439
56440 The young man, flattered, sat down nearer to her with a coquettish
56441 smile, and engaged the smiling Julie in a confidential conversation
56442 without at all noticing that his involuntary smile had stabbed the
56443 heart of Sonya, who blushed and smiled unnaturally. In the midst of
56444 his talk he glanced round at her. She gave him a passionately angry
56445 glance, and hardly able to restrain her tears and maintain the
56446 artificial smile on her lips, she got up and left the room. All
56447 Nicholas' animation vanished. He waited for the first pause in the
56448 conversation, and then with a distressed face left the room to find
56449 Sonya.
56450
56451 "How plainly all these young people wear their hearts on their
56452 sleeves!" said Anna Mikhaylovna, pointing to Nicholas as he went
56453 out. "Cousinage--dangereux voisinage;"* she added.
56454
56455
56456 *Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood.
56457
56458
56459 "Yes," said the countess when the brightness these young people
56460 had brought into the room had vanished; and as if answering a question
56461 no one had put but which was always in her mind, "and how much
56462 suffering, how much anxiety one has had to go through that we might
56463 rejoice in them now! And yet really the anxiety is greater now than
56464 the joy. One is always, always anxious! Especially just at this age,
56465 so dangerous both for girls and boys."
56466
56467 "It all depends on the bringing up," remarked the visitor.
56468
56469 "Yes, you're quite right," continued the countess. "Till now I
56470 have always, thank God, been my children's friend and had their full
56471 confidence," said she, repeating the mistake of so many parents who
56472 imagine that their children have no secrets from them. "I know I shall
56473 always be my daughters' first confidante, and that if Nicholas, with
56474 his impulsive nature, does get into mischief (a boy can't help it), he
56475 will all the same never be like those Petersburg young men."
56476
56477 "Yes, they are splendid, splendid youngsters," chimed in the
56478 count, who always solved questions that seemed to him perplexing by
56479 deciding that everything was splendid. "Just fancy: wants to be an
56480 hussar. What's one to do, my dear?"
56481
56482 "What a charming creature your younger girl is," said the visitor;
56483 "a little volcano!"
56484
56485 "Yes, a regular volcano," said the count. "Takes after me! And
56486 what a voice she has; though she's my daughter, I tell the truth
56487 when I say she'll be a singer, a second Salomoni! We have engaged an
56488 Italian to give her lessons."
56489
56490 "Isn't she too young? I have heard that it harms the voice to
56491 train it at that age."
56492
56493 "Oh no, not at all too young!" replied the count. "Why, our
56494 mothers used to be married at twelve or thirteen."
56495
56496 "And she's in love with Boris already. Just fancy!" said the
56497 countess with a gentle smile, looking at Boris' and went on, evidently
56498 concerned with a thought that always occupied her: "Now you see if I
56499 were to be severe with her and to forbid it... goodness knows what
56500 they might be up to on the sly" (she meant that they would be
56501 kissing), "but as it is, I know every word she utters. She will come
56502 running to me of her own accord in the evening and tell me everything.
56503 Perhaps I spoil her, but really that seems the best plan. With her
56504 elder sister I was stricter."
56505
56506 "Yes, I was brought up quite differently," remarked the handsome
56507 elder daughter, Countess Vera, with a smile.
56508
56509 But the smile did not enhance Vera's beauty as smiles generally
56510 do; on the contrary it gave her an unnatural, and therefore
56511 unpleasant, expression. Vera was good-looking, not at all stupid,
56512 quick at learning, was well brought up, and had a pleasant voice; what
56513 she said was true and appropriate, yet, strange to say, everyone-
56514 the visitors and countess alike--turned to look at her as if wondering
56515 why she had said it, and they all felt awkward.
56516
56517 "People are always too clever with their eldest children and try
56518 to make something exceptional of them," said the visitor.
56519
56520 "What's the good of denying it, my dear? Our dear countess was too
56521 clever with Vera," said the count. "Well, what of that? She's turned
56522 out splendidly all the same," he added, winking at Vera.
56523
56524 The guests got up and took their leave, promising to return to
56525 dinner.
56526
56527 "What manners! I thought they would never go," said the countess,
56528 when she had seen her guests out.
56529
56530
56531
56532
56533
56534 CHAPTER XIII
56535
56536
56537 When Natasha ran out of the drawing room she only went as far as the
56538 conservatory. There she paused and stood listening to the conversation
56539 in the drawing room, waiting for Boris to come out. She was already
56540 growing impatient, and stamped her foot, ready to cry at his not
56541 coming at once, when she heard the young man's discreet steps
56542 approaching neither quickly nor slowly. At this Natasha dashed swiftly
56543 among the flower tubs and hid there.
56544
56545 Boris paused in the middle of the room, looked round, brushed a
56546 little dust from the sleeve of his uniform, and going up to a mirror
56547 examined his handsome face. Natasha, very still, peered out from her
56548 ambush, waiting to see what he would do. He stood a little while
56549 before the glass, smiled, and walked toward the other door. Natasha
56550 was about to call him but changed her mind. "Let him look for me,"
56551 thought she. Hardly had Boris gone than Sonya, flushed, in tears,
56552 and muttering angrily, came in at the other door. Natasha checked
56553 her first impulse to run out to her, and remained in her hiding place,
56554 watching--as under an invisible cap--to see what went on in the world.
56555 She was experiencing a new and peculiar pleasure. Sonya, muttering
56556 to herself, kept looking round toward the drawing-room door. It opened
56557 and Nicholas came in.
56558
56559 "Sonya, what is the matter with you? How can you?" said he,
56560 running up to her.
56561
56562 "It's nothing, nothing; leave me alone!" sobbed Sonya.
56563
56564 "Ah, I know what it is."
56565
56566 "Well, if you do, so much the better, and you can go back to her!"
56567
56568 "So-o-onya! Look here! How can you torture me and yourself like
56569 that, for a mere fancy?" said Nicholas taking her hand.
56570
56571 Sonya did not pull it away, and left off crying. Natasha, not
56572 stirring and scarcely breathing, watched from her ambush with
56573 sparkling eyes. "What will happen now?" thought she.
56574
56575 "Sonya! What is anyone in the world to me? You alone are
56576 everything!" said Nicholas. "And I will prove it to you."
56577
56578 "I don't like you to talk like that."
56579
56580 "Well, then, I won't; only forgive me, Sonya!" He drew her to him
56581 and kissed her.
56582
56583 "Oh, how nice," thought Natasha; and when Sonya and Nicholas had
56584 gone out of the conservatory she followed and called Boris to her.
56585
56586 "Boris, come here," said she with a sly and significant look. "I
56587 have something to tell you. Here, here!" and she led him into the
56588 conservatory to the place among the tubs where she had been hiding.
56589
56590 Boris followed her, smiling.
56591
56592 "What is the something?" asked he.
56593
56594 She grew confused, glanced round, and, seeing the doll she had
56595 thrown down on one of the tubs, picked it up.
56596
56597 "Kiss the doll," said she.
56598
56599 Boris looked attentively and kindly at her eager face, but did not
56600 reply.
56601
56602 "Don't you want to? Well, then, come here," said she, and went
56603 further in among the plants and threw down the doll. "Closer, closer!"
56604 she whispered.
56605
56606 She caught the young officer by his cuffs, and a look of solemnity
56607 and fear appeared on her flushed face.
56608
56609 "And me? Would you like to kiss me?" she whispered almost inaudibly,
56610 glancing up at him from under her brows, smiling, and almost crying
56611 from excitement.
56612
56613 Boris blushed.
56614
56615 "How funny you are!" he said, bending down to her and blushing still
56616 more, but he waited and did nothing.
56617
56618 Suddenly she jumped up onto a tub to be higher than he, embraced him
56619 so that both her slender bare arms clasped him above his neck, and,
56620 tossing back her hair, kissed him full on the lips.
56621
56622 Then she slipped down among the flowerpots on the other side of
56623 the tubs and stood, hanging her head.
56624
56625 "Natasha," he said, "you know that I love you, but..."
56626
56627 "You are in love with me?" Natasha broke in.
56628
56629 "Yes, I am, but please don't let us do like that.... In another four
56630 years... then I will ask for your hand."
56631
56632 Natasha considered.
56633
56634 "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen," she counted on her slender
56635 little fingers. "All right! Then it's settled?"
56636
56637 A smile of joy and satisfaction lit up her eager face.
56638
56639 "Settled!" replied Boris.
56640
56641 "Forever?" said the little girl. "Till death itself?"
56642
56643 She took his arm and with a happy face went with him into the
56644 adjoining sitting room.
56645
56646
56647
56648
56649
56650 CHAPTER XIV
56651
56652
56653 After receiving her visitors, the countess was so tired that she
56654 gave orders to admit no more, but the porter was told to be sure to
56655 invite to dinner all who came "to congratulate." The countess wished
56656 to have a tete-a-tete talk with the friend of her childhood,
56657 Princess Anna Mikhaylovna, whom she had not seen properly since she
56658 returned from Petersburg. Anna Mikhaylovna, with her tear-worn but
56659 pleasant face, drew her chair nearer to that of the countess.
56660
56661 "With you I will be quite frank," said Anna Mikhaylovna. "There
56662 are not many left of us old friends! That's why I so value your
56663 friendship."
56664
56665 Anna Mikhaylovna looked at Vera and paused. The countess pressed her
56666 friend's hand.
56667
56668 "Vera," she said to her eldest daughter who was evidently not a
56669 favorite, "how is it you have so little tact? Don't you see you are
56670 not wanted here? Go to the other girls, or..."
56671
56672 The handsome Vera smiled contemptuously but did not seem at all
56673 hurt.
56674
56675 "If you had told me sooner, Mamma, I would have gone," she replied
56676 as she rose to go to her own room.
56677
56678 But as she passed the sitting room she noticed two couples
56679 sitting, one pair at each window. She stopped and smiled scornfully.
56680 Sonya was sitting close to Nicholas who was copying out some verses
56681 for her, the first he had ever written. Boris and Natasha were at
56682 the other window and ceased talking when Vera entered. Sonya and
56683 Natasha looked at Vera with guilty, happy faces.
56684
56685 It was pleasant and touching to see these little girls in love;
56686 but apparently the sight of them roused no pleasant feeling in Vera.
56687
56688 "How often have I asked you not to take my things?" she said. "You
56689 have a room of your own," and she took the inkstand from Nicholas.
56690
56691 "In a minute, in a minute," he said, dipping his pen.
56692
56693 "You always manage to do things at the wrong time," continued
56694 Vera. "You came rushing into the drawing room so that everyone felt
56695 ashamed of you."
56696
56697 Though what she said was quite just, perhaps for that very reason no
56698 one replied, and the four simply looked at one another. She lingered
56699 in the room with the inkstand in her hand.
56700
56701 "And at your age what secrets can there be between Natasha and
56702 Boris, or between you two? It's all nonsense!"
56703
56704 "Now, Vera, what does it matter to you?" said Natasha in defense,
56705 speaking very gently.
56706
56707 She seemed that day to be more than ever kind and affectionate to
56708 everyone.
56709
56710 "Very silly," said Vera. "I am ashamed of you. Secrets indeed!"
56711
56712 "All have secrets of their own," answered Natasha, getting warmer.
56713 "We don't interfere with you and Berg."
56714
56715 "I should think not," said Vera, "because there can never be
56716 anything wrong in my behavior. But I'll just tell Mamma how you are
56717 behaving with Boris."
56718
56719 "Natalya Ilynichna behaves very well to me," remarked Boris. "I have
56720 nothing to complain of."
56721
56722 "Don't, Boris! You are such a diplomat that it is really
56723 tiresome," said Natasha in a mortified voice that trembled slightly.
56724 (She used the word "diplomat," which was just then much in vogue among
56725 the children, in the special sense they attached to it.) "Why does she
56726 bother me?" And she added, turning to Vera, "You'll never understand
56727 it, because you've never loved anyone. You have no heart! You are a
56728 Madame de Genlis and nothing more" (this nickname, bestowed on Vera by
56729 Nicholas, was considered very stinging), "and your greatest pleasure
56730 is to be unpleasant to people! Go and flirt with Berg as much as you
56731 please," she finished quickly.
56732
56733 "I shall at any rate not run after a young man before visitors..."
56734
56735 "Well, now you've done what you wanted," put in Nicholas--"said
56736 unpleasant things to everyone and upset them. Let's go to the
56737 nursery."
56738
56739 All four, like a flock of scared birds, got up and left the room.
56740
56741 "The unpleasant things were said to me," remarked Vera, "I said none
56742 to anyone."
56743
56744 "Madame de Genlis! Madame de Genlis!" shouted laughing voices
56745 through the door.
56746
56747 The handsome Vera, who produced such an irritating and unpleasant
56748 effect on everyone, smiled and, evidently unmoved by what had been
56749 said to her, went to the looking glass and arranged her hair and
56750 scarf. Looking at her own handsome face she seemed to become still
56751 colder and calmer.
56752
56753
56754 In the drawing room the conversation was still going on.
56755
56756 "Ah, my dear," said the countess, "my life is not all roses
56757 either. Don't I know that at the rate we are living our means won't
56758 last long? It's all the Club and his easygoing nature. Even in the
56759 country do we get any rest? Theatricals, hunting, and heaven knows
56760 what besides! But don't let's talk about me; tell me how you managed
56761 everything. I often wonder at you, Annette--how at your age you can
56762 rush off alone in a carriage to Moscow, to Petersburg, to those
56763 ministers and great people, and know how to deal with them all! It's
56764 quite astonishing. How did you get things settled? I couldn't possibly
56765 do it."
56766
56767 "Ah, my love," answered Anna Mikhaylovna, "God grant you never
56768 know what it is to be left a widow without means and with a son you
56769 love to distraction! One learns many things then," she added with a
56770 certain pride. "That lawsuit taught me much. When I want to see one of
56771 those big people I write a note: 'Princess So-and-So desires an
56772 interview with So and-So,' and then I take a cab and go myself two,
56773 three, or four times--till I get what I want. I don't mind what they
56774 think of me."
56775
56776 "Well, and to whom did you apply about Bory?" asked the countess.
56777 "You see yours is already an officer in the Guards, while my
56778 Nicholas is going as a cadet. There's no one to interest himself for
56779 him. To whom did you apply?"
56780
56781 "To Prince Vasili. He was so kind. He at once agreed to
56782 everything, and put the matter before the Emperor," said Princess Anna
56783 Mikhaylovna enthusiastically, quite forgetting all the humiliation she
56784 had endured to gain her end.
56785
56786 "Has Prince Vasili aged much?" asked the countess. "I have not
56787 seen him since we acted together at the Rumyantsovs' theatricals. I
56788 expect he has forgotten me. He paid me attentions in those days," said
56789 the countess, with a smile.
56790
56791 "He is just the same as ever," replied Anna Mikhaylovna,
56792 "overflowing with amiability. His position has not turned his head
56793 at all. He said to me, 'I am sorry I can do so little for you, dear
56794 Princess. I am at your command.' Yes, he is a fine fellow and a very
56795 kind relation. But, Nataly, you know my love for my son: I would do
56796 anything for his happiness! And my affairs are in such a bad way
56797 that my position is now a terrible one," continued Anna Mikhaylovna,
56798 sadly, dropping her voice. "My wretched lawsuit takes all I have and
56799 makes no progress. Would you believe it, I have literally not a
56800 penny and don't know how to equip Boris." She took out her
56801 handkerchief and began to cry. "I need five hundred rubles, and have
56802 only one twenty-five-ruble note. I am in such a state.... My only hope
56803 now is in Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he will not assist
56804 his godson--you know he is Bory's godfather--and allow him something
56805 for his maintenance, all my trouble will have been thrown away.... I
56806 shall not be able to equip him."
56807
56808 The countess' eyes filled with tears and she pondered in silence.
56809
56810 "I often think, though, perhaps it's a sin," said the princess,
56811 "that here lives Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov so rich, all
56812 alone... that tremendous fortune... and what is his life worth? It's a
56813 burden to him, and Bory's life is only just beginning...."
56814
56815 "Surely he will leave something to Boris," said the countess.
56816
56817 "Heaven only knows, my dear! These rich grandees are so selfish.
56818 Still, I will take Boris and go to see him at once, and I shall
56819 speak to him straight out. Let people think what they will of me, it's
56820 really all the same to me when my son's fate is at stake." The
56821 princess rose. "It's now two o'clock and you dine at four. There
56822 will just be time."
56823
56824 And like a practical Petersburg lady who knows how to make the
56825 most of time, Anna Mikhaylovna sent someone to call her son, and
56826 went into the anteroom with him.
56827
56828 "Good-by, my dear," said she to the countess who saw her to the
56829 door, and added in a whisper so that her son should not hear, "Wish me
56830 good luck."
56831
56832 "Are you going to Count Cyril Vladimirovich, my dear?" said the
56833 count coming out from the dining hall into the anteroom, and he added:
56834 "If he is better, ask Pierre to dine with us. He has been to the
56835 house, you know, and danced with the children. Be sure to invite
56836 him, my dear. We will see how Taras distinguishes himself today. He
56837 says Count Orlov never gave such a dinner as ours will be!"
56838
56839
56840
56841
56842
56843 CHAPTER XV
56844
56845 "My dear Boris," said Princess Anna Mikhaylovna to her son as
56846 Countess Rostova's carriage in which they were seated drove over the
56847 straw covered street and turned into the wide courtyard of Count Cyril
56848 Vladimirovich Bezukhov's house. "My dear Boris," said the mother,
56849 drawing her hand from beneath her old mantle and laying it timidly and
56850 tenderly on her son's arm, "be affectionate and attentive to him.
56851 Count Cyril Vladimirovich is your godfather after all, your future
56852 depends on him. Remember that, my dear, and be nice to him, as you
56853 so well know how to be."
56854
56855 "If only I knew that anything besides humiliation would come of
56856 it..." answered her son coldly. "But I have promised and will do it
56857 for your sake."
56858
56859 Although the hall porter saw someone's carriage standing at the
56860 entrance, after scrutinizing the mother and son (who without asking to
56861 be announced had passed straight through the glass porch between the
56862 rows of statues in niches) and looking significantly at the lady's old
56863 cloak, he asked whether they wanted the count or the princesses,
56864 and, hearing that they wished to see the count, said his excellency
56865 was worse today, and that his excellency was not receiving anyone.
56866
56867 "We may as well go back," said the son in French.
56868
56869 "My dear!" exclaimed his mother imploringly, again laying her hand
56870 on his arm as if that touch might soothe or rouse him.
56871
56872 Boris said no more, but looked inquiringly at his mother without
56873 taking off his cloak.
56874
56875 "My friend," said Anna Mikhaylovna in gentle tones, addressing the
56876 hall porter, "I know Count Cyril Vladimirovich is very ill... that's
56877 why I have come... I am a relation. I shall not disturb him, my
56878 friend... I only need see Prince Vasili Sergeevich: he is staying
56879 here, is he not? Please announce me."
56880
56881 The hall porter sullenly pulled a bell that rang upstairs, and
56882 turned away.
56883
56884 "Princess Drubetskaya to see Prince Vasili Sergeevich," he called to
56885 a footman dressed in knee breeches, shoes, and a swallow-tail coat,
56886 who ran downstairs and looked over from the halfway landing.
56887
56888 The mother smoothed the folds of her dyed silk dress before a
56889 large Venetian mirror in the wall, and in her trodden-down shoes
56890 briskly ascended the carpeted stairs.
56891
56892 "My dear," she said to her son, once more stimulating him by a
56893 touch, "you promised me!"
56894
56895 The son, lowering his eyes, followed her quietly.
56896
56897 They entered the large hall, from which one of the doors led to
56898 the apartments assigned to Prince Vasili.
56899
56900 Just as the mother and son, having reached the middle of the hall,
56901 were about to ask their way of an elderly footman who had sprung up as
56902 they entered, the bronze handle of one of the doors turned and
56903 Prince Vasili came out--wearing a velvet coat with a single star on
56904 his breast, as was his custom when at home--taking leave of a
56905 good-looking, dark-haired man. This was the celebrated Petersburg
56906 doctor, Lorrain.
56907
56908 "Then it is certain?" said the prince.
56909
56910 "Prince, humanum est errare,* but..." replied the doctor, swallowing
56911 his r's, and pronouncing the Latin words with a French accent.
56912
56913
56914 *To err is human.
56915
56916
56917 "Very well, very well..."
56918
56919 Seeing Anna Mikhaylovna and her son, Prince Vasili dismissed the
56920 doctor with a bow and approached them silently and with a look of
56921 inquiry. The son noticed that an expression of profound sorrow
56922 suddenly clouded his mother's face, and he smiled slightly.
56923
56924 "Ah, Prince! In what sad circumstances we meet again! And how is our
56925 dear invalid?" said she, as though unaware of the cold offensive
56926 look fixed on her.
56927
56928 Prince Vasili stared at her and at Boris questioningly and
56929 perplexed. Boris bowed politely. Prince Vasili without acknowledging
56930 the bow turned to Anna Mikhaylovna, answering her query by a
56931 movement of the head and lips indicating very little hope for the
56932 patient.
56933
56934 "Is it possible?" exclaimed Anna Mikhaylovna. "Oh, how awful! It
56935 is terrible to think.... This is my son," she added, indicating Boris.
56936 "He wanted to thank you himself."
56937
56938 Boris bowed again politely.
56939
56940 "Believe me, Prince, a mother's heart will never forget what you
56941 have done for us."
56942
56943 "I am glad I was able to do you a service, my dear Anna
56944 Mikhaylovna," said Prince Vasili, arranging his lace frill, and in
56945 tone and manner, here in Moscow to Anna Mikhaylovna whom he had placed
56946 under an obligation, assuming an air of much greater importance than
56947 he had done in Petersburg at Anna Scherer's reception.
56948
56949 "Try to serve well and show yourself worthy," added he, addressing
56950 Boris with severity. "I am glad.... Are you here on leave?" he went on
56951 in his usual tone of indifference.
56952
56953 "I am awaiting orders to join my new regiment, your excellency,"
56954 replied Boris, betraying neither annoyance at the prince's brusque
56955 manner nor a desire to enter into conversation, but speaking so
56956 quietly and respectfully that the prince gave him a searching glance.
56957
56958 "Are you living with your mother?"
56959
56960 "I am living at Countess Rostova's," replied Boris, again adding,
56961 "your excellency."
56962
56963 "That is, with Ilya Rostov who married Nataly Shinshina," said
56964 Anna Mikhaylovna.
56965
56966 "I know, I know," answered Prince Vasili in his monotonous voice. "I
56967 never could understand how Nataly made up her mind to marry that
56968 unlicked bear! A perfectly absurd and stupid fellow, and a gambler
56969 too, I am told."
56970
56971 "But a very kind man, Prince," said Anna Mikhaylovna with a pathetic
56972 smile, as though she too knew that Count Rostov deserved this censure,
56973 but asked him not to be too hard on the poor old man. "What do the
56974 doctors say?" asked the princess after a pause, her worn face again
56975 expressing deep sorrow.
56976
56977 "They give little hope," replied the prince.
56978
56979 "And I should so like to thank Uncle once for all his kindness to me
56980 and Boris. He is his godson," she added, her tone suggesting that this
56981 fact ought to give Prince Vasili much satisfaction.
56982
56983 Prince Vasili became thoughtful and frowned. Anna Mikhaylovna saw
56984 that he was afraid of finding in her a rival for Count Bezukhov's
56985 fortune, and hastened to reassure him.
56986
56987 "If it were not for my sincere affection and devotion to Uncle,"
56988 said she, uttering the word with peculiar assurance and unconcern,
56989 "I know his character: noble, upright... but you see he has no one
56990 with him except the young princesses.... They are still young...." She
56991 bent her head and continued in a whisper: "Has he performed his
56992 final duty, Prince? How priceless are those last moments! It can
56993 make things no worse, and it is absolutely necessary to prepare him if
56994 he is so ill. We women, Prince," and she smiled tenderly, "always know
56995 how to say these things. I absolutely must see him, however painful it
56996 may be for me. I am used to suffering."
56997
56998 Evidently the prince understood her, and also understood, as he
56999 had done at Anna Pavlovna's, that it would be difficult to get rid
57000 of Anna Mikhaylovna.
57001
57002 "Would not such a meeting be too trying for him, dear Anna
57003 Mikhaylovna?" said he. "Let us wait until evening. The doctors are
57004 expecting a crisis."
57005
57006 "But one cannot delay, Prince, at such a moment! Consider that the
57007 welfare of his soul is at stake. Ah, it is awful: the duties of a
57008 Christian..."
57009
57010 A door of one of the inner rooms opened and one of the princesses,
57011 the count's niece, entered with a cold, stern face. The length of
57012 her body was strikingly out of proportion to her short legs. Prince
57013 Vasili turned to her.
57014
57015 "Well, how is he?"
57016
57017 "Still the same; but what can you expect, this noise..." said the
57018 princess, looking at Anna Mikhaylovna as at a stranger.
57019
57020 "Ah, my dear, I hardly knew you," said Anna Mikhaylovna with a happy
57021 smile, ambling lightly up to the count's niece. "I have come, and am
57022 at your service to help you nurse my uncle. I imagine what you have
57023 gone through," and she sympathetically turned up her eyes.
57024
57025 The princess gave no reply and did not even smile, but left the room
57026 as Anna Mikhaylovna took off her gloves and, occupying the position
57027 she had conquered, settled down in an armchair, inviting Prince Vasili
57028 to take a seat beside her.
57029
57030 "Boris," she said to her son with a smile, "I shall go in to see the
57031 count, my uncle; but you, my dear, had better go to Pierre meanwhile
57032 and don't forget to give him the Rostovs' invitation. They ask him
57033 to dinner. I suppose he won't go?" she continued, turning to the
57034 prince.
57035
57036 "On the contrary," replied the prince, who had plainly become
57037 depressed, "I shall be only too glad if you relieve me of that young
57038 man.... Here he is, and the count has not once asked for him."
57039
57040 He shrugged his shoulders. A footman conducted Boris down one flight
57041 of stairs and up another, to Pierre's rooms.
57042
57043
57044
57045
57046
57047 CHAPTER XVI
57048
57049
57050 Pierre, after all, had not managed to choose a career for himself in
57051 Petersburg, and had been expelled from there for riotous conduct and
57052 sent to Moscow. The story told about him at Count Rostov's was true.
57053 Pierre had taken part in tying a policeman to a bear. He had now
57054 been for some days in Moscow and was staying as usual at his
57055 father's house. Though he expected that the story of his escapade
57056 would be already known in Moscow and that the ladies about his father-
57057 who were never favorably disposed toward him--would have used it to
57058 turn the count against him, he nevertheless on the day of his
57059 arrival went to his father's part of the house. Entering the drawing
57060 room, where the princesses spent most of their time, he greeted the
57061 ladies, two of whom were sitting at embroidery frames while a third
57062 read aloud. It was the eldest who was reading--the one who had met
57063 Anna Mikhaylovna. The two younger ones were embroidering: both were
57064 rosy and pretty and they differed only in that one had a little mole
57065 on her lip which made her much prettier. Pierre was received as if
57066 he were a corpse or a leper. The eldest princess paused in her reading
57067 and silently stared at him with frightened eyes; the second assumed
57068 precisely the same expression; while the youngest, the one with the
57069 mole, who was of a cheerful and lively disposition, bent over her
57070 frame to hide a smile probably evoked by the amusing scene she
57071 foresaw. She drew her wool down through the canvas and, scarcely
57072 able to refrain from laughing, stooped as if trying to make out the
57073 pattern.
57074
57075 "How do you do, cousin?" said Pierre. "You don't recognize me?"
57076
57077 "I recognize you only too well, too well."
57078
57079 "How is the count? Can I see him?" asked Pierre, awkwardly as usual,
57080 but unabashed.
57081
57082 "The count is suffering physically and mentally, and apparently
57083 you have done your best to increase his mental sufferings."
57084
57085 "Can I see the count?" Pierre again asked.
57086
57087 "Hm.... If you wish to kill him, to kill him outright, you can see
57088 him... Olga, go and see whether Uncle's beef tea is ready--it is
57089 almost time," she added, giving Pierre to understand that they were
57090 busy, and busy making his father comfortable, while evidently he,
57091 Pierre, was only busy causing him annoyance.
57092
57093 Olga went out. Pierre stood looking at the sisters; then he bowed
57094 and said: "Then I will go to my rooms. You will let me know when I can
57095 see him."
57096
57097 And he left the room, followed by the low but ringing laughter of
57098 the sister with the mole.
57099
57100 Next day Prince Vasili had arrived and settled in the count's house.
57101 He sent for Pierre and said to him: "My dear fellow, if you are
57102 going to behave here as you did in Petersburg, you will end very
57103 badly; that is all I have to say to you. The count is very, very
57104 ill, and you must not see him at all."
57105
57106 Since then Pierre had not been disturbed and had spent the whole
57107 time in his rooms upstairs.
57108
57109 When Boris appeared at his door Pierre was pacing up and down his
57110 room, stopping occasionally at a corner to make menacing gestures at
57111 the wall, as if running a sword through an invisible foe, and
57112 glaring savagely over his spectacles, and then again resuming his
57113 walk, muttering indistinct words, shrugging his shoulders and
57114 gesticulating.
57115
57116 "England is done for," said he, scowling and pointing his finger
57117 at someone unseen. "Mr. Pitt, as a traitor to the nation and to the
57118 rights of man, is sentenced to..." But before Pierre--who at that
57119 moment imagined himself to be Napoleon in person and to have just
57120 effected the dangerous crossing of the Straits of Dover and captured
57121 London--could pronounce Pitt's sentence, he saw a well-built and
57122 handsome young officer entering his room. Pierre paused. He had left
57123 Moscow when Boris was a boy of fourteen, and had quite forgotten
57124 him, but in his usual impulsive and hearty way he took Boris by the
57125 hand with a friendly smile.
57126
57127 "Do you remember me?" asked Boris quietly with a pleasant smile.
57128 "I have come with my mother to see the count, but it seems he is not
57129 well."
57130
57131 "Yes, it seems he is ill. People are always disturbing him,"
57132 answered Pierre, trying to remember who this young man was.
57133
57134 Boris felt that Pierre did not recognize him but did not consider it
57135 necessary to introduce himself, and without experiencing the least
57136 embarrassment looked Pierre straight in the face.
57137
57138 "Count Rostov asks you to come to dinner today," said he, after a
57139 considerable pause which made Pierre feel uncomfortable.
57140
57141 "Ah, Count Rostov!" exclaimed Pierre joyfully. "Then you are his
57142 son, Ilya? Only fancy, I didn't know you at first. Do you remember how
57143 we went to the Sparrow Hills with Madame Jacquot?... It's such an
57144 age..."
57145
57146 "You are mistaken," said Boris deliberately, with a bold and
57147 slightly sarcastic smile. "I am Boris, son of Princess Anna
57148 Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya. Rostov, the father, is Ilya, and his son is
57149 Nicholas. I never knew any Madame Jacquot."
57150
57151 Pierre shook his head and arms as if attacked by mosquitoes or bees.
57152
57153 "Oh dear, what am I thinking about? I've mixed everything up. One
57154 has so many relatives in Moscow! So you are Boris? Of course. Well,
57155 now we know where we are. And what do you think of the Boulogne
57156 expedition? The English will come off badly, you know, if Napoleon
57157 gets across the Channel. I think the expedition is quite feasible.
57158 If only Villeneuve doesn't make a mess of things!"
57159
57160 Boris knew nothing about the Boulogne expedition; he did not read
57161 the papers and it was the first time he had heard Villeneuve's name.
57162
57163 "We here in Moscow are more occupied with dinner parties and scandal
57164 than with politics," said he in his quiet ironical tone. "I know
57165 nothing about it and have not thought about it. Moscow is chiefly busy
57166 with gossip," he continued. "Just now they are talking about you and
57167 your father."
57168
57169 Pierre smiled in his good-natured way as if afraid for his
57170 companion's sake that the latter might say something he would
57171 afterwards regret. But Boris spoke distinctly, clearly, and dryly,
57172 looking straight into Pierre's eyes.
57173
57174 "Moscow has nothing else to do but gossip," Boris went on.
57175 "Everybody is wondering to whom the count will leave his fortune,
57176 though he may perhaps outlive us all, as I sincerely hope he will..."
57177
57178 "Yes, it is all very horrid," interrupted Pierre, "very horrid."
57179
57180 Pierre was still afraid that this officer might inadvertently say
57181 something disconcerting to himself.
57182
57183 "And it must seem to you," said Boris flushing slightly, but not
57184 changing his tone or attitude, "it must seem to you that everyone is
57185 trying to get something out of the rich man?"
57186
57187 "So it does," thought Pierre.
57188
57189 "But I just wish to say, to avoid misunderstandings, that you are
57190 quite mistaken if you reckon me or my mother among such people. We are
57191 very poor, but for my own part at any rate, for the very reason that
57192 your father is rich, I don't regard myself as a relation of his, and
57193 neither I nor my mother would ever ask or take anything from him."
57194
57195 For a long time Pierre could not understand, but when he did, he
57196 jumped up from the sofa, seized Boris under the elbow in his quick,
57197 clumsy way, and, blushing far more than Boris, began to speak with a
57198 feeling of mingled shame and vexation.
57199
57200 "Well, this is strange! Do you suppose I... who could think?... I
57201 know very well..."
57202
57203 But Boris again interrupted him.
57204
57205 "I am glad I have spoken out fully. Perhaps you did not like it? You
57206 must excuse me," said he, putting Pierre at ease instead of being
57207 put at ease by him, "but I hope I have not offended you. I always make
57208 it a rule to speak out... Well, what answer am I to take? Will you
57209 come to dinner at the Rostovs'?"
57210
57211 And Boris, having apparently relieved himself of an onerous duty and
57212 extricated himself from an awkward situation and placed another in it,
57213 became quite pleasant again.
57214
57215 "No, but I say," said Pierre, calming down, "you are a wonderful
57216 fellow! What you have just said is good, very good. Of course you
57217 don't know me. We have not met for such a long time... not since we
57218 were children. You might think that I... I understand, quite
57219 understand. I could not have done it myself, I should not have had the
57220 courage, but it's splendid. I am very glad to have made your
57221 acquaintance. It's queer," he added after a pause, "that you should
57222 have suspected me!" He began to laugh. "Well, what of it! I hope we'll
57223 get better acquainted," and he pressed Boris' hand. "Do you know, I
57224 have not once been in to see the count. He has not sent for me.... I
57225 am sorry for him as a man, but what can one do?"
57226
57227 "And so you think Napoleon will manage to get an army across?" asked
57228 Boris with a smile.
57229
57230 Pierre saw that Boris wished to change the subject, and being of the
57231 same mind he began explaining the advantages and disadvantages of
57232 the Boulogne expedition.
57233
57234 A footman came in to summon Boris--the princess was going. Pierre,
57235 in order to make Boris' better acquaintance, promised to come to
57236 dinner, and warmly pressing his hand looked affectionately over his
57237 spectacles into Boris' eyes. After he had gone Pierre continued pacing
57238 up and down the room for a long time, no longer piercing an
57239 imaginary foe with his imaginary sword, but smiling at the remembrance
57240 of that pleasant, intelligent, and resolute young man.
57241
57242 As often happens in early youth, especially to one who leads a
57243 lonely life, he felt an unaccountable tenderness for this young man
57244 and made up his mind that they would be friends.
57245
57246 Prince Vasili saw the princess off. She held a handkerchief to her
57247 eyes and her face was tearful.
57248
57249 "It is dreadful, dreadful!" she was saying, "but cost me what it may
57250 I shall do my duty. I will come and spend the night. He must not be
57251 left like this. Every moment is precious. I can't think why his nieces
57252 put it off. Perhaps God will help me to find a way to prepare
57253 him!... Adieu, Prince! May God support you..."
57254
57255 "Adieu, ma bonne," answered Prince Vasili turning away from her.
57256
57257 "Oh, he is in a dreadful state," said the mother to her son when
57258 they were in the carriage. "He hardly recognizes anybody."
57259
57260 "I don't understand, Mamma--what is his attitude to Pierre?" asked
57261 the son.
57262
57263 "The will will show that, my dear; our fate also depends on it."
57264
57265 "But why do you expect that he will leave us anything?"
57266
57267 "Ah, my dear! He is so rich, and we are so poor!"
57268
57269 "Well, that is hardly a sufficient reason, Mamma..."
57270
57271 "Oh, Heaven! How ill he is!" exclaimed the mother.
57272
57273
57274
57275
57276
57277 CHAPTER XVII
57278
57279 After Anna Mikhaylovna had driven off with her son to visit Count
57280 Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov, Countess Rostova sat for a long time all
57281 alone applying her handkerchief to her eyes. At last she rang.
57282
57283 "What is the matter with you, my dear?" she said crossly to the maid
57284 who kept her waiting some minutes. "Don't you wish to serve me? Then
57285 I'll find you another place."
57286
57287 The countess was upset by her friend's sorrow and humiliating
57288 poverty, and was therefore out of sorts, a state of mind which with
57289 her always found expression in calling her maid "my dear" and speaking
57290 to her with exaggerated politeness.
57291
57292 "I am very sorry, ma'am," answered the maid.
57293
57294 "Ask the count to come to me."
57295
57296 The count came waddling in to see his wife with a rather guilty look
57297 as usual.
57298
57299 "Well, little countess? What a saute of game au madere we are to
57300 have, my dear! I tasted it. The thousand rubles I paid for Taras
57301 were not ill-spent. He is worth it!"
57302
57303 He sat down by his wife, his elbows on his knees and his hands
57304 ruffling his gray hair.
57305
57306 "What are your commands, little countess?"
57307
57308 "You see, my dear... What's that mess?" she said, pointing to his
57309 waistcoat. "It's the saute, most likely," she added with a smile.
57310 "Well, you see, Count, I want some money."
57311
57312 Her face became sad.
57313
57314 "Oh, little countess!"... and the count began bustling to get out
57315 his pocketbook.
57316
57317 "I want a great deal, Count! I want five hundred rubles," and taking
57318 out her cambric handkerchief she began wiping her husband's waistcoat.
57319
57320 "Yes, immediately, immediately! Hey, who's there?" he called out
57321 in a tone only used by persons who are certain that those they call
57322 will rush to obey the summons. "Send Dmitri to me!"
57323
57324 Dmitri, a man of good family who had been brought up in the
57325 count's house and now managed all his affairs, stepped softly into the
57326 room.
57327
57328 "This is what I want, my dear fellow," said the count to the
57329 deferential young man who had entered. "Bring me..." he reflected a
57330 moment, "yes, bring me seven hundred rubles, yes! But mind, don't
57331 bring me such tattered and dirty notes as last time, but nice clean
57332 ones for the countess."
57333
57334 "Yes, Dmitri, clean ones, please," said the countess, sighing
57335 deeply.
57336
57337 "When would you like them, your excellency?" asked Dmitri. "Allow me
57338 to inform you... But, don't be uneasy," he added, noticing that the
57339 count was beginning to breathe heavily and quickly which was always
57340 a sign of approaching anger. "I was forgetting... Do you wish it
57341 brought at once?"
57342
57343 "Yes, yes; just so! Bring it. Give it to the countess."
57344
57345 "What a treasure that Dmitri is," added the count with a smile
57346 when the young man had departed. "There is never any 'impossible'
57347 with him. That's a thing I hate! Everything is possible."
57348
57349 "Ah, money, Count, money! How much sorrow it causes in the world,"
57350 said the countess. "But I am in great need of this sum."
57351
57352 "You, my little countess, are a notorious spendthrift," said the
57353 count, and having kissed his wife's hand he went back to his study.
57354
57355 When Anna Mikhaylovna returned from Count Bezukhov's the money,
57356 all in clean notes, was lying ready under a handkerchief on the
57357 countess' little table, and Anna Mikhaylovna noticed that something
57358 was agitating her.
57359
57360 "Well, my dear?" asked the countess.
57361
57362 "Oh, what a terrible state he is in! One would not know him, he is
57363 so ill! I was only there a few moments and hardly said a word..."
57364
57365 "Annette, for heaven's sake don't refuse me," the countess began,
57366 with a blush that looked very strange on her thin, dignified,
57367 elderly face, and she took the money from under the handkerchief.
57368
57369 Anna Mikhaylovna instantly guessed her intention and stooped to be
57370 ready to embrace the countess at the appropriate moment.
57371
57372 "This is for Boris from me, for his outfit."
57373
57374 Anna Mikhaylovna was already embracing her and weeping. The countess
57375 wept too. They wept because they were friends, and because they were
57376 kindhearted, and because they--friends from childhood--had to think
57377 about such a base thing as money, and because their youth was over....
57378 But those tears were pleasant to them both.
57379
57380
57381
57382
57383
57384 CHAPTER XVIII
57385
57386
57387 Countess Rostova, with her daughters and a large number of guests,
57388 was already seated in the drawing room. The count took the gentlemen
57389 into his study and showed them his choice collection of Turkish pipes.
57390 From time to time he went out to ask: "Hasn't she come yet?" They were
57391 expecting Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, known in society as le
57392 terrible dragon, a lady distinguished not for wealth or rank, but
57393 for common sense and frank plainness of speech. Marya Dmitrievna was
57394 known to the Imperial family as well as to all Moscow and
57395 Petersburg, and both cities wondered at her, laughed privately at
57396 her rudenesses, and told good stories about her, while none the less
57397 all without exception respected and feared her.
57398
57399 In the count's room, which was full of tobacco smoke, they talked of
57400 war that had been announced in a manifesto, and about the
57401 recruiting. None of them had yet seen the manifesto, but they all knew
57402 it had appeared. The count sat on the sofa between two guests who were
57403 smoking and talking. He neither smoked nor talked, but bending his
57404 head first to one side and then to the other watched the smokers
57405 with evident pleasure and listened to the conversation of his two
57406 neighbors, whom he egged on against each other.
57407
57408 One of them was a sallow, clean-shaven civilian with a thin and
57409 wrinkled face, already growing old, though he was dressed like a
57410 most fashionable young man. He sat with his legs up on the sofa as
57411 if quite at home and, having stuck an amber mouthpiece far into his
57412 mouth, was inhaling the smoke spasmodically and screwing up his
57413 eyes. This was an old bachelor, Shinshin, a cousin of the countess', a
57414 man with "a sharp tongue" as they said in Moscow society. He seemed to
57415 be condescending to his companion. The latter, a fresh, rosy officer
57416 of the Guards, irreproachably washed, brushed, and buttoned, held
57417 his pipe in the middle of his mouth and with red lips gently inhaled
57418 the smoke, letting it escape from his handsome mouth in rings. This
57419 was Lieutenant Berg, an officer in the Semenov regiment with whom
57420 Boris was to travel to join the army, and about whom Natasha had,
57421 teased her elder sister Vera, speaking of Berg as her "intended."
57422 The count sat between them and listened attentively. His favorite
57423 occupation when not playing boston, a card game he was very fond of,
57424 was that of listener, especially when he succeeded in setting two
57425 loquacious talkers at one another.
57426
57427 "Well, then, old chap, mon tres honorable Alphonse Karlovich,"
57428 said Shinshin, laughing ironically and mixing the most ordinary
57429 Russian expressions with the choicest French phrases--which was a
57430 peculiarity of his speech. "Vous comptez vous faire des rentes sur
57431 l'etat;* you want to make something out of your company?"
57432
57433
57434 *You expect to make an income out of the government.
57435
57436
57437 "No, Peter Nikolaevich; I only want to show that in the cavalry
57438 the advantages are far less than in the infantry. Just consider my own
57439 position now, Peter Nikolaevich..."
57440
57441 Berg always spoke quietly, politely, and with great precision. His
57442 conversation always related entirely to himself; he would remain
57443 calm and silent when the talk related to any topic that had no
57444 direct bearing on himself. He could remain silent for hours without
57445 being at all put out of countenance himself or making others
57446 uncomfortable, but as soon as the conversation concerned himself he
57447 would begin to talk circumstantially and with evident satisfaction.
57448
57449 "Consider my position, Peter Nikolaevich. Were I in the cavalry I
57450 should get not more than two hundred rubles every four months, even
57451 with the rank of lieutenant; but as it is I receive two hundred and
57452 thirty," said he, looking at Shinshin and the count with a joyful,
57453 pleasant smile, as if it were obvious to him that his success must
57454 always be the chief desire of everyone else.
57455
57456 "Besides that, Peter Nikolaevich, by exchanging into the Guards I
57457 shall be in a more prominent position," continued Berg, "and vacancies
57458 occur much more frequently in the Foot Guards. Then just think what
57459 can be done with two hundred and thirty rubles! I even manage to put a
57460 little aside and to send something to my father," he went on, emitting
57461 a smoke ring.
57462
57463 "La balance y est...* A German knows how to skin a flint, as the
57464 proverb says," remarked Shinshin, moving his pipe to the other side of
57465 his mouth and winking at the count.
57466
57467
57468 *So that squares matters.
57469
57470
57471 The count burst out laughing. The other guests seeing that
57472 Shinshin was talking came up to listen. Berg, oblivious of irony or
57473 indifference, continued to explain how by exchanging into the Guards
57474 he had already gained a step on his old comrades of the Cadet Corps;
57475 how in wartime the company commander might get killed and he, as
57476 senior in the company, might easily succeed to the post; how popular
57477 he was with everyone in the regiment, and how satisfied his father was
57478 with him. Berg evidently enjoyed narrating all this, and did not
57479 seem to suspect that others, too, might have their own interests.
57480 But all he said was so prettily sedate, and the naivete of his
57481 youthful egotism was so obvious, that he disarmed his hearers.
57482
57483 "Well, my boy, you'll get along wherever you go--foot or horse--that
57484 I'll warrant," said Shinshin, patting him on the shoulder and taking
57485 his feet off the sofa.
57486
57487 Berg smiled joyously. The count, by his guests, went into the
57488 drawing room.
57489
57490 It was just the moment before a big dinner when the assembled
57491 guests, expecting the summons to zakuska,* avoid engaging in any
57492 long conversation but think it necessary to move about and talk, in
57493 order to show that they are not at all impatient for their food. The
57494 host and hostess look toward the door, and now and then glance at
57495 one another, and the visitors try to guess from these glances who,
57496 or what, they are waiting for--some important relation who has not yet
57497 arrived, or a dish that is not yet ready.
57498
57499
57500 *Hors d'oeuvres.
57501
57502
57503 Pierre had come just at dinnertime and was sitting awkwardly in
57504 the middle of the drawing room on the first chair he had come
57505 across, blocking the way for everyone. The countess tried to make
57506 him talk, but he went on naively looking around through his spectacles
57507 as if in search of somebody and answered all her questions in
57508 monosyllables. He was in the way and was the only one who did not
57509 notice the fact. Most of the guests, knowing of the affair with the
57510 bear, looked with curiosity at this big, stout, quiet man, wondering
57511 how such a clumsy, modest fellow could have played such a prank on a
57512 policeman.
57513
57514 "You have only lately arrived?" the countess asked him.
57515
57516 "Oui, madame," replied he, looking around him.
57517
57518 "You have not yet seen my husband?"
57519
57520 "Non, madame." He smiled quite inappropriately.
57521
57522 "You have been in Paris recently, I believe? I suppose it's very
57523 interesting."
57524
57525 "Very interesting."
57526
57527 The countess exchanged glances with Anna Mikhaylovna. The latter
57528 understood that she was being asked to entertain this young man, and
57529 sitting down beside him she began to speak about his father; but he
57530 answered her, as he had the countess, only in monosyllables. The other
57531 guests were all conversing with one another. "The Razumovskis... It
57532 was charming... You are very kind... Countess Apraksina..." was
57533 heard on all sides. The countess rose and went into the ballroom.
57534
57535 "Marya Dmitrievna?" came her voice from there.
57536
57537 "Herself," came the answer in a rough voice, and Marya Dmitrievna
57538 entered the room.
57539
57540 All the unmarried ladies and even the married ones except the very
57541 oldest rose. Marya Dmitrievna paused at the door. Tall and stout,
57542 holding high her fifty-year-old head with its gray curls, she stood
57543 surveying the guests, and leisurely arranged her wide sleeves as if
57544 rolling them up. Marya Dmitrievna always spoke in Russian.
57545
57546 "Health and happiness to her whose name day we are keeping and to
57547 her children," she said, in her loud, full-toned voice which drowned
57548 all others. "Well, you old sinner," she went on, turning to the
57549 count who was kissing her hand, "you're feeling dull in Moscow, I
57550 daresay? Nowhere to hunt with your dogs? But what is to be done, old
57551 man? Just see how these nestlings are growing up," and she pointed
57552 to the girls. "You must look for husbands for them whether you like it
57553 or not...."
57554
57555 "Well," said she, "how's my Cossack?" (Marya Dmitrievna always called
57556 Natasha a Cossack) and she stroked the child's arm as she came up
57557 fearless and gay to kiss her hand. "I know she's a scamp of a girl,
57558 but I like her."
57559
57560 She took a pair of pear-shaped ruby earrings from her huge
57561 reticule and, having given them to the rosy Natasha, who beamed with
57562 the pleasure of her saint's-day fete, turned away at once and
57563 addressed herself to Pierre.
57564
57565 "Eh, eh, friend! Come here a bit," said she, assuming a soft high
57566 tone of voice. "Come here, my friend..." and she ominously tucked up
57567 her sleeves still higher. Pierre approached, looking at her in a
57568 childlike way through his spectacles.
57569
57570 "Come nearer, come nearer, friend! I used to be the only one to tell
57571 your father the truth when he was in favor, and in your case it's my
57572 evident duty." She paused. All were silent, expectant of what was to
57573 follow, for this was dearly only a prelude.
57574
57575 "A fine lad! My word! A fine lad!... His father lies on his deathbed
57576 and he amuses himself setting a policeman astride a bear! For shame,
57577 sir, for shame! It would be better if you went to the war."
57578
57579 She turned away and gave her hand to the count, who could hardly
57580 keep from laughing.
57581
57582 "Well, I suppose it is time we were at table?" said Marya
57583 Dmitrievna.
57584
57585 The count went in first with Marya Dmitrievna, the countess followed
57586 on the arm of a colonel of hussars, a man of importance to them
57587 because Nicholas was to go with him to the regiment; then came Anna
57588 Mikhaylovna with Shinshin. Berg gave his arm to Vera. The smiling
57589 Julie Karagina went in with Nicholas. After them other couples
57590 followed, filling the whole dining hall, and last of all the children,
57591 tutors, and governesses followed singly. The footmen began moving
57592 about, chairs scraped, the band struck up in the gallery, and the
57593 guests settled down in their places. Then the strains of the count's
57594 household band were replaced by the clatter of knives and forks, the
57595 voices of visitors, and the soft steps of the footmen. At one end of
57596 the table sat the countess with Marya Dmitrievna on her right and Anna
57597 Mikhaylovna on her left, the other lady visitors were farther down. At
57598 the other end sat the count, with the hussar colonel on his left and
57599 Shinshin and the other male visitors on his right. Midway down the
57600 long table on one side sat the grownup young people: Vera beside Berg,
57601 and Pierre beside Boris; and on the other side, the children,
57602 tutors, and governesses. From behind the crystal decanters and fruit
57603 vases the count kept glancing at his wife and her tall cap with its
57604 light-blue ribbons, and busily filled his neighbors' glasses, not
57605 neglecting his own. The countess in turn, without omitting her
57606 duties as hostess, threw significant glances from behind the
57607 pineapples at her husband whose face and bald head seemed by their
57608 redness to contrast more than usual with his gray hair. At the ladies'
57609 end an even chatter of voices was heard all the time, at the men's end
57610 the voices sounded louder and louder, especially that of the colonel
57611 of hussars who, growing more and more flushed, ate and drank so much
57612 that the count held him up as a pattern to the other guests. Berg with
57613 tender smiles was saying to Vera that love is not an earthly but a
57614 heavenly feeling. Boris was telling his new friend Pierre who the
57615 guests were and exchanging glances with Natasha, who was sitting
57616 opposite. Pierre spoke little but examined the new faces, and ate a
57617 great deal. Of the two soups he chose turtle with savory patties and
57618 went on to the game without omitting a single dish or one of the
57619 wines. These latter the butler thrust mysteriously forward, wrapped in
57620 a napkin, from behind the next man's shoulders and whispered: "Dry
57621 Madeira"... "Hungarian"... or "Rhine wine" as the case might be. Of
57622 the four crystal glasses engraved with the count's monogram that stood
57623 before his plate, Pierre held out one at random and drank with
57624 enjoyment, gazing with ever-increasing amiability at the other guests.
57625 Natasha, who sat opposite, was looking at Boris as girls of thirteen
57626 look at the boy they are in love with and have just kissed for the
57627 first time. Sometimes that same look fell on Pierre, and that funny
57628 lively little girl's look made him inclined to laugh without knowing
57629 why.
57630
57631 Nicholas sat at some distance from Sonya, beside Julie Karagina,
57632 to whom he was again talking with the same involuntary smile. Sonya
57633 wore a company smile but was evidently tormented by jealousy; now
57634 she turned pale, now blushed and strained every nerve to overhear what
57635 Nicholas and Julie were saying to one another. The governess kept
57636 looking round uneasily as if preparing to resent any slight that might
57637 be put upon the children. The German tutor was trying to remember
57638 all the dishes, wines, and kinds of dessert, in order to send a full
57639 description of the dinner to his people in Germany; and he felt
57640 greatly offended when the butler with a bottle wrapped in a napkin
57641 passed him by. He frowned, trying to appear as if he did not want
57642 any of that wine, but was mortified because no one would understand
57643 that it was not to quench his thirst or from greediness that he wanted
57644 it, but simply from a conscientious desire for knowledge.
57645
57646
57647
57648
57649
57650 CHAPTER XIX
57651
57652
57653 At the men's end of the table the talk grew more and more
57654 animated. The colonel told them that the declaration of war had
57655 already appeared in Petersburg and that a copy, which he had himself
57656 seen, had that day been forwarded by courier to the commander in
57657 chief.
57658
57659 "And why the deuce are we going to fight Bonaparte?" remarked
57660 Shinshin. "He has stopped Austria's cackle and I fear it will be our
57661 turn next."
57662
57663 The colonel was a stout, tall, plethoric German, evidently devoted
57664 to the service and patriotically Russian. He resented Shinshin's
57665 remark.
57666
57667 "It is for the reasson, my goot sir," said he, speaking with a
57668 German accent, "for the reasson zat ze Emperor knows zat. He
57669 declares in ze manifessto zat he cannot fiew wiz indifference ze
57670 danger vreatening Russia and zat ze safety and dignity of ze Empire as
57671 vell as ze sanctity of its alliances..." he spoke this last word
57672 with particular emphasis as if in it lay the gist of the matter.
57673
57674 Then with the unerring official memory that characterized him he
57675 repeated from the opening words of the manifesto:
57676
57677 ... and the wish, which constitutes the Emperor's sole and
57678 absolute aim--to establish peace in Europe on firm foundations--has
57679 now decided him to despatch part of the army abroad and to create a
57680 new condition for the attainment of that purpose.
57681
57682 "Zat, my dear sir, is vy..." he concluded, drinking a tumbler of
57683 wine with dignity and looking to the count for approval.
57684
57685 "Connaissez-vous le Proverbe:* 'Jerome, Jerome, do not roam, but
57686 turn spindles at home!'?" said Shinshin, puckering his brows and
57687 smiling. "Cela nous convient a merveille.*[2] Suvorov now--he knew
57688 what he was about; yet they beat him a plate couture,*[3] and where
57689 are we to find Suvorovs now? Je vous demande un peu,"*[4] said he,
57690 continually changing from French to Russian.
57691
57692
57693 *Do you know the proverb?
57694
57695 *[2] That suits us down to the ground.
57696
57697 *[3] Hollow.
57698
57699 *[4] I just ask you that.
57700
57701
57702 "Ve must vight to the last tr-r-op of our plood!" said the
57703 colonel, thumping the table; "and ve must tie for our Emperor, and zen
57704 all vill pe vell. And ve must discuss it as little as po-o-ossible"...
57705 he dwelt particularly on the word possible... "as po-o-ossible," he
57706 ended, again turning to the count. "Zat is how ve old hussars look
57707 at it, and zere's an end of it! And how do you, a young man and a
57708 young hussar, how do you judge of it?" he added, addressing
57709 Nicholas, who when he heard that the war was being discussed had
57710 turned from his partner with eyes and ears intent on the colonel.
57711
57712 "I am quite of your opinion," replied Nicholas, flaming up,
57713 turning his plate round and moving his wineglasses about with as
57714 much decision and desperation as though he were at that moment
57715 facing some great danger. "I am convinced that we Russians must die or
57716 conquer," he concluded, conscious--as were others--after the words
57717 were uttered that his remarks were too enthusiastic and emphatic for
57718 the occasion and were therefore awkward.
57719
57720 "What you said just now was splendid!" said his partner Julie.
57721
57722 Sonya trembled all over and blushed to her ears and behind them
57723 and down to her neck and shoulders while Nicholas was speaking.
57724
57725 Pierre listened to the colonel's speech and nodded approvingly.
57726
57727 "That's fine," said he.
57728
57729 "The young man's a real hussar!" shouted the colonel, again thumping
57730 the table.
57731
57732 "What are you making such a noise about over there?" Marya
57733 Dmitrievna's deep voice suddenly inquired from the other end of the
57734 table. "What are you thumping the table for?" she demanded of the
57735 hussar, "and why are you exciting yourself? Do you think the French
57736 are here?"
57737
57738 "I am speaking ze truce," replied the hussar with a smile.
57739
57740 "It's all about the war," the count shouted down the table. "You
57741 know my son's going, Marya Dmitrievna? My son is going."
57742
57743 "I have four sons in the army but still I don't fret. It is all in
57744 God's hands. You may die in your bed or God may spare you in a
57745 battle," replied Marya Dmitrievna's deep voice, which easily carried
57746 the whole length of the table.
57747
57748 "That's true!"
57749
57750 Once more the conversations concentrated, the ladies' at the one end
57751 and the men's at the other.
57752
57753 "You won't ask," Natasha's little brother was saying; "I know you
57754 won't ask!"
57755
57756 "I will," replied Natasha.
57757
57758 Her face suddenly flushed with reckless and joyous resolution. She
57759 half rose, by a glance inviting Pierre, who sat opposite, to listen to
57760 what was coming, and turning to her mother:
57761
57762 "Mamma!" rang out the clear contralto notes of her childish voice,
57763 audible the whole length of the table.
57764
57765 "What is it?" asked the countess, startled; but seeing by her
57766 daughter's face that it was only mischief, she shook a finger at her
57767 sternly with a threatening and forbidding movement of her head.
57768
57769 The conversation was hushed.
57770
57771 "Mamma! What sweets are we going to have?" and Natasha's voice
57772 sounded still more firm and resolute.
57773
57774 The countess tried to frown, but could not. Marya Dmitrievna shook
57775 her fat finger.
57776
57777 "Cossack!" she said threateningly.
57778
57779 Most of the guests, uncertain how to regard this sally, looked at
57780 the elders.
57781
57782 "You had better take care!" said the countess.
57783
57784 "Mamma! What sweets are we going to have?" Natasha again cried
57785 boldly, with saucy gaiety, confident that her prank would be taken
57786 in good part.
57787
57788 Sonya and fat little Petya doubled up with laughter.
57789
57790 "You see! I have asked," whispered Natasha to her little brother and
57791 to Pierre, glancing at him again.
57792
57793 "Ice pudding, but you won't get any," said Marya Dmitrievna.
57794
57795 Natasha saw there was nothing to be afraid of and so she braved even
57796 Marya Dmitrievna.
57797
57798 "Marya Dmitrievna! What kind of ice pudding? I don't like ice
57799 cream."
57800
57801 "Carrot ices."
57802
57803 "No! What kind, Marya Dmitrievna? What kind?" she almost screamed;
57804 "I want to know!"
57805
57806 Marya Dmitrievna and the countess burst out laughing, and all the
57807 guests joined in. Everyone laughed, not at Marya Dmitrievna's answer
57808 but at the incredible boldness and smartness of this little girl who
57809 had dared to treat Marya Dmitrievna in this fashion.
57810
57811 Natasha only desisted when she had been told that there would be
57812 pineapple ice. Before the ices, champagne was served round. The band
57813 again struck up, the count and countess kissed, and the guests,
57814 leaving their seats, went up to "congratulate" the countess, and
57815 reached across the table to clink glasses with the count, with the
57816 children, and with one another. Again the footmen rushed about, chairs
57817 scraped, and in the same order in which they had entered but with
57818 redder faces, the guests returned to the drawing room and to the
57819 count's study.
57820
57821
57822
57823
57824
57825 CHAPTER XX
57826
57827
57828 The card tables were drawn out, sets made up for boston, and the
57829 count's visitors settled themselves, some in the two drawing rooms,
57830 some in the sitting room, some in the library.
57831
57832 The count, holding his cards fanwise, kept himself with difficulty
57833 from dropping into his usual after-dinner nap, and laughed at
57834 everything. The young people, at the countess' instigation, gathered
57835 round the clavichord and harp. Julie by general request played
57836 first. After she had played a little air with variations on the
57837 harp, she joined the other young ladies in begging Natasha and
57838 Nicholas, who were noted for their musical talent, to sing
57839 something. Natasha, who was treated as though she were grown up, was
57840 evidently very proud of this but at the same time felt shy.
57841
57842 "What shall we sing?" she said.
57843
57844 "'The Brook,'" suggested Nicholas.
57845
57846 "Well, then, let's be quick. Boris, come here," said Natasha. "But
57847 where is Sonya?"
57848
57849 She looked round and seeing that her friend was not in the room
57850 ran to look for her.
57851
57852 Running into Sonya's room and not finding her there, Natasha ran
57853 to the nursery, but Sonya was not there either. Natasha concluded that
57854 she must be on the chest in the passage. The chest in the passage
57855 was the place of mourning for the younger female generation in the
57856 Rostov household. And there in fact was Sonya lying face downward on
57857 Nurse's dirty feather bed on the top of the chest, crumpling her gauzy
57858 pink dress under her, hiding her face with her slender fingers, and
57859 sobbing so convulsively that her bare little shoulders shook.
57860 Natasha's face, which had been so radiantly happy all that saint's
57861 day, suddenly changed: her eyes became fixed, and then a shiver passed
57862 down her broad neck and the corners of her mouth drooped.
57863
57864 "Sonya! What is it? What is the matter?... Oo... Oo... Oo...!" And
57865 Natasha's large mouth widened, making her look quite ugly, and she
57866 began to wail like a baby without knowing why, except that Sonya was
57867 crying. Sonya tried to lift her head to answer but could not, and
57868 hid her face still deeper in the bed. Natasha wept, sitting on the
57869 blue-striped feather bed and hugging her friend. With an effort
57870 Sonya sat up and began wiping her eyes and explaining.
57871
57872 "Nicholas is going away in a week's time, his... papers... have
57873 come... he told me himself... but still I should not cry," and she
57874 showed a paper she held in her hand--with the verses Nicholas had
57875 written, "still, I should not cry, but you can't... no one can
57876 understand... what a soul he has!"
57877
57878 And she began to cry again because he had such a noble soul.
57879
57880 "It's all very well for you... I am not envious... I love you and
57881 Boris also," she went on, gaining a little strength; "he is nice...
57882 there are no difficulties in your way.... But Nicholas is my cousin...
57883 one would have to... the Metropolitan himself... and even then it
57884 can't be done. And besides, if she tells Mamma" (Sonya looked upon the
57885 countess as her mother and called her so) "that I am spoiling
57886 Nicholas' career and am heartless and ungrateful, while truly... God
57887 is my witness," and she made the sign of the cross, "I love her so
57888 much, and all of you, only Vera... And what for? What have I done to
57889 her? I am so grateful to you that I would willingly sacrifice
57890 everything, only I have nothing...."
57891
57892 Sonya could not continue, and again hid her face in her hands and in
57893 the feather bed. Natasha began consoling her, but her face showed that
57894
57895 she understood all the gravity of her friend's trouble.
57896
57897 "Sonya," she suddenly exclaimed, as if she had guessed the true
57898 reason of her friend's sorrow, "I'm sure Vera has said something to
57899 you since dinner? Hasn't she?"
57900
57901 "Yes, these verses Nicholas wrote himself and I copied some
57902 others, and she found them on my table and said she'd show them to
57903 Mamma, and that I was ungrateful, and that Mamma would never allow him
57904 to marry me, but that he'll marry Julie. You see how he's been with
57905 her all day... Natasha, what have I done to deserve it?..."
57906
57907 And again she began to sob, more bitterly than before. Natasha
57908 lifted her up, hugged her, and, smiling through her tears, began
57909 comforting her.
57910
57911 "Sonya, don't believe her, darling! Don't believe her! Do you
57912 remember how we and Nicholas, all three of us, talked in the sitting
57913 room after supper? Why, we settled how everything was to be. I don't
57914 quite remember how, but don't you remember that it could all be
57915 arranged and how nice it all was? There's Uncle Shinshin's brother has
57916 married his first cousin. And we are only second cousins, you know.
57917 And Boris says it is quite possible. You know I have told him all
57918 about it. And he is so clever and so good!" said Natasha. "Don't you
57919 cry, Sonya, dear love, darling Sonya!" and she kissed her and laughed.
57920 "Vera's spiteful; never mind her! And all will come right and she
57921 won't say anything to Mamma. Nicholas will tell her himself, and he
57922 doesn't care at all for Julie."
57923
57924 Natasha kissed her on the hair.
57925
57926 Sonya sat up. The little kitten brightened, its eyes shone, and it
57927 seemed ready to lift its tail, jump down on its soft paws, and begin
57928 playing with the ball of worsted as a kitten should.
57929
57930 "Do you think so?... Really? Truly?" she said, quickly smoothing her
57931 frock and hair.
57932
57933 "Really, truly!" answered Natasha, pushing in a crisp lock that
57934 had strayed from under her friend's plaits.
57935
57936 Both laughed.
57937
57938 "Well, let's go and sing 'The Brook.'"
57939
57940 "Come along!"
57941
57942 "Do you know, that fat Pierre who sat opposite me is so funny!" said
57943 Natasha, stopping suddenly. "I feel so happy!"
57944
57945 And she set off at a run along the passage.
57946
57947 Sonya, shaking off some down which clung to her and tucking away the
57948 verses in the bosom of her dress close to her bony little chest, ran
57949 after Natasha down the passage into the sitting room with flushed face
57950 and light, joyous steps. At the visitors' request the young people
57951 sang the quartette, "The Brook," with which everyone was delighted.
57952 Then Nicholas sang a song he had just learned:
57953
57954
57955 At nighttime in the moon's fair glow
57956 How sweet, as fancies wander free,
57957 To feel that in this world there's one
57958 Who still is thinking but of thee!
57959
57960 That while her fingers touch the harp
57961 Wafting sweet music music the lea,
57962 It is for thee thus swells her heart,
57963 Sighing its message out to thee...
57964
57965 A day or two, then bliss unspoilt,
57966 But oh! till then I cannot live!...
57967
57968
57969 He had not finished the last verse before the young people began
57970 to get ready to dance in the large hall, and the sound of the feet and
57971 the coughing of the musicians were heard from the gallery.
57972
57973
57974 Pierre was sitting in the drawing-room where Shinshin had engaged
57975 him, as a man recently returned from abroad, in a political
57976 conversation in which several others joined but which bored Pierre.
57977 When the music began Natasha came in and walking straight up to Pierre
57978 said, laughing and blushing:
57979
57980 "Mamma told me to ask you to join the dancers."
57981
57982 "I am afraid of mixing the figures," Pierre replied; "but if you
57983 will be my teacher..." And lowering his big arm he offered it to the
57984 slender little girl.
57985
57986 While the couples were arranging themselves and the musicians tuning
57987 up, Pierre sat down with his little partner. Natasha was perfectly
57988 happy; she was dancing with a grown-up man, who had been abroad. She
57989 was sitting in a conspicuous place and talking to him like a
57990 grown-up lady. She had a fan in her hand that one of the ladies had
57991 given her to hold. Assuming quite the pose of a society woman
57992 (heaven knows when and where she had learned it) she talked with her
57993 partner, fanning herself and smiling over the fan.
57994
57995 "Dear, dear! Just look at her!" exclaimed the countess as she
57996 crossed the ballroom, pointing to Natasha.
57997
57998 Natasha blushed and laughed.
57999
58000 "Well, really, Mamma! Why should you? What is there to be
58001 surprised at?"
58002
58003
58004 In the midst of the third ecossaise there was a clatter of chairs
58005 being pushed back in the sitting room where the count and Marya
58006 Dmitrievna had been playing cards with the majority of the more
58007 distinguished and older visitors. They now, stretching themselves
58008 after sitting so long, and replacing their purses and pocketbooks,
58009 entered the ballroom. First came Marya Dmitrievna and the count,
58010 both with merry countenances. The count, with playful ceremony
58011 somewhat in ballet style, offered his bent arm to Marya Dmitrievna. He
58012 drew himself up, a smile of debonair gallantry lit up his face and
58013 as soon as the last figure of the ecossaise was ended, he clapped
58014 his hands to the musicians and shouted up to their gallery, addressing
58015 the first violin:
58016
58017 "Semen! Do you know the Daniel Cooper?"
58018
58019 This was the count's favorite dance, which he had danced in his
58020 youth. (Strictly speaking, Daniel Cooper was one figure of the
58021 anglaise.)
58022
58023 "Look at Papa!" shouted Natasha to the whole company, and quite
58024 forgetting that she was dancing with a grown-up partner she bent her
58025 curly head to her knees and made the whole room ring with her
58026 laughter.
58027
58028 And indeed everybody in the room looked with a smile of pleasure
58029 at the jovial old gentleman, who standing beside his tall and stout
58030 partner, Marya Dmitrievna, curved his arms, beat time, straightened
58031 his shoulders, turned out his toes, tapped gently with his foot,
58032 and, by a smile that broadened his round face more and more,
58033 prepared the onlookers for what was to follow. As soon as the
58034 provocatively gay strains of Daniel Cooper (somewhat resembling
58035 those of a merry peasant dance) began to sound, all the doorways of
58036 the ballroom were suddenly filled by the domestic serfs--the men on
58037 one side and the women on the other--who with beaming faces had come
58038 to see their master making merry.
58039
58040 "Just look at the master! A regular eagle he is!" loudly remarked
58041 the nurse, as she stood in one of the doorways.
58042
58043 The count danced well and knew it. But his partner could not and did
58044 not want to dance well. Her enormous figure stood erect, her
58045 powerful arms hanging down (she had handed her reticule to the
58046 countess), and only her stern but handsome face really joined in the
58047 dance. What was expressed by the whole of the count's plump figure, in
58048 Marya Dmitrievna found expression only in her more and more beaming
58049 face and quivering nose. But if the count, getting more and more
58050 into the swing of it, charmed the spectators by the unexpectedness
58051 of his adroit maneuvers and the agility with which he capered about on
58052 his light feet, Marya Dmitrievna produced no less impression by slight
58053 exertions--the least effort to move her shoulders or bend her arms
58054 when turning, or stamp her foot--which everyone appreciated in view of
58055 her size and habitual severity. The dance grew livelier and
58056 livelier. The other couples could not attract a moment's attention
58057 to their own evolutions and did not even try to do so. All were
58058 watching the count and Marya Dmitrievna. Natasha kept pulling everyone
58059 by sleeve or dress, urging them to "look at Papa!" though as it was
58060 they never took their eyes off the couple. In the intervals of the
58061 dance the count, breathing deeply, waved and shouted to the
58062 musicians to play faster. Faster, faster, and faster; lightly, more
58063 lightly, and yet more lightly whirled the count, flying round Marya
58064 Dmitrievna, now on his toes, now on his heels; until, turning his
58065 partner round to her seat, he executed the final pas, raising his soft
58066 foot backwards, bowing his perspiring head, smiling and making a
58067 wide sweep with his arm, amid a thunder of applause and laughter led
58068 by Natasha. Both partners stood still, breathing heavily and wiping
58069 their faces with their cambric handkerchiefs.
58070
58071 "That's how we used to dance in our time, ma chere," said the count.
58072
58073 "That was a Daniel Cooper!" exclaimed Marya Dmitrievna, tucking up
58074 her sleeves and puffing heavily.
58075
58076
58077
58078
58079
58080 CHAPTER XXI
58081
58082
58083 While in the Rostovs' ballroom the sixth anglaise was being
58084 danced, to a tune in which the weary musicians blundered, and while
58085 tired footmen and cooks were getting the supper, Count Bezukhov had
58086 a sixth stroke. The doctors pronounced recovery impossible. After a
58087 mute confession, communion was administered to the dying man,
58088 preparations made for the sacrament of unction, and in his house there
58089 was the bustle and thrill of suspense usual at such moments. Outside
58090 the house, beyond the gates, a group of undertakers, who hid
58091 whenever a carriage drove up, waited in expectation of an important
58092 order for an expensive funeral. The Military Governor of Moscow, who
58093 had been assiduous in sending aides-de-camp to inquire after the
58094 count's health, came himself that evening to bid a last farewell to
58095 the celebrated grandee of Catherine's court, Count Bezukhov.
58096
58097 The magnificent reception room was crowded. Everyone stood up
58098 respectfully when the Military Governor, having stayed about half an
58099 hour alone with the dying man, passed out, slightly acknowledging
58100 their bows and trying to escape as quickly as from the glances fixed
58101 on him by the doctors, clergy, and relatives of the family. Prince
58102 Vasili, who had grown thinner and paler during the last few days,
58103 escorted him to the door, repeating something to him several times
58104 in low tones.
58105
58106 When the Military Governor had gone, Prince Vasili sat down all
58107 alone on a chair in the ballroom, crossing one leg high over the
58108 other, leaning his elbow on his knee and covering his face with his
58109 hand. After sitting so for a while he rose, and, looking about him
58110 with frightened eyes, went with unusually hurried steps down the
58111 long corridor leading to the back of the house, to the room of the
58112 eldest princess.
58113
58114 Those who were in the dimly lit reception room spoke in nervous
58115 whispers, and, whenever anyone went into or came from the dying
58116 man's room, grew silent and gazed with eyes full of curiosity or
58117 expectancy at his door, which creaked slightly when opened.
58118
58119 "The limits of human life... are fixed and may not be o'erpassed,"
58120 said an old priest to a lady who had taken a seat beside him and was
58121 listening naively to his words.
58122
58123 "I wonder, is it not too late to administer unction?" asked the
58124 lady, adding the priest's clerical title, as if she had no opinion
58125 of her own on the subject.
58126
58127 "Ah, madam, it is a great sacrament," replied the priest, passing
58128 his hand over the thin grizzled strands of hair combed back across his
58129 bald head.
58130
58131 "Who was that? The Military Governor himself?" was being asked at
58132 the other side of the room. "How young-looking he is!"
58133
58134 "Yes, and he is over sixty. I hear the count no longer recognizes
58135 anyone. They wished to administer the sacrament of unction."
58136
58137 "I knew someone who received that sacrament seven times."
58138
58139 The second princess had just come from the sickroom with her eyes
58140 red from weeping and sat down beside Dr. Lorrain, who was sitting in a
58141 graceful pose under a portrait of Catherine, leaning his elbow on a
58142 table.
58143
58144 "Beautiful," said the doctor in answer to a remark about the
58145 weather. "The weather is beautiful, Princess; and besides, in Moscow
58146 one feels as if one were in the country."
58147
58148 "Yes, indeed," replied the princess with a sigh. "So he may have
58149 something to drink?"
58150
58151 Lorrain considered.
58152
58153 "Has he taken his medicine?"
58154
58155 "Yes."
58156
58157 The doctor glanced at his watch.
58158
58159 "Take a glass of boiled water and put a pinch of cream of tartar,"
58160 and he indicated with his delicate fingers what he meant by a pinch.
58161
58162 "Dere has neffer been a gase," a German doctor was saying to an
58163 aide-de-camp, "dat one liffs after de sird stroke."
58164
58165 "And what a well-preserved man he was!" remarked the aide-de-camp.
58166 "And who will inherit his wealth?" he added in a whisper.
58167
58168 "It von't go begging," replied the German with a smile.
58169
58170 Everyone again looked toward the door, which creaked as the second
58171 princess went in with the drink she had prepared according to
58172 Lorrain's instructions. The German doctor went up to Lorrain.
58173
58174 "Do you think he can last till morning?" asked the German,
58175 addressing Lorrain in French which he pronounced badly.
58176
58177 Lorrain, pursing up his lips, waved a severely negative finger
58178 before his nose.
58179
58180 "Tonight, not later," said he in a low voice, and he moved away with
58181 a decorous smile of self-satisfaction at being able clearly to
58182 understand and state the patient's condition.
58183
58184
58185 Meanwhile Prince Vasili had opened the door into the princess' room.
58186
58187 In this room it was almost dark; only two tiny lamps were burning
58188 before the icons and there was a pleasant scent of flowers and burnt
58189 pastilles. The room was crowded with small pieces of furniture,
58190 whatnots, cupboards, and little tables. The quilt of a high, white
58191 feather bed was just visible behind a screen. A small dog began to
58192 bark.
58193
58194 "Ah, is it you, cousin?"
58195
58196 She rose and smoothed her hair, which was as usual so extremely
58197 smooth that it seemed to be made of one piece with her head and
58198 covered with varnish.
58199
58200 "Has anything happened?" she asked. "I am so terrified."
58201
58202 "No, there is no change. I only came to have a talk about
58203 business, Catiche,"* muttered the prince, seating himself wearily on
58204 the chair she had just vacated. "You have made the place warm, I
58205 must say," he remarked. "Well, sit down: let's have a talk."
58206
58207
58208 *Catherine.
58209
58210
58211 "I thought perhaps something had happened," she said with her
58212 unchanging stonily severe expression; and, sitting down opposite the
58213 prince, she prepared to listen.
58214
58215 "I wished to get a nap, mon cousin, but I can't."
58216
58217 "Well, my dear?" said Prince Vasili, taking her hand and bending
58218 it downwards as was his habit.
58219
58220 It was plain that this "well?" referred to much that they both
58221 understood without naming.
58222
58223 The princess, who had a straight, rigid body, abnormally long for
58224 her legs, looked directly at Prince Vasili with no sign of emotion
58225 in her prominent gray eyes. Then she shook her head and glanced up
58226 at the icons with a sigh. This might have been taken as an
58227 expression of sorrow and devotion, or of weariness and hope of resting
58228 before long. Prince Vasili understood it as an expression of
58229 weariness.
58230
58231 "And I?" he said; "do you think it is easier for me? I am as worn
58232 out as a post horse, but still I must have a talk with you, Catiche, a
58233 very serious talk."
58234
58235 Prince Vasili said no more and his cheeks began to twitch nervously,
58236 now on one side, now on the other, giving his face an unpleasant
58237 expression which was never to be seen on it in a drawing room. His
58238 eyes too seemed strange; at one moment they looked impudently sly
58239 and at the next glanced round in alarm.
58240
58241 The princess, holding her little dog on her lap with her thin bony
58242 hands, looked attentively into Prince Vasili's eyes evidently resolved
58243 not to be the first to break silence, if she had to wait till morning.
58244
58245 "Well, you see, my dear princess and cousin, Catherine Semenovna,"
58246 continued Prince Vasili, returning to his theme, apparently not
58247 without an inner struggle; "at such a moment as this one must think of
58248 everything. One must think of the future, of all of you... I love
58249 you all, like children of my own, as you know."
58250
58251 The princess continued to look at him without moving, and with the
58252 same dull expression.
58253
58254 "And then of course my family has also to be considered," Prince
58255 Vasili went on, testily pushing away a little table without looking at
58256 her. "You know, Catiche, that we--you three sisters, Mamontov, and
58257 my wife--are the count's only direct heirs. I know, I know how hard it
58258 is for you to talk or think of such matters. It is no easier for me;
58259 but, my dear, I am getting on for sixty and must be prepared for
58260 anything. Do you know I have sent for Pierre? The count," pointing
58261 to his portrait, "definitely demanded that he should be called."
58262
58263 Prince Vasili looked questioningly at the princess, but could not
58264 make out whether she was considering what he had just said or
58265 whether she was simply looking at him.
58266
58267 "There is one thing I constantly pray God to grant, mon cousin," she
58268 replied, "and it is that He would be merciful to him and would allow
58269 his noble soul peacefully to leave this..."
58270
58271 "Yes, yes, of course," interrupted Prince Vasili impatiently,
58272 rubbing his bald head and angrily pulling back toward him the little
58273 table that he had pushed away. "But... in short, the fact is... you
58274 know yourself that last winter the count made a will by which he
58275 left all his property, not to us his direct heirs, but to Pierre."
58276
58277 "He has made wills enough!" quietly remarked the princess. "But he
58278 cannot leave the estate to Pierre. Pierre is illegitimate."
58279
58280 "But, my dear," said Prince Vasili suddenly, clutching the little
58281 table and becoming more animated and talking more rapidly: "what if
58282 a letter has been written to the Emperor in which the count asks for
58283 Pierre's legitimation? Do you understand that in consideration of
58284 the count's services, his request would be granted?..."
58285
58286 The princess smiled as people do who think they know more about
58287 the subject under discussion than those they are talking with.
58288
58289 "I can tell you more," continued Prince Vasili, seizing her hand,
58290 "that letter was written, though it was not sent, and the Emperor knew
58291 of it. The only question is, has it been destroyed or not? If not,
58292 then as soon as all is over," and Prince Vasili sighed to intimate
58293 what he meant by the words all is over, "and the count's papers are
58294 opened, the will and letter will be delivered to the Emperor, and
58295 the petition will certainly be granted. Pierre will get everything
58296 as the legitimate son."
58297
58298 "And our share?" asked the princess smiling ironically, as if
58299 anything might happen, only not that.
58300
58301 "But, my poor Catiche, it is as clear as daylight! He will then be
58302 the legal heir to everything and you won't get anything. You must
58303 know, my dear, whether the will and letter were written, and whether
58304 they have been destroyed or not. And if they have somehow been
58305 overlooked, you ought to know where they are, and must find them,
58306 because..."
58307
58308 "What next?" the princess interrupted, smiling sardonically and
58309 not changing the expression of her eyes. "I am a woman, and you
58310 think we are all stupid; but I know this: an illegitimate son cannot
58311 inherit... un batard!"* she added, as if supposing that this
58312 translation of the word would effectively prove to Prince Vasili the
58313 invalidity of his contention.
58314
58315
58316 *A bastard.
58317
58318
58319 "Well, really, Catiche! Can't you understand! You are so
58320 intelligent, how is it you don't see that if the count has written a
58321 letter to the Emperor begging him to recognize Pierre as legitimate,
58322 it follows that Pierre will not be Pierre but will become Count
58323 Bezukhov, and will then inherit everything under the will? And if
58324 the will and letter are not destroyed, then you will have nothing
58325 but the consolation of having been dutiful et tout ce qui s'ensuit!*
58326 That's certain."
58327
58328
58329 *And all that follows therefrom.
58330
58331
58332 "I know the will was made, but I also know that it is invalid; and
58333 you, mon cousin, seem to consider me a perfect fool," said the
58334 princess with the expression women assume when they suppose they are
58335 saying something witty and stinging.
58336
58337 "My dear Princess Catherine Semenovna," began Prince Vasili
58338 impatiently, "I came here not to wrangle with you, but to talk about
58339 your interests as with a kinswoman, a good, kind, true relation. And I
58340 tell you for the tenth time that if the letter to the Emperor and
58341 the will in Pierre's favor are among the count's papers, then, my dear
58342 girl, you and your sisters are not heiresses! If you don't believe me,
58343 then believe an expert. I have just been talking to Dmitri Onufrich"
58344 (the family solicitor) "and he says the same."
58345
58346 At this a sudden change evidently took place in the princess' ideas;
58347 her thin lips grew white, though her eyes did not change, and her
58348 voice when she began to speak passed through such transitions as she
58349 herself evidently did not expect.
58350
58351 "That would be a fine thing!" said she. "I never wanted anything and
58352 I don't now."
58353
58354 She pushed the little dog off her lap and smoothed her dress.
58355
58356 "And this is gratitude--this is recognition for those who have
58357 sacrificed everything for his sake!" she cried. "It's splendid!
58358 Fine! I don't want anything, Prince."
58359
58360 "Yes, but you are not the only one. There are your sisters..."
58361 replied Prince Vasili.
58362
58363 But the princess did not listen to him.
58364
58365 "Yes, I knew it long ago but had forgotten. I knew that I could
58366 expect nothing but meanness, deceit, envy, intrigue, and
58367 ingratitude--the blackest ingratitude--in this house..."
58368
58369 "Do you or do you not know where that will is?" insisted Prince
58370 Vasili, his cheeks twitching more than ever.
58371
58372 "Yes, I was a fool! I still believed in people, loved them, and
58373 sacrificed myself. But only the base, the vile succeed! I know who has
58374 been intriguing!"
58375
58376 The princess wished to rise, but the prince held her by the hand.
58377 She had the air of one who has suddenly lost faith in the whole
58378 human race. She gave her companion an angry glance.
58379
58380 "There is still time, my dear. You must remember, Catiche, that it
58381 was all done casually in a moment of anger, of illness, and was
58382 afterwards forgotten. Our duty, my dear, is to rectify his mistake, to
58383 ease his last moments by not letting him commit this injustice, and
58384 not to let him die feeling that he is rendering unhappy those who..."
58385
58386 "Who sacrificed everything for him," chimed in the princess, who
58387 would again have risen had not the prince still held her fast, "though
58388 he never could appreciate it. No, mon cousin," she added with a
58389 sigh, "I shall always remember that in this world one must expect no
58390 reward, that in this world there is neither honor nor justice. In this
58391 world one has to be cunning and cruel."
58392
58393 "Now come, come! Be reasonable. I know your excellent heart."
58394
58395 "No, I have a wicked heart."
58396
58397 "I know your heart," repeated the prince. "I value your friendship
58398 and wish you to have as good an opinion of me. Don't upset yourself,
58399 and let us talk sensibly while there is still time, be it a day or
58400 be it but an hour.... Tell me all you know about the will, and above
58401 all where it is. You must know. We will take it at once and show it to
58402 the count. He has, no doubt, forgotten it and will wish to destroy it.
58403 You understand that my sole desire is conscientiously to carry out his
58404 wishes; that is my only reason for being here. I came simply to help
58405 him and you."
58406
58407 "Now I see it all! I know who has been intriguing--I know!" cried
58408 the princess.
58409
58410 "That's not the point, my dear."
58411
58412 "It's that protege of yours, that sweet Princess Drubetskaya, that
58413 Anna Mikhaylovna whom I would not take for a housemaid... the
58414 infamous, vile woman!"
58415
58416 "Do not let us lose any time..."
58417
58418 "Ah, don't talk to me! Last winter she wheedled herself in here
58419 and told the count such vile, disgraceful things about us,
58420 especially about Sophie--I can't repeat them--that it made the count
58421 quite ill and he would not see us for a whole fortnight. I know it was
58422 then he wrote this vile, infamous paper, but I thought the thing was
58423 invalid."
58424
58425 "We've got to it at last--why did you not tell me about it sooner?"
58426
58427 "It's in the inlaid portfolio that he keeps under his pillow,"
58428 said the princess, ignoring his question. "Now I know! Yes; if I
58429 have a sin, a great sin, it is hatred of that vile woman!" almost
58430 shrieked the princess, now quite changed. "And what does she come
58431 worming herself in here for? But I will give her a piece of my mind.
58432 The time will come!"
58433
58434
58435
58436
58437
58438 CHAPTER XXII
58439
58440
58441 While these conversations were going on in the reception room and
58442 the princess' room, a carriage containing Pierre (who had been sent
58443 for) and Anna Mikhaylovna (who found it necessary to accompany him)
58444 was driving into the court of Count Bezukhov's house. As the wheels
58445 rolled softly over the straw beneath the windows, Anna Mikhaylovna,
58446 having turned with words of comfort to her companion, realized that he
58447 was asleep in his corner and woke him up. Rousing himself, Pierre
58448 followed Anna Mikhaylovna out of the carriage, and only then began
58449 to think of the interview with his dying father which awaited him.
58450 He noticed that they had not come to the front entrance but to the
58451 back door. While he was getting down from the carriage steps two
58452 men, who looked like tradespeople, ran hurriedly from the entrance and
58453 hid in the shadow of the wall. Pausing for a moment, Pierre noticed
58454 several other men of the same kind hiding in the shadow of the house
58455 on both sides. But neither Anna Mikhaylovna nor the footman nor the
58456 coachman, who could not help seeing these people, took any notice of
58457 them. "It seems to be all right," Pierre concluded, and followed
58458 Anna Mikhaylovna. She hurriedly ascended the narrow dimly lit stone
58459 staircase, calling to Pierre, who was lagging behind, to follow.
58460 Though he did not see why it was necessary for him to go to the
58461 count at all, still less why he had to go by the back stairs, yet
58462 judging by Anna Mikhaylovna's air of assurance and haste, Pierre
58463 concluded that it was all absolutely necessary. Halfway up the
58464 stairs they were almost knocked over by some men who, carrying
58465 pails, came running downstairs, their boots clattering. These men
58466 pressed close to the wall to let Pierre and Anna Mikhaylovna pass
58467 and did not evince the least surprise at seeing them there.
58468
58469 "Is this the way to the princesses' apartments?" asked Anna
58470 Mikhaylovna of one of them.
58471
58472 "Yes," replied a footman in a bold loud voice, as if anything were
58473 now permissible; "the door to the left, ma'am."
58474
58475 "Perhaps the count did not ask for me," said Pierre when he
58476 reached the landing. "I'd better go to my own room."
58477
58478 Anna Mikhaylovna paused and waited for him to come up.
58479
58480 "Ah, my friend!" she said, touching his arm as she had done her
58481 son's when speaking to him that afternoon, "believe me I suffer no
58482 less than you do, but be a man!"
58483
58484 "But really, hadn't I better go away?" he asked, looking kindly at
58485 her over his spectacles.
58486
58487 "Ah, my dear friend! Forget the wrongs that may have been done
58488 you. Think that he is your father... perhaps in the agony of death."
58489 She sighed. "I have loved you like a son from the first. Trust
58490 yourself to me, Pierre. I shall not forget your interests."
58491
58492 Pierre did not understand a word, but the conviction that all this
58493 had to be grew stronger, and he meekly followed Anna Mikhaylovna who
58494 was already opening a door.
58495
58496 This door led into a back anteroom. An old man, a servant of the
58497 princesses, sat in a corner knitting a stocking. Pierre had never been
58498 in this part of the house and did not even know of the existence of
58499 these rooms. Anna Mikhaylovna, addressing a maid who was hurrying past
58500 with a decanter on a tray as "my dear" and "my sweet," asked about the
58501 princess' health and then led Pierre along a stone passage. The
58502 first door on the left led into the princesses' apartments. The maid
58503 with the decanter in her haste had not closed the door (everything
58504 in the house was done in haste at that time), and Pierre and Anna
58505 Mikhaylovna in passing instinctively glanced into the room, where
58506 Prince Vasili and the eldest princess were sitting close together
58507 talking. Seeing them pass, Prince Vasili drew back with obvious
58508 impatience, while the princess jumped up and with a gesture of
58509 desperation slammed the door with all her might.
58510
58511 This action was so unlike her usual composure and the fear
58512 depicted on Prince Vasili's face so out of keeping with his dignity
58513 that Pierre stopped and glanced inquiringly over his spectacles at his
58514 guide. Anna Mikhaylovna evinced no surprise, she only smiled faintly
58515 and sighed, as if to say that this was no more than she had expected.
58516
58517 "Be a man, my friend. I will look after your interests," said she in
58518 reply to his look, and went still faster along the passage.
58519
58520 Pierre could not make out what it was all about, and still less what
58521 "watching over his interests" meant, but he decided that all these
58522 things had to be. From the passage they went into a large, dimly lit
58523 room adjoining the count's reception room. It was one of those
58524 sumptuous but cold apartments known to Pierre only from the front
58525 approach, but even in this room there now stood an empty bath, and
58526 water had been spilled on the carpet. They were met by a deacon with a
58527 censer and by a servant who passed out on tiptoe without heeding them.
58528 They went into the reception room familiar to Pierre, with two Italian
58529 windows opening into the conservatory, with its large bust and full
58530 length portrait of Catherine the Great. The same people were still
58531 sitting here in almost the same positions as before, whispering to one
58532 another. All became silent and turned to look at the pale tear-worn
58533 Anna Mikhaylovna as she entered, and at the big stout figure of Pierre
58534 who, hanging his head, meekly followed her.
58535
58536 Anna Mikhaylovna's face expressed a consciousness that the
58537 decisive moment had arrived. With the air of a practical Petersburg
58538 lady she now, keeping Pierre close beside her, entered the room even
58539 more boldly than that afternoon. She felt that as she brought with her
58540 the person the dying man wished to see, her own admission was assured.
58541 Casting a rapid glance at all those in the room and noticing the
58542 count's confessor there, she glided up to him with a sort of amble,
58543 not exactly bowing yet seeming to grow suddenly smaller, and
58544 respectfully received the blessing first of one and then of another
58545 priest.
58546
58547 "God be thanked that you are in time," said she to one of the
58548 priests; "all we relatives have been in such anxiety. This young man
58549 is the count's son," she added more softly. "What a terrible moment!"
58550
58551 Having said this she went up to the doctor.
58552
58553 "Dear doctor," said she, "this young man is the count's son. Is
58554 there any hope?"
58555
58556 The doctor cast a rapid glance upwards and silently shrugged his
58557 shoulders. Anna Mikhaylovna with just the same movement raised her
58558 shoulders and eyes, almost closing the latter, sighed, and moved
58559 away from the doctor to Pierre. To him, in a particularly respectful
58560 and tenderly sad voice, she said:
58561
58562 "Trust in His mercy!" and pointing out a small sofa for him to sit
58563 and wait for her, she went silently toward the door that everyone
58564 was watching and it creaked very slightly as she disappeared behind
58565 it.
58566
58567 Pierre, having made up his mind to obey his monitress implicitly,
58568 moved toward the sofa she had indicated. As soon as Anna Mikhaylovna
58569 had disappeared he noticed that the eyes of all in the room turned
58570 to him with something more than curiosity and sympathy. He noticed
58571 that they whispered to one another, casting significant looks at him
58572 with a kind of awe and even servility. A deference such as he had
58573 never before received was shown him. A strange lady, the one who had
58574 been talking to the priests, rose and offered him her seat; an
58575 aide-de-camp picked up and returned a glove Pierre had dropped; the
58576 doctors became respectfully silent as he passed by, and moved to
58577 make way for him. At first Pierre wished to take another seat so as
58578 not to trouble the lady, and also to pick up the glove himself and
58579 to pass round the doctors who were not even in his way; but all at
58580 once he felt that this would not do, and that tonight he was a
58581 person obliged to perform some sort of awful rite which everyone
58582 expected of him, and that he was therefore bound to accept their
58583 services. He took the glove in silence from the aide-de-camp, and
58584 sat down in the lady's chair, placing his huge hands symmetrically
58585 on his knees in the naive attitude of an Egyptian statue, and
58586 decided in his own mind that all was as it should be, and that in
58587 order not to lose his head and do foolish things he must not act on
58588 his own ideas tonight, but must yield himself up entirely to the
58589 will of those who were guiding him.
58590
58591 Not two minutes had passed before Prince Vasili with head erect
58592 majestically entered the room. He was wearing his long coat with three
58593 stars on his breast. He seemed to have grown thinner since the
58594 morning; his eyes seemed larger than usual when he glanced round and
58595 noticed Pierre. He went up to him, took his hand (a thing he never
58596 used to do), and drew it downwards as if wishing to ascertain
58597 whether it was firmly fixed on.
58598
58599 "Courage, courage, my friend! He has asked to see you. That is
58600 well!" and he turned to go.
58601
58602 But Pierre thought it necessary to ask: "How is..." and hesitated,
58603 not knowing whether it would be proper to call the dying man "the
58604 count," yet ashamed to call him "father."
58605
58606 "He had another stroke about half an hour ago. Courage, my
58607 friend..."
58608
58609 Pierre's mind was in such a confused state that the word "stroke"
58610 suggested to him a blow from something. He looked at Prince Vasili
58611 in perplexity, and only later grasped that a stroke was an attack of
58612 illness. Prince Vasili said something to Lorrain in passing and went
58613 through the door on tiptoe. He could not walk well on tiptoe and his
58614 whole body jerked at each step. The eldest princess followed him,
58615 and the priests and deacons and some servants also went in at the
58616 door. Through that door was heard a noise of things being moved about,
58617 and at last Anna Mikhaylovna, still with the same expression, pale but
58618 resolute in the discharge of duty, ran out and touching Pierre lightly
58619 on the arm said:
58620
58621 "The divine mercy is inexhaustible! Unction is about to be
58622 administered. Come."
58623
58624 Pierre went in at the door, stepping on the soft carpet, and noticed
58625 that the strange lady, the aide-de-camp, and some of the servants, all
58626 followed him in, as if there were now no further need for permission
58627 to enter that room.
58628
58629
58630
58631
58632
58633 CHAPTER XXIII
58634
58635
58636 Pierre well knew this large room divided by columns and an arch, its
58637 walls hung round with Persian carpets. The part of the room behind the
58638 columns, with a high silk-curtained mahogany bedstead on one side
58639 and on the other an immense case containing icons, was brightly
58640 illuminated with red light like a Russian church during evening
58641 service. Under the gleaming icons stood a long invalid chair, and in
58642 that chair on snowy-white smooth pillows, evidently freshly changed,
58643 Pierre saw--covered to the waist by a bright green quilt--the
58644 familiar, majestic figure of his father, Count Bezukhov, with that
58645 gray mane of hair above his broad forehead which reminded one of a
58646 lion, and the deep characteristically noble wrinkles of his
58647 handsome, ruddy face. He lay just under the icons; his large thick
58648 hands outside the quilt. Into the right hand, which was lying palm
58649 downwards, a wax taper had been thrust between forefinger and thumb,
58650 and an old servant, bending over from behind the chair, held it in
58651 position. By the chair stood the priests, their long hair falling over
58652 their magnificent glittering vestments, with lighted tapers in their
58653 hands, slowly and solemnly conducting the service. A little behind
58654 them stood the two younger princesses holding handkerchiefs to their
58655 eyes, and just in front of them their eldest sister, Catiche, with a
58656 vicious and determined look steadily fixed on the icons, as though
58657 declaring to all that she could not answer for herself should she
58658 glance round. Anna Mikhaylovna, with a meek, sorrowful, and
58659 all-forgiving expression on her face, stood by the door near the
58660 strange lady. Prince Vasili in front of the door, near the invalid
58661 chair, a wax taper in his left hand, was leaning his left arm on the
58662 carved back of a velvet chair he had turned round for the purpose, and
58663 was crossing himself with his right hand, turning his eyes upward each
58664 time he touched his forehead. His face wore a calm look of piety and
58665 resignation to the will of God. "If you do not understand these
58666 sentiments," he seemed to be saying, "so much the worse for you!"
58667
58668 Behind him stood the aide-de-camp, the doctors, and the menservants;
58669 the men and women had separated as in church. All were silently
58670 crossing themselves, and the reading of the church service, the
58671 subdued chanting of deep bass voices, and in the intervals sighs and
58672 the shuffling of feet were the only sounds that could be heard. Anna
58673 Mikhaylovna, with an air of importance that showed that she felt she
58674 quite knew what she was about, went across the room to where Pierre
58675 was standing and gave him a taper. He lit it and, distracted by
58676 observing those around him, began crossing himself with the hand
58677 that held the taper.
58678
58679 Sophie, the rosy, laughter-loving, youngest princess with the
58680 mole, watched him. She smiled, hid her face in her handkerchief, and
58681 remained with it hidden for awhile; then looking up and seeing
58682 Pierre she again began to laugh. She evidently felt unable to look
58683 at him without laughing, but could not resist looking at him: so to be
58684 out of temptation she slipped quietly behind one of the columns. In
58685 the midst of the service the voices of the priests suddenly ceased,
58686 they whispered to one another, and the old servant who was holding the
58687 count's hand got up and said something to the ladies. Anna Mikhaylovna
58688 stepped forward and, stooping over the dying man, beckoned to
58689 Lorrain from behind her back. The French doctor held no taper; he
58690 was leaning against one of the columns in a respectful attitude
58691 implying that he, a foreigner, in spite of all differences of faith,
58692 understood the full importance of the rite now being performed and
58693 even approved of it. He now approached the sick man with the noiseless
58694 step of one in full vigor of life, with his delicate white fingers
58695 raised from the green quilt the hand that was free, and turning
58696 sideways felt the pulse and reflected a moment. The sick man was given
58697 something to drink, there was a stir around him, then the people
58698 resumed their places and the service continued. During this interval
58699 Pierre noticed that Prince Vasili left the chair on which he had
58700 been leaning, and--with air which intimated that he knew what he was
58701 about and if others did not understand him it was so much the worse
58702 for them--did not go up to the dying man, but passed by him, joined
58703 the eldest princess, and moved with her to the side of the room
58704 where stood the high bedstead with its silken hangings. On leaving the
58705 bed both Prince Vasili and the princess passed out by a back door, but
58706 returned to their places one after the other before the service was
58707 concluded. Pierre paid no more attention to this occurrence than to
58708 the rest of what went on, having made up his mind once for all that
58709 what he saw happening around him that evening was in some way
58710 essential.
58711
58712 The chanting of the service ceased, and the voice of the priest
58713 was heard respectfully congratulating the dying man on having received
58714 the sacrament. The dying man lay as lifeless and immovable as
58715 before. Around him everyone began to stir: steps were audible and
58716 whispers, among which Anna Mikhaylovna's was the most distinct.
58717
58718 Pierre heard her say:
58719
58720 "Certainly he must be moved onto the bed; here it will be
58721 impossible..."
58722
58723 The sick man was so surrounded by doctors, princesses, and
58724 servants that Pierre could no longer see the reddish-yellow face
58725 with its gray mane--which, though he saw other faces as well, he had
58726 not lost sight of for a single moment during the whole service. He
58727 judged by the cautious movements of those who crowded round the
58728 invalid chair that they had lifted the dying man and were moving him.
58729
58730 "Catch hold of my arm or you'll drop him!" he heard one of the
58731 servants say in a frightened whisper. "Catch hold from underneath.
58732 Here!" exclaimed different voices; and the heavy breathing of the
58733 bearers and the shuffling of their feet grew more hurried, as if the
58734 weight they were carrying were too much for them.
58735
58736 As the bearers, among whom was Anna Mikhaylovna, passed the young
58737 man he caught a momentary glimpse between their heads and backs of the
58738 dying man's high, stout, uncovered chest and powerful shoulders,
58739 raised by those who were holding him under the armpits, and of his
58740 gray, curly, leonine head. This head, with its remarkably broad brow
58741 and cheekbones, its handsome, sensual mouth, and its cold, majestic
58742 expression, was not disfigured by the approach of death. It was the
58743 same as Pierre remembered it three months before, when the count had
58744 sent him to Petersburg. But now this head was swaying helplessly
58745 with the uneven movements of the bearers, and the cold listless gaze
58746 fixed itself upon nothing.
58747
58748 After a few minutes' bustle beside the high bedstead, those who
58749 had carried the sick man dispersed. Anna Mikhaylovna touched
58750 Pierre's hand and said, "Come." Pierre went with her to the bed on
58751 which the sick man had been laid in a stately pose in keeping with the
58752 ceremony just completed. He lay with his head propped high on the
58753 pillows. His hands were symmetrically placed on the green silk
58754 quilt, the palms downward. When Pierre came up the count was gazing
58755 straight at him, but with a look the significance of which could not
58756 be understood by mortal man. Either this look meant nothing but that
58757 as long as one has eyes they must look somewhere, or it meant too
58758 much. Pierre hesitated, not knowing what to do, and glanced
58759 inquiringly at his guide. Anna Mikhaylovna made a hurried sign with
58760 her eyes, glancing at the sick man's hand and moving her lips as if to
58761 send it a kiss. Pierre, carefully stretching his neck so as not to
58762 touch the quilt, followed her suggestion and pressed his lips to the
58763 large boned, fleshy hand. Neither the hand nor a single muscle of
58764 the count's face stirred. Once more Pierre looked questioningly at
58765 Anna Mikhaylovna to see what he was to do next. Anna Mikhaylovna
58766 with her eyes indicated a chair that stood beside the bed. Pierre
58767 obediently sat down, his eyes asking if he were doing right. Anna
58768 Mikhaylovna nodded approvingly. Again Pierre fell into the naively
58769 symmetrical pose of an Egyptian statue, evidently distressed that
58770 his stout and clumsy body took up so much room and doing his utmost to
58771 look as small as possible. He looked at the count, who still gazed
58772 at the spot where Pierre's face had been before he sat down. Anna
58773 Mikhaylovna indicated by her attitude her consciousness of the
58774 pathetic importance of these last moments of meeting between the
58775 father and son. This lasted about two minutes, which to Pierre
58776 seemed an hour. Suddenly the broad muscles and lines of the count's
58777 face began to twitch. The twitching increased, the handsome mouth
58778 was drawn to one side (only now did Pierre realize how near death
58779 his father was), and from that distorted mouth issued an indistinct,
58780 hoarse sound. Anna Mikhaylovna looked attentively at the sick man's
58781 eyes, trying to guess what he wanted; she pointed first to Pierre,
58782 then to some drink, then named Prince Vasili in an inquiring
58783 whisper, then pointed to the quilt. The eyes and face of the sick
58784 man showed impatience. He made an effort to look at the servant who
58785 stood constantly at the head of the bed.
58786
58787 "Wants to turn on the other side," whispered the servant, and got up
58788 to turn the count's heavy body toward the wall.
58789
58790 Pierre rose to help him.
58791
58792 While the count was being turned over, one of his arms fell back
58793 helplessly and he made a fruitless effort to pull it forward.
58794 Whether he noticed the look of terror with which Pierre regarded
58795 that lifeless arm, or whether some other thought flitted across his
58796 dying brain, at any rate he glanced at the refractory arm, at Pierre's
58797 terror-stricken face, and again at the arm, and on his face a
58798 feeble, piteous smile appeared, quite out of keeping with his
58799 features, that seemed to deride his own helplessness. At sight of this
58800 smile Pierre felt an unexpected quivering in his breast and a tickling
58801 in his nose, and tears dimmed his eyes. The sick man was turned on
58802 to his side with his face to the wall. He sighed.
58803
58804 "He is dozing," said Anna Mikhaylovna, observing that one of the
58805 princesses was coming to take her turn at watching. "Let us go."
58806
58807 Pierre went out.
58808
58809
58810
58811
58812
58813 CHAPTER XXIV
58814
58815
58816 There was now no one in the reception room except Prince Vasili
58817 and the eldest princess, who were sitting under the portrait of
58818 Catherine the Great and talking eagerly. As soon as they saw Pierre
58819 and his companion they became silent, and Pierre thought he saw the
58820 princess hide something as she whispered:
58821
58822 "I can't bear the sight of that woman."
58823
58824 "Catiche has had tea served in the small drawing room," said
58825 Prince Vasili to Anna Mikhaylovna. "Go and take something, my poor
58826 Anna Mikhaylovna, or you will not hold out."
58827
58828 To Pierre he said nothing, merely giving his arm a sympathetic
58829 squeeze below the shoulder. Pierre went with Anna Mikhaylovna into the
58830 small drawing room.
58831
58832 "There is nothing so refreshing after a sleepless night as a cup
58833 of this delicious Russian tea," Lorrain was saying with an air of
58834 restrained animation as he stood sipping tea from a delicate Chinese
58835 handleless cup before a table on which tea and a cold supper were laid
58836 in the small circular room. Around the table all who were at Count
58837 Bezukhov's house that night had gathered to fortify themselves. Pierre
58838 well remembered this small circular drawing room with its mirrors
58839 and little tables. During balls given at the house Pierre, who did not
58840 know how to dance, had liked sitting in this room to watch the
58841 ladies who, as they passed through in their ball dresses with diamonds
58842 and pearls on their bare shoulders, looked at themselves in the
58843 brilliantly lighted mirrors which repeated their reflections several
58844 times. Now this same room was dimly lighted by two candles. On one
58845 small table tea things and supper dishes stood in disorder, and in the
58846 middle of the night a motley throng of people sat there, not
58847 merrymaking, but somberly whispering, and betraying by every word
58848 and movement that they none of them forgot what was happening and what
58849 was about to happen in the bedroom. Pierre did not eat anything though
58850 he would very much have liked to. He looked inquiringly at his
58851 monitress and saw that she was again going on tiptoe to the
58852 reception room where they had left Prince Vasili and the eldest
58853 princess. Pierre concluded that this also was essential, and after a
58854 short interval followed her. Anna Mikhaylovna was standing beside
58855 the princess, and they were both speaking in excited whispers.
58856
58857 "Permit me, Princess, to know what is necessary and what is not
58858 necessary," said the younger of the two speakers, evidently in the
58859 same state of excitement as when she had slammed the door of her room.
58860
58861 "But, my dear princess," answered Anna Mikhaylovna blandly but
58862 impressively, blocking the way to the bedroom and preventing the other
58863 from passing, "won't this be too much for poor Uncle at a moment
58864 when he needs repose? Worldly conversation at a moment when his soul
58865 is already prepared..."
58866
58867 Prince Vasili was seated in an easy chair in his familiar
58868 attitude, with one leg crossed high above the other. His cheeks, which
58869 were so flabby that they looked heavier below, were twitching
58870 violently; but he wore the air of a man little concerned in what the
58871 two ladies were saying.
58872
58873 "Come, my dear Anna Mikhaylovna, let Catiche do as she pleases.
58874 You know how fond the count is of her."
58875
58876 "I don't even know what is in this paper," said the younger of the
58877 two ladies, addressing Prince Vasili and pointing to an inlaid
58878 portfolio she held in her hand. "All I know is that his real will is
58879 in his writing table, and this is a paper he has forgotten...."
58880
58881 She tried to pass Anna Mikhaylovna, but the latter sprang so as to
58882 bar her path.
58883
58884 "I know, my dear, kind princess," said Anna Mikhaylovna, seizing the
58885 portfolio so firmly that it was plain she would not let go easily.
58886 "Dear princess, I beg and implore you, have some pity on him! Je
58887 vous en conjure..."
58888
58889 The princess did not reply. Their efforts in the struggle for the
58890 portfolio were the only sounds audible, but it was evident that if the
58891 princess did speak, her words would not be flattering to Anna
58892 Mikhaylovna. Though the latter held on tenaciously, her voice lost
58893 none of its honeyed firmness and softness.
58894
58895 "Pierre, my dear, come here. I think he will not be out of place
58896 in a family consultation; is it not so, Prince?"
58897
58898 "Why don't you speak, cousin?" suddenly shrieked the princess so
58899 loud that those in the drawing room heard her and were startled.
58900 "Why do you remain silent when heaven knows who permits herself to
58901 interfere, making a scene on the very threshold of a dying man's room?
58902 Intriguer!" she hissed viciously, and tugged with all her might at the
58903 portfolio.
58904
58905 But Anna Mikhaylovna went forward a step or two to keep her hold
58906 on the portfolio, and changed her grip.
58907
58908 Prince Vasili rose. "Oh!" said he with reproach and surprise,
58909 "this is absurd! Come, let go I tell you."
58910
58911 The princess let go.
58912
58913 "And you too!"
58914
58915 But Anna Mikhaylovna did not obey him.
58916
58917 "Let go, I tell you! I will take the responsibility. I myself will
58918 go and ask him, I!... does that satisfy you?"
58919
58920 "But, Prince," said Anna Mikhaylovna, "after such a solemn
58921 sacrament, allow him a moment's peace! Here, Pierre, tell them your
58922 opinion," said she, turning to the young man who, having come quite
58923 close, was gazing with astonishment at the angry face of the
58924 princess which had lost all dignity, and at the twitching cheeks of
58925 Prince Vasili.
58926
58927 "Remember that you will answer for the consequences," said Prince
58928 Vasili severely. "You don't know what you are doing."
58929
58930 "Vile woman!" shouted the princess, darting unexpectedly at Anna
58931 Mikhaylovna and snatching the portfolio from her.
58932
58933 Prince Vasili bent his head and spread out his hands.
58934
58935 At this moment that terrible door, which Pierre had watched so
58936 long and which had always opened so quietly, burst noisily open and
58937 banged against the wall, and the second of the three sisters rushed
58938 out wringing her hands.
58939
58940 "What are you doing!" she cried vehemently. "He is dying and you
58941 leave me alone with him!"
58942
58943 Her sister dropped the portfolio. Anna Mikhaylovna, stooping,
58944 quickly caught up the object of contention and ran into the bedroom.
58945 The eldest princess and Prince Vasili, recovering themselves, followed
58946 her. A few minutes later the eldest sister came out with a pale hard
58947 face, again biting her underlip. At sight of Pierre her expression
58948 showed an irrepressible hatred.
58949
58950 "Yes, now you may be glad!" said she; "this is what you have been
58951 waiting for." And bursting into tears she hid her face in her
58952 handkerchief and rushed from the room.
58953
58954 Prince Vasili came next. He staggered to the sofa on which Pierre
58955 was sitting and dropped onto it, covering his face with his hand.
58956 Pierre noticed that he was pale and that his jaw quivered and shook as
58957 if in an ague.
58958
58959 "Ah, my friend!" said he, taking Pierre by the elbow; and there
58960 was in his voice a sincerity and weakness Pierre had never observed in
58961 it before. "How often we sin, how much we deceive, and all for what? I
58962 am near sixty, dear friend... I too... All will end in death, all!
58963 Death is awful..." and he burst into tears.
58964
58965 Anna Mikhaylovna came out last. She approached Pierre with slow,
58966 quiet steps.
58967
58968 "Pierre!" she said.
58969
58970 Pierre gave her an inquiring look. She kissed the young man on his
58971 forehead, wetting him with her tears. Then after a pause she said:
58972
58973 "He is no more...."
58974
58975 Pierre looked at her over his spectacles.
58976
58977 "Come, I will go with you. Try to weep, nothing gives such relief as
58978 tears."
58979
58980 She led him into the dark drawing room and Pierre was glad no one
58981 could see his face. Anna Mikhaylovna left him, and when she returned
58982 he was fast asleep with his head on his arm.
58983
58984 In the morning Anna Mikhaylovna said to Pierre:
58985
58986 "Yes, my dear, this is a great loss for us all, not to speak of you.
58987 But God will support you: you are young, and are now, I hope, in
58988 command of an immense fortune. The will has not yet been opened. I
58989 know you well enough to be sure that this will not turn your head, but
58990 it imposes duties on you, and you must be a man."
58991
58992 Pierre was silent.
58993
58994 "Perhaps later on I may tell you, my dear boy, that if I had not
58995 been there, God only knows what would have happened! You know, Uncle
58996 promised me only the day before yesterday not to forget Boris. But
58997 he had no time. I hope, my dear friend, you will carry out your
58998 father's wish?"
58999
59000 Pierre understood nothing of all this and coloring shyly looked in
59001 silence at Princess Anna Mikhaylovna. After her talk with Pierre, Anna
59002 Mikhaylovna returned to the Rostovs' and went to bed. On waking in the
59003 morning she told the Rostovs and all her acquaintances the details
59004 of Count Bezukhov's death. She said the count had died as she would
59005 herself wish to die, that his end was not only touching but
59006 edifying. As to the last meeting between father and son, it was so
59007 touching that she could not think of it without tears, and did not
59008 know which had behaved better during those awful moments--the father
59009 who so remembered everything and everybody at last and had
59010 spoken such pathetic words to the son, or Pierre, whom it had been
59011 pitiful to see, so stricken was he with grief, though he tried hard to
59012 hide it in order not to sadden his dying father. "It is painful, but
59013 it does one good. It uplifts the soul to see such men as the old count
59014 and his worthy son," said she. Of the behavior of the eldest
59015 princess and Prince Vasili she spoke disapprovingly, but in whispers
59016 and as a great secret.
59017
59018
59019
59020
59021
59022 CHAPTER XXV
59023
59024
59025 At Bald Hills, Prince Nicholas Andreevich Bolkonski's estate, the
59026 arrival of young Prince Andrew and his wife was daily expected, but
59027 this expectation did not upset the regular routine of life in the
59028 old prince's household. General in Chief Prince Nicholas Andreevich
59029 (nicknamed in society, "the King of Prussia") ever since the Emperor
59030 Paul had exiled him to his country estate had lived there continuously
59031 with his daughter, Princess Mary, and her companion, Mademoiselle
59032 Bourienne. Though in the new reign he was free to return to the
59033 capitals, he still continued to live in the country, remarking that
59034 anyone who wanted to see him could come the hundred miles from
59035 Moscow to Bald Hills, while he himself needed no one and nothing. He
59036 used to say that there are only two sources of human vice--idleness
59037 and superstition, and only two virtues--activity and intelligence.
59038 He himself undertook his daughter's education, and to develop these
59039 two cardinal virtues in her gave her lessons in algebra and geometry
59040 till she was twenty, and arranged her life so that her whole time
59041 was occupied. He was himself always occupied: writing his memoirs,
59042 solving problems in higher mathematics, turning snuffboxes on a lathe,
59043 working in the garden, or superintending the building that was
59044 always going on at his estate. As regularity is a prime condition
59045 facilitating activity, regularity in his household was carried to
59046 the highest point of exactitude. He always came to table under
59047 precisely the same conditions, and not only at the same hour but at
59048 the same minute. With those about him, from his daughter to his serfs,
59049 the prince was sharp and invariably exacting, so that without being
59050 a hardhearted man he inspired such fear and respect as few hardhearted
59051 men would have aroused. Although he was in retirement and had now no
59052 influence in political affairs, every high official appointed to the
59053 province in which the prince's estate lay considered it his duty to
59054 visit him and waited in the lofty antechamber ante chamber just as the
59055 architect, gardener, or Princess Mary did, till the prince appeared
59056 punctually to the appointed hour. Everyone sitting in this antechamber
59057 experienced the same feeling of respect and even fear when the
59058 enormously high study door opened and showed the figure of a rather
59059 small old man, with powdered wig, small withered hands, and bushy gray
59060 eyebrows which, when he frowned, sometimes hid the gleam of his
59061 shrewd, youthfully glittering eyes.
59062
59063 On the morning of the day that the young couple were to arrive,
59064 Princess Mary entered the antechamber as usual at the time appointed
59065 for the morning greeting, crossing herself with trepidation and
59066 repeating a silent prayer. Every morning she came in like that, and
59067 every morning prayed that the daily interview might pass off well.
59068
59069 An old powdered manservant who was sitting in the antechamber rose
59070 quietly and said in a whisper: "Please walk in."
59071
59072 Through the door came the regular hum of a lathe. The princess
59073 timidly opened the door which moved noiselessly and easily. She paused
59074 at the entrance. The prince was working at the lathe and after
59075 glancing round continued his work.
59076
59077 The enormous study was full of things evidently in constant use. The
59078 large table covered with books and plans, the tall glass-fronted
59079 bookcases with keys in the locks, the high desk for writing while
59080 standing up, on which lay an open exercise book, and the lathe with
59081 tools laid ready to hand and shavings scattered around--all
59082 indicated continuous, varied, and orderly activity. The motion of
59083 the small foot shod in a Tartar boot embroidered with silver, and
59084 the firm pressure of the lean sinewy hand, showed that the prince
59085 still possessed the tenacious endurance and vigor of hardy old age.
59086 After a few more turns of the lathe he removed his foot from the
59087 pedal, wiped his chisel, dropped it into a leather pouch attached to
59088 the lathe, and, approaching the table, summoned his daughter. He never
59089 gave his children a blessing, so he simply held out his bristly
59090 cheek (as yet unshaven) and, regarding her tenderly and attentively,
59091 said severely:
59092
59093 "Quite well? All right then, sit down." He took the exercise book
59094 containing lessons in geometry written by himself and drew up a
59095 chair with his foot.
59096
59097 "For tomorrow!" said he, quickly finding the page and making a
59098 scratch from one paragraph to another with his hard nail.
59099
59100 The princess bent over the exercise book on the table.
59101
59102 "Wait a bit, here's a letter for you," said the old man suddenly,
59103 taking a letter addressed in a woman's hand from a bag hanging above
59104 the table, onto which he threw it.
59105
59106 At the sight of the letter red patches showed themselves on the
59107 princess' face. She took it quickly and bent her head over it.
59108
59109 "From Heloise?" asked the prince with a cold smile that showed his
59110 still sound, yellowish teeth.
59111
59112 "Yes, it's from Julie," replied the princess with a timid glance and
59113 a timid smile.
59114
59115 "I'll let two more letters pass, but the third I'll read," said
59116 the prince sternly; "I'm afraid you write much nonsense. I'll read the
59117 third!"
59118
59119 "Read this if you like, Father," said the princess, blushing still
59120 more and holding out the letter.
59121
59122 "The third, I said the third!" cried the prince abruptly, pushing
59123 the letter away, and leaning his elbows on the table he drew toward
59124 him the exercise book containing geometrical figures.
59125
59126 "Well, madam," he began, stooping over the book close to his
59127 daughter and placing an arm on the back of the chair on which she sat,
59128 so that she felt herself surrounded on all sides by the acrid scent of
59129 old age and tobacco, which she had known so long. "Now, madam, these
59130 triangles are equal; please note that the angle ABC..."
59131
59132 The princess looked in a scared way at her father's eyes
59133 glittering close to her; the red patches on her face came and went,
59134 and it was plain that she understood nothing and was so frightened
59135 that her fear would prevent her understanding any of her father's
59136 further explanations, however clear they might be. Whether it was
59137 the teacher's fault or the pupil's, this same thing happened every
59138 day: the princess' eyes grew dim, she could not see and could not hear
59139 anything, but was only conscious of her stern father's withered face
59140 close to her, of his breath and the smell of him, and could think only
59141 of how to get away quickly to her own room to make out the problem
59142 in peace. The old man was beside himself: moved the chair on which
59143 he was sitting noisily backward and forward, made efforts to control
59144 himself and not become vehement, but almost always did become
59145 vehement, scolded, and sometimes flung the exercise book away.
59146
59147 The princess gave a wrong answer.
59148
59149 "Well now, isn't she a fool!" shouted the prince, pushing the book
59150 aside and turning sharply away; but rising immediately, he paced up
59151 and down, lightly touched his daughter's hair and sat down again.
59152
59153 He drew up his chair, and continued to explain.
59154
59155 "This won't do, Princess; it won't do," said he, when Princess Mary,
59156 having taken and closed the exercise book with the next day's
59157 lesson, was about to leave: "Mathematics are most important, madam!
59158 I don't want to have you like our silly ladies. Get used to it and
59159 you'll like it," and he patted her cheek. "It will drive all the
59160 nonsense out of your head."
59161
59162 She turned to go, but he stopped her with a gesture and took an
59163 uncut book from the high desk.
59164
59165 "Here is some sort of Key to the Mysteries that your Heloise has
59166 sent you. Religious! I don't interfere with anyone's belief... I
59167 have looked at it. Take it. Well, now go. Go."
59168
59169 He patted her on the shoulder and himself closed the door after her.
59170
59171 Princess Mary went back to her room with the sad, scared
59172 expression that rarely left her and which made her plain, sickly
59173 face yet plainer. She sat down at her writing table, on which stood
59174 miniature portraits and which was littered with books and papers.
59175 The princess was as untidy as her father was tidy. She put down the
59176 geometry book and eagerly broke the seal of her letter. It was from
59177 her most intimate friend from childhood; that same Julie Karagina
59178 who had been at the Rostovs' name-day party.
59179
59180 Julie wrote in French:
59181
59182
59183 Dear and precious Friend, How terrible and frightful a thing is
59184 separation! Though I tell myself that half my life and half my
59185 happiness are wrapped up in you, and that in spite of the distance
59186 separating us our hearts are united by indissoluble bonds, my heart
59187 rebels against fate and in spite of the pleasures and distractions
59188 around me I cannot overcome a certain secret sorrow that has been in
59189 my heart ever since we parted. Why are we not together as we were last
59190 summer, in your big study, on the blue sofa, the confidential sofa?
59191 Why cannot I now, as three months ago, draw fresh moral strength
59192 from your look, so gentle, calm, and penetrating, a look I loved so
59193 well and seem to see before me as I write?
59194
59195
59196 Having read thus far, Princess Mary sighed and glanced into the
59197 mirror which stood on her right. It reflected a weak, ungraceful
59198 figure and thin face. Her eyes, always sad, now looked with particular
59199 hopelessness at her reflection in the glass. "She flatters me,"
59200 thought the princess, turning away and continuing to read. But Julie
59201 did not flatter her friend, the princess' eyes--large, deep and
59202 luminous (it seemed as if at times there radiated from them shafts
59203 of warm light)--were so beautiful that very often in spite of the
59204 plainness of her face they gave her an attraction more powerful than
59205 that of beauty. But the princess never saw the beautiful expression of
59206 her own eyes--the look they had when she was not thinking of
59207 herself. As with everyone, her face assumed a forced unnatural
59208 expression as soon as she looked in a glass. She went on reading:
59209
59210
59211 All Moscow talks of nothing but war. One of my two brothers is
59212 already abroad, the other is with the Guards, who are starting on
59213 their march to the frontier. Our dear Emperor has left Petersburg
59214 and it is thought intends to expose his precious person to the chances
59215 of war. God grant that the Corsican monster who is destroying the
59216 peace of Europe may be overthrown by the angel whom it has pleased the
59217 Almighty, in His goodness, to give us as sovereign! To say nothing
59218 of my brothers, this war has deprived me of one of the associations
59219 nearest my heart. I mean young Nicholas Rostov, who with his
59220 enthusiasm could not bear to remain inactive and has left the
59221 university to join the army. I will confess to you, dear Mary, that in
59222 spite of his extreme youth his departure for the army was a great
59223 grief to me. This young man, of whom I spoke to you last summer, is so
59224 noble-minded and full of that real youthfulness which one seldom finds
59225 nowadays among our old men of twenty and, particularly, he is so frank
59226 and has so much heart. He is so pure and poetic that my relations with
59227 him, transient as they were, have been one of the sweetest comforts to
59228 my poor heart, which has already suffered so much. Someday I will tell
59229 you about our parting and all that was said then. That is still too
59230 fresh. Ah, dear friend, you are happy not to know these poignant
59231 joys and sorrows. You are fortunate, for the latter are generally
59232 the stronger! I know very well that Count Nicholas is too young ever
59233 to be more to me than a friend, but this sweet friendship, this poetic
59234 and pure intimacy, were what my heart needed. But enough of this!
59235 The chief news, about which all Moscow gossips, is the death of old
59236 Count Bezukhov, and his inheritance. Fancy! The three princesses
59237 have received very little, Prince Vasili nothing, and it is Monsieur
59238 Pierre who has inherited all the property and has besides been
59239 recognized as legitimate; so that he is now Count Bezukhov and
59240 possessor of the finest fortune in Russia. It is rumored that Prince
59241 Vasili played a very despicable part in this affair and that he
59242 returned to Petersburg quite crestfallen.
59243
59244 I confess I understand very little about all these matters of
59245 wills and inheritance; but I do know that since this young man, whom
59246 we all used to know as plain Monsieur Pierre, has become Count
59247 Bezukhov and the owner of one of the largest fortunes in Russia, I
59248 am much amused to watch the change in the tone and manners of the
59249 mammas burdened by marriageable daughters, and of the young ladies
59250 themselves, toward him, though, between you and me, he always seemed
59251 to me a poor sort of fellow. As for the past two years people have
59252 amused themselves by finding husbands for me (most of whom I don't
59253 even know), the matchmaking chronicles of Moscow now speak of me as
59254 the future Countess Bezukhova. But you will understand that I have
59255 no desire for the post. A propos of marriages: do you know that a
59256 while ago that universal auntie Anna Mikhaylovna told me, under the
59257 seal of strict secrecy, of a plan of marriage for you. It is neither
59258 more nor less than with Prince Vasili's son Anatole, whom they wish to
59259 reform by marrying him to someone rich and distinguee, and it is on
59260 you that his relations' choice has fallen. I don't know what you
59261 will think of it, but I consider it my duty to let you know of it.
59262 He is said to be very handsome and a terrible scapegrace. That is
59263 all I have been able to find out about him.
59264
59265 But enough of gossip. I am at the end of my second sheet of paper,
59266 and Mamma has sent for me to go and dine at the Apraksins'. Read the
59267 mystical book I am sending you; it has an enormous success here.
59268 Though there are things in it difficult for the feeble human mind to
59269 grasp, it is an admirable book which calms and elevates the soul.
59270 Adieu! Give my respects to monsieur your father and my compliments
59271 to Mademoiselle Bourienne. I embrace you as I love you.
59272
59273 JULIE
59274
59275 P.S. Let me have news of your brother and his charming little wife.
59276
59277
59278 The princess pondered awhile with a thoughtful smile and her
59279 luminous eyes lit up so that her face was entirely transformed. Then
59280 she suddenly rose and with her heavy tread went up to the table. She
59281 took a sheet of paper and her hand moved rapidly over it. This is
59282 the reply she wrote, also in French:
59283
59284
59285 Dear and precious Friend, Your letter of the 13th has given me great
59286 delight. So you still love me, my romantic Julie? Separation, of which
59287 you say so much that is bad, does not seem to have had its usual
59288 effect on you. You complain of our separation. What then should I say,
59289 if I dared complain, I who am deprived of all who are dear to me?
59290 Ah, if we had not religion to console us life would be very sad. Why
59291 do you suppose that I should look severely on your affection for
59292 that young man? On such matters I am only severe with myself. I
59293 understand such feelings in others, and if never having felt them I
59294 cannot approve of them, neither do I condemn them. Only it seems to me
59295 that Christian love, love of one's neighbor, love of one's enemy, is
59296 worthier, sweeter, and better than the feelings which the beautiful
59297 eyes of a young man can inspire in a romantic and loving young girl
59298 like yourself.
59299
59300 The news of Count Bezukhov's death reached us before your letter and
59301 my father was much affected by it. He says the count was the last
59302 representative but one of the great century, and that it is his own
59303 turn now, but that he will do all he can to let his turn come as
59304 late as possible. God preserve us from that terrible misfortune!
59305
59306 I cannot agree with you about Pierre, whom I knew as a child. He
59307 always seemed to me to have an excellent heart, and that is the
59308 quality I value most in people. As to his inheritance and the part
59309 played by Prince Vasili, it is very sad for both. Ah, my dear
59310 friend, our divine Saviour's words, that it is easier for a camel to
59311 go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
59312 Kingdom of God, are terribly true. I pity Prince Vasili but am still
59313 more sorry for Pierre. So young, and burdened with such riches--to
59314 what temptations he will be exposed! If I were asked what I desire
59315 most on earth, it would be to be poorer than the poorest beggar. A
59316 thousand thanks, dear friend, for the volume you have sent me and
59317 which has such success in Moscow. Yet since you tell me that among
59318 some good things it contains others which our weak human understanding
59319 cannot grasp, it seems to me rather useless to spend time in reading
59320 what is unintelligible and can therefore bear no fruit. I never
59321 could understand the fondness some people have for confusing their
59322 minds by dwelling on mystical books that merely awaken their doubts
59323 and excite their imagination, giving them a bent for exaggeration
59324 quite contrary to Christian simplicity. Let us rather read the
59325 Epistles and Gospels. Let us not seek to penetrate what mysteries they
59326 contain; for how can we, miserable sinners that we are, know the
59327 terrible and holy secrets of Providence while we remain in this
59328 flesh which forms an impenetrable veil between us and the Eternal? Let
59329 us rather confine ourselves to studying those sublime rules which
59330 our divine Saviour has left for our guidance here below. Let us try to
59331 conform to them and follow them, and let us be persuaded that the less
59332 we let our feeble human minds roam, the better we shall please God,
59333 who rejects all knowledge that does not come from Him; and the less we
59334 seek to fathom what He has been pleased to conceal from us, the sooner
59335 will He vouchsafe its revelation to us through His divine Spirit.
59336
59337 My father has not spoken to me of a suitor, but has only told me
59338 that he has received a letter and is expecting a visit from Prince
59339 Vasili. In regard to this project of marriage for me, I will tell you,
59340 dear sweet friend, that I look on marriage as a divine institution
59341 to which we must conform. However painful it may be to me, should
59342 the Almighty lay the duties of wife and mother upon me I
59343 shall try to perform them as faithfully as I can, without
59344 disquieting myself by examining my feelings toward him whom He may
59345 give me for husband.
59346
59347 I have had a letter from my brother, who announces his speedy
59348 arrival at Bald Hills with his wife. This pleasure will be but a brief
59349 one, however, for he will leave, us again to take part in this unhappy
59350 war into which we have been drawn, God knows how or why. Not only
59351 where you are--at the heart of affairs and of the world--is the talk
59352 all of war, even here amid fieldwork and the calm of nature--which
59353 townsfolk consider characteristic of the country--rumors of war are
59354 heard and painfully felt. My father talks of nothing but marches and
59355 countermarches, things of which I understand nothing; and the day
59356 before yesterday during my daily walk through the village I
59357 witnessed a heartrending scene.... It was a convoy of conscripts
59358 enrolled from our people and starting to join the army. You should
59359 have seen the state of the mothers, wives, and children of the men who
59360 were going and should have heard the sobs. It seems as though
59361 mankind has forgotten the laws of its divine Saviour, Who preached
59362 love and forgiveness of injuries--and that men attribute the
59363 greatest merit to skill in killing one another.
59364
59365 Adieu, dear and kind friend; may our divine Saviour and His most
59366 Holy Mother keep you in their holy and all-powerful care!
59367
59368 MARY
59369
59370
59371 "Ah, you are sending off a letter, Princess? I have already
59372 dispatched mine. I have written to my poor mother," said the smiling
59373 Mademoiselle Bourienne rapidly, in her pleasant mellow tones and
59374 with guttural r's. She brought into Princess Mary's strenuous,
59375 mournful, and gloomy world a quite different atmosphere, careless,
59376 lighthearted, and self-satisfied.
59377
59378 "Princess, I must warn you," she added, lowering her voice and
59379 evidently listening to herself with pleasure, and speaking with
59380 exaggerated grasseyement, "the prince has been scolding Michael
59381 Ivanovich. He is in a very bad humor, very morose. Be prepared."
59382
59383 "Ah, dear friend," replied Princess Mary, "I have asked you never to
59384 warn me of the humor my father is in. I do not allow myself to judge
59385 him and would not have others do so."
59386
59387 The princess glanced at her watch and, seeing that she was five
59388 minutes late in starting her practice on the clavichord, went into the
59389 sitting room with a look of alarm. Between twelve and two o'clock,
59390 as the day was mapped out, the prince rested and the princess played
59391 the clavichord.
59392
59393
59394
59395
59396
59397 CHAPTER XXVI
59398
59399
59400 The gray-haired valet was sitting drowsily listening to the
59401 snoring of the prince, who was in his large study. From the far side
59402 of the house through the closed doors came the sound of difficult
59403 passages--twenty times repeated--of a sonata by Dussek.
59404
59405 Just then a closed carriage and another with a hood drove up to
59406 the porch. Prince Andrew got out of the carriage, helped his little
59407 wife to alight, and let her pass into the house before him. Old
59408 Tikhon, wearing a wig, put his head out of the door of the
59409 antechamber, reported in a whisper that the prince was sleeping, and
59410 hastily closed the door. Tikhon knew that neither the son's arrival
59411 nor any other unusual event must be allowed to disturb the appointed
59412 order of the day. Prince Andrew apparently knew this as well as
59413 Tikhon; he looked at his watch as if to ascertain whether his father's
59414 habits had changed since he was at home last, and, having assured
59415 himself that they had not, he turned to his wife.
59416
59417 "He will get up in twenty minutes. Let us go across to Mary's room,"
59418 he said.
59419
59420 The little princess had grown stouter during this time, but her eyes
59421 and her short, downy, smiling lip lifted when she began to speak
59422 just as merrily and prettily as ever.
59423
59424 "Why, this is a palace!" she said to her husband, looking around
59425 with the expression with which people compliment their host at a ball.
59426 "Let's come, quick, quick!" And with a glance round, she smiled at
59427 Tikhon, at her husband, and at the footman who accompanied them.
59428
59429 "Is that Mary practicing? Let's go quietly and take her by
59430 surprise."
59431
59432 Prince Andrew followed her with a courteous but sad expression.
59433
59434 "You've grown older, Tikhon," he said in passing to the old man, who
59435 kissed his hand.
59436
59437 Before they reached the room from which the sounds of the clavichord
59438 came, the pretty, fair haired Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle Bourienne,
59439 rushed out apparently beside herself with delight.
59440
59441 "Ah! what joy for the princess!" exclaimed she: "At last! I must let
59442 her know."
59443
59444 "No, no, please not... You are Mademoiselle Bourienne," said the
59445 little princess, kissing her. "I know you already through my
59446 sister-in-law's friendship for you. She was not expecting us?"
59447
59448 They went up to the door of the sitting room from which came the
59449 sound of the oft-repeated passage of the sonata. Prince Andrew stopped
59450 and made a grimace, as if expecting something unpleasant.
59451
59452 The little princess entered the room. The passage broke off in the
59453 middle, a cry was heard, then Princess Mary's heavy tread and the
59454 sound of kissing. When Prince Andrew went in the two princesses, who
59455 had only met once before for a short time at his wedding, were in each
59456 other's arms warmly pressing their lips to whatever place they
59457 happened to touch. Mademoiselle Bourienne stood near them pressing her
59458 hand to her heart, with a beatific smile and obviously equally ready
59459 to cry or to laugh. Prince Andrew shrugged his shoulders and
59460 frowned, as lovers of music do when they hear a false note. The two
59461 women let go of one another, and then, as if afraid of being too late,
59462 seized each other's hands, kissing them and pulling them away, and
59463 again began kissing each other on the face, and then to Prince
59464 Andrew's surprise both began to cry and kissed again. Mademoiselle
59465 Bourienne also began to cry. Prince Andrew evidently felt ill at ease,
59466 but to the two women it seemed quite natural that they should cry, and
59467 apparently it never entered their heads that it could have been
59468 otherwise at this meeting.
59469
59470 "Ah! my dear!... Ah! Mary!" they suddenly exclaimed, and then
59471 laughed. "I dreamed last night..."--"You were not expecting us?..."-
59472 "Ah! Mary, you have got thinner?..." "And you have grown stouter!..."
59473
59474 "I knew the princess at once," put in Mademoiselle Bourienne.
59475
59476 "And I had no idea!..." exclaimed Princess Mary. "Ah, Andrew, I
59477 did not see you."
59478
59479 Prince Andrew and his sister, hand in hand, kissed one another,
59480 and he told her she was still the same crybaby as ever. Princess
59481 Mary had turned toward her brother, and through her tears the
59482 loving, warm, gentle look of her large luminous eyes, very beautiful
59483 at that moment, rested on Prince Andrew's face.
59484
59485 The little princess talked incessantly, her short, downy upper lip
59486 continually and rapidly touching her rosy nether lip when necessary
59487 and drawing up again next moment when her face broke into a smile of
59488 glittering teeth and sparkling eyes. She told of an accident they
59489 had had on the Spasski Hill which might have been serious for her in
59490 her condition, and immediately after that informed them that she had
59491 left all her clothes in Petersburg and that heaven knew what she would
59492 have to dress in here; and that Andrew had quite changed, and that
59493 Kitty Odyntsova had married an old man, and that there was a suitor
59494 for Mary, a real one, but that they would talk of that later. Princess
59495 Mary was still looking silently at her brother and her beautiful
59496 eyes were full of love and sadness. It was plain that she was
59497 following a train of thought independent of her sister-in-law's words.
59498 In the midst of a description of the last Petersburg fete she
59499 addressed her brother:
59500
59501 "So you are really going to the war, Andrew?" she said sighing.
59502
59503 Lise sighed too.
59504
59505 "Yes, and even tomorrow," replied her brother.
59506
59507 "He is leaving me here, God knows why, when he might have had
59508 promotion..."
59509
59510 Princess Mary did not listen to the end, but continuing her train of
59511 thought turned to her sister-in-law with a tender glance at her
59512 figure.
59513
59514 "Is it certain?" she said.
59515
59516 The face of the little princess changed. She sighed and said:
59517 "Yes, quite certain. Ah! it is very dreadful..."
59518
59519 Her lip descended. She brought her face close to her sister-in-law's
59520 and unexpectedly again began to cry.
59521
59522 "She needs rest," said Prince Andrew with a frown. "Don't you, Lise?
59523 Take her to your room and I'll go to Father. How is he? Just the
59524 same?"
59525
59526 "Yes, just the same. Though I don't know what your opinion will be,"
59527 answered the princess joyfully.
59528
59529 "And are the hours the same? And the walks in the avenues? And the
59530 lathe?" asked Prince Andrew with a scarcely perceptible smile which
59531 showed that, in spite of all his love and respect for his father, he
59532 was aware of his weaknesses.
59533
59534 "The hours are the same, and the lathe, and also the mathematics and
59535 my geometry lessons," said Princess Mary gleefully, as if her
59536 lessons in geometry were among the greatest delights of her life.
59537
59538 When the twenty minutes had elapsed and the time had come for the
59539 old prince to get up, Tikhon came to call the young prince to his
59540 father. The old man made a departure from his usual routine in honor
59541 of his son's arrival: he gave orders to admit him to his apartments
59542 while he dressed for dinner. The old prince always dressed in
59543 old-fashioned style, wearing an antique coat and powdered hair; and
59544 when Prince Andrew entered his father's dressing room (not with the
59545 contemptuous look and manner he wore in drawing rooms, but with the
59546 animated face with which he talked to Pierre), the old man was sitting
59547 on a large leather-covered chair, wrapped in a powdering mantle,
59548 entrusting his head to Tikhon.
59549
59550 "Ah! here's the warrior! Wants to vanquish Buonaparte?" said the old
59551 man, shaking his powdered head as much as the tail, which Tikhon was
59552 holding fast to plait, would allow.
59553
59554 "You at least must tackle him properly, or else if he goes on like
59555 this he'll soon have us, too, for his subjects! How are you?" And he
59556 held out his cheek.
59557
59558 The old man was in a good temper after his nap before dinner. (He
59559 used to say that a nap "after dinner was silver--before dinner,
59560 golden.") He cast happy, sidelong glances at his son from under his
59561 thick, bushy eyebrows. Prince Andrew went up and kissed his father
59562 on the spot indicated to him. He made no reply on his father's
59563 favorite topic--making fun of the military men of the day, and more
59564 particularly of Bonaparte.
59565
59566 "Yes, Father, I have come come to you and brought my wife who is
59567 pregnant," said Prince Andrew, following every movement of his
59568 father's face with an eager and respectful look. "How is your health?"
59569
59570 "Only fools and rakes fall ill, my boy. You know me: I am busy
59571 from morning till night and abstemious, so of course I am well."
59572
59573 "Thank God," said his son smiling.
59574
59575 "God has nothing to do with it! Well, go on," he continued,
59576 returning to his hobby; "tell me how the Germans have taught you to
59577 fight Bonaparte by this new science you call 'strategy.'"
59578
59579 Prince Andrew smiled.
59580
59581 "Give me time to collect my wits, Father," said he, with a smile
59582 that showed that his father's foibles did not prevent his son from
59583 loving and honoring him. "Why, I have not yet had time to settle
59584 down!"
59585
59586 "Nonsense, nonsense!" cried the old man, shaking his pigtail to
59587 see whether it was firmly plaited, and grasping his by the hand.
59588 "The house for your wife is ready. Princess Mary will take her there
59589 and show her over, and they'll talk nineteen to the dozen. That's
59590 their woman's way! I am glad to have her. Sit down and talk. About
59591 Mikhelson's army I understand--Tolstoy's too... a simultaneous
59592 expedition.... But what's the southern army to do? Prussia is
59593 neutral... I know that. What about Austria?" said he, rising from
59594 his chair and pacing up and down the room followed by Tikhon, who
59595 ran after him, handing him different articles of clothing. "What of
59596 Sweden? How will they cross Pomerania?"
59597
59598 Prince Andrew, seeing that his father insisted, began--at first
59599 reluctantly, but gradually with more and more animation, and from
59600 habit changing unconsciously from Russian to French as he went on-
59601 to explain the plan of operation for the coming campaign. He explained
59602 how an army, ninety thousand strong, was to threaten Prussia so as
59603 to bring her out of her neutrality and draw her into the war; how part
59604 of that army was to join some Swedish forces at Stralsund; how two
59605 hundred and twenty thousand Austrians, with a hundred thousand
59606 Russians, were to operate in Italy and on the Rhine; how fifty
59607 thousand Russians and as many English were to land at Naples, and
59608 how a total force of five hundred thousand men was to attack the
59609 French from different sides. The old prince did not evince the least
59610 interest during this explanation, but as if he were not listening to
59611 it continued to dress while walking about, and three times
59612 unexpectedly interrupted. Once he stopped it by shouting: "The white
59613 one, the white one!"
59614
59615 This meant that Tikhon was not handing him the waistcoat he
59616 wanted. Another time he interrupted, saying:
59617
59618 "And will she soon be confined?" and shaking his head
59619 reproachfully said: "That's bad! Go on, go on."
59620
59621 The third interruption came when Prince Andrew was finishing his
59622 description. The old man began to sing, in the cracked voice of old
59623 age: "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre. Dieu sait quand reviendra."*
59624
59625
59626 *"Marlborough is going to the wars; God knows when he'll return."
59627
59628
59629 His son only smiled.
59630
59631 "I don't say it's a plan I approve of," said the son; "I am only
59632 telling you what it is. Napoleon has also formed his plan by now,
59633 not worse than this one."
59634
59635 "Well, you've told me nothing new," and the old man repeated,
59636 meditatively and rapidly:
59637
59638 "Dieu sait quand reviendra. Go to the dining room."
59639
59640
59641
59642
59643
59644 CHAPTER XXVII
59645
59646
59647 At the appointed hour the prince, powdered and shaven, entered the
59648 dining room where his daughter-in-law, Princess Mary, and Mademoiselle
59649 Bourienne were already awaiting him together with his architect, who
59650 by a strange caprice of his employer's was admitted to table though
59651 the position of that insignificant individual was such as could
59652 certainly not have caused him to expect that honor. The prince, who
59653 generally kept very strictly to social distinctions and rarely
59654 admitted even important government officials to his table, had
59655 unexpectedly selected Michael Ivanovich (who always went into a corner
59656 to blow his nose on his checked handkerchief) to illustrate the theory
59657 that all men are equals, and had more than once impressed on his
59658 daughter that Michael Ivanovich was "not a whit worse than you or
59659 I." At dinner the prince usually spoke to the taciturn Michael
59660 Ivanovich more often than to anyone else.
59661
59662 In the dining room, which like all the rooms in the house was
59663 exceedingly lofty, the members of the household and the footmen--one
59664 behind each chair--stood waiting for the prince to enter. The head
59665 butler, napkin on arm, was scanning the setting of the table, making
59666 signs to the footmen, and anxiously glancing from the clock to the
59667 door by which the prince was to enter. Prince Andrew was looking at
59668 a large gilt frame, new to him, containing the genealogical tree of
59669 the Princes Bolkonski, opposite which hung another such frame with a
59670 badly painted portrait (evidently by the hand of the artist
59671 belonging to the estate) of a ruling prince, in a crown--an alleged
59672 descendant of Rurik and ancestor of the Bolkonskis. Prince Andrew,
59673 looking again at that genealogical tree, shook his head, laughing as a
59674 man laughs who looks at a portrait so characteristic of the original
59675 as to be amusing.
59676
59677 "How thoroughly like him that is!" he said to Princess Mary, who had
59678 come up to him.
59679
59680 Princess Mary looked at her brother in surprise. She did not
59681 understand what he was laughing at. Everything her father did inspired
59682 her with reverence and was beyond question.
59683
59684 "Everyone has his Achilles' heel," continued Prince Andrew.
59685 "Fancy, with his powerful mind, indulging in such nonsense!"
59686
59687 Princess Mary could not understand the boldness of her brother's
59688 criticism and was about to reply, when the expected footsteps were
59689 heard coming from the study. The prince walked in quickly and jauntily
59690 as was his wont, as if intentionally contrasting the briskness of
59691 his manners with the strict formality of his house. At that moment the
59692 great clock struck two and another with a shrill tone joined in from
59693 the drawing room. The prince stood still; his lively glittering eyes
59694 from under their thick, bushy eyebrows sternly scanned all present and
59695 rested on the little princess. She felt, as courtiers do when the Tsar
59696 enters, the sensation of fear and respect which the old man inspired
59697 in all around him. He stroked her hair and then patted her awkwardly
59698 on the back of her neck.
59699
59700 "I'm glad, glad, to see you," he said, looking attentively into
59701 her eyes, and then quickly went to his place and sat down. "Sit
59702 down, sit down! Sit down, Michael Ianovich!"
59703
59704 He indicated a place beside him to his daughter-in-law. A footman
59705 moved the chair for her.
59706
59707 "Ho, ho!" said the old man, casting his eyes on her rounded
59708 figure. "You've been in a hurry. That's bad!"
59709
59710 He laughed in his usual dry, cold, unpleasant way, with his lips
59711 only and not with his eyes.
59712
59713 "You must walk, walk as much as possible, as much as possible," he
59714 said.
59715
59716 The little princess did not, or did not wish to, hear his words. She
59717 was silent and seemed confused. The prince asked her about her father,
59718 and she began to smile and talk. He asked about mutual
59719 acquaintances, and she became still more animated and chattered away
59720 giving him greetings from various people and retailing the town
59721 gossip.
59722
59723 "Countess Apraksina, poor thing, has lost her husband and she has
59724 cried her eyes out," she said, growing more and more lively.
59725
59726 As she became animated the prince looked at her more and more
59727 sternly, and suddenly, as if he had studied her sufficiently and had
59728 formed a definite idea of her, he turned away and addressed Michael
59729 Ivanovich.
59730
59731 "Well, Michael Ivanovich, our Bonaparte will be having a bad time of
59732 it. Prince Andrew" (he always spoke thus of his son) "has been telling
59733 me what forces are being collected against him! While you and I
59734 never thought much of him."
59735
59736 Michael Ivanovich did not at all know when "you and I" had said such
59737 things about Bonaparte, but understanding that he was wanted as a
59738 peg on which to hang the prince's favorite topic, he looked
59739 inquiringly at the young prince, wondering what would follow.
59740
59741 "He is a great tactician!" said the prince to his son, pointing to
59742 the architect.
59743
59744 And the conversation again turned on the war, on Bonaparte, and
59745 the generals and statesmen of the day. The old prince seemed convinced
59746 not only that all the men of the day were mere babies who did not know
59747 the A B C of war or of politics, and that Bonaparte was an
59748 insignificant little Frenchy, successful only because there were no
59749 longer any Potemkins or Suvorovs left to oppose him; but he was also
59750 convinced that there were no political difficulties in Europe and no
59751 real war, but only a sort of puppet show at which the men of the day
59752 were playing, pretending to do something real. Prince Andrew gaily
59753 bore with his father's ridicule of the new men, and drew him on and
59754 listened to him with evident pleasure.
59755
59756 "The past always seems good," said he, "but did not Suvorov
59757 himself fall into a trap Moreau set him, and from which he did not
59758 know how to escape?"
59759
59760 "Who told you that? Who?" cried the prince. "Suvorov!" And he jerked
59761 away his plate, which Tikhon briskly caught. "Suvorov!... Consider,
59762 Prince Andrew. Two... Frederick and Suvorov; Moreau!... Moreau would
59763 have been a prisoner if Suvorov had had a free hand; but he had the
59764 Hofs-kriegs-wurst-schnapps-Rath on his hands. It would have puzzled
59765 the devil himself! When you get there you'll find out what those
59766 Hofs-kriegs-wurst-Raths are! Suvorov couldn't manage them so what
59767 chance has Michael Kutuzov? No, my dear boy," he continued, "you and
59768 your generals won't get on against Buonaparte; you'll have to call
59769 in the French, so that birds of a feather may fight together. The
59770 German, Pahlen, has been sent to New York in America, to fetch the
59771 Frenchman, Moreau," he said, alluding to the invitation made that year
59772 to Moreau to enter the Russian service.... "Wonderful!... Were the
59773 Potemkins, Suvorovs, and Orlovs Germans? No, lad, either you fellows
59774 have all lost your wits, or I have outlived mine. May God help you,
59775 but we'll see what will happen. Buonaparte has become a great
59776 commander among them! Hm!..."
59777
59778 "I don't at all say that all the plans are good," said Prince
59779 Andrew, "I am only surprised at your opinion of Bonaparte. You may
59780 laugh as much as you like, but all the same Bonaparte is a great
59781 general!"
59782
59783 "Michael Ivanovich!" cried the old prince to the architect who, busy
59784 with his roast meat, hoped he had been forgotten: "Didn't I tell you
59785 Buonaparte was a great tactician? Here, he says the same thing."
59786
59787 "To be sure, your excellency." replied the architect.
59788
59789 The prince again laughed his frigid laugh.
59790
59791 "Buonaparte was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has got
59792 splendid soldiers. Besides he began by attacking Germans. And only
59793 idlers have failed to beat the Germans. Since the world began
59794 everybody has beaten the Germans. They beat no one--except one
59795 another. He made his reputation fighting them."
59796
59797 And the prince began explaining all the blunders which, according to
59798 him, Bonaparte had made in his campaigns and even in politics. His son
59799 made no rejoinder, but it was evident that whatever arguments were
59800 presented he was as little able as his father to change his opinion.
59801 He listened, refraining from a reply, and involuntarily wondered how
59802 this old man, living alone in the country for so many years, could
59803 know and discuss so minutely and acutely all the recent European
59804 military and political events.
59805
59806 "You think I'm an old man and don't understand the present state
59807 of affairs?" concluded his father. "But it troubles me. I don't
59808 sleep at night. Come now, where has this great commander of yours
59809 shown his skill?" he concluded.
59810
59811 "That would take too long to tell," answered the son.
59812
59813 "Well, then go to your Buonaparte! Mademoiselle Bourienne, here's
59814 another admirer of that powder-monkey emperor of yours," he
59815 exclaimed in excellent French.
59816
59817 "You know, Prince, I am not a Bonapartist!"
59818
59819 "Dieu sait quand reviendra..." hummed the prince out of tune and,
59820 with a laugh still more so, he quitted the table.
59821
59822 The little princess during the whole discussion and the rest of
59823 the dinner sat silent, glancing with a frightened look now at her
59824 father-in-law and now at Princess Mary. When they left the table she
59825 took her sister-in-law's arm and drew her into another room.
59826
59827 "What a clever man your father is," said she; "perhaps that is why I
59828 am afraid of him."
59829
59830 "Oh, he is so kind!" answered Princess Mary.
59831
59832
59833
59834
59835
59836 CHAPTER XXVIII
59837
59838
59839 Prince Andrew was to leave next evening. The old prince, not
59840 altering his routine, retired as usual after dinner. The little
59841 princess was in her sister-in-law's room. Prince Andrew in a traveling
59842 coat without epaulettes had been packing with his valet in the rooms
59843 assigned to him. After inspecting the carriage himself and seeing
59844 the trunks put in, he ordered the horses to be harnessed. Only those
59845 things he always kept with him remained in his room; a small box, a
59846 large canteen fitted with silver plate, two Turkish pistols and a
59847 saber--a present from his father who had brought it from the siege
59848 of Ochakov. All these traveling effects of Prince Andrew's were in
59849 very good order: new, clean, and in cloth covers carefully tied with
59850 tapes.
59851
59852 When starting on a journey or changing their mode of life, men
59853 capable of reflection are generally in a serious frame of mind. At
59854 such moments one reviews the past and plans for the future. Prince
59855 Andrew's face looked very thoughtful and tender. With his hands behind
59856 him he paced briskly from corner to corner of the room, looking
59857 straight before him and thoughtfully shaking his head. Did he fear
59858 going to the war, or was he sad at leaving his wife?--perhaps both,
59859 but evidently he did not wish to be seen in that mood, for hearing
59860 footsteps in the passage he hurriedly unclasped his hands, stopped
59861 at a table as if tying the cover of the small box, and assumed his
59862 usual tranquil and impenetrable expression. It was the heavy tread
59863 of Princess Mary that he heard.
59864
59865 "I hear you have given orders to harness," she cried, panting (she
59866 had apparently been running), "and I did so wish to have another
59867 talk with you alone! God knows how long we may again be parted. You
59868 are not angry with me for coming? You have changed so, Andrusha,"
59869 she added, as if to explain such a question.
59870
59871 She smiled as she uttered his pet name, "Andrusha." It was obviously
59872 strange to her to think that this stern handsome man should be
59873 Andrusha--the slender mischievous boy who had been her playfellow in
59874 childhood.
59875
59876 "And where is Lise?" he asked, answering her question only by a
59877 smile.
59878
59879 "She was so tired that she has fallen asleep on the sofa in my room.
59880 Oh, Andrew! What a treasure of a wife you have," said she, sitting
59881 down on the sofa, facing her brother. "She is quite a child: such a
59882 dear, merry child. I have grown so fond of her."
59883
59884 Prince Andrew was silent, but the princess noticed the ironical
59885 and contemptuous look that showed itself on his face.
59886
59887 "One must be indulgent to little weaknesses; who is free from
59888 them, Andrew? Don't forget that she has grown up and been educated
59889 in society, and so her position now is not a rosy one. We should enter
59890 into everyone's situation. Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner.*
59891 Think it must be for her, poor thing, after what she has been used to,
59892 to be parted from her husband and be left alone in the country, in her
59893 condition! It's very hard."
59894
59895
59896 *To understand all is to forgive all.
59897
59898
59899 Prince Andrew smiled as he looked at his sister, as we smile at
59900 those we think we thoroughly understand.
59901
59902 "You live in the country and don't think the life terrible," he
59903 replied.
59904
59905 "I... that's different. Why speak of me? I don't want any other
59906 life, and can't, for I know no other. But think, Andrew: for a young
59907 society woman to be buried in the country during the best years of her
59908 life, all alone--for Papa is always busy, and I... well, you know what
59909 poor resources I have for entertaining a woman used to the best
59910 society. There is only Mademoiselle Bourienne...."
59911
59912 "I don't like your Mademoiselle Bourienne at all," said Prince
59913 Andrew.
59914
59915 "No? She is very nice and kind and, above all, she's much to be
59916 pitied. She has no one, no one. To tell the truth, I don't need her,
59917 and she's even in my way. You know I always was a savage, and now am
59918 even more so. I like being alone.... Father likes her very much. She
59919 and Michael Ivanovich are the two people to whom he is always gentle
59920 and kind, because he has been a benefactor to them both. As Sterne
59921 says: 'We don't love people so much for the good they have done us, as
59922 for the good we have done them.' Father took her when she was homeless
59923 after losing her own father. She is very good-natured, and my father
59924 likes her way of reading. She reads to him in the evenings and reads
59925 splendidly."
59926
59927 "To be quite frank, Mary, I expect Father's character sometimes
59928 makes things trying for you, doesn't it?" Prince Andrew asked
59929 suddenly.
59930
59931 Princess Mary was first surprised and then aghast at this question.
59932
59933 "For me? For me?... Trying for me!..." said she.
59934
59935 "He always was rather harsh; and now I should think he's getting
59936 very trying," said Prince Andrew, apparently speaking lightly of their
59937 father in order to puzzle or test his sister.
59938
59939 "You are good in every way, Andrew, but you have a kind of
59940 intellectual pride," said the princess, following the train of her own
59941 thoughts rather than the trend of the conversation--"and that's a
59942 great sin. How can one judge Father? But even if one might, what
59943 feeling except veneration could such a man as my father evoke? And I
59944 am so contented and happy with him. I only wish you were all as
59945 happy as I am."
59946
59947 Her brother shook his head incredulously.
59948
59949 "The only thing that is hard for me... I will tell you the truth,
59950 Andrew... is Father's way of treating religious subjects. I don't
59951 understand how a man of his immense intellect can fail to see what
59952 is as clear as day, and can go so far astray. That is the only thing
59953 that makes me unhappy. But even in this I can see lately a shade of
59954 improvement. His satire has been less bitter of late, and there was
59955 a monk he received and had a long talk with."
59956
59957 "Ah! my dear, I am afraid you and your monk are wasting your
59958 powder," said Prince Andrew banteringly yet tenderly.
59959
59960 "Ah! mon ami, I only pray, and hope that God will hear me.
59961 Andrew..." she said timidly after a moment's silence, "I have a
59962 great favor to ask of you."
59963
59964 "What is it, dear?"
59965
59966 "No--promise that you will not refuse! It will give you no trouble
59967 and is nothing unworthy of you, but it will comfort me. Promise,
59968 Andrusha!..." said she, putting her hand in her reticule but not yet
59969 taking out what she was holding inside it, as if what she held were
59970 the subject of her request and must not be shown before the request
59971 was granted.
59972
59973 She looked timidly at her brother.
59974
59975 "Even if it were a great deal of trouble..." answered Prince Andrew,
59976 as if guessing what it was about.
59977
59978 "Think what you please! I know you are just like Father. Think as
59979 you please, but do this for my sake! Please do! Father's father, our
59980 grandfather, wore it in all his wars." (She still did not take out
59981 what she was holding in her reticule.) "So you promise?"
59982
59983 "Of course. What is it?"
59984
59985 "Andrew, I bless you with this icon and you must promise me you will
59986 never take it off. Do you promise?"
59987
59988 "If it does not weigh a hundredweight and won't break my neck...
59989 To please you..." said Prince Andrew. But immediately, noticing the
59990 pained expression his joke had brought to his sister's face, he
59991 repented and added: "I am glad; really, dear, I am very glad."
59992
59993 "Against your will He will save and have mercy on you and bring
59994 you to Himself, for in Him alone is truth and peace," said she in a
59995 voice trembling with emotion, solemnly holding up in both hands before
59996 her brother a small, oval, antique, dark-faced icon of the Saviour
59997 in a gold setting, on a finely wrought silver chain.
59998
59999 She crossed herself, kissed the icon, and handed it to Andrew.
60000
60001 "Please, Andrew, for my sake!..."
60002
60003 Rays of gentle light shone from her large, timid eyes. Those eyes
60004 lit up the whole of her thin, sickly face and made it beautiful. Her
60005 brother would have taken the icon, but she stopped him. Andrew
60006 understood, crossed himself and kissed the icon. There was a look of
60007 tenderness, for he was touched, but also a gleam of irony on his face.
60008
60009 "Thank you, my dear." She kissed him on the forehead and sat down
60010 again on the sofa. They were silent for a while.
60011
60012 "As I was saying to you, Andrew, be kind and generous as you
60013 always used to be. Don't judge Lise harshly," she began. "She is so
60014 sweet, so good-natured, and her position now is a very hard one."
60015
60016 "I do not think I have complained of my wife to you, Masha, or
60017 blamed her. Why do you say all this to me?"
60018
60019 Red patches appeared on Princess Mary's face and she was silent as
60020 if she felt guilty.
60021
60022 "I have said nothing to you, but you have already been talked to.
60023 And I am sorry for that," he went on.
60024
60025 The patches grew deeper on her forehead, neck, and cheeks. She tried
60026 to say something but could not. Her brother had guessed right: the
60027 little princess had been crying after dinner and had spoken of her
60028 forebodings about her confinement, and how she dreaded it, and had
60029 complained of her fate, her father-in-law, and her husband. After
60030 crying she had fallen asleep. Prince Andrew felt sorry for his sister.
60031
60032 "Know this, Masha: I can't reproach, have not reproached, and
60033 never shall reproach my wife with anything, and I cannot reproach
60034 myself with anything in regard to her; and that always will be so in
60035 whatever circumstances I may be placed. But if you want to know the
60036 truth... if you want to know whether I am happy? No! Is she happy? No!
60037 But why this is so I don't know..."
60038
60039 As he said this he rose, went to his sister, and, stooping, kissed
60040 her forehead. His fine eyes lit up with a thoughtful, kindly, and
60041 unaccustomed brightness, but he was looking not at his sister but over
60042 her head toward the darkness of the open doorway.
60043
60044 "Let us go to her, I must say good-by. Or--go and wake and I'll come
60045 in a moment. Petrushka!" he called to his valet: "Come here, take
60046 these away. Put this on the seat and this to the right."
60047
60048 Princess Mary rose and moved to the door, then stopped and said:
60049 "Andrew, if you had faith you would have turned to God and asked Him
60050 to give you the love you do not feel, and your prayer would have
60051 been answered."
60052
60053 "Well, may be!" said Prince Andrew. "Go, Masha; I'll come
60054 immediately."
60055
60056 On the way to his sister's room, in the passage which connected
60057 one wing with the other, Prince Andrew met Mademoiselle Bourienne
60058 smiling sweetly. It was the third time that day that, with an ecstatic
60059 and artless smile, she had met him in secluded passages.
60060
60061 "Oh! I thought you were in your room," she said, for some reason
60062 blushing and dropping her eyes.
60063
60064 Prince Andrew looked sternly at her and an expression of anger
60065 suddenly came over his face. He said nothing to her but looked at
60066 her forehead and hair, without looking at her eyes, with such contempt
60067 that the Frenchwoman blushed and went away without a word. When he
60068 reached his sister's room his wife was already awake and her merry
60069 voice, hurrying one word after another, came through the open door.
60070 She was speaking as usual in French, and as if after long
60071 self-restraint she wished to make up for lost time.
60072
60073 "No, but imagine the old Countess Zubova, with false curls and her
60074 mouth full of false teeth, as if she were trying to cheat old
60075 age.... Ha, ha, ha! Mary!"
60076
60077 This very sentence about Countess Zubova and this same laugh
60078 Prince Andrew had already heard from his wife in the presence of
60079 others some five times. He entered the room softly. The little
60080 princess, plump and rosy, was sitting in an easy chair with her work
60081 in her hands, talking incessantly, repeating Petersburg
60082 reminiscences and even phrases. Prince Andrew came up, stroked her
60083 hair, and asked if she felt rested after their journey. She answered
60084 him and continued her chatter.
60085
60086 The coach with six horses was waiting at the porch. It was an autumn
60087 night, so dark that the coachman could not see the carriage pole.
60088 Servants with lanterns were bustling about in the porch. The immense
60089 house was brilliant with lights shining through its lofty windows. The
60090 domestic serfs were crowding in the hall, waiting to bid good-by to
60091 the young prince. The members of the household were all gathered in
60092 the reception hall: Michael Ivanovich, Mademoiselle Bourienne,
60093 Princess Mary, and the little princess. Prince Andrew had been
60094 called to his father's study as the latter wished to say good-by to
60095 him alone. All were waiting for them to come out.
60096
60097 When Prince Andrew entered the study the old man in his old-age
60098 spectacles and white dressing gown, in which he received no one but
60099 his son, sat at the table writing. He glanced round.
60100
60101 "Going?" And he went on writing.
60102
60103 "I've come to say good-by."
60104
60105 "Kiss me here," and he touched his cheek: "Thanks, thanks!"
60106
60107 "What do you thank me for?"
60108
60109 "For not dilly-dallying and not hanging to a woman's apron
60110 strings. The Service before everything. Thanks, thanks!" And he went
60111 on writing, so that his quill spluttered and squeaked. "If you have
60112 anything to say, say it. These two things can be done together," he
60113 added.
60114
60115 "About my wife... I am ashamed as it is to leave her on your
60116 hands..."
60117
60118 "Why talk nonsense? Say what you want."
60119
60120 "When her confinement is due, send to Moscow for an accoucheur....
60121 Let him be here...."
60122
60123 The old prince stopped writing and, as if not understanding, fixed
60124 his stern eyes on his son.
60125
60126 "I know that no one can help if nature does not do her work," said
60127 Prince Andrew, evidently confused. "I know that out of a million cases
60128 only one goes wrong, but it is her fancy and mine. They have been
60129 telling her things. She has had a dream and is frightened."
60130
60131 "Hm... Hm..." muttered the old prince to himself, finishing what
60132 he was writing. "I'll do it."
60133
60134 He signed with a flourish and suddenly turning to his son began to
60135 laugh.
60136
60137 "It's a bad business, eh?"
60138
60139 "What is bad, Father?"
60140
60141 "The wife!" said the old prince, briefly and significantly.
60142
60143 "I don't understand!" said Prince Andrew.
60144
60145 "No, it can't be helped, lad," said the prince. "They're all like
60146 that; one can't unmarry. Don't be afraid; I won't tell anyone, but you
60147 know it yourself."
60148
60149 He seized his son by the hand with small bony fingers, shook it,
60150 looked straight into his son's face with keen eyes which seemed to see
60151 through him, and again laughed his frigid laugh.
60152
60153 The son sighed, thus admitting that his father had understood him.
60154 The old man continued to fold and seal his letter, snatching up and
60155 throwing down the wax, the seal, and the paper, with his accustomed
60156 rapidity.
60157
60158 "What's to be done? She's pretty! I will do everything. Make your
60159 mind easy," said he in abrupt sentences while sealing his letter.
60160
60161 Andrew did not speak; he was both pleased and displeased that his
60162 father understood him. The old man got up and gave the letter to his
60163 son.
60164
60165 "Listen!" said he; "don't worry about your wife: what can be done
60166 shall be. Now listen! Give this letter to Michael Ilarionovich.* I
60167 have written that he should make use of you in proper places and not
60168 keep you long as an adjutant: a bad position! Tell him I remember
60169 and like him. Write and tell me how he receives you. If he is all
60170 right--serve him. Nicholas Bolkonski's son need not serve under anyone
60171 if he is in disfavor. Now come here."
60172
60173
60174 *Kutuzov.
60175
60176
60177 He spoke so rapidly that he did not finish half his words, but his
60178 son was accustomed to understand him. He led him to the desk, raised
60179 the lid, drew out a drawer, and took out an exercise book filled
60180 with his bold, tall, close handwriting.
60181
60182 "I shall probably die before you. So remember, these are my memoirs;
60183 hand them to the Emperor after my death. Now here is a Lombard bond
60184 and a letter; it is a premium for the man who writes a history of
60185 Suvorov's wars. Send it to the Academy. Here are some jottings for you
60186 to read when I am gone. You will find them useful."
60187
60188 Andrew did not tell his father that he would no doubt live a long
60189 time yet. He felt that he must not say it.
60190
60191 "I will do it all, Father," he said.
60192
60193 "Well, now, good-by!" He gave his son his hand to kiss, and embraced
60194 him. "Remember this, Prince Andrew, if they kill you it will hurt
60195 me, your old father..." he paused unexpectedly, and then in a
60196 querulous voice suddenly shrieked: "but if I hear that you have not
60197 behaved like a son of Nicholas Bolkonski, I shall be ashamed!"
60198
60199 "You need not have said that to me, Father," said the son with a
60200 smile.
60201
60202 The old man was silent.
60203
60204 "I also wanted to ask you," continued Prince Andrew, "if I'm
60205 killed and if I have a son, do not let him be taken away from you-
60206 as I said yesterday... let him grow up with you.... Please."
60207
60208 "Not let the wife have him?" said the old man, and laughed.
60209
60210 They stood silent, facing one another. The old man's sharp eyes were
60211 fixed straight on his son's. Something twitched in the lower part of
60212 the old prince's face.
60213
60214 "We've said good-by. Go!" he suddenly shouted in a loud, angry
60215 voice, opening his door.
60216
60217 "What is it? What?" asked both princesses when they saw for a moment
60218 at the door Prince Andrew and the figure of the old man in a white
60219 dressing gown, spectacled and wigless, shouting in an angry voice.
60220
60221 Prince Andrew sighed and made no reply.
60222
60223 "Well!" he said, turning to his wife.
60224
60225 And this "Well!" sounded coldly ironic, as if he were saying,:
60226 "Now go through your performance."
60227
60228 "Andrew, already!" said the little princess, turning pale and
60229 looking with dismay at her husband.
60230
60231 He embraced her. She screamed and fell unconscious on his shoulder.
60232
60233 He cautiously released the shoulder she leaned on, looked into her
60234 face, and carefully placed her in an easy chair.
60235
60236 "Adieu, Mary," said he gently to his sister, taking her by the
60237 hand and kissing her, and then he left the room with rapid steps.
60238
60239 The little princess lay in the armchair, Mademoiselle Bourienne
60240 chafing her temples. Princess Mary, supporting her sister-in-law,
60241 still looked with her beautiful eyes full of tears at the door through
60242 which Prince Andrew had gone and made the sign of the cross in his
60243 direction. From the study, like pistol shots, came the frequent
60244 sound of the old man angrily blowing his nose. Hardly had Prince
60245 Andrew gone when the study door opened quickly and the stern figure of
60246 the old man in the white dressing gown looked out.
60247
60248 "Gone? That's all right!" said he; and looking angrily at the
60249 unconscious little princess, he shook his head reprovingly and slammed
60250 the door.
60251
60252
60253
60254
60255
60256 BOOK TWO: 1805
60257
60258
60259
60260
60261
60262 CHAPTER I
60263
60264
60265 In October, 1805, a Russian army was occupying the villages and
60266 towns of the Archduchy of Austria, and yet other regiments freshly
60267 arriving from Russia were settling near the fortress of Braunau and
60268 burdening the inhabitants on whom they were quartered. Braunau was the
60269 headquarters of the commander-in-chief, Kutuzov.
60270
60271 On October 11, 1805, one of the infantry regiments that had just
60272 reached Braunau had halted half a mile from the town, waiting to be
60273 inspected by the commander in chief. Despite the un-Russian appearance
60274 of the locality and surroundings--fruit gardens, stone fences, tiled
60275 roofs, and hills in the distance--and despite the fact that the
60276 inhabitants (who gazed with curiosity at the soldiers) were not
60277 Russians, the regiment had just the appearance of any Russian regiment
60278 preparing for an inspection anywhere in the heart of Russia.
60279
60280 On the evening of the last day's march an order had been received
60281 that the commander in chief would inspect the regiment on the march.
60282 Though the words of the order were not clear to the regimental
60283 commander, and the question arose whether the troops were to be in
60284 marching order or not, it was decided at a consultation between the
60285 battalion commanders to present the regiment in parade order, on the
60286 principle that it is always better to "bow too low than not bow low
60287 enough." So the soldiers, after a twenty-mile march, were kept mending
60288 and cleaning all night long without closing their eyes, while the
60289 adjutants and company commanders calculated and reckoned, and by
60290 morning the regiment--instead of the straggling, disorderly crowd it
60291 had been on its last march the day before--presented a well-ordered
60292 array of two thousand men each of whom knew his place and his duty,
60293 had every button and every strap in place, and shone with cleanliness.
60294 And not only externally was all in order, but had it pleased the
60295 commander in chief to look under the uniforms he would have found on
60296 every man a clean shirt, and in every knapsack the appointed number of
60297 articles, "awl, soap, and all," as the soldiers say. There was only
60298 one circumstance concerning which no one could be at ease. It was
60299 the state of the soldiers' boots. More than half the men's boots
60300 were in holes. But this defect was not due to any fault of the
60301 regimental commander, for in spite of repeated demands boots had not
60302 been issued by the Austrian commissariat, and the regiment had marched
60303 some seven hundred miles.
60304
60305 The commander of the regiment was an elderly, choleric, stout, and
60306 thick-set general with grizzled eyebrows and whiskers, and wider
60307 from chest to back than across the shoulders. He had on a brand-new
60308 uniform showing the creases where it had been folded and thick gold
60309 epaulettes which seemed to stand rather than lie down on his massive
60310 shoulders. He had the air of a man happily performing one of the
60311 most solemn duties of his life. He walked about in front of the line
60312 and at every step pulled himself up, slightly arching his back. It was
60313 plain that the commander admired his regiment, rejoiced in it, and
60314 that his whole mind was engrossed by it, yet his strut seemed to
60315 indicate that, besides military matters, social interests and the fair
60316 sex occupied no small part of his thoughts.
60317
60318 "Well, Michael Mitrich, sir?" he said, addressing one of the
60319 battalion commanders who smilingly pressed forward (it was plain
60320 that they both felt happy). "We had our hands full last night.
60321 However, I think the regiment is not a bad one, eh?"
60322
60323 The battalion commander perceived the jovial irony and laughed.
60324
60325 "It would not be turned off the field even on the Tsaritsin Meadow."
60326
60327 "What?" asked the commander.
60328
60329 At that moment, on the road from the town on which signalers had
60330 been posted, two men appeared on horse back. They were an
60331 aide-de-camp followed by a Cossack.
60332
60333 The aide-de-camp was sent to confirm the order which had not been
60334 clearly worded the day before, namely, that the commander in chief
60335 wished to see the regiment just in the state in which it had been on
60336 the march: in their greatcoats, and packs, and without any preparation
60337 whatever.
60338
60339 A member of the Hofkriegsrath from Vienna had come to Kutuzov the
60340 day before with proposals and demands for him to join up with the army
60341 of the Archduke Ferdinand and Mack, and Kutuzov, not considering
60342 this junction advisable, meant, among other arguments in support of
60343 his view, to show the Austrian general the wretched state in which the
60344 troops arrived from Russia. With this object he intended to meet the
60345 regiment; so the worse the condition it was in, the better pleased the
60346 commander in chief would be. Though the aide-de-camp did not know
60347 these circumstances, he nevertheless delivered the definite order that
60348 the men should be in their greatcoats and in marching order, and
60349 that the commander in chief would otherwise be dissatisfied. On
60350 hearing this the regimental commander hung his head, silently shrugged
60351 his shoulders, and spread out his arms with a choleric gesture.
60352
60353 "A fine mess we've made of it!" he remarked.
60354
60355 "There now! Didn't I tell you, Michael Mitrich, that if it was
60356 said 'on the march' it meant in greatcoats?" said he reproachfully
60357 to the battalion commander. "Oh, my God!" he added, stepping
60358 resolutely forward. "Company commanders!" he shouted in a voice
60359 accustomed to command. "Sergeants major!... How soon will he be here?"
60360 he asked the aide-de-camp with a respectful politeness evidently
60361 relating to the personage he was referring to.
60362
60363 "In an hour's time, I should say."
60364
60365 "Shall we have time to change clothes?"
60366
60367 "I don't know, General...."
60368
60369 The regimental commander, going up to the line himself, ordered
60370 the soldiers to change into their greatcoats. The company commanders
60371 ran off to their companies, the sergeants major began bustling (the
60372 greatcoats were not in very good condition), and instantly the squares
60373 that had up to then been in regular order and silent began to sway and
60374 stretch and hum with voices. On all sides soldiers were running to and
60375 fro, throwing up their knapsacks with a jerk of their shoulders and
60376 pulling the straps over their heads, unstrapping their overcoats and
60377 drawing the sleeves on with upraised arms.
60378
60379 In half an hour all was again in order, only the squares had
60380 become gray instead of black. The regimental commander walked with his
60381 jerky steps to the front of the regiment and examined it from a
60382 distance.
60383
60384 "Whatever is this? This!" he shouted and stood still. "Commander
60385 of the third company!"
60386
60387 "Commander of the third company wanted by the general!...
60388 commander to the general... third company to the commander." The words
60389 passed along the lines and an adjutant ran to look for the missing
60390 officer.
60391
60392 When the eager but misrepeated words had reached their destination
60393 in a cry of: "The general to the third company," the missing officer
60394 appeared from behind his company and, though he was a middle-aged
60395 man and not in the habit of running, trotted awkwardly stumbling on
60396 his toes toward the general. The captain's face showed the
60397 uneasiness of a schoolboy who is told to repeat a lesson he has not
60398 learned. Spots appeared on his nose, the redness of which was
60399 evidently due to intemperance, and his mouth twitched nervously. The
60400 general looked the captain up and down as he came up panting,
60401 slackening his pace as he approached.
60402
60403 "You will soon be dressing your men in petticoats! What is this?"
60404 shouted the regimental commander, thrusting forward his jaw and
60405 pointing at a soldier in the ranks of the third company in a greatcoat
60406 of bluish cloth, which contrasted with the others. "What have you been
60407 after? The commander in chief is expected and you leave your place?
60408 Eh? I'll teach you to dress the men in fancy coats for a parade....
60409 Eh...?"
60410
60411 The commander of the company, with his eyes fixed on his superior,
60412 pressed two fingers more and more rigidly to his cap, as if in this
60413 pressure lay his only hope of salvation.
60414
60415 "Well, why don't you speak? Whom have you got there dressed up as
60416 a Hungarian?" said the commander with an austere gibe.
60417
60418 "Your excellency..."
60419
60420 "Well, your excellency, what? Your excellency! But what about your
60421 excellency?... nobody knows."
60422
60423 "Your excellency, it's the officer Dolokhov, who has been reduced to
60424 the ranks," said the captain softly.
60425
60426 "Well? Has he been degraded into a field marshal, or into a soldier?
60427 If a soldier, he should be dressed in regulation uniform like the
60428 others."
60429
60430 "Your excellency, you gave him leave yourself, on the march."
60431
60432 "Gave him leave? Leave? That's just like you young men," said the
60433 regimental commander cooling down a little. "Leave indeed.... One says
60434 a word to you and you... What?" he added with renewed irritation, "I
60435 beg you to dress your men decently."
60436
60437 And the commander, turning to look at the adjutant, directed his
60438 jerky steps down the line. He was evidently pleased at his own display
60439 of anger and walking up to the regiment wished to find a further
60440 excuse for wrath. Having snapped at an officer for an unpolished
60441 badge, at another because his line was not straight, he reached the
60442 third company.
60443
60444 "H-o-o-w are you standing? Where's your leg? Your leg?" shouted
60445 the commander with a tone of suffering in his voice, while there
60446 were still five men between him and Dolokhov with his bluish-gray
60447 uniform.
60448
60449 Dolokhov slowly straightened his bent knee, looking straight with
60450 his clear, insolent eyes in the general's face.
60451
60452 "Why a blue coat? Off with it... Sergeant major! Change his
60453 coat... the ras..." he did not finish.
60454
60455 "General, I must obey orders, but I am not bound to endure..."
60456 Dolokhov hurriedly interrupted.
60457
60458 "No talking in the ranks!... No talking, no talking!"
60459
60460 "Not bound to endure insults," Dolokhov concluded in loud, ringing
60461 tones.
60462
60463 The eyes of the general and the soldier met. The general became
60464 silent, angrily pulling down his tight scarf.
60465
60466 "I request you to have the goodness to change your coat," he said as
60467 he turned away.
60468
60469
60470
60471
60472
60473 CHAPTER II
60474
60475
60476 "He's coming!" shouted the signaler at that moment.
60477
60478 The regimental commander, flushing, ran to his horse, seized the
60479 stirrup with trembling hands, threw his body across the saddle,
60480 righted himself, drew his saber, and with a happy and resolute
60481 countenance, opening his mouth awry, prepared to shout. The regiment
60482 fluttered like a bird preening its plumage and became motionless.
60483
60484 "Att-ention!" shouted the regimental commander in a soul-shaking
60485 voice which expressed joy for himself, severity for the regiment,
60486 and welcome for the approaching chief.
60487
60488 Along the broad country road, edged on both sides by trees, came a
60489 high, light blue Viennese caleche, slightly creaking on its springs
60490 and drawn by six horses at a smart trot. Behind the caleche galloped
60491 the suite and a convoy of Croats. Beside Kutuzov sat an Austrian
60492 general, in a white uniform that looked strange among the Russian
60493 black ones. The caleche stopped in front of the regiment. Kutuzov
60494 and the Austrian general were talking in low voices and Kutuzov smiled
60495 slightly as treading heavily he stepped down from the carriage just as
60496 if those two thousand men breathlessly gazing at him and the
60497 regimental commander did not exist.
60498
60499 The word of command rang out, and again the regiment quivered, as
60500 with a jingling sound it presented arms. Then amidst a dead silence
60501 the feeble voice of the commander in chief was heard. The regiment
60502 roared, "Health to your ex... len... len... lency!" and again all
60503 became silent. At first Kutuzov stood still while the regiment
60504 moved; then he and the general in white, accompanied by the suite,
60505 walked between the ranks.
60506
60507 From the way the regimental commander saluted the commander in chief
60508 and devoured him with his eyes, drawing himself up obsequiously, and
60509 from the way he walked through the ranks behind the generals,
60510 bending forward and hardly able to restrain his jerky movements, and
60511 from the way he darted forward at every word or gesture of the
60512 commander in chief, it was evident that he performed his duty as a
60513 subordinate with even greater zeal than his duty as a commander.
60514 Thanks to the strictness and assiduity of its commander the
60515 regiment, in comparison with others that had reached Braunau at the
60516 same time, was in splendid condition. There were only 217 sick and
60517 stragglers. Everything was in good order except the boots.
60518
60519 Kutuzov walked through the ranks, sometimes stopping to say a few
60520 friendly words to officers he had known in the Turkish war,
60521 sometimes also to the soldiers. Looking at their boots he several
60522 times shook his head sadly, pointing them out to the Austrian
60523 general with an expression which seemed to say that he was not blaming
60524 anyone, but could not help noticing what a bad state of things it was.
60525 The regimental commander ran forward on each such occasion, fearing to
60526 miss a single word of the commander in chief's regarding the regiment.
60527 Behind Kutuzov, at a distance that allowed every softly spoken word to
60528 be heard, followed some twenty men of his suite. These gentlemen
60529 talked among themselves and sometimes laughed. Nearest of all to the
60530 commander in chief walked a handsome adjutant. This was Prince
60531 Bolkonski. Beside him was his comrade Nesvitski, a tall staff officer,
60532 extremely stout, with a kindly, smiling, handsome face and moist eyes.
60533 Nesvitski could hardly keep from laughter provoked by a swarthy hussar
60534 officer who walked beside him. This hussar, with a grave face and
60535 without a smile or a change in the expression of his fixed eyes,
60536 watched the regimental commander's back and mimicked his every
60537 movement. Each time the commander started and bent forward, the hussar
60538 started and bent forward in exactly the same manner. Nesvitski laughed
60539 and nudged the others to make them look at the wag.
60540
60541 Kutuzov walked slowly and languidly past thousands of eyes which
60542 were starting from their sockets to watch their chief. On reaching the
60543 third company he suddenly stopped. His suite, not having expected
60544 this, involuntarily came closer to him.
60545
60546 "Ah, Timokhin!" said he, recognizing the red-nosed captain who had
60547 been reprimanded on account of the blue greatcoat.
60548
60549 One would have thought it impossible for a man to stretch himself
60550 more than Timokhin had done when he was reprimanded by the
60551 regimental commander, but now that the commander in chief addressed
60552 him he drew himself up to such an extent that it seemed he could not
60553 have sustained it had the commander in chief continued to look at him,
60554 and so Kutuzov, who evidently understood his case and wished him
60555 nothing but good, quickly turned away, a scarcely perceptible smile
60556 flitting over his scarred and puffy face.
60557
60558 "Another Ismail comrade," said he. "A brave officer! Are you
60559 satisfied with him?" he asked the regimental commander.
60560
60561 And the latter--unconscious that he was being reflected in the
60562 hussar officer as in a looking glass--started, moved forward, and
60563 answered: "Highly satisfied, your excellency!"
60564
60565 "We all have our weaknesses," said Kutuzov smiling and walking
60566 away from him. "He used to have a predilection for Bacchus."
60567
60568 The regimental commander was afraid he might be blamed for this
60569 and did not answer. The hussar at that moment noticed the face of
60570 the red-nosed captain and his drawn-in stomach, and mimicked his
60571 expression and pose with such exactitude that Nesvitski could not help
60572 laughing. Kutuzov turned round. The officer evidently had complete
60573 control of his face, and while Kutuzov was turning managed to make a
60574 grimace and then assume a most serious, deferential, and innocent
60575 expression.
60576
60577 The third company was the last, and Kutuzov pondered, apparently
60578 trying to recollect something. Prince Andrew stepped forward from
60579 among the suite and said in French:
60580
60581 "You told me to remind you of the officer Dolokhov, reduced to the
60582 ranks in this regiment."
60583
60584 "Where is Dolokhov?" asked Kutuzov.
60585
60586 Dolokhov, who had already changed into a soldier's gray greatcoat,
60587 did not wait to be called. The shapely figure of the fair-haired
60588 soldier, with his clear blue eyes, stepped forward from the ranks,
60589 went up to the commander in chief, and presented arms.
60590
60591 "Have you a complaint to make?" Kutuzov asked with a slight frown.
60592
60593 "This is Dolokhov," said Prince Andrew.
60594
60595 "Ah!" said Kutuzov. "I hope this will be a lesson to you. Do your
60596 duty. The Emperor is gracious, and I shan't forget you if you
60597 deserve well."
60598
60599 The clear blue eyes looked at the commander in chief just as
60600 boldly as they had looked at the regimental commander, seeming by
60601 their expression to tear open the veil of convention that separates
60602 a commander in chief so widely from a private.
60603
60604 "One thing I ask of your excellency," Dolokhov said in his firm,
60605 ringing, deliberate voice. "I ask an opportunity to atone for my fault
60606 and prove my devotion to His Majesty the Emperor and to Russia!"
60607
60608 Kutuzov turned away. The same smile of the eyes with which he had
60609 turned from Captain Timokhin again flitted over his face. He turned
60610 away with a grimace as if to say that everything Dolokhov had said
60611 to him and everything he could say had long been known to him, that he
60612 was weary of it and it was not at all what he wanted. He turned away
60613 and went to the carriage.
60614
60615 The regiment broke up into companies, which went to their
60616 appointed quarters near Braunau, where they hoped to receive boots and
60617 clothes and to rest after their hard marches.
60618
60619 "You won't bear me a grudge, Prokhor Ignatych?" said the
60620 regimental commander, overtaking the third company on its way to its
60621 quarters and riding up to Captain Timokhin who was walking in front.
60622 (The regimental commander's face now that the inspection was happily
60623 over beamed with irrepressible delight.) "It's in the Emperor's
60624 service... it can't be helped... one is sometimes a bit hasty on
60625 parade... I am the first to apologize, you know me!... He was very
60626 pleased!" And he held out his hand to the captain.
60627
60628 "Don't mention it, General, as if I'd be so bold!" replied the
60629 captain, his nose growing redder as he gave a smile which showed where
60630 two front teeth were missing that had been knocked out by the butt end
60631 of a gun at Ismail.
60632
60633 "And tell Mr. Dolokhov that I won't forget him--he may be quite
60634 easy. And tell me, please--I've been meaning to ask--how is to ask-
60635 how is he behaving himself, and in general..."
60636
60637 "As far as the service goes he is quite punctilious, your
60638 excellency; but his character..." said Timokhin.
60639
60640 "And what about his character?" asked the regimental commander.
60641
60642 "It's different on different days," answered the captain. "One day
60643 he is sensible, well educated, and good-natured, and the next he's a
60644 wild beast.... In Poland, if you please, he nearly killed a Jew."
60645
60646 "Oh, well, well!" remarked the regimental commander. "Still, one
60647 must have pity on a young man in misfortune. You know he has important
60648 connections... Well, then, you just..."
60649
60650 "I will, your excellency," said Timokhin, showing by his smile
60651 that he understood his commander's wish.
60652
60653 "Well, of course, of course!"
60654
60655 The regimental commander sought out Dolokhov in the ranks and,
60656 reining in his horse, said to him:
60657
60658 "After the next affair... epaulettes."
60659
60660 Dolokhov looked round but did not say anything, nor did the
60661 mocking smile on his lips change.
60662
60663 "Well, that's all right," continued the regimental commander. "A cup
60664 of vodka for the men from me," he added so that the soldiers could
60665 hear. "I thank you all! God be praised!" and he rode past that company
60666 and overtook the next one.
60667
60668 "Well, he's really a good fellow, one can serve under him," said
60669 Timokhin to the subaltern beside him.
60670
60671 "In a word, a hearty one..." said the subaltern, laughing (the
60672 regimental commander was nicknamed King of Hearts).
60673
60674 The cheerful mood of their officers after the inspection infected
60675 the soldiers. The company marched on gaily. The soldiers' voices could
60676 be heard on every side.
60677
60678 "And they said Kutuzov was blind of one eye?"
60679
60680 "And so he is! Quite blind!"
60681
60682 "No, friend, he is sharper-eyed than you are. Boots and leg bands...
60683 he noticed everything..."
60684
60685 "When he looked at my feet, friend... well, thinks I..."
60686
60687 "And that other one with him, the Austrian, looked as if he were
60688 smeared with chalk--as white as flour! I suppose they polish him up as
60689 they do the guns."
60690
60691 "I say, Fedeshon!... Did he say when the battles are to begin? You
60692 were near him. Everybody said that Buonaparte himself was at Braunau."
60693
60694 "Buonaparte himself!... Just listen to the fool, what he doesn't
60695 know! The Prussians are up in arms now. The Austrians, you see, are
60696 putting them down. When they've been put down, the war with Buonaparte
60697 will begin. And he says Buonaparte is in Braunau! Shows you're a fool.
60698 You'd better listen more carefully!"
60699
60700 "What devils these quartermasters are! See, the fifth company is
60701 turning into the village already... they will have their buckwheat
60702 cooked before we reach our quarters."
60703
60704 "Give me a biscuit, you devil!"
60705
60706 "And did you give me tobacco yesterday? That's just it, friend!
60707 Ah, well, never mind, here you are."
60708
60709 "They might call a halt here or we'll have to do another four
60710 miles without eating."
60711
60712 "Wasn't it fine when those Germans gave us lifts! You just sit still
60713 and are drawn along."
60714
60715 "And here, friend, the people are quite beggarly. There they all
60716 seemed to be Poles--all under the Russian crown--but here they're
60717 all regular Germans."
60718
60719 "Singers to the front " came the captain's order.
60720
60721 And from the different ranks some twenty men ran to the front. A
60722 drummer, their leader, turned round facing the singers, and
60723 flourishing his arm, began a long-drawn-out soldiers' song, commencing
60724 with the words: "Morning dawned, the sun was rising," and
60725 concluding: "On then, brothers, on to glory, led by Father
60726
60727 Kamenski." This song had been composed in the Turkish campaign and now
60728 being sung in Austria, the only change being that the words "Father
60729 Kamenski" were replaced by "Father Kutuzov."
60730
60731 Having jerked out these last words as soldiers do and waved his arms
60732 as if flinging something to the ground, the drummer--a lean,
60733 handsome soldier of forty--looked sternly at the singers and screwed
60734 up his eyes. Then having satisfied himself that all eyes were fixed on
60735 him, he raised both arms as if carefully lifting some invisible but
60736 precious object above his head and, holding it there for some seconds,
60737 suddenly flung it down and began:
60738
60739 "Oh, my bower, oh, my bower...!"
60740
60741 "Oh, my bower new...!" chimed in twenty voices, and the castanet
60742 player, in spite of the burden of his equipment, rushed out to the
60743 front and, walking backwards before the company, jerked his
60744 shoulders and flourished his castanets as if threatening someone.
60745 The soldiers, swinging their arms and keeping time spontaneously,
60746 marched with long steps. Behind the company the sound of wheels, the
60747 creaking of springs, and the tramp of horses' hoofs were heard.
60748 Kutuzov and his suite were returning to the town. The commander in
60749 chief made a sign that the men should continue to march at ease, and
60750 he and all his suite showed pleasure at the sound of the singing and
60751 the sight of the dancing soldier and the gay and smartly marching men.
60752 In the second file from the right flank, beside which the carriage
60753 passed the company, a blue-eyed soldier involuntarily attracted
60754 notice. It was Dolokhov marching with particular grace and boldness in
60755 time to the song and looking at those driving past as if he pitied all
60756 who were not at that moment marching with the company. The hussar
60757 cornet of Kutuzov's suite who had mimicked the regimental commander,
60758 fell back from the carriage and rode up to Dolokhov.
60759
60760 Hussar cornet Zherkov had at one time, in Petersburg, belonged to
60761 the wild set led by Dolokhov. Zherkov had met Dolokhov abroad as a
60762 private and had not seen fit to recognize him. But now that Kutuzov
60763 had spoken to the gentleman ranker, he addressed him with the
60764 cordiality of an old friend.
60765
60766 "My dear fellow, how are you?" said he through the singing, making
60767 his horse keep pace with the company.
60768
60769 "How am I?" Dolokhov answered coldly. "I am as you see."
60770
60771 The lively song gave a special flavor to the tone of free and easy
60772 gaiety with which Zherkov spoke, and to the intentional coldness of
60773 Dolokhov's reply.
60774
60775 "And how do you get on with the officers?" inquired Zherkov.
60776
60777 "All right. They are good fellows. And how have you wriggled onto
60778 the staff?"
60779
60780 "I was attached; I'm on duty."
60781
60782 Both were silent.
60783
60784 "She let the hawk fly upward from her wide right sleeve," went the
60785 song, arousing an involuntary sensation of courage and cheerfulness.
60786 Their conversation would probably have been different but for the
60787 effect of that song.
60788
60789 "Is it true that Austrians have been beaten?" asked Dolokhov.
60790
60791 "The devil only knows! They say so."
60792
60793 "I'm glad," answered Dolokhov briefly and clearly, as the song
60794 demanded.
60795
60796 "I say, come round some evening and we'll have a game of faro!" said
60797 Zherkov.
60798
60799 "Why, have you too much money?"
60800
60801 "Do come."
60802
60803 "I can't. I've sworn not to. I won't drink and won't play till I get
60804 reinstated."
60805
60806 "Well, that's only till the first engagement."
60807
60808 "We shall see."
60809
60810 They were again silent.
60811
60812 "Come if you need anything. One can at least be of use on the
60813 staff..."
60814
60815 Dolokhov smiled. "Don't trouble. If I want anything, I won't beg-
60816 I'll take it!"
60817
60818 "Well, never mind; I only..."
60819
60820 "And I only..."
60821
60822 "Good-by."
60823
60824 "Good health..."
60825
60826 "It's a long, long way.
60827 To my native land..."
60828
60829
60830 Zherkov touched his horse with the spurs; it pranced excitedly
60831 from foot to foot uncertain with which to start, then settled down,
60832 galloped past the company, and overtook the carriage, still keeping
60833 time to the song.
60834
60835
60836
60837
60838
60839 CHAPTER III
60840
60841
60842 On returning from the review, Kutuzov took the Austrian general into
60843 his private room and, calling his adjutant, asked for some papers
60844 relating to the condition of the troops on their arrival, and the
60845 letters that had come from the Archduke Ferdinand, who was in
60846 command of the advanced army. Prince Andrew Bolkonski came into the
60847 room with the required papers. Kutuzov and the Austrian member of
60848 the Hofkriegsrath were sitting at the table on which a plan was spread
60849 out.
60850
60851 "Ah!..." said Kutuzov glancing at Bolkonski as if by this
60852 exclamation he was asking the adjutant to wait, and he went on with
60853 the conversation in French.
60854
60855 "All I can say, General," said he with a pleasant elegance of
60856 expression and intonation that obliged one to listen to each
60857 deliberately spoken word. It was evident that Kutuzov himself listened
60858 with pleasure to his own voice. "All I can say, General, is that if
60859 the matter depended on my personal wishes, the will of His Majesty the
60860 Emperor Francis would have been fulfilled long ago. I should long
60861 ago have joined the archduke. And believe me on my honour that to me
60862 personally it would be a pleasure to hand over the supreme command
60863 of the army into the hands of a better informed and more skillful
60864 general--of whom Austria has so many--and to lay down all this heavy
60865 responsibility. But circumstances are sometimes too strong for us,
60866 General."
60867
60868 And Kutuzov smiled in a way that seemed to say, "You are quite at
60869 liberty not to believe me and I don't even care whether you do or not,
60870 but you have no grounds for telling me so. And that is the whole
60871 point."
60872
60873 The Austrian general looked dissatisfied, but had no option but to
60874 reply in the same tone.
60875
60876 "On the contrary," he said, in a querulous and angry tone that
60877 contrasted with his flattering words, "on the contrary, your
60878 excellency's participation in the common action is highly valued by
60879 His Majesty; but we think the present delay is depriving the
60880 splendid Russian troops and their commander of the laurels they have
60881 been accustomed to win in their battles," he concluded his evidently
60882 prearranged sentence.
60883
60884 Kutuzov bowed with the same smile.
60885
60886 "But that is my conviction, and judging by the last letter with
60887 which His Highness the Archduke Ferdinand has honored me, I imagine
60888 that the Austrian troops, under the direction of so skillful a
60889 leader as General Mack, have by now already gained a decisive
60890 victory and no longer need our aid," said Kutuzov.
60891
60892 The general frowned. Though there was no definite news of an
60893 Austrian defeat, there were many circumstances confirming the
60894 unfavorable rumors that were afloat, and so Kutuzov's suggestion of an
60895 Austrian victory sounded much like irony. But Kutuzov went on
60896 blandly smiling with the same expression, which seemed to say that
60897 he had a right to suppose so. And, in fact, the last letter he had
60898 received from Mack's army informed him of a victory and stated
60899 strategically the position of the army was very favorable.
60900
60901 "Give me that letter," said Kutuzov turning to Prince Andrew.
60902 "Please have a look at it"--and Kutuzov with an ironical smile about
60903 the corners of his mouth read to the Austrian general the following
60904 passage, in German, from the Archduke Ferdinand's letter:
60905
60906
60907 We have fully concentrated forces of nearly seventy thousand men
60908 with which to attack and defeat the enemy should he cross the Lech.
60909 Also, as we are masters of Ulm, we cannot be deprived of the advantage
60910 of commanding both sides of the Danube, so that should the enemy not
60911 cross the Lech, we can cross the Danube, throw ourselves on his line
60912 of communications, recross the river lower down, and frustrate his
60913 intention should he try to direct his whole force against our faithful
60914 ally. We shall therefore confidently await the moment when the
60915 Imperial Russian army will be fully equipped, and shall then, in
60916 conjunction with it, easily find a way to prepare for the enemy the
60917 fate he deserves.
60918
60919
60920 Kutuzov sighed deeply on finishing this paragraph and looked at
60921 the member of the Hofkriegsrath mildly and attentively.
60922
60923 "But you know the wise maxim your excellency, advising one to expect
60924 the worst," said the Austrian general, evidently wishing to have
60925 done with jests and to come to business. He involuntarily looked round
60926 at the aide-de-camp.
60927
60928 "Excuse me, General," interrupted Kutuzov, also turning to Prince
60929 Andrew. "Look here, my dear fellow, get from Kozlovski all the reports
60930 from our scouts. Here are two letters from Count Nostitz and here is
60931 one from His Highness the Archduke Ferdinand and here are these," he
60932 said, handing him several papers, "make a neat memorandum in French
60933 out of all this, showing all the news we have had of the movements
60934 of the Austrian army, and then give it to his excellency."
60935
60936 Prince Andrew bowed his head in token of having understood from
60937 the first not only what had been said but also what Kutuzov would have
60938 liked to tell him. He gathered up the papers and with a bow to both,
60939 stepped softly over the carpet and went out into the waiting room.
60940
60941 Though not much time had passed since Prince Andrew had left Russia,
60942 he had changed greatly during that period. In the expression of his
60943 face, in his movements, in his walk, scarcely a trace was left of
60944 his former affected languor and indolence. He now looked like a man
60945 who has time to think of the impression he makes on others, but is
60946 occupied with agreeable and interesting work. His face expressed
60947 more satisfaction with himself and those around him, his smile and
60948 glance were brighter and more attractive.
60949
60950 Kutuzov, whom he had overtaken in Poland, had received him very
60951 kindly, promised not to forget him, distinguished him above the
60952 other adjutants, and had taken him to Vienna and given him the more
60953 serious commissions. From Vienna Kutuzov wrote to his old comrade,
60954 Prince Andrew's father.
60955
60956
60957 Your son bids fair to become an officer distinguished by his
60958 industry, firmness, and expedition. I consider myself fortunate to
60959 have such a subordinate by me.
60960
60961
60962 On Kutuzov's staff, among his fellow officers and in the army
60963 generally, Prince Andrew had, as he had had in Petersburg society, two
60964 quite opposite reputations. Some, a minority, acknowledged him to be
60965 different from themselves and from everyone else, expected great
60966 things of him, listened to him, admired, and imitated him, and with
60967 them Prince Andrew was natural and pleasant. Others, the majority,
60968 disliked him and considered him conceited, cold, and disagreeable. But
60969 among these people Prince Andrew knew how to take his stand so that
60970 they respected and even feared him.
60971
60972 Coming out of Kutuzov's room into the waiting room with the papers
60973 in his hand Prince Andrew came up to his comrade, the aide-de-camp
60974 on duty, Kozlovski, who was sitting at the window with a book.
60975
60976 "Well, Prince?" asked Kozlovski.
60977
60978 "I am ordered to write a memorandum explaining why we are not
60979 advancing."
60980
60981 "And why is it?"
60982
60983 Prince Andrew shrugged his shoulders.
60984
60985 "Any news from Mack?"
60986
60987 "No."
60988
60989 "If it were true that he has been beaten, news would have come."
60990
60991 "Probably," said Prince Andrew moving toward the outer door.
60992
60993 But at that instant a tall Austrian general in a greatcoat, with the
60994 order of Maria Theresa on his neck and a black bandage round his head,
60995 who had evidently just arrived, entered quickly, slamming the door.
60996 Prince Andrew stopped short.
60997
60998 "Commander in Chief Kutuzov?" said the newly arrived general
60999 speaking quickly with a harsh German accent, looking to both sides and
61000 advancing straight toward the inner door.
61001
61002 "The commander in chief is engaged," said Kozlovski, going hurriedly
61003 up to the unknown general and blocking his way to the door. "Whom
61004 shall I announce?"
61005
61006 The unknown general looked disdainfully down at Kozlovski, who was
61007 rather short, as if surprised that anyone should not know him.
61008
61009 "The commander in chief is engaged," repeated Kozlovski calmly.
61010
61011 The general's face clouded, his lips quivered and trembled. He
61012 took out a notebook, hurriedly scribbled something in pencil, tore out
61013 the leaf, gave it to Kozlovski, stepped quickly to the window, and
61014 threw himself into a chair, gazing at those in the room as if
61015 asking, "Why do they look at me?" Then he lifted his head, stretched
61016 his neck as if he intended to say something, but immediately, with
61017 affected indifference, began to hum to himself, producing a queer
61018 sound which immediately broke off. The door of the private room opened
61019 and Kutuzov appeared in the doorway. The general with the bandaged
61020 head bent forward as though running away from some danger, and, making
61021 long, quick strides with his thin legs, went up to Kutuzov.
61022
61023 "Vous voyez le malheureux Mack," he uttered in a broken voice.
61024
61025 Kutuzov's face as he stood in the open doorway remained perfectly
61026 immobile for a few moments. Then wrinkles ran over his face like a
61027 wave and his forehead became smooth again, he bowed his head
61028 respectfully, closed his eyes, silently let Mack enter his room before
61029 him, and closed the door himself behind him.
61030
61031 The report which had been circulated that the Austrians had been
61032 beaten and that the whole army had surrendered at Ulm proved to be
61033 correct. Within half an hour adjutants had been sent in various
61034 directions with orders which showed that the Russian troops, who had
61035 hitherto been inactive, would also soon have to meet the enemy.
61036
61037 Prince Andrew was one of those rare staff officers whose chief
61038 interest lay in the general progress of the war. When he saw Mack
61039 and heard the details of his disaster he understood that half the
61040 campaign was lost, understood all the difficulties of the Russian
61041 army's position, and vividly imagined what awaited it and the part
61042 he would have to play. Involuntarily he felt a joyful agitation at the
61043 thought of the humiliation of arrogant Austria and that in a week's
61044 time he might, perhaps, see and take part in the first Russian
61045 encounter with the French since Suvorov met them. He feared that
61046 Bonaparte's genius might outweigh all the courage of the Russian
61047 troops, and at the same time could not admit the idea of his hero
61048 being disgraced.
61049
61050 Excited and irritated by these thoughts Prince Andrew went toward
61051 his room to write to his father, to whom he wrote every day. In the
61052 corridor he met Nesvitski, with whom he shared a room, and the wag
61053 Zherkov; they were as usual laughing.
61054
61055 "Why are you so glum?" asked Nesvitski noticing Prince Andrew's pale
61056 face and glittering eyes.
61057
61058 "There's nothing to be gay about," answered Bolkonski.
61059
61060 Just as Prince Andrew met Nesvitski and Zherkov, there came toward
61061 them from the other end of the corridor, Strauch, an Austrian
61062 general who on Kutuzov's staff in charge of the provisioning of the
61063 Russian army, and the member of the Hofkriegsrath who had arrived
61064 the previous evening. There was room enough in the wide corridor for
61065 the generals to pass the three officers quite easily, but Zherkov,
61066 pushing Nesvitski aside with his arm, said in a breathless voice,
61067
61068 "They're coming!... they're coming!... Stand aside, make way, please
61069 make way!"
61070
61071 The generals were passing by, looking as if they wished to avoid
61072 embarrassing attentions. On the face of the wag Zherkov there suddenly
61073 appeared a stupid smile of glee which he seemed unable to suppress.
61074
61075 "Your excellency," said he in German, stepping forward and
61076 addressing the Austrian general, "I have the honor to congratulate
61077 you."
61078
61079 He bowed his head and scraped first with one foot and then with
61080 the other, awkwardly, like a child at a dancing lesson.
61081
61082 The member of the Hofkriegsrath looked at him severely but, seeing
61083 the seriousness of his stupid smile, could not but give him a moment's
61084 attention. He screwed up his eyes showing that he was listening.
61085
61086 "I have the honor to congratulate you. General Mack has arrived,
61087 quite well, only a little bruised just here," he added, pointing
61088 with a beaming smile to his head.
61089
61090 The general frowned, turned away, and went on.
61091
61092 "Gott, wie naiv!"* said he angrily, after he had gone a few steps.
61093
61094 *"Good God, what simplicity!"
61095
61096
61097 Nesvitski with a laugh threw his arms round Prince Andrew, but
61098 Bolkonski, turning still paler, pushed him away with an angry look and
61099 turned to Zherkov. The nervous irritation aroused by the appearance of
61100 Mack, the news of his defeat, and the thought of what lay before the
61101 Russian army found vent in anger at Zherkov's untimely jest.
61102
61103 "If you, sir, choose to make a buffoon of yourself," he said
61104 sharply, with a slight trembling of the lower jaw, "I can't prevent
61105 your doing so; but I warn you that if you dare to play the fool in
61106 my presence, I will teach you to behave yourself."
61107
61108 Nesvitski and Zherkov were so surprised by this outburst that they
61109 gazed at Bolkonski silently with wide-open eyes.
61110
61111 "What's the matter? I only congratulated them," said Zherkov.
61112
61113 "I am not jesting with you; please be silent!" cried Bolkonski,
61114 and taking Nesvitski's arm he left Zherkov, who did not know what to
61115 say.
61116
61117 "Come, what's the matter, old fellow?" said Nesvitski trying to
61118 soothe him.
61119
61120 "What's the matter?" exclaimed Prince Andrew standing still in his
61121 excitement. "Don't you understand that either we are officers
61122 serving our Tsar and our country, rejoicing in the successes and
61123 grieving at the misfortunes of our common cause, or we are merely
61124 lackeys who care nothing for their master's business. Quarante mille
61125 hommes massacres et l'armee de nos allies detruite, et vous trouvez la
61126 le mot pour rire,"* he said, as if strengthening his views by this
61127 French sentence. "C'est bien pour un garcon de rein comme cet
61128 individu dont vous avez fait un ami, mais pas pour vous, pas pour
61129 vous.*[2] Only a hobbledehoy could amuse himself in this way," he
61130 added in Russian--but pronouncing the word with a French accent-
61131 having noticed that Zherkov could still hear him.
61132
61133
61134 *"Forty thousand men massacred and the army of our allies destroyed,
61135 and you find that a cause for jesting!"
61136
61137 *[2] "It is all very well for that good-for-nothing fellow of whom
61138 you have made a friend, but not for you, not for you."
61139
61140
61141 He waited a moment to see whether the cornet would answer, but he
61142 turned and went out of the corridor.
61143
61144
61145
61146
61147
61148 CHAPTER IV
61149
61150
61151 The Pavlograd Hussars were stationed two miles from Braunau. The
61152 squadron in which Nicholas Rostov served as a cadet was quartered in
61153 the German village of Salzeneck. The best quarters in the village were
61154 assigned to cavalry-captain Denisov, the squadron commander, known
61155 throughout the whole cavalry division as Vaska Denisov. Cadet
61156 Rostov, ever since he had overtaken the regiment in Poland, had
61157 lived with the squadron commander.
61158
61159 On October 11, the day when all was astir at headquarters over the
61160 news of Mack's defeat, the camp life of the officers of this
61161 squadron was proceeding as usual. Denisov, who had been losing at
61162 cards all night, had not yet come home when Rostov rode back early
61163 in the morning from a foraging expedition. Rostov in his cadet
61164 uniform, with a jerk to his horse, rode up to the porch, swung his leg
61165 over the saddle with a supple youthful movement, stood for a moment in
61166 the stirrup as if loathe to part from his horse, and at last sprang
61167 down and called to his orderly.
61168
61169 "Ah, Bondarenko, dear friend!" said he to the hussar who rushed up
61170 headlong to the horse. "Walk him up and down, my dear fellow," he
61171 continued, with that gay brotherly cordiality which goodhearted
61172 young people show to everyone when they are happy.
61173
61174 "Yes, your excellency," answered the Ukrainian gaily, tossing his
61175 head.
61176
61177 "Mind, walk him up and down well!"
61178
61179 Another hussar also rushed toward the horse, but Bondarenko had
61180 already thrown the reins of the snaffle bridle over the horse's
61181 head. It was evident that the cadet was liberal with his tips and that
61182 it paid to serve him. Rostov patted the horse's neck and then his
61183 flank, and lingered for a moment.
61184
61185 "Splendid! What a horse he will be!" he thought with a smile, and
61186 holding up his saber, his spurs jingling, he ran up the steps of the
61187 porch. His landlord, who in a waistcoat and a pointed cap, pitchfork
61188 in hand, was clearing manure from the cowhouse, looked out, and his
61189 face immediately brightened on seeing Rostov. "Schon gut Morgen! Schon
61190 gut Morgen!"* he said winking with a merry smile, evidently pleased to
61191 greet the young man.
61192
61193
61194 *"A very good morning! A very good morning!"
61195
61196
61197 "Schon fleissig?"* said Rostov with the same gay brotherly smile
61198 which did not leave his eager face. "Hoch Oestreicher! Hoch Russen!
61199 Kaiser Alexander hoch!"*[2] said he, quoting words often repeated by
61200 the German landlord.
61201
61202
61203 *"Busy already?"
61204
61205 *[2] "Hurrah for the Austrians! Hurrah for the Russians! Hurrah
61206 for Emperor Alexander!"
61207
61208
61209 The German laughed, came out of the cowshed, pulled off his cap, and
61210 waving it above his head cried:
61211
61212 "Und die ganze Welt hoch!"*
61213
61214
61215 *"And hurrah for the whole world!"
61216
61217
61218 Rostov waved his cap above his head like the German and cried
61219 laughing, "Und vivat die ganze Welt!" Though neither the German
61220 cleaning his cowshed nor Rostov back with his platoon from foraging
61221 for hay had any reason for rejoicing, they looked at each other with
61222 joyful delight and brotherly love, wagged their heads in token of
61223 their mutual affection, and parted smiling, the German returning to
61224 his cowshed and Rostov going to the cottage he occupied with Denisov.
61225
61226 "What about your master?" he asked Lavrushka, Denisov's orderly,
61227 whom all the regiment knew for a rogue.
61228
61229 "Hasn't been in since the evening. Must have been losing,"
61230 answered Lavrushka. "I know by now, if he wins he comes back early
61231 to brag about it, but if he stays out till morning it means he's
61232 lost and will come back in a rage. Will you have coffee?"
61233
61234 "Yes, bring some."
61235
61236 Ten minutes later Lavrushka brought the coffee. "He's coming!"
61237 said he. "Now for trouble!" Rostov looked out of the window and saw
61238 Denisov coming home. Denisov was a small man with a red face,
61239 sparkling black eyes, and black tousled mustache and hair. He wore
61240 an unfastened cloak, wide breeches hanging down in creases, and a
61241 crumpled shako on the back of his head. He came up to the porch
61242 gloomily, hanging his head.
61243
61244 "Lavwuska!" he shouted loudly and angrily, "take it off, blockhead!"
61245
61246 "Well, I am taking it off," replied Lavrushka's voice.
61247
61248 "Ah, you're up already," said Denisov, entering the room.
61249
61250 "Long ago," answered Rostov, "I have already been for the hay, and
61251 have seen Fraulein Mathilde."
61252
61253 "Weally! And I've been losing, bwother. I lost yesterday like a
61254 damned fool!" cried Denisov, not pronouncing his r's. "Such ill
61255 luck! Such ill luck. As soon as you left, it began and went on.
61256 Hullo there! Tea!"
61257
61258 Puckering up his face though smiling, and showing his short strong
61259 teeth, he began with stubby fingers of both hands to ruffle up his
61260 thick tangled black hair.
61261
61262 "And what devil made me go to that wat?" (an officer nicknamed
61263 "the rat") he said, rubbing his forehead and whole face with both
61264 hands. "Just fancy, he didn't let me win a single cahd, not one cahd."
61265
61266 He took the lighted pipe that was offered to him, gripped it in
61267 his fist, and tapped it on the floor, making the sparks fly, while
61268 he continued to shout.
61269
61270 "He lets one win the singles and collahs it as soon as one doubles
61271 it; gives the singles and snatches the doubles!"
61272
61273 He scattered the burning tobacco, smashed the pipe, and threw it
61274 away. Then he remained silent for a while, and all at once looked
61275 cheerfully with his glittering, black eyes at Rostov.
61276
61277 "If at least we had some women here; but there's nothing foh one
61278 to do but dwink. If we could only get to fighting soon. Hullo, who's
61279 there?" he said, turning to the door as he heard a tread of heavy
61280 boots and the clinking of spurs that came to a stop, and a
61281 respectful cough.
61282
61283 "The squadron quartermaster!" said Lavrushka.
61284
61285 Denisov's face puckered still more.
61286
61287 "Wetched!" he muttered, throwing down a purse with some gold in
61288 it. "Wostov, deah fellow, just see how much there is left and shove
61289 the purse undah the pillow," he said, and went out to the
61290 quartermaster.
61291
61292 Rostov took the money and, mechanically arranging the old and new
61293 coins in separate piles, began counting them.
61294
61295 "Ah! Telyanin! How d'ye do? They plucked me last night," came
61296 Denisov's voice from the next room.
61297
61298 "Where? At Bykov's, at the rat's... I knew it," replied a piping
61299 voice, and Lieutenant Telyanin, a small officer of the same
61300 squadron, entered the room.
61301
61302 Rostov thrust the purse under the pillow and shook the damp little
61303 hand which was offered him. Telyanin for some reason had been
61304 transferred from the Guards just before this campaign. He behaved very
61305 well in the regiment but was not liked; Rostov especially detested him
61306 and was unable to overcome or conceal his groundless antipathy to
61307 the man.
61308
61309 "Well, young cavalryman, how is my Rook behaving?" he asked. (Rook
61310 was a young horse Telyanin had sold to Rostov.)
61311
61312 The lieutenant never looked the man he was speaking to straight in
61313 the face; his eyes continually wandered from one object to another.
61314
61315 "I saw you riding this morning..." he added.
61316
61317 "Oh, he's all right, a good horse," answered Rostov, though the
61318 horse for which he had paid seven hundred rubbles was not worth half
61319 that sum. "He's begun to go a little lame on the left foreleg," he
61320 added.
61321
61322 "The hoof's cracked! That's nothing. I'll teach you what to do and
61323 show you what kind of rivet to use."
61324
61325 "Yes, please do," said Rostov.
61326
61327 "I'll show you, I'll show you! It's not a secret. And it's a horse
61328 you'll thank me for."
61329
61330 "Then I'll have it brought round," said Rostov wishing to avoid
61331 Telyanin, and he went out to give the order.
61332
61333 In the passage Denisov, with a pipe, was squatting on the
61334 threshold facing the quartermaster who was reporting to him. On seeing
61335 Rostov, Denisov screwed up his face and pointing over his shoulder
61336 with his thumb to the room where Telyanin was sitting, he frowned
61337 and gave a shudder of disgust.
61338
61339 "Ugh! I don't like that fellow," he said, regardless of the
61340 quartermaster's presence.
61341
61342 Rostov shrugged his shoulders as much as to say: "Nor do I, but
61343 what's one to do?" and, having given his order, he returned to
61344 Telyanin.
61345
61346 Telyanin was sitting in the same indolent pose in which Rostov had
61347 left him, rubbing his small white hands.
61348
61349 "Well there certainly are disgusting people," thought Rostov as he
61350 entered.
61351
61352 "Have you told them to bring the horse?" asked Telyanin, getting
61353 up and looking carelessly about him.
61354
61355 "I have."
61356
61357 "Let us go ourselves. I only came round to ask Denisov about
61358 yesterday's order. Have you got it, Denisov?"
61359
61360 "Not yet. But where are you off to?"
61361
61362 "I want to teach this young man how to shoe a horse," said Telyanin.
61363
61364 They went through the porch and into the stable. The lieutenant
61365 explained how to rivet the hoof and went away to his own quarters.
61366
61367 When Rostov went back there was a bottle of vodka and a sausage on
61368 the table. Denisov was sitting there scratching with his pen on a
61369 sheet of paper. He looked gloomily in Rostov's face and said: "I am
61370 witing to her."
61371
61372 He leaned his elbows on the table with his pen in his hand and,
61373 evidently glad of a chance to say quicker in words what he wanted to
61374 write, told Rostov the contents of his letter.
61375
61376 "You see, my fwiend," he said, "we sleep when we don't love. We
61377 are childwen of the dust... but one falls in love and one is a God,
61378 one is pua' as on the first day of cweation... Who's that now? Send
61379 him to the devil, I'm busy!" he shouted to Lavrushka, who went up to
61380 him not in the least abashed.
61381
61382 "Who should it be? You yourself told him to come. It's the
61383 quartermaster for the money."
61384
61385 Denisov frowned and was about to shout some reply but stopped.
61386
61387 "Wetched business," he muttered to himself. "How much is left in the
61388 puhse?" he asked, turning to Rostov.
61389
61390 "Seven new and three old imperials."
61391
61392 "Oh, it's wetched! Well, what are you standing there for, you
61393 sca'cwow? Call the quahtehmasteh," he shouted to Lavrushka.
61394
61395 "Please, Denisov, let me lend you some: I have some, you know," said
61396 Rostov, blushing.
61397
61398 "Don't like bowwowing from my own fellows, I don't," growled
61399 Denisov.
61400
61401 "But if you won't accept money from me like a comrade, you will
61402 offend me. Really I have some," Rostov repeated.
61403
61404 "No, I tell you."
61405
61406 And Denisov went to the bed to get the purse from under the pillow.
61407
61408 "Where have you put it, Wostov?"
61409
61410 "Under the lower pillow."
61411
61412 "It's not there."
61413
61414 Denisov threw both pillows on the floor. The purse was not there.
61415
61416 "That's a miwacle."
61417
61418 "Wait, haven't you dropped it?" said Rostov, picking up the
61419 pillows one at a time and shaking them.
61420
61421 He pulled off the quilt and shook it. The purse was not there.
61422
61423 "Dear me, can I have forgotten? No, I remember thinking that you
61424 kept it under your head like a treasure," said Rostov. "I put it
61425 just here. Where is it?" he asked, turning to Lavrushka.
61426
61427 "I haven't been in the room. It must be where you put it."
61428
61429 "But it isn't?..."
61430
61431 "You're always like that; you thwow a thing down anywhere and forget
61432 it. Feel in your pockets."
61433
61434 "No, if I hadn't thought of it being a treasure," said Rostov,
61435 "but I remember putting it there."
61436
61437 Lavrushka turned all the bedding over, looked under the bed and
61438 under the table, searched everywhere, and stood still in the middle of
61439 the room. Denisov silently watched Lavrushka's movements, and when the
61440 latter threw up his arms in surprise saying it was nowhere to be found
61441 Denisov glanced at Rostov.
61442
61443 "Wostov, you've not been playing schoolboy twicks..."
61444
61445 Rostov felt Denisov's gaze fixed on him, raised his eyes, and
61446 instantly dropped them again. All the blood which had seemed congested
61447 somewhere below his throat rushed to his face and eyes. He could not
61448 draw breath.
61449
61450 "And there hasn't been anyone in the room except the lieutenant
61451 and yourselves. It must be here somewhere," said Lavrushka.
61452
61453 "Now then, you devil's puppet, look alive and hunt for it!"
61454 shouted Denisov, suddenly, turning purple and rushing at the man
61455 with a threatening gesture. "If the purse isn't found I'll flog you,
61456 I'll flog you all."
61457
61458 Rostov, his eyes avoiding Denisov, began buttoning his coat, buckled
61459 on his saber, and put on his cap.
61460
61461 "I must have that purse, I tell you," shouted Denisov, shaking his
61462 orderly by the shoulders and knocking him against the wall.
61463
61464 "Denisov, let him alone, I know who has taken it," said Rostov,
61465 going toward the door without raising his eyes. Denisov paused,
61466 thought a moment, and, evidently understanding what Rostov hinted
61467 at, seized his arm.
61468
61469 "Nonsense!" he cried, and the veins on his forehead and neck stood
61470 out like cords. "You are mad, I tell you. I won't allow it. The
61471 purse is here! I'll flay this scoundwel alive, and it will be found."
61472
61473 "I know who has taken it," repeated Rostov in an unsteady voice, and
61474 went to the door.
61475
61476 "And I tell you, don't you dahe to do it!" shouted Denisov,
61477 rushing at the cadet to restrain him.
61478
61479 But Rostov pulled away his arm and, with as much anger as though
61480 Denisov were his worst enemy, firmly fixed his eyes directly on his
61481 face.
61482
61483 "Do you understand what you're saying?" he said in a trembling
61484 voice. "There was no one else in the room except myself. So that if it
61485 is not so, then..."
61486
61487 He could not finish, and ran out of the room.
61488
61489 "Ah, may the devil take you and evewybody," were the last words
61490 Rostov heard.
61491
61492 Rostov went to Telyanin's quarters.
61493
61494 "The master is not in, he's gone to headquarters," said Telyanin's
61495 orderly. "Has something happened?" he added, surprised at the
61496 cadet's troubled face.
61497
61498 "No, nothing."
61499
61500 "You've only just missed him," said the orderly.
61501
61502 The headquarters were situated two miles away from Salzeneck, and
61503 Rostov, without returning home, took a horse and rode there. There was
61504 an inn in the village which the officers frequented. Rostov rode up to
61505 it and saw Telyanin's horse at the porch.
61506
61507 In the second room of the inn the lieutenant was sitting over a dish
61508 of sausages and a bottle of wine.
61509
61510 "Ah, you've come here too, young man!" he said, smiling and
61511 raising his eyebrows.
61512
61513 "Yes," said Rostov as if it cost him a great deal to utter the word;
61514 and he sat down at the nearest table.
61515
61516 Both were silent. There were two Germans and a Russian officer in
61517 the room. No one spoke and the only sounds heard were the clatter of
61518 knives and the munching of the lieutenant.
61519
61520 When Telyanin had finished his lunch he took out of his pocket a
61521 double purse and, drawing its rings aside with his small, white,
61522 turned-up fingers, drew out a gold imperial, and lifting his
61523 eyebrows gave it to the waiter.
61524
61525 "Please be quick," he said.
61526
61527 The coin was a new one. Rostov rose and went up to Telyanin.
61528
61529 "Allow me to look at your purse," he said in a low, almost
61530 inaudible, voice.
61531
61532 With shifting eyes but eyebrows still raised, Telyanin handed him
61533 the purse.
61534
61535 "Yes, it's a nice purse. Yes, yes," he said, growing suddenly
61536 pale, and added, "Look at it, young man."
61537
61538 Rostov took the purse in his hand, examined it and the money in
61539 it, and looked at Telyanin. The lieutenant was looking about in his
61540 usual way and suddenly seemed to grow very merry.
61541
61542 "If we get to Vienna I'll get rid of it there but in these
61543 wretched little towns there's nowhere to spend it," said he. "Well,
61544 let me have it, young man, I'm going."
61545
61546 Rostov did not speak.
61547
61548 "And you? Are you going to have lunch too? They feed you quite
61549 decently here," continued Telyanin. "Now then, let me have it."
61550
61551 He stretched out his hand to take hold of the purse. Rostov let go
61552 of it. Telyanin took the purse and began carelessly slipping it into
61553 the pocket of his riding breeches, with his eyebrows lifted and his
61554 mouth slightly open, as if to say, "Yes, yes, I am putting my purse in
61555 my pocket and that's quite simple and is no else's business."
61556
61557 "Well, young man?" he said with a sigh, and from under his lifted
61558 brows he glanced into Rostov's eyes.
61559
61560 Some flash as of an electric spark shot from Telyanin's eyes to
61561 Rostov's and back, and back again and again in an instant.
61562
61563 "Come here," said Rostov, catching hold of Telyanin's arm and almost
61564 dragging him to the window. "That money is Denisov's; you took
61565 it..." he whispered just above Telyanin's ear.
61566
61567 "What? What? How dare you? What?" said Telyanin.
61568
61569 But these words came like a piteous, despairing cry and an
61570 entreaty for pardon. As soon as Rostov heard them, an enormous load of
61571 doubt fell from him. He was glad, and at the same instant began to
61572 pity the miserable man who stood before him, but the task he had begun
61573 had to be completed.
61574
61575 "Heaven only knows what the people here may imagine," muttered
61576 Telyanin, taking up his cap and moving toward a small empty room.
61577 "We must have an explanation..."
61578
61579 "I know it and shall prove it," said Rostov.
61580
61581 "I..."
61582
61583 Every muscle of Telyanin's pale, terrified face began to quiver, his
61584 eyes still shifted from side to side but with a downward look not
61585 rising to Rostov's face, and his sobs were audible.
61586
61587 "Count!... Don't ruin a young fellow... here is this wretched money,
61588 take it..." He threw it on the table. "I have an old father and
61589 mother!..."
61590
61591 Rostov took the money, avoiding Telyanin's eyes, and went out of the
61592 room without a word. But at the door he stopped and then retraced
61593 his steps. "O God," he said with tears in his eyes, "how could you
61594 do it?"
61595
61596 "Count..." said Telyanin drawing nearer to him.
61597
61598 "Don't touch me," said Rostov, drawing back. "If you need it, take
61599 the money," and he threw the purse to him and ran out of the inn.
61600
61601
61602
61603
61604
61605 CHAPTER V
61606
61607
61608 That same evening there was an animated discussion among the
61609 squadron's officers in Denisov's quarters.
61610
61611 "And I tell you, Rostov, that you must apologize to the colonel!"
61612 said a tall, grizzly-haired staff captain, with enormous mustaches and
61613 many wrinkles on his large features, to Rostov who was crimson with
61614 excitement.
61615
61616 The staff captain, Kirsten, had twice been reduced to the ranks
61617 for affairs of honor and had twice regained his commission.
61618
61619 "I will allow no one to call me a liar!" cried Rostov. "He told me I
61620 lied, and I told him he lied. And there it rests. He may keep me on
61621 duty every day, or may place me under arrest, but no one can make me
61622 apologize, because if he, as commander of this regiment, thinks it
61623 beneath his dignity to give me satisfaction, then..."
61624
61625 "You just wait a moment, my dear fellow, and listen," interrupted
61626 the staff captain in his deep bass, calmly stroking his long mustache.
61627 "You tell the colonel in the presence of other officers that an
61628 officer has stolen..."
61629
61630 "I'm not to blame that the conversation began in the presence of
61631 other officers. Perhaps I ought not to have spoken before them, but
61632 I am not a diplomatist. That's why I joined the hussars, thinking that
61633 here one would not need finesse; and he tells me that I am lying--so
61634 let him give me satisfaction..."
61635
61636 "That's all right. No one thinks you a coward, but that's not the
61637 point. Ask Denisov whether it is not out of the question for a cadet
61638 to demand satisfaction of his regimental commander?"
61639
61640 Denisov sat gloomily biting his mustache and listening to the
61641 conversation, evidently with no wish to take part in it. He answered
61642 the staff captain's question by a disapproving shake of his head.
61643
61644 "You speak to the colonel about this nasty business before other
61645 officers," continued the staff captain, "and Bogdanich" (the colonel
61646 was called Bogdanich) "shuts you up."
61647
61648 "He did not shut me up, he said I was telling an untruth."
61649
61650 "Well, have it so, and you talked a lot of nonsense to him and
61651 must apologize."
61652
61653 "Not on any account!" exclaimed Rostov.
61654
61655 "I did not expect this of you," said the staff captain seriously and
61656 severely. "You don't wish to apologize, but, man, it's not only to him
61657 but to the whole regiment--all of us--you're to blame all round. The
61658 case is this: you ought to have thought the matter over and taken
61659 advice; but no, you go and blurt it all straight out before the
61660 officers. Now what was the colonel to do? Have the officer tried and
61661 disgrace the whole regiment? Disgrace the whole regiment because of
61662 one scoundrel? Is that how you look at it? We don't see it like
61663 that. And Bogdanich was a brick: he told you you were saying what
61664 was not true. It's not pleasant, but what's to be done, my dear
61665 fellow? You landed yourself in it. And now, when one wants to smooth
61666 the thing over, some conceit prevents your apologizing, and you wish
61667 to make the whole affair public. You are offended at being put on duty
61668 a bit, but why not apologize to an old and honorable officer? Whatever
61669 Bogdanich may be, anyway he is an honorable and brave old colonel!
61670 You're quick at taking offense, but you don't mind disgracing the
61671 whole regiment!" The staff captain's voice began to tremble. "You have
61672 been in the regiment next to no time, my lad, you're here today and
61673 tomorrow you'll be appointed adjutant somewhere and can snap your
61674 fingers when it is said 'There are thieves among the Pavlograd
61675 officers!' But it's not all the same to us! Am I not right, Denisov?
61676 It's not the same!"
61677
61678 Denisov remained silent and did not move, but occasionally looked
61679 with his glittering black eyes at Rostov.
61680
61681 "You value your own pride and don't wish to apologize," continued
61682 the staff captain, "but we old fellows, who have grown up in and,
61683 God willing, are going to die in the regiment, we prize the honor of
61684 the regiment, and Bogdanich knows it. Oh, we do prize it, old
61685 fellow! And all this is not right, it's not right! You may take
61686 offense or not but I always stick to mother truth. It's not right!"
61687
61688 And the staff captain rose and turned away from Rostov.
61689
61690 "That's twue, devil take it!" shouted Denisov, jumping up. "Now then,
61691 Wostov, now then!"
61692
61693 Rostov, growing red and pale alternately, looked first at one
61694 officer and then at the other.
61695
61696 "No, gentlemen, no... you mustn't think... I quite understand.
61697 You're wrong to think that of me... I... for me... for the honor of
61698 the regiment I'd... Ah well, I'll show that in action, and for me
61699 the honor of the flag... Well, never mind, it's true I'm to blame,
61700 to blame all round. Well, what else do you want?..."
61701
61702 "Come, that's right, Count!" cried the staff captain, turning
61703 round and clapping Rostov on the shoulder with his big hand.
61704
61705 "I tell you," shouted Denisov, "he's a fine fellow."
61706
61707 "That's better, Count," said the staff captain, beginning to address
61708 Rostov by his title, as if in recognition of his confession. "Go and
61709 apologize, your excellency. Yes, go!"
61710
61711 "Gentlemen, I'll do anything. No one shall hear a word from me,"
61712 said Rostov in an imploring voice, "but I can't apologize, by God I
61713 can't, do what you will! How can I go and apologize like a little
61714 boy asking forgiveness?"
61715
61716 Denisov began to laugh.
61717
61718 "It'll be worse for you. Bogdanich is vindictive and you'll pay
61719 for your obstinacy," said Kirsten.
61720
61721 "No, on my word it's not obstinacy! I can't describe the feeling.
61722 I can't..."
61723
61724 "Well, it's as you like," said the staff captain. "And what has
61725 become of that scoundrel?" he asked Denisov.
61726
61727 "He has weported himself sick, he's to be stwuck off the list
61728 tomowwow," muttered Denisov.
61729
61730 "It is an illness, there's no other way of explaining it," said
61731 the staff captain.
61732
61733 "Illness or not, he'd better not cwoss my path. I'd kill him!"
61734 shouted Denisov in a bloodthirsty tone.
61735
61736 Just then Zherkov entered the room.
61737
61738 "What brings you here?" cried the officers turning to the newcomer.
61739
61740 "We're to go into action, gentlemen! Mack has surrendered with his
61741 whole army."
61742
61743 "It's not true!"
61744
61745 "I've seen him myself!"
61746
61747 "What? Saw the real Mack? With hands and feet?"
61748
61749 "Into action! Into action! Bring him a bottle for such news! But how
61750 did you come here?"
61751
61752 "I've been sent back to the regiment all on account of that devil,
61753 Mack. An Austrian general complained of me. I congratulated him on
61754 Mack's arrival... What's the matter, Rostov? You look as if you'd just
61755 come out of a hot bath."
61756
61757 "Oh, my dear fellow, we're in such a stew here these last two days."
61758
61759 The regimental adjutant came in and confirmed the news brought by
61760 Zherkov. They were under orders to advance next day.
61761
61762 "We're going into action, gentlemen!"
61763
61764 "Well, thank God! We've been sitting here too long!"
61765
61766
61767
61768
61769
61770 CHAPTER VI
61771
61772
61773 Kutuzov fell back toward Vienna, destroying behind him the bridges
61774 over the rivers Inn (at Braunau) and Traun (near Linz). On October
61775 23 the Russian troops were crossing the river Enns. At midday the
61776 Russian baggage train, the artillery, and columns of troops were
61777 defiling through the town of Enns on both sides of the bridge.
61778
61779 It was a warm, rainy, autumnal day. The wide expanse that opened out
61780 before the heights on which the Russian batteries stood guarding the
61781 bridge was at times veiled by a diaphanous curtain of slanting rain,
61782 and then, suddenly spread out in the sunlight, far-distant objects
61783 could be clearly seen glittering as though freshly varnished. Down
61784 below, the little town could be seen with its white, red-roofed
61785 houses, its cathedral, and its bridge, on both sides of which streamed
61786 jostling masses of Russian troops. At the bend of the Danube, vessels,
61787 an island, and a castle with a park surrounded by the waters of the
61788 confluence of the Enns and the Danube became visible, and the rocky
61789 left bank of the Danube covered with pine forests, with a mystic
61790 background of green treetops and bluish gorges. The turrets of a
61791 convent stood out beyond a wild virgin pine forest, and far away on
61792 the other side of the Enns the enemy's horse patrols could be
61793 discerned.
61794
61795 Among the field guns on the brow of the hill the general in
61796 command of the rearguard stood with a staff officer, scanning the
61797 country through his fieldglass. A little behind them Nesvitski, who
61798 had been sent to the rearguard by the commander in chief, was
61799 sitting on the trail of a gun carriage. A Cossack who accompanied
61800 him had handed him a knapsack and a flask, and Nesvitski was
61801 treating some officers to pies and real doppelkummel. The officers
61802 gladly gathered round him, some on their knees, some squatting Turkish
61803 fashion on the wet grass.
61804
61805 "Yes, the Austrian prince who built that castle was no fool. It's
61806 a fine place! Why are you not eating anything, gentlemen?" Nesvitski
61807 was saying.
61808
61809 "Thank you very much, Prince," answered one of the officers, pleased
61810 to be talking to a staff officer of such importance. "It's a lovely
61811 place! We passed close to the park and saw two deer... and what a
61812 splendid house!"
61813
61814 "Look, Prince," said another, who would have dearly liked to take
61815 another pie but felt shy, and therefore pretended to be examining
61816 the countryside--"See, our infantrymen have already got there. Look
61817 there in the meadow behind the village, three of them are dragging
61818 something. They'll ransack that castle," he remarked with evident
61819 approval.
61820
61821 "So they will," said Nesvitski. "No, but what I should like,"
61822 added he, munching a pie in his moist-lipped handsome mouth, "would be
61823 to slip in over there."
61824
61825 He pointed with a smile to a turreted nunnery, and his eyes narrowed
61826 and gleamed.
61827
61828 "That would be fine, gentlemen!"
61829
61830 The officers laughed.
61831
61832 "Just to flutter the nuns a bit. They say there are Italian girls
61833 among them. On my word I'd give five years of my life for it!"
61834
61835 "They must be feeling dull, too," said one of the bolder officers,
61836 laughing.
61837
61838 Meanwhile the staff officer standing in front pointed out
61839 something to the general, who looked through his field glass.
61840
61841 "Yes, so it is, so it is," said the general angrily, lowering the
61842 field glass and shrugging his shoulders, "so it is! They'll be fired
61843 on at the crossing. And why are they dawdling there?"
61844
61845 On the opposite side the enemy could be seen by the naked eye, and
61846 from their battery a milk-white cloud arose. Then came the distant
61847 report of a shot, and our troops could be seen hurrying to the
61848 crossing.
61849
61850 Nesvitski rose, puffing, and went up to the general, smiling.
61851
61852 "Would not your excellency like a little refreshment?" he said.
61853
61854 "It's a bad business," said the general without answering him,
61855 "our men have been wasting time."
61856
61857 "Hadn't I better ride over, your excellency?" asked Nesvitski.
61858
61859 "Yes, please do," answered the general, and he repeated the order
61860 that had already once been given in detail: "and tell the hussars that
61861 they are to cross last and to fire the bridge as I ordered; and the
61862 inflammable material on the bridge must be reinspected."
61863
61864 "Very good," answered Nesvitski.
61865
61866 He called the Cossack with his horse, told him to put away the
61867 knapsack and flask, and swung his heavy person easily into the saddle.
61868
61869 "I'll really call in on the nuns," he said to the officers who
61870 watched him smilingly, and he rode off by the winding path down the
61871 hill.
61872
61873 "Now then, let's see how far it will carry, Captain. Just try!" said
61874 the general, turning to an artillery officer. "Have a little fun to
61875 pass the time."
61876
61877 "Crew, to your guns!" commanded the officer.
61878
61879 In a moment the men came running gaily from their campfires and
61880 began loading.
61881
61882 "One!" came the command.
61883
61884 Number one jumped briskly aside. The gun rang out with a deafening
61885 metallic roar, and a whistling grenade flew above the heads of our
61886 troops below the hill and fell far short of the enemy, a little
61887 smoke showing the spot where it burst.
61888
61889 The faces of officers and men brightened up at the sound. Everyone
61890 got up and began watching the movements of our troops below, as
61891 plainly visible as if but a stone's throw away, and the movements of
61892 the approaching enemy farther off. At the same instant the sun came
61893 fully out from behind the clouds, and the clear sound of the
61894 solitary shot and the brilliance of the bright sunshine merged in a
61895 single joyous and spirited impression.
61896
61897
61898
61899
61900
61901 CHAPTER VII
61902
61903
61904 Two of the enemy's shots had already flown across the bridge,
61905 where there was a crush. Halfway across stood Prince Nesvitski, who
61906 had alighted from his horse and whose big body was jammed
61907 against the railings. He looked back laughing to the Cossack who stood
61908 a few steps behind him holding two horses by their bridles. Each
61909 time Prince Nesvitski tried to move on, soldiers and carts pushed
61910 him back again and pressed him against the railings, and all he
61911 could do was to smile.
61912
61913 "What a fine fellow you are, friend!" said the Cossack to a convoy
61914 soldier with a wagon, who was pressing onto the infantrymen who were
61915 crowded together close to his wheels and his horses. "What a fellow!
61916 You can't wait a moment! Don't you see the general wants to pass?"
61917
61918 But the convoyman took no notice of the word "general" and shouted
61919 at the soldiers who were blocking his way. "Hi there, boys! Keep to
61920 the left! Wait a bit." But the soldiers, crowded together shoulder
61921 to shoulder, their bayonets interlocking, moved over the bridge in a
61922 dense mass. Looking down over the rails Prince Nesvitski saw the
61923 rapid, noisy little waves of the Enns, which rippling and eddying
61924 round the piles of the bridge chased each other along. Looking on
61925 the bridge he saw equally uniform living waves of soldiers, shoulder
61926 straps, covered shakos, knapsacks, bayonets, long muskets, and,
61927 under the shakos, faces with broad cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and
61928 listless tired expressions, and feet that moved through the sticky mud
61929 that covered the planks of the bridge. Sometimes through the
61930 monotonous waves of men, like a fleck of white foam on the waves of
61931 the Enns, an officer, in a cloak and with a type of face different
61932 from that of the men, squeezed his way along; sometimes like a chip of
61933 wood whirling in the river, an hussar on foot, an orderly, or a
61934 townsman was carried through the waves of infantry; and sometimes like
61935 a log floating down the river, an officers' or company's baggage
61936 wagon, piled high, leather covered, and hemmed in on all sides,
61937 moved across the bridge.
61938
61939 "It's as if a dam had burst," said the Cossack hopelessly. "Are
61940 there many more of you to come?"
61941
61942 "A million all but one!" replied a waggish soldier in a torn coat,
61943 with a wink, and passed on followed by another, an old man.
61944
61945 "If he" (he meant the enemy) "begins popping at the bridge now,"
61946 said the old soldier dismally to a comrade, "you'll forget to
61947 scratch yourself."
61948
61949 That soldier passed on, and after him came another sitting on a
61950 cart.
61951
61952 "Where the devil have the leg bands been shoved to?" said an
61953 orderly, running behind the cart and fumbling in the back of it.
61954
61955 And he also passed on with the wagon. Then came some merry
61956 soldiers who had evidently been drinking.
61957
61958 "And then, old fellow, he gives him one in the teeth with the butt
61959 end of his gun..." a soldier whose greatcoat was well tucked up said
61960 gaily, with a wide swing of his arm.
61961
61962 "Yes, the ham was just delicious..." answered another with a loud
61963 laugh. And they, too, passed on, so that Nesvitski did not learn who
61964 had been struck on the teeth, or what the ham had to do with it.
61965
61966 "Bah! How they scurry. He just sends a ball and they think they'll
61967 all be killed," a sergeant was saying angrily and reproachfully.
61968
61969 "As it flies past me, Daddy, the ball I mean," said a young
61970 soldier with an enormous mouth, hardly refraining from laughing, "I
61971 felt like dying of fright. I did, 'pon my word, I got that
61972 frightened!" said he, as if bragging of having been frightened.
61973
61974 That one also passed. Then followed a cart unlike any that had
61975 gone before. It was a German cart with a pair of horses led by a
61976 German, and seemed loaded with a whole houseful of effects. A fine
61977 brindled cow with a large udder was attached to the cart behind. A
61978 woman with an unweaned baby, an old woman, and a healthy German girl
61979 with bright red cheeks were sitting on some feather beds. Evidently
61980 these fugitives were allowed to pass by special permission. The eyes
61981 of all the soldiers turned toward the women, and while the vehicle was
61982 passing at foot pace all the soldiers' remarks related to the two
61983 young ones. Every face bore almost the same smile, expressing unseemly
61984 thoughts about the women.
61985
61986 "Just see, the German sausage is making tracks, too!"
61987
61988 "Sell me the missis," said another soldier, addressing the German,
61989 who, angry and frightened, strode energetically along with downcast
61990 eyes.
61991
61992 "See how smart she's made herself! Oh, the devils!"
61993
61994 "There, Fedotov, you should be quartered on them!"
61995
61996 "I have seen as much before now, mate!"
61997
61998 "Where are you going?" asked an infantry officer who was eating an
61999 apple, also half smiling as he looked at the handsome girl.
62000
62001 The German closed his eyes, signifying that he did not understand.
62002
62003 "Take it if you like," said the officer, giving the girl an apple.
62004
62005 The girl smiled and took it. Nesvitski like the rest of the men on
62006 the bridge did not take his eyes off the women till they had passed.
62007 When they had gone by, the same stream of soldiers followed, with
62008 the same kind of talk, and at last all stopped. As often happens,
62009 the horses of a convoy wagon became restive at the end of the
62010 bridge, and the whole crowd had to wait.
62011
62012 "And why are they stopping? There's no proper order!" said the
62013 soldiers. "Where are you shoving to? Devil take you! Can't you wait?
62014 It'll be worse if he fires the bridge. See, here's an officer jammed
62015 in too"--different voices were saying in the crowd, as the men
62016 looked at one another, and all pressed toward the exit from the
62017 bridge.
62018
62019 Looking down at the waters of the Enns under the bridge, Nesvitski
62020 suddenly heard a sound new to him, of something swiftly approaching...
62021 something big, that splashed into the water.
62022
62023 "Just see where it carries to!" a soldier near by said sternly,
62024 looking round at the sound.
62025
62026 "Encouraging us to get along quicker," said another uneasily.
62027
62028 The crowd moved on again. Nesvitski realized that it was a cannon
62029 ball.
62030
62031 "Hey, Cossack, my horse!" he said. "Now, then, you there! get out of
62032 the way! Make way!"
62033
62034 With great difficulty he managed to get to his horse, and shouting
62035 continually he moved on. The soldiers squeezed themselves to make
62036 way for him, but again pressed on him so that they jammed his leg, and
62037 those nearest him were not to blame for they were themselves pressed
62038 still harder from behind.
62039
62040 "Nesvitski, Nesvitski! you numskull!" came a hoarse voice from
62041 behind him.
62042
62043 Nesvitski looked round and saw, some fifteen paces away but
62044 separated by the living mass of moving infantry, Vaska Denisov, red
62045 and shaggy, with his cap on the back of his black head and a cloak
62046 hanging jauntily over his shoulder.
62047
62048 "Tell these devils, these fiends, to let me pass!" shouted Denisov
62049 evidently in a fit of rage, his coal-black eyes with their bloodshot
62050 whites glittering and rolling as he waved his sheathed saber in a
62051 small bare hand as red as his face.
62052
62053 "Ah, Vaska!" joyfully replied Nesvitski. "What's up with you?"
62054
62055 "The squadwon can't pass," shouted Vaska Denisov, showing his
62056 white teeth fiercely and spurring his black thoroughbred Arab, which
62057 twitched its ears as the bayonets touched it, and snorted, spurting
62058 white foam from his bit, tramping the planks of the bridge with his
62059 hoofs, and apparently ready to jump over the railings had his rider
62060 let him. "What is this? They're like sheep! Just like sheep! Out of
62061 the way!... Let us pass!... Stop there, you devil with the cart!
62062 I'll hack you with my saber!" he shouted, actually drawing his saber
62063 from its scabbard and flourishing it.
62064
62065 The soldiers crowded against one another with terrified faces, and
62066 Denisov joined Nesvitski.
62067
62068 "How's it you're not drunk today?" said Nesvitski when the other had
62069 ridden up to him.
62070
62071 "They don't even give one time to dwink!" answered Vaska Denisov.
62072 "They keep dwagging the wegiment to and fwo all day. If they mean to
62073 fight, let's fight. But the devil knows what this is."
62074
62075 "What a dandy you are today!" said Nesvitski, looking at Denisov's
62076 new cloak and saddlecloth.
62077
62078 Denisov smiled, took out of his sabretache a handkerchief that
62079 diffused a smell of perfume, and put it to Nesvitski's nose.
62080
62081 "Of course. I'm going into action! I've shaved, bwushed my teeth,
62082 and scented myself."
62083
62084 The imposing figure of Nesvitski followed by his Cossack, and the
62085 determination of Denisov who flourished his sword and shouted
62086 frantically, had such an effect that they managed to squeeze through
62087 to the farther side of the bridge and stopped the infantry. Beside the
62088 bridge Nesvitski found the colonel to whom he had to deliver the
62089 order, and having done this he rode back.
62090
62091 Having cleared the way Denisov stopped at the end of the bridge.
62092 Carelessly holding in his stallion that was neighing and pawing the
62093 ground, eager to rejoin its fellows, he watched his squadron draw
62094 nearer. Then the clang of hoofs, as of several horses galloping,
62095 resounded on the planks of the bridge, and the squadron, officers in
62096 front and men four abreast, spread across the bridge and began to
62097 emerge on his side of it.
62098
62099 The infantry who had been stopped crowded near the bridge in the
62100 trampled mud and gazed with that particular feeling of ill-will,
62101 estrangement, and ridicule with which troops of different arms usually
62102 encounter one another at the clean, smart hussars who moved past
62103 them in regular order.
62104
62105 "Smart lads! Only fit for a fair!" said one.
62106
62107 "What good are they? They're led about just for show!" remarked
62108 another.
62109
62110 "Don't kick up the dust, you infantry!" jested an hussar whose
62111 prancing horse had splashed mud over some foot soldiers.
62112
62113 "I'd like to put you on a two days' march with a knapsack! Your fine
62114 cords would soon get a bit rubbed," said an infantryman, wiping the
62115 mud off his face with his sleeve. "Perched up there, you're more
62116 like a bird than a man."
62117
62118 "There now, Zikin, they ought to put you on a horse. You'd look
62119 fine," said a corporal, chaffing a thin little soldier who bent
62120 under the weight of his knapsack.
62121
62122 "Take a stick between your legs, that'll suit you for a horse!"
62123 the hussar shouted back.
62124
62125
62126
62127
62128
62129 CHAPTER VIII
62130
62131
62132 The last of the infantry hurriedly crossed the bridge, squeezing
62133 together as they approached it as if passing through a funnel. At last
62134 the baggage wagons had all crossed, the crush was less, and the last
62135 battalion came onto the bridge. Only Denisov's squadron of hussars
62136 remained on the farther side of the bridge facing the enemy, who could
62137 be seen from the hill on the opposite bank but was not yet visible
62138 from the bridge, for the horizon as seen from the valley through which
62139 the river flowed was formed by the rising ground only half a mile
62140 away. At the foot of the hill lay wasteland over which a few groups of
62141 our Cossack scouts were moving. Suddenly on the road at the top of the
62142 high ground, artillery and troops in blue uniform were seen. These
62143 were the French. A group of Cossack scouts retired down the hill at
62144 a trot. All the officers and men of Denisov's squadron, though they
62145 tried to talk of other things and to look in other directions, thought
62146 only of what was there on the hilltop, and kept constantly looking
62147 at the patches appearing on the skyline, which they knew to be the
62148 enemy's troops. The weather had cleared again since noon and the sun
62149 was descending brightly upon the Danube and the dark hills around
62150 it. It was calm, and at intervals the bugle calls and the shouts of
62151 the enemy could be heard from the hill. There was no one now between
62152 the squadron and the enemy except a few scattered skirmishers. An
62153 empty space of some seven hundred yards was all that separated them.
62154 The enemy ceased firing, and that stern, threatening, inaccessible,
62155 and intangible line which separates two hostile armies was all the
62156 more clearly felt.
62157
62158 "One step beyond that boundary line which resembles the line
62159 dividing the living from the dead lies uncertainty, suffering, and
62160 death. And what is there? Who is there?--there beyond that field, that
62161 tree, that roof lit up by the sun? No one knows, but one wants to
62162 know. You fear and yet long to cross that line, and know that sooner
62163 or later it must be crossed and you will have to find out what is
62164 there, just as you will inevitably have to learn what lies the other
62165 side of death. But you are strong, healthy, cheerful, and excited, and
62166 are surrounded by other such excitedly animated and healthy men." So
62167 thinks, or at any rate feels, anyone who comes in sight of the
62168 enemy, and that feeling gives a particular glamour and glad keenness
62169 of impression to everything that takes place at such moments.
62170
62171 On the high ground where the enemy was, the smoke of a cannon
62172 rose, and a ball flew whistling over the heads of the hussar squadron.
62173 The officers who had been standing together rode off to their
62174 places. The hussars began carefully aligning their horses. Silence
62175 fell on the whole squadron. All were looking at the enemy in front and
62176 at the squadron commander, awaiting the word of command. A second
62177 and a third cannon ball flew past. Evidently they were firing at the
62178 hussars, but the balls with rapid rhythmic whistle flew over the heads
62179 of the horsemen and fell somewhere beyond them. The hussars did not
62180 look round, but at the sound of each shot, as at the word of
62181 command, the whole squadron with its rows of faces so alike yet so
62182 different, holding its breath while the ball flew past, rose in the
62183 stirrups and sank back again. The soldiers without turning their heads
62184 glanced at one another, curious to see their comrades' impression.
62185 Every face, from Denisov's to that of the bugler, showed one common
62186 expression of conflict, irritation, and excitement, around chin and
62187 mouth. The quartermaster frowned, looking at the soldiers as if
62188 threatening to punish them. Cadet Mironov ducked every time a ball
62189 flew past. Rostov on the left flank, mounted on his Rook--a handsome
62190 horse despite its game leg--had the happy air of a schoolboy called up
62191 before a large audience for an examination in which he feels sure he
62192 will distinguish himself. He was glancing at everyone with a clear,
62193 bright expression, as if asking them to notice how calmly he sat under
62194 fire. But despite himself, on his face too that same indication of
62195 something new and stern showed round the mouth.
62196
62197 "Who's that curtseying there? Cadet Miwonov! That's not wight!
62198 Look at me," cried Denisov who, unable to keep still on one spot, kept
62199 turning his horse in front of the squadron.
62200
62201 The black, hairy, snub-nosed face of Vaska Denisov, and his whole
62202 short sturdy figure with the sinewy hairy hand and stumpy fingers in
62203 which he held the hilt of his naked saber, looked just as it usually
62204 did, especially toward evening when he had emptied his second
62205 bottle; he was only redder than usual. With his shaggy head thrown
62206 back like birds when they drink, pressing his spurs mercilessly into
62207 the sides of his good horse, Bedouin, and sitting as though falling
62208 backwards in the saddle, he galloped to the other flank of the
62209 squadron and shouted in a hoarse voice to the men to look to their
62210 pistols. He rode up to Kirsten. The staff captain on his broad-backed,
62211 steady mare came at a walk to meet him. His face with its long
62212 mustache was serious as always, only his eyes were brighter than
62213 usual.
62214
62215 "Well, what about it?" said he to Denisov. "It won't come to a
62216 fight. You'll see--we shall retire."
62217
62218 "The devil only knows what they're about!" muttered Denisov. "Ah,
62219 Wostov," he cried noticing the cadet's bright face, "you've got it
62220 at last."
62221
62222 And he smiled approvingly, evidently pleased with the cadet.
62223 Rostov felt perfectly happy. Just then the commander appeared on the
62224 bridge. Denisov galloped up to him.
62225
62226 "Your excellency! Let us attack them! I'll dwive them off."
62227
62228 "Attack indeed!" said the colonel in a bored voice, puckering up his
62229 face as if driving off a troublesome fly. "And why are you stopping
62230 here? Don't you see the skirmishers are retreating? Lead the
62231 squadron back."
62232
62233 The squadron crossed the bridge and drew out of range of fire
62234 without having lost a single man. The second squadron that had been in
62235 the front line followed them across and the last Cossacks quitted
62236 the farther side of the river.
62237
62238 The two Pavlograd squadrons, having crossed the bridge, retired up
62239 the hill one after the other. Their colonel, Karl Bogdanich
62240 Schubert, came up to Denisov's squadron and rode at a footpace not far
62241 from Rostov, without taking any notice of him although they were now
62242 meeting for the first time since their encounter concerning
62243 Telyanin. Rostov, feeling that he was at the front and in the power of
62244 a man toward whom he now admitted that he had been to blame, did not
62245 lift his eyes from the colonel's athletic back, his nape covered
62246 with light hair, and his red neck. It seemed to Rostov that
62247 Bogdanich was only pretending not to notice him, and that his whole
62248 aim now was to test the cadet's courage, so he drew himself up and
62249 looked around him merrily; then it seemed to him that Bogdanich rode
62250 so near in order to show him his courage. Next he thought that his
62251 enemy would send the squadron on a desperate attack just to punish
62252 him--Rostov. Then he imagined how, after the attack, Bogdanich would
62253 come up to him as he lay wounded and would magnanimously extend the
62254 hand of reconciliation.
62255
62256 The high-shouldered figure of Zherkov, familiar to the Pavlograds as
62257 he had but recently left their regiment, rode up to the colonel. After
62258 his dismissal from headquarters Zherkov had not remained in the
62259 regiment, saying he was not such a fool as to slave at the front
62260 when he could get more rewards by doing nothing on the staff, and
62261 had succeeded in attaching himself as an orderly officer to Prince
62262 Bagration. He now came to his former chief with an order from the
62263 commander of the rear guard.
62264
62265 "Colonel," he said, addressing Rostov's enemy with an air of
62266 gloomy gravity and glancing round at his comrades, "there is an
62267 order to stop and fire the bridge."
62268
62269 "An order to who?" asked the colonel morosely.
62270
62271 "I don't myself know 'to who,'" replied the cornet in a serious
62272 tone, "but the prince told me to 'go and tell the colonel that the
62273 hussars must return quickly and fire the bridge.'"
62274
62275 Zherkov was followed by an officer of the suite who rode up to the
62276 colonel of hussars with the same order. After him the stout
62277 Nesvitski came galloping up on a Cossack horse that could scarcely
62278 carry his weight.
62279
62280 "How's this, Colonel?" he shouted as he approached. "I told you to
62281 fire the bridge, and now someone has gone and blundered; they are
62282 all beside themselves over there and one can't make anything out."
62283
62284 The colonel deliberately stopped the regiment and turned to
62285 Nesvitski.
62286
62287 "You spoke to me of inflammable material," said he, "but you said
62288 nothing about firing it."
62289
62290 "But, my dear sir," said Nesvitski as he drew up, taking off his cap
62291 and smoothing his hair wet with perspiration with his plump hand,
62292 "wasn't I telling you to fire the bridge, when inflammable material
62293 had been put in position?"
62294
62295 "I am not your 'dear sir,' Mr. Staff Officer, and you did not tell
62296 me to burn the bridge! I know the service, and it is my habit orders
62297 strictly to obey. You said the bridge would be burned, but who would
62298 it burn, I could not know by the holy spirit!"
62299
62300 "Ah, that's always the way!" said Nesvitski with a wave of the hand.
62301 "How did you get here?" said he, turning to Zherkov.
62302
62303 "On the same business. But you are damp! Let me wring you out!"
62304
62305 "You were saying, Mr. Staff Officer..." continued the colonel in
62306 an offended tone.
62307
62308 "Colonel," interrupted the officer of the suite, "You must be
62309 quick or the enemy will bring up his guns to use grapeshot."
62310
62311 The colonel looked silently at the officer of the suite, at the
62312 stout staff officer, and at Zherkov, and he frowned.
62313
62314 "I will the bridge fire," he said in a solemn tone as if to announce
62315 that in spite of all the unpleasantness he had to endure he would
62316 still do the right thing.
62317
62318 Striking his horse with his long muscular legs as if it were to
62319 blame for everything, the colonel moved forward and ordered the second
62320 squadron, that in which Rostov was serving under Denisov, to return to
62321 the bridge.
62322
62323 "There, it's just as I thought," said Rostov to himself. "He
62324 wishes to test me!" His heart contracted and the blood rushed to his
62325 face. "Let him see whether I am a coward!" he thought.
62326
62327 Again on all the bright faces of the squadron the serious expression
62328 appeared that they had worn when under fire. Rostov watched his enemy,
62329 the colonel, closely--to find in his face confirmation of his own
62330 conjecture, but the colonel did not once glance at Rostov, and
62331 looked as he always did when at the front, solemn and stern. Then came
62332 the word of command.
62333
62334 "Look sharp! Look sharp!" several voices repeated around him.
62335
62336 Their sabers catching in the bridles and their spurs jingling, the
62337 hussars hastily dismounted, not knowing what they were to do. The
62338 men were crossing themselves. Rostov no longer looked at the
62339 colonel, he had no time. He was afraid of falling behind the
62340 hussars, so much afraid that his heart stood still. His hand
62341 trembled as he gave his horse into an orderly's charge, and he felt
62342 the blood rush to his heart with a thud. Denisov rode past him,
62343 leaning back and shouting something. Rostov saw nothing but the
62344 hussars running all around him, their spurs catching and their
62345 sabers clattering.
62346
62347 "Stretchers!" shouted someone behind him.
62348
62349 Rostov did not think what this call for stretchers meant; he ran on,
62350 trying only to be ahead of the others; but just at the bridge, not
62351 looking at the ground, he came on some sticky, trodden mud,
62352 stumbled, and fell on his hands. The others outstripped him.
62353
62354 "At boss zides, Captain," he heard the voice of the colonel, who,
62355 having ridden ahead, had pulled up his horse near the bridge, with a
62356 triumphant, cheerful face.
62357
62358 Rostov wiping his muddy hands on his breeches looked at his enemy
62359 and was about to run on, thinking that the farther he went to the
62360 front the better. But Bogdanich, without looking at or recognizing
62361 Rostov, shouted to him:
62362
62363 "Who's that running on the middle of the bridge? To the right!
62364 Come back, Cadet!" he cried angrily; and turning to Denisov, who,
62365 showing off his courage, had ridden on to the planks of the bridge:
62366
62367 "Why run risks, Captain? You should dismount," he said.
62368
62369 "Oh, every bullet has its billet," answered Vaska Denisov, turning
62370 in his saddle.
62371
62372
62373 Meanwhile Nesvitski, Zherkov, and the officer of the suite were
62374 standing together out of range of the shots, watching, now the small
62375 group of men with yellow shakos, dark-green jackets braided with cord,
62376 and blue riding breeches, who were swarming near the bridge, and
62377 then at what was approaching in the distance from the opposite side-
62378 the blue uniforms and groups with horses, easily recognizable as
62379 artillery.
62380
62381 "Will they burn the bridge or not? Who'll get there first? Will they
62382 get there and fire the bridge or will the French get within
62383 grapeshot range and wipe them out?" These were the questions each
62384 man of the troops on the high ground above the bridge involuntarily
62385 asked himself with a sinking heart--watching the bridge and the
62386 hussars in the bright evening light and the blue tunics advancing from
62387 the other side with their bayonets and guns.
62388
62389 "Ugh. The hussars will get it hot!" said Nesvitski; "they are within
62390 grapeshot range now."
62391
62392 "He shouldn't have taken so many men," said the officer of the
62393 suite.
62394
62395 "True enough," answered Nesvitski; "two smart fellows could have
62396 done the job just as well."
62397
62398 "Ah, your excellency," put in Zherkov, his eyes fixed on the
62399 hussars, but still with that naive air that made it impossible to know
62400 whether he was speaking in jest or in earnest. "Ah, your excellency!
62401 How you look at things! Send two men? And who then would give us the
62402 Vladimir medal and ribbon? But now, even if they do get peppered,
62403 the squadron may be recommended for honors and he may get a ribbon.
62404 Our Bogdanich knows how things are done."
62405
62406 "There now!" said the officer of the suite, "that's grapeshot."
62407
62408 He pointed to the French guns, the limbers of which were being
62409 detached and hurriedly removed.
62410
62411 On the French side, amid the groups with cannon, a cloud of smoke
62412 appeared, then a second and a third almost simultaneously, and at
62413 the moment when the first report was heard a fourth was seen. Then two
62414 reports one after another, and a third.
62415
62416 "Oh! Oh!" groaned Nesvitski as if in fierce pain, seizing the
62417 officer of the suite by the arm. "Look! A man has fallen! Fallen,
62418 fallen!"
62419
62420 "Two, I think."
62421
62422 "If I were Tsar I would never go to war," said Nesvitski, turning
62423 away.
62424
62425 The French guns were hastily reloaded. The infantry in their blue
62426 uniforms advanced toward the bridge at a run. Smoke appeared again but
62427 at irregular intervals, and grapeshot cracked and rattled onto the
62428 bridge. But this time Nesvitski could not see what was happening
62429 there, as a dense cloud of smoke arose from it. The hussars had
62430 succeeded in setting it on fire and the French batteries were now
62431 firing at them, no longer to hinder them but because the guns were
62432 trained and there was someone to fire at.
62433
62434 The French had time to fire three rounds of grapeshot before the
62435 hussars got back to their horses. Two were misdirected and the shot
62436 went too high, but the last round fell in the midst of a group of
62437 hussars and knocked three of them over.
62438
62439 Rostov, absorbed by his relations with Bogdanich, had paused on
62440 the bridge not knowing what to do. There was no one to hew down (as he
62441 had always imagined battles to himself), nor could he help to fire the
62442 bridge because he had not brought any burning straw with him like
62443 the other soldiers. He stood looking about him, when suddenly he heard
62444 a rattle on the bridge as if nuts were being spilt, and the hussar
62445 nearest to him fell against the rails with a groan. Rostov ran up to
62446 him with the others. Again someone shouted, "Stretchers!" Four men
62447 seized the hussar and began lifting him.
62448
62449 "Oooh! For Christ's sake let me alone!" cried the wounded man, but
62450 still he was lifted and laid on the stretcher.
62451
62452 Nicholas Rostov turned away and, as if searching for something,
62453 gazed into the distance, at the waters of the Danube, at the sky,
62454 and at the sun. How beautiful the sky looked; how blue, how calm,
62455 and how deep! How bright and glorious was the setting sun! With what
62456 soft glitter the waters of the distant Danube shone. And fairer
62457 still were the faraway blue mountains beyond the river, the nunnery,
62458 the mysterious gorges, and the pine forests veiled in the mist of
62459 their summits... There was peace and happiness... "I should wishing
62460 for nothing else, nothing, if only I were there," thought Rostov.
62461 "In myself alone and in that sunshine there is so much happiness;
62462 but here... groans, suffering, fear, and this uncertainty and hurry...
62463 There--they are shouting again, and again are all running back
62464 somewhere, and I shall run with them, and it, death, is here above
62465 me and around... Another instant and I shall never again see the
62466 sun, this water, that gorge!..."
62467
62468 At that instant the sun began to hide behind the clouds, and other
62469 stretchers came into view before Rostov. And the fear of death and
62470 of the stretchers, and love of the sun and of life, all merged into
62471 one feeling of sickening agitation.
62472
62473 "O Lord God! Thou who art in that heaven, save, forgive, and protect
62474 me!" Rostov whispered.
62475
62476 The hussars ran back to the men who held their horses; their
62477 voices sounded louder and calmer, the stretchers disappeared from
62478 sight.
62479
62480 "Well, fwiend? So you've smelt powdah!" shouted Vaska Denisov just
62481 above his ear.
62482
62483 "It's all over; but I am a coward--yes, a coward!" thought Rostov,
62484 and sighing deeply he took Rook, his horse, which stood resting one
62485 foot, from the orderly and began to mount.
62486
62487 "Was that grapeshot?" he asked Denisov.
62488
62489 "Yes and no mistake!" cried Denisov. "You worked like wegular bwicks
62490 and it's nasty work! An attack's pleasant work! Hacking away at the
62491 dogs! But this sort of thing is the very devil, with them shooting
62492 at you like a target."
62493
62494 And Denisov rode up to a group that had stopped near Rostov,
62495 composed of the colonel, Nesvitski, Zherkov, and the officer from
62496 the suite.
62497
62498 "Well, it seems that no one has noticed," thought Rostov. And this
62499 was true. No one had taken any notice, for everyone knew the sensation
62500 which the cadet under fire for the first time had experienced.
62501
62502 "Here's something for you to report," said Zherkov. "See if I
62503 don't get promoted to a sublieutenancy."
62504
62505 "Inform the prince that I the bridge fired!" said the colonel
62506 triumphantly and gaily.
62507
62508 "And if he asks about the losses?"
62509
62510 "A trifle," said the colonel in his bass voice: "two hussars
62511 wounded, and one knocked out," he added, unable to restrain a happy
62512 smile, and pronouncing the phrase "knocked out" with ringing
62513 distinctness.
62514
62515
62516
62517
62518
62519 CHAPTER IX
62520
62521
62522 Pursued by the French army of a hundred thousand men under the
62523 command of Bonaparte, encountering a population that was unfriendly to
62524 it, losing confidence in its allies, suffering from shortness of
62525 supplies, and compelled to act under conditions of war unlike anything
62526 that had been foreseen, the Russian army of thirty-five thousand men
62527 commanded by Kutuzov was hurriedly retreating along the Danube,
62528 stopping where overtaken by the enemy and fighting rearguard actions
62529 only as far as necessary to enable it to retreat without losing its
62530 heavy equipment. There had been actions at Lambach, Amstetten, and
62531 Melk; but despite the courage and endurance--acknowledged even by
62532 the enemy--with which the Russians fought, the only consequence of
62533 these actions was a yet more rapid retreat. Austrian troops that had
62534 escaped capture at Ulm and had joined Kutuzov at Braunau now separated
62535 from the Russian army, and Kutuzov was left with only his own weak and
62536 exhausted forces. The defense of Vienna was no longer to be thought
62537 of. Instead of an offensive, the plan of which, carefully prepared
62538 in accord with the modern science of strategics, had been handed to
62539 Kutuzov when he was in Vienna by the Austrian Hofkriegsrath, the
62540 sole and almost unattainable aim remaining for him was to effect a
62541 junction with the forces that were advancing from Russia, without
62542 losing his army as Mack had done at Ulm.
62543
62544 On the twenty-eighth of October Kutuzov with his army crossed to the
62545 left bank of the Danube and took up a position for the first time with
62546 the river between himself and the main body of the French. On the
62547 thirtieth he attacked Mortier's division, which was on the left
62548 bank, and broke it up. In this action for the first time trophies were
62549 taken: banners, cannon, and two enemy generals. For the first time,
62550 after a fortnight's retreat, the Russian troops had halted and after a
62551 fight had not only held the field but had repulsed the French.
62552 Though the troops were ill-clad, exhausted, and had lost a third of
62553 their number in killed, wounded, sick, and stragglers; though a number
62554 of sick and wounded had been abandoned on the other side of the Danube
62555 with a letter in which Kutuzov entrusted them to the humanity of the
62556 enemy; and though the big hospitals and the houses in Krems
62557 converted into military hospitals could no longer accommodate all
62558 the sick and wounded, yet the stand made at Krems and the victory over
62559 Mortier raised the spirits of the army considerably. Throughout the
62560 whole army and at headquarters most joyful though erroneous rumors
62561 were rife of the imaginary approach of columns from Russia, of some
62562 victory gained by the Austrians, and of the retreat of the
62563 frightened Bonaparte.
62564
62565 Prince Andrew during the battle had been in attendance on the
62566 Austrian General Schmidt, who was killed in the action. His horse
62567 had been wounded under him and his own arm slightly grazed by a
62568 bullet. As a mark of the commander in chief's special favor he was
62569 sent with the news of this victory to the Austrian court, now no
62570 longer at Vienna (which was threatened by the French) but at Brunn.
62571 Despite his apparently delicate build Prince Andrew could endure
62572 physical fatigue far better than many very muscular men, and on the
62573 night of the battle, having arrived at Krems excited but not weary,
62574 with dispatches from Dokhturov to Kutuzov, he was sent immediately
62575 with a special dispatch to Brunn. To be so sent meant not only a
62576 reward but an important step toward promotion.
62577
62578 The night was dark but starry, the road showed black in the snow
62579 that had fallen the previous day--the day of the battle. Reviewing his
62580 impressions of the recent battle, picturing pleasantly to himself
62581 the impression his news of a victory would create, or recalling the
62582 send-off given him by the commander in chief and his fellow
62583 officers, Prince Andrew was galloping along in a post chaise
62584 enjoying the feelings of a man who has at length begun to attain a
62585 long-desired happiness. As soon as he closed his eyes his ears
62586 seemed filled with the rattle of the wheels and the sensation of
62587 victory. Then he began to imagine that the Russians were running
62588 away and that he himself was killed, but he quickly roused himself
62589 with a feeling of joy, as if learning afresh that this was not so
62590 but that on the contrary the French had run away. He again recalled
62591 all the details of the victory and his own calm courage during the
62592 battle, and feeling reassured he dozed off.... The dark starry night
62593 was followed by a bright cheerful morning. The snow was thawing in the
62594 sunshine, the horses galloped quickly, and on both sides of the road
62595 were forests of different kinds, fields, and villages.
62596
62597 At one of the post stations he overtook a convoy of Russian wounded.
62598 The Russian officer in charge of the transport lolled back in the
62599 front cart, shouting and scolding a soldier with coarse abuse. In each
62600 of the long German carts six or more pale, dirty, bandaged men were
62601 being jolted over the stony road. Some of them were talking (he
62602 heard Russian words), others were eating bread; the more severely
62603 wounded looked silently, with the languid interest of sick children,
62604 at the envoy hurrying past them.
62605
62606 Prince Andrew told his driver to stop, and asked a soldier in what
62607 action they had been wounded. "Day before yesterday, on the Danube,"
62608 answered the soldier. Prince Andrew took out his purse and gave the
62609 soldier three gold pieces.
62610
62611 "That's for them all," he said to the officer who came up.
62612
62613 "Get well soon, lads!" he continued, turning to the soldiers.
62614 "There's plenty to do still."
62615
62616 "What news, sir?" asked the officer, evidently anxious to start a
62617 conversation.
62618
62619 "Good news!... Go on!" he shouted to the driver, and they galloped
62620 on.
62621
62622 It was already quite dark when Prince Andrew rattled over the
62623 paved streets of Brunn and found himself surrounded by high buildings,
62624 the lights of shops, houses, and street lamps, fine carriages, and all
62625 that atmosphere of a large and active town which is always so
62626 attractive to a soldier after camp life. Despite his rapid journey and
62627 sleepless night, Prince Andrew when he drove up to the palace felt
62628 even more vigorous and alert than he had done the day before. Only his
62629 eyes gleamed feverishly and his thoughts followed one another with
62630 extraordinary clearness and rapidity. He again vividly recalled the
62631 details of the battle, no longer dim, but definite and in the
62632 concise form in which he imagined himself stating them to
62633 the Emperor Francis. He vividly imagined the casual questions that
62634 might be put to him and the answers he would give. He expected to be
62635 at once presented to the Emperor. At the chief entrance to the palace,
62636 however, an official came running out to meet him, and learning that
62637 he was a special messenger led him to another entrance.
62638
62639 "To the right from the corridor, Euer Hochgeboren! There you will
62640 find the adjutant on duty," said the official. "He will conduct you to
62641 the Minister of War."
62642
62643 The adjutant on duty, meeting Prince Andrew, asked him to wait,
62644 and went in to the Minister of War. Five minutes later he returned and
62645 bowing with particular courtesy ushered Prince Andrew before him along
62646 a corridor to the cabinet where the Minister of War was at work. The
62647 adjutant by his elaborate courtesy appeared to wish to ward off any
62648 attempt at familiarity on the part of the Russian messenger.
62649
62650 Prince Andrew's joyous feeling was considerably weakened as he
62651 approached the door of the minister's room. He felt offended, and
62652 without his noticing it the feeling of offense immediately turned into
62653 one of disdain which was quite uncalled for. His fertile mind
62654 instantly suggested to him a point of view which gave him a right to
62655 despise the adjutant and the minister. "Away from the smell of powder,
62656 they probably think it easy to gain victories!" he thought. His eyes
62657 narrowed disdainfully, he entered the room of the Minister of War with
62658 peculiarly deliberate steps. This feeling of disdain was heightened
62659 when he saw the minister seated at a large table reading some papers
62660 and making pencil notes on them, and for the first two or three
62661 minutes taking no notice of his arrival. A wax candle stood at each
62662 side of the minister's bent bald head with its gray temples. He went
62663 on reading to the end, without raising his eyes at the opening of
62664 the door and the sound of footsteps.
62665
62666 "Take this and deliver it," said he to his adjutant, handing him the
62667 papers and still taking no notice of the special messenger.
62668
62669 Prince Andrew felt that either the actions of Kutuzov's army
62670 interested the Minister of War less than any of the other matters he
62671 was concerned with, or he wanted to give the Russian special messenger
62672 that impression. "But that is a matter of perfect indifference to me,"
62673 he thought. The minister drew the remaining papers together,
62674 arranged them evenly, and then raised his head. He had an intellectual
62675 and distinctive head, but the instant he turned to Prince Andrew the
62676 firm, intelligent expression on his face changed in a way evidently
62677 deliberate and habitual to him. His face took on the stupid artificial
62678 smile (which does not even attempt to hide its artificiality) of a man
62679 who is continually receiving many petitioners one after another.
62680
62681 "From General Field Marshal Kutuzov?" he asked. "I hope it is good
62682 news? There has been an encounter with Mortier? A victory? It was high
62683 time!"
62684
62685 He took the dispatch which was addressed to him and began to read it
62686 with a mournful expression.
62687
62688 "Oh, my God! My God! Schmidt!" he exclaimed in German. "What a
62689 calamity! What a calamity!"
62690
62691 Having glanced through the dispatch he laid it on the table and
62692 looked at Prince Andrew, evidently considering something.
62693
62694 "Ah what a calamity! You say the affair was decisive? But Mortier is
62695 not captured." Again he pondered. "I am very glad you have brought
62696 good news, though Schmidt's death is a heavy price to pay for the
62697 victory. His Majesty will no doubt wish to see you, but not today. I
62698 thank you! You must have a rest. Be at the levee tomorrow after the
62699 parade. However, I will let you know."
62700
62701 The stupid smile, which had left his face while he was speaking,
62702 reappeared.
62703
62704 "Au revoir! Thank you very much. His Majesty will probably desire to
62705 see you," he added, bowing his head.
62706
62707 When Prince Andrew left the palace he felt that all the interest and
62708 happiness the victory had afforded him had been now left in the
62709 indifferent hands of the Minister of War and the polite adjutant.
62710 The whole tenor of his thoughts instantaneously changed; the battle
62711 seemed the memory of a remote event long past.
62712
62713
62714
62715
62716
62717 CHAPTER X
62718
62719
62720 Prince Andrew stayed at Brunn with Bilibin, a Russian acquaintance
62721 of his in the diplomatic service.
62722
62723 "Ah, my dear prince! I could not have a more welcome visitor,"
62724 said Bilibin as he came out to meet Prince Andrew. "Franz, put the
62725 prince's things in my bedroom," said he to the servant who was
62726 ushering Bolkonski in. "So you're a messenger of victory, eh?
62727 Splendid! And I am sitting here ill, as you see."
62728
62729 After washing and dressing, Prince Andrew came into the diplomat's
62730 luxurious study and sat down to the dinner prepared for him. Bilibin
62731 settled down comfortably beside the fire.
62732
62733 After his journey and the campaign during which he had been deprived
62734 of all the comforts of cleanliness and all the refinements of life,
62735 Prince Andrew felt a pleasant sense of repose among luxurious
62736 surroundings such as he had been accustomed to from childhood. Besides
62737 it was pleasant, after his reception by the Austrians, to speak if not
62738 in Russian (for they were speaking French) at least with a Russian who
62739 would, he supposed, share the general Russian antipathy to the
62740 Austrians which was then particularly strong.
62741
62742 Bilibin was a man of thirty-five, a bachelor, and of the same circle
62743 as Prince Andrew. They had known each other previously in
62744 Petersburg, but had become more intimate when Prince Andrew was in
62745 Vienna with Kutuzov. Just as Prince Andrew was a young man who gave
62746 promise of rising high in the military profession, so to an even
62747 greater extent Bilibin gave promise of rising in his diplomatic
62748 career. He still a young man but no longer a young diplomat, as he had
62749 entered the service at the age of sixteen, had been in Paris and
62750 Copenhagen, and now held a rather important post in Vienna. Both the
62751 foreign minister and our ambassador in Vienna knew him and valued him.
62752 He was not one of those many diplomats who are esteemed because they
62753 have certain negative qualities, avoid doing certain things, and speak
62754 French. He was one of those, who, liking work, knew how to do it,
62755 and despite his indolence would sometimes spend a whole night at his
62756 writing table. He worked well whatever the import of his work. It
62757 was not the question "What for?" but the question "How?" that
62758 interested him. What the diplomatic matter might be he did not care,
62759 but it gave him great pleasure to prepare a circular, memorandum, or
62760 report, skillfully, pointedly, and elegantly. Bilibin's services
62761 were valued not only for what he wrote, but also for his skill in
62762 dealing and conversing with those in the highest spheres.
62763
62764 Bilibin liked conversation as he liked work, only when it could be
62765 made elegantly witty. In society he always awaited an opportunity to
62766 say something striking and took part in a conversation only when
62767 that was possible. His conversation was always sprinkled with
62768 wittily original, finished phrases of general interest. These
62769 sayings were prepared in the inner laboratory of his mind in a
62770 portable form as if intentionally, so that insignificant society
62771 people might carry them from drawing room to drawing room. And, in
62772 fact, Bilibin's witticisms were hawked about in the Viennese drawing
62773 rooms and often had an influence on matters considered important.
62774
62775 His thin, worn, sallow face was covered with deep wrinkles, which
62776 always looked as clean and well washed as the tips of one's fingers
62777 after a Russian bath. The movement of these wrinkles formed the
62778 principal play of expression on his face. Now his forehead would
62779 pucker into deep folds and his eyebrows were lifted, then his eyebrows
62780 would descend and deep wrinkles would crease his cheeks. His small,
62781 deep-set eyes always twinkled and looked out straight.
62782
62783 "Well, now tell me about your exploits," said he.
62784
62785 Bolkonski, very modestly without once mentioning himself,
62786 described the engagement and his reception by the Minister of War.
62787
62788 "They received me and my news as one receives a dog in a game of
62789 skittles," said he in conclusion.
62790
62791 Bilibin smiled and the wrinkles on his face disappeared.
62792
62793 "Cependant, mon cher," he remarked, examining his nails from a
62794 distance and puckering the skin above his left eye, "malgre la haute
62795 estime que je professe pour the Orthodox Russian army, j'avoue que
62796 votre victoire n'est pas des plus victorieuses."*
62797
62798
62799 *"But my dear fellow, with all my respect for the Orthodox Russian
62800 army, I must say that your victory was not particularly victorious."
62801
62802
62803 He went on talking in this way in French, uttering only those
62804 words in Russian on which he wished to put a contemptuous emphasis.
62805
62806 "Come now! You with all your forces fall on the unfortunate
62807 Mortier and his one division, and even then Mortier slips through your
62808 fingers! Where's the victory?"
62809
62810 "But seriously," said Prince Andrew, "we can at any rate say without
62811 boasting that it was a little better than at Ulm..."
62812
62813 "Why didn't you capture one, just one, marshal for us?"
62814
62815 "Because not everything happens as one expects or with the
62816 smoothness of a parade. We had expected, as I told you, to get at
62817 their rear by seven in the morning but had not reached it by five in
62818 the afternoon."
62819
62820 "And why didn't you do it at seven in the morning? You ought to have
62821 been there at seven in the morning," returned Bilibin with a smile.
62822 "You ought to have been there at seven in the morning."
62823
62824 "Why did you not succeed in impressing on Bonaparte by diplomatic
62825 methods that he had better leave Genoa alone?" retorted Prince
62826 Andrew in the same tone.
62827
62828 "I know," interrupted Bilibin, "you're thinking it's very easy to
62829 take marshals, sitting on a sofa by the fire! That is true, but
62830 still why didn't you capture him? So don't be surprised if not only
62831 the Minister of War but also his Most August Majesty the Emperor and
62832 King Francis is not much delighted by your victory. Even I, a poor
62833 secretary of the Russian Embassy, do not feel any need in token of
62834 my joy to give my Franz a thaler, or let him go with his Liebchen to
62835 the Prater... True, we have no Prater here..."
62836
62837 He looked straight at Prince Andrew and suddenly unwrinkled his
62838 forehead.
62839
62840 "It is now my turn to ask you 'why?' mon cher," said Bolkonski. "I
62841 confess I do not understand: perhaps there are diplomatic subtleties
62842 here beyond my feeble intelligence, but I can't make it out. Mack
62843 loses a whole army, the Archduke Ferdinand and the Archduke Karl
62844 give no signs of life and make blunder after blunder. Kutuzov alone at
62845 last gains a real victory, destroying the spell of the invincibility
62846 of the French, and the Minister of War does not even care to hear
62847 the details."
62848
62849 "That's just it, my dear fellow. You see it's hurrah for the Tsar,
62850 for Russia, for the Orthodox Greek faith! All that is beautiful, but
62851 what do we, I mean the Austrian court, care for your victories?
62852 Bring us nice news of a victory by the Archduke Karl or Ferdinand (one
62853 archduke's as good as another, as you know) and even if it is only
62854 over a fire brigade of Bonaparte's, that will be another story and
62855 we'll fire off some cannon! But this sort of thing seems done on
62856 purpose to vex us. The Archduke Karl does nothing, the Archduke
62857 Ferdinand disgraces himself. You abandon Vienna, give up its
62858 defense--as much as to say: 'Heaven is with us, but heaven help you
62859 and your capital!' The one general whom we all loved, Schmidt, you
62860 expose to a bullet, and then you congratulate us on the victory! Admit
62861 that more irritating news than yours could not have been conceived.
62862 It's as if it had been done on purpose, on purpose. Besides, suppose
62863 you did gain a brilliant victory, if even the Archduke Karl gained a
62864 victory, what effect would that have on the general course of
62865 events? It's too late now when Vienna is occupied by the French army!"
62866
62867 "What? Occupied? Vienna occupied?"
62868
62869 "Not only occupied, but Bonaparte is at Schonbrunn, and the count,
62870 our dear Count Vrbna, goes to him for orders."
62871
62872 After the fatigues and impressions of the journey, his reception,
62873 and especially after having dined, Bolkonski felt that he could not
62874 take in the full significance of the words he heard.
62875
62876 "Count Lichtenfels was here this morning," Bilibin continued, "and
62877 showed me a letter in which the parade of the French in Vienna was
62878 fully described: Prince Murat et tout le tremblement... You see that
62879 your victory is not a matter for great rejoicing and that you can't be
62880 received as a savior."
62881
62882 "Really I don't care about that, I don't care at all," said Prince
62883 Andrew, beginning to understand that his news of the battle before
62884 Krems was really of small importance in view of such events as the
62885 fall of Austria's capital. "How is it Vienna was taken? What of the
62886 bridge and its celebrated bridgehead and Prince Auersperg? We heard
62887 reports that Prince Auersperg was defending Vienna?" he said.
62888
62889 "Prince Auersperg is on this, on our side of the river, and is
62890 defending us--doing it very badly, I think, but still he is
62891 defending us. But Vienna is on the other side. No, the bridge has
62892 not yet been taken and I hope it will not be, for it is mined and
62893 orders have been given to blow it up. Otherwise we should long ago
62894 have been in the mountains of Bohemia, and you and your army would
62895 have spent a bad quarter of an hour between two fires."
62896
62897 "But still this does not mean that the campaign is over," said
62898 Prince Andrew.
62899
62900 "Well, I think it is. The bigwigs here think so too, but they
62901 daren't say so. It will be as I said at the beginning of the campaign,
62902 it won't be your skirmishing at Durrenstein, or gunpowder at all, that
62903 will decide the matter, but those who devised it," said Bilibin
62904 quoting one of his own mots, releasing the wrinkles on his forehead,
62905 and pausing. "The only question is what will come of the meeting
62906 between the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia in Berlin? If
62907 Prussia joins the Allies, Austria's hand will be forced and there will
62908 be war. If not it is merely a question of settling where the
62909 preliminaries of the new Campo Formio are to be drawn up."
62910
62911 "What an extraordinary genius!" Prince Andrew suddenly exclaimed,
62912 clenching his small hand and striking the table with it, "and what
62913 luck the man has!"
62914
62915 "Buonaparte?" said Bilibin inquiringly, puckering up his forehead to
62916 indicate that he was about to say something witty. "Buonaparte?" he
62917 repeated, accentuating the u: "I think, however, now that he lays down
62918 laws for Austria at Schonbrunn, il faut lui faire grace de l'u!* I
62919 shall certainly adopt an innovation and call him simply Bonaparte!"
62920
62921
62922 *"We must let him off the u!"
62923
62924
62925 "But joking apart," said Prince Andrew, "do you really think the
62926 campaign is over?"
62927
62928 "This is what I think. Austria has been made a fool of, and she is
62929 not used to it. She will retaliate. And she has been fooled in the
62930 first place because her provinces have been pillaged--they say the
62931 Holy Russian army loots terribly--her army is destroyed, her capital
62932 taken, and all this for the beaux yeux* of His Sardinian Majesty.
62933 And therefore--this is between ourselves--I instinctively feel that we
62934 are being deceived, my instinct tells me of negotiations with France
62935 and projects for peace, a secret peace concluded separately."
62936
62937
62938 *Fine eyes.
62939
62940
62941 "Impossible!" cried Prince Andrew. "That would be too base."
62942
62943 "If we live we shall see," replied Bilibin, his face again
62944 becoming smooth as a sign that the conversation was at an end.
62945
62946 When Prince Andrew reached the room prepared for him and lay down in
62947 a clean shirt on the feather bed with its warmed and fragrant pillows,
62948 he felt that the battle of which he had brought tidings was far, far
62949 away from him. The alliance with Prussia, Austria's treachery,
62950 Bonaparte's new triumph, tomorrow's levee and parade, and the audience
62951 with the Emperor Francis occupied his thoughts.
62952
62953 He closed his eyes, and immediately a sound of cannonading, of
62954 musketry and the rattling of carriage wheels seemed to fill his
62955 ears, and now again drawn out in a thin line the musketeers were
62956 descending the hill, the French were firing, and he felt his heart
62957 palpitating as he rode forward beside Schmidt with the bullets merrily
62958 whistling all around, and he experienced tenfold the joy of living, as
62959 he had not done since childhood.
62960
62961 He woke up...
62962
62963 "Yes, that all happened!" he said, and, smiling happily to himself
62964 like a child, he fell into a deep, youthful slumber.
62965
62966
62967
62968
62969
62970 CHAPTER XI
62971
62972
62973 Next day he woke late. Recalling his recent impressions, the first
62974 thought that came into his mind was that today he had to be
62975 presented to the Emperor Francis; he remembered the Minister of War,
62976 the polite Austrian adjutant, Bilibin, and last night's
62977 conversation. Having dressed for his attendance at court in full
62978 parade uniform, which he had not worn for a long time, he went into
62979 Bilibin's study fresh, animated, and handsome, with his hand bandaged.
62980 In the study were four gentlemen of the diplomatic corps. With
62981 Prince Hippolyte Kuragin, who was a secretary to the embassy,
62982 Bolkonski was already acquainted. Bilibin introduced him to the
62983 others.
62984
62985 The gentlemen assembled at Bilibin's were young, wealthy, gay
62986 society men, who here, as in Vienna, formed a special set which
62987 Bilibin, their leader, called les notres.* This set, consisting almost
62988 exclusively of diplomats, evidently had its own interests which had
62989 nothing to do with war or politics but related to high society, to
62990 certain women, and to the official side of the service. These
62991 gentlemen received Prince Andrew as one of themselves, an honor they
62992 did not extend to many. From politeness and to start conversation,
62993 they asked him a few questions about the army and the battle, and then
62994 the talk went off into merry jests and gossip.
62995
62996
62997 *Ours.
62998
62999
63000 "But the best of it was," said one, telling of the misfortune of a
63001 fellow diplomat, "that the Chancellor told him flatly that his
63002 appointment to London was a promotion and that he was so to regard it.
63003 Can you fancy the figure he cut?..."
63004
63005 "But the worst of it, gentlemen--I am giving Kuragin away to you--is
63006 that that man suffers, and this Don Juan, wicked fellow, is taking
63007 advantage of it!"
63008
63009 Prince Hippolyte was lolling in a lounge chair with his legs over
63010 its arm. He began to laugh.
63011
63012 "Tell me about that!" he said.
63013
63014 "Oh, you Don Juan! You serpent!" cried several voices.
63015
63016 "You, Bolkonski, don't know," said Bilibin turning to Prince Andrew,
63017 "that all the atrocities of the French army (I nearly said of the
63018 Russian army) are nothing compared to what this man has been doing
63019 among the women!"
63020
63021 "La femme est la compagne de l'homme,"* announced Prince
63022 Hippolyte, and began looking through a lorgnette at his elevated legs.
63023
63024
63025 *"Woman is man's companion."
63026
63027
63028 Bilibin and the rest of "ours" burst out laughing in Hippolyte's
63029 face, and Prince Andrew saw that Hippolyte, of whom--he had to
63030 admit--he had almost been jealous on his wife's account, was the
63031 butt of this set.
63032
63033 "Oh, I must give you a treat," Bilibin whispered to Bolkonski.
63034 "Kuragin is exquisite when he discusses politics--you should see his
63035 gravity!"
63036
63037 He sat down beside Hippolyte and wrinkling his forehead began
63038 talking to him about politics. Prince Andrew and the others gathered
63039 round these two.
63040
63041 "The Berlin cabinet cannot express a feeling of alliance," began
63042 Hippolyte gazing round with importance at the others, "without
63043 expressing... as in its last note... you understand... Besides, unless
63044 His Majesty the Emperor derogates from the principle of our
63045 alliance...
63046
63047 "Wait, I have not finished..." he said to Prince Andrew, seizing him
63048 by the arm, "I believe that intervention will be stronger than
63049 nonintervention. And..." he paused. "Finally one cannot impute the
63050 nonreceipt of our dispatch of November 18. That is how it will end."
63051 And he released Bolkonski's arm to indicate that he had now quite
63052 finished.
63053
63054 "Demosthenes, I know thee by the pebble thou secretest in thy golden
63055 mouth!" said Bilibin, and the mop of hair on his head moved with
63056 satisfaction.
63057
63058 Everybody laughed, and Hippolyte louder than anyone. He was
63059 evidently distressed, and breathed painfully, but could not restrain
63060 the wild laughter that convulsed his usually impassive features.
63061
63062 "Well now, gentlemen," said Bilibin, "Bolkonski is my guest in
63063 this house and in Brunn itself. I want to entertain him as far as I
63064 can, with all the pleasures of life here. If we were in Vienna it
63065 would be easy, but here, in this wretched Moravian hole, it is more
63066 difficult, and I beg you all to help me. Brunn's attractions must be
63067 shown him. You can undertake the theater, I society, and you,
63068 Hippolyte, of course the women."
63069
63070 "We must let him see Amelie, she's exquisite!" said one of "ours,"
63071 kissing his finger tips.
63072
63073 "In general we must turn this bloodthirsty soldier to more humane
63074 interests," said Bilibin.
63075
63076 "I shall scarcely be able to avail myself of your hospitality,
63077 gentlemen, it is already time for me to go," replied Prince Andrew
63078 looking at his watch.
63079
63080 "Where to?"
63081
63082 "To the Emperor."
63083
63084 "Oh! Oh! Oh! Well, au revoir, Bolkonski! Au revoir, Prince! Come
63085 back early to dinner," cried several voices. "We'll take you in hand."
63086
63087 "When speaking to the Emperor, try as far as you can to praise the
63088 way that provisions are supplied and the routes indicated," said
63089 Bilibin, accompanying him to the hall.
63090
63091 "I should like to speak well of them, but as far as I the facts, I
63092 can't," replied Bolkonski, smiling.
63093
63094 "Well, talk as much as you can, anyway. He has a passion for
63095 giving audiences, but he does not like talking himself and can't do
63096 it, as you will see."
63097
63098
63099
63100
63101
63102 CHAPTER XII
63103
63104
63105 At the levee Prince Andrew stood among the Austrian officers as he
63106 had been told to, and the Emperor Francis merely looked fixedly into
63107 his face and just nodded to him with to him with his long head. But
63108 after it was over, the adjutant he had seen the previous day
63109 ceremoniously informed Bolkonski that the Emperor desired to give
63110 him an audience. The Emperor Francis received him standing in the
63111 middle of the room. Before the conversation began Prince Andrew was
63112 struck by the fact that the Emperor seemed confused and blushed as
63113 if not knowing what to say.
63114
63115 "Tell me, when did the battle begin?" he asked hurriedly.
63116
63117 Prince Andrew replied. Then followed other questions just as simple:
63118 "Was Kutuzov well? When had he left Krems?" and so on. The Emperor
63119 spoke as if his sole aim were to put a given number of questions-
63120 the answers to these questions, as was only too evident, did not
63121 interest him.
63122
63123 "At what o'clock did the battle begin?" asked the Emperor.
63124
63125 "I cannot inform Your Majesty at what o'clock the battle began at
63126 the front, but at Durrenstein, where I was, our attack began after
63127 five in the afternoon," replied Bolkonski growing more animated and
63128 expecting that he would have a chance to give a reliable account,
63129 which he had ready in his mind, of all he knew and had seen. But the
63130 Emperor smiled and interrupted him.
63131
63132 "How many miles?"
63133
63134 "From where to where, Your Majesty?"
63135
63136 "From Durrenstein to Krems."
63137
63138 "Three and a half miles, Your Majesty."
63139
63140 "The French have abandoned the left bank?"
63141
63142 "According to the scouts the last of them crossed on rafts during
63143 the night."
63144
63145 "Is there sufficient forage in Krems?"
63146
63147 "Forage has not been supplied to the extent..."
63148
63149 The Emperor interrupted him.
63150
63151 "At what o'clock was General Schmidt killed?"
63152
63153 "At seven o'clock, I believe."
63154
63155 "At seven o'clock? It's very sad, very sad!"
63156
63157 The Emperor thanked Prince Andrew and bowed. Prince Andrew
63158 withdrew and was immediately surrounded by courtiers on all sides.
63159 Everywhere he saw friendly looks and heard friendly words. Yesterday's
63160 adjutant reproached him for not having stayed at the palace, and
63161 offered him his own house. The Minister of War came up and
63162 congratulated him on the Maria Theresa Order of the third grade, which
63163 the Emperor was conferring on him. The Empress' chamberlain invited
63164 him to see Her Majesty. The archduchess also wished to see him. He did
63165 not know whom to answer, and for a few seconds collected his thoughts.
63166 Then the Russian ambassador took him by the shoulder, led him to the
63167 window, and began to talk to him.
63168
63169 Contrary to Bilibin's forecast the news he had brought was
63170 joyfully received. A thanksgiving service was arranged, Kutuzov was
63171 awarded the Grand Cross of Maria Theresa, and the whole army
63172 received rewards. Bolkonski was invited everywhere, and had to spend
63173 the whole morning calling on the principal Austrian dignitaries.
63174 Between four and five in the afternoon, having made all his calls,
63175 he was returning to Bilibin's house thinking out a letter to his
63176 father about the battle and his visit to Brunn. At the door he found a
63177 vehicle half full of luggage. Franz, Bilibin's man, was dragging a
63178 portmanteau with some difficulty out of the front door.
63179
63180 Before returning to Bilibin's Prince Andrew had gone to bookshop
63181 to provide himself with some books for the campaign, and had spent
63182 some time in the shop.
63183
63184 "What is it?" he asked.
63185
63186 "Oh, your excellency!" said Franz, with difficulty rolling the
63187 portmanteau into the vehicle, "we are to move on still farther. The
63188 scoundrel is again at our heels!"
63189
63190 "Eh? What?" asked Prince Andrew.
63191
63192 Bilibin came out to meet him. His usually calm face showed
63193 excitement.
63194
63195 "There now! Confess that this is delightful," said he. "This
63196 affair of the Thabor Bridge, at Vienna.... They have crossed without
63197 striking a blow!"
63198
63199 Prince Andrew could not understand.
63200
63201 "But where do you come from not to know what every coachman in the
63202 town knows?"
63203
63204 "I come from the archduchess'. I heard nothing there."
63205
63206 "And you didn't see that everybody is packing up?"
63207
63208 "I did not... What is it all about?" inquired Prince Andrew
63209 impatiently.
63210
63211 "What's it all about? Why, the French have crossed the bridge that
63212 Auersperg was defending, and the bridge was not blown up: so Murat
63213 is now rushing along the road to Brunn and will be here in a day or
63214 two."
63215
63216 "What? Here? But why did they not blow up the bridge, if it was
63217 mined?"
63218
63219 "That is what I ask you. No one, not even Bonaparte, knows why."
63220
63221 Bolkonski shrugged his shoulders.
63222
63223 "But if the bridge is crossed it means that the army too is lost? It
63224 will be cut off," said he.
63225
63226 "That's just it," answered Bilibin. "Listen! The French entered
63227 Vienna as I told you. Very well. Next day, which was yesterday,
63228 those gentlemen, messieurs les marechaux,* Murat, Lannes,and Belliard,
63229 mount and ride to bridge. (Observe that all three are Gascons.)
63230 'Gentlemen,' says one of them, 'you know the Thabor Bridge is mined
63231 and doubly mined and that there are menacing fortifications at its
63232 head and an army of fifteen thousand men has been ordered to blow up
63233 the bridge and not let us cross? But it will please our sovereign
63234 the Emperor Napoleon if we take this bridge, so let us three go and
63235 take it!' 'Yes, let's!' say the others. And off they go and take the
63236 bridge, cross it, and now with their whole army are on this side of
63237 the Danube, marching on us, you, and your lines of communication."
63238
63239
63240 *The marshalls.
63241
63242
63243 "Stop jesting," said Prince Andrew sadly and seriously. This news
63244 grieved him and yet he was pleased.
63245
63246 As soon as he learned that the Russian army was in such a hopeless
63247 situation it occurred to him that it was he who was destined to lead
63248 it out of this position; that here was the Toulon that would lift
63249 him from the ranks of obscure officers and offer him the first step to
63250 fame! Listening to Bilibin he was already imagining how on reaching
63251 the army he would give an opinion at the war council which would be
63252 the only one that could save the army, and how he alone would be
63253 entrusted with the executing of the plan.
63254
63255 "Stop this jesting," he said
63256
63257 "I am not jesting," Bilibin went on. "Nothing is truer or sadder.
63258 These gentlemen ride onto the bridge alone and wave white
63259 handkerchiefs; they assure the officer on duty that they, the
63260 marshals, are on their way to negotiate with Prince Auersperg. He lets
63261 them enter the tete-de-pont.* They spin him a thousand gasconades,
63262 saying that the war is over, that the Emperor Francis is arranging a
63263 meeting with Bonaparte, that they desire to see Prince Auersperg,
63264 and so on. The officer sends for Auersperg; these gentlemen embrace
63265 the officers, crack jokes, sit on the cannon, and meanwhile a French
63266 battalion gets to the bridge unobserved, flings the bags of incendiary
63267 material into the water, and approaches the tete-de-pont. At length
63268 appears the lieutenant general, our dear Prince Auersperg von
63269 Mautern himself. 'Dearest foe! Flower of the Austrian army, hero of
63270 the Turkish wars Hostilities are ended, we can shake one another's
63271 hand.... The Emperor Napoleon burns with impatience to make Prince
63272 Auersperg's acquaintance.' In a word, those gentlemen, Gascons indeed,
63273 so bewildered him with fine words, and he is so flattered by his
63274 rapidly established intimacy with the French marshals, and so
63275 dazzled by the sight of Murat's mantle and ostrich plumes, qu'il n'y
63276 voit que du feu, et oublie celui qu'il devait faire faire sur
63277 l'ennemi!"*[2] In spite of the animation of his speech, Bilibin did
63278 not forget to pause after this mot to give time for its due
63279 appreciation. "The French battalion rushes to the bridgehead, spikes
63280 the guns, and the bridge is taken! But what is best of all," he went
63281 on, his excitement subsiding under the delightful interest of his
63282 own story, "is that the sergeant in charge of the cannon which was
63283 to give the signal to fire the mines and blow up the bridge, this
63284 sergeant, seeing that the French troops were running onto the
63285 bridge, was about to fire, but Lannes stayed his hand. The sergeant,
63286 who was evidently wiser than his general, goes up to Auersperg and
63287 says: 'Prince, you are being deceived, here are the French!' Murat,
63288 seeing that all is lost if the sergeant is allowed to speak, turns
63289 to Auersperg with feigned astonishment (he is a true Gascon) and says:
63290 'I don't recognize the world-famous Austrian discipline, if you
63291 allow a subordinate to address you like that!' It was a stroke of
63292 genius. Prince Auersperg feels his dignity at stake and orders the
63293 sergeant to be arrested. Come, you must own that this affair of the
63294 Thabor Bridge is delightful! It is not exactly stupidity, nor
63295 rascality...."
63296
63297
63298 *Bridgehead.
63299
63300 *[2] That their fire gets into his eyes and he forgets that he ought
63301 to be firing at the enemy.
63302
63303
63304 "It may be treachery," said Prince Andrew, vividly imagining the
63305 gray overcoats, wounds, the smoke of gunpowder, the sounds of
63306 firing, and the glory that awaited him.
63307
63308 "Not that either. That puts the court in too bad a light," replied
63309 Bilibin. "It's not treachery nor rascality nor stupidity: it is just as
63310 at Ulm... it is..."--he seemed to be trying to find the right
63311 expression. "C'est... c'est du Mack. Nous sommes mackes [It is... it
63312 is a bit of Mack. We are Macked]," he concluded, feeling that he had
63313 produced a good epigram, a fresh one that would be repeated. His
63314 hitherto puckered brow became smooth as a sign of pleasure, and with a
63315 slight smile he began to examine his nails.
63316
63317 "Where are you off to?" he said suddenly to Prince Andrew who had
63318 risen and was going toward his room.
63319
63320 "I am going away."
63321
63322 "Where to?"
63323
63324 "To the army."
63325
63326 "But you meant to stay another two days?"
63327
63328 "But now I am off at once."
63329
63330 And Prince Andrew after giving directions about his departure went
63331 to his room.
63332
63333 "Do you know, mon cher," said Bilibin following him, "I have been
63334 thinking about you. Why are you going?"
63335
63336 And in proof of the conclusiveness of his opinion all the wrinkles
63337 vanished from his face.
63338
63339 Prince Andrew looked inquiringly at him and gave no reply.
63340
63341 "Why are you going? I know you think it your duty to gallop back
63342 to the army now that it is in danger. I understand that. Mon cher,
63343 it is heroism!"
63344
63345 "Not at all," said Prince Andrew.
63346
63347 "But as you are a philosopher, be a consistent one, look at the
63348 other side of the question and you will see that your duty, on the
63349 contrary, is to take care of yourself. Leave it to those who are no
63350 longer fit for anything else.... You have not been ordered to return
63351 and have not been dismissed from here; therefore, you can stay and
63352 go with us wherever our ill luck takes us. They say we are going to
63353 Olmutz, and Olmutz is a very decent town. You and I will travel
63354 comfortably in my caleche."
63355
63356 "Do stop joking, Bilibin," cried Bolkonski.
63357
63358 "I am speaking sincerely as a friend! Consider! Where and why are
63359 you going, when you might remain here? You are faced by one of two
63360 things," and the skin over his left temple puckered, "either you
63361 will not reach your regiment before peace is concluded, or you will
63362 share defeat and disgrace with Kutuzov's whole army."
63363
63364 And Bilibin unwrinkled his temple, feeling that the dilemma was
63365 insoluble.
63366
63367 "I cannot argue about it," replied Prince Andrew coldly, but he
63368 thought: "I am going to save the army."
63369
63370 "My dear fellow, you are a hero!" said Bilibin.
63371
63372
63373
63374
63375
63376 CHAPTER XIII
63377
63378
63379 That same night, having taken leave of the Minister of War,
63380 Bolkonski set off to rejoin the army, not knowing where he would
63381 find it and fearing to be captured by the French on the way to Krems.
63382
63383 In Brunn everybody attached to the court was packing up, and the
63384 heavy baggage was already being dispatched to Olmutz. Near Hetzelsdorf
63385 Prince Andrew struck the high road along which the Russian army was
63386 moving with great haste and in the greatest disorder. The road was
63387 so obstructed with carts that it was impossible to get by in a
63388 carriage. Prince Andrew took a horse and a Cossack from a Cossack
63389 commander, and hungry and weary, making his way past the baggage
63390 wagons, rode in search of the commander in chief and of his own
63391 luggage. Very sinister reports of the position of the army reached him
63392 as he went along, and the appearance of the troops in their disorderly
63393 flight confirmed these rumors.
63394
63395 "Cette armee russe que l'or de l'Angleterre a transportee des
63396 extremites de l'univers, nous allons lui faire eprouver le meme
63397 sort--(le sort de l'armee d'Ulm)."* He remembered these words in
63398 Bonaparte's address to his army at the beginning of the campaign,
63399 and they awoke in him astonishment at the genius of his hero, a
63400 feeling of wounded pride, and a hope of glory. "And should there be
63401 nothing left but to die?" he thought. "Well, if need be, I shall do it
63402 no worse than others."
63403
63404
63405 *"That Russian army which has been brought from the ends of the
63406 earth by English gold, we shall cause to share the same fate--(the
63407 fate of the army at Ulm)."
63408
63409
63410 He looked with disdain at the endless confused mass of
63411 detachments, carts, guns, artillery, and again baggage wagons and
63412 vehicles of all kinds overtaking one another and blocking the muddy
63413 road, three and sometimes four abreast. From all sides, behind and
63414 before, as far as ear could reach, there were the rattle of wheels,
63415 the creaking of carts and gun carriages, the tramp of horses, the
63416 crack of whips, shouts, the urging of horses, and the swearing of
63417 soldiers, orderlies, and officers. All along the sides of the road
63418 fallen horses were to be seen, some flayed, some not, and
63419 broken-down carts beside which solitary soldiers sat waiting for
63420 something, and again soldiers straggling from their companies,
63421 crowds of whom set off to the neighboring villages, or returned from
63422 them dragging sheep, fowls, hay, and bulging sacks. At each ascent
63423 or descent of the road the crowds were yet denser and the din of
63424 shouting more incessant. Soldiers floundering knee-deep in mud
63425 pushed the guns and wagons themselves. Whips cracked, hoofs slipped,
63426 traces broke, and lungs were strained with shouting. The officers
63427 directing the march rode backward and forward between the carts. Their
63428 voices were but feebly heard amid the uproar and one saw by their
63429 faces that they despaired of the possibility of checking this
63430 disorder.
63431
63432 "Here is our dear Orthodox Russian army," thought Bolkonski,
63433 recalling Bilibin's words.
63434
63435 Wishing to find out where the commander in chief was, he rode up
63436 to a convoy. Directly opposite to him came a strange one-horse
63437 vehicle, evidently rigged up by soldiers out of any available
63438 materials and looking like something between a cart, a cabriolet,
63439 and a caleche. A soldier was driving, and a woman enveloped in
63440 shawls sat behind the apron under the leather hood of the vehicle.
63441 Prince Andrew rode up and was just putting his question to a soldier
63442 when his attention was diverted by the desperate shrieks of the
63443 woman in the vehicle. An officer in charge of transport was beating
63444 the soldier who was driving the woman's vehicle for trying to get
63445 ahead of others, and the strokes of his whip fell on the apron of
63446 the equipage. The woman screamed piercingly. Seeing Prince Andrew
63447 she leaned out from behind the apron and, waving her thin arms from
63448 under the woolen shawl, cried:
63449
63450 "Mr. Aide-de-camp! Mr. Aide-de-camp!... For heaven's sake... Protect
63451 me! What will become of us? I am the wife of the doctor of the Seventh
63452 Chasseurs.... They won't let us pass, we are left behind and have lost
63453 our people..."
63454
63455 "I'll flatten you into a pancake!" shouted the angry officer to
63456 the soldier. "Turn back with your slut!"
63457
63458 "Mr. Aide-de-camp! Help me!... What does it all mean?" screamed
63459 the doctor's wife.
63460
63461 "Kindly let this cart pass. Don't you see it's a woman?" said Prince
63462 Andrew riding up to the officer.
63463
63464 The officer glanced at him, and without replying turned again to the
63465 soldier. "I'll teach you to push on!... Back!"
63466
63467 "Let them pass, I tell you!" repeated Prince Andrew, compressing his
63468 lips.
63469
63470 "And who are you?" cried the officer, turning on him with tipsy
63471 rage, "who are you? Are you in command here? Eh? I am commander
63472 here, not you! Go back or I'll flatten you into a pancake," repeated
63473 he. This expression evidently pleased him.
63474
63475 "That was a nice snub for the little aide-de-camp," came a voice
63476 from behind.
63477
63478 Prince Andrew saw that the officer was in that state of senseless,
63479 tipsy rage when a man does not know what he is saying. He saw that his
63480 championship of the doctor's wife in her queer trap might expose him
63481 to what he dreaded more than anything in the world--to ridicule; but
63482 his instinct urged him on. Before the officer finished his sentence
63483 Prince Andrew, his face distorted with fury, rode up to him and raised
63484 his riding whip.
63485
63486 "Kind...ly let--them--pass!"
63487
63488 The officer flourished his arm and hastily rode away.
63489
63490 "It's all the fault of these fellows on the staff that there's
63491 this disorder," he muttered. "Do as you like."
63492
63493 Prince Andrew without lifting his eyes rode hastily away from the
63494 doctor's wife, who was calling him her deliverer, and recalling with a
63495 sense of disgust the minutest details of this humiliating scene he
63496 galloped on to the village where he was told that the commander in
63497 chief was.
63498
63499 On reaching the village he dismounted and went to the nearest house,
63500 intending to rest if but for a moment, eat something, and try to
63501 sort out the stinging and tormenting thoughts that confused his
63502 mind. "This is a mob of scoundrels and not an army," he was thinking
63503 as he went up to the window of the first house, when a familiar
63504 voice called him by name.
63505
63506 He turned round. Nesvitski's handsome face looked out of the
63507 little window. Nesvitski, moving his moist lips as he chewed
63508 something, and flourishing his arm, called him to enter.
63509
63510 "Bolkonski! Bolkonski!... Don't you hear? Eh? Come quick..." he
63511 shouted.
63512
63513 Entering the house, Prince Andrew saw Nesvitski and another adjutant
63514 having something to eat. They hastily turned round to him asking if he
63515 had any news. On their familiar faces he read agitation and alarm.
63516 This was particularly noticeable on Nesvitski's usually laughing
63517 countenance.
63518
63519 "Where is the commander in chief?" asked Bolkonski.
63520
63521 "Here, in that house," answered the adjutant.
63522
63523 "Well, is it true that it's peace and capitulation?" asked
63524 Nesvitski.
63525
63526 "I was going to ask you. I know nothing except that it was all I
63527 could do to get here."
63528
63529 "And we, my dear boy! It's terrible! I was wrong to laugh at Mack,
63530 we're getting it still worse," said Nesvitski. "But sit down and
63531 have something to eat."
63532
63533 "You won't be able to find either your baggage or anything else now,
63534 Prince. And God only knows where your man Peter is," said the other
63535 adjutant.
63536
63537 "Where are headquarters?"
63538
63539 "We are to spend the night in Znaim."
63540
63541 "Well, I have got all I need into packs for two horses," said
63542 Nesvitski. "They've made up splendid packs for me--fit to cross the
63543 Bohemian mountains with. It's a bad lookout, old fellow! But what's
63544 the matter with you? You must be ill to shiver like that," he added,
63545 noticing that Prince Andrew winced as at an electric shock.
63546
63547 "It's nothing," replied Prince Andrew.
63548
63549 He had just remembered his recent encounter with the doctor's wife
63550 and the convoy officer.
63551
63552 "What is the commander in chief doing here?" he asked.
63553
63554 "I can't make out at all," said Nesvitski.
63555
63556 "Well, all I can make out is that everything is abominable,
63557 abominable, quite abominable!" said Prince Andrew, and he went off
63558 to the house where the commander in chief was.
63559
63560 Passing by Kutuzov's carriage and the exhausted saddle horses of his
63561 suite, with their Cossacks who were talking loudly together, Prince
63562 Andrew entered the passage. Kutuzov himself, he was told, was in the
63563 house with Prince Bagration and Weyrother. Weyrother was the
63564 Austrian general who had succeeded Schmidt. In the passage little
63565 Kozlovski was squatting on his heels in front of a clerk. The clerk,
63566 with cuffs turned up, was hastily writing at a tub turned bottom
63567 upwards. Kozlovski's face looked worn--he too had evidently not
63568 slept all night. He glanced at Prince Andrew and did not even nod to
63569 him.
63570
63571 "Second line... have you written it?" he continued dictating to
63572 the clerk. "The Kiev Grenadiers, Podolian..."
63573
63574 "One can't write so fast, your honor," said the clerk, glancing
63575 angrily and disrespectfully at Kozlovski.
63576
63577 Through the door came the sounds of Kutuzov's voice, excited and
63578 dissatisfied, interrupted by another, an unfamiliar voice. From the
63579 sound of these voices, the inattentive way Kozlovski looked at him,
63580 the disrespectful manner of the exhausted clerk, the fact that the
63581 clerk and Kozlovski were squatting on the floor by a tub so near to
63582 the commander in chief, and from the noisy laughter of the Cossacks
63583 holding the horses near the window, Prince Andrew felt that
63584 something important and disastrous was about to happen.
63585
63586 He turned to Kozlovski with urgent questions.
63587
63588 "Immediately, Prince," said Kozlovski. "Dispositions for Bagration."
63589
63590 "What about capitulation?"
63591
63592 "Nothing of the sort. Orders are issued for a battle."
63593
63594 Prince Andrew moved toward the door from whence voices were heard.
63595 Just as he was going to open it the sounds ceased, the door opened,
63596 and Kutuzov with his eagle nose and puffy face appeared in the
63597 doorway. Prince Andrew stood right in front of Kutuzov but the
63598 expression of the commander in chief's one sound eye showed him to
63599 be so preoccupied with thoughts and anxieties as to be oblivious of
63600 his presence. He looked straight at his adjutant's face without
63601 recognizing him.
63602
63603 "Well, have you finished?" said he to Kozlovski.
63604
63605 "One moment, your excellency."
63606
63607 Bagration, a gaunt middle-aged man of medium height with a firm,
63608 impassive face of Oriental type, came out after the commander in
63609 chief.
63610
63611 "I have the honor to present myself," repeated Prince Andrew
63612 rather loudly, handing Kutuzov an envelope.
63613
63614 "Ah, from Vienna? Very good. Later, later!"
63615
63616 Kutuzov went out into the porch with Bagration.
63617
63618 "Well, good-by, Prince," said he to Bagration. "My blessing, and may
63619 Christ be with you in your great endeavor!"
63620
63621 His face suddenly softened and tears came into his eyes. With his
63622 left hand he drew Bagration toward him, and with his right, on which
63623 he wore a ring, he made the sign of the cross over him with a
63624 gesture evidently habitual, offering his puffy cheek, but Bagration
63625 kissed him on the neck instead.
63626
63627 "Christ be with you!" Kutuzov repeated and went toward his carriage.
63628 "Get in with me," said he to Bolkonski.
63629
63630 "Your excellency, I should like to be of use here. Allow me to
63631 remain with Prince Bagration's detachment."
63632
63633 "Get in," said Kutuzov, and noticing that Bolkonski still delayed,
63634 he added: "I need good officers myself, need them myself!"
63635
63636 They got into the carriage and drove for a few minutes in silence.
63637
63638 "There is still much, much before us," he said, as if with an old
63639 man's penetration he understood all that was passing in Bolkonski's
63640 mind. "If a tenth part of his detachment returns I shall thank God,"
63641 he added as if speaking to himself.
63642
63643 Prince Andrew glanced at Kutuzov's face only a foot distant from him
63644 and involuntarily noticed the carefully washed seams of the scar
63645 near his temple, where an Ismail bullet had pierced his skull, and the
63646 empty eye socket. "Yes, he has a right to speak so calmly of those
63647 men's death," thought Bolkonski.
63648
63649 "That is why I beg to be sent to that detachment," he said.
63650
63651 Kutuzov did not reply. He seemed to have forgotten what he had
63652 been saying, and sat plunged in thought. Five minutes later, gently
63653 swaying on the soft springs of the carriage, he turned to Prince
63654 Andrew. There was not a trace of agitation on his face. With
63655 delicate irony he questioned Prince Andrew about the details of his
63656 interview with the Emperor, about the remarks he had heard at court
63657 concerning the Krems affair, and about some ladies they both knew.
63658
63659
63660
63661
63662
63663 CHAPTER XIV
63664
63665
63666 On November 1 Kutuzov had received, through a spy, news that the
63667 army he commanded was in an almost hopeless position. The spy reported
63668 that the French, after crossing the bridge at Vienna, were advancing
63669 in immense force upon Kutuzov's line of communication with the
63670 troops that were arriving from Russia. If Kutuzov decided to remain at
63671 Krems, Napoleon's army of one hundred and fifty thousand men would cut
63672 him off completely and surround his exhausted army of forty
63673 thousand, and he would find himself in the position of Mack at Ulm. If
63674 Kutuzov decided to abandon the road connecting him with the troops
63675 arriving from Russia, he would have to march with no road into unknown
63676 parts of the Bohemian mountains, defending himself against superior
63677 forces of the enemy and abandoning all hope of a junction with
63678 Buxhowden. If Kutuzov decided to retreat along the road from Krems
63679 to Olmutz, to unite with the troops arriving from Russia, he risked
63680 being forestalled on that road by the French who had crossed the
63681 Vienna bridge, and encumbered by his baggage and transport, having
63682 to accept battle on the march against an enemy three times as
63683 strong, who would hem him in from two sides.
63684
63685 Kutuzov chose this latter course.
63686
63687 The French, the spy reported, having crossed the Vienna bridge, were
63688 advancing by forced marches toward Znaim, which lay sixty-six miles
63689 off on the line of Kutuzov's retreat. If he reached Znaim before the
63690 French, there would be great hope of saving the army; to let the
63691 French forestall him at Znaim meant the exposure of his whole army
63692 to a disgrace such as that of Ulm, or to utter destruction. But to
63693 forestall the French with his whole army was impossible. The road
63694 for the French from Vienna to Znaim was shorter and better than the
63695 road for the Russians from Krems to Znaim.
63696
63697 The night he received the news, Kutuzov sent Bagration's vanguard,
63698 four thousand strong, to the right across the hills from the
63699 Krems-Znaim to the Vienna-Znaim road. Bagration was to make this march
63700 without resting, and to halt facing Vienna with Znaim to his rear, and
63701 if he succeeded in forestalling the French he was to delay them as
63702 long as possible. Kutuzov himself with all his transport took the road
63703 to Znaim.
63704
63705 Marching thirty miles that stormy night across roadless hills,
63706 with his hungry, ill-shod soldiers, and losing a third of his men as
63707 stragglers by the way, Bagration came out on the Vienna-Znaim road
63708 at Hollabrunn a few hours ahead of the French who were approaching
63709 Hollabrunn from Vienna. Kutuzov with his transport had still to
63710 march for some days before he could reach Znaim. Hence Bagration
63711 with his four thousand hungry, exhausted men would have to detain
63712 for days the whole enemy army that came upon him at Hollabrunn,
63713 which was clearly impossible. But a freak of fate made the
63714 impossible possible. The success of the trick that had placed the
63715
63716 Vienna bridge in the hands of the French without a fight led Murat
63717 to try to deceive Kutuzov in a similar way. Meeting Bagration's weak
63718 detachment on the Znaim road he supposed it to be Kutuzov's whole
63719 army. To be able to crush it absolutely he awaited the arrival of
63720 the rest of the troops who were on their way from Vienna, and with
63721 this object offered a three days' truce on condition that both
63722 armies should remain in position without moving. Murat declared that
63723 negotiations for peace were already proceeding, and that he
63724 therefore offered this truce to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Count
63725 Nostitz, the Austrian general occupying the advanced posts, believed
63726 Murat's emissary and retired, leaving Bagration's division exposed.
63727 Another emissary rode to the Russian line to announce the peace
63728 negotiations and to offer the Russian army the three days' truce.
63729 Bagration replied that he was not authorized either to accept or
63730 refuse a truce and sent his adjutant to Kutuzov to report the offer he
63731 had received.
63732
63733 A truce was Kutuzov's sole chance of gaining time, giving
63734 Bagration's exhausted troops some rest, and letting the transport
63735 and heavy convoys (whose movements were concealed from the French)
63736 advance if but one stage nearer Znaim. The offer of a truce gave the
63737 only, and a quite unexpected, chance of saving the army. On
63738 receiving the news he immediately dispatched Adjutant General
63739 Wintzingerode, who was in attendance on him, to the enemy camp.
63740 Wintzingerode was not merely to agree to the truce but also to offer
63741 terms of capitulation, and meanwhile Kutuzov sent his adjutants back
63742 to hasten to the utmost the movements of the baggage trains of the
63743 entire army along the Krems-Znaim road. Bagration's exhausted and
63744 hungry detachment, which alone covered this movement of the
63745 transport and of the whole army, had to remain stationary in face of
63746 an enemy eight times as strong as itself.
63747
63748 Kutuzov's expectations that the proposals of capitulation (which
63749 were in no way binding) might give time for part of the transport to
63750 pass, and also that Murat's mistake would very soon be discovered,
63751 proved correct. As soon as Bonaparte (who was at Schonbrunn, sixteen
63752 miles from Hollabrunn) received Murat's dispatch with the proposal
63753 of a truce and a capitulation, he detected a ruse and wrote the
63754 following letter to Murat:
63755
63756
63757 Schonbrunn, 25th Brumaire, 1805,
63758
63759 at eight o'clock in the morning
63760
63761 To PRINCE MURAT,
63762
63763 I cannot find words to express to you my displeasure. You command
63764 only my advance guard, and have no right to arrange an armistice
63765 without my order. You are causing me to lose the fruits of a campaign.
63766 Break the armistice immediately and march on the enemy. Inform him
63767 that the general who signed that capitulation had no right to do so,
63768 and that no one but the Emperor of Russia has that right.
63769
63770 If, however, the Emperor of Russia ratifies that convention, I
63771 will ratify it; but it is only a trick. March on, destroy the
63772 Russian army.... You are in a position to seize its baggage and
63773 artillery.
63774
63775 The Russian Emperor's aide-de-camp is an impostor. Officers are
63776 nothing when they have no powers; this one had none.... The
63777 Austrians let themselves be tricked at the crossing of the Vienna
63778 bridge, you are letting yourself be tricked by an aide-de-camp of
63779 the Emperor.
63780
63781 NAPOLEON
63782
63783
63784 Bonaparte's adjutant rode full gallop with this menacing letter to
63785 Murat. Bonaparte himself, not trusting to his generals, moved with all
63786 the Guards to the field of battle, afraid of letting a ready victim
63787 escape, and Bagration's four thousand men merrily lighted campfires,
63788 dried and warmed themselves, cooked their porridge for the first
63789 time for three days, and not one of them knew or imagined what was
63790 in store for him.
63791
63792
63793
63794
63795
63796 CHAPTER XV
63797
63798
63799 Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon Prince Andrew, who
63800 had persisted in his request to Kutuzov, arrived at Grunth and
63801 reported himself to Bagration. Bonaparte's adjutant had not yet
63802 reached Murat's detachment and the battle had not yet begun. In
63803 Bagration's detachment no one knew anything of the general position of
63804 affairs. They talked of peace but did not believe in its
63805 possibility; others talked of a battle but also disbelieved in the
63806 nearness of an engagement. Bagration, knowing Bolkonski to be a
63807 favorite and trusted adjutant, received him with distinction and
63808 special marks of favor, explaining to him that there would probably be
63809 an engagement that day or the next, and giving him full liberty to
63810 remain with him during the battle or to join the rearguard and have an
63811 eye on the order of retreat, "which is also very important."
63812
63813 "However, there will hardly be an engagement today," said
63814 Bagration as if to reassure Prince Andrew.
63815
63816 "If he is one of the ordinary little staff dandies sent to earn a
63817 medal he can get his reward just as well in the rearguard, but if he
63818 wishes to stay with me, let him... he'll be of use here if he's a
63819 brave officer," thought Bagration. Prince Andrew, without replying,
63820 asked the prince's permission to ride round the position to see the
63821 disposition of the forces, so as to know his bearings should he be
63822 sent to execute an order. The officer on duty, a handsome, elegantly
63823 dressed man with a diamond ring on his forefinger, who was fond of
63824 speaking French though he spoke it badly, offered to conduct Prince
63825 Andrew.
63826
63827 On all sides they saw rain-soaked officers with dejected faces who
63828 seemed to be seeking something, and soldiers dragging doors,
63829 benches, and fencing from the village.
63830
63831 "There now, Prince! We can't stop those fellows," said the staff
63832 officer pointing to the soldiers. "The officers don't keep them in
63833 hand. And there," he pointed to a sutler's tent, "they crowd in and
63834 sit. This morning I turned them all out and now look, it's full again.
63835 I must go there, Prince, and scare them a bit. It won't take a
63836 moment."
63837
63838 "Yes, let's go in and I will get myself a roll and some cheese,"
63839 said Prince Andrew who had not yet had time to eat anything.
63840
63841 "Why didn't you mention it, Prince? I would have offered you
63842 something."
63843
63844 They dismounted and entered the tent. Several officers, with flushed
63845 and weary faces, were sitting at the table eating and drinking.
63846
63847 "Now what does this mean, gentlemen?" said the staff officer, in the
63848 reproachful tone of a man who has repeated the same thing more than
63849 once. "You know it won't do to leave your posts like this. The
63850 prince gave orders that no one should leave his post. Now you,
63851 Captain," and he turned to a thin, dirty little artillery officer
63852 who without his boots (he had given them to the canteen keeper to
63853 dry), in only his stockings, rose when they entered, smiling not
63854 altogether comfortably.
63855
63856 "Well, aren't you ashamed of yourself, Captain Tushin?" he
63857 continued. "One would think that as an artillery officer you would set
63858 a good example, yet here you are without your boots! The alarm will be
63859 sounded and you'll be in a pretty position without your boots!" (The
63860 staff officer smiled.) "Kindly return to your posts, gentlemen, all of
63861 you, all!" he added in a tone of command.
63862
63863 Prince Andrew smiled involuntarily as he looked at the artillery
63864 officer Tushin, who silent and smiling, shifting from one stockinged
63865 foot to the other, glanced inquiringly with his large, intelligent,
63866 kindly eyes from Prince Andrew to the staff officer.
63867
63868 "The soldiers say it feels easier without boots," said Captain
63869 Tushin smiling shyly in his uncomfortable position, evidently
63870 wishing to adopt a jocular tone. But before he had finished he felt
63871 that his jest was unacceptable and had not come off. He grew confused.
63872
63873 "Kindly return to your posts," said the staff officer trying to
63874 preserve his gravity.
63875
63876 Prince Andrew glanced again at the artillery officer's small figure.
63877 There was something peculiar about it, quite unsoldierly, rather
63878 comic, but extremely attractive.
63879
63880 The staff officer and Prince Andrew mounted their horses and rode
63881 on.
63882
63883 Having ridden beyond the village, continually meeting and overtaking
63884 soldiers and officers of various regiments, they saw on their left
63885 some entrenchments being thrown up, the freshly dug clay of which
63886 showed up red. Several battalions of soldiers, in their shirt
63887 sleeves despite the cold wind, swarmed in these earthworks like a host
63888 of white ants; spadefuls of red clay were continually being thrown
63889 up from behind the bank by unseen hands. Prince Andrew and the officer
63890 rode up, looked at the entrenchment, and went on again. Just behind it
63891 they came upon some dozens of soldiers, continually replaced by
63892 others, who ran from the entrenchment. They had to hold their noses
63893 and put their horses to a trot to escape from the poisoned
63894 atmosphere of these latrines.
63895
63896 "Voila l'agrement des camps, monsieur le Prince,"* said the staff
63897 officer.
63898
63899
63900 *"This is a pleasure one gets in camp, Prince."
63901
63902
63903 They rode up the opposite hill. From there the French could
63904 already be seen. Prince Andrew stopped and began examining the
63905 position.
63906
63907 "That's our battery," said the staff officer indicating the
63908 highest point. "It's in charge of the queer fellow we saw without
63909 his boots. You can see everything from there; let's go there, Prince."
63910
63911 "Thank you very much, I will go on alone," said Prince Andrew,
63912 wishing to rid himself of this staff officer's company, "please
63913 don't trouble yourself further."
63914
63915 The staff officer remained behind and Prince Andrew rode on alone.
63916
63917 The farther forward and nearer the enemy he went, the more orderly
63918 and cheerful were the troops. The greatest disorder and depression had
63919 been in the baggage train he had passed that morning on the Znaim road
63920 seven miles away from the French. At Grunth also some apprehension and
63921 alarm could be felt, but the nearer Prince Andrew came to the French
63922 lines the more confident was the appearance of our troops. The
63923 soldiers in their greatcoats were ranged in lines, the sergeants major
63924 and company officers were counting the men, poking the last man in
63925 each section in the ribs and telling him to hold his hand up. Soldiers
63926 scattered over the whole place were dragging logs and brushwood and
63927 were building shelters with merry chatter and laughter; around the
63928 fires sat others, dressed and undressed, drying their shirts and leg
63929 bands or mending boots or overcoats and crowding round the boilers and
63930 porridge cookers. In one company dinner was ready, and the soldiers
63931 were gazing eagerly at the steaming boiler, waiting till the sample,
63932 which a quartermaster sergeant was carrying in a wooden bowl to an
63933 officer who sat on a log before his shelter, had been tasted.
63934
63935 Another company, a lucky one for not all the companies had vodka,
63936 crowded round a pock-marked, broad-shouldered sergeant major who,
63937 tilting a keg, filled one after another the canteen lids held out to
63938 him. The soldiers lifted the canteen lids to their lips with
63939 reverential faces, emptied them, rolling the vodka in their mouths,
63940 and walked away from the sergeant major with brightened expressions,
63941 licking their lips and wiping them on the sleeves of their greatcoats.
63942 All their faces were as serene as if all this were happening at home
63943 awaiting peaceful encampment, and not within sight of the enemy before
63944 an action in which at least half of them would be left on the field.
63945 After passing a chasseur regiment and in the lines of the Kiev
63946 grenadiers--fine fellows busy with similar peaceful affairs--near
63947 the shelter of the regimental commander, higher than and different
63948 from the others, Prince Andrew came out in front of a platoon of
63949 grenadiers before whom lay a naked man. Two soldiers held him while
63950 two others were flourishing their switches and striking him
63951 regularly on his bare back. The man shrieked unnaturally. A stout
63952 major was pacing up and down the line, and regardless of the screams
63953 kept repeating:
63954
63955 "It's a shame for a soldier to steal; a soldier must be honest,
63956 honorable, and brave, but if he robs his fellows there is no honor
63957 in him, he's a scoundrel. Go on! Go on!"
63958
63959 So the swishing sound of the strokes, and the desperate but
63960 unnatural screams, continued.
63961
63962 "Go on, go on!" said the major.
63963
63964 A young officer with a bewildered and pained expression on his
63965 face stepped away from the man and looked round inquiringly at the
63966 adjutant as he rode by.
63967
63968 Prince Andrew, having reached the front line, rode along it. Our
63969 front line and that of the enemy were far apart on the right and
63970 left flanks, but in the center where the men with a flag of truce
63971 had passed that morning, the lines were so near together that the
63972 men could see one another's faces and speak to one another. Besides
63973 the soldiers who formed the picket line on either side, there were
63974 many curious onlookers who, jesting and laughing, stared at their
63975 strange foreign enemies.
63976
63977 Since early morning--despite an injunction not to approach the
63978 picket line--the officers had been unable to keep sight-seers away.
63979 The soldiers forming the picket line, like showmen exhibiting a
63980 curiosity, no longer looked at the French but paid attention to the
63981 sight-seers and grew weary waiting to be relieved. Prince Andrew
63982 halted to have a look at the French.
63983
63984 "Look! Look there!" one soldier was saying to another, pointing to a
63985 Russian musketeer who had gone up to the picket line with an officer
63986 and was rapidly and excitedly talking to a French grenadier. "Hark
63987 to him jabbering! Fine, isn't it? It's all the Frenchy can do to
63988 keep up with him. There now, Sidorov!"
63989
63990 "Wait a bit and listen. It's fine!" answered Sidorov, who was
63991 considered an adept at French.
63992
63993 The soldier to whom the laughers referred was Dolokhov. Prince
63994 Andrew recognized him and stopped to listen to what he was saying.
63995 Dolokhov had come from the left flank where their regiment was
63996 stationed, with his captain.
63997
63998 "Now then, go on, go on!" incited the officer, bending forward and
63999 trying not to lose a word of the speech which was incomprehensible
64000 to him. "More, please: more! What's he saying?"
64001
64002 Dolokhov did not answer the captain; he had been drawn into a hot
64003 dispute with the French grenadier. They were naturally talking about
64004 the campaign. The Frenchman, confusing the Austrians with the
64005 Russians, was trying to prove that the Russians had surrendered and
64006 had fled all the way from Ulm, while Dolokhov maintained that the
64007 Russians had not surrendered but had beaten the French.
64008
64009 "We have orders to drive you off here, and we shall drive you
64010 off," said Dolokhov.
64011
64012 "Only take care you and your Cossacks are not all captured!" said
64013 the French grenadier.
64014
64015 The French onlookers and listeners laughed.
64016
64017 "We'll make you dance as we did under Suvorov...,"* said Dolokhov.
64018
64019
64020 *"On vous fera danser."
64021
64022
64023 "Qu' est-ce qu'il chante?"* asked a Frenchman.
64024
64025
64026 *"What's he singing about?"
64027
64028
64029 "It's ancient history," said another, guessing that it referred to a
64030 former war. "The Emperor will teach your Suvara as he has taught the
64031 others..."
64032
64033 "Bonaparte..." began Dolokhov, but the Frenchman interrupted him.
64034
64035 "Not Bonaparte. He is the Emperor! Sacre nom...!" cried he angrily.
64036
64037 "The devil skin your Emperor."
64038
64039 And Dolokhov swore at him in coarse soldier's Russian and
64040 shouldering his musket walked away.
64041
64042 "Let us go, Ivan Lukich," he said to the captain.
64043
64044 "Ah, that's the way to talk French," said the picket soldiers. "Now,
64045 Sidorov, you have a try!"
64046
64047 Sidorov, turning to the French, winked, and began to jabber
64048 meaningless sounds very fast: "Kari, mala, tafa, safi, muter,
64049 Kaska," he said, trying to give an expressive intonation to his voice.
64050
64051 "Ho! ho! ho! Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ouh! ouh!" came peals of such healthy
64052 and good-humored laughter from the soldiers that it infected the
64053 French involuntarily, so much so that the only thing left to do seemed
64054 to be to unload the muskets, muskets, explode the ammunition, and
64055 all return home as quickly as possible.
64056
64057 But the guns remained loaded, the loopholes in blockhouses and
64058 entrenchments looked out just as menacingly, and the unlimbered cannon
64059 confronted one another as before.
64060
64061
64062
64063
64064
64065 CHAPTER XVI
64066
64067
64068 Having ridden round the whole line from right flank to left,
64069 Prince Andrew made his way up to the battery from which the staff
64070 officer had told him the whole field could be seen. Here he
64071 dismounted, and stopped beside the farthest of the four unlimbered
64072 cannon. Before the guns an artillery sentry was pacing up and down; he
64073 stood at attention when the officer arrived, but at a sign resumed his
64074 measured, monotonous pacing. Behind the guns were their limbers and
64075 still farther back picket ropes and artillerymen's bonfires. To the
64076 left, not far from the farthest cannon, was a small, newly constructed
64077 wattle shed from which came the sound of officers' voices in eager
64078 conversation.
64079
64080 It was true that a view over nearly the whole Russian position and
64081 the greater part of the enemy's opened out from this battery. Just
64082 facing it, on the crest of the opposite hill, the village of Schon
64083 Grabern could be seen, and in three places to left and right the
64084 French troops amid the smoke of their campfires, the greater part of
64085 whom were evidently in the village itself and behind the hill. To
64086 the left from that village, amid the smoke, was something resembling a
64087 battery, but it was impossible to see it clearly with the naked eye.
64088 Our right flank was posted on a rather steep incline which dominated
64089 the French position. Our infantry were stationed there, and at the
64090 farthest point the dragoons. In the center, where Tushin's battery
64091 stood and from which Prince Andrew was surveying the position, was the
64092 easiest and most direct descent and ascent to the brook separating
64093 us from Schon Grabern. On the left our troops were close to a copse,
64094 in which smoked the bonfires of our infantry who were felling wood.
64095 The French line was wider than ours, and it was plain that they
64096 could easily outflank us on both sides. Behind our position was a
64097 steep and deep dip, making it difficult for artillery and cavalry to
64098 retire. Prince Andrew took out his notebook and, leaning on the
64099 cannon, sketched a plan of the position. He made some notes on two
64100 points, intending to mention them to Bagration. His idea was, first,
64101 to concentrate all the artillery in the center, and secondly, to
64102 withdraw the cavalry to the other side of the dip. Prince Andrew,
64103 being always near the commander in chief, closely following the mass
64104 movements and general orders, and constantly studying historical
64105 accounts of battles, involuntarily pictured to himself the course of
64106 events in the forthcoming action in broad outline. He imagined only
64107 important possibilities: "If the enemy attacks the right flank," he
64108 said to himself, "the Kiev grenadiers and the Podolsk chasseurs must
64109 hold their position till reserves from the center come up. In that
64110 case the dragoons could successfully make a flank counterattack. If
64111 they attack our center we, having the center battery on this high
64112 ground, shall withdraw the left flank under its cover, and retreat
64113 to the dip by echelons." So he reasoned.... All the time he had been
64114 beside the gun, he had heard the voices of the officers distinctly,
64115 but as often happens had not understood a word of what they were
64116 saying. Suddenly, however, he was struck by a voice coming from the
64117 shed, and its tone was so sincere that he could not but listen.
64118
64119 "No, friend," said a pleasant and, as it seemed to Prince Andrew,
64120 a familiar voice, "what I say is that if it were possible to know what
64121 is beyond death, none of us would be afraid of it. That's so, friend."
64122
64123 Another, a younger voice, interrupted him: "Afraid or not, you can't
64124 escape it anyhow."
64125
64126 "All the same, one is afraid! Oh, you clever people," said a third
64127 manly voice interrupting them both. "Of course you artillery men are
64128 very wise, because you can take everything along with you--vodka and
64129 snacks."
64130
64131 And the owner of the manly voice, evidently an infantry officer,
64132 laughed.
64133
64134 "Yes, one is afraid," continued the first speaker, he of the
64135 familiar voice. "One is afraid of the unknown, that's what it is.
64136 Whatever we may say about the soul going to the sky... we know there
64137 is no sky but only an atmosphere."
64138
64139 The manly voice again interrupted the artillery officer.
64140
64141 "Well, stand us some of your herb vodka, Tushin," it said.
64142
64143 "Why," thought Prince Andrew, "that's the captain who stood up in
64144 the sutler's hut without his boots." He recognized the agreeable,
64145 philosophizing voice with pleasure.
64146
64147 "Some herb vodka? Certainly!" said Tushin. "But still, to conceive a
64148 future life..."
64149
64150 He did not finish. Just then there was a whistle in the air;
64151 nearer and nearer, faster and louder, louder and faster, a cannon
64152 ball, as if it had not finished saying what was necessary, thudded
64153 into the ground near the shed with super human force, throwing up a
64154 mass of earth. The ground seemed to groan at the terrible impact.
64155
64156 And immediately Tushin, with a short pipe in the corner of his mouth
64157 and his kind, intelligent face rather pale, rushed out of the shed
64158 followed by the owner of the manly voice, a dashing infantry officer
64159 who hurried off to his company, buttoning up his coat as he ran.
64160
64161
64162
64163
64164
64165 CHAPTER XVII
64166
64167
64168 Mounting his horse again Prince Andrew lingered with the battery,
64169 looking at the puff from the gun that had sent the ball. His eyes
64170 ran rapidly over the wide space, but he only saw that the hitherto
64171 motionless masses of the French now swayed and that there really was a
64172 battery to their left. The smoke above it had not yet dispersed. Two
64173 mounted Frenchmen, probably adjutants, were galloping up the hill. A
64174 small but distinctly visible enemy column was moving down the hill,
64175 probably to strengthen the front line. The smoke of the first shot had
64176 not yet dispersed before another puff appeared, followed by a
64177 report. The battle had begun! Prince Andrew turned his horse and
64178 galloped back to Grunth to find Prince Bagration. He heard the
64179 cannonade behind him growing louder and more frequent. Evidently our
64180 guns had begun to reply. From the bottom of the slope, where the
64181 parleys had taken place, came the report of musketry.
64182
64183 Lemarrois had just arrived at a gallop with Bonaparte's stern
64184 letter, and Murat, humiliated and anxious to expiate his fault, had at
64185 once moved his forces to attack the center and outflank both the
64186 Russian wings, hoping before evening and before the arrival of the
64187 Emperor to crush the contemptible detachment that stood before him.
64188
64189 "It has begun. Here it is!" thought Prince Andrew, feeling the blood
64190 rush to his heart. "But where and how will my Toulon present itself?"
64191
64192 Passing between the companies that had been eating porridge and
64193 drinking vodka a quarter of an hour before, he saw everywhere the same
64194 rapid movement of soldiers forming ranks and getting their muskets
64195 ready, and on all their faces he recognized the same eagerness that
64196 filled his heart. "It has begun! Here it is, dreadful but
64197 enjoyable!" was what the face of each soldier and each officer
64198 seemed to say.
64199
64200 Before he had reached the embankments that were being thrown up,
64201 he saw, in the light of the dull autumn evening, mounted men coming
64202 toward him. The foremost, wearing a Cossack cloak and lambskin cap and
64203 riding a white horse, was Prince Bagration. Prince Andrew stopped,
64204 waiting for him to come up; Prince Bagration reined in his horse and
64205 recognizing Prince Andrew nodded to him. He still looked ahead while
64206 Prince Andrew told him what he had seen.
64207
64208 The feeling, "It has begun! Here it is!" was seen even on Prince
64209 Bagration's hard brown face with its half-closed, dull, sleepy eyes.
64210 Prince Andrew gazed with anxious curiosity at that impassive face
64211 and wished he could tell what, if anything, this man was thinking
64212 and feeling at that moment. "Is there anything at all behind that
64213 impassive face?" Prince Andrew asked himself as he looked. Prince
64214 Bagration bent his head in sign of agreement with what Prince Andrew
64215 told him, and said, "Very good!" in a tone that seemed to imply that
64216 everything that took place and was reported to him was exactly what he
64217 had foreseen. Prince Andrew, out of breath with his rapid ride,
64218 spoke quickly. Prince Bagration, uttering his words with an Oriental
64219 accent, spoke particularly slowly, as if to impress the fact that
64220 there was no need to hurry. However, he put his horse to a trot in the
64221 direction of Tushin's battery. Prince Andrew followed with the
64222 suite. Behind Prince Bagration rode an officer of the suite, the
64223 prince's personal adjutant, Zherkov, an orderly officer, the staff
64224 officer on duty, riding a fine bobtailed horse, and a civilian--an
64225 accountant who had asked permission to be present at the battle out of
64226 curiosity. The accountant, a stout, full-faced man, looked around
64227 him with a naive smile of satisfaction and presented a strange
64228 appearance among the hussars, Cossacks, and adjutants, in his camlet
64229 coat, as he jolted on his horse with a convoy officer's saddle.
64230
64231 "He wants to see a battle," said Zherkov to Bolkonski, pointing to
64232 the accountant, "but he feels a pain in the pit of his stomach
64233 already."
64234
64235 "Oh, leave off!" said the accountant with a beaming but rather
64236 cunning smile, as if flattered at being made the subject of
64237 Zherkov's joke, and purposely trying to appear stupider than he really
64238 was.
64239
64240 "It is very strange, mon Monsieur Prince," said the staff officer.
64241 (He remembered that in French there is some peculiar way of addressing
64242 a prince, but could not get it quite right.)
64243
64244 By this time they were all approaching Tushin's battery, and a
64245 ball struck the ground in front of them.
64246
64247 "What's that that has fallen?" asked the accountant with a naive
64248 smile.
64249
64250 "A French pancake," answered Zherkov.
64251
64252 "So that's what they hit with?" asked the accountant. "How awful!"
64253
64254 He seemed to swell with satisfaction. He had hardly finished
64255 speaking when they again heard an unexpectedly violent whistling which
64256 suddenly ended with a thud into something soft... f-f-flop! and a
64257 Cossack, riding a little to their right and behind the accountant,
64258 crashed to earth with his horse. Zherkov and the staff officer bent
64259 over their saddles and turned their horses away. The accountant
64260 stopped, facing the Cossack, and examined him with attentive
64261 curiosity. The Cossack was dead, but the horse still struggled.
64262
64263 Prince Bagration screwed up his eyes, looked round, and, seeing
64264 the cause of the confusion, turned away with indifference, as if to
64265 say, "Is it worth while noticing trifles?" He reined in his horse with
64266 the case of a skillful rider and, slightly bending over, disengaged
64267 his saber which had caught in his cloak. It was an old-fashioned saber
64268 of a kind no longer in general use. Prince Andrew remembered the story
64269 of Suvorov giving his saber to Bagration in Italy, and the
64270 recollection was particularly pleasant at that moment. They had
64271 reached the battery at which Prince Andrew had been when he examined
64272 the battlefield.
64273
64274 "Whose company?" asked Prince Bagration of an artilleryman
64275 standing by the ammunition wagon.
64276
64277 He asked, "Whose company?" but he really meant, "Are you
64278 frightened here?" and the artilleryman understood him.
64279
64280 "Captain Tushin's, your excellency!" shouted the red-haired,
64281 freckled gunner in a merry voice, standing to attention.
64282
64283 "Yes, yes," muttered Bagration as if considering something, and he
64284 rode past the limbers to the farthest cannon.
64285
64286 As he approached, a ringing shot issued from it deafening him and
64287 his suite, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the gun they
64288 could see the gunners who had seized it straining to roll it quickly
64289 back to its former position. A huge, broad-shouldered gunner, Number
64290 One, holding a mop, his legs far apart, sprang to the wheel; while
64291 Number Two with a trembling hand placed a charge in the cannon's
64292 mouth. The short, round-shouldered Captain Tushin, stumbling over
64293 the tail of the gun carriage, moved forward and, not noticing the
64294 general, looked out shading his eyes with his small hand.
64295
64296 "Lift it two lines more and it will be just right," cried he in a
64297 feeble voice to which he tried to impart a dashing note, ill suited to
64298 his weak figure. "Number Two!" he squeaked. "Fire, Medvedev!"
64299
64300 Bagration called to him, and Tushin, raising three fingers to his
64301 cap with a bashful and awkward gesture not at all like a military
64302 salute but like a priest's benediction, approached the general. Though
64303 Tushin's guns had been intended to cannonade the valley, he was firing
64304 incendiary balls at the village of Schon Grabern visible just
64305 opposite, in front of which large masses of French were advancing.
64306
64307 No one had given Tushin orders where and at what to fire, but
64308 after consulting his sergeant major, Zakharchenko, for whom he had
64309 great respect, he had decided that it would be a good thing to set
64310 fire to the village. "Very good!" said Bagration in reply to the
64311 officer's report, and began deliberately to examine the whole
64312 battlefield extended before him. The French had advanced nearest on
64313 our right. Below the height on which the Kiev regiment was
64314 stationed, in the hollow where the rivulet flowed, the soul-stirring
64315 rolling and crackling of musketry was heard, and much farther to the
64316 right beyond the dragoons, the officer of the suite pointed out to
64317 Bagration a French column that was outflanking us. To the left the
64318 horizon bounded by the adjacent wood. Prince Bagration ordered two
64319 battalions from the center to be sent to reinforce the right flank.
64320 The officer of the suite ventured to remark to the prince that if
64321 these battalions went away, the guns would remain without support.
64322 Prince Bagration turned to the officer and with his dull eyes looked
64323 at him in silence. It seemed to Prince Andrew that the officer's
64324 remark was just and that really no answer could be made to it. But
64325 at that moment an adjutant galloped up with a message from the
64326 commander of the regiment in the hollow and news that immense masses
64327 of the French were coming down upon them and that his regiment was
64328 in disorder and was retreating upon the Kiev grenadiers. Prince
64329 Bagration bowed his head in sign of assent and approval. He rode off
64330 at a walk to the right and sent an adjutant to the dragoons with
64331 orders to attack the French. But this adjutant returned half an hour
64332 later with the news that the commander of the dragoons had already
64333 retreated beyond the dip in the ground, as a heavy fire had been
64334 opened on him and he was losing men uselessly, and so had hastened
64335 to throw some sharpshooters into the wood.
64336
64337 "Very good!" said Bagration.
64338
64339 As he was leaving the battery, firing was heard on the left also,
64340 and as it was too far to the left flank for him to have time to go
64341 there himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov to tell the general in
64342 command (the one who had paraded his regiment before Kutuzov at
64343 Braunau) that he must retreat as quickly as possible behind the hollow
64344 in the rear, as the right flank would probably not be able to
64345 withstand the enemy's attack very long. About Tushin and the battalion
64346 that had been in support of his battery all was forgotten. Prince
64347 Andrew listened attentively to Bagration's colloquies with the
64348 commanding officers and the orders he gave them and, to his
64349 surprise, found that no orders were really given, but that Prince
64350 Bagration tried to make it appear that everything done by necessity,
64351 by accident, or by the will of subordinate commanders was done, if not
64352 by his direct command, at least in accord with his intentions.
64353 Prince Andrew noticed, however, that though what happened was due to
64354 chance and was independent of the commander's will, owing to the
64355 tact Bagration showed, his presence was very valuable. Officers who
64356 approached him with disturbed countenances became calm; soldiers and
64357 officers greeted him gaily, grew more cheerful in his presence, and
64358 were evidently anxious to display their courage before him.
64359
64360
64361
64362
64363
64364 CHAPTER XVIII
64365
64366
64367 Prince Bagration, having reached the highest point of our right
64368 flank, began riding downhill to where the roll of musketry was heard
64369 but where on account of the smoke nothing could be seen. The nearer
64370 they got to the hollow the less they could see but the more they
64371 felt the nearness of the actual battlefield. They began to meet
64372 wounded men. One with a bleeding head and no cap was being dragged
64373 along by two soldiers who supported him under the arms. There was a
64374 gurgle in his throat and he was spitting blood. A bullet had evidently
64375 hit him in the throat or mouth. Another was walking sturdily by
64376 himself but without his musket, groaning aloud and swinging his arm
64377 which had just been hurt, while blood from it was streaming over his
64378 greatcoat as from a bottle. He had that moment been wounded and his
64379 face showed fear rather than suffering. Crossing a road they descended
64380 a steep incline and saw several men lying on the ground; they also met
64381 a crowd of soldiers some of whom were unwounded. The soldiers were
64382 ascending the hill breathing heavily, and despite the general's
64383 presence were talking loudly and gesticulating. In front of them
64384 rows of gray cloaks were already visible through the smoke, and an
64385 officer catching sight of Bagration rushed shouting after the crowd of
64386 retreating soldiers, ordering them back. Bagration rode up to the
64387 ranks along which shots crackled now here and now there, drowning
64388 the sound of voices and the shouts of command. The whole air reeked
64389 with smoke. The excited faces of the soldiers were blackened with
64390 it. Some were using their ramrods, others putting powder on the
64391 touchpans or taking charges from their pouches, while others were
64392 firing, though who they were firing at could not be seen for the smoke
64393 which there was no wind to carry away. A pleasant humming and
64394 whistling of bullets were often heard. "What is this?" thought
64395 Prince Andrew approaching the crowd of soldiers. "It can't be an
64396 attack, for they are not moving; it can't be a square--for they are
64397 not drawn up for that."
64398
64399 The commander of the regiment, a thin, feeble-looking old man with a
64400 pleasant smile--his eyelids drooping more than half over his old eyes,
64401 giving him a mild expression, rode up to Bagration and welcomed him as
64402 a host welcomes an honored guest. He reported that his regiment had
64403 been attacked by French cavalry and that, though the attack had been
64404 repulsed, he had lost more than half his men. He said the attack had
64405 been repulsed, employing this military term to describe what had
64406 occurred to his regiment, but in reality he did not himself know
64407 what had happened during that half-hour to the troops entrusted to
64408 him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack had been
64409 repulsed or his regiment had been broken up. All he knew was that at
64410 the commencement of the action balls and shells began flying all
64411 over his regiment and hitting men and that afterwards someone had
64412 shouted "Cavalry!" and our men had begun firing. They were still
64413 firing, not at the cavalry which had disappeared, but at French
64414 infantry who had come into the hollow and were firing at our men.
64415 Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that this was exactly what
64416 he had desired and expected. Turning to his adjutant he ordered him to
64417 bring down the two battalions of the Sixth Chasseurs whom they had
64418 just passed. Prince Andrew was struck by the changed expression on
64419 Prince Bagration's face at this moment. It expressed the
64420 concentrated and happy resolution you see on the face of a man who
64421 on a hot day takes a final run before plunging into the water. The
64422 dull, sleepy expression was no longer there, nor the affectation of
64423 profound thought. The round, steady, hawk's eyes looked before him
64424 eagerly and rather disdainfully, not resting on anything although
64425 his movements were still slow and measured.
64426
64427 The commander of the regiment turned to Prince Bagration, entreating
64428 him to go back as it was too dangerous to remain where they were.
64429 "Please, your excellency, for God's sake!" he kept saying, glancing
64430 for support at an officer of the suite who turned away from him.
64431 "There, you see!" and he drew attention to the bullets whistling,
64432 singing, and hissing continually around them. He spoke in the tone
64433 of entreaty and reproach that a carpenter uses to a gentleman who
64434 has picked up an ax: "We are used to it, but you, sir, will blister
64435 your hands." He spoke as if those bullets could not kill him, and
64436 his half-closed eyes gave still more persuasiveness to his words.
64437 The staff officer joined in the colonel's appeals, but Bagration did
64438 not reply; he only gave an order to cease firing and re-form, so as to
64439 give room for the two approaching battalions. While he was speaking,
64440 the curtain of smoke that had concealed the hollow, driven by a rising
64441 wind, began to move from right to left as if drawn by an invisible
64442 hand, and the hill opposite, with the French moving about on it,
64443 opened out before them. All eyes fastened involuntarily on this French
64444 column advancing against them and winding down over the uneven ground.
64445 One could already see the soldiers' shaggy caps, distinguish the
64446 officers from the men, and see the standard flapping against its
64447 staff.
64448
64449 "They march splendidly," remarked someone in Bagration's suite.
64450
64451 The head of the column had already descended into the hollow. The
64452 clash would take place on this side of it...
64453
64454 The remains of our regiment which had been in action rapidly
64455 formed up and moved to the right; from behind it, dispersing the
64456 laggards, came two battalions of the Sixth Chasseurs in fine order.
64457 Before they had reached Bagration, the weighty tread of the mass of
64458 men marching in step could be heard. On their left flank, nearest to
64459 Bagration, marched a company commander, a fine round-faced man, with a
64460 stupid and happy expression--the same man who had rushed out of the
64461 wattle shed. At that moment he was clearly thinking of nothing but how
64462 dashing a fellow he would appear as he passed the commander.
64463
64464 With the self-satisfaction of a man on parade, he stepped lightly
64465 with his muscular legs as if sailing along, stretching himself to
64466 his full height without the smallest effort, his ease contrasting with
64467 the heavy tread of the soldiers who were keeping step with him. He
64468 carried close to his leg a narrow unsheathed sword (small, curved, and
64469 not like a real weapon) and looked now at the superior officers and
64470 now back at the men without losing step, his whole powerful body
64471 turning flexibly. It was as if all the powers of his soul were
64472 concentrated on passing the commander in the best possible manner, and
64473 feeling that he was doing it well he was happy. "Left... left...
64474 left..." he seemed to repeat to himself at each alternate step; and in
64475 time to this, with stern but varied faces, the wall of soldiers
64476 burdened with knapsacks and muskets marched in step, and each one of
64477 these hundreds of soldiers seemed to be repeating to himself at each
64478 alternate step, "Left... left... left..." A fat major skirted a
64479 bush, puffing and falling out of step; a soldier who had fallen
64480 behind, his face showing alarm at his defection, ran at a trot,
64481 panting to catch up with his company. A cannon ball, cleaving the air,
64482 flew over the heads of Bagration and his suite, and fell into the
64483 column to the measure of "Left... left!" "Close up!" came the
64484 company commander's voice in jaunty tones. The soldiers passed in a
64485 semicircle round something where the ball had fallen, and an old
64486 trooper on the flank, a noncommissioned officer who had stopped beside
64487 the dead men, ran to catch up his line and, falling into step with a
64488 hop, looked back angrily, and through the ominous silence and the
64489 regular tramp of feet beating the ground in unison, one seemed to hear
64490 left... left... left.
64491
64492 "Well done, lads!" said Prince Bagration.
64493
64494 "Glad to do our best, your ex'len-lency!" came a confused shout from
64495 the ranks. A morose soldier marching on the left turned his eyes on
64496 Bagration as he shouted, with an expression that seemed to say: "We
64497 know that ourselves!" Another, without looking round, as though
64498 fearing to relax, shouted with his mouth wide open and passed on.
64499
64500 The order was given to halt and down knapsacks.
64501
64502 Bagration rode round the ranks that had marched past him and
64503 dismounted. He gave the reins to a Cossack, took off and handed over
64504 his felt coat, stretched his legs, and set his cap straight. The
64505 head of the French column, with its officers leading, appeared from
64506 below the hill.
64507
64508 "Forward, with God!" said Bagration, in a resolute, sonorous
64509 voice, turning for a moment to the front line, and slightly swinging
64510 his arms, he went forward uneasily over the rough field with the
64511 awkward gait of a cavalryman. Prince Andrew felt that an invisible
64512 power was leading him forward, and experienced great happiness.
64513
64514 The French were already near. Prince Andrew, walking beside
64515 Bagration, could clearly distinguish their bandoliers, red epaulets,
64516 and even their faces. (He distinctly saw an old French officer who,
64517 with gaitered legs and turned-out toes, climbed the hill with
64518 difficulty.) Prince Bagration gave no further orders and silently
64519 continued to walk on in front of the ranks. Suddenly one shot after
64520 another rang out from the French, smoke appeared all along their
64521 uneven ranks, and musket shots sounded. Several of our men fell, among
64522 them the round-faced officer who had marched so gaily and
64523 complacently. But at the moment the first report was heard,
64524 Bagration looked round and shouted, "Hurrah!"
64525
64526 "Hurrah--ah!--ah!" rang a long-drawn shout from our ranks, and
64527 passing Bagration and racing one another they rushed in an irregular
64528 but joyous and eager crowd down the hill at their disordered foe.
64529
64530
64531
64532
64533
64534 CHAPTER XIX
64535
64536
64537 The attack of the Sixth Chasseurs secured the retreat of our right
64538 flank. In the center Tushin's forgotten battery, which had managed
64539 to set fire to the Schon Grabern village, delayed the French
64540 advance. The French were putting out the fire which the wind was
64541 spreading, and thus gave us time to retreat. The retirement of the
64542 center to the other side of the dip in the ground at the rear was
64543 hurried and noisy, but the different companies did not get mixed.
64544 But our left--which consisted of the Azov and Podolsk infantry and the
64545 Pavlograd hussars--was simultaneously attacked and outflanked by
64546 superior French forces under Lannes and was thrown into confusion.
64547 Bagration had sent Zherkov to the general commanding that left flank
64548 with orders to retreat immediately.
64549
64550 Zherkov, not removing his hand from his cap, turned his horse
64551 about and galloped off. But no sooner had he left Bagration than his
64552 courage failed him. He was seized by panic and could not go where it
64553 was dangerous.
64554
64555 Having reached the left flank, instead of going to the front where
64556 the firing was, he began to look for the general and his staff where
64557 they could not possibly be, and so did not deliver the order.
64558
64559 The command of the left flank belonged by seniority to the commander
64560 of the regiment Kutuzov had reviewed at Braunau and in which
64561 Dolokhov was serving as a private. But the command of the extreme left
64562 flank had been assigned to the commander of the Pavlograd regiment
64563 in which Rostov was serving, and a misunderstanding arose. The two
64564 commanders were much exasperated with one another and, long after
64565 the action had begun on the right flank and the French were already
64566 advancing, were engaged in discussion with the sole object of
64567 offending one another. But the regiments, both cavalry and infantry,
64568 were by no means ready for the impending action. From privates to
64569 general they were not expecting a battle and were engaged in
64570 peaceful occupations, the cavalry feeding the horses and the
64571 infantry collecting wood.
64572
64573 "He higher iss dan I in rank," said the German colonel of the
64574 hussars, flushing and addressing an adjutant who had ridden up, "so
64575 let him do what he vill, but I cannot sacrifice my hussars...
64576 Bugler, sount ze retreat!"
64577
64578 But haste was becoming imperative. Cannon and musketry, mingling
64579 together, thundered on the right and in the center, while the
64580 capotes of Lannes' sharpshooters were already seen crossing the
64581 milldam and forming up within twice the range of a musket shot. The
64582 general in command of the infantry went toward his horse with jerky
64583 steps, and having mounted drew himself up very straight and tall and
64584 rode to the Pavlograd commander. The commanders met with polite bows
64585 but with secret malevolence in their hearts.
64586
64587 "Once again, Colonel," said the general, "I can't leave half my
64588 men in the wood. I beg of you, I beg of you," he repeated, "to
64589 occupy the position and prepare for an attack."
64590
64591 "I peg of you yourself not to mix in vot is not your business!"
64592 suddenly replied the irate colonel. "If you vere in the cavalry..."
64593
64594 "I am not in the cavalry, Colonel, but I am a Russian general and if
64595 you are not aware of the fact..."
64596
64597 "Quite avare, your excellency," suddenly shouted the colonel,
64598 touching his horse and turning purple in the face. "Vill you be so
64599 goot to come to ze front and see dat zis position iss no goot? I don't
64600 vish to destroy my men for your pleasure!"
64601
64602 "You forget yourself, Colonel. I am not considering my own
64603 pleasure and I won't allow it to be said!"
64604
64605 Taking the colonel's outburst as a challenge to his courage, the
64606 general expanded his chest and rode, frowning, beside him to the front
64607 line, as if their differences would be settled there amongst the
64608 bullets. They reached the front, several bullets sped over them, and
64609 they halted in silence. There was nothing fresh to be seen from the
64610 line, for from where they had been before it had been evident that
64611 it was impossible for cavalry to act among the bushes and broken
64612 ground, as well as that the French were outflanking our left. The
64613 general and colonel looked sternly and significantly at one another
64614 like two fighting cocks preparing for battle, each vainly trying to
64615 detect signs of cowardice in the other. Both passed the examination
64616 successfully. As there was nothing to said, and neither wished to give
64617 occasion for it to be alleged that he had been the first to leave
64618 the range of fire, they would have remained there for a long time
64619 testing each other's courage had it not been that just then they heard
64620 the rattle of musketry and a muffled shout almost behind them in the
64621 wood. The French had attacked the men collecting wood in the copse. It
64622 was no longer possible for the hussars to retreat with the infantry.
64623 They were cut off from the line of retreat on the left by the
64624 French. However inconvenient the position, it was now necessary to
64625 attack in order to cut away through for themselves.
64626
64627 The squadron in which Rostov was serving had scarcely time to
64628 mount before it was halted facing the enemy. Again, as at the Enns
64629 bridge, there was nothing between the squadron and the enemy, and
64630 again that terrible dividing line of uncertainty and fear-
64631 resembling the line separating the living from the dead--lay between
64632 them. All were conscious of this unseen line, and the question whether
64633 they would cross it or not, and how they would cross it,
64634 agitated them all.
64635
64636 The colonel rode to the front, angrily gave some reply to
64637 questions put to him by the officers, and, like a man desperately
64638 insisting on having his own way, gave an order. No one said anything
64639 definite, but the rumor of an attack spread through the squadron.
64640 The command to form up rang out and the sabers whizzed as they were
64641 drawn from their scabbards. Still no one moved. The troops of the left
64642 flank, infantry and hussars alike, felt that the commander did not
64643 himself know what to do, and this irresolution communicated itself
64644 to the men.
64645
64646 "If only they would be quick!" thought Rostov, feeling that at
64647 last the time had come to experience the joy of an attack of which
64648 he had so often heard from his fellow hussars.
64649
64650 "Fo'ward, with God, lads!" rang out Denisov's voice. "At a twot
64651 fo'ward!"
64652
64653 The horses' croups began to sway in the front line. Rook pulled at
64654 the reins and started of his own accord.
64655
64656 Before him, on the right, Rostov saw the front lines of his
64657 hussars and still farther ahead a dark line which he could not see
64658 distinctly but took to be the enemy. Shots could be heard, but some
64659 way off.
64660
64661 "Faster!" came the word of command, and Rostov felt Rook's flanks
64662 drooping as he broke into a gallop.
64663
64664 Rostov anticipated his horse's movements and became more and more
64665 elated. He had noticed a solitary tree ahead of him. This tree had
64666 been in the middle of the line that had seemed so terrible--and now he
64667 had crossed that line and not only was there nothing terrible, but
64668 everything was becoming more and more happy and animated. "Oh, how I
64669 will slash at him!" thought Rostov, gripping the hilt of his saber.
64670
64671 "Hur-a-a-a-ah!" came a roar of voices. "Let anyone come my way now,"
64672 thought Rostov driving his spurs into Rook and letting him go at a
64673 full gallop so that he outstripped the others. Ahead, the enemy was
64674 already visible. Suddenly something like a birch broom seemed to sweep
64675 over the squadron. Rostov raised his saber, ready to strike, but at
64676 that instant the trooper Nikitenko, who was galloping ahead, shot away
64677 from him, and Rostov felt as in a dream that he continued to be
64678 carried forward with unnatural speed but yet stayed on the same
64679 spot. From behind him Bondarchuk, an hussar he knew, jolted against
64680 him and looked angrily at him. Bondarchuk's horse swerved and galloped
64681 past.
64682
64683 "How is it I am not moving? I have fallen, I am killed!" Rostov
64684 asked and answered at the same instant. He was alone in the middle
64685 of a field. Instead of the moving horses and hussars' backs, he saw
64686 nothing before him but the motionless earth and the stubble around
64687 him. There was warm blood under his arm. "No, I am wounded and the
64688 horse is killed." Rook tried to rise on his forelegs but fell back,
64689 pinning his rider's leg. Blood was flowing from his head; he struggled
64690 but could not rise. Rostov also tried to rise but fell back, his
64691 sabretache having become entangled in the saddle. Where our men
64692 were, and where the French, he did not know. There was no one near.
64693
64694 Having disentangled his leg, he rose. "Where, on which side, was now
64695 the line that had so sharply divided the two armies?" he asked himself
64696 and could not answer. "Can something bad have happened to me?" he
64697 wondered as he got up: and at that moment he felt that something
64698 superfluous was hanging on his benumbed left arm. The wrist felt as if
64699 it were not his. He examined his hand carefully, vainly trying to find
64700 blood on it. "Ah, here are people coming," he thought joyfully, seeing
64701 some men running toward him. "They will help me!" In front came a
64702 man wearing a strange shako and a blue cloak, swarthy, sunburned,
64703 and with a hooked nose. Then came two more, and many more running
64704 behind. One of them said something strange, not in Russian. In among
64705 the hindmost of these men wearing similar shakos was a Russian hussar.
64706 He was being held by the arms and his horse was being led behind him.
64707
64708 "It must be one of ours, a prisoner. Yes. Can it be that they will
64709 take me too? Who are these men?" thought Rostov, scarcely believing
64710 his eyes. "Can they be French?" He looked at the approaching
64711 Frenchmen, and though but a moment before he had been galloping to get
64712 at them and hack them to pieces, their proximity now seemed so awful
64713 that he could not believe his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they
64714 running? Can they be coming at me? And why? To kill me? Me whom
64715 everyone is so fond of?" He remembered his mother's love for him,
64716 and his family's, and his friends', and the enemy's intention to
64717 kill him seemed impossible. "But perhaps they may do it!" For more
64718 than ten seconds he stood not moving from the spot or realizing the
64719 situation. The foremost Frenchman, the one with the hooked nose, was
64720 already so close that the expression of his face could be seen. And
64721 the excited, alien face of that man, his bayonet hanging down, holding
64722 his breath, and running so lightly, frightened Rostov. He seized his
64723 pistol and, instead of firing it, flung it at the Frenchman and ran
64724 with all his might toward the bushes. He did not now run with the
64725 feeling of doubt and conflict with which he had trodden the Enns
64726 bridge, but with the feeling of a hare fleeing from the hounds. One
64727 single sentiment, that of fear for his young and happy life, possessed
64728 his whole being. Rapidly leaping the furrows, he fled across the field
64729 with the impetuosity he used to show at catchplay, now and then
64730 turning his good-natured, pale, young face to look back. A shudder
64731 of terror went through him: "No, better not look," he thought, but
64732 having reached the bushes he glanced round once more. The French had
64733 fallen behind, and just as he looked round the first man changed his
64734 run to a walk and, turning, shouted something loudly to a comrade
64735 farther back. Rostov paused. "No, there's some mistake," thought he.
64736 "They can't have wanted to kill me." But at the same time, his left
64737 arm felt as heavy as if a seventy-pound weight were tied to it. He
64738 could run no more. The Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov
64739 closed his eyes and stooped down. One bullet and then another whistled
64740 past him. He mustered his last remaining strength, took hold of his
64741 left hand with his right, and reached the bushes. Behind these were
64742 some Russian sharpshooters.
64743
64744
64745
64746
64747
64748 CHAPTER XX
64749
64750
64751 The infantry regiments that had been caught unawares in the
64752 outskirts of the wood ran out of it, the different companies getting
64753 mixed, and retreated as a disorderly crowd. One soldier, in his
64754 fear, uttered the senseless cry, "Cut off!" that is so terrible in
64755 battle, and that word infected the whole crowd with a feeling of
64756 panic.
64757
64758 "Surrounded! Cut off? We're lost!" shouted the fugitives.
64759
64760 The moment he heard the firing and the cry from behind, the
64761 general realized that something dreadful had happened to his regiment,
64762 and the thought that he, an exemplary officer of many years' service
64763 who had never been to blame, might be held responsible at headquarters
64764 for negligence or inefficiency so staggered him that, forgetting the
64765 recalcitrant cavalry colonel, his own dignity as a general, and
64766 above all quite forgetting the danger and all regard for
64767 self-preservation, he clutched the crupper of his saddle and, spurring
64768 his horse, galloped to the regiment under a hail of bullets which fell
64769 around, but fortunately missed him. His one desire was to know what
64770 was happening and at any cost correct, or remedy, the mistake if he
64771 had made one, so that he, an exemplary officer of twenty-two years'
64772 service, who had never been censured, should not be held to blame.
64773
64774 Having galloped safely through the French, he reached a field behind
64775 the copse across which our men, regardless of orders, were running and
64776 descending the valley. That moment of moral hesitation which decides
64777 the fate of battles had arrived. Would this disorderly crowd of
64778 soldiers attend to the voice of their commander, or would they,
64779 disregarding him, continue their flight? Despite his desperate
64780 shouts that used to seem so terrible to the soldiers, despite his
64781 furious purple countenance distorted out of all likeness to his former
64782 self, and the flourishing of his saber, the soldiers all continued
64783 to run, talking, firing into the air, and disobeying orders. The moral
64784 hesitation which decided the fate of battles was evidently culminating
64785 in a panic.
64786
64787 The general had a fit of coughing as a result of shouting and of the
64788 powder smoke and stopped in despair. Everything seemed lost. But at
64789 that moment the French who were attacking, suddenly and without any
64790 apparent reason, ran back and disappeared from the outskirts, and
64791 Russian sharpshooters showed themselves in the copse. It was
64792 Timokhin's company, which alone had maintained its order in the wood
64793 and, having lain in ambush in a ditch, now attacked the French
64794 unexpectedly. Timokhin, armed only with a sword, had rushed at the
64795 enemy with such a desperate cry and such mad, drunken determination
64796 that, taken by surprise, the French had thrown down their muskets
64797 and run. Dolokhov, running beside Timokhin, killed a Frenchman at
64798 close quarters and was the first to seize the surrendering French
64799 officer by his collar. Our fugitives returned, the battalions
64800 re-formed, and the French who had nearly cut our left flank in half
64801 were for the moment repulsed. Our reserve units were able to join
64802 up, and the fight was at an end. The regimental commander and Major
64803 Ekonomov had stopped beside a bridge, letting the retreating companies
64804 pass by them, when a soldier came up and took hold of the
64805 commander's stirrup, almost leaning against him. The man was wearing a
64806 bluish coat of broadcloth, he had no knapsack or cap, his head was
64807 bandaged, and over his shoulder a French munition pouch was slung.
64808 He had an officer's sword in his hand. The soldier was pale, his
64809 blue eyes looked impudently into the commander's face, and his lips
64810 were smiling. Though the commander was occupied in giving instructions
64811 to Major Ekonomov, he could not help taking notice of the soldier.
64812
64813 "Your excellency, here are two trophies," said Dolokhov, pointing to
64814 the French sword and pouch. "I have taken an officer prisoner. I
64815 stopped the company." Dolokhov breathed heavily from weariness and
64816 spoke in abrupt sentences. "The whole company can bear witness. I
64817 beg you will remember this, your excellency!"
64818
64819 "All right, all right," replied the commander, and turned to Major
64820 Ekonomov.
64821
64822 But Dolokhov did not go away; he untied the handkerchief around
64823 his head, pulled it off, and showed the blood congealed on his hair.
64824
64825 "A bayonet wound. I remained at the front. Remember, your
64826 excellency!"
64827
64828
64829 Tushin's battery had been forgotten and only at the very end of
64830 the action did Prince Bagration, still hearing the cannonade in the
64831 center, send his orderly staff officer, and later Prince Andrew
64832 also, to order the battery to retire as quickly as possible. When
64833 the supports attached to Tushin's battery had been moved away in the
64834 middle of the action by someone's order, the battery had continued
64835 firing and was only not captured by the French because the enemy could
64836 not surmise that anyone could have the effrontery to continue firing
64837 from four quite undefended guns. On the contrary, the energetic action
64838 of that battery led the French to suppose that here--in the center-
64839 the main Russian forces were concentrated. Twice they had attempted to
64840 attack this point, but on each occasion had been driven back by
64841 grapeshot from the four isolated guns on the hillock.
64842
64843 Soon after Prince Bagration had left him, Tushin had succeeded in
64844 setting fire to Schon Grabern.
64845
64846 "Look at them scurrying! It's burning! Just see the smoke! Fine!
64847 Grand! Look at the smoke, the smoke!" exclaimed the artillerymen,
64848 brightening up.
64849
64850 All the guns, without waiting for orders, were being fired in the
64851 direction of the conflagration. As if urging each other on, the
64852 soldiers cried at each shot: "Fine! That's good! Look at it... Grand!"
64853 The fire, fanned by the breeze, was rapidly spreading. The French
64854 columns that had advanced beyond the village went back; but as
64855 though in revenge for this failure, the enemy placed ten guns to the
64856 right of the village and began firing them at Tushin's battery.
64857
64858 In their childlike glee, aroused by the fire and their luck in
64859 successfully cannonading the French, our artillerymen only noticed
64860 this battery when two balls, and then four more, fell among our
64861 guns, one knocking over two horses and another tearing off a
64862 munition-wagon driver's leg. Their spirits once roused were,
64863 however, not diminished, but only changed character. The horses were
64864 replaced by others from a reserve gun carriage, the wounded were
64865 carried away, and the four guns were turned against the ten-gun
64866 battery. Tushin's companion officer had been killed at the beginning
64867 of the engagement and within an hour seventeen of the forty men of the
64868 guns' crews had been disabled, but the artillerymen were still as
64869 merry and lively as ever. Twice they noticed the French appearing
64870 below them, and then they fired grapeshot at them.
64871
64872 Little Tushin, moving feebly and awkwardly, kept telling his orderly
64873 to "refill my pipe for that one!" and then, scattering sparks from it,
64874 ran forward shading his eyes with his small hand to look at the
64875 French.
64876
64877 "Smack at 'em, lads!" he kept saying, seizing the guns by the wheels
64878 and working the screws himself.
64879
64880 Amid the smoke, deafened by the incessant reports which always
64881 made him jump, Tushin not taking his pipe from his mouth ran from
64882 gun to gun, now aiming, now counting the charges, now giving orders
64883 about replacing dead or wounded horses and harnessing fresh ones,
64884 and shouting in his feeble voice, so high pitched and irresolute.
64885 His face grew more and more animated. Only when a man was killed or
64886 wounded did he frown and turn away from the sight, shouting angrily at
64887 the men who, as is always the case, hesitated about lifting the
64888 injured or dead. The soldiers, for the most part handsome fellows and,
64889 as is always the case in an artillery company, a head and shoulders
64890 taller and twice as broad as their officer--all looked at their
64891 commander like children in an embarrassing situation, and the
64892 expression on his face was invariably reflected on theirs.
64893
64894 Owing to the terrible uproar and the necessity for concentration and
64895 activity, Tushin did not experience the slightest unpleasant sense
64896 of fear, and the thought that he might be killed or badly wounded
64897 never occurred to him. On the contrary, he became more and more
64898 elated. It seemed to him that it was a very long time ago, almost a
64899 day, since he had first seen the enemy and fired the first shot, and
64900 that the corner of the field he stood on was well-known and familiar
64901 ground. Though he thought of everything, considered everything, and
64902 did everything the best of officers could do in his position, he was
64903 in a state akin to feverish delirium or drunkenness.
64904
64905 From the deafening sounds of his own guns around him, the whistle
64906 and thud of the enemy's cannon balls, from the flushed and
64907 perspiring faces of the crew bustling round the guns, from the sight
64908 of the blood of men and horses, from the little puffs of smoke on
64909 the enemy's side (always followed by a ball flying past and striking
64910 the earth, a man, a gun, a horse), from the sight of all these
64911 things a fantastic world of his own had taken possession of his
64912 brain and at that moment afforded him pleasure. The enemy's guns
64913 were in his fancy not guns but pipes from which occasional puffs
64914 were blown by an invisible smoker.
64915
64916 "There... he's puffing again," muttered Tushin to himself, as a
64917 small cloud rose from the hill and was borne in a streak to the left
64918 by the wind.
64919
64920 "Now look out for the ball... we'll throw it back."
64921
64922 "What do you want, your honor?" asked an artilleryman, standing
64923 close by, who heard him muttering.
64924
64925 "Nothing... only a shell..." he answered.
64926
64927 "Come along, our Matvevna!" he said to himself. "Matvevna"* was
64928 the name his fancy gave to the farthest gun of the battery, which
64929 was large and of an old pattern. The French swarming round their
64930 guns seemed to him like ants. In that world, the handsome drunkard
64931 Number One of the second gun's crew was "uncle"; Tushin looked at
64932 him more often than at anyone else and took delight in his every
64933 movement. The sound of musketry at the foot of the hill, now
64934 diminishing, now increasing, seemed like someone's breathing. He
64935 listened intently to the ebb and flow of these sounds.
64936
64937
64938 *Daughter of Matthew.
64939
64940
64941 "Ah! Breathing again, breathing!" he muttered to himself.
64942
64943 He imagined himself as an enormously tall, powerful man who was
64944 throwing cannon balls at the French with both hands.
64945
64946 "Now then, Matvevna, dear old lady, don't let me down!" he was
64947 saying as he moved from the gun, when a strange, unfamiliar voice
64948 called above his head: "Captain Tushin! Captain!"
64949
64950 Tushin turned round in dismay. It was the staff officer who had
64951 turned him out of the booth at Grunth. He was shouting in a gasping
64952 voice:
64953
64954 "Are you mad? You have twice been ordered to retreat, and you..."
64955
64956 "Why are they down on me?" thought Tushin, looking in alarm at his
64957 superior.
64958
64959 "I... don't..." he muttered, holding up two fingers to his cap.
64960 "I..."
64961
64962 But the staff officer did not finish what he wanted to say. A cannon
64963 ball, flying close to him, caused him to duck and bend over his horse.
64964 He paused, and just as he was about to say something more, another
64965 ball stopped him. He turned his horse and galloped off.
64966
64967 "Retire! All to retire!" he shouted from a distance.
64968
64969 The soldiers laughed. A moment later, an adjutant arrived with the
64970 same order.
64971
64972 It was Prince Andrew. The first thing he saw on riding up to the
64973 space where Tushin's guns were stationed was an unharnessed horse with
64974 a broken leg, that lay screaming piteously beside the harnessed
64975 horses. Blood was gushing from its leg as from a spring. Among the
64976 limbers lay several dead men. One ball after another passed over as he
64977 approached and he felt a nervous shudder run down his spine. But the
64978 mere thought of being afraid roused him again. "I cannot be afraid,"
64979 thought he, and dismounted slowly among the guns. He delivered the
64980 order and did not leave the battery. He decided to have the guns
64981 removed from their positions and withdrawn in his presence. Together
64982 with Tushin, stepping across the bodies and under a terrible fire from
64983 the French, he attended to the removal of the guns.
64984
64985 "A staff officer was here a minute ago, but skipped off," said an
64986 artilleryman to Prince Andrew. "Not like your honor!"
64987
64988 Prince Andrew said nothing to Tushin. They were both so busy as to
64989 seem not to notice one another. When having limbered up the only two
64990 cannon that remained uninjured out of the four, they began moving down
64991 the hill (one shattered gun and one unicorn were left behind),
64992 Prince Andrew rode up to Tushin.
64993
64994 "Well, till we meet again..." he said, holding out his hand to
64995 Tushin.
64996
64997 "Good-by, my dear fellow," said Tushin. "Dear soul! Good-by, my dear
64998 fellow!" and for some unknown reason tears suddenly filled his eyes.
64999
65000
65001
65002
65003
65004 CHAPTER XXI
65005
65006
65007 The wind had fallen and black clouds, merging with the powder smoke,
65008 hung low over the field of battle on the horizon. It was growing
65009 dark and the glow of two conflagrations was the more conspicuous.
65010 The cannonade was dying down, but the rattle of musketry behind and on
65011 the right sounded oftener and nearer. As soon as Tushin with his guns,
65012 continually driving round or coming upon wounded men, was out of range
65013 of fire and had descended into the dip, he was met by some of the
65014 staff, among them the staff officer and Zherkov, who had been twice
65015 sent to Tushin's battery but had never reached it. Interrupting one
65016 another, they all gave, and transmitted, orders as to how to
65017 proceed, reprimanding and reproaching him. Tushin gave no orders, and,
65018 silently--fearing to speak because at every word he felt ready to weep
65019 without knowing why--rode behind on his artillery nag. Though the
65020 orders were to abandon the wounded, many of them dragged themselves
65021 after troops and begged for seats on the gun carriages. The jaunty
65022 infantry officer who just before the battle had rushed out of Tushin's
65023 wattle shed was laid, with a bullet in his stomach, on "Matvevna's"
65024 carriage. At the foot of the hill, a pale hussar cadet, supporting one
65025 hand with the other, came up to Tushin and asked for a seat.
65026
65027 "Captain, for God's sake! I've hurt my arm," he said timidly. "For
65028 God's sake... I can't walk. For God's sake!"
65029
65030 It was plain that this cadet had already repeatedly asked for a lift
65031 and been refused. He asked in a hesitating, piteous voice.
65032
65033 "Tell them to give me a seat, for God's sake!"
65034
65035 "Give him a seat," said Tushin. "Lay a cloak for him to sit on,
65036 lad," he said, addressing his favorite soldier. "And where is the
65037 wounded officer?"
65038
65039 "He has been set down. He died," replied someone.
65040
65041 "Help him up. Sit down, dear fellow, sit down! Spread out the cloak,
65042 Antonov."
65043
65044 The cadet was Rostov. With one hand he supported the other; he was
65045 pale and his jaw trembled, shivering feverishly. He was placed on
65046 "Matvevna," the gun from which they had removed the dead officer.
65047 The cloak they spread under him was wet with blood which stained his
65048 breeches and arm.
65049
65050 "What, are you wounded, my lad?" said Tushin, approaching the gun on
65051 which Rostov sat.
65052
65053 "No, it's a sprain."
65054
65055 "Then what is this blood on the gun carriage?" inquired Tushin.
65056
65057 "It was the officer, your honor, stained it," answered the
65058 artilleryman, wiping away the blood with his coat sleeve, as if
65059 apologizing for the state of his gun.
65060
65061 It was all that they could do to get the guns up the rise aided by
65062 the infantry, and having reached the village of Gruntersdorf they
65063 halted. It had grown so dark that one could not distinguish the
65064 uniforms ten paces off, and the firing had begun to subside. Suddenly,
65065 near by on the right, shouting and firing were again heard. Flashes of
65066 shot gleamed in the darkness. This was the last French attack and
65067 was met by soldiers who had sheltered in the village houses. They
65068 all rushed out of the village again, but Tushin's guns could not move,
65069 and the artillerymen, Tushin, and the cadet exchanged silent glances
65070 as they awaited their fate. The firing died down and soldiers, talking
65071 eagerly, streamed out of a side street.
65072
65073 "Not hurt, Petrov?" asked one.
65074
65075 "We've given it 'em hot, mate! They won't make another push now,"
65076 said another.
65077
65078 "You couldn't see a thing. How they shot at their own fellows!
65079 Nothing could be seen. Pitch-dark, brother! Isn't there something to
65080 drink?"
65081
65082 The French had been repulsed for the last time. And again and
65083 again in the complete darkness Tushin's guns moved forward, surrounded
65084 by the humming infantry as by a frame.
65085
65086 In the darkness, it seemed as though a gloomy unseen river was
65087 flowing always in one direction, humming with whispers and talk and
65088 the sound of hoofs and wheels. Amid the general rumble, the groans and
65089 voices of the wounded were more distinctly heard than any other
65090 sound in the darkness of the night. The gloom that enveloped the
65091 army was filled with their groans, which seemed to melt into one
65092 with the darkness of the night. After a while the moving mass became
65093 agitated, someone rode past on a white horse followed by his suite,
65094 and said something in passing: "What did he say? Where to, now?
65095 Halt, is it? Did he thank us?" came eager questions from all sides.
65096 The whole moving mass began pressing closer together and a report
65097 spread that they were ordered to halt: evidently those in front had
65098 halted. All remained where they were in the middle of the muddy road.
65099
65100 Fires were lighted and the talk became more audible. Captain Tushin,
65101 having given orders to his company, sent a soldier to find a
65102 dressing station or a doctor for the cadet, and sat down by a
65103 bonfire the soldiers had kindled on the road. Rostov, too, dragged
65104 himself to the fire. From pain, cold, and damp, a feverish shivering
65105 shook his whole body. Drowsiness was irresistibly mastering him, but
65106 he kept awake by an excruciating pain in his arm, for which
65107 he could find no satisfactory position. He kept closing his eyes and
65108 then again looking at the fire, which seemed to him dazzlingly red,
65109 and at the feeble, round-shouldered figure of Tushin who was sitting
65110 cross-legged like a Turk beside him. Tushin's large, kind, intelligent
65111 eyes were fixed with sympathy and commiseration on Rostov, who saw
65112 that Tushin with his whole heart wished to help him but could not.
65113
65114 From all sides were heard the footsteps and talk of the infantry,
65115 who were walking, driving past, and settling down all around. The
65116 sound of voices, the tramping feet, the horses' hoofs moving in mud,
65117 the crackling of wood fires near and afar, merged into one tremulous
65118 rumble.
65119
65120 It was no longer, as before, a dark, unseen river flowing through
65121 the gloom, but a dark sea swelling and gradually subsiding after a
65122 storm. Rostov looked at and listened listlessly to what passed
65123 before and around him. An infantryman came to the fire, squatted on
65124 his heels, held his hands to the blaze, and turned away his face.
65125
65126 "You don't mind your honor?" he asked Tushin. "I've lost my company,
65127 your honor. I don't know where... such bad luck!"
65128
65129 With the soldier, an infantry officer with a bandaged cheek came
65130 up to the bonfire, and addressing Tushin asked him to have the guns
65131 moved a trifle to let a wagon go past. After he had gone, two soldiers
65132 rushed to the campfire. They were quarreling and fighting desperately,
65133 each trying to snatch from the other a boot they were both holding
65134 on to.
65135
65136 "You picked it up?... I dare say! You're very smart!" one of them
65137 shouted hoarsely.
65138
65139 Then a thin, pale soldier, his neck bandaged with a bloodstained leg
65140 band, came up and in angry tones asked the artillerymen for water.
65141
65142 "Must one die like a dog?" said he.
65143
65144 Tushin told them to give the man some water. Then a cheerful soldier
65145 ran up, begging a little fire for the infantry.
65146
65147 "A nice little hot torch for the infantry! Good luck to you,
65148 fellow countrymen. Thanks for the fire--we'll return it with
65149 interest," said he, carrying away into the darkness a glowing stick.
65150
65151 Next came four soldiers, carrying something heavy on a cloak, and
65152 passed by the fire. One of them stumbled.
65153
65154 "Who the devil has put the logs on the road?" snarled he.
65155
65156 "He's dead--why carry him?" said another.
65157
65158 "Shut up!"
65159
65160 And they disappeared into the darkness with with their load.
65161
65162 "Still aching?" Tushin asked Rostov in a whisper.
65163
65164 "Yes."
65165
65166 "Your honor, you're wanted by the general. He is in the hut here,"
65167 said a gunner, coming up to Tushin.
65168
65169 "Coming, friend."
65170
65171 Tushin rose and, buttoning his greatcoat and pulling it straight,
65172 walked away from the fire.
65173
65174 Not far from the artillery campfire, in a hut that had been prepared
65175 for him, Prince Bagration sat at dinner, talking with some
65176 commanding officers who had gathered at his quarters. The little old
65177 man with the half-closed eyes was there greedily gnawing a mutton
65178 bone, and the general who had served blamelessly for twenty-two years,
65179 flushed by a glass of vodka and the dinner; and the staff officer with
65180 the signet ring, and Zherkov, uneasily glancing at them all, and
65181 Prince Andrew, pale, with compressed lips and feverishly glittering
65182 eyes.
65183
65184 In a corner of the hut stood a standard captured from the French,
65185 and the accountant with the naive face was feeling its texture,
65186 shaking his head in perplexity--perhaps because the banner really
65187 interested him, perhaps because it was hard for him, hungry as he was,
65188 to look on at a dinner where there was no place for him. In the next
65189 hut there was a French colonel who had been taken prisoner by our
65190 dragoons. Our officers were flocking in to look at him. Prince
65191 Bagration was thanking the individual commanders and inquiring into
65192 details of the action and our losses. The general whose regiment had
65193 been inspected at Braunau was informing the prince that as soon as the
65194 action began he had withdrawn from the wood, mustered the men who were
65195 woodcutting, and, allowing the French to pass him, had made a
65196 bayonet charge with two battalions and had broken up the French
65197 troops.
65198
65199 "When I saw, your excellency, that their first battalion was
65200 disorganized, I stopped in the road and thought: 'I'll let them come
65201 on and will meet them with the fire of the whole battalion'--and
65202 that's what I did."
65203
65204 The general had so wished to do this and was so sorry he had not
65205 managed to do it that it seemed to him as if it had really happened.
65206 Perhaps it might really have been so? Could one possibly make out amid
65207 all that confusion what did or did not happen?
65208
65209 "By the way, your excellency, I should inform you," he continued-
65210 remembering Dolokhov's conversation with Kutuzov and his last
65211 interview with the gentleman-ranker--"that Private Dolokhov, who was
65212 reduced to the ranks, took a French officer prisoner in my presence
65213 and particularly distinguished himself."
65214
65215 "I saw the Pavlograd hussars attack there, your excellency,"
65216 chimed in Zherkov, looking uneasily around. He had not seen the
65217 hussars all that day, but had heard about them from an infantry
65218 officer. "They broke up two squares, your excellency."
65219
65220 Several of those present smiled at Zherkov's words, expecting one of
65221 his usual jokes, but noticing that what he was saying redounded to the
65222 glory of our arms and of the day's work, they assumed a serious
65223 expression, though many of them knew that what he was saying was a lie
65224 devoid of any foundation. Prince Bagration turned to the old colonel:
65225
65226 "Gentlemen, I thank you all; all arms have behaved heroically:
65227 infantry, cavalry, and artillery. How was it that two guns were
65228 abandoned in the center?" he inquired, searching with his eyes for
65229 someone. (Prince Bagration did not ask about the guns on the left
65230 flank; he knew that all the guns there had been abandoned at the
65231 very beginning of the action.) "I think I sent you?" he added, turning
65232 to the staff officer on duty.
65233
65234 "One was damaged," answered the staff officer, "and the other I
65235 can't understand. I was there all the time giving orders and had
65236 only just left.... It is true that it was hot there," he added,
65237 modestly.
65238
65239 Someone mentioned that Captain Tushin was bivouacking close to the
65240 village and had already been sent for.
65241
65242 "Oh, but you were there?" said Prince Bagration, addressing Prince
65243 Andrew.
65244
65245 "Of course, we only just missed one another," said the staff
65246 officer, with a smile to Bolkonski.
65247
65248 "I had not the pleasure of seeing you," said Prince Andrew, coldly
65249 and abruptly.
65250
65251 All were silent. Tushin appeared at the threshold and made his way
65252 timidly from behind the backs of the generals. As he stepped past
65253 the generals in the crowded hut, feeling embarrassed as he always
65254 was by the sight of his superiors, he did not notice the staff of
65255 the banner and stumbled over it. Several of those present laughed.
65256
65257 "How was it a gun was abandoned?" asked Bagration, frowning, not
65258 so much at the captain as at those who were laughing, among whom
65259 Zherkov laughed loudest.
65260
65261 Only now, when he was confronted by the stern authorities, did his
65262 guilt and the disgrace of having lost two guns and yet remaining alive
65263 present themselves to Tushin in all their horror. He had been so
65264 excited that he had not thought about it until that moment. The
65265 officers' laughter confused him still more. He stood before
65266 Bagration with his lower jaw trembling and was hardly able to
65267 mutter: "I don't know... your excellency... I had no men... your
65268 excellency."
65269
65270 "You might have taken some from the covering troops."
65271
65272 Tushin did not say that there were no covering troops, though that
65273 was perfectly true. He was afraid of getting some other officer into
65274 trouble, and silently fixed his eyes on Bagration as a schoolboy who
65275 has blundered looks at an examiner.
65276
65277 The silence lasted some time. Prince Bagration, apparently not
65278 wishing to be severe, found nothing to say; the others did not venture
65279 to intervene. Prince Andrew looked at Tushin from under his brows
65280 and his fingers twitched nervously.
65281
65282 "Your excellency!" Prince Andrew broke the silence with his abrupt
65283 voice," you were pleased to send me to Captain Tushin's battery. I
65284 went there and found two thirds of the men and horses knocked out, two
65285 guns smashed, and no supports at all."
65286
65287 Prince Bagration and Tushin looked with equal intentness at
65288 Bolkonski, who spoke with suppressed agitation.
65289
65290 "And, if your excellency will allow me to express my opinion," he
65291 continued, "we owe today's success chiefly to the action of that
65292 battery and the heroic endurance of Captain Tushin and his company,"
65293 and without awaiting a reply, Prince Andrew rose and left the table.
65294
65295 Prince Bagration looked at Tushin, evidently reluctant to show
65296 distrust in Bolkonski's emphatic opinion yet not feeling able fully to
65297 credit it, bent his head, and told Tushin that he could go. Prince
65298 Andrew went out with him.
65299
65300 "Thank you; you saved me, my dear fellow!" said Tushin.
65301
65302 Prince Andrew gave him a look, but said nothing and went away. He
65303 felt sad and depressed. It was all so strange, so unlike what he had
65304 hoped.
65305
65306
65307 "Who are they? Why are they here? What do they want? And when will
65308 all this end?" thought Rostov, looking at the changing shadows
65309 before him. The pain in his arm became more and more intense.
65310 Irresistible drowsiness overpowered him, red rings danced before his
65311 eyes, and the impression of those voices and faces and a sense of
65312 loneliness merged with the physical pain. It was they, these soldiers-
65313 wounded and unwounded--it was they who were crushing, weighing down,
65314 and twisting the sinews and scorching the flesh of his sprained arm
65315 and shoulder. To rid himself of them he closed his eyes.
65316
65317 For a moment he dozed, but in that short interval innumerable things
65318 appeared to him in a dream: his mother and her large white hand,
65319 Sonya's thin little shoulders, Natasha's eyes and laughter, Denisov
65320 with his voice and mustache, and Telyanin and all that affair with
65321 Telyanin and Bogdanich. That affair was the same thing as this soldier
65322 with the harsh voice, and it was that affair and this soldier that
65323 were so agonizingly, incessantly pulling and pressing his arm and
65324 always dragging it in one direction. He tried to get away from them,
65325 but they would not for an instant let his shoulder move a hair's
65326 breadth. It would not ache--it would be well--if only they did not
65327 pull it, but it was impossible to get rid of them.
65328
65329 He opened his eyes and looked up. The black canopy of night hung
65330 less than a yard above the glow of the charcoal. Flakes of falling
65331 snow were fluttering in that light. Tushin had not returned, the
65332 doctor had not come. He was alone now, except for a soldier who was
65333 sitting naked at the other side of the fire, warming his thin yellow
65334 body.
65335
65336 "Nobody wants me!" thought Rostov. "There is no one to help me or
65337 pity me. Yet I was once at home, strong, happy, and loved." He
65338 sighed and, doing so, groaned involuntarily.
65339
65340 "Eh, is anything hurting you?" asked the soldier, shaking his
65341 shirt out over the fire, and not waiting for an answer he gave a grunt
65342 and added: "What a lot of men have been crippled today--frightful!"
65343
65344 Rostov did not listen to the soldier. He looked at the snowflakes
65345 fluttering above the fire and remembered a Russian winter at his warm,
65346 bright home, his fluffy fur coat, his quickly gliding sleigh, his
65347 healthy body, and all the affection and care of his family. "And why
65348 did I come here?" he wondered.
65349
65350 Next day the French army did not renew their attack, and the remnant
65351 of Bagration's detachment was reunited to Kutuzov's army.
65352
65353
65354
65355
65356 BOOK THREE: 1805
65357
65358
65359
65360
65361
65362 CHAPTER I
65363
65364
65365 Prince Vasili was not a man who deliberately thought out his
65366 plans. Still less did he think of injuring anyone for his own
65367 advantage. He was merely a man of the world who had got on and to whom
65368 getting on had become a habit. Schemes and devices for which he
65369 never rightly accounted to himself, but which formed the whole
65370 interest of his life, were constantly shaping themselves in his
65371 mind, arising from the circumstances and persons he met. Of these
65372 plans he had not merely one or two in his head but dozens, some only
65373 beginning to form themselves, some approaching achievement, and some
65374 in course of disintegration. He did not, for instance, say to himself:
65375 "This man now has influence, I must gain his confidence and friendship
65376 and through him obtain a special grant." Nor did he say to himself:
65377 "Pierre is a rich man, I must entice him to marry my daughter and lend
65378 me the forty thousand rubles I need." But when he came across
65379 a man of position his instinct immediately told him that this
65380 man could be useful, and without any premeditation Prince Vasili
65381 took the first opportunity to gain his confidence, flatter him, become
65382 intimate with him, and finally make his request.
65383
65384 He had Pierre at hand in Moscow and procured for him an
65385 appointment as Gentleman of the Bedchamber, which at that time
65386 conferred the status of Councilor of State, and insisted on the
65387 young man accompanying him to Petersburg and staying at his house.
65388 With apparent absent-mindedness, yet with unhesitating assurance
65389 that he was doing the right thing, Prince Vasili did everything to get
65390 Pierre to marry his daughter. Had he thought out his plans
65391 beforehand he could not have been so natural and shown such unaffected
65392 familiarity in intercourse with everybody both above and below him
65393 in social standing. Something always drew him toward those richer
65394 and more powerful than himself and he had rare skill in seizing the
65395 most opportune moment for making use of people.
65396
65397 Pierre, on unexpectedly becoming Count Bezukhov and a rich man, felt
65398 himself after his recent loneliness and freedom from cares so beset
65399 and preoccupied that only in bed was he able to be by himself. He
65400 had to sign papers, to present himself at government offices, the
65401 purpose of which was not clear to him, to question his chief
65402 steward, to visit his estate near Moscow, and to receive many people
65403 who formerly did not even wish to know of his existence but would
65404 now have been offended and grieved had he chosen not to see them.
65405 These different people--businessmen, relations, and acquaintances
65406 alike--were all disposed to treat the young heir in the most
65407 friendly and flattering manner: they were all evidently firmly
65408 convinced of Pierre's noble qualities. He was always hearing such
65409 words as: "With your remarkable kindness," or, "With your excellent
65410 heart," "You are yourself so honorable Count," or, "Were he as
65411 clever as you," and so on, till he began sincerely to believe in his
65412 own exceptional kindness and extraordinary intelligence, the more so
65413 as in the depth of his heart it had always seemed to him that he
65414 really was very kind and intelligent. Even people who had formerly
65415 been spiteful toward him and evidently unfriendly now became gentle
65416 and affectionate. The angry eldest princess, with the long waist and
65417 hair plastered down like a doll's, had come into Pierre's room after
65418 the funeral. With drooping eyes and frequent blushes she told him
65419 she was very sorry about their past misunderstandings and did not
65420 now feel she had a right to ask him for anything, except only for
65421 permission, after the blow she had received, to remain for a few weeks
65422 longer in the house she so loved and where she had sacrificed so much.
65423 She could not refrain from weeping at these words. Touched that this
65424 statuesque princess could so change, Pierre took her hand and begged
65425 her forgiveness, without knowing what for. From that day the eldest
65426 princess quite changed toward Pierre and began knitting a striped
65427 scarf for him.
65428
65429 "Do this for my sake, mon cher; after all, she had to put up with
65430 a great deal from the deceased," said Prince Vasili to him, handing
65431 him a deed to sign for the princess' benefit.
65432
65433 Prince Vasili had come to the conclusion that it was necessary to
65434 throw this bone--a bill for thirty thousand rubles--to the poor
65435 princess that it might not occur to her to speak of his share in the
65436 affair of the inlaid portfolio. Pierre signed the deed and after
65437 that the princess grew still kinder. The younger sisters also became
65438 affectionate to him, especially the youngest, the pretty one with
65439 the mole, who often made him feel confused by her smiles and her own
65440 confusion when meeting him.
65441
65442 It seemed so natural to Pierre that everyone should like him, and it
65443 would have seemed so unnatural had anyone disliked him, that he
65444 could not but believe in the sincerity of those around him. Besides,
65445 he had no time to ask himself whether these people were sincere or
65446 not. He was always busy and always felt in a state of mild and
65447 cheerful intoxication. He felt as though he were the center of some
65448 important and general movement; that something was constantly expected
65449 of him, that if he did not do it he would grieve and disappoint many
65450 people, but if he did this and that, all would be well; and he did
65451 what was demanded of him, but still that happy result always
65452 remained in the future.
65453
65454 More than anyone else, Prince Vasili took possession of Pierre's
65455 affairs and of Pierre himself in those early days. From the death of
65456 Count Bezukhov he did not let go his hold of the lad. He had the air
65457 of a man oppressed by business, weary and suffering, who yet would
65458 not, for pity's sake, leave this helpless youth who, after all, was
65459 the son of his old friend and the possessor of such enormous wealth,
65460 to the caprice of fate and the designs of rogues. During the few
65461 days he spent in Moscow after the death of Count Bezukhov, he would
65462 call Pierre, or go to him himself, and tell him what ought to be
65463 done in a tone of weariness and assurance, as if he were adding
65464 every time: "You know I am overwhelmed with business and it is
65465 purely out of charity that I trouble myself about you, and you also
65466 know quite well that what I propose is the only thing possible."
65467
65468 "Well, my dear fellow, tomorrow we are off at last," said Prince
65469 Vasili one day, closing his eyes and fingering Pierre's elbow,
65470 speaking as if he were saying something which had long since been
65471 agreed upon and could not now be altered. "We start tomorrow and I'm
65472 giving you a place in my carriage. I am very glad. All our important
65473 business here is now settled, and I ought to have been off long ago.
65474 Here is something I have received from the chancellor. I asked him for
65475 you, and you have been entered in the diplomatic corps and made a
65476 Gentleman of the Bedchamber. The diplomatic career now lies open
65477 before you."
65478
65479 Notwithstanding the tone of wearied assurance with which these words
65480 were pronounced, Pierre, who had so long been considering his
65481 career, wished to make some suggestion. But Prince Vasili
65482 interrupted him in the special deep cooing tone, precluding the
65483 possibility of interrupting his speech, which he used in extreme cases
65484 when special persuasion was needed.
65485
65486 "Mais, mon cher, I did this for my own sake, to satisfy my
65487 conscience, and there is nothing to thank me for. No one has ever
65488 complained yet of being too much loved; and besides, you are free, you
65489 could throw it up tomorrow. But you will see everything for yourself
65490 when you get to Petersburg. It is high time for you to get away from
65491 these terrible recollections." Prince Vasili sighed. "Yes, yes, my
65492 boy. And my valet can go in your carriage. Ah! I was nearly
65493 forgetting," he added. "You know, mon cher, your father and I had some
65494 accounts to settle, so I have received what was due from the Ryazan
65495 estate and will keep it; you won't require it. We'll go into the
65496 accounts later."
65497
65498 By "what was due from the Ryazan estate" Prince Vasili meant several
65499 thousand rubles quitrent received from Pierre's peasants, which the
65500 prince had retained for himself.
65501
65502 In Petersburg, as in Moscow, Pierre found the same atmosphere of
65503 gentleness and affection. He could not refuse the post, or rather
65504 the rank (for he did nothing), that Prince Vasili had procured for
65505 him, and acquaintances, invitations, and social occupations were so
65506 numerous that, even more than in Moscow, he felt a sense of
65507 bewilderment, bustle, and continual expectation of some good, always
65508 in front of him but never attained.
65509
65510 Of his former bachelor acquaintances many were no longer in
65511 Petersburg. The Guards had gone to the front; Dolokhov had been
65512 reduced to the ranks; Anatole was in the army somewhere in the
65513 provinces; Prince Andrew was abroad; so Pierre had not the opportunity
65514 to spend his nights as he used to like to spend them, or to open his
65515 mind by intimate talks with a friend older than himself and whom he
65516 respected. His whole time was taken up with dinners and balls and
65517 was spent chiefly at Prince Vasili's house in the company of the stout
65518 princess, his wife, and his beautiful daughter Helene.
65519
65520 Like the others, Anna Pavlovna Scherer showed Pierre the change of
65521 attitude toward him that had taken place in society.
65522
65523 Formerly in Anna Pavlovna's presence, Pierre had always felt that
65524 what he was saying was out of place, tactless and unsuitable, that
65525 remarks which seemed to him clever while they formed in his mind
65526 became foolish as soon as he uttered them, while on the contrary
65527 Hippolyte's stupidest remarks came out clever and apt. Now
65528 everything Pierre said was charmant. Even if Anna Pavlovna did not say
65529 so, he could see that she wished to and only refrained out of regard
65530 for his modesty.
65531
65532 In the beginning of the winter of 1805-6 Pierre received one of Anna
65533 Pavlovna's usual pink notes with an invitation to which was added:
65534 "You will find the beautiful Helene here, whom it is always delightful
65535 to see."
65536
65537 When he read that sentence, Pierre felt for the first time that some
65538 link which other people recognized had grown up between himself and
65539 Helene, and that thought both alarmed him, as if some obligation
65540 were being imposed on him which he could not fulfill, and pleased
65541 him as an entertaining supposition.
65542
65543 Anna Pavlovna's "At Home" was like the former one, only the
65544 novelty she offered her guests this time was not Mortemart, but a
65545 diplomatist fresh from Berlin with the very latest details of the
65546 Emperor Alexander's visit to Potsdam, and of how the two august
65547 friends had pledged themselves in an indissoluble alliance to uphold
65548 the cause of justice against the enemy of the human race. Anna
65549 Pavlovna received Pierre with a shade of melancholy, evidently
65550 relating to the young man's recent loss by the death of Count Bezukhov
65551 (everyone constantly considered it a duty to assure Pierre that he was
65552 greatly afflicted by the death of the father he had hardly known), and
65553 her melancholy was just like the august melancholy she showed at the
65554 mention of her most august Majesty the Empress Marya Fedorovna. Pierre
65555 felt flattered by this. Anna Pavlovna arranged the different groups in
65556 her drawing room with her habitual skill. The large group, in which
65557 were Prince Vasili and the generals, had the benefit of the
65558 diplomat. Another group was at the tea table. Pierre wished to join
65559 the former, but Anna Pavlovna--who was in the excited condition of a
65560 commander on a battlefield to whom thousands of new and brilliant
65561 ideas occur which there is hardly time to put in action--seeing
65562 Pierre, touched his sleeve with her finger, saying:
65563
65564 "Wait a bit, I have something in view for you this evening." (She
65565 glanced at Helene and smiled at her.) "My dear Helene, be charitable
65566 to my poor aunt who adores you. Go and keep her company for ten
65567 minutes. And that it will not be too dull, here is the dear count
65568 who will not refuse to accompany you."
65569
65570 The beauty went to the aunt, but Anna Pavlovna detained Pierre,
65571 looking as if she had to give some final necessary instructions.
65572
65573 "Isn't she exquisite?" she said to Pierre, pointing to the stately
65574 beauty as she glided away. "And how she carries herself! For so
65575 young a girl, such tact, such masterly perfection of manner! It
65576 comes from her heart. Happy the man who wins her! With her the least
65577 worldly of men would occupy a most brilliant position in society.
65578 Don't you think so? I only wanted to know your opinion," and Anna
65579 Pavlovna let Pierre go.
65580
65581 Pierre, in reply, sincerely agreed with her as to Helene's
65582 perfection of manner. If he ever thought of Helene, it was just of her
65583 beauty and her remarkable skill in appearing silently dignified in
65584 society.
65585
65586 The old aunt received the two young people in her corner, but seemed
65587 desirous of hiding her adoration for Helene and inclined rather to
65588 show her fear of Anna Pavlovna. She looked at her niece, as if
65589 inquiring what she was to do with these people. On leaving them,
65590 Anna Pavlovna again touched Pierre's sleeve, saying: "I hope you won't
65591 say that it is dull in my house again," and she glanced at Helene.
65592
65593 Helene smiled, with a look implying that she did not admit the
65594 possibility of anyone seeing her without being enchanted. The aunt
65595 coughed, swallowed, and said in French that she was very pleased to
65596 see Helene, then she turned to Pierre with the same words of welcome
65597 and the same look. In the middle of a dull and halting conversation,
65598 Helene turned to Pierre with the beautiful bright smile that she
65599 gave to everyone. Pierre was so used to that smile, and it had so
65600 little meaning for him, that he paid no attention to it. The aunt
65601 was just speaking of a collection of snuffboxes that had belonged to
65602 Pierre's father, Count Bezukhov, and showed them her own box. Princess
65603 Helene asked to see the portrait of the aunt's husband on the box lid.
65604
65605 "That is probably the work of Vinesse," said Pierre, mentioning a
65606 celebrated miniaturist, and he leaned over the table to take the
65607 snuffbox while trying to hear what was being said at the other table.
65608
65609 He half rose, meaning to go round, but the aunt handed him the
65610 snuffbox, passing it across Helene's back. Helene stooped forward to
65611 make room, and looked round with a smile. She was, as always at
65612 evening parties, wearing a dress such as was then fashionable, cut
65613 very low at front and back. Her bust, which had always seemed like
65614 marble to Pierre, was so close to him that his shortsighted eyes could
65615 not but perceive the living charm of her neck and shoulders, so near
65616 to his lips that he need only have bent his head a little to have
65617 touched them. He was conscious of the warmth of her body, the scent of
65618 perfume, and the creaking of her corset as she moved. He did not see
65619 her marble beauty forming a complete whole with her dress, but all the
65620 charm of her body only covered by her garments. And having once seen
65621 this he could not help being aware it, just as we cannot renew an
65622 illusion we have once seen through.
65623
65624 "So you have never noticed before how beautiful I am?" Helene seemed
65625 to say. "You had not noticed that I am a woman? Yes, I am a woman
65626 who may belong to anyone--to you too," said her glance. And at that
65627 moment Pierre felt that Helene not only could, but must, be his
65628 wife, and that it could not be otherwise.
65629
65630 He knew this at that moment as surely as if he had been standing
65631 at the altar with her. How and when this would be he did not know,
65632 he did not even know if it would be a good thing (he even felt, he
65633 knew not why, that it would be a bad thing), but he knew it would
65634 happen.
65635
65636 Pierre dropped his eyes, lifted them again, and wished once more
65637 to see her as a distant beauty far removed from him, as he had seen
65638 her every day until then, but he could no longer do it. He could
65639 not, any more than a man who has been looking at a tuft of steppe
65640 grass through the mist and taking it for a tree can again take it
65641 for a tree after he has once recognized it to be a tuft of grass.
65642 She was terribly close to him. She already had power over him, and
65643 between them there was no longer any barrier except the barrier of his
65644 own will.
65645
65646 "Well, I will leave you in your little corner," came Anna Pavlovna's
65647 voice, "I see you are all right there."
65648
65649 And Pierre, anxiously trying to remember whether he had done
65650 anything reprehensible, looked round with a blush. It seemed to him
65651 that everyone knew what had happened to him as he knew it himself.
65652
65653 A little later when he went up to the large circle, Anna Pavlovna
65654 said to him: "I hear you are refitting your Petersburg house?"
65655
65656 This was true. The architect had told him that it was necessary, and
65657 Pierre, without knowing why, was having his enormous Petersburg
65658 house done up.
65659
65660 "That's a good thing, but don't move from Prince Vasili's. It is
65661 good to have a friend like the prince," she said, smiling at Prince
65662 Vasili. "I know something about that. Don't I? And you are still so
65663 young. You need advice. Don't be angry with me for exercising an old
65664 woman's privilege."
65665
65666 She paused, as women always do, expecting something after they
65667 have mentioned their age. "If you marry it will be a different thing,"
65668 she continued, uniting them both in one glance. Pierre did not look at
65669 Helene nor she at him. But she was just as terribly close to him. He
65670 muttered something and colored.
65671
65672 When he got home he could not sleep for a long time for thinking
65673 of what had happened. What had happened? Nothing. He had merely
65674 understood that the woman he had known as a child, of whom when her
65675 beauty was mentioned he had said absent-mindedly: "Yes, she's good
65676 looking," he had understood that this woman might belong to him.
65677
65678 "But she's stupid. I have myself said she is stupid," he thought.
65679 "There is something nasty, something wrong, in the feeling she excites
65680 in me. I have been told that her brother Anatole was in love with
65681 her and she with him, that there was quite a scandal and that that's
65682 why he was sent away. Hippolyte is her brother... Prince Vasili is her
65683 father... It's bad...." he reflected, but while he was thinking this
65684 (the reflection was still incomplete), he caught himself smiling and
65685 was conscious that another line of thought had sprung up, and while
65686 thinking of her worthlessness he was also dreaming of how she would be
65687 his wife, how she would love him become quite different, and how all
65688 he had thought and heard of her might be false. And he again saw her
65689 not as the daughter of Prince Vasili, but visualized her whole body
65690 only veiled by its gray dress. "But no! Why did this thought never
65691 occur to me before?" and again he told himself that it was impossible,
65692 that there would be something unnatural, and as it seemed to him
65693 dishonorable, in this marriage. He recalled her former words and looks
65694 and the words and looks of those who had seen them together. He
65695 recalled Anna Pavlovna's words and looks when she spoke to him about
65696 his house, recalled thousands of such hints from Prince Vasili and
65697 others, and was seized by terror lest he had already, in some way,
65698 bound himself to do something that was evidently wrong and that he
65699 ought not to do. But at the very time he was expressing this
65700 conviction to himself, in another part of his mind her image rose in
65701 all its womanly beauty.
65702
65703
65704
65705
65706
65707 CHAPTER II
65708
65709 In November, 1805, Prince Vasili had to go on a tour of inspection
65710 in four different provinces. He had arranged this for himself so as to
65711 visit his neglected estates at the same time and pick up his son
65712 Anatole where his regiment was stationed, and take him to visit Prince
65713 Nicholas Bolkonski in order to arrange a match for him with the
65714 daughter of that rich old man. But before leaving home and undertaking
65715 these new affairs, Prince Vasili had to settle matters with Pierre,
65716 who, it is true, had latterly spent whole days at home, that is, in
65717 Prince Vasili's house where he was staying, and had been absurd,
65718 excited, and foolish in Helene's presence (as a lover should be),
65719 but had not yet proposed to her.
65720
65721 "This is all very fine, but things must be settled," said Prince
65722 Vasili to himself, with a sorrowful sigh, one morning, feeling that
65723 Pierre who was under such obligations to him ("But never mind that")
65724 was not behaving very well in this matter. "Youth, frivolity...
65725 well, God be with him," thought he, relishing his own goodness of
65726 heart, "but it must be brought to a head. The day after tomorrow
65727 will be Lelya's name day. I will invite two or three people, and if he
65728 does not understand what he ought to do then it will be my affair-
65729 yes, my affair. I am her father."
65730
65731 Six weeks after Anna Pavlovna's "At Home" and after the sleepless
65732 night when he had decided that to marry Helene would be a calamity and
65733 that he ought to avoid her and go away, Pierre, despite that decision,
65734 had not left Prince Vasili's and felt with terror that in people's
65735 eyes he was every day more and more connected with her, that it was
65736 impossible for him to return to his former conception of her, that
65737 he could not break away from her, and that though it would be a
65738 terrible thing he would have to unite his fate with hers. He might
65739 perhaps have been able to free himself but that Prince Vasili (who had
65740 rarely before given receptions) now hardly let a day go by without
65741 having an evening party at which Pierre had to be present unless he
65742 wished to spoil the general pleasure and disappoint everyone's
65743 expectation. Prince Vasili, in the rare moments when he was at home,
65744 would take Pierre's hand in passing and draw it downwards, or
65745 absent-mindedly hold out his wrinkled, clean-shaven cheek for Pierre
65746 to kiss and would say: "Till tomorrow," or, "Be in to dinner or I
65747 shall not see you," or, "I am staying in for your sake," and so on.
65748 And though Prince Vasili, when he stayed in (as he said) for
65749 Pierre's sake, hardly exchanged a couple of words with him, Pierre
65750 felt unable to disappoint him. Every day he said to himself one and
65751 the same thing: "It is time I understood her and made up my mind
65752 what she really is. Was I mistaken before, or am I mistaken now? No,
65753 she is not stupid, she is an excellent girl," he sometimes said to
65754 himself "she never makes a mistake, never says anything stupid. She
65755 says little, but what she does say is always clear and simple, so
65756 she is not stupid. She never was abashed and is not abashed now, so
65757 she cannot be a bad woman!" He had often begun to make reflections
65758 or think aloud in her company, and she had always answered him
65759 either by a brief but appropriate remark--showing that it did not
65760 interest her--or by a silent look and smile which more palpably than
65761 anything else showed Pierre her superiority. She was right in
65762 regarding all arguments as nonsense in comparison with that smile.
65763
65764 She always addressed him with a radiantly confiding smile meant
65765 for him alone, in which there was something more significant than in
65766 the general smile that usually brightened her face. Pierre knew that
65767 everyone was waiting for him to say a word and cross a certain line,
65768 and he knew that sooner or later he would step across it, but an
65769 incomprehensible terror seized him at the thought of that dreadful
65770 step. A thousand times during that month and a half while he felt
65771 himself drawn nearer and nearer to that dreadful abyss, Pierre said to
65772 himself: "What am I doing? I need resolution. Can it be that I have
65773 none?"
65774
65775 He wished to take a decision, but felt with dismay that in this
65776 matter he lacked that strength of will which he had known in himself
65777 and really possessed. Pierre was one of those who are only strong when
65778 they feel themselves quite innocent, and since that day when he was
65779 overpowered by a feeling of desire while stooping over the snuffbox at
65780 Anna Pavlovna's, an unacknowledged sense of the guilt of that desire
65781 paralyzed his will.
65782
65783 On Helene's name day, a small party of just their own people--as his
65784 wife said--met for supper at Prince Vasili's. All these friends and
65785 relations had been given to understand that the fate of the young girl
65786 would be decided that evening. The visitors were seated at supper.
65787 Princess Kuragina, a portly imposing woman who had once been handsome,
65788 was sitting at the head of the table. On either side of her sat the
65789 more important guests--an old general and his wife, and Anna
65790 Pavlovna Scherer. At the other end sat the younger and less
65791 important guests, and there too sat the members of the family, and
65792 Pierre and Helene, side by side. Prince Vasili was not having any
65793 supper: he went round the table in a merry mood, sitting down now by
65794 one, now by another, of the guests. To each of them he made some
65795 careless and agreeable remark except to Pierre and Helene, whose
65796 presence he seemed not to notice. He enlivened the whole party. The
65797 wax candles burned brightly, the silver and crystal gleamed, so did
65798 the ladies' toilets and the gold and silver of the men's epaulets;
65799 servants in scarlet liveries moved round the table, the clatter of
65800 plates, knives, and glasses mingled with the animated hum of several
65801 conversations. At one end of the table, the old chamberlain was
65802 heard assuring an old baroness that he loved her passionately, at
65803 which she laughed; at the other could be heard the story of the
65804 misfortunes of some Mary Viktorovna or other. At the center of the
65805 table, Prince Vasili attracted everybody's attention. With a facetious
65806 smile on his face, he was telling the ladies about last Wednesday's
65807 meeting of the Imperial Council, at which Sergey Kuzmich
65808 Vyazmitinov, the new military governor general of Petersburg, had
65809 received and read the then famous rescript of the Emperor Alexander
65810 from the army to Sergey Kuzmich, in which the Emperor said that he was
65811 receiving from all sides declarations of the people's loyalty, that
65812 the declaration from Petersburg gave him particular pleasure, and that
65813 he was proud to be at the head of such a nation and would endeavor
65814 to be worthy of it. This rescript began with the words: "Sergey
65815 Kuzmich, From all sides reports reach me," etc.
65816
65817 "Well, and so he never got farther than: 'Sergey Kuzmich'?" asked
65818 one of the ladies.
65819
65820 "Exactly, not a hair's breadth farther," answered Prince Vasili,
65821 laughing, "'Sergey Kuzmich... From all sides... From all sides...
65822 Sergey Kuzmich...' Poor Vyazmitinov could not get any farther! He
65823 began the rescript again and again, but as soon as he uttered 'Sergey'
65824 he sobbed, 'Kuz-mi-ch,' tears, and 'From all sides' was smothered in
65825 sobs and he could get no farther. And again his handkerchief, and
65826 again: 'Sergey Kuzmich, From all sides,'... and tears, till at last
65827 somebody else was asked to read it."
65828
65829 "Kuzmich... From all sides... and then tears," someone repeated
65830 laughing.
65831
65832 "Don't be unkind," cried Anna Pavlovna from her end of the table
65833 holding up a threatening finger. "He is such a worthy and excellent
65834 man, our dear Vyazmitinov...."
65835
65836 Everybody laughed a great deal. At the head of the table, where
65837 the honored guests sat, everyone seemed to be in high spirits and
65838 under the influence of a variety of exciting sensations. Only Pierre
65839 and Helene sat silently side by side almost at the bottom of the
65840 table, a suppressed smile brightening both their faces, a smile that
65841 had nothing to do with Sergey Kuzmich--a smile of bashfulness at their
65842 own feelings. But much as all the rest laughed, talked, and joked,
65843 much as they enjoyed their Rhine wine, saute, and ices, and however
65844 they avoided looking at the young couple, and heedless and unobservant
65845 as they seemed of them, one could feel by the occasional glances
65846 they gave that the story about Sergey Kuzmich, the laughter, and the
65847 food were all a pretense, and that the whole attention of that company
65848 was directed to--Pierre and Helene. Prince Vasili mimicked the sobbing
65849 of Sergey Kuzmich and at the same time his eyes glanced toward his
65850 daughter, and while he laughed the expression on his face clearly
65851 said: "Yes... it's getting on, it will all be settled today." Anna
65852 Pavlovna threatened him on behalf of "our dear Vyazmitinov," and in
65853 her eyes, which, for an instant, glanced at Pierre, Prince Vasili read
65854 a congratulation on his future son-in-law and on his daughter's
65855 happiness. The old princess sighed sadly as she offered some wine to
65856 the old lady next to her and glanced angrily at her daughter, and
65857 her sigh seemed to say: "Yes, there's nothing left for you and me
65858 but to sip sweet wine, my dear, now that the time has come for these
65859 young ones to be thus boldly, provocatively happy." "And what nonsense
65860 all this is that I am saying!" thought a diplomatist, glancing at
65861 the happy faces of the lovers. "That's happiness!"
65862
65863 Into the insignificant, trifling, and artificial interests uniting
65864 that society had entered the simple feeling of the attraction of a
65865 healthy and handsome young man and woman for one another. And this
65866 human feeling dominated everything else and soared above all their
65867 affected chatter. Jests fell flat, news was not interesting, and the
65868 animation was evidently forced. Not only the guests but even the
65869 footmen waiting at table seemed to feel this, and they forgot their
65870 duties as they looked at the beautiful Helene with her radiant face
65871 and at the red, broad, and happy though uneasy face of Pierre. It
65872 seemed as if the very light of the candles was focused on those two
65873 happy faces alone.
65874
65875 Pierre felt that he was the center of it all, and this both pleased
65876 and embarrassed him. He was like a man entirely absorbed in some
65877 occupation. He did not see, hear, or understand anything clearly. Only
65878 now and then detached ideas and impressions from the world of
65879 reality shot unexpectedly through his mind.
65880
65881 "So it is all finished!" he thought. "And how has it all happened?
65882 How quickly! Now I know that not because of her alone, nor of myself
65883 alone, but because of everyone, it must inevitably come about. They
65884 are all expecting it, they are so sure that it will happen that I
65885 cannot, I cannot, disappoint them. But how will it be? I do not
65886 know, but it will certainly happen!" thought Pierre, glancing at those
65887 dazzling shoulders close to his eyes.
65888
65889 Or he would suddenly feel ashamed of he knew not what. He felt it
65890 awkward to attract everyone's attention and to be considered a lucky
65891 man and, with his plain face, to be looked on as a sort of Paris
65892 possessed of a Helen. "But no doubt it always is and must be so!" he
65893 consoled himself. "And besides, what have I done to bring it about?
65894 How did it begin? I traveled from Moscow with Prince Vasili. Then
65895 there was nothing. So why should I not stay at his house? Then I
65896 played cards with her and picked up her reticule and drove out with
65897 her. How did it begin, when did it all come about?" And here he was
65898 sitting by her side as her betrothed, seeing, hearing, feeling her
65899 nearness, her breathing, her movements, her beauty. Then it would
65900 suddenly seem to him that it was not she but he was so unusually
65901 beautiful, and that that was why they all looked so at him, and
65902 flattered by this general admiration he would expand his chest,
65903 raise his head, and rejoice at his good fortune. Suddenly he heard a
65904 familiar voice repeating something to him a second time. But Pierre
65905 was so absorbed that he did not understand what was said.
65906
65907 "I am asking you when you last heard from Bolkonski," repeated
65908 Prince Vasili a third time. "How absent-minded you are, my dear
65909 fellow."
65910
65911 Prince Vasili smiled, and Pierre noticed that everyone was smiling
65912 at him and Helene. "Well, what of it, if you all know it?" thought
65913 Pierre. "What of it? It's the truth!" and he himself smiled his gentle
65914 childlike smile, and Helene smiled too.
65915
65916 "When did you get the letter? Was it from Olmutz?" repeated Prince
65917 Vasili, who pretended to want to know this in order to settle a
65918 dispute.
65919
65920 "How can one talk or think of such trifles?" thought Pierre.
65921
65922 "Yes, from Olmutz," he answered, with a sigh.
65923
65924 After supper Pierre with his partner followed the others into the
65925 drawing room. The guests began to disperse, some without taking
65926 leave of Helene. Some, as if unwilling to distract her from an
65927 important occupation, came up to her for a moment and made haste to go
65928 away, refusing to let her see them off. The diplomatist preserved a
65929 mournful silence as he left the drawing room. He pictured the vanity
65930 of his diplomatic career in comparison with Pierre's happiness. The
65931 old general grumbled at his wife when she asked how his leg was.
65932 "Oh, the old fool," he thought. "That Princess Helene will be
65933 beautiful still when she's fifty."
65934
65935 "I think I may congratulate you," whispered Anna Pavlovna to the old
65936 princess, kissing her soundly. "If I hadn't this headache I'd have
65937 stayed longer."
65938
65939 The old princess did not reply, she was tormented by jealousy of her
65940 daughter's happiness.
65941
65942 While the guests were taking their leave Pierre remained for a
65943 long time alone with Helene in the little drawing room where they were
65944 sitting. He had often before, during the last six weeks, remained
65945 alone with her, but had never spoken to her of love. Now he felt
65946 that it was inevitable, but he could not make up his mind to take
65947 the final step. He felt ashamed; he felt that he was occupying someone
65948 else's place here beside Helene. "This happiness is not for you," some
65949 inner voice whispered to him. "This happiness is for those who have
65950 not in them what there is in you."
65951
65952 But, as he had to say something, he began by asking her whether
65953 she was satisfied with the party. She replied in her usual simple
65954 manner that this name day of hers had been one of the pleasantest
65955 she had ever had.
65956
65957 Some of the nearest relatives had not yet left. They were sitting in
65958 the large drawing room. Prince Vasili came up to Pierre with languid
65959 footsteps. Pierre rose and said it was getting late. Prince Vasili
65960 gave him a look of stern inquiry, as though what Pierre had just
65961 said was so strange that one could not take it in. But then the
65962 expression of severity changed, and he drew Pierre's hand downwards,
65963 made him sit down, and smiled affectionately.
65964
65965 "Well, Lelya?" he asked, turning instantly to his daughter and
65966 addressing her with the careless tone of habitual tenderness natural
65967 to parents who have petted their children from babyhood, but which
65968 Prince Vasili had only acquired by imitating other parents.
65969
65970 And he again turned to Pierre.
65971
65972 "Sergey Kuzmich--From all sides-" he said, unbuttoning the top
65973 button of his waistcoat.
65974
65975 Pierre smiled, but his smile showed that he knew it was not the
65976 story about Sergey Kuzmich that interested Prince Vasili just then,
65977 and Prince Vasili saw that Pierre knew this. He suddenly muttered
65978 something and went away. It seemed to Pierre that even the prince
65979 was disconcerted. The sight of the discomposure of that old man of the
65980 world touched Pierre: he looked at Helene and she too seemed
65981 disconcerted, and her look seemed to say: "Well, it is your own
65982 fault."
65983
65984 "The step must be taken but I cannot, I cannot!" thought Pierre, and
65985 he again began speaking about indifferent matters, about Sergey
65986 Kuzmich, asking what the point of the story was as he had not heard it
65987 properly. Helene answered with a smile that she too had missed it.
65988
65989 When Prince Vasili returned to the drawing room, the princess, his
65990 wife, was talking in low tones to the elderly lady about Pierre.
65991
65992 "Of course, it is a very brilliant match, but happiness, my dear..."
65993
65994 "Marriages are made in heaven," replied the elderly lady.
65995
65996 Prince Vasili passed by, seeming not to hear the ladies, and sat
65997 down on a sofa in a far corner of the room. He closed his eyes and
65998 seemed to be dozing. His head sank forward and then he roused himself.
65999
66000 "Aline," he said to his wife, "go and see what they are about."
66001
66002 The princess went up to the door, passed by it with a dignified
66003 and indifferent air, and glanced into the little drawing room.
66004 Pierre and Helene still sat talking just as before.
66005
66006 "Still the same," she said to her husband.
66007
66008 Prince Vasili frowned, twisting his mouth, his cheeks quivered and
66009 his face assumed the coarse, unpleasant expression peculiar to him.
66010 Shaking himself, he rose, threw back his head, and with resolute steps
66011 went past the ladies into the little drawing room. With quick steps he
66012 went joyfully up to Pierre. His face was so unusually triumphant
66013 that Pierre rose in alarm on seeing it.
66014
66015 "Thank God!" said Prince Vasili. "My wife has told me everything!"
66016 (He put one arm around Pierre and the other around his daughter.)--"My
66017 dear boy... Lelya... I am very pleased." (His voice trembled.) "I
66018 loved your father... and she will make you a good wife... God bless
66019 you!..."
66020
66021 He embraced his daughter, and then again Pierre, and kissed him with
66022 his malodorous mouth. Tears actually moistened his cheeks.
66023
66024 "Princess, come here!" he shouted.
66025
66026 The old princess came in and also wept. The elderly lady was using
66027 her handkerchief too. Pierre was kissed, and he kissed the beautiful
66028 Helene's hand several times. After a while they were left alone again.
66029
66030 "All this had to be and could not be otherwise," thought Pierre, "so
66031 it is useless to ask whether it is good or bad. It is good because
66032 it's definite and one is rid of the old tormenting doubt." Pierre held
66033 the hand of his betrothed in silence, looking at her beautiful bosom
66034 as it rose and fell.
66035
66036 "Helene!" he said aloud and paused.
66037
66038 "Something special is always said in such cases," he thought, but
66039 could not remember what it was that people say. He looked at her face.
66040 She drew nearer to him. Her face flushed.
66041
66042 "Oh, take those off... those..." she said, pointing to his
66043 spectacles.
66044
66045 Pierre took them off, and his eyes, besides the strange look eyes
66046 have from which spectacles have just been removed, had also a
66047 frightened and inquiring look. He was about to stoop over her hand and
66048 kiss it, but with a rapid, almost brutal movement of her head, she
66049 intercepted his lips and met them with her own. Her face struck
66050 Pierre, by its altered, unpleasantly excited expression.
66051
66052 "It is too late now, it's done; besides I love her," thought Pierre.
66053
66054 "Je vous aime!"* he said, remembering what has to be said at such
66055 moments: but his words sounded so weak that he felt ashamed of
66056 himself.
66057
66058
66059 *"I love you."
66060
66061
66062 Six weeks later he was married, and settled in Count Bezukhov's
66063 large, newly furnished Petersburg house, the happy possessor, as
66064 people said, of a wife who was a celebrated beauty and of millions
66065 of money.
66066
66067
66068
66069
66070
66071 CHAPTER III
66072
66073
66074 Old Prince Nicholas Bolkonski received a letter from Prince Vasili
66075 in November, 1805, announcing that he and his son would be paying
66076 him a visit. "I am starting on a journey of inspection, and of
66077 course I shall think nothing of an extra seventy miles to come and see
66078 you at the same time, my honored benefactor," wrote Prince Vasili. "My
66079 son Anatole is accompanying me on his way to the army, so I hope you
66080 will allow him personally to express the deep respect that,
66081 emulating his father, he feels for you."
66082
66083 "It seems that there will be no need to bring Mary out, suitors
66084 are coming to us of their own accord," incautiously remarked the
66085 little princess on hearing the news.
66086
66087 Prince Nicholas frowned, but said nothing.
66088
66089 A fortnight after the letter Prince Vasili's servants came one
66090 evening in advance of him, and he and his son arrived next day.
66091
66092 Old Bolkonski had always had a poor opinion of Prince Vasili's
66093 character, but more so recently, since in the new reigns of Paul and
66094 Alexander Prince Vasili had risen to high position and honors. And
66095 now, from the hints contained in his letter and given by the little
66096 princess, he saw which way the wind was blowing, and his low opinion
66097 changed into a feeling of contemptuous ill will. He snorted whenever
66098 he mentioned him. On the day of Prince Vasili's arrival, Prince
66099 Bolkonski was particularly discontented and out of temper. Whether
66100 he was in a bad temper because Prince Vasili was coming, or whether
66101 his being in a bad temper made him specially annoyed at Prince
66102 Vasili's visit, he was in a bad temper, and in the morning Tikhon
66103 had already advised the architect not to go to the prince with his
66104 report.
66105
66106 "Do you hear how he's walking?" said Tikhon, drawing the architect's
66107 attention to the sound of the prince's footsteps. "Stepping flat on
66108 his heels--we know what that means...."
66109
66110 However, at nine o'clock the prince, in his velvet coat with a sable
66111 collar and cap, went out for his usual walk. It had snowed the day
66112 before and the path to the hothouse, along which the prince was in the
66113 habit of walking, had been swept: the marks of the broom were still
66114 visible in the snow and a shovel had been left sticking in one of
66115 the soft snowbanks that bordered both sides of the path. The prince
66116 went through the conservatories, the serfs' quarters, and the
66117 outbuildings, frowning and silent.
66118
66119 "Can a sleigh pass?" he asked his overseer, a venerable man,
66120 resembling his master in manners and looks, who was accompanying him
66121 back to the house.
66122
66123 "The snow is deep. I am having the avenue swept, your honor."
66124
66125 The prince bowed his head and went up to the porch. "God be
66126 thanked," thought the overseer, "the storm has blown over!"
66127
66128 "It would have been hard to drive up, your honor," he added. "I
66129 heard, your honor, that a minister is coming to visit your honor."
66130
66131 The prince turned round to the overseer and fixed his eyes on him,
66132 frowning.
66133
66134 "What? A minister? What minister? Who gave orders?" he said in his
66135 shrill, harsh voice. "The road is not swept for the princess my
66136 daughter, but for a minister! For me, there are no ministers!"
66137
66138 "Your honor, I thought..."
66139
66140 "You thought!" shouted the prince, his words coming more and more
66141 rapidly and indistinctly. "You thought!... Rascals! Blackgaurds!...
66142 I'll teach you to think!" and lifting his stick he swung it and
66143 would have hit Alpatych, the overseer, had not the latter
66144 instinctively avoided the blow. "Thought... Blackguards..." shouted
66145 the prince rapidly.
66146
66147 But although Alpatych, frightened at his own temerity in avoiding
66148 the stroke, came up to the prince, bowing his bald head resignedly
66149 before him, or perhaps for that very reason, the prince, though he
66150 continued to shout: "Blackgaurds!... Throw the snow back on the road!"
66151 did not lift his stick again but hurried into the house.
66152
66153 Before dinner, Princess Mary and Mademoiselle Bourienne, who knew
66154 that the prince was in a bad humor, stood awaiting him; Mademoiselle
66155 Bourienne with a radiant face that said: "I know nothing, I am the
66156 same as usual," and Princess Mary pale, frightened, and with
66157 downcast eyes. What she found hardest to bear was to know that on such
66158 occasions she ought to behave like Mademoiselle Bourienne, but could
66159 not. She thought: "If I seem not to notice he will think that I do not
66160 sympathize with him; if I seem sad and out of spirits myself, he
66161 will say (as he has done before) that I'm in the dumps."
66162
66163 The prince looked at his daughter's frightened face and snorted.
66164
66165 "Fool... or dummy!" he muttered.
66166
66167 "And the other one is not here. They've been telling tales," he
66168 thought--referring to the little princess who was not in the dining
66169 room.
66170
66171 "Where is the princess?" he asked. "Hiding?"
66172
66173 "She is not very well," answered Mademoiselle Bourienne with a
66174 bright smile, "so she won't come down. It is natural in her state."
66175
66176 "Hm! Hm!" muttered the prince, sitting down.
66177
66178 His plate seemed to him not quite clean, and pointing to a spot he
66179 flung it away. Tikhon caught it and handed it to a footman. The little
66180 princess was not unwell, but had such an overpowering fear of the
66181 prince that, hearing he was in a bad humor, she had decided not to
66182 appear.
66183
66184 "I am afraid for the baby," she said to Mademoiselle Bourienne:
66185 "Heaven knows what a fright might do."
66186
66187 In general at Bald Hills the little princess lived in constant fear,
66188 and with a sense of antipathy to the old prince which she did not
66189 realize because the fear was so much the stronger feeling. The
66190 prince reciprocated this antipathy, but it was overpowered by his
66191 contempt for her. When the little princess had grown accustomed to
66192 life at Bald Hills, she took a special fancy to Mademoiselle
66193 Bourienne, spent whole days with her, asked her to sleep in her
66194 room, and often talked with her about the old prince and criticized
66195 him.
66196
66197 "So we are to have visitors, mon prince?" remarked Mademoiselle
66198 Bourienne, unfolding her white napkin with her rosy fingers. "His
66199 Excellency Prince Vasili Kuragin and his son, I understand?" she
66200 said inquiringly.
66201
66202 "Hm!--his excellency is a puppy.... I got him his appointment in the
66203 service," said the prince disdainfully. "Why his son is coming I don't
66204 understand. Perhaps Princess Elizabeth and Princess Mary know. I don't
66205 want him." (He looked at his blushing daughter.) "Are you unwell
66206 today? Eh? Afraid of the 'minister' as that idiot Alpatych called
66207 him this morning?"
66208
66209 "No, mon pere."
66210
66211 Though Mademoiselle Bourienne had been so unsuccessful in her choice
66212 of a subject, she did not stop talking, but chattered about the
66213 conservatories and the beauty of a flower that had just opened, and
66214 after the soup the prince became more genial.
66215
66216 After dinner, he went to see his daughter-in-law. The little
66217 princess was sitting at a small table, chattering with Masha, her
66218 maid. She grew pale on seeing her father-in-law.
66219
66220 She was much altered. She was now plain rather than pretty. Her
66221 cheeks had sunk, her lip was drawn up, and her eyes drawn down.
66222
66223 "Yes, I feel a kind of oppression," she said in reply to the
66224 prince's question as to how she felt.
66225
66226 "Do you want anything?"
66227
66228 "No, merci, mon pere."
66229
66230 "Well, all right, all right."
66231
66232 He left the room and went to the waiting room where Alpatych stood
66233 with bowed head.
66234
66235 "Has the snow been shoveled back?"
66236
66237 "Yes, your excellency. Forgive me for heaven's sake... It was only
66238 my stupidity."
66239
66240 "All right, all right," interrupted the prince, and laughing his
66241 unnatural way, he stretched out his hand for Alpatych to kiss, and
66242 then proceeded to his study.
66243
66244 Prince Vasili arrived that evening. He was met in the avenue by
66245 coachmen and footmen, who, with loud shouts, dragged his sleighs up to
66246 one of the lodges over the road purposely laden with snow.
66247
66248 Prince Vasili and Anatole had separate rooms assigned to them.
66249
66250 Anatole, having taken off his overcoat, sat with arms akimbo
66251 before a table on a corner of which he smilingly and absent-mindedly
66252 fixed his large and handsome eyes. He regarded his whole life as a
66253 continual round of amusement which someone for some reason had to
66254 provide for him. And he looked on this visit to a churlish old man and
66255 a rich and ugly heiress in the same way. All this might, he thought,
66256 turn out very well and amusingly. "And why not marry her if she really
66257 has so much money? That never does any harm," thought Anatole.
66258
66259 He shaved and scented himself with the care and elegance which had
66260 become habitual to him and, his handsome head held high, entered his
66261 father's room with the good-humored and victorious air natural to him.
66262 Prince Vasili's two valets were busy dressing him, and he looked round
66263 with much animation and cheerfully nodded to his son as the latter
66264 entered, as if to say: "Yes, that's how I want you to look."
66265
66266 "I say, Father, joking apart, is she very hideous?" Anatole asked,
66267 as if continuing a conversation the subject of which had often been
66268 mentioned during the journey.
66269
66270 "Enough! What nonsense! Above all, try to be respectful and cautious
66271 with the old prince."
66272
66273 "If he starts a row I'll go away," said Prince Anatole. "I can't
66274 bear those old men! Eh?"
66275
66276 "Remember, for you everything depends on this."
66277
66278 In the meantime, not only was it known in the maidservants' rooms
66279 that the minister and his son had arrived, but the appearance of
66280 both had been minutely described. Princess Mary was sitting alone in
66281 her room, vainly trying to master her agitation.
66282
66283 "Why did they write, why did Lise tell me about it? It can never
66284 happen!" she said, looking at herself in the glass. "How shall I enter
66285 the drawing room? Even if I like him I can't now be myself with
66286 him." The mere thought of her father's look filled her with terror.
66287 The little princess and Mademoiselle Bourienne had already received
66288 from Masha, the lady's maid, the necessary report of how handsome
66289 the minister's son was, with his rosy cheeks and dark eyebrows, and
66290 with what difficulty the father had dragged his legs upstairs while
66291 the son had followed him like an eagle, three steps at a time.
66292 Having received this information, the little princess and Mademoiselle
66293 Bourienne, whose chattering voices had reached her from the
66294 corridor, went into Princess Mary's room.
66295
66296 "You know they've come, Marie?" said the little princess, waddling
66297 in, and sinking heavily into an armchair.
66298
66299 She was no longer in the loose gown she generally wore in the
66300 morning, but had on one of her best dresses. Her hair was carefully
66301 done and her face was animated, which, however, did not conceal its
66302 sunken and faded outlines. Dressed as she used to be in Petersburg
66303 society, it was still more noticeable how much plainer she had become.
66304 Some unobtrusive touch had been added to Mademoiselle Bourienne's
66305 toilet which rendered her fresh and pretty face yet more attractive.
66306
66307 "What! Are you going to remain as you are, dear princess?" she
66308 began. "They'll be announcing that the gentlemen are in the drawing
66309 room and we shall have to go down, and you have not smartened yourself
66310 up at all!"
66311
66312 The little princess got up, rang for the maid, and hurriedly and
66313 merrily began to devise and carry out a plan of how Princess Mary
66314 should be dressed. Princess Mary's self-esteem was wounded by the fact
66315 that the arrival of a suitor agitated her, and still more so by both
66316 her companions' not having the least conception that it could be
66317 otherwise. To tell them that she felt ashamed for herself and for them
66318 would be to betray her agitation, while to decline their offers to
66319 dress her would prolong their banter and insistence. She flushed,
66320 her beautiful eyes grew dim, red blotches came on her face, and it
66321 took on the unattractive martyrlike expression it so often wore, as
66322 she submitted herself to Mademoiselle Bourienne and Lise. Both these
66323 women quite sincerely tried to make her look pretty. She was so
66324 plain that neither of them could think of her as a rival, so they
66325 began dressing her with perfect sincerity, and with the naive and firm
66326 conviction women have that dress can make a face pretty.
66327
66328 "No really, my dear, this dress is not pretty," said Lise, looking
66329 sideways at Princess Mary from a little distance. "You have a maroon
66330 dress, have it fetched. Really! You know the fate of your whole life
66331 may be at stake. But this one is too light, it's not becoming!"
66332
66333 It was not the dress, but the face and whole figure of Princess Mary
66334 that was not pretty, but neither Mademoiselle Bourienne nor the little
66335 princess felt this; they still thought that if a blue ribbon were
66336 placed in the hair, the hair combed up, and the blue scarf arranged
66337 lower on the best maroon dress, and so on, all would be well. They
66338 forgot that the frightened face and the figure could not be altered,
66339 and that however they might change the setting and adornment of that
66340 face, it would still remain piteous and plain. After two or three
66341 changes to which Princess Mary meekly submitted, just as her hair
66342 had been arranged on the top of her head (a style that quite altered
66343 and spoiled her looks) and she had put on a maroon dress with a
66344 pale-blue scarf, the little princess walked twice round her, now
66345 adjusting a fold of the dress with her little hand, now arranging
66346 the scarf and looking at her with her head bent first on one side
66347 and then on the other.
66348
66349 "No, it will not do," she said decidedly, clasping her hands. "No,
66350 Mary, really this dress does not suit you. I prefer you in your little
66351 gray everyday dress. Now please, do it for my sake. Katie," she said
66352 to the maid, "bring the princess her gray dress, and you'll see,
66353 Mademoiselle Bourienne, how I shall arrange it," she added, smiling
66354 with a foretaste of artistic pleasure.
66355
66356 But when Katie brought the required dress, Princess Mary remained
66357 sitting motionless before the glass, looking at her face, and saw in
66358 the mirror her eyes full of tears and her mouth quivering, ready to
66359 burst into sobs.
66360
66361 "Come, dear princess," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, "just one more
66362 little effort."
66363
66364 The little princess, taking the dress from the maid, came up to
66365 Princess Mary.
66366
66367 "Well, now we'll arrange something quite simple and becoming," she
66368 said.
66369
66370 The three voices, hers, Mademoiselle Bourienne's, and Katie's, who
66371 was laughing at something, mingled in a merry sound, like the chirping
66372 of birds.
66373
66374 "No, leave me alone," said Princess Mary.
66375
66376 Her voice sounded so serious and so sad that the chirping of the
66377 birds was silenced at once. They looked at the beautiful, large,
66378 thoughtful eyes full of tears and of thoughts, gazing shiningly and
66379 imploringly at them, and understood that it was useless and even cruel
66380 to insist.
66381
66382 "At least, change your coiffure," said the little princess.
66383 "Didn't I tell you," she went on, turning reproachfully to
66384 Mademoiselle Bourienne, "Mary's is a face which such a coiffure does
66385 not suit in the least. Not in the least! Please change it."
66386
66387 "Leave me alone, please leave me alone! It is all quite the same
66388 to me," answered a voice struggling with tears.
66389
66390 Mademoiselle Bourienne and the little princess had to own to
66391 themselves that Princess Mary in this guise looked very plain, worse
66392 than usual, but it was too late. She was looking at them with an
66393 expression they both knew, an expression thoughtful and sad. This
66394 expression in Princess Mary did not frighten them (she never
66395 inspired fear in anyone), but they knew that when it appeared on her
66396 face, she became mute and was not to be shaken in her determination.
66397
66398 "You will change it, won't you?" said Lise. And as Princess Mary
66399 gave no answer, she left the room.
66400
66401 Princess Mary was left alone. She did not comply with Lise's
66402 request, she not only left her hair as it was, but did not even look
66403 in her glass. Letting her arms fall helplessly, she sat with
66404 downcast eyes and pondered. A husband, a man, a strong dominant and
66405 strangely attractive being rose in her imagination, and carried her
66406 into a totally different happy world of his own. She fancied a
66407 child, her own--such as she had seen the day before in the arms of her
66408 nurse's daughter--at her own breast, the husband standing by and
66409 gazing tenderly at her and the child. "But no, it is impossible, I
66410 am too ugly," she thought.
66411
66412 "Please come to tea. The prince will be out in a moment," came the
66413 maid's voice at the door.
66414
66415 She roused herself, and felt appalled at what she had been thinking,
66416 and before going down she went into the room where the icons hung and,
66417 her eyes fixed on the dark face of a large icon of the Saviour lit
66418 by a lamp, she stood before it with folded hands for a few moments.
66419 A painful doubt filled her soul. Could the joy of love, of earthly
66420 love for a man, be for her? In her thoughts of marriage Princess
66421 Mary dreamed of happiness and of children, but her strongest, most
66422 deeply hidden longing was for earthly love. The more she tried to hide
66423 this feeling from others and even from herself, the stronger it
66424 grew. "O God," she said, "how am I to stifle in my heart these
66425 temptations of the devil? How am I to renounce forever these vile
66426 fancies, so as peacefully to fulfill Thy will?" And scarcely had she
66427 put that question than God gave her the answer in her own heart.
66428 "Desire nothing for thyself, seek nothing, be not anxious or
66429 envious. Man's future and thy own fate must remain hidden from thee,
66430 but live so that thou mayest be ready for anything. If it be God's
66431 will to prove thee in the duties of marriage, be ready to fulfill
66432 His will." With this consoling thought (but yet with a hope for the
66433 fulfillment of her forbidden earthly longing) Princess Mary sighed,
66434 and having crossed herself went down, thinking neither of her gown and
66435 coiffure nor of how she would go in nor of what she would say. What
66436 could all that matter in comparison with the will of God, without
66437 Whose care not a hair of man's head can fall?
66438
66439
66440
66441
66442
66443 CHAPTER IV
66444
66445
66446 When Princess Mary came down, Prince Vasili and his son were already
66447 in the drawing room, talking to the little princess and Mademoiselle
66448 Bourienne. When she entered with her heavy step, treading on her
66449 heels, the gentlemen and Mademoiselle Bourienne rose and the little
66450 princess, indicating her to the gentlemen, said: "Voila Marie!"
66451 Princess Mary saw them all and saw them in detail. She saw Prince
66452 Vasili's face, serious for an instant at the sight of her, but
66453 immediately smiling again, and the little princess curiously noting
66454 the impression "Marie" produced on the visitors. And she saw
66455 Mademoiselle Bourienne, with her ribbon and pretty face, and her
66456 unusually animated look which was fixed on him, but him she could
66457 not see, she only saw something large, brilliant, and handsome
66458 moving toward her as she entered the room. Prince Vasili approached
66459 first, and she kissed the bold forehead that bent over her hand and
66460 answered his question by saying that, on the contrary, she
66461 remembered him quite well. Then Anatole came up to her. She still
66462 could not see him. She only felt a soft hand taking hers firmly, and
66463 she touched with her lips a white forehead, over which was beautiful
66464 light-brown hair smelling of pomade. When she looked up at him she was
66465 struck by his beauty. Anatole stood with his right thumb under a
66466 button of his uniform, his chest expanded and his back drawn in,
66467 slightly swinging one foot, and, with his head a little bent, looked
66468 with beaming face at the princess without speaking and evidently not
66469 thinking about her at all. Anatole was not quick-witted, nor ready
66470 or eloquent in conversation, but he had the faculty, so invaluable
66471 in society, of composure and imperturbable self-possession. If a man
66472 lacking in self-confidence remains dumb on a first introduction and
66473 betrays a consciousness of the impropriety of such silence and an
66474 anxiety to find something to say, the effect is bad. But Anatole was
66475 dumb, swung his foot, and smilingly examined the princess' hair. It
66476 was evident that he could be silent in this way for a very long
66477 time. "If anyone finds this silence inconvenient, let him talk, but
66478 I don't want to," he seemed to say. Besides this, in his behavior to
66479 women Anatole had a manner which particularly inspires in them
66480 curiosity, awe, and even love--a supercilious consciousness of his own
66481 superiority. It was was as if he said to them: "I know you, I know
66482 you, but why should I bother about you? You'd be only too glad, of
66483 course." Perhaps he did not really think this when he met women-
66484 even probably he did not, for in general he thought very little--but
66485 his looks and manner gave that impression. The princess felt this, and
66486 as if wishing to show him that she did not even dare expect to
66487 interest him, she turned to his father. The conversation was general
66488 and animated, thanks to Princess Lise's voice and little downy lip
66489 that lifted over her white teeth. She met Prince Vasili with that
66490 playful manner often employed by lively chatty people, and
66491 consisting in the assumption that between the person they so address
66492 and themselves there are some semi-private, long-established jokes and
66493 amusing reminiscences, though no such reminiscences really exist--just
66494 as none existed in this case. Prince Vasili readily adopted her tone
66495 and the little princess also drew Anatole, whom she hardly knew,
66496 into these amusing recollections of things that had never occurred.
66497 Mademoiselle Bourienne also shared them and even Princess Mary felt
66498 herself pleasantly made to share in these merry reminiscences.
66499
66500 "Here at least we shall have the benefit of your company all to
66501 ourselves, dear prince," said the little princess (of course, in
66502 French) to Prince Vasili. "It's not as at Annette's* receptions
66503 where you always ran away; you remember cette chere Annette!"
66504
66505
66506 *Anna Pavlovna.
66507
66508 "Ah, but you won't talk politics to me like Annette!"
66509
66510 "And our little tea table?"
66511
66512 "Oh, yes!"
66513
66514 "Why is it you were never at Annette's?" the little princess asked
66515 Anatole. "Ah, I know, I know," she said with a sly glance, "your
66516 brother Hippolyte told me about your goings on. Oh!" and she shook her
66517 finger at him, "I have even heard of your doings in Paris!"
66518
66519 "And didn't Hippolyte tell you?" asked Prince Vasili, turning to his
66520 son and seizing the little princess' arm as if she would have run away
66521 and he had just managed to catch her, "didn't he tell you how he
66522 himself was pining for the dear princess, and how she showed him the
66523 door? Oh, she is a pearl among women, Princess," he added, turning
66524 to Princess Mary.
66525
66526 When Paris was mentioned, Mademoiselle Bourienne for her part seized
66527 the opportunity of joining in the general current of recollections.
66528
66529 She took the liberty of inquiring whether it was long since
66530 Anatole had left Paris and how he had liked that city. Anatole
66531 answered the Frenchwoman very readily and, looking at her with a
66532 smile, talked to her about her native land. When he saw the pretty
66533 little Bourienne, Anatole came to the conclusion that he would not
66534 find Bald Hills dull either. "Not at all bad!" he thought, examining
66535 her, "not at all bad, that little companion! I hope she will bring her
66536 along with her when we're married, la petite est gentille."*
66537
66538
66539 *The little one is charming.
66540
66541
66542 The old prince dressed leisurely in his study, frowning and
66543 considering what he was to do. The coming of these visitors annoyed
66544 him. "What are Prince Vasili and that son of his to me? Prince
66545 Vasili is a shallow braggart and his son, no doubt, is a fine
66546 specimen," he grumbled to himself. What angered him was that the
66547 coming of these visitors revived in his mind an unsettled question
66548 he always tried to stifle, one about which he always deceived himself.
66549 The question was whether he could ever bring himself to part from
66550 his daughter and give her to a husband. The prince never directly
66551 asked himself that question, knowing beforehand that he would have
66552 to answer it justly, and justice clashed not only with his feelings
66553 but with the very possibility of life. Life without Princess Mary,
66554 little as he seemed to value her, was unthinkable to him. "And why
66555 should she marry?" he thought. "To be unhappy for certain. There's
66556 Lise, married to Andrew--a better husband one would think could hardly
66557 be found nowadays--but is she contented with her lot? And who would
66558 marry Marie for love? Plain and awkward! They'll take her for her
66559 connections and wealth. Are there no women living unmarried, and
66560 even the happier for it?" So thought Prince Bolkonski while
66561 dressing, and yet the question he was always putting off demanded an
66562 immediate answer. Prince Vasili had brought his son with the evident
66563 intention of proposing, and today or tomorrow he would probably ask
66564 for an answer. His birth and position in society were not bad.
66565 "Well, I've nothing against it," the prince said to himself, "but he
66566 must be worthy of her. And that is what we shall see."
66567
66568 "That is what we shall see! That is what we shall see!" he added
66569 aloud.
66570
66571 He entered the drawing room with his usual alert step, glancing
66572 rapidly round the company. He noticed the change in the little
66573 princess' dress, Mademoiselle Bourienne's ribbon, Princess Mary's
66574 unbecoming coiffure, Mademoiselle Bourienne's and Anatole's smiles,
66575 and the loneliness of his daughter amid the general conversation. "Got
66576 herself up like a fool!" he thought, looking irritably at her. "She is
66577 shameless, and he ignores her!"
66578
66579 He went straight up to Prince Vasili.
66580
66581 "Well! How d'ye do? How d'ye do? Glad to see you!"
66582
66583 "Friendship laughs at distance," began Prince Vasili in his usual
66584 rapid, self-confident, familiar tone. "Here is my second son; please
66585 love and befriend him."
66586
66587 Prince Bolkonski surveyed Anatole.
66588
66589 "Fine young fellow! Fine young fellow!" he said. "Well, come and
66590 kiss me," and he offered his cheek.
66591
66592 Anatole kissed the old man, and looked at him with curiosity and
66593 perfect composure, waiting for a display of the eccentricities his
66594 father had told him to expect.
66595
66596 Prince Bolkonski sat down in his usual place in the corner of the
66597 sofa and, drawing up an armchair for Prince Vasili, pointed to it
66598 and began questioning him about political affairs and news. He
66599 seemed to listen attentively to what Prince Vasili said, but kept
66600 glancing at Princess Mary.
66601
66602 "And so they are writing from Potsdam already?" he said, repeating
66603 Prince Vasili's last words. Then rising, he suddenly went up to his
66604 daughter.
66605
66606 "Is it for visitors you've got yourself up like that, eh?" said
66607 he. "Fine, very fine! You have done up your hair in this new way for
66608 the visitors, and before the visitors I tell you that in future you
66609 are never to dare to change your way of dress without my consent."
66610
66611 "It was my fault, mon pere," interceded the little princess, with
66612 a blush.
66613
66614 "You must do as you please," said Prince Bolkonski, bowing to his
66615 daughter-in-law, "but she need not make a fool of herself, she's plain
66616 enough as it is."
66617
66618 And he sat down again, paying no more attention to his daughter, who
66619 was reduced to tears.
66620
66621 "On the contrary, that coiffure suits the princess very well,"
66622 said Prince Vasili.
66623
66624 "Now you, young prince, what's your name?" said Prince Bolkonski,
66625 turning to Anatole, "come here, let us talk and get acquainted."
66626
66627 "Now the fun begins," thought Anatole, sitting down with a smile
66628 beside the old prince.
66629
66630 "Well, my dear boy, I hear you've been educated abroad, not taught
66631 to read and write by the deacon, like your father and me. Now tell me,
66632 my dear boy, are you serving in the Horse Guards?" asked the old
66633 man, scrutinizing Anatole closely and intently.
66634
66635 "No, I have been transferred to the line," said Anatole, hardly able
66636 to restrain his laughter.
66637
66638 "Ah! That's a good thing. So, my dear boy, you wish to serve the
66639 Tsar and the country? It is wartime. Such a fine fellow must serve.
66640 Well, are you off to the front?"
66641
66642 "No, Prince, our regiment has gone to the front, but I am
66643 attached... what is it I am attached to, Papa?" said Anatole,
66644 turning to his father with a laugh.
66645
66646 "A splendid soldier, splendid! 'What am I attached to!' Ha, ha, ha!"
66647 laughed Prince Bolkonski, and Anatole laughed still louder. Suddenly
66648 Prince Bolkonski frowned.
66649
66650 "You may go," he said to Anatole.
66651
66652 Anatole returned smiling to the ladies.
66653
66654 "And so you've had him educated abroad, Prince Vasili, haven't you?"
66655 said the old prince to Prince Vasili.
66656
66657 "I have done my best for him, and I can assure you the education
66658 there is much better than ours."
66659
66660 "Yes, everything is different nowadays, everything is changed. The
66661 lad's a fine fellow, a fine fellow! Well, come with me now." He took
66662 Prince Vasili's arm and led him to his study. As soon as they were
66663 alone together, Prince Vasili announced his hopes and wishes to the
66664 old prince.
66665
66666 "Well, do you think I shall prevent her, that I can't part from
66667 her?" said the old prince angrily. "What an idea! I'm ready for it
66668 tomorrow! Only let me tell you, I want to know my son-in-law better.
66669 You know my principles--everything aboveboard? I will ask her tomorrow
66670 in your presence; if she is willing, then he can stay on. He can
66671 stay and I'll see." The old prince snorted. "Let her marry, it's all
66672 the same to me!" he screamed in the same piercing tone as when parting
66673 from his son.
66674
66675 "I will tell you frankly," said Prince Vasili in the tone of a
66676 crafty man convinced of the futility of being cunning with so
66677 keen-sighted companion. "You know, you see right through people.
66678 Anatole is no genius, but he is an honest, goodhearted lad; an
66679 excellent son or kinsman."
66680
66681 "All right, all right, we'll see!"
66682
66683 As always happens when women lead lonely lives for any length of
66684 time without male society, on Anatole's appearance all the three women
66685 of Prince Bolkonski's household felt that their life had not been real
66686 till then. Their powers of reasoning, feeling, and observing
66687 immediately increased tenfold, and their life, which seemed to have
66688 been passed in darkness, was suddenly lit up by a new brightness, full
66689 of significance.
66690
66691 Princess Mary grew quite unconscious of her face and coiffure. The
66692 handsome open face of the man who might perhaps be her husband
66693 absorbed all her attention. He seemed to her kind, brave,
66694 determined, manly, and magnanimous. She felt convinced of that.
66695 Thousands of dreams of a future family life continually rose in her
66696 imagination. She drove them away and tried to conceal them.
66697
66698 "But am I not too cold with him?" thought the princess. "I try to be
66699 reserved because in the depth of my soul I feel too near to him
66700 already, but then he cannot know what I think of him and may imagine
66701 that I do not like him."
66702
66703 And Princess Mary tried, but could not manage, to be cordial to
66704 her new guest. "Poor girl, she's devilish ugly!" thought Anatole.
66705
66706 Mademoiselle Bourienne, also roused to great excitement by Anatole's
66707 arrival, thought in another way. Of course, she, a handsome young
66708 woman without any definite position, without relations or even a
66709 country, did not intend to devote her life to serving Prince
66710 Bolkonski, to reading aloud to him and being friends with Princess
66711 Mary. Mademoiselle Bourienne had long been waiting for a Russian
66712 prince who, able to appreciate at a glance her superiority to the
66713 plain, badly dressed, ungainly Russian princesses, would fall in
66714 love with her and carry her off; and here at last was a Russian
66715 prince. Mademoiselle Bourienne knew a story, heard from her aunt but
66716 finished in her own way, which she liked to repeat to herself. It
66717 was the story of a girl who had been seduced, and to whom her poor
66718 mother (sa pauvre mere) appeared, and reproached her for yielding to a
66719 man without being married. Mademoiselle Bourienne was often touched to
66720 tears as in imagination she told this story to him, her seducer. And
66721 now he, a real Russian prince, had appeared. He would carry her away
66722 and then sa pauvre mere would appear and he would marry her. So her
66723 future shaped itself in Mademoiselle Bourienne's head at the very time
66724 she was talking to Anatole about Paris. It was not calculation that
66725 guided her (she did not even for a moment consider what she should
66726 do), but all this had long been familiar to her, and now that
66727 Anatole had appeared it just grouped itself around him and she
66728 wished and tried to please him as much as possible.
66729
66730 The little princess, like an old war horse that hears the trumpet,
66731 unconsciously and quite forgetting her condition, prepared for the
66732 familiar gallop of coquetry, without any ulterior motive or any
66733 struggle, but with naive and lighthearted gaiety.
66734
66735 Although in female society Anatole usually assumed the role of a man
66736 tired of being run after by women, his vanity was flattered by the
66737 spectacle of his power over these three women. Besides that, he was
66738 beginning to feel for the pretty and provocative Mademoiselle
66739 Bourienne that passionate animal feeling which was apt to master him
66740 with great suddenness and prompt him to the coarsest and most reckless
66741 actions.
66742
66743 After tea, the company went into the sitting room and Princess
66744 Mary was asked to play on the clavichord. Anatole, laughing and in
66745 high spirits, came and leaned on his elbows, facing her and beside
66746 Mademoiselle Bourienne. Princess Mary felt his look with a painfully
66747 joyous emotion. Her favorite sonata bore her into a most intimately
66748 poetic world and the look she felt upon her made that world still more
66749 poetic. But Anatole's expression, though his eyes were fixed on her,
66750 referred not to her but to the movements of Mademoiselle Bourienne's
66751 little foot, which he was then touching with his own under the
66752 clavichord. Mademoiselle Bourienne was also looking at Princess
66753 Mary, and in her lovely eyes there was a look of fearful joy and
66754 hope that was also new to the princess.
66755
66756 "How she loves me!" thought Princess Mary. "How happy I am now,
66757 and how happy I may be with such a friend and such a husband! Husband?
66758 Can it be possible?" she thought, not daring to look at his face,
66759 but still feeling his eyes gazing at her.
66760
66761 In the evening, after supper, when all were about to retire, Anatole
66762 kissed Princess Mary's hand. She did not know how she found the
66763 courage, but she looked straight into his handsome face as it came
66764 near to her shortsighted eyes. Turning from Princess Mary he went up
66765 and kissed Mademoiselle Bourienne's hand. (This was not etiquette, but
66766 then he did everything so simply and with such assurance!)
66767 Mademoiselle Bourienne flushed, and gave the princess a frightened
66768 look.
66769
66770 "What delicacy!" thought the princess. "Is it possible that Amelie"
66771 (Mademoiselle Bourienne) "thinks I could be jealous of her, and not
66772 value her pure affection and devotion to me?" She went up to her and
66773 kissed her warmly. Anatole went up to kiss the little princess' hand.
66774
66775 "No! No! No! When your father writes to tell me that you are
66776 behaving well I will give you my hand to kiss. Not till then!" she
66777 said. And smilingly raising a finger at him, she left the room.
66778
66779
66780
66781
66782 CHAPTER V
66783
66784
66785 They all separated, but, except Anatole who fell asleep as soon as
66786 he got into bed, all kept awake a long time that night.
66787
66788 "Is he really to be my husband, this stranger who is so kind--yes,
66789 kind, that is the chief thing," thought Princess Mary; and fear, which
66790 she had seldom experienced, came upon her. She feared to look round,
66791 it seemed to her that someone was there standing behind the screen
66792 in the dark corner. And this someone was he--the devil--and he was
66793 also this man with the white forehead, black eyebrows, and red lips.
66794
66795 She rang for her maid and asked her to sleep in her room.
66796
66797 Mademoiselle Bourienne walked up and down the conservatory for a
66798 long time that evening, vainly expecting someone, now smiling at
66799 someone, now working herself up to tears with the imaginary words of
66800 her pauvre mere rebuking her for her fall.
66801
66802 The little princess grumbled to her maid that her bed was badly
66803 made. She could not lie either on her face or on her side. Every
66804 position was awkward and uncomfortable, and her burden oppressed her
66805 now more than ever because Anatole's presence had vividly recalled
66806 to her the time when she was not like that and when everything was
66807 light and gay. She sat in an armchair in her dressing jacket and
66808 nightcap and Katie, sleepy and disheveled, beat and turned the heavy
66809 feather bed for the third time, muttering to herself.
66810
66811 "I told you it was all lumps and holes!" the little princess
66812 repeated. "I should be glad enough to fall asleep, so it's not my
66813 fault!" and her voice quivered like that of a child about to cry.
66814
66815 The old prince did not sleep either. Tikhon, half asleep, heard
66816 him pacing angrily about and snorting. The old prince felt as though
66817 he had been insulted through his daughter. The insult was the more
66818 pointed because it concerned not himself but another, his daughter,
66819 whom he loved more than himself. He kept telling himself that he would
66820 consider the whole matter and decide what was right and how he
66821 should act, but instead of that he only excited himself more and more.
66822
66823 "The first man that turns up--she forgets her father and
66824 everything else, runs upstairs and does up her hair and wags her
66825 tail and is unlike herself! Glad to throw her father over! And she
66826 knew I should notice it. Fr... fr... fr! And don't I see that that
66827 idiot had eyes only for Bourienne--I shall have to get rid of her. And
66828 how is it she has not pride enough to see it? If she has no pride
66829 for herself she might at least have some for my sake! She must be
66830 shown that the blockhead thinks nothing of her and looks only at
66831 Bourienne. No, she has no pride... but I'll let her see...."
66832
66833 The old prince knew that if he told his daughter she was making a
66834 mistake and that Anatole meant to flirt with Mademoiselle Bourienne,
66835 Princess Mary's self-esteem would be wounded and his point (not to
66836 be parted from her) would be gained, so pacifying himself with this
66837 thought, he called Tikhon and began to undress.
66838
66839 "What devil brought them here?" thought he, while Tikhon was putting
66840 the nightshirt over his dried-up old body and gray-haired chest. "I
66841 never invited them. They came to disturb my life--and there is not
66842 much of it left."
66843
66844 "Devil take 'em!" he muttered, while his head was still covered by
66845 the shirt.
66846
66847 Tikhon knew his master's habit of sometimes thinking aloud, and
66848 therefore met with unaltered looks the angrily inquisitive
66849 expression of the face that emerged from the shirt.
66850
66851 "Gone to bed?" asked the prince.
66852
66853 Tikhon, like all good valets, instinctively knew the direction of
66854 his master's thoughts. He guessed that the question referred to Prince
66855 Vasili and his son.
66856
66857 "They have gone to bed and put out their lights, your excellency."
66858
66859 "No good... no good..." said the prince rapidly, and thrusting his
66860 feet into his slippers and his arms into the sleeves of his dressing
66861 gown, he went to the couch on which he slept.
66862
66863 Though no words had passed between Anatole and Mademoiselle
66864 Bourienne, they quite understood one another as to the first part of
66865 their romance, up to the appearance of the pauvre mere; they
66866 understood that they had much to say to one another in private and
66867 so they had been seeking an opportunity since morning to meet one
66868 another alone. When Princess Mary went to her father's room at the
66869 usual hour, Mademoiselle Bourienne and Anatole met in the
66870 conservatory.
66871
66872 Princess Mary went to the door of the study with special
66873 trepidation. It seemed to her that not only did everybody know that
66874 her fate would be decided that day, but that they also knew what she
66875 thought about it. She read this in Tikhon's face and in that of Prince
66876 Vasili's valet, who made her a low bow when she met him in the
66877 corridor carrying hot water.
66878
66879 The old prince was very affectionate and careful in his treatment of
66880 his daughter that morning. Princess Mary well knew this painstaking
66881 expression of her father's. His face wore that expression when his dry
66882 hands clenched with vexation at her not understanding a sum in
66883 arithmetic, when rising from his chair he would walk away from her,
66884 repeating in a low voice the same words several times over.
66885
66886 He came to the point at once, treating her ceremoniously.
66887
66888 "I have had a proposition made me concerning you," he said with an
66889 unnatural smile. "I expect you have guessed that Prince Vasili has not
66890 come and brought his pupil with him" (for some reason Prince Bolkonski
66891 referred to Anatole as a "pupil") "for the sake of my beautiful
66892 eyes. Last night a proposition was made me on your account and, as you
66893 know my principles, I refer it to you."
66894
66895 "How am I to understand you, mon pere?" said the princess, growing
66896 pale and then blushing.
66897
66898 "How understand me!" cried her father angrily. "Prince Vasili
66899 finds you to his taste as a daughter-in-law and makes a proposal to
66900 you on his pupil's behalf. That's how it's to be understood! 'How
66901 understand it'!... And I ask you!"
66902
66903 "I do not know what you think, Father," whispered the princess.
66904
66905 "I? I? What of me? Leave me out of the question. I'm not going to
66906 get married. What about you? That's what I want to know."
66907
66908 The princess saw that her father regarded the matter with
66909 disapproval, but at that moment the thought occurred to her that her
66910 fate would be decided now or never. She lowered her eyes so as not
66911 to see the gaze under which she felt that she could not think, but
66912 would only be able to submit from habit, and she said: "I wish only to
66913 do your will, but if I had to express my own desire..." She had no
66914 time to finish. The old prince interrupted her.
66915
66916 "That's admirable!" he shouted. "He will take you with your dowry
66917 and take Mademoiselle Bourienne into the bargain. She'll be the
66918 wife, while you..."
66919
66920 The prince stopped. He saw the effect these words had produced on
66921 his daughter. She lowered her head and was ready to burst into tears.
66922
66923 "Now then, now then, I'm only joking!" he said. "Remember this,
66924 Princess, I hold to the principle that a maiden has a full right to
66925 choose. I give you freedom. Only remember that your life's happiness
66926 depends on your decision. Never mind me!"
66927
66928 "But I do not know, Father!"
66929
66930 "There's no need to talk! He receives his orders and will marry
66931 you or anybody; but you are free to choose.... Go to your room,
66932 think it over, and come back in an hour and tell me in his presence:
66933 yes or no. I know you will pray over it. Well, pray if you like, but
66934 you had better think it over. Go! Yes or no, yes or no, yes or no!" he
66935 still shouted when the princess, as if lost in a fog, had already
66936 staggered out of the study.
66937
66938 Her fate was decided and happily decided. But what her father had
66939 said about Mademoiselle Bourienne was dreadful. It was untrue to be
66940 sure, but still it was terrible, and she could not help thinking of
66941 it. She was going straight on through the conservatory, neither seeing
66942 nor hearing anything, when suddenly the well-known whispering of
66943 Mademoiselle Bourienne aroused her. She raised her eyes, and two steps
66944 away saw Anatole embracing the Frenchwoman and whispering something to
66945 her. With a horrified expression on his handsome face, Anatole
66946 looked at Princess Mary, but did not at once take his arm from the
66947 waist of Mademoiselle Bourienne who had not yet seen her.
66948
66949 "Who's that? Why? Wait a moment!" Anatole's face seemed to say.
66950 Princess Mary looked at them in silence. She could not understand
66951 it. At last Mademoiselle Bourienne gave a scream and ran away. Anatole
66952 bowed to Princess Mary with a gay smile, as if inviting her to join in
66953 a laugh at this strange incident, and then shrugging his shoulders
66954 went to the door that led to his own apartments.
66955
66956 An hour later, Tikhon came to call Princess Mary to the old
66957 prince; he added that Prince Vasili was also there. When Tikhon came
66958 to her Princess Mary was sitting on the sofa in her room, holding
66959 the weeping Mademoiselle Bourienne in her arms and gently stroking her
66960 hair. The princess' beautiful eyes with all their former calm radiance
66961 were looking with tender affection and pity at Mademoiselle
66962 Bourienne's pretty face.
66963
66964 "No, Princess, I have lost your affection forever!" said
66965 Mademoiselle Bourienne.
66966
66967 "Why? I love you more than ever," said Princess Mary, "and I will
66968 try to do all I can for your happiness."
66969
66970 "But you despise me. You who are so pure can never understand
66971 being so carried away by passion. Oh, only my poor mother..."
66972
66973 "I quite understand," answered Princess Mary, with a sad smile.
66974 "Calm yourself, my dear. I will go to my father," she said, and went
66975 out.
66976
66977 Prince Vasili, with one leg thrown high over the other and a
66978 snuffbox in his hand, was sitting there with a smile of deep emotion
66979 on his face, as if stirred to his heart's core and himself
66980 regretting and laughing at his own sensibility, when Princess Mary
66981 entered. He hurriedly took a pinch of snuff.
66982
66983 "Ah, my dear, my dear!" he began, rising and taking her by both
66984 hands. Then, sighing, he added: "My son's fate is in your hands.
66985 Decide, my dear, good, gentle Marie, whom I have always loved as a
66986 daughter!"
66987
66988 He drew back and a real tear appeared in his eye.
66989
66990 "Fr... fr..." snorted Prince Bolkonski. "The prince is making a
66991 proposition to you in his pupil's--I mean, his son's--name. Do you
66992 wish or not to be Prince Anatole Kuragin's wife? Reply: yes or no," he
66993 shouted, "and then I shall reserve the right to state my opinion also.
66994 Yes, my opinion, and only my opinion," added Prince Bolkonski, turning
66995 to Prince Vasili and answering his imploring look. "Yes, or no?"
66996
66997 "My desire is never to leave you, Father, never to separate my
66998 life from yours. I don't wish to marry," she answered positively,
66999 glancing at Prince Vasili and at her father with her beautiful eyes.
67000
67001 "Humbug! Nonsense! Humbug, humbug, humbug!" cried Prince
67002 Bolkonski, frowning and taking his daughter's hand; he did not kiss
67003 her, but only bending his forehead to hers just touched it, and
67004 pressed her hand so that she winced and uttered a cry.
67005
67006 Prince Vasili rose.
67007
67008 "My dear, I must tell you that this is a moment I shall never, never
67009 forget. But, my dear, will you not give us a little hope of touching
67010 this heart, so kind and generous? Say 'perhaps'... The future is so
67011 long. Say 'perhaps.'"
67012
67013 "Prince, what I have said is all there is in my heart. I thank you
67014 for the honor, but I shall never be your son's wife."
67015
67016 "Well, so that's finished, my dear fellow! I am very glad to have
67017 seen you. Very glad! Go back to your rooms, Princess. Go!" said the
67018 old prince. "Very, very glad to have seen you," repeated he,
67019 embracing Prince Vasili.
67020
67021 "My vocation is a different one," thought Princess Mary. "My
67022 vocation is to be happy with another kind of happiness, the
67023 happiness of love and self-sacrifice. And cost what it may, I will
67024 arrange poor Amelie's happiness, she loves him so passionately, and so
67025 passionately repents. I will do all I can to arrange the match between
67026 them. If he is not rich I will give her the means; I will ask my
67027 father and Andrew. I shall be so happy when she is his wife. She is so
67028 unfortunate, a stranger, alone, helpless! And, oh God, how
67029 passionately she must love him if she could so far forget herself!
67030 Perhaps I might have done the same!..." thought Princess Mary.
67031
67032
67033
67034
67035
67036 CHAPTER VI
67037
67038
67039 It was long since the Rostovs had news of Nicholas. Not till
67040 midwinter was the count at last handed a letter addressed in his son's
67041 handwriting. On receiving it, he ran on tiptoe to his study in alarm
67042 and haste, trying to escape notice, closed the door, and began to read
67043 the letter.
67044
67045 Anna Mikhaylovna, who always knew everything that passed in the
67046 house, on hearing of the arrival of the letter went softly into the
67047 room and found the count with it in his hand, sobbing and laughing
67048 at the same time.
67049
67050 Anna Mikhaylovna, though her circumstances had improved, was still
67051 living with the Rostovs.
67052
67053 "My dear friend?" said she, in a tone of pathetic inquiry,
67054 prepared to sympathize in any way.
67055
67056 The count sobbed yet more.
67057
67058 "Nikolenka... a letter... wa... a... s... wounded... my darling
67059 boy... the countess... promoted to be an officer... thank God... How
67060 tell the little countess!"
67061
67062 Anna Mikhaylovna sat down beside him, with her own handkerchief
67063 wiped the tears from his eyes and from the letter, then having dried
67064 her own eyes she comforted the count, and decided that at dinner and
67065 till teatime she would prepare the countess, and after tea, with God's
67066 help, would inform her.
67067
67068 At dinner Anna Mikhaylovna talked the whole time about the war
67069 news and about Nikolenka, twice asked when the last letter had been
67070 received from him, though she knew that already, and remarked that
67071 they might very likely be getting a letter from him that day. Each
67072 time that these hints began to make the countess anxious and she
67073 glanced uneasily at the count and at Anna Mikhaylovna, the latter very
67074 adroitly turned the conversation to insignificant matters. Natasha,
67075 who, of the whole family, was the most gifted with a capacity to
67076 feel any shades of intonation, look, and expression, pricked up her
67077 ears from the beginning of the meal and was certain that there was
67078 some secret between her father and Anna Mikhaylovna, that it had
67079 something to do with her brother, and that Anna Mikhaylovna was
67080 preparing them for it. Bold as she was, Natasha, who knew how
67081 sensitive her mother was to anything relating to Nikolenka, did not
67082 venture to ask any questions at dinner, but she was too excited to eat
67083 anything and kept wriggling about on her chair regardless of her
67084 governess' remarks. After dinner, she rushed head long after Anna
67085 Mikhaylovna and, dashing at her, flung herself on her neck as soon
67086 as she overtook her in the sitting room.
67087
67088 "Auntie, darling, do tell me what it is!"
67089
67090 "Nothing, my dear."
67091
67092 "No, dearest, sweet one, honey, I won't give up--I know you know
67093 something."
67094
67095 Anna Mikhaylovna shook her head.
67096
67097 "You are a little slyboots," she said.
67098
67099 "A letter from Nikolenka! I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Natasha,
67100 reading confirmation in Anna Mikhaylovna's face.
67101
67102 "But for God's sake, be careful, you know how it may affect your
67103 mamma."
67104
67105 "I will, I will, only tell me! You won't? Then I will go and tell at
67106 once."
67107
67108 Anna Mikhaylovna, in a few words, told her the contents of the
67109 letter, on condition that she should tell no one.
67110
67111 "No, on my true word of honor," said Natasha, crossing herself,
67112 "I won't tell anyone!" and she ran off at once to Sonya.
67113
67114 "Nikolenka... wounded... a letter," she announced in gleeful
67115 triumph.
67116
67117 "Nicholas!" was all Sonya said, instantly turning white.
67118
67119 Natasha, seeing the impression the of her brother's wound produced
67120 on Sonya, felt for the first time the sorrowful side of the news.
67121
67122 She rushed to Sonya, hugged her, and began to cry.
67123
67124 "A little wound, but he has been made an officer; he is well now, he
67125 wrote himself," said she through her tears.
67126
67127 "There now! It's true that all you women are crybabies," remarked
67128 Petya, pacing the room with large, resolute strides. "Now I'm very
67129 glad, very glad indeed, that my brother has distinguished himself
67130 so. You are all blubberers and understand nothing."
67131
67132 Natasha smiled through her tears.
67133
67134 "You haven't read the letter?" asked Sonya.
67135
67136 "No, but she said that it was all over and that he's now an
67137 officer."
67138
67139 "Thank God!" said Sonya, crossing herself. "But perhaps she deceived
67140 you. Let us go to Mamma."
67141
67142 Petya paced the room in silence for a time.
67143
67144 "If I'd been in Nikolenka's place I would have killed even more of
67145 those Frenchmen," he said. "What nasty brutes they are! I'd have
67146 killed so many that there'd have been a heap of them."
67147
67148 "Hold your tongue, Petya, what a goose you are!"
67149
67150 "I'm not a goose, but they are who cry about trifles," said Petya.
67151
67152 "Do you remember him?" Natasha suddenly asked, after a moment's
67153 silence.
67154
67155 Sonya smiled.
67156
67157 "Do I remember Nicholas?"
67158
67159 "No, Sonya, but do you remember so that you remember him
67160 perfectly, remember everything?" said Natasha, with an expressive
67161 gesture, evidently wishing to give her words a very definite
67162 meaning. "I remember Nikolenka too, I remember him well," she said.
67163 "But I don't remember Boris. I don't remember him a bit."
67164
67165 "What! You don't remember Boris?" asked Sonya in surprise.
67166
67167 "It's not that I don't remember--I know what he is like, but not
67168 as I remember Nikolenka. Him--I just shut my eyes and remember, but
67169 Boris... No!" (She shut her eyes.)"No! there's nothing at all."
67170
67171 "Oh, Natasha!" said Sonya, looking ecstatically and earnestly at her
67172 friend as if she did not consider her worthy to hear what she meant to
67173 say and as if she were saying it to someone else, with whom joking was
67174 out of the question, "I am in love with your brother once for all and,
67175 whatever may happen to him or to me, shall never cease to love him
67176 as long as I live."
67177
67178 Natasha looked at Sonya with wondering and inquisitive eyes, and
67179 said nothing. She felt that Sonya was speaking the truth, that there
67180 was such love as Sonya was speaking of. But Natasha had not yet felt
67181 anything like it. She believed it could be, but did not understand it.
67182
67183 "Shall you write to him?" she asked.
67184
67185 Sonya became thoughtful. The question of how to write to Nicholas,
67186 and whether she ought to write, tormented her. Now that he was already
67187 an officer and a wounded hero, would it be right to remind him of
67188 herself and, as it might seem, of the obligations to her he had
67189 taken on himself?
67190
67191 "I don't know. I think if he writes, I will write too," she said,
67192 blushing.
67193
67194 "And you won't feel ashamed to write to him?"
67195
67196 Sonya smiled.
67197
67198 "No."
67199
67200 "And I should be ashamed to write to Boris. I'm not going to."
67201
67202 "Why should you be ashamed?"
67203
67204 "Well, I don't know. It's awkward and would make me ashamed."
67205
67206 "And I know why she'd be ashamed," said Petya, offended by Natasha's
67207 previous remark. "It's because she was in love with that fat one in
67208 spectacles" (that was how Petya described his namesake, the new
67209 Count Bezukhov) "and now she's in love with that singer" (he meant
67210 Natasha's Italian singing master), "that's why she's ashamed!"
67211
67212 "Petya, you're a stupid!" said Natasha.
67213
67214 "Not more stupid than you, madam," said the nine-year-old Petya,
67215 with the air of an old brigadier.
67216
67217 The countess had been prepared by Anna Mikhaylovna's hints at
67218 dinner. On retiring to her own room, she sat in an armchair, her
67219 eyes fixed on a miniature portrait of her son on the lid of a
67220 snuffbox, while the tears kept coming into her eyes. Anna Mikhaylovna,
67221 with the letter, came on tiptoe to the countess' door and paused.
67222
67223 "Don't come in," she said to the old count who was following her.
67224 "Come later." And she went in, closing the door behind her.
67225
67226 The count put his ear to the keyhole and listened.
67227
67228 At first he heard the sound of indifferent voices, then Anna
67229 Mikhaylovna's voice alone in a long speech, then a cry, then
67230 silence, then both voices together with glad intonations, and then
67231 footsteps. Anna Mikhaylovna opened the door. Her face wore the proud
67232 expression of a surgeon who has just performed a difficult operation
67233 and admits the public to appreciate his skill.
67234
67235 "It is done!" she said to the count, pointing triumphantly to the
67236 countess, who sat holding in one hand the snuffbox with its portrait
67237 and in the other the letter, and pressing them alternately to her
67238 lips.
67239
67240 When she saw the count, she stretched out her arms to him,
67241 embraced his bald head, over which she again looked at the letter
67242 and the portrait, and in order to press them again to her lips, she
67243 slightly pushed away the bald head. Vera, Natasha, Sonya, and Petya
67244 now entered the room, and the reading of the letter began. After a
67245 brief description of the campaign and the two battles in which he
67246 had taken part, and his promotion, Nicholas said that he kissed his
67247 father's and mother's hands asking for their blessing, and that he
67248 kissed Vera, Natasha, and Petya. Besides that, he sent greetings to
67249 Monsieur Schelling, Madame Schoss, and his old nurse, and asked them
67250 to kiss for him "dear Sonya, whom he loved and thought of just the
67251 same as ever." When she heard this Sonya blushed so that tears came
67252 into her eyes and, unable to bear the looks turned upon her, ran
67253 away into the dancing hall, whirled round it at full speed with her
67254 dress puffed out like a balloon, and, flushed and smiling, plumped
67255 down on the floor. The countess was crying.
67256
67257 "Why are you crying, Mamma?" asked Vera. "From all he says one
67258 should be glad and not cry."
67259
67260 This was quite true, but the count, the countess, and Natasha looked
67261 at her reproachfully. "And who is it she takes after?" thought the
67262 countess.
67263
67264 Nicholas' letter was read over hundreds of times, and those who were
67265 considered worthy to hear it had to come to the countess, for she
67266 did not let it out of her hands. The tutors came, and the nurses,
67267 and Dmitri, and several acquaintances, and the countess reread the
67268 letter each time with fresh pleasure and each time discovered in it
67269 fresh proofs of Nikolenka's virtues. How strange, how extraordinary,
67270 how joyful it seemed, that her son, the scarcely perceptible motion of
67271 whose tiny limbs she had felt twenty years ago within her, that son
67272 about whom she used to have quarrels with the too indulgent count,
67273 that son who had first learned to say "pear" and then "granny," that
67274 this son should now be away in a foreign land amid strange
67275 surroundings, a manly warrior doing some kind of man's work of his
67276 own, without help or guidance. The universal experience of ages,
67277 showing that children do grow imperceptibly from the cradle to
67278 manhood, did not exist for the countess. Her son's growth toward
67279 manhood, at each of its stages, had seemed as extraordinary to her
67280 as if there had never existed the millions of human beings who grew up
67281 in the same way. As twenty years before, it seemed impossible that the
67282 little creature who lived somewhere under her heart would ever cry,
67283 suck her breast, and begin to speak, so now she could not believe that
67284 that little creature could be this strong, brave man, this model son
67285 and officer that, judging by this letter, he now was.
67286
67287 "What a style! How charmingly he describes!" said she, reading the
67288 descriptive part of the letter. "And what a soul! Not a word about
67289 himself.... Not a word! About some Denisov or other, though he
67290 himself, I dare say, is braver than any of them. He says nothing about
67291 his sufferings. What a heart! How like him it is! And how he has
67292 remembered everybody! Not forgetting anyone. I always said when he was
67293 only so high--I always said...."
67294
67295 For more than a week preparations were being made, rough drafts of
67296 letters to Nicholas from all the household were written and copied
67297 out, while under the supervision of the countess and the solicitude of
67298 the count, money and all things necessary for the uniform and
67299 equipment of the newly commissioned officer were collected. Anna
67300 Mikhaylovna, practical woman that she was, had even managed by favor
67301 with army authorities to secure advantageous means of communication
67302 for herself and her son. She had opportunities of sending her
67303 letters to the Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, who commanded the
67304 Guards. The Rostovs supposed that The Russian Guards, Abroad, was
67305 quite a definite address, and that if a letter reached the Grand
67306 Duke in command of the Guards there was no reason why it should not
67307 reach the Pavlograd regiment, which was presumably somewhere in the
67308 same neighborhood. And so it was decided to send the letters and money
67309 by the Grand Duke's courier to Boris and Boris was to forward them
67310 to Nicholas. The letters were from the old count, the countess, Petya,
67311 Vera, Natasha, and Sonya, and finally there were six thousand rubles
67312 for his outfit and various other things the old count sent to his son.
67313
67314
67315
67316
67317
67318 CHAPTER VII
67319
67320
67321 On the twelfth of November, Kutuzov's active army, in camp before
67322 Olmutz, was preparing to be reviewed next day by the two Emperors--the
67323 Russian and the Austrian. The Guards, just arrived from Russia,
67324 spent the night ten miles from Olmutz and next morning were to come
67325 straight to the review, reaching the field at Olmutz by ten o'clock.
67326
67327 That day Nicholas Rostov received a letter from Boris, telling him
67328 that the Ismaylov regiment was quartered for the night ten miles
67329 from Olmutz and that he wanted to see him as he had a letter and money
67330 for him. Rostov was particularly in need of money now that the troops,
67331 after their active service, were stationed near Olmutz and the camp
67332 swarmed with well-provisioned sutlers and Austrian Jews offering all
67333 sorts of tempting wares. The Pavlograds held feast after feast,
67334 celebrating awards they had received for the campaign, and made
67335 expeditions to Olmutz to visit a certain Caroline the Hungarian, who
67336 had recently opened a restaurant there with girls as waitresses.
67337 Rostov, who had just celebrated his promotion to a cornetcy and bought
67338 Denisov's horse, Bedouin, was in debt all round, to his comrades and
67339 the sutlers. On receiving Boris' letter he rode with a fellow
67340 officer to Olmutz, dined there, drank a bottle of wine, and then set
67341 off alone to the Guards' camp to find his old playmate. Rostov had not
67342 yet had time to get his uniform. He had on a shabby cadet jacket,
67343 decorated with a soldier's cross, equally shabby cadet's riding
67344 breeches lined with worn leather, and an officer's saber with a
67345 sword knot. The Don horse he was riding was one he had bought from a
67346 Cossack during the campaign, and he wore a crumpled hussar cap stuck
67347 jauntily back on one side of his head. As he rode up to the camp he
67348 thought how he would impress Boris and all his comrades of the
67349 Guards by his appearance--that of a fighting hussar who had been under
67350 fire.
67351
67352 The Guards had made their whole march as if on a pleasure trip,
67353 parading their cleanliness and discipline. They had come by easy
67354 stages, their knapsacks conveyed on carts, and the Austrian
67355 authorities had provided excellent dinners for the officers at every
67356 halting place. The regiments had entered and left the town with
67357 their bands playing, and by the Grand Duke's orders the men had
67358 marched all the way in step (a practice on which the Guards prided
67359 themselves), the officers on foot and at their proper posts. Boris had
67360 been quartered, and had marched all the way, with Berg who was already
67361 in command of a company. Berg, who had obtained his captaincy during
67362 the campaign, had gained the confidence of his superiors by his
67363 promptitude and accuracy and had arranged his money matters very
67364 satisfactorily. Boris, during the campaign, had made the
67365 acquaintance of many persons who might prove useful to him, and by a
67366 letter of recommendation he had brought from Pierre had become
67367 acquainted with Prince Andrew Bolkonski, through whom he hoped to
67368 obtain a post on the commander in chief's staff. Berg and Boris,
67369 having rested after yesterday's march, were sitting, clean and
67370 neatly dressed, at a round table in the clean quarters allotted to
67371 them, playing chess. Berg held a smoking pipe between his knees.
67372 Boris, in the accurate way characteristic of him, was building a
67373 little pyramid of chessmen with his delicate white fingers while
67374 awaiting Berg's move, and watched his opponent's face, evidently
67375 thinking about the game as he always thought only of whatever he was
67376 engaged on.
67377
67378 "Well, how are you going to get out of that?" he remarked.
67379
67380 "We'll try to," replied Berg, touching a pawn and then removing
67381 his hand.
67382
67383 At that moment the door opened.
67384
67385 "Here he is at last!" shouted Rostov. "And Berg too! Oh, you
67386 petisenfans, allay cushay dormir!" he exclaimed, imitating his Russian
67387 nurse's French, at which he and Boris used to laugh long ago.
67388
67389 "Dear me, how you have changed!"
67390
67391 Boris rose to meet Rostov, but in doing so did not omit to steady
67392 and replace some chessmen that were falling. He was about to embrace
67393 his friend, but Nicholas avoided him. With that peculiar feeling of
67394 youth, that dread of beaten tracks, and wish to express itself in a
67395 manner different from that of its elders which is often insincere,
67396 Nicholas wished to do something special on meeting his friend. He
67397 wanted to pinch him, push him, do anything but kiss him--a thing
67398 everybody did. But notwithstanding this, Boris embraced him in a
67399 quiet, friendly way and kissed him three times.
67400
67401 They had not met for nearly half a year and, being at the age when
67402 young men take their first steps on life's road, each saw immense
67403 changes in the other, quite a new reflection of the society in which
67404 they had taken those first steps. Both had changed greatly since
67405 they last met and both were in a hurry to show the changes that had
67406 taken place in them.
67407
67408 "Oh, you damned dandies! Clean and fresh as if you'd been to a fete,
67409 not like us sinners of the line," cried Rostov, with martial swagger
67410 and with baritone notes in his voice, new to Boris, pointing to his
67411 own mud-bespattered breeches. The German landlady, hearing Rostov's
67412 loud voice, popped her head in at the door.
67413
67414 "Eh, is she pretty?" he asked with a wink.
67415
67416 "Why do you shout so? You'll frighten them!" said Boris. "I did
67417 not expect you today," he added. "I only sent you the note yesterday
67418 by Bolkonski--an adjutant of Kutuzov's, who's a friend of mine. I
67419 did not think he would get it to you so quickly.... Well, how are you?
67420 Been under fire already?" asked Boris.
67421
67422 Without answering, Rostov shook the soldier's Cross of St. George
67423 fastened to the cording of his uniform and, indicating a bandaged arm,
67424 glanced at Berg with a smile.
67425
67426 "As you see," he said.
67427
67428 "Indeed? Yes, yes!" said Boris, with a smile. "And we too have had a
67429 splendid march. You know, of course, that His Imperial Highness rode
67430 with our regiment all the time, so that we had every comfort and every
67431 advantage. What receptions we had in Poland! What dinners and balls! I
67432 can't tell you. And the Tsarevich was very gracious to all our
67433 officers."
67434
67435 And the two friends told each other of their doings, the one of
67436 his hussar revels and life in the fighting line, the other of the
67437 pleasures and advantages of service under members of the Imperial
67438 family.
67439
67440 "Oh, you Guards!" said Rostov. "I say, send for some wine."
67441
67442 Boris made a grimace.
67443
67444 "If you really want it," said he.
67445
67446 He went to his bed, drew a purse from under the clean pillow, and
67447 sent for wine.
67448
67449 "Yes, and I have some money and a letter to give you," he added.
67450
67451 Rostov took the letter and, throwing the money on the sofa, put both
67452 arms on the table and began to read. After reading a few lines, he
67453 glanced angrily at Berg, then, meeting his eyes, hid his face behind
67454 the letter.
67455
67456 "Well, they've sent you a tidy sum," said Berg, eying the heavy
67457 purse that sank into the sofa. "As for us, Count, we get along on
67458 our pay. I can tell you for myself..."
67459
67460 "I say, Berg, my dear fellow," said Rostov, "when you get a letter
67461 from home and meet one of your own people whom you want to talk
67462 everything over with, and I happen to be there, I'll go at once, to be
67463 out of your way! Do go somewhere, anywhere... to the devil!" he
67464 exclaimed, and immediately seizing him by the shoulder and looking
67465 amiably into his face, evidently wishing to soften the rudeness of his
67466 words, he added, "Don't be hurt, my dear fellow; you know I speak from
67467 my heart as to an old acquaintance."
67468
67469 "Oh, don't mention it, Count! I quite understand," said Berg,
67470 getting up and speaking in a muffled and guttural voice.
67471
67472 "Go across to our hosts: they invited you," added Boris.
67473
67474 Berg put on the cleanest of coats, without a spot or speck of
67475 dust, stood before a looking glass and brushed the hair on his temples
67476 upwards, in the way affected by the Emperor Alexander, and, having
67477 assured himself from the way Rostov looked at it that his coat had
67478 been noticed, left the room with a pleasant smile.
67479
67480 "Oh dear, what a beast I am!" muttered Rostov, as he read the
67481 letter.
67482
67483 "Why?"
67484
67485 "Oh, what a pig I am, not to have written and to have given them
67486 such a fright! Oh, what a pig I am!" he repeated, flushing suddenly.
67487 "Well, have you sent Gabriel for some wine? All right let's have
67488 some!"
67489
67490 In the letter from his parents was enclosed a letter of
67491 recommendation to Bagration which the old countess at Anna
67492 Mikhaylovna's advice had obtained through an acquaintance and sent
67493 to her son, asking him to take it to its destination and make use of
67494 it.
67495
67496 "What nonsense! Much I need it!" said Rostov, throwing the letter
67497 under the table.
67498
67499 "Why have you thrown that away?" asked Boris.
67500
67501 "It is some letter of recommendation... what the devil do I want
67502 it for!"
67503
67504 "Why 'What the devil'?" said Boris, picking it up and reading the
67505 address. "This letter would be of great use to you."
67506
67507 "I want nothing, and I won't be anyone's adjutant."
67508
67509 "Why not?" inquired Boris.
67510
67511 "It's a lackey's job!"
67512
67513 "You are still the same dreamer, I see," remarked Boris, shaking his
67514 head.
67515
67516 "And you're still the same diplomatist! But that's not the
67517 point... Come, how are you?" asked Rostov.
67518
67519 "Well, as you see. So far everything's all right, but I confess I
67520 should much like to be an adjutant and not remain at the front."
67521
67522 "Why?"
67523
67524 "Because when once a man starts on military service, he should try
67525 to make as successful a career of it as possible."
67526
67527 "Oh, that's it!" said Rostov, evidently thinking of something else.
67528
67529 He looked intently and inquiringly into his friend's eyes, evidently
67530 trying in vain to find the answer to some question.
67531
67532 Old Gabriel brought in the wine.
67533
67534 "Shouldn't we now send for Berg?" asked Boris. "He would drink
67535 with you. I can't."
67536
67537 "Well, send for him... and how do you get on with that German?"
67538 asked Rostov, with a contemptuous smile.
67539
67540 "He is a very, very nice, honest, and pleasant fellow," answered
67541 Boris.
67542
67543 Again Rostov looked intently into Boris' eyes and sighed. Berg
67544 returned, and over the bottle of wine conversation between the three
67545 officers became animated. The Guardsmen told Rostov of their march and
67546 how they had been made much of in Russia, Poland, and abroad. They
67547 spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the Grand Duke,
67548 and told stories of his kindness and irascibility. Berg, as usual,
67549 kept silent when the subject did not relate to himself, but in
67550 connection with the stories of the Grand Duke's quick temper he
67551 related with gusto how in Galicia he had managed to deal with the
67552 Grand Duke when the latter made a tour of the regiments and was
67553 annoyed at the irregularity of a movement. With a pleasant smile
67554 Berg related how the Grand Duke had ridden up to him in a violent
67555 passion, shouting: "Arnauts!" ("Arnauts" was the Tsarevich's
67556 favorite expression when he was in a rage) and called for the
67557 company commander.
67558
67559 "Would you believe it, Count, I was not at all alarmed, because I
67560 knew I was right. Without boasting, you know, I may say that I know
67561 the Army Orders by heart and know the Regulations as well as I do
67562 the Lord's Prayer. So, Count, there never is any negligence in my
67563 company, and so my conscience was at ease. I came forward...." (Berg
67564 stood up and showed how he presented himself, with his hand to his
67565 cap, and really it would have been difficult for a face to express
67566 greater respect and self-complacency than his did.) "Well, he
67567 stormed at me, as the saying is, stormed and stormed and stormed! It
67568 was not a matter of life but rather of death, as the saying is.
67569 'Albanians!' and 'devils!' and 'To Siberia!'" said Berg with a
67570 sagacious smile. "I knew I was in the right so I kept silent; was
67571 not that best, Count?... 'Hey, are you dumb?' he shouted. Still I
67572 remained silent. And what do you think, Count? The next day it was not
67573 even mentioned in the Orders of the Day. That's what keeping one's
67574 head means. That's the way, Count," said Berg, lighting his pipe and
67575 emitting rings of smoke.
67576
67577 "Yes, that was fine," said Rostov, smiling.
67578
67579 But Boris noticed that he was preparing to make fun of Berg, and
67580 skillfully changed the subject. He asked him to tell them how and
67581 where he got his wound. This pleased Rostov and he began talking about
67582 it, and as he went on became more and more animated. He told them of
67583 his Schon Grabern affair, just as those who have taken part in a
67584 battle generally do describe it, that is, as they would like it to
67585 have been, as they have heard it described by others, and as sounds
67586 well, but not at all as it really was. Rostov was a truthful young man
67587 and would on no account have told a deliberate lie. He began his story
67588 meaning to tell everything just as it happened, but imperceptibly,
67589 involuntarily, and inevitably he lapsed into falsehood. If he had told
67590 the truth to his hearers--who like himself had often heard stories
67591 of attacks and had formed a definite idea of what an attack was and
67592 were expecting to hear just such a story--they would either not have
67593 believed him or, still worse, would have thought that Rostov was
67594 himself to blame since what generally happens to the narrators of
67595 cavalry attacks had not happened to him. He could not tell them simply
67596 that everyone went at a trot and that he fell off his horse and
67597 sprained his arm and then ran as hard as he could from a Frenchman
67598 into the wood. Besides, to tell everything as it really happened, it
67599 would have been necessary to make an effort of will to tell only
67600 what happened. It is very difficult to tell the truth, and young
67601 people are rarely capable of it. His hearers expected a story of how
67602 beside himself and all aflame with excitement, he had flown like a
67603 storm at the square, cut his way in, slashed right and left, how his
67604 saber had tasted flesh and he had fallen exhausted, and so on. And
67605 so he told them all that.
67606
67607 In the middle of his story, just as he was saying: "You cannot
67608 imagine what a strange frenzy one experiences during an attack,"
67609 Prince Andrew, whom Boris was expecting, entered the room. Prince
67610 Andrew, who liked to help young men, was flattered by being asked
67611 for his assistance and being well disposed toward Boris, who had
67612 managed to please him the day before, he wished to do what the young
67613 man wanted. Having been sent with papers from Kutuzov to the
67614 Tsarevich, he looked in on Boris, hoping to find him alone. When he
67615 came in and saw an hussar of the line recounting his military exploits
67616 (Prince Andrew could not endure that sort of man), he gave Boris a
67617 pleasant smile, frowned as with half-closed eyes he looked at
67618 Rostov, bowed slightly and wearily, and sat down languidly on the
67619 sofa: he felt it unpleasant to have dropped in on bad company.
67620 Rostov flushed up on noticing this, but he did not care, this was a
67621 mere stranger. Glancing, however, at Boris, he saw that he too
67622 seemed ashamed of the hussar of the line.
67623
67624 In spite of Prince Andrew's disagreeable, ironical tone, in spite of
67625 the contempt with which Rostov, from his fighting army point of
67626 view, regarded all these little adjutants on the staff of whom the
67627 newcomer was evidently one, Rostov felt confused, blushed, and
67628 became silent. Boris inquired what news there might be on the staff,
67629 and what, without indiscretion, one might ask about our plans.
67630
67631 "We shall probably advance," replied Bolkonski, evidently
67632 reluctant to say more in the presence of a stranger.
67633
67634 Berg took the opportunity to ask, with great politeness, whether, as
67635 was rumored, the allowance of forage money to captains of companies
67636 would be doubled. To this Prince Andrew answered with a smile that
67637 he could give no opinion on such an important government order, and
67638 Berg laughed gaily.
67639
67640 "As to your business," Prince Andrew continued, addressing Boris,
67641 "we will talk of it later" (and he looked round at Rostov). "Come to
67642 me after the review and we will do what is possible."
67643
67644 And, having glanced round the room, Prince Andrew turned to
67645 Rostov, whose state of unconquerable childish embarrassment now
67646 changing to anger he did not condescend to notice, and said: "I
67647 think you were talking of the Schon Grabern affair? Were you there?"
67648
67649 "I was there," said Rostov angrily, as if intending to insult the
67650 aide-de-camp.
67651
67652 Bolkonski noticed the hussar's state of mind, and it amused him.
67653 With a slightly contemptuous smile, he said: "Yes, there are many
67654 stories now told about that affair!"
67655
67656 "Yes, stories!" repeated Rostov loudly, looking with eyes suddenly
67657 grown furious, now at Boris, now at Bolkonski. "Yes, many stories! But
67658 our stories are the stories of men who have been under the enemy's
67659 fire! Our stories have some weight, not like the stories of those
67660 fellows on the staff who get rewards without doing anything!"
67661
67662 "Of whom you imagine me to be one?" said Prince Andrew, with a quiet
67663 and particularly amiable smile.
67664
67665 A strange feeling of exasperation and yet of respect for this
67666 man's self-possession mingled at that moment in Rostov's soul.
67667
67668 "I am not talking about you," he said, "I don't know you and,
67669 frankly, I don't want to. I am speaking of the staff in general."
67670
67671 "And I will tell you this," Prince Andrew interrupted in a tone of
67672 quiet authority, "you wish to insult me, and I am ready to agree
67673 with you that it would be very easy to do so if you haven't sufficient
67674 self-respect, but admit that the time and place are very badly chosen.
67675 In a day or two we shall all have to take part in a greater and more
67676 serious duel, and besides, Drubetskoy, who says he is an old friend of
67677 yours, is not at all to blame that my face has the misfortune to
67678 displease you. However," he added rising, "you know my name and
67679 where to find me, but don't forget that I do not regard either
67680 myself or you as having been at all insulted, and as a man older
67681 than you, my advice is to let the matter drop. Well then, on Friday
67682 after the review I shall expect you, Drubetskoy. Au revoir!" exclaimed
67683 Prince Andrew, and with a bow to them both he went out.
67684
67685 Only when Prince Andrew was gone did Rostov think of what he ought
67686 to have said. And he was still more angry at having omitted to say it.
67687 He ordered his horse at once and, coldly taking leave of Boris, rode
67688 home. Should he go to headquarters next day and challenge that
67689 affected adjutant, or really let the matter drop, was the question
67690 that worried him all the way. He thought angrily of the pleasure he
67691 would have at seeing the fright of that small and frail but proud
67692 man when covered by his pistol, and then he felt with surprise that of
67693 all the men he knew there was none he would so much like to have for a
67694 friend as that very adjutant whom he so hated.
67695
67696
67697
67698
67699
67700 CHAPTER VIII
67701
67702
67703 The day after Rostov had been to see Boris, a review was held of the
67704 Austrian and Russian troops, both those freshly arrived from Russia
67705 and those who had been campaigning under Kutuzov. The two Emperors,
67706 the Russian with his heir the Tsarevich, and the Austrian with the
67707 Archduke, inspected the allied army of eighty thousand men.
67708
67709 From early morning the smart clean troops were on the move,
67710 forming up on the field before the fortress. Now thousands of feet and
67711 bayonets moved and halted at the officers' command, turned with
67712 banners flying, formed up at intervals, and wheeled round other
67713 similar masses of infantry in different uniforms; now was heard the
67714 rhythmic beat of hoofs and the jingling of showy cavalry in blue, red,
67715 and green braided uniforms, with smartly dressed bandsmen in front
67716 mounted on black, roan, or gray horses; then again, spreading out with
67717 the brazen clatter of the polished shining cannon that quivered on the
67718 gun carriages and with the smell of linstocks, came the artillery
67719 which crawled between the infantry and cavalry and took up its
67720 appointed position. Not only the generals in full parade uniforms,
67721 with their thin or thick waists drawn in to the utmost, their red
67722 necks squeezed into their stiff collars, and wearing scarves and all
67723 their decorations, not only the elegant, pomaded officers, but every
67724 soldier with his freshly washed and shaven face and his weapons
67725 clean and polished to the utmost, and every horse groomed till its
67726 coat shone like satin and every hair of its wetted mane lay smooth-
67727 felt that no small matter was happening, but an important and solemn
67728 affair. Every general and every soldier was conscious of his own
67729 insignificance, aware of being but a drop in that ocean of men, and
67730 yet at the same time was conscious of his strength as a part of that
67731 enormous whole.
67732
67733 From early morning strenuous activities and efforts had begun and by
67734 ten o'clock all had been brought into due order. The ranks were
67735 drown up on the vast field. The whole army was extended in three
67736 lines: the cavalry in front, behind it the artillery, and behind
67737 that again the infantry.
67738
67739 A space like a street was left between each two lines of troops. The
67740 three parts of that army were sharply distinguished: Kutuzov's
67741 fighting army (with the Pavlograds on the right flank of the front);
67742 those recently arrived from Russia, both Guards and regiments of the
67743 line; and the Austrian troops. But they all stood in the same lines,
67744 under one command, and in a like order.
67745
67746 Like wind over leaves ran an excited whisper: "They're coming!
67747 They're coming!" Alarmed voices were heard, and a stir of final
67748 preparation swept over all the troops.
67749
67750 From the direction of Olmutz in front of them, a group was seen
67751 approaching. And at that moment, though the day was still, a light
67752 gust of wind blowing over the army slightly stirred the streamers on
67753 the lances and the unfolded standards fluttered against their
67754 staffs. It looked as if by that slight motion the army itself was
67755 expressing its joy at the approach of the Emperors. One voice was
67756 heard shouting: "Eyes front!" Then, like the crowing of cocks at
67757 sunrise, this was repeated by others from various sides and all became
67758 silent.
67759
67760 In the deathlike stillness only the tramp of horses was heard.
67761 This was the Emperors' suites. The Emperors rode up to the flank,
67762 and the trumpets of the first cavalry regiment played the general
67763 march. It seemed as though not the trumpeters were playing, but as
67764 if the army itself, rejoicing at the Emperors' approach, had naturally
67765 burst into music. Amid these sounds, only the youthful kindly voice of
67766 the Emperor Alexander was clearly heard. He gave the words of
67767 greeting, and the first regiment roared "Hurrah!" so deafeningly,
67768 continuously, and joyfully that the men themselves were awed by
67769 their multitude and the immensity of the power they constituted.
67770
67771 Rostov, standing in the front lines of Kutuzov's army which the Tsar
67772 approached first, experienced the same feeling as every other man in
67773 that army: a feeling of self-forgetfulness, a proud consciousness of
67774 might, and a passionate attraction to him who was the cause of this
67775 triumph.
67776
67777 He felt that at a single word from that man all this vast mass
67778 (and he himself an insignificant atom in it) would go through fire and
67779 water, commit crime, die, or perform deeds of highest heroism, and
67780 so he could not but tremble and his heart stand still at the imminence
67781 of that word.
67782
67783 "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" thundered from all sides, one regiment
67784 after another greeting the Tsar with the strains of the march, and
67785 then "Hurrah!"... Then the general march, and again "Hurrah!
67786 Hurrah!" growing ever stronger and fuller and merging into a deafening
67787 roar.
67788
67789 Till the Tsar reached it, each regiment in its silence and
67790 immobility seemed like a lifeless body, but as soon as he came up it
67791 became alive, its thunder joining the roar of the whole line along
67792 which he had already passed. Through the terrible and deafening roar
67793 of those voices, amid the square masses of troops standing
67794 motionless as if turned to stone, hundreds of riders composing the
67795 suites moved carelessly but symmetrically and above all freely, and in
67796 front of them two men--the Emperors. Upon them the undivided,
67797 tensely passionate attention of that whole mass of men was
67798 concentrated.
67799
67800 The handsome young Emperor Alexander, in the uniform of the Horse
67801 Guards, wearing a cocked hat with its peaks front and back, with his
67802 pleasant face and resonant though not loud voice, attracted everyone's
67803 attention.
67804
67805 Rostov was not far from the trumpeters, and with his keen sight
67806 had recognized the Tsar and watched his approach. When he was within
67807 twenty paces, and Nicholas could clearly distinguish every detail of
67808 his handsome, happy young face, he experienced a feeling tenderness
67809 and ecstasy such as he had never before known. Every trait and every
67810 movement of the Tsar's seemed to him enchanting.
67811
67812 Stopping in front of the Pavlograds, the Tsar said something in
67813 French to the Austrian Emperor and smiled.
67814
67815 Seeing that smile, Rostov involuntarily smiled himself and felt a
67816 still stronger flow of love for his sovereign. He longed to show
67817 that love in some way and knowing that this was impossible was ready
67818 to cry. The Tsar called the colonel of the regiment and said a few
67819 words to him.
67820
67821 "Oh God, what would happen to me if the Emperor spoke to me?"
67822 thought Rostov. "I should die of happiness!"
67823
67824 The Tsar addressed the officers also: "I thank you all, gentlemen, I
67825 thank you with my whole heart." To Rostov every word sounded like a
67826 voice from heaven. How gladly would he have died at once for his Tsar!
67827
67828 "You have earned the St. George's standards and will be worthy of
67829 them."
67830
67831 "Oh, to die, to die for him," thought Rostov.
67832
67833 The Tsar said something more which Rostov did not hear, and the
67834 soldiers, straining their lungs, shouted "Hurrah!"
67835
67836 Rostov too, bending over his saddle, shouted "Hurrah!" with all
67837 his might, feeling that he would like to injure himself by that shout,
67838 if only to express his rapture fully.
67839
67840 The Tsar stopped a few minutes in front of the hussars as if
67841 undecided.
67842
67843 "How can the Emperor be undecided?" thought Rostov, but then even
67844 this indecision appeared to him majestic and enchanting, like
67845 everything else the Tsar did.
67846
67847 That hesitation lasted only an instant. The Tsar's foot, in the
67848 narrow pointed boot then fashionable, touched the groin of the
67849 bobtailed bay mare he rode, his hand in a white glove gathered up
67850 the reins, and he moved off accompanied by an irregularly swaying
67851 sea of aides-de-camp. Farther and farther he rode away, stopping at
67852 other regiments, till at last only his white plumes were visible to
67853 Rostov from amid the suites that surrounded the Emperors.
67854
67855 Among the gentlemen of the suite, Rostov noticed Bolkonski,
67856 sitting his horse indolently and carelessly. Rostov recalled their
67857 quarrel of yesterday and the question presented itself whether he
67858 ought or ought not to challenge Bolkonski. "Of course not!" he now
67859 thought. "Is it worth thinking or speaking of it at such a moment?
67860 At a time of such love, such rapture, and such self-sacrifice, what do
67861 any of our quarrels and affronts matter? I love and forgive
67862 everybody now."
67863
67864 When the Emperor had passed nearly all the regiments, the troops
67865 began a ceremonial march past him, and Rostov on Bedouin, recently
67866 purchased from Denisov, rode past too, at the rear of his squadron-
67867 that is, alone and in full view of the Emperor.
67868
67869 Before he reached him, Rostov, who was a splendid horseman,
67870 spurred Bedouin twice and successfully put him to the showy trot in
67871 which the animal went when excited. Bending his foaming muzzle to
67872 his chest, his tail extended, Bedouin, as if also conscious of the
67873 Emperor's eye upon him, passed splendidly, lifting his feet with a
67874 high and graceful action, as if flying through the air without
67875 touching the ground.
67876
67877 Rostov himself, his legs well back and his stomach drawn in and
67878 feeling himself one with his horse, rode past the Emperor with a
67879 frowning but blissful face "like a vewy devil," as Denisov expressed
67880 it.
67881
67882 "Fine fellows, the Pavlograds!" remarked the Emperor.
67883
67884 "My God, how happy I should be if he ordered me to leap into the
67885 fire this instant!" thought Rostov.
67886
67887 When the review was over, the newly arrived officers, and also
67888 Kutuzov's, collected in groups and began to talk about the awards,
67889 about the Austrians and their uniforms, about their lines, about
67890 Bonaparte, and how badly the latter would fare now, especially if
67891 the Essen corps arrived and Prussia took our side.
67892
67893 But the talk in every group was chiefly about the Emperor Alexander.
67894 His every word and movement was described with ecstasy.
67895
67896 They all had but one wish: to advance as soon as possible against
67897 the enemy under the Emperor's command. Commanded by the Emperor
67898 himself they could not fail to vanquish anyone, be it whom it might:
67899 so thought Rostov and most of the officers after the review.
67900
67901 All were then more confident of victory than the winning of two
67902 battles would have made them.
67903
67904
67905
67906
67907
67908 CHAPTER IX
67909
67910
67911 The day after the review, Boris, in his best uniform and with his
67912 comrade Berg's best wishes for success, rode to Olmutz to see
67913 Bolkonski, wishing to profit by his friendliness and obtain for
67914 himself the best post he could--preferably that of adjutant to some
67915 important personage, a position in the army which seemed to him most
67916 attractive. "It is all very well for Rostov, whose father sends him
67917 ten thousand rubles at a time, to talk about not wishing to cringe
67918 to anybody and not be anyone's lackey, but I who have nothing but my
67919 brains have to make a career and must not miss opportunities, but must
67920 avail myself of them!" he reflected.
67921
67922 He did not find Prince Andrew in Olmutz that day, but the appearance
67923 of the town where the headquarters and the diplomatic corps were
67924 stationed and the two Emperors were living with their suites,
67925 households, and courts only strengthened his desire to belong to
67926 that higher world.
67927
67928 He knew no one, and despite his smart Guardsman's uniform, all these
67929 exalted personages passing in the streets in their elegant carriages
67930 with their plumes, ribbons, and medals, both courtiers and military
67931 men, seemed so immeasurably above him, an insignificant officer of the
67932 Guards, that they not only did not wish to, but simply could not, be
67933 aware of his existence. At the quarters of the commander in chief,
67934 Kutuzov, where he inquired for Bolkonski, all the adjutants and even
67935 the orderlies looked at him as if they wished to impress on him that a
67936 great many officers like him were always coming there and that
67937 everybody was heartily sick of them. In spite of this, or rather
67938 because of it, next day, November 15, after dinner he again went to
67939 Olmutz and, entering the house occupied by Kutuzov, asked for
67940 Bolkonski. Prince Andrew was in and Boris was shown into a large
67941 hall probably formerly used for dancing, but in which five beds now
67942 stood, and furniture of various kinds: a table, chairs, and a
67943 clavichord. One adjutant, nearest the door, was sitting at the table
67944 in a Persian dressing gown, writing. Another, the red, stout
67945 Nesvitski, lay on a bed with his arms under his head, laughing with an
67946 officer who had sat down beside him. A third was playing a Viennese
67947 waltz on the clavichord, while a fourth, lying on the clavichord, sang
67948 the tune. Bolkonski was not there. None of these gentlemen changed his
67949 position on seeing Boris. The one who was writing and whom Boris
67950 addressed turned round crossly and told him Bolkonski was on duty
67951 and that he should go through the door on the left into the
67952 reception room if he wished to see him. Boris thanked him and went
67953 to the reception room, where he found some ten officers and generals.
67954
67955 When he entered, Prince Andrew, his eyes drooping contemptuously
67956 (with that peculiar expression of polite weariness which plainly says,
67957 "If it were not my duty I would not talk to you for a moment"), was
67958 listening to an old Russian general with decorations, who stood very
67959 erect, almost on tiptoe, with a soldier's obsequious expression on his
67960 purple face, reporting something.
67961
67962 "Very well, then, be so good as to wait," said Prince Andrew to
67963 the general, in Russian, speaking with the French intonation he
67964 affected when he wished to speak contemptuously, and noticing Boris,
67965 Prince Andrew, paying no more heed to the general who ran after him
67966 imploring him to hear something more, nodded and turned to him with
67967 a cheerful smile.
67968
67969 At that moment Boris clearly realized what he had before surmised,
67970 that in the army, besides the subordination and discipline
67971 prescribed in the military code, which he and the others knew in the
67972 regiment, there was another, more important, subordination, which made
67973 this tight-laced, purple-faced general wait respectfully while Captain
67974 Prince Andrew, for his own pleasure, chose to chat with Lieutenant
67975 Drubetskoy. More than ever was Boris resolved to serve in future not
67976 according to the written code, but under this unwritten law. He felt
67977 now that merely by having been recommended to Prince Andrew he had
67978 already risen above the general who at the front had the power to
67979 annihilate him, a lieutenant of the Guards. Prince Andrew came up to
67980 him and took his hand.
67981
67982
67983 "I am very sorry you did not find me in yesterday. I was fussing
67984 about with Germans all day. We went with Weyrother to survey the
67985 dispositions. When Germans start being accurate, there's no end to
67986 it!"
67987
67988 Boris smiled, as if he understood what Prince Andrew was alluding to
67989 as something generally known. But it the first time he had heard
67990 Weyrother's name, or even the term "dispositions."
67991
67992 "Well, my dear fellow, so you still want to be an adjutant? I have
67993 been thinking about you."
67994
67995 "Yes, I was thinking"--for some reason Boris could not help
67996 blushing--"of asking the commander in chief. He has had a letter
67997 from Prince Kuragin about me. I only wanted to ask because I fear
67998 the Guards won't be in action," he added as if in apology.
67999
68000 "All right, all right. We'll talk it over," replied Prince Andrew.
68001 "Only let me report this gentleman's business, and I shall be at
68002 your disposal."
68003
68004 While Prince Andrew went to report about the purple-faced general,
68005 that gentleman--evidently not sharing Boris' conception of the
68006 advantages of the unwritten code of subordination--looked so fixedly
68007 at the presumptuous lieutenant who had prevented his finishing what he
68008 had to say to the adjutant that Boris felt uncomfortable. He turned
68009 away and waited impatiently for Prince Andrew's return from the
68010 commander in chief's room.
68011
68012 "You see, my dear fellow, I have been thinking about you," said
68013 Prince Andrew when they had gone into the large room where the
68014 clavichord was. "It's no use your going to the commander in chief.
68015 He would say a lot of pleasant things, ask you to dinner" ("That would
68016 not be bad as regards the unwritten code," thought Boris), "but
68017 nothing more would come of it. There will soon be a battalion of us
68018 aides-de-camp and adjutants! But this is what we'll do: I have a
68019 good friend, an adjutant general and an excellent fellow, Prince
68020 Dolgorukov; and though you may not know it, the fact is that now
68021 Kutuzov with his staff and all of us count for nothing. Everything
68022 is now centered round the Emperor. So we will go to Dolgorukov; I have
68023 to go there anyhow and I have already spoken to him about you. We
68024 shall see whether he cannot attach you to himself or find a place
68025 for you somewhere nearer the sun."
68026
68027 Prince Andrew always became specially keen when he had to guide a
68028 young man and help him to worldly success. Under cover of obtaining
68029 help of this kind for another, which from pride he would never
68030 accept for himself, he kept in touch with the circle which confers
68031 success and which attracted him. He very readily took up Boris'
68032 cause and went with him to Dolgorukov.
68033
68034 It was late in the evening when they entered the palace at Olmutz
68035 occupied by the Emperors and their retinues.
68036
68037 That same day a council of war had been held in which all the
68038 members of the Hofkriegsrath and both Emperors took part. At that
68039 council, contrary to the views of the old generals Kutuzov and
68040 Prince Schwartzenberg, it had been decided to advance immediately
68041 and give battle to Bonaparte. The council of war was just over when
68042 Prince Andrew accompanied by Boris arrived at the palace to find
68043 Dolgorukov. Everyone at headquarters was still under the spell of
68044 the day's council, at which the party of the young had triumphed.
68045 The voices of those who counseled delay and advised waiting for
68046 something else before advancing had been so completely silenced and
68047 their arguments confuted by such conclusive evidence of the advantages
68048 of attacking that what had been discussed at the council--the coming
68049 battle and the victory that would certainly result from it--no
68050 longer seemed to be in the future but in the past. All the
68051 advantages were on our side. Our enormous forces, undoubtedly superior
68052 to Napoleon's, were concentrated in one place, the troops inspired
68053 by the Emperors' presence were eager for action. The strategic
68054 position where the operations would take place was familiar in all its
68055 details to the Austrian General Weyrother: a lucky accident had
68056 ordained that the Austrian army should maneuver the previous year on
68057 the very fields where the French had now to be fought; the adjacent
68058 locality was known and shown in every detail on the maps, and
68059 Bonaparte, evidently weakened, was undertaking nothing.
68060
68061 Dolgorukov, one of the warmest advocates of an attack, had just
68062 returned from the council, tired and exhausted but eager and proud
68063 of the victory that had been gained. Prince Andrew introduced his
68064 protege, but Prince Dolgorukov politely and firmly pressing his hand
68065 said nothing to Boris and, evidently unable to suppress the thoughts
68066 which were uppermost in his mind at that moment, addressed Prince
68067 Andrew in French.
68068
68069 "Ah, my dear fellow, what a battle we have gained! God grant that
68070 the one that will result from it will be as victorious! However,
68071 dear fellow," he said abruptly and eagerly, "I must confess to
68072 having been unjust to the Austrians and especially to Weyrother.
68073 What exactitude, what minuteness, what knowledge of the locality, what
68074 foresight for every eventuality, every possibility even to the
68075 smallest detail! No, my dear fellow, no conditions better than our
68076 present ones could have been devised. This combination of Austrian
68077 precision with Russian valor--what more could be wished for?"
68078
68079 "So the attack is definitely resolved on?" asked Bolkonski.
68080
68081 "And do you know, my dear fellow, it seems to me that Bonaparte
68082 has decidedly lost bearings, you know that a letter was received
68083 from him today for the Emperor." Dolgorukov smiled significantly.
68084
68085 "Is that so? And what did he say?" inquired Bolkonski.
68086
68087 "What can he say? Tra-di-ri-di-ra and so on... merely to gain
68088 time. I tell you he is in our hands, that's certain! But what was most
68089 amusing," he continued, with a sudden, good-natured laugh, "was that
68090 we could not think how to address the reply! If not as 'Consul' and of
68091 course not as 'Emperor,' it seemed to me it should be to 'General
68092 Bonaparte.'"
68093
68094 "But between not recognizing him as Emperor and calling him
68095 General Bonaparte, there is a difference," remarked Bolkonski.
68096
68097 "That's just it," interrupted Dolgorukov quickly, laughing. "You
68098 know Bilibin--he's a very clever fellow. He suggested addressing him
68099 as 'Usurper and Enemy of Mankind.'"
68100
68101 Dolgorukov laughed merrily.
68102
68103 "Only that?" said Bolkonski.
68104
68105 "All the same, it was Bilibin who found a suitable form for the
68106 address. He is a wise and clever fellow."
68107
68108 "What was it?"
68109
68110 "To the Head of the French Government... Au chef du gouvernement
68111 francais," said Dolgorukov, with grave satisfaction. "Good, wasn't
68112 it?"
68113
68114 "Yes, but he will dislike it extremely," said Bolkonski.
68115
68116 "Oh yes, very much! My brother knows him, he's dined with him--the
68117 present Emperor--more than once in Paris, and tells me he never met
68118 a more cunning or subtle diplomatist--you know, a combination of
68119 French adroitness and Italian play-acting! Do you know the tale
68120 about him and Count Markov? Count Markov was the only man who knew how
68121 to handle him. You know the story of the handkerchief? It is
68122 delightful!"
68123
68124 And the talkative Dolgorukov, turning now to Boris, now to Prince
68125 Andrew, told how Bonaparte wishing to test Markov, our ambassador,
68126 purposely dropped a handkerchief in front of him and stood looking
68127 at Markov, probably expecting Markov to pick it up for him, and how
68128 Markov immediately dropped his own beside it and picked it up
68129 without touching Bonaparte's.
68130
68131 "Delightful!" said Bolkonski. "But I have come to you, Prince, as
68132 a petitioner on behalf of this young man. You see..." but before
68133 Prince Andrew could finish, an aide-de-camp came in to summon
68134 Dolgorukov to the Emperor.
68135
68136 "Oh, what a nuisance," said Dolgorukov, getting up hurriedly and
68137 pressing the hands of Prince Andrew and Boris. "You know I should be
68138 very glad to do all in my power both for you and for this dear young
68139 man." Again he pressed the hand of the latter with an expression of
68140 good-natured, sincere, and animated levity. "But you see... another
68141 time!"
68142
68143 Boris was excited by the thought of being so close to the higher
68144 powers as he felt himself to be at that moment. He was conscious
68145 that here he was in contact with the springs that set in motion the
68146 enormous movements of the mass of which in his regiment he felt
68147 himself a tiny, obedient, and insignificant atom. They followed Prince
68148 Dolgorukov out into the corridor and met--coming out of the door of
68149 the Emperor's room by which Dolgorukov had entered--a short man in
68150 civilian clothes with a clever face and sharply projecting jaw
68151 which, without spoiling his face, gave him a peculiar vivacity and
68152 shiftiness of expression. This short man nodded to Dolgorukov as to an
68153 intimate friend and stared at Prince Andrew with cool intensity,
68154 walking straight toward him and evidently expecting him to bow or to
68155 step out of his way. Prince Andrew did neither: a look of animosity
68156 appeared on his face and the other turned away and went down the
68157 side of the corridor.
68158
68159 "Who was that?" asked Boris.
68160
68161 "He is one of the most remarkable, but to me most unpleasant of men-
68162 the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Adam Czartoryski.... It is
68163 such men as he who decide the fate of nations," added Bolkonski with a
68164 sigh he could not suppress, as they passed out of the palace.
68165
68166 Next day, the army began its campaign, and up to the very battle
68167 of Austerlitz, Boris was unable to see either Prince Andrew or
68168 Dolgorukov again and remained for a while with the Ismaylov regiment.
68169
68170
68171
68172
68173
68174 CHAPTER X
68175
68176
68177 At dawn on the sixteenth of November, Denisov's squadron, in which
68178 Nicholas Rostov served and which was in Prince Bagration's detachment,
68179 moved from the place where it had spent the night, advancing into
68180 action as arranged, and after going behind other columns for about two
68181 thirds of a mile was stopped on the highroad. Rostov saw the
68182 Cossacks and then the first and second squadrons of hussars and
68183 infantry battalions and artillery pass by and go forward and then
68184 Generals Bagration and Dolgorukov ride past with their adjutants.
68185 All the fear before action which he had experienced as previously, all
68186 the inner struggle to conquer that fear, all his dreams of
68187 distinguishing himself as a true hussar in this battle, had been
68188 wasted. Their squadron remained in reserve and Nicholas Rostov spent
68189 that day in a dull and wretched mood. At nine in the morning, he heard
68190 firing in front and shouts of hurrah, and saw wounded being brought
68191 back (there were not many of them), and at last he saw how a whole
68192 detachment of French cavalry was brought in, convoyed by a sontnya
68193 of Cossacks. Evidently the affair was over and, though not big, had
68194 been a successful engagement. The men and officers returning spoke
68195 of a brilliant victory, of the occupation of the town of Wischau and
68196 the capture of a whole French squadron. The day was bright and sunny
68197 after a sharp night frost, and the cheerful glitter of that autumn day
68198 was in keeping with the news of victory which was conveyed, not only
68199 by the tales of those who had taken part in it, but also by the joyful
68200 expression on the faces of soldiers, officers, generals, and
68201 adjutants, as they passed Rostov going or coming. And Nicholas, who
68202 had vainly suffered all the dread that precedes a battle and had spent
68203 that happy day in inactivity, was all the more depressed.
68204
68205 "Come here, Wostov. Let's dwink to dwown our gwief!" shouted
68206 Denisov, who had settled down by the roadside with a flask and some
68207 food.
68208
68209 The officers gathered round Denisov's canteen, eating and talking.
68210
68211 "There! They are bringing another!" cried one of the officers,
68212 indicating a captive French dragoon who was being brought in on foot
68213 by two Cossacks.
68214
68215 One of them was leading by the bridle a fine large French horse he
68216 had taken from the prisoner.
68217
68218 "Sell us that horse!" Denisov called out to the Cossacks.
68219
68220 "If you like, your honor!"
68221
68222 The officers got up and stood round the Cossacks and their prisoner.
68223 The French dragoon was a young Alsatian who spoke French with a German
68224 accent. He was breathless with agitation, his face was red, and when
68225 he heard some French spoken he at once began speaking to the officers,
68226 addressing first one, then another. He said he would not have been
68227 taken, it was not his fault but the corporal's who had sent him to
68228 seize some horsecloths, though he had told him the Russians were
68229 there. And at every word he added: "But don't hurt my little horse!"
68230 and stroked the animal. It was plain that he did not quite grasp where
68231 he was. Now he excused himself for having been taken prisoner and now,
68232 imagining himself before his own officers, insisted on his soldierly
68233 discipline and zeal in the service. He brought with him into our
68234 rearguard all the freshness of atmosphere of the French army, which
68235 was so alien to us.
68236
68237 The Cossacks sold the horse for two gold pieces, and Rostov, being
68238 the richest of the officers now that he had received his money, bought
68239 it.
68240
68241 "But don't hurt my little horse!" said the Alsatian good-naturedly
68242 to Rostov when the animal was handed over to the hussar.
68243
68244 Rostov smilingly reassured the dragoon and gave him money.
68245
68246 "Alley! Alley!" said the Cossack, touching the prisoner's arm to
68247 make him go on.
68248
68249 "The Emperor! The Emperor!" was suddenly heard among the hussars.
68250
68251 All began to run and bustle, and Rostov saw coming up the road
68252 behind him several riders with white plumes in their hats. In a moment
68253 everyone was in his place, waiting.
68254
68255 Rostov did not know or remember how he ran to his place and mounted.
68256 Instantly his regret at not having been in action and his dejected
68257 mood amid people of whom he was weary had gone, instantly every
68258 thought of himself had vanished. He was filled with happiness at his
68259 nearness to the Emperor. He felt that this nearness by itself made
68260 up to him for the day he had lost. He was happy as a lover when the
68261 longed-for moment of meeting arrives. Not daring to look round and
68262 without looking round, he was ecstatically conscious of his
68263 approach. He felt it not only from the sound of the hoofs of the
68264 approaching cavalcade, but because as he drew near everything grew
68265 brighter, more joyful, more significant, and more festive around
68266 him. Nearer and nearer to Rostov came that sun shedding beams of
68267 mild and majestic light around, and already he felt himself
68268 enveloped in those beams, he heard his voice, that kindly, calm, and
68269 majestic voice that was yet so simple! And as if in accord with
68270 Rostov's feeling, there was a deathly stillness amid which was heard
68271 the Emperor's voice.
68272
68273 "The Pavlograd hussars?" he inquired.
68274
68275 "The reserves, sire!" replied a voice, a very human one compared
68276 to that which had said: "The Pavlograd hussars?"
68277
68278 The Emperor drew level with Rostov and halted. Alexander's face
68279 was even more beautiful than it had been three days before at the
68280 review. It shone with such gaiety and youth, such innocent youth, that
68281 it suggested the liveliness of a fourteen-year-old boy, and yet it was
68282 the face of the majestic Emperor. Casually, while surveying the
68283 squadron, the Emperor's eyes met Rostov's and rested on them for not
68284 more than two seconds. Whether or no the Emperor understood what was
68285 going on in Rostov's soul (it seemed to Rostov that he understood
68286 everything), at any rate his light-blue eyes gazed for about two
68287 seconds into Rostov's face. A gentle, mild light poured from them.
68288 Then all at once he raised his eyebrows, abruptly touched his horse
68289 with his left foot, and galloped on.
68290
68291 The younger Emperor could not restrain his wish to be present at the
68292 battle and, in spite of the remonstrances of his courtiers, at
68293 twelve o'clock left the third column with which he had been and
68294 galloped toward the vanguard. Before he came up with the hussars,
68295 several adjutants met him with news of the successful result of the
68296 action.
68297
68298 This battle, which consisted in the capture of a French squadron,
68299 was represented as a brilliant victory over the French, and so the
68300 Emperor and the whole army, especially while the smoke hung over the
68301 battlefield, believed that the French had been defeated and were
68302 retreating against their will. A few minutes after the Emperor had
68303 passed, the Pavlograd division was ordered to advance. In Wischau
68304 itself, a petty German town, Rostov saw the Emperor again. In the
68305 market place, where there had been some rather heavy firing before the
68306 Emperor's arrival, lay several killed and wounded soldiers whom
68307 there had not been time to move. The Emperor, surrounded by his
68308 suite of officers and courtiers, was riding a bobtailed chestnut mare,
68309 a different one from that which he had ridden at the review, and
68310 bending to one side he gracefully held a gold lorgnette to his eyes
68311 and looked at a soldier who lay prone, with blood on his uncovered
68312 head. The wounded soldier was so dirty, coarse, and revolting that his
68313 proximity to the Emperor shocked Rostov. Rostov saw how the
68314 Emperor's rather round shoulders shuddered as if a cold shiver had run
68315 down them, how his left foot began convulsively tapping the horse's
68316 side with the spur, and how the well-trained horse looked round
68317 unconcerned and did not stir. An adjutant, dismounting, lifted the
68318 soldier under the arms to place him on a stretcher that had been
68319 brought. The soldier groaned.
68320
68321 "Gently, gently! Can't you do it more gently?" said the Emperor
68322 apparently suffering more than the dying soldier, and he rode away.
68323
68324 Rostov saw tears filling the Emperor's eyes and heard him, as he was
68325 riding away, say to Czartoryski: "What a terrible thing war is: what a
68326 terrible thing! Quelle terrible chose que la guerre!"
68327
68328 The troops of the vanguard were stationed before Wischau, within
68329 sight of the enemy's lines, which all day long had yielded ground to
68330 us at the least firing. The Emperor's gratitude was announced to the
68331 vanguard, rewards were promised, and the men received a double
68332 ration of vodka. The campfires crackled and the soldiers' songs
68333 resounded even more merrily than on the previous night. Denisov
68334 celebrated his promotion to the rank of major, and Rostov, who had
68335 already drunk enough, at the end of the feast proposed the Emperor's
68336 health. "Not 'our Sovereign, the Emperor,' as they say at official
68337 dinners," said he, "but the health of our Sovereign, that good,
68338 enchanting, and great man! Let us drink to his health and to the
68339 certain defeat of the French!"
68340
68341 "If we fought before," he said, "not letting the French pass, as
68342 at Schon Grabern, what shall we not do now when he is at the front? We
68343 will all die for him gladly! Is it not so, gentlemen? Perhaps I am not
68344 saying it right, I have drunk a good deal--but that is how I feel, and
68345 so do you too! To the health of Alexander the First! Hurrah!"
68346
68347 "Hurrah!" rang the enthusiastic voices of the officers.
68348
68349 And the old cavalry captain, Kirsten, shouted enthusiastically and
68350 no less sincerely than the twenty-year-old Rostov.
68351
68352 When the officers had emptied and smashed their glasses, Kirsten
68353 filled others and, in shirt sleeves and breeches, went glass in hand
68354 to the soldiers' bonfires and with his long gray mustache, his white
68355 chest showing under his open shirt, he stood in a majestic pose in the
68356 light of the campfire, waving his uplifted arm.
68357
68358 "Lads! here's to our Sovereign, the Emperor, and victory over our
68359 enemies! Hurrah!" he exclaimed in his dashing, old, hussar's baritone.
68360
68361 The hussars crowded round and responded heartily with loud shouts.
68362
68363 Late that night, when all had separated, Denisov with his short hand
68364 patted his favorite, Rostov, on the shoulder.
68365
68366 "As there's no one to fall in love with on campaign, he's fallen
68367 in love with the Tsar," he said.
68368
68369 "Denisov, don't make fun of it!" cried Rostov. "It is such a
68370 lofty, beautiful feeling, such a..."
68371
68372 "I believe it, I believe it, fwiend, and I share and appwove..."
68373
68374 "No, you don't understand!"
68375
68376 And Rostov got up and went wandering among the campfires, dreaming
68377 of what happiness it would be to die--not in saving the Emperor's life
68378 (he did not even dare to dream of that), but simply to die before
68379 his eyes. He really was in love with the Tsar and the glory of the
68380 Russian arms and the hope of future triumph. And he was not the only
68381 man to experience that feeling during those memorable days preceding
68382 the battle of Austerlitz: nine tenths of the men in the Russian army
68383 were then in love, though less ecstatically, with their Tsar and the
68384 glory of the Russian arms.
68385
68386
68387
68388
68389
68390 CHAPTER XI
68391
68392
68393 The next day the Emperor stopped at Wischau, and Villier, his
68394 physician, was repeatedly summoned to see him. At headquarters and
68395 among the troops near by the news spread that the Emperor was
68396 unwell. He ate nothing and had slept badly that night, those around
68397 him reported. The cause of this indisposition was the strong
68398 impression made on his sensitive mind by the sight of the killed and
68399 wounded.
68400
68401 At daybreak on the seventeenth, a French officer who had come with a
68402 flag of truce, demanding an audience with the Russian Emperor, was
68403 brought into Wischau from our outposts. This officer was Savary. The
68404 Emperor had only just fallen asleep and so Savary had to wait. At
68405 midday he was admitted to the Emperor, and an hour later he rode off
68406 with Prince Dolgorukov to the advanced post of the French army.
68407
68408 It was rumored that Savary had been sent to propose to Alexander a
68409 meeting with Napoleon. To the joy and pride of the whole army, a
68410 personal interview was refused, and instead of the Sovereign, Prince
68411 Dolgorukov, the victor at Wischau, was sent with Savary to negotiate
68412 with Napoleon if, contrary to expectations, these negotiations were
68413 actuated by a real desire for peace.
68414
68415 Toward evening Dolgorukov came back, went straight to the Tsar,
68416 and remained alone with him for a long time.
68417
68418 On the eighteenth and nineteenth of November, the army advanced
68419 two days' march and the enemy's outposts after a brief interchange
68420 of shots retreated. In the highest army circles from midday on the
68421 nineteenth, a great, excitedly bustling activity began which lasted
68422 till the morning of the twentieth, when the memorable battle of
68423 Austerlitz was fought.
68424
68425 Till midday on the nineteenth, the activity--the eager talk, running
68426 to and fro, and dispatching of adjutants--was confined to the
68427 Emperor's headquarters. But on the afternoon of that day, this
68428 activity reached Kutuzov's headquarters and the staffs of the
68429 commanders of columns. By evening, the adjutants had spread it to
68430 all ends and parts of the army, and in the night from the nineteenth
68431 to the twentieth, the whole eighty thousand allied troops rose from
68432 their bivouacs to the hum of voices, and the army swayed and started
68433 in one enormous mass six miles long.
68434
68435 The concentrated activity which had begun at the Emperor's
68436 headquarters in the morning and had started the whole movement that
68437 followed was like the first movement of the main wheel of a large
68438 tower clock. One wheel slowly moved, another was set in motion, and
68439 a third, and wheels began to revolve faster and faster, levers and
68440 cogwheels to work, chimes to play, figures to pop out, and the hands
68441 to advance with regular motion as a result of all that activity.
68442
68443 Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of the
68444 military machine, an impulse once given leads to the final result; and
68445 just as indifferently quiescent till the moment when motion is
68446 transmitted to them are the parts of the mechanism which the impulse
68447 has not yet reached. Wheels creak on their axles as the cogs engage
68448 one another and the revolving pulleys whirr with the rapidity of their
68449 movement, but a neighboring wheel is as quiet and motionless as though
68450 it were prepared to remain so for a hundred years; but the moment
68451 comes when the lever catches it and obeying the impulse that wheel
68452 begins to creak and joins in the common motion the result and aim of
68453 which are beyond its ken.
68454
68455 Just as in a clock, the result of the complicated motion of
68456 innumerable wheels and pulleys is merely a slow and regular movement
68457 of the hands which show the time, so the result of all the complicated
68458 human activities of 160,000 Russians and French--all their passions,
68459 desires, remorse, humiliations, sufferings, outbursts of pride,
68460 fear, and enthusiasm--was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz,
68461 the so-called battle of the three Emperors--that is to say, a slow
68462 movement of the hand on the dial of human history.
68463
68464 Prince Andrew was on duty that day and in constant attendance on the
68465 commander in chief.
68466
68467 At six in the evening, Kutuzov went to the Emperor's headquarters
68468 and after staying but a short time with the Tsar went to see the grand
68469 marshal of the court, Count Tolstoy.
68470
68471 Bolkonski took the opportunity to go in to get some details of the
68472 coming action from Dolgorukov. He felt that Kutuzov was upset and
68473 dissatisfied about something and that at headquarters they were
68474 dissatisfied with him, and also that at the Emperor's headquarters
68475 everyone adopted toward him the tone of men who know something
68476 others do not know: he therefore wished to speak to Dolgorukov.
68477
68478 "Well, how d'you do, my dear fellow?" said Dolgorukov, who was
68479 sitting at tea with Bilibin. "The fete is for tomorrow. How is your
68480 old fellow? Out of sorts?"
68481
68482 "I won't say he is out of sorts, but I fancy he would like to be
68483 heard."
68484
68485 "But they heard him at the council of war and will hear him when
68486 he talks sense, but to temporize and wait for something now when
68487 Bonaparte fears nothing so much as a general battle is impossible."
68488
68489 "Yes, you have seen him?" said Prince Andrew. "Well, what is
68490 Bonaparte like? How did he impress you?"
68491
68492 "Yes, I saw him, and am convinced that he fears nothing so much as a
68493 general engagement," repeated Dolgorukov, evidently prizing this
68494 general conclusion which he had arrived at from his interview with
68495 Napoleon. "If he weren't afraid of a battle why did he ask for that
68496 interview? Why negotiate, and above all why retreat, when to retreat
68497 is so contrary to his method of conducting war? Believe me, he is
68498 afraid, afraid of a general battle. His hour has come! Mark my words!"
68499
68500 "But tell me, what is he like, eh?" said Prince Andrew again.
68501
68502 "He is a man in a gray overcoat, very anxious that I should call him
68503 'Your Majesty,' but who, to his chagrin, got no title from me!
68504 That's the sort of man he is, and nothing more," replied Dolgorukov,
68505 looking round at Bilibin with a smile.
68506
68507 "Despite my great respect for old Kutuzov," he continued, "we should
68508 be a nice set of fellows if we were to wait about and so give him a
68509 chance to escape, or to trick us, now that we certainly have him in
68510 our hands! No, we mustn't forget Suvorov and his rule--not to put
68511 yourself in a position to be attacked, but yourself to attack. Believe
68512 me in war the energy of young men often shows the way better than
68513 all the experience of old Cunctators."
68514
68515 "But in what position are we going to attack him? I have been at the
68516 outposts today and it is impossible to say where his chief forces
68517 are situated," said Prince Andrew.
68518
68519 He wished to explain to Dolgorukov a plan of attack he had himself
68520 formed.
68521
68522 "Oh, that is all the same," Dolgorukov said quickly, and getting
68523 up he spread a map on the table. "All eventualities have been
68524 foreseen. If he is standing before Brunn..."
68525
68526 And Prince Dolgorukov rapidly but indistinctly explained Weyrother's
68527 plan of a flanking movement.
68528
68529 Prince Andrew began to reply and to state his own plan, which
68530 might have been as good as Weyrother's, but for the disadvantage
68531 that Weyrother's had already been approved. As soon as Prince Andrew
68532 began to demonstrate the defects of the latter and the merits of his
68533 own plan, Prince Dolgorukov ceased to listen to him and gazed
68534 absent-mindedly not at the map, but at Prince Andrew's face.
68535
68536 "There will be a council of war at Kutuzov's tonight, though; you
68537 can say all this there," remarked Dolgorukov.
68538
68539 "I will do so," said Prince Andrew, moving away from the map.
68540
68541 "Whatever are you bothering about, gentlemen?" said Bilibin, who,
68542 till then, had listened with an amused smile to their conversation and
68543 now was evidently ready with a joke. "Whether tomorrow brings
68544 victory or defeat, the glory of our Russian arms is secure. Except
68545 your Kutuzov, there is not a single Russian in command of a column!
68546 The commanders are: Herr General Wimpfen, le Comte de Langeron, le
68547 Prince de Lichtenstein, le Prince, de Hohenlohe, and finally
68548 Prishprish, and so on like all those Polish names."
68549
68550 "Be quiet, backbiter!" said Dolgorukov. "It is not true; there are
68551 now two Russians, Miloradovich, and Dokhturov, and there would be a
68552 third, Count Arakcheev, if his nerves were not too weak."
68553
68554 "However, I think General Kutuzov has come out," said Prince Andrew.
68555 "I wish you good luck and success, gentlemen!" he added and went out
68556 after shaking hands with Dolgorukov and Bilibin.
68557
68558 On the way home, Prince Andrew could not refrain from asking
68559 Kutuzov, who was sitting silently beside him, what he thought of
68560 tomorrow's battle.
68561
68562 Kutuzov looked sternly at his adjutant and, after a pause,
68563 replied: "I think the battle will be lost, and so I told Count Tolstoy
68564 and asked him to tell the Emperor. What do you think he replied? 'But,
68565 my dear general, I am engaged with rice and cutlets, look after
68566 military matters yourself!' Yes... That was the answer I got!"
68567
68568
68569
68570
68571
68572 CHAPTER XII
68573
68574
68575 Shortly after nine o'clock that evening, Weyrother drove with his
68576 plans to Kutuzov's quarters where the council of war was to be held.
68577 All the commanders of columns were summoned to the commander in
68578 chief's and with the exception of Prince Bagration, who declined to
68579 come, were all there at the appointed time.
68580
68581 Weyrother, who was in full control of the proposed battle, by his
68582 eagerness and briskness presented a marked contrast to the
68583 dissatisfied and drowsy Kutuzov, who reluctantly played the part of
68584 chairman and president of the council of war. Weyrother evidently felt
68585 himself to be at the head of a movement that had already become
68586 unrestrainable. He was like a horse running downhill harnessed to a
68587 heavy cart. Whether he was pulling it or being pushed by it he did not
68588 know, but rushed along at headlong speed with no time to consider what
68589 this movement might lead to. Weyrother had been twice that evening
68590 to the enemy's picket line to reconnoiter personally, and twice to the
68591 Emperors, Russian and Austrian, to report and explain, and to his
68592 headquarters where he had dictated the dispositions in German, and
68593 now, much exhausted, he arrived at Kutuzov's.
68594
68595 He was evidently so busy that he even forgot to be polite to the
68596 commander in chief. He interrupted him, talked rapidly and
68597 indistinctly, without looking at the man he was addressing, and did
68598 not reply to questions put to him. He was bespattered with mud and had
68599 a pitiful, weary, and distracted air, though at the same time he was
68600 haughty and self-confident.
68601
68602 Kutuzov was occupying a nobleman's castle of modest dimensions
68603 near Ostralitz. In the large drawing room which had become the
68604 commander in chief's office were gathered Kutuzov himself,
68605 Weyrother, and the members of the council of war. They were drinking
68606 tea, and only awaited Prince Bagration to begin the council. At last
68607 Bagration's orderly came with the news that the prince could not
68608 attend. Prince Andrew came in to inform the commander in chief of this
68609 and, availing himself of permission previously given him by Kutuzov to
68610 be present at the council, he remained in the room.
68611
68612 "Since Prince Bagration is not coming, we may begin," said
68613 Weyrother, hurriedly rising from his seat and going up to the table on
68614 which an enormous map of the environs of Brunn was spread out.
68615
68616 Kutuzov, with his uniform unbuttoned so that his fat neck bulged
68617 over his collar as if escaping, was sitting almost asleep in a low
68618 chair, with his podgy old hands resting symmetrically on its arms.
68619 At the sound of Weyrother's voice, he opened his one eye with an
68620 effort.
68621
68622
68623 "Yes, yes, if you please! It is already late," said he, and
68624 nodding his head he let it droop and again closed his eye.
68625
68626 If at first the members of the council thought that Kutuzov was
68627 pretending to sleep, the sounds his nose emitted during the reading
68628 that followed proved that the commander in chief at that moment was
68629 absorbed by a far more serious matter than a desire to show his
68630 contempt for the dispositions or anything else--he was engaged in
68631 satisfying the irresistible human need for sleep. He really was
68632 asleep. Weyrother, with the gesture of a man too busy to lose a
68633 moment, glanced at Kutuzov and, having convinced himself that he was
68634 asleep, took up a paper and in a loud, monotonous voice began to
68635 read out the dispositions for the impending battle, under a heading
68636 which he also read out:
68637
68638 "Dispositions for an attack on the enemy position behind Kobelnitz
68639 and Sokolnitz, November 30, 1805."
68640
68641 The dispositions were very complicated and difficult. They began
68642 as follows:
68643
68644 "As the enemy's left wing rests on wooded hills and his right
68645 extends along Kobelnitz and Sokolnitz behind the ponds that are there,
68646 while we, on the other hand, with our left wing by far outflank his
68647 right, it is advantageous to attack the enemy's latter wing especially
68648 if we occupy the villages of Sokolnitz and Kobelnitz, whereby we can
68649 both fall on his flank and pursue him over the plain between
68650 Schlappanitz and the Thuerassa forest, avoiding the defiles of
68651 Schlappanitz and Bellowitz which cover the enemy's front. For this
68652 object it is necessary that... The first column marches... The
68653 second column marches... The third column marches..." and so on,
68654 read Weyrother.
68655
68656 The generals seemed to listen reluctantly to the difficult
68657 dispositions. The tall, fair-haired General Buxhowden stood, leaning
68658 his back against the wall, his eyes fixed on a burning candle, and
68659 seemed not to listen or even to wish to be thought to listen.
68660 Exactly opposite Weyrother, with his glistening wide-open eyes fixed
68661 upon him and his mustache twisted upwards, sat the ruddy
68662 Miloradovich in a military pose, his elbows turned outwards, his hands
68663 on his knees, and his shoulders raised. He remained stubbornly silent,
68664 gazing at Weyrother's face, and only turned away his eyes when the
68665 Austrian chief of staff finished reading. Then Miloradovich looked
68666 round significantly at the other generals. But one could not tell from
68667 that significant look whether he agreed or disagreed and was satisfied
68668 or not with the arrangements. Next to Weyrother sat Count Langeron
68669 who, with a subtle smile that never left his typically southern French
68670 face during the whole time of the reading, gazed at his delicate
68671 fingers which rapidly twirled by its corners a gold snuffbox on
68672 which was a portrait. In the middle of one of the longest sentences,
68673 he stopped the rotary motion of the snuffbox, raised his head, and
68674 with inimical politeness lurking in the corners of his thin lips
68675 interrupted Weyrother, wishing to say something. But the Austrian
68676 general, continuing to read, frowned angrily and jerked his elbows, as
68677 if to say: "You can tell me your views later, but now be so good as to
68678 look at the map and listen." Langeron lifted his eyes with an
68679 expression of perplexity, turned round to Miloradovich as if seeking
68680 an explanation, but meeting the latter's impressive but meaningless
68681 gaze drooped his eyes sadly and again took to twirling his snuffbox.
68682
68683 "A geography lesson!" he muttered as if to himself, but loud
68684 enough to be heard.
68685
68686 Przebyszewski, with respectful but dignified politeness, held his
68687 hand to his ear toward Weyrother, with the air of a man absorbed in
68688 attention. Dohkturov, a little man, sat opposite Weyrother, with an
68689 assiduous and modest mien, and stooping over the outspread map
68690 conscientiously studied the dispositions and the unfamiliar
68691 locality. He asked Weyrother several times to repeat words he had
68692 not clearly heard and the difficult names of villages. Weyrother
68693 complied and Dohkturov noted them down.
68694
68695 When the reading which lasted more than an hour was over, Langeron
68696 again brought his snuffbox to rest and, without looking at Weyrother
68697 or at anyone in particular, began to say how difficult it was to carry
68698 out such a plan in which the enemy's position was assumed to be known,
68699 whereas it was perhaps not known, since the enemy was in movement.
68700 Langeron's objections were valid but it was obvious that their chief
68701 aim was to show General Weyrother--who had read his dispositions
68702 with as much self-confidence as if he were addressing school children-
68703 that he had to do, not with fools, but with men who could teach him
68704 something in military matters.
68705
68706 When the monotonous sound of Weyrother's voice ceased, Kutuzov
68707 opened his eye as a miller wakes up when the soporific drone of the
68708 mill wheel is interrupted. He listened to what Langeron said, as if
68709 remarking, "So you are still at that silly business!" quickly closed
68710 his eye again, and let his head sink still lower.
68711
68712 Langeron, trying as virulently as possible to sting Weyrother's
68713 vanity as author of the military plan, argued that Bonaparte might
68714 easily attack instead of being attacked, and so render the whole of
68715 this plan perfectly worthless. Weyrother met all objections with a
68716 firm and contemptuous smile, evidently prepared beforehand to meet all
68717 objections be they what they might.
68718
68719 "If he could attack us, he would have done so today," said he.
68720
68721 "So you think he is powerless?" said Langeron.
68722
68723 "He has forty thousand men at most," replied Weyrother, with the
68724 smile of a doctor to whom an old wife wishes to explain the
68725 treatment of a case.
68726
68727 "In that case he is inviting his doom by awaiting our attack,"
68728 said Langeron, with a subtly ironical smile, again glancing round
68729 for support to Miloradovich who was near him.
68730
68731 But Miloradovich was at that moment evidently thinking of anything
68732 rather than of what the generals were disputing about.
68733
68734 "Ma foi!" said he, "tomorrow we shall see all that on the
68735 battlefield."
68736
68737 Weyrother again gave that smile which seemed to say that to him it
68738 was strange and ridiculous to meet objections from Russian generals
68739 and to have to prove to them what he had not merely convinced
68740 himself of, but had also convinced the sovereign Emperors of.
68741
68742 "The enemy has quenched his fires and a continual noise is heard
68743 from his camp," said he. "What does that mean? Either he is
68744 retreating, which is the only thing we need fear, or he is changing
68745 his position." (He smiled ironically.) "But even if he also took up
68746 a position in the Thuerassa, he merely saves us a great deal of
68747 trouble and all our arrangements to the minutest detail remain the
68748 same."
68749
68750 "How is that?..." began Prince Andrew, who had for long been waiting
68751 an opportunity to express his doubts.
68752
68753 Kutuzov here woke up, coughed heavily, and looked round at the
68754 generals.
68755
68756 "Gentlemen, the dispositions for tomorrow--or rather for today,
68757 for it is past midnight--cannot now be altered," said he. "You have
68758 heard them, and we shall all do our duty. But before a battle, there
68759 is nothing more important..." he paused, "than to have a good sleep."
68760
68761 He moved as if to rise. The generals bowed and retired. It was
68762 past midnight. Prince Andrew went out.
68763
68764
68765 The council of war, at which Prince Andrew had not been able to
68766 express his opinion as he had hoped to, left on him a vague and uneasy
68767 impression. Whether Dolgorukov and Weyrother, or Kutuzov, Langeron,
68768 and the others who did not approve of the plan of attack, were
68769 right--he did not know. "But was it really not possible for Kutuzov to
68770 state his views plainly to the Emperor? Is it possible that on account
68771 of court and personal considerations tens of thousands of lives, and
68772 my life, my life," he thought, "must be risked?"
68773
68774 "Yes, it is very likely that I shall be killed tomorrow," he
68775 thought. And suddenly, at this thought of death, a whole series of
68776 most distant, most intimate, memories rose in his imagination: he
68777 remembered his last parting from his father and his wife; he
68778 remembered the days when he first loved her. He thought of her
68779 pregnancy and felt sorry for her and for himself, and in a nervously
68780 emotional and softened mood he went out of the hut in which he was
68781 billeted with Nesvitski and began to walk up and down before it.
68782
68783 The night was foggy and through the fog the moonlight gleamed
68784 mysteriously. "Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow!" he thought. "Tomorrow
68785 everything may be over for me! All these memories will be no more,
68786 none of them will have any meaning for me. Tomorrow perhaps, even
68787 certainly, I have a presentiment that for the first time I shall
68788 have to show all I can do." And his fancy pictured the battle, its
68789 loss, the concentration of fighting at one point, and the hesitation
68790 of all the commanders. And then that happy moment, that Toulon for
68791 which he had so long waited, presents itself to him at last. He firmly
68792 and clearly expresses his opinion to Kutuzov, to Weyrother, and to the
68793 Emperors. All are struck by the justness of his views, but no one
68794 undertakes to carry them out, so he takes a regiment, a division-
68795 stipulates that no one is to interfere with his arrangements--leads
68796 his division to the decisive point, and gains the victory alone.
68797 "But death and suffering?" suggested another voice. Prince Andrew,
68798 however, did not answer that voice and went on dreaming of his
68799 triumphs. The dispositions for the next battle are planned by him
68800 alone. Nominally he is only an adjutant on Kutuzov's staff, but he
68801 does everything alone. The next battle is won by him alone. Kutuzov is
68802 removed and he is appointed... "Well and then?" asked the other voice.
68803 "If before that you are not ten times wounded, killed, or betrayed,
68804 well... what then?..." "Well then," Prince Andrew answered himself, "I
68805 don't know what will happen and don't want to know, and can't, but
68806 if I want this--want glory, want to be known to men, want to be
68807 loved by them, it is not my fault that I want it and want nothing
68808 but that and live only for that. Yes, for that alone! I shall never
68809 tell anyone, but, oh God! what am I to do if I love nothing but fame
68810 and men's esteem? Death, wounds, the loss of family--I fear nothing.
68811 And precious and dear as many persons are to me--father, sister, wife-
68812 those dearest to me--yet dreadful and unnatural as it seems, I would
68813 give them all at once for a moment of glory, of triumph over men, of
68814 love from men I don't know and never shall know, for the love of these
68815 men here," he thought, as he listened to voices in Kutuzov's
68816 courtyard. The voices were those of the orderlies who were packing up;
68817 one voice, probably a coachman's, was teasing Kutuzov's old cook
68818 whom Prince Andrew knew, and who was called Tit. He was saying,
68819 "Tit, I say, Tit!"
68820
68821 "Well?" returned the old man.
68822
68823 "Go, Tit, thresh a bit!" said the wag.
68824
68825 "Oh, go to the devil!" called out a voice, drowned by the laughter
68826 of the orderlies and servants.
68827
68828 "All the same, I love and value nothing but triumph over them all, I
68829 value this mystic power and glory that is floating here above me in
68830 this mist!"
68831
68832
68833
68834
68835
68836 CHAPTER XIII
68837
68838
68839 That same night, Rostov was with a platoon on skirmishing duty in
68840 front of Bagration's detachment. His hussars were placed along the
68841 line in couples and he himself rode along the line trying to master
68842 the sleepiness that kept coming over him. An enormous space, with
68843 our army's campfires dimly glowing in the fog, could be seen behind
68844 him; in front of him was misty darkness. Rostov could see nothing,
68845 peer as he would into that foggy distance: now something gleamed gray,
68846 now there was something black, now little lights seemed to glimmer
68847 where the enemy ought to be, now he fancied it was only something in
68848 his own eyes. His eyes kept closing, and in his fancy appeared--now
68849 the Emperor, now Denisov, and now Moscow memories--and he again
68850 hurriedly opened his eyes and saw close before him the head and ears
68851 of the horse he was riding, and sometimes, when he came within six
68852 paces of them, the black figures of hussars, but in the distance was
68853 still the same misty darkness. "Why not?... It might easily happen,"
68854 thought Rostov, "that the Emperor will meet me and give me an order as
68855 he would to any other officer; he'll say: 'Go and find out what's
68856 there.' There are many stories of his getting to know an officer in
68857 just such a chance way and attaching him to himself! What if he gave
68858 me a place near him? Oh, how I would guard him, how I would tell him
68859 the truth, how I would unmask his deceivers!" And in order to
68860 realize vividly his love devotion to the sovereign, Rostov pictured to
68861 himself an enemy or a deceitful German, whom he would not only kill
68862 with pleasure but whom he would slap in the face before the Emperor.
68863 Suddenly a distant shout aroused him. He started and opened his eyes.
68864
68865 "Where am I? Oh yes, in the skirmishing line... pass and
68866 watchword--shaft, Olmutz. What a nuisance that our squadron will be in
68867 reserve tomorrow," he thought. "I'll ask leave to go to the front,
68868 this may be my only chance of seeing the Emperor. It won't be long now
68869 before I am off duty. I'll take another turn and when I get back
68870 I'll go to the general and ask him." He readjusted himself in the
68871 saddle and touched up his horse to ride once more round his hussars.
68872 It seemed to him that it was getting lighter. To the left he saw a
68873 sloping descent lit up, and facing it a black knoll that seemed as
68874 steep as a wall. On this knoll there was a white patch that Rostov
68875 could not at all make out: was it a glade in the wood lit up by the
68876 moon, or some unmelted snow, or some white houses? He even thought
68877 something moved on that white spot. "I expect it's snow... that
68878 spot... a spot--une tache," he thought. "There now... it's not a
68879 tache... Natasha... sister, black eyes... Na... tasha... (Won't she be
68880 surprised when I tell her how I've seen the Emperor?) Natasha...
68881 take my sabretache..."--"Keep to the right, your honor, there are
68882 bushes here," came the voice of an hussar, past whom Rostov was riding
68883 in the act of falling asleep. Rostov lifted his head that had sunk
68884 almost to his horse's mane and pulled up beside the hussar. He was
68885 succumbing to irresistible, youthful, childish drowsiness. "But what
68886 was I thinking? I mustn't forget. How shall I speak to the Emperor?
68887 No, that's not it--that's tomorrow. Oh yes! Natasha... sabretache...
68888 saber them...Whom? The hussars... Ah, the hussars with mustaches.
68889 Along the Tverskaya Street rode the hussar with mustaches... I thought
68890 about him too, just opposite Guryev's house... Old Guryev.... Oh,
68891 but Denisov's a fine fellow. But that's all nonsense. The chief
68892 thing is that the Emperor is here. How he looked at me and wished to
68893 say something, but dared not.... No, it was I who dared not. But
68894 that's nonsense, the chief thing is not to forget the important
68895 thing I was thinking of. Yes, Na-tasha, sabretache, oh, yes, yes!
68896 That's right!" And his head once more sank to his horse's neck. All at
68897 once it seemed to him that he was being fired at. "What? What?
68898 What?... Cut them down! What?..." said Rostov, waking up. At the
68899 moment he opened his eyes he heard in front of him, where the
68900 enemy was, the long-drawn shouts of thousands of voices. His horse and
68901 the horse of the hussar near him pricked their ears at these shouts.
68902 Over there, where the shouting came from, a fire flared up and went
68903 out again, then another, and all along the French line on the hill
68904 fires flared up and the shouting grew louder and louder. Rostov
68905 could hear the sound of French words but could not distinguish them.
68906 The din of many voices was too great; all he could hear was: "ahahah!"
68907 and "rrrr!"
68908
68909 "What's that? What do you make of it?" said Rostov to the hussar
68910 beside him. "That must be the enemy's camp!"
68911
68912 The hussar did not reply.
68913
68914 "Why, don't you hear it?" Rostov asked again, after waiting for a
68915 reply.
68916
68917 "Who can tell, your honor?" replied the hussar reluctantly.
68918
68919 "From the direction, it must be the enemy," repeated Rostov.
68920
68921 "It may be he or it may be nothing," muttered the hussar. "It's
68922 dark... Steady!" he cried to his fidgeting horse.
68923
68924 Rostov's horse was also getting restive: it pawed the frozen ground,
68925 pricking its ears at the noise and looking at the lights. The shouting
68926 grew still louder and merged into a general roar that only an army
68927 of several thousand men could produce. The lights spread farther and
68928 farther, probably along the line of the French camp. Rostov no
68929 longer wanted to sleep. The gay triumphant shouting of the enemy
68930 army had a stimulating effect on him. "Vive l'Empereur! L'Empereur!"
68931 he now heard distinctly.
68932
68933 "They can't be far off, probably just beyond the stream," he said to
68934 the hussar beside him.
68935
68936 The hussar only sighed without replying and coughed angrily. The
68937 sound of horse's hoofs approaching at a trot along the line of hussars
68938 was heard, and out of the foggy darkness the figure of a sergeant of
68939 hussars suddenly appeared, looming huge as an elephant.
68940
68941 "Your honor, the generals!" said the sergeant, riding up to Rostov.
68942
68943 Rostov, still looking round toward the fires and the shouts, rode
68944 with the sergeant to meet some mounted men who were riding along the
68945 line. One was on a white horse. Prince Bagration and Prince Dolgorukov
68946 with their adjutants had come to witness the curious phenomenon of the
68947 lights and shouts in the enemy's camp. Rostov rode up to Bagration,
68948 reported to him, and then joined the adjutants listening to what the
68949 generals were saying.
68950
68951 "Believe me," said Prince Dolgorukov, addressing Bagration, "it is
68952 nothing but a trick! He has retreated and ordered the rearguard to
68953 kindle fires and make a noise to deceive us."
68954
68955 "Hardly," said Bagration. "I saw them this evening on that knoll; if
68956 they had retreated they would have withdrawn from that too....
68957 Officer!" said Bagration to Rostov, "are the enemy's skirmishers still
68958 there?"
68959
68960 "They were there this evening, but now I don't know, your
68961 excellency. Shall I go with some of my hussars to see?" replied
68962 Rostov.
68963
68964 Bagration stopped and, before replying, tried to see Rostov's face
68965 in the mist.
68966
68967 "Well, go and see," he said, after a pause.
68968
68969 "Yes, sir."
68970
68971 Rostov spurred his horse, called to Sergeant Fedchenko and two other
68972 hussars, told them to follow him, and trotted downhill in the
68973 direction from which the shouting came. He felt both frightened and
68974 pleased to be riding alone with three hussars into that mysterious and
68975 dangerous misty distance where no one had been before him. Bagration
68976 called to him from the hill not to go beyond the stream, but Rostov
68977 pretended not to hear him and did not stop but rode on and on,
68978 continually mistaking bushes for trees and gullies for men and
68979 continually discovering his mistakes. Having descended the hill at a
68980 trot, he no longer saw either our own or the enemy's fires, but
68981 heard the shouting of the French more loudly and distinctly. In the
68982 valley he saw before him something like a river, but when he reached
68983 it he found it was a road. Having come out onto the road he reined
68984 in his horse, hesitating whether to ride along it or cross it and ride
68985 over the black field up the hillside. To keep to the road which
68986 gleamed white in the mist would have been safer because it would be
68987 easier to see people coming along it. "Follow me!" said he, crossed
68988 the road, and began riding up the hill at a gallop toward the point
68989 where the French pickets had been standing that evening.
68990
68991 "Your honor, there he is!" cried one of the hussars behind him.
68992 And before Rostov had time to make out what the black thing was that
68993 had suddenly appeared in the fog, there was a flash, followed by a
68994 report, and a bullet whizzing high up in the mist with a plaintive
68995 sound passed out of hearing. Another musket missed fire but flashed in
68996 the pan. Rostov turned his horse and galloped back. Four more
68997 reports followed at intervals, and the bullets passed somewhere in the
68998 fog singing in different tones. Rostov reined in his horse, whose
68999 spirits had risen, like his own, at the firing, and went back at a
69000 footpace. "Well, some more! Some more!" a merry voice was saying in
69001 his soul. But no more shots came.
69002
69003 Only when approaching Bagration did Rostov let his horse gallop
69004 again, and with his hand at the salute rode up to the general.
69005
69006 Dolgorukov was still insisting that the French had retreated and had
69007 only lit fires to deceive us.
69008
69009 "What does that prove?" he was saying as Rostov rode up. "They might
69010 retreat and leave the pickets."
69011
69012 "It's plain that they have not all gone yet, Prince," said
69013 Bagration. "Wait till tomorrow morning, we'll find out everything
69014 tomorrow."
69015
69016 "The picket is still on the hill, your excellency, just where it was
69017 in the evening," reported Rostov, stooping forward with his hand at
69018 the salute and unable to repress the smile of delight induced by his
69019 ride and especially by the sound of the bullets.
69020
69021 "Very good, very good," said Bagration. "Thank you, officer."
69022
69023 "Your excellency," said Rostov, "may I ask a favor?"
69024
69025 "What is it?"
69026
69027 "Tomorrow our squadron is to be in reserve. May I ask to be attached
69028 to the first squadron?"
69029
69030 "What's your name?"
69031
69032 "Count Rostov."
69033
69034 "Oh, very well, you may stay in attendance on me."
69035
69036 "Count Ilya Rostov's son?" asked Dolgorukov.
69037
69038 But Rostov did not reply.
69039
69040 "Then I may reckon on it, your excellency?"
69041
69042 "I will give the order."
69043
69044 "Tomorrow very likely I may be sent with some message to the
69045 Emperor," thought Rostov.
69046
69047 "Thank God!"
69048
69049
69050 The fires and shouting in the enemy's army were occasioned by the
69051 fact that while Napoleon's proclamation was being read to the troops
69052 the Emperor himself rode round his bivouacs. The soldiers, on seeing
69053 him, lit wisps of straw and ran after him, shouting, "Vive
69054 l'Empereur!" Napoleon's proclamation was as follows:
69055
69056
69057 Soldiers! The Russian army is advancing against you to avenge the
69058 Austrian army of Ulm. They are the same battalions you broke at
69059 Hollabrunn and have pursued ever since to this place. The position
69060 we occupy is a strong one, and while they are marching to go round
69061 me on the right they will expose a flank to me. Soldiers! I will
69062 myself direct your battalions. I will keep out of fire if you with
69063 your habitual valor carry disorder and confusion into the enemy's
69064 ranks, but should victory be in doubt, even for a moment, you will see
69065 your Emperor exposing himself to the first blows of the enemy, for
69066 there must be no doubt of victory, especially on this day when what is
69067 at stake is the honor of the French infantry, so necessary to the
69068 honor of our nation.
69069
69070 Do not break your ranks on the plea of removing the wounded! Let
69071 every man be fully imbued with the thought that we must defeat these
69072 hirelings of England, inspired by such hatred of our nation! This
69073 victory will conclude our campaign and we can return to winter
69074 quarters, where fresh French troops who are being raised in France
69075 will join us, and the peace I shall conclude will be worthy of my
69076 people, of you, and of myself.
69077
69078 NAPOLEON
69079
69080
69081
69082
69083
69084 CHAPTER XIV
69085
69086
69087 At five in the morning it was still quite dark. The troops of the
69088 center, the reserves, and Bagration's right flank had not yet moved,
69089 but on the left flank the columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
69090 which were to be the first to descend the heights to attack the French
69091 right flank and drive it into the Bohemian mountains according to
69092 plan, were already up and astir. The smoke of the campfires, into
69093 which they were throwing everything superfluous, made the eyes
69094 smart. It was cold and dark. The officers were hurriedly drinking
69095 tea and breakfasting, the soldiers, munching biscuit and beating a
69096 tattoo with their feet to warm themselves, gathering round the fires
69097 throwing into the flames the remains of sheds, chairs, tables, wheels,
69098 tubs, and everything that they did not want or could not carry away
69099 with them. Austrian column guides were moving in and out among the
69100 Russian troops and served as heralds of the advance. As soon as an
69101 Austrian officer showed himself near a commanding officer's
69102 quarters, the regiment began to move: the soldiers ran from the fires,
69103 thrust their pipes into their boots, their bags into the carts, got
69104 their muskets ready, and formed rank. The officers buttoned up their
69105 coats, buckled on their swords and pouches, and moved along the
69106 ranks shouting. The train drivers and orderlies harnessed and packed
69107 the wagons and tied on the loads. The adjutants and battalion and
69108 regimental commanders mounted, crossed themselves, gave final
69109 instructions, orders, and commissions to the baggage men who
69110 remained behind, and the monotonous tramp of thousands of feet
69111 resounded. The column moved forward without knowing where and
69112 unable, from the masses around them, the smoke and the increasing fog,
69113 to see either the place they were leaving or that to which they were
69114 going.
69115
69116 A soldier on the march is hemmed in and borne along by his
69117 regiment as much as a sailor is by his ship. However far he has
69118 walked, whatever strange, unknown, and dangerous places he reaches,
69119 just as a sailor is always surrounded by the same decks, masts, and
69120 rigging of his ship, so the soldier always has around him the same
69121 comrades, the same ranks, the same sergeant major Ivan Mitrich, the
69122 same company dog Jack, and the same commanders. The sailor rarely
69123 cares to know the latitude in which his ship is sailing, but on the
69124 day of battle--heaven knows how and whence--a stern note of which
69125 all are conscious sounds in the moral atmosphere of an army,
69126 announcing the approach of something decisive and solemn, and
69127 awakening in the men an unusual curiosity. On the day of battle the
69128 soldiers excitedly try to get beyond the interests of their
69129 regiment, they listen intently, look about, and eagerly ask concerning
69130 what is going on around them.
69131
69132 The fog had grown so dense that though it was growing light they
69133 could not see ten paces ahead. Bushes looked like gigantic trees and
69134 level ground like cliffs and slopes. Anywhere, on any side, one
69135 might encounter an enemy invisible ten paces off. But the columns
69136 advanced for a long time, always in the same fog, descending and
69137 ascending hills, avoiding gardens and enclosures, going over new and
69138 unknown ground, and nowhere encountering the enemy. On the contrary,
69139 the soldiers became aware that in front, behind, and on all sides,
69140 other Russian columns were moving in the same direction. Every soldier
69141 felt glad to know that to the unknown place where he was going, many
69142 more of our men were going too.
69143
69144 "There now, the Kurskies have also gone past," was being said in the
69145 ranks.
69146
69147 "It's wonderful what a lot of our troops have gathered, lads! Last
69148 night I looked at the campfires and there was no end of them. A
69149 regular Moscow!"
69150
69151 Though none of the column commanders rode up to the ranks or
69152 talked to the men (the commanders, as we saw at the council of war,
69153 were out of humor and dissatisfied with the affair, and so did not
69154 exert themselves to cheer the men but merely carried out the
69155 orders), yet the troops marched gaily, as they always do when going
69156 into action, especially to an attack. But when they had marched for
69157 about an hour in the dense fog, the greater part of the men had to
69158 halt and an unpleasant consciousness of some dislocation and blunder
69159 spread through the ranks. How such a consciousness is communicated
69160 is very difficult to define, but it certainly is communicated very
69161 surely, and flows rapidly, imperceptibly, and irrepressibly, as
69162 water does in a creek. Had the Russian army been alone without any
69163 allies, it might perhaps have been a long time before this
69164 consciousness of mismanagement became a general conviction, but as
69165 it was, the disorder was readily and naturally attributed to the
69166 stupid Germans, and everyone was convinced that a dangerous muddle had
69167 been occasioned by the sausage eaters.
69168
69169 "Why have we stopped? Is the way blocked? Or have we already come up
69170 against the French?"
69171
69172 "No, one can't hear them. They'd be firing if we had."
69173
69174 "They were in a hurry enough to start us, and now here we stand in
69175 the middle of a field without rhyme or reason. It's all those damned
69176 Germans' muddling! What stupid devils!"
69177
69178 "Yes, I'd send them on in front, but no fear, they're crowding up
69179 behind. And now here we stand hungry."
69180
69181 "I say, shall we soon be clear? They say the cavalry are blocking
69182 the way," said an officer.
69183
69184 "Ah, those damned Germans! They don't know their own country!"
69185 said another.
69186
69187 "What division are you?" shouted an adjutant, riding up.
69188
69189 "The Eighteenth."
69190
69191 "Then why are you here? You should have gone on long ago, now you
69192 won't get there till evening."
69193
69194 "What stupid orders! They don't themselves know what they are
69195 doing!" said the officer and rode off.
69196
69197 Then a general rode past shouting something angrily, not in Russian.
69198
69199 "Tafa-lafa! But what he's jabbering no one can make out," said a
69200 soldier, mimicking the general who had ridden away. "I'd shoot them,
69201 the scoundrels!"
69202
69203 "We were ordered to be at the place before nine, but we haven't
69204 got halfway. Fine orders!" was being repeated on different sides.
69205
69206 And the feeling of energy with which the troops had started began to
69207 turn into vexation and anger at the stupid arrangements and at the
69208 Germans.
69209
69210 The cause of the confusion was that while the Austrian cavalry was
69211 moving toward our left flank, the higher command found that our center
69212 was too far separated from our right flank and the cavalry were all
69213 ordered to turn back to the right. Several thousand cavalry crossed in
69214 front of the infantry, who had to wait.
69215
69216 At the front an altercation occurred between an Austrian guide and a
69217 Russian general. The general shouted a demand that the cavalry
69218 should be halted, the Austrian argued that not he, but the higher
69219 command, was to blame. The troops meanwhile stood growing listless and
69220 dispirited. After an hour's delay they at last moved on, descending
69221 the hill. The fog that was dispersing on the hill lay still more
69222 densely below, where they were descending. In front in the fog a
69223 shot was heard and then another, at first irregularly at varying
69224 intervals--trata... tat--and then more and more regularly and rapidly,
69225 and the action at the Goldbach Stream began.
69226
69227 Not expecting to come on the enemy down by the stream, and having
69228 stumbled on him in the fog, hearing no encouraging word from their
69229 commanders, and with a consciousness of being too late spreading
69230 through the ranks, and above all being unable to see anything in front
69231 or around them in the thick fog, the Russians exchanged shots with the
69232 enemy lazily and advanced and again halted, receiving no timely orders
69233 from the officers or adjutants who wandered about in the fog in
69234 those unknown surroundings unable to find their own regiments. In this
69235 way the action began for the first, second, and third columns, which
69236 had gone down into the valley. The fourth column, with which Kutuzov
69237 was, stood on the Pratzen Heights.
69238
69239 Below, where the fight was beginning, there was still thick fog;
69240 on the higher ground it was clearing, but nothing could be seen of
69241 what was going on in front. Whether all the enemy forces were, as we
69242 supposed, six miles away, or whether they were near by in that sea
69243 of mist, no one knew till after eight o'clock.
69244
69245 It was nine o'clock in the morning. The fog lay unbroken like a
69246 sea down below, but higher up at the village of Schlappanitz where
69247 Napoleon stood with his marshals around him, it was quite light. Above
69248 him was a clear blue sky, and the sun's vast orb quivered like a
69249 huge hollow, crimson float on the surface of that milky sea of mist.
69250 The whole French army, and even Napoleon himself with his staff,
69251 were not on the far side of the streams and hollows of Sokolnitz and
69252 Schlappanitz beyond which we intended to take up our position and
69253 begin the action, but were on this side, so close to our own forces
69254 that Napoleon with the naked eye could distinguish a mounted man
69255 from one on foot. Napoleon, in the blue cloak which he had worn on his
69256 Italian campaign, sat on his small gray Arab horse a little in front
69257 of his marshals. He gazed silently at the hills which seemed to rise
69258 out of the sea of mist and on which the Russian troops were moving
69259 in the distance, and he listened to the sounds of firing in the
69260 valley. Not a single muscle of his face--which in those days was still
69261 thin--moved. His gleaming eyes were fixed intently on one spot. His
69262 predictions were being justified. Part of the Russian force had
69263 already descended into the valley toward the ponds and lakes and
69264 part were leaving these Pratzen Heights which he intended to attack
69265 and regarded as the key to the position. He saw over the mist that
69266 in a hollow between two hills near the village of Pratzen, the Russian
69267 columns, their bayonets glittering, were moving continuously in one
69268 direction toward the valley and disappearing one after another into
69269 the mist. From information he had received the evening before, from
69270 the sound of wheels and footsteps heard by the outposts during the
69271 night, by the disorderly movement of the Russian columns, and from all
69272 indications, he saw clearly that the allies believed him to be far
69273 away in front of them, and that the columns moving near Pratzen
69274 constituted the center of the Russian army, and that that center was
69275 already sufficiently weakened to be successfully attacked. But still
69276 he did not begin the engagement.
69277
69278 Today was a great day for him--the anniversary of his coronation.
69279 Before dawn he had slept for a few hours, and refreshed, vigorous, and
69280 in good spirits, he mounted his horse and rode out into the field in
69281 that happy mood in which everything seems possible and everything
69282 succeeds. He sat motionless, looking at the heights visible above
69283 the mist, and his cold face wore that special look of confident,
69284 self-complacent happiness that one sees on the face of a boy happily
69285 in love. The marshals stood behind him not venturing to distract his
69286 attention. He looked now at the Pratzen Heights, now at the sun
69287 floating up out of the mist.
69288
69289 When the sun had entirely emerged from the fog, and fields and
69290 mist were aglow with dazzling light--as if he had only awaited this to
69291 begin the action--he drew the glove from his shapely white hand,
69292 made a sign with it to the marshals, and ordered the action to
69293 begin. The marshals, accompanied by adjutants, galloped off in
69294 different directions, and a few minutes later the chief forces of
69295 the French army moved rapidly toward those Pratzen Heights which
69296 were being more and more denuded by Russian troops moving down the
69297 valley to their left.
69298
69299
69300
69301
69302
69303 CHAPTER XV
69304
69305
69306 At eight o'clock Kutuzov rode to Pratzen at the head of the fourth
69307 column, Miloradovich's, the one that was to take the place of
69308 Przebyszewski's and Langeron's columns which had already gone down
69309 into the valley. He greeted the men of the foremost regiment and
69310 gave them the order to march, thereby indicating that he intended to
69311 lead that column himself. When he had reached the village of Pratzen
69312 he halted. Prince Andrew was behind, among the immense number
69313 forming the commander in chief's suite. He was in a state of
69314 suppressed excitement and irritation, though controlledly calm as a
69315 man is at the approach of a long-awaited moment. He was firmly
69316 convinced that this was the day of his Toulon, or his bridge of
69317 Arcola. How it would come about he did not know, but he felt sure it
69318 would do so. The locality and the position of our troops were known to
69319 him as far as they could be known to anyone in our army. His own
69320 strategic plan, which obviously could not now be carried out, was
69321 forgotten. Now, entering into Weyrother's plan, Prince Andrew
69322 considered possible contingencies and formed new projects such as
69323 might call for his rapidity of perception and decision.
69324
69325 To the left down below in the mist, the musketry fire of unseen
69326 forces could be heard. It was there Prince Andrew thought the fight
69327 would concentrate. "There we shall encounter difficulties, and there,"
69328 thought he, "I shall be sent with a brigade or division, and there,
69329 standard in hand, I shall go forward and break whatever is in front of
69330 me."
69331
69332 He could not look calmly at the standards of the passing battalions.
69333 Seeing them he kept thinking, "That may be the very standard with
69334 which I shall lead the army."
69335
69336 In the morning all that was left of the night mist on the heights
69337 was a hoar frost now turning to dew, but in the valleys it still lay
69338 like a milk-white sea. Nothing was visible in the valley to the left
69339 into which our troops had descended and from whence came the sounds of
69340 firing. Above the heights was the dark clear sky, and to the right the
69341 vast orb of the sun. In front, far off on the farther shore of that
69342 sea of mist, some wooded hills were discernible, and it was there
69343 the enemy probably was, for something could be descried. On the
69344 right the Guards were entering the misty region with a sound of
69345 hoofs and wheels and now and then a gleam of bayonets; to the left
69346 beyond the village similar masses of cavalry came up and disappeared
69347 in the sea of mist. In front and behind moved infantry. The
69348 commander in chief was standing at the end of the village letting
69349 the troops pass by him. That morning Kutuzov seemed worn and
69350 irritable. The infantry passing before him came to a halt without
69351 any command being given, apparently obstructed by something in front.
69352
69353 "Do order them to form into battalion columns and go round the
69354 village!" he said angrily to a general who had ridden up. "Don't you
69355 understand, your excellency, my dear sir, that you must not defile
69356 through narrow village streets when we are marching against the
69357 enemy?"
69358
69359 "I intended to re-form them beyond the village, your excellency,"
69360 answered the general.
69361
69362 Kutuzov laughed bitterly.
69363
69364 "You'll make a fine thing of it, deploying in sight of the enemy!
69365 Very fine!"
69366
69367 "The enemy is still far away, your excellency. According to the
69368 dispositions..."
69369
69370 "The dispositions!" exclaimed Kutuzov bitterly. "Who told you
69371 that?... Kindly do as you are ordered."
69372
69373 "Yes, sir."
69374
69375 "My dear fellow," Nesvitski whispered to Prince Andrew, "the old man
69376 is as surly as a dog."
69377
69378 An Austrian officer in a white uniform with green plumes in his
69379 hat galloped up to Kutuzov and asked in the Emperor's name had the
69380 fourth column advanced into action.
69381
69382 Kutuzov turned round without answering and his eye happened to
69383 fall upon Prince Andrew, who was beside him. Seeing him, Kutuzov's
69384 malevolent and caustic expression softened, as if admitting that
69385 what was being done was not his adjutant's fault, and still not
69386 answering the Austrian adjutant, he addressed Bolkonski.
69387
69388 "Go, my dear fellow, and see whether the third division has passed
69389 the village. Tell it to stop and await my orders."
69390
69391 Hardly had Prince Andrew started than he stopped him.
69392
69393 "And ask whether sharpshooters have been posted," he added. "What
69394 are they doing? What are they doing?" he murmured to himself, still
69395 not replying to the Austrian.
69396
69397 Prince Andrew galloped off to execute the order.
69398
69399 Overtaking the battalions that continued to advance, he stopped
69400 the third division and convinced himself that there really were no
69401 sharpshooters in front of our columns. The colonel at the head of
69402 the regiment was much surprised at the commander in chief's order to
69403 throw out skirmishers. He had felt perfectly sure that there were
69404 other troops in front of him and that the enemy must be at least six
69405 miles away. There was really nothing to be seen in front except a
69406 barren descent hidden by dense mist. Having given orders in the
69407 commander in chief's name to rectify this omission, Prince Andrew
69408 galloped back. Kutuzov still in the same place, his stout body resting
69409 heavily in the saddle with the lassitude of age, sat yawning wearily
69410 with closed eyes. The troops were no longer moving, but stood with the
69411 butts of their muskets on the ground.
69412
69413 "All right, all right!" he said to Prince Andrew, and turned to a
69414 general who, watch in hand, was saying it was time they started as all
69415 the left-flank columns had already descended.
69416
69417 "Plenty of time, your excellency," muttered Kutuzov in the midst
69418 of a yawn. "Plenty of time," he repeated.
69419
69420 Just then at a distance behind Kutuzov was heard the sound of
69421 regiments saluting, and this sound rapidly came nearer along the whole
69422 extended line of the advancing Russian columns. Evidently the person
69423 they were greeting was riding quickly. When the soldiers of the
69424 regiment in front of which Kutuzov was standing began to shout, he
69425 rode a little to one side and looked round with a frown. Along the
69426 road from Pratzen galloped what looked like a squadron of horsemen
69427 in various uniforms. Two of them rode side by side in front, at full
69428 gallop. One in a black uniform with white plumes in his hat rode a
69429 bobtailed chestnut horse, the other who was in a white uniform rode
69430 a black one. These were the two Emperors followed by their suites.
69431 Kutuzov, affecting the manners of an old soldier at the front, gave
69432 the command "Attention!" and rode up to the Emperors with a salute.
69433 His whole appearance and manner were suddenly transformed. He put on
69434 the air of a subordinate who obeys without reasoning. With an
69435 affectation of respect which evidently struck Alexander
69436 unpleasantly, he rode up and saluted.
69437
69438 This unpleasant impression merely flitted over the young and happy
69439 face of the Emperor like a cloud of haze across a clear sky and
69440 vanished. After his illness he looked rather thinner that day than
69441 on the field of Olmutz where Bolkonski had seen him for the first time
69442 abroad, but there was still the same bewitching combination of majesty
69443 and mildness in his fine gray eyes, and on his delicate lips the
69444 same capacity for varying expression and the same prevalent appearance
69445 of goodhearted innocent youth.
69446
69447 At the Olmutz review he had seemed more majestic; here he seemed
69448 brighter and more energetic. He was slightly flushed after galloping
69449 two miles, and reining in his horse he sighed restfully and looked
69450 round at the faces of his suite, young and animated as his own.
69451 Czartoryski, Novosiltsev, Prince Volkonsky, Strogonov, and the others,
69452 all richly dressed gay young men on splendid, well-groomed, fresh,
69453 only slightly heated horses, exchanging remarks and smiling, had
69454 stopped behind the Emperor. The Emperor Francis, a rosy, long faced
69455 young man, sat very erect on his handsome black horse, looking about
69456 him in a leisurely and preoccupied manner. He beckoned to one of his
69457 white adjutants and asked some question--"Most likely he is asking
69458 at what o'clock they started," thought Prince Andrew, watching his old
69459 acquaintance with a smile he could not repress as he recalled his
69460 reception at Brunn. In the Emperors' suite were the picked young
69461 orderly officers of the Guard and line regiments, Russian and
69462 Austrian. Among them were grooms leading the Tsar's beautiful relay
69463 horses covered with embroidered cloths.
69464
69465 As when a window is opened a whiff of fresh air from the fields
69466 enters a stuffy room, so a whiff of youthfulness, energy, and
69467 confidence of success reached Kutuzov's cheerless staff with the
69468 galloping advent of all these brilliant young men.
69469
69470 "Why aren't you beginning, Michael Ilarionovich?" said the Emperor
69471 Alexander hurriedly to Kutuzov, glancing courteously at the same
69472 time at the Emperor Francis.
69473
69474 "I am waiting, Your Majesty," answered Kutuzov, bending forward
69475 respectfully.
69476
69477 The Emperor, frowning slightly, bent his ear forward as if he had
69478 not quite heard.
69479
69480 "Waiting, Your Majesty," repeated Kutuzov. (Prince Andrew noted that
69481 Kutuzov's upper lip twitched unnaturally as he said the word
69482 "waiting.") "Not all the columns have formed up yet, Your Majesty."
69483
69484 The Tsar heard but obviously did not like the reply; he shrugged his
69485 rather round shoulders and glanced at Novosiltsev who was near him, as
69486 if complaining of Kutuzov.
69487
69488 "You know, Michael Ilarionovich, we are not on the
69489 Empress' Field where a parade does not begin till all the troops are
69490 assembled," said the Tsar with another glance at the Emperor
69491 Francis, as if inviting him if not to join in at least to listen to
69492 what he was saying. But the Emperor Francis continued to look about
69493 him and did not listen.
69494
69495 "That is just why I do not begin, sire," said Kutuzov in a
69496 resounding voice, apparently to preclude the possibility of not
69497 being heard, and again something in his face twitched--"That is just
69498 why I do not begin, sire, because we are not on parade and not on
69499 the Empress' Field." said clearly and distinctly.
69500
69501 In the Emperor's suite all exchanged rapid looks that expressed
69502 dissatisfaction and reproach. "Old though he may be, he should not, he
69503 certainly should not, speak like that," their glances seemed to say.
69504
69505 The Tsar looked intently and observantly into Kutuzov's eye
69506 waiting to hear whether he would say anything more. But Kutuzov,
69507 with respectfully bowed head, seemed also to be waiting. The silence
69508 lasted for about a minute.
69509
69510 "However, if you command it, Your Majesty," said Kutuzov, lifting
69511 his head and again assuming his former tone of a dull, unreasoning,
69512 but submissive general.
69513
69514 He touched his horse and having called Miloradovich, the commander
69515 of the column, gave him the order to advance.
69516
69517 The troops again began to move, and two battalions of the Novgorod
69518 and one of the Apsheron regiment went forward past the Emperor.
69519
69520 As this Apsheron battalion marched by, the red-faced Miloradovich,
69521 without his greatcoat, with his Orders on his breast and an enormous
69522 tuft of plumes in his cocked hat worn on one side with its corners
69523 front and back, galloped strenuously forward, and with a dashing
69524 salute reined in his horse before the Emperor.
69525
69526 "God be with you, general!" said the Emperor.
69527
69528 "Ma foi, sire, nous ferons ce qui sera dans notre possibilite,
69529 sire,"* he answered gaily, raising nevertheless ironic smiles among
69530 the gentlemen of the Tsar's suite by his poor French.
69531
69532
69533 *"Indeed, Sire, we shall do everything it is possible to do, Sire."
69534
69535
69536 Miloradovich wheeled his horse sharply and stationed himself a
69537 little behind the Emperor. The Apsheron men, excited by the Tsar's
69538 presence, passed in step before the Emperors and their suites at a
69539 bold, brisk pace.
69540
69541 "Lads!" shouted Miloradovich in a loud, self-confident, and cheery
69542 voice, obviously so elated by the sound of firing, by the prospect
69543 of battle, and by the sight of the gallant Apsherons, his comrades
69544 in Suvorov's time, now passing so gallantly before the Emperors,
69545 that he forgot the sovereigns' presence. "Lads, it's not the first
69546 village you've had to take," cried he.
69547
69548 "Glad to do our best!" shouted the soldiers.
69549
69550 The Emperor's horse started at the sudden cry. This horse that had
69551 carried the sovereign at reviews in Russia bore him also here on the
69552 field of Austerlitz, enduring the heedless blows of his left foot
69553 and pricking its ears at the sound of shots just as it had done on the
69554 Empress' Field, not understanding the significance of the firing,
69555 nor of the nearness of the Emperor Francis' black cob, nor of all that
69556 was being said, thought, and felt that day by its rider.
69557
69558 The Emperor turned with a smile to one of his followers and made a
69559 remark to him, pointing to the gallant Apsherons.
69560
69561
69562
69563
69564
69565 CHAPTER XVI
69566
69567
69568 Kutuzov accompanied by his adjutants rode at a walking pace behind
69569 the carabineers.
69570
69571 When he had gone less than half a mile in the rear of the column
69572 he stopped at a solitary, deserted house that had probably once been
69573 an inn, where two roads parted. Both of them led downhill and troops
69574 were marching along both.
69575
69576 The fog had begun to clear and enemy troops were already dimly
69577 visible about a mile and a half off on the opposite heights. Down
69578 below, on the left, the firing became more distinct. Kutuzov had
69579 stopped and was speaking to an Austrian general. Prince Andrew, who
69580 was a little behind looking at them, turned to an adjutant to ask
69581 him for a field glass.
69582
69583 "Look, look!" said this adjutant, looking not at the troops in the
69584 distance, but down the hill before him. "It's the French!"
69585
69586 The two generals and the adjutant took hold of the field glass,
69587 trying to snatch it from one another. The expression on all their
69588 faces suddenly changed to one of horror. The French were supposed to
69589 be a mile and a half away, but had suddenly and unexpectedly
69590 appeared just in front of us.
69591
69592 "It's the enemy?... No!... Yes, see it is!... for certain.... But
69593 how is that?" said different voices.
69594
69595 With the naked eye Prince Andrew saw below them to the right, not
69596 more than five hundred paces from where Kutuzov was standing, a
69597 dense French column coming up to meet the Apsherons.
69598
69599 "Here it is! The decisive moment has arrived. My turn has come,"
69600 thought Prince Andrew, and striking his horse he rode up to Kutuzov.
69601
69602 "The Apsherons must be stopped, your excellency," cried he. But at
69603 that very instant a cloud of smoke spread all round, firing was
69604 heard quite close at hand, and a voice of naive terror barely two
69605 steps from Prince Andrew shouted, "Brothers! All's lost!" And at
69606 this as if at a command, everyone began to run.
69607
69608 Confused and ever-increasing crowds were running back to where
69609 five minutes before the troops had passed the Emperors. Not only would
69610 it have been difficult to stop that crowd, it was even impossible
69611 not to be carried back with it oneself. Bolkonski only tried not to
69612 lose touch with it, and looked around bewildered and unable to grasp
69613 what was happening in front of him. Nesvitski with an angry face,
69614 red and unlike himself, was shouting to Kutuzov that if he did not
69615 ride away at once he would certainly be taken prisoner. Kutuzov
69616 remained in the same place and without answering drew out a
69617 handkerchief. Blood was flowing from his cheek. Prince Andrew forced
69618 his way to him.
69619
69620 "You are wounded?" he asked, hardly able to master the trembling
69621 of his lower jaw.
69622
69623 "The wound is not here, it is there!" said Kutuzov, pressing the
69624 handkerchief to his wounded cheek and pointing to the fleeing
69625 soldiers. "Stop them!" he shouted, and at the same moment, probably
69626 realizing that it was impossible to stop them, spurred his horse and
69627 rode to the right.
69628
69629 A fresh wave of the flying mob caught him and bore him back with it.
69630
69631 The troops were running in such a dense mass that once surrounded by
69632 them it was difficult to get out again. One was shouting, "Get on! Why
69633 are you hindering us?" Another in the same place turned round and
69634 fired in the air; a third was striking the horse Kutuzov himself rode.
69635 Having by a great effort got away to the left from that flood of
69636 men, Kutuzov, with his suite diminished by more than half, rode toward
69637 a sound of artillery fire near by. Having forced his way out of the
69638 crowd of fugitives, Prince Andrew, trying to keep near Kutuzov, saw on
69639 the slope of the hill amid the smoke a Russian battery that was
69640 still firing and Frenchmen running toward it. Higher up stood some
69641 Russian infantry, neither moving forward to protect the battery nor
69642 backward with the fleeing crowd. A mounted general separated himself
69643 from the infantry and approached Kutuzov. Of Kutuzov's suite only four
69644 remained. They were all pale and exchanged looks in silence.
69645
69646 "Stop those wretches!" gasped Kutuzov to the regimental commander,
69647 pointing to the flying soldiers; but at that instant, as if to
69648 punish him for those words, bullets flew hissing across the regiment
69649 and across Kutuzov's suite like a flock of little birds.
69650
69651 The French had attacked the battery and, seeing Kutuzov, were firing
69652 at him. After this volley the regimental commander clutched at his
69653 leg; several soldiers fell, and a second lieutenant who was holding
69654 the flag let it fall from his hands. It swayed and fell, but caught on
69655 the muskets of the nearest soldiers. The soldiers started firing
69656 without orders.
69657
69658 "Oh! Oh! Oh!" groaned Kutuzov despairingly and looked around....
69659 "Bolkonski!" he whispered, his voice trembling from a consciousness of
69660 the feebleness of age, "Bolkonski!" he whispered, pointing to the
69661 disordered battalion and at the enemy, "what's that?"
69662
69663 But before he had finished speaking, Prince Andrew, feeling tears of
69664 shame and anger choking him, had already leapt from his horse and
69665 run to the standard.
69666
69667 "Forward, lads!" he shouted in a voice piercing as a child's.
69668
69669 "Here it is!" thought he, seizing the staff of the standard and
69670 hearing with pleasure the whistle of bullets evidently aimed at him.
69671 Several soldiers fell.
69672
69673 "Hurrah!" shouted Prince Andrew, and, scarcely able to hold up the
69674 heavy standard, he ran forward with full confidence that the whole
69675 battalion would follow him.
69676
69677 And really he only ran a few steps alone. One soldier moved and then
69678 another and soon the whole battalion ran forward shouting "Hurrah!"
69679 and overtook him. A sergeant of the battalion ran up and took the flag
69680 that was swaying from its weight in Prince Andrew's hands, but he
69681 was immediately killed. Prince Andrew again seized the standard and,
69682 dragging it by the staff, ran on with the battalion. In front he saw
69683 our artillerymen, some of whom were fighting, while others, having
69684 abandoned their guns, were running toward him. He also saw French
69685 infantry soldiers who were seizing the artillery horses and turning
69686 the guns round. Prince Andrew and the battalion were already within
69687 twenty paces of the cannon. He heard the whistle of bullets above
69688 him unceasingly and to right and left of him soldiers continually
69689 groaned and dropped. But he did not look at them: he looked only at
69690 what was going on in front of him--at the battery. He now saw
69691 clearly the figure of a red-haired gunner with his shako knocked awry,
69692 pulling one end of a mop while a French soldier tugged at the other.
69693 He could distinctly see the distraught yet angry expression on the
69694 faces of these two men, who evidently did not realize what they were
69695 doing.
69696
69697 "What are they about?" thought Prince Andrew as he gazed at them.
69698 "Why doesn't the red-haired gunner run away as he is unarmed? Why
69699 doesn't the Frenchman stab him? He will not get away before the
69700 Frenchman remembers his bayonet and stabs him...."
69701
69702 And really another French soldier, trailing his musket, ran up to
69703 the struggling men, and the fate of the red-haired gunner, who had
69704 triumphantly secured the mop and still did not realize what awaited
69705 him, was about to be decided. But Prince Andrew did not see how it
69706 ended. It seemed to him as though one of the soldiers near him hit him
69707 on the head with the full swing of a bludgeon. It hurt a little, but
69708 the worst of it was that the pain distracted him and prevented his
69709 seeing what he had been looking at.
69710
69711 "What's this? Am I falling? My legs are giving way," thought he, and
69712 fell on his back. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle
69713 of the Frenchmen with the gunners ended, whether the red-haired gunner
69714 had been killed or not and whether the cannon had been captured or
69715 saved. But he saw nothing. Above him there was now nothing but the
69716 sky--the lofty sky, not clear yet still immeasurably lofty, with
69717 gray clouds gliding slowly across it. "How quiet, peaceful, and
69718 solemn; not at all as I ran," thought Prince Andrew--"not as we ran,
69719 shouting and fighting, not at all as the gunner and the Frenchman with
69720 frightened and angry faces struggled for the mop: how differently do
69721 those clouds glide across that lofty infinite sky! How was it I did
69722 not see that lofty sky before? And how happy I am to have found it
69723 at last! Yes! All is vanity, all falsehood, except that infinite
69724 sky. There is nothing, nothing, but that. But even it does not
69725 exist, there is nothing but quiet and peace. Thank God!..."
69726
69727
69728
69729
69730
69731 CHAPTER XVII
69732
69733
69734 On our right flank commanded by Bagration, at nine o'clock the
69735 battle had not yet begun. Not wishing to agree to Dolgorukov's
69736 demand to commence the action, and wishing to avert responsibility
69737 from himself, Prince Bagration proposed to Dolgorukov to send to
69738 inquire of the commander in chief. Bagration knew that as the distance
69739 between the two flanks was more than six miles, even if the
69740 messenger were not killed (which he very likely would be), and found
69741 the commander in chief (which would be very difficult), he would not
69742 be able to get back before evening.
69743
69744 Bagration cast his large, expressionless, sleepy eyes round his
69745 suite, and the boyish face Rostov, breathless with excitement and
69746 hope, was the first to catch his eye. He sent him.
69747
69748 "And if I should meet His Majesty before I meet the commander in
69749 chief, your excellency?" said Rostov, with his hand to his cap.
69750
69751 "You can give the message to His Majesty," said Dolgorukov,
69752 hurriedly interrupting Bagration.
69753
69754 On being relieved from picket duty Rostov had managed to get a few
69755 hours' sleep before morning and felt cheerful, bold, and resolute,
69756 with elasticity of movement, faith in his good fortune, and
69757 generally in that state of mind which makes everything seem
69758 possible, pleasant, and easy.
69759
69760 All his wishes were being fulfilled that morning: there was to be
69761 a general engagement in which he was taking part, more than that, he
69762 was orderly to the bravest general, and still more, he was going
69763 with a message to Kutuzov, perhaps even to the sovereign himself.
69764 The morning was bright, he had a good horse under him, and his heart
69765 was full of joy and happiness. On receiving the order he gave his
69766 horse the rein and galloped along the line. At first he rode along the
69767 line of Bagration's troops, which had not yet advanced into action but
69768 were standing motionless; then he came to the region occupied by
69769 Uvarov's cavalry and here he noticed a stir and signs of preparation
69770 for battle; having passed Uvarov's cavalry he clearly heard the
69771 sound of cannon and musketry ahead of him. The firing grew louder
69772 and louder.
69773
69774 In the fresh morning air were now heard, not two or three musket
69775 shots at irregular intervals as before, followed by one or two
69776 cannon shots, but a roll of volleys of musketry from the slopes of the
69777 hill before Pratzen, interrupted by such frequent reports of cannon
69778 that sometimes several of them were not separated from one another but
69779 merged into a general roar.
69780
69781 He could see puffs of musketry smoke that seemed to chase one
69782 another down the hillsides, and clouds of cannon smoke rolling,
69783 spreading, and mingling with one another. He could also, by the
69784 gleam of bayonets visible through the smoke, make out moving masses of
69785 infantry and narrow lines of artillery with green caissons.
69786
69787 Rostov stopped his horse for a moment on a hillock to see what was
69788 going on, but strain his attention as he would he could not understand
69789 or make out anything of what was happening: there in the smoke men
69790 of some sort were moving about, in front and behind moved lines of
69791 troops; but why, whither, and who they were, it was impossible to make
69792 out. These sights and sounds had no depressing or intimidating
69793 effect on him; on the contrary, they stimulated his energy and
69794 determination.
69795
69796 "Go on! Go on! Give it them!" he mentally exclaimed at these sounds,
69797 and again proceeded to gallop along the line, penetrating farther
69798 and farther into the region where the army was already in action.
69799
69800 "How it will be there I don't know, but all will be well!" thought
69801 Rostov.
69802
69803 After passing some Austrian troops he noticed that the next part
69804 of the line (the Guards) was already in action.
69805
69806 "So much the better! I shall see it close," he thought.
69807
69808 He was riding almost along the front line. A handful of men came
69809 galloping toward him. They were our Uhlans who with disordered ranks
69810 were returning from the attack. Rostov got out of their way,
69811 involuntarily noticed that one of them was bleeding, and galloped on.
69812
69813 "That is no business of mine," he thought. He had not ridden many
69814 hundred yards after that before he saw to his left, across the whole
69815 width of the field, an enormous mass of cavalry in brilliant white
69816 uniforms, mounted on black horses, trotting straight toward him and
69817 across his path. Rostov put his horse to full gallop to get out of the
69818 way of these men, and he would have got clear had they continued at
69819 the same speed, but they kept increasing their pace, so that some of
69820 the horses were already galloping. Rostov heard the thud of their
69821 hoofs and the jingle of their weapons and saw their horses, their
69822 figures, and even their faces, more and more distinctly. They were our
69823 Horse Guards, advancing to attack the French cavalry that was coming
69824 to meet them.
69825
69826 The Horse Guards were galloping, but still holding in their
69827 horses. Rostov could already see their faces and heard the command:
69828 "Charge!" shouted by an officer who was urging his thoroughbred to
69829 full speed. Rostov, fearing to be crushed or swept into the attack
69830 on the French, galloped along the front as hard as his horse could go,
69831 but still was not in time to avoid them.
69832
69833 The last of the Horse Guards, a huge pockmarked fellow, frowned
69834 angrily on seeing Rostov before him, with whom he would inevitably
69835 collide. This Guardsman would certainly have bowled Rostov and his
69836 Bedouin over (Rostov felt himself quite tiny and weak compared to
69837 these gigantic men and horses) had it not occurred to Rostov to
69838 flourish his whip before the eyes of the Guardsman's horse. The
69839 heavy black horse, sixteen hands high, shied, throwing back its
69840 ears; but the pockmarked Guardsman drove his huge spurs in
69841 violently, and the horse, flourishing its tail and extending its neck,
69842 galloped on yet faster. Hardly had the Horse Guards passed Rostov
69843 before he heard them shout, "Hurrah!" and looking back saw that
69844 their foremost ranks were mixed up with some foreign cavalry with
69845 red epaulets, probably French. He could see nothing more, for
69846 immediately afterwards cannon began firing from somewhere and smoke
69847 enveloped everything.
69848
69849 At that moment, as the Horse Guards, having passed him,
69850 disappeared in the smoke, Rostov hesitated whether to gallop after
69851 them or to go where he was sent. This was the brilliant charge of
69852 the Horse Guards that amazed the French themselves. Rostov was
69853 horrified to hear later that of all that mass of huge and handsome
69854 men, of all those brilliant, rich youths, officers and cadets, who had
69855 galloped past him on their thousand-ruble horses, only eighteen were
69856 left after the charge.
69857
69858 "Why should I envy them? My chance is not lost, and maybe I shall
69859 see the Emperor immediately!" thought Rostov and galloped on.
69860
69861 When he came level with the Foot Guards he noticed that about them
69862 and around them cannon balls were flying, of which he was aware not so
69863 much because he heard their sound as because he saw uneasiness on
69864 the soldiers' faces and unnatural warlike solemnity on those of the
69865 officers.
69866
69867 Passing behind one of the lines of a regiment of Foot Guards he
69868 heard a voice calling him by name.
69869
69870 "Rostov!"
69871
69872 "What?" he answered, not recognizing Boris.
69873
69874 "I say, we've been in the front line! Our regiment attacked!" said
69875 Boris with the happy smile seen on the faces of young men who have
69876 been under fire for the first time.
69877
69878 Rostov stopped.
69879
69880 "Have you?" he said. "Well, how did it go?"
69881
69882 "We drove them back!" said Boris with animation, growing
69883 talkative. "Can you imagine it?" and he began describing how the
69884 Guards, having taken up their position and seeing troops before
69885 them, thought they were Austrians, and all at once discovered from the
69886 cannon balls discharged by those troops that they were themselves in
69887 the front line and had unexpectedly to go into action. Rostov
69888 without hearing Boris to the end spurred his horse.
69889
69890 "Where are you off to?" asked Boris.
69891
69892 "With a message to His Majesty."
69893
69894 "There he is!" said Boris, thinking Rostov had said "His
69895 Highness," and pointing to the Grand Duke who with his high
69896 shoulders and frowning brows stood a hundred paces away from them in
69897 his helmet and Horse Guards' jacket, shouting something to a pale,
69898 white uniformed Austrian officer.
69899
69900 "But that's the Grand Duke, and I want the commander in chief or the
69901 Emperor," said Rostov, and was about to spur his horse.
69902
69903 "Count! Count!" shouted Berg who ran up from the other side as eager
69904 as Boris. "Count! I am wounded in my right hand" (and he showed his
69905 bleeding hand with a handkerchief tied round it) "and I remained at
69906 the front. I held my sword in my left hand, Count. All our family--the
69907 von Bergs--have been knights!"
69908
69909 He said something more, but Rostov did not wait to hear it and
69910 rode away.
69911
69912 Having passed the Guards and traversed an empty space, Rostov, to
69913 avoid again getting in front of the first line as he had done when the
69914 Horse Guards charged, followed the line of reserves, going far round
69915 the place where the hottest musket fire and cannonade were heard.
69916 Suddenly he heard musket fire quite close in front of him and behind
69917 our troops, where he could never have expected the enemy to be.
69918
69919 "What can it be?" he thought. "The enemy in the rear of our army?
69920 Impossible!" And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for himself
69921 and for the issue of the whole battle. "But be that what it may," he
69922 reflected, "there is no riding round it now. I must look for the
69923 commander in chief here, and if all is lost it is for me to perish
69924 with the rest."
69925
69926 The foreboding of evil that had suddenly come over Rostov was more
69927 and more confirmed the farther he rode into the region behind the
69928 village of Pratzen, which was full of troops of all kinds.
69929
69930 "What does it mean? What is it? Whom are they firing at? Who is
69931 firing?" Rostov kept asking as he came up to Russian and Austrian
69932 soldiers running in confused crowds across his path.
69933
69934 "The devil knows! They've killed everybody! It's all up now!" he was
69935 told in Russian, German, and Czech by the crowd of fugitives who
69936 understood what was happening as little as he did.
69937
69938 "Kill the Germans!" shouted one.
69939
69940 "May the devil take them--the traitors!"
69941
69942 "Zum Henker diese Russen!"* muttered a German.
69943
69944
69945 *"Hang these Russians!"
69946
69947
69948 Several wounded men passed along the road, and words of abuse,
69949 screams, and groans mingled in a general hubbub, then the firing
69950 died down. Rostov learned later that Russian and Austrian soldiers had
69951 been firing at one another.
69952
69953 "My God! What does it all mean?" thought he. "And here, where at any
69954 moment the Emperor may see them.... But no, these must be only a
69955 handful of scoundrels. It will soon be over, it can't be that, it
69956 can't be! Only to get past them quicker, quicker!"
69957
69958 The idea of defeat and flight could not enter Rostov's head.
69959 Though he saw French cannon and French troops on the Pratzen Heights
69960 just where he had been ordered to look for the commander in chief,
69961 he could not, did not wish to, believe that.
69962
69963
69964
69965
69966
69967 CHAPTER XVIII
69968
69969
69970 Rostov had been ordered to look for Kutuzov and the Emperor near the
69971 village of Pratzen. But neither they nor a single commanding officer
69972 were there, only disorganized crowds of troops of various kinds. He
69973 urged on his already weary horse to get quickly past these crowds, but
69974 the farther he went the more disorganized they were. The highroad on
69975 which he had come out was thronged with caleches, carriages of all
69976 sorts, and Russian and Austrian soldiers of all arms, some wounded and
69977 some not. This whole mass droned and jostled in confusion under the
69978 dismal influence of cannon balls flying from the French batteries
69979 stationed on the Pratzen Heights.
69980
69981 "Where is the Emperor? Where is Kutuzov?" Rostov kept asking
69982 everyone he could stop, but got no answer from anyone.
69983
69984 At last seizing a soldier by his collar he forced him to answer.
69985
69986 "Eh, brother! They've all bolted long ago!" said the soldier,
69987 laughing for some reason and shaking himself free.
69988
69989 Having left that soldier who was evidently drunk, Rostov stopped the
69990 horse of a batman or groom of some important personage and began to
69991 question him. The man announced that the Tsar had been driven in a
69992 carriage at full speed about an hour before along that very road and
69993 that he was dangerously wounded.
69994
69995 "It can't be!" said Rostov. "It must have been someone else."
69996
69997 "I saw him myself." replied the man with a self-confident smile of
69998 derision. "I ought to know the Emperor by now, after the times I've
69999 seen him in Petersburg. I saw him just as I see you.... There he sat
70000 in the carriage as pale as anything. How they made the four black
70001 horses fly! Gracious me, they did rattle past! It's time I knew the
70002 Imperial horses and Ilya Ivanych. I don't think Ilya drives anyone
70003 except the Tsar!"
70004
70005 Rostov let go of the horse and was about to ride on, when a
70006 wounded officer passing by addressed him:
70007
70008 "Who is it you want?" he asked. "The commander in chief? He was
70009 killed by a cannon ball--struck in the breast before our regiment."
70010
70011 "Not killed--wounded!" another officer corrected him.
70012
70013 "Who? Kutuzov?" asked Rostov.
70014
70015 "Not Kutuzov, but what's his name--well, never mind... there are not
70016 many left alive. Go that way, to that village, all the commanders
70017 are there," said the officer, pointing to the village of Hosjeradek,
70018 and he walked on.
70019
70020 Rostov rode on at a footpace not knowing why or to whom he was now
70021 going. The Emperor was wounded, the battle lost. It was impossible
70022 to doubt it now. Rostov rode in the direction pointed out to him, in
70023 which he saw turrets and a church. What need to hurry? What was he now
70024 to say to the Tsar or to Kutuzov, even if they were alive and
70025 unwounded?
70026
70027 "Take this road, your honor, that way you will be killed at once!" a
70028 soldier shouted to him. "They'd kill you there!"
70029
70030 "Oh, what are you talking about?" said another. "Where is he to
70031 go? That way is nearer."
70032
70033 Rostov considered, and then went in the direction where they said he
70034 would be killed.
70035
70036 "It's all the same now. If the Emperor is wounded, am I to try to
70037 save myself?" he thought. He rode on to the region where the
70038 greatest number of men had perished in fleeing from Pratzen. The
70039 French had not yet occupied that region, and the Russians--the
70040 uninjured and slightly wounded--had left it long ago. All about the
70041 field, like heaps of manure on well-kept plowland, lay from ten to
70042 fifteen dead and wounded to each couple of acres. The wounded crept
70043 together in twos and threes and one could hear their distressing
70044 screams and groans, sometimes feigned--or so it seemed to Rostov. He
70045 put his horse to a trot to avoid seeing all these suffering men, and
70046 he felt afraid--afraid not for his life, but for the courage he needed
70047 and which he knew would not stand the sight of these unfortunates.
70048
70049 The French, who had ceased firing at this field strewn with dead and
70050 wounded where there was no one left to fire at, on seeing an
70051 adjutant riding over it trained a gun on him and fired several
70052 shots. The sensation of those terrible whistling sounds and of the
70053 corpses around him merged in Rostov's mind into a single feeling of
70054 terror and pity for himself. He remembered his mother's last letter.
70055 "What would she feel," thought he, "if she saw me here now on this
70056 field with the cannon aimed at me?"
70057
70058 In the village of Hosjeradek there were Russian troops retiring from
70059 the field of battle, who though still in some confusion were less
70060 disordered. The French cannon did not reach there and the musketry
70061 fire sounded far away. Here everyone clearly saw and said that the
70062 battle was lost. No one whom Rostov asked could tell him where the
70063 Emperor or Kutuzov was. Some said the report that the Emperor was
70064 wounded was correct, others that it was not, and explained the false
70065 rumor that had spread by the fact that the Emperor's carriage had
70066 really galloped from the field of battle with the pale and terrified
70067 Ober-Hofmarschal Count Tolstoy, who had ridden out to the
70068 battlefield with others in the Emperor's suite. One officer told
70069 Rostov that he had seen someone from headquarters behind the village
70070 to the left, and thither Rostov rode, not hoping to find anyone but
70071 merely to ease his conscience. When he had ridden about two miles
70072 and had passed the last of the Russian troops, he saw, near a
70073 kitchen garden with a ditch round it, two men on horseback facing
70074 the ditch. One with a white plume in his hat seemed familiar to
70075 Rostov; the other on a beautiful chestnut horse (which Rostov
70076 fancied he had seen before) rode up to the ditch, struck his horse
70077 with his spurs, and giving it the rein leaped lightly over. Only a
70078 little earth crumbled from the bank under the horse's hind hoofs.
70079 Turning the horse sharply, he again jumped the ditch, and
70080 deferentially addressed the horseman with the white plumes,
70081 evidently suggesting that he should do the same. The rider, whose
70082 figure seemed familiar to Rostov and involuntarily riveted his
70083 attention, made a gesture of refusal with his head and hand and by
70084 that gesture Rostov instantly recognized his lamented and adored
70085 monarch.
70086
70087 "But it can't be he, alone in the midst of this empty field!"
70088 thought Rostov. At that moment Alexander turned his head and Rostov
70089 saw the beloved features that were so deeply engraved on his memory.
70090 The Emperor was pale, his cheeks sunken and his eyes hollow, but the
70091 charm, the mildness of his features, was all the greater. Rostov was
70092 happy in the assurance that the rumors about the Emperor being wounded
70093 were false. He was happy to be seeing him. He knew that he might and
70094 even ought to go straight to him and give the message Dolgorukov had
70095 ordered him to deliver.
70096
70097 But as a youth in love trembles, is unnerved, and dares not utter
70098 the thoughts he has dreamed of for nights, but looks around for help
70099 or a chance of delay and flight when the longed-for moment comes and
70100 he is alone with her, so Rostov, now that he had attained what he
70101 had longed for more than anything else in the world, did not know
70102 how to approach the Emperor, and a thousand reasons occurred to him
70103 why it would be inconvenient, unseemly, and impossible to do so.
70104
70105 "What! It is as if I were glad of a chance to take advantage of
70106 his being alone and despondent! A strange face may seem unpleasant
70107 or painful to him at this moment of sorrow; besides, what can I say to
70108 him now, when my heart fails me and my mouth feels dry at the mere
70109 sight of him?" Not one of the innumerable speeches addressed to the
70110 Emperor that he had composed in his imagination could he now recall.
70111 Those speeches were intended for quite other conditions, they were for
70112 the most part to be spoken at a moment of victory and triumph,
70113 generally when he was dying of wounds and the sovereign had thanked
70114 him for heroic deeds, and while dying he expressed the love his
70115 actions had proved.
70116
70117 "Besides how can I ask the Emperor for his instructions for the
70118 right flank now that it is nearly four o'clock and the battle is lost?
70119 No, certainly I must not approach him, I must not intrude on his
70120 reflections. Better die a thousand times than risk receiving an unkind
70121 look or bad opinion from him," Rostov decided; and sorrowfully and
70122 with a heart full despair he rode away, continually looking back at
70123 the Tsar, who still remained in the same attitude of indecision.
70124
70125 While Rostov was thus arguing with himself and riding sadly away,
70126 Captain von Toll chanced to ride to the same spot, and seeing the
70127 Emperor at once rode up to him, offered his services, and assisted him
70128 to cross the ditch on foot. The Emperor, wishing to rest and feeling
70129 unwell, sat down under an apple tree and von Toll remained beside him.
70130 Rostov from a distance saw with envy and remorse how von Toll spoke
70131 long and warmly to the Emperor and how the Emperor, evidently weeping,
70132 covered his eyes with his hand and pressed von Toll's hand.
70133
70134 "And I might have been in his place!" thought Rostov, and hardly
70135 restraining his tears of pity for the Emperor, he rode on in utter
70136 despair, not knowing where to or why he was now riding.
70137
70138 His despair was all the greater from feeling that his own weakness
70139 was the cause his grief.
70140
70141 He might... not only might but should, have gone up to the
70142 sovereign. It was a unique chance to show his devotion to the
70143 Emperor and he had not made use of it.... "What have I done?"
70144 thought he. And he turned round and galloped back to the place where
70145 he had seen the Emperor, but there was no one beyond the ditch now.
70146 Only some carts and carriages were passing by. From one of the drivers
70147 he learned that Kutuzov's staff were not far off, in the village the
70148 vehicles were going to. Rostov followed them. In front of him walked
70149 Kutuzov's groom leading horses in horsecloths. Then came a cart, and
70150 behind that walked an old, bandy-legged domestic serf in a peaked
70151 cap and sheepskin coat.
70152
70153 "Tit! I say, Tit!" said the groom.
70154
70155 "What?" answered the old man absent-mindedly.
70156
70157 "Go, Tit! Thresh a bit!"
70158
70159 "Oh, you fool!" said the old man, spitting angrily. Some time passed
70160 in silence, and then the same joke was repeated.
70161
70162
70163 Before five in the evening the battle had been lost at all points.
70164 More than a hundred cannon were already in the hands of the French.
70165
70166 Przebyszewski and his corps had laid down their arms. Other
70167 columns after losing half their men were retreating in disorderly
70168 confused masses.
70169
70170 The remains of Langeron's and Dokhturov's mingled forces were
70171 crowding around the dams and banks of the ponds near the village of
70172 Augesd.
70173
70174 After five o'clock it was only at the Augesd Dam that a hot
70175 cannonade (delivered by the French alone) was still to be heard from
70176 numerous batteries ranged on the slopes of the Pratzen Heights,
70177 directed at our retreating forces.
70178
70179 In the rearguard, Dokhturov and others rallying some battalions kept
70180 up a musketry fire at the French cavalry that was pursuing our troops.
70181 It was growing dusk. On the narrow Augesd Dam where for so many
70182 years the old miller had been accustomed to sit in his tasseled cap
70183 peacefully angling, while his grandson, with shirt sleeves rolled
70184 up, handled the floundering silvery fish in the watering can, on
70185 that dam over which for so many years Moravians in shaggy caps and
70186 blue jackets had peacefully driven their two-horse carts loaded with
70187 wheat and had returned dusty with flour whitening their carts--on that
70188 narrow dam amid the wagons and the cannon, under the horses' hoofs and
70189 between the wagon wheels, men disfigured by fear of death now
70190 crowded together, crushing one another, dying, stepping over the dying
70191 and killing one another, only to move on a few steps and be killed
70192 themselves in the same way.
70193
70194 Every ten seconds a cannon ball flew compressing the air around,
70195 or a shell burst in the midst of that dense throng, killing some and
70196 splashing with blood those near them.
70197
70198 Dolokhov--now an officer--wounded in the arm, and on foot, with
70199 the regimental commander on horseback and some ten men of his company,
70200 represented all that was left of that whole regiment. Impelled by
70201 the crowd, they had got wedged in at the approach to the dam and,
70202 jammed in on all sides, had stopped because a horse in front had
70203 fallen under a cannon and the crowd were dragging it out. A cannon
70204 ball killed someone behind them, another fell in front and splashed
70205 Dolokhov with blood. The crowd, pushing forward desperately,
70206 squeezed together, moved a few steps, and again stopped.
70207
70208 "Move on a hundred yards and we are certainly saved, remain here
70209 another two minutes and it is certain death," thought each one.
70210
70211 Dolokhov who was in the midst of the crowd forced his way to the
70212 edge of the dam, throwing two soldiers off their feet, and ran onto
70213 the slippery ice that covered the millpool.
70214
70215 "Turn this way!" he shouted, jumping over the ice which creaked
70216 under him; "turn this way!" he shouted to those with the gun. "It
70217 bears!..."
70218
70219 The ice bore him but it swayed and creaked, and it was plain that it
70220 would give way not only under a cannon or a crowd, but very soon
70221 even under his weight alone. The men looked at him and pressed to
70222 the bank, hesitating to step onto the ice. The general on horseback at
70223 the entrance to the dam raised his hand and opened his mouth to
70224 address Dolokhov. Suddenly a cannon ball hissed so low above the crowd
70225 that everyone ducked. It flopped into something moist, and the general
70226 fell from his horse in a pool of blood. Nobody gave him a look or
70227 thought of raising him.
70228
70229 "Get onto the ice, over the ice! Go on! Turn! Don't you hear? Go
70230 on!" innumerable voices suddenly shouted after the ball had struck the
70231 general, the men themselves not knowing what, or why, they were
70232 shouting.
70233
70234 One of the hindmost guns that was going onto the dam turned off onto
70235 the ice. Crowds of soldiers from the dam began running onto the frozen
70236 pond. The ice gave way under one of the foremost soldiers, and one leg
70237 slipped into the water. He tried to right himself but fell in up to
70238 his waist. The nearest soldiers shrank back, the gun driver stopped
70239 his horse, but from behind still came the shouts: "Onto the ice, why
70240 do you stop? Go on! Go on!" And cries of horror were heard in the
70241 crowd. The soldiers near the gun waved their arms and beat the
70242 horses to make them turn and move on. The horses moved off the bank.
70243 The ice, that had held under those on foot, collapsed in a great mass,
70244 and some forty men who were on it dashed, some forward and some
70245 back, drowning one another.
70246
70247 Still the cannon balls continued regularly to whistle and flop
70248 onto the ice and into the water and oftenest of all among the crowd
70249 that covered the dam, the pond, and the bank.
70250
70251
70252
70253
70254
70255 CHAPTER XIX
70256
70257
70258 On the Pratzen Heights, where he had fallen with the flagstaff in
70259 his hand, lay Prince Andrew Bolkonski bleeding profusely and
70260 unconsciously uttering a gentle, piteous, and childlike moan.
70261
70262 Toward evening he ceased moaning and became quite still. He did
70263 not know how long his unconsciousness lasted. Suddenly he again felt
70264 that he was alive and suffering from a burning, lacerating pain in his
70265 head.
70266
70267 "Where is it, that lofty sky that I did not know till now, but saw
70268 today?" was his first thought. "And I did not know this suffering
70269 either," he thought. "Yes, I did not know anything, anything at all
70270 till now. But where am I?"
70271
70272 He listened and heard the sound of approaching horses, and voices
70273 speaking French. He opened his eyes. Above him again was the same
70274 lofty sky with clouds that had risen and were floating still higher,
70275 and between them gleamed blue infinity. He did not turn his head and
70276 did not see those who, judging by the sound of hoofs and voices, had
70277 ridden up and stopped near him.
70278
70279 It was Napoleon accompanied by two aides-de-camp. Bonaparte riding
70280 over the battlefield had given final orders to strengthen the
70281 batteries firing at the Augesd Dam and was looking at the killed and
70282 wounded left on the field.
70283
70284 "Fine men!" remarked Napoleon, looking at a dead Russian
70285 grenadier, who, with his face buried in the ground and a blackened
70286 nape, lay on his stomach with an already stiffened arm flung wide.
70287
70288 "The ammunition for the guns in position is exhausted, Your
70289 Majesty," said an adjutant who had come from the batteries that were
70290 firing at Augesd.
70291
70292 "Have some brought from the reserve," said Napoleon, and having gone
70293 on a few steps he stopped before Prince Andrew, who lay on his back
70294 with the flagstaff that had been dropped beside him. (The flag had
70295 already been taken by the French as a trophy.)
70296
70297 "That's a fine death!" said Napoleon as he gazed at Bolkonski.
70298
70299 Prince Andrew understood that this was said of him and that it was
70300 Napoleon who said it. He heard the speaker addressed as Sire. But he
70301 heard the words as he might have heard the buzzing of a fly. Not
70302 only did they not interest him, but he took no notice of them and at
70303 once forgot them. His head was burning, he felt himself bleeding to
70304 death, and he saw above him the remote, lofty, and everlasting sky. He
70305 knew it was Napoleon--his hero--but at that moment Napoleon seemed
70306 to him such a small, insignificant creature compared with what was
70307 passing now between himself and that lofty infinite sky with the
70308 clouds flying over it. At that moment it meant nothing to him who
70309 might be standing over him, or what was said of him; he was only
70310 glad that people were standing near him and only wished that they
70311 would help him and bring him back to life, which seemed to him so
70312 beautiful now that he had today learned to understand it so
70313 differently. He collected all his strength, to stir and utter a sound.
70314 He feebly moved his leg and uttered a weak, sickly groan which aroused
70315 his own pity.
70316
70317 "Ah! He is alive," said Napoleon. "Lift this young man up and
70318 carry him to the dressing station."
70319
70320 Having said this, Napoleon rode on to meet Marshal Lannes, who,
70321 hat in hand, rode up smiling to the Emperor to congratulate him on the
70322 victory.
70323
70324 Prince Andrew remembered nothing more: he lost consciousness from
70325 the terrible pain of being lifted onto the stretcher, the jolting
70326 while being moved, and the probing of his wound at the dressing
70327 station. He did not regain consciousness till late in the day, when
70328 with other wounded and captured Russian officers he was carried to the
70329 hospital. During this transfer he felt a little stronger and was
70330 able to look about him and even speak.
70331
70332 The first words he heard on coming to his senses were those of a
70333 French convoy officer, who said rapidly: "We must halt here: the
70334 Emperor will pass here immediately; it will please him to see these
70335 gentlemen prisoners."
70336
70337 "There are so many prisoners today, nearly the whole Russian army,
70338 that he is probably tired of them," said another officer.
70339
70340 "All the same! They say this one is the commander of all the Emperor
70341 Alexander's Guards," said the first one, indicating a Russian
70342 officer in the white uniform of the Horse Guards.
70343
70344 Bolkonski recognized Prince Repnin whom he had met in Petersburg
70345 society. Beside him stood a lad of nineteen, also a wounded officer of
70346 the Horse Guards.
70347
70348 Bonaparte, having come up at a gallop, stopped his horse.
70349
70350 "Which is the senior?" he asked, on seeing the prisoners.
70351
70352 They named the colonel, Prince Repnin.
70353
70354 "You are the commander of the Emperor Alexander's regiment of
70355 Horse Guards?" asked Napoleon.
70356
70357 "I commanded a squadron," replied Repnin.
70358
70359 "Your regiment fulfilled its duty honorably," said Napoleon.
70360
70361 "The praise of a great commander is a soldier's highest reward,"
70362 said Repnin.
70363
70364 "I bestow it with pleasure," said Napoleon. "And who is that young
70365 man beside you?"
70366
70367 Prince Repnin named Lieutenant Sukhtelen.
70368
70369 After looking at him Napoleon smiled.
70370
70371 "He's very young to come to meddle with us."
70372
70373 "Youth is no hindrance to courage," muttered Sukhtelen in a
70374 failing voice.
70375
70376 "A splendid reply!" said Napoleon. "Young man, you will go far!"
70377
70378 Prince Andrew, who had also been brought forward before the
70379 Emperor's eyes to complete the show of prisoners, could not fail to
70380 attract his attention. Napoleon apparently remembered seeing him on
70381 the battlefield and, addressing him, again used the epithet "young
70382 man" that was connected in his memory with Prince Andrew.
70383
70384 "Well, and you, young man," said he. "How do you feel, mon brave?"
70385
70386 Though five minutes before, Prince Andrew had been able to say a few
70387 words to the soldiers who were carrying him, now with his eyes fixed
70388 straight on Napoleon, he was silent.... So insignificant at that
70389 moment seemed to him all the interests that engrossed Napoleon, so
70390 mean did his hero himself with his paltry vanity and joy in victory
70391 appear, compared to the lofty, equitable, and kindly sky which he
70392 had seen and understood, that he could not answer him.
70393
70394 Everything seemed so futile and insignificant in comparison with the
70395 stern and solemn train of thought that weakness from loss of blood,
70396 suffering, and the nearness of death aroused in him. Looking into
70397 Napoleon's eyes Prince Andrew thought of the insignificance of
70398 greatness, the unimportance of life which no one could understand, and
70399 the still greater unimportance of death, the meaning of which no one
70400 alive could understand or explain.
70401
70402 The Emperor without waiting for an answer turned away and said to
70403 one of the officers as he went: "Have these gentlemen attended to
70404 and taken to my bivouac; let my doctor, Larrey, examine their
70405 wounds. Au revoir, Prince Repnin!" and he spurred his horse and
70406 galloped away.
70407
70408 His face shone with self-satisfaction and pleasure.
70409
70410 The soldiers who had carried Prince Andrew had noticed and taken the
70411 little gold icon Princess Mary had hung round her brother's neck,
70412 but seeing the favor the Emperor showed the prisoners, they now
70413 hastened to return the holy image.
70414
70415 Prince Andrew did not see how and by whom it was replaced, but the
70416 little icon with its thin gold chain suddenly appeared upon his
70417 chest outside his uniform.
70418
70419 "It would be good," thought Prince Andrew, glancing at the icon
70420 his sister had hung round his neck with such emotion and reverence,
70421 "it would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems
70422 to Mary. How good it would be to know where to seek for help in this
70423 life, and what to expect after it beyond the grave! How happy and calm
70424 I should be if I could now say: 'Lord, have mercy on me!'... But to
70425 whom should I say that? Either to a Power indefinable,
70426 incomprehensible, which I not only cannot address but which I cannot
70427 even express in words--the Great All or Nothing-" said he to
70428 himself, "or to that God who has been sewn into this amulet by Mary!
70429 There is nothing certain, nothing at all except the unimportance of
70430 everything I understand, and the greatness of something
70431 incomprehensible but all-important."
70432
70433 The stretchers moved on. At every jolt he again felt unendurable
70434 pain; his feverishness increased and he grew delirious. Visions of his
70435 father, wife, sister, and future son, and the tenderness he had felt
70436 the night before the battle, the figure of the insignificant little
70437 Napoleon, and above all this the lofty sky, formed the chief
70438 subjects of his delirious fancies.
70439
70440 The quiet home life and peaceful happiness of Bald Hills presented
70441 itself to him. He was already enjoying that happiness when that little
70442 Napoleon had suddenly appeared with his unsympathizing look of
70443 shortsighted delight at the misery of others, and doubts and
70444 torments had followed, and only the heavens promised peace. Toward
70445 morning all these dreams melted and merged into the chaos and darkness
70446 of unconciousness and oblivion which in the opinion of Napoleon's
70447 doctor, Larrey, was much more likely to end in death than in
70448 convalescence.
70449
70450 "He is a nervous, bilious subject," said Larrey, "and will not
70451 recover."
70452
70453 And Prince Andrew, with others fatally wounded, was left to the care
70454 of the inhabitants of the district.
70455
70456
70457
70458
70459
70460 BOOK FOUR: 1806
70461
70462
70463
70464 CHAPTER I
70465
70466
70467 Early in the year 1806 Nicholas Rostov returned home on leave.
70468 Denisov was going home to Voronezh and Rostov persuaded him to
70469 travel with him as far as Moscow and to stay with him there. Meeting a
70470 comrade at the last post station but one before Moscow, Denisov had
70471 drunk three bottles of wine with him and, despite the jolting ruts
70472 across the snow-covered road, did not once wake up on the way to
70473 Moscow, but lay at the bottom of the sleigh beside Rostov, who grew
70474 more and more impatient the nearer they got to Moscow.
70475
70476 "How much longer? How much longer? Oh, these insufferable streets,
70477 shops, bakers' signboards, street lamps, and sleighs!" thought Rostov,
70478 when their leave permits had been passed at the town gate and they had
70479 entered Moscow.
70480
70481 "Denisov! We're here! He's asleep," he added, leaning forward with
70482 his whole body as if in that position he hoped to hasten the speed
70483 of the sleigh.
70484
70485 Denisov gave no answer.
70486
70487 "There's the corner at the crossroads, where the cabman, Zakhar, has
70488 his stand, and there's Zakhar himself and still the same horse! And
70489 here's the little shop where we used to buy gingerbread! Can't you
70490 hurry up? Now then!"
70491
70492 "Which house is it?" asked the driver.
70493
70494 "Why, that one, right at the end, the big one. Don't you see? That's
70495 our house," said Rostov. "Of course, it's our house! Denisov, Denisov!
70496 We're almost there!"
70497
70498 Denisov raised his head, coughed, and made no answer.
70499
70500 "Dmitri," said Rostov to his valet on the box, "those lights are
70501 in our house, aren't they?"
70502
70503 "Yes, sir, and there's a light in your father's study."
70504
70505 "Then they've not gone to bed yet? What do you think? Mind now,
70506 don't forget to put out my new coat," added Rostov, fingering his
70507 new mustache. "Now then, get on," he shouted to the driver. "Do wake
70508 up, Vaska!" he went on, turning to Denisov, whose head was again
70509 nodding. "Come, get on! You shall have three rubles for vodka--get
70510 on!" Rostov shouted, when the sleigh was only three houses from his
70511 door. It seemed to him the horses were not moving at all. At last
70512 the sleigh bore to the right, drew up at an entrance, and Rostov saw
70513 overhead the old familiar cornice with a bit of plaster broken off,
70514 the porch, and the post by the side of the pavement. He sprang out
70515 before the sleigh stopped, and ran into the hall. The house stood cold
70516 and silent, as if quite regardless of who had come to it. There was no
70517 one in the hall. "Oh God! Is everyone all right?" he thought, stopping
70518 for a moment with a sinking heart, and then immediately starting to
70519 run along the hall and up the warped steps of the familiar
70520 staircase. The well-known old door handle, which always angered the
70521 countess when it was not properly cleaned, turned as loosely as
70522 ever. A solitary tallow candle burned in the anteroom.
70523
70524 Old Michael was asleep on the chest. Prokofy, the footman, who was
70525 so strong that he could lift the back of the carriage from behind, sat
70526 plaiting slippers out of cloth selvedges. He looked up at the
70527 opening door and his expression of sleepy indifference suddenly
70528 changed to one of delighted amazement.
70529
70530 "Gracious heavens! The young count!" he cried, recognizing his young
70531 master. "Can it be? My treasure!" and Prokofy, trembling with
70532 excitement, rushed toward the drawing-room door, probably in order
70533 to announce him, but, changing his mind, came back and stooped to kiss
70534 the young man's shoulder.
70535
70536 "All well?" asked Rostov, drawing away his arm.
70537
70538 "Yes, God be thanked! Yes! They've just finished supper. Let me have
70539 a look at you, your excellency."
70540
70541 "Is everything quite all right?"
70542
70543 "The Lord be thanked, yes!"
70544
70545 Rostov, who had completely forgotten Denisov, not wishing anyone
70546 to forestall him, threw off his fur coat and ran on tiptoe through the
70547 large dark ballroom. All was the same: there were the same old card
70548 tables and the same chandelier with a cover over it; but someone had
70549 already seen the young master, and, before he had reached the
70550 drawing room, something flew out from a side door like a tornado and
70551 began hugging and kissing him. Another and yet another creature of the
70552 same kind sprang from a second door and a third; more hugging, more
70553 kissing, more outcries, and tears of joy. He could not distinguish
70554 which was Papa, which Natasha, and which Petya. Everyone shouted,
70555 talked, and kissed him at the same time. Only his mother was not
70556 there, he noticed that.
70557
70558 "And I did not know... Nicholas... My darling!..."
70559
70560 "Here he is... our own... Kolya,* dear fellow... How he has
70561 changed!... Where are the candles?... Tea!..."
70562
70563
70564 *Nicholas.
70565
70566
70567 "And me, kiss me!"
70568
70569 "Dearest... and me!"
70570
70571 Sonya, Natasha, Petya, Anna Mikhaylovna, Vera, and the old count
70572 were all hugging him, and the serfs, men and maids, flocked into the
70573 room, exclaiming and oh-ing and ah-ing.
70574
70575 Petya, clinging to his legs, kept shouting, "And me too!"
70576
70577 Natasha, after she had pulled him down toward her and covered his
70578 face with kisses, holding him tight by the skirt of his coat, sprang
70579 away and pranced up and down in one place like a goat and shrieked
70580 piercingly.
70581
70582 All around were loving eyes glistening with tears of joy, and all
70583 around were lips seeking a kiss.
70584
70585 Sonya too, all rosy red, clung to his arm and, radiant with bliss,
70586 looked eagerly toward his eyes, waiting for the look for which she
70587 longed. Sonya now was sixteen and she was very pretty, especially at
70588 this moment of happy, rapturous excitement. She gazed at him, not
70589 taking her eyes off him, and smiling and holding her breath. He gave
70590 her a grateful look, but was still expectant and looking for
70591 someone. The old countess had not yet come. But now steps were heard
70592 at the door, steps so rapid that they could hardly be his mother's.
70593
70594 Yet it was she, dressed in a new gown which he did not know, made
70595 since he had left. All the others let him go, and he ran to her.
70596 When they met, she fell on his breast, sobbing. She could not lift her
70597 face, but only pressed it to the cold braiding of his hussar's jacket.
70598 Denisov, who had come into the room unnoticed by anyone, stood there
70599 and wiped his eyes at the sight.
70600
70601 "Vasili Denisov, your son's friend," he said, introducing himself to
70602 the count, who was looking inquiringly at him.
70603
70604 "You are most welcome! I know, I know," said the count, kissing
70605 and embracing Denisov. "Nicholas wrote us... Natasha, Vera, look! Here
70606 is Denisov!"
70607
70608 The same happy, rapturous faces turned to the shaggy figure of
70609 Denisov.
70610
70611 "Darling Denisov!" screamed Natasha, beside herself with rapture,
70612 springing to him, putting her arms round him, and kissing him. This
70613 escapade made everybody feel confused. Denisov blushed too, but smiled
70614 and, taking Natasha's hand, kissed it.
70615
70616 Denisov was shown to the room prepared for him, and the Rostovs
70617 all gathered round Nicholas in the sitting room.
70618
70619 The old countess, not letting go of his hand and kissing it every
70620 moment, sat beside him: the rest, crowding round him, watched every
70621 movement, word, or look of his, never taking their blissfully
70622 adoring eyes off him. His brother and sisters struggled for the places
70623 nearest to him and disputed with one another who should bring him
70624 his tea, handkerchief, and pipe.
70625
70626 Rostov was very happy in the love they showed him; but the first
70627 moment of meeting had been so beatific that his present joy seemed
70628 insufficient, and he kept expecting something more, more and yet more.
70629
70630 Next morning, after the fatigues of their journey, the travelers
70631 slept till ten o'clock.
70632
70633 In the room next their bedroom there was a confusion of sabers,
70634 satchels, sabretaches, open portmanteaus, and dirty boots. Two freshly
70635 cleaned pairs with spurs had just been placed by the wall. The
70636 servants were bringing in jugs and basins, hot water for shaving,
70637 and their well-brushed clothes. There was a masculine odor and a smell
70638 of tobacco.
70639
70640 "Hallo, Gwiska--my pipe!" came Vasili Denisov's husky voice.
70641 "Wostov, get up!"
70642
70643 Rostov, rubbing his eyes that seemed glued together, raised his
70644 disheveled head from the hot pillow.
70645
70646 "Why, is it late?"
70647
70648 "Late! It's nearly ten o'clock," answered Natasha's voice. A
70649 rustle of starched petticoats and the whispering and laughter of
70650 girls' voices came from the adjoining room. The door was opened a
70651 crack and there was a glimpse of something blue, of ribbons, black
70652 hair, and merry faces. It was Natasha, Sonya, and Petya, who had
70653 come to see whether they were getting up.
70654
70655 "Nicholas! Get up!" Natasha's voice was again heard at the door.
70656
70657 "Directly!"
70658
70659 Meanwhile, Petya, having found and seized the sabers in the outer
70660 room, with the delight boys feel at the sight of a military elder
70661 brother, and forgetting that it was unbecoming for the girls to see
70662 men undressed, opened the bedroom door.
70663
70664 "Is this your saber?" he shouted.
70665
70666 The girls sprang aside. Denisov hid his hairy legs under the
70667 blanket, looking with a scared face at his comrade for help. The door,
70668 having let Petya in, closed again. A sound of laughter came from
70669 behind it.
70670
70671 "Nicholas! Come out in your dressing gown!" said Natasha's voice.
70672
70673 "Is this your saber?" asked Petya. "Or is it yours?" he said,
70674 addressing the black-mustached Denisov with servile deference.
70675
70676 Rostov hurriedly put something on his feet, drew on his dressing
70677 gown, and went out. Natasha had put on one spurred boot and was just
70678 getting her foot into the other. Sonya, when he came in, was
70679 twirling round and was about to expand her dresses into a balloon
70680 and sit down. They were dressed alike, in new pale-blue frocks, and
70681 were both fresh, rosy, and bright. Sonya ran away, but Natasha, taking
70682 her brother's arm, led him into the sitting room, where they began
70683 talking. They hardly gave one another time to ask questions and give
70684 replies concerning a thousand little matters which could not
70685 interest anyone but themselves. Natasha laughed at every word he
70686 said or that she said herself, not because what they were saying was
70687 amusing, but because she felt happy and was unable to control her
70688 joy which expressed itself by laughter.
70689
70690 "Oh, how nice, how splendid!" she said to everything.
70691
70692 Rostov felt that, under the influence of the warm rays of love, that
70693 childlike smile which had not once appeared on his face since he
70694 left home now for the first time after eighteen months again
70695 brightened his soul and his face.
70696
70697 "No, but listen," she said, "now you are quite a man, aren't you?
70698 I'm awfully glad you're my brother." She touched his mustache. "I want
70699 to know what you men are like. Are you the same as we? No?"
70700
70701 "Why did Sonya run away?" asked Rostov.
70702
70703 "Ah, yes! That's a whole long story! How are you going to speak to
70704 her--thou or you?"
70705
70706 "As may happen," said Rostov.
70707
70708 "No, call her you, please! I'll tell you all about it some other
70709 time. No, I'll tell you now. You know Sonya's my dearest friend.
70710 Such a friend that I burned my arm for her sake. Look here!"
70711
70712 She pulled up her muslin sleeve and showed him a red scar on her
70713 long, slender, delicate arm, high above the elbow on that part that is
70714 covered even by a ball dress.
70715
70716 "I burned this to prove my love for her. I just heated a ruler in
70717 the fire and pressed it there!"
70718
70719 Sitting on the sofa with the little cushions on its arms, in what
70720 used to be his old schoolroom, and looking into Natasha's wildly
70721 bright eyes, Rostov re-entered that world of home and childhood
70722 which had no meaning for anyone else, but gave him some of the best
70723 joys of his life; and the burning of an arm with a ruler as a proof of
70724 love did not seem to him senseless, he understood and was not
70725 surprised at it.
70726
70727 "Well, and is that all?" he asked.
70728
70729 "We are such friends, such friends! All that ruler business was just
70730 nonsense, but we are friends forever. She, if she loves anyone, does
70731 it for life, but I don't understand that, I forget quickly."
70732
70733 "Well, what then?"
70734
70735 "Well, she loves me and you like that."
70736
70737 Natasha suddenly flushed.
70738
70739 "Why, you remember before you went away?... Well, she says you are
70740 to forget all that.... She says: 'I shall love him always, but let him
70741 be free.' Isn't that lovely and noble! Yes, very noble? Isn't it?"
70742 asked Natasha, so seriously and excitedly that it was evident that
70743 what she was now saying she had talked of before, with tears.
70744
70745 Rostov became thoughtful.
70746
70747 "I never go back on my word," he said. "Besides, Sonya is so
70748 charming that only a fool would renounce such happiness."
70749
70750 "No, no!" cried Natasha, "she and I have already talked it over.
70751 We knew you'd say so. But it won't do, because you see, if you say
70752 that--if you consider yourself bound by your promise--it will seem
70753 as if she had not meant it seriously. It makes it as if you were
70754 marrying her because you must, and that wouldn't do at all."
70755
70756 Rostov saw that it had been well considered by them. Sonya had
70757 already struck him by her beauty on the preceding day. Today, when
70758 he had caught a glimpse of her, she seemed still more lovely. She
70759 was a charming girl of sixteen, evidently passionately in love with
70760 him (he did not doubt that for an instant). Why should he not love her
70761 now, and even marry her, Rostov thought, but just now there were so
70762 many other pleasures and interests before him! "Yes, they have taken a
70763 wise decision," he thought, "I must remain free."
70764
70765 "Well then, that's excellent," said he. "We'll talk it over later
70766 on. Oh, how glad I am to have you!"
70767
70768 "Well, and are you still true to Boris?" he continued.
70769
70770 "Oh, what nonsense!" cried Natasha, laughing. "I don't think about
70771 him or anyone else, and I don't want anything of the kind."
70772
70773 "Dear me! Then what are you up now?"
70774
70775 "Now?" repeated Natasha, and a happy smile lit up her face. "Have
70776 you seen Duport?"
70777
70778 "No."
70779
70780 "Not seen Duport--the famous dancer? Well then, you won't
70781 understand. That's what I'm up to."
70782
70783 Curving her arms, Natasha held out her skirts as dancers do, ran
70784 back a few steps, turned, cut a caper, brought her little feet sharply
70785 together, and made some steps on the very tips of her toes.
70786
70787 "See, I'm standing! See!" she said, but could not maintain herself
70788 on her toes any longer. "So that's what I'm up to! I'll never marry
70789 anyone, but will be a dancer. Only don't tell anyone."
70790
70791 Rostov laughed so loud and merrily that Denisov, in his bedroom,
70792 felt envious and Natasha could not help joining in.
70793
70794 "No, but don't you think it's nice?" she kept repeating.
70795
70796 "Nice! And so you no longer wish to marry Boris?"
70797
70798 Natasha flared up. "I don't want to marry anyone. And I'll tell
70799 him so when I see him!"
70800
70801 "Dear me!" said Rostov.
70802
70803 "But that's all rubbish," Natasha chattered on. "And is Denisov
70804 nice?" she asked.
70805
70806 "Yes, indeed!"
70807
70808 "Oh, well then, good-by: go and dress. Is he very terrible,
70809 Denisov?"
70810
70811 "Why terrible?" asked Nicholas. "No, Vaska is a splendid fellow."
70812
70813 "You call him Vaska? That's funny! And is he very nice?"
70814
70815 "Very."
70816
70817 "Well then, be quick. We'll all have breakfast together."
70818
70819 And Natasha rose and went out of the room on tiptoe, like a ballet
70820 dancer, but smiling as only happy girls of fifteen can smile. When
70821 Rostov met Sonya in the drawing room, he reddened. He did not know how
70822 to behave with her. The evening before, in the first happy moment of
70823 meeting, they had kissed each other, but today they felt it could
70824 not be done; he felt that everybody, including his mother and sisters,
70825 was looking inquiringly at him and watching to see how he would behave
70826 with her. He kissed her hand and addressed her not as thou but as you-
70827 Sonya. But their eyes met and said thou, and exchanged tender
70828 kisses. Her looks asked him to forgive her for having dared, by
70829 Natasha's intermediacy, to remind him of his promise, and then thanked
70830 him for his love. His looks thanked her for offering him his freedom
70831 and told her that one way or another he would never cease to love her,
70832 for that would be impossible.
70833
70834 "How strange it is," said Vera, selecting a moment when all were
70835 silent, "that Sonya and Nicholas now say you to one another and meet
70836 like strangers."
70837
70838 Vera's remark was correct, as her remarks always were, but, like
70839 most of her observations, it made everyone feel uncomfortable, not
70840 only Sonya, Nicholas, and Natasha, but even the old countess, who-
70841 dreading this love affair which might hinder Nicholas from making a
70842 brilliant match--blushed like a girl.
70843
70844 Denisov, to Rostov's surprise, appeared in the drawing room with
70845 pomaded hair, perfumed, and in a new uniform, looking just as smart as
70846 he made himself when going into battle, and he was more amiable to the
70847 ladies and gentlemen than Rostov had ever expected to see him.
70848
70849
70850
70851
70852
70853 CHAPTER II
70854
70855
70856 On his return to Moscow from the army, Nicholas Rostov was
70857 welcomed by his home circle as the best of sons, a hero, and their
70858 darling Nikolenka; by his relations as a charming, attractive, and
70859 polite young man; by his acquaintances as a handsome lieutenant of
70860 hussars, a good dancer, and one of the best matches in the city.
70861
70862 The Rostovs knew everybody in Moscow. The old count had money enough
70863 that year, as all his estates had been remortgaged, and so Nicholas,
70864 acquiring a trotter of his own, very stylish riding breeches of the
70865 latest cut, such as no one else yet had in Moscow, and boots of the
70866 latest fashion, with extremely pointed toes and small silver spurs,
70867 passed his time very gaily. After a short period of adapting himself
70868 to the old conditions of life, Nicholas found it very pleasant to be
70869 at home again. He felt that he had grown up and matured very much. His
70870 despair at failing in a Scripture examination, his borrowing money
70871 from Gavril to pay a sleigh driver, his kissing Sonya on the sly--he
70872 now recalled all this as childishness he had left immeasurably behind.
70873 Now he was a lieutenant of hussars, in a jacket laced with silver, and
70874 wearing the Cross of St. George, awarded to soldiers for bravery in
70875 action, and in the company of well-known, elderly, and respected
70876 racing men was training a trotter of his own for a race. He knew a
70877 lady on one of the boulevards whom he visited of an evening. He led
70878 the mazurka at the Arkharovs' ball, talked about the war with Field
70879 Marshal Kamenski, visited the English Club, and was on intimate
70880 terms with a colonel of forty to whom Denisov had introduced him.
70881
70882 His passion for the Emperor had cooled somewhat in Moscow. But
70883 still, as he did not see him and had no opportunity of seeing him,
70884 he often spoke about him and about his love for him, letting it be
70885 understood that he had not told all and that there was something in
70886 his feelings for the Emperor not everyone could understand, and with
70887 his whole soul he shared the adoration then common in Moscow for the
70888 Emperor, who was spoken of as the "angel incarnate."
70889
70890 During Rostov's short stay in Moscow, before rejoining the army,
70891 he did not draw closer to Sonya, but rather drifted away from her. She
70892 was very pretty and sweet, and evidently deeply in love with him,
70893 but he was at the period of youth when there seems so much to do
70894 that there is no time for that sort of thing and a young man fears
70895 to bind himself and prizes his freedom which he needs for so many
70896 other things. When he thought of Sonya, during this stay in Moscow, he
70897 said to himself, "Ah, there will be, and there are, many more such
70898 girls somewhere whom I do not yet know. There will be time enough to
70899 think about love when I want to, but now I have no time." Besides,
70900 it seemed to him that the society of women was rather derogatory to
70901 his manhood. He went to balls and into ladies' society with an
70902 affectation of doing so against his will. The races, the English Club,
70903 sprees with Denisov, and visits to a certain house--that was another
70904 matter and quite the thing for a dashing young hussar!
70905
70906 At the beginning of March, old Count Ilya Rostov was very busy
70907 arranging a dinner in honor of Prince Bagration at the English Club.
70908
70909 The count walked up and down the hall in his dressing gown, giving
70910 orders to the club steward and to the famous Feoktist, the Club's head
70911 cook, about asparagus, fresh cucumbers, strawberries, veal, and fish
70912 for this dinner. The count had been a member and on the committee of
70913 the Club from the day it was founded. To him the Club entrusted the
70914 arrangement of the festival in honor of Bagration, for few men knew so
70915 well how to arrange a feast on an open-handed, hospitable scale, and
70916 still fewer men would be so well able and willing to make up out of
70917 their own resources what might be needed for the success of the
70918 fete. The club cook and the steward listened to the count's orders
70919 with pleased faces, for they knew that under no other management could
70920 they so easily extract a good profit for themselves from a dinner
70921 costing several thousand rubles.
70922
70923 "Well then, mind and have cocks' comb in the turtle soup, you know!"
70924
70925 "Shall we have three cold dishes then?" asked the cook.
70926
70927 The count considered.
70928
70929 "We can't have less--yes, three... the mayonnaise, that's one," said
70930 he, bending down a finger.
70931
70932 "Then am I to order those large sterlets?" asked the steward.
70933
70934 "Yes, it can't be helped if they won't take less. Ah, dear me! I was
70935 forgetting. We must have another entree. Ah, goodness gracious!" he
70936 clutched at his head. "Who is going to get me the flowers? Dmitri! Eh,
70937 Dmitri! Gallop off to our Moscow estate," he said to the factotum
70938 who appeared at his call. "Hurry off and tell Maksim, the gardener, to
70939 set the serfs to work. Say that everything out of the hothouses must
70940 be brought here well wrapped up in felt. I must have two hundred
70941 pots here on Friday."
70942
70943 Having given several more orders, he was about to go to his
70944 "little countess" to have a rest, but remembering something else of
70945 importance, he returned again, called back the cook and the club
70946 steward, and again began giving orders. A light footstep and the
70947 clinking of spurs were heard at the door, and the young count,
70948 handsome, rosy, with a dark little mustache, evidently rested and made
70949 sleeker by his easy life in Moscow, entered the room.
70950
70951 "Ah, my boy, my head's in a whirl!" said the old man with a smile,
70952 as if he felt a little confused before his son. "Now, if you would
70953 only help a bit! I must have singers too. I shall have my own
70954 orchestra, but shouldn't we get the gypsy singers as well? You
70955 military men like that sort of thing."
70956
70957 "Really, Papa, I believe Prince Bagration worried himself less
70958 before the battle of Schon Grabern than you do now," said his son with
70959 a smile.
70960
70961 The old count pretended to be angry.
70962
70963 "Yes, you talk, but try it yourself!"
70964
70965 And the count turned to the cook, who, with a shrewd and
70966 respectful expression, looked observantly and sympathetically at the
70967 father and son.
70968
70969 "What have the young people come to nowadays, eh, Feoktist?" said
70970 he. "Laughing at us old fellows!"
70971
70972 "That's so, your excellency, all they have to do is to eat a good
70973 dinner, but providing it and serving it all up, that's not their
70974 business!"
70975
70976 "That's it, that's it!" exclaimed the count, and gaily seizing his
70977 son by both hands, he cried, "Now I've got you, so take the sleigh and
70978 pair at once, and go to Bezukhob's, and tell him 'Count Ilya has
70979 sent you to ask for strawberries and fresh pineapples.' We can't get
70980 them from anyone else. He's not there himself, so you'll have to go in
70981 and ask the princesses; and from there go on to the Rasgulyay--the
70982 coachman Ipatka knows--and look up the gypsy Ilyushka, the one who
70983 danced at Count Orlov's, you remember, in a white Cossack coat, and
70984 bring him along to me."
70985
70986 "And am I to bring the gypsy girls along with him?" asked
70987 Nicholas, laughing. "Dear, dear!..."
70988
70989 At that moment, with noiseless footsteps and with the
70990 businesslike, preoccupied, yet meekly Christian look which never
70991 left her face, Anna Mikhaylovna entered the hall. Though she came upon
70992 the count in his dressing gown every day, he invariably became
70993 confused and begged her to excuse his costume.
70994
70995 "No matter at all, my dear count," she said, meekly closing her
70996 eyes. "But I'll go to Bezukhov's myself. Pierre has arrived, and now
70997 we shall get anything we want from his hothouses. I have to see him in
70998 any case. He has forwarded me a letter from Boris. Thank God, Boris is
70999 now on the staff."
71000
71001 The count was delighted at Anna Mikhaylovna's taking upon herself
71002 one of his commissions and ordered the small closed carriage for her.
71003
71004 "Tell Bezukhov to come. I'll put his name down. Is his wife with
71005 him?" he asked.
71006
71007 Anna Mikhaylovna turned up her eyes, and profound sadness was
71008 depicted on her face.
71009
71010 "Ah, my dear friend, he is very unfortunate," she said. "If what
71011 we hear is true, it is dreadful. How little we dreamed of such a thing
71012 when we were rejoicing at his happiness! And such a lofty angelic soul
71013 as young Bezukhov! Yes, I pity him from my heart, and shall try to
71014 give him what consolation I can."
71015
71016 "Wh-what is the matter?" asked both the young and old Rostov.
71017
71018 Anna Mikhaylovna sighed deeply.
71019
71020 "Dolokhov, Mary Ivanovna's son," she said in a mysterious whisper,
71021 "has compromised her completely, they say. Pierre took him up, invited
71022 him to his house in Petersburg, and now... she has come here and
71023 that daredevil after her!" said Anna Mikhaylovna, wishing to show
71024 her sympathy for Pierre, but by involuntary intonations and a half
71025 smile betraying her sympathy for the "daredevil," as she called
71026 Dolokhov. "They say Pierre is quite broken by his misfortune."
71027
71028 "Dear, dear! But still tell him to come to the Club--it will all
71029 blow over. It will be a tremendous banquet."
71030
71031 Next day, the third of March, soon after one o'clock, two hundred
71032 and fifty members of the English Club and fifty guests were awaiting
71033 the guest of honor and hero of the Austrian campaign, Prince
71034 Bagration, to dinner.
71035
71036 On the first arrival of the news of the battle of Austerlitz, Moscow
71037 had been bewildered. At that time, the Russians were so used to
71038 victories that on receiving news of the defeat some would simply not
71039 believe it, while others sought some extraordinary explanation of so
71040 strange an event. In the English Club, where all who were
71041 distinguished, important, and well informed forgathered when the
71042 news began to arrive in December, nothing was said about the war and
71043 the last battle, as though all were in a conspiracy of silence. The
71044 men who set the tone in conversation--Count Rostopchin, Prince Yuri
71045 Dolgorukov, Valuev, Count Markov, and Prince Vyazemski--did not show
71046 themselves at the Club, but met in private houses in intimate circles,
71047 and the Moscovites who took their opinions from others--Ilya Rostov
71048 among them--remained for a while without any definite opinion on the
71049 subject of the war and without leaders. The Moscovites felt that
71050 something was wrong and that to discuss the bad news was difficult,
71051 and so it was best to be silent. But after a while, just as a jury
71052 comes out of its room, the bigwigs who guided the Club's opinion
71053 reappeared, and everybody began speaking clearly and definitely.
71054 Reasons were found for the incredible, unheard-of, and impossible
71055 event of a Russian defeat, everything became clear, and in all corners
71056 of Moscow the same things began to be said. These reasons were the
71057 treachery of the Austrians, a defective commissariat, the treachery of
71058 the Pole Przebyszewski and of the Frenchman Langeron, Kutuzov's
71059 incapacity, and (it was whispered) the youth and inexperience of the
71060 sovereign, who had trusted worthless and insignificant people. But the
71061 army, the Russian army, everyone declared, was extraordinary and had
71062 achieved miracles of valor. The soldiers, officers, and generals were
71063 heroes. But the hero of heroes was Prince Bagration, distinguished
71064 by his Schon Grabern affair and by the retreat from Austerlitz,
71065 where he alone had withdrawn his column unbroken and had all day
71066 beaten back an enemy force twice as numerous as his own. What also
71067 conduced to Bagration's being selected as Moscow's hero was the fact
71068 that he had no connections in the city and was a stranger there. In
71069 his person, honor was shown to a simple fighting Russian soldier
71070 without connections and intrigues, and to one who was associated by
71071 memories of the Italian campaign with the name of Suvorov. Moreover,
71072 paying such honor to Bagration was the best way of expressing
71073 disapproval and dislike of Kutuzov.
71074
71075 "Had there been no Bagration, it would have been necessary to invent
71076 him," said the wit Shinshin, parodying the words of Voltaire.
71077 Kutuzov no one spoke of, except some who abused him in whispers,
71078 calling him a court weathercock and an old satyr.
71079
71080 All Moscow repeated Prince Dolgorukov's saying: "If you go on
71081 modeling and modeling you must get smeared with clay," suggesting
71082 consolation for our defeat by the memory of former victories; and
71083 the words of Rostopchin, that French soldiers have to be incited to
71084 battle by highfalutin words, and Germans by logical arguments to
71085 show them that it is more dangerous to run away than to advance, but
71086 that Russian soldiers only need to be restrained and held back! On all
71087 sides, new and fresh anecdotes were heard of individual examples of
71088 heroism shown by our officers and men at Austerlitz. One had saved a
71089 standard, another had killed five Frenchmen, a third had loaded five
71090 cannon singlehanded. Berg was mentioned, by those who did not know
71091 him, as having, when wounded in the right hand, taken his sword in the
71092 left, and gone forward. Of Bolkonski, nothing was said, and only those
71093 who knew him intimately regretted that he had died so young, leaving a
71094 pregnant wife with his eccentric father.
71095
71096
71097
71098
71099
71100 CHAPTER III
71101
71102
71103 On that third of March, all the rooms in the English Club were
71104 filled with a hum of conversation, like the hum of bees swarming in
71105 springtime. The members and guests of the Club wandered hither and
71106 thither, sat, stood, met, and separated, some in uniform and some in
71107 evening dress, and a few here and there with powdered hair and in
71108 Russian kaftans. Powdered footmen, in livery with buckled shoes and
71109 smart stockings, stood at every door anxiously noting visitors'
71110 every movement in order to offer their services. Most of those present
71111 were elderly, respected men with broad, self-confident faces, fat
71112 fingers, and resolute gestures and voices. This class of guests and
71113 members sat in certain habitual places and met in certain habitual
71114 groups. A minority of those present were casual guests--chiefly
71115 young men, among whom were Denisov, Rostov, and Dolokhov--who was
71116 now again an officer in the Semenov regiment. The faces of these young
71117 people, especially those who were militarymen, bore that expression of
71118 condescending respect for their elders which seems to say to the older
71119 generation, "We are prepared to respect and honor you, but all the
71120 same remember that the future belongs to us."
71121
71122 Nesvitski was there as an old member of the Club. Pierre, who at his
71123 wife's command had let his hair grow and abandoned his spectacles,
71124 went about the rooms fashionably dressed but looking sad and dull.
71125 Here, as elsewhere, he was surrounded by an atmosphere of subservience
71126 to his wealth, and being in the habit of lording it over these people,
71127 he treated them with absent-minded contempt.
71128
71129 By his age he should have belonged to the younger men, but by his
71130 wealth and connections he belonged to the groups old and honored
71131 guests, and so he went from one group to another. Some of the most
71132 important old men were the center of groups which even strangers
71133 approached respectfully to hear the voices of well-known men. The
71134 largest circles formed round Count Rostopchin, Valuev, and
71135 Naryshkin. Rostopchin was describing how the Russians had been
71136 overwhelmed by flying Austrians and had had to force their way through
71137 them with bayonets.
71138
71139 Valuev was confidentially telling that Uvarov had been sent from
71140 Petersburg to ascertain what Moscow was thinking about Austerlitz.
71141
71142 In the third circle, Naryshkin was speaking of the meeting of the
71143 Austrian Council of War at which Suvorov crowed like a cock in reply
71144 to the nonsense talked by the Austrian generals. Shinshin, standing
71145 close by, tried to make a joke, saying that Kutuzov had evidently
71146 failed to learn from Suvorov even so simple a thing as the art of
71147 crowing like a cock, but the elder members glanced severely at the
71148 wit, making him feel that in that place and on that day, it was
71149 improper to speak so of Kutuzov.
71150
71151 Count Ilya Rostov, hurried and preoccupied, went about in his soft
71152 boots between the dining and drawing rooms, hastily greeting the
71153 important and unimportant, all of whom he knew, as if they were all
71154 equals, while his eyes occasionally sought out his fine well-set-up
71155 young son, resting on him and winking joyfully at him. Young Rostov
71156 stood at a window with Dolokhov, whose acquaintance he had lately made
71157 and highly valued. The old count came up to them and pressed
71158 Dolokhov's hand.
71159
71160 "Please come and visit us... you know my brave boy... been
71161 together out there... both playing the hero... Ah, Vasili
71162 Ignatovich... How d'ye do, old fellow?" he said, turning to an old man
71163 who was passing, but before he had finished his greeting there was a
71164 general stir, and a footman who had run in announced, with a
71165 frightened face: "He's arrived!"
71166
71167 Bells rang, the stewards rushed forward, and--like rye shaken
71168 together in a shovel--the guests who had been scattered about in
71169 different rooms came together and crowded in the large drawing room by
71170 the door of the ballroom.
71171
71172 Bagration appeared in the doorway of the anteroom without hat or
71173 sword, which, in accord with the Club custom, he had given up to the
71174 hall porter. He had no lambskin cap on his head, nor had he a loaded
71175 whip over his shoulder, as when Rostov had seen him on the eve of
71176 the battle of Austerlitz, but wore a tight new uniform with Russian
71177 and foreign Orders, and the Star of St. George on his left breast.
71178 Evidently just before coming to the dinner he had had his hair and
71179 whiskers trimmed, which changed his appearance for the worse. There
71180 was something naively festive in his air, which, in conjunction with
71181 his firm and virile features, gave him a rather comical expression.
71182 Bekleshev and Theodore Uvarov, who had arrived with him, paused at the
71183 doorway to allow him, as the guest of honor, to enter first. Bagration
71184 was embarrassed, not wishing to avail himself of their courtesy, and
71185 this caused some delay at the doors, but after all he did at last
71186 enter first. He walked shyly and awkwardly over the parquet floor of
71187 the reception room, not knowing what to do with his hands; he was more
71188 accustomed to walk over a plowed field under fire, as he had done at
71189 the head of the Kursk regiment at Schon Grabern--and he would have
71190 found that easier. The committeemen met him at the first door and,
71191 expressing their delight at seeing such a highly honored guest, took
71192 possession of him as it were, without waiting for his reply,
71193 surrounded him, and led him to the drawing room. It was at first
71194 impossible to enter the drawing-room door for the crowd of members and
71195 guests jostling one another and trying to get a good look at Bagration
71196 over each other's shoulders, as if he were some rare animal. Count
71197 Ilya Rostov, laughing and repeating the words, "Make way, dear boy!
71198 Make way, make way!" pushed through the crowd more energetically
71199 than anyone, led the guests into the drawing room, and seated them
71200 on the center sofa. The bigwigs, the most respected members of the
71201 Club, beset the new arrivals. Count Ilya, again thrusting his way
71202 through the crowd, went out of the drawing room and reappeared a
71203 minute later with another committeeman, carrying a large silver salver
71204 which he presented to Prince Bagration. On the salver lay some
71205 verses composed and printed in the hero's honor. Bagration, on
71206 seeing the salver, glanced around in dismay, as though seeking help.
71207 But all eyes demanded that he should submit. Feeling himself in
71208 their power, he resolutely took the salver with both hands and
71209 looked sternly and reproachfully at the count who had presented it
71210 to him. Someone obligingly took the dish from Bagration (or he
71211 would, it seemed, have held it till evening and have gone in to dinner
71212 with it) and drew his attention to the verses.
71213
71214 "Well, I will read them, then!" Bagration seemed to say, and, fixing
71215 his weary eyes on the paper, began to read them with a fixed and
71216 serious expression. But the author himself took the verses and began
71217 reading them aloud. Bagration bowed his bead and listened:
71218
71219 Bring glory then to Alexander's reign
71220 And on the throne our Titus shield.
71221 A dreaded foe be thou, kindhearted as a man,
71222 A Rhipheus at home, a Caesar in the field!
71223 E'en fortunate Napoleon
71224 Knows by experience, now, Bagration,
71225 And dare not Herculean Russians trouble...
71226
71227 But before he had finished reading, a stentorian major-domo
71228 announced that dinner was ready! The door opened, and from the
71229 dining room came the resounding strains of the polonaise:
71230
71231 Conquest's joyful thunder waken,
71232 Triumph, valiant Russians, now!...
71233
71234 and Count Rostov, glancing angrily at the author who went on reading
71235 his verses, bowed to Bagration. Everyone rose, feeling that dinner was
71236 more important than verses, and Bagration, again preceding all the
71237 rest, went in to dinner. He was seated in the place of honor between
71238 two Alexanders--Bekleshev and Naryshkin--which was a significant
71239 allusion to the name of the sovereign. Three hundred persons took
71240 their seats in the dining room, according to their rank and
71241 importance: the more important nearer to the honored guest, as
71242 naturally as water flows deepest where the land lies lowest.
71243
71244 Just before dinner, Count Ilya Rostov presented his son to
71245 Bagration, who recognized him and said a few words to him,
71246 disjointed and awkward, as were all the words he spoke that day, and
71247 Count Ilya looked joyfully and proudly around while Bagration spoke to
71248 his son.
71249
71250 Nicholas Rostov, with Denisov and his new acquaintance, Dolokhov,
71251 sat almost at the middle of the table. Facing them sat Pierre,
71252 beside Prince Nesvitski. Count Ilya Rostov with the other members of
71253 the committee sat facing Bagration and, as the very personification of
71254 Moscow hospitality, did the honors to the prince.
71255
71256 His efforts had not been in vain. The dinner, both the Lenten and
71257 the other fare, was splendid, yet he could not feel quite at ease till
71258 the end of the meal. He winked at the butler, whispered directions
71259 to the footmen, and awaited each expected dish with some anxiety.
71260 Everything was excellent. With the second course, a gigantic sterlet
71261 (at sight of which Ilya Rostov blushed with self-conscious
71262 pleasure), the footmen began popping corks and filling the champagne
71263 glasses. After the fish, which made a certain sensation, the count
71264 exchanged glances with the other committeemen. "There will be many
71265 toasts, it's time to begin," he whispered, and taking up his glass, he
71266 rose. All were silent, waiting for what he would say.
71267
71268 "To the health of our Sovereign, the Emperor!" he cried, and at
71269 the same moment his kindly eyes grew moist with tears of joy and
71270 enthusiasm. The band immediately struck up "Conquest's joyful
71271 thunder waken..." All rose and cried "Hurrah!" Bagration also rose and
71272 shouted "Hurrah!" in exactly the same voice in which he had shouted it
71273 on the field at Schon Grabern. Young Rostov's ecstatic voice could
71274 be heard above the three hundred others. He nearly wept. "To the
71275 health of our Sovereign, the Emperor!" he roared, "Hurrah!" and
71276 emptying his glass at one gulp he dashed it to the floor. Many
71277 followed his example, and the loud shouting continued for a long time.
71278 When the voices subsided, the footmen cleared away the broken glass
71279 and everybody sat down again, smiling at the noise they had made and
71280 exchanging remarks. The old count rose once more, glanced at a note
71281 lying beside his plate, and proposed a toast, "To the health of the
71282 hero of our last campaign, Prince Peter Ivanovich Bagration!" and
71283 again his blue eyes grew moist. "Hurrah!" cried the three hundred
71284 voices again, but instead of the band a choir began singing a
71285 cantata composed by Paul Ivanovich Kutuzov:
71286
71287 Russians! O'er all barriers on!
71288 Courage conquest guarantees;
71289 Have we not Bagration?
71290 He brings foe men to their knees,... etc.
71291
71292
71293 As soon as the singing was over, another and another toast was
71294 proposed and Count Ilya Rostov became more and more moved, more
71295 glass was smashed, and the shouting grew louder. They drank to
71296 Bekleshev, Naryshkin, Uvarov, Dolgorukov, Apraksin, Valuev, to the
71297 committee, to all the Club members and to all the Club guests, and
71298 finally to Count Ilya Rostov separately, as the organizer of the
71299 banquet. At that toast, the count took out his handkerchief and,
71300 covering his face, wept outright.
71301
71302
71303
71304
71305
71306 CHAPTER IV
71307
71308
71309 Pierre sat opposite Dolokhov and Nicholas Rostov. As usual, he ate
71310 and drank much, and eagerly. But those who knew him intimately noticed
71311 that some great change had come over him that day. He was silent all
71312 through dinner and looked about, blinking and scowling, or, with fixed
71313 eyes and a look of complete absent-mindedness, kept rubbing the bridge
71314 of his nose. His face was depressed and gloomy. He seemed to see and
71315 hear nothing of what was going on around him and to be absorbed by
71316 some depressing and unsolved problem.
71317
71318 The unsolved problem that tormented him was caused by hints given by
71319 the princess, his cousin, at Moscow, concerning Dolokhov's intimacy
71320 with his wife, and by an anonymous letter he had received that
71321 morning, which in the mean jocular way common to anonymous letters
71322 said that he saw badly through his spectacles, but that his wife's
71323 connection with Dolokhov was a secret to no one but himself. Pierre
71324 absolutely disbelieved both the princess' hints and the letter, but he
71325 feared now to look at Dolokhov, who was sitting opposite him. Every
71326 time he chanced to meet Dolokhov's handsome insolent eyes, Pierre felt
71327 something terrible and monstrous rising in his soul and turned quickly
71328 away. Involuntarily recalling his wife's past and her relations with
71329 Dolokhov, Pierre saw clearly that what was said in the letter might be
71330 true, or might at least seem to be true had it not referred to his
71331 wife. He involuntarily remembered how Dolokhov, who had fully
71332 recovered his former position after the campaign, had returned to
71333 Petersburg and come to him. Availing himself of his friendly relations
71334 with Pierre as a boon companion, Dolokhov had come straight to his
71335 house, and Pierre had put him up and lent him money. Pierre recalled
71336 how Helene had smilingly expressed disapproval of Dolokhov's living at
71337 their house, and how cynically Dolokhov had praised his wife's
71338 beauty to him and from that time till they came to Moscow had not left
71339 them for a day.
71340
71341 "Yes, he is very handsome," thought Pierre, "and I know him. It
71342 would be particularly pleasant to him to dishonor my name and ridicule
71343 me, just because I have exerted myself on his behalf, befriended
71344 him, and helped him. I know and understand what a spice that would add
71345 to the pleasure of deceiving me, if it really were true. Yes, if it
71346 were true, but I do not believe it. I have no right to, and can't,
71347 believe it." He remembered the expression Dolokhov's face assumed in
71348 his moments of cruelty, as when tying the policeman to the bear and
71349 dropping them into the water, or when he challenged a man to a duel
71350 without any reason, or shot a post-boy's horse with a pistol. That
71351 expression was often on Dolokhov's face when looking at him. "Yes,
71352 he is a bully," thought Pierre, "to kill a man means nothing to him.
71353 It must seem to him that everyone is afraid of him, and that must
71354 please him. He must think that I, too, am afraid of him--and in fact I
71355 am afraid of him," he thought, and again he felt something terrible
71356 and monstrous rising in his soul. Dolokhov, Denisov, and Rostov were
71357 now sitting opposite Pierre and seemed very gay. Rostov was talking
71358 merrily to his two friends, one of whom was a dashing hussar and the
71359 other a notorious duelist and rake, and every now and then he
71360 glanced ironically at Pierre, whose preoccupied, absent-minded, and
71361 massive figure was a very noticeable one at the dinner. Rostov
71362 looked inimically at Pierre, first because Pierre appeared to his
71363 hussar eyes as a rich civilian, the husband of a beauty, and in a
71364 word--an old woman; and secondly because Pierre in his preoccupation
71365 and absent-mindedness had not recognized Rostov and had not
71366 responded to his greeting. When the Emperor's health was drunk,
71367 Pierre, lost in thought, did not rise or lift his glass.
71368
71369 "What are you about?" shouted Rostov, looking at him in an ecstasy
71370 of exasperation. "Don't you hear it's His Majesty the Emperor's
71371 health?"
71372
71373 Pierre sighed, rose submissively, emptied his glass, and, waiting
71374 till all were seated again, turned with his kindly smile to Rostov.
71375
71376 "Why, I didn't recognize you!" he said. But Rostov was otherwise
71377 engaged; he was shouting "Hurrah!"
71378
71379 "Why don't you renew the acquaintance?" said Dolokhov to Rostov.
71380
71381 "Confound him, he's a fool!" said Rostov.
71382
71383 "One should make up to the husbands of pretty women," said Denisov.
71384
71385 Pierre did not catch what they were saying, but knew they were
71386 talking about him. He reddened and turned away.
71387
71388 "Well, now to the health of handsome women!" said Dolokhov, and with
71389 a serious expression, but with a smile lurking at the corners of his
71390 mouth, he turned with his glass to Pierre.
71391
71392 "Here's to the health of lovely women, Peterkin--and their
71393 lovers!" he added.
71394
71395 Pierre, with downcast eyes, drank out of his glass without looking
71396 at Dolokhov or answering him. The footman, who was distributing
71397 leaflets with Kutuzov's cantata, laid one before Pierre as one of
71398 the principal guests. He was just going to take it when Dolokhov,
71399 leaning across, snatched it from his hand and began reading it. Pierre
71400 looked at Dolokhov and his eyes dropped, the something terrible and
71401 monstrous that had tormented him all dinnertime rose and took
71402 possession of him. He leaned his whole massive body across the table.
71403
71404 "How dare you take it?" he shouted.
71405
71406 Hearing that cry and seeing to whom it was addressed, Nesvitski
71407 and the neighbor on his right quickly turned in alarm to Bezukhov.
71408
71409 "Don't! Don't! What are you about?" whispered their frightened
71410 voices.
71411
71412 Dolokhov looked at Pierre with clear, mirthful, cruel eyes, and that
71413 smile of his which seemed to say, "Ah! This is what I like!"
71414
71415 "You shan't have it!" he said distinctly.
71416
71417 Pale, with quivering lips, Pierre snatched the copy.
71418
71419 "You...! you... scoundrel! I challenge you!" he ejaculated, and,
71420 pushing back his chair, he rose from the table.
71421
71422 At the very instant he did this and uttered those words, Pierre felt
71423 that the question of his wife's guilt which had been tormenting him
71424 the whole day was finally and indubitably answered in the affirmative.
71425 He hated her and was forever sundered from her. Despite Denisov's
71426 request that he would take no part in the matter, Rostov agreed to
71427 be Dolokhov's second, and after dinner he discussed the arrangements
71428 for the duel with Nesvitski, Bezukhov's second. Pierre went home,
71429 but Rostov with Dolokhov and Denisov stayed on at the Club till
71430 late, listening to the gypsies and other singers.
71431
71432 "Well then, till tomorrow at Sokolniki," said Dolokhov, as he took
71433 leave of Rostov in the Club porch.
71434
71435 "And do you feel quite calm?" Rostov asked.
71436
71437 Dolokhov paused.
71438
71439 "Well, you see, I'll tell you the whole secret of dueling in two
71440 words. If you are going to fight a duel, and you make a will and write
71441 affectionate letters to your parents, and if you think you may be
71442 killed, you are a fool and are lost for certain. But go with the
71443 firm intention of killing your man as quickly and surely as
71444 possible, and then all will be right, as our bear huntsman at Kostroma
71445 used to tell me. 'Everyone fears a bear,' he says, 'but when you see
71446 one your fear's all gone, and your only thought is not to let him
71447 get away!' And that's how it is with me. A demain, mon cher."*
71448
71449
71450 *Till tomorrow, my dear fellow.
71451
71452
71453 Next day, at eight in the morning, Pierre and Nesvitski drove to the
71454 Sokolniki forest and found Dolokhov, Denisov, and Rostov already
71455 there. Pierre had the air of a man preoccupied with considerations
71456 which had no connection with the matter in hand. His haggard face
71457 was yellow. He had evidently not slept that night. He looked about
71458 distractedly and screwed up his eyes as if dazzled by the sun. He
71459 was entirely absorbed by two considerations: his wife's guilt, of
71460 which after his sleepless night he had not the slightest doubt, and
71461 the guiltlessness of Dolokhov, who had no reason to preserve the honor
71462 of a man who was nothing to him.... "I should perhaps have done the
71463 same thing in his place," thought Pierre. "It's even certain that I
71464 should have done the same, then why this duel, this murder? Either I
71465 shall kill him, or he will hit me in the head, or elbow, or knee.
71466 Can't I go away from here, run away, bury myself somewhere?" passed
71467 through his mind. But just at moments when such thoughts occurred to
71468 him, he would ask in a particularly calm and absent-minded way,
71469 which inspired the respect of the onlookers, "Will it be long? Are
71470 things ready?"
71471
71472 When all was ready, the sabers stuck in the snow to mark the
71473 barriers, and the pistols loaded, Nesvitski went up to Pierre.
71474
71475 "I should not be doing my duty, Count," he said in timid tones, "and
71476 should not justify your confidence and the honor you have done me in
71477 choosing me for your second, if at this grave, this very grave, moment
71478 I did not tell you the whole truth. I think there is no sufficient
71479 ground for this affair, or for blood to be shed over it.... You were
71480 not right, not quite in the right, you were impetuous..."
71481
71482 "Oh yes, it is horribly stupid," said Pierre.
71483
71484 "Then allow me to express your regrets, and I am sure your
71485 opponent will accept them," said Nesvitski (who like the others
71486 concerned in the affair, and like everyone in similar cases, did not
71487 yet believe that the affair had come to an actual duel). "You know,
71488 Count, it is much more honorable to admit one's mistake than to let
71489 matters become irreparable. There was no insult on either side.
71490 Allow me to convey...."
71491
71492 "No! What is there to talk about?" said Pierre. "It's all the
71493 same.... Is everything ready?" he added. "Only tell me where to go and
71494 where to shoot," he said with an unnaturally gentle smile.
71495
71496 He took the pistol in his hand and began asking about the working of
71497 the trigger, as he had not before held a pistol in his hand--a fact
71498 that he did not to confess.
71499
71500 "Oh yes, like that, I know, I only forgot," said he.
71501
71502 "No apologies, none whatever," said Dolokhov to Denisov (who on
71503 his side had been attempting a reconciliation), and he also went up to
71504 the appointed place.
71505
71506 The spot chosen for the duel was some eighty paces from the road,
71507 where the sleighs had been left, in a small clearing in the pine
71508 forest covered with melting snow, the frost having begun to break up
71509 during the last few days. The antagonists stood forty paces apart at
71510 the farther edge of the clearing. The seconds, measuring the paces,
71511 left tracks in the deep wet snow between the place where they had been
71512 standing and Nesvitski's and Dolokhov's sabers, which were stuck
71513 intothe ground ten paces apart to mark the barrier. It was thawing and
71514 misty; at forty paces' distance nothing could be seen. For three
71515 minutes all had been ready, but they still delayed and all were
71516 silent.
71517
71518
71519
71520
71521
71522 CHAPTER V
71523
71524
71525 "Well begin!" said Dolokhov.
71526
71527 "All right," said Pierre, still smiling in the same way. A feeling
71528 of dread was in the air. It was evident that the affair so lightly
71529 begun could no longer be averted but was taking its course
71530 independently of men's will.
71531
71532 Denisov first went to the barrier and announced: "As the adve'sawies
71533 have wefused a weconciliation, please pwoceed. Take your pistols,
71534 and at the word thwee begin to advance.
71535
71536 "O-ne! T-wo! Thwee!" he shouted angrily and stepped aside.
71537
71538 The combatants advanced along the trodden tracks, nearer and
71539 nearer to one another, beginning to see one another through the
71540 mist. They had the right to fire when they liked as they approached
71541 the barrier. Dolokhov walked slowly without raising his pistol,
71542 looking intently with his bright, sparkling blue eyes into his
71543 antagonist's face. His mouth wore its usual semblance of a smile.
71544
71545 "So I can fire when I like!" said Pierre, and at the word "three,"
71546 he went quickly forward, missing the trodden path and stepping into
71547 the deep snow. He held the pistol in his right hand at arm's length,
71548 apparently afraid of shooting himself with it. His left hand he held
71549 carefully back, because he wished to support his right hand with it
71550 and knew he must not do so. Having advanced six paces and strayed
71551 off the track into the snow, Pierre looked down at his feet, then
71552 quickly glanced at Dolokhov and, bending his finger as he had been
71553 shown, fired. Not at all expecting so loud a report, Pierre
71554 shuddered at the sound and then, smiling at his own sensations,
71555 stood still. The smoke, rendered denser by the mist, prevented him
71556 from seeing anything for an instant, but there was no second report as
71557 he had expected. He only heard Dolokhov's hurried steps, and his
71558 figure came in view through the smoke. He was pressing one hand to his
71559 left side, while the other clutched his drooping pistol. His face
71560 was pale. Rostov ran toward him and said something.
71561
71562 "No-o-o!" muttered Dolokhov through his teeth, "no, it's not
71563 over." And after stumbling a few staggering steps right up to the
71564 saber, he sank on the snow beside it. His left hand was bloody; he
71565 wiped it on his coat and supported himself with it. His frowning
71566 face was pallid and quivered.
71567
71568 "Plea..." began Dolokhov, but could not at first pronounce the word.
71569
71570 "Please," he uttered with an effort.
71571
71572 Pierre, hardly restraining his sobs, began running toward Dolokhov
71573 and was about to cross the space between the barriers, when Dolokhov
71574 cried:
71575
71576 "To your barrier!" and Pierre, grasping what was meant, stopped by
71577 his saber. Only ten paces divided them. Dolokhov lowered his head to
71578 the snow, greedily bit at it, again raised his head, adjusted himself,
71579 drew in his legs and sat up, seeking a firm center of gravity. He
71580 sucked and swallowed the cold snow, his lips quivered but
71581 his eyes, still smiling, glittered with effort and exasperation as
71582 he mustered his remaining strength. He raised his pistol and aimed.
71583
71584 "Sideways! Cover yourself with your pistol!" ejaculated Nesvitski.
71585
71586 "Cover yourself!" even Denisov cried to his adversary.
71587
71588 Pierre, with a gentle smile of pity and remorse, his arms and legs
71589 helplessly spread out, stood with his broad chest directly facing
71590 Dolokhov looked sorrowfully at him. Denisov, Rostov, and Nesvitski
71591 closed their eyes. At the same instant they heard a report and
71592 Dolokhov's angry cry.
71593
71594 "Missed!" shouted Dolokhov, and he lay helplessly, face downwards on
71595 the snow.
71596
71597 Pierre clutched his temples, and turning round went into the forest,
71598 trampling through the deep snow, and muttering incoherent words:
71599
71600 "Folly... folly! Death... lies..." he repeated, puckering his face.
71601
71602 Nesvitski stopped him and took him home.
71603
71604 Rostov and Denisov drove away with the wounded Dolokhov.
71605
71606 The latter lay silent in the sleigh with closed eyes and did not
71607 answer a word to the questions addressed to him. But on entering
71608 Moscow he suddenly came to and, lifting his head with an effort,
71609 took Rostov, who was sitting beside him, by the hand. Rostov was
71610 struck by the totally altered and unexpectedly rapturous and tender
71611 expression on Dolokhov's face.
71612
71613 "Well? How do you feel?" he asked.
71614
71615 "Bad! But it's not that, my friend-" said Dolokhov with a gasping
71616 voice. "Where are we? In Moscow, I know. I don't matter, but I have
71617 killed her, killed... She won't get over it! She won't survive...."
71618
71619 "Who?" asked Rostov.
71620
71621 "My mother! My mother, my angel, my adored angel mother," and
71622 Dolokhov pressed Rostov's hand and burst into tears.
71623
71624 When he had become a little quieter, he explained to Rostov that
71625 he was living with his mother, who, if she saw him dying, would not
71626 survive it. He implored Rostov to go on and prepare her.
71627
71628 Rostov went on ahead to do what was asked, and to his great surprise
71629 learned that Dolokhov the brawler, Dolokhov the bully, lived in Moscow
71630 with an old mother and a hunchback sister, and was the most
71631 affectionate of sons and brothers.
71632
71633
71634
71635
71636
71637 CHAPTER VI
71638
71639
71640 Pierre had of late rarely seen his wife alone. Both in Petersburg
71641 and in Moscow their house was always full of visitors. The night after
71642 the duel he did not go to his bedroom but, as he often did, remained
71643 in his father's room, that huge room in which Count Bezukhov had died.
71644
71645 He lay down on the sofa meaning to fall asleep and forget all that
71646 had happened to him, but could not do so. Such a storm of feelings,
71647 thoughts, and memories suddenly arose within him that he could not
71648 fall asleep, nor even remain in one place, but had to jump up and pace
71649 the room with rapid steps. Now he seemed to see her in the early
71650 days of their marriage, with bare shoulders and a languid,
71651 passionate look on her face, and then immediately he saw beside her
71652 Dolokhov's handsome, insolent, hard, and mocking face as he had seen
71653 it at the banquet, and then that same face pale, quivering, and
71654 suffering, as it had been when he reeled and sank on the snow.
71655
71656 "What has happened?" he asked himself. "I have killed her lover,
71657 yes, killed my wife's lover. Yes, that was it! And why? How did I come
71658 to do it?"--"Because you married her," answered an inner voice.
71659
71660 "But in what was I to blame?" he asked. "In marrying her without
71661 loving her; in deceiving yourself and her." And he vividly recalled
71662 that moment after supper at Prince Vasili's, when he spoke those words
71663 he had found so difficult to utter: "I love you." "It all comes from
71664 that! Even then I felt it," he thought. "I felt then that it was not
71665 so, that I had no right to do it. And so it turns out."
71666
71667 He remembered his honeymoon and blushed at the recollection.
71668 Particularly vivid, humiliating, and shameful was the recollection
71669 of how one day soon after his marriage he came out of the bedroom into
71670 his study a little before noon in his silk dressing gown and found his
71671 head steward there, who, bowing respectfully, looked into his face and
71672 at his dressing gown and smiled slightly, as if expressing
71673 respectful understanding of his employer's happiness.
71674
71675 "But how often I have felt proud of her, proud of her majestic
71676 beauty and social tact," thought he; "been proud of my house, in
71677 which she received all Petersburg, proud of her unapproachability and
71678 beauty. So this is what I was proud of! I then thought that I did
71679 not understand her. How often when considering her character I have
71680 told myself that I was to blame for not understanding her, for not
71681 understanding that constant composure and complacency and lack of
71682 all interests or desires, and the whole secret lies in the terrible
71683 truth that she is a depraved woman. Now I have spoken that terrible
71684 word to myself all has become clear.
71685
71686 "Anatole used to come to borrow money from her and used to kiss
71687 her naked shoulders. She did not give him the money, but let herself
71688 be kissed. Her father in jest tried to rouse her jealousy, and she
71689 replied with a calm smile that she was not so stupid as to be jealous:
71690 'Let him do what he pleases,' she used to say of me. One day I asked
71691 her if she felt any symptoms of pregnancy. She laughed
71692 contemptuously and said she was not a fool to want to have children,
71693 and that she was not going to have any children by me."
71694
71695 Then he recalled the coarseness and bluntness of her thoughts and
71696 the vulgarity of the expressions that were natural to her, though
71697 she had been brought up in the most aristocratic circles.
71698
71699 "I'm not such a fool.... Just you try it on.... Allez-vous
71700 promener,"* she used to say. Often seeing the success she had with
71701 young and old men and women Pierre could not understand why he did not
71702 love her.
71703
71704
71705 *"You clear out of this."
71706
71707
71708 "Yes, I never loved her," said he to himself; "I knew she was a
71709 depraved woman," he repeated, "but dared not admit it to myself. And
71710 now there's Dolokhov sitting in the snow with a forced smile and
71711 perhaps dying, while meeting my remorse with some forced bravado!"
71712
71713 Pierre was one of those people who, in spite of an appearance of
71714 what is called weak character, do not seek a confidant in their
71715 troubles. He digested his sufferings alone.
71716
71717 "It is all, all her fault," he said to himself; "but what of that?
71718 Why did I bind myself to her? Why did I say 'Je vous aime'* to her,
71719 which was a lie, and worse than a lie? I am guilty and must
71720 endure... what? A slur on my name? A misfortune for life? Oh, that's
71721 nonsense," he thought. "The slur on my name and honor--that's all
71722 apart from myself.
71723
71724
71725 *I love you.
71726
71727
71728 "Louis XVI was executed because they said he was dishonorable and
71729 a criminal," came into Pierre's head, "and from their point of view
71730 they were right, as were those too who canonized him and died a
71731 martyr's death for his sake. Then Robespierre was beheaded for being a
71732 despot. Who is right and who is wrong? No one! But if you are alive-
71733 live: tomorrow you'll die as I might have died an hour ago. And is
71734 it worth tormenting oneself, when one has only a moment of life in
71735 comparison with eternity?"
71736
71737 But at the moment when he imagined himself calmed by such
71738 reflections, she suddenly came into his mind as she was at the moments
71739 when he had most strongly expressed his insincere love for her, and he
71740 felt the blood rush to his heart and had again to get up and move
71741 about and break and tear whatever came to his hand. "Why did I tell
71742 her that 'Je vous aime'?" he kept repeating to himself. And when he
71743 had said it for the tenth time, Molibre's words: "Mais que diable
71744 alloit-il faire dans cette galere?" occurred to him, and he began to
71745 laugh at himself.
71746
71747 In the night he called his valet and told him to pack up to go to
71748 Petersburg. He could not imagine how he could speak to her now. He
71749 resolved to go away next day and leave a letter informing her of his
71750 intention to part from her forever.
71751
71752 Next morning when the valet came into the room with his coffee,
71753 Pierre was lying asleep on the ottoman with an open book in his hand.
71754
71755 He woke up and looked round for a while with a startled
71756 expression, unable to realize where he was.
71757
71758 "The countess told me to inquire whether your excellency was at
71759 home," said the valet.
71760
71761 But before Pierre could decide what answer he would send, the
71762 countess herself in a white satin dressing gown embroidered with
71763 silver and with simply dressed hair (two immense plaits twice round
71764 her lovely head like a coronet) entered the room, calm and majestic,
71765 except that there was a wrathful wrinkle on her rather prominent
71766 marble brow. With her imperturbable calm she did not begin to speak in
71767 front of the valet. She knew of the duel and had come to speak about
71768 it. She waited till the valet had set down the coffee things and
71769 left the room. Pierre looked at her timidly over his spectacles, and
71770 like a hare surrounded by hounds who lays back her ears and
71771 continues to crouch motionless before her enemies, he tried to
71772 continue reading. But feeling this to be senseless and impossible,
71773 he again glanced timidly at her. She did not sit down but looked at
71774 him with a contemptuous smile, waiting for the valet to go.
71775
71776 "Well, what's this now? What have you been up to now, I should
71777 like to know?" she asked sternly.
71778
71779 "I? What have I...?" stammered Pierre.
71780
71781 "So it seems you're a hero, eh? Come now, what was this duel
71782 about? What is it meant to prove? What? I ask you."
71783
71784 Pierre turned over heavily on the ottoman and opened his mouth,
71785 but could not reply.
71786
71787 "If you won't answer, I'll tell you..." Helene went on. "You believe
71788 everything you're told. You were told..." Helene laughed, "that
71789 Dolokhov was my lover," she said in French with her coarse plainness
71790 of speech, uttering the word amant as casually as any other word, "and
71791 you believed it! Well, what have you proved? What does this duel
71792 prove? That you're a fool, que vous etes un sot, but everybody knew
71793 that. What will be the result? That I shall be the laughingstock of
71794 all Moscow, that everyone will say that you, drunk and not knowing
71795 what you were about, challenged a man you are jealous of without
71796 cause." Helene raised her voice and became more and more excited, "A
71797 man who's a better man than you in every way..."
71798
71799 "Hm... Hm...!" growled Pierre, frowning without looking at her,
71800 and not moving a muscle.
71801
71802 "And how could you believe he was my lover? Why? Because I like
71803 his company? If you were cleverer and more agreeable, I should
71804 prefer yours."
71805
71806 "Don't speak to me... I beg you," muttered Pierre hoarsely.
71807
71808 "Why shouldn't I speak? I can speak as I like, and I tell you
71809 plainly that there are not many wives with husbands such as you who
71810 would not have taken lovers (des amants), but I have not done so,"
71811 said she.
71812
71813 Pierre wished to say something, looked at her with eyes whose
71814 strange expression she did not understand, and lay down again. He
71815 was suffering physically at that moment, there was a weight on his
71816 chest and he could not breathe. He knew that he must do something to
71817 put an end to this suffering, but what he wanted to do was too
71818 terrible.
71819
71820 "We had better separate," he muttered in a broken voice.
71821
71822 "Separate? Very well, but only if you give me a fortune," said
71823 Helene. "Separate! That's a thing to frighten me with!"
71824
71825 Pierre leaped up from the sofa and rushed staggering toward her.
71826
71827 "I'll kill you!" he shouted, and seizing the marble top of a table
71828 with a strength he had never before felt, he made a step toward her
71829 brandishing the slab.
71830
71831 Helene's face became terrible, she shrieked and sprang aside. His
71832 father's nature showed itself in Pierre. He felt the fascination and
71833 delight of frenzy. He flung down the slab, broke it, and swooping down
71834 on her with outstretched hands shouted, "Get out!" in such a
71835 terrible voice that the whole house heard it with horror. God knows
71836 what he would have done at that moment had Helene not fled from the
71837 room.
71838
71839
71840 A week later Pierre gave his wife full power to control all his
71841 estates in Great Russia, which formed the larger part of his property,
71842 and left for Petersburg alone.
71843
71844
71845
71846
71847
71848 CHAPTER VII
71849
71850
71851 Two months had elapsed since the news of the battle of Austerlitz
71852 and the loss of Prince Andrew had reached Bald Hills, and in spite
71853 of the letters sent through the embassy and all the searches made, his
71854 body had not been found nor was he on the list of prisoners. What
71855 was worst of all for his relations was the fact that there was still a
71856 possibility of his having been picked up on the battlefield by the
71857 people of the place and that he might now be lying, recovering or
71858 dying, alone among strangers and unable to send news of himself. The
71859 gazettes from which the old prince first heard of the defeat at
71860 Austerlitz stated, as usual very briefly and vaguely, that after
71861 brilliant engagements the Russians had had to retreat and had made
71862 their withdrawal in perfect order. The old prince understood from this
71863 official report that our army had been defeated. A week after the
71864 gazette report of the battle of Austerlitz came a letter from
71865 Kutuzov informing the prince of the fate that had befallen his son.
71866
71867 "Your son," wrote Kutuzov, "fell before my eyes, a standard in his
71868 hand and at the head of a regiment--he fell as a hero, worthy of his
71869 father and his fatherland. To the great regret of myself and of the
71870 whole army it is still uncertain whether he is alive or not. I comfort
71871 myself and you with the hope that your son is alive, for otherwise
71872 he would have been mentioned among the officers found on the field
71873 of battle, a list of whom has been sent me under flag of truce."
71874
71875 After receiving this news late in the evening, when he was alone
71876 in his study, the old prince went for his walk as usual next
71877 morning, but he was silent with his steward, the gardener, and the
71878 architect, and though he looked very grim he said nothing to anyone.
71879
71880 When Princess Mary went to him at the usual hour he was working at
71881 his lathe and, as usual, did not look round at her.
71882
71883 "Ah, Princess Mary!" he said suddenly in an unnatural voice,
71884 throwing down his chisel. (The wheel continued to revolve by its own
71885 impetus, and Princess Mary long remembered the dying creak of that
71886 wheel, which merged in her memory with what followed.)
71887
71888 She approached him, saw his face, and something gave way within her.
71889 Her eyes grew dim. By the expression of her father's face, not sad,
71890 not crushed, but angry and working unnaturally, she saw that hanging
71891 over her and about to crush her was some terrible misfortune, the
71892 worst in life, one she had not yet experienced, irreparable and
71893 incomprehensible--the death of one she loved.
71894
71895 "Father! Andrew!"--said the ungraceful, awkward princess with such
71896 an indescribable charm of sorrow and self-forgetfulness that her
71897 father could not bear her look but turned away with a sob.
71898
71899 "Bad news! He's not among the prisoners nor among the killed!
71900 Kutuzov writes..." and he screamed as piercingly as if he wished to
71901 drive the princess away by that scream... "Killed!"
71902
71903 The princess did not fall down or faint. She was already pale, but
71904 on hearing these words her face changed and something brightened in
71905 her beautiful, radiant eyes. It was as if joy--a supreme joy apart
71906 from the joys and sorrows of this world--overflowed the great grief
71907 within her. She forgot all fear of her father, went up to him, took
71908 his hand, and drawing him down put her arm round his thin, scraggy
71909 neck.
71910
71911 "Father," she said, "do not turn away from me, let us weep together."
71912
71913 "Scoundrels! Blackguards!" shrieked the old man, turning his face
71914 away from her. "Destroying the army, destroying the men! And why?
71915 Go, go and tell Lise."
71916
71917 The princess sank helplessly into an armchair beside her father
71918 and wept. She saw her brother now as he had been at the moment when he
71919 took leave of her and of Lise, his look tender yet proud. She saw
71920 him tender and amused as he was when he put on the little icon. "Did
71921 he believe? Had he repented of his unbelief? Was he now there? There
71922 in the realms of eternal peace and blessedness?" she thought.
71923
71924 "Father, tell me how it happened," she asked through her tears.
71925
71926 "Go! Go! Killed in battle, where the best of Russian men and
71927 Russia's glory were led to destruction. Go, Princess Mary. Go and tell
71928 Lise. I will follow."
71929
71930 When Princess Mary returned from her father, the little princess sat
71931 working and looked up with that curious expression of inner, happy
71932 calm peculiar to pregnant women. It was evident that her eyes did
71933 not see Princess Mary but were looking within... into herself... at
71934 something joyful and mysterious taking place within her.
71935
71936 "Mary," she said, moving away from the embroidery frame and lying
71937 back, "give me your hand." She took her sister-in-law's hand and
71938 held it below her waist.
71939
71940 Her eyes were smiling expectantly, her downy lip rose and remained
71941 lifted in childlike happiness.
71942
71943 Princess Mary knelt down before her and hid her face in the folds of
71944 her sister-in-law's dress.
71945
71946 "There, there! Do you feel it? I feel so strange. And do you know,
71947 Mary, I am going to love him very much," said Lise, looking with
71948 bright and happy eyes at her sister-in-law.
71949
71950 Princess Mary could not lift her head, she was weeping.
71951
71952 "What is the matter, Mary?"
71953
71954 "Nothing... only I feel sad... sad about Andrew," she said, wiping
71955 away her tears on her sister-in-law's knee.
71956
71957 Several times in the course of the morning Princess Mary began
71958 trying to prepare her sister-in-law, and every time began to cry.
71959 Unobservant as was the little princess, these tears, the cause of
71960 which she did not understand, agitated her. She said nothing but
71961 looked about uneasily as if in search of something. Before dinner
71962 the old prince, of whom she was always afraid, came into her room with
71963 a peculiarly restless and malign expression and went out again without
71964 saying a word. She looked at Princess Mary, then sat thinking for a
71965 while with that expression of attention to something within her that
71966 is only seen in pregnant women, and suddenly began to cry.
71967
71968 "Has anything come from Andrew?" she asked.
71969
71970 "No, you know it's too soon for news. But my father is anxious and I
71971 feel afraid."
71972
71973 "So there's nothing?"
71974
71975 "Nothing," answered Princess Mary, looking firmly with her radiant
71976 eyes at her sister-in-law.
71977
71978 She had determined not to tell her and persuaded her father to
71979 hide the terrible news from her till after her confinement, which
71980 was expected within a few days. Princess Mary and the old prince
71981 each bore and hid their grief in their own way. The old prince would
71982 not cherish any hope: he made up his mind that Prince Andrew had
71983 been killed, and though he sent an official to Austria to seek for
71984 traces of his son, he ordered a monument from Moscow which he intended
71985 to erect in his own garden to his memory, and he told everybody that
71986 his son had been killed. He tried not to change his former way of
71987 life, but his strength failed him. He walked less, ate less, slept
71988 less, and became weaker every day. Princess Mary hoped. She prayed for
71989 her brother as living and was always awaiting news of his return.
71990
71991
71992
71993
71994
71995 CHAPTER VIII
71996
71997
71998 "Dearest," said the little princess after breakfast on the morning
71999 of the nineteenth March, and her downy little lip rose from old habit,
72000 but as sorrow was manifest in every smile, the sound of every word,
72001 and even every footstep in that house since the terrible news had
72002 come, so now the smile of the little princess--influenced by the
72003 general mood though without knowing its cause--was such as to remind
72004 one still more of the general sorrow.
72005
72006 "Dearest, I'm afraid this morning's fruschtique*--as Foka the cook
72007 calls it--has disagreed with me."
72008
72009
72010 *Fruhstuck: breakfast.
72011
72012
72013 "What is the matter with you, my darling? You look pale. Oh, you are
72014 very pale!" said Princess Mary in alarm, running with her soft,
72015 ponderous steps up to her sister-in-law.
72016
72017 "Your excellency, should not Mary Bogdanovna be sent for?" said
72018 one of the maids who was present. (Mary Bogdanovna was a midwife
72019 from the neighboring town, who had been at Bald Hills for the last
72020 fortnight.)
72021
72022 "Oh yes," assented Princess Mary, "perhaps that's it. I'll go.
72023 Courage, my angel." She kissed Lise and was about to leave the room.
72024
72025 "Oh, no, no!" And besides the pallor and the physical suffering on
72026 the little princess' face, an expression of childish fear of
72027 inevitable pain showed itself.
72028
72029 "No, it's only indigestion?... Say it's only indigestion, say so,
72030 Mary! Say..." And the little princess began to cry capriciously like a
72031 suffering child and to wring her little hands even with some
72032 affectation. Princess Mary ran out of the room to fetch Mary
72033 Bogdanovna.
72034
72035 "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Oh!" she heard as she left the room.
72036
72037 The midwife was already on her way to meet her, rubbing her small,
72038 plump white hands with an air of calm importance.
72039
72040 "Mary Bogdanovna, I think it's beginning!" said Princess Mary
72041 looking at the midwife with wide-open eyes of alarm.
72042
72043 "Well, the Lord be thanked, Princess," said Mary Bogdanovna, not
72044 hastening her steps. "You young ladies should not know anything
72045 about it."
72046
72047 "But how is it the doctor from Moscow is not here yet?" said the
72048 princess. (In accordance with Lise's and Prince Andrew's wishes they
72049 had sent in good time to Moscow for a doctor and were expecting him at
72050 any moment.)
72051
72052 "No matter, Princess, don't be alarmed," said Mary Bogdanovna.
72053 "We'll manage very well without a doctor."
72054
72055 Five minutes later Princess Mary from her room heard something heavy
72056 being carried by. She looked out. The men servants were carrying the
72057 large leather sofa from Prince Andrew's study into the bedroom. On
72058 their faces was a quiet and solemn look.
72059
72060 Princess Mary sat alone in her room listening to the sounds in the
72061 house, now and then opening her door when someone passed and
72062 watching what was going on in the passage. Some women passing with
72063 quiet steps in and out of the bedroom glanced at the princess and
72064 turned away. She did not venture to ask any questions, and shut the
72065 door again, now sitting down in her easy chair, now taking her
72066 prayer book, now kneeling before the icon stand. To her surprise and
72067 distress she found that her prayers did not calm her excitement.
72068 Suddenly her door opened softly and her old nurse, Praskovya Savishna,
72069 who hardly ever came to that room as the old prince had forbidden
72070 it, appeared on the threshold with a shawl round her head.
72071
72072 "I've come to sit with you a bit, Masha," said the nurse, "and
72073 here I've brought the prince's wedding candles to light before his
72074 saint, my angel," she said with a sigh.
72075
72076 "Oh, nurse, I'm so glad!"
72077
72078 "God is merciful, birdie."
72079
72080 The nurse lit the gilt candles before the icons and sat down by
72081 the door with her knitting. Princess Mary took a book and began
72082 reading. Only when footsteps or voices were heard did they look at one
72083 another, the princess anxious and inquiring, the nurse encouraging.
72084 Everyone in the house was dominated by the same feeling that
72085 Princess Mary experienced as she sat in her room. But owing to the
72086 superstition that the fewer the people who know of it the less a woman
72087 in travail suffers, everyone tried to pretend not to know; no one
72088 spoke of it, but apart from the ordinary staid and respectful good
72089 manners habitual in the prince's household, a common anxiety, a
72090 softening of the heart, and a consciousness that something great and
72091 mysterious was being accomplished at that moment made itself felt.
72092
72093 There was no laughter in the maids' large hall. In the men servants'
72094 hall all sat waiting, silently and alert. In the outlying serfs'
72095 quarters torches and candles were burning and no one slept. The old
72096 prince, stepping on his heels, paced up and down his study and sent
72097 Tikhon to ask Mary Bogdanovna what news.--"Say only that 'the prince
72098 told me to ask,' and come and tell me her answer."
72099
72100 "Inform the prince that labor has begun," said Mary Bogdanovna,
72101 giving the messenger a significant look.
72102
72103 Tikhon went and told the prince.
72104
72105 "Very good!" said the prince closing the door behind him, and Tikhon
72106 did not hear the slightest sound from the study after that.
72107
72108 After a while he re-entered it as if to snuff the candles, and,
72109 seeing the prince was lying on the sofa, looked at him, noticed his
72110 perturbed face, shook his head, and going up to him silently kissed
72111 him on the shoulder and left the room without snuffing the candles
72112 or saying why he had entered. The most solemn mystery in the world
72113 continued its course. Evening passed, night came, and the feeling of
72114 suspense and softening of heart in the presence of the unfathomable
72115 did not lessen but increased. No one slept.
72116
72117 It was one of those March nights when winter seems to wish to resume
72118 its sway and scatters its last snows and storms with desperate fury. A
72119 relay of horses had been sent up the highroad to meet the German
72120 doctor from Moscow who was expected every moment, and men on horseback
72121 with lanterns were sent to the crossroads to guide him over the
72122 country road with its hollows and snow-covered pools of water.
72123
72124 Princess Mary had long since put aside her book: she sat silent, her
72125 luminous eyes fixed on her nurse's wrinkled face (every line of
72126 which she knew so well), on the lock of gray hair that escaped from
72127 under the kerchief, and the loose skin that hung under her chin.
72128
72129 Nurse Savishna, knitting in hand, was telling in low tones, scarcely
72130 hearing or understanding her own words, what she had told hundreds
72131 of times before: how the late princess had given birth to Princess
72132 Mary in Kishenev with only a Moldavian peasant woman to help instead
72133 of a midwife.
72134
72135 "God is merciful, doctors are never needed," she said.
72136
72137 Suddenly a gust of wind beat violently against the casement of the
72138 window, from which the double frame had been removed (by order of
72139 the prince, one window frame was removed in each room as soon as the
72140 larks returned), and, forcing open a loosely closed latch, set the
72141 damask curtain flapping and blew out the candle with its chill,
72142 snowy draft. Princess Mary shuddered; her nurse, putting down the
72143 stocking she was knitting, went to the window and leaning out tried to
72144 catch the open casement. The cold wind flapped the ends of her
72145 kerchief and her loose locks of gray hair.
72146
72147 "Princess, my dear, there's someone driving up the avenue!" she
72148 said, holding the casement and not closing it. "With lanterns. Most
72149 likely the doctor."
72150
72151 "Oh, my God! thank God!" said Princess Mary. "I must go and meet
72152 him, he does not know Russian."
72153
72154 Princess Mary threw a shawl over her head and ran to meet the
72155 newcomer. As she was crossing the anteroom she saw through the
72156 window a carriage with lanterns, standing at the entrance. She went
72157 out on the stairs. On a banister post stood a tallow candle which
72158 guttered in the draft. On the landing below, Philip, the footman,
72159 stood looking scared and holding another candle. Still lower, beyond
72160 the turn of the staircase, one could hear the footstep of someone in
72161 thick felt boots, and a voice that seemed familiar to Princess Mary
72162 was saying something.
72163
72164 "Thank God!" said the voice. "And Father?"
72165
72166 "Gone to bed," replied the voice of Demyan the house steward, who
72167 was downstairs.
72168
72169 Then the voice said something more, Demyan replied, and the steps in
72170 the felt boots approached the unseen bend of the staircase more
72171 rapidly.
72172
72173 "It's Andrew!" thought Princess Mary. "No it can't be, that would be
72174 too extraordinary," and at the very moment she thought this, the
72175 face and figure of Prince Andrew, in a fur cloak the deep collar of
72176 which covered with snow, appeared on the landing where the footman
72177 stood with the candle. Yes, it was he, pale, thin, with a changed
72178 and strangely softened but agitated expression on his face. He came up
72179 the stairs and embraced his sister.
72180
72181 "You did not get my letter?" he asked, and not waiting for a
72182 reply--which he would not have received, for the princess was unable
72183 to speak--he turned back, rapidly mounted the stairs again with the
72184 doctor who had entered the hall after him (they had met at the last
72185 post station), and again embraced his sister.
72186
72187 "What a strange fate, Masha darling!" And having taken off his cloak
72188 and felt boots, he went to the little princess' apartment.
72189
72190
72191
72192
72193
72194 CHAPTER IX
72195
72196
72197 The little princess lay supported by pillows, with a white cap on
72198 her head (the pains had just left her). Strands of her black hair
72199 lay round her inflamed and perspiring cheeks, her charming rosy
72200 mouth with its downy lip was open and she was smiling joyfully. Prince
72201 Andrew entered and paused facing her at the foot of the sofa on
72202 which she was lying. Her glittering eyes, filled with childlike fear
72203 and excitement, rested on him without changing their expression. "I
72204 love you all and have done no harm to anyone; why must I suffer so?
72205 Help me!" her look seemed to say. She saw her husband, but did not
72206 realize the significance of his appearance before her now. Prince
72207 Andrew went round the sofa and kissed her forehead.
72208
72209 "My darling!" he said--a word he had never used to her before.
72210 "God is merciful...."
72211
72212 She looked at him inquiringly and with childlike reproach.
72213
72214 "I expected help from you and I get none, none from you either!"
72215 said her eyes. She was not surprised at his having come; she did not
72216 realize that he had come. His coming had nothing to do with her
72217 sufferings or with their relief. The pangs began again and Mary
72218 Bogdanovna advised Prince Andrew to leave the room.
72219
72220 The doctor entered. Prince Andrew went out and, meeting Princess
72221 Mary, again joined her. They began talking in whispers, but their talk
72222 broke off at every moment. They waited and listened.
72223
72224 "Go, dear," said Princess Mary.
72225
72226 Prince Andrew went again to his wife and sat waiting in the room
72227 next to hers. A woman came from the bedroom with a frightened face and
72228 became confused when she saw Prince Andrew. He covered his face with
72229 his hands and remained so for some minutes. Piteous, helpless,
72230 animal moans came through the door. Prince Andrew got up, went to
72231 the door, and tried to open it. Someone was holding it shut.
72232
72233 "You can't come in! You can't!" said a terrified voice from within.
72234
72235 He began pacing the room. The screaming ceased, and a few more
72236 seconds went by. Then suddenly a terrible shriek--it could not be
72237 hers, she could not scream like that--came from the bedroom. Prince
72238 Andrew ran to the door; the scream ceased and he heard the wail of
72239 an infant.
72240
72241 "What have they taken a baby in there for?" thought Prince Andrew in
72242 the first second. "A baby? What baby...? Why is there a baby there? Or
72243 is the baby born?"
72244
72245 Then suddenly he realized the joyful significance of that wail;
72246 tears choked him, and leaning his elbows on the window sill be began
72247 to cry, sobbing like a child. The door opened. The doctor with his
72248 shirt sleeves tucked up, without a coat, pale and with a trembling
72249 jaw, came out of the room. Prince Andrew turned to him, but the doctor
72250 gave him a bewildered look and passed by without a word. A woman
72251 rushed out and seeing Prince Andrew stopped, hesitating on the
72252 threshold. He went into his wife's room. She was lying dead, in the
72253 same position he had seen her in five minutes before and, despite
72254 the fixed eyes and the pallor of the cheeks, the same expression was
72255 on her charming childlike face with its upper lip covered with tiny
72256 black hair.
72257
72258 "I love you all, and have done no harm to anyone; and what have
72259 you done to me?"--said her charming, pathetic, dead face.
72260
72261 In a corner of the room something red and tiny gave a grunt and
72262 squealed in Mary Bogdanovna's trembling white hands.
72263
72264
72265 Two hours later Prince Andrew, stepping softly, went into his
72266 father's room. The old man already knew everything. He was standing
72267 close to the door and as soon as it opened his rough old arms closed
72268 like a vise round his son's neck, and without a word he began to sob
72269 like a child.
72270
72271
72272 Three days later the little princess was buried, and Prince Andrew
72273 went up the steps to where the coffin stood, to give her the
72274 farewell kiss. And there in the coffin was the same face, though
72275 with closed eyes. "Ah, what have you done to me?" it still seemed to
72276 say, and Prince Andrew felt that something gave way in his soul and
72277 that he was guilty of a sin he could neither remedy nor forget. He
72278 could not weep. The old man too came up and kissed the waxen little
72279 hands that lay quietly crossed one on the other on her breast, and
72280 to him, too, her face seemed to say: "Ah, what have you done to me,
72281 and why?" And at the sight the old man turned angrily away.
72282
72283
72284 Another five days passed, and then the young Prince Nicholas
72285 Andreevich was baptized. The wet nurse supported the coverlet with her
72286 while the priest with a goose feather anointed the boy's little red
72287 and wrinkled soles and palms.
72288
72289 His grandfather, who was his godfather, trembling and afraid of
72290 dropping him, carried the infant round the battered tin font and
72291 handed him over to the godmother, Princess Mary. Prince Andrew sat
72292 in another room, faint with fear lest the baby should be drowned in
72293 the font, and awaited the termination of the ceremony. He looked up
72294 joyfully at the baby when the nurse brought it to him and nodded
72295 approval when she told him that the wax with the baby's hair had not
72296 sunk in the font but had floated.
72297
72298
72299
72300
72301
72302 CHAPTER X
72303
72304
72305 Rostov's share in Dolokhov's duel with Bezukhov was hushed up by the
72306 efforts of the old count, and instead of being degraded to the ranks
72307 as he expected he was appointed an adjutant to the governor general of
72308 Moscow. As a result he could not go to the country with the rest of
72309 the family, but was kept all summer in Moscow by his new duties.
72310 Dolokhov recovered, and Rostov became very friendly with him during
72311 his convalescence. Dolokhov lay ill at his mother's who loved him
72312 passionately and tenderly, and old Mary Ivanovna, who had grown fond
72313 of Rostov for his friendship to her Fedya, often talked to him about
72314 her son.
72315
72316 "Yes, Count," she would say, "he is too noble and pure-souled for
72317 our present, depraved world. No one now loves virtue; it seems like
72318 a reproach to everyone. Now tell me, Count, was it right, was it
72319 honorable, of Bezukhov? And Fedya, with his noble spirit, loved him
72320 and even now never says a word against him. Those pranks in Petersburg
72321 when they played some tricks on a policeman, didn't they do it
72322 together? And there! Bezukhov got off scotfree, while Fedya had to
72323 bear the whole burden on his shoulders. Fancy what he had to go
72324 through! It's true he has been reinstated, but how could they fail
72325 to do that? I think there were not many such gallant sons of the
72326 fatherland out there as he. And now--this duel! Have these people no
72327 feeling, or honor? Knowing him to be an only son, to challenge him and
72328 shoot so straight! It's well God had mercy on us. And what was it for?
72329 Who doesn't have intrigues nowadays? Why, if he was so jealous, as I
72330 see things he should have shown it sooner, but he lets it go on for
72331 months. And then to call him out, reckoning on Fedya not fighting
72332 because he owed him money! What baseness! What meanness! I know you
72333 understand Fedya, my dear count; that, believe me, is why I am so fond
72334 of you. Few people do understand him. He is such a lofty, heavenly
72335 soul!"
72336
72337 Dolokhov himself during his convalescence spoke to Rostov in a way
72338 no one would have expected of him.
72339
72340 "I know people consider me a bad man!" he said. "Let them! I don't
72341 care a straw about anyone but those I love; but those I love, I love
72342 so that I would give my life for them, and the others I'd throttle
72343 if they stood in my way. I have an adored, a priceless mother, and two
72344 or three friends--you among them--and as for the rest I only care
72345 about them in so far as they are harmful or useful. And most of them
72346 are harmful, especially the women. Yes, dear boy," he continued, "I
72347 have met loving, noble, high-minded men, but I have not yet met any
72348 women--countesses or cooks--who were not venal. I have not yet met
72349 that divine purity and devotion I look for in women. If I found such a
72350 one I'd give my life for her! But those!..." and he made a gesture of
72351 contempt. "And believe me, if I still value my life it is only because
72352 I still hope to meet such a divine creature, who will regenerate,
72353 purify, and elevate me. But you don't understand it."
72354
72355 "Oh, yes, I quite understand," answered Rostov, who was under his
72356 new friend's influence.
72357
72358 In the autumn the Rostovs returned to Moscow. Early in the winter
72359 Denisov also came back and stayed with them. The first half of the
72360 winter of 1806, which Nicholas Rostov spent in Moscow, was one of
72361 the happiest, merriest times for him and the whole family. Nicholas
72362 brought many young men to his parents' house. Vera was a handsome girl
72363 of twenty; Sonya a girl of sixteen with all the charm of an opening
72364 flower; Natasha, half grown up and half child, was now childishly
72365 amusing, now girlishly enchanting.
72366
72367 At that time in the Rostovs' house there prevailed an amorous
72368 atmosphere characteristic of homes where there are very young and very
72369 charming girls. Every young man who came to the house--seeing those
72370 impressionable, smiling young faces (smiling probably at their own
72371 happiness), feeling the eager bustle around him, and hearing the
72372 fitful bursts of song and music and the inconsequent but friendly
72373 prattle of young girls ready for anything and full of hope-
72374 experienced the same feeling; sharing with the young folk of the
72375 Rostovs' household a readiness to fall in love and an expectation of
72376 happiness.
72377
72378 Among the young men introduced by Rostov one of the first was
72379 Dolokhov, whom everyone in the house liked except Natasha. She
72380 almost quarreled with her brother about him. She insisted that he
72381 was a bad man, and that in the duel with Bezukhov, Pierre was right
72382 and Dolokhov wrong, and further that he was disagreeable and
72383 unnatural.
72384
72385 "There's nothing for me to understand," cried out with resolute
72386 self-will, "he is wicked and heartless. There now, I like your Denisov
72387 though he is a rake and all that, still I like him; so you see I do
72388 understand. I don't know how to put it... with this one everything
72389 is calculated, and I don't like that. But Denisov..."
72390
72391 "Oh, Denisov is quite different," replied Nicholas, implying that
72392 even Denisov was nothing compared to Dolokhov--"you must understand
72393 what a soul there is in Dolokhov, you should see him with his
72394 mother. What a heart!"
72395
72396 "Well, I don't know about that, but I am uncomfortable with him. And
72397 do you know he has fallen in love with Sonya?"
72398
72399 "What nonsense..."
72400
72401 "I'm certain of it; you'll see."
72402
72403 Natasha's prediction proved true. Dolokhov, who did not usually care
72404 for the society of ladies, began to come often to the house, and the
72405 question for whose sake he came (though no one spoke of it) was soon
72406 settled. He came because of Sonya. And Sonya, though she would never
72407 have dared to say so, knew it and blushed scarlet every time
72408 Dolokhov appeared.
72409
72410 Dolokhov often dined at the Rostovs', never missed a performance
72411 at which they were present, and went to Iogel's balls for young people
72412 which the Rostovs always attended. He was pointedly attentive to Sonya
72413 and looked at her in such a way that not only could she not bear his
72414 glances without coloring, but even the old countess and Natasha
72415 blushed when they saw his looks.
72416
72417 It was evident that this strange, strong man was under the
72418 irresistible influence of the dark, graceful girl who loved another.
72419
72420 Rostov noticed something new in Dolokhov's relations with Sonya, but
72421 he did not explain to himself what these new relations were.
72422 "They're always in love with someone," he thought of Sonya and
72423 Natasha. But he was not as much at ease with Sonya and Dolokhov as
72424 before and was less frequently at home.
72425
72426 In the autumn of 1806 everybody had again begun talking of the war
72427 with Napoleon with even greater warmth than the year before. Orders
72428 were given to raise recruits, ten men in every thousand for the
72429 regular army, and besides this, nine men in every thousand for the
72430 militia. Everywhere Bonaparte was anathematized and in Moscow
72431 nothing but the coming war was talked of. For the Rostov family the
72432 whole interest of these preparations for war lay in the fact that
72433 Nicholas would not hear of remaining in Moscow, and only awaited the
72434 termination of Denisov's furlough after Christmas to return with him
72435 to their regiment. His approaching departure did not prevent his
72436 amusing himself, but rather gave zest to his pleasures. He spent the
72437 greater part of his time away from home, at dinners, parties, and
72438 balls.
72439
72440
72441
72442
72443
72444 CHAPTER XI
72445
72446
72447 On the third day after Christmas Nicholas dined at home, a thing
72448 he had rarely done of late. It was a grand farewell dinner, as he
72449 and Denisov were leaving to join their regiment after Epiphany.
72450 About twenty people were present, including Dolokhov and Denisov.
72451
72452 Never had love been so much in the air, and never had the amorous
72453 atmosphere made itself so strongly felt in the Rostovs' house as at
72454 this holiday time. "Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved!
72455 That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the
72456 one thing we are interested in here," said the spirit of the place.
72457
72458 Nicholas, having as usual exhausted two pairs of horses, without
72459 visiting all the places he meant to go to and where he had been
72460 invited, returned home just before dinner. As soon as he entered he
72461 noticed and felt the tension of the amorous air in the house, and also
72462 noticed a curious embarrassment among some of those present. Sonya,
72463 Dolokhov, and the old countess were especially disturbed, and to a
72464 lesser degree Natasha. Nicholas understood that something must have
72465 happened between Sonya and Dolokhov before dinner, and with the kindly
72466 sensitiveness natural to him was very gentle and wary with them both
72467 at dinner. On that same evening there was to be one of the balls
72468 that Iogel (the dancing master) gave for his pupils durings the
72469 holidays.
72470
72471 "Nicholas, will you come to Iogel's? Please do!" said Natasha. "He
72472 asked you, and Vasili Dmitrich* is also going."
72473
72474
72475 *Denisov.
72476
72477
72478 "Where would I not go at the countess' command!" said Denisov, who
72479 at the Rostovs' had jocularly assumed the role of Natasha's knight.
72480 "I'm even weady to dance the pas de chale."
72481
72482 "If I have time," answered Nicholas. "But I promised the
72483 Arkharovs; they have a party."
72484
72485 "And you?" he asked Dolokhov, but as soon as he had asked the
72486 question he noticed that it should not have been put.
72487
72488 "Perhaps," coldly and angrily replied Dolokhov, glancing at Sonya,
72489 and, scowling, he gave Nicholas just such a look as he had given
72490 Pierre at the Club dinner.
72491
72492 "There is something up," thought Nicholas, and he was further
72493 confirmed in this conclusion by the fact that Dolokhov left
72494 immediately after dinner. He called Natasha and asked her what was the
72495 matter.
72496
72497 "And I was looking for you," said Natasha running out to him. "I
72498 told you, but you would not believe it," she said triumphantly. "He
72499 has proposed to Sonya!"
72500
72501 Little as Nicholas had occupied himself with Sonya of late,
72502 something seemed to give way within him at this news. Dolokhov was a
72503 suitable and in some respects a brilliant match for the dowerless,
72504 orphan girl. From the point of view of the old countess and of society
72505 it was out of the question for her to refuse him. And therefore
72506 Nicholas' first feeling on hearing the news was one of anger with
72507 Sonya.... He tried to say, "That's capital; of course she'll forget
72508 her childish promises and accept the offer," but before he had time to
72509 say it Natasha began again.
72510
72511 "And fancy! she refused him quite definitely!" adding, after a
72512 pause, "she told him she loved another."
72513
72514 "Yes, my Sonya could not have done otherwise!" thought Nicholas.
72515
72516 "Much as Mamma pressed her, she refused, and I know she won't change
72517 once she has said..."
72518
72519 "And Mamma pressed her!" said Nicholas reproachfully.
72520
72521 "Yes," said Natasha. "Do you know, Nicholas--don't be angry--but I
72522 know you will not marry her. I know, heaven knows how, but I know
72523 for certain that you won't marry her."
72524
72525 "Now don't know that at all!" said Nicholas. "But I must talk to
72526 her. What a darling Sonya is!" he added with a smile.
72527
72528 "Ah, she is indeed a darling! I'll send her to you."
72529
72530 And Natasha kissed her brother and ran away.
72531
72532 A minute later Sonya came in with a frightened, guilty, and scared
72533 look. Nicholas went up to her and kissed her hand. This was the
72534 first time since his return that they had talked alone and about their
72535 love.
72536
72537 "Sophie," he began, timidly at first and then more and more
72538 boldly, "if you wish to refuse one who is not only a brilliant and
72539 advantageous match but a splendid, noble fellow... he is my friend..."
72540
72541 Sonya interrupted him.
72542
72543 "I have already refused," she said hurriedly.
72544
72545 "If you are refusing for my sake, I am afraid that I..."
72546
72547 Sonya again interrupted. She gave him an imploring, frightened look.
72548
72549 "Nicholas, don't tell me that!" she said.
72550
72551 "No, but I must. It may be arrogant of me, but still it is best to
72552 say it. If you refuse him on my account, I must tell you the whole
72553 truth. I love you, and I think I love you more than anyone else...."
72554
72555 "That is enough for me," said Sonya, blushing.
72556
72557 "No, but I have been in love a thousand times and shall fall in love
72558 again, though for no one have I such a feeling of friendship,
72559 confidence, and love as I have for you. Then I am young. Mamma does
72560 not wish it. In a word, I make no promise. And I beg you to consider
72561 Dolokhov's offer," he said, articulating his friend's name with
72562 difficulty.
72563
72564 "Don't say that to me! I want nothing. I love you as a brother and
72565 always shall, and I want nothing more."
72566
72567 "You are an angel: I am not worthy of you, but I am afraid of
72568 misleading you."
72569
72570 And Nicholas again kissed her hand.
72571
72572
72573
72574
72575
72576 CHAPTER XII
72577
72578
72579 Iogel's were the most enjoyable balls in Moscow. So said the mothers
72580 as they watched their young people executing their newly learned
72581 steps, and so said the youths and maidens themselves as they danced
72582 till they were ready to drop, and so said the grown-up young men and
72583 women who came to these balls with an air of condescension and found
72584 them most enjoyable. That year two marriages had come of these
72585 balls. The two pretty young Princesses Gorchakov met suitors there and
72586 were married and so further increased the fame of these dances. What
72587 distinguished them from others was the absence of host or hostess
72588 and the presence of the good-natured Iogel, flying about like a
72589 feather and bowing according to the rules of his art, as he
72590 collected the tickets from all his visitors. There was the fact that
72591 only those came who wished to dance and amuse themselves as girls of
72592 thirteen and fourteen do who are wearing long dresses for the first
72593 time. With scarcely any exceptions they all were, or seemed to be,
72594 pretty--so rapturous were their smiles and so sparkling their eyes.
72595 Sometimes the best of the pupils, of whom Natasha, who was
72596 exceptionally graceful, was first, even danced the pas de chale, but
72597 at this last ball only the ecossaise, the anglaise, and the mazurka,
72598 which was just coming into fashion, were danced. Iogel had taken a
72599 ballroom in Bezukhov's house, and the ball, as everyone said, was a
72600 great success. There were many pretty girls and the Rostov girls
72601 were among the prettiest. They were both particularly happy and gay.
72602 That evening, proud of Dolokhov's proposal, her refusal, and her
72603 explanation with Nicholas, Sonya twirled about before she left home so
72604 that the maid could hardly get her hair plaited, and she was
72605 transparently radiant with impulsive joy.
72606
72607 Natasha no less proud of her first long dress and of being at a real
72608 ball was even happier. They were both dressed in white muslin with
72609 pink ribbons.
72610
72611 Natasha fell in love the very moment she entered the ballroom. She
72612 was not in love with anyone in particular, but with everyone. Whatever
72613 person she happened to look at she was in love with for that moment.
72614
72615 "Oh, how delightful it is!" she kept saying, running up to Sonya.
72616
72617 Nicholas and Denisov were walking up and down, looking with kindly
72618 patronage at the dancers.
72619
72620 "How sweet she is--she will be a weal beauty!" said Denisov.
72621
72622 "Who?"
72623
72624 "Countess Natasha," answered Denisov.
72625
72626 "And how she dances! What gwace!" he said again after a pause.
72627
72628 "Who are you talking about?"
72629
72630 "About your sister," ejaculated Denisov testily.
72631
72632 Rostov smiled.
72633
72634 "My dear count, you were one of my best pupils--you must dance,"
72635 said little Iogel coming up to Nicholas. "Look how many charming young
72636 ladies-" He turned with the same request to Denisov who was also a
72637 former pupil of his.
72638
72639 "No, my dear fellow, I'll be a wallflower," said Denisov. "Don't you
72640 wecollect what bad use I made of your lessons?"
72641
72642 "Oh no!" said Iogel, hastening to reassure him. "You were only
72643 inattentive, but you had talent--oh yes, you had talent!"
72644
72645 The band struck up the newly introduced mazurka. Nicholas could not
72646 refuse Iogel and asked Sonya to dance. Denisov sat down by the old
72647 ladies and, leaning on his saber and beating time with his foot,
72648 told them something funny and kept them amused, while he watched the
72649 young people dancing, Iogel with Natasha, his pride and his best
72650 pupil, were the first couple. Noiselessly, skillfully stepping with
72651 his little feet in low shoes, Iogel flew first across the hall with
72652 Natasha, who, though shy, went on carefully executing her steps.
72653 Denisov did not take his eyes off her and beat time with his saber
72654 in a way that clearly indicated that if he was not dancing it was
72655 because he would not and not because he could not. In the middle of
72656 a figure he beckoned to Rostov who was passing:
72657
72658 "This is not at all the thing," he said. "What sort of Polish
72659 mazuwka is this? But she does dance splendidly."
72660
72661 Knowing that Denisov had a reputation even in Poland for the
72662 masterly way in which he danced the mazurka, Nicholas ran up to
72663 Natasha:
72664
72665 "Go and choose Denisov. He is a real dancer, a wonder!" he said.
72666
72667 When it came to Natasha's turn to choose a partner, she rose and,
72668 tripping rapidly across in her little shoes trimmed with bows, ran
72669 timidly to the corner where Denisov sat. She saw that everybody was
72670 looking at her and waiting. Nicholas saw that Denisov was refusing
72671 though he smiled delightedly. He ran up to them.
72672
72673 "Please, Vasili Dmitrich," Natasha was saying, "do come!"
72674
72675 "Oh no, let me off, Countess," Denisov replied.
72676
72677 "Now then, Vaska," said Nicholas.
72678
72679 "They coax me as if I were Vaska the cat!" said Denisov jokingly.
72680
72681 "I'll sing for you a whole evening," said Natasha.
72682
72683 "Oh, the faiwy! She can do anything with me!" said Denisov, and he
72684 unhooked his saber. He came out from behind the chairs, clasped his
72685 partner's hand firmly, threw back his head, and advanced his foot,
72686 waiting for the beat. Only on horse back and in the mazurka was
72687 Denisov's short stature not noticeable and he looked the fine fellow
72688 he felt himself to be. At the right beat of the music he looked
72689 sideways at his partner with a merry and triumphant air, suddenly
72690 stamped with one foot, bounded from the floor like a ball, and flew
72691 round the room taking his partner with him. He glided silently on
72692 one foot half across the room, and seeming not to notice the chairs
72693 was dashing straight at them, when suddenly, clinking his spurs and
72694 spreading out his legs, he stopped short on his heels, stood so a
72695 second, stamped on the spot clanking his spurs, whirled rapidly round,
72696 and, striking his left heel against his right, flew round again in a
72697 circle. Natasha guessed what he meant to do, and abandoning herself to
72698 him followed his lead hardly knowing how. First he spun her round,
72699 holding her now with his left, now with his right hand, then falling
72700 on one knee he twirled her round him, and again jumping up, dashed
72701 so impetuously forward that it seemed as if he would rush through
72702 the whole suite of rooms without drawing breath, and then he
72703 suddenly stopped and performed some new and unexpected steps. When
72704 at last, smartly whirling his partner round in front of her chair,
72705 he drew up with a click of his spurs and bowed to her, Natasha did not
72706 even make him a curtsy. She fixed her eyes on him in amazement,
72707 smiling as if she did not recognize him.
72708
72709 "What does this mean?" she brought out.
72710
72711 Although Iogel did not acknowledge this to be the real mazurka,
72712 everyone was delighted with Denisov's skill, he was asked again and
72713 again as a partner, and the old men began smilingly to talk about
72714 Poland and the good old days. Denisov, flushed after the mazurka and
72715 mopping himself with his handkerchief, sat down by Natasha and did not
72716 leave her for the rest of the evening.
72717
72718
72719
72720
72721
72722 CHAPTER XIII
72723
72724
72725 For two days after that Rostov did not see Dolokhov at his own or at
72726 Dolokhov's home: on the third day he received a note from him:
72727
72728
72729 As I do not intend to be at your house again for reasons you know
72730 of, and am going to rejoin my regiment, I am giving a farewell
72731 supper tonight to my friends--come to the English Hotel.
72732
72733
72734 About ten o'clock Rostov went to the English Hotel straight from the
72735 theater, where he had been with his family and Denisov. He was at once
72736 shown to the best room, which Dolokhov had taken for that evening.
72737 Some twenty men were gathered round a table at which Dolokhov sat
72738 between two candles. On the table was a pile of gold and paper
72739 money, and he was keeping the bank. Rostov had not seen him since
72740 his proposal and Sonya's refusal and felt uncomfortable at the thought
72741 of how they would meet.
72742
72743 Dolokhov's clear, cold glance met Rostov as soon as he entered the
72744 door, as though he had long expected him.
72745
72746 "It's a long time since we met," he said. "Thanks for coming. I'll
72747 just finish dealing, and then Ilyushka will come with his chorus."
72748
72749 "I called once or twice at your house," said Rostov, reddening.
72750
72751 Dolokhov made no reply.
72752
72753 "You may punt," he said.
72754
72755 Rostov recalled at that moment a strange conversation he had once
72756 had with Dolokhov. "None but fools trust to luck in play," Dolokhov
72757 had then said.
72758
72759 "Or are you afraid to play with me?" Dolokhov now asked as if
72760 guessing Rostov's thought.
72761
72762 Beneath his smile Rostov saw in him the mood he had shown at the
72763 Club dinner and at other times, when as if tired of everyday life he
72764 had felt a need to escape from it by some strange, and usually
72765 cruel, action.
72766
72767 Rostov felt ill at ease. He tried, but failed, to find some joke
72768 with which to reply to Dolokhov's words. But before he had thought
72769 of anything, Dolokhov, looking straight in his face, said slowly and
72770 deliberately so that everyone could hear:
72771
72772 "Do you remember we had a talk about cards... 'He's a fool who
72773 trusts to luck, one should make certain,' and I want to try."
72774
72775 "To try his luck or the certainty?" Rostov asked himself.
72776
72777 "Well, you'd better not play," Dolokhov added, and springing a new
72778 pack of cards said: "Bank, gentlemen!"
72779
72780 Moving the money forward he prepared to deal. Rostov sat down by his
72781 side and at first did not play. Dolokhov kept glancing at him.
72782
72783 "Why don't you play?" he asked.
72784
72785 And strange to say Nicholas felt that he could not help taking up
72786 a card, putting a small stake on it, and beginning to play.
72787
72788 "I have no money with me," he said.
72789
72790 "I'll trust you."
72791
72792 Rostov staked five rubles on a card and lost, staked again, and
72793 again lost. Dolokhov "killed," that is, beat, ten cards of Rostov's
72794 running.
72795
72796 "Gentlemen," said Dolokhov after he had dealt for some time. "Please
72797 place your money on the cards or I may get muddled in the reckoning."
72798
72799 One of the players said he hoped he might be trusted.
72800
72801 "Yes, you might, but I am afraid of getting the accounts mixed. So I
72802 ask you to put the money on your cards," replied Dolokhov. "Don't
72803 stint yourself, we'll settle afterwards," he added, turning to Rostov.
72804
72805 The game continued; a waiter kept handing round champagne.
72806
72807 All Rostov's cards were beaten and he had eight hundred rubles
72808 scored up against him. He wrote "800 rubles" on a card, but while
72809 the waiter filled his glass he changed his mind and altered it to
72810 his usual stake of twenty rubles.
72811
72812 "Leave it," said Dolokhov, though he did not seem to be even looking
72813 at Rostov, "you'll win it back all the sooner. I lose to the others
72814 but win from you. Or are you afraid of me?" he asked again.
72815
72816 Rostov submitted. He let the eight hundred remain and laid down a
72817 seven of hearts with a torn corner, which he had picked up from the
72818 floor. He well remembered that seven afterwards. He laid down the
72819 seven of hearts, on which with a broken bit of chalk he had written
72820 "800 rubles" in clear upright figures; he emptied the glass of warm
72821 champagne that was handed him, smiled at Dolokhov's words, and with
72822 a sinking heart, waiting for a seven to turn up, gazed at Dolokhov's
72823 hands which held the pack. Much depended on Rostov's winning or losing
72824 on that seven of hearts. On the previous Sunday the old count had
72825 given his son two thousand rubles, and though he always disliked
72826 speaking of money difficulties had told Nicholas that this was all
72827 he could let him have till May, and asked him to be more economical
72828 this time. Nicholas had replied that it would be more than enough
72829 for him and that he gave his word of honor not to take anything more
72830 till the spring. Now only twelve hundred rubles was left of that
72831 money, so that this seven of hearts meant for him not only the loss of
72832 sixteen hundred rubles, but the necessity of going back on his word.
72833 With a sinking heart he watched Dolokhov's hands and thought, "Now
72834 then, make haste and let me have this card and I'll take my cap and
72835 drive home to supper with Denisov, Natasha, and Sonya, and will
72836 certainly never touch a card again." At that moment his home life,
72837 jokes with Petya, talks with Sonya, duets with Natasha, piquet with
72838 his father, and even his comfortable bed in the house on the
72839 Povarskaya rose before him with such vividness, clearness, and charm
72840 that it seemed as if it were all a lost and unappreciated bliss,
72841 long past. He could not conceive that a stupid chance, letting the
72842 seven be dealt to the right rather than to the left, might deprive him
72843 of all this happiness, newly appreciated and newly illumined, and
72844 plunge him into the depths of unknown and undefined misery. That could
72845 not be, yet he awaited with a sinking heart the movement of Dolokhov's
72846 hands. Those broad, reddish hands, with hairy wrists visible from
72847 under the shirt cuffs, laid down the pack and took up a glass and a
72848 pipe that were handed him.
72849
72850 "So you are not afraid to play with me?" repeated Dolokhov, and as
72851 if about to tell a good story he put down the cards, leaned back in
72852 his chair, and began deliberately with a smile:
72853
72854 "Yes, gentlemen, I've been told there's a rumor going about Moscow
72855 that I'm a sharper, so I advise you to be careful."
72856
72857 "Come now, deal!" exclaimed Rostov.
72858
72859 "Oh, those Moscow gossips!" said Dolokhov, and he took up the
72860 cards with a smile.
72861
72862 "Aah!" Rostov almost screamed lifting both hands to his head. The
72863 seven he needed was lying uppermost, the first card in the pack. He
72864 had lost more than he could pay.
72865
72866 "Still, don't ruin yourself!" said Dolokhov with a side glance at
72867 Rostov as he continued to deal.
72868
72869
72870
72871
72872
72873 CHAPTER XIV
72874
72875
72876 An hour and a half later most of the players were but little
72877 interested in their own play.
72878
72879 The whole interest was concentrated on Rostov. Instead of sixteen
72880 hundred rubles he had a long column of figures scored against him,
72881 which he had reckoned up to ten thousand, but that now, as he
72882 vaguely supposed, must have risen to fifteen thousand. In reality it
72883 already exceeded twenty thousand rubles. Dolokhov was no longer
72884 listening to stories or telling them, but followed every movement of
72885 Rostov's hands and occasionally ran his eyes over the score against
72886 him. He had decided to play until that score reached forty-three
72887 thousand. He had fixed on that number because forty-three was the
72888 sum of his and Sonya's joint ages. Rostov, leaning his head on both
72889 hands, sat at the table which was scrawled over with figures, wet with
72890 spilled wine, and littered with cards. One tormenting impression did
72891 not leave him: that those broad-boned reddish hands with hairy
72892 wrists visible from under the shirt sleeves, those hands which he
72893 loved and hated, held him in their power.
72894
72895 "Six hundred rubles, ace, a corner, a nine... winning it back's
72896 impossible... Oh, how pleasant it was at home!... The knave, double or
72897 quits... it can't be!... And why is he doing this to me?" Rostov
72898 pondered. Sometimes he staked a large sum, but Dolokhov refused to
72899 accept it and fixed the stake himself. Nicholas submitted to him,
72900 and at one moment prayed to God as he had done on the battlefield at
72901 the bridge over the Enns, and then guessed that the card that came
72902 first to hand from the crumpled heap under the table would save him,
72903 now counted the cords on his coat and took a card with that number and
72904 tried staking the total of his losses on it, then he looked round
72905 for aid from the other players, or peered at the now cold face of
72906 Dolokhov and tried to read what was passing in his mind.
72907
72908 "He knows of course what this loss means to me. He can't want my
72909 ruin. Wasn't he my friend? Wasn't I fond of him? But it's not his
72910 fault. What's he to do if he has such luck?... And it's not my fault
72911 either," he thought to himself, "I have done nothing wrong. Have I
72912 killed anyone, or insulted or wished harm to anyone? Why such a
72913 terrible misfortune? And when did it begin? Such a little while ago
72914 I came to this table with the thought of winning a hundred rubles to
72915 buy that casket for Mamma's name day and then going home. I was so
72916 happy, so free, so lighthearted! And I did not realize how happy I
72917 was! When did that end and when did this new, terrible state of things
72918 begin? What marked the change? I sat all the time in this same place
72919 at this table, chose and placed cards, and watched those broad-boned
72920 agile hands in the same way. When did it happen and what has happened?
72921 I am well and strong and still the same and in the same place. No,
72922 it can't be! Surely it will all end in nothing!"
72923
72924 He was flushed and bathed in perspiration, though the room was not
72925 hot. His face was terrible and piteous to see, especially from its
72926 helpless efforts to seem calm.
72927
72928 The score against him reached the fateful sum of forty-three
72929 thousand. Rostov had just prepared a card, by bending the corner of
72930 which he meant to double the three thousand just put down to his
72931 score, when Dolokhov, slamming down the pack of cards, put it aside
72932 and began rapidly adding up the total of Rostov's debt, breaking the
72933 chalk as he marked the figures in his clear, bold hand.
72934
72935 "Supper, it's time for supper! And here are the gypsies!"
72936
72937 Some swarthy men and women were really entering from the cold
72938 outside and saying something in their gypsy accents. Nicholas
72939 understood that it was all over; but he said in an indifferent tone:
72940
72941 "Well, won't you go on? I had a splendid card all ready," as if it
72942 were the fun of the game which interested him most.
72943
72944 "It's all up! I'm lost!" thought he. "Now a bullet through my brain-
72945 that's all that's left me!" And at the same time he said in a
72946 cheerful voice:
72947
72948 "Come now, just this one more little card!"
72949
72950 "All right!" said Dolokhov, having finished the addition. "All
72951 right! Twenty-one rubles," he said, pointing to the figure
72952 twenty-one by which the total exceeded the round sum of forty-three
72953 thousand; and taking up a pack he prepared to deal. Rostov
72954 submissively unbent the corner of his card and, instead of the six
72955 thousand he had intended, carefully wrote twenty-one.
72956
72957 "It's all the same to me," he said. "I only want to see whether
72958 you will let me win this ten, or beat it."
72959
72960 Dolokhov began to deal seriously. Oh, how Rostov detested at that
72961 moment those hands with their short reddish fingers and hairy
72962 wrists, which held him in their power.... The ten fell to him.
72963
72964 "You owe forty-three thousand, Count," said Dolokhov, and stretching
72965 himself he rose from the table. "One does get tired sitting so
72966 long," he added.
72967
72968 "Yes, I'm tired too," said Rostov.
72969
72970 Dolokhov cut him short, as if to remind him that it was not for
72971 him to jest.
72972
72973 "When am I to receive the money, Count?"
72974
72975 Rostov, flushing, drew Dolokhov into the next room.
72976
72977 "I cannot pay it all immediately. Will you take an I.O.U.?" he said.
72978
72979 "I say, Rostov," said Dolokhov clearly, smiling and looking Nicholas
72980 straight in the eyes, "you know the saying, 'Lucky in love, unlucky at
72981 cards.' Your cousin is in love with you, I know."
72982
72983 "Oh, it's terrible to feel oneself so in this man's power,"
72984 thought Rostov. He knew what a shock he would inflict on his father
72985 and mother by the news of this loss, he knew what a relief it would be
72986 to escape it all, and felt that Dolokhov knew that he could save him
72987 from all this shame and sorrow, but wanted now to play with him as a
72988 cat does with a mouse.
72989
72990 "Your cousin..." Dolokhov started to say, but Nicholas interrupted
72991 him.
72992
72993 "My cousin has nothing to do with this and it's not necessary to
72994 mention her!" he exclaimed fiercely.
72995
72996 "Then when am I to have it?"
72997
72998 "Tomorrow," replied Rostov and left the room.
72999
73000
73001
73002
73003
73004 CHAPTER XV
73005
73006
73007 To say "tomorrow" and keep up a dignified tone was not difficult,
73008 but to go home alone, see his sisters, brother, mother, and father,
73009 confess and ask for money he had no right to after giving his word
73010 of honor, was terrible.
73011
73012 At home, they had not yet gone to bed. The young people, after
73013 returning from the theater, had had supper and were grouped round
73014 the clavichord. As soon as Nicholas entered, he was enfolded in that
73015 poetic atmosphere of love which pervaded the Rostov household that
73016 winter and, now after Dolokhov's proposal and Iogel's ball, seemed
73017 to have grown thicker round Sonya and Natasha as the air does before a
73018 thunderstorm. Sonya and Natasha, in the light-blue dresses they had
73019 worn at the theater, looking pretty and conscious of it, were standing
73020 by the clavichord, happy and smiling. Vera was playing chess with
73021 Shinshin in the drawing room. The old countess, waiting for the return
73022 of her husband and son, sat playing patience with the old
73023 gentlewoman who lived in their house. Denisov, with sparkling eyes and
73024 ruffled hair, sat at the clavichord striking chords with his short
73025 fingers, his legs thrown back and his eyes rolling as he sang, with
73026 his small, husky, but true voice, some verses called "Enchantress,"
73027 which he had composed, and to which he was trying to fit music:
73028
73029 Enchantress, say, to my forsaken lyre
73030 What magic power is this recalls me still?
73031 What spark has set my inmost soul on fire,
73032 What is this bliss that makes my fingers thrill?
73033
73034 He was singing in passionate tones, gazing with his
73035 sparkling black-agate eyes at the frightened and happy Natasha.
73036
73037 "Splendid! Excellent!" exclaimed Natasha. "Another verse," she
73038 said, without noticing Nicholas.
73039
73040 "Everything's still the same with them," thought Nicholas,
73041 glancing into the drawing room, where he saw Vera and his mother
73042 with the old lady.
73043
73044 "Ah, and here's Nicholas!" cried Natasha, running up to him.
73045
73046 "Is Papa at home?" he asked.
73047
73048 "I am so glad you've come!" said Natasha, without answering him. "We
73049 are enjoying ourselves! Vasili Dmitrich is staying a day longer for my
73050 sake! Did you know?"
73051
73052 "No, Papa is not back yet," said Sonya.
73053
73054 "Nicholas, have you come? Come here, dear!" called the old
73055 countess from the drawing room.
73056
73057 Nicholas went to her, kissed her hand, and sitting down silently
73058 at her table began to watch her hands arranging the cards. From the
73059 dancing room, they still heard the laughter and merry voices trying to
73060 persuade Natasha to sing.
73061
73062 "All wight! All wight!" shouted Denisov. "It's no good making
73063 excuses now! It's your turn to sing the ba'cawolla--I entweat you!"
73064
73065 The countess glanced at her silent son.
73066
73067 "What is the matter?" she asked.
73068
73069 "Oh, nothing," said he, as if weary of being continually asked the
73070 same question. "Will Papa be back soon?"
73071
73072 "I expect so."
73073
73074 "Everything's the same with them. They know nothing about it!
73075 Where am I to go?" thought Nicholas, and went again into the dancing
73076 room where the clavichord stood.
73077
73078 Sonya was sitting at the clavichord, playing the prelude to
73079 Denisov's favorite barcarolle. Natasha was preparing to sing.
73080 Denisov was looking at her with enraptured eyes.
73081
73082 Nicholas began pacing up and down the room.
73083
73084 "Why do they want to make her sing? How can she sing? There's
73085 nothing to be happy about!" thought he.
73086
73087 Sonya struck the first chord of the prelude.
73088
73089 "My God, I'm a ruined and dishonored man! A bullet through my
73090 brain is the only thing left me--not singing!" his thoughts ran on.
73091 "Go away? But where to? It's one--let them sing!"
73092
73093 He continued to pace the room, looking gloomily at Denisov and the
73094 girls and avoiding their eyes.
73095
73096 "Nikolenka, what is the matter?" Sonya's eyes fixed on him seemed to
73097 ask. She noticed at once that something had happened to him.
73098
73099 Nicholas turned away from her. Natasha too, with her quick instinct,
73100 had instantly noticed her brother's condition. But, though she noticed
73101 it, she was herself in such high spirits at that moment, so far from
73102 sorrow, sadness, or self-reproach, that she purposely deceived herself
73103 as young people often do. "No, I am too happy now to spoil my
73104 enjoyment by sympathy with anyone's sorrow," she felt, and she said to
73105 herself: "No, I must be mistaken, he must be feeling happy, just as
73106 I am."
73107
73108 "Now, Sonya!" she said, going to the very middle of the room,
73109 where she considered the resonance was best.
73110
73111 Having lifted her head and let her arms droop lifelessly, as
73112 ballet dancers do, Natasha, rising energetically from her heels to her
73113 toes, stepped to the middle of the room and stood still.
73114
73115 "Yes, that's me!" she seemed to say, answering the rapt gaze with
73116 which Denisov followed her.
73117
73118 "And what is she so pleased about?" thought Nicholas, looking at his
73119 sister. "Why isn't she dull and ashamed?"
73120
73121 Natasha took the first note, her throat swelled, her chest rose, her
73122 eyes became serious. At that moment she was oblivious of her
73123 surroundings, and from her smiling lips flowed sounds which anyone may
73124 produce at the same intervals hold for the same time, but which
73125 leave you cold a thousand times and the thousand and first time thrill
73126 you and make you weep.
73127
73128 Natasha, that winter, had for the first time begun to sing
73129 seriously, mainly because Denisov so delighted in her singing. She
73130 no longer sang as a child, there was no longer in her singing that
73131 comical, childish, painstaking effect that had been in it before;
73132 but she did not yet sing well, as all the connoisseurs who heard her
73133 said: "It is not trained, but it is a beautiful voice that must be
73134 trained." Only they generally said this some time after she had
73135 finished singing. While that untrained voice, with its incorrect
73136 breathing and labored transitions, was sounding, even the connoisseurs
73137 said nothing, but only delighted in it and wished to hear it again. In
73138 her voice there was a virginal freshness, an unconsciousness of her
73139 own powers, and an as yet untrained velvety softness, which so mingled
73140 with her lack of art in singing that it seemed as if nothing in that
73141 voice could be altered without spoiling it.
73142
73143 "What is this?" thought Nicholas, listening to her with widely
73144 opened eyes. "What has happened to her? How she is singing today!" And
73145 suddenly the whole world centered for him on anticipation of the
73146 next note, the next phrase, and everything in the world was divided
73147 into three beats: "Oh mio crudele affetto."... One, two, three... one,
73148 two, three... One... "Oh mio crudele affetto."... One, two, three...
73149 One. "Oh, this senseless life of ours!" thought Nicholas. "All this
73150 misery, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor--it's all
73151 nonsense... but this is real.... Now then, Natasha, now then, dearest!
73152 Now then, darling! How will she take that si? She's taken it! Thank
73153 God!" And without noticing that he was singing, to strengthen the si
73154 he sung a second, a third below the high note. "Ah, God! How fine! Did
73155 I really take it? How fortunate!" he thought.
73156
73157 Oh, how that chord vibrated, and how moved was something that was
73158 finest in Rostov's soul! And this something was apart from
73159 everything else in the world and above everything in the world.
73160 "What were losses, and Dolokhov, and words of honor?... All
73161 nonsense! One might kill and rob and yet be happy..."
73162
73163
73164
73165
73166
73167 CHAPTER XVI
73168
73169
73170 It was long since Rostov had felt such enjoyment from music as he
73171 did that day. But no sooner had Natasha finished her barcarolle than
73172 reality again presented itself. He got up without saying a word and
73173 went downstairs to his own room. A quarter of an hour later the old
73174 count came in from his Club, cheerful and contented. Nicholas, hearing
73175 him drive up, went to meet him.
73176
73177 "Well--had a good time?" said the old count, smiling gaily and
73178 proudly at his son.
73179
73180 Nicholas tried to say "Yes," but could not: and he nearly burst into
73181 sobs. The count was lighting his pipe and did not notice his son's
73182 condition.
73183
73184 "Ah, it can't be avoided!" thought Nicholas, for the first and
73185 last time. And suddenly, in the most casual tone, which made him
73186 feel ashamed of himself, he said, as if merely asking his
73187 father to let him have the carriage to drive to town:
73188
73189 "Papa, I have come on a matter of business. I was nearly forgetting.
73190 I need some money."
73191
73192 "Dear me!" said his father, who was in a specially good humor. "I
73193 told you it would not be enough. How much?"
73194
73195 "Very much," said Nicholas flushing, and with a stupid careless
73196 smile, for which he was long unable to forgive himself, "I have lost a
73197 little, I mean a good deal, a great deal--forty three thousand."
73198
73199 "What! To whom?... Nonsense!" cried the count, suddenly reddening
73200 with an apoplectic flush over neck and nape as old people do.
73201
73202 "I promised to pay tomorrow," said Nicholas.
73203
73204 "Well!..." said the old count, spreading out his arms and sinking
73205 helplessly on the sofa.
73206
73207 "It can't be helped It happens to everyone!" said the son, with a
73208 bold, free, and easy tone, while in his soul he regarded himself as
73209 a worthless scoundrel whose whole life could not atone for his
73210 crime. He longed to kiss his father's hands and kneel to beg his
73211 forgiveness, but said, in a careless and even rude voice, that it
73212 happens to everyone!
73213
73214 The old count cast down his eyes on hearing his son's words and
73215 began bustlingly searching for something.
73216
73217 "Yes, yes," he muttered, "it will be difficult, I fear, difficult to
73218 raise... happens to everybody! Yes, who has not done it?"
73219
73220 And with a furtive glance at his son's face, the count went out of
73221 the room.... Nicholas had been prepared for resistance, but had not at
73222 all expected this.
73223
73224 "Papa! Pa-pa!" he called after him, sobbing, "forgive me!" And
73225 seizing his father's hand, he pressed it to his lips and burst into
73226 tears.
73227
73228 While father and son were having their explanation, the mother and
73229 daughter were having one not less important. Natasha came running to
73230 her mother, quite excited.
73231
73232 "Mamma!... Mamma!... He has made me..."
73233
73234 "Made what?"
73235
73236 "Made, made me an offer, Mamma! Mamma!" she exclaimed.
73237
73238 The countess did not believe her ears. Denisov had proposed. To
73239 whom? To this chit of a girl, Natasha, who not so long ago was playing
73240 with dolls and who was still having lessons.
73241
73242 "Don't, Natasha! What nonsense!" she said, hoping it was a joke.
73243
73244 "Nonsense, indeed! I am telling you the fact," said Natasha
73245 indignantly. "I come to ask you what to do, and you call it
73246 'nonsense!'"
73247
73248 The countess shrugged her shoulders.
73249
73250 "If it true that Monsieur Denisov has made you a proposal, tell
73251 him he is a fool, that's all!"
73252
73253 "No, he's not a fool!" replied Natasha indignantly and seriously.
73254
73255 "Well then, what do you want? You're all in love nowadays. Well,
73256 if you are in love, marry him!" said the countess, with a laugh of
73257 annoyance. "Good luck to you!"
73258
73259 "No, Mamma, I'm not in love with him, I suppose I'm not in love with
73260 him."
73261
73262 "Well then, tell him so."
73263
73264 "Mamma, are you cross? Don't be cross, dear! Is it my fault?"
73265
73266 "No, but what is it, my dear? Do you want me to go and tell him?"
73267 said the countess smiling.
73268
73269 "No, I will do it myself, only tell me what to say. It's all very
73270 well for you," said Natasha, with a responsive smile. "You should have
73271 seen how he said it! I know he did not mean to say it, but it came out
73272 accidently."
73273
73274 "Well, all the same, you must refuse him."
73275
73276 "No, I mustn't. I am so sorry for him! He's so nice."
73277
73278 "Well then, accept his offer. It's high time for you to be married,"
73279 answered the countess sharply and sarcastically.
73280
73281 "No, Mamma, but I'm so sorry for him. I don't know how I'm to say
73282 it."
73283
73284 "And there's nothing for you to say. I shall speak to him myself,"
73285 said the countess, indignant that they should have dared to treat this
73286 little Natasha as grown up.
73287
73288 "No, not on any account! I will tell him myself, and you'll listen
73289 at the door," and Natasha ran across the drawing room to the dancing
73290 hall, where Denisov was sitting on the same chair by the clavichord
73291 with his face in his hands.
73292
73293 He jumped up at the sound of her light step.
73294
73295 "Nataly," he said, moving with rapid steps toward her, "decide my
73296 fate. It is in your hands."
73297
73298 "Vasili Dmitrich, I'm so sorry for you!... No, but you are so
73299 nice... but it won't do...not that... but as a friend, I shall
73300 always love you."
73301
73302 Denisov bent over her hand and she heard strange sounds she did
73303 not understand. She kissed his rough curly black head. At this
73304 instant, they heard the quick rustle of the countess' dress. She
73305 came up to them.
73306
73307 "Vasili Dmitrich, I thank you for the honor," she said, with an
73308 embarrassed voice, though it sounded severe to Denisov--"but my
73309 daughter is so young, and I thought that, as my son's friend, you
73310 would have addressed yourself first to me. In that case you would
73311 not have obliged me to give this refusal."
73312
73313 "Countess..." said Denisov, with downcast eyes and a guilty face. He
73314 tried to say more, but faltered.
73315
73316 Natasha could not remain calm, seeing him in such a plight. She
73317 began to sob aloud.
73318
73319 "Countess, I have done w'ong," Denisov went on in an unsteady voice,
73320 "but believe me, I so adore your daughter and all your family that I
73321 would give my life twice over..." He looked at the countess, and
73322 seeing her severe face said: "Well, good-by, Countess," and kissing
73323 her hand, he left the room with quick resolute strides, without
73324 looking at Natasha.
73325
73326
73327 Next day Rostov saw Denisov off. He not wish to stay another day
73328 in Moscow. All Denisov's Moscow friends gave him a farewell
73329 entertainment at the gypsies', with the result that he had no
73330 recollection of how he was put in the sleigh or of the first three
73331 stages of his journey.
73332
73333 After Denisov's departure, Rostov spent another fortnight in Moscow,
73334 without going out of the house, waiting for the money his father could
73335 not at once raise, and he spent most of his time in the girls' room.
73336
73337 Sonya was more tender and devoted to him than ever. It was as if she
73338 wanted to show him that his losses were an achievement that made her
73339 love him all the more, but Nicholas now considered himself unworthy of
73340 her.
73341
73342 He filled the girls' albums with verses and music, and having at
73343 last sent Dolokhov the whole forty-three thousand rubles and
73344 received his receipt, he left at the end of November, without taking
73345 leave of any of his acquaintances, to overtake his regiment which
73346 was already in Poland.
73347
73348
73349
73350
73351
73352 BOOK FIVE: 1806 --07
73353
73354
73355
73356
73357
73358 CHAPTER I
73359
73360
73361 After his interview with his wife Pierre left for Petersburg. At the
73362 Torzhok post station, either there were no horses or the postmaster
73363 would not supply them. Pierre was obliged to wait. Without undressing,
73364 he lay down on the leather sofa in front of a round table, put his big
73365 feet in their overboots on the table, and began to reflect.
73366
73367 "Will you have the portmanteaus brought in? And a bed got ready, and
73368 tea?" asked his valet.
73369
73370 Pierre gave no answer, for he neither heard nor saw anything. He had
73371 begun to think of the last station and was still pondering on the same
73372 question--one so important that he took no notice of what went on
73373 around him. Not only was he indifferent as to whether he got to
73374 Petersburg earlier or later, or whether he secured accommodation at
73375 this station, but compared to the thoughts that now occupied him it
73376 was a matter of indifference whether he remained there for a few hours
73377 or for the rest of his life.
73378
73379 The postmaster, his wife, the valet, and a peasant woman selling
73380 Torzhok embroidery came into the room offering their services. Without
73381 changing his careless attitude, Pierre looked at them over his
73382 spectacles unable to understand what they wanted or how they could
73383 go on living without having solved the problems that so absorbed
73384 him. He had been engrossed by the same thoughts ever since the day
73385 he returned from Sokolniki after the duel and had spent that first
73386 agonizing, sleepless night. But now, in the solitude of the journey,
73387 they seized him with special force. No matter what he thought about,
73388 he always returned to these same questions which he could not solve
73389 and yet could not cease to ask himself. It was as if the thread of the
73390 chief screw which held his life together were stripped, so that the
73391 screw could not get in or out, but went on turning uselessly in the
73392 same place.
73393
73394 The postmaster came in and began obsequiously to beg his
73395 excellency to wait only two hours, when, come what might, he would let
73396 his excellency have the courier horses. It was plain that he was lying
73397 and only wanted to get more money from the traveler.
73398
73399 "Is this good or bad?" Pierre asked himself. "It is good for me, bad
73400 for another traveler, and for himself it's unavoidable, because he
73401 needs money for food; the man said an officer had once given him a
73402 thrashing for letting a private traveler have the courier horses.
73403 But the officer thrashed him because he had to get on as quickly as
73404 possible. And I," continued Pierre, "shot Dolokhov because I
73405 considered myself injured, and Louis XVI was executed because they
73406 considered him a criminal, and a year later they executed those who
73407 executed him--also for some reason. What is bad? What is good? What
73408 should one love and what hate? What does one live for? And what am
73409 I? What is life, and what is death? What power governs all?"
73410
73411 There was no answer to any of these questions, except one, and
73412 that not a logical answer and not at all a reply to them. The answer
73413 was: "You'll die and all will end. You'll die and know all, or cease
73414 asking." But dying was also dreadful.
73415
73416 The Torzhok peddler woman, in a whining voice, went on offering
73417 her wares, especially a pair of goatskin slippers. "I have hundreds of
73418 rubles I don't know what to do with, and she stands in her tattered
73419 cloak looking timidly at me," he thought. "And what does she want
73420 the money for? As if that money could add a hair's breadth to
73421 happiness or peace of mind. Can anything in the world make her or me
73422 less a prey to evil and death?--death which ends all and must come
73423 today or tomorrow--at any rate, in an instant as compared with
73424 eternity." And again he twisted the screw with the stripped thread,
73425 and again it turned uselessly in the same place.
73426
73427 His servant handed him a half-cut novel, in the form of letters,
73428 by Madame de Souza. He began reading about the sufferings and virtuous
73429 struggles of a certain Emilie de Mansfeld. "And why did she resist her
73430 seducer when she loved him?" he thought. "God could not have put
73431 into her heart an impulse that was against His will. My wife--as she
73432 once was--did not struggle, and perhaps she was right. Nothing has
73433 been found out, nothing discovered," Pierre again said to himself.
73434 "All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of
73435 human wisdom."
73436
73437 Everything within and around him seemed confused, senseless, and
73438 repellent. Yet in this very repugnance to all his circumstances Pierre
73439 found a kind of tantalizing satisfaction.
73440
73441 "I make bold to ask your excellency to move a little for this
73442 gentleman," said the postmaster, entering the room followed by another
73443 traveler, also detained for lack of horses.
73444
73445 The newcomer was a short, large-boned, yellow-faced, wrinkled old
73446 man, with gray bushy eyebrows overhanging bright eyes of an indefinite
73447 grayish color.
73448
73449 Pierre took his feet off the table, stood up, and lay down on a
73450 bed that had been got ready for him, glancing now and then at the
73451 newcomer, who, with a gloomy and tired face, was wearily taking off
73452 his wraps with the aid of his servant, and not looking at Pierre. With
73453 a pair of felt boots on his thin bony legs, and keeping on a worn,
73454 nankeen-covered, sheepskin coat, the traveler sat down on the sofa,
73455 leaned back his big head with its broad temples and close-cropped
73456 hair, and looked at Bezukhov. The stern, shrewd, and penetrating
73457 expression of that look struck Pierre. He felt a wish to speak to
73458 the stranger, but by the time he had made up his mind to ask him a
73459 question about the roads, the traveler had closed his eyes. His
73460 shriveled old hands were folded and on the finger of one of them
73461 Pierre noticed a large cast iron ring with a seal representing a
73462 death's head. The stranger sat without stirring, either resting or, as
73463 it seemed to Pierre, sunk in profound and calm meditation. His servant
73464 was also a yellow, wrinkled old man, without beard or mustache,
73465 evidently not because he was shaven but because they had never
73466 grown. This active old servant was unpacking the traveler's canteen
73467 and preparing tea. He brought in a boiling samovar. When everything
73468 was ready, the stranger opened his eyes, moved to the table, filled
73469 a tumbler with tea for himself and one for the beardless old man to
73470 whom he passed it. Pierre began to feel a sense of uneasiness, and the
73471 need, even the inevitability, of entering into conversation with
73472 this stranger.
73473
73474 The servant brought back his tumbler turned upside down,* with an
73475 unfinished bit of nibbled sugar, and asked if anything more would be
73476 wanted.
73477
73478
73479 *To indicate he did not want more tea.
73480
73481
73482 "No. Give me the book," said the stranger.
73483
73484 The servant handed him a book which Pierre took to be a devotional
73485 work, and the traveler became absorbed in it. Pierre looked at him.
73486 All at once the stranger closed the book, putting in a marker, and
73487 again, leaning with his arms on the back of the sofa, sat in his
73488 former position with his eyes shut. Pierre looked at him and had not
73489 time to turn away when the old man, opening his eyes, fixed his steady
73490 and severe gaze straight on Pierre's face.
73491
73492 Pierre felt confused and wished to avoid that look, but the bright
73493 old eyes attracted him irresistibly.
73494
73495
73496
73497
73498
73499 CHAPTER II
73500
73501
73502 "I have the pleasure of addressing Count Bezukhov, if I am not
73503 mistaken," said the stranger in a deliberate and loud voice.
73504
73505 Pierre looked silently and inquiringly at him over his spectacles.
73506
73507 "I have heard of you, my dear sir," continued the stranger, "and
73508 of your misfortune." He seemed to emphasize the last word, as if to
73509 say--"Yes, misfortune! Call it what you please, I know that what
73510 happened to you in Moscow was a misfortune."--"I regret it very
73511 much, my dear sir."
73512
73513 Pierre flushed and, hurriedly putting his legs down from the bed,
73514 bent forward toward the old man with a forced and timid smile.
73515
73516 "I have not referred to this out of curiosity, my dear sir, but
73517 for greater reasons."
73518
73519 He paused, his gaze still on Pierre, and moved aside on the sofa
73520 by way of inviting the other to take a seat beside him. Pierre felt
73521 reluctant to enter into conversation with this old man, but,
73522 submitting to him involuntarily, came up and sat down beside him.
73523
73524 "You are unhappy, my dear sir," the stranger continued. "You are
73525 young and I am old. I should like to help you as far as lies in my
73526 power."
73527
73528 "Oh, yes!" said Pierre, with a forced smile. "I am very grateful
73529 to you. Where are you traveling from?"
73530
73531 The stranger's face was not genial, it was even cold and severe, but
73532 in spite of this, both the face and words of his new acquaintance were
73533 irresistibly attractive to Pierre.
73534
73535 "But if for reason you don't feel inclined to talk to me," said
73536 the old man, "say so, my dear sir." And he suddenly smiled, in an
73537 unexpected and tenderly paternal way.
73538
73539 "Oh no, not at all! On the contrary, I am very glad to make your
73540 acquaintance," said Pierre. And again, glancing at the stranger's
73541 hands, he looked more closely at the ring, with its skull--a Masonic
73542 sign.
73543
73544 "Allow me to ask," he said, "are you a Mason?"
73545
73546 "Yes, I belong to the Brotherhood of the Freemasons," said the
73547 stranger, looking deeper and deeper into Pierre's eyes. "And in
73548 their name and my own I hold out a brotherly hand to you."
73549
73550 "I am afraid," said Pierre, smiling, and wavering between the
73551 confidence the personality of the Freemason inspired in him and his
73552 own habit of ridiculing the Masonic beliefs--"I am afraid I am very
73553 far from understanding--how am I to put it?--I am afraid my way of
73554 looking at the world is so opposed to yours that we shall not
73555 understand one another."
73556
73557 "I know your outlook," said the Mason, "and the view of life you
73558 mention, and which you think is the result of your own mental efforts,
73559 is the one held by the majority of people, and is the invariable fruit
73560 of pride, indolence, and ignorance. Forgive me, my dear sir, but if
73561 I had not known it I should not have addressed you. Your view of
73562 life is a regrettable delusion."
73563
73564 "Just as I may suppose you to be deluded," said Pierre, with a faint
73565 smile.
73566
73567 "I should never dare to say that I know the truth," said the
73568 Mason, whose words struck Pierre more and more by their precision
73569 and firmness. "No one can attain to truth by himself. Only by laying
73570 stone on stone with the cooperation of all, by the millions of
73571 generations from our forefather Adam to our own times, is that
73572 temple reared which is to be a worthy dwelling place of the Great
73573 God," he added, and closed his eyes.
73574
73575 "I ought to tell you that I do not believe... do not believe in God,"
73576 said Pierre, regretfully and with an effort, feeling it essential to
73577 speak the whole truth.
73578
73579 The Mason looked intently at Pierre and smiled as a rich man with
73580 millions in hand might smile at a poor fellow who told him that he,
73581 poor man, had not the five rubles that would make him happy.
73582
73583 "Yes, you do not know Him, my dear sir," said the Mason. "You cannot
73584 know Him. You do not know Him and that is why you are unhappy."
73585
73586 "Yes, yes, I am unhappy," assented Pierre. "But what am I to do?"
73587
73588 "You know Him not, my dear sir, and so you are very unhappy. You
73589 do not know Him, but He is here, He is in me, He is in my words, He
73590 is in thee, and even in those blasphemous words thou hast just
73591 uttered!" pronounced the Mason in a stern and tremulous voice.
73592
73593 He paused and sighed, evidently trying to calm himself.
73594
73595 "If He were not," he said quietly, "you and I would not be
73596 speaking of Him, my dear sir. Of what, of whom, are we speaking?
73597 Whom hast thou denied?" he suddenly asked with exulting austerity
73598 and authority in his voice. "Who invented Him, if He did not exist?
73599 Whence came thy conception of the existence of such an
73600 incomprehensible Being? didst thou, and why did the whole world,
73601 conceive the idea of the existence of such an incomprehensible
73602 Being, a Being all-powerful, eternal, and infinite in all His
73603 attributes?..."
73604
73605 He stopped and remained silent for a long time.
73606
73607 Pierre could not and did not wish to break this silence.
73608
73609 "He exists, but to understand Him is hard," the Mason began again,
73610 looking not at Pierre but straight before him, and turning the
73611 leaves of his book with his old hands which from excitement he could
73612 not keep still. "If it were a man whose existence thou didst doubt I
73613 could bring him to thee, could take him by the hand and show him to
73614 thee. But how can I, an insignificant mortal, show His omnipotence,
73615 His infinity, and all His mercy to one who is blind, or who shuts
73616 his eyes that he may not see or understand Him and may not see or
73617 understand his own vileness and sinfulness?" He paused again. "Who art
73618 thou? Thou dreamest that thou art wise because thou couldst utter
73619 those blasphemous words," he went on, with a somber and scornful
73620 smile. "And thou art more foolish and unreasonable than a little
73621 child, who, playing with the parts of a skillfully made watch, dares
73622 to say that, as he does not understand its use, he does not believe in
73623 the master who made it. To know Him is hard.... For ages, from our
73624 forefather Adam to our own day, we labor to attain that knowledge
73625 and are still infinitely far from our aim; but in our lack of
73626 understanding we see only our weakness and His greatness...."
73627
73628 Pierre listened with swelling heart, gazing into the Mason's face
73629 with shining eyes, not interrupting or questioning him, but
73630 believing with his whole soul what the stranger said. Whether he
73631 accepted the wise reasoning contained in the Mason's words, or
73632 believed as a child believes, in the speaker's tone of conviction
73633 and earnestness, or the tremor of the speaker's voice--which sometimes
73634 almost broke--or those brilliant aged eyes grown old in this
73635 conviction, or the calm firmness and certainty of his vocation,
73636 which radiated from his whole being (and which struck Pierre
73637 especially by contrast with his own dejection and hopelessness)--at
73638 any rate, Pierre longed with his whole soul to believe and he did
73639 believe, and felt a joyful sense of comfort, regeneration, and
73640 return to life.
73641
73642 "He is not to be apprehended by reason, but by life," said the
73643 Mason.
73644
73645 "I do not understand," said Pierre, feeling with dismay doubts
73646 reawakening. He was afraid of any want of clearness, any weakness,
73647 in the Mason's arguments; he dreaded not to be able to believe in him.
73648 "I don't understand," he said, "how it is that the mind of man
73649 cannot attain the knowledge of which you speak."
73650
73651 The Mason smiled with his gentle fatherly smile.
73652
73653 "The highest wisdom and truth are like the purest liquid we may wish
73654 to imbibe," he said. "Can I receive that pure liquid into an impure
73655 vessel and judge of its purity? Only by the inner purification of
73656 myself can I retain in some degree of purity the liquid I receive."
73657
73658 "Yes, yes, that is so," said Pierre joyfully.
73659
73660 "The highest wisdom is not founded on reason alone, not on those
73661 worldly sciences of physics, history, chemistry, and the like, into
73662 which intellectual knowledge is divided. The highest wisdom is one.
73663 The highest wisdom has but one science--the science of the whole-
73664 the science explaining the whole creation and man's place in it. To
73665 receive that science it is necessary to purify and renew one's inner
73666 self, and so before one can know, it is necessary to believe and to
73667 perfect one's self. And to attain this end, we have the light called
73668 conscience that God has implanted in our souls."
73669
73670 "Yes, yes," assented Pierre.
73671
73672 "Look then at thy inner self with the eyes of the spirit, and ask
73673 thyself whether thou art content with thyself. What hast thou attained
73674 relying on reason only? What art thou? You are young, you are rich,
73675 you are clever, you are well educated. And what have you done with all
73676 these good gifts? Are you content with yourself and with your life?"
73677
73678 "No, I hate my life," Pierre muttered, wincing.
73679
73680 "Thou hatest it. Then change it, purify thyself; and as thou art
73681 purified, thou wilt gain wisdom. Look at your life, my dear sir. How
73682 have you spent it? In riotous orgies and debauchery, receiving
73683 everything from society and giving nothing in return. You have
73684 become the possessor of wealth. How have you used it? What have you
73685 done for your neighbor? Have you ever thought of your tens of
73686 thousands of slaves? Have you helped them physically and morally?
73687 No! You have profited by their toil to lead a profligate life. That is
73688 what you have done. Have you chosen a post in which you might be of
73689 service to your neighbor? No! You have spent your life in idleness.
73690 Then you married, my dear sir--took on yourself responsibility for the
73691 guidance of a young woman; and what have you done? You have not helped
73692 her to find the way of truth, my dear sir, but have thrust her into an
73693 abyss of deceit and misery. A man offended you and you shot him, and
73694 you say you do not know God and hate your life. There is nothing
73695 strange in that, my dear sir!"
73696
73697 After these words, the Mason, as if tired by his long discourse,
73698 again leaned his arms on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.
73699 Pierre looked at that aged, stern, motionless, almost lifeless face
73700 and moved his lips without uttering a sound. He wished to say, "Yes, a
73701 vile, idle, vicious life!" but dared not break the silence.
73702
73703 The Mason cleared his throat huskily, as old men do, and called
73704 his servant.
73705
73706 "How about the horses?" he asked, without looking at Pierre.
73707
73708 "The exchange horses have just come," answered the servant. "Will
73709 you not rest here?"
73710
73711 "No, tell them to harness."
73712
73713 "Can he really be going away leaving me alone without having told me
73714 all, and without promising to help me?" thought Pierre, rising with
73715 downcast head; and he began to pace the room, glancing occasionally at
73716 the Mason. "Yes, I never thought of it, but I have led a
73717 contemptible and profligate life, though I did not like it and did not
73718 want to," thought Pierre. "But this man knows the truth and, if he
73719 wished to, could disclose it to me."
73720
73721 Pierre wished to say this to the Mason, but did not dare to. The
73722 traveler, having packed his things with his practiced hands, began
73723 fastening his coat. When he had finished, he turned to Bezukhov, and
73724 said in a tone of indifferent politeness:
73725
73726 "Where are you going to now, my dear sir?"
73727
73728 "I?... I'm going to Petersburg," answered Pierre, in a childlike,
73729 hesitating voice. "I thank you. I agree with all you have said. But do
73730 not suppose me to be so bad. With my whole soul I wish to be what
73731 you would have me be, but I have never had help from anyone.... But it
73732 is I, above all, who am to blame for everything. Help me, teach me,
73733 and perhaps I may..."
73734
73735 Pierre could not go on. He gulped and turned away.
73736
73737 The Mason remained silent for a long time, evidently considering.
73738
73739 "Help comes from God alone," he said, "but such measure of help as
73740 our Order can bestow it will render you, my dear sir. You are going to
73741 Petersburg. Hand this to Count Willarski" (he took out his notebook
73742 and wrote a few words on a large sheet of paper folded in four).
73743 "Allow me to give you a piece of advice. When you reach the capital,
73744 first of all devote some time to solitude and self-examination and
73745 do not resume your former way of life. And now I wish you a good
73746 journey, my dear sir," he added, seeing that his servant had
73747 entered... "and success."
73748
73749 The traveler was Joseph Alexeevich Bazdeev, as Pierre saw from the
73750 postmaster's book. Bazdeev had been one of the best-known Freemasons
73751 and Martinists, even in Novikov's time. For a long while after he
73752 had gone, Pierre did not go to bed or order horses but paced up and
73753 down the room, pondering over his vicious past, and with a rapturous
73754 sense of beginning anew pictured to himself the blissful,
73755 irreproachable, virtuous future that seemed to him so easy. It
73756 seemed to him that he had been vicious only because he had somehow
73757 forgotten how good it is to be virtuous. Not a trace of his former
73758 doubts remained in his soul. He firmly believed in the possibility
73759 of the brotherhood of men united in the aim of supporting one
73760 another in the path of virtue, and that is how Freemasonry presented
73761 itself to him.
73762
73763
73764
73765
73766
73767 CHAPTER III
73768
73769
73770 On reaching Petersburg Pierre did not let anyone know of his
73771 arrival, he went nowhere and spent whole days in reading Thomas a
73772 Kempis, whose book had been sent him by someone unknown. One thing
73773 he continually realized as he read that book: the joy, hitherto
73774 unknown to him, of believing in the possibility of attaining
73775 perfection, and in the possibility of active brotherly love among men,
73776 which Joseph Alexeevich had revealed to him. A week after his arrival,
73777 the young Polish count, Willarski, whom Pierre had known slightly in
73778 Petersburg society, came into his room one evening in the official and
73779 ceremonious manner in which Dolokhov's second had called on him,
73780 and, having closed the door behind him and satisfied himself that
73781 there was nobody else in the room, addressed Pierre.
73782
73783 "I have come to you with a message and an offer, Count," he said
73784 without sitting down. "A person of very high standing in our
73785 Brotherhood has made application for you to be received into our Order
73786 before the usual term and has proposed to me to be your sponsor. I
73787 consider it a sacred duty to fulfill that person's wishes. Do you wish
73788 to enter the Brotherhood of Freemasons under my sponsorship?"
73789
73790 The cold, austere tone of this man, whom he had almost always
73791 before met at balls, amiably smiling in the society of the most
73792 brilliant women, surprised Pierre.
73793
73794 "Yes, I do wish it," said he.
73795
73796 Willarski bowed his head.
73797
73798 "One more question, Count," he said, "which beg you to answer in all
73799 sincerity--not as a future Mason but as an honest man: have you
73800 renounced your former convictions--do you believe in God?"
73801
73802 Pierre considered.
73803
73804 "Yes... yes, I believe in God," he said.
73805
73806 "In that case..." began Willarski, but Pierre interrupted him.
73807
73808 "Yes, I do believe in God," he repeated.
73809
73810 "In that case we can go," said Willarski. "My carriage is at your
73811 service."
73812
73813 Willarski was silent throughout the drive. To Pierre's inquiries
73814 as to what he must do and how he should answer, Willarski only replied
73815 that brothers more worthy than he would test him and that Pierre had
73816 only to tell the truth.
73817
73818 Having entered the courtyard of a large house where the Lodge had
73819 its headquarters, and having ascended a dark staircase, they entered a
73820 small well-lit anteroom where they took off their cloaks without the
73821 aid of a servant. From there they passed into another room. A man in
73822 strange attire appeared at the door. Willarski, stepping toward him,
73823 said something to him in French in an undertone and then went up to
73824 a small wardrobe in which Pierre noticed garments such as he had never
73825 seen before. Having taken a kerchief from the cupboard, Willarski
73826 bound Pierre's eyes with it and tied it in a knot behind, catching
73827 some hairs painfully in the knot. Then he drew his face down, kissed
73828 him, and taking him by the hand led him forward. The hairs tied in the
73829 knot hurt Pierre and there were lines of pain on his face and a
73830 shamefaced smile. His huge figure, with arms hanging down and with a
73831 puckered, though smiling face, moved after Willarski with uncertain,
73832 timid steps.
73833
73834 Having led him about ten paces, Willarski stopped.
73835
73836 "Whatever happens to you," he said, "you must bear it all manfully
73837 if you have firmly resolved to join our Brotherhood." (Pierre nodded
73838 affirmatively.) "When you hear a knock at the door, you will uncover
73839 your eyes," added Willarski. "I wish you courage and success," and,
73840 pressing Pierre's hand, he went out.
73841
73842 Left alone, Pierre went on smiling in the same way. Once or twice he
73843 shrugged his and raised his hand to the kerchief, as if wishing to
73844 take it off, but let it drop again. The five minutes spent with his
73845 eyes bandaged seemed to him an hour. His arms felt numb, his legs
73846 almost gave way, it seemed to him that he was tired out. He
73847 experienced a variety of most complex sensations. He felt afraid of
73848 what would happen to him and still more afraid of showing his fear. He
73849 felt curious to know what was going to happen and what would be
73850 revealed to him; but most of all, he felt joyful that the moment had
73851 come when he would at last start on that path of regeneration and on
73852 the actively virtuous life of which he had been dreaming since he
73853 met Joseph Alexeevich. Loud knocks were heard at the door. Pierre took
73854 the bandage off his eyes and glanced around him. The room was in black
73855 darkness, only a small lamp was burning inside something white. Pierre
73856 went nearer and saw that the lamp stood on a black table on which
73857 lay an open book. The book was the Gospel, and the white thing with
73858 the lamp inside was a human skull with its cavities and teeth. After
73859 reading the first words of the Gospel: "In the beginning was the
73860 Word and the Word was with God," Pierre went round the table and saw a
73861 large open box filled with something. It was a coffin with bones
73862 inside. He was not at all surprised by what he saw. Hoping to enter on
73863 an entirely new life quite unlike the old one, he expected
73864 everything to be unusual, even more unusual than what he was seeing. A
73865 skull, a coffin, the Gospel--it seemed to him that he had expected all
73866 this and even more. Trying to stimulate his emotions he looked around.
73867 "God, death, love, the brotherhood of man," he kept saying to himself,
73868 associating these words with vague yet joyful ideas. The door opened
73869 and someone came in.
73870
73871 By the dim light, to which Pierre had already become accustomed,
73872 he saw rather short man. Having evidently come from the light into the
73873 darkness, the man paused, then moved with cautious steps toward the
73874 table and placed on it his small leather-gloved hands.
73875
73876 This short man had on a white leather apron which covered his
73877 chest and part of his legs; he had on a kind of necklace above which
73878 rose a high white ruffle, outlining his rather long face which was lit
73879 up from below.
73880
73881 "For what have you come hither?" asked the newcomer, turning in
73882 Pierre's direction at a slight rustle made by the latter. "Why have
73883 you, who do not believe in the truth of the light and who have not
73884 seen the light, come here? What do you seek from us? Wisdom, virtue,
73885 enlightenment?"
73886
73887 At the moment the door opened and the stranger came in, Pierre
73888 felt a sense of awe and veneration such as he had experienced in his
73889 boyhood at confession; he felt himself in the presence of one socially
73890 a complete stranger, yet nearer to him through the brotherhood of man.
73891 With bated breath and beating heart he moved toward the Rhetor (by
73892 which name the brother who prepared a seeker for entrance into the
73893 Brotherhood was known). Drawing nearer, he recognized in the Rhetor
73894 a man he knew, Smolyaninov, and it mortified him to think that the
73895 newcomer was an acquaintance--he wished him simply a brother and a
73896 virtuous instructor. For a long time he could not utter a word, so
73897 that the Rhetor had to repeat his question.
73898
73899 "Yes... I... I... desire regeneration," Pierre uttered with
73900 difficulty.
73901
73902 "Very well," said Smolyaninov, and went on at once: "Have you any
73903 idea of the means by which our holy Order will help you to reach
73904 your aim?" said he quietly and quickly.
73905
73906 "I... hope... for guidance... help... in regeneration," said Pierre,
73907 with a trembling voice and some difficulty in utterance due to his
73908 excitement and to being unaccustomed to speak of abstract matters in
73909 Russian.
73910
73911 "What is your conception of Freemasonry?"
73912
73913 "I imagine that Freemasonry is the fraternity and equality of men
73914 who have virtuous aims," said Pierre, feeling ashamed of the
73915 inadequacy of his words for the solemnity of the moment, as he
73916 spoke. "I imagine..."
73917
73918 "Good!" said the Rhetor quickly, apparently satisfied with this
73919 answer. "Have you sought for means of attaining your aim in religion?"
73920
73921 "No, I considered it erroneous and did not follow it," said
73922 Pierre, so softly that the Rhetor did not hear him and asked him
73923 what he was saying. "I have been an atheist," answered Pierre.
73924
73925 "You are seeking for truth in order to follow its laws in your life,
73926 therefore you seek wisdom and virtue. Is that not so?" said the
73927 Rhetor, after a moment's pause.
73928
73929 "Yes, yes," assented Pierre.
73930
73931 The Rhetor cleared his throat, crossed his gloved hands on his
73932 breast, and began to speak.
73933
73934 "Now I must disclose to you the chief aim of our Order," he said,
73935 "and if this aim coincides with yours, you may enter our Brotherhood
73936 with profit. The first and chief object of our Order, the foundation
73937 on which it rests and which no human power can destroy, is the
73938 preservation and handing on to posterity of a certain important
73939 mystery... which has come down to us from the remotest ages, even from
73940 the first man--a mystery on which perhaps the fate of mankind depends.
73941 But since this mystery is of such a nature that nobody can know or use
73942 it unless he be prepared by long and diligent self-purification, not
73943 everyone can hope to attain it quickly. Hence we have a secondary aim,
73944 that of preparing our members as much as possible to reform their
73945 hearts, to purify and enlighten their minds, by means handed on to
73946 us by tradition from those who have striven to attain this mystery,
73947 and thereby to render them capable of receiving it.
73948
73949 "By purifying and regenerating our members we try, thirdly, to
73950 improve the whole human race, offering it in our members an example of
73951 piety and virtue, and thereby try with all our might to combat the
73952 evil which sways the world. Think this over and I will come to you
73953 again."
73954
73955 "To combat the evil which sways the world..." Pierre repeated, and a
73956 mental image of his future activity in this direction rose in his
73957 mind. He imagined men such as he had himself been a fortnight ago, and
73958 he addressed an edifying exhortation to them. He imagined to himself
73959 vicious and unfortunate people whom he would assist by word and
73960 deed, imagined oppressors whose victims he would rescue. Of the
73961 three objects mentioned by the Rhetor, this last, that of improving
73962 mankind, especially appealed to Pierre. The important mystery
73963 mentioned by the Rhetor, though it aroused his curiosity, did not seem
73964 to him essential, and the second aim, that of purifying and
73965 regenerating himself, did not much interest him because at that moment
73966 he felt with delight that he was already perfectly cured of his former
73967 faults and was ready for all that was good.
73968
73969 Half an hour later, the Rhetor returned to inform the seeker of
73970 the seven virtues, corresponding to the seven steps of Solomon's
73971 temple, which every Freemason should cultivate in himself. These
73972 virtues were: 1. Discretion, the keeping of the secrets of the Order.
73973 2. Obedience to those of higher ranks in the Order. 3. Morality. 4.
73974 Love of mankind. 5. Courage. 6. Generosity. 7. The love of death.
73975
73976 "In the seventh place, try, by the frequent thought of death," the
73977 Rhetor said, "to bring yourself to regard it not as a dreaded foe, but
73978 as a friend that frees the soul grown weary in the labors of virtue
73979 from this distressful life, and leads it to its place of recompense
73980 and peace."
73981
73982 "Yes, that must be so," thought Pierre, when after these words the
73983 Rhetor went away, leaving him to solitary meditation. "It must be
73984 so, but I am still so weak that I love my life, the meaning of which
73985 is only now gradually opening before me." But five of the other
73986 virtues which Pierre recalled, counting them on his fingers, he felt
73987 already in his soul: courage, generosity, morality, love of mankind,
73988 and especially obedience--which did not even seem to him a virtue, but
73989 a joy. (He now felt so glad to be free from his own lawlessness and to
73990 submit his will to those who knew the indubitable truth.) He forgot
73991 what the seventh virtue was and could not recall it.
73992
73993 The third time the Rhetor came back more quickly and asked Pierre
73994 whether he was still firm in his intention and determined to submit to
73995 all that would be required of him.
73996
73997 "I am ready for everything," said Pierre.
73998
73999 "I must also inform you," said the Rhetor, "that our Order
74000 delivers its teaching not in words only but also by other means, which
74001 may perhaps have a stronger effect on the sincere seeker after
74002 wisdom and virtue than mere words. This chamber with what you see
74003 therein should already have suggested to your heart, if it is sincere,
74004 more than words could do. You will perhaps also see in your further
74005 initiation a like method of enlightenment. Our Order imitates the
74006 ancient societies that explained their teaching by hieroglyphics. A
74007 hieroglyph," said the Rhetor, "is an emblem of something not
74008 cognizable by the senses but which possesses qualities resembling
74009 those of the symbol."
74010
74011 Pierre knew very well what a hieroglyph was, but dared not speak. He
74012 listened to the Rhetor in silence, feeling from all he said that his
74013 ordeal was about to begin.
74014
74015 "If you are resolved, I must begin your initiation," said the Rhetor
74016 coming closer to Pierre. "In token of generosity I ask you to give
74017 me all your valuables."
74018
74019 "But I have nothing here," replied Pierre, supposing that he was
74020 asked to give up all he possessed.
74021
74022 "What you have with you: watch, money, rings...."
74023
74024 Pierre quickly took out his purse and watch, but could not manage
74025 for some time to get the wedding ring off his fat finger. When that
74026 had been done, the Rhetor said:
74027
74028 "In token of obedience, I ask you to undress."
74029
74030 Pierre took off his coat, waistcoat, and left boot according to
74031 the Rhetor's instructions. The Mason drew the shirt back from Pierre's
74032 left breast, and stooping down pulled up the left leg of his
74033 trousers to above the knee. Pierre hurriedly began taking off his
74034 right boot also and was going to tuck up the other trouser leg to save
74035 this stranger the trouble, but the Mason told him that was not
74036 necessary and gave him a slipper for his left foot. With a childlike
74037 smile of embarrassment, doubt, and self-derision, which appeared on
74038 his face against his will, Pierre stood with his arms hanging down and
74039 legs apart, before his brother Rhetor, and awaited his further
74040 commands.
74041
74042 "And now, in token of candor, I ask you to reveal to me your chief
74043 passion," said the latter.
74044
74045 "My passion! I have had so many," replied Pierre.
74046
74047 "That passion which more than all others caused you to waver on
74048 the path of virtue," said the Mason.
74049
74050 Pierre paused, seeking a reply.
74051
74052 "Wine? Gluttony? Idleness? Laziness? Irritability? Anger? Women?" He
74053 went over his vices in his mind, not knowing to which of them to
74054 give the pre-eminence.
74055
74056 "Women," he said in a low, scarcely audible voice.
74057
74058 The Mason did not move and for a long time said nothing after this
74059 answer. At last he moved up to Pierre and, taking the kerchief that
74060 lay on the table, again bound his eyes.
74061
74062 "For the last time I say to you--turn all your attention upon
74063 yourself, put a bridle on your senses, and seek blessedness, not in
74064 passion but in your own heart. The source of blessedness is not
74065 without us but within...."
74066
74067 Pierre had already long been feeling in himself that refreshing
74068 source of blessedness which now flooded his heart with glad emotion.
74069
74070
74071
74072
74073
74074 CHAPTER IV
74075
74076
74077 Soon after this there came into the dark chamber to fetch Pierre,
74078 not the Rhetor but Pierre's sponsor, Willarski, whom he recognized
74079 by his voice. To fresh questions as to the firmness of his
74080 resolution Pierre replied: "Yes, yes, I agree," and with a beaming,
74081 childlike smile, his fat chest uncovered, stepping unevenly and
74082 timidly in one slippered and one booted foot, he advanced, while
74083 Willarski held a sword to his bare chest. He was conducted from that
74084 room along passages that turned backwards and forwards and was at last
74085 brought to the doors of the Lodge. Willarski coughed, he was
74086 answered by the Masonic knock with mallets, the doors opened before
74087 them. A bass voice (Pierre was still blindfold) questioned him as to
74088 who he was, when and where he was born, and so on. Then he was again
74089 led somewhere still blindfold, and as they went along he was told
74090 allegories of the toils of his pilgrimage, of holy friendship, of
74091 the Eternal Architect of the universe, and of the courage with which
74092 he should endure toils and dangers. During these wanderings, Pierre
74093 noticed that he was spoken of now as the "Seeker," now as the
74094 "Sufferer," and now as the "Postulant," to the accompaniment of
74095 various knockings with mallets and swords. As he was being led up to
74096 some object he noticed a hesitation and uncertainty among his
74097 conductors. He heard those around him disputing in whispers and one of
74098 them insisting that he should be led along a certain carpet. After
74099 that they took his right hand, placed it on something, and told him to
74100 hold a pair of compasses to his left breast with the other hand and to
74101 repeat after someone who read aloud an oath of fidelity to the laws of
74102 the Order. The candles were then extinguished and some spirit lighted,
74103 as Pierre knew by the smell, and he was told that he would now see the
74104 lesser light. The bandage was taken off his eyes and, by the faint
74105 light of the burning spirit, Pierre, as in a dream, saw several men
74106 standing before him, wearing aprons like the Rhetor's and holding
74107 swords in their hands pointed at his breast. Among them stood a man
74108 whose white shirt was stained with blood. On seeing this, Pierre moved
74109 forward with his breast toward the swords, meaning them to pierce
74110 it. But the swords were drawn back from him and he was at once
74111 blindfolded again.
74112
74113 "Now thou hast seen the lesser light," uttered a voice. Then the
74114 candles were relit and he was told that he would see the full light;
74115 the bandage was again removed and more than ten voices said
74116 together: "Sic transit gloria mundi."
74117
74118 Pierre gradually began to recover himself and looked about at the
74119 room and at the people in it. Round a long table covered with black
74120 sat some twelve men in garments like those he had already seen. Some
74121 of them Pierre had met in Petersburg society. In the President's chair
74122 sat a young man he did not know, with a peculiar cross hanging from
74123 his neck. On his right sat the Italian abbe whom Pierre had met at
74124 Anna Pavlovna's two years before. There were also present a very
74125 distinguished dignitary and a Swiss who had formerly been tutor at the
74126 Kuragins'. All maintained a solemn silence, listening to the words
74127 of the President, who held a mallet in his hand. Let into the wall was
74128 a star-shaped light. At one side of the table was a small carpet
74129 with various figures worked upon it, at the other was something
74130 resembling an altar on which lay a Testament and a skull. Round it
74131 stood seven large candlesticks like those used in churches. Two of the
74132 brothers led Pierre up to the altar, placed his feet at right
74133 angles, and bade him lie down, saying that he must prostrate himself
74134 at the Gates of the Temple.
74135
74136 "He must first receive the trowel," whispered one of the brothers.
74137
74138 "Oh, hush, please!" said another.
74139
74140 Pierre, perplexed, looked round with his shortsighted eyes without
74141 obeying, and suddenly doubts arose in his mind. "Where am I? What am I
74142 doing? Aren't they laughing at me? Shan't I be ashamed to remember
74143 this?" But these doubts only lasted a moment. Pierre glanced at the
74144 serious faces of those around, remembered all he had already gone
74145 through, and realized that he could not stop halfway. He was aghast at
74146 his hesitation and, trying to arouse his former devotional feeling,
74147 prostrated himself before the Gates of the Temple. And really, the
74148 feeling of devotion returned to him even more strongly than before.
74149 When he had lain there some time, he was told to get up, and a white
74150 leather apron, such as the others wore, was put on him: he was given a
74151 trowel and three pairs of gloves, and then the Grand Master
74152 addressed him. He told him that he should try to do nothing to stain
74153 the whiteness of that apron, which symbolized strength and purity;
74154 then of the unexplained trowel, he told him to toil with it to cleanse
74155 his own heart from vice, and indulgently to smooth with it the heart
74156 of his neighbor. As to the first pair of gloves, a man's, he said that
74157 Pierre could not know their meaning but must keep them. The second
74158 pair of man's gloves he was to wear at the meetings, and finally of
74159 the third, a pair of women's gloves, he said: "Dear brother, these
74160 woman's gloves are intended for you too. Give them to the woman whom
74161 you shall honor most of all. This gift will be a pledge of your purity
74162 of heart to her whom you select to be your worthy helpmeet in
74163 Masonry." And after a pause, he added: "But beware, dear brother, that
74164 these gloves do not deck hands that are unclean." While the Grand
74165 Master said these last words it seemed to Pierre that he grew
74166 embarrassed. Pierre himself grew still more confused, blushed like a
74167 child till tears came to his eyes, began looking about him uneasily,
74168 and an awkward pause followed.
74169
74170 This silence was broken by one of the brethren, who led Pierre up to
74171 the rug and began reading to him from a manuscript book an explanation
74172 of all the figures on it: the sun, the moon, a hammer, a plumb line, a
74173 trowel, a rough stone and a squared stone, a pillar, three windows,
74174 and so on. Then a place was assigned to Pierre, he was shown the signs
74175 of the Lodge, told the password, and at last was permitted to sit
74176 down. The Grand Master began reading the statutes. They were very
74177 long, and Pierre, from joy, agitation, and embarrassment, was not in a
74178 state to understand what was being read. He managed to follow only the
74179 last words of the statutes and these remained in his mind.
74180
74181 "In our temples we recognize no other distinctions," read the
74182 Grand Master, "but those between virtue and vice. Beware of making any
74183 distinctions which may infringe equality. Fly to a brother's aid
74184 whoever he may be, exhort him who goeth astray, raise him that
74185 falleth, never bear malice or enmity toward thy brother. Be kindly and
74186 courteous. Kindle in all hearts the flame of virtue. Share thy
74187 happiness with thy neighbor, and may envy never dim the purity of that
74188 bliss. Forgive thy enemy, do not avenge thyself except by doing him
74189 good. Thus fulfilling the highest law thou shalt regain traces of
74190 the ancient dignity which thou hast lost."
74191
74192 He finished and, getting up, embraced and kissed Pierre, who, with
74193 tears of joy in his eyes, looked round him, not knowing how to
74194 answer the congratulations and greetings from acquaintances that met
74195 him on all sides. He acknowledged no acquaintances but saw in all
74196 these men only brothers, and burned with impatience to set to work
74197 with them.
74198
74199 The Grand Master rapped with his mallet. All the Masons sat down
74200 in their places, and one of them read an exhortation on the
74201 necessity of humility.
74202
74203 The Grand Master proposed that the last duty should be performed,
74204 and the distinguished dignitary who bore the title of "Collector of
74205 Alms" went round to all the brothers. Pierre would have liked to
74206 subscribe all he had, but fearing that it might look like pride
74207 subscribed the same amount as the others.
74208
74209 The meeting was at an end, and on reaching home Pierre felt as if he
74210 had returned from a long journey on which he had spent dozens of
74211 years, had become completely changed, and had quite left behind his
74212 former habits and way of life.
74213
74214
74215
74216
74217
74218 CHAPTER V
74219
74220
74221 The day after he had been received into the Lodge, Pierre was
74222 sitting at home reading a book and trying to fathom the significance
74223 of the Square, one side of which symbolized God, another moral things,
74224 a third physical things, and the fourth a combination of these. Now
74225 and then his attention wandered from the book and the Square and he
74226 formed in imagination a new plan of life. On the previous evening at
74227 the Lodge, he had heard that a rumor of his duel had reached the
74228 Emperor and that it would be wiser for him to leave Petersburg. Pierre
74229 proposed going to his estates in the south and there attending to
74230 the welfare of his serfs. He was joyfully planning this new life, when
74231 Prince Vasili suddenly entered the room.
74232
74233 "My dear fellow, what have you been up to in Moscow? Why have you
74234 quarreled with Helene, mon cher? You are under a delusion," said
74235 Prince Vasili, as he entered. "I know all about it, and I can tell you
74236 positively that Helene is as innocent before you as Christ was
74237 before the Jews."
74238
74239 Pierre was about to reply, but Prince Vasili interrupted him.
74240
74241 "And why didn't you simply come straight to me as to a friend? I
74242 know all about it and understand it all," he said. "You behaved as
74243 becomes a man values his honor, perhaps too hastily, but we won't go
74244 into that. But consider the position in which you are placing her
74245 and me in the eyes of society, and even of the court," he added,
74246 lowering his voice. "She is living in Moscow and you are here.
74247 Remember, dear boy," and he drew Pierre's arm downwards, "it is simply
74248 a misunderstanding. I expect you feel it so yourself. Let us write her
74249 a letter at once, and she'll come here and all will be explained, or
74250 else, my dear boy, let me tell you it's quite likely you'll have to
74251 suffer for it."
74252
74253 Prince Vasili gave Pierre a significant look.
74254
74255 "I know from reliable sources that the Dowager Empress is taking a
74256 keen interest in the whole affair. You know she is very gracious to
74257 Helene."
74258
74259 Pierre tried several times to speak, but, on one hand, Prince Vasili
74260 did not let him and, on the other, Pierre himself feared to begin to
74261 speak in the tone of decided refusal and disagreement in which he
74262 had firmly resolved to answer his father-in-law. Moreover, the words
74263 of the Masonic statutes, "be kindly and courteous," recurred to him.
74264 He blinked, went red, got up and sat down again, struggling with
74265 himself to do what was for him the most difficult thing in life--to
74266 say an unpleasant thing to a man's face, to say what the other,
74267 whoever he might be, did not expect. He was so used to submitting to
74268 Prince Vasili's tone of careless self-assurance that he felt he
74269 would be unable to withstand it now, but he also felt that on what
74270 he said now his future depended--whether he would follow the same
74271 old road, or that new path so attractively shown him by the Masons, on
74272 which he firmly believed he would be reborn to a new life.
74273
74274 "Now, dear boy," said Prince Vasili playfully, "say 'yes,' and
74275 I'll write to her myself, and we will kill the fatted calf."
74276
74277 But before Prince Vasili had finished his playful speech, Pierre,
74278 without looking at him, and with a kind of fury that made him like his
74279 father, muttered in a whisper:
74280
74281 "Prince, I did not ask you here. Go, please go!" And he jumped up
74282 and opened the door for him.
74283
74284 "Go!" he repeated, amazed at himself and glad to see the look of
74285 confusion and fear that showed itself on Prince Vasili's face.
74286
74287 "What's the matter with you? Are you ill?"
74288
74289 "Go!" the quivering voice repeated. And Prince Vasili had to go
74290 without receiving any explanation.
74291
74292 A week later, Pierre, having taken leave of his new friends, the
74293 Masons, and leaving large sums of money with them for alms, went
74294 away to his estates. His new brethren gave him letters to the Kiev and
74295 Odessa Masons and promised to write to him and guide him in his new
74296 activity.
74297
74298
74299
74300
74301
74302 CHAPTER VI
74303
74304
74305 The duel between Pierre and Dolokhov was hushed up and, in spite
74306 of the Emperor's severity regarding duels at that time, neither the
74307 principals nor their seconds suffered for it. But the story of the
74308 duel, confirmed by Pierre's rupture with his wife, was the talk of
74309 society. Pierre who had been regarded with patronizing condescension
74310 when he was an illegitimate son, and petted and extolled when he was
74311 the best match in Russia, had sunk greatly in the esteem of society
74312 after his marriage--when the marriageable daughters and their
74313 mothers had nothing to hope from him--especially as he did not know
74314 how, and did not wish, to court society's favor. Now he alone was
74315 blamed for what had happened, he was said to be insanely jealous and
74316 subject like his father to fits of bloodthirsty rage. And when after
74317 Pierre's departure Helene returned to Petersburg, she was received
74318 by all her acquaintances not only cordially, but even with a shade
74319 of deference due to her misfortune. When conversation turned on her
74320 husband Helene assumed a dignified expression, which with
74321 characteristic tact she had acquired though she did not understand its
74322 significance. This expression suggested that she had resolved to
74323 endure her troubles uncomplainingly and that her husband was a cross
74324 laid upon her by God. Prince Vasili expressed his opinion more openly.
74325 He shrugged his shoulders when Pierre was mentioned and, pointing to
74326 his forehead, remarked:
74327
74328 "A bit touched--I always said so."
74329
74330 "I said from the first," declared Anna Pavlovna referring to Pierre,
74331 "I said at the time and before anyone else" (she insisted on her
74332 priority) "that that senseless young man was spoiled by the depraved
74333 ideas of these days. I said so even at the time when everybody was
74334 in raptures about him, when he had just returned from abroad, and
74335 when, if you remember, he posed as a sort of Marat at one of my
74336 soirees. And how has it ended? I was against this marriage even then
74337 and foretold all that has happened."
74338
74339 Anna Pavlovna continued to give on free evenings the same kind of
74340 soirees as before--such as she alone had the gift of arranging--at
74341 which was to be found "the cream of really good society, the bloom
74342 of the intellectual essence of Petersburg," as she herself put it.
74343 Besides this refined selection of society Anna Pavlovna's receptions
74344 were also distinguished by the fact that she always presented some new
74345 and interesting person to the visitors and that nowhere else was the
74346 state of the political thermometer of legitimate Petersburg court
74347 society so dearly and distinctly indicated.
74348
74349 Toward the end of 1806, when all the sad details of Napoleon's
74350 destruction of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstadt and the
74351 surrender of most of the Prussian fortresses had been received, when
74352 our troops had already entered Prussia and our second war with
74353 Napoleon was beginning, Anna Pavlovna gave one of her soirees. The
74354 "cream of really good society" consisted of the fascinating Helene,
74355 forsaken by her husband, Mortemart, the delightful Prince Hippolyte
74356 who had just returned from Vienna, two diplomatists, the old aunt, a
74357 young man referred to in that drawing room as "a man of great merit"
74358 (un homme de beaucoup de merite), a newly appointed maid of honor
74359 and her mother, and several other less noteworthy persons.
74360
74361 The novelty Anna Pavlovna was setting before her guests that evening
74362 was Boris Drubetskoy, who had just arrived as a special messenger from
74363 the Prussian army and was aide-de-camp to a very important personage.
74364
74365 The temperature shown by the political thermometer to the company
74366 that evening was this:
74367
74368 "Whatever the European sovereigns and commanders may do to
74369 countenance Bonaparte, and to cause me, and us in general, annoyance
74370 and mortification, our opinion of Bonaparte cannot alter. We shall not
74371 cease to express our sincere views on that subject, and can only say
74372 to the King Prussia and others: 'So much the worse for you. Tu l'as
74373 voulu, George Dandin,' that's all we have to say about it!"
74374
74375 When Boris, who was to be served up to the guests, entered the
74376 drawing room, almost all the company had assembled, and the
74377 conversation, guided by Anna Pavlovna, was about our diplomatic
74378 relations with Austria and the hope of an alliance with her.
74379
74380 Boris, grown more manly and looking fresh, rosy and
74381 self-possessed, entered the drawing room elegantly dressed in the
74382 uniform of an aide-de-camp and was duly conducted to pay his
74383 respects to the aunt and then brought back to the general circle.
74384
74385 Anna Pavlovna gave him her shriveled hand to kiss and introduced him
74386 to several persons whom he did not know, giving him a whispered
74387 description of each.
74388
74389 "Prince Hippolyte Kuragin, M. Krug, the charge d'affaires from
74390 Copenhagen--a profound intellect," and simply, "Mr. Shitov--a
74391 man of great merit"--this of the man usually so described.
74392
74393 Thanks to Anna Mikhaylovna's efforts, his own tastes, and the
74394 peculiarities of his reserved nature, Boris had managed during his
74395 service to place himself very advantageously. He was aide-de-camp to a
74396 very important personage, had been sent on a very important mission to
74397 Prussia, and had just returned from there as a special messenger. He
74398 had become thoroughly conversant with that unwritten code with which
74399 he had been so pleased at Olmutz and according to which an ensign
74400 might rank incomparably higher than a general, and according to
74401 which what was needed for success in the service was not effort or
74402 work, or courage, or perseverance, but only the knowledge of how to
74403 get on with those who can grant rewards, and he was himself often
74404 surprised at the rapidity of his success and at the inability of
74405 others to understand these things. In consequence of this discovery
74406 his whole manner of life, all his relations with old friends, all
74407 his plans for his future, were completely altered. He was not rich,
74408 but would spend his last groat to be better dressed than others, and
74409 would rather deprive himself of many pleasures than allow himself to
74410 be seen in a shabby equipage or appear in the streets of Petersburg in
74411 an old uniform. He made friends with and sought the acquaintance of
74412 only those above him in position and who could therefore be of use
74413 to him. He liked Petersburg and despised Moscow. The remembrance of
74414 the Rostovs' house and of his childish love for Natasha was unpleasant
74415 to him and he had not once been to see the Rostovs since the day of
74416 his departure for the army. To be in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room he
74417 considered an important step up in the service, and he at once
74418 understood his role, letting his hostess make use of whatever interest
74419 he had to offer. He himself carefully scanned each face, appraising
74420 the possibilities of establishing intimacy with each of those present,
74421 and the advantages that might accrue. He took the seat indicated to
74422 him beside the fair Helene and listened to the general conversation.
74423
74424 "Vienna considers the bases of the proposed treaty so unattainable
74425 that not even a continuity of most brilliant successes would secure
74426 them, and she doubts the means we have of gaining them. That is the
74427 actual phrase used by the Vienna cabinet," said the Danish charge
74428 d'affaires.
74429
74430 "The doubt is flattering," said "the man of profound intellect,"
74431 with a subtle smile.
74432
74433 "We must distinguish between the Vienna cabinet and the Emperor of
74434 Austria," said Mortemart. "The Emperor of Austria can never have
74435 thought of such a thing, it is only the cabinet that says it."
74436
74437 "Ah, my dear vicomte," put in Anna Pavlovna, "L'Urope" (for some
74438 reason she called it Urope as if that were a specially refined
74439 French pronunciation which she could allow herself when conversing
74440 with a Frenchman), "L'Urope ne sera jamais notre alliee sincere."*
74441
74442
74443 *"Europe will never be our sincere ally."
74444
74445
74446 After that Anna Pavlovna led up to the courage and firmness of the
74447 King of Prussia, in order to draw Boris into the conversation.
74448
74449 Boris listened attentively to each of the speakers, awaiting his
74450 turn, but managed meanwhile to look round repeatedly at his
74451 neighbor, the beautiful Helene, whose eyes several times met those
74452 of the handsome young aide-de-camp with a smile.
74453
74454 Speaking of the position of Prussia, Anna Pavlovna very naturally
74455 asked Boris to tell them about his journey to Glogau and in what state
74456 he found the Prussian army. Boris, speaking with deliberation, told
74457 them in pure, correct French many interesting details about the armies
74458 and the court, carefully abstaining from expressing an opinion of
74459 his own about the facts he was recounting. For some time he
74460 engrossed the general attention, and Anna Pavlovna felt that the
74461 novelty she had served up was received with pleasure by all her
74462 visitors. The greatest attention of all to Boris' narrative was
74463 shown by Helene. She asked him several questions about his journey and
74464 seemed greatly interested in the state of the Prussian army. As soon
74465 as he had finished she turned to him with her usual smile.
74466
74467 "You absolutely must come and see me," she said in a tone that
74468 implied that, for certain considerations he could not know of, this
74469 was absolutely necessary.
74470
74471 "On Tuesday between eight and nine. It will give me great pleasure."
74472
74473 Boris promised to fulfill her wish and was about to begin a
74474 conversation with her, when Anna Pavlovna called him away on the
74475 pretext that her aunt wished to hear him.
74476
74477 "You know her husband, of course?" said Anna Pavlovna, closing her
74478 eyes and indicating Helene with a sorrowful gesture. "Ah, she is
74479 such an unfortunate and charming woman! Don't mention him before
74480 her--please don't! It is too painful for her!"
74481
74482
74483
74484
74485
74486 CHAPTER VII
74487
74488
74489 When Boris and Anna Pavlovna returned to the others Prince Hippolyte
74490 had the ear of the company.
74491
74492 Bending forward in his armchair he said: "Le Roi de Prusse!" and
74493 having said this laughed. Everyone turned toward him.
74494
74495 "Le Roi de Prusse?" Hippolyte said interrogatively, again
74496 laughing, and then calmly and seriously sat back in his chair. Anna
74497 Pavlovna waited for him to go on, but as he seemed quite decided to
74498 say no more she began to tell of how at Potsdam the impious
74499 Bonaparte had stolen the sword of Frederick the Great.
74500
74501 "It is the sword of Frederick the Great which I..." she began, but
74502 Hippolyte interrupted her with the words: "Le Roi de Prusse..." and
74503 again, as soon as all turned toward him, excused himself and
74504 said no more.
74505
74506 Anna Pavlovna frowned. Mortemart, Hippolyte's friend, addressed
74507 him firmly.
74508
74509 "Come now, what about your Roi de Prusse?"
74510
74511 Hippolyte laughed as if ashamed of laughing.
74512
74513 "Oh, it's nothing. I only wished to say..." (he wanted to repeat a
74514 joke he had heard in Vienna and which he had been trying all that
74515 evening to get in) "I only wished to say that we are wrong to fight
74516 pour le Roi de Prusse!"
74517
74518 Boris smiled circumspectly, so that it might be taken as ironical or
74519 appreciative according to the way the joke was received. Everybody
74520 laughed.
74521
74522 "Your joke is too bad, it's witty but unjust," said Anna Pavlovna,
74523 shaking her little shriveled finger at him.
74524
74525 "We are not fighting pour le Roi de Prusse, but for right
74526 principles. Oh, that wicked Prince Hippolyte!" she said.
74527
74528 The conversation did not flag all evening and turned chiefly on
74529 the political news. It became particularly animated toward the end
74530 of the evening when the rewards bestowed by the Emperor were
74531 mentioned.
74532
74533 "You know N--N--received a snuffbox with the portrait last year?"
74534 said "the man of profound intellect." "Why shouldn't S--S--get the
74535 same distinction?"
74536
74537 "Pardon me! A snuffbox with the Emperor's portrait is a reward but
74538 not a distinction," said the diplomatist--"a gift, rather."
74539
74540 "There are precedents, I may mention Schwarzenberg."
74541
74542 "It's impossible," replied another.
74543
74544 "Will you bet? The ribbon of the order is a different matter...."
74545
74546 When everybody rose to go, Helene who had spoken very little all the
74547 evening again turned to Boris, asking him in a tone of caressing
74548 significant command to come to her on Tuesday.
74549
74550 "It is of great importance to me," she said, turning with a smile
74551 toward Anna Pavlovna, and Anna Pavlovna, with the same sad smile
74552 with which she spoke of her exalted patroness, supported Helene's
74553 wish.
74554
74555 It seemed as if from some words Boris had spoken that evening
74556 about the Prussian army, Helene had suddenly found it necessary to see
74557 him. She seemed to promise to explain that necessity to him when he
74558 came on Tuesday.
74559
74560 But on Tuesday evening, having come to Helene's splendid salon,
74561 Boris received no clear explanation of why it had been necessary for
74562 him to come. There were other guests and the countess talked little to
74563 him, and only as he kissed her hand on taking leave said
74564 unexpectedly and in a whisper, with a strangely unsmiling face:
74565 "Come to dinner tomorrow... in the evening. You must come.... Come!"
74566
74567 During that stay in Petersburg, Boris became an intimate in the
74568 countess' house.
74569
74570
74571
74572
74573
74574 CHAPTER VIII
74575
74576
74577 The war was flaming up and nearing the Russian frontier.
74578 Everywhere one heard curses on Bonaparte, "the enemy of mankind."
74579 Militiamen and recruits were being enrolled in the villages, and
74580 from the seat of war came contradictory news, false as usual and
74581 therefore variously interpreted. The life of old Prince Bolkonski,
74582 Prince Andrew, and Princess Mary had greatly changed since 1805.
74583
74584 In 1806 the old prince was made one of the eight commanders in chief
74585 then appointed to supervise the enrollment decreed throughout
74586 Russia. Despite the weakness of age, which had become particularly
74587 noticeable since the time when he thought his son had been killed,
74588 he did not think it right to refuse a duty to which he had been
74589 appointed by the Emperor himself, and this fresh opportunity for
74590 action gave him new energy and strength. He was continually
74591 traveling through the three provinces entrusted to him, was pedantic
74592 in the fulfillment of his duties, severe to cruelty with his
74593 subordinates, and went into everything down to the minutest details
74594 himself. Princess Mary had ceased taking lessons in mathematics from
74595 her father, and when the old prince was at home went to his study with
74596 the wet nurse and little Prince Nicholas (as his grandfather called
74597 him). The baby Prince Nicholas lived with his wet nurse and nurse
74598 Savishna in the late princess' rooms and Princess Mary spent most of
74599 the day in the nursery, taking a mother's place to her little nephew
74600 as best she could. Mademoiselle Bourienne, too, seemed passionately
74601 fond of the boy, and Princess Mary often deprived herself to give
74602 her friend the pleasure of dandling the little angel--as she called
74603 her nephew--and playing with him.
74604
74605 Near the altar of the church at Bald Hills there was a chapel over
74606 the tomb of the little princess, and in this chapel was a marble
74607 monument brought from Italy, representing an angel with outspread
74608 wings ready to fly upwards. The angel's upper lip was slightly
74609 raised as though about to smile, and once on coming out of the
74610 chapel Prince Andrew and Princess Mary admitted to one another that
74611 the angel's face reminded them strangely of the little princess. But
74612 what was still stranger, though of this Prince Andrew said nothing
74613 to his sister, was that in the expression the sculptor had happened to
74614 give the angel's face, Prince Andrew read the same mild reproach he
74615 had read on the face of his dead wife: "Ah, why have you done this
74616 to me?"
74617
74618 Soon after Prince Andrew's return the old prince made over to him
74619 a large estate, Bogucharovo, about twenty-five miles from Bald
74620 Hills. Partly because of the depressing memories associated with
74621 Bald Hills, partly because Prince Andrew did not always feel equal
74622 to bearing with his father's peculiarities, and partly because he
74623 needed solitude, Prince Andrew made use of Bogucharovo, began building
74624 and spent most of his time there.
74625
74626 After the Austerlitz campaign Prince Andrew had firmly resolved
74627 not to continue his military service, and when the war recommenced and
74628 everybody had to serve, he took a post under his father in the
74629 recruitment so as to avoid active service. The old prince and his
74630 son seemed to have changed roles since the campaign of 1805. The old
74631 man, roused by activity, expected the best results from the new
74632 campaign, while Prince Andrew on the contrary, taking no part in the
74633 war and secretly regretting this, saw only the dark side.
74634
74635 On February 26, 1807, the old prince set off on one of his circuits.
74636 Prince Andrew remained at Bald Hills as usual during his father's
74637 absence. Little Nicholas had been unwell for four days. The coachman
74638 who had driven the old prince to town returned bringing papers and
74639 letters for Prince Andrew.
74640
74641 Not finding the young prince in his study the valet went with the
74642 letters to Princess Mary's apartments, but did not find him there.
74643 He was told that the prince had gone to the nursery.
74644
74645 "If you please, your excellency, Petrusha has brought some
74646 papers," said one of the nursemaids to Prince Andrew who was sitting
74647 on a child's little chair while, frowning and with trembling hands, he
74648 poured drops from a medicine bottle into a wineglass half full of
74649 water.
74650
74651 "What is it?" he said crossly, and, his hand shaking
74652 unintentionally, he poured too many drops into the glass. He threw the
74653 mixture onto the floor and asked for some more water. The maid brought
74654 it.
74655
74656 There were in the room a child's cot, two boxes, two armchairs, a
74657 table, a child's table, and the little chair on which Prince Andrew
74658 was sitting. The curtains were drawn, and a single candle was
74659 burning on the table, screened by a bound music book so that the light
74660 did not fall on the cot.
74661
74662 "My dear," said Princess Mary, addressing her brother from beside
74663 the cot where she was standing, "better wait a bit... later..."
74664
74665 "Oh, leave off, you always talk nonsense and keep putting things
74666 off--and this is what comes of it!" said Prince Andrew in an
74667 exasperated whisper, evidently meaning to wound his sister.
74668
74669 "My dear, really... it's better not to wake him... he's asleep,"
74670 said the princess in a tone of entreaty.
74671
74672 Prince Andrew got up and went on tiptoe up to the little bed,
74673 wineglass in hand.
74674
74675 "Perhaps we'd really better not wake him," he said hesitating.
74676
74677 "As you please... really... I think so... but as you please," said
74678 Princess Mary, evidently intimidated and confused that her opinion had
74679 prevailed. She drew her brother's attention to the maid who was
74680 calling him in a whisper.
74681
74682 It was the second night that neither of them had slept, watching the
74683 boy who was in a high fever. These last days, mistrusting their
74684 household doctor and expecting another for whom they had sent to town,
74685 they had been trying first one remedy and then another. Worn out by
74686 sleeplessness and anxiety they threw their burden of sorrow on one
74687 another and reproached and disputed with each other.
74688
74689 "Petrusha has come with papers from your father," whispered the
74690 maid.
74691
74692 Prince Andrew went out.
74693
74694 "Devil take them!" he muttered, and after listening to the verbal
74695 instructions his father had sent and taking the correspondence and his
74696 father's letter, he returned to the nursery.
74697
74698 "Well?" he asked.
74699
74700 "Still the same. Wait, for heaven's sake. Karl Ivanich always says
74701 that sleep is more important than anything," whispered Princess Mary
74702 with a sigh.
74703
74704 Prince Andrew went up to the child and felt him. He was burning hot.
74705
74706 "Confound you and your Karl Ivanich!" He took the glass with the
74707 drops and again went up to the cot.
74708
74709 "Andrew, don't!" said Princess Mary.
74710
74711 But he scowled at her angrily though also with suffering in his
74712 eyes, and stooped glass in hand over the infant.
74713
74714 "But I wish it," he said. "I beg you--give it him!"
74715
74716 Princess Mary shrugged her shoulders but took the glass submissively
74717 and calling the nurse began giving the medicine. The child screamed
74718 hoarsely. Prince Andrew winced and, clutching his head, went out and
74719 sat down on a sofa in the next room.
74720
74721 He still had all the letters in his hand. Opening them
74722 mechanically he began reading. The old prince, now and then using
74723 abbreviations, wrote in his large elongated hand on blue paper as
74724 follows:
74725
74726
74727 Have just this moment received by special messenger very joyful
74728 news--if it's not false. Bennigsen seems to have obtained a complete
74729 victory over Buonaparte at Eylau. In Petersburg everyone is rejoicing,
74730 and the rewards sent to the army are innumerable. Though he is a
74731 German--I congratulate him! I can't make out what the commander at
74732 Korchevo--a certain Khandrikov--is up to; till now the additional
74733 men and provisions have not arrived. Gallop off to him at once and say
74734 I'll have his head off if everything is not here in a week. Have
74735 received another letter about the Preussisch-Eylau battle from
74736 Petenka--he took part in it--and it's all true. When mischief-makers
74737 don't meddle even a German beats Buonaparte. He is said to be
74738 fleeing in great disorder. Mind you gallop off to Korchevo without
74739 delay and carry out instructions!
74740
74741
74742 Prince Andrew sighed and broke the seal of another envelope. It
74743 was a closely written letter of two sheets from Bilibin. He folded
74744 it up without reading it and reread his father's letter, ending with
74745 the words: "Gallop off to Korchevo and carry out instructions!"
74746
74747 "No, pardon me, I won't go now till the child is better," thought
74748 he, going to the door and looking into the nursery.
74749
74750 Princess Mary was still standing by the cot, gently rocking the
74751 baby.
74752
74753 "Ah yes, and what else did he say that's unpleasant?" thought Prince
74754 Andrew, recalling his father's letter. "Yes, we have gained a
74755 victory over Bonaparte, just when I'm not serving. Yes, yes, he's
74756 always poking fun at me.... Ah, well! Let him!" And he began reading
74757 Bilibin's letter which was written in French. He read without
74758 understanding half of it, read only to forget, if but for a moment,
74759 what he had too long been thinking of so painfully to the exclusion of
74760 all else.
74761
74762
74763
74764
74765
74766 CHAPTER IX
74767
74768
74769 Bilibin was now at army headquarters in a diplomatic capacity, and
74770 though he wrote in French and used French jests and French idioms,
74771 he described the whole campaign with a fearless self-censure and
74772 self-derision genuinely Russian. Bilibin wrote that the obligation
74773 of diplomatic discretion tormented him, and he was happy to have in
74774 Prince Andrew a reliable correspondent to whom he could pour out the
74775 bile he had accumulated at the sight of all that was being done in the
74776 army. The letter was old, having been written before the battle at
74777 Preussisch-Eylau.
74778
74779 "Since the day of our brilliant success at Austerlitz," wrote
74780 Bilibin, "as you know, my dear prince, I never leave headquarters. I
74781 have certainly acquired a taste for war, and it is just as well for
74782 me; what I have seen during these last three months is incredible.
74783
74784 "I begin ab ovo. 'The enemy of the human race,' as you know, attacks
74785 the Prussians. The Prussians are our faithful allies who have only
74786 betrayed us three times in three years. We take up their cause, but it
74787 turns out that 'the enemy of the human race' pays no heed to our
74788 fine speeches and in his rude and savage way throws himself on the
74789 Prussians without giving them time to finish the parade they had
74790 begun, and in two twists of the hand he breaks them to smithereens and
74791 installs himself in the palace at Potsdam.
74792
74793 "'I most ardently desire,' writes the King of Prussia to
74794 Bonaparte, 'that Your Majesty should be received and treated in my
74795 palace in a manner agreeable to yourself, and in so far as
74796 circumstances allowed, I have hastened to take all steps to that
74797 end. May I have succeeded!' The Prussian generals pride themselves
74798 on being polite to the French and lay down their arms at the first
74799 demand.
74800
74801 "The head of the garrison at Glogau, with ten thousand men, asks the
74802 King of Prussia what he is to do if he is summoned to surrender....
74803 All this is absolutely true.
74804
74805 "In short, hoping to settle matters by taking up a warlike attitude,
74806 it turns out that we have landed ourselves in war, and what is more,
74807 in war on our own frontiers, with and for the King of Prussia. We have
74808 everything in perfect order, only one little thing is lacking, namely,
74809 a commander in chief. As it was considered that the Austerlitz success
74810 might have been more decisive had the commander in chief not been so
74811 young, all our octogenarians were reviewed, and of Prozorovski and
74812 Kamenski the latter was preferred. The general comes to us,
74813 Suvorov-like, in a kibitka, and is received with acclamations of joy
74814 and triumph.
74815
74816 "On the 4th, the first courier arrives from Petersburg. The mails
74817 are taken to the field marshal's room, for he likes to do everything
74818 himself. I am called in to help sort the letters and take those
74819 meant for us. The field marshal looks on and waits for letters
74820 addressed to him. We search, but none are to be found. The field
74821 marshal grows impatient and sets to work himself and finds letters
74822 from the Emperor to Count T., Prince V., and others. Then he bursts
74823 into one of his wild furies and rages at everyone and everything,
74824 seizes the letters, opens them, and reads those from the Emperor
74825 addressed to others. 'Ah! So that's the way they treat me! No
74826 confidence in me! Ah, ordered to keep an eye on me! Very well then!
74827 Get along with you!' So he writes the famous order of the day to
74828 General Bennigsen:
74829
74830 'I am wounded and cannot ride and consequently cannot command the
74831 army. You have brought your army corps to Pultusk, routed: here it
74832 is exposed, and without fuel or forage, so something must be done,
74833 and, as you yourself reported to Count Buxhowden yesterday, you must
74834 think of retreating to our frontier--which do today.'
74835
74836 "'From all my riding,' he writes to the Emperor, 'I have got a
74837 saddle sore which, coming after all my previous journeys, quite
74838 prevents my riding and commanding so vast an army, so I have passed on
74839 the command to the general next in seniority, Count Buxhowden,
74840 having sent him my whole staff and all that belongs to it, advising
74841 him if there is a lack of bread, to move farther into the interior
74842 of Prussia, for only one day's ration of bread remains, and in some
74843 regiments none at all, as reported by the division commanders,
74844 Ostermann and Sedmoretzki, and all that the peasants had has been
74845 eaten up. I myself will remain in hospital at Ostrolenka till I
74846 recover. In regard to which I humbly submit my report, with the
74847 information that if the army remains in its present bivouac another
74848 fortnight there will not be a healthy man left in it by spring.
74849
74850 "'Grant leave to retire to his country seat to an old man who is
74851 already in any case dishonored by being unable to fulfill the great
74852 and glorious task for which he was chosen. I shall await your most
74853 gracious permission here in hospital, that I may not have to play
74854 the part of a secretary rather than commander in the army. My
74855 removal from the army does not produce the slightest stir--a blind man
74856 has left it. There are thousands such as I in Russia.'
74857
74858 "The field marshal is angry with the Emperor and he punishes us all,
74859 isn't it logical?
74860
74861 "This is the first act. Those that follow are naturally increasingly
74862 interesting and entertaining. After the field marshal's departure it
74863 appears that we are within sight of the enemy and must give battle.
74864 Buxhowden is commander in chief by seniority, but General Bennigsen
74865 does not quite see it; more particularly as it is he and his corps who
74866 are within sight of the enemy and he wishes to profit by the
74867 opportunity to fight a battle 'on his own hand' as the Germans say. He
74868 does so. This is the battle of Pultusk, which is considered a great
74869 victory but in my opinion was nothing of the kind. We civilians, as
74870 you know, have a very bad way of deciding whether a battle was won
74871 or lost. Those who retreat after a battle have lost it is what we say;
74872 and according to that it is we who lost the battle of Pultusk. In
74873 short, we retreat after the battle but send a courier to Petersburg
74874 with news of a victory, and General Bennigsen, hoping to receive
74875 from Petersburg the post of commander in chief as a reward for his
74876 victory, does not give up the command of the army to General
74877 Buxhowden. During this interregnum we begin a very original and
74878 interesting series of maneuvers. Our aim is no longer, as it should
74879 be, to avoid or attack the enemy, but solely to avoid General
74880 Buxhowden who by right of seniority should be our chief. So
74881 energetically do we pursue this aim that after crossing an
74882 unfordable river we burn the bridges to separate ourselves from our
74883 enemy, who at the moment is not Bonaparte but Buxhowden. General
74884 Buxhowden was all but attacked and captured by a superior enemy
74885 force as a result of one of these maneuvers that enabled us to
74886 escape him. Buxhowden pursues us--we scuttle. He hardly crosses the
74887 river to our side before we recross to the other. At last our enemy.
74888 Buxhowden, catches us and attacks. Both generals are angry, and the
74889 result is a challenge on Buxhowden's part and an epileptic fit on
74890 Bennigsen's. But at the critical moment the courier who carried the
74891 news of our victory at Pultusk to Petersburg returns bringing our
74892 appointment as commander in chief, and our first foe, Buxhowden, is
74893 vanquished; we can now turn our thoughts to the second, Bonaparte. But
74894 as it turns out, just at that moment a third enemy rises before us-
74895 namely the Orthodox Russian soldiers, loudly demanding bread, meat,
74896 biscuits, fodder, and whatnot! The stores are empty, the roads
74897 impassable. The Orthodox begin looting, and in a way of which our last
74898 campaign can give you no idea. Half the regiments form bands and scour
74899 the countryside and put everything to fire and sword. The
74900 inhabitants are totally ruined, the hospitals overflow with sick,
74901 and famine is everywhere. Twice the marauders even attack our
74902 headquarters, and the commander in chief has to ask for a battalion to
74903 disperse them. During one of these attacks they carried off my empty
74904 portmanteau and my dressing gown. The Emperor proposes to give all
74905 commanders of divisions the right to shoot marauders, but I much
74906 fear this will oblige one half the army to shoot the other."
74907
74908 At first Prince Andrew read with his eyes only, but after a while,
74909 in spite of himself (although he knew how far it was safe to trust
74910 Bilibin), what he had read began to interest him more and more. When
74911 he had read thus far, he crumpled the letter up and threw it away.
74912 It was not what he had read that vexed him, but the fact that the life
74913 out there in which he had now no part could perturb him. He shut his
74914 eyes, rubbed his forehead as if to rid himself of all interest in what
74915 he had read, and listened to what was passing in the nursery. Suddenly
74916 he thought he heard a strange noise through the door. He was seized
74917 with alarm lest something should have happened to the child while he
74918 was reading the letter. He went on tiptoe to the nursery door and
74919 opened it.
74920
74921 Just as he went in he saw that the nurse was hiding something from
74922 him with a scared look and that Princess Mary was no longer by the
74923 cot.
74924
74925 "My dear," he heard what seemed to him her despairing whisper behind
74926 him.
74927
74928 As often happens after long sleeplessness and long anxiety, he was
74929 seized by an unreasoning panic--it occurred to him that the child
74930 was dead. All that he saw and heard seemed to confirm this terror.
74931
74932 "All is over," he thought, and a cold sweat broke out on his
74933 forehead. He went to the cot in confusion, sure that he would find
74934 it empty and that the nurse had been hiding the dead baby. He drew the
74935 curtain aside and for some time his frightened, restless eyes could
74936 not find the baby. At last he saw him: the rosy boy had tossed about
74937 till he lay across the bed with his head lower than the pillow, and
74938 was smacking his lips in his sleep and breathing evenly.
74939
74940 Prince Andrew was as glad to find the boy like that, as if he had
74941 already lost him. He bent over him and, as his sister had taught
74942 him, tried with his lips whether the child was still feverish. The
74943 soft forehead was moist. Prince Andrew touched the head with his hand;
74944 even the hair was wet, so profusely had the child perspired. He was
74945 not dead, but evidently the crisis was over and he was convalescent.
74946 Prince Andrew longed to snatch up, to squeeze, to hold to his heart,
74947 this helpless little creature, but dared not do so. He stood over him,
74948 gazing at his head and at the little arms and legs which showed
74949 under the blanket. He heard a rustle behind him and a shadow
74950 appeared under the curtain of the cot. He did not look round, but
74951 still gazing at the infant's face listened to his regular breathing.
74952 The dark shadow was Princess Mary, who had come up to the cot with
74953 noiseless steps, lifted the curtain, and dropped it again behind
74954 her. Prince Andrew recognized her without looking and held out his
74955 hand to her. She pressed it.
74956
74957 "He has perspired," said Prince Andrew.
74958
74959 "I was coming to tell you so."
74960
74961 The child moved slightly in his sleep, smiled, and rubbed his
74962 forehead against the pillow.
74963
74964 Prince Andrew looked at his sister. In the dim shadow of the curtain
74965 her luminous eyes shone more brightly than usual from the tears of joy
74966 that were in them. She leaned over to her brother and kissed him,
74967 slightly catching the curtain of the cot. Each made the other a
74968 warning gesture and stood still in the dim light beneath the curtain
74969 as if not wishing to leave that seclusion where they three were shut
74970 off from all the world. Prince Andrew was the first to move away,
74971 ruffling his hair against the muslin of the curtain.
74972
74973 "Yes, this is the one thing left me now," he said with a sigh.
74974
74975
74976
74977
74978 CHAPTER X
74979
74980
74981 Soon after his admission to the Masonic Brotherhood, Pierre went
74982 to the Kiev province, where he had the greatest number of serfs,
74983 taking with him full directions which he had written down for his
74984 own guidance as to what he should do on his estates.
74985
74986 When he reached Kiev he sent for all his stewards to the head office
74987 and explained to them his intentions and wishes. He told them that
74988 steps would be taken immediately to free his serfs--and that till then
74989 they were not to be overburdened with labor, women while nursing their
74990 babies were not to be sent to work, assistance was to be given to
74991 the serfs, punishments were to be admonitory and not corporal, and
74992 hospitals, asylums, and schools were to be established on all the
74993 estates. Some of the stewards (there were semiliterate foremen among
74994 them) listened with alarm, supposing these words to mean that the
74995 young count was displeased with their management and embezzlement of
74996 money, some after their first fright were amused by Pierre's lisp
74997 and the new words they had not heard before, others simply enjoyed
74998 hearing how the master talked, while the cleverest among them,
74999 including the chief steward, understood from this speech how they
75000 could best handle the master for their own ends.
75001
75002 The chief steward expressed great sympathy with Pierre's intentions,
75003 but remarked that besides these changes it would be necessary to go
75004 into the general state of affairs which was far from satisfactory.
75005
75006 Despite Count Bezukhov's enormous wealth, since he had come into
75007 an income which was said to amount to five hundred thousand rubles a
75008 year, Pierre felt himself far poorer than when his father had made him
75009 an allowance of ten thousand rubles. He had a dim perception of the
75010 following budget:
75011
75012 About 80,000 went in payments on all the estates to the Land Bank,
75013 about 30,000 went for the upkeep of the estate near Moscow, the town
75014 house, and the allowance to the three princesses; about 15,000 was
75015 given in pensions and the same amount for asylums; 150,000 alimony was
75016 sent to the countess; about 70,00 went for interest on debts. The
75017 building of a new church, previously begun, had cost about 10,000 in
75018 each of the last two years, and he did not know how the rest, about
75019 100,000 rubles, was spent, and almost every year he was obliged to
75020 borrow. Besides this the chief steward wrote every year telling him of
75021 fires and bad harvests, or of the necessity of rebuilding factories
75022 and workshops. So the first task Pierre had to face was one for
75023 which he had very little aptitude or inclination--practical business.
75024
75025 He discussed estate affairs every day with his chief steward. But he
75026 felt that this did not forward matters at all. He felt that these
75027 consultations were detached from real affairs and did not link up with
75028 them or make them move. On the one hand, the chief steward put the
75029 state of things to him in the very worst light, pointing out the
75030 necessity of paying off the debts and undertaking new activities
75031 with serf labor, to which Pierre did not agree. On the other hand,
75032 Pierre demanded that steps should be taken to liberate the serfs,
75033 which the steward met by showing the necessity of first paying off the
75034 loans from the Land Bank, and the consequent impossibility of a speedy
75035 emancipation.
75036
75037 The steward did not say it was quite impossible, but suggested
75038 selling the forests in the province of Kostroma, the land lower down
75039 the river, and the Crimean estate, in order to make it possible: all
75040 of which operations according to him were connected with such
75041 complicated measures--the removal of injunctions, petitions,
75042 permits, and so on--that Pierre became quite bewildered and only
75043 replied:
75044
75045 "Yes, yes, do so."
75046
75047 Pierre had none of the practical persistence that would have enabled
75048 him to attend to the business himself and so he disliked it and only
75049 tried to pretend to the steward that he was attending to it. The
75050 steward for his part tried to pretend to the count that he
75051 considered these consultations very valuable for the proprietor and
75052 troublesome to himself.
75053
75054 In Kiev Pierre found some people he knew, and strangers hastened
75055 to make his acquaintance and joyfully welcomed the rich newcomer,
75056 the largest landowner of the province. Temptations to Pierre's
75057 greatest weakness--the one to which he had confessed when admitted
75058 to the Lodge--were so strong that he could not resist them. Again
75059 whole days, weeks, and months of his life passed in as great a rush
75060 and were as much occupied with evening parties, dinners, lunches,
75061 and balls, giving him no time for reflection, as in Petersburg.
75062 Instead of the new life he had hoped to lead he still lived the old
75063 life, only in new surroundings.
75064
75065 Of the three precepts of Freemasonry Pierre realized that he did not
75066 fulfill the one which enjoined every Mason to set an example of
75067 moral life, and that of the seven virtues he lacked two--morality
75068 and the love of death. He consoled himself with the thought that he
75069 fulfilled another of the precepts--that of reforming the human race-
75070 and had other virtues--love of his neighbor, and especially
75071 generosity.
75072
75073 In the spring of 1807 he decided to return to Petersburg. On the way
75074 he intended to visit all his estates and see for himself how far his
75075 orders had been carried out and in what state were the serfs whom
75076 God had entrusted to his care and whom he intended to benefit.
75077
75078 The chief steward, who considered the young count's attempts
75079 almost insane--unprofitable to himself, to the count, and to the
75080 serfs--made some concessions. Continuing to represent the liberation
75081 of the serfs as impracticable, he arranged for the erection of large
75082 buildings--schools, hospitals, and asylums--on all the estates
75083 before the master arrived. Everywhere preparations were made not for
75084 ceremonious welcomes (which he knew Pierre would not like), but for
75085 just such gratefully religious ones, with offerings of icons and the
75086 bread and salt of hospitality, as, according to his understanding of
75087 his master, would touch and delude him.
75088
75089 The southern spring, the comfortable rapid traveling in a Vienna
75090 carriage, and the solitude of the road, all had a gladdening effect on
75091 Pierre. The estates he had not before visited were each more
75092 picturesque than the other; the serfs everywhere seemed thriving and
75093 touchingly grateful for the benefits conferred on them. Everywhere
75094 were receptions, which though they embarrassed Pierre awakened a
75095 joyful feeling in the depth of his heart. In one place the peasants
75096 presented him with bread and salt and an icon of Saint Peter and Saint
75097 Paul, asking permission, as a mark of their gratitude for the benefits
75098 he had conferred on them, to build a new chantry to the church at
75099 their own expense in honor of Peter and Paul, his patron saints. In
75100 another place the women with infants in arms met him to thank him
75101 for releasing them from hard work. On a third estate the priest,
75102 bearing a cross, came to meet him surrounded by children whom, by
75103 the count's generosity, he was instructing in reading, writing, and
75104 religion. On all his estates Pierre saw with his own eyes brick
75105 buildings erected or in course of erection, all on one plan, for
75106 hospitals, schools, and almshouses, which were soon to be opened.
75107 Everywhere he saw the stewards' accounts, according to which the
75108 serfs' manorial labor had been diminished, and heard the touching
75109 thanks of deputations of serfs in their full-skirted blue coats.
75110
75111 What Pierre did not know was that the place where they presented him
75112 with bread and salt and wished to build a chantry in honor of Peter
75113 and Paul was a market village where a fair was held on St. Peter's
75114 day, and that the richest peasants (who formed the deputation) had
75115 begun the chantry long before, but that nine tenths of the peasants in
75116 that villages were in a state of the greatest poverty. He did not know
75117 that since the nursing mothers were no longer sent to work on his
75118 land, they did still harder work on their own land. He did not know
75119 that the priest who met him with the cross oppressed the peasants by
75120 his exactions, and that the pupils' parents wept at having to let
75121 him take their children and secured their release by heavy payments.
75122 He did not know that the brick buildings, built to plan, were being
75123 built by serfs whose manorial labor was thus increased, though
75124 lessened on paper. He did not know that where the steward had shown
75125 him in the accounts that the serfs' payments had been diminished by
75126 a third, their obligatory manorial work had been increased by a
75127 half. And so Pierre was delighted with his visit to his estates and
75128 quite recovered the philanthropic mood in which he had left
75129 Petersburg, and wrote enthusiastic letters to his "brother-instructor"
75130 as he called the Grand Master.
75131
75132 "How easy it is, how little effort it needs, to do so much good,"
75133 thought Pierre, "and how little attention we pay to it!"
75134
75135 He was pleased at the gratitude he received, but felt abashed at
75136 receiving it. This gratitude reminded him of how much more he might do
75137 for these simple, kindly people.
75138
75139 The chief steward, a very stupid but cunning man who saw perfectly
75140 through the naive and intelligent count and played with him as with
75141 a toy, seeing the effect these prearranged receptions had on Pierre,
75142 pressed him still harder with proofs of the impossibility and above
75143 all the uselessness of freeing the serfs, who were quite happy as it
75144 was.
75145
75146 Pierre in his secret soul agreed with the steward that it would be
75147 difficult to imagine happier people, and that God only knew what would
75148 happen to them when they were free, but he insisted, though
75149 reluctantly, on what he thought right. The steward promised to do
75150 all in his power to carry out the count's wishes, seeing clearly
75151 that not only would the count never be able to find out whether all
75152 measures had been taken for the sale of the land and forests and to
75153 release them from the Land Bank, but would probably never even inquire
75154 and would never know that the newly erected buildings were standing
75155 empty and that the serfs continued to give in money and work all
75156 that other people's serfs gave--that is to say, all that could be
75157 got out of them.
75158
75159
75160
75161
75162
75163 CHAPTER XI
75164
75165
75166 Returning from his journey through South Russia in the happiest
75167 state of mind, Pierre carried out an intention he had long had of
75168 visiting his friend Bolkonski, whom he had not seen for two years.
75169
75170 Bogucharovo lay in a flat uninteresting part of the country among
75171 fields and forests of fir and birch, which were partly cut down. The
75172 house lay behind a newly dug pond filled with water to the brink and
75173 with banks still bare of grass. It was at the end of a village that
75174 stretched along the highroad in the midst of a young copse in which
75175 were a few fir trees.
75176
75177 The homestead consisted of a threshing floor, outhouses, stables,
75178 a bathhouse, a lodge, and a large brick house with semicircular facade
75179 still in course of construction. Round the house was a garden newly
75180 laid out. The fences and gates were new and solid; two fire pumps
75181 and a water cart, painted green, stood in a shed; the paths were
75182 straight, the bridges were strong and had handrails. Everything bore
75183 an impress of tidiness and good management. Some domestic serfs Pierre
75184 met, in reply to inquiries as to where the prince lived, pointed out a
75185 small newly built lodge close to the pond. Anton, a man who had looked
75186 after Prince Andrew in his boyhood, helped Pierre out of his carriage,
75187 said that the prince was at home, and showed him into a clean little
75188 anteroom.
75189
75190 Pierre was struck by the modesty of the small though clean house
75191 after the brilliant surroundings in which he had last met his friend
75192 in Petersburg.
75193
75194 He quickly entered the small reception room with its
75195 still-unplastered wooden walls redolent of pine, and would have gone
75196 farther, but Anton ran ahead on tiptoe and knocked at a door.
75197
75198 "Well, what is it?" came a sharp, unpleasant voice.
75199
75200 "A visitor," answered Anton.
75201
75202 "Ask him to wait," and the sound was heard of a chair being pushed
75203 back.
75204
75205 Pierre went with rapid steps to the door and suddenly came face to
75206 face with Prince Andrew, who came out frowning and looking old. Pierre
75207 embraced him and lifting his spectacles kissed his friend on the cheek
75208 and looked at him closely.
75209
75210 "Well, I did not expect you, I am very glad," said Prince Andrew.
75211
75212 Pierre said nothing; he looked fixedly at his friend with
75213 surprise. He was struck by the change in him. His words were kindly
75214 and there was a smile on his lips and face, but his eyes were dull and
75215 lifeless and in spite of his evident wish to do so he could not give
75216 them a joyous and glad sparkle. Prince Andrew had grown thinner,
75217 paler, and more manly-looking, but what amazed and estranged Pierre
75218 till he got used to it were his inertia and a wrinkle on his brow
75219 indicating prolonged concentration on some one thought.
75220
75221 As is usually the case with people meeting after a prolonged
75222 separation, it was long before their conversation could settle on
75223 anything. They put questions and gave brief replies about things
75224 they knew ought to be talked over at length. At last the
75225 conversation gradually settled on some of the topics at first
75226 lightly touched on: their past life, plans for the future, Pierre's
75227 journeys and occupations, the war, and so on. The preoccupation and
75228 despondency which Pierre had noticed in his friend's look was now
75229 still more clearly expressed in the smile with which he listened to
75230 Pierre, especially when he spoke with joyful animation of the past
75231 or the future. It was as if Prince Andrew would have liked to
75232 sympathize with what Pierre was saying, but could not. The latter
75233 began to feel that it was in bad taste to speak of his enthusiasms,
75234 dreams, and hopes of happiness or goodness, in Prince Andrew's
75235 presence. He was ashamed to express his new Masonic views, which had
75236 been particularly revived and strengthened by his late tour. He
75237 checked himself, fearing to seem naive, yet he felt an irresistible
75238 desire to show his friend as soon as possible that he was now a
75239 quite different, and better, Pierre than he had been in Petersburg.
75240
75241 "I can't tell you how much I have lived through since then. I hardly
75242 know myself again."
75243
75244 "Yes, we have altered much, very much, since then," said Prince
75245 Andrew.
75246
75247 "Well, and you? What are your plans?"
75248
75249 "Plans!" repeated Prince Andrew ironically. "My plans?" he said,
75250 as if astonished at the word. "Well, you see, I'm building. I mean
75251 to settle here altogether next year...."
75252
75253 Pierre looked silently and searchingly into Prince Andrew's face,
75254 which had grown much older.
75255
75256 "No, I meant to ask..." Pierre began, but Prince Andrew
75257 interrupted him.
75258
75259 "But why talk of me?... Talk to me, yes, tell me about your
75260 travels and all you have been doing on your estates."
75261
75262 Pierre began describing what he had done on his estates, trying as
75263 far as possible to conceal his own part in the improvements that had
75264 been made. Prince Andrew several times prompted Pierre's story of what
75265 he had been doing, as though it were all an old-time story, and he
75266 listened not only without interest but even as if ashamed of what
75267 Pierre was telling him.
75268
75269 Pierre felt uncomfortable and even depressed in his friend's company
75270 and at last became silent.
75271
75272 "I'll tell you what, my dear fellow," said Prince Andrew, who
75273 evidently also felt depressed and constrained with his visitor, "I
75274 am only bivouacking here and have just come to look round. I am
75275 going back to my sister today. I will introduce you to her. But of
75276 course you know her already," he said, evidently trying to entertain a
75277 visitor with whom he now found nothing in common. "We will go after
75278 dinner. And would you now like to look round my place?"
75279
75280 They went out and walked about till dinnertime, talking of the
75281 political news and common acquaintances like people who do not know
75282 each other intimately. Prince Andrew spoke with some animation and
75283 interest only of the new homestead he was constructing and its
75284 buildings, but even here, while on the scaffolding, in the midst of
75285 a talk explaining the future arrangements of the house, he interrupted
75286 himself:
75287
75288 "However, this is not at all interesting. Let us have dinner, and
75289 then we'll set off."
75290
75291 At dinner, conversation turned on Pierre's marriage.
75292
75293 "I was very much surprised when I heard of it," said Prince Andrew.
75294
75295 Pierre blushed, as he always did when it was mentioned, and said
75296 hurriedly: "I will tell you some time how it all happened. But you
75297 know it is all over, and forever."
75298
75299 "Forever?" said Prince Andrew. "Nothing's forever."
75300
75301 "But you know how it all ended, don't you? You heard of the duel?"
75302
75303 "And so you had to go through that too!"
75304
75305 "One thing I thank God for is that I did not kill that man," said
75306 Pierre.
75307
75308 "Why so?" asked Prince Andrew. "To kill a vicious dog is a very good
75309 thing really."
75310
75311 "No, to kill a man is bad--wrong."
75312
75313 "Why is it wrong?" urged Prince Andrew. "It is not given to man to
75314 know what is right and what is wrong. Men always did and always will
75315 err, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong."
75316
75317 "What does harm to another is wrong," said Pierre, feeling with
75318 pleasure that for the first time since his arrival Prince Andrew was
75319 roused, had begun to talk, and wanted to express what had brought
75320 him to his present state.
75321
75322 "And who has told you what is bad for another man?" he asked.
75323
75324 "Bad! Bad!" exclaimed Pierre. "We all know what is bad for
75325 ourselves."
75326
75327 "Yes, we know that, but the harm I am conscious of in myself is
75328 something I cannot inflict on others," said Prince Andrew, growing
75329 more and more animated and evidently wishing to express his new
75330 outlook to Pierre. He spoke in French. "I only know two very real
75331 evils in life: remorse and illness. The only good is the absence of
75332 those evils. To live for myself avoiding those two evils is my whole
75333 philosophy now."
75334
75335 "And love of one's neighbor, and self-sacrifice?" began Pierre. "No,
75336 I can't agree with you! To live only so as not to do evil and not to
75337 have to repent is not enough. I lived like that, I lived for myself
75338 and ruined my life. And only now when I am living, or at least trying"
75339 (Pierre's modesty made him correct himself) "to live for others,
75340 only now have I understood all the happiness of life. No, I shall
75341 not agree with you, and you do not really believe what you are
75342 saying." Prince Andrew looked silently at Pierre with an ironic smile.
75343
75344 "When you see my sister, Princess Mary, you'll get on with her,"
75345 he said. "Perhaps you are right for yourself," he added after a
75346 short pause, "but everyone lives in his own way. You lived for
75347 yourself and say you nearly ruined your life and only found
75348 happiness when you began living for others. I experienced just the
75349 reverse. I lived for glory.--And after all what is glory? The same
75350 love of others, a desire to do something for them, a desire for
75351 their approval.--So I lived for others, and not almost, but quite,
75352 ruined my life. And I have become calmer since I began to live only
75353 for myself."
75354
75355 "But what do you mean by living only for yourself?" asked Pierre,
75356 growing excited. "What about your son, your sister, and your father?"
75357
75358 "But that's just the same as myself--they are not others," explained
75359 Prince Andrew. "The others, one's neighbors, le prochain, as you and
75360 Princess Mary call it, are the chief source of all error and evil.
75361 Le prochain--your Kiev peasants to whom you want to do good."
75362
75363 And he looked at Pierre with a mocking, challenging expression. He
75364 evidently wished to draw him on.
75365
75366 "You are joking," replied Pierre, growing more and more excited.
75367 "What error or evil can there be in my wishing to do good, and even
75368 doing a little--though I did very little and did it very badly? What
75369 evil can there be in it if unfortunate people, our serfs, people
75370 like ourselves, were growing up and dying with no idea of God and
75371 truth beyond ceremonies and meaningless prayers and are now instructed
75372 in a comforting belief in future life, retribution, recompense, and
75373 consolation? What evil and error are there in it, if people were dying
75374 of disease without help while material assistance could so easily be
75375 rendered, and I supplied them with a doctor, a hospital, and an asylum
75376 for the aged? And is it not a palpable, unquestionable good if a
75377 peasant, or a woman with a baby, has no rest day or night and I give
75378 them rest and leisure?" said Pierre, hurrying and lisping. "And I have
75379 done that though badly and to a small extent; but I have done
75380 something toward it and you cannot persuade me that it was not a
75381 good action, and more than that, you can't make me believe that you do
75382 not think so yourself. And the main thing is," he continued, "that I
75383 know, and know for certain, that the enjoyment of doing this good is
75384 the only sure happiness in life."
75385
75386 "Yes, if you put it like that it's quite a different matter," said
75387 Prince Andrew. "I build a house and lay out a garden, and you build
75388 hospitals. The one and the other may serve as a pastime. But what's
75389 right and what's good must be judged by one who knows all, but not
75390 by us. Well, you want an argument," he added, "come on then."
75391
75392 They rose from the table and sat down in the entrance porch which
75393 served as a veranda.
75394
75395 "Come, let's argue then," said Prince Andrew, "You talk of schools,"
75396 he went on, crooking a finger, "education and so forth; that is, you
75397 want to raise him" (pointing to a peasant who passed by them taking
75398 off his cap) "from his animal condition and awaken in him spiritual
75399 needs, while it seems to me that animal happiness is the only
75400 happiness possible, and that is just what you want to deprive him
75401 of. I envy him, but you want to make him what I am, without giving him
75402 my means. Then you say, 'lighten his toil.' But as I see it,
75403 physical labor is as essential to him, as much a condition of his
75404 existence, as mental activity is to you or me. You can't help
75405 thinking. I go to bed after two in the morning, thoughts come and I
75406 can't sleep but toss about till dawn, because I think and can't help
75407 thinking, just as he can't help plowing and mowing; if he didn't, he
75408 would go to the drink shop or fall ill. Just as I could not stand
75409 his terrible physical labor but should die of it in a week, so he
75410 could not stand my physical idleness, but would grow fat and die.
75411 The third thing--what else was it you talked about?" and Prince Andrew
75412 crooked a third finger. "Ah, yes, hospitals, medicine. He has a fit,
75413 he is dying, and you come and bleed him and patch him up. He will drag
75414 about as a cripple, a burden to everybody, for another ten years. It
75415 would be far easier and simpler for him to die. Others are being
75416 born and there are plenty of them as it is. It would be different if
75417 you grudged losing a laborer--that's how I regard him--but you want to
75418 cure him from love of him. And he does not want that. And besides,
75419 what a notion that medicine ever cured anyone! Killed them, yes!" said
75420 he, frowning angrily and turning away from Pierre.
75421
75422 Prince Andrew expressed his ideas so clearly and distinctly that
75423 it was evident he had reflected on this subject more than once, and he
75424 spoke readily and rapidly like a man who has not talked for a long
75425 time. His glance became more animated as his conclusions became more
75426 hopeless.
75427
75428 "Oh, that is dreadful, dreadful!" said Pierre. "I don't understand
75429 how one can live with such ideas. I had such moments myself not long
75430 ago, in Moscow and when traveling, but at such times I collapsed so
75431 that I don't live at all--everything seems hateful to me... myself
75432 most of all. Then I don't eat, don't wash... and how is it with
75433 you?..."
75434
75435 "Why not wash? That is not cleanly," said Prince Andrew; "on the
75436 contrary one must try to make one's life as pleasant as possible.
75437 I'm alive, that is not my fault, so I must live out my life as best
75438 I can without hurting others."
75439
75440 "But with such ideas what motive have you for living? One would
75441 sit without moving, undertaking nothing...."
75442
75443 "Life as it is leaves one no peace. I should be thankful to do
75444 nothing, but here on the one hand the local nobility have done me
75445 the honor to choose me to be their marshal; it was all I could do to
75446 get out of it. They could not understand that I have not the necessary
75447 qualifications for it--the kind of good-natured, fussy shallowness
75448 necessary for the position. Then there's this house, which must be
75449 built in order to have a nook of one's own in which to be quiet. And
75450 now there's this recruiting."
75451
75452 "Why aren't you serving in the army?"
75453
75454 "After Austerlitz!" said Prince Andrew gloomily. "No, thank you very
75455 much! I have promised myself not to serve again in the active
75456 Russian army. And I won't--not even if Bonaparte were here at Smolensk
75457 threatening Bald Hills--even then I wouldn't serve in the Russian
75458 army! Well, as I was saying," he continued, recovering his
75459 composure, "now there's this recruiting. My father is chief in command
75460 of the Third District, and my only way of avoiding active service is
75461 to serve under him."
75462
75463 "Then you are serving?"
75464
75465 "I am."
75466
75467 He paused a little while.
75468
75469 "And why do you serve?"
75470
75471 "Why, for this reason! My father is one of the most remarkable men
75472 of his time. But he is growing old, and though not exactly cruel he
75473 has too energetic a character. He is so accustomed to unlimited
75474 power that he is terrible, and now he has this authority of a
75475 commander in chief of the recruiting, granted by the Emperor. If I had
75476 been two hours late a fortnight ago he would have had a paymaster's
75477 clerk at Yukhnovna hanged," said Prince Andrew with a smile. "So I
75478 am serving because I alone have any influence with my father, and
75479 now and then can save him from actions which would torment him
75480 afterwards."
75481
75482 "Well, there you see!"
75483
75484 "Yes, but it is not as you imagine," Prince Andrew continued. "I did
75485 not, and do not, in the least care about that scoundrel of a clerk who
75486 had stolen some boots from the recruits; I should even have been
75487 very glad to see him hanged, but I was sorry for my father--that again
75488 is for myself."
75489
75490 Prince Andrew grew more and more animated. His eyes glittered
75491 feverishly while he tried to prove to Pierre that in his actions there
75492 was no desire to do good to his neighbor.
75493
75494 "There now, you wish to liberate your serfs," he continued; "that is
75495 a very good thing, but not for you--I don't suppose you ever had
75496 anyone flogged or sent to Siberia--and still less for your serfs. If
75497 they are beaten, flogged, or sent to Siberia, I don't suppose they are
75498 any the worse off. In Siberia they lead the same animal life, and
75499 the stripes on their bodies heal, and they are happy as before. But it
75500 is a good thing for proprietors who perish morally, bring remorse upon
75501 themselves, stifle this remorse and grow callous, as a result of being
75502 able to inflict punishments justly and unjustly. It is those people
75503 I pity, and for their sake I should like to liberate the serfs. You
75504 may not have seen, but I have seen, how good men brought up in those
75505 traditions of unlimited power, in time when they grow more
75506 irritable, become cruel and harsh, are conscious of it, but cannot
75507 restrain themselves and grow more and more miserable."
75508
75509 Prince Andrew spoke so earnestly that Pierre could not help thinking
75510 that these thoughts had been suggested to Prince Andrew by his
75511 father's case.
75512
75513 He did not reply.
75514
75515 "So that's what I'm sorry for--human dignity, peace of mind, purity,
75516 and not the serfs' backs and foreheads, which, beat and shave as you
75517 may, always remain the same backs and foreheads."
75518
75519 "No, no! A thousand times no! I shall never agree with you," said
75520 Pierre.
75521
75522
75523
75524
75525
75526 CHAPTER XII
75527
75528
75529 In the evening Andrew and Pierre got into the open carriage and
75530 drove to Bald Hills. Prince Andrew, glancing at Pierre, broke the
75531 silence now and then with remarks which showed that he was in a good
75532 temper.
75533
75534 Pointing to the fields, he spoke of the improvements he was making
75535 in his husbandry.
75536
75537 Pierre remained gloomily silent, answering in monosyllables and
75538 apparently immersed in his own thoughts.
75539
75540 He was thinking that Prince Andrew was unhappy, had gone astray, did
75541 not see the true light, and that he, Pierre, ought to aid,
75542 enlighten, and raise him. But as soon as he thought of what he
75543 should say, he felt that Prince Andrew with one word, one argument,
75544 would upset all his teaching, and he shrank from beginning, afraid
75545 of exposing to possible ridicule what to him was precious and sacred.
75546
75547 "No, but why do you think so?" Pierre suddenly began, lowering his
75548 head and looking like a bull about to charge, "why do you think so?
75549 You should not think so."
75550
75551 "Think? What about?" asked Prince Andrew with surprise.
75552
75553 "About life, about man's destiny. It can't be so. I myself thought
75554 like that, and do you know what saved me? Freemasonry! No, don't
75555 smile. Freemasonry is not a religious ceremonial sect, as I thought it
75556 was: Freemasonry is the best expression of the best, the eternal,
75557 aspects of humanity."
75558
75559 And he began to explain Freemasonry as he understood it to Prince
75560 Andrew. He said that Freemasonry is the teaching of Christianity freed
75561 from the bonds of State and Church, a teaching of equality,
75562 brotherhood, and love.
75563
75564 "Only our holy brotherhood has the real meaning of life, all the
75565 rest is a dream," said Pierre. "Understand, my dear fellow, that
75566 outside this union all is filled with deceit and falsehood and I agree
75567 with you that nothing is left for an intelligent and good man but to
75568 live out his life, like you, merely trying not to harm others. But
75569 make our fundamental convictions your own, join our brotherhood,
75570 give yourself up to us, let yourself be guided, and you will at once
75571 feel yourself, as I have felt myself, a part of that vast invisible
75572 chain the beginning of which is hidden in heaven," said Pierre.
75573
75574 Prince Andrew, looking straight in front of him, listened in silence
75575 to Pierre's words. More than once, when the noise of the wheels
75576 prevented his catching what Pierre said, he asked him to repeat it,
75577 and by the peculiar glow that came into Prince Andrew's eyes and by
75578 his silence, Pierre saw that his words were not in vain and that
75579 Prince Andrew would not interrupt him or laugh at what he said.
75580
75581 They reached a river that had overflowed its banks and which they
75582 had to cross by ferry. While the carriage and horses were being placed
75583 on it, they also stepped on the raft.
75584
75585 Prince Andrew, leaning his arms on the raft railing, gazed
75586 silently at the flooding waters glittering in the setting sun.
75587
75588 "Well, what do you think about it?" Pierre asked. "Why are you
75589 silent?"
75590
75591 "What do I think about it? I am listening to you. It's all very
75592 well.... You say: join our brotherhood and we will show you the aim of
75593 life, the destiny of man, and the laws which govern the world. But who
75594 are we? Men. How is it you know everything? Why do I alone not see
75595 what you see? You see a reign of goodness and truth on earth, but I
75596 don't see it."
75597
75598 Pierre interrupted him.
75599
75600 "Do you believe in a future life?" he asked.
75601
75602 "A future life?" Prince Andrew repeated, but Pierre, giving him no
75603 time to reply, took the repetition for a denial, the more readily as
75604 he knew Prince Andrew's former atheistic convictions.
75605
75606 "You say you can't see a reign of goodness and truth on earth. Nor
75607 could I, and it cannot be seen if one looks on our life here as the
75608 end of everything. On earth, here on this earth" (Pierre pointed to
75609 the fields), "there is no truth, all is false and evil; but in the
75610 universe, in the whole universe there is a kingdom of truth, and we
75611 who are now the children of earth are--eternally--children of the
75612 whole universe. Don't I feel in my soul that I am part of this vast
75613 harmonious whole? Don't I feel that I form one link, one step, between
75614 the lower and higher beings, in this vast harmonious multitude of
75615 beings in whom the Deity--the Supreme Power if you prefer the term--is
75616 manifest? If I see, clearly see, that ladder leading from plant to
75617 man, why should I suppose it breaks off at me and does not go
75618 farther and farther? I feel that I cannot vanish, since nothing
75619 vanishes in this world, but that I shall always exist and always
75620 have existed. I feel that beyond me and above me there are spirits,
75621 and that in this world there is truth."
75622
75623 "Yes, that is Herder's theory," said Prince Andrew, "but it is not
75624 that which can convince me, dear friend--life and death are what
75625 convince. What convinces is when one sees a being dear to one, bound
75626 up with one's own life, before whom one was to blame and had hoped
75627 to make it right" (Prince Andrew's voice trembled and he turned away),
75628 "and suddenly that being is seized with pain, suffers, and ceases to
75629 exist.... Why? It cannot be that there is no answer. And I believe
75630 there is.... That's what convinces, that is what has convinced me,"
75631 said Prince Andrew.
75632
75633 "Yes, yes, of course," said Pierre, "isn't that what I'm saying?"
75634
75635 "No. All I say is that it is not argument that convinces me of the
75636 necessity of a future life, but this: when you go hand in hand with
75637 someone and all at once that person vanishes there, into nowhere,
75638 and you yourself are left facing that abyss, and look in. And I have
75639 looked in...."
75640
75641 "Well, that's it then! You know that there is a there and there is a
75642 Someone? There is the future life. The Someone is--God."
75643
75644 Prince Andrew did not reply. The carriage and horses had long
75645 since been taken off, onto the farther bank, and reharnessed. The
75646 sun had sunk half below the horizon and an evening frost was
75647 starring the puddles near the ferry, but Pierre and Andrew, to the
75648 astonishment of the footmen, coachmen, and ferrymen, still stood on
75649 the raft and talked.
75650
75651 "If there is a God and future life, there is truth and good, and
75652 man's highest happiness consists in striving to attain them. We must
75653 live, we must love, and we must believe that we live not only today on
75654 this scrap of earth, but have lived and shall live forever, there,
75655 in the Whole," said Pierre, and he pointed to the sky.
75656
75657 Prince Andrew stood leaning on the railing of the raft listening
75658 to Pierre, and he gazed with his eyes fixed on the red reflection of
75659 the sun gleaming on the blue waters. There was perfect stillness.
75660 Pierre became silent. The raft had long since stopped and only the
75661 waves of the current beat softly against it below. Prince Andrew
75662 felt as if the sound of the waves kept up a refrain to Pierre's words,
75663 whispering:
75664
75665 "It is true, believe it."
75666
75667 He sighed, and glanced with a radiant, childlike, tender look at
75668 Pierre's face, flushed and rapturous, but yet shy before his
75669 superior friend.
75670
75671 "Yes, if it only were so!" said Prince Andrew. "However, it is
75672 time to get on," he added, and, stepping off the raft, he looked up at
75673 the sky to which Pierre had pointed, and for the first time since
75674 Austerlitz saw that high, everlasting sky he had seen while lying on
75675 that battlefield; and something that had long been slumbering,
75676 something that was best within him, suddenly awoke, joyful and
75677 youthful, in his soul. It vanished as soon as he returned to the
75678 customary conditions of his life, but he knew that this feeling
75679 which he did not know how to develop existed within him. His meeting
75680 with Pierre formed an epoch in Prince Andrew's life. Though
75681 outwardly he continued to live in the same old way, inwardly he
75682 began a new life.
75683
75684
75685
75686
75687
75688 CHAPTER XIII
75689
75690
75691 It was getting dusk when Prince Andrew and Pierre drove up to the
75692 front entrance of the house at Bald Hills. As they approached the
75693 house, Prince Andrew with a smile drew Pierre's attention to a
75694 commotion going on at the back porch. A woman, bent with age, with a
75695 wallet on her back, and a short, long-haired, young man in a black
75696 garment had rushed back to the gate on seeing the carriage driving up.
75697 Two women ran out after them, and all four, looking round at the
75698 carriage, ran in dismay up the steps of the back porch.
75699
75700 "Those are Mary's 'God's folk,'" said Prince Andrew. "They have
75701 mistaken us for my father. This is the one matter in which she
75702 disobeys him. He orders these pilgrims to be driven away, but she
75703 receives them."
75704
75705 "But what are 'God's folk'?" asked Pierre.
75706
75707 Prince Andrew had no time to answer. The servants came out to meet
75708 them, and he asked where the old prince was and whether he was
75709 expected back soon.
75710
75711 The old prince had gone to the town and was expected back any
75712 minute.
75713
75714 Prince Andrew led Pierre to his own apartments, which were always
75715 kept in perfect order and readiness for him in his father's house;
75716 he himself went to the nursery.
75717
75718 "Let us go and see my sister," he said to Pierre when he returned.
75719 "I have not found her yet, she is hiding now, sitting with her
75720 'God's folk.' It will serve her right, she will be confused, but you
75721 will see her 'God's folk.' It's really very curious."
75722
75723 "What are 'God's folk'?" asked Pierre.
75724
75725 "Come, and you'll see for yourself."
75726
75727 Princess Mary really was disconcerted and red patches came on her
75728 face when they went in. In her snug room, with lamps burning before
75729 the icon stand, a young lad with a long nose and long hair, wearing
75730 a monk's cassock, sat on the sofa beside her, behind a samovar. Near
75731 them, in an armchair, sat a thin, shriveled, old woman, with a meek
75732 expression on her childlike face.
75733
75734 "Andrew, why didn't you warn me?" said the princess, with mild
75735 reproach, as she stood before her pilgrims like a hen before her
75736 chickens.
75737
75738 "Charmee de vous voir. Je suis tres contente de vous voir,"* she
75739 said to Pierre as he kissed her hand. She had known him as a child,
75740 and now his friendship with Andrew, his misfortune with his wife,
75741 and above all his kindly, simple face disposed her favorably toward
75742 him. She looked at him with her beautiful radiant eyes and seemed to
75743 say, "I like you very much, but please don't laugh at my people."
75744 After exchanging the first greetings, they sat down.
75745
75746
75747 *"Delighted to see you. I am very glad to see you."
75748
75749
75750 "Ah, and Ivanushka is here too!" said Prince Andrew, glancing with a
75751 smile at the young pilgrim.
75752
75753 "Andrew!" said Princess Mary, imploringly. "Il faut que vous sachiez
75754 que c'est une femme,"* said Prince Andrew to Pierre.
75755
75756 "Andrew, au nom de Dieu!"*[2] Princess Mary repeated.
75757
75758
75759 *"You must know that this is a woman."
75760
75761 *[2] "For heaven's sake."
75762
75763
75764 It was evident that Prince Andrew's ironical tone toward the
75765 pilgrims and Princess Mary's helpless attempts to protect them were
75766 their customary long-established relations on the matter.
75767
75768 "Mais, ma bonne amie," said Prince Andrew, "vous devriez au
75769 contraire m'etre reconnaissante de ce que j'explique a Pierre votre
75770 intimite avec ce jeune homme."*
75771
75772
75773 *"But, my dear, you ought on the contrary to be grateful to me for
75774 explaining to Pierre your intimacy with this young man."
75775
75776
75777 "Really?" said Pierre, gazing over his spectacles with curiosity and
75778 seriousness (for which Princess Mary was specially grateful to him)
75779 into Ivanushka's face, who, seeing that she was being spoken about,
75780 looked round at them all with crafty eyes.
75781
75782 Princess Mary's embarrassment on her people's account was quite
75783 unnecessary. They were not in the least abashed. The old woman,
75784 lowering her eyes but casting side glances at the newcomers, had
75785 turned her cup upside down and placed a nibbled bit of sugar beside
75786 it, and sat quietly in her armchair, though hoping to be offered
75787 another cup of tea. Ivanushka, sipping out of her saucer, looked
75788 with sly womanish eyes from under her brows at the young men.
75789
75790 "Where have you been? To Kiev?" Prince Andrew asked the old woman.
75791
75792 "I have, good sir," she answered garrulously. "Just at Christmastime
75793 I was deemed worthy to partake of the holy and heavenly sacrament at
75794 the shrine of the saint. And now I'm from Kolyazin, master, where a
75795 great and wonderful blessing has been revealed."
75796
75797 "And was Ivanushka with you?"
75798
75799 "I go by myself, benefactor," said Ivanushka, trying to speak in a
75800 bass voice. "I only came across Pelageya in Yukhnovo..."
75801
75802 Pelageya interrupted her companion; she evidently wished to tell
75803 what she had seen.
75804
75805 "In Kolyazin, master, a wonderful blessing has been revealed."
75806
75807 "What is it? Some new relics?" asked Prince Andrew.
75808
75809 "Andrew, do leave off," said Princess Mary. "Don't tell him,
75810 Pelageya."
75811
75812 "No... why not, my dear, why shouldn't I? I like him. He is kind, he
75813 is one of God's chosen, he's a benefactor, he once gave me ten rubles,
75814 I remember. When I was in Kiev, Crazy Cyril says to me (he's one of
75815 God's own and goes barefoot summer and winter), he says, 'Why are
75816 you not going to the right place? Go to Kolyazin where a
75817 wonder-working icon of the Holy Mother of God has been revealed.' On
75818 hearing those words I said good-by to the holy folk and went."
75819
75820 All were silent, only the pilgrim woman went on in measured tones,
75821 drawing in her breath.
75822
75823 "So I come, master, and the people say to me: 'A great blessing
75824 has been revealed, holy oil trickles from the cheeks of our blessed
75825 Mother, the Holy Virgin Mother of God'...."
75826
75827 "All right, all right, you can tell us afterwards," said Princess
75828 Mary, flushing.
75829
75830 "Let me ask her," said Pierre. "Did you see it yourselves?" he
75831 inquired.
75832
75833 "Oh, yes, master, I was found worthy. Such a brightness on the
75834 face like the light of heaven, and from the blessed Mother's cheek
75835 it drops and drops...."
75836
75837 "But, dear me, that must be a fraud!" said Pierre, naively, who
75838 had listened attentively to the pilgrim.
75839
75840 "Oh, master, what are you saying?" exclaimed the horrified Pelageya,
75841 turning to Princess Mary for support.
75842
75843 "They impose on the people," he repeated.
75844
75845 "Lord Jesus Christ!" exclaimed the pilgrim woman, crossing
75846 herself. "Oh, don't speak so, master! There was a general who did
75847 not believe, and said, 'The monks cheat,' and as soon as he'd said
75848 it he went blind. And he dreamed that the Holy Virgin Mother of the
75849 Kiev catacombs came to him and said, 'Believe in me and I will make
75850 you whole.' So he begged: 'Take me to her, take me to her.' It's the
75851 real truth I'm telling you, I saw it myself. So he was brought,
75852 quite blind, straight to her, and he goes up to her and falls down and
75853 says, 'Make me whole,' says he, 'and I'll give thee what the Tsar
75854 bestowed on me.' I saw it myself, master, the star is fixed into the
75855 icon. Well, and what do you think? He received his sight! It's a sin
75856 to speak so. God will punish you," she said admonishingly, turning
75857 to Pierre.
75858
75859 "How did the star get into the icon?" Pierre asked.
75860
75861 "And was the Holy Mother promoted to the rank of general?" said
75862 Prince Andrew, with a smile.
75863
75864 Pelageya suddenly grew quite pale and clasped her hands.
75865
75866 "Oh, master, master, what a sin! And you who have a son!" she began,
75867 her pallor suddenly turning to a vivid red. "Master, what have you
75868 said? God forgive you!" And she crossed herself. "Lord forgive him! My
75869 dear, what does it mean?..." she asked, turning to Princess Mary.
75870 She got up and, almost crying, began to arrange her wallet. She
75871 evidently felt frightened and ashamed to have accepted charity in a
75872 house where such things could be said, and was at the same time
75873 sorry to have now to forgo the charity of this house.
75874
75875 "Now, why need you do it?" said Princess Mary. "Why did you come
75876 to me?..."
75877
75878 "Come, Pelageya, I was joking," said Pierre. "Princesse, ma
75879 parole, je n'ai pas voulu l'offenser.* I did not mean anything, I
75880 was only joking," he said, smiling shyly and trying to efface his
75881 offense. "It was all my fault, and Andrew was only joking."
75882
75883
75884 *"Princess, on my word, I did not wish to offend her."
75885
75886
75887 Pelageya stopped doubtfully, but in Pierre's face there was such a
75888 look of sincere penitence, and Prince Andrew glanced so meekly now
75889 at her and now at Pierre, that she was gradually reassured.
75890
75891
75892
75893
75894
75895 CHAPTER XIV
75896
75897
75898 The pilgrim woman was appeased and, being encouraged to talk, gave a
75899 long account of Father Amphilochus, who led so holy a life that his
75900 hands smelled of incense, and how on her last visit to Kiev some monks
75901 she knew let her have the keys of the catacombs, and how she, taking
75902 some dried bread with her, had spent two days in the catacombs with
75903 the saints. "I'd pray awhile to one, ponder awhile, then go on to
75904 another. I'd sleep a bit and then again go and kiss the relics, and
75905 there was such peace all around, such blessedness, that one don't want
75906 to come out, even into the light of heaven again."
75907
75908 Pierre listened to her attentively and seriously. Prince Andrew went
75909 out of the room, and then, leaving "God's folk" to finish their tea,
75910 Princess Mary took Pierre into the drawing room.
75911
75912 "You are very kind," she said to him.
75913
75914 "Oh, I really did not mean to hurt her feelings. I understand them
75915 so well and have the greatest respect for them."
75916
75917 Princess Mary looked at him silently and smiled affectionately.
75918
75919 "I have known you a long time, you see, and am as fond of you as
75920 of a brother," she said. "How do you find Andrew?" she added
75921 hurriedly, not giving him time to reply to her affectionate words.
75922 "I am very anxious about him. His health was better in the winter, but
75923 last spring his wound reopened and the doctor said he ought to go away
75924 for a cure. And I am also very much afraid for him spiritually. He has
75925 not a character like us women who, when we suffer, can weep away our
75926 sorrows. He keeps it all within him. Today he is cheerful and in
75927 good spirits, but that is the effect of your visit--he is not often
75928 like that. If you could persuade him to go abroad. He needs
75929 activity, and this quiet regular life is very bad for him. Others
75930 don't notice it, but I see it."
75931
75932 Toward ten o'clock the men servants rushed to the front door,
75933 hearing the bells of the old prince's carriage approaching. Prince
75934 Andrew and Pierre also went out into the porch.
75935
75936 "Who's that?" asked the old prince, noticing Pierre as he got out
75937 of, the carriage.
75938
75939 "Ah! Very glad! Kiss me," he said, having learned who the young
75940 stranger was.
75941
75942 The old prince was in a good temper and very gracious to Pierre.
75943
75944 Before supper, Prince Andrew, coming back to his father's study,
75945 found him disputing hotly with his visitor. Pierre was maintaining
75946 that a time would come when there would be no more wars. The old
75947 prince disputed it chaffingly, but without getting angry.
75948
75949 "Drain the blood from men's veins and put in water instead, then
75950 there will be no more war! Old women's nonsense--old women's
75951 nonsense!" he repeated, but still he patted Pierre affectionately on
75952 the shoulder, and then went up to the table where Prince Andrew,
75953 evidently not wishing to join in the conversation, was looking over
75954 the papers his father had brought from town. The old prince went up to
75955 him and began to talk business.
75956
75957 "The marshal, a Count Rostov, hasn't sent half his contingent. He
75958 came to town and wanted to invite me to dinner--I gave him a pretty
75959 dinner!... And there, look at this.... Well, my boy," the old prince
75960 went on, addressing his son and patting Pierre on the shoulder. "A
75961 fine fellow--your friend--I like him! He stirs me up. Another says
75962 clever things and one doesn't care to listen, but this one talks
75963 rubbish yet stirs an old fellow up. Well, go! Get along! Perhaps
75964 I'll come and sit with you at supper. We'll have another dispute. Make
75965 friends with my little fool, Princess Mary," he shouted after
75966 Pierre, through the door.
75967
75968 Only now, on his visit to Bald Hills, did Pierre fully realize the
75969 strength and charm of his friendship with Prince Andrew. That charm
75970 was not expressed so much in his relations with him as with all his
75971 family and with the household. With the stern old prince and the
75972 gentle, timid Princess Mary, though he had scarcely known them, Pierre
75973 at once felt like an old friend. They were all fond of him already.
75974 Not only Princess Mary, who had been won by his gentleness with the
75975 pilgrims, gave him her most radiant looks, but even the one-year-old
75976 "Prince Nicholas" (as his grandfather called him) smiled at Pierre and
75977 let himself be taken in his arms, and Michael Ivanovich and
75978 Mademoiselle Bourienne looked at him with pleasant smiles when he
75979 talked to the old prince.
75980
75981 The old prince came in to supper; this was evidently on Pierre's
75982 account. And during the two days of the young man's visit he was
75983 extremely kind to him and told him to visit them again.
75984
75985 When Pierre had gone and the members of the household met
75986 together, they began to express their opinions of him as people always
75987 do after a new acquaintance has left, but as seldom happens, no one
75988 said anything but what was good of him.
75989
75990
75991
75992
75993
75994 CHAPTER XV
75995
75996
75997 When returning from his leave, Rostov felt, for the first time,
75998 how close was the bond that united him to Denisov and and the whole
75999 regiment.
76000
76001 On approaching it, Rostov felt as he had done when approaching his
76002 home in Moscow. When he saw the first hussar with the unbuttoned
76003 uniform of his regiment, when he recognized red-haired Dementyev and
76004 saw the picket ropes of the roan horses, when Lavrushka gleefully
76005 shouted to his master, "The count has come!" and Denisov, who had been
76006 asleep on his bed, ran all disheveled out of the mud hut to embrace
76007 him, and the officers collected round to greet the new arrival, Rostov
76008 experienced the same feeling his mother, his father, and his sister
76009 had embraced him, and tears of joy choked him so that he could not
76010 speak. The regiment was also a home, and as unalterably dear and
76011 precious as his parents' house.
76012
76013 When he had reported himself to the commander of the regiment and
76014 had been reassigned to his former squadron, had been on duty and had
76015 gone out foraging, when he had again entered into all the little
76016 interests of the regiment and felt himself deprived of liberty and
76017 bound in one narrow, unchanging frame, he experienced the same sense
76018 of peace, of moral support, and the same sense being at home here in
76019 his own place, as he had felt under the parental roof. But here was
76020 none of all that turmoil of the world at large, where he did not
76021 know his right place and took mistaken decisions; here was no Sonya
76022 with whom he ought, or ought not, to have an explanation; here was
76023 no possibility of going there or not going there; here there were
76024 not twenty-four hours in the day which could be spent in such a
76025 variety of ways; there was not that innumerable crowd of people of
76026 whom not one was nearer to him or farther from him than another; there
76027 were none of those uncertain and undefined money relations with his
76028 father, and nothing to recall that terrible loss to Dolokhov. Here, in
76029 the regiment, all was clear and simple. The whole world was divided
76030 into two unequal parts: one, our Pavlograd regiment; the other, all
76031 the rest. And the rest was no concern of his. In the regiment,
76032 everything was definite: who was lieutenant, who captain, who was a
76033 good fellow, who a bad one, and most of all, who was a comrade. The
76034 canteenkeeper gave one credit, one's pay came every four months, there
76035 was nothing to think out or decide, you had only to do nothing that
76036 was considered bad in the Pavlograd regiment and, when given an order,
76037 to do what was clearly, distinctly, and definitely ordered--and all
76038 would be well.
76039
76040 Having once more entered into the definite conditions of this
76041 regimental life, Rostov felt the joy and relief a tired man feels on
76042 lying down to rest. Life in the regiment, during this campaign, was
76043 all the pleasanter for him, because, after his loss to Dolokhov (for
76044 which, in spite of all his family's efforts to console him, he could
76045 not forgive himself), he had made up his mind to atone for his fault
76046 by serving, not as he had done before, but really well, and by being a
76047 perfectly first-rate comrade and officer--in a word, a splendid man
76048 altogether, a thing which seemed so difficult out in the world, but so
76049 possible in the regiment.
76050
76051 After his losses, he had determined to pay back his debt to his
76052 parents in five years. He received ten thousand rubles a year, but now
76053 resolved to take only two thousand and leave the rest to repay the
76054 debt to his parents.
76055
76056 Our army, after repeated retreats and advances and battles at
76057 Pultusk and Preussisch-Eylau, was concentrated near Bartenstein. It
76058 was awaiting the Emperor's arrival and the beginning of a new
76059 campaign.
76060
76061 The Pavlograd regiment, belonging to that part of the army which had
76062 served in the 1805 campaign, had been recruiting up to strength in
76063 Russia, and arrived too late to take part in the first actions of
76064 the campaign. It had been neither at Pultusk nor at Preussisch-Eylau
76065 and, when it joined the army in the field in the second half of the
76066 campaign, was attached to Platov's division.
76067
76068 Platov's division was acting independently of the main army. Several
76069 times parts of the Pavlograd regiment had exchanged shots with the
76070 enemy, had taken prisoners, and once had even captured Marshal
76071 Oudinot's carriages. In April the Pavlograds were stationed
76072 immovably for some weeks near a totally ruined and deserted German
76073 village.
76074
76075 A thaw had set in, it was muddy and cold, the ice on the river
76076 broke, and the roads became impassable. For days neither provisions
76077 for the men nor fodder for the horses had been issued. As no
76078 transports could arrive, the men dispersed about the abandoned and
76079 deserted villages, searching for potatoes, but found few even of
76080 these.
76081
76082 Everything had been eaten up and the inhabitants had all fled--if
76083 any remained, they were worse than beggars and nothing more could be
76084 taken from them; even the soldiers, usually pitiless enough, instead
76085 of taking anything from them, often gave them the last of their
76086 rations.
76087
76088 The Pavlograd regiment had had only two men wounded in action, but
76089 had lost nearly half its men from hunger and sickness. In the
76090 hospitals, death was so certain that soldiers suffering from fever, or
76091 the swelling that came from bad food, preferred to remain on duty, and
76092 hardly able to drag their legs went to the front rather than to the
76093 hospitals. When spring came on, the soldiers found a plant just
76094 showing out of the ground that looked like asparagus, which, for
76095 some reason, they called "Mashka's sweet root." It was very bitter,
76096 but they wandered about the fields seeking it and dug it out with
76097 their sabers and ate it, though they were ordered not to do so, as
76098 it was a noxious plant. That spring a new disease broke
76099 out among the soldiers, a swelling of the arms, legs, and face,
76100 which the doctors attributed to eating this root. But in spite of
76101 all this, the soldiers of Denisov's squadron fed chiefly on
76102 "Mashka's sweet root," because it was the second week that the last of
76103 the biscuits were being doled out at the rate of half a pound a man
76104 and the last potatoes received had sprouted and frozen.
76105
76106 The horses also had been fed for a fortnight on straw from the
76107 thatched roofs and had become terribly thin, though still covered with
76108 tufts of felty winter hair.
76109
76110 Despite this destitution, the soldiers and officers went on living
76111 just as usual. Despite their pale swollen faces and tattered uniforms,
76112 the hussars formed line for roll call, kept things in order, groomed
76113 their horses, polished their arms, brought in straw from the
76114 thatched roofs in place of fodder, and sat down to dine round the
76115 caldrons from which they rose up hungry, joking about their nasty food
76116 and their hunger. As usual, in their spare time, they lit bonfires,
76117 steamed themselves before them naked; smoked, picked out and baked
76118 sprouting rotten potatoes, told and listened to stories of
76119 Potemkin's and Suvorov's campaigns, or to legends of Alesha the Sly,
76120 or the priest's laborer Mikolka.
76121
76122 The officers, as usual, lived in twos and threes in the roofless,
76123 half-ruined houses. The seniors tried to collect straw and potatoes
76124 and, in general, food for the men. The younger ones occupied
76125 themselves as before, some playing cards (there was plenty of money,
76126 though there was no food), some with more innocent games, such as
76127 quoits and skittles. The general trend of the campaign was rarely
76128 spoken of, partly because nothing certain was known about it, partly
76129 because there was a vague feeling that in the main it was going badly.
76130
76131 Rostov lived, as before, with Denisov, and since their furlough they
76132 had become more friendly than ever. Denisov never spoke of Rostov's
76133 family, but by the tender friendship his commander showed him,
76134 Rostov felt that the elder hussar's luckless love for Natasha played a
76135 part in strengthening their friendship. Denisov evidently tried to
76136 expose Rostov to danger as seldom as possible, and after an action
76137 greeted his safe return with evident joy. On one of his foraging
76138 expeditions, in a deserted and ruined village to which he had come
76139 in search of provisions, Rostov found a family consisting of an old
76140 Pole and his daughter with an infant in arms. They were half clad,
76141 hungry, too weak to get away on foot and had no means of obtaining a
76142 conveyance. Rostov brought them to his quarters, placed them in his
76143 own lodging, and kept them for some weeks while the old man was
76144 recovering. One of his comrades, talking of women, began chaffing
76145 Rostov, saying that he was more wily than any of them and that it
76146 would not be a bad thing if he introduced to them the pretty Polish
76147 girl he had saved. Rostov took the joke as an insult, flared up, and
76148 said such unpleasant things to the officer that it was all Denisov
76149 could do to prevent a duel. When the officer had gone away, Denisov,
76150 who did not himself know what Rostov's relations with the Polish
76151 girl might be, began to upbraid him for his quickness of temper, and
76152 Rostov replied:
76153
76154 "Say what you like.... She is like a sister to me, and I can't
76155 tell you how it offended me... because... well, for that reason...."
76156
76157 Denisov patted him on the shoulder and began rapidly pacing the room
76158 without looking at Rostov, as was his way at moments of deep feeling.
76159
76160 "Ah, what a mad bweed you Wostovs are!" he muttered, and Rostov
76161 noticed tears in his eyes.
76162
76163
76164
76165
76166
76167 CHAPTER XVI
76168
76169
76170 In April the troops were enlivened by news of the Emperor's arrival,
76171 but Rostov had no chance of being present at the review he held at
76172 Bartenstein, as the Pavlograds were at the outposts far beyond that
76173 place.
76174
76175 They were bivouacking. Denisov and Rostov were living in an earth
76176 hut, dug out for them by the soldiers and roofed with branches and
76177 turf. The hut was made in the following manner, which had then come
76178 into vogue. A trench was dug three and a half feet wide, four feet
76179 eight inches deep, and eight feet long. At one end of the trench,
76180 steps were cut out and these formed the entrance and vestibule. The
76181 trench itself was the room, in which the lucky ones, such as the
76182 squadron commander, had a board, lying on piles at the end opposite
76183 the entrance, to serve as a table. On each side of the trench, the
76184 earth was cut out to a breadth of about two and a half feet, and
76185 this did duty for bedsteads and couches. The roof was so constructed
76186 that one could stand up in the middle of the trench and could even sit
76187 up on the beds if one drew close to the table. Denisov, who was living
76188 luxuriously because the soldiers of his squadron liked him, had also a
76189 board in the roof at the farther end, with a piece of (broken but
76190 mended) glass in it for a window. When it was very cold, embers from
76191 the soldiers' campfire were placed on a bent sheet of iron on the
76192 steps in the "reception room"--as Denisov called that part of the hut-
76193 and it was then so warm that the officers, of whom there were always
76194 some with Denisov and Rostov, sat in their shirt sleeves.
76195
76196 In April, Rostov was on orderly duty. One morning, between seven and
76197 eight, returning after a sleepless night, he sent for embers,
76198 changed his rain-soaked underclothes, said his prayers, drank tea, got
76199 warm, then tidied up the things on the table and in his own corner,
76200 and, his face glowing from exposure to the wind and with nothing on
76201 but his shirt, lay down on his back, putting his arms under his
76202 head. He was pleasantly considering the probability of being
76203 promoted in a few days for his last reconnoitering expedition, and
76204 was awaiting Denisov, who had gone out somewhere and with whom he
76205 wanted a talk.
76206
76207 Suddenly he heard Denisov shouting in a vibrating voice behind the
76208 hut, evidently much excited. Rostov moved to the window to see whom he
76209 was speaking to, and saw the quartermaster, Topcheenko.
76210
76211 "I ordered you not to let them eat that Mashka woot stuff!" Denisov
76212 was shouting. "And I saw with my own eyes how Lazarchuk bwought some
76213 fwom the fields."
76214
76215 "I have given the order again and again, your honor, but they
76216 don't obey," answered the quartermaster.
76217
76218 Rostov lay down again on his bed and thought complacently: "Let
76219 him fuss and bustle now, my job's done and I'm lying down--capitally!"
76220 He could hear that Lavrushka--that sly, bold orderly of Denisov's--was
76221 talking, as well as the quartermaster. Lavrushka was saying
76222 something about loaded wagons, biscuits, and oxen he had seen when
76223 he had gone out for provisions.
76224
76225 Then Denisov's voice was heard shouting farther and farther away.
76226 "Saddle! Second platoon!"
76227
76228 "Where are they off to now?" thought Rostov.
76229
76230 Five minutes later, Denisov came into the hut, climbed with muddy
76231 boots on the bed, lit his pipe, furiously scattered his things
76232 about, took his leaded whip, buckled on his saber, and went out again.
76233 In answer to Rostov's inquiry where he was going, he answered
76234 vaguely and crossly that he had some business.
76235
76236 "Let God and our gweat monarch judge me afterwards!" said Denisov
76237 going out, and Rostov heard the hoofs of several horses splashing
76238 through the mud. He did not even trouble to find out where Denisov had
76239 gone. Having got warm in his corner, he fell asleep and did not
76240 leave the hut till toward evening. Denisov had not yet returned. The
76241 weather had cleared up, and near the next hut two officers and a cadet
76242 were playing svayka, laughing as they threw their missiles which
76243 buried themselves in the soft mud. Rostov joined them. In the middle
76244 of the game, the officers saw some wagons approaching with fifteen
76245 hussars on their skinny horses behind them. The wagons escorted by the
76246 hussars drew up to the picket ropes and a crowd of hussars
76247 surrounded them.
76248
76249 "There now, Denisov has been worrying," said Rostov, "and here are
76250 the provisions."
76251
76252 "So they are!" said the officers. "Won't the soldiers be glad!"
76253
76254 A little behind the hussars came Denisov, accompanied by two
76255 infantry officers with whom he was talking.
76256
76257 Rostov went to meet them.
76258
76259 "I warn you, Captain," one of the officers, a short thin man,
76260
76261 evidently very angry, was saying.
76262
76263 "Haven't I told you I won't give them up?" replied Denisov.
76264
76265 "You will answer for it, Captain. It is mutiny--seizing the
76266 transport of one's own army. Our men have had nothing to eat for two
76267 days."
76268
76269 "And mine have had nothing for two weeks," said Denisov.
76270
76271 "It is robbery! You'll answer for it, sir!" said the infantry
76272 officer, raising his voice.
76273
76274 "Now, what are you pestewing me for?" cried Denisov, suddenly losing
76275 his temper. "I shall answer for it and not you, and you'd better not
76276 buzz about here till you get hurt. Be off! Go!" he shouted at the
76277 officers.
76278
76279 "Very well, then!" shouted the little officer, undaunted and not
76280 riding away. "If you are determined to rob, I'll..."
76281
76282 "Go to the devil! quick ma'ch, while you're safe and sound!" and
76283 Denisov turned his horse on the officer.
76284
76285 "Very well, very well!" muttered the officer, threateningly, and
76286 turning his horse he trotted away, jolting in his saddle.
76287
76288 "A dog astwide a fence! A weal dog astwide a fence!" shouted Denisov
76289 after him (the most insulting expression a cavalryman can address to a
76290 mounted infantryman) and riding up to Rostov, he burst out laughing.
76291
76292 "I've taken twansports from the infantwy by force!" he said.
76293 "After all, can't let our men starve."
76294
76295 The wagons that had reached the hussars had been consigned to an
76296 infantry regiment, but learning from Lavrushka that the transport
76297 was unescorted, Denisov with his hussars had seized it by force. The
76298 soldiers had biscuits dealt out to them freely, and they even shared
76299 them with the other squadrons.
76300
76301 The next day the regimental commander sent for Denisov, and
76302 holding his fingers spread out before his eyes said:
76303
76304 "This is how I look at this affair: I know nothing about it and
76305 won't begin proceedings, but I advise you to ride over to the staff
76306 and settle the business there in the commissariat department and if
76307 possible sign a receipt for such and such stores received. If not,
76308 as the demand was booked against an infantry regiment, there will be a
76309 row and the affair may end badly."
76310
76311 From the regimental commander's, Denisov rode straight to the
76312 staff with a sincere desire to act on this advice. In the evening he
76313 came back to his dugout in a state such as Rostov had never yet seen
76314 him in. Denisov could not speak and gasped for breath. When Rostov
76315 asked what was the matter, he only uttered some incoherent oaths and
76316 threats in a hoarse, feeble voice.
76317
76318 Alarmed at Denisov's condition, Rostov suggested that he should
76319 undress, drink some water, and send for the doctor.
76320
76321 "Twy me for wobbewy... oh! Some more water... Let them twy me, but
76322 I'll always thwash scoundwels... and I'll tell the Empewo'...
76323 Ice..." he muttered.
76324
76325 The regimental doctor, when he came, said it was absolutely
76326 necessary to bleed Denisov. A deep saucer of black blood was taken
76327 from his hairy arm and only then was he able to relate what had
76328 happened to him.
76329
76330 "I get there," began Denisov. "'Now then, where's your chief's
76331 quarters?' They were pointed out. 'Please to wait.' 'I've widden
76332 twenty miles and have duties to attend to and no time to wait.
76333 Announce me.' Vewy well, so out comes their head chief--also took it
76334 into his head to lecture me: 'It's wobbewy!'--'Wobbewy,' I say, 'is
76335 not done by man who seizes pwovisions to feed his soldiers, but by him
76336 who takes them to fill his own pockets!' 'Will you please be
76337 silent?' 'Vewy good!' Then he says: 'Go and give a weceipt to the
76338 commissioner, but your affair will be passed on to headquarters.' I go
76339 to the commissioner. I enter, and at the table... who do you think?
76340 No, but wait a bit!... Who is it that's starving us?" shouted Denisov,
76341 hitting the table with the fist of his newly bled arm so violently
76342 that the table nearly broke down and the tumblers on it jumped
76343 about. "Telyanin! 'What? So it's you who's starving us to death! Is
76344 it? Take this and this!' and I hit him so pat, stwaight on his
76345 snout... 'Ah, what a... what...!' and I sta'ted fwashing him...
76346 Well, I've had a bit of fun I can tell you!" cried Denisov, gleeful
76347 and yet angry, his showing under his black mustache. "I'd have
76348 killed him if they hadn't taken him away!"
76349
76350 "But what are you shouting for? Calm yourself," said Rostov. "You've
76351 set your arm bleeding afresh. Wait, we must tie it up again."
76352
76353 Denisov was bandaged up again and put to bed. Next day he woke
76354 calm and cheerful.
76355
76356 But at noon the adjutant of the regiment came into Rostov's and
76357 Denisov's dugout with a grave and serious face and regretfully
76358 showed them a paper addressed to Major Denisov from the regimental
76359 commander in which inquiries were made about yesterday's occurrence.
76360 The adjutant told them that the affair was likely to take a very bad
76361 turn: that a court-martial had been appointed, and that in view of the
76362 severity with which marauding and insubordination were now regarded,
76363 degradation to the ranks would be the best that could be hoped for.
76364
76365 The case, as represented by the offended parties, was that, after
76366 seizing the transports, Major Denisov, being drunk, went to the
76367 chief quartermaster and without any provocation called him a thief,
76368 threatened to strike him, and on being led out had rushed into the
76369 office and given two officials a thrashing, and dislocated the arm
76370 of one of them.
76371
76372 In answer to Rostov's renewed questions, Denisov said, laughing,
76373 that he thought he remembered that some other fellow had got mixed
76374 up in it, but that it was all nonsense and rubbish, and he did not
76375 in the least fear any kind of trial, and that if those scoundrels
76376 dared attack him he would give them an answer that they would not
76377 easily forget.
76378
76379 Denisov spoke contemptuously of the whole matter, but Rostov knew
76380 him too well not to detect that (while hiding it from others) at heart
76381 he feared a court-martial and was worried over the affair, which was
76382 evidently taking a bad turn. Every day, letters of inquiry and notices
76383 from the court arrived, and on the first of May, Denisov was ordered
76384 to hand the squadron over to the next in seniority and appear before
76385 the staff of his division to explain his violence at the
76386 commissariat office. On the previous day Platov reconnoitered with two
76387 Cossack regiments and two squadrons of hussars. Denisov, as was his
76388 wont, rode out in front of the outposts, parading his courage. A
76389 bullet fired by a French sharpshooter hit him in the fleshy part of
76390 his leg. Perhaps at another time Denisov would not have left the
76391 regiment for so slight a wound, but now he took advantage of it to
76392 excuse himself from appearing at the staff and went into hospital.
76393
76394
76395
76396
76397
76398 CHAPTER XVII
76399
76400
76401 In June the battle of Friedland was fought, in which the
76402 Pavlograds did not take part, and after that an armistice was
76403 proclaimed. Rostov, who felt his friend's absence very much, having no
76404 news of him since he left and feeling very anxious about his wound and
76405 the progress of his affairs, took advantage of the armistice to get
76406 leave to visit Denisov in hospital.
76407
76408 The hospital was in a small Prussian town that had been twice
76409 devastated by Russian and French troops. Because it was summer, when
76410 it is so beautiful out in the fields, the little town presented a
76411 particularly dismal appearance with its broken roofs and fences, its
76412 foul streets, tattered inhabitants, and the sick and drunken
76413 soldiers wandering about.
76414
76415 The hospital was in a brick building with some of the window
76416 frames and panes broken and a courtyard surrounded by the remains of a
76417 wooden fence that had been pulled to pieces. Several bandaged
76418 soldiers, with pale swollen faces, were sitting or walking about in
76419 the sunshine in the yard.
76420
76421 Directly Rostov entered the door he was enveloped by a smell of
76422 putrefaction and hospital air. On the stairs he met a Russian army
76423 doctor smoking a cigar. The doctor was followed by a Russian
76424 assistant.
76425
76426 "I can't tear myself to pieces," the doctor was saying. "Come to
76427 Makar Alexeevich in the evening. I shall be there."
76428
76429 The assistant asked some further questions.
76430
76431 "Oh, do the best you can! Isn't it all the same?" The doctor noticed
76432 Rostov coming upstairs.
76433
76434 "What do you want, sir?" said the doctor. "What do you want? The
76435 bullets having spared you, do you want to try typhus? This is a
76436 pesthouse, sir."
76437
76438 "How so?" asked Rostov.
76439
76440 "Typhus, sir. It's death to go in. Only we two, Makeev and I" (he
76441 pointed to the assistant), "keep on here. Some five of us doctors have
76442 died in this place.... When a new one comes he is done for in a week,"
76443 said the doctor with evident satisfaction. "Prussian doctors have been
76444 invited here, but our allies don't like it at all."
76445
76446 Rostov explained that he wanted to see Major Denisov of the hussars,
76447 who was wounded.
76448
76449 "I don't know. I can't tell you, sir. Only think! I am alone in
76450 charge of three hospitals with more than four hundred patients! It's
76451 well that the charitable Prussian ladies send us two pounds of
76452 coffee and some lint each month or we should be lost!" he laughed.
76453 "Four hundred, sir, and they're always sending me fresh ones. There
76454 are four hundred? Eh?" he asked, turning to the assistant.
76455
76456 The assistant looked fagged out. He was evidently vexed and
76457 impatient for the talkative doctor to go.
76458
76459 "Major Denisov," Rostov said again. "He was wounded at Molliten."
76460
76461 "Dead, I fancy. Eh, Makeev?" queried the doctor, in a tone of
76462 indifference.
76463
76464 The assistant, however, did not confirm the doctor's words.
76465
76466 "Is he tall and with reddish hair?" asked the doctor.
76467
76468 Rostov described Denisov's appearance.
76469
76470 "There was one like that," said the doctor, as if pleased. "That one
76471 is dead, I fancy. However, I'll look up our list. We had a list.
76472 Have you got it, Makeev?"
76473
76474 "Makar Alexeevich has the list," answered the assistant. "But if
76475 you'll step into the officers' wards you'll see for yourself," he
76476 added, turning to Rostov.
76477
76478 "Ah, you'd better not go, sir," said the doctor, "or you may have to
76479 stay here yourself."
76480
76481 But Rostov bowed himself away from the doctor and asked the
76482 assistant to show him the way.
76483
76484 "Only don't blame me!" the doctor shouted up after him.
76485
76486 Rostov and the assistant went into the dark corridor. The smell
76487 was so strong there that Rostov held his nose and had to pause and
76488 collect his strength before he could go on. A door opened to the
76489 right, and an emaciated sallow man on crutches, barefoot and in
76490 underclothing, limped out and, leaning against the doorpost, looked
76491 with glittering envious eyes at those who were passing. Glancing in at
76492 the door, Rostov saw that the sick and wounded were lying on the floor
76493 on straw and overcoats.
76494
76495 "May I go in and look?"
76496
76497 "What is there to see?" said the assistant.
76498
76499 But, just because the assistant evidently did not want him to go in,
76500 Rostov entered the soldiers' ward. The foul air, to which he had
76501 already begun to get used in the corridor, was still stronger here. It
76502 was a little different, more pungent, and one felt that this was where
76503 it originated.
76504
76505 In the long room, brightly lit up by the sun through the large
76506 windows, the sick and wounded lay in two rows with their heads to
76507 the walls, and leaving a passage in the middle. Most of them were
76508 unconscious and paid no attention to the newcomers. Those who were
76509 conscious raised themselves or lifted their thin yellow faces, and all
76510 looked intently at Rostov with the same expression of hope, of relief,
76511 reproach, and envy of another's health. Rostov went to the middle of
76512 the room and looking through the open doors into the two adjoining
76513 rooms saw the same thing there. He stood still, looking silently
76514 around. He had not at all expected such a sight. Just before him,
76515 almost across the middle of the passage on the bare floor, lay a
76516 sick man, probably a Cossack to judge by the cut of his hair. The
76517 man lay on his back, his huge arms and legs outstretched. His face was
76518 purple, his eyes were rolled back so that only the whites were seen,
76519 and on his bare legs and arms which were still red, the veins stood
76520 out like cords. He was knocking the back of his head against the
76521 floor, hoarsely uttering some word which he kept repeating. Rostov
76522 listened and made out the word. It was "drink, drink, a drink!" Rostov
76523 glanced round, looking for someone who would put this man back in
76524 his place and bring him water.
76525
76526 "Who looks after the sick here?" he asked the assistant.
76527
76528 Just then a commissariat soldier, a hospital orderly, came in from
76529 the next room, marching stiffly, and drew up in front of Rostov.
76530
76531 "Good day, your honor!" he shouted, rolling his eyes at Rostov and
76532 evidently mistaking him for one of the hospital authorities.
76533
76534 "Get him to his place and give him some water," said Rostov,
76535 pointing to the Cossack.
76536
76537 "Yes, your honor," the soldier replied complacently, and rolling his
76538 eyes more than ever he drew himself up still straighter, but did not
76539 move.
76540
76541 "No, it's impossible to do anything here," thought Rostov,
76542 lowering his eyes, and he was going out, but became aware of an
76543 intense look fixed on him on his right, and he turned. Close to the
76544 corner, on an overcoat, sat an old, unshaven, gray-bearded soldier
76545 as thin as a skeleton, with a stern sallow face and eyes intently
76546 fixed on Rostov. The man's neighbor on one side whispered something to
76547 him, pointing at Rostov, who noticed that the old man wanted to
76548 speak to him. He drew nearer and saw that the old man had only one leg
76549 bent under him, the other had been amputated above the knee. His
76550 neighbor on the other side, who lay motionless some distance from
76551 him with his head thrown back, was a young soldier with a snub nose.
76552 His pale waxen face was still freckled and his eyes were rolled
76553 back. Rostov looked at the young soldier and a cold chill ran down his
76554 back.
76555
76556 "Why, this one seems..." he began, turning to the assistant.
76557
76558 "And how we've been begging, your honor," said the old soldier,
76559 his jaw quivering. "He's been dead since morning. After all we're men,
76560 not dogs."
76561
76562 "I'll send someone at once. He shall be taken away--taken away at
76563 once," said the assistant hurriedly. "Let us go, your honor."
76564
76565 "Yes, yes, let us go," said Rostov hastily, and lowering his eyes
76566 and shrinking, he tried to pass unnoticed between the rows of
76567 reproachful envious eyes that were fixed upon him, and went out of the
76568 room.
76569
76570
76571
76572
76573
76574 CHAPTER XVIII
76575
76576
76577 Going along the corridor, the assistant led Rostov to the
76578 officers' wards, consisting of three rooms, the doors of which stood
76579 open. There were beds in these rooms and the sick and wounded officers
76580 were lying or sitting on them. Some were walking about the rooms in
76581 hospital dressing gowns. The first person Rostov met in the
76582 officers' ward was a thin little man with one arm, who was walking
76583 about the first room in a nightcap and hospital dressing gown, with
76584 a pipe between his teeth. Rostov looked at him, trying to remember
76585 where he had seen him before.
76586
76587 "See where we've met again!" said the little man. "Tushin, Tushin,
76588 don't you remember, who gave you a lift at Schon Grabern? And I've had
76589 a bit cut off, you see..." he went on with a smile, pointing to the
76590 empty sleeve of his dressing gown. "Looking for Vasili Dmitrich
76591 Denisov? My neighbor," he added, when he heard who Rostov wanted.
76592 "Here, here," and Tushin led him into the next room, from whence
76593 came sounds of several laughing voices.
76594
76595 "How can they laugh, or even live at all here?" thought Rostov,
76596 still aware of that smell of decomposing flesh that had been so strong
76597 in the soldiers' ward, and still seeming to see fixed on him those
76598 envious looks which had followed him out from both sides, and the face
76599 of that young soldier with eyes rolled back.
76600
76601 Denisov lay asleep on his bed with his head under the blanket,
76602 though it was nearly noon.
76603
76604 "Ah, Wostov? How are you, how are you?" he called out, still in
76605 the same voice as in the regiment, but Rostov noticed sadly that under
76606 this habitual ease and animation some new, sinister, hidden feeling
76607 showed itself in the expression of Denisov's face and the
76608 intonations of his voice.
76609
76610 His wound, though a slight one, had not yet healed even now, six
76611 weeks after he had been hit. His face had the same swollen pallor as
76612 the faces of the other hospital patients, but it was not this that
76613 struck Rostov. What struck him was that Denisov did not seem glad to
76614 see him, and smiled at him unnaturally. He did not ask about the
76615 regiment, nor about the general state of affairs, and when Rostov
76616 spoke of these matters did not listen.
76617
76618 Rostov even noticed that Denisov did not like to be reminded of
76619 the regiment, or in general of that other free life which was going on
76620 outside the hospital. He seemed to try to forget that old life and was
76621 only interested in the affair with the commissariat officers. On
76622 Rostov's inquiry as to how the matter stood, he at once produced
76623 from under his pillow a paper he had received from the commission
76624 and the rough draft of his answer to it. He became animated when he
76625 began reading his paper and specially drew Rostov's attention to the
76626 stinging rejoinders he made to his enemies. His hospital companions,
76627 who had gathered round Rostov--a fresh arrival from the world outside-
76628 gradually began to disperse as soon as Denisov began reading his
76629 answer. Rostov noticed by their faces that all those gentlemen had
76630 already heard that story more than once and were tired of it. Only the
76631 man who had the next bed, a stout Uhlan, continued to sit on his
76632 bed, gloomily frowning and smoking a pipe, and little one-armed Tushin
76633 still listened, shaking his head disapprovingly. In the middle of
76634 the reading, the Uhlan interrupted Denisov.
76635
76636 "But what I say is," he said, turning to Rostov, "it would be best
76637 simply to petition the Emperor for pardon. They say great rewards will
76638 now be distributed, and surely a pardon would be granted...."
76639
76640 "Me petition the Empewo'!" exclaimed Denisov, in a voice to which he
76641 tried hard to give the old energy and fire, but which sounded like
76642 an expression of irritable impotence. "What for? If I were a wobber
76643 I would ask mercy, but I'm being court-martialed for bwinging
76644 wobbers to book. Let them twy me, I'm not afwaid of anyone. I've
76645 served the Tsar and my countwy honowably and have not stolen! And am I
76646 to be degwaded?... Listen, I'm w'iting to them stwaight. This is
76647 what I say: 'If I had wobbed the Tweasuwy...'"
76648
76649 "It's certainly well written," said Tushin, "but that's not the
76650 point, Vasili Dmitrich," and he also turned to Rostov. "One has to
76651 submit, and Vasili Dmitrich doesn't want to. You know the auditor told
76652 you it was a bad business."
76653
76654 "Well, let it be bad," said Denisov.
76655
76656 "The auditor wrote out a petition for you," continued Tushin, "and
76657 you ought to sign it and ask this gentleman to take it. No doubt he"
76658 (indicating Rostov) "has connections on the staff. You won't find a
76659 better opportunity."
76660
76661 "Haven't I said I'm not going to gwovel?" Denisov interrupted him,
76662 went on reading his paper.
76663
76664 Rostov had not the courage to persuade Denisov, though he
76665 instinctively felt that the way advised by Tushin and the other
76666 officers was the safest, and though he would have been glad to be of
76667 service to Denisov. He knew his stubborn will and straightforward
76668 hasty temper.
76669
76670 When the reading of Denisov's virulent reply, which took more than
76671 an hour, was over, Rostov said nothing, and he spent the rest of the
76672 day in a most dejected state of mind amid Denisov's hospital comrades,
76673 who had round him, telling them what he knew and listening to their
76674 stories. Denisov was moodily silent all the evening.
76675
76676 Late in the evening, when Rostov was about to leave, he asked
76677 Denisov whether he had no commission for him.
76678
76679 "Yes, wait a bit," said Denisov, glancing round at the officers, and
76680 taking his papers from under his pillow he went to the window, where
76681 he had an inkpot, and sat down to write.
76682
76683 "It seems it's no use knocking one's head against a wall!" he
76684 said, coming from the window and giving Rostov a large envelope. In it
76685 was the petition to the Emperor drawn up by the auditor, in which
76686 Denisov, without alluding to the offenses of the commissariat
76687 officials, simply asked for pardon.
76688
76689 "Hand it in. It seems..."
76690
76691 He did not finish, but gave a painfully unnatural smile.
76692
76693
76694
76695
76696
76697 CHAPTER XIX
76698
76699
76700 Having returned to the regiment and told the commander the state
76701 of Denisov's affairs, Rostov rode to Tilsit with the letter to the
76702 Emperor.
76703
76704 On the thirteenth of June the French and Russian Emperors arrived in
76705 Tilsit. Boris Drubetskoy had asked the important personage on whom
76706 he was in attendance, to include him in the suite appointed for the
76707 stay at Tilsit.
76708
76709 "I should like to see the great man," he said, alluding to Napoleon,
76710 whom hitherto he, like everyone else, had always called Buonaparte.
76711
76712 "You are speaking of Buonaparte?" asked the general, smiling.
76713
76714
76715 Boris looked at his general inquiringly and immediately saw that
76716 he was being tested.
76717
76718 "I am speaking, Prince, of the Emperor Napoleon," he replied. The
76719 general patted him on the shoulder, with a smile.
76720
76721 "You will go far," he said, and took him to Tilsit with him.
76722
76723 Boris was among the few present at the Niemen on the day the two
76724 Emperors met. He saw the raft, decorated with monograms, saw
76725 Napoleon pass before the French Guards on the farther bank of the
76726 river, saw the pensive face of the Emperor Alexander as he sat in
76727 silence in a tavern on the bank of the Niemen awaiting Napoleon's
76728 arrival, saw both Emperors get into boats, and saw how Napoleon-
76729 reaching the raft first--stepped quickly forward to meet Alexander and
76730 held out his hand to him, and how they both retired into the pavilion.
76731 Since he had begun to move in the highest circles Boris had made it
76732 his habit to watch attentively all that went on around him and to note
76733 it down. At the time of the meeting at Tilsit he asked the names of
76734 those who had come with Napoleon and about the uniforms they wore, and
76735 listened attentively to words spoken by important personages. At the
76736 moment the Emperors went into the pavilion he looked at his watch, and
76737 did not forget to look at it again when Alexander came out. The
76738 interview had lasted an hour and fifty-three minutes. He noted this
76739 down that same evening, among other facts he felt to be of historic
76740 importance. As the Emperor's suite was a very small one, it was a
76741 matter of great importance, for a man who valued his success in the
76742 service, to be at Tilsit on the occasion of this interview between the
76743 two Emperors, and having succeeded in this, Boris felt that henceforth
76744 his position was fully assured. He had not only become known, but
76745 people had grown accustomed to him and accepted him. Twice he had
76746 executed commissions to the Emperor himself, so that the latter knew
76747 his face, and all those at court, far from cold-shouldering him as
76748 at first when they considered him a newcomer, would now have been
76749 surprised had he been absent.
76750
76751 Boris lodged with another adjutant, the Polish Count Zhilinski.
76752 Zhilinski, a Pole brought up in Paris, was rich, and passionately fond
76753 of the French, and almost every day of the stay at Tilsit, French
76754 officers of the Guard and from French headquarters were dining and
76755 lunching with him and Boris.
76756
76757 On the evening of the twenty-fourth of June, Count Zhilinski
76758 arranged a supper for his French friends. The guest of honor was an
76759 aide-de-camp of Napoleon's, there were also several French officers of
76760 the Guard, and a page of Napoleon's, a young lad of an old
76761 aristocratic French family. That same day, Rostov, profiting by the
76762 darkness to avoid being recognized in civilian dress, came to Tilsit
76763 and went to the lodging occupied by Boris and Zhilinski.
76764
76765 Rostov, in common with the whole army from which he came, was far
76766 from having experienced the change of feeling toward Napoleon and
76767 the French--who from being foes had suddenly become friends--that
76768 had taken place at headquarters and in Boris. In the army, Bonaparte
76769 and the French were still regarded with mingled feelings of anger,
76770 contempt, and fear. Only recently, talking with one of Platov's
76771 Cossack officers, Rostov had argued that if Napoleon were taken
76772 prisoner he would be treated not as a sovereign, but as a criminal.
76773 Quite lately, happening to meet a wounded French colonel on the
76774 road, Rostov had maintained with heat that peace was impossible
76775 between a legitimate sovereign and the criminal Bonaparte. Rostov
76776 was therefore unpleasantly struck by the presence of French officers
76777 in Boris' lodging, dressed in uniforms he had been accustomed to see
76778 from quite a different point of view from the outposts of the flank.
76779 As soon as he noticed a French officer, who thrust his head out of the
76780 door, that warlike feeling of hostility which he always experienced at
76781 the sight of the enemy suddenly seized him. He stopped at the
76782 threshold and asked in Russian whether Drubetskoy lived there.
76783 Boris, hearing a strange voice in the anteroom, came out to meet
76784 him. An expression of annoyance showed itself for a moment on his face
76785 on first recognizing Rostov.
76786
76787 "Ah, it's you? Very glad, very glad to see you," he said, however,
76788 coming toward him with a smile. But Rostov had noticed his first
76789 impulse.
76790
76791 "I've come at a bad time I think. I should not have come, but I have
76792 business," he said coldly.
76793
76794 "No, I only wonder how you managed to get away from your regiment.
76795 Dans un moment je suis a vous,"* he said, answering someone who called
76796 him.
76797
76798
76799 *"In a minute I shall be at your disposal."
76800
76801
76802 "I see I'm intruding," Rostov repeated.
76803
76804 The look of annoyance had already disappeared from Boris' face:
76805 having evidently reflected and decided how to act, he very quietly
76806 took both Rostov's hands and led him into the next room. His eyes,
76807 looking serenely and steadily at Rostov, seemed to be veiled by
76808 something, as if screened by blue spectacles of conventionality. So it
76809 seemed to Rostov.
76810
76811 "Oh, come now! As if you could come at a wrong time!" said Boris,
76812 and he led him into the room where the supper table was laid and
76813 introduced him to his guests, explaining that he was not a civilian,
76814 but an hussar officer, and an old friend of his.
76815
76816 "Count Zhilinski--le Comte N. N.--le Capitaine S. S.," said he,
76817 naming his guests. Rostov looked frowningly at the Frenchmen, bowed
76818 reluctantly, and remained silent.
76819
76820 Zhilinski evidently did not receive this new Russian person very
76821 willingly into his circle and did not speak to Rostov. Boris did not
76822 appear to notice the constraint the newcomer produced and, with the
76823 same pleasant composure and the same veiled look in his eyes with
76824 which he had met Rostov, tried to enliven the conversation. One of the
76825 Frenchmen, with the politeness characteristic of his countrymen,
76826 addressed the obstinately taciturn Rostov, saying that the latter
76827 had probably come to Tilsit to see the Emperor.
76828
76829 "No, I came on business," replied Rostov, briefly.
76830
76831 Rostov had been out of humor from the moment he noticed the look
76832 of dissatisfaction on Boris' face, and as always happens to those in a
76833 bad humor, it seemed to him that everyone regarded him with aversion
76834 and that he was in everybody's way. He really was in their way, for he
76835 alone took no part in the conversation which again became general. The
76836 looks the visitors cast on him seemed to say: "And what is he
76837 sitting here for?" He rose and went up to Boris.
76838
76839 "Anyhow, I'm in your way," he said in a low tone. "Come and talk
76840 over my business and I'll go away."
76841
76842 "Oh, no, not at all," said Boris. "But if you are tired, come and
76843 lie down in my room and have a rest."
76844
76845 "Yes, really..."
76846
76847 They went into the little room where Boris slept. Rostov, without
76848 sitting down, began at once, irritably (as if Boris were to blame in
76849 some way) telling him about Denisov's affair, asking him whether,
76850 through his general, he could and would intercede with the Emperor
76851 on Denisov's behalf and get Denisov's petition handed in. When he
76852 and Boris were alone, Rostov felt for the first time that he could not
76853 look Boris in the face without a sense of awkwardness. Boris, with one
76854 leg crossed over the other and stroking his left hand with the slender
76855 fingers of his right, listened to Rostov as a general listens to the
76856 report of a subordinate, now looking aside and now gazing straight
76857 into Rostov's eyes with the same veiled look. Each time this
76858 happened Rostov felt uncomfortable and cast down his eyes.
76859
76860 "I have heard of such cases and know that His Majesty is very severe
76861 in such affairs. I think it would be best not to bring it before the
76862 Emperor, but to apply to the commander of the corps.... But in
76863 general, I think..."
76864
76865 "So you don't want to do anything? Well then, say so!" Rostov almost
76866 shouted, not looking Boris in the face.
76867
76868 Boris smiled.
76869
76870 "On the contrary, I will do what I can. Only I thought..."
76871
76872 At that moment Zhilinski's voice was heard calling Boris.
76873
76874 "Well then, go, go, go..." said Rostov, and refusing supper and
76875 remaining alone in the little room, he walked up and down for a long
76876 time, hearing the lighthearted French conversation from the next room.
76877
76878
76879
76880
76881
76882 CHAPTER XX
76883
76884
76885 Rostov had come to Tilsit the day least suitable for a petition on
76886 Denisov's behalf. He could not himself go to the general in attendance
76887 as he was in mufti and had come to Tilsit without permission to do so,
76888 and Boris, even had he wished to, could not have done so on the
76889 following day. On that day, June 27, the preliminaries of peace were
76890 signed. The Emperors exchanged decorations: Alexander received the
76891 Cross of the Legion of Honor and Napoleon the Order of St. Andrew of
76892 the First Degree, and a dinner had been arranged for the evening,
76893 given by a battalion of the French Guards to the Preobrazhensk
76894 battalion. The Emperors were to be present at that banquet.
76895
76896 Rostov felt so ill at ease and uncomfortable with Boris that, when
76897 the latter looked in after supper, he pretended to be asleep, and
76898 early next morning went away, avoiding Boris. In his civilian
76899 clothes and a round hat, he wandered about the town, staring at the
76900 French and their uniforms and at the streets and houses where the
76901 Russian and French Emperors were staying. In a square he saw tables
76902 being set up and preparations made for the dinner; he saw the
76903 Russian and French colors draped from side to side of the streets,
76904 with hugh monograms A and N. In the windows of the houses also flags
76905 and bunting were displayed.
76906
76907 "Boris doesn't want to help me and I don't want to ask him. That's
76908 settled," thought Nicholas. "All is over between us, but I won't leave
76909 here without having done all I can for Denisov and certainly not
76910 without getting his letter to the Emperor. The Emperor!... He is
76911 here!" thought Rostov, who had unconsciously returned to the house
76912 where Alexander lodged.
76913
76914 Saddled horses were standing before the house and the suite were
76915 assembling, evidently preparing for the Emperor to come out.
76916
76917 "I may see him at any moment," thought Rostov. "If only I were to
76918 hand the letter direct to him and tell him all... could they really
76919 arrest me for my civilian clothes? Surely not! He would understand
76920 on whose side justice lies. He understands everything, knows
76921 everything. Who can be more just, more magnanimous than he? And even
76922 if they did arrest me for being here, what would it matter?" thought
76923 he, looking at an officer who was entering the house the Emperor
76924 occupied. "After all, people do go in.... It's all nonsense! I'll go
76925 in and hand the letter to the Emperor myself so much the worse for
76926 Drubetskoy who drives me to it!" And suddenly with a determination
76927 he himself did not expect, Rostov felt for the letter in his pocket
76928 and went straight to the house.
76929
76930 "No, I won't miss my opportunity now, as I did after Austerlitz," he
76931 thought, expecting every moment to meet the monarch, and conscious
76932 of the blood that rushed to his heart at the thought. "I will fall
76933 at his feet and beseech him. He will lift me up, will listen, and will
76934 even thank me. 'I am happy when I can do good, but to remedy injustice
76935 is the greatest happiness,'" Rostov fancied the sovereign saying.
76936 And passing people who looked after him with curiosity, he entered the
76937 porch of the Emperor's house.
76938
76939 A broad staircase led straight up from the entry, and to the right
76940 he saw a closed door. Below, under the staircase, was a door leading
76941 to the lower floor.
76942
76943 "Whom do you want?" someone inquired.
76944
76945 "To hand in a letter, a petition, to His Majesty," said Nicholas,
76946 with a tremor in his voice.
76947
76948 "A petition? This way, to the officer on duty" (he was
76949 shown the door leading downstairs), "only it won't be accepted."
76950
76951 On hearing this indifferent voice, Rostov grew frightened at what he
76952 was doing; the thought of meeting the Emperor at any moment was so
76953 fascinating and consequently so alarming that he was ready to run
76954 away, but the official who had questioned him opened the door, and
76955 Rostov entered.
76956
76957 A short stout man of about thirty, in white breeches and high
76958 boots and a batiste shirt that he had evidently only just put on,
76959 standing in that room, and his valet was buttoning on to the back of
76960 his breeches a new pair of handsome silk-embroidered braces that,
76961 for some reason, attracted Rostov's attention. This man was was
76962 speaking to someone in the adjoining room.
76963
76964 "A good figure and in her first bloom," he was saying, but on seeing
76965 Rostov, he stopped short and frowned.
76966
76967 "What is it? A petition?"
76968
76969 "What is it?" asked the person in the other room.
76970
76971 "Another petitioner," answered the man with the braces.
76972
76973 "Tell him to come later. He'll be coming out directly, we must go."
76974
76975 "Later... later! Tomorrow. It's too late..."
76976
76977 Rostov turned and was about to go, but the man in the braces stopped
76978 him.
76979
76980 "Whom have you come from? Who are you?"
76981
76982 "I come from Major Denisov," answered Rostov.
76983
76984 "Are you an officer?"
76985
76986 "Lieutenant Count Rostov."
76987
76988 "What audacity! Hand it in through your commander. And go along with
76989 you... go," and he continued to put on the uniform the valet handed
76990 him.
76991
76992 Rostov went back into the hall and noticed that in the porch there
76993 were many officers and generals in full parade uniform, whom he had to
76994 pass.
76995
76996 Cursing his temerity, his heart sinking at the thought of finding
76997 himself at any moment face to face with the Emperor and being put to
76998 shame and arrested in his presence, fully alive now to the impropriety
76999 of his conduct and repenting of it, Rostov, with downcast eyes, was
77000 making his way out of the house through the brilliant suite when a
77001 familiar voice called him and a hand detained him.
77002
77003 "What are you doing here, sir, in civilian dress?" asked a deep
77004 voice.
77005
77006 It was a cavalry general who had obtained the Emperor's special
77007 favor during this campaign, and who had formerly commanded the
77008 division in which Rostov was serving.
77009
77010 Rostov, in dismay, began justifying himself, but seeing the
77011 kindly, jocular face of the general, he took him aside and in an
77012 excited voice told him the whole affair, asking him to intercede for
77013 Denisov, whom the general knew. Having heard Rostov to the end, the
77014 general shook his head gravely.
77015
77016 "I'm sorry, sorry for that fine fellow. Give me the letter."
77017
77018 Hardly had Rostov handed him the letter and finished explaining
77019 Denisov's case, when hasty steps and the jingling of spurs were
77020 heard on the stairs, and the general, leaving him, went to the
77021 porch. The gentlemen of the Emperor's suite ran down the stairs and
77022 went to their horses. Hayne, the same groom who had been at
77023 Austerlitz, led up the Emperor's horse, and the faint creak of a
77024 footstep Rostov knew at once was heard on the stairs. Forgetting the
77025 danger of being recognized, Rostov went close to the porch, together
77026 with some inquisitive civilians, and again, after two years, saw those
77027 features he adored: that same face and same look and step, and the
77028 same union of majesty and mildness.... And the feeling of enthusiasm
77029 and love for his sovereign rose again in Rostov's soul in all its
77030 old force. In the uniform of the Preobrazhensk regiment--white
77031 chamois-leather breeches and high boots--and wearing a star Rostov did
77032 not know (it was that of the Legion d'honneur), the monarch came out
77033 into the porch, putting on his gloves and carrying his hat under his
77034 arm. He stopped and looked about him, brightening everything around by
77035 his glance. He spoke a few words to some of the generals, and,
77036 recognizing the former commander of Rostov's division, smiled and
77037 beckoned to him.
77038
77039 All the suite drew back and Rostov saw the general talking for
77040 some time to the Emperor.
77041
77042 The Emperor said a few words to him and took a step toward his
77043 horse. Again the crowd of members of the suite and street gazers
77044 (among whom was Rostov) moved nearer to the Emperor. Stopping beside
77045 his horse, with his hand on the saddle, the Emperor turned to the
77046 cavalry general and said in a loud voice, evidently wishing to be
77047 heard by all:
77048
77049 "I cannot do it, General. I cannot, because the law is stronger than
77050 I," and he raised his foot to the stirrup.
77051
77052 The general bowed his head respectfully, and the monarch mounted and
77053 rode down the street at a gallop. Beside himself with enthusiasm,
77054 Rostov ran after him with the crowd.
77055
77056
77057
77058
77059
77060 CHAPTER XXI
77061
77062
77063 The Emperor rode to the square where, facing one another, a
77064 battalion of the Preobrazhensk regiment stood on the right and a
77065 battalion of the French Guards in their bearskin caps on the left.
77066
77067 As the Tsar rode up to one flank of the battalions, which
77068 presented arms, another group of horsemen galloped up to the
77069 opposite flank, and at the head of them Rostov recognized Napoleon. It
77070 could be no one else. He came at a gallop, wearing a small hat, a blue
77071 uniform open over a white vest, and the St. Andrew ribbon over his
77072 shoulder. He was riding a very fine thoroughbred gray Arab horse
77073 with a crimson gold-embroidered saddlecloth. On approaching
77074 Alexander he raised his hat, and as he did so, Rostov, with his
77075 cavalryman's eye, could not help noticing that Napoleon did not sit
77076 well or firmly in the saddle. The battalions shouted "Hurrah!" and
77077 "Vive l'Empereur!" Napoleon said something to Alexander, and both
77078 Emperors dismounted and took each other's hands. Napoleon's face
77079 wore an unpleasant and artificial smile. Alexander was saying
77080 something affable to him.
77081
77082 In spite of the trampling of the French gendarmes' horses, which
77083 were pushing back the crowd, Rostov kept his eyes on every movement of
77084 Alexander and Bonaparte. It struck him as a surprise that Alexander
77085 treated Bonaparte as an equal and that the latter was quite at ease
77086 with the Tsar, as if such relations with an Emperor were an everyday
77087 matter to him.
77088
77089 Alexander and Napoleon, with the long train of their suites,
77090 approached the right flank of the Preobrazhensk battalion and came
77091 straight up to the crowd standing there. The crowd unexpectedly
77092 found itself so close to the Emperors that Rostov, standing in the
77093 front row, was afraid he might be recognized.
77094
77095 "Sire, I ask your permission to present the Legion of Honor to the
77096 bravest of your soldiers," said a sharp, precise voice, articulating
77097 every letter.
77098
77099 This was said by the undersized Napoleon, looking up straight into
77100 Alexander's eyes. Alexander listened attentively to what was said to
77101 him and, bending his head, smiled pleasantly.
77102
77103 "To him who has borne himself most bravely in this last war,"
77104 added Napoleon, accentuating each syllable, as with a composure and
77105 assurance exasperating to Rostov, he ran his eyes over the Russian
77106 ranks drawn up before him, who all presented arms with their eyes
77107 fixed on their Emperor.
77108
77109 "Will Your Majesty allow me to consult the colonel?" said
77110 Alexander and took a few hasty steps toward Prince Kozlovski, the
77111 commander of the battalion.
77112
77113 Bonaparte meanwhile began taking the glove off his small white hand,
77114 tore it in doing so, and threw it away. An aide-de-camp behind him
77115 rushed forward and picked it up.
77116
77117 "To whom shall it be given?" the Emperor Alexander asked
77118 Koslovski, in Russian in a low voice.
77119
77120 "To whomever Your Majesty commands."
77121
77122 The Emperor knit his brows with dissatisfaction and, glancing
77123 back, remarked:
77124
77125 "But we must give him an answer."
77126
77127 Kozlovski scanned the ranks resolutely and included Rostov in his
77128 scrutiny.
77129
77130 "Can it be me?" thought Rostov.
77131
77132 "Lazarev!" the colonel called, with a frown, and Lazarev, the
77133 first soldier in the rank, stepped briskly forward.
77134
77135 "Where are you off to? Stop here!" voices whispered to Lazarev who
77136 did not know where to go. Lazarev stopped, casting a sidelong look
77137 at his colonel in alarm. His face twitched, as often happens to
77138 soldiers called before the ranks.
77139
77140 Napoleon slightly turned his head, and put his plump little hand out
77141 behind him as if to take something. The members of his suite, guessing
77142 at once what he wanted, moved about and whispered as they passed
77143 something from one to another, and a page--the same one Rostov had
77144 seen the previous evening at Boris'--ran forward and, bowing
77145 respectfully over the outstretched hand and not keeping it waiting a
77146 moment, laid in it an Order on a red ribbon. Napoleon, without
77147 looking, pressed two fingers together and the badge was between
77148 them. Then he approached Lazarev (who rolled his eyes and persistently
77149 gazed at his own monarch), looked round at the Emperor Alexander to
77150 imply that what he was now doing was done for the sake of his ally,
77151 and the small white hand holding the Order touched one of Lazarev's
77152 buttons. It was as if Napoleon knew that it was only necessary for his
77153 hand to deign to touch that soldier's breast for the soldier to be
77154 forever happy, rewarded, and distinguished from everyone else in the
77155 world. Napoleon merely laid the cross on Lazarev's breast and,
77156 dropping his hand, turned toward Alexander as though sure that the
77157 cross would adhere there. And it really did.
77158
77159 Officious hands, Russian and French, immediately seized the cross
77160 and fastened it to the uniform. Lazarev glanced morosely at the little
77161 man with white hands who was doing something to him and, still
77162 standing motionless presenting arms, looked again straight into
77163 Alexander's eyes, as if asking whether he should stand there, or go
77164 away, or do something else. But receiving no orders, he remained for
77165 some time in that rigid position.
77166
77167 The Emperors remounted and rode away. The Preobrazhensk battalion,
77168 breaking rank, mingled with the French Guards and sat down at the
77169 tables prepared for them.
77170
77171 Lazarev sat in the place of honor. Russian and French officers
77172 embraced him, congratulated him, and pressed his hands. Crowds of
77173 officers and civilians drew near merely to see him. A rumble of
77174 Russian and French voices and laughter filled the air round the tables
77175 in the square. Two officers with flushed faces, looking cheerful and
77176 happy, passed by Rostov.
77177
77178 "What d'you think of the treat? All on silver plate," one of them
77179 was saying. "Have you seen Lazarev?"
77180
77181 "I have."
77182
77183 "Tomorrow, I hear, the Preobrazhenskis will give them a dinner."
77184
77185 "Yes, but what luck for Lazarev! Twelve hundred francs' pension
77186 for life."
77187
77188 "Here's a cap, lads!" shouted a Preobrazhensk soldier, donning a
77189 shaggy French cap.
77190
77191 "It's a fine thing! First-rate!"
77192
77193 "Have you heard the password?" asked one Guards' officer of another.
77194 "The day before yesterday it was 'Napoleon, France, bravoure';
77195 yesterday, 'Alexandre, Russie, grandeur.' One day our Emperor gives it
77196 and next day Napoleon. Tomorrow our Emperor will send a St. George's
77197 Cross to the bravest of the French Guards. It has to be done. He
77198 must respond in kind."
77199
77200 Boris, too, with his friend Zhilinski, came to see the Preobrazhensk
77201 banquet. On his way back, he noticed Rostov standing by the corner
77202 of a house.
77203
77204 "Rostov! How d'you do? We missed one another," he said, and could
77205 not refrain from asking what was the matter, so strangely dismal and
77206 troubled was Rostov's face.
77207
77208 "Nothing, nothing," replied Rostov.
77209
77210 "You'll call round?"
77211
77212 "Yes, I will."
77213
77214 Rostov stood at that corner for a long time, watching the feast from
77215 a distance. In his mind, a painful process was going on
77216 which he could not bring to a conclusion. Terrible doubts rose in
77217 his soul. Now he remembered Denisov with his changed expression, his
77218 submission, and the whole hospital, with arms and legs torn off and
77219 its dirt and disease. So vividly did he recall that hospital stench of
77220 dead flesh that he looked round to see where the smell came from. Next
77221 he thought of that self-satisfied Bonaparte, with his small white
77222 hand, who was now an Emperor, liked and respected by Alexander. Then
77223 why those severed arms and legs and those dead men?... Then again he
77224 thought of Lazarev rewarded and Denisov punished and unpardoned. He
77225 caught himself harboring such strange thoughts that he was frightened.
77226
77227 The smell of the food the Preobrazhenskis were eating and a sense of
77228 hunger recalled him from these reflections; he had to get something to
77229 eat before going away. He went to a hotel he had noticed that morning.
77230 There he found so many people, among them officers who, like
77231 himself, had come in civilian clothes, that he had difficulty in
77232 getting a dinner. Two officers of his own division joined him. The
77233 conversation naturally turned on the peace. The officers, his
77234 comrades, like most of the army, were dissatisfied with the peace
77235 concluded after the battle of Friedland. They said that had we held
77236 out a little longer Napoleon would have been done for, as his troops
77237 had neither provisions nor ammunition. Nicholas ate and drank (chiefly
77238 the latter) in silence. He finished a couple of bottles of wine by
77239 himself. The process in his mind went on tormenting him without
77240 reaching a conclusion. He feared to give way to his thoughts, yet
77241 could not get rid of them. Suddenly, on one of the officers' saying
77242 that it was humiliating to look at the French, Rostov began shouting
77243 with uncalled-for wrath, and therefore much to the surprise of the
77244 officers:
77245
77246 "How can you judge what's best?" he cried, the blood suddenly
77247 rushing to his face. "How can you judge the Emperor's actions? What
77248 right have we to argue? We cannot comprehend either the Emperor's or
77249 his actions!"
77250
77251 "But I never said a word about the Emperor!" said the officer,
77252 justifying himself, and unable to understand Rostov's outburst, except
77253 on the supposition that he was drunk.
77254
77255 But Rostov did not listen to him.
77256
77257 "We are not diplomatic officials, we are soldiers and nothing more,"
77258 he went on. "If we are ordered to die, we must die. If we're punished,
77259 it means that we have deserved it, it's not for us to judge. If the
77260 Emperor pleases to recognize Bonaparte as Emperor and to conclude an
77261 alliance with him, it means that that is the right thing to do. If
77262 once we begin judging and arguing about everything, nothing sacred
77263 will be left! That way we shall be saying there is no God--nothing!"
77264 shouted Nicholas, banging the table--very little to the point as it
77265 seemed to his listeners, but quite relevantly to the course of his own
77266 thoughts.
77267
77268 "Our business is to do our duty, to fight and not to think! That's
77269 all...." said he.
77270
77271 "And to drink," said one of the officers, not wishing to quarrel.
77272
77273 "Yes, and to drink," assented Nicholas. "Hullo there! Another
77274 bottle!" he shouted.
77275
77276 In 1808 the Emperor Alexander went to Erfurt for a fresh interview
77277 with the Emperor Napoleon, and in the upper circles of Petersburg
77278 there was much talk of the grandeur of this important meeting.
77279
77280
77281
77282
77283
77284 CHAPTER XXII
77285
77286
77287 In 1809 the intimacy between "the world's two arbiters," as Napoleon
77288 and Alexander were called, was such that when Napoleon declared war on
77289 Austria a Russian corps crossed the frontier to co-operate with our
77290 old enemy Bonaparte against our old ally the Emperor of Austria, and
77291 in court circles the possibility of marriage between Napoleon and
77292 one of Alexander's sisters was spoken of. But besides considerations
77293 of foreign policy, the attention of Russian society was at that time
77294 keenly directed on the internal changes that were being undertaken
77295 in all the departments of government.
77296
77297 Life meanwhile--real life, with its essential interests of health
77298 and sickness, toil and rest, and its intellectual interests in
77299 thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, and
77300 passions--went on as usual, independently of and apart from
77301 political friendship or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte and from all
77302 the schemes of reconstruction.
77303
77304
77305
77306
77307 BOOK SIX: 1808 --10
77308
77309
77310
77311
77312
77313 CHAPTER I
77314
77315
77316 Prince Andrew had spent two years continuously in the country.
77317
77318 All the plans Pierre had attempted on his estates--and constantly
77319 changing from one thing to another had never accomplished--were
77320 carried out by Prince Andrew without display and without perceptible
77321 difficulty.
77322
77323 He had in the highest degree a practical tenacity which Pierre
77324 lacked, and without fuss or strain on his part this set things going.
77325
77326 On one of his estates the three hundred serfs were liberated and
77327 became free agricultural laborers--this being one of the first
77328 examples of the kind in Russia. On other estates the serfs' compulsory
77329 labor was commuted for a quitrent. A trained midwife was engaged for
77330 Bogucharovo at his expense, and a priest was paid to teach reading and
77331 writing to the children of the peasants and household serfs.
77332
77333 Prince Andrew spent half his time at Bald Hills with his father
77334 and his son, who was still in the care of nurses. The other half he
77335 spent in "Bogucharovo Cloister," as his father called Prince
77336 Andrew's estate. Despite the indifference to the affairs of the
77337 world he had expressed to Pierre, he diligently followed all that went
77338 on, received many books, and to his surprise noticed that when he or
77339 his father had visitors from Petersburg, the very vortex of life,
77340 these people lagged behind himself--who never left the country--in
77341 knowledge of what was happening in home and foreign affairs.
77342
77343 Besides being occupied with his estates and reading a great
77344 variety of books, Prince Andrew was at this time busy with a
77345 critical of survey our last two unfortunate campaigns, and with
77346 drawing up a proposal for a reform of the army rules and regulations.
77347
77348 In the spring of 1809 he went to visit the Ryazan estates which
77349 had been inherited by his son, whose guardian he was.
77350
77351 Warmed by the spring sunshine he sat in the caleche looking at the
77352 new grass, the first leaves on the birches, and the first puffs of
77353 white spring clouds floating across the clear blue sky. He was not
77354 thinking of anything, but looked absent-mindedly and cheerfully from
77355 side to side.
77356
77357 They crossed the ferry where he had talked with Pierre the year
77358 before. They went through the muddy village, past threshing floors and
77359 green fields of winter rye, downhill where snow still lodged near
77360 the bridge, uphill where the clay had been liquefied by the rain, past
77361 strips of stubble land and bushes touched with green here and there,
77362 and into a birch forest growing on both sides of the road. In the
77363 forest it was almost hot, no wind could be felt. The birches with
77364 their sticky green leaves were motionless, and lilac-colored flowers
77365 and the first blades of green grass were pushing up and lifting last
77366 year's leaves. The coarse evergreen color of the small fir trees
77367 scattered here and there among the birches was an unpleasant
77368 reminder of winter. On entering the forest the horses began to snort
77369 and sweated visibly.
77370
77371 Peter the footman made some remark to the coachman; the latter
77372 assented. But apparently the coachman's sympathy was not enough for
77373 Peter, and he turned on the box toward his master.
77374
77375 "How pleasant it is, your excellency!" he said with a respectful
77376 smile.
77377
77378 "What?"
77379
77380 "It's pleasant, your excellency!"
77381
77382 "What is he talking about?" thought Prince Andrew. "Oh, the
77383 spring, I suppose," he thought as he turned round. "Yes, really
77384 everything is green already.... How early! The birches and cherry
77385 and alders too are coming out.... But the oaks show no sign yet. Ah,
77386 here is one oak!"
77387
77388 At the edge of the road stood an oak. Probably ten times the age of
77389 the birches that formed the forest, it was ten times as thick and
77390 twice as tall as they. It was an enormous tree, its girth twice as
77391 great as a man could embrace, and evidently long ago some of its
77392 branches had been broken off and its bark scarred. With its huge
77393 ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and
77394 fingers, it stood an aged, stern, and scornful monster among the
77395 smiling birch trees. Only the dead-looking evergreen firs dotted about
77396 in the forest, and this oak, refused to yield to the charm of spring
77397 or notice either the spring or the sunshine.
77398
77399 "Spring, love, happiness!" this oak seemed to say. "Are you not
77400 weary of that stupid, meaningless, constantly repeated fraud? Always
77401 the same and always a fraud? There is no spring, no sun, no happiness!
77402 Look at those cramped dead firs, ever the same, and at me too,
77403 sticking out my broken and barked fingers just where they have
77404 grown, whether from my back or my sides: as they have grown so I
77405 stand, and I do not believe in your hopes and your lies."
77406
77407 As he passed through the forest Prince Andrew turned several times
77408 to look at that oak, as if expecting something from it. Under the oak,
77409 too, were flowers and grass, but it stood among them scowling,
77410 rigid, misshapen, and grim as ever.
77411
77412 "Yes, the oak is right, a thousand times right," thought Prince
77413 Andrew. "Let others--the young--yield afresh to that fraud, but we
77414 know life, our life is finished!"
77415
77416 A whole sequence of new thoughts, hopeless but mournfully
77417 pleasant, rose in his soul in connection with that tree. During this
77418 journey he, as it were, considered his life afresh and arrived at
77419 his old conclusion, restful in its hopelessness: that it was not for
77420 him to begin anything anew--but that he must live out his life,
77421 content to do no harm, and not disturbing himself or desiring
77422 anything.
77423
77424
77425
77426
77427
77428 CHAPTER II
77429
77430
77431 Prince Andrew had to see the Marshal of the Nobility for the
77432 district in connection with the affairs of the Ryazan estate of
77433 which he was trustee. This Marshal was Count Ilya Rostov, and in the
77434 middle of May Prince Andrew went to visit him.
77435
77436 It was now hot spring weather. The whole forest was already
77437 clothed in green. It was dusty and so hot that on passing near water
77438 one longed to bathe.
77439
77440 Prince Andrew, depressed and preoccupied with the business about
77441 which he had to speak to the Marshal, was driving up the avenue in the
77442 grounds of the Rostovs' house at Otradnoe. He heard merry girlish
77443 cries behind some trees on the right and saw a group of girls running to
77444 cross the path of his caleche. Ahead of the rest and nearer to him ran
77445 a dark-haired, remarkably slim, pretty girl in a yellow chintz
77446 dress, with a white handkerchief on her head from under which loose
77447 locks of hair escaped. The girl was shouting something but, seeing
77448 that he was a stranger, ran back laughing without looking at him.
77449
77450 Suddenly, he did not know why, he felt a pang. The day was so
77451 beautiful, the sun so bright, everything around so gay, but that
77452 slim pretty girl did not know, or wish to know, of his existence and
77453 was contented and cheerful in her own separate--probably foolish-
77454 but bright and happy life. "What is she so glad about? What is she
77455 thinking of? Not of the military regulations or of the arrangement
77456 of the Ryazan serfs' quitrents. Of what is she thinking? Why is she so
77457 happy?" Prince Andrew asked himself with instinctive curiosity.
77458
77459 In 1809 Count Ilya Rostov was living at Otradnoe just as he had done
77460 in former years, that is, entertaining almost the whole province
77461 with hunts, theatricals, dinners, and music. He was glad to see Prince
77462 Andrew, as he was to see any new visitor, and insisted on his
77463 staying the night.
77464
77465 During the dull day, in the course of which he was entertained by
77466 his elderly hosts and by the more important of the visitors (the old
77467 count's house was crowded on account of an approaching name day),
77468 Prince Andrew repeatedly glanced at Natasha, gay and laughing among
77469 the younger members of the company, and asked himself each time, "What
77470 is she thinking about? Why is she so glad?"
77471
77472 That night, alone in new surroundings, he was long unable to
77473 sleep. He read awhile and then put out his candle, but relit it. It
77474 was hot in the room, the inside shutters of which were closed. He
77475 was cross with the stupid old man (as he called Rostov), who had
77476 made him stay by assuring him that some necessary documents had not
77477 yet arrived from town, and he was vexed with himself for having
77478 stayed.
77479
77480 He got up and went to the window to open it. As soon as he opened
77481 the shutters the moonlight, as if it had long been watching for
77482 this, burst into the room. He opened the casement. The night was
77483 fresh, bright, and very still. Just before the window was a row of
77484 pollard trees, looking black on one side and with a silvery light on
77485 the other. Beneath the trees grewsome kind of lush, wet, bushy
77486 vegetation with silver-lit leaves and stems here and there. Farther
77487 back beyond the dark trees a roof glittered with dew, to the right was
77488 a leafy tree with brilliantly white trunk and branches, and above it
77489 shone the moon, nearly at its full, in a pale, almost starless, spring
77490 sky. Prince Andrew leaned his elbows on the window ledge and his
77491 eyes rested on that sky.
77492
77493 His room was on the first floor. Those in the rooms above were
77494 also awake. He heard female voices overhead.
77495
77496 "Just once more," said a girlish voice above him which Prince Andrew
77497 recognized at once.
77498
77499 "But when are you coming to bed?" replied another voice.
77500
77501 "I won't, I can't sleep, what's the use? Come now for the last
77502 time."
77503
77504 Two girlish voices sang a musical passage--the end of some song.
77505
77506 "Oh, how lovely! Now go to sleep, and there's an end of it."
77507
77508 "You go to sleep, but I can't," said the first voice, coming
77509 nearer to the window. She was evidently leaning right out, for the
77510 rustle of her dress and even her breathing could be heard.
77511 Everything was stone-still, like the moon and its light and the
77512 shadows. Prince Andrew, too, dared not stir, for fear of betraying his
77513 unintentional presence.
77514
77515 "Sonya! Sonya!" he again heard the first speaker. "Oh, how can you
77516 sleep? Only look how glorious it is! Ah, how glorious! Do wake up,
77517 Sonya!" she said almost with tears in her voice. "There never, never
77518 was such a lovely night before!"
77519
77520 Sonya made some reluctant reply.
77521
77522 "Do just come and see what a moon!... Oh, how lovely! Come
77523 here.... Darling, sweetheart, come here! There, you see? I feel like
77524 sitting down on my heels, putting my arms round my knees like this,
77525 straining tight, as tight as possible, and flying away! Like this...."
77526
77527 "Take care, you'll fall out."
77528
77529 He heard the sound of a scuffle and Sonya's disapproving voice:
77530 "It's past one o'clock."
77531
77532 "Oh, you only spoil things for me. All right, go, go!"
77533
77534 Again all was silent, but Prince Andrew knew she was still sitting
77535 there. From time to time he heard a soft rustle and at times a sigh.
77536
77537 "O God, O God! What does it mean?" she suddenly exclaimed. "To bed
77538 then, if it must be!" and she slammed the casement.
77539
77540 "For her I might as well not exist!" thought Prince Andrew while
77541 he listened to her voice, for some reason expecting yet fearing that
77542 she might say something about him. "There she is again! As if it
77543 were on purpose," thought he.
77544
77545 In his soul there suddenly arose such an unexpected turmoil of
77546 youthful thoughts and hopes, contrary to the whole tenor of his
77547 life, that unable to explain his condition to himself he lay down
77548 and fell asleep at once.
77549
77550
77551
77552
77553
77554 CHAPTER III
77555
77556
77557 Next morning, having taken leave of no one but the count, and not
77558 waiting for the ladies to appear, Prince Andrew set off for home.
77559
77560 It was already the beginning of June when on his return journey he
77561 drove into the birch forest where the gnarled old oak had made so
77562 strange and memorable an impression on him. In the forest the
77563 harness bells sounded yet more muffled than they had done six weeks
77564 before, for now all was thick, shady, and dense, and the young firs
77565 dotted about in the forest did not jar on the general beauty but,
77566 lending themselves to the mood around, were delicately green with
77567 fluffy young shoots.
77568
77569 The whole day had been hot. Somewhere a storm was gathering, but
77570 only a small cloud had scattered some raindrops lightly, sprinkling
77571 the road and the sappy leaves. The left side of the forest was dark in
77572 the shade, the right side glittered in the sunlight, wet and shiny and
77573 scarcely swayed by the breeze. Everything was in blossom, the
77574 nightingales trilled, and their voices reverberated now near, now
77575 far away.
77576
77577 "Yes, here in this forest was that oak with which I agreed," thought
77578 Prince Andrew. "But where is it?" he again wondered, gazing at the
77579 left side of the road, and without recognizing it he looked with
77580 admiration at the very oak he sought. The old oak, quite transfigured,
77581 spreading out a canopy of sappy dark-green foliage, stood rapt and
77582 slightly trembling in the rays of the evening sun. Neither gnarled
77583 fingers nor old scars nor old doubts and sorrows were any of them in
77584 evidence now. Through the hard century-old bark, even where there were
77585 no twigs, leaves had sprouted such as one could hardly believe the old
77586 veteran could have produced.
77587
77588 "Yes, it is the same oak," thought Prince Andrew, and all at once he
77589 was seized by an unreasoning springtime feeling of joy and renewal.
77590 All the best moments of his life suddenly rose to his memory.
77591 Austerlitz with the lofty heavens, his wife's dead reproachful face,
77592 Pierre at the ferry, that girl thrilled by the beauty of the night,
77593 and that night itself and the moon, and.... all this rushed suddenly
77594 to his mind.
77595
77596 "No, life is not over at thirty-one!" Prince Andrew suddenly decided
77597 finally and decisively. "It is not enough for me to know what I have
77598 in me--everyone must know it: Pierre, and that young girl who wanted
77599 to fly away into the sky, everyone must know me, so that my life may
77600 not be lived for myself alone while others live so apart from it,
77601 but so that it may be reflected in them all, and they and I may live
77602 in harmony!"
77603
77604
77605 On reaching home Prince Andrew decided to go to Petersburg that
77606 autumn and found all sorts of reasons for this decision. A whole
77607 serics of sensible and logical considerations showing it to be
77608 essential for him to go to Petersburg, and even to re-enter the
77609 service, kept springing up in his mind. He could not now understand
77610 how he could ever even have doubted the necessity of taking an
77611 active share in life, just as a month before he had not understood how
77612 the idea of leaving the quiet country could ever enter his head. It
77613 now seemed clear to him that all his experience of life must be
77614 senselessly wasted unless he applied it to some kind of work and again
77615 played an active part in life. He did not even remember how
77616 formerly, on the strength of similar wretched logical arguments, it
77617 had seemed obvious that he would be degrading himself if he now, after
77618 the lessons he had had in life, allowed himself to believe in the
77619 possibility of being useful and in the possibility of happiness or
77620 love. Now reason suggested quite the opposite. After that journey to
77621 Ryazan he found the country dull; his former pursuits no longer
77622 interested him, and often when sitting alone in his study he got up,
77623 went to the mirror, and gazed a long time at his own face. Then he
77624 would turn away to the portrait of his dead Lise, who with hair curled
77625 a la grecque looked tenderly and gaily at him out of the gilt frame.
77626 She did not now say those former terrible words to him, but looked
77627 simply, merrily, and inquisitively at him. And Prince Andrew, crossing
77628 his arms behind him, long paced the room, now frowning, now smiling,
77629 as he reflected on those irrational, inexpressible thoughts, secret as
77630 a crime, which altered his whole life and were connected with
77631 Pierre, with fame, with the girl at the window, the oak, and woman's
77632 beauty and love. And if anyone came into his room at such moments he
77633 was particularly cold, stern, and above all unpleasantly logical.
77634
77635 "My dear," Princess Mary entering at such a moment would say,
77636 "little Nicholas can't go out today, it's very cold."
77637
77638 "If it were hot," Prince Andrew would reply at such times very dryly
77639 to his sister, "he could go out in his smock, but as it is cold he
77640 must wear warm clothes, which were designed for that purpose. That
77641 is what follows from the fact that it is cold; and not that a child
77642 who needs fresh air should remain at home," he would add with
77643 extreme logic, as if punishing someone for those secret illogical
77644 emotions that stirred within him.
77645
77646 At such moments Princess Mary would think how intellectual work
77647 dries men up.
77648
77649
77650
77651
77652
77653 CHAPTER IV
77654
77655
77656 Prince Andrew arrived in Petersburg in August, 1809. It was the time
77657 when the youthful Speranski was at the zenith of his fame and his
77658 reforms were being pushed forward with the greatest energy. That
77659 same August the Emperor was thrown from his caleche, injured his
77660 leg, and remained three weeks at Peterhof, receiving Speranski every
77661 day and no one else. At that time the two famous decrees were being
77662 prepared that so agitated society--abolishing court ranks and
77663 introducing examinations to qualify for the grades of Collegiate
77664 Assessor and State Councilor--and not merely these but a whole state
77665 constitution, intended to change the existing order of government in
77666 Russia: legal, administrative, and financial, from the Council of
77667 State down to the district tribunals. Now those vague liberal dreams
77668 with which the Emperor Alexander had ascended the throne, and which he
77669 had tried to put into effect with the aid of his associates,
77670 Czartoryski, Novosiltsev, Kochubey, and Strogonov--whom he himself
77671 in jest had called his Comite de salut public--were taking shape and
77672 being realized.
77673
77674 Now all these men were replaced by Speranski on the civil side,
77675 and Arakcheev on the military. Soon after his arrival Prince Andrew,
77676 as a gentleman of the chamber, presented himself at court and at a
77677 levee. The Emperor, though he met him twice, did not favor him with
77678 a single word. It had always seemed to Prince Andrew before that he
77679 was antipathetic to the Emperor and that the latter disliked his
77680 face and personality generally, and in the cold, repellent glance
77681 the Emperor gave him, he now found further confirmation of this
77682 surmise. The courtiers explained the Emperor's neglect of him by His
77683 Majesty's displeasure at Bolkonski's not having served since 1805.
77684
77685 "I know myself that one cannot help one's sympathies and
77686 antipathies," thought Prince Andrew, "so it will not do to present
77687 my proposal for the reform of the army regulations to the Emperor
77688 personally, but the project will speak for itself."
77689
77690 He mentioned what he had written to an old field marshal, a friend
77691 of his father's. The field marshal made an appointment to see him,
77692 received him graciously, and promised to inform the Emperor. A few
77693 days later Prince Andrew received notice that he was to go to see
77694 the Minister of War, Count Arakcheev.
77695
77696
77697 On the appointed day Prince Andrew entered Count Arakcheev's waiting
77698 room at nine in the morning.
77699
77700 He did not know Arakcheev personally, had never seen him, and all he
77701 had heard of him inspired him with but little respect for the man.
77702
77703 "He is Minister of War, a man trusted by the Emperor, and I need not
77704 concern myself about his personal qualities: he has been
77705 commissioned to consider my project, so he alone can get it
77706 adopted," thought Prince Andrew as he waited among a number of
77707 important and unimportant people in Count Arakcheev's waiting room.
77708
77709 During his service, chiefly as an adjutant, Prince Andrew had seen
77710 the anterooms of many important men, and the different types of such
77711 rooms were well known to him. Count Arakcheev's anteroom had quite a
77712 special character. The faces of the unimportant people awaiting
77713 their turn for an audience showed embarrassment and servility; the
77714 faces of those of higher rank expressed a common feeling of
77715 awkwardness, covered by a mask of unconcern and ridicule of
77716 themselves, their situation, and the person for whom they were
77717 waiting. Some walked thoughtfully up and down, others whispered and
77718 laughed. Prince Andrew heard the nickname "Sila Andreevich" and the
77719 words, "Uncle will give it to us hot," in reference to Count
77720 Arakcheev. One general (an important personage), evidently feeling
77721 offended at having to wait so long, sat crossing and uncrossing his
77722 legs and smiling contemptuously to himself.
77723
77724 But the moment the door opened one feeling alone appeared on all
77725 faces--that of fear. Prince Andrew for the second time asked the
77726 adjutant on duty to take in his name, but received an ironical look
77727 and was told that his turn would come in due course. After some others
77728 had been shown in and out of the minister's room by the adjutant on
77729 duty, an officer who struck Prince Andrew by his humiliated and
77730 frightened air was admitted at that terrible door. This officer's
77731 audience lasted a long time. Then suddenly the grating sound of a
77732 harsh voice was heard from the other side of the door, and the
77733 officer--with pale face and trembling lips--came out and passed
77734 through the waiting room, clutching his head.
77735
77736 After this Prince Andrew was conducted to the door and the officer
77737 on duty said in a whisper, "To the right, at the window."
77738
77739 Prince Andrew entered a plain tidy room and saw at the table a man
77740 of forty with a long waist, a long closely cropped head, deep
77741 wrinkles, scowling brows above dull greenish-hazel eyes and an
77742 overhanging red nose. Arakcheev turned his head toward him without
77743 looking at him.
77744
77745 "What is your petition?" asked Arakcheev.
77746
77747 "I am not petitioning, your excellency," returned Prince Andrew
77748 quietly.
77749
77750 Arakcheev's eyes turned toward him.
77751
77752 "Sit down," said he. "Prince Bolkonski?"
77753
77754 "I am not petitioning about anything. His Majesty the Emperor has
77755 deigned to send your excellency a project submitted by me..."
77756
77757 "You see, my dear sir, I have read your project," interrupted
77758 Arakcheev, uttering only the first words amiably and then--again
77759 without looking at Prince Andrew--relapsing gradually into a tone of
77760 grumbling contempt. "You are proposing new military laws? There are
77761 many laws but no one to carry out the old ones. Nowadays everybody
77762 designs laws, it is easier writing than doing."
77763
77764 "I came at His Majesty the Emperor's wish to learn from your
77765 excellency how you propose to deal with the memorandum I have
77766 presented," said Prince Andrew politely.
77767
77768 "I have endorsed a resolution on your memorandum and sent it to
77769 the committee. I do not approve of it," said Arakcheev, rising and
77770 taking a paper from his writing table. "Here!" and he handed it to
77771 Prince Andrew.
77772
77773 Across the paper was scrawled in pencil, without capital letters,
77774 misspelled, and without punctuation: "Unsoundly constructed because
77775 resembles an imitation of the French military code and from the
77776 Articles of War needlessly deviating."
77777
77778 "To what committee has the memorandum been referred?" inquired
77779 Prince Andrew.
77780
77781 "To the Committee on Army Regulations, and I have recommended that
77782 your honor should be appointed a member, but without a salary."
77783
77784 Prince Andrew smiled.
77785
77786 "I don't want one."
77787
77788 "A member without salary," repeated Arakcheev. "I have the
77789 honor... Eh! Call the next one! Who else is there?" he shouted, bowing
77790 to Prince Andrew.
77791
77792
77793
77794
77795
77796 CHAPTER V
77797
77798
77799 While waiting for the announcement of his appointment to the
77800 committee Prince Andrew looked up his former acquaintances,
77801 particularly those he knew to be in power and whose aid he might need.
77802 In Petersburg he now experienced the same feeling he had had on the
77803 eve of a battle, when troubled by anxious curiosity and irresistibly
77804 attracted to the ruling circles where the future, on which the fate of
77805 millions depended, was being shaped. From the irritation of the
77806 older men, the curiosity of the uninitiated, the reserve of the
77807 initiated, the hurry and preoccupation of everyone, and the
77808 innumerable committees and commissions of whose existence he learned
77809 every day, he felt that now, in 1809, here in Petersburg a vast
77810 civil conflict was in preparation, the commander in chief of which was
77811 a mysterious person he did not know, but who was supposed to be a
77812 man of genius--Speranski. And this movement of reconstruction of which
77813 Prince Andrew had a vague idea, and Speranski its chief promoter,
77814 began to interest him so keenly that the question of the army
77815 regulations quickly receded to a secondary place in his consciousness.
77816
77817 Prince Andrew was most favorably placed to secure good reception
77818 in the highest and most diverse Petersburg circles of the day. The
77819 reforming party cordially welcomed and courted him, the first place
77820 because he was reputed to be clever and very well read, and secondly
77821 because by liberating his serfs he had obtained the reputation of
77822 being a liberal. The party of the old and dissatisfied, who censured
77823 the innovations, turned to him expecting his sympathy in their
77824 disapproval of the reforms, simply because he was the son of his
77825 father. The feminine society world welcomed him gladly, because he was
77826 rich, distinguished, a good match, and almost a newcomer, with a
77827 halo of romance on account of his supposed death and the tragic loss
77828 of his wife. Besides this the general opinion of all who had known him
77829 previously was that he had greatly improved during these last five
77830 years, having softened and grown more manly, lost his former
77831 affectation, pride, and contemptuous irony, and acquired the
77832 serenity that comes with years. People talked about him, were
77833 interested in him, and wanted to meet him.
77834
77835 The day after his interview with Count Arakcheev, Prince Andrew
77836 spent the evening at Count Kochubey's. He told the count of his
77837 interview with Sila Andreevich (Kochubey spoke of Arakcheev by that
77838 nickname with the same vague irony Prince Andrew had noticed in the
77839 Minister of War's anteroom).
77840
77841 "Mon cher, even in this case you can't do without Michael
77842 Mikhaylovich Speranski. He manages everything. I'll speak to him. He
77843 has promised to come this evening."
77844
77845 "What has Speranski to do with the army regulations?" asked Prince
77846 Andrew.
77847
77848 Kochubey shook his head smilingly, as if surprised at Bolkonski's
77849 simplicity.
77850
77851 "We were talking to him about you a few days ago," Kochubey
77852 continued, "and about your freed plowmen."
77853
77854 "Oh, is it you, Prince, who have freed your serfs?" said an old
77855 man of Catherine's day, turning contemptuously toward Bolkonski.
77856
77857 "It was a small estate that brought in no profit," replied Prince
77858 Andrew, trying to extenuate his action so as not to irritate the old
77859 man uselessly.
77860
77861 "Afraid of being late..." said the old man, looking at Kochubey.
77862
77863 "There's one thing I don't understand," he continued. "Who will plow
77864 the land if they are set free? It is easy to write laws, but difficult
77865 to rule.... Just the same as now--I ask you, Count--who will be
77866 heads of the departments when everybody has to pass examinations?"
77867
77868 "Those who pass the examinations, I suppose," replied Kochubey,
77869 crossing his legs and glancing round.
77870
77871 "Well, I have Pryanichnikov serving under me, a splendid man, a
77872 priceless man, but he's sixty. Is he to go up for examination?"
77873
77874 "Yes, that's a difficulty, as education is not at all general,
77875 but..."
77876
77877 Count Kochubey did not finish. He rose, took Prince Andrew by the
77878 arm, and went to meet a tall, bald, fair man of about forty with a
77879 large open forehead and a long face of unusual and peculiar whiteness,
77880 who was just entering. The newcomer wore a blue swallow-tail coat with
77881 a cross suspended from his neck and a star on his left breast. It
77882 was Speranski. Prince Andrew recognized him at once, and felt a
77883 throb within him, as happens at critical moments of life. Whether it
77884 was from respect, envy, or anticipation, he did not know.
77885 Speranski's whole figure was of a peculiar type that made him easily
77886 recognizable. In the society in which Prince Andrew lived he had never
77887 seen anyone who together with awkward and clumsy gestures possessed
77888 such calmness and self-assurance; he had never seen so resolute yet
77889 gentle an expression as that in those half-closed, rather humid
77890 eyes, or so firm a smile that expressed nothing; nor had he heard such
77891 a refined, smooth, soft voice; above all he had never seen such
77892 delicate whiteness of face or hands--hands which were broad, but
77893 very plump, soft, and white. Such whiteness and softness Prince Andrew
77894 had only seen on the faces of soldiers who had been long in
77895 hospital. This was Speranski, Secretary of State, reporter to the
77896 Emperor and his companion at Erfurt, where he had more than once met
77897 and talked with Napoleon.
77898
77899 Speranski did not shift his eyes from one face to another as
77900 people involuntarily do on entering a large company and was in no
77901 hurry to speak. He spoke slowly, with assurance that he would be
77902 listened to, and he looked only at the person with whom he was
77903 conversing.
77904
77905 Prince Andrew followed Speranski's every word and movement with
77906 particular attention. As happens to some people, especially to men who
77907 judge those near to them severely, he always on meeting anyone new-
77908 especially anyone whom, like Speranski, he knew by reputation-
77909 expected to discover in him the perfection of human qualities.
77910
77911 Speranski told Kochubey he was sorry he had been unable to come
77912 sooner as he had been detained at the palace. He did not say that
77913 the Emperor had kept him, and Prince Andrew noticed this affectation
77914 of modesty. When Kochubey introduced Prince Andrew, Speranski slowly
77915 turned his eyes to Bolkonski with his customary smile and looked at
77916 him in silence.
77917
77918 "I am very glad to make your acquaintance. I had heard of you, as
77919 everyone has," he said after a pause.
77920
77921 Kochubey said a few words about the reception Arakcheev had given
77922 Bolkonski. Speranski smiled more markedly.
77923
77924 "The chairman of the Committee on Army Regulations is my good friend
77925 Monsieur Magnitski," he said, fully articulating every word and
77926 syllable, "and if you like I can put you in touch with him." He paused
77927 at the full stop. "I hope you will find him sympathetic and ready to
77928 co-operate in promoting all that is reasonable."
77929
77930 A circle soon formed round Speranski, and the old man who had talked
77931 about his subordinate Pryanichnikov addressed a question to him.
77932
77933 Prince Andrew without joining in the conversation watched every
77934 movement of Speranski's: this man, not long since an insignificant
77935 divinity student, who now, Bolkonski thought, held in his hands--those
77936 plump white hands--the fate of Russia. Prince Andrew was struck by the
77937 extraordinarily disdainful composure with which Speranski answered the
77938 old man. He appeared to address condescending words to him from an
77939 immeasurable height. When the old man began to speak too loud,
77940 Speranski smiled and said he could not judge of the advantage or
77941 disadvantage of what pleased the sovereign.
77942
77943 Having talked for a little while in the general circle, Speranski
77944 rose and coming up to Prince Andrew took him along to the other end of
77945 the room. It was clear that he thought it necessary to interest
77946 himself in Bolkonski.
77947
77948 "I had no chance to talk with you, Prince, during the animated
77949 conversation in which that venerable gentleman involved me," he said
77950 with a mildly contemptuous smile, as if intimating by that smile
77951 that he and Prince Andrew understood the insignificance of the
77952 people with whom he had just been talking. This flattered Prince
77953 Andrew. "I have known of you for a long time: first from your action
77954 with regard to your serfs, a first example, of which it is very
77955 desirable that there should be more imitators; and secondly because
77956 you are one of those gentlemen of the chamber who have not
77957 considered themselves offended by the new decree concerning the
77958 ranks allotted to courtiers, which is causing so much gossip and
77959 tittle-tattle."
77960
77961 "No," said Prince Andrew, "my father did not wish me to take
77962 advantage of the privilege. I began the service from the lower grade."
77963
77964 "Your father, a man of the last century, evidently stands above
77965 our contemporaries who so condemn this measure which merely
77966 reestablishes natural justice."
77967
77968 "I think, however, that these condemnations have some ground,"
77969 returned Prince Andrew, trying to resist Speranski's influence, of
77970 which he began to be conscious. He did not like to agree with him in
77971 everything and felt a wish to contradict. Though he usually spoke
77972 easily and well, he felt a difficulty in expressing himself now
77973 while talking with Speranski. He was too much absorbed in observing
77974 the famous man's personality.
77975
77976 "Grounds of personal ambition maybe," Speranski put in quietly.
77977
77978 "And of state interest to some extent," said Prince Andrew.
77979
77980 "What do you mean?" asked Speranski quietly, lowering his eyes.
77981
77982 "I am an admirer of Montesquieu," replied Prince Andrew, "and his
77983 idea that le principe des monarchies est l'honneur me parait
77984 incontestable. Certains droits et privileges de la noblesse me
77985 paraissent etre des moyens de soutenir ce sentiment."*
77986
77987
77988 *"The principle of monarchies is honor seems to me incontestable.
77989 Certain rights and privileges for the aristocracy appear to me a means
77990 of maintaining that sentiment."
77991
77992
77993 The smile vanished from Speranski's white face, which was much
77994 improved by the change. Probably Prince Andrew's thought interested
77995 him.
77996
77997 "Si vous envisagez la question sous ce point de vue,"* he began,
77998 pronouncing French with evident difficulty, and speaking even slower
77999 than in Russian but quite calmly.
78000
78001
78002 *"If you regard the question from that point of view."
78003
78004
78005 Speranski went on to say that honor, l'honeur, cannot be upheld by
78006 privileges harmful to the service; that honor, l'honneur, is either
78007 a negative concept of not doing what is blameworthy or it is a
78008 source of emulation in pursuit of commendation and rewards, which
78009 recognize it. His arguments were concise, simple, and clear.
78010
78011 "An institution upholding honor, the source of emulation, is one
78012 similar to the Legion d'honneur of the great Emperor Napoleon, not
78013 harmful but helpful to the success of the service, but not a class
78014 or court privilege."
78015
78016 "I do not dispute that, but it cannot be denied that court
78017 privileges have attained the same end," returned Prince Andrew. "Every
78018 courtier considers himself bound to maintain his position worthily."
78019
78020 "Yet you do not care to avail yourself of the privilege, Prince,"
78021 said Speranski, indicating by a smile that he wished to finish amiably
78022 an argument which was embarrassing for his companion. "If you will
78023 do me the honor of calling on me on Wednesday," he added, "I will,
78024 after talking with Magnitski, let you know what may interest you,
78025 and shall also have the pleasure of a more detailed chat with you."
78026
78027 Closing his eyes, he bowed a la francaise, without taking leave, and
78028 trying to attract as little attention as possible, he left the room.
78029
78030
78031
78032
78033
78034 CHAPTER VI
78035
78036
78037 During the first weeks of his stay in Petersburg Prince Andrew
78038 felt the whole trend of thought he had formed during his life of
78039 seclusion quite overshadowed by the trifling cares that engrossed
78040 him in that city.
78041
78042 On returning home in the evening he would jot down in his notebook
78043 four or five necessary calls or appointments for certain hours. The
78044 mechanism of life, the arrangement of the day so as to be in time
78045 everywhere, absorbed the greater part of his vital energy. He did
78046 nothing, did not even think or find time to think, but only talked,
78047 and talked successfully, of what he had thought while in the country.
78048
78049 He sometimes noticed with dissatisfaction that he repeated the
78050 same remark on the same day in different circles. But he was so busy
78051 for whole days together that he had no time to notice that he was
78052 thinking of nothing.
78053
78054 As he had done on their first meeting at Kochubey's, Speranski
78055 produced a strong impression on Prince Andrew on the Wednesday, when
78056 he received him tete-a-tate at his own house and talked to him long
78057 and confidentially.
78058
78059 To Bolkonski so many people appeared contemptible and
78060 insignificant creatures, and he so longed to find in someone the
78061 living ideal of that perfection toward which he strove, that he
78062 readily believed that in Speranski he had found this ideal of a
78063 perfectly rational and virtuous man. Had Speranski sprung from the
78064 same class as himself and possessed the same breeding and
78065 traditions, Bolkonski would soon have discovered his weak, human,
78066 unheroic sides; but as it was, Speranski's strange and logical turn of
78067 mind inspired him with respect all the more because he did not quite
78068 understand him. Moreover, Speranski, either because he appreciated the
78069 other's capacity or because he considered it necessary to win him to
78070 his side, showed off his dispassionate calm reasonableness before
78071 Prince Andrew and flattered him with that subtle flattery which goes
78072 hand in hand with self-assurance and consists in a tacit assumption
78073 that one's companion is the only man besides oneself capable of
78074 understanding the folly of the rest of mankind and the
78075 reasonableness and profundity of one's own ideas.
78076
78077 During their long conversation on Wednesday evening, Speranski
78078 more than once remarked: "We regard everything that is above the
78079 common level of rooted custom..." or, with a smile: "But we want the
78080 wolves to be fed and the sheep to be safe..." or: "They cannot
78081 understand this..." and all in a way that seemed to say: "We, you
78082 and I, understand what they are and who we are."
78083
78084 This first long conversation with Speranski only strengthened in
78085 Prince Andrew the feeling he had experienced toward him at their first
78086 meeting. He saw in him a remarkable, clear-thinking man of vast
78087 intellect who by his energy and persistence had attained power,
78088 which he was using solely for the welfare of Russia. In Prince
78089 Andrew's eyes Speranski was the man he would himself have wished to
78090 be--one who explained all the facts of life reasonably, considered
78091 important only what was rational, and was capable of applying the
78092 standard of reason to everything. Everything seemed so simple and
78093 clear in Speranski's exposition that Prince Andrew involuntarily
78094 agreed with him about everything. If he replied and argued, it was
78095 only because he wished to maintain his independence and not submit
78096 to Speranski's opinions entirely. Everything was right and
78097 everything was as it should be: only one thing disconcerted Prince
78098 Andrew. This was Speranski's cold, mirrorlike look, which did not
78099 allow one to penetrate to his soul, and his delicate white hands,
78100 which Prince Andrew involuntarily watched as one does watch the
78101 hands of those who possess power. This mirrorlike gaze and those
78102 delicate hands irritated Prince Andrew, he knew not why. He was
78103 unpleasantly struck, too, by the excessive contempt for others that he
78104 observed in Speranski, and by the diversity of lines of argument he
78105 used to support his opinions. He made use of every kind of mental
78106 device, except analogy, and passed too boldly, it seemed to Prince
78107 Andrew, from one to another. Now he would take up the position of a
78108 practical man and condemn dreamers; now that of a satirist, and
78109 laugh ironically at his opponents; now grow severely logical, or
78110 suddenly rise to the realm of metaphysics. (This last resource was one
78111 he very frequently employed.) He would transfer a question to
78112 metaphysical heights, pass on to definitions of space, time, and
78113 thought, and, having deduced the refutation he needed, would again
78114 descend to the level of the original discussion.
78115
78116 In general the trait of Speranski's mentality which struck Prince
78117 Andrew most was his absolute and unshakable belief in the power and
78118 authority of reason. It was evident that the thought could never occur
78119 to him which to Prince Andrew seemed so natural, namely, that it is
78120 after all impossible to express all one thinks; and that he had
78121 never felt the doubt, "Is not all I think and believe nonsense?" And
78122 it was just this peculiarity of Speranski's mind that particularly
78123 attracted Prince Andrew.
78124
78125 During the first period of their acquaintance Bolkonski felt a
78126 passionate admiration for him similar to that which he had once felt
78127 for Bonaparte. The fact that Speranski was the son of a village
78128 priest, and that stupid people might meanly despise him on account
78129 of his humble origin (as in fact many did), caused Prince Andrew to
78130 cherish his sentiment for him the more, and unconsciously to
78131 strengthen it.
78132
78133 On that first evening Bolkonski spent with him, having mentioned the
78134 Commission for the Revision of the Code of Laws, Speranski told him
78135 sarcastically that the Commission had existed for a hundred and
78136 fifty years, had cost millions, and had done nothing except that
78137 Rosenkampf had stuck labels on the corresponding paragraphs of the
78138 different codes.
78139
78140 "And that is all the state has for the millions it has spent,"
78141 said he. "We want to give the Senate new juridical powers, but we have
78142 no laws. That is why it is a sin for men like you, Prince, not to
78143 serve in these times!"
78144
78145 Prince Andrew said that for that work an education in
78146 jurisprudence was needed which he did not possess.
78147
78148 "But nobody possesses it, so what would you have? It is a vicious
78149 circle from which we must break a way out."
78150
78151 A week later Prince Andrew was a member of the Committee on Army
78152 Regulations and--what he had not at all expected--was chairman of a
78153 section of the committee for the revision of the laws. At
78154 Speranski's request he took the first part of the Civil Code that
78155 was being drawn up and, with the aid of the Code Napoleon and the
78156 Institutes of Justinian, he worked at formulating the section on
78157 Personal Rights.
78158
78159
78160
78161
78162
78163 CHAPTER VII
78164
78165
78166 Nearly two years before this, in 1808, Pierre on returning to
78167 Petersburg after visiting his estates had involuntarily found
78168 himself in a leading position among the Petersburg Freemasons. He
78169 arranged dining and funeral lodge meetings, enrolled new members,
78170 and busied himself uniting various lodges and acquiring authentic
78171 charters. He gave money for the erection of temples and supplemented
78172 as far as he could the collection of alms, in regard to which the
78173 majority of members were stingy and irregular. He supported almost
78174 singlehanded a poorhouse the order had founded in Petersburg.
78175
78176 His life meanwhile continued as before, with the same infatuations
78177 and dissipations. He liked to dine and drink well, and though he
78178 considered it immoral and humiliating could not resist the temptations
78179 of the bachelor circles in which he moved.
78180
78181 Amid the turmoil of his activities and distractions, however, Pierre
78182 at the end of a year began to feel that the more firmly he tried to
78183 rest upon it, the more Masonic ground on which he stood gave way under
78184 him. At the same time he felt that the deeper the ground sank under
78185 him the closer bound he involuntarily became to the order. When he had
78186 joined the Freemasons he had experienced the feeling of one who
78187 confidently steps onto the smooth surface of a bog. When he put his
78188 foot down it sank in. To make quite sure of the firmness the ground,
78189 he put his other foot down and sank deeper still, became stuck in
78190 it, and involuntarily waded knee-deep in the bog.
78191
78192 Joseph Alexeevich was not in Petersburg--he had of late stood
78193 aside from the affairs of the Petersburg lodges, and lived almost
78194 entirely in Moscow. All the members of the lodges were men Pierre knew
78195 in ordinary life, and it was difficult for him to regard them merely
78196 as Brothers in Freemasonry and not as Prince B. or Ivan Vasilevich D.,
78197 whom he knew in society mostly as weak and insignificant men. Under
78198 the Masonic aprons and insignia he saw the uniforms and decorations at
78199 which they aimed in ordinary life. Often after collecting alms, and
78200 reckoning up twenty to thirty rubles received for the most part in
78201 promises from a dozen members, of whom half were as well able to pay
78202 as himself, Pierre remembered the Masonic vow in which each Brother
78203 promised to devote all his belongings to his neighbor, and doubts on
78204 which he tried not to dwell arose in his soul.
78205
78206 He divided the Brothers he knew into four categories. In the first
78207 he put those who did not take an active part in the affairs of the
78208 lodges or in human affairs, but were exclusively occupied with the
78209 mystical science of the order: with questions of the threefold
78210 designation of God, the three primordial elements--sulphur, mercury,
78211 and salt--or the meaning of the square and all the various figures
78212 of the temple of Solomon. Pierre respected this class of Brothers to
78213 which the elder ones chiefly belonged, including, Pierre thought,
78214 Joseph Alexeevich himself, but he did not share their interests. His
78215 heart was not in the mystical aspect of Freemasonry.
78216
78217 In the second category Pierre reckoned himself and others like
78218 him, seeking and vacillating, who had not yet found in Freemasonry a
78219 straight and comprehensible path, but hoped to do so.
78220
78221 In the third category he included those Brothers (the majority)
78222 who saw nothing in Freemasonry but the external forms and
78223 ceremonies, and prized the strict performance of these forms without
78224 troubling about their purport or significance. Such were Willarski and
78225 even the Grand Master of the principal lodge.
78226
78227 Finally, to the fourth category also a great many Brothers belonged,
78228 particularly those who had lately joined. These according to
78229 Pierre's observations were men who had no belief in anything, nor
78230 desire for anything, but joined the Freemasons merely to associate
78231 with the wealthy young Brothers who were influential through their
78232 connections or rank, and of whom there were very many in the lodge.
78233
78234 Pierre began to feel dissatisfied with what he was doing.
78235 Freemasonry, at any rate as he saw it here, sometimes seemed to him
78236 based merely on externals. He did not think of doubting Freemasonry
78237 itself, but suspected that Russian Masonry had taken a wrong path
78238 and deviated from its original principles. And so toward the end of
78239 the year he went abroad to be initiated into the higher secrets of the
78240 order.
78241
78242 In the summer of 1809 Pierre returned to Petersburg. Our
78243 Freemasons knew from correspondence with those abroad that Bezukhov
78244 had obtained the confidence of many highly placed persons, had been
78245 initiated into many mysteries, had been raised to a higher grade,
78246 and was bringing back with him much that might conduce to the
78247 advantage of the Masonic cause in Russia. The Petersburg Freemasons
78248 all came to see him, tried to ingratiate themselves with him, and it
78249 seemed to them all that he was preparing something for them and
78250 concealing it.
78251
78252 A solemn meeting of the lodge of the second degree was convened,
78253 at which Pierre promised to communicate to the Petersburg Brothers
78254 what he had to deliver to them from the highest leaders of their
78255 order. The meeting was a full one. After the usual ceremonies Pierre
78256 rose and began his address.
78257
78258 "Dear Brothers," he began, blushing and stammering, with a written
78259 speech in his hand, "it is not sufficient to observe our mysteries
78260 in the seclusion of our lodge--we must act--act! We are drowsing,
78261 but we must act." Pierre raised his notebook and began to read.
78262
78263 "For the dissemination of pure truth and to secure the triumph of
78264 virtue," he read, "we must cleanse men from prejudice, diffuse
78265 principles in harmony with the spirit of the times, undertake the
78266 education of the young, unite ourselves in indissoluble bonds with the
78267 wisest men, boldly yet prudently overcome superstitions, infidelity,
78268 and folly, and form of those devoted to us a body linked together by
78269 unity of purpose and possessed of authority and power.
78270
78271 "To attain this end we must secure a preponderance of virtue over
78272 vice and must endeavor to secure that the honest man may, even in this
78273 world, receive a lasting reward for his virtue. But in these great
78274 endeavors we are gravely hampered by the political institutions of
78275 today. What is to be done in these circumstances? To favor
78276 revolutions, overthrow everything, repel force by force?... No! We are
78277 very far from that. Every violent reform deserves censure, for it
78278 quite fails to remedy evil while men remain what they are, and also
78279 because wisdom needs no violence.
78280
78281 "The whole plan of our order should be based on the idea of
78282 preparing men of firmness and virtue bound together by unity of
78283 conviction--aiming at the punishment of vice and folly, and
78284 patronizing talent and virtue: raising worthy men from the dust and
78285 attaching them to our Brotherhood. Only then will our order have the
78286 power unobtrusively to bind the hands of the protectors of disorder
78287 and to control them without their being aware of it. In a word, we
78288 must found a form of government holding universal sway, which should
78289 be diffused over the whole world without destroying the bonds of
78290 citizenship, and beside which all other governments can continue in
78291 their customary course and do everything except what impedes the great
78292 aim of our order, which is to obtain for virtue the victory over vice.
78293 This aim was that of Christianity itself. It taught men to be wise and
78294 good and for their own benefit to follow the example and instruction
78295 of the best and wisest men.
78296
78297 "At that time, when everything was plunged in darkness, preaching
78298 alone was of course sufficient. The novelty of Truth endowed her
78299 with special strength, but now we need much more powerful methods.
78300 It is now necessary that man, governed by his senses, should find in
78301 virtue a charm palpable to those senses. It is impossible to eradicate
78302 the passions; but we must strive to direct them to a noble aim, and it
78303 is therefore necessary that everyone should be able to satisfy his
78304 passions within the limits of virtue. Our order should provide means
78305 to that end.
78306
78307 "As soon as we have a certain number of worthy men in every state,
78308 each of them again training two others and all being closely united,
78309 everything will be possible for our order, which has already in secret
78310 accomplished much for the welfare of mankind."
78311
78312 This speech not only made a strong impression, but created
78313 excitement in the lodge. The majority of the Brothers, seeing in it
78314 dangerous designs of Illuminism,* met it with a coldness that
78315 surprised Pierre. The Grand Master began answering him, and Pierre
78316 began developing his views with more and more warmth. It was long
78317 since there had been so stormy a meeting. Parties were formed, some
78318 accusing Pierre of Illuminism, others supporting him. At that
78319 meeting he was struck for the first time by the endless variety of
78320 men's minds, which prevents a truth from ever presenting itself
78321 identically to two persons. Even those members who seemed to be on his
78322 side understood him in their own way with limitations and
78323 alterations he could not agree to, as what he always wanted most was
78324 to convey his thought to others just as he himself understood it.
78325
78326
78327 *The Illuminati sought to substitute republican for monarchical
78328 institutions.
78329
78330
78331 At the end of the meeting the Grand Master with irony and ill-will
78332 reproved Bezukhov for his vehemence and said it was not love of virtue
78333 alone, but also a love of strife that had moved him in the dispute.
78334 Pierre did not answer him and asked briefly whether his proposal would
78335 be accepted. He was told that it would not, and without waiting for
78336 the usual formalities he left the lodge and went home.
78337
78338
78339
78340
78341
78342 CHAPTER VIII
78343
78344
78345 Again Pierre was overtaken by the depression he so dreaded. For
78346 three days after the delivery of his speech at the lodge he lay on a
78347 sofa at home receiving no one and going nowhere.
78348
78349 It was just then that he received a letter from his wife, who
78350 implored him to see her, telling him how grieved she was about him and
78351 how she wished to devote her whole life to him.
78352
78353 At the end of the letter she informed him that in a few days she
78354 would return to Petersburg from abroad.
78355
78356 Following this letter one of the Masonic Brothers whom Pierre
78357 respected less than the others forced his way in to see him and,
78358 turning the conversation upon Pierre's matrimonial affairs, by way
78359 of fraternal advice expressed the opinion that his severity to his
78360 wife was wrong and that he was neglecting one of the first rules of
78361 Freemasonry by not forgiving the penitent.
78362
78363 At the same time his mother-in-law, Prince Vasili's wife, sent to
78364 him imploring him to come if only for a few minutes to discuss a
78365 most important matter. Pierre saw that there was a conspiracy
78366 against him and that they wanted to reunite him with his wife, and
78367 in the mood he then was, this was not even unpleasant to him.
78368 Nothing mattered to him. Nothing in life seemed to him of much
78369 importance, and under the influence of the depression that possessed
78370 him he valued neither his liberty nor his resolution to punish his
78371 wife.
78372
78373 "No one is right and no one is to blame; so she too is not to
78374 blame," he thought.
78375
78376 If he did not at once give his consent to a reunion with his wife,
78377 it was only because in his state of depression he did not feel able to
78378 take any step. Had his wife come to him, he would not have turned
78379 her away. Compared to what preoccupied him, was it not a matter of
78380 indifference whether he lived with his wife or not?
78381
78382 Without replying either to his wife or his mother-in-law, Pierre
78383 late one night prepared for a journey and started for Moscow to see
78384 Joseph Alexeevich. This is what he noted in his diary:
78385
78386
78387 Moscow, 17th November
78388
78389 I have just returned from my benefactor, and hasten to write down
78390 what I have experienced. Joseph Alexeevich is living poorly and has
78391 for three years been suffering from a painful disease of the
78392 bladder. No one has ever heard him utter a groan or a word of
78393 complaint. From morning till late at night, except when he eats his
78394 very plain food, he is working at science. He received me graciously
78395 and made me sit down on the bed on which he lay. I made the sign of
78396 the Knights of the East and of Jerusalem, and he responded in the same
78397 manner, asking me with a mild smile what I had learned and gained in
78398 the Prussian and Scottish lodges. I told him everything as best I
78399 could, and told him what I had proposed to our Petersburg lodge, of
78400 the bad reception I had encountered, and of my rupture with the
78401 Brothers. Joseph Alexeevich, having remained silent and thoughtful for
78402 a good while, told me his view of the matter, which at once lit up for
78403 me my whole past and the future path I should follow. He surprised
78404 me by asking whether I remembered the threefold aim of the order:
78405 (1) The preservation and study of the mystery. (2) The purification
78406 and reformation of oneself for its reception, and (3) The
78407 improvement of the human race by striving for such purification. Which
78408 is the principal aim of these three? Certainly self-reformation and
78409 self-purification. Only to this aim can we always strive independently
78410 of circumstances. But at the same time just this aim demands the
78411 greatest efforts of us; and so, led astray by pride, losing sight of
78412 this aim, we occupy ourselves either with the mystery which in our
78413 impurity we are unworthy to receive, or seek the reformation of the
78414 human race while ourselves setting an example of baseness and
78415 profligacy. Illuminism is not a pure doctrine, just because it is
78416 attracted by social activity and puffed up by pride. On this ground
78417 Joseph Alexeevich condemned my speech and my whole activity, and in
78418 the depth of my soul I agreed with him. Talking of my family affairs
78419 he said to me, "the chief duty of a true Mason, as I have told you,
78420 lies in perfecting himself. We often think that by removing all the
78421 difficulties of our life we shall more quickly reach our aim, but on
78422 the contrary, my dear sir, it is only in the midst of worldly cares
78423 that we can attain our three chief aims: (1) Self-knowledge--for man
78424 can only know himself by comparison, (2) Self-perfecting, which can
78425 only be attained by conflict, and (3) The attainment of the chief
78426 virtue--love of death. Only the vicissitudes of life can show us its
78427 vanity and develop our innate love of death or of rebirth to a new
78428 life." These words are all the more remarkable because, in spite of
78429 his great physical sufferings, Joseph Alexeevich is never weary of
78430 life though he loves death, for which--in spite of the purity and
78431 loftiness of his inner man--he does not yet feel himself
78432 sufficiently prepared. My benefactor then explained to me fully the
78433 meaning of the Great Square of creation and pointed out to me that the
78434 numbers three and seven are the basis of everything. He advised me not
78435 to avoid intercourse with the Petersburg Brothers, but to take up only
78436 second-grade posts in the lodge, to try, while diverting the
78437 Brothers from pride, to turn them toward the true path
78438 self-knowledge and self-perfecting. Besides this he advised me for
78439 myself personally above all to keep a watch over myself, and to that
78440 end he gave me a notebook, the one I am now writing in and in which
78441 I will in future note down all my actions.
78442
78443
78444 Petersburg, 23rd November
78445
78446 I am again living with my wife. My mother-in-law came to me in tears
78447 and said that Helene was here and that she implored me to hear her;
78448 that she was innocent and unhappy at my desertion, and much more. I
78449 knew that if I once let myself see her I should not have strength to
78450 go on refusing what she wanted. In my perplexity I did not know
78451 whose aid and advice to seek. Had my benefactor been here he would
78452 have told me what to do. I went to my room and reread Joseph
78453 Alexeevich's letters and recalled my conversations with him, and
78454 deduced from it all that I ought not to refuse a suppliant, and
78455 ought to reach a helping hand to everyone--especially to one so
78456 closely bound to me--and that I must bear my cross. But if I forgive
78457 her for the sake of doing right, then let union with her have only a
78458 spiritual aim. That is what I decided, and what I wrote to Joseph
78459 Alexeevich. I told my wife that I begged her to forget the past, to
78460 forgive me whatever wrong I may have done her, and that I had
78461 nothing to forgive. It gave me joy to tell her this. She need not know
78462 how hard it was for me to see her again. I have settled on the upper
78463 floor of this big house and am experiencing a happy feeling of
78464 regeneration.
78465
78466
78467
78468
78469
78470 CHAPTER IX
78471
78472
78473 At that time, as always happens, the highest society that met at
78474 court and at the grand balls was divided into several circles, each
78475 with its own particular tone. The largest of these was the French
78476 circle of the Napoleonic alliance, the circle of Count Rumyantsev
78477 and Caulaincourt. In this group Helene, as soon as she had settled
78478 in Petersburg with her husband, took a very prominent place. She was
78479 visited by the members of the French embassy and by many belonging
78480 to that circle and noted for their intellect and polished manners.
78481
78482 Helene had been at Erfurt during the famous meeting of the
78483 Emperors and had brought from there these connections with the
78484 Napoleonic notabilities. At Erfurt her success had been brilliant.
78485 Napoleon himself had noticed her in the theater and said of her:
78486 "C'est un superbe animal."* Her success as a beautiful and elegant
78487 woman did not surprise Pierre, for she had become even handsomer
78488 than before. What did surprise him was that during these last two
78489 years his wife had succeeded in gaining the reputation "d' une femme
78490 charmante, aussi spirituelle que belle."*[2] The distinguished
78491 Prince de Ligne wrote her eight-page letters. Bilibin saved up his
78492 epigrams to produce them in Countess Bezukhova's presence. To be
78493 received in the Countess Bezukhova's salon was regarded as a diploma
78494 of intellect. Young men read books before attending Helene's evenings,
78495 to have something to say in her salon, and secretaries of the embassy,
78496 and even ambassadors, confided diplomatic secrets to her, so that in a
78497 way Helene was a power. Pierre, who knew she was very stupid,
78498 sometimes attended, with a strange feeling of perplexity and fear, her
78499 evenings and dinner parties, where politics, poetry, and philosophy
78500 were discussed. At these parties his feelings were like those of a
78501 conjuror who always expects his trick to be found out at any moment.
78502 But whether because stupidity was just what was needed to run such a
78503 salon, or because those who were deceived found pleasure in the
78504 deception, at any rate it remained unexposed and Helene Bezukhova's
78505 reputation as a lovely and clever woman became so firmly established
78506 that she could say the emptiest and stupidest things and everybody
78507 would go into raptures over every word of hers and look for a profound
78508 meaning in it of which she herself had no conception.
78509
78510
78511 *"That's a superb animal."
78512
78513 *[2] "Of a charming woman, as witty as she is lovely."
78514
78515
78516 Pierre was just the husband needed for a brilliant society woman. He
78517 was that absent-minded crank, a grand seigneur husband who was in no
78518 one's way, and far from spoiling the high tone and general
78519 impression of the drawing room, he served, by the contrast he
78520 presented to her, as an advantageous background to his elegant and
78521 tactful wife. Pierre during the last two years, as a result of his
78522 continual absorption in abstract interests and his sincere contempt
78523 for all else, had acquired in his wife's circle, which did not
78524 interest him, that air of unconcern, indifference, and benevolence
78525 toward all, which cannot be acquired artificially and therefore
78526 inspires involuntary respect. He entered his wife's drawing room as
78527 one enters a theater, was acquainted with everybody, equally pleased
78528 to see everyone, and equally indifferent to them all. Sometimes he
78529 joined in a conversation which interested him and, regardless of
78530 whether any "gentlemen of the embassy" were present or not,
78531 lispingly expressed his views, which were sometimes not at all in
78532 accord with the accepted tone of the moment. But the general opinion
78533 concerning the queer husband of "the most distinguished woman in
78534 Petersburg" was so well established that no one took his freaks
78535 seriously.
78536
78537 Among the many young men who frequented her house every day, Boris
78538 Drubetskoy, who had already achieved great success in the service, was
78539 the most intimate friend of the Bezukhov household since Helene's
78540 return from Erfurt. Helene spoke of him as "mon page" and treated
78541 him like a child. Her smile for him was the same as for everybody, but
78542 sometimes that smile made Pierre uncomfortable. Toward him Boris
78543 behaved with a particularly dignified and sad deference. This shade of
78544 deference also disturbed Pierre. He had suffered so painfully three
78545 years before from the mortification to which his wife had subjected
78546 him that he now protected himself from the danger of its repetition,
78547 first by not being a husband to his wife, and secondly by not allowing
78548 himself to suspect.
78549
78550 "No, now that she has become a bluestocking she has finally
78551 renounced her former infatuations," he told himself. "There has
78552 never been an instance of a bluestocking being carried away by affairs
78553 of the heart"--a statement which, though gathered from an unknown
78554 source, he believed implicitly. Yet strange to say Boris' presence
78555 in his wife's drawing room (and he was almost always there) had a
78556 physical effect upon Pierre; it constricted his limbs and destroyed
78557 the unconsciousness and freedom of his movements.
78558
78559 "What a strange antipathy," thought Pierre, "yet I used to like
78560 him very much."
78561
78562 In the eyes of the world Pierre was a great gentleman, the rather
78563 blind and absurd husband of a distinguished wife, a clever crank who
78564 did nothing but harmed nobody and was a first-rate, good-natured
78565 fellow. But a complex and difficult process of internal development
78566 was taking place all this time in Pierre's soul, revealing much to him
78567 and causing him many spiritual doubts and joys.
78568
78569
78570
78571
78572
78573 CHAPTER X
78574
78575
78576 Pierre went on with his diary, and this is what he wrote in it
78577 during that time:
78578
78579
78580 24th November
78581
78582 Got up at eight, read the Scriptures, then went to my duties. [By
78583 Joseph Alexeevich's advice Pierre had entered the service of the state
78584 and served on one of the committees.] Returned home for dinner and
78585 dined alone--the countess had many visitors I do not like. I ate and
78586 drank moderately and after dinner copied out some passages for the
78587 Brothers. In the evening I went down to the countess and told a
78588 funny story about B., and only remembered that I ought not to have
78589 done so when everybody laughed loudly at it.
78590
78591 I am going to bed with a happy and tranquil mind. Great God, help me
78592 to walk in Thy paths, (1) to conquer anger by calmness and
78593 deliberation, (2) to vanquish lust by self-restraint and repulsion,
78594 (3) to withdraw from worldliness, but not avoid (a) the service of the
78595 state, (b) family duties, (c) relations with my friends, and the
78596 management of my affairs.
78597
78598
78599 27th November
78600
78601 I got up late. On waking I lay long in bed yielding to sloth. O God,
78602 help and strengthen me that I may walk in Thy ways! Read the
78603 Scriptures, but without proper feeling. Brother Urusov came and we
78604 talked about worldly vanities. He told me of the Emperor's new
78605 projects. I began to criticize them, but remembered my rules and my
78606 benefactor's words--that a true Freemason should be a zealous worker
78607 for the state when his aid is required and a quiet onlooker when not
78608 called on to assist. My tongue is my enemy. Brothers G. V. and O.
78609 visited me and we had a preliminary talk about the reception of a
78610 new Brother. They laid on me the duty of Rhetor. I feel myself weak
78611 and unworthy. Then our talk turned to the interpretation of the
78612 seven pillars and steps of the Temple, the seven sciences, the seven
78613 virtues, the seven vices, and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
78614 Brother O. was very eloquent. In the evening the admission took place.
78615 The new decoration of the Premises contributed much to the
78616 magnificence of the spectacle. It was Boris Drubetskoy who was
78617 admitted. I nominated him and was the Rhetor. A strange feeling
78618 agitated me all the time I was alone with him in the dark chamber. I
78619 caught myself harboring a feeling of hatred toward him which I
78620 vainly tried to overcome. That is why I should really like to save him
78621 from evil and lead him into the path of truth, but evil thoughts of
78622 him did not leave me. It seemed to me that his object in entering
78623 the Brotherhood was merely to be intimate and in favor with members of
78624 our lodge. Apart from the fact that he had asked me several times
78625 whether N. and S. were members of our lodge (a question to which I
78626 could not reply) and that according to my observation he is
78627 incapable of feeling respect for our holy order and is too preoccupied
78628 and satisfied with the outer man to desire spiritual improvement, I
78629 had no cause to doubt him, but he seemed to me insincere, and all
78630 the time I stood alone with him in the dark temple it seemed to me
78631 that he was smiling contemptuously at my words, and I wished really to
78632 stab his bare breast with the sword I held to it. I could not be
78633 eloquent, nor could I frankly mention my doubts to the Brothers and to
78634 the Grand Master. Great Architect of Nature, help me to find the
78635 true path out of the labyrinth of lies!
78636
78637
78638 After this, three pages were left blank in the diary, and then
78639 the following was written:
78640
78641
78642 I have had a long and instructive talk alone with Brother V., who
78643 advised me to hold fast by brother A. Though I am unworthy, much was
78644 revealed to me. Adonai is the name of the creator of the world. Elohim
78645 is the name of the ruler of all. The third name is the name
78646 unutterable which means the All. Talks with Brother V. strengthen,
78647 refresh, and support me in the path of virtue. In his presence doubt
78648 has no place. The distinction between the poor teachings of mundane
78649 science and our sacred all-embracing teaching is clear to me. Human
78650 sciences dissect everything to comprehend it, and kill everything to
78651 examine it. In the holy science of our order all is one, all is
78652 known in its entirety and life. The Trinity--the three elements of
78653 matter--are sulphur, mercury, and salt. Sulphur is of an oily and
78654 fiery nature; in combination with salt by its fiery nature it
78655 arouses a desire in the latter by means of which it attracts
78656 mercury, seizes it, holds it, and in combination produces other
78657 bodies. Mercury is a fluid, volatile, spiritual essence. Christ, the
78658 Holy Spirit, Him!...
78659
78660
78661 3rd December
78662
78663 Awoke late, read the Scriptures but was apathetic. Afterwards went
78664 and paced up and down the large hall. I wished to meditate, but
78665 instead my imagination pictured an occurrence of four years ago,
78666 when Dolokhov, meeting me in Moscow after our duel, said he hoped I
78667 was enjoying perfect peace of mind in spite of my wife's absence. At
78668 the time I gave him no answer. Now I recalled every detail of that
78669 meeting and in my mind gave him the most malevolent and bitter
78670 replies. I recollected myself and drove away that thought only when
78671 I found myself glowing with anger, but I did not sufficiently
78672 repent. Afterwards Boris Drubetskoy came and began relating various
78673 adventures. His coming vexed me from the first, and I said something
78674 disagreeable to him. He replied. I flared up and said much that was
78675 unpleasant and even rude to him. He became silent, and I recollected
78676 myself only when it was too late. My God, I cannot get on with him
78677 at all. The cause of this is my egotism. I set myself above him and so
78678 become much worse than he, for he is lenient to my rudeness while I on
78679 the contrary nourish contempt for him. O God, grant that in his
78680 presence I may rather see my own vileness, and behave so that he too
78681 may benefit. After dinner I fell asleep and as I was drowsing off I
78682 clearly heard a voice saying in my left ear, "Thy day!"
78683
78684 I dreamed that I was walking in the dark and was suddenly surrounded
78685 by dogs, but I went on undismayed. Suddenly a smallish dog seized my
78686 left thigh with its teeth and would not let go. I began to throttle it
78687 with my hands. Scarcely had I torn it off before another, a bigger
78688 one, began biting me. I lifted it up, but the higher I lifted it the
78689 bigger and heavier it grew. And suddenly Brother A. came and, taking
78690 my arm, led me to a building to enter which we had to pass along a
78691 narrow plank. I stepped on it, but it bent and gave way and I began to
78692 clamber up a fence which I could scarcely reach with my hands. After
78693 much effort I dragged myself up, so that my leg hung down on one
78694 side and my body on the other. I looked round and saw Brother A.
78695 standing on the fence and pointing me to a broad avenue and garden,
78696 and in the garden was a large and beautiful building. I woke up. O
78697 Lord, great Architect of Nature, help me to tear from myself these
78698 dogs--my passions especially the last, which unites in itself the
78699 strength of all the former ones, and aid me to enter that temple of
78700 virtue to a vision of which I attained in my dream.
78701
78702
78703 7th December
78704
78705 I dreamed that Joseph Alexeevich was sitting in my house, and that I
78706 was very glad and wished to entertain him. It seemed as if I chattered
78707 incessantly with other people and suddenly remembered that this
78708 could not please him, and I wished to come close to him and embrace
78709 him. But as soon as I drew near I saw that his face had changed and
78710 grown young, and he was quietly telling me something about the
78711 teaching of our order, but so softly that I could not hear it. Then it
78712 seemed that we all left the room and something strange happened. We
78713 were sitting or lying on the floor. He was telling me something, and I
78714 wished to show him my sensibility, and not listening to what he was
78715 saying I began picturing to myself the condition of my inner man and
78716 the grace of God sanctifying me. And tears came into my eyes, and I
78717 was glad he noticed this. But he looked at me with vexation and jumped
78718 up, breaking off his remarks. I felt abashed and asked whether what he
78719 had been saying did not concern me; but he did not reply, gave me a
78720 kind look, and then we suddenly found ourselves in my bedroom where
78721 there is a double bed. He lay down on the edge of it and I burned with
78722 longing to caress him and lie down too. And he said, "Tell me
78723 frankly what is your chief temptation? Do you know it? I think you
78724 know it already." Abashed by this question, I replied that sloth was
78725 my chief temptation. He shook his head incredulously; and even more
78726 abashed, I said that though I was living with my wife as he advised, I
78727 was not living with her as her husband. To this he replied that one
78728 should not deprive a wife of one's embraces and gave me to
78729 understand that that was my duty. But I replied that I should be
78730 ashamed to do it, and suddenly everything vanished. And I awoke and
78731 found in my mind the text from the Gospel: "The life was the light
78732 of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness
78733 comprehended it not." Joseph Alexeevich's face had looked young and
78734 bright. That day I received a letter from my benefactor in which he
78735 wrote about "conjugal duties."
78736
78737
78738 9th December
78739
78740 I had a dream from which I awoke with a throbbing heart. I saw
78741 that I was in Moscow in my house, in the big sitting room, and
78742 Joseph Alexeevich came in from the drawing room. I seemed to know at
78743 once that the process of regeneration had already taken place in
78744 him, and I rushed to meet him. I embraced him and kissed his hands,
78745 and he said, "Hast thou noticed that my face is different?" I looked
78746 at him, still holding him in my arms, and saw that his face was young,
78747 but that he had no hair on his head and his features were quite
78748 changed. And I said, "I should have known you had I met you by
78749 chance," and I thought to myself, "Am I telling the truth?" And
78750 suddenly I saw him lying like a dead body; then he gradually recovered
78751 and went with me into my study carrying a large book of sheets of
78752 drawing paper; I said, "I drew that," and he answered by bowing his
78753 head. I opened the book, and on all the pages there were excellent
78754 drawings. And in my dream I knew that these drawings represented the
78755 love adventures of the soul with its beloved. And on its pages I saw a
78756 beautiful representation of a maiden in transparent garments and
78757 with a transparent body, flying up to the clouds. And I seemed to know
78758 that this maiden was nothing else than a representation of the Song of
78759 Songs. And looking at those drawings I dreamed I felt that I was doing
78760 wrong, but could not tear myself away from them. Lord, help me! My
78761 God, if Thy forsaking me is Thy doing, Thy will be done; but if I am
78762 myself the cause, teach me what I should do! I shall perish of my
78763 debauchery if Thou utterly desertest me!
78764
78765
78766
78767
78768
78769 CHAPTER XI
78770
78771
78772 The Rostovs' monetary affairs had not improved during the two
78773 years they had spent in the country.
78774
78775 Though Nicholas Rostov had kept firmly to his resolution and was
78776 still serving modestly in an obscure regiment, spending
78777 comparatively little, the way of life at Otradnoe--Mitenka's
78778 management of affairs, in particular--was such that the debts
78779 inevitably increased every year. The only resource obviously
78780 presenting itself to the old count was to apply for an official
78781 post, so he had come to Petersburg to look for one and also, as he
78782 said, to let the lassies enjoy themselves for the last time.
78783
78784 Soon after their arrival in Petersburg Berg proposed to Vera and was
78785 accepted.
78786
78787 Though in Moscow the Rostovs belonged to the best society without
78788 themselves giving it a thought, yet in Petersburg their circle of
78789 acquaintances was a mixed and indefinite one. In Petersburg they
78790 were provincials, and the very people they had entertained in Moscow
78791 without inquiring to what set they belonged, here looked down on them.
78792
78793 The Rostovs lived in the same hospitable way in Petersburg as in
78794 Moscow, and the most diverse people met at their suppers. Country
78795 neighbors from Otradnoe, impoverished old squires and their daughters,
78796 Peronskaya a maid of honor, Pierre Bezukhov, and the son of their
78797 district postmaster who had obtained a post in Petersburg. Among the
78798 men who very soon became frequent visitors at the Rostovs' house in
78799 Petersburg were Boris, Pierre whom the count had met in the street and
78800 dragged home with him, and Berg who spent whole days at the Rostovs'
78801 and paid the eldest daughter, Countess Vera, the attentions a young
78802 man pays when he intends to propose.
78803
78804 Not in vain had Berg shown everybody his right hand wounded at
78805 Austerlitz and held a perfectly unnecessary sword in his left. He
78806 narrated that episode so persistently and with so important an air
78807 that everyone believed in the merit and usefulness of his deed, and he
78808 had obtained two decorations for Austerlitz.
78809
78810 In the Finnish war he also managed to distinguish himself. He had
78811 picked up the scrap of a grenade that had killed an aide-de-camp
78812 standing near the commander in chief and had taken it to his
78813 commander. Just as he had done after Austerlitz, he related this
78814 occurrence at such length and so insistently that everyone again
78815 believed it had been necessary to do this, and he received two
78816 decorations for the Finnish war also. In 1809 he was a captain in
78817 the Guards, wore medals, and held some special lucrative posts in
78818 Petersburg.
78819
78820 Though some skeptics smiled when told of Berg's merits, it could not
78821 be denied that he was a painstaking and brave officer, on excellent
78822 terms with his superiors, and a moral young man with a brilliant
78823 career before him and an assured position in society.
78824
78825 Four years before, meeting a German comrade in the stalls of a
78826 Moscow theater, Berg had pointed out Vera Rostova to him and had
78827 said in German, "das soll mein Weib werden,"* and from that moment had
78828 made up his mind to marry her. Now in Petersburg, having considered
78829 the Rostovs' position and his own, he decided that the time had come
78830 to propose.
78831
78832
78833 *"That girl shall be my wife."
78834
78835
78836 Berg's proposal was at first received with a perplexity that was not
78837 flattering to him. At first it seemed strange that the son of an
78838 obscure Livonian gentleman should propose marriage to a Countess
78839 Rostova; but Berg's chief characteristic was such a naive and good
78840 natured egotism that the Rostovs involuntarily came to think it
78841 would be a good thing, since he himself was so firmly convinced that
78842 it was good, indeed excellent. Moreover, the Rostovs' affairs were
78843 seriously embarrassed, as the suitor could not but know; and above
78844 all, Vera was twenty-four, had been taken out everywhere, and though
78845 she was certainly good-looking and sensible, no one up to now had
78846 proposed to her. So they gave their consent.
78847
78848 "You see," said Berg to his comrade, whom he called "friend" only
78849 because he knew that everyone has friends, "you see, I have considered
78850 it all, and should not marry if I had not thought it all out or if
78851 it were in any way unsuitable. But on the contrary, my papa and
78852 mamma are now provided for--I have arranged that rent for them in
78853 the Baltic Provinces--and I can live in Petersburg on my pay, and with
78854 her fortune and my good management we can get along nicely. I am not
78855 marrying for money--I consider that dishonorable--but a wife should
78856 bring her share and a husband his. I have my position in the
78857 service, she has connections and some means. In our times that is
78858 worth something, isn't it? But above all, she is a handsome, estimable
78859 girl, and she loves me..."
78860
78861 Berg blushed and smiled.
78862
78863 "And I love her, because her character is sensible and very good.
78864 Now the other sister, though they are the same family, is quite
78865 different--an unpleasant character and has not the same
78866 intelligence. She is so... you know?... Unpleasant... But my
78867 fiancee!... Well, you will be coming," he was going to say, "to dine,"
78868 but changed his mind and said "to take tea with us," and quickly
78869 doubling up his tongue he blew a small round ring of tobacco smoke,
78870 perfectly embodying his dream of happiness.
78871
78872 After the first feeling of perplexity aroused in the parents by
78873 Berg's proposal, the holiday tone of joyousness usual at such times
78874 took possession of the family, but the rejoicing was external and
78875 insincere. In the family's feeling toward this wedding a certain
78876 awkwardness and constraint was evident, as if they were ashamed of not
78877 having loved Vera sufficiently and of being so ready to get her off
78878 their hands. The old count felt this most. He would probably have been
78879 unable to state the cause of his embarrassment, but it resulted from
78880 the state of his affairs. He did not know at all how much he had, what
78881 his debts amounted to, or what dowry he could give Vera. When his
78882 daughters were born he had assigned to each of them, for her dowry, an
78883 estate with three hundred serfs; but one of these estates had
78884 already been sold, and the other was mortgaged and the interest so
78885 much in arrears that it would have to be sold, so that it was
78886 impossible to give it to Vera. Nor had he any money.
78887
78888 Berg had already been engaged a month, and only a week remained
78889 before the wedding, but the count had not yet decided in his own
78890 mind the question of the dowry, nor spoken to his wife about it. At
78891 one time the count thought of giving her the Ryazan estate or of
78892 selling a forest, at another time of borrowing money on a note of
78893 hand. A few days before the wedding Berg entered the count's study
78894 early one morning and, with a pleasant smile, respectfully asked his
78895 future father-in-law to let him know what Vera's dowry would be. The
78896 count was so disconcerted by this long-foreseen inquiry that without
78897 consideration he gave the first reply that came into his head. "I like
78898 your being businesslike about it.... I like it. You shall be
78899 satisfied...."
78900
78901 And patting Berg on the shoulder he got up, wishing to end the
78902 conversation. But Berg, smiling pleasantly, explained that if he did
78903 not know for certain how much Vera would have and did not receive at
78904 least part of the dowry in advance, he would have to break matters
78905 off.
78906
78907 "Because, consider, Count--if I allowed myself to marry now
78908 without having definite means to maintain my wife, I should be
78909 acting badly...."
78910
78911 The conversation ended by the count, who wished to be generous and
78912 to avoid further importunity, saying that he would give a note of hand
78913 for eighty thousand rubles. Berg smiled meekly, kissed the count on
78914 the shoulder, and said that he was very grateful, but that it was
78915 impossible for him to arrange his new life without receiving thirty
78916 thousand in ready money. "Or at least twenty thousand, Count," he
78917 added, "and then a note of hand for only sixty thousand."
78918
78919 "Yes, yes, all right!" said the count hurriedly. "Only excuse me, my
78920
78921 dear fellow, I'll give you twenty thousand and a note of hand for
78922 eighty thousand as well. Yes, yes! Kiss me."
78923
78924
78925
78926
78927
78928 CHAPTER XII
78929
78930
78931 Natasha was sixteen and it was the year 1809, the very year to which
78932 she had counted on her fingers with Boris after they had kissed four
78933 years ago. Since then she had not seen him. Before Sonya and her
78934 mother, if Boris happened to be mentioned, she spoke quite freely of
78935 that episode as of some childish, long-forgotten matter that was not
78936 worth mentioning. But in the secret depths of her soul the question
78937 whether her engagement to Boris was a jest or an important, binding
78938 promise tormented her.
78939
78940 Since Boris left Moscow in 1805 to join the army he had had not seen
78941 the Rostovs. He had been in Moscow several times, and had passed
78942 near Otradnoe, but had never been to see them.
78943
78944 Sometimes it occurred to Natasha that he not wish to see her, and
78945 this conjecture was confirmed by the sad tone in which her elders
78946 spoke of him.
78947
78948 "Nowadays old friends are not remembered," the countess would say
78949 when Boris was mentioned.
78950
78951 Anna Mikhaylovna also had of late visited them less frequently,
78952 seemed to hold herself with particular dignity, and always spoke
78953 rapturously and gratefully of the merits of her son and the
78954 brilliant career on which he had entered. When the Rostovs came to
78955 Petersburg Boris called on them.
78956
78957 He drove to their house in some agitation. The memory of Natasha was
78958 his most poetic recollection. But he went with the firm intention of
78959 letting her and her parents feel that the childish relations between
78960 himself and Natasha could not be binding either on her or on him. He
78961 had a brilliant position in society thanks to his intimacy with
78962 Countess Bezukhova, a brilliant position in the service thanks to
78963 the patronage of an important personage whose complete confidence he
78964 enjoyed, and he was beginning to make plans for marrying one of the
78965 richest heiresses in Petersburg, plans which might very easily be
78966 realized. When he entered the Rostovs' drawing room Natasha was in her
78967 own room. When she heard of his arrival she almost ran into the
78968 drawing room, flushed and beaming with a more than cordial smile.
78969
78970 Boris remembered Natasha in a short dress, with dark eyes shining
78971 from under her curls and boisterous, childish laughter, as he had
78972 known her four years before; and so he was taken aback when quite a
78973 different Natasha entered, and his face expressed rapturous
78974 astonishment. This expression on his face pleased Natasha.
78975
78976 "Well, do you recognize your little madcap playmate?" asked the
78977 countess.
78978
78979 Boris kissed Natasha's hand and said that he was astonished at the
78980 change in her.
78981
78982 "How handsome you have grown!"
78983
78984 "I should think so!" replied Natasha's laughing eyes.
78985
78986 "And is Papa older?" she asked.
78987
78988 Natasha sat down and, without joining in Boris' conversation with
78989 the countess, silently and minutely studied her childhood's suitor. He
78990 felt the weight of that resolute and affectionate scrutiny and glanced
78991 at her occasionally.
78992
78993 Boris' uniform, spurs, tie, and the way his hair was brushed were
78994 all comme il faut and in the latest fashion. This Natasha noticed at
78995 once. He sat rather sideways in the armchair next to the countess,
78996 arranging with his right hand the cleanest of gloves that fitted his
78997 left hand like a skin, and he spoke with a particularly refined
78998 compression of his lips about the amusements of the highest Petersburg
78999 society, recalling with mild irony old times in Moscow and Moscow
79000 acquaintances. It was not accidentally, Natasha felt, that he alluded,
79001 when speaking of the highest aristocracy, to an ambassador's ball he
79002 had attended, and to invitations he had received from N.N. and S.S.
79003
79004 All this time Natasha sat silent, glancing up at him from under
79005 her brows. This gaze disturbed and confused Boris more and more. He
79006 looked round more frequently toward her, and broke off in what he
79007 was saying. He did not stay more than ten minutes, then rose and
79008 took his leave. The same inquisitive, challenging, and rather
79009 mocking eyes still looked at him. After his first visit Boris said
79010 to himself that Natasha attracted him just as much as ever, but that
79011 he must not yield to that feeling, because to marry her, a girl almost
79012 without fortune, would mean ruin to his career, while to renew their
79013 former relations without intending to marry her would be dishonorable.
79014 Boris made up his mind to avoid meeting Natasha, but despite that
79015 resolution he called again a few days later and began calling often
79016 and spending whole days at the Rostovs'. It seemed to him that he
79017 ought to have an explanation with Natasha and tell her that the old
79018 times must be forgotten, that in spite of everything... she could
79019 not be his wife, that he had no means, and they would never let her
79020 marry him. But he failed to do so and felt awkward about entering on
79021 such an explanation. From day to day he became more and more
79022 entangled. It seemed to her mother and Sonya that Natasha was in
79023 love with Boris as of old. She sang him his favorite songs, showed him
79024 her album, making him write in it, did not allow him to allude to
79025 the past, letting it be understood how was the present; and every
79026 day he went away in a fog, without having said what he meant to, and
79027 not knowing what he was doing or why he came, or how it would all end.
79028 He left off visiting Helene and received reproachful notes from her
79029 every day, and yet he continued to spend whole days with the Rostovs.
79030
79031
79032
79033
79034
79035 CHAPTER XIII
79036
79037
79038 One night when the old countess, in nightcap and dressing jacket,
79039 without her false curls, and with her poor little knob of hair showing
79040 under her white cotton cap, knelt sighing and groaning on a rug and
79041 bowing to the ground in prayer, her door creaked and Natasha, also
79042 in a dressing jacket with slippers on her bare feet and her hair in
79043 curlpapers, ran in. The countess--her prayerful mood dispelled--looked
79044 round and frowned. She was finishing her last prayer: "Can it be
79045 that this couch will be my grave?" Natasha, flushed and eager,
79046 seeing her mother in prayer, suddenly checked her rush, half sat down,
79047 and unconsciously put out her tongue as if chiding herself. Seeing
79048 that her mother was still praying she ran on tiptoe to the bed and,
79049 rapidly slipping one little foot against the other, pushed off her
79050 slippers and jumped onto the bed the countess had feared might
79051 become her grave. This couch was high, with a feather bed and five
79052 pillows each smaller than the one below. Natasha jumped on it, sank
79053 into the feather bed, rolled over to the wall, and began snuggling
79054 up the bedclothes as she settled down, raising her knees to her
79055 chin, kicking out and laughing almost inaudibly, now covering
79056 herself up head and all, and now peeping at her mother. The countess
79057 finished her prayers and came to the bed with a stern face, but
79058 seeing, that Natasha's head was covered, she smiled in her kind,
79059 weak way.
79060
79061 "Now then, now then!" said she.
79062
79063 "Mamma, can we have a talk? Yes?" said Natasha. "Now, just one on
79064 your throat and another... that'll do!" And seizing her mother round
79065 the neck, she kissed her on the throat. In her behavior to her
79066 mother Natasha seemed rough, but she was so sensitive and tactful that
79067 however she clasped her mother she always managed to do it without
79068 hurting her or making her feel uncomfortable or displeased.
79069
79070 "Well, what is it tonight?" said the mother, having arranged her
79071 pillows and waited until Natasha, after turning over a couple of
79072 times, had settled down beside her under the quilt, spread out her
79073 arms, and assumed a serious expression.
79074
79075 These visits of Natasha's at night before the count returned from
79076 his club were one of the greatest pleasures of both mother, and
79077 daughter.
79078
79079 "What is it tonight?--But I have to tell you..."
79080
79081 Natasha put her hand on her mother's mouth.
79082
79083 "About Boris... I know," she said seriously; "that's what I have
79084 come about. Don't say it--I know. No, do tell me!" and she removed her
79085 hand. "Tell me, Mamma! He's nice?"
79086
79087 "Natasha, you are sixteen. At your age I was married. You say
79088 Boris is nice. He is very nice, and I love him like a son. But what
79089 then?... What are you thinking about? You have quite turned his
79090 head, I can see that...."
79091
79092 As she said this the countess looked round at her daughter.
79093 Natasha was lying looking steadily straight before her at one of the
79094 mahogany sphinxes carved on the corners of the bedstead, so that the
79095 countess only saw her daughter's face in profile. That face struck her
79096 by its peculiarly serious and concentrated expression.
79097
79098 Natasha was listening and considering.
79099
79100 "Well, what then?" said she.
79101
79102 "You have quite turned his head, and why? What do you want of him?
79103 You know you can't marry him."
79104
79105 "Why not?" said Natasha, without changing her position.
79106
79107 "Because he is young, because he is poor, because he is a
79108 relation... and because you yourself don't love him."
79109
79110 "How do you know?"
79111
79112 "I know. It is not right, darling!"
79113
79114 "But if I want to..." said Natasha.
79115
79116 "Leave off talking nonsense," said the countess.
79117
79118 "But if I want to..."
79119
79120 "Natasha, I am in earnest..."
79121
79122 Natasha did not let her finish. She drew the countess' large hand to
79123 her, kissed it on the back and then on the palm, then again turned
79124 it over and began kissing first one knuckle, then the space between
79125 the knuckles, then the next knuckle, whispering, "January, February,
79126 March, April, May. Speak, Mamma, why don't you say anything? Speak!"
79127 said she, turning to her mother, who was tenderly gazing at her
79128 daughter and in that contemplation seemed to have forgotten all she
79129 had wished to say.
79130
79131 "It won't do, my love! Not everyone will understand this
79132 friendship dating from your childish days, and to see him so
79133 intimate with you may injure you in the eyes of other young men who
79134 visit us, and above all it torments him for nothing. He may already
79135 have found a suitable and wealthy match, and now he's half crazy."
79136
79137 "Crazy?" repeated Natasha.
79138
79139 "I'll tell you some things about myself. I had a cousin..."
79140
79141 "I know! Cyril Matveich... but he is old."
79142
79143 "He was not always old. But this is what I'll do, Natasha, I'll have
79144 a talk with Boris. He need not come so often...."
79145
79146 "Why not, if he likes to?"
79147
79148 "Because I know it will end in nothing...."
79149
79150 "How can you know? No, Mamma, don't speak to him! What nonsense!"
79151 said Natasha in the tone of one being deprived of her property. "Well,
79152 I won't marry, but let him come if he enjoys it and I enjoy it."
79153 Natasha smiled and looked at her mother. "Not to marry, but just
79154 so," she added.
79155
79156 "How so, my pet?"
79157
79158 "Just so. There's no need for me to marry him. But... just so."
79159
79160 "Just so, just so," repeated the countess, and shaking all over, she
79161 went off into a good humored, unexpected, elderly laugh.
79162
79163 "Don't laugh, stop!" cried Natasha. "You're shaking the whole bed!
79164 You're awfully like me, just such another giggler.... Wait..." and she
79165 seized the countess' hands and kissed a knuckle of the little
79166 finger, saying, "June," and continued, kissing, "July, August," on the
79167 other hand. "But, Mamma, is he very much in love? What do you think?
79168 Was anybody ever so much in love with you? And he's very nice, very,
79169 very nice. Only not quite my taste--he is so narrow, like the
79170 dining-room clock.... Don't you understand? Narrow, you know--gray,
79171 light gray..."
79172
79173 "What rubbish you're talking!" said the countess.
79174
79175 Natasha continued: "Don't you really understand? Nicholas would
79176 understand.... Bezukhov, now, is blue, dark-blue and red, and he is
79177 square."
79178
79179 "You flirt with him too," said the countess, laughing.
79180
79181 "No, he is a Freemason, I have found out. He is fine, dark-blue
79182 and red.... How can I explain it to you?"
79183
79184 "Little countess!" the count's voice called from behind the door.
79185 "You're not asleep?" Natasha jumped up, snatched up her slippers,
79186 and ran barefoot to her own room.
79187
79188 It was a long time before she could sleep. She kept thinking that no
79189 one could understand all that she understood and all there was in her.
79190
79191 "Sonya?" she thought, glancing at that curled-up, sleeping little
79192 kitten with her enormous plait of hair. "No, how could she? She's
79193 virtuous. She fell in love with Nicholas and does not wish to know
79194 anything more. Even Mamma does not understand. It is wonderful how
79195 clever I am and how... charming she is," she went on, speaking of
79196 herself in the third person, and imagining it was some very wise
79197 man--the wisest and best of men--who was saying it of her. "There is
79198 everything, everything in her," continued this man. "She is
79199 unusually intelligent, charming... and then she is pretty,
79200 uncommonly pretty, and agile--she swims and rides splendidly... and
79201 her voice! One can really say it's a wonderful voice!"
79202
79203 She hummed a scrap from her favorite opera by Cherubini, threw
79204 herself on her bed, laughed at the pleasant thought that she would
79205 immediately fall asleep, called Dunyasha the maid to put out the
79206 candle, and before Dunyasha had left the room had already passed
79207 into yet another happier world of dreams, where everything was as
79208 light and beautiful as in reality, and even more so because it was
79209 different.
79210
79211
79212 Next day the countess called Boris aside and had a talk with him,
79213 after which he ceased coming to the Rostovs'.
79214
79215
79216
79217
79218
79219 CHAPTER XIV
79220
79221
79222 On the thirty-first of December, New Year's Eve, 1809 --10 an old
79223 grandee of Catherine's day was giving a ball and midnight supper.
79224 The diplomatic corps and the Emperor himself were to be present.
79225
79226 The grandee's well-known mansion on the English Quay glittered
79227 with innumerable lights. Police were stationed at the brightly lit
79228 entrance which was carpeted with red baize, and not only gendarmes but
79229 dozens of police officers and even the police master himself stood
79230 at the porch. Carriages kept driving away and fresh ones arriving,
79231 with red-liveried footmen and footmen in plumed hats. From the
79232 carriages emerged men wearing uniforms, stars, and ribbons, while
79233 ladies in satin and ermine cautiously descended the carriage steps
79234 which were let down for them with a clatter, and then walked hurriedly
79235 and noiselessly over the baize at the entrance.
79236
79237 Almost every time a new carriage drove up a whisper ran through
79238 the crowd and caps were doffed.
79239
79240 "The Emperor?... No, a minister.... prince... ambassador. Don't
79241 you see the plumes?..." was whispered among the crowd.
79242
79243 One person, better dressed than the rest, seemed to know everyone
79244 and mentioned by name the greatest dignitaries of the day.
79245
79246 A third of the visitors had already arrived, but the Rostovs, who
79247 were to be present, were still hurrying to get dressed.
79248
79249 There had been many discussions and preparations for this ball in
79250 the Rostov family, many fears that the invitation would not arrive,
79251 that the dresses would not be ready, or that something would not be
79252 arranged as it should be.
79253
79254 Marya Ignatevna Peronskaya, a thin and shallow maid of honor at
79255 the court of the Dowager Empress, who was a friend and relation of the
79256 countess and piloted the provincial Rostovs in Petersburg high
79257 society, was to accompany them to the ball.
79258
79259 They were to call for her at her house in the Taurida Gardens at ten
79260 o'clock, but it was already five minutes to ten, and the girls were
79261 not yet dressed.
79262
79263 Natasha was going to her first grand ball. She had got up at eight
79264 that morning and had been in a fever of excitement and activity all
79265 day. All her powers since morning had been concentrated on ensuring
79266 that they all--she herself, Mamma, and Sonya--should be as well
79267 dressed as possible. Sonya and her mother put themselves entirely in
79268 her hands. The countess was to wear a claret-colored velvet dress, and
79269 the two girls white gauze over pink silk slips, with roses on their
79270 bodices and their hair dressed a la grecque.
79271
79272 Everything essential had already been done; feet, hands, necks,
79273 and ears washed, perfumed, and powdered, as befits a ball; the
79274 openwork silk stockings and white satin shoes with ribbons were
79275 already on; the hairdressing was almost done. Sonya was finishing
79276 dressing and so was the countess, but Natasha, who had bustled about
79277 helping them all, was behindhand. She was still sitting before a
79278 looking-glass with a dressing jacket thrown over her slender
79279 shoulders. Sonya stood ready dressed in the middle of the room and,
79280 pressing the head of a pin till it hurt her dainty finger, was
79281 fixing on a last ribbon that squeaked as the pin went through it.
79282
79283 "That's not the way, that's not the way, Sonya!" cried Natasha
79284 turning her head and clutching with both hands at her hair which the
79285 maid who was dressing it had not time to release. "That bow is not
79286 right. Come here!"
79287
79288 Sonya sat down and Natasha pinned the ribbon on differently.
79289
79290 "Allow me, Miss! I can't do it like that," said the maid who was
79291 holding Natasha's hair.
79292
79293 "Oh, dear! Well then, wait. That's right, Sonya."
79294
79295 "Aren't you ready? It is nearly ten," came the countess' voice.
79296
79297 "Directly! Directly! And you, Mamma?"
79298
79299 "I have only my cap to pin on."
79300
79301 "Don't do it without me!" called Natasha. "You won't do it right."
79302
79303 "But it's already ten."
79304
79305 They had decided to be at the ball by half past ten, and Natasha had
79306 still to get dressed and they had to call at the Taurida Gardens.
79307
79308 When her hair was done, Natasha, in her short petticoat from under
79309 which her dancing shoes showed, and in her mother's dressing jacket,
79310 ran up to Sonya, scrutinized her, and then ran to her mother.
79311 Turning her mother's head this way and that, she fastened on the cap
79312 and, hurriedly kissing her gray hair, ran back to the maids who were
79313 turning up the hem of her skirt.
79314
79315 The cause of the delay was Natasha's skirt, which was too long.
79316 Two maids were turning up the hem and hurriedly biting off the ends of
79317 thread. A third with pins in her mouth was running about between the
79318 countess and Sonya, and a fourth held the whole of the gossamer
79319 garment up high on one uplifted hand.
79320
79321 "Mavra, quicker, darling!"
79322
79323 "Give me my thimble, Miss, from there..."
79324
79325 "Whenever will you be ready?" asked the count coming to the door.
79326 "Here is here is some scent. Peronskaya must be tired of waiting."
79327
79328 "It's ready, Miss," said the maid, holding up the shortened gauze
79329 dress with two fingers, and blowing and shaking something off it, as
79330 if by this to express a consciousness of the airiness and purity of
79331 what she held.
79332
79333 Natasha began putting on the dress.
79334
79335 "In a minute! In a minute! Don't come in, Papa!" she cried to her
79336 father as he opened the door--speaking from under the filmy skirt
79337 which still covered her whole face.
79338
79339 Sonya slammed the door to. A minute later they let the count in.
79340 He was wearing a blue swallow-tail coat, shoes and stockings, and
79341 was perfumed and his hair pomaded.
79342
79343 "Oh, Papa! how nice you look! Charming!" cried Natasha, as she stood
79344 in the middle of the room smoothing out the folds of the gauze.
79345
79346 "If you please, Miss! allow me," said the maid, who on her knees was
79347 pulling the skirt straight and shifting the pins from one side of
79348 her mouth to the other with her tongue.
79349
79350 "Say what you like," exclaimed Sonya, in a despairing voice as she
79351 looked at Natasha, "say what you like, it's still too long."
79352
79353 Natasha stepped back to look at herself in the pier glass. The dress
79354 was too long.
79355
79356 "Really, madam, it is not at all too long," said Mavra, crawling
79357 on her knees after her young lady.
79358
79359 "Well, if it's too long we'll take it up... we'll tack it up in
79360 one minute," said the resolute Dunyasha taking a needle that was stuck
79361 on the front of her little shawl and, still kneeling on the floor, set
79362 to work once more.
79363
79364 At that moment, with soft steps, the countess came in shyly, in
79365 her cap and velvet gown.
79366
79367 "Oo-oo, my beauty!" exclaimed the count, "she looks better than
79368 any of you!"
79369
79370 He would have embraced her but, blushing, she stepped aside
79371 fearing to be rumpled.
79372
79373 "Mamma, your cap, more to this side," said Natasha. "I'll arrange
79374 it," and she rushed forward so that the maids who were tacking up
79375 her skirt could not move fast enough and a piece of gauze was torn
79376 off.
79377
79378 "Oh goodness! What has happened? Really it was not my fault!"
79379
79380 "Never mind, I'll run it up, it won't show," said Dunyasha.
79381
79382 "What a beauty--a very queen!" said the nurse as she came to the
79383 door. "And Sonya! They are lovely!"
79384
79385 At a quarter past ten they at last got into their carriages and
79386 started. But they had still to call at the Taurida Gardens.
79387
79388 Peronskaya was quite ready. In spite of her age and plainness she
79389 had gone through the same process as the Rostovs, but with less
79390 flurry--for to her it was a matter of routine. Her ugly old body was
79391 washed, perfumed, and powdered in just the same way. She had washed
79392 behind her ears just as carefully, and when she entered her drawing
79393 room in her yellow dress, wearing her badge as maid of honor, her
79394 old lady's maid was as full of rapturous admiration as the Rostovs'
79395 servants had been.
79396
79397 She praised the Rostovs' toilets. They praised her taste and toilet,
79398 and at eleven o'clock, careful of their coiffures and dresses, they
79399 settled themselves in their carriages and drove off.
79400
79401
79402
79403
79404
79405 CHAPTER XV
79406
79407
79408 Natasha had not had a moment free since early morning and had not
79409 once had time to think of what lay before her.
79410
79411 In the damp chill air and crowded closeness of the swaying carriage,
79412 she for the first time vividly imagined what was in store for her
79413 there at the ball, in those brightly lighted rooms--with music,
79414 flowers, dances, the Emperor, and all the brilliant young people of
79415 Petersburg. The prospect was so splendid that she hardly believed it
79416 would come true, so out of keeping was it with the chill darkness
79417 and closeness of the carriage. She understood all that awaited her
79418 only when, after stepping over the red baize at the entrance, she
79419 entered the hall, took off her fur cloak, and, beside Sonya and in
79420 front of her mother, mounted the brightly illuminated stairs between
79421 the flowers. Only then did she remember how she must behave at a ball,
79422 and tried to assume the majestic air she considered indispensable
79423 for a girl on such an occasion. But, fortunately for her, she felt her
79424 eyes growing misty, she saw nothing clearly, her pulse beat a
79425 hundred to the minute, and the blood throbbed at her heart. She
79426 could not assume that pose, which would have made her ridiculous,
79427 and she moved on almost fainting from excitement and trying with all
79428 her might to conceal it. And this was the very attitude that became
79429 her best. Before and behind them other visitors were entering, also
79430 talking in low tones and wearing ball dresses. The mirrors on the
79431 landing reflected ladies in white, pale-blue, and pink dresses, with
79432 diamonds and pearls on their bare necks and arms.
79433
79434 Natasha looked in the mirrors and could not distinguish her
79435 reflection from the others. All was blended into one brilliant
79436 procession. On entering the ballroom the regular hum of voices,
79437 footsteps, and greetings deafened Natasha, and the light and glitter
79438 dazzled her still more. The host and hostess, who had already been
79439 standing at the door for half an hour repeating the same words to
79440 the various arrivals, "Charme de vous voir,"* greeted the Rostovs
79441 and Peronskaya in the same manner.
79442
79443
79444 *"Delighted to see you."
79445
79446
79447 The two girls in their white dresses, each with a rose in her
79448 black hair, both curtsied in the same way, but the hostess' eye
79449 involuntarily rested longer on the slim Natasha. She looked at her and
79450 gave her alone a special smile in addition to her usual smile as
79451 hostess. Looking at her she may have recalled the golden,
79452 irrecoverable days of her own girlhood and her own first ball. The
79453 host also followed Natasha with his eyes and asked the count which was
79454 his daughter.
79455
79456 "Charming!" said he, kissing the tips of his fingers.
79457
79458 In the ballroom guests stood crowding at the entrance doors awaiting
79459 the Emperor. The countess took up a position in one of the front
79460 rows of that crowd. Natasha heard and felt that several people were
79461 asking about her and looking at her. She realized that those
79462 noticing her liked her, and this observation helped to calm her.
79463
79464 "There are some like ourselves and some worse," she thought.
79465
79466 Peronskaya was pointing out to the countess the most important
79467 people at the ball.
79468
79469 "That is the Dutch ambassador, do you see? That gray-haired man,"
79470 she said, indicating an old man with a profusion of silver-gray
79471 curly hair, who was surrounded by ladies laughing at something he
79472 said.
79473
79474 "Ah, here she is, the Queen of Petersburg, Countess Bezukhova," said
79475 Peronskaya, indicating Helene who had just entered. "How lovely! She
79476 is quite equal to Marya Antonovna. See how the men, young and old, pay
79477 court to her. Beautiful and clever... they say Prince--is quite mad
79478 about her. But see, those two, though not good-looking, are even
79479 more run after."
79480
79481 She pointed to a lady who was crossing the room followed by a very
79482 plain daughter.
79483
79484 "She is a splendid match, a millionairess," said Peronskaya. "And
79485 look, here come her suitors."
79486
79487 "That is Bezukhova's brother, Anatole Kuragin," she said, indicating
79488 a handsome officer of the Horse Guards who passed by them with head
79489 erect, looking at something over the heads of the ladies. "He's
79490 handsome, isn't he? I hear they will marry him to that rich girl.
79491 But your cousin, Drubetskoy, is also very attentive to her. They say
79492 she has millions. Oh yes, that's the French ambassador himself!" she
79493 replied to the countess' inquiry about Caulaincourt. "Looks as if he
79494 were a king! All the same, the French are charming, very charming.
79495 No one more charming in society. Ah, here she is! Yes, she is still
79496 the most beautiful of them all, our Marya Antonovna! And how simply
79497 she is dressed! Lovely! And that stout one in spectacles is the
79498 universal Freemason," she went on, indicating Pierre. "Put him
79499 beside his wife and he looks a regular buffoon!"
79500
79501 Pierre, swaying his stout body, advanced, making way through the
79502 crowd and nodding to right and left as casually and good-naturedly
79503 as if he were passing through a crowd at a fair. He pushed through,
79504 evidently looking for someone.
79505
79506 Natasha looked joyfully at the familiar face of Pierre, "the
79507 buffoon," as Peronskaya had called him, and knew he was looking for
79508 them, and for her in particular. He had promised to be at the ball and
79509 introduce partners to her.
79510
79511 But before he reached them Pierre stopped beside a very handsome,
79512 dark man of middle height, and in a white uniform, who stood by a
79513 window talking to a tall man wearing stars and a ribbon. Natasha at
79514 once recognized the shorter and younger man in the white uniform: it
79515 was Bolkonski, who seemed to her to have grown much younger,
79516 happier, and better-looking.
79517
79518 "There's someone else we know--Bolkonski, do you see, Mamma?" said
79519 Natasha, pointing out Prince Andrew. "You remember, he stayed a
79520 night with us at Otradnoe."
79521
79522 "Oh, you know him?" said Peronskaya. "I can't bear him. Il fait a
79523 present la pluie et le beau temps.* He's too proud for anything.
79524 Takes after his father. And he's hand in glove with Speranski, writing
79525 some project or other. Just look how he treats the ladies! There's one
79526 talking to him and he has turned away," she said, pointing at him.
79527 "I'd give it to him if he treated me as he does those ladies."
79528
79529
79530 *"He is all the rage just now.
79531
79532
79533
79534
79535
79536 CHAPTER XVI
79537
79538
79539 Suddenly everybody stirred, began talking, and pressed forward and
79540 then back, and between the two rows, which separated, the Emperor
79541 entered to the sounds of music that had immediately struck up.
79542 Behind him walked his host and hostess. He walked in rapidly, bowing
79543 to right and left as if anxious to get the first moments of the
79544 reception over. The band played the polonaise in vogue at that time on
79545 account of the words that had been set to it, beginning: "Alexander,
79546 Elisaveta, all our hearts you ravish quite..." The Emperor passed on
79547 to the drawing room, the crowd made a rush for the doors, and
79548 several persons with excited faces hurried there and back again.
79549 Then the crowd hastily retired from the drawing-room door, at which
79550 the Emperor reappeared talking to the hostess. A young man, looking
79551 distraught, pounced down on the ladies, asking them to move aside.
79552 Some ladies, with faces betraying complete forgetfulness of all the
79553 rules of decorum, pushed forward to the detriment of their toilets.
79554 The men began to choose partners and take their places for the
79555 polonaise.
79556
79557 Everyone moved back, and the Emperor came smiling out of the drawing
79558 room leading his hostess by the hand but not keeping time to the
79559 music. The host followed with Marya Antonovna Naryshkina; then came
79560 ambassadors, ministers, and various generals, whom Peronskaya
79561 diligently named. More than half the ladies already had partners and
79562 were taking up, or preparing to take up, their positions for the
79563 polonaise. Natasha felt that she would be left with her mother and
79564 Sonya among a minority of women who crowded near the wall, not
79565 having been invited to dance. She stood with her slender arms
79566 hanging down, her scarcely defined bosom rising and falling regularly,
79567 and with bated breath and glittering, frightened eyes gazed straight
79568 before her, evidently prepared for the height of joy or misery. She
79569 was not concerned about the Emperor or any of those great people
79570 whom Peronskaya was pointing out--she had but one thought: "Is it
79571 possible no one will ask me, that I shall not be among the first to
79572 dance? Is it possible that not one of all these men will notice me?
79573 They do not even seem to see me, or if they do they look as if they
79574 were saying, 'Ah, she's not the one I'm after, so it's not worth
79575 looking at her!' No, it's impossible," she thought. "They must know
79576 how I long to dance, how splendidly I dance, and how they would
79577 enjoy dancing with me."
79578
79579 The strains of the polonaise, which had continued for a considerable
79580 time, had begun to sound like a sad reminiscence to Natasha's ears.
79581 She wanted to cry. Peronskaya had left them. The count was at the
79582 other end of the room. She and the countess and Sonya were standing by
79583 themselves as in the depths of a forest amid that crowd of
79584 strangers, with no one interested in them and not wanted by anyone.
79585 Prince Andrew with a lady passed by, evidently not recognizing them.
79586 The handsome Anatole was smilingly talking to a partner on his arm and
79587 looked at Natasha as one looks at a wall. Boris passed them twice
79588 and each time turned away. Berg and his wife, who were not dancing,
79589 came up to them.
79590
79591 This family gathering seemed humiliating to Natasha--as if there
79592 were nowhere else for the family to talk but here at the ball. She did
79593 not listen to or look at Vera, who was telling her something about her
79594 own green dress.
79595
79596 At last the Emperor stopped beside his last partner (he had danced
79597 with three) and the music ceased. A worried aide-de-camp ran up to the
79598 Rostovs requesting them to stand farther back, though as it was they
79599 were already close to the wall, and from the gallery resounded the
79600 distinct, precise, enticingly rhythmical strains of a waltz. The
79601 Emperor looked smilingly down the room. A minute passed but no one had
79602 yet begun dancing. An aide-de-camp, the Master of Ceremonies, went
79603 up to Countess Bezukhova and asked her to dance. She smilingly
79604 raised her hand and laid it on his shoulder without looking at him.
79605 The aide-de-camp, an adept in his art, grasping his partner firmly
79606 round her waist, with confident deliberation started smoothly, gliding
79607 first round the edge of the circle, then at the corner of the room
79608 he caught Helene's left hand and turned her, the only sound audible,
79609 apart from the ever-quickening music, being the rhythmic click of
79610 the spurs on his rapid, agile feet, while at every third beat his
79611 partner's velvet dress spread out and seemed to flash as she whirled
79612 round. Natasha gazed at them and was ready to cry because it was not
79613 she who was dancing that first turn of the waltz.
79614
79615 Prince Andrew, in the white uniform of a cavalry colonel, wearing
79616 stockings and dancing shoes, stood looking animated and bright in
79617 the front row of the circle not far from the Rostovs. Baron Firhoff
79618 was talking to him about the first sitting of the Council of State
79619 to be held next day. Prince Andrew, as one closely connected with
79620 Speranski and participating in the work of the legislative commission,
79621 could give reliable information about that sitting, concerning which
79622 various rumors were current. But not listening to what Firhoff was
79623 saying, he was gazing now at the sovereign and now at the men
79624 intending to dance who had not yet gathered courage to enter the
79625 circle.
79626
79627 Prince Andrew was watching these men abashed by the Emperor's
79628 presence, and the women who were breathlessly longing to be asked to
79629 dance.
79630
79631 Pierre came up to him and caught him by the arm.
79632
79633 "You always dance. I have a protegee, the young Rostova, here. Ask
79634 her," he said.
79635
79636 "Where is she?" asked Bolkonski. "Excuse me!" he added, turning to
79637 the baron, "we will finish this conversation elsewhere--at a ball
79638 one must dance." He stepped forward in the direction Pierre indicated.
79639 The despairing, dejected expression of Natasha's face caught his
79640 eye. He recognized her, guessed her feelings, saw that it was her
79641 debut, remembered her conversation at the window, and with an
79642 expression of pleasure on his face approached Countess Rostova.
79643
79644 "Allow me to introduce you to my daughter," said the countess,
79645 with heightened color.
79646
79647 "I have the pleasure of being already acquainted, if the countess
79648 remembers me," said Prince Andrew with a low and courteous bow quite
79649 belying Peronskaya's remarks about his rudeness, and approaching
79650 Natasha he held out his arm to grasp her waist before he had completed
79651 his invitation. He asked her to waltz. That tremulous expression on
79652 Natasha's face, prepared either for despair or rapture, suddenly
79653 brightened into a happy, grateful, childlike smile.
79654
79655 "I have long been waiting for you," that frightened happy little
79656 girl seemed to say by the smile that replaced the threatened tears, as
79657 she raised her hand to Prince Andrew's shoulder. They were the
79658 second couple to enter the circle. Prince Andrew was one of the best
79659 dancers of his day and Natasha danced exquisitely. Her little feet
79660 in their white satin dancing shoes did their work swiftly, lightly,
79661 and independently of herself, while her face beamed with ecstatic
79662 happiness. Her slender bare arms and neck were not beautiful--compared
79663 to Helene's her shoulders looked thin and her bosom undeveloped. But
79664 Helene seemed, as it were, hardened by a varnish left by the thousands
79665 of looks that had scanned her person, while Natasha was like a girl
79666 exposed for the first time, who would have felt very much ashamed
79667 had she not been assured that this was absolutely necessary.
79668
79669 Prince Andrew liked dancing, and wishing to escape as quickly as
79670 possible from the political and clever talk which everyone addressed
79671 to him, wishing also to break up the circle of restraint he
79672 disliked, caused by the Emperor's presence, he danced, and had
79673 chosen Natasha because Pierre pointed her out to him and because she
79674 was the first pretty girl who caught his eye; but scarcely had he
79675 embraced that slender supple figure and felt her stirring so close
79676 to him and smiling so near him than the wine of her charm rose to
79677 his head, and he felt himself revived and rejuvenated when after
79678 leaving her he stood breathing deeply and watching the other dancers.
79679
79680
79681
79682
79683
79684 CHAPTER XVII
79685
79686
79687 After Prince Andrew, Boris came up to ask Natasha for dance, and
79688 then the aide-de-camp who had opened the ball, and several other young
79689 men, so that, flushed and happy, and passing on her superfluous
79690 partners to Sonya, she did not cease dancing all the evening. She
79691 noticed and saw nothing of what occupied everyone else. Not only did
79692 she fail to notice that the Emperor talked a long time with the French
79693 ambassador, and how particularly gracious he was to a certain lady, or
79694 that Prince So-and-so and So-and-so did and said this and that, and
79695 that Helene had great success and was honored was by the special
79696 attention of So-and-so, but she did not even see the Emperor, and only
79697 noticed that he had gone because the ball became livelier after his
79698 departure. For one of the merry cotillions before supper Prince Andrew
79699 was again her partner. He reminded her of their first encounter in the
79700 Otradnoe avenue, and how she had been unable to sleep that moonlight
79701 night, and told her how he had involuntarily overheard her. Natasha
79702 blushed at that recollection and tried to excuse herself, as if
79703 there had been something to be ashamed of in what Prince Andrew had
79704 overheard.
79705
79706 Like all men who have grown up in society, Prince Andrew liked
79707 meeting someone there not of the conventional society stamp. And
79708 such was Natasha, with her surprise, her delight, her shyness, and
79709 even her mistakes in speaking French. With her he behaved with special
79710 care and tenderness, sitting beside her and talking of the simplest
79711 and most unimportant matters; he admired her shy grace. In the
79712 middle of the cotillion, having completed one of the figures, Natasha,
79713 still out of breath, was returning to her seat when another dancer
79714 chose her. She was tired and panting and evidently thought of
79715 declining, but immediately put her hand gaily on the man's shoulder,
79716 smiling at Prince Andrew.
79717
79718 "I'd be glad to sit beside you and rest: I'm tired; but you see
79719 how they keep asking me, and I'm glad of it, I'm happy and I love
79720 everybody, and you and I understand it all," and much, much more was
79721 said in her smile. When her partner left her Natasha ran across the
79722 room to choose two ladies for the figure.
79723
79724 "If she goes to her cousin first and then to another lady, she
79725 will be my wife," said Prince Andrew to himself quite to his own
79726 surprise, as he watched her. She did go first to her cousin.
79727
79728 "What rubbish sometimes enters one's head!" thought Prince Andrew,
79729 "but what is certain is that that girl is so charming, so original,
79730 that she won't be dancing here a month before she will be
79731 married.... Such as she are rare here," he thought, as Natasha,
79732 readjusting a rose that was slipping on her bodice, settled herself
79733 beside him.
79734
79735 When the cotillion was over the old count in his blue coat came up
79736 to the dancers. He invited Prince Andrew to come and see them, and
79737 asked his daughter whether she was enjoying herself. Natasha did not
79738 answer at once but only looked up with a smile that said
79739 reproachfully: "How can you ask such a question?"
79740
79741 "I have never enjoyed myself so much before!" she said, and Prince
79742 Andrew noticed how her thin arms rose quickly as if to embrace her
79743 father and instantly dropped again. Natasha was happier than she had
79744 ever been in her life. She was at that height of bliss when one
79745 becomes completely kind and good and does not believe in the
79746 possibility of evil, unhappiness, or sorrow.
79747
79748 At that ball Pierre for the first time felt humiliated by the
79749 position his wife occupied in court circles. He was gloomy and
79750 absent-minded. A deep furrow ran across his forehead, and standing
79751 by a window he stared over his spectacles seeing no one.
79752
79753 On her way to supper Natasha passed him.
79754
79755 Pierre's gloomy, unhappy look struck her. She stopped in front of
79756 him. She wished to help him, to bestow on him the superabundance of
79757 her own happiness.
79758
79759 "How delightful it is, Count!" said she. "Isn't it?"
79760
79761 Pierre smiled absent-mindedly, evidently not grasping what she said.
79762
79763 "Yes, I am very glad," he said.
79764
79765 "How can people be dissatisfied with anything?" thought Natasha.
79766 "Especially such a capital fellow as Bezukhov!" In Natasha's eyes
79767 all the people at the ball alike were good, kind, and splendid people,
79768 loving one another; none of them capable of injuring another--and so
79769 they ought all to be happy.
79770
79771
79772
79773
79774
79775 CHAPTER XVIII
79776
79777
79778 Next day Prince Andrew thought of the ball, but his mind did not
79779 dwell on it long. "Yes, it was a very brilliant ball," and then...
79780 "Yes, that little Rostova is very charming. There's something fresh,
79781 original, un-Petersburg-like about her that distinguishes her." That
79782 was all he thought about yesterday's ball, and after his morning tea
79783 he set to work.
79784
79785 But either from fatigue or want of sleep he was ill-disposed for
79786 work and could get nothing done. He kept criticizing his own work,
79787 as he often did, and was glad when he heard someone coming.
79788
79789 The visitor was Bitski, who served on various committees, frequented
79790 all the societies in Petersburg, and a passionate devotee of the new
79791 ideas and of Speranski, and a diligent Petersburg newsmonger--one of
79792 those men who choose their opinions like their clothes according to
79793 the fashion, but who for that very reason appear to be the warmest
79794 partisans. Hardly had he got rid of his hat before he ran into
79795 Prince Andrew's room with a preoccupied air and at once began talking.
79796 He had just heard particulars of that morning's sitting of the Council
79797 of State opened by the Emperor, and he spoke of it enthusiastically.
79798 The Emperor's speech had been extraordinary. It had been a speech such
79799 as only constitutional monarchs deliver. "The Sovereign plainly said
79800 that the Council and Senate are estates of the realm, he said that the
79801 government must rest not on authority but on secure bases. The Emperor
79802 said that the fiscal system must be reorganized and the accounts
79803 published," recounted Bitski, emphasizing certain words and opening
79804 his eyes significantly.
79805
79806 "Ah, yes! Today's events mark an epoch, the greatest epoch in our
79807 history," he concluded.
79808
79809 Prince Andrew listened to the account of the opening of the
79810 Council of State, which he had so impatiently awaited and to which
79811 he had attached such importance, and was surprised that this event,
79812 now that it had taken place, did not affect him, and even seemed quite
79813 insignificant. He listened with quiet irony to Bitski's enthusiastic
79814 account of it. A very simple thought occurred to him: "What does it
79815 matter to me or to Bitski what the Emperor was pleased to say at the
79816 Council? Can all that make me any happier or better?"
79817
79818 And this simple reflection suddenly destroyed all the interest
79819 Prince Andrew had felt in the impending reforms. He was going to
79820 dine that evening at Speranski's, "with only a few friends," as the
79821 host had said when inviting him. The prospect of that dinner in the
79822 intimate home circle of the man he so admired had greatly interested
79823 Prince Andrew, especially as he had not yet seen Speranski in his
79824 domestic surroundings, but now he felt disinclined to go to it.
79825
79826 At the appointed hour, however, he entered the modest house
79827 Speranski owned in the Taurida Gardens. In the parqueted dining room
79828 this small house, remarkable for its extreme cleanliness (suggesting
79829 that of a monastery), Prince Andrew, who was rather late, found the
79830 friendly gathering of Speranski's intimate acquaintances already
79831 assembled at five o'clock. There were no ladies present except
79832 Speranski's little daughter (long-faced like her father) and her
79833 governess. The other guests were Gervais, Magnitski, and Stolypin.
79834 While still in the anteroom Prince Andrew heard loud voices and a
79835 ringing staccato laugh--a laugh such as one hears on the stage.
79836 Someone--it sounded like Speranski--was distinctly ejaculating
79837 ha-ha-ha. Prince Andrew had never before heard Speranski's famous
79838 laugh, and this ringing, high pitched laughter from a statesman made a
79839 strange impression on him.
79840
79841 He entered the dining room. The whole company were standing
79842 between two windows at a small table laid with hors-d'oeuvres.
79843 Speranski, wearing a gray swallow-tail coat with a star on the breast,
79844 and evidently still the same waistcoat and high white stock he had
79845 worn at the meeting of the Council of State, stood at the table with a
79846 beaming countenance. His guests surrounded him. Magnitski,
79847 addressing himself to Speranski, was relating an anecdote, and
79848 Speranski was laughing in advance at what Magnitski was going to
79849 say. When Prince Andrew entered the room Magnitski's words were
79850 again crowned by laughter. Stolypin gave a deep bass guffaw as he
79851 munched a piece of bread and cheese. Gervais laughed softly with a
79852 hissing chuckle, and Speranski in a high-pitched staccato manner.
79853
79854 Still laughing, Speranski held out his soft white hand to Prince
79855 Andrew.
79856
79857 "Very pleased to see you, Prince," he said. "One moment..." he
79858 went on, turning to Magnitski and interrupting his story. "We have
79859 agreed that this is a dinner for recreation, with not a word about
79860 business!" and turning again to the narrator he began to laugh afresh.
79861
79862 Prince Andrew looked at the laughing Speranski with astonishment,
79863 regret, and disillusionment. It seemed to him that this was not
79864 Speranski but someone else. Everything that had formerly appeared
79865 mysterious and fascinating in Speranski suddenly became plain and
79866 unattractive.
79867
79868 At dinner the conversation did not cease for a moment and seemed
79869 to consist of the contents of a book of funny anecdotes. Before
79870 Magnitski had finished his story someone else was anxious to relate
79871 something still funnier. Most of the anecdotes, if not relating to the
79872 state service, related to people in the service. It seemed that in
79873 this company the insignificance of those people was so definitely
79874 accepted that the only possible attitude toward them was one of good
79875 humored ridicule. Speranski related how at the Council that morning
79876 a deaf dignitary, when asked his opinion, replied that he thought so
79877 too. Gervais gave a long account of an official revision, remarkable
79878 for the stupidity of everybody concerned. Stolypin, stuttering,
79879 broke into the conversation and began excitedly talking of the
79880 abuses that existed under the former order of things--threatening to
79881 give a serious turn to the conversation. Magnitski starting quizzing
79882 Stolypin about his vehemence. Gervais intervened with a joke, and
79883 the talk reverted to its former lively tone.
79884
79885 Evidently Speranski liked to rest after his labors and find
79886 amusement in a circle of friends, and his guests, understanding his
79887 wish, tried to enliven him and amuse themselves. But their gaiety
79888 seemed to Prince Andrew mirthless and tiresome. Speranski's
79889 high-pitched voice struck him unpleasantly, and the incessant laughter
79890 grated on him like a false note. Prince Andrew did not laugh and
79891 feared that he would be a damper on the spirits of the company, but no
79892 one took any notice of his being out of harmony with the general mood.
79893 They all seemed very gay.
79894
79895 He tried several times to join in the conversation, but his
79896 remarks were tossed aside each time like a cork thrown out of the
79897 water, and he could not jest with them.
79898
79899 There was nothing wrong or unseemly in what they said, it was
79900 witty and might have been funny, but it lacked just that something
79901 which is the salt of mirth, and they were not even aware that such a
79902 thing existed.
79903
79904 After dinner Speranski's daughter and her governess rose. He
79905 patted the little girl with his white hand and kissed her. And that
79906 gesture, too, seemed unnatural to Prince Andrew.
79907
79908 The men remained at table over their port--English fashion. In the
79909 midst of a conversation that was started about Napoleon's Spanish
79910 affairs, which they all agreed in approving, Prince Andrew began to
79911 express a contrary opinion. Speranski smiled and, with an evident wish
79912 to prevent the conversation from taking an unpleasant course, told a
79913 story that had no connection with the previous conversation. For a few
79914 moments all were silent.
79915
79916 Having sat some time at table, Speranski corked a bottle of wine
79917 and, remarking, "Nowadays good wine rides in a carriage and pair,"
79918 passed it to the servant and got up. All rose and continuing to talk
79919 loudly went into the drawing room. Two letters brought by a courier
79920 were handed to Speranski and he took them to his study. As soon as
79921 he had left the room the general merriment stopped and the guests
79922 began to converse sensibly and quietly with one another.
79923
79924 "Now for the recitation!" said Speranski on returning from his
79925 study. "A wonderful talent!" he said to Prince Andrew, and Magnitski
79926 immediately assumed a pose and began reciting some humorous verses
79927 in French which he had composed about various well-known Petersburg
79928 people. He was interrupted several times by applause. When the
79929 verses were finished Prince Andrew went up to Speranski and took his
79930 leave.
79931
79932 "Where are you off to so early?" asked Speranski.
79933
79934 "I promised to go to a reception."
79935
79936 They said no more. Prince Andrew looked closely into those
79937 mirrorlike, impenetrable eyes, and felt that it had been ridiculous of
79938 him to have expected anything from Speranski and from any of his own
79939 activities connected with him, or ever to have attributed importance
79940 to what Speranski was doing. That precise, mirthless laughter rang
79941 in Prince Andrew's ears long after he had left the house.
79942
79943 When he reached home Prince Andrew began thinking of his life in
79944 Petersburg during those last four months as if it were something
79945 new. He recalled his exertions and solicitations, and the history of
79946 his project of army reform, which had been accepted for
79947 consideration and which they were trying to pass over in silence
79948 simply because another, a very poor one, had already been prepared and
79949 submitted to the Emperor. He thought of the meetings of a committee of
79950 which Berg was a member. He remembered how carefully and at what
79951 length everything relating to form and procedure was discussed at
79952 those meetings, and how sedulously and promptly all that related to
79953 the gist of the business was evaded. He recalled his labors on the
79954 Legal Code, and how painstakingly he had translated the articles of
79955 the Roman and French codes into Russian, and he felt ashamed of
79956 himself. Then he vividly pictured to himself Bogucharovo, his
79957 occupations in the country, his journey to Ryazan; he remembered the
79958 peasants and Dron the village elder, and mentally applying to them the
79959 Personal Rights he had divided into paragraphs, he felt astonished
79960 that he could have spent so much time on such useless work.
79961
79962
79963
79964
79965
79966 CHAPTER XIX
79967
79968
79969 Next day Prince Andrew called at a few houses he had not visited
79970 before, and among them at the Rostovs' with whom he had renewed
79971 acquaintance at the ball. Apart from considerations of politeness
79972 which demanded the call, he wanted to see that original, eager girl
79973 who had left such a pleasant impression on his mind, in her own home.
79974
79975 Natasha was one of the first to meet him. She was wearing a
79976 dark-blue house dress in which Prince Andrew thought her even prettier
79977 than in her ball dress. She and all the Rostov family welcomed him
79978 as an old friend, simply and cordially. The whole family, whom he
79979 had formerly judged severely, now seemed to him to consist of
79980 excellent, simple, and kindly people. The old count's hospitality
79981 and good nature, which struck one especially in Petersburg as a
79982 pleasant surprise, were such that Prince Andrew could not refuse to
79983 stay to dinner. "Yes," he thought, "they are capital people, who of
79984 course have not the slightest idea what a treasure they possess in
79985 Natasha; but they are kindly folk and form the best possible setting
79986 for this strikingly poetic, charming girl, overflowing with life!"
79987
79988 In Natasha Prince Andrew was conscious of a strange world completely
79989 alien to him and brimful of joys unknown to him, a different world,
79990 that in the Otradnoe avenue and at the window that moonlight night had
79991 already begun to disconcert him. Now this world disconcerted him no
79992 longer and was no longer alien to him, but he himself having entered
79993 it found in it a new enjoyment.
79994
79995 After dinner Natasha, at Prince Andrew's request, went to the
79996 clavichord and began singing. Prince Andrew stood by a window
79997 talking to the ladies and listened to her. In the midst of a phrase he
79998 ceased speaking and suddenly felt tears choking him, a thing he had
79999 thought impossible for him. He looked at Natasha as she sang, and
80000 something new and joyful stirred in his soul. He felt happy and at the
80001 same time sad. He had absolutely nothing to weep about yet he was
80002 ready to weep. What about? His former love? The little princess? His
80003 disillusionments?... His hopes for the future?... Yes and no. The
80004 chief reason was a sudden, vivid sense of the terrible contrast
80005 between something infinitely great and illimitable within him and that
80006 limited and material something that he, and even she, was. This
80007 contrast weighed on and yet cheered him while she sang.
80008
80009 As soon as Natasha had finished she went up to him and asked how
80010 he liked her voice. She asked this and then became confused, feeling
80011 that she ought not to have asked it. He smiled, looking at her, and
80012 said he liked her singing as he liked everything she did.
80013
80014 Prince Andrew left the Rostovs' late in the evening. He went to
80015 bed from habit, but soon realized that he could not sleep. Having
80016 lit his candle he sat up in bed, then got up, then lay down again
80017 not at all troubled by his sleeplessness: his soul was as fresh and
80018 joyful as if he had stepped out of a stuffy room into God's own
80019 fresh air. It did not enter his head that he was in love with Natasha;
80020 he was not thinking about her, but only picturing her to himself,
80021 and in consequence all life appeared in a new light. "Why do I strive,
80022 why do I toil in this narrow, confined frame, when life, all life with
80023 all its joys, is open to me?" said he to himself. And for the first
80024 time for a very long while he began making happy plans for the future.
80025 He decided that he must attend to his son's education by finding a
80026 tutor and putting the boy in his charge, then he ought to retire
80027 from the service and go abroad, and see England, Switzerland and
80028 Italy. "I must use my freedom while I feel so much strength and
80029 youth in me," he said to himself. "Pierre was right when he said one
80030 must believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy, and
80031 now I do believe in it. Let the dead bury their dead, but while one
80032 has life one must live and be happy!" thought he.
80033
80034
80035
80036
80037
80038 CHAPTER XX
80039
80040
80041 One morning Colonel Berg, whom Pierre knew as he knew everybody in
80042 Moscow and Petersburg, came to see him. Berg arrived in an
80043 immaculate brand-new uniform, with his hair pomaded and brushed
80044 forward over his temples as the Emperor Alexander wore his hair.
80045
80046 "I have just been to see the countess, your wife. Unfortunately
80047 she could not grant my request, but I hope, Count, I shall be more
80048 fortunate with you," he said with a smile.
80049
80050 "What is it you wish, Colonel? I am at your service."
80051
80052 "I have now quite settled in my new rooms, Count" (Berg said this
80053 with perfect conviction that this information could not but be
80054 agreeable), "and so I wish to arrange just a small party for my own
80055 and my wife's friends." (He smiled still more pleasantly.) "I wished
80056 to ask the countess and you to do me the honor of coming to tea and to
80057 supper."
80058
80059 Only Countess Helene, considering the society of such people as
80060 the Bergs beneath her, could be cruel enough to refuse such an
80061 invitation. Berg explained so clearly why he wanted to collect at
80062 his house a small but select company, and why this would give him
80063 pleasure, and why though he grudged spending money on cards or
80064 anything harmful, he was prepared to run into some expense for the
80065 sake of good society--that Pierre could not refuse, and promised to
80066 come.
80067
80068 "But don't be late, Count, if I may venture to ask; about ten
80069 minutes to eight, please. We shall make up a rubber. Our general is
80070 coming. He is very good to me. We shall have supper, Count. So you
80071 will do me the favor."
80072
80073 Contrary to his habit of being late, Pierre on that day arrived at
80074 the Bergs' house, not at ten but at fifteen minutes to eight.
80075
80076 Having prepared everything necessary for the party, the Bergs were
80077 ready for their guests' arrival.
80078
80079 In their new, clean, and light study with its small busts and
80080 pictures and new furniture sat Berg and his wife. Berg, closely
80081 buttoned up in his new uniform, sat beside his wife explaining to
80082 her that one always could and should be acquainted with people above
80083 one, because only then does one get satisfaction from acquaintances.
80084
80085 "You can get to know something, you can ask for something. See how I
80086 managed from my first promotion." (Berg measured his life not by years
80087 but by promotions.) "My comrades are still nobodies, while I am only
80088 waiting for a vacancy to command a regiment, and have the happiness to
80089 be your husband." (He rose and kissed Vera's hand, and on the way to
80090 her straightened out a turned-up corner of the carpet.) "And how
80091 have I obtained all this? Chiefly by knowing how to choose my
80092 aquaintances. It goes without saying that one must be conscientious
80093 and methodical."
80094
80095 Berg smiled with a sense of his superiority over a weak woman, and
80096 paused, reflecting that this dear wife of his was after all but a weak
80097 woman who could not understand all that constitutes a man's dignity,
80098 what it was ein Mann zu sein.* Vera at the same time smiling with a
80099 sense of superiority over her good, conscientious husband, who all the
80100 same understood life wrongly, as according to Vera all men did.
80101 Berg, judging by his wife, thought all women weak and foolish. Vera,
80102 judging only by her husband and generalizing from that observation,
80103 supposed that all men, though they understand nothing and are
80104 conceited and selfish, ascribe common sense to themselves alone.
80105
80106
80107 *To be a man.
80108
80109
80110 Berg rose and embraced his wife carefully, so as not to crush her
80111 lace fichu for which he had paid a good price, kissing her straight on
80112 the lips.
80113
80114 "The only thing is, we mustn't have children too soon," he
80115 continued, following an unconscious sequence of ideas.
80116
80117 "Yes," answered Vera, "I don't at all want that. We must live for
80118 society."
80119
80120 "Princess Yusupova wore one exactly like this," said Berg,
80121 pointing to the fichu with a happy and kindly smile.
80122
80123 Just then Count Bezukhov was announced. Husband and wife glanced
80124 at one another, both smiling with self-satisfaction, and each mentally
80125 claiming the honor of this visit.
80126
80127 "This is what what comes of knowing how to make acquaintances,"
80128 thought Berg. "This is what comes of knowing how to conduct oneself."
80129
80130 "But please don't interrupt me when I am entertaining the guests,"
80131 said Vera, "because I know what interests each of them and what to say
80132 to different people."
80133
80134 Berg smiled again.
80135
80136 "It can't be helped: men must sometimes have masculine
80137 conversation," said he.
80138
80139 They received Pierre in their small, new drawing-room, where it
80140 was impossible to sit down anywhere without disturbing its symmetry,
80141 neatness, and order; so it was quite comprehensible and not strange
80142 that Berg, having generously offered to disturb the symmetry of an
80143 armchair or of the sofa for his dear guest, but being apparently
80144 painfully undecided on the matter himself, eventually left the visitor
80145 to settle the question of selection. Pierre disturbed the symmetry
80146 by moving a chair for himself, and Berg and Vera immediately began
80147 their evening party, interrupting each other in their efforts to
80148 entertain their guest.
80149
80150 Vera, having decided in her own mind that Pierre ought to be
80151 entertained with conversation about the French embassy, at once
80152 began accordingly. Berg, having decided that masculine conversation
80153 was required, interrupted his wife's remarks and touched on the
80154 question of the war with Austria, and unconsciously jumped from the
80155 general subject to personal considerations as to the proposals made
80156 him to take part in the Austrian campaign and the reasons why he had
80157 declined them. Though the conversation was very incoherent and Vera
80158 was angry at the intrusion of the masculine element, both husband
80159 and wife felt with satisfaction that, even if only one guest was
80160 present, their evening had begun very well and was as like as two peas
80161 to every other evening party with its talk, tea, and lighted candles.
80162
80163 Before long Boris, Berg's old comrade, arrived. There was a shade of
80164 condescension and patronage in his treatment of Berg and Vera. After
80165 Boris came a lady with the colonel, then the general himself, then the
80166 Rostovs, and the party became unquestionably exactly like all other
80167 evening parties. Berg and Vera could not repress their smiles of
80168 satisfaction at the sight of all this movement in their drawing
80169 room, at the sound of the disconnected talk, the rustling of
80170 dresses, and the bowing and scraping. Everything was just as everybody
80171 always has it, especially so the general, who admired the apartment,
80172 patted Berg on the shoulder, and with parental authority superintended
80173 the setting out of the table for boston. The general sat down by Count
80174 Ilya Rostov, who was next to himself the most important guest. The old
80175 people sat with the old, the young with the young, and the hostess
80176 at the tea table, on which stood exactly the same kind of cakes in a
80177 silver cake basket as the Panins had at their party. Everything was
80178 just as it was everywhere else.
80179
80180
80181
80182
80183
80184 CHAPTER XXI
80185
80186
80187 Pierre, as one of the principal guests, had to sit down to boston
80188 with Count Rostov, the general, and the colonel. At the card table
80189 he happened to be directly facing Natasha, and was struck by a curious
80190 change that had come over her since the ball. She was silent, and
80191 not only less pretty than at the ball, but only redeemed from
80192 plainness by her look of gentle indifference to everything around.
80193
80194 "What's the matter with her?" thought Pierre, glancing at her. She
80195 was sitting by her sister at the tea table, and reluctantly, without
80196 looking at him, made some reply to Boris who sat down beside her.
80197 After playing out a whole suit and to his partner's delight taking
80198 five tricks, Pierre, hearing greetings and the steps of someone who
80199 had entered the room while he was picking up his tricks, glanced again
80200 at Natasha.
80201
80202 "What has happened to her?" he asked himself with still greater
80203 surprise.
80204
80205 Prince Andrew was standing before her, saying something to her
80206 with a look of tender solicitude. She, having raised her head, was
80207 looking up at him, flushed and evidently trying to master her rapid
80208 breathing. And the bright glow of some inner fire that had been
80209 suppressed was again alight in her. She was completely transformed and
80210 from a plain girl had again become what she had been at the ball.
80211
80212 Prince Andrew went up to Pierre, and the latter noticed a new and
80213 youthful expression in his friend's face.
80214
80215 Pierre changed places several times during the game, sitting now
80216 with his back to Natasha and now facing her, but during the whole of
80217 the six rubbers he watched her and his friend.
80218
80219 "Something very important is happening between them," thought
80220 Pierre, and a feeling that was both joyful and painful agitated him
80221 and made him neglect the game.
80222
80223 After six rubbers the general got up, saying that it was no use
80224 playing like that, and Pierre was released. Natasha on one side was
80225 talking with Sonya and Boris, and Vera with a subtle smile was
80226 saying something to Prince Andrew. Pierre went up to his friend and,
80227 asking whether they were talking secrets, sat down beside them.
80228 Vera, having noticed Prince Andrew's attentions to Natasha, decided
80229 that at a party, a real evening party, subtle allusions to the
80230 tender passion were absolutely necessary and, seizing a moment when
80231 Prince Andrew was alone, began a conversation with him about
80232 feelings in general and about her sister. With so intellectual a guest
80233 as she considered Prince Andrew to be, she felt that she had to employ
80234 her diplomatic tact.
80235
80236 When Pierre went up to them he noticed that Vera was being carried
80237 away by her self-satisfied talk, but that Prince Andrew seemed
80238 embarrassed, a thing that rarely happened with him.
80239
80240 "What do you think?" Vera was saying with an arch smile. "You are so
80241 discerning, Prince, and understand people's characters so well at a
80242 glance. What do you think of Natalie? Could she be constant in her
80243 attachments? Could she, like other women" (Vera meant herself),
80244 "love a man once for all and remain true to him forever? That is
80245 what I consider true love. What do you think, Prince?"
80246
80247 "I know your sister too little," replied Prince Andrew, with a
80248 sarcastic smile under which he wished to hide his embarrassment, "to
80249 be able to solve so delicate a question, and then I have noticed
80250 that the less attractive a woman is the more constant she is likely to
80251 be," he added, and looked up Pierre who was just approaching them.
80252
80253 "Yes, that is true, Prince. In our days," continued Vera--mentioning
80254 "our days" as people of limited intelligence are fond of doing,
80255 imagining that they have discovered and appraised the peculiarities of
80256 "our days" and that human characteristics change with the times--"in
80257 our days a girl has so much freedom that the pleasure of being courted
80258 often stifles real feeling in her. And it must be confessed that
80259 Natalie is very susceptible." This return to the subject of Natalie
80260 caused Prince Andrew to knit his brows with discomfort: he was about
80261 to rise, but Vera continued with a still more subtle smile:
80262
80263 "I think no one has been more courted than she," she went on, "but
80264 till quite lately she never cared seriously for anyone. Now you
80265 know, Count," she said to Pierre, "even our dear cousin Boris, who,
80266 between ourselves, was very far gone in the land of tenderness..."
80267 (alluding to a map of love much in vogue at that time).
80268
80269 Prince Andrew frowned and remained silent.
80270
80271 "You are friendly with Boris, aren't you?" asked Vera.
80272
80273 "Yes, I know him..."
80274
80275 "I expect he has told you of his childish love for Natasha?"
80276
80277 "Oh, there was childish love?" suddenly asked Prince Andrew,
80278 blushing unexpectedly.
80279
80280 "Yes, you know between cousins intimacy often leads to love. Le
80281 cousinage est un dangereux voisinage.* Don't you think so?"
80282
80283
80284 *"Cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood."
80285
80286
80287 "Oh, undoubtedly!" said Prince Andrew, and with sudden and unnatural
80288 liveliness he began chaffing Pierre about the need to be very
80289 careful with his fifty-year-old Moscow cousins, and in the midst of
80290 these jesting remarks he rose, taking Pierre by the arm, and drew
80291 him aside.
80292
80293 "Well?" asked Pierre, seeing his friend's strange animation with
80294 surprise, and noticing the glance he turned on Natasha as he rose.
80295
80296 "I must... I must have a talk with you," said Prince Andrew. "You
80297 know that pair of women's gloves?" (He referred to the Masonic
80298 gloves given to a newly initiated Brother to present to the woman he
80299 loved.) "I... but no, I will talk to you later on," and with a strange
80300 light in his eyes and restlessness in his movements, Prince Andrew
80301 approached Natasha and sat down beside her. Pierre saw how Prince
80302 Andrew asked her something and how she flushed as she replied.
80303
80304 But at that moment Berg came to Pierre and began insisting that he
80305 should take part in an argument between the general and the colonel on
80306 the affairs in Spain.
80307
80308 Berg was satisfied and happy. The smile of pleasure never left his
80309 face. The party was very successful and quite like other parties he
80310 had seen. Everything was similar: the ladies' subtle talk, the
80311 cards, the general raising his voice at the card table, and the
80312 samovar and the tea cakes; only one thing was lacking that he had
80313 always seen at the evening parties he wished to imitate. They had
80314 not yet had a loud conversation among the men and a dispute about
80315 something important and clever. Now the general had begun such a
80316 discussion and so Berg drew Pierre to it.
80317
80318
80319
80320
80321
80322 CHAPTER XXII
80323
80324
80325 Next day, having been invited by the count, Prince Andrew dined with
80326 the Rostovs and spent the rest of the day there.
80327
80328 Everyone in the house realized for whose sake Prince Andrew came,
80329 and without concealing it he tried to be with Natasha all day. Not
80330 only in the soul of the frightened yet happy and enraptured Natasha,
80331 but in the whole house, there was a feeling of awe at something
80332 important that was bound to happen. The countess looked with sad and
80333 sternly serious eyes at Prince Andrew when he talked to Natasha and
80334 timidly started some artificial conversation about trifles as soon
80335 as he looked her way. Sonya was afraid to leave Natasha and afraid
80336 of being in the way when she was with them. Natasha grew pale, in a
80337 panic of expectation, when she remained alone with him for a moment.
80338 Prince Andrew surprised her by his timidity. She felt that he wanted
80339 to say something to her but could not bring himself to do so.
80340
80341 In the evening, when Prince Andrew had left, the countess went up to
80342 Natasha and whispered: "Well, what?"
80343
80344 "Mamma! For heaven's sake don't ask me anything now! One can't
80345 talk about that," said Natasha.
80346
80347 But all the same that night Natasha, now agitated and now
80348 frightened, lay a long time in her mother's bed gazing straight
80349 before her. She told her how he had complimented her, how he told
80350 her he was going abroad, asked her where they were going to spend
80351 the summer, and then how he had asked her about Boris.
80352
80353 "But such a... such a... never happened to me before!" she said.
80354 "Only I feel afraid in his presence. I am always afraid when I'm
80355 with him. What does that mean? Does it mean that it's the real
80356 thing? Yes? Mamma, are you asleep?"
80357
80358 "No, my love; I am frightened myself," answered her mother. "Now
80359 go!"
80360
80361 "All the same I shan't sleep. What silliness, to sleep! Mummy!
80362 Mummy! such a thing never happened to me before," she said,
80363 surprised and alarmed at the feeling she was aware of in herself. "And
80364 could we ever have thought!..."
80365
80366 It seemed to Natasha that even at the time she first saw Prince
80367 Andrew at Otradnoe she had fallen in love with him. It was as if she
80368 feared this strange, unexpected happiness of meeting again the very
80369 man she had then chosen (she was firmly convinced she had done so) and
80370 of finding him, as it seemed, not indifferent to her.
80371
80372 "And it had to happen that he should come specially to Petersburg
80373 while we are here. And it had to happen that we should meet at that
80374 ball. It is fate. Clearly it is fate that everything led up to this!
80375 Already then, directly I saw him I felt something peculiar."
80376
80377 "What else did he say to you? What are those verses? Read them..."
80378 said her mother, thoughtfully, referring to some verses Prince
80379 Andrew had written in Natasha's album.
80380
80381 "Mamma, one need not be ashamed of his being a widower?"
80382
80383 "Don't, Natasha! Pray to God. 'Marriages are made in heaven,'"
80384 said her mother.
80385
80386 "Darling Mummy, how I love you! How happy I am!" cried Natasha,
80387 shedding tears of joy and excitement and embracing her mother.
80388
80389 At that very time Prince Andrew was sitting with Pierre and
80390 telling him of his love for Natasha and his firm resolve to make her
80391 his wife.
80392
80393 That day Countess Helene had a reception at her house. The French
80394 ambassador was there, and a foreign prince of the blood who had of
80395 late become a frequent visitor of hers, and many brilliant ladies
80396 and gentlemen. Pierre, who had come downstairs, walked through the
80397 rooms and struck everyone by his preoccupied, absent-minded, and
80398 morose air.
80399
80400 Since the ball he had felt the approach of a fit of nervous
80401 depression and had made desperate efforts to combat it. Since the
80402 intimacy of his wife with the royal prince, Pierre had unexpectedly
80403 been made a gentleman of the bedchamber, and from that time he had
80404 begun to feel oppressed and ashamed in court society, and dark
80405 thoughts of the vanity of all things human came to him oftener than
80406 before. At the same time the feeling he had noticed between his
80407 protegee Natasha and Prince Andrew accentuated his gloom by the
80408 contrast between his own position and his friend's. He tried equally
80409 to avoid thinking about his wife, and about Natasha and Prince Andrew;
80410 and again everything seemed to him insignificant in comparison with
80411 eternity; again the question: for what? presented itself; and he
80412 forced himself to work day and night at Masonic labors, hoping to
80413 drive away the evil spirit that threatened him. Toward midnight, after
80414 he had left the countess' apartments, he was sitting upstairs in a
80415 shabby dressing gown, copying out the original transaction of the
80416 Scottish lodge of Freemasons at a table in his low room cloudy with
80417 tobacco smoke, when someone came in. It was Prince Andrew.
80418
80419 "Ah, it's you!" said Pierre with a preoccupied, dissatisfied air.
80420 "And I, you see, am hard at it." He pointed to his manuscript book
80421 with that air of escaping from the ills of life with which unhappy
80422 people look at their work.
80423
80424 Prince Andrew, with a beaming, ecstatic expression of renewed life
80425 on his face, paused in front of Pierre and, not noticing his sad look,
80426 smiled at him with the egotism of joy.
80427
80428 "Well, dear heart," said he, "I wanted to tell you about it
80429 yesterday and I have come to do so today. I never experienced anything
80430 like it before. I am in love, my friend!"
80431
80432 Suddenly Pierre heaved a deep sigh and dumped his heavy person
80433 down on the sofa beside Prince Andrew.
80434
80435 "With Natasha Rostova, yes?" said he.
80436
80437 "Yes, yes! Who else should it be? I should never have believed it,
80438 but the feeling is stronger than I. Yesterday I tormented myself and
80439 suffered, but I would not exchange even that torment for anything in
80440 the world, I have not lived till now. At last I live, but I can't live
80441 without her! But can she love me?... I am too old for her.... Why
80442 don't you speak?"
80443
80444 "I? I? What did I tell you?" said Pierre suddenly, rising and
80445 beginning to pace up and down the room. "I always thought it....
80446 That girl is such a treasure... she is a rare girl.... My dear friend,
80447 I entreat you, don't philosophize, don't doubt, marry, marry,
80448 marry.... And I am sure there will not be a happier man than you."
80449
80450 "But what of her?"
80451
80452 "She loves you."
80453
80454 "Don't talk rubbish..." said Prince Andrew, smiling and looking into
80455 Pierre's eyes.
80456
80457 "She does, I know," Pierre cried fiercely.
80458
80459 "But do listen," returned Prince Andrew, holding him by the arm. "Do
80460 you know the condition I am in? I must talk about it to someone."
80461
80462 "Well, go on, go on. I am very glad," said Pierre, and his face
80463 really changed, his brow became smooth, and he listened gladly to
80464 Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew seemed, and really was, quite a
80465 different, quite a new man. Where was his spleen, his contempt for
80466 life, his disillusionment? Pierre was the only person to whom he
80467 made up his mind to speak openly; and to him he told all that was in
80468 his soul. Now he boldly and lightly made plans for an extended future,
80469 said he could not sacrifice his own happiness to his father's caprice,
80470 and spoke of how he would either make his father consent to this
80471 marriage and love her, or would do without his consent; then he
80472 marveled at the feeling that had mastered him as at something strange,
80473 apart from and independent of himself.
80474
80475 "I should not have believed anyone who told me that I was capable of
80476 such love," said Prince Andrew. "It is not at all the same feeling
80477 that I knew in the past. The whole world is now for me divided into
80478 two halves: one half is she, and there all is joy, hope, light: the
80479 other half is everything where she is not, and there is all gloom
80480 and darkness...."
80481
80482 "Darkness and gloom," reiterated Pierre: "yes, yes, I understand
80483 that."
80484
80485 "I cannot help loving the light, it is not my fault. And I am very
80486 happy! You understand me? I know you are glad for my sake."
80487
80488 "Yes, yes," Pierre assented, looking at his friend with a touched
80489 and sad expression in his eyes. The brighter Prince Andrew's lot
80490 appeared to him, the gloomier seemed his own.
80491
80492
80493
80494
80495
80496 CHAPTER XXIII
80497
80498
80499 Prince Andrew needed his father's consent to his marriage, and to
80500 obtain this he started for the country next day.
80501
80502 His father received his son's communication with external composure,
80503 but inward wrath. He could not comprehend how anyone could wish to
80504 alter his life or introduce anything new into it, when his own life
80505 was already ending. "If only they would let me end my days as I want
80506 to," thought the old man, "then they might do as they please." With
80507 his son, however, he employed the diplomacy he reserved for
80508 important occasions and, adopting a quiet tone, discussed the whole
80509 matter.
80510
80511 In the first place the marriage was not a brilliant one as regards
80512 birth, wealth, or rank. Secondly, Prince Andrew was no longer as young
80513 as he had been and his health was poor (the old man laid special
80514 stress on this), while she was very young. Thirdly, he had a son
80515 whom it would be a pity to entrust to a chit of a girl. "Fourthly
80516 and finally," the father said, looking ironically at his son, "I beg
80517 you to put it off for a year: go abroad, take a cure, look out as
80518 you wanted to for a German tutor for Prince Nicholas. Then if your
80519 love or passion or obstinacy--as you please--is still as great, marry!
80520 And that's my last word on it. Mind, the last..." concluded the
80521 prince, in a tone which showed that nothing would make him alter his
80522 decision.
80523
80524 Prince Andrew saw clearly that the old man hoped that his
80525 feelings, or his fiancee's, would not stand a year's test, or that
80526 he (the old prince himself) would die before then, and he decided to
80527 conform to his father's wish--to propose, and postpone the wedding for
80528 a year.
80529
80530 Three weeks after the last evening he had spent with the Rostovs,
80531 Prince Andrew returned to Petersburg.
80532
80533
80534 Next day after her talk with her mother Natasha expected Bolkonski
80535 all day, but he did not come. On the second and third day it was the
80536 same. Pierre did not come either and Natasha, not knowing that
80537 Prince Andrew had gone to see his father, could not explain his
80538 absence to herself.
80539
80540 Three weeks passed in this way. Natasha had no desire to go out
80541 anywhere and wandered from room to room like a shadow, idle and
80542 listless; she wept secretly at night and did not go to her mother in
80543 the evenings. She blushed continually and was irritable. It seemed
80544 to her that everybody knew about her disappointment and was laughing
80545 at her and pitying her. Strong as was her inward grief, this wound
80546 to her vanity intensified her misery.
80547
80548 Once she came to her mother, tried to say something, and suddenly
80549 began to cry. Her tears were those of an offended child who does not
80550 know why it is being punished.
80551
80552 The countess began to soothe Natasha, who after first listening to
80553 her mother's words, suddenly interrupted her:
80554
80555 "Leave off, Mamma! I don't think, and don't want to think about
80556 it! He just came and then left off, left off..."
80557
80558 Her voice trembled, and she again nearly cried, but recovered and
80559 went on quietly:
80560
80561 "And I don't at all want to get married. And I am afraid of him; I
80562 have now become quite calm, quite calm."
80563
80564 The day after this conversation Natasha put on the old dress which
80565 she knew had the peculiar property of conducing to cheerfulness in the
80566 mornings, and that day she returned to the old way of life which she
80567 had abandoned since the ball. Having finished her morning tea she went
80568 to the ballroom, which she particularly liked for its loud
80569 resonance, and began singing her solfeggio. When she had finished
80570 her first exercise she stood still in the middle of the room and
80571 sang a musical phrase that particularly pleased her. She listened
80572 joyfully (as though she had not expected it) to the charm of the notes
80573 reverberating, filling the whole empty ballroom, and slowly dying
80574 away; and all at once she felt cheerful. "What's the good of making so
80575 much of it? Things are nice as it is," she said to herself, and she
80576 began walking up and down the room, not stepping simply on the
80577 resounding parquet but treading with each step from the heel to the
80578 toe (she had on a new and favorite pair of shoes) and listening to the
80579 regular tap of the heel and creak of the toe as gladly as she had to
80580 the sounds of her own voice. Passing a mirror she glanced into it.
80581 "There, that's me!" the expression of her face seemed to say as she
80582 caught sight of herself. "Well, and very nice too! I need nobody."
80583
80584 A footman wanted to come in to clear away something in the room
80585 but she would not let him, and having closed the door behind him
80586 continued her walk. That morning she had returned to her favorite
80587 mood--love of, and delight in, herself. "How charming that Natasha
80588 is!" she said again, speaking as some third, collective, male
80589 person. "Pretty, a good voice, young, and in nobody's way if only they
80590 leave her in peace." But however much they left her in peace she could
80591 not now be at peace, and immediately felt this.
80592
80593 In the hall the porch door opened, and someone asked, "At home?" and
80594 then footsteps were heard. Natasha was looking at the mirror, but
80595 did not see herself. She listened to the sounds in the hall. When
80596 she saw herself, her face was pale. It was he. She knew this for
80597 certain, though she hardly heard his voice through the closed doors.
80598
80599 Pale and agitated, Natasha ran into the drawing room.
80600
80601 "Mamma! Bolkonski has come!" she said. "Mamma, it is awful, it is
80602 unbearable! I don't want... to be tormented? What am I to do?..."
80603
80604 Before the countess could answer, Prince Andrew entered the room
80605 with an agitated and serious face. As soon as he saw Natasha his
80606 face brightened. He kissed the countess' hand and Natasha's, and sat
80607 down beside the sofa.
80608
80609 "It is long since we had the pleasure..." began the countess, but
80610 Prince Andrew interrupted her by answering her intended question,
80611 obviously in haste to say what he had to.
80612
80613 "I have not been to see all this time because I have been at my
80614 father's. I had to talk over a very important matter with him. I
80615 only got back last night," he said glancing at Natasha; "I want to
80616 have a talk with you, Countess," he added after a moment's pause.
80617
80618 The countess lowered her eyes, sighing deeply.
80619
80620 "I am at your disposal," she murmured.
80621
80622 Natasha knew that she ought to go away, but was unable to do so:
80623 something gripped her throat, and regardless of manners she stared
80624 straight at Prince Andrew with wide-open eyes.
80625
80626 "At once? This instant!... No, it can't be!" she thought.
80627
80628 Again he glanced at her, and that glance convinced her that she
80629 was not mistaken. Yes, at once, that very instant, her fate would be
80630 decided.
80631
80632 "Go, Natasha! I will call you," said the countess in a whisper.
80633
80634 Natasha glanced with frightened imploring eyes at Prince Andrew
80635 and at her mother and went out.
80636
80637 "I have come, Countess, to ask for your daughter's hand," said
80638 Prince Andrew.
80639
80640 The countess' face flushed hotly, but she said nothing.
80641
80642 "Your offer..." she began at last sedately. He remained silent,
80643 looking into her eyes. "Your offer..." (she grew confused) "is
80644 agreeable to us, and I accept your offer. I am glad. And my husband...
80645 I hope... but it will depend on her...."
80646
80647 "I will speak to her when I have your consent.... Do you give it
80648 to me?" said Prince Andrew.
80649
80650 "Yes," replied the countess. She held out her hand to him, and
80651 with a mixed feeling of estrangement and tenderness pressed her lips
80652 to his forehead as he stooped to kiss her hand. She wished to love him
80653 as a son, but felt that to her he was a stranger and a terrifying man.
80654 "I am sure my husband will consent," said the countess, "but your
80655 father..."
80656
80657 "My father, to whom I have told my plans, has made it an express
80658 condition of his consent that the wedding is not to take place for a
80659 year. And I wished to tell you of that," said Prince Andrew.
80660
80661 "It is true that Natasha is still young, but--so long as that?..."
80662
80663 "It is unavoidable," said Prince Andrew with a sigh.
80664
80665 "I will send her to you," said the countess, and left the room.
80666
80667 "Lord have mercy upon us!" she repeated while seeking her daughter.
80668
80669 Sonya said that Natasha was in her bedroom. Natasha was sitting on
80670 the bed, pale and dry eyed, and was gazing at the icons and whispering
80671 something as she rapidly crossed herself. Seeing her mother she jumped
80672 up and flew to her.
80673
80674 "Well, Mamma?... Well?..."
80675
80676 "Go, go to him. He is asking for your hand," said the countess,
80677 coldly it seemed to Natasha. "Go... go," said the mother, sadly and
80678 reproachfully, with a deep sigh, as her daughter ran away.
80679
80680 Natasha never remembered how she entered the drawing room. When
80681 she came in and saw him she paused. "Is it possible that this stranger
80682 has now become everything to me?" she asked herself, and immediately
80683 answered, "Yes, everything! He alone is now dearer to me than
80684 everything in the world." Prince Andrew came up to her with downcast
80685 eyes.
80686
80687 "I have loved you from the very first moment I saw you. May I hope?"
80688
80689 He looked at her and was struck by the serious impassioned
80690 expression of her face. Her face said: "Why ask? Why doubt what you
80691 cannot but know? Why speak, when words cannot express what one feels?"
80692
80693 She drew near to him and stopped. He took her hand and kissed it.
80694
80695 "Do you love me?"
80696
80697 "Yes, yes!" Natasha murmured as if in vexation. Then she sighed
80698 loudly and, catching her breath more and more quickly, began to sob.
80699
80700 "What is it? What's the matter?"
80701
80702 "Oh, I am so happy!" she replied, smiled through her tears, bent
80703 over closer to him, paused for an instant as if asking herself whether
80704 she might, and then kissed him.
80705
80706 Prince Andrew held her hands, looked into her eyes, and did not find
80707 in his heart his former love for her. Something in him had suddenly
80708 changed; there was no longer the former poetic and mystic charm of
80709 desire, but there was pity for her feminine and childish weakness,
80710 fear at her devotion and trustfulness, and an oppressive yet joyful
80711 sense of the duty that now bound him to her forever. The present
80712 feeling, though not so bright and poetic as the former, was stronger
80713 and more serious.
80714
80715 "Did your mother tell you that it cannot be for a year?" asked
80716 Prince Andrew, still looking into her eyes.
80717
80718 "Is it possible that I--the 'chit of a girl,' as everybody called
80719 me," thought Natasha--"is it possible that I am now to be the wife and
80720 the equal of this strange, dear, clever man whom even my father
80721 looks up to? Can it be true? Can it be true that there can be no
80722 more playing with life, that now I am grown up, that on me now lies
80723 a responsibility for my every word and deed? Yes, but what did he
80724 ask me?"
80725
80726 "No," she replied, but she had not understood his question.
80727
80728 "Forgive me!" he said. "But you are so young, and I have already
80729 been through so much in life. I am afraid for you, you do not yet know
80730 yourself."
80731
80732 Natasha listened with concentrated attention, trying but failing
80733 to take in the meaning of his words.
80734
80735 "Hard as this year which delays my happiness will be," continued
80736 Prince Andrew, "it will give you time to be sure of yourself. I ask
80737 you to make me happy in a year, but you are free: our engagement shall
80738 remain a secret, and should you find that you do not love me, or
80739 should you come to love..." said Prince Andrew with an unnatural
80740 smile.
80741
80742 "Why do you say that?" Natasha interrupted him. "You know that
80743 from the very day you first came to Otradnoe I have loved you," she
80744 cried, quite convinced that she spoke the truth.
80745
80746 "In a year you will learn to know yourself...."
80747
80748 "A whole year!" Natasha repeated suddenly, only now realizing that
80749 the marriage was to be postponed for a year. "But why a year? Why a
80750 year?..."
80751
80752 Prince Andrew began to explain to her the reasons for this delay.
80753 Natasha did not hear him.
80754
80755 "And can't it be helped?" she asked. Prince Andrew did not reply,
80756 but his face expressed the impossibility of altering that decision.
80757
80758 "It's awful! Oh, it's awful! awful!" Natasha suddenly cried, and
80759 again burst into sobs. "I shall die, waiting a year: it's
80760 impossible, it's awful!" She looked into her lover's face and saw in
80761 it a look of commiseration and perplexity.
80762
80763 "No, no! I'll do anything!" she said, suddenly checking her tears.
80764 "I am so happy."
80765
80766 The father and mother came into the room and gave the betrothed
80767 couple their blessing.
80768
80769 From that day Prince Andrew began to frequent the Rostovs' as
80770 Natasha's affianced lover.
80771
80772
80773
80774
80775
80776 CHAPTER XXIV
80777
80778 No betrothal ceremony took place and Natasha's engagement to
80779 Bolkonski was not announced; Prince Andrew insisted on that. He said
80780 that as he was responsible for the delay he ought to bear the whole
80781 burden of it; that he had given his word and bound himself forever,
80782 but that he did not wish to bind Natasha and gave her perfect freedom.
80783 If after six months she felt that she did not love him she would
80784 have full right to reject him. Naturally neither Natasha nor her
80785 parents wished to hear of this, but Prince Andrew was firm. He came
80786 every day to the Rostovs', but did not behave to Natasha as an
80787 affianced lover: he did not use the familiar thou, but said you to
80788 her, and kissed only her hand. After their engagement, quite
80789 different, intimate, and natural relations sprang up between them.
80790 It was as if they had not known each other till now. Both liked to
80791 recall how they had regarded each other when as yet they were
80792 nothing to one another; they felt themselves now quite different
80793 beings: then they were artificial, now natural and sincere. At first
80794 the family felt some constraint in intercourse with Prince Andrew;
80795 he seemed a man from another world, and for a long time Natasha
80796 trained the family to get used to him, proudly assuring them all
80797 that he only appeared to be different, but was really just like all of
80798 them, and that she was not afraid of him and no one else ought to
80799 be. After a few days they grew accustomed to him, and without
80800 restraint in his presence pursued their usual way of life, in which he
80801 took his part. He could talk about rural economy with the count,
80802 fashions with the countess and Natasha, and about albums and fancywork
80803 with Sonya. Sometimes the household both among themselves and in his
80804 presence expressed their wonder at how it had all happened, and at the
80805 evident omens there had been of it: Prince Andrew's coming to Otradnoe
80806 and their coming to Petersburg, and the likeness between Natasha and
80807 Prince Andrew which her nurse had noticed on his first visit, and
80808 Andrew's encounter with Nicholas in 1805, and many other incidents
80809 betokening that it had to be.
80810
80811 In the house that poetic dullness and quiet reigned which always
80812 accompanies the presence of a betrothed couple. Often when all sitting
80813 together everyone kept silent. Sometimes the others would get up and
80814 go away and the couple, left alone, still remained silent. They rarely
80815 spoke of their future life. Prince Andrew was afraid and ashamed to
80816 speak of it. Natasha shared this as she did all his feelings, which
80817 she constantly divined. Once she began questioning him about his
80818 son. Prince Andrew blushed, as he often did now--Natasha
80819 particularly liked it in him--and said that his son would not live
80820 with them.
80821
80822 "Why not?" asked Natasha in a frightened tone.
80823
80824 "I cannot take him away from his grandfather, and besides..."
80825
80826 "How I should have loved him!" said Natasha, immediately guessing
80827 his thought; "but I know you wish to avoid any pretext for finding
80828 fault with us."
80829
80830 Sometimes the old count would come up, kiss Prince Andrew, and ask
80831 his advice about Petya's education or Nicholas' service. The old
80832 countess sighed as she looked at them; Sonya was always getting
80833 frightened lest she should be in the way and tried to find excuses for
80834 leaving them alone, even when they did not wish it. When Prince Andrew
80835 spoke (he could tell a story very well), Natasha listened to him
80836 with pride; when she spoke she noticed with fear and joy that he gazed
80837 attentively and scrutinizingly at her. She asked herself in
80838 perplexity: "What does he look for in me? He is trying to discover
80839 something by looking at me! What if what he seeks in me is not there?"
80840 Sometimes she fell into one of the mad, merry moods characteristic
80841 of her, and then she particularly loved to hear and see how Prince
80842 Andrew laughed. He seldom laughed, but when he did he abandoned
80843 himself entirely to his laughter, and after such a laugh she always
80844 felt nearer to him. Natasha would have been completely happy if the
80845 thought of the separation awaiting her and drawing near had not
80846 terrified her, just as the mere thought of it made him turn pale and
80847 cold.
80848
80849 On the eve of his departure from Petersburg Prince Andrew brought
80850 with him Pierre, who had not been to the Rostovs' once since the ball.
80851 Pierre seemed disconcerted and embarrassed. He was talking to the
80852 countess, and Natasha sat down beside a little chess table with Sonya,
80853 thereby inviting Prince Andrew to come too. He did so.
80854
80855 "You have known Bezukhov a long time?" he asked. "Do you like him?"
80856
80857 "Yes, he's a dear, but very absurd."
80858
80859 And as usual when speaking of Pierre, she began to tell anecdotes of
80860 his absent-mindedness, some of which had even been invented about him.
80861
80862 "Do you know I have entrusted him with our secret? I have known
80863 him from childhood. He has a heart of gold. I beg you, Natalie,"
80864 Prince Andrew said with sudden seriousness--"I am going away and
80865 heaven knows what may happen. You may cease to... all right, I know
80866 I am not to say that. Only this, then: whatever may happen to you when
80867 I am not here..."
80868
80869 "What can happen?"
80870
80871 "Whatever trouble may come," Prince Andrew continued, "I beg you,
80872 Mademoiselle Sophie, whatever may happen, to turn to him alone for
80873 advice and help! He is a most absent-minded and absurd fellow, but
80874 he has a heart of gold."
80875
80876 Neither her father, nor her mother, nor Sonya, nor Prince Andrew
80877 himself could have foreseen how the separation from her lover would
80878 act on Natasha. Flushed and agitated she went about the house all that
80879 day, dry-eyed, occupied with most trivial matters as if not
80880 understanding what awaited her. She did not even cry when, on taking
80881 leave, he kissed her hand for the last time. "Don't go!" she said in a
80882 tone that made him wonder whether he really ought not to stay and
80883 which he remembered long afterwards. Nor did she cry when he was gone;
80884 but for several days she sat in her room dry-eyed, taking no
80885 interest in anything and only saying now and then, "Oh, why did he
80886 go away?"
80887
80888 But a fortnight after his departure, to the surprise of those around
80889 her, she recovered from her mental sickness just as suddenly and
80890 became her old self again, but with a change in her moral physiognomy,
80891 as a child gets up after a long illness with a changed expression of
80892 face.
80893
80894
80895
80896
80897
80898 CHAPTER XXV
80899
80900
80901 During that year after his son's departure, Prince Nicholas
80902 Bolkonski's health and temper became much worse. He grew still more
80903 irritable, and it was Princess Mary who generally bore the brunt of
80904 his frequent fits of unprovoked anger. He seemed carefully to seek out
80905 her tender spots so as to torture her mentally as harshly as possible.
80906 Princess Mary had two passions and consequently two joys--her
80907 nephew, little Nicholas, and religion--and these were the favorite
80908 subjects of the prince's attacks and ridicule. Whatever was spoken
80909 of he would bring round to the superstitiousness of old maids, or
80910 the petting and spoiling of children. "You want to make him"--little
80911 Nicholas--"into an old maid like yourself! A pity! Prince Andrew wants
80912 a son and not an old maid," he would say. Or, turning to
80913 Mademoiselle Bourienne, he would ask her in Princess Mary's presence
80914 how she liked our village priests and icons and would joke about them.
80915
80916 He continually hurt Princess Mary's feelings and tormented her,
80917 but it cost her no effort to forgive him. Could he be to blame
80918 toward her, or could her father, whom she knew loved her in spite of
80919 it all, be unjust? And what is justice? The princess never thought
80920 of that proud word "justice." All the complex laws of man centered for
80921 her in one clear and simple law--the law of love and self-sacrifice
80922 taught us by Him who lovingly suffered for mankind though He Himself
80923 was God. What had she to do with the justice or injustice of other
80924 people? She had to endure and love, and that she did.
80925
80926 During the winter Prince Andrew had come to Bald Hills and had
80927 been gay, gentle, and more affectionate than Princess Mary had known
80928 him for a long time past. She felt that something had happened to him,
80929 but he said nothing to her about his love. Before he left he had a
80930 long talk with his father about something, and Princess Mary noticed
80931 that before his departure they were dissatisfied with one another.
80932
80933 Soon after Prince Andrew had gone, Princess Mary wrote to her friend
80934 Julie Karagina in Petersburg, whom she had dreamed (as all girls
80935 dream) of marrying to her brother, and who was at that time in
80936 mourning for her own brother, killed in Turkey.
80937
80938
80939 Sorrow, it seems, is our common lot, my dear, tender friend Julie.
80940
80941 Your loss is so terrible that I can only explain it to myself as a
80942 special providence of God who, loving you, wishes to try you and
80943 your excellent mother. Oh, my friend! Religion, and religion alone,
80944 can--I will not say comfort us--but save us from despair. Religion
80945 alone can explain to us what without its help man cannot comprehend:
80946 why, for what cause, kind and noble beings able to find happiness in
80947 life--not merely harming no one but necessary to the happiness of
80948 others--are called away to God, while cruel, useless, harmful persons,
80949 or such as are a burden to themselves and to others, are left
80950 living. The first death I saw, and one I shall never forget--that of
80951 my dear sister-in-law--left that impression on me. Just as you ask
80952 destiny why your splendid brother had to die, so I asked why that
80953 angel Lise, who not only never wronged anyone, but in whose soul there
80954 were never any unkind thoughts, had to die. And what do you think,
80955 dear friend? Five years have passed since then, and already I, with my
80956 petty understanding, begin to see clearly why she had to die, and in
80957 what way that death was but an expression of the infinite goodness
80958 of the Creator, whose every action, though generally
80959 incomprehensible to us, is but a manifestation of His infinite love
80960 for His creatures. Perhaps, I often think, she was too angelically
80961 innocent to have the strength to perform all a mother's duties. As a
80962 young wife she was irreproachable; perhaps she could not have been
80963 so as a mother. As it is, not only has she left us, and particularly
80964 Prince Andrew, with the purest regrets and memories, but probably
80965 she will there receive a place I dare not hope for myself. But not
80966 to speak of her alone, that early and terrible death has had the
80967 most beneficent influence on me and on my brother in spite of all
80968 our grief. Then, at the moment of our loss, these thoughts could not
80969 occur to me; I should then have dismissed them with horror, but now
80970 they are very clear and certain. I write all this to you, dear friend,
80971 only to convince you of the Gospel truth which has become for me a
80972 principle of life: not a single hair of our heads will fall without
80973 His will. And His will is governed only by infinite love for us, and
80974 so whatever befalls us is for our good.
80975
80976 You ask whether we shall spend next winter in Moscow. In spite of my
80977 wish to see you, I do not think so and do not want to do so. You
80978 will be surprised to hear that the reason for this is Buonaparte!
80979 The case is this: my father's health is growing noticeably worse, he
80980 cannot stand any contradiction and is becoming irritable. This
80981 irritability is, as you know, chiefly directed to political questions.
80982 He cannot endure the notion that Buonaparte is negotiating on equal
80983 terms with all the sovereigns of Europe and particularly with our own,
80984 the grandson of the Great Catherine! As you know, I am quite
80985 indifferent to politics, but from my father's remarks and his talks
80986 with Michael Ivanovich I know all that goes on in the world and
80987 especially about the honors conferred on Buonaparte, who only at
80988 Bald Hills in the whole world, it seems, is not accepted as a great
80989 man, still less as Emperor of France. And my father cannot stand this.
80990 It seems to me that it is chiefly because of his political views
80991 that my father is reluctant to speak of going to Moscow; for he
80992 foresees the encounters that would result from his way of expressing
80993 his views regardless of anybody. All the benefit he might derive
80994 from a course of treatment he would lose as a result of the disputes
80995 about Buonaparte which would be inevitable. In any case it will be
80996 decided very shortly.
80997
80998 Our family life goes on in the old way except for my brother
80999 Andrew's absence. He, as I wrote you before, has changed very much
81000 of late. After his sorrow he only this year quite recovered his
81001 spirits. He has again become as I used to know him when a child: kind,
81002 affectionate, with that heart of gold to which I know no equal. He has
81003 realized, it seems to me, that life is not over for him. But
81004 together with this mental change he has grown physically much
81005 weaker. He has become thinner and more nervous. I am anxious about him
81006 and glad he is taking this trip abroad which the doctors recommended
81007 long ago. I hope it will cure him. You write that in Petersburg he
81008 is spoken of as one of the most active, cultivated, and capable of the
81009 young men. Forgive my vanity as a relation, but I never doubted it.
81010 The good he has done to everybody here, from his peasants up to the
81011 gentry, is incalculable. On his arrival in Petersburg he received only
81012 his due. I always wonder at the way rumors fly from Petersburg to
81013 Moscow, especially such false ones as that you write about--I mean the
81014 report of my brother's betrothal to the little Rostova. I do not think
81015 my brother will ever marry again, and certainly not her; and this is
81016 why: first, I know that though he rarely speaks about the wife he
81017 has lost, the grief of that loss has gone too deep in his heart for
81018 him ever to decide to give her a successor and our little angel a
81019 stepmother. Secondly because, as far as I know, that girl is not the
81020 kind of girl who could please Prince Andrew. I do not think he would
81021 choose her for a wife, and frankly I do not wish it. But I am
81022 running on too long and am at the end of my second sheet. Good-by,
81023 my dear friend. May God keep you in His holy and mighty care. My
81024 dear friend, Mademoiselle Bourienne, sends you kisses.
81025
81026 MARY
81027
81028
81029
81030
81031
81032 CHAPTER XXVI
81033
81034
81035 In the middle of the summer Princess Mary received an unexpected
81036 letter from Prince Andrew in Switzerland in which he gave her
81037 strange and surprising news. He informed her of his engagement to
81038 Natasha Rostova. The whole letter breathed loving rapture for his
81039 betrothed and tender and confiding affection for his sister. He
81040 wrote that he had never loved as he did now and that only now did he
81041 understand and know what life was. He asked his sister to forgive
81042 him for not having told her of his resolve when he had last visited
81043 Bald Hills, though he had spoken of it to his father. He had not
81044 done so for fear Princess Mary should ask her father to give his
81045 consent, irritating him and having to bear the brunt of his
81046 displeasure without attaining her object. "Besides," he wrote, "the
81047 matter was not then so definitely settled as it is now. My father then
81048 insisted on a delay of a year and now already six months, half of that
81049 period, have passed, and my resolution is firmer than ever. If the
81050 doctors did not keep me here at the spas I should be back in Russia,
81051 but as it is I have to postpone my return for three months. You know
81052 me and my relations with Father. I want nothing from him. I have
81053 been and always shall be independent; but to go against his will and
81054 arouse his anger, now that he may perhaps remain with us such a
81055 short time, would destroy half my happiness. I am now writing to him
81056 about the same question, and beg you to choose a good moment to hand
81057 him the letter and to let me know how he looks at the whole matter and
81058 whether there is hope that he may consent to reduce the term by four
81059 months."
81060
81061 After long hesitations, doubts, and prayers, Princess Mary gave
81062 the letter to her father. The next day the old prince said to her
81063 quietly:
81064
81065 "Write and tell your brother to wait till I am dead.... It won't
81066 be long--I shall soon set him free."
81067
81068 The princess was about to reply, but her father would not let her
81069 speak and, raising his voice more and more, cried:
81070
81071 "Marry, marry, my boy!... A good family!... Clever people, eh? Rich,
81072 eh? Yes, a nice stepmother little Nicholas will have! Write and tell
81073 him that he may marry tomorrow if he likes. She will be little
81074 Nicholas' stepmother and I'll marry Bourienne!... Ha, ha, ha! He
81075 mustn't be without a stepmother either! Only one thing, no more
81076 women are wanted in my house--let him marry and live by himself.
81077 Perhaps you will go and live with him too?" he added, turning to
81078 Princess Mary. "Go in heavens name! Go out into the frost... the
81079 frost... the frost!
81080
81081 After this outburst the prince did not speak any more about the
81082 matter. But repressed vexation at his son's poor-spirited behavior
81083 found expression in his treatment of his daughter. To his former
81084 pretexts for irony a fresh one was now added--allusions to stepmothers
81085 and amiabilities to Mademoiselle Bourienne.
81086
81087 "Why shouldn't I marry her?" he asked his daughter. "She'll make a
81088 splendid princess!"
81089
81090 And latterly, to her surprise and bewilderment, Princess Mary
81091 noticed that her father was really associating more and more with
81092 the Frenchwoman. She wrote to Prince Andrew about the reception of his
81093 letter, but comforted him with hopes of reconciling their father to
81094 the idea.
81095
81096 Little Nicholas and his education, her brother Andrew, and
81097 religion were Princess Mary's joys and consolations; but besides that,
81098 since everyone must have personal hopes, Princess Mary in the
81099 profoundest depths of her heart had a hidden dream and hope that
81100 supplied the chief consolation of her life. This comforting dream
81101 and hope were given her by God's folk--the half-witted and other
81102 pilgrims who visited her without the prince's knowledge. The longer
81103 she lived, the more experience and observation she had of life, the
81104 greater was her wonder at the short-sightedness of men who seek
81105 enjoyment and happiness here on earth: toiling, suffering, struggling,
81106 and harming one another, to obtain that impossible, visionary,
81107 sinful happiness. Prince Andrew had loved his wife, she died, but that
81108 was not enough: he wanted to bind his happiness to another woman.
81109 Her father objected to this because he wanted a more distinguished and
81110 wealthier match for Andrew. And they all struggled and suffered and
81111 tormented one another and injured their souls, their eternal souls,
81112 for the attainment of benefits which endure but for an instant. Not
81113 only do we know this ourselves, but Christ, the Son of God, came
81114 down to earth and told us that this life is but for a moment and is
81115 a probation; yet we cling to it and think to find happiness in it.
81116 "How is it that no one realizes this?" thought Princess Mary. "No
81117 one except these despised God's folk who, wallet on back, come to me
81118 by the back door, afraid of being seen by the prince, not for fear
81119 of ill-usage by him but for fear of causing him to sin. To leave
81120 family, home, and all the cares of worldly welfare, in order without
81121 clinging to anything to wander in hempen rags from place to place
81122 under an assumed name, doing no one any harm but praying for all-
81123 for those who drive one away as well as for those who protect one:
81124 higher than that life and truth there is no life or truth!"
81125
81126 There was one pilgrim, a quiet pockmarked little woman of fifty
81127 called Theodosia, who for over thirty years had gone about barefoot
81128 and worn heavy chains. Princess Mary was particularly fond of her.
81129 Once, when in a room with a lamp dimly lit before the icon Theodosia
81130 was talking of her life, the thought that Theodosia alone had found
81131 the true path of life suddenly came to Princess Mary with such force
81132 that she resolved to become a pilgrim herself. When Theodosia had gone
81133 to sleep Princess Mary thought about this for a long time, and at last
81134 made up her mind that, strange as it might seem, she must go on a
81135 pilgrimage. She disclosed this thought to no one but to her confessor,
81136 Father Akinfi, the monk, and he approved of her intention. Under guise
81137 of a present for the pilgrims, Princess Mary prepared a pilgrim's
81138 complete costume for herself: a coarse smock, bast shoes, a rough
81139 coat, and a black kerchief. Often, approaching the chest of drawers
81140 containing this secret treasure, Princess Mary paused, uncertain
81141 whether the time had not already come to put her project into
81142 execution.
81143
81144 Often, listening to the pilgrims' tales, she was so stimulated by
81145 their simple speech, mechanical to them but to her so full of deep
81146 meaning, that several times she was on the point of abandoning
81147 everything and running away from home. In imagination she already
81148 pictured herself by Theodosia's side, dressed in coarse rags,
81149 walking with a staff, a wallet on her back, along the dusty road,
81150 directing her wanderings from one saint's shrine to another, free from
81151 envy, earthly love, or desire, and reaching at last the place where
81152 there is no more sorrow or sighing, but eternal joy and bliss.
81153
81154 "I shall come to a place and pray there, and before having time to
81155 get used to it or getting to love it, I shall go farther. I will go on
81156 till my legs fail, and I'll lie down and die somewhere, and shall at
81157 last reach that eternal, quiet haven, where there is neither sorrow
81158 nor sighing..." thought Princess Mary.
81159
81160 But afterwards, when she saw her father and especially little Koko
81161 (Nicholas), her resolve weakened. She wept quietly, and felt that
81162 she was a sinner who loved her father and little nephew more than God.
81163
81164
81165
81166
81167
81168 BOOK SEVEN: 1810 --11
81169
81170
81171
81172
81173
81174 CHAPTER I
81175
81176
81177 The Bible legend tells us that the absence of labor--idleness--was a
81178 condition of the first man's blessedness before the Fall. Fallen man
81179 has retained a love of idleness, but the curse weighs on the race
81180 not only because we have to seek our bread in the sweat of our
81181 brows, but because our moral nature is such that we cannot be both
81182 idle and at ease. An inner voice tells us we are in the wrong if we
81183 are idle. If man could find a state in which he felt that though
81184 idle he was fulfilling his duty, he would have found one of the
81185 conditions of man's primitive blessedness. And such a state of
81186 obligatory and irreproachable idleness is the lot of a whole class-
81187 the military. The chief attraction of military service has consisted
81188 and will consist in this compulsory and irreproachable idleness.
81189
81190 Nicholas Rostov experienced this blissful condition to the full
81191 when, after 1807, he continued to serve in the Pavlograd regiment,
81192 in which he already commanded the squadron he had taken over from
81193 Denisov.
81194
81195 Rostov had become a bluff, good-natured fellow, whom his Moscow
81196 acquaintances would have considered rather bad form, but who was liked
81197 and respected by his comrades, subordinates, and superiors, and was
81198 well contented with his life. Of late, in 1809, he found in letters
81199 from home more frequent complaints from his mother that their
81200 affairs were falling into greater and greater disorder, and that it
81201 was time for him to come back to gladden and comfort his old parents.
81202
81203 Reading these letters, Nicholas felt a dread of their wanting to
81204 take him away from surroundings in which, protected from all the
81205 entanglements of life, he was living so calmly and quietly. He felt
81206 that sooner or later he would have to re-enter that whirlpool of life,
81207 with its embarrassments and affairs to be straightened out, its
81208 accounts with stewards, quarrels, and intrigues, its ties, society,
81209 and with Sonya's love and his promise to her. It was all dreadfully
81210 difficult and complicated; and he replied to his mother in cold,
81211 formal letters in French, beginning: "My dear Mamma," and ending:
81212 "Your obedient son," which said nothing of when he would return. In
81213 1810 he received letters from his parents, in which they told him of
81214 Natasha's engagement to Bolkonski, and that the wedding would be in
81215 a year's time because the old prince made difficulties. This letter
81216 grieved and mortified Nicholas. In the first place he was sorry that
81217 Natasha, for whom he cared more than for anyone else in the family,
81218 should be lost to the home; and secondly, from his hussar point of
81219 view, he regretted not to have been there to show that fellow
81220 Bolkonski that connection with him was no such great honor after
81221 all, and that if he loved Natasha he might dispense with permission
81222 from his dotard father. For a moment he hesitated whether he should
81223 not apply for leave in order to see Natasha before she was married,
81224 but then came the maneuvers, and considerations about Sonya and
81225 about the confusion of their affairs, and Nicholas again put it off.
81226 But in the spring of that year, he received a letter from his
81227 mother, written without his father's knowledge, and that letter
81228 persuaded him to return. She wrote that if he did not come and take
81229 matters in hand, their whole property would be sold by auction and
81230 they would all have to go begging. The count was so weak, and
81231 trusted Mitenka so much, and was so good-natured, that everybody
81232 took advantage of him and things were going from bad to worse. "For
81233 God's sake, I implore you, come at once if you do not wish to make
81234 me and the whole family wretched," wrote the countess.
81235
81236 This letter touched Nicholas. He had that common sense of a
81237 matter-of-fact man which showed him what he ought to do.
81238
81239 The right thing now was, if not to retire from the service, at any
81240 rate to go home on leave. Why he had to go he did not know; but
81241 after his after-dinner nap he gave orders to saddle Mars, an extremely
81242 vicious gray stallion that had not been ridden for a long time, and
81243 when he returned with the horse all in a lather, he informed Lavrushka
81244 (Denisov's servant who had remained with him) and his comrades who
81245 turned up in the evening that he was applying for leave and was
81246 going home. Difficult and strange as it was for him to reflect that he
81247 would go away without having heard from the staff--and this interested
81248 him extremely--whether he was promoted to a captaincy or would receive
81249 the Order of St. Anne for the last maneuvers; strange as it was to
81250 think that he would go away without having sold his three roans to the
81251 Polish Count Golukhovski, who was bargaining for the horses Rostov had
81252 betted he would sell for two thousand rubles; incomprehensible as it
81253 seemed that the ball the hussars were giving in honor of the Polish
81254 Mademoiselle Przazdziecka (out of rivalry to the Uhlans who had
81255 given one in honor of their Polish Mademoiselle Borzozowska) would
81256 take place without him--he knew he must go away from this good, bright
81257 world to somewhere where everything was stupid and confused. A week
81258 later he obtained his leave. His hussar comrades--not only those of
81259 his own regiment, but the whole brigade--gave Rostov a dinner to which
81260 the subscription was fifteen rubles a head, and at which there were
81261 two bands and two choirs of singers. Rostov danced the Trepak with
81262 Major Basov; the tipsy officers tossed, embraced, and dropped
81263 Rostov; the soldiers of the third squadron tossed him too, and shouted
81264 "hurrah!" and then they put him in his sleigh and escorted him as
81265 far as the first post station.
81266
81267 During the first half of the journey--from Kremenchug to Kiev--all
81268 Rostov's thoughts, as is usual in such cases, were behind him, with
81269 the squadron; but when he had gone more than halfway he began to
81270 forget his three roans and Dozhoyveyko, his quartermaster, and to
81271 wonder anxiously how things would be at Otradnoe and what he would
81272 find there. Thoughts of home grew stronger the nearer he approached
81273 it--far stronger, as though this feeling of his was subject to the law
81274 by which the force of attraction is in inverse proportion to the
81275 square of the distance. At the last post station before Otradnoe he
81276 gave the driver a three-ruble tip, and on arriving he ran
81277 breathlessly, like a boy, up the steps of his home.
81278
81279 After the rapture of meeting, and after that odd feeling of
81280 unsatisfied expectation--the feeling that "everything is just the
81281 same, so why did I hurry?"--Nicholas began to settle down in his old
81282 home world. His father and mother were much the same, only a little
81283 older. What was new in them was a certain uneasiness and occasional
81284 discord, which there used not to be, and which, as Nicholas soon found
81285 out, was due to the bad state of their affairs. Sonya was nearly
81286 twenty; she had stopped growing prettier and promised nothing more
81287 than she was already, but that was enough. She exhaled happiness and
81288 love from the time Nicholas returned, and the faithful, unalterable
81289 love of this girl had a gladdening effect on him. Petya and Natasha
81290 surprised Nicholas most. Petya was a big handsome boy of thirteen,
81291 merry, witty, and mischievous, with a voice that was already breaking.
81292 As for Natasha, for a long while Nicholas wondered and laughed
81293 whenever he looked at her.
81294
81295 "You're not the same at all," he said.
81296
81297 "How? Am I uglier?"
81298
81299 "On the contrary, but what dignity? A princess!" he whispered to
81300 her.
81301
81302 "Yes, yes, yes!" cried Natasha, joyfully.
81303
81304 She told him about her romance with Prince Andrew and of his visit
81305 to Otradnoe and showed him his last letter.
81306
81307 "Well, are you glad?" Natasha asked. "I am so tranquil and happy
81308 now."
81309
81310 "Very glad," answered Nicholas. "He is an excellent fellow.... And
81311 are you very much in love?"
81312
81313 "How shall I put it?" replied Natasha. "I was in love with Boris,
81314 with my teacher, and with Denisov, but this is quite different. I feel
81315 at peace and settled. I know that no better man than he exists, and
81316 I am calm and contented now. Not at all as before."
81317
81318 Nicholas expressed his disapproval of the postponement of the
81319 marriage for a year; but Natasha attacked her brother with
81320 exasperation, proving to him that it could not be otherwise, and
81321 that it would be a bad thing to enter a family against the father's
81322 will, and that she herself wished it so.
81323
81324 "You don't at all understand," she said.
81325
81326 Nicholas was silent and agreed with her.
81327
81328 Her brother often wondered as he looked at her. She did not seem
81329 at all like a girl in love and parted from her affianced husband.
81330 She was even-tempered and calm and quite as cheerful as of old. This
81331 amazed Nicholas and even made him regard Bolkonski's courtship
81332 skeptically. He could not believe that her fate was sealed, especially
81333 as he had not seen her with Prince Andrew. It always seemed to him
81334 that there was something not quite right about this intended marriage.
81335
81336 "Why this delay? Why no betrothal?" he thought. Once, when he had
81337 touched on this topic with his mother, he discovered, to his
81338 surprise and somewhat to his satisfaction, that in the depth of her
81339 soul she too had doubts about this marriage.
81340
81341 "You see he writes," said she, showing her son a letter of Prince
81342 Andrew's, with that latent grudge a mother always has in regard to a
81343 daughter's future married happiness, "he writes that he won't come
81344 before December. What can be keeping him? Illness, probably! His
81345 health is very delicate. Don't tell Natasha. And don't attach
81346 importance to her being so bright: that's because she's living through
81347 the last days of her girlhood, but I know what she is like every
81348 time we receive a letter from him! However, God grant that
81349 everything turns out well!" (She always ended with these words.) "He
81350 is an excellent man!"
81351
81352
81353
81354
81355
81356 CHAPTER II
81357
81358
81359 After reaching home Nicholas was at first serious and even dull.
81360 He was worried by the impending necessity of interfering in the stupid
81361 business matters for which his mother had called him home. To throw
81362 off this burden as quickly as possible, on the third day after his
81363 arrival he went, angry and scowling and without answering questions as
81364 to where he was going, to Mitenka's lodge and demanded an account of
81365 everything. But what an account of everything might be Nicholas knew
81366 even less than the frightened and bewildered Mitenka. The conversation
81367 and the examination of the accounts with Mitenka did not last long.
81368 The village elder, a peasant delegate, and the village clerk, who were
81369 waiting in the passage, heard with fear and delight first the young
81370 count's voice roaring and snapping and rising louder and louder, and
81371 then words of abuse, dreadful words, ejaculated one after the other.
81372
81373 "Robber!... Ungrateful wretch!... I'll hack the dog to pieces! I'm
81374 not my father!... Robbing us!..." and so on.
81375
81376 Then with no less fear and delight they saw how the young count, red
81377 in the face and with bloodshot eyes, dragged Mitenka out by the scruff
81378 of the neck and applied his foot and knee to his behind with great
81379 agility at convenient moments between the words, shouting, "Be off!
81380 Never let me see your face here again, you villain!"
81381
81382 Mitenka flew headlong down the six steps and ran away into the
81383 shrubbery. (This shrubbery was a well-known haven of refuge for
81384 culprits at Otradnoe. Mitenka himself, returning tipsy from the
81385 town, used to hide there, and many of the residents at Otradnoe,
81386 hiding from Mitenka, knew of its protective qualities.)
81387
81388 Mitenka's wife and sisters-in-law thrust their heads and
81389 frightened faces out of the door of a room where a bright samovar
81390 was boiling and where the steward's high bedstead stood with its
81391 patchwork quilt.
81392
81393 The young count paid no heed to them, but, breathing hard, passed by
81394 with resolute strides and went into the house.
81395
81396 The countess, who heard at once from the maids what had happened
81397 at the lodge, was calmed by the thought that now their affairs would
81398 certainly improve, but on the other hand felt anxious as to the effect
81399 this excitement might have on her son. She went several times to his
81400 door on tiptoe and listened, as he lighted one pipe after another.
81401
81402 Next day the old count called his son aside and, with an embarrassed
81403 smile, said to him:
81404
81405 "But you know, my dear boy, it's a pity you got excited! Mitenka has
81406 told me all about it."
81407
81408 "I knew," thought Nicholas, "that I should never understand anything
81409 in this crazy world."
81410
81411 "You were angry that he had not entered those 700 rubles. But they
81412 were carried forward--and you did not look at the other page."
81413
81414 "Papa, he is a blackguard and a thief! I know he is! And what I have
81415 done, I have done; but, if you like, I won't speak to him again."
81416
81417 "No, my dear boy" (the count, too, felt embarrassed. He knew he
81418 had mismanaged his wife's property and was to blame toward his
81419 children, but he did not know how to remedy it). "No, I beg you to
81420 attend to the business. I am old. I..."
81421
81422 "No, Papa. Forgive me if I have caused you unpleasantness. I
81423 understand it all less than you do."
81424
81425 "Devil take all these peasants, and money matters, and carryings
81426 forward from page to page," he thought. "I used to understand what a
81427 'corner' and the stakes at cards meant, but carrying forward to
81428 another page I don't understand at all," said he to himself, and after
81429 that he did not meddle in business affairs. But once the countess
81430 called her son and informed him that she had a promissory note from
81431 Anna Mikhaylovna for two thousand rubles, and asked him what he
81432 thought of doing with it.
81433
81434 "This," answered Nicholas. "You say it rests with me. Well, I
81435 don't like Anna Mikhaylovna and I don't like Boris, but they were
81436 our friends and poor. Well then, this!" and he tore up the note, and
81437 by so doing caused the old countess to weep tears of joy. After
81438 that, young Rostov took no further part in any business affairs, but
81439 devoted himself with passionate enthusiasm to what was to him a new
81440 pursuit--the chase--for which his father kept a large establishment.
81441
81442
81443
81444
81445
81446 CHAPTER III
81447
81448
81449 The weather was already growing wintry and morning frosts
81450 congealed an earth saturated by autumn rains. The verdure had
81451 thickened and its bright green stood out sharply against the
81452 brownish strips of winter rye trodden down by the cattle, and
81453 against the pale-yellow stubble of the spring buckwheat. The wooded
81454 ravines and the copses, which at the end of August had still been
81455 green islands amid black fields and stubble, had become golden and
81456 bright-red islands amid the green winter rye. The hares had already
81457 half changed their summer coats, the fox cubs were beginning to
81458 scatter, and the young wolves were bigger than dogs. It was the best
81459 time of the year for the chase. The hounds of that ardent young
81460 sportsman Rostov had not merely reached hard winter condition, but
81461 were so jaded that at a meeting of the huntsmen it was decided to give
81462 them a three days' rest and then, on the sixteenth of September, to go
81463 on a distant expedition, starting from the oak grove where there was
81464 an undisturbed litter of wolf cubs.
81465
81466 All that day the hounds remained at home. It was frosty and the
81467 air was sharp, but toward evening the sky became overcast and it began
81468 to thaw. On the fifteenth, when young Rostov, in his dressing gown,
81469 looked out of the window, he saw it was an unsurpassable morning for
81470 hunting: it was as if the sky were melting and sinking to the earth
81471 without any wind. The only motion in the air was that of the dripping,
81472 microscopic particles of drizzling mist. The bare twigs in the
81473 garden were hung with transparent drops which fell on the freshly
81474 fallen leaves. The earth in the kitchen garden looked wet and black
81475 and glistened like poppy seed and at a short distance merged into
81476 the dull, moist veil of mist. Nicholas went out into the wet and muddy
81477 porch. There was a smell of decaying leaves and of dog. Milka, a
81478 black-spotted, broad-haunched bitch with prominent black eyes, got
81479 up on seeing her master, stretched her hind legs, lay down like a
81480 hare, and then suddenly jumped up and licked him right on his nose and
81481 mustache. Another borzoi, a dog, catching sight of his master from the
81482 garden path, arched his back and, rushing headlong toward the porch
81483 with lifted tail, began rubbing himself against his legs.
81484
81485 "O-hoy!" came at that moment, that inimitable huntsman's call
81486 which unites the deepest bass with the shrillest tenor, and round
81487 the corner came Daniel the head huntsman and head kennelman, a gray,
81488 wrinkled old man with hair cut straight over his forehead, Ukrainian
81489 fashion, a long bent whip in his hand, and that look of independence
81490 and scorn of everything that is only seen in huntsmen. He doffed his
81491 Circassian cap to his master and looked at him scornfully. This
81492 scorn was not offensive to his master. Nicholas knew that this Daniel,
81493 disdainful of everybody and who considered himself above them, was all
81494 the same his serf and huntsman.
81495
81496 "Daniel!" Nicholas said timidly, conscious at the sight of the
81497 weather, the hounds, and the huntsman that he was being carried away
81498 by that irresistible passion for sport which makes a man forget all
81499 his previous resolutions, as a lover forgets in the presence of his
81500 mistress.
81501
81502 "What orders, your excellency?" said the huntsman in his deep
81503 bass, deep as a proto-deacon's and hoarse with hallooing--and two
81504 flashing black eyes gazed from under his brows at his master, who
81505 was silent. "Can you resist it?" those eyes seemed to be asking.
81506
81507 "It's a good day, eh? For a hunt and a gallop, eh?" asked
81508 Nicholas, scratching Milka behind the ears.
81509
81510 Daniel did not answer, but winked instead.
81511
81512 "I sent Uvarka at dawn to listen," his bass boomed out after a
81513 minute's pause. "He says she's moved them into the Otradnoe enclosure.
81514 They were howling there." (This meant that the she-wolf, about whom
81515 they both knew, had moved with her cubs to the Otradnoe copse, a small
81516 place a mile and a half from the house.)
81517
81518 "We ought to go, don't you think so?" said Nicholas. "Come to me
81519 with Uvarka."
81520
81521 "As you please."
81522
81523 "Then put off feeding them."
81524
81525 "Yes, sir."
81526
81527 Five minutes later Daniel and Uvarka were standing in Nicholas'
81528 big study. Though Daniel was not a big man, to see him in a room was
81529 like seeing a horse or a bear on the floor among the furniture and
81530 surroundings of human life. Daniel himself felt this, and as usual
81531 stood just inside the door, trying to speak softly and not move, for
81532 fear of breaking something in the master's apartment, and he
81533 hastened to say all that was necessary so as to get from under that
81534 ceiling, out into the open under the sky once more.
81535
81536 Having finished his inquiries and extorted from Daniel an opinion
81537 that the hounds were fit (Daniel himself wished to go hunting),
81538 Nicholas ordered the horses to be saddled. But just as Daniel was
81539 about to go Natasha came in with rapid steps, not having done up her
81540 hair or finished dressing and with her old nurse's big shawl wrapped
81541 round her. Petya ran in at the same time.
81542
81543 "You are going?" asked Natasha. "I knew you would! Sonya said you
81544 wouldn't go, but I knew that today is the sort of day when you
81545 couldn't help going."
81546
81547 "Yes, we are going," replied Nicholas reluctantly, for today, as
81548 he intended to hunt seriously, he did not want to take Natasha and
81549 Petya. "We are going, but only wolf hunting: it would be dull for
81550 you."
81551
81552 "You know it is my greatest pleasure," said Natasha. "It's not fair;
81553 you are going by yourself, are having the horses saddled and said
81554 nothing to us about it."
81555
81556 "'No barrier bars a Russian's path'--we'll go!" shouted Petya.
81557
81558 "But you can't. Mamma said you mustn't," said Nicholas to Natasha.
81559
81560 "Yes, I'll go. I shall certainly go," said Natasha decisively.
81561 "Daniel, tell them to saddle for us, and Michael must come with my
81562 dogs," she added to the huntsman.
81563
81564 It seemed to Daniel irksome and improper to be in a room at all, but
81565 to have anything to do with a young lady seemed to him impossible.
81566 He cast down his eyes and hurried out as if it were none of his
81567 business, careful as he went not to inflict any accidental injury on
81568 the young lady.
81569
81570
81571
81572
81573
81574 CHAPTER IV
81575
81576
81577 The old count, who had always kept up an enormous hunting
81578 establishment but had now handed it all completely over to his son's
81579 care, being in very good spirits on this fifteenth of September,
81580 prepared to go out with the others.
81581
81582 In an hour's time the whole hunting party was at the porch.
81583 Nicholas, with a stern and serious air which showed that now was no
81584 time for attending to trifles, went past Natasha and Petya who were
81585 trying to tell him something. He had a look at all the details of
81586 the hunt, sent a pack of hounds and huntsmen on ahead to find the
81587 quarry, mounted his chestnut Donets, and whistling to his own leash of
81588 borzois, set off across the threshing ground to a field leading to the
81589 Otradnoe wood. The old count's horse, a sorrel gelding called
81590 Viflyanka, was led by the groom in attendance on him, while the
81591 count himself was to drive in a small trap straight to a spot reserved
81592 for him.
81593
81594 They were taking fifty-four hounds, with six hunt attendants and
81595 whippers-in. Besides the family, there were eight borzoi kennelmen and
81596 more than forty borzois, so that, with the borzois on the leash
81597 belonging to members of the family, there were about a hundred and
81598 thirty dogs and twenty horsemen.
81599
81600 Each dog knew its master and its call. Each man in the hunt knew his
81601 business, his place, what he had to do. As soon as they had passed the
81602 fence they all spread out evenly and quietly, without noise or talk,
81603 along the road and field leading to the Otradnoe covert.
81604
81605 The horses stepped over the field as over a thick carpet, now and
81606 then splashing into puddles as they crossed a road. The misty sky
81607 still seemed to descend evenly and imperceptibly toward the earth, the
81608 air was still, warm, and silent. Occasionally the whistle of a
81609 huntsman, the snort of a horse, the crack of a whip, or the whine of a
81610 straggling hound could be heard.
81611
81612 When they had gone a little less than a mile, five more riders
81613 with dogs appeared out of the mist, approaching the Rostovs. In
81614 front rode a fresh-looking, handsome old man with a large gray
81615 mustache.
81616
81617 "Good morning, Uncle!" said Nicholas, when the old man drew near.
81618
81619 "That's it. Come on!... I was sure of it," began "Uncle." (He was
81620 a distant relative of the Rostovs', a man of small means, and their
81621 neighbor.) "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist it and it's a good
81622 thing you're going. That's it! Come on! (This was "Uncle's" favorite
81623 expression.) "Take the covert at once, for my Girchik says the Ilagins
81624 are at Korniki with their hounds. That's it. Come on!... They'll
81625 take the cubs from under your very nose."
81626
81627 "That's where I'm going. Shall we join up our packs?" asked
81628 Nicholas.
81629
81630 The hounds were joined into one pack, and "Uncle" and Nicholas
81631 rode on side by side. Natasha, muffled up in shawls which did not hide
81632 her eager face and shining eyes, galloped up to them. She was followed
81633 by Petya who always kept close to her, by Michael, a huntsman, and
81634 by a groom appointed to look after her. Petya, who was laughing,
81635 whipped and pulled at his horse. Natasha sat easily and confidently on
81636 her black Arabchik and reined him in without effort with a firm hand.
81637
81638 "Uncle" looked round disapprovingly at Petya and Natasha. He did not
81639 like to combine frivolity with the serious business of hunting.
81640
81641 "Good morning, Uncle! We are going too!" shouted Petya.
81642
81643 "Good morning, good morning! But don't go overriding the hounds,"
81644 said "Uncle" sternly.
81645
81646 "Nicholas, what a fine dog Trunila is! He knew me," said Natasha,
81647 referring to her favorite hound.
81648
81649 "In the first place, Trunila is not a 'dog,' but a harrier," thought
81650 Nicholas, and looked sternly at his sister, trying to make her feel
81651 the distance that ought to separate them at that moment. Natasha
81652 understood it.
81653
81654 "You mustn't think we'll be in anyone's way, Uncle," she said.
81655 "We'll go to our places and won't budge."
81656
81657 "A good thing too, little countess," said "Uncle," "only mind you
81658 don't fall off your horse," he added, "because--that's it, come on!-
81659 you've nothing to hold on to."
81660
81661 The oasis of the Otradnoe covert came in sight a few hundred yards
81662 off, the huntsmen were already nearing it. Rostov, having finally
81663 settled with "Uncle" where they should set on the hounds, and having
81664 shown Natasha where she was to stand--a spot where nothing could
81665 possibly run out--went round above the ravine.
81666
81667 "Well, nephew, you're going for a big wolf," said "Uncle." "Mind and
81668 don't let her slip!"
81669
81670 "That's as may happen," answered Rostov. "Karay, here!" he
81671 shouted, answering "Uncle's" remark by this call to his borzoi.
81672 Karay was a shaggy old dog with a hanging jowl, famous for having
81673 tackled a big wolf unaided. They all took up their places.
81674
81675 The old count, knowing his son's ardor in the hunt, hurried so as
81676 not to be late, and the huntsmen had not yet reached their places when
81677 Count Ilya Rostov, cheerful, flushed, and with quivering cheeks, drove
81678 up with his black horses over the winter rye to the place reserved for
81679 him, where a wolf might come out. Having straightened his coat and
81680 fastened on his hunting knives and horn, he mounted his good, sleek,
81681 well-fed, and comfortable horse, Viflyanka, which was turning gray,
81682 like himself. His horses and trap were sent home. Count Ilya Rostov,
81683 though not at heart a keen sportsman, knew the rules of the hunt well,
81684 and rode to the bushy edge of the road where he was to stand, arranged
81685 his reins, settled himself in the saddle, and, feeling that he was
81686 ready, looked about with a smile.
81687
81688 Beside him was Simon Chekmar, his personal attendant, an old
81689 horseman now somewhat stiff in the saddle. Chekmar held in leash three
81690 formidable wolfhounds, who had, however, grown fat like their master
81691 and his horse. Two wise old dogs lay down unleashed. Some hundred
81692 paces farther along the edge of the wood stood Mitka, the count's
81693 other groom, a daring horseman and keen rider to hounds. Before the
81694 hunt, by old custom, the count had drunk a silver cupful of mulled
81695 brandy, taken a snack, and washed it down with half a bottle of his
81696 favorite Bordeaux.
81697
81698 He was somewhat flushed with the wine and the drive. His eyes were
81699 rather moist and glittered more than usual, and as he sat in his
81700 saddle, wrapped up in his fur coat, he looked like a child taken out
81701 for an outing.
81702
81703 The thin, hollow-cheeked Chekmar, having got everything ready,
81704 kept glancing at his master with whom he had lived on the best of
81705 terms for thirty years, and understanding the mood he was in
81706 expected a pleasant chat. A third person rode up circumspectly through
81707 the wood (it was plain that he had had a lesson) and stopped behind
81708 the count. This person was a gray-bearded old man in a woman's
81709 cloak, with a tall peaked cap on his head. He was the buffoon, who
81710 went by a woman's name, Nastasya Ivanovna.
81711
81712 "Well, Nastasya Ivanovna!" whispered the count, winking at him.
81713 "If you scare away the beast, Daniel'll give it you!"
81714
81715 "I know a thing or two myself!" said Nastasya Ivanovna.
81716
81717 "Hush!" whispered the count and turned to Simon. "Have you seen
81718 the young countess?" he asked. "Where is she?"
81719
81720 "With young Count Peter, by the Zharov rank grass," answered
81721 Simon, smiling. "Though she's a lady, she's very fond of hunting."
81722
81723 "And you're surprised at the way she rides, Simon, eh?" said the
81724 count. "She's as good as many a man!"
81725
81726 "Of course! It's marvelous. So bold, so easy!"
81727
81728 "And Nicholas? Where is he? By the Lyadov upland, isn't he?"
81729
81730 "Yes, sir. He knows where to stand. He understands the matter so
81731 well that Daniel and I are often quite astounded," said Simon, well
81732 knowing what would please his master.
81733
81734 "Rides well, eh? And how well he looks on his horse, eh?"
81735
81736 "A perfect picture! How he chased a fox out of the rank grass by the
81737 Zavarzinsk thicket the other day! Leaped a fearful place; what a sight
81738 when they rushed from the covert... the horse worth a thousand
81739 rubles and the rider beyond all price! Yes, one would have to search
81740 far to find another as smart."
81741
81742 "To search far..." repeated the count, evidently sorry Simon had not
81743 said more. "To search far," he said, turning back the skirt of his
81744 coat to get at his snuffbox.
81745
81746 "The other day when he came out from Mass in full uniform, Michael
81747 Sidorych..." Simon did not finish, for on the still air he had
81748 distinctly caught the music of the hunt with only two or three
81749 hounds giving tongue. He bent down his head and listened, shaking a
81750 warning finger at his master. "They are on the scent of the cubs..."
81751 he whispered, "straight to the Lyadov uplands."
81752
81753 The count, forgetting to smooth out the smile on his face, looked
81754 into the distance straight before him, down the narrow open space,
81755 holding the snuffbox in his hand but not taking any. After the cry
81756 of the hounds came the deep tones of the wolf call from Daniel's
81757 hunting horn; the pack joined the first three hounds and they could be
81758 heard in full cry, with that peculiar lift in the note that
81759 indicates that they are after a wolf. The whippers-in no longer set on
81760 the hounds, but changed to the cry of ulyulyu, and above the others
81761 rose Daniel's voice, now a deep bass, now piercingly shrill. His voice
81762 seemed to fill the whole wood and carried far beyond out into the open
81763 field.
81764
81765 After listening a few moments in silence, the count and his
81766 attendant convinced themselves that the hounds had separated into
81767 two packs: the sound of the larger pack, eagerly giving tongue,
81768 began to die away in the distance, the other pack rushed by the wood
81769 past the count, and it was with this that Daniel's voice was heard
81770 calling ulyulyu. The sounds of both packs mingled and broke apart
81771 again, but both were becoming more distant.
81772
81773 Simon sighed and stooped to straighten the leash a young borzoi
81774 had entangled; the count too sighed and, noticing the snuffbox in
81775 his hand, opened it and took a pinch. "Back!" cried Simon to a
81776 borzoi that was pushing forward out of the wood. The count started and
81777 dropped the snuffbox. Nastasya Ivanovna dismounted to pick it up.
81778 The count and Simon were looking at him.
81779
81780 Then, unexpectedly, as often happens, the sound of the hunt suddenly
81781 approached, as if the hounds in full cry and Daniel ulyulyuing were
81782 just in front of them.
81783
81784 The count turned and saw on his right Mitka staring at him with eyes
81785 starting out of his head, raising his cap and pointing before him to
81786 the other side.
81787
81788 "Look out!" he shouted, in a voice plainly showing that he had
81789 long fretted to utter that word, and letting the borzois slip he
81790 galloped toward the count.
81791
81792 The count and Simon galloped out of the wood and saw on their left a
81793 wolf which, softly swaying from side to side, was coming at a quiet
81794 lope farther to the left to the very place where they were standing.
81795 The angry borzois whined and getting free of the leash rushed past the
81796 horses' feet at the wolf.
81797
81798 The wolf paused, turned its heavy forehead toward the dogs
81799 awkwardly, like a man suffering from the quinsy, and, still slightly
81800 swaying from side to side, gave a couple of leaps and with a swish
81801 of its tail disappeared into the skirt of the wood. At the same
81802 instant, with a cry like a wail, first one hound, then another, and
81803 then another, sprang helter-skelter from the wood opposite and the
81804 whole pack rushed across the field toward the very spot where the wolf
81805 had disappeared. The hazel bushes parted behind the hounds and
81806 Daniel's chestnut horse appeared, dark with sweat. On its long back
81807 sat Daniel, hunched forward, capless, his disheveled gray hair hanging
81808 over his flushed, perspiring face.
81809
81810 "Ulyulyulyu! ulyulyu!..." he cried. When he caught sight of the
81811 count his eyes flashed lightning.
81812
81813 "Blast you!" he shouted, holding up his whip threateningly at the
81814 count.
81815
81816 "You've let the wolf go!... What sportsmen!" and as if scorning to
81817 say more to the frightened and shamefaced count, he lashed the heaving
81818 flanks of his sweating chestnut gelding with all the anger the count
81819 had aroused and flew off after the hounds. The count, like a
81820 punished schoolboy, looked round, trying by a smile to win Simon's
81821 sympathy for his plight. But Simon was no longer there. He was
81822 galloping round by the bushes while the field was coming up on both
81823 sides, all trying to head the wolf, but it vanished into the wood
81824 before they could do so.
81825
81826
81827
81828
81829
81830 CHAPTER V
81831
81832
81833 Nicholas Rostov meanwhile remained at his post, waiting for the
81834 wolf. By the way the hunt approached and receded, by the cries of
81835 the dogs whose notes were familiar to him, by the way the voices of
81836 the huntsmen approached, receded, and rose, he realized what was
81837 happening at the copse. He knew that young and old wolves were
81838 there, that the hounds had separated into two packs, that somewhere
81839 a wolf was being chased, and that something had gone wrong. He
81840 expected the wolf to come his way any moment. He made thousands of
81841 different conjectures as to where and from what side the beast would
81842 come and how he would set upon it. Hope alternated with despair.
81843 Several times he addressed a prayer to God that the wolf should come
81844 his way. He prayed with that passionate and shame-faced feeling with
81845 which men pray at moments of great excitement arising from trivial
81846 causes. "What would it be to Thee to do this for me?" he said to
81847 God. "I know Thou art great, and that it is a sin to ask this of Thee,
81848 but for God's sake do let the old wolf come my way and let Karay
81849 spring at it--in sight of 'Uncle' who is watching from over there--and
81850 seize it by the throat in a death grip!" A thousand times during
81851 that half-hour Rostov cast eager and restless glances over the edge of
81852 the wood, with the two scraggy oaks rising above the aspen undergrowth
81853 and the gully with its water-worn side and "Uncle's" cap just
81854 visible above the bush on his right.
81855
81856 "No, I shan't have such luck," thought Rostov, "yet what wouldn't it
81857 be worth! It is not to be! Everywhere, at cards and in war, I am
81858 always unlucky." Memories of Austerlitz and of Dolokhov flashed
81859 rapidly and clearly through his mind. "Only once in my life to get
81860 an old wolf, I want only that!" thought he, straining eyes and ears
81861 and looking to the left and then to the right and listening to the
81862 slightest variation of note in the cries of the dogs.
81863
81864 Again he looked to the right and saw something running toward him
81865 across the deserted field. "No, it can't be!" thought Rostov, taking a
81866 deep breath, as a man does at the coming of something long hoped
81867 for. The height of happiness was reached--and so simply, without
81868 warning, or noise, or display, that Rostov could not believe his
81869 eyes and remained in doubt for over a second. The wolf ran forward and
81870 jumped heavily over a gully that lay in her path. She was an old
81871 animal with a gray back and big reddish belly. She ran without
81872 hurry, evidently feeling sure that no one saw her. Rostov, holding his
81873 breath, looked round at the borzois. They stood or lay not seeing
81874 the wolf or understanding the situation. Old Karay had turned his head
81875 and was angrily searching for fleas, baring his yellow teeth and
81876 snapping at his hind legs.
81877
81878 "Ulyulyulyu!" whispered Rostov, pouting his lips. The borzois jumped
81879 up, jerking the rings of the leashes and pricking their ears. Karay
81880 finished scratching his hindquarters and, cocking his ears, got up
81881 with quivering tail from which tufts of matted hair hung down.
81882
81883 "Shall I loose them or not?" Nicholas asked himself as the wolf
81884 approached him coming from the copse. Suddenly the wolf's whole
81885 physiognomy changed: she shuddered, seeing what she had probably never
81886 seen before--human eyes fixed upon her--and turning her head a
81887 little toward Rostov, she paused.
81888
81889 "Back or forward? Eh, no matter, forward..." the wolf seemed to
81890 say to herself, and she moved forward without again looking round
81891 and with a quiet, long, easy yet resolute lope.
81892
81893 "Ulyulyu!" cried Nicholas, in a voice not his own, and of its own
81894 accord his good horse darted headlong downhill, leaping over gullies
81895 to head off the wolf, and the borzois passed it, running faster still.
81896 Nicholas did not hear his own cry nor feel that he was galloping,
81897 nor see the borzois, nor the ground over which he went: he saw only
81898 the wolf, who, increasing her speed, bounded on in the same
81899 direction along the hollow. The first to come into view was Milka,
81900 with her black markings and powerful quarters, gaining upon the
81901 wolf. Nearer and nearer... now she was ahead of it; but the wolf
81902 turned its head to face her, and instead of putting on speed as she
81903 usually did Milka suddenly raised her tail and stiffened her forelegs.
81904
81905 "Ulyulyulyulyu!" shouted Nicholas.
81906
81907 The reddish Lyubim rushed forward from behind Milka, sprang
81908 impetuously at the wolf, and seized it by its hindquarters, but
81909 immediately jumped aside in terror. The wolf crouched, gnashed her
81910 teeth, and again rose and bounded forward, followed at the distance of
81911 a couple of feet by all the borzois, who did not get any closer to
81912 her.
81913
81914 "She'll get away! No, it's impossible!" thought Nicholas, still
81915 shouting with a hoarse voice.
81916
81917 "Karay, ulyulyu!..." he shouted, looking round for the old borzoi
81918 who was now his only hope. Karay, with all the strength age had left
81919 him, stretched himself to the utmost and, watching the wolf,
81920 galloped heavily aside to intercept it. But the quickness of the
81921 wolf's lope and the borzoi's slower pace made it plain that Karay
81922 had miscalculated. Nicholas could already see not far in front of
81923 him the wood where the wolf would certainly escape should she reach
81924 it. But, coming toward him, he saw hounds and a huntsman galloping
81925 almost straight at the wolf. There was still hope. A long, yellowish
81926
81927 young borzoi, one Nicholas did not know, from another leash, rushed
81928 impetuously at the wolf from in front and almost knocked her over. But
81929 the wolf jumped up more quickly than anyone could have expected and,
81930 gnashing her teeth, flew at the yellowish borzoi, which, with a
81931 piercing yelp, fell with its head on the ground, bleeding from a
81932 gash in its side.
81933
81934 "Karay? Old fellow!..." wailed Nicholas.
81935
81936 Thanks to the delay caused by this crossing of the wolf's path,
81937 the old dog with its felted hair hanging from its thigh was within
81938 five paces of it. As if aware of her danger, the wolf turned her
81939 eyes on Karay, tucked her tail yet further between her legs, and
81940 increased her speed. But here Nicholas only saw that something
81941 happened to Karay--the borzoi was suddenly on the wolf, and they
81942 rolled together down into a gully just in front of them.
81943
81944 That instant, when Nicholas saw the wolf struggling in the gully
81945 with the dogs, while from under them could be seen her gray hair and
81946 outstretched hind leg and her frightened choking head, with her ears
81947 laid back (Karay was pinning her by the throat), was the happiest
81948 moment of his life. With his hand on his saddlebow, he was ready to
81949 dismount and stab the wolf, when she suddenly thrust her head up
81950 from among that mass of dogs, and then her forepaws were on the edge
81951 of the gully. She clicked her teeth (Karay no longer had her by the
81952 throat), leaped with a movement of her hind legs out of the gully, and
81953 having disengaged herself from the dogs, with tail tucked in again,
81954 went forward. Karay, his hair bristling, and probably bruised or
81955 wounded, climbed with difficulty out of the gully.
81956
81957 "Oh my God! Why?" Nicholas cried in despair.
81958
81959 "Uncle's" huntsman was galloping from the other side across the
81960 wolf's path and his borzois once more stopped the animal's advance.
81961 She was again hemmed in.
81962
81963 Nicholas and his attendant, with "Uncle" and his huntsman, were
81964 all riding round the wolf, crying "ulyulyu!" shouting and preparing to
81965 dismount each moment that the wolf crouched back, and starting forward
81966 again every time she shook herself and moved toward the wood where she
81967 would be safe.
81968
81969 Already, at the beginning of this chase, Daniel, hearing the
81970 ulyulyuing, had rushed out from the wood. He saw Karay seize the wolf,
81971 and checked his horse, supposing the affair to be over. But when he
81972 saw that the horsemen did not dismount and that the wolf shook herself
81973 and ran for safety, Daniel set his chestnut galloping, not at the wolf
81974 but straight toward the wood, just as Karay had run to cut the
81975 animal off. As a result of this, he galloped up to the wolf just
81976 when she had been stopped a second time by "Uncle's" borzois.
81977
81978 Daniel galloped up silently, holding a naked dagger in his left hand
81979 and thrashing the laboring sides of his chestnut horse with his whip
81980 as if it were a flail.
81981
81982 Nicholas neither saw nor heard Daniel until the chestnut,
81983 breathing heavily, panted past him, and he heard the fall of a body
81984 and saw Daniel lying on the wolf's back among the dogs, trying to
81985 seize her by the ears. It was evident to the dogs, the hunters, and to
81986 the wolf herself that all was now over. The terrified wolf pressed
81987 back her ears and tried to rise, but the borzois stuck to her.
81988 Daniel rose a little, took a step, and with his whole weight, as if
81989 lying down to rest, fell on the wolf, seizing her by the ears.
81990 Nicholas was about to stab her, but Daniel whispered, "Don't! We'll
81991 gag her!" and, changing his position, set his foot on the wolf's neck.
81992 A stick was thrust between her jaws and she was fastened with a leash,
81993 as if bridled, her legs were bound together, and Daniel rolled her
81994 over once or twice from side to side.
81995
81996 With happy, exhausted faces, they laid the old wolf, alive, on a
81997 shying and snorting horse and, accompanied by the dogs yelping at her,
81998 took her to the place where they were all to meet. The hounds had
81999 killed two of the cubs and the borzois three. The huntsmen assembled
82000 with their booty and their stories, and all came to look at the
82001 wolf, which, with her broad-browed head hanging down and the bitten
82002 stick between her jaws, gazed with great glassy eyes at this crowd
82003 of dogs and men surrounding her. When she was touched, she jerked
82004 her bound legs and looked wildly yet simply at everybody. Old Count
82005 Rostov also rode up and touched the wolf.
82006
82007 "Oh, what a formidable one!" said he. "A formidable one, eh?" he
82008 asked Daniel, who was standing near.
82009
82010 "Yes, your excellency," answered Daniel, quickly doffing his cap.
82011
82012 The count remembered the wolf he had let slip and his encounter with
82013 Daniel.
82014
82015 "Ah, but you are a crusty fellow, friend!" said the count.
82016
82017 For sole reply Daniel gave him a shy, childlike, meek, and amiable
82018 smile.
82019
82020
82021
82022
82023
82024 CHAPTER VI
82025
82026
82027 The old count went home, and Natasha and Petya promised to return
82028 very soon, but as it was still early the hunt went farther. At
82029 midday they put the hounds into a ravine thickly overgrown with
82030 young trees. Nicholas standing in a fallow field could see all his
82031 whips.
82032
82033 Facing him lay a field of winter rye, there his own huntsman stood
82034 alone in a hollow behind a hazel bush. The hounds had scarcely been
82035 loosed before Nicholas heard one he knew, Voltorn, giving tongue at
82036 intervals; other hounds joined in, now pausing and now again giving
82037 tongue. A moment later he heard a cry from the wooded ravine that a
82038 fox had been found, and the whole pack, joining together, rushed along
82039 the ravine toward the ryefield and away from Nicholas.
82040
82041 He saw the whips in their red caps galloping along the edge of the
82042 ravine, he even saw the hounds, and was expecting a fox to show itself
82043 at any moment on the ryefield opposite.
82044
82045 The huntsman standing in the hollow moved and loosed his borzois,
82046 and Nicholas saw a queer, short-legged red fox with a fine brush going
82047 hard across the field. The borzois bore down on it.... Now they drew
82048 close to the fox which began to dodge between the field in sharper and
82049 sharper curves, trailing its brush, when suddenly a strange white
82050 borzoi dashed in followed by a black one, and everything was in
82051 confusion; the borzois formed a star-shaped figure, scarcely swaying
82052 their bodies and with tails turned away from the center of the
82053 group. Two huntsmen galloped up to the dogs; one in a red cap, the
82054 other, a stranger, in a green coat.
82055
82056 "What's this?" thought Nicholas. "Where's that huntsman from? He
82057 is not 'Uncle's' man."
82058
82059 The huntsmen got the fox, but stayed there a long time without
82060 strapping it to the saddle. Their horses, bridled and with high
82061 saddles, stood near them and there too the dogs were lying. The
82062 huntsmen waved their arms and did something to the fox. Then from that
82063 spot came the sound of a horn, with the signal agreed on in case of
82064 a fight.
82065
82066 "That's Ilagin's huntsman having a row with our Ivan," said
82067 Nicholas' groom.
82068
82069 Nicholas sent the man to call Natasha and Petya to him, and rode
82070 at a footpace to the place where the whips were getting the hounds
82071 together. Several of the field galloped to the spot where the fight
82072 was going on.
82073
82074 Nicholas dismounted, and with Natasha and Petya, who had ridden
82075 up, stopped near the hounds, waiting to see how the matter would
82076 end. Out of the bushes came the huntsman who had been fighting and
82077 rode toward his young master, with the fox tied to his crupper.
82078 While still at a distance he took off his cap and tried to speak
82079 respectfully, but he was pale and breathless and his face was angry.
82080 One of his eyes was black, but he probably was not even aware of it.
82081
82082 "What has happened?" asked Nicholas.
82083
82084 "A likely thing, killing a fox our dogs had hunted! And it was my
82085 gray bitch that caught it! Go to law, indeed!... He snatches at the
82086 fox! I gave him one with the fox. Here it is on my saddle! Do you want
82087 a taste of this?..." said the huntsman, pointing to his dagger and
82088 probably imagining himself still speaking to his foe.
82089
82090 Nicholas, not stopping to talk to the man, asked his sister and
82091 Petya to wait for him and rode to the spot where the enemy's,
82092 Ilagin's, hunting party was.
82093
82094 The victorious huntsman rode off to join the field, and there,
82095 surrounded by inquiring sympathizers, recounted his exploits.
82096
82097 The facts were that Ilagin, with whom the Rostovs had a quarrel
82098 and were at law, hunted over places that belonged by custom to the
82099 Rostovs, and had now, as if purposely, sent his men to the very
82100 woods the Rostovs were hunting and let his man snatch a fox their dogs
82101 had chased.
82102
82103 Nicholas, though he had never seen Ilagin, with his usual absence of
82104 moderation in judgment, hated him cordially from reports of his
82105 arbitrariness and violence, and regarded him as his bitterest foe.
82106 He rode in angry agitation toward him, firmly grasping his whip and
82107 fully prepared to take the most resolute and desperate steps to punish
82108 his enemy.
82109
82110 Hardly had he passed an angle of the wood before a stout gentleman
82111 in a beaver cap came riding toward him on a handsome raven-black
82112 horse, accompanied by two hunt servants.
82113
82114 Instead of an enemy, Nicholas found in Ilagin a stately and
82115 courteous gentleman who was particularly anxious to make the young
82116 count's acquaintance. Having ridden up to Nicholas, Ilagin raised
82117 his beaver cap and said he much regretted what had occurred and
82118 would have the man punished who had allowed himself to seize a fox
82119 hunted by someone else's borzois. He hoped to become better acquainted
82120 with the count and invited him to draw his covert.
82121
82122 Natasha, afraid that her brother would do something dreadful, had
82123 followed him in some excitement. Seeing the enemies exchanging
82124 friendly greetings, she rode up to them. Ilagin lifted his beaver
82125 cap still higher to Natasha and said, with a pleasant smile, that
82126 the young countess resembled Diana in her passion for the chase as
82127 well as in her beauty, of which he had heard much.
82128
82129 To expiate his huntsman's offense, Ilagin pressed the Rostovs to
82130 come to an upland of his about a mile away which he usually kept for
82131 himself and which, he said, swarmed with hares. Nicholas agreed, and
82132 the hunt, now doubled, moved on.
82133
82134 The way to Iligin's upland was across the fields. The hunt
82135 servants fell into line. The masters rode together. "Uncle," Rostov,
82136 and Ilagin kept stealthily glancing at one another's dogs, trying
82137 not to be observed by their companions and searching uneasily for
82138 rivals to their own borzois.
82139
82140 Rostov was particularly struck by the beauty of a small,
82141 pure-bred, red-spotted bitch on Ilagin's leash, slender but with
82142 muscles like steel, a delicate muzzle, and prominent black eyes. He
82143 had heard of the swiftness of Ilagin's borzois, and in that
82144 beautiful bitch saw a rival to his own Milka.
82145
82146 In the middle of a sober conversation begun by Ilagin about the
82147 year's harvest, Nicholas pointed to the red-spotted bitch.
82148
82149 "A fine little bitch, that!" said he in a careless tone. "Is she
82150 swift?"
82151
82152 "That one? Yes, she's a good dog, gets what she's after," answered
82153 Ilagin indifferently, of the red-spotted bitch Erza, for which, a year
82154 before, he had given a neighbor three families of house serfs. "So
82155 in your parts, too, the harvest is nothing to boast of, Count?" he
82156 went on, continuing the conversation they had begun. And considering
82157 it polite to return the young count's compliment, Ilagin looked at his
82158 borzois and picked out Milka who attracted his attention by her
82159 breadth. "That black-spotted one of yours is fine--well shaped!"
82160 said he.
82161
82162 "Yes, she's fast enough," replied Nicholas, and thought: "If only
82163 a full-grown hare would cross the field now I'd show you what sort
82164 of borzoi she is," and turning to his groom, he said he would give a
82165 ruble to anyone who found a hare.
82166
82167 "I don't understand," continued Ilagin, "how some sportsmen can be
82168 so jealous about game and dogs. For myself, I can tell you, Count, I
82169 enjoy riding in company such as this... what could be better?" (he
82170 again raised his cap to Natasha) "but as for counting skins and what
82171 one takes, I don't care about that."
82172
82173 "Of course not!"
82174
82175 "Or being upset because someone else's borzoi and not mine catches
82176 something. All I care about is to enjoy seeing the chase, is it not
82177 so, Count? For I consider that..."
82178
82179 "A-tu!" came the long-drawn cry of one of the borzoi whippers-in,
82180 who had halted. He stood on a knoll in the stubble, holding his whip
82181 aloft, and again repeated his long-drawn cry, "A-tu!" (This call and
82182 the uplifted whip meant that he saw a sitting hare.)
82183
82184 "Ah, he has found one, I think," said Ilagin carelessly. "Yes, we
82185 must ride up.... Shall we both course it?" answered Nicholas, seeing
82186 in Erza and "Uncle's" red Rugay two rivals he had never yet had a
82187 chance of pitting against his own borzois. "And suppose they outdo
82188 my Milka at once!" he thought as he rode with "Uncle" and Ilagin
82189 toward the hare.
82190
82191 "A full-grown one?" asked Ilagin as he approached the whip who had
82192 sighted the hare--and not without agitation he looked round and
82193 whistled to Erza.
82194
82195 "And you, Michael Nikanorovich?" he said, addressing "Uncle."
82196
82197 The latter was riding with a sullen expression on his face.
82198
82199 "How can I join in? Why, you've given a village for each of your
82200 borzois! That's it, come on! Yours are worth thousands. Try yours
82201 against one another, you two, and I'll look on!"
82202
82203 "Rugay, hey, hey!" he shouted. "Rugayushka!" he added, involuntarily
82204 by this diminutive expressing his affection and the hopes he placed on
82205 this red borzoi. Natasha saw and felt the agitation the two elderly
82206 men and her brother were trying to conceal, and was herself excited by
82207 it.
82208
82209 The huntsman stood halfway up the knoll holding up his whip and
82210 the gentlefolk rode up to him at a footpace; the hounds that were
82211 far off on the horizon turned away from the hare, and the whips, but
82212 not the gentlefolk, also moved away. All were moving slowly and
82213 sedately.
82214
82215 "How is it pointing?" asked Nicholas, riding a hundred paces
82216 toward the whip who had sighted the hare.
82217
82218 But before the whip could reply, the hare, scenting the frost coming
82219 next morning, was unable to rest and leaped up. The pack on leash
82220 rushed downhill in full cry after the hare, and from all sides the
82221 borzois that were not on leash darted after the hounds and the hare.
82222 All the hunt, who had been moving slowly, shouted, "Stop!" calling
82223 in the hounds, while the borzoi whips, with a cry of "A-tu!" galloped
82224 across the field setting the borzois on the hare. The tranquil Ilagin,
82225 Nicholas, Natasha, and "Uncle" flew, reckless of where and how they
82226 went, seeing only the borzois and the hare and fearing only to lose
82227 sight even for an instant of the chase. The hare they had started
82228 was a strong and swift one. When he jumped up he did not run at
82229 once, but pricked his ears listening to the shouting and trampling
82230 that resounded from all sides at once. He took a dozen bounds, not
82231 very quickly, letting the borzois gain on him, and, finally having
82232 chosen his direction and realized his danger, laid back his ears and
82233 rushed off headlong. He had been lying in the stubble, but in front of
82234 him was the autumn sowing where the ground was soft. The two borzois
82235 of the huntsman who had sighted him, having been the nearest, were the
82236 first to see and pursue him, but they had not gone far before Ilagin's
82237 red-spotted Erza passed them, got within a length, flew at the hare
82238 with terrible swiftness aiming at his scut, and, thinking she had
82239 seized him, rolled over like a ball. The hare arched his back and
82240 bounded off yet more swiftly. From behind Erza rushed the
82241 broad-haunched, black-spotted Milka and began rapidly gaining on the
82242 hare.
82243
82244 "Milashka, dear!" rose Nicholas' triumphant cry. It looked as if
82245 Milka would immediately pounce on the hare, but she overtook him and
82246 flew past. The hare had squatted. Again the beautiful Erza reached
82247 him, but when close to the hare's scut paused as if measuring the
82248 distance, so as not to make a mistake this time but seize his hind
82249 leg.
82250
82251 "Erza, darling!" Ilagin wailed in a voice unlike his own. Erza did
82252 not hearken to his appeal. At the very moment when she would have
82253 seized her prey, the hare moved and darted along the balk between
82254 the winter rye and the stubble. Again Erza and Milka were abreast,
82255 running like a pair of carriage horses, and began to overtake the
82256 hare, but it was easier for the hare to run on the balk and the
82257 borzois did not overtake him so quickly.
82258
82259 "Rugay, Rugayushka! That's it, come on!" came a third voice just
82260 then, and "Uncle's" red borzoi, straining and curving its back, caught
82261 up with the two foremost borzois, pushed ahead of them regardless of
82262 the terrible strain, put on speed close to the hare, knocked it off
82263 the balk onto the ryefield, again put on speed still more viciously,
82264 sinking to his knees in the muddy field, and all one could see was
82265 how, muddying his back, he rolled over with the hare. A ring of
82266 borzois surrounded him. A moment later everyone had drawn up round the
82267 crowd of dogs. Only the delighted "Uncle" dismounted, and cut off a
82268 pad, shaking the hare for the blood to drip off, and anxiously
82269 glancing round with restless eyes while his arms and legs twitched. He
82270 spoke without himself knowing whom to or what about. "That's it,
82271 come on! That's a dog!... There, it has beaten them all, the
82272 thousand-ruble as well as the one-ruble borzois. That's it, come
82273 on!" said he, panting and looking wrathfully around as if he were
82274 abusing someone, as if they were all his enemies and had insulted him,
82275 and only now had he at last succeeded in justifying himself. "There
82276 are your thousand-ruble ones.... That's it, come on!..."
82277
82278 "Rugay, here's a pad for you!" he said, throwing down the hare's
82279 muddy pad. "You've deserved it, that's it, come on!"
82280
82281 "She'd tired herself out, she'd run it down three times by herself,"
82282 said Nicholas, also not listening to anyone and regardless of
82283 whether he were heard or not.
82284
82285 "But what is there in running across it like that?" said Ilagin's
82286 groom.
82287
82288 "Once she had missed it and turned it away, any mongrel could take
82289 it," Ilagin was saying at the same time, breathless from his gallop
82290 and his excitement. At the same moment Natasha, without drawing
82291 breath, screamed joyously, ecstatically, and so piercingly that it set
82292 everyone's ear tingling. By that shriek she expressed what the
82293 others expressed by all talking at once, and it was so strange that
82294 she must herself have been ashamed of so wild a cry and everyone
82295 else would have been amazed at it at any other time. "Uncle" himself
82296 twisted up the hare, threw it neatly and smartly across his horse's
82297 back as if by that gesture he meant to rebuke everybody, and, with
82298 an air of not wishing to speak to anyone, mounted his bay and rode
82299 off. The others all followed, dispirited and shamefaced, and only much
82300 later were they able to regain their former affectation of
82301 indifference. For a long time they continued to look at red Rugay who,
82302 his arched back spattered with mud and clanking the ring of his leash,
82303 walked along just behind "Uncle's" horse with the serene air of a
82304 conqueror.
82305
82306 "Well, I am like any other dog as long as it's not a question of
82307 coursing. But when it is, then look out!" his appearance seemed to
82308 Nicholas to be saying.
82309
82310 When, much later, "Uncle" rode up to Nicholas and began talking to
82311 him, he felt flattered that, after what had happened, "Uncle"
82312 deigned to speak to him.
82313
82314
82315
82316
82317
82318 CHAPTER VII
82319
82320
82321 Toward evening Ilagin took leave of Nicholas, who found that they
82322 were so far from home that he accepted "Uncle's" offer that the
82323 hunting party should spend the night in his little village of
82324 Mikhaylovna.
82325
82326 "And if you put up at my house that will be better still. That's it,
82327 come on!" said "Uncle." "You see it's damp weather, and you could
82328 rest, and the little countess could be driven home in a trap."
82329
82330 "Uncle's" offer was accepted. A huntsman was sent to Otradnoe for
82331 a trap, while Nicholas rode with Natasha and Petya to "Uncle's" house.
82332
82333 Some five male domestic serfs, big and little, rushed out to the
82334 front porch to meet their master. A score of women serfs, old and
82335 young, as well as children, popped out from the back entrance to
82336 have a look at the hunters who were arriving. The presence of Natasha-
82337 a woman, a lady, and on horseback--raised the curiosity of the serfs
82338 to such a degree that many of them came up to her, stared her in the
82339 face, and unabashed by her presence made remarks about her as though
82340 she were some prodigy on show and not a human being able to hear or
82341 understand what was said about her.
82342
82343 "Arinka! Look, she sits sideways! There she sits and her skirt
82344 dangles.... See, she's got a little hunting horn!"
82345
82346 "Goodness gracious! See her knife?..."
82347
82348 "Isn't she a Tartar!"
82349
82350 "How is it you didn't go head over heels?" asked the boldest of all,
82351 addressing Natasha directly.
82352
82353 "Uncle" dismounted at the porch of his little wooden house which
82354 stood in the midst of an overgrown garden and, after a glance at his
82355 retainers, shouted authoritatively that the superfluous ones should
82356 take themselves off and that all necessary preparations should be made
82357 to receive the guests and the visitors.
82358
82359 The serfs all dispersed. "Uncle" lifted Natasha off her horse and
82360 taking her hand led her up the rickety wooden steps of the porch.
82361 The house, with its bare, unplastered log walls, was not overclean--it
82362 did not seem that those living in it aimed at keeping it spotless--but
82363 neither was it noticeably neglected. In the entry there was a smell of
82364 fresh apples, and wolf and fox skins hung about.
82365
82366 "Uncle" led the visitors through the anteroom into a small hall with
82367 a folding table and red chairs, then into the drawing room with a
82368 round birchwood table and a sofa, and finally into his private room
82369 where there was a tattered sofa, a worn carpet, and portraits of
82370 Suvorov, of the host's father and mother, and of himself in military
82371 uniform. The study smelt strongly of tobacco and dogs. "Uncle" asked
82372 his visitors to sit down and make themselves at home, and then went
82373 out of the room. Rugay, his back still muddy, came into the room and
82374 lay down on the sofa, cleaning himself with his tongue and teeth.
82375 Leading from the study was a passage in which a partition with
82376 ragged curtains could be seen. From behind this came women's
82377 laughter and whispers. Natasha, Nicholas, and Petya took off their
82378 wraps and sat down on the sofa. Petya, leaning on his elbow, fell
82379 asleep at once. Natasha and Nicholas were silent. Their faces
82380 glowed, they were hungry and very cheerful. They looked at one another
82381 (now that the hunt was over and they were in the house, Nicholas no
82382 longer considered it necessary to show his manly superiority over
82383 his sister), Natasha gave him a wink, and neither refrained long
82384 from bursting into a peal of ringing laughter even before they had a
82385 pretext ready to account for it.
82386
82387 After a while "Uncle" came in, in a Cossack coat, blue trousers, and
82388 small top boots. And Natasha felt that this costume, the very one
82389 she had regarded with surprise and amusement at Otradnoe, was just the
82390 right thing and not at all worse than a swallow-tail or frock coat.
82391 "Uncle" too was in high spirits and far from being offended by the
82392 brother's and sister's laughter (it could never enter his head that
82393 they might be laughing at his way of life) he himself joined in the
82394 merriment.
82395
82396 "That's right, young countess, that's it, come on! I never saw
82397 anyone like her!" said he, offering Nicholas a pipe with a long stem
82398 and, with a practiced motion of three fingers, taking down another
82399 that had been cut short. "She's ridden all day like a man, and is as
82400 fresh as ever!"
82401
82402 Soon after "Uncle's" reappearance the door was opened, evidently
82403 from the sound by a barefooted girl, and a stout, rosy, good-looking
82404 woman of about forty, with a double chin and full red lips, entered
82405 carrying a large loaded tray. With hospitable dignity and cordiality
82406 in her glance and in every motion, she looked at the visitors and,
82407 with a pleasant smile, bowed respectfully. In spite of her exceptional
82408 stoutness, which caused her to protrude her chest and stomach and
82409 throw back her head, this woman (who was "Uncle's" housekeeper) trod
82410 very lightly. She went to the table, set down the tray, and with her
82411 plump white hands deftly took from it the bottles and various hors
82412 d'oeuvres and dishes and arranged them on the table. When she had
82413 finished, she stepped aside and stopped at the door with a smile on
82414 her face. "Here I am. I am she! Now do you understand 'Uncle'?" her
82415 expression said to Rostov. How could one help understanding? Not
82416 only Nicholas, but even Natasha understood the meaning of his puckered
82417 brow and the happy complacent smile that slightly puckered his lips
82418 when Anisya Fedorovna entered. On the tray was a bottle of herb
82419 wine, different kinds of vodka, pickled mushrooms, rye cakes made with
82420 buttermilk, honey in the comb, still mead and sparkling mead,
82421 apples, nuts (raw and roasted), and nut-and-honey sweets. Afterwards
82422 she brought a freshly roasted chicken, ham, preserves made with honey,
82423 and preserves made with sugar.
82424
82425 All this was the fruit of Anisya Fedorovna's housekeeping,
82426 gathered and prepared by her. The smell and taste of it all had a
82427 smack of Anisya Fedorovna herself: a savor of juiciness,
82428 cleanliness, whiteness, and pleasant smiles.
82429
82430 "Take this, little Lady-Countess!" she kept saying, as she offered
82431 Natasha first one thing and then another.
82432
82433 Natasha ate of everything and thought she had never seen or eaten
82434 such buttermilk cakes, such aromatic jam, such honey-and-nut sweets,
82435 or such a chicken anywhere. Anisya Fedorovna left the room.
82436
82437 After supper, over their cherry brandy, Rostov and "Uncle" talked of
82438 past and future hunts, of Rugay and Ilagin's dogs, while Natasha sat
82439 upright on the sofa and listened with sparkling eyes. She tried
82440 several times to wake Petya that he might eat something, but he only
82441 muttered incoherent words without waking up. Natasha felt so
82442 lighthearted and happy in these novel surroundings that she only
82443 feared the trap would come for her too soon. After a casual pause,
82444 such as often occurs when receiving friends for the first time in
82445 one's own house, "Uncle," answering a thought that was in his
82446 visitors' mind, said:
82447
82448 "This, you see, is how I am finishing my days... Death will come.
82449 That's it, come on! Nothing will remain. Then why harm anyone?"
82450
82451 "Uncle's" face was very significant and even handsome as he said
82452 this. Involuntarily Rostov recalled all the good he had heard about
82453 him from his father and the neighbors. Throughout the whole province
82454 "Uncle" had the reputation of being the most honorable and
82455 disinterested of cranks. They called him in to decide family disputes,
82456 chose him as executor, confided secrets to him, elected him to be a
82457 justice and to other posts; but he always persistently refused
82458 public appointments, passing the autumn and spring in the fields on
82459 his bay gelding, sitting at home in winter, and lying in his overgrown
82460 garden in summer.
82461
82462 "Why don't you enter the service, Uncle?"
82463
82464 "I did once, but gave it up. I am not fit for it. That's it, come
82465 on! I can't make head or tail of it. That's for you--I haven't
82466 brains enough. Now, hunting is another matter--that's it, come on!
82467 Open the door, there!" he shouted. "Why have you shut it?"
82468
82469 The door at the end of the passage led to the huntsmen's room, as
82470 they called the room for the hunt servants.
82471
82472 There was a rapid patter of bare feet, and an unseen hand opened the
82473 door into the huntsmen's room, from which came the clear sounds of a
82474 balalayka on which someone, who was evidently a master of the art, was
82475 playing. Natasha had been listening to those strains for some time and
82476 now went out into the passage to hear better.
82477
82478 "That's Mitka, my coachman.... I have got him a good balalayka.
82479 I'm fond of it," said "Uncle."
82480
82481 It was the custom for Mitka to play the balalayka in the
82482 huntsmen's room when "Uncle" returned from the chase. "Uncle" was fond
82483 of such music.
82484
82485 "How good! Really very good!" said Nicholas with some
82486 unintentional superciliousness, as if ashamed to confess that the
82487 sounds pleased him very much.
82488
82489 "Very good?" said Natasha reproachfully, noticing her brother's
82490 tone. "Not 'very good' it's simply delicious!"
82491
82492 Just as "Uncle's" pickled mushrooms, honey, and cherry brandy had
82493 seemed to her the best in the world, so also that song, at that
82494 moment, seemed to her the acme of musical delight.
82495
82496 "More, please, more!" cried Natasha at the door as soon as the
82497 balalayka ceased. Mitka tuned up afresh, and recommenced thrumming the
82498 balalayka to the air of My Lady, with trills and variations. "Uncle"
82499 sat listening, slightly smiling, with his head on one side. The air
82500 was repeated a hundred times. The balalayka was retuned several
82501 times and the same notes were thrummed again, but the listeners did
82502 not grow weary of it and wished to hear it again and again. Anisya
82503 Fedorovna came in and leaned her portly person against the doorpost.
82504
82505 "You like listening?" she said to Natasha, with a smile extremely
82506 like "Uncle's." "That's a good player of ours," she added.
82507
82508 "He doesn't play that part right!" said "Uncle" suddenly, with an
82509 energetic gesture. "Here he ought to burst out--that's it, come on!-
82510 ought to burst out."
82511
82512 "Do you play then?" asked Natasha.
82513
82514 "Uncle" did not answer, but smiled.
82515
82516 "Anisya, go and see if the strings of my guitar are all right. I
82517 haven't touched it for a long time. That's it--come on! I've given
82518 it up."
82519
82520 Anisya Fedorovna, with her light step, willingly went to fulfill her
82521 errand and brought back the guitar.
82522
82523 Without looking at anyone, "Uncle" blew the dust off it and, tapping
82524 the case with his bony fingers, tuned the guitar and settled himself
82525 in his armchair. He took the guitar a little above the fingerboard,
82526 arching his left elbow with a somewhat theatrical gesture, and, with a
82527 wink at Anisya Fedorovna, struck a single chord, pure and sonorous,
82528 and then quietly, smoothly, and confidently began playing in very slow
82529 time, not My Lady, but the well-known song: Came a maiden down the
82530 street. The tune, played with precision and in exact time, began to
82531 thrill in the hearts of Nicholas and Natasha, arousing in them the
82532 same kind of sober mirth as radiated from Anisya Fedorovna's whole
82533 being. Anisya Fedorovna flushed, and drawing her kerchief over her
82534 face went laughing out of the room. "Uncle" continued to play
82535 correctly, carefully, with energetic firmness, looking with a
82536 changed and inspired expression at the spot where Anisya Fedorovna had
82537 just stood. Something seemed to be laughing a little on one side of
82538 his face under his gray mustaches, especially as the song grew brisker
82539 and the time quicker and when, here and there, as he ran his fingers
82540 over the strings, something seemed to snap.
82541
82542 "Lovely, lovely! Go on, Uncle, go on!" shouted Natasha as soon as he
82543 had finished. She jumped up and hugged and kissed him. "Nicholas,
82544 Nicholas!" she said, turning to her brother, as if asking him: "What
82545 is it moves me so?"
82546
82547 Nicholas too was greatly pleased by "Uncle's" playing, and "Uncle"
82548 played the piece over again. Anisya Fedorovna's smiling face
82549 reappeared in the doorway and behind hers other faces...
82550
82551 Fetching water clear and sweet,
82552 Stop, dear maiden, I entreat-
82553
82554 played "Uncle" once more, running his fingers skillfully over the
82555 strings, and then he stopped short and jerked his shoulders.
82556
82557 "Go on, Uncle dear," Natasha wailed in an imploring tone as if her
82558 life depended on it.
82559
82560 "Uncle" rose, and it was as if there were two men in him: one of
82561 them smiled seriously at the merry fellow, while the merry fellow
82562 struck a naive and precise attitude preparatory to a folk dance.
82563
82564 "Now then, niece!" he exclaimed, waving to Natasha the hand that had
82565 just struck a chord.
82566
82567 Natasha threw off the shawl from her shoulders, ran forward to
82568 face "Uncle," and setting her arms akimbo also made a motion with
82569 her shoulders and struck an attitude.
82570
82571 Where, how, and when had this young countess, educated by an emigree
82572 French governess, imbibed from the Russian air she breathed that
82573 spirit and obtained that manner which the pas de chale* would, one
82574 would have supposed, long ago have effaced? But the spirit and the
82575 movements were those inimitable and unteachable Russian ones that
82576 "Uncle" had expected of her. As soon as she had struck her pose, and
82577 smiled triumphantly, proudly, and with sly merriment, the fear that
82578 had at first seized Nicholas and the others that she might not do
82579 the right thing was at an end, and they were already admiring her.
82580
82581
82582 *The French shawl dance.
82583
82584
82585 She did the right thing with such precision, such complete
82586 precision, that Anisya Fedorovna, who had at once handed her the
82587 handkerchief she needed for the dance, had tears in her eyes, though
82588 she laughed as she watched this slim, graceful countess, reared in
82589 silks and velvets and so different from herself, who yet was able to
82590 understand all that was in Anisya and in Anisya's father and mother
82591 and aunt, and in every Russian man and woman.
82592
82593 "Well, little countess; that's it--come on!" cried "Uncle," with a
82594 joyous laugh, having finished the dance. "Well done, niece! Now a fine
82595 young fellow must be found as husband for you. That's it--come on!"
82596
82597 "He's chosen already," said Nicholas smiling.
82598
82599 "Oh?" said "Uncle" in surprise, looking inquiringly at Natasha,
82600 who nodded her head with a happy smile.
82601
82602 "And such a one!" she said. But as soon as she had said it a new
82603 train of thoughts and feelings arose in her. "What did Nicholas' smile
82604 mean when he said 'chosen already'? Is he glad of it or not? It is
82605 as if he thought my Bolkonski would not approve of or understand our
82606 gaiety. But he would understand it all. Where is he now?" she thought,
82607 and her face suddenly became serious. But this lasted only a second.
82608 "Don't dare to think about it," she said to herself, and sat down
82609 again smilingly beside "Uncle," begging him to play something more.
82610
82611 "Uncle" played another song and a valse; then after a pause he
82612 cleared his throat and sang his favorite hunting song:
82613
82614 As 'twas growing dark last night
82615 Fell the snow so soft and light...
82616
82617
82618 "Uncle" sang as peasants sing, with full and naive conviction that
82619 the whole meaning of a song lies in the words and that the tune
82620 comes of itself, and that apart from the words there is no tune, which
82621 exists only to give measure to the words. As a result of this the
82622 unconsidered tune, like the song of a bird, was extraordinarily
82623 good. Natasha was in ecstasies over "Uncle's" singing. She resolved to
82624 give up learning the harp and to play only the guitar. She asked
82625 "Uncle" for his guitar and at once found the chords of the song.
82626
82627 After nine o'clock two traps and three mounted men, who had been
82628 sent to look for them, arrived to fetch Natasha and Petya. The count
82629 and countess did not know where they were and were very anxious,
82630 said one of the men.
82631
82632 Petya was carried out like a log and laid in the larger of the two
82633 traps. Natasha and Nicholas got into the other. "Uncle" wrapped
82634 Natasha up warmly and took leave of her with quite a new tenderness.
82635 He accompanied them on foot as far as the bridge that could not be
82636 crossed, so that they had to go round by the ford, and he sent
82637 huntsmen to ride in front with lanterns.
82638
82639 "Good-by, dear niece," his voice called out of the darkness--not the
82640 voice Natasha had known previously, but the one that had sung As 'twas
82641 growing dark last night.
82642
82643 In the village through which they passed there were red lights and a
82644 cheerful smell of smoke.
82645
82646 "What a darling Uncle is!" said Natasha, when they had come out onto
82647 the highroad.
82648
82649 "Yes," returned Nicholas. "You're not cold?"
82650
82651 "No. I'm quite, quite all right. I feel so comfortable!" answered
82652 Natasha, almost perplexed by her feelings. They remained silent a long
82653 while. The night was dark and damp. They could not see the horses, but
82654 only heard them splashing through the unseen mud.
82655
82656 What was passing in that receptive childlike soul that so eagerly
82657 caught and assimilated all the diverse impressions of life? How did
82658 they all find place in her? But she was very happy. As they were
82659 nearing home she suddenly struck up the air of As 'twas growing dark
82660 last night--the tune of which she had all the way been trying to get
82661 and had at last caught.
82662
82663 "Got it?" said Nicholas.
82664
82665 "What were you thinking about just now, Nicholas?" inquired Natasha.
82666
82667 They were fond of asking one another that question.
82668
82669 "I?" said Nicholas, trying to remember. "Well, you see, first I
82670 thought that Rugay, the red hound, was like Uncle, and that if he were
82671 a man he would always keep Uncle near him, if not for his riding, then
82672 for his manner. What a good fellow Uncle is! Don't you think so?...
82673 Well, and you?"
82674
82675 "I? Wait a bit, wait.... Yes, first I thought that we are driving
82676 along and imagining that we are going home, but that heaven knows
82677 where we are really going in the darkness, and that we shall arrive
82678 and suddenly find that we are not in Otradnoe, but in Fairyland. And
82679 then I thought... No, nothing else."
82680
82681 "I know, I expect you thought of him," said Nicholas, smiling as
82682 Natasha knew by the sound of his voice.
82683
82684 "No," said Natasha, though she had in reality been thinking about
82685 Prince Andrew at the same time as of the rest, and of how he would
82686 have liked "Uncle." "And then I was saying to myself all the way, 'How
82687 well Anisya carried herself, how well!'" And Nicholas heard her
82688 spontaneous, happy, ringing laughter. "And do you know," she
82689 suddenly said, "I know that I shall never again be as happy and
82690 tranquil as I am now."
82691
82692 "Rubbish, nonsense, humbug!" exclaimed Nicholas, and he thought:
82693 "How charming this Natasha of mine is! I have no other friend like her
82694 and never shall have. Why should she marry? We might always drive
82695 about together!"
82696
82697 "What a darling this Nicholas of mine is!" thought Natasha.
82698
82699 "Ah, there are still lights in the drawingroom!" she said,
82700 pointing to the windows of the house that gleamed invitingly in the
82701 moist velvety darkness of the night.
82702
82703
82704
82705
82706
82707 CHAPTER VIII
82708
82709
82710 Count Ilya Rostov had resigned the position of Marshal of the
82711 Nobility because it involved him in too much expense, but still his
82712 affairs did not improve. Natasha and Nicholas often noticed their
82713 parents conferring together anxiously and privately and heard
82714 suggestions of selling the fine ancestral Rostov house and estate near
82715 Moscow. It was not necessary to entertain so freely as when the
82716 count had been Marshal, and life at Otradnoe was quieter than in
82717 former years, but still the enormous house and its lodges were full of
82718 people and more than twenty sat down to table every day. These were
82719 all their own people who had settled down in the house almost as
82720 members of the family, or persons who were, it seemed, obliged to live
82721 in the count's house. Such were Dimmler the musician and his wife,
82722 Vogel the dancing master and his family, Belova, an old maiden lady,
82723 an inmate of the house, and many others such as Petya's tutors, the
82724 girls' former governess, and other people who simply found it
82725 preferable and more advantageous to live in the count's house than
82726 at home. They had not as many visitors as before, but the old habits
82727 of life without which the count and countess could not conceive of
82728 existence remained unchanged. There was still the hunting
82729 establishment which Nicholas had even enlarged, the same fifty
82730 horses and fifteen grooms in the stables, the same expensive
82731 presents and dinner parties to the whole district on name days;
82732 there were still the count's games of whist and boston, at which-
82733 spreading out his cards so that everybody could see them--he let
82734 himself be plundered of hundreds of rubles every day by his neighbors,
82735 who looked upon an opportunity to play a rubber with Count Rostov as a
82736 most profitable source of income.
82737
82738 The count moved in his affairs as in a huge net, trying not to
82739 believe that he was entangled but becoming more and more so at every
82740 step, and feeling too feeble to break the meshes or to set to work
82741 carefully and patiently to disentangle them. The countess, with her
82742 loving heart, felt that her children were being ruined, that it was
82743 not the count's fault for he could not help being what he was--that
82744 (though he tried to hide it) he himself suffered from the
82745 consciousness of his own and his children's ruin, and she tried to
82746 find means of remedying the position. From her feminine point of
82747 view she could see only one solution, namely, for Nicholas to marry
82748 a rich heiress. She felt this to be their last hope and that if
82749 Nicholas refused the match she had found for him, she would have to
82750 abandon the hope of ever getting matters right. This match was with
82751 Julie Karagina, the daughter of excellent and virtuous parents, a girl
82752 the Rostovs had known from childhood, and who had now become a wealthy
82753 heiress through the death of the last of her brothers.
82754
82755 The countess had written direct to Julie's mother in Moscow
82756 suggesting a marriage between their children and had received a
82757 favorable answer from her. Karagina had replied that for her part
82758 she was agreeable, and everything depend on her daughter's
82759 inclination. She invited Nicholas to come to Moscow.
82760
82761 Several times the countess, with tears in her eyes, told her son
82762 that now both her daughters were settled, her only wish was to see him
82763 married. She said she could lie down in her grave peacefully if that
82764 were accomplished. Then she told him that she knew of a splendid
82765 girl and tried to discover what he thought about marriage.
82766
82767 At other times she praised Julie to him and advised him to go to
82768 Moscow during the holidays to amuse himself. Nicholas guessed what his
82769 mother's remarks were leading to and during one of these conversations
82770 induced her to speak quite frankly. She told him that her only hope of
82771 getting their affairs disentangled now lay in his marrying Julie
82772 Karagina.
82773
82774 "But, Mamma, suppose I loved a girl who has no fortune, would you
82775 expect me to sacrifice my feelings and my honor for the sake of
82776 money?" he asked his mother, not realizing the cruelty of his question
82777 and only wishing to show his noble-mindedness.
82778
82779 "No, you have not understood me," said his mother, not knowing how
82780 to justify herself. "You have not understood me, Nikolenka. It is your
82781 happiness I wish for," she added, feeling that she was telling an
82782 untruth and was becoming entangled. She began to cry.
82783
82784 "Mamma, don't cry! Only tell me that you wish it, and you know I
82785 will give my life, anything, to put you at ease," said Nicholas. "I
82786 would sacrifice anything for you--even my feelings."
82787
82788 But the countess did not want the question put like that: she did
82789 not want a sacrifice from her son, she herself wished to make a
82790 sacrifice for him.
82791
82792 "No, you have not understood me, don't let us talk about it," she
82793 replied, wiping away her tears.
82794
82795 "Maybe I do love a poor girl," said Nicholas to himself. "Am I to
82796 sacrifice my feelings and my honor for money? I wonder how Mamma could
82797 speak so to me. Because Sonya is poor I must not love her," he
82798 thought, "must not respond to her faithful, devoted love? Yet I should
82799 certainly be happier with her than with some doll-like Julie. I can
82800 always sacrifice my feelings for my family's welfare," he said to
82801 himself, "but I can't coerce my feelings. If I love Sonya, that
82802 feeling is for me stronger and higher than all else."
82803
82804 Nicholas did not go to Moscow, and the countess did not renew the
82805 conversation with him about marriage. She saw with sorrow, and
82806 sometimes with exasperation, symptoms of a growing attachment
82807 between her son and the portionless Sonya. Though she blamed herself
82808 for it, she could not refrain from grumbling at and worrying Sonya,
82809 often pulling her up without reason, addressing her stiffly as "my
82810 dear," and using the formal "you" instead of the intimate "thou" in
82811 speaking to her. The kindhearted countess was the more vexed with
82812 Sonya because that poor, dark-eyed niece of hers was so meek, so kind,
82813 so devotedly grateful to her benefactors, and so faithfully,
82814 unchangingly, and unselfishly in love with Nicholas, that there were
82815 no grounds for finding fault with her.
82816
82817 Nicholas was spending the last of his leave at home. A fourth letter
82818 had come from Prince Andrew, from Rome, in which he wrote that he
82819 would have been on his way back to Russia long ago had not his wound
82820 unexpectedly reopened in the warm climate, which obliged him to
82821 defer his return till the beginning of the new year. Natasha was still
82822 as much in love with her betrothed, found the same comfort in that
82823 love, and was still as ready to throw herself into all the pleasures
82824 of life as before; but at the end of the fourth month of their
82825 separation she began to have fits of depression which she could not
82826 master. She felt sorry for herself: sorry that she was being wasted
82827 all this time and of no use to anyone--while she felt herself so
82828 capable of loving and being loved.
82829
82830 Things were not cheerful in the Rostovs' home.
82831
82832
82833
82834
82835
82836 CHAPTER IX
82837
82838
82839 Christmas came and except for the ceremonial Mass, the solemn and
82840 wearisome Christmas congratulations from neighbors and servants, and
82841 the new dresses everyone put on, there were no special festivities,
82842 though the calm frost of twenty degrees Reaumur, the dazzling sunshine
82843 by day, and the starlight of the winter nights seemed to call for some
82844 special celebration of the season.
82845
82846 On the third day of Christmas week, after the midday dinner, all the
82847 inmates of the house dispersed to various rooms. It was the dullest
82848 time of the day. Nicholas, who had been visiting some neighbors that
82849 morning, was asleep on the sitting-room sofa. The old count was
82850 resting in his study. Sonya sat in the drawing room at the round
82851 table, copying a design for embroidery. The countess was playing
82852 patience. Nastasya Ivanovna the buffoon sat with a sad face at the
82853 window with two old ladies. Natasha came into the room, went up to
82854 Sonya, glanced at what she was doing, and then went up to her mother
82855 and stood without speaking.
82856
82857 "Why are you wandering about like an outcast?" asked her mother.
82858 "What do you want?"
82859
82860 "Him... I want him... now, this minute! I want him!" said Natasha,
82861 with glittering eyes and no sign of a smile.
82862
82863 The countess lifted her head and looked attentively at her daughter.
82864
82865 "Don't look at me, Mamma! Don't look; I shall cry directly."
82866
82867 "Sit down with me a little," said the countess.
82868
82869 "Mamma, I want him. Why should I be wasted like this, Mamma?"
82870
82871 Her voice broke, tears gushed from her eyes, and she turned
82872 quickly to hide them and left the room.
82873
82874 She passed into the sitting room, stood there thinking awhile, and
82875 then went into the maids' room. There an old maidservant was grumbling
82876 at a young girl who stood panting, having just run in through the cold
82877 from the serfs' quarters.
82878
82879 "Stop playing--there's a time for everything," said the old woman.
82880
82881 "Let her alone, Kondratevna," said Natasha. "Go, Mavrushka, go."
82882
82883 Having released Mavrushka, Natasha crossed the dancing hall and went
82884 to the vestibule. There an old footman and two young ones were playing
82885 cards. They broke off and rose as she entered.
82886
82887 "What can I do with them?" thought Natasha.
82888
82889 "Oh, Nikita, please go... where can I send him?... Yes, go to the
82890 yard and fetch a fowl, please, a cock, and you, Misha, bring me some
82891 oats."
82892
82893 "Just a few oats?" said Misha, cheerfully and readily.
82894
82895 "Go, go quickly," the old man urged him.
82896
82897 "And you, Theodore, get me a piece of chalk."
82898
82899 On her way past the butler's pantry she told them to set a
82900 samovar, though it was not at all the time for tea.
82901
82902 Foka, the butler, was the most ill-tempered person in the house.
82903 Natasha liked to test her power over him. He distrusted the order
82904 and asked whether the samovar was really wanted.
82905
82906 "Oh dear, what a young lady!" said Foka, pretending to frown at
82907 Natasha.
82908
82909 No one in the house sent people about or gave them as much trouble
82910 as Natasha did. She could not see people unconcernedly, but had to
82911 send them on some errand. She seemed to be trying whether any of
82912 them would get angry or sulky with her; but the serfs fulfilled no
82913 one's orders so readily as they did hers. "What can I do, where can
82914 I go?" thought she, as she went slowly along the passage.
82915
82916 "Nastasya Ivanovna, what sort of children shall I have?" she asked
82917 the buffoon, who was coming toward her in a woman's jacket.
82918
82919 "Why, fleas, crickets, grasshoppers," answered the buffoon.
82920
82921 "O Lord, O Lord, it's always the same! Oh, where am I to go? What am
82922 I to do with myself?" And tapping with her heels, she ran quickly
82923 upstairs to see Vogel and his wife who lived on the upper story.
82924
82925 Two governesses were sitting with the Vogels at a table, on which
82926 were plates of raisins, walnuts, and almonds. The governesses were
82927 discussing whether it was cheaper to live in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha
82928 sat down, listened to their talk with a serious and thoughtful air,
82929 and then got up again.
82930
82931 "The island of Madagascar," she said, "Ma-da-gas-car," she repeated,
82932 articulating each syllable distinctly, and, not replying to Madame
82933 Schoss who asked her what she was saying, she went out of the room.
82934
82935 Her brother Petya was upstairs too; with the man in attendance on
82936 him he was preparing fireworks to let off that night.
82937
82938 "Petya! Petya!" she called to him. "Carry me downstairs."
82939
82940 Petya ran up and offered her his back. She jumped on it, putting her
82941 arms round his neck, and he pranced along with her.
82942
82943 "No, don't... the island of Madagascar!" she said, and jumping off
82944 his back she went downstairs.
82945
82946 Having as it were reviewed her kingdom, tested her power, and made
82947 sure that everyone was submissive, but that all the same it was
82948 dull, Natasha betook herself to the ballroom, picked up her guitar,
82949 sat down in a dark corner behind a bookcase, and began to run her
82950 fingers over the strings in the bass, picking out a passage she
82951 recalled from an opera she had heard in Petersburg with Prince Andrew.
82952 What she drew from the guitar would have had no meaning for other
82953 listeners, but in her imagination a whole series of reminiscences
82954 arose from those sounds. She sat behind the bookcase with her eyes
82955 fixed on a streak of light escaping from the pantry door and
82956 listened to herself and pondered. She was in a mood for brooding on
82957 the past.
82958
82959 Sonya passed to the pantry with a glass in her hand. Natasha glanced
82960 at her and at the crack in the pantry door, and it seemed to her
82961 that she remembered the light failing through that crack once before
82962 and Sonya passing with a glass in her hand. "Yes it was exactly the
82963 same," thought Natasha.
82964
82965 "Sonya, what is this?" she cried, twanging a thick string.
82966
82967 "Oh, you are there!" said Sonya with a start, and came near and
82968 listened. "I don't know. A storm?" she ventured timidly, afraid of
82969 being wrong.
82970
82971 "There! That's just how she started and just how she came up smiling
82972 timidly when all this happened before," thought Natasha, "and in
82973 just the same way I thought there was something lacking in her."
82974
82975 "No, it's the chorus from The Water-Carrier, listen!" and Natasha
82976 sang the air of the chorus so that Sonya should catch it. "Where
82977 were you going?" she asked.
82978
82979 "To change the water in this glass. I am just finishing the design."
82980
82981 "You always find something to do, but I can't," said Natasha. "And
82982 where's Nicholas?"
82983
82984 "Asleep, I think."
82985
82986 "Sonya, go and wake him," said Natasha. "Tell him I want him to come
82987 and sing."
82988
82989 She sat awhile, wondering what the meaning of it all having happened
82990 before could be, and without solving this problem, or at all
82991 regretting not having done so, she again passed in fancy to the time
82992 when she was with him and he was looking at her with a lover's eyes.
82993
82994 "Oh, if only he would come quicker! I am so afraid it will never be!
82995 And, worst of all, I am growing old--that's the thing! There won't
82996 then be in me what there is now. But perhaps he'll come today, will
82997 come immediately. Perhaps he has come and is sitting in the drawing
82998 room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten it." She rose,
82999 put down the guitar, and went to the drawing room.
83000
83001 All the domestic circle, tutors, governesses, and guests, were
83002 already at the tea table. The servants stood round the table--but
83003 Prince Andrew was not there and life was going on as before.
83004
83005 "Ah, here she is!" said the old count, when he saw Natasha enter.
83006 "Well, sit down by me." But Natasha stayed by her mother and glanced
83007 round as if looking for something.
83008
83009 "Mamma!" she muttered, "give him to me, give him, Mamma, quickly,
83010 quickly!" and she again had difficulty in repressing her sobs.
83011
83012 She sat down at the table and listened to the conversation between
83013 the elders and Nicholas, who had also come to the table. "My God, my
83014 God! The same faces, the same talk, Papa holding his cup and blowing
83015 in the same way!" thought Natasha, feeling with horror a sense of
83016 repulsion rising up in her for the whole household, because they
83017 were always the same.
83018
83019 After tea, Nicholas, Sonya, and Natasha went to the sitting room, to
83020 their favorite corner where their most intimate talks always began.
83021
83022
83023
83024
83025
83026 CHAPTER X
83027
83028
83029 "Does it ever happen to you," said Natasha to her brother, when
83030 they settled down in the sitting room, "does it ever happen to you
83031 to feel as if there were nothing more to come--nothing; that
83032 everything good is past? And to feel not exactly dull, but sad?"
83033
83034 "I should think so!" he replied. "I have felt like that when
83035 everything was all right and everyone was cheerful. The thought has
83036 come into my mind that I was already tired of it all, and that we must
83037 all die. Once in the regiment I had not gone to some merrymaking where
83038 there was music... and suddenly I felt so depressed..."
83039
83040 "Oh yes, I know, I know, I know!" Natasha interrupted him. "When I
83041 was quite little that used to be so with me. Do you remember when I
83042 was punished once about some plums? You were all dancing, and I sat
83043 sobbing in the schoolroom? I shall never forget it: I felt sad and
83044 sorry for everyone, for myself, and for everyone. And I was
83045 innocent--that was the chief thing," said Natasha. "Do you remember?"
83046
83047 "I remember," answered Nicholas. "I remember that I came to you
83048 afterwards and wanted to comfort you, but do you know, I felt
83049 ashamed to. We were terribly absurd. I had a funny doll then and
83050 wanted to give it to you. Do you remember?"
83051
83052 "And do you remember," Natasha asked with a pensive smile, "how
83053 once, long, long ago, when we were quite little, Uncle called us
83054 into the study--that was in the old house--and it was dark--we went in
83055 and suddenly there stood..."
83056
83057 "A Negro," chimed in Nicholas with a smile of delight. "Of course
83058 I remember. Even now I don't know whether there really was a Negro, or
83059 if we only dreamed it or were told about him."
83060
83061 "He was gray, you remember, and had white teeth, and stood and
83062 looked at us..."
83063
83064 "Sonya, do you remember?" asked Nicholas.
83065
83066 "Yes, yes, I do remember something too," Sonya answered timidly.
83067
83068 "You know I have asked Papa and Mamma about that Negro," said
83069 Natasha, "and they say there was no Negro at all. But you see, you
83070 remember!"
83071
83072 "Of course I do, I remember his teeth as if I had just seen them."
83073
83074 "How strange it is! It's as if it were a dream! I like that."
83075
83076 "And do you remember how we rolled hard-boiled eggs in the ballroom,
83077 and suddenly two old women began spinning round on the carpet? Was
83078 that real or not? Do you remember what fun it was?"
83079
83080 "Yes, and you remember how Papa in his blue overcoat fired a gun
83081 in the porch?"
83082
83083 So they went through their memories, smiling with pleasure: not
83084 the sad memories of old age, but poetic, youthful ones--those
83085 impressions of one's most distant past in which dreams and realities
83086 blend--and they laughed with quiet enjoyment.
83087
83088 Sonya, as always, did not quite keep pace with them, though they
83089 shared the same reminiscences.
83090
83091 Much that they remembered had slipped from her mind, and what she
83092 recalled did not arouse the same poetic feeling as they experienced.
83093 She simply enjoyed their pleasure and tried to fit in with it.
83094
83095 She only really took part when they recalled Sonya's first
83096 arrival. She told them how afraid she had been of Nicholas because
83097 he had on a corded jacket and her nurse had told her that she, too,
83098 would be sewn up with cords.
83099
83100 "And I remember their telling me that you had been born under a
83101 cabbage," said Natasha, "and I remember that I dared not disbelieve
83102 it then, but knew that it was not true, and I felt so uncomfortable."
83103
83104 While they were talking a maid thrust her head in at the other
83105 door of the sitting room.
83106
83107 "They have brought the cock, Miss," she said in a whisper.
83108
83109 "It isn't wanted, Petya. Tell them to take it away," replied
83110 Natasha.
83111
83112 In the middle of their talk in the sitting room, Dimmler came in and
83113 went up to the harp that stood there in a corner. He took off its
83114 cloth covering, and the harp gave out a jarring sound.
83115
83116 "Mr. Dimmler, please play my favorite nocturne by Field," came the
83117 old countess' voice from the drawing room.
83118
83119 Dimmler struck a chord and, turning to Natasha, Nicholas, and Sonya,
83120 remarked: "How quiet you young people are!"
83121
83122 "Yes, we're philosophizing," said Natasha, glancing round for a
83123 moment and then continuing the conversation. They were now
83124 discussing dreams.
83125
83126 Dimmler began to play; Natasha went on tiptoe noiselessly to the
83127 table, took up a candle, carried it out, and returned, seating herself
83128 quietly in her former place. It was dark in the room especially
83129 where they were sitting on the sofa, but through the big windows the
83130 silvery light of the full moon fell on the floor. Dimmler had finished
83131 the piece but still sat softly running his fingers over the strings,
83132 evidently uncertain whether to stop or to play something else.
83133
83134 "Do you know," said Natasha in a whisper, moving closer to
83135 Nicholas and Sonya, "that when one goes on and on recalling
83136 memories, one at last begins to remember what happened before one
83137 was in the world..."
83138
83139 "That is metempsychosis," said Sonya, who had always learned well,
83140 and remembered everything. "The Egyptians believed that our souls have
83141 lived in animals, and will go back into animals again."
83142
83143 "No, I don't believe we ever were in animals," said Natasha, still
83144 in a whisper though the music had ceased. "But I am certain that we
83145 were angels somewhere there, and have been here, and that is why we
83146 remember...."
83147
83148 "May I join you?" said Dimmler who had come up quietly, and he sat
83149 down by them.
83150
83151 "If we have been angels, why have we fallen lower?" said Nicholas.
83152 "No, that can't be!"
83153
83154 "Not lower, who said we were lower?... How do I know what I was
83155 before?" Natasha rejoined with conviction. "The soul is immortal--well
83156 then, if I shall always live I must have lived before, lived for a
83157 whole eternity."
83158
83159 "Yes, but it is hard for us to imagine eternity," remarked
83160 Dimmler, who had joined the young folk with a mildly condescending
83161 smile but now spoke as quietly and seriously as they.
83162
83163 "Why is it hard to imagine eternity?" said Natasha. "It is now
83164 today, and it will be tomorrow, and always; and there was yesterday,
83165 and the day before..."
83166
83167 "Natasha! Now it's your turn. Sing me something," they heard the
83168 countess say. "Why are you sitting there like conspirators?"
83169
83170 "Mamma, I don't at all want to," replied Natasha, but all the same
83171 she rose.
83172
83173 None of them, not even the middle-aged Dimmler, wanted to break
83174 off their conversation and quit that corner in the sitting room, but
83175 Natasha got up and Nicholas sat down at the clavichord. Standing as
83176 usual in the middle of the hall and choosing the place where the
83177 resonance was best, Natasha began to sing her mother's favorite song.
83178
83179 She had said she did not want to sing, but it was long since she had
83180 sung, and long before she again sang, as she did that evening. The
83181 count, from his study where he was talking to Mitenka, heard her
83182 and, like a schoolboy in a hurry to run out to play, blundered in
83183 his talk while giving orders to the steward, and at last stopped,
83184 while Mitenka stood in front of him also listening and smiling.
83185 Nicholas did not take his eyes off his sister and drew breath in
83186 time with her. Sonya, as she listened, thought of the immense
83187 difference there was between herself and her friend, and how
83188 impossible it was for her to be anything like as bewitching as her
83189 cousin. The old countess sat with a blissful yet sad smile and with
83190 tears in her eyes, occasionally shaking her head. She thought of
83191 Natasha and of her own youth, and of how there was something unnatural
83192 and dreadful in this impending marriage of Natasha and Prince Andrew.
83193
83194 Dimmler, who had seated himself beside the countess, listened with
83195 closed eyes.
83196
83197 "Ah, Countess," he said at last, "that's a European talent, she
83198 has nothing to learn--what softness, tenderness, and strength...."
83199
83200 "Ah, how afraid I am for her, how afraid I am!" said the countess,
83201 not realizing to whom she was speaking. Her maternal instinct told her
83202 that Natasha had too much of something, and that because of this she
83203 would not be happy. Before Natasha had finished singing,
83204 fourteen-year-old Petya rushed in delightedly, to say that some
83205 mummers had arrived.
83206
83207 Natasha stopped abruptly.
83208
83209 "Idiot!" she screamed at her brother and, running to a chair,
83210 threw herself on it, sobbing so violently that she could not stop
83211 for a long time.
83212
83213 "It's nothing, Mamma, really it's nothing; only Petya startled
83214 me," she said, trying to smile, but her tears still flowed and sobs
83215 still choked her.
83216
83217 The mummers (some of the house serfs) dressed up as bears, Turks,
83218 innkeepers, and ladies--frightening and funny--bringing in with them
83219 the cold from outside and a feeling of gaiety, crowded, at first
83220 timidly, into the anteroom, then hiding behind one another they pushed
83221 into the ballroom where, shyly at first and then more and more merrily
83222 and heartily, they started singing, dancing, and playing Christmas
83223 games. The countess, when she had identified them and laughed at their
83224 costumes, went into the drawing room. The count sat in the ballroom,
83225 smiling radiantly and applauding the players. The young people had
83226 disappeared.
83227
83228 Half an hour later there appeared among the other mummers in the
83229 ballroom an old lady in a hooped skirt--this was Nicholas. A Turkish
83230 girl was Petya. A clown was Dimmler. An hussar was Natasha, and a
83231 Circassian was Sonya with burnt-cork mustache and eyebrows.
83232
83233 After the condescending surprise, nonrecognition, and praise, from
83234 those who were not themselves dressed up, the young people decided
83235 that their costumes were so good that they ought to be shown
83236 elsewhere.
83237
83238 Nicholas, who, as the roads were in splendid condition, wanted to
83239 take them all for a drive in his troyka, proposed to take with them
83240 about a dozen of the serf mummers and drive to "Uncle's."
83241
83242 "No, why disturb the old fellow?" said the countess. "Besides, you
83243 wouldn't have room to turn round there. If you must go, go to the
83244 Melyukovs'."
83245
83246 Melyukova was a widow, who, with her family and their tutors and
83247 governesses, lived three miles from the Rostovs.
83248
83249 "That's right, my dear," chimed in the old count, thoroughly
83250 aroused. "I'll dress up at once and go with them. I'll make Pashette
83251 open her eyes."
83252
83253 But the countess would not agree to his going; he had had a bad
83254 leg all these last days. It was decided that the count must not go,
83255 but that if Louisa Ivanovna (Madame Schoss) would go with them, the
83256 young ladies might go to the Melyukovs', Sonya, generally so timid and
83257 shy, more urgently than anyone begging Louisa Ivanovna not to refuse.
83258
83259 Sonya's costume was the best of all. Her mustache and eyebrows
83260 were extraordinarily becoming. Everyone told her she looked very
83261 handsome, and she was in a spirited and energetic mood unusual with
83262 her. Some inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be
83263 decided, and in her male attire she seemed quite a different person.
83264 Louisa Ivanovna consented to go, and in half an hour four troyka
83265 sleighs with large and small bells, their runners squeaking and
83266 whistling over the frozen snow, drove up to the porch.
83267
83268 Natasha was foremost in setting a merry holiday tone, which, passing
83269 from one to another, grew stronger and reached its climax
83270 when they all came out into the frost and got into the sleighs,
83271 talking, calling to one another, laughing, and shouting.
83272
83273 Two of the troykas were the usual household sleighs, the third was
83274 the old count's with a trotter from the Orlov stud as shaft horse, the
83275 fourth was Nicholas' own with a short shaggy black shaft horse.
83276 Nicholas, in his old lady's dress over which he had belted his
83277 hussar overcoat, stood in the middle of the sleigh, reins in hand.
83278
83279 It was so light that he could see the moonlight reflected from the
83280 metal harness disks and from the eyes of the horses, who looked
83281 round in alarm at the noisy party under the shadow of the porch roof.
83282
83283 Natasha, Sonya, Madame Schoss, and two maids got into Nicholas'
83284 sleigh; Dimmler, his wife, and Petya, into the old count's, and the
83285 rest of the mummers seated themselves in the other two sleighs.
83286
83287 "You go ahead, Zakhar!" shouted Nicholas to his father's coachman,
83288 wishing for a chance to race past him.
83289
83290 The old count's troyka, with Dimmler and his party, started forward,
83291 squeaking on its runners as though freezing to the snow, its
83292 deep-toned bell clanging. The side horses, pressing against the shafts
83293 of the middle horse, sank in the snow, which was dry and glittered
83294 like sugar, and threw it up.
83295
83296 Nicholas set off, following the first sleigh; behind him the
83297 others moved noisily, their runners squeaking. At first they drove
83298 at a steady trot along the narrow road. While they drove past the
83299 garden the shadows of the bare trees often fell across the road and
83300 hid the brilliant moonlight, but as soon as they were past the
83301 fence, the snowy plain bathed in moonlight and motionless spread out
83302 before them glittering like diamonds and dappled with bluish
83303 shadows. Bang, bang! went the first sleigh over a cradle hole in the
83304 snow of the road, and each of the other sleighs jolted in the same
83305 way, and rudely breaking the frost-bound stillness, the troykas
83306 began to speed along the road, one after the other.
83307
83308 "A hare's track, a lot of tracks!" rang out Natasha's voice
83309 through the frost-bound air.
83310
83311 "How light it is, Nicholas!" came Sonya's voice.
83312
83313 Nicholas glanced round at Sonya, and bent down to see her face
83314 closer. Quite a new, sweet face with black eyebrows and mustaches
83315 peeped up at him from her sable furs--so close and yet so distant-
83316 in the moonlight.
83317
83318 "That used to be Sonya," thought he, and looked at her closer and
83319 smiled.
83320
83321 "What is it, Nicholas?"
83322
83323 "Nothing," said he and turned again to the horses.
83324
83325 When they came out onto the beaten highroad--polished by sleigh
83326 runners and cut up by rough-shod hoofs, the marks of which were
83327 visible in the moonlight--the horses began to tug at the reins of
83328 their own accord and increased their pace. The near side horse,
83329 arching his head and breaking into a short canter, tugged at his
83330 traces. The shaft horse swayed from side to side, moving his ears as
83331 if asking: "Isn't it time to begin now?" In front, already far ahead
83332 the deep bell of the sleigh ringing farther and farther off, the black
83333 horses driven by Zakhar could be clearly seen against the white
83334 snow. From that sleigh one could hear the shouts, laughter, and voices
83335 of the mummers.
83336
83337 "Gee up, my darlings!" shouted Nicholas, pulling the reins to one
83338 side and flourishing the whip.
83339
83340 It was only by the keener wind that met them and the jerks given
83341 by the side horses who pulled harder--ever increasing their gallop-
83342 that one noticed how fast the troyka was flying. Nicholas looked back.
83343 With screams squeals, and waving of whips that caused even the shaft
83344 horses to gallop--the other sleighs followed. The shaft horse swung
83345 steadily beneath the bow over its head, with no thought of
83346 slackening pace and ready to put on speed when required.
83347
83348 Nicholas overtook the first sleigh. They were driving downhill and
83349 coming out upon a broad trodden track across a meadow, near a river.
83350
83351 "Where are we?" thought he. "It's the Kosoy meadow, I suppose. But
83352 no--this is something new I've never seen before. This isn't the Kosoy
83353 meadow nor the Demkin hill, and heaven only knows what it is! It is
83354 something new and enchanted. Well, whatever it may be..." And shouting
83355 to his horses, he began to pass the first sleigh.
83356
83357 Zakhar held back his horses and turned his face, which was already
83358 covered with hoarfrost to his eyebrows.
83359
83360 Nicholas gave the horses the rein, and Zakhar, stretching out his
83361 arms, clucked his tongue and let his horses go.
83362
83363 "Now, look out, master!" he cried.
83364
83365 Faster still the two troykas flew side by side, and faster moved the
83366 feet of the galloping side horses. Nicholas began to draw ahead.
83367 Zakhar, while still keeping his arms extended, raised one hand with
83368 the reins.
83369
83370 "No you won't, master!" he shouted.
83371
83372 Nicholas put all his horses to a gallop and passed Zakhar. The
83373 horses showered the fine dry snow on the faces of those in the sleigh-
83374 beside them sounded quick ringing bells and they caught confused
83375 glimpses of swiftly moving legs and the shadows of the troyka they
83376 were passing. The whistling sound of the runners on the snow and the
83377 voices of girls shrieking were heard from different sides.
83378
83379 Again checking his horses, Nicholas looked around him. They were
83380 still surrounded by the magic plain bathed in moonlight and spangled
83381 with stars.
83382
83383 "Zakhar is shouting that I should turn to the left, but why to the
83384 left?" thought Nicholas. "Are we getting to the Melyukovs'? Is this
83385 Melyukovka? Heaven only knows where we are going, and heaven knows
83386 what is happening to us--but it is very strange and pleasant
83387 whatever it is." And he looked round in the sleigh.
83388
83389 "Look, his mustache and eyelashes are all white!" said one of the
83390 strange, pretty, unfamiliar people--the one with fine eyebrows and
83391 mustache.
83392
83393 "I think this used to be Natasha," thought Nicholas, "and that was
83394 Madame Schoss, but perhaps it's not, and this Circassian with the
83395 mustache I don't know, but I love her."
83396
83397 "Aren't you cold?" he asked.
83398
83399 They did not answer but began to laugh. Dimmler from the sleigh
83400 behind shouted something--probably something funny--but they could not
83401 make out what he said.
83402
83403 "Yes, yes!" some voices answered, laughing.
83404
83405 "But here was a fairy forest with black moving shadows, and a
83406 glitter of diamonds and a flight of marble steps and the silver
83407 roofs of fairy buildings and the shrill yells of some animals. And
83408 if this is really Melyukovka, it is still stranger that we drove
83409 heaven knows where and have come to Melyukovka," thought Nicholas.
83410
83411 It really was Melyukovka, and maids and footmen with merry faces
83412 came running, out to the porch carrying candles.
83413
83414 "Who is it?" asked someone in the porch.
83415
83416 "The mummers from the count's. I know by the horses," replied some
83417 voices.
83418
83419
83420
83421
83422
83423 CHAPTER XI
83424
83425
83426 Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broadly built, energetic woman
83427 wearing spectacles, sat in the drawing room in a loose dress,
83428 surrounded by her daughters whom she was trying to keep from feeling
83429 dull. They were quietly dropping melted wax into snow and looking at
83430 the shadows the wax figures would throw on the wall, when they heard
83431 the steps and voices of new arrivals in the vestibule.
83432
83433 Hussars, ladies, witches, clowns, and bears, after clearing their
83434 throats and wiping the hoarfrost from their faces in the vestibule,
83435 came into the ballroom where candles were hurriedly lighted. The
83436 clown--Dimmler--and the lady--Nicholas--started a dance. Surrounded by
83437 the screaming children the mummers, covering their faces and
83438 disguising their voices, bowed to their hostess and arranged
83439 themselves about the room.
83440
83441 "Dear me! there's no recognizing them! And Natasha! See whom she
83442 looks like! She really reminds me of somebody. But Herr Dimmler--isn't
83443 he good! I didn't know him! And how he dances. Dear me, there's a
83444 Circassian. Really, how becoming it is to dear Sonya. And who is that?
83445 Well, you have cheered us up! Nikita and Vanya--clear away the tables!
83446 And we were sitting so quietly. Ha, ha, ha!... The hussar, the hussar!
83447 Just like a boy! And the legs!... I can't look at him..." different
83448 voices were saying.
83449
83450 Natasha, the young Melyukovs' favorite, disappeared with them into
83451 the back rooms where a cork and various dressing gowns and male
83452 garments were called for and received from the footman by bare girlish
83453 arms from behind the door. Ten minutes later, all the young
83454 Melyukovs joined the mummers.
83455
83456 Pelageya Danilovna, having given orders to clear the rooms for the
83457 visitors and arranged about refreshments for the gentry and the serfs,
83458 went about among the mummers without removing her spectacles,
83459 peering into their faces with a suppressed smile and failing to
83460 recognize any of them. It was not merely Dimmler and the Rostovs she
83461 failed to recognize, she did not even recognize her own daughters,
83462 or her late husband's, dressing gowns and uniforms, which they had put
83463 on.
83464
83465 "And who is is this?" she asked her governess, peering into the face
83466 of her own daughter dressed up as a Kazan-Tartar. "I suppose it is one
83467 of the Rostovs! Well, Mr. Hussar, and what regiment do you serve
83468 in?" she asked Natasha. "Here, hand some fruit jelly to the Turk!" she
83469 ordered the butler who was handing things round. "That's not forbidden
83470 by his law."
83471
83472 Sometimes, as she looked at the strange but amusing capers cut by
83473 the dancers, who--having decided once for all that being disguised, no
83474 one would recognize them--were not at all shy, Pelageya Danilovna
83475 hid her face in her handkerchief, and her whole stout body shook
83476 with irrepressible, kindly, elderly laughter.
83477
83478 "My little Sasha! Look at Sasha!" she said.
83479
83480 After Russian country dances and chorus dances, Pelageya Danilovna
83481 made the serfs and gentry join in one large circle: a ring, a
83482 string, and a silver ruble were fetched and they all played games
83483 together.
83484
83485 In an hour, all the costumes were crumpled and disordered. The
83486 corked eyebrows and mustaches were smeared over the perspiring,
83487 flushed, and merry faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the
83488 mummers, admired their cleverly contrived costumes, and particularly
83489 how they suited the young ladies, and she thanked them all for
83490 having entertained her so well. The visitors were invited to supper in
83491 the drawing room, and the serfs had something served to them in the
83492 ballroom.
83493
83494 "Now to tell one's fortune in the empty bathhouse is frightening!"
83495 said an old maid who lived with the Melyukovs, during supper.
83496
83497 "Why?" said the eldest Melyukov girl.
83498
83499 "You wouldn't go, it takes courage..."
83500
83501 "I'll go," said Sonya.
83502
83503 "Tell what happened to the young lady!" said the second Melyukov
83504 girl.
83505
83506 "Well," began the old maid, "a young lady once went out, took a
83507 cock, laid the table for two, all properly, and sat down. After
83508 sitting a while, she suddenly hears someone coming... a sleigh
83509 drives up with harness bells; she hears him coming! He comes in,
83510 just in the shape of a man, like an officer--comes in and sits down to
83511 table with her."
83512
83513 "Ah! ah!" screamed Natasha, rolling her eyes with horror.
83514
83515 "Yes? And how... did he speak?"
83516
83517 "Yes, like a man. Everything quite all right, and he began
83518 persuading her; and she should have kept him talking till cockcrow,
83519 but she got frightened, just got frightened and hid her face in her
83520 hands. Then he caught her up. It was lucky the maids ran in just
83521 then..."
83522
83523 "Now, why frighten them?" said Pelageya Danilovna.
83524
83525 "Mamma, you used to try your fate yourself..." said her daughter.
83526
83527 "And how does one do it in a barn?" inquired Sonya.
83528
83529 "Well, say you went to the barn now, and listened. It depends on
83530 what you hear; hammering and knocking--that's bad; but a sound of
83531 shifting grain is good and one sometimes hears that, too."
83532
83533 "Mamma, tell us what happened to you in the barn."
83534
83535 Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
83536
83537 "Oh, I've forgotten..." she replied. "But none of you would go?"
83538
83539 "Yes, I will; Pelageya Danilovna, let me! I'll go," said Sonya.
83540
83541 "Well, why not, if you're not afraid?"
83542
83543 "Louisa Ivanovna, may I?" asked Sonya.
83544
83545 Whether they were playing the ring and string game or the ruble game
83546 or talking as now, Nicholas did not leave Sonya's side, and gazed at
83547 her with quite new eyes. It seemed to him that it was only today,
83548 thanks to that burnt-cork mustache, that he had fully learned to
83549 know her. And really, that evening, Sonya was brighter, more animated,
83550 and prettier than Nicholas had ever seen her before.
83551
83552 "So that's what she is like; what a fool I have been!" he thought
83553 gazing at her sparkling eyes, and under the mustache a happy rapturous
83554 smile dimpled her cheeks, a smile he had never seen before.
83555
83556 "I'm not afraid of anything," said Sonya. "May I go at once?" She
83557 got up.
83558
83559 They told her where the barn was and how she should stand and
83560 listen, and they handed her a fur cloak. She threw this over her
83561 head and shoulders and glanced at Nicholas.
83562
83563 "What a darling that girl is!" thought he. "And what have I been
83564 thinking of till now?"
83565
83566 Sonya went out into the passage to go to the barn. Nicholas went
83567 hastily to the front porch, saying he felt too hot. The crowd of
83568 people really had made the house stuffy.
83569
83570 Outside, there was the same cold stillness and the same moon, but
83571 even brighter than before. The light was so strong and the snow
83572 sparkled with so many stars that one did not wish to look up at the
83573 sky and the real stars were unnoticed. The sky was black and dreary,
83574 while the earth was gay.
83575
83576 "I am a fool, a fool! what have I been waiting for?" thought
83577 Nicholas, and running out from the porch he went round the corner of
83578 the house and along the path that led to the back porch. He knew Sonya
83579 would pass that way. Halfway lay some snow-covered piles of firewood
83580 and across and along them a network of shadows from the bare old
83581 lime trees fell on the snow and on the path. This path led to the
83582 barn. The log walls of the barn and its snow-covered roof, that looked
83583 as if hewn out of some precious stone, sparkled in the moonlight. A
83584 tree in the garden snapped with the frost, and then all was again
83585 perfectly silent. His bosom seemed to inhale not air but the
83586 strength of eternal youth and gladness.
83587
83588 From the back porch came the sound of feet descending the steps, the
83589 bottom step upon which snow had fallen gave a ringing creak and he
83590 heard the voice of an old maidservant saying, "Straight, straight,
83591 along the path, Miss. Only, don't look back."
83592
83593 "I am not afraid," answered Sonya's voice, and along the path toward
83594 Nicholas came the crunching, whistling sound of Sonya's feet in her
83595 thin shoes.
83596
83597 Sonya came along, wrapped in her cloak. She was only a couple of
83598 paces away when she saw him, and to her too he was not the Nicholas
83599 she had known and always slightly feared. He was in a woman's dress,
83600 with tousled hair and a happy smile new to Sonya. She ran rapidly
83601 toward him.
83602
83603 "Quite different and yet the same," thought Nicholas, looking at her
83604 face all lit up by the moonlight. He slipped his arms under the
83605 cloak that covered her head, embraced her, pressed her to him, and
83606 kissed her on the lips that wore a mustache and had a smell of burnt
83607 cork. Sonya kissed him full on the lips, and disengaging her little
83608 hands pressed them to his cheeks.
83609
83610 "Sonya!... Nicholas!"... was all they said. They ran to the barn and
83611 then back again, re-entering, he by the front and she by the back
83612 porch.
83613
83614
83615
83616
83617
83618 CHAPTER XII
83619
83620
83621 When they all drove back from Pelageya Danilovna's, Natasha, who
83622 always saw and noticed everything, arranged that she and Madame Schoss
83623 should go back in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya with Nicholas and
83624 the maids.
83625
83626 On the way back Nicholas drove at a steady pace instead of racing
83627 and kept peering by that fantastic all-transforming light into Sonya's
83628 face and searching beneath the eyebrows and mustache for his former
83629 and his present Sonya from whom he had resolved never to be parted
83630 again. He looked and recognizing in her both the old and the new
83631 Sonya, and being reminded by the smell of burnt cork of the
83632 sensation of her kiss, inhaled the frosty air with a full breast
83633 and, looking at the ground flying beneath him and at the sparkling
83634 sky, felt himself again in fairyland.
83635
83636 "Sonya, is it well with thee?" he asked from time to time.
83637
83638 "Yes!" she replied. "And with thee?"
83639
83640 When halfway home Nicholas handed the reins to the coachman and
83641 ran for a moment to Natasha's sleigh and stood on its wing.
83642
83643 "Natasha!" he whispered in French, "do you know I have made up my
83644 mind about Sonya?"
83645
83646 "Have you told her?" asked Natasha, suddenly beaming all over with
83647 joy.
83648
83649 "Oh, how strange you are with that mustache and those eyebrows!...
83650 Natasha--are you glad?"
83651
83652 "I am so glad, so glad! I was beginning to be vexed with you. I
83653 did not tell you, but you have been treating her badly. What a heart
83654 she has, Nicholas! I am horrid sometimes, but I was ashamed to be
83655 happy while Sonya was not," continued Natasha. "Now I am so glad!
83656 Well, run back to her."
83657
83658 "No, wait a bit.... Oh, how funny you look!" cried Nicholas, peering
83659 into her face and finding in his sister too something new, unusual,
83660 and bewitchingly tender that he had not seen in her before.
83661 "Natasha, it's magical, isn't it?"
83662
83663 "Yes," she replied. "You have done splendidly."
83664
83665 "Had I seen her before as she is now," thought Nicholas, "I should
83666 long ago have asked her what to do and have done whatever she told me,
83667 and all would have been well."
83668
83669 "So you are glad and I have done right?"
83670
83671 "Oh, quite right! I had a quarrel with Mamma some time ago about it.
83672 Mamma said she was angling for you. How could she say such a thing!
83673 I nearly stormed at Mamma. I will never let anyone say anything bad of
83674 Sonya, for there is nothing but good in her."
83675
83676 "Then it's all right?" said Nicholas, again scrutinizing the
83677 expression of his sister's face to see if she was in earnest. Then
83678 he jumped down and, his boots scrunching the snow, ran back to his
83679 sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with mustache and
83680 beaming eyes looking up from under a sable hood, was still sitting
83681 there, and that Circassian was Sonya, and that Sonya was certainly his
83682 future happy and loving wife.
83683
83684 When they reached home and had told their mother how they had
83685 spent the evening at the Melyukovs', the girls went to their
83686 bedroom. When they had undressed, but without washing off the cork
83687 mustaches, they sat a long time talking of their happiness. They
83688 talked of how they would live when they were married, how their
83689 husbands would be friends, and how happy they would be. On Natasha's
83690 table stood two looking glasses which Dunyasha had prepared
83691 beforehand.
83692
83693 "Only when will all that be? I am afraid never.... It would be too
83694 good!" said Natasha, rising and going to the looking glasses.
83695
83696 "Sit down, Natasha; perhaps you'll see him," said Sonya.
83697
83698 Natasha lit the candles, one on each side of one of the looking
83699 glasses, and sat down.
83700
83701 "I see someone with a mustache," said Natasha, seeing her own face.
83702
83703 "You mustn't laugh, Miss," said Dunyasha.
83704
83705 With Sonya's help and the maid's, Natasha got the glass she held
83706 into the right position opposite the other; her face assumed a serious
83707 expression and she sat silent. She sat a long time looking at the
83708 receding line of candles reflected in the glasses and expecting
83709 (from tales she had heard) to see a coffin, or him, Prince Andrew,
83710 in that last dim, indistinctly outlined square. But ready as she was
83711 to take the smallest speck for the image of a man or of a coffin,
83712 she saw nothing. She began blinking rapidly and moved away from the
83713 looking glasses.
83714
83715 "Why is it others see things and I don't?" she said. "You sit down
83716 now, Sonya. You absolutely must, tonight! Do it for me.... Today I
83717 feel so frightened!"
83718
83719 Sonya sat down before the glasses, got the right position, and began
83720 looking.
83721
83722 "Now, Miss Sonya is sure to see something," whispered Dunyasha;
83723 "while you do nothing but laugh."
83724
83725 Sonya heard this and Natasha's whisper:
83726
83727 "I know she will. She saw something last year."
83728
83729 For about three minutes all were silent.
83730
83731 "Of course she will!" whispered Natasha, but did not finish...
83732 suddenly Sonya pushed away the glass she was holding and covered her
83733 eyes with her hand.
83734
83735 "Oh, Natasha!" she cried.
83736
83737 "Did you see? Did you? What was it?" exclaimed Natasha, holding up
83738 the looking glass.
83739
83740 Sonya had not seen anything, she was just wanting to blink and to
83741 get up when she heard Natasha say, "Of course she will!" She did not
83742 wish to disappoint either Dunyasha or Natasha, but it was hard to
83743 sit still. She did not herself know how or why the exclamation escaped
83744 her when she covered her eyes.
83745
83746 "You saw him?" urged Natasha, seizing her hand.
83747
83748 "Yes. Wait a bit... I... saw him," Sonya could not help saying,
83749 not yet knowing whom Natasha meant by him, Nicholas or Prince Andrew.
83750
83751 "But why shouldn't I say I saw something? Others do see! Besides who
83752 can tell whether I saw anything or not?" flashed through Sonya's mind.
83753
83754 "Yes, I saw him," she said.
83755
83756 "How? Standing or lying?"
83757
83758 "No, I saw... At first there was nothing, then I saw him lying
83759 down."
83760
83761 "Andrew lying? Is he ill?" asked Natasha, her frightened eyes
83762 fixed on her friend.
83763
83764 "No, on the contrary, on the contrary! His face was cheerful, and he
83765 turned to me." And when saying this she herself fancied she had really
83766 seen what she described.
83767
83768 "Well, and then, Sonya?..."
83769
83770 "After that, I could not make out what there was; something blue and
83771 red..."
83772
83773 "Sonya! When will he come back? When shall I see him! O, God, how
83774 afraid I am for him and for myself and about everything!..." Natasha
83775 began, and without replying to Sonya's words of comfort she got into
83776 bed, and long after her candle was out lay open-eyed and motionless,
83777 gazing at the moonlight through the frosty windowpanes.
83778
83779
83780
83781
83782
83783 CHAPTER XIII
83784
83785
83786 Soon after the Christmas holidays Nicholas told his mother of his
83787 love for Sonya and of his firm resolve to marry her. The countess, who
83788 had long noticed what was going on between them and was expecting this
83789 declaration, listened to him in silence and then told her son that
83790 he might marry whom he pleased, but that neither she nor his father
83791 would give their blessing to such a marriage. Nicholas, for the
83792 first time, felt that his mother was displeased with him and that,
83793 despite her love for him, she would not give way. Coldly, without
83794 looking at her son, she sent for her husband and, when he came,
83795 tried briefly and coldly to inform him of the facts, in her son's
83796 presence, but unable to restrain herself she burst into tears of
83797 vexation and left the room. The old count began irresolutely to
83798 admonish Nicholas and beg him to abandon his purpose. Nicholas replied
83799 that he could not go back on his word, and his father, sighing and
83800 evidently disconcerted, very soon became silent and went in to the
83801 countess. In all his encounters with his son, the count was always
83802 conscious of his own guilt toward him for having wasted the family
83803 fortune, and so he could not be angry with him for refusing to marry
83804 an heiress and choosing the dowerless Sonya. On this occasion, he
83805 was only more vividly conscious of the fact that if his affairs had
83806 not been in disorder, no better wife for Nicholas than Sonya could
83807 have been wished for, and that no one but himself with his Mitenka and
83808 his uncomfortable habits was to blame for the condition of the
83809 family finances.
83810
83811 The father and mother did not speak of the matter to their son
83812 again, but a few days later the countess sent for Sonya and, with a
83813 cruelty neither of them expected, reproached her niece for trying to
83814 catch Nicholas and for ingratitude. Sonya listened silently with
83815 downcast eyes to the countess' cruel words, without understanding what
83816 was required of her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her
83817 benefactors. Self-sacrifice was her most cherished idea but in this
83818 case she could not see what she ought to sacrifice, or for whom. She
83819 could not help loving the countess and the whole Rostov family, but
83820 neither could she help loving Nicholas and knowing that his
83821 happiness depended on that love. She was silent and sad and did not
83822 reply. Nicholas felt the situation to be intolerable and went to
83823 have an explanation with his mother. He first implored her to
83824 forgive him and Sonya and consent to their marriage, then he
83825 threatened that if she molested Sonya he would at once marry her
83826 secretly.
83827
83828 The countess, with a coldness her son had never seen in her
83829 before, replied that he was of age, that Prince Andrew was marrying
83830 without his father's consent, and he could do the same, but that she
83831 would never receive that intriguer as her daughter.
83832
83833 Exploding at the word intriguer, Nicholas, raising his voice, told
83834 his mother he had never expected her to try to force him to sell his
83835 feelings, but if that were so, he would say for the last time....
83836 But he had no time to utter the decisive word which the expression
83837 of his face caused his mother to await with terror, and which would
83838 perhaps have forever remained a cruel memory to them both. He had
83839 not time to say it, for Natasha, with a pale and set face, entered the
83840 room from the door at which she had been listening.
83841
83842 "Nicholas, you are talking nonsense! Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, I
83843 tell you!..." she almost screamed, so as to drown his voice.
83844
83845 "Mamma darling, it's not at all so... my poor, sweet darling," she
83846 said to her mother, who conscious that they had been on the brink of a
83847 rupture gazed at her son with terror, but in the obstinacy and
83848 excitement of the conflict could not and would not give way.
83849
83850 "Nicholas, I'll explain to you. Go away! Listen, Mamma darling,"
83851 said Natasha.
83852
83853 Her words were incoherent, but they attained the purpose at which
83854 she was aiming.
83855
83856 The countess, sobbing heavily, hid her face on her daughter's
83857 breast, while Nicholas rose, clutching his head, and left the room.
83858
83859 Natasha set to work to effect a reconciliation, and so far succeeded
83860 that Nicholas received a promise from his mother that Sonya should not
83861 be troubled, while he on his side promised not to undertake anything
83862 without his parents' knowledge.
83863
83864 Firmly resolved, after putting his affairs in order in the regiment,
83865 to retire from the army and return and marry Sonya, Nicholas, serious,
83866 sorrowful, and at variance with his parents, but, as it seemed to him,
83867 passionately in love, left at the beginning of January to rejoin his
83868 regiment.
83869
83870 After Nicholas had gone things in the Rostov household were more
83871 depressing than ever, and the countess fell ill from mental agitation.
83872
83873 Sonya was unhappy at the separation from Nicholas and still more
83874 so on account of the hostile tone the countess could not help adopting
83875 toward her. The count was more perturbed than ever by the condition of
83876 his affairs, which called for some decisive action. Their town house
83877 and estate near Moscow had inevitably to be sold, and for this they
83878 had to go to Moscow. But the countess' health obliged them to delay
83879 their departure from day to day.
83880
83881 Natasha, who had borne the first period of separation from her
83882 betrothed lightly and even cheerfully, now grew more agitated and
83883 impatient every day. The thought that her best days, which she would
83884 have employed in loving him, were being vainly wasted, with no
83885 advantage to anyone, tormented her incessantly. His letters for the
83886 most part irritated her. It hurt her to think that while she lived
83887 only in the thought of him, he was living a real life, seeing new
83888 places and new people that interested him. The more interesting his
83889 letters were the more vexed she felt. Her letters to him, far from
83890 giving her any comfort, seemed to her a wearisome and artificial
83891 obligation. She could not write, because she could not conceive the
83892 possibility of expressing sincerely in a letter even a thousandth part
83893 of what she expressed by voice, smile, and glance. She wrote to him
83894 formal, monotonous, and dry letters, to which she attached no
83895 importance herself, and in the rough copies of which the countess
83896 corrected her mistakes in spelling.
83897
83898 There was still no improvement in the countess' health, but it was
83899 impossible to defer the journey to Moscow any longer. Natasha's
83900 trousseau had to be ordered and the house sold. Moreover, Prince
83901 Andrew was expected in Moscow, where old Prince Bolkonski was spending
83902 the winter, and Natasha felt sure he had already arrived.
83903
83904 So the countess remained in the country, and the count, taking Sonya
83905 and Natasha with him, went to Moscow at the end of January.
83906
83907
83908
83909
83910 BOOK EIGHT: 1811 --12
83911
83912
83913
83914
83915
83916 CHAPTER I
83917
83918
83919 After Prince Andrews engagement to Natasha, Pierre without any
83920 apparent cause suddenly felt it impossible to go on living as
83921 before. Firmly convinced as he was of the truths revealed to him by
83922 his benefactor, and happy as he had been in perfecting his inner
83923 man, to which he had devoted himself with such ardor--all the zest
83924 of such a life vanished after the engagement of Andrew and Natasha and
83925 the death of Joseph Alexeevich, the news of which reached him almost
83926 at the same time. Only the skeleton of life remained: his house, a
83927 brilliant wife who now enjoyed the favors of a very important
83928 personage, acquaintance with all Petersburg, and his court service
83929 with its dull formalities. And this life suddenly seemed to Pierre
83930 unexpectedly loathsome. He ceased keeping a diary, avoided the company
83931 of the Brothers, began going to the Club again, drank a great deal,
83932 and came once more in touch with the bachelor sets, leading such a
83933 life that the Countess Helene thought it necessary to speak severely
83934 to him about it. Pierre felt that she right, and to avoid compromising
83935 her went away to Moscow.
83936
83937 In Moscow as soon as he entered his huge house in which the faded
83938 and fading princesses still lived, with its enormous retinue; as
83939 soon as, driving through the town, he saw the Iberian shrine with
83940 innumerable tapers burning before the golden covers of the icons,
83941 the Kremlin Square with its snow undisturbed by vehicles, the sleigh
83942 drivers and hovels of the Sivtsev Vrazhok, those old Moscovites who
83943 desired nothing, hurried nowhere, and were ending their days
83944 leisurely; when he saw those old Moscow ladies, the Moscow balls,
83945 and the English Club, he felt himself at home in a quiet haven. In
83946 Moscow he felt at peace, at home, warm and dirty as in an old dressing
83947 gown.
83948
83949 Moscow society, from the old women down to the children, received
83950 Pierre like a long-expected guest whose place was always ready
83951 awaiting him. For Moscow society Pierre was the nicest, kindest,
83952 most intellectual, merriest, and most magnanimous of cranks, a
83953 heedless, genial nobleman of the old Russian type. His purse was
83954 always empty because it was open to everyone.
83955
83956 Benefit performances, poor pictures, statues, benevolent
83957 societies, gypsy choirs, schools, subscription dinners, sprees,
83958 Freemasons, churches, and books--no one and nothing met with a refusal
83959 from him, and had it not been for two friends who had borrowed large
83960 sums from him and taken him under their protection, he would have
83961 given everything away. There was never a dinner or soiree at the
83962 Club without him. As soon as he sank into his place on the sofa
83963 after two bottles of Margaux he was surrounded, and talking,
83964 disputing, and joking began. When there were quarrels, his kindly
83965 smile and well-timed jests reconciled the antagonists. The Masonic
83966 dinners were dull and dreary when he was not there.
83967
83968 When after a bachelor supper he rose with his amiable and kindly
83969 smile, yielding to the entreaties of the festive company to drive
83970 off somewhere with them, shouts of delight and triumph arose among the
83971 young men. At balls he danced if a partner was needed. Young ladies,
83972 married and unmarried, liked him because without making love to any of
83973 them, he was equally amiable to all, especially after supper. "Il
83974 est charmant; il n'a pas de sexe,"* they said of him.
83975
83976
83977 *"He is charming; he has no sex."
83978
83979
83980 Pierre was one of those retired gentlemen-in-waiting of whom there
83981 were hundreds good-humoredly ending their days in Moscow.
83982
83983 How horrified he would have been seven years before, when he first
83984 arrived from abroad, had he been told that there was no need for him
83985 to seek or plan anything, that his rut had long been shaped, eternally
83986 predetermined, and that wriggle as he might, he would be what all in
83987 his position were. He could not have believed it! Had he not at one
83988 time longed with all his heart to establish a republic in Russia; then
83989 himself to be a Napoleon; then to be a philosopher; and then a
83990 strategist and the conqueror of Napoleon? Had he not seen the
83991 possibility of, and passionately desired, the regeneration of the
83992 sinful human race, and his own progress to the highest degree of
83993 perfection? Had he not established schools and hospitals and liberated
83994 his serfs?
83995
83996 But instead of all that--here he was, the wealthy husband of an
83997 unfaithful wife, a retired gentleman-in-waiting, fond of eating and
83998 drinking and, as he unbuttoned his waistcoat, of abusing the
83999 government a bit, a member of the Moscow English Club, and a universal
84000 favorite in Moscow society. For a long time he could not reconcile
84001 himself to the idea that he was one of those same retired Moscow
84002 gentlemen-in-waiting he had so despised seven years before.
84003
84004 Sometimes he consoled himself with the thought that he was only
84005 living this life temporarily; but then he was shocked by the thought
84006 of how many, like himself, had entered that life and that Club
84007 temporarily, with all their teeth and hair, and had only left it
84008 when not a single tooth or hair remained.
84009
84010 In moments of pride, when he thought of his position it seemed to
84011 him that he was quite different and distinct from those other
84012 retired gentlemen-in-waiting he had formerly despised: they were
84013 empty, stupid, contented fellows, satisfied with their position,
84014 "while I am still discontented and want to do something for mankind.
84015 But perhaps all these comrades of mine struggled just like me and
84016 sought something new, a path in life of their own, and like me were
84017 brought by force of circumstances, society, and race--by that
84018 elemental force against which man is powerless--to the condition I
84019 am in," said he to himself in moments of humility; and after living
84020 some time in Moscow he no longer despised, but began to grow fond
84021 of, to respect, and to pity his comrades in destiny, as he pitied
84022 himself.
84023
84024 Pierre longer suffered moments of despair, hypochondria, and disgust
84025 with life, but the malady that had formerly found expression in such
84026 acute attacks was driven inwards and never left him for a moment.
84027 "What for? Why? What is going on in the world?" he would ask himself
84028 in perplexity several times a day, involuntarily beginning to
84029 reflect anew on the meaning of the phenomena of life; but knowing by
84030 experience that there were no answers to these questions he made haste
84031 to turn away from them, and took up a book, or hurried of to the
84032 Club or to Apollon Nikolaevich's, to exchange the gossip of the town.
84033
84034 "Helene, who has never cared for anything but her own body and is
84035 one of the stupidest women in the world," thought Pierre, "is regarded
84036 by people as the acme of intelligence and refinement, and they pay
84037 homage to her. Napoleon Bonaparte was despised by all as long as he
84038 was great, but now that he has become a wretched comedian the
84039 Emperor Francis wants to offer him his daughter in an illegal
84040 marriage. The Spaniards, through the Catholic clergy, offer praise
84041 to God for their victory over the French on the fourteenth of June,
84042 and the French, also through the Catholic clergy, offer praise because
84043 on that same fourteenth of June they defeated the Spaniards. My
84044 brother Masons swear by the blood that they are ready to sacrifice
84045 everything for their neighbor, but they do not give a ruble each to
84046 the collections for the poor, and they intrigue, the Astraea Lodge
84047 against the Manna Seekers, and fuss about an authentic Scotch carpet
84048 and a charter that nobody needs, and the meaning of which the very man
84049 who wrote it does not understand. We all profess the Christian law
84050 of forgiveness of injuries and love of our neighbors, the law in honor
84051 of which we have built in Moscow forty times forty churches--but
84052 yesterday a deserter was knouted to death and a minister of that
84053 same law of love and forgiveness, a priest, gave the soldier a cross
84054 to kiss before his execution." So thought Pierre, and the whole of
84055 this general deception which everyone accepts, accustomed as he was to
84056 it, astonished him each time as if it were something new. "I
84057 understand the deception and confusion," he thought, "but how am I
84058 to tell them all that I see? I have tried, and have always found
84059 that they too in the depths of their souls understand it as I do,
84060 and only try not to see it. So it appears that it must be so! But I-
84061 what is to become of me?" thought he. He had the unfortunate
84062 capacity many men, especially Russians, have of seeing and believing
84063 in the possibility of goodness and truth, but of seeing the evil and
84064 falsehood of life too clearly to be able to take a serious part in it.
84065 Every sphere of work was connected, in his eyes, with evil and
84066 deception. Whatever he tried to be, whatever he engaged in, the evil
84067 and falsehood of it repulsed him and blocked every path of activity.
84068 Yet he had to live and to find occupation. It was too dreadful to be
84069 under the burden of these insoluble problems, so he abandoned
84070 himself to any distraction in order to forget them. He frequented
84071 every kind of society, drank much, bought pictures, engaged in
84072 building, and above all--read.
84073
84074 He read, and read everything that came to hand. On coming home,
84075 while his valets were still taking off his things, he picked up a book
84076 and began to read. From reading he passed to sleeping, from sleeping
84077 to gossip in drawing rooms of the Club, from gossip to carousals and
84078 women; from carousals back to gossip, reading, and wine. Drinking
84079 became more and more a physical and also a moral necessity. Though the
84080 doctors warned him that with his corpulence wine was dangerous for
84081 him, he drank a great deal. He was only quite at ease when having
84082 poured several glasses of wine mechanically into his large mouth he
84083 felt a pleasant warmth in his body, an amiability toward all his
84084 fellows, and a readiness to respond superficially to every idea
84085 without probing it deeply. Only after emptying a bottle or two did
84086 he feel dimly that the terribly tangled skein of life which previously
84087 had terrified him was not as dreadful as he had thought. He was always
84088 conscious of some aspect of that skein, as with a buzzing in his
84089 head after dinner or supper he chatted or listened to conversation
84090 or read. But under the influence of wine he said to himself: "It
84091 doesn't matter. I'll get it unraveled. I have a solution ready, but
84092 have no time now--I'll think it all out later on!" But the later on
84093 never came.
84094
84095 In the morning, on an empty stomach, all the old questions
84096 appeared as insoluble and terrible as ever, and Pierre hastily
84097 picked up a book, and if anyone came to see him he was glad.
84098
84099 Sometimes he remembered how he had heard that soldiers in war when
84100 entrenched under the enemy's fire, if they have nothing to do, try
84101 hard to find some occupation the more easily to bear the danger. To
84102 Pierre all men seemed like those soldiers, seeking refuge from life:
84103 some in ambition, some in cards, some in framing laws, some in
84104 women, some in toys, some in horses, some in politics, some in
84105 sport, some in wine, and some in governmental affairs. "Nothing is
84106 trivial, and nothing is important, it's all the same--only to save
84107 oneself from it as best one can," thought Pierre. "Only not to see it,
84108 that dreadful it!"
84109
84110
84111
84112
84113
84114 CHAPTER II
84115
84116
84117 At the beginning of winter Prince Nicholas Bolkonski and his
84118 daughter moved to Moscow. At that time enthusiasm for the Emperor
84119 Alexander's regime had weakened and a patriotic and anti-French
84120 tendency prevailed there, and this, together with his past and his
84121 intellect and his originality, at once made Prince Nicholas
84122 Bolkonski an object of particular respect to the Moscovites and the
84123 center of the Moscow opposition to the government.
84124
84125 The prince had aged very much that year. He showed marked signs of
84126 senility by a tendency to fall asleep, forgetfulness of quite recent
84127 events, remembrance of remote ones, and the childish vanity with which
84128 he accepted the role of head of the Moscow opposition. In spite of
84129 this the old man inspired in all his visitors alike a feeling of
84130 respectful veneration--especially of an evening when he came in to tea
84131 in his old-fashioned coat and powdered wig and, aroused by anyone,
84132 told his abrupt stories of the past, or uttered yet more abrupt and
84133 scathing criticisms of the present. For them all, that old-fashioned
84134 house with its gigantic mirrors, pre-Revolution furniture, powdered
84135 footmen, and the stern shrewd old man (himself a relic of the past
84136 century) with his gentle daughter and the pretty Frenchwoman who
84137 were reverently devoted to him presented a majestic and agreeable
84138 spectacle. But the visitors did not reflect that besides the couple of
84139 hours during which they saw their host, there were also twenty-two
84140 hours in the day during which the private and intimate life of the
84141 house continued.
84142
84143 Latterly that private life had become very trying for Princess Mary.
84144 There in Moscow she was deprived of her greatest pleasures--talks with
84145 the pilgrims and the solitude which refreshed her at Bald Hills--and
84146 she had none of the advantages and pleasures of city life. She did not
84147 go out into society; everyone knew that her father would not let her
84148 go anywhere without him, and his failing health prevented his going
84149 out himself, so that she was not invited to dinners and evening
84150 parties. She had quite abandoned the hope of getting married. She
84151 saw the coldness and malevolence with which the old prince received
84152 and dismissed the young men, possible suitors, who sometimes
84153 appeared at their house. She had no friends: during this visit to
84154 Moscow she had been disappointed in the two who had been nearest to
84155 her. Mademoiselle Bourienne, with whom she had never been able to be
84156 quite frank, had now become unpleasant to her, and for various reasons
84157 Princess Mary avoided her. Julie, with whom she had corresponded for
84158 the last five years, was in Moscow, but proved to be quite alien to
84159 her when they met. Just then Julie, who by the death of her brothers
84160 had become one of the richest heiresses in Moscow, was in the full
84161 whirl of society pleasures. She was surrounded by young men who, she
84162 fancied, had suddenly learned to appreciate her worth. Julie was at
84163 that stage in the life of a society woman when she feels that her last
84164 chance of marrying has come and that her fate must be decided now or
84165 never. On Thursdays Princess Mary remembered with a mournful smile
84166 that she now had no one to write to, since Julie--whose presence
84167 gave her no pleasure was here and they met every week. Like the old
84168 emigre who declined to marry the lady with whom he had spent his
84169 evenings for years, she regretted Julie's presence and having no one
84170 to write to. In Moscow Princess Mary had no one to talk to, no one
84171 to whom to confide her sorrow, and much sorrow fell to her lot just
84172 then. The time for Prince Andrew's return and marriage was
84173 approaching, but his request to her to prepare his father for it had
84174 not been carried out; in fact, it seemed as if matters were quite
84175 hopeless, for at every mention of the young Countess Rostova the old
84176 prince (who apart from that was usually in a bad temper) lost
84177 control of himself. Another lately added sorrow arose from the lessons
84178 she gave her six year-old nephew. To her consternation she detected in
84179 herself in relation to little Nicholas some symptoms of her father's
84180 irritability. However often she told herself that she must not get
84181 irritable when teaching her nephew, almost every time that, pointer in
84182 hand, she sat down to show him the French alphabet, she so longed to
84183 pour her own knowledge quickly and easily into the child--who was
84184 already afraid that Auntie might at any moment get angry--that at
84185 his slightest inattention she trembled, became flustered and heated,
84186 raised her voice, and sometimes pulled him by the arm and put him in
84187 the corner. Having put him in the corner she would herself begin to
84188 cry over her cruel, evil nature, and little Nicholas, following her
84189 example, would sob, and without permission would leave his corner,
84190 come to her, pull her wet hands from her face, and comfort her. But
84191 what distressed the princess most of all was her father's
84192 irritability, which was always directed against her and had of late
84193 amounted to cruelty. Had he forced her to prostrate herself to the
84194 ground all night, had he beaten her or made her fetch wood or water,
84195 it would never have entered her mind to think her position hard; but
84196 this loving despot--the more cruel because he loved her and for that
84197 reason tormented himself and her--knew how not merely to hurt and
84198 humiliate her deliberately, but to show her that she was always to
84199 blame for everything. Of late he had exhibited a new trait that
84200 tormented Princess Mary more than anything else; this was his
84201 ever-increasing intimacy with Mademoiselle Bourienne. The idea that at
84202 the first moment of receiving the news of his son's intentions had
84203 occurred to him in jest--that if Andrew got married he himself would
84204 marry Bourienne--had evidently pleased him, and latterly he had
84205 persistently, and as it seemed to Princess Mary merely to offend
84206 her, shown special endearments to the companion and expressed his
84207 dissatisfaction with his daughter by demonstrations of love of
84208 Bourienne.
84209
84210 One day in Moscow in Princess Mary's presence (she thought her
84211 father did it purposely when she was there) the old prince kissed
84212 Mademoiselle Bourienne's hand and, drawing her to him, embraced her
84213 affectionately. Princess Mary flushed and ran out of the room. A few
84214 minutes later Mademoiselle Bourienne came into Princess Mary's room
84215 smiling and making cheerful remarks in her agreeable voice. Princess
84216 Mary hastily wiped away her tears, went resolutely up to
84217 Mademoiselle Bourienne, and evidently unconscious of what she was
84218 doing began shouting in angry haste at the Frenchwoman, her voice
84219 breaking: "It's horrible, vile, inhuman, to take advantage of the
84220 weakness..." She did not finish. "Leave my room," she exclaimed, and
84221 burst into sobs.
84222
84223 Next day the prince did not say a word to his daughter, but she
84224 noticed that at dinner he gave orders that Mademoiselle Bourienne
84225 should be served first. After dinner, when the footman handed coffee
84226 and from habit began with the princess, the prince suddenly grew
84227 furious, threw his stick at Philip, and instantly gave instructions to
84228 have him conscripted for the army.
84229
84230 "He doesn't obey... I said it twice... and he doesn't obey! She is
84231 the first person in this house; she's my best friend," cried the
84232 prince. "And if you allow yourself," he screamed in a fury, addressing
84233 Princess Mary for the first time, "to forget yourself again before her
84234 as you dared to do yesterday, I will show you who is master in this
84235 house. Go! Don't let me set eyes on you; beg her pardon!"
84236
84237 Princess Mary asked Mademoiselle Bourienne's pardon, and also her
84238 father's pardon for herself and for Philip the footman, who had begged
84239 for her intervention.
84240
84241 At such moments something like a pride of sacrifice gathered in
84242 her soul. And suddenly that father whom she had judged would look
84243 for his spectacles in her presence, fumbling near them and not
84244 seeing them, or would forget something that had just occurred, or take
84245 a false step with his failing legs and turn to see if anyone had
84246 noticed his feebleness, or, worst of all, at dinner when there were no
84247 visitors to excite him would suddenly fall asleep, letting his
84248 napkin drop and his shaking head sink over his plate. "He is old and
84249 feeble, and I dare to condemn him!" she thought at such moments,
84250 with a feeling of revulsion against herself.
84251
84252
84253
84254
84255
84256 CHAPTER III
84257
84258
84259 In 1811 there was living in Moscow a French doctor--Metivier--who
84260 had rapidly become the fashion. He was enormously tall, handsome,
84261 amiable as Frenchmen are, and was, as all Moscow said, an
84262 extraordinarily clever doctor. He was received in the best houses
84263 not merely as a doctor, but as an equal.
84264
84265 Prince Nicholas had always ridiculed medicine, but latterly on
84266 Mademoiselle Bourienne's advice had allowed this doctor to visit him
84267 and had grown accustomed to him. Metivier came to see the prince about
84268 twice a week.
84269
84270 On December 6--St. Nicholas' Day and the prince's name day--all
84271 Moscow came to the prince's front door but he gave orders to admit
84272 no one and to invite to dinner only a small number, a list of whom
84273 he gave to Princess Mary.
84274
84275 Metivier, who came in the morning with his felicitations, considered
84276 it proper in his quality of doctor de forcer la consigne,* as he
84277 told Princess Mary, and went in to see the prince. It happened that on
84278 that morning of his name day the prince was in one of his worst moods.
84279 He had been going about the house all the morning finding fault with
84280 everyone and pretending not to understand what was said to him and not
84281 to be understood himself. Princess Mary well knew this mood of quiet
84282 absorbed querulousness, which generally culminated in a burst of rage,
84283 and she went about all that morning as though facing a cocked and
84284 loaded gun and awaited the inevitable explosion. Until the doctor's
84285 arrival the morning had passed off safely. After admitting the doctor,
84286 Princess Mary sat down with a book in the drawing room near the door
84287 through which she could hear all that passed in the study.
84288
84289
84290 *To force the guard.
84291
84292
84293 At first she heard only Metivier's voice, then her father's, then
84294 both voices began speaking at the same time, the door was flung
84295 open, and on the threshold appeared the handsome figure of the
84296 terrified Metivier with his shock of black hair, and the prince in his
84297 dressing gown and fez, his face distorted with fury and the pupils
84298 of his eyes rolled downwards.
84299
84300 "You don't understand?" shouted the prince, "but I do! French spy,
84301 slave of Buonaparte, spy, get out of my house! Be off, I tell you..."
84302
84303 Metivier, shrugging his shoulders, went up to Mademoiselle Bourienne
84304 who at the sound of shouting had run in from an adjoining room.
84305
84306 "The prince is not very well: bile and rush of blood to the head.
84307 Keep calm, I will call again tomorrow," said Metivier; and putting his
84308 fingers to his lips he hastened away.
84309
84310 Through the study door came the sound of slippered feet and the cry:
84311 "Spies, traitors, traitors everywhere! Not a moment's peace in my
84312 own house!"
84313
84314 After Metivier's departure the old prince called his daughter in,
84315 and the whole weight of his wrath fell on her. She was to blame that a
84316 spy had been admitted. Had he not told her, yes, told her to make a
84317 list, and not to admit anyone who was not on that list? Then why was
84318 that scoundrel admitted? She was the cause of it all. With her, he
84319 said, he could not have a moment's peace and could not die quietly.
84320
84321 "No, ma'am! We must part, we must part! Understand that,
84322 understand it! I cannot endure any more," he said, and left the
84323 room. Then, as if afraid she might find some means of consolation,
84324 he returned and trying to appear calm added: "And don't imagine I have
84325 said this in a moment of anger. I am calm. I have thought it over, and
84326 it will be carried out--we must part; so find some place for
84327 yourself...." But he could not restrain himself and with the virulence
84328 of which only one who loves is capable, evidently suffering himself,
84329 he shook his fists at her and screamed:
84330
84331 "If only some fool would marry her!" Then he slammed the door,
84332 sent for Mademoiselle Bourienne, and subsided into his study.
84333
84334 At two o'clock the six chosen guests assembled for dinner.
84335
84336 These guests--the famous Count Rostopchin, Prince Lopukhin with
84337 his nephew, General Chatrov an old war comrade of the prince's, and of
84338 the younger generation Pierre and Boris Drubetskoy--awaited the prince
84339 in the drawing room.
84340
84341 Boris, who had come to Moscow on leave a few days before, had been
84342 anxious to be presented to Prince Nicholas Bolkonski, and had
84343 contrived to ingratiate himself so well that the old prince in his
84344 case made an exception to the rule of not receiving bachelors in his
84345 house.
84346
84347 The prince's house did not belong to what is known as fashionable
84348 society, but his little circle--though not much talked about in
84349 town--was one it was more flattering to be received in than any other.
84350 Boris had realized this the week before when the commander in chief in
84351 his presence invited Rostopchin to dinner on St. Nicholas' Day, and
84352 Rostopchin had replied that he could not come:
84353
84354 "On that day I always go to pay my devotions to the relics of Prince
84355 Nicholas Bolkonski."
84356
84357 "Oh, yes, yes!" replied the commander in chief. "How is he?..."
84358
84359 The small group that assembled before dinner in the lofty
84360 old-fashioned drawing room with its old furniture resembled the solemn
84361 gathering of a court of justice. All were silent or talked in low
84362 tones. Prince Nicholas came in serious and taciturn. Princess Mary
84363 seemed even quieter and more diffident than usual. The guests were
84364 reluctant to address her, feeling that she was in no mood for their
84365 conversation. Count Rostopchin alone kept the conversation going,
84366 now relating the latest town news, and now the latest political
84367 gossip.
84368
84369 Lopukhin and the old general occasionally took part in the
84370 conversation. Prince Bolkonski listened as a presiding judge
84371 receives a report, only now and then, silently or by a brief word,
84372 showing that he took heed of what was being reported to him. The
84373 tone of the conversation was such as indicated that no one approved of
84374 what was being done in the political world. Incidents were related
84375 evidently confirming the opinion that everything was going from bad to
84376 worse, but whether telling a story or giving an opinion the speaker
84377 always stopped, or was stopped, at the point beyond which his
84378 criticism might touch the sovereign himself.
84379
84380 At dinner the talk turned on the latest political news: Napoleon's
84381 seizure of the Duke of Oldenburg's territory, and the Russian Note,
84382 hostile to Napoleon, which had been sent to all the European courts.
84383
84384 "Bonaparte treats Europe as a pirate does a captured vessel," said
84385 Count Rostopchin, repeating a phrase he had uttered several times
84386 before. "One only wonders at the long-suffering or blindness of the
84387 crowned heads. Now the Pope's turn has come and Bonaparte doesn't
84388 scruple to depose the head of the Catholic Church--yet all keep
84389 silent! Our sovereign alone has protested against the seizure of the
84390 Duke of Oldenburg's territory, and even..." Count Rostopchin paused,
84391 feeling that he had reached the limit beyond which censure was
84392 impossible.
84393
84394 "Other territories have been offered in exchange for the Duchy of
84395 Oldenburg," said Prince Bolkonski. "He shifts the Dukes about as I
84396 might move my serfs from Bald Hills to Bogucharovo or my Ryazan
84397 estates."
84398
84399 "The Duke of Oldenburg bears his misfortunes with admirable strength
84400 of character and resignation," remarked Boris, joining in
84401 respectfully.
84402
84403 He said this because on his journey from Petersburg he had had the
84404 honor of being presented to the Duke. Prince Bolkonski glanced at
84405 the young man as if about to say something in reply, but changed his
84406 mind, evidently considering him too young.
84407
84408 "I have read our protests about the Oldenburg affair and was
84409 surprised how badly the Note was worded," remarked Count Rostopchin in
84410 the casual tone of a man dealing with a subject quite familiar to him.
84411
84412 Pierre looked at Rostopchin with naive astonishment, not
84413 understanding why he should be disturbed by the bad composition of the
84414 Note.
84415
84416 "Does it matter, Count, how the Note is worded," he asked, "so
84417 long as its substance is forcible?"
84418
84419 "My dear fellow, with our five hundred thousand troops it should
84420 be easy to have a good style," returned Count Rostopchin.
84421
84422 Pierre now understood the count's dissatisfaction with the wording
84423 of the Note.
84424
84425 "One would have thought quill drivers enough had sprung up,"
84426 remarked the old prince. "There in Petersburg they are always writing-
84427 not notes only but even new laws. My Andrew there has written a
84428 whole volume of laws for Russia. Nowadays they are always writing!"
84429 and he laughed unnaturally.
84430
84431 There was a momentary pause in the conversation; the old general
84432 cleared his throat to draw attention.
84433
84434 "Did you hear of the last event at the review in Petersburg? The
84435 figure cut by the new French ambassador."
84436
84437 "Eh? Yes, I heard something: he said something awkward in His
84438 Majesty's presence."
84439
84440 "His Majesty drew attention to the Grenadier division and to the
84441 march past," continued the general, "and it seems the ambassador
84442 took no notice and allowed himself to reply that: 'We in France pay no
84443 attention to such trifles!' The Emperor did not condescend to reply.
84444 At the next review, they say, the Emperor did not once deign to
84445 address him."
84446
84447 All were silent. On this fact relating to the Emperor personally, it
84448 was impossible to pass any judgment.
84449
84450 "Impudent fellows!" said the prince. "You know Metivier? I turned
84451 him out of my house this morning. He was here; they admitted him spite
84452 of my request that they should let no one in," he went on, glancing
84453 angrily at his daughter.
84454
84455 And he narrated his whole conversation with the French doctor and
84456 the reasons that convinced him that Metivier was a spy. Though these
84457 reasons were very insufficient and obscure, no one made any rejoinder.
84458
84459 After the roast, champagne was served. The guests rose to
84460 congratulate the old prince. Princess Mary, too, went round to him.
84461
84462 He gave her a cold, angry look and offered her his wrinkled,
84463 clean-shaven cheek to kiss. The whole expression of his face told
84464 her that he had not forgotten the morning's talk, that his decision
84465 remained in force, and only the presence of visitors hindered his
84466 speaking of it to her now.
84467
84468 When they went into the drawing room where coffee was served, the
84469 old men sat together.
84470
84471 Prince Nicholas grew more animated and expressed his views on the
84472 impending war.
84473
84474 He said that our wars with Bonaparte would be disastrous so long
84475 as we sought alliances with the Germans and thrust ourselves into
84476 European affairs, into which we had been drawn by the Peace of Tilsit.
84477 "We ought not to fight either for or against Austria. Our political
84478 interests are all in the East, and in regard to Bonaparte the only
84479 thing is to have an armed frontier and a firm policy, and he will
84480 never dare to cross the Russian frontier, as was the case in 1807!"
84481
84482 "How can we fight the French, Prince?" said Count Rostopchin. "Can
84483 we arm ourselves against our teachers and divinities? Look at our
84484 youths, look at our ladies! The French are our Gods: Paris is our
84485 Kingdom of Heaven."
84486
84487 He began speaking louder, evidently to be heard by everyone.
84488
84489 "French dresses, French ideas, French feelings! There now, you
84490 turned Metivier out by the scruff of his neck because he is a
84491 Frenchman and a scoundrel, but our ladies crawl after him on their
84492 knees. I went to a party last night, and there out of five ladies
84493 three were Roman Catholics and had the Pope's indulgence for doing
84494 woolwork on Sundays. And they themselves sit there nearly naked,
84495 like the signboards at our Public Baths if I may say so. Ah, when
84496 one looks at our young people, Prince, one would like to take Peter
84497 the Great's old cudgel out of the museum and belabor them in the
84498 Russian way till all the nonsense jumps out of them."
84499
84500 All were silent. The old prince looked at Rostopchin with a smile
84501 and wagged his head approvingly.
84502
84503 "Well, good-by, your excellency, keep well!" said Rostopchin,
84504 getting up with characteristic briskness and holding out his hand to
84505 the prince.
84506
84507 "Good-by, my dear fellow.... His words are music, I never tire of
84508 hearing him!" said the old prince, keeping hold of the hand and
84509 offering his cheek to be kissed.
84510
84511 Following Rostopchin's example the others also rose.
84512
84513
84514
84515
84516
84517 CHAPTER IV
84518
84519
84520 Princess Mary as she sat listening to the old men's talk and
84521 faultfinding, understood nothing of what she heard; she only
84522 wondered whether the guests had all observed her father's hostile
84523 attitude toward her. She did not even notice the special attentions
84524 and amiabilities shown her during dinner by Boris Drubetskoy, who
84525 was visiting them for the third time already.
84526
84527 Princess Mary turned with absent-minded questioning look to
84528 Pierre, who hat in hand and with a smile on his face was the last of
84529 the guests to approach her after the old prince had gone out and
84530 they were left alone in the drawing room.
84531
84532 "May I stay a little longer?" he said, letting his stout body sink
84533 into an armchair beside her.
84534
84535 "Oh yes," she answered. "You noticed nothing?" her look asked.
84536
84537 Pierre was in an agreeable after-dinner mood. He looked straight
84538 before him and smiled quietly.
84539
84540 "Have you known that young man long, Princess?" he asked.
84541
84542 "Who?"
84543
84544 "Drubetskoy."
84545
84546 "No, not long..."
84547
84548 "Do you like him?"
84549
84550 "Yes, he is an agreeable young man.... Why do you ask me that?" said
84551 Princess Mary, still thinking of that morning's conversation with
84552 her father.
84553
84554 "Because I have noticed that when a young man comes on leave from
84555 Petersburg to Moscow it is usually with the object of marrying an
84556 heiress."
84557
84558 "You have observed that?" said Princess Mary.
84559
84560 "Yes," returned Pierre with a smile, "and this young man now manages
84561 matters so that where there is a wealthy heiress there he is too. I
84562 can read him like a book. At present he is hesitating whom to lay
84563 siege to--you or Mademoiselle Julie Karagina. He is very attentive
84564 to her."
84565
84566 "He visits them?"
84567
84568 "Yes, very often. And do you know the new way of courting?" said
84569 Pierre with an amused smile, evidently in that cheerful mood of good
84570 humored raillery for which he so often reproached himself in his
84571 diary.
84572
84573 "No," replied Princess Mary.
84574
84575 "To please Moscow girls nowadays one has to be melancholy. He is
84576 very melancholy with Mademoiselle Karagina," said Pierre.
84577
84578 "Really?" asked Princess Mary, looking into Pierre's kindly face and
84579 still thinking of her own sorrow. "It would be a relief," thought she,
84580 "if I ventured to confide what I am feeling to someone. I should
84581 like to tell everything to Pierre. He is kind and generous. It would
84582 be a relief. He would give me advice."
84583
84584 "Would you marry him?"
84585
84586 "Oh, my God, Count, there are moments when I would marry anybody!"
84587 she cried suddenly to her own surprise and with tears in her voice.
84588 "Ah, how bitter it is to love someone near to you and to feel that..."
84589 she went on in a trembling voice, "that you can do nothing for him but
84590 grieve him, and to know that you cannot alter this. Then there is only
84591 one thing left--to go away, but where could I go?"
84592
84593 "What is wrong? What is it, Princess?"
84594
84595 But without finishing what she was saying, Princess Mary burst
84596 into tears.
84597
84598 "I don't know what is the matter with me today. Don't take any
84599 notice--forget what I have said!"
84600
84601 Pierre's gaiety vanished completely. He anxiously questioned the
84602 princess, asked her to speak out fully and confide her grief to him;
84603 but she only repeated that she begged him to forget what she had said,
84604 that she did not remember what she had said, and that she had no
84605 trouble except the one he knew of--that Prince Andrew's marriage
84606 threatened to cause a rupture between father and son.
84607
84608 "Have you any news of the Rostovs?" she asked, to change the
84609 subject. "I was told they are coming soon. I am also expecting
84610 Andrew any day. I should like them to meet here."
84611
84612 "And how does he now regard the matter?" asked Pierre, referring
84613 to the old prince.
84614
84615 Princess Mary shook her head.
84616
84617 "What is to be done? In a few months the year will be up. The
84618 thing is impossible. I only wish I could spare my brother the first
84619 moments. I wish they would come sooner. I hope to be friends with her.
84620 You have known them a long time," said Princess Mary. "Tell me
84621 honestly the whole truth: what sort of girl is she, and what do you
84622 think of her?--The real truth, because you know Andrew is risking so
84623 much doing this against his father's will that I should like to
84624 know..."
84625
84626 An undefined instinct told Pierre that these explanations, and
84627 repeated requests to be told the whole truth, expressed ill-will on
84628 the princess' part toward her future sister-in-law and a wish that
84629 he should disapprove of Andrew's choice; but in reply he said what
84630 he felt rather than what he thought.
84631
84632 "I don't know how to answer your question," he said, blushing
84633 without knowing why. "I really don't know what sort of girl she is;
84634 I can't analyze her at all. She is enchanting, but what makes her so I
84635 don't know. That is all one can say about her."
84636
84637 Princess Mary sighed, and the expression on her face said: "Yes,
84638 that's what I expected and feared."
84639
84640 "Is she clever?" she asked.
84641
84642 Pierre considered.
84643
84644 "I think not," he said, "and yet--yes. She does not deign to be
84645 clever.... Oh no, she is simply enchanting, and that is all."
84646
84647 Princess Mary again shook her head disapprovingly.
84648
84649 "Ah, I so long to like her! Tell her so if you see her before I do."
84650
84651 "I hear they are expected very soon," said Pierre.
84652
84653 Princess Mary told Pierre of her plan to become intimate with her
84654 future sister-in-law as soon as the Rostovs arrived and to try to
84655 accustom the old prince to her.
84656
84657
84658
84659
84660
84661 CHAPTER V
84662
84663
84664 Boris had not succeeded in making a wealthy match in Petersburg,
84665 so with the same object in view he came to Moscow. There he wavered
84666 between the two richest heiresses, Julie and Princess Mary. Though
84667 Princess Mary despite her plainness seemed to him more attractive than
84668 Julie, he, without knowing why, felt awkward about paying court to
84669 her. When they had last met on the old prince's name day, she had
84670 answered at random all his attempts to talk sentimentally, evidently
84671 not listening to what he was saying.
84672
84673 Julie on the contrary accepted his attentions readily, though in a
84674 manner peculiar to herself.
84675
84676 She was twenty-seven. After the death of her brothers she had become
84677 very wealthy. She was by now decidedly plain, but thought herself
84678 not merely as good-looking as before but even far more attractive. She
84679 was confirmed in this delusion by the fact that she had become a
84680 very wealthy heiress and also by the fact that the older she grew
84681 the less dangerous she became to men, and the more freely they could
84682 associate with her and avail themselves of her suppers, soirees, and
84683 the animated company that assembled at her house, without incurring
84684 any obligation. A man who would have been afraid ten years before of
84685 going every day to the house when there was a girl of seventeen there,
84686 for fear of compromising her and committing himself, would now go
84687 boldly every day and treat her not as a marriageable girl but as a
84688 sexless acquaintance.
84689
84690 That winter the Karagins' house was the most agreeable and
84691 hospitable in Moscow. In addition to the formal evening and dinner
84692 parties, a large company, chiefly of men, gathered there every day,
84693 supping at midnight and staying till three in the morning. Julie never
84694 missed a ball, a promenade, or a play. Her dresses were always of
84695 the latest fashion. But in spite of that she seemed to be
84696 disillusioned about everything and told everyone that she did not
84697 believe either in friendship or in love, or any of the joys of life,
84698 and expected peace only "yonder." She adopted the tone of one who
84699 has suffered a great disappointment, like a girl who has either lost
84700 the man she loved or been cruelly deceived by him. Though nothing of
84701 the kind had happened to her she was regarded in that light, and had
84702 even herself come to believe that she had suffered much in life.
84703 This melancholy, which did not prevent her amusing herself, did not
84704 hinder the young people who came to her house from passing the time
84705 pleasantly. Every visitor who came to the house paid his tribute to
84706 the melancholy mood of the hostess, and then amused himself with
84707 society gossip, dancing, intellectual games, and bouts rimes, which
84708 were in vogue at the Karagins'. Only a few of these young men, among
84709 them Boris, entered more deeply into Julie's melancholy, and with
84710 these she had prolonged conversations in private on the vanity of
84711 all worldly things, and to them she showed her albums filled with
84712 mournful sketches, maxims, and verses.
84713
84714 To Boris, Julie was particularly gracious: she regretted his early
84715 disillusionment with life, offered him such consolation of
84716 friendship as she who had herself suffered so much could render, and
84717 showed him her album. Boris sketched two trees in the album and wrote:
84718 "Rustic trees, your dark branches shed gloom and melancholy upon me."
84719
84720 On another page he drew a tomb, and wrote:
84721
84722 La mort est secourable et la mort est tranquille.
84723 Ah! contre les douleurs il n'y a pas d'autre asile.*
84724
84725
84726 *Death gives relief and death is peaceful.
84727
84728 Ah! from suffering there is no other refuge.
84729
84730 Julia said this was charming
84731
84732 "There is something so enchanting in the smile of melancholy," she
84733 said to Boris, repeating word for word a passage she had copied from a
84734 book. "It is a ray of light in the darkness, a shade between sadness
84735 and despair, showing the possibility of consolation."
84736
84737 In reply Boris wrote these lines:
84738
84739 Aliment de poison d'une ame trop sensible,
84740 Toi, sans qui le bonheur me serait impossible,
84741 Tendre melancholie, ah, viens me consoler,
84742 Viens calmer les tourments de ma sombre retraite,
84743 Et mele une douceur secrete
84744 A ces pleurs que je sens couler.*
84745
84746
84747 *Poisonous nourishment of a too sensitive soul,
84748
84749 Thou, without whom happiness would for me be impossible,
84750
84751 Tender melancholy, ah, come to console me,
84752
84753 Come to calm the torments of my gloomy retreat,
84754
84755 And mingle a secret sweetness
84756
84757 With these tears that I feel to be flowing.
84758
84759
84760 For Boris, Julie played most doleful nocturnes on her harp. Boris
84761 read Poor Liza aloud to her, and more than once interrupted the
84762 reading because of the emotions that choked him. Meeting at large
84763 gatherings Julie and Boris looked on one another as the only souls who
84764 understood one another in a world of indifferent people.
84765
84766 Anna Mikhaylovna, who often visited the Karagins, while playing
84767 cards with the mother made careful inquiries as to Julie's dowry
84768 (she was to have two estates in Penza and the Nizhegorod forests).
84769 Anna Mikhaylovna regarded the refined sadness that united her son to
84770 the wealthy Julie with emotion, and resignation to the Divine will.
84771
84772 "You are always charming and melancholy, my dear Julie," she said to
84773 the daughter. "Boris says his soul finds repose at your house. He
84774 has suffered so many disappointments and is so sensitive," said she to
84775 the mother. "Ah, my dear, I can't tell you how fond I have grown of
84776 Julie latterly," she said to her son. "But who could help loving
84777 her? She is an angelic being! Ah, Boris, Boris!"--she paused. "And how
84778 I pity her mother," she went on; "today she showed me her accounts and
84779 letters from Penza (they have enormous estates there), and she, poor
84780 thing, has no one to help her, and they do cheat her so!"
84781
84782 Boris smiled almost imperceptibly while listening to his mother.
84783 He laughed blandly at her naive diplomacy but listened to what she had
84784 to say, and sometimes questioned her carefully about the Penza and
84785 Nizhegorod estates.
84786
84787 Julie had long been expecting a proposal from her melancholy
84788 adorer and was ready to accept it; but some secret feeling of
84789 repulsion for her, for her passionate desire to get married, for her
84790 artificiality, and a feeling of horror at renouncing the possibility
84791 of real love still restrained Boris. His leave was expiring. He
84792 spent every day and whole days at the Karagins', and every day on
84793 thinking the matter over told himself that he would propose
84794 tomorrow. But in Julie's presence, looking at her red face and chin
84795 (nearly always powdered), her moist eyes, and her expression of
84796 continual readiness to pass at once from melancholy to an unnatural
84797 rapture of married bliss, Boris could not utter the decisive words,
84798 though in imagination he had long regarded himself as the possessor of
84799 those Penza and Nizhegorod estates and had apportioned the use of
84800 the income from them. Julie saw Boris' indecision, and sometimes the
84801 thought occurred to her that she was repulsive to him, but her
84802 feminine self-deception immediately supplied her with consolation, and
84803 she told herself that he was only shy from love. Her melancholy,
84804 however, began to turn to irritability, and not long before Boris'
84805 departure she formed a definite plan of action. Just as Boris' leave
84806 of absence was expiring, Anatole Kuragin made his appearance in
84807 Moscow, and of course in the Karagins' drawing room, and Julie,
84808 suddenly abandoning her melancholy, became cheerful and very attentive
84809 to Kuragin.
84810
84811 "My dear," said Anna Mikhaylovna to her son, "I know from a reliable
84812 source that Prince Vasili has sent his son to Moscow to get him
84813 married to Julie. I am so fond of Julie that I should be sorry for
84814 her. What do you think of it, my dear?"
84815
84816 The idea of being made a fool of and of having thrown away that
84817 whole month of arduous melancholy service to Julie, and of seeing
84818 all the revenue from the Penza estates which he had already mentally
84819 apportioned and put to proper use fall into the hands of another,
84820 and especially into the hands of that idiot Anatole, pained Boris.
84821 He drove to the Karagins' with the firm intention of proposing.
84822 Julie met him in a gay, careless manner, spoke casually of how she had
84823 enjoyed yesterday's ball, and asked when he was leaving. Though
84824 Boris had come intentionally to speak of his love and therefore
84825 meant to be tender, he began speaking irritably of feminine
84826 inconstancy, of how easily women can turn from sadness to joy, and how
84827 their moods depend solely on who happens to be paying court to them.
84828 Julie was offended and replied that it was true that a woman needs
84829 variety, and the same thing over and over again would weary anyone.
84830
84831 "Then I should advise you..." Boris began, wishing to sting her; but
84832 at that instant the galling thought occurred to him that he might have
84833 to leave Moscow without having accomplished his aim, and have vainly
84834 wasted his efforts--which was a thing he never allowed to happen.
84835
84836 He checked himself in the middle of the sentence, lowered his eyes
84837 to avoid seeing her unpleasantly irritated and irresolute face, and
84838 said:
84839
84840 "I did not come here at all to quarrel with you. On the contrary..."
84841
84842 He glanced at her to make sure that he might go on. Her irritability
84843 had suddenly quite vanished, and her anxious, imploring eyes were
84844 fixed on him with greedy expectation. "I can always arrange so as
84845 not to see her often," thought Boris. "The affair has been begun and
84846 must be finished!" He blushed hotly, raised his eyes to hers, and
84847 said:
84848
84849 "You know my feelings for you!"
84850
84851 There was no need to say more: Julie's face shone with triumph and
84852 self-satisfaction; but she forced Boris to say all that is said on
84853 such occasions--that he loved her and had never loved any other
84854 woman more than her. She knew that for the Penza estates and
84855 Nizhegorod forests she could demand this, and she received what she
84856 demanded.
84857
84858 The affianced couple, no longer alluding to trees that shed gloom
84859 and melancholy upon them, planned the arrangements of a splendid house
84860 in Petersburg, paid calls, and prepared everything for a brilliant
84861 wedding.
84862
84863
84864
84865
84866
84867 CHAPTER VI
84868
84869
84870 At the end of January old Count Rostov went to Moscow with Natasha
84871 and Sonya. The countess was still unwell and unable to travel but it
84872 was impossible to wait for her recovery. Prince Andrew was expected in
84873 Moscow any day, the trousseau had to be ordered and the estate near
84874 Moscow had to be sold, besides which the opportunity of presenting his
84875 future daughter-in-law to old Prince Bolkonski while he was in
84876 Moscow could not be missed. The Rostovs' Moscow house had not been
84877 heated that winter and, as they had come only for a short time and the
84878 countess was not with them, the count decided to stay with Marya
84879 Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, who had long been pressing her hospitality
84880 on them.
84881
84882 Late one evening the Rostovs' four sleighs drove into Marya
84883 Dmitrievna's courtyard in the old Konyusheny street. Marya
84884 Dmitrievna lived alone. She had already married off her daughter,
84885 and her sons were all in the service.
84886
84887 She held herself as erect, told everyone her opinion as candidly,
84888 loudly, and bluntly as ever, and her whole bearing seemed a reproach
84889 to others for any weakness, passion, or temptation--the possibility of
84890 which she did not admit. From early in the morning, wearing a dressing
84891 jacket, she attended to her household affairs, and then she drove out:
84892 on holy days to church and after the service to jails and prisons on
84893 affairs of which she never spoke to anyone. On ordinary days, after
84894 dressing, she received petitioners of various classes, of whom there
84895 were always some. Then she had dinner, a substantial and appetizing
84896 meal at which there were always three or four guests; after dinner she
84897 played a game of boston, and at night she had the newspapers or a
84898 new book read to her while she knitted. She rarely made an exception
84899 and went out to pay visits, and then only to the most important
84900 persons in the town.
84901
84902 She had not yet gone to bed when the Rostovs arrived and the
84903 pulley of the hall door squeaked from the cold as it let in the
84904 Rostovs and their servants. Marya Dmitrievna, with her spectacles
84905 hanging down on her nose and her head flung back, stood in the hall
84906 doorway looking with a stern, grim face at the new arrivals. One might
84907 have thought she was angry with the travelers and would immediately
84908 turn them out, had she not at the same time been giving careful
84909 instructions to the servants for the accommodation of the visitors and
84910 their belongings.
84911
84912 "The count's things? Bring them here," she said, pointing to the
84913 portmanteaus and not greeting anyone. "The young ladies'? There to the
84914 left. Now what are you dawdling for?" she cried to the maids. "Get the
84915 samovar ready!... You've grown plumper and prettier," she remarked,
84916 drawing Natasha (whose cheeks were glowing from the cold) to her by
84917 the hood. "Foo! You are cold! Now take off your things, quick!" she
84918 shouted to the count who was going to kiss her hand. "You're half
84919 frozen, I'm sure! Bring some rum for tea!... Bonjour, Sonya dear!" she
84920 added, turning to Sonya and indicating by this French greeting her
84921 slightly contemptuous though affectionate attitude toward her.
84922
84923 When they came in to tea, having taken off their outdoor things
84924 and tidied themselves up after their journey, Marya Dmitrievna
84925 kissed them all in due order.
84926
84927 "I'm heartily glad you have come and are staying with me. It was
84928 high time," she said, giving Natasha a significant look. "The old
84929 man is here and his son's expected any day. You'll have to make his
84930 acquaintance. But we'll speak of that later on," she added, glancing at
84931 Sonya with a look that showed she did not want to speak of it in her
84932 presence. "Now listen," she said to the count. "What do you want
84933 tomorrow? Whom will you send for? Shinshin?" she crooked one of her
84934 fingers. "The sniveling Anna Mikhaylovna? That's two. She's here
84935 with her son. The son is getting married! Then Bezukhov, eh? He is
84936 here too, with his wife. He ran away from her and she came galloping
84937 after him. He dined with me on Wednesday. As for them"--and she
84938 pointed to the girls--"tomorrow I'll take them first to the Iberian
84939 shrine of the Mother of God, and then we'll drive to the
84940 Super-Rogue's. I suppose you'll have everything new. Don't judge by
84941 me: sleeves nowadays are this size! The other day young Princess Irina
84942 Vasilevna came to see me; she was an awful sight--looked as if she had
84943 put two barrels on her arms. You know not a day passes now without
84944 some new fashion.... And what have you to do yourself?" she asked
84945 the count sternly.
84946
84947 "One thing has come on top of another: her rags to buy, and now a
84948 purchaser has turned up for the Moscow estate and for the house. If
84949 you will be so kind, I'll fix a time and go down to the estate just
84950 for a day, and leave my lassies with you."
84951
84952 "All right. All right. They'll be safe with me, as safe as in
84953 Chancery! I'll take them where they must go, scold them a bit, and pet
84954 them a bit," said Marya Dmitrievna, touching her goddaughter and
84955 favorite, Natasha, on the cheek with her large hand.
84956
84957 Next morning Marya Dmitrievna took the young ladies to the Iberian
84958 shrine of the Mother of God and to Madame Suppert-Roguet, who was so
84959 afraid of Marya Dmitrievna that she always let her have costumes at
84960 a loss merely to get rid of her. Marya Dmitrievna ordered almost the
84961 whole trousseau. When they got home she turned everybody out of the
84962 room except Nataisha, and then called her pet to her armchair.
84963
84964 "Well, now we'll talk. I congratulate you on your betrothed.
84965 You've hooked a fine fellow! I am glad for your sake and I've known
84966 him since he was so high." She held her hand a couple of feet from the
84967 ground. Natasha blushed happily. "I like him and all his family. Now
84968 listen! You know that old Prince Nicholas much dislikes his son's
84969 marrying. The old fellow's crotchety! Of course Prince Andrew is not a
84970 child and can shift without him, but it's not nice to enter a family
84971 against a father's will. One wants to do it peacefully and lovingly.
84972 You're a clever girl and you'll know how to manage. Be kind, and use
84973 your wits. Then all will be well."
84974
84975 Natasha remained silent, from shyness Marya Dmitrievna supposed, but
84976 really because she disliked anyone interfering in what touched her
84977 love of Prince Andrew, which seemed to her so apart from all human
84978 affairs that no one could understand it. She loved and knew Prince
84979 Andrew, he loved her only, and was to come one of these days and
84980 take her. She wanted nothing more.
84981
84982 "You see I have known him a long time and am also fond of Mary, your
84983 future sister-in-law. 'Husbands' sisters bring up blisters,' but
84984 this one wouldn't hurt a fly. She has asked me to bring you two
84985 together. Tomorrow you'll go with your father to see her. Be very nice
84986 and affectionate to her: you're younger than she. When he comes, he'll
84987 find you already know his sister and father and are liked by them.
84988 Am I right or not? Won't that be best?"
84989
84990 "Yes, it will," Natasha answered reluctantly.
84991
84992
84993
84994
84995
84996 CHAPTER VII
84997
84998
84999 Next day, by Marya Dmitrievna's advice, Count Rostov took Natasha to
85000 call on Prince Nicholas Bolkonski. The count did not set out
85001 cheerfully on this visit, at heart he felt afraid. He well
85002 remembered the last interview he had had with the old prince at the
85003 time of the enrollment, when in reply to an invitation to dinner he
85004 had had to listen to an angry reprimand for not having provided his
85005 full quota of men. Natasha, on the other hand, having put on her
85006 best gown, was in the highest spirits. "They can't help liking me,"
85007 she thought. "Everybody always has liked me, and I am so willing to do
85008 anything they wish, so ready to be fond of him--for being his
85009 father--and of her--for being his sister--that there is no reason
85010 for them not to like me..."
85011
85012 They drove up to the gloomy old house on the Vozdvizhenka and
85013 entered the vestibule.
85014
85015 "Well, the Lord have mercy on us!" said the count, half in jest,
85016 half in earnest; but Natasha noticed that her father was flurried on
85017 entering the anteroom and inquired timidly and softly whether the
85018 prince and princess were at home.
85019
85020 When they had been announced a perturbation was noticeable among the
85021 servants. The footman who had gone to announce them was stopped by
85022 another in the large hall and they whispered to one another. Then a
85023 maidservant ran into the hall and hurriedly said something, mentioning
85024 the princess. At last an old, cross looking footman came and announced
85025 to the Rostovs that the prince was not receiving, but that the
85026 princess begged them to walk up. The first person who came to meet the
85027 visitors was Mademoiselle Bourienne. She greeted the father and
85028 daughter with special politeness and showed them to the princess'
85029 room. The princess, looking excited and nervous, her face flushed in
85030 patches, ran in to meet the visitors, treading heavily, and vainly
85031 trying to appear cordial and at ease. From the first glance Princess
85032 Mary did not like Natasha. She thought her too fashionably dressed,
85033 frivolously gay and vain. She did not at all realize that before
85034 having seen her future sister-in-law she was prejudiced against her by
85035 involuntary envy of her beauty, youth, and happiness, as well as by
85036 jealousy of her brother's love for her. Apart from this insuperable
85037 antipathy to her, Princess Mary was agitated just then because on
85038 the Rostovs' being announced, the old prince had shouted that he did
85039 not wish to see them, that Princess Mary might do so if she chose, but
85040 they were not to be admitted to him. She had decided to receive
85041 them, but feared lest the prince might at any moment indulge in some
85042 freak, as he seemed much upset by the Rostovs' visit.
85043
85044 "There, my dear princess, I've brought you my songstress," said
85045 the count, bowing and looking round uneasily as if afraid the old
85046 prince might appear. "I am so glad you should get to know one
85047 another... very sorry the prince is still ailing," and after a few
85048 more commonplace remarks he rose. "If you'll allow me to leave my
85049 Natasha in your hands for a quarter of an hour, Princess, I'll drive
85050 round to see Anna Semenovna, it's quite near in the Dogs' Square,
85051 and then I'll come back for her."
85052
85053 The count had devised this diplomatic ruse (as he afterwards told
85054 his daughter) to give the future sisters-in-law an opportunity to talk
85055 to one another freely, but another motive was to avoid the danger of
85056 encountering the old prince, of whom he was afraid. He did not mention
85057 this to his daughter, but Natasha noticed her father's nervousness and
85058 anxiety and felt mortified by it. She blushed for him, grew still
85059 angrier at having blushed, and looked at the princess with a bold
85060 and defiant expression which said that she was not afraid of
85061 anybody. The princess told the count that she would be delighted,
85062 and only begged him to stay longer at Anna Semenovna's, and he
85063 departed.
85064
85065 Despite the uneasy glances thrown at her by Princess Mary--who
85066 wished to have a tete-a-tete with Natasha--Mademoiselle Bourienne
85067 remained in the room and persistently talked about Moscow amusements
85068 and theaters. Natasha felt offended by the hesitation she had
85069 noticed in the anteroom, by her father's nervousness, and by the
85070 unnatural manner of the princess who--she thought--was making a
85071 favor of receiving her, and so everything displeased her. She did
85072 not like Princess Mary, whom she thought very plain, affected, and
85073 dry. Natasha suddenly shrank into herself and involuntarily assumed an
85074 offhand air which alienated Princess Mary still more. After five
85075 minutes of irksome, constrained conversation, they heard the sound
85076 of slippered feet rapidly approaching. Princess Mary looked
85077 frightened.
85078
85079 The door opened and the old prince, in a dress, ing gown and a white
85080 nightcap, came in.
85081
85082 "Ah, madam!" he began. "Madam, Countess... Countess Rostova, if I am
85083 not mistaken... I beg you to excuse me, to excuse me... I did not
85084 know, madam. God is my witness, I did not know you had honored us with
85085 a visit, and I came in such a costume only to see my daughter. I beg
85086 you to excuse me... God is my witness, I didn't know-" he repeated,
85087 stressing the word "God" so unnaturally and so unpleasantly that
85088 Princess Mary stood with downcast eyes not daring to look either at
85089 her father or at Natasha.
85090
85091 Nor did the latter, having risen and curtsied, know what to do.
85092 Mademoiselle Bourienne alone smiled agreeably.
85093
85094 "I beg you to excuse me, excuse me! God is my witness, I did not
85095 know," muttered the old man, and after looking Natasha over from
85096 head to foot he went out.
85097
85098 Mademoiselle Bourienne was the first to recover herself after this
85099 apparition and began speaking about the prince's indisposition.
85100 Natasha and Princess Mary looked at one another in silence, and the
85101 longer they did so without saying what they wanted to say, the greater
85102 grew their antipathy to one another.
85103
85104 When the count returned, Natasha was impolitely pleased and hastened
85105 to get away: at that moment she hated the stiff, elderly princess, who
85106 could place her in such an embarrassing position and had spent half an
85107 hour with her without once mentioning Prince Andrew. "I couldn't begin
85108 talking about him in the presence of that Frenchwoman," thought
85109 Natasha. The same thought was meanwhile tormenting Princess Mary.
85110 She knew what she ought to have said to Natasha, but she had been
85111 unable to say it because Mademoiselle Bourienne was in the way, and
85112 because, without knowing why, she felt it very difficult to speak of
85113 the marriage. When the count was already leaving the room, Princess
85114 Mary went up hurriedly to Natasha, took her by the hand, and said with
85115 a deep sigh:
85116
85117 "Wait, I must..."
85118
85119 Natasha glanced at her ironically without knowing why.
85120
85121 "Dear Natalie," said Princess Mary, "I want you to know that I am
85122 glad my brother has found happiness...."
85123
85124 She paused, feeling that she was not telling the truth. Natasha
85125 noticed this and guessed its reason.
85126
85127 "I think, Princess, it is not convenient to speak of that now,"
85128 she said with external dignity and coldness, though she felt the tears
85129 choking her.
85130
85131 "What have I said and what have I done?" thought she, as soon as she
85132 was out of the room.
85133
85134 They waited a long time for Natasha to come to dinner that day.
85135 She sat in her room crying like a child, blowing her nose and sobbing.
85136 Sonya stood beside her, kissing her hair.
85137
85138 "Natasha, what is it about?" she asked. "What do they matter to you?
85139 It will all pass, Natasha."
85140
85141 "But if you only knew how offensive it was... as if I..."
85142
85143 "Don't talk about it, Natasha. It wasn't your fault so why should
85144 you mind? Kiss me," said Sonya.
85145
85146 Natasha raised her head and, kissing her friend on the lips, pressed
85147 her wet face against her.
85148
85149 "I can't tell you, I don't know. No one's to blame," said Natasha-
85150 "It's my fault. But it all hurts terribly. Oh, why doesn't he
85151 come?..."
85152
85153 She came in to dinner with red eyes. Marya Dmitrievna, who knew
85154 how the prince had received the Rostovs, pretended not to notice how
85155 upset Natasha was and jested resolutely and loudly at table with the
85156 count and the other guests.
85157
85158
85159
85160
85161
85162 CHAPTER VIII
85163
85164
85165 That evening the Rostovs went to the Opera, for which Marya
85166 Dmitrievna had taken a box.
85167
85168 Natasha did not want to go, but could not refuse Marya
85169 Dmitrievna's kind offer which was intended expressly for her. When she
85170 came ready dressed into the ballroom to await her father, and
85171 looking in the large mirror there saw that she was pretty, very
85172 pretty, she felt even more sad, but it was a sweet, tender sadness.
85173
85174 "O God, if he were here now I would not behave as I did then, but
85175 differently. I would not be silly and afraid of things, I would simply
85176 embrace him, cling to him, and make him look at me with those
85177 searching inquiring eyes with which he has so often looked at me,
85178 and then I would make him laugh as he used to laugh. And his eyes--how
85179 I see those eyes!" thought Natasha. "And what do his father and sister
85180 matter to me? I love him alone, him, him, with that face and those
85181 eyes, with his smile, manly and yet childlike.... No, I had better not
85182 think of him; not think of him but forget him, quite forget him for
85183 the present. I can't bear this waiting and I shall cry in a minute!"
85184 and she turned away from the glass, making an effort not to cry.
85185 "And how can Sonya love Nicholas so calmly and quietly and wait so
85186 long and so patiently?" thought she, looking at Sonya, who also came
85187 in quite ready, with a fan in her hand. "No, she's altogether
85188 different. I can't!"
85189
85190 Natasha at that moment felt so softened and tender that it was not
85191 enough for her to love and know she was beloved, she wanted now, at
85192 once, to embrace the man she loved, to speak and hear from him words
85193 of love such as filled her heart. While she sat in the carriage beside
85194 her father, pensively watching the lights of the street lamps
85195 flickering on the frozen window, she felt still sadder and more in
85196 love, and forgot where she was going and with whom. Having fallen into
85197 the line of carriages, the Rostovs' carriage drove up to the
85198 theater, its wheels squeaking over the snow. Natasha and Sonya,
85199 holding up their dresses, jumped out quickly. The count got out helped
85200 by the footmen, and, passing among men and women who were entering and
85201 the program sellers, they all three went along the corridor to the
85202 first row of boxes. Through the closed doors the music was already
85203 audible.
85204
85205 "Natasha, your hair!..." whispered Sonya.
85206
85207 An attendant deferentially and quickly slipped before the ladies and
85208 opened the door of their box. The music sounded louder and through the
85209 door rows of brightly lit boxes in which ladies sat with bare arms and
85210 shoulders, and noisy stalls brilliant with uniforms, glittered
85211 before their eyes. A lady entering the next box shot a glance of
85212 feminine envy at Natasha. The curtain had not yet risen and the
85213 overture was being played. Natasha, smoothing her gown, went in with
85214 Sonya and sat down, scanning the brilliant tiers of boxes opposite.
85215 A sensation she had not experienced for a long time--that of
85216 hundreds of eyes looking at her bare arms and neck--suddenly
85217 affected her both agreeably and disagreeably and called up a whole
85218 crowd of memories, desires and emotions associated with that feeling.
85219
85220 The two remarkably pretty girls, Natasha and Sonya, with Count
85221 Rostov who had not been seen in Moscow for a long time, attracted
85222 general attention. Moreover, everybody knew vaguely of Natasha's
85223 engagement to Prince Andrew, and knew that the Rostovs had lived in
85224 the country ever since, and all looked with curiosity at a fiancee who
85225 was making one of the best matches in Russia.
85226
85227 Natasha's looks, as everyone told her, had improved in the
85228 country, and that evening thanks to her agitation she was particularly
85229 pretty. She struck those who saw her by her fullness of life and
85230 beauty, combined with her indifference to everything about her. Her
85231 black eyes looked at the crowd without seeking anyone, and her
85232 delicate arm, bare to above the elbow, lay on the velvet edge of the
85233 box, while, evidently unconsciously, she opened and closed her hand in
85234 time to the music, crumpling her program. "Look, there's Alenina,"
85235 said Sonya, "with her mother, isn't it?"
85236
85237 "Dear me, Michael Kirilovich has grown still stouter!" remarked
85238 the count.
85239
85240 "Look at our Anna Mikhaylovna--what a headdress she has on!"
85241
85242 "The Karagins, Julie--and Boris with them. One can see at once
85243 that they're engaged...."
85244
85245 "Drubetskoy has proposed?"
85246
85247 "Oh yes, I heard it today," said Shinshin, coming into the
85248 Rostovs' box.
85249
85250 Natasha looked in the direction in which her father's eyes were
85251 turned and saw Julie sitting beside her mother with a happy look on
85252 her face and a string of pearls round her thick red neck--which
85253 Natasha knew was covered with powder. Behind them, wearing a smile and
85254 leaning over with an ear to Julie's mouth, was Boris' handsome
85255 smoothly brushed head. He looked the Rostovs from under his brows
85256 and said something, smiling, to his betrothed.
85257
85258 "They are talking about us, about me and him!" thought Natasha. "And
85259 he no doubt is calming her jealousy of me. They needn't trouble
85260 themselves! If only they knew how little I am concerned about any of
85261 them."
85262
85263 Behind them sat Anna Mikhaylovna wearing a green headdress and
85264 with a happy look of resignation to the will of God on her face. Their
85265 box was pervaded by that atmosphere of an affianced couple which
85266 Natasha knew so well and liked so much. She turned away and suddenly
85267 remembered all that had been so humiliating in her morning's visit.
85268
85269 "What right has he not to wish to receive me into his family? Oh,
85270 better not think of it--not till he comes back!" she told herself, and
85271 began looking at the faces, some strange and some familiar, in the
85272 stalls. In the front, in the very center, leaning back against the
85273 orchestra rail, stood Dolokhov in a Persian dress, his curly hair
85274 brushed up into a huge shock. He stood in full view of the audience,
85275 well aware that he was attracting everyone's attention, yet as much at
85276 ease as though he were in his own room. Around him thronged Moscow's
85277 most brilliant young men, whom he evidently dominated.
85278
85279 The count, laughing, nudged the blushing Sonya and pointed to her
85280 former adorer.
85281
85282 "Do you recognize him?" said he. "And where has he sprung from?"
85283 he asked, turning to Shinshin. "Didn't he vanish somewhere?"
85284
85285 "He did," replied Shinshin. "He was in the Caucasus and ran away
85286 from there. They say he has been acting as minister to some ruling
85287 prince in Persia, where he killed the Shah's brother. Now all the
85288 Moscow ladies are mad about him! It's 'Dolokhov the Persian' that does
85289 it! We never hear a word but Dolokhov is mentioned. They swear by him,
85290 they offer him to you as they would a dish of choice sterlet. Dolokhov
85291 and Anatole Kuragin have turned all our ladies' heads."
85292
85293 A tall, beautiful woman with a mass of plaited hair and much exposed
85294 plump white shoulders and neck, round which she wore a double string
85295 of large pearls, entered the adjoining box rustling her heavy silk
85296 dress and took a long time settling into her place.
85297
85298 Natasha involuntarily gazed at that neck, those shoulders, and
85299 pearls and coiffure, and admired the beauty of the shoulders and the
85300 pearls. While Natasha was fixing her gaze on her for the second time
85301 the lady looked round and, meeting the count's eyes, nodded to him and
85302 smiled. She was the Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's wife, and the
85303 count, who knew everyone in society, leaned over and spoke to her.
85304
85305 "Have you been here long, Countess?" he inquired. "I'll call, I'll
85306 call to kiss your hand. I'm here on business and have brought my girls
85307 with me. They say Semenova acts marvelously. Count Pierre never used
85308 to forget us. Is he here?"
85309
85310 "Yes, he meant to look in," answered Helene, and glanced attentively
85311 at Natasha.
85312
85313 Count Rostov resumed his seat.
85314
85315 "Handsome, isn't she?" he whispered to Natasha.
85316
85317 "Wonderful!" answered Natasha. "She's a woman one could easily
85318 fall in love with."
85319
85320 Just then the last chords of the overture were heard and the
85321 conductor tapped with his stick. Some latecomers took their seats in
85322 the stalls, and the curtain rose.
85323
85324 As soon as it rose everyone in the boxes and stalls became silent,
85325 and all the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress, and
85326 all the women with gems on their bare flesh, turned their whole
85327 attention with eager curiosity to the stage. Natasha too began to look
85328 at it.
85329
85330
85331
85332
85333
85334 CHAPTER IX
85335
85336
85337 The floor of the stage consisted of smooth boards, at the sides
85338 was some painted cardboard representing trees, and at the back was a
85339 cloth stretched over boards. In the center of the stage sat some girls
85340 in red bodices and white skirts. One very fat girl in a white silk
85341 dress sat apart on a low bench, to the back of which a piece of
85342 green cardboard was glued. They all sang something. When they had
85343 finished their song the girl in white went up to the prompter's box
85344 and a man with tight silk trousers over his stout legs, and holding
85345 a plume and a dagger, went up to her and began singing, waving his
85346 arms about.
85347
85348 First the man in the tight trousers sang alone, then she sang,
85349 then they both paused while the orchestra played and the man
85350 fingered the hand of the girl in white, obviously awaiting the beat to
85351 start singing with her. They sang together and everyone in the theater
85352 began clapping and shouting, while the man and woman on the stage--who
85353 represented lovers--began smiling, spreading out their arms, and
85354 bowing.
85355
85356 After her life in the country, and in her present serious mood,
85357 all this seemed grotesque and amazing to Natasha. She could not follow
85358 the opera nor even listen to the music; she saw only the painted
85359 cardboard and the queerly dressed men and women who moved, spoke,
85360 and sang so strangely in that brilliant light. She knew what it was
85361 all meant to represent, but it was so pretentiously false and
85362 unnatural that she first felt ashamed for the actors and then amused
85363 at them. She looked at the faces of the audience, seeking in them
85364 the same sense of ridicule and perplexity she herself experienced, but
85365 they all seemed attentive to what was happening on the stage, and
85366 expressed delight which to Natasha seemed feigned. "I suppose it has
85367 to be like this!" she thought. She kept looking round in turn at the
85368 rows of pomaded heads in the stalls and then at the seminude women
85369 in the boxes, especially at Helene in the next box, who--apparently
85370 quite unclothed--sat with a quiet tranquil smile, not taking her
85371 eyes off the stage. And feeling the bright light that flooded the
85372 whole place and the warm air heated by the crowd, Natasha little by
85373 little began to pass into a state of intoxication she had not
85374 experienced for a long while. She did not realize who and where she
85375 was, nor what was going on before her. As she looked and thought,
85376 the strangest fancies unexpectedly and disconnectedly passed through
85377 her mind: the idea occurred to her of jumping onto the edge of the box
85378 and singing the air the actress was singing, then she wished to
85379 touch with her fan an old gentleman sitting not far from her, then
85380 to lean over to Helene and tickle her.
85381
85382 At a moment when all was quiet before the commencement of a song,
85383 a door leading to the stalls on the side nearest the Rostovs' box
85384 creaked, and the steps of a belated arrival were heard. "There's
85385 Kuragin!" whispered Shinshin. Countess Bezukhova turned smiling to the
85386 newcomer, and Natasha, following the direction of that look, saw an
85387 exceptionally handsome adjutant approaching their box with a
85388 self-assured yet courteous bearing. This was Anatole Kuragin whom
85389 she had seen and noticed long ago at the ball in Petersburg. He was
85390 now in an adjutant's uniform with one epaulet and a shoulder knot.
85391 He moved with a restrained swagger which would have been ridiculous
85392 had he not been so good-looking and had his handsome face not worn
85393 such an expression of good-humored complacency and gaiety. Though
85394 the performance was proceeding, he walked deliberately down the
85395 carpeted gangway, his sword and spurs slightly jingling and his
85396 handsome perfumed head held high. Having looked at Natasha he
85397 approached his sister, laid his well gloved hand on the edge of her
85398 box, nodded to her, and leaning forward asked a question, with a
85399 motion toward Natasha.
85400
85401 "Mais charmante!" said he, evidently referring to Natasha, who did
85402 not exactly hear his words but understood them from the movement of
85403 his lips. Then he took his place in the first row of the stalls and
85404 sat down beside Dolokhov, nudging with his elbow in a friendly and
85405 offhand way that Dolokhov whom others treated so fawningly. He
85406 winked at him gaily, smiled, and rested his foot against the orchestra
85407 screen.
85408
85409 "How like the brother is to the sister," remarked the count. "And
85410 how handsome they both are!"
85411
85412 Shinshin, lowering his voice, began to tell the count of some
85413 intrigue of Kuragin's in Moscow, and Natasha tried to overhear it just
85414 because he had said she was "charmante."
85415
85416 The first act was over. In the stalls everyone began moving about,
85417 going out and coming in.
85418
85419 Boris came to the Rostovs' box, received their congratulations
85420 very simply, and raising his eyebrows with an absent-minded smile
85421 conveyed to Natasha and Sonya his fiancee's invitation to her wedding,
85422 and went away. Natasha with a gay, coquettish smile talked to him, and
85423 congratulated on his approaching wedding that same Boris with whom she
85424 had formerly been in love. In the state of intoxication she was in,
85425 everything seemed simple and natural.
85426
85427 The scantily clad Helene smiled at everyone in the same way, and
85428 Natasha gave Boris a similar smile.
85429
85430 Helene's box was filled and surrounded from the stalls by the most
85431 distinguished and intellectual men, who seemed to vie with one another
85432 in their wish to let everyone see that they knew her.
85433
85434 During the whole of that entr'acte Kuragin stood with Dolokhov in
85435 front of the orchestra partition, looking at the Rostovs' box. Natasha
85436 knew he was talking about her and this afforded her pleasure. She even
85437 turned so that he should see her profile in what she thought was its
85438 most becoming aspect. Before the beginning of the second act Pierre
85439 appeared in the stalls. The Rostovs had not seen him since their
85440 arrival. His face looked sad, and he had grown still stouter since
85441 Natasha last saw him. He passed up to the front rows, not noticing
85442 anyone. Anatole went up to him and began speaking to him, looking at
85443 and indicating the Rostovs' box. On seeing Natasha Pierre grew
85444 animated and, hastily passing between the rows, came toward their box.
85445 When he got there he leaned on his elbows and, smiling, talked to
85446 her for a long time. While conversing with Pierre, Natasha heard a
85447 man's voice in Countess Bezukhova's box and something told her it
85448 was Kuragin. She turned and their eyes met. Almost smiling, he gazed
85449 straight into her eyes with such an enraptured caressing look that
85450 it seemed strange to be so near him, to look at him like that, to be
85451 so sure he admired her, and not to be acquainted with him.
85452
85453 In the second act there was scenery representing tombstones, there
85454 was a round hole in the canvas to represent the moon, shades were
85455 raised over the footlights, and from horns and contrabass came deep
85456 notes while many people appeared from right and left wearing black
85457 cloaks and holding things like daggers in their hands. They began
85458 waving their arms. Then some other people ran in and began dragging
85459 away the maiden who had been in white and was now in light blue.
85460 They did not drag her away at once, but sang with her for a long
85461 time and then at last dragged her off, and behind the scenes something
85462 metallic was struck three times and everyone knelt down and sang a
85463 prayer. All these things were repeatedly interrupted by the
85464 enthusiastic shouts of the audience.
85465
85466 During this act every time Natasha looked toward the stalls she
85467 saw Anatole Kuragin with an arm thrown across the back of his chair,
85468 staring at her. She was pleased to see that he was captivated by her
85469 and it did not occur to her that there was anything wrong in it.
85470
85471 When the second act was over Countess Bezukhova rose, turned to
85472 the Rostovs' box--her whole bosom completely exposed--beckoned the old
85473 count with a gloved finger, and paying no attention to those who had
85474 entered her box began talking to him with an amiable smile.
85475
85476 "Do make me acquainted with your charming daughters," said she. "The
85477 whole town is singing their praises and I don't even know then!"
85478
85479 Natasha rose and curtsied to the splendid countess. She was so
85480 pleased by praise from this brilliant beauty that she blushed with
85481 pleasure.
85482
85483 "I want to become a Moscovite too, now," said Helene. "How is it
85484 you're not ashamed to bury such pearls in the country?"
85485
85486 Countess Bezukhova quite deserved her reputation of being a
85487 fascinating woman. She could say what she did not think--especially
85488 what was flattering--quite simply and naturally.
85489
85490 "Dear count, you must let me look after your daughters! Though I
85491 am not staying here long this time--nor are you--I will try to amuse
85492 them. I have already heard much of you in Petersburg and wanted to get
85493 to know you," said she to Natasha with her stereotyped and lovely
85494 smile. "I had heard about you from my page, Drubetskoy. Have you heard
85495 he is getting married? And also from my husband's friend Bolkonski,
85496 Prince Andrew Bolkonski," she went on with special emphasis,
85497 implying that she knew of his relation to Natasha. To get better
85498 acquainted she asked that one of the young ladies should come into her
85499 box for the rest of the performance, and Natasha moved over to it.
85500
85501 The scene of the third act represented a palace in which many
85502 candles were burning and pictures of knights with short beards hung on
85503 the walls. In the middle stood what were probably a king and a
85504 queen. The king waved his right arm and, evidently nervous, sang
85505 something badly and sat down on a crimson throne. The maiden who had
85506 been first in white and then in light blue, now wore only a smock, and
85507 stood beside the throne with her hair down. She sang something
85508 mournfully, addressing the queen, but the king waved his arm severely,
85509 and men and women with bare legs came in from both sides and began
85510 dancing all together. Then the violins played very shrilly and merrily
85511 and one of the women with thick bare legs and thin arms, separating
85512 from the others, went behind the wings, adjusted her bodice,
85513 returned to the middle of the stage, and began jumping and striking
85514 one foot rapidly against the other. In the stalls everyone clapped and
85515 shouted "bravo!" Then one of the men went into a corner of the
85516 stage. The cymbals and horns in the orchestra struck up more loudly,
85517 and this man with bare legs jumped very high and waved his feet
85518 about very rapidly. (He was Duport, who received sixty thousand rubles
85519 a year for this art.) Everybody in the stalls, boxes, and galleries
85520 began clapping and shouting with all their might, and the man
85521 stopped and began smiling and bowing to all sides. Then other men
85522 and women danced with bare legs. Then the king again shouted to the
85523 sound of music, and they all began singing. But suddenly a storm
85524 came on, chromatic scales and diminished sevenths were heard in the
85525 orchestra, everyone ran off, again dragging one of their number
85526 away, and the curtain dropped. Once more there was a terrible noise
85527 and clatter among the audience, and with rapturous faces everyone
85528 began shouting: "Duport! Duport! Duport!" Natasha no longer thought
85529 this strange. She look about with pleasure, smiling joyfully.
85530
85531 "Isn't Duport delightful?" Helene asked her.
85532
85533 "Oh, yes," replied Natasha.
85534
85535
85536
85537
85538
85539 CHAPTER X
85540
85541
85542 During the entr'acte a whiff of cold air came into Helene's box, the
85543 door opened, and Anatole entered, stooping and trying not to brush
85544 against anyone.
85545
85546 "Let me introduce my brother to you," said Helene, her eyes shifting
85547 uneasily from Natasha to Anatole.
85548
85549 Natasha turned her pretty little head toward the elegant young
85550 officer and smiled at him over her bare shoulder. Anatole, who was
85551 as handsome at close quarters as at a distance, sat down beside her
85552 and told her he had long wished to have this happiness--ever since the
85553 Naryshkins' ball in fact, at which he had had the well-remembered
85554 pleasure of seeing her. Kuragin was much more sensible and simple with
85555 women than among men. He talked boldly and naturally, and Natasha
85556 was strangely and agreeably struck by the fact that there was
85557 nothing formidable in this man about whom there was so much talk,
85558 but that on the contrary his smile was most naive, cheerful, and
85559 good-natured.
85560
85561 Kuragin asked her opinion of the performance and told her how at a
85562 previous performance Semenova had fallen down on the stage.
85563
85564 "And do you know, Countess," he said, suddenly addressing her as
85565 an old, familiar acquaintance, "we are getting up a costume
85566 tournament; you ought to take part in it! It will be great fun. We
85567 shall all meet at the Karagins'! Please come! No! Really, eh?" said
85568 he.
85569
85570 While saying this he never removed his smiling eyes from her face,
85571 her neck, and her bare arms. Natasha knew for certain that he was
85572 enraptured by her. This pleased her, yet his presence made her feel
85573 constrained and oppressed. When she was not looking at him she felt
85574 that he was looking at her shoulders, and she involuntarily caught his
85575 eye so that he should look into hers rather than this. But looking
85576 into his eyes she was frightened, realizing that there was not that
85577 barrier of modesty she had always felt between herself and other
85578 men. She did not know how it was that within five minutes she had come
85579 to feel herself terribly near to this man. When she turned away she
85580 feared he might seize her from behind by her bare arm and kiss her
85581 on the neck. They spoke of most ordinary things, yet she felt that
85582 they were closer to one another than she had ever been to any man.
85583 Natasha kept turning to Helene and to her father, as if asking what it
85584 all meant, but Helene was engaged in conversation with a general and
85585 did not answer her look, and her father's eyes said nothing but what
85586 they always said: "Having a good time? Well, I'm glad of it!"
85587
85588 During one of these moments of awkward silence when Anatole's
85589 prominent eyes were gazing calmly and fixedly at her, Natasha, to
85590 break the silence, asked him how he liked Moscow. She asked the
85591 question and blushed. She felt all the time that by talking to him she
85592 was doing something improper. Anatole smiled as though to encourage
85593 her.
85594
85595 "At first I did not like it much, because what makes a town pleasant
85596 ce sont les jolies femmes,* isn't that so? But now I like it very much
85597 indeed," he said, looking at her significantly. "You'll come to the
85598 costume tournament, Countess? Do come!" and putting out his hand to
85599 her bouquet and dropping his voice, he added, "You will be the
85600 prettiest there. Do come, dear countess, and give me this flower as
85601 a pledge!"
85602
85603
85604 *Are the pretty women.
85605
85606
85607 Natasha did not understand what he was saying any more than he did
85608 himself, but she felt that his incomprehensible words had an
85609 improper intention. She did not know what to say and turned away as if
85610 she had not heard his remark. But as soon as she had turned away she
85611 felt that he was there, behind, so close behind her.
85612
85613 "How is he now? Confused? Angry? Ought I to put it right?" she asked
85614 herself, and she could not refrain from turning round. She looked
85615 straight into his eyes, and his nearness, self-assurance, and the
85616 good-natured tenderness of his smile vanquished her. She smiled just
85617 as he was doing, gazing straight into his eyes. And again she felt
85618 with horror that no barrier lay between him and her.
85619
85620 The curtain rose again. Anatole left the box, serene and gay.
85621 Natasha went back to her father in the other box, now quite submissive
85622 to the world she found herself in. All that was going on before her
85623 now seemed quite natural, but on the other hand all her previous
85624 thoughts of her betrothed, of Princess Mary, or of life in the country
85625 did not once recur to her mind and were as if belonging to a remote
85626 past.
85627
85628 In the fourth act there was some sort of devil who sang waving his
85629 arm about, till the boards were withdrawn from under him and he
85630 disappeared down below. That was the only part of the fourth act
85631 that Natasha saw. She felt agitated and tormented, and the cause of
85632 this was Kuragin whom she could not help watching. As they were
85633 leaving the theater Anatole came up to them, called their carriage,
85634 and helped them in. As he was putting Natasha in he pressed her arm
85635 above the elbow. Agitated and flushed she turned round. He was looking
85636 at her with glittering eyes, smiling tenderly.
85637
85638
85639 Only after she had reached home was Natasha able clearly to think
85640 over what had happened to her, and suddenly remembering Prince
85641 Andrew she was horrified, and at tea to which all had sat down after
85642 the opera, she gave a loud exclamation, flushed, and ran out of the
85643 room.
85644
85645 "O God! I am lost!" she said to herself. "How could I let him?"
85646 She sat for a long time hiding her flushed face in her hands trying to
85647 realize what had happened to her, but was unable either to
85648 understand what had happened or what she felt. Everything seemed dark,
85649 obscure, and terrible. There in that enormous, illuminated theater
85650 where the bare-legged Duport, in a tinsel-decorated jacket, jumped
85651 about to the music on wet boards, and young girls and old men, and the
85652 nearly naked Helene with her proud, calm smile, rapturously cried
85653 "bravo!"--there in the presence of that Helene it had all seemed clear
85654 and simple; but now, alone by herself, it was incomprehensible.
85655 "What is it? What was that terror I felt of him? What is this
85656 gnawing of conscience I am feeling now?" she thought.
85657
85658 Only to the old countess at night in bed could Natasha have told all
85659 she was feeling. She knew that Sonya with her severe and simple
85660 views would either not understand it at all or would be horrified at
85661 such a confession. So Natasha tried to solve what was torturing her by
85662 herself.
85663
85664 "Am I spoiled for Andrew's love or not?" she asked herself, and with
85665 soothing irony replied: "What a fool I am to ask that! What did happen
85666 to me? Nothing! I have done nothing, I didn't lead him on at all.
85667 Nobody will know and I shall never see him again," she told herself.
85668 "So it is plain that nothing has happened and there is nothing to
85669 repent of, and Andrew can love me still. But why 'still?' O God, why
85670 isn't he here?" Natasha quieted herself for a moment, but again some
85671 instinct told her that though all this was true, and though nothing
85672 had happened, yet the former purity of her love for Prince Andrew
85673 had perished. And again in imagination she went over her whole
85674 conversation with Kuragin, and again saw the face, gestures, and
85675 tender smile of that bold handsome man when he pressed her arm.
85676
85677
85678
85679
85680
85681 CHAPTER XI
85682
85683 Anatole Kuragin was staying in Moscow because his father had sent
85684 him away from Petersburg, where he had been spending twenty thousand
85685 rubles a year in cash, besides running up debts for as much more,
85686 which his creditors demanded from his father.
85687
85688 His father announced to him that he would now pay half his debts for
85689 the last time, but only on condition that he went to Moscow as
85690 adjutant to the commander in chief--a post his father had procured for
85691 him--and would at last try to make a good match there. He indicated to
85692 him Princess Mary and Julie Karagina.
85693
85694 Anatole consented and went to Moscow, where he put up at Pierre's
85695 house. Pierre received him unwillingly at first, but got used to him
85696 after a while, sometimes even accompanied him on his carousals, and
85697 gave him money under the guise of loans.
85698
85699 As Shinshin had remarked, from the time of his arrival Anatole had
85700 turned the heads of the Moscow ladies, especially by the fact that
85701 he slighted them and plainly preferred the gypsy girls and French
85702 actresses--with the chief of whom, Mademoiselle George, he was said to
85703 be on intimate relations. He had never missed a carousal at
85704 Danilov's or other Moscow revelers', drank whole nights through,
85705 outvying everyone else, and was at all the balls and parties of the
85706 best society. There was talk of his intrigues with some of the ladies,
85707 and he flirted with a few of them at the balls. But he did not run
85708 after the unmarried girls, especially the rich heiresses who were most
85709 of them plain. There was a special reason for this, as he had got
85710 married two years before--a fact known only to his most intimate
85711 friends. At that time while with his regiment in Poland, a Polish
85712 landowner of small means had forced him to marry his daughter. Anatole
85713 had very soon abandoned his wife and, for a payment which he agreed to
85714 send to his father-in-law, had arranged to be free to pass himself off
85715 as a bachelor.
85716
85717 Anatole was always content with his position, with himself, and with
85718 others. He was instinctively and thoroughly convinced that was
85719 impossible for him to live otherwise than as he did and that he had
85720 never in his life done anything base. He was incapable of
85721 considering how his actions might affect others or what the
85722 consequences of this or that action of his might be. He was
85723 convinced that, as a duck is so made that it must live in water, so
85724 God had made him such that he must spend thirty thousand rubles a year
85725 and always occupy a prominent position in society. He believed this so
85726 firmly that others, looking at him, were persuaded of it too and did
85727 not refuse him either a leading place in society or money, which he
85728 borrowed from anyone and everyone and evidently would not repay.
85729
85730 He was not a gambler, at any rate he did not care about winning.
85731 He was not vain. He did not mind what people thought of him. Still
85732 less could he be accused of ambition. More than once he had vexed
85733 his father by spoiling his own career, and he laughed at
85734 distinctions of all kinds. He was not mean, and did not refuse
85735 anyone who asked of him. All he cared about was gaiety and women,
85736 and as according to his ideas there was nothing dishonorable in
85737 these tastes, and he was incapable of considering what the
85738 gratification of his tastes entailed for others, he honestly
85739 considered himself irreproachable, sincerely despised rogues and bad
85740 people, and with a tranquil conscience carried his head high.
85741
85742 Rakes, those male Magdalenes, have a secret feeling of innocence
85743 similar to that which female Magdalenes have, based on the same hope
85744 of forgiveness. "All will be forgiven her, for she loved much; and all
85745 will be forgiven him, for he enjoyed much."
85746
85747 Dolokhov, who had reappeared that year in Moscow after his exile and
85748 his Persian adventures, and was leading a life of luxury, gambling,
85749 and dissipation, associated with his old Petersburg comrade Kuragin
85750 and made use of him for his own ends.
85751
85752 Anatole was sincerely fond of Dolokhov for his cleverness and
85753 audacity. Dolokhov, who needed Anatole Kuragin's name, position, and
85754 connections as a bait to draw rich young men into his gambling set,
85755 made use of him and amused himself at his expense without letting
85756 the other feel it. Apart from the advantage he derived from Anatole,
85757 the very process of dominating another's will was in itself a
85758 pleasure, a habit, and a necessity to Dolokhov.
85759
85760 Natasha had made a strong impression on Kuragin. At supper after the
85761 opera he described to Dolokhov with the air of a connoisseur the
85762 attractions of her arms, shoulders, feet, and hair and expressed his
85763 intention of making love to her. Anatole had no notion and was
85764 incapable of considering what might come of such love-making, as he
85765 never had any notion of the outcome of any of his actions.
85766
85767 "She's first-rate, my dear fellow, but not for us," replied
85768 Dolokhov.
85769
85770 "I will tell my sister to ask her to dinner," said Anatole. "Eh?"
85771
85772 "You'd better wait till she's married...."
85773
85774 "You know, I adore little girls, they lose their heads at once,"
85775 pursued Anatole.
85776
85777 "You have been caught once already by a 'little girl,'" said
85778 Dolokhov who knew of Kuragin's marriage. "Take care!"
85779
85780 "Well, that can't happen twice! Eh?" said Anatole, with a
85781 good-humored laugh.
85782
85783
85784
85785
85786
85787 CHAPTER XII
85788
85789
85790 The day after the opera the Rostovs went nowhere and nobody came
85791 to see them. Marya Dmitrievna talked to the count about something
85792 which they concealed from Natasha. Natasha guessed they were talking
85793 about the old prince and planning something, and this disquieted and
85794 offended her. She was expecting Prince Andrew any moment and twice
85795 that day sent a manservant to the Vozdvizhenka to ascertain whether he
85796 had come. He had not arrived. She suffered more now than during her
85797 first days in Moscow. To her impatience and pining for him were now
85798 added the unpleasant recollection of her interview with Princess
85799 Mary and the old prince, and a fear and anxiety of which she did not
85800 understand the cause. She continually fancied that either he would
85801 never come or that something would happen to her before he came. She
85802 could no longer think of him by herself calmly and continuously as she
85803 had done before. As soon as she began to think of him, the
85804 recollection of the old prince, of Princess Mary, of the theater,
85805 and of Kuragin mingled with her thoughts. The question again presented
85806 itself whether she was not guilty, whether she had not already
85807 broken faith with Prince Andrew, and again she found herself recalling
85808 to the minutest detail every word, every gesture, and every shade in
85809 the play of expression on the face of the man who had been able to
85810 arouse in her such an incomprehensible and terrifying feeling. To
85811 the family Natasha seemed livelier than usual, but she was far less
85812 tranquil and happy than before.
85813
85814 On Sunday morning Marya Dmitrievna invited her visitors to Mass at
85815 her parish church--the Church of the Assumption built over the
85816 graves of victims of the plague.
85817
85818 "I don't like those fashionable churches," she said, evidently
85819 priding herself on her independence of thought. "God is the same every
85820 where. We have an excellent priest, he conducts the service decently
85821 and with dignity, and the deacon is the same. What holiness is there
85822 in giving concerts in the choir? I don't like it, it's just
85823 self-indulgence!"
85824
85825 Marya Dmitrievna liked Sundays and knew how to keep them. Her
85826 whole house was scrubbed and cleaned on Saturdays; neither she nor the
85827 servants worked, and they all wore holiday dress and went to church.
85828 At her table there were extra dishes at dinner, and the servants had
85829 vodka and roast goose or suckling pig. But in nothing in the house was
85830 the holiday so noticeable as in Marya Dmitrievna's broad, stern
85831 face, which on that day wore an invariable look of solemn festivity.
85832
85833 After Mass, when they had finished their coffee in the dining room
85834 where the loose covers had been removed from the furniture, a
85835 servant announced that the carriage was ready, and Marya Dmitrievna
85836 rose with a stern air. She wore her holiday shawl, in which she paid
85837 calls, and announced that she was going to see Prince Nicholas
85838 Bolkonski to have an explanation with him about Natasha.
85839
85840 After she had gone, a dressmaker from Madame Suppert-Roguet waited
85841 on the Rostovs, and Natasha, very glad of this diversion, having
85842 shut herself into a room adjoining the drawing room, occupied
85843 herself trying on the new dresses. Just as she had put on a bodice
85844 without sleeves and only tacked together, and was turning her head
85845 to see in the glass how the back fitted, she heard in the drawing room
85846 the animated sounds of her father's voice and another's--a woman's-
85847 that made her flush. It was Helene. Natasha had not time to take off
85848 the bodice before the door opened and Countess Bezukhova, dressed in a
85849 purple velvet gown with a high collar, came into the room beaming with
85850 good-humored amiable smiles.
85851
85852 "Oh, my enchantress!" she cried to the blushing Natasha.
85853 "Charming! No, this is really beyond anything, my dear count," said
85854 she to Count Rostov who had followed her in. "How can you live in
85855 Moscow and go nowhere? No, I won't let you off! Mademoiselle George
85856 will recite at my house tonight and there'll be some people, and if
85857 you don't bring your lovely girls--who are prettier than
85858 Mademoiselle George--I won't know you! My husband is away in Tver or I
85859 would send him to fetch you. You must come. You positively must!
85860 Between eight and nine."
85861
85862 She nodded to the dressmaker, whom she knew and who had curtsied
85863 respectfully to her, and seated herself in an armchair beside the
85864 looking glass, draping the folds of her velvet dress picturesquely.
85865 She did not cease chattering good-naturedly and gaily, continually
85866 praising Natasha's beauty. She looked at Natasha's dresses and praised
85867 them, as well as a new dress of her own made of "metallic gauze,"
85868 which she had received from Paris, and advised Natasha to have one
85869 like it.
85870
85871 "But anything suits you, my charmer!" she remarked.
85872
85873 A smile of pleasure never left Natasha's face. She felt happy and as
85874 if she were blossoming under the praise of this dear Countess
85875 Bezukhova who had formerly seemed to her so unapproachable and
85876 important and was now so kind to her. Natasha brightened up and felt
85877 almost in love with this woman, who was so beautiful and so kind.
85878 Helene for her part was sincerely delighted with Natasha and wished to
85879 give her a good time. Anatole had asked her to bring him and Natasha
85880 together, and she was calling on the Rostovs for that purpose. The
85881 idea of throwing her brother and Natasha together amused her.
85882
85883 Though at one time, in Petersburg, she had been annoyed with Natasha
85884 for drawing Boris away, she did not think of that now, and in her
85885 own way heartily wished Natasha well. As she was leaving the Rostovs
85886 she called her protegee aside.
85887
85888 "My brother dined with me yesterday--we nearly died of laughter-
85889 he ate nothing and kept sighing for you, my charmer! He is madly,
85890 quite madly, in love with you, my dear."
85891
85892 Natasha blushed scarlet when she heard this.
85893
85894 "How she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!" said Helene. "You
85895 must certainly come. If you love somebody, my charmer, that is not a
85896 reason to shut yourself up. Even if you are engaged, I am sure your
85897 fiance would wish you to go into society rather than be bored to
85898 death."
85899
85900 "So she knows I am engaged, and she and her husband Pierre--that
85901 good Pierre--have talked and laughed about this. So it's all right."
85902 And again, under Helene's influence, what had seemed terrible now
85903 seemed simple and natural. "And she is such a grande dame, so kind,
85904 and evidently likes me so much. And why not enjoy myself?" thought
85905 Natasha, gazing at Helene with wide-open, wondering eyes.
85906
85907 Marya Dmitrievna came back to dinner taciturn and serious, having
85908 evidently suffered a defeat at the old prince's. She was still too
85909 agitated by the encounter to be able to talk of the affair calmly.
85910 In answer to the count's inquiries she replied that things were all
85911 right and that she would tell about it next day. On hearing of
85912 Countess Bezukhova's visit and the invitation for that evening,
85913 Marya Dmitrievna remarked:
85914
85915 "I don't care to have anything to do with Bezukhova and don't advise
85916 you to; however, if you've promised--go. It will divert your
85917 thoughts," she added, addressing Natasha.
85918
85919
85920
85921
85922
85923 CHAPTER XIII
85924
85925
85926 Count Rostov took the girls to Countess Bezukhova's. There were a
85927 good many people there, but nearly all strangers to Natasha. Count
85928 Rostov was displeased to see that the company consisted almost
85929 entirely of men and women known for the freedom of their conduct.
85930 Mademoiselle George was standing in a corner of the drawing room
85931 surrounded by young men. There were several Frenchmen present, among
85932 them Metivier who from the time Helene reached Moscow had been an
85933 intimate in her house. The count decided not to sit down to cards or
85934 let his girls out of his sight and to get away as soon as Mademoiselle
85935 George's performance was over.
85936
85937 Anatole was at the door, evidently on the lookout for the Rostovs.
85938 Immediately after greeting the count he went up to Natasha and
85939 followed her. As soon as she saw him she was seized by the same
85940 feeling she had had at the opera--gratified vanity at his admiration
85941 of her and fear at the absence of a moral barrier between them.
85942
85943 Helene welcomed Natasha delightedly and was loud in admiration of
85944 her beauty and her dress. Soon after their arrival Mademoiselle George
85945 went out of the room to change her costume. In the drawing room people
85946 began arranging the chairs and taking their seats. Anatole moved a
85947 chair for Natasha and was about to sit down beside her, but the count,
85948 who never lost sight of her, took the seat himself. Anatole sat down
85949 behind her.
85950
85951 Mademoiselle George, with her bare, fat, dimpled arms, and a red
85952 shawl draped over one shoulder, came into the space left vacant for
85953 her, and assumed an unnatural pose. Enthusiastic whispering was
85954 audible.
85955
85956 Mademoiselle George looked sternly and gloomily at the audience
85957 and began reciting some French verses describing her guilty love for
85958 her son. In some places she raised her voice, in others she whispered,
85959 lifting her head triumphantly; sometimes she paused and uttered hoarse
85960 sounds, rolling her eyes.
85961
85962 "Adorable! divine! delicious!" was heard from every side.
85963
85964 Natasha looked at the fat actress, but neither saw nor heard nor
85965 understood anything of what went on before her. She only felt
85966 herself again completely borne away into this strange senseless world-
85967 so remote from her old world--a world in which it was impossible to
85968 know what was good or bad, reasonable or senseless. Behind her sat
85969 Anatole, and conscious of his proximity she experienced a frightened
85970 sense of expectancy.
85971
85972 After the first monologue the whole company rose and surrounded
85973 Mademoiselle George, expressing their enthusiasm.
85974
85975 "How beautiful she is!" Natasha remarked to her father who had
85976 also risen and was moving through the crowd toward the actress.
85977
85978 "I don't think so when I look at you!" said Anatole, following
85979 Natasha. He said this at a moment when she alone could hear him.
85980 "You are enchanting... from the moment I saw you I have never
85981 ceased..."
85982
85983 "Come, come, Natasha!" said the count, as he turned back for his
85984 daughter. "How beautiful she is!" Natasha without saying anything
85985 stepped up to her father and looked at him with surprised inquiring
85986 eyes.
85987
85988 After giving several recitations, Mademoiselle George left, and
85989 Countess Bezukhova asked her visitors into the ballroom.
85990
85991 The count wished to go home, but Helene entreated him not to spoil
85992 her improvised ball, and the Rostovs stayed on. Anatole asked
85993 Natasha for a valse and as they danced he pressed her waist and hand
85994 and told her she was bewitching and that he loved her. During the
85995 ecossaise, which she also danced with him, Anatole said nothing when
85996 they happened to be by themselves, but merely gazed at her. Natasha
85997 lifted her frightened eyes to him, but there was such confident
85998 tenderness in his affectionate look and smile that she could not,
85999 whilst looking at him, say what she had to say. She lowered her eyes.
86000
86001 "Don't say such things to me. I am betrothed and love another,"
86002 she said rapidly.... She glanced at him.
86003
86004 Anatole was not upset or pained by what she had said.
86005
86006 "Don't speak to me of that! What can I do?" said he. "I tell you I
86007 am madly, madly, in love with you! Is it my fault that you are
86008 enchanting?... It's our turn to begin."
86009
86010 Natasha, animated and excited, looked about her with wide-open
86011 frightened eyes and seemed merrier than usual. She understood hardly
86012 anything that went on that evening. They danced the ecossaise and
86013 the Grossvater. Her father asked her to come home, but she begged to
86014 remain. Wherever she went and whomever she was speaking to, she felt
86015 his eyes upon her. Later on she recalled how she had asked her
86016 father to let her go to the dressing room to rearrange her dress, that
86017 Helene had followed her and spoken laughingly of her brother's love,
86018 and that she again met Anatole in the little sitting room. Helene
86019 had disappeared leaving them alone, and Anatole had taken her hand and
86020 said in a tender voice:
86021
86022 "I cannot come to visit you but is it possible that I shall never
86023 see you? I love you madly. Can I never...?" and, blocking her path, he
86024 brought his face close to hers.
86025
86026 His large, glittering, masculine eyes were so close to hers that she
86027 saw nothing but them.
86028
86029 "Natalie?" he whispered inquiringly while she felt her hands being
86030 painfully pressed. "Natalie?"
86031
86032 "I don't understand. I have nothing to say," her eyes replied.
86033
86034 Burning lips were pressed to hers, and at the same instant she
86035 felt herself released, and Helene's footsteps and the rustle of her
86036 dress were heard in the room. Natasha looked round at her, and then,
86037 red and trembling, threw a frightened look of inquiry at Anatole and
86038 moved toward the door.
86039
86040 "One word, just one, for God's sake!" cried Anatole.
86041
86042 She paused. She so wanted a word from him that would explain to
86043 her what had happened and to which she could find no answer.
86044
86045 "Natalie, just a word, only one!" he kept repeating, evidently not
86046 knowing what to say and he repeated it till Helene came up to them.
86047
86048 Helene returned with Natasha to the drawing room. The Rostovs went
86049 away without staying for supper.
86050
86051 After reaching home Natasha did not sleep all night. She was
86052 tormented by the insoluble question whether she loved Anatole or
86053 Prince Andrew. She loved Prince Andrew--she remembered distinctly
86054 how deeply she loved him. But she also loved Anatole, of that there
86055 was no doubt. "Else how could all this have happened?" thought she.
86056 "If, after that, I could return his smile when saying good-by, if I
86057 was able to let it come to that, it means that I loved him from the
86058 first. It means that he is kind, noble, and splendid, and I could
86059 not help loving him. What am I to do if I love him and the other one
86060 too?" she asked herself, unable to find an answer to these terrible
86061 questions.
86062
86063
86064
86065
86066
86067 CHAPTER XIV
86068
86069
86070 Morning came with its cares and bustle. Everyone got up and began to
86071 move about and talk, dressmakers came again. Marya Dmitrievna
86072 appeared, and they were called to breakfast. Natasha kept looking
86073 uneasily at everybody with wide-open eyes, as if wishing to
86074 intercept every glance directed toward her, and tried to appear the
86075 same as usual.
86076
86077 After breakfast, which was her best time, Marya Dmitrievna sat
86078 down in her armchair and called Natasha and the count to her.
86079
86080 "Well, friends, I have now thought the whole matter over and this is
86081 my advice," she began. "Yesterday, as you know, I went to see Prince
86082 Bolkonski. Well, I had a talk with him.... He took it into his head to
86083 begin shouting, but I am not one to be shouted down. I said what I had
86084 to say!"
86085
86086 "Well, and he?" asked the count.
86087
86088 "He? He's crazy... he did not want to listen. But what's the use
86089 of talking? As it is we have worn the poor girl out," said Marya
86090 Dmitrievna. "My advice to you is finish your business and go back home
86091 to Otradnoe... and wait there."
86092
86093 "Oh, no!" exclaimed Natasha.
86094
86095 "Yes, go back," said Marya Dmitrievna, "and wait there. If your
86096 betrothed comes here now--there will be no avoiding a quarrel; but
86097 alone with the old man he will talk things over and then come on to
86098 you."
86099
86100 Count Rostov approved of this suggestion, appreciating its
86101 reasonableness. If the old man came round it would be all the better
86102 to visit him in Moscow or at Bald Hills later on; and if not, the
86103 wedding, against his wishes, could only be arranged at Otradnoe.
86104
86105 "That is perfectly true. And I am sorry I went to see him and took
86106 her," said the old count.
86107
86108 "No, why be sorry? Being here, you had to pay your respects. But
86109 if he won't--that's his affair," said Marya Dmitrievna, looking for
86110 something in her reticule. "Besides, the trousseau is ready, so
86111 there is nothing to wait for; and what is not ready I'll send after
86112 you. Though I don't like letting you go, it is the best way. So go,
86113 with God's blessing!"
86114
86115 Having found what she was looking for in the reticule she handed
86116 it to Natasha. It was a letter from Princess Mary.
86117
86118 "She has written to you. How she torments herself, poor thing! She's
86119 afraid you might think that she does not like you."
86120
86121 "But she doesn't like me," said Natasha.
86122
86123 "Don't talk nonsense!" cried Marya Dmitrievna.
86124
86125 "I shan't believe anyone, I know she doesn't like me," replied
86126 Natasha boldly as she took the letter, and her face expressed a cold
86127 and angry resolution that caused Marya Dmitrievna to look at her
86128 more intently and to frown.
86129
86130 "Don't answer like that, my good girl!" she said. "What I say is
86131 true! Write an answer!" Natasha did not reply and went to her own room
86132 to read Princess Mary's letter.
86133
86134 Princess Mary wrote that she was in despair at the
86135 misunderstanding that had occurred between them. Whatever her father's
86136 feelings might be, she begged Natasha to believe that she could not
86137 help loving her as the one chosen by her brother, for whose
86138 happiness she was ready to sacrifice everything.
86139
86140 "Do not think, however," she wrote, "that my father is
86141 ill-disposed toward you. He is an invalid and an old man who must be
86142 forgiven; but he is good and magnanimous and will love her who makes
86143 his son happy." Princess Mary went on to ask Natasha to fix a time
86144 when she could see her again.
86145
86146 After reading the letter Natasha sat down at the writing table to
86147 answer it. "Dear Princess," she wrote in French quickly and
86148 mechanically, and then paused. What more could she write after all
86149 that had happened the evening before? "Yes, yes! All that has
86150 happened, and now all is changed," she thought as she sat with the
86151 letter she had begun before her. "Must I break off with him? Must I
86152 really? That's awful..." and to escape from these dreadful thoughts
86153 she went to Sonya and began sorting patterns with her.
86154
86155 After dinner Natasha went to her room and again took up Princess
86156 Mary's letter. "Can it be that it is all over?" she thought. "Can it
86157 be that all this has happened so quickly and has destroyed all that
86158 went before?" She recalled her love for Prince Andrew in all its
86159 former strength, and at the same time felt that she loved Kuragin. She
86160 vividly pictured herself as Prince Andrew's wife, and the scenes of
86161 happiness with him she had so often repeated in her imagination, and
86162 at the same time, aglow with excitement, recalled every detail of
86163 yesterday's interview with Anatole.
86164
86165 "Why could that not be as well?" she sometimes asked herself in
86166 complete bewilderment. "Only so could I be completely happy; but now I
86167 have to choose, and I can't be happy without either of them. Only,"
86168 she thought, "to tell Prince Andrew what has happened or to hide it
86169 from him are both equally impossible. But with that one nothing is
86170 spoiled. But am I really to abandon forever the joy of Prince Andrew's
86171 love, in which I have lived so long?"
86172
86173 "Please, Miss!" whispered a maid entering the room with a mysterious
86174 air. "A man told me to give you this-" and she handed Natasha a
86175 letter.
86176
86177 "Only, for Christ's sake..." the girl went on, as Natasha, without
86178 thinking, mechanically broke the seal and read a love letter from
86179 Anatole, of which, without taking in a word, she understood only
86180 that it was a letter from him--from the man she loved. Yes, she
86181 loved him, or else how could that have happened which had happened?
86182 And how could she have a love letter from him in her hand?
86183
86184 With trembling hands Natasha held that passionate love letter
86185 which Dolokhov had composed for Anatole, and as she read it she
86186 found in it an echo of all that she herself imagined she was feeling.
86187
86188 "Since yesterday evening my fate has been sealed; to be loved by you
86189 or to die. There is no other way for me," the letter began. Then he
86190 went on to say that he knew her parents would not give her to him--for
86191 this there were secret reasons he could reveal only to her--but that
86192 if she loved him she need only say the word yes, and no human power
86193 could hinder their bliss. Love would conquer all. He would steal her
86194 away and carry her off to the ends of the earth.
86195
86196 "Yes, yes! I love him!" thought Natasha, reading the letter for
86197 the twentieth time and finding some peculiarly deep meaning in each
86198 word of it.
86199
86200 That evening Marya Dmitrievna was going to the Akharovs' and
86201 proposed to take the girls with her. Natasha, pleading a headache,
86202 remained at home.
86203
86204
86205
86206
86207
86208 CHAPTER XV
86209
86210
86211 On returning late in the evening Sonya went to Natasha's room, and
86212 to her surprise found her still dressed and asleep on the sofa. Open
86213 on the table, beside her lay Anatole's letter. Sonya picked it up
86214 and read it.
86215
86216 As she read she glanced at the sleeping Natasha, trying to find in
86217 her face an explanation of what she was reading, but did not find
86218 it. Her face was calm, gentle, and happy. Clutching her breast to keep
86219 herself from choking, Sonya, pale and trembling with fear and
86220 agitation, sat down in an armchair and burst into tears.
86221
86222 "How was it I noticed nothing? How could it go so far? Can she
86223 have left off loving Prince Andrew? And how could she let Kuragin go
86224 to such lengths? He is a deceiver and a villain, that's plain! What
86225 will Nicholas, dear noble Nicholas, do when he hears of it? So this is
86226 the meaning of her excited, resolute, unnatural look the day before
86227 yesterday, yesterday, and today," thought Sonya. "But it can't be that
86228 she loves him! She probably opened the letter without knowing who it
86229 was from. Probably she is offended by it. She could not do such a
86230 thing!"
86231
86232 Sonya wiped away her tears and went up to Natasha, again scanning
86233 her face.
86234
86235 "Natasha!" she said, just audibly.
86236
86237 Natasha awoke and saw Sonya.
86238
86239 "Ah, you're back?"
86240
86241 And with the decision and tenderness that often come at the moment
86242 of awakening, she embraced her friend, but noticing Sonya's look of
86243 embarrassment, her own face expressed confusion and suspicion.
86244
86245 "Sonya, you've read that letter?" she demanded.
86246
86247 "Yes," answered Sonya softly.
86248
86249 Natasha smiled rapturously.
86250
86251 "No, Sonya, I can't any longer!" she said. "I can't hide it from you
86252 any longer. You know, we love one another! Sonya, darling, he
86253 writes... Sonya..."
86254
86255 Sonya stared open-eyed at Natasha, unable to believe her ears.
86256
86257 "And Bolkonski?" she asked.
86258
86259 "Ah, Sonya, if you only knew how happy I am!" cried Natasha. "You
86260 don't know what love is...."
86261
86262 "But, Natasha, can that be all over?"
86263
86264 Natasha looked at Sonya with wide-open eyes as if she could not
86265 grasp the question.
86266
86267 "Well, then, are you refusing Prince Andrew?" said Sonya.
86268
86269 "Oh, you don't understand anything! Don't talk nonsense, just
86270 listen!" said Natasha, with momentary vexation.
86271
86272 "But I can't believe it," insisted Sonya. "I don't understand. How
86273 is it you have loved a man for a whole year and suddenly... Why, you
86274 have only seen him three times! Natasha, I don't believe you, you're
86275 joking! In three days to forget everything and so..."
86276
86277 "Three days?" said Natasha. "It seems to me I've loved him a hundred
86278 years. It seems to me that I have never loved anyone before. You can't
86279 understand it.... Sonya, wait a bit, sit here," and Natasha embraced
86280 and kissed her.
86281
86282 "I had heard that it happens like this, and you must have heard it
86283 too, but it's only now that I feel such love. It's not the same as
86284 before. As soon as I saw him I felt he was my master and I his
86285 slave, and that I could not help loving him. Yes, his slave!
86286 Whatever he orders I shall do. You don't understand that. What can I
86287 do? What can I do, Sonya?" cried Natasha with a happy yet frightened
86288 expression.
86289
86290 "But think what you are doing," cried Sonya. "I can't leave it
86291 like this. This secret correspondence... How could you let him go so
86292 far?" she went on, with a horror and disgust she could hardly conceal.
86293
86294 "I told you that I have no will," Natasha replied. "Why can't you
86295 understand? I love him!"
86296
86297 "Then I won't let it come to that... I shall tell!" cried Sonya,
86298 bursting into tears.
86299
86300 "What do you mean? For God's sake... If you tell, you are my enemy!"
86301 declared Natasha. "You want me to be miserable, you want us to be
86302 separated...."
86303
86304 When she saw Natasha's fright, Sonya shed tears of shame and pity
86305 for her friend.
86306
86307 "But what has happened between you?" she asked. "What has he said to
86308 you? Why doesn't he come to the house?"
86309
86310 Natasha did not answer her questions.
86311
86312 "For God's sake, Sonya, don't tell anyone, don't torture me,"
86313 Natasha entreated. "Remember no one ought to interfere in such
86314 matters! I have confided in you...."
86315
86316 "But why this secrecy? Why doesn't he come to the house?" asked
86317 Sonya. "Why doesn't he openly ask for your hand? You know Prince
86318 Andrew gave you complete freedom--if it is really so; but I don't
86319 believe it! Natasha, have you considered what these secret reasons can
86320 be?"
86321
86322 Natasha looked at Sonya with astonishment. Evidently this question
86323 presented itself to her mind for the first time and she did not know
86324 how to answer it.
86325
86326 "I don't know what the reasons are. But there must be reasons!"
86327
86328 Sonya sighed and shook her head incredulously.
86329
86330 "If there were reasons..." she began.
86331
86332 But Natasha, guessing her doubts, interrupted her in alarm.
86333
86334 "Sonya, one can't doubt him! One can't, one can't! Don't you
86335 understand?" she cried.
86336
86337 "Does he love you?"
86338
86339 "Does he love me?" Natasha repeated with a smile of pity at her
86340 friend's lack of comprehension. "Why, you have read his letter and you
86341 have seen him."
86342
86343 "But if he is dishonorable?"
86344
86345 "He! dishonorable? If you only knew!" exclaimed Natasha.
86346
86347 "If he is an honorable man he should either declare his intentions
86348 or cease seeing you; and if you won't do this, I will. I will write to
86349 him, and I will tell Papa!" said Sonya resolutely.
86350
86351 "But I can't live without him!" cried Natasha.
86352
86353 "Natasha, I don't understand you. And what are you saying! Think
86354 of your father and of Nicholas."
86355
86356 "I don't want anyone, I don't love anyone but him. How dare you
86357 say he is dishonorable? Don't you know that I love him?" screamed
86358 Natasha. "Go away, Sonya! I don't want to quarrel with you, but go,
86359 for God's sake go! You see how I am suffering!" Natasha cried angrily,
86360 in a voice of despair and repressed irritation. Sonya burst into
86361 sobs and ran from the room.
86362
86363 Natasha went to the table and without a moment's reflection wrote
86364 that answer to Princess Mary which she had been unable to write all
86365 the morning. In this letter she said briefly that all their
86366 misunderstandings were at an end; that availing herself of the
86367 magnanimity of Prince Andrew who when he went abroad had given her her
86368 freedom, she begged Princess Mary to forget everything and forgive her
86369 if she had been to blame toward her, but that she could not be his wife.
86370 At that moment this all seemed quite easy, simple, and clear to Natasha.
86371
86372
86373 On Friday the Rostovs were to return to the country, but on
86374 Wednesday the count went with the prospective purchaser to his
86375 estate near Moscow.
86376
86377 On the day the count left, Sonya and Natasha were invited to a big
86378 dinner party at the Karagins', and Marya Dmitrievna took them there.
86379 At that party Natasha again met Anatole, and Sonya noticed that she
86380 spoke to him, trying not to be overheard, and that all through
86381 dinner she was more agitated than ever. When they got home Natasha was
86382 the first to begin the explanation Sonya expected.
86383
86384 "There, Sonya, you were talking all sorts of nonsense about him,"
86385 Natasha began in a mild voice such as children use when they wish to
86386 be praised. "We have had an explanation today."
86387
86388 "Well, what happened? What did he say? Natasha, how glad I am you're
86389 not angry with me! Tell me everything--the whole truth. What did he
86390 say?"
86391
86392 Natasha became thoughtful.
86393
86394 "Oh, Sonya, if you knew him as I do! He said... He asked me what I
86395 had promised Bolkonski. He was glad I was free to refuse him."
86396
86397 Sonya sighed sorrowfully.
86398
86399 "But you haven't refused Bolkonski?" said she.
86400
86401 "Perhaps I have. Perhaps all is over between me and Bolkonski. Why
86402 do you think so badly of me?"
86403
86404 "I don't think anything, only I don't understand this..."
86405
86406 "Wait a bit, Sonya, you'll understand everything. You'll see what
86407 a man he is! Now don't think badly of me or of him. I don't think
86408 badly of anyone: I love and pity everybody. But what am I to do?"
86409
86410 Sonya did not succumb to the tender tone Natasha used toward her.
86411 The more emotional and ingratiating the expression of Natasha's face
86412 became, the more serious and stern grew Sonya's.
86413
86414 "Natasha," said she, "you asked me not to speak to you, and I
86415 haven't spoken, but now you yourself have begun. I don't trust him,
86416 Natasha. Why this secrecy?"
86417
86418 "Again, again!" interrupted Natasha.
86419
86420 "Natasha, I am afraid for you!"
86421
86422 "Afraid of what?"
86423
86424 "I am afraid you're going to your ruin," said Sonya resolutely,
86425 and was herself horrified at what she had said.
86426
86427 Anger again showed in Natasha's face.
86428
86429 "And I'll go to my ruin, I will, as soon as possible! It's not
86430 your business! It won't be you, but I, who'll suffer. Leave me
86431 alone, leave me alone! I hate you!"
86432
86433 "Natasha!" moaned Sonya, aghast.
86434
86435 "I hate you, I hate you! You're my enemy forever!" And Natasha ran
86436 out of the room.
86437
86438 Natasha did not speak to Sonya again and avoided her. With the
86439 same expression of agitated surprise and guilt she went about the
86440 house, taking up now one occupation, now another, and at once
86441 abandoning them.
86442
86443 Hard as it was for Sonya, she watched her friend and did not let her
86444 out of her sight.
86445
86446 The day before the count was to return, Sonya noticed that Natasha
86447 sat by the drawingroom window all the morning as if expecting
86448 something and that she made a sign to an officer who drove past,
86449 whom Sonya took to be Anatole.
86450
86451 Sonya began watching her friend still more attentively and noticed
86452 that at dinner and all that evening Natasha was in a strange and
86453 unnatural state. She answered questions at random, began sentences she
86454 did not finish, and laughed at everything.
86455
86456 After tea Sonya noticed a housemaid at Natasha's door timidly
86457 waiting to let her pass. She let the girl go in, and then listening at
86458 the door learned that another letter had been delivered.
86459
86460 Then suddenly it became clear to Sonya that Natasha had some
86461 dreadful plan for that evening. Sonya knocked at her door. Natasha did
86462 not let her in.
86463
86464 "She will run away with him!" thought Sonya. "She is capable of
86465 anything. There was something particularly pathetic and resolute in
86466 her face today. She cried as she said good-by to Uncle," Sonya
86467 remembered. "Yes, that's it, she means to elope with him, but what
86468 am I to do?" thought she, recalling all the signs that clearly
86469 indicated that Natasha had some terrible intention. "The count is
86470 away. What am I to do? Write to Kuragin demanding an explanation?
86471 But what is there to oblige him to reply? Write to Pierre, as Prince
86472 Andrew asked me to in case of some misfortune?... But perhaps she
86473 really has already refused Bolkonski--she sent a letter to Princess
86474 Mary yesterday. And Uncle is away...." To tell Marya Dmitrievna who
86475 had such faith in Natasha seemed to Sonya terrible. "Well, anyway,"
86476 thought Sonya as she stood in the dark passage, "now or never I must
86477 prove that I remember the family's goodness to me and that I love
86478 Nicholas. Yes! If I don't sleep for three nights I'll not leave this
86479 passage and will hold her back by force and will and not let the
86480 family be disgraced," thought she.
86481
86482
86483
86484
86485
86486 CHAPTER XVI
86487
86488
86489 Anatole had lately moved to Dolokhov's. The plan for Natalie
86490 Rostova's abduction had been arranged and the preparations made by
86491 Dolokhov a few days before, and on the day that Sonya, after listening
86492 at Natasha's door, resolved to safeguard her, it was to have been
86493 put into execution. Natasha had promised to come out to Kuragin at the
86494 back porch at ten that evening. Kuragin was to put her into a troyka
86495 he would have ready and to drive her forty miles to the village of
86496 Kamenka, where an unfrocked priest was in readiness to perform a
86497 marriage ceremony over them. At Kamenka a relay of horses was to
86498 wait which would take them to the Warsaw highroad, and from there they
86499 would hasten abroad with post horses.
86500
86501 Anatole had a passport, an order for post horses, ten thousand
86502 rubles he had taken from his sister and another ten thousand
86503 borrowed with Dolokhov's help.
86504
86505 Two witnesses for the mock marriage--Khvostikov, a retired petty
86506 official whom Dolokhov made use of in his gambling transactions, and
86507 Makarin, a retired hussar, a kindly, weak fellow who had an
86508 unbounded affection for Kuragin--were sitting at tea in Dolokhov's
86509 front room.
86510
86511 In his large study, the walls of which were hung to the ceiling with
86512 Persian rugs, bearskins, and weapons, sat Dolokhov in a traveling
86513 cloak and high boots, at an open desk on which lay abacus and some
86514 bundles of paper money. Anatole, with uniform unbuttoned, walked to
86515 and fro from the room where the witnesses were sitting, through the
86516 study to the room behind, where his French valet and others were
86517 packing the last of his things. Dolokhov was counting the money and
86518 noting something down.
86519
86520 "Well," he said, "Khvostikov must have two thousand."
86521
86522 "Give it to him, then," said Anatole.
86523
86524 "Makarka" (their name for Makarin) "will go through fire and water
86525 for you for nothing. So here are our accounts all settled," said
86526 Dolokhov, showing him the memorandum. "Is that right?"
86527
86528 "Yes, of course," returned Anatole, evidently not listening to
86529 Dolokhov and looking straight before him with a smile that did not
86530 leave his face.
86531
86532 Dolokhov banged down the or of his and turned to Anatole with an
86533 ironic smile:
86534
86535 "Do you know? You'd really better drop it all. There's still time!"
86536
86537 "Fool," retorted Anatole. "Don't talk nonsense! If you only
86538 knew... it's the devil knows what!"
86539
86540 "No, really, give it up!" said Dolokhov. "I am speaking seriously.
86541 It's no joke, this plot you've hatched."
86542
86543 "What, teasing again? Go to the devil! Eh?" said Anatole, making a
86544 grimace. "Really it's no time for your stupid jokes," and he left
86545 the room.
86546
86547 Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole
86548 had gone out.
86549
86550 "You wait a bit," he called after him. "I'm not joking, I'm
86551 talking sense. Come here, come here!"
86552
86553 Anatole returned and looked at Dolokhov, trying to give him his
86554 attention and evidently submitting to him involuntarily.
86555
86556 "Now listen to me. I'm telling you this for the last time. Why
86557 should I joke about it? Did I hinder you? Who arranged everything
86558 for you? Who found the priest and got the passport? Who raised the
86559 money? I did it all."
86560
86561 "Well, thank you for it. Do you think I am not grateful?" And
86562 Anatole sighed and embraced Dolokhov.
86563
86564 "I helped you, but all the same I must tell you the truth; it is a
86565 dangerous business, and if you think about it--a stupid business.
86566 Well, you'll carry her off--all right! Will they let it stop at
86567 that? It will come out that you're already married. Why, they'll
86568 have you in the criminal court...."
86569
86570 "Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" Anatole ejaculated and again made a
86571 grimace. "Didn't I explain to you? What?" And Anatole, with the
86572 partiality dull-witted people have for any conclusion they have
86573 reached by their own reasoning, repeated the argument he had already
86574 put to Dolokhov a hundred times. "Didn't I explain to you that I
86575 have come to this conclusion: if this marriage is invalid," he went
86576 on, crooking one finger, "then I have nothing to answer for; but if it
86577 is valid, no matter! Abroad no one will know anything about it.
86578 Isn't that so? And don't talk to me, don't, don't."
86579
86580 "Seriously, you'd better drop it! You'll only get yourself into a
86581 mess!"
86582
86583 "Go to the devil!" cried Anatole and, clutching his hair, left the
86584 room, but returned at once and dropped into an armchair in front of
86585 Dolokhov with his feet turned under him. "It's the very devil! What?
86586 Feel how it beats!" He took Dolokhov's hand and put it on his heart.
86587 "What a foot, my dear fellow! What a glance! A goddess!" he added in
86588 French. "What?"
86589
86590 Dolokhov with a cold smile and a gleam in his handsome insolent eyes
86591 looked at him--evidently wishing to get some more amusement out of
86592 him.
86593
86594 "Well and when the money's gone, what then?"
86595
86596 "What then? Eh?" repeated Anatole, sincerely perplexed by a
86597 thought of the future. "What then?... Then, I don't know.... But why
86598 talk nonsense!" He glanced at his watch. "It's time!"
86599
86600 Anatole went into the back room.
86601
86602 "Now then! Nearly ready? You're dawdling!" he shouted to the
86603 servants.
86604
86605 Dolokhov put away the money, called a footman whom he ordered to
86606 bring something for them to eat and drink before the journey, and went
86607 into the room where Khvostikov and Makarin were sitting.
86608
86609 Anatole lay on the sofa in the study leaning on his elbow and
86610 smiling pensively, while his handsome lips muttered tenderly to
86611 himself.
86612
86613 "Come and eat something. Have a drink!" Dolokhov shouted to him from
86614 the other room.
86615
86616 "I don't want to," answered Anatole continuing to smile.
86617
86618 "Come! Balaga is here."
86619
86620 Anatole rose and went into the dining room. Balaga was a famous
86621 troyka driver who had known Dolokhov and Anatole some six years and
86622 had given them good service with his troykas. More than once when
86623 Anatole's regiment was stationed at Tver he had taken him from Tver in
86624 the evening, brought him to Moscow by daybreak, and driven him back
86625 again the next night. More than once he had enabled Dolokhov to escape
86626 when pursued. More than once he had driven them through the town
86627 with gypsies and "ladykins" as he called the cocottes. More than
86628 once in their service he had run over pedestrians and upset vehicles
86629 in the streets of Moscow and had always been protected from the
86630 consequences by "my gentlemen" as he called them. He had ruined more
86631 than one horse in their service. More than once they had beaten him,
86632 and more than once they had made him drunk on champagne and Madeira,
86633 which he loved; and he knew more than one thing about each of them
86634 which would long ago have sent an ordinary man to Siberia. They
86635 often called Balaga into their orgies and made him drink and dance
86636 at the gypsies', and more than one thousand rubles of their money
86637 had passed through his hands. In their service he risked his skin
86638 and his life twenty times a year, and in their service had lost more
86639 horses than the money he had from them would buy. But he liked them;
86640 liked that mad driving at twelve miles an hour, liked upsetting a
86641 driver or running down a pedestrian, and flying at full gallop through
86642 the Moscow streets. He liked to hear those wild, tipsy shouts behind
86643 him: "Get on! Get on!" when it was impossible to go any faster. He
86644 liked giving a painful lash on the neck to some peasant who, more dead
86645 than alive, was already hurrying out of his way. "Real gentlemen!"
86646 he considered them.
86647
86648 Anatole and Dolokhov liked Balaga too for his masterly driving and
86649 because he liked the things they liked. With others Balaga
86650 bargained, charging twenty-five rubles for a two hours' drive, and
86651 rarely drove himself, generally letting his young men do so. But
86652 with "his gentlemen" he always drove himself and never demanded
86653 anything for his work. Only a couple of times a year--when he knew
86654 from their valets that they had money in hand--he would turn up of a
86655 morning quite sober and with a deep bow would ask them to help him.
86656 The gentlemen always made him sit down.
86657
86658 "Do help me out, Theodore Ivanych, sir," or "your excellency," he
86659 would say. "I am quite out of horses. Let me have what you can to go
86660 to the fair."
86661
86662 And Anatole and Dolokhov, when they had money, would give him a
86663 thousand or a couple of thousand rubles.
86664
86665 Balaga was a fair-haired, short, and snub-nosed peasant of about
86666 twenty-seven; red-faced, with a particularly red thick neck,
86667 glittering little eyes, and a small beard. He wore a fine,
86668 dark-blue, silk-lined cloth coat over a sheepskin.
86669
86670 On entering the room now he crossed himself, turning toward the
86671 front corner of the room, and went up to Dolokhov, holding out a
86672 small, black hand.
86673
86674 "Theodore Ivanych!" he said, bowing.
86675
86676 "How d'you do, friend? Well, here he is!"
86677
86678 "Good day, your excellency!" he said, again holding out his hand
86679 to Anatole who had just come in.
86680
86681 "I say, Balaga," said Anatole, putting his hands on the man's
86682 shoulders, "do you care for me or not? Eh? Now, do me a service....
86683 What horses have you come with? Eh?"
86684
86685 "As your messenger ordered, your special beasts," replied Balaga.
86686
86687 "Well, listen, Balaga! Drive all three to death but get me there
86688 in three hours. Eh?"
86689
86690 "When they are dead, what shall I drive?" said Balaga with a wink.
86691
86692 "Mind, I'll smash your face in! Don't make jokes!" cried Anatole,
86693 suddenly rolling his eyes.
86694
86695 "Why joke?" said the driver, laughing. "As if I'd grudge my
86696 gentlemen anything! As fast as ever the horses can gallop, so fast
86697 we'll go!"
86698
86699 "Ah!" said Anatole. "Well, sit down."
86700
86701 "Yes, sit down!" said Dolokhov.
86702
86703 "I'll stand, Theodore Ivanych."
86704
86705 "Sit down; nonsense! Have a drink!" said Anatole, and filled a large
86706 glass of Madeira for him.
86707
86708 The driver's eyes sparkled at the sight of the wine. After
86709 refusing it for manners' sake, he drank it and wiped his mouth with
86710 a red silk handkerchief he took out of his cap.
86711
86712 "And when are we to start, your excellency?"
86713
86714 "Well..." Anatole looked at his watch. "We'll start at once. Mind,
86715 Balaga! You'll get there in time? Eh?"
86716
86717 "That depends on our luck in starting, else why shouldn't we be
86718 there in time?" replied Balaga. "Didn't we get you to Tver in seven
86719 hours? I think you remember that, your excellency?"
86720
86721 "Do you know, one Christmas I drove from Tver," said Anatole,
86722 smilingly at the recollection and turning to Makarin who gazed
86723 rapturously at him with wide-open eyes. "Will you believe it, Makarka,
86724 it took one's breath away, the rate we flew. We came across a train of
86725 loaded sleighs and drove right over two of them. Eh?"
86726
86727 "Those were horses!" Balaga continued the tale. "That time I'd
86728 harnessed two young side horses with the bay in the shafts," he went
86729 on, turning to Dolokhov. "Will you believe it, Theodore Ivanych, those
86730 animals flew forty miles? I couldn't hold them in, my hands grew
86731 numb in the sharp frost so that I threw down the reins--'Catch hold
86732 yourself, your excellency!' says I, and I just tumbled on the bottom
86733 of the sleigh and sprawled there. It wasn't a case of urging them
86734 on, there was no holding them in till we reached the place. The devils
86735 took us there in three hours! Only the near one died of it."
86736
86737
86738
86739
86740
86741 CHAPTER XVII
86742
86743
86744 Anatole went out of the room and returned a few minutes later
86745 wearing a fur coat girt with a silver belt, and a sable cap jauntily
86746 set on one side and very becoming to his handsome face. Having
86747 looked in a mirror, and standing before Dolokhov in the same pose he
86748 had assumed before it, he lifted a glass of wine.
86749
86750 "Well, good-by, Theodore. Thank you for everything and farewell!"
86751 said Anatole. "Well, comrades and friends..." he considered for a
86752 moment "...of my youth, farewell!" he said, turning to Makarin and the
86753 others.
86754
86755 Though they were all going with him, Anatole evidently wished to
86756 make something touching and solemn out of this address to his
86757 comrades. He spoke slowly in a loud voice and throwing out his chest
86758 slightly swayed one leg.
86759
86760 "All take glasses; you too, Balaga. Well, comrades and friends of my
86761 youth, we've had our fling and lived and reveled. Eh? And now, when
86762 shall we meet again? I am going abroad. We have had a good time--now
86763 farewell, lads! To our health! Hurrah!..." he cried, and emptying
86764 his glass flung it on the floor.
86765
86766 "To your health!" said Balaga who also emptied his glass, and
86767 wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.
86768
86769 Makarin embraced Anatole with tears in his eyes.
86770
86771 "Ah, Prince, how sorry I am to part from you!
86772
86773 "Let's go. Let's go!" cried Anatole.
86774
86775 Balaga was about to leave the room.
86776
86777 "No, stop!" said Anatole. "Shut the door; we have first to sit down.
86778 That's the way."
86779
86780 They shut the door and all sat down.
86781
86782 "Now, quick march, lads!" said Anatole, rising.
86783
86784 Joseph, his valet, handed him his sabretache and saber, and they all
86785 went out into the vestibule.
86786
86787 "And where's the fur cloak?" asked Dolokhov. "Hey, Ignatka! Go to
86788 Matrena Matrevna and ask her for the sable cloak. I have heard what
86789 elopements are like," continued Dolokhov with a wink. "Why, she'll
86790 rush out more dead than alive just in the things she is wearing; if
86791 you delay at all there'll be tears and 'Papa' and 'Mamma,' and she's
86792 frozen in a minute and must go back--but you wrap the fur cloak
86793 round her first thing and carry her to the sleigh."
86794
86795 The valet brought a woman's fox-lined cloak.
86796
86797 "Fool, I told you the sable one! Hey, Matrena, the sable!" he
86798 shouted so that his voice rang far through the rooms.
86799
86800 A handsome, slim, and pale-faced gypsy girl with glittering black
86801 eyes and curly blue-black hair, wearing a red shawl, ran out with a
86802 sable mantle on her arm.
86803
86804 "Here, I don't grudge it--take it!" she said, evidently afraid of
86805 her master and yet regretful of her cloak.
86806
86807 Dolokhov, without answering, took the cloak, threw it over
86808 Matrena, and wrapped her up in it.
86809
86810 "That's the way," said Dolokhov, "and then so!" and he turned the
86811 collar up round her head, leaving only a little of the face uncovered.
86812 "And then so, do you see?" and he pushed Anatole's head forward to
86813 meet the gap left by the collar, through which Matrena's brilliant
86814 smile was seen.
86815
86816 "Well, good-by, Matrena," said Anatole, kissing her. "Ah, my
86817 revels here are over. Remember me to Steshka. There, good-by! Good-by,
86818 Matrena, wish me luck!"
86819
86820 "Well, Prince, may God give you great luck!" said Matrena in her
86821 gypsy accent.
86822
86823 Two troykas were standing before the porch and two young drivers
86824 were holding the horses. Balaga took his seat in the front one and
86825 holding his elbows high arranged the reins deliberately. Anatole and
86826 Dolokhov got in with him. Makarin, Khvostikov, and a valet seated
86827 themselves in the other sleigh.
86828
86829 "Well, are you ready?" asked Balaga.
86830
86831 "Go!" he cried, twisting the reins round his hands, and the troyka
86832 tore down the Nikitski Boulevard.
86833
86834 "Tproo! Get out of the way! Hi!... Tproo!..." The shouting of Balaga
86835 and of the sturdy young fellow seated on the box was all that could be
86836 heard. On the Arbat Square the troyka caught against a carriage;
86837 something cracked, shouts were heard, and the troyka flew along the
86838 Arbat Street.
86839
86840 After taking a turn along the Podnovinski Boulevard, Balaga began to
86841 rein in, and turning back drew up at the crossing of the old
86842 Konyusheny Street.
86843
86844 The young fellow on the box jumped down to hold the horses and
86845 Anatole and Dolokhov went along the pavement. When they reached the
86846 gate Dolokhov whistled. The whistle was answered, and a maidservant
86847 ran out.
86848
86849 "Come into the courtyard or you'll be seen; she'll come out
86850 directly," said she.
86851
86852 Dolokhov stayed by the gate. Anatole followed the maid into the
86853 courtyard, turned the corner, and ran up into the porch.
86854
86855 He was met by Gabriel, Marya Dmitrievna's gigantic footman.
86856
86857 "Come to the mistress, please," said the footman in his deep bass,
86858 intercepting any retreat.
86859
86860 "To what Mistress? Who are you?" asked Anatole in a breathless
86861 whisper.
86862
86863 "Kindly step in, my orders are to bring you in."
86864
86865 "Kuragin! Come back!" shouted Dolokhov. "Betrayed! Back!"
86866
86867 Dolokhov, after Anatole entered, had remained at the wicket gate and
86868 was struggling with the yard porter who was trying to lock it. With
86869 a last desperate effort Dolokhov pushed the porter aside, and when
86870 Anatole ran back seized him by the arm, pulled him through the wicket,
86871 and ran back with him to the troyka.
86872
86873
86874
86875
86876
86877 CHAPTER XVIII
86878
86879
86880 Marya Dmitrievna, having found Sonya weeping in the corridor, made
86881 her confess everything, and intercepting the note to Natasha she
86882 read it and went into Natasha's room with it in her hand.
86883
86884 "You shameless good-for-nothing!" said she. "I won't hear a word."
86885
86886 Pushing back Natasha who looked at her with astonished but
86887 tearless eyes, she locked her in; and having given orders to the
86888 yard porter to admit the persons who would be coming that evening, but
86889 not to let them out again, and having told the footman to bring them
86890 up to her, she seated herself in the drawing room to await the
86891 abductors.
86892
86893 When Gabriel came to inform her that the men who had come had run
86894 away again, she rose frowning, and clasping her hands behind her paced
86895 through the rooms a long time considering what she should do. Toward
86896 midnight she went to Natasha's room fingering the key in her pocket.
86897 Sonya was sitting sobbing in the corridor. "Marya Dmitrievna, for
86898 God's sake let me in to her!" she pleaded, but Marya Dmitrievna
86899 unlocked the door and went in without giving her an answer....
86900 "Disgusting, abominable... In my house... horrid girl, hussy! I'm only
86901 sorry for her father!" thought she, trying to restrain her wrath.
86902 "Hard as it may be, I'll tell them all to hold their tongues and
86903 will hide it from the count." She entered the room with resolute
86904 steps. Natasha lying on the sofa, her head hidden in her hands, and
86905 she did not stir. She was in just the same position in which Marya
86906 Dmitrievna had left her.
86907
86908 "A nice girl! Very nice!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "Arranging meetings
86909 with lovers in my house! It's no use pretending: you listen when I
86910 speak to you!" And Marya Dmitrievna touched her arm. "Listen when when
86911 I speak! You've disgraced yourself like the lowest of hussies. I'd
86912 treat you differently, but I'm sorry for your father, so I will
86913 conceal it."
86914
86915 Natasha did not change her position, but her whole body heaved
86916 with noiseless, convulsive sobs which choked her. Marya Dmitrievna
86917 glanced round at Sonya and seated herself on the sofa beside Natasha.
86918
86919 "It's lucky for him that he escaped me; but I'll find him!" she said
86920 in her rough voice. "Do you hear what I am saying or not?" she added.
86921
86922 She put her large hand under Natasha's face and turned it toward
86923 her. Both Marya Dmitrievna and Sonya were amazed when they saw how
86924 Natasha looked. Her eyes were dry and glistening, her lips compressed,
86925 her cheeks sunken.
86926
86927 "Let me be!... What is it to me?... I shall die!" she muttered,
86928 wrenching herself from Marya Dmitrievna's hands with a vicious
86929 effort and sinking down again into her former position.
86930
86931 "Natalie!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "I wish for your good. Lie
86932 still, stay like that then, I won't touch you. But listen. I won't
86933 tell you how guilty you are. You know that yourself. But when your
86934 father comes back tomorrow what am I to tell him? Eh?"
86935
86936 Again Natasha's body shook with sobs.
86937
86938 "Suppose he finds out, and your brother, and your betrothed?"
86939
86940 "I have no betrothed: I have refused him!" cried Natasha.
86941
86942 "That's all the same," continued Dmitrievna. "If they hear of
86943 this, will they let it pass? He, your father, I know him... if he
86944 challenges him to a duel will that be all right? Eh?"
86945
86946 "Oh, let me be! Why have you interfered at all? Why? Why? Who
86947 asked you to?" shouted Natasha, raising herself on the sofa and
86948 looking malignantly at Marya Dmitrievna.
86949
86950 "But what did you want?" cried Marya Dmitrievna, growing angry
86951 again. "Were you kept under lock and key? Who hindered his coming to
86952 the house? Why carry you off as if you were some gypsy singing
86953 girl?... Well, if he had carried you off... do you think they wouldn't
86954 have found him? Your father, or brother, or your betrothed? And he's a
86955 scoundrel, a wretch--that's a fact!"
86956
86957 "He is better than any of you!" exclaimed Natasha getting up. "If
86958 you hadn't interfered... Oh, my God! What is it all? What is it?
86959 Sonya, why?... Go away!"
86960
86961 And she burst into sobs with the despairing vehemence with which
86962 people bewail disasters they feel they have themselves occasioned.
86963 Marya Dmitrievna was to speak again but Natasha cried out:
86964
86965 "Go away! Go away! You all hate and despise me!" and she threw
86966 herself back on the sofa.
86967
86968 Marya Dmitrievna went on admonishing her for some time, enjoining on
86969 her that it must all be kept from her father and assuring her that
86970 nobody would know anything about it if only Natasha herself would
86971 undertake to forget it all and not let anyone see that something had
86972 happened. Natasha did not reply, nor did she sob any longer, but she
86973 grew cold and had a shivering fit. Marya Dmitrievna put a pillow under
86974 her head, covered her with two quilts, and herself brought her some
86975 lime-flower water, but Natasha did not respond to her.
86976
86977 "Well, let her sleep," said Marya Dmitrievna as she went of the room
86978 supposing Natasha to be asleep.
86979
86980 But Natasha was not asleep; with pale face and fixed wide-open
86981 eyes she looked straight before her. All that night she did not
86982 sleep or weep and did not speak to Sonya who got up and went to her
86983 several times.
86984
86985 Next day Count Rostov returned from his estate near Moscow in time
86986 for lunch as he had promised. He was in very good spirits; the
86987 affair with the purchaser was going on satisfactorily, and there was
86988 nothing to keep him any longer in Moscow, away from the countess
86989 whom he missed. Marya Dmitrievna met him and told him that Natasha had
86990 been very unwell the day before and that they had sent for the doctor,
86991 but that she was better now. Natasha had not left her room that
86992 morning. With compressed and parched lips and dry fixed eyes, she
86993 sat at the window, uneasily watching the people who drove past and
86994 hurriedly glancing round at anyone who entered the room. She was
86995 evidently expecting news of him and that he would come or would
86996 write to her.
86997
86998 When the count came to see her she turned anxiously round at the
86999 sound of a man's footstep, and then her face resumed its cold and
87000 malevolent expression. She did not even get up to greet him. "What
87001 is the matter with you, my angel? Are you ill?" asked the count.
87002
87003 After a moment's silence Natasha answered: "Yes, ill."
87004
87005 In reply to the count's anxious inquiries as to why she was so
87006 dejected and whether anything had happened to her betrothed, she
87007 assured him that nothing had happened and asked him not to worry.
87008 Marya Dmitrievna confirmed Natasha's assurances that nothing had
87009 happened. From the pretense of illness, from his daughter's
87010 distress, and by the embarrassed faces of Sonya and Marya
87011 Dmitrievna, the count saw clearly that something had gone wrong during
87012 his absence, but it was so terrible for him to think that anything
87013 disgraceful had happened to his beloved daughter, and he so prized his
87014 own cheerful tranquillity, that he avoided inquiries and tried to
87015 assure himself that nothing particularly had happened; and he was only
87016 dissatisfied that her indisposition delayed their return to the
87017 country.
87018
87019
87020
87021
87022
87023 CHAPTER XIX
87024
87025
87026 From the day his wife arrived in Moscow Pierre had been intending to
87027 go away somewhere, so as not to be near her. Soon after the Rostovs
87028 came to Moscow the effect Natasha had on him made him hasten to
87029 carry out his intention. He went to Tver to see Joseph Alexeevich's
87030 widow, who had long since promised to hand over to him some papers
87031 of her deceased husband's.
87032
87033 When he returned to Moscow Pierre was handed a letter from Marya
87034 Dmitrievna asking him to come and see her on a matter of great
87035 importance relating to Andrew Bolkonski and his betrothed. Pierre
87036 had been avoiding Natasha because it seemed to him that his feeling
87037 for her was stronger than a married man's should be for his friend's
87038 fiancee. Yet some fate constantly threw them together.
87039
87040 "What can have happened? And what can they want with me?" thought he
87041 as he dressed to go to Marya Dmitrievna's. "If only Prince Andrew
87042 would hurry up and come and marry her!" thought he on his way to the
87043 house.
87044
87045 On the Tverskoy Boulevard a familiar voice called to him.
87046
87047 "Pierre! Been back long?" someone shouted. Pierre raised his head.
87048 In a sleigh drawn by two gray trotting-horses that were bespattering
87049 the dashboard with snow, Anatole and his constant companion Makarin
87050 dashed past. Anatole was sitting upright in the classic pose of
87051 military dandies, the lower part of his face hidden by his beaver
87052 collar and his head slightly bent. His face was fresh and rosy, his
87053 white-plumed hat, tilted to one side, disclosed his curled and pomaded
87054 hair besprinkled with powdery snow.
87055
87056 "Yes, indeed, that's a true sage," thought Pierre. "He sees
87057 nothing beyond the pleasure of the moment, nothing troubles him and so
87058 he is always cheerful, satisfied, and serene. What wouldn't I give
87059 to be like him!" he thought enviously.
87060
87061 In Marya Dmitrievna's anteroom the footman who helped him off with
87062 his fur coat said that the mistress asked him to come to her bedroom.
87063
87064 When he opened the ballroom door Pierre saw Natasha sitting at the
87065 window, with a thin, pale, and spiteful face. She glanced round at
87066 him, frowned, and left the room with an expression of cold dignity.
87067
87068 "What has happened?" asked Pierre, entering Marya Dmitrievna's room.
87069
87070 "Fine doings!" answered Dmitrievna. "For fifty-eight years have I
87071 lived in this world and never known anything so disgraceful!"
87072
87073 And having put him on his honor not to repeat anything she told him,
87074 Marya Dmitrievna informed him that Natasha had refused Prince Andrew
87075 without her parents' knowledge and that the cause of this was
87076 Anatole Kuragin into whose society Pierre's wife had thrown her and
87077 with whom Natasha had tried to elope during her father's absence, in
87078 order to be married secretly.
87079
87080 Pierre raised his shoulders and listened open-mouthed to what was
87081 told him, scarcely able to believe his own ears. That Prince
87082 Andrew's deeply loved affianced wife--the same Natasha Rostova who
87083 used to be so charming--should give up Bolkonski for that fool Anatole
87084 who was already secretly married (as Pierre knew), and should be so in
87085 love with him as to agree to run away with him, was something Pierre
87086 could not conceive and could not imagine.
87087
87088 He could not reconcile the charming impression he had of Natasha,
87089 whom he had known from a child, with this new conception of her
87090 baseness, folly, and cruelty. He thought of his wife. "They are all
87091 alike!" he said to himself, reflecting that he was not the only man
87092 unfortunate enough to be tied to a bad woman. But still he pitied
87093 Prince Andrew to the point of tears and sympathized with his wounded
87094 pride, and the more he pitied his friend the more did he think with
87095 contempt and even with disgust of that Natasha who had just passed him
87096 in the ballroom with such a look of cold dignity. He did not know that
87097 Natasha's soul was overflowing with despair, shame, and humiliation,
87098 and that it was not her fault that her face happened to assume an
87099 expression of calm dignity and severity.
87100
87101 "But how get married?" said Pierre, in answer to Marya Dmitrievna.
87102 "He could not marry--he is married!"
87103
87104 "Things get worse from hour to hour!" ejaculated Marya Dmitrievna.
87105 "A nice youth! What a scoundrel! And she's expecting him--expecting
87106 him since yesterday. She must be told! Then at least she won't go on
87107 expecting him."
87108
87109 After hearing the details of Anatole's marriage from Pierre, and
87110 giving vent to her anger against Anatole in words of abuse, Marya
87111 Dmitrievna told Pierre why she had sent for him. She was afraid that
87112 the count or Bolkonski, who might arrive at any moment, if they knew
87113 of this affair (which she hoped to hide from them) might challenge
87114 Anatole to a duel, and she therefore asked Pierre to tell his
87115 brother-in-law in her name to leave Moscow and not dare to let her set
87116 eyes on him again. Pierre--only now realizing the danger to the old
87117 count, Nicholas, and Prince Andrew--promised to do as she wished.
87118 Having briefly and exactly explained her wishes to him, she let him go
87119 to the drawing room.
87120
87121 "Mind, the count knows nothing. Behave as if you know nothing
87122 either," she said. "And I will go and tell her it is no use
87123 expecting him! And stay to dinner if you care to!" she called after
87124 Pierre.
87125
87126 Pierre met the old count, who seemed nervous and upset. That morning
87127 Natasha had told him that she had rejected Bolkonski.
87128
87129 "Troubles, troubles, my dear fellow!" he said to Pierre. "What
87130 troubles one has with these girls without their mother! I do so regret
87131 having come here.... I will be frank with you. Have you heard she
87132 has broken off her engagement without consulting anybody? It's true
87133 this engagement never was much to my liking. Of course he is an
87134 excellent man, but still, with his father's disapproval they
87135 wouldn't have been happy, and Natasha won't lack suitors. Still, it
87136 has been going on so long, and to take such a step without father's or
87137 mother's consent! And now she's ill, and God knows what! It's hard,
87138 Count, hard to manage daughters in their mother's absence...."
87139
87140 Pierre saw that the count was much upset and tried to change the
87141 subject, but the count returned to his troubles.
87142
87143 Sonya entered the room with an agitated face.
87144
87145 "Natasha is not quite well; she's in her room and would like to
87146 see you. Marya Dmitrievna is with her and she too asks you to come."
87147
87148 "Yes, you are a great friend of Bolkonski's, no doubt she wants to
87149 send him a message," said the count. "Oh dear! Oh dear! How happy it
87150 all was!"
87151
87152 And clutching the spare gray locks on his temples the count left the
87153 room.
87154
87155 When Marya Dmitrievna told Natasha that Anatole was married, Natasha
87156 did not wish to believe it and insisted on having it confirmed by
87157 Pierre himself. Sonya told Pierre this as she led him along the
87158 corridor to Natasha's room.
87159
87160 Natasha, pale and stern, was sitting beside Marya Dmitrievna, and
87161 her eyes, glittering feverishly, met Pierre with a questioning look
87162 the moment he entered. She did not smile or nod, but only gazed
87163 fixedly at him, and her look asked only one thing: was he a friend, or
87164 like the others an enemy in regard to Anatole? As for Pierre, he
87165 evidently did not exist for her.
87166
87167 "He knows all about it," said Marya Dmitrievna pointing to Pierre
87168 and addressing Natasha. "Let him tell you whether I have told the
87169 truth."
87170
87171 Natasha looked from one to the other as a hunted and wounded
87172 animal looks at the approaching dogs and sportsmen.
87173
87174 "Natalya Ilynichna," Pierre began, dropping his eyes with a
87175 feeling of pity for her and loathing for the thing he had to do,
87176 "whether it is true or not should make no difference to you,
87177 because..."
87178
87179 "Then it is not true that he's married!"
87180
87181 "Yes, it is true."
87182
87183 "Has he been married long?" she asked. "On your honor?..."
87184
87185 Pierre gave his word of honor.
87186
87187 "Is he still here?" she asked, quickly.
87188
87189 "Yes, I have just seen him."
87190
87191 She was evidently unable to speak and made a sign with her hands
87192 that they should leave her alone.
87193
87194
87195
87196
87197
87198 CHAPTER XX
87199
87200
87201 Pierre did not stay for dinner, but left the room and went away at
87202 once. He drove through the town seeking Anatole Kuragin, at the
87203 thought of whom now the blood rushed to his heart and he felt a
87204 difficulty in breathing. He was not at the ice hills, nor at the
87205 gypsies', nor at Komoneno's. Pierre drove to the Club. In the Club all
87206 was going on as usual. The members who were assembling for dinner were
87207 sitting about in groups; they greeted Pierre and spoke of the town
87208 news. The footman having greeted him, knowing his habits and his
87209 acquaintances, told him there was a place left for him in the small
87210 dining room and that Prince Michael Zakharych was in the library,
87211 but Paul Timofeevich had not yet arrived. One of Pierre's
87212 acquaintances, while they were talking about the weather, asked if
87213 he had heard of Kuragin's abduction of Rostova which was talked of
87214 in the town, and was it true? Pierre laughed and said it was
87215 nonsense for he had just come from the Rostovs'. He asked everyone
87216 about Anatole. One man told him he had not come yet, and another
87217 that he was coming to dinner. Pierre felt it strange to see this calm,
87218 indifferent crowd of people unaware of what was going on in his
87219 soul. He paced through the ballroom, waited till everyone had come,
87220 and as Anatole had not turned up did not stay for dinner but drove
87221 home.
87222
87223 Anatole, for whom Pierre was looking, dined that day with
87224 Dolokhov, consulting him as to how to remedy this unfortunate
87225 affair. It seemed to him essential to see Natasha. In the evening he
87226 drove to his sister's to discuss with her how to arrange a meeting.
87227 When Pierre returned home after vainly hunting all over Moscow, his
87228 valet informed him that Prince Anatole was with the countess. The
87229 countess' drawing room was full of guests.
87230
87231 Pierre without greeting his wife whom he had not seen since his
87232 return--at that moment she was more repulsive to him than ever-
87233 entered the drawing room and seeing Anatole went up to him.
87234
87235 "Ah, Pierre," said the countess going up to her husband. "You
87236 don't know what a plight our Anatole..."
87237
87238 She stopped, seeing in the forward thrust of her husband's head,
87239 in his glowing eyes and his resolute gait, the terrible indications of
87240 that rage and strength which she knew and had herself experienced
87241 after his duel with Dolokhov.
87242
87243 "Where you are, there is vice and evil!" said Pierre to his wife.
87244 "Anatole, come with me! I must speak to you," he added in French.
87245
87246 Anatole glanced round at his sister and rose submissively, ready
87247 to follow Pierre. Pierre, taking him by the arm, pulled him toward
87248 himself and was leading him from the room.
87249
87250 "If you allow yourself in my drawing room..." whispered Helene,
87251 but Pierre did not reply and went out of the room.
87252
87253 Anatole followed him with his usual jaunty step but his face
87254 betrayed anxiety.
87255
87256 Having entered his study Pierre closed the door and addressed
87257 Anatole without looking at him.
87258
87259 "You promised Countess Rostova to marry her and were about to
87260 elope with her, is that so?"
87261
87262 "Mon cher," answered Anatole (their whole conversation was in
87263 French), "I don't consider myself bound to answer questions put to
87264 me in that tone."
87265
87266 Pierre's face, already pale, became distorted by fury. He seized
87267 Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his big hand and shook him
87268 from side to side till Anatole's face showed a sufficient degree of
87269 terror.
87270
87271 "When I tell you that I must talk to you!..." repeated Pierre.
87272
87273 "Come now, this is stupid. What?" said Anatole, fingering a button
87274 of his collar that had been wrenched loose with a bit of the cloth.
87275
87276 "You're a scoundrel and a blackguard, and I don't know what deprives
87277 me from the pleasure of smashing your head with this!" said Pierre,
87278 expressing himself so artificially because he was talking French.
87279
87280 He took a heavy paperweight and lifted it threateningly, but at once
87281 put it back in its place.
87282
87283 "Did you promise to marry her?"
87284
87285 "I... I didn't think of it. I never promised, because..."
87286
87287 Pierre interrupted him.
87288
87289 "Have you any letters of hers? Any letters?" he said, moving
87290 toward Anatole.
87291
87292 Anatole glanced at him and immediately thrust his hand into his
87293 pocket and drew out his pocketbook.
87294
87295 Pierre took the letter Anatole handed him and, pushing aside a table
87296 that stood in his way, threw himself on the sofa.
87297
87298 "I shan't be violent, don't be afraid!" said Pierre in answer to a
87299 frightened gesture of Anatole's. "First, the letters," said he, as
87300 if repeating a lesson to himself. "Secondly," he continued after a
87301 short pause, again rising and again pacing the room, "tomorrow you
87302 must get out of Moscow."
87303
87304 "But how can I?..."
87305
87306 "Thirdly," Pierre continued without listening to him, "you must
87307 never breathe a word of what has passed between you and Countess
87308 Rostova. I know I can't prevent your doing so, but if you have a spark
87309 of conscience..." Pierre paced the room several times in silence.
87310
87311 Anatole sat at a table frowning and biting his lips.
87312
87313 "After all, you must understand that besides your pleasure there
87314 is such a thing as other people's happiness and peace, and that you
87315 are ruining a whole life for the sake of amusing yourself! Amuse
87316 yourself with women like my wife--with them you are within your
87317 rights, for they know what you want of them. They are armed against
87318 you by the same experience of debauchery; but to promise a maid to
87319 marry her... to deceive, to kidnap.... Don't you understand that it is
87320 as mean as beating an old man or a child?..."
87321
87322 Pierre paused and looked at Anatole no longer with an angry but with
87323 a questioning look.
87324
87325 "I don't know about that, eh?" said Anatole, growing more
87326 confident as Pierre mastered his wrath. "I don't know that and don't
87327 want to," he said, not looking at Pierre and with a slight tremor of
87328 his lower jaw, "but you have used such words to me--'mean' and so
87329 on--which as a man of honor I can't allow anyone to use."
87330
87331 Pierre glanced at him with amazement, unable to understand what he
87332 wanted.
87333
87334 "Though it was tete-a-tete," Anatole continued, "still I can't..."
87335
87336 "Is it satisfaction you want?" said Pierre ironically.
87337
87338 "You could at least take back your words. What? If you want me to do
87339 as you wish, eh?"
87340
87341 "I take them back, I take them back!" said Pierre, "and I ask you to
87342 forgive me." Pierre involuntarily glanced at the loose button. "And if
87343 you require money for your journey..."
87344
87345 Anatole smiled. The expression of that base and cringing smile,
87346 which Pierre knew so well in his wife, revolted him.
87347
87348 "Oh, vile and heartless brood!" he exclaimed, and left the room.
87349
87350 Next day Anatole left for Petersburg.
87351
87352
87353
87354
87355
87356 CHAPTER XXI
87357
87358
87359 Pierre drove to Marya Dmitrievna's to tell her of the fulfillment of
87360 her wish that Kuragin should be banished from Moscow. The whole
87361 house was in a state of alarm and commotion. Natasha was very ill,
87362 having, as Marya Dmitrievna told him in secret, poisoned herself the
87363 night after she had been told that Anatole was married, with some
87364 arsenic she had stealthily procured. After swallowing a little she had
87365 been so frightened that she woke Sonya and told her what she had done.
87366 The necessary antidotes had been administered in time and she was
87367 now out of danger, though still so weak that it was out of the
87368 question to move her to the country, and so the countess had been sent
87369 for. Pierre saw the distracted count, and Sonya, who had a
87370 tear-stained face, but he could not see Natasha.
87371
87372 Pierre dined at the club that day and heard on all sides gossip
87373 about the attempted abduction of Rostova. He resolutely denied these
87374 rumors, assuring everyone that nothing had happened except that his
87375 brother-in-law had proposed to her and been refused. It seemed to
87376 Pierre that it was his duty to conceal the whole affair and
87377 re-establish Natasha's reputation.
87378
87379 He was awaiting Prince Andrew's return with dread and went every day
87380 to the old prince's for news of him.
87381
87382 Old Prince Bolkonski heard all the rumors current in the town from
87383 Mademoiselle Bourienne and had read the note to Princess Mary in which
87384 Natasha had broken off her engagement. He seemed in better spirits
87385 than usual and awaited his son with great impatience.
87386
87387 Some days after Anatole's departure Pierre received a note from
87388 Prince Andrew, informing him of his arrival and asking him to come
87389 to see him.
87390
87391 As soon as he reached Moscow, Prince Andrew had received from his
87392 father Natasha's note to Princess Mary breaking off her engagement
87393 (Mademoiselle Bourienne had purloined it from Princess Mary and
87394 given it to the old prince), and he heard from him the story of
87395 Natasha's elopement, with additions.
87396
87397 Prince Andrew had arrived in the evening and Pierre came to see
87398 him next morning. Pierre expected to find Prince Andrew in almost
87399 the same state as Natasha and was therefore surprised on entering
87400 the drawing room to hear him in the study talking in a loud animated
87401 voice about some intrigue going on in Petersburg. The old prince's
87402 voice and another now and then interrupted him. Princess Mary came out
87403 to meet Pierre. She sighed, looking toward the door of the room
87404 where Prince Andrew was, evidently intending to express her sympathy
87405 with his sorrow, but Pierre saw by her face that she was glad both
87406 at what had happened and at the way her brother had taken the news
87407 of Natasha's faithlessness.
87408
87409 "He says he expected it," she remarked. "I know his pride will not
87410 let him express his feelings, but still he has taken it better, far
87411 better, than I expected. Evidently it had to be...."
87412
87413 "But is it possible that all is really ended?" asked Pierre.
87414
87415 Princess Mary looked at him with astonishment. She did not
87416 understand how he could ask such a question. Pierre went into the
87417 study. Prince Andrew, greatly changed and plainly in better health,
87418 but with a fresh horizontal wrinkle between his brows, stood in
87419 civilian dress facing his father and Prince Meshcherski, warmly
87420 disputing and vigorously gesticulating. The conversation was about
87421 Speranski--the news of whose sudden exile and alleged treachery had
87422 just reached Moscow.
87423
87424 "Now he is censured and accused by all who were enthusiastic about
87425 him a month ago," Prince Andrew was saying, "and by those who were
87426 unable to understand his aims. To judge a man who is in disfavor and
87427 to throw on him all the blame of other men's mistakes is very easy,
87428 but I maintain that if anything good has been accomplished in this
87429 reign it was done by him, by him alone."
87430
87431 He paused at the sight of Pierre. His face quivered and
87432 immediately assumed a vindictive expression.
87433
87434 "Posterity will do him justice," he concluded, and at once turned to
87435 Pierre.
87436
87437 "Well, how are you? Still getting stouter?" he said with
87438 animation, but the new wrinkle on his forehead deepened. "Yes, I am
87439 well," he said in answer to Pierre's question, and smiled.
87440
87441 To Pierre that smile said plainly: "I am well, but my health is
87442 now of no use to anyone."
87443
87444 After a few words to Pierre about the awful roads from the Polish
87445 frontier, about people he had met in Switzerland who knew Pierre,
87446 and about M. Dessalles, whom he had brought from abroad to be his
87447 son's tutor, Prince Andrew again joined warmly in the conversation
87448 about Speranski which was still going on between the two old men.
87449
87450 "If there were treason, or proofs of secret relations with Napoleon,
87451 they would have been made public," he said with warmth and haste. "I
87452 do not, and never did, like Speranski personally, but I like justice!"
87453
87454 Pierre now recognized in his friend a need with which he was only
87455 too familiar, to get excited and to have arguments about extraneous
87456 matters in order to stifle thoughts that were too oppressive and too
87457 intimate. When Prince Meshcherski had left, Prince Andrew took
87458 Pierre's arm and asked him into the room that had been assigned him. A
87459 bed had been made up there, and some open portmanteaus and trunks
87460 stood about. Prince Andrew went to one and took out a small casket,
87461 from which he drew a packet wrapped in paper. He did it all silently
87462 and very quickly. He stood up and coughed. His face was gloomy and his
87463 lips compressed.
87464
87465 "Forgive me for troubling you..."
87466
87467 Pierre saw that Prince Andrew was going to speak of Natasha, and his
87468 broad face expressed pity and sympathy. This expression irritated
87469 Prince Andrew, and in a determined, ringing, and unpleasant tone he
87470 continued:
87471
87472 "I have received a refusal from Countess Rostova and have heard
87473 reports of your brother-in-law having sought her hand, or something of
87474 that kind. Is that true?"
87475
87476 "Both true and untrue," Pierre began; but Prince Andrew
87477 interrupted him.
87478
87479 "Here are her letters and her portrait," said he.
87480
87481 He took the packet from the table and handed it to Pierre.
87482
87483 "Give this to the countess... if you see her."
87484
87485 "She is very ill," said Pierre.
87486
87487 "Then she is here still?" said Prince Andrew. "And Prince
87488 Kuragin?" he added quickly.
87489
87490 "He left long ago. She has been at death's door."
87491
87492 "I much regret her illness," said Prince Andrew; and he smiled
87493 like his father, coldly, maliciously, and unpleasantly.
87494
87495 "So Monsieur Kuragin has not honored Countess Rostova with his
87496 hand?" said Prince Andrew, and he snorted several times.
87497
87498 "He could not marry, for he was married already," said Pierre.
87499
87500 Prince Andrew laughed disagreeably, again reminding one of his
87501 father.
87502
87503 "And where is your brother-in-law now, if I may ask?" he said.
87504
87505 "He has gone to Peters... But I don't know," said Pierre.
87506
87507 "Well, it doesn't matter," said Prince Andrew. "Tell Countess
87508 Rostova that she was and is perfectly free and that I wish her all
87509 that is good."
87510
87511 Pierre took the packet. Prince Andrew, as if trying to remember
87512 whether he had something more to say, or waiting to see if Pierre
87513 would say anything, looked fixedly at him.
87514
87515 "I say, do you remember our discussion in Petersburg?" asked Pierre,
87516 "about..."
87517
87518 "Yes," returned Prince Andrew hastily. "I said that a fallen woman
87519 should be forgiven, but I didn't say I could forgive her. I can't."
87520
87521 "But can this be compared...?" said Pierre.
87522
87523 Prince Andrew interrupted him and cried sharply: "Yes, ask her
87524 hand again, be magnanimous, and so on?... Yes, that would be very
87525 noble, but I am unable to follow in that gentleman's footsteps. If you
87526 wish to be my friend never speak to me of that... of all that! Well,
87527 good-by. So you'll give her the packet?"
87528
87529 Pierre left the room and went to the old prince and Princess Mary.
87530
87531 The old man seemed livelier than usual. Princess Mary was the same
87532 as always, but beneath her sympathy for her brother, Pierre noticed
87533 her satisfaction that the engagement had been broken off. Looking at
87534 them Pierre realized what contempt and animosity they all felt for the
87535 Rostovs, and that it was impossible in their presence even to
87536 mention the name of her who could give up Prince Andrew for anyone
87537 else.
87538
87539 At dinner the talk turned on the war, the approach of which was
87540 becoming evident. Prince Andrew talked incessantly, arguing now with
87541 his father, now with the Swiss tutor Dessalles, and showing an
87542 unnatural animation, the cause of which Pierre so well understood.
87543
87544
87545
87546
87547
87548 CHAPTER XXII
87549
87550
87551 That same evening Pierre went to the Rostovs' to fulfill the
87552 commission entrusted to him. Natasha was in bed, the count at the
87553 Club, and Pierre, after giving the letters to Sonya, went to Marya
87554 Dmitrievna who was interested to know how Prince Andrew had taken
87555 the news. Ten minutes later Sonya came to Marya Dmitrievna.
87556
87557 "Natasha insists on seeing Count Peter Kirilovich," said she.
87558
87559 "But how? Are we to take him up to her? The room there has not
87560 been tidied up."
87561
87562 "No, she has dressed and gone into the drawing room," said Sonya.
87563
87564 Marya Dmitrievna only shrugged her shoulders.
87565
87566 "When will her mother come? She has worried me to death! Now mind,
87567 don't tell her everything!" said she to Pierre. "One hasn't the
87568 heart to scold her, she is so much to be pitied, so much to be
87569 pitied."
87570
87571 Natasha was standing in the middle of the drawing room, emaciated,
87572 with a pale set face, but not at all shamefaced as Pierre expected
87573 to find her. When he appeared at the door she grew flurried, evidently
87574 undecided whether to go to meet him or to wait till he came up.
87575
87576 Pierre hastened to her. He thought she would give him her hand as
87577 usual; but she, stepping up to him, stopped, breathing heavily, her
87578 arms hanging lifelessly just in the pose she used to stand in when she
87579 went to the middle of the ballroom to sing, but with quite a different
87580 expression of face.
87581
87582 "Peter Kirilovich," she began rapidly, "Prince Bolkonski was your
87583 friend--is your friend," she corrected herself. (It seemed to her that
87584 everything that had once been must now be different.) "He told me once
87585 to apply to you..."
87586
87587 Pierre sniffed as he looked at her, but did not speak. Till then
87588 he had reproached her in his heart and tried to despise her, but he
87589 now felt so sorry for her that there was no room in his soul for
87590 reproach.
87591
87592 "He is here now: tell him... to for... forgive me!" She stopped
87593 and breathed still more quickly, but did not shed tears.
87594
87595 "Yes... I will tell him," answered Pierre; "but..."
87596
87597 He did not know what to say.
87598
87599 Natasha was evidently dismayed at the thought of what he might think
87600 she had meant.
87601
87602 "No, I know all is over," she said hurriedly. "No, that can never
87603 be. I'm only tormented by the wrong I have done him. Tell him only
87604 that I beg him to forgive, forgive, forgive me for everything...."
87605
87606 She trembled all over and sat down on a chair.
87607
87608 A sense of pity he had never before known overflowed Pierre's heart.
87609
87610 "I will tell him, I will tell him everything once more," said
87611 Pierre. "But... I should like to know one thing...."
87612
87613 "Know what?" Natasha's eyes asked.
87614
87615 "I should like to know, did you love..." Pierre did not know how
87616 to refer to Anatole and flushed at the thought of him--"did you love
87617 that bad man?"
87618
87619 "Don't call him bad!" said Natasha. "But I don't know, don't know at
87620 all...."
87621
87622 She began to cry and a still greater sense of pity, tenderness,
87623 and love welled up in Pierre. He felt the tears trickle under his
87624 spectacles and hoped they would not be noticed.
87625
87626 "We won't speak of it any more, my dear," said Pierre, and his
87627 gentle, cordial tone suddenly seemed very strange to Natasha.
87628
87629 "We won't speak of it, my dear--I'll tell him everything; but one
87630 thing I beg of you, consider me your friend and if you want help,
87631 advice, or simply to open your heart to someone--not now, but when
87632 your mind is clearer think of me!" He took her hand and kissed it.
87633 "I shall be happy if it's in my power..."
87634
87635 Pierre grew confused.
87636
87637 "Don't speak to me like that. I am not worth it!" exclaimed
87638 Natasha and turned to leave the room, but Pierre held her hand.
87639
87640 He knew he had something more to say to her. But when he said it
87641 he was amazed at his own words.
87642
87643 "Stop, stop! You have your whole life before you," said he to her.
87644
87645 "Before me? No! All is over for me," she replied with shame and
87646 self-abasement.
87647
87648 "All over?" he repeated. "If I were not myself, but the handsomest,
87649 cleverest, and best man in the world, and were free, I would this
87650 moment ask on my knees for your hand and your love!"
87651
87652 For the first time for many days Natasha wept tears of gratitude and
87653 tenderness, and glancing at Pierre she went out of the room.
87654
87655 Pierre too when she had gone almost ran into the anteroom,
87656 restraining tears of tenderness and joy that choked him, and without
87657 finding the sleeves of his fur cloak threw it on and got into his
87658 sleigh.
87659
87660 "Where to now, your excellency?" asked the coachman.
87661
87662 "Where to?" Pierre asked himself. "Where can I go now? Surely not to
87663 the Club or to pay calls?" All men seemed so pitiful, so poor, in
87664 comparison with this feeling of tenderness and love he experienced: in
87665 comparison with that softened, grateful, last look she had given him
87666 through her tears.
87667
87668 "Home!" said Pierre, and despite twenty-two degrees of frost
87669 Fahrenheit he threw open the bearskin cloak from his broad chest and
87670 inhaled the air with joy.
87671
87672 It was clear and frosty. Above the dirty, ill-lit streets, above the
87673 black roofs, stretched the dark starry sky. Only looking up at the sky
87674 did Pierre cease to feel how sordid and humiliating were all mundane
87675 things compared with the heights to which his soul had just been
87676 raised. At the entrance to the Arbat Square an immense expanse of dark
87677 starry sky presented itself to his eyes. Almost in the center of it,
87678 above the Prechistenka Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all
87679 sides by stars but distinguished from them all by its nearness to
87680 the earth, its white light, and its long uplifted tail, shone the
87681 enormous and brilliant comet of 1812--the comet which was said to
87682 portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world. In Pierre,
87683 however, that comet with its long luminous tail aroused no feeling
87684 of fear. On the contrary he gazed joyfully, his eyes moist with tears,
87685 at this bright comet which, having traveled in its orbit with
87686 inconceivable velocity through immeasurable space, seemed suddenly-
87687 like an arrow piercing the earth--to remain fixed in a chosen spot,
87688 vigorously holding its tail erect, shining and displaying its white
87689 light amid countless other scintillating stars. It seemed to Pierre
87690 that this comet fully responded to what was passing in his own
87691 softened and uplifted soul, now blossoming into a new life.
87692
87693
87694
87695
87696
87697 BOOK NINE: 1812
87698
87699
87700
87701
87702
87703 CHAPTER I
87704
87705
87706 From the close of the year 1811 intensified arming and concentrating
87707 of the forces of Western Europe began, and in 1812 these forces-
87708 millions of men, reckoning those transporting and feeding the army-
87709 moved from the west eastwards to the Russian frontier, toward which
87710 since 1811 Russian forces had been similarly drawn. On the twelfth
87711 of June, 1812, the forces of Western Europe crossed the Russian
87712 frontier and war began, that is, an event took place opposed to
87713 human reason and to human nature. Millions of men perpetrated
87714 against one another such innumerable crimes, frauds, treacheries,
87715 thefts, forgeries, issues of false money, burglaries, incendiarisms,
87716 and murders as in whole centuries are not recorded in the annals of
87717 all the law courts of the world, but which those who committed them
87718 did not at the time regard as being crimes.
87719
87720 What produced this extraordinary occurrence? What were its causes?
87721 The historians tell us with naive assurance that its causes were the
87722 wrongs inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, the nonobservance of the
87723 Continental System, the ambition of Napoleon, the firmness of
87724 Alexander, the mistakes of the diplomatists, and so on.
87725
87726 Consequently, it would only have been necessary for Metternich,
87727 Rumyantsev, or Talleyrand, between a levee and an evening party, to
87728 have taken proper pains and written a more adroit note, or for
87729 Napoleon to have written to Alexander: "My respected Brother, I
87730 consent to restore the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg"--and there
87731 would have been no war.
87732
87733 We can understand that the matter seemed like that to
87734 contemporaries. It naturally seemed to Napoleon that the war was
87735 caused by England's intrigues (as in fact he said on the island of St.
87736 Helena). It naturally seemed to members of the English Parliament that
87737 the cause of the war was Napoleon's ambition; to the Duke of
87738 Oldenburg, that the cause of the war was the violence done to him;
87739 to businessmen that the cause of the way was the Continental System
87740 which was ruining Europe; to the generals and old soldiers that the
87741 chief reason for the war was the necessity of giving them
87742 employment; to the legitimists of that day that it was the need of
87743 re-establishing les bons principes, and to the diplomatists of that
87744 time that it all resulted from the fact that the alliance between
87745 Russia and Austria in 1809 had not been sufficiently well concealed
87746 from Napoleon, and from the awkward wording of Memorandum No. 178.
87747 It is natural that these and a countless and infinite quantity of
87748 other reasons, the number depending on the endless diversity of points
87749 of view, presented themselves to the men of that day; but to us, to
87750 posterity who view the thing that happened in all its magnitude and
87751 perceive its plain and terrible meaning, these causes seem
87752 insufficient. To us it is incomprehensible that millions of
87753 Christian men killed and tortured each other either because Napoleon
87754 was ambitious or Alexander was firm, or because England's policy was
87755 astute or the Duke of Oldenburg wronged. We cannot grasp what
87756 connection such circumstances have with the actual fact of slaughter
87757 and violence: why because the Duke was wronged, thousands of men
87758 from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk
87759 and Moscow and were killed by them.
87760
87761 To us, their descendants, who are not historians and are not carried
87762 away by the process of research and can therefore regard the event
87763 with unclouded common sense, an incalculable number of causes
87764 present themselves. The deeper we delve in search of these causes
87765 the more of them we find; and each separate cause or whole series of
87766 causes appears to us equally valid in itself and equally false by
87767 its insignificance compared to the magnitude of the events, and by its
87768 impotence--apart from the cooperation of all the other coincident
87769 causes--to occasion the event. To us, the wish or objection of this or
87770 that French corporal to serve a second term appears as much a cause as
87771 Napoleon's refusal to withdraw his troops beyond the Vistula and to
87772 restore the duchy of Oldenburg; for had he not wished to serve, and
87773 had a second, a third, and a thousandth corporal and private also
87774 refused, there would have been so many less men in Napoleon's army and
87775 the war could not have occurred.
87776
87777 Had Napoleon not taken offense at the demand that he should withdraw
87778 beyond the Vistula, and not ordered his troops to advance, there would
87779 have been no war; but had all his sergeants objected to serving a
87780 second term then also there could have been no war. Nor could there
87781 have been a war had there been no English intrigues and no Duke of
87782 Oldenburg, and had Alexander not felt insulted, and had there not been
87783 an autocratic government in Russia, or a Revolution in France and a
87784 subsequent dictatorship and Empire, or all the things that produced
87785 the French Revolution, and so on. Without each of these causes nothing
87786 could have happened. So all these causes--myriads of causes--coincided
87787 to bring it about. And so there was no one cause for that
87788 occurrence, but it had to occur because it had to. Millions of men,
87789 renouncing their human feelings and reason, had to go from west to
87790 east to slay their fellows, just as some centuries previously hordes
87791 of men had come from the east to the west, slaying their fellows.
87792
87793 The actions of Napoleon and Alexander, on whose words the event
87794 seemed to hang, were as little voluntary as the actions of any soldier
87795 who was drawn into the campaign by lot or by conscription. This
87796 could not be otherwise, for in order that the will of Napoleon and
87797 Alexander (on whom the event seemed to depend) should be carried
87798 out, the concurrence of innumerable circumstances was needed without
87799 any one of which the event could not have taken place. It was
87800 necessary that millions of men in whose hands lay the real power-
87801 the soldiers who fired, or transported provisions and guns--should
87802 consent to carry out the will of these weak individuals, and should
87803 have been induced to do so by an infinite number of diverse and
87804 complex causes.
87805
87806 We are forced to fall back on fatalism as an explanation of
87807 irrational events (that is to say, events the reasonableness of
87808 which we do not understand). The more we try to explain such events in
87809 history reasonably, the more unreasonable and incomprehensible do they
87810 become to us.
87811
87812 Each man lives for himself, using his freedom to attain his personal
87813 aims, and feels with his whole being that he can now do or abstain
87814 from doing this or that action; but as soon as he has done it, that
87815 action performed at a certain moment in time becomes irrevocable and
87816 belongs to history, in which it has not a free but a predestined
87817 significance.
87818
87819 There are two sides to the life of every man, his individual life,
87820 which is the more free the more abstract its interests, and his
87821 elemental hive life in which he inevitably obeys laws laid down for
87822 him.
87823
87824 Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious
87825 instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal, aims of
87826 humanity. A deed done is irrevocable, and its result coinciding in
87827 time with the actions of millions of other men assumes an historic
87828 significance. The higher a man stands on the social ladder, the more
87829 people he is connected with and the more power he has over others, the
87830 more evident is the predestination and inevitability of his every
87831 action.
87832
87833 "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord."
87834
87835 A king is history's slave.
87836
87837 History, that is, the unconscious, general, hive life of mankind,
87838 uses every moment of the life of kings as a tool for its own purposes.
87839
87840 Though Napoleon at that time, in 1812, was more convinced than
87841 ever that it depended on him, verser (ou ne pas verser) le sang de ses
87842 peuples*--as Alexander expressed it in the last letter he wrote him-
87843 he had never been so much in the grip of inevitable laws, which
87844 compelled him, while thinking that he was acting on his own
87845 volition, to perform for the hive life--that is to say, for history-
87846 whatever had to be performed.
87847
87848
87849 *"To shed (or not to shed) the blood of his peoples."
87850
87851
87852 The people of the west moved eastwards to slay their fellow men, and
87853 by the law of coincidence thousands of minute causes fitted in and
87854 co-ordinated to produce that movement and war: reproaches for the
87855 nonobservance of the Continental System, the Duke of Oldenburg's
87856 wrongs, the movement of troops into Prussia--undertaken (as it
87857 seemed to Napoleon) only for the purpose of securing an armed peace,
87858 the French Emperor's love and habit of war coinciding with his
87859 people's inclinations, allurement by the grandeur of the preparations,
87860 and the expenditure on those preparations and the need of obtaining
87861 advantages to compensate for that expenditure, the intoxicating honors
87862 he received in Dresden, the diplomatic negotiations which, in the
87863 opinion of contemporaries, were carried on with a sincere desire to
87864 attain peace, but which only wounded the self-love of both sides,
87865 and millions of other causes that adapted themselves to
87866 the event that was happening or coincided with it.
87867
87868 When an apple has ripened and falls, why does it fall? Because of
87869 its attraction to the earth, because its stalk withers, because it
87870 is dried by the sun, because it grows heavier, because the wind shakes
87871 it, or because the boy standing below wants to eat it?
87872
87873 Nothing is the cause. All this is only the coincidence of conditions
87874 in which all vital organic and elemental events occur. And the
87875 botanist who finds that the apple falls because the cellular tissue
87876 decays and so forth is equally right with the child who stands under
87877 the tree and says the apple fell because he wanted to eat it and
87878 prayed for it. Equally right or wrong is he who says that Napoleon
87879 went to Moscow because he wanted to, and perished because Alexander
87880 desired his destruction, and he who says that an undermined hill
87881 weighing a million tons fell because the last navvy struck it for
87882 the last time with his mattock. In historic events the so-called great
87883 men are labels giving names to events, and like labels they have but
87884 the smallest connection with the event itself.
87885
87886 Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will,
87887 is in an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole
87888 course of history and predestined from eternity.
87889
87890
87891
87892
87893
87894 CHAPTER II
87895
87896
87897 On the twenty-ninth of May Napoleon left Dresden, where he had spent
87898 three weeks surrounded by a court that included princes, dukes, kings,
87899 and even an emperor. Before leaving, Napoleon showed favor to the
87900 emperor, kings, and princes who had deserved it, reprimanded the kings
87901 and princes with whom he was dissatisfied, presented pearls and
87902 diamonds of his own--that is, which he had taken from other kings-
87903 to the Empress of Austria, and having, as his historian tells us,
87904 tenderly embraced the Empress Marie Louise--who regarded him as her
87905 husband, though he had left another wife in Paris--left her grieved by
87906 the parting which she seemed hardly able to bear. Though the
87907 diplomatists still firmly believed in the possibility of peace and
87908 worked zealously to that end, and though the Emperor Napoleon
87909 himself wrote a letter to Alexander, calling him Monsieur mon frere,
87910 and sincerely assured him that he did not want war and would always
87911 love and honor him--yet he set off to join his army, and at every
87912 station gave fresh orders to accelerate the movement of his troops
87913 from west to east. He went in a traveling coach with six horses,
87914 surrounded by pages, aides-de-camp, and an escort, along the road to
87915 Posen, Thorn, Danzig, and Konigsberg. At each of these towns thousands
87916 of people met him with excitement and enthusiasm.
87917
87918 The army was moving from west to east, and relays of six horses
87919 carried him in the same direction. On the tenth of June,* coming up
87920 with the army, he spent the night in apartments prepared for him on
87921 the estate of a Polish count in the Vilkavisski forest.
87922
87923
87924 *Old style.
87925
87926
87927 Next day, overtaking the army, he went in a carriage to the
87928 Niemen, and, changing into a Polish uniform, he drove to the riverbank
87929 in order to select a place for the crossing.
87930
87931 Seeing, on the other side, some Cossacks (les Cosaques) and the
87932 wide-spreading steppes in the midst of which lay the holy city of
87933 Moscow (Moscou, la ville sainte), the capital of a realm such as the
87934 Scythia into which Alexander the Great had marched--Napoleon
87935 unexpectedly, and contrary alike to strategic and diplomatic
87936 considerations, ordered an advance, and the next day his army began to
87937 cross the Niemen.
87938
87939 Early in the morning of the twelfth of June he came out of his tent,
87940 which was pitched that day on the steep left bank of the Niemen, and
87941 looked through a spyglass at the streams of his troops pouring out
87942 of the Vilkavisski forest and flowing over the three bridges thrown
87943 across the river. The troops, knowing of the Emperor's presence,
87944 were on the lookout for him, and when they caught sight of a figure in
87945 an overcoat and a cocked hat standing apart from his suite in front of
87946 his tent on the hill, they threw up their caps and shouted: "Vive
87947 l'Empereur!" and one after another poured in a ceaseless stream out of
87948 the vast forest that had concealed them and, separating, flowed on and
87949 on by the three bridges to the other side.
87950
87951 "Now we'll go into action. Oh, when he takes it in hand himself,
87952 things get hot... by heaven!... There he is!... Vive l'Empereur! So
87953 these are the steppes of Asia! It's a nasty country all the same. Au
87954 revoir, Beauche; I'll keep the best palace in Moscow for you! Au
87955 revoir. Good luck!... Did you see the Emperor? Vive l'Empereur!...
87956 preur!--If they make me Governor of India, Gerard, I'll make you
87957 Minister of Kashmir--that's settled. Vive l'Empereur! Hurrah!
87958 hurrah! hurrah! The Cossacks--those rascals--see how they run! Vive
87959 l'Empereur! There he is, do you see him? I've seen him twice, as I see
87960 you now. The little corporal... I saw him give the cross to one of the
87961 veterans.... Vive l'Empereur!" came the voices of men, old and
87962 young, of most diverse characters and social positions. On the faces
87963 of all was one common expression of joy at the commencement of the
87964 long-expected campaign and of rapture and devotion to the man in the
87965 gray coat who was standing on the hill.
87966
87967 On the thirteenth of June a rather small, thoroughbred Arab horse
87968 was brought to Napoleon. He mounted it and rode at a gallop to one
87969 of the bridges over the Niemen, deafened continually by incessant
87970 and rapturous acclamations which he evidently endured only because
87971 it was impossible to forbid the soldiers to express their love of
87972 him by such shouting, but the shouting which accompanied him
87973 everywhere disturbed him and distracted him from the military cares
87974 that had occupied him from the time he joined the army. He rode across
87975 one of the swaying pontoon bridges to the farther side, turned sharply
87976 to the left, and galloped in the direction of Kovno, preceded by
87977 enraptured, mounted chasseurs of the Guard who, breathless with
87978 delight, galloped ahead to clear a path for him through the troops. On
87979 reaching the broad river Viliya, he stopped near a regiment of
87980 Polish Uhlans stationed by the river.
87981
87982 "Vivat!" shouted the Poles, ecstatically, breaking their ranks and
87983 pressing against one another to see him.
87984
87985 Napoleon looked up and down the river, dismounted, and sat down on a
87986 log that lay on the bank. At a mute sign from him, a telescope was
87987 handed him which he rested on the back of a happy page who had run
87988 up to him, and he gazed at the opposite bank. Then he became
87989 absorbed in a map laid out on the logs. Without lifting his head he
87990 said something, and two of his aides-de-camp galloped off to the
87991 Polish Uhlans.
87992
87993 "What? What did he say?" was heard in the ranks of the Polish Uhlans
87994 when one of the aides-de-camp rode up to them.
87995
87996 The order was to find a ford and to cross the river. The colonel
87997 of the Polish Uhlans, a handsome old man, flushed and, fumbling in his
87998 speech from excitement, asked the aide-de-camp whether he would be
87999 permitted to swim the river with his Uhlans instead of seeking a ford.
88000 In evident fear of refusal, like a boy asking for permission to get on
88001 a horse, he begged to be allowed to swim across the river before the
88002 Emperor's eyes. The aide-de-camp replied that probably the Emperor
88003 would not be displeased at this excess of zeal.
88004
88005 As soon as the aide-de-camp had said this, the old mustached
88006 officer, with happy face and sparkling eyes, raised his saber, shouted
88007 "Vivat!" and, commanding the Uhlans to follow him, spurred his horse
88008 and galloped into the river. He gave an angry thrust to his horse,
88009 which had grown restive under him, and plunged into the water, heading
88010 for the deepest part where the current was swift. Hundreds of Uhlans
88011 galloped in after him. It was cold and uncanny in the rapid current in
88012 the middle of the stream, and the Uhlans caught hold of one another as
88013 they fell off their horses. Some of the horses were drowned and some
88014 of the men; the others tried to swim on, some in the saddle and some
88015 clinging to their horses' manes. They tried to make their way
88016 forward to the opposite bank and, though there was a ford one third of
88017 a mile away, were proud that they were swimming and drowning in this
88018 river under the eyes of the man who sat on the log and was not even
88019 looking at what they were doing. When the aide-de-camp, having
88020 returned and choosing an opportune moment, ventured to draw the
88021 Emperor's attention to the devotion of the Poles to his person, the
88022 little man in the gray overcoat got up and, having summoned
88023 Berthier, began pacing up and down the bank with him, giving him
88024 instructions and occasionally glancing disapprovingly at the
88025 drowning Uhlans who distracted his attention.
88026
88027 For him it was no new conviction that his presence in any part of
88028 the world, from Africa to the steppes of Muscovy alike, was enough
88029 to dumfound people and impel them to insane self-oblivion. He called
88030 for his horse and rode to his quarters.
88031
88032 Some forty Uhlans were drowned in the river, though boats were
88033 sent to their assistance. The majority struggled back to the bank from
88034 which they had started. The colonel and some of his men got across and
88035 with difficulty clambered out on the further bank. And as soon as they
88036 had got out, in their soaked and streaming clothes, they shouted
88037 "Vivat!" and looked ecstatically at the spot where Napoleon had been
88038 but where he no longer was and at that moment considered themselves
88039 happy.
88040
88041 That evening, between issuing one order that the forged Russian
88042 paper money prepared for use in Russia should be delivered as
88043 quickly as possible and another that a Saxon should be shot, on whom a
88044 letter containing information about the orders to the French army
88045 had been found, Napoleon also gave instructions that the Polish
88046 colonel who had needlessly plunged into the river should be enrolled
88047 in the Legion d'honneur of which Napoleon was himself the head.
88048
88049 Quos vult perdere dementat.*
88050
88051
88052 *Those whom (God) wishes to destroy he drives mad.
88053
88054
88055
88056
88057
88058 CHAPTER III
88059
88060
88061 The Emperor of Russia had, meanwhile, been in Vilna for more than
88062 a month, reviewing troops and holding maneuvers. Nothing was ready for
88063 the war that everyone expected and to prepare for which the Emperor
88064 had come from Petersburg. There was no general plan of action. The
88065 vacillation between the various plans that were proposed had even
88066 increased after the Emperor had been at headquarters for a month. Each
88067 of the three armies had its own commander in chief, but there was no
88068 supreme commander of all the forces, and the Emperor did not assume
88069 that responsibility himself.
88070
88071 The longer the Emperor remained in Vilna the less did everybody-
88072 tired of waiting--prepare for the war. All the efforts of those who
88073 surrounded the sovereign seemed directed merely to making him spend
88074 his time pleasantly and forget that war was impending.
88075
88076 In June, after many balls and fetes given by the Polish magnates, by
88077 the courtiers, and by the Emperor himself, it occurred to one of the
88078 Polish aides-de-camp in attendance that a dinner and ball should be
88079 given for the Emperor by his aides-de-camp. This idea was eagerly
88080 received. The Emperor gave his consent. The aides-de-camp collected
88081 money by subscription. The lady who was thought to be most pleasing to
88082 the Emperor was invited to act as hostess. Count Bennigsen, being a
88083 landowner in the Vilna province, offered his country house for the
88084 fete, and the thirteenth of June was fixed for a ball, dinner,
88085 regatta, and fireworks at Zakret, Count Bennigsen's country seat.
88086
88087
88088 The very day that Napoleon issued the order to cross the Niemen, and
88089 his vanguard, driving off the Cossacks, crossed the Russian
88090 frontier, Alexander spent the evening at the entertainment given by
88091 his aides-de-camp at Bennigsen's country house.
88092
88093 It was a gay and brilliant fete. Connoisseurs of such matters
88094 declared that rarely had so many beautiful women been assembled in one
88095 place. Countess Bezukhova was present among other Russian ladies who
88096 had followed the sovereign from Petersburg to Vilna and eclipsed the
88097 refined Polish ladies by her massive, so called Russian type of
88098 beauty. The Emperor noticed her and honored her with a dance.
88099
88100 Boris Drubetskoy, having left his wife in Moscow and being for the
88101 present en garcon (as he phrased it), was also there and, though not
88102 an aide-de-camp, had subscribed a large sum toward the expenses. Boris
88103 was now a rich man who had risen to high honors and no longer sought
88104 patronage but stood on an equal footing with the highest of those of
88105 his own age. He was meeting Helene in Vilna after not having seen
88106 her for a long time and did not recall the past, but as Helene was
88107 enjoying the favors of a very important personage and Boris had only
88108 recently married, they met as good friends of long standing.
88109
88110 At midnight dancing was still going on. Helene, not having a
88111 suitable partner, herself offered to dance the mazurka with Boris.
88112 They were the third couple. Boris, coolly looking at Helene's dazzling
88113 bare shoulders which emerged from a dark, gold-embroidered, gauze
88114 gown, talked to her of old acquaintances and at the same time, unaware
88115 of it himself and unnoticed by others, never for an instant ceased
88116 to observe the Emperor who was in the same room. The Emperor was not
88117 dancing, he stood in the doorway, stopping now one pair and now
88118 another with gracious words which he alone knew how to utter.
88119
88120 As the mazurka began, Boris saw that Adjutant General Balashev,
88121 one of those in closest attendance on the Emperor, went up to him
88122 and contrary to court etiquette stood near him while he was talking to
88123 a Polish lady. Having finished speaking to her, the Emperor looked
88124 inquiringly at Balashev and, evidently understanding that he only
88125 acted thus because there were important reasons for so doing, nodded
88126 slightly to the lady and turned to him. Hardly had Balashev begun to
88127 speak before a look of amazement appeared on the Emperor's face. He
88128 took Balashev by the arm and crossed the room with him,
88129 unconsciously clearing a path seven yards wide as the people on both
88130 sides made way for him. Boris noticed Arakcheev's excited face when
88131 the sovereign went out with Balashev. Arakcheev looked at the
88132 Emperor from under his brow and, sniffing with his red nose, stepped
88133 forward from the crowd as if expecting the Emperor to address him.
88134 (Boris understood that Arakcheev envied Balashev and was displeased
88135 that evidently important news had reached the Emperor otherwise than
88136 through himself.)
88137
88138 But the Emperor and Balashev passed out into the illuminated
88139 garden without noticing Arakcheev who, holding his sword and
88140 glancing wrathfully around, followed some twenty paces behind them.
88141
88142 All the time Boris was going through the figures of the mazurka,
88143 he was worried by the question of what news Balashev had brought and
88144 how he could find it out before others. In the figure in which he
88145 had to choose two ladies, he whispered to Helene that he meant to
88146 choose Countess Potocka who, he thought, had gone out onto the
88147 veranda, and glided over the parquet to the door opening into the
88148 garden, where, seeing Balashev and the Emperor returning to the
88149 veranda, he stood still. They were moving toward the door. Boris,
88150 fluttering as if he had not had time to withdraw, respectfully pressed
88151 close to the doorpost with bowed head.
88152
88153 The Emperor, with the agitation of one who has been personally
88154 affronted, was finishing with these words:
88155
88156 "To enter Russia without declaring war! I will not make peace as
88157 long as a single armed enemy remains in my country!" It seemed to
88158 Boris that it gave the Emperor pleasure to utter these words. He was
88159 satisfied with the form in which he had expressed his thoughts, but
88160 displeased that Boris had overheard it.
88161
88162 "Let no one know of it!" the Emperor added with a frown.
88163
88164 Boris understood that this was meant for him and, closing his
88165 eyes, slightly bowed his head. The Emperor re-entered the ballroom and
88166 remained there about another half-hour.
88167
88168 Boris was thus the first to learn the news that the French army
88169 had crossed the Niemen and, thanks to this, was able to show certain
88170 important personages that much that was concealed from others was
88171 usually known to him, and by this means he rose higher in their
88172 estimation.
88173
88174
88175 The unexpected news of the French having crossed the Niemen was
88176 particularly startling after a month of unfulfilled expectations,
88177 and at a ball. On first receiving the news, under the influence of
88178 indignation and resentment the Emperor had found a phrase that pleased
88179 him, fully expressed his feelings, and has since become famous. On
88180 returning home at two o'clock that night he sent for his secretary,
88181 Shishkov, and told him to write an order to the troops and a
88182 rescript to Field Marshal Prince Saltykov, in which he insisted on the
88183 words being inserted that he would not make peace so long as a
88184 single armed Frenchman remained on Russian soil.
88185
88186 Next day the following letter was sent to Napoleon:
88187
88188
88189 Monsieur mon frere,
88190
88191 Yesterday I learned that, despite the loyalty which I have kept my
88192 engagements with Your Majesty, your troops have crossed the Russian
88193 frontier, and I have this moment received from Petersburg a note, in
88194 which Count Lauriston informs me, as a reason for this aggression,
88195 that Your Majesty has considered yourself to be in a state of war with
88196 me from the time Prince Kuragin asked for his passports. The reasons
88197 on which the Duc de Bassano based his refusal to deliver them to him
88198 would never have led me to suppose that that could serve as a
88199 pretext for aggression. In fact, the ambassador, as he himself has
88200 declared, was never authorized to make that demand, and as soon as I
88201 was informed of it I let him know how much I disapproved of it and
88202 ordered him to remain at his post. If Your Majesty does not intend
88203 to shed the blood of our peoples for such a misunderstanding, and
88204 consents to withdraw your troops from Russian territory, I will regard
88205 what has passed as not having occurred and an understanding between us
88206 will be possible. In the contrary case, Your Majesty, I shall see
88207 myself forced to repel an attack that nothing on my part has provoked.
88208 It still depends on Your Majesty to preserve humanity from the
88209 calamity of another war. I am, etc.,
88210 (signed) Alexander
88211
88212
88213
88214
88215
88216 CHAPTER IV
88217
88218
88219 At two in the morning of the fourteenth of June, the Emperor, having
88220 sent for Balashev and read him his letter to Napoleon, ordered him
88221 to take it and hand it personally to the French Emperor. When
88222 dispatching Balashev, the Emperor repeated to him the words that he
88223 would not make peace so long as a single armed enemy remained on
88224 Russian soil and told him to transmit those words to Napoleon.
88225 Alexander did not insert them in his letter to Napoleon, because
88226 with his characteristic tact he felt it would be injudicious to use
88227 them at a moment when a last attempt at reconciliation was being made,
88228 but he definitely instructed Balashev to repeat them personally to
88229 Napoleon.
88230
88231 Having set off in the small hours of the fourteenth, accompanied
88232 by a bugler and two Cossacks, Balashev reached the French outposts
88233 at the village of Rykonty, on the Russian side of the Niemen, by dawn.
88234 There he was stopped by French cavalry sentinels.
88235
88236 A French noncommissioned officer of hussars, in crimson uniform
88237 and a shaggy cap, shouted to the approaching Balashev to halt.
88238 Balashev did not do so at once, but continued to advance along the
88239 road at a walking pace.
88240
88241 The noncommissioned officer frowned and, muttering words of abuse,
88242 advanced his horse's chest against Balashev, put his hand to his
88243 saber, and shouted rudely at the Russian general, asking: was he
88244 deaf that he did not do as he was told? Balashev mentioned who he was.
88245 The noncommissioned officer began talking with his comrades about
88246 regimental matters without looking at the Russian general.
88247
88248 After living at the seat of the highest authority and power, after
88249 conversing with the Emperor less than three hours before, and in
88250 general being accustomed to the respect due to his rank in the
88251 service, Balashev found it very strange here on Russian soil to
88252 encounter this hostile, and still more this disrespectful, application
88253 of brute force to himself.
88254
88255 The sun was only just appearing from behind the clouds, the air
88256 was fresh and dewy. A herd of cattle was being driven along the road
88257 from the village, and over the fields the larks rose trilling, one
88258 after another, like bubbles rising in water.
88259
88260 Balashev looked around him, awaiting the arrival of an officer
88261 from the village. The Russian Cossacks and bugler and the French
88262 hussars looked silently at one another from time to time.
88263
88264 A French colonel of hussars, who had evidently just left his bed,
88265 came riding from the village on a handsome sleek gray horse,
88266 accompanied by two hussars. The officer, the soldiers, and their
88267 horses all looked smart and well kept.
88268
88269 It was that first period of a campaign when troops are still in full
88270 trim, almost like that of peacetime maneuvers, but with a shade of
88271 martial swagger in their clothes, and a touch of the gaiety and spirit
88272 of enterprise which always accompany the opening of a campaign.
88273
88274 The French colonel with difficulty repressed a yawn, but was
88275 polite and evidently understood Balashev's importance. He led him past
88276 his soldiers and behind the outposts and told him that his wish to
88277 be presented to the Emperor would most likely be satisfied
88278 immediately, as the Emperor's quarters were, he believed, not far off.
88279
88280 They rode through the village of Rykonty, past tethered French
88281 hussar horses, past sentinels and men who saluted their colonel and
88282 stared with curiosity at a Russian uniform, and came out at the
88283 other end of the village. The colonel said that the commander of the
88284 division was a mile and a quarter away and would receive Balashev
88285 and conduct him to his destination.
88286
88287 The sun had by now risen and shone gaily on the bright verdure.
88288
88289 They had hardly ridden up a hill, past a tavern, before they saw a
88290 group of horsemen coming toward them. In front of the group, on a
88291 black horse with trappings that glittered in the sun, rode a tall
88292 man with plumes in his hat and black hair curling down to his
88293 shoulders. He wore a red mantle, and stretched his long legs forward
88294 in French fashion. This man rode toward Balashev at a gallop, his
88295 plumes flowing and his gems and gold lace glittering in the bright
88296 June sunshine.
88297
88298 Balashev was only two horses' length from the equestrian with the
88299 bracelets, plunies, necklaces, and gold embroidery, who was
88300 galloping toward him with a theatrically solemn countenance, when
88301 Julner, the French colonel, whispered respectfully: "The King of
88302 Naples!" It was, in fact, Murat, now called "King of Naples." Though
88303 it was quite incomprehensible why he should be King of Naples, he
88304 was called so, and was himself convinced that he was so, and therefore
88305 assumed a more solemn and important air than formerly. He was so
88306 sure that he really was the King of Naples that when, on the eve of
88307 his departure from that city, while walking through the streets with
88308 his wife, some Italians called out to him: "Viva il re!"* he turned to
88309 his wife with a pensive smile and said: "Poor fellows, they don't know
88310 that I am leaving them tomorrow!"
88311
88312
88313 *"Long live the king."
88314
88315
88316 But though he firmly believed himself to be King of Naples and
88317 pitied the grief felt by the subjects he was abandoning, latterly,
88318 after he had been ordered to return to military service--and
88319 especially since his last interview with Napoleon in Danzig, when
88320 his august brother-in-law had told him: "I made you King that you
88321 should reign in my way, but not in yours!"--he had cheerfully taken up
88322 his familiar business, and--like a well-fed but not overfat horse that
88323 feels himself in harness and grows skittish between the shafts--he
88324 dressed up in clothes as variegated and expensive as possible, and
88325 gaily and contentedly galloped along the roads of Poland, without
88326 himself knowing why or whither.
88327
88328 On seeing the Russian general he threw back his head, with its
88329 long hair curling to his shoulders, in a majestically royal manner,
88330 and looked inquiringly at the French colonel. The colonel respectfully
88331 informed His Majesty of Balashev's mission, whose name he could not
88332 pronounce.
88333
88334 "De Bal-macheve!" said the King (overcoming by his assurance the
88335 difficulty that had presented itself to the colonel). "Charmed to make
88336 your acquaintance, General!" he added, with a gesture of kingly
88337 condescension.
88338
88339 As soon as the King began to speak loud and fast his royal dignity
88340 instantly forsook him, and without noticing it he passed into his
88341 natural tone of good-natured familiarity. He laid his hand on the
88342 withers of Balashev's horse and said:
88343
88344 "Well, General, it all looks like war," as if regretting a
88345 circumstance of which he was unable to judge.
88346
88347 "Your Majesty," replied Balashev, "my master, the Emperor, does
88348 not desire war and as Your Majesty sees..." said Balashev, using the
88349 words Your Majesty at every opportunity, with the affectation
88350 unavoidable in frequently addressing one to whom the title was still a
88351 novelty.
88352
88353 Murat's face beamed with stupid satisfaction as he listened to
88354 "Monsieur de Bal-macheve." But royaute oblige!* and he felt it
88355 incumbent on him, as a king and an ally, to confer on state affairs
88356 with Alexander's envoy. He dismounted, took Balashev's arm, and moving
88357 a few steps away from his suite, which waited respectfully, began to
88358 pace up and down with him, trying to speak significantly. He
88359 referred to the fact that the Emperor Napoleon had resented the demand
88360 that he should withdraw his troops from Prussia, especially when
88361 that demand became generally known and the dignity of France was
88362 thereby offended.
88363
88364
88365 *"Royalty has its obligations."
88366
88367
88368 Balashev replied that there was "nothing offensive in the demand,
88369 because..." but Murat interrupted him.
88370
88371 "Then you don't consider the Emperor Alexander the aggressor?" he
88372 asked unexpectedly, with a kindly and foolish smile.
88373
88374 Balashev told him why he considered Napoleon to be the originator of
88375 the war.
88376
88377 "Oh, my dear general!" Murat again interrupted him, "with all my
88378 heart I wish the Emperors may arrange the affair between them, and
88379 that the war begun by no wish of mine may finish as quickly as
88380 possible!" said he, in the tone of a servant who wants to remain
88381 good friends with another despite a quarrel between their masters.
88382
88383 And he went on to inquiries about the Grand Duke and the state of
88384 his health, and to reminiscences of the gay and amusing times he had
88385 spent with him in Naples. Then suddenly, as if remembering his royal
88386 dignity, Murat solemnly drew himself up, assumed the pose in which
88387 he had stood at his coronation, and, waving his right arm, said:
88388
88389 "I won't detain you longer, General. I wish success to your
88390 mission," and with his embroidered red mantle, his flowing feathers,
88391 and his glittering ornaments, he rejoined his suite who were
88392 respectfully awaiting him.
88393
88394 Balashev rode on, supposing from Murat's words that he would very
88395 soon be brought before Napoleon himself. But instead of that, at the
88396 next village the sentinels of Davout's infantry corps detained him
88397 as the pickets of the vanguard had done, and an adjutant of the
88398 corps commander, who was fetched, conducted him into the village to
88399 Marshal Davout.
88400
88401
88402
88403
88404
88405 CHAPTER V
88406
88407
88408 Davout was to Napoleon what Arakcheev was to Alexander--though not a
88409 coward like Arakcheev, he was as precise, as cruel, and as unable to
88410 express his devotion to his monarch except by cruelty.
88411
88412 In the organism of states such men are necessary, as wolves are
88413 necessary in the organism of nature, and they always exist, always
88414 appear and hold their own, however incongruous their presence and
88415 their proximity to the head of the government may be. This
88416 inevitability alone can explain how the cruel Arakcheev, who tore
88417 out a grenadier's mustache with his own hands, whose weak nerves
88418 rendered him unable to face danger, and who was neither an educated
88419 man nor a courtier, was able to maintain his powerful position with
88420 Alexander, whose own character was chivalrous, noble, and gentle.
88421
88422 Balashev found Davout seated on a barrel in the shed of a
88423 peasant's hut, writing--he was auditing accounts. Better quarters
88424 could have been found him, but Marshal Davout was one of those men who
88425 purposely put themselves in most depressing conditions to have a
88426 justification for being gloomy. For the same reason they are always
88427 hard at work and in a hurry. "How can I think of the bright side of
88428 life when, as you see, I am sitting on a barrel and working in a dirty
88429 shed?" the expression of his face seemed to say. The chief pleasure
88430 and necessity of such men, when they encounter anyone who shows
88431 animation, is to flaunt their own dreary, persistent activity.
88432 Davout allowed himself that pleasure when Balashev was brought in.
88433 He became still more absorbed in his task when the Russian general
88434 entered, and after glancing over his spectacles at Balashev's face,
88435 which was animated by the beauty of the morning and by his talk with
88436 Murat, he did not rise or even stir, but scowled still more and
88437 sneered malevolently.
88438
88439 When he noticed in Balashev's face the disagreeable impression
88440 this reception produced, Davout raised his head and coldly asked
88441 what he wanted.
88442
88443 Thinking he could have been received in such a manner only because
88444 Davout did not know that he was adjutant general to the Emperor
88445 Alexander and even his envoy to Napoleon, Balashev hastened to
88446 inform him of his rank and mission. Contrary to his expectation,
88447 Davout, after hearing him, became still surlier and ruder.
88448
88449 "Where is your dispatch?" he inquired. "Give it to me. I will send
88450 it to the Emperor."
88451
88452 Balashev replied that he had been ordered to hand it personally to
88453 the Emperor.
88454
88455 "Your Emperor's orders are obeyed in your army, but here," said
88456 Davout, "you must do as you're told."
88457
88458 And, as if to make the Russian general still more conscious of his
88459 dependence on brute force, Davout sent an adjutant to call the officer
88460 on duty.
88461
88462 Balashev took out the packet containing the Emperor's letter and
88463 laid it on the table (made of a door with its hinges still hanging
88464 on it, laid across two barrels). Davout took the packet and read the
88465 inscription.
88466
88467 "You are perfectly at liberty to treat me with respect or not,"
88468 protested Balashev, "but permit me to observe that I have the honor to
88469 be adjutant general to His Majesty...."
88470
88471 Davout glanced at him silently and plainly derived pleasure from the
88472 signs of agitation and confusion which appeared on Balashev's face.
88473
88474 "You will be treated as is fitting," said he and, putting the packet
88475 in his pocket, left the shed.
88476
88477 A minute later the marshal's adjutant, de Castres, came in and
88478 conducted Balashev to the quarters assigned him.
88479
88480 That day he dined with the marshal, at the same board on the
88481 barrels.
88482
88483 Next day Davout rode out early and, after asking Balashev to come to
88484 him, peremptorily requested him to remain there, to move on with the
88485 baggage train should orders come for it to move, and to talk to no one
88486 except Monsieur de Castres.
88487
88488 After four days of solitude, ennui, and consciousness of his
88489 impotence and insignificance--particularly acute by contrast with
88490 the sphere of power in which he had so lately moved--and after several
88491 marches with the marshal's baggage and the French army, which occupied
88492 the whole district, Balashev was brought to Vilna--now occupied by the
88493 French--through the very gate by which he had left it four days
88494 previously.
88495
88496 Next day the imperial gentleman-in-waiting, the Comte de Turenne,
88497 came to Balashev and informed him of the Emperor Napoleon's wish to
88498 honor him with an audience.
88499
88500 Four days before, sentinels of the Preobrazhensk regiment had
88501 stood in front of the house to which Balashev was conducted, and now
88502 two French grenadiers stood there in blue uniforms unfastened in front
88503 and with shaggy caps on their heads, and an escort of hussars and
88504 Uhlans and a brilliant suite of aides-de-camp, pages, and generals,
88505 who were waiting for Napoleon to come out, were standing at the porch,
88506 round his saddle horse and his Mameluke, Rustan. Napoleon received
88507 Balashev in the very house in Vilna from which Alexander had
88508 dispatched him on his mission.
88509
88510
88511
88512
88513
88514 CHAPTER VI
88515
88516
88517 Though Balashev was used to imperial pomp, he was amazed at the
88518 luxury and magnificence of Napoleon's court.
88519
88520 The Comte de Turenne showed him into a big reception room where many
88521 generals, gentlemen-in-waiting, and Polish magnates--several of whom
88522 Balashev had seen at the court of the Emperor of Russia--were waiting.
88523 Duroc said that Napoleon would receive the Russian general before
88524 going for his ride.
88525
88526 After some minutes, the gentleman-in-waiting who was on duty came
88527 into the great reception room and, bowing politely, asked Balashev
88528 to follow him.
88529
88530 Balashev went into a small reception room, one door of which led
88531 into a study, the very one from which the Russian Emperor had
88532 dispatched him on his mission. He stood a minute or two, waiting. He
88533 heard hurried footsteps beyond the door, both halves of it were opened
88534 rapidly; all was silent and then from the study the sound was heard of
88535 other steps, firm and resolute--they were those of Napoleon. He had
88536 just finished dressing for his ride, and wore a blue uniform,
88537 opening in front over a white waistcoat so long that it covered his
88538 rotund stomach, white leather breeches tightly fitting the fat
88539 thighs of his short legs, and Hessian boots. His short hair had
88540 evidently just been brushed, but one lock hung down in the middle of
88541 his broad forehead. His plump white neck stood out sharply above the
88542 black collar of his uniform, and he smelled of Eau de Cologne. His
88543 full face, rather young-looking, with its prominent chin, wore a
88544 gracious and majestic expression of imperial welcome.
88545
88546 He entered briskly, with a jerk at every step and his head
88547 slightly thrown back. His whole short corpulent figure with broad
88548 thick shoulders, and chest and stomach involuntarily protruding, had
88549 that imposing and stately appearance one sees in men of forty who live
88550 in comfort. It was evident, too, that he was in the best of spirits
88551 that day.
88552
88553 He nodded in answer to Balashav's low and respectful bow, and coming
88554 up to him at once began speaking like a man who values every moment of
88555 his time and does not condescend to prepare what he has to say but
88556 is sure he will always say the right thing and say it well.
88557
88558 "Good day, General!" said he. "I have received the letter you
88559 brought from the Emperor Alexander and am very glad to see you." He
88560 glanced with his large eyes into Balashav's face and immediately
88561 looked past him.
88562
88563 It was plain that Balashev's personality did not interest him at
88564 all. Evidently only what took place within his own mind interested
88565 him. Nothing outside himself had any significance for him, because
88566 everything in the world, it seemed to him, depended entirely on his
88567 will.
88568
88569 "I do not, and did not, desire war," he continued, "but it has
88570 been forced on me. Even now" (he emphasized the word) "I am ready to
88571 receive any explanations you can give me."
88572
88573 And he began clearly and concisely to explain his reasons for
88574 dissatisfaction with the Russian government. Judging by the calmly
88575 moderate and amicable tone in which the French Emperor spoke, Balashev
88576 was firmly persuaded that he wished for peace and intended to enter
88577 into negotiations.
88578
88579 When Napoleon, having finished speaking, looked inquiringly at the
88580 Russian envoy, Balashev began a speech he had prepared long before:
88581 "Sire! The Emperor, my master..." but the sight of the Emperor's
88582 eyes bent on him confused him. "You are flurried--compose yourself!"
88583 Napoleon seemed to say, as with a scarcely perceptible smile he looked
88584 at Balashev's uniform and sword.
88585
88586 Balashev recovered himself and began to speak. He said that the
88587 Emperor Alexander did not consider Kurakin's demand for his
88588 passports a sufficient cause for war; that Kurakin had acted on his
88589 own initiative and without his sovereign's assent, that the Emperor
88590 Alexander did not desire war, and had no relations with England.
88591
88592 "Not yet!" interposed Napoleon, and, as if fearing to give vent to
88593 his feelings, he frowned and nodded slightly as a sign that Balashev
88594 might proceed.
88595
88596 After saying all he had been instructed to say, Balashev added
88597 that the Emperor Alexander wished for peace, but would not enter
88598 into negotiations except on condition that... Here Balashev hesitated:
88599 he remembered the words the Emperor Alexander had not written in his
88600 letter, but had specially inserted in the rescript to Saltykov and had
88601 told Balashev to repeat to Napoleon. Balashev remembered these
88602 words, "So long as a single armed foe remains on Russian soil," but
88603 some complex feeling restrained him. He could not utter them, though
88604 he wished to do so. He grew confused and said: "On condition that
88605 the French army retires beyond the Niemen."
88606
88607 Napoleon noticed Balashev's embarrassment when uttering these last
88608 words; his face twitched and the calf of his left leg began to
88609 quiver rhythmically. Without moving from where he stood he began
88610 speaking in a louder tone and more hurriedly than before. During the
88611 speech that followed, Balashev, who more than once lowered his eyes,
88612 involuntarily noticed the quivering of Napoleon's left leg which
88613 increased the more Napoleon raised his voice.
88614
88615 "I desire peace, no less than the Emperor Alexander," he began.
88616 "Have I not for eighteen months been doing everything to obtain it?
88617 I have waited eighteen months for explanations. But in order to
88618 begin negotiations, what is demanded of me?" he said, frowning and
88619 making an energetic gesture of inquiry with his small white plump
88620 hand.
88621
88622 "The withdrawal of your army beyond the Niemen, sire," replied
88623 Balashev.
88624
88625 "The Niemen?" repeated Napoleon. "So now you want me to retire
88626 beyond the Niemen--only the Niemen?" repeated Napoleon, looking
88627 straight at Balashev.
88628
88629 The latter bowed his head respectfully.
88630
88631 Instead of the demand of four months earlier to withdraw from
88632 Pomerania, only a withdrawal beyond the Niemen was now demanded.
88633 Napoleon turned quickly and began to pace the room.
88634
88635 "You say the demand now is that I am to withdraw beyond the Niemen
88636 before commencing negotiations, but in just the same way two months
88637 ago the demand was that I should withdraw beyond the Vistula and the
88638 Oder, and yet you are willing to negotiate."
88639
88640 He went in silence from one corner of the room to the other and
88641 again stopped in front of Balashev. Balashev noticed that his left leg
88642 was quivering faster than before and his face seemed petrified in
88643 its stern expression. This quivering of his left leg was a thing
88644 Napoleon was conscious of. "The vibration of my left calf is a great
88645 sign with me," he remarked at a later date.
88646
88647 "Such demands as to retreat beyond the Vistula and Oder may be
88648 made to a Prince of Baden, but not to me!" Napoleon almost screamed,
88649 quite to his own surprise. "If you gave me Petersburg and Moscow I
88650 could not accept such conditions. You say I have begun this war! But
88651 who first joined his army? The Emperor Alexander, not I! And you offer
88652 me negotiations when I have expended millions, when you are in
88653 alliance with England, and when your position is a bad one. You
88654 offer me negotiations! But what is the aim of your alliance with
88655 England? What has she given you?" he continued hurriedly, evidently no
88656 longer trying to show the advantages of peace and discuss its
88657 possibility, but only to prove his own rectitude and power and
88658 Alexander's errors and duplicity.
88659
88660 The commencement of his speech had obviously been made with the
88661 intention of demonstrating the advantages of his position and
88662 showing that he was nevertheless willing to negotiate. But he had
88663 begun talking, and the more he talked the less could he control his
88664 words.
88665
88666 The whole purport of his remarks now was evidently to exalt
88667 himself and insult Alexander--just what he had least desired at the
88668 commencement of the interview.
88669
88670 "I hear you have made peace with Turkey?"
88671
88672 Balashev bowed his head affirmatively.
88673
88674 "Peace has been concluded..." he began.
88675
88676 But Napoleon did not let him speak. He evidently wanted to do all
88677 the talking himself, and continued to talk with the sort of
88678 eloquence and unrestrained irritability to which spoiled people are so
88679 prone.
88680
88681 "Yes, I know you have made peace with the Turks without obtaining
88682 Moldavia and Wallachia; I would have given your sovereign those
88683 provinces as I gave him Finland. Yes," he went on, "I promised and
88684 would have given the Emperor Alexander Moldavia and Wallachia, and now
88685 he won't have those splendid provinces. Yet he might have united
88686 them to his empire and in a single reign would have extended Russia
88687 from the Gulf of Bothnia to the mouths of the Danube. Catherine the
88688 Great could not have done more," said Napoleon, growing more and
88689 more excited as he paced up and down the room, repeating to Balashev
88690 almost the very words he had used to Alexander himself at Tilsit. "All
88691 that, he would have owed to my friendship. Oh, what a splendid reign!"
88692 he repeated several times, then paused, drew from his pocket a gold
88693 snuffbox, lifted it to his nose, and greedily sniffed at it.
88694
88695 "What a splendid reign the Emperor Alexander's might have been!"
88696
88697 He looked compassionately at Balashev, and as soon as the latter
88698 tried to make some rejoinder hastily interrupted him.
88699
88700 "What could he wish or look for that he would not have obtained
88701 through my friendship?" demanded Napoleon, shrugging his shoulders
88702 in perplexity. "But no, he has preferred to surround himself with my
88703 enemies, and with whom? With Steins, Armfeldts, Bennigsens, and
88704 Wintzingerodes! Stein, a traitor expelled from his own country;
88705 Armfeldt, a rake and an intriguer; Wintzingerode, a fugitive French
88706 subject; Bennigsen, rather more of a soldier than the others, but
88707 all the same an incompetent who was unable to do anything in 1807
88708 and who should awaken terrible memories in the Emperor Alexander's
88709 mind.... Granted that were they competent they might be made use
88710 of," continued Napoleon--hardly able to keep pace in words with the
88711 rush of thoughts that incessantly sprang up, proving how right and
88712 strong he was (in his perception the two were one and the same)-
88713 "but they are not even that! They are neither fit for war nor peace!
88714 Barclay is said to be the most capable of them all, but I cannot say
88715 so, judging by his first movements. And what are they doing, all these
88716 courtiers? Pfuel proposes, Armfeldt disputes, Bennigsen considers, and
88717 Barclay, called on to act, does not know what to decide on, and time
88718 passes bringing no result. Bagration alone is a military man. He's
88719 stupid, but he has experience, a quick eye, and resolution.... And
88720 what role is your young monarch playing in that monstrous crowd?
88721 They compromise him and throw on him the responsibility for all that
88722 happens. A sovereign should not be with the army unless he is a
88723 general!" said Napoleon, evidently uttering these words as a direct
88724 challenge to the Emperor. He knew how Alexander desired to be a
88725 military commander.
88726
88727 "The campaign began only a week ago, and you haven't even been
88728 able to defend Vilna. You are cut in two and have been driven out of
88729 the Polish provinces. Your army is grumbling."
88730
88731 "On the contrary, Your Majesty," said Balashev, hardly able to
88732 remember what had been said to him and following these verbal
88733 fireworks with difficulty, "the troops are burning with eagerness..."
88734
88735 "I know everything!" Napoleon interrupted him. "I know everything. I
88736 know the number of your battalions as exactly as I know my own. You
88737 have not two hundred thousand men, and I have three times that number.
88738 I give you my word of honor," said Napoleon, forgetting that his
88739 word of honor could carry no weight--"I give you my word of honor that
88740 I have five hundred and thirty thousand men this side of the
88741 Vistula. The Turks will be of no use to you; they are worth nothing
88742 and have shown it by making peace with you. As for the Swedes--it is
88743 their fate to be governed by mad kings. Their king was insane and they
88744 changed him for another--Bernadotte, who promptly went mad--for no
88745 Swede would ally himself with Russia unless he were mad."
88746
88747 Napoleon grinned maliciously and again raised his snuffbox to his
88748 nose.
88749
88750 Balashev knew how to reply to each of Napoleon's remarks, and
88751 would have done so; he continually made the gesture of a man wishing
88752 to say something, but Napoleon always interrupted him. To the
88753 alleged insanity of the Swedes, Balashev wished to reply that when
88754 Russia is on her side Sweden is practically an island: but Napoleon
88755 gave an angry exclamation to drown his voice. Napoleon was in that
88756 state of irritability in which a man has to talk, talk, and talk,
88757 merely to convince himself that he is in the right. Balashev began
88758 to feel uncomfortable: as envoy he feared to demean his dignity and
88759 felt the necessity of replying; but, as a man, he shrank before the
88760 transport of groundless wrath that had evidently seized Napoleon. He
88761 knew that none of the words now uttered by Napoleon had any
88762 significance, and that Napoleon himself would be ashamed of them
88763 when he came to his senses. Balashev stood with downcast eyes, looking
88764 at the movements of Napoleon's stout legs and trying to avoid
88765 meeting his eyes.
88766
88767 "But what do I care about your allies?" said Napoleon. "I have
88768 allies--the Poles. There are eighty thousand of them and they fight
88769 like lions. And there will be two hundred thousand of them."
88770
88771 And probably still more perturbed by the fact that he had uttered
88772 this obvious falsehood, and that Balashev still stood silently
88773 before him in the same attitude of submission to fate, Napoleon
88774 abruptly turned round, drew close to Balashev's face, and,
88775 gesticulating rapidly and energetically with his white hands, almost
88776 shouted:
88777
88778 "Know that if you stir up Prussia against me, I'll wipe it off the
88779 map of Europe!" he declared, his face pale and distorted by anger, and
88780 he struck one of his small hands energetically with the other. "Yes, I
88781 will throw you back beyond the Dvina and beyond the Dnieper, and
88782 will re-erect against you that barrier which it was criminal and blind
88783 of Europe to allow to be destroyed. Yes, that is what will happen to
88784 you. That is what you have gained by alienating me!" And he walked
88785 silently several times up and down the room, his fat shoulders
88786 twitching.
88787
88788 He put his snuffbox into his waistcoat pocket, took it out again,
88789 lifted it several times to his nose, and stopped in front of Balashev.
88790 He paused, looked ironically straight into Balashev's eyes, and said
88791 in a quiet voice:
88792
88793 "And yet what a splendid reign your master might have had!"
88794
88795 Balashev, feeling it incumbent on him to reply, said that from the
88796 Russian side things did not appear in so gloomy a light. Napoleon
88797 was silent, still looking derisively at him and evidently not
88798 listening to him. Balashev said that in Russia the best results were
88799 expected from the war. Napoleon nodded condescendingly, as if to
88800 say, "I know it's your duty to say that, but you don't believe it
88801 yourself. I have convinced you."
88802
88803 When Balashev had ended, Napoleon again took out his snuffbox,
88804 sniffed at it, and stamped his foot twice on the floor as a signal.
88805 The door opened, a gentleman-in-waiting, bending respectfully,
88806 handed the Emperor his hat and gloves; another brought him a pocket
88807 handkerchief. Napoleon, without giving them a glance, turned to
88808 Balashev:
88809
88810 "Assure the Emperor Alexander from me," said he, taking his hat,
88811 "that I am as devoted to him as before: I know him thoroughly and very
88812 highly esteem his lofty qualities. I will detain you no longer,
88813 General; you shall receive my letter to the Emperor."
88814
88815 And Napoleon went quickly to the door. Everyone in the reception
88816 room rushed forward and descended the staircase.
88817
88818
88819
88820
88821
88822 CHAPTER VII
88823
88824
88825 After all that Napoleon had said to him--those bursts of anger and
88826 the last dryly spoken words: "I will detain you no longer, General;
88827 you shall receive my letter," Balashev felt convinced that Napoleon
88828 would not wish to see him, and would even avoid another meeting with
88829 him--an insulted envoy--especially as he had witnessed his unseemly
88830 anger. But, to his surprise, Balashev received, through Duroc, an
88831 invitation to dine with the Emperor that day.
88832
88833 Bessieres, Caulaincourt, and Berthier were present at that dinner.
88834
88835 Napoleon met Balashev cheerfully and amiably. He not only showed
88836 no sign of constraint or self-reproach on account of his outburst that
88837 morning, but, on the contrary, tried to reassure Balashev. It was
88838 evident that he had long been convinced that it was impossible for him
88839 to make a mistake, and that in his perception whatever he did was
88840 right, not because it harmonized with any idea of right and wrong, but
88841 because he did it.
88842
88843 The Emperor was in very good spirits after his ride through Vilna,
88844 where crowds of people had rapturously greeted and followed him.
88845 From all the windows of the streets through which he rode, rugs,
88846 flags, and his monogram were displayed, and the Polish ladies,
88847 welcoming him, waved their handkerchiefs to him.
88848
88849 At dinner, having placed Balashev beside him, Napoleon not only
88850 treated him amiably but behaved as if Balashev were one of his own
88851 courtiers, one of those who sympathized with his plans and ought to
88852 rejoice at his success. In the course of conversation he mentioned
88853 Moscow and questioned Balashev about the Russian capital, not merely
88854 as an interested traveler asks about a new city he intends to visit,
88855 but as if convinced that Balashev, as a Russian, must be flattered
88856 by his curiosity.
88857
88858 "How many inhabitants are there in Moscow? How many houses? Is it
88859 true that Moscow is called 'Holy Moscow'? How many churches are
88860 there in Moscow?" he asked.
88861
88862 And receiving the reply that there were more than two hundred
88863 churches, he remarked:
88864
88865 "Why such a quantity of churches?"
88866
88867 "The Russians are very devout," replied Balashev.
88868
88869 "But a large number of monasteries and churches is always a sign
88870 of the backwardness of a people," said Napoleon, turning to
88871 Caulaincourt for appreciation of this remark.
88872
88873 Balashev respectfully ventured to disagree with the French Emperor.
88874
88875 "Every country has its own character," said he.
88876
88877 "But nowhere in Europe is there anything like that," said Napoleon.
88878
88879 "I beg your Majesty's pardon," returned Balashev, "besides Russia
88880 there is Spain, where there are also many churches and monasteries."
88881
88882 This reply of Balashev's, which hinted at the recent defeats of
88883 the French in Spain, was much appreciated when he related it at
88884 Alexander's court, but it was not much appreciated at Napoleon's
88885 dinner, where it passed unnoticed.
88886
88887 The uninterested and perplexed faces of the marshals showed that
88888 they were puzzled as to what Balashev's tone suggested. "If there is a
88889 point we don't see it, or it is not at all witty," their expressions
88890 seemed to say. So little was his rejoinder appreciated that Napoleon
88891 did not notice it at all and naively asked Balashev through what towns
88892 the direct road from there to Moscow passed. Balashev, who was on
88893 the alert all through the dinner, replied that just as "all roads lead
88894 to Rome," so all roads lead to Moscow: there were many roads, and
88895 "among them the road through Poltava, which Charles XII chose."
88896 Balashev involuntarily flushed with pleasure at the aptitude of this
88897 reply, but hardly had he uttered the word Poltava before
88898 Caulaincourt began speaking of the badness of the road from Petersburg
88899 to Moscow and of his Petersburg reminiscences.
88900
88901 After dinner they went to drink coffee in Napoleon's study, which
88902 four days previously had been that of the Emperor Alexander.
88903 Napoleon sat down, toying with his Sevres coffee cup, and motioned
88904 Balashev to a chair beside him.
88905
88906 Napoleon was in that well-known after-dinner mood which, more than
88907 any reasoned cause, makes a man contented with himself and disposed to
88908 consider everyone his friend. It seemed to him that he was
88909 surrounded by men who adored him: and he felt convinced that, after
88910 his dinner, Balashev too was his friend and worshiper. Napoleon turned
88911 to him with a pleasant, though slightly ironic, smile.
88912
88913 "They tell me this is the room the Emperor Alexander occupied?
88914 Strange, isn't it, General?" he said, evidently not doubting that this
88915 remark would be agreeable to his hearer since it went to prove his,
88916 Napoleon's, superiority to Alexander.
88917
88918 Balashev made no reply and bowed his head in silence.
88919
88920 "Yes. Four days ago in this room, Wintzingerode and Stein were
88921 deliberating," continued Napoleon with the same derisive and
88922 self-confident smile. "What I can't understand," he went on, "is
88923 that the Emperor Alexander has surrounded himself with my personal
88924 enemies. That I do not... understand. Has he not thought that I may
88925 the same?" and he turned inquiringly to Balashev, and evidently this
88926 thought turned him back on to the track of his morning's anger,
88927 which was still fresh in him.
88928
88929 "And let him know that I will do so!" said Napoleon, rising and
88930 pushing his cup away with his hand. "I'll drive all his Wurttemberg,
88931 Baden, and Weimar relations out of Germany.... Yes. I'll drive them
88932 out. Let him prepare an asylum for them in Russia!"
88933
88934 Balashev bowed his head with an air indicating that he would like to
88935 make his bow and leave, and only listened because he could not help
88936 hearing what was said to him. Napoleon did not notice this expression;
88937 he treated Balashev not as an envoy from his enemy, but as a man now
88938 fully devoted to him and who must rejoice at his former master's
88939 humiliation.
88940
88941 "And why has the Emperor Alexander taken command of the armies? What
88942 is the good of that? War is my profession, but his business is to
88943 reign and not to command armies! Why has he taken on himself such a
88944 responsibility?"
88945
88946 Again Napoleon brought out his snuffbox, paced several times up
88947 and down the room in silence, and then, suddenly and unexpectedly,
88948 went up to Balashev and with a slight smile, as confidently,
88949 quickly, and simply as if he were doing something not merely
88950 important but pleasing to Balashev, he raised his hand to the
88951 forty-year-old Russian general's face and, taking him by the ear,
88952 pulled it gently, smiling with his lips only.
88953
88954 To have one's ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the
88955 greatest honor and mark of favor at the French court.
88956
88957 "Well, adorer and courtier of the Emperor Alexander, why don't you
88958 say anything?" said he, as if it was ridiculous, in his presence, to
88959 be the adorer and courtier of anyone but himself, Napoleon. "Are the
88960 horses ready for the general?" he added, with a slight inclination
88961 of his head in reply to Balashev's bow. "Let him have mine, he has a
88962 long way to go!"
88963
88964 The letter taken by Balashev was the last Napoleon sent to
88965 Alexander. Every detail of the interview was communicated to the
88966 Russian monarch, and the war began...
88967
88968
88969
88970
88971
88972 CHAPTER VIII
88973
88974
88975 After his interview with Pierre in Moscow, Prince Andrew went to
88976 Petersburg, on business as he told his family, but really to meet
88977 Anatole Kuragin whom he felt it necessary to encounter. On reaching
88978 Petersburg he inquired for Kuragin but the latter had already left the
88979 city. Pierre had warned his brother-in-law that Prince Andrew was on
88980 his track. Anatole Kuragin promptly obtained an appointment from the
88981 Minister of War and went to join the army in Moldavia. While in
88982 Petersburg Prince Andrew met Kutuzov, his former commander who was
88983 always well disposed toward him, and Kutuzov suggested that he
88984 should accompany him to the army in Moldavia, to which the old general
88985 had been appointed commander in chief. So Prince Andrew, having
88986 received an appointment on the headquarters staff, left for Turkey.
88987
88988 Prince Andrew did not think it proper to write and challenge
88989 Kuragin. He thought that if he challenged him without some fresh cause
88990 it might compromise the young Countess Rostova and so he wanted to
88991 meet Kuragin personally in order to find a fresh pretext for a duel.
88992 But he again failed to meet Kuragin in Turkey, for soon after Prince
88993 Andrew arrived, the latter returned to Russia. In a new country,
88994 amid new conditions, Prince Andrew found life easier to bear. After
88995 his betrothed had broken faith with him--which he felt the more
88996 acutely the more he tried to conceal its effects--the surroundings
88997 in which he had been happy became trying to him, and the freedom and
88998 independence he had once prized so highly were still more so. Not only
88999 could he no longer think the thoughts that had first come to him as he
89000 lay gazing at the sky on the field of Austerlitz and had later
89001 enlarged upon with Pierre, and which had filled his solitude at
89002 Bogucharovo and then in Switzerland and Rome, but he even dreaded to
89003 recall them and the bright and boundless horizons they had
89004 revealed. He was now concerned only with the nearest practical matters
89005 unrelated to his past interests, and he seized on these the more
89006 eagerly the more those past interests were closed to him. It was as if
89007 that lofty, infinite canopy of heaven that had once towered above
89008 him had suddenly turned into a low, solid vault that weighed him down,
89009 in which all was clear, but nothing eternal or mysterious.
89010
89011 Of the activities that presented themselves to him, army service was
89012 the simplest and most familiar. As a general on duty on Kutuzov's
89013 staff, he applied himself to business with zeal and perseverance and
89014 surprised Kutuzov by his willingness and accuracy in work. Not
89015 having found Kuragin in Turkey, Prince Andrew did not think it
89016 necessary to rush back to Russia after him, but all the same he knew
89017 that however long it might be before he met Kuragin, despite his
89018 contempt for him and despite all the proofs he deduced to convince
89019 himself that it was not worth stooping to a conflict with him--he knew
89020 that when he did meet him he would not be able to resist calling him
89021 out, any more than a ravenous man can help snatching at food. And
89022 the consciousness that the insult was not yet avenged, that his rancor
89023 was still unspent, weighed on his heart and poisoned the artificial
89024 tranquillity which he managed to obtain in Turkey by means of
89025 restless, plodding, and rather vainglorious and ambitious activity.
89026
89027 In the year 1812, when news of the war with Napoleon reached
89028 Bucharest--where Kutuzov had been living for two months, passing his
89029 days and nights with a Wallachian woman--Prince Andrew asked Kutuzov
89030 to transfer him to the Western Army. Kutuzov, who was already weary of
89031 Bolkonski's activity which seemed to reproach his own idleness, very
89032 readily let him go and gave him a mission to Barclay de Tolly.
89033
89034 Before joining the Western Army which was then, in May, encamped
89035 at Drissa, Prince Andrew visited Bald Hills which was directly on
89036 his way, being only two miles off the Smolensk highroad. During the
89037 last three years there had been so many changes in his life, he had
89038 thought, felt, and seen so much (having traveled both in the east
89039 and the west), that on reaching Bald Hills it struck him as strange
89040 and unexpected to find the way of life there unchanged and still the
89041 same in every detail. He entered through the gates with their stone
89042 pillars and drove up the avenue leading to the house as if he were
89043 entering an enchanted, sleeping castle. The same old stateliness,
89044 the same cleanliness, the same stillness reigned there, and inside
89045 there was the same furniture, the same walls, sounds, and smell, and
89046 the same timid faces, only somewhat older. Princess Mary was still the
89047 same timid, plain maiden getting on in years, uselessly and
89048 joylessly passing the best years of her life in fear and constant
89049 suffering. Mademoiselle Bourienne was the same coquettish,
89050 self-satisfied girl, enjoying every moment of her existence and full
89051 of joyous hopes for the future. She had merely become more
89052 self-confident, Prince Andrew thought. Dessalles, the tutor he had
89053 brought from Switzerland, was wearing a coat of Russian cut and
89054 talking broken Russian to the servants, but was still the same
89055 narrowly intelligent, conscientious, and pedantic preceptor. The old
89056 prince had changed in appearance only by the loss of a tooth, which
89057 left a noticeable gap on one side of his mouth; in character he was
89058 the same as ever, only showing still more irritability and
89059 skepticism as to what was happening in the world. Little Nicholas
89060 alone had changed. He had grown, become rosier, had curly dark hair,
89061 and, when merry and laughing, quite unconsciously lifted the upper lip
89062 of his pretty little mouth just as the little princess used to do.
89063 He alone did not obey the law of immutability in the enchanted,
89064 sleeping castle. But though externally all remained as of old, the
89065 inner relations of all these people had changed since Prince Andrew
89066 had seen them last. The household was divided into two alien and
89067 hostile camps, who changed their habits for his sake and only met
89068 because he was there. To the one camp belonged the old prince,
89069 Madmoiselle Bourienne, and the architect; to the other Princess
89070 Mary, Dessalles, little Nicholas, and all the old nurses and maids.
89071
89072 During his stay at Bald Hills all the family dined together, but
89073 they were ill at ease and Prince Andrew felt that he was a visitor for
89074 whose sake an exception was being made and that his presence made them
89075 all feel awkward. Involuntarily feeling this at dinner on the first
89076 day, he was taciturn, and the old prince noticing this also became
89077 morosely dumb and retired to his apartments directly after dinner.
89078 In the evening, when Prince Andrew went to him and, trying to rouse
89079 him, began to tell him of the young Count Kamensky's campaign, the old
89080 prince began unexpectedly to talk about Princess Mary, blaming her for
89081 her superstitions and her dislike of Mademoiselle Bourienne, who, he
89082 said, was the only person really attached to him.
89083
89084 The old prince said that if he was ill it was only because of
89085 Princess Mary: that she purposely worried and irritated him, and
89086 that by indulgence and silly talk she was spoiling little Prince
89087 Nicholas. The old prince knew very well that he tormented his daughter
89088 and that her life was very hard, but he also knew that he could not
89089 help tormenting her and that she deserved it. "Why does Prince Andrew,
89090 who sees this, say nothing to me about his sister? Does he think me
89091 a scoundrel, or an old fool who, without any reason, keeps his own
89092 daughter at a distance and attaches this Frenchwoman to himself? He
89093 doesn't understand, so I must explain it, and he must hear me out,"
89094 thought the old prince. And he began explaining why he could not put
89095 up with his daughter's unreasonable character.
89096
89097 "If you ask me," said Prince Andrew, without looking up (he was
89098 censuring his father for the first time in his life), "I did not
89099 wish to speak about it, but as you ask me I will give you my frank
89100 opinion. If there is any misunderstanding and discord between you
89101 and Mary, I can't blame her for it at all. I know how she loves and
89102 respects you. Since you ask me," continued Prince Andrew, becoming
89103 irritable--as he was always liable to do of late--"I can only say that
89104 if there are any misunderstandings they are caused by that worthless
89105 woman, who is not fit to be my sister's companion."
89106
89107 The old man at first stared fixedly at his son, and an unnatural
89108 smile disclosed the fresh gap between his teeth to which Prince Andrew
89109 could not get accustomed.
89110
89111 "What companion, my dear boy? Eh? You've already been talking it
89112 over! Eh?"
89113
89114 "Father, I did not want to judge," said Prince Andrew, in a hard and
89115 bitter tone, "but you challenged me, and I have said, and always shall
89116 say, that Mary is not to blame, but those to blame--the one to
89117 blame--is that Frenchwoman."
89118
89119 "Ah, he has passed judgment... passed judgement!" said the old man
89120 in a low voice and, as it seemed to Prince Andrew, with some
89121 embarrassment, but then he suddenly jumped up and cried: "Be off, be
89122 off! Let not a trace of you remain here!..."
89123
89124
89125 Prince Andrew wished to leave at once, but Princess Mary persuaded
89126 him to stay another day. That day he did not see his father, who did
89127 not leave his room and admitted no one but Mademoiselle Bourienne
89128 and Tikhon, but asked several times whether his son had gone. Next
89129 day, before leaving, Prince Andrew went to his son's rooms. The boy,
89130 curly-headed like his mother and glowing with health, sat on his knee,
89131 and Prince Andrew began telling him the story of Bluebeard, but fell
89132 into a reverie without finishing the story. He thought not of this
89133 pretty child, his son whom he held on his knee, but of himself. He
89134 sought in himself either remorse for having angered his father or
89135 regret at leaving home for the first time in his life on bad terms
89136 with him, and was horrified to find neither. What meant still more
89137 to him was that he sought and did not find in himself the former
89138 tenderness for his son which he had hoped to reawaken by caressing the
89139 boy and taking him on his knee.
89140
89141 "Well, go on!" said his son.
89142
89143 Prince Andrew, without replying, put him down from his knee and went
89144 out of the room.
89145
89146 As soon as Prince Andrew had given up his daily occupations, and
89147 especially on returning to the old conditions of life amid which he
89148 had been happy, weariness of life overcame him with its former
89149 intensity, and he hastened to escape from these memories and to find
89150 some work as soon as possible.
89151
89152 "So you've decided to go, Andrew?" asked his sister.
89153
89154 "Thank God that I can," replied Prince Andrew. "I am very sorry
89155 you can't."
89156
89157 "Why do you say that?" replied Princess Mary. "Why do you say
89158 that, when you are going to this terrible war, and he is so old?
89159 Mademoiselle Bourienne says he has been asking about you...."
89160
89161 As soon as she began to speak of that, her lips trembled and her
89162 tears began to fall. Prince Andrew turned away and began pacing the
89163 room.
89164
89165 "Ah, my God! my God! When one thinks who and what--what trash--can
89166 cause people misery!" he said with a malignity that alarmed Princess
89167 Mary.
89168
89169 She understood that when speaking of "trash" he referred not only to
89170 Mademoiselle Bourienne, the cause of her misery, but also to the man
89171 who had ruined his own happiness.
89172
89173 "Andrew! One thing I beg, I entreat of you!" she said, touching
89174 his elbow and looking at him with eyes that shone through her tears.
89175 "I understand you" (she looked down). "Don't imagine that sorrow is
89176 the work of men. Men are His tools." She looked a little above
89177 Prince Andrew's head with the confident, accustomed look with which
89178 one looks at the place where a familiar portrait hangs. "Sorrow is
89179 sent by Him, not by men. Men are His instruments, they are not to
89180 blame. If you think someone has wronged you, forget it and forgive! We
89181 have no right to punish. And then you will know the happiness of
89182 forgiving."
89183
89184 "If I were a woman I would do so, Mary. That is a woman's virtue.
89185 But a man should not and cannot forgive and forget," he replied, and
89186 though till that moment he had not been thinking of Kuragin, all his
89187 unexpended anger suddenly swelled up in his heart.
89188
89189 "If Mary is already persuading me forgive, it means that I ought
89190 long ago to have punished him," he thought. And giving her no
89191 further reply, he began thinking of the glad vindictive moment when he
89192 would meet Kuragin who he knew was now in the army.
89193
89194 Princess Mary begged him to stay one day more, saying that she
89195 knew how unhappy her father would be if Andrew left without being
89196 reconciled to him, but Prince Andrew replied that he would probably
89197 soon be back again from the army and would certainly write to his
89198 father, but that the longer he stayed now the more embittered their
89199 differences would become.
89200
89201 "Good-by, Andrew! Remember that misfortunes come from God, and men
89202 are never to blame," were the last words he heard from his sister when
89203 he took leave of her.
89204
89205 "Then it must be so!" thought Prince Andrew as he drove out of the
89206 avenue from the house at Bald Hills. "She, poor innocent creature,
89207 is left to be victimized by an old man who has outlived his wits.
89208 The old man feels he is guilty, but cannot change himself. My boy is
89209 growing up and rejoices in life, in which like everybody else he
89210 will deceive or be deceived. And I am off to the army. Why? I myself
89211 don't know. I want to meet that man whom I despise, so as to give
89212 him a chance to kill and laugh at me!"
89213
89214 These conditions of life had been the same before, but then they
89215 were all connected, while now they had all tumbled to pieces. Only
89216 senseless things, lacking coherence, presented themselves one after
89217 another to Prince Andrew's mind.
89218
89219
89220
89221
89222
89223 CHAPTER IX
89224
89225
89226 Prince Andrew reached the general headquarters of the army at the
89227 end of June. The first army, with which was the Emperor, occupied
89228 the fortified camp at Drissa; the second army was retreating, trying
89229 to effect a junction with the first one from which it was said to be
89230 cut off by large French forces. Everyone was dissatisfied with the
89231 general course of affairs in the Russian army, but no one
89232 anticipated any danger of invasion of the Russian provinces, and no
89233 one thought the war would extend farther than the western, the Polish,
89234 provinces.
89235
89236 Prince Andrew found Barclay de Tolly, to whom he had been
89237 assigned, on the bank of the Drissa. As there was not a single town or
89238 large village in the vicinity of the camp, the immense number of
89239 generals and courtiers accompanying the army were living in the best
89240 houses of the villages on both sides of the river, over a radius of
89241 six miles. Barclay de Tolly was quartered nearly three miles from
89242 the Emperor. He received Bolkonski stiffly and coldly and told him
89243 in his foreign accent that he would mention him to the Emperor for a
89244 decision as to his employment, but asked him meanwhile to remain on
89245 his staff. Anatole Kuragin, whom Prince Andrew had hoped to find
89246 with the army, was not there. He had gone to Petersburg, but Prince
89247 Andrew was glad to hear this. His mind was occupied by the interests
89248 of the center that was conducting a gigantic war, and he was glad to
89249 be free for a while from the distraction caused by the thought of
89250 Kuragin. During the first four days, while no duties were required
89251 of him, Prince Andrew rode round the whole fortified camp and, by
89252 the aid of his own knowledge and by talks with experts, tried to
89253 form a definite opinion about it. But the question whether the camp
89254 was advantageous or disadvantageous remained for him undecided.
89255 Already from his military experience and what he had seen in the
89256 Austrian campaign, he had come to the conclusion that in war the
89257 most deeply considered plans have no significance and that all depends
89258 on the way unexpected movements of the enemy--that cannot be foreseen-
89259 are met, and on how and by whom the whole matter is handled. To
89260 clear up this last point for himself, Prince Andrew, utilizing his
89261 position and acquaintances, tried to fathom the character of the
89262 control of the army and of the men and parties engaged in it, and he
89263 deduced for himself the following of the state of affairs.
89264
89265 While the Emperor had still been at Vilna, the forces had been
89266 divided into three armies. First, the army under Barclay de Tolly,
89267 secondly, the army under Bagration, and thirdly, the one commanded
89268 by Tormasov. The Emperor was with the first army, but not as commander
89269 in chief. In the orders issued it was stated, not that the Emperor
89270 would take command, but only that he would be with the army. The
89271 Emperor, moreover, had with him not a commander in chief's staff but
89272 the imperial headquarters staff. In attendance on him was the head
89273 of the imperial staff, Quartermaster General Prince Volkonski, as well
89274 as generals, imperial aides-de-camp, diplomatic officials, and a large
89275 number of foreigners, but not the army staff. Besides these, there
89276 were in attendance on the Emperor without any definite appointments:
89277 Arakcheev, the ex-Minister of War; Count Bennigsen, the senior general
89278 in rank; the Grand Duke Tsarevich Constantine Pavlovich; Count
89279 Rumyantsev, the Chancellor; Stein, a former Prussian minister;
89280 Armfeldt, a Swedish general; Pfuel, the chief author of the plan of
89281 campaign; Paulucci, an adjutant general and Sardinian emigre;
89282 Wolzogen--and many others. Though these men had no military
89283 appointment in the army, their position gave them influence, and often
89284 a corps commander, or even the commander in chief, did not know in
89285 what capacity he was questioned by Bennigsen, the Grand Duke,
89286 Arakcheev, or Prince Volkonski, or was given this or that advice and
89287 did not know whether a certain order received in the form of advice
89288 emanated from the man who gave it or from the Emperor and whether it
89289 had to be executed or not. But this was only the external condition;
89290 the essential significance of the presence of the Emperor and of all
89291 these people, from a courtier's point of view (and in an Emperor's
89292 vicinity all became courtiers), was clear to everyone. It was this:
89293 the Emperor did not assume the title of commander in chief, but
89294 disposed of all the armies; the men around him were his assistants.
89295 Arakcheev was a faithful custodian to enforce order and acted as the
89296 sovereign's bodyguard. Bennigsen was a landlord in the Vilna
89297 province who appeared to be doing the honors of the district, but
89298 was in reality a good general, useful as an adviser and ready at
89299 hand to replace Barclay. The Grand Duke was there because it suited
89300 him to be. The ex-Minister Stein was there because his advice was
89301 useful and the Emperor Alexander held him in high esteem personally.
89302 Armfeldt virulently hated Napoleon and was a general full of
89303 self-confidence, a quality that always influenced Alexander.
89304 Paulucci was there because he was bold and decided in speech. The
89305 adjutants general were there because they always accompanied the
89306 Emperor, and lastly and chiefly Pfuel was there because he had drawn
89307 up the plan of campaign against Napoleon and, having induced Alexander
89308 to believe in the efficacy of that plan, was directing the whole
89309 business of the war. With Pfuel was Wolzogen, who expressed Pfuel's
89310 thoughts in a more comprehensible way than Pfuel himself (who was a
89311 harsh, bookish theorist, self-confident to the point of despising
89312 everyone else) was able to do.
89313
89314 Besides these Russians and foreigners who propounded new and
89315 unexpected ideas every day--especially the foreigners, who did so with
89316 a boldness characteristic of people employed in a country not their
89317 own--there were many secondary personages accompanying the army
89318 because their principals were there.
89319
89320 Among the opinions and voices in this immense, restless,
89321 brilliant, and proud sphere, Prince Andrew noticed the following
89322 sharply defined subdivisions of and parties:
89323
89324 The first party consisted of Pfuel and his adherents--military
89325 theorists who believed in a science of war with immutable laws--laws
89326 of oblique movements, outflankings, and so forth. Pfuel and his
89327 adherents demanded a retirement into the depths of the country in
89328 accordance with precise laws defined by a pseudo-theory of war, and
89329 they saw only barbarism, ignorance, or evil intention in every
89330 deviation from that theory. To this party belonged the foreign nobles,
89331 Wolzogen, Wintzingerode, and others, chiefly Germans.
89332
89333 The second party was directly opposed to the first; one extreme,
89334 as always happens, was met by representatives of the other. The
89335 members of this party were those who had demanded an advance from
89336 Vilna into Poland and freedom from all prearranged plans. Besides
89337 being advocates of bold action, this section also represented
89338 nationalism, which made them still more one-sided in the dispute. They
89339 were Russians: Bagration, Ermolov (who was beginning to come to the
89340 front), and others. At that time a famous joke of Ermolov's was
89341 being circulated, that as a great favor he had petitioned the
89342 Emperor to make him a German. The men of that party, remembering
89343 Suvorov, said that what one had to do was not to reason, or stick pins
89344 into maps, but to fight, beat the enemy, keep him out of Russia, and
89345 not let the army get discouraged.
89346
89347 To the third party--in which the Emperor had most confidence-
89348 belonged the courtiers who tried to arrange compromises between the
89349 other two. The members of this party, chiefly civilians and to whom
89350 Arakcheev belonged, thought and said what men who have no
89351 convictions but wish to seem to have some generally say. They said
89352 that undoubtedly war, particularly against such a genius as
89353 Bonaparte (they called him Bonaparte now), needs most deeply devised
89354 plans and profound scientific knowledge and in that respect Pfuel
89355 was a genius, but at the same time it had to be acknowledged that
89356 the theorists are often one sided, and therefore one should not
89357 trust them absolutely, but should also listen to what Pfuel's
89358 opponents and practical men of experience in warfare had to say, and
89359 then choose a middle course. They insisted on the retention of the
89360 camp at Drissa, according to Pfuel's plan, but on changing the
89361 movements of the other armies. Though, by this course, neither one aim
89362 nor the other could be attained, yet it seemed best to the adherents
89363 of this third party.
89364
89365 Of a fourth opinion the most conspicuous representative was the
89366 Tsarevich, who could not forget his disillusionment at Austerlitz,
89367 where he had ridden out at the head of the Guards, in his casque and
89368 cavalry uniform as to a review, expecting to crush the French
89369 gallantly; but unexpectedly finding himself in the front line had
89370 narrowly escaped amid the general confusion. The men of this party had
89371 both the quality and the defect of frankness in their opinions. They
89372 feared Napoleon, recognized his strength and their own weakness, and
89373 frankly said so. They said: "Nothing but sorrow, shame, and ruin
89374 will come of all this! We have abandoned Vilna and Vitebsk and shall
89375 abandon Drissa. The only reasonable thing left to do is to conclude
89376 peace as soon as possible, before we are turned out of Petersburg."
89377
89378 This view was very general in the upper army circles and found
89379 support also in Petersburg and from the chancellor, Rumyantsev, who,
89380 for other reasons of state, was in favor of peace.
89381
89382 The fifth party consisted of those who were adherents of Barclay
89383 de Tolly, not so much as a man but as minister of war and commander in
89384 chief. "Be he what he may" (they always began like that), "he is an
89385 honest, practical man and we have nobody better. Give him real
89386 power, for war cannot be conducted successfully without unity of
89387 command, and he will show what he can do, as he did in Finland. If our
89388 army is well organized and strong and has withdrawn to Drissa
89389 without suffering any defeats, we owe this entirely to Barclay. If
89390 Barclay is now to be superseded by Bennigsen all will be lost, for
89391 Bennigsen showed his incapacity already in 1807."
89392
89393 The sixth party, the Bennigsenites, said, on the contrary, that at
89394 any rate there was no one more active and experienced than
89395 Bennigsen: "and twist about as you may, you will have to come to
89396 Bennigsen eventually. Let the others make mistakes now!" said they,
89397 arguing that our retirement to Drissa was a most shameful reverse
89398 and an unbroken series of blunders. "The more mistakes that are made
89399 the better. It will at any rate be understood all the sooner that
89400 things cannot go on like this. What is wanted is not some Barclay or
89401 other, but a man like Bennigsen, who made his mark in 1807, and to
89402 whom Napoleon himself did justice--a man whose authority would be
89403 willingly recognized, and Bennigsen is the only such man."
89404
89405 The seventh party consisted of the sort of people who are always
89406 to be found, especially around young sovereigns, and of whom there
89407 were particularly many round Alexander--generals and imperial
89408 aides-de-camp passionately devoted to the Emperor, not merely as a
89409 monarch but as a man, adoring him sincerely and disinterestedly, as
89410 Rostov had done in 1805, and who saw in him not only all the virtues
89411 but all human capabilities as well. These men, though enchanted with
89412 the sovereign for refusing the command of the army, yet blamed him for
89413 such excessive modesty, and only desired and insisted that their
89414 adored sovereign should abandon his diffidence and openly announce
89415 that he would place himself at the head of the army, gather round
89416 him a commander in chief's staff, and, consulting experienced
89417 theoreticians and practical men where necessary, would himself lead
89418 the troops, whose spirits would thereby be raised to the highest
89419 pitch.
89420
89421 The eighth and largest group, which in its enormous numbers was to
89422 the others as ninety-nine to one, consisted of men who desired neither
89423 peace nor war, neither an advance nor a defensive camp at the Drissa
89424 or anywhere else, neither Barclay nor the Emperor, neither Pfuel nor
89425 Bennigsen, but only the one most essential thing--as much advantage
89426 and pleasure for themselves as possible. In the troubled waters of
89427 conflicting and intersecting intrigues that eddied about the Emperor's
89428 headquarters, it was possible to succeed in many ways unthinkable at
89429 other times. A man who simply wished to retain his lucrative post
89430 would today agree with Pfuel, tomorrow with his opponent, and the
89431 day after, merely to avoid responsibility or to please the Emperor,
89432 would declare that he had no opinion at all on the matter. Another who
89433 wished to gain some advantage would attract the Emperor's attention by
89434 loudly advocating the very thing the Emperor had hinted at the day
89435 before, and would dispute and shout at the council, beating his breast
89436 and challenging those who did not agree with him to duels, thereby
89437 proving that he was prepared to sacrifice himself for the common good.
89438 A third, in the absence of opponents, between two councils would
89439 simply solicit a special gratuity for his faithful services, well
89440 knowing that at that moment people would be too busy to refuse him.
89441 A fourth while seemingly overwhelmed with work would often come
89442 accidentally under the Emperor's eye. A fifth, to achieve his
89443 long-cherished aim of dining with the Emperor, would stubbornly insist
89444 on the correctness or falsity of some newly emerging opinion and for
89445 this object would produce arguments more or less forcible and correct.
89446
89447 All the men of this party were fishing for rubles, decorations,
89448 and promotions, and in this pursuit watched only the weathercock of
89449 imperial favor, and directly they noticed it turning in any direction,
89450 this whole drone population of the army began blowing hard that way,
89451 so that it was all the harder for the Emperor to turn it elsewhere.
89452 Amid the uncertainties of the position, with the menace of serious
89453 danger giving a peculiarly threatening character to everything, amid
89454 this vortex of intrigue, egotism, conflict of views and feelings,
89455 and the diversity of race among these people--this eighth and
89456 largest party of those preoccupied with personal interests imparted
89457 great confusion and obscurity to the common task. Whatever question
89458 arose, a swarm of these drones, without having finished their
89459 buzzing on a previous theme, flew over to the new one and by their hum
89460 drowned and obscured the voices of those who were disputing honestly.
89461
89462 From among all these parties, just at the time Prince Andrew reached
89463 the army, another, a ninth party, was being formed and was beginning
89464 to raise its voice. This was the party of the elders, reasonable men
89465 experienced and capable in state affairs, who, without sharing any
89466 of those conflicting opinions, were able to take a detached view of
89467 what was going on at the staff at headquarters and to consider means
89468 of escape from this muddle, indecision, intricacy, and weakness.
89469
89470 The men of this party said and thought that what was wrong
89471 resulted chiefly from the Emperor's presence in the army with his
89472 military court and from the consequent presence there of an
89473 indefinite, conditional, and unsteady fluctuation of relations,
89474 which is in place at court but harmful in an army; that a sovereign
89475 should reign but not command the army, and that the only way out of
89476 the position would be for the Emperor and his court to leave the army;
89477 that the mere presence of the Emperor paralyzed the action of fifty
89478 thousand men required to secure his personal safety, and that the
89479 worst commander in chief if independent would be better than the
89480 very best one trammeled by the presence and authority of the monarch.
89481
89482 Just at the time Prince Andrew was living unoccupied at Drissa,
89483 Shishkov, the Secretary of State and one of the chief
89484 representatives of this party, wrote a letter to the Emperor which
89485 Arakcheev and Balashev agreed to sign. In this letter, availing
89486 himself of permission given him by the Emperor to discuss the
89487 general course of affairs, he respectfully suggested--on the plea that
89488 it was necessary for the sovereign to arouse a warlike spirit in the
89489 people of the capital--that the Emperor should leave the army.
89490
89491 That arousing of the people by their sovereign and his call to
89492 them to defend their country--the very incitement which was the
89493 chief cause of Russia's triumph in so far as it was produced by the
89494 Tsar's personal presence in Moscow--was suggested to the Emperor,
89495 and accepted by him, as a pretext for quitting the army.
89496
89497
89498
89499
89500
89501 CHAPTER X
89502
89503
89504 This letter had not yet been presented to the Emperor when
89505 Barclay, one day at dinner, informed Bolkonski that the sovereign
89506 wished to see him personally, to question him about Turkey, and that
89507 Prince Andrew was to present himself at Bennigsen's quarters at six
89508 that evening.
89509
89510 News was received at the Emperor's quarters that very day of a fresh
89511 movement by Napoleon which might endanger the army--news
89512 subsequently found to be false. And that morning Colonel Michaud had
89513 ridden round the Drissa fortifications with the Emperor and had
89514 pointed out to him that this fortified camp constructed by Pfuel,
89515 and till then considered a chef-d'oeuvre of tactical science which
89516 would ensure Napoleon's destruction, was an absurdity, threatening the
89517 destruction of the Russian army.
89518
89519 Prince Andrew arrived at Bennigsen's quarters--a country gentleman's
89520 house of moderate size, situated on the very banks of the river.
89521 Neither Bennigsen nor the Emperor was there, but Chernyshev, the
89522 Emperor's aide-de-camp, received Bolkonski and informed him that the
89523 Emperor, accompanied by General Bennigsen and Marquis Paulucci, had
89524 gone a second time that day to inspect the fortifications of the
89525 Drissa camp, of the suitability of which serious doubts were beginning
89526 to be felt.
89527
89528 Chernyshev was sitting at a window in the first room with a French
89529 novel in his hand. This room had probably been a music room; there was
89530 still an organ in it on which some rugs were piled, and in one
89531 corner stood the folding bedstead of Bennigsen's adjutant. This
89532 adjutant was also there and sat dozing on the rolled-up bedding,
89533 evidently exhausted by work or by feasting. Two doors led from the
89534 room, one straight on into what had been the drawing room, and
89535 another, on the right, to the study. Through the first door came the
89536 sound of voices conversing in German and occasionally in French. In
89537 that drawing room were gathered, by the Emperor's wish, not a military
89538 council (the Emperor preferred indefiniteness), but certain persons
89539 whose opinions he wished to know in view of the impending
89540 difficulties. It was not a council of war, but, as it were, a
89541 council to elucidate certain questions for the Emperor personally.
89542 To this semicouncil had been invited the Swedish General Armfeldt,
89543 Adjutant General Wolzogen, Wintzingerode (whom Napoleon had referred
89544 to as a renegade French subject), Michaud, Toll, Count Stein who was
89545 not a military man at all, and Pfuel himself, who, as Prince Andrew
89546 had heard, was the mainspring of the whole affair. Prince Andrew had
89547 an opportunity of getting a good look at him, for Pfuel arrived soon
89548 after himself and, in passing through to the drawing room, stopped a
89549 minute to speak to Chernyshev.
89550
89551 At first sight, Pfuel, in his ill-made uniform of a Russian general,
89552 which fitted him badly like a fancy costume, seemed familiar to Prince
89553 Andrew, though he saw him now for the first time. There was about
89554 him something of Weyrother, Mack, and Schmidt, and many other German
89555 theorist-generals whom Prince Andrew had seen in 1805, but he was more
89556 typical than any of them. Prince Andrew had never yet seen a German
89557 theorist in whom all the characteristics of those others were united
89558 to such an extent.
89559
89560 Pfuel was short and very thin but broad-boned, of coarse, robust
89561 build, broad in the hips, and with prominent shoulder blades. His face
89562 was much wrinkled and his eyes deep set. His hair had evidently been
89563 hastily brushed smooth in front of the temples, but stuck up behind in
89564 quaint little tufts. He entered the room, looking restlessly and
89565 angrily around, as if afraid of everything in that large apartment.
89566 Awkwardly holding up his sword, he addressed Chernyshev and asked in
89567 German where the Emperor was. One could see that he wished to pass
89568 through the rooms as quickly as possible, finish with the bows and
89569 greetings, and sit down to business in front of a map, where he
89570 would feel at home. He nodded hurriedly in reply to Chernyshev, and
89571 smiled ironically on hearing that the sovereign was inspecting the
89572 fortifications that he, Pfuel, had planned in accord with his
89573 theory. He muttered something to himself abruptly and in a bass voice,
89574 as self-assured Germans do--it might have been "stupid fellow"... or
89575 "the whole affair will be ruined," or "something absurd will come of
89576 it."... Prince Andrew did not catch what he said and would have passed
89577 on, but Chernyshev introduced him to Pfuel, remarking that Prince
89578 Andrew was just back from Turkey where the war had terminated so
89579 fortunately. Pfuel barely glanced--not so much at Prince Andrew as
89580 past him--and said, with a laugh: "That must have been a fine tactical
89581 war"; and, laughing contemptuously, went on into the room from which
89582 the sound of voices was heard.
89583
89584 Pfuel, always inclined to be irritably sarcastic, was particularly
89585 disturbed that day, evidently by the fact that they had dared to
89586 inspect and criticize his camp in his absence. From this short
89587 interview with Pfuel, Prince Andrew, thanks to his Austerlitz
89588 experiences, was able to form a clear conception of the man. Pfuel was
89589 one of those hopelessly and immutably self-confident men,
89590 self-confident to the point of martyrdom as only Germans are,
89591 because only Germans are self-confident on the basis of an abstract
89592 notion--science, that is, the supposed knowledge of absolute truth.
89593 A Frenchman is self-assured because he regards himself personally,
89594 both in mind and body, as irresistibly attractive to men and women. An
89595 Englishman is self-assured, as being a citizen of the best-organized
89596 state in the world, and therefore as an Englishman always knows what
89597 he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is
89598 undoubtedly correct. An Italian is self-assured because he is
89599 excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian is
89600 self-assured just because he knows nothing does not want to know
89601 anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known. The
89602 German's self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive
89603 than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth-
89604 science--which he himself has invented but which is for him the
89605 absolute truth.
89606
89607 Pfuel was evidently of that sort. He had a science--the theory of
89608 oblique movements deduced by him from the history of Frederick the
89609 Great's wars, and all he came across in the history of more recent
89610 warfare seemed to him absurd and barbarous--monstrous collisions in
89611 which so many blunders were committed by both sides that these wars
89612 could not be called wars, they did not accord with the theory, and
89613 therefore could not serve as material for science.
89614
89615 In 1806 Pfuel had been one of those responsible, for the plan of
89616 campaign that ended in Jena and Auerstadt, but he did not see the
89617 least proof of the fallibility of his theory in the disasters of
89618 that war. On the contrary, the deviations made from his theory were,
89619 in his opinion, the sole cause of the whole disaster, and with
89620 characteristically gleeful sarcasm he would remark, "There, I said the
89621 whole affair would go to the devil!" Pfuel was one of those
89622 theoreticians who so love their theory that they lose sight of the
89623 theory's object--its practical application. His love of theory made
89624 him hate everything practical, and he would not listen to it. He was
89625 even pleased by failures, for failures resulting from deviations in
89626 practice from the theory only proved to him the accuracy of his
89627 theory.
89628
89629 He said a few words to Prince Andrew and Chernyshev about the
89630 present war, with the air of a man who knows beforehand that all
89631 will go wrong, and who is not displeased that it should be so. The
89632 unbrushed tufts of hair sticking up behind and the hastily brushed
89633 hair on his temples expressed this most eloquently.
89634
89635 He passed into the next room, and the deep, querulous sounds of
89636 his voice were at once heard from there.
89637
89638
89639
89640
89641
89642 CHAPTER XI
89643
89644
89645 Prince Andrew's eyes were still following Pfuel out of the room when
89646 Count Bennigsen entered hurriedly, and nodding to Bolkonski, but not
89647 pausing, went into the study, giving instructions to his adjutant as
89648 he went. The Emperor was following him, and Bennigsen had hastened
89649 on to make some preparations and to be ready to receive the sovereign.
89650 Chernyshev and Prince Andrew went out into the porch, where the
89651 Emperor, who looked fatigued, was dismounting. Marquis Paulucci was
89652 talking to him with particular warmth and the Emperor, with his head
89653 bent to the left, was listening with a dissatisfied air. The Emperor
89654 moved forward evidently wishing to end the conversation, but the
89655 flushed and excited Italian, oblivious of decorum, followed him and
89656 continued to speak.
89657
89658 "And as for the man who advised forming this camp--the Drissa camp,"
89659 said Paulucci, as the Emperor mounted the steps and noticing Prince
89660 Andrew scanned his unfamiliar face, "as to that person, sire..."
89661 continued Paulucci, desperately, apparently unable to restrain
89662 himself, "the man who advised the Drissa camp--I see no alternative
89663 but the lunatic asylum or the gallows!"
89664
89665 Without heeding the end of the Italian's remarks, and as though
89666 not hearing them, the Emperor, recognizing Bolkonski, addressed him
89667 graciously.
89668
89669 "I am very glad to see you! Go in there where they are meeting,
89670 and wait for me."
89671
89672 The Emperor went into the study. He was followed by Prince Peter
89673 Mikhaylovich Volkonski and Baron Stein, and the door closed behind
89674 them. Prince Andrew, taking advantage of the Emperor's permission,
89675 accompanied Paulucci, whom he had known in Turkey, into the drawing
89676 room where the council was assembled.
89677
89678 Prince Peter Mikhaylovich Volkonski occupied the position, as it
89679 were, of chief of the Emperor's staff. He came out of the study into
89680 the drawing room with some maps which he spread on a table, and put
89681 questions on which he wished to hear the opinion of the gentlemen
89682 present. What had happened was that news (which afterwards proved to
89683 be false) had been received during the night of a movement by the
89684 French to outflank the Drissa camp.
89685
89686 The first to speak was General Armfeldt who, to meet the
89687 difficulty that presented itself, unexpectedly proposed a perfectly
89688 new position away from the Petersburg and Moscow roads. The reason for
89689 this was inexplicable (unless he wished to show that he, too, could
89690 have an opinion), but he urged that at this point the army should
89691 unite and there await the enemy. It was plain that Armfeldt had
89692 thought out that plan long ago and now expounded it not so much to
89693 answer the questions put--which, in fact, his plan did not answer-
89694 as to avail himself of the opportunity to air it. It was one of the
89695 millions of proposals, one as good as another, that could be made as
89696 long as it was quite unknown what character the war would take. Some
89697 disputed his arguments, others defended them. Young Count Toll
89698 objected to the Swedish general's views more warmly than anyone
89699 else, and in the course of the dispute drew from his side pocket a
89700 well-filled notebook, which he asked permission to read to them. In
89701 these voluminous notes Toll suggested another scheme, totally
89702 different from Armfeldt's or Pfuel's plan of campaign. In answer to
89703 Toll, Paulucci suggested an advance and an attack, which, he urged,
89704 could alone extricate us from the present uncertainty and from the
89705 trap (as he called the Drissa camp) in which we were situated.
89706
89707 During all these discussions Pfuel and his interpreter, Wolzogen
89708 (his "bridge" in court relations), were silent. Pfuel only snorted
89709 contemptuously and turned away, to show that he would never demean
89710 himself by replying to such nonsense as he was now hearing. So when
89711 Prince Volkonski, who was in the chair, called on him to give his
89712 opinion, he merely said:
89713
89714 "Why ask me? General Armfeldt has proposed a splendid position
89715 with an exposed rear, or why not this Italian gentleman's attack--very
89716 fine, or a retreat, also good! Why ask me?" said he. "Why, you
89717 yourselves know everything better than I do."
89718
89719 But when Volkonski said, with a frown, that it was in the
89720 Emperor's name that he asked his opinion, Pfuel rose and, suddenly
89721 growing animated, began to speak:
89722
89723 "Everything has been spoiled, everything muddled, everybody
89724 thought they knew better than I did, and now you come to me! How
89725 mend matters? There is nothing to mend! The principles laid down by me
89726 must be strictly adhered to," said he, drumming on the table with
89727 his bony fingers. "What is the difficulty? Nonsense, childishness!"
89728
89729 He went up to the map and speaking rapidly began proving that no
89730 eventuality could alter the efficiency of the Drissa camp, that
89731 everything had been foreseen, and that if the enemy were really
89732 going to outflank it, the enemy would inevitably be destroyed.
89733
89734 Paulucci, who did not know German, began questioning him in
89735 French. Wolzogen came to the assistance of his chief, who spoke French
89736 badly, and began translating for him, hardly able to keep pace with
89737 Pfuel, who was rapidly demonstrating that not only all that had
89738 happened, but all that could happen, had been foreseen in his
89739 scheme, and that if there were now any difficulties the whole fault
89740 lay in the fact that his plan had not been precisely executed. He kept
89741 laughing sarcastically, he demonstrated, and at last contemptuously
89742 ceased to demonstrate, like a mathematician who ceases to prove in
89743 various ways the accuracy of a problem that has already been proved.
89744 Wolzogen took his place and continued to explain his views in
89745 French, every now and then turning to Pfuel and saying, "Is it not so,
89746 your excellency?" But Pfuel, like a man heated in a fight who
89747
89748 strikes those on his own side, shouted angrily at his own supporter,
89749 Wolzogen:
89750
89751 "Well, of course, what more is there to explain?"
89752
89753 Paulucci and Michaud both attacked Wolzogen simultaneously in
89754 French. Armfeldt addressed Pfuel in German. Toll explained to
89755 Volkonski in Russian. Prince Andrew listened and observed in silence.
89756
89757 Of all these men Prince Andrew sympathized most with Pfuel, angry,
89758 determined, and absurdly self-confident as he was. Of all those
89759 present, evidently he alone was not seeking anything for himself,
89760 nursed no hatred against anyone, and only desired that the plan,
89761 formed on a theory arrived at by years of toil, should be carried out.
89762 He was ridiculous, and unpleasantly sarcastic, but yet he inspired
89763 involuntary respect by his boundless devotion to an idea. Besides
89764 this, the remarks of all except Pfuel had one common trait that had
89765 not been noticeable at the council of war in 1805: there was now a
89766 panic fear of Napoleon's genius, which, though concealed, was
89767 noticeable in every rejoinder. Everything was assumed to be possible
89768 for Napoleon, they expected him from every side, and invoked his
89769 terrible name to shatter each other's proposals. Pfuel alone seemed to
89770 consider Napoleon a barbarian like everyone else who opposed his
89771 theory. But besides this feeling of respect, Pfuel evoked pity in
89772 Prince Andrew. From the tone in which the courtiers addressed him
89773 and the way Paulucci had allowed himself to speak of him to the
89774 Emperor, but above all from a certain desperation in Pfuel's own
89775 expressions, it was clear that the others knew, and Pfuel himself
89776 felt, that his fall was at hand. And despite his self-confidence and
89777 grumpy German sarcasm he was pitiable, with his hair smoothly
89778 brushed on the temples and sticking up in tufts behind. Though he
89779 concealed the fact under a show of irritation and contempt, he was
89780 evidently in despair that the sole remaining chance of verifying his
89781 theory by a huge experiment and proving its soundness to the whole
89782 world was slipping away from him.
89783
89784 The discussions continued a long time, and the longer they lasted
89785 the more heated became the disputes, culminating in shouts and
89786 personalities, and the less was it possible to arrive at any general
89787 conclusion from all that had been said. Prince Andrew, listening to
89788 this polyglot talk and to these surmises, plans, refutations, and
89789 shouts, felt nothing but amazement at what they were saying. A thought
89790 that had long since and often occurred to him during his military
89791 activities--the idea that there is not and cannot be any science of
89792 war, and that therefore there can be no such thing as a military
89793 genius--now appeared to him an obvious truth. "What theory and science
89794 is possible about a matter the conditions and circumstances of which
89795 are unknown and cannot be defined, especially when the strength of the
89796 acting forces cannot be ascertained? No one was or is able to
89797 foresee in what condition our or the enemy's armies will be in a day's
89798 time, and no one can gauge the force of this or that detachment.
89799 Sometimes--when there is not a coward at the front to shout, 'We are
89800 cut off!' and start running, but a brave and jolly lad who shouts,
89801 'Hurrah!'--a detachment of five thousand is worth thirty thousand,
89802 as at Schon Grabern, while at times fifty thousand run from eight
89803 thousand, as at Austerlitz. What science can there be in a matter in
89804 which, as in all practical matters, nothing can be defined and
89805 everything depends on innumerable conditions, the significance of
89806 which is determined at a particular moment which arrives no one
89807 knows when? Armfeldt says our army is cut in half, and Paulucci says
89808 we have got the French army between two fires; Michaud says that the
89809 worthlessness of the Drissa camp lies in having the river behind it,
89810 and Pfuel says that is what constitutes its strength; Toll proposes
89811 one plan, Armfeldt another, and they are all good and all bad, and the
89812 advantages of any suggestions can be seen only at the moment of trial.
89813 And why do they all speak of a 'military genius'? Is a man a genius
89814 who can order bread to be brought up at the right time and say who
89815 is to go to the right and who to the left? It is only because military
89816 men are invested with pomp and power and crowds of sychophants flatter
89817 power, attributing to it qualities of genius it does not possess.
89818 The best generals I have known were, on the contrary, stupid or
89819 absent-minded men. Bagration was the best, Napoleon himself admitted
89820 that. And of Bonaparte himself! I remember his limited, self-satisfied
89821 face on the field of Austerlitz. Not only does a good army commander
89822 not need any special qualities, on the contrary he needs the absence
89823 of the highest and best human attributes--love, poetry, tenderness,
89824 and philosophic inquiring doubt. He should be limited, firmly
89825 convinced that what he is doing is very important (otherwise he will
89826 not have sufficient patience), and only then will he be a brave
89827 leader. God forbid that he should be humane, should love, or pity,
89828 or think of what is just and unjust. It is understandable that a
89829 theory of their 'genius' was invented for them long ago because they
89830 have power! The success of a military action depends not on them,
89831 but on the man in the ranks who shouts, 'We are lost!' or who
89832 shouts, 'Hurrah!' And only in the ranks can one serve with assurance
89833 of being useful."
89834
89835 So thought Prince Andrew as he listened to the talking, and he
89836 roused himself only when Paulucci called him and everyone was leaving.
89837
89838 At the review next day the Emperor asked Prince Andrew where he
89839 would like to serve, and Prince Andrew lost his standing in court
89840 circles forever by not asking to remain attached to the sovereign's
89841 person, but for permission to serve in the army.
89842
89843
89844
89845
89846
89847 CHAPTER XII
89848
89849
89850 Before the beginning of the campaign, Rostov had received a letter
89851 from his parents in which they told him briefly of Natasha's illness
89852 and the breaking off of her engagement to Prince Andrew (which they
89853 explained by Natasha's having rejected him) and again asked Nicholas
89854 to retire from the army and return home. On receiving this letter,
89855 Nicholas did not even make any attempt to get leave of absence or to
89856 retire from the army, but wrote to his parents that he was sorry
89857 Natasha was ill and her engagement broken off, and that he would do
89858 all he could to meet their wishes. To Sonya he wrote separately.
89859
89860 "Adored friend of my soul!" he wrote. "Nothing but honor could
89861 keep me from returning to the country. But now, at the commencement of
89862 the campaign, I should feel dishonored, not only in my comrades'
89863 eyes but in my own, if I preferred my own happiness to my love and
89864 duty to the Fatherland. But this shall be our last separation. Believe
89865 me, directly the war is over, if I am still alive and still loved by
89866 you, I will throw up everything and fly to you, to press you forever
89867 to my ardent breast."
89868
89869 It was, in fact, only the commencement of the campaign that
89870 prevented Rostov from returning home as he had promised and marrying
89871 Sonya. The autumn in Otradnoe with the hunting, and the winter with
89872 the Christmas holidays and Sonya's love, had opened out to him a vista
89873 of tranquil rural joys and peace such as he had never known before,
89874 and which now allured him. "A splendid wife, children, a good pack
89875 of hounds, a dozen leashes of smart borzois, agriculture, neighbors,
89876 service by election..." thought he. But now the campaign was
89877 beginning, and he had to remain with his regiment. And since it had to
89878 be so, Nicholas Rostov, as was natural to him, felt contented with the
89879 life he led in the regiment and was able to find pleasure in that
89880 life.
89881
89882 On his return from his furlough Nicholas, having been joyfully
89883 welcomed by his comrades, was sent to obtain remounts and brought back
89884 from the Ukraine excellent horses which pleased him and earned him
89885 commendation from his commanders. During his absence he had been
89886 promoted captain, and when the regiment was put on war footing with an
89887 increase in numbers, he was again allotted his old squadron.
89888
89889 The campaign began, the regiment was moved into Poland on double
89890 pay, new officers arrived, new men and horses, and above all everybody
89891 was infected with the merrily excited mood that goes with the
89892 commencement of a war, and Rostov, conscious of his advantageous
89893 position in the regiment, devoted himself entirely to the pleasures
89894 and interests of military service, though he knew that sooner or later
89895 he would have to relinquish them.
89896
89897 The troops retired from Vilna for various complicated reasons of
89898 state, political and strategic. Each step of the retreat was
89899 accompanied by a complicated interplay of interests, arguments, and
89900 passions at headquarters. For the Pavlograd hussars, however, the
89901 whole of this retreat during the finest period of summer and with
89902 sufficient supplies was a very simple and agreeable business.
89903
89904 It was only at headquarters that there was depression, uneasiness,
89905 and intriguing; in the body of the army they did not ask themselves
89906 where they were going or why. If they regretted having to retreat,
89907 it was only because they had to leave billets they had grown
89908 accustomed to, or some pretty young Polish lady. If the thought that
89909 things looked bad chanced to enter anyone's head, he tried to be as
89910 cheerful as befits a good soldier and not to think of the general
89911 trend of affairs, but only of the task nearest to hand. First they
89912 camped gaily before Vilna, making acquaintance with the Polish
89913 landowners, preparing for reviews and being reviewed by the Emperor
89914 and other high commanders. Then came an order to retreat to Sventsyani
89915 and destroy any provisions they could not carry away with them.
89916 Sventsyani was remembered by the hussars only as the drunken camp, a
89917 name the whole army gave to their encampment there, and because many
89918 complaints were made against the troops, who, taking advantage of
89919 the order to collect provisions, took also horses, carriages, and
89920 carpets from the Polish proprietors. Rostov remembered Sventsyani,
89921 because on the first day of their arrival at that small town he
89922 changed his sergeant major and was unable to manage all the drunken
89923 men of his squadron who, unknown to him, had appropriated five barrels
89924 of old beer. From Sventsyani they retired farther and farther to
89925 Drissa, and thence again beyond Drissa, drawing near to the frontier
89926 of Russia proper.
89927
89928 On the thirteenth of July the Pavlograds took part in a serious
89929 action for the first time.
89930
89931 On the twelfth of July, on the eve of that action, there was a heavy
89932 storm of rain and hail. In general, the summer of 1812 was
89933 remarkable for its storms.
89934
89935 The two Pavlograd squadrons were bivouacking on a field of rye,
89936 which was already in ear but had been completely trodden down by
89937 cattle and horses. The rain was descending in torrents, and Rostov,
89938 with a young officer named Ilyin, his protege, was sitting in a
89939 hastily constructed shelter. An officer of their regiment, with long
89940 mustaches extending onto his cheeks, who after riding to the staff had
89941 been overtaken by the rain, entered Rostov's shelter.
89942
89943 "I have come from the staff, Count. Have you heard of Raevski's
89944 exploit?"
89945
89946 And the officer gave them details of the Saltanov battle, which he
89947 had heard at the staff.
89948
89949 Rostov, smoking his pipe and turning his head about as the water
89950 trickled down his neck, listened inattentively, with an occasional
89951 glance at Ilyin, who was pressing close to him. This officer, a lad of
89952 sixteen who had recently joined the regiment, was now in the same
89953 relation to Nicholas that Nicholas had been to Denisov seven years
89954 before. Ilyin tried to imitate Rostov in everything and adored him
89955 as a girl might have done.
89956
89957 Zdrzhinski, the officer with the long mustache, spoke
89958 grandiloquently of the Saltanov dam being "a Russian Thermopylae," and
89959 of how a deed worthy of antiquity had been performed by General
89960 Raevski. He recounted how Raevski had led his two sons onto the dam
89961 under terrific fire and had charged with them beside him. Rostov heard
89962 the story and not only said nothing to encourage Zdrzhinski's
89963 enthusiasm but, on the contrary, looked like a man ashamed of what
89964 he was hearing, though with no intention of contradicting it. Since
89965 the campaigns of Austerlitz and of 1807 Rostov knew by experience that
89966 men always lie when describing military exploits, as he himself had
89967 done when recounting them; besides that, he had experience enough to
89968 know that nothing happens in war at all as we can imagine or relate
89969 it. And so he did not like Zdrzhinski's tale, nor did he like
89970 Zdrzhinski himself who, with his mustaches extending over his
89971 cheeks, bent low over the face of his hearer, as was his habit, and
89972 crowded Rostov in the narrow shanty. Rostov looked at him in
89973 silence. "In the first place, there must have been such a confusion
89974 and crowding on the dam that was being attacked that if Raevski did
89975 lead his sons there, it could have had no effect except perhaps on
89976 some dozen men nearest to him," thought he, "the rest could not have
89977 seen how or with whom Raevski came onto the dam. And even those who
89978 did see it would not have been much stimulated by it, for what had
89979 they to do with Raevski's tender paternal feelings when their own
89980 skins were in danger? And besides, the fate of the Fatherland did
89981 not depend on whether they took the Saltanov dam or not, as we are
89982 told was the case at Thermopylae. So why should he have made such a
89983 sacrifice? And why expose his own children in the battle? I would
89984 not have taken my brother Petya there, or even Ilyin, who's a stranger
89985 to me but a nice lad, but would have tried to put them somewhere under
89986 cover," Nicholas continued to think, as he listened to Zdrzhinski. But
89987 he did not express his thoughts, for in such matters, too, he had
89988 gained experience. He knew that this tale redounded to the glory of
89989 our arms and so one had to pretend not to doubt it. And he acted
89990 accordingly.
89991
89992 "I can't stand this any more," said Ilyin, noticing that Rostov
89993 did not relish Zdrzhinski's conversation. "My stockings and shirt...
89994 and the water is running on my seat! I'll go and look for shelter. The
89995 rain seems less heavy."
89996
89997 Ilyin went out and Zdrzhinski rode away.
89998
89999 Five minutes later Ilyin, splashing through the mud, came running
90000 back to the shanty.
90001
90002 "Hurrah! Rostov, come quick! I've found it! About two hundred
90003 yards away there's a tavern where ours have already gathered. We can
90004 at least get dry there, and Mary Hendrikhovna's there."
90005
90006 Mary Hendrikhovna was the wife of the regimental doctor, a pretty
90007 young German woman he had married in Poland. The doctor, whether
90008 from lack of means or because he did not like to part from his young
90009 wife in the early days of their marriage, took her about with him
90010 wherever the hussar regiment went and his jealousy had become a
90011 standing joke among the hussar officers.
90012
90013 Rostov threw his cloak over his shoulders, shouted to Lavrushka to
90014 follow with the things, and--now slipping in the mud, now splashing
90015 right through it--set off with Ilyin in the lessening rain and the
90016 darkness that was occasionally rent by distant lightning.
90017
90018 "Rostov, where are you?"
90019
90020 "Here. What lightning!" they called to one another.
90021
90022
90023
90024
90025
90026 CHAPTER XIII
90027
90028
90029 In the tavern, before which stood the doctor's covered cart, there
90030 were already some five officers. Mary Hendrikhovna, a plump little
90031 blonde German, in a dressing jacket and nightcap, was sitting on a
90032 broad bench in the front corner. Her husband, the doctor, lay asleep
90033 behind her. Rostov and Ilyin, on entering the room, were welcomed with
90034 merry shouts and laughter.
90035
90036 "Dear me, how jolly we are!" said Rostov laughing.
90037
90038 "And why do you stand there gaping?"
90039
90040 "What swells they are! Why, the water streams from them! Don't
90041 make our drawing room so wet."
90042
90043 "Don't mess Mary Hendrikhovna's dress!" cried other voices.
90044
90045 Rostov and Ilyin hastened to find a corner where they could change
90046 into dry clothes without offending Mary Hendrikhovna's modesty. They
90047 were going into a tiny recess behind a partition to change, but
90048 found it completely filled by three officers who sat playing cards
90049 by the light of a solitary candle on an empty box, and these
90050 officers would on no account yield their position. Mary Hendrikhovna
90051 obliged them with the loan of a petticoat to be used as a curtain, and
90052 behind that screen Rostov and Ilyin, helped by Lavrushka who had
90053 brought their kits, changed their wet things for dry ones.
90054
90055 A fire was made up in the dilapidated brick stove. A board was
90056 found, fixed on two saddles and covered with a horsecloth, a small
90057 samovar was produced and a cellaret and half a bottle of rum, and
90058 having asked Mary Hendrikhovna to preside, they all crowded round her.
90059 One offered her a clean handkerchief to wipe her charming hands,
90060 another spread a jacket under her little feet to keep them from the
90061 damp, another hung his coat over the window to keep out the draft, and
90062 yet another waved the flies off her husband's face, lest he should
90063 wake up.
90064
90065 "Leave him alone," said Mary Hendrikhovna, smiling timidly and
90066 happily. "He is sleeping well as it is, after a sleepless night."
90067
90068 "Oh, no, Mary Hendrikhovna," replied the officer, "one must look
90069 after the doctor. Perhaps he'll take pity on me someday, when it comes
90070 to cutting off a leg or an arm for me."
90071
90072 There were only three tumblers, the water was so muddy that one
90073 could not make out whether the tea was strong or weak, and the samovar
90074 held only six tumblers of water, but this made it all the pleasanter
90075 to take turns in order of seniority to receive one's tumbler from Mary
90076 Hendrikhovna's plump little hands with their short and not overclean
90077 nails. All the officers appeared to be, and really were, in love
90078 with her that evening. Even those playing cards behind the partition
90079 soon left their game and came over to the samovar, yielding to the
90080 general mood of courting Mary Hendrikhovna. She, seeing herself
90081 surrounded by such brilliant and polite young men, beamed with
90082 satisfaction, try as she might to hide it, and perturbed as she
90083 evidently was each time her husband moved in his sleep behind her.
90084
90085 There was only one spoon, sugar was more plentiful than anything
90086 else, but it took too long to dissolve, so it was decided that Mary
90087 Hendrikhovna should stir the sugar for everyone in turn. Rostov
90088 received his tumbler, and adding some rum to it asked Mary
90089 Hendrikhovna to stir it.
90090
90091 "But you take it without sugar?" she said, smiling all the time,
90092 as if everything she said and everything the others said was very
90093 amusing and had a double meaning.
90094
90095 "It is not the sugar I want, but only that your little hand should
90096 stir my tea."
90097
90098 Mary Hendrikhovna assented and began looking for the spoon which
90099 someone meanwhile had pounced on.
90100
90101 "Use your finger, Mary Hendrikhovna, it will be still nicer," said
90102 Rostov.
90103
90104 "Too hot!" she replied, blushing with pleasure.
90105
90106 Ilyin put a few drops of rum into the bucket of water and brought it
90107 to Mary Hendrikhovna, asking her to stir it with her finger.
90108
90109 "This is my cup," said he. "Only dip your finger in it and I'll
90110 drink it all up."
90111
90112 When they had emptied the samovar, Rostov took a pack of cards and
90113 proposed that they should play "Kings" with Mary Hendrikhovna. They
90114 drew lots to settle who should make up her set. At Rostov's suggestion
90115 it was agreed that whoever became "King" should have the right to kiss
90116 Mary Hendrikhovna's hand, and that the "Booby" should go to refill and
90117 reheat the samovar for the doctor when the latter awoke.
90118
90119 "Well, but supposing Mary Hendrikhovna is 'King'?" asked Ilyin.
90120
90121 "As it is, she is Queen, and her word is law!"
90122
90123 They had hardly begun to play before the doctor's disheveled head
90124 suddenly appeared from behind Mary Hendrikhovna. He had been awake for
90125 some time, listening to what was being said, and evidently found
90126 nothing entertaining or amusing in what was going on. His face was sad
90127 and depressed. Without greeting the officers, he scratched himself and
90128 asked to be allowed to pass as they were blocking the way. As soon
90129 as he had left the room all the officers burst into loud laughter
90130 and Mary Hendrikhovna blushed till her eyes filled with tears and
90131 thereby became still more attractive to them. Returning from the yard,
90132 the doctor told his wife (who had ceased to smile so happily, and
90133 looked at him in alarm, awaiting her sentence) that the rain had
90134 ceased and they must go to sleep in their covered cart, or
90135 everything in it would be stolen.
90136
90137 "But I'll send an orderly.... Two of them!" said Rostov. "What an
90138 idea, doctor!"
90139
90140 "I'll stand guard on it myself!" said Ilyin.
90141
90142 "No, gentlemen, you have had your sleep, but I have not slept for
90143 two nights," replied the doctor, and he sat down morosely beside his
90144 wife, waiting for the game to end.
90145
90146 Seeing his gloomy face as he frowned at his wife, the officers
90147 grew still merrier, and some of them could not refrain from
90148 laughter, for which they hurriedly sought plausible pretexts. When
90149 he had gone, taking his wife with him, and had settled down with her
90150 in their covered cart, the officers lay down in the tavern, covering
90151 themselves with their wet cloaks, but they did not sleep for a long
90152 time; now they exchanged remarks, recalling the doctor's uneasiness
90153 and his wife's delight, now they ran out into the porch and reported
90154 what was taking place in the covered trap. Several times Rostov,
90155 covering his head, tried to go to sleep, but some remark would
90156 arouse him and conversation would be resumed, to the accompaniment
90157 of unreasoning, merry, childlike laughter.
90158
90159
90160
90161
90162
90163 CHAPTER XIV
90164
90165
90166 It was nearly three o'clock but no one was yet asleep, when the
90167 quartermaster appeared with an order to move on to the little town
90168 of Ostrovna. Still laughing and talking, the officers began
90169 hurriedly getting ready and again boiled some muddy water
90170 in the samovar. But Rostov went off to his squadron without waiting
90171 for tea. Day was breaking, the rain had ceased, and the clouds were
90172 dispersing. It felt damp and cold, especially in clothes that were
90173 still moist. As they left the tavern in the twilight of the dawn,
90174 Rostov and Ilyin both glanced under the wet and glistening leather
90175 hood of the doctor's cart, from under the apron of which his feet were
90176 sticking out, and in the middle of which his wife's nightcap was
90177 visible and her sleepy breathing audible.
90178
90179 "She really is a dear little thing," said Rostov to Ilyin, who was
90180 following him.
90181
90182 "A charming woman!" said Ilyin, with all the gravity of a boy of
90183 sixteen.
90184
90185 Half an hour later the squadron was lined up on the road. The
90186 command was heard to "mount" and the soldiers crossed themselves and
90187 mounted. Rostov riding in front gave the order "Forward!" and the
90188 hussars, with clanking sabers and subdued talk, their horses' hoofs
90189 splashing in the mud, defiled in fours and moved along the broad
90190 road planted with birch trees on each side, following the infantry and
90191 a battery that had gone on in front.
90192
90193 Tattered, blue-purple clouds, reddening in the east, were scudding
90194 before the wind. It was growing lighter and lighter. That curly
90195 grass which always grows by country roadsides became clearly
90196 visible, still wet with the night's rain; the drooping branches of the
90197 birches, also wet, swayed in the wind and flung down bright drops of
90198 water to one side. The soldiers' faces were more and more clearly
90199 visible. Rostov, always closely followed by Ilyin, rode along the side
90200 of the road between two rows of birch trees.
90201
90202 When campaigning, Rostov allowed himself the indulgence of riding
90203 not a regimental but a Cossack horse. A judge of horses and a
90204 sportsman, he had lately procured himself a large, fine, mettlesome,
90205 Donets horse, dun-colored, with light mane and tail, and when he
90206 rode it no one could outgallop him. To ride this horse was a
90207 pleasure to him, and he thought of the horse, of the morning, of the
90208 doctor's wife, but not once of the impending danger.
90209
90210 Formerly, when going into action, Rostov had felt afraid; now he had
90211 not the least feeling of fear. He was fearless, not because he had
90212 grown used to being under fire (one cannot grow used to danger), but
90213 because he had learned how to manage his thoughts when in danger. He
90214 had grown accustomed when going into action to think about anything
90215 but what would seem most likely to interest him--the impending danger.
90216 During the first period of his service, hard as he tried and much as
90217 he reproached himself with cowardice, he had not been able to do this,
90218 but with time it had come of itself. Now he rode beside Ilyin under
90219 the birch trees, occasionally plucking leaves from a branch that met
90220 his hand, sometimes touching his horse's side with his foot, or,
90221 without turning round, handing a pipe he had finished to an hussar
90222 riding behind him, with as calm and careless an air as though he
90223 were merely out for a ride. He glanced with pity at the excited face
90224 of Ilyin, who talked much and in great agitation. He knew from
90225 experience the tormenting expectation of terror and death the cornet
90226 was suffering and knew that only time could help him.
90227
90228 As soon as the sun appeared in a clear strip of sky beneath the
90229 clouds, the wind fell, as if it dared not spoil the beauty of the
90230 summer morning after the storm; drops still continued to fall, but
90231 vertically now, and all was still. The whole sun appeared on the
90232 horizon and disappeared behind a long narrow cloud that hung above it.
90233 A few minutes later it reappeared brighter still from behind the top
90234 of the cloud, tearing its edge. Everything grew bright and
90235 glittered. And with that light, and as if in reply to it, came the
90236 sound of guns ahead of them.
90237
90238 Before Rostov had had time to consider and determine the distance of
90239 that firing, Count Ostermann-Tolstoy's adjutant came galloping from
90240 Vitebsk with orders to advance at a trot along the road.
90241
90242 The squadron overtook and passed the infantry and the battery--which
90243 had also quickened their pace--rode down a hill, and passing through
90244 an empty and deserted village again ascended. The horses began to
90245 lather and the men to flush.
90246
90247 "Halt! Dress your ranks!" the order of the regimental commander
90248 was heard ahead. "Forward by the left. Walk, march!" came the order
90249 from in front.
90250
90251 And the hussars, passing along the line of troops on the left
90252 flank of our position, halted behind our Uhlans who were in the
90253 front line. To the right stood our infantry in a dense column: they
90254 were the reserve. Higher up the hill, on the very horizon, our guns
90255 were visible through the wonderfully clear air, brightly illuminated
90256 by slanting morning sunbeams. In front, beyond a hollow dale, could be
90257 seen the enemy's columns and guns. Our advanced line, already in
90258 action, could be heard briskly exchanging shots with the enemy in
90259 the dale.
90260
90261 At these sounds, long unheard, Rostov's spirits rose, as at the
90262 strains of the merriest music. Trap-ta-ta-tap! cracked the shots,
90263 now together, now several quickly one after another. Again all was
90264 silent and then again it sounded as if someone were walking on
90265 detonators and exploding them.
90266
90267 The hussars remained in the same place for about an hour. A
90268 cannonade began. Count Ostermann with his suite rode up behind the
90269 squadron, halted, spoke to the commander of the regiment, and rode
90270 up the hill to the guns.
90271
90272 After Ostermann had gone, a command rang out to the Uhlans.
90273
90274 "Form column! Prepare to charge!"
90275
90276 The infantry in front of them parted into platoons to allow the
90277 cavalry to pass. The Uhlans started, the streamers on their spears
90278 fluttering, and trotted downhill toward the French cavalry which was
90279 seen below to the left.
90280
90281 As soon as the Uhlans descended the hill, the hussars were ordered
90282 up the hill to support the battery. As they took the places vacated by
90283 the Uhlans, bullets came from the front, whining and whistling, but
90284 fell spent without taking effect.
90285
90286 The sounds, which he had not heard for so long, had an even more
90287 pleasurable and exhilarating effect on Rostov than the previous sounds
90288 of firing. Drawing himself up, he viewed the field of battle opening
90289 out before him from the hill, and with his whole soul followed the
90290 movement of the Uhlans. They swooped down close to the French
90291 dragoons, something confused happened there amid the smoke, and five
90292 minutes later our Uhlans were galloping back, not to the place they
90293 had occupied but more to the left, and among the orange-colored Uhlans
90294 on chestnut horses and behind them, in a large group, blue French
90295 dragoons on gray horses could be seen.
90296
90297
90298
90299
90300
90301 CHAPTER XV
90302
90303
90304 Rostov, with his keen sportsman's eye, was one of the first to catch
90305 sight of these blue French dragoons pursuing our Uhlans. Nearer and
90306 nearer in disorderly crowds came the Uhlans and the French dragoons
90307 pursuing them. He could already see how these men, who looked so small
90308 at the foot of the hill, jostled and overtook one another, waving
90309 their arms and their sabers in the air.
90310
90311 Rostov gazed at what was happening before him as at a hunt. He
90312 felt instinctively that if the hussars struck at the French dragoons
90313 now, the latter could not withstand them, but if a charge was to be
90314 made it must be done now, at that very moment, or it would be too
90315 late. He looked around. A captain, standing beside him, was gazing
90316 like himself with eyes fixed on the cavalry below them.
90317
90318 "Andrew Sevastyanych!" said Rostov. "You know, we could crush
90319 them...."
90320
90321 "A fine thing too!" replied the captain, "and really..."
90322
90323 Rostov, without waiting to hear him out, touched his horse, galloped
90324 to the front of his squadron, and before he had time to finish
90325 giving the word of command, the whole squadron, sharing his feeling,
90326 was following him. Rostov himself did not know how or why he did it.
90327 He acted as he did when hunting, without reflecting or considering. He
90328 saw the dragoons near and that they were galloping in disorder; he
90329 knew they could not withstand an attack--knew there was only that
90330 moment and that if he let it slip it would not return. The bullets
90331 were whining and whistling so stimulatingly around him and his horse
90332 was so eager to go that he could not restrain himself. He touched
90333 his horse, gave the word of command, and immediately, hearing behind
90334 him the tramp of the horses of his deployed squadron, rode at full
90335 trot downhill toward the dragoons. Hardly had they reached the
90336 bottom of the hill before their pace instinctively changed to a
90337 gallop, which grew faster and faster as they drew nearer to our Uhlans
90338 and the French dragoons who galloped after them. The dragoons were now
90339 close at hand. On seeing the hussars, the foremost began to turn,
90340 while those behind began to halt. With the same feeling with which
90341 he had galloped across the path of a wolf, Rostov gave rein to his
90342 Donets horse and galloped to intersect the path of the dragoons'
90343 disordered lines. One Uhlan stopped, another who was on foot flung
90344 himself to the ground to avoid being knocked over, and a riderless
90345 horse fell in among the hussars. Nearly all the French dragoons were
90346 galloping back. Rostov, picking out one on a gray horse, dashed
90347 after him. On the way he came upon a bush, his gallant horse cleared
90348 it, and almost before he had righted himself in his saddle he saw that
90349 he would immediately overtake the enemy he had selected. That
90350 Frenchman, by his uniform an officer, was going at a gallop, crouching
90351 on his gray horse and urging it on with his saber. In another moment
90352 Rostov's horse dashed its breast against the hindquarters of the
90353 officer's horse, almost knocking it over, and at the same instant
90354 Rostov, without knowing why, raised his saber and struck the Frenchman
90355 with it.
90356
90357 The instant he had done this, all Rostov's animation vanished. The
90358 officer fell, not so much from the blow--which had but slightly cut
90359 his arm above the elbow--as from the shock to his horse and from
90360 fright. Rostov reined in his horse, and his eyes sought his foe to see
90361 whom he had vanquished. The French dragoon officer was hopping with
90362 one foot on the ground, the other being caught in the stirrup. His
90363 eyes, screwed up with fear as if he every moment expected another
90364 blow, gazed up at Rostov with shrinking terror. His pale and
90365 mud-stained face--fair and young, with a dimple in the chin and
90366 light-blue eyes--was not an enemy's face at all suited to a
90367 battlefield, but a most ordinary, homelike face. Before Rostov had
90368 decided what to do with him, the officer cried, "I surrender!" He
90369 hurriedly but vainly tried to get his foot out of the stirrup and
90370 did not remove his frightened blue eyes from Rostov's face. Some
90371 hussars who galloped up disengaged his foot and helped him into the
90372 saddle. On all sides, the hussars were busy with the dragoons; one was
90373 wounded, but though his face was bleeding, he would not give up his
90374 horse; another was perched up behind an hussar with his arms round
90375 him; a third was being helped by an hussar to mount his horse. In
90376 front, the French infantry were firing as they ran. The hussars
90377 galloped hastily back with their prisoners. Rostov galloped back
90378 with the rest, aware of an unpleasant feeling of depression in his
90379 heart. Something vague and confused, which he could not at all account
90380 for, had come over him with the capture of that officer and the blow
90381 he had dealt him.
90382
90383 Count Ostermann-Tolstoy met the returning hussars, sent for
90384 Rostov, thanked him, and said he would report his gallant deed to
90385 the Emperor and would recommend him for a St. George's Cross. When
90386 sent for by Count Ostermann, Rostov, remembering that he had charged
90387 without orders, felt sure his commander was sending for him to
90388 punish him for breach of discipline. Ostermann's flattering words
90389 and promise of a reward should therefore have struck him all the
90390 more pleasantly, but he still felt that same vaguely disagreeable
90391 feeling of moral nausea. "But what on earth is worrying me?" he
90392 asked himself as he rode back from the general. "Ilyin? No, he's safe.
90393 Have I disgraced myself in any way? No, that's not it." Something
90394 else, resembling remorse, tormented him. "Yes, oh yes, that French
90395 officer with the dimple. And I remember how my arm paused when I
90396 raised it."
90397
90398 Rostov saw the prisoners being led away and galloped after them to
90399 have a look at his Frenchman with the dimple on his chin. He was
90400 sitting in his foreign uniform on an hussar packhorse and looked
90401 anxiously about him; The sword cut on his arm could scarcely be called
90402 a wound. He glanced at Rostov with a feigned smile and waved his
90403 hand in greeting. Rostov still had the same indefinite feeling, as
90404 of shame.
90405
90406 All that day and the next his friends and comrades noticed that
90407 Rostov, without being dull or angry, was silent, thoughtful, and
90408 preoccupied. He drank reluctantly, tried to remain alone, and kept
90409 turning something over in his mind.
90410
90411 Rostov was always thinking about that brilliant exploit of his,
90412 which to his amazement had gained him the St. George's Cross and
90413 even given him a reputation for bravery, and there was something he
90414 could not at all understand. "So others are even more afraid than I
90415 am!" he thought. "So that's all there is in what is called heroism!
90416 And heroism! And did I do it for my country's sake? And how was he
90417 to blame, with his dimple and blue eyes? And how frightened he was! He
90418 thought that I should kill him. Why should I kill him? My hand
90419 trembled. And they have given me a St. George's Cross.... I can't make
90420 it out at all."
90421
90422 But while Nicholas was considering these questions and still could
90423 reach no clear solution of what puzzled him so, the wheel of fortune
90424 in the service, as often happens, turned in his favor. After the
90425 affair at Ostrovna he was brought into notice, received command of
90426 an hussar battalion, and when a brave officer was needed he was
90427 chosen.
90428
90429
90430
90431
90432
90433 CHAPTER XVI
90434
90435
90436 On receiving news of Natasha's illness, the countess, though not
90437 quite well yet and still weak, went to Moscow with Petya and the
90438 rest of the household, and the whole family moved from Marya
90439 Dmitrievna's house to their own and settled down in town.
90440
90441 Natasha's illness was so serious that, fortunately for her and for
90442 her parents, the consideration of all that had caused the illness, her
90443 conduct and the breaking off of her engagement, receded into the
90444 background. She was so ill that it was impossible for them to consider
90445 in how far she was to blame for what had happened. She could not eat
90446 or sleep, grew visibly thinner, coughed, and, as the doctors made them
90447 feel, was in danger. They could not think of anything but how to
90448 help her. Doctors came to see her singly and in consultation, talked
90449 much in French, German, and Latin, blamed one another, and
90450 prescribed a great variety of medicines for all the diseases known
90451 to them, but the simple idea never occurred to any of them that they
90452 could not know the disease Natasha was suffering from, as no disease
90453 suffered by a live man can be known, for every living person has his
90454 own peculiarities and always has his own peculiar, personal, novel,
90455 complicated disease, unknown to medicine--not a disease of the
90456 lungs, liver, skin, heart, nerves, and so on mentioned in medical
90457 books, but a disease consisting of one of the innumerable combinations
90458 of the maladies of those organs. This simple thought could not occur
90459 to the doctors (as it cannot occur to a wizard that he is unable to
90460 work his charms) because the business of their lives was to cure,
90461 and they received money for it and had spent the best years of their
90462 lives on that business. But, above all, that thought was kept out of
90463 their minds by the fact that they saw they were really useful, as in
90464 fact they were to the whole Rostov family. Their usefulness did not
90465 depend on making the patient swallow substances for the most part
90466 harmful (the harm was scarcely perceptible, as they were given in
90467 small doses), but they were useful, necessary, and indispensable
90468 because they satisfied a mental need of the invalid and of those who
90469 loved her--and that is why there are, and always will be,
90470 pseudo-healers, wise women, homeopaths, and allopaths. They
90471 satisfied that eternal human need for hope of relief, for sympathy,
90472 and that something should be done, which is felt by those who are
90473 suffering. They satisfied the need seen in its most elementary form in
90474 a child, when it wants to have a place rubbed that has been hurt. A
90475 child knocks itself and runs at once to the arms of its mother or
90476 nurse to have the aching spot rubbed or kissed, and it feels better
90477 when this is done. The child cannot believe that the strongest and
90478 wisest of its people have no remedy for its pain, and the hope of
90479 relief and the expression of its mother's sympathy while she rubs
90480 the bump comforts it. The doctors were of use to Natasha because
90481 they kissed and rubbed her bump, assuring her that it would soon
90482 pass if only the coachman went to the chemist's in the Arbat and got a
90483 powder and some pills in a pretty box of a ruble and seventy kopeks,
90484 and if she took those powders in boiled water at intervals of
90485 precisely two hours, neither more nor less.
90486
90487 What would Sonya and the count and countess have done, how would
90488 they have looked, if nothing had been done, if there had not been
90489 those pills to give by the clock, the warm drinks, the chicken
90490 cutlets, and all the other details of life ordered by the doctors, the
90491 carrying out of which supplied an occupation and consolation to the
90492 family circle? How would the count have borne his dearly loved
90493 daughter's illness had he not known that it was costing him a thousand
90494 rubles, and that he would not grudge thousands more to benefit her, or
90495 had he not known that if her illness continued he would not grudge yet
90496 other thousands and would take her abroad for consultations there, and
90497 had he not been able to explain the details of how Metivier and Feller
90498 had not understood the symptoms, but Frise had, and Mudrov had
90499 diagnosed them even better? What would the countess have done had
90500 she not been able sometimes to scold the invalid for not strictly
90501 obeying the doctor's orders?
90502
90503 "You'll never get well like that," she would say, forgetting her
90504 grief in her vexation, "if you won't obey the doctor and take your
90505 medicine at the right time! You mustn't trifle with it, you know, or
90506 it may turn to pneumonia," she would go on, deriving much comfort from
90507 the utterance of that foreign word, incomprehensible to others as well
90508 as to herself.
90509
90510 What would Sonya have done without the glad consciousness that she
90511 had not undressed during the first three nights, in order to be
90512 ready to carry out all the doctor's injunctions with precision, and
90513 that she still kept awake at night so as not to miss the proper time
90514 when the slightly harmful pills in the little gilt box had to be
90515 administered? Even to Natasha herself it was pleasant to see that so
90516 many sacrifices were being made for her sake, and to know that she had
90517 to take medicine at certain hours, though she declared that no
90518 medicine would cure her and that it was all nonsense. And it was
90519 even pleasant to be able to show, by disregarding the orders, that she
90520 did not believe in medical treatment and did not value her life.
90521
90522 The doctor came every day, felt her pulse, looked at her tongue, and
90523 regardless of her grief-stricken face joked with her. But when he
90524 had gone into another room, to which the countess hurriedly followed
90525 him, he assumed a grave air and thoughtfully shaking his head said
90526 that though there was danger, he had hopes of the effect of this
90527 last medicine and one must wait and see, that the malady was chiefly
90528 mental, but... And the countess, trying to conceal the action from
90529 herself and from him, slipped a gold coin into his hand and always
90530 returned to the patient with a more tranquil mind.
90531
90532 The symptoms of Natasha's illness were that she ate little, slept
90533 little, coughed, and was always low-spirited. The doctors said that
90534 she could not get on without medical treatment, so they kept her in
90535 the stifling atmosphere of the town, and the Rostovs did not move to
90536 the country that summer of 1812.
90537
90538 In spite of the many pills she swallowed and the drops and powders
90539 out of the little bottles and boxes of which Madame Schoss who was
90540 fond of such things made a large collection, and in spite of being
90541 deprived of the country life to which she was accustomed, youth
90542 prevailed. Natasha's grief began to be overlaid by the impressions
90543 of daily life, it ceased to press so painfully on her heart, it
90544 gradually faded into the past, and she began to recover physically.
90545
90546
90547
90548
90549
90550 CHAPTER XVII
90551
90552
90553 Natasha was calmer but no happier. She not merely avoided all
90554 external forms of pleasure--balls, promenades, concerts, and theaters-
90555 but she never laughed without a sound of tears in her laughter. She
90556 could not sing. As soon as she began to laugh, or tried to sing by
90557 herself, tears choked her: tears of remorse, tears at the recollection
90558 of those pure times which could never return, tears of vexation that
90559 she should so uselessly have ruined her young life which might have
90560 been so happy. Laughter and singing in particular seemed to her like a
90561 blasphemy, in face of her sorrow. Without any need of
90562 self-restraint, no wish to coquet ever entered her head. She said
90563 and felt at that time that no man was more to her than Nastasya
90564 Ivanovna, the buffoon. Something stood sentinel within her and forbade
90565 her every joy. Besides, she had lost all the old interests of her
90566 carefree girlish life that had been so full of hope. The previous
90567 autumn, the hunting, "Uncle," and the Christmas holidays spent with
90568 Nicholas at Otradnoe were what she recalled oftenest and most
90569 painfully. What would she not have given to bring back even a single
90570 day of that time! But it was gone forever. Her presentiment at the
90571 time had not deceived her--that that state of freedom and readiness
90572 for any enjoyment would not return again. Yet it was necessary to live
90573 on.
90574
90575 It comforted her to reflect that she was not better as she had
90576 formerly imagined, but worse, much worse, than anybody else in the
90577 world. But this was not enough. She knew that, and asked herself,
90578 "What next?" But there was nothing to come. There was no joy in
90579 life, yet life was passing. Natasha apparently tried not to be a
90580 burden or a hindrance to anyone, but wanted nothing for herself. She
90581 kept away from everyone in the house and felt at ease only with her
90582 brother Petya. She liked to be with him better than with the others,
90583 and when alone with him she sometimes laughed. She hardly ever left
90584 the house and of those who came to see them was glad to see only one
90585 person, Pierre. It would have been impossible to treat her with more
90586 delicacy, greater care, and at the same time more seriously than did
90587 Count Bezukhov. Natasha unconsciously felt this delicacy and so
90588 found great pleasure in his society. But she was not even grateful
90589 to him for it; nothing good on Pierre's part seemed to her to be an
90590 effort, it seemed so natural for him to be kind to everyone that there
90591 was no merit in his kindness. Sometimes Natasha noticed
90592 embarrassment and awkwardness on his part in her presence,
90593 especially when he wanted to do something to please her, or feared
90594 that something they spoke of would awaken memories distressing to her.
90595 She noticed this and attributed it to his general kindness and
90596 shyness, which she imagined must be the same toward everyone as it was
90597 to her. After those involuntary words--that if he were free he would
90598 have asked on his knees for her hand and her love--uttered at a moment
90599 when she was so strongly agitated, Pierre never spoke to Natasha of
90600 his feelings; and it seemed plain to her that those words, which had
90601 then so comforted her, were spoken as all sorts of meaningless words
90602 are spoken to comfort a crying child. It was not because Pierre was
90603 a married man, but because Natasha felt very strongly with him that
90604 moral barrier the absence of which she had experienced with Kuragin
90605 that it never entered her head that the relations between him and
90606 herself could lead to love on her part, still less on his, or even
90607 to the kind of tender, self-conscious, romantic friendship between a
90608 man and a woman of which she had known several instances.
90609
90610 Before the end of the fast of St. Peter, Agrafena Ivanovna Belova, a
90611 country neighbor of the Rostovs, came to Moscow to pay her devotions
90612 at the shrines of the Moscow saints. She suggested that Natasha should
90613 fast and prepare for Holy Communion, and Natasha gladly welcomed the
90614 idea. Despite the doctor's orders that she should not go out early
90615 in the morning, Natasha insisted on fasting and preparing for the
90616 sacrament, not as they generally prepared for it in the Rostov
90617 family by attending three services in their own house, but as Agrafena
90618 Ivanovna did, by going to church every day for a week and not once
90619 missing Vespers, Matins, or Mass.
90620
90621 The countess was pleased with Natasha's zeal; after the poor results
90622 of the medical treatment, in the depths of her heart she hoped that
90623 prayer might help her daughter more than medicines and, though not
90624 without fear and concealing it from the doctor, she agreed to
90625 Natasha's wish and entrusted her to Belova. Agrafena Ivanovna used
90626 to come to wake Natasha at three in the morning, but generally found
90627 her already awake. She was afraid of being late for Matins. Hastily
90628 washing, and meekly putting on her shabbiest dress and an old
90629 mantilla, Natasha, shivering in the fresh air, went out into the
90630 deserted streets lit by the clear light of dawn. By Agrafena
90631 Ivanovna's advice Natasha prepared herself not in their own parish,
90632 but at a church where, according to the devout Agrafena Ivanovna,
90633 the priest was a man of very severe and lofty life. There were never
90634 many people in the church; Natasha always stood beside Belova in the
90635 customary place before an icon of the Blessed Virgin, let into the
90636 screen before the choir on the left side, and a feeling, new to her,
90637 of humility before something great and incomprehensible, seized her
90638 when at that unusual morning hour, gazing at the dark face of the
90639 Virgin illuminated by the candles burning before it and by the morning
90640 light falling from the window, she listened to the words of the
90641 service which she tried to follow with understanding. When she
90642 understood them her personal feeling became interwoven in the
90643 prayers with shades of its own. When she did not understand, it was
90644 sweeter still to think that the wish to understand everything is
90645 pride, that it is impossible to understand all, that it is only
90646 necessary to believe and to commit oneself to God, whom she felt
90647 guiding her soul at those moments. She crossed herself, bowed low, and
90648 when she did not understand, in horror at her own vileness, simply
90649 asked God to forgive her everything, everything, to have mercy upon
90650 her. The prayers to which she surrendered herself most of all were
90651 those of repentance. On her way home at an early hour when she met
90652 no one but bricklayers going to work or men sweeping the street, and
90653 everybody within the houses was still asleep, Natasha experienced a
90654 feeling new to her, a sense of the possibility of correcting her
90655 faults, the possibility of a new, clean life, and of happiness.
90656
90657 During the whole week she spent in this way, that feeling grew every
90658 day. And the happiness of taking communion, or "communing" as Agrafena
90659 Ivanovna, joyously playing with the word, called it, seemed to Natasha
90660 so great that she felt she should never live till that blessed Sunday.
90661
90662 But the happy day came, and on that memorable Sunday, when,
90663 dressed in white muslin, she returned home after communion, for the
90664 first time for many months she felt calm and not oppressed by the
90665 thought of the life that lay before her.
90666
90667 The doctor who came to see her that day ordered her to continue
90668 the powders he had prescribed a fortnight previously.
90669
90670 "She must certainly go on taking them morning and evening," said he,
90671 evidently sincerely satisfied with his success. "Only, please be
90672 particular about it.
90673
90674 "Be quite easy," he continued playfully, as he adroitly took the
90675 gold coin in his palm. "She will soon be singing and frolicking about.
90676 The last medicine has done her a very great deal of good. She has
90677 freshened up very much."
90678
90679 The countess, with a cheerful expression on her face, looked down at
90680 her nails and spat a little for luck as she returned to the drawing
90681 room.
90682
90683
90684
90685
90686
90687 CHAPTER XVIII
90688
90689
90690 At the beginning of July more and more disquieting reports about the
90691 war began to spread in Moscow; people spoke of an appeal by the
90692 Emperor to the people, and of his coming himself from the army to
90693 Moscow. And as up to the eleventh of July no manifesto or appeal had
90694 been received, exaggerated reports became current about them and about
90695 the position of Russia. It was said that the Emperor was leaving the
90696 army because it was in danger, it was said that Smolensk had
90697 surrendered, that Napoleon had an army of a million and only a miracle
90698 could save Russia.
90699
90700 On the eleventh of July, which was Saturday, the manifesto was
90701 received but was not yet in print, and Pierre, who was at the
90702 Rostovs', promised to come to dinner next day, Sunday, and bring a
90703 copy of the manifesto and appeal, which he would obtain from Count
90704 Rostopchin.
90705
90706 That Sunday, the Rostovs went to Mass at the Razumovskis' private
90707 chapel as usual. It was a hot July day. Even at ten o'clock, when
90708 the Rostovs got out of their carriage at the chapel, the sultry air,
90709 the shouts of hawkers, the light and gay summer clothes of the
90710 crowd, the dusty leaves of the trees on the boulevard, the sounds of
90711 the band and the white trousers of a battalion marching to parade, the
90712 rattling of wheels on the cobblestones, and the brilliant, hot
90713 sunshine were all full of that summer languor, that content and
90714 discontent with the present, which is most strongly felt on a
90715 bright, hot day in town. All the Moscow notabilities, all the Rostovs'
90716 acquaintances, were at the Razumovskis' chapel, for, as if expecting
90717 something to happen, many wealthy families who usually left town for
90718 their country estates had not gone away that summer. As Natasha, at
90719 her mother's side, passed through the crowd behind a liveried
90720 footman who cleared the way for them, she heard a young man speaking
90721 about her in too loud a whisper.
90722
90723 "That's Rostova, the one who..."
90724
90725 "She's much thinner, but all the same she's pretty!"
90726
90727 She heard, or thought she heard, the names of Kuragin and Bolkonski.
90728 But she was always imagining that. It always seemed to her that
90729 everyone who looked at her was thinking only of what had happened to
90730 her. With a sinking heart, wretched as she always was now when she
90731 found herself in a crowd, Natasha in her lilac silk dress trimmed with
90732 black lace walked--as women can walk--with the more repose and
90733 stateliness the greater the pain and shame in her soul. She knew for
90734 certain that she was pretty, but this no longer gave her
90735 satisfaction as it used to. On the contrary it tormented her more than
90736 anything else of late, and particularly so on this bright, hot
90737 summer day in town. "It's Sunday again--another week past," she
90738 thought, recalling that she had been here the Sunday before, "and
90739 always the same life that is no life, and the same surroundings in
90740 which it used to be so easy to live. I'm pretty, I'm young, and I know
90741 that now I am good. I used to be bad, but now I know I am good," she
90742 thought, "but yet my best years are slipping by and are no good to
90743 anyone." She stood by her mother's side and exchanged nods with
90744 acquaintances near her. From habit she scrutinized the ladies'
90745 dresses, condemned the bearing of a lady standing close by who was not
90746 crossing herself properly but in a cramped manner, and again she
90747 thought with vexation that she was herself being judged and was
90748 judging others, and suddenly, at the sound of the service, she felt
90749 horrified at her own vileness, horrified that the former purity of her
90750 soul was again lost to her.
90751
90752 A comely, fresh-looking old man was conducting the service with that
90753 mild solemnity which has so elevating and soothing an effect on the
90754 souls of the worshipers. The gates of the sanctuary screen were
90755 closed, the curtain was slowly drawn, and from behind it a soft
90756 mysterious voice pronounced some words. Tears, the cause of which
90757 she herself did not understand, made Natasha's breast heave, and a
90758 joyous but oppressive feeling agitated her.
90759
90760 "Teach me what I should do, how to live my life, how I may grow good
90761 forever, forever!" she pleaded.
90762
90763 The deacon came out onto the raised space before the altar screen
90764 and, holding his thumb extended, drew his long hair from under his
90765 dalmatic and, making the sign of the cross on his breast, began in a
90766 loud and solemn voice to recite the words of the prayer...
90767
90768 "In peace let us pray unto the Lord."
90769
90770 "As one community, without distinction of class, without enmity,
90771 united by brotherly love--let us pray!" thought Natasha.
90772
90773 "For the peace that is from above, and for the salvation of our
90774 souls."
90775
90776 "For the world of angels and all the spirits who dwell above us,"
90777 prayed Natasha.
90778
90779 When they prayed for the warriors, she thought of her brother and
90780 Denisov. When they prayed for all traveling by land and sea, she
90781 remembered Prince Andrew, prayed for him, and asked God to forgive her
90782 all the wrongs she had done him. When they prayed for those who love
90783 us, she prayed for the members of her own family, her father and
90784 mother and Sonya, realizing for the first time how wrongly she had
90785 acted toward them, and feeling all the strength of her love for
90786 them. When they prayed for those who hate us, she tried to think of
90787 her enemies and people who hated her, in order to pray for them. She
90788 included among her enemies the creditors and all who had business
90789 dealings with her father, and always at the thought of enemies and
90790 those who hated her she remembered Anatole who had done her so much
90791 harm--and though he did not hate her she gladly prayed for him as
90792 for an enemy. Only at prayer did she feel able to think clearly and
90793 calmly of Prince Andrew and Anatole, as men for whom her feelings were
90794 as nothing compared with her awe and devotion to God. When they prayed
90795 for the Imperial family and the Synod, she bowed very low and made the
90796 sign of the cross, saying to herself that even if she did not
90797 understand, still she could not doubt, and at any rate loved the
90798 governing Synod and prayed for it.
90799
90800 When he had finished the Litany the deacon crossed the stole over
90801 his breast and said, "Let us commit ourselves and our whole lives to
90802 Christ the Lord!"
90803
90804 "Commit ourselves to God," Natasha inwardly repeated. "Lord God, I
90805 submit myself to Thy will!" she thought. "I want nothing, wish for
90806 nothing; teach me what to do and how to use my will! Take me, take
90807 me!" prayed Natasha, with impatient emotion in her heart, not crossing
90808 herself but letting her slender arms hang down as if expecting some
90809 invisible power at any moment to take her and deliver her from
90810 herself, from her regrets, desires, remorse, hopes, and sins.
90811
90812 The countess looked round several times at her daughter's softened
90813 face and shining eyes and prayed God to help her.
90814
90815 Unexpectedly, in the middle of the service, and not in the usual
90816 order Natasha knew so well, the deacon brought out a small stool,
90817 the one he knelt on when praying on Trinity Sunday, and placed it
90818 before the doors of the sanctuary screen. The priest came out with his
90819 purple velvet biretta on his head, adjusted his hair, and knelt down
90820 with an effort. Everybody followed his example and they looked at
90821 one another in surprise. Then came the prayer just received from the
90822 Synod--a prayer for the deliverance of Russia from hostile invasion.
90823
90824 "Lord God of might, God of our salvation!" began the priest in
90825 that voice, clear, not grandiloquent but mild, in which only the
90826 Slav clergy read and which acts so irresistibly on a Russian heart.
90827
90828 "Lord God of might, God of our salvation! Look this day in mercy and
90829 blessing on Thy humble people, and graciously hear us, spare us, and
90830 have mercy upon us! This foe confounding Thy land, desiring to lay
90831 waste the whole world, rises against us; these lawless men are
90832 gathered together to overthrow Thy kingdom, to destroy Thy dear
90833 Jerusalem, Thy beloved Russia; to defile Thy temples, to overthrow
90834 Thine altars, and to desecrate our holy shrines. How long, O Lord, how
90835 long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they wield unlawful
90836 power?
90837
90838 "Lord God! Hear us when we pray to Thee; strengthen with Thy might
90839 our most gracious sovereign lord, the Emperor Alexander Pavlovich;
90840 be mindful of his uprightness and meekness, reward him according to
90841 his righteousness, and let it preserve us, Thy chosen Israel! Bless
90842 his counsels, his undertakings, and his work; strengthen his kingdom
90843 by Thine almighty hand, and give him victory over his enemy, even as
90844 Thou gavest Moses the victory over Amalek, Gideon over Midian, and
90845 David over Goliath. Preserve his army, put a bow of brass in the hands
90846 of those who have armed themselves in Thy Name, and gird their loins
90847 with strength for the fight. Take up the spear and shield and arise to
90848 help us; confound and put to shame those who have devised evil against
90849 us, may they be before the faces of Thy faithful warriors as dust
90850 before the wind, and may Thy mighty Angel confound them and put them
90851 to flight; may they be ensnared when they know it not, and may the
90852 plots they have laid in secret be turned against them; let them fall
90853 before Thy servants' feet and be laid low by our hosts! Lord, Thou art
90854 able to save both great and small; Thou art God, and man cannot
90855 prevail against Thee!
90856
90857 "God of our fathers! Remember Thy bounteous mercy and
90858 loving-kindness which are from of old; turn not Thy face from us,
90859 but be gracious to our unworthiness, and in Thy great goodness and Thy
90860 many mercies regard not our transgressions and iniquities! Create in
90861 us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us, strengthen us all
90862 in Thy faith, fortify our hope, inspire us with true love one for
90863 another, arm us with unity of spirit in the righteous defense of the
90864 heritage Thou gavest to us and to our fathers, and let not the scepter
90865 of the wicked be exalted against the destiny of those Thou hast
90866 sanctified.
90867
90868 "O Lord our God, in whom we believe and in whom we put our trust,
90869 let us not be confounded in our hope of Thy mercy, and give us a token
90870 of Thy blessing, that those who hate us and our Orthodox faith may see
90871 it and be put to shame and perish, and may all the nations know that
90872 Thou art the Lord and we are Thy people. Show Thy mercy upon us this
90873 day, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation; make the hearts of Thy
90874 servants to rejoice in Thy mercy; smite down our enemies and destroy
90875 them swiftly beneath the feet of Thy faithful servants! For Thou art
90876 the defense, the succor, and the victory of them that put their
90877 trust in Thee, and to Thee be all glory, to Father, Son, and Holy
90878 Ghost, now and forever, world without end. Amen."
90879
90880 In Natasha's receptive condition of soul this prayer affected her
90881 strongly. She listened to every word about the victory of Moses over
90882 Amalek, of Gideon over Midian, and of David over Goliath, and about
90883 the destruction of "Thy Jerusalem," and she prayed to God with the
90884 tenderness and emotion with which her heart was overflowing, but
90885 without fully understanding what she was asking of God in that prayer.
90886 She shared with all her heart in the prayer for the spirit of
90887 righteousness, for the strengthening of the heart by faith and hope,
90888 and its animation by love. But she could not pray that her enemies
90889 might be trampled under foot when but a few minutes before she had
90890 been wishing she had more of them that she might pray for them. But
90891 neither could she doubt the righteousness of the prayer that was being
90892 read on bended knees. She felt in her heart a devout and tremulous awe
90893 at the thought of the punishment that overtakes men for their sins,
90894 and especially of her own sins, and she prayed to God to forgive
90895 them all, and her too, and to give them all, and her too, peace and
90896 happiness. And it seemed to her that God heard her prayer.
90897
90898
90899
90900
90901
90902 CHAPTER XIX
90903
90904
90905 From the day when Pierre, after leaving the Rostovs' with
90906 Natasha's grateful look fresh in his mind, had gazed at the comet that
90907 seemed to be fixed in the sky and felt that something new was
90908 appearing on his own horizon--from that day the problem of the
90909 vanity and uselessness of all earthly things, that had incessantly
90910 tormented him, no longer presented itself. That terrible question
90911 "Why?" "Wherefore?" which had come to him amid every occupation, was
90912 now replaced, not by another question or by a reply to the former
90913 question, but by her image. When he listened to, or himself took
90914 part in, trivial conversations, when he read or heard of human
90915 baseness or folly, he was not horrified as formerly, and did not ask
90916 himself why men struggled so about these things when all is so
90917 transient and incomprehensible--but he remembered her as he had last
90918 seen her, and all his doubts vanished--not because she had answered
90919 the questions that had haunted him, but because his conception of
90920 her transferred him instantly to another, a brighter, realm of
90921 spiritual activity in which no one could be justified or guilty--a
90922 realm of beauty and love which it was worth living for. Whatever
90923 worldly baseness presented itself to him, he said to himself:
90924
90925 "Well, supposing N. N. swindled the country and the Tsar, and the
90926 country and the Tsar confer honors upon him, what does that matter?
90927 She smiled at me yesterday and asked me to come again, and I love her,
90928 and no one will ever know it." And his soul felt calm and peaceful.
90929
90930 Pierre still went into society, drank as much and led the same
90931 idle and dissipated life, because besides the hours he spent at the
90932 Rostovs' there were other hours he had to spend somehow, and the
90933 habits and acquaintances he had made in Moscow formed a current that
90934 bore him along irresistibly. But latterly, when more and more
90935 disquieting reports came from the seat of war and Natasha's health
90936 began to improve and she no longer aroused in him the former feeling
90937 of careful pity, an ever-increasing restlessness, which he could not
90938 explain, took possession of him. He felt that the condition he was
90939 in could not continue long, that a catastrophe was coming which
90940 would change his whole life, and he impatiently sought everywhere
90941 for signs of that approaching catastrophe. One of his brother Masons
90942 had revealed to Pierre the following prophecy concerning Napoleon,
90943 drawn from the Revelation of St. John.
90944
90945 In chapter 13, verse 18, of the Apocalypse, it is said:
90946
90947
90948 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number
90949 of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six
90950 hundred threescore and six.
90951
90952 And in the fifth verse of the same chapter:
90953
90954
90955 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
90956 blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
90957 months.
90958
90959
90960 The French alphabet, written out with the same numerical values as
90961 the Hebrew, in which the first nine letters denote units and the
90962 others tens, will have the following significance:
90963
90964 a b c d e f g h i k
90965 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
90966 l m n o p q r s
90967 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
90968 t u v w x y
90969 100 110 120 130 140 150
90970 z
90971 160
90972
90973
90974 Writing the words L'Empereur Napoleon in numbers, it appears that
90975 the sum of them is 666, and that Napoleon therefore the beast foretold
90976 in the Apocalypse. Moreover, by applying the same system to the
90977 words quarante-deux,* which was the term allowed to the beast that
90978 "spoke great things and blasphemies," the same number 666 was
90979 obtained; from which it followed that the limit fixed for Napoleon's
90980 power had come in the year 1812 when the French emperor was forty-two.
90981 This prophecy pleased Pierre very much and he often asked himself what
90982 would put an end to the power of the beast, that is, of Napoleon,
90983 and tried by the same system of using letters as numbers and adding
90984 them up, to find an answer to the question that engrossed him. He
90985 wrote the words L'Empereur Alexandre, La nation russe and added up
90986 their numbers, but the sums were either more or less than 666. Once
90987 when making such calculations he wrote down his own name in French,
90988 Comte Pierre Besouhoff, but the sum of the numbers did not come right.
90989 Then he changed the spelling, substituting a z for the s and adding de
90990 and the article le, still without obtaining the desired result. Then
90991 it occurred to him: if the answer to the question were contained in
90992 his name, his nationality would also be given in the answer. So he
90993 wrote Le russe Besuhof and adding up the numbers got 671. This was
90994 only five too much, and five was represented by e, the very letter
90995 elided from the article le before the word Empereur. By omitting the
90996 e, though incorrectly, Pierre got the answer he sought. L'russe
90997 Besuhof made 666. This discovery excited him. How, or by what means,
90998 he was connected with the great event foretold in the Apocalypse he
90999 did not know, but he did not doubt that connection for a moment. His
91000 love for Natasha, Antichrist, Napoleon, the invasion, the comet,
91001 666, L'Empereur Napoleon, and L'russe Besuhof--all this had to
91002 mature and culminate, to lift him out of that spellbound, petty sphere
91003 of Moscow habits in which he felt himself held captive and lead him to
91004 a great achievement and great happiness.
91005
91006
91007 *Forty-two.
91008
91009
91010
91011 On the eve of the Sunday when the special prayer was read, Pierre
91012 had promised the Rostovs to bring them, from Count Rostopchin whom
91013 he knew well, both the appeal to the people and the news from the
91014 army. In the morning, when he went to call at Rostopchin's he met
91015 there a courier fresh from the army, an acquaintance of his own, who
91016 often danced at Moscow balls.
91017
91018 "Do, please, for heaven's sake, relieve me of something!" said the
91019 courier. "I have a sackful of letters to parents."
91020
91021 Among these letters was one from Nicholas Rostov to his father.
91022 Pierre took that letter, and Rostopchin also gave him the Emperor's
91023 appeal to Moscow, which had just been printed, the last army orders,
91024 and his own most recent bulletin. Glancing through the army orders,
91025 Pierre found in one of them, in the lists of killed, wounded, and
91026 rewarded, the name of Nicholas Rostov, awarded a St. George's Cross of
91027 the Fourth Class for courage shown in the Ostrovna affair, and in
91028 the same order the name of Prince Andrew Bolkonski, appointed to the
91029 command of a regiment of Chasseurs. Though he did not want to remind
91030 the Rostovs of Bolkonski, Pierre could not refrain from making them
91031 happy by the news of their son's having received a decoration, so he
91032 sent that printed army order and Nicholas' letter to the Rostovs,
91033 keeping the appeal, the bulletin, and the other orders to take with
91034 him when he went to dinner.
91035
91036 His conversation with Count Rostopchin and the latter's tone of
91037 anxious hurry, the meeting with the courier who talked casually of how
91038 badly things were going in the army, the rumors of the discovery of
91039 spies in Moscow and of a leaflet in circulation stating that
91040 Napoleon promised to be in both the Russian capitals by the autumn,
91041 and the talk of the Emperor's being expected to arrive next day--all
91042 aroused with fresh force that feeling of agitation and expectation
91043 in Pierre which he had been conscious of ever since the appearance
91044 of the comet, and especially since the beginning of the war.
91045
91046 He had long been thinking of entering the army and would have done
91047 so had he not been hindered, first, by his membership of the Society
91048 of Freemasons to which he was bound by oath and which preached
91049 perpetual peace and the abolition of war, and secondly, by the fact
91050 that when he saw the great mass of Muscovites who had donned uniform
91051 and were talking patriotism, he somehow felt ashamed to take the step.
91052 But the chief reason for not carrying out his intention to enter the
91053 army lay in the vague idea that he was L'russe Besuhof who had the
91054 number of the beast, 666; that his part in the great affair of setting
91055 a limit to the power of the beast that spoke great and blasphemous
91056 things had been predestined from eternity, and that therefore he ought
91057 not to undertake anything, but wait for what was bound to come to
91058 pass.
91059
91060
91061
91062
91063
91064 CHAPTER XX
91065
91066
91067 A few intimate friends were dining with the Rostovs that day, as
91068 usual on Sundays.
91069
91070 Pierre came early so as to find them alone.
91071
91072 He had grown so stout this year that he would have been abnormal had
91073 he not been so tall, so broad of limb, and so strong that he carried
91074 his bulk with evident ease.
91075
91076 He went up the stairs, puffing and muttering something. His coachman
91077 did not even ask whether he was to wait. He knew that when his
91078 master was at the Rostovs' he stayed till midnight. The Rostovs'
91079 footman rushed eagerly forward to help him off with his cloak and take
91080 his hat and stick. Pierre, from club habit, always left both hat and
91081 stick in the anteroom.
91082
91083 The first person he saw in the house was Natasha. Even before he saw
91084 her, while taking off his cloak, he heard her. She was practicing
91085 solfa exercises in the music room. He knew that she had not sung since
91086 her illness, and so the sound of her voice surprised and delighted
91087 him. He opened the door softly and saw her, in the lilac dress she had
91088 worn at church, walking about the room singing. She had her back to
91089 him when he opened the door, but when, turning quickly, she saw his
91090 broad, surprised face, she blushed and came rapidly up to him.
91091
91092 "I want to try to sing again," she said, adding as if by way of
91093 excuse, "it is, at least, something to do."
91094
91095 "That's capital!"
91096
91097 "How glad I am you've come! I am so happy today," she said, with the
91098 old animation Pierre had not seen in her for along time. "You know
91099 Nicholas has received a St. George's Cross? I am so proud of him."
91100
91101 "Oh yes, I sent that announcement. But I don't want to interrupt
91102 you," he added, and was about to go to the drawing room.
91103
91104 Natasha stopped him.
91105
91106 "Count, is it wrong of me to sing?" she said blushing, and fixing
91107 her eyes inquiringly on him.
91108
91109 "No... Why should it be? On the contrary... But why do you ask me?"
91110
91111 "I don't know myself," Natasha answered quickly, "but I should not
91112 like to do anything you disapproved of. I believe in you completely.
91113 You don't know how important you are to me, how much you've done for
91114 me...." She spoke rapidly and did not notice how Pierre flushed at her
91115 words. "I saw in that same army order that he, Bolkonski" (she
91116 whispered the name hastily), "is in Russia, and in the army again.
91117 What do you think?"--she was speaking hurriedly, evidently afraid
91118 her strength might fail her--"Will he ever forgive me? Will he not
91119 always have a bitter feeling toward me? What do you think? What do you
91120 think?"
91121
91122 "I think..." Pierre replied, "that he has nothing to forgive....
91123 If I were in his place..."
91124
91125 By association of ideas, Pierre was at once carried back to the
91126 day when, trying to comfort her, he had said that if he were not
91127 himself but the best man in the world and free, he would ask on his
91128 knees for her hand; and the same feeling of pity, tenderness, and love
91129 took possession of him and the same words rose to his lips. But she
91130 did not give him time to say them.
91131
91132 "Yes, you... you..." she said, uttering the word you rapturously-
91133 "that's a different thing. I know no one kinder, more generous, or
91134 better than you; nobody could be! Had you not been there then, and now
91135 too, I don't know what would have become of me, because..."
91136
91137 Tears suddenly rose in her eyes, she turned away, lifted her music
91138 before her eyes, began singing again, and again began walking up and
91139 down the room.
91140
91141 Just then Petya came running in from the drawing room.
91142
91143 Petya was now a handsome rosy lad of fifteen with full red lips
91144 and resembled Natasha. He was preparing to enter the university, but
91145 he and his friend Obolenski had lately, in secret, agreed to join
91146 the hussars.
91147
91148 Petya had come rushing out to talk to his namesake about this
91149 affair. He had asked Pierre to find out whether he would be accepted
91150 in the hussars.
91151
91152 Pierre walked up and down the drawing room, not listening to what
91153 Petya was saying.
91154
91155 Petya pulled him by the arm to attract his attention.
91156
91157 "Well, what about my plan? Peter Kirilych, for heaven's sake! You
91158 are my only hope," said Petya.
91159
91160 "Oh yes, your plan. To join the hussars? I'll mention it, I'll bring
91161 it all up today."
91162
91163 "Well, mon cher, have you got the manifesto?" asked the old count.
91164 "The countess has been to Mass at the Razumovskis' and heard the new
91165 prayer. She says it's very fine."
91166
91167 "Yes, I've got it," said Pierre. "The Emperor is to be here
91168 tomorrow... there's to be an Extraordinary Meeting of the nobility,
91169 and they are talking of a levy of ten men per thousand. Oh yes, let me
91170 congratulate you!"
91171
91172 "Yes, yes, thank God! Well, and what news from the army?"
91173
91174 "We are again retreating. They say we're already near Smolensk,"
91175 replied Pierre.
91176
91177 "O Lord, O Lord!" exclaimed the count. "Where is the manifesto?"
91178
91179 "The Emperor's appeal? Oh yes!"
91180
91181 Pierre began feeling in his pockets for the papers, but could not
91182 find them. Still slapping his pockets, he kissed the hand of the
91183 countess who entered the room and glanced uneasily around, evidently
91184 expecting Natasha, who had left off singing but had not yet come
91185 into the drawing room.
91186
91187 "On my word, I don't know what I've done with it," he said.
91188
91189 "There he is, always losing everything!" remarked the countess.
91190
91191 Natasha entered with a softened and agitated expression of face
91192 and sat down looking silently at Pierre. As soon as she entered,
91193 Pierre's features, which had been gloomy, suddenly lighted up, and
91194 while still searching for the papers he glanced at her several times.
91195
91196 "No, really! I'll drive home, I must have left them there. I'll
91197 certainly..."
91198
91199 "But you'll be late for dinner."
91200
91201 "Oh! And my coachman has gone."
91202
91203 But Sonya, who had gone to look for the papers in the anteroom,
91204 had found them in Pierre's hat, where he had carefully tucked them
91205 under the lining. Pierre was about to begin reading.
91206
91207 "No, after dinner," said the old count, evidently expecting much
91208 enjoyment from that reading.
91209
91210 At dinner, at which champagne was drunk to the health of the new
91211 chevalier of St. George, Shinshin told them the town news, of the
91212 illness of the old Georgian princess, of Metivier's disappearance from
91213 Moscow, and of how some German fellow had been brought to Rostopchin
91214 and accused of being a French "spyer" (so Count Rostopchin had told
91215 the story), and how Rostopchin let him go and assured the people
91216 that he was "not a spire at all, but only an old German ruin."
91217
91218 "People are being arrested..." said the count. "I've told the
91219 countess she should not speak French so much. It's not the time for it
91220 now."
91221
91222 "And have you heard?" Shinshin asked. "Prince Golitsyn has engaged a
91223 master to teach him Russian. It is becoming dangerous to speak
91224 French in the streets."
91225
91226 "And how about you, Count Peter Kirilych? If they call up the
91227 militia, you too will have to mount a horse," remarked the old
91228 count, addressing Pierre.
91229
91230 Pierre had been silent and preoccupied all through dinner, seeming
91231 not to grasp what was said. He looked at the count.
91232
91233 "Oh yes, the war," he said. "No! What sort of warrior should I make?
91234 And yet everything is so strange, so strange! I can't make it out. I
91235 don't know, I am very far from having military tastes, but in these
91236 times no one can answer for himself."
91237
91238 After dinner the count settled himself comfortably in an easy
91239 chair and with a serious face asked Sonya, who was considered an
91240 excellent reader, to read the appeal.
91241
91242
91243 "To Moscow, our ancient Capital!
91244
91245 "The enemy has entered the borders of Russia with immense forces. He
91246 comes to despoil our beloved country,"
91247
91248
91249 Sonya read painstakingly in her high-pitched voice. The count
91250 listened with closed eyes, heaving abrupt sighs at certain passages.
91251
91252 Natasha sat erect, gazing with a searching look now at her father
91253 and now at Pierre.
91254
91255 Pierre felt her eyes on him and tried not to look round. The
91256 countess shook her head disapprovingly and angrily at every solemn
91257 expression in the manifesto. In all these words she saw only that
91258 the danger threatening her son would not soon be over. Shinshin,
91259 with a sarcastic smile on his lips, was evidently preparing to make
91260 fun of anything that gave him the opportunity: Sonya's reading, any
91261 remark of the count's, or even the manifesto itself should no better
91262 pretext present itself.
91263
91264 After reading about the dangers that threatened Russia, the hopes
91265 the Emperor placed on Moscow and especially on its illustrious
91266 nobility, Sonya, with a quiver in her voice due chiefly to the
91267 attention that was being paid to her, read the last words:
91268
91269
91270 "We ourselves will not delay to appear among our people in that
91271 Capital and in others parts of our realm for consultation, and for the
91272 direction of all our levies, both those now barring the enemy's path
91273 and those freshly formed to defeat him wherever he may appear. May the
91274 ruin he hopes to bring upon us recoil on his own head, and may
91275 Europe delivered from bondage glorify the name of Russia!"
91276
91277
91278 "Yes, that's it!" cried the count, opening his moist eyes and
91279 sniffing repeatedly, as if a strong vinaigrette had been held to his
91280 nose; and he added, "Let the Emperor but say the word and we'll
91281 sacrifice everything and begrudge nothing."
91282
91283 Before Shinshin had time to utter the joke he was ready to make on
91284 the count's patriotism, Natasha jumped up from her place and ran to
91285 her father.
91286
91287 "What a darling our Papa is!" she cried, kissing him, and she
91288 again looked at Pierre with the unconscious coquetry that had returned
91289 to her with her better spirits.
91290
91291 "There! Here's a patriot for you!" said Shinshin.
91292
91293 "Not a patriot at all, but simply..." Natasha replied in an
91294 injured tone. "Everything seems funny to you, but this isn't at all
91295 a joke...."
91296
91297 "A joke indeed!" put in the count. "Let him but say the word and
91298 we'll all go.... We're not Germans!"
91299
91300 "But did you notice, it says, 'for consultation'?" said Pierre.
91301
91302 "Never mind what it's for...."
91303
91304 At this moment, Petya, to whom nobody was paying any attention, came
91305 up to his father with a very flushed face and said in his breaking
91306 voice that was now deep and now shrill:
91307
91308 "Well, Papa, I tell you definitely, and Mamma too, it's as you
91309 please, but I say definitely that you must let me enter the army,
91310 because I can't... that's all...."
91311
91312 The countess, in dismay, looked up to heaven, clasped her hands, and
91313 turned angrily to her husband.
91314
91315 "That comes of your talking!" said she.
91316
91317 But the count had already recovered from his excitement.
91318
91319 "Come, come!" said he. "Here's a fine warrior! No! Nonsense! You
91320 must study."
91321
91322 "It's not nonsense, Papa. Fedya Obolenski is younger than I, and
91323 he's going too. Besides, all the same I can't study now when..." Petya
91324 stopped short, flushed till he perspired, but still got out the words,
91325 "when our Fatherland is in danger."
91326
91327 "That'll do, that'll do--nonsense...."
91328
91329 "But you said yourself that we would sacrifice everything."
91330
91331 "Petya! Be quiet, I tell you!" cried the count, with a glance at his
91332 wife, who had turned pale and was staring fixedly at her son.
91333
91334 "And I tell you--Peter Kirilych here will also tell you..."
91335
91336 "Nonsense, I tell you. Your mother's milk has hardly dried on your
91337 lips and you want to go into the army! There, there, I tell you,"
91338 and the count moved to go out of the room, taking the papers, probably
91339 to reread them in his study before having a nap.
91340
91341 "Well, Peter Kirilych, let's go and have a smoke," he said.
91342
91343 Pierre was agitated and undecided. Natasha's unwontedly brilliant
91344 eyes, continually glancing at him with a more than cordial look, had
91345 reduced him to this condition.
91346
91347 "No, I think I'll go home."
91348
91349 "Home? Why, you meant to spend the evening with us.... You don't
91350 often come nowadays as it is, and this girl of mine," said the count
91351 good-naturedly, pointing to Natasha, "only brightens up when you're
91352 here."
91353
91354 "Yes, I had forgotten... I really must go home... business..."
91355 said Pierre hurriedly.
91356
91357 "Well, then, au revoir!" said the count, and went out of the room.
91358
91359 "Why are you going? Why are you upset?" asked Natasha, and she
91360 looked challengingly into Pierre's eyes.
91361
91362 "Because I love you!" was what he wanted to say, but he did not
91363 say it, and only blushed till the tears came, and lowered his eyes.
91364
91365 "Because it is better for me to come less often... because... No,
91366 simply I have business...."
91367
91368 "Why? No, tell me!" Natasha began resolutely and suddenly stopped.
91369
91370 They looked at each other with dismayed and embarrassed faces. He
91371 tried to smile but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he
91372 silently kissed her hand and went out.
91373
91374 Pierre made up his mind not to go to the Rostovs' any more.
91375
91376
91377
91378
91379
91380 CHAPTER XXI
91381
91382
91383 After the definite refusal he had received, Petya went to his room
91384 and there locked himself in and wept bitterly. When he came in to tea,
91385 silent, morose, and with tear-stained face, everybody pretended not to
91386 notice anything.
91387
91388 Next day the Emperor arrived in Moscow, and several of the
91389 Rostovs' domestic serfs begged permission to go to have a look at him.
91390 That morning Petya was a long time dressing and arranging his hair and
91391 collar to look like a grown-up man. He frowned before his looking
91392 glass, gesticulated, shrugged his shoulders, and finally, without
91393 saying a word to anyone, took his cap and left the house by the back
91394 door, trying to avoid notice. Petya decided to go straight to where
91395 the Emperor was and to explain frankly to some gentleman-in-waiting
91396 (he imagined the Emperor to be always surrounded by
91397 gentlemen-in-waiting) that he, Count Rostov, in spite of his youth
91398 wished to serve his country; that youth could be no hindrance to
91399 loyalty, and that he was ready to... While dressing, Petya had
91400 prepared many fine things he meant to say to the gentleman-in-waiting.
91401
91402 It was on the very fact of being so young that Petya counted for
91403 success in reaching the Emperor--he even thought how surprised
91404 everyone would be at his youthfulness--and yet in the arrangement of
91405 his collar and hair and by his sedate deliberate walk he wished to
91406 appear a grown-up man. But the farther he went and the more his
91407 attention was diverted by the ever-increasing crowds moving toward the
91408 Kremlin, the less he remembered to walk with the sedateness and
91409 deliberation of a man. As he approached the Kremlin he even began to
91410 avoid being crushed and resolutely stuck out his elbows in a
91411 menacing way. But within the Trinity Gateway he was so pressed to
91412 the wall by people who probably were unaware of the patriotic
91413 intentions with which he had come that in spite of all his
91414 determination he had to give in, and stop while carriages passed in,
91415 rumbling beneath the archway. Beside Petya stood a peasant woman, a
91416 footman, two tradesmen, and a discharged soldier. After standing
91417 some time in the gateway, Petya tried to move forward in front of
91418 the others without waiting for all the carriages to pass, and he began
91419 resolutely working his way with his elbows, but the woman just in
91420 front of him, who was the first against whom he directed his
91421 efforts, angrily shouted at him:
91422
91423 "What are you shoving for, young lordling? Don't you see we're all
91424 standing still? Then why push?"
91425
91426 "Anybody can shove," said the footman, and also began working his
91427 elbows to such effect that he pushed Petya into a very filthy corner
91428 of the gateway.
91429
91430 Petya wiped his perspiring face with his hands and pulled up the
91431 damp collar which he had arranged so well at home to seem like a
91432 man's.
91433
91434 He felt that he no longer looked presentable, and feared that if
91435 he were now to approach the gentlemen-in-waiting in that plight he
91436 would not be admitted to the Emperor. But it was impossible to smarten
91437 oneself up or move to another place, because of the crowd. One of
91438 the generals who drove past was an acquaintance of the Rostovs', and
91439 Petya thought of asking his help, but came to the conclusion that that
91440 would not be a manly thing to do. When the carriages had all passed
91441 in, the crowd, carrying Petya with it, streamed forward into the
91442 Kremlin Square which was already full of people. There were people not
91443 only in the square, but everywhere--on the slopes and on the roofs. As
91444 soon as Petya found himself in the square he clearly heard the sound
91445 of bells and the joyous voices of the crowd that filled the whole
91446 Kremlin.
91447
91448 For a while the crowd was less dense, but suddenly all heads were
91449 bared, and everyone rushed forward in one direction. Petya was being
91450 pressed so that he could scarcely breathe, and everybody shouted,
91451 "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" Petya stood on tiptoe and pushed and
91452 pinched, but could see nothing except the people about him.
91453
91454 All the faces bore the same expression of excitement and enthusiasm.
91455 A tradesman's wife standing beside Petya sobbed, and the tears ran
91456 down her cheeks.
91457
91458 "Father! Angel! Dear one!" she kept repeating, wiping away her tears
91459 with her fingers.
91460
91461 "Hurrah!" was heard on all sides.
91462
91463 For a moment the crowd stood still, but then it made another rush
91464 forward.
91465
91466 Quite beside himself, Petya, clinching his teeth and rolling his
91467 eyes ferociously, pushed forward, elbowing his way and shouting
91468 "hurrah!" as if he were prepared that instant to kill himself and
91469 everyone else, but on both sides of him other people with similarly
91470 ferocious faces pushed forward and everybody shouted "hurrah!"
91471
91472 "So this is what the Emperor is!" thought Petya. "No, I can't
91473 petition him myself--that would be too bold." But in spite of this
91474 he continued to struggle desperately forward, and from between the
91475 backs of those in front he caught glimpses of an open space with a
91476 strip of red cloth spread out on it; but just then the crowd swayed
91477 back--the police in front were pushing back those who had pressed
91478 too close to the procession: the Emperor was passing from the palace
91479 to the Cathedral of the Assumption--and Petya unexpectedly received
91480 such a blow on his side and ribs and was squeezed so hard that
91481 suddenly everything grew dim before his eyes and he lost
91482 consciousness. When he came to himself, a man of clerical appearance
91483 with a tuft of gray hair at the back of his head and wearing a
91484 shabby blue cassock--probably a church clerk and chanter--was
91485 holding him under the arm with one hand while warding off the pressure
91486 of the crowd with the other.
91487
91488 "You've crushed the young gentleman!" said the clerk. "What are
91489 you up to? Gently!... They've crushed him, crushed him!"
91490
91491 The Emperor entered the Cathedral of the Assumption. The crowd
91492 spread out again more evenly, and the clerk led Petya--pale and
91493 breathless--to the Tsar-cannon. Several people were sorry for Petya,
91494 and suddenly a crowd turned toward him and pressed round him. Those
91495 who stood nearest him attended to him, unbuttoned his coat, seated him
91496 on the raised platform of the cannon, and reproached those others
91497 (whoever they might be) who had crushed him.
91498
91499 "One might easily get killed that way! What do they mean by it?
91500 Killing people! Poor dear, he's as white as a sheet!"--various
91501 voices were heard saying.
91502
91503 Petya soon came to himself, the color returned to his face, the pain
91504 had passed, and at the cost of that temporary unpleasantness he had
91505 obtained a place by the cannon from where he hoped to see the
91506 Emperor who would be returning that way. Petya no longer thought of
91507 presenting his petition. If he could only see the Emperor he would
91508 be happy!
91509
91510 While the service was proceeding in the Cathedral of the Assumption-
91511 it was a combined service of prayer on the occasion of the Emperor's
91512 arrival and of thanksgiving for the conclusion of peace with the
91513 Turks--the crowd outside spread out and hawkers appeared, selling
91514 kvas, gingerbread, and poppyseed sweets (of which Petya was
91515 particularly fond), and ordinary conversation could again be heard.
91516 A tradesman's wife was showing a rent in her shawl and telling how
91517 much the shawl had cost; another was saying that all silk goods had
91518 now got dear. The clerk who had rescued Petya was talking to a
91519 functionary about the priests who were officiating that day with the
91520 bishop. The clerk several times used the word "plenary" (of the
91521 service), a word Petya did not understand. Two young citizens were
91522 joking with some serf girls who were cracking nuts. All these
91523 conversations, especially the joking with the girls, were such as
91524 might have had a particular charm for Petya at his age, but they did
91525 not interest him now. He sat on his elevation--the pedestal of the
91526 cannon--still agitated as before by the thought of the Emperor and
91527 by his love for him. The feeling of pain and fear he had experienced
91528 when he was being crushed, together with that of rapture, still
91529 further intensified his sense of the importance of the occasion.
91530
91531 Suddenly the sound of a firing of cannon was heard from the
91532 embankment, to celebrate the signing of peace with the Turks, and
91533 the crowd rushed impetuously toward the embankment to watch the
91534 firing. Petya too would have run there, but the clerk who had taken
91535 the young gentleman under his protection stopped him. The firing was
91536 still proceeding when officers, generals, and gentlemen-in-waiting
91537 came running out of the cathedral, and after them others in a more
91538 leisurely manner: caps were again raised, and those who had run to
91539 look at the cannon ran back again. At last four men in uniforms and
91540 sashes emerged from the cathedral doors. "Hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the
91541 crowd again.
91542
91543 "Which is he? Which?" asked Petya in a tearful voice, of those
91544 around him, but no one answered him, everybody was too excited; and
91545 Petya, fixing on one of those four men, whom he could not clearly
91546 see for the tears of joy that filled his eyes, concentrated all his
91547 enthusiasm on him--though it happened not to be the Emperor-
91548 frantically shouted "Hurrah!" and resolved that tomorrow, come what
91549 might, he would join the army.
91550
91551 The crowd ran after the Emperor, followed him to the palace, and
91552 began to disperse. It was already late, and Petya had not eaten
91553 anything and was drenched with perspiration, yet he did not go home
91554 but stood with that diminishing, but still considerable, crowd
91555 before the palace while the Emperor dined--looking in at the palace
91556 windows, expecting he knew not what, and envying alike the notables he
91557 saw arriving at the entrance to dine with the Emperor and the court
91558 footmen who served at table, glimpses of whom could be seen through
91559 the windows.
91560
91561 While the Emperor was dining, Valuev, looking out of the window,
91562 said:
91563
91564 "The people are still hoping to see Your Majesty again."
91565
91566 The dinner was nearly over, and the Emperor, munching a biscuit,
91567 rose and went out onto the balcony. The people, with Petya among them,
91568 rushed toward the balcony.
91569
91570 "Angel! Dear one! Hurrah! Father!..." cried the crowd, and Petya
91571 with it, and again the women and men of weaker mold, Petya among them,
91572 wept with joy.
91573
91574 A largish piece of the biscuit the Emperor was holding in his hand
91575 broke off, fell on the balcony parapet, and then to the ground. A
91576 coachman in a jerkin, who stood nearest, sprang forward and snatched
91577 it up. Several people in the crowd rushed at the coachman. Seeing this
91578 the Emperor had a plateful of biscuits brought him and began
91579 throwing them down from the balcony. Petya's eyes grew bloodshot,
91580 and still more excited by the danger of being crushed, he rushed at
91581 the biscuits. He did not know why, but he had to have a biscuit from
91582 the Tsar's hand and he felt that he must not give way. He sprang
91583 forward and upset an old woman who was catching at a biscuit; the
91584 old woman did not consider herself defeated though she was lying on
91585 the ground--she grabbed at some biscuits but her hand did not reach
91586 them. Petya pushed her hand away with his knee, seized a biscuit,
91587 and as if fearing to be too late, again shouted "Hurrah!" with a voice
91588 already hoarse.
91589
91590 The Emperor went in, and after that the greater part of the crowd
91591 began to disperse.
91592
91593 "There! I said if only we waited--and so it was!" was being joyfully
91594 said by various people.
91595
91596 Happy as Petya was, he felt sad at having to go home knowing that
91597 all the enjoyment of that day was over. He did not go straight home
91598 from the Kremlin, but called on his friend Obolenski, who was
91599 fifteen and was also entering the regiment. On returning home Petya
91600 announced resolutely and firmly that if he was not allowed to enter
91601 the service he would run away. And next day, Count Ilya Rostov--though
91602 he had not yet quite yielded--went to inquire how he could arrange for
91603 Petya to serve where there would be least danger.
91604
91605
91606
91607
91608
91609 CHAPTER XXII
91610
91611
91612 Two days later, on the fifteenth of July, an immense number of
91613 carriages were standing outside the Sloboda Palace.
91614
91615 The great halls were full. In the first were the nobility and gentry
91616 in their uniforms, in the second bearded merchants in full-skirted
91617 coats of blue cloth and wearing medals. In the noblemen's hall there
91618 was an incessant movement and buzz of voices. The chief magnates sat
91619 on high-backed chairs at a large table under the portrait of the
91620 Emperor, but most of the gentry were strolling about the room.
91621
91622 All these nobles, whom Pierre met every day at the Club or in
91623 their own houses, were in uniform--some in that of Catherine's day,
91624 others in that of Emperor Paul, others again in the new uniforms of
91625 Alexander's time or the ordinary uniform of the nobility, and the
91626 general characteristic of being in uniform imparted something
91627 strange and fantastic to these diverse and familiar personalities,
91628 both old and young. The old men, dim-eyed, toothless, bald, sallow,
91629 and bloated, or gaunt and wrinkled, were especially striking. For
91630 the most part they sat quietly in their places and were silent, or, if
91631 they walked about and talked, attached themselves to someone
91632 younger. On all these faces, as on the faces of the crowd Petya had
91633 seen in the Square, there was a striking contradiction: the general
91634 expectation of a solemn event, and at the same time the everyday
91635 interests in a boston card party, Peter the cook, Zinaida Dmitrievna's
91636 health, and so on.
91637
91638 Pierre was there too, buttoned up since early morning in a
91639 nobleman's uniform that had become too tight for him. He was agitated;
91640 this extraordinary gathering not only of nobles but also of the
91641 merchant-class--les etats generaux (States-General)--evoked in him a
91642 whole series of ideas he had long laid aside but which were deeply
91643 graven in his soul: thoughts of the Contrat social and the French
91644 Revolution. The words that had struck him in the Emperor's appeal-
91645 that the sovereign was coming to the capital for consultation with his
91646 people--strengthened this idea. And imagining that in this direction
91647 something important which he had long awaited was drawing near, he
91648 strolled about watching and listening to conversations, but nowhere
91649 finding any confirmation of the ideas that occupied him.
91650
91651 The Emperor's manifesto was read, evoking enthusiasm, and then all
91652 moved about discussing it. Besides the ordinary topics of
91653 conversation, Pierre heard questions of where the marshals of the
91654 nobility were to stand when the Emperor entered, when a ball should be
91655 given in the Emperor's honor, whether they should group themselves
91656 by districts or by whole provinces... and so on; but as soon as the
91657 war was touched on, or what the nobility had been convened for, the
91658 talk became undecided and indefinite. Then all preferred listening
91659 to speaking.
91660
91661 A middle-aged man, handsome and virile, in the uniform of a
91662 retired naval officer, was speaking in one of the rooms, and a small
91663 crowd was pressing round him. Pierre went up to the circle that had
91664 formed round the speaker and listened. Count Ilya Rostov, in a
91665 military uniform of Catherine's time, was sauntering with a pleasant
91666 smile among the crowd, with all of whom he was acquainted. He too
91667 approached that group and listened with a kindly smile and nods of
91668 approval, as he always did, to what the speaker was saying. The
91669 retired naval man was speaking very boldly, as was evident from the
91670 expression on the faces of the listeners and from the fact that some
91671 people Pierre knew as the meekest and quietest of men walked away
91672 disapprovingly or expressed disagreement with him. Pierre pushed his
91673 way into the middle of the group, listened, and convinced himself that
91674 the man was indeed a liberal, but of views quite different from his
91675 own. The naval officer spoke in a particularly sonorous, musical,
91676 and aristocratic baritone voice, pleasantly swallowing his r's and
91677 generally slurring his consonants: the voice of a man calling out to
91678 his servant, "Heah! Bwing me my pipe!" It was indicative of
91679 dissipation and the exercise of authority.
91680
91681 "What if the Smolensk people have offahd to waise militia for the
91682 Empewah? Ah we to take Smolensk as our patte'n? If the noble
91683 awistocwacy of the pwovince of Moscow thinks fit, it can show its
91684 loyalty to our sov'weign the Empewah in other ways. Have we
91685 fo'gotten the waising of the militia in the yeah 'seven? All that
91686 did was to enwich the pwiests' sons and thieves and wobbahs...."
91687
91688 Count Ilya Rostov smiled blandly and nodded approval.
91689
91690 "And was our militia of any use to the Empia? Not at all! It only
91691 wuined our farming! Bettah have another conscwiption... o' ou' men
91692 will wetu'n neithah soldiers no' peasants, and we'll get only
91693 depwavity fwom them. The nobility don't gwudge theah lives--evewy
91694 one of us will go and bwing in more wecwuits, and the sov'weign" (that
91695 was the way he referred to the Emperor) "need only say the word and
91696 we'll all die fo' him!" added the orator with animation.
91697
91698 Count Rostov's mouth watered with pleasure and he nudged Pierre, but
91699 Pierre wanted to speak himself. He pushed forward, feeling stirred,
91700 but not yet sure what stirred him or what he would say. Scarcely had
91701 he opened his mouth when one of the senators, a man without a tooth in
91702 his head, with a shrewd though angry expression, standing near the
91703 first speaker, interrupted him. Evidently accustomed to managing
91704 debates and to maintaining an argument, he began in low but distinct
91705 tones:
91706
91707 "I imagine, sir," said he, mumbling with his toothless mouth,
91708 "that we have been summoned here not to discuss whether it's best
91709 for the empire at the present moment to adopt conscription or to
91710 call out the militia. We have been summoned to reply to the appeal
91711 with which our sovereign the Emperor has honored us. But to judge what
91712 is best--conscription or the militia--we can leave to the supreme
91713 authority...."
91714
91715 Pierre suddenly saw an outlet for his excitement. He hardened his
91716 heart against the senator who was introducing this set and narrow
91717 attitude into the deliberations of the nobility. Pierre stepped
91718 forward and interrupted him. He himself did not yet know what he would
91719 say, but he began to speak eagerly, occasionally lapsing into French
91720 or expressing himself in bookish Russian.
91721
91722 "Excuse me, your excellency," he began. (He was well acquainted with
91723 the senator, but thought it necessary on this occasion to address
91724 him formally.) "Though I don't agree with the gentleman..." (he
91725 hesitated: he wished to say, "Mon tres honorable preopinant"--"My very
91726 honorable opponent") "with the gentleman... whom I have not the
91727 honor of knowing, I suppose that the nobility have been summoned not
91728 merely to express their sympathy and enthusiasm but also to consider
91729 the means by which we can assist our Fatherland! I imagine," he went
91730 on, warming to his subject, "that the Emperor himself would not be
91731 satisfied to find in us merely owners of serfs whom we are willing
91732 to devote to his service, and chair a canon* we are ready to make of
91733 ourselves--and not to obtain from us any co-co-counsel."
91734
91735
91736 *"Food for cannon."
91737
91738
91739 Many persons withdrew from the circle, noticing the senator's
91740 sarcastic smile and the freedom of Pierre's remarks. Only Count Rostov
91741 was pleased with them as he had been pleased with those of the naval
91742 officer, the senator, and in general with whatever speech he had
91743 last heard.
91744
91745 "I think that before discussing these questions," Pierre
91746 continued, "we should ask the Emperor--most respectfully ask His
91747 Majesty--to let us know the number of our troops and the position in
91748 which our army and our forces now are, and then..."
91749
91750 But scarcely had Pierre uttered these words before he was attacked
91751 from three sides. The most vigorous attack came from an old
91752 acquaintance, a boston player who had always been well disposed toward
91753 him, Stepan Stepanovich Adraksin. Adraksin was in uniform, and whether
91754 as a result of the uniform or from some other cause Pierre saw
91755 before him quite a different man. With a sudden expression of
91756 malevolence on his aged face, Adraksin shouted at Pierre:
91757
91758 "In the first place, I tell you we have no right to question the
91759 Emperor about that, and secondly, if the Russian nobility had that
91760 right, the Emperor could not answer such a question. The troops are
91761 moved according to the enemy's movements and the number of men
91762 increases and decreases..."
91763
91764 Another voice, that of a nobleman of medium height and about forty
91765 years of age, whom Pierre had formerly met at the gypsies' and knew as
91766 a bad cardplayer, and who, also transformed by his uniform, came up to
91767 Pierre, interrupted Adraksin.
91768
91769 "Yes, and this is not a time for discussing," he continued, "but for
91770 acting: there is war in Russia! The enemy is advancing to destroy
91771 Russia, to desecrate the tombs of our fathers, to carry off our
91772 wives and children." The nobleman smote his breast. "We will all
91773 arise, every one of us will go, for our father the Tsar!" he
91774 shouted, rolling his bloodshot eyes. Several approving voices were
91775 heard in the crowd. "We are Russians and will not grudge our blood
91776 in defense of our faith, the throne, and the Fatherland! We must cease
91777 raving if we are sons of our Fatherland! We will show Europe how
91778 Russia rises to the defense of Russia!"
91779
91780 Pierre wished to reply, but could not get in a word. He felt that
91781 his words, apart from what meaning they conveyed, were less audible
91782 than the sound of his opponent's voice.
91783
91784 Count Rostov at the back of the crowd was expressing approval;
91785 several persons, briskly turning a shoulder to the orator at the end
91786 of a phrase, said:
91787
91788 "That's right, quite right! Just so!"
91789
91790 Pierre wished to say that he was ready to sacrifice his money, his
91791 serfs, or himself, only one ought to know the state of affairs in
91792 order to be able to improve it, but he was unable to speak. Many
91793 voices shouted and talked at the same time, so that Count Rostov had
91794 not time to signify his approval of them all, and the group increased,
91795 dispersed, re-formed, and then moved with a hum of talk into the
91796 largest hall and to the big table. Not only was Pierre's attempt to
91797 speak unsuccessful, but he was rudely interrupted, pushed aside, and
91798 people turned away from him as from a common enemy. This happened
91799 not because they were displeased by the substance of his speech, which
91800 had even been forgotten after the many subsequent speeches, but to
91801 animate it the crowd needed a tangible object to love and a tangible
91802 object to hate. Pierre became the latter. Many other orators spoke
91803 after the excited nobleman, and all in the same tone. Many spoke
91804 eloquently and with originality.
91805
91806 Glinka, the editor of the Russian Messenger, who was recognized
91807 (cries of "author! author!" were heard in the crowd), said that
91808 "hell must be repulsed by hell," and that he had seen a child
91809 smiling at lightning flashes and thunderclaps, but "we will not be
91810 that child."
91811
91812 "Yes, yes, at thunderclaps!" was repeated approvingly in the back
91813 rows of the crowd.
91814
91815 The crowd drew up to the large table, at which sat gray-haired or
91816 bald seventy-year-old magnates, uniformed and besashed almost all of
91817 whom Pierre had seen in their own homes with their buffoons, or
91818 playing boston at the clubs. With an incessant hum of voices the crowd
91819 advanced to the table. Pressed by the throng against the high backs of
91820 the chairs, the orators spoke one after another and sometimes two
91821 together. Those standing behind noticed what a speaker omitted to
91822 say and hastened to supply it. Others in that heat and crush racked
91823 their brains to find some thought and hastened to utter it. The old
91824 magnates, whom Pierre knew, sat and turned to look first at one and
91825 then at another, and their faces for the most part only expressed
91826 the fact that they found it very hot. Pierre, however, felt excited,
91827 and the general desire to show that they were ready to go to all
91828 lengths--which found expression in the tones and looks more than in
91829 the substance of the speeches--infected him too. He did not renounce
91830 his opinions, but felt himself in some way to blame and wished to
91831 justify himself.
91832
91833 "I only said that it would be more to the purpose to make sacrifices
91834 when we know what is needed!" said he, trying to be heard above the
91835 other voices.
91836
91837 One of the old men nearest to him looked round, but his attention
91838 was immediately diverted by an exclamation at the other side of the
91839 table.
91840
91841 "Yes, Moscow will be surrendered! She will be our expiation!"
91842 shouted one man.
91843
91844 "He is the enemy of mankind!" cried another. "Allow me to speak...."
91845 "Gentlemen, you are crushing me!..."
91846
91847
91848
91849
91850
91851 CHAPTER XXIII
91852
91853
91854 At that moment Count Rostopchin with his protruding chin and alert
91855 eyes, wearing the uniform of a general with sash over his shoulder,
91856 entered the room, stepping briskly to the front of the crowd of
91857 gentry.
91858
91859 "Our sovereign the Emperor will be here in a moment," said
91860 Rostopchin. "I am straight from the palace. Seeing the position we are
91861 in, I think there is little need for discussion. The Emperor has
91862 deigned to summon us and the merchants. Millions will pour forth
91863 from there"--he pointed to the merchants' hall--"but our business is
91864 to supply men and not spare ourselves... That is the least we can do!"
91865
91866 A conference took place confined to the magnates sitting at the
91867 table. The whole consultation passed more than quietly. After all
91868 the preceding noise the sound of their old voices saying one after
91869 another, "I agree," or for variety, "I too am of that opinion," and so
91870 on had even a mournful effect.
91871
91872 The secretary was told to write down the resolution of the Moscow
91873 nobility and gentry, that they would furnish ten men, fully
91874 equipped, out of every thousand serfs, as the Smolensk gentry had
91875 done. Their chairs made a scraping noise as the gentlemen who had
91876 conferred rose with apparent relief, and began walking up and down,
91877 arm in arm, to stretch their legs and converse in couples.
91878
91879 "The Emperor! The Emperor!" a sudden cry resounded through the halls
91880 and the whole throng hurried to the entrance.
91881
91882 The Emperor entered the hall through a broad path between two
91883 lines of nobles. Every face expressed respectful, awe-struck
91884 curiosity. Pierre stood rather far off and could not hear all that the
91885 Emperor said. From what he did hear he understood that the Emperor
91886 spoke of the danger threatening the empire and of the hopes he
91887 placed on the Moscow nobility. He was answered by a voice which
91888 informed him of the resolution just arrived at.
91889
91890 "Gentlemen!" said the Emperor with a quivering voice.
91891
91892 There was a rustling among the crowd and it again subsided, so
91893 that Pierre distinctly heard the pleasantly human voice of the Emperor
91894 saying with emotion:
91895
91896 "I never doubted the devotion of the Russian nobles, but today it
91897 has surpassed my expectations. I thank you in the name of the
91898 Fatherland! Gentlemen, let us act! Time is most precious..."
91899
91900 The Emperor ceased speaking, the crowd began pressing round him, and
91901 rapturous exclamations were heard from all sides.
91902
91903 "Yes, most precious... a royal word," said Count Rostov, with a sob.
91904 He stood at the back, and, though he had heard hardly anything,
91905 understood everything in his own way.
91906
91907 From the hall of the nobility the Emperor went to that of the
91908 merchants. There he remained about ten minutes. Pierre was among those
91909 who saw him come out from the merchants' hall with tears of emotion in
91910 his eyes. As became known later, he had scarcely begun to address
91911 the merchants before tears gushed from his eyes and he concluded in
91912 a trembling voice. When Pierre saw the Emperor he was coming out
91913 accompanied by two merchants, one of whom Pierre knew, a fat
91914 otkupshchik. The other was the mayor, a man with a thin sallow face
91915 and narrow beard. Both were weeping. Tears filled the thin man's eyes,
91916 and the fat otkupshchik sobbed outright like a child and kept
91917 repeating:
91918
91919 "Our lives and property--take them, Your Majesty!"
91920
91921 Pierre's one feeling at the moment was a desire to show that he
91922 was ready to go all lengths and was prepared to sacrifice
91923 everything. He now felt ashamed of his speech with its
91924 constitutional tendency and sought an opportunity of effacing it.
91925 Having heard that Count Mamonov was furnishing a regiment, Bezukhov at
91926 once informed Rostopchin that he would give a thousand men and their
91927 maintenance.
91928
91929 Old Rostov could not tell his wife of what had passed without tears,
91930 and at once consented to Petya's request and went himself to enter his
91931 name.
91932
91933 Next day the Emperor left Moscow. The assembled nobles all took
91934 off their uniforms and settled down again in their homes and clubs,
91935 and not without some groans gave orders to their stewards about the
91936 enrollment, feeling amazed themselves at what they had done.
91937
91938
91939
91940
91941
91942 BOOK TEN: 1812
91943
91944
91945
91946
91947
91948 CHAPTER I
91949
91950
91951 Napoleon began the war with Russia because he could not resist going
91952 to Dresden, could not help having his head turned by the homage he
91953 received, could not help donning a Polish uniform and yielding to
91954 the stimulating influence of a June morning, and could not refrain
91955 from bursts of anger in the presence of Kurakin and then of Balashev.
91956
91957 Alexander refused negotiations because he felt himself to be
91958 personally insulted. Barclay de Tolly tried to command the army in the
91959 best way, because he wished to fulfill his duty and earn fame as a
91960 great commander. Rostov charged the French because he could not
91961 restrain his wish for a gallop across a level field; and in the same
91962 way the innumerable people who took part in the war acted in accord
91963 with their personal characteristics, habits, circumstances, and
91964 aims. They were moved by fear or vanity, rejoiced or were indignant,
91965 reasoned, imagining that they knew what they were doing and did it
91966 of their own free will, but they all were involuntary tools of
91967 history, carrying on a work concealed from them but comprehensible
91968 to us. Such is the inevitable fate of men of action, and the higher
91969 they stand in the social hierarchy the less are they free.
91970
91971 The actors of 1812 have long since left the stage, their personal
91972 interests have vanished leaving no trace, and nothing remains of
91973 that time but its historic results.
91974
91975 Providence compelled all these men, striving to attain personal
91976 aims, to further the accomplishment of a stupendous result no one of
91977 them at all expected--neither Napoleon, nor Alexander, nor still
91978 less any of those who did the actual fighting.
91979
91980 The cause of the destruction of the French army in 1812 is clear
91981 to us now. No one will deny that that cause was, on the one hand,
91982 its advance into the heart of Russia late in the season without any
91983 preparation for a winter campaign and, on the other, the character
91984 given to the war by the burning of Russian towns and the hatred of the
91985 foe this aroused among the Russian people. But no one at the time
91986 foresaw (what now seems so evident) that this was the only way an army
91987 of eight hundred thousand men--the best in the world and led by the
91988 best general--could be destroyed in conflict with a raw army of half
91989 its numerical strength, and led by inexperienced commanders as the
91990 Russian army was. Not only did no one see this, but on the Russian
91991 side every effort was made to hinder the only thing that could save
91992 Russia, while on the French side, despite Napoleon's experience and
91993 so-called military genius, every effort was directed to pushing on
91994 to Moscow at the end of the summer, that is, to doing the very thing
91995 that was bound to lead to destruction.
91996
91997 In historical works on the year 1812 French writers are very fond of
91998 saying that Napoleon felt the danger of extending his line, that he
91999 sought a battle and that his marshals advised him to stop at Smolensk,
92000 and of making similar statements to show that the danger of the
92001 campaign was even then understood. Russian authors are still fonder of
92002 telling us that from the commencement of the campaign a Scythian war
92003 plan was adopted to lure Napoleon into the depths of Russia, and
92004 this plan some of them attribute to Pfuel, others to a certain
92005 Frenchman, others to Toll, and others again to Alexander himself-
92006 pointing to notes, projects, and letters which contain hints of such a
92007
92008 line of action. But all these hints at what happened, both from the
92009 French side and the Russian, are advanced only because they fit in
92010 with the event. Had that event not occurred these hints would have
92011 been forgotten, as we have forgotten the thousands and millions of
92012 hints and expectations to the contrary which were current then but
92013 have now been forgotten because the event falsified them. There are
92014 always so many conjectures as to the issue of any event that however
92015 it may end there will always be people to say: "I said then that it
92016 would be so," quite forgetting that amid their innumerable conjectures
92017 many were to quite the contrary effect.
92018
92019 Conjectures as to Napoleon's awareness of the danger of extending
92020 his line, and (on the Russian side) as to luring the enemy into the
92021 depths of Russia, are evidently of that kind, and only by much
92022 straining can historians attribute such conceptions to Napoleon and
92023 his marshals, or such plans to the Russian commanders. All the facts
92024 are in flat contradiction to such conjectures. During the whole period
92025 of the war not only was there no wish on the Russian side to draw
92026 the French into the heart of the country, but from their first entry
92027 into Russia everything was done to stop them. And not only was
92028 Napoleon not afraid to extend his line, but he welcomed every step
92029 forward as a triumph and did not seek battle as eagerly as in former
92030 campaigns, but very lazily.
92031
92032 At the very beginning of the war our armies were divided, and our
92033 sole aim was to unite them, though uniting the armies was no advantage
92034 if we meant to retire and lure the enemy into the depths of the
92035 country. Our Emperor joined the army to encourage it to defend every
92036 inch of Russian soil and not to retreat. The enormous Drissa camp
92037 was formed on Pfuel's plan, and there was no intention of retiring
92038 farther. The Emperor reproached the commanders in chief for every step
92039 they retired. He could not bear the idea of letting the enemy even
92040 reach Smolensk, still less could he contemplate the burning of Moscow,
92041 and when our armies did unite he was displeased that Smolensk was
92042 abandoned and burned without a general engagement having been fought
92043 under its walls.
92044
92045 So thought the Emperor, and the Russian commanders and people were
92046 still more provoked at the thought that our forces were retreating
92047 into the depths of the country.
92048
92049 Napoleon having cut our armies apart advanced far into the country
92050 and missed several chances of forcing an engagement. In August he
92051 was at Smolensk and thought only of how to advance farther, though
92052 as we now see that advance was evidently ruinous to him.
92053
92054 The facts clearly show that Napoleon did not foresee the danger of
92055 the advance on Moscow, nor did Alexander and the Russian commanders
92056 then think of luring Napoleon on, but quite the contrary. The luring
92057 of Napoleon into the depths of the country was not the result of any
92058 plan, for no one believed it to be possible; it resulted from a most
92059 complex interplay of intrigues, aims, and wishes among those who
92060 took part in the war and had no perception whatever of the inevitable,
92061 or of the one way of saving Russia. Everything came about
92062 fortuitously. The armies were divided at the commencement of the
92063 campaign. We tried to unite them, with the evident intention of giving
92064 battle and checking the enemy's advance, and by this effort to unite
92065 them while avoiding battle with a much stronger enemy, and necessarily
92066 withdrawing the armies at an acute angle--we led the French on to
92067 Smolensk. But we withdrew at an acute angle not only because the
92068 French advanced between our two armies; the angle became still more
92069 acute and we withdrew still farther, because Barclay de Tolly was an
92070 unpopular foreigner disliked by Bagration (who would come his
92071 command), and Bagration--being in command of the second army--tried to
92072 postpone joining up and coming under Barclay's command as long as he
92073 could. Bagration was slow in effecting the junction--though that was
92074 the chief aim of all at headquarters--because, as he alleged, he
92075 exposed his army to danger on this march, and it was best for him to
92076 retire more to the left and more to the south, worrying the enemy from
92077 flank and rear and securing from the Ukraine recruits for his army;
92078 and it looks as if he planned this in order not to come under the
92079 command of the detested foreigner Barclay, whose rank was inferior
92080 to his own.
92081
92082 The Emperor was with the army to encourage it, but his presence
92083 and ignorance of what steps to take, and the enormous number of
92084 advisers and plans, destroyed the first army's energy and it retired.
92085
92086 The intention was to make a stand at the Drissa camp, but
92087 Paulucci, aiming at becoming commander in chief, unexpectedly employed
92088 his energy to influence Alexander, and Pfuel's whole plan was
92089 abandoned and the command entrusted to Barclay. But as Barclay did not
92090 inspire confidence his power was limited. The armies were divided,
92091 there was no unity of command, and Barclay was unpopular; but from
92092 this confusion, division, and the unpopularity of the foreign
92093 commander in chief, there resulted on the one hand indecision and
92094 the avoidance of a battle (which we could not have refrained from
92095 had the armies been united and had someone else, instead of Barclay,
92096 been in command) and on the other an ever-increasing indignation
92097 against the foreigners and an increase in patriotic zeal.
92098
92099 At last the Emperor left the army, and as the most convenient and
92100 indeed the only pretext for his departure it was decided that it was
92101 necessary for him to inspire the people in the capitals and arouse the
92102 nation in general to a patriotic war. And by this visit of the Emperor
92103 to Moscow the strength of the Russian army was trebled.
92104
92105 He left in order not to obstruct the commander in chief's
92106 undivided control of the army, and hoping that more decisive action
92107 would then be taken, but the command of the armies became still more
92108 confused and enfeebled. Bennigsen, the Tsarevich, and a swarm of
92109 adjutants general remained with the army to keep the commander in
92110 chief under observation and arouse his energy, and Barclay, feeling
92111 less free than ever under the observation of all these "eyes of the
92112 Emperor," became still more cautious of undertaking any decisive
92113 action and avoided giving battle.
92114
92115 Barclay stood for caution. The Tsarevich hinted at treachery and
92116 demanded a general engagement. Lubomirski, Bronnitski, Wlocki, and the
92117 others of that group stirred up so much trouble that Barclay, under
92118 pretext of sending papers to the Emperor, dispatched these Polish
92119 adjutants general to Petersburg and plunged into an open struggle with
92120 Bennigsen and the Tsarevich.
92121
92122 At Smolensk the armies at last reunited, much as Bagration
92123 disliked it.
92124
92125 Bagration drove up in a carriage to to the house occupied by
92126 Barclay. Barclay donned his sash and came out to meet and report to
92127 his senior officer Bagration.
92128
92129 Despite his seniority in rank Bagration, in this contest of
92130 magnanimity, took his orders from Barclay, but, having submitted,
92131 agreed with him less than ever. By the Emperor's orders Bagration
92132 reported direct to him. He wrote to Arakcheev, the Emperor's
92133 confidant: "It must be as my sovereign pleases, but I cannot work with
92134 the Minister (meaning Barclay). For God's sake send me somewhere
92135 else if only in command of a regiment. I cannot stand it here.
92136 Headquarters are so full of Germans that a Russian cannot exist and
92137 there is no sense in anything. I thought I was really serving my
92138 sovereign and the Fatherland, but it turns out that I am serving
92139 Barclay. I confess I do not want to."
92140
92141 The swarm of Bronnitskis and Wintzingerodes and their like still
92142 further embittered the relations between the commanders in chief,
92143 and even less unity resulted. Preparations were made to fight the
92144 French before Smolensk. A general was sent to survey the position.
92145 This general, hating Barclay, rode to visit a friend of his own, a
92146 corps commander, and, having spent the day with him, returned to
92147 Barclay and condemned, as unsuitable from every point of view, the
92148 battleground he had not seen.
92149
92150 While disputes and intrigues were going on about the future field of
92151 battle, and while we were looking for the French--having lost touch
92152 with them--the French stumbled upon Neverovski's division and
92153 reached the walls of Smolensk.
92154
92155 It was necessary to fight an unexpected battle at Smolensk to save
92156 our lines of communication. The battle was fought and thousands were
92157 killed on both sides.
92158
92159 Smolensk was abandoned contrary to the wishes of the Emperor and
92160 of the whole people. But Smolensk was burned by its own
92161 inhabitants-who had been misled by their governor. And these ruined
92162 inhabitants, setting an example to other Russians, went to Moscow
92163 thinking only of their own losses but kindling hatred of the foe.
92164 Napoleon advanced farther and we retired, thus arriving at the very
92165 result which caused his destruction.
92166
92167
92168
92169
92170
92171 CHAPTER II
92172
92173
92174 The day after his son had left, Prince Nicholas sent for Princess
92175 Mary to come to his study.
92176
92177 "Well? Are you satisfied now?" said he. "You've made me quarrel with
92178 my son! Satisfied, are you? That's all you wanted! Satisfied?... It
92179 hurts me, it hurts. I'm old and weak and this is what you wanted. Well
92180 then, gloat over it! Gloat over it!"
92181
92182 After that Princess Mary did not see her father for a whole week. He
92183 was ill and did not leave his study.
92184
92185 Princess Mary noticed to her surprise that during this illness the
92186 old prince not only excluded her from his room, but did not admit
92187 Mademoiselle Bourienne either. Tikhon alone attended him.
92188
92189 At the end of the week the prince reappeared and resumed his
92190 former way of life, devoting himself with special activity to building
92191 operations and the arrangement of the gardens and completely
92192 breaking off his relations with Mademoiselle Bourienne. His looks
92193 and cold tone to his daughter seemed to say: "There, you see? You
92194 plotted against me, you lied to Prince Andrew about my relations
92195 with that Frenchwoman and made me quarrel with him, but you see I need
92196 neither her nor you!"
92197
92198 Princess Mary spent half of every day with little Nicholas, watching
92199 his lessons, teaching him Russian and music herself, and talking to
92200 Dessalles; the rest of the day she spent over her books, with her
92201 old nurse, or with "God's folk" who sometimes came by the back door to
92202 see her.
92203
92204 Of the war Princess Mary thought as women do think about wars. She
92205 feared for her brother who was in it, was horrified by and amazed at
92206 the strange cruelty that impels men to kill one another, but she did
92207 not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her
92208 like all previous wars. She did not realize the significance of this
92209 war, though Dessalles with whom she constantly conversed was
92210 passionately interested in its progress and tried to explain his own
92211 conception of it to her, and though the "God's folk" who came to see
92212 her reported, in their own way, the rumors current among the people of
92213 an invasion by Antichrist, and though Julie (now Princess
92214 Drubetskaya), who had resumed correspondence with her, wrote patriotic
92215 letters from Moscow.
92216
92217 "I write you in Russian, my good friend," wrote Julie in her
92218 Frenchified Russian, "because I have a detestation for all the French,
92219 and the same for their language which I cannot support to hear
92220 spoken.... We in Moscow are elated by enthusiasm for our adored
92221 Emperor.
92222
92223 "My poor husband is enduring pains and hunger in Jewish taverns, but
92224 the news which I have inspires me yet more.
92225
92226 "You heard probably of the heroic exploit of Raevski, embracing
92227 his two sons and saying: 'I will perish with them but we will not be
92228 shaken!' And truly though the enemy was twice stronger than we, we
92229 were unshakable. We pass the time as we can, but in war as in war! The
92230 princesses Aline and Sophie sit whole days with me, and we, unhappy
92231 widows of live men, make beautiful conversations over our charpie,
92232 only you, my friend, are missing..." and so on.
92233
92234 The chief reason Princess Mary did not realize the full significance
92235 of this war was that the old prince never spoke of it, did not
92236 recognize it, and laughed at Dessalles when he mentioned it at dinner.
92237 The prince's tone was so calm and confident that Princess Mary
92238 unhesitatingly believed him.
92239
92240 All that July the old prince was exceedingly active and even
92241 animated. He planned another garden and began a new building for the
92242 domestic serfs. The only thing that made Princess Mary anxious about
92243 him was that he slept very little and, instead of sleeping in his
92244 study as usual, changed his sleeping place every day. One day he would
92245 order his camp bed to be set up in the glass gallery, another day he
92246 remained on the couch or on the lounge chair in the drawing room and
92247 dozed there without undressing, while--instead of Mademoiselle
92248 Bourienne--a serf boy read to him. Then again he would spend a night
92249 in the dining room.
92250
92251 On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrew. In his
92252 first letter which came soon after he had left home, Prince Andrew had
92253 dutifully asked his father's forgiveness for what he had allowed
92254 himself to say and begged to be restored to his favor. To this
92255 letter the old prince had replied affectionately, and from that time
92256 had kept the Frenchwoman at a distance. Prince Andrew's second letter,
92257 written near Vitebsk after the French had occupied that town, gave a
92258 brief account of the whole campaign, enclosed for them a plan he had
92259 drawn and forecasts as to the further progress of the war. In this
92260 letter Prince Andrew pointed out to his father the danger of staying
92261 at Bald Hills, so near the theater of war and on the army's direct
92262 line of march, and advised him to move to Moscow.
92263
92264 At dinner that day, on Dessalles' mentioning that the French were
92265 said to have already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered his
92266 son's letter.
92267
92268 "There was a letter from Prince Andrew today," he said to Princess
92269 Mary--"Haven't you read it?"
92270
92271 "No, Father," she replied in a frightened voice.
92272
92273 She could not have read the letter as she did not even know it had
92274 arrived.
92275
92276 "He writes about this war," said the prince, with the ironic smile
92277 that had become habitual to him in speaking of the present war.
92278
92279 "That must be very interesting," said Dessalles. "Prince Andrew is
92280 in a position to know..."
92281
92282 "Oh, very interesting!" said Mademoiselle Bourienne.
92283
92284 "Go and get it for me," said the old prince to Mademoiselle
92285 Bourienne. "You know--under the paperweight on the little table."
92286
92287 Mademoiselle Bourienne jumped up eagerly.
92288
92289 "No, don't!" he exclaimed with a frown. "You go, Michael Ivanovich."
92290
92291 Michael Ivanovich rose and went to the study. But as soon as he
92292 had left the room the old prince, looking uneasily round, threw down
92293 his napkin and went himself.
92294
92295 "They can't do anything... always make some muddle," he muttered.
92296
92297 While he was away Princess Mary, Dessalles, Mademoiselle
92298 Bourienne, and even little Nicholas exchanged looks in silence. The
92299 old prince returned with quick steps, accompanied by Michael
92300 Ivanovich, bringing the letter and a plan. These he put down beside
92301 him--not letting anyone read them at dinner.
92302
92303 On moving to the drawing room he handed the letter to Princess
92304 Mary and, spreading out before him the plan of the new building and
92305 fixing his eyes upon it, told her to read the letter aloud. When she
92306 had done so Princess Mary looked inquiringly at her father. He was
92307 examining the plan, evidently engrossed in his own ideas.
92308
92309 "What do you think of it, Prince?" Dessalles ventured to ask.
92310
92311 "I? I?..." said the prince as if unpleasantly awakened, and not
92312 taking his eyes from the plan of the building.
92313
92314 "Very possibly the theater of war will move so near to us that..."
92315
92316 "Ha ha ha! The theater of war!" said the prince. "I have said and
92317 still say that the theater of war is Poland and the enemy will never
92318 get beyond the Niemen."
92319
92320 Dessalles looked in amazement at the prince, who was talking of
92321 the Niemen when the enemy was already at the Dnieper, but Princess
92322 Mary, forgetting the geographical position of the Niemen, thought that
92323 what her father was saying was correct.
92324
92325 "When the snow melts they'll sink in the Polish swamps. Only they
92326 could fail to see it," the prince continued, evidently thinking of the
92327 campaign of 1807 which seemed to him so recent. "Bennigsen should have
92328 advanced into Prussia sooner, then things would have taken a different
92329 turn..."
92330
92331 "But, Prince," Dessalles began timidly, "the letter mentions
92332 Vitebsk...."
92333
92334 "Ah, the letter? Yes..." replied the prince peevishly. "Yes...
92335 yes..." His face suddenly took on a morose expression. He paused.
92336 "Yes, he writes that the French were beaten at... at... what river
92337 is it?"
92338
92339 Dessalles dropped his eyes.
92340
92341 "The prince says nothing about that," he remarked gently.
92342
92343 "Doesn't he? But I didn't invent it myself."
92344
92345 No one spoke for a long time.
92346
92347 "Yes... yes... Well, Michael Ivanovich," he suddenly went on,
92348 raising his head and pointing to the plan of the building, "tell me
92349 how you mean to alter it...."
92350
92351 Michael Ivanovich went up to the plan, and the prince after speaking
92352 to him about the building looked angrily at Princess Mary and
92353 Dessalles and went to his own room.
92354
92355 Princess Mary saw Dessalles' embarrassed and astonished look fixed
92356 on her father, noticed his silence, and was struck by the fact that
92357 her father had forgotten his son's letter on the drawing-room table;
92358 but she was not only afraid to speak of it and ask Dessalles the
92359 reason of his confusion and silence, but was afraid even to think
92360 about it.
92361
92362 In the evening Michael Ivanovich, sent by the prince, came to
92363 Princess Mary for Prince Andrew's letter which had been forgotten in
92364 the drawing room. She gave it to him and, unpleasant as it was to
92365 her to do so, ventured to ask him what her father was doing.
92366
92367 "Always busy," replied Michael Ivanovich with a respectfully
92368 ironic smile which caused Princess Mary to turn pale. "He's worrying
92369 very much about the new building. He has been reading a little, but
92370 now"--Michael Ivanovich went on, lowering his voice--"now he's at
92371 his desk, busy with his will, I expect." (One of the prince's favorite
92372 occupations of late had been the preparation of some papers he meant
92373 to leave at his death and which he called his "will.")
92374
92375 "And Alpatych is being sent to Smolensk?" asked Princess Mary.
92376
92377 "Oh, yes, he has been waiting to start for some time."
92378
92379
92380
92381
92382
92383 CHAPTER III
92384
92385
92386 When Michael Ivanovich returned to the study with the letter, the
92387 old prince, with spectacles on and a shade over his eyes, was
92388 sitting at his open bureau with screened candles, holding a paper in
92389 his outstretched hand, and in a somewhat dramatic attitude was reading
92390 his manuscript--his "Remarks" as he termed it--which was to be
92391 transmitted to the Emperor after his death.
92392
92393 When Michael Ivanovich went in there were tears in the prince's eyes
92394 evoked by the memory of the time when the paper he was now reading had
92395 been written. He took the letter from Michael Ivanovich's hand, put it
92396 in his pocket, folded up his papers, and called in Alpatych who had
92397 long been waiting.
92398
92399 The prince had a list of things to be bought in Smolensk and,
92400 walking up and down the room past Alpatych who stood by the door, he
92401 gave his instructions.
92402
92403 "First, notepaper--do you hear? Eight quires, like this sample,
92404 gilt-edged... it must be exactly like the sample. Varnish, sealing
92405 wax, as in Michael Ivanovich's list."
92406
92407 He paced up and down for a while and glanced at his notes.
92408
92409 "Then hand to the governor in person a letter about the deed."
92410
92411 Next, bolts for the doors of the new building were wanted and had to
92412 be of a special shape the prince had himself designed, and a leather
92413 case had to be ordered to keep the "will" in.
92414
92415 The instructions to Alpatych took over two hours and still the
92416 prince did not let him go. He sat down, sank into thought, closed
92417 his eyes, and dozed off. Alpatych made a slight movement.
92418
92419 "Well, go, go! If anything more is wanted I'll send after you."
92420
92421 Alpatych went out. The prince again went to his bureau, glanced into
92422 it, fingered his papers, closed the bureau again, and sat down at
92423 the table to write to the governor.
92424
92425 It was already late when he rose after sealing the letter. He wished
92426 to sleep, but he knew he would not be able to and that most depressing
92427 thoughts came to him in bed. So he called Tikhon and went through
92428 the rooms with him to show him where to set up the bed for that night.
92429
92430 He went about looking at every corner. Every place seemed
92431 unsatisfactory, but worst of all was his customary couch in the study.
92432 That couch was dreadful to him, probably because of the oppressive
92433 thoughts he had had when lying there. It was unsatisfactory
92434 everywhere, but the corner behind the piano in the sitting room was
92435 better than other places: he had never slept there yet.
92436
92437 With the help of a footman Tikhon brought in the bedstead and
92438 began putting it up.
92439
92440 "That's not right! That's not right!" cried the prince, and
92441 himself pushed it a few inches from the corner and then closer in
92442 again.
92443
92444 "Well, at last I've finished, now I'll rest," thought the prince,
92445 and let Tikhon undress him.
92446
92447 Frowning with vexation at the effort necessary to divest himself
92448 of his coat and trousers, the prince undressed, sat down heavily on
92449 the bed, and appeared to be meditating as he looked contemptuously
92450 at his withered yellow legs. He was not meditating, but only deferring
92451 the moment of making the effort to lift those legs up and turn over on
92452 the bed. "Ugh, how hard it is! Oh, that this toil might end and you
92453 would release me!" thought he. Pressing his lips together he made that
92454 effort for the twenty-thousandth time and lay down. But hardly had
92455 he done so before he felt the bed rocking backwards and forwards
92456 beneath him as if it were breathing heavily and jolting. This happened
92457 to him almost every night. He opened his eyes as they were closing.
92458
92459 "No peace, damn them!" he muttered, angry he knew not with whom. "Ah
92460 yes, there was something else important, very important, that I was
92461 keeping till I should be in bed. The bolts? No, I told him about them.
92462 No, it was something, something in the drawing room. Princess Mary
92463 talked some nonsense. Dessalles, that fool, said something.
92464 Something in my pocket--can't remember..."
92465
92466 "Tikhon, what did we talk about at dinner?"
92467
92468 "About Prince Michael..."
92469
92470 "Be quiet, quiet!" The prince slapped his hand on the table. "Yes, I
92471 know, Prince Andrew's letter! Princess Mary read it. Dessalles said
92472 something about Vitebsk. Now I'll read it."
92473
92474 He had the letter taken from his pocket and the table--on which
92475 stood a glass of lemonade and a spiral wax candle--moved close to
92476 the bed, and putting on his spectacles he began reading. Only now in
92477 the stillness of the night, reading it by the faint light under the
92478 green shade, did he grasp its meaning for a moment.
92479
92480 "The French at Vitebsk, in four days' march they may be at Smolensk;
92481 perhaps are already there! Tikhon!" Tikhon jumped up. "No, no, I don't
92482 want anything!" he shouted.
92483
92484 He put the letter under the candlestick and closed his eyes. And
92485 there rose before him the Danube at bright noonday: reeds, the Russian
92486 camp, and himself a young general without a wrinkle on his ruddy face,
92487 vigorous and alert, entering Potemkin's gaily colored tent, and a
92488 burning sense of jealousy of "the favorite" agitated him now as
92489 strongly as it had done then. He recalled all the words spoken at that
92490 first meeting with Potemkin. And he saw before him a plump, rather
92491 sallow-faced, short, stout woman, the Empress Mother, with her smile
92492 and her words at her first gracious reception of him, and then that
92493 same face on the catafalque, and the encounter he had with Zubov
92494 over her coffin about his right to kiss her hand.
92495
92496 "Oh, quicker, quicker! To get back to that time and have done with
92497 all the present! Quicker, quicker--and that they should leave me in
92498 peace!"
92499
92500
92501
92502
92503
92504 CHAPTER IV
92505
92506
92507 Bald Hills, Prince Nicholas Bolkonski's estate, lay forty miles east
92508 from Smolensk and two miles from the main road to Moscow.
92509
92510 The same evening that the prince gave his instructions to
92511 Alpatych, Dessalles, having asked to see Princess Mary, told her that,
92512 as the prince was not very well and was taking no steps to secure
92513 his safety, though from Prince Andrew's letter it was evident that
92514 to remain at Bald Hills might be dangerous, he respectfully advised
92515 her to send a letter by Alpatych to the Provincial Governor at
92516 Smolensk, asking him to let her know the state of affairs and the
92517 extent of the danger to which Bald Hills was exposed. Dessalles
92518 wrote this letter to the Governor for Princess Mary, she signed it,
92519 and it was given to Alpatych with instructions to hand it to the
92520 Governor and to come back as quickly as possible if there was danger.
92521
92522 Having received all his orders Alpatych, wearing a white beaver hat-
92523 a present from the prince--and carrying a stick as the prince did,
92524 went out accompanied by his family. Three well-fed roans stood ready
92525 harnessed to a small conveyance with a leather hood.
92526
92527 The larger bell was muffled and the little bells on the harness
92528 stuffed with paper. The prince allowed no one at Bald Hills to drive
92529 with ringing bells; but on a long journey Alpatych liked to have them.
92530 His satellites--the senior clerk, a countinghouse clerk, a scullery
92531 maid, a cook, two old women, a little pageboy, the coachman, and
92532 various domestic serfs--were seeing him off.
92533
92534 His daughter placed chintz-covered down cushions for him to sit on
92535 and behind his back. His old sister-in-law popped in a small bundle,
92536 and one of the coachmen helped him into the vehicle.
92537
92538 "There! There! Women's fuss! Women, women!" said Alpatych, puffing
92539 and speaking rapidly just as the prince did, and he climbed into the
92540 trap.
92541
92542 After giving the clerk orders about the work to be done, Alpatych,
92543 not trying to imitate the prince now, lifted the hat from his bald
92544 head and crossed himself three times.
92545
92546 "If there is anything... come back, Yakov Alpatych! For Christ's
92547 sake think of us!" cried his wife, referring to the rumors of war
92548 and the enemy.
92549
92550 "Women, women! Women's fuss!" muttered Alpatych to himself and
92551 started on his journey, looking round at the fields of yellow rye
92552 and the still-green, thickly growing oats, and at other quite black
92553 fields just being plowed a second time.
92554
92555 As he went along he looked with pleasure at the year's splendid crop
92556 of corn, scrutinized the strips of ryefield which here and there
92557 were already being reaped, made his calculations as to the sowing
92558 and the harvest, and asked himself whether he had not forgotten any of
92559 the prince's orders.
92560
92561 Having baited the horses twice on the way, he arrived at the town
92562 toward evening on the fourth of August.
92563
92564 Alpatych kept meeting and overtaking baggage trains and troops on
92565 the road. As he approached Smolensk he heard the sounds of distant
92566 firing, but these did not impress him. What struck him most was the
92567 sight of a splendid field of oats in which a camp had been pitched and
92568 which was being mown down by the soldiers, evidently for fodder.
92569 This fact impressed Alpatych, but in thinking about his own business
92570 he soon forgot it.
92571
92572 All the interests of his life for more than thirty years had been
92573 bounded by the will of the prince, and he never went beyond that
92574 limit. Everything not connected with the execution of the prince's
92575 orders did not interest and did not even exist for Alpatych.
92576
92577 On reaching Smolensk on the evening of the fourth of August he put
92578 up in the Gachina suburb across the Dnieper, at the inn kept by
92579 Ferapontov, where he had been in the habit of putting up for the
92580 last thirty years. Some thirty years ago Ferapontov, by Alpatych's
92581 advice, had bought a wood from the prince, had begun to trade, and now
92582 had a house, an inn, and a corn dealer's shop in that province. He was
92583 a stout, dark, red-faced peasant in the forties, with thick lips, a
92584 broad knob of a nose, similar knobs over his black frowning brows, and
92585 a round belly.
92586
92587 Wearing a waistcoat over his cotton shirt, Ferapontov was standing
92588 before his shop which opened onto the street. On seeing Alpatych he
92589 went up to him.
92590
92591 "You're welcome, Yakov Alpatych. Folks are leaving the town, but you
92592 have come to it," said he.
92593
92594 "Why are they leaving the town?" asked Alpatych.
92595
92596 "That's what I say. Folks are foolish! Always afraid of the French."
92597
92598 "Women's fuss, women's fuss!" said Alpatych.
92599
92600 "Just what I think, Yakov Alpatych. What I say is: orders have
92601 been given not to let them in, so that must be right. And the peasants
92602 are asking three rubles for carting--it isn't Christian!"
92603
92604 Yakov Alpatych heard without heeding. He asked for a samovar and for
92605 hay for his horses, and when he had had his tea he went to bed.
92606
92607 All night long troops were moving past the inn. Next morning
92608 Alpatych donned a jacket he wore only in town and went out on
92609 business. It was a sunny morning and by eight o'clock it was already
92610 hot. "A good day for harvesting," thought Alpatych.
92611
92612 From beyond the town firing had been heard since early morning. At
92613 eight o'clock the booming of cannon was added to the sound of
92614 musketry. Many people were hurrying through the streets and there were
92615 many soldiers, but cabs were still driving about, tradesmen stood at
92616 their shops, and service was being held in the churches as usual.
92617 Alpatych went to the shops, to government offices, to the post office,
92618 and to the Governor's. In the offices and shops and at the post office
92619 everyone was talking about the army and about the enemy who was
92620 already attacking the town, everybody was asking what should be
92621 done, and all were trying to calm one another.
92622
92623 In front of the Governor's house Alpatych found a large number of
92624 people, Cossacks, and a traveling carriage of the Governor's. At the
92625 porch he met two of the landed gentry, one of whom he knew. This
92626 man, an ex-captain of police, was saying angrily:
92627
92628 "It's no joke, you know! It's all very well if you're single. 'One
92629 man though undone is but one,' as the proverb says, but with
92630 thirteen in your family and all the property... They've brought us
92631 to utter ruin! What sort of governors are they to do that? They
92632 ought to be hanged--the brigands!..."
92633
92634 "Oh come, that's enough!" said the other.
92635
92636 "What do I care? Let him hear! We're not dogs," said the
92637 ex-captain of police, and looking round he noticed Alpatych.
92638
92639 "Oh, Yakov Alpatych! What have you come for?"
92640
92641 "To see the Governor by his excellency's order," answered
92642 Alpatych, lifting his head and proudly thrusting his hand into the
92643 bosom of his coat as he always did when he mentioned the prince....
92644 "He has ordered me to inquire into the position of affairs," he added.
92645
92646 "Yes, go and find out!" shouted the angry gentleman. "They've
92647 brought things to such a pass that there are no carts or
92648 anything!... There it is again, do you hear?" said he, pointing
92649 in the direction whence came the sounds of firing.
92650
92651 "They've brought us all to ruin... the brigands!" he repeated, and
92652 descended the porch steps.
92653
92654 Alpatych swayed his head and went upstairs. In the waiting room were
92655 tradesmen, women, and officials, looking silently at one another.
92656 The door of the Governor's room opened and they all rose and moved
92657 forward. An official ran out, said some words to a merchant, called
92658 a stout official with a cross hanging on his neck to follow him, and
92659 vanished again, evidently wishing to avoid the inquiring looks and
92660 questions addressed to him. Alpatych moved forward and next time the
92661 official came out addressed him, one hand placed in the breast of
92662 his buttoned coat, and handed him two letters.
92663
92664 "To his Honor Baron Asch, from General-in-Chief Prince Bolkonski,"
92665 he announced with such solemnity and significance that the official
92666 turned to him and took the letters.
92667
92668 A few minutes later the Governor received Alpatych and hurriedly
92669 said to him:
92670
92671 "Inform the prince and princess that I knew nothing: I acted on
92672 the highest instructions--here..." and he handed a paper to
92673 Alpatych. "Still, as the prince is unwell my advice is that they
92674 should go to Moscow. I am just starting myself. Inform them..."
92675
92676 But the Governor did not finish: a dusty perspiring officer ran into
92677 the room and began to say something in French. The Governor's face
92678 expressed terror.
92679
92680 "Go," he said, nodding his head to Alpatych, and began questioning
92681 the officer.
92682
92683 Eager, frightened, helpless glances were turned on Alpatych when
92684 he came out of the Governor's room. Involuntarily listening now to the
92685 firing, which had drawn nearer and was increasing in strength,
92686 Alpatych hurried to his inn. The paper handed to him by the Governor
92687 said this:
92688
92689
92690 "I assure you that the town of Smolensk is not in the slightest
92691 danger as yet and it is unlikely that it will be threatened with
92692 any. I from the one side and Prince Bagration from the other are
92693 marching to unite our forces before Smolensk, which junction will be
92694 effected on the 22nd instant, and both armies with their united forces
92695 will defend our compatriots of the province entrusted to your care
92696 till our efforts shall have beaten back the enemies of our Fatherland,
92697 or till the last warrior in our valiant ranks has perished. From
92698 this you will see that you have a perfect right to reassure the
92699 inhabitants of Smolensk, for those defended by two such brave armies
92700 may feel assured of victory." (Instructions from Barclay de Tolly to
92701 Baron Asch, the civil governor of Smolensk, 1812.)
92702
92703
92704 People were anxiously roaming about the streets.
92705
92706 Carts piled high with household utensils, chairs, and cupboards kept
92707 emerging from the gates of the yards and moving along the streets.
92708 Loaded carts stood at the house next to Ferapontov's and women were
92709 wailing and lamenting as they said good-by. A small watchdog ran round
92710 barking in front of the harnessed horses.
92711
92712 Alpatych entered the innyard at a quicker pace than usual and went
92713 straight to the shed where his horses and trap were. The coachman
92714 was asleep. He woke him up, told him to harness, and went into the
92715 passage. From the host's room came the sounds of a child crying, the
92716 despairing sobs of a woman, and the hoarse angry shouting of
92717 Ferapontov. The cook began running hither and thither in the passage
92718 like a frightened hen, just as Alpatych entered.
92719
92720 "He's done her to death. Killed the mistress!... Beat her... dragged
92721 her about so!..."
92722
92723 "What for?" asked Alpatych.
92724
92725 "She kept begging to go away. She's a woman! 'Take me away,' says
92726 she, 'don't let me perish with my little children! Folks,' she says,
92727 'are all gone, so why,' she says, 'don't we go?' And he began
92728 beating and pulling her about so!"
92729
92730 At these words Alpatych nodded as if in approval, and not wishing to
92731 hear more went to the door of the room opposite the innkeeper's, where
92732 he had left his purchases.
92733
92734 "You brute, you murderer!" screamed a thin, pale woman who, with a
92735 baby in her arms and her kerchief torn from her head, burst through
92736 the door at that moment and down the steps into the yard.
92737
92738 Ferapontov came out after her, but on seeing Alpatych adjusted his
92739 waistcoat, smoothed his hair, yawned, and followed Alpatych into the
92740 opposite room.
92741
92742 "Going already?" said he.
92743
92744 Alpatych, without answering or looking at his host, sorted his
92745 packages and asked how much he owed.
92746
92747 "We'll reckon up! Well, have you been to the Governor's?" asked
92748 Ferapontov. "What has been decided?"
92749
92750 Alpatych replied that the Governor had not told him anything
92751 definite.
92752
92753 "With our business, how can we get away?" said Ferapontov. "We'd
92754 have to pay seven rubles a cartload to Dorogobuzh and I tell them
92755 they're not Christians to ask it! Selivanov, now, did a good stroke
92756 last Thursday--sold flour to the army at nine rubles a sack. Will
92757 you have some tea?" he added.
92758
92759 While the horses were being harnessed Alpatych and Ferapontov over
92760 their tea talked of the price of corn, the crops, and the good weather
92761 for harvesting.
92762
92763 "Well, it seems to be getting quieter," remarked Ferapontov,
92764 finishing his third cup of tea and getting up. "Ours must have got the
92765 best of it. The orders were not to let them in. So we're in force,
92766 it seems.... They say the other day Matthew Ivanych Platov drove
92767 them into the river Marina and drowned some eighteen thousand in one
92768 day."
92769
92770 Alpatych collected his parcels, handed them to the coachman who
92771 had come in, and settled up with the innkeeper. The noise of wheels,
92772 hoofs, and bells was heard from the gateway as a little trap passed
92773 out.
92774
92775 It was by now late in the afternoon. Half the street was in
92776 shadow, the other half brightly lit by the sun. Alpatych looked out of
92777 the window and went to the door. Suddenly the strange sound of a
92778 far-off whistling and thud was heard, followed by a boom of cannon
92779 blending into a dull roar that set the windows rattling.
92780
92781 He went out into the street: two men were running past toward the
92782 bridge. From different sides came whistling sounds and the thud of
92783 cannon balls and bursting shells falling on the town. But these sounds
92784 were hardly heard in comparison with the noise of the firing outside
92785 the town and attracted little attention from the inhabitants. The town
92786 was being bombarded by a hundred and thirty guns which Napoleon had
92787 ordered up after four o'clock. The people did not at once realize
92788 the meaning of this bombardment.
92789
92790 At first the noise of the falling bombs and shells only aroused
92791 curiosity. Ferapontov's wife, who till then had not ceased wailing
92792 under the shed, became quiet and with the baby in her arms went to the
92793 gate, listening to the sounds and looking in silence at the people.
92794
92795 The cook and a shop assistant came to the gate. With lively
92796 curiosity everyone tried to get a glimpse of the projectiles as they
92797 flew over their heads. Several people came round the corner talking
92798 eagerly.
92799
92800 "What force!" remarked one. "Knocked the roof and ceiling all to
92801 splinters!"
92802
92803 "Routed up the earth like a pig," said another.
92804
92805 "That's grand, it bucks one up!" laughed the first. "Lucky you
92806 jumped aside, or it would have wiped you out!"
92807
92808 Others joined those men and stopped and told how cannon balls had
92809 fallen on a house close to them. Meanwhile still more projectiles, now
92810 with the swift sinister whistle of a cannon ball, now with the
92811 agreeable intermittent whistle of a shell, flew over people's heads
92812 incessantly, but not one fell close by, they all flew over. Alpatych
92813 was getting into his trap. The innkeeper stood at the gate.
92814
92815 "What are you staring at?" he shouted to the cook, who in her red
92816 skirt, with sleeves rolled up, swinging her bare elbows, had stepped
92817 to the corner to listen to what was being said.
92818
92819 "What marvels!" she exclaimed, but hearing her master's voice she
92820 turned back, pulling down her tucked-up skirt.
92821
92822 Once more something whistled, but this time quite close, swooping
92823 downwards like a little bird; a flame flashed in the middle of the
92824 street, something exploded, and the street was shrouded in smoke.
92825
92826 "Scoundrel, what are you doing?" shouted the innkeeper, rushing to
92827 the cook.
92828
92829 At that moment the pitiful wailing of women was heard from different
92830 sides, the frightened baby began to cry, and people crowded silently
92831 with pale faces round the cook. The loudest sound in that crowd was
92832 her wailing.
92833
92834 "Oh-h-h! Dear souls, dear kind souls! Don't let me die! My good
92835 souls!..."
92836
92837 Five minutes later no one remained in the street. The cook, with her
92838 thigh broken by a shell splinter, had been carried into the kitchen.
92839 Alpatych, his coachman, Ferapontov's wife and children and the house
92840 porter were all sitting in the cellar, listening. The roar of guns,
92841 the whistling of projectiles, and the piteous moaning of the cook,
92842 which rose above the other sounds, did not cease for a moment. The
92843 mistress rocked and hushed her baby and when anyone came into the
92844 cellar asked in a pathetic whisper what had become of her husband
92845 who had remained in the street. A shopman who entered told her that
92846 her husband had gone with others to the cathedral, whence they were
92847 fetching the wonder-working icon of Smolensk.
92848
92849 Toward dusk the cannonade began to subside. Alpatych left the cellar
92850 and stopped in the doorway. The evening sky that had been so clear was
92851 clouded with smoke, through which, high up, the sickle of the new moon
92852 shone strangely. Now that the terrible din of the guns had ceased a
92853 hush seemed to reign over the town, broken only by the rustle of
92854 footsteps, the moaning, the distant cries, and the crackle of fires
92855 which seemed widespread everywhere. The cook's moans had now subsided.
92856 On two sides black curling clouds of smoke rose and spread from the
92857 fires. Through the streets soldiers in various uniforms walked or
92858 ran confusedly in different directions like ants from a ruined
92859 ant-hill. Several of them ran into Ferapontov's yard before Alpatych's
92860 eyes. Alpatych went out to the gate. A retreating regiment,
92861 thronging and hurrying, blocked the street.
92862
92863 Noticing him, an officer said: "The town is being abandoned. Get
92864 away, get away!" and then, turning to the soldiers, shouted:
92865
92866 "I'll teach you to run into the yards!"
92867
92868 Alpatych went back to the house, called the coachman, and told him
92869 to set off. Ferapontov's whole household came out too, following
92870 Alpatych and the coachman. The women, who had been silent till then,
92871 suddenly began to wail as they looked at the fires--the smoke and even
92872 the flames of which could be seen in the failing twilight--and as if
92873 in reply the same kind of lamentation was heard from other parts of
92874 the street. Inside the shed Alpatych and the coachman arranged the
92875 tangled reins and traces of their horses with trembling hands.
92876
92877 As Alpatych was driving out of the gate he saw some ten soldiers
92878 in Ferapontov's open shop, talking loudly and filling their bags and
92879 knapsacks with flour and sunflower seeds. Just then Ferapontov
92880 returned and entered his shop. On seeing the soldiers he was about
92881 to shout at them, but suddenly stopped and, clutching at his hair,
92882 burst into sobs and laughter:
92883
92884 "Loot everything, lads! Don't let those devils get it!" he cried,
92885 taking some bags of flour himself and throwing them into the street.
92886
92887 Some of the soldiers were frightened and ran away, others went on
92888 filling their bags. On seeing Alpatych, Ferapontov turned to him:
92889
92890 "Russia is done for!" he cried. "Alpatych, I'll set the place on
92891 fire myself. We're done for!..." and Ferapontov ran into the yard.
92892
92893 Soldiers were passing in a constant stream along the street blocking
92894 it completely, so that Alpatych could not pass out and had to wait.
92895 Ferapontov's wife and children were also sitting in a cart waiting
92896 till it was possible to drive out.
92897
92898 Night had come. There were stars in the sky and the new moon shone
92899 out amid the smoke that screened it. On the sloping descent to the
92900 Dnieper Alpatych's cart and that of the innkeeper's wife, which were
92901 slowly moving amid the rows of soldiers and of other vehicles, had
92902 to stop. In a side street near the crossroads where the vehicles had
92903 stopped, a house and some shops were on fire. This fire was already
92904 burning itself out. The flames now died down and were lost in the
92905 black smoke, now suddenly flared up again brightly, lighting up with
92906 strange distinctness the faces of the people crowding at the
92907 crossroads. Black figures flitted about before the fire, and through
92908 the incessant crackling of the flames talking and shouting could be
92909 heard. Seeing that his trap would not be able to move on for some
92910 time, Alpatych got down and turned into the side street to look at the
92911 fire. Soldiers were continually rushing backwards and forwards near
92912 it, and he saw two of them and a man in a frieze coat dragging burning
92913 beams into another yard across the street, while others carried
92914 bundles of hay.
92915
92916 Alpatych went up to a large crowd standing before a high barn
92917 which was blazing briskly. The walls were all on fire and the back
92918 wall had fallen in, the wooden roof was collapsing, and the rafters
92919 were alight. The crowd was evidently watching for the roof to fall in,
92920 and Alpatych watched for it too.
92921
92922 "Alpatych!" a familiar voice suddenly hailed the old man.
92923
92924 "Mercy on us! Your excellency!" answered Alpatych, immediately
92925 recognizing the voice of his young prince.
92926
92927 Prince Andrew in his riding cloak, mounted on a black horse, was
92928 looking at Alpatych from the back of the crowd.
92929
92930 "Why are you here?" he asked.
92931
92932 "Your... your excellency," stammered Alpatych and broke into sobs.
92933 "Are we really lost? Master!..."
92934
92935 "Why are you here?" Prince Andrew repeated.
92936
92937 At that moment the flames flared up and showed his young master's
92938 pale worn face. Alpatych told how he had been sent there and how
92939 difficult it was to get away.
92940
92941 "Are we really quite lost, your excellency?" he asked again.
92942
92943 Prince Andrew without replying took out a notebook and raising his
92944 knee began writing in pencil on a page he tore out. He wrote to his
92945 sister:
92946
92947
92948 "Smolensk is being abandoned. Bald Hills will be occupied by the
92949 enemy within a week. Set off immediately for Moscow. Let me know at
92950 once when you will start. Send by special messenger to Usvyazh."
92951
92952
92953 Having written this and given the paper to Alpatych, he told him how
92954 to arrange for departure of the prince, the princess, his son, and the
92955 boy's tutor, and how and where to let him know immediately. Before
92956 he had had time to finish giving these instructions, a chief of
92957 staff followed by a suite galloped up to him.
92958
92959 "You are a colonel?" shouted the chief of staff with a German
92960 accent, in a voice familiar to Prince Andrew. "Houses are set on
92961 fire in your presence and you stand by! What does this mean? You
92962 will answer for it!" shouted Berg, who was now assistant to the
92963 chief of staff of the commander of the left flank of the infantry of
92964 the first army, a place, as Berg said, "very agreeable and well en
92965 evidence."
92966
92967 Prince Andrew looked at him and without replying went on speaking to
92968 Alpatych.
92969
92970 "So tell them that I shall await a reply till the tenth, and if by
92971 the tenth I don't receive news that they have all got away I shall
92972 have to throw up everything and come myself to Bald Hills."
92973
92974 "Prince," said Berg, recognizing Prince Andrew, "I only spoke
92975 because I have to obey orders, because I always do obey exactly....
92976 You must please excuse me," he went on apologetically.
92977
92978 Something cracked in the flames. The fire died down for a moment and
92979 wreaths of black smoke rolled from under the roof. There was another
92980 terrible crash and something huge collapsed.
92981
92982 "Ou-rou-rou!" yelled the crowd, echoing the crash of the
92983 collapsing roof of the barn, the burning grain in which diffused a
92984 cakelike aroma all around. The flames flared up again, lighting the
92985 animated, delighted, exhausted faces of the spectators.
92986
92987 The man in the frieze coat raised his arms and shouted:
92988
92989 "It's fine, lads! Now it's raging... It's fine!"
92990
92991 "That's the owner himself," cried several voices.
92992
92993 "Well then," continued Prince Andrew to Alpatych, "report to them as
92994 I have told you"; and not replying a word to Berg who was now mute
92995 beside him, he touched his horse and rode down the side street.
92996
92997
92998
92999
93000
93001 CHAPTER V
93002
93003
93004 From Smolensk the troops continued to retreat, followed by the
93005 enemy. On the tenth of August the regiment Prince Andrew commanded was
93006 marching along the highroad past the avenue leading to Bald Hills.
93007 Heat and drought had continued for more than three weeks. Each day
93008 fleecy clouds floated across the sky and occasionally veiled the
93009 sun, but toward evening the sky cleared again and the sun set in
93010 reddish-brown mist. Heavy night dews alone refreshed the earth. The
93011 unreaped corn was scorched and shed its grain. The marshes dried up.
93012 The cattle lowed from hunger, finding no food on the sun-parched
93013 meadows. Only at night and in the forests while the dew lasted was
93014 there any freshness. But on the road, the highroad along which the
93015 troops marched, there was no such freshness even at night or when
93016 the road passed through the forest; the dew was imperceptible on the
93017 sandy dust churned up more than six inches deep. As soon as day dawned
93018 the march began. The artillery and baggage wagons moved noiselessly
93019 through the deep dust that rose to the very hubs of the wheels, and
93020 the infantry sank ankle-deep in that soft, choking, hot dust that
93021 never cooled even at night. Some of this dust was kneaded by the
93022 feet and wheels, while the rest rose and hung like a cloud over the
93023 troops, settling in eyes, ears, hair, and nostrils, and worst of all
93024 in the lungs of the men and beasts as they moved along that road.
93025 The higher the sun rose the higher rose that cloud of dust, and
93026 through the screen of its hot fine particles one could look with naked
93027 eye at the sun, which showed like a huge crimson ball in the unclouded
93028 sky. There was no wind, and the men choked in that motionless
93029 atmosphere. They marched with handkerchiefs tied over their noses
93030 and mouths. When they passed through a village they all rushed to
93031 the wells and fought for the water and drank it down to the mud.
93032
93033 Prince Andrew was in command of a regiment, and the management of
93034 that regiment, the welfare of the men and the necessity of receiving
93035 and giving orders, engrossed him. The burning of Smolensk and its
93036 abandonment made an epoch in his life. A novel feeling of anger
93037 against the foe made him forget his own sorrow. He was entirely
93038 devoted to the affairs of his regiment and was considerate and kind to
93039 his men and officers. In the regiment they called him "our prince,"
93040 were proud of him and loved him. But he was kind and gentle only to
93041 those of his regiment, to Timokhin and the like--people quite new to
93042 him, belonging to a different world and who could not know and
93043 understand his past. As soon as he came across a former acquaintance
93044 or anyone from the staff, he bristled up immediately and grew
93045 spiteful, ironical, and contemptuous. Everything that reminded him
93046 of his past was repugnant to him, and so in his relations with that
93047 former circle he confined himself to trying to do his duty and not
93048 to be unfair.
93049
93050 In truth everything presented itself in a dark and gloomy light to
93051 Prince Andrew, especially after the abandonment of Smolensk on the
93052 sixth of August (he considered that it could and should have been
93053 defended) and after his sick father had had to flee to Moscow,
93054 abandoning to pillage his dearly beloved Bald Hills which he had built
93055 and peopled. But despite this, thanks to his regiment, Prince Andrew
93056 had something to think about entirely apart from general questions.
93057 Two days previously he had received news that his father, son, and
93058 sister had left for Moscow; and though there was nothing for him to do
93059 at Bald Hills, Prince Andrew with a characteristic desire to foment
93060 his own grief decided that he must ride there.
93061
93062 He ordered his horse to be saddled and, leaving his regiment on
93063 the march, rode to his father's estate where he had been born and
93064 spent his childhood. Riding past the pond where there used always to
93065 be dozens of women chattering as they rinsed their linen or beat it
93066 with wooden beetles, Prince Andrew noticed that there was not a soul
93067 about and that the little washing wharf, torn from its place and
93068 half submerged, was floating on its side in the middle of the pond. He
93069 rode to the keeper's lodge. No one at the stone entrance gates of
93070 the drive and the door stood open. Grass had already begun to grow
93071 on the garden paths, and horses and calves were straying in the
93072 English park. Prince Andrew rode up to the hothouse; some of the glass
93073 panes were broken, and of the trees in tubs some were overturned and
93074 others dried up. He called for Taras the gardener, but no one replied.
93075 Having gone round the corner of the hothouse to the ornamental garden,
93076 he saw that the carved garden fence was broken and branches of the
93077 plum trees had been torn off with the fruit. An old peasant whom
93078 Prince Andrew in his childhood had often seen at the gate was
93079 sitting on a green garden seat, plaiting a bast shoe.
93080
93081 He was deaf and did not hear Prince Andrew ride up. He was sitting
93082 on the seat the old prince used to like to sit on, and beside him
93083 strips of bast were hanging on the broken and withered branch of a
93084 magnolia.
93085
93086 Prince Andrew rode up to the house. Several limes in the old
93087 garden had been cut down and a piebald mare and her foal were
93088 wandering in front of the house among the rosebushes. The shutters
93089 were all closed, except at one window which was open. A little serf
93090 boy, seeing Prince Andrew, ran into the house. Alpatych, having sent
93091 his family away, was alone at Bald Hills and was sitting indoors
93092 reading the Lives of the Saints. On hearing that Prince Andrew had
93093 come, he went out with his spectacles on his nose, buttoning his coat,
93094 and, hastily stepping up, without a word began weeping and kissing
93095 Prince Andrew's knee.
93096
93097 Then, vexed at his own weakness, he turned away and began to
93098 report on the position of affairs. Everything precious and valuable
93099 had been removed to Bogucharovo. Seventy quarters of grain had also
93100 been carted away. The hay and the spring corn, of which Alpatych
93101 said there had been a remarkable crop that year, had been commandeered
93102 by the troops and mown down while still green. The peasants were
93103 ruined; some of them too had gone to Bogucharovo, only a few remained.
93104
93105 Without waiting to hear him out, Prince Andrew asked:
93106
93107 "When did my father and sister leave?" meaning when did they leave
93108 for Moscow.
93109
93110 Alpatych, understanding the question to refer to their departure for
93111 Bogucharovo, replied that they had left on the seventh and again
93112 went into details concerning the estate management, asking for
93113 instructions.
93114
93115 "Am I to let the troops have the oats, and to take a receipt for
93116 them? We have still six hundred quarters left," he inquired.
93117
93118 "What am I to say to him?" thought Prince Andrew, looking down on
93119 the old man's bald head shining in the sun and seeing by the
93120 expression on his face that the old man himself understood how
93121 untimely such questions were and only asked them to allay his grief.
93122
93123 "Yes, let them have it," replied Prince Andrew.
93124
93125 "If you noticed some disorder in the garden," said Alpatych, "it was
93126 impossible to prevent it. Three regiments have been here and spent the
93127 night, dragoons mostly. I took down the name and rank of their
93128 commanding officer, to hand in a complaint about it."
93129
93130 "Well, and what are you going to do? Will you stay here if the enemy
93131 occupies the place?" asked Prince Andrew.
93132
93133 Alpatych turned his face to Prince Andrew, looked at him, and
93134 suddenly with a solemn gesture raised his arm.
93135
93136 "He is my refuge! His will be done!" he exclaimed.
93137
93138 A group of bareheaded peasants was approaching across the meadow
93139 toward the prince.
93140
93141 "Well, good-by!" said Prince Andrew, bending over to Alpatych.
93142 "You must go away too, take away what you can and tell the serfs to go
93143 to the Ryazan estate or to the one near Moscow."
93144
93145 Alpatych clung to Prince Andrew's leg and burst into sobs. Gently
93146 disengaging himself, the prince spurred his horse and rode down the
93147 avenue at a gallop.
93148
93149 The old man was still sitting in the ornamental garden, like a fly
93150 impassive on the face of a loved one who is dead, tapping the last
93151 on which he was making the bast shoe, and two little girls, running
93152 out from the hot house carrying in their skirts plums they had plucked
93153 from the trees there, came upon Prince Andrew. On seeing the young
93154 master, the elder one frightened look clutched her younger companion
93155 by the hand and hid with her behind a birch tree, not stopping to pick
93156 up some green plums they had dropped.
93157
93158 Prince Andrew turned away with startled haste, unwilling to let them
93159 see that they had been observed. He was sorry for the pretty
93160 frightened little girl, was afraid of looking at her, and yet felt
93161 an irresistible desire to do so. A new sensation of comfort and relief
93162 came over him when, seeing these girls, he realized the existence of
93163 other human interests entirely aloof from his own and just as
93164 legitimate as those that occupied him. Evidently these girls
93165 passionately desired one thing--to carry away and eat those green
93166 plums without being caught--and Prince Andrew shared their wish for
93167 the success of their enterprise. He could not resist looking at them
93168 once more. Believing their danger past, they sprang from their
93169 ambush and, chirruping something in their shrill little voices and
93170 holding up their skirts, their bare little sunburned feet scampered
93171 merrily and quickly across the meadow grass.
93172
93173 Prince Andrew was somewhat refreshed by having ridden off the
93174 dusty highroad along which the troops were moving. But not far from
93175 Bald Hills he again came out on the road and overtook his regiment
93176 at its halting place by the dam of a small pond. It was past one
93177 o'clock. The sun, a red ball through the dust, burned and scorched his
93178 back intolerably through his black coat. The dust always hung
93179 motionless above the buzz of talk that came from the resting troops.
93180 There was no wind. As he crossed the dam Prince Andrew smelled the
93181 ooze and freshness of the pond. He longed to get into that water,
93182 however dirty it might be, and he glanced round at the pool from
93183 whence came sounds of shrieks and laughter. The small, muddy, green
93184 pond had risen visibly more than a foot, flooding the dam, because
93185 it was full of the naked white bodies of soldiers with brick-red
93186 hands, necks, and faces, who were splashing about in it. All this
93187 naked white human flesh, laughing and shrieking, floundered about in
93188 that dirty pool like carp stuffed into a watering can, and the
93189 suggestion of merriment in that floundering mass rendered it specially
93190 pathetic.
93191
93192 One fair-haired young soldier of the third company, whom Prince
93193 Andrew knew and who had a strap round the calf of one leg, crossed
93194 himself, stepped back to get a good run, and plunged into the water;
93195 another, a dark noncommissioned officer who was always shaggy, stood
93196 up to his waist in the water joyfully wriggling his muscular figure
93197 and snorted with satisfaction as he poured the water over his head
93198 with hands blackened to the wrists. There were sounds of men
93199 slapping one another, yelling, and puffing.
93200
93201 Everywhere on the bank, on the dam, and in the pond, there was
93202 healthy, white, muscular flesh. The officer, Timokhin, with his red
93203 little nose, standing on the dam wiping himself with a towel, felt
93204 confused at seeing the prince, but made up his mind to address him
93205 nevertheless.
93206
93207 "It's very nice, your excellency! Wouldn't you like to?" said he.
93208
93209 "It's dirty," replied Prince Andrew, making a grimace.
93210
93211 "We'll clear it out for you in a minute," said Timokhin, and,
93212 still undressed, ran off to clear the men out of the pond.
93213
93214 "The prince wants to bathe."
93215
93216 "What prince? Ours?" said many voices, and the men were in such
93217 haste to clear out that the prince could hardly stop them. He
93218 decided that he would rather wash himself with water in the barn.
93219
93220 "Flesh, bodies, cannon fodder!" he thought, and he looked at his own
93221 naked body and shuddered, not from cold but from a sense of disgust
93222 and horror he did not himself understand, aroused by the sight of that
93223 immense number of bodies splashing about in the dirty pond.
93224
93225
93226 On the seventh of August Prince Bagration wrote as follows from
93227 his quarters at Mikhaylovna on the Smolensk road:
93228
93229
93230 Dear Count Alexis Andreevich--(He was writing to Arakcheev but
93231 knew that his letter would be read by the Emperor, and therefore
93232 weighed every word in it to the best of his ability.)
93233
93234 I expect the Minister [Barclay de Tolly] has already reported the
93235 abandonment of Smolensk to the enemy. It is pitiable and sad, and
93236 the whole army is in despair that this most important place has been
93237 wantonly abandoned. I, for my part, begged him personally most
93238 urgently and finally wrote him, but nothing would induce him to
93239 consent. I swear to you on my honor that Napoleon was in such a fix as
93240 never before and might have lost half his army but could not have
93241 taken Smolensk. Our troops fought, and are fighting, as never
93242 before. With fifteen thousand men I held the enemy at bay for
93243 thirty-five hours and beat him; but he would not hold out even for
93244 fourteen hours. It is disgraceful, a stain on our army, and as for
93245 him, he ought, it seems to me, not to live. If he reports that our
93246 losses were great, it is not true; perhaps about four thousand, not
93247 more, and not even that; but even were they ten thousand, that's
93248 war! But the enemy has lost masses...
93249
93250 What would it have cost him to hold out for another two days? They
93251 would have had to retire of their own accord, for they had no water
93252 for men or horses. He gave me his word he would not retreat, but
93253 suddenly sent instructions that he was retiring that night. We
93254 cannot fight in this way, or we may soon bring the enemy to Moscow...
93255
93256 There is a rumor that you are thinking of peace. God forbid that you
93257 should make peace after all our sacrifices and such insane retreats!
93258 You would set all Russia against you and every one of us would feel
93259 ashamed to wear the uniform. If it has come to this--we must fight
93260 as long as Russia can and as long as there are men able to stand...
93261
93262 One man ought to be in command, and not two. Your Minister may
93263 perhaps be good as a Minister, but as a general he is not merely bad
93264 but execrable, yet to him is entrusted the fate of our whole
93265 country.... I am really frantic with vexation; forgive my writing
93266 boldly. It is clear that the man who advocates the conclusion of a
93267 peace, and that the Minister should command the army, does not love
93268 our sovereign and desires the ruin of us all. So I write you
93269 frankly: call out the militia. For the Minister is leading these
93270 visitors after him to Moscow in a most masterly way. The whole army
93271 feels great suspicion of the Imperial aide-de-camp Wolzogen. He is
93272 said to be more Napoleon's man than ours, and he is always advising
93273 the Minister. I am not merely civil to him but obey him like a
93274 corporal, though I am his senior. This is painful, but, loving my
93275 benefactor and sovereign, I submit. Only I am sorry for the Emperor
93276 that he entrusts our fine army to such as he. Consider that on our
93277 retreat we have lost by fatigue and left in the hospital more than
93278 fifteen thousand men, and had we attacked this would not have
93279 happened. Tell me, for God's sake, what will Russia, our mother
93280 Russia, say to our being so frightened, and why are we abandoning
93281 our good and gallant Fatherland to such rabble and implanting feelings
93282 of hatred and shame in all our subjects? What are we scared at and
93283 of whom are we afraid? I am not to blame that the Minister is
93284 vacillating, a coward, dense, dilatory, and has all bad qualities. The
93285 whole army bewails it and calls down curses upon him...
93286
93287
93288
93289
93290
93291 CHAPTER VI
93292
93293
93294 Among the innumerable categories applicable to the phenomena of
93295 human life one may discriminate between those in which substance
93296 prevails and those in which form prevails. To the latter--as
93297 distinguished from village, country, provincial, or even Moscow
93298 life--we may allot Petersburg life, and especially the life of its
93299 salons. That life of the salons is unchanging. Since the year 1805
93300 we had made peace and had again quarreled with Bonaparte and had
93301 made constitutions and unmade them again, but the salons of Anna
93302 Pavlovna Helene remained just as they had been--the one seven and
93303 the other five years before. At Anna Pavlovna's they talked with
93304 perplexity of Bonaparte's successes just as before and saw in them and
93305 in the subservience shown to him by the European sovereigns a
93306 malicious conspiracy, the sole object of which was to cause
93307 unpleasantness and anxiety to the court circle of which Anna
93308 Pavlovna was the representative. And in Helene's salon, which
93309 Rumyantsev himself honored with his visits, regarding Helene as a
93310 remarkably intelligent woman, they talked with the same ecstasy in
93311 1812 as in 1808 of the "great nation" and the "great man," and
93312 regretted our rupture with France, a rupture which, according to them,
93313 ought to be promptly terminated by peace.
93314
93315 Of late, since the Emperor's return from the army, there had been
93316 some excitement in these conflicting salon circles and some
93317 demonstrations of hostility to one another, but each camp retained its
93318 own tendency. In Anna Pavlovna's circle only those Frenchmen were
93319 admitted who were deep-rooted legitimists, and patriotic views were
93320 expressed to the effect that one ought not to go to the French theater
93321 and that to maintain the French troupe was costing the government as
93322 much as a whole army corps. The progress of the war was eagerly
93323 followed, and only the reports most flattering to our army were
93324 circulated. In the French circle of Helene and Rumyantsev the
93325 reports of the cruelty of the enemy and of the war were contradicted
93326 and all Napoleon's attempts at conciliation were discussed. In that
93327 circle they discountenanced those who advised hurried preparations for
93328 a removal to Kazan of the court and the girls' educational
93329 establishments under the patronage of the Dowager Empress. In Helene's
93330 circle the war in general was regarded as a series of formal
93331 demonstrations which would very soon end in peace, and the view
93332 prevailed expressed by Bilibin--who now in Petersburg was quite at
93333 home in Helene's house, which every clever man was obliged to visit-
93334 that not by gunpowder but by those who invented it would matters be
93335 settled. In that circle the Moscow enthusiasm--news of which had
93336 reached Petersburg simultaneously with the Emperor's return--was
93337 ridiculed sarcastically and very cleverly, though with much caution.
93338
93339 Anna Pavlovna's circle on the contrary was enraptured by this
93340 enthusiasm and spoke of it as Plutarch speaks of the deeds of the
93341 ancients. Prince Vasili, who still occupied his former important
93342 posts, formed a connecting link between these two circles. He
93343 visited his "good friend Anna Pavlovna" as well as his daughter's
93344 "diplomatic salon," and often in his constant comings and goings
93345 between the two camps became confused and said at Helene's what he
93346 should have said at Anna Pavlovna's and vice versa.
93347
93348 Soon after the Emperor's return Prince Vasili in a conversation
93349 about the war at Anna Pavlovna's severely condemned Barclay de
93350 Tolly, but was undecided as to who ought to be appointed commander
93351 in chief. One of the visitors, usually spoken of as "a man of great
93352 merit," having described how he had that day seen Kutuzov, the newly
93353 chosen chief of the Petersburg militia, presiding over the
93354 enrollment of recruits at the Treasury, cautiously ventured to suggest
93355 that Kutuzov would be the man to satisfy all requirements.
93356
93357 Anna Pavlovna remarked with a melancholy smile that Kutuzov had done
93358 nothing but cause the Emperor annoyance.
93359
93360 "I have talked and talked at the Assembly of the Nobility," Prince
93361 Vasili interrupted, "but they did not listen to me. I told them his
93362 election as chief of the militia would not please the Emperor. They
93363 did not listen to me.
93364
93365 "It's all this mania for opposition," he went on. "And who for? It
93366 is all because we want to ape the foolish enthusiasm of those
93367 Muscovites," Prince Vasili continued, forgetting for a moment that
93368 though at Helene's one had to ridicule the Moscow enthusiasm, at
93369 Anna Pavlovna's one had to be ecstatic about it. But he retrieved
93370 his mistake at once. "Now, is it suitable that Count Kutuzov, the
93371 oldest general in Russia, should preside at that tribunal? He will get
93372 nothing for his pains! How could they make a man commander in chief
93373 who cannot mount a horse, who drops asleep at a council, and has the
93374 very worst morals! A good reputation he made for himself at Bucharest!
93375 I don't speak of his capacity as a general, but at a time like this
93376 how they appoint a decrepit, blind old man, positively
93377 blind? A fine idea to have a blind general! He can't see anything.
93378 To play blindman's bluff? He can't see at all!"
93379
93380 No one replied to his remarks.
93381
93382 This was quite correct on the twenty-fourth of July. But on the
93383 twenty-ninth of July Kutuzov received the title of Prince. This
93384 might indicate a wish to get rid of him, and therefore Prince Vasili's
93385 opinion continued to be correct though he was not now in any hurry
93386 to express it. But on the eighth of August a committee, consisting
93387 of Field Marshal Saltykov, Arakcheev, Vyazmitinov, Lopukhin, and
93388 Kochubey met to consider the progress of the war. This committee
93389 came to the conclusion that our failures were due to a want of unity
93390 in the command and though the members of the committee were aware of
93391 the Emperor's dislike of Kutuzov, after a short deliberation they
93392 agreed to advise his appointment as commander in chief. That same
93393 day Kutuzov was appointed commander in chief with full powers over the
93394 armies and over the whole region occupied by them.
93395
93396 On the ninth of August Prince Vasili at Anna Pavlovna's again met
93397 the "man of great merit." The latter was very attentive to Anna
93398 Pavlovna because he wanted to be appointed director of one of the
93399 educational establishments for young ladies. Prince Vasili entered the
93400 room with the air of a happy conqueror who has attained the object
93401 of his desires.
93402
93403 "Well, have you heard the great news? Prince Kutuzov is field
93404 marshal! All dissensions are at an end! I am so glad, so delighted! At
93405 last we have a man!" said he, glancing sternly and significantly round
93406 at everyone in the drawing room.
93407
93408 The "man of great merit," despite his desire to obtain the post of
93409 director, could not refrain from reminding Prince Vasili of his former
93410 opinion. Though this was impolite to Prince Vasili in Anna
93411 Pavlovna's drawing room, and also to Anna Pavlovna herself who had
93412 received the news with delight, he could not resist the temptation.
93413
93414 "But, Prince, they say he is blind!" said he, reminding Prince
93415 Vasili of his own words.
93416
93417 "Eh? Nonsense! He sees well enough," said Prince Vasili rapidly,
93418 in a deep voice and with a slight cough--the voice and cough with
93419 which he was wont to dispose of all difficulties.
93420
93421 "He sees well enough," he added. "And what I am so pleased about,"
93422 he went on, "is that our sovereign has given him full powers over
93423 all the armies and the whole region--powers no commander in chief ever
93424 had before. He is a second autocrat," he concluded with a victorious
93425 smile.
93426
93427 "God grant it! God grant it!" said Anna Pavlovna.
93428
93429 The "man of great merit," who was still a novice in court circles,
93430 wishing to flatter Anna Pavlovna by defending her former position on
93431 this question, observed:
93432
93433 "It is said that the Emperor was reluctant to give Kutuzov those
93434 powers. They say he blushed like a girl to whom Joconde is read,
93435 when he said to Kutuzov: 'Your Emperor and the Fatherland award you
93436 this honor.'"
93437
93438 "Perhaps the heart took no part in that speech," said Anna Pavlovna.
93439
93440 "Oh, no, no!" warmly rejoined Prince Vasili, who would not now yield
93441 Kutuzov to anyone; in his opinion Kutuzov was not only admirable
93442 himself, but was adored by everybody. "No, that's impossible," said
93443 he, "for our sovereign appreciated him so highly before."
93444
93445 "God grant only that Prince Kutuzov assumes real power and does
93446 not allow anyone to put a spoke in his wheel," observed Anna Pavlovna.
93447
93448 Understanding at once to whom she alluded, Prince Vasili said in a
93449 whisper:
93450
93451 "I know for a fact that Kutuzov made it an absolute condition that
93452 the Tsarevich should not be with the army. Do you know what he said to
93453 the Emperor?"
93454
93455 And Prince Vasili repeated the words supposed to have been spoken by
93456 Kutuzov to the Emperor. "I can neither punish him if he does wrong nor
93457 reward him if he does right."
93458
93459 "Oh, a very wise man is Prince Kutuzov! I have known him a long
93460 time!"
93461
93462 "They even say," remarked the "man of great merit" who did not yet
93463 possess courtly tact, "that his excellency made it an express
93464 condition that the sovereign himself should not be with the army."
93465
93466 As soon as he said this both Prince Vasili and Anna Pavlovna
93467 turned away from him and glanced sadly at one another with a sigh at
93468 his naivete.
93469
93470
93471
93472
93473
93474 CHAPTER VII
93475
93476
93477 While this was taking place in Petersburg the French had already
93478 passed Smolensk and were drawing nearer and nearer to Moscow.
93479 Napoleon's historian Thiers, like other of his historians, trying to
93480 justify his hero says that he was drawn to the walls of Moscow against
93481 his will. He is as right as other historians who look for the
93482 explanation of historic events in the will of one man; he is as
93483 right as the Russian historians who maintain that Napoleon was drawn
93484 to Moscow by the skill of the Russian commanders. Here besides the law
93485 of retrospection, which regards all the past as a preparation for
93486 events that subsequently occur, the law of reciprocity comes in,
93487 confusing the whole matter. A good chessplayer having lost a game is
93488 sincerely convinced that his loss resulted from a mistake he made
93489 and looks for that mistake in the opening, but forgets that at each
93490 stage of the game there were similar mistakes and that none of his
93491 moves were perfect. He only notices the mistake to which he pays
93492 attention, because his opponent took advantage of it. How much more
93493 complex than this is the game of war, which occurs under certain
93494 limits of time, and where it is not one will that manipulates lifeless
93495 objects, but everything results from innumerable conflicts of
93496 various wills!
93497
93498 After Smolensk Napoleon sought a battle beyond Dorogobuzh at Vyazma,
93499 and then at Tsarevo-Zaymishche, but it happened that owing to a
93500 conjunction of innumerable circumstances the Russians could not give
93501 battle till they reached Borodino, seventy miles from Moscow. From
93502 Vyazma Napoleon ordered a direct advance on Moscow.
93503
93504 Moscou, la capitale asiatique de ce grand empire, la ville sacree
93505 des peuples d'Alexandre, Moscou avec ses innombrables eglises en forme
93506 de pagodes chinoises,* this Moscow gave Napoleon's imagination no
93507 rest. On the march from Vyazma to Tsarevo-Zaymishche he rode his light
93508 bay bobtailed ambler accompanied by his Guards, his bodyguard, his
93509 pages, and aides-de-camp. Berthier, his chief of staff, dropped behind
93510 to question a Russian prisoner captured by the cavalry. Followed by
93511 Lelorgne d'Ideville, an interpreter, he overtook Napoleon at a
93512 gallop and reined in his horse with an amused expression.
93513
93514
93515 *"Moscow, the Asiatic capital of this great empire, the sacred
93516 city of Alexander's people, Moscow with its innumerable churches
93517 shaped like Chinese pagodas."
93518
93519
93520 "Well?" asked Napoleon.
93521
93522 "One of Platov's Cossacks says that Platov's corps is joining up
93523 with the main army and that Kutuzov has been appointed commander in
93524 chief. He is a very shrewd and garrulous fellow."
93525
93526 Napoleon smiled and told them to give the Cossack a horse and
93527 bring the man to him. He wished to talk to him himself. Several
93528 adjutants galloped off, and an hour later, Lavrushka, the serf Denisov
93529 had handed over to Rostov, rode up to Napoleon in an orderly's
93530 jacket and on a French cavalry saddle, with a merry, and tipsy face.
93531 Napoleon told him to ride by his side and began questioning him.
93532
93533 "You are a Cossack?"
93534
93535 "Yes, a Cossack, your Honor."
93536
93537 "The Cossack, not knowing in what company he was, for Napoleon's
93538 plain appearance had nothing about it that would reveal to an Oriental
93539 mind the presence of a monarch, talked with extreme familiarity of the
93540 incidents of the war," says Thiers, narrating this episode. In reality
93541 Lavrushka, having got drunk the day before and left his master
93542 dinnerless, had been whipped and sent to the village in quest of
93543 chickens, where he engaged in looting till the French took him
93544 prisoner. Lavrushka was one of those coarse, bare-faced lackeys who
93545 have seen all sorts of things, consider it necessary to do
93546 everything in a mean and cunning way, are ready to render any sort
93547 of service to their master, and are keen at guessing their master's
93548 baser impulses, especially those prompted by vanity and pettiness.
93549
93550 Finding himself in the company of Napoleon, whose identity he had
93551 easily and surely recognized, Lavrushka was not in the least abashed
93552 but merely did his utmost to gain his new master's favor.
93553
93554 He knew very well that this was Napoleon, but Napoleon's presence
93555 could no more intimidate him than Rostov's, or a sergeant major's with
93556 the rods, would have done, for he had nothing that either the sergeant
93557 major or Napoleon could deprive him of.
93558
93559 So he rattled on, telling all the gossip he had heard among the
93560 orderlies. Much of it true. But when Napoleon asked him whether the
93561 Russians thought they would beat Bonaparte or not, Lavrushka screwed
93562 up his eyes and considered.
93563
93564 In this question he saw subtle cunning, as men of his type see
93565 cunning in everything, so he frowned and did not answer immediately.
93566
93567 "It's like this," he said thoughtfully, "if there's a battle soon,
93568 yours will win. That's right. But if three days pass, then after that,
93569 well, then that same battle will not soon be over."
93570
93571 Lelorgne d'Ideville smilingly interpreted this speech to Napoleon
93572 thus: "If a battle takes place within the next three days the French
93573 will win, but if later, God knows what will happen." Napoleon did
93574 not smile, though he was evidently in high good humor, and he
93575 ordered these words to be repeated.
93576
93577 Lavrushka noticed this and to entertain him further, pretending
93578 not to know who Napoleon was, added:
93579
93580 "We know that you have Bonaparte and that he has beaten everybody in
93581 the world, but we are a different matter..."--without knowing why or
93582 how this bit of boastful patriotism slipped out at the end.
93583
93584 The interpreter translated these words without the last phrase,
93585 and Bonaparte smiled. "The young Cossack made his mighty
93586 interlocutor smile," says Thiers. After riding a few paces in silence,
93587 Napoleon turned to Berthier and said he wished to see how the news
93588 that he was talking to the Emperor himself, to that very Emperor who
93589 had written his immortally victorious name on the Pyramids, would
93590 affect this enfant du Don.*
93591
93592
93593 *"Child of the Don."
93594
93595
93596 The fact was accordingly conveyed to Lavrushka.
93597
93598 Lavrushka, understanding that this was done to perplex him and
93599 that Napoleon expected him to be frightened, to gratify his new
93600 masters promptly pretended to be astonished and awe-struck, opened his
93601 eyes wide, and assumed the expression he usually put on when taken
93602 to be whipped. "As soon as Napoleon's interpreter had spoken," says
93603 Thiers, "the Cossack, seized by amazement, did not utter another word,
93604 but rode on, his eyes fixed on the conqueror whose fame had reached
93605 him across the steppes of the East. All his loquacity was suddenly
93606 arrested and replaced by a naive and silent feeling of admiration.
93607 Napoleon, after making the Cossack a present, had him set free like
93608 a bird restored to its native fields."
93609
93610 Napoleon rode on, dreaming of the Moscow that so appealed to his
93611 imagination, and "the bird restored to its native fields" galloped
93612 to our outposts, inventing on the way all that had not taken place but
93613 that he meant to relate to his comrades. What had really taken place
93614 he did not wish to relate because it seemed to him not worth
93615 telling. He found the Cossacks, inquired for the regiment operating
93616 with Platov's detachment and by evening found his master, Nicholas
93617 Rostov, quartered at Yankovo. Rostov was just mounting to go for a
93618 ride round the neighboring villages with Ilyin; he let Lavrushka
93619 have another horse and took him along with him.
93620
93621
93622
93623
93624
93625 CHAPTER VIII
93626
93627
93628 Princess Mary was not in Moscow and out of danger as Prince Andrew
93629 supposed.
93630
93631 After the return of Alpatych from Smolensk the old prince suddenly
93632 seemed to awake as from a dream. He ordered the militiamen to be
93633 called up from the villages and armed, and wrote a letter to the
93634 commander in chief informing him that he had resolved to remain at
93635 Bald Hills to the last extremity and to defend it, leaving to the
93636 commander in chief's discretion to take measures or not for the
93637 defense of Bald Hills, where one of Russia's oldest generals would
93638 be captured or killed, and he announced to his household that he would
93639 remain at Bald Hills.
93640
93641 But while himself remaining, he gave instructions for the
93642 departure of the princess and Dessalles with the little prince to
93643 Bogucharovo and thence to Moscow. Princess Mary, alarmed by her
93644 father's feverish and sleepless activity after his previous apathy,
93645 could not bring herself to leave him alone and for the first time in
93646 her life ventured to disobey him. She refused to go away and her
93647 father's fury broke over her in a terrible storm. He repeated every
93648 injustice he had ever inflicted on her. Trying to convict her, he told
93649 her she had worn him out, had caused his quarrel with his son, had
93650 harbored nasty suspicions of him, making it the object of her life
93651 to poison his existence, and he drove her from his study telling her
93652 that if she did not go away it was all the same to him. He declared
93653 that he did not wish to remember her existence and warned her not to
93654 dare to let him see her. The fact that he did not, as she had
93655 feared, order her to be carried away by force but only told her not to
93656 let him see her cheered Princess Mary. She knew it was a proof that in
93657 the depth of his soul he was glad she was remaining at home and had
93658 not gone away.
93659
93660 The morning after little Nicholas had left, the old prince donned
93661 his full uniform and prepared to visit the commander in chief. His
93662 caleche was already at the door. Princess Mary saw him walk out of the
93663 house in his uniform wearing all his orders and go down the garden
93664 to review his armed peasants and domestic serfs. She sat by the window
93665 listening to his voice which reached her from the garden. Suddenly
93666 several men came running up the avenue with frightened faces.
93667
93668 Princess Mary ran out to the porch, down the flower-bordered path,
93669 and into the avenue. A large crowd of militiamen and domestics were
93670 moving toward her, and in their midst several men were supporting by
93671 the armpits and dragging along a little old man in a uniform and
93672 decorations. She ran up to him and, in the play of the sunlight that
93673 fell in small round spots through the shade of the lime-tree avenue,
93674 could not be sure what change there was in his face. All she could see
93675 was that his former stern and determined expression had altered to one
93676 of timidity and submission. On seeing his daughter he moved his
93677 helpless lips and made a hoarse sound. It was impossible to make out
93678 what he wanted. He was lifted up, carried to his study, and laid on
93679 the very couch he had so feared of late.
93680
93681 The doctor, who was fetched that same night, bled him and said
93682 that the prince had had a seizure paralyzing his right side.
93683
93684 It was becoming more and more dangerous to remain at Bald Hills, and
93685 next day they moved the prince to Bogucharovo, the doctor accompanying
93686 him.
93687
93688 By the time they reached Bogucharovo, Dessalles and the little
93689 prince had already left for Moscow.
93690
93691 For three weeks the old prince lay stricken by paralysis in the
93692 new house Prince Andrew had built at Bogucharovo, ever in the same
93693 state, getting neither better nor worse. He was unconscious and lay
93694 like a distorted corpse. He muttered unceasingly, his eyebrows and
93695 lips twitching, and it was impossible to tell whether he understood
93696 what was going on around him or not. One thing was certain--that he
93697 was suffering and wished to say something. But what it was, no one
93698 could tell: it might be some caprice of a sick and half-crazy man,
93699 or it might relate to public affairs, or possibly to family concerns.
93700
93701 The doctor said this restlessness did not mean anything and was
93702 due to physical causes; but Princess Mary thought he wished to tell
93703 her something, and the fact that her presence always increased his
93704 restlessness confirmed her opinion.
93705
93706 He was evidently suffering both physically and mentally. There was
93707 no hope of recovery. It was impossible for him to travel, it would not
93708 do to let him die on the road. "Would it not be better if the end
93709 did come, the very end?" Princess Mary sometimes thought. Night and
93710 day, hardly sleeping at all, she watched him and, terrible to say,
93711 often watched him not with hope of finding signs of improvement but
93712 wishing to find symptoms of the approach of the end.
93713
93714 Strange as it was to her to acknowledge this feeling in herself, yet
93715 there it was. And what seemed still more terrible to her was that
93716 since her father's illness began (perhaps even sooner, when she stayed
93717 with him expecting something to happen), all the personal desires
93718 and hopes that had been forgotten or sleeping within her had awakened.
93719 Thoughts that had not entered her mind for years--thoughts of a life
93720 free from the fear of her father, and even the possibility of love and
93721 of family happiness--floated continually in her imagination like
93722 temptations of the devil. Thrust them aside as she would, questions
93723 continually recurred to her as to how she would order her life now,
93724 after that. These were temptations of the devil and Princess Mary knew
93725 it. She knew that the sole weapon against him was prayer, and she
93726 tried to pray. She assumed an attitude of prayer, looked at the icons,
93727 repeated the words of a prayer, but she could not pray. She felt
93728 that a different world had now taken possession of her--the life of
93729 a world of strenuous and free activity, quite opposed to the spiritual
93730 world in which till now she had been confined and in which her
93731 greatest comfort had been prayer. She could not pray, could not
93732 weep, and worldly cares took possession of her.
93733
93734 It was becoming dangerous to remain in Bogucharovo. News of the
93735 approach of the French came from all sides, and in one village, ten
93736 miles from Bogucharovo, a homestead had been looted by French
93737 marauders.
93738
93739 The doctor insisted on the necessity of moving the prince; the
93740 provincial Marshal of the Nobility sent an official to Princess Mary
93741 to persuade her to get away as quickly as possible, and the head of
93742 the rural police having come to Bogucharovo urged the same thing,
93743 saying that the French were only some twenty-five miles away, that
93744 French proclamations were circulating in the villages, and that if the
93745 princess did not take her father away before the fifteenth, he could
93746 not answer for the consequences.
93747
93748 The princess decided to leave on the fifteenth. The cares of
93749 preparation and giving orders, for which everyone came to her,
93750 occupied her all day. She spent the night of the fourteenth as
93751 usual, without undressing, in the room next to the one where the
93752 prince lay. Several times, waking up, she heard his groans and
93753 muttering, the creak of his bed, and the steps of Tikhon and the
93754 doctor when they turned him over. Several times she listened at the
93755 door, and it seemed to her that his mutterings were louder than
93756 usual and that they turned him over oftener. She could not sleep and
93757 several times went to the door and listened, wishing to enter but
93758 not deciding to do so. Though he did not speak, Princess Mary saw
93759 and knew how unpleasant every sign of anxiety on his account was to
93760 him. She had noticed with what dissatisfaction he turned from the look
93761 she sometimes involuntarily fixed on him. She knew that her going in
93762 during the night at an unusual hour would irritate him.
93763
93764 But never had she felt so grieved for him or so much afraid of
93765 losing him. She recalled all her life with him and in every word and
93766 act of his found an expression of his love of her. Occasionally amid
93767 these memories temptations of the devil would surge into her
93768 imagination: thoughts of how things would be after his death, and
93769 how her new, liberated life would be ordered. But she drove these
93770 thoughts away with disgust. Toward morning he became quiet and she
93771 fell asleep.
93772
93773 She woke late. That sincerity which often comes with waking showed
93774 her clearly what chiefly concerned her about her father's illness.
93775 On waking she listened to what was going on behind the door and,
93776 hearing him groan, said to herself with a sigh that things were
93777 still the same.
93778
93779 "But what could have happened? What did I want? I want his death!"
93780 she cried with a feeling of loathing for herself.
93781
93782 She washed, dressed, said her prayers, and went out to the porch. In
93783 front of it stood carriages without horses and things were being
93784 packed into the vehicles.
93785
93786 It was a warm, gray morning. Princess Mary stopped at the porch,
93787 still horrified by her spiritual baseness and trying to arrange her
93788 thoughts before going to her father. The doctor came downstairs and
93789 went out to her.
93790
93791 "He is a little better today," said he. "I was looking for you.
93792 One can make out something of what he is saying. His head is
93793 clearer. Come in, he is asking for you..."
93794
93795 Princess Mary's heart beat so violently at this news that she grew
93796 pale and leaned against the wall to keep from falling. To see him,
93797 talk to him, feel his eyes on her now that her whole soul was
93798 overflowing with those dreadful, wicked temptations, was a torment
93799 of joy and terror.
93800
93801 "Come," said the doctor.
93802
93803 Princess Mary entered her father's room and went up to his bed. He
93804 was lying on his back propped up high, and his small bony hands with
93805 their knotted purple veins were lying on the quilt; his left eye gazed
93806 straight before him, his right eye was awry, and his brows and lips
93807 motionless. He seemed altogether so thin, small, and pathetic. His
93808 face seemed to have shriveled or melted; his features had grown
93809 smaller. Princess Mary went up and kissed his hand. His left hand
93810 pressed hers so that she understood that he had long been waiting
93811 for her to come. He twitched her hand, and his brows and lips quivered
93812 angrily.
93813
93814 She looked at him in dismay trying to guess what he wanted of her.
93815 When she changed her position so that his left eye could see her
93816 face he calmed down, not taking his eyes off her for some seconds.
93817 Then his lips and tongue moved, sounds came, and he began to speak,
93818 gazing timidly and imploringly at her, evidently afraid that she might
93819 not understand.
93820
93821 Straining all her faculties Princess Mary looked at him. The comic
93822 efforts with which he moved his tongue made her drop her eyes and with
93823 difficulty repress the sobs that rose to her throat. He said
93824 something, repeating the same words several times. She could not
93825 understand them, but tried to guess what he was saying and inquiringly
93826 repeated the words he uttered.
93827
93828 "Mmm...ar...ate...ate..." he repeated several times.
93829
93830 It was quite impossible to understand these sounds. The doctor
93831 thought he had guessed them, and inquiringly repeated: "Mary, are
93832 you afraid?" The prince shook his head, again repeated the same
93833 sounds.
93834
93835 "My mind, my mind aches?" questioned Princess Mary.
93836
93837 He made a mumbling sound in confirmation of this, took her hand, and
93838 began pressing it to different parts of his breast as if trying to
93839 find the right place for it.
93840
93841 "Always thoughts... about you... thoughts..." he then uttered much
93842 more clearly than he had done before, now that he was sure of being
93843 understood.
93844
93845 Princess Mary pressed her head against his hand, trying to hide
93846 her sobs and tears.
93847
93848 He moved his hand over her hair.
93849
93850 "I have been calling you all night..." he brought out.
93851
93852 "If only I had known..." she said through her tears. "I was afraid
93853 to come in."
93854
93855 He pressed her hand.
93856
93857 "Weren't you asleep?"
93858
93859 "No, I did not sleep," said Princess Mary, shaking her head.
93860
93861 Unconsciously imitating her father, she now tried to express herself
93862 as he did, as much as possible by signs, and her tongue too seemed
93863 to move with difficulty.
93864
93865 "Dear one... Dearest..." Princess Mary could not quite make out what
93866 he had said, but from his look it was clear that he had uttered a
93867 tender caressing word such as he had never used to her before. "Why
93868 didn't you come in?"
93869
93870 "And I was wishing for his death!" thought Princess Mary.
93871
93872 He was silent awhile.
93873
93874 "Thank you... daughter dear!... for all, for all... forgive!...
93875 thank you!... forgive!... thank you!..." and tears began to flow
93876 from his eyes. "Call Andrew!" he said suddenly, and a childish,
93877 timid expression of doubt showed itself on his face as he spoke.
93878
93879 He himself seemed aware that his demand was meaningless. So at least
93880 it seemed to Princess Mary.
93881
93882 "I have a letter from him," she replied.
93883
93884 He glanced at her with timid surprise.
93885
93886 "Where is he?"
93887
93888 "He's with the army, Father, at Smolensk."
93889
93890 He closed his eyes and remained silent a long time. Then as if in
93891 answer to his doubts and to confirm the fact that now he understood
93892 and remembered everything, he nodded his head and reopened his eyes.
93893
93894 "Yes," he said, softly and distinctly. "Russia has perished. They've
93895 destroyed her."
93896
93897 And he began to sob, and again tears flowed from his eyes.
93898 Princess Mary could no longer restrain herself and wept while she
93899 gazed at his face.
93900
93901 Again he closed his eyes. His sobs ceased, he pointed to his eyes,
93902 and Tikhon, understanding him, wiped away the tears.
93903
93904 Then he again opened his eyes and said something none of them
93905 could understand for a long time, till at last Tikhon understood and
93906 repeated it. Princess Mary had sought the meaning of his words in
93907 the mood in which he had just been speaking. She thought he was
93908 speaking of Russia, or Prince Andrew, of herself, of his grandson,
93909 or of his own death, and so she could not guess his words.
93910
93911 "Put on your white dress. I like it," was what he said.
93912
93913 Having understood this Princess Mary sobbed still louder, and the
93914 doctor taking her arm led her out to the veranda, soothing her and
93915 trying to persuade her to prepare for her journey. When she had left
93916 the room the prince again began speaking about his son, about the war,
93917 and about the Emperor, angrily twitching his brows and raising his
93918 hoarse voice, and then he had a second and final stroke.
93919
93920 Princess Mary stayed on the veranda. The day had cleared, it was hot
93921 and sunny. She could understand nothing, think of nothing and feel
93922 nothing, except passionate love for her father, love such as she
93923 thought she had never felt till that moment. She ran out sobbing
93924 into the garden and as far as the pond, along the avenues of young
93925 lime trees Prince Andrew had planted.
93926
93927 "Yes... I... I... I wished for his death! Yes, I wanted it to end
93928 quicker.... I wished to be at peace.... And what will become of me?
93929 What use will peace be when he is no longer here?" Princess Mary
93930 murmured, pacing the garden with hurried steps and pressing her
93931 hands to her bosom which heaved with convulsive sobs.
93932
93933 When she had completed the tour of the garden, which brought her
93934 again to the house, she saw Mademoiselle Bourienne--who had remained
93935 at Bogucharovo and did not wish to leave it--coming toward her with
93936 a stranger. This was the Marshal of the Nobility of the district,
93937 who had come personally to point out to the princess the necessity for
93938 her prompt departure. Princess Mary listened without understanding
93939 him; she led him to the house, offered him lunch, and sat down with
93940 him. Then, excusing herself, she went to the door of the old
93941 prince's room. The doctor came out with an agitated face and said
93942 she could not enter.
93943
93944 "Go away, Princess! Go away... go away!"
93945
93946 She returned to the garden and sat down on the grass at the foot
93947 of the slope by the pond, where no one could see her. She did not know
93948 how long she had been there when she was aroused by the sound of a
93949 woman's footsteps running along the path. She rose and saw Dunyasha
93950 her maid, who was evidently looking for her, and who stopped
93951 suddenly as if in alarm on seeing her mistress.
93952
93953 "Please come, Princess... The Prince," said Dunyasha in a breaking
93954 voice.
93955
93956 "Immediately, I'm coming, I'm coming!" replied the princess
93957 hurriedly, not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she was saying, and
93958 trying to avoid seeing the girl she ran toward the house.
93959
93960 "Princess, it's God's will! You must be prepared for everything,"
93961 said the Marshal, meeting her at the house door.
93962
93963 "Let me alone; it's not true!" she cried angrily to him.
93964
93965 The doctor tried to stop her. She pushed him aside and ran to her
93966 father's door. "Why are these people with frightened faces stopping
93967 me? I don't want any of them! And what are they doing here?" she
93968 thought. She opened the door and the bright daylight in that
93969 previously darkened room startled her. In the room were her nurse
93970 and other women. They all drew back from the bed, making way for
93971 her. He was still lying on the bed as before, but the stern expression
93972 of his quiet face made Princess Mary stop short on the threshold.
93973
93974 "No, he's not dead--it's impossible!" she told herself and
93975 approached him, and repressing the terror that seized her, she pressed
93976 her lips to his cheek. But she stepped back immediately. All the force
93977 of the tenderness she had been feeling for him vanished instantly
93978 and was replaced by a feeling of horror at what lay there before
93979 her. "No, he is no more! He is not, but here where he was is something
93980 unfamiliar and hostile, some dreadful, terrifying, and repellent
93981 mystery!" And hiding her face in her hands, Princess Mary sank into
93982 the arms of the doctor, who held her up.
93983
93984
93985 In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor the women washed what had
93986 been the prince, tied his head up with a handkerchief that the mouth
93987 should not stiffen while open, and with another handkerchief tied
93988 together the legs that were already spreading apart. Then they dressed
93989 him in uniform with his decorations and placed his shriveled little
93990 body on a table. Heaven only knows who arranged all this and when, but
93991 it all got done as if of its own accord. Toward night candles were
93992 burning round his coffin, a pall was spread over it, the floor was
93993 strewn with sprays of juniper, a printed band was tucked in under
93994 his shriveled head, and in a corner of the room sat a chanter
93995 reading the psalms.
93996
93997 Just as horses shy and snort and gather about a dead horse, so the
93998 inmates of the house and strangers crowded into the drawing room round
93999 the coffin--the Marshal, the village Elder, peasant women--and all
94000 with fixed and frightened eyes, crossing themselves, bowed and
94001 kissed the old prince's cold and stiffened hand.
94002
94003
94004
94005
94006
94007 CHAPTER IX
94008
94009
94010 Until Prince Andrew settled in Bogucharovo its owners had always
94011 been absentees, and its peasants were of quite a different character
94012 from those of Bald Hills. They differed from them in speech, dress,
94013 and disposition. They were called steppe peasants. The old prince used
94014 to approve of them for their endurance at work when they came to
94015 Bald Hills to help with the harvest or to dig ponds, and ditches,
94016 but he disliked them for their boorishness.
94017
94018 Prince Andrew's last stay at Bogucharovo, when he introduced
94019 hospitals and schools and reduced the quitrent the peasants had to
94020 pay, had not softened their disposition but had on the contrary
94021 strengthened in them the traits of character the old prince called
94022 boorishness. Various obscure rumors were always current among them: at
94023 one time a rumor that they would all be enrolled as Cossacks; at
94024 another of a new religion to which they were all to be converted; then
94025 of some proclamation of the Tsar's and of an oath to the Tsar Paul
94026 in 1797 (in connection with which it was rumored that freedom had been
94027 granted them but the landowners had stopped it), then of Peter
94028 Fedorovich's return to the throne in seven years' time, when
94029 everything would be made free and so "simple" that there would be no
94030 restrictions. Rumors of the war with Bonaparte and his invasion were
94031 connected in their minds with the same sort of vague notions of
94032 Antichrist, the end of the world, and "pure freedom."
94033
94034 In the vicinity of Bogucharovo were large villages belonging to
94035 the crown or to owners whose serfs paid quitrent and could work
94036 where they pleased. There were very few resident landlords in the
94037 neighborhood and also very few domestic or literate serfs, and in
94038 the lives of the peasantry of those parts the mysterious undercurrents
94039 in the life of the Russian people, the causes and meaning of which are
94040 so baffling to contemporaries, were more clearly and strongly
94041 noticeable than among others. One instance, which had occurred some
94042 twenty years before, was a movement among the peasants to emigrate
94043 to some unknown "warm rivers." Hundreds of peasants, among them the
94044 Bogucharovo folk, suddenly began selling their cattle and moving in
94045 whole families toward the southeast. As birds migrate to somewhere
94046 beyond the sea, so these men with their wives and children streamed to
94047 the southeast, to parts where none of them had ever been. They set off
94048 in caravans, bought their freedom one by one or ran away, and drove or
94049 walked toward the "warm rivers." Many of them were punished, some sent
94050 to Siberia, many died of cold and hunger on the road, many returned of
94051 their own accord, and the movement died down of itself just as it
94052 had sprung up, without apparent reason. But such undercurrents still
94053 existed among the people and gathered new forces ready to manifest
94054 themselves just as strangely, unexpectedly, and at the same time
94055 simply, naturally, and forcibly. Now in 1812, to anyone living in
94056 close touch with these people it was apparent that these undercurrents
94057 were acting strongly and nearing an eruption.
94058
94059 Alpatych, who had reached Bogucharovo shortly before the old
94060 prince's death, noticed an agitation among the peasants, and that
94061 contrary to what was happening in the Bald Hills district, where
94062 over a radius of forty miles all the peasants were moving away and
94063 leaving their villages to be devastated by the Cossacks, the
94064 peasants in the steppe region round Bogucharovo were, it was
94065 rumored, in touch with the French, received leaflets from them that
94066 passed from hand to hand, and did not migrate. He learned from
94067 domestic serfs loyal to him that the peasant Karp, who possessed great
94068 influence in the village commune and had recently been away driving
94069 a government transport, had returned with news that the Cossacks
94070 were destroying deserted villages, but that the French did not harm
94071 them. Alpatych also knew that on the previous day another peasant
94072 had even brought from the village of Visloukhovo, which was occupied
94073 by the French, a proclamation by a French general that no harm would
94074 be done to the inhabitants, and if they remained they would be paid
94075 for anything taken from them. As proof of this the peasant had brought
94076 from Visloukhovo a hundred rubles in notes (he did not know that
94077 they were false) paid to him in advance for hay.
94078
94079 More important still, Alpatych learned that on the morning of the
94080 very day he gave the village Elder orders to collect carts to move the
94081 princess' luggage from Bogucharovo, there had been a village meeting
94082 at which it had been decided not to move but to wait. Yet there was no
94083 time to waste. On the fifteenth, the day of the old prince's death,
94084 the Marshal had insisted on Princess Mary's leaving at once, as it was
94085 becoming dangerous. He had told her that after the sixteenth he
94086 could not be responsible for what might happen. On the evening of
94087 the day the old prince died the Marshal went away, promising to return
94088 next day for the funeral. But this he was unable to do, for he
94089 received tidings that the French had unexpectedly advanced, and had
94090 barely time to remove his own family and valuables from his estate.
94091
94092 For some thirty years Bogucharovo had been managed by the village
94093 Elder, Dron, whom the old prince called by the diminutive "Dronushka."
94094
94095 Dron was one of those physically and mentally vigorous peasants
94096 who grow big beards as soon as they are of age and go on unchanged
94097 till they are sixty or seventy, without a gray hair or the loss of a
94098 tooth, as straight and strong at sixty as at thirty.
94099
94100 Soon after the migration to the "warm rivers," in which he had taken
94101 part like the rest, Dron was made village Elder and overseer of
94102 Bogucharovo, and had since filled that post irreproachably for
94103 twenty-three years. The peasants feared him more than they did their
94104 master. The masters, both the old prince and the young, and the
94105 steward respected him and jestingly called him "the Minister."
94106 During the whole time of his service Dron had never been drunk or ill,
94107 never after sleepless nights or the hardest tasks had he shown the
94108 least fatigue, and though he could not read he had never forgotten a
94109 single money account or the number of quarters of flour in any of
94110 the endless cartloads he sold for the prince, nor a single shock of
94111 the whole corn crop on any single acre of the Bogucharovo fields.
94112
94113 Alpatych, arriving from the devastated Bald Hills estate, sent for
94114 his Dron on the day of the prince's funeral and told him to have
94115 twelve horses got ready for the princess' carriages and eighteen carts
94116 for the things to be removed from Bogucharovo. Though the peasants
94117 paid quitrent, Alpatych thought no difficulty would be made about
94118 complying with this order, for there were two hundred and thirty
94119 households at work in Bogucharovo and the peasants were well to do.
94120 But on hearing the order Dron lowered his eyes and remained silent.
94121 Alpatych named certain peasants he knew, from whom he told him to take
94122 the carts.
94123
94124 Dron replied that the horses of these peasants were away carting.
94125 Alpatych named others, but they too, according to Dron, had no
94126 horses available: some horses were carting for the government,
94127 others were too weak, and others had died for want of fodder. It
94128 seemed that no horses could be had even for the carriages, much less
94129 for the carting.
94130
94131 Alpatych looked intently at Dron and frowned. Just as Dron was a
94132 model village Elder, so Alpatych had not managed the prince's
94133 estates for twenty years in vain. He a model steward, possessing in
94134 the highest degree the faculty of divining the needs and instincts
94135 of those he dealt with. Having glanced at Dron he at once understood
94136 that his answers did not express his personal views but the general
94137 mood of the Bogucharovo commune, by which the Elder had already been
94138 carried away. But he also knew that Dron, who had acquired property
94139 and was hated by the commune, must be hesitating between the two
94140 camps: the masters' and the serfs'. He noticed this hesitation in
94141 Dron's look and therefore frowned and moved closer up to him.
94142
94143 "Now just listen, Dronushka," said he. "Don't talk nonsense to me.
94144 His excellency Prince Andrew himself gave me orders to move all the
94145 people away and not leave them with the enemy, and there is an order
94146 from the Tsar about it too. Anyone who stays is a traitor to the Tsar.
94147 Do you hear?"
94148
94149 "I hear," Dron answered without lifting his eyes.
94150
94151 Alpatych was not satisfied with this reply.
94152
94153 "Eh, Dron, it will turn out badly!" he said, shaking his head.
94154
94155 "The power is in your hands," Dron rejoined sadly.
94156
94157 "Eh, Dron, drop it!" Alpatych repeated, withdrawing his hand from
94158 his bosom and solemnly pointing to the floor at Dron's feet. "I can
94159 see through you and three yards into the ground under you," he
94160 continued, gazing at the floor in front of Dron.
94161
94162 Dron was disconcerted, glanced furtively at Alpatych and again
94163 lowered his eyes.
94164
94165 "You drop this nonsense and tell the people to get ready to leave
94166 their homes and go to Moscow and to get carts ready for tomorrow
94167 morning for the princess' things. And don't go to any meeting
94168 yourself, do you hear?"
94169
94170 Dron suddenly fell on his knees.
94171
94172 "Yakov Alpatych, discharge me! Take the keys from me and discharge
94173 me, for Christ's sake!"
94174
94175 "Stop that!" cried Alpatych sternly. "I see through you and three
94176 yards under you," he repeated, knowing that his skill in beekeeping,
94177 his knowledge of the right time to sow the oats, and the fact that
94178 he had been able to retain the old prince's favor for twenty years had
94179 long since gained him the reputation of being a wizard, and that the
94180 power of seeing three yards under a man is considered an attribute
94181 of wizards.
94182
94183 Dron got up and was about to say something, but Alpatych interrupted
94184 him.
94185
94186 "What is it you have got into your heads, eh?... What are you
94187 thinking of, eh?"
94188
94189 "What am I to do with the people?" said Dron. "They're quite
94190 beside themselves; I have already told them..."
94191
94192 "'Told them,' I dare say!" said Alpatych. "Are they drinking?" he
94193 asked abruptly.
94194
94195 "Quite beside themselves, Yakov Alpatych; they've fetched another
94196 barrel."
94197
94198 "Well, then, listen! I'll go to the police officer, and you tell
94199 them so, and that they must stop this and the carts must be got
94200 ready."
94201
94202 "I understand."
94203
94204 Alpatych did not insist further. He had managed people for a long
94205 time and knew that the chief way to make them obey is to show no
94206 suspicion that they can possibly disobey. Having wrung a submissive "I
94207 understand" from Dron, Alpatych contented himself with that, though he
94208 not only doubted but felt almost certain that without the help of
94209 troops the carts would not be forthcoming.
94210
94211 And so it was, for when evening came no carts had been provided.
94212 In the village, outside the drink shop, another meeting was being
94213 held, which decided that the horses should be driven out into the
94214 woods and the carts should not be provided. Without saying anything of
94215 this to the princess, Alpatych had his own belongings taken out of the
94216 carts which had arrived from Bald Hills and had those horses got ready
94217 for the princess' carriages. Meanwhile he went himself to the police
94218 authorities.
94219
94220
94221
94222
94223
94224 CHAPTER X
94225
94226
94227 After her father's funeral Princess Mary shut herself up in her room
94228 and did not admit anyone. A maid came to the door to say that Alpatych
94229 was asking for orders about their departure. (This was before his talk
94230 with Dron.) Princess Mary raised herself on the sofa on which she
94231 had been lying and replied through the closed door that she did not
94232 mean to go away and begged to be left in peace.
94233
94234 The windows of the room in which she was lying looked westward.
94235 She lay on the sofa with her face to the wall, fingering the buttons
94236 of the leather cushion and seeing nothing but that cushion, and her
94237 confused thoughts were centered on one subject--the irrevocability
94238 of death and her own spiritual baseness, which she had not
94239 suspected, but which had shown itself during her father's illness. She
94240 wished to pray but did not dare to, dared not in her present state
94241 of mind address herself to God. She lay for a long time in that
94242 position.
94243
94244 The sun had reached the other side of the house, and its slanting
94245 rays shone into the open window, lighting up the room and part of
94246 the morocco cushion at which Princess Mary was looking. The flow of
94247 her thoughts suddenly stopped. Unconsciously she sat up, smoothed
94248 her hair, got up, and went to the window, involuntarily inhaling the
94249 freshness of the clear but windy evening.
94250
94251 "Yes, you can well enjoy the evening now! He is gone and no one will
94252 hinder you," she said to herself, and sinking into a chair she let her
94253 head fall on the window sill.
94254
94255 Someone spoke her name in a soft and tender voice from the garden
94256 and kissed her head. She looked up. It was Mademoiselle Bourienne in a
94257 black dress and weepers. She softly approached Princess Mary,
94258 sighed, kissed her, and immediately began to cry. The princess
94259 looked up at her. All their former disharmony and her own jealousy
94260 recurred to her mind. But she remembered too how he had changed of
94261 late toward Mademoiselle Bourienne and could not bear to see her,
94262 thereby showing how unjust were the reproaches Princess Mary had
94263 mentally addressed to her. "Besides, is it for me, for me who
94264 desired his death, to condemn anyone?" she thought.
94265
94266 Princess Mary vividly pictured to herself the position of
94267 Mademoiselle Bourienne, whom she had of late kept at a distance, but
94268 who yet was dependent on her and living in her house. She felt sorry
94269 for her and held out her hand with a glance of gentle inquiry.
94270 Mademoiselle Bourienne at once began crying again and kissed that
94271 hand, speaking of the princess' sorrow and making herself a partner in
94272 it. She said her only consolation was the fact that the princess
94273 allowed her to share her sorrow, that all the old misunderstandings
94274 should sink into nothing but this great grief; that she felt herself
94275 blameless in regard to everyone, and that he, from above, saw her
94276 affection and gratitude. The princess heard her, not heeding her words
94277 but occasionally looking up at her and listening to the sound of her
94278 voice.
94279
94280 "Your position is doubly terrible, dear princess," said Mademoiselle
94281 Bourienne after a pause. "I understand that you could not, and cannot,
94282 think of yourself, but with my love for you I must do so.... Has
94283 Alpatych been to you? Has he spoken to you of going away?" she asked.
94284
94285 Princess Mary did not answer. She did not understand who was to go
94286 or where to. "Is it possible to plan or think of anything now? Is it
94287 not all the same?" she thought, and did not reply.
94288
94289 "You know, chere Marie," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, "that we are
94290 in danger--are surrounded by the French. It would be dangerous to move
94291 now. If we go we are almost sure to be taken prisoners, and God
94292 knows..."
94293
94294 Princess Mary looked at her companion without understanding what she
94295 was talking about.
94296
94297 "Oh, if anyone knew how little anything matters to me now," she
94298 said. "Of course I would on no account wish to go away from him....
94299 Alpatych did say something about going.... Speak to him; I can do
94300 nothing, nothing, and don't want to...."
94301
94302 "I've spoken to him. He hopes we should be in time to get away
94303 tomorrow, but I think it would now be better to stay here," said
94304 Mademoiselle Bourienne. "Because, you will agree, chere Marie, to fall
94305 into the hands of the soldiers or of riotous peasants would be
94306 terrible."
94307
94308 Mademoiselle Bourienne took from her reticule a proclamation (not
94309 printed on ordinary Russian paper) of General Rameau's, telling people
94310 not to leave their homes and that the French authorities would
94311 afford them proper protection. She handed this to the princess.
94312
94313 "I think it would be best to appeal to that general," she continued,
94314 "and and am sure that all due respect would be shown you."
94315
94316 Princess Mary read the paper, and her face began to quiver with
94317 stifled sobs.
94318
94319 "From whom did you get this?" she asked.
94320
94321 "They probably recognized that I am French, by my name," replied
94322 Mademoiselle Bourienne blushing.
94323
94324 Princess Mary, with the paper in her hand, rose from the window
94325 and with a pale face went out of the room and into what had been
94326 Prince Andrew's study.
94327
94328 "Dunyasha, send Alpatych, or Dronushka, or somebody to me!" she
94329 said, "and tell Mademoiselle Bourienne not to come to me," she
94330 added, hearing Mademoiselle Bourienne's voice. "We must go at once, at
94331 once!" she said, appalled at the thought of being left in the hands of
94332 the French.
94333
94334 "If Prince Andrew heard that I was in the power of the French!
94335 That I, the daughter of Prince Nicholas Bolkonski, asked General
94336 Rameau for protection and accepted his favor!" This idea horrified
94337 her, made her shudder, blush, and feel such a rush of anger and
94338 pride as she had never experienced before. All that was distressing,
94339 and especially all that was humiliating, in her position rose
94340 vividly to her mind. "They, the French, would settle in this house: M.
94341 le General Rameau would occupy Prince Andrew's study and amuse himself
94342 by looking through and reading his letters and papers. Mademoiselle
94343 Bourienne would do the honors of Bogucharovo for him. I should be
94344 given a small room as a favor, the soldiers would violate my
94345 father's newly dug grave to steal his crosses and stars, they would
94346 tell me of their victories over the Russians, and would pretend to
94347 sympathize with my sorrow..." thought Princess Mary, not thinking
94348 her own thoughts but feeling bound to think like her father and her
94349 brother. For herself she did not care where she remained or what
94350 happened to her, but she felt herself the representative of her dead
94351 father and of Prince Andrew. Involuntarily she thought their
94352 thoughts and felt their feelings. What they would have said and what
94353 they would have done she felt bound to say and do. She went into
94354 Prince Andrew's study, trying to enter completely into his ideas,
94355 and considered her position.
94356
94357 The demands of life, which had seemed to her annihilated by her
94358 father's death, all at once rose before her with a new, previously
94359 unknown force and took possession of her.
94360
94361 Agitated and flushed she paced the room, sending now for Michael
94362 Ivanovich and now for Tikhon or Dron. Dunyasha, the nurse, and the
94363 other maids could not say in how far Mademoiselle Bourienne's
94364 statement was correct. Alpatych was not at home, he had gone to the
94365 police. Neither could the architect Michael Ivanovich, who on being
94366 sent for came in with sleepy eyes, tell Princess Mary anything. With
94367 just the same smile of agreement with which for fifteen years he had
94368 been accustomed to answer the old prince without expressing views of
94369 his own, he now replied to Princess Mary, so that nothing definite
94370 could be got from his answers. The old valet Tikhon, with sunken,
94371 emaciated face that bore the stamp of inconsolable grief, replied:
94372 "Yes, Princess" to all Princess Mary's questions and hardly
94373 refrained from sobbing as he looked at her.
94374
94375 At length Dron, the village Elder, entered the room and with a
94376 deep bow to Princess Mary came to a halt by the doorpost.
94377
94378 Princess Mary walked up and down the room and stopped in front of
94379 him.
94380
94381 "Dronushka," she said, regarding as a sure friend this Dronushka who
94382 always used to bring a special kind of gingerbread from his visit to
94383 the fair at Vyazma every year and smilingly offer it to her,
94384 "Dronushka, now since our misfortune..." she began, but could not go
94385 on.
94386
94387 "We are all in God's hands," said he, with a sigh.
94388
94389 They were silent for a while.
94390
94391 "Dronushka, Alpatych has gone off somewhere and I have no one to
94392 turn to. Is true, as they tell me, that I can't even go away?"
94393
94394 "Why shouldn't you go away, your excellency? You can go," said Dron.
94395
94396 "I was told it would be dangerous because of the enemy. Dear friend,
94397 I can do nothing. I understand nothing. I have nobody! I want to go
94398 away tonight or early tomorrow morning."
94399
94400 Dron paused. He looked askance at Princess Mary and said: "There are
94401 no horses; I told Yakov Alpatych so."
94402
94403 "Why are there none?" asked the princess.
94404
94405 "It's all God's scourge," said Dron. "What horses we had have been
94406 taken for the army or have died--this is such a year! It's not a
94407 case of feeding horses--we may die of hunger ourselves! As it is, some
94408 go three days without eating. We've nothing, we've been ruined."
94409
94410 Princess Mary listened attentively to what he told her.
94411
94412 "The peasants are ruined? They have no bread?" she asked.
94413
94414 "They're dying of hunger," said Dron. "It's not a case of carting."
94415
94416 "But why didn't you tell me, Dronushka? Isn't it possible to help
94417 them? I'll do all I can...."
94418
94419 To Princess Mary it was strange that now, at a moment when such
94420 sorrow was filling her soul, there could be rich people and poor,
94421 and the rich could refrain from helping the poor. She had heard
94422 vaguely that there was such a thing as "landlord's corn" which was
94423 sometimes given to the peasants. She also knew that neither her father
94424 nor her brother would refuse to help the peasants in need, she only
94425 feared to make some mistake in speaking about the distribution of
94426 the grain she wished to give. She was glad such cares presented
94427 themselves, enabling her without scruple to forget her own grief.
94428 She began asking Dron about the peasants' needs and what there was
94429 in Bogucharovo that belonged to the landlord.
94430
94431 "But we have grain belonging to my brother?" she said.
94432
94433 "The landlord's grain is all safe," replied Dron proudly. "Our
94434 prince did not order it to be sold."
94435
94436 "Give it to the peasants, let them have all they need; I give you
94437 leave in my brother's name," said she.
94438
94439 Dron made no answer but sighed deeply.
94440
94441 "Give them that corn if there is enough of it. Distribute it all.
94442 I give this order in my brother's name; and tell them that what is
94443 ours is theirs. We do not grudge them anything. Tell them so."
94444
94445 Dron looked intently at the princess while she was speaking.
94446
94447 "Discharge me, little mother, for God's sake! Order the keys to be
94448 taken from me," said he. "I have served twenty-three years and have
94449 done no wrong. Discharge me, for God's sake!"
94450
94451 Princess Mary did not understand what he wanted of her or why he was
94452 asking to be discharged. She replied that she had never doubted his
94453 devotion and that she was ready to do anything for him and for the
94454 peasants.
94455
94456
94457
94458
94459
94460 CHAPTER XI
94461
94462
94463 An hour later Dunyasha came to tell the princess that Dron had come,
94464 and all the peasants had assembled at the barn by the princess'
94465 order and wished to have word with their mistress.
94466
94467 "But I never told them to come," said Princess Mary. "I only told
94468 Dron to let them have the grain."
94469
94470 "Only, for God's sake, Princess dear, have them sent away and
94471 don't go out to them. It's all a trick," said Dunyasha, "and when
94472 Yakov Alpatych returns let us get away... and please don't..."
94473
94474 "What is a trick?" asked Princess Mary in surprise.
94475
94476 "I know it is, only listen to me for God's sake! Ask nurse too. They
94477 say they don't agree to leave Bogucharovo as you ordered."
94478
94479 "You're making some mistake. I never ordered them to go away,"
94480 said Princess Mary. "Call Dronushka."
94481
94482 Dron came and confirmed Dunyasha's words; the peasants had come by
94483 the princess' order.
94484
94485 "But I never sent for them," declared the princess. "You must have
94486 given my message wrong. I only said that you were to give them the
94487 grain."
94488
94489 Dron only sighed in reply.
94490
94491 "If you order it they will go away," said he.
94492
94493 "No, no. I'll go out to them," said Princess Mary, and in spite of
94494 the nurse's and Dunyasha's protests she went out into the porch; Dron,
94495 Dunyasha, the nurse, and Michael Ivanovich following her.
94496
94497 "They probably think I am offering them the grain to bribe them to
94498 remain here, while I myself go away leaving them to the mercy of the
94499 French," thought Princess Mary. "I will offer them monthly rations and
94500 housing at our Moscow estate. I am sure Andrew would do even more in
94501 my place," she thought as she went out in the twilight toward the
94502 crowd standing on the pasture by the barn.
94503
94504 The men crowded closer together, stirred, and rapidly took off their
94505 hats. Princess Mary lowered her eyes and, tripping over her skirt,
94506 came close up to them. So many different eyes, old and young, were
94507 fixed on her, and there were so many different faces, that she could
94508 not distinguish any of them and, feeling that she must speak to them
94509 all at once, did not know how to do it. But again the sense that she
94510 represented her father and her brother gave her courage, and she
94511 boldly began her speech.
94512
94513 "I am very glad you have come," she said without raising her eyes,
94514 and feeling her heart beating quickly and violently. "Dronushka
94515 tells me that the war has ruined you. That is our common misfortune,
94516 and I shall grudge nothing to help you. I am myself going away because
94517 it is dangerous here... the enemy is near... because... I am giving
94518 you everything, my friends, and I beg you to take everything, all
94519 our grain, so that you may not suffer want! And if you have been
94520 told that I am giving you the grain to keep you here--that is not
94521 true. On the contrary, I ask you to go with all your belongings to our
94522 estate near Moscow, and I promise you I will see to it that there
94523 you shall want for nothing. You shall be given food and lodging."
94524
94525 The princess stopped. Sighs were the only sound heard in the crowd.
94526
94527 "I am not doing this on my own account," she continued, "I do it
94528 in the name of my dead father, who was a good master to you, and of my
94529 brother and his son."
94530
94531 Again she paused. No one broke the silence.
94532
94533 "Ours is a common misfortune and we will share it together. All that
94534 is mine is yours," she concluded, scanning the faces before her.
94535
94536 All eyes were gazing at her with one and the same expression. She
94537 could not fathom whether it was curiosity, devotion, gratitude, or
94538 apprehension and distrust--but the expression on all the faces was
94539 identical.
94540
94541 "We are all very thankful for your bounty, but it won't do for us to
94542 take the landlord's grain," said a voice at the back of the crowd.
94543
94544 "But why not?" asked the princess.
94545
94546 No one replied and Princess Mary, looking round at the crowd,
94547 found that every eye she met now was immediately dropped.
94548
94549 "But why don't you want to take it?" she asked again.
94550
94551 No one answered.
94552
94553 The silence began to oppress the princess and she tried to catch
94554 someone's eye.
94555
94556 "Why don't you speak?" she inquired of a very old man who stood just
94557 in front of her leaning on his stick. "If you think something more
94558 is wanted, tell me! I will do anything," said she, catching his eye.
94559
94560 But as if this angered him, he bent his head quite low and muttered:
94561
94562 "Why should we agree? We don't want the grain."
94563
94564 "Why should we give up everything? We don't agree. Don't agree....
94565 We are sorry for you, but we're not willing. Go away yourself,
94566 alone..." came from various sides of the crowd.
94567
94568 And again all the faces in that crowd bore an identical
94569 expression, though now it was certainly not an expression of curiosity
94570 or gratitude, but of angry resolve.
94571
94572 "But you can't have understood me," said Princess Mary with a sad
94573 smile. "Why don't you want to go? I promise to house and feed you,
94574 while here the enemy would ruin you..."
94575
94576 But her voice was drowned by the voices of the crowd.
94577
94578 "We're not willing. Let them ruin us! We won't take your grain. We
94579 don't agree."
94580
94581 Again Princess Mary tried to catch someone's eye, but not a single
94582 eye in the crowd was turned to her; evidently they were all trying
94583 to avoid her look. She felt strange and awkward.
94584
94585 "Oh yes, an artful tale! Follow her into slavery! Pull down your
94586 houses and go into bondage! I dare say! 'I'll give you grain, indeed!'
94587 she says," voices in the crowd were heard saying.
94588
94589 With drooping head Princess Mary left the crowd and went back to the
94590 house. Having repeated her order to Dron to have horses ready for
94591 her departure next morning, she went to her room and remained alone
94592 with her own thoughts.
94593
94594
94595
94596
94597
94598 CHAPTER XII
94599
94600
94601 For a long time that night Princess Mary sat by the open window of
94602 her room hearing the sound of the peasants' voices that reached her
94603 from the village, but it was not of them she was thinking. She felt
94604 that she could not understand them however much she might think
94605 about them. She thought only of one thing, her sorrow, which, after
94606 the break caused by cares for the present, seemed already to belong to
94607 the past. Now she could remember it and weep or pray.
94608
94609 After sunset the wind had dropped. The night was calm and fresh.
94610 Toward midnight the voices began to subside, a cock crowed, the full
94611 moon began to show from behind the lime trees, a fresh white dewy mist
94612 began to rise, and stillness reigned over the village and the house.
94613
94614 Pictures of the near past--her father's illness and last moments-
94615 rose one after another to her memory. With mournful pleasure she now
94616 lingered over these images, repelling with horror only the last one,
94617 the picture of his death, which she felt she could not contemplate
94618 even in imagination at this still and mystic hour of night. And
94619 these pictures presented themselves to her so clearly and in such
94620 detail that they seemed now present, now past, and now future.
94621
94622 She vividly recalled the moment when he had his first stroke and was
94623 being dragged along by his armpits through the garden at Bald Hills,
94624 muttering something with his helpless tongue, twitching his gray
94625 eyebrows and looking uneasily and timidly at her.
94626
94627 "Even then he wanted to tell me what he told me the day he died,"
94628 she thought. "He had always thought what he said then." And she
94629 recalled in all its detail the night at Bald Hills before he had the
94630 last stroke, when with a foreboding of disaster she had remained at
94631 home against his will. She had not slept and had stolen downstairs
94632 on tiptoe, and going to the door of the conservatory where he slept
94633 that night had listened at the door. In a suffering and weary voice he
94634 was saying something to Tikhon, speaking of the Crimea and its warm
94635 nights and of the Empress. Evidently he had wanted to talk. "And why
94636 didn't he call me? Why didn't he let me be there instead of Tikhon?"
94637 Princess Mary had thought and thought again now. "Now he will never
94638 tell anyone what he had in his soul. Never will that moment return for
94639 him or for me when he might have said all he longed to say, and not
94640 Tikhon but I might have heard and understood him. Why didn't I enter
94641 the room?" she thought. "Perhaps he would then have said to me what he
94642 said the day he died. While talking to Tikhon he asked about me twice.
94643 He wanted to see me, and I was standing close by, outside the door. It
94644 was sad and painful for him to talk to Tikhon who did not understand
94645 him. I remember how he began speaking to him about Lise as if she were
94646 alive--he had forgotten she was dead--and Tikhon reminded him that she
94647 was no more, and he shouted, 'Fool!' He was greatly depressed. From
94648 behind the door I heard how he lay down on his bed groaning and loudly
94649 exclaimed, 'My God!' Why didn't I go in then? What could he have
94650 done to me? What could I have lost? And perhaps he would then have
94651 been comforted and would have said that word to me." And Princess Mary
94652 uttered aloud the caressing word he had said to her on the day of
94653 his death. "Dear-est!" she repeated, and began sobbing, with tears
94654 that relieved her soul. She now saw his face before her. And not the
94655 face she had known ever since she could remember and had always seen
94656 at a distance, but the timid, feeble face she had seen for the first
94657 time quite closely, with all its wrinkles and details, when she
94658 stooped near to his mouth to catch what he said.
94659
94660 "Dear-est!" she repeated again.
94661
94662 "What was he thinking when he uttered that word? What is he thinking
94663 now?" This question suddenly presented itself to her, and in answer
94664 she saw him before her with the expression that was on his face as
94665 he lay in his coffin with his chin bound up with a white handkerchief.
94666 And the horror that had seized her when she touched him and
94667 convinced herself that that was not he, but something mysterious and
94668 horrible, seized her again. She tried to think of something else and
94669 to pray, but could do neither. With wide-open eyes she gazed at the
94670 moonlight and the shadows, expecting every moment to see his dead
94671 face, and she felt that the silence brooding over the house and within
94672 it held her fast.
94673
94674 "Dunyasha," she whispered. "Dunyasha!" she screamed wildly, and
94675 tearing herself out of this silence she ran to the servants'
94676 quarters to meet her old nurse and the maidservants who came running
94677 toward her.
94678
94679
94680
94681
94682
94683 CHAPTER XIII
94684
94685
94686 On the seventeenth of August Rostov and Ilyin, accompanied by
94687 Lavrushka who had just returned from captivity and by an hussar
94688 orderly, left their quarters at Yankovo, ten miles from Bogucharovo,
94689 and went for a ride--to try a new horse Ilyin had bought and to find
94690 out whether there was any hay to be had in the villages.
94691
94692 For the last three days Bogucharovo had lain between the two hostile
94693 armies, so that it was as easy for the Russian rearguard to get to
94694 it as for the French vanguard; Rostov, as a careful squadron
94695 commander, wished to take such provisions as remained at Bogucharovo
94696 before the French could get them.
94697
94698 Rostov and Ilyin were in the merriest of moods. On the way to
94699 Bogucharovo, a princely estate with a dwelling house and farm where
94700 they hoped to find many domestic serfs and pretty girls, they
94701 questioned Lavrushka about Napoleon and laughed at his stories, and
94702 raced one another to try Ilyin's horse.
94703
94704 Rostov had no idea that the village he was entering was the property
94705 of that very Bolkonski who had been engaged to his sister.
94706
94707 Rostov and Ilyin gave rein to their horses for a last race along the
94708 incline before reaching Bogucharovo, and Rostov, outstripping Ilyin,
94709 was the first to gallop into the village street.
94710
94711 "You're first!" cried Ilyin, flushed.
94712
94713 "Yes, always first both on the grassland and here," answered Rostov,
94714 stroking his heated Donets horse.
94715
94716 "And I'd have won on my Frenchy, your excellency," said Lavrushka
94717 from behind, alluding to his shabby cart horse, "only I didn't wish to
94718 mortify you."
94719
94720 They rode at a footpace to the barn, where a large crowd of peasants
94721 was standing.
94722
94723 Some of the men bared their heads, others stared at the new arrivals
94724 without doffing their caps. Two tall old peasants with wrinkled
94725 faces and scanty beards emerged from the tavern, smiling,
94726 staggering, and singing some incoherent song, and approached the
94727 officers.
94728
94729 "Fine fellows!" said Rostov laughing. "Is there any hay here?"
94730
94731 "And how like one another," said Ilyin.
94732
94733 "A mo-o-st me-r-r-y co-o-m-pa...!" sang one of the peasants with a
94734 blissful smile.
94735
94736 One of the men came out of the crowd and went up to Rostov.
94737
94738 "Who do you belong to?" he asked.
94739
94740 "The French," replied Ilyin jestingly, "and here is Napoleon
94741 himself"--and he pointed to Lavrushka.
94742
94743 "Then you are Russians?" the peasant asked again.
94744
94745 "And is there a large force of you here?" said another, a short man,
94746 coming up.
94747
94748 "Very large," answered Rostov. "But why have you collected here?" he
94749 added. "Is it a holiday?"
94750
94751 "The old men have met to talk over the business of the commune,"
94752 replied the peasant, moving away.
94753
94754 At that moment, on the road leading from the big house, two women
94755 and a man in a white hat were seen coming toward the officers.
94756
94757 "The one in pink is mine, so keep off!" said Ilyin on seeing
94758 Dunyasha running resolutely toward him.
94759
94760 "She'll be ours!" said Lavrushka to Ilyin, winking.
94761
94762 "What do you want, my pretty?" said Ilyin with a smile.
94763
94764 "The princess ordered me to ask your regiment and your name."
94765
94766 "This is Count Rostov, squadron commander, and I am your humble
94767 servant."
94768
94769 "Co-o-om-pa-ny!" roared the tipsy peasant with a beatific smile as
94770 he looked at Ilyin talking to the girl. Following Dunyasha, Alpatych
94771 advanced to Rostov, having bared his head while still at a distance.
94772
94773 "May I make bold to trouble your honor?" said he respectfully, but
94774 with a shade of contempt for the youthfulness of this officer and with
94775 a hand thrust into his bosom. "My mistress, daughter of General in
94776 Chief Prince Nicholas Bolkonski who died on the fifteenth of this
94777 month, finding herself in difficulties owing to the boorishness of
94778 these people"--he pointed to the peasants--"asks you to come up to the
94779 house.... Won't you, please, ride on a little farther," said
94780 Alpatych with a melancholy smile, "as it is not convenient in the
94781 presence of...?" He pointed to the two peasants who kept as close to
94782 him as horseflies to a horse.
94783
94784 "Ah!... Alpatych... Ah, Yakov Alpatych... Grand! Forgive us for
94785 Christ's sake, eh?" said the peasants, smiling joyfully at him.
94786
94787 Rostov looked at the tipsy peasants and smiled.
94788
94789 "Or perhaps they amuse your honor?" remarked Alpatych with a staid
94790 air, as he pointed at the old men with his free hand.
94791
94792 "No, there's not much to be amused at here," said Rostov, and rode
94793 on a little way. "What's the matter?" he asked.
94794
94795 "I make bold to inform your honor that the rude peasants here
94796 don't wish to let the mistress leave the estate, and threaten to
94797 unharness her horses, so that though everything has been packed up
94798 since morning, her excellency cannot get away."
94799
94800 "Impossible!" exclaimed Rostov.
94801
94802 "I have the honor to report to you the actual truth," said Alpatych.
94803
94804 Rostov dismounted, gave his horse to the orderly, and followed
94805 Alpatych to the house, questioning him as to the state of affairs.
94806 It appeared that the princess' offer of corn to the peasants the
94807 previous day, and her talk with Dron and at the meeting, had
94808 actually had so bad an effect that Dron had finally given up the
94809 keys and joined the peasants and had not appeared when Alpatych sent
94810 for him; and that in the morning when the princess gave orders to
94811 harness for her journey, the peasants had come in a large crowd to the
94812 barn and sent word that they would not let her leave the village: that
94813 there was an order not to move, and that they would unharness the
94814 horses. Alpatych had gone out to admonish them, but was told (it was
94815 chiefly Karp who did the talking, Dron not showing himself in the
94816 crowd) that they could not let the princess go, that there was an
94817 order to the contrary, but that if she stayed they would serve her
94818 as before and obey her in everything.
94819
94820 At the moment when Rostov and Ilyin were galloping along the road,
94821 Princess Mary, despite the dissuasions of Alpatych, her nurse, and the
94822 maids, had given orders to harness and intended to start, but when the
94823 cavalrymen were espied they were taken for Frenchmen, the coachman ran
94824 away, and the women in the house began to wail.
94825
94826 "Father! Benefactor! God has sent you!" exclaimed deeply moved
94827 voices as Rostov passed through the anteroom.
94828
94829 Princess Mary was sitting helpless and bewildered in the large
94830 sitting room, when Rostov was shown in. She could not grasp who he was
94831 and why he had come, or what was happening to her. When she saw his
94832 Russian face, and by his walk and the first words he uttered
94833 recognized him as a man of her own class, she glanced at him with
94834 her deep radiant look and began speaking in a voice that faltered
94835 and trembled with emotion. This meeting immediately struck Rostov as a
94836 romantic event. "A helpless girl overwhelmed with grief, left to the
94837 mercy of coarse, rioting peasants! And what a strange fate sent me
94838 here! What gentleness and nobility there are in her features and
94839 expression!" thought he as he looked at her and listened to her
94840 timid story.
94841
94842 When she began to tell him that all this had happened the day
94843 after her father's funeral, her voiced trembled. She turned away,
94844 and then, as if fearing he might take her words as meant to move him
94845 to pity, looked at him with an apprehensive glance of inquiry. There
94846 were tears in Rostov's eyes. Princess Mary noticed this and glanced
94847 gratefully at him with that radiant look which caused the plainness of
94848 her face to be forgotten.
94849
94850 "I cannot express, Princess, how glad I am that I happened to ride
94851 here and am able to show my readiness to serve you," said Rostov,
94852 rising. "Go when you please, and I give you my word of honor that no
94853 one shall dare to cause you annoyance if only you will allow me to act
94854 as your escort." And bowing respectfully, as if to a lady of royal
94855 blood, he moved toward the door.
94856
94857 Rostov's deferential tone seemed to indicate that though he would
94858 consider himself happy to be acquainted with her, he did not wish to
94859 take advantage of her misfortunes to intrude upon her.
94860
94861 Princess Mary understood this and appreciated his delicacy.
94862
94863 "I am very, very grateful to you," she said in French, "but I hope
94864 it was all a misunderstanding and that no one is to blame for it." She
94865 suddenly began to cry.
94866
94867 "Excuse me!" she said.
94868
94869 Rostov, knitting his brows, left the room with another low bow.
94870
94871
94872
94873
94874
94875 CHAPTER XIV
94876
94877
94878 "Well, is she pretty? Ah, friend--my pink one is delicious; her
94879 name is Dunyasha...."
94880
94881 But on glancing at Rostov's face Ilyin stopped short. He saw that
94882 his hero and commander was following quite a different train of
94883 thought.
94884
94885 Rostov glanced angrily at Ilyin and without replying strode off with
94886 rapid steps to the village.
94887
94888 "I'll show them; I'll give it to them, the brigands!" said he to
94889 himself.
94890
94891 Alpatych at a gliding trot, only just managing not to run, kept up
94892 with him with difficulty.
94893
94894 "What decision have you been pleased to come to?" said he.
94895
94896 Rostov stopped and, clenching his fists, suddenly and sternly turned
94897 on Alpatych.
94898
94899 "Decision? What decision? Old dotard!..." cried he. "What have you
94900 been about? Eh? The peasants are rioting, and you can't manage them?
94901 You're a traitor yourself! I know you. I'll flay you all alive!..."
94902 And as if afraid of wasting his store of anger, he left Alpatych and
94903 went rapidly forward. Alpatych, mastering his offended feelings,
94904 kept pace with Rostov at a gliding gait and continued to impart his
94905 views. He said the peasants were obdurate and that at the present
94906 moment it would be imprudent to "overresist" them without an armed
94907 force, and would it not be better first to send for the military?
94908
94909 "I'll give them armed force... I'll 'overresist' them!" uttered
94910 Rostov meaninglessly, breathless with irrational animal fury and the
94911 need to vent it.
94912
94913 Without considering what he would do he moved unconciously with
94914 quick, resolute steps toward the crowd. And the nearer he drew to it
94915 the more Alpatych felt that this unreasonable action might produce
94916 good results. The peasants in the crowd were similarly impressed
94917 when they saw Rostov's rapid, firm steps and resolute, frowning face.
94918
94919 After the hussars had come to the village and Rostov had gone to see
94920 the princess, a certain confusion and dissension had arisen among
94921 the crowd. Some of the peasants said that these new arrivals were
94922 Russians and might take it amiss that the mistress was being detained.
94923 Dron was of this opinion, but as soon as he expressed it Karp and
94924 others attacked their ex-Elder.
94925
94926 "How many years have you been fattening on the commune?" Karp
94927 shouted at him. "It's all one to you! You'll dig up your pot of
94928 money and take it away with you.... What does it matter to you whether
94929 our homes are ruined or not?"
94930
94931 "We've been told to keep order, and that no one is to leave their
94932 homes or take away a single grain, and that's all about it!" cried
94933 another.
94934
94935 "It was your son's turn to be conscripted, but no fear! You
94936 begrudged your lump of a son," a little old man suddenly began
94937 attacking Dron--"and so they took my Vanka to be shaved for a soldier!
94938 But we all have to die."
94939
94940 "To be sure, we all have to die. I'm not against the commune,"
94941 said Dron.
94942
94943 "That's it--not against it! You've filled your belly...."
94944
94945 The two tall peasants had their say. As soon as Rostov, followed
94946 by Ilyin, Lavrushka, and Alpatych, came up to the crowd, Karp,
94947 thrusting his fingers into his belt and smiling a little, walked to
94948 the front. Dron on the contrary retired to the rear and the crowd drew
94949 closer together.
94950
94951 "Who is your Elder here? Hey?" shouted Rostov, coming up to the
94952 crowd with quick steps.
94953
94954 "The Elder? What do you want with him?..." asked Karp.
94955
94956 But before the words were well out of his mouth, his cap flew off
94957 and a fierce blow jerked his head to one side.
94958
94959 "Caps off, traitors!" shouted Rostov in a wrathful voice. "Where's
94960 the Elder?" he cried furiously.
94961
94962 "The Elder.... He wants the Elder!... Dron Zakharych, you!" meek and
94963 flustered voices here and there were heard calling and caps began to
94964 come off their heads.
94965
94966 "We don't riot, we're following the orders," declared Karp, and at
94967 that moment several voices began speaking together.
94968
94969 "It's as the old men have decided--there's too many of you giving
94970 orders."
94971
94972 "Arguing? Mutiny!... Brigands! Traitors!" cried Rostov unmeaningly
94973 in a voice not his own, gripping Karp by the collar. "Bind him, bind
94974 him!" he shouted, though there was no one to bind him but Lavrushka
94975 and Alpatych.
94976
94977 Lavrushka, however, ran up to Karp and seized him by the arms from
94978 behind.
94979
94980 "Shall I call up our men from beyond the hill?" he called out.
94981
94982 Alpatych turned to the peasants and ordered two of them by name to
94983 come and bind Karp. The men obediently came out of the crowd and began
94984 taking off their belts.
94985
94986 "Where's the Elder?" demanded Rostov in a loud voice.
94987
94988 With a pale and frowning face Dron stepped out of the crowd.
94989
94990 "Are you the Elder? Bind him, Lavrushka!" shouted Rostov, as if that
94991 order, too, could not possibly meet with any opposition.
94992
94993 And in fact two more peasants began binding Dron, who took off his
94994 own belt and handed it to them, as if to aid them.
94995
94996 "And you all listen to me!" said Rostov to the peasants. "Be off
94997 to your houses at once, and don't let one of your voices be heard!"
94998
94999 "Why, we've not done any harm! We did it just out of foolishness.
95000 It's all nonsense... I said then that it was not in order," voices
95001 were heard bickering with one another.
95002
95003 "There! What did I say?" said Alpatych, coming into his own again.
95004 "It's wrong, lads!"
95005
95006 "All our stupidity, Yakov Alpatych," came the answers, and the
95007 crowd began at once to disperse through the village.
95008
95009 The two bound men were led off to the master's house. The two
95010 drunken peasants followed them.
95011
95012 "Aye, when I look at you!..." said one of them to Karp.
95013
95014 "How can one talk to the masters like that? What were you thinking
95015 of, you fool?" added the other--"A real fool!"
95016
95017 Two hours later the carts were standing in the courtyard of the
95018 Bogucharovo house. The peasants were briskly carrying out the
95019 proprietor's goods and packing them on the carts, and Dron,
95020 liberated at Princess Mary's wish from the cupboard where he had
95021 been confined, was standing in the yard directing the men.
95022
95023 "Don't put it in so carelessly," said one of the peasants, a man
95024 with a round smiling face, taking a casket from a housemaid. "You know
95025 it has cost money! How can you chuck it in like that or shove it under
95026 the cord where it'll get rubbed? I don't like that way of doing
95027 things. Let it all be done properly, according to rule. Look here, put
95028 it under the bast matting and cover it with hay--that's the way!"
95029
95030 "Eh, books, books!" said another peasant, bringing out Prince
95031 Andrew's library cupboards. "Don't catch up against it! It's heavy,
95032 lads--solid books."
95033
95034 "Yes, they worked all day and didn't play!" remarked the tall,
95035 round-faced peasant gravely, pointing with a significant wink at the
95036 dictionaries that were on the top.
95037
95038
95039 Unwilling to obtrude himself on the princess, Rostov did not go back
95040 to the house but remained in the village awaiting her departure.
95041 When her carriage drove out of the house, he mounted and accompanied
95042 her eight miles from Bogucharovo to where the road was occupied by our
95043 troops. At the inn at Yankovo he respectfully took leave of her, for
95044 the first time permitting himself to kiss her hand.
95045
95046 "How can you speak so!" he blushingly replied to Princess Mary's
95047 expressions of gratitude for her deliverance, as she termed what had
95048 occurred. "Any police officer would have done as much! If we had had
95049 only peasants to fight, we should not have let the enemy come so far,"
95050 said he with a sense of shame and wishing to change the subject. "I am
95051 only happy to have had the opportunity of making your acquaintance.
95052 Good-by, Princess. I wish you happiness and consolation and hope to
95053 meet you again in happier circumstances. If you don't want to make
95054 me blush, please don't thank me!"
95055
95056 But the princess, if she did not again thank him in words, thanked
95057 him with the whole expression of her face, radiant with gratitude
95058 and tenderness. She could not believe that there was nothing to
95059 thank him for. On the contrary, it seemed to her certain that had he
95060 not been there she would have perished at the hands of the mutineers
95061 and of the French, and that he had exposed himself to terrible and
95062 obvious danger to save her, and even more certain was it that he was a
95063 man of lofty and noble soul, able to understand her position and her
95064 sorrow. His kind, honest eyes, with the tears rising in them when
95065 she herself had begun to cry as she spoke of her loss, did leave her
95066 memory.
95067
95068 When she had taken leave of him and remained alone she suddenly felt
95069 her eyes filling with tears, and then not for the first time the
95070 strange question presented itself to her: did she love him?
95071
95072 On the rest of the way to Moscow, though the princess' position
95073 was not a cheerful one, Dunyasha, who went with her in the carriage,
95074 more than once noticed that her mistress leaned out of the window
95075 and smiled at something with an expression of mingled joy and sorrow.
95076
95077 "Well, supposing I do love him?" thought Princess Mary.
95078
95079 Ashamed as she was of acknowledging to herself that she had fallen
95080 in love with a man who would perhaps never love her, she comforted
95081 herself with the thought that no one would ever know it and that she
95082 would not be to blame if, without ever speaking of it to anyone, she
95083 continued to the end of her life to love the man with whom she had
95084 fallen in love for the first and last time in her life.
95085
95086 Sometimes when she recalled his looks, his sympathy, and his
95087 words, happiness did not appear impossible to her. It was at those
95088 moments that Dunyasha noticed her smiling as she looked out of the
95089 carriage window.
95090
95091 "Was it not fate that brought him to Bogucharovo, and at that very
95092 moment?" thought Princess Mary. "And that caused his sister to
95093 refuse my brother?" And in all this Princess Mary saw the hand of
95094 Providence.
95095
95096 The impression the princess made on Rostov was a very agreeable one.
95097 To remember her gave him pleasure, and when his comrades, hearing of
95098 his adventure at Bogucharovo, rallied him on having gone to look for
95099 hay and having picked up one of the wealthiest heiresses in Russia, he
95100 grew angry. It made him angry just because the idea of marrying the
95101 gentle Princess Mary, who was attractive to him and had an enormous
95102 fortune, had against his will more than once entered his head. For
95103 himself personally Nicholas could not wish for a better wife: by
95104 marrying her he would make the countess his mother happy, would be
95105 able to put his father's affairs in order, and would even--he felt it-
95106 ensure Princess Mary's happiness.
95107
95108 But Sonya? And his plighted word? That was why Rostov grew angry
95109 when he was rallied about Princess Bolkonskaya.
95110
95111
95112
95113
95114
95115 CHAPTER XV
95116
95117
95118 On receiving command of the armies Kutuzov remembered Prince
95119 Andrew and sent an order for him to report at headquarters.
95120
95121 Prince Andrew arrived at Tsarevo-Zaymishche on the very day and at
95122 the very hour that Kutuzov was reviewing the troops for the first
95123 time. He stopped in the village at the priest's house in front of
95124 which stood the commander in chief's carriage, and he sat down on
95125 the bench at the gate awaiting his Serene Highness, as everyone now
95126 called Kutuzov. From the field beyond the village came now sounds of
95127 regimental music and now the roar of many voices shouting "Hurrah!" to
95128 the new commander in chief. Two orderlies, a courier and a major-domo,
95129 stood near by, some ten paces from Prince Andrew, availing
95130 themselves of Kutuzov's absence and of the fine weather. A short,
95131 swarthy lieutenant colonel of hussars with thick mustaches and
95132 whiskers rode up to the gate and, glancing at Prince Andrew,
95133 inquired whether his Serene Highness was putting up there and
95134 whether he would soon be back.
95135
95136 Prince Andrew replied that he was not on his Serene Highness'
95137 staff but was himself a new arrival. The lieutenant colonel turned
95138 to a smart orderly, who, with the peculiar contempt with which a
95139 commander in chief's orderly speaks to officers, replied:
95140
95141 "What? His Serene Highness? I expect he'll be here soon. What do you
95142 want?"
95143
95144 The lieutenant colonel of hussars smiled beneath his mustache at the
95145 orderly's tone, dismounted, gave his horse to a dispatch runner, and
95146 approached Bolkonski with a slight bow. Bolkonski made room for him on
95147 the bench and the lieutenant colonel sat down beside him.
95148
95149 "You're also waiting for the commander in chief?" said he. "They say
95150 he weceives evewyone, thank God!... It's awful with those sausage
95151 eaters! Ermolov had weason to ask to be pwomoted to be a German! Now
95152 p'waps Wussians will get a look in. As it was, devil only knows what
95153 was happening. We kept wetweating and wetweating. Did you take part in
95154 the campaign?" he asked.
95155
95156 "I had the pleasure," replied Prince Andrew, "not only of taking
95157 part in the retreat but of losing in that retreat all I held dear--not
95158 to mention the estate and home of my birth--my father, who died of
95159 grief. I belong to the province of Smolensk."
95160
95161 "Ah? You're Pwince Bolkonski? Vewy glad to make your acquaintance!
95162 I'm Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known as 'Vaska,'" said
95163 Denisov, pressing Prince Andrew's hand and looking into his face
95164 with a particularly kindly attention. "Yes, I heard," said he
95165 sympathetically, and after a short pause added: "Yes, it's Scythian
95166 warfare. It's all vewy well--only not for those who get it in the
95167 neck. So you are Pwince Andwew Bolkonski?" He swayed his head. "Vewy
95168 pleased, Pwince, to make your acquaintance!" he repeated again,
95169 smiling sadly, and he again pressed Prince Andrew's hand.
95170
95171 Prince Andrew knew Denisov from what Natasha had told him of her
95172 first suitor. This memory carried him sadly and sweetly back to
95173 those painful feelings of which he had not thought lately, but which
95174 still found place in his soul. Of late he had received so many new and
95175 very serious impressions--such as the retreat from Smolensk, his visit
95176 to Bald Hills, and the recent news of his father's death--and had
95177 experienced so many emotions, that for a long time past those memories
95178 had not entered his mind, and now that they did, they did not act on
95179 him with nearly their former strength. For Denisov, too, the
95180 memories awakened by the name of Bolkonski belonged to a distant,
95181 romantic past, when after supper and after Natasha's singing he had
95182 proposed to a little girl of fifteen without realizing what he was
95183 doing. He smiled at the recollection of that time and of his love
95184 for Natasha, and passed at once to what now interested him
95185 passionately and exclusively. This was a plan of campaign he had
95186 devised while serving at the outposts during the retreat. He had
95187 proposed that plan to Barclay de Tolly and now wished to propose it to
95188 Kutuzov. The plan was based on the fact that the French line of
95189 operation was too extended, and it proposed that instead of, or
95190 concurrently with, action on the front to bar the advance of the
95191 French, we should attack their line of communication. He began
95192 explaining his plan to Prince Andrew.
95193
95194 "They can't hold all that line. It's impossible. I will undertake to
95195 bweak thwough. Give me five hundwed men and I will bweak the line,
95196 that's certain! There's only one way--guewilla warfare!"
95197
95198 Denisov rose and began gesticulating as he explained his plan to
95199 Bolkonski. In the midst of his explanation shouts were heard from
95200 the army, growing more incoherent and more diffused, mingling with
95201 music and songs and coming from the field where the review was held.
95202 Sounds of hoofs and shouts were nearing the village.
95203
95204 "He's coming! He's coming!" shouted a Cossack standing at the gate.
95205
95206 Bolkonski and Denisov moved to the gate, at which a knot of soldiers
95207 (a guard of honor) was standing, and they saw Kutuzov coming down
95208 the street mounted on a rather small sorrel horse. A huge suite of
95209 generals rode behind him. Barclay was riding almost beside him, and
95210 a crowd of officers ran after and around them shouting, "Hurrah!"
95211
95212 His adjutants galloped into the yard before him. Kutuzov was
95213 impatiently urging on his horse, which ambled smoothly under his
95214 weight, and he raised his hand to his white Horse Guard's cap with a
95215 red band and no peak, nodding his head continually. When he came up to
95216 the guard of honor, a fine set of Grenadiers mostly wearing
95217 decorations, who were giving him the salute, he looked at them
95218 silently and attentively for nearly a minute with the steady gaze of a
95219 commander and then turned to the crowd of generals and officers
95220 surrounding him. Suddenly his face assumed a subtle expression, he
95221 shrugged his shoulders with an air of perplexity.
95222
95223 "And with such fine fellows to retreat and retreat! Well, good-by,
95224 General," he added, and rode into the yard past Prince Andrew and
95225 Denisov.
95226
95227 "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted those behind him.
95228
95229 Since Prince Andrew had last seen him Kutuzov had grown still more
95230 corpulent, flaccid, and fat. But the bleached eyeball, the scar, and
95231 the familiar weariness of his expression were still the same. He was
95232 wearing the white Horse Guard's cap and a military overcoat with a
95233 whip hanging over his shoulder by a thin strap. He sat heavily and
95234 swayed limply on his brisk little horse.
95235
95236 "Whew... whew... whew!" he whistled just audibly as he rode into the
95237 yard. His face expressed the relief of relaxed strain felt by a man
95238 who means to rest after a ceremony. He drew his left foot out of the
95239 stirrup and, lurching with his whole body and puckering his face
95240 with the effort, raised it with difficulty onto the saddle, leaned
95241 on his knee, groaned, and slipped down into the arms of the Cossacks
95242 and adjutants who stood ready to assist him.
95243
95244 He pulled himself together, looked round, screwing up his eyes,
95245 glanced at Prince Andrew, and, evidently not recognizing him, moved
95246 with his waddling gait to the porch. "Whew... whew... whew!" he
95247 whistled, and again glanced at Prince Andrew. As often occurs with old
95248 men, it was only after some seconds that the impression produced by
95249 Prince Andrew's face linked itself up with Kutuzov's remembrance of
95250 his personality.
95251
95252 "Ah, how do you do, my dear prince? How do you do, my dear boy? Come
95253 along..." said he, glancing wearily round, and he stepped onto the
95254 porch which creaked under his weight.
95255
95256 He unbuttoned his coat and sat down on a bench in the porch.
95257
95258 "And how's your father?"
95259
95260 "I received news of his death, yesterday," replied Prince Andrew
95261 abruptly.
95262
95263 Kutuzov looked at him with eyes wide open with dismay and then
95264 took off his cap and crossed himself:
95265
95266 "May the kingdom of Heaven be his! God's will be done to us all!" He
95267 sighed deeply, his whole chest heaving, and was silent for a while. "I
95268 loved him and respected him, and sympathize with you with all my
95269 heart."
95270
95271 He embraced Prince Andrew, pressing him to his fat breast, and for
95272 some time did not let him go. When he released him Prince Andrew saw
95273 that Kutuzov's flabby lips were trembling and that tears were in his
95274 eyes. He sighed and pressed on the bench with both hands to raise
95275 himself.
95276
95277 "Come! Come with me, we'll have a talk," said he.
95278
95279 But at that moment Denisov, no more intimidated by his superiors
95280 than by the enemy, came with jingling spurs up the steps of the porch,
95281 despite the angry whispers of the adjutants who tried to stop him.
95282 Kutuzov, his hands still pressed on the seat, glanced at him glumly.
95283 Denisov, having given his name, announced that he had to communicate
95284 to his Serene Highness a matter of great importance for their
95285 country's welfare. Kutuzov looked wearily at him and, lifting his
95286 hands with a gesture of annoyance, folded them across his stomach,
95287 repeating the words: "For our country's welfare? Well, what is it?
95288 Speak!" Denisov blushed like a girl (it was strange to see the color
95289 rise in that shaggy, bibulous, time-worn face) and boldly began to
95290 expound his plan of cutting the enemy's lines of communication between
95291 Smolensk and Vyazma. Denisov came from those parts and knew the
95292 country well. His plan seemed decidedly a good one, especially from
95293 the strength of conviction with which he spoke. Kutuzov looked down at
95294 his own legs, occasionally glancing at the door of the adjoining hut
95295 as if expecting something unpleasant to emerge from it. And from
95296 that hut, while Denisov was speaking, a general with a portfolio under
95297 his arm really did appear.
95298
95299 "What?" said Kutuzov, in the midst of Denisov's explanations, "are
95300 you ready so soon?"
95301
95302 "Ready, your Serene Highness," replied the general.
95303
95304 Kutuzov swayed his head, as much as to say: "How is one man to
95305 deal with it all?" and again listened to Denisov.
95306
95307 "I give my word of honor as a Wussian officer," said Denisov,
95308 "that I can bweak Napoleon's line of communication!"
95309
95310 "What relation are you to Intendant General Kiril Andreevich
95311 Denisov?" asked Kutuzov, interrupting him.
95312
95313 "He is my uncle, your Sewene Highness."
95314
95315 "Ah, we were friends," said Kutuzov cheerfully. "All right, all
95316 right, friend, stay here at the staff and tomorrow we'll have a talk."
95317
95318 With a nod to Denisov he turned away and put out his hand for the
95319 papers Konovnitsyn had brought him.
95320
95321 "Would not your Serene Highness like to come inside?" said the
95322 general on duty in a discontented voice, "the plans must be examined
95323 and several papers have to be signed."
95324
95325 An adjutant came out and announced that everything was in
95326 readiness within. But Kutuzov evidently did not wish to enter that
95327 room till he was disengaged. He made a grimace...
95328
95329 "No, tell them to bring a small table out here, my dear boy. I'll
95330 look at them here," said he. "Don't go away," he added, turning to
95331 Prince Andrew, who remained in the porch and listened to the general's
95332 report.
95333
95334 While this was being given, Prince Andrew heard the whisper of a
95335 woman's voice and the rustle of a silk dress behind the door.
95336 Several times on glancing that way he noticed behind that door a
95337 plump, rosy, handsome woman in a pink dress with a lilac silk kerchief
95338 on her head, holding a dish and evidently awaiting the entrance of the
95339 commander in chief. Kutuzov's adjutant whispered to Prince Andrew
95340 that this was the wife of the priest whose home it was, and that she
95341 intended to offer his Serene Highness bread and salt. "Her husband has
95342 welcomed his Serene Highness with the cross at the church, and she
95343 intends to welcome him in the house.... She's very pretty," added
95344 the adjutant with a smile. At those words Kutuzov looked round. He was
95345 listening to the general's report--which consisted chiefly of a
95346 criticism of the position at Tsarevo-Zaymishche--as he had listened to
95347 Denisov, and seven years previously had listened to the discussion
95348 at the Austerlitz council of war. He evidently listened only because
95349 he had ears which, though there was a piece of tow in one of them,
95350 could not help hearing; but it was evident that nothing the general
95351 could say would surprise or even interest him, that he knew all that
95352 would be said beforehand, and heard it all only because he had to,
95353 as one has to listen to the chanting of a service of prayer. All
95354 that Denisov had said was clever and to the point. What the general
95355 was saying was even more clever and to the point, but it was evident
95356 that Kutuzov despised knowledge and cleverness, and knew of
95357 something else that would decide the matter--something independent
95358 of cleverness and knowledge. Prince Andrew watched the commander
95359 in chief's face attentively, and the only expression he could see
95360 there was one of boredom, curiosity as to the meaning of the
95361 feminine whispering behind the door, and a desire to observe
95362 propriety. It was evident that Kutuzov despised cleverness and
95363 learning and even the patriotic feeling shown by Denisov, but despised
95364 them not because of his own intellect, feelings, or knowledge--he
95365 did not try to display any of these--but because of something else. He
95366 despised them because of his old age and experience of life. The
95367 only instruction Kutuzov gave of his own accord during that report
95368 referred to looting by the Russian troops. At the end of the report
95369 the general put before him for signature a paper relating to the
95370 recovery of payment from army commanders for green oats mown down by
95371 the soldiers, when landowners lodged petitions for compensation.
95372
95373 After hearing the matter, Kutuzov smacked his lips together and
95374 shook his head.
95375
95376 "Into the stove... into the fire with it! I tell you once for all,
95377 my dear fellow," said he, "into the fire with all such things! Let
95378 them cut the crops and burn wood to their hearts' content. I don't
95379 order it or allow it, but I don't exact compensation either. One can't
95380 get on without it. 'When wood is chopped the chips will fly.'" He
95381 looked at the paper again. "Oh, this German precision!" he muttered,
95382 shaking his head.
95383
95384
95385
95386
95387
95388 CHAPTER XVI
95389
95390
95391 "Well, that's all!" said Kutuzov as he signed the last of the
95392 documents, and rising heavily and smoothing out the folds in his fat
95393 white neck he moved toward the door with a more cheerful expression.
95394
95395 The priest's wife, flushing rosy red, caught up the dish she had
95396 after all not managed to present at the right moment, though she had
95397 so long been preparing for it, and with a low bow offered it to
95398 Kutuzov.
95399
95400 He screwed up his eyes, smiled, lifted her chin with his hand, and
95401 said:
95402
95403 "Ah, what a beauty! Thank you, sweetheart!"
95404
95405 He took some gold pieces from his trouser pocket and put them on the
95406 dish for her. "Well, my dear, and how are we getting on?" he asked,
95407 moving to the door of the room assigned to him. The priest's wife
95408 smiled, and with dimples in her rosy cheeks followed him into the
95409 room. The adjutant came out to the porch and asked Prince Andrew to
95410 lunch with him. Half an hour later Prince Andrew was again called to
95411 Kutuzov. He found him reclining in an armchair, still in the same
95412 unbuttoned overcoat. He had in his hand a French book which he
95413 closed as Prince Andrew entered, marking the place with a knife.
95414 Prince Andrew saw by the cover that it was Les Chevaliers du Cygne
95415 by Madame de Genlis.
95416
95417 "Well, sit down, sit down here. Let's have a talk," said Kutuzov.
95418 "It's sad, very sad. But remember, my dear fellow, that I am a
95419 father to you, a second father...."
95420
95421 Prince Andrew told Kutuzov all he knew of his father's death, and
95422 what he had seen at Bald Hills when he passed through it.
95423
95424 "What... what they have brought us to!" Kutuzov suddenly cried in an
95425 agitated voice, evidently picturing vividly to himself from Prince
95426 Andrew's story the condition Russia was in. "But give me time, give me
95427 time!" he said with a grim look, evidently not wishing to continue
95428 this agitating conversation, and added: "I sent for you to keep you
95429 with me."
95430
95431 "I thank your Serene Highness, but I fear I am no longer fit for the
95432 staff," replied Prince Andrew with a smile which Kutuzov noticed.
95433
95434 Kutuzov glanced inquiringly at him.
95435
95436 "But above all," added Prince Andrew, "I have grown used to my
95437 regiment, am fond of the officers, and I fancy the men also like me. I
95438 should be sorry to leave the regiment. If I decline the honor of being
95439 with you, believe me..."
95440
95441 A shrewd, kindly, yet subtly derisive expression lit up Kutuzov's
95442 podgy face. He cut Bolkonski short.
95443
95444 "I am sorry, for I need you. But you're right, you're right! It's
95445 not here that men are needed. Advisers are always plentiful, but men
95446 are not. The regiments would not be what they are if the would-be
95447 advisers served there as you do. I remember you at Austerlitz.... I
95448 remember, yes, I remember you with the standard!" said Kutuzov, and
95449 a flush of pleasure suffused Prince Andrew's face at this
95450 recollection.
95451
95452 Taking his hand and drawing him downwards, Kutuzov offered his cheek
95453 to be kissed, and again Prince Andrew noticed tears in the old man's
95454 eyes. Though Prince Andrew knew that Kutuzov's tears came easily,
95455 and that he was particularly tender to and considerate of him from a
95456 wish to show sympathy with his loss, yet this reminder of Austerlitz
95457 was both pleasant and flattering to him.
95458
95459 "Go your way and God be with you. I know your path is the path of
95460 honor!" He paused. "I missed you at Bucharest, but I needed someone to
95461 send." And changing the subject, Kutuzov began to speak of the Turkish
95462 war and the peace that had been concluded. "Yes, I have been much
95463 blamed," he said, "both for that war and the peace... but everything
95464 came at the right time. Tout vient a point a celui qui sait attendre.*
95465 And there were as many advisers there as here..." he went on,
95466 returning to the subject of "advisers" which evidently occupied him.
95467 "Ah, those advisers!" said he. "If we had listened to them all we
95468 should not have made peace with Turkey and should not have been
95469 through with that war. Everything in haste, but more haste, less
95470 speed. Kamenski would have been lost if he had not died. He stormed
95471 fortresses with thirty thousand men. It is not difficult to capture
95472 a fortress but it is difficult to win a campaign. For that, storming
95473 and attacking but patience and time are wanted. Kamenski sent soldiers
95474 to Rustchuk, but I only employed these two things and took more
95475 fortresses than Kamenski and made them but eat horseflesh!" He swayed
95476 his head. "And the French shall too, believe me," he went on,
95477 growing warmer and beating his chest, "I'll make them eat horseflesh!"
95478 And tears again dimmed his eyes.
95479
95480
95481 *"Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait."
95482
95483
95484 "But shan't we have to accept battle?" remarked Prince Andrew.
95485
95486 "We shall if everybody wants it; it can't be helped.... But
95487 believe me, my dear boy, there is nothing stronger than those two:
95488 patience and time, they will do it all. But the advisers n'entendent
95489 pas de cette oreille, voila le mal.* Some want a thing--others
95490 don't. What's one to do?" he asked, evidently expecting an answer.
95491 "Well, what do you want us to do?" he repeated and his eye shone
95492 with a deep, shrewd look. "I'll tell you what to do," he continued, as
95493 Prince Andrew still did not reply: "I will tell you what to do, and
95494 what I do. Dans le doute, mon cher," he paused, "abstiens-toi"*[2]--he
95495 articulated the French proverb deliberately.
95496
95497
95498 *"Don't see it that way, that's the trouble."
95499
95500 *[2] "When in doubt, my dear fellow, do nothing."
95501
95502
95503 "Well, good-by, my dear fellow; remember that with all my heart I
95504 share your sorrow, and that for you I am not a Serene Highness, nor
95505 a prince, nor a commander in chief, but a father! If you want anything
95506 come straight to me. Good-by, my dear boy."
95507
95508 Again he embraced and kissed Prince Andrew, but before the latter
95509 had left the room Kutuzov gave a sigh of relief and went on with his
95510 unfinished novel, Les Chevaliers du Cygne by Madame de Genlis.
95511
95512 Prince Andrew could not have explained how or why it was, but
95513 after that interview with Kutuzov he went back to his regiment
95514 reassured as to the general course of affairs and as to the man to
95515 whom it had been entrusted. The more he realized the absence of all
95516 personal motive in that old man--in whom there seemed to remain only
95517 the habit of passions, and in place of an intellect (grouping events
95518 and drawing conclusions) only the capacity calmly to contemplate the
95519 course of events--the more reassured he was that everything would be
95520 as it should. "He will not bring in any plan of his own. He will not
95521 devise or undertake anything," thought Prince Andrew, "but he will
95522 hear everything, remember everything, and put everything in its place.
95523 He will not hinder anything useful nor allow anything harmful. He
95524 understands that there is something stronger and more important than
95525 his own will--the inevitable course of events, and he can see them and
95526 grasp their significance, and seeing that significance can refrain
95527 from meddling and renounce his personal wish directed to something
95528 else. And above all," thought Prince Andrew, "one believes in him
95529 because he's Russian, despite the novel by Genlis and the French
95530 proverbs, and because his voice shook when he said: 'What they have
95531 brought us to!' and had a sob in it when he said he would 'make them
95532 eat horseflesh!'"
95533
95534 On such feelings, more or less dimly shared by all, the unanimity
95535 and general approval were founded with which, despite court
95536 influences, the popular choice of Kutuzov as commander in chief was
95537 received.
95538
95539
95540
95541
95542
95543 CHAPTER XVII
95544
95545
95546 After the Emperor had left Moscow, life flowed on there in its usual
95547 course, and its course was so very usual that it was difficult to
95548 remember the recent days of patriotic elation and ardor, hard to
95549 believe that Russia was really in danger and that the members of the
95550 English Club were also sons of the Fatherland ready to sacrifice
95551 everything for it. The one thing that recalled the patriotic fervor
95552 everyone had displayed during the Emperor's stay was the call for
95553 contributions of men and money, a necessity that as soon as the
95554 promises had been made assumed a legal, official form and became
95555 unavoidable.
95556
95557 With the enemy's approach to Moscow, the Moscovites' view of their
95558 situation did not grow more serious but on the contrary became even
95559 more frivolous, as always happens with people who see a great danger
95560 approaching. At the approach of danger there are always two voices
95561 that speak with equal power in the human soul: one very reasonably
95562 tells a man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of
95563 escaping it; the other, still more reasonably, says that it is too
95564 depressing and painful to think of the danger, since it is not in
95565 man's power to foresee everything and avert the general course of
95566 events, and it is therefore better to disregard what is painful till
95567 it comes, and to think about what is pleasant. In solitude a man
95568 generally listens to the first voice, but in society to the second. So
95569 it was now with the inhabitants of Moscow. It was long since people
95570 had been as gay in Moscow as that year.
95571
95572 Rostopchin's broadsheets, headed by woodcuts of a drink shop, a
95573 potman, and a Moscow burgher called Karpushka Chigirin, "who--having
95574 been a militiaman and having had rather too much at the pub--heard
95575 that Napoleon wished to come to Moscow, grew angry, abused the
95576 French in very bad language, came out of the drink shop, and, under
95577 the sign of the eagle, began to address the assembled people," were
95578 read and discussed, together with the latest of Vasili Lvovich
95579 Pushkin's bouts rimes.
95580
95581 In the corner room at the Club, members gathered to read these
95582 broadsheets, and some liked the way Karpushka jeered at the French,
95583 saying: "They will swell up with Russian cabbage, burst with our
95584 buckwheat porridge, and choke themselves with cabbage soup. They are
95585 all dwarfs and one peasant woman will toss three of them with a
95586 hayfork." Others did not like that tone and said it was stupid and
95587 vulgar. It was said that Rostopchin had expelled all Frenchmen and
95588 even all foreigners from Moscow, and that there had been some spies
95589 and agents of Napoleon among them; but this was told chiefly to
95590 introduce Rostopchin's witty remark on that occasion. The foreigners
95591 were deported to Nizhni by boat, and Rostopchin had said to them in
95592 French: "Rentrez en vousmemes; entrez dans la barque, et n'en faites
95593 pas une barque de Charon."* There was talk of all the government
95594 offices having been already removed from Moscow, and to this
95595 Shinshin's witticism was added--that for that alone Moscow ought to be
95596 grateful to Napoleon. It was said that Mamonov's regiment would cost
95597 him eight hundred thousand rubles, and that Bezukhov had spent even
95598 more on his, but that the best thing about Bezukhov's action was
95599 that he himself was going to don a uniform and ride at the head of his
95600 regiment without charging anything for the show.
95601
95602
95603 *"Think it over; get into the barque, and take care not to make it a
95604 barque of Charon."
95605
95606
95607 "You don't spare anyone," said Julie Drubetskaya as she collected
95608 and pressed together a bunch of raveled lint with her thin, beringed
95609 fingers.
95610
95611 Julie was preparing to leave Moscow next day and was giving a
95612 farewell soiree.
95613
95614 "Bezukhov est ridicule, but he is so kind and good-natured. What
95615 pleasure is there to be so caustique?"
95616
95617 "A forfeit!" cried a young man in militia uniform whom Julie
95618 called "mon chevalier," and who was going with her to Nizhni.
95619
95620 In Julie's set, as in many other circles in Moscow, it had been
95621 agreed that they would speak nothing but Russian and that those who
95622 made a slip and spoke French should pay fines to the Committee of
95623 Voluntary Contributions.
95624
95625 "Another forfeit for a Gallicism," said a Russian writer who was
95626 present. "'What pleasure is there to be' is not Russian!"
95627
95628 "You spare no one," continued Julie to the young man without heeding
95629 the author's remark.
95630
95631 "For caustique--I am guilty and will pay, and I am prepared to pay
95632 again for the pleasure of telling you the truth. For Gallicisms I
95633 won't be responsible," she remarked, turning to the author: "I have
95634 neither the money nor the time, like Prince Galitsyn, to engage a
95635 master to teach me Russian!"
95636
95637 "Ah, here he is!" she added. "Quand on... No, no," she said to the
95638 militia officer, "you won't catch me. Speak of the sun and you see its
95639 rays!" and she smiled amiably at Pierre. "We were just talking of
95640 you," she said with the facility in lying natural to a society
95641 woman. "We were saying that your regiment would be sure to be better
95642 than Mamonov's."
95643
95644 "Oh, don't talk to me of my regiment," replied Pierre, kissing his
95645 hostess' hand and taking a seat beside her. "I am so sick of it."
95646
95647 "You will, of course, command it yourself?" said Julie, directing
95648 a sly, sarcastic glance toward the militia officer.
95649
95650 The latter in Pierre's presence had ceased to be caustic, and his
95651 face expressed perplexity as to what Julie's smile might mean. In
95652 spite of his absent-mindedness and good nature, Pierre's personality
95653 immediately checked any attempt to ridicule him to his face.
95654
95655 "No," said Pierre, with a laughing glance at his big, stout body. "I
95656 should make too good a target for the French, besides I am afraid I
95657 should hardly be able to climb onto a horse."
95658
95659 Among those whom Julie's guests happened to choose to gossip about
95660 were the Rostovs.
95661
95662 "I hear that their affairs are in a very bad way," said Julie.
95663 "And he is so unreasonable, the count himself I mean. The
95664 Razumovskis wanted to buy his house and his estate near Moscow, but it
95665 drags on and on. He asks too much."
95666
95667 "No, I think the sale will come off in a few days," said someone.
95668 "Though it is madness to buy anything in Moscow now."
95669
95670 "Why?" asked Julie. "You don't think Moscow is in danger?"
95671
95672 "Then why are you leaving?"
95673
95674 "I? What a question! I am going because... well, because everyone is
95675 going: and besides--I am not Joan of Arc or an Amazon."
95676
95677 "Well, of course, of course! Let me have some more strips of linen."
95678
95679 "If he manages the business properly he will be able to pay off
95680 all his debts," said the militia officer, speaking of Rostov.
95681
95682 "A kindly old man but not up to much. And why do they stay on so
95683 long in Moscow? They meant to leave for the country long ago.
95684 Natalie is quite well again now, isn't she?" Julie asked Pierre with a
95685 knowing smile.
95686
95687 "They are waiting for their younger son," Pierre replied. "He joined
95688 Obolenski's Cossacks and went to Belaya Tserkov where the regiment
95689 is being formed. But now they have had him transferred to my
95690 regiment and are expecting him every day. The count wanted to leave
95691 long ago, but the countess won't on any account leave Moscow till
95692 her son returns."
95693
95694 "I met them the day before yesterday at the Arkharovs'. Natalie
95695 has recovered her looks and is brighter. She sang a song. How easily
95696 some people get over everything!"
95697
95698 "Get over what?" inquired Pierre, looking displeased.
95699
95700 Julie smiled.
95701
95702 "You know, Count, such knights as you are only found in Madame de
95703 Souza's novels."
95704
95705 "What knights? What do you mean?" demanded Pierre, blushing.
95706
95707 "Oh, come, my dear count! C'est la fable de tout Moscou. Je vous
95708 admire, ma parole d'honneur!"*
95709
95710
95711 *"It is the talk of all Moscow. My word, I admire you!"
95712
95713
95714 "Forfeit, forfeit!" cried the militia officer.
95715
95716 "All right, one can't talk--how tiresome!"
95717
95718 "What is 'the talk of all Moscow'?" Pierre asked angrily, rising
95719 to his feet.
95720
95721 "Come now, Count, you know!"
95722
95723 "I don't know anything about it," said Pierre.
95724
95725 "I know you were friendly with Natalie, and so... but I was always
95726 more friendly with Vera--that dear Vera."
95727
95728 "No, madame!" Pierre continued in a tone of displeasure, "I have not
95729 taken on myself the role of Natalie Rostova's knight at all, and
95730 have not been their house for nearly a month. But I cannot
95731 understand the cruelty..."
95732
95733 "Qui s'excuse s'accuse,"* said Julie, smiling and waving the lint
95734 triumphantly, and to have the last word she promptly changed the
95735 subject. "Do you know what I heard today? Poor Mary Bolkonskaya
95736 arrived in Moscow yesterday. Do you know that she has lost her
95737 father?"
95738
95739
95740 *"Who excuses himself, accuses himself."
95741
95742
95743 "Really? Where is she? I should like very much to see her," said
95744 Pierre.
95745
95746 "I spent the evening with her yesterday. She is going to their
95747 estate near Moscow either today or tomorrow morning, with her nephew."
95748
95749 "Well, and how is she?" asked Pierre.
95750
95751 "She is well, but sad. But do you know who rescued her? It is
95752 quite a romance. Nicholas Rostov! She was surrounded, and they
95753 wanted to kill her and had wounded some of her people. He rushed in
95754 and saved her...."
95755
95756 "Another romance," said the militia officer. "Really, this general
95757 flight has been arranged to get all the old maids married off. Catiche
95758 is one and Princess Bolkonskaya another."
95759
95760 "Do you know, I really believe she is un petit peu amoureuse du
95761 jeune homme."*
95762
95763
95764 *"A little bit in love with the young man."
95765
95766
95767 "Forfeit, forfeit, forfeit!"
95768
95769 "But how could one say that in Russian?"
95770
95771
95772
95773
95774
95775 CHAPTER XVIII
95776
95777
95778 When Pierre returned home he was handed two of Rostopchin's
95779 broadsheets that had been brought that day.
95780
95781 The first declared that the report that Count Rostopchin had
95782 forbidden people to leave Moscow was false; on the contrary he was
95783 glad that ladies and tradesmen's wives were leaving the city. "There
95784 will be less panic and less gossip," ran the broadsheet "but I will
95785 stake my life on it that that will not enter Moscow." These words
95786 showed Pierre clearly for the first time that the French would enter
95787 Moscow. The second broadsheet stated that our headquarters were at
95788 Vyazma, that Count Wittgenstein had defeated the French, but that as
95789 many of the inhabitants of Moscow wished to be armed, weapons were
95790 ready for them at the arsenal: sabers, pistols, and muskets which
95791 could be had at a low price. The tone of the proclamation was not as
95792 jocose as in the former Chigirin talks. Pierre pondered over these
95793 broadsheets. Evidently the terrible stormcloud he had desired with the
95794 whole strength of his soul but which yet aroused involuntary horror in
95795 him was drawing near.
95796
95797 "Shall I join the army and enter the service, or wait?" he asked
95798 himself for the hundredth time. He took a pack of cards that lay on
95799 the table and began to lay them out for a game of patience.
95800
95801 "If this patience comes out," he said to himself after shuffling the
95802 cards, holding them in his hand, and lifting his head, "if it comes
95803 out, it means... what does it mean?"
95804
95805 He had not decided what it should mean when he heard the voice of
95806 the eldest princess at the door asking whether she might come in.
95807
95808 "Then it will mean that I must go to the army," said Pierre to
95809 himself. "Come in, come in!" he added to the princess.
95810
95811 Only the eldest princess, the one with the stony face and long
95812 waist, was still living in Pierre's house. The two younger ones had
95813 both married.
95814
95815 "Excuse my coming to you, cousin," she said in a reproachful and
95816 agitated voice. "You know some decision must be come to. What is going
95817 to happen? Everyone has left Moscow and the people are rioting. How is
95818 it that we are staying on?"
95819
95820 "On the contrary, things seem satisfactory, ma cousine," said Pierre
95821 in the bantering tone he habitually adopted toward her, always feeling
95822 uncomfortable in the role of her benefactor.
95823
95824 "Satisfactory, indeed! Very satisfactory! Barbara Ivanovna told me
95825 today how our troops are distinguishing themselves. It certainly
95826 does them credit! And the people too are quite mutinous--they no
95827 longer obey, even my maid has taken to being rude. At this rate they
95828 will soon begin beating us. One can't walk in the streets. But,
95829 above all, the French will be here any day now, so what are we waiting
95830 for? I ask just one thing of you, cousin," she went on, "arrange for
95831 me to be taken to Petersburg. Whatever I may be, I can't live under
95832 Bonaparte's rule."
95833
95834 "Oh, come, ma cousine! Where do you get your information from? On
95835 the contrary..."
95836
95837 "I won't submit to your Napoleon! Others may if they please.... If
95838 you don't want to do this..."
95839
95840 "But I will, I'll give the order at once."
95841
95842 The princess was apparently vexed at not having anyone to be angry
95843 with. Muttering to herself, she sat down on a chair.
95844
95845 "But you have been misinformed," said Pierre. "Everything is quiet
95846 in the city and there is not the slightest danger. See! I've just been
95847 reading..." He showed her the broadsheet. "Count Rostopchin writes
95848 that he will stake his life on it that the enemy will not enter
95849 Moscow."
95850
95851 "Oh, that count of yours!" said the princess malevolently. "He is
95852 a hypocrite, a rascal who has himself roused the people to riot.
95853 Didn't he write in those idiotic broadsheets that anyone, 'whoever
95854 it might be, should be dragged to the lockup by his hair'? (How
95855 silly!) 'And honor and glory to whoever captures him,' he says. This
95856 is what his cajolery has brought us to! Barbara Ivanovna told me the
95857 mob near killed her because she said something in French."
95858
95859 "Oh, but it's so... You take everything so to heart," said Pierre,
95860 and began laying out his cards for patience.
95861
95862 Although that patience did come out, Pierre did not join the army,
95863 but remained in deserted Moscow ever in the same state of agitation,
95864 irresolution, and alarm, yet at the same time joyfully expecting
95865 something terrible.
95866
95867 Next day toward evening the princess set off, and Pierre's head
95868 steward came to inform him that the money needed for the equipment
95869 of his regiment could not be found without selling one of the estates.
95870 In general the head steward made out to Pierre that his project of
95871 raising a regiment would ruin him. Pierre listened to him, scarcely
95872 able to repress a smile.
95873
95874 "Well then, sell it," said he. "What's to be done? I can't draw back
95875 now!"
95876
95877 The worse everything became, especially his own affairs, the
95878 better was Pierre pleased and the more evident was it that the
95879 catastrophe he expected was approaching. Hardly anyone he knew was
95880 left in town. Julie had gone, and so had Princess Mary. Of his
95881 intimate friends only the Rostovs remained, but he did not go to see
95882 them.
95883
95884 To distract his thoughts he drove that day to the village of
95885 Vorontsovo to see the great balloon Leppich was constructing to
95886 destroy the foe, and a trial balloon that was to go up next day. The
95887 balloon was not yet ready, but Pierre learned that it was being
95888 constructed by the Emperor's desire. The Emperor had written to
95889 Count Rostopchin as follows:
95890
95891
95892 As soon as Leppich is ready, get together a crew of reliable and
95893 intelligent men for his car and send a courier to General Kutuzov to
95894 let him know. I have informed him of the matter.
95895
95896 Please impress upon Leppich to be very careful where he descends for
95897 the first time, that he may not make a mistake and fall into the
95898 enemy's hands. It is essential for him to combine his movements with
95899 those of the commander in chief.
95900
95901
95902 On his way home from Vorontsovo, as he was passing the Bolotnoe
95903 Place Pierre, seeing a large crowd round the Lobnoe Place, stopped and
95904 got out of his trap. A French cook accused of being a spy was being
95905 flogged. The flogging was only just over, and the executioner was
95906 releasing from the flogging bench a stout man with red whiskers, in
95907 blue stockings and a green jacket, who was moaning piteously.
95908 Another criminal, thin and pale, stood near. Judging by their faces
95909 they were both Frenchmen. With a frightened and suffering look
95910 resembling that on the thin Frenchman's face, Pierre pushed his way in
95911 through the crowd.
95912
95913 "What is it? Who is it? What is it for?" he kept asking.
95914
95915 But the attention of the crowd--officials, burghers, shopkeepers,
95916 peasants, and women in cloaks and in pelisses--was so eagerly centered
95917 on what was passing in Lobnoe Place that no one answered him. The
95918 stout man rose, frowned, shrugged his shoulders, and evidently
95919 trying to appear firm began to pull on his jacket without looking
95920 about him, but suddenly his lips trembled and he began to cry, in
95921 the way full-blooded grown-up men cry, though angry with himself for
95922 doing so. In the crowd people began talking loudly, to stifle their
95923 feelings of pity as it seemed to Pierre.
95924
95925 "He's cook to some prince."
95926
95927 "Eh, mounseer, Russian sauce seems to be sour to a Frenchman... sets
95928 his teeth on edge!" said a wrinkled clerk who was standing behind
95929 Pierre, when the Frenchman began to cry.
95930
95931 The clerk glanced round, evidently hoping that his joke would be
95932 appreciated. Some people began to laugh, others continued to watch
95933 in dismay the executioner who was undressing the other man.
95934
95935 Pierre choked, his face puckered, and he turned hastily away, went
95936 back to his trap muttering something to himself as he went, and took
95937 his seat. As they drove along he shuddered and exclaimed several times
95938 so audibly that the coachman asked him:
95939
95940 "What is your pleasure?"
95941
95942 "Where are you going?" shouted Pierre to the man, who was driving to
95943 Lubyanka Street.
95944
95945 "To the Governor's, as you ordered," answered the coachman.
95946
95947 "Fool! Idiot!" shouted Pierre, abusing his coachman--a thing he
95948 rarely did. "Home, I told you! And drive faster, blockhead!" "I must
95949 get away this very day," he murmured to himself.
95950
95951 At the sight of the tortured Frenchman and the crowd surrounding the
95952 Lobnoe Place, Pierre had so definitely made up his mind that he
95953 could no longer remain in Moscow and would leave for the army that
95954 very day that it seemed to him that either he had told the coachman
95955 this or that the man ought to have known it for himself.
95956
95957 On reaching home Pierre gave orders to Evstafey--his head coachman
95958 who knew everything, could do anything, and was known to all Moscow-
95959 that he would leave that night for the army at Mozhaysk, and that
95960 his saddle horses should be sent there. This could not all be arranged
95961 that day, so on Evstafey's representation Pierre had to put off his
95962 departure till next day to allow time for the relay horses to be
95963 sent on in advance.
95964
95965 On the twenty-fourth the weather cleared up after a spell of rain,
95966 and after dinner Pierre left Moscow. When changing horses that night
95967 in Perkhushkovo, he learned that there had been a great battle that
95968 evening. (This was the battle of Shevardino.) He was told that there
95969 in Perkhushkovo the earth trembled from the firing, but nobody could
95970 answer his questions as to who had won. At dawn next day Pierre was
95971 approaching Mozhaysk.
95972
95973 Every house in Mozhaysk had soldiers quartered in it, and at the
95974 hostel where Pierre was met by his groom and coachman there was no
95975 room to be had. It was full of officers.
95976
95977 Everywhere in Mozhaysk and beyond it, troops were stationed or on
95978 the march. Cossacks, foot and horse soldiers, wagons, caissons, and
95979 cannon were everywhere. Pierre pushed forward as fast as he could, and
95980 the farther he left Moscow behind and the deeper he plunged into
95981 that sea of troops the more was he overcome by restless agitation
95982 and a new and joyful feeling he had not experienced before. It was a
95983 feeling akin to what he had felt at the Sloboda Palace during the
95984 Emperor's visit--a sense of the necessity of undertaking something and
95985 sacrificing something. He now experienced a glad consciousness that
95986 everything that constitutes men's happiness--the comforts of life,
95987 wealth, even life itself--is rubbish it is pleasant to throw away,
95988 compared with something... With what? Pierre could not say, and he did
95989 not try to determine for whom and for what he felt such particular
95990 delight in sacrificing everything. He was not occupied with the
95991 question of what to sacrifice for; the fact of sacrificing in itself
95992 afforded him a new and joyous sensation.
95993
95994
95995
95996
95997
95998 CHAPTER XIX
95999
96000
96001 On the twenty-fourth of August the battle of the Shevardino
96002 Redoubt was fought, on the twenty-fifth not a shot was fired by either
96003 side, and on the twenty-sixth the battle of Borodino itself took
96004 place.
96005
96006 Why and how were the battles of Shevardino and Borodino given and
96007 accepted? Why was the battle of Borodino fought? There was not the
96008 least sense in it for either the French or the Russians. Its immediate
96009 result for the Russians was, and was bound to be, that we were brought
96010 nearer to the destruction of Moscow--which we feared more than
96011 anything in the world; and for the French its immediate result was
96012 that they were brought nearer to the destruction of their whole
96013 army--which they feared more than anything in the world. What the
96014 result must be was quite obvious, and yet Napoleon offered and Kutuzov
96015 accepted that battle.
96016
96017 If the commanders had been guided by reason, it would seem that it
96018 must have been obvious to Napoleon that by advancing thirteen
96019 hundred miles and giving battle with a probability of losing a quarter
96020 of his army, he was advancing to certain destruction, and it must have
96021 been equally clear to Kutuzov that by accepting battle and risking the
96022 loss of a quarter of his army he would certainly lose Moscow. For
96023 Kutuzov this was mathematically clear, as it is that if when playing
96024 draughts I have one man less and go on exchanging, I shall certainly
96025 lose, and therefore should not exchange. When my opponent has
96026 sixteen men and I have fourteen, I am only one eighth weaker than
96027 he, but when I have exchanged thirteen more men he will be three times
96028 as strong as I am.
96029
96030 Before the battle of Borodino our strength in proportion to the
96031 French was about as five to six, but after that battle it was little
96032 more than one to two: previously we had a hundred thousand against a
96033 hundred and twenty thousand; afterwards little more than fifty
96034 thousand against a hundred thousand. Yet the shrewd and experienced
96035 Kutuzov accepted the battle, while Napoleon, who was said to be a
96036 commander of genius, gave it, losing a quarter of his army and
96037 lengthening his lines of communication still more. If it is said
96038 that he expected to end the campaign by occupying Moscow as he had
96039 ended a previous campaign by occupying Vienna, there is much
96040 evidence to the contrary. Napoleon's historians themselves tell us
96041 that from Smolensk onwards he wished to stop, knew the danger of his
96042 extended position, and knew that the occupation of Moscow would not be
96043 the end of the campaign, for he had seen at Smolensk the state in
96044 which Russian towns were left to him, and had not received a single
96045 reply to his repeated announcements of his wish to negotiate.
96046
96047 In giving and accepting battle at Borodino, Kutuzov acted
96048 involuntarily and irrationally. But later on, to fit what had
96049 occurred, the historians provided cunningly devised evidence of the
96050 foresight and genius the generals who, of all the blind tools of
96051 history were the most enslaved and involuntary.
96052
96053 The ancients have left us model heroic poems in which the heroes
96054 furnish the whole interest of the story, and we are still unable to
96055 accustom ourselves to the fact that for our epoch histories of that
96056 kind are meaningless.
96057
96058 On the other question, how the battle of Borodino and the
96059 preceding battle of Shevardino were fought, there also exists a
96060 definite and well-known, but quite false, conception. All the
96061 historians describe the affair as follows:
96062
96063 The Russian army, they say, in its retreat from Smolensk sought
96064 out for itself the best position for a general engagement and found
96065 such a position at Borodino.
96066
96067 The Russians, they say, fortified this position in advance on the
96068 left of the highroad (from Moscow to Smolensk) and almost at a right
96069 angle to it, from Borodino to Utitsa, at the very place where the
96070 battle was fought.
96071
96072 In front of this position, they say, a fortified outpost was set
96073 up on the Shevardino mound to observe the enemy. On the twenty-fourth,
96074 we are told, Napoleon attacked this advanced post and took it, and, on
96075 the twenty-sixth, attacked the whole Russian army, which was in
96076 position on the field of Borodino.
96077
96078 So the histories say, and it is all quite wrong, as anyone who cares
96079 to look into the matter can easily convince himself.
96080
96081 The Russians did not seek out the best position but, on the
96082 contrary, during the retreat passed many positions better than
96083 Borodino. They did not stop at any one of these positions because
96084 Kutuzov did not wish to occupy a position he had not himself chosen,
96085 because the popular demand for a battle had not yet expressed itself
96086 strongly enough, and because Miloradovich had not yet arrived with the
96087 militia, and for many other reasons. The fact is that other
96088 positions they had passed were stronger, and that the position at
96089 Borodino (the one where the battle was fought), far from being strong,
96090 was no more a position than any other spot one might find in the
96091 Russian Empire by sticking a pin into the map at hazard.
96092
96093 Not only did the Russians not fortify the position on the field of
96094 Borodino to the left of, and at a right angle to, the highroad (that
96095 is, the position on which the battle took place), but never till the
96096 twenty-fifth of August, 1812, did they think that a battle might be
96097 fought there. This was shown first by the fact that there were no
96098 entrenchments there by the twenty fifth and that those begun on the
96099 twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth were not completed, and secondly, by the
96100 position of the Shevardino Redoubt. That redoubt was quite senseless
96101 in front of the position where the battle was accepted. Why was it
96102 more strongly fortified than any other post? And why were all
96103 efforts exhausted and six thousand men sacrificed to defend it till
96104 late at night on the twenty-fourth? A Cossack patrol would have
96105 sufficed to observe the enemy. Thirdly, as proof that the position
96106 on which the battle was fought had not been foreseen and that the
96107 Shevardino Redoubt was not an advanced post of that position, we
96108 have the fact that up to the twenty-fifth, Barclay de Tolly and
96109 Bagration were convinced that the Shevardino Redoubt was the left
96110 flank of the position, and that Kutuzov himself in his report, written
96111 in hot haste after the battle, speaks of the Shevardino Redoubt as the
96112 left flank of the position. It was much later, when reports on the
96113 battle of Borodino were written at leisure, that the incorrect and
96114 extraordinary statement was invented (probably to justify the mistakes
96115 of a commander in chief who had to be represented as infallible)
96116 that the Shevardino Redoubt was an advanced post--whereas in reality
96117 it was simply a fortified point on the left flank--and that the battle
96118 of Borodino was fought by us on an entrenched position previously
96119 selected, where as it was fought on a quite unexpected spot which
96120 was almost unentrenched.
96121
96122 The case was evidently this: a position was selected along the river
96123 Kolocha--which crosses the highroad not at a right angle but at an
96124 acute angle--so that the left flank was at Shevardino, the right flank
96125 near the village of Novoe, and the center at Borodino at the
96126 confluence of the rivers Kolocha and Voyna.
96127
96128 To anyone who looks at the field of Borodino without thinking of how
96129 the battle was actually fought, this position, protected by the
96130 river Kolocha, presents itself as obvious for an army whose object was
96131 to prevent an enemy from advancing along the Smolensk road to Moscow.
96132
96133 Napoleon, riding to Valuevo on the twenty-fourth, did not see (as
96134 the history books say he did) the position of the Russians from Utitsa
96135 to Borodino (he could not have seen that position because it did not
96136 exist), nor did he see an advanced post of the Russian army, but while
96137 pursuing the Russian rearguard he came upon the left flank of the
96138 Russian position--at the Shevardino Redoubt--and unexpectedly for
96139 the Russians moved his army across the Kolocha. And the Russians,
96140 not having time to begin a general engagement, withdrew their left
96141 wing from the position they had intended to occupy and took up a new
96142 position which had not been foreseen and was not fortified. By
96143 crossing to the other side of the Kolocha to the left of the highroad,
96144 Napoleon shifted the whole forthcoming battle from right to left
96145 (looking from the Russian side) and transferred it to the plain
96146 between Utitsa, Semenovsk, and Borodino--a plain no more
96147 advantageous as a position than any other plain in Russia--and there
96148 the whole battle of the twenty-sixth of August took place.
96149
96150 Had Napoleon not ridden out on the evening of the twenty-fourth to
96151 the Kolocha, and had he not then ordered an immediate attack on the
96152 redoubt but had begun the attack next morning, no one would have
96153 doubted that the Shevardino Redoubt was the left flank of our and
96154 the battle would have taken place where we expected it. In that case
96155 we should probably have defended the Shevardino Redoubt--our left
96156 flank--still more obstinately. We should have attacked Napoleon in the
96157 center or on the right, and the engagement would have taken place on
96158 the twenty-fifth, in the position we intended and had fortified. But
96159 as the attack on our left flank took place in the evening after the
96160 retreat of our rear guard (that is, immediately after the fight at
96161 Gridneva), and as the Russian commanders did not wish, or were not
96162 in time, to begin a general engagement then on the evening of the
96163 twenty-fourth, the first and chief action of the battle of Borodino
96164 was already lost on the twenty-fourth, and obviously led to the loss
96165 of the one fought on the twenty-sixth.
96166
96167 After the loss of the Shevardino Redoubt, we found ourselves on
96168 the morning of the twenty-fifth without a position for our left flank,
96169 and were forced to bend it back and hastily entrench it where it
96170 chanced to be.
96171
96172 Not only was the Russian army on the twenty-sixth defended by
96173 weak, unfinished entrenchments, but the disadvantage of that
96174 position was increased by the fact that the Russian commanders--not
96175 having fully realized what had happened, namely the loss of our
96176 position on the left flank and the shifting of the whole field of
96177 the forthcoming battle from right to left--maintained their extended
96178 position from the village of Novoe to Utitsa, and consequently had
96179 to move their forces from right to left during the battle. So it
96180 happened that throughout the whole battle the Russians opposed the
96181 entire French army launched against our left flank with but half as
96182 many men. (Poniatowski's action against Utitsa, and Uvarov's on the
96183 right flank against the French, were actions distinct from the main
96184 course of the battle.) So the battle of Borodino did not take place at
96185 all as (in an effort to conceal our commanders' mistakes even at the
96186 cost of diminishing the glory due to the Russian army and people) it
96187 has been described. The battle of Borodino was not fought on a
96188 chosen and entrenched position with forces only slightly weaker than
96189 those of the enemy, but, as a result of the loss of the Shevardino
96190 Redoubt, the Russians fought the battle of Borodino on an open and
96191 almost unentrenched position, with forces only half as numerous as the
96192 French; that is to say, under conditions in which it was not merely
96193 unthinkable to fight for ten hours and secure an indecisive result,
96194 but unthinkable to keep an army even from complete disintegration
96195 and flight.
96196
96197
96198
96199
96200
96201 CHAPTER XX
96202
96203
96204 On the morning of the twenty-fifth Pierre was leaving Mozhaysk. At
96205 the descent of the high steep hill, down which a winding road led
96206 out of the town past the cathedral on the right, where a service was
96207 being held and the bells were ringing, Pierre got out of his vehicle
96208 and proceeded on foot. Behind him a cavalry regiment was coming down
96209 the hill preceded by its singers. Coming up toward him was a train
96210 of carts carrying men who had been wounded in the engagement the day
96211 before. The peasant drivers, shouting and lashing their horses, kept
96212 crossing from side to side. The carts, in each of which three or
96213 four wounded soldiers were lying or sitting, jolted over the stones
96214 that had been thrown on the steep incline to make it something like
96215 a road. The wounded, bandaged with rags, with pale cheeks,
96216 compressed lips, and knitted brows, held on to the sides of the
96217 carts as they were jolted against one another. Almost all of them
96218 stared with naive, childlike curiosity at Pierre's white hat and green
96219 swallow-tail coat.
96220
96221 Pierre's coachman shouted angrily at the convoy of wounded to keep
96222 to one side of the road. The cavalry regiment, as it descended the
96223 hill with its singers, surrounded Pierre's carriage and blocked the
96224 road. Pierre stopped, being pressed against the side of the cutting in
96225 which the road ran. The sunshine from behind the hill did not
96226 penetrate into the cutting and there it was cold and damp, but above
96227 Pierre's head was the bright August sunshine and the bells sounded
96228 merrily. One of the carts with wounded stopped by the side of the road
96229 close to Pierre. The driver in his bast shoes ran panting up to it,
96230 placed a stone under one of its tireless hind wheels, and began
96231 arranging the breech-band on his little horse.
96232
96233 One of the wounded, an old soldier with a bandaged arm who was
96234 following the cart on foot, caught hold of it with his sound hand
96235 and turned to look at Pierre.
96236
96237 "I say, fellow countryman! Will they set us down here or take us
96238 on to Moscow?" he asked.
96239
96240 Pierre was so deep in thought that he did not hear the question.
96241 He was looking now at the cavalry regiment that had met the convoy
96242 of wounded, now at the cart by which he was standing, in which two
96243 wounded men were sitting and one was lying. One of those sitting up in
96244 the cart had probably been wounded in the cheek. His whole head was
96245 wrapped in rags and one cheek was swollen to the size of a baby's
96246 head. His nose and mouth were twisted to one side. This soldier was
96247 looking at the cathedral and crossing himself. Another, a young lad, a
96248 fair-haired recruit as white as though there was no blood in his
96249 thin face, looked at Pierre kindly, with a fixed smile. The third
96250 lay prone so that his face was not visible. The cavalry singers were
96251 passing close by:
96252
96253 Ah lost, quite lost... is my head so keen,
96254 Living in a foreign land.
96255
96256 they sang their soldiers' dance song.
96257
96258 As if responding to them but with a different sort of merriment, the
96259 metallic sound of the bells reverberated high above and the hot rays
96260 of the sun bathed the top of the opposite slope with yet another
96261 sort of merriment. But beneath the slope, by the cart with the wounded
96262 near the panting little nag where Pierre stood, it was damp, somber,
96263 and sad.
96264
96265 The soldier with the swollen cheek looked angrily at the cavalry
96266 singers.
96267
96268 "Oh, the coxcombs!" he muttered reproachfully.
96269
96270 "It's not the soldiers only, but I've seen peasants today, too....
96271 The peasants--even they have to go," said the soldier behind the cart,
96272 addressing Pierre with a sad smile. "No distinctions made nowadays....
96273 They want the whole nation to fall on them--in a word, it's Moscow!
96274 They want to make an end of it."
96275
96276 In spite of the obscurity of the soldier's words Pierre understood
96277 what he wanted to say and nodded approval.
96278
96279 The road was clear again; Pierre descended the hill and drove on.
96280
96281 He kept looking to either side of the road for familiar faces, but
96282 only saw everywhere the unfamiliar faces of various military men of
96283 different branches of the service, who all looked with astonishment at
96284 his white hat and green tail coat.
96285
96286 Having gone nearly three miles he at last met an acquaintance and
96287 eagerly addressed him. This was one of the head army doctors. He was
96288 driving toward Pierre in a covered gig, sitting beside a young
96289 surgeon, and on recognizing Pierre he told the Cossack who occupied
96290 the driver's seat to pull up.
96291
96292 "Count! Your excellency, how come you to be here?" asked the doctor.
96293
96294 "Well, you know, I wanted to see..."
96295
96296 "Yes, yes, there will be something to see...."
96297
96298 Pierre got out and talked to the doctor, explaining his intention of
96299 taking part in a battle.
96300
96301 The doctor advised him to apply direct to Kutuzov.
96302
96303 "Why should you be God knows where out of sight, during the battle?"
96304 he said, exchanging glances with his young companion. "Anyhow his
96305 Serene Highness knows you and will receive you graciously. That's what
96306 you must do."
96307
96308 The doctor seemed tired and in a hurry.
96309
96310 "You think so?... Ah, I also wanted to ask you where our position is
96311 exactly?" said Pierre.
96312
96313 "The position?" repeated the doctor. "Well, that's not my line.
96314 Drive past Tatarinova, a lot of digging is going on there. Go up the
96315 hillock and you'll see."
96316
96317 "Can one see from there?... If you would..."
96318
96319 But the doctor interrupted him and moved toward his gig.
96320
96321 "I would go with you but on my honor I'm up to here"--and he pointed
96322 to his throat. "I'm galloping to the commander of the corps. How do
96323 matters stand?... You know, Count, there'll be a battle tomorrow.
96324 Out of an army of a hundred thousand we must expect at least twenty
96325 thousand wounded, and we haven't stretchers, or bunks, or dressers, or
96326 doctors enough for six thousand. We have ten thousand carts, but we
96327 need other things as well--we must manage as best we can!"
96328
96329 The strange thought that of the thousands of men, young and old, who
96330 had stared with merry surprise at his hat (perhaps the very men he had
96331 noticed), twenty thousand were inevitably doomed to wounds and death
96332 amazed Pierre.
96333
96334 "They may die tomorrow; why are they thinking of anything but
96335 death?" And by some latent sequence of thought the descent of the
96336 Mozhaysk hill, the carts with the wounded, the ringing bells, the
96337 slanting rays of the sun, and the songs of the cavalrymen vividly
96338 recurred to his mind.
96339
96340 "The cavalry ride to battle and meet the wounded and do not for a
96341 moment think of what awaits them, but pass by, winking at the wounded.
96342 Yet from among these men twenty thousand are doomed to die, and they
96343 wonder at my hat! Strange!" thought Pierre, continuing his way to
96344 Tatarinova.
96345
96346 In front of a landowner's house to the left of the road stood
96347 carriages, wagons, and crowds of orderlies and sentinels. The
96348 commander in chief was putting up there, but just when Pierre
96349 arrived he was not in and hardly any of the staff were there--they had
96350 gone to the church service. Pierre drove on toward Gorki.
96351
96352 When he had ascended the hill and reached the little village street,
96353 he saw for the first time peasant militiamen in their white shirts and
96354 with crosses on their caps, who, talking and laughing loudly, animated
96355 and perspiring, were at work on a huge knoll overgrown with grass to
96356 the right of the road.
96357
96358 Some of them were digging, others were wheeling barrowloads of earth
96359 along planks, while others stood about doing nothing.
96360
96361 Two officers were standing on the knoll, directing the men. On
96362 seeing these peasants, who were evidently still amused by the
96363 novelty of their position as soldiers, Pierre once more thought of the
96364 wounded men at Mozhaysk and understood what the soldier had meant when
96365 he said: "They want the whole nation to fall on them." The sight of
96366 these bearded peasants at work on the battlefield, with their queer,
96367 clumsy boots and perspiring necks, and their shirts opening from the
96368 left toward the middle, unfastened, exposing their sunburned
96369 collarbones, impressed Pierre more strongly with the solemnity and
96370 importance of the moment than anything he had yet seen or heard.
96371
96372
96373
96374
96375
96376 CHAPTER XXI
96377
96378
96379 Pierre stepped out of his carriage and, passing the toiling
96380 militiamen, ascended the knoll from which, according to the doctor,
96381 the battlefield could be seen.
96382
96383 It was about eleven o'clock. The sun shone somewhat to the left
96384 and behind him and brightly lit up the enormous panorama which, rising
96385 like an amphitheater, extended before him in the clear rarefied
96386 atmosphere.
96387
96388 From above on the left, bisecting that amphitheater, wound the
96389 Smolensk highroad, passing through a village with a white church
96390 some five hundred paces in front of the knoll and below it. This was
96391 Borodino. Below the village the road crossed the river by a bridge
96392 and, winding down and up, rose higher and higher to the village of
96393 Valuevo visible about four miles away, where Napoleon was then
96394 stationed. Beyond Valuevo the road disappeared into a yellowing forest
96395 on the horizon. Far in the distance in that birch and fir forest to
96396 the right of the road, the cross and belfry of the Kolocha Monastery
96397 gleamed in the sun. Here and there over the whole of that blue
96398 expanse, to right and left of the forest and the road, smoking
96399 campfires could be seen and indefinite masses of troops--ours and
96400 the enemy's. The ground to the right--along the course of the
96401 Kolocha and Moskva rivers--was broken and hilly. Between the hollows
96402 the villages of Bezubova and Zakharino showed in the distance. On
96403 the left the ground was more level; there were fields of grain, and
96404 the smoking ruins of Semenovsk, which had been burned down, could be
96405 seen.
96406
96407 All that Pierre saw was so indefinite that neither the left nor
96408 the right side of the field fully satisfied his expectations.
96409 Nowhere could he see the battlefield he had expected to find, but only
96410 fields, meadows, troops, woods, the smoke of campfires, villages,
96411 mounds, and streams; and try as he would he could descry no military
96412 "position" in this place which teemed with life, nor could he even
96413 distinguish our troops from the enemy's.
96414
96415 "I must ask someone who knows," he thought, and addressed an officer
96416 who was looking with curiosity at his huge unmilitary figure.
96417
96418 "May I ask you," said Pierre, "what village that is in front?"
96419
96420 "Burdino, isn't it?" said the officer, turning to his companion.
96421
96422 "Borodino," the other corrected him.
96423
96424 The officer, evidently glad of an opportunity for a talk, moved up
96425 to Pierre.
96426
96427 "Are those our men there?" Pierre inquired.
96428
96429 "Yes, and there, further on, are the French," said the officer.
96430 "There they are, there... you can see them."
96431
96432 "Where? Where?" asked Pierre.
96433
96434 "One can see them with the naked eye... Why, there!"
96435
96436 The officer pointed with his hand to the smoke visible on the left
96437 beyond the river, and the same stern and serious expression that
96438 Pierre had noticed on many of the faces he had met came into his face.
96439
96440 "Ah, those are the French! And over there?..." Pierre pointed to a
96441 knoll on the left, near which some troops could be seen.
96442
96443 "Those are ours."
96444
96445 "Ah, ours! And there?..." Pierre pointed to another knoll in the
96446 distance with a big tree on it, near a village that lay in a hollow
96447 where also some campfires were smoking and something black was
96448 visible.
96449
96450 "That's his again," said the officer. (It was the Shevardino
96451 Redoubt.) "It was ours yesterday, but now it is his."
96452
96453 "Then how about our position?"
96454
96455 "Our position?" replied the officer with a smile of satisfaction. "I
96456 can tell you quite clearly, because I constructed nearly all our
96457 entrenchments. There, you see? There's our center, at Borodino, just
96458 there," and he pointed to the village in front of them with the
96459 white church. "That's where one crosses the Kolocha. You see down
96460 there where the rows of hay are lying in the hollow, there's the
96461 bridge. That's our center. Our right flank is over there"--he
96462 pointed sharply to the right, far away in the broken ground--"That's
96463 where the Moskva River is, and we have thrown up three redoubts there,
96464 very strong ones. The left flank..." here the officer paused. "Well,
96465 you see, that's difficult to explain.... Yesterday our left flank
96466 was there at Shevardino, you see, where the oak is, but now we have
96467 withdrawn our left wing--now it is over there, do you see that village
96468 and the smoke? That's Semenovsk, yes, there," he pointed to
96469 Raevski's knoll. "But the battle will hardly be there. His having
96470 moved his troops there is only a ruse; he will probably pass round
96471 to the right of the Moskva. But wherever it may be, many a man will be
96472 missing tomorrow!" he remarked.
96473
96474 An elderly sergeant who had approached the officer while he was
96475 giving these explanations had waited in silence for him to finish
96476 speaking, but at this point, evidently not liking the officer's
96477 remark, interrupted him.
96478
96479 "Gabions must be sent for," said he sternly.
96480
96481 The officer appeared abashed, as though he understood that one might
96482 think of how many men would be missing tomorrow but ought not to speak
96483 to speak of it.
96484
96485 "Well, send number three company again," the officer replied
96486 hurriedly.
96487
96488 "And you, are you one of the doctors?"
96489
96490 "No, I've come on my own," answered Pierre, and he went down the
96491 hill again, passing the militiamen.
96492
96493 "Oh, those damned fellows!" muttered the officer who followed him,
96494 holding his nose as he ran past the men at work.
96495
96496 "There they are... bringing her, coming... There they are... They'll
96497 be here in a minute..." voices were suddenly heard saying; and
96498 officers, soldiers, and militiamen began running forward along the
96499 road.
96500
96501 A church procession was coming up the hill from Borodino. First
96502 along the dusty road came the infantry in ranks, bareheaded and with
96503 arms reversed. From behind them came the sound of church singing.
96504
96505 Soldiers and militiamen ran bareheaded past Pierre toward the
96506 procession.
96507
96508 "They are bringing her, our Protectress!... The Iberian Mother of
96509 God!" someone cried.
96510
96511 "The Smolensk Mother of God," another corrected him.
96512
96513 The militiamen, both those who had been in the village and those who
96514 had been at work on the battery, threw down their spades and ran to
96515 meet the church procession. Following the battalion that marched along
96516 the dusty road came priests in their vestments--one little old man
96517 in a hood with attendants and singers. Behind them soldiers and
96518 officers bore a large, dark-faced icon with an embossed metal cover.
96519 This was the icon that had been brought from and had since accompanied
96520 the army. Behind, before, and on both sides, crowds of militiamen with
96521 bared heads walked, ran, and bowed to the ground.
96522
96523 At the summit of the hill they stopped with the icon; the men who
96524 had been holding it up by the linen bands attached to it were relieved
96525 by others, the chanters relit their censers, and service began. The
96526 hot rays of the sun beat down vertically and a fresh soft wind
96527 played with the hair of the bared heads and with the ribbons
96528 decorating the icon. The singing did not sound loud under the open
96529 sky. An immense crowd of bareheaded officers, soldiers, and militiamen
96530 surrounded the icon. Behind the priest and a chanter stood the
96531 notabilities on a spot reserved for them. A bald general with
96532 general with a St. George's Cross on his neck stood just behind the
96533 priest's back, and without crossing himself (he was evidently a
96534 German) patiently awaited the end of the service, which he
96535 considered it necessary to hear to the end, probably to arouse the
96536 patriotism of the Russian people. Another general stood in a martial
96537 pose, crossing himself by shaking his hand in front of his chest while
96538 looking about him. Standing among the crowd of peasants, Pierre
96539 recognized several acquaintances among these notables, but did not
96540 look at them--his whole attention was absorbed in watching the serious
96541 expression on the faces of the crowd of soldiers and militiamen who
96542 were all gazing eagerly at the icon. As soon as the tired chanters,
96543 who were singing the service for the twentieth time that day, began
96544 lazily and mechanically to sing: "Save from calamity Thy servants, O
96545 Mother of God," and the priest and deacon chimed in: "For to Thee
96546 under God we all flee as to an inviolable bulwark and protection,"
96547 there again kindled in all those faces the same expression of
96548 consciousness of the solemnity of the impending moment that Pierre had
96549 seen on the faces at the foot of the hill at Mozhaysk and
96550 momentarily on many and many faces he had met that morning; and
96551 heads were bowed more frequently and hair tossed back, and sighs and
96552 the sound men made as they crossed themselves were heard.
96553
96554 The crowd round the icon suddenly parted and pressed against Pierre.
96555 Someone, a very important personage judging by the haste with which
96556 way was made for him, was approaching the icon.
96557
96558 It was Kutuzov, who had been riding round the position and on his
96559 way back to Tatarinova had stopped where the service was being held.
96560 Pierre recognized him at once by his peculiar figure, which
96561 distinguished him from everybody else.
96562
96563 With a long overcoat on his his exceedingly stout,
96564 round-shouldered body, with uncovered white head and puffy face
96565 showing the white ball of the eye he had lost, Kutuzov walked with
96566 plunging, swaying gait into the crowd and stopped behind the priest.
96567 He crossed himself with an accustomed movement, bent till he touched
96568 the ground with his hand, and bowed his white head with a deep sigh.
96569 Behind Kutuzov was Bennigsen and the suite. Despite the presence of
96570 the commander in chief, who attracted the attention of all the
96571 superior officers, the militiamen and soldiers continued their prayers
96572 without looking at him.
96573
96574 When the service was over, Kutuzov stepped up to the icon, sank
96575 heavily to his knees, bowed to the ground, and for a long time tried
96576 vainly to rise, but could not do so on account of his weakness and
96577 weight. His white head twitched with the effort. At last he rose,
96578 kissed the icon as a child does with naively pouting lips, and again
96579 bowed till he touched the ground with his hand. The other generals
96580 followed his example, then the officers, and after them with excited
96581 faces, pressing on one another, crowding, panting, and pushing,
96582 scrambled the soldiers and militiamen.
96583
96584
96585
96586
96587
96588 CHAPTER XXII
96589
96590
96591 Staggering amid the crush, Pierre looked about him.
96592
96593 "Count Peter Kirilovich! How did you get here?" said a voice.
96594
96595 Pierre looked round. Boris Drubetskoy, brushing his knees with his
96596 hand (he had probably soiled them when he, too, had knelt before the
96597 icon), came up to him smiling. Boris was elegantly dressed, with a
96598 slightly martial touch appropriate to a campaign. He wore a long
96599 coat and like Kutuzov had a whip slung across his shoulder.
96600
96601 Meanwhile Kutuzov had reached the village and seated himself in
96602 the shade of the nearest house, on a bench which one Cossack had run
96603 to fetch and another had hastily covered with a rug. An immense and
96604 brilliant suite surrounded him.
96605
96606 The icon was carried further, accompanied by the throng. Pierre
96607 stopped some thirty paces from Kutuzov, talking to Boris.
96608
96609 He explained his wish to be present at the battle and to see the
96610 position.
96611
96612 "This is what you must do," said Boris. "I will do the honors of the
96613 camp to you. You will see everything best from where Count Bennigsen
96614 will be. I am in attendance on him, you know; I'll mention it to
96615 him. But if you want to ride round the position, come along with us.
96616 We are just going to the left flank. Then when we get back, do spend
96617 the night with me and we'll arrange a game of cards. Of course you
96618 know Dmitri Sergeevich? Those are his quarters," and he pointed to the
96619 third house in the village of Gorki.
96620
96621 "But I should like to see the right flank. They say it's very
96622 strong," said Pierre. "I should like to start from the Moskva River
96623 and ride round the whole position."
96624
96625 "Well, you can do that later, but the chief thing is the left
96626 flank."
96627
96628 "Yes, yes. But where is Prince Bolkonski's regiment? Can you point
96629 it out to me?"
96630
96631 "Prince Andrew's? We shall pass it and I'll take you to him."
96632
96633 "What about the left flank?" asked Pierre
96634
96635 "To tell you the truth, between ourselves, God only knows what state
96636 our left flank is in," said Boris confidentially lowering his voice.
96637 "It is not at all what Count Bennigsen intended. He meant to fortify
96638 that knoll quite differently, but..." Boris shrugged his shoulders,
96639 "his Serene Highness would not have it, or someone persuaded him.
96640 You see..." but Boris did not finish, for at that moment Kaysarov,
96641 Kutuzov's adjutant, came up to Pierre. "Ah, Kaysarov!" said Boris,
96642 addressing him with an unembarrassed smile, "I was just trying to
96643 explain our position to the count. It is amazing how his Serene
96644 Highness could so the intentions of the French!"
96645
96646 "You mean the left flank?" asked Kaysarov.
96647
96648
96649 "Yes, exactly; the left flank is now extremely strong."
96650
96651 Though Kutuzov had dismissed all unnecessary men from the staff,
96652 Boris had contrived to remain at headquarters after the changes. He
96653 had established himself with Count Bennigsen, who, like all on whom
96654 Boris had been in attendance, considered young Prince Drubetskoy an
96655 invaluable man.
96656
96657 In the higher command there were two sharply defined parties:
96658 Kutuzov's party and that of Bennigsen, the chief of staff. Boris
96659 belonged to the latter and no one else, while showing servile
96660 respect to Kutuzov, could so create an impression that the old
96661 fellow was not much good and that Bennigsen managed everything. Now
96662 the decisive moment of battle had come when Kutuzov would be destroyed
96663 and the power pass to Bennigsen, or even if Kutuzov won the battle
96664 it would be felt that everything was done by Bennigsen. In any case
96665 many great rewards would have to be given for tomorrow's action, and
96666 new men would come to the front. So Boris was full of nervous vivacity
96667 all day.
96668
96669 After Kaysarov, others whom Pierre knew came up to him, and he had
96670 not time to reply to all the questions about Moscow that were showered
96671 upon him, or to listen to all that was told him. The faces all
96672 expressed animation and apprehension, but it seemed to Pierre that the
96673 cause of the excitement shown in some of these faces lay chiefly in
96674 questions of personal success; his mind, however, was occupied by
96675 the different expression he saw on other faces--an expression that
96676 spoke not of personal matters but of the universal questions of life
96677 and death. Kutuzov noticed Pierre's figure and the group gathered
96678 round him.
96679
96680 "Call him to me," said Kutuzov.
96681
96682 An adjutant told Pierre of his Serene Highness' wish, and Pierre
96683 went toward Kutuzov's bench. But a militiaman got there before him. It
96684 was Dolokhov.
96685
96686 "How did that fellow get here?" asked Pierre.
96687
96688 "He's a creature that wriggles in anywhere!" was the answer. "He has
96689 been degraded, you know. Now he wants to bob up again. He's been
96690 proposing some scheme or other and has crawled into the enemy's picket
96691 line at night.... He's a brave fellow."
96692
96693 Pierre took off his hat and bowed respectfully to Kutuzov.
96694
96695 "I concluded that if I reported to your Serene Highness you might
96696 send me away or say that you knew what I was reporting, but then I
96697 shouldn't lose anything..." Dolokhov was saying.
96698
96699 "Yes, yes."
96700
96701 "But if I were right, I should be rendering a service to my
96702 Fatherland for which I am ready to die."
96703
96704 "Yes, yes."
96705
96706 "And should your Serene Highness require a man who will not spare
96707 his skin, please think of me.... Perhaps I may prove useful to your
96708 Serene Highness."
96709
96710 "Yes... Yes..." Kutuzov repeated, his laughing eye narrowing more
96711 and more as he looked at Pierre.
96712
96713 Just then Boris, with his courtierlike adroitness, stepped up to
96714 Pierre's side near Kutuzov and in a most natural manner, without
96715 raising his voice, said to Pierre, as though continuing an interrupted
96716 conversation:
96717
96718 "The militia have put on clean white shirts to be ready to die. What
96719 heroism, Count!"
96720
96721 Boris evidently said this to Pierre in order to be overheard by
96722 his Serene Highness. He knew Kutuzov's attention would be caught by
96723 those words, and so it was.
96724
96725 "What are you saying about the militia?" he asked Boris.
96726
96727 "Preparing for tomorrow, your Serene Highness--for death--they
96728 have put on clean shirts."
96729
96730 "Ah... a wonderful, a matchless people!" said Kutuzov; and he closed
96731 his eyes and swayed his head. "A matchless people!" he repeated with a
96732 sigh.
96733
96734 "So you want to smell gunpowder?" he said to Pierre. "Yes, it's a
96735 pleasant smell. I have the honor to be one of your wife's adorers.
96736 Is she well? My quarters are at your service."
96737
96738 And as often happens with old people, Kutuzov began looking about
96739 absent-mindedly as if forgetting all he wanted to say or do.
96740
96741 Then, evidently remembering what he wanted, he beckoned to Andrew
96742 Kaysarov, his adjutant's brother.
96743
96744 "Those verses... those verses of Marin's... how do they go, eh?
96745 Those he wrote about Gerakov: 'Lectures for the corps inditing'...
96746 Recite them, recite them!" said he, evidently preparing to laugh.
96747
96748 Kaysarov recited.... Kutuzov smilingly nodded his head to the rhythm
96749 of the verses.
96750
96751 When Pierre had left Kutuzov, Dolokhov came up to him and took his
96752 hand.
96753
96754 "I am very glad to meet you here, Count," he said aloud,
96755 regardless of the presence of strangers and in a particularly resolute
96756 and solemn tone. "On the eve of a day when God alone knows who of us
96757 is fated to survive, I am glad of this opportunity to tell you that
96758 I regret the misunderstandings that occurred between us and should
96759 wish you not to have any ill feeling for me. I beg you to forgive me."
96760
96761 Pierre looked at Dolokhov with a smile, not knowing what to say to
96762 him. With tears in his eyes Dolokhov embraced Pierre and kissed him.
96763
96764 Boris said a few words to his general, and Count Bennigsen turned to
96765 Pierre and proposed that he should ride with him along the line.
96766
96767 "It will interest you," said he.
96768
96769 "Yes, very much," replied Pierre.
96770
96771 Half an hour later Kutuzov left for Tatarinova, and Bennigsen and
96772 his suite, with Pierre among them, set out on their ride along the
96773 line.
96774
96775
96776
96777
96778
96779 CHAPTER XXIII
96780
96781
96782 From Gorki, Bennigsen descended the highroad to the bridge which,
96783 when they had looked it from the hill, the officer had pointed out
96784 as being the center of our position and where rows of fragrant
96785 new-mown hay lay by the riverside. They rode across that bridge into
96786 the village of Borodino and thence turned to the left, passing an
96787 enormous number of troops and guns, and came to a high knoll where
96788 militiamen were digging. This was the redoubt, as yet unnamed, which
96789 afterwards became known as the Raevski Redoubt, or the Knoll
96790 Battery, but Pierre paid no special attention to it. He did not know
96791 that it would become more memorable to him than any other spot on
96792 the plain of Borodino.
96793
96794 They then crossed the hollow to Semenovsk, where the soldiers were
96795 dragging away the last logs from the huts and barns. Then they rode
96796 downhill and uphill, across a ryefield trodden and beaten down as if
96797 by hail, following a track freshly made by the artillery over the
96798 furrows of the plowed land, and reached some fleches* which were still
96799 being dug.
96800
96801
96802 *A kind of entrenchment.
96803
96804
96805 At the fleches Bennigsen stopped and began looking at the Shevardino
96806 Redoubt opposite, which had been ours the day before and where several
96807 horsemen could be descried. The officers said that either Napoleon
96808 or Murat was there, and they all gazed eagerly at this little group of
96809 horsemen. Pierre also looked at them, trying to guess which of the
96810 scarcely discernible figures was Napoleon. At last those mounted men
96811 rode away from the mound and disappeared.
96812
96813 Bennigsen spoke to a general who approached him, and began
96814 explaining the whole position of our troops. Pierre listened to him,
96815 straining each faculty to understand the essential points of the
96816 impending battle, but was mortified to feel that his mental capacity
96817 was inadequate for the task. He could make nothing of it. Bennigsen
96818 stopped speaking and, noticing that Pierre was listening, suddenly
96819 said to him:
96820
96821 "I don't think this interests you?"
96822
96823 "On the contrary it's very interesting!" replied Pierre not quite
96824 truthfully.
96825
96826 From the fleches they rode still farther to the left, along a road
96827 winding through a thick, low-growing birch wood. In the middle of
96828 the wood a brown hare with white feet sprang out and, scared by the
96829 tramp of the many horses, grew so confused that it leaped along the
96830 road in front of them for some time, arousing general attention and
96831 laughter, and only when several voices shouted at it did it dart to
96832 one side and disappear in the thicket. After going through the wood
96833 for about a mile and a half they came out on a glade where troops of
96834 Tuchkov's corps were stationed to defend the left flank.
96835
96836 Here, at the extreme left flank, Bennigsen talked a great deal and
96837 with much heat, and, as it seemed to Pierre, gave orders of great
96838 military importance. In front of Tuchkov's troops was some high ground
96839 not occupied by troops. Bennigsen loudly criticized this mistake,
96840 saying that it was madness to leave a height which commanded the
96841 country around unoccupied and to place troops below it. Some of the
96842 generals expressed the same opinion. One in particular declared with
96843 martial heat that they were put there to be slaughtered. Bennigsen
96844 on his own authority ordered the troops to occupy the high ground.
96845 This disposition on the left flank increased Pierre's doubt of his own
96846 capacity to understand military matters. Listening to Bennigsen and
96847 the generals criticizing the position of the troops behind the hill,
96848 he quite understood them and shared their opinion, but for that very
96849 reason he could not understand how the man who put them there behind
96850 the hill could have made so gross and palpable a blunder.
96851
96852 Pierre did not know that these troops were not, as Bennigsen
96853 supposed, put there to defend the position, but were in a concealed
96854 position as an ambush, that they should not be seen and might be
96855 able to strike an approaching enemy unexpectedly. Bennigsen did not
96856 know this and moved the troops forward according to his own ideas
96857 without mentioning the matter to the commander in chief.
96858
96859
96860
96861
96862
96863 CHAPTER XXIV
96864
96865
96866 On that bright evening of August 25, Prince Andrew lay leaning on
96867 his elbow in a broken-down shed in the village of Knyazkovo at the
96868 further end of his regiment's encampment. Through a gap in the
96869 broken wall he could see, beside the wooden fence, a row of thirty
96870 year-old birches with their lower branches lopped off, a field on
96871 which shocks of oats were standing, and some bushes near which rose
96872 the smoke of campfires--the soldiers' kitchens.
96873
96874 Narrow and burdensome and useless to anyone as his life now seemed
96875 to him, Prince Andrew on the eve of battle felt agitated and irritable
96876 as he had done seven years before at Austerlitz.
96877
96878 He had received and given the orders for next day's battle and had
96879 nothing more to do. But his thoughts--the simplest, clearest, and
96880 therefore most terrible thoughts--would give him no peace. He knew
96881 that tomorrow's battle would be the most terrible of all he had
96882 taken part in, and for the first time in his life the possibility of
96883 death presented itself to him--not in relation to any worldly matter
96884 or with reference to its effect on others, but simply in relation to
96885 himself, to his own soul--vividly, plainly, terribly, and almost as
96886 a certainty. And from the height of this perception all that had
96887 previously tormented and preoccupied him suddenly became illumined
96888 by a cold white light without shadows, without perspective, without
96889 distinction of outline. All life appeared to him like magic-lantern
96890 pictures at which he had long been gazing by artificial light
96891 through a glass. Now he suddenly saw those badly daubed pictures in
96892 clear daylight and without a glass. "Yes, yes! There they are, those
96893 false images that agitated, enraptured, and tormented me," said he
96894 to himself, passing in review the principal pictures of the magic
96895 lantern of life and regarding them now in the cold white daylight of
96896 his clear perception of death. "There they are, those rudely painted
96897 figures that once seemed splendid and mysterious. Glory, the good of
96898 society, love of a woman, the Fatherland itself--how important these
96899 pictures appeared to me, with what profound meaning they seemed to
96900 be filled! And it is all so simple, pale, and crude in the cold
96901 white light of this morning which I feel is dawning for me." The three
96902 great sorrows of his life held his attention in particular: his love
96903 for a woman, his father's death, and the French invasion which had
96904 overrun half Russia. "Love... that little girl who seemed to me
96905 brimming over with mystic forces! Yes, indeed, I loved her. I made
96906 romantic plans of love and happiness with her! Oh, what a boy I
96907 was!" he said aloud bitterly. "Ah me! I believed in some ideal love
96908 which was to keep her faithful to me for the whole year of my absence!
96909 Like the gentle dove in the fable she was to pine apart from me....
96910 But it was much simpler really.... It was all very simple and
96911 horrible."
96912
96913 "When my father built Bald Hills he thought the place was his: his
96914 land, his air, his peasants. But Napoleon came and swept him aside,
96915 unconscious of his existence, as he might brush a chip from his
96916 path, and his Bald Hills and his whole life fell to pieces. Princess
96917 Mary says it is a trial sent from above. What is the trial for, when
96918 he is not here and will never return? He is not here! For whom then is
96919 the trial intended? The Fatherland, the destruction of Moscow! And
96920 tomorrow I shall be killed, perhaps not even by a Frenchman but by one
96921 of our own men, by a soldier discharging a musket close to my ear as
96922 one of them did yesterday, and the French will come and take me by
96923 head and heels and fling me into a hole that I may not stink under
96924 their noses, and new conditions of life will arise, which will seem
96925 quite ordinary to others and about which I shall know nothing. I shall
96926 not exist..."
96927
96928 He looked at the row of birches shining in the sunshine, with
96929 their motionless green and yellow foliage and white bark. "To die...
96930 to be killed tomorrow... That I should not exist... That all this
96931 should still be, but no me...."
96932
96933 And the birches with their light and shade, the curly clouds, the
96934 smoke of the campfires, and all that was around him changed and seemed
96935 terrible and menacing. A cold shiver ran down his spine. He rose
96936 quickly, went out of the shed, and began to walk about.
96937
96938 After he had returned, voices were heard outside the shed. "Who's
96939 that?" he cried.
96940
96941 The red-nosed Captain Timokhin, formerly Dolokhov's squadron
96942 commander, but now from lack of officers a battalion commander,
96943
96944 shyly entered the shed followed by an adjutant and the regimental
96945 paymaster.
96946
96947 Prince Andrew rose hastily, listened to the business they had come
96948 about, gave them some further instructions, and was about to dismiss
96949 them when he heard a familiar, lisping, voice behind the shed.
96950
96951 "Devil take it!" said the voice of a man stumbling over something.
96952
96953 Prince Andrew looked out of the shed and saw Pierre, who had tripped
96954 over a pole on the ground and had nearly fallen, coming his way. It
96955 was unpleasant to Prince Andrew to meet people of his own set in
96956 general, and Pierre especially, for he reminded him of all the painful
96957 moments of his last visit to Moscow.
96958
96959 "You? What a surprise!" said he. "What brings you here? This is
96960 unexpected!"
96961
96962 As he said this his eyes and face expressed more than coldness--they
96963 expressed hostility, which Pierre noticed at once. He had approached
96964 the shed full of animation, but on seeing Prince Andrew's face he felt
96965 constrained and ill at ease.
96966
96967 "I have come... simply... you know... come... it interests me," said
96968 Pierre, who had so often that day senselessly repeated that word
96969 "interesting." "I wish to see the battle."
96970
96971 "Oh yes, and what do the Masonic brothers say about war? How would
96972 they stop it?" said Prince Andrew sarcastically. "Well, and how's
96973 Moscow? And my people? Have they reached Moscow at last?" he asked
96974 seriously.
96975
96976 "Yes, they have. Julie Drubetskaya told me so. I went to see them,
96977 but missed them. They have gone to your estate near Moscow."
96978
96979
96980
96981
96982
96983 CHAPTER XXV
96984
96985
96986 The officers were about to take leave, but Prince Andrew, apparently
96987 reluctant to be left alone with his friend, asked them to stay and
96988 have tea. Seats were brought in and so was the tea. The officers gazed
96989 with surprise at Pierre's huge stout figure and listened to his talk
96990 of Moscow and the position of our army, round which he had ridden.
96991 Prince Andrew remained silent, and his expression was so forbidding
96992 that Pierre addressed his remarks chiefly to the good-natured
96993 battalion commander.
96994
96995 "So you understand the whole position of our troops?" Prince
96996 Andrew interrupted him.
96997
96998 "Yes--that is, how do you mean?" said Pierre. "Not being a
96999 military man I can't say I have understood it fully, but I
97000 understand the general position."
97001
97002 "Well, then, you know more than anyone else, be it who it may," said
97003 Prince Andrew.
97004
97005 "Oh!" said Pierre, looking over his spectacles in perplexity at
97006 Prince Andrew. "Well, and what do think of Kutuzov's appointment?"
97007 he asked.
97008
97009 "I was very glad of his appointment, that's all I know," replied
97010 Prince Andrew.
97011
97012 "And tell me your opinion of Barclay de Tolly. In Moscow they are
97013 saying heaven knows what about him.... What do you think of him?"
97014
97015 "Ask them," replied Prince Andrew, indicating the officers.
97016
97017 Pierre looked at Timokhin with the condescendingly interrogative
97018 smile with which everybody involuntarily addressed that officer.
97019
97020 "We see light again, since his Serenity has been appointed, your
97021 excellency," said Timokhin timidly, and continually turning to
97022 glance at his colonel.
97023
97024 "Why so?" asked Pierre.
97025
97026 "Well, to mention only firewood and fodder, let me inform you.
97027 Why, when we were retreating from Sventsyani we dare not touch a stick
97028 or a wisp of hay or anything. You see, we were going away, so he would
97029 get it all; wasn't it so, your excellency?" and again Timokhin
97030 turned to the prince. "But we daren't. In our regiment two officers
97031 were court-martialed for that kind of thing. But when his Serenity
97032 took command everything became straight forward. Now we see light..."
97033
97034 "Then why was it forbidden?"
97035
97036 Timokhin looked about in confusion, not knowing what or how to
97037 answer such a question. Pierre put the same question to Prince Andrew.
97038
97039 "Why, so as not to lay waste the country we were abandoning to the
97040 enemy," said Prince Andrew with venomous irony. "It is very sound: one
97041 can't permit the land to be pillaged and accustom the troops to
97042 marauding. At Smolensk too he judged correctly that the French might
97043 outflank us, as they had larger forces. But he could not understand
97044 this," cried Prince Andrew in a shrill voice that seemed to escape him
97045 involuntarily: "he could not understand that there, for the first
97046 time, we were fighting for Russian soil, and that there was a spirit
97047 in the men such as I had never seen before, that we had held the
97048 French for two days, and that that success had increased our
97049 strength tenfold. He ordered us to retreat, and all our efforts and
97050 losses went for nothing. He had no thought of betraying us, he tried
97051 to do the best he could, he thought out everything, and that is why he
97052 is unsuitable. He is unsuitable now, just because he plans out
97053 everything very thoroughly and accurately as every German has to.
97054 How can I explain?... Well, say your father has a German valet, and he
97055 is a splendid valet and satisfies your father's requirements better
97056 than you could, then it's all right to let him serve. But if your
97057 father is mortally sick you'll send the valet away and attend to
97058 your father with your own unpracticed, awkward hands, and will
97059 soothe him better than a skilled man who is a stranger could. So it
97060 has been with Barclay. While Russia was well, a foreigner could
97061 serve her and be a splendid minister; but as soon as she is in
97062 danger she needs one of her own kin. But in your Club they have been
97063 making him out a traitor! They slander him as a traitor, and the
97064 only result will be that afterwards, ashamed of their false
97065 accusations, they will make him out a hero or a genius instead of a
97066 traitor, and that will be still more unjust. He is an honest and
97067 very punctilious German."
97068
97069 "And they say he's a skillful commander," rejoined Pierre.
97070
97071 "I don't understand what is meant by 'a skillful commander,'"
97072 replied Prince Andrew ironically.
97073
97074 "A skillful commander?" replied Pierre. "Why, one who foresees all
97075 contingencies... and foresees the adversary's intentions."
97076
97077 "But that's impossible," said Prince Andrew as if it were a matter
97078 settled long ago.
97079
97080 Pierre looked at him in surprise.
97081
97082 "And yet they say that war is like a game of chess?" he remarked.
97083
97084 "Yes," replied Prince Andrew, "but with this little difference, that
97085 in chess you may think over each move as long as you please and are
97086 not limited for time, and with this difference too, that a knight is
97087 always stronger than a pawn, and two pawns are always stronger than
97088 one, while in war a battalion is sometimes stronger than a division
97089 and sometimes weaker than a company. The relative strength of bodies
97090 of troops can never be known to anyone. Believe me," he went on, "if
97091 things depended on arrangements made by the staff, I should be there
97092 making arrangements, but instead of that I have the honor to serve
97093 here in the regiment with these gentlemen, and I consider that on us
97094 tomorrow's battle will depend and not on those others.... Success
97095 never depends, and never will depend, on position, or equipment, or
97096 even on numbers, and least of all on position."
97097
97098 "But on what then?"
97099
97100 "On the feeling that is in me and in him," he pointed to Timokhin,
97101 "and in each soldier."
97102
97103 Prince Andrew glanced at Timokhin, who looked at his commander in
97104 alarm and bewilderment. In contrast to his former reticent taciturnity
97105 Prince Andrew now seemed excited. He could apparently not refrain from
97106 expressing the thoughts that had suddenly occurred to him.
97107
97108 "A battle is won by those who firmly resolve to win it! Why did we
97109 lose the battle at Austerlitz? The French losses were almost equal
97110 to ours, but very early we said to ourselves that we were losing the
97111 battle, and we did lose it. And we said so because we had nothing to
97112 fight for there, we wanted to get away from the battlefield as soon as
97113 we could. 'We've lost, so let us run,' and we ran. If we had not
97114 said that till the evening, heaven knows what might not have happened.
97115 But tomorrow we shan't say it! You talk about our position, the left
97116 flank weak and the right flank too extended," he went on. "That's
97117 all nonsense, there's nothing of the kind. But what awaits us
97118 tomorrow? A hundred million most diverse chances which will be decided
97119 on the instant by the fact that our men or theirs run or do not run,
97120 and that this man or that man is killed, but all that is being done at
97121 present is only play. The fact is that those men with whom you have
97122 ridden round the position not only do not help matters, but hinder.
97123 They are only concerned with their own petty interests."
97124
97125 "At such a moment?" said Pierre reproachfully.
97126
97127 "At such a moment!" Prince Andrew repeated. "To them it is only a
97128 moment affording opportunities to undermine a rival and obtain an
97129 extra cross or ribbon. For me tomorrow means this: a Russian army of a
97130 hundred thousand and a French army of a hundred thousand have met to
97131 fight, and the thing is that these two hundred thousand men will fight
97132 and the side that fights more fiercely and spares itself least will
97133 win. And if you like I will tell you that whatever happens and
97134 whatever muddles those at the top may make, we shall win tomorrow's
97135 battle. Tomorrow, happen what may, we shall win!"
97136
97137 "There now, your excellency! That's the truth, the real truth," said
97138 Timokhin. "Who would spare himself now? The soldiers in my
97139 battalion, believe me, wouldn't drink their vodka! 'It's not the day
97140 for that!' they say."
97141
97142 All were silent. The officers rose. Prince Andrew went out of the
97143 shed with them, giving final orders to the adjutant. After they had
97144 gone Pierre approached Prince Andrew and was about to start a
97145 conversation when they heard the clatter of three horses' hoofs on the
97146 road not far from the shed, and looking in that direction Prince
97147 Andrew recognized Wolzogen and Clausewitz accompanied by a Cossack.
97148 They rode close by continuing to converse, and Prince Andrew
97149 involuntarily heard these words:
97150
97151 "Der Krieg muss in Raum verlegt werden. Der Ansicht kann ich nicht
97152 genug Preis geben,"* said one of them.
97153
97154
97155 *"The war must be extended widely. I cannot sufficiently commend
97156 that view."
97157
97158
97159 "Oh, ja," said the other, "der Zweck ist nur den Feind zu schwachen,
97160 so kann man gewiss nicht den Verlust der Privat-Personen in Achtung
97161 nehmen."*
97162
97163
97164 *"Oh, yes, the only aim is to weaken the enemy, so of course one
97165 cannot take into account the loss of private individuals."
97166
97167
97168 "Oh, no," agreed the other.
97169
97170 "Extend widely!" said Prince Andrew with an angry snort, when they
97171 had ridden past. "In that 'extend' were my father, son, and sister, at
97172 Bald Hills. That's all the same to him! That's what I was saying to
97173 you--those German gentlemen won't win the battle tomorrow but will
97174 only make all the mess they can, because they have nothing in their
97175 German heads but theories not worth an empty eggshell and haven't in
97176 their hearts the one thing needed tomorrow--that which Timokhin has.
97177 They have yielded up all Europe to him, and have now come to teach us.
97178 Fine teachers!" and again his voice grew shrill.
97179
97180 "So you think we shall win tomorrow's battle?" asked Pierre.
97181
97182 "Yes, yes," answered Prince Andrew absently. "One thing I would do
97183
97184 if I had the power," he began again, "I would not take prisoners.
97185 Why take prisoners? It's chivalry! The French have destroyed my home
97186 and are on their way to destroy Moscow, they have outraged and are
97187 outraging me every moment. They are my enemies. In my opinion they are
97188 all criminals. And so thinks Timokhin and the whole army. They
97189 should be executed! Since they are my foes they cannot be my
97190 friends, whatever may have been said at Tilsit."
97191
97192 "Yes, yes," muttered Pierre, looking with shining eyes at Prince
97193 Andrew. "I quite agree with you!"
97194
97195 The question that had perturbed Pierre on the Mozhaysk hill and
97196 all that day now seemed to him quite clear and completely solved. He
97197 now understood the whole meaning and importance of this war and of the
97198 impending battle. All he had seen that day, all the significant and
97199 stern expressions on the faces he had seen in passing, were lit up for
97200 him by a new light. He understood that latent heat (as they say in
97201 physics) of patriotism which was present in all these men he had seen,
97202 and this explained to him why they all prepared for death calmly,
97203 and as it were lightheartedly.
97204
97205 "Not take prisoners," Prince Andrew continued: "That by itself would
97206 quite change the whole war and make it less cruel. As it is we have
97207 played at war--that's what's vile! We play at magnanimity and all that
97208 stuff. Such magnanimity and sensibility are like the magnanimity and
97209 sensibility of a lady who faints when she sees a calf being killed:
97210 she is so kind-hearted that she can't look at blood, but enjoys eating
97211 the calf served up with sauce. They talk to us of the rules of war, of
97212 chivalry, of flags of truce, of mercy to the unfortunate and so on.
97213 It's all rubbish! I saw chivalry and flags of truce in 1805; they
97214 humbugged us and we humbugged them. They plunder other people's
97215 houses, issue false paper money, and worst of all they kill my
97216 children and my father, and then talk of rules of war and
97217 magnanimity to foes! Take no prisoners, but kill and be killed! He who
97218 has come to this as I have through the same sufferings..."
97219
97220 Prince Andrew, who had thought it was all the same to him whether or
97221 not Moscow was taken as Smolensk had been, was suddenly checked in his
97222 speech by an unexpected cramp in his throat. He paced up and down a
97223 few times in silence, but his eyes glittered feverishly and his lips
97224 quivered as he began speaking.
97225
97226 "If there was none of this magnanimity in war, we should go to war
97227 only when it was worth while going to certain death, as now. Then
97228 there would not be war because Paul Ivanovich had offended Michael
97229 Ivanovich. And when there was a war, like this one, it would be war!
97230 And then the determination of the troops would be quite different.
97231 Then all these Westphalians and Hessians whom Napoleon is leading
97232 would not follow him into Russia, and we should not go to fight in
97233 Austria and Prussia without knowing why. War is not courtesy but the
97234 most horrible thing in life; and we ought to understand that and not
97235 play at war. We ought to accept this terrible necessity sternly and
97236 seriously. It all lies in that: get rid of falsehood and let war be
97237 war and not a game. As it is now, war is the favorite pastime of the
97238 idle and frivolous. The military calling is the most highly honored.
97239
97240 "But what is war? What is needed for success in warfare? What are
97241 the habits of the military? The aim of war is murder; the methods of
97242 war are spying, treachery, and their encouragement, the ruin of a
97243 country's inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to provision the army,
97244 and fraud and falsehood termed military craft. The habits of the
97245 military class are the absence of freedom, that is, discipline,
97246 idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness. And in
97247 spite of all this it is the highest class, respected by everyone.
97248 All the kings, except the Chinese, wear military uniforms, and he
97249 who kills most people receives the highest rewards.
97250
97251 "They meet, as we shall meet tomorrow, to murder one another; they
97252 kill and maim tens of thousands, and then have thanksgiving services
97253 for having killed so many people (they even exaggerate the number),
97254 and they announce a victory, supposing that the more people they
97255 have killed the greater their achievement. How does God above look
97256 at them and hear them?" exclaimed Prince Andrew in a shrill,
97257 piercing voice. "Ah, my friend, it has of late become hard for me to
97258 live. I see that I have begun to understand too much. And it doesn't
97259 do for man to taste of the tree of knowledge of good and evil....
97260 Ah, well, it's not for long!" he added.
97261
97262 "However, you're sleepy, and it's time for me to sleep. Go back to
97263 Gorki!" said Prince Andrew suddenly.
97264
97265 "Oh no!" Pierre replied, looking at Prince Andrew with frightened,
97266 compassionate eyes.
97267
97268 "Go, go! Before a battle one must have one's sleep out," repeated
97269 Prince Andrew.
97270
97271 He came quickly up to Pierre and embraced and kissed him.
97272 "Good-by, be off!" he shouted. "Whether we meet again or not..."
97273 and turning away hurriedly he entered the shed.
97274
97275 It was already dark, and Pierre could not make out whether the
97276 expression of Prince Andrew's face was angry or tender.
97277
97278 For some time he stood in silence considering whether he should
97279 follow him or go away. "No, he does not want it!" Pierre concluded.
97280 "And I know that this is our last meeting!" He sighed deeply and
97281 rode back to Gorki.
97282
97283 On re-entering the shed Prince Andrew lay down on a rug, but he
97284 could not sleep.
97285
97286 He closed his eyes. One picture succeeded another in his
97287 imagination. On one of them he dwelt long and joyfully. He vividly
97288 recalled an evening in Petersburg. Natasha with animated and excited
97289 face was telling him how she had gone to look for mushrooms the
97290 previous summer and had lost her way in the big forest. She
97291 incoherently described the depths of the forest, her feelings, and a
97292 talk with a beekeeper she met, and constantly interrupted her story to
97293 say: "No, I can't! I'm not telling it right; no, you don't
97294 understand," though he encouraged her by saying that he did
97295 understand, and he really had understood all she wanted to say. But
97296 Natasha was not satisfied with her own words: she felt that they did
97297 not convey the passionately poetic feeling she had experienced that
97298 day and wished to convey. "He was such a delightful old man, and it
97299 was so dark in the forest... and he had such kind... No, I can't
97300 describe it," she had said, flushed and excited. Prince Andrew
97301 smiled now the same happy smile as then when he had looked into her
97302 eyes. "I understood her," he thought. "I not only understood her,
97303 but it was just that inner, spiritual force, that sincerity, that
97304 frankness of soul--that very soul of hers which seemed to be
97305 fettered by her body--it was that soul I loved in her... loved so
97306 strongly and happily..." and suddenly he remembered how his love had
97307 ended. "He did not need anything of that kind. He neither saw nor
97308 understood anything of the sort. He only saw in her a pretty and fresh
97309 young girl, with whom he did not deign to unite his fate. And I?...
97310 and he is still alive and gay!"
97311
97312 Prince Andrew jumped up as if someone had burned him, and again
97313 began pacing up and down in front of the shed.
97314
97315
97316
97317
97318
97319 CHAPTER XXVI
97320
97321
97322 On August 25, the eve of the battle of Borodino, M. de Beausset,
97323 prefect of the French Emperor's palace, arrived at Napoleon's quarters
97324 at Valuevo with Colonel Fabvier, the former from Paris and the
97325 latter from Madrid.
97326
97327 Donning his court uniform, M. de Beausset ordered a box he had
97328 brought for the Emperor to be carried before him and entered the first
97329 compartment of Napoleon's tent, where he began opening the box while
97330 conversing with Napoleon's aides-de-camp who surrounded him.
97331
97332 Fabvier, not entering the tent, remained at the entrance talking
97333 to some generals of his acquaintance.
97334
97335 The Emperor Napoleon had not yet left his bedroom and was
97336 finishing his toilet. Slightly snorting and grunting, he presented now
97337 his back and now his plump hairy chest to the brush with which his
97338 valet was rubbing him down. Another valet, with his finger over the
97339 mouth of a bottle, was sprinkling Eau de Cologne on the Emperor's
97340 pampered body with an expression which seemed to say that he alone
97341 knew where and how much Eau de Cologne should be sprinkled. Napoleon's
97342 short hair was wet and matted on the forehead, but his face, though
97343 puffy and yellow, expressed physical satisfaction. "Go on, harder,
97344 go on!" he muttered to the valet who was rubbing him, slightly
97345 twitching and grunting. An aide-de-camp, who had entered the bedroom
97346 to report to the Emperor the number of prisoners taken in
97347 yesterday's action, was standing by the door after delivering his
97348 message, awaiting permission to withdraw. Napoleon, frowning, looked
97349 at him from under his brows.
97350
97351 "No prisoners!" said he, repeating the aide-de-camp's words. "They
97352 are forcing us to exterminate them. So much the worse for the
97353 Russian army.... Go on... harder, harder!" he muttered, hunching his
97354 back and presenting his fat shoulders.
97355
97356 "All right. Let Monsieur de Beausset enter, and Fabvier too," he
97357 said, nodding to the aide-de-camp.
97358
97359 "Yes, sire," and the aide-de-camp disappeared through the door of
97360 the tent.
97361
97362 Two valets rapidly dressed His Majesty, and wearing the blue uniform
97363 of the Guards he went with firm quick steps to the reception room.
97364
97365 De Beausset's hands meanwhile were busily engaged arranging the
97366 present he had brought from the Empress, on two chairs directly in
97367 front of the entrance. But Napoleon had dressed and come out with such
97368 unexpected rapidity that he had not time to finish arranging the
97369 surprise.
97370
97371 Napoleon noticed at once what they were about and guessed that
97372 they were not ready. He did not wish to deprive them of the pleasure
97373 of giving him a surprise, so he pretended not to see de Beausset and
97374 called Fabvier to him, listening silently and with a stern frown to
97375 what Fabvier told him of the heroism and devotion of his troops
97376 fighting at Salamanca, at the other end of Europe, with but one
97377 thought--to be worthy of their Emperor--and but one fear--to fail to
97378 please him. The result of that battle had been deplorable. Napoleon
97379 made ironic remarks during Fabvier's account, as if he had not
97380 expected that matters could go otherwise in his absence.
97381
97382 "I must make up for that in Moscow," said Napoleon. "I'll see you
97383 later," he added, and summoned de Beausset, who by that time had
97384 prepared the surprise, having placed something on the chairs and
97385 covered it with a cloth.
97386
97387 De Beausset bowed low, with that courtly French bow which only the
97388 old retainers of the Bourbons knew how to make, and approached him,
97389 presenting an envelope.
97390
97391 Napoleon turned to him gaily and pulled his ear.
97392
97393 "You have hurried here. I am very glad. Well, what is Paris saying?"
97394 he asked, suddenly changing his former stern expression for a most
97395 cordial tone.
97396
97397 "Sire, all Paris regrets your absence," replied de Beausset as was
97398 proper.
97399
97400 But though Napoleon knew that de Beausset had to say something of
97401 this kind, and though in his lucid moments he knew it was untrue, he
97402 was pleased to hear it from him. Again he honored him by touching
97403 his ear.
97404
97405 "I am very sorry to have made you travel so far," said he.
97406
97407 "Sire, I expected nothing less than to find you at the gates of
97408 Moscow," replied de Beausset.
97409
97410 Napoleon smiled and, lifting his head absentmindedly, glanced to the
97411 right. An aide-de-camp approached with gliding steps and offered him a
97412 gold snuffbox, which he took.
97413
97414 "Yes, it has happened luckily for you," he said, raising the open
97415 snuffbox to his nose. "You are fond of travel, and in three days you
97416 will see Moscow. You surely did not expect to see that Asiatic
97417 capital. You will have a pleasant journey."
97418
97419 De Beausset bowed gratefully at this regard for his taste for travel
97420 (of which he had not till then been aware).
97421
97422 "Ha, what's this?" asked Napoleon, noticing that all the courtiers
97423 were looking at something concealed under a cloth.
97424
97425 With courtly adroitness de Beausset half turned and without
97426 turning his back to the Emperor retired two steps, twitching off the
97427 cloth at the same time, and said:
97428
97429 "A present to Your Majesty from the Empress."
97430
97431 It was a portrait, painted in bright colors by Gerard, of the son
97432 borne to Napoleon by the daughter of the Emperor of Austria, the boy
97433 whom for some reason everyone called "The King of Rome."
97434
97435 A very pretty curly-headed boy with a look of the Christ in the
97436 Sistine Madonna was depicted playing at stick and ball. The ball
97437 represented the terrestrial globe and the stick in his other hand a
97438 scepter.
97439
97440 Though it was not clear what the artist meant to express by
97441 depicting the so-called King of Rome spiking the earth with a stick,
97442 the allegory apparently seemed to Napoleon, as it had done to all
97443 who had seen it in Paris, quite clear and very pleasing.
97444
97445 "The King of Rome!" he said, pointing to the portrait with a
97446 graceful gesture. "Admirable!"
97447
97448 With the natural capacity of an Italian for changing the
97449 expression of his face at will, he drew nearer to the portrait and
97450 assumed a look of pensive tenderness. He felt that what he now said
97451 and did would be historical, and it seemed to him that it would now be
97452 best for him--whose grandeur enabled his son to play stick and ball
97453 with the terrestrial globe--to show, in contrast to that grandeur, the
97454 simplest paternal tenderness. His eyes grew dim, he moved forward,
97455 glanced round at a chair (which seemed to place itself under him), and
97456 sat down on it before the portrait. At a single gesture from him
97457 everyone went out on tiptoe, leaving the great man to himself and
97458 his emotion.
97459
97460 Having sat still for a while he touched--himself not knowing why-
97461 the thick spot of paint representing the highest light in the
97462 portrait, rose, and recalled de Beausset and the officer on duty. He
97463 ordered the portrait to be carried outside his tent, that the Old
97464 Guard, stationed round it, might not be deprived of the pleasure of
97465 seeing the King of Rome, the son and heir of their adored monarch.
97466
97467 And while he was doing M. de Beausset the honor of breakfasting with
97468 him, they heard, as Napoleon had anticipated, the rapturous cries of
97469 the officers and men of the Old Guard who had run up to see the
97470 portrait.
97471
97472 "Vive l'Empereur! Vive le roi de Rome! Vive l'Empereur!" came
97473 those ecstatic cries.
97474
97475 After breakfast Napoleon in de Beausset's presence dictated his
97476 order of the day to the army.
97477
97478 "Short and energetic!" he remarked when he had read over the
97479 proclamation which he had dictated straight off without corrections.
97480 It ran:
97481
97482
97483 Soldiers! This is the battle you have so longed for. Victory depends
97484 on you. It is essential for us; it will give us all we need:
97485 comfortable quarters and a speedy return to our country. Behave as you
97486 did at Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk, and Smolensk. Let our
97487 remotest posterity recall your achievements this day with pride. Let
97488 it be said of each of you: "He was in the great battle before Moscow!"
97489
97490
97491 "Before Moscow!" repeated Napoleon, and inviting M. de Beausset, who
97492 was so fond of travel, to accompany him on his ride, he went out of
97493 the tent to where the horses stood saddled.
97494
97495 "Your Majesty is too kind!" replied de Beausset to the invitation to
97496 accompany the Emperor; he wanted to sleep, did not know how to ride
97497 and was afraid of doing so.
97498
97499 But Napoleon nodded to the traveler, and de Beausset had to mount.
97500 When Napoleon came out of the tent the shouting of the Guards before
97501 his son's portrait grew still louder. Napoleon frowned.
97502
97503 "Take him away!" he said, pointing with a gracefully majestic
97504 gesture to the portrait. "It is too soon for him to see a field of
97505 battle."
97506
97507 De Beausset closed his eyes, bowed his head, and sighed deeply, to
97508 indicate how profoundly he valued and comprehended the Emperor's
97509 words.
97510
97511
97512
97513
97514
97515 CHAPTER XXVII
97516
97517
97518 On the twenty-fifth of August, so his historians tell us, Napoleon
97519 spent the whole day on horseback inspecting the locality,
97520 considering plans submitted to him by his marshals, and personally
97521 giving commands to his generals.
97522
97523 The original line of the Russian forces along the river Kolocha
97524 had been dislocated by the capture of the Shevardino Redoubt on the
97525 twenty-fourth, and part of the line--the left flank--had been drawn
97526 back. That part of the line was not entrenched and in front of it
97527 the ground was more open and level than elsewhere. It was evident to
97528 anyone, military or not, that it was here the French should attack. It
97529 would seem that not much consideration was needed to reach this
97530 conclusion, nor any particular care or trouble on the part of the
97531 Emperor and his marshals, nor was there any need of that special and
97532 supreme quality called genius that people are so apt to ascribe to
97533 Napoleon; yet the historians who described the event later and the men
97534 who then surrounded Napoleon, and he himself, thought otherwise.
97535
97536 Napoleon rode over the plain and surveyed the locality with a
97537 profound air and in silence, nodded with approval or shook his head
97538 dubiously, and without communicating to the generals around him the
97539 profound course of ideas which guided his decisions merely gave them
97540 his final conclusions in the form of commands. Having listened to a
97541 suggestion from Davout, who was now called Prince d'Eckmuhl, to turn
97542 the Russian left wing, Napoleon said it should not be done, without
97543 explaining why not. To a proposal made by General Campan (who was to
97544 attack the fleches) to lead his division through the woods, Napoleon
97545 agreed, though the so-called Duke of Elchingen (Ney) ventured to
97546 remark that a movement through the woods was dangerous and might
97547 disorder the division.
97548
97549 Having inspected the country opposite the Shevardino Redoubt,
97550 Napoleon pondered a little in silence and then indicated the spots
97551 where two batteries should be set up by the morrow to act against
97552 the Russian entrenchments, and the places where, in line with them,
97553 the field artillery should be placed.
97554
97555 After giving these and other commands he returned to his tent, and
97556 the dispositions for the battle were written down from his dictation.
97557
97558 These dispositions, of which the French historians write with
97559 enthusiasm and other historians with profound respect, were as
97560 follows:
97561
97562
97563 At dawn the two new batteries established during the night on the
97564 plain occupied by the Prince d'Eckmuhl will open fire on the
97565 opposing batteries of the enemy.
97566
97567 At the same time the commander of the artillery of the 1st Corps,
97568 General Pernetti, with thirty cannon of Campan's division and all
97569 the howitzers of Dessaix's and Friant's divisions, will move
97570 forward, open fire, and overwhelm with shellfire the enemy's
97571 battery, against which will operate:
97572
97573 24 guns of the artillery of the Guards
97574 30 guns of Campan's division
97575
97576 and 8 guns of Friant's and Dessaix's divisions
97577 --
97578
97579 in all 62 guns.
97580
97581
97582 The commander of the artillery of the 3rd Corps, General Fouche,
97583 will place the howitzers of the 3rd and 8th Corps, sixteen in all,
97584 on the flanks of the battery that is to bombard the entrenchment on
97585 the left, which will have forty guns in all directed against it.
97586
97587 General Sorbier must be ready at the first order to advance with all
97588 the howitzers of the Guard's artillery against either one or other
97589 of the entrenchments.
97590
97591 During the cannonade Prince Poniatowski is to advance through the
97592 wood on the village and turn the enemy's position.
97593
97594 General Campan will move through the wood to seize the first
97595 fortification.
97596
97597 After the advance has begun in this manner, orders will be given
97598 in accordance with the enemy's movements.
97599
97600 The cannonade on the left flank will begin as soon as the guns of
97601 the right wing are heard. The sharpshooters of Morand's division and
97602 of the vice-King's division will open a heavy fire on seeing the
97603 attack commence on the right wing.
97604
97605 The vice-King will occupy the village and cross by its three
97606 bridges, advancing to the same heights as Morand's and Gibrard's
97607 divisions, which under his leadership will be directed against the
97608 redoubt and come into line with the rest of the forces.
97609
97610 All this must be done in good order (le tout se fera avec ordre et
97611 methode) as far as possible retaining troops in reserve.
97612 The Imperial Camp near Mozhaysk,
97613 September, 6, 1812.
97614
97615
97616 These dispositions, which are very obscure and confused if one
97617 allows oneself to regard the arrangements without religious awe of his
97618 genius, related to Napoleon's orders to deal with four points--four
97619 different orders. Not one of these was, or could be, carried out.
97620
97621 In the disposition it is said first that the batteries placed on the
97622 spot chosen by Napoleon, with the guns of Pernetti and Fouche; which
97623 were to come in line with them, 102 guns in all, were to open fire and
97624 shower shells on the Russian fleches and redoubts. This could not be
97625 done, as from the spots selected by Napoleon the projectiles did not
97626 carry to the Russian works, and those 102 guns shot into the air until
97627 the nearest commander, contrary to Napoleon's instructions, moved them
97628 forward.
97629
97630 The second order was that Poniatowski, moving to the village through
97631 the wood, should turn the Russian left flank. This could not be done
97632 and was not done, because Poniatowski, advancing on the village
97633 through the wood, met Tuchkov there barring his way, and could not and
97634 did not turn the Russian position.
97635
97636 The third order was: General Campan will move through the wood to
97637 seize the first fortification. General Campan's division did not seize
97638 the first fortification but was driven back, for on emerging from
97639 the wood it had to reform under grapeshot, of which Napoleon was
97640 unaware.
97641
97642 The fourth order was: The vice-King will occupy the village
97643 (Borodino) and cross by its three bridges, advancing to the same
97644 heights as Morand's and Gdrard's divisions (for whose movements no
97645 directions are given), which under his leadership will be directed
97646 against the redoubt and come into line with the rest of the forces.
97647
97648 As far as one can make out, not so much from this unintelligible
97649 sentence as from the attempts the vice-King made to execute the orders
97650 given him, he was to advance from the left through Borodino to the
97651 redoubt while the divisions of Morand and Gerard were to advance
97652 simultaneously from the front.
97653
97654 All this, like the other parts of the disposition, was not and could
97655 not be executed. After passing through Borodino the vice-King was
97656 driven back to the Kolocha and could get no farther; while the
97657 divisions of Morand and Gerard did not take the redoubt but were
97658 driven back, and the redoubt was only taken at the end of the battle
97659 by the cavalry (a thing probably unforeseen and not heard of by
97660 Napoleon). So not one of the orders in the disposition was, or could
97661 be, executed. But in the disposition it is said that, after the
97662 fight has commenced in this manner, orders will be given in accordance
97663 with the enemy's movements, and so it might be supposed that all
97664 necessary arrangements would be made by Napoleon during the battle.
97665 But this was not and could not be done, for during the whole battle
97666 Napoleon was so far away that, as appeared later, he could not know
97667 the course of the battle and not one of his orders during the fight
97668 could be executed.
97669
97670
97671
97672
97673
97674 CHAPTER XXVIII
97675
97676
97677 Many historians say that the French did not win the battle of
97678 Borodino because Napoleon had a cold, and that if he had not had a
97679 cold the orders he gave before and during the battle would have been
97680 still more full of genius and Russia would have been lost and the face
97681 of the world have been changed. To historians who believe that
97682 Russia was shaped by the will of one man--Peter the Great--and that
97683 France from a republic became an empire and French armies went to
97684 Russia at the will of one man--Napoleon--to say that Russia remained a
97685 power because Napoleon had a bad cold on the twenty-fourth of August
97686 may seem logical and convincing.
97687
97688 If it had depended on Napoleon's will to fight or not to fight the
97689 battle of Borodino, and if this or that other arrangement depended
97690 on his will, then evidently a cold affecting the manifestation of
97691 his will might have saved Russia, and consequently the valet who
97692 omitted to bring Napoleon his waterproof boots on the twenty-fourth
97693 would have been the savior of Russia. Along that line of thought
97694 such a deduction is indubitable, as indubitable as the deduction
97695 Voltaire made in jest (without knowing what he was jesting at) when he
97696 saw that the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was due to Charles IX's
97697 stomach being deranged. But to men who do not admit that Russia was
97698 formed by the will of one man, Peter I, or that the French Empire
97699 was formed and the war with Russia begun by the will of one man,
97700 Napoleon, that argument seems not merely untrue and irrational, but
97701 contrary to all human reality. To the question of what causes historic
97702 events another answer presents itself, namely, that the course of
97703 human events is predetermined from on high--depends on the coincidence
97704 of the wills of all who take part in the events, and that a Napoleon's
97705 influence on the course of these events is purely external and
97706 fictitious.
97707
97708 Strange as at first glance it may seem to suppose that the
97709 Massacre of St. Bartholomew was not due to Charles IX's will, though
97710 he gave the order for it and thought it was done as a result of that
97711 order; and strange as it may seem to suppose that the slaughter of
97712 eighty thousand men at Borodino was not due to Napoleon's will, though
97713 he ordered the commencement and conduct of the battle and thought it
97714 was done because he ordered it; strange as these suppositions
97715 appear, yet human dignity--which tells me that each of us is, if not
97716 more at least not less a man than the great Napoleon--demands the
97717 acceptance of that solution of the question, and historic
97718 investigation abundantly confirms it.
97719
97720 At the battle of Borodino Napoleon shot at no one and killed no one.
97721 That was all done by the soldiers. Therefore it was not he who
97722 killed people.
97723
97724 The French soldiers went to kill and be killed at the battle of
97725 Borodino not because of Napoleon's orders but by their own volition.
97726 The whole army--French, Italian, German, Polish, and Dutch--hungry,
97727 ragged, and weary of the campaign, felt at the sight of an army
97728 blocking their road to Moscow that the wine was drawn and must be
97729 drunk. Had Napoleon then forbidden them to fight the Russians, they
97730 would have killed him and have proceeded to fight the Russians because
97731 it was inevitable.
97732
97733 When they heard Napoleon's proclamation offering them, as
97734 compensation for mutilation and death, the words of posterity about
97735 their having been in the battle before Moscow, they cried "Vive
97736 l'Empereur!" just as they had cried "Vive l'Empereur!" at the sight of
97737 the portrait of the boy piercing the terrestrial globe with a toy
97738 stick, and just as they would have cried "Vive l'Empereur!" at any
97739 nonsense that might be told them. There was nothing left for them to
97740 do but cry "Vive l'Empereur!" and go to fight, in order to get food
97741 and rest as conquerors in Moscow. So it was not because of
97742 Napoleon's commands that they killed their fellow men.
97743
97744 And it was not Napoleon who directed the course of the battle, for
97745 none of his orders were executed and during the battle he did not know
97746 what was going on before him. So the way in which these people
97747 killed one another was not decided by Napoleon's will but occurred
97748 independently of him, in accord with the will of hundreds of thousands
97749 of people who took part in the common action. It only seemed to
97750 Napoleon that it all took place by his will. And so the question
97751 whether he had or had not a cold has no more historic interest than
97752 the cold of the least of the transport soldiers.
97753
97754 Moreover, the assertion made by various writers that his cold was
97755 the cause of his dispositions not being as well planned as on former
97756 occasions, and of his orders during the battle not being as good as
97757 previously, is quite baseless, which again shows that Napoleon's
97758 cold on the twenty-sixth of August was unimportant.
97759
97760 The dispositions cited above are not at all worse, but are even
97761 better, than previous dispositions by which he had won victories.
97762 His pseudo-orders during the battle were also no worse than
97763 formerly, but much the same as usual. These dispositions and orders
97764 only seem worse than previous ones because the battle of Borodino
97765 was the first Napoleon did not win. The profoundest and most excellent
97766 dispositions and orders seem very bad, and every learned militarist
97767 criticizes them with looks of importance, when they relate to a
97768 battle that has been lost, and the very worst dispositions and
97769 orders seem very good, and serious people fill whole volumes to
97770 demonstrate their merits, when they relate to a battle that has been
97771 won.
97772
97773 The dispositions drawn up by Weyrother for the battle of
97774 Austerlitz were a model of perfection for that kind of composition,
97775 but still they were criticized--criticized for their very
97776 perfection, for their excessive minuteness.
97777
97778 Napoleon at the battle of Borodino fulfilled his office as
97779 representative of authority as well as, and even better than, at other
97780 battles. He did nothing harmful to the progress of the battle; he
97781 inclined to the most reasonable opinions, he made no confusion, did
97782 not contradict himself, did not get frightened or run away from the
97783 field of battle, but with his great tact and military experience
97784 carried out his role of appearing to command, calmly and with dignity.
97785
97786
97787
97788
97789
97790 CHAPTER XXIX
97791
97792
97793 On returning from a second inspection of the lines, Napoleon
97794 remarked:
97795
97796 "The chessmen are set up, the game will begin tomorrow!"
97797
97798 Having ordered punch and summoned de Beausset, he began to talk to
97799 him about Paris and about some changes he meant to make the Empress'
97800 household, surprising the prefect by his memory of minute details
97801 relating to the court.
97802
97803 He showed an interest in trifles, joked about de Beausset's love
97804 of travel, and chatted carelessly, as a famous, self-confident surgeon
97805 who knows his job does when turning up his sleeves and putting on
97806 his apron while a patient is being strapped to the operating table.
97807 "The matter is in my hands and is clear and definite in my head.
97808 When the times comes to set to work I shall do it as no one else
97809 could, but now I can jest, and the more I jest and the calmer I am the
97810 more tranquil and confident you ought to be, and the more amazed at my
97811 genius."
97812
97813 Having finished his second glass of punch, Napoleon went to rest
97814 before the serious business which, he considered, awaited him next
97815 day. He was so much interested in that task that he was unable to
97816 sleep, and in spite of his cold which had grown worse from the
97817 dampness of the evening, he went into the large division of the tent
97818 at three o'clock in the morning, loudly blowing his nose. He asked
97819 whether the Russians had not withdrawn, and was told that the
97820 enemy's fires were still in the same places. He nodded approval.
97821
97822 The adjutant in attendance came into the tent.
97823
97824 "Well, Rapp, do you think we shall do good business today?" Napoleon
97825 asked him.
97826
97827 "Without doubt, sire," replied Rapp.
97828
97829 Napoleon looked at him.
97830
97831 "Do you remember, sire, what you did me the honor to say at
97832 Smolensk?" continued Rapp. "The wine is drawn and must be drunk."
97833
97834 Napoleon frowned and sat silent for a long time leaning his head
97835 on his hand.
97836
97837 "This poor army!" he suddenly remarked. "It has diminished greatly
97838 since Smolensk. Fortune is frankly a courtesan, Rapp. I have always
97839 said so and I am beginning to experience it. But the Guards, Rapp, the
97840 Guards are intact?" he remarked interrogatively.
97841
97842 "Yes, sire," replied Rapp.
97843
97844 Napoleon took a lozenge, put it in his mouth, and glanced at his
97845 watch. He was not sleepy and it was still not nearly morning. It was
97846 impossible to give further orders for the sake of killing time, for
97847 the orders had all been given and were now being executed.
97848
97849 "Have the biscuits and rice been served out to the regiments of
97850 the Guards?" asked Napoleon sternly.
97851
97852 "Yes, sire."
97853
97854 "The rice too?"
97855
97856 Rapp replied that he had given the Emperor's order about the rice,
97857 but Napoleon shook his head in dissatisfaction as if not believing
97858 that his order had been executed. An attendant came in with punch.
97859 Napoleon ordered another glass to be brought for Rapp, and silently
97860 sipped his own.
97861
97862 "I have neither taste nor smell," he remarked, sniffing at his
97863 glass. "This cold is tiresome. They talk about medicine--what is the
97864 good of medicine when it can't cure a cold! Corvisart gave me these
97865 lozenges but they don't help at all. What can doctors cure? One
97866 can't cure anything. Our body is a machine for living. It is organized
97867 for that, it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it
97868 defend itself, it will do more than if you paralyze it by
97869 encumbering it with remedies. Our body is like a perfect watch that
97870 should go for a certain time; watchmaker cannot open it, he can only
97871 adjust it by fumbling, and that blindfold.... Yes, our body is just
97872 a machine for living, that is all."
97873
97874 And having entered on the path of definition, of which he was
97875 fond, Napoleon suddenly and unexpectedly gave a new one.
97876
97877 "Do you know, Rapp, what military art is?" asked he. "It is the
97878 art of being stronger than the enemy at a given moment. That's all."
97879
97880 Rapp made no reply.
97881
97882 "Tomorrow we shall have to deal with Kutuzov!" said Napoleon. "We
97883 shall see! Do you remember at Braunau he commanded an army for three
97884 weeks and did not once mount a horse to inspect his
97885 entrenchments.... We shall see!"
97886
97887 He looked at his watch. It was still only four o'clock. He did not
97888 feel sleepy. The punch was finished and there was still nothing to do.
97889 He rose, walked to and fro, put on a warm overcoat and a hat, and went
97890 out of the tent. The night was dark and damp, a scarcely perceptible
97891 moisture was descending from above. Near by, the campfires were
97892 dimly burning among the French Guards, and in the distance those of
97893 the Russian line shone through the smoke. The weather was calm, and
97894 the rustle and tramp of the French troops already beginning to move to
97895 take up their positions were clearly audible.
97896
97897 Napoleon walked about in front of his tent, looked at the fires
97898 and listened to these sounds, and as he was passing a tall guardsman
97899 in a shaggy cap, who was standing sentinel before his tent and had
97900 drawn himself up like a black pillar at sight of the Emperor, Napoleon
97901 stopped in front of him.
97902
97903 "What year did you enter the service?" he asked with that
97904 affectation of military bluntness and geniality with which he always
97905 addressed the soldiers.
97906
97907 The man answered the question.
97908
97909 "Ah! One of the old ones! Has your regiment had its rice?"
97910
97911 "It has, Your Majesty."
97912
97913 Napoleon nodded and walked away.
97914
97915
97916 At half-past five Napoleon rode to the village of Shevardino.
97917
97918 It was growing light, the sky was clearing, only a single cloud
97919 lay in the east. The abandoned campfires were burning themselves out
97920 in the faint morning light.
97921
97922 On the right a single deep report of a cannon resounded and died
97923 away in the prevailing silence. Some minutes passed. A second and a
97924 third report shook the air, then a fourth and a fifth boomed
97925 solemnly near by on the right.
97926
97927 The first shots had not yet ceased to reverberate before others rang
97928 out and yet more were heard mingling with and overtaking one another.
97929
97930 Napoleon with his suite rode up to the Shevardino Redoubt where he
97931 dismounted. The game had begun.
97932
97933
97934
97935
97936
97937 CHAPTER XXX
97938
97939
97940 On returning to Gorki after having seen Prince Andrew, Pierre
97941 ordered his groom to get the horses ready and to call him early in the
97942 morning, and then immediately fell asleep behind a partition in a
97943 corner Boris had given up to him.
97944
97945 Before he was thoroughly awake next morning everybody had already
97946 left the hut. The panes were rattling in the little windows and his
97947 groom was shaking him.
97948
97949 "Your excellency! Your excellency! Your excellency!" he kept
97950 repeating pertinaciously while he shook Pierre by the shoulder without
97951 looking at him, having apparently lost hope of getting him to wake up.
97952
97953 "What? Has it begun? Is it time?" Pierre asked, waking up.
97954
97955 "Hear the firing," said the groom, a discharged soldier. "All the
97956 gentlemen have gone out, and his Serene Highness himself rode past
97957 long ago."
97958
97959 Pierre dressed hastily and ran out to the porch. Outside all was
97960 bright, fresh, dewy, and cheerful. The sun, just bursting forth from
97961 behind a cloud that had concealed it, was shining, with rays still
97962 half broken by the clouds, over the roofs of the street opposite, on
97963 the dew-besprinkled dust of the road, on the walls of the houses, on
97964 the windows, the fence, and on Pierre's horses standing before the
97965 hut. The roar of guns sounded more distinct outside. An adjutant
97966 accompanied by a Cossack passed by at a sharp trot.
97967
97968 "It's time, Count; it's time!" cried the adjutant.
97969
97970 Telling the groom to follow him with the horses, Pierre went down
97971 the street to the knoll from which he had looked at the field of
97972 battle the day before. A crowd of military men was assembled there,
97973 members of the staff could be heard conversing in French, and
97974 Kutuzov's gray head in a white cap with a red band was visible, his
97975 gray nape sunk between his shoulders. He was looking through a field
97976 glass down the highroad before him.
97977
97978 Mounting the steps to the knoll Pierre looked at the scene before
97979 him, spellbound by beauty. It was the same panorama he had admired
97980 from that spot the day before, but now the whole place was full of
97981 troops and covered by smoke clouds from the guns, and the slanting
97982 rays of the bright sun, rising slightly to the left behind Pierre,
97983 cast upon it through the clear morning air penetrating streaks of
97984 rosy, golden tinted light and long dark shadows. The forest at the
97985 farthest extremity of the panorama seemed carved in some precious
97986 stone of a yellowish-green color; its undulating outline was
97987 silhouetted against the horizon and was pierced beyond Valuevo by
97988 the Smolensk highroad crowded with troops. Nearer at hand glittered
97989 golden cornfields interspersed with copses. There were troops to be
97990 seen everywhere, in front and to the right and left. All this was
97991 vivid, majestic, and unexpected; but what impressed Pierre most of all
97992 was the view of the battlefield itself, of Borodino and the hollows on
97993 both sides of the Kolocha.
97994
97995 Above the Kolocha, in Borodino and on both sides of it, especially
97996 to the left where the Voyna flowing between its marshy banks falls
97997 into the Kolocha, a mist had spread which seemed to melt, to dissolve,
97998 and to become translucent when the brilliant sun appeared and
97999 magically colored and outlined everything. The smoke of the guns
98000 mingled with this mist, and over the whole expanse and through that
98001 mist the rays of the morning sun were reflected, flashing back like
98002 lightning from the water, from the dew, and from the bayonets of the
98003 troops crowded together by the riverbanks and in Borodino. A white
98004 church could be seen through the mist, and here and there the roofs of
98005 huts in Borodino as well as dense masses of soldiers, or green
98006 ammunition chests and ordnance. And all this moved, or seemed to move,
98007 as the smoke and mist spread out over the whole space. Just as in
98008 the mist-enveloped hollow near Borodino, so along the entire line
98009 outside and above it and especially in the woods and fields to the
98010 left, in the valleys and on the summits of the high ground, clouds
98011 of powder smoke seemed continually to spring up out of nothing, now
98012 singly, now several at a time, some translucent, others dense,
98013 which, swelling, growing, rolling, and blending, extended over the
98014 whole expanse.
98015
98016 These puffs of smoke and (strange to say) the sound of
98017 the firing produced the chief beauty of the spectacle.
98018
98019 "Puff!"--suddenly a round compact cloud of smoke was seen merging
98020 from violet into gray and milky white, and "boom!" came the report a
98021 second later.
98022
98023 "Puff! puff!"--and two clouds arose pushing one another and blending
98024 together; and "boom, boom!" came the sounds confirming what the eye
98025 had seen.
98026
98027 Pierre glanced round at the first cloud, which he had seen as a
98028 round compact ball, and in its place already were balloons of smoke
98029 floating to one side, and--"puff" (with a pause)--"puff, puff!"
98030 three and then four more appeared and then from each, with the same
98031 interval--"boom--boom, boom!" came the fine, firm, precise sounds in
98032 reply. It seemed as if those smoke clouds sometimes ran and
98033 sometimes stood still while woods, fields, and glittering bayonets ran
98034 past them. From the left, over fields and bushes, those large balls of
98035 smoke were continually appearing followed by their solemn reports,
98036 while nearer still, in the hollows and woods, there burst from the
98037 muskets small cloudlets that had no time to become balls, but had
98038 their little echoes in just the same way. "Trakh-ta-ta-takh!" came the
98039 frequent crackle of musketry, but it was irregular and feeble in
98040 comparison with the reports of the cannon.
98041
98042 Pierre wished to be there with that smoke, those shining bayonets,
98043 that movement, and those sounds. He turned to look at Kutuzov and
98044 his suite, to compare his impressions with those of others. They
98045 were all looking at the field of battle as he was, and, as it seemed
98046 to him, with the same feelings. All their faces were now shining
98047 with that latent warmth of feeling Pierre had noticed the day before
98048 and had fully understood after his talk with Prince Andrew.
98049
98050 "Go, my dear fellow, go... and Christ be with you!" Kutuzov was
98051 saying to a general who stood beside him, not taking his eye from
98052 the battlefield.
98053
98054 Having received this order the general passed by Pierre on his way
98055 down the knoll.
98056
98057 "To the crossing!" said the general coldly and sternly in reply to
98058 one of the staff who asked where he was going.
98059
98060 "I'll go there too, I too!" thought Pierre, and followed the
98061 general.
98062
98063 The general mounted a horse a Cossack had brought him. Pierre went
98064 to his groom who was holding his horses and, asking which was the
98065 quietest, clambered onto it, seized it by the mane, and turning out
98066 his toes pressed his heels against its sides and, feeling that his
98067 spectacles were slipping off but unable to let go of the mane and
98068 reins, he galloped after the general, causing the staff officers to
98069 smile as they watched him from the knoll.
98070
98071
98072
98073
98074
98075 CHAPTER XXXI
98076
98077
98078 Having descended the hill the general after whom Pierre was
98079 galloping turned sharply to the left, and Pierre, losing sight of him,
98080 galloped in among some ranks of infantry marching ahead of him. He
98081 tried to pass either in front of them or to the right or left, but
98082 there were soldiers everywhere, all with expression and busy with some
98083 unseen but evidently important task. They all gazed with the same
98084 dissatisfied and inquiring expression at this stout man in a white
98085 hat, who for some unknown reason threatened to trample them under
98086 his horse's hoofs.
98087
98088 "Why ride into the middle of the battalion?" one of them shouted
98089 at him.
98090
98091 Another prodded his horse with the butt end of a musket, and Pierre,
98092 bending over his saddlebow and hardly able to control his shying
98093 horse, galloped ahead of the soldiers where there was a free space.
98094
98095 There was a bridge ahead of him, where other soldiers stood
98096 firing. Pierre rode up to them. Without being aware of it he had
98097 come to the bridge across the Kolocha between Gorki and Borodino,
98098 which the French (having occupied Borodino) were attacking in the
98099 first phase of the battle. Pierre saw that there was a bridge in front
98100 of him and that soldiers were doing something on both sides of it
98101 and in the meadow, among the rows of new-mown hay which he had taken
98102 no notice of amid the smoke of the campfires the day before; but
98103 despite the incessant firing going on there he had no idea that this
98104 was the field of battle. He did not notice the sound of the bullets
98105 whistling from every side, or the projectiles that flew over him,
98106 did not see the enemy on the other side of the river, and for a long
98107 time did not notice the killed and wounded, though many fell near him.
98108 He looked about him with a smile which did not leave his face.
98109
98110 "Why's that fellow in front of the line?" shouted somebody at him
98111 again.
98112
98113 "To the left!... Keep to the right!" the men shouted to him.
98114
98115 Pierre went to the right, and unexpectedly encountered one of
98116 Raevski's adjutants whom he knew. The adjutant looked angrily at
98117 him, evidently also intending to shout at him, but on recognizing
98118 him he nodded.
98119
98120 "How have you got here?" he said, and galloped on.
98121
98122 Pierre, feeling out of place there, having nothing to do, and afraid
98123 of getting in someone's way again, galloped after the adjutant.
98124
98125 "What's happening here? May I come with you?" he asked.
98126
98127 "One moment, one moment!" replied the adjutant, and riding up to a
98128 stout colonel who was standing in the meadow, he gave him some message
98129 and then addressed Pierre.
98130
98131 "Why have you come here, Count?" he asked with a smile. "Still
98132 inquisitive?"
98133
98134 "Yes, yes," assented Pierre.
98135
98136 But the adjutant turned his horse about and rode on.
98137
98138 "Here it's tolerable," said he, "but with Bagration on the left
98139 flank they're getting it frightfully hot."
98140
98141 "Really?" said Pierre. "Where is that?"
98142
98143 "Come along with me to our knoll. We can get a view from there and
98144 in our battery it is still bearable," said the adjutant. "Will you
98145 come?"
98146
98147 "Yes, I'll come with you," replied Pierre, looking round for his
98148 groom.
98149
98150 It was only now that he noticed wounded men staggering along or
98151 being carried on stretchers. On that very meadow he had ridden over
98152 the day before, a soldier was lying athwart the rows of scented hay,
98153 with his head thrown awkwardly back and his shako off.
98154
98155 "Why haven't they carried him away?" Pierre was about to ask, but
98156 seeing the stern expression of the adjutant who was also looking
98157 that way, he checked himself.
98158
98159 Pierre did not find his groom and rode along the hollow with the
98160 adjutant to Raevski's Redoubt. His horse lagged behind the
98161 adjutant's and jolted him at every step.
98162
98163 "You don't seem to be used to riding, Count?" remarked the adjutant.
98164
98165 "No it's not that, but her action seems so jerky," said Pierre in
98166 a puzzled tone.
98167
98168 "Why... she's wounded!" said the adjutant. "In the off foreleg above
98169 the knee. A bullet, no doubt. I congratulate you, Count, on your
98170 baptism of fire!"
98171
98172 Having ridden in the smoke past the Sixth Corps, behind the
98173 artillery which had been moved forward and was in action, deafening
98174 them with the noise of firing, they came to a small wood. There it was
98175 cool and quiet, with a scent of autumn. Pierre and the adjutant
98176 dismounted and walked up the hill on foot.
98177
98178 "Is the general here?" asked the adjutant on reaching the knoll.
98179
98180 "He was here a minute ago but has just gone that way," someone
98181 told him, pointing to the right.
98182
98183 The adjutant looked at Pierre as if puzzled what to do with him now.
98184
98185 "Don't trouble about me," said Pierre. "I'll go up onto the knoll if
98186 I may?"
98187
98188 "Yes, do. You'll see everything from there and it's less
98189 dangerous, and I'll come for you."
98190
98191 Pierre went to the battery and the adjutant rode on. They did not
98192 meet again, and only much later did Pierre learn that he lost an arm
98193 that day.
98194
98195 The knoll to which Pierre ascended was that famous one afterwards
98196 known to the Russians as the Knoll Battery or Raevski's Redoubt, and
98197 to the French as la grande redoute, la fatale redoute, la redoute du
98198 centre, around which tens of thousands fell, and which the French
98199 regarded as the key to the whole position.
98200
98201 This redoubt consisted of a knoll, on three sides of which
98202 trenches had been dug. Within the entrenchment stood ten guns that
98203 were being fired through openings in the earthwork.
98204
98205 In line with the knoll on both sides stood other guns which also
98206 fired incessantly. A little behind the guns stood infantry. When
98207 ascending that knoll Pierre had no notion that this spot, on which
98208 small trenches had been dug and from which a few guns were firing, was
98209 the most important point of the battle.
98210
98211 On the contrary, just because he happened to be there he thought
98212 it one of the least significant parts of the field.
98213
98214 Having reached the knoll, Pierre sat down at one end of a trench
98215 surrounding the battery and gazed at what was going on around him with
98216 an unconsciously happy smile. Occasionally he rose and walked about
98217 the battery still with that same smile, trying not to obstruct the
98218 soldiers who were loading, hauling the guns, and continually running
98219 past him with bags and charges. The guns of that battery were being
98220 fired continually one after another with a deafening roar,
98221 enveloping the whole neighborhood in powder smoke.
98222
98223 In contrast with the dread felt by the infantrymen placed in
98224 support, here in the battery where a small number of men busy at their
98225 work were separated from the rest by a trench, everyone experienced
98226 a common and as it were family feeling of animation.
98227
98228 The intrusion of Pierre's nonmilitary figure in a white hat made
98229 an unpleasant impression at first. The soldiers looked askance at
98230 him with surprise and even alarm as they went past him. The senior
98231 artillery officer, a tall, long-legged, pockmarked man, moved over
98232 to Pierre as if to see the action of the farthest gun and looked at
98233 him with curiosity.
98234
98235 A young round-faced officer, quite a boy still and evidently only
98236 just out of the Cadet College, who was zealously commanding the two
98237 guns entrusted to him, addressed Pierre sternly.
98238
98239 "Sir," he said, "permit me to ask you to stand aside. You must not
98240 be here."
98241
98242 The soldiers shook their heads disapprovingly as they looked at
98243 Pierre. But when they had convinced themselves that this man in the
98244 white hat was doing no harm, but either sat quietly on the slope of
98245 the trench with a shy smile or, politely making way for the
98246 soldiers, paced up and down the battery under fire as calmly as if
98247 he were on a boulevard, their feeling of hostile distrust gradually
98248 began to change into a kindly and bantering sympathy, such as soldiers
98249 feel for their dogs, cocks, goats, and in general for the animals that
98250 live with the regiment. The men soon accepted Pierre into their
98251 family, adopted him, gave him a nickname ("our gentleman"), and made
98252 kindly fun of him among themselves.
98253
98254 A shell tore up the earth two paces from Pierre and he looked around
98255 with a smile as he brushed from his clothes some earth it had thrown
98256 up.
98257
98258 "And how's it you're not afraid, sir, really now?" a red-faced,
98259 broad-shouldered soldier asked Pierre, with a grin that disclosed a
98260 set of sound, white teeth.
98261
98262 "Are you afraid, then?" said Pierre.
98263
98264 "What else do you expect?" answered the soldier. "She has no
98265 mercy, you know! When she comes spluttering down, out go your innards.
98266 One can't help being afraid," he said laughing.
98267
98268 Several of the men, with bright kindly faces, stopped beside Pierre.
98269 They seemed not to have expected him to talk like anybody else, and
98270 the discovery that he did so delighted them.
98271
98272 "It's the business of us soldiers. But in a gentleman it's
98273 wonderful! There's a gentleman for you!"
98274
98275 "To your places!" cried the young officer to the men gathered
98276 round Pierre.
98277
98278 The young officer was evidently exercising his duties for the
98279 first or second time and therefore treated both his superiors and
98280 the men with great precision and formality.
98281
98282 The booming cannonade and the fusillade of musketry were growing
98283 more intense over the whole field, especially to the left where
98284 Bagration's fleches were, but where Pierre was the smoke of the firing
98285 made it almost impossible to distinguish anything. Moreover, his whole
98286 attention was engrossed by watching the family circle--separated
98287 from all else--formed by the men in the battery. His first unconscious
98288 feeling of joyful animation produced by the sights and sounds of the
98289 battlefield was now replaced by another, especially since he had
98290 seen that soldier lying alone in the hayfield. Now, seated on the
98291 slope of the trench, he observed the faces of those around him.
98292
98293 By ten o'clock some twenty men had already been carried away from
98294 the battery; two guns were smashed and cannon balls fell more and more
98295 frequently on the battery and spent bullets buzzed and whistled
98296 around. But the men in the battery seemed not to notice this, and
98297 merry voices and jokes were heard on all sides.
98298
98299 "A live one!" shouted a man as a whistling shell approached.
98300
98301 "Not this way! To the infantry!" added another with loud laughter,
98302 seeing the shell fly past and fall into the ranks of the supports.
98303
98304 "Are you bowing to a friend, eh?" remarked another, chaffing a
98305 peasant who ducked low as a cannon ball flew over.
98306
98307 Several soldiers gathered by the wall of the trench, looking out
98308 to see what was happening in front.
98309
98310 "They've withdrawn the front line, it has retired," said they,
98311 pointing over the earthwork.
98312
98313 "Mind your own business," an old sergeant shouted at them. "If
98314 they've retired it's because there's work for them to do farther
98315 back."
98316
98317 And the sergeant, taking one of the men by the shoulders, gave him a
98318 shove with his knee. This was followed by a burst of laughter.
98319
98320 "To the fifth gun, wheel it up!" came shouts from one side.
98321
98322 "Now then, all together, like bargees!" rose the merry voices of
98323 those who were moving the gun.
98324
98325 "Oh, she nearly knocked our gentleman's hat off!" cried the
98326 red-faced humorist, showing his teeth chaffing Pierre. "Awkward
98327 baggage!" he added reproachfully to a cannon ball that struck a cannon
98328 wheel and a man's leg.
98329
98330 "Now then, you foxes!" said another, laughing at some militiamen
98331 who, stooping low, entered the battery to carry away the wounded man.
98332
98333 "So this gruel isn't to your taste? Oh, you crows! You're scared!"
98334 they shouted at the militiamen who stood hesitating before the man
98335 whose leg had been torn off.
98336
98337 "There, lads... oh, oh!" they mimicked the peasants, "they don't
98338 like it at all!"
98339
98340 Pierre noticed that after every ball that hit the redoubt, and after
98341 every loss, the liveliness increased more and more.
98342
98343 As the flames of the fire hidden within come more and more vividly
98344 and rapidly from an approaching thundercloud, so, as if in
98345 opposition to what was taking place, the lightning of hidden fire
98346 growing more and more intense glowed in the faces of these men.
98347
98348 Pierre did not look out at the battlefield and was not concerned
98349 to know what was happening there; he was entirely absorbed in watching
98350 this fire which burned ever more brightly and which he felt was
98351 flaming up in the same way in his own soul.
98352
98353 At ten o'clock the infantry that had been among the bushes in
98354 front of the battery and along the Kamenka streamlet retreated. From
98355 the battery they could be seen running back past it carrying their
98356 wounded on their muskets. A general with his suite came to the
98357 battery, and after speaking to the colonel gave Pierre an angry look
98358 and went away again having ordered the infantry supports behind the
98359 battery to lie down, so as to be less exposed to fire. After this from
98360 amid the ranks of infantry to the right of the battery came the
98361 sound of a drum and shouts of command, and from the battery one saw
98362 how those ranks of infantry moved forward.
98363
98364 Pierre looked over the wall of the trench and was particularly
98365 struck by a pale young officer who, letting his sword hang down, was
98366 walking backwards and kept glancing uneasily around.
98367
98368 The ranks of the infantry disappeared amid the smoke but their
98369 long-drawn shout and rapid musketry firing could still be heard. A few
98370 minutes later crowds of wounded men and stretcher-bearers came back
98371 from that direction. Projectiles began to fall still more frequently
98372 in the battery. Several men were lying about who had not been removed.
98373 Around the cannon the men moved still more briskly and busily. No
98374 one any longer took notice of Pierre. Once or twice he was shouted
98375 at for being in the way. The senior officer moved with big, rapid
98376 strides from one gun to another with a frowning face. The young
98377 officer, with his face still more flushed, commanded the men more
98378 scrupulously than ever. The soldiers handed up the charges, turned,
98379 loaded, and did their business with strained smartness. They gave
98380 little jumps as they walked, as though they were on springs.
98381
98382 The stormcloud had come upon them, and in every face the fire
98383 which Pierre had watched kindle burned up brightly. Pierre standing
98384 beside the commanding officer. The young officer, his hand to his
98385 shako, ran up to his superior.
98386
98387 "I have the honor to report, sir, that only eight rounds are left.
98388 Are we to continue firing?" he asked.
98389
98390 "Grapeshot!" the senior shouted, without answering the question,
98391 looking over the wall of the trench.
98392
98393 Suddenly something happened: the young officer gave a gasp and
98394 bending double sat down on the ground like a bird shot on the wing.
98395 Everything became strange, confused, and misty in Pierre's eyes.
98396
98397 One cannon ball after another whistled by and struck the
98398 earthwork, a soldier, or a gun. Pierre, who had not noticed these
98399 sounds before, now heard nothing else. On the right of the battery
98400 soldiers shouting "Hurrah!" were running not forwards but backwards,
98401 it seemed to Pierre.
98402
98403 A cannon ball struck the very end of the earth work by which he
98404 was standing, crumbling down the earth; a black ball flashed before
98405 his eyes and at the same instant plumped into something. Some
98406 militiamen who were entering the battery ran back.
98407
98408 "All with grapeshot!" shouted the officer.
98409
98410 The sergeant ran up to the officer and in a frightened whisper
98411 informed him (as a butler at dinner informs his master that there is
98412 no more of some wine asked for) that there were no more charges.
98413
98414 "The scoundrels! What are they doing?" shouted the officer,
98415 turning to Pierre.
98416
98417 The officer's face was red and perspiring and his eyes glittered
98418 under his frowning brow.
98419
98420 "Run to the reserves and bring up the ammunition boxes!" he
98421 yelled, angrily avoiding Pierre with his eyes and speaking to his men.
98422
98423 "I'll go," said Pierre.
98424
98425 The officer, without answering him, strode across to the opposite
98426 side.
98427
98428 "Don't fire.... Wait!" he shouted.
98429
98430 The man who had been ordered to go for ammunition stumbled against
98431 Pierre.
98432
98433 "Eh, sir, this is no place for you," said he, and ran down the
98434 slope.
98435
98436 Pierre ran after him, avoiding the spot where the young officer
98437 was sitting.
98438
98439 One cannon ball, another, and a third flew over him, falling in
98440 front, beside, and behind him. Pierre ran down the slope. "Where am
98441 I going?" he suddenly asked himself when he was already near the green
98442 ammunition wagons. He halted irresolutely, not knowing whether to
98443 return or go on. Suddenly a terrible concussion threw him backwards to
98444 the ground. At the same instant he was dazzled by a great flash of
98445 flame, and immediately a deafening roar, crackling, and whistling made
98446 his ears tingle.
98447
98448 When he came to himself he was sitting on the ground leaning on
98449 his hands; the ammunition wagons he had been approaching no longer
98450 existed, only charred green boards and rags littered the scorched
98451 grass, and a horse, dangling fragments of its shaft behind it,
98452 galloped past, while another horse lay, like Pierre, on the ground,
98453 uttering prolonged and piercing cries.
98454
98455
98456
98457
98458
98459 CHAPTER XXXII
98460
98461
98462 Beside himself with terror Pierre jumped up and ran back to the
98463 battery, as to the only refuge from the horrors that surrounded him.
98464
98465 On entering the earthwork he noticed that there were men doing
98466 something there but that no shots were being fired from the battery.
98467 He had no time to realize who these men were. He saw the senior
98468 officer lying on the earth wall with his back turned as if he were
98469 examining something down below and that one of the soldiers he had
98470 noticed before was struggling forward shouting "Brothers!" and
98471 trying to free himself from some men who were holding him by the
98472 arm. He also saw something else that was strange.
98473
98474 But he had not time to realize that the colonel had been killed,
98475 that the soldier shouting "Brothers!" was a prisoner, and that another
98476 man had been bayoneted in the back before his eyes, for hardly had
98477 he run into the redoubt before a thin, sallow-faced, perspiring man in
98478 a blue uniform rushed on him sword in hand, shouting something.
98479 Instinctively guarding against the shock--for they had been running
98480 together at full speed before they saw one another--Pierre put out his
98481 hands and seized the man (a French officer) by the shoulder with one
98482 hand and by the throat with the other. The officer, dropping his
98483 sword, seized Pierre by his collar.
98484
98485 For some seconds they gazed with frightened eyes at one another's
98486 unfamiliar faces and both were perplexed at what they had done and
98487 what they were to do next. "Am I taken prisoner or have I taken him
98488 prisoner?" each was thinking. But the French officer was evidently
98489 more inclined to think he had been taken prisoner because Pierre's
98490 strong hand, impelled by instinctive fear, squeezed his throat ever
98491 tighter and tighter. The Frenchman was about to say something, when
98492 just above their heads, terrible and low, a cannon ball whistled,
98493 and it seemed to Pierre that the French officer's head had been torn
98494 off, so swiftly had he ducked it.
98495
98496 Pierre too bent his head and let his hands fall. Without further
98497 thought as to who had taken whom prisoner, the Frenchman ran back to
98498 the battery and Pierre ran down the slope stumbling over the dead
98499 and wounded who, it seemed to him, caught at his feet. But before he
98500 reached the foot of the knoll he was met by a dense crowd of Russian
98501 soldiers who, stumbling, tripping up, and shouting, ran merrily and
98502 wildly toward the battery. (This was the attack for which Ermolov
98503 claimed the credit, declaring that only his courage and good luck made
98504 such a feat possible: it was the attack in which he was said to have
98505 thrown some St. George's Crosses he had in his pocket into the battery
98506 for the first soldiers to take who got there.)
98507
98508 The French who had occupied the battery fled, and our troops
98509 shouting "Hurrah!" pursued them so far beyond the battery that it
98510 was difficult to call them back.
98511
98512 The prisoners were brought down from the battery and among them
98513 was a wounded French general, whom the officers surrounded. Crowds
98514 of wounded--some known to Pierre and some unknown--Russians and
98515 French, with faces distorted by suffering, walked, crawled, and were
98516 carried on stretchers from the battery. Pierre again went up onto
98517 the knoll where he had spent over an hour, and of that family circle
98518 which had received him as a member he did not find a single one. There
98519 were many dead whom he did not know, but some he recognized. The young
98520 officer still sat in the same way, bent double, in a pool of blood
98521 at the edge of the earth wall. The red-faced man was still
98522 twitching, but they did not carry him away.
98523
98524 Pierre ran down the slope once more.
98525
98526 "Now they will stop it, now they will be horrified at what they have
98527 done!" he thought, aimlessly going toward a crowd of stretcher bearers
98528 moving from the battlefield.
98529
98530 But behind the veil of smoke the sun was still high, and in front
98531 and especially to the left, near Semenovsk, something seemed to be
98532 seething in the smoke, and the roar of cannon and musketry did not
98533 diminish, but even increased to desperation like a man who,
98534 straining himself, shrieks with all his remaining strength.
98535
98536
98537
98538
98539
98540 CHAPTER XXXIII
98541
98542
98543 The chief action of the battle of Borodino was fought within the
98544 seven thousand feet between Borodino and Bagration's fleches. Beyond
98545 that space there was, on the one side, a demonstration made by the
98546 Russians with Uvarov's cavalry at midday, and on the other side,
98547 beyond Utitsa, Poniatowski's collision with Tuchkov; but these two
98548 were detached and feeble actions in comparison with what took place in
98549 the center of the battlefield. On the field between Borodino and the
98550 fleches, beside the wood, the chief action of the day took place on an
98551 open space visible from both sides and was fought in the simplest
98552 and most artless way.
98553
98554 The battle began on both sides with a cannonade from several hundred
98555 guns.
98556
98557 Then when the whole field was covered with smoke, two divisions,
98558 Campan's and Dessaix's, advanced from the French right, while
98559 Murat's troops advanced on Borodino from their left.
98560
98561 From the Shevardino Redoubt where Napoleon was standing the
98562 fleches were two thirds of a mile away, and it was more than a mile as
98563 the crow flies to Borodino, so that Napoleon could not see what was
98564 happening there, especially as the smoke mingling with the mist hid
98565 the whole locality. The soldiers of Dessaix's division advancing
98566 against the fleches could only be seen till they had entered the
98567 hollow that lay between them and the fleches. As soon as they had
98568 descended into that hollow, the smoke of the guns and musketry on
98569 the fleches grew so dense that it covered the whole approach on that
98570 side of it. Through the smoke glimpses could be caught of something
98571 black--probably men--and at times the glint of bayonets. But whether
98572 they were moving or stationary, whether they were French or Russian,
98573 could not be discovered from the Shevardino Redoubt.
98574
98575 The sun had risen brightly and its slanting rays struck straight
98576 into Napoleon's face as, shading his eyes with his hand, he looked
98577 at the fleches. The smoke spread out before them, and at times it
98578 looked as if the smoke were moving, at times as if the troops moved.
98579 Sometimes shouts were heard through the firing, but it was
98580 impossible to tell what was being done there.
98581
98582 Napoleon, standing on the knoll, looked through a field glass, and
98583 in its small circlet saw smoke and men, sometimes his own and
98584 sometimes Russians, but when he looked again with the naked eye, he
98585 could not tell where what he had seen was.
98586
98587 He descended the knoll and began walking up and down before it.
98588
98589 Occasionally he stopped, listened to the firing, and gazed
98590 intently at the battlefield.
98591
98592 But not only was it impossible to make out what was happening from
98593 where he was standing down below, or from the knoll above on which
98594 some of his generals had taken their stand, but even from the
98595 fleches themselves--in which by this time there were now Russian and
98596 now French soldiers, alternately or together, dead, wounded, alive,
98597 frightened, or maddened--even at those fleches themselves it was
98598 impossible to make out what was taking place. There for several
98599 hours amid incessant cannon and musketry fire, now Russians were
98600 seen alone, now Frenchmen alone, now infantry, and now cavalry: they
98601 appeared, fired, fell, collided, not knowing what to do with one
98602 another, screamed, and ran back again.
98603
98604 From the battlefield adjutants he had sent out, and orderlies from
98605 his marshals, kept galloping up to Napoleon with reports of the
98606 progress of the action, but all these reports were false, both because
98607 it was impossible in the heat of battle to say what was happening at
98608 any given moment and because many of the adjutants did not go to the
98609 actual place of conflict but reported what they had heard from others;
98610 and also because while an adjutant was riding more than a mile to
98611 Napoleon circumstances changed and the news he brought was already
98612 becoming false. Thus an adjutant galloped up from Murat with tidings
98613 that Borodino had been occupied and the bridge over the Kolocha was in
98614 the hands of the French. The adjutant asked whether Napoleon wished
98615 the troops to cross it? Napoleon gave orders that the troops should
98616 form up on the farther side and wait. But before that order was given-
98617 almost as soon in fact as the adjutant had left Borodino--the bridge
98618 had been retaken by the Russians and burned, in the very skirmish at
98619 which Pierre had been present at the beginning of the battle.
98620
98621 An adjutant galloped up from the fleches with a pale and
98622 frightened face and reported to Napoleon that their attack had been
98623 repulsed, Campan wounded, and Davout killed; yet at the very time
98624 the adjutant had been told that the French had been repulsed, the
98625 fleches had in fact been recaptured by other French troops, and Davout
98626 was alive and only slightly bruised. On the basis of these necessarily
98627 untrustworthy reports Napoleon gave his orders, which had either
98628 been executed before he gave them or could not be and were not
98629 executed.
98630
98631 The marshals and generals, who were nearer to the field of battle
98632 but, like Napoleon, did not take part in the actual fighting and
98633 only occasionally went within musket range, made their own
98634 arrangements without asking Napoleon and issued orders where and in
98635 what direction to fire and where cavalry should gallop and infantry
98636 should run. But even their orders, like Napoleon's, were seldom
98637 carried out, and then but partially. For the most part things happened
98638 contrary to their orders. Soldiers ordered to advance ran back on
98639 meeting grapeshot; soldiers ordered to remain where they were,
98640 suddenly, seeing Russians unexpectedly before them, sometimes rushed
98641 back and sometimes forward, and the cavalry dashed without orders in
98642 pursuit of the flying Russians. In this way two cavalry regiments
98643 galloped through the Semenovsk hollow and as soon as they reached
98644 the top of the incline turned round and galloped full speed back
98645 again. The infantry moved in the same way, sometimes running to
98646 quite other places than those they were ordered to go to. All orders
98647 as to where and when to move the guns, when to send infantry to
98648 shoot or horsemen to ride down the Russian infantry--all such orders
98649 were given by the officers on the spot nearest to the units concerned,
98650 without asking either Ney, Davout, or Murat, much less Napoleon.
98651 They did not fear getting into trouble for not fulfilling orders or
98652 for acting on their own initiative, for in battle what is at stake
98653 is what is dearest to man--his own life--and it sometimes seems that
98654 safety lies in running back, sometimes in running forward; and these
98655 men who were right in the heat of the battle acted according to the
98656 mood of the moment. In reality, however, all these movements forward
98657 and backward did not improve or alter the position of the troops.
98658 All their rushing and galloping at one another did little harm, the
98659 harm of disablement and death was caused by the balls and bullets that
98660 flew over the fields on which these men were floundering about. As
98661 soon as they left the place where the balls and bullets were flying
98662 about, their superiors, located in the background, re-formed them
98663 and brought them under discipline and under the influence of that
98664 discipline led them back to the zone of fire, where under the
98665 influence of fear of death they lost their discipline and rushed about
98666 according to the chance promptings of the throng.
98667
98668
98669
98670
98671
98672 CHAPTER XXXIV
98673
98674
98675 Napoleon's generals--Davout, Ney, and Murat, who were near that
98676 region of fire and sometimes even entered it--repeatedly led into it
98677 huge masses of well-ordered troops. But contrary to what had always
98678 happened in their former battles, instead of the news they expected of
98679 the enemy's flight, these orderly masses returned thence as
98680 disorganized and terrified mobs. The generals re-formed them, but
98681 their numbers constantly decreased. In the middle of the day Murat
98682 sent his adjutant to Napoleon to demand reinforcements.
98683
98684 Napoleon sat at the foot of the knoll, drinking punch, when
98685 Murat's adjutant galloped up with an assurance that the Russians would
98686 be routed if His Majesty would let him have another division.
98687
98688 "Reinforcements?" said Napoleon in a tone of stern surprise, looking
98689 at the adjutant--a handsome lad with long black curls arranged like
98690 Murat's own--as though he did not understand his words.
98691
98692 "Reinforcements!" thought Napoleon to himself. "How can they need
98693 reinforcements when they already have half the army directed against a
98694 weak, unentrenched Russian wing?"
98695
98696 "Tell the King of Naples," said he sternly, "that it is not noon
98697 yet, and I don't yet see my chessboard clearly. Go!..."
98698
98699 The handsome boy adjutant with the long hair sighed deeply without
98700 removing his hand from his hat and galloped back to where men were
98701 being slaughtered.
98702
98703 Napoleon rose and having summoned Caulaincourt and Berthier began
98704 talking to them about matters unconnected with the battle.
98705
98706 In the midst of this conversation, which was beginning to interest
98707 Napoleon, Berthier's eyes turned to look at a general with a suite,
98708 who was galloping toward the knoll on a lathering horse. It was
98709 Belliard. Having dismounted he went up to the Emperor with rapid
98710 strides and in a loud voice began boldly demonstrating the necessity
98711 of sending reinforcements. He swore on his honor that the Russians
98712 were lost if the Emperor would give another division.
98713
98714 Napoleon shrugged his shoulders and continued to pace up and down
98715 without replying. Belliard began talking loudly and eagerly to the
98716 generals of the suite around him.
98717
98718 "You are very fiery, Belliard," said Napoleon, when he again came up
98719 to the general. "In the heat of a battle it is easy to make a mistake.
98720 Go and have another look and then come back to me."
98721
98722 Before Belliard was out of sight, a messenger from another part of
98723 the battlefield galloped up.
98724
98725 "Now then, what do you want?" asked Napoleon in the tone of a man
98726 irritated at being continually disturbed.
98727
98728 "Sire, the prince..." began the adjutant.
98729
98730 "Asks for reinforcements?" said Napoleon with an angry gesture.
98731
98732 The adjutant bent his head affirmatively and began to report, but
98733 the Emperor turned from him, took a couple of steps, stopped, came
98734 back, and called Berthier.
98735
98736 "We must give reserves," he said, moving his arms slightly apart.
98737 "Who do you think should be sent there?" he asked of Berthier (whom he
98738 subsequently termed "that gosling I have made an eagle").
98739
98740 "Send Claparede's division, sire," replied Berthier, who knew all
98741 the divisions regiments, and battalions by heart.
98742
98743 Napoleon nodded assent.
98744
98745 The adjutant galloped to Claparede's division and a few minutes
98746 later the Young Guards stationed behind the knoll moved forward.
98747 Napoleon gazed silently in that direction.
98748
98749 "No!" he suddenly said to Berthier. "I can't send Claparede. Send
98750 Friant's division."
98751
98752 Though there was no advantage in sending Friant's division instead
98753 of Claparede's, and even in obvious inconvenience and delay in
98754 stopping Claparede and sending Friant now, the order was carried out
98755 exactly. Napoleon did not notice that in regard to his army he was
98756 playing the part of a doctor who hinders by his medicines--a role he
98757 so justly understood and condemned.
98758
98759 Friant's division disappeared as the others had done into the
98760 smoke of the battlefield. From all sides adjutants continued to arrive
98761 at a gallop and as if by agreement all said the same thing. They all
98762 asked for reinforcements and all said that the Russians were holding
98763 their positions and maintaining a hellish fire under which the
98764 French army was melting away.
98765
98766 Napoleon sat on a campstool, wrapped in thought.
98767
98768 M. de Beausset, the man so fond of travel, having fasted since
98769 morning, came up to the Emperor and ventured respectfully to suggest
98770 lunch to His Majesty.
98771
98772 "I hope I may now congratulate Your Majesty on a victory?" said he.
98773
98774 Napoleon silently shook his head in negation. Assuming the
98775 negation to refer only to the victory and not to the lunch, M. de
98776 Beausset ventured with respectful jocularity to remark that there is
98777 no reason for not having lunch when one can get it.
98778
98779 "Go away..." exclaimed Napoleon suddenly and morosely, and turned
98780 aside.
98781
98782 A beatific smile of regret, repentance, and ecstasy beamed on M.
98783 de Beausset's face and he glided away to the other generals.
98784
98785 Napoleon was experiencing a feeling of depression like that of an
98786 ever-lucky gambler who, after recklessly flinging money about and
98787 always winning, suddenly just when he has calculated all the chances
98788 of the game, finds that the more he considers his play the more surely
98789 he loses.
98790
98791 His troops were the same, his generals the same, the same
98792 preparations had been made, the same dispositions, and the same
98793 proclamation courte et energique, he himself was still the same: he
98794 knew that and knew that he was now even more experienced and
98795 skillful than before. Even the enemy was the same as at Austerlitz and
98796 Friedland--yet the terrible stroke of his arm had supernaturally
98797 become impotent.
98798
98799 All the old methods that had been unfailingly crowned with
98800 success: the concentration of batteries on one point, an attack by
98801 reserves to break the enemy's line, and a cavalry attack by "the men
98802 of iron," all these methods had already been employed, yet not only
98803 was there no victory, but from all sides came the same news of
98804 generals killed and wounded, of reinforcements needed, of the
98805 impossibility of driving back the Russians, and of disorganization
98806 among his own troops.
98807
98808 Formerly, after he had given two or three orders and uttered a few
98809 phrases, marshals and adjutants had come galloping up with
98810 congratulations and happy faces, announcing the trophies taken, the
98811 corps of prisoners, bundles of enemy eagles and standards, cannon
98812 and stores, and Murat had only begged leave to loose the cavalry to
98813 gather in the baggage wagons. So it had been at Lodi, Marengo, Arcola,
98814 Jena, Austerlitz, Wagram, and so on. But now something strange was
98815 happening to his troops.
98816
98817 Despite news of the capture of the fleches, Napoleon saw that this
98818 was not the same, not at all the same, as what had happened in his
98819 former battles. He saw that what he was feeling was felt by all the
98820 men about him experienced in the art of war. All their faces looked
98821 dejected, and they all shunned one another's eyes--only a de
98822 Beausset could fail to grasp the meaning of what was happening.
98823
98824 But Napoleon with his long experience of war well knew the meaning
98825 of a battle not gained by the attacking side in eight hours, after all
98826 efforts had been expended. He knew that it was a lost battle and
98827 that the least accident might now--with the fight balanced on such a
98828 strained center--destroy him and his army.
98829
98830 When he ran his mind over the whole of this strange Russian campaign
98831 in which not one battle had been won, and in which not a flag, or
98832 cannon, or army corps had been captured in two months, when he
98833 looked at the concealed depression on the faces around him and heard
98834 reports of the Russians still holding their ground--a terrible feeling
98835 like a nightmare took possession of him, and all the unlucky accidents
98836 that might destroy him occurred to his mind. The Russians might fall
98837 on his left wing, might break through his center, he himself might
98838 be killed by a stray cannon ball. All this was possible. In former
98839 battles he had only considered the possibilities of success, but now
98840 innumerable unlucky chances presented themselves, and he expected them
98841 all. Yes, it was like a dream in which a man fancies that a ruffian is
98842 coming to attack him, and raises his arm to strike that ruffian a
98843 terrible blow which he knows should annihilate him, but then feels
98844 that his arm drops powerless and limp like a rag, and the horror of
98845 unavoidable destruction seizes him in his helplessness.
98846
98847 The news that the Russians were attacking the left flank of the
98848 French army aroused that horror in Napoleon. He sat silently on a
98849 campstool below the knoll, with head bowed and elbows on his knees.
98850 Berthier approached and suggested that they should ride along the line
98851 to ascertain the position of affairs.
98852
98853 "What? What do you say?" asked Napoleon. "Yes, tell them to bring me
98854 my horse."
98855
98856 He mounted and rode toward Semenovsk.
98857
98858 Amid the powder smoke, slowly dispersing over the whole space
98859 through which Napoleon rode, horses and men were lying in pools of
98860 blood, singly or in heaps. Neither Napoleon nor any of his generals
98861 had ever before seen such horrors or so many slain in such a small
98862 area. The roar of guns, that had not ceased for ten hours, wearied the
98863 ear and gave a peculiar significance to the spectacle, as music does
98864 to tableaux vivants. Napoleon rode up the high ground at Semenovsk,
98865 and through the smoke saw ranks of men in uniforms of a color
98866 unfamiliar to him. They were Russians.
98867
98868 The Russians stood in serried ranks behind Semenovsk village and its
98869 knoll, and their guns boomed incessantly along their line and sent
98870 forth clouds of smoke. It was no longer a battle: it was a
98871 continuous slaughter which could be of no avail either to the French
98872 or the Russians. Napoleon stopped his horse and again fell into the
98873 reverie from which Berthier had aroused him. He could not stop what
98874 was going on before him and around him and was supposed to be directed
98875 by him and to depend on him, and from its lack of success this affair,
98876 for the first time, seemed to him unnecessary and horrible.
98877
98878 One of the generals rode up to Napoleon and ventured to offer to
98879 lead the Old Guard into action. Ney and Berthier, standing near
98880 Napoleon, exchanged looks and smiled contemptuously at this
98881 general's senseless offer.
98882
98883 Napoleon bowed his head and remained silent a long time.
98884
98885 "At eight hundred leagues from France, I will not have my Guard
98886 destroyed!" he said, and turning his horse rode back to Shevardino.
98887
98888
98889
98890
98891
98892 CHAPTER XXXV
98893
98894
98895 On the rug-covered bench where Pierre had seen him in the morning
98896 sat Kutuzov, his gray head hanging, his heavy body relaxed. He gave no
98897 orders, but only assented to or dissented from what others suggested.
98898
98899 "Yes, yes, do that," he replied to various proposals. "Yes, yes: go,
98900 dear boy, and have a look," he would say to one or another of those
98901 about him; or, "No, don't, we'd better wait!" He listened to the
98902 reports that were brought him and gave directions when his
98903 subordinates demanded that of him; but when listening to the reports
98904 it seemed as if he were not interested in the import of the words
98905 spoken, but rather in something else--in the expression of face and
98906 tone of voice of those who were reporting. By long years of military
98907 experience he knew, and with the wisdom of age understood, that it
98908 is impossible for one man to direct hundreds of thousands of others
98909 struggling with death, and he knew that the result of a battle is
98910 decided not by the orders of a commander in chief, nor the place where
98911 the troops are stationed, nor by the number of cannon or of
98912 slaughtered men, but by that intangible force called the spirit of the
98913 army, and he watched this force and guided it in as far as that was in
98914 his power.
98915
98916 Kutuzov's general expression was one of concentrated quiet
98917 attention, and his face wore a strained look as if he found it
98918 difficult to master the fatigue of his old and feeble body.
98919
98920 At eleven o'clock they brought him news that the fleches captured by
98921 the French had been retaken, but that Prince Bagration was wounded.
98922 Kutuzov groaned and swayed his head.
98923
98924 "Ride over to Prince Peter Ivanovich and find out about it exactly,"
98925 he said to one of his adjutants, and then turned to the Duke of
98926 Wurttemberg who was standing behind him.
98927
98928 "Will Your Highness please take command of the first army?"
98929
98930 Soon after the duke's departure--before he could possibly have
98931 reached Semenovsk--his adjutant came back from him and told Kutuzov
98932 that the duke asked for more troops.
98933
98934 Kutuzov made a grimace and sent an order to Dokhturov to take over
98935 the command of the first army, and a request to the duke--whom he said
98936 he could not spare at such an important moment--to return to him. When
98937 they brought him news that Murat had been taken prisoner, and the
98938 staff officers congratulated him, Kutuzov smiled.
98939
98940 "Wait a little, gentlemen," said he. "The battle is won, and there
98941 is nothing extraordinary in the capture of Murat. Still, it is
98942 better to wait before we rejoice."
98943
98944 But he sent an adjutant to take the news round the army.
98945
98946 When Scherbinin came galloping from the left flank with news that
98947 the French had captured the fleches and the village of Semenovsk,
98948 Kutuzov, guessing by the sounds of the battle and by Scherbinin's
98949 looks that the news was bad, rose as if to stretch his legs and,
98950 taking Scherbinin's arm, led him aside.
98951
98952 "Go, my dear fellow," he said to Ermolov, "and see whether something
98953 can't be done."
98954
98955 Kutuzov was in Gorki, near the center of the Russian position. The
98956 attack directed by Napoleon against our left flank had been several
98957 times repulsed. In the center the French had not got beyond
98958 Borodino, and on their left flank Uvarov's cavalry had put the
98959 French to flight.
98960
98961 Toward three o'clock the French attacks ceased. On the faces of
98962 all who came from the field of battle, and of those who stood around
98963 him, Kutuzov noticed an expression of extreme tension. He was
98964 satisfied with the day's success--a success exceeding his
98965 expectations, but the old man's strength was failing him. Several
98966 times his head dropped low as if it were falling and he dozed off.
98967 Dinner was brought him.
98968
98969 Adjutant General Wolzogen, the man who when riding past Prince
98970 Andrew had said, "the war should be extended widely," and whom
98971 Bagration so detested, rode up while Kutuzov was at dinner. Wolzogen
98972 had come from Barclay de Tolly to report on the progress of affairs on
98973 the left flank. The sagacious Barclay de Tolly, seeing crowds of
98974 wounded men running back and the disordered rear of the army,
98975 weighed all the circumstances, concluded that the battle was lost, and
98976 sent his favorite officer to the commander in chief with that news.
98977
98978 Kutuzov was chewing a piece of roast chicken with difficulty and
98979 glanced at Wolzogen with eyes that brightened under their puckering
98980 lids.
98981
98982 Wolzogen, nonchalantly stretching his legs, approached Kutuzov
98983 with a half-contemptuous smile on his lips, scarcely touching the peak
98984 of his cap.
98985
98986 He treated his Serene Highness with a somewhat affected
98987 nonchalance intended to show that, as a highly trained military man,
98988 he left it to Russians to make an idol of this useless old man, but
98989 that he knew whom he was dealing with. "Der alte Herr" (as in their
98990 own set the Germans called Kutuzov) "is making himself very
98991 comfortable," thought Wolzogen, and looking severely at the dishes
98992 in front of Kutuzov he began to report to "the old gentleman" the
98993 position of affairs on the left flank as Barclay had ordered him to
98994 and as he himself had seen and understood it.
98995
98996 "All the points of our position are in the enemy's hands and we
98997 cannot dislodge them for lack of troops, the men are running away
98998 and it is impossible to stop them," he reported.
98999
99000 Kutuzov ceased chewing and fixed an astonished gaze on Wolzogen,
99001 as if not understand what was said to him. Wolzogen, noticing "the old
99002 gentleman's" agitation, said with a smile:
99003
99004 "I have not considered it right to conceal from your Serene Highness
99005 what I have seen. The troops are in complete disorder..."
99006
99007 "You have seen? You have seen?..." Kutuzov shouted frowning, and
99008 rising quickly he went up to Wolzogen.
99009
99010 "How... how dare you!..." he shouted, choking and making a
99011 threatening gesture with his trembling arms: "How dare you, sir, say
99012 that to me? You know nothing about it. Tell General Barclay from me
99013 that his information is incorrect and that the real course of the
99014 battle is better known to me, the commander in chief, than to him."
99015
99016 Wolzogen was about to make a rejoinder, but Kutuzov interrupted him.
99017
99018 "The enemy has been repulsed on the left and defeated on the right
99019 flank. If you have seen amiss, sir, do not allow yourself to say
99020 what you don't know! Be so good as to ride to General Barclay and
99021 inform him of my firm intention to attack the enemy tomorrow," said
99022 Kutuzov sternly.
99023
99024 All were silent, and the only sound audible was the heavy
99025 breathing of the panting old general.
99026
99027 "They are repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave
99028 army! The enemy is beaten, and tomorrow we shall drive him from the
99029 sacred soil of Russia," said Kutuzov crossing himself, and he suddenly
99030 sobbed as his eyes filled with tears.
99031
99032 Wolzogen, shrugging his shoulders and curling his lips, stepped
99033 silently aside, marveling at "the old gentleman's" conceited
99034 stupidity.
99035
99036 "Ah, here he is, my hero!" said Kutuzov to a portly, handsome,
99037 dark-haired general who was just ascending the knoll.
99038
99039 This was Raevski, who had spent the whole day at the most
99040 important part of the field of Borodino.
99041
99042 Raevski reported that the troops were firmly holding their ground
99043 and that the French no longer ventured to attack.
99044
99045 After hearing him, Kutuzov said in French:
99046
99047 "Then you do not think, like some others, that we must retreat?"
99048
99049 "On the contrary, your Highness, in indecisive actions it is
99050 always the most stubborn who remain victors," replied Raevski, "and in
99051 my opinion..."
99052
99053 "Kaysarov!" Kutuzov called to his adjutant. "Sit down and write
99054 out the order of the day for tomorrow. And you," he continued,
99055 addressing another, "ride along the line and that tomorrow we attack."
99056
99057 While Kutuzov was talking to Raevski and dictating the order of
99058 the day, Wolzogen returned from Barclay and said that General
99059 Barclay wished to have written confirmation of the order the field
99060 marshal had given.
99061
99062 Kutuzov, without looking at Wolzogen, gave directions for the
99063 order to be written out which the former commander in chief, to
99064 avoid personal responsibility, very judiciously wished to receive.
99065
99066 And by means of that mysterious indefinable bond which maintains
99067 throughout an army one and the same temper, known as "the spirit of
99068 the army," and which constitutes the sinew of war, Kutuzov's words,
99069 his order for a battle next day, immediately became known from one end
99070 of the army to the other.
99071
99072 It was far from being the same words or the same order that
99073 reached the farthest links of that chain. The tales passing from mouth
99074 to mouth at different ends of the army did not even resemble what
99075 Kutuzov had said, but the sense of his words spread everywhere because
99076 what he said was not the outcome of cunning calculations, but of a
99077 feeling that lay in the commander in chief's soul as in that of
99078 every Russian.
99079
99080 And on learning that tomorrow they were to attack the enemy, and
99081 hearing from the highest quarters a confirmation of what they wanted
99082 to believe, the exhausted, wavering men felt comforted and inspirited.
99083
99084
99085
99086
99087
99088 CHAPTER XXXVI
99089
99090
99091 Prince Andrew's regiment was among the reserves which till after one
99092 o'clock were stationed inactive behind Semenovsk, under heavy
99093 artillery fire. Toward two o'clock the regiment, having already lost
99094 more than two hundred men, was moved forward into a trampled
99095 oatfield in the gap between Semenovsk and the Knoll Battery, where
99096 thousands of men perished that day and on which an intense,
99097 concentrated fire from several hundred enemy guns was directed between
99098 one and two o'clock.
99099
99100 Without moving from that spot or firing a single shot the regiment
99101 here lost another third of its men. From in front and especially
99102 from the right, in the unlifting smoke the guns boomed, and out of the
99103 mysterious domain of smoke that overlay the whole space in front,
99104 quick hissing cannon balls and slow whistling shells flew unceasingly.
99105 At times, as if to allow them a respite, a quarter of an hour passed
99106 during which the cannon balls and shells all flew overhead, but
99107 sometimes several men were torn from the regiment in a minute and
99108 the slain were continually being dragged away and the wounded
99109 carried off.
99110
99111 With each fresh blow less and less chance of life remained for those
99112 not yet killed. The regiment stood in columns of battalion, three
99113 hundred paces apart, but nevertheless the men were always in one and
99114 the same mood. All alike were taciturn and morose. Talk was rarely
99115 heard in the ranks, and it ceased altogether every time the thud of
99116 a successful shot and the cry of "stretchers!" was heard. Most of
99117 the time, by their officers' order, the men sat on the ground. One,
99118 having taken off his shako, carefully loosened the gathers of its
99119 lining and drew them tight again; another, rubbing some dry clay
99120 between his palms, polished his bayonet; another fingered the strap
99121 and pulled the buckle of his bandolier, while another smoothed and
99122 refolded his leg bands and put his boots on again. Some built little
99123 houses of the tufts in the plowed ground, or plaited baskets from
99124 the straw in the cornfield. All seemed fully absorbed in these
99125 pursuits. When men were killed or wounded, when rows of stretchers
99126 went past, when some troops retreated, and when great masses of the
99127 enemy came into view through the smoke, no one paid any attention to
99128 these things. But when our artillery or cavalry advanced or some of
99129 our infantry were seen to move forward, words of approval were heard
99130 on all sides. But the liveliest attention was attracted by occurrences
99131 quite apart from, and unconnected with, the battle. It was as if the
99132 minds of these morally exhausted men found relief in everyday,
99133 commonplace occurrences. A battery of artillery was passing in front
99134 of the regiment. The horse of an ammunition cart put its leg over a
99135 trace. "Hey, look at the trace horse!... Get her leg out! She'll
99136 fall.... Ah, they don't see it!" came identical shouts from the
99137 ranks all along the regiment. Another time, general attention was
99138 attracted by a small brown dog, coming heaven knows whence, which
99139 trotted in a preoccupied manner in front of the ranks with tail
99140 stiffly erect till suddenly a shell fell close by, when it yelped,
99141 tucked its tail between its legs, and darted aside. Yells and
99142 shrieks of laughter rose from the whole regiment. But such
99143 distractions lasted only a moment, and for eight hours the men had
99144 been inactive, without food, in constant fear of death, and their pale
99145 and gloomy faces grew ever paler and gloomier.
99146
99147 Prince Andrew, pale and gloomy like everyone in the regiment,
99148 paced up and down from the border of one patch to another, at the edge
99149 of the meadow beside an oatfield, with head bowed and arms behind
99150 his back. There was nothing for him to do and no orders to be given.
99151 Everything went on of itself. The killed were dragged from the
99152 front, the wounded carried away, and the ranks closed up. If any
99153 soldiers ran to the rear they returned immediately and hastily. At
99154 first Prince Andrew, considering it his duty to rouse the courage of
99155 the men and to set them an example, walked about among the ranks,
99156 but he soon became convinced that this was unnecessary and that
99157 there was nothing he could teach them. All the powers of his soul,
99158 as of every soldier there, were unconsciously bent on avoiding the
99159 contemplation of the horrors of their situation. He walked along the
99160 meadow, dragging his feet, rustling the grass, and gazing at the
99161 dust that covered his boots; now he took big strides trying to keep to
99162 the footprints left on the meadow by the mowers, then he counted his
99163 steps, calculating how often he must walk from one strip to another to
99164 walk a mile, then he stripped the flowers from the wormwood that
99165 grew along a boundary rut, rubbed them in his palms, and smelled their
99166 pungent, sweetly bitter scent. Nothing remained of the previous
99167 day's thoughts. He thought of nothing. He listened with weary ears
99168 to the ever-recurring sounds, distinguishing the whistle of flying
99169 projectiles from the booming of the reports, glanced at the tiresomely
99170 familiar faces of the men of the first battalion, and waited. "Here it
99171 comes... this one is coming our way again!" he thought, listening to
99172 an approaching whistle in the hidden region of smoke. "One, another!
99173 Again! It has hit...." He stopped and looked at the ranks. "No, it has
99174 gone over. But this one has hit!" And again he started trying to reach
99175 the boundary strip in sixteen paces. A whizz and a thud! Five paces
99176 from him, a cannon ball tore up the dry earth and disappeared. A chill
99177 ran down his back. Again he glanced at the ranks. Probably many had
99178 been hit--a large crowd had gathered near the second battalion.
99179
99180 "Adjutant!" he shouted. "Order them not to crowd together."
99181
99182 The adjutant, having obeyed this instruction, approached Prince
99183 Andrew. From the other side a battalion commander rode up.
99184
99185 "Look out!" came a frightened cry from a soldier and, like a bird
99186 whirring in rapid flight and alighting on the ground, a shell
99187 dropped with little noise within two steps of Prince Andrew and
99188 close to the battalion commander's horse. The horse first,
99189 regardless of whether it was right or wrong to show fear, snorted,
99190 reared almost throwing the major, and galloped aside. The horse's
99191 terror infected the men.
99192
99193 "Lie down!" cried the adjutant, throwing himself flat on the ground.
99194
99195 Prince Andrew hesitated. The smoking shell spun like a top between
99196 him and the prostrate adjutant, near a wormwood plant between the
99197 field and the meadow.
99198
99199 "Can this be death?" thought Prince Andrew, looking with a quite
99200 new, envious glance at the grass, the wormwood, and the streamlet of
99201 smoke that curled up from the rotating black ball. "I cannot, I do not
99202 wish to die. I love life--I love this grass, this earth, this air...."
99203 He thought this, and at the same time remembered that people were
99204 looking at him.
99205
99206 "It's shameful, sir!" he said to the adjutant. "What..."
99207
99208 He did not finish speaking. At one and the same moment came the
99209 sound of an explosion, a whistle of splinters as from a breaking
99210 window frame, a suffocating smell of powder, and Prince Andrew started
99211 to one side, raising his arm, and fell on his chest. Several
99212 officers ran up to him. From the right side of his abdomen, blood
99213 was welling out making a large stain on the grass.
99214
99215 The militiamen with stretchers who were called up stood behind the
99216 officers. Prince Andrew lay on his chest with his face in the grass,
99217 breathing heavily and noisily.
99218
99219 "What are you waiting for? Come along!"
99220
99221 The peasants went up and took him by his shoulders and legs, but
99222 he moaned piteously and, exchanging looks, they set him down again.
99223
99224 "Pick him up, lift him, it's all the same!" cried someone.
99225
99226 They again took him by the shoulders and laid him on the stretcher.
99227
99228 "Ah, God! My God! What is it? The stomach? That means death! My
99229 God!"--voices among the officers were heard saying.
99230
99231 "It flew a hair's breadth past my ear," said the adjutant.
99232
99233 The peasants, adjusting the stretcher to their shoulders, started
99234 hurriedly along the path they had trodden down, to the dressing
99235 station.
99236
99237 "Keep in step! Ah... those peasants!" shouted an officer, seizing by
99238 their shoulders and checking the peasants, who were walking unevenly
99239 and jolting the stretcher.
99240
99241 "Get into step, Fedor... I say, Fedor!" said the foremost peasant.
99242
99243 "Now that's right!" said the one behind joyfully, when he had got
99244 into step.
99245
99246 "Your excellency! Eh, Prince!" said the trembling voice of Timokhin,
99247 who had run up and was looking down on the stretcher.
99248
99249 Prince Andrew opened his eyes and looked up at the speaker from
99250 the stretcher into which his head had sunk deep and again his
99251 eyelids drooped.
99252
99253
99254 The militiamen carried Prince Andrew to dressing station by the
99255 wood, where wagons were stationed. The dressing station consisted of
99256 three tents with flaps turned back, pitched at the edge of a birch
99257 wood. In the wood, wagons and horses were standing. The horses were
99258 eating oats from their movable troughs and sparrows flew down and
99259 pecked the grains that fell. Some crows, scenting blood, flew among
99260 the birch trees cawing impatiently. Around the tents, over more than
99261 five acres, bloodstained men in various garbs stood, sat, or lay.
99262 Around the wounded stood crowds of soldier stretcher-bearers with
99263 dismal and attentive faces, whom the officers keeping order tried in
99264 vain to drive from the spot. Disregarding the officers' orders, the
99265 soldiers stood leaning against their stretchers and gazing intently,
99266 as if trying to comprehend the difficult problem of what was taking
99267 place before them. From the tents came now loud angry cries and now
99268 plaintive groans. Occasionally dressers ran out to fetch water, or
99269 to point out those who were to be brought in next. The wounded men
99270 awaiting their turn outside the tents groaned, sighed, wept, screamed,
99271 swore, or asked for vodka. Some were delirious. Prince Andrew's
99272 bearers, stepping over the wounded who had not yet been bandaged, took
99273 him, as a regimental commander, close up to one of the tents and there
99274 stopped, awaiting instructions. Prince Andrew opened his eyes and
99275 for a long time could not make out what was going on around him. He
99276 remembered the meadow, the wormwood, the field, the whirling black
99277 ball, and his sudden rush of passionate love of life. Two steps from
99278 him, leaning against a branch and talking loudly and attracting
99279 general attention, stood a tall, handsome, black-haired
99280 noncommissioned officer with a bandaged head. He had been wounded in
99281 the head and leg by bullets. Around him, eagerly listening to his
99282 talk, a crowd of wounded and stretcher-bearers was gathered.
99283
99284 "We kicked him out from there so that he chucked everything, we
99285 grabbed the King himself!" cried he, looking around him with eyes that
99286 glittered with fever. "If only reserves had come up just then, lads,
99287 there wouldn't have been nothing left of him! I tell you surely..."
99288
99289 Like all the others near the speaker, Prince Andrew looked at him
99290 with shining eyes and experienced a sense of comfort. "But isn't it
99291 all the same now?" thought he. "And what will be there, and what has
99292 there been here? Why was I so reluctant to part with life? There was
99293 something in this life I did not and do not understand."
99294
99295
99296
99297
99298
99299 CHAPTER XXXVII
99300
99301
99302 One of the doctors came out of the tent in a bloodstained apron,
99303 holding a cigar between the thumb and little finger of one of his
99304 small bloodstained hands, so as not to smear it. He raised his head
99305 and looked about him, but above the level of the wounded men. He
99306 evidently wanted a little respite. After turning his head from right
99307 to left for some time, he sighed and looked down.
99308
99309 "All right, immediately," he replied to a dresser who pointed Prince
99310 Andrew out to him, and he told them to carry him into the tent.
99311
99312 Murmurs arose among the wounded who were waiting.
99313
99314 "It seems that even in the next world only the gentry are to have
99315 a chance!" remarked one.
99316
99317 Prince Andrew was carried in and laid on a table that had only
99318 just been cleared and which a dresser was washing down. Prince
99319 Andrew could not make out distinctly what was in that tent. The
99320 pitiful groans from all sides and the torturing pain in his thigh,
99321 stomach, and back distracted him. All he saw about him merged into a
99322 general impression of naked, bleeding human bodies that seemed to fill
99323 the whole of the low tent, as a few weeks previously, on that hot
99324 August day, such bodies had filled the dirty pond beside the
99325 Smolensk road. Yes, it was the same flesh, the same chair a canon, the
99326 sight of which had even then filled him with horror, as by a
99327 presentiment.
99328
99329 There were three operating tables in the tent. Two were occupied,
99330 and on the third they placed Prince Andrew. For a little while he
99331 was left alone and involuntarily witnessed what was taking place on
99332 the other two tables. On the nearest one sat a Tartar, probably a
99333 Cossack, judging by the uniform thrown down beside him. Four
99334 soldiers were holding him, and a spectacled doctor was cutting into
99335 his muscular brown back.
99336
99337 "Ooh, ooh, ooh!" grunted the Tartar, and suddenly lifting up his
99338 swarthy snub-nosed face with its high cheekbones, and baring his white
99339 teeth, he began to wriggle and twitch his body and utter piercing,
99340 ringing, and prolonged yells. On the other table, round which many
99341 people were crowding, a tall well-fed man lay on his back with his
99342 head thrown back. His curly hair, its color, and the shape of his head
99343 seemed strangely familiar to Prince Andrew. Several dressers were
99344 pressing on his chest to hold him down. One large, white, plump leg
99345 twitched rapidly all the time with a feverish tremor. The man was
99346 sobbing and choking convulsively. Two doctors--one of whom was pale
99347 and trembling--were silently doing something to this man's other, gory
99348 leg. When he had finished with the Tartar, whom they covered with an
99349 overcoat, the spectacled doctor came up to Prince Andrew, wiping his
99350 hands.
99351
99352 He glanced at Prince Andrew's face and quickly turned away.
99353
99354 "Undress him! What are you waiting for?" he cried angrily to the
99355 dressers.
99356
99357 His very first, remotest recollections of childhood came back to
99358 Prince Andrew's mind when the dresser with sleeves rolled up began
99359 hastily to undo the buttons of his clothes and undressed him. The
99360 doctor bent down over the wound, felt it, and sighed deeply. Then he
99361 made a sign to someone, and the torturing pain in his abdomen caused
99362 Prince Andrew to lose consciousness. When he came to himself the
99363 splintered portions of his thighbone had been extracted, the torn
99364 flesh cut away, and the wound bandaged. Water was being sprinkled on
99365 his face. As soon as Prince Andrew opened his eyes, the doctor bent
99366 over, kissed him silently on the lips, and hurried away.
99367
99368 After the sufferings he had been enduring, Prince Andrew enjoyed a
99369 blissful feeling such as he had not experienced for a long time. All
99370 the best and happiest moments of his life--especially his earliest
99371 childhood, when he used to be undressed and put to bed, and when
99372 leaning over him his nurse sang him to sleep and he, burying his
99373 head in the pillow, felt happy in the mere consciousness of life-
99374 returned to his memory, not merely as something past but as
99375 something present.
99376
99377 The doctors were busily engaged with the wounded man the shape of
99378 whose head seemed familiar to Prince Andrew: they were lifting him
99379 up and trying to quiet him.
99380
99381 "Show it to me.... Oh, ooh... Oh! Oh, ooh!" his frightened moans
99382 could be heard, subdued by suffering and broken by sobs.
99383
99384 Hearing those moans Prince Andrew wanted to weep.
99385 Whether because he was dying without glory, or because he was sorry to
99386 part with life, or because of those memories of a childhood that could
99387 not return, or because he was suffering and others were suffering
99388 and that man near him was groaning so piteously--he felt like
99389 weeping childlike, kindly, and almost happy tears.
99390
99391 The wounded man was shown his amputated leg stained with clotted
99392 blood and with the boot still on.
99393
99394 "Oh! Oh, ooh!" he sobbed, like a woman.
99395
99396 The doctor who had been standing beside him, preventing Prince
99397 Andrew from seeing his face, moved away.
99398
99399 "My God! What is this? Why is he here?" said Prince Andrew to
99400 himself.
99401
99402 In the miserable, sobbing, enfeebled man whose leg had just been
99403 amputated, he recognized Anatole Kuragin. Men were supporting him in
99404 their arms and offering him a glass of water, but his trembling,
99405 swollen lips could not grasp its rim. Anatole was sobbing painfully.
99406 "Yes, it is he! Yes, that man is somehow closely and painfully
99407 connected with me," thought Prince Andrew, not yet clearly grasping
99408 what he saw before him. "What is the connection of that man with my
99409 childhood and life?" he asked himself without finding an answer. And
99410 suddenly a new unexpected memory from that realm of pure and loving
99411 childhood presented itself to him. He remembered Natasha as he had
99412 seen her for the first time at the ball in 1810, with her slender neck
99413 and arms and with a frightened happy face ready for rapture, and
99414 love and tenderness for her, stronger and more vivid than ever,
99415 awoke in his soul. He now remembered the connection that existed
99416 between himself and this man who was dimly gazing at him through tears
99417 that filled his swollen eyes. He remembered everything, and ecstatic
99418 pity and love for that man overflowed his happy heart.
99419
99420 Prince Andrew could no longer restrain himself and wept tender
99421 loving tears for his fellow men, for himself, and for his own and
99422 their errors.
99423
99424 "Compassion, love of our brothers, for those who love us and for
99425 those who hate us, love of our enemies; yes, that love which God
99426 preached on earth and which Princess Mary taught me and I did not
99427 understand--that is what made me sorry to part with life, that is what
99428 remained for me had I lived. But now it is too late. I know it!"
99429
99430
99431
99432
99433
99434 CHAPTER XXXVIII
99435
99436
99437 The terrible spectacle of the battlefield covered with dead and
99438 wounded, together with the heaviness of his head and the news that
99439 some twenty generals he knew personally had been killed or wounded,
99440 and the consciousness of the impotence of his once mighty arm,
99441 produced an unexpected impression on Napoleon who usually liked to
99442 look at the killed and wounded, thereby, he considered, testing his
99443 strength of mind. This day the horrible appearance of the
99444 battlefield overcame that strength of mind which he thought
99445 constituted his merit and his greatness. He rode hurriedly from the
99446 battlefield and returned to the Shevardino knoll, where he sat on
99447 his campstool, his sallow face swollen and heavy, his eyes dim, his
99448 nose red, and his voice hoarse, involuntarily listening, with downcast
99449 eyes, to the sounds of firing. With painful dejection he awaited the
99450 end of this action, in which he regarded himself as a participant
99451 and which he was unable to arrest. A personal, human feeling for a
99452 brief moment got the better of the artificial phantasm of life he
99453 had served so long. He felt in his own person the sufferings and death
99454 he had witnessed on the battlefield. The heaviness of his head and
99455 chest reminded him of the possibility of suffering and death for
99456 himself. At that moment he did not desire Moscow, or victory, or glory
99457 (what need had he for any more glory?). The one thing he wished for
99458 was rest, tranquillity, and freedom. But when he had been on the
99459 Semenovsk heights the artillery commander had proposed to him to bring
99460 several batteries of artillery up to those heights to strengthen the
99461 fire on the Russian troops crowded in front of Knyazkovo. Napoleon had
99462 assented and had given orders that news should be brought to him of
99463 the effect those batteries produced.
99464
99465 An adjutant came now to inform him that the fire of two hundred guns
99466 had been concentrated on the Russians, as he had ordered, but that
99467 they still held their ground.
99468
99469 "Our fire is mowing them down by rows, but still they hold on," said
99470 the adjutant.
99471
99472 "They want more!..." said Napoleon in a hoarse voice.
99473
99474 "Sire?" asked the adjutant who had not heard the remark.
99475
99476 "They want more!" croaked Napoleon frowning. "Let them have it!"
99477
99478 Even before he gave that order the thing he did not desire, and
99479 for which he gave the order only because he thought it was expected of
99480 him, was being done. And he fell back into that artificial realm of
99481 imaginary greatness, and again--as a horse walking a treadmill
99482 thinks it is doing something for itself--he submissively fulfilled the
99483 cruel, sad, gloomy, and inhuman role predestined for him.
99484
99485 And not for that day and hour alone were the mind and conscience
99486 darkened of this man on whom the responsibility for what was happening
99487 lay more than on all the others who took part in it. Never to the
99488 end of his life could he understand goodness, beauty, or truth, or the
99489 significance of his actions which were too contrary to goodness and
99490 truth, too remote from everything human, for him ever to be able to
99491 grasp their meaning. He could not disavow his actions, belauded as
99492 they were by half the world, and so he had to repudiate truth,
99493 goodness, and all humanity.
99494
99495 Not only on that day, as he rode over the battlefield strewn with
99496 men killed and maimed (by his will as he believed), did he reckon as
99497 he looked at them how many Russians there were for each Frenchman and,
99498 deceiving himself, find reason for rejoicing in the calculation that
99499 there were five Russians for every Frenchman. Not on that day alone
99500 did he write in a letter to Paris that "the battle field was
99501 superb," because fifty thousand corpses lay there, but even on the
99502 island of St. Helena in the peaceful solitude where he said he
99503 intended to devote his leisure to an account of the great deeds he had
99504 done, he wrote:
99505
99506
99507 The Russian war should have been the most popular war of modern
99508 times: it was a war of good sense, for real interests, for the
99509 tranquillity and security of all; it was purely pacific and
99510 conservative.
99511
99512 It was a war for a great cause, the end of uncertainties and the
99513 beginning of security. A new horizon and new labors were opening
99514 out, full of well-being and prosperity for all. The European system
99515 was already founded; all that remained was to organize it.
99516
99517 Satisfied on these great points and with tranquility everywhere, I
99518 too should have had my Congress and my Holy Alliance. Those ideas were
99519 stolen from me. In that reunion of great sovereigns we should have
99520 discussed our interests like one family, and have rendered account
99521 to the peoples as clerk to master.
99522
99523 Europe would in this way soon have been, in fact, but one people,
99524 and anyone who traveled anywhere would have found himself always in
99525 the common fatherland. I should have demanded the freedom of all
99526 navigable rivers for everybody, that the seas should be common to all,
99527 and that the great standing armies should be reduced henceforth to
99528 mere guards for the sovereigns.
99529
99530 On returning to France, to the bosom of the great, strong,
99531 magnificent, peaceful, and glorious fatherland, I should have
99532 proclaimed her frontiers immutable; all future wars purely
99533 defensive, all aggrandizement antinational. I should have associated
99534 my son in the Empire; my dictatorship would have been finished, and
99535 his constitutional reign would have begun.
99536
99537 Paris would have been the capital of the world, and the French the
99538 envy of the nations!
99539
99540 My leisure then, and my old age, would have been devoted, in company
99541 with the Empress and during the royal apprenticeship of my son, to
99542 leisurely visiting, with our own horses and like a true country
99543 couple, every corner of the Empire, receiving complaints, redressing
99544 wrongs, and scattering public buildings and benefactions on all
99545 sides and everywhere.
99546
99547
99548 Napoleon, predestined by Providence for the gloomy role of
99549 executioner of the peoples, assured himself that the aim of his
99550 actions had been the peoples' welfare and that he could control the
99551 fate of millions and by the employment of power confer benefactions.
99552
99553
99554 "Of four hundred thousand who crossed the Vistula," he wrote further
99555 of the Russian war, "half were Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Poles,
99556 Bavarians, Wurttembergers, Mecklenburgers, Spaniards, Italians, and
99557 Neapolitans. The Imperial army, strictly speaking, was one third
99558 composed of Dutch, Belgians, men from the borders of the Rhine,
99559 Piedmontese, Swiss, Genevese, Tuscans, Romans, inhabitants of the
99560 Thirty-second Military Division, of Bremen, of Hamburg, and so on:
99561 it included scarcely a hundred and forty thousand who spoke French.
99562 The Russian expedition actually cost France less than fifty thousand
99563 men; the Russian army in its retreat from Vilna to Moscow lost in
99564 the various battles four times more men than the French army; the
99565 burning of Moscow cost the lives of a hundred thousand Russians who
99566 died of cold and want in the woods; finally, in its march from
99567 Moscow to the Oder the Russian army also suffered from the severity of
99568 the season; so that by the the time it reached Vilna it numbered
99569 only fifty thousand, and at Kalisch less than eighteen thousand."
99570
99571
99572 He imagined that the war with Russia came about by his will, and the
99573 horrors that occurred did not stagger his soul. He boldly took the
99574 whole responsibility for what happened, and his darkened mind found
99575 justification in the belief that among the hundreds of thousands who
99576 perished there were fewer Frenchmen than Hessians and Bavarians.
99577
99578
99579
99580
99581
99582 CHAPTER XXXIX
99583
99584
99585 Several tens of thousands of the slain lay in diverse postures and
99586 various uniforms on the fields and meadows belonging to the Davydov
99587 family and to the crown serfs--those fields and meadows where for
99588 hundreds of years the peasants of Borodino, Gorki, Shevardino, and
99589 Semenovsk had reaped their harvests and pastured their cattle. At
99590 the dressing stations the grass and earth were soaked with blood for a
99591 space of some three acres around. Crowds of men of various arms,
99592 wounded and unwounded, with frightened faces, dragged themselves
99593 back to Mozhaysk from the one army and back to Valuevo from the other.
99594 Other crowds, exhausted and hungry, went forward led by their
99595 officers. Others held their ground and continued to fire.
99596
99597 Over the whole field, previously so gaily beautiful with the glitter
99598 of bayonets and cloudlets of smoke in the morning sun, there now
99599 spread a mist of damp and smoke and a strange acid smell of
99600 saltpeter and blood. Clouds gathered and drops of rain began to fall
99601 on the dead and wounded, on the frightened, exhausted, and
99602 hesitating men, as if to say: "Enough, men! Enough! Cease... bethink
99603 yourselves! What are you doing?"
99604
99605 To the men of both sides alike, worn out by want of food and rest,
99606 it began equally to appear doubtful whether they should continue to
99607 slaughter one another; all the faces expressed hesitation, and the
99608 question arose in every soul: "For what, for whom, must I kill and
99609 be killed?... You may go and kill whom you please, but I don't want to
99610 do so anymore!" By evening this thought had ripened in every soul.
99611 At any moment these men might have been seized with horror at what
99612 they were doing and might have thrown up everything and run away
99613 anywhere.
99614
99615 But though toward the end of the battle the men felt all the
99616 horror of what they were doing, though they would have been glad to
99617 leave off, some incomprehensible, mysterious power continued to
99618 control them, and they still brought up the charges, loaded, aimed,
99619 and applied the match, though only one artilleryman survived out of
99620 every three, and though they stumbled and panted with fatigue,
99621 perspiring and stained with blood and powder. The cannon balls flew
99622 just as swiftly and cruelly from both sides, crushing human bodies,
99623 and that terrible work which was not done by the will of a man but
99624 at the will of Him who governs men and worlds continued.
99625
99626 Anyone looking at the disorganized rear of the Russian army would
99627 have said that, if only the French made one more slight effort, it
99628 would disappear; and anyone looking at the rear of the French army
99629 would have said that the Russians need only make one more slight
99630 effort and the French would be destroyed. But neither the French nor
99631 the Russians made that effort, and the flame of battle burned slowly
99632 out.
99633
99634 The Russians did not make that effort because they were not
99635 attacking the French. At the beginning of the battle they stood
99636 blocking the way to Moscow and they still did so at the end of the
99637 battle as at the beginning. But even had the aim of the Russians
99638 been to drive the French from their positions, they could not have
99639 made this last effort, for all the Russian troops had been broken
99640 up, there was no part of the Russian army that had not suffered in the
99641 battle, and though still holding their positions they had lost ONE
99642 HALF of their army.
99643
99644 The French, with the memory of all their former victories during
99645 fifteen years, with the assurance of Napoleon's invincibility, with
99646 the consciousness that they had captured part of the battlefield and
99647 had lost only a quarter of their men and still had their Guards
99648 intact, twenty thousand strong, might easily have made that effort.
99649 The French had attacked the Russian army in order to drive it from its
99650 position ought to have made that effort, for as long as the Russians
99651 continued to block the road to Moscow as before, the aim of the French
99652 had not been attained and all their efforts and losses were in vain.
99653 But the French did not make that effort. Some historians say that
99654 Napoleon need only have used his Old Guards, who were intact, and
99655 the battle would have been won. To speak of what would have happened
99656 had Napoleon sent his Guards is like talking of what would happen if
99657 autumn became spring. It could not be. Napoleon did not give his
99658 Guards, not because he did not want to, but because it could not be
99659 done. All the generals, officers, and soldiers of the French army knew
99660 it could not be done, because the flagging spirit of the troops
99661 would not permit it.
99662
99663 It was not Napoleon alone who had experienced that nightmare feeling
99664 of the mighty arm being stricken powerless, but all the generals and
99665 soldiers of his army whether they had taken part in the battle or not,
99666 after all their experience of previous battles--when after one tenth
99667 of such efforts the enemy had fled--experienced a similar feeling of
99668 terror before an enemy who, after losing HALF his men, stood as
99669 threateningly at the end as at the beginning of the battle. The
99670 moral force of the attacking French army was exhausted. Not that
99671 sort of victory which is defined by the capture of pieces of
99672 material fastened to sticks, called standards, and of the ground on
99673 which the troops had stood and were standing, but a moral victory that
99674 convinces the enemy of the moral superiority of his opponent and of
99675 his own impotence was gained by the Russians at Borodino. The French
99676 invaders, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received
99677 a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any
99678 more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving.
99679 By impetus gained, the French army was still able to roll forward to
99680 Moscow, but there, without further effort on the part of the Russians,
99681 it had to perish, bleeding from the mortal wound it had received at
99682 Borodino. The direct consequence of the battle of Borodino was
99683 Napoleon's senseless flight from Moscow, his retreat along the old
99684 Smolensk road, the destruction of the invading army of five hundred
99685 thousand men, and the downfall of Napoleonic France, on which at
99686 Borodino for the first time the hand of an opponent of stronger spirit
99687 had been laid.
99688
99689
99690
99691
99692
99693 BOOK ELEVEN: 1812
99694
99695
99696
99697
99698
99699 CHAPTER I
99700
99701
99702 Absolute continuity of motion is not comprehensible to the human
99703 mind. Laws of motion of any kind become comprehensible to man only
99704 when he examines arbitrarily selected elements of that motion; but
99705 at the same time, a large proportion of human error comes from the
99706 arbitrary division of continuous motion into discontinuous elements.
99707 There is a well known, so-called sophism of the ancients consisting in
99708 this, that Achilles could never catch up with a tortoise he was
99709 following, in spite of the fact that he traveled ten times as fast
99710 as the tortoise. By the time Achilles has covered the distance that
99711 separated him from the tortoise, the tortoise has covered one tenth of
99712 that distance ahead of him: when Achilles has covered that tenth,
99713 the tortoise has covered another one hundredth, and so on forever.
99714 This problem seemed to the ancients insoluble. The absurd answer (that
99715 Achilles could never overtake the tortoise) resulted from this: that
99716 motion was arbitrarily divided into discontinuous elements, whereas
99717 the motion both of Achilles and of the tortoise was continuous.
99718
99719 By adopting smaller and smaller elements of motion we only
99720 approach a solution of the problem, but never reach it. Only when we
99721 have admitted the conception of the infinitely small, and the
99722 resulting geometrical progression with a common ratio of one tenth,
99723 and have found the sum of this progression to infinity, do we reach
99724 a solution of the problem.
99725
99726 A modern branch of mathematics having achieved the art of dealing
99727 with the infinitely small can now yield solutions in other more
99728 complex problems of motion which used to appear insoluble.
99729
99730 This modern branch of mathematics, unknown to the ancients, when
99731 dealing with problems of motion admits the conception of the
99732 infinitely small, and so conforms to the chief condition of motion
99733 (absolute continuity) and thereby corrects the inevitable error
99734 which the human mind cannot avoid when it deals with separate elements
99735 of motion instead of examining continuous motion.
99736
99737 In seeking the laws of historical movement just the same thing
99738 happens. The movement of humanity, arising as it does from innumerable
99739 arbitrary human wills, is continuous.
99740
99741 To understand the laws of this continuous movement is the aim of
99742 history. But to arrive at these laws, resulting from the sum of all
99743 those human wills, man's mind postulates arbitrary and disconnected
99744 units. The first method of history is to take an arbitrarily
99745 selected series of continuous events and examine it apart from others,
99746 though there is and can be no beginning to any event, for one event
99747 always flows uninterruptedly from another.
99748
99749 The second method is to consider the actions of some one man--a king
99750 or a commander--as equivalent to the sum of many individual wills;
99751 whereas the sum of individual wills is never expressed by the activity
99752 of a single historic personage.
99753
99754 Historical science in its endeavor to draw nearer to truth
99755 continually takes smaller and smaller units for examination. But
99756 however small the units it takes, we feel that to take any unit
99757 disconnected from others, or to assume a beginning of any
99758 phenomenon, or to say that the will of many men is expressed by the
99759 actions of any one historic personage, is in itself false.
99760
99761 It needs no critical exertion to reduce utterly to dust any
99762 deductions drawn from history. It is merely necessary to select some
99763 larger or smaller unit as the subject of observation--as criticism has
99764 every right to do, seeing that whatever unit history observes must
99765 always be arbitrarily selected.
99766
99767 Only by taking infinitesimally small units for observation (the
99768 differential of history, that is, the individual tendencies of men)
99769 and attaining to the art of integrating them (that is, finding the sum
99770 of these infinitesimals) can we hope to arrive at the laws of history.
99771
99772 The first fifteen years of the nineteenth century in Europe
99773 present an extraordinary movement of millions of people. Men leave
99774 their customary pursuits, hasten from one side of Europe to the other,
99775 plunder and slaughter one another, triumph and are plunged in despair,
99776 and for some years the whole course of life is altered and presents an
99777 intensive movement which first increases and then slackens. What was
99778 the cause of this movement, by what laws was it governed? asks the
99779 mind of man.
99780
99781 The historians, replying to this question, lay before us the sayings
99782 and doings of a few dozen men in a building in the city of Paris,
99783 calling these sayings and doings "the Revolution"; then they give a
99784 detailed biography of Napoleon and of certain people favorable or
99785 hostile to him; tell of the influence some of these people had on
99786 others, and say: that is why this movement took place and those are
99787 its laws.
99788
99789 But the mind of man not only refuses to believe this explanation,
99790 but plainly says that this method of explanation is fallacious,
99791 because in it a weaker phenomenon is taken as the cause of a stronger.
99792 The sum of human wills produced the Revolution and Napoleon, and
99793 only the sum of those wills first tolerated and then destroyed them.
99794
99795 "But every time there have been conquests there have been
99796 conquerors; every time there has been a revolution in any state
99797 there have been great men," says history. And, indeed, human reason
99798 replies: every time conquerors appear there have been wars, but this
99799 does not prove that the conquerors caused the wars and that it is
99800 possible to find the laws of a war in the personal activity of a
99801 single man. Whenever I look at my watch and its hands point to ten,
99802 I hear the bells of the neighboring church; but because the bells
99803 begin to ring when the hands of the clock reach ten, I have no right
99804 to assume that the movement of the bells is caused by the position
99805 of the hands of the watch.
99806
99807 Whenever I see the movement of a locomotive I hear the whistle and
99808 see the valves opening and wheels turning; but I have no right to
99809 conclude that the whistling and the turning of wheels are the cause of
99810 the movement of the engine.
99811
99812 The peasants say that a cold wind blows in late spring because the
99813 oaks are budding, and really every spring cold winds do blow when
99814 the oak is budding. But though I do not know what causes the cold
99815 winds to blow when the oak buds unfold, I cannot agree with the
99816 peasants that the unfolding of the oak buds is the cause of the cold
99817 wind, for the force of the wind is beyond the influence of the buds. I
99818 see only a coincidence of occurrences such as happens with all the
99819 phenomena of life, and I see that however much and however carefully I
99820 observe the hands of the watch, and the valves and wheels of the
99821 engine, and the oak, I shall not discover the cause of the bells
99822 ringing, the engine moving, or of the winds of spring. To that I
99823 must entirely change my point of view and study the laws of the
99824 movement of steam, of the bells, and of the wind. History must do
99825 the same. And attempts in this direction have already been made.
99826
99827 To study the laws of history we must completely change the subject
99828 of our observation, must leave aside kings, ministers, and generals,
99829 and the common, infinitesimally small elements by which the masses are
99830 moved. No one can say in how far it is possible for man to advance
99831 in this way toward an understanding of the laws of history; but it
99832 is evident that only along that path does the possibility of
99833 discovering the laws of history lie, and that as yet not a millionth
99834 part as much mental effort has been applied in this direction by
99835 historians as has been devoted to describing the actions of various
99836 kings, commanders, and ministers and propounding the historians' own
99837 reflections concerning these actions.
99838
99839
99840
99841
99842
99843 CHAPTER II
99844
99845
99846 The forces of a dozen European nations burst into Russia. The
99847 Russian army and people avoided a collision till Smolensk was reached,
99848 and again from Smolensk to Borodino. The French army pushed on to
99849 Moscow, its goal, its impetus ever increasing as it neared its aim,
99850 just as the velocity of a falling body increases as it approaches
99851 the earth. Behind it were seven hundred miles of hunger-stricken,
99852 hostile country; ahead were a few dozen miles separating it from its
99853 goal. Every soldier in Napoleon's army felt this and the invasion
99854 moved on by its own momentum.
99855
99856 The more the Russian army retreated the more fiercely a spirit of
99857 hatred of the enemy flared up, and while it retreated the army
99858 increased and consolidated. At Borodino a collision took place.
99859 Neither army was broken up, but the Russian army retreated immediately
99860 after the collision as inevitably as a ball recoils after colliding
99861 with another having a greater momentum, and with equal inevitability
99862 the ball of invasion that had advanced with such momentum rolled on
99863 for some distance, though the collision had deprived it of all its
99864 force.
99865
99866 The Russians retreated eighty miles--to beyond Moscow--and the
99867 French reached Moscow and there came to a standstill. For five weeks
99868 after that there was not a single battle. The French did not move.
99869 As a bleeding, mortally wounded animal licks its wounds, they remained
99870 inert in Moscow for five weeks, and then suddenly, with no fresh
99871 reason, fled back: they made a dash for the Kaluga road, and (after
99872 a victory--for at Malo-Yaroslavets the field of conflict again
99873 remained theirs) without undertaking a single serious battle, they
99874 fled still more rapidly back to Smolensk, beyond Smolensk, beyond
99875 the Berezina, beyond Vilna, and farther still.
99876
99877 On the evening of the twenty-sixth of August, Kutuzov and the
99878 whole Russian army were convinced that the battle of Borodino was a
99879 victory. Kutuzov reported so to the Emperor. He gave orders to prepare
99880 for a fresh conflict to finish the enemy and did this not to deceive
99881 anyone, but because he knew that the enemy was beaten, as everyone who
99882 had taken part in the battle knew it.
99883
99884 But all that evening and next day reports came in one after
99885 another of unheard-of losses, of the loss of half the army, and a
99886 fresh battle proved physically impossible.
99887
99888 It was impossible to give battle before information had been
99889 collected, the wounded gathered in, the supplies of ammunition
99890 replenished, the slain reckoned up, new officers appointed to
99891 replace those who had been killed, and before the men had had food and
99892 sleep. And meanwhile, the very next morning after the battle, the
99893 French army advanced of itself upon the Russians, carried forward by
99894 the force of its own momentum now seemingly increased in inverse
99895 proportion to the square of the distance from its aim. Kutuzov's
99896 wish was to attack next day, and the whole army desired to do so.
99897 But to make an attack the wish to do so is not sufficient, there
99898 must also be a possibility of doing it, and that possibility did not
99899 exist. It was impossible not to retreat a day's march, and then in the
99900 same way it was impossible not to retreat another and a third day's
99901 march, and at last, on the first of September when the army drew
99902 near Moscow--despite the strength of the feeling that had arisen in
99903 all ranks--the force of circumstances compelled it to retire beyond
99904 Moscow. And the troops retired one more, last, day's march, and
99905 abandoned Moscow to the enemy.
99906
99907 For people accustomed to think that plans of campaign and battles
99908 are made by generals--as any one of us sitting over a map in his study
99909 may imagine how he would have arranged things in this or that
99910 battle--the questions present themselves: Why did Kutuzov during the
99911 retreat not do this or that? Why did he not take up a position
99912 before reaching Fili? Why did he not retire at once by the Kaluga
99913 road, abandoning Moscow? and so on. People accustomed to think in that
99914 way forget, or do not know, the inevitable conditions which always
99915 limit the activities of any commander in chief. The activity of a
99916 commander in chief does not all resemble the activity we imagine to
99917 ourselves when we sit at case in our studies examining some campaign
99918 on the map, with a certain number of troops on this and that side in a
99919 certain known locality, and begin our plans from some given moment.
99920 A commander in chief is never dealing with the beginning of any event-
99921 the position from which we always contemplate it. The commander in
99922 chief is always in the midst of a series of shifting events and so
99923 he never can at any moment consider the whole import of an event
99924 that is occurring. Moment by moment the event is imperceptibly shaping
99925 itself, and at every moment of this continuous, uninterrupted
99926 shaping of events the commander in chief is in the midst of a most
99927 complex play of intrigues, worries, contingencies, authorities,
99928 projects, counsels, threats, and deceptions and is continually obliged
99929 to reply to innumerable questions addressed to him, which constantly
99930 conflict with one another.
99931
99932 Learned military authorities quite seriously tell us that Kutuzov
99933 should have moved his army to the Kaluga road long before reaching
99934 Fili, and that somebody actually submitted such a proposal to him. But
99935 a commander in chief, especially at a difficult moment, has always
99936 before him not one proposal but dozens simultaneously. And all these
99937 proposals, based on strategics and tactics, contradict each other.
99938
99939 A commander in chief's business, it would seem, is simply to
99940 choose one of these projects. But even that he cannot do. Events and
99941 time do not wait. For instance, on the twenty-eighth it is suggested
99942 to him to cross to the Kaluga road, but just then an adjutant
99943 gallops up from Miloradovich asking whether he is to engage the French
99944 or retire. An order must be given him at once, that instant. And the
99945 order to retreat carries us past the turn to the Kaluga road. And
99946 after the adjutant comes the commissary general asking where the
99947 stores are to be taken, and the chief of the hospitals asks where
99948 the wounded are to go, and a courier from Petersburg brings a letter
99949 from the sovereign which does not admit of the possibility of
99950 abandoning Moscow, and the commander in chief's rival, the man who
99951 is undermining him (and there are always not merely one but several
99952 such), presents a new project diametrically opposed to that of turning
99953 to the Kaluga road, and the commander in chief himself needs sleep and
99954 refreshment to maintain his energy and a respectable general who has
99955 been overlooked in the distribution of rewards comes to complain,
99956 and the inhabitants of the district pray to be defended, and an
99957 officer sent to inspect the locality comes in and gives a report quite
99958 contrary to what was said by the officer previously sent; and a spy, a
99959 prisoner, and a general who has been on reconnaissance, all describe
99960 the position of the enemy's army differently. People accustomed to
99961 misunderstand or to forget these inevitable conditions of a
99962 commander in chief's actions describe to us, for instance, the
99963 position of the army at Fili and assume that the commander in chief
99964 could, on the first of September, quite freely decide whether to
99965 abandon Moscow or defend it; whereas, with the Russian army less
99966 than four miles from Moscow, no such question existed. When had that
99967 question been settled? At Drissa and at Smolensk and most palpably
99968 of all on the twenty-fourth of August at Shevardino and on the
99969 twenty-sixth at Borodino, and each day and hour and minute of the
99970 retreat from Borodino to Fili.
99971
99972
99973
99974
99975
99976 CHAPTER III
99977
99978
99979 When Ermolov, having been sent by Kutuzov to inspect the position,
99980 told the field marshal that it was impossible to fight there before
99981 Moscow and that they must retreat, Kutuzov looked at him in silence.
99982
99983 "Give me your hand," said he and, turning it over so as to feel
99984 the pulse, added: "You are not well, my dear fellow. Think what you
99985 are saying!"
99986
99987 Kutuzov could not yet admit the possibility of retreating beyond
99988 Moscow without a battle.
99989
99990 On the Poklonny Hill, four miles from the Dorogomilov gate of
99991 Moscow, Kutuzov got out of his carriage and sat down on a bench by the
99992 roadside. A great crowd of generals gathered round him, and Count
99993 Rostopchin, who had come out from Moscow, joined them. This
99994 brilliant company separated into several groups who all discussed
99995 the advantages and disadvantages of the position, the state of the
99996 army, the plans suggested, the situation of Moscow, and military
99997 questions generally. Though they had not been summoned for the
99998 purpose, and though it was not so called, they all felt that this
99999 was really a council of war. The conversations all dealt with public
100000 questions. If anyone gave or asked for personal news, it was done in a
100001 whisper and they immediately reverted to general matters. No jokes, or
100002 laughter, or smiles even, were seen among all these men. They
100003 evidently all made an effort to hold themselves at the height the
100004 situation demanded. And all these groups, while talking among
100005 themselves, tried to keep near the commander in chief (whose bench
100006 formed the center of the gathering) and to speak so that he might
100007 overhear them. The commander in chief listened to what was being
100008 said and sometimes asked them to repeat their remarks, but did not
100009 himself take part in the conversations or express any opinion. After
100010 hearing what was being said by one or other of these groups he
100011 generally turned away with an air of disappointment, as though they
100012 were not speaking of anything he wished to hear. Some discussed the
100013 position that had been chosen, criticizing not the position itself
100014 so much as the mental capacity of those who had chosen it. Others
100015 argued that a mistake had been made earlier and that a battle should
100016 have been fought two days before. Others again spoke of the battle
100017 of Salamanca, which was described by Crosart, a newly arrived
100018 Frenchman in a Spanish uniform. (This Frenchman and one of the
100019 German princes serving with the Russian army were discussing the siege
100020 of Saragossa and considering the possibility of defending Moscow in
100021 a similar manner.) Count Rostopchin was telling a fourth group that he
100022 was prepared to die with the city train bands under the walls of the
100023 capital, but that he still could not help regretting having been
100024 left in ignorance of what was happening, and that had he known it
100025 sooner things would have been different.... A fifth group,
100026 displaying the profundity of their strategic perceptions, discussed
100027 the direction the troops would now have to take. A sixth group was
100028 talking absolute nonsense. Kutuzov's expression grew more and more
100029 preoccupied and gloomy. From all this talk he saw only one thing: that
100030 to defend Moscow was a physical impossibility in the full meaning of
100031 those words, that is to say, so utterly impossible that if any
100032 senseless commander were to give orders to fight, confusion would
100033 result but the battle would still not take place. It would not take
100034 place because the commanders not merely all recognized the position to
100035 be impossible, but in their conversations were only discussing what
100036 would happen after its inevitable abandonment. How could the
100037 commanders lead their troops to a field of battle they considered
100038 impossible to hold? The lower-grade officers and even the soldiers
100039 (who too reason) also considered the position impossible and therefore
100040 could not go to fight, fully convinced as they were of defeat. If
100041 Bennigsen insisted on the position being defended and others still
100042 discussed it, the question was no longer important in itself but
100043 only as a pretext for disputes and intrigue. This Kutuzov knew well.
100044
100045 Bennigsen, who had chosen the position, warmly displayed his Russian
100046 patriotism (Kutuzov could not listen to this without wincing) by
100047 insisting that Moscow must be defended. His aim was as clear as
100048 daylight to Kutuzov: if the defense failed, to throw the blame on
100049 Kutuzov who had brought the army as far as the Sparrow Hills without
100050 giving battle; if it succeeded, to claim the success as his own; or if
100051 battle were not given, to clear himself of the crime of abandoning
100052 Moscow. But this intrigue did not now occupy the old man's mind. One
100053 terrible question absorbed him and to that question he heard no
100054 reply from anyone. The question for him now was: "Have I really
100055 allowed Napoleon to reach Moscow, and when did I do so? When was it
100056 decided? Can it have been yesterday when I ordered Platov to
100057 retreat, or was it the evening before, when I had a nap and told
100058 Bennigsen to issue orders? Or was it earlier still?... When, when
100059 was this terrible affair decided? Moscow must be abandoned. The army
100060 must retreat and the order to do so must be given." To give that
100061 terrible order seemed to him equivalent to resigning the command of
100062 the army. And not only did he love power to which he was accustomed
100063 (the honours awarded to Prince Prozorovski, under whom he had served
100064 in Turkey, galled him), but he was convinced that he was destined to
100065 save Russia and that that was why, against the Emperor's wish and by
100066 the will of the people, he had been chosen commander in chief. He
100067 was convinced that he alone could maintain command of the army in
100068 these difficult circumstances, and that in all the world he alone
100069 could encounter the invincible Napoleon without fear, and he was
100070 horrified at the thought of the order he had to issue. But something
100071 had to be decided, and these conversations around him which were
100072 assuming too free a character must be stopped.
100073
100074 He called the most important generals to him.
100075
100076 "My head, be it good or bad, must depend on itself," said he, rising
100077 from the bench, and he rode to Fili where his carriages were waiting.
100078
100079
100080
100081
100082
100083 CHAPTER IV
100084
100085
100086 The Council of War began to assemble at two in the afternoon in
100087 the better and roomier part of Andrew Savostyanov's hut. The men,
100088 women, and children of the large peasant family crowded into the
100089 back room across the passage. Only Malasha, Andrew's six-year-old
100090 granddaughter whom his Serene Highness had petted and to whom he had
100091 given a lump of sugar while drinking his tea, remained on the top of
100092 the brick oven in the larger room. Malasha looked down from the oven
100093 with shy delight at the faces, uniforms, and decorations of the
100094 generals, who one after another came into the room and sat down on the
100095 broad benches in the corner under the icons. "Granddad" himself, as
100096 Malasha in her own mind called Kutuzov, sat apart in a dark corner
100097 behind the oven. He sat, sunk deep in a folding armchair, and
100098 continually cleared his throat and pulled at the collar of his coat
100099 which, though it was unbuttoned, still seemed to pinch his neck. Those
100100 who entered went up one by one to the field marshal; he pressed the
100101 hands of some and nodded to others. His adjutant Kaysarov was about to
100102 draw back the curtain of the window facing Kutuzov, but the latter
100103 moved his hand angrily and Kaysarov understood that his Serene
100104 Highness did not wish his face to be seen.
100105
100106 Round the peasant's deal table, on which lay maps, plans, pencils,
100107 and papers, so many people gathered that the orderlies brought in
100108 another bench and put it beside the table. Ermolov, Kaysarov, and
100109 Toll, who had just arrived, sat down on this bench. In the foremost
100110 place, immediately under the icons, sat Barclay de Tolly, his high
100111 forehead merging into his bald crown. He had a St. George's Cross
100112 round his neck and looked pale and ill. He had been feverish for two
100113 days and was now shivering and in pain. Beside him sat Uvarov, who
100114 with rapid gesticulations was giving him some information, speaking in
100115 low tones as they all did. Chubby little Dokhturov was listening
100116 attentively with eyebrows raised and arms folded on his stomach. On
100117 the other side sat Count Ostermann-Tolstoy, seemingly absorbed in
100118 his own thoughts. His broad head with its bold features and glittering
100119 eyes was resting on his hand. Raevski, twitching forward the black
100120 hair on his temples as was his habit, glanced now at Kutuzov and now
100121 at the door with a look of impatience. Konovnitsyn's firm, handsome,
100122 and kindly face was lit up by a tender, sly smile. His glance met
100123 Malasha's, and the expression of his eyes caused the little girl to
100124 smile.
100125
100126 They were all waiting for Bennigsen, who on the pretext of
100127 inspecting the position was finishing his savory dinner. They waited
100128 for him from four till six o'clock and did not begin their
100129 deliberations all that time talked in low tones of other matters.
100130
100131 Only when Bennigsen had entered the hut did Kutuzov leave his corner
100132 and draw toward the table, but not near enough for the candles that
100133 had been placed there to light up his face.
100134
100135 Bennigsen opened the council with the question: "Are we to abandon
100136 Russia's ancient and sacred capital without a struggle, or are we to
100137 defend it?" A prolonged and general silence followed. There was a
100138 frown on every face and only Kutuzov's angry grunts and occasional
100139 cough broke the silence. All eyes were gazing at him. Malasha too
100140 looked at "Granddad." She was nearest to him and saw how his face
100141 puckered; he seemed about to cry, but this did not last long.
100142
100143 "Russia's ancient and sacred capital!" he suddenly said, repeating
100144 Bennigsen's words in an angry voice and thereby drawing attention to
100145 the false note in them. "Allow me to tell you, your excellency, that
100146 that question has no meaning for a Russian." (He lurched his heavy
100147 body forward.) "Such a question cannot be put; it is senseless! The
100148 question I have asked these gentlemen to meet to discuss is a military
100149 one. The question is that of saving Russia. Is it better to give up
100150 Moscow without a battle, or by accepting battle to risk losing the
100151 army as well as Moscow? That is the question on which I want your
100152 opinion," and he sank back in his chair.
100153
100154 The discussion began. Bennigsen did not yet consider his game
100155 lost. Admitting the view of Barclay and others that a defensive battle
100156 at Fili was impossible, but imbued with Russian patriotism and the
100157 love of Moscow, he proposed to move troops from the right to the
100158 left flank during the night and attack the French right flank the
100159 following day. Opinions were divided, and arguments were advanced
100160 for and against that project. Ermolov, Dokhturov, and Raevski agreed
100161 with Bennigsen. Whether feeling it necessary to make a sacrifice
100162 before abandoning the capital or guided by other, personal
100163 considerations, these generals seemed not to understand that this
100164 council could not alter the inevitable course of events and that
100165 Moscow was in effect already abandoned. The other generals, however,
100166 understood it and, leaving aside the question of Moscow, of the
100167 direction the army should take in its retreat. Malasha, who kept her
100168 eyes fixed on what was going on before her, understood the meaning
100169 of the council differently. It seemed to her that it was only a
100170 personal struggle between "Granddad" and "Long-coat" as she termed
100171 Bennigsen. She saw that they grew spiteful when they spoke to one
100172 another, and in her heart she sided with "Granddad." In the midst of
100173 the conversation she noticed "Granddad" give Bennigsen a quick, subtle
100174 glance, and then to her joys he saw that "Granddad" said something
100175 to "Long-coat" which settled him. Bennigsen suddenly reddened and
100176 paced angrily up and down the room. What so affected him was Kutuzov's
100177 calm and quiet comment on the advantage or disadvantage of Bennigsen's
100178 proposal to move troops by night from the right to the left flank to
100179 attack the French right wing.
100180
100181 "Gentlemen," said Kutuzov, "I cannot approve of the count's plan.
100182 Moving troops in close proximity to an enemy is always dangerous,
100183 and military history supports that view. For instance..." Kutuzov
100184 seemed to reflect, searching for an example, then with a clear,
100185 naive look at Bennigsen he added: "Oh yes; take the battle of
100186 Friedland, which I think the count well remembers, and which was...
100187 not fully successful, only because our troops were rearranged too near
100188 the enemy..."
100189
100190 There followed a momentary pause, which seemed very long to them
100191 all.
100192
100193 The discussion recommenced, but pauses frequently occurred and
100194 they all felt that there was no more to be said.
100195
100196 During one of these pauses Kutuzov heaved a deep sigh as if
100197 preparing to speak. They all looked at him.
100198
100199 "Well, gentlemen, I see that it is I who will have to pay for the
100200 broken crockery," said he, and rising slowly he moved to the table.
100201 "Gentlemen, I have heard your views. Some of you will not agree with
100202 me. But I," he paused, "by the authority entrusted to me by my
100203 Sovereign and country, order a retreat."
100204
100205 After that the generals began to disperse with the solemnity and
100206 circumspect silence of people who are leaving, after a funeral.
100207
100208 Some of the generals, in low tones and in a strain very different
100209 from the way they had spoken during the council, communicated
100210 something to their commander in chief.
100211
100212 Malasha, who had long been expected for supper, climbed carefully
100213 backwards down from the oven, her bare little feet catching at its
100214 projections, and slipping between the legs of the generals she
100215 darted out of the room.
100216
100217 When he had dismissed the generals Kutuzov sat a long time with
100218 his elbows on the table, thinking always of the same terrible
100219 question: "When, when did the abandonment of Moscow become inevitable?
100220 When was that done which settled the matter? And who was to blame
100221 for it?"
100222
100223 "I did not expect this," said he to his adjutant Schneider when
100224 the latter came in late that night. "I did not expect this! I did
100225 not think this would happen."
100226
100227 "You should take some rest, your Serene Highness," replied
100228 Schneider.
100229
100230 "But no! They shall eat horseflesh yet, like the Turks!" exclaimed
100231 Kutuzov without replying, striking the table with his podgy fist.
100232 "They shall too, if only..."
100233
100234
100235
100236
100237
100238 CHAPTER V
100239
100240
100241 At that very time, in circumstances even more important than
100242 retreating without a battle, namely the evacuation and burning of
100243 Moscow, Rostopchin, who is usually represented as being the instigator
100244 of that event, acted in an altogether different manner from Kutuzov.
100245
100246 After the battle of Borodino the abandonment and burning of Moscow
100247 was as inevitable as the retreat of the army beyond Moscow without
100248 fighting.
100249
100250 Every Russian might have predicted it, not by reasoning but by the
100251 feeling implanted in each of us and in our fathers.
100252
100253 The same thing that took place in Moscow had happened in all the
100254 towns and villages on Russian soil beginning with Smolensk, without
100255 the participation of Count Rostopchin and his broadsheets. The
100256 people awaited the enemy unconcernedly, did not riot or become excited
100257 or tear anyone to pieces, but faced its fate, feeling within it the
100258 strength to find what it should do at that most difficult moment.
100259 And as soon as the enemy drew near the wealthy classes went away
100260 abandoning their property, while the poorer remained and burned and
100261 destroyed what was left.
100262
100263 The consciousness that this would be so and would always be so was
100264 and is present in the heart of every Russian. And a consciousness of
100265 this, and a foreboding that Moscow would be taken, was present in
100266 Russian Moscow society in 1812. Those who had quitted Moscow already
100267 in July and at the beginning of August showed that they expected this.
100268 Those who went away, taking what they could and abandoning their
100269 houses and half their belongings, did so from the latent patriotism
100270 which expresses itself not by phrases or by giving one's children to
100271 save the fatherland and similar unnatural exploits, but unobtrusively,
100272 simply, organically, and therefore in the way that always produces the
100273 most powerful results.
100274
100275 "It is disgraceful to run away from danger; only cowards are running
100276 away from Moscow," they were told. In his broadsheets Rostopchin
100277 impressed on them that to leave Moscow was shameful. They were ashamed
100278 to be called cowards, ashamed to leave, but still they left, knowing
100279 it had to be done. Why did they go? It is impossible to suppose that
100280 Rostopchin had scared them by his accounts of horrors Napoleon had
100281 committed in conquered countries. The first people to go away were the
100282 rich educated people who knew quite well that Vienna and Berlin had
100283 remained intact and that during Napoleon's occupation the
100284 inhabitants had spent their time pleasantly in the company of the
100285 charming Frenchmen whom the Russians, and especially the Russian
100286 ladies, then liked so much.
100287
100288 They went away because for Russians there could be no question as to
100289 whether things would go well or ill under French rule in Moscow. It
100290 was out of the question to be under French rule, it would be the worst
100291 thing that could happen. They went away even before the battle of
100292 Borodino and still more rapidly after it, despite Rostopchin's calls
100293 to defend Moscow or the announcement of his intention to take the
100294 wonder-working icon of the Iberian Mother of God and go to fight, or
100295 of the balloons that were to destroy the French, and despite all the
100296 nonsense Rostopchin wrote in his broadsheets. They knew that it was
100297 for the army to fight, and that if it could not succeed it would not
100298 do to take young ladies and house serfs to the Three Hills quarter
100299 of Moscow to fight Napoleon, and that they must go away, sorry as they
100300 were to abandon their property to destruction. They went away
100301 without thinking of the tremendous significance of that immense and
100302 wealthy city being given over to destruction, for a great city with
100303 wooden buildings was certain when abandoned by its inhabitants to be
100304 burned. They went away each on his own account, and yet it was only in
100305 consequence of their going away that the momentous event was
100306 accomplished that will always remain the greatest glory of the Russian
100307 people. The lady who, afraid of being stopped by Count Rostopchin's
100308 orders, had already in June moved with her Negroes and her women
100309 jesters from Moscow to her Saratov estate, with a vague
100310 consciousness that she was not Bonaparte's servant, was really,
100311 simply, and truly carrying out the great work which saved Russia.
100312 But Count Rostopchin, who now taunted those who left Moscow and now
100313 had the government offices removed; now distributed quite useless
100314 weapons to the drunken rabble; now had processions displaying the
100315 icons, and now forbade Father Augustin to remove icons or the relics
100316 of saints; now seized all the private carts in Moscow and on one
100317 hundred and thirty-six of them removed the balloon that was being
100318 constructed by Leppich; now hinted that he would burn Moscow and
100319 related how he had set fire to his own house; now wrote a proclamation
100320 to the French solemnly upbraiding them for having destroyed his
100321 Orphanage; now claimed the glory of having hinted that he would burn
100322 Moscow and now repudiated the deed; now ordered the people to catch
100323 all spies and bring them to him, and now reproached them for doing so;
100324 now expelled all the French residents from Moscow, and now allowed
100325 Madame Aubert-Chalme (the center of the whole French colony in Moscow)
100326 to remain, but ordered the venerable old postmaster Klyucharev to be
100327 arrested and exiled for no particular offense; now assembled the
100328 people at the Three Hills to fight the French and now, to get rid of
100329 them, handed over to them a man to be killed and himself drove away by
100330 a back gate; now declared that he would not survive the fall of
100331 Moscow, and now wrote French verses in albums concerning his share
100332 in the affair--this man did not understand the meaning of what was
100333 happening but merely wanted to do something himself that would
100334 astonish people, to perform some patriotically heroic feat; and like a
100335 child he made sport of the momentous, and unavoidable event--the
100336 abandonment and burning of Moscow--and tried with his puny hand now to
100337 speed and now to stay the enormous, popular tide that bore him along
100338 with it.
100339
100340
100341
100342
100343
100344 CHAPTER VI
100345
100346
100347 Helene, having returned with the court from Vilna to Petersburg,
100348 found herself in a difficult position.
100349
100350 In Petersburg she had enjoyed the special protection of a grandee
100351 who occupied one of the highest posts in the Empire. In Vilna she
100352 had formed an intimacy with a young foreign prince. When she
100353 returned to Petersburg both the magnate and the prince were there, and
100354 both claimed their rights. Helene was faced by a new problem--how to
100355 preserve her intimacy with both without offending either.
100356
100357 What would have seemed difficult or even impossible to another woman
100358 did not cause the least embarrassment to Countess Bezukhova, who
100359 evidently deserved her reputation of being a very clever woman. Had
100360 she attempted concealment, or tried to extricate herself from her
100361 awkward position by cunning, she would have spoiled her case by
100362 acknowledging herself guilty. But Helene, like a really great man
100363 who can do whatever he pleases, at once assumed her own position to be
100364 correct, as she sincerely believed it to be, and that everyone else
100365 was to blame.
100366
100367 The first time the young foreigner allowed himself to reproach
100368 her, she lifted her beautiful head and, half turning to him, said
100369 firmly: "That's just like a man--selfish and cruel! I expected nothing
100370 else. A woman sacrifices herself for you, she suffers, and this is her
100371 reward! What right have you, monseigneur, to demand an account of my
100372 attachments and friendships? He is a man who has been more than a
100373 father to me!" The prince was about to say something, but Helene
100374 interrupted him.
100375
100376 "Well, yes," said she, "it may be that he has other sentiments for
100377 me than those of a father, but that is not a reason for me to shut
100378 my door on him. I am not a man, that I should repay kindness with
100379 ingratitude! Know, monseigneur, that in all that relates to my
100380 intimate feelings I render account only to God and to my
100381 conscience," she concluded, laying her hand on her beautiful, fully
100382 expanded bosom and looking up to heaven.
100383
100384 "But for heaven's sake listen to me!"
100385
100386 "Marry me, and I will be your slave!"
100387
100388 "But that's impossible."
100389
100390 "You won't deign to demean yourself by marrying me, you..." said
100391 Helene, beginning to cry.
100392
100393 The prince tried to comfort her, but Helene, as if quite distraught,
100394 said through her tears that there was nothing to prevent her marrying,
100395 that there were precedents (there were up to that time very few, but
100396 she mentioned Napoleon and some other exalted personages), that she
100397 had never been her husband's wife, and that she had been sacrificed.
100398
100399 "But the law, religion..." said the prince, already yielding.
100400
100401 "The law, religion... What have they been invented for if they can't
100402 arrange that?" said Helene.
100403
100404 The prince was surprised that so simple an idea had not occurred
100405 to him, and he applied for advice to the holy brethren of the
100406 Society of Jesus, with whom he was on intimate terms.
100407
100408 A few days later at one of those enchanting fetes which Helene
100409 gave at her country house on the Stone Island, the charming Monsieur
100410 de Jobert, a man no longer young, with snow white hair and brilliant
100411 black eyes, a Jesuit a robe courte* was presented to her, and in the
100412 garden by the light of the illuminations and to the sound of music
100413 talked to her for a long time of the love of God, of Christ, of the
100414 Sacred Heart, and of the consolations the one true Catholic religion
100415 affords in this world and the next. Helene was touched, and more
100416 than once tears rose to her eyes and to those of Monsieur de Jobert
100417 and their voices trembled. A dance, for which her partner came to seek
100418 her, put an end to her discourse with her future directeur de
100419 conscience, but the next evening Monsieur de Jobert came to see Helene
100420 when she was alone, and after that often came again.
100421
100422
100423 *Lay member of the Society of Jesus.
100424
100425
100426 One day he took the countess to a Roman Catholic church, where she
100427 knelt down before the altar to which she was led. The enchanting,
100428 middle-aged Frenchman laid his hands on her head and, as she herself
100429 afterward described it, she felt something like a fresh breeze
100430 wafted into her soul. It was explained to her that this was la grace.
100431
100432 After that a long-frocked abbe was brought to her. She confessed
100433 to him, and he absolved her from her sins. Next day she received a box
100434 containing the Sacred Host, which was left at her house for her to
100435 partake of. A few days later Helene learned with pleasure that she had
100436 now been admitted to the true Catholic Church and that in a few days
100437 the Pope himself would hear of her and would send her a certain
100438 document.
100439
100440 All that was done around her and to her at this time, all the
100441 attention devoted to her by so many clever men and expressed in such
100442 pleasant, refined ways, and the state of dove-like purity she was
100443 now in (she wore only white dresses and white ribbons all that time)
100444 gave her pleasure, but her pleasure did not cause her for a moment
100445 to forget her aim. And as it always happens in contests of cunning
100446 that a stupid person gets the better of cleverer ones, Helene-
100447 having realized that the main object of all these words and all this
100448 trouble was, after converting her to Catholicism, to obtain money from
100449 her for Jesuit institutions (as to which she received indications)-
100450 before parting with her money insisted that the various operations
100451 necessary to free her from her husband should be performed. In her
100452 view the aim of every religion was merely to preserve certain
100453 proprieties while affording satisfaction to human desires. And with
100454 this aim, in one of her talks with her Father Confessor, she
100455 insisted on an answer to the question, in how far was she bound by her
100456 marriage?
100457
100458 They were sitting in the twilight by a window in the drawing room.
100459 The scent of flowers came in at the window. Helene was wearing a white
100460 dress, transparent over her shoulders and bosom. The abbe, a
100461 well-fed man with a plump, clean-shaven chin, a pleasant firm mouth,
100462 and white hands meekly folded on his knees, sat close to Helene and,
100463 with a subtle smile on his lips and a peaceful look of delight at
100464 her beauty, occasionally glanced at her face as he explained his
100465 opinion on the subject. Helene with an uneasy smile looked at his
100466 curly hair and his plump, clean-shaven, blackish cheeks and every
100467 moment expected the conversation to take a fresh turn. But the abbe,
100468 though he evidently enjoyed the beauty of his companion, was
100469 absorbed in his mastery of the matter.
100470
100471 The course of the Father Confessor's arguments ran as follows:
100472 "Ignorant of the import of what you were undertaking, you made a vow
100473 of conjugal fidelity to a man who on his part, by entering the married
100474 state without faith in the religious significance of marriage,
100475 committed an act of sacrilege. That marriage lacked the dual
100476 significance it should have had. Yet in spite of this your vow was
100477 binding. You swerved from it. What did you commit by so acting? A
100478 venial, or a mortal, sin? A venial sin, for you acted without evil
100479 intention. If now you married again with the object of bearing
100480 children, your sin might be forgiven. But the question is again a
100481 twofold one: firstly..."
100482
100483 But suddenly Helene, who was getting bored, said with one of her
100484 bewitching smiles: "But I think that having espoused the true religion
100485 I cannot be bound by what a false religion laid upon me."
100486
100487 The director of her conscience was astounded at having the case
100488 presented to him thus with the simplicity of Columbus' egg. He was
100489 delighted at the unexpected rapidity of his pupil's progress, but
100490 could not abandon the edifice of argument he had laboriously
100491 constructed.
100492
100493 "Let us understand one another, Countess," said he with a smile, and
100494 began refuting his spiritual daughter's arguments.
100495
100496
100497
100498
100499
100500 CHAPTER VII
100501
100502
100503 Helene understood that the question was very simple and easy from
100504 the ecclesiastical point of view, and that her directors were making
100505 difficulties only because they were apprehensive as to how the
100506 matter would be regarded by the secular authorities.
100507
100508 So she decided that it was necessary to prepare the opinion of
100509 society. She provoked the jealousy of the elderly magnate and told him
100510 what she had told her other suitor; that is, she put the matter so
100511 that the only way for him to obtain a right over her was to marry her.
100512 The elderly magnate was at first as much taken aback by this
100513 suggestion of marriage with a woman whose husband was alive, as the
100514 younger man had been, but Helene's imperturbable conviction that it
100515 was as simple and natural as marrying a maiden had its effect on him
100516 too. Had Helene herself shown the least sign of hesitation, shame,
100517 or secrecy, her cause would certainly have been lost; but not only did
100518 she show no signs of secrecy or shame, on the contrary, with
100519 good-natured naivete she told her intimate friends (and these were all
100520 Petersburg) that both the prince and the magnate had proposed to her
100521 and that she loved both and was afraid of grieving either.
100522
100523 A rumor immediately spread in Petersburg, not that Helene wanted
100524 to be divorced from her husband (had such a report spread many would
100525 have opposed so illegal an intention) but simply that the
100526 unfortunate and interesting Helene was in doubt which of the two men
100527 she should marry. The question was no longer whether this was
100528 possible, but only which was the better match and how the matter would
100529 be regarded at court. There were, it is true, some rigid individuals
100530 unable to rise to the height of such a question, who saw in the
100531 project a desecration of the sacrament of marriage, but there were not
100532 many such and they remained silent, while the majority were interested
100533 in Helene's good fortune and in the question which match would be
100534 the more advantageous. Whether it was right or wrong to remarry
100535 while one had a husband living they did not discuss, for that question
100536 had evidently been settled by people "wiser than you or me," as they
100537 said, and to doubt the correctness of that decision would be to risk
100538 exposing one's stupidity and incapacity to live in society.
100539
100540 Only Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, had come to Petersburg that
100541 summer to see one of her sons, allowed herself plainly to express an
100542 opinion contrary to the general one. Meeting Helene at a ball she
100543 stopped her in the middle of the room and, amid general silence,
100544 said in her gruff voice: "So wives of living men have started marrying
100545 again! Perhaps you think you have invented a novelty? You have been
100546 forestalled, my dear! It was thought of long ago. It is done in all
100547 the brothels," and with these words Marya Dmitrievna, turning up her
100548 wide sleeves with her usual threatening gesture and glancing sternly
100549 round, moved across the room.
100550
100551 Though people were afraid of Marya Dmitrievna she was regarded in
100552 Petersburg as a buffoon, and so of what she had said they only
100553 noticed, and repeated in a whisper, the one coarse word she had
100554 used, supposing the whole sting of her remark to lie in that word.
100555
100556 Prince Vasili, who of late very often forgot what he had said and
100557 repeated one and the same thing a hundred times, remarked to his
100558 daughter whenever he chanced to see her:
100559
100560 "Helene, I have a word to say to you," and he would lead her
100561 aside, drawing her hand downward. "I have heard of certain projects
100562 concerning... you know. Well my dear child, you know how your father's
100563 heart rejoices to know that you... You have suffered so much....
100564 But, my dear child, consult only your own heart. That is all I have to
100565 say," and concealing his unvarying emotion he would press his cheek
100566 against his daughter's and move away.
100567
100568 Bilibin, who had not lost his reputation of an exceedingly clever
100569 man, and who was one of the disinterested friends so
100570 brilliant a woman as Helene always has--men friends who can never
100571 change into lovers--once gave her his view of the matter at a small
100572 and intimate gathering.
100573
100574 "Listen, Bilibin," said Helene (she always called friends of that
100575 sort by their surnames), and she touched his coat sleeve with her
100576 white, beringed fingers. "Tell me, as you would a sister, what I ought
100577 to do. Which of the two?"
100578
100579 Bilibin wrinkled up the skin over his eyebrows and pondered, with
100580 a smile on his lips.
100581
100582 "You are not taking me unawares, you know," said he. "As a true
100583 friend, I have thought and thought again about your affair. You see,
100584 if you marry the prince"--he meant the younger man--and he crooked one
100585 finger, "you forever lose the chance of marrying the other, and you
100586 will displease the court besides. (You know there is some kind of
100587 connection.) But if you marry the old count you will make his last
100588 days happy, and as widow of the Grand... the prince would no longer be
100589 making a mesalliance by marrying you," and Bilibin smoothed out his
100590 forehead.
100591
100592 "That's a true friend!" said Helene beaming, and again touching
100593 Bilibin's sleeve. "But I love them, you know, and don't want to
100594 distress either of them. I would give my life for the happiness of
100595 them both."
100596
100597 Bilibin shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say that not even he
100598 could help in that difficulty.
100599
100600 "Une maitresse-femme!* That's what is called putting things
100601 squarely. She would like to be married to all three at the same time,"
100602 thought he.
100603
100604
100605 *A masterly woman.
100606
100607
100608 "But tell me, how will your husband look at the matter?" Bilibin
100609 asked, his reputation being so well established that he did not fear
100610 to ask so naive a question. "Will he agree?"
100611
100612 "Oh, he loves me so!" said Helene, who for some reason imagined that
100613 Pierre too loved her. "He will do anything for me."
100614
100615 Bilibin puckered his skin in preparation for something witty.
100616
100617 "Even divorce you?" said he.
100618
100619 Helene laughed.
100620
100621 Among those who ventured to doubt the justifiability of the proposed
100622 marriage was Helene's mother, Princess Kuragina. She was continually
100623 tormented by jealousy of her daughter, and now that jealousy concerned
100624 a subject near to her own heart, she could not reconcile herself to
100625 the idea. She consulted a Russian priest as to the possibility of
100626 divorce and remarriage during a husband's lifetime, and the priest
100627 told her that it was impossible, and to her delight showed her a
100628 text in the Gospel which (as it seemed to him) plainly remarriage
100629 while the husband is alive.
100630
100631 Armed with these arguments, which appeared to her unanswerable,
100632 she drove to her daughter's early one morning so as to find her alone.
100633
100634 Having listened to her mother's objections, Helene smiled blandly
100635 and ironically.
100636
100637 "But it says plainly: 'Whosoever shall marry her that is
100638 divorced...'" said the old princess.
100639
100640 "Ah, Maman, ne dites pas de betises. Vous ne comprenez rein. Dans ma
100641 position j'ai des devoirs,"* said Helene changing from Russian, in
100642 which language she always felt that her case did not sound quite
100643 clear, into French which suited it better.
100644
100645
100646 *"Oh, Mamma, don't talk nonsense! You don't understand anything.
100647 In my position I have obligations.
100648
100649
100650 "But, my dear...."
100651
100652 "Oh, Mamma, how is it you don't understand that the Holy Father, who
100653 has the right to grant dispensations..."
100654
100655 Just then the lady companion who lived with Helene came in to
100656 announce that His Highness was in the ballroom and wished to see her.
100657
100658 "Non, dites-lui que je ne veux pas le voir, que je suis furieuse
100659 contre lui, parce qu'il m' a manque parole."*
100660
100661
100662 *"No, tell him I don't wish to see him, I am furious with him for
100663 not keeping his word to me."
100664
100665
100666 "Comtesse, a tout peche misericorde,"* said a fair-haired young
100667 man with a long face and nose, as he entered the room.
100668
100669
100670 *"Countess, there is mercy for every sin."
100671
100672
100673 The old princess rose respectfully and curtsied. The young man who
100674 had entered took no notice of her. The princess nodded to her daughter
100675 and sidled out of the room.
100676
100677 "Yes, she is right," thought the old princess, all her convictions
100678 dissipated by the appearance of His Highness. "She is right, but how
100679 is it that we in our irrecoverable youth did not know it? Yet it is so
100680 simple," she thought as she got into her carriage.
100681
100682
100683 By the beginning of August Helene's affairs were clearly defined and
100684 she wrote a letter to her husband--who, as she imagined, loved her
100685 very much--informing him of her intention to marry N.N. and of her
100686 having embraced the one true faith, and asking him to carry out all
100687 the formalities necessary for a divorce, which would be explained to
100688 him by the bearer of the letter.
100689
100690
100691 And so I pray God to have you, my friend, in His holy and powerful
100692 keeping--Your friend Helene.
100693
100694
100695 This letter was brought to Pierre's house when he was on the field
100696 of Borodino.
100697
100698
100699
100700
100701
100702 CHAPTER VIII
100703
100704
100705 Toward the end of the battle of Borodino, Pierre, having run down
100706 from Raevski's battery a second time, made his way through a gully
100707 to Knyazkovo with a crowd of soldiers, reached the dressing station,
100708 and seeing blood and hearing cries and groans hurried on, still
100709 entangled in the crowds of soldiers.
100710
100711 The one thing he now desired with his whole soul was to get away
100712 quickly from the terrible sensations amid which he had lived that
100713 day and return to ordinary conditions of life and sleep quietly in a
100714 room in his own bed. He felt that only in the ordinary conditions of
100715 life would he be able to understand himself and all he had seen and
100716 felt. But such ordinary conditions of life were nowhere to be found.
100717
100718 Though shells and bullets did not whistle over the road along
100719 which he was going, still on all sides there was what there had been
100720 on the field of battle. There were still the same suffering,
100721 exhausted, and sometimes strangely indifferent faces, the same
100722 blood, the same soldiers' overcoats, the same sounds of firing
100723 which, though distant now, still aroused terror, and besides this
100724 there were the foul air and the dust.
100725
100726 Having gone a couple of miles along the Mozhaysk road, Pierre sat
100727 down by the roadside.
100728
100729 Dusk had fallen, and the roar of guns died away. Pierre lay
100730 leaning on his elbow for a long time, gazing at the shadows that moved
100731 past him in the darkness. He was continually imagining that a cannon
100732 ball was flying toward him with a terrific whizz, and then he
100733 shuddered and sat up. He had no idea how long he had been there. In
100734 the middle of the night three soldiers, having brought some
100735 firewood, settled down near him and began lighting a fire.
100736
100737 The soldiers, who threw sidelong glances at Pierre, got the fire
100738 to burn and placed an iron pot on it into which they broke some
100739 dried bread and put a little dripping. The pleasant odor of greasy
100740 viands mingled with the smell of smoke. Pierre sat up and sighed.
100741 The three soldiers were eating and talking among themselves, taking no
100742 notice of him.
100743
100744 "And who may you be?" one of them suddenly asked Pierre, evidently
100745 meaning what Pierre himself had in mind, namely: "If you want to eat
100746 we'll give you some food, only let us know whether you are an honest
100747 man."
100748
100749 "I, I..." said Pierre, feeling it necessary to minimize his social
100750 position as much as possible so as to be nearer to the soldiers and
100751 better understood by them. "By rights I am a militia officer, but my
100752 men are not here. I came to the battle and have lost them."
100753
100754 "There now!" said one of the soldiers.
100755
100756 Another shook his head.
100757
100758 "Would you like a little mash?" the first soldier asked, and
100759 handed Pierre a wooden spoon after licking it clean.
100760
100761 Pierre sat down by the fire and began eating the mash, as they
100762 called the food in the cauldron, and he thought it more delicious than
100763 any food he had ever tasted. As he sat bending greedily over it,
100764 helping himself to large spoonfuls and chewing one after another,
100765 his was lit up by the fire and the soldiers looked at him in silence.
100766
100767 "Where have you to go to? Tell us!" said one of them.
100768
100769 "To Mozhaysk."
100770
100771 "You're a gentleman, aren't you?"
100772
100773 "Yes."
100774
100775 "And what's your name?"
100776
100777 "Peter Kirilych."
100778
100779 "Well then, Peter Kirilych, come along with us, we'll take you
100780 there."
100781
100782 In the total darkness the soldiers walked with Pierre to Mozhaysk.
100783
100784 By the time they got near Mozhaysk and began ascending the steep
100785 hill into the town, the cocks were already crowing. Pierre went on
100786 with the soldiers, quite forgetting that his inn was at the bottom
100787 of the hill and that he had already passed it. He would not soon
100788 have remembered this, such was his state of forgetfulness, had he
100789 not halfway up the hill stumbled upon his groom, who had been to
100790 look for him in the town and was returning to the inn. The groom
100791 recognized Pierre in the darkness by his white hat.
100792
100793 "Your excellency!" he said. "Why, we were beginning to despair!
100794 How is it you are on foot? And where are you going, please?"
100795
100796 "Oh, yes!" said Pierre.
100797
100798 The soldiers stopped.
100799
100800 "So you've found your folk?" said one of them. "Well, good-by, Peter
100801 Kirilych--isn't it?"
100802
100803 "Good-by, Peter Kirilych!" Pierre heard the other voices repeat.
100804
100805 "Good-by!" he said and turned with his groom toward the inn.
100806
100807 "I ought to give them something!" he thought, and felt in his
100808 pocket. "No, better not!" said another, inner voice.
100809
100810 There was not a room to be had at the inn, they were all occupied.
100811 Pierre went out into the yard and, covering himself up head and all,
100812 lay down in his carriage.
100813
100814
100815
100816
100817
100818 CHAPTER IX
100819
100820
100821 Scarcely had Pierre laid his head on the pillow before he felt
100822 himself falling asleep, but suddenly, almost with the distinctness
100823 of reality, he heard the boom, boom, boom of firing, the thud of
100824 projectiles, groans and cries, and smelled blood and powder, and a
100825 feeling of horror and dread of death seized him. Filled with fright he
100826 opened his eyes and lifted his head from under his cloak. All was
100827 tranquil in the yard. Only someone's orderly passed through the
100828 gateway, splashing through the mud, and talked to the innkeeper. Above
100829 Pierre's head some pigeons, disturbed by the movement he had made in
100830 sitting up, fluttered under the dark roof of the penthouse. The
100831 whole courtyard was permeated by a strong peaceful smell of stable
100832 yards, delightful to Pierre at that moment. He could see the clear
100833 starry sky between the dark roofs of two penthouses.
100834
100835 "Thank God, there is no more of that!" he thought, covering up his
100836 head again. "Oh, what a terrible thing is fear, and how shamefully I
100837 yielded to it! But they... they were steady and calm all the time,
100838 to the end..." thought he.
100839
100840 They, in Pierre's mind, were the soldiers, those who had been at the
100841 battery, those who had given him food, and those who had prayed before
100842 the icon. They, those strange men he had not previously known, stood
100843 out clearly and sharply from everyone else.
100844
100845 "To be a soldier, just a soldier!" thought Pierre as he fell asleep,
100846 "to enter communal life completely, to be imbued by what makes them
100847 what they are. But how cast off all the superfluous, devilish burden
100848 of my outer man? There was a time when I could have done it. I could
100849 have run away from my father, as I wanted to. Or I might have been
100850 sent to serve as a soldier after the duel with Dolokhov." And the
100851 memory of the dinner at the English Club when he had challenged
100852 Dolokhov flashed through Pierre's mind, and then he remembered his
100853 benefactor at Torzhok. And now a picture of a solemn meeting of the
100854 lodge presented itself to his mind. It was taking place at the English
100855 Club and someone near and dear to him sat at the end of the table.
100856 "Yes, that is he! It is my benefactor. But he died!" thought Pierre.
100857 "Yes, he died, and I did not know he was alive. How sorry I am that he
100858 died, and how glad I am that he is alive again!" On one side of the
100859 table sat Anatole, Dolokhov, Nesvitski, Denisov, and others like
100860 them (in his dream the category to which these men belonged was as
100861 clearly defined in his mind as the category of those he termed
100862 they), and he heard those people, Anatole and Dolokhov, shouting and
100863 singing loudly; yet through their shouting the voice of his benefactor
100864 was heard speaking all the time and the sound of his words was as
100865 weighty and uninterrupted as the booming on the battlefield, but
100866 pleasant and comforting. Pierre did not understand what his benefactor
100867 was saying, but he knew (the categories of thoughts were also quite
100868 distinct in his dream) that he was talking of goodness and the
100869 possibility of being what they were. And they with their simple, kind,
100870 firm faces surrounded his benefactor on all sides. But though they
100871 were kindly they did not look at Pierre and did not know him.
100872 Wishing to speak and to attract their attention, he got up, but at
100873 that moment his legs grew cold and bare.
100874
100875 He felt ashamed, and with one arm covered his legs from which his
100876 cloak had in fact slipped. For a moment as he was rearranging his
100877 cloak Pierre opened his eyes and saw the same penthouse roofs,
100878 posts, and yard, but now they were all bluish, lit up, and
100879 glittering with frost or dew.
100880
100881 "It is dawn," thought Pierre. "But that's not what I want. I want to
100882 hear and understand my benefactor's words." Again he covered himself
100883 up with his cloak, but now neither the lodge nor his benefactor was
100884 there. There were only thoughts clearly expressed in words, thoughts
100885 that someone was uttering or that he himself was formulating.
100886
100887 Afterwards when he recalled those thoughts Pierre was convinced that
100888 someone outside himself had spoken them, though the impressions of
100889 that day had evoked them. He had never, it seemed to him, been able to
100890 think and express his thoughts like that when awake.
100891
100892 "To endure war is the most difficult subordination of man's
100893 freedom to the law of God," the voice had said. "Simplicity is
100894 submission to the will of God; you cannot escape from Him. And they
100895 are simple. They do not talk, but act. The spoken word is silver but
100896 the unspoken is golden. Man can be master of nothing while he fears
100897 death, but he who does not fear it possesses all. If there were no
100898 suffering, man would not know his limitations, would not know himself.
100899 The hardest thing [Pierre went on thinking, or hearing, in his
100900 dream] is to be able in your soul to unite the meaning of all. To
100901 unite all?" he asked himself. "No, not to unite. Thoughts cannot be
100902 united, but to harness all these thoughts together is what we need!
100903 Yes, one must harness them, must harness them!" he repeated to himself
100904 with inward rapture, feeling that these words and they alone expressed
100905 what he wanted to say and solved the question that tormented him.
100906
100907 "Yes, one must harness, it is time to harness."
100908
100909 "Time to harness, time to harness, your excellency! Your
100910 excellency!" some voice was repeating. "We must harness, it is time to
100911 harness...."
100912
100913 It was the voice of the groom, trying to wake him. The sun shone
100914 straight into Pierre's face. He glanced at the dirty innyard in the
100915 middle of which soldiers were watering their lean horses at the pump
100916 while carts were passing out of the gate. Pierre turned away with
100917 repugnance, and closing his eyes quickly fell back on the carriage
100918 seat. "No, I don't want that, I don't want to see and understand that.
100919 I want to understand what was revealing itself to me in my dream.
100920 One second more and I should have understood it all! But what am I
100921 to do? Harness, but how can I harness everything?" and Pierre felt
100922 with horror that the meaning of all he had seen and thought in the
100923 dream had been destroyed.
100924
100925 The groom, the coachman, and the innkeeper told Pierre that an
100926 officer had come with news that the French were already near
100927 Mozhaysk and that our men were leaving it.
100928
100929 Pierre got up and, having told them to harness and overtake him,
100930 went on foot through the town.
100931
100932 The troops were moving on, leaving about ten thousand wounded behind
100933 them. There were wounded in the yards, at the windows of the houses,
100934 and the streets were crowded with them. In the streets, around carts
100935 that were to take some of the wounded away, shouts, curses, and
100936 blows could be heard. Pierre offered the use of his carriage, which
100937 had overtaken him, to a wounded general he knew, and drove with him
100938 to Moscow. On the way Pierre was told of the death of his
100939 brother-in-law Anatole and of that of Prince Andrew.
100940
100941
100942
100943
100944
100945 CHAPTER X
100946
100947
100948 On the thirteenth of August Pierre reached Moscow. Close to the
100949 gates of the city he was met by Count Rostopchin's adjutant.
100950
100951 "We have been looking for you everywhere," said the adjutant. "The
100952 count wants to see you particularly. He asks you to come to him at
100953 once on a very important matter."
100954
100955 Without going home, Pierre took a cab and drove to see the Moscow
100956 commander in chief.
100957
100958 Count Rostopchin had only that morning returned to town from his
100959 summer villa at Sokolniki. The anteroom and reception room of his
100960 house were full of officials who had been summoned or had come for
100961 orders. Vasilchikov and Platov had already seen the count and
100962 explained to him that it was impossible to defend Moscow and that it
100963 would have to be surrendered. Though this news was being concealed
100964 from the inhabitants, the officials--the heads of the various
100965 government departments--knew that Moscow would soon be in the
100966 enemy's hands, just as Count Rostopchin himself knew it, and to escape
100967 personal responsibility they had all come to the governor to ask how
100968 they were to deal with their various departments.
100969
100970 As Pierre was entering the reception room a courier from the army
100971 came out of Rostopchin's private room.
100972
100973 In answer to questions with which he was greeted, the courier made a
100974 despairing gesture with his hand and passed through the room.
100975
100976 While waiting in the reception room Pierre with weary eyes watched
100977 the various officials, old and young, military and civilian, who
100978 were there. They all seemed dissatisfied and uneasy. Pierre went up to
100979 a group of men, one of whom he knew. After greeting Pierre they
100980 continued their conversation.
100981
100982 "If they're sent out and brought back again later on it will do no
100983 harm, but as things are now one can't answer for anything."
100984
100985 "But you see what he writes..." said another, pointing to a
100986 printed sheet he held in his hand.
100987
100988 "That's another matter. That's necessary for the people," said the
100989 first.
100990
100991 "What is it?" asked Pierre.
100992
100993 "Oh, it's a fresh broadsheet."
100994
100995 Pierre took it and began reading.
100996
100997
100998 His Serene Highness has passed through Mozhaysk in order to join
100999 up with the troops moving toward him and has taken up a strong
101000 position where the enemy will not soon attack him. Forty eight guns
101001 with ammunition have been sent him from here, and his Serene
101002 Highness says he will defend Moscow to the last drop of blood and is
101003 even ready to fight in the streets. Do not be upset, brothers, that
101004 the law courts are closed; things have to be put in order, and we will
101005 deal with villains in our own way! When the time comes I shall want
101006 both town and peasant lads and will raise the cry a day or two
101007 beforehand, but they are not wanted yet so I hold my peace. An ax will
101008 be useful, a hunting spear not bad, but a three-pronged fork will be
101009 best of all: a Frenchman is no heavier than a sheaf of rye. Tomorrow
101010 after dinner I shall take the Iberian icon of the Mother of God to the
101011 wounded in the Catherine Hospital where we will have some water
101012 blessed. That will help them to get well quicker. I, too, am well now:
101013 one of my eyes was sore but now I am on the lookout with both.
101014
101015
101016 "But military men have told me that it is impossible to fight in the
101017 town," said Pierre, "and that the position..."
101018
101019 "Well, of course! That's what we were saying," replied the first
101020 speaker.
101021
101022 "And what does he mean by 'One of my eyes was sore but now I am on
101023 the lookout with both'?" asked Pierre.
101024
101025 "The count had a sty," replied the adjutant smiling, "and was very
101026 much upset when I told him people had come to ask what was the
101027 matter with him. By the by, Count," he added suddenly, addressing
101028 Pierre with a smile, "we heard that you have family troubles and
101029 that the countess, your wife..."
101030
101031 "I have heard nothing," Pierre replied unconcernedly. "But what have
101032 you heard?"
101033
101034 "Oh, well, you know people often invent things. I only say what I
101035 heard."
101036
101037 "But what did you hear?"
101038
101039 "Well, they say," continued the adjutant with the same smile,
101040 "that the countess, your wife, is preparing to go abroad. I expect
101041 it's nonsense...."
101042
101043 "Possibly," remarked Pierre, looking about him absent-mindedly. "And
101044 who is that?" he asked, indicating a short old man in a clean blue
101045 peasant overcoat, with a big snow-white beard and eyebrows and a ruddy
101046 face.
101047
101048 "He? That's a tradesman, that is to say, he's the restaurant keeper,
101049 Vereshchagin. Perhaps you have heard of that affair with the
101050 proclamation."
101051
101052 "Oh, so that is Vereshchagin!" said Pierre, looking at the firm,
101053 calm face of the old man and seeking any indication of his being a
101054 traitor.
101055
101056 "That's not he himself, that's the father of the fellow who wrote
101057 the proclamation," said the adjutant. "The young man is in prison
101058 and I expect it will go hard with him."
101059
101060 An old gentleman wearing a star and another official, a German
101061 wearing a cross round his neck, approached the speaker.
101062
101063 "It's a complicated story, you know," said the adjutant. "That
101064 proclamation appeared about two months ago. The count was informed
101065 of it. He gave orders to investigate the matter. Gabriel Ivanovich
101066 here made the inquiries. The proclamation had passed through exactly
101067 sixty-three hands. He asked one, 'From whom did you get it?' 'From
101068 so-and-so.' He went to the next one. 'From whom did you get it?' and
101069 so on till he reached Vereshchagin, a half educated tradesman, you
101070 know, 'a pet of a trader,'" said the adjutant smiling. "They asked
101071 him, 'Who gave it you?' And the point is that we knew whom he had it
101072 from. He could only have had it from the Postmaster. But evidently
101073 they had come to some understanding. He replied: 'From no one; I
101074 made it up myself.' They threatened and questioned him, but he stuck
101075 to that: 'I made it up myself.' And so it was reported to the count,
101076 who sent for the man. 'From whom did you get the proclamation?' 'I
101077 wrote it myself.' Well, you know the count," said the adjutant
101078 cheerfully, with a smile of pride, "he flared up dreadfully--and
101079 just think of the fellow's audacity, lying, and obstinacy!"
101080
101081 "And the count wanted him to say it was from Klyucharev? I
101082 understand!" said Pierre.
101083
101084 "Not at all," rejoined the adjutant in dismay. "Klyucharev had his
101085 own sins to answer for without that and that is why he has been
101086 banished. But the point is that the count was much annoyed. 'How could
101087 you have written it yourself?' said he, and he took up the Hamburg
101088 Gazette that was lying on the table. 'Here it is! You did not write it
101089 yourself but translated it, and translated it abominably, because
101090 you don't even know French, you fool.' And what do you think? 'No,'
101091 said he, 'I have not read any papers, I made it up myself.' 'If that's
101092 so, you're a traitor and I'll have you tried, and you'll be hanged!
101093 Say from whom you had it.' 'I have seen no papers, I made it up
101094 myself.' And that was the end of it. The count had the father fetched,
101095 but the fellow stuck to it. He was sent for trial and condemned to
101096 hard labor, I believe. Now the father has come to intercede for him.
101097 But he's a good-for-nothing lad! You know that sort of tradesman's
101098 son, a dandy and lady-killer. He attended some lectures somewhere
101099 and imagines that the devil is no match for him. That's the sort of
101100 fellow he is. His father keeps a cookshop here by the Stone Bridge,
101101 and you know there was a large icon of God Almighty painted with a
101102 scepter in one hand and an orb in the other. Well, he took that icon
101103 home with him for a few days and what did he do? He found some
101104 scoundrel of a painter..."
101105
101106
101107
101108
101109
101110 CHAPTER XI
101111
101112
101113 In the middle of this fresh tale Pierre was summoned to the
101114 commander in chief.
101115
101116 When he entered the private room Count Rostopchin, puckering his
101117 face, was rubbing his forehead and eyes with his hand. A short man was
101118 saying something, but when Pierre entered he stopped speaking and went
101119 out.
101120
101121 "Ah, how do you do, great warrior?" said Rostopchin as soon as the
101122 short man had left the room. "We have heard of your prowess. But
101123 that's not the point. Between ourselves, mon cher, do you belong to
101124 the Masons?" he went on severely, as though there were something wrong
101125 about it which he nevertheless intended to pardon. Pierre remained
101126 silent. "I am well informed, my friend, but I am aware that there
101127 are Masons and I hope that you are not one of those who
101128 on pretense of saving mankind wish to ruin Russia."
101129
101130 "Yes, I am a Mason," Pierre replied.
101131
101132 "There, you see, mon cher! I expect you know that Messrs.
101133 Speranski and Magnitski have been deported to their proper place.
101134 Mr. Klyucharev has been treated in the same way, and so have others
101135 who on the plea of building up the temple of Solomon have tried to
101136 destroy the temple of their fatherland. You can understand that
101137 there are reasons for this and that I could not have exiled the
101138 Postmaster had he not been a harmful person. It has now come to my
101139 knowledge that you lent him your carriage for his removal from town,
101140 and that you have even accepted papers from him for safe custody. I
101141 like you and don't wish you any harm and--as you are only half my age-
101142 I advise you, as a father would, to cease all communication with men
101143 of that stamp and to leave here as soon as possible."
101144
101145 "But what did Klyucharev do wrong, Count?" asked Pierre.
101146
101147 "That is for me to know, but not for you to ask," shouted
101148 Rostopchin.
101149
101150 "If he is accused of circulating Napoleon's proclamation it is not
101151 proved that he did so," said Pierre without looking at Rostopchin,
101152 "and Vereshchagin..."
101153
101154 "There we are!" Rostopchin shouted at Pierre louder than before,
101155 frowning suddenly. "Vereshchagin is a renegade and a traitor who
101156 will be punished as he deserves," said he with the vindictive heat
101157 with which people speak when recalling an insult. "But I did not
101158 summon you to discuss my actions, but to give you advice--or an
101159 order if you prefer it. I beg you to leave the town and break off
101160 all communication with such men as Klyucharev. And I will knock the
101161 nonsense out of anybody"--but probably realizing that he was
101162 shouting at Bezukhov who so far was not guilty of anything, he
101163 added, taking Pierre's hand in a friendly manner, "We are on the eve
101164 of a public disaster and I haven't time to be polite to everybody
101165 who has business with me. My head is sometimes in a whirl. Well, mon
101166 cher, what are you doing personally?"
101167
101168 "Why, nothing," answered Pierre without raising his eyes or changing
101169 the thoughtful expression of his face.
101170
101171 The count frowned.
101172
101173 "A word of friendly advice, mon cher. Be off as soon as you can,
101174 that's all I have to tell you. Happy he who has ears to hear. Good-by,
101175 my dear fellow. Oh, by the by!" he shouted through the doorway after
101176 Pierre, "is it true that the countess has fallen into the clutches
101177 of the holy fathers of the Society of Jesus?"
101178
101179 Pierre did not answer and left Rostopchin's room more sullen and
101180 angry than he had ever before shown himself.
101181
101182 When he reached home it was already getting dark. Some eight
101183 people had come to see him that evening: the secretary of a committee,
101184 the colonel of his battalion, his steward, his major-domo, and various
101185 petitioners. They all had business with Pierre and wanted decisions
101186 from him. Pierre did not understand and was not interested in any of
101187 these questions and only answered them in order to get rid of these
101188 people. When left alone at last he opened and read his wife's letter.
101189
101190 "They, the soldiers at the battery, Prince Andrew killed... that old
101191 man... Simplicity is submission to God. Suffering is necessary...
101192 the meaning of all... one must harness... my wife is getting
101193 married... One must forget and understand..." And going to his bed
101194 he threw himself on it without undressing and immediately fell asleep.
101195
101196 When he awoke next morning the major-domo came to inform him that
101197 a special messenger, a police officer, had come from Count
101198 Rostopchin to know whether Count Bezukhov had left or was leaving
101199 the town.
101200
101201 A dozen persons who had business with Pierre were awaiting him in
101202 the drawing room. Pierre dressed hurriedly and, instead of going to
101203 see them, went to the back porch and out through the gate.
101204
101205 From that time till the end of the destruction of Moscow no one of
101206 Bezukhov's household, despite all the search they made, saw Pierre
101207 again or knew where he was.
101208
101209
101210
101211
101212
101213 CHAPTER XII
101214
101215
101216 The Rostovs remained in Moscow till the first of September, that is,
101217 till the eve of the enemy's entry into the city.
101218
101219 After Petya had joined Obolenski's regiment of Cossacks and left for
101220 Belaya Tserkov where that regiment was forming, the countess was
101221 seized with terror. The thought that both her sons were at the war,
101222 had both gone from under her wing, that today or tomorrow either or
101223 both of them might be killed like the three sons of one of her
101224 acquaintances, struck her that summer for the first time with cruel
101225 clearness. She tried to get Nicholas back and wished to go herself
101226 to join Petya, or to get him an appointment somewhere in Petersburg,
101227 but neither of these proved possible. Petya could not return unless
101228 his regiment did so or unless he was transferred to another regiment
101229 on active service. Nicholas was somewhere with the army and had not
101230 sent a word since his last letter, in which he had given a detailed
101231 account of his meeting with Princess Mary. The countess did not
101232 sleep at night, or when she did fall asleep dreamed that she saw her
101233 sons lying dead. After many consultations and conversations, the count
101234 at last devised means to tranquillize her. He got Petya transferred
101235 from Obolenski's regiment to Bezukhov's, which was in training near
101236 Moscow. Though Petya would remain in the service, this transfer
101237 would give the countess the consolation of seeing at least one of
101238 her sons under her wing, and she hoped to arrange matters for her
101239 Petya so as not to let him go again, but always get him appointed to
101240 places where he could not possibly take part in a battle. As long as
101241 Nicholas alone was in danger the countess imagined that she loved
101242 her first-born more than all her other children and even reproached
101243 herself for it; but when her youngest: the scapegrace who had been bad
101244 at lessons, was always breaking things in the house and making himself
101245 a nuisance to everybody, that snub-nosed Petya with his merry black
101246 eyes and fresh rosy cheeks where soft down was just beginning to show-
101247 when he was thrown amid those big, dreadful, cruel men who were
101248 fighting somewhere about something and apparently finding pleasure
101249 in it--then his mother thought she loved him more, much more, than all
101250 her other children. The nearer the time came for Petya to return,
101251 the more uneasy grew the countess. She began to think she would
101252 never live to see such happiness. The presence of Sonya, of her
101253 beloved Natasha, or even of her husband irritated her. "What do I want
101254 with them? I want no one but Petya," she thought.
101255
101256 At the end of August the Rostovs received another letter from
101257 Nicholas. He wrote from the province of Voronezh where he had been
101258 sent to procure remounts, but that letter did not set the countess
101259 at ease. Knowing that one son was out of danger she became the more
101260 anxious about Petya.
101261
101262 Though by the twentieth of August nearly all the Rostovs'
101263 acquaintances had left Moscow, and though everybody tried to
101264 persuade the countess to get away as quickly as possible, she would
101265 not bear of leaving before her treasure, her adored Petya, returned.
101266 On the twenty-eighth of August he arrived. The passionate tenderness
101267 with which his mother received him did not please the sixteen-year-old
101268 officer. Though she concealed from him her intention of keeping him
101269 under her wing, Petya guessed her designs, and instinctively fearing
101270 that he might give way to emotion when with her--might "become
101271 womanish" as he termed it to himself--he treated her coldly, avoided
101272 her, and during his stay in Moscow attached himself exclusively to
101273 Natasha for whom he had always had a particularly brotherly
101274 tenderness, almost lover-like.
101275
101276 Owing to the count's customary carelessness nothing was ready for
101277 their departure by the twenty-eighth of August and the carts that were
101278 to come from their Ryazan and Moscow estates to remove their household
101279 belongings did not arrive till the thirtieth.
101280
101281 From the twenty-eighth till the thirty-first all Moscow was in a
101282 bustle and commotion. Every day thousands of men wounded at Borodino
101283 were brought in by the Dorogomilov gate and taken to various parts
101284 of Moscow, and thousands of carts conveyed the inhabitants and their
101285 possessions out by the other gates. In spite of Rostopchin's
101286 broadsheets, or because of them or independently of them, the
101287 strangest and most contradictory rumors were current in the town. Some
101288 said that no one was to be allowed to leave the city, others on the
101289 contrary said that all the icons had been taken out of the churches
101290 and everybody was to be ordered to leave. Some said there had been
101291 another battle after Borodino at which the French had been routed,
101292 while others on the contrary reported that the Russian army bad been
101293 destroyed. Some talked about the Moscow militia which, preceded by the
101294 clergy, would go to the Three Hills; others whispered that Augustin
101295 had been forbidden to leave, that traitors had been seized, that the
101296 peasants were rioting and robbing people on their way from Moscow, and
101297 so on. But all this was only talk; in reality (though the Council of
101298 Fili, at which it was decided to abandon Moscow, had not yet been
101299 held) both those who went away and those who remained behind felt,
101300 though they did not show it, that Moscow would certainly be abandoned,
101301 and that they ought to get away as quickly as possible and save
101302 their belongings. It was felt that everything would suddenly break
101303 up and change, but up to the first of September nothing had done so.
101304 As a criminal who is being led to execution knows that he must die
101305 immediately, but yet looks about him and straightens the cap that is
101306 awry on his head, so Moscow involuntarily continued its wonted life,
101307 though it knew that the time of its destruction was near when the
101308 conditions of life to which its people were accustomed to submit would
101309 be completely upset.
101310
101311 During the three days preceding the occupation of Moscow the whole
101312 Rostov family was absorbed in various activities. The head of the
101313 family, Count Ilya Rostov, continually drove about the city collecting
101314 the current rumors from all sides and gave superficial and hasty
101315 orders at home about the preparations for their departure.
101316
101317 The countess watched the things being packed, was dissatisfied
101318 with everything, was constantly in pursuit of Petya who was always
101319 running away from her, and was jealous of Natasha with whom he spent
101320 all his time. Sonya alone directed the practical side of matters by
101321 getting things packed. But of late Sonya had been particularly sad and
101322 silent. Nicholas' letter in which he mentioned Princess Mary had
101323 elicited, in her presence, joyous comments from the countess, who
101324 saw an intervention of Providence in this meeting of the princess
101325 and Nicholas.
101326
101327 "I was never pleased at Bolkonski's engagement to Natasha," said the
101328 countess, "but I always wanted Nicholas to marry the princess, and had
101329 a presentiment that it would happen. What a good thing it would be!"
101330
101331 Sonya felt that this was true: that the only possibility of
101332 retrieving the Rostovs' affairs was by Nicholas marrying a rich woman,
101333 and that the princess was a good match. It was very bitter for her.
101334 But despite her grief, or perhaps just because of it, she took on
101335 herself all the difficult work of directing the storing and packing of
101336 their things and was busy for whole days. The count and countess
101337 turned to her when they had any orders to give. Petya and Natasha on
101338 the contrary, far from helping their parents, were generally a
101339 nuisance and a hindrance to everyone. Almost all day long the house
101340 resounded with their running feet, their cries, and their
101341 spontaneous laughter. They laughed and were gay not because there
101342 was any reason to laugh, but because gaiety and mirth were in their
101343 hearts and so everything that happened was a cause for gaiety and
101344 laughter to them. Petya was in high spirits because having left home a
101345 boy he had returned (as everybody told him) a fine young man,
101346 because he was at home, because he had left Belaya Tserkov where there
101347 was no hope of soon taking part in a battle and had come to Moscow
101348 where there was to be fighting in a few days, and chiefly because
101349 Natasha, whose lead he always followed, was in high spirits. Natasha
101350 was gay because she had been sad too long and now nothing reminded her
101351 of the cause of her sadness, and because she was feeling well. She was
101352 also happy because she had someone to adore her: the adoration of
101353 others was a lubricant the wheels of her machine needed to make them
101354 run freely--and Petya adored her. Above all, they were gay because
101355 there was a war near Moscow, there would be fighting at the town
101356 gates, arms were being given out, everybody was escaping--going away
101357 somewhere, and in general something extraordinary was happening, and
101358 that is always exciting, especially to the young.
101359
101360
101361
101362
101363
101364 CHAPTER XIII
101365
101366
101367 On Saturday, the thirty-first of August, everything in the
101368 Rostovs' house seemed topsy-turvy. All the doors were open, all the
101369 furniture was being carried out or moved about, and the mirrors and
101370 pictures had been taken down. There were trunks in the rooms, and hay,
101371 wrapping paper, and ropes were scattered about. The peasants and house
101372 serfs carrying out the things were treading heavily on the parquet
101373 floors. The yard was crowded with peasant carts, some loaded high
101374 and already corded up, others still empty.
101375
101376 The voices and footsteps of the many servants and of the peasants
101377 who had come with the carts resounded as they shouted to one another
101378 in the yard and in the house. The count bad been out since morning.
101379 The countess had a headache brought on by all the noise and turmoil
101380 and was lying down in the new sitting room with a vinegar compress
101381 on her head. Petya was not at home, he had gone to visit a friend with
101382 whom he meant to obtain a transfer from the militia to the active
101383 army. Sonya was in the ballroom looking after the packing of the glass
101384 and china. Natasha was sitting on the floor of her dismantled room
101385 with dresses, ribbons, and scarves strewn all about her, gazing
101386 fixedly at the floor and holding in her hands the old ball dress
101387 (already out of fashion) which she had worn at her first Petersburg
101388 ball.
101389
101390 Natasha was ashamed of doing nothing when everyone else was so busy,
101391 and several times that morning had tried to set to work, but her heart
101392 was not in it, and she could not and did not know how to do anything
101393 except with all her heart and all her might. For a while she had stood
101394 beside Sonya while the china was being packed and tried to help, but
101395 soon gave it up and went to her room to pack her own things. At
101396 first she found it amusing to give away dresses and ribbons to the
101397 maids, but when that was done and what was left had still to be
101398 packed, she found it dull.
101399
101400 "Dunyasha, you pack! You will, won't you, dear?" And when Dunyasha
101401 willingly promised to do it all for her, Natasha sat down on the
101402 floor, took her old ball dress, and fell into a reverie quite
101403 unrelated to what ought to have occupied her thoughts now. She was
101404 roused from her reverie by the talk of the maids in the next room
101405 (which was theirs) and by the sound of their hurried footsteps going
101406 to the back porch. Natasha got up and looked out of the window. An
101407 enormously long row of carts full of wounded men had stopped in the
101408 street.
101409
101410 The housekeeper, the old nurse, the cooks, coachmen, maids, footmen,
101411 postilions, and scullions stood at the gate, staring at the wounded.
101412
101413 Natasha, throwing a clean pocket handkerchief over her hair and
101414 holding an end of it in each hand, went out into the street.
101415
101416 The former housekeeper, old Mavra Kuzminichna, had stepped out of
101417 the crowd by the gate, gone up to a cart with a hood constructed of
101418 bast mats, and was speaking to a pale young officer who lay inside.
101419 Natasha moved a few steps forward and stopped shyly, still holding her
101420 handkerchief, and listened to what the housekeeper was saying.
101421
101422 "Then you have nobody in Moscow?" she was saying. "You would be more
101423 comfortable somewhere in a house... in ours, for instance... the
101424 family are leaving."
101425
101426 "I don't know if it would be allowed," replied the officer in a weak
101427 voice. "Here is our commanding officer... ask him," and he pointed
101428 to a stout major who was walking back along the street past the row of
101429 carts.
101430
101431 Natasha glanced with frightened eyes at the face of the wounded
101432 officer and at once went to meet the major.
101433
101434 "May the wounded men stay in our house?" she asked.
101435
101436 The major raised his hand to his cap with a smile.
101437
101438 "Which one do you want, Ma'am'selle?" said he, screwing up his
101439 eyes and smiling.
101440
101441 Natasha quietly repeated her question, and her face and whole manner
101442 were so serious, though she was still holding the ends of her
101443 handkerchief, that the major ceased smiling and after some reflection-
101444 as if considering in how far the thing was possible--replied in the
101445 affirmative.
101446
101447 "Oh yes, why not? They may," he said.
101448
101449 With a slight inclination of her head, Natasha stepped back
101450 quickly to Mavra Kuzminichna, who stood talking compassionately to the
101451 officer.
101452
101453 "They may. He says they may!" whispered Natasha.
101454
101455 The cart in which the officer lay was turned into the Rostovs' yard,
101456 and dozens of carts with wounded men began at the invitation of the
101457 townsfolk to turn into the yards and to draw up at the entrances of
101458 the houses in Povarskaya Street. Natasha was evidently pleased to be
101459 dealing with new people outside the ordinary routine of her life.
101460 She and Mavra Kuzminichna tried to get as many of the wounded as
101461 possible into their yard.
101462
101463 "Your Papa must be told, though," said Mavra Kuzminichna.
101464
101465 "Never mind, never mind, what does it matter? For one day we can
101466 move into the drawing room. They can have all our half of the house."
101467
101468 "There now, young lady, you do take things into your head! Even if
101469 we put them into the wing, the men's room, or the nurse's room, we
101470 must ask permission."
101471
101472 "Well, I'll ask."
101473
101474 Natasha ran into the house and went on tiptoe through the
101475 half-open door into the sitting room, where there was a smell of
101476 vinegar and Hoffman's drops.
101477
101478 "Are you asleep, Mamma?"
101479
101480 "Oh, what sleep-?" said the countess, waking up just as she was
101481 dropping into a doze.
101482
101483 "Mamma darling!" said Natasha, kneeling by her mother and bringing
101484 her face close to her mother's, "I am sorry, forgive me, I'll never do
101485 it again; I woke you up! Mavra Kuzminichna has sent me: they have
101486 brought some wounded here--officers. Will you let them come? They have
101487 nowhere to go. I knew you'd let them come!" she said quickly all in
101488 one breath.
101489
101490 "What officers? Whom have they brought? I don't understand
101491 anything about it," said the countess.
101492
101493 Natasha laughed, and the countess too smiled slightly.
101494
101495 "I knew you'd give permission... so I'll tell them," and, having
101496 kissed her mother, Natasha got up and went to the door.
101497
101498 In the hall she met her father, who had returned with bad news.
101499
101500 "We've stayed too long!" said the count with involuntary vexation.
101501 "The Club is closed and the police are leaving."
101502
101503 "Papa, is it all right--I've invited some of the wounded into the
101504 house?" said Natasha.
101505
101506 "Of course it is," he answered absently. "That's not the point. I
101507 beg you not to indulge in trifles now, but to help to pack, and
101508 tomorrow we must go, go, go!...."
101509
101510 And the count gave a similar order to the major-domo and the
101511 servants.
101512
101513 At dinner Petya having returned home told them the news he had
101514 heard. He said the people had been getting arms in the Kremlin, and
101515 that though Rostopchin's broadsheet had said that he would sound a
101516 call two or three days in advance, the order had certainly already
101517 been given for everyone to go armed to the Three Hills tomorrow, and
101518 that there would be a big battle there.
101519
101520 The countess looked with timid horror at her son's eager, excited
101521 face as he said this. She realized that if she said a word about his
101522 not going to the battle (she knew he enjoyed the thought of the
101523 impending engagement) he would say something about men, honor, and the
101524 fatherland--something senseless, masculine, and obstinate which
101525 there would be no contradicting, and her plans would be spoiled; and
101526 so, hoping to arrange to leave before then and take Petya with her
101527 as their protector and defender, she did not answer him, but after
101528 dinner called the count aside and implored him with tears to take
101529 her away quickly, that very night if possible. With a woman's
101530 involuntary loving cunning she, who till then had not shown any alarm,
101531 said that she would die of fright if they did not leave that very
101532 night. Without any pretense she was now afraid of everything.
101533
101534
101535
101536
101537
101538 CHAPTER XIV
101539
101540
101541 Madame Schoss, who had been out to visit her daughter, increased the
101542 countess' fears still more by telling what she had seen at a spirit
101543 dealer's in Myasnitski Street. When returning by that street she had
101544 been unable to pass because of a drunken crowd rioting in front of the
101545 shop. She had taken a cab and driven home by a side street and the
101546 cabman had told her that the people were breaking open the barrels
101547 at the drink store, having received orders to do so.
101548
101549 After dinner the whole Rostov household set to work with
101550 enthusiastic haste packing their belongings and preparing for their
101551 departure. The old count, suddenly setting to work, kept passing
101552 from the yard to the house and back again, shouting confused
101553 instructions to the hurrying people, and flurrying them still more.
101554 Petya directed things in the yard. Sonya, owing to the count's
101555 contradictory orders, lost her head and did not know what to do. The
101556 servants ran noisily about the house and yard, shouting and disputing.
101557 Natasha, with the ardor characteristic of all she did suddenly set
101558 to work too. At first her intervention in the business of packing
101559 was received skeptically. Everybody expected some prank from her and
101560 did not wish to obey her; but she resolutely and passionately demanded
101561 obedience, grew angry and nearly cried because they did not heed
101562 her, and at last succeeded in making them believe her. Her first
101563 exploit, which cost her immense effort and established her
101564 authority, was the packing of the carpets. The count had valuable
101565 Gobelin tapestries and Persian carpets in the house. When Natasha
101566 set to work two cases were standing open in the ballroom, one almost
101567 full up with crockery, the other with carpets. There was also much
101568 china standing on the tables, and still more was being brought in from
101569 the storeroom. A third case was needed and servants had gone to
101570 fetch it.
101571
101572 "Sonya, wait a bit--we'll pack everything into these," said Natasha.
101573
101574 "You can't, Miss, we have tried to," said the butler's assistant.
101575
101576 "No, wait a minute, please."
101577
101578 And Natasha began rapidly taking out of the case dishes and plates
101579 wrapped in paper.
101580
101581 "The dishes must go in here among the carpets," said she.
101582
101583 "Why, it's a mercy if we can get the carpets alone into three
101584 cases," said the butler's assistant.
101585
101586 "Oh, wait, please!" And Natasha began rapidly and deftly sorting out
101587 the things. "These aren't needed," said she, putting aside some plates
101588 of Kiev ware. "These--yes, these must go among the carpets," she said,
101589 referring to the Saxony china dishes.
101590
101591 "Don't, Natasha! Leave it alone! We'll get it all packed," urged
101592 Sonya reproachfully.
101593
101594 "What a young lady she is!" remarked the major-domo.
101595
101596 But Natasha would not give in. She turned everything out and began
101597 quickly repacking, deciding that the inferior Russian carpets and
101598 unnecessary crockery should not be taken at all. When everything had
101599 been taken out of the cases, they recommenced packing, and it turned
101600 out that when the cheaper things not worth taking had nearly all
101601 been rejected, the valuable ones really did all go into the two cases.
101602 Only the lid of the case containing the carpets would not shut down. A
101603 few more things might have been taken out, but Natasha insisted on
101604 having her own way. She packed, repacked, pressed, made the butler's
101605 assistant and Petya--whom she had drawn into the business of
101606 packing--press on the lid, and made desperate efforts herself.
101607
101608 "That's enough, Natasha," said Sonya. "I see you were right, but
101609 just take out the top one."
101610
101611 "I won't!" cried Natasha, with one hand bolding back the hair that
101612 hung over her perspiring face, while with the other she pressed down
101613 the carpets. "Now press, Petya! Press, Vasilich, press hard!" she
101614 cried.
101615
101616 The carpets yielded and the lid closed; Natasha, clapping her hands,
101617 screamed with delight and tears fell from her eyes. But this only
101618 lasted a moment. She at once set to work afresh and they now trusted
101619 her completely. The count was not angry even when they told him that
101620 Natasha had countermanded an order of his, and the servants now came
101621 to her to ask whether a cart was sufficiently loaded, and whether it
101622 might be corded up. Thanks to Natasha's directions the work now went
101623 on expeditiously, unnecessary things were left, and the most
101624 valuable packed as compactly as possible.
101625
101626 But hard as they all worked till quite late that night, they could
101627 not get everything packed. The countess had fallen asleep and the
101628 count, having put off their departure till next morning, went to bed.
101629
101630 Sonya and Natasha slept in the sitting room without undressing.
101631
101632 That night another wounded man was driven down the Povarskaya, and
101633 Mavra Kuzminichna, who was standing at the gate, had him brought
101634 into the Rostovs' yard. Mavra Kuzminichna concluded that he was a very
101635 important man. He was being conveyed in a caleche with a raised
101636 hood, and was quite covered by an apron. On the box beside the
101637 driver sat a venerable old attendant. A doctor and two soldiers
101638 followed the carriage in a cart.
101639
101640 "Please come in here. The masters are going away and the whole house
101641 will be empty," said the old woman to the old attendant.
101642
101643 "Well, perhaps," said he with a sigh. "We don't expect to get him
101644 home alive! We have a house of our own in Moscow, but it's a long
101645 way from here, and there's nobody living in it."
101646
101647 "Do us the honor to come in, there's plenty of everything in the
101648 master's house. Come in," said Mavra Kuzminichna. "Is he very ill?"
101649 she asked.
101650
101651 The attendant made a hopeless gesture.
101652
101653 "We don't expect to get him home! We must ask the doctor."
101654
101655 And the old servant got down from the box and went up to the cart.
101656
101657 "All right!" said the doctor.
101658
101659 The old servant returned to the caleche, looked into it, shook his
101660 head disconsolately, told the driver to turn into the yard, and
101661 stopped beside Mavra Kuzminichna.
101662
101663 "O, Lord Jesus Christ!" she murmured.
101664
101665 She invited them to take the wounded man into the house.
101666
101667 "The masters won't object..." she said.
101668
101669 But they had to avoid carrying the man upstairs, and so they took
101670 him into the wing and put him in the room that had been Madame
101671 Schoss'.
101672
101673 This wounded man was Prince Andrew Bolkonski.
101674
101675
101676
101677
101678
101679 CHAPTER XV
101680
101681
101682 Moscow's last day had come. It was a clear bright autumn day, a
101683 Sunday. The church bells everywhere were ringing for service, just
101684 as usual on Sundays. Nobody seemed yet to realize what awaited the
101685 city.
101686
101687 Only two things indicated the social condition of Moscow--the
101688 rabble, that is the poor people, and the price of commodities. An
101689 enormous crowd of factory hands, house serfs, and peasants, with
101690 whom some officials, seminarists, and gentry were mingled, had gone
101691 early that morning to the Three Hills. Having waited there for
101692 Rostopchin who did not turn up, they became convinced that Moscow
101693 would be surrendered, and then dispersed all about the town to the
101694 public houses and cookshops. Prices too that day indicated the state
101695 of affairs. The price of weapons, of gold, of carts and horses, kept
101696 rising, but the value of paper money and city articles kept falling,
101697 so that by midday there were instances of carters removing valuable
101698 goods, such as cloth, and receiving in payment a half of what they
101699 carted, while peasant horses were fetching five hundred rubles each,
101700 and furniture, mirrors, and bronzes were being given away for nothing.
101701
101702 In the Rostovs' staid old-fashioned house the dissolution of
101703 former conditions of life was but little noticeable. As to the serfs
101704 the only indication was that three out of their huge retinue
101705 disappeared during the night, but nothing was stolen; and as to the
101706 value of their possessions, the thirty peasant carts that had come
101707 in from their estates and which many people envied proved to be
101708 extremely valuable and they were offered enormous sums of money for
101709 them. Not only were huge sums offered for the horses and carts, but on
101710 the previous evening and early in the morning of the first of
101711 September, orderlies and servants sent by wounded officers came to the
101712 Rostovs' and wounded men dragged themselves there from the Rostovs'
101713 and from neighboring houses where they were accommodated, entreating
101714 the servants to try to get them a lift out of Moscow. The major-domo
101715 to whom these entreaties were addressed, though he was sorry for the
101716 wounded, resolutely refused, saying that he dare not even mention
101717 the matter to the count. Pity these wounded men as one might, it was
101718 evident that if they were given one cart there would be no reason to
101719 refuse another, or all the carts and one's own carriages as well.
101720 Thirty carts could not save all the wounded and in the general
101721 catastrophe one could not disregard oneself and one's own family. So
101722 thought the major-domo on his master's behalf.
101723
101724 On waking up that morning Count Ilya Rostov left his bedroom softly,
101725 so as not to wake the countess who had fallen asleep only toward
101726 morning, and came out to the porch in his lilac silk dressing gown. In
101727 the yard stood the carts ready corded. The carriages were at the front
101728 porch. The major-domo stood at the porch talking to an elderly orderly
101729 and to a pale young officer with a bandaged arm. On seeing the count
101730 the major-domo made a significant and stern gesture to them both to go
101731 away.
101732
101733 "Well, Vasilich, is everything ready?" asked the count, and stroking
101734 his bald head he looked good-naturedly at the officer and the
101735 orderly and nodded to them. (He liked to see new faces.)
101736
101737 "We can harness at once, your excellency."
101738
101739 "Well, that's right. As soon as the countess wakes we'll be off, God
101740 willing! What is it, gentlemen?" he added, turning to the officer.
101741 "Are you staying in my house?"
101742
101743 The officer came nearer and suddenly his face flushed crimson.
101744
101745 "Count, be so good as to allow me... for God's sake, to get into
101746 some corner of one of your carts! I have nothing here with me.... I
101747 shall be all right on a loaded cart..."
101748
101749 Before the officer had finished speaking the orderly made the same
101750 request on behalf of his master.
101751
101752 "Oh, yes, yes, yes!" said the count hastily. "I shall be very
101753 pleased, very pleased. Vasilich, you'll see to it. Just unload one
101754 or two carts. Well, what of it... do what's necessary..." said the
101755 count, muttering some indefinite order.
101756
101757 But at the same moment an expression of warm gratitude on the
101758 officer's face had already sealed the order. The count looked around
101759 him. In the yard, at the gates, at the window of the wings, wounded
101760 officers and their orderlies were to be seen. They were all looking at
101761 the count and moving toward the porch.
101762
101763 "Please step into the gallery, your excellency," said the
101764 major-domo. "What are your orders about the pictures?"
101765
101766 The count went into the house with him, repeating his order not to
101767 refuse the wounded who asked for a lift.
101768
101769 "Well, never mind, some of the things can be unloaded," he added
101770 in a soft, confidential voice, as though afraid of being overheard.
101771
101772 At nine o'clock the countess woke up, and Matrena Timofeevna, who
101773 had been her lady's maid before her marriage and now performed a
101774 sort of chief gendarme's duty for her, came to say that Madame
101775 Schoss was much offended and the young ladies' summer dresses could
101776 not be left behind. On inquiry, the countess learned that Madame
101777 Schoss was offended because her trunk had been taken down from its
101778 cart, and all the loads were being uncorded and the luggage taken
101779 out of the carts to make room for wounded men whom the count in the
101780 simplicity of his heart had ordered that they should take with them.
101781 The countess sent for her husband.
101782
101783 "What is this, my dear? I hear that the luggage is being unloaded."
101784
101785 "You know, love, I wanted to tell you... Countess dear... an officer
101786 came to me to ask for a few carts for the wounded. After all, ours are
101787 things that can be bought but think what being left behind means to
101788 them!... Really now, in our own yard--we asked them in ourselves and
101789 there are officers among them.... You know, I think, my dear... let
101790 them be taken... where's the hurry?"
101791
101792 The count spoke timidly, as he always did when talking of money
101793 matters. The countess was accustomed to this tone as a precursor of
101794 news of something detrimental to the children's interests, such as the
101795 building of a new gallery or conservatory, the inauguration of a
101796 private theater or an orchestra. She was accustomed always to oppose
101797 anything announced in that timid tone and considered it her duty to do
101798 so.
101799
101800 She assumed her dolefully submissive manner and said to her husband:
101801 "Listen to me, Count, you have managed matters so that we are
101802 getting nothing for the house, and now you wish to throw away all our-
101803 all the children's property! You said yourself that we have a
101804 hundred thousand rubles' worth of things in the house. I don't
101805 consent, my dear, I don't! Do as you please! It's the government's
101806 business to look after the wounded; they know that. Look at the
101807 Lopukhins opposite, they cleared out everything two days ago. That's
101808 what other people do. It's only we who are such fools. If you have
101809 no pity on me, have some for the children."
101810
101811 Flourishing his arms in despair the count left the room without
101812 replying.
101813
101814 "Papa, what are you doing that for?" asked Natasha, who had followed
101815 him into her mother's room.
101816
101817 "Nothing! What business is it of yours?" muttered the count angrily.
101818
101819 "But I heard," said Natasha. "Why does Mamma object?"
101820
101821 "What business is it of yours?" cried the count.
101822
101823 Natasha stepped up to the window and pondered.
101824
101825 "Papa! Here's Berg coming to see us," said she, looking out of the
101826 window.
101827
101828
101829
101830
101831
101832 CHAPTER XVI
101833
101834
101835 Berg, the Rostovs' son-in-law, was already a colonel wearing the
101836 orders of Vladimir and Anna, and he still filled the quiet and
101837 agreeable post of assistant to the head of the staff of the
101838 assistant commander of the first division of the Second Army.
101839
101840 On the first of September he had come to Moscow from the army.
101841
101842 He had nothing to do in Moscow, but he had noticed that everyone
101843 in the army was asking for leave to visit Moscow and had something
101844 to do there. So he considered it necessary to ask for leave of absence
101845 for family and domestic reasons.
101846
101847 Berg drove up to his father-in-law's house in his spruce little trap
101848 with a pair of sleek roans, exactly like those of a certain prince. He
101849 looked attentively at the carts in the yard and while going up to
101850 the porch took out a clean pocket handkerchief and tied a knot in it.
101851
101852 From the anteroom Berg ran with smooth though impatient steps into
101853 the drawing room, where he embraced the count, kissed the hands of
101854 Natasha and Sonya, and hastened to inquire after "Mamma's" health.
101855
101856 "Health, at a time like this?" said the count. "Come, tell us the
101857 news! Is the army retreating or will there be another battle?"
101858
101859 "God Almighty alone can decide the fate of our fatherland, Papa,"
101860 said Berg. "The army is burning with a spirit of heroism and the
101861 leaders, so to say, have now assembled in council. No one knows what
101862 is coming. But in general I can tell you, Papa, that such a heroic
101863 spirit, the truly antique valor of the Russian army, which they--which
101864 it" (he corrected himself) "has shown or displayed in the battle of
101865 the twenty-sixth--there are no words worthy to do it justice! I tell
101866 you, Papa" (he smote himself on the breast as a general he had heard
101867 speaking had done, but Berg did it a trifle late for he should have
101868 struck his breast at the words "Russian army"), "I tell you frankly
101869 that we, the commanders, far from having to urge the men on or
101870 anything of that kind, could hardly restrain those... those... yes,
101871 those exploits of antique valor," he went on rapidly. "General Barclay
101872 de Tolly risked his life everywhere at the head of the troops, I can
101873 assure you. Our corps was stationed on a hillside. You can imagine!"
101874
101875 And Berg related all that he remembered of the various tales he
101876 had heard those days. Natasha watched him with an intent gaze that
101877 confused him, as if she were trying to find in his face the answer
101878 to some question.
101879
101880 "Altogether such heroism as was displayed by the Russian warriors
101881 cannot be imagined or adequately praised!" said Berg, glancing round
101882 at Natasha, and as if anxious to conciliate her, replying to her
101883 intent look with a smile. "'Russia is not in Moscow, she lives in
101884 the hearts of her sons!' Isn't it so, Papa?" said he.
101885
101886 Just then the countess came in from the sitting room with a weary
101887 and dissatisfied expression. Berg hurriedly jumped up, kissed her
101888 hand, asked about her health, and, swaying his head from side to
101889 side to express sympathy, remained standing beside her.
101890
101891 "Yes, Mamma, I tell you sincerely that these are hard and sad
101892 times for every Russian. But why are you so anxious? You have still
101893 time to get away...."
101894
101895 "I can't think what the servants are about," said the countess,
101896 turning to her husband. "I have just been told that nothing is ready
101897 yet. Somebody after all must see to things. One misses Mitenka at such
101898 times. There won't be any end to it."
101899
101900 The count was about to say something, but evidently restrained
101901 himself. He got up from his chair and went to the door.
101902
101903 At that moment Berg drew out his handkerchief as if to blow his nose
101904 and, seeing the knot in it, pondered, shaking his head sadly and
101905 significantly.
101906
101907 "And I have a great favor to ask of you, Papa," said he.
101908
101909 "Hm..." said the count, and stopped.
101910
101911 "I was driving past Yusupov's house just now," said Berg with a
101912 laugh, "when the steward, a man I know, ran out and asked me whether I
101913 wouldn't buy something. I went in out of curiosity, you know, and
101914 there is a small chiffonier and a dressing table. You know how dear
101915 Vera wanted a chiffonier like that and how we had a dispute about it."
101916 (At the mention of the chiffonier and dressing table Berg
101917 involuntarily changed his tone to one of pleasure at his admirable
101918 domestic arrangements.) "And it's such a beauty! It pulls out and
101919 has a secret English drawer, you know! And dear Vera has long wanted
101920 one. I wish to give her a surprise, you see. I saw so many of those
101921 peasant carts in your yard. Please let me have one, I will pay the man
101922 well, and..."
101923
101924 The count frowned and coughed.
101925
101926 "Ask the countess, I don't give orders."
101927
101928 "If it's inconvenient, please don't," said Berg. "Only I so wanted
101929 it, for dear Vera's sake."
101930
101931 "Oh, go to the devil, all of you! To the devil, the devil, the
101932 devil..." cried the old count. "My head's in a whirl!"
101933
101934 And he left the room. The countess began to cry.
101935
101936 "Yes, Mamma! Yes, these are very hard times!" said Berg.
101937
101938 Natasha left the room with her father and, as if finding it
101939 difficult to reach some decision, first followed him and then ran
101940 downstairs.
101941
101942 Petya was in the porch, engaged in giving out weapons to the
101943 servants who were to leave Moscow. The loaded carts were still
101944 standing in the yard. Two of them had been uncorded and a wounded
101945 officer was climbing into one of them helped by an orderly.
101946
101947 "Do you know what it's about?" Petya asked Natasha.
101948
101949 She understood that he meant what were their parents quarreling
101950 about. She did not answer.
101951
101952 "It's because Papa wanted to give up all the carts to the
101953 wounded," said Petya. "Vasilich told me. I consider..."
101954
101955 "I consider," Natasha suddenly almost shouted, turning her angry
101956 face to Petya, "I consider it so horrid, so abominable, so... I
101957 don't know what. Are we despicable Germans?"
101958
101959 Her throat quivered with convulsive sobs and, afraid of weakening
101960 and letting the force of her anger run to waste, she turned and rushed
101961 headlong up the stairs.
101962
101963 Berg was sitting beside the countess consoling her with the
101964 respectful attention of a relative. The count, pipe in hand, was
101965 pacing up and down the room, when Natasha, her face distorted by
101966 anger, burst in like a tempest and approached her mother with rapid
101967 steps.
101968
101969 "It's horrid! It's abominable!" she screamed. "You can't possibly
101970 have ordered it!"
101971
101972 Berg and the countess looked at her, perplexed and frightened. The
101973 count stood still at the window and listened.
101974
101975 "Mamma, it's impossible: see what is going on in the yard!" she
101976 cried. "They will be left!..."
101977
101978 "What's the matter with you? Who are 'they'? What do you want?"
101979
101980 "Why, the wounded! It's impossible, Mamma. It's monstrous!... No,
101981 Mamma darling, it's not the thing. Please forgive me, darling....
101982 Mamma, what does it matter what we take away? Only look what is
101983 going on in the yard... Mamma!... It's impossible!"
101984
101985 The count stood by the window and listened without turning round.
101986 Suddenly he sniffed and put his face closer to the window.
101987
101988 The countess glanced at her daughter, saw her face full of shame for
101989 her mother, saw her agitation, and understood why her husband did
101990 not turn to look at her now, and she glanced round quite disconcerted.
101991
101992 "Oh, do as you like! Am I hindering anyone?" she said, not
101993 surrendering at once.
101994
101995 "Mamma, darling, forgive me!"
101996
101997 But the countess pushed her daughter away and went up to her
101998 husband.
101999
102000 "My dear, you order what is right.... You know I don't understand
102001 about it," said she, dropping her eyes shamefacedly.
102002
102003 "The eggs... the eggs are teaching the hen," muttered the count
102004 through tears of joy, and he embraced his wife who was glad to hide
102005 her look of shame on his breast.
102006
102007 "Papa! Mamma! May I see to it? May I?..." asked Natasha. "We will
102008 still take all the most necessary things."
102009
102010 The count nodded affirmatively, and Natasha, at the rapid pace at
102011 which she used to run when playing at tag, ran through the ballroom to
102012 the anteroom and downstairs into the yard.
102013
102014 The servants gathered round Natasha, but could not believe the
102015 strange order she brought them until the count himself, in his
102016 wife's name, confirmed the order to give up all the carts to the
102017 wounded and take the trunks to the storerooms. When they understood
102018 that order the servants set to work at this new task with pleasure and
102019 zeal. It no longer seemed strange to them but on the contrary it
102020 seemed the only thing that could be done, just as a quarter of an hour
102021 before it had not seemed strange to anyone that the wounded should
102022 be left behind and the goods carted away but that had seemed the
102023 only thing to do.
102024
102025 The whole household, as if to atone for not having done it sooner,
102026 set eagerly to work at the new task of placing the wounded in the
102027 carts. The wounded dragged themselves out of their rooms and stood
102028 with pale but happy faces round the carts. The news that carts were to
102029 be had spread to the neighboring houses, from which wounded men
102030 began to come into the Rostovs' yard. Many of the wounded asked them
102031 not to unload the carts but only to let them sit on the top of the
102032 things. But the work of unloading, once started, could not be
102033 arrested. It seemed not to matter whether all or only half the
102034 things were left behind. Cases full of china, bronzes, pictures, and
102035 mirrors that had been so carefully packed the night before now lay
102036 about the yard, and still they went on searching for and finding
102037 possibilities of unloading this or that and letting the wounded have
102038 another and yet another cart.
102039
102040 "We can take four more men," said the steward. "They can have my
102041 trap, or else what is to become of them?"
102042
102043 "Let them have my wardrobe cart," said the countess. "Dunyasha can
102044 go with me in the carriage."
102045
102046 They unloaded the wardrobe cart and sent it to take wounded men from
102047 a house two doors off. The whole household, servants included, was
102048 bright and animated. Natasha was in a state of rapturous excitement
102049 such as she had not known for a long time.
102050
102051 "What could we fasten this onto?" asked the servants, trying to
102052 fix a trunk on the narrow footboard behind a carriage. "We must keep
102053 at least one cart."
102054
102055 "What's in it?" asked Natasha.
102056
102057 "The count's books."
102058
102059 "Leave it, Vasilich will put it away. It's not wanted."
102060
102061 The phaeton was full of people and there was a doubt as to where
102062 Count Peter could sit.
102063
102064 "On the box. You'll sit on the box, won't you, Petya?" cried
102065 Natasha.
102066
102067 Sonya too was busy all this time, but the aim of her efforts was
102068 quite different from Natasha's. She was putting away the things that
102069 had to be left behind and making a list of them as the countess
102070 wished, and she tried to get as much taken away with them as possible.
102071
102072
102073
102074
102075
102076 CHAPTER XVII
102077
102078
102079 Before two o'clock in the afternoon the Rostovs' four carriages,
102080 packed full and with the horses harnessed, stood at the front door.
102081 One by one the carts with the wounded had moved out of the yard.
102082
102083 The caleche in which Prince Andrew was being taken attracted Sonya's
102084 attention as it passed the front porch. With the help of a maid she
102085 was arranging a seat for the countess in the huge high coach that
102086 stood at the entrance.
102087
102088 "Whose caleche is that?" she inquired, leaning out of the carriage
102089 window.
102090
102091 "Why, didn't you know, Miss?" replied the maid. "The wounded prince:
102092 he spent the night in our house and is going with us."
102093
102094 "But who is it? What's his name?"
102095
102096 "It's our intended that was--Prince Bolkonski himself! They say he
102097 is dying," replied the maid with a sigh.
102098
102099 Sonya jumped out of the coach and ran to the countess. The countess,
102100 tired out and already dressed in shawl and bonnet for her journey, was
102101 pacing up and down the drawing room, waiting for the household to
102102 assemble for the usual silent prayer with closed doors before
102103 starting. Natasha was not in the room.
102104
102105 "Mamma," said Sonya, "Prince Andrew is here, mortally wounded. He is
102106 going with us."
102107
102108 The countess opened her eyes in dismay and, seizing Sonya's arm,
102109 glanced around.
102110
102111 "Natasha?" she murmured.
102112
102113 At that moment this news had only one significance for both of them.
102114 They knew their Natasha, and alarm as to what would happen if she
102115 heard this news stifled all sympathy for the man they both liked.
102116
102117 "Natasha does not know yet, but he is going with us," said Sonya.
102118
102119 "You say he is dying?"
102120
102121 Sonya nodded.
102122
102123 The countess put her arms around Sonya and began to cry.
102124
102125 "The ways of God are past finding out!" she thought, feeling that
102126 the Almighty Hand, hitherto unseen, was becoming manifest in all
102127 that was now taking place.
102128
102129 "Well, Mamma? Everything is ready. What's the matter?" asked
102130 Natasha, as with animated face she ran into the room.
102131
102132 "Nothing," answered the countess. "If everything is ready let us
102133 start."
102134
102135 And the countess bent over her reticule to hide her agitated face.
102136 Sonya embraced Natasha and kissed her.
102137
102138 Natasha looked at her inquiringly.
102139
102140 "What is it? What has happened?"
102141
102142 "Nothing... No..."
102143
102144 "Is it something very bad for me? What is it?" persisted Natasha
102145 with her quick intuition.
102146
102147 Sonya sighed and made no reply. The count, Petya, Madame Schoss,
102148 Mavra Kuzminichna, and Vasilich came into the drawing room and, having
102149 closed the doors, they all sat down and remained for some moments
102150 silently seated without looking at one another.
102151
102152 The count was the first to rise, and with a loud sigh crossed
102153 himself before the icon. All the others did the same. Then the count
102154 embraced Mavra Kuzminichna and Vasilich, who were to remain in Moscow,
102155 and while they caught at his hand and kissed his shoulder he patted
102156 their backs lightly with some vaguely affectionate and comforting
102157 words. The countess went into the oratory and there Sonya found her on
102158 her knees before the icons that had been left here and there hanging
102159 on the wall. (The most precious ones, with which some family tradition
102160 was connected, were being taken with them.)
102161
102162 In the porch and in the yard the men whom Petya had armed with
102163 swords and daggers, with trousers tucked inside their high boots and
102164 with belts and girdles tightened, were taking leave of those remaining
102165 behind.
102166
102167 As is always the case at a departure, much had been forgotten or put
102168 in the wrong place, and for a long time two menservants stood one on
102169 each side of the open door and the carriage steps waiting to help
102170 the countess in, while maids rushed with cushions and bundles from the
102171 house to the carriages, the caleche, the phaeton, and back again.
102172
102173 "They always will forget everything!" said the countess. "Don't
102174 you know I can't sit like that?"
102175
102176 And Dunyasha, with clenched teeth, without replying but with an
102177 aggrieved look on her face, hastily got into the coach to rearrange
102178 the seat.
102179
102180 "Oh, those servants!" said the count, swaying his head.
102181
102182 Efim, the old coachman, who was the only one the countess trusted to
102183 drive her, sat perched up high on the box and did not so much as
102184 glance round at what was going on behind him. From thirty years'
102185 experience he knew it would be some time yet before the order, "Be
102186 off, in God's name!" would be given him: and he knew that even when it
102187 was said he would be stopped once or twice more while they sent back
102188 to fetch something that had been forgotten, and even after that he
102189 would again be stopped and the countess herself would lean out of
102190 the window and beg him for the love of heaven to drive carefully
102191 down the hill. He knew all this and therefore waited calmly for what
102192 would happen, with more patience than the horses, especially the
102193 near one, the chestnut Falcon, who was pawing the ground and
102194 champing his bit. At last all were seated, the carriage steps were
102195 folded and pulled up, the door was shut, somebody was sent for a
102196 traveling case, and the countess leaned out and said what she had to
102197 say. Then Efim deliberately doffed his hat and began crossing himself.
102198 The postilion and all the other servants did the same. "Off, in
102199 God's name!" said Efim, putting on his hat. "Start!" The postilion
102200 started the horses, the off pole horse tugged at his collar, the
102201 high springs creaked, and the body of the coach swayed. The footman
102202 sprang onto the box of the moving coach which jolted as it passed
102203 out of the yard onto the uneven roadway; the other vehicles jolted
102204 in their turn, and the procession of carriages moved up the street. In
102205 the carriages, the caleche, and the phaeton, all crossed themselves as
102206 they passed the church opposite the house. Those who were to remain in
102207 Moscow walked on either side of the vehicles seeing the travelers off.
102208
102209 Rarely had Natasha experienced so joyful a feeling as now, sitting
102210 in the carriage beside the countess and gazing at the slowly
102211 receding walls of forsaken, agitated Moscow. Occasionally she leaned
102212 out of the carriage window and looked back and then forward at the
102213 long train of wounded in front of them. Almost at the head of the line
102214 she could see the raised hood of Prince Andrew's caleche. She did
102215 not know who was in it, but each time she looked at the procession her
102216 eyes sought that caleche. She knew it was right in front.
102217
102218 In Kudrino, from the Nikitski, Presnya, and Podnovinsk Streets
102219 came several other trains of vehicles similar to the Rostovs', and
102220 as they passed along the Sadovaya Street the carriages and carts
102221 formed two rows abreast.
102222
102223 As they were going round the Sukharev water tower Natasha, who was
102224 inquisitively and alertly scrutinizing the people driving or walking
102225 past, suddenly cried out in joyful surprise:
102226
102227 "Dear me! Mamma, Sonya, look, it's he!"
102228
102229 "Who? Who?"
102230
102231 "Look! Yes, on my word, it's Bezukhov!" said Natasha, putting her
102232 head out of the carriage and staring at a tall, stout man in a
102233 coachman's long coat, who from his manner of walking and moving was
102234 evidently a gentleman in disguise, and who was passing under the
102235 arch of the Sukharev tower accompanied by a small, sallow-faced,
102236 beardless old man in a frieze coat.
102237
102238 "Yes, it really is Bezukhov in a coachman's coat, with a
102239 queer-looking old boy. Really," said Natasha, "look, look!"
102240
102241 "No, it's not he. How can you talk such nonsense?"
102242
102243 "Mamma," screamed Natasha, "I'll stake my head it's he! I assure
102244 you! Stop, stop!" she cried to the coachman.
102245
102246 But the coachman could not stop, for from the Meshchanski Street
102247 came more carts and carriages, and the Rostovs were being shouted at
102248 to move on and not block the way.
102249
102250 In fact, however, though now much farther off than before, the
102251 Rostovs all saw Pierre--or someone extraordinarily like him--in a
102252 coachman's coat, going down the street with head bent and a serious
102253 face beside a small, beardless old man who looked like a footman. That
102254 old man noticed a face thrust out of the carriage window gazing at
102255 them, and respectfully touching Pierre's elbow said something to him
102256 and pointed to the carriage. Pierre, evidently engrossed in thought,
102257 could not at first understand him. At length when he had understood
102258 and looked in the direction the old man indicated, he recognized
102259 Natasha, and following his first impulse stepped instantly and rapidly
102260 toward the coach. But having taken a dozen steps he seemed to remember
102261 something and stopped.
102262
102263 Natasha's face, leaning out of the window, beamed with quizzical
102264 kindliness.
102265
102266 "Peter Kirilovich, come here! We have recognized you! This is
102267 wonderful!" she cried, holding out her hand to him. "What are you
102268 doing? Why are you like this?"
102269
102270 Pierre took her outstretched hand and kissed it awkwardly as he
102271 walked along beside her while the coach still moved on.
102272
102273 "What is the matter, Count?" asked the countess in a surprised and
102274 commiserating tone.
102275
102276 "What? What? Why? Don't ask me," said Pierre, and looked round at
102277 Natasha whose radiant, happy expression--of which he was conscious
102278 without looking at her--filled him with enchantment.
102279
102280 "Are you remaining in Moscow, then?"
102281
102282 Pierre hesitated.
102283
102284 "In Moscow?" he said in a questioning tone. "Yes, in Moscow.
102285 Goodby!"
102286
102287 "Ah, if only I were a man? I'd certainly stay with you. How
102288 splendid!" said Natasha. "Mamma, if you'll let me, I'll stay!"
102289
102290 Pierre glanced absently at Natasha and was about to say something,
102291 but the countess interrupted him.
102292
102293 "You were at the battle, we heard."
102294
102295 "Yes, I was," Pierre answered. "There will be another battle
102296 tomorrow..." he began, but Natasha interrupted him.
102297
102298 "But what is the matter with you, Count? You are not like
102299 yourself...."
102300
102301 "Oh, don't ask me, don't ask me! I don't know myself. Tomorrow...
102302 But no! Good-by, good-by!" he muttered. "It's an awful time!" and
102303 dropping behind the carriage he stepped onto the pavement.
102304
102305 Natasha continued to lean out of the window for a long time, beaming
102306 at him with her kindly, slightly quizzical, happy smile.
102307
102308
102309
102310
102311
102312 CHAPTER XVIII
102313
102314
102315 For the last two days, ever since leaving home, Pierre had been
102316 living in the empty house of his deceased benefactor, Bazdeev. This is
102317 how it happened.
102318
102319 When he woke up on the morning after his return to Moscow and his
102320 interview with Count Rostopchin, he could not for some time make out
102321 where he was and what was expected of him. When he was informed that
102322 among others awaiting him in his reception room there was a
102323 Frenchman who had brought a letter from his wife, the Countess Helene,
102324 he felt suddenly overcome by that sense of confusion and
102325 hopelessness to which he was apt to succumb. He felt that everything
102326 was now at an end, all was in confusion and crumbling to pieces,
102327 that nobody was right or wrong, the future held nothing, and there was
102328 no escape from this position. Smiling unnaturally and muttering to
102329 himself, he first sat down on the sofa in an attitude of despair, then
102330 rose, went to the door of the reception room and peeped through the
102331 crack, returned flourishing his arms, and took up a book. His
102332 major-domo came in a second time to say that the Frenchman who had
102333 brought the letter from the countess was very anxious to see him if
102334 only for a minute, and that someone from Bazdeev's widow had called to
102335 ask Pierre to take charge of her husband's books, as she herself was
102336 leaving for the country.
102337
102338 "Oh, yes, in a minute; wait... or no! No, of course... go and say
102339 I will come directly," Pierre replied to the major-domo.
102340
102341 But as soon as the man had left the room Pierre took up his hat
102342 which was lying on the table and went out of his study by the other
102343 door. There was no one in the passage. He went along the whole
102344 length of this passage to the stairs and, frowning and rubbing his
102345 forehead with both hands, went down as far as the first landing. The
102346 hall porter was standing at the front door. From the landing where
102347 Pierre stood there was a second staircase leading to the back
102348 entrance. He went down that staircase and out into the yard. No one
102349 had seen him. But there were some carriages waiting, and as soon as
102350 Pierre stepped out of the gate the coachmen and the yard porter
102351 noticed him and raised their caps to him. When he felt he was being
102352 looked at he behaved like an ostrich which hides its head in a bush in
102353 order not to be seen: he hung his head and quickening his pace went
102354 down the street.
102355
102356 Of all the affairs awaiting Pierre that day the sorting of Joseph
102357 Bazdeev's books and papers appeared to him the most necessary.
102358
102359
102360 He hired the first cab he met and told the driver to go to the
102361 Patriarch's Ponds, where the widow Bazdeev's house was.
102362
102363 Continually turning round to look at the rows of loaded carts that
102364 were making their way from all sides out of Moscow, and balancing
102365 his bulky body so as not to slip out of the ramshackle old vehicle,
102366 Pierre, experiencing the joyful feeling of a boy escaping from school,
102367 began to talk to his driver.
102368
102369 The man told him that arms were being distributed today at the
102370 Kremlin and that tomorrow everyone would be sent out beyond the
102371 Three Hills gates and a great battle would be fought there.
102372
102373 Having reached the Patriarch's Ponds Pierre found the Bazdeevs'
102374 house, where he had not been for a long time past. He went up to the
102375 gate. Gerasim, that sallow beardless old man Pierre had seen at
102376 Torzhok five years before with Joseph Bazdeev, came out in answer to
102377 his knock.
102378
102379 "At home?" asked Pierre.
102380
102381 "Owing to the present state of things Sophia Danilovna has gone to
102382 the Torzhok estate with the children, your excellency."
102383
102384 "I will come in all the same, I have to look through the books,"
102385 said Pierre.
102386
102387 "Be so good as to step in. Makar Alexeevich, the brother of my
102388 late master--may the kingdom of heaven be his--has remained here,
102389 but he is in a weak state as you know," said the old servant.
102390
102391 Pierre knew that Makar Alexeevich was Joseph Bazdeev's half-insane
102392 brother and a hard drinker.
102393
102394 "Yes, yes, I know. Let us go in..." said Pierre and entered the
102395 house.
102396
102397 A tall, bald-headed old man with a red nose, wearing a dressing gown
102398 and with galoshes on his bare feet, stood in the anteroom. On seeing
102399 Pierre he muttered something angrily and went away along the passage.
102400
102401 "He was a very clever man but has now grown quite feeble, as your
102402 honor sees," said Gerasim. "Will you step into the study?" Pierre
102403 nodded. "As it was sealed up so it has remained, but Sophia
102404 Danilovna gave orders that if anyone should come from you they were to
102405 have the books."
102406
102407 Pierre went into that gloomy study which he had entered with such
102408 trepidation in his benefactor's lifetime. The room, dusty and
102409 untouched since the death of Joseph Bazdeev was now even gloomier.
102410
102411 Gerasim opened one of the shutters and left the room on tiptoe.
102412 Pierre went round the study, approached the cupboard in which the
102413 manuscripts were kept, and took out what had once been one of the most
102414 important, the holy of holies of the order. This was the authentic
102415 Scotch Acts with Bazdeev's notes and explanations. He sat down at
102416 the dusty writing table, and, having laid the manuscripts before
102417 him, opened them out, closed them, finally pushed them away, and
102418 resting his head on his hand sank into meditation.
102419
102420 Gerasim looked cautiously into the study several times and saw
102421 Pierre always sitting in the same attitude.
102422
102423 More than two hours passed and Gerasim took the liberty of making
102424 a slight noise at the door to attract his attention, but Pierre did
102425 not hear him.
102426
102427 "Is the cabman to be discharged, your honor?"
102428
102429 "Oh yes!" said Pierre, rousing himself and rising hurriedly. "Look
102430 here," he added, taking Gerasim by a button of his coat and looking
102431 down at the old man with moist, shining, and ecstatic eyes, "I say, do
102432 you know that there is going to be a battle tomorrow?"
102433
102434 "We heard so," replied the man.
102435
102436 "I beg you not to tell anyone who I am, and to do what I ask you."
102437
102438 "Yes, your excellency," replied Gerasim. "Will you have something to
102439 eat?"
102440
102441 "No, but I want something else. I want peasant clothes and a
102442 pistol," said Pierre, unexpectedly blushing.
102443
102444 "Yes, your excellency," said Gerasim after thinking for a moment.
102445
102446 All the rest of that day Pierre spent alone in his benefactor's
102447 study, and Gerasim heard him pacing restlessly from one corner to
102448 another and talking to himself. And he spent the night on a bed made
102449 up for him there.
102450
102451 Gerasim, being a servant who in his time had seen many strange
102452 things, accepted Pierre's taking up his residence in the house without
102453 surprise, and seemed pleased to have someone to wait on. That same
102454 evening--without even asking himself what they were wanted for--he
102455 procured a coachman's coat and cap for Pierre, and promised to get him
102456 the pistol next day. Makar Alexeevich came twice that evening
102457 shuffling along in his galoshes as far as the door and stopped and
102458 looked ingratiatingly at Pierre. But as soon as Pierre turned toward
102459 him he wrapped his dressing gown around him with a shamefaced and
102460 angry look and hurried away. It was when Pierre (wearing the
102461 coachman's coat which Gerasim had procured for him and had disinfected
102462 by steam) was on his way with the old man to buy the pistol at the
102463 Sukharev market that he met the Rostovs.
102464
102465
102466
102467
102468
102469 CHAPTER XIX
102470
102471
102472 Kutuzov's order to retreat through Moscow to the Ryazan road was
102473 issued at night on the first of September.
102474
102475 The first troops started at once, and during the night they
102476 marched slowly and steadily without hurry. At daybreak, however, those
102477 nearing the town at the Dorogomilov bridge saw ahead of them masses of
102478 soldiers crowding and hurrying across the bridge, ascending on the
102479 opposite side and blocking the streets and alleys, while endless
102480 masses of troops were bearing down on them from behind, and an
102481 unreasoning hurry and alarm overcame them. They all rushed forward
102482 to the bridge, onto it, and to the fords and the boats. Kutuzov
102483 himself had driven round by side streets to the other side of Moscow.
102484
102485 By ten o'clock in the morning of the second of September, only the
102486 rear guard remained in the Dorogomilov suburb, where they had ample
102487 room. The main army was on the other side of Moscow or beyond it.
102488
102489 At that very time, at ten in the morning of the second of September,
102490 Napoleon was standing among his troops on the Poklonny Hill looking at
102491 the panorama spread out before him. From the twenty-sixth of August to
102492 the second of September, that is from the battle of Borodino to the
102493 entry of the French into Moscow, during the whole of that agitating,
102494 memorable week, there had been the extraordinary autumn weather that
102495 always comes as a surprise, when the sun hangs low and gives more heat
102496 than in spring, when everything shines so brightly in the rare clear
102497 atmosphere that the eyes smart, when the lungs are strengthened and
102498 refreshed by inhaling the aromatic autumn air, when even the nights
102499 are warm, and when in those dark warm nights, golden stars startle and
102500 delight us continually by falling from the sky.
102501
102502 At ten in the morning of the second of September this weather
102503 still held.
102504
102505 The brightness of the morning was magical. Moscow seen from the
102506 Poklonny Hill lay spaciously spread out with her river, her gardens,
102507 and her churches, and she seemed to be living her usual life, her
102508 cupolas glittering like stars in the sunlight.
102509
102510 The view of the strange city with its peculiar architecture, such as
102511 he had never seen before, filled Napoleon with the rather envious
102512 and uneasy curiosity men feel when they see an alien form of life that
102513 has no knowledge of them. This city was evidently living with the full
102514 force of its own life. By the indefinite signs which, even at a
102515 distance, distinguish a living body from a dead one, Napoleon from the
102516 Poklonny Hill perceived the throb of life in the town and felt, as
102517 it were, the breathing of that great and beautiful body.
102518
102519 Every Russian looking at Moscow feels her to be a mother; every
102520 foreigner who sees her, even if ignorant of her significance as the
102521 mother city, must feel her feminine character, and Napoleon felt it.
102522
102523 "Cette ville asiatique aux innombrables eglises, Moscou la sainte.
102524 La voila done enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il etait temps,"* said he,
102525 and dismounting he ordered a plan of Moscow to be spread out before
102526 him, and summoned Lelorgne d'Ideville, the interpreter.
102527
102528
102529 *"That Asiatic city of the innumerable churches, holy Moscow! Here
102530 it is then at last, that famous city. It was high time."
102531
102532
102533 "A town captured by the enemy is like a maid who has lost her
102534 honor," thought he (he had said so to Tuchkov at Smolensk). From
102535 that point of view he gazed at the Oriental beauty he had not seen
102536 before. It seemed strange to him that his long-felt wish, which had
102537 seemed unattainable, had at last been realized. In the clear morning
102538 light he gazed now at the city and now at the plan, considering its
102539 details, and the assurance of possessing it agitated and awed him.
102540
102541 "But could it be otherwise?" he thought. "Here is this capital at my
102542 feet. Where is Alexander now, and of what is he thinking? A strange,
102543 beautiful, and majestic city; and a strange and majestic moment! In
102544 what light must I appear to them!" thought he, thinking of his troops.
102545 "Here she is, the reward for all those fainthearted men," he
102546 reflected, glancing at those near him and at the troops who were
102547 approaching and forming up. "One word from me, one movement of my
102548 hand, and that ancient capital of the Tsars would perish. But my
102549 clemency is always ready to descend upon the vanquished. I must be
102550 magnanimous and truly great. But no, it can't be true that I am in
102551 Moscow," he suddenly thought. "Yet here she is lying at my feet,
102552 with her golden domes and crosses scintillating and twinkling in the
102553 sunshine. But I shall spare her. On the ancient monuments of barbarism
102554 and despotism I will inscribe great words of justice and mercy....
102555 It is just this which Alexander will feel most painfully, I know him."
102556 (It seemed to Napoleon that the chief import of what was taking
102557 place lay in the personal struggle between himself and Alexander.)
102558 "From the height of the Kremlin--yes, there is the Kremlin, yes--I
102559 will give them just laws; I will teach them the meaning of true
102560 civilization, I will make generations of boyars remember their
102561 conqueror with love. I will tell the deputation that I did not, and do
102562 not, desire war, that I have waged war only against the false policy
102563 of their court; that I love and respect Alexander and that in Moscow I
102564 will accept terms of peace worthy of myself and of my people. I do not
102565 wish to utilize the fortunes of war to humiliate an honored monarch.
102566 'Boyars,' I will say to them, 'I do not desire war, I desire the peace
102567 and welfare of all my subjects.' However, I know their presence will
102568 inspire me, and I shall speak to them as I always do: clearly,
102569 impressively, and majestically. But can it be true that I am in
102570 Moscow? Yes, there she lies."
102571
102572 "Qu'on m'amene les boyars,"* said he to his suite.
102573
102574
102575 *"Bring the boyars to me."
102576
102577
102578 A general with a brilliant suite galloped off at once to fetch the
102579 boyars.
102580
102581 Two hours passed. Napoleon had lunched and was again standing in the
102582 same place on the Poklonny Hill awaiting the deputation. His speech to
102583 the boyars had already taken definite shape in his imagination. That
102584 speech was full of dignity and greatness as Napoleon understood it.
102585
102586 He was himself carried away by the tone of magnanimity he intended
102587 to adopt toward Moscow. In his imagination he appointed days for
102588 assemblies at the palace of the Tsars, at which Russian notables and
102589 his own would mingle. He mentally appointed a governor, one who
102590 would win the hearts of the people. Having learned that there were
102591 many charitable institutions in Moscow he mentally decided that he
102592 would shower favors on them all. He thought that, as in Africa he
102593 had to put on a burnoose and sit in a mosque, so in Moscow he must
102594 be beneficent like the Tsars. And in order finally to touch the hearts
102595 of the Russians--and being like all Frenchmen unable to imagine
102596 anything sentimental without a reference to ma chere, ma tendre, ma
102597 pauvre mere* --he decided that he would place an inscription on all
102598 these establishments in large letters: "This establishment is
102599 dedicated to my dear mother." Or no, it should be simply: Maison de ma
102600 Mere,*[2] he concluded. "But am I really in Moscow? Yes, here it
102601 lies before me, but why is the deputation from the city so long in
102602 appearing?" he wondered.
102603
102604
102605 *"My dear, my tender, my poor mother."
102606
102607 *[2] "House of my Mother."
102608
102609
102610 Meanwhile an agitated consultation was being carried on in
102611 whispers among his generals and marshals at the rear of his suite.
102612 Those sent to fetch the deputation had returned with the news that
102613 Moscow was empty, that everyone had left it. The faces of those who
102614 were not conferring together were pale and perturbed. They were not
102615 alarmed by the fact that Moscow had been abandoned by its
102616 inhabitants (grave as that fact seemed), but by the question how to
102617 tell the Emperor--without putting him in the terrible position of
102618 appearing ridiculous--that he had been awaiting the boyars so long
102619 in vain: that there were drunken mobs left in Moscow but no one
102620 else. Some said that a deputation of some sort must be scraped
102621 together, others disputed that opinion and maintained that the Emperor
102622 should first be carefully and skillfully prepared, and then told the
102623 truth.
102624
102625 "He will have to be told, all the same," said some gentlemen of
102626 the suite. "But, gentlemen..."
102627
102628 The position was the more awkward because the Emperor, meditating
102629 upon his magnanimous plans, was pacing patiently up and down before
102630 the outspread map, occasionally glancing along the road to Moscow from
102631 under his lifted hand with a bright and proud smile.
102632
102633 "But it's impossible..." declared the gentlemen of the suite,
102634 shrugging their shoulders but not venturing to utter the implied word-
102635 le ridicule...
102636
102637 At last the Emperor, tired of futile expectation, his actor's
102638 instinct suggesting to him that the sublime moment having been too
102639 long drawn out was beginning to lose its sublimity, gave a sign with
102640 his hand. A single report of a signaling gun followed, and the troops,
102641 who were already spread out on different sides of Moscow, moved into
102642 the city through Tver, Kaluga, and Dorogomilov gates. Faster and
102643 faster, vying with one another, they moved at the double or at a trot,
102644 vanishing amid the clouds of dust they raised and making the air
102645 ring with a deafening roar of mingling shouts.
102646
102647 Drawn on by the movement of his troops Napoleon rode with them as
102648 far as the Dorogomilov gate, but there again stopped and,
102649 dismounting from his horse, paced for a long time by the
102650 Kammer-Kollezski rampart, awaiting the deputation.
102651
102652
102653
102654
102655
102656 CHAPTER XX
102657
102658 Meanwhile Moscow was empty. There were still people in it, perhaps a
102659 fiftieth part of its former inhabitants had remained, but it was
102660 empty. It was empty in the sense that a dying queenless hive is empty.
102661
102662 In a queenless hive no life is left though to a superficial glance
102663 it seems as much alive as other hives.
102664
102665 The bees circle round a queenless hive in the hot beams of the
102666 midday sun as gaily as around the living hives; from a distance it
102667 smells of honey like the others, and bees fly in and out in the same
102668 way. But one has only to observe that hive to realize that there is no
102669 longer any life in it. The bees do not fly in the same way, the
102670 smell and the sound that meet the beekeeper are not the same. To the
102671 beekeeper's tap on the wall of the sick hive, instead of the former
102672 instant unanimous humming of tens of thousands of bees with their
102673 abdomens threateningly compressed, and producing by the rapid
102674 vibration of their wings an aerial living sound, the only reply is a
102675 disconnected buzzing from different parts of the deserted hive. From
102676 the alighting board, instead of the former spirituous fragrant smell
102677 of honey and venom, and the warm whiffs of crowded life, comes an odor
102678 of emptiness and decay mingling with the smell of honey. There are
102679 no longer sentinels sounding the alarm with their abdomens raised, and
102680 ready to die in defense of the hive. There is no longer the measured
102681 quiet sound of throbbing activity, like the sound of boiling water,
102682 but diverse discordant sounds of disorder. In and out of the hive long
102683 black robber bees smeared with honey fly timidly and shiftily. They do
102684 not sting, but crawl away from danger. Formerly only bees laden with
102685 honey flew into the hive, and they flew out empty; now they fly out
102686 laden. The beekeeper opens the lower part of the hive and peers in.
102687 Instead of black, glossy bees--tamed by toil, clinging to one
102688 another's legs and drawing out the wax, with a ceaseless hum of labor-
102689 that used to hang in long clusters down to the floor of the hive,
102690 drowsy shriveled bees crawl about separately in various directions
102691 on the floor and walls of the hive. Instead of a neatly glued floor,
102692 swept by the bees with the fanning of their wings, there is a floor
102693 littered with bits of wax, excrement, dying bees scarcely moving their
102694 legs, and dead ones that have not been cleared away.
102695
102696 The beekeeper opens the upper part of the hive and examines the
102697 super. Instead of serried rows of bees sealing up every gap in the
102698 combs and keeping the brood warm, he sees the skillful complex
102699 structures of the combs, but no longer in their former state of
102700 purity. All is neglected and foul. Black robber bees are swiftly and
102701 stealthily prowling about the combs, and the short home bees,
102702 shriveled and listless as if they were old, creep slowly about without
102703 trying to hinder the robbers, having lost all motive and all sense
102704 of life. Drones, bumblebees, wasps, and butterflies knock awkwardly
102705 against the walls of the hive in their flight. Here and there among
102706 the cells containing dead brood and honey an angry buzzing can
102707 sometimes be heard. Here and there a couple of bees, by force of habit
102708 and custom cleaning out the brood cells, with efforts beyond their
102709 strength laboriously drag away a dead bee or bumblebee without knowing
102710 why they do it. In another corner two old bees are languidly fighting,
102711 or cleaning themselves, or feeding one another, without themselves
102712 knowing whether they do it with friendly or hostile intent. In a third
102713 place a crowd of bees, crushing one another, attack some victim and
102714 fight and smother it, and the victim, enfeebled or killed, drops
102715 from above slowly and lightly as a feather, among the heap of corpses.
102716 The keeper opens the two center partitions to examine the brood cells.
102717 In place of the former close dark circles formed by thousands of
102718 bees sitting back to back and guarding the high mystery of generation,
102719 he sees hundreds of dull, listless, and sleepy shells of bees. They
102720 have almost all died unawares, sitting in the sanctuary they had
102721 guarded and which is now no more. They reek of decay and death. Only a
102722 few of them still move, rise, and feebly fly to settle on the
102723 enemy's hand, lacking the spirit to die stinging him; the rest are
102724 dead and fall as lightly as fish scales. The beekeeper closes the
102725 hive, chalks a mark on it, and when he has time tears out its contents
102726 and burns it clean.
102727
102728 So in the same way Moscow was empty when Napoleon, weary, uneasy,
102729 and morose, paced up and down in front of the Kammer-Kollezski
102730 rampart, awaiting what to his mind was a necessary, if but formal,
102731 observance of the proprieties--a deputation.
102732
102733 In various corners of Moscow there still remained a few people
102734 aimlessly moving about, following their old habits and hardly aware of
102735 what they were doing.
102736
102737 When with due circumspection Napoleon was informed that Moscow was
102738 empty, he looked angrily at his informant, turned away, and silently
102739 continued to walk to and fro.
102740
102741 "My carriage!" he said.
102742
102743 He took his seat beside the aide-de-camp on duty and drove into
102744 the suburb. "Moscow deserted!" he said to himself. "What an incredible
102745 event!"
102746
102747 He did not drive into the town, but put up at an inn in the
102748 Dorogomilov suburb.
102749
102750 The coup de theatre had not come off.
102751
102752
102753
102754
102755
102756 CHAPTER XXI
102757
102758
102759 The Russian troops were passing through Moscow from two o'clock at
102760 night till two in the afternoon and bore away with them the wounded
102761 and the last of the inhabitants who were leaving.
102762
102763 The greatest crush during the movement of the troops took place at
102764 the Stone, Moskva, and Yauza bridges.
102765
102766 While the troops, dividing into two parts when passing around the
102767 Kremlin, were thronging the Moskva and the Stone bridges, a great many
102768 soldiers, taking advantage of the stoppage and congestion, turned back
102769 from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently past the church
102770 of Vasili the Beatified and under the Borovitski gate, back up the
102771 hill to the Red Square where some instinct told them they could easily
102772 take things not belonging to them. Crowds of the kind seen at cheap
102773 sales filled all the passages and alleys of the Bazaar. But there were
102774 no dealers with voices of ingratiating affability inviting customers
102775 to enter; there were no hawkers, nor the usual motley crowd of
102776 female purchasers--but only soldiers, in uniforms and overcoats though
102777 without muskets, entering the Bazaar empty-handed and silently
102778 making their way out through its passages with bundles. Tradesmen
102779 and their assistants (of whom there were but few) moved about among
102780 the soldiers quite bewildered. They unlocked their shops and locked
102781 them up again, and themselves carried goods away with the help their
102782 assistants. On the square in front of the Bazaar were drummers beating
102783 the muster call. But the roll of the drums did not make the looting
102784 soldiers run in the direction of the drum as formerly, but made
102785 them, on the contrary, run farther away. Among the soldiers in the
102786 shops and passages some men were to be seen in gray coats, with
102787 closely shaven heads. Two officers, one with a scarf over his
102788 uniform and mounted on a lean, dark-gray horse, the other in an
102789 overcoat and on foot, stood at the corner of Ilyinka Street,
102790 talking. A third officer galloped up to them.
102791
102792 "The general orders them all to be driven out at once, without fail.
102793 This is outrageous! Half the men have dispersed."
102794
102795 "Where are you off to?... Where?..." he shouted to three infantrymen
102796 without muskets who, holding up the skirts of their overcoats, were
102797 slipping past him into the Bazaar passage. "Stop, you rascals!"
102798
102799 "But how are you going to stop them?" replied another officer.
102800 "There is no getting them together. The army should push on before the
102801 rest bolt, that's all!"
102802
102803 "How can one push on? They are stuck there, wedged on the bridge,
102804 and don't move. Shouldn't we put a cordon round to prevent the rest
102805 from running away?"
102806
102807 "Come, go in there and drive them out!" shouted the senior officer.
102808
102809 The officer in the scarf dismounted, called up a drummer, and went
102810 with him into the arcade. Some soldiers started running away in a
102811 group. A shopkeeper with red pimples on his cheeks near the nose,
102812 and a calm, persistent, calculating expression on his plump face,
102813 hurriedly and ostentatiously approached the officer, swinging his
102814 arms.
102815
102816 "Your honor!" said he. "Be so good as to protect us! We won't grudge
102817 trifles, you are welcome to anything--we shall be delighted!
102818 Pray!... I'll fetch a piece of cloth at once for such an honorable
102819 gentleman, or even two pieces with pleasure. For we feel how it is;
102820 but what's all this--sheer robbery! If you please, could not guards be
102821 placed if only to let us close the shop...."
102822
102823 Several shopkeepers crowded round the officer.
102824
102825 "Eh, what twaddle!" said one of them, a thin, stern-looking man.
102826 "When one's head is gone one doesn't weep for one's hair! Take what
102827 any of you like!" And flourishing his arm energetically he turned
102828 sideways to the officer.
102829
102830 "It's all very well for you, Ivan Sidorych, to talk," said the first
102831 tradesman angrily. "Please step inside, your honor!"
102832
102833 "Talk indeed!" cried the thin one. "In my three shops here I have
102834 a hundred thousand rubles' worth of goods. Can they be saved when
102835 the army has gone? Eh, what people! 'Against God's might our hands
102836 can't fight.'"
102837
102838 "Come inside, your honor!" repeated the tradesman, bowing.
102839
102840 The officer stood perplexed and his face showed indecision.
102841
102842 "It's not my business!" he exclaimed, and strode on quickly down one
102843 of the passages.
102844
102845 From one open shop came the sound of blows and vituperation, and
102846 just as the officer came up to it a man in a gray coat with a shaven
102847 head was flung out violently.
102848
102849 This man, bent double, rushed past the tradesman and the officer.
102850 The officer pounced on the soldiers who were in the shops, but at that
102851 moment fearful screams reached them from the huge crowd on the
102852 Moskva bridge and the officer ran out into the square.
102853
102854 "What is it? What is it?" he asked, but his comrade was already
102855 galloping off past Vasili the Beatified in the direction from which
102856 the screams came.
102857
102858 The officer mounted his horse and rode after him. When he reached
102859 the bridge he saw two unlimbered guns, the infantry crossing the
102860 bridge, several overturned carts, and frightened and laughing faces
102861 among the troops. Beside the cannon a cart was standing to which two
102862 horses were harnessed. Four borzois with collars were pressing close
102863 to the wheels. The cart was loaded high, and at the very top, beside a
102864 child's chair with its legs in the air, sat a peasant woman uttering
102865 piercing and desperate shrieks. He was told by his fellow officers
102866 that the screams of the crowd and the shrieks of the woman were due to
102867 the fact that General Ermolov, coming up to the crowd and learning
102868 that soldiers were dispersing among the shops while crowds of
102869 civilians blocked the bridge, had ordered two guns to be unlimbered
102870 and made a show of firing at the bridge. The crowd, crushing one
102871 another, upsetting carts, and shouting and squeezing desperately,
102872 had cleared off the bridge and the troops were now moving forward.
102873
102874
102875
102876
102877
102878 CHAPTER XXII
102879
102880
102881 Meanwhile, the city itself was deserted. There was hardly anyone
102882 in the streets. The gates and shops were all closed, only here and
102883 there round the taverns solitary shouts or drunken songs could be
102884 heard. Nobody drove through the streets and footsteps were rarely
102885 heard. The Povarskaya was quite still and deserted. The huge courtyard
102886 of the Rostovs' house was littered with wisps of hay and with dung
102887 from the horses, and not a soul was to be seen there. In the great
102888 drawing room of the house, which had been left with all it
102889 contained, were two people. They were the yard porter Ignat, and the
102890 page boy Mishka, Vasilich's grandson who had stayed in Moscow with his
102891 grandfather. Mishka had opened the clavichord and was strumming on
102892 it with one finger. The yard porter, his arms akimbo, stood smiling
102893 with satisfaction before the large mirror.
102894
102895 "Isn't it fine, eh, Uncle Ignat?" said the boy, suddenly beginning
102896 to strike the keyboard with both hands.
102897
102898 "Only fancy!" answered Ignat, surprised at the broadening grin on
102899 his face in the mirror.
102900
102901 "Impudence! Impudence!" they heard behind them the voice of Mavra
102902 Kuzminichna who had entered silently. "How he's grinning, the fat mug!
102903 Is that what you're here for? Nothing's cleared away down there and
102904 Vasilich is worn out. Just you wait a bit!"
102905
102906 Ignat left off smiling, adjusted his belt, and went out of the
102907 room with meekly downcast eyes.
102908
102909 "Aunt, I did it gently," said the boy.
102910
102911 "I'll give you something gently, you monkey you!" cried Mavra
102912 Kuzminichna, raising her arm threateningly. "Go and get the samovar to
102913 boil for your grandfather."
102914
102915 Mavra Kuzminichna flicked the dust off the clavichord and closed it,
102916 and with a deep sigh left the drawing room and locked its main door.
102917
102918 Going out into the yard she paused to consider where she should go
102919 next--to drink tea in the servants' wing with Vasilich, or into the
102920 storeroom to put away what still lay about.
102921
102922 She heard the sound of quick footsteps in the quiet street.
102923 Someone stopped at the gate, and the latch rattled as someone tried to
102924 open it. Mavra Kuzminichna went to the gate.
102925
102926 "Who do you want?"
102927
102928 "The count--Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov."
102929
102930 "And who are you?"
102931
102932 "An officer, I have to see him," came the reply in a pleasant,
102933 well-bred Russian voice.
102934
102935 Mavra Kuzminichna opened the gate and an officer of eighteen, with
102936 the round face of a Rostov, entered the yard.
102937
102938 "They have gone away, sir. Went away yesterday at vespertime,"
102939 said Mavra Kuzminichna cordially.
102940
102941 The young officer standing in the gateway, as if hesitating
102942 whether to enter or not, clicked his tongue.
102943
102944 "Ah, how annoying!" he muttered. "I should have come yesterday....
102945 Ah, what a pity."
102946
102947 Meanwhile, Mavra Kuzminichna was attentively and sympathetically
102948 examining the familiar Rostov features of the young man's face, his
102949 tattered coat and trodden-down boots.
102950
102951 "What did you want to see the count for?" she asked.
102952
102953 "Oh well... it can't be helped!" said he in a tone of vexation and
102954 placed his hand on the gate as if to leave.
102955
102956 He again paused in indecision.
102957
102958 "You see," he suddenly said, "I am a kinsman of the count's and he
102959 has been very kind to me. As you see" (he glanced with an amused air
102960 and good-natured smile at his coat and boots) "my things are worn
102961 out and I have no money, so I was going to ask the count..."
102962
102963 Mavra Kuzminichna did not let him finish.
102964
102965 "Just wait a minute, sir. One little moment," said she.
102966
102967 And as soon as the officer let go of the gate handle she turned and,
102968 hurrying away on her old legs, went through the back yard to the
102969 servants' quarters.
102970
102971 While Mavra Kuzminichna was running to her room the officer walked
102972 about the yard gazing at his worn-out boots with lowered head and a
102973 faint smile on his lips. "What a pity I've missed Uncle! What a nice
102974 old woman! Where has she run off to? And how am I to find the
102975 nearest way to overtake my regiment, which must by now be getting near
102976 the Rogozhski gate?" thought he. Just then Mavra Kuzminichna
102977 appeared from behind the corner of the house with a frightened yet
102978 resolute look, carrying a rolled-up check kerchief in her hand.
102979 While still a few steps from the officer she unfolded the kerchief and
102980 took out of it a white twenty-five-ruble assignat and hastily handed
102981 it to him.
102982
102983 "If his excellency had been at home, as a kinsman he would of
102984 course... but as it is..."
102985
102986 Mavra Kuzminichna grew abashed and confused. The officer did not
102987 decline, but took the note quietly and thanked her.
102988
102989 "If the count had been at home..." Mavra Kuzminichna went on
102990 apologetically. "Christ be with you, sir! May God preserve you!"
102991 said she, bowing as she saw him out.
102992
102993 Swaying his head and smiling as if amused at himself, the officer
102994 ran almost at a trot through the deserted streets toward the Yauza
102995 bridge to overtake his regiment.
102996
102997 But Mavra Kuzminichna stood at the closed gate for some time with
102998 moist eyes, pensively swaying her head and feeling an unexpected
102999 flow of motherly tenderness and pity for the unknown young officer.
103000
103001
103002
103003
103004
103005 CHAPTER XXIII
103006
103007
103008 From an unfinished house on the Varvarka, the ground floor of
103009 which was a dramshop, came drunken shouts and songs. On benches
103010 round the tables in a dirty little room sat some ten factory hands.
103011 Tipsy and perspiring, with dim eyes and wide-open mouths, they were
103012 all laboriously singing some song or other. They were singing
103013 discordantly, arduously, and with great effort, evidently not
103014 because they wished to sing, but because they wanted to show they were
103015 drunk and on a spree. One, a tall, fair-haired lad in a clean blue
103016 coat, was standing over the others. His face with its fine straight
103017 nose would have been handsome had it not been for his thin,
103018 compressed, twitching lips and dull, gloomy, fixed eyes. Evidently
103019 possessed by some idea, he stood over those who were singing, and
103020 solemnly and jerkily flourished above their heads his white arm with
103021 the sleeve turned up to the elbow, trying unnaturally to spread out
103022 his dirty fingers. The sleeve of his coat kept slipping down and he
103023 always carefully rolled it up again with his left hand, as if it
103024 were most important that the sinewy white arm he was flourishing
103025 should be bare. In the midst of the song cries were heard, and
103026 fighting and blows in the passage and porch. The tall lad waved his
103027 arm.
103028
103029 "Stop it!" he exclaimed peremptorily. "There's a fight, lads!"
103030 And, still rolling up his sleeve, he went out to the porch.
103031
103032 The factory hands followed him. These men, who under the
103033 leadership of the tall lad were drinking in the dramshop that morning,
103034 had brought the publican some skins from the factory and for this
103035 had had drink served them. The blacksmiths from a neighboring
103036 smithy, hearing the sounds of revelry in the tavern and supposing it
103037 to have been broken into, wished to force their way in too and a fight
103038 in the porch had resulted.
103039
103040 The publican was fighting one of the smiths at the door, and when
103041 the workmen came out the smith, wrenching himself free from the tavern
103042 keeper, fell face downward on the pavement.
103043
103044 Another smith tried to enter the doorway, pressing against the
103045 publican with his chest.
103046
103047 The lad with the turned-up sleeve gave the smith a blow in the
103048 face and cried wildly: "They're fighting us, lads!"
103049
103050 At that moment the first smith got up and, scratching his bruised
103051 face to make it bleed, shouted in a tearful voice: "Police! Murder!...
103052 They've killed a man, lads!"
103053
103054 "Oh, gracious me, a man beaten to death--killed!..." screamed a
103055 woman coming out of a gate close by.
103056
103057 A crowd gathered round the bloodstained smith.
103058
103059 "Haven't you robbed people enough--taking their last shirts?" said a
103060 voice addressing the publican. "What have you killed a man for, you
103061 thief?"
103062
103063 The tall lad, standing in the porch, turned his bleared eyes from
103064 the publican to the smith and back again as if considering whom he
103065 ought to fight now.
103066
103067 "Murderer!" he shouted suddenly to the publican. "Bind him, lads!"
103068
103069 "I daresay you would like to bind me!" shouted the publican, pushing
103070 away the men advancing on him, and snatching his cap from his head
103071 he flung it on the ground.
103072
103073 As if this action had some mysterious and menacing significance, the
103074 workmen surrounding the publican paused in indecision.
103075
103076 "I know the law very well, mates! I'll take the matter to the
103077 captain of police. You think I won't get to him? Robbery is not
103078 permitted to anybody now a days!" shouted the publican, picking up his
103079 cap.
103080
103081 "Come along then! Come along then!" the publican and the tall
103082 young fellow repeated one after the other, and they moved up the
103083 street together.
103084
103085 The bloodstained smith went beside them. The factory hands and
103086 others followed behind, talking and shouting.
103087
103088 At the corner of the Moroseyka, opposite a large house with closed
103089 shutters and bearing a bootmaker's signboard, stood a score of thin,
103090 worn-out, gloomy-faced bootmakers, wearing overalls and long
103091 tattered coats.
103092
103093 "He should pay folks off properly," a thin workingman, with frowning
103094 brows and a straggly beard, was saying.
103095
103096 "But he's sucked our blood and now he thinks he's quit of us. He's
103097 been misleading us all the week and now that he's brought us to this
103098 pass he's made off."
103099
103100 On seeing the crowd and the bloodstained man the workman ceased
103101 speaking, and with eager curiosity all the bootmakers joined the
103102 moving crowd.
103103
103104 "Where are all the folks going?"
103105
103106 "Why, to the police, of course!"
103107
103108 "I say, is it true that we have been beaten?" "And what did you
103109 think? Look what folks are saying."
103110
103111 Questions and answers were heard. The publican, taking advantage
103112 of the increased crowd, dropped behind and returned to his tavern.
103113
103114 The tall youth, not noticing the disappearance of his foe, waved his
103115 bare arm and went on talking incessantly, attracting general attention
103116 to himself. It was around him that the people chiefly crowded,
103117 expecting answers from him to the questions that occupied all their
103118 minds.
103119
103120 "He must keep order, keep the law, that's what the government is
103121 there for. Am I not right, good Christians?" said the tall youth, with
103122 a scarcely perceptible smile. "He thinks there's no government! How
103123 can one do without government? Or else there would be plenty who'd rob
103124 us."
103125
103126 "Why talk nonsense?" rejoined voices in the crowd. "Will they give
103127 up Moscow like this? They told you that for fun, and you believed
103128 it! Aren't there plenty of troops on the march? Let him in, indeed!
103129 That's what the government is for. You'd better listen to what
103130 people are saying," said some of the mob pointing to the tall youth.
103131
103132 By the wall of China-Town a smaller group of people were gathered
103133 round a man in a frieze coat who held a paper in his hand.
103134
103135 "An ukase, they are reading an ukase! Reading an ukase!" cried
103136 voices in the crowd, and the people rushed toward the reader.
103137
103138 The man in the frieze coat was reading the broadsheet of August 31
103139 When the crowd collected round him he seemed confused, but at the
103140 demand of the tall lad who had pushed his way up to him, he began in a
103141 rather tremulous voice to read the sheet from the beginning.
103142
103143 "Early tomorrow I shall go to his Serene Highness," he read
103144 ("Sirin Highness," said the tall fellow with a triumphant smile on his
103145 lips and a frown on his brow), "to consult with him to act, and to aid
103146 the army to exterminate these scoundrels. We too will take part..."
103147 the reader went on, and then paused ("Do you see," shouted the youth
103148 victoriously, "he's going to clear up the whole affair for
103149 you...."), "in destroying them, and will send these visitors to the
103150 devil. I will come back to dinner, and we'll set to work. We will
103151 do, completely do, and undo these scoundrels."
103152
103153 The last words were read out in the midst of complete silence. The
103154 tall lad hung his head gloomily. It was evident that no one had
103155 understood the last part. In particular, the words "I will come back
103156 to dinner," evidently displeased both reader and audience. The
103157 people's minds were tuned to a high pitch and this was too simple
103158 and needlessly comprehensible--it was what any one of them might
103159 have said and therefore was what an ukase emanating from the highest
103160 authority should not say.
103161
103162 They all stood despondent and silent. The tall youth moved his
103163 lips and swayed from side to side.
103164
103165 "We should ask him... that's he himself?"... "Yes, ask him
103166 indeed!... Why not? He'll explain"... voices in the rear of the
103167 crowd were suddenly heard saying, and the general attention turned
103168 to the police superintendent's trap which drove into the square
103169 attended by two mounted dragoons.
103170
103171 The superintendent of police, who had that morning by Count
103172 Rostopchin's orders to burn the barges and had in connection with that
103173 matter acquired a large sum of money which was at that moment in his
103174 pocket, on seeing a crowd bearing down upon him told his coachman to
103175 stop.
103176
103177 "What people are these?" he shouted to the men, who were moving
103178 singly and timidly in the direction of his trap.
103179
103180 "What people are these?" he shouted again, receiving no answer.
103181
103182 "Your honor..." replied the shopman in the frieze coat, "your honor,
103183 in accord with the proclamation of his highest excellency the count,
103184 they desire to serve, not sparing their lives, and it is not any
103185 kind of riot, but as his highest excellence said..."
103186
103187 "The count has not left, he is here, and an order will be issued
103188 concerning you," said the superintendent of police. "Go on!" he
103189 ordered his coachman.
103190
103191 The crowd halted, pressing around those who had heard what the
103192 superintendent had said, and looking at the departing trap.
103193
103194 The superintendent of police turned round at that moment with a
103195 scared look, said something to his coachman, and his horses
103196 increased their speed.
103197
103198 "It's a fraud, lads! Lead the way to him, himself!" shouted the tall
103199 youth. "Don't let him go, lads! Let him answer us! Keep him!"
103200 shouted different people and the people dashed in pursuit of the trap.
103201
103202 Following the superintendent of police and talking loudly the
103203 crowd went in the direction of the Lubyanka Street.
103204
103205 "There now, the gentry and merchants have gone away and left us to
103206 perish. Do they think we're dogs?" voices in the crowd were heard
103207 saying more and more frequently.
103208
103209
103210
103211
103212
103213 CHAPTER XXIV
103214
103215
103216 On the evening of the first of September, after his interview with
103217 Kutuzov, Count Rostopchin had returned to Moscow mortified and
103218 offended because he had not been invited to attend the council of war,
103219 and because Kutuzov had paid no attention to his offer to take part in
103220 the defense of the city; amazed also at the novel outlook revealed
103221 to him at the camp, which treated the tranquillity of the capital
103222 and its patriotic fervor as not merely secondary but quite
103223 irrelevant and unimportant matters. Distressed, offended, and
103224 surprised by all this, Rostopchin had returned to Moscow. After supper
103225 he lay down on a sofa without undressing, and was awakened soon
103226 after midnight by a courier bringing him a letter from Kutuzov. This
103227 letter requested the count to send police officers to guide the troops
103228 through the town, as the army was retreating to the Ryazan road beyond
103229 Moscow. This was not news to Rostopchin. He had known that Moscow
103230 would be abandoned not merely since his interview the previous day
103231 with Kutuzov on the Poklonny Hill but ever since the battle of
103232 Borodino, for all the generals who came to Moscow after that battle
103233 had said unanimously that it was impossible to fight another battle,
103234 and since then the government property had been removed every night,
103235 and half the inhabitants had left the city with Rostopchin's own
103236 permission. Yet all the same this information astonished and irritated
103237 the count, coming as it did in the form of a simple note with an order
103238 from Kutuzov, and received at night, breaking in on his beauty sleep.
103239
103240 When later on in his memoirs Count Rostopchin explained his
103241 actions at this time, he repeatedly says that he was then actuated
103242 by two important considerations: to maintain tranquillity in Moscow
103243 and expedite the departure of the inhabitants. If one accepts this
103244 twofold aim all Rostopchin's actions appear irreproachable. "Why
103245 were the holy relics, the arms, ammunition, gunpowder, and stores of
103246 corn not removed? Why were thousands of inhabitants deceived into
103247 believing that Moscow would not be given up--and thereby ruined?"
103248 "To presence the tranquillity of the city," explains Count Rostopchin.
103249 "Why were bundles of useless papers from the government offices, and
103250 Leppich's balloon and other articles removed?" "To leave the town
103251 empty," explains Count Rostopchin. One need only admit that public
103252 tranquillity is in danger and any action finds a justification.
103253
103254 All the horrors of the reign of terror were based only on solicitude
103255 for public tranquillity.
103256
103257 On what, then, was Count Rostopchin's fear for the tranquillity of
103258 Moscow based in 1812? What reason was there for assuming any
103259 probability of an uprising in the city? The inhabitants were leaving
103260 it and the retreating troops were filling it. Why should that cause
103261 the masses to riot?
103262
103263 Neither in Moscow nor anywhere in Russia did anything resembling
103264 an insurrection ever occur when the enemy entered a town. More than
103265 ten thousand people were still in Moscow on the first and second of
103266 September, and except for a mob in the governor's courtyard, assembled
103267 there at his bidding, nothing happened. It is obvious that there would
103268 have been even less reason to expect a disturbance among the people if
103269 after the battle of Borodino, when the surrender of Moscow became
103270 certain or at least probable, Rostopchin instead of exciting the
103271 people by distributing arms and broadsheets had taken steps to
103272 remove all the holy relics, the gunpowder, munitions, and money, and
103273 had told the population plainly that the town would be abandoned.
103274
103275 Rostopchin, though he had patriotic sentiments, was a sanguine and
103276 impulsive man who had always moved in the highest administrative
103277 circles and had no understanding at all of the people he supposed
103278 himself to be guiding. Ever since the enemy's entry into Smolensk he
103279 had in imagination been playing the role of director of the popular
103280 feeling of "the heart of Russia." Not only did it seem to him (as to
103281 all administrators) that he controlled the external actions of
103282 Moscow's inhabitants, but he also thought he controlled their mental
103283 attitude by means of his broadsheets and posters, written in a
103284 coarse tone which the people despise in their own class and do not
103285 understand from those in authority. Rostopchin was so pleased with the
103286 fine role of leader of popular feeling, and had grown so used to it,
103287 that the necessity of relinquishing that role and abandoning Moscow
103288 without any heroic display took him unawares and he suddenly felt
103289 the ground slip away from under his feet, so that he positively did
103290 not know what to do. Though he knew it was coming, he did not till the
103291 last moment wholeheartedly believe that Moscow would be abandoned, and
103292 did not prepare for it. The inhabitants left against his wishes. If
103293 the government offices were removed, this was only done on the
103294 demand of officials to whom the count yielded reluctantly. He was
103295 absorbed in the role he had created for himself. As is often the
103296 case with those gifted with an ardent imagination, though he had
103297 long known that Moscow would be abandoned he knew it only with his
103298 intellect, he did not believe it in his heart and did not adapt
103299 himself mentally to this new position of affairs.
103300
103301 All his painstaking and energetic activity (in how far it was useful
103302 and had any effect on the people is another question) had been
103303 simply directed toward arousing in the masses his own feeling of
103304 patriotic hatred of the French.
103305
103306 But when events assumed their true historical character, when
103307 expressing hatred for the French in words proved insufficient, when it
103308 was not even possible to express that hatred by fighting a battle,
103309 when self-confidence was of no avail in relation to the one question
103310 before Moscow, when the whole population streamed out of Moscow as one
103311 man, abandoning their belongings and proving by that negative action
103312 all the depth of their national feeling, then the role chosen by
103313 Rostopchin suddenly appeared senseless. He unexpectedly felt himself
103314 ridiculous, weak, and alone, with no ground to stand on.
103315
103316 When, awakened from his sleep, he received that cold, peremptory
103317 note from Kutuzov, he felt the more irritated the more he felt himself
103318 to blame. All that he had been specially put in charge of, the state
103319 property which he should have removed, was still in Moscow and it
103320 was no longer possible to take the whole of it away.
103321
103322 "Who is to blame for it? Who has let things come to such a pass?" he
103323 ruminated. "Not I, of course. I had everything ready. I had Moscow
103324 firmly in hand. And this is what they have let it come to! Villains!
103325 Traitors!" he thought, without clearly defining who the villains and
103326 traitors were, but feeling it necessary to hate those traitors whoever
103327 they might be who were to blame for the false and ridiculous
103328 position in which he found himself.
103329
103330 All that night Count Rostopchin issued orders, for which people came
103331 to him from all parts of Moscow. Those about him had never seen the
103332 count so morose and irritable.
103333
103334 "Your excellency, the Director of the Registrar's Department has
103335 sent for instructions... From the Consistory, from the Senate, from
103336 the University, from the Foundling Hospital, the Suffragan has sent...
103337 asking for information.... What are your orders about the Fire
103338 Brigade? From the governor of the prison... from the superintendent of
103339 the lunatic asylum..." All night long such announcements were
103340 continually being received by the count.
103341
103342 To all these inquiries he gave brief and angry replies indicating
103343 that orders from him were not now needed, that the whole affair,
103344 carefully prepared by him, had now been ruined by somebody, and that
103345 that somebody would have to bear the whole responsibility for all that
103346 might happen.
103347
103348 "Oh, tell that blockhead," he said in reply to the question from the
103349 Registrar's Department, "that he should remain to guard his documents.
103350 Now why are you asking silly questions about the Fire Brigade? They
103351 have horses, let them be off to Vladimir, and not leave them to the
103352 French."
103353
103354 "Your excellency, the superintendent of the lunatic asylum has come:
103355 what are your commands?"
103356
103357 "My commands? Let them go away, that's all.... And let the
103358 lunatics out into the town. When lunatics command our armies God
103359 evidently means these other madmen to be free."
103360
103361 In reply to an inquiry about the convicts in the prison, Count
103362 Rostopchin shouted angrily at the governor:
103363
103364 "Do you expect me to give you two battalions--which we have not got-
103365 for a convoy? Release them, that's all about it!"
103366
103367 "Your excellency, there are some political prisoners, Meshkov,
103368 Vereshchagin..."
103369
103370 "Vereshchagin! Hasn't he been hanged yet?" shouted Rostopchin.
103371 "Bring him to me!"
103372
103373
103374
103375
103376
103377 CHAPTER XXV
103378
103379
103380 Toward nine o'clock in the morning, when the troops were already
103381 moving through Moscow, nobody came to the count any more for
103382 instructions. Those who were able to get away were going of their
103383 own accord, those who remained behind decided for themselves what they
103384 must do.
103385
103386 The count ordered his carriage that he might drive to Sokolniki, and
103387 sat in his study with folded hands, morose, sallow, and taciturn.
103388
103389 In quiet and untroubled times it seems to every administrator that
103390 it is only by his efforts that the whole population under his rule
103391 is kept going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable
103392 every administrator finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts.
103393 While the sea of history remains calm the ruler-administrator in his
103394 frail bark, holding on with a boat hook to the ship of the people
103395 and himself moving, naturally imagines that his efforts move the
103396 ship he is holding on to. But as soon as a storm arises and the sea
103397 begins to heave and the ship to move, such a delusion is no longer
103398 possible. The ship moves independently with its own enormous motion,
103399 the boat hook no longer reaches the moving vessel, and suddenly the
103400 administrator, instead of appearing a ruler and a source of power,
103401 becomes an insignificant, useless, feeble man.
103402
103403 Rostopchin felt this, and it was this which exasperated him.
103404
103405 The superintendent of police, whom the crowd had stopped, went in to
103406 see him at the same time as an adjutant who informed the count that
103407 the horses were harnessed. They were both pale, and the superintendent
103408 of police, after reporting that he had executed the instructions he
103409 had received, informed the count that an immense crowd had collected
103410 in the courtyard and wished to see him.
103411
103412 Without saying a word Rostopchin rose and walked hastily to his
103413 light, luxurious drawing room, went to the balcony door, took hold
103414 of the handle, let it go again, and went to the window from which he
103415 had a better view of the whole crowd. The tall lad was standing in
103416 front, flourishing his arm and saying something with a stern look. The
103417 blood stained smith stood beside him with a gloomy face. A drone of
103418 voices was audible through the closed window.
103419
103420 "Is my carriage ready?" asked Rostopchin, stepping back from the
103421 window.
103422
103423 "It is, your excellency," replied the adjutant.
103424
103425 Rostopchin went again to the balcony door.
103426
103427 "But what do they want?" he asked the superintendent of police.
103428
103429 "Your excellency, they say they have got ready, according to your
103430 orders, to go against the French, and they shouted something about
103431 treachery. But it is a turbulent crowd, your excellency--I hardly
103432 managed to get away from it. Your excellency, I venture to suggest..."
103433
103434 "You may go. I don't need you to tell me what to do!" exclaimed
103435 Rostopchin angrily.
103436
103437 He stood by the balcony door looking at the crowd.
103438
103439 "This is what they have done with Russia! This is what they have
103440 done with me!" thought he, full of an irrepressible fury that welled
103441 up within him against the someone to whom what was happening might
103442 be attributed. As often happens with passionate people, he was
103443 mastered by anger but was still seeking an object on which to vent it.
103444 "Here is that mob, the dregs of the people," he thought as he gazed at
103445 the crowd: "this rabble they have roused by their folly! They want a
103446 victim," he thought as he looked at the tall lad flourishing his
103447 arm. And this thought occurred to him just because he himself
103448 desired a victim, something on which to vent his rage.
103449
103450 "Is the carriage ready?" he asked again.
103451
103452 "Yes, your excellency. What are your orders about Vereshchagin? He
103453 is waiting at the porch," said the adjutant.
103454
103455 "Ah!" exclaimed Rostopchin, as if struck by an unexpected
103456 recollection.
103457
103458 And rapidly opening the door he went resolutely out onto the
103459 balcony. The talking instantly ceased, hats and caps were doffed,
103460 and all eyes were raised to the count.
103461
103462 "Good morning, lads!" said the count briskly and loudly. "Thank
103463 you for coming. I'll come out to you in a moment, but we must first
103464 settle with the villain. We must punish the villain who has caused the
103465 ruin of Moscow. Wait for me!"
103466
103467 And the count stepped as briskly back into the room and slammed
103468 the door behind him.
103469
103470 A murmur of approbation and satisfaction ran through the crowd.
103471 "He'll settle with all the villains, you'll see! And you said the
103472 French... He'll show you what law is!" the mob were saying as if
103473 reproving one another for their lack of confidence.
103474
103475 A few minutes later an officer came hurriedly out of the front door,
103476 gave an order, and the dragoons formed up in line. The crowd moved
103477 eagerly from the balcony toward the porch. Rostopchin, coming out
103478 there with quick angry steps, looked hastily around as if seeking
103479 someone.
103480
103481 "Where is he?" he inquired. And as he spoke he saw a young man
103482 coming round the corner of the house between two dragoons. He had a
103483 long thin neck, and his head, that had been half shaved, was again
103484 covered by short hair. This young man was dressed in a threadbare blue
103485 cloth coat lined with fox fur, that had once been smart, and dirty
103486 hempen convict trousers, over which were pulled his thin, dirty,
103487 trodden-down boots. On his thin, weak legs were heavy chains which
103488 hampered his irresolute movements.
103489
103490 "Ah!" said Rostopchin, hurriedly turning away his eyes from the
103491 young man in the fur-lined coat and pointing to the bottom step of the
103492 porch. "Put him there."
103493
103494 The young man in his clattering chains stepped clumsily to the
103495 spot indicated, holding away with one finger the coat collar which
103496 chafed his neck, turned his long neck twice this way and that, sighed,
103497 and submissively folded before him his thin hands, unused to work.
103498
103499 For several seconds while the young man was taking his place on
103500 the step the silence continued. Only among the back rows of the
103501 people, who were all pressing toward the one spot, could sighs,
103502 groans, and the shuffling of feet be heard.
103503
103504 While waiting for the young man to take his place on the step
103505 Rostopchin stood frowning and rubbing his face with his hand.
103506
103507 "Lads!" said he, with a metallic ring in his voice. "This man,
103508 Vereshchagin, is the scoundrel by whose doing Moscow is perishing."
103509
103510 The young man in the fur-lined coat, stooping a little, stood in a
103511 submissive attitude, his fingers clasped before him. His emaciated
103512 young face, disfigured by the half-shaven head, hung down
103513 hopelessly. At the count's first words he raised it slowly and
103514 looked up at him as if wishing to say something or at least to meet
103515 his eye. But Rostopchin did not look at him. A vein in the young man's
103516 long thin neck swelled like a cord and went blue behind the ear, and
103517 suddenly his face flushed.
103518
103519 All eyes were fixed on him. He looked at the crowd, and rendered
103520 more hopeful by the expression he read on the faces there, he smiled
103521 sadly and timidly, and lowering his head shifted his feet on the step.
103522
103523 "He has betrayed his Tsar and his country, he had gone over to
103524 Bonaparte. He alone of all the Russians has disgraced the Russian
103525 name, he has caused Moscow to perish," said Rostopchin in a sharp,
103526 even voice, but suddenly he glanced down at Vereshchagin who continued
103527 to stand in the same submissive attitude. As if inflamed by the sight,
103528 he raised his arm and addressed the people, almost shouting:
103529
103530 "Deal with him as you think fit! I hand him over to you."
103531
103532 The crowd remained silent and only pressed closer and closer to
103533 one another. To keep one another back, to breathe in that stifling
103534 atmosphere, to be unable to stir, and to await something unknown,
103535 uncomprehended, and terrible, was becoming unbearable. Those
103536 standing in front, who had seen and heard what had taken place
103537 before them, all stood with wide open eyes and mouths, straining
103538 with all their strength, and held back the crowd that was pushing
103539 behind them.
103540
103541 "Beat him!... Let the traitor perish and not disgrace the Russian
103542 name!" shouted Rostopchin. "Cut him down. I command it."
103543
103544 Hearing not so much the words as the angry tone of Rostopchin's
103545 voice, the crowd moaned and heaved forward, but again paused.
103546
103547 "Count!" exclaimed the timid yet theatrical voice of Vereshchagin in
103548 the midst of the momentary silence that ensued, "Count! One God is
103549 above us both...." He lifted his head and again the thick vein in
103550 his thin neck filled with blood and the color rapidly came and went in
103551 his face.
103552
103553 He did not finish what he wished to say.
103554
103555 "Cut him down! I command it..." shouted Rostopchin, suddenly growing
103556 pale like Vereshchagin.
103557
103558 "Draw sabers!" cried the dragoon officer, drawing his own.
103559
103560 Another still stronger wave flowed through the crowd and reaching
103561 the front ranks carried it swaying to the very steps of the porch. The
103562 tall youth, with a stony look on his face, and rigid and uplifted arm,
103563 stood beside Vereshchagin.
103564
103565 "Saber him!" the dragoon officer almost whispered.
103566
103567 And one of the soldiers, his face all at once distorted with fury,
103568 struck Vereshchagin on the head with the blunt side of his saber.
103569
103570 "Ah!" cried Vereshchagin in meek surprise, looking round with a
103571 frightened glance as if not understanding why this was done to him.
103572 A similar moan of surprise and horror ran through the crowd. "O Lord!"
103573 exclaimed a sorrowful voice.
103574
103575 But after the exclamation of surprise that had escaped from
103576 Vereshchagin he uttered a plaintive cry of pain, and that cry was
103577 fatal. The barrier of human feeling, strained to the utmost, that
103578 had held the crowd in check suddenly broke. The crime had begun and
103579 must now be completed. The plaintive moan of reproach was drowned by
103580 the threatening and angry roar of the crowd. Like the seventh and last
103581 wave that shatters a ship, that last irresistible wave burst from
103582 the rear and reached the front ranks, carrying them off their feet and
103583 engulfing them all. The dragoon was about to repeat his blow.
103584 Vereshchagin with a cry of horror, covering his head with his hands,
103585 rushed toward the crowd. The tall youth, against whom he stumbled,
103586 seized his thin neck with his hands and, yelling wildly, fell with him
103587 under the feet of the pressing, struggling crowd.
103588
103589 Some beat and tore at Vereshchagin, others at the tall youth. And
103590 the screams of those that were being trampled on and of those who
103591 tried to rescue the tall lad only increased the fury of the crowd.
103592 It was a long time before the dragoons could extricate the bleeding
103593 youth, beaten almost to death. And for a long time, despite the
103594 feverish haste with which the mob tried to end the work that had
103595 been begun, those who were hitting, throttling, and tearing at
103596 Vereshchagin were unable to kill him, for the crowd pressed from all
103597 sides, swaying as one mass with them in the center and rendering it
103598 impossible for them either to kill him or let him go.
103599
103600 "Hit him with an ax, eh!... Crushed?... Traitor, he sold
103601 Christ.... Still alive... tenacious... serves him right! Torture
103602 serves a thief right. Use the hatchet!... What--still alive?"
103603
103604 Only when the victim ceased to struggle and his cries changed to a
103605 long-drawn, measured death rattle did the crowd around his
103606 prostrate, bleeding corpse begin rapidly to change places. Each one
103607 came up, glanced at what had been done, and with horror, reproach, and
103608 astonishment pushed back again.
103609
103610 "O Lord! The people are like wild beasts! How could he be alive?"
103611 voices in the crowd could be heard saying. "Quite a young fellow
103612 too... must have been a merchant's son. What men!... and they say he's
103613 not the right one.... How not the right one?... O Lord! And there's
103614 another has been beaten too--they say he's nearly done for.... Oh, the
103615 people... Aren't they afraid of sinning?..." said the same mob now,
103616 looking with pained distress at the dead body with its long, thin,
103617 half-severed neck and its livid face stained with blood and dust.
103618
103619 A painstaking police officer, considering the presence of a corpse
103620 in his excellency's courtyard unseemly, told the dragoons to take it
103621 away. Two dragoons took it by its distorted legs and dragged it
103622 along the ground. The gory, dust-stained, half-shaven head with its
103623 long neck trailed twisting along the ground. The crowd shrank back
103624 from it.
103625
103626 At the moment when Vereshchagin fell and the crowd closed in with
103627 savage yells and swayed about him, Rostopchin suddenly turned pale
103628 and, instead of going to the back entrance where his carriage
103629 awaited him, went with hurried steps and bent head, not knowing
103630 where and why, along the passage leading to the rooms on the ground
103631 floor. The count's face was white and he could not control the
103632 feverish twitching of his lower jaw.
103633
103634
103635 "This way, your excellency... Where are you going?... This way,
103636 please..." said a trembling, frightened voice behind him.
103637
103638 Count Rostopchin was unable to reply and, turning obediently, went
103639 in the direction indicated. At the back entrance stood his caleche.
103640 The distant roar of the yelling crowd was audible even there. He
103641 hastily took his seat and told the coachman to drive him to his
103642 country house in Sokolniki.
103643
103644 When they reached the Myasnitski Street and could no longer hear the
103645 shouts of the mob, the count began to repent. He remembered with
103646 dissatisfaction the agitation and fear he had betrayed before his
103647 subordinates. "The mob is terrible--disgusting," he said to himself in
103648 French. "They are like wolves whom nothing but flesh can appease."
103649 "Count! One God is above us both!"--Vereshchagin's words suddenly
103650 recurred to him, and a disagreeable shiver ran down his back. But this
103651 was only a momentary feeling and Count Rostopchin smiled
103652 disdainfully at himself. "I had other duties," thought he. "The people
103653 had to be appeased. Many other victims have perished and are perishing
103654 for the public good"--and he began thinking of his social duties to
103655 his family and to the city entrusted to him, and of himself--not
103656 himself as Theodore Vasilyevich Rostopchin (he fancied that Theodore
103657 Vasilyevich Rostopchin was sacrificing himself for the public good)
103658 but himself as governor, the representative of authority and of the
103659 Tsar. "Had I been simply Theodore Vasilyevich my course of action
103660 would have been quite different, but it was my duty to safeguard my
103661 life and dignity as commander in chief."
103662
103663 Lightly swaying on the flexible springs of his carriage and no
103664 longer hearing the terrible sounds of the crowd, Rostopchin grew
103665 physically calm and, as always happens, as soon as he became
103666 physically tranquil his mind devised reasons why he should be mentally
103667 tranquil too. The thought which tranquillized Rostopchin was not a new
103668 one. Since the world began and men have killed one another no one
103669 has ever committed such a crime against his fellow man without
103670 comforting himself with this same idea. This idea is le bien public,
103671 the hypothetical welfare of other people.
103672
103673 To a man not swayed by passion that welfare is never certain, but he
103674 who commits such a crime always knows just where that welfare lies.
103675 And Rostopchin now knew it.
103676
103677 Not only did his reason not reproach him for what he had done, but
103678 he even found cause for self-satisfaction in having so successfully
103679 contrived to avail himself of a convenient opportunity to punish a
103680 criminal and at the same time pacify the mob.
103681
103682 "Vereshchagin was tried and condemned to death," thought
103683 Rostopchin (though the Senate had only condemned Vereshchagin to
103684 hard labor), "he was a traitor and a spy. I could not let him go
103685 unpunished and so I have killed two birds with one stone: to appease
103686 the mob I gave them a victim and at the same time punished a
103687 miscreant."
103688
103689 Having reached his country house and begun to give orders about
103690 domestic arrangements, the count grew quite tranquil.
103691
103692 Half an hour later he was driving with his fast horses across the
103693 Sokolniki field, no longer thinking of what had occurred but
103694 considering what was to come. He was driving to the Yauza bridge where
103695 he had heard that Kutuzov was. Count Rostopchin was mentally preparing
103696 the angry and stinging reproaches he meant to address to Kutuzov for
103697 his deception. He would make that foxy old courtier feel that the
103698 responsibility for all the calamities that would follow the
103699 abandonment of the city and the ruin of Russia (as Rostopchin regarded
103700 it) would fall upon his doting old head. Planning beforehand what he
103701 would say to Kutuzov, Rostopchin turned angrily in his caleche and
103702 gazed sternly from side to side.
103703
103704 The Sokolniki field was deserted. Only at the end of it, in front of
103705 the almshouse and the lunatic asylum, could be seen some people in
103706 white and others like them walking singly across the field shouting
103707 and gesticulating.
103708
103709 One of these was running to cross the path of Count Rostopchin's
103710 carriage, and the count himself, his coachman, and his dragoons looked
103711 with vague horror and curiosity at these released lunatics and
103712 especially at the one running toward them.
103713
103714 Swaying from side to side on his long, thin legs in his fluttering
103715 dressing gown, this lunatic was running impetuously, his gaze fixed on
103716 Rostopchin, shouting something in a hoarse voice and making signs to
103717 him to stop. The lunatic's solemn, gloomy face was thin and yellow,
103718 with its beard growing in uneven tufts. His black, agate pupils with
103719 saffron-yellow whites moved restlessly near the lower eyelids.
103720
103721 "Stop! Pull up, I tell you!" he cried in a piercing voice, and again
103722 shouted something breathlessly with emphatic intonations and gestures.
103723
103724 Coming abreast of the caleche he ran beside it.
103725
103726 "Thrice have they slain me, thrice have I risen from the dead.
103727 They stoned me, crucified me... I shall rise... shall rise... shall
103728 rise. They have torn my body. The kingdom of God will be overthrown...
103729 Thrice will I overthrow it and thrice re-establish it!" he cried,
103730 raising his voice higher and higher.
103731
103732 Count Rostopchin suddenly grew pale as he had done when the crowd
103733 closed in on Vereshchagin. He turned away. "Go fas... faster!" he
103734 cried in a trembling voice to his coachman. The caleche flew over
103735 the ground as fast as the horses could draw it, but for a long time
103736 Count Rostopchin still heard the insane despairing screams growing
103737 fainter in the distance, while his eyes saw nothing but the
103738 astonished, frightened, bloodstained face of "the traitor" in the
103739 fur-lined coat.
103740
103741 Recent as that mental picture was, Rostopchin already felt that it
103742 had cut deep into his heart and drawn blood. Even now he felt
103743 clearly that the gory trace of that recollection would not pass with
103744 time, but that the terrible memory would, on the contrary, dwell in
103745 his heart ever more cruelly and painfully to the end of his life. He
103746 seemed still to hear the sound of his own words: "Cut him down! I
103747 command it...."
103748
103749 "Why did I utter those words? It was by some accident I said
103750 them.... I need not have said them," he thought. "And then nothing
103751 would have happened." He saw the frightened and then infuriated face
103752 of the dragoon who dealt the blow, the look of silent, timid
103753 reproach that boy in the fur-lined coat had turned upon him. "But I
103754 did not do it for my own sake. I was bound to act that way.... The
103755 mob, the traitor... the public welfare," thought he.
103756
103757 Troops were still crowding at the Yauza bridge. It was hot. Kutuzov,
103758 dejected and frowning, sat on a bench by the bridge toying with his
103759 whip in the sand when a caleche dashed up noisily. A man in a
103760 general's uniform with plumes in his hat went up to Kutuzov and said
103761 something in French. It was Count Rostopchin. He told Kutuzov that
103762 he had come because Moscow, the capital, was no more and only the army
103763 remained.
103764
103765 "Things would have been different if your Serene Highness had not
103766 told me that you would not abandon Moscow without another battle;
103767 all this would not have happened," he said.
103768
103769 Kutuzov looked at Rostopchin as if, not grasping what was said to
103770 him, he was trying to read something peculiar written at that moment
103771 on the face of the man addressing him. Rostopchin grew confused and
103772 became silent. Kutuzov slightly shook his head and not taking his
103773 penetrating gaze from Rostopchin's face muttered softly:
103774
103775 "No! I shall not give up Moscow without a battle!"
103776
103777 Whether Kutuzov was thinking of something entirely different when he
103778 spoke those words, or uttered them purposely, knowing them to be
103779 meaningless, at any rate Rostopchin made no reply and hastily left
103780 him. And strange to say, the Governor of Moscow, the proud Count
103781 Rostopchin, took up a Cossack whip and went to the bridge where he
103782 began with shouts to drive on the carts that blocked the way.
103783
103784
103785
103786
103787
103788 CHAPTER XXVI
103789
103790
103791 Toward four o'clock in the afternoon Murat's troops were entering
103792 Moscow. In front rode a detachment of Wurttemberg hussars and behind
103793 them rode the King of Naples himself accompanied by a numerous suite.
103794
103795 About the middle of the Arbat Street, near the Church of the
103796 Miraculous Icon of St. Nicholas, Murat halted to await news from the
103797 advanced detachment as to the condition in which they had found the
103798 citadel, le Kremlin.
103799
103800 Around Murat gathered a group of those who had remained in Moscow.
103801 They all stared in timid bewilderment at the strange, long-haired
103802 commander dressed up in feathers and gold.
103803
103804 "Is that their Tsar himself? He's not bad!" low voices could be
103805 heard saying.
103806
103807 An interpreter rode up to the group.
103808
103809 "Take off your cap... your caps!" These words went from one to
103810 another in the crowd. The interpreter addressed an old porter and
103811 asked if it was far to the Kremlin. The porter, listening in
103812 perplexity to the unfamiliar Polish accent and not realizing that
103813 the interpreter was speaking Russian, did not understand what was
103814 being said to him and slipped behind the others.
103815
103816 Murat approached the interpreter and told him to ask where the
103817 Russian army was. One of the Russians understood what was asked and
103818 several voices at once began answering the interpreter. A French
103819 officer, returning from the advanced detachment, rode up to Murat
103820 and reported that the gates of the citadel had been barricaded and
103821 that there was probably an ambuscade there.
103822
103823 "Good!" said Murat and, turning to one of the gentlemen in his
103824 suite, ordered four light guns to be moved forward to fire at the
103825 gates.
103826
103827 The guns emerged at a trot from the column following Murat and
103828 advanced up the Arbat. When they reached the end of the Vozdvizhenka
103829 Street they halted and drew in the Square. Several French officers
103830 superintended the placing of the guns and looked at the Kremlin
103831 through field glasses.
103832
103833 The bells in the Kremlin were ringing for vespers, and this sound
103834 troubled the French. They imagined it to be a call to arms. A few
103835 infantrymen ran to the Kutafyev Gate. Beams and wooden screens had
103836 been put there, and two musket shots rang out from under the gate as
103837 soon as an officer and men began to run toward it. A general who was
103838 standing by the guns shouted some words of command to the officer, and
103839 the latter ran back again with his men.
103840
103841 The sound of three more shots came from the gate.
103842
103843 One shot struck a French soldier's foot, and from behind the screens
103844 came the strange sound of a few voices shouting. Instantly as at a
103845 word of command the expression of cheerful serenity on the faces of
103846 the French general, officers, and men changed to one of determined
103847 concentrated readiness for strife and suffering. To all of them from
103848 the marshal to the least soldier, that place was not the Vozdvizhenka,
103849 Mokhavaya, or Kutafyev Street, nor the Troitsa Gate (places familiar
103850 in Moscow), but a new battlefield which would probably prove
103851 sanguinary. And all made ready for that battle. The cries from the
103852 gates ceased. The guns were advanced, the artillerymen blew the ash
103853 off their linstocks, and an officer gave the word "Fire!" This was
103854 followed by two whistling sounds of canister shot, one after
103855 another. The shot rattled against the stone of the gate and upon the
103856 wooden beams and screens, and two wavering clouds of smoke rose over
103857 the Square.
103858
103859 A few instants after the echo of the reports resounding over the
103860 stone-built Kremlin had died away the French heard a strange sound
103861 above their head. Thousands of crows rose above the walls and
103862 circled in the air, cawing and noisily flapping their wings.
103863 Together with that sound came a solitary human cry from the gateway
103864 and amid the smoke appeared the figure of a bareheaded man in a
103865 peasant's coat. He grasped a musket and took aim at the French.
103866 "Fire!" repeated the officer once more, and the reports of a musket
103867 and of two cannon shots were heard simultaneously. The gate again
103868 hidden by smoke.
103869
103870 Nothing more stirred behind the screens and the French infantry
103871 soldiers and officers advanced to the gate. In the gateway lay three
103872 wounded and four dead. Two men in peasant coats ran away at the foot
103873 of the wall, toward the Znamenka.
103874
103875 "Clear that away!" said the officer, pointing to the beams and the
103876 corpses, and the French soldiers, after dispatching the wounded, threw
103877 the corpses over the parapet.
103878
103879 Who these men were nobody knew. "Clear that away!" was all that
103880 was said of them, and they were thrown over the parapet and removed
103881 later on that they might not stink. Thiers alone dedicates a few
103882 eloquent lines to their memory: "These wretches had occupied the
103883 sacred citadel, having supplied themselves with guns from the arsenal,
103884 and fired" (the wretches) "at the French. Some of them were sabered
103885 and the Kremlin was purged of their presence."
103886
103887 Murat was informed that the way had been cleared. The French entered
103888 the gates and began pitching their camp in the Senate Square. Out of
103889 the windows of the Senate House the soldiers threw chairs into the
103890 Square for fuel and kindled fires there.
103891
103892 Other detachments passed through the Kremlin and encamped along
103893 the Moroseyka, the Lubyanka, and Pokrovka Streets. Others quartered
103894 themselves along the Vozdvizhenka, the Nikolski, and the Tverskoy
103895 Streets. No masters of the houses being found anywhere, the French
103896 were not billeted on the inhabitants as is usual in towns but lived in
103897 it as in a camp.
103898
103899 Though tattered, hungry, worn out, and reduced to a third of their
103900 original number, the French entered Moscow in good marching order.
103901 It was a weary and famished, but still a fighting and menacing army.
103902 But it remained an army only until its soldiers had dispersed into
103903 their different lodgings. As soon as the men of the various
103904 regiments began to disperse among the wealthy and deserted houses, the
103905 army was lost forever and there came into being something nondescript,
103906 neither citizens nor soldiers but what are known as marauders. When
103907 five weeks later these same men left Moscow, they no longer formed
103908 an army. They were a mob of marauders, each carrying a quantity of
103909 articles which seemed to him valuable or useful. The aim of each man
103910 when he left Moscow was no longer, as it had been, to conquer, but
103911 merely to keep what he had acquired. Like a monkey which puts its
103912 paw into the narrow neck of a jug, and having seized a handful of nuts
103913 will not open its fist for fear of losing what it holds, and therefore
103914 perishes, the French when they left Moscow had inevitably to perish
103915 because they carried their loot with them, yet to abandon what they
103916 had stolen was as impossible for them as it is for the monkey to
103917 open its paw and let go of its nuts. Ten minutes after each regiment
103918 had entered a Moscow district, not a soldier or officer was left.
103919 Men in military uniforms and Hessian boots could be seen through the
103920 windows, laughing and walking through the rooms. In cellars and
103921 storerooms similar men were busy among the provisions, and in the
103922 yards unlocking or breaking open coach house and stable doors,
103923 lighting fires in kitchens and kneading and baking bread with
103924 rolled-up sleeves, and cooking; or frightening, amusing, or
103925 caressing women and children. There were many such men both in the
103926 shops and houses--but there was no army.
103927
103928 Order after order was issued by the French commanders that day
103929 forbidding the men to disperse about the town, sternly forbidding
103930 any violence to the inhabitants or any looting, and announcing a
103931 roll call for that very evening. But despite all these measures the
103932 men, who had till then constituted an army, flowed all over the
103933 wealthy, deserted city with its comforts and plentiful supplies. As
103934 a hungry herd of cattle keeps well together when crossing a barren
103935 field, but gets out of hand and at once disperses uncontrollably as
103936 soon as it reaches rich pastures, so did the army disperse all over
103937 the wealthy city.
103938
103939 No residents were left in Moscow, and the soldiers--like water
103940 percolating through sand--spread irresistibly through the city in
103941 all directions from the Kremlin into which they had first marched. The
103942 cavalry, on entering a merchant's house that had been abandoned and
103943 finding there stabling more than sufficient for their horses, went on,
103944 all the same, to the next house which seemed to them better. Many of
103945 them appropriated several houses, chalked their names on them, and
103946 quarreled and even fought with other companies for them. Before they
103947 had had time to secure quarters the soldiers ran out into the
103948 streets to see the city and, hearing that everything had been
103949 abandoned, rushed to places where valuables were to be had for the
103950 taking. The officers followed to check the soldiers and were
103951 involuntarily drawn into doing the same. In Carriage Row carriages had
103952 been left in the shops, and generals flocked there to select
103953 caleches and coaches for themselves. The few inhabitants who had
103954 remained invited commanding officers to their houses, hoping thereby
103955 to secure themselves from being plundered. There were masses of wealth
103956 and there seemed no end to it. All around the quarters occupied by the
103957 French were other regions still unexplored and unoccupied where,
103958 they thought, yet greater riches might be found. And Moscow engulfed
103959 the army ever deeper and deeper. When water is spilled on dry ground
103960 both the dry ground and the water disappear and mud results; and in
103961 the same way the entry of the famished army into the rich and deserted
103962 city resulted in fires and looting and the destruction of both the
103963 army and the wealthy city.
103964
103965
103966 The French attributed the Fire of Moscow au patriotisme feroce de
103967 Rostopchine,* the Russians to the barbarity of the French. In reality,
103968 however, it was not, and could not be, possible to explain the burning
103969 of Moscow by making any individual, or any group of people,
103970 responsible for it. Moscow was burned because it found itself in a
103971 position in which any town built of wood was bound to burn, quite
103972 apart from whether it had, or had not, a hundred and thirty inferior
103973 fire engines. Deserted Moscow had to burn as inevitably as a heap of
103974 shavings has to burn on which sparks continually fall for several
103975 days. A town built of wood, where scarcely a day passes without
103976 conflagrations when the house owners are in residence and a police
103977 force is present, cannot help burning when its inhabitants have left
103978 it and it is occupied by soldiers who smoke pipes, make campfires of
103979 the Senate chairs in the Senate Square, and cook themselves meals
103980 twice a day. In peacetime it is only necessary to billet troops in the
103981 villages of any district and the number of fires in that district
103982 immediately increases. How much then must the probability of fire be
103983 increased in an abandoned, wooden town where foreign troops are
103984 quartered. "Le patriotisme feroce de Rostopchine" and the barbarity of
103985 the French were not to blame in the matter. Moscow was set on fire
103986 by the soldiers' pipes, kitchens, and campfires, and by the
103987 carelessness of enemy soldiers occupying houses they did not own. Even
103988 if there was any arson (which is very doubtful, for no one had any
103989 reason to burn the houses--in any case a troublesome and dangerous
103990 thing to do), arson cannot be regarded as the cause, for the same
103991 thing would have happened without any incendiarism.
103992
103993
103994 *To Rostopchin's ferocious patriotism.
103995
103996
103997 However tempting it might be for the French to blame Rostopchin's
103998 ferocity and for Russians to blame the scoundrel Bonaparte, or later
103999 on to place an heroic torch in the hands of their own people, it is
104000 impossible not to see that there could be no such direct cause of
104001 the fire, for Moscow had to burn as every village, factory, or house
104002 must burn which is left by its owners and in which strangers are
104003 allowed to live and cook their porridge. Moscow was burned by its
104004 inhabitants, it is true, but by those who had abandoned it and not
104005 by those who remained in it. Moscow when occupied by the enemy did not
104006 remain intact like Berlin, Vienna, and other towns, simply because its
104007 inhabitants abandoned it and did not welcome the French with bread and
104008 salt, nor bring them the keys of the city.
104009
104010
104011
104012
104013
104014 CHAPTER XXVII
104015
104016
104017 The absorption of the French by Moscow, radiating starwise as it
104018 did, only reached the quarter where Pierre was staying by the
104019 evening of the second of September.
104020
104021 After the last two days spent in solitude and unusual circumstances,
104022 Pierre was in a state bordering on insanity. He was completely
104023 obsessed by one persistent thought. He did not know how or when this
104024 thought had taken such possession of him, but he remembered nothing of
104025 the past, understood nothing of the present, and all he saw and
104026 heard appeared to him like a dream.
104027
104028 He had left home only to escape the intricate tangle of life's
104029 demands that enmeshed him, and which in his present condition he was
104030 unable to unravel. He had gone to Joseph Alexeevich's house, on the
104031 plea of sorting the deceased's books and papers, only in search of
104032 rest from life's turmoil, for in his mind the memory of Joseph
104033 Alexeevich was connected with a world of eternal, solemn, and calm
104034 thoughts, quite contrary to the restless confusion into which he
104035 felt himself being drawn. He sought a quiet refuge, and in Joseph
104036 Alexeevich's study he really found it. When he sat with his elbows
104037 on the dusty writing table in the deathlike stillness of the study,
104038 calm and significant memories of the last few days rose one after
104039 another in his imagination, particularly of the battle of Borodino and
104040 of that vague sense of his own insignificance and insincerity compared
104041 with the truth, simplicity, and strength of the class of men he
104042 mentally classed as they. When Gerasim roused him from his reverie the
104043 idea occurred to him of taking part in the popular defense of Moscow
104044 which he knew was projected. And with that object he had asked Gerasim
104045 to get him a peasant's coat and a pistol, confiding to him his
104046 intentions of remaining in Joseph Alexeevich's house and keeping his
104047 name secret. Then during the first day spent in inaction and
104048 solitude (he tried several times to fix his attention on the Masonic
104049 manuscripts, but was unable to do so) the idea that had previously
104050 occurred to him of the cabalistic significance of his name in
104051 connection with Bonaparte's more than once vaguely presented itself.
104052 But the idea that he, L'russe Besuhof, was destined to set a limit
104053 to the power of the Beast was as yet only one of the fancies that
104054 often passed through his mind and left no trace behind.
104055
104056 When, having bought the coat merely with the object of taking part
104057 among the people in the defense of Moscow, Pierre had met the
104058 Rostovs and Natasha had said to him: "Are you remaining in
104059 Moscow?... How splendid!" the thought flashed into his mind that it
104060 really would be a good thing, even if Moscow were taken, for him to
104061 remain there and do what he was predestined to do.
104062
104063 Next day, with the sole idea of not sparing himself and not
104064 lagging in any way behind them, Pierre went to the Three Hills gate.
104065 But when he returned to the house convinced that Moscow would not be
104066 defended, he suddenly felt that what before had seemed to him merely a
104067 possibility had now become absolutely necessary and inevitable. He
104068 must remain in Moscow, concealing his name, and must meet Napoleon and
104069 kill him, and either perish or put an end to the misery of all Europe-
104070 which it seemed to him was solely due to Napoleon.
104071
104072 Pierre knew all the details of the attempt on Bonaparte's life in
104073 1809 by a German student in Vienna, and knew that the student had been
104074 shot. And the risk to which he would expose his life by carrying out
104075 his design excited him still more.
104076
104077 Two equally strong feelings drew Pierre irresistibly to this
104078 purpose. The first was a feeling of the necessity of sacrifice and
104079 suffering in view of the common calamity, the same feeling that had
104080 caused him to go to Mozhaysk on the twenty-fifth and to make his way
104081 to the very thick of the battle and had now caused him to run away
104082 from his home and, in place of the luxury and comfort to which he
104083 was accustomed, to sleep on a hard sofa without undressing and eat the
104084 same food as Gerasim. The other was that vague and quite Russian
104085 feeling of contempt for everything conventional, artificial, and
104086 human--for everything the majority of men regard as the greatest
104087 good in the world. Pierre had first experienced this strange and
104088 fascinating feeling at the Sloboda Palace, when he had suddenly felt
104089 that wealth, power, and life--all that men so painstakingly acquire
104090 and guard--if it has any worth has so only by reason the joy with
104091 which it can all be renounced.
104092
104093 It was the feeling that induces a volunteer recruit to spend his
104094 last penny on drink, and a drunken man to smash mirrors or glasses for
104095 no apparent reason and knowing that it will cost him all the money
104096 he possesses: the feeling which causes a man to perform actions
104097 which from an ordinary point of view are insane, to test, as it
104098 were, his personal power and strength, affirming the existence of a
104099 higher, nonhuman criterion of life.
104100
104101 From the very day Pierre had experienced this feeling for the
104102 first time at the Sloboda Palace he had been continuously under its
104103 influence, but only now found full satisfaction for it. Moreover, at
104104 this moment Pierre was supported in his design and prevented from
104105 renouncing it by what he had already done in that direction. If he
104106 were now to leave Moscow like everyone else, his flight from home, the
104107 peasant coat, the pistol, and his announcement to the Rostovs that
104108 he would remain in Moscow would all become not merely meaningless
104109 but contemptible and ridiculous, and to this Pierre was very
104110 sensitive.
104111
104112 Pierre's physical condition, as is always the case, corresponded
104113 to his mental state. The unaccustomed coarse food, the vodka he
104114 drank during those days, the absence of wine and cigars, his dirty
104115 unchanged linen, two almost sleepless nights passed on a short sofa
104116 without bedding--all this kept him in a state of excitement
104117 bordering on insanity.
104118
104119 It was two o'clock in the afternoon. The French had already
104120 entered Moscow. Pierre knew this, but instead of acting he only
104121 thought about his undertaking, going over its minutest details in
104122 his mind. In his fancy he did not clearly picture to himself either
104123 the striking of the blow or the death of Napoleon, but with
104124 extraordinary vividness and melancholy enjoyment imagined his own
104125 destruction and heroic endurance.
104126
104127 "Yes, alone, for the sake of all, I must do it or perish!" he
104128 thought. "Yes, I will approach... and then suddenly... with pistol
104129 or dagger? But that is all the same! 'It is not I but the hand of
104130 Providence that punishes thee,' I shall say," thought he, imagining
104131 what he would say when killing Napoleon. "Well then, take me and
104132 execute me!" he went on, speaking to himself and bowing his head
104133 with a sad but firm expression.
104134
104135 While Pierre, standing in the middle of the room, was talking to
104136 himself in this way, the study door opened and on the threshold
104137 appeared the figure of Makar Alexeevich, always so timid before but
104138 now quite transformed.
104139
104140 His dressing gown was unfastened, his face red and distorted. He was
104141 obviously drunk. On seeing Pierre he grew confused at first, but
104142 noticing embarrassment on Pierre's face immediately grew bold and,
104143 staggering on his thin legs, advanced into the middle of the room.
104144
104145 "They're frightened," he said confidentially in a hoarse voice. "I
104146 say I won't surrender, I say... Am I not right, sir?"
104147
104148 He paused and then suddenly seeing the pistol on the table seized it
104149 with unexpected rapidity and ran out into the corridor.
104150
104151 Gerasim and the porter, who had followed Makar Alexeevich, stopped
104152 him in the vestibule and tried to take the pistol from him. Pierre,
104153 coming out into the corridor, looked with pity and repulsion at the
104154 half-crazy old man. Makar Alexeevich, frowning with exertion, held
104155 on to the pistol and screamed hoarsely, evidently with some heroic
104156 fancy in his head.
104157
104158 "To arms! Board them! No, you shan't get it," he yelled.
104159
104160 "That will do, please, that will do. Have the goodness--please, sir,
104161 to let go! Please, sir..." pleaded Gerasim, trying carefully to
104162 steer Makar Alexeevich by the elbows back to the door.
104163
104164 "Who are you? Bonaparte!..." shouted Makar Alexeevich.
104165
104166 "That's not right, sir. Come to your room, please, and rest. Allow
104167 me to have the pistol."
104168
104169 "Be off, thou base slave! Touch me not! See this?" shouted Makar
104170 Alexeevich, brandishing the pistol. "Board them!"
104171
104172 "Catch hold!" whispered Gerasim to the porter.
104173
104174 They seized Makar Alexeevich by the arms and dragged him to the
104175 door.
104176
104177 The vestibule was filled with the discordant sounds of a struggle
104178 and of a tipsy, hoarse voice.
104179
104180 Suddenly a fresh sound, a piercing feminine scream, reverberated
104181 from the porch and the cook came running into the vestibule.
104182
104183 "It's them! Gracious heavens! O Lord, four of them, horsemen!" she
104184 cried.
104185
104186 Gerasim and the porter let Makar Alexeevich go, and in the now
104187 silent corridor the sound of several hands knocking at the front
104188 door could be heard.
104189
104190
104191
104192
104193
104194 CHAPTER XXVIII
104195
104196
104197 Pierre, having decided that until he had carried out his design he
104198 would disclose neither his identity nor his knowledge of French, stood
104199 at the half-open door of the corridor, intending to conceal himself as
104200 soon as the French entered. But the French entered and still Pierre
104201 did not retire--an irresistible curiosity kept him there.
104202
104203 There were two of them. One was an officer--a tall, soldierly,
104204 handsome man--the other evidently a private or an orderly,
104205 sunburned, short, and thin, with sunken cheeks and a dull
104206 expression. The officer walked in front, leaning on a stick and
104207 slightly limping. When he had advanced a few steps he stopped,
104208 having apparently decided that these were good quarters, turned
104209 round to the soldiers standing at the entrance, and in a loud voice of
104210 command ordered them to put up the horses. Having done that, the
104211 officer, lifting his elbow with a smart gesture, stroked his
104212 mustache and lightly touched his hat.
104213
104214 "Bonjour, la compagnie!"* said he gaily, smiling and looking about
104215 him.
104216
104217
104218 *"Good day, everybody!"
104219
104220
104221 No one gave any reply.
104222
104223 "Vous etes le bourgeois?"* the officer asked Gerasim.
104224
104225
104226 *"Are you the master here?"
104227
104228
104229 Gerasim gazed at the officer with an alarmed and inquiring look.
104230
104231 "Quartier, quartier, logement!" said the officer, looking down at
104232 the little man with a condescending and good-natured smile. "Les
104233 francais sont de bons enfants. Que diable! Voyons! Ne nous fachons
104234 pas, mon vieux!"* added he, clapping the scared and silent Gerasim
104235 on the shoulder. "Well, does no one speak French in this
104236 establishment?" he asked again in French, looking around and meeting
104237 Pierre's eyes. Pierre moved away from the door.
104238
104239
104240 *"Quarters, quarters, lodgings! The French are good fellows. What
104241 the devil! There, don't let us be cross, old fellow!"
104242
104243
104244 Again the officer turned to Gerasim and asked him to show him the
104245 rooms in the house.
104246
104247 "Master, not here--don't understand... me, you..." said Gerasim,
104248 trying to render his words more comprehensible by contorting them.
104249
104250 Still smiling, the French officer spread out his hands before
104251 Gerasim's nose, intimating that he did not understand him either,
104252 and moved, limping, to the door at which Pierre was standing. Pierre
104253 wished to go away and conceal himself, but at that moment he saw Makar
104254 Alexeevich appearing at the open kitchen door with the pistol in his
104255 hand. With a madman's cunning, Makar Alexeevich eyed the Frenchman,
104256 raised his pistol, and took aim.
104257
104258 "Board them!" yelled the tipsy man, trying to press the trigger.
104259 Hearing the yell the officer turned round, and at the same moment
104260 Pierre threw himself on the drunkard. Just when Pierre snatched at and
104261 struck up the pistol Makar Alexeevich at last got his fingers on the
104262 trigger, there was a deafening report, and all were enveloped in a
104263 cloud of smoke. The Frenchman turned pale and rushed to the door.
104264
104265 Forgetting his intention of concealing his knowledge of French,
104266 Pierre, snatching away the pistol and throwing it down, ran up to
104267 the officer and addressed him in French.
104268
104269 "You are not wounded?" he asked.
104270
104271 "I think not," answered the Frenchman, feeling himself over. "But
104272 I have had a lucky escape this time," he added, pointing to the
104273 damaged plaster of the wall. "Who is that man?" said he, looking
104274 sternly at Pierre.
104275
104276 "Oh, I am really in despair at what has occurred," said Pierre
104277 rapidly, quite forgetting the part he had intended to play. "He is
104278 an unfortunate madman who did not know what he was doing."
104279
104280 The officer went up to Makar Alexeevich and took him by the collar.
104281
104282 Makar Alexeevich was standing with parted lips, swaying, as if about
104283 to fall asleep, as he leaned against the wall.
104284
104285 "Brigand! You shall pay for this," said the Frenchman, letting go of
104286 him. "We French are merciful after victory, but we do not pardon
104287 traitors," he added, with a look of gloomy dignity and a fine
104288 energetic gesture.
104289
104290 Pierre continued, in French, to persuade the officer not to hold
104291 that drunken imbecile to account. The Frenchman listened in silence
104292 with the same gloomy expression, but suddenly turned to Pierre with
104293 a smile. For a few seconds he looked at him in silence. His handsome
104294 face assumed a melodramatically gentle expression and he held out
104295 his hand.
104296
104297 "You have saved my life. You are French," said he.
104298
104299 For a Frenchman that deduction was indubitable. Only a Frenchman
104300 could perform a great deed, and to save his life--the life of M.
104301 Ramballe, captain of the 13th Light Regiment--was undoubtedly a very
104302 great deed.
104303
104304 But however indubitable that conclusion and the officer's conviction
104305 based upon it, Pierre felt it necessary to disillusion him.
104306
104307 "I am Russian," he said quickly.
104308
104309 "Tut, tut, tut! Tell that to others," said the officer, waving his
104310 finger before his nose and smiling. "You shall tell me all about
104311 that presently. I am delighted to meet a compatriot. Well, and what
104312 are we to do with this man?" he added, addressing himself to Pierre as
104313 to a brother.
104314
104315 Even if Pierre were not a Frenchman, having once received that
104316 loftiest of human appellations he could not renounce it, said the
104317 officer's look and tone. In reply to his last question Pierre again
104318 explained who Makar Alexeevich was and how just before their arrival
104319 that drunken imbecile had seized the loaded pistol which they had
104320 not had time to recover from him, and begged the officer to let the
104321 deed go unpunished.
104322
104323 The Frenchman expanded his chest and made a majestic gesture with
104324 his arm.
104325
104326 "You have saved my life! You are French. You ask his pardon? I grant
104327 it you. Lead that man away!" said he quickly and energetically, and
104328 taking the arm of Pierre whom he had promoted to be a Frenchman for
104329 saving his life, he went with him into the room.
104330
104331 The soldiers in the yard, hearing the shot, came into the passage
104332 asking what had happened, and expressed their readiness to punish
104333 the culprits, but the officer sternly checked them.
104334
104335 "You will be called in when you are wanted," he said.
104336
104337 The soldiers went out again, and the orderly, who had meanwhile
104338 had time to visit the kitchen, came up to his officer.
104339
104340 "Captain, there is soup and a leg of mutton in the kitchen," said
104341 he. "Shall I serve them up?"
104342
104343 "Yes, and some wine," answered the captain.
104344
104345
104346
104347
104348
104349 CHAPTER XXIX
104350
104351
104352 When the French officer went into the room with Pierre the latter
104353 again thought it his duty to assure him that he was not French and
104354 wished to go away, but the officer would not hear of it. He was so
104355 very polite, amiable, good-natured, and genuinely grateful to Pierre
104356 for saving his life that Pierre had not the heart to refuse, and sat
104357 down with him in the parlor--the first room they entered. To
104358 Pierre's assurances that he was not a Frenchman, the captain,
104359 evidently not understanding how anyone could decline so flattering
104360 an appellation, shrugged his shoulders and said that if Pierre
104361 absolutely insisted on passing for a Russian let it be so, but for all
104362 that he would be forever bound to Pierre by gratitude for saving his
104363 life.
104364
104365 Had this man been endowed with the slightest capacity for perceiving
104366 the feelings of others, and had he at all understood what Pierre's
104367 feelings were, the latter would probably have left him, but the
104368 man's animated obtuseness to everything other than himself disarmed
104369 Pierre.
104370
104371 "A Frenchman or a Russian prince incognito," said the officer,
104372 looking at Pierre's fine though dirty linen and at the ring on his
104373 finger. "I owe my life to you and offer you my friendship. A Frenchman
104374 never forgets either an insult or a service. I offer you my
104375 friendship. That is all I can say."
104376
104377 There was so much good nature and nobility (in the French sense of
104378 the word) in the officer's voice, in the expression of his face and in
104379 his gestures, that Pierre, unconsciously smiling in response to the
104380 Frenchman's smile, pressed the hand held out to him.
104381
104382 "Captain Ramballe, of the 13th Light Regiment, Chevalier of the
104383 Legion of Honor for the affair on the seventh of September," he
104384 introduced himself, a self-satisfied irrepressible smile puckering his
104385 lips under his mustache. "Will you now be so good as to tell me with
104386 whom I have the honor of conversing so pleasantly, instead of being in
104387 the ambulance with that maniac's bullet in my body?"
104388
104389 Pierre replied that he could not tell him his name and, blushing,
104390 began to try to invent a name and to say something about his reason
104391 for concealing it, but the Frenchman hastily interrupted him.
104392
104393 "Oh, please!" said he. "I understand your reasons. You are an
104394 officer... a superior officer perhaps. You have borne arms against us.
104395 That's not my business. I owe you my life. That is enough for me. I am
104396 quite at your service. You belong to the gentry?" he concluded with
104397 a shade of inquiry in his tone. Pierre bent his head. "Your
104398 baptismal name, if you please. That is all I ask. Monsieur Pierre, you
104399 say.... That's all I want to know."
104400
104401 When the mutton and an omelet had been served and a samovar and
104402 vodka brought, with some wine which the French had taken from a
104403 Russian cellar and brought with them, Ramballe invited Pierre to share
104404 his dinner, and himself began to eat greedily and quickly like a
104405 healthy and hungry man, munching his food rapidly with his strong
104406 teeth, continually smacking his lips, and repeating--"Excellent!
104407 Delicious!" His face grew red and was covered with perspiration.
104408 Pierre was hungry and shared the dinner with pleasure. Morel, the
104409 orderly, brought some hot water in a saucepan and placed a bottle of
104410 claret in it. He also brought a bottle of kvass, taken from the
104411 kitchen for them to try. That beverage was already known to the French
104412 and had been given a special name. They called it limonade de cochon
104413 (pig's lemonade), and Morel spoke well of the limonade de cochon he
104414 had found in the kitchen. But as the captain had the wine they had
104415 taken while passing through Moscow, he left the kvass to Morel and
104416 applied himself to the bottle of Bordeaux. He wrapped the bottle up to
104417 its neck in a table napkin and poured out wine for himself and for
104418 Pierre. The satisfaction of his hunger and the wine rendered the
104419 captain still more lively and he chatted incessantly all through
104420 dinner.
104421
104422 "Yes, my dear Monsieur Pierre, I owe you a fine votive candle for
104423 saving me from that maniac.... You see, I have bullets enough in my
104424 body already. Here is one I got at Wagram" (he touched his side)
104425 "and a second at Smolensk"--he showed a scar on his cheek--"and this
104426 leg which as you see does not want to march, I got that on the seventh
104427 at the great battle of la Moskowa. Sacre Dieu! It was splendid! That
104428 deluge of fire was worth seeing. It was a tough job you set us
104429 there, my word! You may be proud of it! And on my honor, in spite of
104430 the cough I caught there, I should be ready to begin again. I pity
104431 those who did not see it."
104432
104433 "I was there," said Pierre.
104434
104435 "Bah, really? So much the better! You are certainly brave foes.
104436 The great redoubt held out well, by my pipe!" continued the Frenchman.
104437 "And you made us pay dear for it. I was at it three times--sure as I
104438 sit here. Three times we reached the guns and three times we were
104439 thrown back like cardboard figures. Oh, it was beautiful, Monsieur
104440 Pierre! Your grenadiers were splendid, by heaven! I saw them close
104441 up their ranks six times in succession and march as if on parade. Fine
104442 fellows! Our King of Naples, who knows what's what, cried 'Bravo!' Ha,
104443 ha! So you are one of us soldiers!" he added, smiling, after a
104444 momentary pause. "So much the better, so much the better, Monsieur
104445 Pierre! Terrible in battle... gallant... with the fair" (he winked and
104446 smiled), "that's what the French are, Monsieur Pierre, aren't they?"
104447
104448 The captain was so naively and good-humoredly gay, so real, and so
104449 pleased with himself that Pierre almost winked back as he looked
104450 merrily at him. Probably the word "gallant" turned the captain's
104451 thoughts to the state of Moscow.
104452
104453 "Apropos, tell me please, is it true that the women have all left
104454 Moscow? What a queer idea! What had they to be afraid of?"
104455
104456 "Would not the French ladies leave Paris if the Russians entered
104457 it?" asked Pierre.
104458
104459 "Ha, ha, ha!" The Frenchman emitted a merry, sanguine chuckle,
104460 patting Pierre on the shoulder. "What a thing to say!" he exclaimed.
104461 "Paris?... But Paris, Paris..."
104462
104463 "Paris--the capital of the world," Pierre finished his remark for
104464 him.
104465
104466 The captain looked at Pierre. He had a habit of stopping short in
104467 the middle of his talk and gazing intently with his laughing, kindly
104468 eyes.
104469
104470 "Well, if you hadn't told me you were Russian, I should have wagered
104471 that you were Parisian! You have that... I don't know what, that..."
104472 and having uttered this compliment, he again gazed at him in silence.
104473
104474 "I have been in Paris. I spent years there," said Pierre.
104475
104476 "Oh yes, one sees that plainly. Paris!... A man who doesn't know
104477 Paris is a savage. You can tell a Parisian two leagues off. Paris is
104478 Talma, la Duchenois, Potier, the Sorbonne, the boulevards," and
104479 noticing that his conclusion was weaker than what had gone before,
104480 he added quickly: "There is only one Paris in the world. You have been
104481 to Paris and have remained Russian. Well, I don't esteem you the
104482 less for it."
104483
104484 Under the influence of the wine he had drunk, and after the days
104485 he had spent alone with his depressing thoughts, Pierre
104486 involuntarily enjoyed talking with this cheerful and good-natured man.
104487
104488 "To return to your ladies--I hear they are lovely. What a wretched
104489 idea to go and bury themselves in the steppes when the French army
104490 is in Moscow. What a chance those girls have missed! Your peasants,
104491 now--that's another thing; but you civilized people, you ought to know
104492 us better than that. We took Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, Naples, Rome,
104493 Warsaw, all the world's capitals.... We are feared, but we are
104494 loved. We are nice to know. And then the Emperor..." he began, but
104495 Pierre interrupted him.
104496
104497 "The Emperor," Pierre repeated, and his face suddenly became sad and
104498 embarrassed, "is the Emperor...?"
104499
104500 "The Emperor? He is generosity, mercy, justice, order, genius-
104501 that's what the Emperor is! It is I, Ramballe, who tell you so.... I
104502 assure you I was his enemy eight years ago. My father was an
104503 emigrant count.... But that man has vanquished me. He has taken hold
104504 of me. I could not resist the sight of the grandeur and glory with
104505 which he has covered France. When I understood what he wanted--when
104506 I saw that he was preparing a bed of laurels for us, you know, I
104507 said to myself: 'That is a monarch,' and I devoted myself to him! So
104508 there! Oh yes, mon cher, he is the greatest man of the ages past or
104509 future."
104510
104511 "Is he in Moscow?" Pierre stammered with a guilty look.
104512
104513 The Frenchman looked at his guilty face and smiled.
104514
104515 "No, he will make his entry tomorrow," he replied, and continued his
104516 talk.
104517
104518 Their conversation was interrupted by the cries of several voices at
104519 the gate and by Morel, who came to say that some Wurttemberg hussars
104520 had come and wanted to put up their horses in the yard where the
104521 captain's horses were. This difficulty had arisen chiefly because
104522 the hussars did not understand what was said to them in French.
104523
104524 The captain had their senior sergeant called in, and in a stern
104525 voice asked him to what regiment he belonged, who was his commanding
104526 officer, and by what right he allowed himself to claim quarters that
104527 were already occupied. The German who knew little French, answered the
104528 two first questions by giving the names of his regiment and of his
104529 commanding officer, but in reply to the third question which he did
104530 not understand said, introducing broken French into his own German,
104531 that he was the quartermaster of the regiment and his commander had
104532 ordered him to occupy all the houses one after another. Pierre, who
104533 knew German, translated what the German said to the captain and gave
104534 the captain's reply to the Wurttemberg hussar in German. When he had
104535 understood what was said to him, the German submitted and took his men
104536 elsewhere. The captain went out into the porch and gave some orders in
104537 a loud voice.
104538
104539 When he returned to the room Pierre was sitting in the same place as
104540 before, with his head in his hands. His face expressed suffering. He
104541 really was suffering at that moment. When the captain went out and
104542 he was left alone, suddenly he came to himself and realized the
104543 position he was in. It was not that Moscow had been taken or that
104544 the happy conquerors were masters in it and were patronizing him.
104545 Painful as that was it was not that which tormented Pierre at the
104546 moment. He was tormented by the consciousness of his own weakness. The
104547 few glasses of wine he had drunk and the conversation with this
104548 good-natured man had destroyed the mood of concentrated gloom in which
104549 he had spent the last few days and which was essential for the
104550 execution of his design. The pistol, dagger, and peasant coat were
104551 ready. Napoleon was to enter the town next day. Pierre still
104552 considered that it would be a useful and worthy action to slay the
104553 evildoer, but now he felt that he would not do it. He did not know
104554 why, but he felt a foreboding that he would not carry out his
104555 intention. He struggled against the confession of his weakness but
104556 dimly felt that he could not overcome it and that his former gloomy
104557 frame of mind, concerning vengeance, killing, and self-sacrifice,
104558 had been dispersed like dust by contact with the first man he met.
104559
104560 The captain returned to the room, limping slightly and whistling a
104561 tune.
104562
104563 The Frenchman's chatter which had previously amused Pierre now
104564 repelled him. The tune he was whistling, his gait, and the gesture
104565 with which he twirled his mustache, all now seemed offensive. "I
104566 will go away immediately. I won't say another word to him," thought
104567 Pierre. He thought this, but still sat in the same place. A strange
104568 feeling of weakness tied him to the spot; he wished to get up and go
104569 away, but could not do so.
104570
104571 The captain, on the other hand, seemed very cheerful. He paced up
104572 and down the room twice. His eyes shone and his mustache twitched as
104573 if he were smiling to himself at some amusing thought.
104574
104575 "The colonel of those Wurttembergers is delightful," he suddenly
104576 said. "He's a German, but a nice fellow all the same.... But he's a
104577 German." He sat down facing Pierre. "By the way, you know German,
104578 then?"
104579
104580 Pierre looked at him in silence.
104581
104582 "What is the German for 'shelter'?"
104583
104584 "Shelter?" Pierre repeated. "The German for shelter is Unterkunft."
104585
104586 "How do you say it?" the captain asked quickly and doubtfully.
104587
104588 "Unterkunft," Pierre repeated.
104589
104590 "Onterkoff," said the captain and looked at Pierre for some
104591 seconds with laughing eyes. "These Germans are first-rate fools, don't
104592 you think so, Monsieur Pierre?" he concluded.
104593
104594 "Well, let's have another bottle of this Moscow Bordeaux, shall
104595 we? Morel will warm us up another little bottle. Morel!" he called out
104596 gaily.
104597
104598 Morel brought candles and a bottle of wine. The captain looked at
104599 Pierre by the candlelight and was evidently struck by the troubled
104600 expression on his companion's face. Ramballe, with genuine distress
104601 and sympathy in his face, went up to Pierre and bent over him.
104602
104603 "There now, we're sad," said he, touching Pierre's hand. "Have I
104604 upset you? No, really, have you anything against me?" he asked Pierre.
104605 "Perhaps it's the state of affairs?"
104606
104607 Pierre did not answer, but looked cordially into the Frenchman's
104608 eyes whose expression of sympathy was pleasing to him.
104609
104610 "Honestly, without speaking of what I owe you, I feel friendship for
104611 you. Can I do anything for you? Dispose of me. It is for life and
104612 death. I say it with my hand on my heart!" said he, striking his
104613 chest.
104614
104615 "Thank you," said Pierre.
104616
104617 The captain gazed intently at him as he had done when he learned
104618 that "shelter" was Unterkunft in German, and his face suddenly
104619 brightened.
104620
104621 "Well, in that case, I drink to our friendship!" he cried gaily,
104622 filling two glasses with wine.
104623
104624 Pierre took one of the glasses and emptied it. Ramballe emptied
104625 his too, again pressed Pierre's hand, and leaned his elbows on the
104626 table in a pensive attitude.
104627
104628 "Yes, my dear friend," he began, "such is fortune's caprice. Who
104629 would have said that I should be a soldier and a captain of dragoons
104630 in the service of Bonaparte, as we used to call him? Yet here I am
104631 in Moscow with him. I must tell you, mon cher," he continued in the
104632 sad and measured tones of a man who intends to tell a long story,
104633 "that our name is one of the most ancient in France."
104634
104635 And with a Frenchman's easy and naive frankness the captain told
104636 Pierre the story of his ancestors, his childhood, youth, and
104637 manhood, and all about his relations and his financial and family
104638 affairs, "ma pauvre mere" playing of course an important part in the
104639 story.
104640
104641 "But all that is only life's setting, the real thing is love-
104642 love! Am I not right, Monsieur Pierre?" said he, growing animated.
104643 "Another glass?"
104644
104645 Pierre again emptied his glass and poured himself out a third.
104646
104647 "Oh, women, women!" and the captain, looking with glistening eyes at
104648 Pierre, began talking of love and of his love affairs.
104649
104650 There were very many of these, as one could easily believe,
104651 looking at the officer's handsome, self-satisfied face, and noting the
104652 eager enthusiasm with which he spoke of women. Though all Ramballe's
104653 love stories had the sensual character which Frenchmen regard as the
104654 special charm and poetry of love, yet he told his story with such
104655 sincere conviction that he alone had experienced and known all the
104656 charm of love and he described women so alluringly that Pierre
104657 listened to him with curiosity.
104658
104659 It was plain that l'amour which the Frenchman was so fond of was not
104660 that low and simple kind that Pierre had once felt for his wife, nor
104661 was it the romantic love stimulated by himself that he experienced for
104662 Natasha. (Ramballe despised both these kinds of love equally: the
104663 one he considered the "love of clodhoppers" and the other the "love of
104664 simpletons.") L'amour which the Frenchman worshiped consisted
104665 principally in the unnaturalness of his relation to the woman and in a
104666 combination of incongruities giving the chief charm to the feeling.
104667
104668 Thus the captain touchingly recounted the story of his love for a
104669 fascinating marquise of thirty-five and at the same time for a
104670 charming, innocent child of seventeen, daughter of the bewitching
104671 marquise. The conflict of magnanimity between the mother and the
104672 daughter, ending in the mother's sacrificing herself and offering
104673 her daughter in marriage to her lover, even now agitated the
104674 captain, though it was the memory of a distant past. Then he recounted
104675 an episode in which the husband played the part of the lover, and
104676 he--the lover--assumed the role of the husband, as well as several
104677 droll incidents from his recollections of Germany, where "shelter"
104678 is called Unterkunft and where the husbands eat sauerkraut and the
104679 young girls are "too blonde."
104680
104681 Finally, the latest episode in Poland still fresh in the captain's
104682 memory, and which he narrated with rapid gestures and glowing face,
104683 was of how he had saved the life of a Pole (in general, the saving
104684 of life continually occurred in the captain's stories) and the Pole
104685 had entrusted to him his enchanting wife (parisienne de coeur) while
104686 himself entering the French service. The captain was happy, the
104687 enchanting Polish lady wished to elope with him, but, prompted by
104688 magnanimity, the captain restored the wife to the husband, saying as
104689 he did so: "I have saved your life, and I save your honor!" Having
104690 repeated these words the captain wiped his eyes and gave himself a
104691 shake, as if driving away the weakness which assailed him at this
104692 touching recollection.
104693
104694 Listening to the captain's tales, Pierre--as often happens late in
104695 the evening and under the influence of wine--followed all that was
104696 told him, understood it all, and at the same time followed a train
104697 of personal memories which, he knew not why, suddenly arose in his
104698 mind. While listening to these love stories his own love for Natasha
104699 unexpectedly rose to his mind, and going over the pictures of that
104700 love in his imagination he mentally compared them with Ramballe's
104701 tales. Listening to the story of the struggle between love and duty,
104702 Pierre saw before his eyes every minutest detail of his last meeting
104703 with the object of his love at the Sukharev water tower. At the time
104704 of that meeting it had not produced an effect upon him--he had not
104705 even once recalled it. But now it seemed to him that that meeting
104706 had had in it something very important and poetic.
104707
104708 "Peter Kirilovich, come here! We have recognized you," he now seemed
104709 to hear the words she had uttered and to see before him her eyes,
104710 her smile, her traveling hood, and a stray lock of her hair... and
104711 there seemed to him something pathetic and touching in all this.
104712
104713 Having finished his tale about the enchanting Polish lady, the
104714 captain asked Pierre if he had ever experienced a similar impulse to
104715 sacrifice himself for love and a feeling of envy of the legitimate
104716 husband.
104717
104718 Challenged by this question Pierre raised his head and felt a need
104719 to express the thoughts that filled his mind. He began to explain that
104720 he understood love for a women somewhat differently. He said that in
104721 all his life he had loved and still loved only one woman, and that she
104722 could never be his.
104723
104724 "Tiens!" said the captain.
104725
104726 Pierre then explained that he had loved this woman from his earliest
104727 years, but that he had not dared to think of her because she was too
104728 young, and because he had been an illegitimate son without a name.
104729 Afterwards when he had received a name and wealth he dared not think
104730 of her because he loved her too well, placing her far above everything
104731 in the world, and especially therefore above himself.
104732
104733 When he had reached this point, Pierre asked the captain whether
104734 he understood that.
104735
104736 The captain made a gesture signifying that even if he did not
104737 understand it he begged Pierre to continue.
104738
104739 "Platonic love, clouds..." he muttered.
104740
104741 Whether it was the wine he had drunk, or an impulse of frankness, or
104742 the thought that this man did not, and never would, know any of
104743 those who played a part in his story, or whether it was all these
104744 things together, something loosened Pierre's tongue. Speaking
104745 thickly and with a faraway look in his shining eyes, he told the whole
104746 story of his life: his marriage, Natasha's love for his best friend,
104747 her betrayal of him, and all his own simple relations with her.
104748 Urged on by Ramballe's questions he also told what he had at first
104749 concealed--his own position and even his name.
104750
104751 More than anything else in Pierre's story the captain was
104752 impressed by the fact that Pierre was very rich, had two mansions in
104753 Moscow, and that he had abandoned everything and not left the city,
104754 but remained there concealing his name and station.
104755
104756 When it was late at night they went out together into the street.
104757 The night was warm and light. To the left of the house on the Pokrovka
104758 a fire glowed--the first of those that were beginning in Moscow. To
104759 the right and high up in the sky was the sickle of the waning moon and
104760 opposite to it hung that bright comet which was connected in
104761 Pierre's heart with his love. At the gate stood Gerasim, the cook, and
104762 two Frenchmen. Their laughter and their mutually incomprehensible
104763 remarks in two languages could be heard. They were looking at the glow
104764 seen in the town.
104765
104766 There was nothing terrible in the one small, distant fire in the
104767 immense city.
104768
104769 Gazing at the high starry sky, at the moon, at the comet, and at the
104770 glow from the fire, Pierre experienced a joyful emotion. "There now,
104771 how good it is, what more does one need?" thought he. And suddenly
104772 remembering his intention he grew dizzy and felt so faint that he
104773 leaned against the fence to save himself from falling.
104774
104775 Without taking leave of his new friend, Pierre left the gate with
104776 unsteady steps and returning to his room lay down on the sofa and
104777 immediately fell asleep.
104778
104779
104780
104781
104782
104783 CHAPTER XXX
104784
104785
104786 The glow of the first fire that began on the second of September was
104787 watched from the various roads by the fugitive Muscovites and by the
104788 retreating troops, with many different feelings.
104789
104790 The Rostov party spent the night at Mytishchi, fourteen miles from
104791 Moscow. They had started so late on the first of September, the road
104792 had been so blocked by vehicles and troops, so many things had been
104793 forgotten for which servants were sent back, that they had decided
104794 to spend that night at a place three miles out of Moscow. The next
104795 morning they woke late and were again delayed so often that they
104796 only got as far as Great Mytishchi. At ten o'clock that evening the
104797 Rostov family and the wounded traveling with them were all distributed
104798 in the yards and huts of that large village. The Rostovs' servants and
104799 coachmen and the orderlies of the wounded officers, after attending to
104800 their masters, had supper, fed the horses, and came out into the
104801 porches.
104802
104803 In a neighboring hut lay Raevski's adjutant with a fractured
104804 wrist. The awful pain he suffered made him moan incessantly and
104805 piteously, and his moaning sounded terrible in the darkness of the
104806 autumn night. He had spent the first night in the same yard as the
104807 Rostovs. The countess said she had been unable to close her eyes on
104808 account of his moaning, and at Mytishchi she moved into a worse hut
104809 simply to be farther away from the wounded man.
104810
104811 In the darkness of the night one of the servants noticed, above
104812 the high body of a coach standing before the porch, the small glow
104813 of another fire. One glow had long been visible and everybody knew
104814 that it was Little Mytishchi burning--set on fire by Mamonov's
104815 Cossacks.
104816
104817 "But look here, brothers, there's another fire!" remarked an
104818 orderly.
104819
104820 All turned their attention to the glow.
104821
104822 "But they told us Little Mytishchi had been set on fire by Mamonov's
104823 Cossacks."
104824
104825 "But that's not Mytishchi, it's farther away."
104826
104827 "Look, it must be in Moscow!"
104828
104829 Two of the gazers went round to the other side of the coach and
104830 sat down on its steps.
104831
104832 "It's more to the left, why, Little Mytishchi is over there, and
104833 this is right on the other side."
104834
104835 Several men joined the first two.
104836
104837 "See how it's flaring," said one. "That's a fire in Moscow: either
104838 in the Sushchevski or the Rogozhski quarter."
104839
104840 No one replied to this remark and for some time they all gazed
104841 silently at the spreading flames of the second fire in the distance.
104842
104843 Old Daniel Terentich, the count's valet (as he was called), came
104844 up to the group and shouted at Mishka.
104845
104846 "What are you staring at, you good-for-nothing?... The count will be
104847 calling and there's nobody there; go and gather the clothes together."
104848
104849 "I only ran out to get some water," said Mishka.
104850
104851 "But what do you think, Daniel Terentich? Doesn't it look as if that
104852 glow were in Moscow?" remarked one of the footmen.
104853
104854 Daniel Terentich made no reply, and again for a long time they
104855 were all silent. The glow spread, rising and failing, farther and
104856 farther still.
104857
104858 "God have mercy.... It's windy and dry..." said another voice.
104859
104860 "Just look! See what it's doing now. O Lord! You can even see the
104861 crows flying. Lord have mercy on us sinners!"
104862
104863 "They'll put it out, no fear!"
104864
104865 "Who's to put it out?" Daniel Terentich, who had hitherto been
104866 silent, was heard to say. His voice was calm and deliberate. "Moscow
104867 it is, brothers," said he. "Mother Moscow, the white..." his voice
104868 faltered, and he gave way to an old man's sob.
104869
104870 And it was as if they had all only waited for this to realize the
104871 significance for them of the glow they were watching. Sighs were
104872 heard, words of prayer, and the sobbing of the count's old valet.
104873
104874
104875
104876
104877
104878 CHAPTER XXXI
104879
104880
104881 The valet, returning to the cottage, informed the count that
104882 Moscow was burning. The count donned his dressing gown and went out to
104883 look. Sonya and Madame Schoss, who had not yet undressed, went out
104884 with him. Only Natasha and the countess remained in the room. Petya
104885 was no longer with the family, he had gone on with his regiment
104886 which was making for Troitsa.
104887
104888 The countess, on hearing that Moscow was on fire, began to cry.
104889 Natasha, pale, with a fixed look, was sitting on the bench under the
104890 icons just where she had sat down on arriving and paid no attention to
104891 her father's words. She was listening to the ceaseless moaning of
104892 the adjutant, three houses off.
104893
104894 "Oh, how terrible," said Sonya returning from the yard chilled and
104895 frightened. "I believe the whole of Moscow will burn, there's an awful
104896 glow! Natasha, do look! You can see it from the window," she said to
104897 her cousin, evidently wishing to distract her mind.
104898
104899 But Natasha looked at her as if not understanding what was said to
104900 her and again fixed her eyes on the corner of the stove. She had
104901 been in this condition of stupor since the morning, when Sonya, to the
104902 surprise and annoyance of the countess, had for some unaccountable
104903 reason found it necessary to tell Natasha of Prince Andrew's wound and
104904 of his being with their party. The countess had seldom been so angry
104905 with anyone as she was with Sonya. Sonya had cried and begged to be
104906 forgiven and now, as if trying to atone for her fault, paid
104907 unceasing attention to her cousin.
104908
104909 "Look, Natasha, how dreadfully it is burning!" said she.
104910
104911 "What's burning?" asked Natasha. "Oh, yes, Moscow."
104912
104913 And as if in order not to offend Sonya and to get rid of her, she
104914 turned her face to the window, looked out in such a way that it was
104915 evident that she could not see anything, and again settled down in her
104916 former attitude.
104917
104918 "But you didn't see it!"
104919
104920 "Yes, really I did," Natasha replied in a voice that pleaded to be
104921 left in peace.
104922
104923 Both the countess and Sonya understood that, naturally, neither
104924 Moscow nor the burning of Moscow nor anything else could seem of
104925 importance to Natasha.
104926
104927 The count returned and lay down behind the partition. The countess
104928 went up to her daughter and touched her head with the back of her hand
104929 as she was wont to do when Natasha was ill, then touched her
104930 forehead with her lips as if to feel whether she was feverish, and
104931 finally kissed her.
104932
104933 "You are cold. You are trembling all over. You'd better lie down,"
104934 said the countess.
104935
104936 "Lie down? All right, I will. I'll lie down at once," said Natasha.
104937
104938 When Natasha had been told that morning that Prince Andrew was
104939 seriously wounded and was traveling with their party, she had at first
104940 asked many questions: Where was he going? How was he wounded? Was it
104941 serious? And could she see him? But after she had been told that she
104942 could not see him, that he was seriously wounded but that his life was
104943 not in danger, she ceased to ask questions or to speak at all,
104944 evidently disbelieving what they told her, and convinced that say what
104945 she might she would still be told the same. All the way she had sat
104946 motionless in a corner of the coach with wide open eyes, and the
104947 expression in them which the countess knew so well and feared so much,
104948 and now she sat in the same way on the bench where she had seated
104949 herself on arriving. She was planning something and either deciding or
104950 had already decided something in her mind. The countess knew this, but
104951 what it might be she did not know, and this alarmed and tormented her.
104952
104953 "Natasha, undress, darling; lie down on my bed."
104954
104955 A bed had been made on a bedstead for the countess only. Madame
104956 Schoss and the two girls were to sleep on some hay on the floor.
104957
104958 "No, Mamma, I will lie down here on the floor," Natasha replied
104959 irritably and she went to the window and opened it. Through the open
104960 window the moans of the adjutant could be heard more distinctly. She
104961 put her head out into the damp night air, and the countess saw her
104962 slim neck shaking with sobs and throbbing against the window frame.
104963 Natasha knew it was not Prince Andrew who was moaning. She knew Prince
104964 Andrew was in the same yard as themselves and in a part of the hut
104965 across the passage; but this dreadful incessant moaning made her
104966 sob. The countess exchanged a look with Sonya.
104967
104968 "Lie down, darling; lie down, my pet," said the countess, softly
104969 touching Natasha's shoulders. "Come, lie down."
104970
104971 "Oh, yes... I'll lie down at once," said Natasha, and began
104972 hurriedly undressing, tugging at the tapes of her petticoat.
104973
104974 When she had thrown off her dress and put on a dressing jacket,
104975 she sat down with her foot under her on the bed that had been made
104976 up on the floor, jerked her thin and rather short plait of hair to the
104977 front, and began replaiting it. Her long, thin, practiced fingers
104978 rapidly unplaited, replaited, and tied up her plait. Her head moved
104979 from side to side from habit, but her eyes, feverishly wide, looked
104980 fixedly before her. When her toilet for the night was finished she
104981 sank gently onto the sheet spread over the hay on the side nearest the
104982 door.
104983
104984 "Natasha, you'd better lie in the middle," said Sonya.
104985
104986 "I'll stay here," muttered Natasha. "Do lie down," she added
104987 crossly, and buried her face in the pillow.
104988
104989 The countess, Madame Schoss, and Sonya undressed hastily and lay
104990 down. The small lamp in front of the icons was the only light left
104991 in the room. But in the yard there was a light from the fire at Little
104992 Mytishchi a mile and a half away, and through the night came the noise
104993 of people shouting at a tavern Mamonov's Cossacks had set up across
104994 the street, and the adjutant's unceasing moans could still be heard.
104995
104996 For a long time Natasha listened attentively to the sounds that
104997 reached her from inside and outside the room and did not move. First
104998 she heard her mother praying and sighing and the creaking of her bed
104999 under her, then Madame Schoss' familiar whistling snore and Sonya's
105000 gentle breathing. Then the countess called to Natasha. Natasha did not
105001 answer.
105002
105003 "I think she's asleep, Mamma," said Sonya softly.
105004
105005 After short silence the countess spoke again but this time no one
105006 replied.
105007
105008 Soon after that Natasha heard her mother's even breathing. Natasha
105009 did not move, though her little bare foot, thrust out from under the
105010 quilt, was growing cold on the bare floor.
105011
105012 As if to celebrate a victory over everybody, a cricket chirped in
105013 a crack in the wall. A cock crowed far off and another replied near
105014 by. The shouting in the tavern had died down; only the moaning of
105015 the adjutant was heard. Natasha sat up.
105016
105017 "Sonya, are you asleep? Mamma?" she whispered.
105018
105019 No one replied. Natasha rose slowly and carefully, crossed
105020 herself, and stepped cautiously on the cold and dirty floor with her
105021 slim, supple, bare feet. The boards of the floor creaked. Stepping
105022 cautiously from one foot to the other she ran like a kitten the few
105023 steps to the door and grasped the cold door handle.
105024
105025 It seemed to her that something heavy was beating rhythmically
105026 against all the walls of the room: it was her own heart, sinking
105027 with alarm and terror and overflowing with love.
105028
105029 She opened the door and stepped across the threshold and onto the
105030 cold, damp earthen floor of the passage. The cold she felt refreshed
105031 her. With her bare feet she touched a sleeping man, stepped over
105032 him, and opened the door into the part of the hut where Prince
105033 Andrew lay. It was dark in there. In the farthest corner, on a bench
105034 beside a bed on which something was lying, stood a tallow candle
105035 with a long, thick, and smoldering wick.
105036
105037 From the moment she had been told that of Prince Andrew's wound
105038 and his presence there, Natasha had resolved to see him. She did not
105039 know why she had to, she knew the meeting would be painful, but felt
105040 the more convinced that it was necessary.
105041
105042 All day she had lived only in hope of seeing him that night. But now
105043 that the moment had come she was filled with dread of what she might
105044 see. How was he maimed? What was left of him? Was he like that
105045 incessant moaning of the adjutant's? Yes, he was altogether like that.
105046 In her imagination he was that terrible moaning personified. When
105047 she saw an indistinct shape in the corner, and mistook his knees
105048 raised under the quilt for his shoulders, she imagined a horrible body
105049 there, and stood still in terror. But an irresistible impulse drew her
105050 forward. She cautiously took one step and then another, and found
105051 herself in the middle of a small room containing baggage. Another man-
105052 Timokhin--was lying in a corner on the benches beneath the icons,
105053 and two others--the doctor and a valet--lay on the floor.
105054
105055 The valet sat up and whispered something. Timokhin, kept awake by
105056 the pain in his wounded leg, gazed with wide-open eyes at this strange
105057 apparition of a girl in a white chemise, dressing jacket, and
105058 nightcap. The valet's sleepy, frightened exclamation, "What do you
105059 want? What's the matter?" made Natasha approach more swiftly to what
105060 was lying in the corner. Horribly unlike a man as that body looked,
105061 she must see him. She passed the valet, the snuff fell from the candle
105062 wick, and she saw Prince Andrew clearly with his arms outside the
105063 quilt, and such as she had always seen him.
105064
105065 He was the same as ever, but the feverish color of his face, his
105066 glittering eyes rapturously turned toward her, and especially his
105067 neck, delicate as a child's, revealed by the turn-down collar of his
105068 shirt, gave him a peculiarly innocent, childlike look, such as she had
105069 never seen on him before. She went up to him and with a swift,
105070 flexible, youthful movement dropped on her knees.
105071
105072 He smiled and held out his hand to her.
105073
105074
105075
105076
105077
105078 CHAPTER XXXII
105079
105080
105081 Seven days had passed since Prince Andrew found himself in the
105082 ambulance station on the field of Borodino. His feverish state and the
105083 inflammation of his bowels, which were injured, were in the doctor's
105084
105085 opinion sure to carry him off. But on the seventh day he ate with
105086 pleasure a piece of bread with some tea, and the doctor noticed that
105087 his temperature was lower. He had regained consciousness that morning.
105088 The first night after they left Moscow had been fairly warm and he had
105089 remained in the caleche, but at Mytishchi the wounded man himself
105090 asked to be taken out and given some tea. The pain caused by his
105091 removal into the hut had made him groan aloud and again lose
105092 consciousness. When he had been placed on his camp bed he lay for a
105093 long time motionless with closed eyes. Then he opened them and
105094 whispered softly: "And the tea?" His remembering such a small detail
105095 of everyday life astonished the doctor. He felt Prince Andrew's pulse,
105096 and to his surprise and dissatisfaction found it had improved. He
105097 was dissatisfied because he knew by experience that if his patient did
105098 not die now, he would do so a little later with greater suffering.
105099 Timokhin, the red-nosed major of Prince Andrew's regiment, had
105100 joined him in Moscow and was being taken along with him, having been
105101 wounded in the leg at the battle of Borodino. They were accompanied by
105102 a doctor, Prince Andrew's valet, his coachman, and two orderlies.
105103
105104 They gave Prince Andrew some tea. He drank it eagerly, looking
105105 with feverish eyes at the door in front of him as if trying to
105106 understand and remember something.
105107
105108 "I don't want any more. Is Timokhin here?" he asked.
105109
105110 Timokhin crept along the bench to him.
105111
105112 "I am here, your excellency."
105113
105114 "How's your wound?"
105115
105116 "Mine, sir? All right. But how about you?"
105117
105118 Prince Andrew again pondered as if trying to remember something.
105119
105120 "Couldn't one get a book?" he asked.
105121
105122 "What book?"
105123
105124 "The Gospels. I haven't one."
105125
105126 The doctor promised to procure it for him and began to ask how he
105127 was feeling. Prince Andrew answered all his questions reluctantly
105128 but reasonably, and then said he wanted a bolster placed under him
105129 as he was uncomfortable and in great pain. The doctor and valet lifted
105130 the cloak with which he was covered and, making wry faces at the
105131 noisome smell of mortifying flesh that came from the wound, began
105132 examining that dreadful place. The doctor was very much displeased
105133 about something and made a change in the dressings, turning the
105134 wounded man over so that he groaned again and grew unconscious and
105135 delirious from the agony. He kept asking them to get him the book
105136 and put it under him.
105137
105138 "What trouble would it be to you?" he said. "I have not got one.
105139 Please get it for me and put it under for a moment," he pleaded in a
105140 piteous voice.
105141
105142 The doctor went into the passage to wash his hands.
105143
105144 "You fellows have no conscience," said he to the valet who was
105145 pouring water over his hands. "For just one moment I didn't look after
105146 you... It's such pain, you know, that I wonder how he can bear it."
105147
105148 "By the Lord Jesus Christ, I thought we had put something under
105149 him!" said the valet.
105150
105151 The first time Prince Andrew understood where he was and what was
105152 the matter with him and remembered being wounded and how was when he
105153 asked to be carried into the hut after his caleche had stopped at
105154 Mytishchi. After growing confused from pain while being carried into
105155 the hut he again regained consciousness, and while drinking tea once
105156 more recalled all that had happened to him, and above all vividly
105157 remembered the moment at the ambulance station when, at the sight of
105158 the sufferings of a man he disliked, those new thoughts had come to
105159 him which promised him happiness. And those thoughts, though now vague
105160 and indefinite, again possessed his soul. He remembered that he had
105161 now a new source of happiness and that this happiness had something to
105162 do with the Gospels. That was why he asked for a copy of them. The
105163 uncomfortable position in which they had put him and turned him over
105164 again confused his thoughts, and when he came to himself a third
105165 time it was in the complete stillness of the night. Everybody near him
105166 was sleeping. A cricket chirped from across the passage; someone was
105167 shouting and singing in the street; cockroaches rustled on the
105168 table, on the icons, and on the walls, and a big fly flopped at the
105169 head of the bed and around the candle beside him, the wick of which
105170 was charred and had shaped itself like a mushroom.
105171
105172 His mind was not in a normal state. A healthy man usually thinks of,
105173 feels, and remembers innumerable things simultaneously, but has the
105174 power and will to select one sequence of thoughts or events on which
105175 to fix his whole attention. A healthy man can tear himself away from
105176 the deepest reflections to say a civil word to someone who comes in
105177 and can then return again to his own thoughts. But Prince Andrew's
105178 mind was not in a normal state in that respect. All the powers of
105179 his mind were more active and clearer than ever, but they acted
105180 apart from his will. Most diverse thoughts and images occupied him
105181 simultaneously. At times his brain suddenly began to work with a
105182 vigor, clearness, and depth it had never reached when he was in
105183 health, but suddenly in the midst of its work it would turn to some
105184 unexpected idea and he had not the strength to turn it back again.
105185
105186 "Yes, a new happiness was revealed to me of which man cannot be
105187 deprived," he thought as he lay in the semi-darkness of the quiet hut,
105188 gazing fixedly before him with feverish wide open eyes. "A happiness
105189 lying beyond material forces, outside the material influences that act
105190 on man--a happiness of the soul alone, the happiness of loving.
105191 Every man can understand it, but to conceive it and enjoin it was
105192 possible only for God. But how did God enjoin that law? And why was
105193 the Son...?"
105194
105195 And suddenly the sequence of these thoughts broke off, and Prince
105196 Andrew heard (without knowing whether it was a delusion or reality)
105197 a soft whispering voice incessantly and rhythmically repeating
105198 "piti-piti-piti," and then "titi," and then again "piti-piti-piti,"
105199 and "ti-ti" once more. At the same time he felt that above his face,
105200 above the very middle of it, some strange airy structure was being
105201 erected out of slender needles or splinters, to the sound of this
105202 whispered music. He felt that he had to balance carefully (though it
105203 was difficult) so that this airy structure should not collapse; but
105204 nevertheless it kept collapsing and again slowly rising to the sound
105205 of whispered rhythmic music--"it stretches, stretches, spreading out
105206 and stretching," said Prince Andrew to himself. While listening to
105207 this whispering and feeling the sensation of this drawing out and
105208 the construction of this edifice of needles, he also saw by glimpses a
105209 red halo round the candle, and heard the rustle of the cockroaches and
105210 the buzzing of the fly that flopped against his pillow and his face.
105211 Each time the fly touched his face it gave him a burning sensation and
105212 yet to his surprise it did not destroy the structure, though it
105213 knocked against the very region of his face where it was rising. But
105214 besides this there was something else of importance. It was
105215 something white by the door--the statue of a sphinx, which also
105216 oppressed him.
105217
105218 "But perhaps that's my shirt on the table," he thought, "and
105219 that's my legs, and that is the door, but why is it always
105220 stretching and drawing itself out, and 'piti-piti-piti' and 'ti-ti'
105221 and 'piti-piti-piti'...? That's enough, please leave off!" Prince
105222 Andrew painfully entreated someone. And suddenly thoughts and feelings
105223 again swam to the surface of his mind with peculiar clearness and
105224 force.
105225
105226 "Yes--love," he thought again quite clearly. "But not love which
105227 loves for something, for some quality, for some purpose, or for some
105228 reason, but the love which I--while dying--first experienced when I
105229 saw my enemy and yet loved him. I experienced that feeling of love
105230 which is the very essence of the soul and does not require an
105231 object. Now again I feel that bliss. To love one's neighbors, to
105232 love one's enemies, to love everything, to love God in all His
105233 manifestations. It is possible to love someone dear to you with
105234 human love, but an enemy can only be loved by divine love. That is why
105235 I experienced such joy when I felt that I loved that man. What has
105236 become of him? Is he alive?...
105237
105238 "When loving with human love one may pass from love to hatred, but
105239 divine love cannot change. No, neither death nor anything else can
105240 destroy it. It is the very essence of the soul. Yet how many people
105241 have I hated in my life? And of them all, I loved and hated none as
105242 I did her." And he vividly pictured to himself Natasha, not as he
105243 had done in the past with nothing but her charms which gave him
105244 delight, but for the first time picturing to himself her soul. And
105245 he understood her feelings, her sufferings, shame, and remorse. He now
105246 understood for the first time all the cruelty of his rejection of her,
105247 the cruelty of his rupture with her. "If only it were possible for
105248 me to see her once more! Just once, looking into those eyes to say..."
105249
105250
105251 "Piti-piti-piti and ti-ti and piti-piti-piti boom!" flopped the
105252 fly... And his attention was suddenly carried into another world, a
105253 world of reality and delirium in which something particular was
105254 happening. In that world some structure was still being erected and
105255 did not fall, something was still stretching out, and the candle
105256 with its red halo was still burning, and the same shirtlike sphinx lay
105257 near the door; but besides all this something creaked, there was a
105258 whiff of fresh air, and a new white sphinx appeared, standing at the
105259 door. And that sphinx had the pale face and shining eyes of the very
105260 Natasha of whom he had just been thinking.
105261
105262 "Oh, how oppressive this continual delirium is," thought Prince
105263 Andrew, trying to drive that face from his imagination. But the face
105264 remained before him with the force of reality and drew nearer.
105265 Prince Andrew wished to return that former world of pure thought,
105266 but he could not, and delirium drew him back into its domain. The soft
105267 whispering voice continued its rhythmic murmur, something oppressed
105268 him and stretched out, and the strange face was before him. Prince
105269 Andrew collected all his strength in an effort to recover his
105270 senses, he moved a little, and suddenly there was a ringing in his
105271 ears, a dimness in his eyes, and like a man plunged into water he lost
105272 consciousness. When he came to himself, Natasha, that same living
105273 Natasha whom of all people he most longed to love with this new pure
105274 divine love that had been revealed to him, was kneeling before him. He
105275 realized that it was the real living Natasha, and he was not surprised
105276 but quietly happy. Natasha, motionless on her knees (she was unable to
105277 stir), with frightened eyes riveted on him, was restraining her
105278 sobs. Her face was pale and rigid. Only in the lower part of it
105279 something quivered.
105280
105281 Prince Andrew sighed with relief, smiled, and held out his hand.
105282
105283 "You?" he said. "How fortunate!"
105284
105285 With a rapid but careful movement Natasha drew nearer to him on
105286 her knees and, taking his hand carefully, bent her face over it and
105287 began kissing it, just touching it lightly with her lips.
105288
105289 "Forgive me!" she whispered, raising her head and glancing at him.
105290 "Forgive me!"
105291
105292 "I love you," said Prince Andrew.
105293
105294 "Forgive...!"
105295
105296 "Forgive what?" he asked.
105297
105298 "Forgive me for what I ha-ve do-ne!" faltered Natasha in a
105299 scarcely audible, broken whisper, and began kissing his hand more
105300 rapidly, just touching it with her lips.
105301
105302 "I love you more, better than before," said Prince Andrew, lifting
105303 her face with his hand so as to look into her eyes.
105304
105305 Those eyes, filled with happy tears, gazed at him timidly,
105306 compassionately, and with joyous love. Natasha's thin pale face,
105307 with its swollen lips, was more than plain--it was dreadful. But
105308 Prince Andrew did not see that, he saw her shining eyes which were
105309 beautiful. They heard the sound of voices behind them.
105310
105311 Peter the valet, who was now wide awake, had roused the doctor.
105312 Timokhin, who had not slept at all because of the pain in his leg, had
105313 long been watching all that was going on, carefully covering his
105314 bare body with the sheet as he huddled up on his bench.
105315
105316 "What's this?" said the doctor, rising from his bed. "Please go
105317 away, madam!"
105318
105319 At that moment a maid sent by the countess, who had noticed her
105320 daughter's absence, knocked at the door.
105321
105322 Like a somnambulist aroused from her sleep Natasha went out of the
105323 room and, returning to her hut, fell sobbing on her bed.
105324
105325
105326 From that time, during all the rest of the Rostovs' journey, at
105327 every halting place and wherever they spent a night, Natasha never
105328 left the wounded Bolkonski, and the doctor had to admit that he had
105329 not expected from a young girl either such firmness or such skill in
105330 nursing a wounded man.
105331
105332 Dreadful as the countess imagined it would be should Prince Andrew
105333 die in her daughter's arms during the journey--as, judging by what the
105334 doctor said, it seemed might easily happen--she could not oppose
105335 Natasha. Though with the intimacy now established between the
105336 wounded man and Natasha the thought occurred that should he recover
105337 their former engagement would be renewed, no one--least of all Natasha
105338 and Prince Andrew--spoke of this: the unsettled question of life and
105339 death, which hung not only over Bolkonski but over all Russia, shut
105340 out all other considerations.
105341
105342
105343
105344
105345
105346 CHAPTER XXXIII
105347
105348
105349 On the third of September Pierre awoke late. His head was aching,
105350 the clothes in which he had slept without undressing felt
105351 uncomfortable on his body, and his mind had a dim consciousness of
105352 something shameful he had done the day before. That something shameful
105353 was his yesterday's conversation with Captain Ramballe.
105354
105355 It was eleven by the clock, but it seemed peculiarly dark out of
105356 doors. Pierre rose, rubbed his eyes, and seeing the pistol with an
105357 engraved stock which Gerasim had replaced on the writing table, he
105358 remembered where he was and what lay before him that very day.
105359
105360 "Am I not too late?" he thought. "No, probably he won't make his
105361 entry into Moscow before noon."
105362
105363 Pierre did not allow himself to reflect on what lay before him,
105364 but hastened to act.
105365
105366 After arranging his clothes, he took the pistol and was about to
105367 go out. But it then occurred to him for the first time that he
105368 certainly could not carry the weapon in his hand through the
105369 streets. It was difficult to hide such a big pistol even under his
105370 wide coat. He could not carry it unnoticed in his belt or under his
105371 arm. Besides, it had been discharged, and he had not had time to
105372 reload it. "No matter, dagger will do," he said to himself, though
105373 when planning his design he had more than once come to the
105374 conclusion that the chief mistake made by the student in 1809 had been
105375 to try to kill Napoleon with a dagger. But as his chief aim
105376 consisted not in carrying out his design, but in proving to himself
105377 that he would not abandon his intention and was doing all he could
105378 to achieve it, Pierre hastily took the blunt jagged dagger in a
105379 green sheath which he had bought at the Sukharev market with the
105380 pistol, and hid it under his waistcoat.
105381
105382 Having tied a girdle over his coat and pulled his cap low on his
105383 head, Pierre went down the corridor, trying to avoid making a noise or
105384 meeting the captain, and passed out into the street.
105385
105386 The conflagration, at which he had looked with so much
105387 indifference the evening before, had greatly increased during the
105388 night. Moscow was on fire in several places. The buildings in Carriage
105389 Row, across the river, in the Bazaar and the Povarskoy, as well as the
105390 barges on the Moskva River and the timber yards by the Dorogomilov
105391 Bridge, were all ablaze.
105392
105393 Pierre's way led through side streets to the Povarskoy and from
105394 there to the church of St. Nicholas on the Arbat, where he had long
105395 before decided that the deed should should be done. The gates of
105396 most of the houses were locked and the shutters up. The streets and
105397 lanes were deserted. The air was full of smoke and the smell of
105398 burning. Now and then he met Russians with anxious and timid faces,
105399 and Frenchmen with an air not of the city but of the camp, walking
105400 in the middle of the streets. Both the Russians and the French
105401 looked at Pierre with surprise. Besides his height and stoutness,
105402 and the strange morose look of suffering in his face and whole figure,
105403 the Russians stared at Pierre because they could not make out to
105404 what class he could belong. The French followed him with
105405 astonishment in their eyes chiefly because Pierre, unlike all the
105406 other Russians who gazed at the French with fear and curiosity, paid
105407 no attention to them. At the gate of one house three Frenchmen, who
105408 were explaining something to some Russians who did not understand
105409 them, stopped Pierre asking if he did not know French.
105410
105411 Pierre shook his head and went on. In another side street a sentinel
105412 standing beside a green caisson shouted at him, but only when the
105413 shout was threateningly repeated and he heard the click of the man's
105414 musket as he raised it did Pierre understand that he had to pass on
105415 the other side of the street. He heard nothing and saw nothing of what
105416 went on around him. He carried his resolution within himself in terror
105417 and haste, like something dreadful and alien to him, for, after the
105418 previous night's experience, he was afraid of losing it. But he was
105419 not destined to bring his mood safely to his destination. And even had
105420 he not been hindered by anything on the way, his intention could not
105421 now have been carried out, for Napoleon had passed the Arbat more than
105422 four hours previously on his way from the Dorogomilov suburb to the
105423 Kremlin, and was now sitting in a very gloomy frame of mind in a royal
105424 study in the Kremlin, giving detailed and exact orders as to
105425 measures to be taken immediately to extinguish the fire, to prevent
105426 looting, and to reassure the inhabitants. But Pierre did not know
105427 this; he was entirely absorbed in what lay before him, and was
105428 tortured--as those are who obstinately undertake a task that is
105429 impossible for them not because of its difficulty but because of its
105430 incompatibility with their natures--by the fear of weakening at the
105431 decisive moment and so losing his self-esteem.
105432
105433 Though he heard and saw nothing around him he found his way by
105434 instinct and did not go wrong in the side streets that led to the
105435 Povarskoy.
105436
105437 As Pierre approached that street the smoke became denser and denser-
105438 he even felt the heat of the fire. Occasionally curly tongues of flame
105439 rose from under the roofs of the houses. He met more people in the
105440 streets and they were more excited. But Pierre, though he felt that
105441 something unusual was happening around him, did not realize that he
105442 was approaching the fire. As he was going along a foot path across a
105443 wide-open space adjoining the Povarskoy on one side and the gardens of
105444 Prince Gruzinski's house on the other, Pierre suddenly heard the
105445 desperate weeping of a woman close to him. He stopped as if
105446 awakening from a dream and lifted his head.
105447
105448 By the side of the path, on the dusty dry grass, all sorts of
105449 household goods lay in a heap: featherbeds, a samovar, icons, and
105450 trunks. On the ground, beside the trunks, sat a thin woman no longer
105451 young, with long, prominent upper teeth, and wearing a black cloak and
105452 cap. This woman, swaying to and fro and muttering something, was
105453 choking with sobs. Two girls of about ten and twelve, dressed in dirty
105454 short frocks and cloaks, were staring at their mother with a look of
105455 stupefaction on their pale frightened faces. The youngest child, a boy
105456 of about seven, who wore an overcoat and an immense cap evidently
105457 not his own, was crying in his old nurse's arms. A dirty, barefooted
105458 maid was sitting on a trunk, and, having undone her pale-colored
105459 plait, was pulling it straight and sniffing at her singed hair. The
105460 woman's husband, a short, round-shouldered man in the undress
105461 uniform of a civilian official, with sausage-shaped whiskers and
105462 showing under his square-set cap the hair smoothly brushed forward
105463 over his temples, with expressionless face was moving the trunks,
105464 which were placed one on another, and was dragging some garments
105465 from under them.
105466
105467 As soon as she saw Pierre, the woman almost threw herself at his
105468 feet.
105469
105470 "Dear people, good Christians, save me, help me, dear friends...
105471 help us, somebody," she muttered between her sobs. "My girl... My
105472 daughter! My youngest daughter is left behind. She's burned! Ooh!
105473 Was it for this I nursed you.... Ooh!"
105474
105475 "Don't, Mary Nikolievna!" said her husband to her in a low voice,
105476 evidently only to justify himself before the stranger. "Sister must
105477 have taken her, or else where can she be?" he added.
105478
105479 "Monster! Villain!" shouted the woman angrily, suddenly ceasing to
105480 weep. "You have no heart, you don't feel for your own child! Another
105481 man would have rescued her from the fire. But this is a monster and
105482 neither a man nor a father! You, honored sir, are a noble man," she
105483 went on, addressing Pierre rapidly between her sobs. "The fire broke
105484 out alongside, and blew our way, the maid called out 'Fire!' and we
105485 rushed to collect our things. We ran out just as we were.... This is
105486 what we have brought away.... The icons, and my dowry bed, all the
105487 rest is lost. We seized the children. But not Katie! Ooh! O
105488 Lord!..." and again she began to sob. "My child, my dear one!
105489 Burned, burned!"
105490
105491 "But where was she left?" asked Pierre.
105492
105493 From the expression of his animated face the woman saw that this man
105494 might help her.
105495
105496 "Oh, dear sir!" she cried, seizing him by the legs. "My
105497 benefactor, set my heart at ease.... Aniska, go, you horrid girl, show
105498 him the way!" she cried to the maid, angrily opening her mouth and
105499 still farther exposing her long teeth.
105500
105501 "Show me the way, show me, I... I'll do it," gasped Pierre rapidly.
105502
105503 The dirty maidservant stepped from behind the trunk, put up her
105504 plait, sighed, and went on her short, bare feet along the path. Pierre
105505 felt as if he had come back to life after a heavy swoon. He held his
105506 head higher, his eyes shone with the light of life, and with swift
105507 steps he followed the maid, overtook her, and came out on the
105508 Povarskoy. The whole street was full of clouds of black smoke. Tongues
105509 of flame here and there broke through that cloud. A great number of
105510 people crowded in front of the conflagration. In the middle of the
105511 street stood a French general saying something to those around him.
105512 Pierre, accompanied by the maid, was advancing to the spot where the
105513 general stood, but the French soldiers stopped him.
105514
105515 "On ne passe pas!"* cried a voice.
105516
105517
105518 *"You can't pass!
105519
105520
105521 "This way, uncle," cried the girl. "We'll pass through the side
105522 street, by the Nikulins'!"
105523
105524 Pierre turned back, giving a spring now and then to keep up with
105525 her. She ran across the street, turned down a side street to the left,
105526 and, passing three houses, turned into a yard on the right.
105527
105528 "It's here, close by," said she and, running across the yard, opened
105529 a gate in a wooden fence and, stopping, pointed out to him a small
105530 wooden wing of the house, which was burning brightly and fiercely. One
105531 of its sides had fallen in, another was on fire, and bright flames
105532 issued from the openings of the windows and from under the roof.
105533
105534 As Pierre passed through the fence gate, he was enveloped by hot air
105535 and involuntarily stopped.
105536
105537 "Which is it? Which is your house?" he asked.
105538
105539 "Ooh!" wailed the girl, pointing to the wing. "That's it, that was
105540 our lodging. You've burned to death, our treasure, Katie, my
105541 precious little missy! Ooh!" lamented Aniska, who at the sight of
105542 the fire felt that she too must give expression to her feelings.
105543
105544 Pierre rushed to the wing, but the heat was so great that he
105545 involuntarily passed round in a curve and came upon the large house
105546 that was as yet burning only at one end, just below the roof, and
105547 around which swarmed a crowd of Frenchmen. At first Pierre did not
105548 realize what these men, who were dragging something out, were about;
105549 but seeing before him a Frenchman hitting a peasant with a blunt saber
105550 and trying to take from him a fox-fur coat, he vaguely understood that
105551 looting was going on there, but he had no time to dwell on that idea.
105552
105553 The sounds of crackling and the din of falling walls and ceilings,
105554 the whistle and hiss of the flames, the excited shouts of the
105555 people, and the sight of the swaying smoke, now gathering into thick
105556 black clouds and now soaring up with glittering sparks, with here
105557 and there dense sheaves of flame (now red and now like golden fish
105558 scales creeping along the walls), and the heat and smoke and
105559 rapidity of motion, produced on Pierre the usual animating effects
105560 of a conflagration. It had a peculiarly strong effect on him because
105561 at the sight of the fire he felt himself suddenly freed from the ideas
105562 that had weighed him down. He felt young, bright, adroit, and
105563 resolute. He ran round to the other side of the lodge and was about to
105564 dash into that part of it which was still standing, when just above
105565 his head he heard several voices shouting and then a cracking sound
105566 and the ring of something heavy falling close beside him.
105567
105568 Pierre looked up and saw at a window of the large house some
105569 Frenchmen who had just thrown out the drawer of a chest, filled with
105570 metal articles. Other French soldiers standing below went up to the
105571 drawer.
105572
105573 "What does this fellow want?" shouted one of them referring to
105574 Pierre.
105575
105576 "There's a child in that house. Haven't you seen a child?" cried
105577 Pierre.
105578
105579 "What's he talking about? Get along!" said several voices, and one
105580 of the soldiers, evidently afraid that Pierre might want to take
105581 from them some of the plate and bronzes that were in the drawer, moved
105582 threateningly toward him.
105583
105584 "A child?" shouted a Frenchman from above. "I did hear something
105585 squealing in the garden. Perhaps it's his brat that the fellow is
105586 looking for. After all, one must be human, you know...."
105587
105588 "Where is it? Where?" said Pierre.
105589
105590 "There! There!" shouted the Frenchman at the window, pointing to the
105591 garden at the back of the house. "Wait a bit--I'm coming down."
105592
105593 And a minute or two later the Frenchman, a black-eyed fellow with
105594 a spot on his cheek, in shirt sleeves, really did jump out of a window
105595 on the ground floor, and clapping Pierre on the shoulder ran with
105596 him into the garden.
105597
105598 "Hurry up, you others!" he called out to his comrades. "It's getting
105599 hot."
105600
105601 When they reached a gravel path behind the house the Frenchman
105602 pulled Pierre by the arm and pointed to a round, graveled space
105603 where a three-year-old girl in a pink dress was lying under a seat.
105604
105605 "There is your child! Oh, a girl, so much the better!" said the
105606 Frenchman. "Good-by, Fatty. We must be human, we are all mortal you
105607 know!" and the Frenchman with the spot on his cheek ran back to his
105608 comrades.
105609
105610 Breathless with joy, Pierre ran to the little girl and was going
105611 to take her in his arms. But seeing a stranger the sickly,
105612 scrofulous-looking child, unattractively like her mother, began to
105613 yell and run away. Pierre, however, seized her and lifted her in his
105614 arms. She screamed desperately and angrily and tried with her little
105615 hands to pull Pierre's hands away and to bite them with her slobbering
105616 mouth. Pierre was seized by a sense of horror and repulsion such as he
105617 had experienced when touching some nasty little animal. But he made an
105618 effort not to throw the child down and ran with her to the large
105619 house. It was now, however, impossible to get back the way he had
105620 come; the maid, Aniska, was no longer there, and Pierre with a feeling
105621 of pity and disgust pressed the wet, painfully sobbing child to
105622 himself as tenderly as he could and ran with her through the garden
105623 seeking another way out.
105624
105625
105626
105627
105628
105629 CHAPTER XXXIV
105630
105631
105632 Having run through different yards and side streets, Pierre got back
105633 with his little burden to the Gruzinski garden at the corner of the
105634 Povarskoy. He did not at first recognize the place from which he had
105635 set out to look for the child, so crowded was it now with people and
105636 goods that had been dragged out of the houses. Besides Russian
105637 families who had taken refuge here from the fire with their
105638 belongings, there were several French soldiers in a variety of
105639 clothing. Pierre took no notice of them. He hurried to find the family
105640 of that civil servant in order to restore the daughter to her mother
105641 and go to save someone else. Pierre felt that he had still much to
105642 do and to do quickly. Glowing with the heat and from running, he
105643 felt at that moment more strongly than ever the sense of youth,
105644 animation, and determination that had come on him when he ran to
105645 save the child. She had now become quiet and, clinging with her little
105646 hands to Pierre's coat, sat on his arm gazing about her like some
105647 little wild animal. He glanced at her occasionally with a slight
105648 smile. He fancied he saw something pathetically innocent in that
105649 frightened, sickly little face.
105650
105651 He did not find the civil servant or his wife where he had left
105652 them. He walked among the crowd with rapid steps, scanning the various
105653 faces he met. Involuntarily he noticed a Georgian or Armenian family
105654 consisting of a very handsome old man of Oriental type, wearing a new,
105655 cloth-covered, sheepskin coat and new boots, an old woman of similar
105656 type, and a young woman. That very young woman seemed to Pierre the
105657 perfection of Oriental beauty, with her sharply outlined, arched,
105658 black eyebrows and the extraordinarily soft, bright color of her long,
105659 beautiful, expressionless face. Amid the scattered property and the
105660 crowd on the open space, she, in her rich satin cloak with a bright
105661 lilac shawl on her head, suggested a delicate exotic plant thrown
105662 out onto the snow. She was sitting on some bundles a little behind the
105663 old woman, and looked from under her long lashes with motionless,
105664 large, almond-shaped eyes at the ground before her. Evidently she
105665 was aware of her beauty and fearful because of it. Her face struck
105666 Pierre and, hurrying along by the fence, he turned several times to
105667 look at her. When he had reached the fence, still without finding
105668 those he sought, he stopped and looked about him.
105669
105670 With the child in his arms his figure was now more conspicuous
105671 than before, and a group of Russians, both men and women, gathered
105672 about him.
105673
105674 "Have you lost anyone, my dear fellow? You're of the gentry
105675 yourself, aren't you? Whose child is it?" they asked him.
105676
105677 Pierre replied that the child belonged to a woman in a black coat
105678 who had been sitting there with her other children, and he asked
105679 whether anyone knew where she had gone.
105680
105681 "Why, that must be the Anferovs," said an old deacon, addressing a
105682 pockmarked peasant woman. "Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy!" he added
105683 in his customary bass.
105684
105685 "The Anferovs? No," said the woman. "They left in the morning.
105686 That must be either Mary Nikolievna's or the Ivanovs'!"
105687
105688 "He says 'a woman,' and Mary Nikolievna is a lady," remarked a house
105689 serf.
105690
105691 "Do you know her? She's thin, with long teeth," said Pierre.
105692
105693 "That's Mary Nikolievna! They went inside the garden when these
105694 wolves swooped down," said the woman, pointing to the French soldiers.
105695
105696 "O Lord, have mercy!" added the deacon.
105697
105698 "Go over that way, they're there. It's she! She kept on lamenting
105699 and crying," continued the woman. "It's she. Here, this way!"
105700
105701 But Pierre was not listening to the woman. He had for some seconds
105702 been intently watching what was going on a few steps away. He was
105703 looking at the Armenian family and at two French soldiers who had gone
105704 up to them. One of these, a nimble little man, was wearing a blue coat
105705 tied round the waist with a rope. He had a nightcap on his head and
105706 his feet were bare. The other, whose appearance particularly struck
105707 Pierre, was a long, lank, round-shouldered, fair-haired man, slow in
105708 his movements and with an idiotic expression of face. He wore a
105709 woman's loose gown of frieze, blue trousers, and large torn Hessian
105710 boots. The little barefooted Frenchman in the blue coat went up to the
105711 Armenians and, saying something, immediately seized the old man by his
105712 legs and the old man at once began pulling off his boots. The other in
105713 the frieze gown stopped in front of the beautiful Armenian girl and
105714 with his hands in his pockets stood staring at her, motionless and
105715 silent.
105716
105717 "Here, take the child!" said Pierre peremptorily and hurriedly to
105718 the woman, handing the little girl to her. "Give her back to them,
105719 give her back!" he almost shouted, putting the child, who began
105720 screaming, on the ground, and again looking at the Frenchman and the
105721 Armenian family.
105722
105723 The old man was already sitting barefoot. The little Frenchman had
105724 secured his second boot and was slapping one boot against the other.
105725 The old man was saying something in a voice broken by sobs, but Pierre
105726 caught but a glimpse of this, his whole attention was directed to
105727 the Frenchman in the frieze gown who meanwhile, swaying slowly from
105728 side to side, had drawn nearer to the young woman and taking his hands
105729 from his pockets had seized her by the neck.
105730
105731 The beautiful Armenian still sat motionless and in the same
105732 attitude, with her long lashes drooping as if she did not see or
105733 feel what the soldier was doing to her.
105734
105735 While Pierre was running the few steps that separated him from the
105736 Frenchman, the tall marauder in the frieze gown was already tearing
105737 from her neck the necklace the young Armenian was wearing, and the
105738 young woman, clutching at her neck, screamed piercingly.
105739
105740 "Let that woman alone!" exclaimed Pierre hoarsely in a furious
105741 voice, seizing the soldier by his round shoulders and throwing him
105742 aside.
105743
105744 The soldier fell, got up, and ran away. But his comrade, throwing
105745 down the boots and drawing his sword, moved threateningly toward
105746 Pierre.
105747
105748 "Voyons, Pas de betises!"* he cried.
105749
105750
105751 *"Look here, no nonsense!"
105752
105753
105754 Pierre was in such a transport of rage that he remembered nothing
105755 and his strength increased tenfold. He rushed at the barefooted
105756 Frenchman and, before the latter had time to draw his sword, knocked
105757 him off his feet and hammered him with his fists. Shouts of approval
105758 were heard from the crowd around, and at the same moment a mounted
105759 patrol of French Uhlans appeared from round the corner. The Uhlans
105760 came up at a trot to Pierre and the Frenchman and surrounded them.
105761 Pierre remembered nothing of what happened after that. He only
105762 remembered beating someone and being beaten and finally feeling that
105763 his hands were bound and that a crowd of French soldiers stood
105764 around him and were searching him.
105765
105766 "Lieutenant, he has a dagger," were the first words Pierre
105767 understood.
105768
105769 "Ah, a weapon?" said the officer and turned to the barefooted
105770 soldier who had been arrested with Pierre. "All right, you can tell
105771 all about it at the court-martial." Then he turned to Pierre. "Do
105772 you speak French?"
105773
105774 Pierre looked around him with bloodshot eyes and did not reply.
105775 His face probably looked very terrible, for the officer said something
105776 in a whisper and four more Uhlans left the ranks and placed themselves
105777 on both sides of Pierre.
105778
105779 "Do you speak French?" the officer asked again, keeping at a
105780 distance from Pierre. "Call the interpreter."
105781
105782 A little man in Russian civilian clothes rode out from the ranks,
105783 and by his clothes and manner of speaking Pierre at once knew him to
105784 be a French salesman from one of the Moscow shops.
105785
105786 "He does not look like a common man," said the interpreter, after
105787 a searching look at Pierre.
105788
105789 "Ah, he looks very much like an incendiary," remarked the officer.
105790 "And ask him who he is," he added.
105791
105792 "Who are you?" asked the interpreter in poor Russian. "You must
105793 answer the chief."
105794
105795 "I will not tell you who I am. I am your prisoner--take me!"
105796 Pierre suddenly replied in French.
105797
105798 "Ah, ah!" muttered the officer with a frown. "Well then, march!"
105799
105800 A crowd had collected round the Uhlans. Nearest to Pierre stood
105801 the pockmarked peasant woman with the little girl, and when the patrol
105802 started she moved forward.
105803
105804 "Where are they taking you to, you poor dear?" said she. "And the
105805 little girl, the little girl, what am I to do with her if she's not
105806 theirs?" said the woman.
105807
105808 "What does that woman want?" asked the officer.
105809
105810 Pierre was as if intoxicated. His elation increased at the sight
105811 of the little girl he had saved.
105812
105813 "What does she want?" he murmured. "She is bringing me my daughter
105814 whom I have just saved from the flames," said he. "Good-by!" And
105815 without knowing how this aimless lie had escaped him, he went along
105816 with resolute and triumphant steps between the French soldiers.
105817
105818 The French patrol was one of those sent out through the various
105819 streets of Moscow by Durosnel's order to put a stop to the pillage,
105820 and especially to catch the incendiaries who, according to the general
105821 opinion which had that day originated among the higher French
105822 officers, were the cause of the conflagrations. After marching through
105823 a number of streets the patrol arrested five more Russian suspects:
105824 a small shopkeeper, two seminary students, a peasant, and a house
105825 serf, besides several looters. But of all these various suspected
105826 characters, Pierre was considered to be the most suspicious of all.
105827 When they had all been brought for the night to a large house on the
105828 Zubov Rampart that was being used as a guardhouse, Pierre was placed
105829 apart under strict guard.
105830
105831
105832
105833
105834
105835 BOOK TWELVE: 1812
105836
105837
105838
105839
105840
105841 CHAPTER I
105842
105843
105844 In Petersburg at that time a complicated struggle was being
105845 carried on with greater heat than ever in the highest circles, between
105846 the parties of Rumyantsev, the French, Marya Fedorovna, the Tsarevich,
105847 and others, drowned as usual by the buzzing of the court drones. But
105848 the calm, luxurious life of Petersburg, concerned only about
105849 phantoms and reflections of real life, went on in its old way and made
105850 it hard, except by a great effort, to realize the danger and the
105851 difficult position of the Russian people. There were the same
105852 receptions and balls, the same French theater, the same court
105853 interests and service interests and intrigues as usual. Only in the
105854 very highest circles were attempts made to keep in mind the
105855 difficulties of the actual position. Stories were whispered of how
105856 differently the two Empresses behaved in these difficult
105857 circumstances. The Empress Marya, concerned for the welfare of the
105858 charitable and educational institutions under her patronage, had given
105859 directions that they should all be removed to Kazan, and the things
105860 belonging to these institutions had already been packed up. The
105861 Empress Elisabeth, however, when asked what instructions she would
105862 be pleased to give--with her characteristic Russian patriotism had
105863 replied that she could give no directions about state institutions for
105864 that was the affair of the sovereign, but as far as she personally was
105865 concerned she would be the last to quit Petersburg.
105866
105867 At Anna Pavlovna's on the twenty-sixth of August, the very day of
105868 the battle of Borodino, there was a soiree, the chief feature of which
105869 was to be the reading of a letter from His Lordship the Bishop when
105870 sending the Emperor an icon of the Venerable Sergius. It was
105871 regarded as a model of ecclesiastical, patriotic eloquence. Prince
105872 Vasili himself, famed for his elocution, was to read it. (He used to
105873 read at the Empress'.) The art of his reading was supposed to lie in
105874 rolling out the words, quite independently of their meaning, in a loud
105875 and singsong voice alternating between a despairing wail and a
105876 tender murmur, so that the wail fell quite at random on one word and
105877 the murmur on another. This reading, as was always the case at Anna
105878 Pavlovna's soirees, had a political significance. That evening she
105879 expected several important personages who had to be made ashamed of
105880 their visits to the French theater and aroused to a patriotic
105881 temper. A good many people had already arrived, but Anna Pavlovna, not
105882 yet seeing all those whom she wanted in her drawing room, did not
105883 let the reading begin but wound up the springs of a general
105884 conversation.
105885
105886 The news of the day in Petersburg was the illness of Countess
105887 Bezukhova. She had fallen ill unexpectedly a few days previously,
105888 had missed several gatherings of which she was usually ornament, and
105889 was said to be receiving no one, and instead of the celebrated
105890 Petersburg doctors who usually attended her had entrusted herself to
105891 some Italian doctor who was treating her in some new and unusual way.
105892
105893 They all knew very well that the enchanting countess' illness
105894 arose from an inconvenience resulting from marrying two husbands at
105895 the same time, and that the Italian's cure consisted in removing
105896 such inconvenience; but in Anna Pavlovna's presence no one dared to
105897 think of this or even appear to know it.
105898
105899 "They say the poor countess is very ill. The doctor says it is
105900 angina pectoris."
105901
105902 "Angina? Oh, that's a terrible illness!"
105903
105904 "They say that the rivals are reconciled, thanks to the angina..."
105905 and the word angina was repeated with great satisfaction.
105906
105907 "The count is pathetic, they say. He cried like a child when the
105908 doctor told him the case was dangerous."
105909
105910 "Oh, it would be a terrible loss, she is an enchanting woman."
105911
105912 "You are speaking of the poor countess?" said Anna Pavlovna,
105913 coming up just then. "I sent to ask for news, and hear that she is a
105914 little better. Oh, she is certainly the most charming woman in the
105915 world," she went on, with a smile at her own enthusiasm. "We belong to
105916 different camps, but that does not prevent my esteeming her as she
105917 deserves. She is very unfortunate!" added Anna Pavlovna.
105918
105919 Supposing that by these words Anna Pavlovna was somewhat lifting the
105920 veil from the secret of the countess' malady, an unwary young man
105921 ventured to express surprise that well known doctors had not been
105922 called in and that the countess was being attended by a charlatan
105923 who might employ dangerous remedies.
105924
105925 "Your information maybe better than mine," Anna Pavlovna suddenly
105926 and venomously retorted on the inexperienced young man, "but I know on
105927 good authority that this doctor is a very learned and able man. He
105928 is private physician to the Queen of Spain."
105929
105930 And having thus demolished the young man, Anna Pavlovna turned to
105931 another group where Bilibin was talking about the Austrians: having
105932 wrinkled up his face he was evidently preparing to smooth it out again
105933 and utter one of his mots.
105934
105935 "I think it is delightful," he said, referring to a diplomatic
105936 note that had been sent to Vienna with some Austrian banners
105937 captured from the French by Wittgenstein, "the hero of Petropol" as he
105938 was then called in Petersburg.
105939
105940 "What? What's that?" asked Anna Pavlovna, securing silence for the
105941 mot, which she had heard before.
105942
105943 And Bilibin repeated the actual words of the diplomatic dispatch,
105944 which he had himself composed.
105945
105946 "The Emperor returns these Austrian banners," said Bilibin,
105947 "friendly banners gone astray and found on a wrong path," and his brow
105948 became smooth again.
105949
105950 "Charming, charming!" observed Prince Vasili.
105951
105952 "The path to Warsaw, perhaps," Prince Hippolyte remarked loudly
105953 and unexpectedly. Everybody looked at him, understanding what he
105954 meant. Prince Hippolyte himself glanced around with amused surprise.
105955 He knew no more than the others what his words meant. During his
105956 diplomatic career he had more than once noticed that such utterances
105957 were received as very witty, and at every opportunity he uttered in
105958 that way the first words that entered his head. "It may turn out
105959 very well," he thought, "but if not, they'll know how to arrange
105960 matters." And really, during the awkward silence that ensued, that
105961 insufficiently patriotic person entered whom Anna Pavlovna had been
105962 waiting for and wished to convert, and she, smiling and shaking a
105963 finger at Hippolyte, invited Prince Vasili to the table and bringing
105964 him two candles and the manuscript begged him to begin. Everyone
105965 became silent.
105966
105967
105968 "Most Gracious Sovereign and Emperor!" Prince Vasili sternly
105969 declaimed, looking round at his audience as if to inquire whether
105970 anyone had anything to say to the contrary. But no one said
105971 anything. "Moscow, our ancient capital, the New Jerusalem, receives
105972 her Christ"--he placed a sudden emphasis on the word her--"as a mother
105973 receives her zealous sons into her arms, and through the gathering
105974 mists, foreseeing the brilliant glory of thy rule, sings in
105975 exultation, 'Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh!'"
105976
105977
105978 Prince Vasili pronounced these last words in a tearful voice.
105979
105980 Bilibin attentively examined his nails, and many of those present
105981 appeared intimidated, as if asking in what they were to blame. Anna
105982 Pavlovna whispered the next words in advance, like an old woman
105983 muttering the prayer at Communion: "Let the bold and insolent
105984 Goliath..." she whispered.
105985
105986 Prince Vasili continued.
105987
105988
105989 "Let the bold and insolent Goliath from the borders of France
105990 encompass the realms of Russia with death-bearing terrors; humble
105991 Faith, the sling of the Russian David, shall suddenly smite his head
105992 in his blood-thirsty pride. This icon of the Venerable Sergius, the
105993 servant of God and zealous champion of old of our country's weal, is
105994 offered to Your Imperial Majesty. I grieve that my waning strength
105995 prevents rejoicing in the sight of your most gracious presence. I
105996 raise fervent prayers to Heaven that the Almighty may exalt the race
105997 of the just, and mercifully fulfill the desires of Your Majesty."
105998
105999
106000 "What force! What a style!" was uttered in approval both of reader
106001 and of author.
106002
106003 Animated by that address Anna Pavlovna's guests talked for a long
106004 time of the state of the fatherland and offered various conjectures as
106005 to the result of the battle to be fought in a few days.
106006
106007 "You will see," said Anna Pavlovna, "that tomorrow, on the Emperor's
106008 birthday, we shall receive news. I have a favorable presentiment!"
106009
106010
106011
106012
106013
106014 CHAPTER II
106015
106016
106017 Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was in fact fulfilled. Next day
106018 during the service at the palace church in honor of the Emperor's
106019 birthday, Prince Volkonski was called out of the church and received a
106020 dispatch from Prince Kutuzov. It was Kutuzov's report, written from
106021 Tatarinova on the day of the battle. Kutuzov wrote that the Russians
106022 had not retreated a step, that the French losses were much heavier
106023 than ours, and that he was writing in haste from the field of battle
106024 before collecting full information. It followed that there must have
106025 been a victory. And at once, without leaving the church, thanks were
106026 rendered to the Creator for His help and for the victory.
106027
106028 Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was justified, and all that morning a
106029 joyously festive mood reigned in the city. Everyone believed the
106030 victory to have been complete, and some even spoke of Napoleon's
106031 having been captured, of his deposition, and of the choice of a new
106032 ruler for France.
106033
106034 It is very difficult for events to be reflected in their real
106035 strength and completeness amid the conditions of court life and far
106036 from the scene of action. General events involuntarily group
106037 themselves around some particular incident. So now the courtiers'
106038 pleasure was based as much on the fact that the news had arrived on
106039 the Emperor's birthday as on the fact of the victory itself. It was
106040 like a successfully arranged surprise. Mention was made in Kutuzov's
106041 report of the Russian losses, among which figured the names of
106042 Tuchkov, Bagration, and Kutaysov. In the Petersburg world this sad
106043 side of the affair again involuntarily centered round a single
106044 incident: Kutaysov's death. Everybody knew him, the Emperor liked him,
106045 and he was young and interesting. That day everyone met with the
106046 words:
106047
106048 "What a wonderful coincidence! Just during the service. But what a
106049 loss Kutaysov is! How sorry I am!"
106050
106051 "What did I tell about Kutuzov?" Prince Vasili now said with a
106052 prophet's pride. "I always said he was the only man capable of
106053 defeating Napoleon."
106054
106055 But next day no news arrived from the army and the public mood
106056 grew anxious. The courtiers suffered because of the suffering the
106057 suspense occasioned the Emperor.
106058
106059 "Fancy the Emperor's position!" said they, and instead of
106060 extolling Kutuzov as they had done the day before, they condemned
106061 him as the cause of the Emperor's anxiety. That day Prince Vasili no
106062 longer boasted of his protege Kutuzov, but remained silent when the
106063 commander in chief was mentioned. Moreover, toward evening, as if
106064 everything conspired to make Petersburg society anxious and uneasy,
106065 a terrible piece of news was added. Countess Helene Bezukhova had
106066 suddenly died of that terrible malady it had been so agreeable to
106067 mention. Officially, at large gatherings, everyone said that
106068 Countess Bezukhova had died of a terrible attack of angina pectoris,
106069 but in intimate circles details were mentioned of how the private
106070 physician of the Queen of Spain had prescribed small doses of a
106071 certain drug to produce a certain effect; but Helene, tortured by
106072 the fact that the old count suspected her and that her husband to whom
106073 she had written (that wretched, profligate Pierre) had not replied,
106074 had suddenly taken a very large dose of the drug, and had died in
106075 agony before assistance could be rendered her. It was said that Prince
106076 Vasili and the old count had turned upon the Italian, but the latter
106077 had produced such letters from the unfortunate deceased that they
106078 had immediately let the matter drop.
106079
106080 Talk in general centered round three melancholy facts: the Emperor's
106081 lack of news, the loss of Kutuzov, and the death of Helene.
106082
106083 On the third day after Kutuzov's report a country gentleman
106084 arrived from Moscow, and news of the surrender of Moscow to the French
106085 spread through the whole town. This was terrible! What a position
106086 for the Emperor to be in! Kutuzov was a traitor, and Prince Vasili
106087 during the visits of condolence paid to him on the occasion of his
106088 daughter's death said of Kutuzov, whom he had formerly praised (it was
106089 excusable for him in his grief to forget what he had said), that it
106090 was impossible to expect anything else from a blind and depraved old
106091 man.
106092
106093 "I only wonder that the fate of Russia could have been entrusted
106094 to such a man."
106095
106096 As long as this news remained unofficial it was possible to doubt
106097 it, but the next day the following communication was received from
106098 Count Rostopchin:
106099
106100
106101 Prince Kutuzov's adjutant has brought me a letter in which he
106102 demands police officers to guide the army to the Ryazan road. He
106103 writes that he is regretfully abandoning Moscow. Sire! Kutuzov's
106104 action decides the fate of the capital and of your empire! Russia will
106105 shudder to learn of the abandonment of the city in which her greatness
106106 is centered and in which lie the ashes of your ancestors! I shall
106107 follow the army. I have had everything removed, and it only remains
106108 for me to weep over the fate of my fatherland.
106109
106110
106111 On receiving this dispatch the Emperor sent Prince Volkonski to
106112 Kutuzov with the following rescript:
106113
106114
106115 Prince Michael Ilarionovich! Since the twenty-ninth of August I have
106116 received no communication from you, yet on the first of September I
106117 received from the commander in chief of Moscow, via Yaroslavl, the sad
106118 news that you, with the army, have decided to abandon Moscow. You
106119 can yourself imagine the effect this news has had on me, and your
106120 silence increases my astonishment. I am sending this by
106121 Adjutant-General Prince Volkonski, to hear from you the situation of
106122 the army and the reasons that have induced you to take this melancholy
106123 decision.
106124
106125
106126
106127
106128
106129 CHAPTER III
106130
106131
106132 Nine days after the abandonment of Moscow, a messenger from
106133 Kutuzov reached Petersburg with the official announcement of that
106134 event. This messenger was Michaud, a Frenchman who did not know
106135 Russian, but who was quoique etranger, russe de coeur et d'ame,* as he
106136 said of himself.
106137
106138
106139 *Though a foreigner, Russian in heart and soul.
106140
106141
106142 The Emperor at once received this messenger in his study at the
106143 palace on Stone Island. Michaud, who had never seen Moscow before
106144 the campaign and who did not know Russian, yet felt deeply moved (as
106145 he wrote) when he appeared before notre tres gracieux souverain*
106146 with the news of the burning of Moscow, dont les flammes eclairaient
106147 sa route.*[2]
106148
106149
106150 *Our most gracious sovereign.
106151
106152 *[2] Whose flames illumined his route.
106153
106154
106155 Though the source of M. Michaud's chagrin must have been different
106156 from that which caused Russians to grieve, he had such a sad face when
106157 shown into the Emperor's study that the latter at once asked:
106158
106159 "Have you brought me sad news, Colonel?"
106160
106161 "Very sad, sire," replied Michaud, lowering his eyes with a sigh.
106162 "The abandonment of Moscow."
106163
106164 "Have they surrendered my ancient capital without a battle?" asked
106165 the Emperor quickly, his face suddenly flushing.
106166
106167 Michaud respectfully delivered the message Kutuzov had entrusted
106168 to him, which was that it had been impossible to fight before
106169 Moscow, and that as the only remaining choice was between losing the
106170 army as well as Moscow, or losing Moscow alone, the field marshal
106171 had to choose the latter.
106172
106173 The Emperor listened in silence, not looking at Michaud.
106174
106175 "Has the enemy entered the city?" he asked.
106176
106177 "Yes, sire, and Moscow is now in ashes. I left it all in flames,"
106178 replied Michaud in a decided tone, but glancing at the Emperor he
106179 was frightened by what he had done.
106180
106181 The Emperor began to breathe heavily and rapidly, his lower lip
106182 trembled, and tears instantly appeared in his fine blue eyes.
106183
106184 But this lasted only a moment. He suddenly frowned, as if blaming
106185 himself for his weakness, and raising his head addressed Michaud in
106186 a firm voice:
106187
106188 "I see, Colonel, from all that is happening, that Providence
106189 requires great sacrifices of us... I am ready to submit myself in
106190 all things to His will; but tell me, Michaud, how did you leave the
106191 army when it saw my ancient capital abandoned without a battle? Did
106192 you not notice discouragement?..."
106193
106194 Seeing that his most gracious ruler was calm once more, Michaud also
106195 grew calm, but was not immediately ready to reply to the Emperor's
106196 direct and relevant question which required a direct answer.
106197
106198 "Sire, will you allow me to speak frankly as befits a loyal
106199 soldier?" he asked to gain time.
106200
106201 "Colonel, I always require it," replied the Emperor. "Conceal
106202 nothing from me, I wish to know absolutely how things are."
106203
106204 "Sire!" said Michaud with a subtle, scarcely perceptible smile on
106205 his lips, having now prepared a well-phrased reply, "sire, I left
106206 the whole army, from its chiefs to the lowest soldier, without
106207 exception in desperate and agonized terror..."
106208
106209 "How is that?" the Emperor interrupted him, frowning sternly. "Would
106210 misfortune make my Russians lose heart?... Never!"
106211
106212 Michaud had only waited for this to bring out the phrase he had
106213 prepared.
106214
106215 "Sire," he said, with respectful playfulness, "they are only
106216 afraid lest Your Majesty, in the goodness of your heart, should
106217 allow yourself to be persuaded to make peace. They are burning for the
106218 combat," declared this representative of the Russian nation, "and to
106219 prove to Your Majesty by the sacrifice of their lives how devoted they
106220 are...."
106221
106222 "Ah!" said the Emperor reassured, and with a kindly gleam in his
106223 eyes, he patted Michaud on the shoulder. "You set me at ease,
106224 Colonel."
106225
106226 He bent his head and was silent for some time.
106227
106228 "Well, then, go back to the army," he said, drawing himself up to
106229 his full height and addressing Michaud with a gracious and majestic
106230 gesture, "and tell our brave men and all my good subjects wherever you
106231 go that when I have not a soldier left I shall put myself at the
106232 head of my beloved nobility and my good peasants and so use the last
106233 resources of my empire. It still offers me more than my enemies
106234 suppose," said the Emperor growing more and more animated; "but should
106235 it ever be ordained by Divine Providence," he continued, raising to
106236 heaven his fine eyes shining with emotion, "that my dynasty should
106237 cease to reign on the throne of my ancestors, then after exhausting
106238 all the means at my command, I shall let my beard grow to here" (he
106239 pointed halfway down his chest) "and go and eat potatoes with the
106240 meanest of my peasants, rather than sign the disgrace of my country
106241 and of my beloved people whose sacrifices I know how to appreciate."
106242
106243 Having uttered these words in an agitated voice the Emperor suddenly
106244 turned away as if to hide from Michaud the tears that rose to his
106245 eyes, and went to the further end of his study. Having stood there a
106246 few moments, he strode back to Michaud and pressed his arm below the
106247 elbow with a vigorous movement. The Emperor's mild and handsome face
106248 was flushed and his eyes gleamed with resolution and anger.
106249
106250 "Colonel Michaud, do not forget what I say to you here, perhaps we
106251 may recall it with pleasure someday... Napoleon or I," said the
106252 Emperor, touching his breast. "We can no longer both reign together. I
106253 have learned to know him, and he will not deceive me any more...."
106254
106255 And the Emperor paused, with a frown.
106256
106257 When he heard these words and saw the expression of firm
106258 resolution in the Emperor's eyes, Michaud--quoique etranger, russe
106259 de coeur et d'ame--at that solemn moment felt himself enraptured by
106260 all that he had heard (as he used afterwards to say), and gave
106261 expression to his own feelings and those of the Russian people whose
106262 representative he considered himself to be, in the following words:
106263
106264 "Sire!" said he, "Your Majesty is at this moment signing the glory
106265 of the nation and the salvation of Europe!"
106266
106267 With an inclination of the head the Emperor dismissed him.
106268
106269
106270
106271
106272
106273 CHAPTER IV
106274
106275
106276 It is natural for us who were not living in those days to imagine
106277 that when half Russia had been conquered and the inhabitants were
106278 fleeing to distant provinces, and one levy after another was being
106279 raised for the defense of the fatherland, all Russians from the
106280 greatest to the least were solely engaged in sacrificing themselves,
106281 saving their fatherland, or weeping over its downfall. The tales and
106282 descriptions of that time without exception speak only of the
106283 self-sacrifice, patriotic devotion, despair, grief, and the heroism of
106284 the Russians. But it was not really so. It appears so to us because we
106285 see only the general historic interest of that time and do not see all
106286 the personal human interests that people had. Yet in reality those
106287 personal interests of the moment so much transcend the general
106288 interests that they always prevent the public interest from being felt
106289 or even noticed. Most of the people at that time paid no attention
106290 to the general progress of events but were guided only by their
106291 private interests, and they were the very people whose activities at
106292 that period were most useful.
106293
106294 Those who tried to understand the general course of events and to
106295 take part in it by self-sacrifice and heroism were the most useless
106296 members of society, they saw everything upside down, and all they
106297 did for the common good turned out to be useless and foolish--like
106298 Pierre's and Mamonov's regiments which looted Russian villages, and
106299 the lint the young ladies prepared and that never reached the wounded,
106300 and so on. Even those, fond of intellectual talk and of expressing
106301 their feelings, who discussed Russia's position at the time
106302 involuntarily introduced into their conversation either a shade of
106303 pretense and falsehood or useless condemnation and anger directed
106304 against people accused of actions no one could possibly be guilty
106305 of. In historic events the rule forbidding us to eat of the fruit of
106306 the Tree of Knowledge is specially applicable. Only unconscious action
106307 bears fruit, and he who plays a part in an historic event never
106308 understands its significance. If he tries to realize it his efforts
106309 are fruitless.
106310
106311 The more closely a man was engaged in the events then taking place
106312 in Russia the less did he realize their significance. In Petersburg
106313 and in the provinces at a distance from Moscow, ladies, and
106314 gentlemen in militia uniforms, wept for Russia and its ancient capital
106315 and talked of self-sacrifice and so on; but in the army which
106316 retired beyond Moscow there was little talk or thought of Moscow,
106317 and when they caught sight of its burned ruins no one swore to be
106318 avenged on the French, but they thought about their next pay, their
106319 next quarters, of Matreshka the vivandiere, and like matters.
106320
106321 As the war had caught him in the service, Nicholas Rostov took a
106322 close and prolonged part in the defense of his country, but did so
106323 casually, without any aim at self-sacrifice, and he therefore looked
106324 at what was going on in Russia without despair and without dismally
106325 racking his brains over it. Had he been asked what he thought of the
106326 state of Russia, he would have said that it was not his business to
106327 think about it, that Kutuzov and others were there for that purpose,
106328 but that he had heard that the regiments were to be made up to their
106329 full strength, that fighting would probably go on for a long time yet,
106330 and that things being so it was quite likely he might be in command of
106331 a regiment in a couple of years' time.
106332
106333 As he looked at the matter in this way, he learned that he was being
106334 sent to Voronezh to buy remounts for his division, not only without
106335 regret at being prevented from taking part in the coming battle, but
106336 with the greatest pleasure--which he did not conceal and which his
106337 comrades fully understood.
106338
106339 A few days before the battle of Borodino, Nicholas received the
106340 necessary money and warrants, and having sent some hussars on in
106341 advance, he set out with post horses for Voronezh.
106342
106343 Only a man who has experienced it--that is, has passed some months
106344 continuously in an atmosphere of campaigning and war--can understand
106345 the delight Nicholas felt when he escaped from the region covered by
106346 the army's foraging operations, provision trains, and hospitals. When-
106347 free from soldiers, wagons, and the filthy traces of a camp--he saw
106348 villages with peasants and peasant women, gentlemen's country
106349 houses, fields where cattle were grazing, posthouses with
106350 stationmasters asleep in them, he rejoiced as though seeing all this
106351 for the first time. What for a long while specially surprised and
106352 delighted him were the women, young and healthy, without a dozen
106353 officers making up to each of them; women, too, who were pleased and
106354 flattered that a passing officer should joke with them.
106355
106356 In the highest spirits Nicholas arrived at night at a hotel in
106357 Voronezh, ordered things he had long been deprived of in camp, and
106358 next day, very clean-shaven and in a full-dress uniform he had not
106359 worn for a long time, went to present himself to the authorities.
106360
106361 The commander of the militia was a civilian general, an old man
106362 who was evidently pleased with his military designation and rank. He
106363 received Nicholas brusquely (imagining this to be characteristically
106364 military) and questioned him with an important air, as if
106365 considering the general progress of affairs and approving and
106366 disapproving with full right to do so. Nicholas was in such good
106367 spirits that this merely amused him.
106368
106369 From the commander of the militia he drove to the governor. The
106370 governor was a brisk little man, very simple and affable. He indicated
106371 the stud farms at which Nicholas might procure horses, recommended
106372 to him a horse dealer in the town and a landowner fourteen miles out
106373 of town who had the best horses, and promised to assist him in every
106374 way.
106375
106376 "You are Count Ilya Rostov's son? My wife was a great friend of your
106377 mother's. We are at home on Thursdays--today is Thursday, so please
106378 come and see us quite informally," said the governor, taking leave
106379 of him.
106380
106381 Immediately on leaving the governor's, Nicholas hired post horses
106382 and, taking his squadron quartermaster with him, drove at a gallop
106383 to the landowner, fourteen miles away, who had the stud. Everything
106384 seemed to him pleasant and easy during that first part of his stay
106385 in Voronezh and, as usually happens when a man is in a pleasant
106386 state of mind, everything went well and easily.
106387
106388 The landowner to whom Nicholas went was a bachelor, an old
106389 cavalryman, a horse fancier, a sportsman, the possessor of some
106390 century-old brandy and some old Hungarian wine, who had a snuggery
106391 where he smoked, and who owned some splendid horses.
106392
106393 In very few words Nicholas bought seventeen picked stallions for six
106394 thousand rubles--to serve, as he said, as samples of his remounts.
106395 After dining and taking rather too much of the Hungarian wine,
106396 Nicholas--having exchanged kisses with the landowner, with whom he was
106397 already on the friendliest terms--galloped back over abominable roads,
106398 in the brightest frame of mind, continually urging on the driver so as
106399 to be in time for the governor's party.
106400
106401 When he had changed, poured water over his head, and scented
106402 himself, Nicholas arrived at the governor's rather late, but with
106403 the phrase "better late than never" on his lips.
106404
106405 It was not a ball, nor had dancing been announced, but everyone knew
106406 that Catherine Petrovna would play valses and the ecossaise on the
106407 clavichord and that there would be dancing, and so everyone had come
106408 as to a ball.
106409
106410 Provincial life in 1812 went on very much as usual, but with this
106411 difference, that it was livelier in the towns in consequence of the
106412 arrival of many wealthy families from Moscow, and as in everything
106413 that went on in Russia at that time a special recklessness was
106414 noticeable, an "in for a penny, in for a pound--who cares?" spirit,
106415 and the inevitable small talk, instead of turning on the weather and
106416 mutual acquaintances, now turned on Moscow, the army, and Napoleon.
106417
106418 The society gathered together at the governor's was the best in
106419 Voronezh.
106420
106421 There were a great many ladies and some of Nicholas' Moscow
106422 acquaintances, but there were no men who could at all vie with the
106423 cavalier of St. George, the hussar remount officer, the good-natured
106424 and well-bred Count Rostov. Among the men was an Italian prisoner,
106425 an officer of the French army; and Nicholas felt that the presence
106426 of that prisoner enhanced his own importance as a Russian hero. The
106427 Italian was, as it were, a war trophy. Nicholas felt this, it seemed
106428 to him that everyone regarded the Italian in the same light, and he
106429 treated him cordially though with dignity and restraint.
106430
106431 As soon as Nicholas entered in his hussar uniform, diffusing
106432 around him a fragrance of perfume and wine, and had uttered the
106433 words "better late than never" and heard them repeated several times
106434 by others, people clustered around him; all eyes turned on him, and he
106435 felt at once that he had entered into his proper position in the
106436 province--that of a universal favorite: a very pleasant position,
106437 and intoxicatingly so after his long privations. At posting
106438 stations, at inns, and in the landowner's snuggery, maidservants had
106439 been flattered by his notice, and here too at the governor's party
106440 there were (as it seemed to Nicholas) an inexhaustible number of
106441 pretty young women, married and unmarried, impatiently awaiting his
106442 notice. The women and girls flirted with him and, from the first
106443 day, the people concerned themselves to get this fine young
106444 daredevil of an hussar married and settled down. Among these was the
106445 governor's wife herself, who welcomed Rostov as a near relative and
106446 called him "Nicholas."
106447
106448 Catherine Petrovna did actually play valses and the ecossaise, and
106449 dancing began in which Nicholas still further captivated the
106450 provincial society by his agility. His particularly free manner of
106451 dancing even surprised them all. Nicholas was himself rather surprised
106452 at the way he danced that evening. He had never danced like that in
106453 Moscow and would even have considered such a very free and easy manner
106454 improper and in bad form, but here he felt it incumbent on him to
106455 astonish them all by something unusual, something they would have to
106456 accept as the regular thing in the capital though new to them in the
106457 provinces.
106458
106459 All the evening Nicholas paid attention to a blue-eyed, plump and
106460 pleasing little blonde, the wife of one of the provincial officials.
106461 With the naive conviction of young men in a merry mood that other
106462 men's wives were created for them, Rostov did not leave the lady's
106463 side and treated her husband in a friendly and conspiratorial style,
106464 as if, without speaking of it, they knew how capitally Nicholas and
106465 the lady would get on together. The husband, however, did not seem
106466 to share that conviction and tried to behave morosely with Rostov. But
106467 the latter's good-natured naivete was so boundless that sometimes even
106468 he involuntarily yielded to Nicholas' good humor. Toward the end of
106469 the evening, however, as the wife's face grew more flushed and
106470 animated, the husband's became more and more melancholy and solemn, as
106471 though there were but a given amount of animation between them and
106472 as the wife's share increased the husband's diminished.
106473
106474
106475
106476
106477
106478 CHAPTER V
106479
106480
106481 Nicholas sat leaning slightly forward in an armchair, bending
106482 closely over the blonde lady and paying her mythological compliments
106483 with a smile that never left his face. Jauntily shifting the
106484 position of his legs in their tight riding breeches, diffusing an odor
106485 of perfume, and admiring his partner, himself, and the fine outlines
106486 of his legs in their well-fitting Hessian boots, Nicholas told the
106487 blonde lady that he wished to run away with a certain lady here in
106488 Voronezh.
106489
106490 "Which lady?"
106491
106492 "A charming lady, a divine one. Her eyes" (Nicholas looked at his
106493 partner) "are blue, her mouth coral and ivory; her figure" (he glanced
106494 at her shoulders) "like Diana's...."
106495
106496 The husband came up and sullenly asked his wife what she was talking
106497 about.
106498
106499 "Ah, Nikita Ivanych!" cried Nicholas, rising politely, and as if
106500 wishing Nikita Ivanych to share his joke, he began to tell him of
106501 his intention to elope with a blonde lady.
106502
106503 The husband smiled gloomily, the wife gaily. The governor's
106504 good-natured wife came up with a look of disapproval.
106505
106506 "Anna Ignatyevna wants to see you, Nicholas," said she,
106507 pronouncing the name so that Nicholas at once understood that Anna
106508 Ignatyevna was a very important person. "Come, Nicholas! You know
106509 you let me call you so?"
106510
106511 "Oh, yes, Aunt. Who is she?"
106512
106513 "Anna Ignatyevna Malvintseva. She has heard from her niece how you
106514 rescued her... Can you guess?"
106515
106516 "I rescued such a lot of them!" said Nicholas.
106517
106518 "Her niece, Princess Bolkonskaya. She is here in Voronezh with her
106519 aunt. Oho! How you blush. Why, are...?"
106520
106521 "Not a bit! Please don't, Aunt!"
106522
106523 "Very well, very well!... Oh, what a fellow you are!"
106524
106525 The governor's wife led him up to a tall and very stout old lady
106526 with a blue headdress, who had just finished her game of cards with
106527 the most important personages of the town. This was Malvintseva,
106528 Princess Mary's aunt on her mother's side, a rich, childless widow who
106529 always lived in Voronezh. When Rostov approached her she was
106530 standing settling up for the game. She looked at him and, screwing
106531 up her eyes sternly, continued to upbraid the general who had won from
106532 her.
106533
106534 "Very pleased, mon cher," she then said, holding out her hand to
106535 Nicholas. "Pray come and see me."
106536
106537 After a few words about Princess Mary and her late father, whom
106538 Malvintseva had evidently not liked, and having asked what Nicholas
106539 knew of Prince Andrew, who also was evidently no favorite of hers, the
106540 important old lady dismissed Nicholas after repeating her invitation
106541 to come to see her.
106542
106543 Nicholas promised to come and blushed again as he bowed. At the
106544 mention of Princess Mary he experienced a feeling of shyness and
106545 even of fear, which he himself did not understand.
106546
106547 When he had parted from Malvintseva Nicholas wished to return to the
106548 dancing, but the governor's little wife placed her plump hand on his
106549 sleeve and, saying that she wanted to have a talk with him, led him to
106550 her sitting room, from which those who were there immediately withdrew
106551 so as not to be in her way.
106552
106553 "Do you know, dear boy," began the governor's wife with a serious
106554 expression on her kind little face, "that really would be the match
106555 for you: would you like me to arrange it?"
106556
106557 "Whom do you mean, Aunt?" asked Nicholas.
106558
106559 "I will make a match for you with the princess. Catherine Petrovna
106560 speaks of Lily, but I say, no--the princess! Do you want me to do
106561 it? I am sure your mother will be grateful to me. What a charming girl
106562 she is, really! And she is not at all so plain, either."
106563
106564 "Not at all," replied Nicholas as if offended at the idea. "As
106565 befits a soldier, Aunt, I don't force myself on anyone or refuse
106566 anything," he said before he had time to consider what he was saying.
106567
106568 "Well then, remember, this is not a joke!"
106569
106570 "Of course not!"
106571
106572 "Yes, yes," the governor's wife said as if talking to herself. "But,
106573 my dear boy, among other things you are too attentive to the other,
106574 the blonde. One is sorry for the husband, really...."
106575
106576 "Oh no, we are good friends with him," said Nicholas in the
106577 simplicity of his heart; it did not enter his head that a pastime so
106578 pleasant to himself might not be pleasant to someone else.
106579
106580 "But what nonsense I have been saying to the governor's wife!"
106581 thought Nicholas suddenly at supper. "She will really begin to arrange
106582 a match... and Soyna...?" And on taking leave of the governor's
106583 wife, when she again smilingly said to him, "Well then, remember!"
106584 he drew her aside.
106585
106586 "But see here, to tell the truth, Aunt..."
106587
106588 "What is it, my dear? Come, let's sit down here," said she.
106589
106590 Nicholas suddenly felt a desire and need to tell his most intimate
106591 thoughts (which he would not have told to his mother, his sister, or
106592 his friend) to this woman who was almost a stranger. When he
106593 afterwards recalled that impulse to unsolicited and inexplicable
106594 frankness which had very important results for him, it seemed to
106595 him--as it seems to everyone in such cases--that it was merely some
106596 silly whim that seized him: yet that burst of frankness, together with
106597 other trifling events, had immense consequences for him and for all
106598 his family.
106599
106600 "You see, Aunt, Mamma has long wanted me to marry an heiress, but
106601 the very idea of marrying for money is repugnant to me."
106602
106603 "Oh yes, I understand," said the governor's wife.
106604
106605 "But Princess Bolkonskaya--that's another matter. I will tell you
106606 the truth. In the first place I like her very much, I feel drawn to
106607 her; and then, after I met her under such circumstances--so strangely,
106608 the idea often occurred to me: 'This is fate.' Especially if you
106609 remember that Mamma had long been thinking of it; but I had never
106610 happened to meet her before, somehow it had always happened that we
106611 did not meet. And as long as my sister Natasha was engaged to her
106612 brother it was of course out of the question for me to think of
106613 marrying her. And it must needs happen that I should meet her just
106614 when Natasha's engagement had been broken off... and then
106615 everything... So you see... I never told this to anyone and never
106616 will, only to you."
106617
106618 The governor's wife pressed his elbow gratefully.
106619
106620 "You know Sonya, my cousin? I love her, and promised to marry her,
106621 and will do so.... So you see there can be no question about-" said
106622 Nicholas incoherently and blushing.
106623
106624 "My dear boy, what a way to look at it! You know Sonya has nothing
106625 and you yourself say your Papa's affairs are in a very bad way. And
106626 what about your mother? It would kill her, that's one thing. And
106627 what sort of life would it be for Sonya--if she's a girl with a heart?
106628 Your mother in despair, and you all ruined.... No, my dear, you and
106629 Sonya ought to understand that."
106630
106631 Nicholas remained silent. It comforted him to hear these arguments.
106632
106633 "All the same, Aunt, it is impossible," he rejoined with a sigh,
106634 after a short pause. "Besides, would the princess have me? And
106635 besides, she is now in mourning. How can one think of it!"
106636
106637 "But you don't suppose I'm going to get you married at once? There
106638 is always a right way of doing things," replied the governor's wife.
106639
106640 "What a matchmaker you are, Aunt..." said Nicholas, kissing her
106641 plump little hand.
106642
106643
106644
106645
106646
106647 CHAPTER VI
106648
106649
106650 On reaching Moscow after her meeting with Rostov, Princess Mary
106651 had found her nephew there with his tutor, and a letter from Prince
106652 Andrew giving her instructions how to get to her Aunt Malvintseva at
106653 Voronezh. That feeling akin to temptation which had tormented her
106654 during her father's illness, since his death, and especially since her
106655 meeting with Rostov was smothered by arrangements for the journey,
106656 anxiety about her brother, settling in a new house, meeting new
106657 people, and attending to her nephew's education. She was sad. Now,
106658 after a month passed in quiet surroundings, she felt more and more
106659 deeply the loss of her father which was associated in her mind with
106660 the ruin of Russia. She was agitated and incessantly tortured by the
106661 thought of the dangers to which her brother, the only intimate
106662 person now remaining to her, was exposed. She was worried too about
106663 her nephew's education for which she had always felt herself
106664 incompetent, but in the depths of her soul she felt at peace--a
106665 peace arising from consciousness of having stifled those personal
106666 dreams and hopes that had been on the point of awakening within her
106667 and were related to her meeting with Rostov.
106668
106669 The day after her party the governor's wife came to see
106670 Malvintseva and, after discussing her plan with the aunt, remarked
106671 that though under present circumstances a formal betrothal was, of
106672 course, not to be thought of, all the same the young people might be
106673 brought together and could get to know one another. Malvintseva
106674 expressed approval, and the governor's wife began to speak of Rostov
106675 in Mary's presence, praising him and telling how he had blushed when
106676 Princess Mary's name was mentioned. But Princess Mary experienced a
106677 painful rather than a joyful feeling--her mental tranquillity was
106678 destroyed, and desires, doubts, self-reproach, and hopes reawoke.
106679
106680 During the two days that elapsed before Rostov called, Princess Mary
106681 continually thought of how she ought to behave to him. First she
106682 decided not to come to the drawing room when he called to see her
106683 aunt--that it would not be proper for her, in her deep mourning, to
106684 receive visitors; then she thought this would be rude after what he
106685 had done for her; then it occurred to her that her aunt and the
106686 governor's wife had intentions concerning herself and Rostov--their
106687 looks and words at times seemed to confirm this supposition--then
106688 she told herself that only she, with her sinful nature, could think
106689 this of them: they could not forget that situated as she was, while
106690 still wearing deep mourning, such matchmaking would be an insult to
106691 her and to her father's memory. Assuming that she did go down to see
106692 him, Princess Mary imagined the words he would say to her and what she
106693 would say to him, and these words sometimes seemed undeservedly cold
106694 and then to mean too much. More than anything she feared lest the
106695 confusion she felt might overwhelm her and betray her as soon as she
106696 saw him.
106697
106698 But when on Sunday after church the footman announced in the drawing
106699 room that Count Rostov had called, the princess showed no confusion,
106700 only a slight blush suffused her cheeks and her eyes lit up with a new
106701 and radiant light.
106702
106703 "You have met him, Aunt?" said she in a calm voice, unable herself
106704 to understand that she could be outwardly so calm and natural.
106705
106706 When Rostov entered the room, the princess dropped her eyes for an
106707 instant, as if to give the visitor time to greet her aunt, and then
106708 just as Nicholas turned to her she raised her head and met his look
106709 with shining eyes. With a movement full of dignity and grace she
106710 half rose with a smile of pleasure, held out her slender, delicate
106711 hand to him, and began to speak in a voice in which for the first time
106712 new deep womanly notes vibrated. Mademoiselle Bourienne, who was in
106713 the drawing room, looked at Princess Mary in bewildered surprise.
106714 Herself a consummate coquette, she could not have maneuvered better on
106715 meeting a man she wished to attract.
106716
106717 "Either black is particularly becoming to her or she really has
106718 greatly improved without my having noticed it. And above all, what
106719 tact and grace!" thought Mademoiselle Bourienne.
106720
106721 Had Princess Mary been capable of reflection at that moment, she
106722 would have been more surprised than Mademoiselle Bourienne at the
106723 change that had taken place in herself. From the moment she recognized
106724 that dear, loved face, a new life force took possession of her and
106725 compelled her to speak and act apart from her own will. From the
106726 time Rostov entered, her face became suddenly transformed. It was as
106727 if a light had been kindled in a carved and painted lantern and the
106728 intricate, skillful, artistic work on its sides, that previously
106729 seemed dark, coarse, and meaningless, was suddenly shown up in
106730 unexpected and striking beauty. For the first time all that pure,
106731 spiritual, inward travail through which she had lived appeared on
106732 the surface. All her inward labor, her dissatisfaction with herself,
106733 her sufferings, her strivings after goodness, her meekness, love,
106734 and self-sacrifice--all this now shone in those radiant eyes, in her
106735 delicate smile, and in every trait of her gentle face.
106736
106737 Rostov saw all this as clearly as if he had known her whole life. He
106738 felt that the being before him was quite different from, and better
106739 than, anyone he had met before, and above all better than himself.
106740
106741 Their conversation was very simple and unimportant. They spoke of
106742 the war, and like everyone else unconsciously exaggerated their sorrow
106743 about it; they spoke of their last meeting--Nicholas trying to
106744 change the subject--they talked of the governor's kind wife, of
106745 Nicholas' relations, and of Princess Mary's.
106746
106747 She did not talk about her brother, diverting the conversation as
106748 soon as her aunt mentioned Andrew. Evidently she could speak of
106749 Russia's misfortunes with a certain artificiality, but her brother was
106750 too near her heart and she neither could nor would speak lightly of
106751 him. Nicholas noticed this, as he noticed every shade of Princess
106752 Mary's character with an observation unusual to him, and everything
106753 confirmed his conviction that she was a quite unusual and
106754 extraordinary being. Nicholas blushed and was confused when people
106755 spoke to him about the princess (as she did when he was mentioned) and
106756 even when he thought of her, but in her presence he felt quite at
106757 ease, and said not at all what he had prepared, but what, quite
106758 appropriately, occurred to him at the moment.
106759
106760 When a pause occurred during his short visit, Nicholas, as is
106761 usual when there are children, turned to Prince Andrew's little son,
106762 caressing him and asking whether he would like to be an hussar. He
106763 took the boy on his knee, played with him, and looked round at
106764 Princess Mary. With a softened, happy, timid look she watched the
106765 boy she loved in the arms of the man she loved. Nicholas also
106766 noticed that look and, as if understanding it, flushed with pleasure
106767 and began to kiss the boy with good natured playfulness.
106768
106769 As she was in mourning Princess Mary did not go out into society,
106770 and Nicholas did not think it the proper thing to visit her again; but
106771 all the same the governor's wife went on with her matchmaking, passing
106772 on to Nicholas the flattering things Princess Mary said of him and
106773 vice versa, and insisting on his declaring himself to Princess Mary.
106774 For this purpose she arranged a meeting between the young people at
106775 the bishop's house before Mass.
106776
106777 Though Rostov told the governeor's wife that he would not make any
106778 declaration to Princess Mary, he promised to go.
106779
106780 As at Tilsit Rostov had not allowed himself to doubt that what
106781 everybody considered right was right, so now, after a short but
106782 sincere struggle between his effort to arrange his life by his own
106783 sense of justice, and in obedient submission to circumstances, he
106784 chose the latter and yielded to the power he felt irresistibly
106785 carrying him he knew not where. He knew that after his promise to
106786 Sonya it would be what he deemed base to declare his feelings to
106787 Princess Mary. And he knew that he would never act basely. But he also
106788 knew (or rather felt at the bottom of his heart) that by resigning
106789 himself now to the force of circumstances and to those who were
106790 guiding him, he was not only doing nothing wrong, but was doing
106791 something very important--more important than anything he had ever
106792 done in his life.
106793
106794 After meeting Princess Mary, though the course of his life went on
106795 externally as before, all his former amusements lost their charm for
106796 him and he often thought about her. But he never thought about her
106797 as he had thought of all the young ladies without exception whom he
106798 had met in society, nor as he had for a long time, and at one time
106799 rapturously, thought about Sonya. He had pictured each of those
106800 young ladies as almost all honest-hearted young men do, that is, as
106801 a possible wife, adapting her in his imagination to all the conditions
106802 of married life: a white dressing gown, his wife at the tea table, his
106803 wife's carriage, little ones, Mamma and Papa, their relations to
106804 her, and so on--and these pictures of the future had given him
106805 pleasure. But with Princess Mary, to whom they were trying to get
106806 him engaged, he could never picture anything of future married life.
106807 If he tried, his pictures seemed incongruous and false. It made him
106808 afraid.
106809
106810
106811
106812
106813
106814 CHAPTER VII
106815
106816
106817 The dreadful news of the battle of Borodino, of our losses in killed
106818 and wounded, and the still more terrible news of the loss of Moscow
106819 reached Voronezh in the middle of September. Princess Mary, having
106820 learned of her brother's wound only from the Gazette and having no
106821 definite news of him, prepared (so Nicholas heard, he had not seen her
106822 again himself) to set off in search of Prince Andrew.
106823
106824 When he received the news of the battle of Borodino and the
106825 abandonment of Moscow, Rostov was not seized with despair, anger,
106826 the desire for vengeance, or any feeling of that kind, but
106827 everything in Voronezh suddenly seemed to him dull and tiresome, and
106828 he experienced an indefinite feeling of shame and awkwardness. The
106829 conversations he heard seemed to him insincere; he did not know how to
106830 judge all these affairs and felt that only in the regiment would
106831 everything again become clear to him. He made haste to finish buying
106832 the horses, and often became unreasonably angry with his servant and
106833 squadron quartermaster.
106834
106835 A few days before his departure a special thanksgiving, at which
106836 Nicholas was present, was held in the cathedral for the Russian
106837 victory. He stood a little behind the governor and held himself with
106838 military decorum through the service, meditating on a great variety of
106839 subjects. When the service was over the governor's wife beckoned him
106840 to her.
106841
106842 "Have you seen the princess?" she asked, indicating with a
106843 movement of her head a lady standing on the opposite side, beyond
106844 the choir.
106845
106846 Nicholas immediately recognized Princess Mary not so much by the
106847 profile he saw under her bonnet as by the feeling of solicitude,
106848 timidity, and pity that immediately overcame him. Princess Mary,
106849 evidently engrossed by her thoughts, was crossing herself for the last
106850 time before leaving the church.
106851
106852 Nicholas looked at her face with surprise. It was the same face he
106853 had seen before, there was the same general expression of refined,
106854 inner, spiritual labor, but now it was quite differently lit up. There
106855 was a pathetic expression of sorrow, prayer, and hope in it. As had
106856 occurred before when she was present, Nicholas went up to her
106857 without waiting to be prompted by the governor's wife and not asking
106858 himself whether or not it was right and proper to address her here
106859 in church, and told her he had heard of her trouble and sympathized
106860 with his whole soul. As soon as she heard his voice a vivid glow
106861 kindled in her face, lighting up both her sorrow and her joy.
106862
106863 "There is one thing I wanted to tell you, Princess," said Rostov.
106864 "It is that if your brother, Prince Andrew Nikolievich, were not
106865 living, it would have been at once announced in the Gazette, as he
106866 is a colonel."
106867
106868 The princess looked at him, not grasping what he was saying, but
106869 cheered by the expression of regretful sympathy on his face.
106870
106871 "And I have known so many cases of a splinter wound" (the Gazette
106872 said it was a shell) "either proving fatal at once or being very
106873 slight," continued Nicholas. "We must hope for the best, and I am
106874 sure..."
106875
106876 Princess Mary interrupted him.
106877
106878 "Oh, that would be so dread..." she began and, prevented by
106879 agitation from finishing, she bent her head with a movement as
106880 graceful as everything she did in his presence and, looking up at
106881 him gratefully, went out, following her aunt.
106882
106883 That evening Nicholas did not go out, but stayed at home to settle
106884 some accounts with the horse dealers. When he had finished that
106885 business it was already too late to go anywhere but still too early to
106886 go to bed, and for a long time he paced up and down the room,
106887 reflecting on his life, a thing he rarely did.
106888
106889 Princess Mary had made an agreeable impression on him when he had
106890 met her in Smolensk province. His having encountered her in such
106891 exceptional circumstances, and his mother having at one time mentioned
106892 her to him as a good match, had drawn his particular attention to her.
106893 When he met her again in Voronezh the impression she made on him was
106894 not merely pleasing but powerful. Nicholas had been struck by the
106895 peculiar moral beauty he observed in her at this time. He was,
106896 however, preparing to go away and it had not entered his head to
106897 regret that he was thus depriving himself of chances of meeting her.
106898 But that day's encounter in church had, he felt, sunk deeper than
106899 was desirable for his peace of mind. That pale, sad, refined face,
106900 that radiant look, those gentle graceful gestures, and especially
106901 the deep and tender sorrow expressed in all her features agitated
106902 him and evoked his sympathy. In men Rostov could not bear to see the
106903 expression of a higher spiritual life (that was why he did not like
106904 Prince Andrew) and he referred to it contemptuously as philosophy
106905 and dreaminess, but in Princess Mary that very sorrow which revealed
106906 the depth of a whole spiritual world foreign to him was an
106907 irresistible attraction.
106908
106909 "She must be a wonderful woman. A real angel!" he said to himself.
106910 "Why am I not free? Why was I in such a hurry with Sonya?" And he
106911 involuntarily compared the two: the lack of spirituality in the one
106912 and the abundance of it in the other--a spirituality he himself lacked
106913 and therefore valued most highly. He tried to picture what would
106914 happen were he free. How he would propose to her and how she would
106915 become his wife. But no, he could not imagine that. He felt awed,
106916 and no clear picture presented itself to his mind. He had long ago
106917 pictured to himself a future with Sonya, and that was all clear and
106918 simple just because it had all been thought out and he knew all
106919 there was in Sonya, but it was impossible to picture a future with
106920 Princess Mary, because he did not understand her but simply loved her.
106921
106922 Reveries about Sonya had had something merry and playful in them,
106923 but to dream of Princess Mary was always difficult and a little
106924 frightening.
106925
106926 "How she prayed!" he thought. "It was plain that her whole soul
106927 was in her prayer. Yes, that was the prayer that moves mountains,
106928 and I am sure her prayer will be answered. Why don't I pray for what I
106929 want?" he suddenly thought. "What do I want? To be free, released from
106930 Sonya... She was right," he thought, remembering what the governor's
106931 wife had said: "Nothing but misfortune can come of marrying Sonya.
106932 Muddles, grief for Mamma... business difficulties... muddles, terrible
106933 muddles! Besides, I don't love her--not as I should. O, God! release
106934 me from this dreadful, inextricable position!" he suddenly began to
106935 pray. "Yes, prayer can move mountains, but one must have faith and not
106936 pray as Natasha and I used to as children, that the snow might turn
106937 into sugar--and then run out into the yard to see whether it had
106938 done so. No, but I am not praying for trifles now," he thought as he
106939 put his pipe down in a corner, and folding his hands placed himself
106940 before the icon. Softened by memories of Princess Mary he began to
106941 pray as he had not done for a long time. Tears were in his eyes and in
106942 his throat when the door opened and Lavrushka came in with some
106943 papers.
106944
106945 "Blockhead! Why do you come in without being called?" cried
106946 Nicholas, quickly changing his attitude.
106947
106948 "From the governor," said Lavrushka in a sleepy voice. "A courier
106949 has arrived and there's a letter for you."
106950
106951 "Well, all right, thanks. You can go!"
106952
106953 Nicholas took the two letters, one of which was from his mother
106954 and the other from Sonya. He recognized them by the handwriting and
106955 opened Sonya's first. He had read only a few lines when he turned pale
106956 and his eyes opened wide with fear and joy.
106957
106958 "No, it's not possible!" he cried aloud.
106959
106960 Unable to sit still he paced up and down the room holding the letter
106961 and reading it. He glanced through it, then read it again, and then
106962 again, and standing still in the middle of the room he raised his
106963 shoulders, stretching out his hands, with his mouth wide open and
106964 his eyes fixed. What he had just been praying for with confidence that
106965 God would hear him had come to pass; but Nicholas was as much
106966 astonished as if it were something extraordinary and unexpected, and
106967 as if the very fact that it had happened so quickly proved that it had
106968 not come from God to whom he had prayed, but by some ordinary
106969 coincidence.
106970
106971 This unexpected and, as it seemed to Nicholas, quite voluntary
106972 letter from Sonya freed him from the knot that fettered him and from
106973 which there had seemed no escape. She wrote that the last
106974 unfortunate events--the loss of almost the whole of the Rostovs'
106975 Moscow property--and the countess' repeatedly expressed wish that
106976 Nicholas should marry Princess Bolkonskaya, together with his
106977 silence and coldness of late, had all combined to make her decide to
106978 release him from his promise and set him completely free.
106979
106980
106981 It would be too painful to me to think that I might be a cause of
106982 sorrow or discord in the family that has been so good to me (she
106983 wrote), and my love has no aim but the happiness of those I love;
106984 so, Nicholas, I beg you to consider yourself free, and to be assured
106985 that, in spite of everything, no one can love you more than does
106986
106987 Your Sonya
106988
106989
106990 Both letters were written from Troitsa. The other, from the
106991 countess, described their last days in Moscow, their departure, the
106992 fire, and the destruction of all their property. In this letter the
106993 countess also mentioned that Prince Andrew was among the wounded
106994 traveling with them; his state was very critical, but the doctor
106995 said there was now more hope. Sonya and Natasha were nursing him.
106996
106997 Next day Nicholas took his mother's letter and went to see
106998 Princess Mary. Neither he nor she said a word about what "Natasha
106999 nursing him" might mean, but thanks to this letter Nicholas suddenly
107000 became almost as intimate with the princess as if they were relations.
107001
107002 The following day he saw Princess Mary off on her journey to
107003 Yaroslavl, and a few days later left to rejoin his regiment.
107004
107005
107006
107007
107008
107009 CHAPTER VIII
107010
107011
107012 Sonya's letter written from Troitsa, which had come as an answer
107013 to Nicholas' prayer, was prompted by this: the thought of getting
107014 Nicholas married to an heiress occupied the old countess' mind more
107015 and more. She knew that Sonya was the chief obstacle to this
107016 happening, and Sonya's life in the countess' house had grown harder
107017 and harder, especially after they had received a letter from
107018 Nicholas telling of his meeting with Princess Mary in Bogucharovo. The
107019 countess let no occasion slip of making humiliating or cruel allusions
107020 to Sonya.
107021
107022 But a few days before they left Moscow, moved and excited by all
107023 that was going on, she called Sonya to her and, instead of reproaching
107024 and making demands on her, tearfully implored her to sacrifice herself
107025 and repay all that the family had done for her by breaking off her
107026 engagement with Nicholas.
107027
107028 "I shall not be at peace till you promise me this."
107029
107030 Sonya burst into hysterical tears and replied through her sobs
107031 that she would do anything and was prepared for anything, but gave
107032 no actual promise and could not bring herself to decide to do what was
107033 demanded of her. She must sacrifice herself for the family that had
107034 reared and brought her up. To sacrifice herself for others was Sonya's
107035 habit. Her position in the house was such that only by sacrifice could
107036 she show her worth, and she was accustomed to this and loved doing it.
107037 But in all her former acts of self-sacrifice she had been happily
107038 conscious that they raised her in her own esteem and in that of
107039 others, and so made her more worthy of Nicholas whom she loved more
107040 than anything in the world. But now they wanted her to sacrifice the
107041 very thing that constituted the whole reward for her self-sacrifice
107042 and the whole meaning of her life. And for the first time she felt
107043 bitterness against those who had been her benefactors only to
107044 torture her the more painfully; she felt jealous of Natasha who had
107045 never experienced anything of this sort, had never needed to sacrifice
107046 herself, but made others sacrifice themselves for her and yet was
107047 beloved by everybody. And for the first time Sonya felt that out of
107048 her pure, quiet love for Nicholas a passionate feeling was beginning
107049 to grow up which was stronger than principle, virtue, or religion.
107050 Under the influence of this feeling Sonya, whose life of dependence
107051 had taught her involuntarily to be secretive, having answered the
107052 countess in vague general terms, avoided talking with her and resolved
107053 to wait till she should see Nicholas, not in order to set him free but
107054 on the contrary at that meeting to bind him to her forever.
107055
107056 The bustle and terror of the Rostovs' last days in Moscow stifled
107057 the gloomy thoughts that oppressed Sonya. She was glad to find
107058 escape from them in practical activity. But when she heard of Prince
107059 Andrew's presence in their house, despite her sincere pity for him and
107060 for Natasha, she was seized by a joyful and superstitious feeling that
107061 God did not intend her to be separated from Nicholas. She knew that
107062 Natasha loved no one but Prince Andrew and had never ceased to love
107063 him. She knew that being thrown together again under such terrible
107064 circumstances they would again fall in love with one another, and that
107065 Nicholas would then not be able to marry Princess Mary as they would
107066 be within the prohibited degrees of affinity. Despite all the terror
107067 of what had happened during those last days and during the first
107068 days of their journey, this feeling that Providence was intervening in
107069 her personal affairs cheered Sonya.
107070
107071 At the Troitsa monastery the Rostovs first broke their journey for a
107072 whole day.
107073
107074 Three large rooms were assigned to them in the monastery hostelry,
107075 one of which was occupied by Prince Andrew. The wounded man was much
107076 better that day and Natasha was sitting with him. In the next room sat
107077 the count and countess respectfully conversing with the prior, who was
107078 calling on them as old acquaintances and benefactors of the monastery.
107079 Sonya was there too, tormented by curiosity as to what Prince Andrew
107080 and Natasha were talking about. She heard the sound of their voices
107081 through the door. That door opened and Natasha came out, looking
107082 excited. Not noticing the monk, who had risen to greet her and was
107083 drawing back the wide sleeve on his right arm, she went up to Sonya
107084 and took her hand.
107085
107086 "Natasha, what are you about? Come here!" said the countess.
107087
107088 Natasha went up to the monk for his blessing, and advised her to
107089 pray for aid to God and His saint.
107090
107091 As soon as the prior withdrew, Natasha took her friend by the hand
107092 and went with her into the unoccupied room.
107093
107094 "Sonya, will he live?" she asked. "Sonya, how happy I am, and how
107095 unhappy!... Sonya, dovey, everything is as it used to be. If only he
107096 lives! He cannot... because... because... of" and Natasha burst into
107097 tears.
107098
107099 "Yes! I knew it! Thank God!" murmured Sonya. "He will live."
107100
107101 Sonya was not less agitated than her friend by the latter's fear and
107102 grief and by her own personal feelings which she shared with no one.
107103 Sobbing, she kissed and comforted Natasha. "If only he lives!" she
107104 thought. Having wept, talked, and wiped away their tears, the two
107105 friends went together to Prince Andrew's door. Natasha opened it
107106 cautiously and glanced into the room, Sonya standing beside her at the
107107 half-open door.
107108
107109 Prince Andrew was lying raised high on three pillows. His pale
107110 face was calm, his eyes closed, and they could see his regular
107111 breathing.
107112
107113 "O, Natasha!" Sonya suddenly almost screamed, catching her
107114 companion's arm and stepping back from the door.
107115
107116 "What? What is it?" asked Natasha.
107117
107118 "It's that, that..." said Sonya, with a white face and trembling
107119 lips.
107120
107121 Natasha softly closed the door and went with Sonya to the window,
107122 not yet understanding what the latter was telling her.
107123
107124 "You remember," said Sonya with a solemn and frightened
107125 expression. "You remember when I looked in the mirror for you... at
107126 Otradnoe at Christmas? Do you remember what I saw?"
107127
107128 "Yes, yes!" cried Natasha opening her eyes wide, and vaguely
107129 recalling that Sonya had told her something about Prince Andrew whom
107130 she had seen lying down.
107131
107132 "You remember?" Sonya went on. "I saw it then and told everybody,
107133 you and Dunyasha. I saw him lying on a bed," said she, making a
107134 gesture with her hand and a lifted finger at each detail, "and that he
107135 had his eyes closed and was covered just with a pink quilt, and that
107136 his hands were folded," she concluded, convincing herself that the
107137 details she had just seen were exactly what she had seen in the
107138 mirror.
107139
107140 She had in fact seen nothing then but had mentioned the first
107141 thing that came into her head, but what she had invented then seemed
107142 to her now as real as any other recollection. She not only
107143 remembered what she had then said--that he turned to look at her and
107144 smiled and was covered with something red--but was firmly convinced
107145 that she had then seen and said that he was covered with a pink
107146 quilt and that his eyes were closed.
107147
107148 "Yes, yes, it really was pink!" cried Natasha, who now thought she
107149 too remembered the word pink being used, and saw in this the most
107150 extraordinary and mysterious part of the prediction.
107151
107152 "But what does it mean?" she added meditatively.
107153
107154 "Oh, I don't know, it is all so strange," replied Sonya, clutching
107155 at her head.
107156
107157 A few minutes later Prince Andrew rang and Natasha went to him,
107158 but Sonya, feeling unusually excited and touched, remained at the
107159 window thinking about the strangeness of what had occurred.
107160
107161
107162 They had an opportunity that day to send letters to the army, and
107163 the countess was writing to her son.
107164
107165 "Sonya!" said the countess, raising her eyes from her letter as
107166 her niece passed, "Sonya, won't you write to Nicholas?" She spoke in a
107167 soft, tremulous voice, and in the weary eyes that looked over her
107168 spectacles Sonya read all that the countess meant to convey with these
107169 words. Those eyes expressed entreaty, shame at having to ask, fear
107170 of a refusal, and readiness for relentless hatred in case of such
107171 refusal.
107172
107173 Sonya went up to the countess and, kneeling down, kissed her hand.
107174
107175 "Yes, Mamma, I will write," said she.
107176
107177 Sonya was softened, excited, and touched by all that had occurred
107178 that day, especially by the mysterious fulfillment she had just seen
107179 of her vision. Now that she knew that the renewal of Natasha's
107180 relations with Prince Andrew would prevent Nicholas from marrying
107181 Princess Mary, she was joyfully conscious of a return of that
107182 self-sacrificing spirit in which she was accustomed to live and
107183 loved to live. So with a joyful consciousness of performing a
107184 magnanimous deed--interrupted several times by the tears that dimmed
107185 her velvety black eyes--she wrote that touching letter the arrival
107186 of which had so amazed Nicholas.
107187
107188
107189
107190
107191
107192 CHAPTER IX
107193
107194
107195 The officer and soldiers who had arrested Pierre treated him with
107196 hostility but yet with respect, in the guardhouse to which he was
107197 taken. In their attitude toward him could still be felt both
107198 uncertainty as to who he might be--perhaps a very important person-
107199 and hostility as a result of their recent personal conflict with him.
107200
107201 But when the guard was relieved next morning, Pierre felt that for
107202 the new guard--both officers and men--he was not as interesting as
107203 he had been to his captors; and in fact the guard of the second day
107204 did not recognize in this big, stout man in a peasant coat the
107205 vigorous person who had fought so desperately with the marauder and
107206 the convoy and had uttered those solemn words about saving a child;
107207 they saw in him only No. 17 of the captured Russians, arrested and
107208 detained for some reason by order of the Higher Command. If they
107209 noticed anything remarkable about Pierre, it was only his unabashed,
107210 meditative concentration and thoughtfulness, and the way he spoke
107211 French, which struck them as surprisingly good. In spite of this he
107212 was placed that day with the other arrested suspects, as the
107213 separate room he had occupied was required by an officer.
107214
107215 All the Russians confined with Pierre were men of the lowest class
107216 and, recognizing him as a gentleman, they all avoided him, more
107217 especially as he spoke French. Pierre felt sad at hearing them
107218 making fun of him.
107219
107220 That evening he learned that all these prisoners (he, probably,
107221 among them) were to be tried for incendiarism. On the third day he was
107222 taken with the others to a house where a French general with a white
107223 mustache sat with two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on
107224 their arms. With the precision and definiteness customary in
107225 addressing prisoners, and which is supposed to preclude human frailty,
107226 Pierre like the others was questioned as to who he was, where he had
107227 been, with what object, and so on.
107228
107229 These questions, like questions put at trials generally, left the
107230 essence of the matter aside, shut out the possibility of that
107231 essence's being revealed, and were designed only to form a channel
107232 through which the judges wished the answers of the accused to flow
107233 so as to lead to the desired result, namely a conviction. As soon as
107234 Pierre began to say anything that did not fit in with that aim, the
107235 channel was removed and the water could flow to waste. Pierre felt,
107236 moreover, what the accused always feel at their trial, perplexity as
107237 to why these questions were put to him. He had a feeling that it was
107238 only out of condescension or a kind of civility that this device of
107239 placing a channel was employed. He knew he was in these men's power,
107240 that only by force had they brought him there, that force alone gave
107241 them the right to demand answers to their questions, and that the sole
107242 object of that assembly was to inculpate him. And so, as they had
107243 the power and wish to inculpate him, this expedient of an inquiry
107244 and trial seemed unnecessary. It was evident that any answer would
107245 lead to conviction. When asked what he was doing when he was arrested,
107246 Pierre replied in a rather tragic manner that he was restoring to
107247 its parents a child he had saved from the flames. Why had he fought
107248 the marauder? Pierre answered that he "was protecting a woman," and
107249 that "to protect a woman who was being insulted was the duty of
107250 every man; that..." They interrupted him, for this was not to the
107251 point. Why was he in the yard of a burning house where witnesses had
107252 seen him? He replied that he had gone out to see what was happening in
107253 Moscow. Again they interrupted him: they had not asked where he was
107254 going, but why he was found near the fire? Who was he? they asked,
107255 repeating their first question, which he had declined to answer. Again
107256 he replied that he could not answer it.
107257
107258 "Put that down, that's bad... very bad," sternly remarked the
107259 general with the white mustache and red flushed face.
107260
107261
107262 On the fourth day fires broke out on the Zubovski rampart.
107263
107264 Pierre and thirteen others were moved to the coach house of a
107265 merchant's house near the Crimean bridge. On his way through the
107266 streets Pierre felt stifled by the smoke which seemed to hang over the
107267 whole city. Fires were visible on all sides. He did not then realize
107268 the significance of the burning of Moscow, and looked at the fires
107269 with horror.
107270
107271 He passed four days in the coach house near the Crimean bridge and
107272 during that time learned, from the talk of the French soldiers, that
107273 all those confined there were awaiting a decision which might come any
107274 day from the marshal. What marshal this was, Pierre could not learn
107275 from the soldiers. Evidently for them "the marshal" represented a very
107276 high and rather mysterious power.
107277
107278 These first days, before the eighth of September when the
107279 prisoners were had up for a second examination, were the hardest of
107280 all for Pierre.
107281
107282
107283
107284
107285
107286 CHAPTER X
107287
107288
107289 On the eighth of September an officer--a very important one
107290 judging by the respect the guards showed him--entered the coach
107291 house where the prisoners were. This officer, probably someone on
107292 the staff, was holding a paper in his hand, and called over all the
107293 Russians there, naming Pierre as "the man who does not give his name."
107294 Glancing indolently and indifferently at all the prisoners, he ordered
107295 the officer in charge to have them decently dressed and tidied up
107296 before taking them to the marshal. An hour later a squad of soldiers
107297 arrived and Pierre with thirteen others was led to the Virgin's Field.
107298 It was a fine day, sunny after rain, and the air was unusually pure.
107299 The smoke did not hang low as on the day when Pierre had been taken
107300 from the guardhouse on the Zubovski rampart, but rose through the pure
107301 air in columns. No flames were seen, but columns of smoke rose on
107302 all sides, and all Moscow as far as Pierre could see was one vast
107303 charred ruin. On all sides there were waste spaces with only stoves
107304 and chimney stacks still standing, and here and there the blackened
107305 walls of some brick houses. Pierre gazed at the ruins and did not
107306 recognize districts he had known well. Here and there he could see
107307 churches that had not been burned. The Kremlin, which was not
107308 destroyed, gleamed white in the distance with its towers and the
107309 belfry of Ivan the Great. The domes of the New Convent of the Virgin
107310 glittered brightly and its bells were ringing particularly clearly.
107311 These bells reminded Pierre that it was Sunday and the feast of the
107312 Nativity of the Virgin. But there seemed to be no one to celebrate
107313 this holiday: everywhere were blackened ruins, and the few Russians to
107314 be seen were tattered and frightened people who tried to hide when
107315 they saw the French.
107316
107317 It was plain that the Russian nest was ruined and destroyed, but
107318 in place of the Russian order of life that had been destroyed,
107319 Pierre unconsciously felt that a quite different, firm, French order
107320 had been established over this ruined nest. He felt this in the
107321 looks of the soldiers who, marching in regular ranks briskly and
107322 gaily, were escorting him and the other criminals; he felt it in the
107323 looks of an important French official in a carriage and pair driven by
107324 a soldier, whom they met on the way. He felt it in the merry sounds of
107325 regimental music he heard from the left side of the field, and felt
107326 and realized it especially from the list of prisoners the French
107327 officer had read out when he came that morning. Pierre had been
107328 taken by one set of soldiers and led first to one and then to
107329 another place with dozens of other men, and it seemed that they
107330 might have forgotten him, or confused him with the others. But no: the
107331 answers he had given when questioned had come back to him in his
107332 designation as "the man who does not give his name," and under that
107333 appellation, which to Pierre seemed terrible, they were now leading
107334 him somewhere with unhesitating assurance on their faces that he and
107335 all the other prisoners were exactly the ones they wanted and that
107336 they were being taken to the proper place. Pierre felt himself to be
107337 an insignificant chip fallen among the wheels of a machine whose
107338 action he did not understand but which was working well.
107339
107340 He and the other prisoners were taken to the right side of the
107341 Virgin's Field, to a large white house with an immense garden not
107342 far from the convent. This was Prince Shcherbitov's house, where
107343 Pierre had often been in other days, and which, as he learned from the
107344 talk of the soldiers, was now occupied by the marshal, the Duke of
107345 Eckmuhl (Davout).
107346
107347 They were taken to the entrance and led into the house one by one.
107348 Pierre was the sixth to enter. He was conducted through a glass
107349 gallery, an anteroom, and a hall, which were familiar to him, into a
107350 long low study at the door of which stood an adjutant.
107351
107352 Davout, spectacles on nose, sat bent over a table at the further end
107353 of the room. Pierre went close up to him, but Davout, evidently
107354 consulting a paper that lay before him, did not look up. Without
107355 raising his eyes, he said in a low voice:
107356
107357 "Who are you?"
107358
107359 Pierre was silent because he was incapable of uttering a word. To
107360 him Davout was not merely a French general, but a man notorious for
107361 his cruelty. Looking at his cold face, as he sat like a stern
107362 schoolmaster who was prepared to wait awhile for an answer, Pierre
107363 felt that every instant of delay might cost him his life; but he did
107364 not know what to say. He did not venture to repeat what he had said at
107365 his first examination, yet to disclose his rank and position was
107366 dangerous and embarrassing. So he was silent. But before he had
107367 decided what to do, Davout raised his head, pushed his spectacles back
107368 on his forehead, screwed up his eyes, and looked intently at him.
107369
107370 "I know that man," he said in a cold, measured tone, evidently
107371 calculated to frighten Pierre.
107372
107373 The chill that had been running down Pierre's back now seized his
107374 head as in a vise.
107375
107376 "You cannot know me, General, I have never seen you..."
107377
107378 "He is a Russian spy," Davout interrupted, addressing another
107379 general who was present, but whom Pierre had not noticed.
107380
107381 Davout turned away. With an unexpected reverberation in his voice
107382 Pierre rapidly began:
107383
107384 "No, monseigneur," he said, suddenly remembering that Davout was a
107385 duke. "No, monseigneur, you cannot have known me. I am a militia
107386 officer and have not quitted Moscow."
107387
107388 "Your name?" asked Davout.
107389
107390 "Bezukhov."
107391
107392 "What proof have I that you are not lying?"
107393
107394 "Monseigneur!" exclaimed Pierre, not in an offended but in a
107395 pleading voice.
107396
107397 Davout looked up and gazed intently at him. For some seconds they
107398 looked at one another, and that look saved Pierre. Apart from
107399 conditions of war and law, that look established human relations
107400 between the two men. At that moment an immense number of things passed
107401 dimly through both their minds, and they realized that they were
107402 both children of humanity and were brothers.
107403
107404 At the first glance, when Davout had only raised his head from the
107405 papers where human affairs and lives were indicated by numbers, Pierre
107406 was merely a circumstance, and Davout could have shot him without
107407 burdening his conscience with an evil deed, but now he saw in him a
107408 human being. He reflected for a moment.
107409
107410 "How can you show me that you are telling the truth?" said Davout
107411 coldly.
107412
107413 Pierre remembered Ramballe, and named him and his regiment and the
107414 street where the house was.
107415
107416 "You are not what you say," returned Davout.
107417
107418 In a trembling, faltering voice Pierre began adducing proofs of
107419 the truth of his statements.
107420
107421 But at that moment an adjutant entered and reported something to
107422 Davout.
107423
107424 Davout brightened up at the news the adjutant brought, and began
107425 buttoning up his uniform. It seemed that he had quite forgotten
107426 Pierre.
107427
107428 When the adjutant reminded him of the prisoner, he jerked his head
107429 in Pierre's direction with a frown and ordered him to be led away. But
107430 where they were to take him Pierre did not know: back to the coach
107431 house or to the place of execution his companions had pointed out to
107432 him as they crossed the Virgin's Field.
107433
107434 He turned his head and saw that the adjutant was putting another
107435 question to Davout.
107436
107437 "Yes, of course!" replied Davout, but what this "yes" meant,
107438 Pierre did not know.
107439
107440 Pierre could not afterwards remember how he went, whether it was
107441 far, or in which direction. His faculties were quite numbed, he was
107442 stupefied, and noticing nothing around him went on moving his legs
107443 as the others did till they all stopped and he stopped too. The only
107444 thought in his mind at that time was: who was it that had really
107445 sentenced him to death? Not the men on the commission that had first
107446 examined him--not one of them wished to or, evidently, could have done
107447 it. It was not Davout, who had looked at him in so human a way. In
107448 another moment Davout would have realized that he was doing wrong, but
107449 just then the adjutant had come in and interrupted him. The
107450 adjutant, also, had evidently had no evil intent though he might
107451 have refrained from coming in. Then who was executing him, killing
107452 him, depriving him of life--him, Pierre, with all his memories,
107453 aspirations, hopes, and thoughts? Who was doing this? And Pierre
107454 felt that it was no one.
107455
107456 It was a system--a concurrence of circumstances.
107457
107458 A system of some sort was killing him--Pierre--depriving him of
107459 life, of everything, annihilating him.
107460
107461
107462
107463
107464
107465 CHAPTER XI
107466
107467
107468 From Prince Shcherbatov's house the prisoners were led straight down
107469 the Virgin's Field, to the left of the nunnery, as far as a kitchen
107470 garden in which a post had been set up. Beyond that post a fresh pit
107471 had been dug in the ground, and near the post and the pit a large
107472 crowd stood in a semicircle. The crowd consisted of a few Russians and
107473 many of Napoleon's soldiers who were not on duty--Germans, Italians,
107474 and Frenchmen, in a variety of uniforms. To the right and left of
107475 the post stood rows of French troops in blue uniforms with red
107476 epaulets and high boots and shakos.
107477
107478 The prisoners were placed in a certain order, according to the
107479 list (Pierre was sixth), and were led to the post. Several drums
107480 suddenly began to beat on both sides of them, and at that sound Pierre
107481 felt as if part of his soul had been torn away. He lost the power of
107482 thinking or understanding. He could only hear and see. And he had only
107483 one wish--that the frightful thing that had to happen should happen
107484 quickly. Pierre looked round at his fellow prisoners and scrutinized
107485 them.
107486
107487 The two first were convicts with shaven heads. One was tall and
107488 thin, the other dark, shaggy, and sinewy, with a flat nose. The
107489 third was a domestic serf, about forty-five years old, with grizzled
107490 hair and a plump, well-nourished body. The fourth was a peasant, a
107491 very handsome man with a broad, light-brown beard and black eyes.
107492 The fifth was a factory hand, a thin, sallow-faced lad of eighteen
107493 in a loose coat.
107494
107495 Pierre heard the French consulting whether to shoot them
107496 separately or two at a time. "In couples," replied the officer in
107497 command in a calm voice. There was a stir in the ranks of the soldiers
107498 and it was evident that they were all hurrying--not as men hurry to do
107499 something they understand, but as people hurry to finish a necessary
107500 but unpleasant and incomprehensible task.
107501
107502 A French official wearing a scarf came up to the right of the row of
107503 prisoners and read out the sentence in Russian and in French.
107504
107505 Then two pairs of Frenchmen approached the criminals and at the
107506 officer's command took the two convicts who stood first in the row.
107507 The convicts stopped when they reached the post and, while sacks
107508 were being brought, looked dumbly around as a wounded beast looks at
107509 an approaching huntsman. One crossed himself continually, the other
107510 scratched his back and made a movement of the lips resembling a smile.
107511 With hurried hands the soldiers blindfolded them, drawing the sacks
107512 over their heads, and bound them to the post.
107513
107514 Twelve sharpshooters with muskets stepped out of the ranks with a
107515 firm regular tread and halted eight paces from the post. Pierre turned
107516 away to avoid seeing what was going to happen. Suddenly a crackling,
107517 rolling noise was heard which seemed to him louder than the most
107518 terrific thunder, and he looked round. There was some smoke, and the
107519 Frenchmen were doing something near the pit, with pale faces and
107520 trembling hands. Two more prisoners were led up. In the same way and
107521 with similar looks, these two glanced vainly at the onlookers with
107522 only a silent appeal for protection in their eyes, evidently unable to
107523 understand or believe what was going to happen to them. They could not
107524 believe it because they alone knew what their life meant to them,
107525 and so they neither understood nor believed that it could be taken
107526 from them.
107527
107528 Again Pierre did not wish to look and again turned away; but again
107529 the sound as of a frightful explosion struck his ear, and at the
107530 same moment he saw smoke, blood, and the pale, scared faces of the
107531 Frenchmen who were again doing something by the post, their
107532 trembling hands impeding one another. Pierre, breathing heavily,
107533 looked around as if asking what it meant. The same question was
107534 expressed in all the looks that met his.
107535
107536 On the faces of all the Russians and of the French soldiers and
107537 officers without exception, he read the same dismay, horror, and
107538 conflict that were in his own heart. "But who, after all, is doing
107539 this? They are all suffering as I am. Who then is it? Who?" flashed
107540 for an instant through his mind.
107541
107542 "Sharpshooters of the 86th, forward!" shouted someone. The fifth
107543 prisoner, the one next to Pierre, was led away--alone. Pierre did
107544 not understand that he was saved, that he and the rest had been
107545 brought there only to witness the execution. With ever-growing horror,
107546 and no sense of joy or relief, he gazed at what was taking place.
107547 The fifth man was the factory lad in the loose cloak. The moment
107548 they laid hands on him he sprang aside in terror and clutched at
107549 Pierre. (Pierre shuddered and shook himself free.) The lad was
107550 unable to walk. They dragged him along, holding him up under the arms,
107551 and he screamed. When they got him to the post he grew quiet, as if he
107552 suddenly understood something. Whether he understood that screaming
107553 was useless or whether he thought it incredible that men should kill
107554 him, at any rate he took his stand at the post, waiting to be
107555 blindfolded like the others, and like a wounded animal looked around
107556 him with glittering eyes.
107557
107558 Pierre was no longer able to turn away and close his eyes. His
107559 curiosity and agitation, like that of the whole crowd, reached the
107560 highest pitch at this fifth murder. Like the others this fifth man
107561 seemed calm; he wrapped his loose cloak closer and rubbed one bare
107562 foot with the other.
107563
107564 When they began to blindfold him he himself adjusted the knot
107565 which hurt the back of his head; then when they propped him against
107566 the bloodstained post, he leaned back and, not being comfortable in
107567 that position, straightened himself, adjusted his feet, and leaned
107568 back again more comfortably. Pierre did not take his eyes from him and
107569 did not miss his slightest movement.
107570
107571 Probably a word of command was given and was followed by the reports
107572 of eight muskets; but try as he would Pierre could not afterwards
107573 remember having heard the slightest sound of the shots. He only saw
107574 how the workman suddenly sank down on the cords that held him, how
107575 blood showed itself in two places, how the ropes slackened under the
107576 weight of the hanging body, and how the workman sat down, his head
107577 hanging unnaturally and one leg bent under him. Pierre ran up to the
107578 post. No one hindered him. Pale, frightened people were doing
107579 something around the workman. The lower jaw of an old Frenchman with a
107580 thick mustache trembled as he untied the ropes. The body collapsed.
107581 The soldiers dragged it awkwardly from the post and began pushing it
107582 into the pit.
107583
107584 They all plainly and certainly knew that they were criminals who
107585 must hide the traces of their guilt as quickly as possible.
107586
107587 Pierre glanced into the pit and saw that the factory lad was lying
107588 with his knees close up to his head and one shoulder higher than the
107589 other. That shoulder rose and fell rhythmically and convulsively,
107590 but spadefuls of earth were already being thrown over the whole
107591 body. One of the soldiers, evidently suffering, shouted gruffly and
107592 angrily at Pierre to go back. But Pierre did not understand him and
107593 remained near the post, and no one drove him away.
107594
107595 When the pit had been filled up a command was given. Pierre was
107596 taken back to his place, and the rows of troops on both sides of the
107597 post made a half turn and went past it at a measured pace. The
107598 twenty-four sharpshooters with discharged muskets, standing in the
107599 center of the circle, ran back to their places as the companies passed
107600 by.
107601
107602 Pierre gazed now with dazed eyes at these sharpshooters who ran in
107603 couples out of the circle. All but one rejoined their companies.
107604 This one, a young soldier, his face deadly pale, his shako pushed
107605 back, and his musket resting on the ground, still stood near the pit
107606 at the spot from which he had fired. He swayed like a drunken man,
107607 taking some steps forward and back to save himself from falling. An
107608 old, noncommissioned officer ran out of the ranks and taking him by
107609 the elbow dragged him to his company. The crowd of Russians and
107610 Frenchmen began to disperse. They all went away silently and with
107611 drooping heads.
107612
107613 "That will teach them to start fires," said one of the Frenchmen.
107614
107615 Pierre glanced round at the speaker and saw that it was a soldier
107616 who was trying to find some relief after what had been done, but was
107617 not able to do so. Without finishing what he had begun to say he
107618 made a hopeless movement with his arm and went away.
107619
107620
107621
107622
107623
107624 CHAPTER XII
107625
107626
107627 After the execution Pierre was separated from the rest of the
107628 prisoners and placed alone in a small, ruined, and befouled church.
107629
107630 Toward evening a noncommissioned officer entered with two soldiers
107631 and told him that he had been pardoned and would now go to the
107632 barracks for the prisoners of war. Without understanding what was said
107633 to him, Pierre got up and went with the soldiers. They took him to the
107634 upper end of the field, where there were some sheds built of charred
107635 planks, beams, and battens, and led him into one of them. In the
107636 darkness some twenty different men surrounded Pierre. He looked at
107637 them without understanding who they were, why they were there, or what
107638 they wanted of him. He heard what they said, but did not understand
107639 the meaning of the words and made no kind of deduction from or
107640 application of them. He replied to questions they put to him, but
107641 did not consider who was listening to his replies, nor how they
107642 would understand them. He looked at their faces and figures, but
107643 they all seemed to him equally meaningless.
107644
107645 From the moment Pierre had witnessed those terrible murders
107646 committed by men who did not wish to commit them, it was as if the
107647 mainspring of his life, on which everything depended and which made
107648 everything appear alive, had suddenly been wrenched out and everything
107649 had collapsed into a heap of meaningless rubbish. Though he did not
107650 acknowledge it to himself, his faith in the right ordering of the
107651 universe, in humanity, in his own soul, and in God, had been
107652 destroyed. He had experienced this before, but never so strongly as
107653 now. When similar doubts had assailed him before, they had been the
107654 result of his own wrongdoing, and at the bottom of his heart he had
107655 felt that relief from his despair and from those doubts was to be
107656 found within himself. But now he felt that the universe had crumbled
107657 before his eyes and only meaningless ruins remained, and this not by
107658 any fault of his own. He felt that it was not in his power to regain
107659 faith in the meaning of life.
107660
107661 Around him in the darkness men were standing and evidently something
107662 about him interested them greatly. They were telling him something and
107663 asking him something. Then they led him away somewhere, and at last he
107664 found himself in a corner of the shed among men who were laughing
107665 and talking on all sides.
107666
107667 "Well, then, mates... that very prince who..." some voice at the
107668 other end of the shed was saying, with a strong emphasis on the word
107669 who.
107670
107671 Sitting silent and motionless on a heap of straw against the wall,
107672 Pierre sometimes opened and sometimes closed his eyes. But as soon
107673 as he closed them he saw before him the dreadful face of the factory
107674 lad--especially dreadful because of its simplicity--and the faces of
107675 the murderers, even more dreadful because of their disquiet. And he
107676 opened his eyes again and stared vacantly into the darkness around
107677 him.
107678
107679 Beside him in a stooping position sat a small man of whose
107680 presence he was first made aware by a strong smell of perspiration
107681 which came from him every time he moved. This man was doing
107682 something to his legs in the darkness, and though Pierre could not see
107683 his face he felt that the man continually glanced at him. On growing
107684 used to the darkness Pierre saw that the man was taking off his leg
107685 bands, and the way he did it aroused Pierre's interest.
107686
107687 Having unwound the string that tied the band on one leg, he
107688 carefully coiled it up and immediately set to work on the other leg,
107689 glancing up at Pierre. While one hand hung up the first string the
107690 other was already unwinding the band on the second leg. In this way,
107691 having carefully removed the leg bands by deft circular motions of his
107692 arm following one another uninterruptedly, the man hung the leg
107693 bands up on some pegs fixed above his head. Then he took out a
107694 knife, cut something, closed the knife, placed it under the head of
107695 his bed, and, seating himself comfortably, clasped his arms round
107696 his lifted knees and fixed his eyes on Pierre. The latter was
107697 conscious of something pleasant, comforting, and well rounded in these
107698 deft movements, in the man's well-ordered arrangements in his
107699 corner, and even in his very smell, and he looked at the man without
107700 taking his eyes from him.
107701
107702 "You've seen a lot of trouble, sir, eh?" the little man suddenly
107703 said.
107704
107705 And there was so much kindliness and simplicity in his singsong
107706 voice that Pierre tried to reply, but his jaw trembled and he felt
107707 tears rising to his eyes. The little fellow, giving Pierre no time
107708 to betray his confusion, instantly continued in the same pleasant
107709 tones:
107710
107711 "Eh, lad, don't fret!" said he, in the tender singsong caressing
107712 voice old Russian peasant women employ. "Don't fret, friend--'suffer
107713 an hour, live for an age!' that's how it is, my dear fellow. And
107714 here we live, thank heaven, without offense. Among these folk, too,
107715 there are good men as well as bad," said he, and still speaking, he
107716 turned on his knees with a supple movement, got up, coughed, and
107717 went off to another part of the shed.
107718
107719 "Eh, you rascal!" Pierre heard the same kind voice saying at the
107720 other end of the shed. "So you've come, you rascal? She remembers...
107721 Now, now, that'll do!"
107722
107723 And the soldier, pushing away a little dog that was jumping up at
107724 him, returned to his place and sat down. In his hands he had something
107725 wrapped in a rag.
107726
107727 "Here, eat a bit, sir," said he, resuming his former respectful tone
107728 as he unwrapped and offered Pierre some baked potatoes. "We had soup
107729 for dinner and the potatoes are grand!"
107730
107731 Pierre had not eaten all day and the smell of the potatoes seemed
107732 extremely pleasant to him. He thanked the soldier and began to eat.
107733
107734 "Well, are they all right?" said the soldier with a smile. "You
107735 should do like this."
107736
107737 He took a potato, drew out his clasp knife, cut the potato into
107738 two equal halves on the palm of his hand, sprinkled some salt on it
107739 from the rag, and handed it to Pierre.
107740
107741 "The potatoes are grand!" he said once more. "Eat some like that!"
107742
107743 Pierre thought he had never eaten anything that tasted better.
107744
107745 "Oh, I'm all right," said he, "but why did they shoot those poor
107746 fellows? The last one was hardly twenty."
107747
107748 "Tss, tt...!" said the little man. "Ah, what a sin... what a sin!"
107749 he added quickly, and as if his words were always waiting ready in his
107750 mouth and flew out involuntarily he went on: "How was it, sir, that
107751 you stayed in Moscow?"
107752
107753 "I didn't think they would come so soon. I stayed accidentally,"
107754 replied Pierre.
107755
107756 "And how did they arrest you, dear lad? At your house?"
107757
107758 "No, I went to look at the fire, and they arrested me there, and
107759 tried me as an incendiary."
107760
107761 "Where there's law there's injustice," put in the little man.
107762
107763 "And have you been here long?" Pierre asked as he munched the last
107764 of the potato.
107765
107766 "I? It was last Sunday they took me, out of a hospital in Moscow."
107767
107768 "Why, are you a soldier then?"
107769
107770 "Yes, we are soldiers of the Apsheron regiment. I was dying of
107771 fever. We weren't told anything. There were some twenty of us lying
107772 there. We had no idea, never guessed at all."
107773
107774 "And do you feel sad here?" Pierre inquired.
107775
107776 "How can one help it, lad? My name is Platon, and the surname is
107777 Karataev," he added, evidently wishing to make it easier for Pierre to
107778 address him. "They call me 'little falcon' in the regiment. How is one
107779 to help feeling sad? Moscow--she's the mother of cities. How can one
107780 see all this and not feel sad? But 'the maggot gnaws the cabbage,
107781 yet dies first'; that's what the old folks used to tell us," he
107782 added rapidly.
107783
107784 "What? What did you say?" asked Pierre.
107785
107786 "Who? I?" said Karataev. "I say things happen not as we plan but
107787 as God judges," he replied, thinking that he was repeating what he had
107788 said before, and immediately continued:
107789
107790 "Well, and you, have you a family estate, sir? And a house? So you
107791 have abundance, then? And a housewife? And your old parents, are
107792 they still living?" he asked.
107793
107794 And though it was too dark for Pierre to see, he felt that a
107795 suppressed smile of kindliness puckered the soldier's lips as he put
107796 these questions. He seemed grieved that Pierre had no parents,
107797 especially that he had no mother.
107798
107799 "A wife for counsel, a mother-in-law for welcome, but there's none
107800 as dear as one's own mother!" said he. "Well, and have you little
107801 ones?" he went on asking.
107802
107803 Again Pierre's negative answer seemed to distress him, and he
107804 hastened to add:
107805
107806 "Never mind! You're young folks yet, and please God may still have
107807 some. The great thing is to live in harmony...."
107808
107809 "But it's all the same now," Pierre could not help saying.
107810
107811 "Ah, my dear fellow!" rejoined Karataev, "never decline a prison
107812 or a beggar's sack!"
107813
107814 He seated himself more comfortably and coughed, evidently
107815 preparing to tell a long story.
107816
107817 "Well, my dear fellow, I was still living at home," he began. "We
107818 had a well-to-do homestead, plenty of land, we peasants lived well and
107819 our house was one to thank God for. When Father and we went out mowing
107820 there were seven of us. We lived well. We were real peasants. It so
107821 happened..."
107822
107823 And Platon Karataev told a long story of how he had gone into
107824 someone's copse to take wood, how he had been caught by the keeper,
107825 had been tried, flogged, and sent to serve as a soldier.
107826
107827 "Well, lad," and a smile changed the tone of his voice "we thought
107828 it was a misfortune but it turned out a blessing! If it had not been
107829 for my sin, my brother would have had to go as a soldier. But he, my
107830 younger brother, had five little ones, while I, you see, only left a
107831 wife behind. We had a little girl, but God took her before I went as a
107832 soldier. I come home on leave and I'll tell you how it was, I look and
107833 see that they are living better than before. The yard full of
107834 cattle, the women at home, two brothers away earning wages, and only
107835 Michael the youngest, at home. Father, he says, 'All my children are
107836 the same to me: it hurts the same whichever finger gets bitten. But if
107837 Platon hadn't been shaved for a soldier, Michael would have had to
107838 go.' called us all to him and, will you believe it, placed us in front
107839 of the icons. 'Michael,' he says, 'come here and bow down to his feet;
107840 and you, young woman, you bow down too; and you, grandchildren, also
107841 bow down before him! Do you understand?' he says. That's how it is,
107842 dear fellow. Fate looks for a head. But we are always judging, 'that's
107843 not well--that's not right!' Our luck is like water in a dragnet:
107844 you pull at it and it bulges, but when you've drawn it out it's empty!
107845 That's how it is."
107846
107847 And Platon shifted his seat on the straw.
107848
107849 After a short silence he rose.
107850
107851 "Well, I think you must be sleepy," said he, and began rapidly
107852 crossing himself and repeating:
107853
107854 "Lord Jesus Christ, holy Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra! Lord Jesus
107855 Christ, holy Saint Nicholas, Frola and Lavra! Lord Jesus Christ,
107856 have mercy on us and save us!" he concluded, then bowed to the ground,
107857 got up, sighed, and sat down again on his heap of straw. "That's the
107858 way. Lay me down like a stone, O God, and raise me up like a loaf," he
107859 muttered as he lay down, pulling his coat over him.
107860
107861 "What prayer was that you were saying?" asked Pierre.
107862
107863 "Eh?" murmured Platon, who had almost fallen asleep. "What was I
107864 saying? I was praying. Don't you pray?"
107865
107866 "Yes, I do," said Pierre. "But what was that you said: Frola and
107867 Lavra?"
107868
107869 "Well, of course," replied Platon quickly, "the horses' saints.
107870 One must pity the animals too. Eh, the rascal! Now you've curled up
107871 and got warm, you daughter of a bitch!" said Karataev, touching the
107872 dog that lay at his feet, and again turning over he fell asleep
107873 immediately.
107874
107875 Sounds of crying and screaming came from somewhere in the distance
107876 outside, and flames were visible through the cracks of the shed, but
107877 inside it was quiet and dark. For a long time Pierre did not sleep,
107878 but lay with eyes open in the darkness, listening to the regular
107879 snoring of Platon who lay beside him, and he felt that the world
107880 that had been shattered was once more stirring in his soul with a
107881 new beauty and on new and unshakable foundations.
107882
107883
107884
107885
107886
107887 CHAPTER XIII
107888
107889
107890 Twenty-three soldiers, three officers, and two officials were
107891 confined in the shed in which Pierre had been placed and where he
107892 remained for four weeks.
107893
107894 When Pierre remembered them afterwards they all seemed misty figures
107895 to him except Platon Karataev, who always remained in his mind a
107896 most vivid and precious memory and the personification of everything
107897 Russian, kindly, and round. When Pierre saw his neighbor next
107898 morning at dawn the first impression of him, as of something round,
107899 was fully confirmed: Platon's whole figure--in a French overcoat
107900 girdled with a cord, a soldier's cap, and bast shoes--was round. His
107901 head was quite round, his back, chest, shoulders, and even his arms,
107902 which he held as if ever ready to embrace something, were rounded, his
107903 pleasant smile and his large, gentle brown eyes were also round.
107904
107905 Platon Karataev must have been fifty, judging by his stories of
107906 campaigns he had been in, told as by an old soldier. He did not
107907 himself know his age and was quite unable to determine it. But his
107908 brilliantly white, strong teeth which showed in two unbroken
107909 semicircles when he laughed--as he often did--were all sound and good,
107910 there was not a gray hair in his beard or on his head, and his whole
107911 body gave an impression of suppleness and especially of firmness and
107912 endurance.
107913
107914 His face, despite its fine, rounded wrinkles, had an expression of
107915 innocence and youth, his voice was pleasant and musical. But the chief
107916 peculiarity of his speech was its directness and appositeness. It
107917 was evident that he never considered what he had said or was going
107918 to say, and consequently the rapidity and justice of his intonation
107919 had an irresistible persuasiveness.
107920
107921 His physical strength and agility during the first days of his
107922 imprisonment were such that he seemed not to know what fatigue and
107923 sickness meant. Every night before lying down, he said: "Lord, lay
107924 me down as a stone and raise me up as a loaf!" and every morning on
107925 getting up, he said: "I lay down and curled up, I get up and shake
107926 myself." And indeed he only had to lie down, to fall asleep like a
107927 stone, and he only had to shake himself, to be ready without a
107928 moment's delay for some work, just as children are ready to play
107929 directly they awake. He could do everything, not very well but not
107930 badly. He baked, cooked, sewed, planed, and mended boots. He was
107931 always busy, and only at night allowed himself conversation--of
107932 which he was fond--and songs. He did not sing like a trained singer
107933 who knows he is listened to, but like the birds, evidently giving vent
107934 to the sounds in the same way that one stretches oneself or walks
107935 about to get rid of stiffness, and the sounds were always
107936 high-pitched, mournful, delicate, and almost feminine, and his face at
107937 such times was very serious.
107938
107939 Having been taken prisoner and allowed his beard to grow, he
107940 seemed to have thrown off all that had been forced upon him-
107941 everything military and alien to himself--and had returned to his
107942 former peasant habits.
107943
107944 "A soldier on leave--a shirt outside breeches," he would say.
107945
107946 He did not like talking about his life as a soldier, though he did
107947 not complain, and often mentioned that he had not been flogged once
107948 during the whole of his army service. When he related anything it
107949 was generally some old and evidently precious memory of his
107950 "Christian" life, as he called his peasant existence. The proverbs, of
107951 which his talk was full, were for the most part not the coarse and
107952 indecent saws soldiers employ, but those folk sayings which taken
107953 without a context seem so insignificant, but when used appositely
107954 suddenly acquire a significance of profound wisdom.
107955
107956 He would often say the exact opposite of what he had said on a
107957 previous occasion, yet both would be right. He liked to talk and he
107958 talked well, adorning his speech with terms of endearment and with
107959 folk sayings which Pierre thought he invented himself, but the chief
107960 charm of his talk lay in the fact that the commonest events--sometimes
107961 just such as Pierre had witnessed without taking notice of them-
107962 assumed in Karataev's a character of solemn fitness. He liked to
107963 hear the folk tales one of the soldiers used to tell of an evening
107964 (they were always the same), but most of all he liked to hear
107965 stories of real life. He would smile joyfully when listening to such
107966 stories, now and then putting in a word or asking a question to make
107967 the moral beauty of what he was told clear to himself. Karataev had no
107968 attachments, friendships, or love, as Pierre understood them, but
107969 loved and lived affectionately with everything life brought him in
107970 contact with, particularly with man--not any particular man, but those
107971 with whom he happened to be. He loved his dog, his comrades, the
107972 French, and Pierre who was his neighbor, but Pierre felt that in spite
107973 of Karataev's affectionate tenderness for him (by which he
107974 unconsciously gave Pierre's spiritual life its due) he would not
107975 have grieved for a moment at parting from him. And Pierre began to
107976 feel in the same way toward Karataev.
107977
107978 To all the other prisoners Platon Karataev seemed a most ordinary
107979 soldier. They called him "little falcon" or "Platosha," chaffed him
107980 good-naturedly, and sent him on errands. But to Pierre he always
107981 remained what he had seemed that first night: an unfathomable,
107982 rounded, eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and
107983 truth.
107984
107985 Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart except his prayers. When he
107986 began to speak he seemed not to know how he would conclude.
107987
107988 Sometimes Pierre, struck by the meaning of his words, would ask
107989 him to repeat them, but Platon could never recall what he had said a
107990 moment before, just as he never could repeat to Pierre the words of
107991 his favorite song: native and birch tree and my heart is sick occurred
107992 in it, but when spoken and not sung, no meaning could be got out of
107993 it. He did not, and could not, understand the meaning of words apart
107994 from their context. Every word and action of his was the manifestation
107995 of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he
107996 regarded it, had no meaning as a separate thing. It had meaning only
107997 as part of a whole of which he was always conscious. His words and
107998 actions flowed from him as evenly, inevitably, and spontaneously as
107999 fragrance exhales from a flower. He could not understand the value
108000 or significance of any word or deed taken separately.
108001
108002
108003
108004
108005
108006 CHAPTER XIV
108007
108008
108009 When Princess Mary heard from Nicholas that her brother was with the
108010 Rostovs at Yaroslavl she at once prepared to go there, in spite of her
108011 aunt's efforts to dissuade her--and not merely to go herself but to
108012 take her nephew with her. Whether it were difficult or easy,
108013 possible or impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: it
108014 was her duty not only herself to be near her brother who was perhaps
108015 dying, but to do everything possible to take his son to him, and so
108016 she prepared to set off. That she had not heard from Prince Andrew
108017 himself, Princess Mary attributed to his being too weak to write or to
108018 his considering the long journey too hard and too dangerous for her
108019 and his son.
108020
108021 In a few days Princess Mary was ready to start. Her equipages were
108022 the huge family coach in which she had traveled to Voronezh, a
108023 semiopen trap, and a baggage cart. With her traveled Mademoiselle
108024 Bourienne, little Nicholas and his tutor, her old nurse, three
108025 maids, Tikhon, and a young footman and courier her aunt had sent to
108026 accompany her.
108027
108028 The usual route through Moscow could not be thought of, and the
108029 roundabout way Princess Mary was obliged to take through Lipetsk,
108030 Ryazan, Vladimir, and Shuya was very long and, as post horses were not
108031 everywhere obtainable, very difficult, and near Ryazan where the
108032 French were said to have shown themselves was even dangerous.
108033
108034 During this difficult journey Mademoiselle Bourienne, Dessalles, and
108035 Princess Mary's servants were astonished at her energy and firmness of
108036 spirit. She went to bed later and rose earlier than any of them, and
108037 no difficulties daunted her. Thanks to her activity and energy,
108038 which infected her fellow travelers, they approached Yaroslavl by
108039 the end of the second week.
108040
108041 The last days of her stay in Voronezh had been the happiest of her
108042 life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented or agitated her. It
108043 filled her whole soul, had become an integral part of herself, and she
108044 no longer struggled against it. Latterly she had become convinced that
108045 she loved and was beloved, though she never said this definitely to
108046 herself in words. She had become convinced of it at her last interview
108047 with Nicholas, when he had come to tell her that her brother was
108048 with the Rostovs. Not by a single word had Nicholas alluded to the
108049 fact that Prince Andrew's relations with Natasha might, if he
108050 recovered, be renewed, but Princess Mary saw by his face that he
108051 knew and thought of this.
108052
108053 Yet in spite of that, his relation to her--considerate, delicate,
108054 and loving--not only remained unchanged, but it sometimes seemed to
108055 Princess Mary that he was even glad that the family connection between
108056 them allowed him to express his friendship more freely. She knew
108057 that she loved for the first and only time in her life and felt that
108058 she was beloved, and was happy in regard to it.
108059
108060 But this happiness on one side of her spiritual nature did not
108061 prevent her feeling grief for her brother with full force; on the
108062 contrary, that spiritual tranquility on the one side made it the
108063 more possible for her to give full play to her feeling for her
108064 brother. That feeling was so strong at the moment of leaving
108065 Voronezh that those who saw her off, as they looked at her careworn,
108066 despairing face, felt sure she would fall ill on the journey. But
108067 the very difficulties and preoccupations of the journey, which she
108068 took so actively in hand, saved her for a while from her grief and
108069 gave her strength.
108070
108071 As always happens when traveling, Princess Mary thought only of
108072 the journey itself, forgetting its object. But as she approached
108073 Yaroslavl the thought of what might await her there--not after many
108074 days, but that very evening--again presented itself to her and her
108075 agitation increased to its utmost limit.
108076
108077 The courier who had been sent on in advance to find out where the
108078 Rostovs were staying in Yaroslavl, and in what condition Prince Andrew
108079 was, when he met the big coach just entering the town gates was
108080 appalled by the terrible pallor of the princess' face that looked
108081 out at him from the window.
108082
108083 "I have found out everything, your excellency: the Rostovs are
108084 staying at the merchant Bronnikov's house, in the Square not far
108085 from here, right above the Volga," said the courier.
108086
108087 Princess Mary looked at him with frightened inquiry, not
108088 understanding why he did not reply to what she chiefly wanted to know:
108089 how was her brother? Mademoiselle Bourienne put that question for her.
108090
108091 "How is the prince?" she asked.
108092
108093 "His excellency is staying in the same house with them."
108094
108095 "Then he is alive," thought Princess Mary, and asked in a low voice:
108096 "How is he?"
108097
108098 "The servants say he is still the same."
108099
108100 What "still the same" might mean Princess Mary did not ask, but with
108101 an unnoticed glance at little seven-year-old Nicholas, who was sitting
108102 in front of her looking with pleasure at the town, she bowed her
108103 head and did not raise it again till the heavy coach, rumbling,
108104 shaking and swaying, came to a stop. The carriage steps clattered as
108105 they were let down.
108106
108107 The carriage door was opened. On the left there was water--a great
108108 river--and on the right a porch. There were people at the entrance:
108109 servants, and a rosy girl with a large plait of black hair, smiling as
108110 it seemed to Princess Mary in an unpleasantly affected way. (This
108111 was Sonya.) Princess Mary ran up the steps. "This way, this way!" said
108112 the girl, with the same artificial smile, and the princess found
108113 herself in the hall facing an elderly woman of Oriental type, who came
108114 rapidly to meet her with a look of emotion. This was the countess. She
108115 embraced Princess Mary and kissed her.
108116
108117 "Mon enfant!" she muttered, "je vous aime et vous connais depuis
108118 longtemps."*
108119
108120
108121 *"My child! I love you and have known you a long time."
108122
108123 Despite her excitement, Princess Mary realized that this was the
108124 countess and that it was necessary to say something to her. Hardly
108125 knowing how she did it, she contrived to utter a few polite phrases in
108126 French in the same tone as those that had been addressed to her, and
108127 asked: "How is he?"
108128
108129 "The doctor says that he is not in danger," said the countess, but
108130 as she spoke she raised her eyes with a sigh, and her gesture conveyed
108131 a contradiction of her words.
108132
108133 "Where is he? Can I see him--can I?" asked the princess.
108134
108135 "One moment, Princess, one moment, my dear! Is this his son?" said
108136 the countess, turning to little Nicholas who was coming in with
108137 Dessalles. "There will be room for everybody, this is a big house. Oh,
108138 what a lovely boy!"
108139
108140 The countess took Princess Mary into the drawing room, where Sonya
108141 was talking to Mademoiselle Bourienne. The countess caressed the
108142 boy, and the old count came in and welcomed the princess. He had
108143 changed very much since Princess Mary had last seen him. Then he had
108144 been a brisk, cheerful, self-assured old man; now he seemed a pitiful,
108145 bewildered person. While talking to Princess Mary he continually
108146 looked round as if asking everyone whether he was doing the right
108147 thing. After the destruction of Moscow and of his property, thrown out
108148 of his accustomed groove he seemed to have lost the sense of his own
108149 significance and to feel that there was no longer a place for him in
108150 life.
108151
108152 In spite of her one desire to see her brother as soon as possible,
108153 and her vexation that at the moment when all she wanted was to see him
108154 they should be trying to entertain her and pretending to admire her
108155 nephew, the princess noticed all that was going on around her and felt
108156 the necessity of submitting, for a time, to this new order of things
108157 which she had entered. She knew it to be necessary, and though it
108158 was hard for her she was not vexed with these people.
108159
108160 "This is my niece," said the count, introducing Sonya--"You don't
108161 know her, Princess?"
108162
108163 Princess Mary turned to Sonya and, trying to stifle the hostile
108164 feeling that arose in her toward the girl, she kissed her. But she
108165 felt oppressed by the fact that the mood of everyone around her was so
108166 far from what was in her own heart.
108167
108168 "Where is he?" she asked again, addressing them all.
108169
108170 "He is downstairs. Natasha is with him," answered Sonya, flushing.
108171 "We have sent to ask. I think you must be tired, Princess."
108172
108173 Tears of vexation showed themselves in Princess Mary's eyes. She
108174 turned away and was about to ask the countess again how to go to
108175 him, when light, impetuous, and seemingly buoyant steps were heard
108176 at the door. The princess looked round and saw Natasha coming in,
108177 almost running--that Natasha whom she had liked so little at their
108178 meeting in Moscow long since.
108179
108180 But hardly had the princess looked at Natasha's face before she
108181 realized that here was a real comrade in her grief, and consequently a
108182 friend. She ran to meet her, embraced her, and began to cry on her
108183 shoulder.
108184
108185 As soon as Natasha, sitting at the head of Prince Andrew's bed,
108186 heard of Princess Mary's arrival, she softly left his room and
108187 hastened to her with those swift steps that had sounded buoyant to
108188 Princess Mary.
108189
108190 There was only one expression on her agitated face when she ran into
108191 the drawing room--that of love--boundless love for him, for her, and
108192 for all that was near to the man she loved; and of pity, suffering for
108193 others, and passionate desire to give herself entirely to helping
108194 them. It was plain that at that moment there was in Natasha's heart no
108195 thought of herself or of her own relations with Prince Andrew.
108196
108197 Princess Mary, with her acute sensibility, understood all this at
108198 the first glance at Natasha's face, and wept on her shoulder with
108199 sorrowful pleasure.
108200
108201 "Come, come to him, Mary," said Natasha, leading her into the
108202 other room.
108203
108204 Princess Mary raised her head, dried her eyes, and turned to
108205 Natasha. She felt that from her she would be able to understand and
108206 learn everything.
108207
108208 "How..." she began her question but stopped short.
108209
108210 She felt that it was impossible to ask, or to answer, in words.
108211 Natasha's face eyes would have to tell her all more clearly
108212 and profoundly.
108213
108214 Natasha was gazing at her, but seemed afraid and in doubt whether to
108215 say all she knew or not; she seemed to feel that before those luminous
108216 eyes which penetrated into the very depths of her heart, it was
108217 impossible not to tell the whole truth which she saw. And suddenly,
108218 Natasha's lips twitched, ugly wrinkles gathered round her mouth, and
108219 covering her face with her hands she burst into sobs.
108220
108221 Princess Mary understood.
108222
108223 But she still hoped, and asked, in words she herself did not trust:
108224
108225 "But how is his wound? What is his general condition?"
108226
108227 "You, you... will see," was all Natasha could say.
108228
108229 They sat a little while downstairs near his room till they had
108230 left off crying and were able to go to him with calm faces.
108231
108232 "How has his whole illness gone? Is it long since he grew worse?
108233 When did this happen?" Princess Mary inquired.
108234
108235 Natasha told her that at first there had been danger from his
108236 feverish condition and the pain he suffered, but at Troitsa that had
108237 passed and the doctor had only been afraid of gangrene. That danger
108238 had also passed. When they reached Yaroslavl the wound had begun to
108239 fester (Natasha knew all about such things as festering) and the
108240 doctor had said that the festering might take a normal course. Then
108241 fever set in, but the doctor had said the fever was not very serious.
108242
108243 "But two days ago this suddenly happened," said Natasha,
108244 struggling with her sobs. "I don't know why, but you will see what
108245 he is like."
108246
108247 "Is he weaker? Thinner?" asked the princess.
108248
108249 "No, it's not that, but worse. You will see. O, Mary, he is too
108250 good, he cannot, cannot live, because..."
108251
108252
108253
108254
108255
108256 CHAPTER XV
108257
108258
108259 When Natasha opened Prince Andrew's door with a familiar movement
108260 and let Princess Mary pass into the room before her, the princess felt
108261 the sobs in her throat. Hard as she had tried to prepare herself,
108262 and now tried to remain tranquil, she knew that she would be unable to
108263 look at him without tears.
108264
108265 The princess understood what Natasha had meant by the words: "two
108266 days ago this suddenly happened." She understood those words to mean
108267 that he had suddenly softened and that this softening and gentleness
108268 were signs of approaching death. As she stepped to the door she
108269 already saw in imagination Andrew's face as she remembered it in
108270 childhood, a gentle, mild, sympathetic face which he had rarely shown,
108271 and which therefore affected her very strongly. She was sure he
108272 would speak soft, tender words to her such as her father had uttered
108273 before his death, and that she would not be able to bear it and
108274 would burst into sobs in his presence. Yet sooner or later it had to
108275 be, and she went in. The sobs rose higher and higher in her throat
108276 as she more and more clearly distinguished his form and her
108277 shortsighted eyes tried to make out his features, and then she saw his
108278 face and met his gaze.
108279
108280 He was lying in a squirrel-fur dressing gown on a divan,
108281 surrounded by pillows. He was thin and pale. In one thin,
108282 translucently white hand he held a handkerchief, while with the
108283 other he stroked the delicate mustache he had grown, moving his
108284 fingers slowly. His eyes gazed at them as they entered.
108285
108286 On seeing his face and meeting his eyes Princess Mary's pace
108287 suddenly slackened, she felt her tears dry up and her sobs ceased. She
108288 suddenly felt guilty and grew timid on catching the expression of
108289 his face and eyes.
108290
108291 "But in what am I to blame?" she asked herself. And his cold,
108292 stern look replied: "Because you are alive and thinking of the living,
108293 while I..."
108294
108295 In the deep gaze that seemed to look not outwards but
108296 inwards there was an almost hostile expression as he slowly regarded
108297 his sister and Natasha.
108298
108299 He kissed his sister, holding her hand in his as was their wont.
108300
108301 "How are you, Mary? How did you manage to get here?" said he in a
108302 voice as calm and aloof as his look.
108303
108304 Had he screamed in agony, that scream would not have struck such
108305 horror into Princess Mary's heart as the tone of his voice.
108306
108307 "And have you brought little Nicholas?" he asked in the same slow,
108308 quiet manner and with an obvious effort to remember.
108309
108310 "How are you now?" said Princess Mary, herself surprised at what she
108311 was saying.
108312
108313 "That, my dear, you must ask the doctor," he replied, and again
108314 making an evident effort to be affectionate, he said with his lips
108315 only (his words clearly did not correspond to his thoughts):
108316
108317 "Merci, chere amie, d'etre venue."*
108318
108319
108320 *"Thank you for coming, my dear."
108321
108322
108323 Princess Mary pressed his hand. The pressure made him wince just
108324 perceptibly. He was silent, and she did not know what to say. She
108325 now understood what had happened to him two days before. In his words,
108326 his tone, and especially in that calm, almost antagonistic look
108327 could be felt an estrangement from everything belonging to this world,
108328 terrible in one who is alive. Evidently only with an effort did he
108329 understand anything living; but it was obvious that he failed to
108330 understand, not because he lacked the power to do so but because he
108331 understood something else--something the living did not and could
108332 not understand--and which wholly occupied his mind.
108333
108334 "There, you see how strangely fate has brought us together," said
108335 he, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. "She looks after
108336 me all the time."
108337
108338 Princess Mary heard him and did not understand how he could say such
108339 a thing. He, the sensitive, tender Prince Andrew, how could he say
108340 that, before her whom he loved and who loved him? Had he expected to
108341 live he could not have said those words in that offensively cold tone.
108342 If he had not known that he was dying, how could he have failed to
108343 pity her and how could he speak like that in her presence? The only
108344 explanation was that he was indifferent, because something else,
108345 much more important, had been revealed to him.
108346
108347 The conversation was cold and disconnected and continually broke
108348 off.
108349
108350 "Mary came by way of Ryazan," said Natasha.
108351
108352 Prince Andrew did not notice that she called his sister Mary, and
108353 only after calling her so in his presence did Natasha notice it
108354 herself.
108355
108356 "Really?" he asked.
108357
108358 "They told her that all Moscow has been burned down, and that..."
108359
108360 Natasha stopped. It was impossible to talk. It was plain that he was
108361 making an effort to listen, but could not do so.
108362
108363 "Yes, they say it's burned," he said. "It's a great pity," and he
108364 gazed straight before him, absently stroking his mustache with his
108365 fingers.
108366
108367 "And so you have met Count Nicholas, Mary?" Prince Andrew suddenly
108368 said, evidently wishing to speak pleasantly to them. "He wrote here
108369 that he took a great liking to you," he went on simply and calmly,
108370 evidently unable to understand all the complex significance his
108371 words had for living people. "If you liked him too, it would be a good
108372 thing for you to get married," he added rather more quickly, as if
108373 pleased at having found words he had long been seeking.
108374
108375 Princess Mary heard his words but they had no meaning for her,
108376 except as a proof of how far away he now was from everything living.
108377
108378 "Why talk of me?" she said quietly and glanced at Natasha.
108379
108380 Natasha, who felt her glance, did not look at her. All three were
108381 again silent.
108382
108383 "Andrew, would you like..." Princess Mary suddenly said in a
108384 trembling voice, "would you like to see little Nicholas? He is
108385 always talking about you!"
108386
108387 Prince Andrew smiled just perceptibly and for the first time, but
108388 Princess Mary, who knew his face so well, saw with horror that he
108389 did not smile with pleasure or affection for his son, but with
108390 quiet, gentle irony because he thought she was trying what she
108391 believed to be the last means of arousing him.
108392
108393 "Yes, I shall be very glad to see him. Is he quite well?"
108394
108395 When little Nicholas was brought into Prince Andrew's room he looked
108396 at his father with frightened eyes, but did not cry, because no one
108397 else was crying. Prince Andrew kissed him and evidently did not know
108398 what to say to him.
108399
108400 When Nicholas had been led away, Princess Mary again went up to
108401 her brother, kissed him, and unable to restrain her tears any longer
108402 began to cry.
108403
108404 He looked at her attentively.
108405
108406 "Is it about Nicholas?" he asked.
108407
108408 Princess Mary nodded her head, weeping.
108409
108410 "Mary, you know the Gosp..." but he broke off.
108411
108412 "What did you say?"
108413
108414 "Nothing. You mustn't cry here," he said, looking at her with the
108415 same cold expression.
108416
108417
108418 When Princess Mary began to cry, he understood that she was crying
108419 at the thought that little Nicholas would be left without a father.
108420 With a great effort he tried to return to life and to see things
108421 from their point of view.
108422
108423 "Yes, to them it must seem sad!" he thought. "But how simple it is.
108424
108425 "The fowls of the air sow not, neither do they reap, yet your Father
108426 feedeth them," he said to himself and wished to say to Princess
108427 Mary; "but no, they will take it their own way, they won't understand!
108428 They can't understand that all those feelings they prize so--all our
108429 feelings, all those ideas that seem so important to us, are
108430 unnecessary. We cannot understand one another," and he remained
108431 silent.
108432
108433
108434 Prince Andrew's little son was seven. He could scarcely read, and
108435 knew nothing. After that day he lived through many things, gaining
108436 knowledge, observation, and experience, but had he possessed all the
108437 faculties he afterwards acquired, he could not have had a better or
108438 more profound understanding of the meaning of the scene he had
108439 witnessed between his father, Mary, and Natasha, than he had then.
108440 He understood it completely, and, leaving the room without crying,
108441 went silently up to Natasha who had come out with him and looked shyly
108442 at her with his beautiful, thoughtful eyes, then his uplifted, rosy
108443 upper lip trembled and leaning his head against her he began to cry.
108444
108445 After that he avoided Dessalles and the countess who caressed him
108446 and either sat alone or came timidly to Princess Mary, or to Natasha
108447 of whom he seemed even fonder than of his aunt, and clung to them
108448 quietly and shyly.
108449
108450 When Princess Mary had left Prince Andrew she fully understood
108451 what Natasha's face had told her. She did not speak any more to
108452 Natasha of hopes of saving his life. She took turns with her beside
108453 his sofa, and did not cry any more, but prayed continually, turning in
108454 soul to that Eternal and Unfathomable, whose presence above the
108455 dying man was now so evident.
108456
108457
108458
108459
108460
108461 CHAPTER XVI
108462
108463
108464 Not only did Prince Andrew know he would die, but he felt that he
108465 was dying and was already half dead. He was conscious of an
108466 aloofness from everything earthly and a strange and joyous lightness
108467 of existence. Without haste or agitation he awaited what was coming.
108468 That inexorable, eternal, distant, and unknown the presence of which
108469 he had felt continually all his life--was now near to him and, by
108470 the strange lightness he experienced, almost comprehensible and
108471 palpable...
108472
108473
108474 Formerly he had feared the end. He had twice experienced that
108475 terribly tormenting fear of death--the end--but now he no longer
108476 understood that fear.
108477
108478 He had felt it for the first time when the shell spun like a top
108479 before him, and he looked at the fallow field, the bushes, and the
108480 sky, and knew that he was face to face with death. When he came to
108481 himself after being wounded and the flower of eternal, unfettered love
108482 had instantly unfolded itself in his soul as if freed from the bondage
108483 of life that had restrained it, he no longer feared death and ceased
108484 to think about it.
108485
108486 During the hours of solitude, suffering, and partial delirium he
108487 spent after he was wounded, the more deeply he penetrated into the new
108488 principle of eternal love revealed to him, the more he unconsciously
108489 detached himself from earthly life. To love everything and everybody
108490 and always to sacrifice oneself for love meant not to love anyone, not
108491 to live this earthly life. And the more imbued he became with that
108492 principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more
108493 completely he destroyed that dreadful barrier which--in the absence of
108494 such love--stands between life and death. When during those first days
108495 he remembered that he would have to die, he said to himself: "Well,
108496 what of it? So much the better!"
108497
108498 But after the night in Mytishchi when, half delirious, he had seen
108499 her for whom he longed appear before him and, having pressed her
108500 hand to his lips, had shed gentle, happy tears, love for a
108501 particular woman again crept unobserved into his heart and once more
108502 bound him to life. And joyful and agitating thoughts began to occupy
108503 his mind. Recalling the moment at the ambulance station when he had
108504 seen Kuragin, he could not now regain the feeling he then had, but was
108505 tormented by the question whether Kuragin was alive. And he dared
108506 not inquire.
108507
108508 His illness pursued its normal physical course, but what Natasha
108509 referred to when she said: "This suddenly happened," had occurred
108510 two days before Princess Mary arrived. It was the last spiritual
108511 struggle between life and death, in which death gained the victory. It
108512 was the unexpected realization of the fact that he still valued life
108513 as presented to him in the form of his love for Natasha, and a last,
108514 though ultimately vanquished, attack of terror before the unknown.
108515
108516 It was evening. As usual after dinner he was slightly feverish,
108517 and his thoughts were preternaturally clear. Sonya was sitting by
108518 the table. He began to doze. Suddenly a feeling of happiness seized
108519 him.
108520
108521 "Ah, she has come!" thought he.
108522
108523 And so it was: in Sonya's place sat Natasha who had just come in
108524 noiselessly.
108525
108526 Since she had begun looking after him, he had always experienced
108527 this physical consciousness of her nearness. She was sitting in an
108528 armchair placed sideways, screening the light of the candle from
108529 him, and was knitting a stocking. She had learned to knit stockings
108530 since Prince Andrew had casually mentioned that no one nursed the sick
108531 so well as old nurses who knit stockings, and that there is
108532 something soothing in the knitting of stockings. The needles clicked
108533 lightly in her slender, rapidly moving hands, and he could clearly see
108534 the thoughtful profile of her drooping face. She moved, and the ball
108535 rolled off her knees. She started, glanced round at him, and screening
108536 the candle with her hand stooped carefully with a supple and exact
108537 movement, picked up the ball, and regained her former position.
108538
108539 He looked at her without moving and saw that she wanted to draw a
108540 deep breath after stooping, but refrained from doing so and breathed
108541 cautiously.
108542
108543 At the Troitsa monastery they had spoken of the past, and he had
108544 told her that if he lived he would always thank God for his wound
108545 which had brought them together again, but after that they never spoke
108546 of the future.
108547
108548 "Can it or can it not be?" he now thought as he looked at her and
108549 listened to the light click of the steel needles. "Can fate have
108550 brought me to her so strangely only for me to die?... Is it possible
108551 that the truth of life has been revealed to me only to show me that
108552 I have spent my life in falsity? I love her more than anything in
108553 the world! But what am I to do if I love her?" he thought, and he
108554 involuntarily groaned, from a habit acquired during his sufferings.
108555
108556 On hearing that sound Natasha put down the stocking, leaned nearer
108557 to him, and suddenly, noticing his shining eyes, stepped lightly up to
108558 him and bent over him.
108559
108560 "You are not asleep?"
108561
108562 "No, I have been looking at you a long time. I felt you come in.
108563 No one else gives me that sense of soft tranquillity that you do...
108564 that light. I want to weep for joy."
108565
108566 Natasha drew closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy.
108567
108568 "Natasha, I love you too much! More than anything in the world."
108569
108570 "And I!"--She turned away for an instant. "Why too much?" she asked.
108571
108572 "Why too much?... Well, what do you, what do you feel in your
108573 soul, your whole soul--shall I live? What do you think?"
108574
108575 "I am sure of it, sure!" Natasha almost shouted, taking hold of both
108576 his hands with a passionate movement.
108577
108578 He remained silent awhile.
108579
108580 "How good it would be!" and taking her hand he kissed it.
108581
108582 Natasha felt happy and agitated, but at once remembered that this
108583 would not do and that he had to be quiet.
108584
108585 "But you have not slept," she said, repressing her joy. "Try to
108586 sleep... please!"
108587
108588 He pressed her hand and released it, and she went back to the candle
108589 and sat down again in her former position. Twice she turned and looked
108590 at him, and her eyes met his beaming at her. She set herself a task on
108591 her stocking and resolved not to turn round till it was finished.
108592
108593 Soon he really shut his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep
108594 long and suddenly awoke with a start and in a cold perspiration.
108595
108596 As he fell asleep he had still been thinking of the subject that now
108597 always occupied his mind--about life and death, and chiefly about
108598 death. He felt himself nearer to it.
108599
108600 "Love? What is love?" he thought.
108601
108602 "Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I
108603 understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is,
108604 everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it
108605 alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall
108606 return to the general and eternal source." These thoughts seemed to
108607 him comforting. But they were only thoughts. Something was lacking
108608 in them, they were not clear, they were too one-sidedly personal and
108609 brain-spun. And there was the former agitation and obscurity. He
108610 fell asleep.
108611
108612 He dreamed that he was lying in the room he really was in, but
108613 that he was quite well and unwounded. Many various, indifferent, and
108614 insignificant people appeared before him. He talked to them and
108615 discussed something trivial. They were preparing to go away somewhere.
108616 Prince Andrew dimly realized that all this was trivial and that he had
108617 more important cares, but he continued to speak, surprising them by
108618 empty witticisms. Gradually, unnoticed, all these persons began to
108619 disappear and a single question, that of the closed door, superseded
108620 all else. He rose and went to the door to bolt and lock it. Everything
108621 depended on whether he was, or was not, in time to lock it. He went,
108622 and tried to hurry, but his legs refused to move and he knew he
108623 would not be in time to lock the door though he painfully strained all
108624 his powers. He was seized by an agonizing fear. And that fear was
108625 the fear of death. It stood behind the door. But just when he was
108626 clumsily creeping toward the door, that dreadful something on the
108627 other side was already pressing against it and forcing its way in.
108628 Something not human--death--was breaking in through that door, and had
108629 to be kept out. He seized the door, making a final effort to hold it
108630 back--to lock it was no longer possible--but his efforts were weak and
108631 clumsy and the door, pushed from behind by that terror, opened and
108632 closed again.
108633
108634 Once again it pushed from outside. His last superhuman efforts
108635 were vain and both halves of the door noiselessly opened. It
108636 entered, and it was death, and Prince Andrew died.
108637
108638 But at the instant he died, Prince Andrew remembered that he was
108639 asleep, and at the very instant he died, having made an effort, he
108640 awoke.
108641
108642 "Yes, it was death! I died--and woke up. Yes, death is an
108643 awakening!" And all at once it grew light in his soul and the veil
108644 that had till then concealed the unknown was lifted from his spiritual
108645 vision. He felt as if powers till then confined within him had been
108646 liberated, and that strange lightness did not again leave him.
108647
108648 When, waking in a cold perspiration, he moved on the divan,
108649 Natasha went up and asked him what was the matter. He did not answer
108650 and looked at her strangely, not understanding.
108651
108652 That was what had happened to him two days before Princess Mary's
108653 arrival. From that day, as the doctor expressed it, the wasting
108654 fever assumed a malignant character, but what the doctor said did
108655 not interest Natasha, she saw the terrible moral symptoms which to her
108656 were more convincing.
108657
108658 From that day an awakening from life came to Prince Andrew
108659 together with his awakening from sleep. And compared to the duration
108660 of life it did not seem to him slower than an awakening from sleep
108661 compared to the duration of a dream.
108662
108663 There was nothing terrible or violent in this comparatively slow
108664 awakening.
108665
108666 His last days and hours passed in an ordinary and simple way. Both
108667 Princess Mary and Natasha, who did not leave him, felt this. They
108668 did not weep or shudder and during these last days they themselves
108669 felt that they were not attending on him (he was no longer there, he
108670 had left them) but on what reminded them most closely of him--his
108671 body. Both felt this so strongly that the outward and terrible side of
108672 death did not affect them and they did not feel it necessary to foment
108673 their grief. Neither in his presence nor out of it did they weep,
108674 nor did they ever talk to one another about him. They felt that they
108675 could not express in words what they understood.
108676
108677 They both saw that he was sinking slowly and quietly, deeper and
108678 deeper, away from them, and they both knew that this had to be so
108679 and that it was right.
108680
108681 He confessed, and received communion: everyone came to take leave of
108682 him. When they brought his son to him, he pressed his lips to the
108683 boy's and turned away, not because he felt it hard and sad (Princess
108684 Mary and Natasha understood that) but simply because he thought it was
108685 all that was required of him, but when they told him to bless the boy,
108686 he did what was demanded and looked round as if asking whether there
108687 was anything else he should do.
108688
108689 When the last convulsions of the body, which the spirit was leaving,
108690 occurred, Princess Mary and Natasha were present.
108691
108692 "Is it over?" said Princess Mary when his body had for a few minutes
108693 lain motionless, growing cold before them. Natasha went up, looked
108694 at the dead eyes, and hastened to close them. She closed them but
108695 did not kiss them, but clung to that which reminded her most nearly of
108696 him--his body.
108697
108698 "Where has he gone? Where is he now?..."
108699
108700 When the body, washed and dressed, lay in the coffin on a table,
108701 everyone came to take leave of him and they all wept.
108702
108703 Little Nicholas cried because his heart was rent by painful
108704 perplexity. The countess and Sonya cried from pity for Natasha and
108705 because he was no more. The old count cried because he felt that
108706 before long, he, too, must take the same terrible step.
108707
108708 Natasha and Princess Mary also wept now, but not because of their
108709 own personal grief; they wept with a reverent and softening emotion
108710 which had taken possession of their souls at the consciousness of
108711 the simple and solemn mystery of death that had been accomplished in
108712 their presence.
108713
108714
108715
108716
108717
108718 BOOK THIRTEEN: 1812
108719
108720
108721
108722
108723
108724 CHAPTER I
108725
108726
108727 Man's mind cannot grasp the causes of events in their
108728 completeness, but the desire to find those causes is implanted in
108729 man's soul. And without considering the multiplicity and complexity of
108730 the conditions any one of which taken separately may seem to be the
108731 cause, he snatches at the first approximation to a cause that seems to
108732 him intelligible and says: "This is the cause!" In historical events
108733 (where the actions of men are the subject of observation) the first
108734 and most primitive approximation to present itself was the will of the
108735 gods and, after that, the will of those who stood in the most
108736 prominent position--the heroes of history. But we need only
108737 penetrate to the essence of any historic event--which lies in the
108738 activity of the general mass of men who take part in it--to be
108739 convinced that the will of the historic hero does not control the
108740 actions of the mass but is itself continually controlled. It may
108741 seem to be a matter of indifference whether we understand the
108742 meaning of historical events this way or that; yet there is the same
108743 difference between a man who says that the people of the West moved on
108744 the East because Napoleon wished it and a man who says that this
108745 happened because it had to happen, as there is between those who
108746 declared that the earth was stationary and that the planets moved
108747 round it and those who admitted that they did not know what upheld the
108748 earth, but knew there were laws directing its movement and that of the
108749 other planets. There is, and can be, no cause of an historical event
108750 except the one cause of all causes. But there are laws directing
108751 events, and some of these laws are known to us while we are
108752 conscious of others we cannot comprehend. The discovery of these
108753 laws is only possible when we have quite abandoned the
108754 attempt to find the cause in the will of some one man, just as the
108755 discovery of the laws of the motion of the planets was possible only
108756 when men abandoned the conception of the fixity of the earth.
108757
108758 The historians consider that, next to the battle of Borodino and the
108759 occupation of Moscow by the enemy and its destruction by fire, the
108760 most important episode of the war of 1812 was the movement of the
108761 Russian army from the Ryazana to the Kaluga road and to the Tarutino
108762 camp--the so-called flank march across the Krasnaya Pakhra River. They
108763 ascribe the glory of that achievement of genius to different men and
108764 dispute as to whom the honor is due. Even foreign historians,
108765 including the French, acknowledge the genius of the Russian commanders
108766 when they speak of that flank march. But it is hard to understand
108767 why military writers, and following them others, consider this flank
108768 march to be the profound conception of some one man who saved Russia
108769 and destroyed Napoleon. In the first place it is hard to understand
108770 where the profundity and genius of this movement lay, for not much
108771 mental effort was needed to see that the best position for an army
108772 when it is not being attacked is where there are most provisions;
108773 and even a dull boy of thirteen could have guessed that the best
108774 position for an army after its retreat from Moscow in 1812 was on
108775 the Kaluga road. So it is impossible to understand by what reasoning
108776 the historians reach the conclusion that this maneuver was a
108777 profound one. And it is even more difficult to understand just why
108778 they think that this maneuver was calculated to save Russia and
108779 destroy the French; for this flank march, had it been preceded,
108780 accompanied, or followed by other circumstances, might have proved
108781 ruinous to the Russians and salutary for the French. If the position
108782 of the Russian army really began to improve from the time of that
108783 march, it does not at all follow that the march was the cause of it.
108784
108785 That flank march might not only have failed to give any advantage to
108786 the Russian army, but might in other circumstances have led to its
108787 destruction. What would have happened had Moscow not burned down? If
108788 Murat had not lost sight of the Russians? If Napoleon had not remained
108789 inactive? If the Russian army at Krasnaya Pakhra had given battle as
108790 Bennigsen and Barclay advised? What would have happened had the French
108791 attacked the Russians while they were marching beyond the Pakhra? What
108792 would have happened if on approaching Tarutino, Napoleon had
108793 attacked the Russians with but a tenth of the energy he had shown when
108794 he attacked them at Smolensk? What would have happened had the
108795 French moved on Petersburg?... In any of these eventualities the flank
108796 march that brought salvation might have proved disastrous.
108797
108798 The third and most incomprehensible thing is that people studying
108799 history deliberately avoid seeing that this flank march cannot be
108800 attributed to any one man, that no one ever foresaw it, and that in
108801 reality, like the retreat from Fili, it did not suggest itself to
108802 anyone in its entirety, but resulted--moment by moment, step by
108803 step, event by event--from an endless number of most diverse
108804 circumstances and was only seen in its entirety when it had been
108805 accomplished and belonged to the past.
108806
108807 At the council at Fili the prevailing thought in the minds of the
108808 Russian commanders was the one naturally suggesting itself, namely,
108809 a direct retreat by the Nizhni road. In proof of this there is the
108810 fact that the majority of the council voted for such a retreat, and
108811 above all there is the well-known conversation after the council,
108812 between the commander in chief and Lanskoy, who was in charge of the
108813 commissariat department. Lanskoy informed the commander in chief
108814 that the army supplies were for the most part stored along the Oka
108815 in the Tula and Ryazan provinces, and that if they retreated on Nizhni
108816 the army would be separated from its supplies by the broad river
108817 Oka, which cannot be crossed early in winter. This was the first
108818 indication of the necessity of deviating from what had previously
108819 seemed the most natural course--a direct retreat on Nizhni-Novgorod.
108820 The army turned more to the south, along the Ryazan road and nearer to
108821 its supplies. Subsequently the inactivity of the French (who even
108822 lost sight of the Russian army), concern for the safety of the arsenal
108823 at Tula, and especially the advantages of drawing nearer to its
108824 supplies caused the army to turn still further south to the Tula road.
108825 Having crossed over, by a forced march, to the Tula road beyond the
108826 Pakhra, the Russian commanders intended to remain at Podolsk and had
108827 no thought of the Tarutino position; but innumerable circumstances and
108828 the reappearance of French troops who had for a time lost touch with
108829 the Russians, and projects of giving battle, and above all the
108830 abundance of provisions in Kaluga province, obliged our army to turn
108831 still more to the south and to cross from the Tula to the Kaluga
108832 road and go to Tarutino, which was between the roads along which those
108833 supplies lay. Just as it is impossible to say when it was decided to
108834 abandon Moscow, so it is impossible to say precisely when, or by whom,
108835 it was decided to move to Tarutino. Only when the army had got
108836 there, as the result of innumerable and varying forces, did people
108837 begin to assure themselves that they had desired this movement and
108838 long ago foreseen its result.
108839
108840
108841
108842
108843
108844 CHAPTER II
108845
108846
108847 The famous flank movement merely consisted in this: after the
108848 advance of the French had ceased, the Russian army, which had been
108849 continually retreating straight back from the invaders, deviated
108850 from that direct course and, not finding itself pursued, was naturally
108851 drawn toward the district where supplies were abundant.
108852
108853 If instead of imagining to ourselves commanders of genius leading
108854 the Russian army, we picture that army without any leaders, it could
108855 not have done anything but make a return movement toward Moscow,
108856 describing an arc in the direction where most provisions were to be
108857 found and where the country was richest.
108858
108859 That movement from the Nizhni to the Ryazan, Tula, and Kaluga
108860 roads was so natural that even the Russian marauders moved in that
108861 direction, and demands were sent from Petersburg for Kutuzov to take
108862 his army that way. At Tarutino Kutuzov received what was almost a
108863 reprimand from the Emperor for having moved his army along the
108864 Ryazan road, and the Emperor's letter indicated to him the very
108865 position he had already occupied near Kaluga.
108866
108867 Having rolled like a ball in the direction of the impetus given by
108868 the whole campaign and by the battle of Borodino, the Russian army-
108869 when the strength of that impetus was exhausted and no fresh push
108870 was received--assumed the position natural to it.
108871
108872 Kutuzov's merit lay, not in any strategic maneuver of genius, as
108873 it is called, but in the fact that he alone understood the
108874 significance of what had happened. He alone then understood the
108875 meaning of the French army's inactivity, he alone continued to
108876 assert that the battle of Borodino had been a victory, he alone--who
108877 as commander in chief might have been expected to be eager to
108878 attack--employed his whole strength to restrain the Russian army
108879 from useless engagements.
108880
108881 The beast wounded at Borodino was lying where the fleeing hunter had
108882 left him; but whether he was still alive, whether he was strong and
108883 merely lying low, the hunter did not know. Suddenly the beast was
108884 heard to moan.
108885
108886 The moan of that wounded beast (the French army) which betrayed
108887 its calamitous condition was the sending of Lauriston to Kutuzov's
108888 camp with overtures for peace.
108889
108890 Napoleon, with his usual assurance that whatever entered his head
108891 was right, wrote to Kutuzov the first words that occurred to him,
108892 though they were meaningless.
108893
108894
108895 MONSIEUR LE PRINCE KOUTOUZOV: I am sending one of my
108896 adjutants-general to discuss several interesting questions with you. I
108897 beg your Highness to credit what he says to you, especially when he
108898 expresses the sentiment of esteem and special regard I have long
108899 entertained for your person. This letter having no other object, I
108900 pray God, monsieur le Prince Koutouzov, to keep you in His holy and
108901 gracious protection!
108902
108903 NAPOLEON
108904
108905 MOSCOW, OCTOBER 30, 1812
108906
108907
108908 Kutuzov replied: "I should be cursed by posterity were I looked on
108909 as the initiator of a settlement of any sort. Such is the present
108910 spirit of my nation." But he continued to exert all his powers to
108911 restrain his troops from attacking.
108912
108913 During the month that the French troops were pillaging in Moscow and
108914 the Russian troops were quietly encamped at Tarutino, a change had
108915 taken place in the relative strength of the two armies--both in spirit
108916 and in number--as a result of which the superiority had passed to
108917 the Russian side. Though the condition and numbers of the French
108918 army were unknown to the Russians, as soon as that change occurred the
108919 need of attacking at once showed itself by countless signs. These
108920 signs were: Lauriston's mission; the abundance of provisions at
108921 Tarutino; the reports coming in from all sides of the inactivity and
108922 disorder of the French; the flow of recruits to our regiments; the
108923 fine weather; the long rest the Russian soldiers had enjoyed, and
108924 the impatience to do what they had been assembled for, which usually
108925 shows itself in an army that has been resting; curiosity as to what
108926 the French army, so long lost sight of, was doing; the boldness with
108927 which our outposts now scouted close up to the French stationed at
108928 Tarutino; the news of easy successes gained by peasants and
108929 guerrilla troops over the French, the envy aroused by this; the desire
108930 for revenge that lay in the heart of every Russian as long as the
108931 French were in Moscow, and (above all) a dim consciousness in every
108932 soldier's mind that the relative strength of the armies had changed
108933 and that the advantage was now on our side. There was a substantial
108934 change in the relative strength, and an advance had become inevitable.
108935 And at once, as a clock begins to strike and chime as soon as the
108936 minute hand has completed a full circle, this change was shown by an
108937 increased activity, whirring, and chiming in the higher spheres.
108938
108939
108940
108941
108942
108943 CHAPTER III
108944
108945
108946 The Russian army was commanded by Kutuzov and his staff, and also by
108947 the Emperor from Petersburg. Before the news of the abandonment of
108948 Moscow had been received in Petersburg, a detailed plan of the whole
108949 campaign had been drawn up and sent to Kutuzov for his guidance.
108950 Though this plan had been drawn up on the supposition that Moscow
108951 was still in our hands, it was approved by the staff and accepted as a
108952 basis for action. Kutuzov only replied that movements arranged from
108953 a distance were always difficult to execute. So fresh instructions
108954 were sent for the solution of difficulties that might be
108955 encountered, as well as fresh people who were to watch Kutuzov's
108956 actions and report upon them.
108957
108958 Besides this, the whole staff of the Russian army was now
108959 reorganized. The posts left vacant by Bagration, who had been
108960 killed, and by Barclay, who had gone away in dudgeon, had to be
108961 filled. Very serious consideration was given to the question whether
108962 it would be better to put A in B's place and B in D's, or on the
108963 contrary to put D in A's place, and so on--as if anything more than
108964 A's or B's satisfaction depended on this.
108965
108966 As a result of the hostility between Kutuzov and Bennigsen, his
108967 Chief of Staff, the presence of confidential representatives of the
108968 Emperor, and these transfers, a more than usually complicated play
108969 of parties was going on among the staff of the army. A was undermining
108970 B, D was undermining C, and so on in all possible combinations and
108971 permutations. In all these plottings the subject of intrigue was
108972 generally the conduct of the war, which all these men believed they
108973 were directing; but this affair of the war went on independently of
108974 them, as it had to go: that is, never in the way people devised, but
108975 flowing always from the essential attitude of the masses. Only in
108976 the highest spheres did all these schemes, crossings, and
108977 interminglings appear to be a true reflection of what had to happen.
108978
108979
108980 Prince Michael Ilarionovich! (wrote the Emperor on the second of
108981 October in a letter that reached Kutuzov after the battle at Tarutino)
108982 Since September 2 Moscow has been in the hands of the enemy. Your last
108983 reports were written on the twentieth, and during all this time not
108984 only has no action been taken against the enemy or for the relief of
108985 the ancient capital, but according to your last report you have even
108986 retreated farther. Serpukhov is already occupied by an enemy
108987 detachment and Tula with its famous arsenal so indispensable to the
108988 army, is in danger. From General Wintzingerode's reports, I see that
108989 an enemy corps of ten thousand men is moving on the Petersburg road.
108990 Another corps of several thousand men is moving on Dmitrov. A third
108991 has advanced along the Vladimir road, and a fourth, rather
108992 considerable detachment is stationed between Ruza and Mozhaysk.
108993 Napoleon himself was in Moscow as late as the twenty-fifth. In view of
108994 all this information, when the enemy has scattered his forces in large
108995 detachments, and with Napoleon and his Guards in Moscow, is it
108996 possible that the enemy's forces confronting you are so considerable
108997 as not to allow of your taking the offensive? On the contrary, he is
108998 probably pursuing you with detachments, or at most with an army
108999 corps much weaker than the army entrusted to you. It would seem
109000 that, availing yourself of these circumstances, you might
109001 advantageously attack a weaker one and annihilate him, or at least
109002 oblige him to retreat, retaining in our hands an important part of the
109003 provinces now occupied by the enemy, and thereby averting danger
109004 from Tula and other towns in the interior. You will be responsible
109005 if the enemy is able to direct a force of any size against
109006 Petersburg to threaten this capital in which it has not been
109007 possible to retain many troops; for with the army entrusted to you,
109008 and acting with resolution and energy, you have ample means to avert
109009 this fresh calamity. Remember that you have still to answer to our
109010 offended country for the loss of Moscow. You have experienced my
109011 readiness to reward you. That readiness will not weaken in me, but I
109012 and Russia have a right to expect from you all the zeal, firmness, and
109013 success which your intellect, military talent, and the courage of
109014 the troops you command justify us in expecting.
109015
109016
109017 But by the time this letter, which proved that the real relation
109018 of the forces had already made itself felt in Petersburg, was
109019 dispatched, Kutuzov had found himself unable any longer to restrain
109020 the army he commanded from attacking and a battle had taken place.
109021
109022 On the second of October a Cossack, Shapovalov, who was out
109023 scouting, killed one hare and wounded another. Following the wounded
109024 hare he made his way far into the forest and came upon the left
109025 flank of Murat's army, encamped there without any precautions. The
109026 Cossack laughingly told his comrades how he had almost fallen into the
109027 hands of the French. A cornet, hearing the story, informed his
109028 commander.
109029
109030 The Cossack was sent for and questioned. The Cossack officers wished
109031 to take advantage of this chance to capture some horses, but one of
109032 the superior officers, who was acquainted with the higher authorities,
109033 reported the incident to a general on the staff. The state of
109034 things on the staff had of late been exceedingly strained. Ermolov had
109035 been to see Bennigsen a few days previously and had entreated him to
109036 use his influence with the commander in chief to induce him to take
109037 the offensive.
109038
109039 "If I did not know you I should think you did not want what you
109040 are asking for. I need only advise anything and his Highness is sure
109041 to do the opposite," replied Bennigsen.
109042
109043 The Cossack's report, confirmed by horse patrols who were sent
109044 out, was the final proof that events had matured. The tightly coiled
109045 spring was released, the clock began to whirr and the chimes to
109046 play. Despite all his supposed power, his intellect, his experience,
109047 and his knowledge of men, Kutuzov--having taken into consideration the
109048 Cossack's report, a note from Bennigsen who sent personal reports to
109049 the Emperor, the wishes he supposed the Emperor to hold, and the
109050 fact that all the generals expressed the same wish--could no longer
109051 check the inevitable movement, and gave the order to do what he
109052 regarded as useless and harmful--gave his approval, that is, to the
109053 accomplished fact.
109054
109055
109056
109057
109058
109059 CHAPTER IV
109060
109061
109062 Bennigsen's note and the Cossack's information that the left flank
109063 of the French was unguarded were merely final indications that it
109064 was necessary to order an attack, and it was fixed for the fifth of
109065 October.
109066
109067 On the morning of the fourth of October Kutuzov signed the
109068 dispositions. Toll read them to Ermolov, asking him to attend to the
109069 further arrangements.
109070
109071 "All right--all right. I haven't time just now," replied Ermolov,
109072 and left the hut.
109073
109074 The dispositions drawn up by Toll were very good. As in the
109075 Austerlitz dispositions, it was written--though not in German this
109076 time:
109077
109078 "The First Column will march here and here," "the Second Column will
109079 march there and there," and so on; and on paper, all these columns
109080 arrived at their places at the appointed time and destroyed the enemy.
109081 Everything had been admirably thought out as is usual in dispositions,
109082 and as is always the case, not a single column reached its place at
109083 the appointed time.
109084
109085 When the necessary number of copies of the dispositions had been
109086 prepared, an officer was summoned and sent to deliver them to
109087 Ermolov to deal with. A young officer of the Horse Guards, Kutuzov's
109088 orderly, pleased at the importance of the mission entrusted to him,
109089 went to Ermolov's quarters.
109090
109091 "Gone away," said Ermolov's orderly.
109092
109093 The officer of the Horse Guards went to a general with whom
109094 Ermolov was often to be found.
109095
109096 "No, and the general's out too."
109097
109098 The officer, mounting his horse, rode off to someone else.
109099
109100 "No, he's gone out."
109101
109102 "If only they don't make me responsible for this delay! What a
109103 nuisance it is!" thought the officer, and he rode round the whole
109104 camp. One man said he had seen Ermolov ride past with some other
109105 generals, others said he must have returned home. The officer searched
109106 till six o'clock in the evening without even stopping to eat.
109107 Ermolov was nowhere to be found and no one knew where he was. The
109108 officer snatched a little food at a comrade's, and rode again to the
109109 vanguard to find Miloradovich. Miloradovich too was away, but here
109110 he was told that he had gone to a ball at General Kikin's and that
109111 Ermolov was probably there too.
109112
109113 "But where is it?"
109114
109115 "Why, there, over at Echkino," said a Cossack officer, pointing to a
109116 country house in the far distance.
109117
109118 "What, outside our line?"
109119
109120 "They've put two regiments as outposts, and they're having such a
109121 spree there, it's awful! Two bands and three sets of singers!"
109122
109123 The officer rode out beyond our lines to Echkino. While still at a
109124 distance he heard as he rode the merry sounds of a soldier's dance
109125 song proceeding from the house.
109126
109127 "In the meadows... in the meadows!" he heard, accompanied by
109128 whistling and the sound of a torban, drowned every now and then by
109129 shouts. These sounds made his spirits rise, but at the same time he
109130 was afraid that he would be blamed for not having executed sooner
109131 the important order entrusted to him. It was already past eight
109132 o'clock. He dismounted and went up into the porch of a large country
109133 house which had remained intact between the Russian and French forces.
109134 In the refreshment room and the hall, footmen were bustling about with
109135 wine and viands. Groups of singers stood outside the windows. The
109136 officer was admitted and immediately saw all the chief generals of the
109137 army together, and among them Ermolov's big imposing figure. They
109138 all had their coats unbuttoned and were standing in a semicircle
109139 with flushed and animated faces, laughing loudly. In the middle of the
109140 room a short handsome general with a red face was dancing the trepak
109141 with much spirit and agility.
109142
109143 "Ha, ha, ha! Bravo, Nicholas Ivanych! Ha, ha, ha!"
109144
109145 The officer felt that by arriving with important orders at such a
109146 moment he was doubly to blame, and he would have preferred to wait;
109147 but one of the generals espied him and, hearing what he had come
109148 about, informed Ermolov.
109149
109150 Ermolov came forward with a frown on his face and, hearing what
109151 the officer had to say, took the papers from him without a word.
109152
109153
109154 "You think he went off just by chance?" said a comrade, who was on
109155 the staff that evening, to the officer of the Horse Guards,
109156 referring to Ermolov. "It was a trick. It was done on purpose to get
109157 Konovnitsyn into trouble. You'll see what a mess there'll be
109158 tomorrow."
109159
109160
109161
109162
109163
109164 CHAPTER V
109165
109166
109167 Next day the decrepit Kutuzov, having given orders to be called
109168 early, said his prayers, dressed, and, with an unpleasant
109169 consciousness of having to direct a battle he did not approve of,
109170 got into his caleche and drove from Letashovka (a village three and
109171 a half miles from Tarutino) to the place where the attacking columns
109172 were to meet. He sat in the caleche, dozing and waking up by turns,
109173 and listening for any sound of firing on the right as an indication
109174 that the action had begun. But all was still quiet. A damp dull autumn
109175 morning was just dawning. On approaching Tarutino Kutuzov noticed
109176 cavalrymen leading their horses to water across the road along which
109177 he was driving. Kutuzov looked at them searchingly, stopped his
109178 carriage, and inquired what regiment they belonged to. They belonged
109179 to a column that should have been far in front and in ambush long
109180 before then. "It may be a mistake," thought the old commander in
109181 chief. But a little further on he saw infantry regiments with their
109182 arms piled and the soldiers, only partly dressed, eating their rye
109183 porridge and carrying fuel. He sent for an officer. The officer
109184 reported that no order to advance had been received.
109185
109186 "How! Not rec..." Kutuzov began, but checked himself immediately and
109187 sent for a senior officer. Getting out of his caleche, he waited
109188 with drooping head and breathing heavily, pacing silently up and down.
109189 When Eykhen, the officer of the general staff whom he had summoned,
109190 appeared, Kutuzov went purple in the face, not because that officer
109191 was to blame for the mistake, but because he was an object of
109192 sufficient importance for him to vent his wrath on. Trembling and
109193 panting the old man fell into that state of fury in which he sometimes
109194 used to roll on the ground, and he fell upon Eykhen, threatening him
109195 with his hands, shouting and loading him with gross abuse. Another
109196 man, Captain Brozin, who happened to turn up and who was not at all to
109197 blame, suffered the same fate.
109198
109199 "What sort of another blackguard are you? I'll have you shot!
109200 Scoundrels!" yelled Kutuzov in a hoarse voice, waving his arms and
109201 reeling.
109202
109203 He was suffering physically. He, the commander in chief, a Serene
109204 Highness who everybody said possessed powers such as no man had ever
109205 had in Russia, to be placed in this position--made the laughingstock
109206 of the whole army! "I needn't have been in such a hurry to pray
109207 about today, or have kept awake thinking everything over all night,"
109208 thought he to himself. "When I was a chit of an officer no one would
109209 have dared to mock me so... and now!" He was in a state of physical
109210 suffering as if from corporal punishment, and could not avoid
109211 expressing it by cries of anger and distress. But his strength soon
109212 began to fail him, and looking about him, conscious of having said
109213 much that was amiss, he again got into his caleche and drove back in
109214 silence.
109215
109216 His wrath, once expended, did not return, and blinking feebly he
109217 listened to excuses and self-justifications (Ermolov did not come to
109218 see him till the next day) and to the insistence of Bennigsen,
109219 Konovnitsyn, and Toll that the movement that had miscarried should
109220 be executed next day. And once more Kutuzov had to consent.
109221
109222
109223
109224
109225
109226 CHAPTER VI
109227
109228
109229 Next day the troops assembled in their appointed places in the
109230 evening and advanced during the night. It was an autumn night with
109231 dark purple clouds, but no rain. The ground was damp but not muddy,
109232 and the troops advanced noiselessly, only occasionally a jingling of
109233 the artillery could be faintly heard. The men were forbidden to talk
109234 out loud, to smoke their pipes, or to strike a light, and they tried
109235 to prevent their horses neighing. The secrecy of the undertaking
109236 heightened its charm and they marched gaily. Some columns,
109237 supposing they had reached their destination, halted, piled arms, and
109238 settled down on the cold ground, but the majority marched all night
109239 and arrived at places where they evidently should not have been.
109240
109241 Only Count Orlov-Denisov with his Cossacks (the least important
109242 detachment of all) got to his appointed place at the right time.
109243 This detachment halted at the outskirts of a forest, on the path
109244 leading from the village of Stromilova to Dmitrovsk.
109245
109246 Toward dawn, Count Orlov-Denisov, who had dozed off, was awakened by
109247 a deserter from the French army being brought to him. This was a
109248 Polish sergeant of Poniatowski's corps, who explained in Polish that
109249 he had come over because he had been slighted in the service: that
109250 he ought long ago to have been made an officer, that he was braver
109251 than any of them, and so he had left them and wished to pay them
109252 out. He said that Murat was spending the night less than a mile from
109253 where they were, and that if they would let him have a convoy of a
109254 hundred men he would capture him alive. Count Orlov-Denisov
109255 consulted his fellow officers.
109256
109257 The offer was too tempting to be refused. Everyone volunteered to go
109258 and everybody advised making the attempt. After much disputing and
109259 arguing, Major-General Grekov with two Cossack regiments decided to go
109260 with the Polish sergeant.
109261
109262 "Now, remember," said Count Orlov-Denisov to the sergeant at
109263 parting, "if you have been lying I'll have you hanged like a dog;
109264 but if it's true you shall have a hundred gold pieces!"
109265
109266 Without replying, the sergeant, with a resolute air, mounted and
109267 rode away with Grekov whose men had quickly assembled. They
109268 disappeared into the forest, and Count Orlov-Denisov, having seen
109269 Grekov off, returned, shivering from the freshness of the early dawn
109270 and excited by what he had undertaken on his own responsibility, and
109271 began looking at the enemy camp, now just visible in the deceptive
109272 light of dawn and the dying campfires. Our columns ought to have begun
109273 to appear on an open declivity to his right. He looked in that
109274 direction, but though the columns would have been visible quite far
109275 off, they were not to be seen. It seemed to the count that things were
109276 beginning to stir in the French camp, and his keen-sighted adjutant
109277 confirmed this.
109278
109279 "Oh, it is really too late," said Count Orlov, looking at the camp.
109280
109281 As often happens when someone we have trusted is no longer before
109282 our eyes, it suddenly seemed quite clear and obvious to him that the
109283 sergeant was an impostor, that he had lied, and that the whole Russian
109284 attack would be ruined by the absence of those two regiments, which he
109285 would lead away heaven only knew where. How could one capture a
109286 commander in chief from among such a mass of troops!
109287
109288 "I am sure that rascal was lying," said the count.
109289
109290 "They can still be called back," said one of his suite, who like
109291 Count Orlov felt distrustful of the adventure when he looked at the
109292 enemy's camp.
109293
109294 "Eh? Really... what do you think? Should we let them go on or not?"
109295
109296 "Will you have them fetched back?"
109297
109298 "Fetch them back, fetch them back!" said Count Orlov with sudden
109299 determination, looking at his watch. "It will be too late. It is quite
109300 light."
109301
109302 And the adjutant galloped through the forest after Grekov. When
109303 Grekov returned, Count Orlov-Denisov, excited both by the abandoned
109304 attempt and by vainly awaiting the infantry columns that still did not
109305 appear, as well as by the proximity of the enemy, resolved to advance.
109306 All his men felt the same excitement.
109307
109308 "Mount!" he commanded in a whisper. The men took their places and
109309 crossed themselves.... "Forward, with God's aid!"
109310
109311 "Hurrah-ah-ah!" reverberated in the forest, and the Cossack
109312 companies, trailing their lances and advancing one after another as if
109313 poured out of a sack, dashed gaily across the brook toward the camp.
109314
109315 One desperate, frightened yell from the first French soldier who saw
109316 the Cossacks, and all who were in the camp, undressed and only just
109317 waking up, ran off in all directions, abandoning cannons, muskets, and
109318 horses.
109319
109320 Had the Cossacks pursued the French, without heeding what was behind
109321 and around them, they would have captured Murat and everything
109322 there. That was what the officers desired. But it was impossible to
109323 make the Cossacks budge when once they had got booty and prisoners.
109324 None of them listened to orders. Fifteen hundred prisoners and
109325 thirty-eight guns were taken on the spot, besides standards and
109326 (what seemed most important to the Cossacks) horses, saddles,
109327 horsecloths, and the like. All this had to be dealt with, the
109328 prisoners and guns secured, the booty divided--not without some
109329 shouting and even a little themselves--and it was on this that the
109330 Cossacks all busied themselves.
109331
109332 The French, not being farther pursued, began to recover
109333 themselves: they formed into detachments and began firing.
109334 Orlov-Denisov, still waiting for the other columns to arrive, advanced
109335 no further.
109336
109337 Meantime, according to the dispositions which said that "the First
109338 Column will march" and so on, the infantry of the belated columns,
109339 commanded by Bennigsen and directed by Toll, had started in due
109340 order and, as always happens, had got somewhere, but not to their
109341 appointed places. As always happens the men, starting cheerfully,
109342 began to halt; murmurs were heard, there was a sense of confusion, and
109343 finally a backward movement. Adjutants and generals galloped about,
109344 shouted, grew angry, quarreled, said they had come quite wrong and
109345 were late, gave vent to a little abuse, and at last gave it all up and
109346 went forward, simply to get somewhere. "We shall get somewhere or
109347 other!" And they did indeed get somewhere, though not to their right
109348 places; a few eventually even got to their right place, but too late
109349 to be of any use and only in time to be fired at. Toll, who in this
109350 battle played the part of Weyrother at Austerlitz, galloped
109351 assiduously from place to place, finding everything upside down
109352 everywhere. Thus he stumbled on Bagovut's corps in a wood when it
109353 was already broad daylight, though the corps should long before have
109354 joined Orlov-Denisov. Excited and vexed by the failure and supposing
109355 that someone must be responsible for it, Toll galloped up to the
109356 commander of the corps and began upbraiding him severely, saying
109357 that he ought to be shot. General Bagovut, a fighting old soldier of
109358 placid temperament, being also upset by all the delay, confusion,
109359 and cross-purposes, fell into a rage to everybody's surprise and quite
109360 contrary to his usual character and said disagreeable things to Toll.
109361
109362 "I prefer not to take lessons from anyone, but I can die with my men
109363 as well as anybody," he said, and advanced with a single division.
109364
109365 Coming out onto a field under the enemy's fire, this brave general
109366 went straight ahead, leading his men under fire, without considering
109367 in his agitation whether going into action now, with a single
109368 division, would be of any use or no. Danger, cannon balls, and bullets
109369 were just what he needed in his angry mood. One of the first bullets
109370 killed him, and other bullets killed many of his men. And his division
109371 remained under fire for some time quite uselessly.
109372
109373
109374
109375
109376
109377 CHAPTER VII
109378
109379
109380 Meanwhile another column was to have attacked the French from the
109381 front, but Kutuzov accompanied that column. He well knew that
109382 nothing but confusion would come of this battle undertaken against his
109383 will, and as far as was in his power held the troops back. He did
109384 not advance.
109385
109386 He rode silently on his small gray horse, indolently answering
109387 suggestions that they should attack.
109388
109389 "The word attack is always on your tongue, but you don't see that we
109390 are unable to execute complicated maneuvers," said he to
109391 Miloradovich who asked permission to advance.
109392
109393 "We couldn't take Murat prisoner this morning or get to the place in
109394 time, and nothing can be done now!" he replied to someone else.
109395
109396 When Kutuzov was informed that at the French rear--where according
109397 to the reports of the Cossacks there had previously been nobody--there
109398 were now two battalions of Poles, he gave a sidelong glance at Ermolov
109399 who was behind him and to whom he had not spoken since the previous
109400 day.
109401
109402 "You see! They are asking to attack and making plans of all kinds,
109403 but as soon as one gets to business nothing is ready, and the enemy,
109404 forewarned, takes measures accordingly."
109405
109406 Ermolov screwed up his eyes and smiled faintly on hearing these
109407 words. He understood that for him the storm had blown over, and that
109408 Kutuzov would content himself with that hint.
109409
109410 "He's having a little fun at my expense," said Ermolov softly,
109411 nudging with his knee Raevski who was at his side.
109412
109413 Soon after this, Ermolov moved up to Kutuzov and respectfully
109414 remarked:
109415
109416 "It is not too late yet, your Highness--the enemy has not gone away-
109417 if you were to order an attack! If not, the Guards will not so much as
109418 see a little smoke."
109419
109420 Kutuzov did not reply, but when they reported to him that Murat's
109421 troops were in retreat he ordered an advance, though at every
109422 hundred paces he halted for three quarters of an hour.
109423
109424 The whole battle consisted in what Orlov-Denisov's Cossacks had
109425 done: the rest of the army merely lost some hundreds of men uselessly.
109426
109427 In consequence of this battle Kutuzov received a diamond decoration,
109428 and Bennigsen some diamonds and a hundred thousand rubles, others also
109429 received pleasant recognitions corresponding to their various
109430 grades, and following the battle fresh changes were made in the staff.
109431
109432 "That's how everything is done with us, all topsy-turvy!" said the
109433 Russian officers and generals after the Tarutino battle, letting it be
109434 understood that some fool there is doing things all wrong but that
109435 we ourselves should not have done so, just as people speak today.
109436 But people who talk like that either do not know what they are talking
109437 about or deliberately deceive themselves. No battle--Tarutino,
109438 Borodino, or Austerlitz--takes place as those who planned it
109439 anticipated. That is an essential condition.
109440
109441 A countless number of free forces (for nowhere is man freer than
109442 during a battle, where it is a question of life and death) influence
109443 the course taken by the fight, and that course never can be known in
109444 advance and never coincides with the direction of any one force.
109445
109446 If many simultaneously and variously directed forces act on a
109447 given body, the direction of its motion cannot coincide with any one
109448 of those forces, but will always be a mean--what in mechanics is
109449 represented by the diagonal of a parallelogram of forces.
109450
109451 If in the descriptions given by historians, especially French
109452 ones, we find their wars and battles carried out in accordance with
109453 previously formed plans, the only conclusion to be drawn is that those
109454 descriptions are false.
109455
109456 The battle of Tarutino obviously did not attain the aim Toll had
109457 in view--to lead the troops into action in the order prescribed by the
109458 dispositions; nor that which Count Orlov-Denisov may have had in view-
109459 to take Murat prisoner; nor the result of immediately destroying the
109460 whole corps, which Bennigsen and others may have had in view; nor
109461 the aim of the officer who wished to go into action to distinguish
109462 himself; nor that of the Cossack who wanted more booty than he got,
109463 and so on. But if the aim of the battle was what actually resulted and
109464 what all the Russians of that day desired--to drive the French out
109465 of Russia and destroy their army--it is quite clear that the battle of
109466 Tarutino, just because of its incongruities, was exactly what was
109467 wanted at that stage of the campaign. It would be difficult and even
109468 impossible to imagine any result more opportune than the actual
109469 outcome of this battle. With a minimum of effort and insignificant
109470 losses, despite the greatest confusion, the most important results
109471 of the whole campaign were attained: the transition from retreat to
109472 advance, an exposure of the weakness of the French, and the
109473 administration of that shock which Napoleon's army had only awaited to
109474 begin its flight.
109475
109476
109477
109478
109479
109480 CHAPTER VIII
109481
109482
109483 Napoleon enters Moscow after the brilliant victory de la Moskowa;
109484 there can be no doubt about the victory for the battlefield remains in
109485 the hands of the French. The Russians retreat and abandon their
109486 ancient capital. Moscow, abounding in provisions, arms, munitions, and
109487 incalculable wealth, is in Napoleon's hands. The Russian army, only
109488 half the strength of the French, does not make a single attempt to
109489 attack for a whole month. Napoleon's position is most brilliant. He
109490 can either fall on the Russian army with double its strength and
109491 destroy it; negotiate an advantageous peace, or in case of a refusal
109492 make a menacing move on Petersburg, or even, in the case of a reverse,
109493 return to Smolensk or Vilna; or remain in Moscow; in short, no special
109494 genius would seem to be required to retain the brilliant position
109495 the French held at that time. For that, only very simple and easy
109496 steps were necessary: not to allow the troops to loot, to prepare
109497 winter clothing--of which there was sufficient in Moscow for the whole
109498 army--and methodically to collect the provisions, of which
109499 (according to the French historians) there were enough in Moscow to
109500 supply the whole army for six months. Yet Napoleon, that greatest of
109501 all geniuses, who the historians declare had control of the army, took
109502 none of these steps.
109503
109504 He not merely did nothing of the kind, but on the contrary he used
109505 his power to select the most foolish and ruinous of all the courses
109506 open to him. Of all that Napoleon might have done: wintering in
109507 Moscow, advancing on Petersburg or on Nizhni-Novgorod, or retiring
109508 by a more northerly or more southerly route (say by the road Kutuzov
109509 afterwards took), nothing more stupid or disastrous can be imagined
109510 than what he actually did. He remained in Moscow till October, letting
109511 the troops plunder the city; then, hesitating whether to leave a
109512 garrison behind him, he quitted Moscow, approached Kutuzov without
109513 joining battle, turned to the right and reached Malo-Yaroslavets,
109514 again without attempting to break through and take the road Kutuzov
109515 took, but retiring instead to Mozhaysk along the devastated Smolensk
109516 road. Nothing more stupid than that could have been devised, or more
109517 disastrous for the army, as the sequel showed. Had Napoleon's aim been
109518 to destroy his army, the most skillful strategist could hardly have
109519 devised any series of actions that would so completely have
109520 accomplished that purpose, independently of anything the Russian
109521 army might do.
109522
109523
109524 Napoleon, the man of genius, did this! But to say that he
109525 destroyed his army because he wished to, or because he was very
109526 stupid, would be as unjust as to say that he had brought his troops to
109527 Moscow because he wished to and because he was very clever and a
109528 genius.
109529
109530 In both cases his personal activity, having no more force than the
109531 personal activity of any soldier, merely coincided with the laws
109532 that guided the event.
109533
109534 The historians quite falsely represent Napoleon's faculties as
109535 having weakened in Moscow, and do so only because the results did
109536 not justify his actions. He employed all his ability and strength to
109537 do the best he could for himself and his army, as he had done
109538 previously and as he did subsequently in 1813. His activity at that
109539 time was no less astounding than it was in Egypt, in Italy, in
109540 Austria, and in Prussia. We do not know for certain in how far his
109541 genius was genuine in Egypt--where forty centuries looked down upon
109542 his grandeur--for his great exploits there are all told us by
109543 Frenchmen. We cannot accurately estimate his genius in Austria or
109544 Prussia, for we have to draw our information from French or German
109545 sources, and the incomprehensible surrender of whole corps without
109546 fighting and of fortresses without a siege must incline Germans to
109547 recognize his genius as the only explanation of the war carried on
109548 in Germany. But we, thank God, have no need to recognize his genius in
109549 order to hide our shame. We have paid for the right to look at the
109550 matter plainly and simply, and we will not abandon that right.
109551
109552 His activity in Moscow was as amazing and as full of genius as
109553 elsewhere. Order after order order and plan after plan were issued
109554 by him from the time he entered Moscow till the time he left it. The
109555 absence of citizens and of a deputation, and even the burning of
109556 Moscow, did not disconcert him. He did not lose sight either of the
109557 welfare of his army or of the doings of the enemy, or of the welfare
109558 of the people of Russia, or of the direction of affairs in Paris, or
109559 of diplomatic considerations concerning the terms of the anticipated
109560 peace.
109561
109562
109563
109564
109565
109566 CHAPTER IX
109567
109568
109569 With regard to military matters, Napoleon immediately on his entry
109570 into Moscow gave General Sabastiani strict orders to observe the
109571 movements of the Russian army, sent army corps out along the different
109572 roads, and charged Murat to find Kutuzov. Then he gave careful
109573 directions about the fortification of the Kremlin, and drew up a
109574 brilliant plan for a future campaign over the whole map of Russia.
109575
109576 With regard to diplomatic questions, Napoleon summoned Captain
109577 Yakovlev, who had been robbed and was in rags and did not know how
109578 to get out of Moscow, minutely explained to him his whole policy and
109579 his magnanimity, and having written a letter to the Emperor
109580 Alexander in which he considered it his duty to inform his Friend
109581 and Brother that Rostopchin had managed affairs badly in Moscow, he
109582 dispatched Yakovlev to Petersburg.
109583
109584 Having similarly explained his views and his magnanimity to
109585 Tutolmin, he dispatched that old man also to Petersburg to negotiate.
109586
109587 With regard to legal matters, immediately after the fires he gave
109588 orders to find and execute the incendiaries. And the scoundrel
109589 Rostopchin was punished by an order to burn down his houses.
109590
109591 With regard to administrative matters, Moscow was granted a
109592 constitution. A municipality was established and the following
109593 announcement issued:
109594
109595
109596 INHABITANTS OF MOSCOW!
109597
109598 Your misfortunes are cruel, but His Majesty the Emperor and King
109599 desires to arrest their course. Terrible examples have taught you
109600 how he punishes disobedience and crime. Strict measures have been
109601 taken to put an end to disorder and to re-establish public security. A
109602 paternal administration, chosen from among yourselves, will form
109603 your municipality or city government. It will take care of you, of
109604 your needs, and of your welfare. Its members will be distinguished
109605 by a red ribbon worn across the shoulder, and the mayor of the city
109606 will wear a white belt as well. But when not on duty they will only
109607 wear a red ribbon round the left arm.
109608
109609 The city police is established on its former footing, and better
109610 order already prevails in consequence of its activity. The
109611 government has appointed two commissaries general, or chiefs of
109612 police, and twenty commissaries or captains of wards have been
109613 appointed to the different wards of the city. You will recognize
109614 them by the white ribbon they will wear on the left arm. Several
109615 churches of different denominations are open, and divine service is
109616 performed in them unhindered. Your fellow citizens are returning every
109617 day to their homes. and orders have been given that they should find
109618 in them the help and protection due to their misfortunes. These are
109619 the measures the government has adopted to re-establish order and
109620 relieve your condition. But to achieve this aim it is necessary that
109621 you should add your efforts and should, if possible, forget the
109622 misfortunes you have suffered, should entertain the hope of a less
109623 cruel fate, should be certain that inevitable and ignominious death
109624 awaits those who make any attempt on your persons or on what remains
109625 of your property, and finally that you should not doubt that these
109626 will be safeguarded, since such is the will of the greatest and most
109627 just of monarchs. Soldiers and citizens, of whatever nation you may
109628 be, re-establish public confidence, the source of the welfare of a
109629 state, live like brothers, render mutual aid and protection one to
109630 another, unite to defeat the intentions of the evil-minded, obey the
109631 military and civil authorities, and your tears will soon cease to
109632 flow!
109633
109634
109635 With regard to supplies for the army, Napoleon decreed that all
109636 the troops in turn should enter Moscow a la maraude* to obtain
109637 provisions for themselves, so that the army might have its future
109638 provided for.
109639
109640
109641 *As looters.
109642
109643
109644 With regard to religion, Napoleon ordered the priests to be
109645 brought back and services to be again performed in the churches.
109646
109647 With regard to commerce and to provisioning the army, the
109648 following was placarded everywhere:
109649
109650
109651 PROCLAMATION!
109652
109653 You, peaceful inhabitants of Moscow, artisans and workmen whom
109654 misfortune has driven from the city, and you scattered tillers of
109655 the soil, still kept out in the fields by groundless fear, listen!
109656 Tranquillity is returning to this capital and order is being
109657 restored in it. Your fellow countrymen are emerging boldly from
109658 their hiding places on finding that they are respected. Any violence
109659 to them or to their property is promptly punished. His Majesty the
109660 Emperor and King protects them, and considers no one among you his
109661 enemy except those who disobey his orders. He desires to end your
109662 misfortunes and restore you to your homes and families. Respond,
109663 therefore, to his benevolent intentions and come to us without fear.
109664 Inhabitants, return with confidence to your abodes! You will soon find
109665 means of satisfying your needs. Craftsmen and industrious artisans,
109666 return to your work, your houses, your shops, where the protection
109667 of guards awaits you! You shall receive proper pay for your work.
109668 And lastly you too, peasants, come from the forests where you are
109669 hiding in terror, return to your huts without fear, in full
109670 assurance that you will find protection! Markets are established in
109671 the city where peasants can bring their surplus supplies and the
109672 products of the soil. The government has taken the following steps
109673 to ensure freedom of sale for them: (1) From today, peasants,
109674 husbandmen, and those living in the neighborhood of Moscow may without
109675 any danger bring their supplies of all kinds to two appointed markets,
109676 of which one is on the Mokhovaya Street and the other at the Provision
109677 Market. (2) Such supplies will be bought from them at such prices as
109678 seller and buyer may agree on, and if a seller is unable to obtain a
109679 fair price he will be free to take his goods back to his village and
109680 no one may hinder him under any pretense. (3) Sunday and Wednesday
109681 of each week are appointed as the chief market days and to that end
109682 a sufficient number of troops will be stationed along the highroads on
109683 Tuesdays and Saturdays at such distances from the town as to protect
109684 the carts. (4) Similar measures will be taken that peasants with their
109685 carts and horses may meet with no hindrance on their return journey.
109686 (5) Steps will immediately be taken to re-establish ordinary trading.
109687
109688 Inhabitants of the city and villages, and you, workingmen and
109689 artisans, to whatever nation you belong, you are called on to carry
109690 out the paternal intentions of His Majesty the Emperor and King and to
109691 co-operate with him for the public welfare! Lay your respect and
109692 confidence at his feet and do not delay to unite with us!
109693
109694
109695 With the object of raising the spirits of the troops and of the
109696 people, reviews were constantly held and rewards distributed. The
109697 Emperor rode through the streets to comfort the inhabitants, and,
109698 despite his preoccupation with state affairs, himself visited the
109699 theaters that were established by his order.
109700
109701 In regard to philanthropy, the greatest virtue of crowned heads,
109702 Napoleon also did all in his power. He caused the words Maison de ma
109703 Mere to be inscribed on the charitable institutions, thereby combining
109704 tender filial affection with the majestic benevolence of a monarch. He
109705 visited the Foundling Hospital and, allowing the orphans saved by
109706 him to kiss his white hands, graciously conversed with Tutolmin. Then,
109707 as Thiers eloquently recounts, he ordered his soldiers to be paid in
109708 forged Russian money which he had prepared: "Raising the use of
109709 these means by an act worthy of himself and of the French army, he let
109710 relief be distributed to those who had been burned out. But as food
109711 was too precious to be given to foreigners, who were for the most part
109712 enemies, Napoleon preferred to supply them with money with which to
109713 purchase food from outside, and had paper rubles distributed to them."
109714
109715 With reference to army discipline, orders were continually being
109716 issued to inflict severe punishment for the nonperformance of military
109717 duties and to suppress robbery.
109718
109719
109720
109721
109722
109723 CHAPTER X
109724
109725
109726 But strange to say, all these measures, efforts, and plans--which
109727 were not at all worse than others issued in similar circumstances--did
109728 not affect the essence of the matter but, like the hands of a clock
109729 detached from the mechanism, swung about in an arbitrary and aimless
109730 way without engaging the cogwheels.
109731
109732 With reference to the military side--the plan of campaign--that work
109733 of genius of which Thiers remarks that, "His genius never devised
109734 anything more profound, more skillful, or more admirable," and
109735 enters into a polemic with M. Fain to prove that this work of genius
109736 must be referred not to the fourth but to the fifteenth of October-
109737 that plan never was or could be executed, for it was quite out of
109738 touch with the facts of the case. The fortifying of the Kremlin, for
109739 which la Mosquee (as Napoleon termed the church of Basil the
109740 Beatified) was to have been razed to the ground, proved quite useless.
109741 The mining of the Kremlin only helped toward fulfilling Napoleon's
109742 wish that it should be blown up when he left Moscow--as a child
109743 wants the floor on which he has hurt himself to be beaten. The pursuit
109744 of the Russian army, about which Napoleon was so concerned, produced
109745 an unheard-of result. The French generals lost touch with the
109746 Russian army of sixty thousand men, and according to Thiers it was
109747 only eventually found, like a lost pin, by the skill--and apparently
109748 the genius--of Murat.
109749
109750 With reference to diplomacy, all Napoleon's arguments as to his
109751 magnanimity and justice, both to Tutolmin and to Yakovlev (whose chief
109752 concern was to obtain a greatcoat and a conveyance), proved useless;
109753 Alexander did not receive these envoys and did not reply to their
109754 embassage.
109755
109756 With regard to legal matters, after the execution of the supposed
109757 incendiaries the rest of Moscow burned down.
109758
109759 With regard to administrative matters, the establishment of a
109760 municipality did not stop the robberies and was only of use to certain
109761 people who formed part of that municipality and under pretext of
109762 preserving order looted Moscow or saved their own property from
109763 being looted.
109764
109765 With regard to religion, as to which in Egypt matters had so
109766 easily been settled by Napoleon's visit to a mosque, no results were
109767 achieved. Two or three priests who were found in Moscow did try to
109768 carry out Napoleon's wish, but one of them was slapped in the face
109769 by a French soldier while conducting service, and a French official
109770 reported of another that: "The priest whom I found and invited to
109771 say Mass cleaned and locked up the church. That night the doors were
109772 again broken open, the padlocks smashed, the books mutilated, and
109773 other disorders perpetrated."
109774
109775 With reference to commerce, the proclamation to industrious
109776 workmen and to peasants evoked no response. There were no
109777 industrious workmen, and the peasants caught the commissaries who
109778 ventured too far out of town with the proclamation and killed them.
109779
109780 As to the theaters for the entertainment of the people and the
109781 troops, these did not meet with success either. The theaters set up in
109782 the Kremlin and in Posnyakov's house were closed again at once because
109783 the actors and actresses were robbed.
109784
109785 Even philanthropy did not have the desired effect. The genuine as
109786 well as the false paper money which flooded Moscow lost its value. The
109787 French, collecting booty, cared only for gold. Not only was the
109788 paper money valueless which Napoleon so graciously distributed to
109789 the unfortunate, but even silver lost its value in relation to gold.
109790
109791 But the most amazing example of the ineffectiveness of the orders
109792 given by the authorities at that time was Napoleon's attempt to stop
109793 the looting and re-establish discipline.
109794
109795 This is what the army authorities were reporting:
109796
109797 "Looting continues in the city despite the decrees against it. Order
109798 is not yet restored and not a single merchant is carrying on trade
109799 in a lawful manner. The sutlers alone venture to trade, and they
109800 sell stolen goods."
109801
109802 "The neighborhood of my ward continues to be pillaged by soldiers of
109803 the 3rd Corps who, not satisfied with taking from the unfortunate
109804 inhabitants hiding in the cellars the little they have left, even have
109805 the ferocity to wound them with their sabers, as I have repeatedly
109806 witnessed."
109807
109808 "Nothing new, except that the soldiers are robbing and pillaging-
109809 October 9."
109810
109811 "Robbery and pillaging continue. There is a band of thieves in our
109812 district who ought to be arrested by a strong force--October 11."
109813
109814 "The Emperor is extremely displeased that despite the strict
109815 orders to stop pillage, parties of marauding Guards are continually
109816 seen returning to the Kremlin. Among the Old Guard disorder and
109817 pillage were renewed more violently than ever yesterday evening,
109818 last night, and today. The Emperor sees with regret that the picked
109819 soldiers appointed to guard his person, who should set an example of
109820 discipline, carry disobedience to such a point that they break into
109821 the cellars and stores containing army supplies. Others have disgraced
109822 themselves to the extent of disobeying sentinels and officers, and
109823 have abused and beaten them."
109824
109825 "The Grand Marshal of the palace," wrote the governor, "complains
109826 bitterly that in spite of repeated orders, the soldiers continue to
109827 commit nuisances in all the courtyards and even under the very windows
109828 of the Emperor."
109829
109830 That army, like a herd of cattle run wild and trampling underfoot
109831 the provender which might have saved it from starvation, disintegrated
109832 and perished with each additional day it remained in Moscow. But it
109833 did not go away.
109834
109835 It began to run away only when suddenly seized by a panic caused
109836 by the capture of transport trains on the Smolensk road, and by the
109837 battle of Tarutino. The news of that battle of Tarutino,
109838 unexpectedly received by Napoleon at a review, evoked in him a
109839 desire to punish the Russians (Thiers says), and he issued the order
109840 for departure which the whole army was demanding.
109841
109842 Fleeing from Moscow the soldiers took with them everything they
109843 had stolen. Napoleon, too, carried away his own personal tresor, but
109844 on seeing the baggage trains that impeded the army, he was (Thiers
109845 says) horror-struck. And yet with his experience of war he did not
109846 order all the superfluous vehicles to be burned, as he had done with
109847 those of a certain marshal when approaching Moscow. He gazed at the
109848 caleches and carriages in which soldiers were riding and remarked that
109849 it was a very good thing, as those vehicles could be used to carry
109850 provisions, the sick, and the wounded.
109851
109852 The plight of the whole army resembled that of a wounded animal
109853 which feels it is perishing and does not know what it is doing. To
109854 study the skillful tactics and aims of Napoleon and his army from
109855 the time it entered Moscow till it was destroyed is like studying
109856 the dying leaps and shudders of a mortally wounded animal. Very
109857 often a wounded animal, hearing a rustle, rushes straight at the
109858 hunter's gun, runs forward and back again, and hastens its own end.
109859 Napoleon, under pressure from his whole army, did the same thing.
109860 The rustle of the battle of Tarutino frightened the beast, and it
109861 rushed forward onto the hunter's gun, reached him, turned back, and
109862 finally--like any wild beast--ran back along the most
109863 disadvantageous and dangerous path, where the old scent was familiar.
109864
109865 During the whole of that period Napoleon, who seems to us to have
109866 been the leader of all these movements--as the figurehead of a ship
109867 may seem to a savage to guide the vessel--acted like a child who,
109868 holding a couple of strings inside a carriage, thinks he is driving
109869 it.
109870
109871
109872
109873
109874
109875 CHAPTER XI
109876
109877
109878 Early in the morning of the sixth of October Pierre went out of
109879 the shed, and on returning stopped by the door to play with a little
109880 blue-gray dog, with a long body and short bandy legs, that jumped
109881 about him. This little dog lived in their shed, sleeping beside
109882 Karataev at night; it sometimes made excursions into the town but
109883 always returned again. Probably it had never had an owner, and it
109884 still belonged to nobody and had no name. The French called it Azor;
109885 the soldier who told stories called it Femgalka; Karataev and others
109886 called it Gray, or sometimes Flabby. Its lack of a master, a name,
109887 or even of a breed or any definite color did not seem to trouble the
109888 blue-gray dog in the least. Its furry tail stood up firm and round
109889 as a plume, its bandy legs served it so well that it would often
109890 gracefully lift a hind leg and run very easily and quickly on three
109891 legs, as if disdaining to use all four. Everything pleased it. Now
109892 it would roll on its back, yelping with delight, now bask in the sun
109893 with a thoughtful air of importance, and now frolic about playing with
109894 a chip of wood or a straw.
109895
109896 Pierre's attire by now consisted of a dirty torn shirt (the only
109897 remnant of his former clothing), a pair of soldier's trousers which by
109898 Karataev's advice he tied with string round the ankles for warmth, and
109899 a peasant coat and cap. Physically he had changed much during this
109900 time. He no longer seemed stout, though he still had the appearance of
109901 solidity and strength hereditary in his family. A beard and mustache
109902 covered the lower part of his face, and a tangle of hair, infested
109903 with lice, curled round his head like a cap. The look of his eyes
109904 was resolute, calm, and animatedly alert, as never before. The
109905 former slackness which had shown itself even in his eyes was now
109906 replaced by an energetic readiness for action and resistance. His feet
109907 were bare.
109908
109909 Pierre first looked down the field across which vehicles and
109910 horsemen were passing that morning, then into the distance across
109911 the river, then at the dog who was pretending to be in earnest about
109912 biting him, and then at his bare feet which he placed with pleasure in
109913 various positions, moving his dirty thick big toes. Every time he
109914 looked at his bare feet a smile of animated self-satisfaction
109915 flitted across his face. The sight of them reminded him of all he
109916 had experienced and learned during these weeks and this recollection
109917 was pleasant to him.
109918
109919 For some days the weather had been calm and clear with slight frosts
109920 in the mornings--what is called an "old wives' summer."
109921
109922 In the sunshine the air was warm, and that warmth was particularly
109923 pleasant with the invigorating freshness of the morning frost still in
109924 the air.
109925
109926 On everything--far and near--lay the magic crystal glitter seen only
109927 at that time autumn. The Sparrow Hills were visible in the distance,
109928 with the village, the church, and the large white house. The bare
109929 trees, the sand, the bricks and roofs of the houses, the green
109930 church spire, and the corners of the white house in the distance,
109931 all stood out in the transparent air in most delicate outline and with
109932 unnatural clearness. Near by could be seen the familiar ruins of a
109933 half-burned mansion occupied by the French, with lilac bushes still
109934 showing dark green beside the fence. And even that ruined and befouled
109935 house--which in dull weather was repulsively ugly--seemed quietly
109936 beautiful now, in the clear, motionless brilliance.
109937
109938 A French corporal, with coat unbuttoned in a homely way, a
109939 skullcap on his head, and a short pipe in his mouth, came from
109940 behind a corner of the shed and approached Pierre with a friendly
109941 wink.
109942
109943 "What sunshine, Monsieur Kiril!" (Their name for Pierre.) "Eh?
109944 Just like spring!"
109945
109946 And the corporal leaned against the door and offered Pierre his
109947 pipe, though whenever he offered it Pierre always declined it.
109948
109949 "To be on the march in such weather..." he began.
109950
109951 Pierre inquired what was being said about leaving, and the
109952 corporal told him that nearly all the troops were starting and there
109953 ought to be an order about the prisoners that day. Sokolov, one of the
109954 soldiers in the shed with Pierre, was dying, and Pierre told the
109955 corporal that something should be done about him. The corporal replied
109956 that Pierre need not worry about that as they had an ambulance and a
109957 permanent hospital and arrangements would be made for the sick, and
109958 that in general everything that could happen had been foreseen by
109959 the authorities.
109960
109961 "Besides, Monsieur Kiril, you have only to say a word to the
109962 captain, you know. He is a man who never forgets anything. Speak to
109963 the captain when he makes his round, he will do anything for you."
109964
109965 (The captain of whom the corporal spoke often had long chats with
109966 Pierre and showed him all sorts of favors.)
109967
109968 "'You see, St. Thomas,' he said to me the other day. 'Monsieur Kiril
109969 is a man of education, who speaks French. He is a Russian seigneur who
109970 has had misfortunes, but he is a man. He knows what's what.... If he
109971 wants anything and asks me, he won't get a refusal. When one has
109972 studied, you see, one likes education and well-bred people.' It is for
109973 your sake I mention it, Monsieur Kiril. The other day if it had not
109974 been for you that affair would have ended ill."
109975
109976 And after chatting a while longer, the corporal went away. (The
109977 affair he had alluded to had happened a few days before--a fight
109978 between the prisoners and the French soldiers, in which Pierre had
109979 succeeded in pacifying his comrades.) Some of the prisoners who had
109980 heard Pierre talking to the corporal immediately asked what the
109981 Frenchman had said. While Pierre was repeating what he had been told
109982 about the army leaving Moscow, a thin, sallow, tattered French soldier
109983 came up to the door of the shed. Rapidly and timidly raising his
109984 fingers to his forehead by way of greeting, he asked Pierre whether
109985 the soldier Platoche to whom he had given a shirt to sew was in that
109986 shed.
109987
109988 A week before the French had had boot leather and linen issued to
109989 them, which they had given out to the prisoners to make up into
109990 boots and shirts for them.
109991
109992 "Ready, ready, dear fellow!" said Karataev, coming out with a neatly
109993 folded shirt.
109994
109995 Karataev, on account of the warm weather and for convenience at
109996 work, was wearing only trousers and a tattered shirt as black as soot.
109997 His hair was bound round, workman fashion, with a wisp of lime-tree
109998 bast, and his round face seemed rounder and pleasanter than ever.
109999
110000 "A promise is own brother to performance! I said Friday and here
110001 it is, ready," said Platon, smiling and unfolding the shirt he had
110002 sewn.
110003
110004 The Frenchman glanced around uneasily and then, as if overcoming his
110005 hesitation, rapidly threw off his uniform and put on the shirt. He had
110006 a long, greasy, flowered silk waistcoat next to his sallow, thin
110007 bare body, but no shirt. He was evidently afraid the prisoners looking
110008 on would laugh at him, and thrust his head into the shirt hurriedly.
110009 None of the prisoners said a word.
110010
110011 "See, it fits well!" Platon kept repeating, pulling the shirt
110012 straight.
110013
110014 The Frenchman, having pushed his head and hands through, without
110015 raising his eyes, looked down at the shirt and examined the seams.
110016
110017 "You see, dear man, this is not a sewing shop, and I had no proper
110018 tools; and, as they say, one needs a tool even to kill a louse,"
110019 said Platon with one of his round smiles, obviously pleased with his
110020 work.
110021
110022 "It's good, quite good, thank you," said the Frenchman, in French,
110023 "but there must be some linen left over.
110024
110025 "It will fit better still when it sets to your body," said Karataev,
110026 still admiring his handiwork. "You'll be nice and comfortable...."
110027
110028 "Thanks, thanks, old fellow.... But the bits left over?" said the
110029 Frenchman again and smiled. He took out an assignation ruble note
110030 and gave it to Karataev. "But give me the pieces that are over."
110031
110032 Pierre saw that Platon did not want to understand what the Frenchman
110033 was saying, and he looked on without interfering. Karataev thanked the
110034 Frenchman for the money and went on admiring his own work. The
110035 Frenchman insisted on having the pieces returned that were left over
110036 and asked Pierre to translate what he said.
110037
110038 "What does he want the bits for?" said Karataev. "They'd make fine
110039 leg bands for us. Well, never mind."
110040
110041 And Karataev, with a suddenly changed and saddened expression,
110042 took a small bundle of scraps from inside his shirt and gave it to the
110043 Frenchman without looking at him. "Oh dear!" muttered Karataev and
110044 went away. The Frenchman looked at the linen, considered for a moment,
110045 then looked inquiringly at Pierre and, as if Pierre's look had told
110046 him something, suddenly blushed and shouted in a squeaky voice:
110047
110048 "Platoche! Eh, Platoche! Keep them yourself!" And handing back the
110049 odd bits he turned and went out.
110050
110051 "There, look at that," said Karataev, swaying his head. "People said
110052 they were not Christians, but they too have souls. It's what the old
110053 folk used to say: 'A sweating hand's an open hand, a dry hand's
110054 close.' He's naked, but yet he's given it back."
110055
110056 Karataev smiled thoughtfully and was silent awhile looking at the
110057 pieces.
110058
110059 "But they'll make grand leg bands, dear friend," he said, and went
110060 back into the shed.
110061
110062
110063
110064
110065
110066 CHAPTER XII
110067
110068
110069 Four weeks had passed since Pierre had been taken prisoner and
110070 though the French had offered to move him from the men's to the
110071 officers' shed, he had stayed in the shed where he was first put.
110072
110073 In burned and devastated Moscow Pierre experienced almost the
110074 extreme limits of privation a man can endure; but thanks to his
110075 physical strength and health, of which he had till then been
110076 unconscious, and thanks especially to the fact that the privations
110077 came so gradually that it was impossible to say when they began, he
110078 endured his position not only lightly but joyfully. And just at this
110079 time he obtained the tranquillity and ease of mind he had formerly
110080 striven in vain to reach. He had long sought in different ways that
110081 tranquillity of mind, that inner harmony which had so impressed him in
110082 the soldiers at the battle of Borodino. He had sought it in
110083 philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the dissipations of town life, in
110084 wine, in heroic feats of self-sacrifice, and in romantic love for
110085 Natasha; he had sought it by reasoning--and all these quests and
110086 experiments had failed him. And now without thinking about it he had
110087 found that peace and inner harmony only through the horror of death,
110088 through privation, and through what he recognized in Karataev.
110089
110090 Those dreadful moments he had lived through at the executions had as
110091 it were forever washed away from his imagination and memory the
110092 agitating thoughts and feelings that had formerly seemed so important.
110093 It did not now occur to him to think of Russia, or the war, or
110094 politics, or Napoleon. It was plain to him that all these things
110095 were no business of his, and that he was not called on to judge
110096 concerning them and therefore could not do so. "Russia and summer
110097 weather are not bound together," he thought, repeating words of
110098 Karataev's which he found strangely consoling. His intention of
110099 killing Napoleon and his calculations of the cabalistic number of
110100 the beast of the Apocalypse now seemed to him meaningless and even
110101 ridiculous. His anger with his wife and anxiety that his name should
110102 not be smirched now seemed not merely trivial but even amusing. What
110103 concern was it of his that somewhere or other that woman was leading
110104 the life she preferred? What did it matter to anybody, and
110105 especially to him, whether or not they found out that their prisoner's
110106 name was Count Bezukhov?
110107
110108 He now often remembered his conversation with Prince Andrew and
110109 quite agreed with him, though he understood Prince Andrew's thoughts
110110 somewhat differently. Prince Andrew had thought and said that
110111 happiness could only be negative, but had said it with a shade of
110112 bitterness and irony as though he was really saying that all desire
110113 for positive happiness is implanted in us merely to torment us and
110114 never be satisfied. But Pierre believed it without any mental
110115 reservation. The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of one's needs
110116 and consequent freedom in the choice of one's occupation, that is,
110117 of one's way of life, now seemed to Pierre to be indubitably man's
110118 highest happiness. Here and now for the first time he fully
110119 appreciated the enjoyment of eating when he wanted to eat, drinking
110120 when he wanted to drink, sleeping when he wanted to sleep, of warmth
110121 when he was cold, of talking to a fellow man when he wished to talk
110122 and to hear a human voice. The satisfaction of one's needs--good food,
110123 cleanliness, and freedom--now that he was deprived of all this, seemed
110124 to Pierre to constitute perfect happiness; and the choice of
110125 occupation, that is, of his way of life--now that that was so
110126 restricted--seemed to him such an easy matter that he forgot that a
110127 superfluity of the comforts of life destroys all joy in satisfying
110128 one's needs, while great freedom in the choice of occupation--such
110129 freedom as his wealth, his education, and his social position had
110130 given him in his own life--is just what makes the choice of occupation
110131 insolubly difficult and destroys the desire and possibility of
110132 having an occupation.
110133
110134 All Pierre's daydreams now turned on the time when he would be free.
110135 Yet subsequently, and for the rest of his life, he thought and spoke
110136 with enthusiasm of that month of captivity, of those irrecoverable,
110137 strong, joyful sensations, and chiefly of the complete peace of mind
110138 and inner freedom which he experienced only during those weeks.
110139
110140 When on the first day he got up early, went out of the shed at dawn,
110141 and saw the cupolas and crosses of the New Convent of the Virgin still
110142 dark at first, the hoarfrost on the dusty grass, the Sparrow Hills,
110143 and the wooded banks above the winding river vanishing in the purple
110144 distance, when he felt the contact of the fresh air and heard the
110145 noise of the crows flying from Moscow across the field, and when
110146 afterwards light gleamed from the east and the sun's rim appeared
110147 solemnly from behind a cloud, and the cupolas and crosses, the
110148 hoarfrost, the distance and the river, all began to sparkle in the
110149 glad light--Pierre felt a new joy and strength in life such as he
110150 had never before known. And this not only stayed with him during the
110151 whole of his imprisonment, but even grew in strength as the
110152 hardships of his position increased.
110153
110154 That feeling of alertness and of readiness for anything was still
110155 further strengthened in him by the high opinion his fellow prisoners
110156 formed of him soon after his arrival at the shed. With his knowledge
110157 of languages, the respect shown him by the French, his simplicity, his
110158 readiness to give anything asked of him (he received the allowance
110159 of three rubles a week made to officers); with his strength, which
110160 he showed to the soldiers by pressing nails into the walls of the hut;
110161 his gentleness to his companions, and his capacity for sitting still
110162 and thinking without doing anything (which seemed to them
110163 incomprehensible), he appeared to them a rather mysterious and
110164 superior being. The very qualities that had been a hindrance, if not
110165 actually harmful, to him in the world he had lived in--his strength,
110166 his disdain for the comforts of life, his absent-mindedness and
110167 simplicity--here among these people gave him almost the status of a
110168 hero. And Pierre felt that their opinion placed responsibilities
110169 upon him.
110170
110171
110172
110173
110174 CHAPTER XIII
110175
110176
110177 The French evacuation began on the night between the sixth and
110178 seventh of October: kitchens and sheds were dismantled, carts
110179 loaded, and troops and baggage trains started.
110180
110181 At seven in the morning a French convoy in marching trim, wearing
110182 shakos and carrying muskets, knapsacks, and enormous sacks, stood in
110183 front of the sheds, and animated French talk mingled with curses
110184 sounded all along the lines.
110185
110186 In the shed everyone was ready, dressed, belted, shod, and only
110187 awaited the order to start. The sick soldier, Sokolov, pale and thin
110188 with dark shadows round his eyes, alone sat in his place barefoot
110189 and not dressed. His eyes, prominent from the emaciation of his
110190 face, gazed inquiringly at his comrades who were paying no attention
110191 to him, and he moaned regularly and quietly. It was evidently not so
110192 much his sufferings that caused him to moan (he had dysentery) as
110193 his fear and grief at being left alone.
110194
110195 Pierre, girt with a rope round his waist and wearing shoes
110196 Karataev had made for him from some leather a French soldier had
110197 torn off a tea chest and brought to have his boots mended with, went
110198 up to the sick man and squatted down beside him.
110199
110200 "You know, Sokolov, they are not all going away! They have a
110201 hospital here. You may be better off than we others," said Pierre.
110202
110203 "O Lord! Oh, it will be the death of me! O Lord!" moaned the man
110204 in a louder voice.
110205
110206 "I'll go and ask them again directly," said Pierre, rising and going
110207 to the door of the shed.
110208
110209 Just as Pierre reached the door, the corporal who had offered him
110210 a pipe the day before came up to it with two soldiers. The corporal
110211 and soldiers were in marching kit with knapsacks and shakos that had
110212 metal straps, and these changed their familiar faces.
110213
110214 The corporal came, according to orders, to shut the door. The
110215 prisoners had to be counted before being let out.
110216
110217 "Corporal, what will they do with the sick man?..." Pierre began.
110218
110219 But even as he spoke he began to doubt whether this was the corporal
110220 he knew or a stranger, so unlike himself did the corporal seem at that
110221 moment. Moreover, just as Pierre was speaking a sharp rattle of
110222 drums was suddenly heard from both sides. The corporal frowned at
110223 Pierre's words and, uttering some meaningless oaths, slammed the door.
110224 The shed became semidark, and the sharp rattle of the drums on two
110225 sides drowned the sick man's groans.
110226
110227 "There it is!... It again!..." said Pierre to himself, and an
110228 involuntary shudder ran down his spine. In the corporal's changed
110229 face, in the sound of his voice, in the stirring and deafening noise
110230 of the drums, he recognized that mysterious, callous force which
110231 compelled people against their will to kill their fellow men--that
110232 force the effect of which he had witnessed during the executions. To
110233 fear or to try to escape that force, to address entreaties or
110234 exhortations to those who served as its tools, was useless. Pierre
110235 knew this now. One had to wait and endure. He did not again go to
110236 the sick man, nor turn to look at him, but stood frowning by the
110237 door of the hut.
110238
110239 When that door was opened and the prisoners, crowding against one
110240 another like a flock of sheep, squeezed into the exit, Pierre pushed
110241 his way forward and approached that very captain who as the corporal
110242 had assured him was ready to do anything for him. The captain was also
110243 in marching kit, and on his cold face appeared that same it which
110244 Pierre had recognized in the corporal's words and in the roll of the
110245 drums.
110246
110247 "Pass on, pass on!" the captain reiterated, frowning sternly, and
110248 looking at the prisoners who thronged past him.
110249
110250 Pierre went up to him, though he knew his attempt would be vain.
110251
110252 "What now?" the officer asked with a cold look as if not recognizing
110253 Pierre.
110254
110255 Pierre told him about the sick man.
110256
110257 "He'll manage to walk, devil take him!" said the captain. "Pass
110258 on, pass on!" he continued without looking at Pierre.
110259
110260 "But he is dying," Pierre again began.
110261
110262 "Be so good..." shouted the captain, frowning angrily.
110263
110264 "Dram-da-da-dam, dam-dam..." rattled the drums, and Pierre
110265 understood that this mysterious force completely controlled these
110266 men and that it was now useless to say any more.
110267
110268 The officer prisoners were separated from the soldiers and told to
110269 march in front. There were about thirty officers, with Pierre among
110270 them, and about three hundred men.
110271
110272 The officers, who had come from the other sheds, were all
110273 strangers to Pierre and much better dressed than he. They looked at
110274 him and at his shoes mistrustfully, as at an alien. Not far from him
110275 walked a fat major with a sallow, bloated, angry face, who was wearing
110276 a Kazan dressing grown tied round with a towel, and who evidently
110277 enjoyed the respect of his fellow prisoners. He kept one hand, in
110278 which he clasped his tobacco pouch, inside the bosom of his dressing
110279 gown and held the stem of his pipe firmly with the other. Panting
110280 and puffing, the major grumbled and growled at everybody because he
110281 thought he was being pushed and that they were all hurrying when
110282 they had nowhere to hurry to and were all surprised at something
110283 when there was nothing to be surprised at. Another, a thin little
110284 officer, was speaking to everyone, conjecturing where they were now
110285 being taken and how far they would get that day. An official in felt
110286 boots and wearing a commissariat uniform ran round from side to side
110287 and gazed at the ruins of Moscow, loudly announcing his observations
110288 as to what had been burned down and what this or that part of the city
110289 was that they could see. A third officer, who by his accent was a
110290 Pole, disputed with the commissariat officer, arguing that he was
110291 mistaken in his identification of the different wards of Moscow.
110292
110293 "What are you disputing about?" said the major angrily. "What does
110294 it matter whether it is St. Nicholas or St. Blasius? You see it's
110295 burned down, and there's an end of it.... What are you pushing for?
110296 Isn't the road wide enough?" said he, turning to a man behind him
110297 who was not pushing him at all.
110298
110299 "Oh, oh, oh! What have they done?" the prisoners on one side and
110300 another were heard saying as they gazed on the charred ruins. "All
110301 beyond the river, and Zubova, and in the Kremlin.... Just look!
110302 There's not half of it left. Yes, I told you--the whole quarter beyond
110303 the river, and so it is."
110304
110305 "Well, you know it's burned, so what's the use of talking?" said the
110306 major.
110307
110308 As they passed near a church in the Khamovniki (one of the few
110309 unburned quarters of Moscow) the whole mass of prisoners suddenly
110310 started to one side and exclamations of horror and disgust were heard.
110311
110312 "Ah, the villains! What heathens! Yes; dead, dead, so he is... And
110313 smeared with something!"
110314
110315 Pierre too drew near the church where the thing was that evoked
110316 these exclamations, and dimly made out something leaning against the
110317 palings surrounding the church. From the words of his comrades who saw
110318 better than he did, he found that this was the body of a man, set
110319 upright against the palings with its face smeared with soot.
110320
110321 "Go on! What the devil... Go on! Thirty thousand devils!..." the
110322 convoy guards began cursing and the French soldiers, with fresh
110323 virulence, drove away with their swords the crowd of prisoners who
110324 were gazing at the dead man.
110325
110326
110327
110328
110329
110330 CHAPTER XIV
110331
110332
110333 Through the cross streets of the Khamovniki quarter the prisoners
110334 marched, followed only by their escort and the vehicles and wagons
110335 belonging to that escort, but when they reached the supply stores they
110336 came among a huge and closely packed train of artillery mingled with
110337 private vehicles.
110338
110339 At the bridge they all halted, waiting for those in front to get
110340 across. From the bridge they had a view of endless lines of moving
110341 baggage trains before and behind them. To the right, where the
110342 Kaluga road turns near Neskuchny, endless rows of troops and carts
110343 stretched away into the distance. These were troops of Beauharnais'
110344 corps which had started before any of the others. Behind, along the
110345 riverside and across the Stone Bridge, were Ney's troops and
110346 transport.
110347
110348 Davout's troops, in whose charge were the prisoners, were crossing
110349 the Crimean bridge and some were already debouching into the Kaluga
110350 road. But the baggage trains stretched out so that the last of
110351 Beauharnais' train had not yet got out of Moscow and reached the
110352 Kaluga road when the vanguard of Ney's army was already emerging
110353 from the Great Ordynka Street.
110354
110355 When they had crossed the Crimean bridge the prisoners moved a few
110356 steps forward, halted, and again moved on, and from all sides vehicles
110357 and men crowded closer and closer together. They advanced the few
110358 hundred paces that separated the bridge from the Kaluga road, taking
110359 more than an hour to do so, and came out upon the square where the
110360 streets of the Transmoskva ward and the Kaluga road converge, and
110361 the prisoners jammed close together had to stand for some hours at
110362 that crossway. From all sides, like the roar of the sea, were heard
110363 the rattle of wheels, the tramp of feet, and incessant shouts of anger
110364 and abuse. Pierre stood pressed against the wall of a charred house,
110365 listening to that noise which mingled in his imagination with the roll
110366 of the drums.
110367
110368 To get a better view, several officer prisoners climbed onto the
110369 wall of the half-burned house against which Pierre was leaning.
110370
110371 "What crowds! Just look at the crowds!... They've loaded goods
110372 even on the cannon! Look there, those are furs!" they exclaimed. "Just
110373 see what the blackguards have looted.... There! See what that one
110374 has behind in the cart.... Why, those are settings taken from some
110375 icons, by heaven!... Oh, the rascals!... See how that fellow has
110376 loaded himself up, he can hardly walk! Good lord, they've even grabbed
110377 those chaises!... See that fellow there sitting on the trunks....
110378 Heavens! They're fighting."
110379
110380 "That's right, hit him on the snout--on his snout! Like this, we
110381 shan't get away before evening. Look, look there.... Why, that must be
110382 Napoleon's own. See what horses! And the monograms with a crown!
110383 It's like a portable house.... That fellow's dropped his sack and
110384 doesn't see it. Fighting again... A woman with a baby, and not
110385 bad-looking either! Yes, I dare say, that's the way they'll let you
110386 pass... Just look, there's no end to it. Russian wenches, by heaven,
110387 so they are! In carriages--see how comfortably they've settled
110388 themselves!"
110389
110390 Again, as at the church in Khamovniki, a wave of general curiosity
110391 bore all the prisoners forward onto the road, and Pierre, thanks to
110392 his stature, saw over the heads of the others what so attracted
110393 their curiosity. In three carriages involved among the munition carts,
110394 closely squeezed together, sat women with rouged faces, dressed in
110395 glaring colors, who were shouting something in shrill voices.
110396
110397 From the moment Pierre had recognized the appearance of the
110398 mysterious force nothing had seemed to him strange or dreadful:
110399 neither the corpse smeared with soot for fun nor these women
110400 hurrying away nor the burned ruins of Moscow. All that he now
110401 witnessed scarcely made an impression on him--as if his soul, making
110402 ready for a hard struggle, refused to receive impressions that might
110403 weaken it.
110404
110405 The women's vehicles drove by. Behind them came more carts,
110406 soldiers, wagons, soldiers, gun carriages, carriages, soldiers,
110407 ammunition carts, more soldiers, and now and then women.
110408
110409 Pierre did not see the people as individuals but saw their movement.
110410
110411 All these people and horses seemed driven forward by some
110412 invisible power. During the hour Pierre watched them they all came
110413 flowing from the different streets with one and the same desire to get
110414 on quickly; they all jostled one another, began to grow angry and to
110415 fight, white teeth gleamed, brows frowned, ever the same words of
110416 abuse flew from side to side, and all the faces bore the same
110417 swaggeringly resolute and coldly cruel expression that had struck
110418 Pierre that morning on the corporal's face when the drums were
110419 beating.
110420
110421 It was not till nearly evening that the officer commanding the
110422 escort collected his men and with shouts and quarrels forced his way
110423 in among the baggage trains, and the prisoners, hemmed in on all
110424 sides, emerged onto the Kaluga road.
110425
110426 They marched very quickly, without resting, and halted only when the
110427 sun began to set. The baggage carts drew up close together and the men
110428 began to prepare for their night's rest. They all appeared angry and
110429 dissatisfied. For a long time, oaths, angry shouts, and fighting could
110430 be heard from all sides. A carriage that followed the escort ran
110431 into one of the carts and knocked a hole in it with its pole.
110432 Several soldiers ran toward the cart from different sides: some beat
110433 the carriage horses on their heads, turning them aside, others
110434 fought among themselves, and Pierre saw that one German was badly
110435 wounded on the head by a sword.
110436
110437 It seemed that all these men, now that they had stopped amid
110438 fields in the chill dusk of the autumn evening, experienced one and
110439 the same feeling of unpleasant awakening from the hurry and
110440 eagerness to push on that had seized them at the start. Once at a
110441 standstill they all seemed to understand that they did not yet know
110442 where they were going, and that much that was painful and difficult
110443 awaited them on this journey.
110444
110445 During this halt the escort treated the prisoners even worse than
110446 they had done at the start. It was here that the prisoners for the
110447 first time received horseflesh for their meat ration.
110448
110449 From the officer down to the lowest soldier they showed what
110450 seemed like personal spite against each of the prisoners, in
110451 unexpected contrast to their former friendly relations.
110452
110453 This spite increased still more when, on calling over the roll of
110454 prisoners, it was found that in the bustle of leaving Moscow one
110455 Russian soldier, who had pretended to suffer from colic, had
110456 escaped. Pierre saw a Frenchman beat a Russian soldier cruelly for
110457 straying too far from the road, and heard his friend the captain
110458 reprimand and threaten to court-martial a noncommissioned officer on
110459 account of the escape of the Russian. To the noncommissioned officer's
110460 excuse that the prisoner was ill and could not walk, the officer
110461 replied that the order was to shoot those who lagged behind. Pierre
110462 felt that that fatal force which had crushed him during the
110463 executions, but which he had not felt during his imprisonment, now
110464 again controlled his existence. It was terrible, but he felt that in
110465 proportion to the efforts of that fatal force to crush him, there grew
110466 and strengthened in his soul a power of life independent of it.
110467
110468 He ate his supper of buckwheat soup with horseflesh and chatted with
110469 his comrades.
110470
110471 Neither Pierre nor any of the others spoke of what they had seen
110472 in Moscow, or of the roughness of their treatment by the French, or of
110473 the order to shoot them which had been announced to them. As if in
110474 reaction against the worsening of their position they were all
110475 particularly animated and gay. They spoke of personal reminiscences,
110476 of amusing scenes they had witnessed during the campaign, and
110477 avoided all talk of their present situation.
110478
110479 The sun had set long since. Bright stars shone out here and there in
110480 the sky. A red glow as of a conflagration spread above the horizon
110481 from the rising full moon, and that vast red ball swayed strangely
110482 in the gray haze. It grew light. The evening was ending, but the night
110483 had not yet come. Pierre got up and left his new companions,
110484 crossing between the campfires to the other side of the road where
110485 he had been told the common soldier prisoners were stationed. He
110486 wanted to talk to them. On the road he was stopped by a French
110487 sentinel who ordered him back.
110488
110489 Pierre turned back, not to his companions by the campfire, but to an
110490 unharnessed cart where there was nobody. Tucking his legs under him
110491 and dropping his head he sat down on the cold ground by the wheel of
110492 the cart and remained motionless a long while sunk in thought.
110493 Suddenly he burst out into a fit of his broad, good-natured
110494 laughter, so loud that men from various sides turned with surprise
110495 to see what this strange and evidently solitary laughter could mean.
110496
110497 "Ha-ha-ha!" laughed Pierre. And he said aloud to himself: "The
110498 soldier did not let me pass. They took me and shut me up. They hold me
110499 captive. What, me? Me? My immortal soul? Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha!..." and
110500 he laughed till tears started to his eyes.
110501
110502 A man got up and came to see what this queer big fellow was laughing
110503 at all by himself. Pierre stopped laughing, got up, went farther
110504 away from the inquisitive man, and looked around him.
110505
110506 The huge, endless bivouac that had previously resounded with the
110507 crackling of campfires and the voices of many men had grown quiet, the
110508 red campfires were growing paler and dying down. High up in the
110509 light sky hung the full moon. Forests and fields beyond the camp,
110510 unseen before, were now visible in the distance. And farther still,
110511 beyond those forests and fields, the bright, oscillating, limitless
110512 distance lured one to itself. Pierre glanced up at the sky and the
110513 twinkling stars in its faraway depths. "And all that is me, all that
110514 is within me, and it is all I!" thought Pierre. "And they caught all
110515 that and put it into a shed boarded up with planks!" He smiled, and
110516 went and lay down to sleep beside his companions.
110517
110518
110519
110520
110521
110522 CHAPTER XV
110523
110524
110525 In the early days of October another envoy came to Kutuzov with a
110526 letter from Napoleon proposing peace and falsely dated from Moscow,
110527 though Napoleon was already not far from Kutuzov on the old Kaluga
110528 road. Kutuzov replied to this letter as he had done to the one
110529 formerly brought by Lauriston, saying that there could be no
110530 question of peace.
110531
110532 Soon after that a report was received from Dorokhov's guerrilla
110533 detachment operating to the left of Tarutino that troops of
110534 Broussier's division had been seen at Forminsk and that being
110535 separated from the rest of the French army they might easily be
110536 destroyed. The soldiers and officers again demanded action. Generals
110537 on the staff, excited by the memory of the easy victory at Tarutino,
110538 urged Kutuzov to carry out Dorokhov's suggestion. Kutuzov did not
110539 consider any offensive necessary. The result was a compromise which
110540 was inevitable: a small detachment was sent to Forminsk to attack
110541 Broussier.
110542
110543 By a strange coincidence, this task, which turned out to be a most
110544 difficult and important one, was entrusted to Dokhturov--that same
110545 modest little Dokhturov whom no one had described to us as drawing
110546 up plans of battles, dashing about in front of regiments, showering
110547 crosses on batteries, and so on, and who was thought to be and was
110548 spoken of as undecided and undiscerning--but whom we find commanding
110549 wherever the position was most difficult all through the
110550 Russo-French wars from Austerlitz to the year 1813. At Austerlitz he
110551 remained last at the Augezd dam, rallying the regiments, saving what
110552 was possible when all were flying and perishing and not a single
110553 general was left in the rear guard. Ill with fever he went to Smolensk
110554 with twenty thousand men to defend the town against Napoleon's whole
110555 army. In Smolensk, at the Malakhov Gate, he had hardly dozed off in
110556 a paroxysm of fever before he was awakened by the bombardment of the
110557 town--and Smolensk held out all day long. At the battle of Borodino,
110558 when Bagration was killed and nine tenths of the men of our left flank
110559 had fallen and the full force of the French artillery fire was
110560 directed against it, the man sent there was this same irresolute and
110561 undiscerning Dokhturov--Kutuzov hastening to rectify a mistake he
110562 had made by sending someone else there first. And the quiet little
110563 Dokhturov rode thither, and Borodino became the greatest glory of
110564 the Russian army. Many heroes have been described to us in verse and
110565 prose, but of Dokhturov scarcely a word has been said.
110566
110567 It was Dokhturov again whom they sent to Forminsk and from there
110568 to Malo-Yaroslavets, the place where the last battle with the French
110569 was fought and where the obvious disintegration of the French army
110570 began; and we are told of many geniuses and heroes of that period of
110571 the campaign, but of Dokhturov nothing or very little is said and that
110572 dubiously. And this silence about Dokhturov is the clearest
110573 testimony to his merit.
110574
110575 It is natural for a man who does not understand the workings of a
110576 machine to imagine that a shaving that has fallen into it by chance
110577 and is interfering with its action and tossing about in it is its most
110578 important part. The man who does not understand the construction of
110579 the machine cannot conceive that the small connecting cogwheel which
110580 revolves quietly is one of the most essential parts of the machine,
110581 and not the shaving which merely harms and hinders the working.
110582
110583 On the tenth of October when Dokhturov had gone halfway to
110584 Forminsk and stopped at the village of Aristovo, preparing
110585 faithfully to execute the orders he had received, the whole French
110586 army having, in its convulsive movement, reached Murat's position
110587 apparently in order to give battle--suddenly without any reason turned
110588 off to the left onto the new Kaluga road and began to enter
110589 Forminsk, where only Broussier had been till then. At that time
110590 Dokhturov had under his command, besides Dorokhov's detachment, the
110591 two small guerrilla detachments of Figner and Seslavin.
110592
110593 On the evening of October 11 Seslavin came to the Aristovo
110594 headquarters with a French guardsman he had captured. The prisoner
110595 said that the troops that had entered Forminsk that day were the
110596 vanguard of the whole army, that Napoleon was there and the whole army
110597 had left Moscow four days previously. That same evening a house serf
110598 who had come from Borovsk said he had seen an immense army entering
110599 the town. Some Cossacks of Dokhturov's detachment reported having
110600 sighted the French Guards marching along the road to Borovsk. From all
110601 these reports it was evident that where they had expected to meet a
110602 single division there was now the whole French army marching from
110603 Moscow in an unexpected direction--along the Kaluga road. Dokhturov
110604 was unwilling to undertake any action, as it was not clear to him
110605 now what he ought to do. He had been ordered to attack Forminsk. But
110606 only Broussier had been there at that time and now the whole French
110607 army was there. Ermolov wished to act on his own judgment, but
110608 Dokhturov insisted that he must have Kutuzov's instructions. So it was
110609 decided to send a dispatch to the staff.
110610
110611 For this purpose a capable officer, Bolkhovitinov, was chosen, who
110612 was to explain the whole affair by word of mouth, besides delivering a
110613 written report. Toward midnight Bolkhovitinov, having received the
110614 dispatch and verbal instructions, galloped off to the General Staff
110615 accompanied by a Cossack with spare horses.
110616
110617
110618
110619
110620
110621 CHAPTER XVI
110622
110623
110624 It was a warm, dark, autumn night. It had been raining for four
110625 days. Having changed horses twice and galloped twenty miles in an hour
110626 and a half over a sticky, muddy road, Bolkhovitinov reached Litashevka
110627 after one o'clock at night. Dismounting at a cottage on whose wattle
110628 fence hung a signboard, GENERAL STAFF, and throwing down his reins, he
110629 entered a dark passage.
110630
110631 "The general on duty, quick! It's very important!" said he to
110632 someone who had risen and was sniffing in the dark passage.
110633
110634 "He has been very unwell since the evening and this is the third
110635 night he has not slept," said the orderly pleadingly in a whisper.
110636 "You should wake the captain first."
110637
110638 "But this is very important, from General Dokhturov," said
110639 Bolkhovitinov, entering the open door which he had found by feeling in
110640 the dark.
110641
110642 The orderly had gone in before him and began waking somebody.
110643
110644 "Your honor, your honor! A courier."
110645
110646 "What? What's that? From whom?" came a sleepy voice.
110647
110648 "From Dokhturov and from Alexey Petrovich. Napoleon is at Forminsk,"
110649 said Bolkhovitinov, unable to see in the dark who was speaking but
110650 guessing by the voice that it was not Konovnitsyn.
110651
110652 The man who had wakened yawned and stretched himself.
110653
110654 "I don't like waking him," he said, fumbling for something. "He is
110655 very ill. Perhaps this is only a rumor."
110656
110657 "Here is the dispatch," said Bolkhovitinov. "My orders are to give
110658 it at once to the general on duty."
110659
110660 "Wait a moment, I'll light a candle. You damned rascal, where do you
110661 always hide it?" said the voice of the man who was stretching himself,
110662 to the orderly. (This was Shcherbinin, Konovnitsyn's adjutant.)
110663 "I've found it, I've found it!" he added.
110664
110665 The orderly was striking a light and Shcherbinin was fumbling for
110666 something on the candlestick.
110667
110668 "Oh, the nasty beasts!" said he with disgust.
110669
110670 By the light of the sparks Bolkhovitinov saw Shcherbinin's
110671 youthful face as he held the candle, and the face of another man who
110672 was still asleep. This was Konovnitsyn.
110673
110674 When the flame of the sulphur splinters kindled by the tinder burned
110675 up, first blue and then red, Shcherbinin lit the tallow candle, from
110676 the candlestick of which the cockroaches that had been gnawing it were
110677 running away, and looked at the messenger. Bolkhovitinov was
110678 bespattered all over with mud and had smeared his face by wiping it
110679 with his sleeve.
110680
110681 "Who gave the report?" inquired Shcherbinin, taking the envelope.
110682
110683 "The news is reliable," said Bolkhovitinov. "Prisoners, Cossacks,
110684 and the scouts all say the same thing."
110685
110686 "There's nothing to be done, we'll have to wake him," said
110687 Shcherbinin, rising and going up to the man in the nightcap who lay
110688 covered by a greatcoat. "Peter Petrovich!" said he. (Konovnitsyn did
110689 not stir.) "To the General Staff!" he said with a smile, knowing
110690 that those words would be sure to arouse him.
110691
110692 And in fact the head in the nightcap was lifted at once. On
110693 Konovnitsyn's handsome, resolute face with cheeks flushed by fever,
110694 there still remained for an instant a faraway dreamy expression remote
110695 from present affairs, but then he suddenly started and his face
110696 assumed its habitual calm and firm appearance.
110697
110698 "Well, what is it? From whom?" he asked immediately but without
110699 hurry, blinking at the light.
110700
110701 While listening to the officer's report Konovnitsyn broke the seal
110702 and read the dispatch. Hardly had he done so before he lowered his
110703 legs in their woolen stockings to the earthen floor and began
110704 putting on his boots. Then he took off his nightcap, combed his hair
110705 over his temples, and donned his cap.
110706
110707 "Did you get here quickly? Let us go to his Highness."
110708
110709 Konovnitsyn had understood at once that the news brought was of
110710 great importance and that no time must be lost. He did not consider or
110711 ask himself whether the news was good or bad. That did not interest
110712 him. He regarded the whole business of the war not with his
110713 intelligence or his reason but by something else. There was within him
110714 a deep unexpressed conviction that all would be well, but that one
110715 must not trust to this and still less speak about it, but must only
110716 attend to one's own work. And he did his work, giving his whole
110717 strength to the task.
110718
110719 Peter Petrovich Konovnitsyn, like Dokhturov, seems to have been
110720 included merely for propriety's sake in the list of the so-called
110721 heroes of 1812--the Barclays, Raevskis, Ermolovs, Platovs, and
110722 Miloradoviches. Like Dokhturov he had the reputation of being a man of
110723 very limited capacity and information, and like Dokhturov he never
110724 made plans of battle but was always found where the situation was most
110725 difficult. Since his appointment as general on duty he had always
110726 slept with his door open, giving orders that every messenger should be
110727 allowed to wake him up. In battle he was always under fire, so that
110728 Kutuzov reproved him for it and feared to send him to the front, and
110729 like Dokhturov he was one of those unnoticed cogwheels that, without
110730 clatter or noise, constitute the most essential part of the machine.
110731
110732 Coming out of the hut into the damp, dark night Konovnitsyn frowned-
110733 partly from an increased pain in his head and partly at the unpleasant
110734 thought that occurred to him, of how all that nest of influential
110735 men on the staff would be stirred up by this news, especially
110736 Bennigsen, who ever since Tarutino had been at daggers drawn with
110737 Kutuzov; and how they would make suggestions, quarrel, issue orders,
110738 and rescind them. And this premonition was disagreeable to him
110739 though he knew it could not be helped.
110740
110741 And in fact Toll, to whom he went to communicate the news,
110742 immediately began to expound his plans to a general sharing his
110743 quarters, until Konovnitsyn, who listened in weary silence, reminded
110744 him that they must go to see his Highness.
110745
110746
110747
110748
110749
110750 CHAPTER XVII
110751
110752
110753 Kutuzov like all old people did not sleep much at night. He often
110754 fell asleep unexpectedly in the daytime, but at night, lying on his
110755 bed without undressing, he generally remained awake thinking.
110756
110757 So he lay now on his bed, supporting his large, heavy, scarred
110758 head on his plump hand, with his one eye open, meditating and
110759 peering into the darkness.
110760
110761 Since Bennigsen, who corresponded with the Emperor and had more
110762 influence than anyone else on the staff, had begun to avoid him,
110763 Kutuzov was more at ease as to the possibility of himself and his
110764 troops being obliged to take part in useless aggressive movements. The
110765 lesson of the Tarutino battle and of the day before it, which
110766 Kutuzov remembered with pain, must, he thought, have some effect on
110767 others too.
110768
110769 "They must understand that we can only lose by taking the offensive.
110770 Patience and time are my warriors, my champions," thought Kutuzov.
110771 He knew that an apple should not be plucked while it is green. It will
110772 fall of itself when ripe, but if picked unripe the apple is spoiled,
110773 the tree is harmed, and your teeth are set on edge. Like an
110774 experienced sportsman he knew that the beast was wounded, and
110775 wounded as only the whole strength of Russia could have wounded it,
110776 but whether it was mortally wounded or not was still an undecided
110777 question. Now by the fact of Lauriston and Barthelemi having been
110778 sent, and by the reports of the guerrillas, Kutuzov was almost sure
110779 that the wound was mortal. But he needed further proofs and it was
110780 necessary to wait.
110781
110782 "They want to run to see how they have wounded it. Wait and we shall
110783 see! Continual maneuvers, continual advances!" thought he. "What
110784 for? Only to distinguish themselves! As if fighting were fun. They are
110785 like children from whom one can't get any sensible account of what has
110786 happened because they all want to show how well they can fight. But
110787 that's not what is needed now.
110788
110789 "And what ingenious maneuvers they all propose to me! It seems to
110790 them that when they have thought of two or three contingencies" (he
110791 remembered the general plan sent him from Petersburg) "they have
110792 foreseen everything. But the contingencies are endless."
110793
110794 The undecided question as to whether the wound inflicted at Borodino
110795 was mortal or not had hung over Kutuzov's head for a whole month. On
110796 the one hand the French had occupied Moscow. On the other Kutuzov felt
110797 assured with all his being that the terrible blow into which he and
110798 all the Russians had put their whole strength must have been mortal.
110799 But in any case proofs were needed; he had waited a whole month for
110800 them and grew more impatient the longer he waited. Lying on his bed
110801 during those sleepless nights he did just what he reproached those
110802 younger generals for doing. He imagined all sorts of possible
110803 contingencies, just like the younger men, but with this difference,
110804 that he saw thousands of contingencies instead of two or three and
110805 based nothing on them. The longer he thought the more contingencies
110806 presented themselves. He imagined all sorts of movements of the
110807 Napoleonic army as a whole or in sections--against Petersburg, or
110808 against him, or to outflank him. He thought too of the possibility
110809 (which he feared most of all) that Napoleon might fight him with his
110810 own weapon and remain in Moscow awaiting him. Kutuzov even imagined
110811 that Napoleon's army might turn back through Medyn and Yukhnov, but
110812 the one thing he could not foresee was what happened--the insane,
110813 convulsive stampede of Napoleon's army during its first eleven days
110814 after leaving Moscow: a stampede which made possible what Kutuzov
110815 had not yet even dared to think of--the complete extermination of
110816 the French. Dorokhov's report about Broussier's division, the
110817 guerrillas' reports of distress in Napoleon's army, rumors of
110818 preparations for leaving Moscow, all confirmed the supposition that
110819 the French army was beaten and preparing for flight. But these were
110820 only suppositions, which seemed important to the younger men but not
110821 to Kutuzov. With his sixty years' experience he knew what value to
110822 attach to rumors, knew how apt people who desire anything are to group
110823 all news so that it appears to confirm what they desire, and he knew
110824 how readily in such cases they omit all that makes for the contrary.
110825 And the more he desired it the less he allowed himself to believe
110826 it. This question absorbed all his mental powers. All else was to
110827 him only life's customary routine. To such customary routine
110828 belonged his conversations with the staff, the letters he wrote from
110829 Tarutino to Madame de Stael, the reading of novels, the distribution
110830 of awards, his correspondence with Petersburg, and so on. But the
110831 destruction of the French, which he alone foresaw, was his heart's one
110832 desire.
110833
110834 On the night of the eleventh of October he lay leaning on his arm
110835 and thinking of that.
110836
110837 There was a stir in the next room and he heard the steps of Toll,
110838 Konovnitsyn, and Bolkhovitinov.
110839
110840 "Eh, who's there? Come in, come in! What news?" the field marshal
110841 called out to them.
110842
110843 While a footman was lighting a candle, Toll communicated the
110844 substance of the news.
110845
110846 "Who brought it?" asked Kutuzov with a look which, when the candle
110847 was lit, struck Toll by its cold severity.
110848
110849 "There can be no doubt about it, your Highness."
110850
110851 "Call him in, call him here."
110852
110853 Kutuzov sat up with one leg hanging down from the bed and his big
110854 paunch resting against the other which was doubled under him. He
110855 screwed up his seeing eye to scrutinize the messenger more
110856 carefully, as if wishing to read in his face what preoccupied his
110857 own mind.
110858
110859 "Tell me, tell me, friend," said he to Bolkhovitinov in his low,
110860 aged voice, as he pulled together the shirt which gaped open on his
110861 chest, "come nearer--nearer. What news have you brought me? Eh? That
110862 Napoleon has left Moscow? Are you sure? Eh?"
110863
110864 Bolkhovitinov gave a detailed account from the beginning of all he
110865 had been told to report.
110866
110867 "Speak quicker, quicker! Don't torture me!" Kutuzov interrupted him.
110868
110869 Bolkhovitinov told him everything and was then silent, awaiting
110870 instructions. Toll was beginning to say something but Kutuzov
110871 checked him. He tried to say something, but his face suddenly puckered
110872 and wrinkled; he waved his arm at Toll and turned to the opposite side
110873 of the room, to the corner darkened by the icons that hung there.
110874
110875 "O Lord, my Creator, Thou has heard our prayer..." said he in a
110876 tremulous voice with folded hands. "Russia is saved. I thank Thee, O
110877 Lord!" and he wept.
110878
110879
110880
110881
110882
110883 CHAPTER XVIII
110884
110885
110886 From the time he received this news to the end of the campaign all
110887 Kutuzov's activity was directed toward restraining his troops, by
110888 authority, by guile, and by entreaty, from useless attacks, maneuvers,
110889 or encounters with the perishing enemy. Dokhturov went to
110890 Malo-Yaroslavets, but Kutuzov lingered with the main army and gave
110891 orders for the evacuation of Kaluga--a retreat beyond which town
110892 seemed to him quite possible.
110893
110894 Everywhere Kutuzov retreated, but the enemy without waiting for
110895 his retreat fled in the opposite direction.
110896
110897 Napoleon's historians describe to us his skilled maneuvers at
110898 Tarutino and Malo-Yaroslavets, and make conjectures as to what would
110899 have happened had Napoleon been in time to penetrate into the rich
110900 southern provinces.
110901
110902 But not to speak of the fact that nothing prevented him from
110903 advancing into those southern provinces (for the Russian army did
110904 not bar his way), the historians forget that nothing could have
110905 saved his army, for then already it bore within itself the germs of
110906 inevitable ruin. How could that army--which had found abundant
110907 supplies in Moscow and had trampled them underfoot instead of
110908 keeping them, and on arriving at Smolensk had looted provisions
110909 instead of storing them--how could that army recuperate in Kaluga
110910 province, which was inhabited by Russians such as those who lived in
110911 Moscow, and where fire had the same property of consuming what was set
110912 ablaze?
110913
110914 That army could not recover anywhere. Since the battle of Borodino
110915 and the pillage of Moscow it had borne within itself, as it were,
110916 the chemical elements of dissolution.
110917
110918 The members of what had once been an army--Napoleon himself and
110919 all his soldiers fled--without knowing whither, each concerned only to
110920 make his escape as quickly as possible from this position, of the
110921 hopelessness of which they were all more or less vaguely conscious.
110922
110923 So it came about that at the council at Malo-Yaroslavets, when the
110924 generals pretending to confer together expressed various opinions, all
110925 mouths were closed by the opinion uttered by the simple-minded soldier
110926 Mouton who, speaking last, said what they all felt: that the one thing
110927 needful was to get away as quickly as possible; and no one, not even
110928 Napoleon, could say anything against that truth which they all
110929 recognized.
110930
110931 But though they all realized that it was necessary to get away,
110932 there still remained a feeling of shame at admitting that they must
110933 flee. An external shock was needed to overcome that shame, and this
110934 shock came in due time. It was what the French called "le hourra de
110935 l'Empereur."
110936
110937 The day after the council at Malo-Yaroslavets Napoleon rode out
110938 early in the morning amid the lines of his army with his suite of
110939 marshals and an escort, on the pretext of inspecting the army and
110940 the scene of the previous and of the impending battle. Some Cossacks
110941 on the prowl for booty fell in with the Emperor and very nearly
110942 captured him. If the Cossacks did not capture Napoleon then, what
110943 saved him was the very thing that was destroying the French army,
110944 the booty on which the Cossacks fell. Here as at Tarutino they went
110945 after plunder, leaving the men. Disregarding Napoleon they rushed
110946 after the plunder and Napoleon managed to escape.
110947
110948 When les enfants du Don might so easily have taken the Emperor
110949 himself in the midst of his army, it was clear that there was
110950 nothing for it but to fly as fast as possible along the nearest,
110951 familiar road. Napoleon with his forty-year-old stomach understood
110952 that hint, not feeling his former agility and boldness, and under
110953 the influence of the fright the Cossacks had given him he at once
110954 agreed with Mouton and issued orders--as the historians tell us--to
110955 retreat by the Smolensk road.
110956
110957 That Napoleon agreed with Mouton, and that the army retreated,
110958 does not prove that Napoleon caused it to retreat, but that the forces
110959 which influenced the whole army and directed it along the Mozhaysk
110960 (that is, the Smolensk) road acted simultaneously on him also.
110961
110962
110963
110964
110965
110966 CHAPTER XIX
110967
110968
110969 A man in motion always devises an aim for that motion. To be able to
110970 go a thousand miles he must imagine that something good awaits him
110971 at the end of those thousand miles. One must have the prospect of a
110972 promised land to have the strength to move.
110973
110974 The promised land for the French during their advance had been
110975 Moscow, during their retreat it was their native land. But that native
110976 land was too far off, and for a man going a thousand miles it is
110977 absolutely necessary to set aside his final goal and to say to
110978 himself: "Today I shall get to a place twenty-five miles off where I
110979 shall rest and spend the night," and during the first day's journey
110980 that resting place eclipses his ultimate goal and attracts all his
110981 hopes and desires. And the impulses felt by a single person are always
110982 magnified in a crowd.
110983
110984 For the French retreating along the old Smolensk road, the final
110985 goal--their native land--was too remote, and their immediate goal
110986 was Smolensk, toward which all their desires and hopes, enormously
110987 intensified in the mass, urged them on. It was not that they knew that
110988 much food and fresh troops awaited them in Smolensk, nor that they
110989 were told so (on the contrary their superior officers, and Napoleon
110990 himself, knew that provisions were scarce there), but because this
110991 alone could give them strength to move on and endure their present
110992 privations. So both those who knew and those who did not know deceived
110993 themselves, and pushed on to Smolensk as to a promised land.
110994
110995 Coming out onto the highroad the French fled with surprising
110996 energy and unheard-of rapidity toward the goal they had fixed on.
110997 Besides the common impulse which bound the whole crowd of French
110998 into one mass and supplied them with a certain energy, there was
110999 another cause binding them together--their great numbers. As with
111000 the physical law of gravity, their enormous mass drew the individual
111001 human atoms to itself. In their hundreds of thousands they moved
111002 like a whole nation.
111003
111004 Each of them desired nothing more than to give himself up as a
111005 prisoner to escape from all this horror and misery; but on the one
111006 hand the force of this common attraction to Smolensk, their goal, drew
111007 each of them in the same direction; on the other hand an army corps
111008 could not surrender to a company, and though the French availed
111009 themselves of every convenient opportunity to detach themselves and to
111010 surrender on the slightest decent pretext, such pretexts did not
111011 always occur. Their very numbers and their crowded and swift
111012 movement deprived them of that possibility and rendered it not only
111013 difficult but impossible for the Russians to stop this movement, to
111014 which the French were directing all their energies. Beyond a certain
111015 limit no mechanical disruption of the body could hasten the process of
111016 decomposition.
111017
111018 A lump of snow cannot be melted instantaneously. There is a
111019 certain limit of time in less than which no amount of heat can melt
111020 the snow. On the contrary the greater the heat the more solidified the
111021 remaining snow becomes.
111022
111023 Of the Russian commanders Kutuzov alone understood this. When the
111024 flight of the French army along the Smolensk road became well defined,
111025 what Konovnitsyn had foreseen on the night of the eleventh of
111026 October began to occur. The superior officers all wanted to
111027 distinguish themselves, to cut off, to seize, to capture, and to
111028 overthrow the French, and all clamored for action.
111029
111030 Kutuzov alone used all his power (and such power is very limited
111031 in the case of any commander in chief) to prevent an attack.
111032
111033 He could not tell them what we say now: "Why fight, why block the
111034 road, losing our own men and inhumanly slaughtering unfortunate
111035 wretches? What is the use of that, when a third of their army has
111036 melted away on the road from Moscow to Vyazma without any battle?" But
111037 drawing from his aged wisdom what they could understand, he told
111038 them of the golden bridge, and they laughed at and slandered him,
111039 flinging themselves on, rending and exulting over the dying beast.
111040
111041 Ermolov, Miloradovich, Platov, and others in proximity to the French
111042 near Vyazma could not resist their desire to cut off and break up
111043 two French corps, and by way of reporting their intention to Kutuzov
111044 they sent him a blank sheet of paper in an envelope.
111045
111046 And try as Kutuzov might to restrain the troops, our men attacked,
111047 trying to bar the road. Infantry regiments, we are told, advanced to
111048 the attack with music and with drums beating, and killed and lost
111049 thousands of men.
111050
111051 But they did not cut off or overthrow anybody and the French army,
111052 closing up more firmly at the danger, continued, while steadily
111053 melting away, to pursue its fatal path to Smolensk.
111054
111055
111056
111057
111058
111059
111060 BOOK FOURTEEN: 1812
111061
111062
111063
111064
111065
111066 CHAPTER I
111067
111068
111069 The Battle of Borodino, with the occupation of Moscow that
111070 followed it and the flight of the French without further conflicts, is
111071 one of the most instructive phenomena in history.
111072
111073 All historians agree that the external activity of states and
111074 nations in their conflicts with one another is expressed in wars,
111075 and that as a direct result of greater or less success in war the
111076 political strength of states and nations increases or decreases.
111077
111078 Strange as may be the historical account of how some king or
111079 emperor, having quarreled with another, collects an army, fights his
111080 enemy's army, gains a victory by killing three, five, or ten
111081 thousand men, and subjugates a kingdom and an entire nation of several
111082 millions, all the facts of history (as far as we know it) confirm
111083 the truth of the statement that the greater or lesser success of one
111084 army against another is the cause, or at least an essential
111085 indication, of an increase or decrease in the strength of the
111086 nation--even though it is unintelligible why the defeat of an army-
111087 a hundredth part of a nation--should oblige that whole nation to
111088 submit. An army gains a victory, and at once the rights of the
111089 conquering nation have increased to the detriment of the defeated.
111090 An army has suffered defeat, and at once a people loses its rights
111091 in proportion to the severity of the reverse, and if its army
111092 suffers a complete defeat the nation is quite subjugated.
111093
111094 So according to history it has been found from the most ancient
111095 times, and so it is to our own day. All Napoleon's wars serve to
111096 confirm this rule. In proportion to the defeat of the Austrian army
111097 Austria loses its rights, and the rights and the strength of France
111098 increase. The victories of the French at Jena and Auerstadt destroy
111099 the independent existence of Prussia.
111100
111101 But then, in 1812, the French gain a victory near Moscow. Moscow
111102 is taken and after that, with no further battles, it is not Russia
111103 that ceases to exist, but the French army of six hundred thousand, and
111104 then Napoleonic France itself. To strain the facts to fit the rules of
111105 history: to say that the field of battle at Borodino remained in the
111106 hands of the Russians, or that after Moscow there were other battles
111107 that destroyed Napoleon's army, is impossible.
111108
111109 After the French victory at Borodino there was no general engagement
111110 nor any that were at all serious, yet the French army ceased to exist.
111111 What does this mean? If it were an example taken from the history of
111112 China, we might say that it was not an historic phenomenon (which is
111113 the historians' usual expedient when anything does not fit their
111114 standards); if the matter concerned some brief conflict in which
111115 only a small number of troops took part, we might treat it as an
111116 exception; but this event occurred before our fathers' eyes, and for
111117 them it was a question of the life or death of their fatherland, and
111118 it happened in the greatest of all known wars.
111119
111120 The period of the campaign of 1812 from the battle of Borodino to
111121 the expulsion of the French proved that the winning of a battle does
111122 not produce a conquest and is not even an invariable indication of
111123 conquest; it proved that the force which decides the fate of peoples
111124 lies not in the conquerors, nor even in armies and battles, but in
111125 something else.
111126
111127 The French historians, describing the condition of the French army
111128 before it left Moscow, affirm that all was in order in the Grand Army,
111129 except the cavalry, the artillery, and the transport--there was no
111130 forage for the horses or the cattle. That was a misfortune no one
111131 could remedy, for the peasants of the district burned their hay rather
111132 than let the French have it.
111133
111134 The victory gained did not bring the usual results because the
111135 peasants Karp and Vlas (who after the French had evacuated Moscow
111136 drove in their carts to pillage the town, and in general personally
111137 failed to manifest any heroic feelings), and the whole innumerable
111138 multitude of such peasants, did not bring their hay to Moscow for
111139 the high price offered them, but burned it instead.
111140
111141 Let us imagine two men who have come out to fight a duel with
111142 rapiers according to all the rules of the art of fencing. The
111143 fencing has gone on for some time; suddenly one of the combatants,
111144 feeling himself wounded and understanding that the matter is no joke
111145 but concerns his life, throws down his rapier, and seizing the first
111146 cudgel that comes to hand begins to brandish it. Then let us imagine
111147 that the combatant who so sensibly employed the best and simplest
111148 means to attain his end was at the same time influenced by
111149 traditions of chivalry and, desiring to conceal the facts of the case,
111150 insisted that he had gained his victory with the rapier according to
111151 all the rules of art. One can imagine what confusion and obscurity
111152 would result from such an account of the duel.
111153
111154 The fencer who demanded a contest according to the rules of
111155 fencing was the French army; his opponent who threw away the rapier
111156 and snatched up the cudgel was the Russian people; those who try to
111157 explain the matter according to the rules of fencing are the
111158 historians who have described the event.
111159
111160 After the burning of Smolensk a war began which did not follow any
111161 previous traditions of war. The burning of towns and villages, the
111162 retreats after battles, the blow dealt at Borodino and the renewed
111163 retreat, the burning of Moscow, the capture of marauders, the
111164 seizure of transports, and the guerrilla war were all departures
111165 from the rules.
111166
111167 Napoleon felt this, and from the time he took up the correct fencing
111168 attitude in Moscow and instead of his opponent's rapier saw a cudgel
111169 raised above his head, he did not cease to complain to Kutuzov and
111170 to the Emperor Alexander that the war was being carried on contrary to
111171 all the rules--as if there were any rules for killing people. In spite
111172 of the complaints of the French as to the nonobservance of the
111173 rules, in spite of the fact that to some highly placed Russians it
111174 seemed rather disgraceful to fight with a cudgel and they wanted to
111175 assume a pose en quarte or en tierce according to all the rules, and
111176 to make an adroit thrust en prime, and so on--the cudgel of the
111177 people's war was lifted with all its menacing and majestic strength,
111178 and without consulting anyone's tastes or rules and regardless of
111179 anything else, it rose and fell with stupid simplicity, but
111180 consistently, and belabored the French till the whole invasion had
111181 perished.
111182
111183 And it is well for a people who do not--as the French did in 1813-
111184 salute according to all the rules of art, and, presenting the hilt
111185 of their rapier gracefully and politely, hand it to their
111186 magnanimous conqueror, but at the moment of trial, without asking what
111187 rules others have adopted in similar cases, simply and easily pick
111188 up the first cudgel that comes to hand and strike with it till the
111189 feeling of resentment and revenge in their soul yields to a feeling of
111190 contempt and compassion.
111191
111192
111193
111194
111195
111196 CHAPTER II
111197
111198
111199 One of the most obvious and advantageous departures from the
111200 so-called laws of war is the action of scattered groups against men
111201 pressed together in a mass. Such action always occurs in wars that
111202 take on a national character. In such actions, instead of two crowds
111203 opposing each other, the men disperse, attack singly, run away when
111204 attacked by stronger forces, but again attack when opportunity offers.
111205 This was done by the guerrillas in Spain, by the mountain tribes in
111206 the Caucasus, and by the Russians in 1812.
111207
111208 People have called this kind of war "guerrilla warfare" and assume
111209 that by so calling it they have explained its meaning. But such a
111210 war does not fit in under any rule and is directly opposed to a
111211 well-known rule of tactics which is accepted as infallible. That
111212 rule says that an attacker should concentrate his forces in order to
111213 be stronger than his opponent at the moment of conflict.
111214
111215 Guerrilla war (always successful, as history shows) directly
111216 infringes that rule.
111217
111218 This contradiction arises from the fact that military science
111219 assumes the strength of an army to be identical with its numbers.
111220 Military science says that the more troops the greater the strength.
111221 Les gros bataillons ont toujours raison.*
111222
111223
111224 *Large battalions are always victorious.
111225
111226
111227 For military science to say this is like defining momentum in
111228 mechanics by reference to the mass only: stating that momenta are
111229 equal or unequal to each other simply because the masses involved
111230 are equal or unequal.
111231
111232 Momentum (quantity of motion) is the product of mass and velocity.
111233
111234 In military affairs the strength of an army is the product of its
111235 mass and some unknown x.
111236
111237 Military science, seeing in history innumerable instances of the
111238 fact that the size of any army does not coincide with its strength and
111239 that small detachments defeat larger ones, obscurely admits the
111240 existence of this unknown factor and tries to discover it--now in a
111241 geometric formation, now in the equipment employed, now, and most
111242 usually, in the genius of the commanders. But the assignment of
111243 these various meanings to the factor does not yield results which
111244 accord with the historic facts.
111245
111246 Yet it is only necessary to abandon the false view (adopted to
111247 gratify the "heroes") of the efficacy of the directions issued in
111248 wartime by commanders, in order to find this unknown quantity.
111249
111250 That unknown quantity is the spirit of the army, that is to say, the
111251 greater or lesser readiness to fight and face danger felt by all the
111252 men composing an army, quite independently of whether they are, or are
111253 not, fighting under the command of a genius, in two--or three-line
111254 formation, with cudgels or with rifles that repeat thirty times a
111255 minute. Men who want to fight will always put themselves in the most
111256 advantageous conditions for fighting.
111257
111258 The spirit of an army is the factor which multiplied by the mass
111259 gives the resulting force. To define and express the significance of
111260 this unknown factor--the spirit of an army--is a problem for science.
111261
111262 This problem is only solvable if we cease arbitrarily to
111263 substitute for the unknown x itself the conditions under which that
111264 force becomes apparent--such as the commands of the general, the
111265 equipment employed, and so on--mistaking these for the real
111266 significance of the factor, and if we recognize this unknown
111267 quantity in its entirety as being the greater or lesser desire to
111268 fight and to face danger. Only then, expressing known historic facts
111269 by equations and comparing the relative significance of this factor,
111270 can we hope to define the unknown.
111271
111272 Ten men, battalions, or divisions, fighting fifteen men, battalions,
111273 or divisions, conquer--that is, kill or take captive--all the
111274 others, while themselves losing four, so that on the one side four and
111275 on the other fifteen were lost. Consequently the four were equal to
111276 the fifteen, and therefore 4x = 15y. Consequently x/y = 15/4. This
111277 equation does not give us the value of the unknown factor but gives us
111278 a ratio between two unknowns. And by bringing variously selected
111279 historic units (battles, campaigns, periods of war) into such
111280 equations, a series of numbers could be obtained in which certain laws
111281 should exist and might be discovered.
111282
111283 The tactical rule that an army should act in masses when
111284 attacking, and in smaller groups in retreat, unconsciously confirms
111285 the truth that the strength of an army depends on its spirit. To
111286 lead men forward under fire more discipline (obtainable only by
111287 movement in masses) is needed than is needed to resist attacks. But
111288 this rule which leaves out of account the spirit of the army
111289 continually proves incorrect and is in particularly striking
111290 contrast to the facts when some strong rise or fall in the spirit of
111291 the troops occurs, as in all national wars.
111292
111293 The French, retreating in 1812--though according to tactics they
111294 should have separated into detachments to defend themselves-
111295 congregated into a mass because the spirit of the army had so fallen
111296 that only the mass held the army together. The Russians, on the
111297 contrary, ought according to tactics to have attacked in mass, but
111298 in fact they split up into small units, because their spirit had so
111299 risen that separate individuals, without orders, dealt blows at the
111300 French without needing any compulsion to induce them to expose
111301 themselves to hardships and dangers.
111302
111303
111304
111305
111306
111307 CHAPTER III
111308
111309
111310 The so-called partisan war began with the entry of the French into
111311 Smolensk.
111312
111313 Before partisan warfare had been officially recognized by the
111314 government, thousands of enemy stragglers, marauders, and foragers had
111315 been destroyed by the Cossacks and the peasants, who killed them off
111316 as instinctively as dogs worry a stray mad dog to death. Denis
111317 Davydov, with his Russian instinct, was the first to recognize the
111318 value of this terrible cudgel which regardless of the rules of
111319 military science destroyed the French, and to him belongs the credit
111320 for taking the first step toward regularizing this method of warfare.
111321
111322 On August 24 Davydov's first partisan detachment was formed and then
111323 others were recognized. The further the campaign progressed the more
111324 numerous these detachments became.
111325
111326 The irregulars destroyed the great army piecemeal. They gathered the
111327 fallen leaves that dropped of themselves from that withered tree-
111328 the French army--and sometimes shook that tree itself. By October,
111329 when the French were fleeing toward Smolensk, there were hundreds of
111330 such companies, of various sizes and characters. There were some
111331 that adopted all the army methods and had infantry, artillery, staffs,
111332 and the comforts of life. Others consisted solely of Cossack
111333 cavalry. There were also small scratch groups of foot and horse, and
111334 groups of peasants and landowners that remained unknown. A sacristan
111335 commanded one party which captured several hundred prisoners in the
111336 course of a month; and there was Vasilisa, the wife of a village
111337 elder, who slew hundreds of the French.
111338
111339 The partisan warfare flamed up most fiercely in the latter days of
111340 October. Its first period had passed: when the partisans themselves,
111341 amazed at their own boldness, feared every minute to be surrounded and
111342 captured by the French, and hid in the forests without unsaddling,
111343 hardly daring to dismount and always expecting to be pursued. By the
111344 end of October this kind of warfare had taken definite shape: it had
111345 become clear to all what could be ventured against the French and what
111346 could not. Now only the commanders of detachments with staffs, and
111347 moving according to rules at a distance from the French, still
111348 regarded many things as impossible. The small bands that had started
111349 their activities long before and had already observed the French
111350 closely considered things possible which the commanders of the big
111351 detachments did not dare to contemplate. The Cossacks and peasants who
111352 crept in among the French now considered everything possible.
111353
111354 On October 22, Denisov (who was one of the irregulars) was with
111355 his group at the height of the guerrilla enthusiasm. Since early
111356 morning he and his party had been on the move. All day long he had
111357 been watching from the forest that skirted the highroad a large French
111358 convoy of cavalry baggage and Russian prisoners separated from the
111359 rest of the army, which--as was learned from spies and prisoners-
111360 was moving under a strong escort to Smolensk. Besides Denisov and
111361 Dolokhov (who also led a small party and moved in Denisov's vicinity),
111362 the commanders of some large divisions with staffs also knew of this
111363 convoy and, as Denisov expressed it, were sharpening their teeth for
111364 it. Two of the commanders of large parties--one a Pole and the other a
111365 German--sent invitations to Denisov almost simultaneously,
111366 requesting him to join up with their divisions to attack the convoy.
111367
111368 "No, bwother, I have gwown mustaches myself," said Denisov on
111369 reading these documents, and he wrote to the German that, despite
111370 his heartfelt desire to serve under so valiant and renowned a general,
111371 he had to forgo that pleasure because he was already under the command
111372 of the Polish general. To the Polish general he replied to the same
111373 effect, informing him that he was already under the command of the
111374 German.
111375
111376 Having arranged matters thus, Denisov and Dolokhov intended, without
111377 reporting matters to the higher command, to attack and seize that
111378 convoy with their own small forces. On October 22 it was moving from
111379 the village of Mikulino to that of Shamshevo. To the left of the
111380 road between Mikulino and Shamshevo there were large forests,
111381 extending in some places up to the road itself though in others a mile
111382 or more back from it. Through these forests Denisov and his party rode
111383 all day, sometimes keeping well back in them and sometimes coming to
111384 the very edge, but never losing sight of the moving French. That
111385 morning, Cossacks of Denisov's party had seized and carried off into
111386 the forest two wagons loaded with cavalry saddles, which had stuck
111387 in the mud not far from Mikulino where the forest ran close to the
111388 road. Since then, and until evening, the party had the movements of
111389 the French without attacking. It was necessary to let the French reach
111390 Shamshevo quietly without alarming them and then, after joining
111391 Dolokhov who was to come that evening to a consultation at a
111392 watchman's hut in the forest less than a mile from Shamshevo, to
111393 surprise the French at dawn, falling like an avalanche on their
111394 heads from two sides, and rout and capture them all at one blow.
111395
111396 In their rear, more than a mile from Mikulino where the forest
111397 came right up to the road, six Cossacks were posted to report if any
111398 fresh columns of French should show themselves.
111399
111400 Beyond Shamshevo, Dolokhov was to observe the road in the same
111401 way, to find out at what distance there were other French troops. They
111402 reckoned that the convoy had fifteen hundred men. Denisov had two
111403 hundred, and Dolokhov might have as many more, but the disparity of
111404 numbers did not deter Denisov. All that he now wanted to know was what
111405 troops these were and to learn that he had to capture a "tongue"--that
111406 is, a man from the enemy column. That morning's attack on the wagons
111407 had been made so hastily that the Frenchmen with the wagons had all
111408 been killed; only a little drummer boy had been taken alive, and as he
111409 was a straggler he could tell them nothing definite about the troops
111410 in that column.
111411
111412 Denisov considered it dangerous to make a second attack for fear
111413 of putting the whole column on the alert, so he sent Tikhon
111414 Shcherbaty, a peasant of his party, to Shamshevo to try and seize at
111415 least one of the French quartermasters who had been sent on in
111416 advance.
111417
111418
111419
111420
111421 CHAPTER IV
111422
111423
111424 It was a warm rainy autumn day. The sky and the horizon were both
111425 the color of muddy water. At times a sort of mist descended, and
111426 then suddenly heavy slanting rain came down.
111427
111428 Denisov in a felt cloak and a sheepskin cap from which the rain
111429 ran down was riding a thin thoroughbred horse with sunken sides.
111430 Like his horse, which turned its head and laid its ears back, he
111431 shrank from the driving rain and gazed anxiously before him. His
111432 thin face with its short, thick black beard looked angry.
111433
111434 Beside Denisov rode an esaul,* Denisov's fellow worker, also in felt
111435 cloak and sheepskin cap, and riding a large sleek Don horse.
111436
111437
111438 *A captain of Cossacks.
111439
111440
111441 Esaul Lovayski the Third was a tall man as straight as an arrow,
111442 pale-faced, fair-haired, with narrow light eyes and with calm
111443 self-satisfaction in his face and bearing. Though it was impossible to
111444 say in what the peculiarity of the horse and rider lay, yet at first
111445 glance at the esaul and Denisov one saw that the latter was wet and
111446 uncomfortable and was a man mounted on a horse, while looking at the
111447 esaul one saw that he was as comfortable and as much at ease as always
111448 and that he was not a man who had mounted a horse, but a man who was
111449 one with his horse, a being consequently possessed of twofold
111450 strength.
111451
111452 A little ahead of them walked a peasant guide, wet to the skin and
111453 wearing a gray peasant coat and a white knitted cap.
111454
111455 A little behind, on a poor, small, lean Kirghiz mount with an
111456 enormous tail and mane and a bleeding mouth, rode a young officer in a
111457 blue French overcoat.
111458
111459 Beside him rode an hussar, with a boy in a tattered French uniform
111460 and blue cap behind him on the crupper of his horse. The boy held on
111461 to the hussar with cold, red hands, and raising his eyebrows gazed
111462 about him with surprise. This was the French drummer boy captured that
111463 morning.
111464
111465 Behind them along the narrow, sodden, cutup forest road came hussars
111466 in threes and fours, and then Cossacks: some in felt cloaks, some in
111467 French greatcoats, and some with horsecloths over their heads. The
111468 horses, being drenched by the rain, all looked black whether
111469 chestnut or bay. Their necks, with their wet, close-clinging manes,
111470 looked strangely thin. Steam rose from them. Clothes, saddles,
111471 reins, were all wet, slippery, and sodden, like the ground and the
111472 fallen leaves that strewed the road. The men sat huddled up trying not
111473 to stir, so as to warm the water that had trickled to their bodies and
111474 not admit the fresh cold water that was leaking in under their
111475 seats, their knees, and at the back of their necks. In the midst of
111476 the outspread line of Cossacks two wagons, drawn by French horses
111477 and by saddled Cossack horses that had been hitched on in front,
111478 rumbled over the tree stumps and branches and splashed through the
111479 water that lay in the ruts.
111480
111481 Denisov's horse swerved aside to avoid a pool in the track and
111482 bumped his rider's knee against a tree.
111483
111484 "Oh, the devil!" exclaimed Denisov angrily, and showing his teeth he
111485 struck his horse three times with his whip, splashing himself and
111486 his comrades with mud.
111487
111488 Denisov was out of sorts both because of the rain and also from
111489 hunger (none of them had eaten anything since morning), and yet more
111490 because he still had no news from Dolokhov and the man sent to capture
111491 a "tongue" had not returned.
111492
111493 "There'll hardly be another such chance to fall on a transport as
111494 today. It's too risky to attack them by oneself, and if we put it
111495 off till another day one of the big guerrilla detachments will
111496 snatch the prey from under our noses," thought Denisov, continually
111497 peering forward, hoping to see a messenger from Dolokhov.
111498
111499 On coming to a path in the forest along which he could see far to
111500 the right, Denisov stopped.
111501
111502 "There's someone coming," said he.
111503
111504 The esaul looked in the direction Denisov indicated.
111505
111506 "There are two, an officer and a Cossack. But it is not
111507 presupposable that it is the lieutenant colonel himself," said the
111508 esaul, who was fond of using words the Cossacks did not know.
111509
111510 The approaching riders having descended a decline were no longer
111511 visible, but they reappeared a few minutes later. In front, at a weary
111512 gallop and using his leather whip, rode an officer, disheveled and
111513 drenched, whose trousers had worked up to above his knees. Behind him,
111514 standing in the stirrups, trotted a Cossack. The officer, a very young
111515 lad with a broad rosy face and keen merry eyes, galloped up to Denisov
111516 and handed him a sodden envelope.
111517
111518 "From the general," said the officer. "Please excuse its not being
111519 quite dry."
111520
111521 Denisov, frowning, took the envelope and opened it.
111522
111523 "There, they kept telling us: 'It's dangerous, it's dangerous,'"
111524 said the officer, addressing the esaul while Denisov was reading the
111525 dispatch. "But Komarov and I"--he pointed to the Cossack--"were
111526 prepared. We have each of us two pistols.... But what's this?" he
111527 asked, noticing the French drummer boy. "A prisoner? You've already
111528 been in action? May I speak to him?"
111529
111530 "Wostov! Petya!" exclaimed Denisov, having run through the dispatch.
111531 "Why didn't you say who you were?" and turning with a smile he held
111532 out his hand to the lad.
111533
111534 The officer was Petya Rostov.
111535
111536 All the way Petya had been preparing himself to behave with
111537 Denisov as befitted a grownup man and an officer--without hinting at
111538 their previous acquaintance. But as soon as Denisov smiled at him
111539 Petya brightened up, blushed with pleasure, forgot the official manner
111540 he had been rehearsing, and began telling him how he had already
111541 been in a battle near Vyazma and how a certain hussar had
111542 distinguished himself there.
111543
111544 "Well, I am glad to see you," Denisov interrupted him, and his
111545 face again assumed its anxious expression.
111546
111547 "Michael Feoklitych," said he to the esaul, "this is again fwom that
111548 German, you know. He"--he indicated Petya--"is serving under him."
111549
111550 And Denisov told the esaul that the dispatch just delivered was a
111551 repetition of the German general's demand that he should join forces
111552 with him for an attack on the transport.
111553
111554 "If we don't take it tomowwow, he'll snatch it fwom under our
111555 noses," he added.
111556
111557 While Denisov was talking to the esaul, Petya--abashed by
111558 Denisov's cold tone and supposing that it was due to the condition
111559 of his trousers--furtively tried to pull them down under his greatcoat
111560 so that no one should notice it, while maintaining as martial an air
111561 as possible.
111562
111563 "Will there be any orders, your honor?" he asked Denisov, holding
111564 his hand at the salute and resuming the game of adjutant and general
111565 for which he had prepared himself, "or shall I remain with your
111566 honor?"
111567
111568 "Orders?" Denisov repeated thoughtfully. "But can you stay till
111569 tomowwow?"
111570
111571 "Oh, please... May I stay with you?" cried Petya.
111572
111573 "But, just what did the genewal tell you? To weturn at once?"
111574 asked Denisov.
111575
111576 Petya blushed.
111577
111578 "He gave me no instructions. I think I could?" he returned,
111579 inquiringly.
111580
111581 "Well, all wight," said Denisov.
111582
111583 And turning to his men he directed a party to go on to the halting
111584 place arranged near the watchman's hut in the forest, and told the
111585 officer on the Kirghiz horse (who performed the duties of an adjutant)
111586 to go and find out where Dolokhov was and whether he would come that
111587 evening. Denisov himself intended going with the esaul and Petya to
111588 the edge of the forest where it reached out to Shamshevo, to have a
111589 look at the part of the French bivouac they were to attack next day.
111590
111591 "Well, old fellow," said he to the peasant guide, "lead us to
111592 Shamshevo."
111593
111594 Denisov, Petya, and the esaul, accompanied by some Cossacks and
111595 the hussar who had the prisoner, rode to the left across a ravine to
111596 the edge of the forest.
111597
111598
111599
111600
111601
111602 CHAPTER V
111603
111604
111605 The rain had stopped, and only the mist was falling and drops from
111606 the trees. Denisov, the esaul, and Petya rode silently, following
111607 the peasant in the knitted cap who, stepping lightly with outturned
111608 toes and moving noiselessly in his bast shoes over the roots and wet
111609 leaves, silently led them to the edge of the forest.
111610
111611 He ascended an incline, stopped, looked about him, and advanced to
111612 where the screen of trees was less dense. On reaching a large oak tree
111613 that had not yet shed its leaves, he stopped and beckoned mysteriously
111614 to them with his hand.
111615
111616 Denisov and Petya rode up to him. From the spot where the peasant
111617 was standing they could see the French. Immediately beyond the forest,
111618 on a downward slope, lay a field of spring rye. To the right, beyond a
111619 steep ravine, was a small village and a landowner's house with a
111620 broken roof. In the village, in the house, in the garden, by the well,
111621 by the pond, over all the rising ground, and all along the road uphill
111622 from the bridge leading to the village, not more than five hundred
111623 yards away, crowds of men could be seen through the shimmering mist.
111624 Their un-Russian shouting at their horses which were straining
111625 uphill with the carts, and their calls to one another, could be
111626 clearly heard.
111627
111628 "Bwing the prisoner here," said Denisov in a low voice, not taking
111629 his eyes off the French.
111630
111631 A Cossack dismounted, lifted the boy down, and took him to
111632 Denisov. Pointing to the French troops, Denisov asked him what these
111633 and those of them were. The boy, thrusting his cold hands into his
111634 pockets and lifting his eyebrows, looked at Denisov in affright, but
111635 in spite of an evident desire to say all he knew gave confused
111636 answers, merely assenting to everything Denisov asked him. Denisov
111637 turned away from him frowning and addressed the esaul, conveying his
111638 own conjectures to him.
111639
111640 Petya, rapidly turning his head, looked now at the drummer boy,
111641 now at Denisov, now at the esaul, and now at the French in the village
111642 and along the road, trying not to miss anything of importance.
111643
111644 "Whether Dolokhov comes or not, we must seize it, eh?" said
111645 Denisov with a merry sparkle in his eyes.
111646
111647 "It is a very suitable spot," said the esaul.
111648
111649 "We'll send the infantwy down by the swamps," Denisov continued.
111650 "They'll cweep up to the garden; you'll wide up fwom there with the
111651 Cossacks"--he pointed to a spot in the forest beyond the village--"and
111652 I with my hussars fwom here. And at the signal shot..."
111653
111654 "The hollow is impassable--there's a swamp there," said the esaul.
111655 "The horses would sink. We must ride round more to the left...."
111656
111657 While they were talking in undertones the crack of a shot sounded
111658 from the low ground by the pond, a puff of white smoke appeared,
111659 then another, and the sound of hundreds of seemingly merry French
111660 voices shouting together came up from the slope. For a moment
111661 Denisov and the esaul drew back. They were so near that they thought
111662 they were the cause of the firing and shouting. But the firing and
111663 shouting did not relate to them. Down below, a man wearing something
111664 red was running through the marsh. The French were evidently firing
111665 and shouting at him.
111666
111667 "Why, that's our Tikhon," said the esaul.
111668
111669 "So it is! It is!"
111670
111671 "The wascal!" said Denisov.
111672
111673 "He'll get away!" said the esaul, screwing up his eyes.
111674
111675 The man whom they called Tikhon, having run to the stream, plunged
111676 in so that the water splashed in the air, and, having disappeared
111677 for an instant, scrambled out on all fours, all black with the wet,
111678 and ran on. The French who had been pursuing him stopped.
111679
111680 "Smart, that!" said the esaul.
111681
111682 "What a beast!" said Denisov with his former look of vexation. "What
111683 has he been doing all this time?"
111684
111685 "Who is he?" asked Petya.
111686
111687 "He's our plastun. I sent him to capture a 'tongue.'"
111688
111689 "Oh, yes," said Petya, nodding at the first words Denisov uttered as
111690 if he understood it all, though he really did not understand
111691 anything of it.
111692
111693 Tikhon Shcherbaty was one of the most indispensable men in their
111694 band. He was a peasant from Pokrovsk, near the river Gzhat. When
111695 Denisov had come to Pokrovsk at the beginning of his operations and
111696 had as usual summoned the village elder and asked him what he knew
111697 about the French, the elder, as though shielding himself, had replied,
111698 as all village elders did, that he had neither seen nor heard anything
111699 of them. But when Denisov explained that his purpose was to kill the
111700 French, and asked if no French had strayed that way, the elder replied
111701 that some "more-orderers" had really been at their village, but that
111702 Tikhon Shcherbaty was the only man who dealt with such matters.
111703 Denisov had Tikhon called and, having praised him for his activity,
111704 said a few words in the elder's presence about loyalty to the Tsar and
111705 the country and the hatred of the French that all sons of the
111706 fatherland should cherish.
111707
111708 "We don't do the French any harm," said Tikhon, evidently frightened
111709 by Denisov's words. "We only fooled about with the lads for fun, you
111710 know! We killed a score or so of 'more-orderers,' but we did no harm
111711 else..."
111712
111713 Next day when Denisov had left Pokrovsk, having quite forgotten
111714 about this peasant, it was reported to him that Tikhon had attached
111715 himself to their party and asked to be allowed to remain with it.
111716 Denisov gave orders to let him do so.
111717
111718 Tikhon, who at first did rough work, laying campfires, fetching
111719 water, flaying dead horses, and so on, soon showed a great liking
111720 and aptitude for partisan warfare. At night he would go out for
111721 booty and always brought back French clothing and weapons, and when
111722 told to would bring in French captives also. Denisov then relieved him
111723 from drudgery and began taking him with him when he went out on
111724 expeditions and had him enrolled among the Cossacks.
111725
111726 Tikhon did not like riding, and always went on foot, never lagging
111727 behind the cavalry. He was armed with a musketoon (which he carried
111728 rather as a joke), a pike and an ax, which latter he used as a wolf
111729 uses its teeth, with equal case picking fleas out of its fur or
111730 crunching thick bones. Tikhon with equal accuracy would split logs
111731 with blows at arm's length, or holding the head of the ax would cut
111732 thin little pegs or carve spoons. In Denisov's party he held a
111733 peculiar and exceptional position. When anything particularly
111734 difficult or nasty had to be done--to push a cart out of the mud
111735 with one's shoulders, pull a horse out of a swamp by its tail, skin
111736 it, slink in among the French, or walk more than thirty miles in a
111737 day--everybody pointed laughingly at Tikhon.
111738
111739 "It won't hurt that devil--he's as strong as a horse!" they said
111740 of him.
111741
111742 Once a Frenchman Tikhon was trying to capture fired a pistol at
111743 him and shot him in the fleshy part of the back. That wound (which
111744 Tikhon treated only with internal and external applications of
111745 vodka) was the subject of the liveliest jokes by the whole detachment-
111746 jokes in which Tikhon readily joined.
111747
111748 "Hallo, mate! Never again? Gave you a twist?" the Cossacks would
111749 banter him. And Tikhon, purposely writhing and making faces, pretended
111750 to be angry and swore at the French with the funniest curses. The only
111751 effect of this incident on Tikhon was that after being wounded he
111752 seldom brought in prisoners.
111753
111754 He was the bravest and most useful man in the party. No one found
111755 more opportunities for attacking, no one captured or killed more
111756 Frenchmen, and consequently he was made the buffoon of all the
111757 Cossacks and hussars and willingly accepted that role. Now he had been
111758 sent by Denisov overnight to Shamshevo to capture a "tongue." But
111759 whether because he had not been content to take only one Frenchman
111760 or because he had slept through the night, he had crept by day into
111761 some bushes right among the French and, as Denisov had witnessed
111762 from above, had been detected by them.
111763
111764
111765
111766
111767
111768 CHAPTER VI
111769
111770
111771 After talking for some time with the esaul about next day's
111772 attack, which now, seeing how near they were to the French, he
111773 seemed to have definitely decided on, Denisov turned his horse and
111774 rode back.
111775
111776 "Now, my lad, we'll go and get dwy," he said to Petya.
111777
111778 As they approached the watchhouse Denisov stopped, peering into
111779 the forest. Among the trees a man with long legs and long, swinging
111780 arms, wearing a short jacket, bast shoes, and a Kazan hat, was
111781 approaching with long, light steps. He had a musketoon over his
111782 shoulder and an ax stuck in his girdle. When he espied Denisov he
111783 hastily threw something into the bushes, removed his sodden hat by its
111784 floppy brim, and approached his commander. It was Tikhon. His wrinkled
111785 and pockmarked face and narrow little eyes beamed with
111786 self-satisfied merriment. He lifted his head high and gazed at Denisov
111787 as if repressing a laugh.
111788
111789 "Well, where did you disappear to?" inquired Denisov.
111790
111791 "Where did I disappear to? I went to get Frenchmen," answered Tikhon
111792 boldly and hurriedly, in a husky but melodious bass voice.
111793
111794 "Why did you push yourself in there by daylight? You ass! Well,
111795 why haven't you taken one?"
111796
111797 "Oh, I took one all right," said Tikhon.
111798
111799 "Where is he?"
111800
111801 "You see, I took him first thing at dawn," Tikhon continued,
111802 spreading out his flat feet with outturned toes in their bast shoes.
111803 "I took him into the forest. Then I see he's no good and think I'll go
111804 and fetch a likelier one."
111805
111806 "You see?... What a wogue--it's just as I thought," said Denisov
111807 to the esaul. "Why didn't you bwing that one?"
111808
111809 "What was the good of bringing him?" Tikhon interrupted hastily
111810 and angrily--"that one wouldn't have done for you. As if I don't
111811 know what sort you want!"
111812
111813 "What a bwute you are!... Well?"
111814
111815 "I went for another one," Tikhon continued, "and I crept like this
111816 through the wood and lay down." (He suddenly lay down on his stomach
111817 with a supple movement to show how he had done it.) "One turned up and
111818 I grabbed him, like this." (He jumped up quickly and lightly.)
111819 "'Come along to the colonel,' I said. He starts yelling, and
111820 suddenly there were four of them. They rushed at me with their
111821 little swords. So I went for them with my ax, this way: 'What are
111822 you up to?' says I. 'Christ be with you!'" shouted Tikhon, waving
111823 his arms with an angry scowl and throwing out his chest.
111824
111825 "Yes, we saw from the hill how you took to your heels through the
111826 puddles!" said the esaul, screwing up his glittering eyes.
111827
111828 Petya badly wanted to laugh, but noticed that they all refrained
111829 from laughing. He turned his eyes rapidly from Tikhon's face to the
111830 esaul's and Denisov's, unable to make out what it all meant.
111831
111832 "Don't play the fool!" said Denisov, coughing angrily. "Why didn't
111833 you bwing the first one?"
111834
111835 Tikhon scratched his back with one hand and his head with the other,
111836 then suddenly his whole face expanded into a beaming, foolish grin,
111837 disclosing a gap where he had lost a tooth (that was why he was called
111838 Shcherbaty--the gap-toothed). Denisov smiled, and Petya burst into a
111839 peal of merry laughter in which Tikhon himself joined.
111840
111841 "Oh, but he was a regular good-for-nothing," said Tikhon. "The
111842 clothes on him--poor stuff! How could I bring him? And so rude, your
111843 honor! Why, he says: 'I'm a general's son myself, I won't go!' he
111844 says."
111845
111846 "You are a bwute!" said Denisov. "I wanted to question..."
111847
111848 "But I questioned him," said Tikhon. "He said he didn't know much.
111849 'There are a lot of us,' he says, 'but all poor stuff--only soldiers
111850 in name,' he says. 'Shout loud at them,' he says, 'and you'll take
111851 them all,'" Tikhon concluded, looking cheerfully and resolutely into
111852 Denisov's eyes.
111853
111854 "I'll give you a hundwed sharp lashes--that'll teach you to play the
111855 fool!" said Denisov severely.
111856
111857 "But why are you angry?" remonstrated Tikhon, "just as if I'd
111858 never seen your Frenchmen! Only wait till it gets dark and I'll
111859 fetch you any of them you want--three if you like."
111860
111861 "Well, let's go," said Denisov, and rode all the way to the
111862 watchhouse in silence and frowning angrily.
111863
111864 Tikhon followed behind and Petya heard the Cossacks laughing with
111865 him and at him, about some pair of boots he had thrown into the
111866 bushes.
111867
111868 When the fit of laughter that had seized him at Tikhon's words and
111869 smile had passed and Petya realized for a moment that this Tikhon
111870 had killed a man, he felt uneasy. He looked round at the captive
111871 drummer boy and felt a pang in his heart. But this uneasiness lasted
111872 only a moment. He felt it necessary to hold his head higher, to
111873 brace himself, and to question the esaul with an air of importance
111874 about tomorrow's undertaking, that he might not be unworthy of the
111875 company in which he found himself.
111876
111877 The officer who had been sent to inquire met Denisov on the way with
111878 the news that Dolokhov was soon coming and that all was well with him.
111879
111880 Denisov at once cheered up and, calling Petya to him, said: "Well,
111881 tell me about yourself."
111882
111883
111884
111885
111886
111887 CHAPTER VII
111888
111889
111890 Petya, having left his people after their departure from Moscow,
111891 joined his regiment and was soon taken as orderly by a general
111892 commanding a large guerrilla detachment. From the time he received his
111893 commission, and especially since he had joined the active army and
111894 taken part in the battle of Vyazma, Petya had been in a constant state
111895 of blissful excitement at being grown-up and in a perpetual ecstatic
111896 hurry not to miss any chance to do something really heroic. He was
111897 highly delighted with what he saw and experienced in the army, but
111898 at the same time it always seemed to him that the really heroic
111899 exploits were being performed just where he did not happen to be.
111900 And he was always in a hurry to get where he was not.
111901
111902 When on the twenty-first of October his general expressed a wish
111903 to send somebody to Denisov's detachment, Petya begged so piteously to
111904 be sent that the general could not refuse. But when dispatching him he
111905 recalled Petya's mad action at the battle of Vyazma, where instead
111906 of riding by the road to the place to which he had been sent, he had
111907 galloped to the advanced line under the fire of the French and had
111908 there twice fired his pistol. So now the general explicitly forbade
111909 his taking part in any action whatever of Denisov's. That was why
111910 Petya had blushed and grown confused when Denisov asked him whether he
111911 could stay. Before they had ridden to the outskirts of the forest
111912 Petya had considered he must carry out his instructions strictly and
111913 return at once. But when he saw the French and saw Tikhon and
111914 learned that there would certainly be an attack that night, he
111915 decided, with the rapidity with which young people change their views,
111916 that the general, whom he had greatly respected till then, was a
111917 rubbishy German, that Denisov was a hero, the esaul a hero, and Tikhon
111918 a hero too, and that it would be shameful for him to leave them at a
111919 moment of difficulty.
111920
111921 It was already growing dusk when Denisov, Petya, and the esaul
111922 rode up to the watchhouse. In the twilight saddled horses could be
111923 seen, and Cossacks and hussars who had rigged up rough shelters in the
111924 glade and were kindling glowing fires in a hollow of the forest
111925 where the French could not see the smoke. In the passage of the
111926 small watchhouse a Cossack with sleeves rolled up was chopping some
111927 mutton. In the room three officers of Denisov's band were converting a
111928 door into a tabletop. Petya took off his wet clothes, gave them to
111929 be dried, and at once began helping the officers to fix up the
111930 dinner table.
111931
111932 In ten minutes the table was ready and a napkin spread on it. On the
111933 table were vodka, a flask of rum, white bread, roast mutton, and salt.
111934
111935 Sitting at table with the officers and tearing the fat savory mutton
111936 with his hands, down which the grease trickled, Petya was in an
111937 ecstatic childish state of love for all men, and consequently of
111938 confidence that others loved him in the same way.
111939
111940 "So then what do you think, Vasili Dmitrich?" said he to Denisov.
111941 "It's all right my staying a day with you?" And not waiting for a
111942 reply he answered his own question: "You see I was told to find out-
111943 well, I am finding out.... Only do let me into the very... into the
111944 chief... I don't want a reward... But I want..."
111945
111946 Petya clenched his teeth and looked around, throwing back his head
111947 and flourishing his arms.
111948
111949 "Into the vewy chief..." Denisov repeated with a smile.
111950
111951 "Only, please let me command something, so that I may really
111952 command..." Petya went on. "What would it be to you?... Oh, you want a
111953 knife?" he said, turning to an officer who wished to cut himself a
111954 piece of mutton.
111955
111956 And he handed him his clasp knife. The officer admired it.
111957
111958 "Please keep it. I have several like it," said Petya, blushing.
111959 "Heavens! I was quite forgetting!" he suddenly cried. "I have some
111960 raisins, fine ones; you know, seedless ones. We have a new sutler
111961 and he has such capital things. I bought ten pounds. I am used to
111962 something sweet. Would you like some?..." and Petya ran out into the
111963 passage to his Cossack and brought back some bags which contained
111964 about five pounds of raisins. "Have some, gentlemen, have some!"
111965
111966 "You want a coffeepot, don't you?" he asked the esaul. "I bought a
111967 capital one from our sutler! He has splendid things. And he's very
111968 honest, that's the chief thing. I'll be sure to send it to you. Or
111969 perhaps your flints are giving out, or are worn out--that happens
111970 sometimes, you know. I have brought some with me, here they are"-
111971 and he showed a bag--"a hundred flints. I bought them very cheap.
111972 Please take as many as you want, or all if you like...."
111973
111974 Then suddenly, dismayed lest he had said too much, Petya stopped and
111975 blushed.
111976
111977 He tried to remember whether he had not done anything else that
111978 was foolish. And running over the events of the day he remembered
111979 the French drummer boy. "It's capital for us here, but what of him?
111980 Where have they put him? Have they fed him? Haven't they hurt his
111981 feelings?" he thought. But having caught himself saying too much about
111982 the flints, he was now afraid to speak out.
111983
111984 "I might ask," he thought, "but they'll say: 'He's a boy himself and
111985 so he pities the boy.' I'll show them tomorrow whether I'm a boy. Will
111986 it seem odd if I ask?" Petya thought. "Well, never mind!" and
111987 immediately, blushing and looking anxiously at the officers to see
111988 if they appeared ironical, he said:
111989
111990 "May I call in that boy who was taken prisoner and give him
111991 something to eat?... Perhaps..."
111992
111993 "Yes, he's a poor little fellow," said Denisov, who evidently saw
111994 nothing shameful in this reminder. "Call him in. His name is Vincent
111995 Bosse. Have him fetched."
111996
111997 "I'll call him," said Petya.
111998
111999 "Yes, yes, call him. A poor little fellow," Denisov repeated.
112000
112001 Petya was standing at the door when Denisov said this. He slipped in
112002 between the officers, came close to Denisov, and said:
112003
112004 "Let me kiss you, dear old fellow! Oh, how fine, how splendid!"
112005
112006 And having kissed Denisov he ran out of the hut.
112007
112008 "Bosse! Vincent!" Petya cried, stopping outside the door.
112009
112010 "Who do you want, sir?" asked a voice in the darkness.
112011
112012 Petya replied that he wanted the French lad who had been captured
112013 that day.
112014
112015 "Ah, Vesenny?" said a Cossack.
112016
112017 Vincent, the boy's name, had already been changed by the Cossacks
112018 into Vesenny (vernal) and into Vesenya by the peasants and soldiers.
112019 In both these adaptations the reference to spring (vesna) matched
112020 the impression made by the young lad.
112021
112022 "He is warming himself there by the bonfire. Ho, Vesenya!
112023 Vesenya!--Vesenny!" laughing voices were heard calling to one
112024 another in the darkness.
112025
112026 "He's a smart lad," said an hussar standing near Petya. "We gave him
112027 something to eat a while ago. He was awfully hungry!"
112028
112029 The sound of bare feet splashing through the mud was heard in the
112030 darkness, and the drummer boy came to the door.
112031
112032 "Ah, c'est vous!" said Petya. "Voulez-vous manger? N'ayez pas
112033 peur, on ne vous fera pas de mal,"* he added shyly and affectionately,
112034 touching the boy's hand. "Entrez, entrez."*[2]
112035
112036
112037 *"Ah, it's you! Do you want something to eat? Don't be afraid,
112038 they won't hurt you."
112039
112040 *[2] "Come in, come in."
112041
112042
112043 "Merci, monsieur,"* said the drummer boy in a trembling almost
112044 childish voice, and he began scraping his dirty feet on the threshold.
112045
112046
112047 *"Thank you, sir."
112048
112049
112050 There were many things Petya wanted to say to the drummer boy, but
112051 did not dare to. He stood irresolutely beside him in the passage. Then
112052 in the darkness he took the boy's hand and pressed it.
112053
112054 "Come in, come in!" he repeated in a gentle whisper. "Oh, what can I
112055 do for him?" he thought, and opening the door he let the boy pass in
112056 first.
112057
112058 When the boy had entered the hut, Petya sat down at a distance
112059 from him, considering it beneath his dignity to pay attention to
112060 him. But he fingered the money in his pocket and wondered whether it
112061 would seem ridiculous to give some to the drummer boy.
112062
112063
112064
112065
112066
112067 CHAPTER VIII
112068
112069
112070 The arrival of Dolokhov diverted Petya's attention from the
112071 drummer boy, to whom Denisov had had some mutton and vodka given,
112072 and whom he had had dressed in a Russian coat so that he might be kept
112073 with their band and not sent away with the other prisoners. Petya
112074 had heard in the army many stories of Dolokhov's extraordinary bravery
112075 and of his cruelty to the French, so from the moment he entered the
112076 hut Petya did not take his eyes from him, but braced himself up more
112077 and more and held his head high, that he might not be unworthy even of
112078 such company.
112079
112080 Dolokhov's appearance amazed Petya by its simplicity.
112081
112082 Denisov wore a Cossack coat, had a beard, had an icon of Nicholas
112083 the Wonder-Worker on his breast, and his way of speaking and
112084 everything he did indicated his unusual position. But Dolokhov, who in
112085 Moscow had worn a Persian costume, had now the appearance of a most
112086 correct officer of the Guards. He was clean-shaven and wore a
112087 Guardsman's padded coat with an Order of St. George at his
112088 buttonhole and a plain forage cap set straight on his head. He took
112089 off his wet felt cloak in a corner of the room, and without greeting
112090 anyone went up to Denisov and began questioning him about the matter
112091 in hand. Denisov told him of the designs the large detachments had
112092 on the transport, of the message Petya had brought, and his own
112093 replies to both generals. Then he told him all he knew of the French
112094 detachment.
112095
112096 "That's so. But we must know what troops they are and their
112097 numbers," said Dolokhov. "It will be necessary to go there. We can't
112098 start the affair without knowing for certain how many there are. I
112099 like to work accurately. Here now--wouldn't one of these gentlemen
112100 like to ride over to the French camp with me? I have brought a spare
112101 uniform."
112102
112103 "I, I... I'll go with you!" cried Petya.
112104
112105 "There's no need for you to go at all," said Denisov, addressing
112106 Dolokhov, "and as for him, I won't let him go on any account."
112107
112108 "I like that!" exclaimed Petya. "Why shouldn't I go?"
112109
112110 "Because it's useless."
112111
112112 "Well, you must excuse me, because... because... I shall go, and
112113 that's all. You'll take me, won't you?" he said, turning to Dolokhov.
112114
112115 "Why not?" Dolokhov answered absently, scrutinizing the face of
112116 the French drummer boy. "Have you had that youngster with you long?"
112117 he asked Denisov.
112118
112119 "He was taken today but he knows nothing. I'm keeping him with me."
112120
112121 "Yes, and where do you put the others?" inquired Dolokhov.
112122
112123 "Where? I send them away and take a weceipt for them," shouted
112124 Denisov, suddenly flushing. "And I say boldly that I have not a single
112125 man's life on my conscience. Would it be difficult for you to send
112126 thirty or thwee hundwed men to town under escort, instead of staining-
112127 I speak bluntly--staining the honor of a soldier?"
112128
112129 "That kind of amiable talk would be suitable from this young count
112130 of sixteen," said Dolokhov with cold irony, "but it's time for you
112131 to drop it."
112132
112133 "Why, I've not said anything! I only say that I'll certainly go with
112134 you," said Petya shyly.
112135
112136 "But for you and me, old fellow, it's time to drop these amenities,"
112137 continued Dolokhov, as if he found particular pleasure in speaking
112138 of this subject which irritated Denisov. "Now, why have you kept
112139 this lad?" he went on, swaying his head. "Because you are sorry for
112140 him! Don't we know those 'receipts' of yours? You send a hundred men
112141 away, and thirty get there. The rest either starve or get killed. So
112142 isn't it all the same not to send them?"
112143
112144 The esaul, screwing up his light-colored eyes, nodded approvingly.
112145
112146 "That's not the point. I'm not going to discuss the matter. I do not
112147 wish to take it on my conscience. You say they'll die. All wight. Only
112148 not by my fault!"
112149
112150 Dolokhov began laughing.
112151
112152 "Who has told them not to capture me these twenty times over? But if
112153 they did catch me they'd string me up to an aspen tree, and with all
112154 your chivalry just the same." He paused. "However, we must get to
112155 work. Tell the Cossack to fetch my kit. I have two French uniforms
112156 in it. Well, are you coming with me?" he asked Petya.
112157
112158 "I? Yes, yes, certainly!" cried Petya, blushing almost to tears
112159 and glancing at Denisov.
112160
112161 While Dolokhov had been disputing with Denisov what should be done
112162 with prisoners, Petya had once more felt awkward and restless; but
112163 again he had no time to grasp fully what they were talking about.
112164 "If grown-up, distinguished men think so, it must be necessary and
112165 right," thought he. "But above all Denisov must not dare to imagine
112166 that I'll obey him and that he can order me about. I will certainly go
112167 to the French camp with Dolokhov. If he can, so can I!"
112168
112169 And to all Denisov's persuasions, Petya replied that he too was
112170 accustomed to do everything accurately and not just anyhow, and that
112171 he never considered personal danger.
112172
112173 "For you'll admit that if we don't know for sure how many of them
112174 there are... hundreds of lives may depend on it, while there are
112175 only two of us. Besides, I want to go very much and certainly will go,
112176 so don't hinder me," said he. "It will only make things worse..."
112177
112178
112179
112180
112181
112182 CHAPTER IX
112183
112184
112185 Having put on French greatcoats and shakos, Petya and Dolokhov
112186 rode to the clearing from which Denisov had reconnoitered the French
112187 camp, and emerging from the forest in pitch darkness they descended
112188 into the hollow. On reaching the bottom, Dolokhov told the Cossacks
112189 accompanying him to await him there and rode on at a quick trot
112190 along the road to the bridge. Petya, his heart in his mouth with
112191 excitement, rode by his side.
112192
112193 "If we're caught, I won't be taken alive! I have a pistol,"
112194 whispered he.
112195
112196 "Don't talk Russian," said Dolokhov in a hurried whisper, and at
112197 that very moment they heard through the darkness the challenge: "Qui
112198 vive?"* and the click of a musket.
112199
112200
112201 *"Who goes there?"
112202
112203
112204 The blood rushed to Petya's face and he grasped his pistol.
112205
112206 "Lanciers du 6-me,"* replied Dolokhov, neither hastening nor
112207 slackening his horse's pace.
112208
112209
112210 *"Lancers of the 6th Regiment."
112211
112212
112213 The black figure of a sentinel stood on the bridge.
112214
112215 "Mot d'ordre."*
112216
112217
112218 *"Password."
112219
112220
112221 Dolokhov reined in his horse and advanced at a walk.
112222
112223 "Dites donc, le colonel Gerard est ici?"* he asked.
112224
112225
112226 *"Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?"
112227
112228
112229 "Mot d'ordre," repeated the sentinel, barring the way and not
112230 replying.
112231
112232 "Quand un officier fait sa ronde, les sentinelles ne demandent pas
112233 le mot d'ordre..." cried Dolokhov suddenly flaring up and riding
112234 straight at the sentinel. "Je vous demande si le colonel est ici."*
112235
112236
112237 *"When an officer is making his round, sentinels don't ask him for
112238 the password.... I am asking you if the colonel is here."
112239
112240
112241 And without waiting for an answer from the sentinel, who had stepped
112242 aside, Dolokhov rode up the incline at a walk.
112243
112244 Noticing the black outline of a man crossing the road, Dolokhov
112245 stopped him and inquired where the commander and officers were. The
112246 man, a soldier with a sack over his shoulder, stopped, came close up
112247 to Dolokhov's horse, touched it with his hand, and explained simply
112248 and in a friendly way that the commander and the officers were
112249 higher up the hill to the right in the courtyard of the farm, as he
112250 called the landowner's house.
112251
112252 Having ridden up the road, on both sides of which French talk
112253 could be heard around the campfires, Dolokhov turned into the
112254 courtyard of the landowner's house. Having ridden in, he dismounted
112255 and approached a big blazing campfire, around which sat several men
112256 talking noisily. Something was boiling in a small cauldron at the edge
112257 of the fire and a soldier in a peaked cap and blue overcoat, lit up by
112258 the fire, was kneeling beside it stirring its contents with a ramrod.
112259
112260 "Oh, he's a hard nut to crack," said one of the officers who was
112261 sitting in the shadow at the other side of the fire.
112262
112263 "He'll make them get a move on, those fellows!" said another,
112264 laughing.
112265
112266 Both fell silent, peering out through the darkness at the sound of
112267 Dolokhov's and Petya's steps as they advanced to the fire leading
112268 their horses.
112269
112270 "Bonjour, messieurs!"* said Dolokhov loudly and clearly.
112271
112272
112273 *"Good day, gentlemen."
112274
112275
112276 There was a stir among the officers in the shadow beyond the fire,
112277 and one tall, long-necked officer, walking round the fire, came up
112278 to Dolokhov.
112279
112280 "Is that you, Clement?" he asked. "Where the devil...?" But, noticing
112281 his mistake, he broke off short and, with a frown, greeted Dolokhov as
112282 a stranger, asking what he could do for him.
112283
112284 Dolokhov said that he and his companion were trying to overtake
112285 their regiment, and addressing the company in general asked whether
112286 they knew anything of the 6th Regiment. None of them knew anything,
112287 and Petya thought the officers were beginning to look at him and
112288 Dolokhov with hostility and suspicion. For some seconds all were
112289 silent.
112290
112291 "If you were counting on the evening soup, you have come too
112292 late," said a voice from behind the fire with a repressed laugh.
112293
112294 Dolokhov replied that they were not hungry and must push on
112295 farther that night.
112296
112297 He handed the horses over to the soldier who was stirring the pot
112298 and squatted down on his heels by the fire beside the officer with the
112299 long neck. That officer did not take his eyes from Dolokhov and
112300 again asked to what regiment he belonged. Dolokhov, as if he had not
112301 heard the question, did not reply, but lighting a short French pipe
112302 which he took from his pocket began asking the officer in how far
112303 the road before them was safe from Cossacks.
112304
112305 "Those brigands are everywhere," replied an officer from behind
112306 the fire.
112307
112308 Dolokhov remarked that the Cossacks were a danger only to stragglers
112309 such as his companion and himself, "but probably they would not dare
112310 to attack large detachments?" he added inquiringly. No one replied.
112311
112312 "Well, now he'll come away," Petya thought every moment as he
112313 stood by the campfire listening to the talk.
112314
112315 But Dolokhov restarted the conversation which had dropped and
112316 began putting direct questions as to how many men there were in the
112317 battalion, how many battalions, and how many prisoners. Asking about
112318 the Russian prisoners with that detachment, Dolokhov said:
112319
112320 "A horrid business dragging these corpses about with one! It would
112321 be better to shoot such rabble," and burst into loud laughter, so
112322 strange that Petya thought the French would immediately detect their
112323 disguise, and involuntarily took a step back from the campfire.
112324
112325 No one replied a word to Dolokhov's laughter, and a French officer
112326 whom they could not see (he lay wrapped in a greatcoat) rose and
112327 whispered something to a companion. Dolokhov got up and called to
112328 the soldier who was holding their horses.
112329
112330 "Will they bring our horses or not?" thought Petya, instinctively
112331 drawing nearer to Dolokhov.
112332
112333 The horses were brought.
112334
112335 "Good evening, gentlemen," said Dolokhov.
112336
112337 Petya wished to say "Good night" but could not utter a word. The
112338 officers were whispering together. Dolokhov was a long time mounting
112339 his horse which would not stand still, then he rode out of the yard at
112340 a footpace. Petya rode beside him, longing to look round to see
112341 whether or no the French were running after them, but not daring to.
112342
112343 Coming out onto the road Dolokhov did not ride back across the
112344 open country, but through the village. At one spot he stopped and
112345 listened. "Do you hear?" he asked. Petya recognized the sound of
112346 Russian voices and saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners round
112347 their campfires. When they had descended to the bridge Petya and
112348 Dolokhov rode past the sentinel, who without saying a word paced
112349 morosely up and down it, then they descended into the hollow where the
112350 Cossacks awaited them.
112351
112352 "Well now, good-by. Tell Denisov, 'at the first shot at
112353 daybreak,'" said Dolokhov and was about to ride away, but Petya seized
112354 hold of him.
112355
112356 "Really!" he cried, "you are such a hero! Oh, how fine, how
112357 splendid! How I love you!"
112358
112359 "All right, all right!" said Dolokhov. But Petya did not let go of
112360 him and Dolokhov saw through the gloom that Petya was bending toward
112361 him and wanted to kiss him. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed, turned his
112362 horse, and vanished into the darkness.
112363
112364
112365
112366
112367
112368 CHAPTER X
112369
112370
112371 Having returned to the watchman's hut, Petya found Denisov in the
112372 passage. He was awaiting Petya's return in a state of agitation,
112373 anxiety, and self-reproach for having let him go.
112374
112375 "Thank God!" he exclaimed. "Yes, thank God!" he repeated,
112376 listening to Petya's rapturous account. "But, devil take you, I
112377 haven't slept because of you! Well, thank God. Now lie down. We can
112378 still get a nap before morning."
112379
112380 "But... no," said Petya, "I don't want to sleep yet. Besides I
112381 know myself, if I fall asleep it's finished. And then I am used to not
112382 sleeping before a battle."
112383
112384 He sat awhile in the hut joyfully recalling the details of his
112385 expedition and vividly picturing to himself what would happen next
112386 day.
112387
112388 Then, noticing that Denisov was asleep, he rose and went out of
112389 doors.
112390
112391 It was still quite dark outside. The rain was over, but drops were
112392 still falling from the trees. Near the watchman's hut the black shapes
112393 of the Cossacks' shanties and of horses tethered together could be
112394 seen. Behind the hut the dark shapes of the two wagons with their
112395 horses beside them were discernible, and in the hollow the dying
112396 campfire gleamed red. Not all the Cossacks and hussars were asleep;
112397 here and there, amid the sounds of falling drops and the munching of
112398 the horses near by, could be heard low voices which seemed to be
112399 whispering.
112400
112401 Petya came out, peered into the darkness, and went up to the wagons.
112402 Someone was snoring under them, and around them stood saddled horses
112403 munching their oats. In the dark Petya recognized his own horse, which
112404 he called "Karabakh" though it was of Ukranian breed, and went up to
112405 it.
112406
112407 "Well, Karabakh! We'll do some service tomorrow," said he,
112408 sniffing its nostrils and kissing it.
112409
112410 "Why aren't you asleep, sir?" said a Cossack who was sitting under a
112411 wagon.
112412
112413 "No, ah... Likhachev--isn't that your name? Do you know I have
112414 only just come back! We've been into the French camp."
112415
112416 And Petya gave the Cossack a detailed account not only of his ride
112417 but also of his object, and why he considered it better to risk his
112418 life than to act "just anyhow."
112419
112420 "Well, you should get some sleep now," said the Cossack.
112421
112422 "No, I am used to this," said Petya. "I say, aren't the flints in
112423 your pistols worn out? I brought some with me. Don't you want any? You
112424 can have some."
112425
112426
112427 The Cossack bent forward from under the wagon to get a closer look
112428 at Petya.
112429
112430 "Because I am accustomed to doing everything accurately," said
112431 Petya. "Some fellows do things just anyhow, without preparation, and
112432 then they're sorry for it afterwards. I don't like that."
112433
112434 "Just so," said the Cossack.
112435
112436 "Oh yes, another thing! Please, my dear fellow, will you sharpen
112437 my saber for me? It's got bl..." (Petya feared to tell a lie, and
112438 the saber never had been sharpened.) "Can you do it?"
112439
112440 "Of course I can."
112441
112442 Likhachev got up, rummaged in his pack, and soon Petya heard the
112443 warlike sound of steel on whetstone. He climbed onto the wagon and sat
112444 on its edge. The Cossack was sharpening the saber under the wagon.
112445
112446 "I say! Are the lads asleep?" asked Petya.
112447
112448 "Some are, and some aren't--like us."
112449
112450 "Well, and that boy?"
112451
112452 "Vesenny? Oh, he's thrown himself down there in the passage. Fast
112453 asleep after his fright. He was that glad!"
112454
112455 After that Petya remained silent for a long time, listening to the
112456 sounds. He heard footsteps in the darkness and a black figure
112457 appeared.
112458
112459 "What are you sharpening?" asked a man coming up to the wagon.
112460
112461 "Why, this gentleman's saber."
112462
112463 "That's right," said the man, whom Petya took to be an hussar.
112464 "Was the cup left here?"
112465
112466 "There, by the wheel!"
112467
112468 The hussar took the cup.
112469
112470 "It must be daylight soon," said he, yawning, and went away.
112471
112472 Petya ought to have known that he was in a forest with Denisov's
112473 guerrilla band, less than a mile from the road, sitting on a wagon
112474 captured from the French beside which horses were tethered, that under
112475 it Likhachev was sitting sharpening a saber for him, that the big dark
112476 blotch to the right was the watchman's hut, and the red blotch below
112477 to the left was the dying embers of a campfire, that the man who had
112478 come for the cup was an hussar who wanted a drink; but he neither knew
112479 nor waited to know anything of all this. He was in a fairy kingdom
112480 where nothing resembled reality. The big dark blotch might really be
112481 the watchman's hut or it might be a cavern leading to the very
112482 depths of the earth. Perhaps the red spot was a fire, or it might be
112483 the eye of an enormous monster. Perhaps he was really sitting on a
112484 wagon, but it might very well be that he was not sitting on a wagon
112485 but on a terribly high tower from which, if he fell, he would have
112486 to fall for a whole day or a whole month, or go on falling and never
112487 reach the bottom. Perhaps it was just the Cossack, Likhachev, who
112488 was sitting under the wagon, but it might be the kindest, bravest,
112489 most wonderful, most splendid man in the world, whom no one knew of.
112490 It might really have been that the hussar came for water and went back
112491 into the hollow, but perhaps he had simply vanished--disappeared
112492 altogether and dissolved into nothingness.
112493
112494 Nothing Petya could have seen now would have surprised him. He was
112495 in a fairy kingdom where everything was possible.
112496
112497 He looked up at the sky. And the sky was a fairy realm like the
112498 earth. It was clearing, and over the tops of the trees clouds were
112499 swiftly sailing as if unveiling the stars. Sometimes it looked as if
112500 the clouds were passing, and a clear black sky appeared. Sometimes
112501 it seemed as if the black spaces were clouds. Sometimes the sky seemed
112502 to be rising high, high overhead, and then it seemed to sink so low
112503 that one could touch it with one's hand.
112504
112505 Petya's eyes began to close and he swayed a little.
112506
112507 The trees were dripping. Quiet talking was heard. The horses neighed
112508 and jostled one another. Someone snored.
112509
112510 "Ozheg-zheg, Ozheg-zheg..." hissed the saber against the
112511 whetstone, and suddenly Petya heard an harmonious orchestra playing
112512 some unknown, sweetly solemn hymn. Petya was as musical as Natasha and
112513 more so than Nicholas, but had never learned music or thought about
112514 it, and so the melody that unexpectedly came to his mind seemed to him
112515 particularly fresh and attractive. The music became more and more
112516 audible. The melody grew and passed from one instrument to another.
112517 And what was played was a fugue--though Petya had not the least
112518 conception of what a fugue is. Each instrument--now resembling a
112519 violin and now a horn, but better and clearer than violin or horn-
112520 played its own part, and before it had finished the melody merged with
112521 another instrument that began almost the same air, and then with a
112522 third and a fourth; and they all blended into one and again became
112523 separate and again blended, now into solemn church music, now into
112524 something dazzlingly brilliant and triumphant.
112525
112526 "Oh--why, that was in a dream!" Petya said to himself, as he lurched
112527 forward. "It's in my ears. But perhaps it's music of my own. Well,
112528 go on, my music! Now!..."
112529
112530 He closed his eyes, and, from all sides as if from a distance,
112531 sounds fluttered, grew into harmonies, separated, blended, and again
112532 all mingled into the same sweet and solemn hymn. "Oh, this is
112533 delightful! As much as I like and as I like!" said Petya to himself.
112534 He tried to conduct that enormous orchestra.
112535
112536 "Now softly, softly die away!" and the sounds obeyed him. "Now
112537 fuller, more joyful. Still more and more joyful!" And from an
112538 unknown depth rose increasingly triumphant sounds. "Now voices join
112539 in!" ordered Petya. And at first from afar he heard men's voices and
112540 then women's. The voices grew in harmonious triumphant strength, and
112541 Petya listened to their surpassing beauty in awe and joy.
112542
112543 With a solemn triumphal march there mingled a song, the drip from
112544 the trees, and the hissing of the saber, "Ozheg-zheg-zheg..." and
112545 again the horses jostled one another and neighed, not disturbing the
112546 choir but joining in it.
112547
112548 Petya did not know how long this lasted: he enjoyed himself all
112549 the time, wondered at his enjoyment and regretted that there was no
112550 one to share it. He was awakened by Likhachev's kindly voice.
112551
112552 "It's ready, your honor; you can split a Frenchman in half with it!"
112553
112554 Petya woke up.
112555
112556 "It's getting light, it's really getting light!" he exclaimed.
112557
112558 The horses that had previously been invisible could now be seen to
112559 their very tails, and a watery light showed itself through the bare
112560 branches. Petya shook himself, jumped up, took a ruble from his pocket
112561 and gave it to Likhachev; then he flourished the saber, tested it, and
112562 sheathed it. The Cossacks were untying their horses and tightening
112563 their saddle girths.
112564
112565 "And here's the commander," said Likhachev.
112566
112567 Denisov came out of the watchman's hut and, having called Petya,
112568 gave orders to get ready.
112569
112570
112571
112572
112573 CHAPTER XI
112574
112575
112576 The men rapidly picked out their horses in the semidarkness,
112577 tightened their saddle girths, and formed companies. Denisov stood
112578 by the watchman's hut giving final orders. The infantry of the
112579 detachment passed along the road and quickly disappeared amid the
112580 trees in the mist of early dawn, hundreds of feet splashing through
112581 the mud. The esaul gave some orders to his men. Petya held his horse
112582 by the bridle, impatiently awaiting the order to mount. His face,
112583 having been bathed in cold water, was all aglow, and his eyes were
112584 particularly brilliant. Cold shivers ran down his spine and his
112585 whole body pulsed rhythmically.
112586
112587 "Well, is ev'wything weady?" asked Denisov. "Bwing the horses."
112588
112589 The horses were brought. Denisov was angry with the Cossack
112590 because the saddle girths were too slack, reproved him, and mounted.
112591 Petya put his foot in the stirrup. His horse by habit made as if to
112592 nip his leg, but Petya leaped quickly into the saddle unconscious of
112593 his own weight and, turning to look at the hussars starting in the
112594 darkness behind him, rode up to Denisov.
112595
112596 "Vasili Dmitrich, entrust me with some commission! Please... for
112597 God's sake...!" said he.
112598
112599 Denisov seemed to have forgotten Petya's very existence. He turned
112600 to glance at him.
112601
112602 "I ask one thing of you," he said sternly, "to obey me and not shove
112603 yourself forward anywhere."
112604
112605 He did not say another word to Petya but rode in silence all the
112606 way. When they had come to the edge of the forest it was noticeably
112607 growing light over the field. Denisov talked in whispers with the
112608 esaul and the Cossacks rode past Petya and Denisov. When they had
112609 all ridden by, Denisov touched his horse and rode down the hill.
112610 Slipping onto their haunches and sliding, the horses descended with
112611 their riders into the ravine. Petya rode beside Denisov, the pulsation
112612 of his body constantly increasing. It was getting lighter and lighter,
112613 but the mist still hid distant objects. Having reached the valley,
112614 Denisov looked back and nodded to a Cossack beside him.
112615
112616 "The signal!" said he.
112617
112618 The Cossack raised his arm and a shot rang out. In an instant the
112619 tramp of horses galloping forward was heard, shouts came from
112620 various sides, and then more shots.
112621
112622 At the first sound of trampling hoofs and shouting, Petya lashed his
112623 horse and loosening his rein galloped forward, not heeding Denisov who
112624 shouted at him. It seemed to Petya that at the moment the shot was
112625 fired it suddenly became as bright as noon. He galloped to the bridge.
112626 Cossacks were galloping along the road in front of him. On the
112627 bridge he collided with a Cossack who had fallen behind, but he
112628 galloped on. In front of him soldiers, probably Frenchmen, were
112629 running from right to left across the road. One of them fell in the
112630 mud under his horse's feet.
112631
112632 Cossacks were crowding about a hut, busy with something. From the
112633 midst of that crowd terrible screams arose. Petya galloped up, and the
112634 first thing he saw was the pale face and trembling jaw of a Frenchman,
112635 clutching the handle of a lance that had been aimed at him.
112636
112637 "Hurrah!... Lads!... ours!" shouted Petya, and giving rein to his
112638 excited horse he galloped forward along the village street.
112639
112640 He could hear shooting ahead of him. Cossacks, hussars, and ragged
112641 Russian prisoners, who had come running from both sides of the road,
112642 were shouting something loudly and incoherently. A gallant-looking
112643 Frenchman, in a blue overcoat, capless, and with a frowning red
112644 face, had been defending himself against the hussars. When Petya
112645 galloped up the Frenchman had already fallen. "Too late again!"
112646 flashed through Petya's mind and he galloped on to the place from
112647 which the rapid firing could be heard. The shots came from the yard of
112648 the landowner's house he had visited the night before with Dolokhov.
112649 The French were making a stand there behind a wattle fence in a garden
112650 thickly overgrown with bushes and were firing at the Cossacks who
112651 crowded at the gateway. Through the smoke, as he approached the
112652 gate, Petya saw Dolokhov, whose face was of a pale-greenish tint,
112653 shouting to his men. "Go round! Wait for the infantry!" he exclaimed
112654 as Petya rode up to him.
112655
112656 "Wait?... Hurrah-ah-ah!" shouted Petya, and without pausing a moment
112657 galloped to the place whence came the sounds of firing and where the
112658 smoke was thickest.
112659
112660 A volley was heard, and some bullets whistled past, while others
112661 plashed against something. The Cossacks and Dolokhov galloped after
112662 Petya into the gateway of the courtyard. In the dense wavering smoke
112663 some of the French threw down their arms and ran out of the bushes
112664 to meet the Cossacks, while others ran down the hill toward the
112665 pond. Petya was galloping along the courtyard, but instead of
112666 holding the reins he waved both his arms about rapidly and
112667 strangely, slipping farther and farther to one side in his saddle. His
112668 horse, having galloped up to a campfire that was smoldering in the
112669 morning light, stopped suddenly, and Petya fell heavily on to the
112670 wet ground. The Cossacks saw that his arms and legs jerked rapidly
112671 though his head was quite motionless. A bullet had pierced his skull.
112672
112673 After speaking to the senior French officer, who came out of the
112674 house with a white handkerchief tied to his sword and announced that
112675 they surrendered, Dolokhov dismounted and went up to Petya, who lay
112676 motionless with outstretched arms.
112677
112678 "Done for!" he said with a frown, and went to the gate to meet
112679 Denisov who was riding toward him.
112680
112681 "Killed?" cried Denisov, recognizing from a distance the
112682 unmistakably lifeless attitude--very familiar to him--in which Petya's
112683 body was lying.
112684
112685 "Done for!" repeated Dolokhov as if the utterance of these words
112686 afforded him pleasure, and he went quickly up to the prisoners, who
112687 were surrounded by Cossacks who had hurried up. "We won't take
112688 them!" he called out to Denisov.
112689
112690 Denisov did not reply; he rode up to Petya, dismounted, and with
112691 trembling hands turned toward himself the bloodstained,
112692 mud-bespattered face which had already gone white.
112693
112694 "I am used to something sweet. Raisins, fine ones... take them all!"
112695 he recalled Petya's words. And the Cossacks looked round in surprise
112696 at the sound, like the yelp of a dog, with which Denisov turned
112697 away, walked to the wattle fence, and seized hold of it.
112698
112699 Among the Russian prisoners rescued by Denisov and Dolokhov was
112700 Pierre Bezukhov.
112701
112702
112703
112704
112705
112706 CHAPTER XII
112707
112708 During the whole of their march from Moscow no fresh orders had been
112709 issued by the French authorities concerning the party of prisoners
112710 among whom was Pierre. On the twenty-second of October that party
112711 was no longer with the same troops and baggage trains with which it
112712 had left Moscow. Half the wagons laden with hardtack that had traveled
112713 the first stages with them had been captured by Cossacks, the other
112714 half had gone on ahead. Not one of those dismounted cavalrymen who had
112715 marched in front of the prisoners was left; they had all
112716 disappeared. The artillery the prisoners had seen in front of them
112717 during the first days was now replaced by Marshal Junot's enormous
112718 baggage train, convoyed by Westphalians. Behind the prisoners came a
112719 cavalry baggage train.
112720
112721 From Vyazma onwards the French army, which had till then moved in
112722 three columns, went on as a single group. The symptoms of disorder
112723 that Pierre had noticed at their first halting place after leaving
112724 Moscow had now reached the utmost limit.
112725
112726 The road along which they moved was bordered on both sides by dead
112727 horses; ragged men who had fallen behind from various regiments
112728 continually changed about, now joining the moving column, now again
112729 lagging behind it.
112730
112731 Several times during the march false alarms had been given and the
112732 soldiers of the escort had raised their muskets, fired, and run
112733 headlong, crushing one another, but had afterwards reassembled and
112734 abused each other for their causeless panic.
112735
112736 These three groups traveling together--the cavalry stores, the
112737 convoy of prisoners, and Junot's baggage train--still constituted a
112738 separate and united whole, though each of the groups was rapidly
112739 melting away.
112740
112741 Of the artillery baggage train which had consisted of a hundred
112742 and twenty wagons, not more than sixty now remained; the rest had been
112743 captured or left behind. Some of Junot's wagons also had been captured
112744 or abandoned. Three wagons had been raided and robbed by stragglers
112745 from Davout's corps. From the talk of the Germans Pierre learned
112746 that a larger guard had been allotted to that baggage train than to
112747 the prisoners, and that one of their comrades, a German soldier, had
112748 been shot by the marshal's own order because a silver spoon
112749 belonging to the marshal had been found in his possession.
112750
112751 The group of prisoners had melted away most of all. Of the three
112752 hundred and thirty men who had set out from Moscow fewer than a
112753 hundred now remained. The prisoners were more burdensome to the escort
112754 than even the cavalry saddles or Junot's baggage. They understood that
112755 the saddles and Junot's spoon might be of some use, but that cold
112756 and hungry soldiers should have to stand and guard equally cold and
112757 hungry Russians who froze and lagged behind on the road (in which case
112758 the order was to shoot them) was not merely incomprehensible but
112759 revolting. And the escort, as if afraid, in the grievous condition
112760 they themselves were in, of giving way to the pity they felt for the
112761 prisoners and so rendering their own plight still worse, treated
112762 them with particular moroseness and severity.
112763
112764 At Dorogobuzh while the soldiers of the convoy, after locking the
112765 prisoners in a stable, had gone off to pillage their own stores,
112766 several of the soldier prisoners tunneled under the wall and ran away,
112767 but were recaptured by the French and shot.
112768
112769 The arrangement adopted when they started, that the officer
112770 prisoners should be kept separate from the rest, had long since been
112771 abandoned. All who could walk went together, and after the third stage
112772 Pierre had rejoined Karataev and the gray-blue bandy-legged dog that
112773 had chosen Karataev for its master.
112774
112775 On the third day after leaving Moscow Karataev again fell ill with
112776 the fever he had suffered from in the hospital in Moscow, and as he
112777 grew gradually weaker Pierre kept away from him. Pierre did not know
112778 why, but since Karataev had begun to grow weaker it had cost him an
112779 effort to go near him. When he did so and heard the subdued moaning
112780 with which Karataev generally lay down at the halting places, and when
112781 he smelled the odor emanating from him which was now stronger than
112782 before, Pierre moved farther away and did not think about him.
112783
112784 While imprisoned in the shed Pierre had learned not with his
112785 intellect but with his whole being, by life itself, that man is
112786 created for happiness, that happiness is within him, in the
112787 satisfaction of simple human needs, and that all unhappiness arises
112788 not from privation but from superfluity. And now during these last
112789 three weeks of the march he had learned still another new, consolatory
112790 truth--that nothing in this world is terrible. He had learned that
112791 as there is no condition in which man can be happy and entirely
112792 free, so there is no condition in which he need be unhappy and lack
112793 freedom. He learned that suffering and freedom have their limits and
112794 that those limits are very near together; that the person in a bed
112795 of roses with one crumpled petal suffered as keenly as he now,
112796 sleeping on the bare damp earth with one side growing chilled while
112797 the other was warming; and that when he had put on tight dancing shoes
112798 he had suffered just as he did now when he walked with bare feet
112799 that were covered with sores--his footgear having long since fallen to
112800 pieces. He discovered that when he had married his wife--of his own
112801 free will as it had seemed to him--he had been no more free than now
112802 when they locked him up at night in a stable. Of all that he himself
112803 subsequently termed his sufferings, but which at the time he
112804 scarcely felt, the worst was the state of his bare, raw, and
112805 scab-covered feet. (The horseflesh was appetizing and nourishing,
112806 the saltpeter flavor of the gunpowder they used instead of salt was
112807 even pleasant; there was no great cold, it was always warm walking
112808 in the daytime, and at night there were the campfires; the lice that
112809 devoured him warmed his body.) The one thing that was at first hard to
112810 bear was his feet.
112811
112812 After the second day's march Pierre, having examined his feet by the
112813 campfire, thought it would be impossible to walk on them; but when
112814 everybody got up he went along, limping, and, when he had warmed up,
112815 walked without feeling the pain, though at night his feet were more
112816 terrible to look at than before. However, he did not look at them now,
112817 but thought of other things.
112818
112819 Only now did Pierre realize the full strength of life in man and the
112820 saving power he has of transferring his attention from one thing to
112821 another, which is like the safety valve of a boiler that allows
112822 superfluous steam to blow off when the pressure exceeds a certain
112823 limit.
112824
112825 He did not see and did not hear how they shot the prisoners who
112826 lagged behind, though more than a hundred perished in that way. He did
112827 not think of Karataev who grew weaker every day and evidently would
112828 soon have to share that fate. Still less did Pierre think about
112829 himself. The harder his position became and the more terrible the
112830 future, the more independent of that position in which he found
112831 himself were the joyful and comforting thoughts, memories, and
112832 imaginings that came to him.
112833
112834
112835
112836
112837
112838 CHAPTER XIII
112839
112840
112841 At midday on the twenty-second of October Pierre was going uphill
112842 along the muddy, slippery road, looking at his feet and at the
112843 roughness of the way. Occasionally he glanced at the familiar crowd
112844 around him and then again at his feet. The former and the latter
112845 were alike familiar and his own. The blue-gray bandy legged dog ran
112846 merrily along the side of the road, sometimes in proof of its
112847 agility and self-satisfaction lifting one hind leg and hopping along
112848 on three, and then again going on all four and rushing to bark at
112849 the crows that sat on the carrion. The dog was merrier and sleeker
112850 than it had been in Moscow. All around lay the flesh of different
112851 animals--from men to horses--in various stages of decomposition; and
112852 as the wolves were kept off by the passing men the dog could eat all
112853 it wanted.
112854
112855 It had been raining since morning and had seemed as if at any moment
112856 it might cease and the sky clear, but after a short break it began
112857 raining harder than before. The saturated road no longer absorbed
112858 the water, which ran along the ruts in streams.
112859
112860 Pierre walked along, looking from side to side, counting his steps
112861 in threes, and reckoning them off on his fingers. Mentally
112862 addressing the rain, he repeated: "Now then, now then, go on! Pelt
112863 harder!"
112864
112865 It seemed to him that he was thinking of nothing, but far down and
112866 deep within him his soul was occupied with something important and
112867 comforting. This something was a most subtle spiritual deduction
112868 from a conversation with Karataev the day before.
112869
112870 At their yesterday's halting place, feeling chilly by a dying
112871 campfire, Pierre had got up and gone to the next one, which was
112872 burning better. There Platon Karataev was sitting covered up--head and
112873 all--with his greatcoat as if it were a vestment, telling the soldiers
112874 in his effective and pleasant though now feeble voice a story Pierre
112875 knew. It was already past midnight, the hour when Karataev was usually
112876 free of his fever and particularly lively. When Pierre reached the
112877 fire and heard Platon's voice enfeebled by illness, and saw his
112878 pathetic face brightly lit up by the blaze, he felt a painful prick at
112879 his heart. His feeling of pity for this man frightened him and he
112880 wished to go away, but there was no other fire, and Pierre sat down,
112881 trying not to look at Platon.
112882
112883 "Well, how are you?" he asked.
112884
112885 "How am I? If we grumble at sickness, God won't grant us death,"
112886 replied Platon, and at once resumed the story he had begun.
112887
112888 "And so, brother," he continued, with a smile on his pale
112889 emaciated face and a particularly happy light in his eyes, "you
112890 see, brother..."
112891
112892 Pierre had long been familiar with that story. Karataev had told
112893 it to him alone some half-dozen times and always with a specially
112894 joyful emotion. But well as he knew it, Pierre now listened to that
112895 tale as to something new, and the quiet rapture Karataev evidently
112896 felt as he told it communicated itself also to Pierre. The story was
112897 of an old merchant who lived a good and God-fearing life with his
112898 family, and who went once to the Nizhni fair with a companion--a
112899 rich merchant.
112900
112901 Having put up at an inn they both went to sleep, and next morning
112902 his companion was found robbed and with his throat cut. A bloodstained
112903 knife was found under the old merchant's pillow. He was tried,
112904 knouted, and his nostrils having been torn off, "all in due form" as
112905 Karataev put it, he was sent to hard labor in Siberia.
112906
112907 "And so, brother" (it was at this point that Pierre came up), "ten
112908 years or more passed by. The old man was living as a convict,
112909 submitting as he should and doing no wrong. Only he prayed to God
112910 for death. Well, one night the convicts were gathered just as we
112911 are, with the old man among them. And they began telling what each was
112912 suffering for, and how they had sinned against God. One told how he
112913 had taken a life, another had taken two, a third had set a house on
112914 fire, while another had simply been a vagrant and had done nothing. So
112915 they asked the old man: 'What are you being punished for, Daddy?'--'I,
112916 my dear brothers,' said he, 'am being punished for my own and other
112917 men's sins. But I have not killed anyone or taken anything that was
112918 not mine, but have only helped my poorer brothers. I was a merchant,
112919 my dear brothers, and had much property. 'And he went on to tell
112920 them all about it in due order. 'I don't grieve for myself,' he
112921 says, 'God, it seems, has chastened me. Only I am sorry for my old
112922 wife and the children,' and the old man began to weep. Now it happened
112923 that in the group was the very man who had killed the other
112924 merchant. 'Where did it happen, Daddy?' he said. 'When, and in what
112925 month?' He asked all about it and his heart began to ache. So he comes
112926 up to the old man like this, and falls down at his feet! 'You are
112927 perishing because of me, Daddy,' he says. 'It's quite true, lads, that
112928 this man,' he says, 'is being tortured innocently and for nothing! I,'
112929 he says, 'did that deed, and I put the knife under your head while you
112930 were asleep. Forgive me, Daddy,' he says, 'for Christ's sake!'"
112931
112932 Karataev paused, smiling joyously as he gazed into the fire, and
112933 he drew the logs together.
112934
112935 "And the old man said, 'God will forgive you, we are all sinners
112936 in His sight. I suffer for my own sins,' and he wept bitter tears.
112937 Well, and what do you think, dear friends?" Karataev continued, his
112938 face brightening more and more with a rapturous smile as if what he
112939 now had to tell contained the chief charm and the whole meaning of his
112940 story: "What do you think, dear fellows? That murderer confessed to
112941 the authorities. 'I have taken six lives,' he says (he was a great
112942 sinner), 'but what I am most sorry for is this old man. Don't let
112943 him suffer because of me.' So he confessed and it was all written down
112944 and the papers sent off in due form. The place was a long way off, and
112945 while they were judging, what with one thing and another, filling in
112946 the papers all in due form--the authorities I mean--time passed. The
112947 affair reached the Tsar. After a while the Tsar's decree came: to
112948 set the merchant free and give him a compensation that had been
112949 awarded. The paper arrived and they began to look for the old man.
112950 'Where is the old man who has been suffering innocently and in vain? A
112951 paper has come from the Tsar!' so they began looking for him," here
112952 Karataev's lower jaw trembled, "but God had already forgiven him--he
112953 was dead! That's how it was, dear fellows!" Karataev concluded and sat
112954 for a long time silent, gazing before him with a smile.
112955
112956 And Pierre's soul was dimly but joyfully filled not by the story
112957 itself but by its mysterious significance: by the rapturous joy that
112958 lit up Karataev's face as he told it, and the mystic significance of
112959 that joy.
112960
112961
112962
112963
112964
112965 CHAPTER XIV
112966
112967
112968 "A vos places!"* suddenly cried a voice.
112969
112970
112971 *"To your places."
112972
112973
112974 A pleasant feeling of excitement and an expectation of something
112975 joyful and solemn was aroused among the soldiers of the convoy and the
112976 prisoners. From all sides came shouts of command, and from the left
112977 came smartly dressed cavalrymen on good horses, passing the
112978 prisoners at a trot. The expression on all faces showed the tension
112979 people feel at the approach of those in authority. The prisoners
112980 thronged together and were pushed off the road. The convoy formed up.
112981
112982 "The Emperor! The Emperor! The Marshal! The Duke!" and hardly had
112983 the sleek cavalry passed, before a carriage drawn by six gray horses
112984 rattled by. Pierre caught a glimpse of a man in a three-cornered hat
112985 with a tranquil look on his handsome, plump, white face. It was one of
112986 the marshals. His eye fell on Pierre's large and striking figure,
112987 and in the expression with which he frowned and looked away Pierre
112988 thought he detected sympathy and a desire to conceal that sympathy.
112989
112990 The general in charge of the stores galloped after the carriage with
112991 a red and frightened face, whipping up his skinny horse. Several
112992 officers formed a group and some soldiers crowded round them. Their
112993 faces all looked excited and worried.
112994
112995 "What did he say? What did he say?" Pierre heard them ask.
112996
112997 While the marshal was passing, the prisoners had huddled together in
112998 a crowd, and Pierre saw Karataev whom he had not yet seen that
112999 morning. He sat in his short overcoat leaning against a birch tree. On
113000 his face, besides the look of joyful emotion it had worn yesterday
113001 while telling the tale of the merchant who suffered innocently,
113002 there was now an expression of quiet solemnity.
113003
113004 Karataev looked at Pierre with his kindly round eyes now filled with
113005 tears, evidently wishing him to come near that he might say
113006 something to him. But Pierre was not sufficiently sure of himself.
113007 He made as if he did not notice that look and moved hastily away.
113008
113009 When the prisoners again went forward Pierre looked round.
113010 Karataev was still sitting at the side of the road under the birch
113011 tree and two Frenchmen were talking over his head. Pierre did not look
113012 round again but went limping up the hill.
113013
113014 From behind, where Karataev had been sitting, came the sound of a
113015 shot. Pierre heard it plainly, but at that moment he remembered that
113016 he had not yet finished reckoning up how many stages still remained to
113017 Smolensk--a calculation he had begun before the marshal went by. And
113018 he again started reckoning. Two French soldiers ran past Pierre, one
113019 of whom carried a lowered and smoking gun. They both looked pale,
113020 and in the expression on their faces--one of them glanced timidly at
113021 Pierre--there was something resembling what he had seen on the face of
113022 the young soldier at the execution. Pierre looked at the soldier and
113023 remembered that, two days before, that man had burned his shirt
113024 while drying it at the fire and how they had laughed at him.
113025
113026 Behind him, where Karataev had been sitting, the dog began to
113027 howl. "What a stupid beast! Why is it howling?" thought Pierre.
113028
113029 His comrades, the prisoner soldiers walking beside him, avoided
113030 looking back at the place where the shot had been fired and the dog
113031 was howling, just as Pierre did, but there was a set look on all their
113032 faces.
113033
113034
113035
113036
113037
113038 CHAPTER XV
113039
113040
113041 The stores, the prisoners, and the marshal's baggage train stopped
113042 at the village of Shamshevo. The men crowded together round the
113043 campfires. Pierre went up to the fire, ate some roast horseflesh,
113044 lay down with his back to the fire, and immediately fell asleep. He
113045 again slept as he had done at Mozhaysk after the battle of Borodino.
113046
113047 Again real events mingled with dreams and again someone, he or
113048 another, gave expression to his thoughts, and even to the same
113049 thoughts that had been expressed in his dream at Mozhaysk.
113050
113051 "Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and
113052 that movement is God. And while there is life there is joy in
113053 consciousness of the divine. To love life is to love God. Harder and
113054 more blessed than all else is to love this life in one's sufferings,
113055 in innocent sufferings."
113056
113057 "Karataev!" came to Pierre's mind.
113058
113059 And suddenly he saw vividly before him a long-forgotten, kindly
113060 old man who had given him geography lessons in Switzerland. "Wait a
113061 bit," said the old man, and showed Pierre a globe. This globe was
113062 alive--a vibrating ball without fixed dimensions. Its whole surface
113063 consisted of drops closely pressed together, and all these drops moved
113064 and changed places, sometimes several of them merging into one,
113065 sometimes one dividing into many. Each drop tried to spread out and
113066 occupy as much space as possible, but others striving to do the same
113067 compressed it, sometimes destroyed it, and sometimes merged with it.
113068
113069 "That is life," said the old teacher.
113070
113071 "How simple and clear it is," thought Pierre. "How is it I did not
113072 know it before?"
113073
113074 "God is in the midst, and each drop tries to expand so as to reflect
113075 Him to the greatest extent. And it grows, merges, disappears from
113076 the surface, sinks to the depths, and again emerges. There now,
113077 Karataev has spread out and disappeared. Do you understand, my child?"
113078 said the teacher.
113079
113080 "Do you understand, damn you?" shouted a voice, and Pierre woke up.
113081
113082 He lifted himself and sat up. A Frenchman who had just pushed a
113083 Russian soldier away was squatting by the fire, engaged in roasting
113084 a piece of meat stuck on a ramrod. His sleeves were rolled up and
113085 his sinewy, hairy, red hands with their short fingers deftly turned
113086 the ramrod. His brown morose face with frowning brows was clearly
113087 visible by the glow of the charcoal.
113088
113089 "It's all the same to him," he muttered, turning quickly to a
113090 soldier who stood behind him. "Brigand! Get away!"
113091
113092 And twisting the ramrod he looked gloomily at Pierre, who turned
113093 away and gazed into the darkness. A prisoner, the Russian soldier
113094 the Frenchman had pushed away, was sitting near the fire patting
113095 something with his hand. Looking more closely Pierre recognized the
113096 blue-gray dog, sitting beside the soldier, wagging its tail.
113097
113098 "Ah, he's come?" said Pierre. "And Plat-" he began, but did not
113099 finish.
113100
113101 Suddenly and simultaneously a crowd of memories awoke in his
113102 fancy--of the look Platon had given him as he sat under the tree, of
113103 the shot heard from that spot, of the dog's howl, of the guilty
113104 faces of the two Frenchmen as they ran past him, of the lowered and
113105 smoking gun, and of Karataev's absence at this halt--and he was on the
113106 point of realizing that Karataev had been killed, but just at that
113107 instant, he knew not why, the recollection came to his mind of a
113108 summer evening he had spent with a beautiful Polish lady on the
113109 veranda of his house in Kiev. And without linking up the events of the
113110 day or drawing a conclusion from them, Pierre closed his eyes,
113111 seeing a vision of the country in summertime mingled with memories
113112 of bathing and of the liquid, vibrating globe, and he sank into
113113 water so that it closed over his head.
113114
113115 Before sunrise he was awakened by shouts and loud and rapid
113116 firing. French soldiers were running past him.
113117
113118 "The Cossacks!" one of them shouted, and a moment later a crowd of
113119 Russians surrounded Pierre.
113120
113121 For a long time he could not understand what was happening to him.
113122 All around he heard his comrades sobbing with joy.
113123
113124 "Brothers! Dear fellows! Darlings!" old soldiers exclaimed, weeping,
113125 as they embraced Cossacks and hussars.
113126
113127 The hussars and Cossacks crowded round the prisoners; one offered
113128 them clothes, another boots, and a third bread. Pierre sobbed as he
113129 sat among them and could not utter a word. He hugged the first soldier
113130 who approached him, and kissed him, weeping.
113131
113132 Dolokhov stood at the gate of the ruined house, letting a crowd of
113133 disarmed Frenchmen pass by. The French, excited by all that had
113134 happened, were talking loudly among themselves, but as they passed
113135 Dolokhov who gently switched his boots with his whip and watched
113136 them with cold glassy eyes that boded no good, they became silent.
113137 On the opposite side stood Dolokhov's Cossack, counting the
113138 prisoners and marking off each hundred with a chalk line on the gate.
113139
113140 "How many?" Dolokhov asked the Cossack.
113141
113142 "The second hundred," replied the Cossack.
113143
113144 "Filez, filez!"* Dolokhov kept saying, having adopted this
113145 expression from the French, and when his eyes met those of the
113146 prisoners they flashed with a cruel light.
113147
113148
113149 *"Get along, get along!"
113150
113151
113152 Denisov, bareheaded and with a gloomy face, walked behind some
113153 Cossacks who were carrying the body of Petya Rostov to a hole that had
113154 been dug in the garden.
113155
113156
113157
113158
113159
113160 CHAPTER XVI
113161
113162
113163 After the twenty-eighth of October when the frosts began, the flight
113164 of the French assumed a still more tragic character, with men
113165 freezing, or roasting themselves to death at the campfires, while
113166 carriages with people dressed in furs continued to drive past,
113167 carrying away the property that had been stolen by the Emperor, kings,
113168 and dukes; but the process of the flight and disintegration of the
113169 French army went on essentially as before.
113170
113171 From Moscow to Vyazma the French army of seventy-three thousand
113172 men not reckoning the Guards (who did nothing during the whole war but
113173 pillage) was reduced to thirty-six thousand, though not more than five
113174 thousand had fallen in battle. From this beginning the succeeding
113175 terms of the progression could be determined mathematically. The
113176 French army melted away and perished at the same rate from Moscow to
113177 Vyazma, from Vyazma to Smolensk, from Smolensk to the Berezina, and
113178 from the Berezina to Vilna--independently of the greater or lesser
113179 intensity of the cold, the pursuit, the barring of the way, or any
113180 other particular conditions. Beyond Vyazma the French army instead
113181 of moving in three columns huddled together into one mass, and so went
113182 on to the end. Berthier wrote to his Emperor (we know how far
113183 commanding officers allow themselves to diverge from the truth in
113184 describing the condition of an army) and this is what he said:
113185
113186
113187 I deem it my duty to report to Your Majesty the condition of the
113188 various corps I have had occasion to observe during different stages
113189 of the last two or three days' march. They are almost disbanded.
113190 Scarcely a quarter of the soldiers remain with the standards of
113191 their regiments, the others go off by themselves in different
113192 directions hoping to find food and escape discipline. In general
113193 they regard Smolensk as the place where they hope to recover. During
113194 the last few days many of the men have been seen to throw away their
113195 cartridges and their arms. In such a state of affairs, whatever your
113196 ultimate plans may be, the interest of Your Majesty's service
113197 demands that the army should be rallied at Smolensk and should first
113198 of all be freed from ineffectives, such as dismounted cavalry,
113199 unnecessary baggage, and artillery material that is no longer in
113200 proportion to the present forces. The soldiers, who are worn out
113201 with hunger and fatigue, need these supplies as well as a few days'
113202 rest. Many have died last days on the road or at the bivouacs. This
113203 state of things is continually becoming worse and makes one fear
113204 that unless a prompt remedy is applied the troops will no longer be
113205 under control in case of an engagement.
113206
113207 November 9: twenty miles from Smolensk.
113208
113209
113210 After staggering into Smolensk which seemed to them a promised land,
113211 the French, searching for food, killed one another, sacked their own
113212 stores, and when everything had been plundered fled farther.
113213
113214 They all went without knowing whither or why they were going.
113215 Still less did that genius, Napoleon, know it, for no one issued any
113216 orders to him. But still he and those about him retained their old
113217 habits: wrote commands, letters, reports, and orders of the day;
113218 called one another sire, mon cousin, prince d'Eckmuhl, roi de
113219 Naples, and so on. But these orders and reports were only on paper,
113220 nothing in them was acted upon for they could not be carried out,
113221 and though they entitled one another Majesties, Highnesses, or
113222 Cousins, they all felt that they were miserable wretches who had
113223 done much evil for which they had now to pay. And though they
113224 pretended to be concerned about the army, each was thinking only of
113225 himself and of how to get away quickly and save himself.
113226
113227
113228
113229
113230 CHAPTER XVII
113231
113232
113233 The movements of the Russian and French armies during the campaign
113234 from Moscow back to the Niemen were like those in a game of Russian
113235 blindman's bluff, in which two players are blindfolded and one of them
113236 occasionally rings a little bell to inform the catcher of his
113237 whereabouts. First he rings his bell fearlessly, but when he gets into
113238 a tight place he runs away as quietly as he can, and often thinking to
113239 escape runs straight into his opponent's arms.
113240
113241 At first while they were still moving along the Kaluga road,
113242 Napoleon's armies made their presence known, but later when they
113243 reached the Smolensk road they ran holding the clapper of their bell
113244 tight--and often thinking they were escaping ran right into the
113245 Russians.
113246
113247 Owing to the rapidity of the French flight and the Russian pursuit
113248 and the consequent exhaustion of the horses, the chief means of
113249 approximately ascertaining the enemy's position--by cavalry
113250 scouting--was not available. Besides, as a result of the frequent
113251 and rapid change of position by each army, even what information was
113252 obtained could not be delivered in time. If news was received one
113253 day that the enemy had been in a certain position the day before, by
113254 the third day when something could have been done, that army was
113255 already two days' march farther on and in quite another position.
113256
113257 One army fled and the other pursued. Beyond Smolensk there were
113258 several different roads available for the French, and one would have
113259 thought that during their stay of four days they might have learned
113260 where the enemy was, might have arranged some more advantageous plan
113261 and undertaken something new. But after a four days' halt the mob,
113262 with no maneuvers or plans, again began running along the beaten
113263 track, neither to the right nor to the left but along the old--the
113264 worst--road, through Krasnoe and Orsha.
113265
113266 Expecting the enemy from behind and not in front, the French
113267 separated in their flight and spread out over a distance of
113268 twenty-four hours. In front of them all fled the Emperor, then the
113269 kings, then the dukes. The Russian army, expecting Napoleon to take
113270 the road to the right beyond the Dnieper--which was the only
113271 reasonable thing for him to do--themselves turned to the right and
113272 came out onto the highroad at Krasnoe. And here as in a game of
113273 blindman's buff the French ran into our vanguard. Seeing their enemy
113274 unexpectedly the French fell into confusion and stopped short from the
113275 sudden fright, but then they resumed their flight, abandoning their
113276 comrades who were farther behind. Then for three days separate
113277 portions of the French army--first Murat's (the vice-king's), then
113278 Davout's, and then Ney's--ran, as it were, the gauntlet of the Russian
113279 army. They abandoned one another, abandoned all their heavy baggage,
113280 their artillery, and half their men, and fled, getting past the
113281 Russians by night by making semicircles to the right.
113282
113283 Ney, who came last, had been busying himself blowing up the walls of
113284 Smolensk which were in nobody's way, because despite the unfortunate
113285 plight of the French or because of it, they wished to punish the floor
113286 against which they had hurt themselves. Ney, who had had a corps of
113287 ten thousand men, reached Napoleon at Orsha with only one thousand men
113288 left, having abandoned all the rest and all his cannon, and having
113289 crossed the Dnieper at night by stealth at a wooded spot.
113290
113291 From Orsha they fled farther along the road to Vilna, still
113292 playing at blindman's buff with the pursuing army. At the Berezina
113293 they again became disorganized, many were drowned and many
113294 surrendered, but those who got across the river fled farther. Their
113295 supreme chief donned a fur coat and, having seated himself in a
113296 sleigh, galloped on alone, abandoning his companions. The others who
113297 could do so drove away too, leaving those who could not to surrender
113298 or die.
113299
113300
113301
113302
113303
113304 CHAPTER XVIII
113305
113306
113307 This campaign consisted in a flight of the French during which
113308 they did all they could to destroy themselves. From the time they
113309 turned onto the Kaluga road to the day their leader fled from the
113310 army, none of the movements of the crowd had any sense. So one might
113311 have thought that regarding this period of the campaign the
113312 historians, who attributed the actions of the mass to the will of
113313 one man, would have found it impossible to make the story of the
113314 retreat fit their theory. But no! Mountains of books have been written
113315 by the historians about this campaign, and everywhere are described
113316 Napoleon's arrangements, the maneuvers, and his profound plans which
113317 guided the army, as well as the military genius shown by his marshals.
113318
113319 The retreat from Malo-Yaroslavets when he had a free road into a
113320 well-supplied district and the parallel road was open to him along
113321 which Kutuzov afterwards pursued him--this unnecessary retreat along a
113322 devastated road--is explained to us as being due to profound
113323 considerations. Similarly profound considerations are given for his
113324 retreat from Smolensk to Orsha. Then his heroism at Krasnoe is
113325 described, where he is reported to have been prepared to accept battle
113326 and take personal command, and to have walked about with a birch stick
113327 and said:
113328
113329 "J'ai assez fait l'empereur; il est temps de faire le general,"* but
113330 nevertheless immediately ran away again, abandoning to its fate the
113331 scattered fragments of the army he left behind.
113332
113333
113334 *"I have acted the Emperor long enough; it is time to act the
113335 general."
113336
113337
113338 Then we are told of the greatness of soul of the marshals,
113339 especially of Ney--a greatness of soul consisting in this: that he
113340 made his way by night around through the forest and across the Dnieper
113341 and escaped to Orsha, abandoning standards, artillery, and nine tenths
113342 of his men.
113343
113344 And lastly, the final departure of the great Emperor from his heroic
113345 army is presented to us by the historians as something great and
113346 characteristic of genius. Even that final running away, described in
113347 ordinary language as the lowest depth of baseness which every child is
113348 taught to be ashamed of--even that act finds justification in the
113349 historians' language.
113350
113351 When it is impossible to stretch the very elastic threads of
113352 historical ratiocination any farther, when actions are clearly
113353 contrary to all that humanity calls right or even just, the historians
113354 produce a saving conception of "greatness." "Greatness," it seems,
113355 excludes the standards of right and wrong. For the "great" man nothing
113356 is wrong, there is no atrocity for which a "great" man can be blamed.
113357
113358 "C'est grand!"* say the historians, and there no longer exists
113359 either good or evil but only "grand" and "not grand." Grand is good,
113360 not grand is bad. Grand is the characteristic, in their conception, of
113361 some special animals called "heroes." And Napoleon, escaping home in a
113362 warm fur coat and leaving to perish those who were not merely his
113363 comrades but were (in his opinion) men he had brought there, feels que
113364 c'est grand,*[2] and his soul is tranquil.
113365
113366
113367 *"It is great."
113368
113369 *[2] That it is great.
113370
113371
113372 "Du sublime (he saw something sublime in himself) au ridicule il n'y
113373 a qu'un pas,"* said he. And the whole world for fifty years has been
113374 repeating: "Sublime! Grand! Napoleon le Grand!" Du sublime au ridicule
113375 il n'y a qu'un pas.
113376
113377
113378 *"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
113379
113380
113381 And it occurs to no one that to admit a greatness not
113382 commensurable with the standard of right and wrong is merely to
113383 admit one's own nothingness and immeasurable meanness.
113384
113385 For us with the standard of good and evil given us by Christ, no
113386 human actions are incommensurable. And there is no greatness where
113387 simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent.
113388
113389
113390
113391
113392
113393 CHAPTER XIX
113394
113395
113396 What Russian, reading the account of the last part of the campaign
113397 of 1812, has not experienced an uncomfortable feeling of regret,
113398 dissatisfaction, and perplexity? Who has not asked himself how it is
113399 that the French were not all captured or destroyed when our three
113400 armies surrounded them in superior numbers, when the disordered
113401 French, hungry and freezing, surrendered in crowds, and when (as the
113402 historians relate) the aim of the Russians was to stop the French,
113403 to cut them off, and capture them all?
113404
113405 How was it that the Russian army, which when numerically weaker than
113406 the French had given battle at Borodino, did not achieve its purpose
113407 when it had surrounded the French on three sides and when its aim
113408 was to capture them? Can the French be so enormously superior to us
113409 that when we had surrounded them with superior forces we could not
113410 beat them? How could that happen?
113411
113412 History (or what is called by that name) replying to these questions
113413 says that this occurred because Kutuzov and Tormasov and Chichagov,
113414 and this man and that man, did not execute such and such maneuvers...
113415
113416 But why did they not execute those maneuvers? And why if they were
113417 guilty of not carrying out a prearranged plan were they not tried
113418 and punished? But even if we admitted that Kutuzov, Chichagov, and
113419 others were the cause of the Russian failures, it is still
113420 incomprehensible why, the position of the Russian army being what it
113421 was at Krasnoe and at the Berezina (in both cases we had superior
113422 forces), the French army with its marshals, kings, and Emperor was not
113423 captured, if that was what the Russians aimed at.
113424
113425 The explanation of this strange fact given by Russian military
113426 historians (to the effect that Kutuzov hindered an attack) is
113427 unfounded, for we know that he could not restrain the troops from
113428 attacking at Vyazma and Tarutino.
113429
113430 Why was the Russian army--which with inferior forces had withstood
113431 the enemy in full strength at Borodino--defeated at Krasnoe and the
113432 Berezina by the disorganized crowds of the French when it was
113433 numerically superior?
113434
113435 If the aim of the Russians consisted in cutting off and capturing
113436 Napoleon and his marshals--and that aim was not merely frustrated
113437 but all attempts to attain it were most shamefully baffled--then
113438 this last period of the campaign is quite rightly considered by the
113439 French to be a series of victories, and quite wrongly considered
113440 victorious by Russian historians.
113441
113442 The Russian military historians in so far as they submit to claims
113443 of logic must admit that conclusion, and in spite of their lyrical
113444 rhapsodies about valor, devotion, and so forth, must reluctantly admit
113445 that the French retreat from Moscow was a series of victories for
113446 Napoleon and defeats for Kutuzov.
113447
113448 But putting national vanity entirely aside one feels that such a
113449 conclusion involves a contradiction, since the series of French
113450 victories brought the French complete destruction, while the series of
113451 Russian defeats led to the total destruction of their enemy and the
113452 liberation of their country.
113453
113454 The source of this contradiction lies in the fact that the
113455 historians studying the events from the letters of the sovereigns
113456 and the generals, from memoirs, reports, projects, and so forth,
113457 have attributed to this last period of the war of 1812 an aim that
113458 never existed, namely that of cutting off and capturing Napoleon
113459 with his marshals and his army.
113460
113461 There never was or could have been such an aim, for it would have
113462 been senseless and its attainment quite impossible.
113463
113464 It would have been senseless, first because Napoleon's
113465 disorganized army was flying from Russia with all possible speed, that
113466 is to say, was doing just what every Russian desired. So what was
113467 the use of performing various operations on the French who were
113468 running away as fast as they possibly could?
113469
113470 Secondly, it would have been senseless to block the passage of men
113471 whose whole energy was directed to flight.
113472
113473 Thirdly, it would have been senseless to sacrifice one's own
113474 troops in order to destroy the French army, which without external
113475 interference was destroying itself at such a rate that, though its
113476 path was not blocked, it could not carry across the frontier more than
113477 it actually did in December, namely a hundredth part of the original
113478 army.
113479
113480 Fourthly, it would have been senseless to wish to take captive the
113481 Emperor, kings, and dukes--whose capture would have been in the
113482 highest degree embarrassing for the Russians, as the most adroit
113483 diplomatists of the time (Joseph de Maistre and others) recognized.
113484 Still more senseless would have been the wish to capture army corps of
113485 the French, when our own army had melted away to half before
113486 reaching Krasnoe and a whole division would have been needed to convoy
113487 the corps of prisoners, and when our men were not always getting
113488 full rations and the prisoners already taken were perishing of hunger.
113489
113490 All the profound plans about cutting off and capturing Napoleon
113491 and his army were like the plan of a market gardener who, when driving
113492 out of his garden a cow that had trampled down the beds he had
113493 planted, should run to the gate and hit the cow on the head. The
113494 only thing to be said in excuse of that gardener would be that he
113495 was very angry. But not even that could be said for those who drew
113496 up this project, for it was not they who had suffered from the
113497 trampled beds.
113498
113499 But besides the fact that cutting off Napoleon with his army would
113500 have been senseless, it was impossible.
113501
113502 It was impossible first because--as experience shows that a
113503 three-mile movement of columns on a battlefield never coincides with
113504 the plans--the probability of Chichagov, Kutuzov, and Wittgenstein
113505 effecting a junction on time at an appointed place was so remote as to
113506 be tantamount to impossibility, as in fact thought Kutuzov, who when
113507 he received the plan remarked that diversions planned over great
113508 distances do not yield the desired results.
113509
113510 Secondly it was impossible, because to paralyze the momentum with
113511 which Napoleon's army was retiring, incomparably greater forces than
113512 the Russians possessed would have been required.
113513
113514 Thirdly it was impossible, because the military term "to cut off"
113515 has no meaning. One can cut off a slice of bread, but not an army.
113516 To cut off an army--to bar its road--is quite impossible, for there is
113517 always plenty of room to avoid capture and there is the night when
113518 nothing can be seen, as the military scientists might convince
113519 themselves by the example of Krasnoe and of the Berezina. It is only
113520 possible to capture prisoners if they agree to be captured, just as it
113521 is only possible to catch a swallow if it settles on one's hand. Men
113522 can only be taken prisoners if they surrender according to the rules
113523 of strategy and tactics, as the Germans did. But the French troops
113524 quite rightly did not consider that this suited them, since death by
113525 hunger and cold awaited them in flight or captivity alike.
113526
113527 Fourthly and chiefly it was impossible, because never since the
113528 world began has a war been fought under such conditions as those
113529 that obtained in 1812, and the Russian army in its pursuit of the
113530 French strained its strength to the utmost and could not have done
113531 more without destroying itself.
113532
113533 During the movement of the Russian army from Tarutino to Krasnoe
113534 it lost fifty thousand sick or stragglers, that is a number equal to
113535 the population of a large provincial town. Half the men fell out of
113536 the army without a battle.
113537
113538 And it is of this period of the campaign--when the army lacked boots
113539 and sheepskin coats, was short of provisions and without vodka, and
113540 was camping out at night for months in the snow with fifteen degrees
113541 of frost, when there were only seven or eight hours of daylight and
113542 the rest was night in which the influence of discipline cannot be
113543 maintained, when men were taken into that region of death where
113544 discipline fails, not for a few hours only as in a battle, but for
113545 months, where they were every moment fighting death from hunger and
113546 cold, when half the army perished in a single month--it is of this
113547 period of the campaign that the historians tell us how Miloradovich
113548 should have made a flank march to such and such a place, Tormasov to
113549 another place, and Chichagov should have crossed (more than
113550 knee-deep in snow) to somewhere else, and how so-and-so "routed" and
113551 "cut off" the French and so on and so on.
113552
113553 The Russians, half of whom died, did all that could and should
113554 have been done to attain an end worthy of the nation, and they are not
113555 to blame because other Russians, sitting in warm rooms, proposed
113556 that they should do what was impossible.
113557
113558 All that strange contradiction now difficult to understand between
113559 the facts and the historical accounts only arises because the
113560 historians dealing with the matter have written the history of the
113561 beautiful words and sentiments of various generals, and not the
113562 history of the events.
113563
113564 To them the words of Miloradovich seem very interesting, and so do
113565 their surmises and the rewards this or that general received; but
113566 the question of those fifty thousand men who were left in hospitals
113567 and in graves does not even interest them, for it does not come within
113568 the range of their investigation.
113569
113570 Yet one need only discard the study of the reports and general plans
113571 and consider the movement of those hundreds of thousands of men who
113572 took a direct part in the events, and all the questions that seemed
113573 insoluble easily and simply receive an immediate and certain solution.
113574
113575 The aim of cutting off Napoleon and his army never existed except in
113576 the imaginations of a dozen people. It could not exist because it
113577 was senseless and unattainable.
113578
113579 The people had a single aim: to free their land from invasion.
113580 That aim was attained in the first place of itself, as the French
113581 ran away, and so it was only necessary not to stop their flight.
113582 Secondly it was attained by the guerrilla warfare which was destroying
113583 the French, and thirdly by the fact that a large Russian army was
113584 following the French, ready to use its strength in case their movement
113585 stopped.
113586
113587 The Russian army had to act like a whip to a running animal. And the
113588 experienced driver knew it was better to hold the whip raised as a
113589 menace than to strike the running animal on the head.
113590
113591
113592
113593
113594
113595 BOOK FIFTEEN: 1812 --13
113596
113597
113598
113599
113600
113601 CHAPTER I
113602
113603
113604 When seeing a dying animal a man feels a sense of horror:
113605 substance similar to his own is perishing before his eyes. But when it
113606 is a beloved and intimate human being that is dying, besides this
113607 horror at the extinction of life there is a severance, a spiritual
113608 wound, which like a physical wound is sometimes fatal and sometimes
113609 heals, but always aches and shrinks at any external irritating touch.
113610
113611 After Prince Andrew's death Natasha and Princess Mary alike felt
113612 this. Drooping in spirit and closing their eyes before the menacing
113613 cloud of death that overhung them, they dared not look life in the
113614 face. They carefully guarded their open wounds from any rough and
113615 painful contact. Everything: a carriage passing rapidly in the street,
113616 a summons to dinner, the maid's inquiry what dress to prepare, or
113617 worse still any word of insincere or feeble sympathy, seemed an
113618 insult, painfully irritated the wound, interrupting that necessary
113619 quiet in which they both tried to listen to the stern and dreadful
113620 choir that still resounded in their imagination, and hindered their
113621 gazing into those mysterious limitless vistas that for an instant
113622 had opened out before them.
113623
113624 Only when alone together were they free from such outrage and
113625 pain. They spoke little even to one another, and when they did it
113626 was of very unimportant matters.
113627
113628 Both avoided any allusion to the future. To admit the possibility of
113629 a future seemed to them to insult his memory. Still more carefully did
113630 they avoid anything relating to him who was dead. It seemed to them
113631 that what they had lived through and experienced could not be
113632 expressed in words, and that any reference to the details of his
113633 life infringed the majesty and sacredness of the mystery that had been
113634 accomplished before their eyes.
113635
113636 Continued abstention from speech, and constant avoidance of
113637 everything that might lead up to the subject--this halting on all
113638 sides at the boundary of what they might not mention--brought before
113639 their minds with still greater purity and clearness what they were
113640 both feeling.
113641
113642 But pure and complete sorrow is as impossible as pure and complete
113643 joy. Princess Mary, in her position as absolute and independent
113644 arbiter of her own fate and guardian and instructor of her nephew, was
113645 the first to be called back to life from that realm of sorrow in which
113646 she had dwelt for the first fortnight. She received letters from her
113647 relations to which she had to reply; the room in which little Nicholas
113648 had been put was damp and he began to cough; Alpatych came to
113649 Yaroslavl with reports on the state of their affairs and with advice
113650 and suggestions that they should return to Moscow to the house on
113651 the Vozdvizhenka Street, which had remained uninjured and needed
113652 only slight repairs. Life did not stand still and it was necessary
113653 to live. Hard as it was for Princess Mary to emerge from the realm
113654 of secluded contemplation in which she had lived till then, and
113655 sorry and almost ashamed as she felt to leave Natasha alone, yet the
113656 cares of life demanded her attention and she involuntarily yielded
113657 to them. She went through the accounts with Alpatych, conferred with
113658 Dessalles about her nephew, and gave orders and made preparations
113659 for the journey to Moscow.
113660
113661 Natasha remained alone and, from the time Princess Mary began making
113662 preparations for departure, held aloof from her too.
113663
113664 Princess Mary asked the countess to let Natasha go with her to
113665 Moscow, and both parents gladly accepted this offer, for they saw
113666 their daughter losing strength every day and thought that a change
113667 of scene and the advice of Moscow doctors would be good for her.
113668
113669 "I am not going anywhere," Natasha replied when this was proposed to
113670 her. "Do please just leave me alone!" And she ran out of the room,
113671 with difficulty refraining from tears of vexation and irritation
113672 rather than of sorrow.
113673
113674 After she felt herself deserted by Princes Mary and alone in her
113675 grief, Natasha spent most of the time in her room by herself,
113676 sitting huddled up feet and all in the corner of the sofa, tearing and
113677 twisting something with her slender nervous fingers and gazing
113678 intently and fixedly at whatever her eyes chanced to fall on. This
113679 solitude exhausted and tormented her but she was in absolute need of
113680 it. As soon as anyone entered she got up quickly, changed her position
113681 and expression, and picked up a book or some sewing, evidently waiting
113682 impatiently for the intruder to go.
113683
113684 She felt all the time as if she might at any moment penetrate that
113685 on which--with a terrible questioning too great for her strength-
113686 her spiritual gaze was fixed.
113687
113688 One day toward the end of December Natasha, pale and thin, dressed
113689 in a black woolen gown, her plaited hair negligently twisted into a
113690 knot, was crouched feet and all in the corner of her sofa, nervously
113691 crumpling and smoothing out the end of her sash while she looked at
113692 a corner of the door.
113693
113694 She was gazing in the direction in which he had gone--to the other
113695 side of life. And that other side of life, of which she had never
113696 before thought and which had formerly seemed to her so far away and
113697 improbable, was now nearer and more akin and more comprehensible
113698 than this side of life, where everything was either emptiness and
113699 desolation or suffering and indignity.
113700
113701 She was gazing where she knew him to be; but she could not imagine
113702 him otherwise than as he had been here. She now saw him again as he
113703 had been at Mytishchi, at Troitsa, and at Yaroslavl.
113704
113705 She saw his face, heard his voice, repeated his words and her own,
113706 and sometimes devised other words they might have spoken.
113707
113708 There he is lying back in an armchair in his velvet cloak, leaning
113709 his head on his thin pale hand. His chest is dreadfully hollow and his
113710 shoulders raised. His lips are firmly closed, his eyes glitter, and
113711 a wrinkle comes and goes on his pale forehead. One of his legs
113712 twitches just perceptibly, but rapidly. Natasha knows that he is
113713 struggling with terrible pain. "What is that pain like? Why does he
113714 have that pain? What does he feel? How does it hurt him?" thought
113715 Natasha. He noticed her watching him, raised his eyes, and began to
113716 speak seriously:
113717
113718 "One thing would be terrible," said he: "to bind oneself forever
113719 to a suffering man. It would be continual torture." And he looked
113720 searchingly at her. Natasha as usual answered before she had time to
113721 think what she would say. She said: "This can't go on--it won't. You
113722 will get well--quite well."
113723
113724 She now saw him from the commencement of that scene and relived what
113725 she had then felt. She recalled his long sad and severe look at
113726 those words and understood the meaning of the rebuke and despair in
113727 that protracted gaze.
113728
113729 "I agreed," Natasha now said to herself, "that it would be
113730 dreadful if he always continued to suffer. I said it then only because
113731 it would have been dreadful for him, but he understood it differently.
113732 He thought it would be dreadful for me. He then still wished to live
113733 and feared death. And I said it so awkwardly and stupidly! I did not
113734 say what I meant. I thought quite differently. Had I said what I
113735 thought, I should have said: even if he had to go on dying, to die
113736 continually before my eyes, I should have been happy compared with
113737 what I am now. Now there is nothing... nobody. Did he know that? No,
113738 he did not and never will know it. And now it will never, never be
113739 possible to put it right." And now he again seemed to be saying the
113740 same words to her, only in her imagination Natasha this time gave
113741 him a different answer. She stopped him and said: "Terrible for you,
113742 but not for me! You know that for me there is nothing in life but you,
113743 and to suffer with you is the greatest happiness for me," and he
113744 took her hand and pressed it as he had pressed it that terrible
113745 evening four days before his death. And in her imagination she said
113746 other tender and loving words which she might have said then but
113747 only spoke now: "I love thee!... thee! I love, love..." she said,
113748 convulsively pressing her hands and setting her teeth with a desperate
113749 effort...
113750
113751 She was overcome by sweet sorrow and tears were already rising in
113752 her eyes; then she suddenly asked herself to whom she was saying this.
113753 Again everything was shrouded in hard, dry perplexity, and again
113754 with a strained frown she peered toward the world where he was. And
113755 now, now it seemed to her she was penetrating the mystery.... But at
113756 the instant when it seemed that the incomprehensible was revealing
113757 itself to her a loud rattle of the door handle struck painfully on her
113758 ears. Dunyasha, her maid, entered the room quickly and abruptly with a
113759 frightened look on her face and showing no concern for her mistress.
113760
113761 "Come to your Papa at once, please!" said she with a strange,
113762 excited look. "A misfortune... about Peter Ilynich... a letter," she
113763 finished with a sob.
113764
113765
113766
113767
113768
113769 CHAPTER II
113770
113771
113772 Besides a feeling of aloofness from everybody Natasha was feeling
113773 a special estrangement from the members of her own family. All of
113774 them--her father, mother, and Sonya--were so near to her, so familiar,
113775 so commonplace, that all their words and feelings seemed an insult
113776 to the world in which she had been living of late, and she felt not
113777 merely indifferent to them but regarded them with hostility. She heard
113778 Dunyasha's words about Peter Ilynich and a misfortune, but did not
113779 grasp them.
113780
113781 "What misfortune? What misfortune can happen to them? They just live
113782 their own old, quiet, and commonplace life," thought Natasha.
113783
113784 As she entered the ballroom her father was hurriedly coming out of
113785 her mother's room. His face was puckered up and wet with tears. He had
113786 evidently run out of that room to give vent to the sobs that were
113787 choking him. When he saw Natasha he waved his arms despairingly and
113788 burst into convulsively painful sobs that distorted his soft round
113789 face.
113790
113791 "Pe... Petya... Go, go, she... is calling..." and weeping like a
113792 child and quickly shuffling on his feeble legs to a chair, he almost
113793 fell into it, covering his face with his hands.
113794
113795 Suddenly an electric shock seemed to run through Natasha's whole
113796 being. Terrible anguish struck her heart, she felt a dreadful ache
113797 as if something was being torn inside her and she were dying. But
113798 the pain was immediately followed by a feeling of release from the
113799 oppressive constraint that had prevented her taking part in life.
113800 The sight of her father, the terribly wild cries of her mother that
113801 she heard through the door, made her immediately forget herself and
113802 her own grief.
113803
113804 She ran to her father, but he feebly waved his arm, pointing to
113805 her mother's door. Princess Mary, pale and with quivering chin, came
113806 out from that room and taking Natasha by the arm said something to
113807 her. Natasha neither saw nor heard her. She went in with rapid
113808 steps, pausing at the door for an instant as if struggling with
113809 herself, and then ran to her mother.
113810
113811 The countess was lying in an armchair in a strange and awkward
113812 position, stretching out and beating her head against the wall.
113813 Sonya and the maids were holding her arms.
113814
113815 "Natasha! Natasha!..." cried the countess. "It's not true... it's
113816 not true... He's lying... Natasha!" she shrieked, pushing those around
113817 her away. "Go away, all of you; it's not true! Killed!... ha, ha,
113818 ha!... It's not true!"
113819
113820 Natasha put one knee on the armchair, stooped over her mother,
113821 embraced her, and with unexpected strength raised her, turned her face
113822 toward herself, and clung to her.
113823
113824 "Mummy!... darling!... I am here, my dearest Mummy," she kept on
113825 whispering, not pausing an instant.
113826
113827 She did not let go of her mother but struggled tenderly with her,
113828 demanded a pillow and hot water, and unfastened and tore open her
113829 mother's dress.
113830
113831 "My dearest darling... Mummy, my precious!..." she whispered
113832 incessantly, kissing her head, her hands, her face, and feeling her
113833 own irrepressible and streaming tears tickling her nose and cheeks.
113834
113835 The countess pressed her daughter's hand, closed her eyes, and
113836 became quiet for a moment. Suddenly she sat up with unaccustomed
113837 swiftness, glanced vacantly around her, and seeing Natasha began to
113838 press her daughter's head with all her strength. Then she turned
113839 toward her daughter's face which was wincing with pain and gazed
113840 long at it.
113841
113842 "Natasha, you love me?" she said in a soft trustful whisper.
113843 "Natasha, you would not deceive me? You'll tell me the whole truth?"
113844
113845 Natasha looked at her with eyes full of tears and in her look
113846 there was nothing but love and an entreaty for forgiveness.
113847
113848 "My darling Mummy!" she repeated, straining all the power of her
113849 love to find some way of taking on herself the excess of grief that
113850 crushed her mother.
113851
113852 And again in a futile struggle with reality her mother, refusing
113853 to believe that she could live when her beloved boy was killed in
113854 the bloom of life, escaped from reality into a world of delirium.
113855
113856 Natasha did not remember how that day passed nor that night, nor the
113857 next day and night. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother.
113858 Her persevering and patient love seemed completely to surround the
113859 countess every moment, not explaining or consoling, but recalling
113860 her to life.
113861
113862 During the third night the countess kept very quiet for a few
113863 minutes, and Natasha rested her head on the arm of her chair and
113864 closed her eyes, but opened them again on hearing the bedstead
113865 creak. The countess was sitting up in bed and speaking softly.
113866
113867 "How glad I am you have come. You are tired. Won't you have some
113868 tea?" Natasha went up to her. "You have improved in looks and grown
113869 more manly," continued the countess, taking her daughter's hand.
113870
113871 "Mamma! What are you saying..."
113872
113873 "Natasha, he is no more, no more!"
113874
113875 And embracing her daughter, the countess began to weep for the first
113876 time.
113877
113878
113879
113880
113881
113882 CHAPTER III
113883
113884
113885 Princess Mary postponed her departure. Sonya and the count tried
113886 to replace Natasha but could not. They saw that she alone was able
113887 to restrain her mother from unreasoning despair. For three weeks
113888 Natasha remained constantly at her mother's side, sleeping on a lounge
113889 chair in her room, making her eat and drink, and talking to her
113890 incessantly because the mere sound of her tender, caressing tones
113891 soothed her mother.
113892
113893 The mother's wounded spirit could not heal. Petya's
113894 death had torn from her half her life. When the news of Petya's
113895 death had come she had been a fresh and vigorous woman of fifty, but a
113896 month later she left her room a listless old woman taking no
113897 interest in life. But the same blow that almost killed the countess,
113898 this second blow, restored Natasha to life.
113899
113900 A spiritual wound produced by a rending of the spiritual body is
113901 like a physical wound and, strange as it may seem, just as a deep
113902 wound may heal and its edges join, physical and spiritual wounds alike
113903 can yet heal completely only as the result of a vital force from
113904 within.
113905
113906 Natasha's wound healed in that way. She thought her life was
113907 ended, but her love for her mother unexpectedly showed her that the
113908 essence of life--love--was still active within her. Love awoke and
113909 so did life.
113910
113911 Prince Andrew's last days had bound Princess Mary and Natasha
113912 together; this new sorrow brought them still closer to one another.
113913 Princess Mary put off her departure, and for three weeks looked
113914 after Natasha as if she had been a sick child. The last weeks passed
113915 in her mother's bedroom had strained Natasha's physical strength.
113916
113917 One afternoon noticing Natasha shivering with fever, Princess Mary
113918 took her to her own room and made her lie down on the bed. Natasha lay
113919 down, but when Princess Mary had drawn the blinds and was going away
113920 she called her back.
113921
113922 "I don't want to sleep, Mary, sit by me a little."
113923
113924 "You are tired--try to sleep."
113925
113926 "No, no. Why did you bring me away? She will be asking for me."
113927
113928 "She is much better. She spoke so well today," said Princess Mary.
113929
113930 Natasha lay on the bed and in the semidarkness of the room scanned
113931 Princess Mary's face.
113932
113933 "Is she like him?" thought Natasha. "Yes, like and yet not like. But
113934 she is quite original, strange, new, and unknown. And she loves me.
113935 What is in her heart? All that is good. But how? What is her mind
113936 like? What does she think about me? Yes, she is splendid!"
113937
113938 "Mary," she said timidly, drawing Princess Mary's hand to herself,
113939 "Mary, you mustn't think me wicked. No? Mary darling, how I love
113940 you! Let us be quite, quite friends."
113941
113942 And Natasha, embracing her, began kissing her face and hands, making
113943 Princess Mary feel shy but happy by this demonstration of her
113944 feelings.
113945
113946 From that day a tender and passionate friendship such as exists only
113947 between women was established between Princess Mary and Natasha.
113948 They were continually kissing and saying tender things to one
113949 another and spent most of their time together. When one went out the
113950 other became restless and hastened to rejoin her. Together they felt
113951 more in harmony with one another than either of them felt with herself
113952 when alone. A feeling stronger than friendship sprang up between them;
113953 an exclusive feeling of life being possible only in each other's
113954 presence.
113955
113956 Sometimes they were silent for hours; sometimes after they were
113957 already in bed they would begin talking and go on till morning. They
113958 spoke most of what was long past. Princess Mary spoke of her
113959 childhood, of her mother, her father, and her daydreams; and
113960 Natasha, who with a passive lack of understanding had formerly
113961 turned away from that life of devotion, submission, and the poetry
113962 of Christian self-sacrifice, now feeling herself bound to Princess
113963 Mary by affection, learned to love her past too and to understand a
113964 side of life previously incomprehensible to her. She did not think
113965 of applying submission and self-abnegation to her own life, for she
113966 was accustomed to seek other joys, but she understood and loved in
113967 another those previously incomprehensible virtues. For Princess
113968 Mary, listening to Natasha's tales of childhood and early youth, there
113969 also opened out a new and hitherto uncomprehended side of life: belief
113970 in life and its enjoyment.
113971
113972 Just as before, they never mentioned him so as not to lower (as they
113973 thought) their exalted feelings by words; but this silence about him
113974 had the effect of making them gradually begin to forget him without
113975 being conscious of it.
113976
113977 Natasha had grown thin and pale and physically so weak that they all
113978 talked about her health, and this pleased her. But sometimes she was
113979 suddenly overcome by fear not only of death but of sickness, weakness,
113980 and loss of good looks, and involuntarily she examined her bare arm
113981 carefully, surprised at its thinness, and in the morning noticed her
113982 drawn and, as it seemed to her, piteous face in her glass. It seemed
113983 to her that things must be so, and yet it was dreadfully sad.
113984
113985 One day she went quickly upstairs and found herself out of breath.
113986 Unconsciously she immediately invented a reason for going down, and
113987 then, testing her strength, ran upstairs again, observing the result.
113988
113989 Another time when she called Dunyasha her voice trembled, so she
113990 called again--though she could hear Dunyasha coming--called her in the
113991 deep chest tones in which she had been wont to sing, sing, and
113992 listened attentively to herself.
113993
113994 She did not know and would not have believed it, but beneath the
113995 layer of slime that covered her soul and seemed to her impenetrable,
113996 delicate young shoots of grass were already sprouting, which taking
113997 root would so cover with their living verdure the grief that weighed
113998 her down that it would soon no longer be seen or noticed. The wound
113999 had begun to heal from within.
114000
114001 At the end of January Princess Mary left for Moscow, and the count
114002 insisted on Natasha's going with her to consult the doctors.
114003
114004
114005
114006
114007
114008 CHAPTER IV
114009
114010
114011 After the encounter at Vyazma, where Kutuzov had been unable to hold
114012 back his troops in their anxiety to overwhelm and cut off the enemy
114013 and so on, the farther movement of the fleeing French, and of the
114014 Russians who pursued them, continued as far as Krasnoe without a
114015 battle. The flight was so rapid that the Russian army pursuing the
114016 French could not keep up with them; cavalry and artillery horses broke
114017 down, and the information received of the movements of the French
114018 was never reliable.
114019
114020 The men in the Russian army were so worn out by this continuous
114021 marching at the rate of twenty-seven miles a day that they could not
114022 go any faster.
114023
114024 To realize the degree of exhaustion of the Russian army it is only
114025 necessary to grasp clearly the meaning of the fact that, while not
114026 losing more than five thousand killed and wounded after Tarutino and
114027 less than a hundred prisoners, the Russian army which left that
114028 place a hundred thousand strong reached Krasnoe with only fifty
114029 thousand.
114030
114031 The rapidity of the Russian pursuit was just as destructive to our
114032 army as the flight of the French was to theirs. The only difference
114033 was that the Russian army moved voluntarily, with no such threat of
114034 destruction as hung over the French, and that the sick Frenchmen
114035 were left behind in enemy hands while the sick Russians left behind
114036 were among their own people. The chief cause of the wastage of
114037 Napoleon's army was the rapidity of its movement, and a convincing
114038 proof of this is the corresponding decrease of the Russian army.
114039
114040 Kutuzov as far as was in his power, instead of trying to check the
114041 movement of the French as was desired in Petersburg and by the Russian
114042 army generals, directed his whole activity here, as he had done at
114043 Tarutino and Vyazma, to hastening it on while easing the movement of
114044 our army.
114045
114046 But besides this, since the exhaustion and enormous diminution of
114047 the army caused by the rapidity of the advance had become evident,
114048 another reason for slackening the pace and delaying presented itself
114049 to Kutuzov. The aim of the Russian army was to pursue the French.
114050 The road the French would take was unknown, and so the closer our
114051 troops trod on their heels the greater distance they had to cover.
114052 Only by following at some distance could one cut across the zigzag
114053 path of the French. All the artful maneuvers suggested by our generals
114054 meant fresh movements of the army and a lengthening of its marches,
114055 whereas the only reasonable aim was to shorten those marches. To
114056 that end Kutuzov's activity was directed during the whole campaign
114057 from Moscow to Vilna--not casually or intermittently but so
114058 consistently that he never once deviated from it.
114059
114060 Kutuzov felt and knew--not by reasoning or science but with the
114061 whole of his Russian being--what every Russian soldier felt: that
114062 the French were beaten, that the enemy was flying and must be driven
114063 out; but at the same time he like the soldiers realized all the
114064 hardship of this march, the rapidity of which was unparalleled for
114065 such a time of the year.
114066
114067 But to the generals, especially the foreign ones in the Russian
114068 army, who wished to distinguish themselves, to astonish somebody,
114069 and for some reason to capture a king or a duke--it seemed that now-
114070 when any battle must be horrible and senseless--was the very time to
114071 fight and conquer somebody. Kutuzov merely shrugged his shoulders when
114072 one after another they presented projects of maneuvers to be made with
114073 those soldiers--ill-shod, insufficiently clad, and half starved--who
114074 within a month and without fighting a battle had dwindled to half
114075 their number, and who at the best if the flight continued would have
114076 to go a greater distance than they had already traversed, before
114077 they reached the frontier.
114078
114079 This longing to distinguish themselves, to maneuver, to overthrow,
114080 and to cut off showed itself particularly whenever the Russians
114081 stumbled on the French army.
114082
114083 So it was at Krasnoe, where they expected to find one of the three
114084 French columns and stumbled instead on Napoleon himself with sixteen
114085 thousand men. Despite all Kutuzov's efforts to avoid that ruinous
114086 encounter and to preserve his troops, the massacre of the broken mob
114087 of French soldiers by worn-out Russians continued at Krasnoe for three
114088 days.
114089
114090 Toll wrote a disposition: "The first column will march to so and
114091 so," etc. And as usual nothing happened in accord with the
114092 disposition. Prince Eugene of Wurttemberg fired from a hill over the
114093 French crowds that were running past, and demanded reinforcements
114094 which did not arrive. The French, avoiding the Russians, dispersed and
114095 hid themselves in the forest by night, making their way round as
114096 best they could, and continued their flight.
114097
114098 Miloradovich, who said he did not want to know anything about the
114099 commissariat affairs of his detachment, and could never be found
114100 when he was wanted--that chevalier sans peur et sans reproche* as he
114101 styled himself--who was fond of parleys with the French, sent envoys
114102 demanding their surrender, wasted time, and did not do what he was
114103 ordered to do.
114104
114105
114106 *Knight without fear and without reproach.
114107
114108
114109 "I give you that column, lads," he said, riding up to the troops and
114110 pointing out the French to the cavalry.
114111
114112 And the cavalry, with spurs and sabers urging on horses that could
114113 scarcely move, trotted with much effort to the column presented to
114114 them--that is to say, to a crowd of Frenchmen stark with cold,
114115 frost-bitten, and starving--and the column that had been presented
114116 to them threw down its arms and surrendered as it had long been
114117 anxious to do.
114118
114119 At Krasnoe they took twenty-six thousand prisoners, several
114120 hundred cannon, and a stick called a "marshal's staff," and disputed
114121 as to who had distinguished himself and were pleased with their
114122 achievement--though they much regretted not having taken Napoleon,
114123 or at least a marshal or a hero of some sort, and reproached one
114124 another and especially Kutuzov for having failed to do so.
114125
114126 These men, carried away by their passions, were but blind tools of
114127 the most melancholy law of necessity, but considered themselves heroes
114128 and imagined that they were accomplishing a most noble and honorable
114129 deed. They blamed Kutuzov and said that from the very beginning of the
114130 campaign he had prevented their vanquishing Napoleon, that he
114131 thought nothing but satisfying his passions and would not advance from
114132 the Linen Factories because he was comfortable there, that at
114133 Krasnoe he checked the advance because on learning that Napoleon was
114134 there he had quite lost his head, and that it was probable that he had
114135 an understanding with Napoleon and had been bribed by him, and so
114136 on, and so on.
114137
114138 Not only did his contemporaries, carried away by their passions,
114139 talk in this way, but posterity and history have acclaimed Napoleon as
114140 grand, while Kutuzov is described by foreigners as a crafty,
114141 dissolute, weak old courtier, and by Russians as something indefinite-
114142 a sort of puppet useful only because he had a Russian name.
114143
114144
114145
114146
114147
114148 CHAPTER V
114149
114150
114151 In 1812 and 1813 Kutuzov was openly accused of blundering. The
114152 Emperor was dissatisfied with him. And in a history recently written
114153 by order of the Highest Authorities it is said that Kutuzov was a
114154 cunning court liar, frightened of the name of Napoleon, and that by
114155 his blunders at Krasnoe and the Berezina he deprived the Russian
114156 army of the glory of complete victory over the French.*
114157
114158
114159 *History of the year 1812. The character of Kutuzov and
114160 reflections on the unsatisfactory results of the battles at Krasnoe,
114161 by Bogdanovich.
114162
114163
114164 Such is the fate not of great men (grands hommes) whom the Russian
114165 mind does not acknowledge, but of those rare and always solitary
114166 individuals who, discerning the will of Providence, submit their
114167 personal will to it. The hatred and contempt of the crowd punish
114168 such men for discerning the higher laws.
114169
114170 For Russian historians, strange and terrible to say, Napoleon-
114171 that most insignificant tool of history who never anywhere, even in
114172 exile, showed human dignity--Napoleon is the object of adulation and
114173 enthusiasm; he is grand. But Kutuzov--the man who from the beginning
114174 to the end of his activity in 1812, never once swerving by word or
114175 deed from Borodino to Vilna, presented an example exceptional in
114176 history of self-sacrifice and a present consciousness of the future
114177 importance of what was happening--Kutuzov seems to them something
114178 indefinite and pitiful, and when speaking of him and of the year
114179 1812 they always seem a little ashamed.
114180
114181 And yet it is difficult to imagine an historical character whose
114182 activity was so unswervingly directed to a single aim; and it would be
114183 difficult to imagine any aim more worthy or more consonant with the
114184 will of the whole people. Still more difficult would it be to find
114185 an instance in history of the aim of an historical personage being
114186 so completely accomplished as that to which all Kutuzov's efforts were
114187 directed in 1812.
114188
114189 Kutuzov never talked of "forty centuries looking down from the
114190 Pyramids," of the sacrifices he offered for the fatherland, or of what
114191 he intended to accomplish or had accomplished; in general he said
114192 nothing about himself, adopted no prose, always appeared to be the
114193 simplest and most ordinary of men, and said the simplest and most
114194 ordinary things. He wrote letters to his daughters and to Madame de
114195 Stael, read novels, liked the society of pretty women, jested with
114196 generals, officers, and soldiers, and never contradicted those who
114197 tried to prove anything to him. When Count Rostopchin at the Yauza
114198 bridge galloped up to Kutuzov with personal reproaches for having
114199 caused the destruction of Moscow, and said: "How was it you promised
114200 not to abandon Moscow without a battle?" Kutuzov replied: "And I shall
114201 not abandon Moscow without a battle," though Moscow was then already
114202 abandoned. When Arakcheev, coming to him from the Emperor, said that
114203 Ermolov ought to be appointed chief of the artillery, Kutuzov replied:
114204 "Yes, I was just saying so myself," though a moment before he had said
114205 quite the contrary. What did it matter to him--who then alone amid a
114206 senseless crowd understood the whole tremendous significance of what
114207 was happening--what did it matter to him whether Rostopchin attributed
114208 the calamities of Moscow to him or to himself? Still less could it
114209 matter to him who was appointed chief of the artillery.
114210
114211 Not merely in these cases but continually did that old man--who by
114212 experience of life had reached the conviction that thoughts and the
114213 words serving as their expression are not what move people--use
114214 quite meaningless words that happened to enter his head.
114215
114216 But that man, so heedless of his words, did not once during the
114217 whole time of his activity utter one word inconsistent with the single
114218 aim toward which he moved throughout the whole war. Obviously in spite
114219 of himself, in very diverse circumstances, he repeatedly expressed his
114220 real thoughts with the bitter conviction that he would not be
114221 understood. Beginning with the battle of Borodino, from which time his
114222 disagreement with those about him began, he alone said that the battle
114223 of Borodino was a victory, and repeated this both verbally and in
114224 his dispatches and reports up to the time of his death. He alone
114225 said that the loss of Moscow is not the loss of Russia. In reply to
114226 Lauriston's proposal of peace, he said: There can be no peace, for
114227 such is the people's will. He alone during the retreat of the French
114228 said that all our maneuvers are useless, everything is being
114229 accomplished of itself better than we could desire; that the enemy
114230 must be offered "a golden bridge"; that neither the Tarutino, the
114231 Vyazma, nor the Krasnoe battles were necessary; that we must keep some
114232 force to reach the frontier with, and that he would not sacrifice a
114233 single Russian for ten Frenchmen.
114234
114235 And this courtier, as he is described to us, who lies to Arakcheev
114236 to please the Emperor, he alone--incurring thereby the Emperor's
114237 displeasure--said in Vilna that to carry the war beyond the frontier
114238 is useless and harmful.
114239
114240 Nor do words alone prove that only he understood the meaning of
114241 the events. His actions--without the smallest deviation--were all
114242 directed to one and the same threefold end: (1) to brace all his
114243 strength for conflict with the French, (2) to defeat them, and (3)
114244 to drive them out of Russia, minimizing as far as possible the
114245 sufferings of our people and of our army.
114246
114247 This procrastinator Kutuzov, whose motto was "Patience and Time,"
114248 this enemy of decisive action, gave battle at Borodino, investing
114249 the preparations for it with unparalleled solemnity. This Kutuzov
114250 who before the battle of Austerlitz began said that it would be
114251 lost, he alone, in contradiction to everyone else, declared till his
114252 death that Borodino was a victory, despite the assurance of generals
114253 that the battle was lost and despite the fact that for an army to have
114254 to retire after winning a battle was unprecedented. He alone during
114255 the whole retreat insisted that battles, which were useless then,
114256 should not be fought, and that a new war should not be begun nor the
114257 frontiers of Russia crossed.
114258
114259 It is easy now to understand the significance of these events--if
114260 only we abstain from attributing to the activity of the mass aims that
114261 existed only in the heads of a dozen individuals--for the events and
114262 results now lie before us.
114263
114264 But how did that old man, alone, in opposition to the general
114265 opinion, so truly discern the importance of the people's view of the
114266 events that in all his activity he was never once untrue to it?
114267
114268 The source of that extraordinary power of penetrating the meaning of
114269 the events then occuring lay in the national feeling which he
114270 possessed in full purity and strength.
114271
114272 Only the recognition of the fact that he possessed this feeling
114273 caused the people in so strange a manner, contrary to the Tsar's wish,
114274 to select him--an old man in disfavor--to be their representative in
114275 the national war. And only that feeling placed him on that highest
114276 human pedestal from which he, the commander in chief, devoted all
114277 his powers not to slaying and destroying men but to saving and showing
114278 pity on them.
114279
114280 That simple, modest, and therefore truly great, figure could not
114281 be cast in the false mold of a European hero--the supposed ruler of
114282 men--that history has invented.
114283
114284 To a lackey no man can be great, for a lackey has his own conception
114285 of greatness.
114286
114287
114288
114289
114290
114291 CHAPTER VI
114292
114293
114294 The fifth of November was the first day of what is called the battle
114295 of Krasnoe. Toward evening--after much disputing and many mistakes
114296 made by generals who did not go to their proper places, and after
114297 adjutants had been sent about with counterorders--when it had become
114298 plain that the enemy was everywhere in flight and that there could and
114299 would be no battle, Kutuzov left Krasnoe and went to Dobroe whither
114300 his headquarters had that day been transferred.
114301
114302 The day was clear and frosty. Kutuzov rode to Dobroe on his plump
114303 little white horse, followed by an enormous suite of discontented
114304 generals who whispered among themselves behind his back. All along the
114305 road groups of French prisoners captured that day (there were seven
114306 thousand of them) were crowding to warm themselves at campfires.
114307 Near Dobroe an immense crowd of tattered prisoners, buzzing with
114308 talk and wrapped and bandaged in anything they had been able to get
114309 hold of, were standing in the road beside a long row of unharnessed
114310 French guns. At the approach of the commander in chief the buzz of
114311 talk ceased and all eyes were fixed on Kutuzov who, wearing a white
114312 cap with a red band and a padded overcoat that bulged on his round
114313 shoulders, moved slowly along the road on his white horse. One of
114314 the generals was reporting to him where the guns and prisoners had
114315 been captured.
114316
114317 Kutuzov seemed preoccupied and did not listen to what the general
114318 was saying. He screwed up his eyes with a dissatisfied look as he
114319 gazed attentively and fixedly at these prisoners, who presented a
114320 specially wretched appearance. Most of them were disfigured by
114321 frost-bitten noses and cheeks, and nearly all had red, swollen and
114322 festering eyes.
114323
114324 One group of the French stood close to the road, and two of them,
114325 one of whom had his face covered with sores, were tearing a piece of
114326 raw flesh with their hands. There was something horrible and bestial
114327 in the fleeting glance they threw at the riders and in the
114328 malevolent expression with which, after a glance at Kutuzov, the
114329 soldier with the sores immediately turned away and went on with what
114330 he was doing.
114331
114332 Kutuzov looked long and intently at these two soldiers. He
114333 puckered his face, screwed up his eyes, and pensively swayed his head.
114334 At another spot he noticed a Russian soldier laughingly patting a
114335 Frenchman on the shoulder, saying something to him in a friendly
114336 manner, and Kutuzov with the same expression on his face again
114337 swayed his head.
114338
114339 "What were you saying?" he asked the general, who continuing his
114340 report directed the commander in chief's attention to some standards
114341 captured from the French and standing in front of the Preobrazhensk
114342 regiment.
114343
114344 "Ah, the standards!" said Kutuzov, evidently detaching himself
114345 with difficulty from the thoughts that preoccupied him.
114346
114347 He looked about him absently. Thousands of eyes were looking at
114348 him from all sides awaiting a word from him.
114349
114350 He stopped in front of the Preobrazhensk regiment, sighed deeply,
114351 and closed his eyes. One of his suite beckoned to the soldiers
114352 carrying the standards to advance and surround the commander in
114353 chief with them. Kutuzov was silent for a few seconds and then,
114354 submitting with evident reluctance to the duty imposed by his
114355 position, raised his head and began to speak. A throng of officers
114356 surrounded him. He looked attentively around at the circle of
114357 officers, recognizing several of them.
114358
114359 "I thank you all!" he said, addressing the soldiers and then again
114360 the officers. In the stillness around him his slowly uttered words
114361 were distinctly heard. "I thank you all for your hard and faithful
114362 service. The victory is complete and Russia will not forget you! Honor
114363 to you forever."
114364
114365 He paused and looked around.
114366
114367 "Lower its head, lower it!" he said to a soldier who had
114368 accidentally lowered the French eagle he was holding before the
114369 Preobrazhensk standards. "Lower, lower, that's it. Hurrah lads!" he
114370 added, addressing the men with a rapid movement of his chin.
114371
114372 "Hur-r-rah!" roared thousands of voices.
114373
114374 While the soldiers were shouting Kutuzov leaned forward in his
114375 saddle and bowed his head, and his eye lit up with a mild and
114376 apparently ironic gleam.
114377
114378 "You see, brothers..." said he when the shouts had ceased... and all
114379 at once his voice and the expression of his face changed. It was no
114380 longer the commander in chief speaking but an ordinary old man who
114381 wanted to tell his comrades something very important.
114382
114383 There was a stir among the throng of officers and in the ranks of
114384 the soldiers, who moved that they might hear better what he was
114385 going to say.
114386
114387 "You see, brothers, I know it's hard for you, but it can't be
114388 helped! Bear up; it won't be for long now! We'll see our visitors
114389 off and then we'll rest. The Tsar won't forget your service. It is
114390 hard for you, but still you are at home while they--you see what
114391 they have come to," said he, pointing to the prisoners. "Worse off
114392 than our poorest beggars. While they were strong we didn't spare
114393 ourselves, but now we may even pity them. They are human beings too.
114394 Isn't it so, lads?"
114395
114396 He looked around, and in the direct, respectful, wondering gaze
114397 fixed upon him he read sympathy with what he had said. His face grew
114398 brighter and brighter with an old man's mild smile, which drew the
114399 corners of his lips and eyes into a cluster of wrinkles. He ceased
114400 speaking and bowed his head as if in perplexity.
114401
114402 "But after all who asked them here? Serves them right, the bloody
114403 bastards!" he cried, suddenly lifting his head.
114404
114405 And flourishing his whip he rode off at a gallop for the first
114406 time during the whole campaign, and left the broken ranks of the
114407 soldiers laughing joyfully and shouting "Hurrah!"
114408
114409 Kutuzov's words were hardly understood by the troops. No one could
114410 have repeated the field marshal's address, begun solemnly and then
114411 changing into an old man's simplehearted talk; but the hearty
114412 sincerity of that speech, the feeling of majestic triumph combined
114413 with pity for the foe and consciousness of the justice of our cause,
114414 exactly expressed by that old man's good-natured expletives, was not
114415 merely understood but lay in the soul of every soldier and found
114416 expression in their joyous and long-sustained shouts. Afterwards
114417 when one of the generals addressed Kutuzov asking whether he wished
114418 his caleche to be sent for, Kutuzov in answering unexpectedly gave a
114419 sob, being evidently greatly moved.
114420
114421
114422
114423
114424
114425 CHAPTER VII
114426
114427
114428 When the troops reached their night's halting place on the eighth of
114429 November, the last day of the Krasnoe battles, it was already
114430 growing dusk. All day it had been calm and frosty with occasional
114431 lightly falling snow and toward evening it began to clear. Through the
114432 falling snow a purple-black and starry sky showed itself and the frost
114433 grew keener.
114434
114435 An infantry regiment which had left Tarutino three thousand strong
114436 but now numbered only nine hundred was one of the first to arrive that
114437 night at its halting place--a village on the highroad. The
114438 quartermasters who met the regiment announced that all the huts were
114439 full of sick and dead Frenchmen, cavalrymen, and members of the staff.
114440 There was only one hut available for the regimental commander.
114441
114442 The commander rode up to his hut. The regiment passed through the
114443 village and stacked its arms in front of the last huts.
114444
114445 Like some huge many-limbed animal, the regiment began to prepare its
114446 lair and its food. One part of it dispersed and waded knee-deep
114447 through the snow into a birch forest to the right of the village,
114448 and immediately the sound of axes and swords, the crashing of
114449 branches, and merry voices could be heard from there. Another
114450 section amid the regimental wagons and horses which were standing in a
114451 group was busy getting out caldrons and rye biscuit, and feeding the
114452 horses. A third section scattered through the village arranging
114453 quarters for the staff officers, carrying out the French corpses
114454 that were in the huts, and dragging away boards, dry wood, and
114455 thatch from the roofs, for the campfires, or wattle fences to serve
114456 for shelter.
114457
114458 Some fifteen men with merry shouts were shaking down the high wattle
114459 wall of a shed, the roof of which had already been removed.
114460
114461 "Now then, all together--shove!" cried the voices, and the huge
114462 surface of the wall, sprinkled with snow and creaking with frost,
114463 was seen swaying in the gloom of the night. The lower stakes cracked
114464 more and more and at last the wall fell, and with it the men who had
114465 been pushing it. Loud, coarse laughter and joyous shouts ensued.
114466
114467 "Now then, catch hold in twos! Hand up the lever! That's it... Where
114468 are you shoving to?"
114469
114470 "Now, all together! But wait a moment, boys... With a song!"
114471
114472 All stood silent, and a soft, pleasant velvety voice began to
114473 sing. At the end of the third verse as the last note died away, twenty
114474 voices roared out at once: "Oo-oo-oo-oo! That's it. All together!
114475 Heave away, boys!..." but despite their united efforts the wattle
114476 hardly moved, and in the silence that followed the heavy breathing
114477 of the men was audible.
114478
114479 "Here, you of the Sixth Company! Devils that you are! Lend a hand...
114480 will you? You may want us one of these days."
114481
114482 Some twenty men of the Sixth Company who were on their way into
114483 the village joined the haulers, and the wattle wall, which was about
114484 thirty-five feet long and seven feet high, moved forward along the
114485 village street, swaying, pressing upon and cutting the shoulders of
114486 the gasping men.
114487
114488 "Get along... Falling? What are you stopping for? There now..."
114489
114490 Merry senseless words of abuse flowed freely.
114491
114492 "What are you up to?" suddenly came the authoritative voice of a
114493 sergeant major who came upon the men who were hauling their burden.
114494 "There are gentry here; the general himself is in that hut, and you
114495 foul-mouthed devils, you brutes, I'll give it to you!" shouted he,
114496 hitting the first man who came in his way a swinging blow on the back.
114497 "Can't you make less noise?"
114498
114499 The men became silent. The soldier who had been struck groaned and
114500 wiped his face, which had been scratched till it bled by his falling
114501 against the wattle.
114502
114503 "There, how that devil hits out! He's made my face all bloody," said
114504 he in a frightened whisper when the sergeant major had passed on.
114505
114506 "Don't you like it?" said a laughing voice, and moderating their
114507 tones the men moved forward.
114508
114509 When they were out of the village they began talking again as loud
114510 as before, interlarding their talk with the same aimless expletives.
114511
114512 In the hut which the men had passed, the chief officers had gathered
114513 and were in animated talk over their tea about the events of the day
114514 and the maneuvers suggested for tomorrow. It was proposed to make a
114515 flank march to the left, cut off the Vice-King (Murat) and capture
114516 him.
114517
114518 By the time the soldiers had dragged the wattle fence to its place
114519 the campfires were blazing on all sides ready for cooking, the wood
114520 crackled, the snow was melting, and black shadows of soldiers
114521 flitted to and fro all over the occupied space where the snow had been
114522 trodden down.
114523
114524 Axes and choppers were plied all around. Everything was done without
114525 any orders being given. Stores of wood were brought for the night,
114526 shelters were rigged up for the officers, caldrons were being
114527 boiled, and muskets and accouterments put in order.
114528
114529 The wattle wall the men had brought was set up in a semicircle by
114530 the Eighth Company as a shelter from the north, propped up by musket
114531 rests, and a campfire was built before it. They beat the tattoo,
114532 called the roll, had supper, and settled down round the fires for
114533 the night--some repairing their footgear, some smoking pipes, and some
114534 stripping themselves naked to steam the lice out of their shirts.
114535
114536
114537
114538
114539
114540 CHAPTER VIII
114541
114542
114543 One would have thought that under the almost incredibly wretched
114544 conditions the Russian soldiers were in at that time--lacking warm
114545 boots and sheepskin coats, without a roof over their heads, in the
114546 snow with eighteen degrees of frost, and without even full rations
114547 (the commissariat did not always keep up with the troops)--they
114548 would have presented a very sad and depressing spectacle.
114549
114550 On the contrary, the army had never under the best material
114551 conditions presented a more cheerful and animated aspect. This was
114552 because all who began to grow depressed or who lost strength were
114553 sifted out of the army day by day. All the physically or morally
114554 weak had long since been left behind and only the flower of the
114555 army--physically and mentally--remained.
114556
114557 More men collected behind the wattle fence of the Eighth Company
114558 than anywhere else. Two sergeants major were sitting with them and
114559 their campfire blazed brighter than others. For leave to sit by
114560 their wattle they demanded contributions of fuel.
114561
114562 "Eh, Makeev! What has become of you, you son of a bitch? Are you
114563 lost or have the wolves eaten you? Fetch some more wood!" shouted a
114564 red-haired and red-faced man, screwing up his eyes and blinking
114565 because of the smoke but not moving back from the fire. "And you,
114566 Jackdaw, go and fetch some wood!" said he to another soldier.
114567
114568 This red-haired man was neither a sergeant nor a corporal, but being
114569 robust he ordered about those weaker than himself. The soldier they
114570 called "Jackdaw," a thin little fellow with a sharp nose, rose
114571 obediently and was about to go but at that instant there came into the
114572 light of the fire the slender, handsome figure of a young soldier
114573 carrying a load of wood.
114574
114575 "Bring it here--that's fine!"
114576
114577 They split up the wood, pressed it down on the fire, blew at it with
114578 their mouths, and fanned it with the skirts of their greatcoats,
114579 making the flames hiss and crackle. The men drew nearer and lit
114580 their pipes. The handsome young soldier who had brought the wood,
114581 setting his arms akimbo, began stamping his cold feet rapidly and
114582 deftly on the spot where he stood.
114583
114584 "Mother! The dew is cold but clear.... It's well that I'm a
114585 musketeer..." he sang, pretending to hiccough after each syllable.
114586
114587 "Look out, your soles will fly off!" shouted the red-haired man,
114588 noticing that the sole of the dancer's boot was hanging loose. "What a
114589 fellow you are for dancing!"
114590
114591 The dancer stopped, pulled off the loose piece of leather, and threw
114592 it on the fire.
114593
114594 "Right enough, friend," said he, and, having sat down, took out of
114595 his knapsack a scrap of blue French cloth, and wrapped it round his
114596 foot. "It's the steam that spoils them," he added, stretching out
114597 his feet toward the fire.
114598
114599 "They'll soon be issuing us new ones. They say that when we've
114600 finished hammering them, we're to receive double kits!"
114601
114602 "And that son of a bitch Petrov has lagged behind after all, it
114603 seems," said one sergeant major.
114604
114605 "I've had an eye on him this long while," said the other.
114606
114607 "Well, he's a poor sort of soldier..."
114608
114609 "But in the Third Company they say nine men were missing yesterday."
114610
114611 "Yes, it's all very well, but when a man's feet are frozen how can
114612 he walk?"
114613
114614 "Eh? Don't talk nonsense!" said a sergeant major.
114615
114616 "Do you want to be doing the same?" said an old soldier, turning
114617 reproachfully to the man who had spoken of frozen feet.
114618
114619 "Well, you know," said the sharp-nosed man they called Jackdaw in
114620 a squeaky and unsteady voice, raising himself at the other side of the
114621 fire, "a plump man gets thin, but for a thin one it's death. Take
114622 me, now! I've got no strength left," he added, with sudden
114623 resolution turning to the sergeant major. "Tell them to send me to
114624
114625 hospital; I'm aching all over; anyway I shan't be able to keep up."
114626
114627 "That'll do, that'll do!" replied the sergeant major quietly.
114628
114629 The soldier said no more and the talk went on.
114630
114631 "What a lot of those Frenchies were taken today, and the fact is
114632 that not one of them had what you might call real boots on," said a
114633 soldier, starting a new theme. "They were no more than make-believes."
114634
114635 "The Cossacks have taken their boots. They were clearing the hut for
114636 the colonel and carried them out. It was pitiful to see them, boys,"
114637 put in the dancer. "As they turned them over one seemed still alive
114638 and, would you believe it, he jabbered something in their lingo."
114639
114640 "But they're a clean folk, lads," the first man went on; "he was
114641 white--as white as birchbark--and some of them are such fine
114642 fellows, you might think they were nobles."
114643
114644 "Well, what do you think? They make soldiers of all classes there."
114645
114646 "But they don't understand our talk at all," said the dancer with
114647 a puzzled smile. "I asked him whose subject he was, and he jabbered in
114648 his own way. A queer lot!"
114649
114650 "But it's strange, friends," continued the man who had wondered at
114651 their whiteness, "the peasants at Mozhaysk were saying that when
114652 they began burying the dead--where the battle was you know--well,
114653 those dead had been lying there for nearly a month, and says the
114654 peasant, 'they lie as white as paper, clean, and not as much smell
114655 as a puff of powder smoke.'"
114656
114657 "Was it from the cold?" asked someone.
114658
114659 "You're a clever fellow! From the cold indeed! Why, it was hot. If
114660 it had been from the cold, ours would not have rotted either. 'But,'
114661 he says, 'go up to ours and they are all rotten and maggoty. So,' he
114662 says, 'we tie our faces up with kerchiefs and turn our heads away as
114663 we drag them off: we can hardly do it. But theirs,' he says, 'are
114664 white as paper and not so much smell as a whiff of gunpowder.'"
114665
114666 All were silent.
114667
114668 "It must be from their food," said the sergeant major. "They used to
114669 gobble the same food as the gentry."
114670
114671 No one contradicted him.
114672
114673 "That peasant near Mozhaysk where the battle was said the men were
114674 all called up from ten villages around and they carted for twenty days
114675 and still didn't finish carting the dead away. And as for the
114676 wolves, he says..."
114677
114678 "That was a real battle," said an old soldier. "It's the only one
114679 worth remembering; but since that... it's only been tormenting folk."
114680
114681 "And do you know, Daddy, the day before yesterday we ran at them
114682 and, my word, they didn't let us get near before they just threw
114683 down their muskets and went on their knees. 'Pardon!' they say. That's
114684 only one case. They say Platov took 'Poleon himself twice. But he
114685 didn't know the right charm. He catches him and catches him--no
114686 good! He turns into a bird in his hands and flies away. And there's no
114687 way of killing him either."
114688
114689 "You're a first-class liar, Kiselev, when I come to look at you!"
114690
114691 "Liar, indeed! It's the real truth."
114692
114693 "If he fell into my hands, when I'd caught him I'd bury him in the
114694 ground with an aspen stake to fix him down. What a lot of men he's
114695 ruined!"
114696
114697 "Well, anyhow we're going to end it. He won't come here again,"
114698 remarked the old soldier, yawning.
114699
114700 The conversation flagged, and the soldiers began settling down to
114701 sleep.
114702
114703 "Look at the stars. It's wonderful how they shine! You would think
114704 the women had spread out their linen," said one of the men, gazing
114705 with admiration at the Milky Way.
114706
114707 "That's a sign of a good harvest next year."
114708
114709 "We shall want some more wood."
114710
114711 "You warm your back and your belly gets frozen. That's queer."
114712
114713 "O Lord!"
114714
114715 "What are you pushing for? Is the fire only for you? Look how he's
114716 sprawling!"
114717
114718 In the silence that ensued, the snoring of those who had fallen
114719 asleep could be heard. Others turned over and warmed themselves, now
114720 and again exchanging a few words. From a campfire a hundred paces
114721 off came a sound of general, merry laughter.
114722
114723 "Hark at them roaring there in the Fifth Company!" said one of the
114724 soldiers, "and what a lot of them there are!"
114725
114726 One of the men got up and went over to the Fifth Company.
114727
114728 "They're having such fun," said he, coming back. "Two Frenchies have
114729 turned up. One's quite frozen and the other's an awful swaggerer. He's
114730 singing songs...."
114731
114732 "Oh, I'll go across and have a look...."
114733
114734 And several of the men went over to the Fifth Company.
114735
114736
114737
114738
114739
114740 CHAPTER IX
114741
114742
114743 The fifth company was bivouacking at the very edge of the forest.
114744 A huge campfire was blazing brightly in the midst of the snow,
114745 lighting up the branches of trees heavy with hoarfrost.
114746
114747 About midnight they heard the sound of steps in the snow of the
114748 forest, and the crackling of dry branches.
114749
114750 "A bear, lads," said one of the men.
114751
114752 They all raised their heads to listen, and out of the forest into
114753 the bright firelight stepped two strangely clad human figures clinging
114754 to one another.
114755
114756 These were two Frenchmen who had been hiding in the forest. They
114757 came up to the fire, hoarsely uttering something in a language our
114758 soldiers did not understand. One was taller than the other; he wore an
114759 officer's hat and seemed quite exhausted. On approaching the fire he
114760 had been going to sit down, but fell. The other, a short sturdy
114761 soldier with a shawl tied round his head, was stronger. He raised
114762 his companion and said something, pointing to his mouth. The
114763 soldiers surrounded the Frenchmen, spread a greatcoat on the ground
114764 for the sick man, and brought some buckwheat porridge and vodka for
114765 both of them.
114766
114767 The exhausted French officer was Ramballe and the man with his
114768 head wrapped in the shawl was Morel, his orderly.
114769
114770 When Morel had drunk some vodka and finished his bowl of porridge he
114771 suddenly became unnaturally merry and chattered incessantly to the
114772 soldiers, who could not understand him. Ramballe refused food and
114773 resting his head on his elbow lay silent beside the campfire,
114774 looking at the Russian soldiers with red and vacant eyes. Occasionally
114775 he emitted a long-drawn groan and then again became silent. Morel,
114776 pointing to his shoulders, tried to impress on the soldiers the fact
114777 that Ramballe was an officer and ought to be warmed. A Russian officer
114778 who had come up to the fire sent to ask his colonel whether he would
114779 not take a French officer into his hut to warm him, and when the
114780 messenger returned and said that the colonel wished the officer to
114781 be brought to him, Ramballe was told to go. He rose and tried to walk,
114782 but staggered and would have fallen had not a soldier standing by held
114783 him up.
114784
114785 "You won't do it again, eh?" said one of the soldiers, winking and
114786 turning mockingly to Ramballe.
114787
114788 "Oh, you fool! Why talk rubbish, lout that you are--a real peasant!"
114789 came rebukes from all sides addressed to the jesting soldier.
114790
114791 They surrounded Ramballe, lifted him on the crossed arms of two
114792 soldiers, and carried him to the hut. Ramballe put his arms around
114793 their necks while they carried him and began wailing plaintively:
114794
114795 "Oh, you fine fellows, my kind, kind friends! These are men! Oh,
114796 my brave, kind friends," and he leaned his head against the shoulder
114797 of one of the men like a child.
114798
114799 Meanwhile Morel was sitting in the best place by the fire,
114800 surrounded by the soldiers.
114801
114802 Morel, a short sturdy Frenchman with inflamed and streaming eyes,
114803 was wearing a woman's cloak and had a shawl tied woman fashion round
114804 his head over his cap. He was evidently tipsy, and was singing a
114805 French song in a hoarse broken voice, with an arm thrown round the
114806 nearest soldier. The soldiers simply held their sides as they
114807 watched him.
114808
114809 "Now then, now then, teach us how it goes! I'll soon pick it up. How
114810 is it?" said the man--a singer and a wag--whom Morel was embracing.
114811
114812 "Vive Henri Quatre! Vive ce roi valiant!" sang Morel, winking. "Ce
114813 diable a quatre..."*
114814
114815
114816 *"Long live Henry the Fourth, that valiant king! That rowdy devil."
114817
114818
114819 "Vivarika! Vif-seruvaru! Sedyablyaka!" repeated the soldier,
114820 flourishing his arm and really catching the tune.
114821
114822 "Bravo! Ha, ha, ha!" rose their rough, joyous laughter from all
114823 sides.
114824
114825 Morel, wrinkling up his face, laughed too.
114826
114827 "Well, go on, go on!"
114828
114829 "Qui eut le triple talent,
114830 De boire, de battre,
114831 Et d'etre un vert galant."*
114832
114833
114834 *Who had a triple talent
114835
114836 For drinking, for fighting,
114837
114838 And for being a gallant old boy...
114839
114840
114841 "It goes smoothly, too. Well, now, Zaletaev!"
114842
114843 "Ke..." Zaletaev, brought out with effort: "ke-e-e-e," he drawled,
114844 laboriously pursing his lips, "le-trip-ta-la-de-bu-de-ba, e
114845 de-tra-va-ga-la" he sang.
114846
114847 "Fine! Just like the Frenchie! Oh, ho ho! Do you want some more to
114848 eat?"
114849
114850 "Give him some porridge: it takes a long time to get filled up after
114851 starving."
114852
114853 They gave him some more porridge and Morel with a laugh set to
114854 work on his third bowl. All the young soldiers smiled gaily as they
114855 watched him. The older men, who thought it undignified to amuse
114856 themselves with such nonsense, continued to lie at the opposite side
114857 of the fire, but one would occasionally raise himself on an elbow
114858 and glance at Morel with a smile.
114859
114860 "They are men too," said one of them as he wrapped himself up in his
114861 coat. "Even wormwood grows on its own root."
114862
114863 "O Lord, O Lord! How starry it is! Tremendous! That means a hard
114864 frost...."
114865
114866 They all grew silent. The stars, as if knowing that no one was
114867 looking at them, began to disport themselves in the dark sky: now
114868 flaring up, now vanishing, now trembling, they were busy whispering
114869 something gladsome and mysterious to one another.
114870
114871
114872
114873
114874
114875 CHAPTER X
114876
114877
114878 The French army melted away at the uniform rate of a mathematical
114879 progression; and that crossing of the Berezina about which so much has
114880 been written was only one intermediate stage in its destruction, and
114881 not at all the decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been
114882 and still is written about the Berezina, on the French side this is
114883 only because at the broken bridge across that river the calamities
114884 their army had been previously enduring were suddenly concentrated
114885 at one moment into a tragic spectacle that remained in every memory,
114886 and on the Russian side merely because in Petersburg--far from the
114887 seat of war--a plan (again one of Pfuel's) had been devised to catch
114888 Napoleon in a strategic trap at the Berezina River. Everyone assured
114889 himself that all would happen according to plan, and therefore
114890 insisted that it was just the crossing of the Berezina that
114891 destroyed the French army. In reality the results of the crossing were
114892 much less disastrous to the French--in guns and men lost--than Krasnoe
114893 had been, as the figures show.
114894
114895 The sole importance of the crossing of the Berezina lies in the fact
114896 that it plainly and indubitably proved the fallacy of all the plans
114897 for cutting off the enemy's retreat and the soundness of the only
114898 possible line of action--the one Kutuzov and the general mass of the
114899 army demanded--namely, simply to follow the enemy up. The French crowd
114900 fled at a continually increasing speed and all its energy was directed
114901 to reaching its goal. It fled like a wounded animal and it was
114902 impossible to block its path. This was shown not so much by the
114903 arrangements it made for crossing as by what took place at the
114904 bridges. When the bridges broke down, unarmed soldiers, people from
114905 Moscow and women with children who were with the French transport,
114906 all--carried on by vis inertiae--pressed forward into boats and into
114907 the ice-covered water and did not, surrender.
114908
114909 That impulse was reasonable. The condition of fugitives and of
114910 pursuers was equally bad. As long as they remained with their own
114911 people each might hope for help from his fellows and the definite
114912 place he held among them. But those who surrendered, while remaining
114913 in the same pitiful plight, would be on a lower level to claim a share
114914 in the necessities of life. The French did not need to be informed
114915 of the fact that half the prisoners--with whom the Russians did not
114916 know what to do--perished of cold and hunger despite their captors'
114917 desire to save them; they felt that it could not be otherwise. The
114918 most compassionate Russian commanders, those favorable to the
114919 French--and even the Frenchmen in the Russian service--could do
114920 nothing for the prisoners. The French perished from the conditions
114921 to which the Russian army was itself exposed. It was impossible to
114922 take bread and clothes from our hungry and indispensable soldiers to
114923 give to the French who, though not harmful, or hated, or guilty,
114924 were simply unnecessary. Some Russians even did that, but they were
114925 exceptions.
114926
114927 Certain destruction lay behind the French but in front there was
114928 hope. Their ships had been burned, there was no salvation save in
114929 collective flight, and on that the whole strength of the French was
114930 concentrated.
114931
114932 The farther they fled the more wretched became the plight of the
114933 remnant, especially after the Berezina, on which (in consequence of
114934 the Petersburg plan) special hopes had been placed by the Russians,
114935 and the keener grew the passions of the Russian commanders, blamed one
114936 another and Kutuzov most of all. Anticipation that the failure of
114937 the Petersburg Berezina plan would be attributed to Kutuzov led to
114938 dissatisfaction, contempt, and ridicule, more and more strongly
114939 expressed. The ridicule and contempt were of course expressed in a
114940 respectful form, making it impossible for him to ask wherein he was to
114941 blame. They did not talk seriously to him; when reporting to him or
114942 asking for his sanction they appeared to be fulfilling a regrettable
114943 formality, but they winked behind his back and tried to mislead him at
114944 every turn.
114945
114946 Because they could not understand him all these people assumed
114947 that it was useless to talk to the old man; that he would never
114948 grasp the profundity of their plans, that he would answer with his
114949 phrases (which they thought were mere phrases) about a "golden
114950 bridge," about the impossibility of crossing the frontier with a crowd
114951 of tatterdemalions, and so forth. They had heard all that before.
114952 And all he said--that it was necessary to await provisions, or that
114953 the men had no boots--was so simple, while what they proposed was so
114954 complicated and clever, that it was evident that he was old and stupid
114955 and that they, though not in power, were commanders of genius.
114956
114957 After the junction with the army of the brilliant admiral and
114958 Petersburg hero Wittgenstein, this mood and the gossip of the staff
114959 reached their maximum. Kutuzov saw this and merely sighed and shrugged
114960 his shoulders. Only once, after the affair of the Berezina, did he get
114961 angry and write to Bennigsen (who reported separately to the
114962 Emperor) the following letter:
114963
114964 "On account of your spells of ill health, will your excellency
114965 please be so good as to set off for Kaluga on receipt of this, and
114966 there await further commands and appointments from His Imperial
114967 Majesty."
114968
114969 But after Bennigsen's departure, the Grand Duke Tsarevich
114970 Constantine Pavlovich joined the army. He had taken part in the
114971 beginning of the campaign but had subsequently been removed from the
114972 army by Kutuzov. Now having come to the army, he informed Kutuzov of
114973 the Emperor's displeasure at the poor success of our forces and the
114974 slowness of their advance. The Emperor intended to join the army
114975 personally in a few days' time.
114976
114977 The old man, experienced in court as well as in military affairs-
114978 this same Kutuzov who in August had been chosen commander in chief
114979 against the sovereign's wishes and who had removed the Grand Duke
114980 and heir--apparent from the army--who on his own authority and
114981 contrary to the Emperor's will had decided on the abandonment of
114982 Moscow, now realized at once that his day was over, that his part
114983 was played, and that the power he was supposed to hold was no longer
114984 his. And he understood this not merely from the attitude of the court.
114985 He saw on the one hand that the military business in which he had
114986 played his part was ended and felt that his mission was
114987 accomplished; and at the same time he began to be conscious of the
114988 physical weariness of his aged body and of the necessity of physical
114989 rest.
114990
114991 On the twenty-ninth of November Kutuzov entered Vilna--his "dear
114992 Vilna" as he called it. Twice during his career Kutuzov had been
114993 governor of Vilna. In that wealthy town, which had not been injured,
114994 he found old friends and associations, besides the comforts of life of
114995 which he had so long been deprived. And he suddenly turned from the
114996 cares of army and state and, as far as the passions that seethed
114997 around him allowed, immersed himself in the quiet life to which he had
114998 formerly been accustomed, as if all that was taking place and all that
114999 had still to be done in the realm of history did not concern him at
115000 all.
115001
115002 Chichagov, one of the most zealous "cutters-off" and
115003 "breakers-up," who had first wanted to effect a diversion in Greece
115004 and then in Warsaw but never wished to go where he was sent:
115005 Chichagov, noted for the boldness with which he spoke to the
115006 Emperor, and who considered Kutuzov to be under an obligation to him
115007 because when he was sent to make peace with Turkey in 1811
115008 independently of Kutuzov, and found that peace had already been
115009 concluded, he admitted to the Emperor that the merit of securing
115010 that peace was really Kutuzov's; this Chichagov was the first to
115011 meet Kutuzov at the castle where the latter was to stay. In undress
115012 naval uniform, with a dirk, and holding his cap under his arm, he
115013 handed Kutuzov a garrison report and the keys of the town. The
115014 contemptuously respectful attitude of the younger men to the old man
115015 in his dotage was expressed in the highest degree by the behavior of
115016 Chichagov, who knew of the accusations that were being directed
115017 against Kutuzov.
115018
115019 When speaking to Chichagov, Kutuzov incidentally mentioned that
115020 the vehicles packed with china that had been captured from him at
115021 Borisov had been recovered and would be restored to him.
115022
115023 "You mean to imply that I have nothing to eat out of.... On the
115024 contrary, I can supply you with everything even if you want to give
115025 dinner parties," warmly replied Chichagov, who tried by every word
115026 he spoke to prove his own rectitude and therefore imagined Kutuzov
115027 to be animated by the same desire.
115028
115029 Kutuzov, shrugging his shoulders, replied with his subtle
115030 penetrating smile: "I meant merely to say what I said."
115031
115032 Contrary to the Emperor's wish Kutuzov detained the greater part
115033 of the army at Vilna. Those about him said that he became
115034 extraordinarily slack and physically feeble during his stay in that
115035 town. He attended to army affairs reluctantly, left everything to
115036 his generals, and while awaiting the Emperor's arrival led a
115037 dissipated life.
115038
115039 Having left Petersburg on the seventh of December with his suite-
115040 Count Tolstoy, Prince Volkonski, Arakcheev, and others--the Emperor
115041 reached Vilna on the eleventh, and in his traveling sleigh drove
115042 straight to the castle. In spite of the severe frost some hundred
115043 generals and staff officers in full parade uniform stood in front of
115044 the castle, as well as a guard of honor of the Semenov regiment.
115045
115046 A courier who galloped to the castle in advance, in a troyka with
115047 three foam-flecked horses, shouted "Coming!" and Konovnitsyn rushed
115048 into the vestibule to inform Kutuzov, who was waiting in the hall
115049 porter's little lodge.
115050
115051 A minute later the old man's large stout figure in full-dress
115052 uniform, his chest covered with orders and a scarf drawn round his
115053 stomach, waddled out into the porch. He put on his hat with its
115054 peaks to the sides and, holding his gloves in his hand and walking
115055 with an effort sideways down the steps to the level of the street,
115056 took in his hand the report he had prepared for the Emperor.
115057
115058 There was running to and fro and whispering; another troyka
115059 furiously up, and then all eyes were turned on an approaching sleigh
115060 in which the figures of the Emperor and Volkonski could already be
115061 descried.
115062
115063 From the habit of fifty years all this had a physically agitating
115064 effect on the old general. He carefully and hastily felt himself all
115065 over, readjusted his hat, and pulling himself together drew himself up
115066 and, at the very moment when the Emperor, having alighted from the
115067 sleigh, lifted his eyes to him, handed him the report and began
115068 speaking in his smooth, ingratiating voice.
115069
115070 The Emperor with a rapid glance scanned Kutuzov from head to foot,
115071 frowned for an instant, but immediately mastering himself went up to
115072 the old man, extended his arms and embraced him. And this embrace too,
115073 owing to a long-standing impression related to his innermost feelings,
115074 had its usual effect on Kutuzov and he gave a sob.
115075
115076 The Emperor greeted the officers and the Semenov guard, and again
115077 pressing the old man's hand went with him into the castle.
115078
115079 When alone with the field marshal the Emperor expressed his
115080 dissatisfaction at the slowness of the pursuit and at the mistakes
115081 made at Krasnoe and the Berezina, and informed him of his intentions
115082 for a future campaign abroad. Kutuzov made no rejoinder or remark. The
115083 same submissive, expressionless look with which he had listened to the
115084 Emperor's commands on the field of Austerlitz seven years before
115085 settled on his face now.
115086
115087 When Kutuzov came out of the study and with lowered head was
115088 crossing the ballroom with his heavy waddling gait, he was arrested by
115089 someone's voice saying:
115090
115091 "Your Serene Highness!"
115092
115093 Kutuzov raised his head and looked for a long while into the eyes of
115094 Count Tolstoy, who stood before him holding a silver salver on which
115095 lay a small object. Kutuzov seemed not to understand what was expected
115096 of him.
115097
115098 Suddenly he seemed to remember; a scarcely perceptible smile flashed
115099 across his puffy face, and bowing low and respectfully he took the
115100 object that lay on the salver. It was the Order of St. George of the
115101 First Class.
115102
115103
115104
115105
115106
115107 CHAPTER XI
115108
115109
115110 Next day the field marshal gave a dinner and ball which the
115111 Emperor honored by his presence. Kutuzov had received the Order of St.
115112 George of the First Class and the Emperor showed him the highest
115113 honors, but everyone knew of the imperial dissatisfaction with him.
115114 The proprieties were observed and the Emperor was the first to set
115115 that example, but everybody understood that the old man was
115116 blameworthy and good-for-nothing. When Kutuzov, conforming to a custom
115117 of Catherine's day, ordered the standards that had been captured to be
115118 lowered at the Emperor's feet on his entering the ballroom, the
115119 Emperor made a wry face and muttered something in which some people
115120 caught the words, "the old comedian."
115121
115122 The Emperor's displeasure with Kutuzov was specially increased at
115123 Vilna by the fact that Kutuzov evidently could not or would not
115124 understand the importance of the coming campaign.
115125
115126 When on the following morning the Emperor said to the officers
115127 assembled about him: "You have not only saved Russia, you have saved
115128 Europe!" they all understood that the war was not ended.
115129
115130 Kutuzov alone would not see this and openly expressed his opinion
115131 that no fresh war could improve the position or add to the glory of
115132 Russia, but could only spoil and lower the glorious position that
115133 Russia had gained. He tried to prove to the Emperor the
115134 impossibility of levying fresh troops, spoke of the hardships
115135 already endured by the people, of the possibility of failure and so
115136 forth.
115137
115138 This being the field marshal's frame of mind he was naturally
115139 regarded as merely a hindrance and obstacle to the impending war.
115140
115141 To avoid unpleasant encounters with the old man, the natural
115142 method was to do what had been done with him at Austerlitz and with
115143 Barclay at the beginning of the Russian campaign--to transfer the
115144 authority to the Emperor himself, thus cutting the ground from under
115145 the commander in chief's feet without upsetting the old man by
115146 informing him of the change.
115147
115148 With this object his staff was gradually reconstructed and its
115149 real strength removed and transferred to the Emperor. Toll,
115150 Konovnitsyn, and Ermolov received fresh appointments. Everyone spoke
115151 loudly of the field marshal's great weakness and failing health.
115152
115153 His health had to be bad for his place to be taken away and given to
115154 another. And in fact his health was poor.
115155
115156 So naturally, simply, and gradually--just as he had come from Turkey
115157 to the Treasury in Petersburg to recruit the militia, and then to
115158 the army when he was needed there--now when his part was played out,
115159 Kutuzov's place was taken by a new and necessary performer.
115160
115161 The war 1812, besides its national significance dear to every
115162 Russian heart, was now to assume another, a European, significance.
115163
115164 The movement of peoples from west to east was to be succeeded by a
115165 movement of peoples from east to west, and for this fresh war
115166 another leader was necessary, having qualities and views differing
115167 from Kutuzov's and animated by different motives.
115168
115169 Alexander I was as necessary for the movement of the peoples from
115170 east to west and for the refixing of national frontiers as Kutuzov had
115171 been for the salvation and glory of Russia.
115172
115173 Kutuzov did not understand what Europe, the balance of power, or
115174 Napoleon meant. He could not understand it. For the representative
115175 of the Russian people, after the enemy had been destroyed and Russia
115176 had been liberated and raised to the summit of her glory, there was
115177 nothing left to do as a Russian. Nothing remained for the
115178 representative of the national war but to die, and Kutuzov died.
115179
115180
115181
115182
115183
115184 CHAPTER XII
115185
115186
115187 As generally happens, Pierre did not feel the full effects of the
115188 physical privation and strain he had suffered as prisoner until
115189 after they were over. After his liberation he reached Orel, and on the
115190 third day there, when preparing to go to Kiev, he fell ill and was
115191 laid up for three months. He had what the doctors termed "bilious
115192 fever." But despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him,
115193 and gave him medicines to drink, he recovered.
115194
115195 Scarcely any impression was left on Pierre's mind by all that
115196 happened to him from the time of his rescue till his illness. He
115197 remembered only the dull gray weather now rainy and now snowy,
115198 internal physical distress, and pains in his feet and side. He
115199 remembered a general impression of the misfortunes and sufferings of
115200 people and of being worried by the curiosity of officers and
115201 generals who questioned him, he also remembered his difficulty in
115202 procuring a conveyance and horses, and above all he remembered his
115203 incapacity to think and feel all that time. On the day of his rescue
115204 he had seen the body of Petya Rostov. That same day he had learned
115205 that Prince Andrew, after surviving the battle of Borodino for more
115206 than a month had recently died in the Rostovs' house at Yaroslavl, and
115207 Denisov who told him this news also mentioned Helene's death,
115208 supposing that Pierre had heard of it long before. All this at the
115209 time seemed merely strange to Pierre: he felt he could not grasp its
115210 significance. Just then he was only anxious to get away as quickly
115211 as possible from places where people were killing one another, to some
115212 peaceful refuge where he could recover himself, rest, and think over
115213 all the strange new facts he had learned; but on reaching Orel he
115214 immediately fell ill. When he came to himself after his illness he saw
115215 in attendance on him two of his servants, Terenty and Vaska, who had
115216 come from Moscow; and also his cousin the eldest princess, who had
115217 been living on his estate at Elets and hearing of his rescue and
115218 illness had come to look after him.
115219
115220 It was only gradually during his convalescence that Pierre lost
115221 the impressions he had become accustomed to during the last few months
115222 and got used to the idea that no one would oblige him to go anywhere
115223 tomorrow, that no one would deprive him of his warm bed, and that he
115224 would be sure to get his dinner, tea, and supper. But for a long
115225 time in his dreams he still saw himself in the conditions of
115226 captivity. In the same way little by little he came to understand
115227 the news he had been told after his rescue, about the death of
115228 Prince Andrew, the death of his wife, and the destruction of the
115229 French.
115230
115231 A joyous feeling of freedom--that complete inalienable freedom
115232 natural to man which he had first experienced at the first halt
115233 outside Moscow--filled Pierre's soul during his convalescence. He
115234 was surprised to find that this inner freedom, which was independent
115235 of external conditions, now had as it were an additional setting of
115236 external liberty. He was alone in a strange town, without
115237 acquaintances. No one demanded anything of him or sent him anywhere.
115238 He had all he wanted: the thought of his wife which had been a
115239 continual torment to him was no longer there, since she was no more.
115240
115241 "Oh, how good! How splendid!" said he to himself when a cleanly laid
115242 table was moved up to him with savory beef tea, or when he lay down
115243 for the night on a soft clean bed, or when he remembered that the
115244 French had gone and that his wife was no more. "Oh, how good, how
115245 splendid!"
115246
115247 And by old habit he asked himself the question: "Well, and what
115248 then? What am I going to do?" And he immediately gave himself the
115249 answer: "Well, I shall live. Ah, how splendid!"
115250
115251 The very question that had formerly tormented him, the thing he
115252 had continually sought to find--the aim of life--no longer existed for
115253 him now. That search for the aim of life had not merely disappeared
115254 temporarily--he felt that it no longer existed for him and could not
115255 present itself again. And this very absence of an aim gave him the
115256 complete, joyous sense of freedom which constituted his happiness at
115257 this time.
115258
115259 He could not see an aim, for he now had faith--not faith in any kind
115260 of rule, or words, or ideas, but faith in an ever-living,
115261 ever-manifest God. Formerly he had sought Him in aims he set
115262 himself. That search for an aim had been simply a search for God,
115263 and suddenly in his captivity he had learned not by words or reasoning
115264 but by direct feeling what his nurse had told him long ago: that God
115265 is here and everywhere. In his captivity he had learned that in
115266 Karataev God was greater, more infinite and unfathomable than in the
115267 Architect of the Universe recognized by the Freemasons. He felt like a
115268 man who after straining his eyes to see into the far distance finds
115269 what he sought at his very feet. All his life he had looked over the
115270 heads of the men around him, when he should have merely looked in
115271 front of him without straining his eyes.
115272
115273 In the past he had never been able to find that great inscrutable
115274 infinite something. He had only felt that it must exist somewhere
115275 and had looked for it. In everything near and comprehensible he had
115276 only what was limited, petty, commonplace, and senseless. He had
115277 equipped himself with a mental telescope and looked into remote space,
115278 where petty worldliness hiding itself in misty distance had seemed
115279 to him great and infinite merely because it was not clearly seen.
115280 And such had European life, politics, Freemasonry, philosophy, and
115281 philanthropy seemed to him. But even then, at moments of weakness as
115282 he had accounted them, his mind had penetrated to those distances
115283 and he had there seen the same pettiness, worldliness, and
115284 senselessness. Now, however, he had learned to see the great, eternal,
115285 and infinite in everything, and therefore--to see it and enjoy its
115286 contemplation--he naturally threw away the telescope through which
115287 he had till now gazed over men's heads, and gladly regarded the
115288 ever-changing, eternally great, unfathomable, and infinite life around
115289 him. And the closer he looked the more tranquil and happy he became.
115290 That dreadful question, "What for?" which had formerly destroyed all
115291 his mental edifices, no longer existed for him. To that question,
115292 "What for?" a simple answer was now always ready in his soul: "Because
115293 there is a God, that God without whose will not one hair falls from
115294 a man's head."
115295
115296
115297
115298
115299
115300 CHAPTER XIII
115301
115302
115303 In external ways Pierre had hardly changed at all. In appearance
115304 he was just what he used to be. As before he was absent-minded and
115305 seemed occupied not with what was before his eyes but with something
115306 special of his own. The difference between his former and present self
115307 was that formerly when he did not grasp what lay before him or was
115308 said to him, he had puckered his forehead painfully as if vainly
115309 seeking to distinguish something at a distance. At present he still
115310 forgot what was said to him and still did not see what was before
115311 his eyes, but he now looked with a scarcely perceptible and
115312 seemingly ironic smile at what was before him and listened to what was
115313 said, though evidently seeing and hearing something quite different.
115314 Formerly he had appeared to be a kindhearted but unhappy man, and so
115315 people had been inclined to avoid him. Now a smile at the joy of
115316 life always played round his lips, and sympathy for others, shone in
115317 his eyes with a questioning look as to whether they were as
115318 contented as he was, and people felt pleased by his presence.
115319
115320 Previously he had talked a great deal, grew excited when he
115321 talked, and seldom listened; now he was seldom carried away in
115322 conversation and knew how to listen so that people readily told him
115323 their most intimate secrets.
115324
115325 The princess, who had never liked Pierre and had been particularly
115326 hostile to him since she had felt herself under obligations to him
115327 after the old count's death, now after staying a short time in Orel-
115328 where she had come intending to show Pierre that in spite of his
115329 ingratitude she considered it her duty to nurse him--felt to her
115330 surprise and vexation that she had become fond of him. Pierre did
115331 not in any way seek her approval, he merely studied her with interest.
115332 Formerly she had felt that he regarded her with indifference and
115333 irony, and so had shrunk into herself as she did with others and had
115334 shown him only the combative side of her nature; but now he seemed
115335 to be trying to understand the most intimate places of her heart, and,
115336 mistrustfully at first but afterwards gratefully, she let him see
115337 the hidden, kindly sides of her character.
115338
115339 The most cunning man could not have crept into her confidence more
115340 successfully, evoking memories of the best times of her youth and
115341 showing sympathy with them. Yet Pierre's cunning consisted simply in
115342 finding pleasure in drawing out the human qualities of the embittered,
115343 hard, and (in her own way) proud princess.
115344
115345 "Yes, he is a very, very kind man when he is not under the influence
115346 of bad people but of people such as myself," thought she.
115347
115348 His servants too--Terenty and Vaska--in their own way noticed the
115349 change that had taken place in Pierre. They considered that he had
115350 become much "simpler." Terenty, when he had helped him undress and
115351 wished him good night, often lingered with his master's boots in his
115352 hands and clothes over his arm, to see whether he would not start a
115353 talk. And Pierre, noticing that Terenty wanted a chat, generally
115354 kept him there.
115355
115356 "Well, tell me... now, how did you get food?" he would ask.
115357
115358 And Terenty would begin talking of the destruction of Moscow, and of
115359 the old count, and would stand for a long time holding the clothes and
115360 talking, or sometimes listening to Pierre's stories, and then would go
115361 out into the hall with a pleasant sense of intimacy with his master
115362 and affection for him.
115363
115364 The doctor who attended Pierre and visited him every day, though
115365 he considered it his duty as a doctor to pose as a man whose every
115366 moment was of value to suffering humanity, would sit for hours with
115367 Pierre telling him his favorite anecdotes and his observations on
115368 the characters of his patients in general, and especially of the
115369 ladies.
115370
115371 "It's a pleasure to talk to a man like that; he is not like our
115372 provincials," he would say.
115373
115374 There were several prisoners from the French army in Orel, and the
115375 doctor brought one of them, a young Italian, to see Pierre.
115376
115377 This officer began visiting Pierre, and the princess used to make
115378 fun of the tenderness the Italian expressed for him.
115379
115380 The Italian seemed happy only when he could come to see Pierre, talk
115381 with him, tell him about his past, his life at home, and his love, and
115382 pour out to him his indignation against the French and especially
115383 against Napoleon.
115384
115385 "If all Russians are in the least like you, it is sacrilege to fight
115386 such a nation," he said to Pierre. "You, who have suffered so from the
115387 French, do not even feel animosity toward them."
115388
115389 Pierre had evoked the passionate affection of the Italian merely
115390 by evoking the best side of his nature and taking a pleasure in so
115391 doing.
115392
115393 During the last days of Pierre's stay in Orel his old Masonic
115394 acquaintance Count Willarski, who had introduced him to the lodge in
115395 1807, came to see him. Willarski was married to a Russian heiress
115396 who had a large estate in Orel province, and he occupied a temporary
115397 post in the commissariat department in that town.
115398
115399 Hearing that Bezukhov was in Orel, Willarski, though they had
115400 never been intimate, came to him with the professions of friendship
115401 and intimacy that people who meet in a desert generally express for
115402 one another. Willarski felt dull in Orel and was pleased to meet a man
115403 of his own circle and, as he supposed, of similar interests.
115404
115405 But to his surprise Willarski soon noticed that Pierre had lagged
115406 much behind the times, and had sunk, as he expressed it to himself,
115407 into apathy and egotism.
115408
115409 "You are letting yourself go, my dear fellow," he said.
115410
115411 But for all that Willarski found it pleasanter now than it had
115412 been formerly to be with Pierre, and came to see him every day. To
115413 Pierre as he looked at and listened to Willarski, it seemed strange to
115414 think that he had been like that himself but a short time before.
115415
115416 Willarski was a married man with a family, busy with his family
115417 affairs, his wife's affairs, and his official duties. He regarded
115418 all these occupations as hindrances to life, and considered that
115419 they were all contemptible because their aim was the welfare of
115420 himself and his family. Military, administrative, political, and
115421 Masonic interests continually absorbed his attention. And Pierre,
115422 without trying to change the other's views and without condemning him,
115423 but with the quiet, joyful, and amused smile now habitual to him,
115424 was interested in this strange though very familiar phenomenon.
115425
115426 There was a new feature in Pierre's relations with Willarski, with
115427 the princess, with the doctor, and with all the people he now met,
115428 which gained for him the general good will. This was his
115429 acknowledgment of the impossibility of changing a man's convictions by
115430 words, and his recognition of the possibility of everyone thinking,
115431 feeling, and seeing things each from his own point of view. This
115432 legitimate peculiarity of each individual which used to excite and
115433 irritate Pierre now became a basis of the sympathy he felt for, and
115434 the interest he took in, other people. The difference, and sometimes
115435 complete contradiction, between men's opinions and their lives, and
115436 between one man and another, pleased him and drew from him an amused
115437 and gentle smile.
115438
115439 In practical matters Pierre unexpectedly felt within himself a
115440 center of gravity he had previously lacked. Formerly all pecuniary
115441 questions, especially requests for money to which, as an extremely
115442 wealthy man, he was very exposed, produced in him a state of
115443 hopeless agitation and perplexity. "To give or not to give?" he had
115444 asked himself. "I have it and he needs it. But someone else needs it
115445 still more. Who needs it most? And perhaps they are both impostors?"
115446 In the old days he had been unable to find a way out of all these
115447 surmises and had given to all who asked as long as he had anything
115448 to give. Formerly he had been in a similar state of perplexity with
115449 regard to every question concerning his property, when one person
115450 advised one thing and another something else.
115451
115452 Now to his surprise he found that he no longer felt either doubt
115453 or perplexity about these questions. There was now within him a
115454 judge who by some rule unknown to him decided what should or should
115455 not be done.
115456
115457 He was as indifferent as heretofore to money matters, but now he
115458 felt certain of what ought and what ought not to be done. The first
115459 time he had recourse to his new judge was when a French prisoner, a
115460 colonel, came to him and, after talking a great deal about his
115461 exploits, concluded by making what amounted to a demand that Pierre
115462 should give him four thousand francs to send to his wife and children.
115463 Pierre refused without the least difficulty or effort, and was
115464 afterwards surprised how simple and easy had been what used to
115465 appear so insurmountably difficult. At the same time that he refused
115466 the colonel's demand he made up his mind that he must have recourse to
115467 artifice when leaving Orel, to induce the Italian officer to accept
115468 some money of which he was evidently in need. A further proof to
115469 Pierre of his own more settled outlook on practical matters was
115470 furnished by his decision with regard to his wife's debts and to the
115471 rebuilding of his houses in and near Moscow.
115472
115473 His head steward came to him at Orel and Pierre reckoned up with him
115474 his diminished income. The burning of Moscow had cost him, according
115475 to the head steward's calculation, about two million rubles.
115476
115477 To console Pierre for these losses the head steward gave him an
115478 estimate showing that despite these losses his income would not be
115479 diminished but would even be increased if he refused to pay his wife's
115480 debts which he was under no obligation to meet, and did not rebuild
115481 his Moscow house and the country house on his Moscow estate, which had
115482 cost him eighty thousand rubles a year and brought in nothing.
115483
115484 "Yes, of course that's true," said Pierre with a cheerful smile.
115485 "I don't need all that at all. By being ruined I have become much
115486 richer."
115487
115488 But in January Savelich came from Moscow and gave him an account
115489 of the state of things there, and spoke of the estimate an architect
115490 had made of the cost of rebuilding the town and country houses,
115491 speaking of this as of a settled matter. About the same time he
115492 received letters from Prince Vasili and other Petersburg acquaintances
115493 speaking of his wife's debts. And Pierre decided that the steward's
115494 proposals which had so pleased him were wrong and that he must go to
115495 Petersburg and settle his wife's affairs and must rebuild in Moscow.
115496 Why this was necessary he did not know, but he knew for certain that
115497 it was necessary. His income would be reduced by three fourths, but he
115498 felt it must be done.
115499
115500 Willarski was going to Moscow and they agreed to travel together.
115501
115502 During the whole time of his convalescence in Orel Pierre had
115503 experienced a feeling of joy, freedom, and life; but when during his
115504 journey he found himself in the open world and saw hundreds of new
115505 faces, that feeling was intensified. Throughout his journey he felt
115506 like a schoolboy on holiday. Everyone--the stagecoach driver, the
115507 post-house overseers, the peasants on the roads and in the villages-
115508 had a new significance for him. The presence and remarks of
115509 Willarski who continually deplored the ignorance and poverty of Russia
115510 and its backwardness compared with Europe only heightened Pierre's
115511 pleasure. Where Willarski saw deadness Pierre saw an extraordinary
115512 strength and vitality--the strength which in that vast space amid
115513 the snows maintained the life of this original, peculiar, and unique
115514 people. He did not contradict Willarski and even seemed to agree
115515 with him--an apparent agreement being the simplest way to avoid
115516 discussions that could lead to nothing--and he smiled joyfully as he
115517 listened to him.
115518
115519
115520
115521
115522
115523 CHAPTER XIV
115524
115525
115526 It would be difficult to explain why and whither ants whose heap has
115527 been destroyed are hurrying: some from the heap dragging bits of
115528 rubbish, larvae, and corpses, others back to the heap, or why they
115529 jostle, overtake one another, and fight, and it would be equally
115530 difficult to explain what caused the Russians after the departure of
115531 the French to throng to the place that had formerly been Moscow. But
115532 when we watch the ants round their ruined heap, the tenacity,
115533 energy, and immense number of the delving insects prove that despite
115534 the destruction of the heap, something indestructible, which though
115535 intangible is the real strength of the colony, still exists; and
115536 similarly, though in Moscow in the month of October there was no
115537 government no churches, shrines, riches, or houses--it was still the
115538 Moscow it had been in August. All was destroyed, except something
115539 intangible yet powerful and indestructible.
115540
115541 The motives of those who thronged from all sides to Moscow after
115542 it had been cleared of the enemy were most diverse and personal, and
115543 at first for the most part savage and brutal. One motive only they all
115544 had in common: a desire to get to the place that had been called
115545 Moscow, to apply their activities there.
115546
115547 Within a week Moscow already had fifteen thousand inhabitants, in
115548 a fortnight twenty-five thousand, and so on. By the autumn of 1813 the
115549 number, ever increasing and increasing, exceeded what it had been in
115550 1812.
115551
115552 The first Russians to enter Moscow were the Cossacks of
115553 Wintzingerode's detachment, peasants from the adjacent villages, and
115554 residents who had fled from Moscow and had been hiding in its
115555 vicinity. The Russians who entered Moscow, finding it plundered,
115556 plundered it in their turn. They continued what the French had
115557 begun. Trains of peasant carts came to Moscow to carry off to the
115558 villages what had been abandoned in the ruined houses and the streets.
115559 The Cossacks carried off what they could to their camps, and the
115560 householders seized all they could find in other houses and moved it
115561 to their own, pretending that it was their property.
115562
115563 But the first plunderers were followed by a second and a third
115564 contingent, and with increasing numbers plundering became more and
115565 more difficult and assumed more definite forms.
115566
115567 The French found Moscow abandoned but with all the organizations
115568 of regular life, with diverse branches of commerce and
115569 craftsmanship, with luxury, and governmental and religious
115570 institutions. These forms were lifeless but still existed. There
115571 were bazaars, shops, warehouses, market stalls, granaries--for the
115572 most part still stocked with goods--and there were factories and
115573 workshops, palaces and wealthy houses filled with luxuries, hospitals,
115574 prisons, government offices, churches, and cathedrals. The longer
115575 the French remained the more these forms of town life perished,
115576 until finally all was merged into one confused, lifeless scene of
115577 plunder.
115578
115579 The more the plundering by the French continued, the more both the
115580 wealth of Moscow and the strength of its plunderers was destroyed. But
115581 plundering by the Russians, with which the reoccupation of the city
115582 began, had an opposite effect: the longer it continued and the greater
115583 the number of people taking part in it the more rapidly was the wealth
115584 of the city and its regular life restored.
115585
115586 Besides the plunderers, very various people, some drawn by
115587 curiosity, some by official duties, some by self-interest--house
115588 owners, clergy, officials of all kinds, tradesmen, artisans, and
115589 peasants--streamed into Moscow as blood flows to the heart.
115590
115591 Within a week the peasants who came with empty carts to carry off
115592 plunder were stopped by the authorities and made to cart the corpses
115593 out of the town. Other peasants, having heard of their comrades'
115594 discomfiture, came to town bringing rye, oats, and hay, and beat
115595 down one another's prices to below what they had been in former
115596 days. Gangs of carpenters hoping for high pay arrived in Moscow
115597 every day, and on all sides logs were being hewn, new houses built,
115598 and old, charred ones repaired. Tradesmen began trading in booths.
115599 Cookshops and taverns were opened in partially burned houses. The
115600 clergy resumed the services in many churches that had not been burned.
115601 Donors contributed Church property that had been stolen. Government
115602 clerks set up their baize-covered tables and their pigeonholes of
115603 documents in small rooms. The higher authorities and the police
115604 organized the distribution of goods left behind by the French. The
115605 owners of houses in which much property had been left, brought there
115606 from other houses, complained of the injustice of taking everything to
115607 the Faceted Palace in the Kremlin; others insisted that as the
115608 French had gathered things from different houses into this or that
115609 house, it would be unfair to allow its owner to keep all that was
115610 found there. They abused the police and bribed them, made out
115611 estimates at ten times their value for government stores that had
115612 perished in the fire, and demanded relief. And Count Rostopchin
115613 wrote proclamations.
115614
115615
115616
115617
115618
115619 CHAPTER XV
115620
115621
115622 At the end of January Pierre went to Moscow and stayed in an annex
115623 of his house which had not been burned. He called on Count
115624 Rostopchin and on some acquaintances who were back in Moscow, and he
115625 intended to leave for Petersburg two days later. Everybody was
115626 celebrating the victory, everything was bubbling with life in the
115627 ruined but reviving city. Everyone was pleased to see Pierre, everyone
115628 wished to meet him, and everyone questioned him about what he had
115629 seen. Pierre felt particularly well disposed toward them all, but
115630 was now instinctively on his guard for fear of binding himself in
115631 any way. To all questions put to him--whether important or quite
115632 trifling--such as: Where would he live? Was he going to rebuild?
115633 When was he going to Petersburg and would he mind taking a parcel
115634 for someone?--he replied: "Yes, perhaps," or, "I think so," and so on.
115635
115636 He had heard that the Rostovs were at Kostroma but the thought of
115637 Natasha seldom occurred to him. If it did it was only as a pleasant
115638 memory of the distant past. He felt himself not only free from
115639 social obligations but also from that feeling which, it seemed to him,
115640 he had aroused in himself.
115641
115642 On the third day after his arrival he heard from the Drubetskoys
115643 that Princess Mary was in Moscow. The death, sufferings, and last days
115644 of Prince Andrew had often occupied Pierre's thoughts and now recurred
115645 to him with fresh vividness. Having heard at dinner that Princess Mary
115646 was in Moscow and living in her house--which had not been burned--in
115647 Vozdvizhenka Street, he drove that same evening to see her.
115648
115649 On his way to the house Pierre kept thinking of Prince Andrew, of
115650 their friendship, of his various meetings with him, and especially
115651 of the last one at Borodino.
115652
115653 "Is it possible that he died in the bitter frame of mind he was then
115654 in? Is it possible that the meaning of life was not disclosed to him
115655 before he died?" thought Pierre. He recalled Karataev and his death
115656 and involuntarily began to compare these two men, so different, and
115657 yet so similar in that they had both lived and both died and in the
115658 love he felt for both of them.
115659
115660 Pierre drove up to the house of the old prince in a most serious
115661 mood. The house had escaped the fire; it showed signs of damage but
115662 its general aspect was unchanged. The old footman, who met Pierre with
115663 a stern face as if wishing to make the visitor feel that the absence
115664 of the old prince had not disturbed the order of things in the
115665 house, informed him that the princess had gone to her own
115666 apartments, and that she received on Sundays.
115667
115668 "Announce me. Perhaps she will see me," said Pierre.
115669
115670 "Yes, sir," said the man. "Please step into the portrait gallery."
115671
115672 A few minutes later the footman returned with Dessalles, who brought
115673 word from the princess that she would be very glad to see Pierre if he
115674 would excuse her want of ceremony and come upstairs to her apartment.
115675
115676 In a rather low room lit by one candle sat the princess and with her
115677 another person dressed in black. Pierre remembered that the princess
115678 always had lady companions, but who they were and what they were
115679 like he never knew or remembered. "This must be one of her
115680 companions," he thought, glancing at the lady in the black dress.
115681
115682 The princess rose quickly to meet him and held out her hand.
115683
115684 "Yes," she said, looking at his altered face after he had kissed her
115685 hand, "so this is how we meet again. He spoke of you even at the
115686 very last," she went on, turning her eyes from Pierre to her companion
115687 with a shyness that surprised him for an instant.
115688
115689 "I was so glad to hear of your safety. It was the first piece of
115690 good news we had received for a long time."
115691
115692 Again the princess glanced round at her companion with even more
115693 uneasiness in her manner and was about to add something, but Pierre
115694 interrupted her.
115695
115696 "Just imagine--I knew nothing about him!" said he. "I thought he had
115697 been killed. All I know I heard at second hand from others. I only
115698 know that he fell in with the Rostovs.... What a strange coincidence!"
115699
115700 Pierre spoke rapidly and with animation. He glanced once at the
115701 companion's face, saw her attentive and kindly gaze fixed on him, and,
115702 as often happens when one is talking, felt somehow that this companion
115703 in the black dress was a good, kind, excellent creature who would
115704 not hinder his conversing freely with Princess Mary.
115705
115706 But when he mentioned the Rostovs, Princess Mary's face expressed
115707 still greater embarrassment. She again glanced rapidly from Pierre's
115708 face to that of the lady in the black dress and said:
115709
115710 "Do you really not recognize her?"
115711
115712 Pierre looked again at the companion's pale, delicate face with
115713 its black eyes and peculiar mouth, and something near to him, long
115714 forgotten and more than sweet, looked at him from those attentive
115715 eyes.
115716
115717 "But no, it can't be!" he thought. "This stern, thin, pale face that
115718 looks so much older! It cannot be she. It merely reminds me of her."
115719 But at that moment Princess Mary said, "Natasha!" And with difficulty,
115720 effort, and stress, like the opening of a door grown rusty on its
115721 hinges, a smile appeared on the face with the attentive eyes, and from
115722 that opening door came a breath of fragrance which suffused Pierre
115723 with a happiness he had long forgotten and of which he had not even
115724 been thinking--especially at that moment. It suffused him, seized him,
115725 and enveloped him completely. When she smiled doubt was no longer
115726 possible, it was Natasha and he loved her.
115727
115728 At that moment Pierre involuntarily betrayed to her, to Princess
115729 Mary, and above all to himself, a secret of which he himself had
115730 been unaware. He flushed joyfully yet with painful distress. He
115731 tried to hide his agitation. But the more he tried to hide it the more
115732 clearly--clearer than any words could have done--did he betray to
115733 himself, to her, and to Princess Mary that he loved her.
115734
115735 "No, it's only the unexpectedness of it," thought Pierre. But as
115736 soon as he tried to continue the conversation he had begun with
115737 Princess Mary he again glanced at Natasha, and a still-deeper flush
115738 suffused his face and a still-stronger agitation of mingled joy and
115739 fear seized his soul. He became confused in his speech and stopped
115740 in the middle of what he was saying.
115741
115742 Pierre had failed to notice Natasha because he did not at all expect
115743 to see her there, but he had failed to recognize her because the
115744 change in her since he last saw her was immense. She had grown thin
115745 and pale, but that was not what made her unrecognizable; she was
115746 unrecognizable at the moment he entered because on that face whose
115747 eyes had always shone with a suppressed smile of the joy of life,
115748 now when he first entered and glanced at her there was not the least
115749 shadow of a smile: only her eyes were kindly attentive and sadly
115750 interrogative.
115751
115752 Pierre's confusion was not reflected by any confusion on Natasha's
115753 part, but only by the pleasure that just perceptibly lit up her
115754 whole face.
115755
115756
115757
115758
115759
115760 CHAPTER XVI
115761
115762
115763 "She has come to stay with me," said Princess Mary. "The count and
115764 countess will be here in a few days. The countess is in a dreadful
115765 state; but it was necessary for Natasha herself to see a doctor.
115766 They insisted on her coming with me."
115767
115768 "Yes, is there a family free from sorrow now?" said Pierre,
115769 addressing Natasha. "You know it happened the very day we were
115770 rescued. I saw him. What a delightful boy he was!"
115771
115772 Natasha looked at him, and by way of answer to his words her eyes
115773 widened and lit up.
115774
115775 "What can one say or think of as a consolation?" said Pierre.
115776 "Nothing! Why had such a splendid boy, so full of life, to die?"
115777
115778 "Yes, in these days it would be hard to live without faith..."
115779 remarked Princess Mary.
115780
115781 "Yes, yes, that is really true," Pierre hastily interrupted her.
115782
115783 "Why is it true?" Natasha asked, looking attentively into Pierre's
115784 eyes.
115785
115786 "How can you ask why?" said Princess Mary. "The thought alone of
115787 what awaits..."
115788
115789 Natasha without waiting for Princess Mary to finish again looked
115790 inquiringly at Pierre.
115791
115792 "And because," Pierre continued, "only one who believes that there
115793 is a God ruling us can bear a loss such as hers and... yours."
115794
115795 Natasha had already opened her mouth to speak but suddenly
115796 stopped. Pierre hurriedly turned away from her and again addressed
115797 Princess Mary, asking about his friend's last days.
115798
115799 Pierre's confusion had now almost vanished, but at the same time
115800 he felt that his freedom had also completely gone. He felt that
115801 there was now a judge of his every word and action whose judgment
115802 mattered more to him than that of all the rest of the world. As he
115803 spoke now he was considering what impression his words would make on
115804 Natasha. He did not purposely say things to please her, but whatever
115805 he was saying he regarded from her standpoint.
115806
115807 Princess Mary--reluctantly as is usual in such cases--began
115808 telling of the condition in which she had found Prince Andrew. But
115809 Pierre's face quivering with emotion, his questions and his eager
115810 restless expression, gradually compelled her to go into details
115811 which she feared to recall for her own sake.
115812
115813 "Yes, yes, and so...?" Pierre kept saying as he leaned toward her
115814 with his whole body and eagerly listened to her story. "Yes, yes... so
115815 he grew tranquil and softened? With all his soul he had always
115816 sought one thing--to be perfectly good--so he could not be afraid of
115817 death. The faults he had--if he had any--were not of his making. So he
115818 did soften?... What a happy thing that he saw you again," he added,
115819 suddenly turning to Natasha and looking at her with eyes full of
115820 tears.
115821
115822 Natasha's face twitched. She frowned and lowered her eyes for a
115823 moment. She hesitated for an instant whether to speak or not.
115824
115825 "Yes, that was happiness," she then said in her quiet voice with its
115826 deep chest notes. "For me it certainly was happiness." She paused.
115827 "And he... he... he said he was wishing for it at the very moment I
115828 entered the room...."
115829
115830 Natasha's voice broke. She blushed, pressed her clasped hands on her
115831 knees, and then controlling herself with an evident effort lifted
115832 her head and began to speak rapidly.
115833
115834 "We knew nothing of it when we started from Moscow. I did not dare
115835 to ask about him. Then suddenly Sonya told me he was traveling with
115836 us. I had no idea and could not imagine what state he was in, all I
115837 wanted was to see him and be with him," she said, trembling, and
115838 breathing quickly.
115839
115840 And not letting them interrupt her she went on to tell what she
115841 had never yet mentioned to anyone--all she had lived through during
115842 those three weeks of their journey and life at Yaroslavl.
115843
115844 Pierre listened to her with lips parted and eyes fixed upon her full
115845 of tears. As he listened he did not think of Prince Andrew, nor of
115846 death, nor of what she was telling. He listened to her and felt only
115847 pity for her, for what she was suffering now while she was speaking.
115848
115849 Princess Mary, frowning in her effort to hold back her tears, sat
115850 beside Natasha, and heard for the first time the story of those last
115851 days of her brother's and Natasha's love.
115852
115853 Evidently Natasha needed to tell that painful yet joyful tale.
115854
115855 She spoke, mingling most trifling details with the intimate
115856 secrets of her soul, and it seemed as if she could never finish.
115857 Several times she repeated the same thing twice.
115858
115859 Dessalles' voice was heard outside the door asking whether little
115860 Nicholas might come in to say good night.
115861
115862 "Well, that's all--everything," said Natasha.
115863
115864 She got up quickly just as Nicholas entered, almost ran to the
115865 door which was hidden by curtains, struck her head against it, and
115866 rushed from the room with a moan either of pain or sorrow.
115867
115868 Pierre gazed at the door through which she had disappeared and did
115869 not understand why he suddenly felt all alone in the world.
115870
115871 Princess Mary roused him from his abstraction by drawing his
115872 attention to her nephew who had entered the room.
115873
115874 At that moment of emotional tenderness young Nicholas' face, which
115875 resembled his father's, affected Pierre so much that when he had
115876 kissed the boy he got up quickly, took out his handkerchief, and
115877 went to the window. He wished to take leave of Princess Mary, but
115878 she would not let him go.
115879
115880 "No, Natasha and I sometimes don't go to sleep till after two, so
115881 please don't go. I will order supper. Go downstairs, we will come
115882 immediately."
115883
115884 Before Pierre left the room Princess Mary told him: "This is the
115885 first time she has talked of him like that."
115886
115887
115888
115889
115890
115891 CHAPTER XVII
115892
115893
115894 Pierre was shown into the large, brightly lit dining room; a few
115895 minutes later he heard footsteps and Princess Mary entered with
115896 Natasha. Natasha was calm, though a severe and grave expression had
115897 again settled on her face. They all three of them now experienced that
115898 feeling of awkwardness which usually follows after a serious and
115899 heartfelt talk. It is impossible to go back to the same
115900 conversation, to talk of trifles is awkward, and yet the desire to
115901 speak is there and silence seems like affectation. They went
115902 silently to table. The footmen drew back the chairs and pushed them up
115903 again. Pierre unfolded his cold table napkin and, resolving to break
115904 the silence, looked at Natasha and at Princess Mary. They had
115905 evidently both formed the same resolution; the eyes of both shone with
115906 satisfaction and a confession that besides sorrow life also has joy.
115907
115908 "Do you take vodka, Count?" asked Princess Mary, and those words
115909 suddenly banished the shadows of the past. "Now tell us about
115910 yourself," said she. "One hears such improbable wonders about you."
115911
115912 "Yes," replied Pierre with the smile of mild irony now habitual to
115913 him. "They even tell me wonders I myself never dreamed of! Mary
115914 Abramovna invited me to her house and kept telling me what had
115915 happened, or ought to have happened, to me. Stepan Stepanych also
115916 instructed me how I ought to tell of my experiences. In general I have
115917 noticed that it is very easy to be an interesting man (I am an
115918 interesting man now); people invite me out and tell me all about
115919 myself."
115920
115921 Natasha smiled and was on the point of speaking.
115922
115923 "We have been told," Princess Mary interrupted her, "that you lost
115924 two millions in Moscow. Is that true?"
115925
115926 "But I am three times as rich as before," returned Pierre.
115927
115928 Though the position was now altered by his decision to pay his
115929 wife's debts and to rebuild his houses, Pierre still maintained that
115930 he had become three times as rich as before.
115931
115932 "What I have certainly gained is freedom," he began seriously, but
115933 did not continue, noticing that this theme was too egotistic.
115934
115935 "And are you building?"
115936
115937 "Yes. Savelich says I must!"
115938
115939 "Tell me, you did not know of the countess' death when you decided
115940 to remain in Moscow?" asked Princess Mary and immediately blushed,
115941 noticing that her question, following his mention of freedom, ascribed
115942 to his words a meaning he had perhaps not intended.
115943
115944 "No," answered Pierre, evidently not considering awkward the meaning
115945 Princess Mary had given to his words. "I heard of it in Orel and you
115946 cannot imagine how it shocked me. We were not an exemplary couple," he
115947 added quickly, glancing at Natasha and noticing on her face
115948 curiosity as to how he would speak of his wife, "but her death shocked
115949 me terribly. When two people quarrel they are always both in fault,
115950 and one's own guilt suddenly becomes terribly serious when the other
115951 is no longer alive. And then such a death... without friends and
115952 without consolation! I am very, very sorry for her," he concluded, and
115953 was pleased to notice a look of glad approval on Natasha's face.
115954
115955 "Yes, and so you are once more an eligible bachelor," said
115956 Princess Mary.
115957
115958 Pierre suddenly flushed crimson and for a long time tried not to
115959 look at Natasha. When he ventured to glance her way again her face was
115960 cold, stern, and he fancied even contemptuous.
115961
115962 "And did you really see and speak to Napoleon, as we have been
115963 told?" said Princess Mary.
115964
115965 Pierre laughed.
115966
115967 "No, not once! Everybody seems to imagine that being taken
115968 prisoner means being Napoleon's guest. Not only did I never see him
115969 but I heard nothing about him--I was in much lower company!"
115970
115971 Supper was over, and Pierre who at first declined to speak about his
115972 captivity was gradually led on to do so.
115973
115974 "But it's true that you remained in Moscow to kill Napoleon?"
115975 Natasha asked with a slight smile. "I guessed it then when we met at
115976 the Sukharev tower, do you remember?"
115977
115978 Pierre admitted that it was true, and from that was gradually led by
115979 Princess Mary's questions and especially by Natasha's into giving a
115980 detailed account of his adventures.
115981
115982 At first he spoke with the amused and mild irony now customary
115983 with him toward everybody and especially toward himself, but when he
115984 came to describe the horrors and sufferings he had witnessed he was
115985 unconsciously carried away and began speaking with the suppressed
115986 emotion of a man re-experiencing in recollection strong impressions he
115987 has lived through.
115988
115989 Princess Mary with a gentle smile looked now at Pierre and now at
115990 Natasha. In the whole narrative she saw only Pierre and his
115991 goodness. Natasha, leaning on her elbow, the expression of her face
115992 constantly changing with the narrative, watched Pierre with an
115993 attention that never wandered--evidently herself experiencing all that
115994 he described. Not only her look, but her exclamations and the brief
115995 questions she put, showed Pierre that she understood just what he
115996 wished to convey. It was clear that she understood not only what he
115997 said but also what he wished to, but could not, express in words.
115998 The account Pierre gave of the incident with the child and the woman
115999 for protecting whom he was arrested was this: "It was an awful
116000 sight--children abandoned, some in the flames... One was snatched
116001 out before my eyes... and there were women who had their things
116002 snatched off and their earrings torn out..." he flushed and grew
116003 confused. "Then a patrol arrived and all the men--all those who were
116004
116005 not looting, that is--were arrested, and I among them."
116006
116007 "I am sure you're not telling us everything; I am sure you did
116008 something..." said Natasha and pausing added, "something fine?"
116009
116010 Pierre continued. When he spoke of the execution he wanted to pass
116011 over the horrible details, but Natasha insisted that he should not
116012 omit anything.
116013
116014 Pierre began to tell about Karataev, but paused. By this time he had
116015 risen from the table and was pacing the room, Natasha following him
116016 with her eyes. Then he added:
116017
116018 "No, you can't understand what I learned from that illiterate man-
116019 that simple fellow."
116020
116021 "Yes, yes, go on!" said Natasha. "Where is he?"
116022
116023 "They killed him almost before my eyes."
116024
116025 And Pierre, his voice trembling continually, went on to tell of
116026 the last days of their retreat, of Karataev's illness and his death.
116027
116028 He told of his adventures as he had never yet recalled them. He now,
116029 as it were, saw a new meaning in all he had gone through. Now that
116030 he was telling it all to Natasha he experienced that pleasure which
116031 a man has when women listen to him--not clever women who when
116032 listening either try to remember what they hear to enrich their
116033 minds and when opportunity offers to retell it, or who wish to adopt
116034 it to some thought of their own and promptly contribute their own
116035 clever comments prepared in their little mental workshop--but the
116036 pleasure given by real women gifted with a capacity to select and
116037 absorb the very best a man shows of himself. Natasha without knowing
116038 it was all attention: she did not lose a word, no single quiver in
116039 Pierre's voice, no look, no twitch of a muscle in his face, nor a
116040 single gesture. She caught the unfinished word in its flight and
116041 took it straight into her open heart, divining the secret meaning of
116042 all Pierre's mental travail.
116043
116044 Princess Mary understood his story and sympathized with him, but she
116045 now saw something else that absorbed all her attention. She saw the
116046 possibility of love and happiness between Natasha and Pierre, and
116047 the first thought of this filled her heart with gladness.
116048
116049 It was three o'clock in the morning. The footmen came in with sad
116050 and stern faces to change the candles, but no one noticed them.
116051
116052 Pierre finished his story. Natasha continued to look at him intently
116053 with bright, attentive, and animated eyes, as if trying to
116054 understand something more which he had perhaps left untold. Pierre
116055 in shamefaced and happy confusion glanced occasionally at her, and
116056 tried to think what to say next to introduce a fresh subject. Princess
116057 Mary was silent. It occurred to none of them that it was three o'clock
116058 and time to go to bed.
116059
116060 "People speak of misfortunes and sufferings," remarked Pierre,
116061 "but if at this moment I were asked: 'Would you rather be what you
116062 were before you were taken prisoner, or go through all this again?'
116063 then for heaven's sake let me again have captivity and horseflesh!
116064 We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is
116065 lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While
116066 there is life there is happiness. There is much, much before us. I say
116067 this to you," he added, turning to Natasha.
116068
116069 "Yes, yes," she said, answering something quite different. "I too
116070 should wish nothing but to relive it all from the beginning."
116071
116072 Pierre looked intently at her.
116073
116074 "Yes, and nothing more." said Natasha.
116075
116076 "It's not true, not true!" cried Pierre. "I am not to blame for
116077 being alive and wishing to live--nor you either."
116078
116079 Suddenly Natasha bent her head, covered her face with her hands, and
116080 began to cry.
116081
116082 "What is it, Natasha?" said Princess Mary.
116083
116084 "Nothing, nothing." She smiled at Pierre through her tears. "Good
116085 night! It is time for bed."
116086
116087 Pierre rose and took his leave.
116088
116089
116090 Princess Mary and Natasha met as usual in the bedroom. They talked
116091 of what Pierre had told them. Princess Mary did not express her
116092 opinion of Pierre nor did Natasha speak of him.
116093
116094 "Well, good night, Mary!" said Natasha. "Do you know, I am often
116095 afraid that by not speaking of him" (she meant Prince Andrew) "for
116096 fear of not doing justice to our feelings, we forget him."
116097
116098 Princess Mary sighed deeply and thereby acknowledged the justice
116099 of Natasha's remark, but she did not express agreement in words.
116100
116101 "Is it possible to forget?" said she.
116102
116103 "It did me so much good to tell all about it today. It was hard
116104 and painful, but good, very good!" said Natasha. "I am sure he
116105 really loved him. That is why I told him... Was it all right?" she
116106 added, suddenly blushing.
116107
116108 "To tell Pierre? Oh, yes. What a splendid man he is!" said
116109 Princess Mary.
116110
116111 "Do you know, Mary..." Natasha suddenly said with a mischievous
116112 smile such as Princess Mary had not seen on her face for a long
116113 time, "he has somehow grown so clean, smooth, and fresh--as if he
116114 had just come out of a Russian bath; do you understand? Out of a moral
116115 bath. Isn't it true?"
116116
116117 "Yes," replied Princess Mary. "He has greatly improved."
116118
116119 "With a short coat and his hair cropped; just as if, well, just as
116120 if he had come straight from the bath... Papa used to..."
116121
116122 "I understand why he" (Prince Andrew) "liked no one so much as him,"
116123 said Princess Mary.
116124
116125 "Yes, and yet he is quite different. They say men are friends when
116126 they are quite different. That must be true. Really he is quite unlike
116127 him--in everything."
116128
116129 "Yes, but he's wonderful."
116130
116131 "Well, good night," said Natasha.
116132
116133 And the same mischievous smile lingered for a long time on her
116134 face as if it had been forgotten there.
116135
116136
116137
116138
116139 CHAPTER XVIII
116140
116141
116142 It was a long time before Pierre could fall asleep that night. He
116143 paced up and down his room, now turning his thoughts on a difficult
116144 problem and frowning, now suddenly shrugging his shoulders and
116145 wincing, and now smiling happily.
116146
116147 He was thinking of Prince Andrew, of Natasha, and of their love,
116148 at one moment jealous of her past, then reproaching himself for that
116149 feeling. It was already six in the morning and he still paced up and
116150 down the room.
116151
116152 "Well, what's to be done if it cannot be avoided? What's to be done?
116153 Evidently it has to be so," said he to himself, and hastily undressing
116154 he got into bed, happy and agitated but free from hesitation or
116155 indecision.
116156
116157 "Strange and impossible as such happiness seems, I must do
116158 everything that she and I may be man and wife," he told himself.
116159
116160 A few days previously Pierre had decided to go to Petersburg on
116161 the Friday. When he awoke on the Thursday, Savelich came to ask him
116162 about packing for the journey.
116163
116164 "What, to Petersburg? What is Petersburg? Who is there in
116165 Petersburg?" he asked involuntarily, though only to himself. "Oh, yes,
116166 long ago before this happened I did for some reason mean to go to
116167 Petersburg," he reflected. "Why? But perhaps I shall go. What a good
116168 fellow he is and how attentive, and how he remembers everything," he
116169 thought, looking at Savelich's old face, "and what a pleasant smile he
116170 has!"
116171
116172 "Well, Savelich, do you still not wish to accept your freedom?"
116173 Pierre asked him.
116174
116175 "What's the good of freedom to me, your excellency? We lived under
116176 the late count--the kingdom of heaven be his!--and we have lived under
116177 you too, without ever being wronged."
116178
116179 "And your children?"
116180
116181 "The children will live just the same. With such masters one can
116182 live."
116183
116184 "But what about my heirs?" said Pierre. "Supposing I suddenly
116185 marry... it might happen," he added with an involuntary smile.
116186
116187 "If I may take the liberty, your excellency, it would be a good
116188 thing."
116189
116190 "How easy he thinks it," thought Pierre. "He doesn't know how
116191 terrible it is and how dangerous. Too soon or too late... it is
116192 terrible!"
116193
116194 "So what are your orders? Are you starting tomorrow?" asked
116195 Savelich.
116196
116197 "No, I'll put it off for a bit. I'll tell you later. You must
116198 forgive the trouble I have put you to," said Pierre, and seeing
116199 Savelich smile, he thought: "But how strange it is that he should
116200 not know that now there is no Petersburg for me, and that that must be
116201 settled first of all! But probably he knows it well enough and is only
116202 pretending. Shall I have a talk with him and see what he thinks?"
116203 Pierre reflected. "No, another time."
116204
116205 At breakfast Pierre told the princess, his cousin, that he had
116206 been to see Princess Mary the day before and had there met--"Whom do
116207 you think? Natasha Rostova!"
116208
116209 The princess seemed to see nothing more extraordinary in that than
116210 if he had seen Anna Semenovna.
116211
116212 "Do you know her?" asked Pierre.
116213
116214 "I have seen the princess," she replied. "I heard that they were
116215 arranging a match for her with young Rostov. It would be a very good
116216 thing for the Rostovs, they are said to be utterly ruined."
116217
116218 "No; I mean do you know Natasha Rostova?"
116219
116220 "I heard about that affair of hers at the time. It was a great
116221 pity."
116222
116223 "No, she either doesn't understand or is pretending," thought
116224 Pierre. "Better not say anything to her either."
116225
116226 The princess too had prepared provisions for Pierre's journey.
116227
116228 "How kind they all are," thought Pierre. "What is surprising is that
116229 they should trouble about these things now when it can no longer be of
116230 interest to them. And all for me!"
116231
116232 On the same day the Chief of Police came to Pierre, inviting him
116233 to send a representative to the Faceted Palace to recover things
116234 that were to be returned to their owners that day.
116235
116236 "And this man too," thought Pierre, looking into the face of the
116237 Chief of Police. "What a fine, good-looking officer and how kind.
116238 Fancy bothering about such trifies now! And they actually say he is
116239 not honest and takes bribes. What nonsense! Besides, why shouldn't
116240 he take bribes? That's the way he was brought up, and everybody does
116241 it. But what a kind, pleasant face and how he smiles as he looks at
116242 me."
116243
116244 Pierre went to Princess Mary's to dinner.
116245
116246 As he drove through the streets past the houses that had been burned
116247 down, he was surprised by the beauty of those ruins. The
116248 picturesqueness of the chimney stacks and tumble-down walls of the
116249 burned-out quarters of the town, stretching out and concealing one
116250 another, reminded him of the Rhine and the Colosseum. The cabmen he
116251 met and their passengers, the carpenters cutting the timber for new
116252 houses with axes, the women hawkers, and the shopkeepers, all looked
116253 at him with cheerful beaming eyes that seemed to say: "Ah, there he
116254 is! Let's see what will come of it!"
116255
116256 At the entrance to Princess Mary's house Pierre felt doubtful
116257 whether he had really been there the night before and really seen
116258 Natasha and talked to her. "Perhaps I imagined it; perhaps I shall
116259 go in and find no one there." But he had hardly entered the room
116260 before he felt her presence with his whole being by the loss of his
116261 sense of freedom. She was in the same black dress with soft folds
116262 and her hair was done the same way as the day before, yet she was
116263 quite different. Had she been like this when he entered the day before
116264 he could not for a moment have failed to recognize her.
116265
116266 She was as he had known her almost as a child and later on as Prince
116267 Andrew's fiancee. A bright questioning light shone in her eyes, and on
116268 her face was a friendly and strangely roguish expression.
116269
116270 Pierre dined with them and would have spent the whole evening there,
116271 but Princess Mary was going to vespers and Pierre left the house
116272 with her.
116273
116274 Next day he came early, dined, and stayed the whole evening.
116275 Though Princess Mary and Natasha were evidently glad to see their
116276 visitor and though all Pierre's interest was now centered in that
116277 house, by the evening they had talked over everything and the
116278 conversation passed from one trivial topic to another and repeatedly
116279 broke off. He stayed so long that Princess Mary and Natasha
116280 exchanged glances, evidently wondering when he would go. Pierre
116281 noticed this but could not go. He felt uneasy and embarrassed, but sat
116282 on because he simply could not get up and take his leave.
116283
116284 Princess Mary, foreseeing no end to this, rose first, and
116285 complaining of a headache began to say good night.
116286
116287 "So you are going to Petersburg tomorrow?" she asked.
116288
116289 "No, I am not going," Pierre replied hastily, in a surprised tone
116290 and as though offended. "Yes... no... to Petersburg? Tomorrow--but I
116291 won't say good-by yet. I will call round in case you have any
116292 commissions for me," said he, standing before Princess Mary and
116293 turning red, but not taking his departure.
116294
116295 Natasha gave him her hand and went out. Princess Mary on the other
116296 hand instead of going away sank into an armchair, and looked sternly
116297 and intently at him with her deep, radiant eyes. The weariness she had
116298 plainly shown before had now quite passed off. With a deep and
116299 long-drawn sigh she seemed to be prepared for a lengthy talk.
116300
116301 When Natasha left the room Pierre's confusion and awkwardness
116302 immediately vanished and were replaced by eager excitement. He quickly
116303 moved an armchair toward Princess Mary.
116304
116305 "Yes, I wanted to tell you," said he, answering her look as if she
116306 had spoken. "Princess, help me! What am I to do? Can I hope? Princess,
116307 my dear friend, listen! I know it all. I know I am not worthy of
116308 her, I know it's impossible to speak of it now. But I want to be a
116309 brother to her. No, not that, I don't, I can't..."
116310
116311 He paused and rubbed his face and eyes with his hands.
116312
116313 "Well," he went on with an evident effort at self-control and
116314 coherence. "I don't know when I began to love her, but I have loved
116315 her and her alone all my life, and I love her so that I cannot imagine
116316 life without her. I cannot propose to her at present, but the
116317 thought that perhaps she might someday be my wife and that I may be
116318 missing that possibility... that possibility... is terrible. Tell
116319 me, can I hope? Tell me what I am to do, dear princess!" he added
116320 after a pause, and touched her hand as she did not reply.
116321
116322 "I am thinking of what you have told me," answered Princess Mary.
116323 "This is what I will say. You are right that to speak to her of love
116324 at present..."
116325
116326 Princess Mary stopped. She was going to say that to speak of love
116327 was impossible, but she stopped because she had seen by the sudden
116328 change in Natasha two days before that she would not only not be
116329 hurt if Pierre spoke of his love, but that it was the very thing she
116330 wished for.
116331
116332 "To speak to her now wouldn't do," said the princess all the same.
116333
116334 "But what am I to do?"
116335
116336 "Leave it to me," said Princess Mary. "I know..."
116337
116338 Pierre was looking into Princess Mary's eyes.
116339
116340 "Well?... Well?..." he said.
116341
116342 "I know that she loves... will love you," Princess Mary corrected
116343 herself.
116344
116345 Before her words were out, Pierre had sprung up and with a
116346 frightened expression seized Princess Mary's hand.
116347
116348 "What makes you think so? You think I may hope? You think...?"
116349
116350 "Yes, I think so," said Princess Mary with a smile. "Write to her
116351 parents, and leave it to me. I will tell her when I can. I wish it
116352 to happen and my heart tells me it will."
116353
116354 "No, it cannot be! How happy I am! But it can't be.... How happy I
116355 am! No, it can't be!" Pierre kept saying as he kissed Princess
116356 Mary's hands.
116357
116358 "Go to Petersburg, that will be best. And I will write to you,"
116359 she said.
116360
116361 "To Petersburg? Go there? Very well, I'll go. But I may come again
116362 tomorrow?"
116363
116364 Next day Pierre came to say good-by. Natasha was less animated
116365 than she had been the day before; but that day as he looked at her
116366 Pierre sometimes felt as if he was vanishing and that neither he nor
116367 she existed any longer, that nothing existed but happiness. "Is it
116368 possible? No, it can't be," he told himself at every look, gesture,
116369 and word that filled his soul with joy.
116370
116371 When on saying good-by he took her thin, slender hand, he could
116372 not help holding it a little longer in his own.
116373
116374 "Is it possible that this hand, that face, those eyes, all this
116375 treasure of feminine charm so strange to me now, is it possible that
116376 it will one day be mine forever, as familiar to me as I am to
116377 myself?... No, that's impossible!..."
116378
116379 "Good-by, Count," she said aloud. "I shall look forward very much to
116380 your return," she added in a whisper.
116381
116382 And these simple words, her look, and the expression on her face
116383 which accompanied them, formed for two months the subject of
116384 inexhaustible memories, interpretations, and happy meditations for
116385 Pierre. "'I shall look forward very much to your return....' Yes, yes,
116386 how did she say it? Yes, 'I shall look forward very much to your
116387 return.' Oh, how happy I am! What is happening to me? How happy I am!"
116388 said Pierre to himself.
116389
116390
116391
116392
116393
116394 CHAPTER XIX
116395
116396
116397 There was nothing in Pierre's soul now at all like what had troubled
116398 it during his courtship of Helene.
116399
116400 He did not repeat to himself with a sickening feeling of shame the
116401 words he had spoken, or say: "Oh, why did I not say that?" and,
116402 "Whatever made me say 'Je vous aime'?" On the contrary, he now
116403 repeated in imagination every word that he or Natasha had spoken and
116404 pictured every detail of her face and smile, and did not wish to
116405 diminish or add anything, but only to repeat it again and again. There
116406 was now not a shadow of doubt in his mind as to whether what he had
116407 undertaken was right or wrong. Only one terrible doubt sometimes
116408 crossed his mind: "Wasn't it all a dream? Isn't Princess Mary
116409 mistaken? Am I not too conceited and self-confident? I believe all
116410 this--and suddenly Princess Mary will tell her, and she will be sure
116411 to smile and say: 'How strange! He must be deluding himself. Doesn't
116412 he know that he is a man, just a man, while I...? I am something
116413 altogether different and higher.'"
116414
116415 That was the only doubt often troubling Pierre. He did not now
116416 make any plans. The happiness before him appeared so inconceivable
116417 that if only he could attain it, it would be the end of all things.
116418 Everything ended with that.
116419
116420 A joyful, unexpected frenzy, of which he had thought himself
116421 incapable, possessed him. The whole meaning of life--not for him alone
116422 but for the whole world--seemed to him centered in his love and the
116423 possibility of being loved by her. At times everybody seemed to him to
116424 be occupied with one thing only--his future happiness. Sometimes it
116425 seemed to him that other people were all as pleased as he was
116426 himself and merely tried to hide that pleasure by pretending to be
116427 busy with other interests. In every word and gesture he saw
116428 allusions to his happiness. He often surprised those he met by his
116429 significantly happy looks and smiles which seemed to express a
116430 secret understanding between him and them. And when he realized that
116431 people might not be aware of his happiness, he pitied them with his
116432 whole heart and felt a desire somehow to explain to them that all that
116433 occupied them was a mere frivolous trifle unworthy of attention.
116434
116435 When it was suggested to him that he should enter the civil service,
116436 or when the war or any general political affairs were discussed on the
116437 assumption that everybody's welfare depended on this or that issue
116438 of events, he would listen with a mild and pitying smile and
116439 surprise people by his strange comments. But at this time he saw
116440 everybody--both those who, as he imagined, understood the real meaning
116441 of life (that is, what he was feeling) and those unfortunates who
116442 evidently did not understand it--in the bright light of the emotion
116443 that shone within himself, and at once without any effort saw in
116444 everyone he met everything that was good and worthy of being loved.
116445
116446 When dealing with the affairs and papers of his dead wife, her
116447 memory aroused in him no feeling but pity that she had not known the
116448 bliss he now knew. Prince Vasili, who having obtained a new post and
116449 some fresh decorations was particularly proud at this time, seemed
116450 to him a pathetic, kindly old man much to be pitied.
116451
116452 Often in afterlife Pierre recalled this period of blissful insanity.
116453 All the views he formed of men and circumstances at this time remained
116454 true for him always. He not only did not renounce them subsequently,
116455 but when he was in doubt or inwardly at variance, he referred to the
116456 views he had held at this time of his madness and they always proved
116457 correct.
116458
116459 "I may have appeared strange and queer then," he thought, "but I was
116460 not so mad as I seemed. On the contrary I was then wiser and had
116461 more insight than at any other time, and understood all that is
116462 worth understanding in life, because... because I was happy."
116463
116464 Pierre's insanity consisted in not waiting, as he used to do, to
116465 discover personal attributes which he termed "good qualities" in
116466 people before loving them; his heart was now overflowing with love,
116467 and by loving people without cause he discovered indubitable causes
116468 for loving them.
116469
116470
116471
116472
116473
116474 CHAPTER XX
116475
116476
116477 After Pierre's departure that first evening, when Natasha had said
116478 to Princess Mary with a gaily mocking smile: "He looks just, yes, just
116479 as if he had come out of a Russian bath--in a short coat and with
116480 his hair cropped," something hidden and unknown to herself, but
116481 irrepressible, awoke in Natasha's soul.
116482
116483 Everything: her face, walk, look, and voice, was suddenly altered.
116484 To her own surprise a power of life and hope of happiness rose to
116485 the surface and demanded satisfaction. From that evening she seemed to
116486 have forgotten all that had happened to her. She no longer
116487 complained of her position, did not say a word about the past, and
116488 no longer feared to make happy plans for the future. She spoke
116489 little of Pierre, but when Princess Mary mentioned him a
116490 long-extinguished light once more kindled in her eyes and her lips
116491 curved with a strange smile.
116492
116493 The change that took place in Natasha at first surprised Princess
116494 Mary; but when she understood its meaning it grieved her. "Can she
116495 have loved my brother so little as to be able to forget him so
116496 soon?" she thought when she reflected on the change. But when she
116497 was with Natasha she was not vexed with her and did not reproach
116498 her. The reawakened power of life that had seized Natasha was so
116499 evidently irrepressible and unexpected by her that in her presence
116500 Princess Mary felt that she had no right to reproach her even in her
116501 heart.
116502
116503 Natasha gave herself up so fully and frankly to this new feeling
116504 that she did not try to hide the fact that she was no longer sad,
116505 but bright and cheerful.
116506
116507 When Princess Mary returned to her room after her nocturnal talk
116508 with Pierre, Natasha met her on the threshold.
116509
116510 "He has spoken? Yes? He has spoken?" she repeated.
116511
116512 And a joyful yet pathetic expression which seemed to beg forgiveness
116513 for her joy settled on Natasha's face.
116514
116515 "I wanted to listen at the door, but I knew you would tell me."
116516
116517 Understandable and touching as the look with which Natasha gazed
116518 at her seemed to Princess Mary, and sorry as she was to see her
116519 agitation, these words pained her for a moment. She remembered her
116520 brother and his love.
116521
116522 "But what's to be done? She can't help it," thought the princess.
116523
116524 And with a sad and rather stern look she told Natasha all that
116525 Pierre had said. On hearing that he was going to Petersburg Natasha
116526 was astounded.
116527
116528 "To Petersburg!" she repeated as if unable to understand.
116529
116530 But noticing the grieved expression on Princess Mary's face she
116531 guessed the reason of that sadness and suddenly began to cry.
116532
116533 "Mary," said she, "tell me what I should do! I am afraid of being
116534 bad. Whatever you tell me, I will do. Tell me...."
116535
116536 "You love him?"
116537
116538 "Yes," whispered Natasha.
116539
116540 "Then why are you crying? I am happy for your sake," said Princess
116541 Mary, who because of those tears quite forgave Natasha's joy.
116542
116543 "It won't be just yet--someday. Think what fun it will be when I
116544 am his wife and you marry Nicholas!"
116545
116546 "Natasha, I have asked you not to speak of that. Let us talk about
116547 you."
116548
116549 They were silent awhile.
116550
116551 "But why go to Petersburg?" Natasha suddenly asked, and hastily
116552 replied to her own question. "But no, no, he must... Yes, Mary, He
116553 must...."
116554
116555
116556
116557
116558
116559
116560 FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 --20
116561
116562
116563
116564
116565
116566 CHAPTER I
116567
116568
116569 Seven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history had
116570 subsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm. But the
116571 mysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws of
116572 their motion are unknown to us) continued to operate.
116573
116574 Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless, the
116575 movement of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of time.
116576 Various groups of people formed and dissolved, the coming formation
116577 and dissolution of kingdoms and displacement of peoples was in
116578 course of preparation.
116579
116580 The sea of history was not driven spasmodically from shore to
116581 shore as previously. It was seething in its depths. Historic figures
116582 were not borne by the waves from one shore to another as before.
116583 They now seemed to rotate on one spot. The historical figures at the
116584 head of armies, who formerly reflected the movement of the masses by
116585 ordering wars, campaigns, and battles, now reflected the restless
116586 movement by political and diplomatic combinations, laws, and treaties.
116587
116588 The historians call this activity of the historical figures "the
116589 reaction."
116590
116591 In dealing with this period they sternly condemn the historical
116592 personages who, in their opinion, caused what they describe as the
116593 reaction. All the well-known people of that period, from Alexander and
116594 Napoleon to Madame de Stael, Photius, Schelling, Fichte,
116595 Chateaubriand, and the rest, pass before their stern judgment seat and
116596 are acquitted or condemned according to whether they conduced to
116597 progress or to reaction.
116598
116599 According to their accounts a reaction took place at that time in
116600 Russia also, and the chief culprit was Alexander I, the same man who
116601 according to them was the chief cause of the liberal movement at the
116602 commencement of his reign, being the savior of Russia.
116603
116604 There is no one in Russian literature now, from schoolboy essayist
116605 to learned historian, who does not throw his little stone at Alexander
116606 for things he did wrong at this period of his reign.
116607
116608 "He ought to have acted in this way and in that way. In this case he
116609 did well and in that case badly. He behaved admirably at the beginning
116610 of his reign and during 1812, but acted badly by giving a constitution
116611 to Poland, forming the Holy Alliance, entrusting power to Arakcheev,
116612 favoring Golitsyn and mysticism, and afterwards Shishkov and
116613 Photius. He also acted badly by concerning himself with the active
116614 army and disbanding the Semenov regiment."
116615
116616 It would take a dozen pages to enumerate all the reproaches the
116617 historians address to him, based on their knowledge of what is good
116618 for humanity.
116619
116620 What do these reproaches mean?
116621
116622 Do not the very actions for which the historians praise Alexander
116623 I (the liberal attempts at the beginning of his reign, his struggle
116624 with Napoleon, the firmness he displayed in 1812 and the campaign of
116625 1813) flow from the same sources--the circumstances of his birth,
116626 education, and life--that made his personality what it was and from
116627 which the actions for which they blame him (the Holy Alliance, the
116628 restoration of Poland, and the reaction of 1820 and later) also
116629 flowed?
116630
116631 In what does the substance of those reproaches lie?
116632
116633 It lies in the fact that an historic character like Alexander I,
116634 standing on the highest possible pinnacle of human power with the
116635 blinding light of history focused upon him; a character exposed to
116636 those strongest of all influences: the intrigues, flattery, and
116637 self-deception inseparable from power; a character who at every moment
116638 of his life felt a responsibility for all that was happening in
116639 Europe; and not a fictitious but a live character who like every man
116640 had his personal habits, passions, and impulses toward goodness,
116641 beauty, and truth--that this character--though not lacking in virtue
116642 (the historians do not accuse him of that)--had not the same
116643 conception of the welfare of humanity fifty years ago as a present-day
116644 professor who from his youth upwards has been occupied with
116645 learning: that is, with books and lectures and with taking notes
116646 from them.
116647
116648 But even if we assume that fifty years ago Alexander I was
116649 mistaken in his view of what was good for the people, we must
116650 inevitably assume that the historian who judges Alexander will also
116651 after the lapse of some time turn out to be mistaken in his view of
116652 what is good for humanity. This assumption is all the more natural and
116653 inevitable because, watching the movement of history, we see that
116654 every year and with each new writer, opinion as to what is good for
116655 mankind changes; so that what once seemed good, ten years later
116656 seems bad, and vice versa. And what is more, we find at one and the
116657 same time quite contradictory views as to what is bad and what is good
116658 in history: some people regard giving a constitution to Poland and
116659 forming the Holy Alliance as praiseworthy in Alexander, while others
116660 regard it as blameworthy.
116661
116662 The activity of Alexander or of Napoleon cannot be called useful
116663 or harmful, for it is impossible to say for what it was useful or
116664 harmful. If that activity displeases somebody, this is only because it
116665 does not agree with his limited understanding of what is good. Whether
116666 the preservation of my father's house in Moscow, or the glory of the
116667 Russian arms, or the prosperity of the Petersburg and other
116668 universities, or the freedom of Poland or the greatness of Russia,
116669 or the balance of power in Europe, or a certain kind of European
116670 culture called "progress" appear to me to be good or bad, I must admit
116671 that besides these things the action of every historic character has
116672 other more general purposes inaccessible to me.
116673
116674 But let us assume that what is called science can harmonize all
116675 contradictions and possesses an unchanging standard of good and bad by
116676 which to try historic characters and events; let us say that Alexander
116677 could have done everything differently; let us say that with
116678 guidance from those who blame him and who profess to know the ultimate
116679 aim of the movement of humanity, he might have arranged matters
116680 according to the program his present accusers would have given him--of
116681 nationality, freedom, equality, and progress (these, I think, cover
116682 the ground). Let us assume that this program was possible and had then
116683 been formulated, and that Alexander had acted on it. What would then
116684 have become of the activity of all those who opposed the tendency that
116685 then prevailed in the government--an activity that in the opinion of
116686 the historians was good and beneficent? Their activity would not
116687 have existed: there would have been no life, there would have been
116688 nothing.
116689
116690 If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the
116691 possibility of life is destroyed.
116692
116693
116694
116695
116696
116697 CHAPTER II
116698
116699
116700 If we assume as the historians do that great men lead humanity to
116701 the attainment of certain ends--the greatness of Russia or of
116702 France, the balance of power in Europe, the diffusion of the ideas
116703 of the Revolution general progress or anything else--then it is
116704 impossible to explain the facts of history without introducing the
116705 conceptions of chance and genius.
116706
116707 If the aim of the European wars at the beginning of the nineteenth
116708 century had been the aggrandizement of Russia, that aim might have
116709 been accomplished without all the preceding wars and without the
116710 invasion. If the aim was the aggrandizement of France, that might have
116711 been attained without the Revolution and without the Empire. If the
116712 aim was the dissemination of ideas, the printing press could have
116713 accomplished that much better than warfare. If the aim was the
116714 progress of civilization, it is easy to see that there are other
116715 ways of diffusing civilization more expedient than by the
116716 destruction of wealth and of human lives.
116717
116718 Why did it happen in this and not in some other way?
116719
116720 Because it happened so! "Chance created the situation; genius
116721 utilized it," says history.
116722
116723 But what is chance? What is genius?
116724
116725 The words chance and genius do not denote any really existing
116726 thing and therefore cannot be defined. Those words only denote a
116727 certain stage of understanding of phenomena. I do not know why a
116728 certain event occurs; I think that I cannot know it; so I do not try
116729 to know it and I talk about chance. I see a force producing effects
116730 beyond the scope of ordinary human agencies; I do not understand why
116731 this occurs and I talk of genius.
116732
116733 To a herd of rams, the ram the herdsman drives each evening into a
116734 special enclosure to feed and that becomes twice as fat as the
116735 others must seem to be a genius. And it must appear an astonishing
116736 conjunction of genius with a whole series of extraordinary chances
116737 that this ram, who instead of getting into the general fold every
116738 evening goes into a special enclosure where there are oats--that
116739 this very ram, swelling with fat, is killed for meat.
116740
116741 But the rams need only cease to suppose that all that happens to
116742 them happens solely for the attainment of their sheepish aims; they
116743 need only admit that what happens to them may also have purposes
116744 beyond their ken, and they will at once perceive a unity and coherence
116745 in what happened to the ram that was fattened. Even if they do not
116746 know for what purpose they are fattened, they will at least know
116747 that all that happened to the ram did not happen accidentally, and
116748 will no longer need the conceptions of chance or genius.
116749
116750 Only by renouncing our claim to discern a purpose immediately
116751 intelligible to us, and admitting the ultimate purpose to be beyond
116752 our ken, may we discern the sequence of experiences in the lives of
116753 historic characters and perceive the cause of the effect they
116754 produce (incommensurable with ordinary human capabilities), and then
116755 the words chance and genius become superfluous.
116756
116757 We need only confess that we do not know the purpose of the European
116758 convulsions and that we know only the facts--that is, the murders,
116759 first in France, then in Italy, in Africa, in Prussia, in Austria,
116760 in Spain, and in Russia--and that the movements from the west to the
116761 east and from the east to the west form the essence and purpose of
116762 these events, and not only shall we have no need to see exceptional
116763 ability and genius in Napoleon and Alexander, but we shall be unable
116764 to consider them to be anything but like other men, and we shall not
116765 be obliged to have recourse to chance for an explanation of those
116766 small events which made these people what they were, but it will be
116767 clear that all those small events were inevitable.
116768
116769 By discarding a claim to knowledge of the ultimate purpose, we shall
116770 clearly perceive that just as one cannot imagine a blossom or seed for
116771 any single plant better suited to it than those it produces, so it
116772 is impossible to imagine any two people more completely adapted down
116773 to the smallest detail for the purpose they had to fulfill, than
116774 Napoleon and Alexander with all their antecedents.
116775
116776
116777
116778
116779
116780 CHAPTER III
116781
116782
116783 The fundamental and essential significance of the European events of
116784 the beginning of the nineteenth century lies in the movement of the
116785 mass of the European peoples from west to east and afterwards from
116786 east to west. The commencement of that movement was the movement
116787 from west to east. For the peoples of the west to be able to make
116788 their warlike movement to Moscow it was necessary: (1) that they
116789 should form themselves into a military group of a size able to
116790 endure a collision with the warlike military group of the east, (2)
116791 that they should abandon all established traditions and customs, and
116792 (3) that during their military movement they should have at their head
116793 a man who could justify to himself and to them the deceptions,
116794 robberies, and murders which would have to be committed during that
116795 movement.
116796
116797 And beginning with the French Revolution the old inadequately
116798 large group was destroyed, as well as the old habits and traditions,
116799 and step by step a group was formed of larger dimensions with new
116800 customs and traditions, and a man was produced who would stand at
116801 the head of the coming movement and bear the responsibility for all
116802 that had to be done.
116803
116804 A man without convictions, without habits, without traditions,
116805 without a name, and not even a Frenchman, emerges--by what seem the
116806 strangest chances--from among all the seething French parties, and
116807 without joining any one of them is borne forward to a prominent
116808 position.
116809
116810 The ignorance of his colleagues, the weakness and insignificance
116811 of his opponents, the frankness of his falsehoods, and the dazzling
116812 and self-confident limitations of this man raise him to the head of
116813 the army. The brilliant qualities of the soldiers of the army sent
116814 to Italy, his opponents' reluctance to fight, and his own childish
116815 audacity and self-confidence secure him military fame. Innumerable
116816 so called chances accompany him everywhere. The disfavor into which he
116817 falls with the rulers of France turns to his advantage. His attempts
116818 to avoid his predestined path are unsuccessful: he is not received
116819 into the Russian service, and the appointment he seeks in Turkey comes
116820 to nothing. During the war in Italy he is several times on the verge
116821 of destruction and each time is saved in an unexpected manner. Owing
116822 to various diplomatic considerations the Russian armies--just those
116823 which might have destroyed his prestige--do not appear upon the
116824 scene till he is no longer there.
116825
116826 On his return from Italy he finds the government in Paris in a
116827 process of dissolution in which all those who are in it are inevitably
116828 wiped out and destroyed. And by chance an escape from this dangerous
116829 position presents itself in the form of an aimless and senseless
116830 expedition to Africa. Again so-called chance accompanies him.
116831 Impregnable Malta surrenders without a shot; his most reckless schemes
116832 are crowned with success. The enemy's fleet, which subsequently did
116833 not let a single boat pass, allows his entire army to elude it. In
116834 Africa a whole series of outrages are committed against the almost
116835 unarmed inhabitants. And the men who commit these crimes, especially
116836 their leader, assure themselves that this is admirable, this is glory-
116837 it resembles Caesar and Alexander the Great and is therefore good.
116838
116839 This ideal of glory and grandeur--which consists not merely in
116840 considering nothing wrong that one does but in priding oneself on
116841 every crime one commits, ascribing to it an incomprehensible
116842 supernatural significance--that ideal, destined to guide this man
116843 and his associates, had scope for its development in Africa.
116844 Whatever he does succeeds. The plague does not touch him. The
116845 cruelty of murdering prisoners is not imputed to him as a fault. His
116846 childishly rash, uncalled-for, and ignoble departure from Africa,
116847 leaving his comrades in distress, is set down to his credit, and again
116848 the enemy's fleet twice lets him slip past. When, intoxicated by the
116849 crimes he has committed so successfully, he reaches Paris, the
116850 dissolution of the republican government, which a year earlier might
116851 have ruined him, has reached its extreme limit, and his presence there
116852 now as a newcomer free from party entanglements can only serve to
116853 exalt him--and though he himself has no plan, he is quite ready for
116854 his new role.
116855
116856 He had no plan, he was afraid of everything, but the parties
116857 snatched at him and demanded his participation.
116858
116859 He alone--with his ideal of glory and grandeur developed in Italy
116860 and Egypt, his insane self-adulation, his boldness in crime and
116861 frankness in lying--he alone could justify what had to be done.
116862
116863 He is needed for the place that awaits him, and so almost apart from
116864 his will and despite his indecision, his lack of a plan, and all his
116865 mistakes, he is drawn into a conspiracy that aims at seizing power and
116866 the conspiracy is crowned with success.
116867
116868 He is pushed into a meeting of the legislature. In alarm he wishes
116869 to flee, considering himself lost. He pretends to fall into a swoon
116870 and says senseless things that should have ruined him. But the once
116871 proud and shrewd rulers of France, feeling that their part is played
116872 out, are even more bewildered than he, and do not say the words they
116873 should have said to destroy him and retain their power.
116874
116875 Chance, millions of chances, give him power, and all men as if by
116876 agreement co-operate to confirm that power. Chance forms the
116877 characters of the rulers of France, who submit to him; chance forms
116878 the character of Paul I of Russia who recognizes his government;
116879 chance contrives a plot against him which not only fails to harm him
116880 but confirms his power. Chance puts the Duc d'Enghien in his hands and
116881 unexpectedly causes him to kill him--thereby convincing the mob more
116882 forcibly than in any other way that he had the right, since he had the
116883 might. Chance contrives that though he directs all his efforts to
116884 prepare an expedition against England (which would inevitably have
116885 ruined him) he never carries out that intention, but unexpectedly
116886 falls upon Mack and the Austrians, who surrender without a battle.
116887 Chance and genius give him the victory at Austerlitz; and by chance
116888 all men, not only the French but all Europe--except England which does
116889 not take part in the events about to happen--despite their former
116890 horror and detestation of his crimes, now recognize his authority, the
116891 title he has given himself, and his ideal of grandeur and glory, which
116892 seems excellent and reasonable to them all.
116893
116894 As if measuring themselves and preparing for the coming movement,
116895 the western forces push toward the east several times in 1805, 1806,
116896 1807, and 1809, gaining strength and growing. In 1811 the group of
116897 people that had formed in France unites into one group with the
116898 peoples of Central Europe. The strength of the justification of the
116899 man who stands at the head of the movement grows with the increased
116900 size of the group. During the ten-year preparatory period this man had
116901 formed relations with all the crowned heads of Europe. The discredited
116902 rulers of the world can oppose no reasonable ideal to the insensate
116903 Napoleonic ideal of glory and grandeur. One after another they
116904 hasten to display their insignificance before him. The King of Prussia
116905 sends his wife to seek the great man's mercy; the Emperor of Austria
116906 considers it a favor that this man receives a daughter the Caesars
116907 into his bed; the Pope, the guardian of all that the nations hold
116908 sacred, utilizes religion for the aggrandizement of the great man.
116909 It is not Napoleon who prepares himself for the accomplishment of
116910 his role, so much as all those round him who prepare him to take on
116911 himself the whole responsibility for what is happening and has to
116912 happen. There is no step, no crime or petty fraud he commits, which in
116913 the mouths of those around him is not at once represented as a great
116914 deed. The most suitable fete the Germans can devise for him is a
116915 celebration of Jena and Auerstadt. Not only is he great, but so are
116916 his ancestors, his brothers, his stepsons, and his brothers-in-law.
116917 Everything is done to deprive him of the remains of his reason and
116918 to prepare him for his terrible part. And when he is ready so too
116919 are the forces.
116920
116921 The invasion pushes eastward and reaches its final goal--Moscow.
116922 That city is taken; the Russian army suffers heavier losses than the
116923 opposing armies had suffered in the former war from Austerlitz to
116924 Wagram. But suddenly instead of those chances and that genius which
116925 hitherto had so consistently led him by an uninterrupted series of
116926 successes to the predestined goal, an innumerable sequence of
116927 inverse chances occur--from the cold in his head at Borodino to the
116928 sparks which set Moscow on fire, and the frosts--and instead of
116929 genius, stupidity and immeasurable baseness become evident.
116930
116931 The invaders flee, turn back, flee again, and all the chances are
116932 now not for Napoleon but always against him.
116933
116934 A countermovement is then accomplished from east to west with a
116935 remarkable resemblance to the preceding movement from west to east.
116936 Attempted drives from east to west--similar to the contrary
116937 movements of 1805, 1807, and 1809--precede the great westward
116938 movement; there is the same coalescence into a group of enormous
116939 dimensions; the same adhesion of the people of Central Europe to the
116940 movement; the same hesitation midway, and the same increasing rapidity
116941 as the goal is approached.
116942
116943 Paris, the ultimate goal, is reached. The Napoleonic government
116944 and army are destroyed. Napoleon himself is no longer of any
116945 account; all his actions are evidently pitiful and mean, but again
116946 an inexplicable chance occurs. The allies detest Napoleon whom they
116947 regard as the cause of their sufferings. Deprived of power and
116948 authority, his crimes and his craft exposed, he should have appeared
116949 to them what he appeared ten years previously and one year later--an
116950 outlawed brigand. But by some strange chance no one perceives this.
116951 His part is not yet ended. The man who ten years before and a year
116952 later was considered an outlawed brigand is sent to an island two
116953 days' sail from France, which for some reason is presented to him as
116954 his dominion, and guards are given to him and millions of money are
116955 paid him.
116956
116957
116958
116959
116960
116961 CHAPTER IV
116962
116963
116964 The flood of nations begins to subside into its normal channels. The
116965 waves of the great movement abate, and on the calm surface eddies
116966 are formed in which float the diplomatists, who imagine that they have
116967 caused the floods to abate.
116968
116969 But the smooth sea again suddenly becomes disturbed. The
116970 diplomatists think that their disagreements are the cause of this
116971 fresh pressure of natural forces; they anticipate war between their
116972 sovereigns; the position seems to them insoluble. But the wave they
116973 feel to be rising does not come from the quarter they expect. It rises
116974 again from the same point as before--Paris. The last backwash of the
116975 movement from the west occurs: a backwash which serves to solve the
116976 apparently insuperable diplomatic difficulties and ends the military
116977 movement of that period of history.
116978
116979 The man who had devastated France returns to France alone, without
116980 any conspiracy and without soldiers. Any guard might arrest him, but
116981 by strange chance no one does so and all rapturously greet the man
116982 they cursed the day before and will curse again a month later.
116983
116984 This man is still needed to justify the final collective act.
116985
116986 That act is performed.
116987
116988 The last role is played. The actor is bidden to disrobe and wash off
116989 his powder and paint: he will not be wanted any more.
116990
116991 And some years pass during which he plays a pitiful comedy to
116992 himself in solitude on his island, justifying his actions by intrigues
116993 and lies when the justification is no longer needed, and displaying to
116994 the whole world what it was that people had mistaken for strength as
116995 long as an unseen hand directed his actions.
116996
116997 The manager having brought the drama to a close and stripped the
116998 actor shows him to us.
116999
117000 "See what you believed in! This is he! Do you now see that it was
117001 not he but I who moved you?"
117002
117003 But dazed by the force of the movement, it was long before people
117004 understood this.
117005
117006 Still greater coherence and inevitability is seen in the life of
117007 Alexander I, the man who stood at the head of the countermovement from
117008 east to west.
117009
117010 What was needed for him who, overshadowing others, stood at the head
117011 of that movement from east to west?
117012
117013 What was needed was a sense of justice and a sympathy with
117014 European affairs, but a remote sympathy not dulled by petty interests;
117015 a moral superiority over those sovereigns of the day who co-operated
117016 with him; a mild and attractive personality; and a personal
117017 grievance against Napoleon. And all this was found in Alexander I; all
117018 this had been prepared by innumerable so-called chances in his life:
117019 his education, his early liberalism, the advisers who surrounded
117020 him, and by Austerlitz, and Tilsit, and Erfurt.
117021
117022 During the national war he was inactive because he was not needed.
117023 But as soon as the necessity for a general European war presented
117024 itself he appeared in his place at the given moment and, uniting the
117025 nations of Europe, led them to the goal.
117026
117027 The goal is reached. After the final war of 1815 Alexander possesses
117028 all possible power. How does he use it?
117029
117030 Alexander I--the pacifier of Europe, the man who from his early
117031 years had striven only for his people's welfare, the originator of the
117032 liberal innovations in his fatherland--now that he seemed to possess
117033 the utmost power and therefore to have the possibility of bringing
117034 about the welfare of his peoples--at the time when Napoleon in exile
117035 was drawing up childish and mendacious plans of how he would have made
117036 mankind happy had he retained power--Alexander I, having fulfilled his
117037 mission and feeling the hand of God upon him, suddenly recognizes
117038 the insignificance of that supposed power, turns away from it, and
117039 gives it into the hands of contemptible men whom he despises, saying
117040 only:
117041
117042 "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy Name!... I too am a man like
117043 the rest of you. Let me live like a man and think of my soul and of
117044 God."
117045
117046 As the sun and each atom of ether is a sphere complete in itself,
117047 and yet at the same time only a part of a whole too immense for man to
117048 comprehend, so each individual has within himself his own aims and yet
117049 has them to serve a general purpose incomprehensible to man.
117050
117051 A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is
117052 afraid of bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet
117053 admires the bee sucking from the chalice of a flower and says it
117054 exists to suck the fragrance of flowers. A beekeeper, seeing the bee
117055 collect pollen from flowers and carry it to the hive, says that it
117056 exists to gather honey. Another beekeeper who has studied the life
117057 of the hive more closely says that the bee gathers pollen dust to feed
117058 the young bees and rear a queen, and that it exists to perpetuate
117059 its race. A botanist notices that the bee flying with the pollen of
117060 a male flower to a pistil fertilizes the latter, and sees in this
117061 the purpose of the bee's existence. Another, observing the migration
117062 of plants, notices that the bee helps in this work, and may say that
117063 in this lies the purpose of the bee. But the ultimate purpose of the
117064 bee is not exhausted by the first, the second, or any of the processes
117065 the human mind can discern. The higher the human intellect rises in
117066 the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes, that the
117067 ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension.
117068
117069 All that is accessible to man is the relation of the life of the bee
117070 to other manifestations of life. And so it is with the purpose of
117071 historic characters and nations.
117072
117073
117074
117075
117076
117077 CHAPTER V
117078
117079
117080 Natasha's wedding to Bezukhov, which took place in 1813, was the
117081 last happy event in the family of the old Rostovs. Count Ilya Rostov
117082 died that same year and, as always happens, after the father's death
117083 the family group broke up.
117084
117085 The events of the previous year: the burning of Moscow and the
117086 flight from it, the death of Prince Andrew, Natasha's despair, Petya's
117087 death, and the old countess' grief fell blow after blow on the old
117088 count's head. He seemed to be unable to understand the meaning of
117089 all these events, and bowed his old head in a spiritual sense as if
117090 expecting and inviting further blows which would finish him. He seemed
117091 now frightened and distraught and now unnaturally animated and
117092 enterprising.
117093
117094 The arrangements for Natasha's marriage occupied him for a while. He
117095 ordered dinners and suppers and obviously tried to appear cheerful,
117096 but his cheerfulness was not infectious as it used to be: on the
117097 contrary it evoked the compassion of those who knew and liked him.
117098
117099 When Pierre and his wife had left, he grew very quiet and began to
117100 complain of depression. A few days later he fell ill and took to his
117101 bed. He realized from the first that he would not get up again,
117102 despite the doctor's encouragement. The countess passed a fortnight in
117103 an armchair by his pillow without undressing. Every time she gave
117104 him his medicine he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On his last
117105 day, sobbing, he asked her and his absent son to forgive him for
117106 having dissipated their property--that being the chief fault of
117107 which he was conscious. After receiving communion and unction he
117108 quietly died; and next day a throng of acquaintances who came to pay
117109 their last respects to the deceased filled the house rented by the
117110 Rostovs. All these acquaintances, who had so often dined and danced at
117111 his house and had so often laughed at him, now said, with a common
117112 feeling of self-reproach and emotion, as if justifying themselves:
117113 "Well, whatever he may have been he was a most worthy man. You don't
117114 meet such men nowadays.... And which of us has not weaknesses of his
117115 own?"
117116
117117 It was just when the count's affairs had become so involved that
117118 it was impossible to say what would happen if he lived another year
117119 that he unexpectedly died.
117120
117121 Nicholas was with the Russian army in Paris when the news of his
117122 father's death reached him. He at once resigned his commission, and
117123 without waiting for it to be accepted took leave of absence and went
117124 to Moscow. The state of the count's affairs became quite obvious a
117125 month after his death, surprising everyone by the immense total of
117126 small debts the existence of which no one had suspected. The debts
117127 amounted to double the value of the property.
117128
117129 Friends and relations advised Nicholas to decline the inheritance.
117130 But he regarded such a refusal as a slur on his father's memory, which
117131 he held sacred, and therefore would not hear of refusing and
117132 accepted the inheritance together with the obligation to pay the
117133 debts.
117134
117135 The creditors who had so long been silent, restrained by a vague but
117136 powerful influence exerted on them while he lived by the count's
117137 careless good nature, all proceeded to enforce their claims at once.
117138 As always happens in such cases rivalry sprang up as to which should
117139 get paid first, and those who like Mitenka held promissory notes given
117140 them as presents now became the most exacting of the creditors.
117141 Nicholas was allowed no respite and no peace, and those who had seemed
117142 to pity the old man--the cause of their losses (if they were
117143 losses)--now remorselessly pursued the young heir who had
117144 voluntarily undertaken the debts and was obviously not guilty of
117145 contracting them.
117146
117147 Not one of the plans Nicholas tried succeeded; the estate was sold
117148 by auction for half its value, and half the debts still remained
117149 unpaid. Nicholas accepted thirty thousand rubles offered him by his
117150 brother-in-law Bezukhov to pay off debts he regarded as genuinely
117151 due for value received. And to avoid being imprisoned for the
117152 remainder, as the creditors threatened, he re-entered the government
117153 service.
117154
117155 He could not rejoin the army where he would have been made colonel
117156 at the next vacancy, for his mother now clung to him as her one hold
117157 on life; and so despite his reluctance to remain in Moscow among people
117158 who had known him before, and despite his abhorrence of the civil
117159 service, he accepted a post in Moscow in that service, doffed the
117160 uniform of which he was so fond, and moved with his mother and Sonya
117161 to a small house on the Sivtsev Vrazhek.
117162
117163 Natasha and Pierre were living in Petersburg at the time and had
117164 no clear idea of Nicholas' circumstances. Having borrowed money from
117165 his brother-in-law, Nicholas tried to hide his wretched condition from
117166 him. His position was the more difficult because with his salary of
117167 twelve hundred rubles he had not only to keep himself, his mother, and
117168 Sonya, but had to shield his mother from knowledge of their poverty.
117169 The countess could not conceive of life without the luxurious
117170 conditions she had been used to from childhood and, unable to
117171 realize how hard it was for her son, kept demanding now a carriage
117172 (which they did not keep) to send for a friend, now some expensive
117173 article of food for herself, or wine for her son, or money to buy a
117174 present as a surprise for Natasha or Sonya, or for Nicholas himself.
117175
117176 Sonya kept house, attended on her aunt, read to her, put up with her
117177 whims and secret ill-will, and helped Nicholas to conceal their
117178 poverty from the old countess. Nicholas felt himself irredeemably
117179 indebted to Sonya for all she was doing for his mother and greatly
117180 admired her patience and devotion, but tried to keep aloof from her.
117181
117182 He seemed in his heart to reproach her for being too perfect, and
117183 because there was nothing to reproach her with. She had all that
117184 people are valued for, but little that could have made him love her.
117185 He felt that the more he valued her the less he loved her. He had
117186 taken her at her word when she wrote giving him his freedom and now
117187 behaved as if all that had passed between them had been long forgotten
117188 and could never in any case be renewed.
117189
117190 Nicholas' position became worse and worse. The idea of putting
117191 something aside out of his salary proved a dream. Not only did he
117192 not save anything, but to comply with his mother's demands he even
117193 incurred some small debts. He could see no way out of this
117194 situation. The idea of marrying some rich woman, which was suggested
117195 to him by his female relations, was repugnant to him. The other way
117196 out--his mother's death--never entered his head. He wished for nothing
117197 and hoped for nothing, and deep in his heart experienced a gloomy
117198 and stern satisfaction in an uncomplaining endurance of his
117199 position. He tried to avoid his old acquaintances with their
117200 commiseration and offensive offers of assistance; he avoided all
117201 distraction and recreation, and even at home did nothing but play
117202 cards with his mother, pace silently up and down the room, and smoke
117203 one pipe after another. He seemed carefully to cherish within
117204 himself the gloomy mood which alone enabled him to endure his
117205 position.
117206
117207
117208
117209
117210
117211 CHAPTER VI
117212
117213
117214 At the beginning of winter Princess Mary came to Moscow. From
117215 reports current in town she learned how the Rostovs were situated, and
117216 how "the son has sacrificed himself for his mother," as people were
117217 saying.
117218
117219 "I never expected anything else of him," said Princess Mary to
117220 herself, feeling a joyous sense of her love for him. Remembering her
117221 friendly relations with all the Rostovs which had made her almost a
117222 member of the family, she thought it her duty to go to see them. But
117223 remembering her relations with Nicholas in Voronezh she was shy
117224 about doing so. Making a great effort she did however go to call on
117225 them a few weeks after her arrival in Moscow.
117226
117227 Nicholas was the first to meet her, as the countess' room could only
117228 be reached through his. But instead of being greeted with pleasure
117229 as she had expected, at his first glance at her his face assumed a
117230 cold, stiff, proud expression she had not seen on it before. He
117231 inquired about her health, led the way to his mother, and having sat
117232 there for five minutes left the room.
117233
117234 When the princess came out of the countess' room Nicholas met her
117235 again, and with marked solemnity and stiffness accompanied her to
117236 the anteroom. To her remarks about his mother's health he made no
117237 reply. "What's that to you? Leave me in peace," his looks seemed to
117238 say.
117239
117240 "Why does she come prowling here? What does she want? I can't bear
117241 these ladies and all these civilities!" said he aloud in Sonya's
117242 presence, evidently unable to repress his vexation, after the
117243 princess' carriage had disappeared.
117244
117245 "Oh, Nicholas, how can you talk like that?" cried Sonya, hardly able
117246 to conceal her delight. "She is so kind and Mamma is so fond of her!"
117247
117248 Nicholas did not reply and tried to avoid speaking of the princess
117249 any more. But after her visit the old countess spoke of her several
117250 times a day.
117251
117252 She sang her praises, insisted that her son must call on her,
117253 expressed a wish to see her often, but yet always became ill-humored
117254 when she began to talk about her.
117255
117256 Nicholas tried to keep silence when his mother spoke of the
117257 princess, but his silence irritated her.
117258
117259 "She is a very admirable and excellent young woman," said she,
117260 "and you must go and call on her. You would at least be seeing
117261 somebody, and I think it must be dull for you only seeing us."
117262
117263 "But I don't in the least want to, Mamma."
117264
117265 "You used to want to, and now you don't. Really I don't understand
117266 you, my dear. One day you are dull, and the next you refuse to see
117267 anyone."
117268
117269 "But I never said I was dull."
117270
117271 "Why, you said yourself you don't want even to see her. She is a
117272 very admirable young woman and you always liked her, but now
117273 suddenly you have got some notion or other in your head. You hide
117274 everything from me."
117275
117276 "Not at all, Mamma."
117277
117278 "If I were asking you to do something disagreeable now--but I only
117279 ask you to return a call. One would think mere politeness required
117280 it.... Well, I have asked you, and now I won't interfere any more
117281 since you have secrets from your mother."
117282
117283 "Well, then, I'll go if you wish it."
117284
117285 "It doesn't matter to me. I only wish it for your sake."
117286
117287 Nicholas sighed, bit his mustache, and laid out the cards for a
117288 patience, trying to divert his mother's attention to another topic.
117289
117290 The same conversation was repeated next day and the day after, and
117291 the day after that.
117292
117293 After her visit to the Rostovs and her unexpectedly chilly reception
117294 by Nicholas, Princess Mary confessed to herself that she had been
117295 right in not wishing to be the first to call.
117296
117297 "I expected nothing else," she told herself, calling her pride to
117298 her aid. "I have nothing to do with him and I only wanted to see the
117299 old lady, who was always kind to me and to whom I am under many
117300 obligations."
117301
117302 But she could not pacify herself with these reflections; a feeling
117303 akin to remorse troubled her when she thought of her visit. Though she
117304 had firmly resolved not to call on the Rostovs again and to forget the
117305 whole matter, she felt herself all the time in an awkward position.
117306 And when she asked herself what distressed her, she had to admit
117307 that it was her relation to Rostov. His cold, polite manner did not
117308 express his feeling for her (she knew that) but it concealed
117309 something, and until she could discover what that something was, she
117310 felt that she could not be at ease.
117311
117312 One day in midwinter when sitting in the schoolroom attending to her
117313 nephew's lessons, she was informed that Rostov had called. With a firm
117314 resolution not to betray herself and not show her agitation, she
117315 sent for Mademoiselle Bourienne and went with her to the drawing room.
117316
117317 Her first glance at Nicholas' face told her that he had only come to
117318 fulfill the demands of politeness, and she firmly resolved to maintain
117319 the tone in which he addressed her.
117320
117321 They spoke of the countess' health, of their mutual friends, of
117322 the latest war news, and when the ten minutes required by propriety
117323 had elapsed after which a visitor may rise, Nicholas got up to say
117324 good-by.
117325
117326 With Mademoiselle Bourienne's help the princess had maintained the
117327 conversation very well, but at the very last moment, just when he
117328 rose, she was so tired of talking of what did not interest her, and
117329 her mind was so full of the question why she alone was granted so
117330 little happiness in life, that in a fit of absent-mindedness she sat
117331 still, her luminous eyes gazing fixedly before her, not noticing
117332 that he had risen.
117333
117334 Nicholas glanced at her and, wishing to appear not to notice her
117335 abstraction, made some remark to Mademoiselle Bourienne and then again
117336 looked at the princess. She still sat motionless with a look of
117337 suffering on her gentle face. He suddenly felt sorry for her and was
117338 vaguely conscious that he might be the cause of the sadness her face
117339 expressed. He wished to help her and say something pleasant, but could
117340 think of nothing to say.
117341
117342 "Good-by, Princess!" said he.
117343
117344 She started, flushed, and sighed deeply.
117345
117346 "Oh, I beg your pardon," she said as if waking up. "Are you going
117347 already, Count? Well then, good-by! Oh, but the cushion for the
117348 countess!"
117349
117350 "Wait a moment, I'll fetch it," said Mademoiselle Bourienne, and she
117351 left the room.
117352
117353 They both sat silent, with an occasional glance at one another.
117354
117355 "Yes, Princess," said Nicholas at last with a sad smile, "it doesn't
117356 seem long ago since we first met at Bogucharovo, but how much water
117357 has flowed since then! In what distress we all seemed to be then,
117358 yet I would give much to bring back that time... but there's no
117359 bringing it back."
117360
117361 Princess Mary gazed intently into his eyes with her own luminous
117362 ones as he said this. She seemed to be trying to fathom the hidden
117363 meaning of his words which would explain his feeling for her.
117364
117365 "Yes, yes," said she, "but you have no reason to regret the past,
117366 Count. As I understand your present life, I think you will always
117367 recall it with satisfaction, because the self-sacrifice that fills
117368 it now..."
117369
117370 "I cannot accept your praise," he interrupted her hurriedly. "On the
117371 contrary I continually reproach myself.... But this is not at all an
117372 interesting or cheerful subject."
117373
117374 His face again resumed its former stiff and cold expression. But the
117375 princess had caught a glimpse of the man she had known and loved,
117376 and it was to him that she now spoke.
117377
117378 "I thought you would allow me to tell you this," she said. "I had
117379 come so near to you... and to all your family that I thought you would
117380 not consider my sympathy misplaced, but I was mistaken," and
117381 suddenly her voice trembled. "I don't know why," she continued,
117382 recovering herself, "but you used to be different, and..."
117383
117384 "There are a thousand reasons why," laying special emphasis on the
117385 why. "Thank you, Princess," he added softly. "Sometimes it is hard."
117386
117387 "So that's why! That's why!" a voice whispered in Princess Mary's
117388 soul. "No, it was not only that gay, kind, and frank look, not only
117389 that handsome exterior, that I loved in him. I divined his noble,
117390 resolute, self-sacrificing spirit too," she said to herself. "Yes,
117391 he is poor now and I am rich.... Yes, that's the only reason....
117392 Yes, were it not for that..." And remembering his former tenderness,
117393 and looking now at his kind, sorrowful face, she suddenly understood
117394 the cause of his coldness.
117395
117396 "But why, Count, why?" she almost cried, unconsciously moving closer
117397 to him. "Why? Tell me. You must tell me!"
117398
117399 He was silent.
117400
117401 "I don't understand your why, Count," she continued, "but it's
117402 hard for me... I confess it. For some reason you wish to deprive me of
117403 our former friendship. And that hurts me." There were tears in her
117404 eyes and in her voice. "I have had so little happiness in life that
117405 every loss is hard for me to bear.... Excuse me, good-by!" and
117406 suddenly she began to cry and was hurrying from the room.
117407
117408 "Princess, for God's sake!" he exclaimed, trying to stop her.
117409 "Princess!"
117410
117411 She turned round. For a few seconds they gazed silently into one
117412 another's eyes--and what had seemed impossible and remote suddenly
117413 became possible, inevitable, and very near.
117414
117415
117416
117417
117418
117419 CHAPTER VII
117420
117421
117422 In the winter of 1813 Nicholas married Princess Mary and moved to
117423 Bald Hills with his wife, his mother, and Sonya.
117424
117425 Within four years he had paid off all his remaining debts without
117426 selling any of his wife's property, and having received a small
117427 inheritance on the death of a cousin he paid his debt to Pierre as
117428 well.
117429
117430 In another three years, by 1820, he had so managed his affairs
117431 that he was able to buy a small estate adjoining Bald Hills and was
117432 negotiating to buy back Otradnoe--that being his pet dream.
117433
117434 Having started farming from necessity, he soon grew so devoted to it
117435 that it became his favorite and almost his sole occupation. Nicholas
117436 was a plain farmer: he did not like innovations, especially the
117437 English ones then coming into vogue. He laughed at theoretical
117438 treatises on estate management, disliked factories, the raising of
117439 expensive products, and the buying of expensive seed corn, and did not
117440 make a hobby of any particular part of the work on his estate. He
117441 always had before his mind's eye the estate as a whole and not any
117442 particular part of it. The chief thing in his eyes was not the
117443 nitrogen in the soil, nor the oxygen in the air, nor manures, nor
117444 special plows, but that most important agent by which nitrogen,
117445 oxygen, manure, and plow were made effective--the peasant laborer.
117446 When Nicholas first began farming and began to understand its
117447 different branches, it was the serf who especially attracted his
117448 attention. The peasant seemed to him not merely a tool, but also a
117449 judge of farming and an end in himself. At first he watched the serfs,
117450 trying to understand their aims and what they considered good and bad,
117451 and only pretended to direct them and give orders while in reality
117452 learning from them their methods, their manner of speech, and their
117453 judgment of what was good and bad. Only when he had understood the
117454 peasants' tastes and aspirations, had learned to talk their
117455 language, to grasp the hidden meaning of their words, and felt akin to
117456 them did he begin boldly to manage his serfs, that is, to perform
117457 toward them the duties demanded of him. And Nicholas' management
117458 produced very brilliant results.
117459
117460 Guided by some gift of insight, on taking up the management of the
117461 estates he at once unerringly appointed as bailiff, village elder, and
117462 delegate, the very men the serfs would themselves have chosen had they
117463 had the right to choose, and these posts never changed hands. Before
117464 analyzing the properties of manure, before entering into the debit and
117465 credit (as he ironically called it), he found out how many cattle
117466 the peasants had and increased the number by all possible means. He
117467 kept the peasant families together in the largest groups possible, not
117468 allowing the family groups to divide into separate households. He
117469 was hard alike on the lazy, the depraved, and the weak, and tried to
117470 get them expelled from the commune.
117471
117472 He was as careful of the sowing and reaping of the peasants' hay and
117473 corn as of his own, and few landowners had their crops sown and
117474 harvested so early and so well, or got so good a return, as did
117475 Nicholas.
117476
117477 He disliked having anything to do with the domestic serfs--the
117478 "drones" as he called them--and everyone said he spoiled them by his
117479 laxity. When a decision had to be taken regarding a domestic serf,
117480 especially if one had to be punished, he always felt undecided and
117481 consulted everybody in the house; but when it was possible to have a
117482 domestic serf conscripted instead of a land worker he did so without
117483 the least hesitation. He never felt any hesitation in dealing with the
117484 peasants. He knew that his every decision would be approved by them
117485 all with very few exceptions.
117486
117487 He did not allow himself either to be hard on or punish a man, or to
117488 make things easy for or reward anyone, merely because he felt inclined
117489 to do so. He could not have said by what standard he judged what he
117490 should or should not do, but the standard was quite firm and
117491 definite in his own mind.
117492
117493 Often, speaking with vexation of some failure or irregularity, he
117494 would say: "What can one do with our Russian peasants?" and imagined
117495 that he could not bear them.
117496
117497 Yet he loved "our Russian peasants" and their way of life with his
117498 whole soul, and for that very reason had understood and assimilated
117499 the one way and manner of farming which produced good results.
117500
117501 Countess Mary was jealous of this passion of her husband's and
117502 regretted that she could not share it; but she could not understand
117503 the joys and vexations he derived from that world, to her so remote
117504 and alien. She could not understand why he was so particularly
117505 animated and happy when, after getting up at daybreak and spending the
117506 whole morning in the fields or on the threshing floor, he returned
117507 from the sowing or mowing or reaping to have tea with her. She did not
117508 understand why he spoke with such admiration and delight of the
117509 farming of the thrifty and well-to-do peasant Matthew Ermishin, who
117510 with his family had carted corn all night; or of the fact that his
117511 (Nicholas') sheaves were already stacked before anyone else had his
117512 harvest in. She did not understand why he stepped out from the
117513 window to the veranda and smiled under his mustache and winked so
117514 joyfully, when warm steady rain began to fall on the dry and thirsty
117515 shoots of the young oats, or why when the wind carried away a
117516 threatening cloud during the hay harvest he would return from the
117517 barn, flushed, sunburned, and perspiring, with a smell of wormwood and
117518 gentian in his hair and, gleefully rubbing his hands, would say:
117519 "Well, one more day and my grain and the peasants' will all be under
117520 cover."
117521
117522 Still less did she understand why he, kindhearted and always ready
117523 to anticipate her wishes, should become almost desperate when she
117524 brought him a petition from some peasant men or women who had appealed
117525 to her to be excused some work; why he, that kind Nicholas, should
117526 obstinately refuse her, angrily asking her not to interfere in what
117527 was not her business. She felt he had a world apart, which he loved
117528 passionately and which had laws she had not fathomed.
117529
117530 Sometimes when, trying to understand him, she spoke of the good work
117531 he was doing for his serfs, he would be vexed and reply: "Not in the
117532 least; it never entered my head and I wouldn't do that for their good!
117533 That's all poetry and old wives' talk--all that doing good to one's
117534 neighbor! What I want is that our children should not have to go
117535 begging. I must put our affairs in order while I am alive, that's all.
117536 And to do that, order and strictness are essential.... That's all
117537 about it!" said he, clenching his vigorous fist. "And fairness, of
117538 course," he added, "for if the peasant is naked and hungry and has
117539 only one miserable horse, he can do no good either for himself or
117540 for me."
117541
117542 And all Nicholas did was fruitful--probably just because he
117543 refused to allow himself to think that he was doing good to others for
117544 virtue's sake. His means increased rapidly; serfs from neighboring
117545 estates came to beg him to buy them, and long after his death the
117546 memory of his administration was devoutly preserved among the serfs.
117547 "He was a master... the peasants' affairs first and then his own. Of
117548 course he was not to be trifled with either--in a word, he was a
117549 real master!"
117550
117551
117552
117553
117554
117555 CHAPTER VIII
117556
117557 One matter connected with his management sometimes worried Nicholas,
117558 and that was his quick temper together with his old hussar habit of
117559 making free use of his fists. At first he saw nothing reprehensible in
117560 this, but in the second year of his marriage his view of that form
117561 of punishment suddenly changed.
117562
117563 Once in summer he had sent for the village elder from Bogucharovo, a
117564 man who had succeeded to the post when Dron died and who was accused
117565 of dishonesty and various irregularities. Nicholas went out into the
117566 porch to question him, and immediately after the elder had given a few
117567 replies the sound of cries and blows were heard. On returning to lunch
117568 Nicholas went up to his wife, who sat with her head bent low over
117569 her embroidery frame, and as usual began to tell her what he had
117570 been doing that morning. Among other things he spoke of the
117571 Bogucharovo elder. Countess Mary turned red and then pale, but
117572 continued to sit with head bowed and lips compressed and gave her
117573 husband no reply.
117574
117575 "Such an insolent scoundrel!" he cried, growing hot again at the
117576 mere recollection of him. "If he had told me he was drunk and did
117577 not see... But what is the matter with you, Mary?" he suddenly asked.
117578
117579 Countess Mary raised her head and tried to speak, but hastily looked
117580 down again and her lips puckered.
117581
117582 "Why, whatever is the matter, my dearest?"
117583
117584 The looks of the plain Countess Mary always improved when she was in
117585 tears. She never cried from pain or vexation, but always from sorrow
117586 or pity, and when she wept her radiant eyes acquired an irresistible
117587 charm.
117588
117589 The moment Nicholas took her hand she could no longer restrain
117590 herself and began to cry.
117591
117592 "Nicholas, I saw it... he was to blame, but why do you... Nicholas!"
117593 and she covered her face with her hands.
117594
117595 Nicholas said nothing. He flushed crimson, left her side, and
117596 paced up and down the room. He understood what she was weeping
117597 about, but could not in his heart at once agree with her that what
117598 he had regarded from childhood as quite an everyday event was wrong.
117599 "Is it just sentimentality, old wives' tales, or is she right?" he
117600 asked himself. Before he had solved that point he glanced again at her
117601 face filled with love and pain, and he suddenly realized that she
117602 was right and that he had long been sinning against himself.
117603
117604 "Mary," he said softly, going up to her, "it will never happen
117605 again; I give you my word. Never," he repeated in a trembling voice
117606 like a boy asking for forgiveness.
117607
117608 The tears flowed faster still from the countess' eyes. She took
117609 his hand and kissed it.
117610
117611 "Nicholas, when did you break your cameo?" she asked to change the
117612 subject, looking at his finger on which he wore a ring with a cameo
117613 of Laocoon's head.
117614
117615 "Today--it was the same affair. Oh, Mary, don't remind me of it!"
117616 and again he flushed. "I give you my word of honor it shan't occur
117617 again, and let this always be a reminder to me," and he pointed to the
117618 broken ring.
117619
117620 After that, when in discussions with his village elders or
117621 stewards the blood rushed to his face and his fists began to clench,
117622 Nicholas would turn the broken ring on his finger and would drop his
117623 eyes before the man who was making him angry. But he did forget
117624 himself once or twice within a twelvemonth, and then he would go and
117625 confess to his wife, and would again promise that this should really
117626 be the very last time.
117627
117628 "Mary, you must despise me!" he would say. "I deserve it."
117629
117630 "You should go, go away at once, if you don't feel strong enough
117631 to control yourself," she would reply sadly, trying to comfort her
117632 husband.
117633
117634 Among the gentry of the province Nicholas was respected but not
117635 liked. He did not concern himself with the interests of his own class,
117636 and consequently some thought him proud and others thought him stupid.
117637 The whole summer, from spring sowing to harvest, he was busy with
117638 the work on his farm. In autumn he gave himself up to hunting with the
117639 same business like seriousness--leaving home for a month, or even two,
117640 with his hunt. In winter he visited his other villages or spent his
117641 time reading. The books he read were chiefly historical, and on
117642 these he spent a certain sum every year. He was collecting, as he
117643 said, a serious library, and he made it a rule to read through all the
117644 books he bought. He would sit in his study with a grave air,
117645 reading--a task he first imposed upon himself as a duty, but which
117646 afterwards became a habit affording him a special kind of pleasure and
117647 a consciousness of being occupied with serious matters. In winter,
117648 except for business excursions, he spent most of his time at home
117649 making himself one with his family and entering into all the details
117650 of his children's relations with their mother. The harmony between him
117651 and his wife grew closer and closer and he daily discovered fresh
117652 spiritual treasures in her.
117653
117654 From the time of his marriage Sonya had lived in his house. Before
117655 that, Nicholas had told his wife all that had passed between himself
117656 and Sonya, blaming himself and commending her. He had asked Princess
117657 Mary to be gentle and kind to his cousin. She thoroughly realized
117658 the wrong he had done Sonya, felt herself to blame toward her, and
117659 imagined that her wealth had influenced Nicholas' choice. She could
117660 not find fault with Sonya in any way and tried to be fond of her,
117661 but often felt ill-will toward her which she could not overcome.
117662
117663 Once she had a talk with her friend Natasha about Sonya and about
117664 her own injustice toward her.
117665
117666 "You know," said Natasha, "you have read the Gospels a great deal-
117667 there is a passage in them that just fits Sonya."
117668
117669 "What?" asked Countess Mary, surprised.
117670
117671 "'To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not
117672 shall be taken away.' You remember? She is one that hath not; why, I
117673 don't know. Perhaps she lacks egotism, I don't know, but from her is
117674 taken away, and everything has been taken away. Sometimes I am
117675 dreadfully sorry for her. Formerly I very much wanted Nicholas to
117676 marry her, but I always had a sort of presentiment that it would not
117677 come off. She is a sterile flower, you know--like some strawberry
117678 blossoms. Sometimes I am sorry for her, and sometimes I think she
117679 doesn't feel it as you or I would."
117680
117681 Though Countess Mary told Natasha that those words in the Gospel
117682 must be understood differently, yet looking at Sonya she agreed with
117683 Natasha's explanation. It really seemed that Sonya did not feel her
117684 position trying, and had grown quite reconciled to her lot as a
117685 sterile flower. She seemed to be fond not so much of individuals as of
117686 the family as a whole. Like a cat, she had attached herself not to the
117687 people but to the home. She waited on the old countess, petted and
117688 spoiled the children, was always ready to render the small services
117689 for which she had a gift, and all this was unconsciously accepted from
117690 her with insufficient gratitude.
117691
117692 The country seat at Bald Hills had been rebuilt, though not on the
117693 same scale as under the old prince.
117694
117695 The buildings, begun under straitened circumstances, were more
117696 than simple. The immense house on the old stone foundations was of
117697 wood, plastered only inside. It had bare deal floors and was furnished
117698 with very simple hard sofas, armchairs, tables, and chairs made by
117699 their own serf carpenters out of their own birchwood. The house was
117700 spacious and had rooms for the house serfs and apartments for
117701 visitors. Whole families of the Rostovs' and Bolkonskis' relations
117702 sometimes came to Bald Hills with sixteen horses and dozens of
117703 servants and stayed for months. Besides that, four times a year, on
117704 the name days and birthdays of the hosts, as many as a hundred
117705 visitors would gather there for a day or two. The rest of the year
117706 life pursued its unbroken routine with its ordinary occupations, and
117707 its breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and suppers, provided out of the
117708 produce of the estate.
117709
117710
117711
117712
117713
117714 CHAPTER IX
117715
117716
117717 It was the eve of St. Nicholas, the fifth of December, 1820. Natasha
117718 had been staying at her brother's with her husband and children
117719 since early autumn. Pierre had gone to Petersburg on business of his
117720 own for three weeks as he said, but had remained there nearly seven
117721 weeks and was expected back every minute.
117722
117723 Besides the Bezukhov family, Nicholas' old friend the retired
117724 General Vasili Dmitrich Denisov was staying with the Rostovs this
117725 fifth of December.
117726
117727 On the sixth, which was his name day when the house would be full of
117728 visitors, Nicholas knew he would have to exchange his Tartar tunic for
117729 a tail coat, and put on narrow boots with pointed toes, and drive to
117730 the new church he had built, and then receive visitors who would
117731 come to congratulate him, offer them refreshments, and talk about
117732 the elections of the nobility; but he considered himself entitled to
117733 spend the eve of that day in his usual way. He examined the
117734 bailiff's accounts of the village in Ryazan which belonged to his
117735 wife's nephew, wrote two business letters, and walked over to the
117736 granaries, cattle yards and stables before dinner. Having taken
117737 precautions against the general drunkenness to be expected on the
117738 morrow because it was a great saint's day, he returned to dinner,
117739 and without having time for a private talk with his wife sat down at
117740 the long table laid for twenty persons, at which the whole household
117741 had assembled. At that table were his mother, his mother's old lady
117742 companion Belova, his wife, their three children with their
117743 governess and tutor, his wife's nephew with his tutor, Sonya, Denisov,
117744 Natasha, her three children, their governess, and old Michael
117745 Ivanovich, the late prince's architect, who was living on in
117746 retirement at Bald Hills.
117747
117748 Countess Mary sat at the other end of the table. When her husband
117749 took his place she concluded, from the rapid manner in which after
117750 taking up his table napkin he pushed back the tumbler and wineglass
117751 standing before him, that he was out of humor, as was sometimes the
117752 case when he came in to dinner straight from the farm--especially
117753 before the soup. Countess Mary well knew that mood of his, and when
117754 she herself was in a good frame of mind quietly waited till he had had
117755 his soup and then began to talk to him and make him admit that there
117756 was no cause for his ill-humor. But today she quite forgot that and
117757 was hurt that he should be angry with her without any reason, and
117758 she felt unhappy. She asked him where he had been. He replied. She
117759 again inquired whether everything was going well on the farm. Her
117760 unnatural tone made him wince unpleasantly and he replied hastily.
117761
117762 "Then I'm not mistaken," thought Countess Mary. "Why is he cross
117763 with me?" She concluded from his tone that he was vexed with her and
117764 wished to end the conversation. She knew her remarks sounded
117765 unnatural, but could not refrain from asking some more questions.
117766
117767 Thanks to Denisov the conversation at table soon became general
117768 and lively, and she did not talk to her husband. When they left the
117769 table and went as usual to thank the old countess, Countess Mary
117770 held out her hand and kissed her husband, and asked him why he was
117771 angry with her.
117772
117773 "You always have such strange fancies! I didn't even think of
117774 being angry," he replied.
117775
117776 But the word always seemed to her to imply: "Yes, I am angry but I
117777 won't tell you why."
117778
117779 Nicholas and his wife lived together so happily that even Sonya
117780 and the old countess, who felt jealous and would have liked them to
117781 disagree, could find nothing to reproach them with; but even they
117782 had their moments of antagonism. Occasionally, and it was always
117783 just after they had been happiest together, they suddenly had a
117784 feeling of estrangement and hostility, which occurred most
117785 frequently during Countess Mary's pregnancies, and this was such a
117786 time.
117787
117788 "Well, messieurs et mesdames," said Nicholas loudly and with
117789 apparent cheerfulness (it seemed to Countess Mary that he did it on
117790 purpose to vex her), "I have been on my feet since six this morning.
117791 Tomorrow I shall have to suffer, so today I'll go and rest."
117792
117793 And without a word to his wife he went to the little sitting room
117794 and lay down on the sofa.
117795
117796 "That's always the way," thought Countess Mary. "He talks to
117797 everyone except me. I see... I see that I am repulsive to him,
117798 especially when I am in this condition." She looked down at her
117799 expanded figure and in the glass at her pale, sallow, emaciated face
117800 in which her eyes now looked larger than ever.
117801
117802 And everything annoyed her--Denisov's shouting and laughter,
117803 Natasha's talk, and especially a quick glance Sonya gave her.
117804
117805 Sonya was always the first excuse Countess Mary found for feeling
117806 irritated.
117807
117808 Having sat awhile with her visitors without understanding anything
117809 of what they were saying, she softly left the room and went to the
117810 nursery.
117811
117812 The children were playing at "going to Moscow" in a carriage made of
117813 chairs and invited her to go with them. She sat down and played with
117814 them a little, but the thought of her husband and his unreasonable
117815 crossness worried her. She got up and, walking on tiptoe with
117816 difficulty, went to the small sitting room.
117817
117818 "Perhaps he is not asleep; I'll have an explanation with him," she
117819 said to herself. Little Andrew, her eldest boy, imitating his
117820 mother, followed her on tiptoe. She not notice him.
117821
117822 "Mary, dear, I think he is asleep--he was so tired," said Sonya,
117823 meeting her in the large sitting room (it seemed to Countess Mary that
117824 she crossed her path everywhere). "Andrew may wake him."
117825
117826 Countess Mary looked round, saw little Andrew following her, felt
117827 that Sonya was right, and for that very reason flushed and with
117828 evident difficulty refrained from saying something harsh. She made
117829 no reply, but to avoid obeying Sonya beckoned to Andrew to follow
117830 her quietly and went to the door. Sonya went away by another door.
117831 From the room in which Nicholas was sleeping came the sound of his
117832 even breathing, every slightest tone of which was familiar to his
117833 wife. As she listened to it she saw before her his smooth handsome
117834 forehead, his mustache, and his whole face, as she had so often seen
117835 it in the stillness of the night when he slept. Nicholas suddenly
117836 moved and cleared his throat. And at that moment little Andrew shouted
117837 from outside the door: "Papa! Mamma's standing here!" Countess Mary
117838 turned pale with fright and made signs to the boy. He grew silent, and
117839 quiet ensued for a moment, terrible to Countess Mary. She knew how
117840 Nicholas disliked being waked. Then through the door she heard
117841 Nicholas clearing his throat again and stirring, and his voice said
117842 crossly:
117843
117844 "I can't get a moment's peace.... Mary, is that you? Why did you
117845 bring him here?"
117846
117847 "I only came in to look and did not notice... forgive me..."
117848
117849 Nicholas coughed and said no more. Countess Mary moved away from the
117850 door and took the boy back to the nursery. Five minutes later little
117851 black-eyed three-year-old Natasha, her father's pet, having learned
117852 from her brother that Papa was asleep and Mamma was in the sitting
117853 room, ran to her father unobserved by her mother. The dark-eyed little
117854 girl boldly opened the creaking door, went up to the sofa with
117855 energetic steps of her sturdy little legs, and having examined the
117856 position of her father, who was asleep with his back to her, rose on
117857 tiptoe and kissed the hand which lay under his head. Nicholas turned
117858 with a tender smile on his face.
117859
117860 "Natasha, Natasha!" came Countess Mary's frightened whisper from the
117861 door. "Papa wants to sleep."
117862
117863 "No, Mamma, he doesn't want to sleep," said little Natasha with
117864 conviction. "He's laughing."
117865
117866 Nicholas lowered his legs, rose, and took his daughter in his arms.
117867
117868 "Come in, Mary," he said to his wife.
117869
117870 She went in and sat down by her husband.
117871
117872 "I did not notice him following me," she said timidly. "I just
117873 looked in."
117874
117875 Holding his little girl with one arm, Nicholas glanced at his wife
117876 and, seeing her guilty expression, put his other arm around her and
117877 kissed her hair.
117878
117879 "May I kiss Mamma?" he asked Natasha.
117880
117881 Natasha smiled bashfully.
117882
117883 "Again!" she commanded, pointing with a peremptory gesture to the
117884 spot where Nicholas had placed the kiss.
117885
117886 "I don't know why you think I am cross," said Nicholas, replying
117887 to the question he knew was in his wife's mind.
117888
117889 "You have no idea how unhappy, how lonely, I feel when you are
117890 like that. It always seems to me... "
117891
117892 "Mary, don't talk nonsense. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" he
117893 said gaily.
117894
117895 "It seems to be that you can't love me, that I am so plain...
117896 always... and now... in this cond..."
117897
117898 "Oh, how absurd you are! It is not beauty that endears, it's love
117899 that makes us see beauty. It is only Malvinas and women of that kind
117900 who are loved for their beauty. But do I love my wife? I don't love
117901 her, but... I don't know how to put it. Without you, or when something
117902 comes between us like this, I seem lost and can't do anything. Now
117903 do I love my finger? I don't love it, but just try to cut it off!"
117904
117905 "I'm not like that myself, but I understand. So you're not angry
117906 with me?"
117907
117908 "Awfully angry!" he said, smiling and getting up. And smoothing
117909 his hair he began to pace the room.
117910
117911 "Do you know, Mary, what I've been thinking?" he began,
117912 immediately thinking aloud in his wife's presence now that they had
117913 made it up.
117914
117915 He did not ask if she was ready to listen to him. He did not care. A
117916 thought had occurred to him and so it belonged to her also. And he
117917 told her of his intention to persuade Pierre to stay with them till
117918 spring.
117919
117920 Countess Mary listened till he had finished, made some remark, and
117921 in her turn began thinking aloud. Her thoughts were about the
117922 children.
117923
117924 "You can see the woman in her already," she said in French, pointing
117925 to little Natasha. "You reproach us women with being illogical. Here
117926 is our logic. I say: 'Papa wants to sleep!' but she says, 'No, he's
117927 laughing.' And she was right," said Countess Mary with a happy smile.
117928
117929 "Yes, yes." And Nicholas, taking his little daughter in his strong
117930 hand, lifted her high, placed her on his shoulder, held her by the
117931 legs, and paced the room with her. There was an expression of carefree
117932 happiness on the faces of both father and daughter.
117933
117934 "But you know you may be unfair. You are too fond of this one,"
117935 his wife whispered in French.
117936
117937 "Yes, but what am I to do?... I try not to show..."
117938
117939 At that moment they heard the sound of the door pulley and footsteps
117940 in the hall and anteroom, as if someone had arrived.
117941
117942 "Somebody has come."
117943
117944 "I am sure it is Pierre. I will go and see," said Countess Mary
117945 and left the room.
117946
117947 In her absence Nicholas allowed himself to give his little
117948 daughter a gallop round the room. Out of breath, he took the
117949 laughing child quickly from his shoulder and pressed her to his heart.
117950 His capers reminded him of dancing, and looking at the child's round
117951 happy little face he thought of what she would be like when he was
117952 an old man, taking her into society and dancing the mazurka with her
117953 as his old father had danced Daniel Cooper with his daughter.
117954
117955 "It is he, it is he, Nicholas!" said Countess Mary, re-entering
117956 the room a few minutes later. "Now our Natasha has come to life. You
117957 should have seen her ecstasy, and how he caught it for having stayed
117958 away so long. Well, come along now, quick, quick! It's time you two
117959 were parted," she added, looking smilingly at the little girl who
117960 clung to her father.
117961
117962 Nicholas went out holding the child by the hand.
117963
117964 Countess Mary remained in the sitting room.
117965
117966 "I should never, never have believed that one could be so happy,"
117967 she whispered to herself. A smile lit up her face but at the same time
117968 she sighed, and her deep eyes expressed a quiet sadness as though
117969 she felt, through her happiness, that there is another sort of
117970 happiness unattainable in this life and of which she involuntarily
117971 thought at that instant.
117972
117973
117974
117975
117976
117977 CHAPTER X
117978
117979
117980 Natasha had married in the early spring of 1813, and in 1820 already
117981 had three daughters besides a son for whom she had longed and whom she
117982 was now nursing. She had grown stouter and broader, so that it was
117983 difficult to recognize in this robust, motherly woman the slim, lively
117984 Natasha of former days. Her features were more defined and had a calm,
117985 soft, and serene expression. In her face there was none of the
117986 ever-glowing animation that had formerly burned there and
117987 constituted its charm. Now her face and body were of all that one saw,
117988 and her soul was not visible at all. All that struck the eye was a
117989 strong, handsome, and fertile woman. The old fire very rarely
117990 kindled in her face now. That happened only when, as was the case that
117991 day, her husband returned home, or a sick child was convalescent, or
117992 when she and Countess Mary spoke of Prince Andrew (she never mentioned
117993 him to her husband, who she imagined was jealous of Prince Andrew's
117994 memory), or on the rare occasions when something happened to induce
117995 her to sing, a practice she had quite abandoned since her marriage. At
117996 the rare moments when the old fire did kindle in her handsome, fully
117997 developed body she was even more attractive than in former days.
117998
117999 Since their marriage Natasha and her husband had lived in Moscow, in
118000 Petersburg, on their estate near Moscow, or with her mother, that is
118001 to say, in Nicholas' house. The young Countess Bezukhova was not often
118002 seen in society, and those who met her there were not pleased with her
118003 and found her neither attractive nor amiable. Not that Natasha liked
118004 solitude--she did not know whether she liked it or not, she even
118005 thought that she did not--but with her pregnancies, her
118006 confinements, the nursing of her children, and sharing every moment of
118007 her husband's life, she had demands on her time which could be
118008 satisfied only by renouncing society. All who had known Natasha before
118009 her marriage wondered at the change in her as at something
118010 extraordinary. Only the old countess with her maternal instinct had
118011 realized that all Natasha's outbursts had been due to her need of
118012 children and a husband--as she herself had once exclaimed at
118013 Otradnoe not so much in fun as in earnest--and her mother was now
118014 surprised at the surprise expressed by those who had never
118015 understood Natasha, and she kept saying that she had always known that
118016 Natasha would make an exemplary wife and mother.
118017
118018 "Only she lets her love of her husband and children overflow all
118019 bounds," said the countess, "so that it even becomes absurd."
118020
118021 Natasha did not follow the golden rule advocated by clever folk,
118022 especially by the French, which says that a girl should not let
118023 herself go when she marries, should not neglect her accomplishments,
118024 should be even more careful of her appearance than when she was
118025 unmarried, and should fascinate her husband as much as she did
118026 before he became her husband. Natasha on the contrary had at once
118027 abandoned all her witchery, of which her singing had been an unusually
118028 powerful part. She gave it up just because it was so powerfully
118029 seductive. She took no pains with her manners or with of speech, or
118030 with her toilet, or to show herself to her husband in her most
118031 becoming attitudes, or to avoid inconveniencing him by being too
118032 exacting. She acted in contradiction to all those rules. She felt that
118033 the allurements instinct had formerly taught her to use would now be
118034 merely ridiculous in the eyes of her husband, to whom she had from the
118035 first moment given herself up entirely--that is, with her whole
118036 soul, leaving no corner of it hidden from him. She felt that her unity
118037 with her husband was not maintained by the poetic feelings that had
118038 attracted him to her, but by something else--indefinite but firm as
118039 the bond between her own body and soul.
118040
118041 To fluff out her curls, put on fashionable dresses, and sing
118042 romantic songs to fascinate her husband would have seemed as strange
118043 as to adorn herself to attract herself. To adorn herself for others
118044 might perhaps have been agreeable--she did not know--but she had no
118045 time at all for it. The chief reason for devoting no time either to
118046 singing, to dress, or to choosing her words was that she really had no
118047 time to spare for these things.
118048
118049 We know that man has the faculty of becoming completely absorbed
118050 in a subject however trivial it may be, and that there is no subject
118051 so trivial that it will not grow to infinite proportions if one's
118052 entire attention is devoted to it.
118053
118054 The subject which wholly engrossed Natasha's attention was her
118055 family: that is, her husband whom she had to keep so that he should
118056 belong entirely to her and to the home, and the children whom she
118057 had to bear, bring into the world, nurse, and bring up.
118058
118059 And the deeper she penetrated, not with her mind only but with her
118060 whole soul, her whole being, into the subject that absorbed her, the
118061 larger did that subject grow and the weaker and more inadequate did
118062 her powers appear, so that she concentrated them wholly on that one
118063 thing and yet was unable to accomplish all that she considered
118064 necessary.
118065
118066 There were then as now conversations and discussions about women's
118067 rights, the relations of husband and wife and their freedom and
118068 rights, though these themes were not yet termed questions as they
118069 are now; but these topics were not merely uninteresting to Natasha,
118070 she positively did not understand them.
118071
118072 These questions, then as now, existed only for those who see nothing
118073 in marriage but the pleasure married people get from one another, that
118074 is, only the beginnings of marriage and not its whole significance,
118075 which lies in the family.
118076
118077 Discussions and questions of that kind, which are like the
118078 question of how to get the greatest gratification from one's dinner,
118079 did not then and do not now exist for those for whom the purpose of
118080 a dinner is the nourishment it affords; and the purpose of marriage is
118081 the family.
118082
118083 If the purpose of dinner is to nourish the body, a man who eats
118084 two dinners at once may perhaps get more enjoyment but will not attain
118085 his purpose, for his stomach will not digest the two dinners.
118086
118087 If the purpose of marriage is the family, the person who wishes to
118088 have many wives or husbands may perhaps obtain much pleasure, but in
118089 that case will not have a family.
118090
118091 If the purpose of food is nourishment and the purpose of marriage is
118092 the family, the whole question resolves itself into not eating more
118093 than one can digest, and not having more wives or husbands than are
118094 needed for the family--that is, one wife or one husband. Natasha
118095 needed a husband. A husband was given her and he gave her a family.
118096 And she not only saw no need of any other or better husband, but as
118097 all the powers of her soul were intent on serving that husband and
118098 family, she could not imagine and saw no interest in imagining how
118099 it would be if things were different.
118100
118101 Natasha did not care for society in general, but prized the more the
118102 society of her relatives--Countess Mary, and her brother, her
118103 mother, and Sonya. She valued the company of those to whom she could
118104 come striding disheveled from the nursery in her dressing gown, and
118105 with joyful face show a yellow instead of a green stain on baby's
118106 napkin, and from whom she could hear reassuring words to the effect
118107 that baby was much better.
118108
118109 To such an extent had Natasha let herself go that the way she
118110 dressed and did her hair, her ill-chosen words, and her jealousy-
118111 she was jealous of Sonya, of the governess, and of every woman, pretty
118112 or plain--were habitual subjects of jest to those about her. The
118113 general opinion was that Pierre was under his wife's thumb, which
118114 was really true. From the very first days of their married life
118115 Natasha had announced her demands. Pierre was greatly surprised by his
118116 wife's view, to him a perfectly novel one, that every moment of his
118117 life belonged to her and to the family. His wife's demands
118118 astonished him, but they also flattered him, and he submitted to them.
118119
118120 Pierre's subjection consisted in the fact that he not only dared not
118121 flirt with, but dared not even speak smilingly to, any other woman;
118122 did not dare dine at the Club as a pastime, did not dare spend money a
118123 whim, and did not dare absent himself for any length of time, except
118124 on business--in which his wife included his intellectual pursuits,
118125 which she did not in the least understand but to which she
118126 attributed great importance. To make up for this, at home Pierre had
118127 the right to regulate his life and that of the whole family exactly as
118128 he chose. At home Natasha placed herself in the position of a slave to
118129 her husband, and the whole household went on tiptoe when he was
118130 occupied--that is, was reading or writing in his study. Pierre had but
118131 to show a partiality for anything to get just what he liked done
118132 always. He had only to express a wish and Natasha would jump up and
118133 run to fulfill it.
118134
118135 The entire household was governed according to Pierre's supposed
118136 orders, that is, by his wishes which Natasha tried to guess. Their way
118137 of life and place of residence, their acquaintances and ties,
118138 Natasha's occupations, the children's upbringing, were all selected
118139 not merely with regard to Pierre's expressed wishes, but to what
118140 Natasha from the thoughts he expressed in conversation supposed his
118141 wishes to be. And she deduced the essentials of his wishes quite
118142 correctly, and having once arrived at them clung to them
118143 tenaciously. When Pierre himself wanted to change his mind she would
118144 fight him with his own weapons.
118145
118146 Thus in a time of trouble ever memorable to him after the birth of
118147 their first child who was delicate, when they had to change the wet
118148 nurse three times and Natasha fell ill from despair, Pierre one day
118149 told her of Rousseau's view, with which he quite agreed, that to
118150 have a wet nurse is unnatural and harmful. When her next baby was
118151 born, despite the opposition of her mother, the doctors, and even of
118152 her husband himself--who were all vigorously opposed to her nursing
118153 her baby herself, a thing then unheard of and considered injurious-
118154 she insisted on having her own way, and after that nursed all her
118155 babies herself.
118156
118157 It very often happened that in a moment of irritation husband and
118158 wife would have a dispute, but long afterwards Pierre to his
118159 surprise and delight would find in his wife's ideas and actions the
118160 very thought against which she had argued, but divested of
118161 everything superfluous that in the excitement of the dispute he had
118162 added when expressing his opinion.
118163
118164 After seven years of marriage Pierre had the joyous and firm
118165 consciousness that he was not a bad man, and he felt this because he
118166 saw himself reflected in his wife. He felt the good and bad within
118167 himself inextricably mingled and overlapping. But only what was really
118168 good in him was reflected in his wife, all that was not quite good was
118169 rejected. And this was not the result of logical reasoning but was a
118170 direct and mysterious reflection.
118171
118172
118173
118174
118175
118176 CHAPTER XI
118177
118178
118179 Two months previously when Pierre was already staying with the
118180 Rostovs he had received a letter from Prince Theodore, asking him to
118181 come to Petersburg to confer on some important questions that were
118182 being discussed there by a society of which Pierre was one of the
118183 principal founders.
118184
118185 On reading that letter (she always read her husband's letters)
118186 Natasha herself suggested that he should go to Petersburg, though
118187 she would feel his absence very acutely. She attributed immense
118188 importance to all her husband's intellectual and abstract interests
118189 though she did not understand them, and she always dreaded being a
118190 hindrance to him in such matters. To Pierre's timid look of inquiry
118191 after reading the letter she replied by asking him to go, but to fix a
118192 definite date for his return. He was given four weeks' leave of
118193 absence.
118194
118195 Ever since that leave of absence had expired, more than a
118196 fortnight before, Natasha had been in a constant state of alarm,
118197 depression, and irritability.
118198
118199 Denisov, now a general on the retired list and much dissatisfied
118200 with the present state of affairs, had arrived during that
118201 fortnight. He looked at Natasha with sorrow and surprise as at a bad
118202 likeness of a person once dear. A dull, dejected look, random replies,
118203 and talk about the nursery was all he saw and heard from his former
118204 enchantress.
118205
118206 Natasha was sad and irritable all that time, especially when her
118207 mother, her brother, Sonya, or Countess Mary in their efforts to
118208 console her tried to excuse Pierre and suggested reasons for his delay
118209 in returning.
118210
118211 "It's all nonsense, all rubbish--those discussions which lead to
118212 nothing and all those idiotic societies!" Natasha declared of the very
118213 affairs in the immense importance of which she firmly believed.
118214
118215 And she would go to the nursery to nurse Petya, her only boy. No one
118216 else could tell her anything so comforting or so reasonable as this
118217 little three-month-old creature when he lay at her breast and she
118218 was conscious of the movement of his lips and the snuffling of his
118219 little nose. That creature said: "You are angry, you are jealous,
118220 you would like to pay him out, you are afraid--but here am I! And I am
118221 he..." and that was unanswerable. It was more than true.
118222
118223 During that fortnight of anxiety Natasha resorted to the baby for
118224 comfort so often, and fussed over him so much, that she overfed him
118225 and he fell ill. She was terrified by his illness, and yet that was
118226 just what she needed. While attending to him she bore the anxiety
118227 about her husband more easily.
118228
118229 She was nursing her boy when the sound of Pierre's sleigh was
118230 heard at the front door, and the old nurse--knowing how to please
118231 her mistress--entered the room inaudibly but hurriedly and with a
118232 beaming face.
118233
118234 "Has he come?" Natasha asked quickly in a whisper, afraid to move
118235 lest she should rouse the dozing baby.
118236
118237 "He's come, ma'am," whispered the nurse.
118238
118239 The blood rushed to Natasha's face and her feet involuntarily moved,
118240 but she could not jump up and run out. The baby again opened his
118241 eyes and looked at her. "You're here?" he seemed to be saying, and
118242 again lazily smacked his lips.
118243
118244 Cautiously withdrawing her breast, Natasha rocked him a little,
118245 handed him to the nurse, and went with rapid steps toward the door.
118246 But at the door she stopped as if her conscience reproached her for
118247 having in her joy left the child too soon, and she glanced round.
118248 The nurse with raised elbows was lifting the infant over the rail of
118249 his cot.
118250
118251 "Go, ma'am! Don't worry, go!" she whispered, smiling, with the
118252 kind of familiarity that grows up between a nurse and her mistress.
118253
118254 Natasha ran with light footsteps to the anteroom.
118255
118256 Denisov, who had come out of the study into the dancing room with
118257 his pipe, now for the first time recognized the old Natasha. A flood
118258 of brilliant, joyful light poured from her transfigured face.
118259
118260 "He's come!" she exclaimed as she ran past, and Denisov felt that he
118261 too was delighted that Pierre, whom he did not much care for, had
118262 returned.
118263
118264 On reaching the vestibule Natasha saw a tall figure in a fur coat
118265 unwinding his scarf. "It's he! It's really he! He has come!" she
118266 said to herself, and rushing at him embraced him, pressed his head
118267 to her breast, and then pushed him back and gazed at his ruddy,
118268 happy face, covered with hoarfrost. "Yes, it is he, happy and
118269 contented..."
118270
118271 Then all at once she remembered the tortures of suspense she had
118272 experienced for the last fortnight, and the joy that had lit up her
118273 face vanished; she frowned and overwhelmed Pierre with a torrent of
118274 reproaches and angry words.
118275
118276 "Yes, it's all very well for you. You are pleased, you've had a good
118277 time.... But what about me? You might at least have shown
118278 consideration for the children. I am nursing and my milk was
118279 spoiled.... Petya was at death's door. But you were enjoying yourself.
118280 Yes, enjoying..."
118281
118282 Pierre knew he was not to blame, for he could not have come
118283 sooner; he knew this outburst was unseemly and would blow over in a
118284 minute or two; above all he knew that he himself was bright and happy.
118285 He wanted to smile but dared not even think of doing so. He made a
118286 piteous, frightened face and bent down.
118287
118288 "I could not, on my honor. But how is Petya?"
118289
118290 "All right now. Come along! I wonder you're not ashamed! If only you
118291 could see what I was like without you, how I suffered!"
118292
118293 "You are well?"
118294
118295 "Come, come!" she said, not letting go of his arm. And they went
118296 to their rooms.
118297
118298 When Nicholas and his wife came to look for Pierre he was in the
118299 nursery holding his baby son, who was again awake, on his huge right
118300 palm and dandling him. A blissful bright smile was fixed on the baby's
118301 broad face with its toothless open mouth. The storm was long since
118302 over and there was bright, joyous sunshine on Natasha's face as she
118303 gazed tenderly at her husband and child.
118304
118305 "And have you talked everything well over with Prince Theodore?" she
118306 asked.
118307
118308 "Yes, capitally."
118309
118310 "You see, he holds it up." (She meant the baby's head.) "But how
118311 he did frighten me... You've seen the princess? Is it true she's in
118312 love with that..."
118313
118314 "Yes, just fancy..."
118315
118316 At that moment Nicholas and Countess Mary came in. Pierre with the
118317 baby on his hand stooped, kissed them, and replied to their inquiries.
118318 But in spite of much that was interesting and had to be discussed, the
118319 baby with the little cap on its unsteady head evidently absorbed all
118320 his attention.
118321
118322 "How sweet!" said Countess Mary, looking at and playing with the
118323 baby. "Now, Nicholas," she added, turning to her husband, "I can't
118324 understand how it is you don't see the charm of these delicious
118325 marvels."
118326
118327 "I don't and can't," replied Nicholas, looking coldly at the baby.
118328 "A lump of flesh. Come along, Pierre!"
118329
118330 "And yet he's such an affectionate father," said Countess Mary,
118331 vindicating her husband, "but only after they are a year old or so..."
118332
118333 "Now, Pierre nurses them splendidly," said Natasha. "He says his
118334 hand is just made for a baby's seat. Just look!"
118335
118336 "Only not for this..." Pierre suddenly exclaimed with a laugh, and
118337 shifting the baby he gave him to the nurse.
118338
118339
118340
118341
118342
118343 CHAPTER XII
118344
118345
118346 As in every large household, there were at Bald Hills several
118347 perfectly distinct worlds which merged into one harmonious whole,
118348 though each retained its own peculiarities and made concessions to the
118349 others. Every event, joyful or sad, that took place in that house
118350 was important to all these worlds, but each had its own special
118351 reasons to rejoice or grieve over that occurrence independently of the
118352 others.
118353
118354 For instance, Pierre's return was a joyful and important event and
118355 they all felt it to be so.
118356
118357 The servants--the most reliable judges of their masters because they
118358 judge not by their conversation or expressions of feeling but by their
118359 acts and way of life--were glad of Pierre's return because they knew
118360 that when he was there Count Nicholas would cease going every day
118361 to attend to the estate, and would be in better spirits and temper,
118362 and also because they would all receive handsome presents for the
118363 holidays.
118364
118365 The children and their governesses were glad of Pierre's return
118366 because no one else drew them into the social life of the household as
118367 he did. He alone could play on the clavichord that ecossaise (his only
118368 piece) to which, as he said, all possible dances could be danced,
118369 and they felt sure he had brought presents for them all.
118370
118371 Young Nicholas, now a slim lad of fifteen, delicate and intelligent,
118372 with curly light-brown hair and beautiful eyes, was delighted
118373 because Uncle Pierre as he called him was the object of his
118374 rapturous and passionate affection. No one had instilled into him this
118375 love for Pierre whom he saw only occasionally. Countess Mary who had
118376 brought him up had done her utmost to make him love her husband as she
118377 loved him, and little Nicholas did love his uncle, but loved him
118378 with just a shade of contempt. Pierre, however, he adored. He did
118379 not want to be an hussar or a Knight of St. George like his uncle
118380 Nicholas; he wanted to be learned, wise, and kind like Pierre. In
118381 Pierre's presence his face always shone with pleasure and he flushed
118382 and was breathless when Pierre spoke to him. He did not miss a
118383 single word he uttered, and would afterwards, with Dessalles or by
118384 himself, recall and reconsider the meaning of everything Pierre had
118385 said. Pierre's past life and his unhappiness prior to 1812 (of which
118386 young Nicholas had formed a vague poetic picture from some words he
118387 had overheard), his adventures in Moscow, his captivity, Platon
118388 Karataev (of whom he had heard from Pierre), his love for Natasha
118389 (of whom the lad was also particularly fond), and especially
118390 Pierre's friendship with the father whom Nicholas could not
118391 remember--all this made Pierre in his eyes a hero and a saint.
118392
118393 From broken remarks about Natasha and his father, from the emotion
118394 with which Pierre spoke of that dead father, and from the careful,
118395 reverent tenderness with which Natasha spoke of him, the boy, who
118396 was only just beginning to guess what love is, derived the notion that
118397 his father had loved Natasha and when dying had left her to his
118398 friend. But the father whom the boy did not remember appeared to him a
118399 divinity who could not be pictured, and of whom he never thought
118400 without a swelling heart and tears of sadness and rapture. So the
118401 boy also was happy that Pierre had arrived.
118402
118403 The guests welcomed Pierre because he always helped to enliven and
118404 unite any company he was in.
118405
118406 The grown-up members of the family, not to mention his wife, were
118407 pleased to have back a friend whose presence made life run more
118408 smoothly and peacefully.
118409
118410 The old ladies were pleased with the presents he brought them, and
118411 especially that Natasha would now be herself again.
118412
118413 Pierre felt the different outlooks of these various worlds and
118414 made haste to satisfy all their expectations.
118415
118416 Though the most absent-minded and forgetful of men, Pierre, with the
118417 aid of a list his wife drew up, had now bought everything, not
118418 forgetting his mother--and brother-in-law's commissions, nor the dress
118419 material for a present to Belova, nor toys for his wife's nephews.
118420 In the early days of his marriage it had seemed strange to him that
118421 his wife should expect him not to forget to procure all the things
118422 he undertook to buy, and he had been taken aback by her serious
118423 annoyance when on his first trip he forgot everything. But in time
118424 he grew used to this demand. Knowing that Natasha asked nothing for
118425 herself, and gave him commissions for others only when he himself
118426 had offered to undertake them, he now found an unexpected and
118427 childlike pleasure in this purchase of presents for everyone in the
118428 house, and never forgot anything. If he now incurred Natasha's censure
118429 it was only for buying too many and too expensive things. To her other
118430 defects (as most people thought them, but which to Pierre were
118431 qualities) of untidiness and neglect of herself, she now added
118432 stinginess.
118433
118434 From the time that Pierre began life as a family man on a footing
118435 entailing heavy expenditure, he had noticed to his surprise that he
118436 spent only half as much as before, and that his affairs--which had
118437 been in disorder of late, chiefly because of his first wife's debts-
118438 had begun to improve.
118439
118440 Life was cheaper because it was circumscribed: that most expensive
118441 luxury, the kind of life that can be changed at any moment, was no
118442 longer his nor did he wish for it. He felt that his way of life had
118443 now been settled once for all till death and that to change it was not
118444 in his power, and so that way of life proved economical.
118445
118446 With a merry, smiling face Pierre was sorting his purchases.
118447
118448 "What do you think of this?" said he, unrolling a piece of stuff
118449 like a shopman.
118450
118451 Natasha, who was sitting opposite to him with her eldest daughter on
118452 her lap, turned her sparkling eyes swiftly from her husband to the
118453 things he showed her.
118454
118455 "That's for Belova? Excellent!" She felt the quality of the
118456 material. "It was a ruble an arshin, I suppose?"
118457
118458 Pierre told her the price.
118459
118460 "Too dear!" Natasha remarked. "How pleased the children will be
118461 and Mamma too! Only you need not have bought me this," she added,
118462 unable to suppress a smile as she gazed admiringly at a gold comb
118463 set with pearls, of a kind then just coming into fashion.
118464
118465 "Adele tempted me: she kept on telling me to buy it," returned
118466 Pierre.
118467
118468 "When am I to wear it?" and Natasha stuck it in her coil of hair.
118469 "When I take little Masha into society? Perhaps they will be
118470 fashionable again by then. Well, let's go now."
118471
118472 And collecting the presents they went first to the nursery and
118473 then to the old countess' rooms.
118474
118475 The countess was sitting with her companion Belova, playing
118476 grand-patience as usual, when Pierre and Natasha came into the drawing
118477 room with parcels under their arms.
118478
118479 The countess was now over sixty, was quite gray, and wore a cap with
118480 a frill that surrounded her face. Her face had shriveled, her upper
118481 lip had sunk in, and her eyes were dim.
118482
118483 After the deaths of her son and husband in such rapid succession,
118484 she felt herself a being accidentally forgotten in this world and left
118485 without aim or object for her existence. She ate, drank, slept, or
118486 kept awake, but did not live. Life gave her no new impressions. She
118487 wanted nothing from life but tranquillity, and that tranquillity
118488 only death could give her. But until death came she had to go on
118489 living, that is, to use her vital forces. A peculiarity one sees in
118490 very young children and very old people was particularly evident in
118491 her. Her life had no external aims--only a need to exercise her
118492 various functions and inclinations was apparent. She had to eat,
118493 sleep, think, speak, weep, work, give vent to her anger, and so on,
118494 merely because she had a stomach, a brain, muscles, nerves, and a
118495 liver. She did these things not under any external impulse as people
118496 in the full vigor of life do, when behind the purpose for which they
118497 strive that of exercising their functions remains unnoticed. She
118498 talked only because she physically needed to exercise her tongue and
118499 lungs. She cried as a child does, because her nose had to be
118500 cleared, and so on. What for people in their full vigor is an aim
118501 was for her evidently merely a pretext.
118502
118503 Thus in the morning--especially if she had eaten anything rich the
118504 day before--she felt a need of being angry and would choose as the
118505 handiest pretext Belova's deafness.
118506
118507 She would begin to say something to her in a low tone from the other
118508 end of the room.
118509
118510 "It seems a little warmer today, my dear," she would murmur.
118511
118512 And when Belova replied: "Oh yes, they've come," she would mutter
118513 angrily: "O Lord! How stupid and deaf she is!"
118514
118515 Another pretext would be her snuff, which would seem too dry or
118516 too damp or not rubbed fine enough. After these fits of irritability
118517 her face would grow yellow, and her maids knew by infallible
118518 symptoms when Belova would again be deaf, the snuff damp, and the
118519 countess' face yellow. Just as she needed to work off her spleen so
118520 she had sometimes to exercise her still-existing faculty of
118521 thinking--and the pretext for that was a game of patience. When she
118522 needed to cry, the deceased count would be the pretext. When she
118523 wanted to be agitated, Nicholas and his health would be the pretext,
118524 and when she felt a need to speak spitefully, the pretext would be
118525 Countess Mary. When her vocal organs needed exercise, which was
118526 usually toward seven o'clock when she had had an after-dinner rest
118527 in a darkened room, the pretext would be the retelling of the same
118528 stories over and over again to the same audience.
118529
118530 The old lady's condition was understood by the whole household
118531 though no one ever spoke of it, and they all made every possible
118532 effort to satisfy her needs. Only by a rare glance exchanged with a
118533 sad smile between Nicholas, Pierre, Natasha, and Countess Mary was the
118534 common understanding of her condition expressed.
118535
118536 But those glances expressed something more: they said that she had
118537 played her part in life, that what they now saw was not her whole
118538 self, that we must all become like her, and that they were glad to
118539 yield to her, to restrain themselves for this once precious being
118540 formerly as full of life as themselves, but now so much to be
118541 pitied. "Memento mori," said these glances.
118542
118543 Only the really heartless, the stupid ones of that household, and
118544 the little children failed to understand this and avoided her.
118545
118546
118547
118548
118549
118550 CHAPTER XIII
118551
118552
118553 When Pierre and his wife entered the drawing room the countess was
118554 in one of her customary states in which she needed the mental exertion
118555 of playing patience, and so--though by force of habit she greeted
118556 him with the words she always used when Pierre or her son returned
118557 after an absence: "High time, my dear, high time! We were all weary of
118558 waiting for you. Well, thank God!" and received her presents with
118559 another customary remark: "It's not the gift that's precious, my dear,
118560 but that you give it to me, an old woman..."--yet it was evident
118561 that she was not pleased by Pierre's arrival at that moment when it
118562 diverted her attention from the unfinished game.
118563
118564 She finished her game of patience and only then examined the
118565 presents. They consisted of a box for cards, of splendid
118566 workmanship, a bright-blue Sevres tea cup with shepherdesses
118567 depicted on it and with a lid, and a gold snuffbox with the count's
118568 portrait on the lid which Pierre had had done by a miniaturist in
118569 Petersburg. The countess had long wished for such a box, but as she
118570 did not want to cry just then she glanced indifferently at the
118571 portrait and gave her attention chiefly to the box for cards.
118572
118573 "Thank you, my dear, you have cheered me up," said she as she always
118574 did. "But best of all you have brought yourself back--for I never
118575 saw anything like it, you ought to give your wife a scolding! What are
118576 we to do with her? She is like a mad woman when you are away.
118577 Doesn't see anything, doesn't remember anything," she went on,
118578 repeating her usual phrases. "Look, Anna Timofeevna," she added to her
118579 companion, "see what a box for cards my son has brought us!"
118580
118581 Belova admired the presents and was delighted with her dress
118582 material.
118583
118584 Though Pierre, Natasha, Nicholas, Countess Mary, and Denisov had
118585 much to talk about that they could not discuss before the old
118586 countess--not that anything was hidden from her, but because she had
118587 dropped so far behindhand in many things that had they begun to
118588 converse in her presence they would have had to answer inopportune
118589 questions and to repeat what they had already told her many times:
118590 that so-and-so was dead and so-and-so was married, which she would
118591 again be unable to remember--yet they sat at tea round the samovar
118592 in the drawing room from habit, and Pierre answered the countess'
118593 questions as to whether Prince Vasili had aged and whether Countess
118594 Mary Alexeevna had sent greetings and still thought of them, and other
118595 matters that interested no one and to which she herself was
118596 indifferent.
118597
118598 Conversation of this kind, interesting to no one yet unavoidable,
118599 continued all through teatime. All the grown-up members of the
118600 family were assembled near the round tea table at which Sonya presided
118601 beside the samovar. The children with their tutors and governesses had
118602 had tea and their voices were audible from the next room. At tea all
118603 sat in their accustomed places: Nicholas beside the stove at a small
118604 table where his tea was handed to him; Milka, the old gray borzoi
118605 bitch (daughter of the first Milka), with a quite gray face and
118606 large black eyes that seemed more prominent than ever, lay on the
118607 armchair beside him; Denisov, whose curly hair, mustache, and whiskers
118608 had turned half gray, sat beside countess Mary with his general's
118609 tunic unbuttoned; Pierre sat between his wife and the old countess. He
118610 spoke of what he knew might interest the old lady and that she could
118611 understand. He told her of external social events and of the people
118612 who had formed the circle of her contemporaries and had once been a
118613 real, living, and distinct group, but who were now for the most part
118614 scattered about the world and like herself were garnering the last
118615 ears of the harvests they had sown in earlier years. But to the old
118616 countess those contemporaries of hers seemed to be the only serious
118617 and real society. Natasha saw by Pierre's animation that his visit had
118618 been interesting and that he had much to tell them but dare not say it
118619 before the old countess. Denisov, not being a member of the family,
118620 did not understand Pierre's caution and being, as a malcontent, much
118621 interested in what was occurring in Petersburg, kept urging Pierre
118622 to tell them about what had happened in the Semenovsk regiment, then
118623 about Arakcheev, and then about the Bible Society. Once or twice
118624 Pierre was carried away and began to speak of these things, but
118625 Nicholas and Natasha always brought him back to the health of Prince
118626 Ivan and Countess Mary Alexeevna.
118627
118628 "Well, and all this idiocy--Gossner and Tatawinova?" Denisov
118629 asked. "Is that weally still going on?"
118630
118631 "Going on?" Pierre exclaimed. "Why more than ever! The Bible Society
118632 is the whole government now!"
118633
118634 "What is that, mon cher ami?" asked the countess, who had
118635 finished her tea and evidently needed a pretext for being angry
118636 after her meal. "What are you saying about the government? I don't
118637 understand."
118638
118639 "Well, you know, Maman," Nicholas interposed, knowing how to
118640 translate things into his mother's language, "Prince Alexander
118641 Golitsyn has founded a society and in consequence has great influence,
118642 they say."
118643
118644 "Arakcheev and Golitsyn," incautiously remarked Pierre, "are now the
118645 whole government! And what a government! They see treason everywhere
118646 and are afraid of everything."
118647
118648 "Well, and how is Prince Alexander to blame? He is a most
118649 estimable man. I used to meet him at Mary Antonovna's," said the
118650 countess in an offended tone; and still more offended that they all
118651 remained silent, she went on: "Nowadays everyone finds fault. A Gospel
118652 Society! Well, and what harm is there in that?" and she rose
118653 (everybody else got up too) and with a severe expression sailed back
118654 to her table in the sitting room.
118655
118656 The melancholy silence that followed was broken by the sounds of the
118657 children's voices and laughter from the next room. Evidently some
118658 jolly excitement was going on there.
118659
118660 "Finished, finished!" little Natasha's gleeful yell rose above
118661 them all.
118662
118663 Pierre exchanged glances with Countess Mary and Nicholas (Natasha he
118664 never lost sight of) and smiled happily.
118665
118666 "That's delightful music!" said he.
118667
118668 "It means that Anna Makarovna has finished her stocking," said
118669 Countess Mary.
118670
118671 "Oh, I'll go and see," said Pierre, jumping up. "You know," he
118672 added, stopping at the door, "why I'm especially fond of that music?
118673 It is always the first thing that tells me all is well. When I was
118674 driving here today, the nearer I got to the house the more anxious I
118675 grew. As I entered the anteroom I heard Andrusha's peals of laughter
118676 and that meant that all was well."
118677
118678 "I know! I know that feeling," said Nicholas. "But I mustn't go
118679 there--those stockings are to be a surprise for me."
118680
118681 Pierre went to the children, and the shouting and laughter grew
118682 still louder.
118683
118684 "Come, Anna Makarovna," Pierre's voice was heard saying, "come
118685 here into the middle of the room and at the word of command, 'One,
118686 two,' and when I say 'three'... You stand here, and you in my arms-
118687 well now! One, two!..." said Pierre, and a silence followed:
118688 "three!" and a rapturously breathless cry of children's voices
118689 filled the room. "Two, two!" they shouted.
118690
118691 This meant two stockings, which by a secret process known only to
118692 herself Anna Makarovna used to knit at the same time on the same
118693 needles, and which, when they were ready, she always triumphantly
118694 drew, one out of the other, in the children's presence.
118695
118696
118697
118698
118699
118700 CHAPTER XIV
118701
118702
118703 Soon after this the children came in to say good night. They
118704 kissed everyone, the tutors and governesses made their bows, and
118705 they went out. Only young Nicholas and his tutor remained. Dessalles
118706 whispered to the boy to come downstairs.
118707
118708 "No, Monsieur Dessalles, I will ask my aunt to let me stay," replied
118709 Nicholas Bolkonski also in a whisper.
118710
118711 "Ma tante, please let me stay," said he, going up to his aunt.
118712
118713 His face expressed entreaty, agitation, and ecstasy. Countess Mary
118714 glanced at him and turned to Pierre.
118715
118716 "When you are here he can't tear himself away," she said.
118717
118718 "I will bring him to you directly, Monsieur Dessalles. Good
118719 night!" said Pierre, giving his hand to the Swiss tutor, and he turned
118720 to young Nicholas with a smile. "You and I haven't seen anything of
118721 one another yet... How like he is growing, Mary!" he added, addressing
118722 Countess Mary.
118723
118724 "Like my father?" asked the boy, flushing crimson and looking up
118725 at Pierre with bright, ecstatic eyes.
118726
118727 Pierre nodded, and went on with what he had been saying when the
118728 children had interrupted. Countess Mary sat down doing woolwork;
118729 Natasha did not take her eyes off her husband. Nicholas and Denisov
118730 rose, asked for their pipes, smoked, went to fetch more tea from
118731 Sonya--who sat weary but resolute at the samovar--and questioned
118732 Pierre. The curly-headed, delicate boy sat with shining eyes unnoticed
118733 in a corner, starting every now and then and muttering something to
118734 himself, and evidently experiencing a new and powerful emotion as he
118735 turned his curly head, with his thin neck exposed by his turn-down
118736 collar, toward the place where Pierre sat.
118737
118738 The conversation turned on the contemporary gossip about those in
118739 power, in which most people see the chief interest of home politics.
118740 Denisov, dissatisfied with the government on account of his own
118741 disappointments in the service, heard with pleasure of the things done
118742 in Petersburg which seemed to him stupid, and made forcible and
118743 sharp comments on what Pierre told them.
118744
118745 "One used to have to be a German--now one must dance with Tatawinova
118746 and Madame Kwudener, and wead Ecka'tshausen and the bwethwen. Oh, they
118747 should let that fine fellow Bonaparte lose--he'd knock all this
118748 nonsense out of them! Fancy giving the command of the Semenov wegiment
118749 to a fellow like that Schwa'tz!" he cried.
118750
118751 Nicholas, though free from Denisov's readiness to find fault with
118752 everything, also thought that discussion of the government was a
118753 very serious and weighty matter, and the fact that A had been
118754 appointed Minister of This and B Governor General of That, and that
118755 the Emperor had said so-and-so and this minister so-and-so, seemed
118756 to him very important. And so he thought it necessary to take an
118757 interest in these things and to question Pierre. The questions put
118758 by these two kept the conversation from changing its ordinary
118759 character of gossip about the higher government circles.
118760
118761 But Natasha, knowing all her husband's ways and ideas, saw that he
118762 had long been wishing but had been unable to divert the conversation
118763 to another channel and express his own deeply felt idea for the sake
118764 of which he had gone to Petersburg to consult with his new friend
118765 Prince Theodore, and she helped him by asking how his affairs with
118766 Prince Theodore had gone.
118767
118768 "What was it about?" asked Nicholas.
118769
118770 "Always the same thing," said Pierre, looking round at his
118771 listeners. "Everybody sees that things are going so badly that they
118772 cannot be allowed to go on so and that it is the duty of all decent
118773 men to counteract it as far as they can."
118774
118775 "What can decent men do?" Nicholas inquired, frowning slightly.
118776 "What can be done?"
118777
118778 "Why, this..."
118779
118780 "Come into my study," said Nicholas.
118781
118782 Natasha, who had long expected to be fetched to nurse her baby,
118783 now heard the nurse calling her and went to the nursery. Countess Mary
118784 followed her. The men went into the study and little Nicholas
118785 Bolkonski followed them unnoticed by his uncle and sat down at the
118786 writing table in a shady corner by the window.
118787
118788 "Well, what would you do?" asked Denisov.
118789
118790 "Always some fantastic schemes," said Nicholas.
118791
118792 "Why this," began Pierre, not sitting down but pacing the room,
118793 sometimes stopping short, gesticulating, and lisping: "the position in
118794 Petersburg is this: the Emperor does not look into anything. He has
118795 abandoned himself altogether to this mysticism" (Pierre could not
118796 tolerate mysticism in anyone now). "He seeks only for peace, and
118797 only these people sans foi ni loi* can give it him--people who
118798 recklessly hack at and strangle everything--Magnitski, Arakcheev,
118799 and tutti quanti.... You will agree that if you did not look after
118800 your estates yourself but only wanted a quiet life, the harsher your
118801 steward was the more readily your object might be attained," he said
118802 to Nicholas.
118803
118804
118805 *Without faith or law.
118806
118807
118808 "Well, what does that lead up to?" said Nicholas.
118809
118810 "Well, everything is going to ruin! Robbery in the law courts, in
118811 the army nothing but flogging, drilling, and Military Settlements; the
118812 people are tortured, enlightenment is suppressed. All that is young
118813 and honest is crushed! Everyone sees that this cannot go on.
118814 Everything is strained to such a degree that it will certainly break,"
118815 said Pierre (as those who examine the actions of any government have
118816 always said since governments began). "I told them just one thing in
118817 Petersburg."
118818
118819 "Told whom?"
118820
118821 "Well, you know whom," said Pierre, with a meaning glance from under
118822 his brows. "Prince Theodore and all those. To encourage culture and
118823 philanthropy is all very well of course. The aim is excellent but in
118824 the present circumstances something else is needed."
118825
118826 At that moment Nicholas noticed the presence of his nephew. His face
118827 darkened and he went up to the boy.
118828
118829 "Why are you here?"
118830
118831 "Why? Let him be," said Pierre, taking Nicholas by the arm and
118832 continuing. "That is not enough, I told them. Something else is
118833 needed. When you stand expecting the overstrained string to snap at
118834 any moment, when everyone is expecting the inevitable catastrophe,
118835 as many as possible must join hands as closely as they can to
118836 withstand the general calamity. Everything that is young and strong is
118837 being enticed away and depraved. One is lured by women, another by
118838 honors, a third by ambition or money, and they go over to that camp.
118839 No independent men, such as you or I, are left. What I say is widen
118840 the scope of our society, let the mot d'ordre be not virtue alone
118841 but independence and action as well!"
118842
118843 Nicholas, who had left his nephew, irritably pushed up an
118844 armchair, sat down in it, and listened to Pierre, coughing
118845 discontentedly and frowning more and more.
118846
118847 "But action with what aim?" he cried. "And what position will you
118848 adopt toward the government?"
118849
118850 "Why, the position of assistants. The society need not be secret
118851 if the government allows it. Not merely is it not hostile to
118852 government, but it is a society of true conservatives--a society of
118853 gentlemen in the full meaning of that word. It is only to prevent some
118854 Pugachev or other from killing my children and yours, and Arakcheev
118855 from sending me off to some Military Settlement. We join hands only
118856 for the public welfare and the general safety."
118857
118858 "Yes, but it's a secret society and therefore a hostile and
118859 harmful one which can only cause harm."
118860
118861 "Why? Did the Tugendbund which saved Europe" (they did not then
118862 venture to suggest that Russia had saved Europe) "do any harm? The
118863 Tugendbund is an alliance of virtue: it is love, mutual help... it
118864 is what Christ preached on the Cross."
118865
118866 Natasha, who had come in during the conversation, looked joyfully at
118867 her husband. It was not what he was saying that pleased her--that
118868 did not even interest her, for it seemed to her that was all extremely
118869 simple and that she had known it a long time (it seemed so to her
118870 because she knew that it sprang from Pierre's whole soul), but it
118871 was his animated and enthusiastic appearance that made her glad.
118872
118873 The boy with the thin neck stretching out from the turn-down collar-
118874 whom everyone had forgotten--gazed at Pierre with even greater and
118875 more rapturous joy. Every word of Pierre's burned into his heart,
118876 and with a nervous movement of his fingers he unconsciously broke
118877 the sealing wax and quill pens his hands came upon on his uncle's
118878 table.
118879
118880 "It is not at all what you suppose; but that is what the German
118881 Tugendbund was, and what I am proposing."
118882
118883 "No, my fwiend! The Tugendbund is all vewy well for the sausage
118884 eaters, but I don't understand it and can't even pwonounce it,"
118885 interposed Denisov in a loud and resolute voice. "I agwee that
118886 evewything here is wotten and howwible, but the Tugendbund I don't
118887 understand. If we're not satisfied, let us have a bunt of our own.
118888 That's all wight. Je suis vot'e homme!"*
118889
118890
118891 *"I'm your man."
118892
118893
118894 Pierre smiled, Natasha began to laugh, but Nicholas knitted his
118895 brows still more and began proving to Pierre that there was no
118896 prospect of any great change and that all the danger he spoke of
118897 existed only in his imagination. Pierre maintained the contrary, and
118898 as his mental faculties were greater and more resourceful, Nicholas
118899 felt himself cornered. This made him still angrier, for he was fully
118900 convinced, not by reasoning but by something within him stronger
118901 than reason, of the justice of his opinion.
118902
118903 "I will tell you this," he said, rising and trying with nervously
118904 twitching fingers to prop up his pipe in a corner, but finally
118905 abandoning the attempt. "I can't prove it to you. You say that
118906 everything here is rotten and that an overthrow is coming: I don't see
118907 it. But you also say that our oath of allegiance is a conditional
118908 matter, and to that I reply: 'You are my best friend, as you know, but
118909 if you formed a secret society and began working against the
118910 government--be it what it may--I know it is my duty to obey the
118911 government. And if Arakcheev ordered me to lead a squadron against you
118912 and cut you down, I should not hesitate an instant, but should do it.'
118913 And you may argue about that as you like!"
118914
118915 An awkward silence followed these words. Natasha was the first to
118916 speak, defending her husband and attacking her brother. Her defense
118917 was weak and inapt but she attained her object. The conversation was
118918 resumed, and no longer in the unpleasantly hostile tone of Nicholas'
118919 last remark.
118920
118921 When they all got up to go in to supper, little Nicholas Bolkonski
118922 went up to Pierre, pale and with shining, radiant eyes.
118923
118924 "Uncle Pierre, you... no... If Papa were alive... would he agree
118925 with you?" he asked.
118926
118927 And Pierre suddenly realized what a special, independent, complex,
118928 and powerful process of thought and feeling must have been going on in
118929 this boy during that conversation, and remembering all he had said
118930 he regretted that the lad should have heard him. He had, however, to
118931 give him an answer.
118932
118933 "Yes, I think so," he said reluctantly, and left the study.
118934
118935 The lad looked down and seemed now for the first time to notice what
118936 he had done to the things on the table. He flushed and went up to
118937 Nicholas.
118938
118939 "Uncle, forgive me, I did that... unintentionally," he said,
118940 pointing to the broken sealing wax and pens.
118941
118942 Nicholas started angrily.
118943
118944 "All right, all right," he said, throwing the bits under the table.
118945
118946 And evidently suppressing his vexation with difficulty, he turned
118947 away from the boy.
118948
118949 "You ought not to have been here at all," he said.
118950
118951
118952
118953
118954
118955 CHAPTER XV
118956
118957
118958 The conversation at supper was not about politics or societies,
118959 but turned on the subject Nicholas liked best--recollections of
118960 1812. Denisov started these and Pierre was particularly agreeable
118961 and amusing about them. The family separated on the most friendly
118962 terms.
118963
118964 After supper Nicholas, having undressed in his study and given
118965 instructions to the steward who had been waiting for him, went to
118966 the bedroom in his dressing gown, where he found his wife still at her
118967 table, writing.
118968
118969 "What are you writing, Mary?" Nicholas asked.
118970
118971 Countess Mary blushed. She was afraid that what she was writing
118972 would not be understood or approved by her husband.
118973
118974 She had wanted to conceal what she was writing from him, but at
118975 the same time was glad he had surprised her at it and that she would
118976 now have to tell him.
118977
118978 "A diary, Nicholas," she replied, handing him a blue exercise book
118979 filled with her firm, bold writing.
118980
118981 "A diary?" Nicholas repeated with a shade of irony, and he took up
118982 the book.
118983
118984 It was in French.
118985
118986
118987 December 4. Today when Andrusha (her eldest boy) woke up he did
118988 not wish to dress and Mademoiselle Louise sent for me. He was
118989 naughty and obstinate. I tried threats, but he only grew angrier. Then
118990 I took the matter in hand: I left him alone and began with nurse's
118991 help to get the other children up, telling him that I did not love
118992 him. For a long time he was silent, as if astonished, then he jumped
118993 out of bed, ran to me in his shirt, and sobbed so that I could not
118994 calm him for a long time. It was plain that what troubled him most was
118995 that he had grieved me. Afterwards in the evening when I gave him
118996 his ticket, he again began crying piteously and kissing me. One can do
118997 anything with him by tenderness.
118998
118999
119000 "What is a 'ticket'?" Nicholas inquired.
119001
119002 "I have begun giving the elder ones marks every evening, showing how
119003 they have behaved."
119004
119005 Nicholas looked into the radiant eyes that were gazing at him, and
119006 continued to turn over the pages and read. In the diary was set down
119007 everything in the children's lives that seemed noteworthy to their
119008 mother as showing their characters or suggesting general reflections
119009 on educational methods. They were for the most part quite
119010 insignificant trifles, but did not seem so to the mother or to the
119011 father either, now that he read this diary about his children for
119012 the first time.
119013
119014 Under the date "5" was entered:
119015
119016
119017 Mitya was naughty at table. Papa said he was to have no pudding.
119018 He had none, but looked so unhappily and greedily at the others
119019 while they were eating! I think that punishment by depriving
119020 children of sweets only develops their greediness. Must tell
119021 Nicholas this.
119022
119023
119024 Nicholas put down the book and looked at his wife. The radiant
119025 eyes gazed at him questioningly: would he approve or disapprove of her
119026 diary? There could be no doubt not only of his approval but also of
119027 his admiration for his wife.
119028
119029 Perhaps it need not be done so pedantically, thought Nicholas, or
119030 even done at all, but this untiring, continual spiritual effort of
119031 which the sole aim was the children's moral welfare delighted him. Had
119032 Nicholas been able to analyze his feelings he would have found that
119033 his steady, tender, and proud love of his wife rested on his feeling
119034 of wonder at her spirituality and at the lofty moral world, almost
119035 beyond his reach, in which she had her being.
119036
119037 He was proud of her intelligence and goodness, recognized his own
119038 insignificance beside her in the spiritual world, and rejoiced all the
119039 more that she with such a soul not only belonged to him but was part
119040 of himself.
119041
119042 "I quite, quite approve, my dearest!" said he with a significant
119043 look, and after a short pause he added: "And I behaved badly today.
119044 You weren't in the study. We began disputing--Pierre and I--and I lost
119045 my temper. But he is impossible: such a child! I don't know what would
119046 become of him if Natasha didn't keep him in hand.... Have you any idea
119047 why he went to Petersburg? They have formed..."
119048
119049 "Yes, I know," said Countess Mary. "Natasha told me."
119050
119051 "Well, then, you know," Nicholas went on, growing hot at the mere
119052 recollection of their discussion, "he wanted to convince me that it is
119053 every honest man's duty to go against the government, and that the
119054 oath of allegiance and duty... I am sorry you weren't there. They
119055 all fell on me--Denisov and Natasha... Natasha is absurd. How she
119056 rules over him! And yet there need only be a discussion and she has no
119057 words of her own but only repeats his sayings..." added Nicholas,
119058 yielding to that irresistible inclination which tempts us to judge
119059 those nearest and dearest to us. He forgot that what he was saying
119060 about Natasha could have been applied word for word to himself in
119061 relation to his wife.
119062
119063 "Yes, I have noticed that," said Countess Mary.
119064
119065 "When I told him that duty and the oath were above everything, he
119066 started proving goodness knows what! A pity you were not there--what
119067 would you have said?"
119068
119069 "As I see it you were quite right, and I told Natasha so. Pierre
119070 says everybody is suffering, tortured, and being corrupted, and that
119071 it is our duty to help our neighbor. Of course he is right there,"
119072 said Countess Mary, "but he forgets that we have other duties nearer
119073 to us, duties indicated to us by God Himself, and that though we might
119074 expose ourselves to risks we must not risk our children."
119075
119076 "Yes, that's it! That's just what I said to him," put in Nicholas,
119077 who fancied he really had said it. "But they insisted on their own
119078 view: love of one's neighbor and Christianity--and all this in the
119079 presence of young Nicholas, who had gone into my study and broke all
119080 my things."
119081
119082 "Ah, Nicholas, do you know I am often troubled about little
119083 Nicholas," said Countess Mary. "He is such an exceptional boy. I am
119084 afraid I neglect him in favor of my own: we all have children and
119085 relations while he has no one. He is constantly alone with his
119086 thoughts."
119087
119088 "Well, I don't think you need reproach yourself on his account.
119089 All that the fondest mother could do for her son you have done and are
119090 doing for him, and of course I am glad of it. He is a fine lad, a fine
119091 lad! This evening he listened to Pierre in a sort of trance, and
119092 fancy--as we were going in to supper I looked and he had broken
119093 everything on my table to bits, and he told me of it himself at
119094 once! I never knew him to tell an untruth. A fine lad, a fine lad!"
119095 repeated Nicholas, who at heart was not fond of Nicholas Bolkonski but
119096 was always anxious to recognize that he was a fine lad.
119097
119098 "Still, I am not the same as his own mother," said Countess Mary. "I
119099 feel I am not the same and it troubles me. A wonderful boy, but I am
119100 dreadfully afraid for him. It would be good for him to have
119101 companions."
119102
119103 "Well it won't be for long. Next summer I'll take him to
119104 Petersburg," said Nicholas. "Yes, Pierre always was a dreamer and
119105 always will be," he continued, returning to the talk in the study
119106 which had evidently disturbed him. "Well, what business is it of
119107 mine what goes on there--whether Arakcheev is bad, and all that?
119108 What business was it of mine when I married and was so deep in debt
119109 that I was threatened with prison, and had a mother who could not
119110 see or understand it? And then there are you and the children and
119111 our affairs. Is it for my own pleasure that I am at the farm or in the
119112 office from morning to night? No, but I know I must work to comfort my
119113 mother, to repay you, and not to leave the children such beggars as
119114 I was."
119115
119116 Countess Mary wanted to tell him that man does not live by bread
119117 alone and that he attached too much importance to these matters. But
119118 she knew she must not say this and that it would be useless to do
119119 so. She only took his hand and kissed it. He took this as a sign of
119120 approval and a confirmation of his thoughts, and after a few
119121 minutes' reflection continued to think aloud.
119122
119123 "You know, Mary, today Elias Mitrofanych" (this was his overseer)
119124 "came back from the Tambov estate and told me they are already
119125 offering eighty thousand rubles for the forest."
119126
119127 And with an eager face Nicholas began to speak of the possibility of
119128 repurchasing Otradnoe before long, and added: "Another ten years of
119129 life and I shall leave the children... in an excellent position."
119130
119131 Countess Mary listened to her husband and understood all that he
119132 told her. She knew that when he thought aloud in this way he would
119133 sometimes ask her what he had been saying, and be vexed if he
119134 noticed that she had been thinking about something else. But she had
119135 to force herself to attend, for what he was saying did not interest
119136 her at all. She looked at him and did not think, but felt, about
119137 something different. She felt a submissive tender love for this man
119138 who would never understand all that she understood, and this seemed to
119139 make her love for him still stronger and added a touch of passionate
119140 tenderness. Besides this feeling which absorbed her altogether and
119141 hindered her from following the details of her husband's plans,
119142 thoughts that had no connection with what he was saying flitted
119143 through her mind. She thought of her nephew. Her husband's account
119144 of the boy's agitation while Pierre was speaking struck her
119145 forcibly, and various traits of his gentle, sensitive character
119146 recurred to her mind; and while thinking of her nephew she thought
119147 also of her own children. She did not compare them with him, but
119148 compared her feeling for them with her feeling for him, and felt
119149 with regret that there was something lacking in her feeling for
119150 young Nicholas.
119151
119152 Sometimes it seemed to her that this difference arose from the
119153 difference in their ages, but she felt herself to blame toward him and
119154 promised in her heart to do better and to accomplish the impossible-
119155 in this life to love her husband, her children, little Nicholas, and
119156 all her neighbors, as Christ loved mankind. Countess Mary's soul
119157 always strove toward the infinite, the eternal, and the absolute,
119158 and could therefore never be at peace. A stern expression of the
119159 lofty, secret suffering of a soul burdened by the body appeared on her
119160 face. Nicholas gazed at her. "O God! What will become of us if she
119161 dies, as I always fear when her face is like that?" thought he, and
119162 placing himself before the icon he began to say his evening prayers.
119163
119164
119165
119166
119167
119168 CHAPTER XVI
119169
119170
119171 Natasha and Pierre, left alone, also began to talk as only a husband
119172 and wife can talk, that is, with extraordinary clearness and rapidity,
119173 understanding and expressing each other's thoughts in ways contrary to
119174 all rules of logic, without premises, deductions, or conclusions,
119175 and in a quite peculiar way. Natasha was so used to this kind of
119176 talk with her husband that for her it was the surest sign of something
119177 being wrong between them if Pierre followed a line of logical
119178 reasoning. When he began proving anything, or talking
119179 argumentatively and calmly and she, led on by his example, began to do
119180 the same, she knew that they were on the verge of a quarrel.
119181
119182 From the moment they were alone and Natasha came up to him with
119183 wide-open happy eyes, and quickly seizing his head pressed it to her
119184 bosom, saying: "Now you are all mine, mine! You won't escape!"--from
119185 that moment this conversation began, contrary to all the laws of logic
119186 and contrary to them because quite different subjects were talked
119187 about at one and the same time. This simultaneous discussion of many
119188 topics did not prevent a clear understanding but on the contrary was
119189 the surest sign that they fully understood one another.
119190
119191 Just as in a dream when all is uncertain, unreasoning, and
119192 contradictory, except the feeling that guides the dream, so in this
119193 intercourse contrary to all laws of reason, the words themselves
119194 were not consecutive and clear but only the feeling that prompted
119195 them.
119196
119197 Natasha spoke to Pierre about her brother's life and doings, of
119198 how she had suffered and lacked life during his own absence, and of
119199 how she was fonder than ever of Mary, and how Mary was in every way
119200 better than herself. In saying this Natasha was sincere in
119201 acknowledging Mary's superiority, but at the same time by saying it
119202 she made a demand on Pierre that he should, all the same, prefer her
119203 to Mary and to all other women, and that now, especially after
119204 having seen many women in Petersburg, he should tell her so afresh.
119205
119206 Pierre, answering Natasha's words, told her how intolerable it had
119207 been for him to meet ladies at dinners and balls in Petersburg.
119208
119209 "I have quite lost the knack of talking to ladies," he said. "It was
119210 simply dull. Besides, I was very busy."
119211
119212 Natasha looked intently at him and went on:
119213
119214 "Mary is so splendid," she said. "How she understands children! It
119215 is as if she saw straight into their souls. Yesterday, for instance,
119216 Mitya was naughty..."
119217
119218 "How like his father he is," Pierre interjected.
119219
119220 Natasha knew why he mentioned Mitya's likeness to Nicholas: the
119221 recollection of his dispute with his brother-in-law was unpleasant and
119222 he wanted to know what Natasha thought of it.
119223
119224 "Nicholas has the weakness of never agreeing with anything not
119225 generally accepted. But I understand that you value what opens up a
119226 fresh line," said she, repeating words Pierre had once uttered.
119227
119228 "No, the chief point is that to Nicholas ideas and discussions are
119229 an amusement--almost a pastime," said Pierre. "For instance, he is
119230 collecting a library and has made it a rule not to buy a new book till
119231 he has read what he had already bought--Sismondi and Rousseau and
119232 Montesquieu," he added with a smile. "You know how much I..." he began
119233 to soften down what he had said; but Natasha interrupted him to show
119234 that this was unnecessary.
119235
119236 "So you say ideas are an amusement to him...."
119237
119238 "Yes, and for me nothing else is serious. All the time in Petersburg
119239 I saw everyone as in a dream. When I am taken up by a thought, all
119240 else is mere amusement."
119241
119242 "Ah, I'm so sorry I wasn't there when you met the children," said
119243 Natasha. "Which was most delighted? Lisa, I'm sure."
119244
119245 "Yes," Pierre replied, and went on with what was in his mind.
119246 "Nicholas says we ought not to think. But I can't help it. Besides,
119247 when I was in Petersburg I felt (I can this to you) that the whole
119248 affair would go to pieces without me--everyone was pulling his own
119249 way. But I succeeded in uniting them all; and then my idea is so clear
119250 and simple. You see, I don't say that we ought to oppose this and
119251 that. We may be mistaken. What I say is: 'Join hands, you who love the
119252 right, and let there be but one banner--that of active virtue.' Prince
119253 Sergey is a fine fellow and clever."
119254
119255 Natasha would have had no doubt as to the greatness of Pierre's
119256 idea, but one thing disconcerted her. "Can a man so important and
119257 necessary to society be also my husband? How did this happen?" She
119258 wished to express this doubt to him. "Now who could decide whether
119259 he is really cleverer than all the others?" she asked herself, and
119260 passed in review all those whom Pierre most respected. Judging by what
119261 he had said there was no one he had respected so highly as Platon
119262 Karataev.
119263
119264 "Do you know what I am thinking about?" she asked. "About Platon
119265 Karataev. Would he have approved of you now, do you think?"
119266
119267 Pierre was not at all surprised at this question. He understood
119268 his wife's line of thought.
119269
119270 "Platon Karataev?" he repeated, and pondered, evidently sincerely
119271 trying to imagine Karataev's opinion on the subject. "He would not
119272 have understood... yet perhaps he would."
119273
119274 "I love you awfully!" Natasha suddenly said. "Awfully, awfully!"
119275
119276 "No, he would not have approved," said Pierre, after reflection.
119277 "What he would have approved of is our family life. He was always so
119278 anxious to find seemliness, happiness, and peace in everything, and
119279 I should have been proud to let him see us. There now--you talk of
119280 my absence, but you wouldn't believe what a special feeling I have for
119281 you after a separation...."
119282
119283 "Yes, I should think..." Natasha began.
119284
119285 "No, it's not that. I never leave off loving you. And one couldn't
119286 love more, but this is something special.... Yes, of course-" he did
119287 not finish because their eyes meeting said the rest.
119288
119289 "What nonsense it is," Natasha suddenly exclaimed, "about
119290 honeymoons, and that the greatest happiness is at first! On the
119291 contrary, now is the best of all. If only you did not go away! Do
119292 you remember how we quarreled? And it was always my fault. Always
119293 mine. And what we quarreled about--I don't even remember!"
119294
119295 "Always about the same thing," said Pierre with a smile. "Jealo..."
119296
119297 "Don't say it! I can't bear it!" Natasha cried, and her eyes
119298 glittered coldly and vindictively. "Did you see her?" she added, after
119299 a pause.
119300
119301 "No, and if I had I shouldn't have recognized her."
119302
119303 They were silent for a while.
119304
119305 "Oh, do you know? While you were talking in the study I was
119306 looking at you," Natasha began, evidently anxious to disperse the
119307 cloud that had come over them. "You are as like him as two peas-
119308 like the boy." (She meant her little son.) "Oh, it's time to go to
119309 him.... The milk's come.... But I'm sorry to leave you."
119310
119311 They were silent for a few seconds. Then suddenly turning to one
119312 another at the same time they both began to speak. Pierre began with
119313 self-satisfaction and enthusiasm, Natasha with a quiet, happy smile.
119314 Having interrupted one another they both stopped to let the other
119315 continue.
119316
119317 "No. What did you say? Go on, go on."
119318
119319 "No, you go on, I was talking nonsense," said Natasha.
119320
119321 Pierre finished what he had begun. It was the sequel to his
119322 complacent reflections on his success in Petersburg. At that moment it
119323 seemed to him that he was chosen to give a new direction to the
119324 whole of Russian society and to the whole world.
119325
119326 "I only wished to say that ideas that have great results are
119327 always simple ones. My whole idea is that if vicious people are united
119328 and constitute a power, then honest folk must do the same. Now
119329 that's simple enough."
119330
119331 "Yes."
119332
119333 "And what were you going to say?"
119334
119335 "I? Only nonsense."
119336
119337 "But all the same?"
119338
119339 "Oh nothing, only a trifle," said Natasha, smilingly still more
119340 brightly. "I only wanted to tell you about Petya: today nurse was
119341 coming to take him from me, and he laughed, shut his eyes, and clung
119342 to me. I'm sure he thought he was hiding. Awfully sweet! There, now
119343 he's crying. Well, good-by!" and she left the room.
119344
119345
119346 Meanwhile downstairs in young Nicholas Bolkonski's bedroom a
119347 little lamp was burning as usual. (The boy was afraid of the dark
119348 and they could not cure him of it.) Dessalles slept propped up on four
119349 pillows and his Roman nose emitted sounds of rhythmic snoring.
119350 Little Nicholas, who had just waked up in a cold perspiration, sat
119351 up in bed and gazed before him with wide-open eyes. He had awaked from
119352 a terrible dream. He had dreamed that he and Uncle Pierre, wearing
119353 helmets such as were depicted in his Plutarch, were leading a huge
119354 army. The army was made up of white slanting lines that filled the air
119355 like the cobwebs that float about in autumn and which Dessalles called
119356 les fils de la Vierge. In front was Glory, which was similar to
119357 those threads but rather thicker. He and Pierre were borne along
119358 lightly and joyously, nearer and nearer to their goal. Suddenly the
119359 threads that moved them began to slacken and become entangled and it
119360 grew difficult to move. And Uncle Nicholas stood before them in a
119361 stern and threatening attitude.
119362
119363 "Have you done this?" he said, pointing to some broken sealing wax
119364 and pens. "I loved you, but I have orders from Arakcheev and will kill
119365 the first of you who moves forward." Little Nicholas turned to look at
119366 Pierre but Pierre was no longer there. In his place was his father-
119367 Prince Andrew--and his father had neither shape nor form, but he
119368 existed, and when little Nicholas perceived him he grew faint with
119369 love: he felt himself powerless, limp, and formless. His father
119370 caressed and pitied him. But Uncle Nicholas came nearer and nearer
119371 to them. Terror seized young Nicholas and he awoke.
119372
119373 "My father!" he thought. (Though there were two good portraits of
119374 Prince Andrew in the house, Nicholas never imagined him in human
119375 form.) "My father has been with me and caressed me. He approved of
119376 me and of Uncle Pierre. Whatever he may tell me, I will do it.
119377 Mucius Scaevola burned his hand. Why should not the same sort of thing
119378 happen to me? I know they want me to learn. And I will learn. But
119379 someday I shall have finished learning, and then I will do
119380 something. I only pray God that something may happen to me such as
119381 happened to Plutarch's men, and I will act as they did. I will do
119382 better. Everyone shall know me, love me, and be delighted with me!"
119383 And suddenly his bosom heaved with sobs and he began to cry.
119384
119385 "Are you ill?" he heard Dessalles' voice asking.
119386
119387 "No," answered Nicholas, and lay back on his pillow.
119388
119389 "He is good and kind and I am fond of him!" he thought of Dessalles.
119390 "But Uncle Pierre! Oh, what a wonderful man he is! And my father?
119391 Oh, Father, Father! Yes, I will do something with which even he
119392 would be satisfied...."
119393
119394
119395
119396
119397
119398
119399
119400 SECOND EPILOGUE
119401
119402
119403
119404
119405
119406 CHAPTER I
119407
119408
119409 History is the life of nations and of humanity. To seize and put
119410 into words, to describe directly the life of humanity or even of a
119411 single nation, appears impossible.
119412
119413 The ancient historians all employed one and the same method to
119414 describe and seize the apparently elusive--the life of a people.
119415 They described the activity of individuals who ruled the people, and
119416 regarded the activity of those men as representing the activity of the
119417 whole nation.
119418
119419 The question: how did individuals make nations act as they wished
119420 and by what was the will of these individuals themselves guided? the
119421 ancients met by recognizing a divinity which subjected the nations
119422 to the will of a chosen man, and guided the will of that chosen man so
119423 as to accomplish ends that were predestined.
119424
119425 For the ancients these questions were solved by a belief in the
119426 direct participation of the Deity in human affairs.
119427
119428 Modern history, in theory, rejects both these principles.
119429
119430 It would seem that having rejected the belief of the ancients in
119431 man's subjection to the Deity and in a predetermined aim toward
119432 which nations are led, modern history should study not the
119433 manifestations of power but the causes that produce it. But modern
119434 history has not done this. Having in theory rejected the view held
119435 by the ancients, it still follows them in practice.
119436
119437 Instead of men endowed with divine authority and directly guided
119438 by the will of God, modern history has given us either heroes
119439 endowed with extraordinary, superhuman capacities, or simply men of
119440 very various kinds, from monarchs to journalists, who lead the masses.
119441 Instead of the former divinely appointed aims of the Jewish, Greek, or
119442 Roman nations, which ancient historians regarded as representing the
119443 progress of humanity, modern history has postulated its own aims-
119444 the welfare of the French, German, or English people, or, in its
119445 highest abstraction, the welfare and civilization of humanity in
119446 general, by which is usually meant that of the peoples occupying a
119447 small northwesterly portion of a large continent.
119448
119449 Modern history has rejected the beliefs of the ancients without
119450 replacing them by a new conception, and the logic of the situation has
119451 obliged the historians, after they had apparently rejected the
119452 divine authority of the kings and the "fate" of the ancients, to reach
119453 the same conclusion by another road, that is, to recognize (1) nations
119454 guided by individual men, and (2) the existence of a known aim to
119455 which these nations and humanity at large are tending.
119456
119457 At the basis of the works of all the modern historians from Gibbon
119458 to Buckle, despite their seeming disagreements and the apparent
119459 novelty of their outlooks, lie those two old, unavoidable assumptions.
119460
119461 In the first place the historian describes the activity of
119462 individuals who in his opinion have directed humanity (one historian
119463 considers only monarchs, generals, and ministers as being such men,
119464 while another includes also orators, learned men, reformers,
119465 philosophers, and poets). Secondly, it is assumed that the goal toward
119466 which humanity is being led is known to the historians: to one of them
119467 this goal is the greatness of the Roman, Spanish, or French realm;
119468 to another it is liberty, equality, and a certain kind of civilization
119469 of a small corner of the world called Europe.
119470
119471 In 1789 a ferment arises in Paris; it grows, spreads, and is
119472 expressed by a movement of peoples from west to east. Several times it
119473 moves eastward and collides with a countermovement from the east
119474 westward. In 1812 it reaches its extreme limit, Moscow, and then, with
119475 remarkable symmetry, a countermovement occurs from east to west,
119476 attracting to it, as the first movement had done, the nations of
119477 middle Europe. The counter movement reaches the starting point of
119478 the first movement in the west--Paris--and subsides.
119479
119480 During that twenty-year period an immense number of fields were left
119481 untilled, houses were burned, trade changed its direction, millions of
119482 men migrated, were impoverished, or were enriched, and millions of
119483 Christian men professing the law of love of their fellows slew one
119484 another.
119485
119486 What does all this mean? Why did it happen? What made those people
119487 burn houses and slay their fellow men? What were the causes of these
119488 events? What force made men act so? These are the instinctive,
119489 plain, and most legitimate questions humanity asks itself when it
119490 encounters the monuments and tradition of that period.
119491
119492 For a reply to these questions the common sense of mankind turns
119493 to the science of history, whose aim is to enable nations and humanity
119494 to know themselves.
119495
119496 If history had retained the conception of the ancients it would have
119497 said that God, to reward or punish his people, gave Napoleon power and
119498 directed his will to the fulfillment of the divine ends, and that
119499 reply, would have been clear and complete. One might believe or
119500 disbelieve in the divine significance of Napoleon, but for anyone
119501 believing in it there would have been nothing unintelligible in the
119502 history of that period, nor would there have been any contradictions.
119503
119504 But modern history cannot give that reply. Science does not admit
119505 the conception of the ancients as to the direct participation of the
119506 Deity in human affairs, and therefore history ought to give other
119507 answers.
119508
119509 Modern history replying to these questions says: you want to know
119510 what this movement means, what caused it, and what force produced
119511 these events? Then listen:
119512
119513 "Louis XIV was a very proud and self-confident man; he had such
119514 and such mistresses and such and such ministers and he ruled France
119515 badly. His descendants were weak men and they too ruled France
119516 badly. And they had such and such favorites and such and such
119517 mistresses. Moreover, certain men wrote some books at that time. At
119518 the end of the eighteenth century there were a couple of dozen men
119519 in Paris who began to talk about all men being free and equal. This
119520 caused people all over France to begin to slash at and drown one
119521 another. They killed the king and many other people. At that time
119522 there was in France a man of genius--Napoleon. He conquered
119523 everybody everywhere--that is, he killed many people because he was
119524 a great genius. And for some reason he went to kill Africans, and
119525 killed them so well and was so cunning and wise that when he
119526 returned to France he ordered everybody to obey him, and they all
119527 obeyed him. Having become an Emperor he again went out to kill
119528 people in Italy, Austria, and Prussia. And there too he killed a great
119529 many. In Russia there was an Emperor, Alexander, who decided to
119530 restore order in Europe and therefore fought against Napoleon. In 1807
119531 he suddenly made friends with him, but in 1811 they again quarreled
119532 and again began killing many people. Napoleon led six hundred thousand
119533 men into Russia and captured Moscow; then he suddenly ran away from
119534 Moscow, and the Emperor Alexander, helped by the advice of Stein and
119535 others, united Europe to arm against the disturber of its peace. All
119536 Napoleon's allies suddenly became his enemies and their forces
119537 advanced against the fresh forces he raised. The Allies defeated
119538 Napoleon, entered Paris, forced Napoleon to abdicate, and sent him
119539 to the island of Elba, not depriving him of the title of Emperor and
119540 showing him every respect, though five years before and one year later
119541 they all regarded him as an outlaw and a brigand. Then Louis XVIII,
119542 who till then had been the laughingstock both of the French and the
119543 Allies, began to reign. And Napoleon, shedding tears before his Old
119544 Guards, renounced the throne and went into exile. Then the skillful
119545 statesmen and diplomatists (especially Talleyrand, who managed to
119546 sit down in a particular chair before anyone else and thereby extended
119547 the frontiers of France) talked in Vienna and by these conversations
119548 made the nations happy or unhappy. Suddenly the diplomatists and
119549 monarchs nearly quarreled and were on the point of again ordering
119550 their armies to kill one another, but just then Napoleon arrived in
119551 France with a battalion, and the French, who had been hating him,
119552 immediately all submitted to him. But the Allied monarchs were angry
119553 at this and went to fight the French once more. And they defeated
119554 the genius Napoleon and, suddenly recognizing him as a brigand, sent
119555 him to the island of St. Helena. And the exile, separated from the
119556 beloved France so dear to his heart, died a lingering death on that
119557 rock and bequeathed his great deeds to posterity. But in Europe a
119558 reaction occurred and the sovereigns once again all began to oppress
119559 their subjects."
119560
119561 It would be a mistake to think that this is ironic--a caricature
119562 of the historical accounts. On the contrary it is a very mild
119563 expression of the contradictory replies, not meeting the questions,
119564 which all the historians give, from the compilers of memoirs and the
119565 histories of separate states to the writers of general histories and
119566 the new histories of the culture of that period.
119567
119568 The strangeness and absurdity of these replies arise from the fact
119569 that modern history, like a deaf man, answers questions no one has
119570 asked.
119571
119572 If the purpose of history be to give a description of the movement
119573 of humanity and of the peoples, the first question--in the absence
119574 of a reply to which all the rest will be incomprehensible--is: what is
119575 the power that moves peoples? To this, modern history laboriously
119576 replies either that Napoleon was a great genius, or that Louis XIV was
119577 very proud, or that certain writers wrote certain books.
119578
119579 All that may be so and mankind is ready to agree with it, but it
119580 is not what was asked. All that would be interesting if we
119581 recognized a divine power based on itself and always consistently
119582 directing its nations through Napoleons, Louis-es, and writers; but we
119583 do not acknowledge such a power, and therefore before speaking about
119584 Napoleons, Louis-es, and authors, we ought to be shown the
119585 connection existing between these men and the movement of the nations.
119586
119587 If instead of a divine power some other force has appeared, it
119588 should be explained in what this new force consists, for the whole
119589 interest of history lies precisely in that force.
119590
119591 History seems to assume that this force is self-evident and known to
119592 everyone. But in spite of every desire to regard it as known, anyone
119593 reading many historical works cannot help doubting whether this new
119594 force, so variously understood by the historians themselves, is really
119595 quite well known to everybody.
119596
119597
119598
119599
119600
119601 CHAPTER II
119602
119603
119604 What force moves the nations?
119605
119606 Biographical historians and historians of separate nations
119607 understand this force as a power inherent in heroes and rulers. In
119608 their narration events occur solely by the will of a Napoleon, and
119609 Alexander, or in general of the persons they describe. The answers
119610 given by this kind of historian to the question of what force causes
119611 events to happen are satisfactory only as long as there is but one
119612 historian to each event. As soon as historians of different
119613 nationalities and tendencies begin to describe the same event, the
119614 replies they give immediately lose all meaning, for this force is
119615 understood by them all not only differently but often in quite
119616 contradictory ways. One historian says that an event was produced by
119617 Napoleon's power, another that it was produced by Alexander's, a third
119618 that it was due to the power of some other person. Besides this,
119619 historians of that kind contradict each other even in their
119620 statement as to the force on which the authority of some particular
119621 person was based. Thiers, a Bonapartist, says that Napoleon's power
119622 was based on his virtue and genius. Lanfrey, a Republican, says it was
119623 based on his trickery and deception of the people. So the historians
119624 of this class, by mutually destroying one another's positions, destroy
119625 the understanding of the force which produces events, and furnish no
119626 reply to history's essential question.
119627
119628 Writers of universal history who deal with all the nations seem to
119629 recognize how erroneous is the specialist historians' view of the
119630 force which produces events. They do not recognize it as a power
119631 inherent in heroes and rulers, but as the resultant of a
119632 multiplicity of variously directed forces. In describing a war or
119633 the subjugation of a people, a general historian looks for the cause
119634 of the event not in the power of one man, but in the interaction of
119635 many persons connected with the event.
119636
119637 According to this view the power of historical personages,
119638 represented as the product of many forces, can no longer, it would
119639 seem, be regarded as a force that itself produces events. Yet in
119640 most cases universal historians still employ the conception of power
119641 as a force that itself produces events, and treat it as their cause.
119642 In their exposition, an historic character is first the product of his
119643 time, and his power only the resultant of various forces, and then his
119644 power is itself a force producing events. Gervinus, Schlosser, and
119645 others, for instance, at one time prove Napoleon to be a product of
119646 the Revolution, of the ideas of 1789 and so forth, and at another
119647 plainly say that the campaign of 1812 and other things they do not
119648 like were simply the product of Napoleon's misdirected will, and
119649 that the very ideas of 1789 were arrested in their development by
119650 Napoleon's caprice. The ideas of the Revolution and the general temper
119651 of the age produced Napoleon's power. But Napoleon's power
119652 suppressed the ideas of the Revolution and the general temper of the
119653 age.
119654
119655 This curious contradiction is not accidental. Not only does it occur
119656 at every step, but the universal historians' accounts are all made
119657 up of a chain of such contradictions. This contradiction occurs
119658 because after entering the field of analysis the universal
119659 historians stop halfway.
119660
119661 To find component forces equal to the composite or resultant
119662 force, the sum of the components must equal the resultant. This
119663 condition is never observed by the universal historians, and so to
119664 explain the resultant forces they are obliged to admit, in addition to
119665 the insufficient components, another unexplained force affecting the
119666 resultant action.
119667
119668 Specialist historians describing the campaign of 1813 or the
119669 restoration of the Bourbons plainly assert that these events were
119670 produced by the will of Alexander. But the universal historian
119671 Gervinus, refuting this opinion of the specialist historian, tries
119672 to prove that the campaign of 1813 and the restoration of the Bourbons
119673 were due to other things beside Alexander's will--such as the activity
119674 of Stein, Metternich, Madame de Stael, Talleyrand, Fichte
119675 Chateaubriand, and others. The historian evidently decomposes
119676 Alexander's power into the components: Talleyrand, Chateaubriand,
119677 and the rest--but the sum of the components, that is, the interactions
119678 of Chateaubriand, Talleyrand, Madame de Stael, and the others,
119679 evidently does not equal the resultant, namely the phenomenon of
119680 millions of Frenchmen submitting to the Bourbons. That
119681 Chateaubriand, Madame de Stael, and others spoke certain words to
119682 one another only affected their mutual relations but does not
119683 account for the submission of millions. And therefore to explain how
119684 from these relations of theirs the submission of millions of people
119685 resulted--that is, how component forces equal to one A gave a
119686 resultant equal to a thousand times A--the historian is again
119687 obliged to fall back on power--the force he had denied--and to
119688 recognize it as the resultant of the forces, that is, he has to
119689 admit an unexplained force acting on the resultant. And that is just
119690 what the universal historians do, and consequently they not only
119691 contradict the specialist historians but contradict themselves.
119692
119693 Peasants having no clear idea of the cause of rain, say, according
119694 to whether they want rain or fine weather: "The wind has blown the
119695 clouds away," or, "The wind has brought up the clouds." And in the
119696 same way the universal historians sometimes, when it pleases them
119697 and fits in with their theory, say that power is the result of events,
119698 and sometimes, when they want to prove something else, say that
119699 power produces events.
119700
119701 A third class of historians--the so-called historians of culture-
119702 following the path laid down by the universal historians who sometimes
119703 accept writers and ladies as forces producing events--again take
119704 that force to be something quite different. They see it in what is
119705 called culture--in mental activity.
119706
119707 The historians of culture are quite consistent in regard to their
119708 progenitors, the writers of universal histories, for if historical
119709 events may be explained by the fact that certain persons treated one
119710 another in such and such ways, why not explain them by the fact that
119711 such and such people wrote such and such books? Of the immense
119712 number of indications accompanying every vital phenomenon, these
119713 historians select the indication of intellectual activity and say that
119714 this indication is the cause. But despite their endeavors to prove
119715 that the cause of events lies in intellectual activity, only by a
119716 great stretch can one admit that there is any connection between
119717 intellectual activity and the movement of peoples, and in no case
119718 can one admit that intellectual activity controls people's actions,
119719 for that view is not confirmed by such facts as the very cruel murders
119720 of the French Revolution resulting from the doctrine of the equality
119721 of man, or the very cruel wars and executions resulting from the
119722 preaching of love.
119723
119724 But even admitting as correct all the cunningly devised arguments
119725 with which these histories are filled--admitting that nations are
119726 governed by some undefined force called an idea--history's essential
119727 question still remains unanswered, and to the former power of monarchs
119728 and to the influence of advisers and other people introduced by the
119729 universal historians, another, newer force--the idea--is added, the
119730 connection of which with the masses needs explanation. It is
119731 possible to understand that Napoleon had power and so events occurred;
119732 with some effort one may even conceive that Napoleon together with
119733 other influences was the cause of an event; but how a book, Le Contrat
119734 social, had the effect of making Frenchmen begin to drown one
119735 another cannot be understood without an explanation of the causal
119736 nexus of this new force with the event.
119737
119738 Undoubtedly some relation exists between all who live
119739 contemporaneously, and so it is possible to find some connection
119740 between the intellectual activity of men and their historical
119741 movements, just as such a connection may be found between the
119742 movements of humanity and commerce, handicraft, gardening, or anything
119743 else you please. But why intellectual activity is considered by the
119744 historians of culture to be the cause or expression of the whole
119745 historical movement is hard to understand. Only the following
119746 considerations can have led the historians to such a conclusion: (1)
119747 that history is written by learned men, and so it is natural and
119748 agreeable for them to think that the activity of their class
119749 supplies the basis of the movement of all humanity, just as a
119750 similar belief is natural and agreeable to traders, agriculturists,
119751 and soldiers (if they do not express it, that is merely because
119752 traders and soldiers do not write history), and (2) that spiritual
119753 activity, enlightenment, civilization, culture, ideas, are all
119754 indistinct, indefinite conceptions under whose banner it is very
119755 easy to use words having a still less definite meaning, and which
119756 can therefore be readily introduced into any theory.
119757
119758 But not to speak of the intrinsic quality of histories of this
119759 kind (which may possibly even be of use to someone for something)
119760 the histories of culture, to which all general histories tend more and
119761 more to approximate, are significant from the fact that after
119762 seriously and minutely examining various religious, philosophic, and
119763 political doctrines as causes of events, as soon as they have to
119764 describe an actual historic event such as the campaign of 1812 for
119765 instance, they involuntarily describe it as resulting from an exercise
119766 of power--and say plainly that that was the result of Napoleon's will.
119767 Speaking so, the historians of culture involuntarily contradict
119768 themselves, and show that the new force they have devised does not
119769 account for what happens in history, and that history can only be
119770 explained by introducing a power which they apparently do not
119771 recognize.
119772
119773
119774
119775
119776
119777 CHAPTER III
119778
119779
119780 A locomotive is moving. Someone asks: "What moves it?" A peasant
119781 says the devil moves it. Another man says the locomotive moves because
119782 its wheels go round. A third asserts that the cause of its movement
119783 lies in the smoke which the wind carries away.
119784
119785 The peasant is irrefutable. He has devised a complete explanation.
119786 To refute him someone would have to prove to him that there is no
119787 devil, or another peasant would have to explain to him that it is
119788 not the devil but a German, who moves the locomotive. Only then, as
119789 a result of the contradiction, will they see that they are both wrong.
119790 But the man who says that the movement of the wheels is the cause
119791 refutes himself, for having once begun to analyze he ought to go on
119792 and explain further why the wheels go round; and till he has reached
119793 the ultimate cause of the movement of the locomotive in the pressure
119794 of steam in the boiler, he has no right to stop in his search for
119795 the cause. The man who explains the movement of the locomotive by
119796 the smoke that is carried back has noticed that the wheels do not
119797 supply an explanation and has taken the first sign that occurs to
119798 him and in his turn has offered that as an explanation.
119799
119800 The only conception that can explain the movement of the
119801 locomotive is that of a force commensurate with the movement observed.
119802
119803 The only conception that can explain the movement of the peoples
119804 is that of some force commensurate with the whole movement of the
119805 peoples.
119806
119807 Yet to supply this conception various historians take forces of
119808 different kinds, all of which are incommensurate with the movement
119809 observed. Some see it as a force directly inherent in heroes, as the
119810 peasant sees the devil in the locomotive; others as a force
119811 resulting from several other forces, like the movement of the
119812 wheels; others again as an intellectual influence, like the smoke that
119813 is blown away.
119814
119815 So long as histories are written of separate individuals, whether
119816 Caesars, Alexanders, Luthers, or Voltaires, and not the histories of
119817 all, absolutely all those who take part in an event, it is quite
119818 impossible to describe the movement of humanity without the conception
119819 of a force compelling men to direct their activity toward a certain
119820 end. And the only such conception known to historians is that of
119821 power.
119822
119823 This conception is the one handle by means of which the material
119824 of history, as at present expounded, can be dealt with, and anyone who
119825 breaks that handle off, as Buckle did, without finding some other
119826 method of treating historical material, merely deprives himself of the
119827 one possible way of dealing with it. The necessity of the conception
119828 of power as an explanation of historical events is best demonstrated
119829 by the universal historians and historians of culture themselves,
119830 for they professedly reject that conception but inevitably have
119831 recourse to it at every step.
119832
119833 In dealing with humanity's inquiry, the science of history up to now
119834 is like money in circulation--paper money and coin. The biographies
119835 and special national histories are like paper money. They can be
119836 used and can circulate and fulfill their purpose without harm to
119837 anyone and even advantageously, as long as no one asks what is the
119838 security behind them. You need only forget to ask how the will of
119839 heroes produces events, and such histories as Thiers' will be
119840 interesting and instructive and may perhaps even possess a tinge of
119841 poetry. But just as doubts of the real value of paper money arise
119842 either because, being easy to make, too much of it gets made or
119843 because people try to exchange it for gold, so also doubts
119844 concerning the real value of such histories arise either because too
119845 many of them are written or because in his simplicity of heart someone
119846 inquires: by what force did Napoleon do this?--that is, wants to
119847 exchange the current paper money for the real gold of actual
119848 comprehension.
119849
119850 The writers of universal histories and of the history of culture are
119851 like people who, recognizing the defects of paper money, decide to
119852 substitute for it money made of metal that has not the specific
119853 gravity of gold. It may indeed make jingling coin, but will do no more
119854 than that. Paper money may deceive the ignorant, but nobody is
119855 deceived by tokens of base metal that have no value but merely jingle.
119856 As gold is gold only if it is serviceable not merely for exchange
119857 but also for use, so universal historians will be valuable only when
119858 they can reply to history's essential question: what is power? The
119859 universal historians give contradictory replies to that question,
119860 while the historians of culture evade it and answer something quite
119861 different. And as counters of imitation gold can be used only among
119862 a group of people who agree to accept them as gold, or among those who
119863 do not know the nature of gold, so universal historians and historians
119864 of culture, not answering humanity's essential question, serve as
119865 currency for some purposes of their own, only in universities and
119866 among the mass of readers who have a taste for what they call "serious
119867 reading."
119868
119869
119870
119871
119872
119873 CHAPTER IV
119874
119875
119876 Having abandoned the conception of the ancients as to the divine
119877 subjection of the will of a nation to some chosen man and the
119878 subjection of that man's will to the Deity, history cannot without
119879 contradictions take a single step till it has chosen one of two
119880 things: either a return to the former belief in the direct
119881 intervention of the Deity in human affairs or a definite explanation
119882 of the meaning of the force producing historical events and termed
119883 "power."
119884
119885 A return to the first is impossible, the belief has been
119886 destroyed; and so it is essential to explain what is meant by power.
119887
119888 Napoleon ordered an army to be raised and go to war. We are so
119889 accustomed to that idea and have become so used to it that the
119890 question: why did six hundred thousand men go to fight when Napoleon
119891 uttered certain words, seems to us senseless. He had the power and
119892 so what he ordered was done.
119893
119894 This reply is quite satisfactory if we believe that the power was
119895 given him by God. But as soon as we do not admit that, it becomes
119896 essential to determine what is this power of one man over others.
119897
119898 It cannot be the direct physical power of a strong man over a weak
119899 one--a domination based on the application or threat of physical
119900 force, like the power of Hercules; nor can it be based on the effect
119901 of moral force, as in their simplicity some historians think who say
119902 that the leading figures in history are heroes, that is, men gifted
119903 with a special strength of soul and mind called genius. This power
119904 cannot be based on the predominance of moral strength, for, not to
119905 mention heroes such as Napoleon about whose moral qualities opinions
119906 differ widely, history shows us that neither a Louis XI nor a
119907 Metternich, who ruled over millions of people, had any particular
119908 moral qualities, but on the contrary were generally morally weaker
119909 than any of the millions they ruled over.
119910
119911 If the source of power lies neither in the physical nor in the moral
119912 qualities of him who possesses it, it must evidently be looked for
119913 elsewhere--in the relation to the people of the man who wields the
119914 power.
119915
119916 And that is how power is understood by the science of jurisprudence,
119917 that exchange bank of history which offers to exchange history's
119918 understanding of power for true gold.
119919
119920 Power is the collective will of the people transferred, by expressed
119921 or tacit consent, to their chosen rulers.
119922
119923 In the domain of jurisprudence, which consists of discussions of how
119924 a state and power might be arranged were it possible for all that to
119925 be arranged, it is all very clear; but when applied to history that
119926 definition of power needs explanation.
119927
119928 The science of jurisprudence regards the state and power as the
119929 ancients regarded fire--namely, as something existing absolutely.
119930 But for history, the state and power are merely phenomena, just as for
119931 modern physics fire is not an element but a phenomenon.
119932
119933 From this fundamental difference between the view held by history
119934 and that held by jurisprudence, it follows that jurisprudence can tell
119935 minutely how in its opinion power should be constituted and what
119936 power--existing immutably outside time--is, but to history's questions
119937 about the meaning of the mutations of power in time it can answer
119938 nothing.
119939
119940 If power be the collective will of the people transferred to their
119941 ruler, was Pugachev a representative of the will of the people? If
119942 not, then why was Napoleon I? Why was Napoleon III a criminal when
119943 he was taken prisoner at Boulogne, and why, later on, were those
119944 criminals whom he arrested?
119945
119946 Do palace revolutions--in which sometimes only two or three people
119947 take part--transfer the will of the people to a new ruler? In
119948 international relations, is the will of the people also transferred to
119949 their conqueror? Was the will of the Confederation of the Rhine
119950 transferred to Napoleon in 1806? Was the will of the Russian people
119951 transferred to Napoleon in 1809, when our army in alliance with the
119952 French went to fight the Austrians?
119953
119954 To these questions three answers are possible:
119955
119956 Either to assume (1) that the will of the people is always
119957 unconditionally transferred to the ruler or rulers they have chosen,
119958 and that therefore every emergence of a new power, every struggle
119959 against the power once appointed, should be absolutely regarded as
119960 an infringement of the real power; or (2) that the will of the
119961 people is transferred to the rulers conditionally, under definite
119962 and known conditions, and to show that all limitations, conflicts, and
119963 even destructions of power result from a nonobservance by the rulers
119964 of the conditions under which their power was entrusted to them; or
119965 (3) that the will of the people is delegated to the rulers
119966 conditionally, but that the conditions are unknown and indefinite, and
119967 that the appearance of several authorities, their struggles and
119968 their falls, result solely from the greater or lesser fulfillment by
119969 the rulers of these unknown conditions on which the will of the people
119970 is transferred from some people to others.
119971
119972 And these are the three ways in which the historians do explain
119973 the relation of the people to their rulers.
119974
119975 Some historians--those biographical and specialist historians
119976 already referred to--in their simplicity failing to understand the
119977 question of the meaning of power, seem to consider that the collective
119978 will of the people is unconditionally transferred to historical
119979 persons, and therefore when describing some single state they assume
119980 that particular power to be the one absolute and real power, and
119981 that any other force opposing this is not a power but a violation of
119982 power--mere violence.
119983
119984 Their theory, suitable for primitive and peaceful periods of
119985 history, has the inconvenience--in application to complex and stormy
119986 periods in the life of nations during which various powers arise
119987 simultaneously and struggle with one another--that a Legitimist
119988 historian will prove that the National Convention, the Directory,
119989 and Bonaparte were mere infringers of the true power, while a
119990 Republican and a Bonapartist will prove: the one that the Convention
119991 and the other that the Empire was the real power, and that all the
119992 others were violations of power. Evidently the explanations
119993 furnished by these historians being mutually contradictory can only
119994 satisfy young children.
119995
119996 Recognizing the falsity of this view of history, another set of
119997 historians say that power rests on a conditional delegation of the
119998 will of the people to their rulers, and that historical leaders have
119999 power only conditionally on carrying out the program that the will
120000 of the people has by tacit agreement prescribed to them. But what this
120001 program consists in these historians do not say, or if they do they
120002 continually contradict one another.
120003
120004 Each historian, according to his view of what constitutes a nation's
120005 progress, looks for these conditions in the greatness, wealth,
120006 freedom, or enlightenment of citizens of France or some other country.
120007 But not to mention the historians' contradictions as to the nature
120008 of this program--or even admitting that some one general program of
120009 these conditions exists--the facts of history almost always contradict
120010 that theory. If the conditions under which power is entrusted
120011 consist in the wealth, freedom, and enlightenment of the people, how
120012 is it that Louis XIV and Ivan the Terrible end their reigns
120013 tranquilly, while Louis XVI and Charles I are executed by their
120014 people? To this question historians reply that Louis XIV's activity,
120015 contrary to the program, reacted on Louis XVI. But why did it not
120016 react on Louis XIV or on Louis XV--why should it react just on Louis
120017 XVI? And what is the time limit for such reactions? To these questions
120018 there are and can be no answers. Equally little does this view explain
120019 why for several centuries the collective will is not withdrawn from
120020 certain rulers and their heirs, and then suddenly during a period of
120021 fifty years is transferred to the Convention, to the Directory, to
120022 Napoleon, to Alexander, to Louis XVIII, to Napoleon again, to
120023 Charles X, to Louis Philippe, to a Republican government, and to
120024 Napoleon III. When explaining these rapid transfers of the people's
120025 will from one individual to another, especially in view of
120026 international relations, conquests, and alliances, the historians
120027 are obliged to admit that some of these transfers are not normal
120028 delegations of the people's will but are accidents dependent on
120029 cunning, on mistakes, on craft, or on the weakness of a diplomatist, a
120030 ruler, or a party leader. So that the greater part of the events of
120031 history--civil wars, revolutions, and conquests--are presented by
120032 these historians not as the results of free transferences of the
120033 people's will, but as results of the ill-directed will of one or
120034 more individuals, that is, once again, as usurpations of power. And so
120035 these historians also see and admit historical events which are
120036 exceptions to the theory.
120037
120038 These historians resemble a botanist who, having noticed that some
120039 plants grow from seeds producing two cotyledons, should insist that
120040 all that grows does so by sprouting into two leaves, and that the
120041 palm, the mushroom, and even the oak, which blossom into full growth
120042 and no longer resemble two leaves, are deviations from the theory.
120043
120044 Historians of the third class assume that the will of the people
120045 is transferred to historic personages conditionally, but that the
120046 conditions are unknown to us. They say that historical personages have
120047 power only because they fulfill the will of the people which has
120048 been delegated to them.
120049
120050 But in that case, if the force that moves nations lies not in the
120051 historic leaders but in the nations themselves, what significance have
120052 those leaders?
120053
120054 The leaders, these historians tell us, express the will of the
120055 people: the activity of the leaders represents the activity of the
120056 people.
120057
120058 But in that case the question arises whether all the activity of the
120059 leaders serves as an expression of the people's will or only some part
120060 of it. If the whole activity of the leaders serves as the expression
120061 of the people's will, as some historians suppose, then all the details
120062 of the court scandals contained in the biographies of a Napoleon or
120063 a Catherine serve to express the life of the nation, which is
120064 evident nonsense; but if it is only some particular side of the
120065 activity of an historical leader which serves to express the
120066 people's life, as other so-called "philosophical" historians
120067 believe, then to determine which side of the activity of a leader
120068 expresses the nation's life, we have first of all to know in what
120069 the nation's life consists.
120070
120071 Met by this difficulty historians of that class devise some most
120072 obscure, impalpable, and general abstraction which can cover all
120073 conceivable occurrences, and declare this abstraction to be the aim of
120074 humanity's movement. The most usual generalizations adopted by
120075 almost all the historians are: freedom, equality, enlightenment,
120076 progress, civilization, and culture. Postulating some generalization
120077 as the goal of the movement of humanity, the historians study the
120078 men of whom the greatest number of monuments have remained: kings,
120079 ministers, generals, authors, reformers, popes, and journalists, to
120080 the extent to which in their opinion these persons have promoted or
120081 hindered that abstraction. But as it is in no way proved that the
120082 aim of humanity does consist in freedom, equality, enlightenment, or
120083 civilization, and as the connection of the people with the rulers
120084 and enlighteners of humanity is only based on the arbitrary assumption
120085 that the collective will of the people is always transferred to the
120086 men whom we have noticed, it happens that the activity of the millions
120087 who migrate, burn houses, abandon agriculture, and destroy one another
120088 never is expressed in the account of the activity of some dozen people
120089 who did not burn houses, practice agriculture, or slay their fellow
120090 creatures.
120091
120092 History proves this at every turn. Is the ferment of the peoples
120093 of the west at the end of the eighteenth century and their drive
120094 eastward explained by the activity of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, their
120095 mistresses and ministers, and by the lives of Napoleon, Rousseau,
120096 Diderot, Beaumarchais, and others?
120097
120098 Is the movement of the Russian people eastward to Kazan and
120099 Siberia expressed by details of the morbid character of Ivan the
120100 Terrible and by his correspondence with Kurbski?
120101
120102 Is the movement of the peoples at the time of the Crusades explained
120103 by the life and activity of the Godfreys and the Louis-es and their
120104 ladies? For us that movement of the peoples from west to east, without
120105 leaders, with a crowd of vagrants, and with Peter the Hermit,
120106 remains incomprehensible. And yet more incomprehensible is the
120107 cessation of that movement when a rational and sacred aim for the
120108 Crusade--the deliverance of Jerusalem--had been clearly defined by
120109 historic leaders. Popes, kings, and knights incited the peoples to
120110 free the Holy Land; but the people did not go, for the unknown cause
120111 which had previously impelled them to go no longer existed. The
120112 history of the Godfreys and the Minnesingers can evidently not cover
120113 the life of the peoples. And the history of the Godfreys and the
120114 Minnesingers has remained the history of Godfreys and Minnesingers,
120115 but the history of the life of the peoples and their impulses has
120116 remained unknown.
120117
120118 Still less does the history of authors and reformers explain to us
120119 the life of the peoples.
120120
120121 The history of culture explains to us the impulses and conditions of
120122 life and thought of a writer or a reformer. We learn that Luther had a
120123 hot temper and said such and such things; we learn that Rousseau was
120124 suspicious and wrote such and such books; but we do not learn why
120125 after the Reformation the peoples massacred one another, nor why
120126 during the French Revolution they guillotined one another.
120127
120128 If we unite both these kinds of history, as is done by the newest
120129 historians, we shall have the history of monarchs and writers, but not
120130 the history of the life of the peoples.
120131
120132
120133
120134
120135
120136 CHAPTER V
120137
120138
120139 The life of the nations is not contained in the lives of a few
120140 men, for the connection between those men and the nations has not been
120141 found. The theory that this connection is based on the transference of
120142 the collective will of a people to certain historical personages is an
120143 hypothesis unconfirmed by the experience of history.
120144
120145 The theory of the transference of the collective will of the
120146 people to historic persons may perhaps explain much in the domain of
120147 jurisprudence and be essential for its purposes, but in its
120148 application to history, as soon as revolutions, conquests, or civil
120149 wars occur--that is, as soon as history begins--that theory explains
120150 nothing.
120151
120152 The theory seems irrefutable just because the act of transference of
120153 the people's will cannot be verified, for it never occurred.
120154
120155 Whatever happens and whoever may stand at the head of affairs, the
120156 theory can always say that such and such a person took the lead
120157 because the collective will was transferred to him.
120158
120159 The replies this theory gives to historical questions are like the
120160 replies of a man who, watching the movements of a herd of cattle and
120161 paying no attention to the varying quality of the pasturage in
120162 different parts of the field, or to the driving of the herdsman,
120163 should attribute the direction the herd takes to what animal happens
120164 to be at its head.
120165
120166 "The herd goes in that direction because the animal in front leads
120167 it and the collective will of all the other animals is vested in
120168 that leader." This is what historians of the first class say--those
120169 who assume the unconditional transference of the people's will.
120170
120171 "If the animals leading the herd change, this happens because the
120172 collective will of all the animals is transferred from one leader to
120173 another, according to whether the animal is or is not leading them
120174 in the direction selected by the whole herd." Such is the reply
120175 historians who assume that the collective will of the people is
120176 delegated to rulers under conditions which they regard as known. (With
120177 this method of observation it often happens that the observer,
120178 influenced by the direction he himself prefers, regards those as
120179 leaders who, owing to the people's change of direction, are no
120180 longer in front, but on one side, or even in the rear.)
120181
120182 "If the animals in front are continually changing and the
120183 direction of the whole herd is constantly altered, this is because
120184 in order to follow a given direction the animals transfer their will
120185 to the animals that have attracted our attention, and to study the
120186 movements of the herd we must watch the movements of all the prominent
120187 animals moving on all sides of the herd." So say the third class of
120188 historians who regard all historical persons, from monarchs to
120189 journalists, as the expression of their age.
120190
120191 The theory of the transference of the will of the people to historic
120192 persons is merely a paraphrase--a restatement of the question in other
120193 words.
120194
120195 What causes historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the
120196 collective will of the people transferred to one person. Under what
120197 condition is the will of the people delegated to one person? On
120198 condition that that person expresses the will of the whole people.
120199 That is, power is power: in other words, power is a word the meaning
120200 of which we do not understand.
120201
120202
120203 If the realm of human knowledge were confined to abstract reasoning,
120204 then having subjected to criticism the explanation of "power" that
120205 juridical science gives us, humanity would conclude that power is
120206 merely a word and has no real existence. But to understand phenomena
120207 man has, besides abstract reasoning, experience by which he verifies
120208 his reflections. And experience tells us that power is not merely a
120209 word but an actually existing phenomenon.
120210
120211 Not to speak of the fact that no description of the collective
120212 activity of men can do without the conception of power, the
120213 existence of power is proved both by history and by observing
120214 contemporary events.
120215
120216 Whenever an event occurs a man appears or men appear, by whose
120217 will the event seems to have taken place. Napoleon III issues a decree
120218 and the French go to Mexico. The King of Prussia and Bismarck issue
120219 decrees and an army enters Bohemia. Napoleon I issues a decree and
120220 an army enters Russia. Alexander I gives a command and the French
120221 submit to the Bourbons. Experience shows us that whatever event occurs
120222 it is always related to the will of one or of several men who have
120223 decreed it.
120224
120225 The historians, in accord with the old habit of acknowledging divine
120226 intervention in human affairs, want to see the cause of events in
120227 the expression of the will of someone endowed with power, but that
120228 supposition is not confirmed either by reason or by experience.
120229
120230 On the one side reflection shows that the expression of a man's
120231 will--his words--are only part of the general activity expressed in an
120232 event, as for instance in a war or a revolution, and so without
120233 assuming an incomprehensible, supernatural force--a miracle--one
120234 cannot admit that words can be the immediate cause of the movements of
120235 millions of men. On the other hand, even if we admitted that words
120236 could be the cause of events, history shows that the expression of the
120237 will of historical personages does not in most cases produce any
120238 effect, that is to say, their commands are often not executed, and
120239 sometimes the very opposite of what they order occurs.
120240
120241 Without admitting divine intervention in the affairs of humanity
120242 we cannot regard "power" as the cause of events.
120243
120244 Power, from the standpoint of experience, is merely the relation
120245 that exists between the expression of someone's will and the execution
120246 of that will by others.
120247
120248 To explain the conditions of that relationship we must first
120249 establish a conception of the expression of will, referring it to
120250 man and not to the Deity.
120251
120252 If the Deity issues a command, expresses His will, as ancient
120253 history tells us, the expression of that will is independent of time
120254 and is not caused by anything, for the Divinity is not controlled by
120255 an event. But speaking of commands that are the expression of the will
120256 of men acting in time and in relation to one another, to explain the
120257 connection of commands with events we must restore: (1) the
120258 condition of all that takes place: the continuity of movement in
120259 time both of the events and of the person who commands, and (2) the
120260 inevitability of the connection between the person commanding and
120261 those who execute his command.
120262
120263
120264
120265
120266
120267 CHAPTER VI
120268
120269
120270 Only the expression of the will of the Deity, not dependent on time,
120271 can relate to a whole series of events occurring over a period of
120272 years or centuries, and only the Deity, independent of everything, can
120273 by His sole will determine the direction of humanity's movement; but
120274 man acts in time and himself takes part in what occurs.
120275
120276 Reinstating the first condition omitted, that of time, we see that
120277 no command can be executed without some preceding order having been
120278 given rendering the execution of the last command possible.
120279
120280 No command ever appears spontaneously, or itself covers a whole
120281 series of occurrences; but each command follows from another, and
120282 never refers to a whole series of events but always to one moment only
120283 of an event.
120284
120285 When, for instance, we say that Napoleon ordered armies to go to
120286 war, we combine in one simultaneous expression a whole series of
120287 consecutive commands dependent one on another. Napoleon could not have
120288 commanded an invasion of Russia and never did so. Today he ordered
120289 such and such papers to be written to Vienna, to Berlin, and to
120290 Petersburg; tomorrow such and such decrees and orders to the army, the
120291 fleet, the commissariat, and so on and so on--millions of commands,
120292 which formed a whole series corresponding to a series of events
120293 which brought the French armies into Russia.
120294
120295 If throughout his reign Napoleon gave commands concerning an
120296 invasion of England and expended on no other undertaking so much
120297 time and effort, and yet during his whole reign never once attempted
120298 to execute that design but undertook an expedition into Russia, with
120299 which country he considered it desirable to be in alliance (a
120300 conviction he repeatedly expressed)--this came about because his
120301 commands did not correspond to the course of events in the first case,
120302 but did so correspond in the latter.
120303
120304 For an order to be certainly executed, it is necessary that a man
120305 should order what can be executed. But to know what can and what
120306 cannot be executed is impossible, not only in the case of Napoleon's
120307 invasion of Russia in which millions participated, but even in the
120308 simplest event, for in either case millions of obstacles may arise
120309 to prevent its execution. Every order executed is always one of an
120310 immense number unexecuted. All the impossible orders inconsistent with
120311 the course of events remain unexecuted. Only the possible ones get
120312 linked up with a consecutive series of commands corresponding to a
120313 series of events, and are executed.
120314
120315 Our false conception that an event is caused by a command which
120316 precedes it is due to the fact that when the event has taken place and
120317 out of thousands of others those few commands which were consistent
120318 with that event have been executed, we forget about the others that
120319 were not executed because they could not be. Apart from that, the
120320 chief source of our error in this matter is due to the fact that in
120321 the historical accounts a whole series of innumerable, diverse, and
120322 petty events, such for instance as all those which led the French
120323 armies to Russia, is generalized into one event in accord with the
120324 result produced by that series of events, and corresponding with
120325 this generalization the whole series of commands is also generalized
120326 into a single expression of will.
120327
120328 We say that Napoleon wished to invade Russia and invaded it. In
120329 reality in all Napoleon's activity we never find anything resembling
120330 an expression of that wish, but find a series of orders, or
120331 expressions of his will, very variously and indefinitely directed.
120332 Amid a long series of unexecuted orders of Napoleon's one series,
120333 for the campaign of 1812, was carried out--not because those orders
120334 differed in any way from the other, unexecuted orders but because they
120335 coincided with the course of events that led the French army into
120336 Russia; just as in stencil work this or that figure comes out not
120337 because the color was laid on from this side or in that way, but
120338 because it was laid on from all sides over the figure cut in the
120339 stencil.
120340
120341 So that examining the relation in time of the commands to the
120342 events, we find that a command can never be the cause of the event,
120343 but that a certain definite dependence exists between the two.
120344
120345 To understand in what this dependence consists it is necessary to
120346 reinstate another omitted condition of every command proceeding not
120347 from the Deity but from a man, which is, that the man who gives the
120348 command himself takes part in.
120349
120350 This relation of the commander to those he commands is just what
120351 is called power. This relation consists in the following:
120352
120353 For common action people always unite in certain combinations, in
120354 which regardless of the difference of the aims set for the common
120355 action, the relation between those taking part in it is always the
120356 same.
120357
120358 Men uniting in these combinations always assume such relations
120359 toward one another that the larger number take a more direct share,
120360 and the smaller number a less direct share, in the collective action
120361 for which they have combined.
120362
120363 Of all the combinations in which men unite for collective action one
120364 of the most striking and definite examples is an army.
120365
120366 Every army is composed of lower grades of the service--the rank
120367 and file--of whom there are always the greatest number; of the next
120368 higher military rank--corporals and noncommissioned officers of whom
120369 there are fewer, and of still-higher officers of whom there are
120370 still fewer, and so on to the highest military command which is
120371 concentrated in one person.
120372
120373 A military organization may be quite correctly compared to a cone,
120374 of which the base with the largest diameter consists of the rank and
120375 file; the next higher and smaller section of the cone consists of
120376 the next higher grades of the army, and so on to the apex, the point
120377 of which will represent the commander in chief.
120378
120379 The soldiers, of whom there are the most, form the lower section
120380 of the cone and its base. The soldier himself does the stabbing,
120381 hacking, burning, and pillaging, and always receives orders for
120382 these actions from men above him; he himself never gives an order. The
120383 noncommissioned officers (of whom there are fewer) perform the
120384 action itself less frequently than the soldiers, but they already give
120385 commands. An officer still less often acts directly himself, but
120386 commands still more frequently. A general does nothing but command the
120387 troops, indicates the objective, and hardly ever uses a weapon
120388 himself. The commander in chief never takes direct part in the
120389 action itself, but only gives general orders concerning the movement
120390 of the mass of the troops. A similar relation of people to one another
120391 is seen in every combination of men for common activity--in
120392 agriculture, trade, and every administration.
120393
120394 And so without particularly analyzing all the contiguous sections of
120395 a cone and of the ranks of an army, or the ranks and positions in
120396 any administrative or public business whatever from the lowest to
120397 the highest, we see a law by which men, to take associated action,
120398 combine in such relations that the more directly they participate in
120399 performing the action the less they can command and the more
120400 numerous they are, while the less their direct participation in the
120401 action itself, the more they command and the fewer of them there
120402 are; rising in this way from the lowest ranks to the man at the top,
120403 who takes the least direct share in the action and directs his
120404 activity chiefly to commanding.
120405
120406 This relation of the men who command to those they command is what
120407 constitutes the essence of the conception called power.
120408
120409 Having restored the condition of time under which all events
120410 occur, find that a command is executed only when it is related to a
120411 corresponding series of events. Restoring the essential condition of
120412 relation between those who command and those who execute, we find that
120413 by the very nature of the case those who command take the smallest
120414 part in the action itself and that their activity is exclusively
120415 directed to commanding.
120416
120417
120418
120419
120420
120421 CHAPTER VII
120422
120423
120424 When an event is taking place people express their opinions and
120425 wishes about it, and as the event results from the collective activity
120426 of many people, some one of the opinions or wishes expressed is sure
120427 to be fulfilled if but approximately. When one of the opinions
120428 expressed is fulfilled, that opinion gets connected with the event
120429 as a command preceding it.
120430
120431 Men are hauling a log. Each of them expresses his opinion as to
120432 how and where to haul it. They haul the log away, and it happens
120433 that this is done as one of them said. He ordered it. There we have
120434 command and power in their primary form. The man who worked most
120435 with his hands could not think so much about what he was doing, or
120436 reflect on or command what would result from the common activity;
120437 while the man who commanded more would evidently work less with his
120438 hands on account of his greater verbal activity.
120439
120440 When some larger concourse of men direct their activity to a
120441 common aim there is a yet sharper division of those who, because their
120442 activity is given to directing and commanding, take less less part
120443 in the direct work.
120444
120445 When a man works alone he always has a certain set of reflections
120446 which as it seems to him directed his past activity, justify his
120447 present activity, and guide him in planning his future actions. Just
120448 the same is done by a concourse of people, allowing those who do not
120449 take a direct part in the activity to devise considerations,
120450 justifications, and surmises concerning their collective activity.
120451
120452 For reasons known or unknown to us the French began to drown and
120453 kill one another. And corresponding to the event its justification
120454 appears in people's belief that this was necessary for the welfare
120455 of France, for liberty, and for equality. People ceased to kill one
120456 another, and this event was accompanied by its justification in the
120457 necessity for a centralization of power, resistance to Europe, and
120458 so on. Men went from the west to the east killing their fellow men,
120459 and the event was accompanied by phrases about the glory of France,
120460 the baseness of England, and so on. History shows us that these
120461 justifications of the events have no common sense and are all
120462 contradictory, as in the case of killing a man as the result of
120463 recognizing his rights, and the killing of millions in Russia for
120464 the humiliation of England. But these justifications have a very
120465 necessary significance in their own day.
120466
120467 These justifications release those who produce the events from moral
120468 responsibility. These temporary aims are like the broom fixed in front
120469 of a locomotive to clear the snow from the rails in front: they
120470 clear men's moral responsibilities from their path.
120471
120472 Without such justification there would be no reply to the simplest
120473 question that presents itself when examining each historical event.
120474 How is it that millions of men commit collective crimes--make war,
120475 commit murder, and so on?
120476
120477 With the present complex forms of political and social life in
120478 Europe can any event that is not prescribed, decreed, or ordered by
120479 monarchs, ministers, parliaments, or newspapers be imagined? Is
120480 there any collective action which cannot find its justification in
120481 political unity, in patriotism, in the balance of power, or in
120482 civilization? So that every event that occurs inevitably coincides
120483 with some expressed wish and, receiving a justification, presents
120484 itself as the result of the will of one man or of several men.
120485
120486 In whatever direction a ship moves, the flow of the waves it cuts
120487 will always be noticeable ahead of it. To those on board the ship
120488 the movement of those waves will be the only perceptible motion.
120489
120490 Only by watching closely moment by moment the movement of that
120491 flow and comparing it with the movement of the ship do we convince
120492 ourselves that every bit of it is occasioned by the forward movement
120493 of the ship, and that we were led into error by the fact that we
120494 ourselves were imperceptibly moving.
120495
120496 We see the same if we watch moment by moment the movement of
120497 historical characters (that is, re-establish the inevitable
120498 condition of all that occurs--the continuity of movement in time)
120499 and do not lose sight of the essential connection of historical
120500 persons with the masses.
120501
120502 When the ship moves in one direction there is one and the same
120503 wave ahead of it, when it turns frequently the wave ahead of it also
120504 turns frequently. But wherever it may turn there always will be the
120505 wave anticipating its movement.
120506
120507 Whatever happens it always appears that just that event was foreseen
120508 and decreed. Wherever the ship may go, the rush of water which neither
120509 directs nor increases its movement foams ahead of it, and at a
120510 distance seems to us not merely to move of itself but to govern the
120511 ship's movement also.
120512
120513
120514 Examining only those expressions of the will of historical persons
120515 which, as commands, were related to events, historians have assumed
120516 that the events depended on those commands. But examining the events
120517 themselves and the connection in which the historical persons stood to
120518 the people, we have found that they and their orders were dependent on
120519 events. The incontestable proof of this deduction is that, however
120520 many commands were issued, the event does not take place unless
120521 there are other causes for it, but as soon as an event occurs--be it
120522 what it may--then out of all the continually expressed wishes of
120523 different people some will always be found which by their meaning
120524 and their time of utterance are related as commands to the events.
120525
120526 Arriving at this conclusion we can reply directly and positively
120527 to these two essential questions of history:
120528
120529 (1) What is power?
120530
120531 (2) What force produces the movement of the nations?
120532
120533 (1) Power is the relation of a given person to other individuals, in
120534 which the more this person expresses opinions, predictions, and
120535 justifications of the collective action that is performed, the less is
120536 his participation in that action.
120537
120538 (2) The movement of nations is caused not by power, nor by
120539 intellectual activity, nor even by a combination of the two as
120540 historians have supposed, but by the activity of all the people who
120541 participate in the events, and who always combine in such a way that
120542 those taking the largest direct share in the event take on
120543 themselves the least responsibility and vice versa.
120544
120545 Morally the wielder of power appears to cause the event;
120546 physically it is those who submit to the power. But as the moral
120547 activity is inconceivable without the physical, the cause of the event
120548 is neither in the one nor in the other but in the union of the two.
120549
120550 Or in other words, the conception of a cause is inapplicable to
120551 the phenomena we are examining.
120552
120553 In the last analysis we reach the circle of infinity--that final
120554 limit to which in every domain of thought man's reason arrives if it
120555 is not playing with the subject. Electricity produces heat, heat
120556 produces electricity. Atoms attract each other and atoms repel one
120557 another.
120558
120559 Speaking of the interaction of heat and electricity and of atoms, we
120560 cannot say why this occurs, and we say that it is so because it is
120561 inconceivable otherwise, because it must be so and that it is a law.
120562 The same applies to historical events. Why war and revolution occur we
120563 do not know. We only know that to produce the one or the other action,
120564 people combine in a certain formation in which they all take part, and
120565 we say that this is so because it is unthinkable otherwise, or in
120566 other words that it is a law.
120567
120568
120569
120570
120571
120572 CHAPTER VIII
120573
120574
120575 If history dealt only with external phenomena, the establishment
120576 of this simple and obvious law would suffice and we should have
120577 finished our argument. But the law of history relates to man. A
120578 particle of matter cannot tell us that it does not feel the law of
120579 attraction or repulsion and that that law is untrue, but man, who is
120580 the subject of history, says plainly: I am free and am therefore not
120581 subject to the law.
120582
120583 The presence of the problem of man's free will, though
120584 unexpressed, is felt at every step of history.
120585
120586 All seriously thinking historians have involuntarily encountered
120587 this question. All the contradictions and obscurities of history and
120588 the false path historical science has followed are due solely to the
120589 lack of a solution of that question.
120590
120591 If the will of every man were free, that is, if each man could act
120592 as he pleased, all history would be a series of disconnected
120593 incidents.
120594
120595 If in a thousand years even one man in a million could act freely,
120596 that is, as he chose, it is evident that one single free act of that
120597 man's in violation of the laws governing human action would destroy
120598 the possibility of the existence of any laws for the whole of
120599 humanity.
120600
120601 If there be a single law governing the actions of men, free will
120602 cannot exist, for then man's will is subject to that law.
120603
120604 In this contradiction lies the problem of free will, which from most
120605 ancient times has occupied the best human minds and from most
120606 ancient times has been presented in its whole tremendous significance.
120607
120608 The problem is that regarding man as a subject of observation from
120609 whatever point of view--theological, historical, ethical, or
120610 philosophic--we find a general law of necessity to which he (like
120611 all that exists) is subject. But regarding him from within ourselves
120612 as what we are conscious of, we feel ourselves to be free.
120613
120614 This consciousness is a source of self-cognition quite apart from
120615 and independent of reason. Through his reason man observes himself,
120616 but only through consciousness does he know himself.
120617
120618 Apart from consciousness of self no observation or application of
120619 reason is conceivable.
120620
120621 To understand, observe, and draw conclusions, man must first of
120622 all be conscious of himself as living. A man is only conscious of
120623 himself as a living being by the fact that he wills, that is, is
120624 conscious of his volition. But his will--which forms the essence of
120625 his life--man recognizes (and can but recognize) as free.
120626
120627 If, observing himself, man sees that his will is always directed
120628 by one and the same law (whether he observes the necessity of taking
120629 food, using his brain, or anything else) he cannot recognize this
120630 never-varying direction of his will otherwise than as a limitation
120631 of it. Were it not free it could not be limited. A man's will seems to
120632 him to be limited just because he is not conscious of it except as
120633 free.
120634
120635 You say: I am not and am not free. But I have lifted my hand and let
120636 it fall. Everyone understands that this illogical reply is an
120637 irrefutable demonstration of freedom.
120638
120639 That reply is the expression of a consciousness that is not
120640 subject to reason.
120641
120642 If the consciousness of freedom were not a separate and
120643 independent source of self-consciousness it would be subject to
120644 reasoning and to experience, but in fact such subjection does not
120645 exist and is inconceivable.
120646
120647 A series of experiments and arguments proves to every man that he,
120648 as an object of observation, is subject to certain laws, and man
120649 submits to them and never resists the laws of gravity or
120650 impermeability once he has become acquainted with them. But the same
120651 series of experiments and arguments proves to him that the complete
120652 freedom of which he is conscious in himself is impossible, and that
120653 his every action depends on his organization, his character, and the
120654 motives acting upon him; yet man never submits to the deductions of
120655 these experiments and arguments. Having learned from experiment and
120656 argument that a stone falls downwards, a man indubitably believes this
120657 and always expects the law that he has learned to be fulfilled.
120658
120659 But learning just as certainly that his will is subject to laws,
120660 he does not and cannot believe this.
120661
120662 However often experiment and reasoning may show a man that under the
120663 same conditions and with the same character he will do the same
120664 thing as before, yet when under the same conditions and with the
120665 same character he approaches for the thousandth time the action that
120666 always ends in the same way, he feels as certainly convinced as before
120667 the experiment that he can act as he pleases. Every man, savage or
120668 sage, however incontestably reason and experiment may prove to him
120669 that it is impossible to imagine two different courses of action in
120670 precisely the same conditions, feels that without this irrational
120671 conception (which constitutes the essence of freedom) he cannot
120672 imagine life. He feels that however impossible it may be, it is so,
120673 for without this conception of freedom not only would he be unable
120674 to understand life, but he would be unable to live for a single
120675 moment.
120676
120677 He could not live, because all man's efforts, all his impulses to
120678 life, are only efforts to increase freedom. Wealth and poverty, fame
120679 and obscurity, power and subordination, strength and weakness,
120680 health and disease, culture and ignorance, work and leisure, repletion
120681 and hunger, virtue and vice, are only greater or lesser degrees of
120682 freedom.
120683
120684 A man having no freedom cannot be conceived of except as deprived of
120685 life.
120686
120687 If the conception of freedom appears to reason to be a senseless
120688 contradiction like the possibility of performing two actions at one
120689 and the same instant of time, or of an effect without a cause, that
120690 only proves that consciousness is not subject to reason.
120691
120692 This unshakable, irrefutable consciousness of freedom,
120693 uncontrolled by experiment or argument, recognized by all thinkers and
120694 felt by everyone without exception, this consciousness without which
120695 no conception of man is possible constitutes the other side of the
120696 question.
120697
120698 Man is the creation of an all-powerful, all-good, and all-seeing
120699 God. What is sin, the conception of which arises from the
120700 consciousness of man's freedom? That is a question for theology.
120701
120702 The actions of men are subject to general immutable laws expressed
120703 in statistics. What is man's responsibility to society, the conception
120704 of which results from the conception of freedom? That is a question
120705 for jurisprudence.
120706
120707 Man's actions proceed from his innate character and the motives
120708 acting upon him. What is conscience and the perception of right and
120709 wrong in actions that follows from the consciousness of freedom?
120710 That is a question for ethics.
120711
120712 Man in connection with the general life of humanity appears
120713 subject to laws which determine that life. But the same man apart from
120714 that connection appears to free. How should the past life of nations
120715 and of humanity be regarded--as the result of the free, or as the
120716 result of the constrained, activity of man? That is a question for
120717 history.
120718
120719 Only in our self-confident day of the popularization of knowledge-
120720 thanks to that most powerful engine of ignorance, the diffusion of
120721 printed matter--has the question of the freedom of will been put on
120722 a level on which the question itself cannot exist. In our time the
120723 majority of so-called advanced people--that is, the crowd of
120724 ignoramuses--have taken the work of the naturalists who deal with
120725 one side of the question for a solution of the whole problem.
120726
120727 They say and write and print that the soul and freedom do not exist,
120728 for the life of man is expressed by muscular movements and muscular
120729 movements are conditioned by the activity of the nerves; the soul
120730 and free will do not exist because at an unknown period of time we
120731 sprang from the apes. They say this, not at all suspecting that
120732 thousands of years ago that same law of necessity which with such
120733 ardor they are now trying to prove by physiology and comparative
120734 zoology was not merely acknowledged by all the religions and all the
120735 thinkers, but has never been denied. They do not see that the role
120736 of the natural sciences in this matter is merely to serve as an
120737 instrument for the illumination of one side of it. For the fact
120738 that, from the point of view of observation, reason and the will are
120739 merely secretions of the brain, and that man following the general law
120740 may have developed from lower animals at some unknown period of
120741 time, only explains from a fresh side the truth admitted thousands
120742 of years ago by all the religious and philosophic theories--that
120743 from the point of view of reason man is subject to the law of
120744 necessity; but it does not advance by a hair's breadth the solution of
120745 the question, which has another, opposite, side, based on the
120746 consciousness of freedom.
120747
120748 If men descended from the apes at an unknown period of time, that is
120749 as comprehensible as that they were made from a handful of earth at
120750 a certain period of time (in the first case the unknown quantity is
120751 the time, in the second case it is the origin); and the question of
120752 how man's consciousness of freedom is to be reconciled with the law of
120753 necessity to which he is subject cannot be solved by comparative
120754 physiology and zoology, for in a frog, a rabbit, or an ape, we can
120755 observe only the muscular nervous activity, but in man we observe
120756 consciousness as well as the muscular and nervous activity.
120757
120758 The naturalists and their followers, thinking they can solve this
120759 question, are like plasterers set to plaster one side of the walls
120760 of a church who, availing themselves of the absence of the chief
120761 superintendent of the work, should in an access of zeal plaster over
120762 the windows, icons, woodwork, and still unbuttressed walls, and should
120763 be delighted that from their point of view as plasterers, everything
120764 is now so smooth and regular.
120765
120766
120767
120768
120769
120770 CHAPTER IX
120771
120772
120773 For the solution of the question of free will or inevitability,
120774 history has this advantage over other branches of knowledge in which
120775 the question is dealt with, that for history this question does not
120776 refer to the essence of man's free will but its manifestation in the
120777 past and under certain conditions.
120778
120779 In regard to this question, history stands to the other sciences
120780 as experimental science stands to abstract science.
120781
120782 The subject for history is not man's will itself but our
120783 presentation of it.
120784
120785 And so for history, the insoluble mystery presented by the
120786 incompatibility of free will and inevitability does not exist as it
120787 does for theology, ethics, and philosophy. History surveys a
120788 presentation of man's life in which the union of these two
120789 contradictions has already taken place.
120790
120791 In actual life each historic event, each human action, is very
120792 clearly and definitely understood without any sense of
120793 contradiction, although each event presents itself as partly free
120794 and partly compulsory.
120795
120796 To solve the question of how freedom and necessity are combined
120797 and what constitutes the essence of these two conceptions, the
120798 philosophy of history can and should follow a path contrary to that
120799 taken by other sciences. Instead of first defining the conceptions
120800 of freedom and inevitability in themselves, and then ranging the
120801 phenomena of life under those definitions, history should deduce a
120802 definition of the conception of freedom and inevitability themselves
120803 from the immense quantity of phenomena of which it is cognizant and
120804 that always appear dependent on these two elements.
120805
120806 Whatever presentation of the activity of many men or of an
120807 individual we may consider, we always regard it as the result partly
120808 of man's free will and partly of the law of inevitability.
120809
120810 Whether we speak of the migration of the peoples and the
120811 incursions of the barbarians, or of the decrees of Napoleon III, or of
120812 someone's action an hour ago in choosing one direction out of
120813 several for his walk, we are unconscious of any contradiction. The
120814 degree of freedom and inevitability governing the actions of these
120815 people is clearly defined for us.
120816
120817 Our conception of the degree of freedom often varies according to
120818 differences in the point of view from which we regard the event, but
120819 every human action appears to us as a certain combination of freedom
120820 and inevitability. In every action we examine we see a certain measure
120821 of freedom and a certain measure of inevitability. And always the more
120822 freedom we see in any action the less inevitability do we perceive,
120823 and the more inevitability the less freedom.
120824
120825 The proportion of freedom to inevitability decreases and increases
120826 according to the point of view from which the action is regarded,
120827 but their relation is always one of inverse proportion.
120828
120829 A sinking man who clutches at another and drowns him; or a hungry
120830 mother exhausted by feeding her baby, who steals some food; or a man
120831 trained to discipline who on duty at the word of command kills a
120832 defenseless man--seem less guilty, that is, less free and more subject
120833 to the law of necessity, to one who knows the circumstances in which
120834 these people were placed, and more free to one who does not know
120835 that the man was himself drowning, that the mother was hungry, that
120836 the soldier was in the ranks, and so on. Similarly a man who committed
120837 a murder twenty years ago and has since lived peaceably and harmlessly
120838 in society seems less guilty and his action more due to the law of
120839 inevitability, to someone who considers his action after twenty
120840 years have elapsed than to one who examined it the day after it was
120841 committed. And in the same way every action of an insane, intoxicated,
120842 or highly excited man appears less free and more inevitable to one who
120843 knows the mental condition of him who committed the action, and
120844 seems more free and less inevitable to one who does not know it. In
120845 all these cases the conception of freedom is increased or diminished
120846 and the conception of compulsion is correspondingly decreased or
120847 increased, according to the point of view from which the action is
120848 regarded. So that the greater the conception of necessity the
120849 smaller the conception of freedom and vice versa.
120850
120851 Religion, the common sense of mankind, the science of jurisprudence,
120852 and history itself understand alike this relation between necessity
120853 and freedom.
120854
120855 All cases without exception in which our conception of freedom and
120856 necessity is increased and diminished depend on three considerations:
120857
120858 (1) The relation to the external world of the man who commits the
120859 deeds.
120860
120861 (2) His relation to time.
120862
120863 (3) His relation to the causes leading to the action.
120864
120865 The first consideration is the clearness of our perception of the
120866 man's relation to the external world and the greater or lesser
120867 clearness of our understanding of the definite position occupied by
120868 the man in relation to everything coexisting with him. This is what
120869 makes it evident that a drowning man is less free and more subject
120870 to necessity than one standing on dry ground, and that makes the
120871 actions of a man closely connected with others in a thickly
120872 populated district, or of one bound by family, official, or business
120873 duties, seem certainly less free and more subject to necessity than
120874 those of a man living in solitude and seclusion.
120875
120876 If we consider a man alone, apart from his relation to everything
120877 around him, each action of his seems to us free. But if we see his
120878 relation to anything around him, if we see his connection with
120879 anything whatever--with a man who speaks to him, a book he reads,
120880 the work on which he is engaged, even with the air he breathes or
120881 the light that falls on the things about him--we see that each of
120882 these circumstances has an influence on him and controls at least some
120883 side of his activity. And the more we perceive of these influences the
120884 more our conception of his freedom diminishes and the more our
120885 conception of the necessity that weighs on him increases.
120886
120887 The second consideration is the more or less evident time relation
120888 of the man to the world and the clearness of our perception of the
120889 place the man's action occupies in time. That is the ground which
120890 makes the fall of the first man, resulting in the production of the
120891 human race, appear evidently less free than a man's entry into
120892 marriage today. It is the reason why the life and activity of people
120893 who lived centuries ago and are connected with me in time cannot
120894 seem to me as free as the life of a contemporary, the consequences
120895 of which are still unknown to me.
120896
120897 The degree of our conception of freedom or inevitability depends
120898 in this respect on the greater or lesser lapse of time between the
120899 performance of the action and our judgment of it.
120900
120901 If I examine an act I performed a moment ago in approximately the
120902 same circumstances as those I am in now, my action appears to me
120903 undoubtedly free. But if I examine an act performed a month ago,
120904 then being in different circumstances, I cannot help recognizing
120905 that if that act had not been committed much that resulted from it-
120906 good, agreeable, and even essential--would not have taken place. If
120907 I reflect on an action still more remote, ten years ago or more,
120908 then the consequences of my action are still plainer to me and I
120909 find it hard to imagine what would have happened had that action not
120910 been performed. The farther I go back in memory, or what is the same
120911 thing the farther I go forward in my judgment, the more doubtful
120912 becomes my belief in the freedom of my action.
120913
120914 In history we find a very similar progress of conviction
120915 concerning the part played by free will in the general affairs of
120916 humanity. A contemporary event seems to us to be indubitably the doing
120917 of all the known participants, but with a more remote event we already
120918 see its inevitable results which prevent our considering anything else
120919 possible. And the farther we go back in examining events the less
120920 arbitrary do they appear.
120921
120922 The Austro-Prussian war appears to us undoubtedly the result of
120923 the crafty conduct of Bismarck, and so on. The Napoleonic wars still
120924 seem to us, though already questionably, to be the outcome of their
120925 heroes' will. But in the Crusades we already see an event occupying
120926 its definite place in history and without which we cannot imagine
120927 the modern history of Europe, though to the chroniclers of the
120928 Crusades that event appeared as merely due to the will of certain
120929 people. In regard to the migration of the peoples it does not enter
120930 anyone's head today to suppose that the renovation of the European
120931 world depended on Attila's caprice. The farther back in history the
120932 object of our observation lies, the more doubtful does the free will
120933 of those concerned in the event become and the more manifest the law
120934 of inevitability.
120935
120936 The third consideration is the degree to which we apprehend that
120937 endless chain of causation inevitably demanded by reason, in which
120938 each phenomenon comprehended, and therefore man's every action, must
120939 have its definite place as a result of what has gone before and as a
120940 cause of what will follow.
120941
120942 The better we are acquainted with the physiological,
120943 psychological, and historical laws deduced by observation and by which
120944 man is controlled, and the more correctly we perceive the
120945 physiological, psychological, and historical causes of the action, and
120946 the simpler the action we are observing and the less complex the
120947 character and mind of the man in question, the more subject to
120948 inevitability and the less free do our actions and those of others
120949 appear.
120950
120951 When we do not at all understand the cause of an action, whether a
120952 crime, a good action, or even one that is simply nonmoral, we
120953 ascribe a greater amount of freedom to it. In the case of a crime we
120954 most urgently demand the punishment for such an act; in the case of
120955 a virtuous act we rate its merit most highly. In an indifferent case
120956 we recognize in it more individuality, originality, and
120957 independence. But if even one of the innumerable causes of the act
120958 is known to us we recognize a certain element of necessity and are
120959 less insistent on punishment for the crime, or the acknowledgment of
120960 the merit of the virtuous act, or the freedom of the apparently
120961 original action. That a criminal was reared among male factors
120962 mitigates his fault in our eyes. The self-sacrifice of a father or
120963 mother, or self-sacrifice with the possibility of a reward, is more
120964 comprehensible than gratuitous self-sacrifice, and therefore seems
120965 less deserving of sympathy and less the result of free will. The
120966 founder of a sect or party, or an inventor, impresses us less when
120967 we know how or by what the way was prepared for his activity. If we
120968 have a large range of examples, if our observation is constantly
120969 directed to seeking the correlation of cause and effect in people's
120970 actions, their actions appear to us more under compulsion and less
120971 free the more correctly we connect the effects with the causes. If
120972 we examined simple actions and had a vast number of such actions under
120973 observation, our conception of their inevitability would be still
120974 greater. The dishonest conduct of the son of a dishonest father, the
120975 misconduct of a woman who had fallen into bad company, a drunkard's
120976 relapse into drunkenness, and so on are actions that seem to us less
120977 free the better we understand their cause. If the man whose actions we
120978 are considering is on a very low stage of mental development, like a
120979 child, a madman, or a simpleton--then, knowing the causes of the act
120980 and the simplicity of the character and intelligence in question, we
120981 see so large an element of necessity and so little free will that as
120982 soon as we know the cause prompting the action we can foretell the
120983 result.
120984
120985 On these three considerations alone is based the conception of
120986 irresponsibility for crimes and the extenuating circumstances admitted
120987 by all legislative codes. The responsibility appears greater or less
120988 according to our greater or lesser knowledge of the circumstances in
120989 which the man was placed whose action is being judged, and according
120990 to the greater or lesser interval of time between the commission of
120991 the action and its investigation, and according to the greater or
120992 lesser understanding of the causes that led to the action.
120993
120994
120995
120996
120997
120998 CHAPTER X
120999
121000
121001 Thus our conception of free will and inevitability gradually
121002 diminishes or increases according to the greater or lesser
121003 connection with the external world, the greater or lesser remoteness
121004 of time, and the greater or lesser dependence on the causes in
121005 relation to which we contemplate a man's life.
121006
121007 So that if we examine the case of a man whose connection with the
121008 external world is well known, where the time between the action and
121009 its examination is great, and where the causes of the action are
121010 most accessible, we get the conception of a maximum of inevitability
121011 and a minimum of free will. If we examine a man little dependent on
121012 external conditions, whose action was performed very recently, and the
121013 causes of whose action are beyond our ken, we get the conception of
121014 a minimum of inevitability and a maximum of freedom.
121015
121016 In neither case--however we may change our point of view, however
121017 plain we may make to ourselves the connection between the man and
121018 the external world, however inaccessible it may be to us, however long
121019 or short the period of time, however intelligible or
121020 incomprehensible the causes of the action may be--can we ever conceive
121021 either complete freedom or complete necessity.
121022
121023 (1) To whatever degree we may imagine a man to be exempt from the
121024 influence of the external world, we never get a conception of
121025 freedom in space. Every human action is inevitably conditioned by what
121026 surrounds him and by his own body. I lift my arm and let it fall. My
121027 action seems to me free; but asking myself whether I could raise my
121028 arm in every direction, I see that I raised it in the direction in
121029 which there was least obstruction to that action either from things
121030 around me or from the construction of my own body. I chose one out
121031 of all the possible directions because in it there were fewest
121032 obstacles. For my action to be free it was necessary that it should
121033 encounter no obstacles. To conceive of a man being free we must
121034 imagine him outside space, which is evidently impossible.
121035
121036 (2) However much we approximate the time of judgment to the time
121037 of the deed, we never get a conception of freedom in time. For if I
121038 examine an action committed a second ago I must still recognize it
121039 as not being free, for it is irrevocably linked to the moment at which
121040 it was committed. Can I lift my arm? I lift it, but ask myself:
121041 could I have abstained from lifting my arm at the moment that has
121042 already passed? To convince myself of this I do not lift it the next
121043 moment. But I am not now abstaining from doing so at the first
121044 moment when I asked the question. Time has gone by which I could not
121045 detain, the arm I then lifted is no longer the same as the arm I now
121046 refrain from lifting, nor is the air in which I lifted it the same
121047 that now surrounds me. The moment in which the first movement was made
121048 is irrevocable, and at that moment I could make only one movement, and
121049 whatever movement I made would be the only one. That I did not lift my
121050 arm a moment later does not prove that I could have abstained from
121051 lifting it then. And since I could make only one movement at that
121052 single moment of time, it could not have been any other. To imagine it
121053 as free, it is necessary to imagine it in the present, on the boundary
121054 between the past and the future--that is, outside time, which is
121055 impossible.
121056
121057 (3) However much the difficulty of understanding the causes may be
121058 increased, we never reach a conception of complete freedom, that is,
121059 an absence of cause. However inaccessible to us may be the cause of
121060 the expression of will in any action, our own or another's, the
121061 first demand of reason is the assumption of and search for a cause,
121062 for without a cause no phenomenon is conceivable. I raise my arm to
121063 perform an action independently of any cause, but my wish to perform
121064 an action without a cause is the cause of my action.
121065
121066 But even if--imagining a man quite exempt from all influences,
121067 examining only his momentary action in the present, unevoked by any
121068 cause--we were to admit so infinitely small a remainder of
121069 inevitability as equaled zero, we should even then not have arrived at
121070 the conception of complete freedom in man, for a being uninfluenced by
121071 the external world, standing outside of time and independent of cause,
121072 is no longer a man.
121073
121074 In the same way we can never imagine the action of a man quite
121075 devoid of freedom and entirely subject to the law of inevitability.
121076
121077 (1) However we may increase our knowledge of the conditions of space
121078 in which man is situated, that knowledge can never be complete, for
121079 the number of those conditions is as infinite as the infinity of
121080 space. And therefore so long as not all the conditions influencing men
121081 are defined, there is no complete inevitability but a certain
121082 measure of freedom remains.
121083
121084 (2) However we may prolong the period of time between the action
121085 we are examining and the judgment upon it, that period will be finite,
121086 while time is infinite, and so in this respect too there can never
121087 be absolute inevitability.
121088
121089 (3) However accessible may be the chain of causation of any
121090 action, we shall never know the whole chain since it is endless, and
121091 so again we never reach absolute inevitability.
121092
121093 But besides this, even if, admitting the remaining minimum of
121094 freedom to equal zero, we assumed in some given case--as for
121095 instance in that of a dying man, an unborn babe, or an idiot--complete
121096 absence of freedom, by so doing we should destroy the very
121097 conception of man in the case we are examining, for as soon as there
121098 is no freedom there is also no man. And so the conception of the
121099 action of a man subject solely to the law of inevitability without any
121100 element of freedom is just as impossible as the conception of a
121101 man's completely free action.
121102
121103 And so to imagine the action of a man entirely subject to the law of
121104 inevitability without any freedom, we must assume the knowledge of
121105 an infinite number of space relations, an infinitely long period of
121106 time, and an infinite series of causes.
121107
121108 To imagine a man perfectly free and not subject to the law of
121109 inevitability, we must imagine him all alone, beyond space, beyond
121110 time, and free from dependence on cause.
121111
121112 In the first case, if inevitability were possible without freedom we
121113 should have reached a definition of inevitability by the laws of
121114 inevitability itself, that is, a mere form without content.
121115
121116 In the second case, if freedom were possible without inevitability
121117 we should have arrived at unconditioned freedom beyond space, time,
121118 and cause, which by the fact of its being unconditioned and
121119 unlimited would be nothing, or mere content without form.
121120
121121 We should in fact have reached those two fundamentals of which man's
121122 whole outlook on the universe is constructed--the incomprehensible
121123 essence of life, and the laws defining that essence.
121124
121125 Reason says: (1) space with all the forms of matter that give it
121126 visibility is infinite, and cannot be imagined otherwise. (2) Time
121127 is infinite motion without a moment of rest and is unthinkable
121128 otherwise. (3) The connection between cause and effect has no
121129 beginning and can have no end.
121130
121131 Consciousness says: (1) I alone am, and all that exists is but me,
121132 consequently I include space. (2) I measure flowing time by the
121133 fixed moment of the present in which alone I am conscious of myself as
121134 living, consequently I am outside time. (3) I am beyond cause, for I
121135 feel myself to be the cause of every manifestation of my life.
121136
121137 Reason gives expression to the laws of inevitability.
121138 Consciousness gives expression to the essence of freedom.
121139
121140 Freedom not limited by anything is the essence of life, in man's
121141 consciousness. Inevitability without content is man's reason in its
121142 three forms.
121143
121144 Freedom is the thing examined. Inevitability is what examines.
121145 Freedom is the content. Inevitability is the form.
121146
121147 Only by separating the two sources of cognition, related to one
121148 another as form to content, do we get the mutually exclusive and
121149 separately incomprehensible conceptions of freedom and inevitability.
121150
121151 Only by uniting them do we get a clear conception of man's life.
121152
121153 Apart from these two concepts which in their union mutually define
121154 one another as form and content, no conception of life is possible.
121155
121156 All that we know of the life of man is merely a certain relation
121157 of free will to inevitability, that is, of consciousness to the laws
121158 of reason.
121159
121160 All that we know of the external world of nature is only a certain
121161 relation of the forces of nature to inevitability, or of the essence
121162 of life to the laws of reason.
121163
121164 The great natural forces lie outside us and we are not conscious
121165 of them; we call those forces gravitation, inertia, electricity,
121166 animal force, and so on, but we are conscious of the force of life
121167 in man and we call that freedom.
121168
121169 But just as the force of gravitation, incomprehensible in itself but
121170 felt by every man, is understood by us only to the extent to which
121171 we know the laws of inevitability to which it is subject (from the
121172 first knowledge that all bodies have weight, up to Newton's law), so
121173 too the force of free will, incomprehensible in itself but of which
121174 everyone is conscious, is intelligible to us only in as far as we know
121175 the laws of inevitability to which it is subject (from the fact that
121176 every man dies, up to the knowledge of the most complex economic and
121177 historic laws).
121178
121179 All knowledge is merely a bringing of this essence of life under the
121180 laws of reason.
121181
121182 Man's free will differs from every other force in that man is
121183 directly conscious of it, but in the eyes of reason it in no way
121184 differs from any other force. The forces of gravitation,
121185 electricity, or chemical affinity are only distinguished from one
121186 another in that they are differently defined by reason. Just so the
121187 force of man's free will is distinguished by reason from the other
121188 forces of nature only by the definition reason gives it. Freedom,
121189 apart from necessity, that is, apart from the laws of reason that
121190 define it, differs in no way from gravitation, or heat, or the force
121191 that makes things grow; for reason, it is only a momentary undefinable
121192 sensation of life.
121193
121194 And as the undefinable essence of the force moving the heavenly
121195 bodies, the undefinable essence of the forces of heat and electricity,
121196 or of chemical affinity, or of the vital force, forms the content of
121197 astronomy, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and so on, just in the
121198 same way does the force of free will form the content of history.
121199 But just as the subject of every science is the manifestation of
121200 this unknown essence of life while that essence itself can only be the
121201 subject of metaphysics, even the manifestation of the force of free
121202 will in human beings in space, in time, and in dependence on cause
121203 forms the subject of history, while free will itself is the subject of
121204 metaphysics.
121205
121206 In the experimental sciences what we know we call the laws of
121207 inevitability, what is unknown to us we call vital force. Vital
121208 force is only an expression for the unknown remainder over and above
121209 what we know of the essence of life.
121210
121211 So also in history what is known to us we call laws of
121212 inevitability, what is unknown we call free will. Free will is for
121213 history only an expression for the unknown remainder of what we know
121214 about the laws of human life.
121215
121216
121217
121218
121219
121220 CHAPTER XI
121221
121222
121223 History examines the manifestations of man's free will in connection
121224 with the external world in time and in dependence on cause, that is,
121225 it defines this freedom by the laws of reason, and so history is a
121226 science only in so far as this free will is defined by those laws.
121227
121228 The recognition of man's free will as something capable of
121229 influencing historical events, that is, as not subject to laws, is the
121230 same for history as the recognition of a free force moving the
121231 heavenly bodies would be for astronomy.
121232
121233 That assumption would destroy the possibility of the existence of
121234 laws, that is, of any science whatever. If there is even a single body
121235 moving freely, then the laws of Kepler and Newton are negatived and no
121236 conception of the movement of the heavenly bodies any longer exists.
121237 If any single action is due to free will, then not a single historical
121238 law can exist, nor any conception of historical events.
121239
121240 For history, lines exist of the movement of human wills, one end
121241 of which is hidden in the unknown but at the other end of which a
121242 consciousness of man's will in the present moves in space, time, and
121243 dependence on cause.
121244
121245 The more this field of motion spreads out before our eyes, the
121246 more evident are the laws of that movement. To discover and define
121247 those laws is the problem of history.
121248
121249 From the standpoint from which the science of history now regards
121250 its subject on the path it now follows, seeking the causes of events
121251 in man's freewill, a scientific enunciation of those laws is
121252 impossible, for however man's free will may be restricted, as soon
121253 as we recognize it as a force not subject to law, the existence of law
121254 becomes impossible.
121255
121256 Only by reducing this element of free will to the infinitesimal,
121257 that is, by regarding it as an infinitely small quantity, can we
121258 convince ourselves of the absolute inaccessibility of the causes,
121259 and then instead of seeking causes, history will take the discovery of
121260 laws as its problem.
121261
121262 The search for these laws has long been begun and the new methods of
121263 thought which history must adopt are being worked out simultaneously
121264 with the self-destruction toward which--ever dissecting and dissecting
121265 the causes of phenomena--the old method of history is moving.
121266
121267 All human sciences have traveled along that path. Arriving at
121268 infinitesimals, mathematics, the most exact of sciences, abandons
121269 the process of analysis and enters on the new process of the
121270 integration of unknown, infinitely small, quantities. Abandoning the
121271 conception of cause, mathematics seeks law, that is, the property
121272 common to all unknown, infinitely small, elements.
121273
121274 In another form but along the same path of reflection the other
121275 sciences have proceeded. When Newton enunciated the law of gravity
121276 he did not say that the sun or the earth had a property of attraction;
121277 he said that all bodies from the largest to the smallest have the
121278 property of attracting one another, that is, leaving aside the
121279 question of the cause of the movement of the bodies, he expressed
121280 the property common to all bodies from the infinitely large to the
121281 infinitely small. The same is done by the natural sciences: leaving
121282 aside the question of cause, they seek for laws. History stands on the
121283 same path. And if history has for its object the study of the movement
121284 of the nations and of humanity and not the narration of episodes in
121285 the lives of individuals, it too, setting aside the conception of
121286 cause, should seek the laws common to all the inseparably
121287 interconnected infinitesimal elements of free will.
121288
121289
121290
121291
121292
121293 CHAPTER XII
121294
121295
121296 From the time the law of Copernicus was discovered and proved, the
121297 mere recognition of the fact that it was not the sun but the earth
121298 that moves sufficed to destroy the whole cosmography of the
121299 ancients. By disproving that law it might have been possible to retain
121300 the old conception of the movements of the bodies, but without
121301 disproving it, it would seem impossible to continue studying the
121302 Ptolemaic worlds. But even after the discovery of the law of
121303 Copernicus the Ptolemaic worlds were still studied for a long time.
121304
121305 From the time the first person said and proved that the number of
121306 births or of crimes is subject to mathematical laws, and that this
121307 or that mode of government is determined by certain geographical and
121308 economic conditions, and that certain relations of population to
121309 soil produce migrations of peoples, the foundations on which history
121310 had been built were destroyed in their essence.
121311
121312 By refuting these new laws the former view of history might have
121313 been retained; but without refuting them it would seem impossible to
121314 continue studying historic events as the results of man's free will.
121315 For if a certain mode of government was established or certain
121316 migrations of peoples took place in consequence of such and such
121317 geographic, ethnographic, or economic conditions, then the free will
121318 of those individuals who appear to us to have established that mode of
121319 government or occasioned the migrations can no longer be regarded as
121320 the cause.
121321
121322 And yet the former history continues to be studied side by side with
121323 the laws of statistics, geography, political economy, comparative
121324 philology, and geology, which directly contradict its assumptions.
121325
121326 The struggle between the old views and the new was long and
121327 stubbornly fought out in physical philosophy. Theology stood on
121328 guard for the old views and accused the new of violating revelation.
121329 But when truth conquered, theology established itself just as firmly
121330 on the new foundation.
121331
121332 Just as prolonged and stubborn is the struggle now proceeding
121333 between the old and the new conception of history, and theology in the
121334 same way stands on guard for the old view, and accuses the new view of
121335 subverting revelation.
121336
121337 In the one case as in the other, on both sides the struggle provokes
121338 passion and stifles truth. On the one hand there is fear and regret
121339 for the loss of the whole edifice constructed through the ages, on the
121340 other is the passion for destruction.
121341
121342 To the men who fought against the rising truths of physical
121343 philosophy, it seemed that if they admitted that truth it would
121344 destroy faith in God, in the creation of the firmament, and in the
121345 miracle of Joshua the son of Nun. To the defenders of the laws of
121346 Copernicus and Newton, to Voltaire for example, it seemed that the
121347 laws of astronomy destroyed religion, and he utilized the law of
121348 gravitation as a weapon against religion.
121349
121350 Just so it now seems as if we have only to admit the law of
121351 inevitability, to destroy the conception of the soul, of good and
121352 evil, and all the institutions of state and church that have been
121353 built up on those conceptions.
121354
121355 So too, like Voltaire in his time, uninvited defenders of the law of
121356 inevitability today use that law as a weapon against religion,
121357 though the law of inevitability in history, like the law of Copernicus
121358 in astronomy, far from destroying, even strengthens the foundation
121359 on which the institutions of state and church are erected.
121360
121361 As in the question of astronomy then, so in the question of
121362 history now, the whole difference of opinion is based on the
121363 recognition or nonrecognition of something absolute, serving as the
121364 measure of visible phenomena. In astronomy it was the immovability
121365 of the earth, in history it is the independence of personality--free
121366 will.
121367
121368 As with astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the motion of the
121369 earth lay in abandoning the immediate sensation of the earth's
121370 fixity and of the motion of the planets, so in history the
121371 difficulty of recognizing the subjection of personality to the laws of
121372 space, time, and cause lies in renouncing the direct feeling of the
121373 independence of one's own personality. But as in astronomy the new
121374 view said: "It is true that we do not feel the movement of the
121375 earth, but by admitting its immobility we arrive at absurdity, while
121376 by admitting its motion (which we do not feel) we arrive at laws,"
121377 so also in history the new view says: "It is true that we are not
121378 conscious of our dependence, but by admitting our free will we
121379 arrive at absurdity, while by admitting our dependence on the external
121380 world, on time, and on cause, we arrive at laws."
121381
121382 In the first case it was necessary to renounce the consciousness
121383 of an unreal immobility in space and to recognize a motion we did
121384 not feel; in the present case it is similarly necessary to renounce
121385 a freedom that does not exist, and to recognize a dependence of
121386 which we are not conscious.
121387
121388
121389
121390
121391 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, WAR AND PEACE ***
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121708 the
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122682 surface
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122697 variety
122698 press
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122700 bill
122701 competition
122702 ready
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122705 hit
122706 stone
122707 useful
122708 extent
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122725 future
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122736 county
122737 lady
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122740 importance
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122746 context
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122795 edge
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122813 shake
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122817 star
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122823 green
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122825 sex
122826 finger
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122828 independent
122829 equipment
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122832 move
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122851 employee
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122877 ball
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122886 balance
122887 sister
122888 reader
122889 below
122890 trial
122891 rock
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122893 adopt
122894 newspaper
122895 meaning
122896 light
122897 essential
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122908 working
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122910 studio
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122912 spirit
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122915 star
122916 hope
122917 mark
122918 works
122919 league
122920 clear
122921 imagine
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122924 normally
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122926 strength
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122928 travel
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122930 very
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122932 male
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122934 issue
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122937 supply
122938 beat
122939 artist
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122963 route
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122979 apparently
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123001 district
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123019 western
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123021 public
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123023 estate
123024 boat
123025 prison
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123028 largely
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123031 limit
123032 deny
123033 for
123034 straight
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123036 writer
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123038 clothes
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123041 video
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123112 painting
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123131 wage
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123134 threat
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123137 sir
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123156 meal
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123173 category
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123190 lip
123191 religious
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123193 cry
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123196 exhibition
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123251 egg
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123256 decade
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123262 search
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123264 definition
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123272 tour
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123290 declare
123291 handle
123292 detailed
123293 challenge
123294 notice
123295 rain
123296 destroy
123297 mountain
123298 concentration
123299 limited
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123301 pension
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123303 afraid
123304 murder
123305 neck
123306 weapon
123307 hide
123308 offence
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123310 error
123311 representative
123312 enterprise
123313 criticism
123314 average
123315 quick
123316 sufficient
123317 appointment
123318 match
123319 transfer
123320 acid
123321 spring
123322 birth
123323 ear
123324 recognize
123325 recommend
123326 module
123327 instruction
123328 democratic
123329 park
123330 weather
123331 bottle
123332 address
123333 bedroom
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123335 pleasure
123336 realize
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123338 expensive
123339 select
123340 teaching
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123343 contact
123344 implication
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123346 temperature
123347 wave
123348 magazine
123349 totally
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123352 store
123353 scientific
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123355 thanks
123356 beside
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123359 critical
123360 recognition
123361 touch
123362 consist
123363 below
123364 silence
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123366 institute
123367 dress
123368 dangerous
123369 familiar
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123373 sum
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123375 partly
123376 block
123377 seriously
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123379 tape
123380 elsewhere
123381 cover
123382 fee
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123384 treaty
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123387 properly
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123389 code
123390 hill
123391 screen
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123393 sequence
123394 correct
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123396 phase
123397 crowd
123398 welcome
123399 metal
123400 human
123401 widely
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123403 cut
123404 sky
123405 brain
123406 expert
123407 experiment
123408 tiny
123409 perfect
123410 disappear
123411 initiative
123412 assumption
123413 photograph
123414 ministry
123415 congress
123416 transfer
123417 reading
123418 scientist
123419 fast
123420 fast
123421 closely
123422 thin
123423 solicitor
123424 secure
123425 plate
123426 pool
123427 gold
123428 emphasis
123429 recall
123430 shout
123431 generate
123432 location
123433 display
123434 heat
123435 gun
123436 shut
123437 journey
123438 imply
123439 violence
123440 dry
123441 historical
123442 step
123443 curriculum
123444 noise
123445 lunch
123446 fear
123447 succeed
123448 fall
123449 bottom
123450 initial
123451 theme
123452 characteristic
123453 pretty
123454 empty
123455 display
123456 combination
123457 interpretation
123458 rely
123459 escape
123460 score
123461 justice
123462 upper
123463 tooth
123464 organise
123465 cat
123466 tool
123467 spot
123468 bridge
123469 double
123470 direct
123471 conclude
123472 relative
123473 soldier
123474 climb
123475 breath
123476 afford
123477 urban
123478 nurse
123479 narrow
123480 liberal
123481 coal
123482 priority
123483 wild
123484 revenue
123485 membership
123486 grant
123487 approve
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123489 apparent
123490 faith
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123492 fix
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123494 troop
123495 motion
123496 leading
123497 component
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123499 literature
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123501 variation
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123503 inform
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123505 neither
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123507 mass
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123513 instrument
123514 guide
123515 criterion
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123519 entitle
123520 tone
123521 attractive
123522 wing
123523 surprise
123524 male
123525 ring
123526 pub
123527 fruit
123528 passage
123529 illustrate
123530 pay
123531 ride
123532 foundation
123533 restaurant
123534 vital
123535 alternative
123536 burn
123537 map
123538 united
123539 device
123540 jump
123541 estimate
123542 conduct
123543 derive
123544 comment
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123551 winner
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123560 border
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123563 blow
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123567 ancient
123568 brief
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123570 elderly
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123576 circle
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123579 anybody
123580 flow
123581 matter
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123583 capable
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123585 shot
123586 request
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123589 theatre
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123592 mechanism
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123595 defendant
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123598 chain
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123601 earn
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123603 desk
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123605 panel
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123607 deputy
123608 discipline
123609 strike
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123613 fashion
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123615 milk
123616 entire
123617 tear
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123619 finding
123620 welfare
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123622 attach
123623 typical
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123625 leadership
123626 walk
123627 negotiation
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123629 religion
123630 count
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123633 alright
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123635 fuel
123636 mine
123637 appeal
123638 servant
123639 liability
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123642 shoe
123643 expense
123644 vast
123645 soil
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123647 nose
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123649 lord
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123652 ticket
123653 editor
123654 switch
123655 provided
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123657 significance
123658 channel
123659 convention
123660 damage
123661 funny
123662 bone
123663 severe
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123665 iron
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123673 knee
123674 dress
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123677 criminal
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123679 notion
123680 comparison
123681 academic
123682 outcome
123683 lawyer
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123691 prisoner
123692 question
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123700 judge
123701 citizen
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123705 ourselves
123706 plastic
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123710 height
123711 opening
123712 lesson
123713 similarly
123714 shock
123715 rail
123716 tenant
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123719 middle
123720 somehow
123721 minor
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123723 knock
123724 root
123725 pursue
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123727 crucial
123728 occupy
123729 that
123730 independence
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123734 beauty
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123738 house
123739 database
123740 stretch
123741 stress
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123743 boundary
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123746 manufacturer
123747 sharp
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123749 queen
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123751 virtually
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123753 contemporary
123754 politician
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123761 topic
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123763 transaction
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123786 licence
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123800 gift
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123803 metre
123804 wheel
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123809 engage
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123816 clean
123817 quote
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123823 round
123824 eastern
123825 coat
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123828 diet
123829 enormous
123830 score
123831 rarely
123832 prize
123833 remaining
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123837 trust
123838 naturally
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123841 frame
123842 extension
123843 mix
123844 spokesman
123845 friendly
123846 acknowledge
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123848 regime
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123850 mine
123851 dispute
123852 grass
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123855 dismiss
123856 delivery
123857 complain
123858 conservative
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123860 port
123861 beach
123862 string
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123867 obligation
123868 gene
123869 yellow
123870 republic
123871 shadow
123872 dear
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123874 anywhere
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123876 phrase
123877 long
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123879 lucky
123880 restore
123881 convince
123882 coast
123883 engineer
123884 heavily
123885 extensive
123886 glad
123887 charity
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123890 alter
123891 warning
123892 arrest
123893 framework
123894 approval
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123896 novel
123897 accuse
123898 surprised
123899 currency
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123901 possess
123902 moral
123903 protein
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123907 incorporate
123908 proceed
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123910 sure
123911 stress
123912 justify
123913 behalf
123914 councillor
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123916 command
123917 maintenance
123918 stair
123919 poem
123920 chest
123921 like
123922 secret
123923 restriction
123924 efficient
123925 suspect
123926 hat
123927 tough
123928 firmly
123929 willing
123930 healthy
123931 focus
123932 construct
123933 occasionally
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123939 export
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123941 partnership
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123946 countryside
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123948 mostly
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123950 implement
123951 reputation
123952 print
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123954 keen
123955 guess
123956 recommendation
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123958 conventional
123959 cope
123960 constitute
123961 poll
123962 voluntary
123963 valuable
123964 recovery
123965 cast
123966 premise
123967 resolve
123968 regularly
123969 solve
123970 plaintiff
123971 critic
123972 agriculture
123973 ice
123974 constitution
123975 communist
123976 layer
123977 recession
123978 slight
123979 dramatic
123980 golden
123981 temporary
123982 suit
123983 shortly
123984 initially
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123986 protest
123987 resistance
123988 silent
123989 presentation
123990 soul
123991 self
123992 judgment
123993 feed
123994 muscle
123995 shareholder
123996 opposite
123997 pollution
123998 wealth
123999 video
124000 kingdom
124001 bread
124002 perspective
124003 camera
124004 prince
124005 illness
124006 cake
124007 meat
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124009 ideal
124010 relax
124011 penalty
124012 purchase
124013 tired
124014 beer
124015 specify
124016 short
124017 monitor
124018 electricity
124019 specifically
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124021 statutory
124022 laboratory
124023 federal
124024 captain
124025 deeply
124026 pour
124027 boss
124028 creature
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124030 locate
124031 being
124032 struggle
124033 lifespan
124034 flat
124035 valley
124036 like
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124039 dark
124040 bomb
124041 dollar
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124043 mood
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124045 possession
124046 marketing
124047 please
124048 habit
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124051 purchase
124052 sort
124053 outside
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124057 co
124058 acceptable
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124061 net
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124063 ratio
124064 kiss
124065 amount
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124073 bishop
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124092 cycle
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124094 philosophy
124095 gallery
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124097 intervention
124098 emotional
124099 advertising
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124101 dance
124102 cigarette
124103 predict
124104 adequate
124105 variable
124106 net
124107 retire
124108 sugar
124109 pale
124110 frequency
124111 guy
124112 feature
124113 furniture
124114 administrative
124115 wooden
124116 input
124117 phenomenon
124118 surprising
124119 jacket
124120 actor
124121 kick
124122 producer
124123 hearing
124124 chip
124125 equation
124126 certificate
124127 hello
124128 remarkable
124129 alliance
124130 smoke
124131 awareness
124132 throat
124133 discovery
124134 festival
124135 dance
124136 promise
124137 rose
124138 principal
124139 brilliant
124140 proposed
124141 coach
124142 absolute
124143 drama
124144 recording
124145 precisely
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124147 celebrate
124148 substance
124149 swing
124150 for
124151 rapid
124152 rough
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124155 rank
124156 compete
124157 sweet
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124159 rent
124160 dealer
124161 bend
124162 solid
124163 cloud
124164 across
124165 level
124166 enquiry
124167 fight
124168 abuse
124169 golf
124170 guitar
124171 electronic
124172 cottage
124173 scope
124174 pause
124175 mixture
124176 emotion
124177 comprehensive
124178 shirt
124179 allowance
124180 retirement
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124182 infection
124183 resist
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124185 paragraph
124186 sick
124187 near
124188 researcher
124189 consent
124190 written
124191 literary
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124193 wet
124194 lake
124195 entrance
124196 peak
124197 successfully
124198 sand
124199 breathe
124200 cold
124201 cheek
124202 platform
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124205 watch
124206 borrow
124207 birthday
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124210 core
124211 peasant
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124216 greatly
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124220 personnel
124221 judgement
124222 exciting
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124225 guarantee
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124230 organize
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124232 policeman
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124235 race
124236 demonstration
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124238 briefly
124239 presumably
124240 clock
124241 hero
124242 expose
124243 custom
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124246 earning
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124248 resign
124249 store
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124251 comprise
124252 chamber
124253 acquisition
124254 involved
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124257 radical
124258 detect
124259 stupid
124260 grand
124261 consumption
124262 hold
124263 zone
124264 mean
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124267 numerous
124268 sink
124269 everywhere
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124272 distinct
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124274 honour
124275 statistics
124276 false
124277 square
124278 differ
124279 disk
124280 truly
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124282 proud
124283 tower
124284 deposit
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124286 compensation
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124288 consultant
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124290 advanced
124291 landlord
124292 whenever
124293 delay
124294 green
124295 car
124296 holder
124297 secret
124298 edition
124299 occupation
124300 agricultural
124301 intelligence
124302 empire
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124309 fellow
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124311 poet
124312 journalist
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124315 primarily
124316 tight
124317 indication
124318 dry
124319 cricket
124320 whisper
124321 routine
124322 print
124323 anxiety
124324 witness
124325 concerning
124326 mill
124327 gentle
124328 curtain
124329 mission
124330 supplier
124331 basically
124332 assure
124333 poverty
124334 snow
124335 prayer
124336 pipe
124337 deserve
124338 shift
124339 split
124340 near
124341 consistent
124342 carpet
124343 ownership
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124345 fewer
124346 workshop
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124348 aged
124349 symbol
124350 slide
124351 cross
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124356 mere
124357 behave
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124361 remark
124362 pleased
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124364 steel
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124371 constantly
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124377 dominant
124378 conscious
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124380 tail
124381 ha
124382 electric
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124384 medicine
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124390 advance
124391 remote
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124393 favour
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124395 architecture
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124397 tie
124398 barrier
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124400 outstanding
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124403 implementation
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124405 pitch
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124407 phone
124408 shape
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124410 lane
124411 apple
124412 catalogue
124413 tip
124414 publisher
124415 opponent
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124417 burden
124418 tackle
124419 historian
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124421 stomach
124422 percentage
124423 evaluation
124424 outline
124425 talent
124426 lend
124427 silver
124428 pack
124429 fun
124430 democrat
124431 fortune
124432 storage
124433 professional
124434 reserve
124435 interval
124436 dimension
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124448 pot
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124452 salary
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124459 dish
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124463 lower
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124465 tear
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124467 by
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124473 dear
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124486 lecture
124487 musical
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124491 lift
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124493 fabric
124494 distribute
124495 lover
124496 childhood
124497 cool
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124499 supposed
124500 mouse
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124511 movie
124512 seed
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124514 open
124515 journal
124516 shopping
124517 equivalent
124518 palace
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124520 isolated
124521 poetry
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124524 strengthen
124525 snap
124526 readily
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124528 conviction
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124530 behind
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124532 profile
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124534 comfort
124535 bathroom
124536 shell
124537 reward
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124539 automatically
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124541 imagination
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124543 unemployed
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124548 found
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124550 dirty
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124552 psychological
124553 grab
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124556 inevitable
124557 transform
124558 bell
124559 announcement
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124561 unity
124562 airport
124563 upset
124564 pretend
124565 plant
124566 till
124567 known
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124569 tissue
124570 magistrate
124571 joy
124572 free
124573 pretty
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124576 grateful
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124581 sensible
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124585 tongue
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124591 ceiling
124592 highlight
124593 stick
124594 favourite
124595 tap
124596 universe
124597 request
124598 label
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124600 scream
124601 rid
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124603 detective
124604 sail
124605 adjust
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124609 participation
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124611 block
124612 so
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124614 absorb
124615 encounter
124616 defeat
124617 excitement
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124619 blind
124620 wire
124621 crop
124622 square
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124624 thereby
124625 protest
124626 roll
124627 stop
124628 assistant
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124630 constituency
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124633 breast
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124637 cream
124638 tennis
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124642 bowl
124643 file
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124669 objection
124670 chart
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124675 right
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124677 tin
124678 tube
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124680 commonly
124681 sufficiently
124682 coin
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124684 grammar
124685 diary
124686 flesh
124687 summary
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124689 stir
124690 storm
124691 mail
124692 rugby
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124695 psychology
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124698 trace
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124702 hers
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124706 potato
124707 repair
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124712 heaven
124713 nerve
124714 park
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124716 win
124717 printer
124718 coalition
124719 button
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124721 ultimate
124722 venture
124723 timber
124724 companion
124725 horror
124726 gesture
124727 moon
124728 remark
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124730 van
124731 consequently
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124734 broken
124735 jury
124736 gaze
124737 burst
124738 charter
124739 feminist
124740 discourse
124741 reflection
124742 carbon
124743 sophisticated
124744 ban
124745 taxation
124746 prosecution
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124748 asleep
124749 aids
124750 publicity
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124752 welcome
124753 sharply
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124755 cousin
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124757 linguistic
124758 vat
124759 forward
124760 blue
124761 multiple
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124765 patient
124766 evolution
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124769 potentially
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124771 out
124772 judicial
124773 risk
124774 ideology
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124776 agenda
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124779 chicken
124780 plain
124781 innovation
124782 opera
124783 lock
124784 grin
124785 shelf
124786 pole
124787 punishment
124788 strict
124789 wave
124790 inside
124791 carriage
124792 fit
124793 conversion
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124795 essay
124796 integration
124797 resignation
124798 treasury
124799 traveller
124800 chocolate
124801 assault
124802 schedule
124803 undoubtedly
124804 twin
124805 format
124806 murder
124807 sigh
124808 seller
124809 lease
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124811 double
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124813 stake
124814 processing
124815 informal
124816 flexible
124817 cap
124818 stable
124819 till
124820 sympathy
124821 tunnel
124822 pen
124823 instal
124824 suspend
124825 blow
124826 wander
124827 notably
124828 disappoint
124829 wipe
124830 folk
124831 attraction
124832 disc
124833 inspire
124834 machinery
124835 undergo
124836 nowhere
124837 inspector
124838 wise
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124840 purchaser
124841 resort
124842 pop
124843 organ
124844 ease
124845 friendship
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124847 dear
124848 convey
124849 reserve
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124851 frequent
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124856 lost
124857 grain
124858 particle
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124861 pit
124862 registration
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124864 steady
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124866 steam
124867 back
124868 chancellor
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124870 belt
124871 logic
124872 premium
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124876 alarm
124877 rational
124878 incentive
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124881 wrap
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124884 ambition
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124886 fate
124887 vendor
124888 stranger
124889 spiritual
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124891 anticipate
124892 logical
124893 fibre
124894 attribute
124895 sense
124896 black
124897 petrol
124898 maker
124899 generous
124900 allocation
124901 depression
124902 declaration
124903 spot
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124905 bottom
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124907 devote
124908 condemn
124909 integrate
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124911 identification
124912 acute
124913 barely
124914 providing
124915 directive
124916 bet
124917 modify
124918 bare
124919 swear
124920 final
124921 accordingly
124922 valid
124923 wherever
124924 mortality
124925 medium
124926 silk
124927 funeral
124928 depending
124929 cow
124930 correspond
124931 cite
124932 classic
124933 inspection
124934 calculation
124935 rubbish
124936 minimum
124937 hypothesis
124938 youngster
124939 slope
124940 patch
124941 invitation
124942 ethnic
124943 federation
124944 duke
124945 wholly
124946 closure
124947 dictionary
124948 withdrawal
124949 automatic
124950 liable
124951 cry
124952 slow
124953 borough
124954 well
124955 suspicion
124956 portrait
124957 local
124958 jew
124959 fragment
124960 revolutionary
124961 evaluate
124962 competitor
124963 sole
124964 reliable
124965 weigh
124966 medieval
124967 clinic
124968 shine
124969 knit
124970 complexity
124971 remedy
124972 fence
124973 bike
124974 freeze
124975 eliminate
124976 interior
124977 intellectual
124978 established
124979 voter
124980 garage
124981 era
124982 pregnant
124983 plot
124984 greet
124985 electrical
124986 lie
124987 disorder
124988 formally
124989 excuse
124990 socialist
124991 cancel
124992 harm
124993 excess
124994 exact
124995 oblige
124996 accountant
124997 mutual
124998 fat
124999 volunteer
125000 laughter
125001 trick
125002 load
125003 disposal
125004 taxi
125005 murmur
125006 tonne
125007 spell
125008 clerk
125009 curious
125010 satisfactory
125011 identical
125012 applicant
125013 removal
125014 processor
125015 cotton
125016 reverse
125017 hesitate
125018 professor
125019 admire
125020 namely
125021 electoral
125022 delight
125023 urgent
125024 prompt
125025 mate
125026 exposure
125027 server
125028 distinctive
125029 marginal
125030 structural
125031 rope
125032 miner
125033 entertainment
125034 acre
125035 pig
125036 encouraging
125037 guarantee
125038 gear
125039 anniversary
125040 past
125041 ceremony
125042 rub
125043 monopoly
125044 left
125045 flee
125046 yield
125047 discount
125048 above
125049 uncle
125050 audit
125051 advertisement
125052 explosion
125053 contrary
125054 tribunal
125055 swallow
125056 typically
125057 fun
125058 rat
125059 cloth
125060 cable
125061 interrupt
125062 crash
125063 flame
125064 controversy
125065 rabbit
125066 everyday
125067 allegation
125068 strip
125069 stability
125070 tide
125071 illustration
125072 insect
125073 correspondent
125074 devise
125075 determined
125076 brush
125077 adjustment
125078 controversial
125079 organic
125080 escape
125081 thoroughly
125082 interface
125083 historic
125084 collapse
125085 temple
125086 shade
125087 craft
125088 nursery
125089 piano
125090 desirable
125091 assurance
125092 jurisdiction
125093 advertise
125094 bay
125095 specification
125096 disability
125097 presidential
125098 arrest
125099 unexpected
125100 switch
125101 penny
125102 respect
125103 celebration
125104 gross
125105 aid
125106 superb
125107 process
125108 innocent
125109 leap
125110 colony
125111 wound
125112 hardware
125113 satellite
125114 float
125115 bible
125116 statistical
125117 marked
125118 hire
125119 cathedral
125120 motive
125121 correct
125122 gastric
125123 raid
125124 comply
125125 accommodate
125126 mutter
125127 induce
125128 trap
125129 invasion
125130 humour
125131 bulk
125132 traditionally
125133 commission
125134 upstairs
125135 translate
125136 rhythm
125137 emission
125138 collective
125139 transformation
125140 battery
125141 stimulus
125142 naked
125143 white
125144 menu
125145 toilet
125146 butter
125147 surprise
125148 needle
125149 effectiveness
125150 accordance
125151 molecule
125152 fiction
125153 learning
125154 statute
125155 reluctant
125156 overlook
125157 junction
125158 necessity
125159 nearby
125160 experienced
125161 lorry
125162 exclusive
125163 graphics
125164 stimulate
125165 warmth
125166 therapy
125167 convenient
125168 cinema
125169 domain
125170 tournament
125171 doctrine
125172 sheer
125173 proposition
125174 grip
125175 widow
125176 discrimination
125177 bloody
125178 ruling
125179 fit
125180 nonetheless
125181 myth
125182 episode
125183 drift
125184 assert
125185 terrace
125186 uncertain
125187 twist
125188 insight
125189 undermine
125190 tragedy
125191 enforce
125192 criticise
125193 march
125194 leaflet
125195 fellow
125196 object
125197 pond
125198 adventure
125199 diplomatic
125200 mixed
125201 rebel
125202 equity
125203 literally
125204 magnificent
125205 loyalty
125206 tremendous
125207 airline
125208 shore
125209 restoration
125210 physically
125211 render
125212 institutional
125213 emphasize
125214 mess
125215 commander
125216 straightforward
125217 singer
125218 squeeze
125219 full
125220 breed
125221 successor
125222 triumph
125223 heading
125224 mathematics
125225 laugh
125226 clue
125227 still
125228 ease
125229 specially
125230 biological
125231 forgive
125232 trustee
125233 photo
125234 fraction
125235 chase
125236 whereby
125237 mud
125238 pensioner
125239 functional
125240 copy
125241 strictly
125242 desperately
125243 await
125244 coverage
125245 wildlife
125246 indicator
125247 lightly
125248 hierarchy
125249 evolve
125250 mechanical
125251 expert
125252 creditor
125253 capitalist
125254 essence
125255 compose
125256 mentally
125257 gaze
125258 seminar
125259 target
125260 label
125261 fig
125262 continent
125263 chap
125264 flexibility
125265 verse
125266 minute
125267 whisky
125268 equivalent
125269 recruit
125270 echo
125271 unfair
125272 launch
125273 cupboard
125274 bush
125275 shortage
125276 prominent
125277 merger
125278 command
125279 subtle
125280 capital
125281 gang
125282 fish
125283 unhappy
125284 lifetime
125285 elite
125286 refusal
125287 finish
125288 aggressive
125289 superior
125290 landing
125291 exchange
125292 debate
125293 educate
125294 separation
125295 productivity
125296 initiate
125297 probability
125298 virus
125299 reporter
125300 fool
125301 pop
125302 capitalism
125303 painful
125304 correctly
125305 complex
125306 rumour
125307 imperial
125308 justification
125309 availability
125310 spectacular
125311 remain
125312 ocean
125313 cliff
125314 sociology
125315 sadly
125316 missile
125317 situate
125318 artificial
125319 apartment
125320 provoke
125321 oral
125322 maximum
125323 angel
125324 spare
125325 shame
125326 intelligent
125327 discretion
125328 businessman
125329 explicit
125330 book
125331 uniform
125332 push
125333 counter
125334 subject
125335 objective
125336 hungry
125337 clothing
125338 ride
125339 romantic
125340 attendance
125341 part
125342 trace
125343 backing
125344 sensation
125345 carrier
125346 interest
125347 classification
125348 classic
125349 beg
125350 appendix
125351 doorway
125352 density
125353 working
125354 legislative
125355 hint
125356 shower
125357 current
125358 succession
125359 nasty
125360 duration
125361 desert
125362 receipt
125363 native
125364 chapel
125365 amazing
125366 hopefully
125367 fleet
125368 comparable
125369 oxygen
125370 installation
125371 developer
125372 disadvantage
125373 recipe
125374 crystal
125375 modification
125376 schedule
125377 midnight
125378 successive
125379 formerly
125380 loud
125381 value
125382 physics
125383 truck
125384 stroke
125385 kiss
125386 envelope
125387 speculation
125388 canal
125389 unionist
125390 directory
125391 receiver
125392 isolation
125393 fade
125394 chemistry
125395 unnecessary
125396 hit
125397 defender
125398 stance
125399 sin
125400 realistic
125401 socialist
125402 subsidy
125403 content
125404 toy
125405 darling
125406 decent
125407 liberty
125408 forever
125409 skirt
125410 coordinate
125411 tactic
125412 influential
125413 import
125414 accent
125415 compound
125416 bastard
125417 ingredient
125418 dull
125419 cater
125420 scholar
125421 faint
125422 ghost
125423 sculpture
125424 ridiculous
125425 diagnosis
125426 delegate
125427 neat
125428 kit
125429 lion
125430 dialogue
125431 repair
125432 tray
125433 fantasy
125434 leave
125435 export
125436 forth
125437 lamp
125438 allege
125439 pavement
125440 brand
125441 constable
125442 compromise
125443 flag
125444 filter
125445 reign
125446 execute
125447 pity
125448 merit
125449 diagram
125450 wool
125451 organism
125452 elegant
125453 red
125454 undertaking
125455 lesser
125456 reach
125457 marvellous
125458 improved
125459 locally
125460 entity
125461 rape
125462 secure
125463 descend
125464 backwards
125465 peer
125466 excuse
125467 genetic
125468 fold
125469 portfolio
125470 consensus
125471 thesis
125472 shop
125473 nest
125474 frown
125475 builder
125476 administer
125477 tip
125478 lung
125479 delegation
125480 outside
125481 heating
125482 like
125483 instinct
125484 teenager
125485 lonely
125486 residence
125487 radiation
125488 extract
125489 concession
125490 autonomy
125491 norm
125492 musician
125493 graduate
125494 glory
125495 bear
125496 persist
125497 rescue
125498 equip
125499 partial
125500 officially
125501 capability
125502 worry
125503 liberation
125504 hunt
125505 daily
125506 heel
125507 contract
125508 update
125509 assign
125510 spring
125511 single
125512 commons
125513 weekly
125514 stretch
125515 pregnancy
125516 happily
125517 spectrum
125518 interfere
125519 suicide
125520 panic
125521 invent
125522 intensive
125523 damp
125524 simultaneously
125525 giant
125526 casual
125527 sphere
125528 precious
125529 sword
125530 envisage
125531 bean
125532 time
125533 crazy
125534 changing
125535 primary
125536 concede
125537 besides
125538 unite
125539 severely
125540 separately
125541 instruct
125542 insert
125543 go
125544 exhibit
125545 brave
125546 tutor
125547 tune
125548 debut
125549 continued
125550 bid
125551 incidence
125552 downstairs
125553 cafe
125554 regret
125555 killer
125556 delicate
125557 subsidiary
125558 gender
125559 entertain
125560 cling
125561 vertical
125562 fetch
125563 strip
125564 plead
125565 duck
125566 breed
125567 assistant
125568 pint
125569 abolish
125570 translation
125571 princess
125572 line
125573 excessive
125574 digital
125575 steep
125576 jet
125577 hey
125578 grave
125579 exceptional
125580 boost
125581 random
125582 correlation
125583 outline
125584 intervene
125585 packet
125586 motivation
125587 safely
125588 harsh
125589 spell
125590 spread
125591 draw
125592 concrete
125593 complicated
125594 alleged
125595 redundancy
125596 progressive
125597 intensity
125598 crack
125599 fly
125600 fancy
125601 alternatively
125602 waiting
125603 scandal
125604 resemble
125605 parameter
125606 fierce
125607 tropical
125608 colour
125609 ours
125610 engagement
125611 contest
125612 edit
125613 courage
125614 hip
125615 delighted
125616 sponsor
125617 carer
125618 crack
125619 substantially
125620 occupational
125621 trainer
125622 remainder
125623 related
125624 inherit
125625 resume
125626 assignment
125627 conceal
125628 disclose
125629 exclusively
125630 working
125631 mild
125632 chronic
125633 splendid
125634 function
125635 rider
125636 clay
125637 firstly
125638 conceive
125639 politically
125640 terminal
125641 accuracy
125642 coup
125643 ambulance
125644 living
125645 offender
125646 similarity
125647 orchestra
125648 brush
125649 systematic
125650 striker
125651 guard
125652 casualty
125653 steadily
125654 painter
125655 opt
125656 handsome
125657 banking
125658 sensitivity
125659 navy
125660 fascinating
125661 disappointment
125662 auditor
125663 hostility
125664 spending
125665 scarcely
125666 compulsory
125667 photographer
125668 ok
125669 neighbourhood
125670 ideological
125671 wide
125672 pardon
125673 double
125674 criticize
125675 supervision
125676 guilt
125677 deck
125678 payable
125679 execution
125680 suite
125681 elected
125682 solely
125683 moral
125684 collector
125685 questionnaire
125686 flavour
125687 couple
125688 faculty
125689 tour
125690 basket
125691 mention
125692 kick
125693 horizon
125694 drain
125695 happiness
125696 fighter
125697 estimated
125698 copper
125699 legend
125700 relevance
125701 decorate
125702 continental
125703 ship
125704 operational
125705 incur
125706 parallel
125707 divorce
125708 opposed
125709 equilibrium
125710 trader
125711 ton
125712 can
125713 juice
125714 forum
125715 spin
125716 research
125717 hostile
125718 consistently
125719 technological
125720 nightmare
125721 medal
125722 diamond
125723 speed
125724 peaceful
125725 accounting
125726 scatter
125727 monster
125728 horrible
125729 nonsense
125730 chaos
125731 accessible
125732 humanity
125733 frustration
125734 chin
125735 bureau
125736 advocate
125737 polytechnic
125738 inhabitant
125739 evil
125740 slave
125741 reservation
125742 slam
125743 handle
125744 provincial
125745 fishing
125746 facilitate
125747 yield
125748 elbow
125749 bye
125750 warm
125751 sleeve
125752 exploration
125753 creep
125754 adjacent
125755 theft
125756 round
125757 grace
125758 predecessor
125759 supermarket
125760 smart
125761 sergeant
125762 regulate
125763 clash
125764 assemble
125765 arrow
125766 nowadays
125767 giant
125768 waiting
125769 tap
125770 shit
125771 sandwich
125772 vanish
125773 commerce
125774 pursuit
125775 post
125776 will
125777 waste
125778 collar
125779 socialism
125780 skill
125781 rice
125782 exclusion
125783 upwards
125784 transmission
125785 instantly
125786 forthcoming
125787 appointed
125788 geographical
125789 fist
125790 abstract
125791 embrace
125792 dynamic
125793 drawer
125794 dismissal
125795 magic
125796 endless
125797 definite
125798 broadly
125799 affection
125800 dawn
125801 principal
125802 bloke
125803 organiser
125804 trap
125805 communist
125806 competence
125807 complicate
125808 neutral
125809 fortunately
125810 commonwealth
125811 breakdown
125812 combined
125813 candle
125814 venue
125815 supper
125816 analyst
125817 vague
125818 publicly
125819 marine
125820 fair
125821 pause
125822 notable
125823 freely
125824 counterpart
125825 lively
125826 script
125827 sue
125828 legitimate
125829 geography
125830 reproduce
125831 moving
125832 lamb
125833 gay
125834 contemplate
125835 terror
125836 stable
125837 founder
125838 utility
125839 signal
125840 shelter
125841 poster
125842 hitherto
125843 mature
125844 cooking
125845 head
125846 wealthy
125847 fucking
125848 confess
125849 age
125850 miracle
125851 magic
125852 jaw
125853 pan
125854 coloured
125855 tent
125856 telephone
125857 reduced
125858 tumour
125859 super
125860 funding
125861 dump
125862 stitch
125863 shared
125864 ladder
125865 keeper
125866 endorse
125867 invariably
125868 smash
125869 shield
125870 heat
125871 surgeon
125872 centre
125873 orange
125874 explode
125875 comedy
125876 classify
125877 artistic
125878 ruler
125879 biscuit
125880 workstation
125881 prey
125882 manual
125883 cure
125884 overall
125885 tighten
125886 tax
125887 pope
125888 manufacturing
125889 adult
125890 rush
125891 blanket
125892 republican
125893 referendum
125894 palm
125895 nearby
125896 mix
125897 devil
125898 adoption
125899 workforce
125900 segment
125901 regardless
125902 contractor
125903 portion
125904 differently
125905 deposit
125906 cook
125907 prediction
125908 oven
125909 matrix
125910 liver
125911 fraud
125912 beam
125913 signature
125914 limb
125915 verdict
125916 dramatically
125917 container
125918 aunt
125919 dock
125920 submission
125921 arm
125922 odd
125923 certainty
125924 boring
125925 electron
125926 drum
125927 wisdom
125928 antibody
125929 unlike
125930 terrorist
125931 post
125932 circulation
125933 alteration
125934 fluid
125935 ambitious
125936 socially
125937 riot
125938 petition
125939 fox
125940 recruitment
125941 well
125942 top
125943 service
125944 flood
125945 taste
125946 memorial
125947 helicopter
125948 correspondence
125949 ye
125950 beef
125951 overall
125952 lighting
125953 harbour
125954 empirical
125955 shallow
125956 seal
125957 decrease
125958 constituent
125959 exam
125960 toe
125961 reward
125962 thrust
125963 bureaucracy
125964 wrist
125965 nut
125966 plain
125967 magnetic
125968 evil
125969 widen
125970 hazard
125971 dispose
125972 dealing
125973 absent
125974 reassure
125975 model
125976 inn
125977 initial
125978 suspension
125979 respondent
125980 over
125981 naval
125982 monthly
125983 log
125984 advisory
125985 fitness
125986 blank
125987 indirect
125988 tile
125989 rally
125990 economist
125991 vein
125992 strand
125993 disturbance
125994 stuff
125995 seldom
125996 coming
125997 cab
125998 grandfather
125999 flash
126000 destination
126001 actively
126002 regiment
126003 closed
126004 boom
126005 handful
126006 remarkably
126007 encouragement
126008 awkward
126009 required
126010 flood
126011 defect
126012 surplus
126013 champagne
126014 liquid
126015 shed
126016 welcome
126017 rejection
126018 discipline
126019 halt
126020 electronics
126021 administrator
126022 sentence
126023 ill
126024 contradiction
126025 nail
126026 senior
126027 lacking
126028 colonial
126029 primitive
126030 whoever
126031 lap
126032 commodity
126033 planned
126034 intellectual
126035 imprisonment
126036 coincide
126037 sympathetic
126038 atom
126039 tempt
126040 sanction
126041 praise
126042 favourable
126043 dissolve
126044 tightly
126045 surrounding
126046 soup
126047 encounter
126048 abortion
126049 grasp
126050 custody
126051 composer
126052 charm
126053 short
126054 metropolitan
126055 waist
126056 equality
126057 tribute
126058 bearing
126059 auction
126060 standing
126061 manufacture
126062 horn
126063 barn
126064 mayor
126065 emperor
126066 rescue
126067 integrated
126068 conscience
126069 commence
126070 grandmother
126071 discharge
126072 profound
126073 takeover
126074 nationalist
126075 effect
126076 dolphin
126077 fortnight
126078 elephant
126079 seal
126080 spoil
126081 plea
126082 forwards
126083 breeze
126084 prevention
126085 mineral
126086 runner
126087 pin
126088 integrity
126089 thereafter
126090 quid
126091 owl
126092 rigid
126093 orange
126094 draft
126095 reportedly
126096 hedge
126097 formulate
126098 associated
126099 position
126100 thief
126101 tomato
126102 exhaust
126103 evidently
126104 eagle
126105 specified
126106 resulting
126107 blade
126108 peculiar
126109 killing
126110 desktop
126111 bowel
126112 long
126113 ugly
126114 expedition
126115 saint
126116 variable
126117 supplement
126118 stamp
126119 slide
126120 faction
126121 enthusiastic
126122 enquire
126123 brass
126124 inequality
126125 eager
126126 bold
126127 neglect
126128 saying
126129 ridge
126130 earl
126131 yacht
126132 suck
126133 missing
126134 extended
126135 valuation
126136 delight
126137 beat
126138 worship
126139 fossil
126140 diminish
126141 taxpayer
126142 corruption
126143 accurately
126144 honour
126145 depict
126146 pencil
126147 drown
126148 stem
126149 lump
126150 applicable
126151 rate
126152 mobility
126153 immense
126154 goodness
126155 price
126156 preliminary
126157 graph
126158 referee
126159 calm
126160 onwards
126161 omit
126162 genuinely
126163 excite
126164 dreadful
126165 cave
126166 revelation
126167 grief
126168 erect
126169 tuck
126170 meantime
126171 barrel
126172 lawn
126173 hut
126174 swing
126175 subject
126176 ruin
126177 slice
126178 transmit
126179 thigh
126180 practically
126181 dedicate
126182 mistake
126183 corresponding
126184 albeit
126185 sound
126186 nurse
126187 discharge
126188 comparative
126189 cluster
126190 propose
126191 obstacle
126192 motorway
126193 heritage
126194 counselling
126195 breeding
126196 characteristic
126197 bucket
126198 migration
126199 campaign
126200 ritual
126201 originate
126202 hunting
126203 crude
126204 protocol
126205 prejudice
126206 inspiration
126207 dioxide
126208 chemical
126209 uncomfortable
126210 worthy
126211 inspect
126212 summon
126213 parallel
126214 outlet
126215 okay
126216 collaboration
126217 booking
126218 salad
126219 productive
126220 charming
126221 polish
126222 oak
126223 access
126224 tourism
126225 independently
126226 cruel
126227 diversity
126228 accused
126229 supplement
126230 fucking
126231 forecast
126232 amend
126233 soap
126234 ruling
126235 interference
126236 executive
126237 mining
126238 minimal
126239 clarify
126240 strain
126241 novel
126242 try
126243 coastal
126244 rising
126245 quota
126246 minus
126247 kilometre
126248 characterise
126249 suspicious
126250 pet
126251 beneficial
126252 fling
126253 deprive
126254 covenant
126255 bias
126256 trophy
126257 verb
126258 honestly
126259 extract
126260 straw
126261 stem
126262 eyebrow
126263 noble
126264 mask
126265 lecturer
126266 girlfriend
126267 forehead
126268 timetable
126269 symbolic
126270 farming
126271 lid
126272 librarian
126273 injection
126274 sexuality
126275 irrelevant
126276 bonus
126277 abuse
126278 thumb
126279 survey
126280 ankle
126281 psychologist
126282 occurrence
126283 profitable
126284 deliberate
126285 bow
126286 tribe
126287 rightly
126288 representative
126289 code
126290 validity
126291 marble
126292 bow
126293 plunge
126294 maturity
126295 hidden
126296 contrast
126297 tobacco
126298 middle
126299 grip
126300 clergy
126301 trading
126302 passive
126303 decoration
126304 racial
126305 well
126306 embarrassment
126307 sauce
126308 fatal
126309 banker
126310 compensate
126311 make
126312 seat
126313 popularity
126314 interior
126315 eligible
126316 continuity
126317 bunch
126318 hook
126319 wicket
126320 pronounce
126321 ballet
126322 heir
126323 positively
126324 insufficient
126325 substitute
126326 mysterious
126327 dancer
126328 trail
126329 caution
126330 donation
126331 added
126332 weaken
126333 tyre
126334 sufferer
126335 managerial
126336 elaborate
126337 restraint
126338 renew
126339 gardener
126340 dilemma
126341 configuration
126342 rear
126343 embark
126344 misery
126345 importantly
126346 continually
126347 appreciation
126348 radical
126349 diverse
126350 revive
126351 trip
126352 lounge
126353 dwelling
126354 parental
126355 loyal
126356 privatisation
126357 outsider
126358 forbid
126359 yep
126360 prospective
126361 manuscript
126362 inherent
126363 deem
126364 telecommunication
126365 intermediate
126366 worthwhile
126367 calendar
126368 basin
126369 utterly
126370 rebuild
126371 pulse
126372 suppress
126373 predator
126374 width
126375 stiff
126376 spine
126377 betray
126378 punish
126379 stall
126380 lifestyle
126381 compile
126382 arouse
126383 partially
126384 headline
126385 divine
126386 unpleasant
126387 sacred
126388 useless
126389 cool
126390 tremble
126391 statue
126392 obey
126393 drunk
126394 tender
126395 molecular
126396 circulate
126397 exploitation
126398 explicitly
126399 utterance
126400 linear
126401 chat
126402 revision
126403 distress
126404 spill
126405 steward
126406 knight
126407 sum
126408 semantic
126409 selective
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126411 dignity
126412 senate
126413 grid
126414 fiscal
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126416 rival
126417 fortunate
126418 jeans
126419 select
126420 fitting
126421 commentator
126422 weep
126423 handicap
126424 crush
126425 towel
126426 stay
126427 skilled
126428 repeatedly
126429 defensive
126430 calm
126431 temporarily
126432 rain
126433 pin
126434 villa
126435 rod
126436 frontier
126437 enforcement
126438 protective
126439 philosophical
126440 lordship
126441 disagree
126442 boyfriend
126443 activist
126444 viewer
126445 slim
126446 this
126447 textile
126448 mist
126449 harmony
126450 deed
126451 merge
126452 invention
126453 commissioner
126454 caravan
126455 bolt
126456 ending
126457 publishing
126458 gut
126459 stamp
126460 map
126461 loud
126462 stroke
126463 shock
126464 rug
126465 picture
126466 slip
126467 praise
126468 fine
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126470 material
126471 garment
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126476 reactor
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126480 alike
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126482 probe
126483 feedback
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126485 suspect
126486 solar
126487 fare
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126497 drug
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126500 trail
126501 shaft
126502 treasure
126503 inappropriate
126504 half
126505 attribute
126506 liquid
126507 embassy
126508 terribly
126509 exemption
126510 array
126511 tablet
126512 sack
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126514 bull
126515 warehouse
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126521 vitamin
126522 sail
126523 lemon
126524 foreigner
126525 powder
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126527 bat
126528 ancestor
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126530 mathematical
126531 compliance
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126533 woodland
126534 serum
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126537 doing
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126542 ozone
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126549 temptation
126550 intact
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126555 coffin
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126558 wit
126559 underline
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126562 neatly
126563 follower
126564 sterling
126565 tariff
126566 bee
126567 relaxation
126568 negligence
126569 sunlight
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126571 knot
126572 temper
126573 skull
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126575 grind
126576 whale
126577 throne
126578 supervise
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126580 package
126581 intake
126582 within
126583 inland
126584 beast
126585 rear
126586 morality
126587 competent
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126589 uniform
126590 reminder
126591 permanently
126592 optimistic
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126594 seemingly
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126596 horizontal
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126601 bullet
126602 respectable
126603 overseas
126604 convincing
126605 unacceptable
126606 confrontation
126607 swiftly
126608 paid
126609 joke
126610 instant
126611 illusion
126612 cheer
126613 congregation
126614 worldwide
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126616 wake
126617 toss
126618 medium
126619 jewellery
126620 fond
126621 alarm
126622 guerrilla
126623 dive
126624 desire
126625 cooperation
126626 thread
126627 prescribe
126628 calcium
126629 redundant
126630 marker
126631 chemist
126632 mammal
126633 legacy
126634 debtor
126635 testament
126636 tragic
126637 silver
126638 grin
126639 spectacle
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126641 heal
126642 sovereignty
126643 enzyme
126644 host
126645 neighbouring
126646 corn
126647 layout
126648 dictate
126649 rip
126650 regain
126651 probable
126652 inclusion
126653 booklet
126654 bar
126655 privately
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126657 fame
126658 bronze
126659 mobile
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126662 narrow
126663 old
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126666 diameter
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126668 silently
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126670 fusion
126671 trigger
126672 printing
126673 onion
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126675 embody
126676 curl
126677 sunshine
126678 sponsorship
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126680 loop
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126682 cop
126683 bang
126684 toxic
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126687 likelihood
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126689 up
126690 polite
126691 apology
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126696 comparatively
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126698 fuck
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126700 timing
126701 headmaster
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126703 sigh
126704 premier
126705 joint
126706 incredible
126707 gravity
126708 regulatory
126709 cylinder
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126711 resident
126712 narrative
126713 cognitive
126714 lengthy
126715 gothic
126716 dip
126717 adverse
126718 accountability
126719 hydrogen
126720 gravel
126721 willingness
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126723 attain
126724 specialise
126725 steer
126726 selected
126727 like
126728 confer
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126730 portray
126731 planner
126732 manual
126733 boast
126734 unconscious
126735 jail
126736 fertility
126737 documentation
126738 wolf
126739 patent
126740 exit
126741 corps
126742 proclaim
126743 multiply
126744 brochure
126745 screen
126746 orthodox
126747 locomotive
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126749 unaware
126750 syndrome
126751 reform
126752 confirmation
126753 printed
126754 curve
126755 costly
126756 underground
126757 territorial
126758 designate
126759 comfort
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126761 misleading
126762 weave
126763 scratch
126764 echo
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126766 endure
126767 verbal
126768 stride
126769 nursing
126770 exert
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126772 causal
126773 mosaic
126774 manor
126775 implicit
126776 following
126777 fashionable
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126779 proceed
126780 sofa
126781 snatch
126782 jazz
126783 patron
126784 provider
126785 interim
126786 intent
126787 chosen
126788 applied
126789 shiver
126790 pie
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126792 abolition
126793 soccer
126794 corpse
126795 accusation
126796 kind
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126798 nursing
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126801 murderer
126802 liberal
126803 gathering
126804 adequately
126805 subjective
126806 disagreement
126807 cleaner
126808 boil
126809 static
126810 scent
126811 civilian
126812 monk
126813 abruptly
126814 keyboard
126815 hammer
126816 despair
126817 controller
126818 yell
126819 entail
126820 cheerful
126821 reconstruction
126822 patience
126823 legally
126824 habitat
126825 queue
126826 spectator
126827 given
126828 purple
126829 outlook
126830 genius
126831 dual
126832 canvas
126833 grave
126834 pepper
126835 conform
126836 cautious
126837 dot
126838 conspiracy
126839 butterfly
126840 sponsor
126841 sincerely
126842 rating
126843 weird
126844 teenage
126845 salmon
126846 recorder
126847 postpone
126848 maid
126849 furnish
126850 ethical
126851 bicycle
126852 sick
126853 sack
126854 renaissance
126855 luxury
126856 gasp
126857 wardrobe
126858 native
126859 fringe
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126861 quotation
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126864 disastrous
126865 choir
126866 overwhelming
126867 glimpse
126868 divorce
126869 circular
126870 locality
126871 ferry
126872 balcony
126873 sailor
126874 precision
126875 desert
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126877 alert
126878 surrender
126879 archive
126880 jump
126881 philosopher
126882 revival
126883 presume
126884 node
126885 fantastic
126886 herb
126887 assertion
126888 thorough
126889 quit
126890 grim
126891 fair
126892 broadcast
126893 annoy
126894 divert
126895 accelerate
126896 polymer
126897 sweat
126898 survivor
126899 subscription
126900 repayment
126901 anonymous
126902 summarise
126903 punch
126904 lodge
126905 landowner
126906 ignorance
126907 discourage
126908 bride
126909 likewise
126910 depressed
126911 abbey
126912 quarry
126913 archbishop
126914 sock
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126917 descent
126918 stumble
126919 mistress
126920 empty
126921 prosperity
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126923 formulation
126924 atomic
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126926 wicked
126927 threshold
126928 lobby
126929 repay
126930 varying
126931 track
126932 crawl
126933 tolerate
126934 salvation
126935 pudding
126936 counter
126937 propaganda
126938 cage
126939 broker
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126941 scan
126942 document
126943 apparatus
126944 theology
126945 analogy
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126947 bitterly
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126949 individually
126950 amid
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126952 sentiment
126953 making
126954 exotic
126955 dominance
126956 coherent
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126958 flick
126959 colourful
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126961 angrily
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126965 annually
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126967 intimate
126968 gold
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126970 venture
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126973 disclosure
126974 lace
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126976 motif
126977 listener
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126979 delicious
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126981 substitute
126982 highway
126983 haul
126984 dragon
126985 chair
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126987 unchanged
126988 sediment
126989 sample
126990 exclaim
126991 fan
126992 volunteer
126993 root
126994 parcel
126995 psychiatric
126996 delightful
126997 confidential
126998 calorie
126999 flash
127000 crowd
127001 aggregate
127002 scholarship
127003 monitor
127004 disciplinary
127005 rock
127006 hatred
127007 pill
127008 noisy
127009 feather
127010 lexical
127011 staircase
127012 autonomous
127013 viewpoint
127014 projection
127015 offensive
127016 controlled
127017 flush
127018 racism
127019 flourish
127020 resentment
127021 pillow
127022 courtesy
127023 photography
127024 monkey
127025 glorious
127026 evolutionary
127027 gradual
127028 bankruptcy
127029 sacrifice
127030 uphold
127031 sketch
127032 presidency
127033 formidable
127034 differentiate
127035 continuing
127036 cart
127037 stadium
127038 dense
127039 catch
127040 beyond
127041 immigration
127042 clarity
127043 worm
127044 slot
127045 rifle
127046 screw
127047 harvest
127048 foster
127049 academic
127050 impulse
127051 guardian
127052 ambiguity
127053 triangle
127054 terminate
127055 retreat
127056 pony
127057 outdoor
127058 deficiency
127059 decree
127060 apologise
127061 yarn
127062 staff
127063 renewal
127064 rebellion
127065 incidentally
127066 flour
127067 developed
127068 chorus
127069 ballot
127070 appetite
127071 stain
127072 notebook
127073 loudly
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127075 census
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127077 striking
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127079 part
127080 burial
127081 embarrassed
127082 ash
127083 actress
127084 cassette
127085 privacy
127086 fridge
127087 feed
127088 excess
127089 calf
127090 associate
127091 ruin
127092 jointly
127093 drill
127094 photograph
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127096 indirectly
127097 driving
127098 memorandum
127099 default
127100 costume
127101 variant
127102 shatter
127103 methodology
127104 frame
127105 allegedly
127106 swell
127107 investigator
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127109 bored
127110 bin
127111 awake
127112 recycle
127113 group
127114 enjoyment
127115 contemporary
127116 texture
127117 donor
127118 bacon
127119 sunny
127120 stool
127121 prosecute
127122 commentary
127123 bass
127124 theirs
127125 sniff
127126 repetition
127127 eventual
127128 credit
127129 suburb
127130 organisational
127131 newcomer
127132 romance
127133 film
127134 experiment
127135 daylight
127136 warrant
127137 fur
127138 parking
127139 nuisance
127140 civilian
127141 foolish
127142 bulb
127143 balloon
127144 vivid
127145 surveyor
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127147 biology
127148 injunction
127149 appalling
127150 amusement
127151 aesthetic
127152 vegetation
127153 stab
127154 rude
127155 offset
127156 thinking
127157 mainframe
127158 flock
127159 amateur
127160 academy
127161 shilling
127162 reluctance
127163 velocity
127164 spare
127165 wartime
127166 soak
127167 rib
127168 mighty
127169 shocked
127170 vocational
127171 spit
127172 gall
127173 bowl
127174 prescription
127175 fever
127176 axis
127177 reservoir
127178 magnitude
127179 rape
127180 cutting
127181 bracket
127182 agony
127183 strive
127184 strangely
127185 pledge
127186 recipient
127187 moor
127188 invade
127189 dairy
127190 chord
127191 shrink
127192 poison
127193 pillar
127194 washing
127195 warrior
127196 supervisor
127197 outfit
127198 innovative
127199 dressing
127200 dispute
127201 jungle
127202 brewery
127203 adjective
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127205 restrain
127206 monarchy
127207 trunk
127208 herd
127209 deadline
127210 tiger
127211 supporting
127212 moderate
127213 kneel
127214 ego
127215 sexually
127216 ministerial
127217 bitch
127218 wheat
127219 stagger
127220 snake
127221 ribbon
127222 mainland
127223 fisherman
127224 economically
127225 unwilling
127226 nationalism
127227 knitting
127228 irony
127229 handling
127230 desired
127231 bomber
127232 voltage
127233 unusually
127234 toast
127235 feel
127236 suffering
127237 polish
127238 technically
127239 meaningful
127240 aloud
127241 waiter
127242 tease
127243 opposite
127244 goat
127245 conceptual
127246 ant
127247 inflict
127248 bowler
127249 roar
127250 drain
127251 wrong
127252 galaxy
127253 aluminium
127254 receptor
127255 preach
127256 parade
127257 opposite
127258 critique
127259 query
127260 outset
127261 integral
127262 grammatical
127263 testing
127264 patrol
127265 pad
127266 unreasonable
127267 sausage
127268 criminal
127269 constructive
127270 worldwide
127271 highlight
127272 doll
127273 frightened
127274 biography
127275 vocabulary
127276 offend
127277 accumulation
127278 linen
127279 fairy
127280 disco
127281 hint
127282 versus
127283 ray
127284 pottery
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127286 retreat
127287 master
127288 injured
127289 holly
127290 battle
127291 solidarity
127292 embarrassing
127293 cargo
127294 theorist
127295 reluctantly
127296 preferred
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127298 total
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127300 drill
127301 credibility
127302 copyright
127303 beard
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127305 vigorous
127306 vaguely
127307 punch
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127309 uneasy
127310 boost
127311 scrap
127312 ironically
127313 fog
127314 faithful
127315 bounce
127316 batch
127317 smooth
127318 sleeping
127319 poorly
127320 accord
127321 vice
127322 duly
127323 blast
127324 square
127325 prohibit
127326 brake
127327 asylum
127328 obscure
127329 nun
127330 heap
127331 smoothly
127332 rhetoric
127333 privileged
127334 liaison
127335 jockey
127336 concrete
127337 allied
127338 rob
127339 indulge
127340 except
127341 distort
127342 whatsoever
127343 viable
127344 nucleus
127345 exaggerate
127346 compact
127347 nationality
127348 direct
127349 cast
127350 altar
127351 refuge
127352 presently
127353 mandatory
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127355 accomplish
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127357 indigenous
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127359 retailer
127360 compound
127361 admiration
127362 absurd
127363 coincidence
127364 principally
127365 passport
127366 depot
127367 soften
127368 secretion
127369 invoke
127370 dirt
127371 scared
127372 mug
127373 convenience
127374 calm
127375 optional
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127377 consistency
127378 umbrella
127379 solo
127380 hemisphere
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127382 brandy
127383 belly
127384 attachment
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127386 uncover
127387 treat
127388 repeated
127389 pine
127390 offspring
127391 communism
127392 nominate
127393 soar
127394 geological
127395 frog
127396 donate
127397 co
127398 nicely
127399 innocence
127400 housewife
127401 disguise
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127403 counsel
127404 cord
127405 semi
127406 reasoning
127407 litre
127408 inclined
127409 evoke
127410 courtyard
127411 arena
127412 simplicity
127413 inhibition
127414 frozen
127415 vacuum
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127420 helmet
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127422 jerk
127423 disruption
127424 attainment
127425 sip
127426 program
127427 lunchtime
127428 cult
127429 chat
127430 accord
127431 supposedly
127432 offering
127433 broadcast
127434 secular
127435 overwhelm
127436 momentum
127437 infinite
127438 manipulation
127439 inquest
127440 decrease
127441 cellar
127442 counsellor
127443 avenue
127444 rubber
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127446 lab
127447 damn
127448 comfortably
127449 tense
127450 socket
127451 par
127452 thrust
127453 scenario
127454 frankly
127455 slap
127456 recreation
127457 rank
127458 spy
127459 filter
127460 clearance
127461 blessing
127462 embryo
127463 varied
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127465 mutation
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127467 can
127468 burst
127469 retrieve
127470 elder
127471 rehearsal
127472 optical
127473 hurry
127474 conflict
127475 combat
127476 absorption
127477 ion
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127479 heroin
127480 bake
127481 x
127482 vector
127483 stolen
127484 sacrifice
127485 robbery
127486 probe
127487 organizational
127488 chalk
127489 bourgeois
127490 villager
127491 morale
127492 express
127493 climb
127494 notify
127495 jam
127496 bureaucratic
127497 literacy
127498 frustrate
127499 freight
127500 clearing
127501 aviation
127502 legislature
127503 curiously
127504 banana
127505 deploy
127506 passionate
127507 monastery
127508 kettle
127509 enjoyable
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127511 quantitative
127512 distortion
127513 monarch
127514 kindly
127515 glow
127516 acquaintance
127517 unexpectedly
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127519 deprivation
127520 attacker
127521 assault
127522 screening
127523 retired
127524 quick
127525 portable
127526 hostage
127527 underneath
127528 jealous
127529 proportional
127530 gown
127531 chimney
127532 bleak
127533 seasonal
127534 plasma
127535 stunning
127536 spray
127537 referral
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127542 resent
127543 plaster
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127546 gospel
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127550 aquarium
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127552 renewed
127553 jar
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127560 underneath
127561 lone
127562 level
127563 exceptionally
127564 drift
127565 spider
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127568 swimming
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127570 insider
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127573 infrastructure
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127576 cereal
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127583 clerical
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127589 electorate
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127592 manufacturing
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127596 bleed
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127598 precedent
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127600 indoor
127601 upgrade
127602 trench
127603 therapist
127604 illuminate
127605 bargain
127606 warranty
127607 scar
127608 consortium
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127610 insure
127611 extensively
127612 appropriately
127613 spoon
127614 sideways
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127617 satisfied
127618 precaution
127619 kite
127620 instant
127621 gig
127622 continuously
127623 consolidate
127624 fountain
127625 graduate
127626 gloom
127627 bite
127628 structure
127629 noun
127630 nomination
127631 armchair
127632 virtual
127633 unprecedented
127634 tumble
127635 ski
127636 architectural
127637 violation
127638 rocket
127639 inject
127640 departmental
127641 row
127642 luxury
127643 fax
127644 deer
127645 climber
127646 photographic
127647 haunt
127648 fiercely
127649 dining
127650 sodium
127651 gossip
127652 bundle
127653 bend
127654 recruit
127655 hen
127656 fragile
127657 deteriorate
127658 dependency
127659 swift
127660 scramble
127661 overview
127662 imprison
127663 trolley
127664 rotation
127665 denial
127666 boiler
127667 amp
127668 trivial
127669 shout
127670 overtake
127671 make
127672 hunter
127673 guess
127674 doubtless
127675 syllable
127676 obscure
127677 mould
127678 limestone
127679 leak
127680 beneficiary
127681 veteran
127682 surplus
127683 manifestation
127684 vicar
127685 textbook
127686 novelist
127687 halfway
127688 contractual
127689 swap
127690 guild
127691 ulcer
127692 slab
127693 detector
127694 detection
127695 cough
127696 whichever
127697 spelling
127698 lender
127699 glow
127700 raised
127701 prolonged
127702 voucher
127703 t
127704 linger
127705 humble
127706 honey
127707 scream
127708 postcard
127709 managing
127710 alien
127711 trouble
127712 reverse
127713 odour
127714 fundamentally
127715 discount
127716 blast
127717 syntactic
127718 scrape
127719 residue
127720 procession
127721 pioneer
127722 intercourse
127723 deter
127724 deadly
127725 complement
127726 restrictive
127727 nitrogen
127728 citizenship
127729 pedestrian
127730 detention
127731 wagon
127732 microphone
127733 hastily
127734 fixture
127735 choke
127736 wet
127737 weed
127738 programming
127739 power
127740 nationally
127741 dozen
127742 carrot
127743 bulletin
127744 wording
127745 vicious
127746 urgency
127747 spoken
127748 skeleton
127749 motorist
127750 interactive
127751 compute
127752 whip
127753 urgently
127754 telly
127755 shrub
127756 porter
127757 ethics
127758 banner
127759 velvet
127760 omission
127761 hook
127762 gallon
127763 financially
127764 superintendent
127765 plug
127766 continuation
127767 reliance
127768 justified
127769 fool
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127771 damaging
127772 orbit
127773 mains
127774 discard
127775 dine
127776 compartment
127777 revised
127778 privatization
127779 memorable
127780 lately
127781 distributed
127782 disperse
127783 blame
127784 basement
127785 slump
127786 puzzle
127787 monitoring
127788 talented
127789 nominal
127790 mushroom
127791 instructor
127792 fork
127793 board
127794 want
127795 disposition
127796 cemetery
127797 attempted
127798 nephew
127799 magical
127800 ivory
127801 hospitality
127802 besides
127803 astonishing
127804 tract
127805 proprietor
127806 license
127807 differential
127808 affinity
127809 talking
127810 royalty
127811 neglect
127812 irrespective
127813 whip
127814 sticky
127815 regret
127816 incapable
127817 franchise
127818 dentist
127819 contrary
127820 profitability
127821 enthusiast
127822 crop
127823 utter
127824 pile
127825 pier
127826 dome
127827 bubble
127828 treasurer
127829 stocking
127830 sanctuary
127831 ascertain
127832 arc
127833 quest
127834 mole
127835 marathon
127836 feast
127837 crouch
127838 storm
127839 hardship
127840 entitlement
127841 circular
127842 walking
127843 strap
127844 sore
127845 complementary
127846 understandable
127847 noticeable
127848 mankind
127849 majesty
127850 course
127851 pigeon
127852 goalkeeper
127853 ambiguous
127854 walker
127855 virgin
127856 prestige
127857 preoccupation
127858 upset
127859 municipal
127860 groan
127861 craftsman
127862 anticipation
127863 revise
127864 knock
127865 infect
127866 denounce
127867 confession
127868 turkey
127869 toll
127870 pal
127871 transcription
127872 sulphur
127873 provisional
127874 hug
127875 particular
127876 intent
127877 fascinate
127878 conductor
127879 feasible
127880 vacant
127881 trait
127882 meadow
127883 creed
127884 unfamiliar
127885 optimism
127886 wary
127887 twist
127888 sweet
127889 substantive
127890 excavation
127891 destiny
127892 thick
127893 pasture
127894 archaeological
127895 tick
127896 profit
127897 pat
127898 papal
127899 cultivate
127900 awake
127901 trained
127902 civic
127903 voyage
127904 siege
127905 enormously
127906 distract
127907 stroll
127908 jewel
127909 immediately
127910 honourable
127911 helpless
127912 hay
127913 expel
127914 eternal
127915 demonstrator
127916 correction
127917 civilization
127918 ample
127919 retention
127920 rehabilitation
127921 premature
127922 encompass
127923 distinctly
127924 diplomat
127925 articulate
127926 restricted
127927 prop
127928 intensify
127929 deviation
127930 contest
127931 workplace
127932 lazy
127933 kidney
127934 insistence
127935 whisper
127936 multimedia
127937 forestry
127938 excited
127939 decay
127940 screw
127941 rally
127942 pest
127943 invaluable
127944 homework
127945 harmful
127946 bump
127947 bodily
127948 grasp
127949 finished
127950 facade
127951 cushion
127952 conversely
127953 urge
127954 tune
127955 solvent
127956 slogan
127957 petty
127958 perceived
127959 install
127960 fuss
127961 rack
127962 imminent
127963 short
127964 revert
127965 ram
127966 contraction
127967 tread
127968 supplementary
127969 ham
127970 defy
127971 athlete
127972 sociological
127973 physician
127974 crossing
127975 bail
127976 unwanted
127977 tight
127978 plausible
127979 midfield
127980 alert
127981 feminine
127982 drainage
127983 cruelty
127984 abnormal
127985 relate
127986 poison
127987 symmetry
127988 stake
127989 rotten
127990 prone
127991 marsh
127992 litigation
127993 curl
127994 urine
127995 latin
127996 hover
127997 greeting
127998 chase
127999 spouse
128000 produce
128001 forge
128002 salon
128003 handicapped
128004 sway
128005 homosexual
128006 handicap
128007 colon
128008 upstairs
128009 stimulation
128010 spray
128011 original
128012 lay
128013 garlic
128014 suitcase
128015 skipper
128016 moan
128017 manpower
128018 manifest
128019 incredibly
128020 historically
128021 decision
128022 wildly
128023 reformer
128024 quantum
128025 considering
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128027 the of and to in I that was his he it with is for as had you not be her on at by which have or from this him but all she they were my are me one their so an said them we who would been will no when there if more out up into do any your what has man could other than our some very time upon about may its only now like little then can should made did us such a great before must two these see know over much down after first mr good men
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128031 own never most old shall day where those came come himself way work life without go make well through being long say might how am too even def again many back here think every people went same last thought away under take found hand eyes still place while just also young yet though against things get ever give god years off face nothing right once another left part saw house world head three took new love always mrs put night each king between tell mind heart few because thing whom far seemed looked called whole de set both got find
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128035 done heard look name days told let lord country asked going seen better p having home knew side something moment father among course hands woman enough words mother soon full end gave room almost small thou cannot water want however light quite brought nor word whose given door best turned taken does use morning myself gutenberg felt until since power themselves used rather began present voice others white works less money next poor death stood form within together till thy large matter kind often certain herself year friend half order round true anything keep sent wife means believe passed feet
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128039 near public state son hundred children thus hope alone above case dear thee says person high read city already received fact gone girl known hear times least perhaps sure indeed english open body itself along land return leave air nature answered either law help lay point child letter four wish fire cried women speak number therefore hour friends held free war during several business whether er manner second reason replied united call general why behind became john become dead earth boy lost forth thousand looking i'll family soul feel coming england spirit question care truth ground really rest mean
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128044 different making possible fell towards human kept short town following need cause met evening returned five strong able french live lady subject sn answer sea fear understand hard terms doubt around ask arms turn sense seems black bring followed beautiful close dark hold character sort sight ten show party fine ye ready story common book electronic talk account mark interest written can't bed necessary age else force idea longer art spoke across brother early ought sometimes line saying table appeared river continued eye ety sun information later everything reached suddenly past hours strange deep change miles feeling act meet paid
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128048 further purpose happy added seem taking blood rose south beyond cold neither forward view i've position sound none entered clear road late stand suppose la daughter real nearly mine laws knowledge comes toward bad cut copy husband six france living peace didn't low north remember effect natural pretty fall fair service below except american hair london laid pass led copyright doing army run horse future opened pleasure history west pay red an' hath note although wanted gold makes desire play master office tried front big dr lived certainly wind receive attention government unto church strength length company placed paper
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128052 letters probably glad important especially greater yourself fellow bear opinion window ran faith ago agreement charge beauty lips remained arm latter duty send distance silence foot wild object die save gentleman trees green trouble smile books wrong various sleep persons blockquote happened particular drew minutes hardly walked chief chance according beginning action deal loved visit thinking follow standing knows try presence heavy sweet plain donations immediately wrote mouth rich thoughts months u won't afraid paris single joy enemy broken unless states ship condition carry exclaimed including filled seeing influence write boys appear outside secret parts please appearance evil march george
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128056 whatever slowly tears horses places caught stay instead struck blue york impossible period sister battle school mary raised occasion married man's former food youth learned merely reach system twenty dinner quiet easily moved afterwards giving walk stopped laughed language expression week hall danger property wonder usual figure born court generally grew showed getting ancient respect third worth simple tree leaving remain society fight wall result heaven william started command tone regard expected mere month beside silent perfect experience street writing goes circumstances entirely fresh duke covered bound east wood stone quickly notice bright christ boat noble meant somewhat sudden value
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128060 c direction chair due support tom date waiting christian village lives reading agree lines considered field observed scarcely wished wait greatest permission success piece british ex charles formed speaking trying conversation proper hill music opportunity that's german afternoon cry cost allowed girls considerable c broke honour seven private sit news top scene discovered marriage step garden race begin per individual sitting learn political difficult bit speech henry lie cast eat authority etc floor ill ways officers offered original happiness flowers produced summer provide study religion picture walls personal america watch pleased leaves declared hot understood effort prepared escape attempt supposed
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128065 killed fast author indian brown determined pain spring takes drawn soldiers houses beneath talking turning century steps intended soft straight matters likely corner trademark justice simply produce trust appears rome laugh forget europe passage eight closed ourselves gives dress passing terrible required medium efforts sake breath wise ladies possession pleasant perfectly o' memory usually grave fixed modern spot troops rise break fifty island meeting camp nation existence reply i'd copies sky touch equal fortune v shore domain named situation looks promise orders degree middle winter plan spent allow pale conduct running religious surprise minute roman cases shot lead move names
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128069 stop higher et father's threw worse built spoken glass board vain affairs instance safe loss doctor offer class complete access lower wouldn't repeated forms darkness military warm drink passion ones physical example ears questions start lying smiled keeping spite shown directly james hart serious hat dog silver sufficient main mentioned servant pride crowd train wonderful moral instant associated path greek meaning fit ordered lot he's proved obliged enter rule sword attack seat game health paragraph statement social refund sorry courage members grace official dream worthy rock jack provided special shook request mighty glance heads movement fee share expect couldn't dollars
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128073 spread opposite glory twelve space engaged peter wine ordinary mountains taste iron isn't distribute trade consider greatly accepted forced advantage ideas decided using officer rate clothes sign feelings native promised judge difference working anxious marry captain finished extent watched curious foreign besides method excellent confidence marked 'em jesus exactly importance finally bill vast prove fancy quick yes sought prevent neck hearts liberty interesting sides legal gentlemen dry serve aside pure concerning forgotten lose powers possessed thrown evidence distant michael progress similar narrow altogether building page particularly knowing weeks settled holding mountain search sad sin lies proud pieces clearly price ships
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128077 thirty sick honest shut talked bank fate dropped judgment conditions king's accept hills removed forest measure species seek highest otherwise stream honor carefully obtained ear bread bottom additional presented aid fingers q remembered choose agreed animal events there's fully delight rights amount obtain tax servants sons cross shoulders thick points stranger woods facts dare grow creature hung rain false tall gate nations created refused quietly surface freely holy streets blow july regarded fashion report coast daily file shoulder surprised faces succeeded birds distribution royal song wealth comfort failed freedom peculiar anyone advance gentle surely animals waited secure desired grass touched
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128082 occupied draw stage portion expressed opening june spirits fish tongue capital angry growing served carriage weather breast presently snow david papers necessity practice claim hast education sharp prince permitted group enemies robert played throughout pity expense yours million add pray taught explained tired leading kill shadow companion weight mass established suffered gray brave thin satisfied check virtue golden numerous frequently famous telling powerful alive waters national weak divine material principal gathered suggested frank valley guess finding yellow heat remains bent seized guard equally naturally box remarkable gods moon slight style pointed saved windows crossed louis pounds ain't evidently principle immediate
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128086 willing consequence richard principles characters paul season remarked science tender worked grown whispered interested quarter midst liked advanced apparently bore pwh active noticed aware thomas uncle list dangerous august calm genius sacred kingdom entire popular unknown nice habit spanish familiar reader published direct handsome you'll joined actually kings sd posted approach washington hearing needed increased walking twice throw intellectual appointed wisdom ceased truly numbers demanded priest wounded sorrow drive fault listened palace affair contact distinguished station beat distributed e listen italy fool becomes watching hurt wants express occurred favour height size edge subjects task follows interests nine sympathy burst putting
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128091 dressed lifted hopes suffer noise smiling rode tells minds farther literature vessel affection suffering proceeded flesh advice grand carrying legs spain post collection empty rank storm god's imagine wore duties admitted countries pocket arrival imagination driven loud sentence lovely extraordinary november december happen absence breakfast population thank rules inhabitants series laughing address relief bird owner impression satisfaction coat prepare relations shape birth rapidly smoke january mother's machine content consideration accompanied regular moving stands wholly teeth busy treated burning shame quality bay discover inside brain soil completely message ring resolved calling phrase acts mention square pair won title understanding sunday fruit
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128095 mad forces included tea rocks nearer slaves falling absolutely slow bearing mercy larger explain contain grief soldier wasn't countenance previous explanation welcome proposed prayer stars germany belief informed moments poetry constant buy final faithful ride policy supper drawing excitement dying demand fighting fields drove upper sum philip motion assistance forty april stones edward fees kindly dignity catch october seated knees amongst current sending parties objects gained bitter possibly slave separate loose text receiving worst sold don credit chosen hoped printed terror features fond control capable fifteen doesn't firm superior cruel spiritual harry splendid proof pressed sooner join process crime dust
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128099 instantly lands relation doors concerned deeply practical colour sing destroy anger distributing results increase reasons nose friendly entrance rooms admit supply clean useful yesterday delicate fail continue remove addressed choice huge needs wear blind unable cover double victory dozen constantly level india release rough ended shows fly praise devil ahead smith connected degrees gain addition committed chamber notes italian gradually acquaintance bought souls mission sacrifice cities mistake exercise conscience based car buried theory commanded nobody minister closely energy dick bare fought partly mistress hate arose playing color lake safety provisions description asleep centre faint thinks parents escaped careful enjoy drop
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128103 brilliant brief bringing worship goods tale skin roof grey highly crown castle excited throne stated despair ease attached total kindness mile citizens circle dull extreme clouds figures intention prison term assured hidden thoroughly cup member civil apply labor everywhere intelligence strike fairly comply fellows haven't event gently connection protection conscious edition directed pulled flight evident surrounded wishes yards voices weary couple variety whilst volume details older requirements custom apart bow awful everybody labour asking lover showing introduced suit becoming composed plans rendered pictures lest volunteers singing eager precious paused require meat whenever milk dogs successful plants vision rare granted raise
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128107 egypt manners cousin you've development arthur obs cool trial learning approached bridge abroad devoted paying literary writer fn israel disappeared interrupted stock readers dreadful female protect accustomed virginia type recognized salt destroyed signs innocent temper plenty pope avoid hurried represented favor mental attitude returning admiration brothers anxiety queen teach count curiosity solemn causes vessels compelled dance hotel wicked fled kissed guns fill visible younger guide earnest actual companions prisoner miserable lad harm views irish utterly ends shop stairs pardon gay beg seldom kinds record fat sand violent branches inquired iv september worn ireland flat departure delivered gift ruin skill cattle
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128111 equipment temple calls earlier license visited en consent sufficiently natives wound laughter contained perceived scattered whence rushed chiefly bold anywhere witness foolish helped kitchen sell anybody self extremely treatment throat dreams patient speed growth quantity latin immense conclusion computer affected severe excuse triumph origin joseph slept eternal thine audience pages sounds swift limited wings stepped services library remaining containing base confusion win maid charming editions attended softly reality performed glorious likewise site sail frightened acquainted unhappy feared article prisoners store adopted shalt remark cook thousands pause inclined convinced band valuable hence desert effects kiss plant ice ball stick absolute readily
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128116 behold fierce argument observe blessed bosom rage striking discovery creatures shouted guilty related setting forgot punishment gun slightly articles police mysterious extended confess shade murder emotion destruction wondered increasing hide expedition horror local expenses ignorant doctrine generous range host wet cloud mystery ed waste changes possess consciousness february trembling disease formerly spend production source mankind universal deck sees habits estate aunt reign humble compliance delay shining reported hers unfortunate midnight listening flower hero accomplished doth classes thanks banks philosophy belong finger comfortable market cap waves woman's glanced troubled difficulties picked european purposes somewhere delighted pushed press household fleet baby region
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128121 lately uttered exact image ages murmured melancholy suspicion bowed refuse elizabeth staff liability we'll enjoyed stretched gaze belonged ashamed reward meal blame nodded status opinions indicate poem savage arise voyage misery guests painted attend afford donate job proceed loves forehead regret plainly risk ad lighted angel rapid distinct doubtless properly wit fame singular error utmost methods reputation appeal she's w strongly margaret lack breaking dawn violence fatal render career design displayed gets commercial forgive lights agreeable suggestion utter sheep resolution spare patience domestic concluded 'tis farm reference chinese exist corn approaching alike mounted jane issue key providing majority measures towns
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128125 flame boston dared ignorance reduced occasionally y weakness furnished china priests flying cloth gazed profit fourth bell hitherto benefit movements eagerly acted urged ascii disposed electronically atmosphere chapter begged helen hole invited borne departed catholic files reasonable sugar replacement sigh humanity thrust frame opposition disk haste lonely artist knight quarters charm substance rolled email flung celebrated division slavery verse decision probable painful governor forever turns branch ocean rear leader delightful stared boats keen disposition senses occasions readable beloved inches bones enthusiasm materials luck derived managed community apparent preserved magnificent hurry scheme oil thence reaching dim wretched hanging pipe useless nevertheless
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128129 print smooth solid pursued necessarily build attempted centuries eggs equivalent hastily burned you'd recent oh travel cries noon crying generations located cabin announcement britain compared handed cease smaller circumstance tent frequent alarm nervous beast what's aloud independent gates distinction essential observation stronger recovered belonging loving masters writers cf permanent mortal stern gratitude preserve burden aspect millions merry knife dread clever applicable district shadows jim silk failure links cent sentiment amid profits agent finds russia bade russian desperate union imagined contempt raising lords hell separated grant seriously tribes hit enormous defective conviction secured mixed insisted wooden prefer prayers fever selected daughters
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128133 treat warning flew speaks developed impulse slipped ours johnson mistaken damages ambition resumed christmas yield ideal schools confirmed descended rush falls deny calculated correct perform hadn't somehow accordingly stayed acquired counsel distress sins notion discussion constitution anne hundreds instrument firmly actions steady remarks empire elements idle pen entering online africa permit th' tide vol leaned college maintain sovereign tail generation crowded fears nights limitation tied horrible cat displaying port male experienced opposed treaty contents rested mode poured les occur seeking practically abandoned reports eleven sank begins founded brings trace instinct collected scotland characteristic chose cheerful tribe costs threatened arrangement western
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128138 sang beings sam pressure politics sorts shelter rude scientific revealed winds riding scenes shake industry claims pp merit profession lamp interview territory sleeping sex coffee devotion thereof creation trail romans supported requires fathers prospect obey alexander shone operation northern nurse profound hungry scott sisters assure exceedingly match wrath continually rest gifts folly chain uniform debt teaching venture execution shoes mood crew perceive accounts eating multitude declare yard o'er astonishment version vague odd grateful nearest infinite elsewhere copying apartment activity wives parted security cared sensible owing martin saturday cottage jews leaning capacity joe settle referred francis holder involved sunshine dutch council
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128142 princes ate examination steel strangers beheld test noted slightest widow charity realized element shed errors communication reflection attacked organization maintained restored folks concealed accordance heavens star examined deeds wordforms somebody incident oath guest bar row poverty bottle prevented bless stir intense completed quarrel touching inner available fix resistance unusual deed derive hollow suspected contains sighed province deserted establishment vote muttered thither oxford cavalry lofty endure succeed leg bid alice hated civilization u s acting landed christians passions interior scarce lightly disturbed rev supreme hang notwithstanding shock exception offering display strain drank confined o exhausted poets sounded aim critical jerusalem directions negro
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128147 fearful standard studied bag n buildings consequences commenced deeper repeat driving beasts track rid holds residence steadily intimate drinking swear treasure fun throwing apt enterprise queer seed tower runs defend favourite desires heavily assembled existed depends poems hesitated stuff section settlement staring sole roads plate mexico overcome pains performing dwell grounds taxes marble recently tones ability awake walter wave shaking folk possibility butter fury marched moses writes issued sailed instructions hatred pursuit pull furniture additions hid rope vi adventure royalty vanished arts elder signal wanting supplied feast safely burn describe references lesson annual card passes application intelligent county beaten presents
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128151 format flow sixty scale damage marks obtaining moreover commerce startled southern consequently outer belongs ben wrought average naked conducted rivers songs obvious foundation concern ceremony magic campaign hunting carolina liberal whisper largely commonly torn exists contributions hunt teacher christianity lawyer operations detail shortly caesar wondering leaders blessing princess he'd altar tenderness tiny web cardinal sharply regiment chest distinctly purple creating gather depth indignation performance election prosperity gloomy conception clerk decide drunk victim reflected pour preceding individuals gazing absurd lift gesture armies limbs manage brethren hugh plays hastened dragged motive whatsoever pointing verses pronounced exchange definite emperor tendency remote finish flag
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128155 boots enabled administration denied churches rarely earnestly considering previously ugly bears signed genuine harmless mingled obedience walks training badly feed central contrast relieved romance mississippi structure payment pace passages succession persuaded sources inquiry inspired angels roll wilt inch troubles perfection lee wherever owe handle advantages trip shoot fortunate newspaper employment fitted refuge misfortune providence owns cutting beard stirred tear dan resist bob depths maiden determine commission merchant whereas crossing independence lively breeze provinces jean virtues conceived relative solitary smell wandering thereby eighteen locked provision courts eaten historical regarding florence preferred pick ruined wherein vanity condemned deliver unexpected desk gross lane
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128159 happens represent billy root holland mud respectable cleared feels fruits testimony milton existing bride rang ranks responsibility beating disappointed suitable depend judges giant grasp arrive simplicity autumn absent legally veil gloom doubtful suspect weapons limits determination feeble prophet shak gathering basis examine corrupt payments returns laying prize instances greeks d they're theatre purchase comparison composition rival someone realize defeat demands foe shared consists studies balance intercourse id forming slender coach criminal knocked silly humour masses indifferent recall occupation discourse keeps regions intervals assist novel intellect leads hither tales sale revenge lucy yonder resources jealous we're wheel invitation narrative risen burnt
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128163 sentiments inferior amusement marie flash recognize swiftly portrait create summoned suggest induced conflict fed curse disappointment helpless preparing construction lincoln zeal responsible indicated groups positive germans attracted vengeance fort club cure stout missed gracious include flood satisfy agony respects ventured implied maria stupid seas spaniards grain enjoyment wearing indifference conceal horizon pleasures therein precisely canada day's assume registered estimate steep route gardens visitor closer harmony non thunder wire graceful crept greece childhood knee saddle supplies weeping mostly paragraphs unconscious mutual scorn grows external agents software institutions losing universe clock attempts instruction injury roots receipt jumped dearest sore earliest finest enable
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128167 discipline motives fastened introduction converted wilderness confused fancied offices slip revolution wedding girl's farmer silently fires wept behalf reckon responded uncertain neglected stroke exquisite engagement dirty rolling platform messenger privilege admirable offers mischief physician imposed organized covering student daring cave wars convey he'll sincere tradition gravely combined gallant sensation travelling charges submit tragedy specific commander inn stiff accompany score virgin farewell paradise villages hunger trembled favorite criticism proprietary customs cotton ruth hospital restrictions outward impressed blows plains flashed rent prey owed longing musical satisfactory ridiculous sheet disgrace colored shouldn't originally samuel wages papa gas inevitable extensive leisure deadly chin claimed
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128171 glow husband's emotions adam jealousy leaf publication englishman allah jones hostile wandered railway translation procession betrayed pound admired elected pierre sunk ruins eastern roses citizen reminded deceived tables beach starting funeral arrested flour feature correspondence consisted counted reserve proceedings roar romantic twenty five hut strangely absorbed propose seats bark reception pleasing attained wake research prayed monarch clothing dollar illness calmly obeyed heartily pressing daylight warriors jest abruptly washed comment metal preparations nerves solution pretended sixteen assembly tobacco entity dwelling depart swung bitterly alteration colony disclaimers wing peaceful lion opportunities alarmed furnish resting accused culture writings dwelt conquered trick trusted column financial
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128175 cunning preparation drama joke entertained mist hypertext shell medicine proofread nest reverence situated yielded conceive appointment lessons fetch tomb candle offence coarse heap mixture homes model men's defect destined occasional fourteen hint knights solicit dreamed objection craft acid namely asia neglect data weapon confessed arrangements repose complying copied pink user heels grandfather other's income i e regards streams vigorous accepting bishop lightning authors flames observations compressed sport powder beds orange painting shout austria bath careless chap derivative roused primitive doorway climbed volumes vulgar arguments st sunset convenient mail recalled wrapped abode planted paint surrender establish mild promptly appearing department parish stephen
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128179 nay lit handkerchief basket easier deserve quit assurance mirror plot yer upward sadly secretary adding modest dish cares straw net advised heavenly largest proceeding impatient wounds warmth certainty restless meantime rays salvation lovers experiment shores today tremendous afforded moonlight intend california cultivated flushed shakespeare newspapers rocky pious wont steam improvement garments ned treasury merchants perpetual trained products affectionate dispute visitors poison proposition maybe rifle warned parting shield erected employ prevailed talent rises climate chairs searched unlike recover mate arrange fortunes puzzled committee aged ohio ashes ghost b promises bushes effective distinguish manifest comparatively esteem blew revelation wash recognition confession clay
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128183 nonsense trunk management undoubtedly dried dorothy chiefs coal stolen earthly restore indirectly lasted selfish renewed canoe protest vice races deemed temporary pile frederick chapel moderate spell massachusetts upright quoted area bone solitude instruments formal students greatness struggling monday reproach altered grim leaped venice federal questioned editor desirable acknowledge motionless remedy bestowed pursue representative pole gladly linen vital sink pacific hopeless dangers gratefully president travelled ward nephew ms cheer bloody siege commands justified atlantic stomach improved admire openly sailors abide advancing forests records polly recorded modification dramatic statements upstairs varied letting wilson comrades sets descent whither envy load pretend folded brass
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128187 internal furious curtain healthy obscure summit alas fifth center faced cheap saints colonel egyptian contest owned adventures exclusion seize chances springs alter landing fence leagues glimpse statue contract luxury artillery doubts saving fro string combination awakened faded arrest protected temperature strict contented professional intent brother's injured neighborhood andrew abundance smoking yourselves medical garrison likes corps heroic inform wife's retained agitation nobles prominent institution judged embrace wheels closing damaged pack affections eldest anguish surrounding obviously strictly capture drops inquire ample remainder justly recollection deer answers bedroom purely bush plunged thyself joint refer expecting madam railroad spake respecting jan columns weep identify
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128191 discharge bench ralph heir oak rescue limit unpleasant anxiously innocence awoke expectation incomplete program reserved secretly we've invention faults disagreeable piano defeated charms purse persuade deprived electric endless interval chase heroes invisible well known occupy jacob gown cruelty lock lowest hesitation withdrew proposal destiny recognised commons foul loaded amidst titles ancestors types commanding madness happily assigned declined temptation lady's subsequent jewels breathed willingly youthful bells spectacle uneasy shine formidable stately machinery fragments rushing attractive product economic sickness uses dashed engine ashore dates theirs adv clasped international leather spared crushed interfere subtle waved slope floating worry effected passengers violently donation steamer witnesses
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128195 specified learnt stores designed guessed roger timber talents heed jackson murdered vivid woe calculate killing laura savages wasted trifle funny pockets philosopher insult den representation incapable eloquence dine temples ann sensitive robin appetite wishing picturesque douglas courtesy flowing remembrance lawyers sphere murmur elegant honourable stopping guilt welfare avoided fishing perish sober steal delicious infant lip norman offended dost memories wheat japanese humor exhibited encounter footsteps marquis smiles amiable twilight arrows consisting park retire economy sufferings secrets na halted govern favourable colors translated stretch formation immortal gallery parallel lean tempted frontier continent knock impatience unity dealing prohibition decent fiery images tie
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128199 punished submitted julia albert rejoined speedily consented major preliminary cell void placing prudence egg amazement border artificial hereafter fanny crimes breathe exempt anchor chicago sits purchased eminent neighbors glowing sunlight examples exercised wealthy seeming bonaparte shouting thanked illustrious curiously inspiration seeds naval foes everyone longed abundant doubted painter greeted erect glasses meanwhile shooting athens wagon lend lent crisis undertake particulars eh veins polite anna experiences seal header clergy mount array corners magazine loudly bitterness texas guardian searching rejected harsh includes boldly maurice kate lunch pine shells seconds despite hoping injustice expressions flies push tight problems landscape sue protested scarlet abandon
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128204 artistic mainly measured loyal boiling desirous suited alliance advise waist sinking apprehension stable gregory maximum commit hideous hamilton sweetness dismissed tore affect shaken evils unworthy significance modified miracle lieu peasant considerably observing conveyed resemblance extend riches personally morality rebellion thread dumb inclination forbidden copper differences sailor requested alfred response promoting imperial blank purity victor bending solemnly twenty four minor del crimson republic teachers ma'am danced bargain dealt fatigue telephone cents whip adams dislike witnessed infantry acres checked countrymen enemy's companies normal shirt addresses introduce sofa mothers sweep conversion sketch african deserved answering virtuous persian anyway thief driver retain constructed daniel ut
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128208 philadelphia conspicuous channel nobility edith berlin editing cambridge declaration guards personality smallest excess separation disgust ha accomplish speeches herbert convent rightly suspended reform mob thirst unnecessary treasures asks viewed designs gleam threatening palm missouri filling quoth fur fortnight holes addressing frightful encourage speaker tribute procure frankly recommended relieve intentions unjust legislation project threshold merits morrow traces induce spear inward pupils corresponding fairy conclude clung neat lucky lap session torture damp ridge spoil liable swords hearty bc abraham thoughtful traveller chains favorable tin imp strongest horace dependent couch bills warrant complaint endeavour sails dined convention guarded angle widely illinois charlotte endeavoured
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128213 ardent cow mill victims prejudice foremost map probability porch lieutenant surprising fountain sustained appropriate ford clara assisted lewis rejoice extending marvellous clothed jew collar bands confident hasty nigh organ prose privileges selection inquiries codes replace saint districts deliberately awe beforehand strife released compare beer retorted relate cheerfully pistol presume velvet wretch susan pennsylvania stirring righteousness missing fain facing fashionable producing peoples positively reasoning gravity disturb sermon exchanged partner brains lowered association estates abuse flock niece languages asserted bodily notions oliver faculty cannon thirteen sailing rings smart possessions disciples petty widest divisions prudent caution justify awhile boxes manuscript cigar warrior impressions
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128217 aught lifting inaccurate tidings friday liquid staying concept creek lo brush download specially cream meetings jump unwilling adapted practised combat subdued jewish innumerable blowing extra civilized invented japan pitch cliff crowned portions awkward horrid pulling appreciate communicated kentucky jury encountered attacks monster simon maintaining sites frozen invariably dies survive literally consolation m phenomena pot ellen briefly rice planned barbara respected sublime dropping guy behaviour desolate penny adopt replaced revenue formats hired regularly infringement curtains eagerness helping investigation constitutional insist occurs fools inheritance latest leap games apple visiting travellers experiments hasn't pupil enjoying totally twisted discuss firing background subscribe tenderly transcribe
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128221 descend differ majesty's avail disaster bet periodic bull entertainment computers cursed raw fulfilled georgia virus log skies scotch embraced hospitality faintly solomon robbed cart influences ascended incidents childish robe aboard resembling reflect dominion dreary serving complexion engage tents herd attain collect disclaims pan relatives borrowed convert outline blown comprehend peasants opera assault deceive doctrines representatives dedicated struggled officials hiding paths backs prominently prices procured mourning compliment heights approval gasped breadth withdraw tune compassion polished latitude dishes parent contrived delicacy projected akin f betray traced resentment indemnify pseud sacrifices disguise transcription document neighbour squire punish bars glittering tossed block lots worldly
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128225 muscles elbow obligation trifling decline attachment ambitious filename artists bloom holiday brute repair fist recollect eagle honorable significant barren functions guided dense fiction viz adds rows recommend suspicious resulting seventy shillings educational duly governed scripture upwards sworn nicholas horn brook fund vienna lodge infinitely clergyman marshal ruled fiercely portuguese costume pit disorder sheer exalted fare applause chaucer remind binary packed pillow jersey abbey nowhere anyhow agitated marching catching el grasped arrow tend carved fitting bonds instructed elaborate corpse bewildered essence positions emily edited continues harold elevation realm debts glancing shops complained loyalty coin clad staircase documents interpreted th extremity accord
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128229 sally lace tremble exile gospel mechanical successfully scholar wonders arab temperament expressing fred trap spots awaiting potatoes likeness harbour proofs jolly contributed wits generosity ruler lawrence cake lamps crazy sincerity entertain madame sir faculties hesitate deepest seventeen lordship greeting feminine monstrous tongues barely d mansion facility praised warranties sarah happier indicating rob gigantic honey ladder ending wales swallowed sunny knelt tyranny decree stake divide dreaming proclaimed dignified tread mines viewing defense oldest incredible bidding brick arch everlasting elect sprung harder winding deductible magistrate respective liquor imitation shy perished prime studying eighty hebrew unfortunately licensed fog coloured bits consult moves r
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128234 warn taylor vile depended phil legend locations shallow doom dreaded encouragement impatiently scent varieties irregular battles compass neighbouring bliss harvest promotion stove faithfully anthony excellence transfer awaited heathen poetic consulted illustrated gilbert br fundamental bundle rebel cultivation joys rigid tragic review representing flowed brows whereupon terribly melted venerable towers cooking mustn't suspicions old fashioned oppressed australia friend's revolt swell improve williams describes goddess wreck tennessee convince sentences bowl radiant prussia westward indignant refined unseen illustration pertaining swamp austrian saxon congregation nerve undertaking disclaimer characteristics stare specimens ascertain pledge earn warfare supposing subsequently attending angrily select animated industrial hurriedly manhood quantities interpretation
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128238 dressing rejoiced edinburgh catherine challenge produces forbid gang boiled shouts so called theme thankful admission enters elevated frenchman pool terrified lads persisted conference equality genus didst newly generals surroundings sorrows occasioned invasion workmen monks sends turkish discretion pattern reveal endured resolve columbia preach exceeding ringing triumphant defiance errand woke grandmother weighed wool orleans communicate strikes promising scenery righteous essentially oppose joyous specimen doctors eloquent manager organs sticks drag haunted chorus rational crop processing accurate wolf adorned sheets resort refusal bond vicinity preacher sympathetic casting opens prophets horns warmly salary continuous satan continual defended breaks workers lantern balls rod blaze examining naples
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128242 peculiarly vegetables ingenious excite howard horseback re use louisiana farmers wildly mouths carpet sadness customary circles aren't wonderfully max juan successor allied ceiling confirmation glances diamonds goal representations cash vacant antiquity despise lawn they'll appealed turkey texts neighbor spreading discharged phrases ultimate tastes submission entry rachel blush monument hardy thorough ein ecclesiastical fertile exciting captive severity considerations shew faster louise grandeur winning solely globe malice echoed lodging conservative throng prosperous whistle floated transferred declaring reckoned cheese bite thoughtfully breach enthusiastic cars downstairs allowing invite adjoining dusk cathedral truths plague sandy boil caroline beautifully inhabited tomorrow exclamation finishing shocked escort forgetting hanged
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128246 hats mirth uncomfortable connecticut bows pierced harbor tricks rubbed apparatus mysteries honesty negroes concerns wander assert ceremonies sacrificed utterance dismay fright rail reflections crops pushing proves jimmy pathetic imperfect haughty navy fortress hurrying x blessings attempting insects selling appreciation suppressed acquire offensive ripe dresses reigned coldly candles km sixth blazing youngest mask florida lecture parlor decidedly whereby gordon reverend successive perception buffalo sire quitted keys develop function morals damned vexed d pouring bullet excessive bind identical cliffs tools byron mexican piety superstition git substantial bulk prevail wiser preaching prolonged annoyed westminster splendour remembering richmond upset cab bunch pencil subjected vegetable
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128250 exhibit emerged cooked hay kansas gale preached arnold trousers debate dated tumult corruption summons comrade eternity hears lingered propriety stillness partial welcomed cabinet proceeds vow quaint soup beef rests slay surgeon irresistible sealed repeating needn't allowance undertaken treachery posts borders attendant unite murderer owners nm sweeping unconsciously blade saviour theories graham behaved pleaded spy possesses lawful tommy seasons withdrawn reckless factory shades gossip seventh attendance robes journal systems dryden maine token intimacy abstract machines bestow chanced locks honestly legitimate accent symptoms votes ragged thursday manifested fidelity swinging descending sincerely bred whereof indies novels league failing succeeding santa approve cautiously miller
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128255 afflicted lodgings petition traffic sparkling limb architecture disposal carriages crack kindred naught ornament slew steward fantastic evolution patiently reverse survey dug amuse stretching isaac forthwith contemporary foliage receives scandal donors deliberate influenced intolerable hearth symbol governments repaired pleasantly homage victorious columbus recovery defined attendants modesty diana washing pavement unnatural decisive wisely precise negative occurrence snatched shaft linked festival exclusively jove wickedness visions maggie rosy carelessly stem corporation dec feeding allen cows schemes preference urge husbands labours shrill exercises sovereignty reduce distressed clearing removal dean scottish assertion accessible comedy flush code philosophers adequate vaguely treason hunter chambers split yielding newsletter snake
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128259 pub historian ass intensity democracy battery draws netherlands creed liking luke tyrant strove attraction slaughter dismal deposited assent cups concert downward canal evenings wax detective fancies spoiled revolver murray earned analysis finer paces roaring prompt paperwork wherefore emphasis sharing delayed inherited bronze waking garment redistributing wholesome remorse plato morris stooped dew monk thrill hue exclusive funds porter uncommon dash strained confounded swim strip middle aged ultimately team missionary esteemed tracks envelope whoever expensive headquarters cherished brandy startling homer talks acute cigarette motor embarrassed janet volunteer offspring network reaches indispensable plane reaction regiments g sums partially prejudices proudly baggage terrace deaf allusion
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128263 grip juice isabel resigned humility benjamin blast ministry sexual nile diameter troop onward crowds marrying tightly sullen brutal axe holmes penalty tops diamond boards corridor endowed strengthened cells proportions alternate echo restraint trials reads identity headed softened quivering stages sway poetical objected screen professed dirt ascertained era wider ambassador constituted breed interference eyebrows shapes afar consist acceptance displays flashing hunted beauties lazy shrewd extravagant momentary cordial engineer rapidity nov halt alternative devils stamp compact whites breathless encoding drift disappear roared revived counter venus imaginary diminished honoured th despatched objections ray climbing attract astonishing competition suggestions ink oft crystal shower diseases
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128267 ferdinand obedient draught wondrous await armour massive bottles kin cellar falsehood pillars edgar philosophical martha worlds memorable jacques detected stealing noisy henceforth cicero laden frost device glare touches senate lasting communion transport constantinople coffin eventually johnny enclosed forgiveness awfully clinging darkened contemplation termed manufacture swallow commonplace nancy resembled she'd labors contracted inscription comfortably indulge indulgence bravely kneeling yea keenly exhibition agricultural enlightened quest compliments crest extension uneasiness constitute inflicted lakes swing meadow noblest downloading complex controversy freed resignation tempest guidance prospects humbly lined serene shrugged honours roughly checks remarkably dainty overhead commencement singularly brightness oppression repeatedly conspiracy restrain splendor preservation
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128271 pub pepper basin creeping matthew publicly percy continuing grove calamity pony vigour melody profitable descendants hire speculation discoveries accepts drunken candidate principally worried obstinate hasten foreigners elderly overwhelmed instincts telegraph russell university ghastly patron varying barbarous celestial t' patriotism modify earnestness exertion fox refusing horsemen inspection stations grieved louder bursting regretted mournful pursuing traitor associations cautious foundations stamped prior undertook telegram beggar chimney complicated davis striving magistrates converse graces wiped oars apology scared imprisonment eastward substitute yahweh handful usage lodged of villain banished restoration serpent hedge k jurisdiction captains settlers gaining valiant primary storms beam victoria tour prophecy spectacles obsolete
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128275 buying shepherd wells harriet exaggerated heated penetrated travels earl hereditary ali supernatural competent piled hostess agriculture boughs urgent gratified suffice ports drifted accuracy deceased circular securing possibilities rhine alert neighboring democratic quebec bud accounted aided augustus blanket hail pretence beams andy pig shaped oven rounded ivory northward isolated policeman aug conventional babylon dusty bishops complaints stripped plead hinder vo cord flows personage classical alongside wrongs extract rewarded lungs lighter kisses serves pint forgiven sternly proclamation realised pipes arising pitched tube observer smote avenue elephant burke footing statesman rebels nails wears doomed edges esther indiana affecting stormy bee bury efficient mix
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128279 supporting actor disturbance sweat executive seemingly tenth blossoms ethel folds painfully polish shudder oe roofs comparative begging imposing notable invested imprisoned mute amy cage esq pg cured cargo prof negotiations assented jail skilful ideals conferred resulted illusion torment troublesome crowns feb repentance blankets proprietor uncertainty concentrated mediterranean covers scream compromise respectful chariot ammunition bonnet secondary persia persecution lesser assistant saluted fits indulged springing cane fold boundary valued she'll rugged aloft thieves parlour indebted tons processes dave moore argue dearly logic panic restrained lb vainly weariness enlarged franklin tasted rural torrent resolute refrain kissing gorgeous meets circulation passionately inasmuch unexpectedly stress
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128284 consumption groan suits sustain hosts crash resemble epoch quote lacking nominally choked aristocracy granite gradual delights hurled joyful sack slumber detached snapped shadowy accompanying annoyance crush needle repent phenomenon execute canst smoked greet monarchy behave richly controlled strive endeavor barrier canadian curve politeness flora rely flank convenience courteous logs lamb effectually robinson logical shan't dimly withered diet praises fulfil mantle ne'er discussing chicken judicial consistent ridicule as reins barrel distrust trunks verily hunters feather desperately goodly habitual voluntary luncheon eighteenth exertions expert coolly mistakes tedious contemplated clark jacket gleaming shrank swimming kent perplexed impressive universally displeasure maids rates underneath expedient
128285
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128288 emma impress bees bounded worshipped resisted provincial popularity baker shattered merciful olive tramp compensation ernest martial genial syria conjecture van waiter detained items promote delaware covenant nought interposed seizing sinner vigor devote decorated sentimental yoke properties warlike perilous threats kindled lays hostility dragging mare regulations obstacle sage destitute pays sleepy dublin jonathan posterity they'd nod mason patriotic plantation pitiful foster requisite expose oxen patch anderson stuart interruption lance payable definition birthday thumb wolves hammer overwhelming intensely revolutionary fragrant bleeding sheltered circuit dominions sales energetic insignificant repetition we'd amazing trains skirts tip trivial kick tended rejoicing dig pet skull lectures ness
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128292 threat legislature plunder removing jungle ghosts numbered famine palaces sorrowful improvements coleridge fuller asp blocks darted shrine heel typical throws fortunately recognise fuel th tranquil frown destination plunge moor pin mars associate here's owen th arabic vicious framed banquet expressive instinctively lighting scanning subordinate jaws patent courtyard gulf destroying detailed regulating closet compel inland excepting pretext legislative stationed rash margin champion settling billion shorter betwixt admiring morgan nick chemical chapters worthless aristocratic nan especial hon attentive maintenance charlie explanatory differently furiously pulse scanty flee admiral clause resume compound pilot growled charmed imitate happening knot rags mock majestic messages prussian suspense
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128297 clare relationship skirt agency arisen grin unusually michigan hoarse mills intently dining demonstration depression lain expectations joining weekly trenches technical vehicle aimed borrow flattering portugal prodigious scope vegetation switzerland arkansas swelling fortified favoured salute topic blushed superb strengthen confidential crow shawl sunrise sings coats sturdy dissolved lifetime dispersed sergeant contribute strode brigade verdict they've honors panting females richest attribute brighter hook discontent orderly airs tiger messengers penetrate sabbath identification holiness crooked housekeeper productions prescribed rector spark sleeve honored tame highway alabama edmund militia nobleman energies spacious tearing affliction photograph ally hampshire ascent ditch fishes jupiter rubbing tract standards afore ribbon
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128301 cecilia oregon integrity plus transparent farms pulpit ropes nineteen rescued counting perfume socrates hounds solicited bother fascinating qualified desolation essay rains renew odious assuredly suggests rider loneliness pond activities dazzling leaping squadron bowing novelty wrist keeper homeward alexandria finely li efficiency marvel tranquillity agnes charities spenser condemn elephants elders julian tries nd sweetly endurance bags reared jaw unique navigation inevitably admirably sect drum poles verge piercing sanction russians forlorn approbation organic stanley allegiance bin expressly ingenuity dispose stained theology withal duration fundraising adj collecting weigh sweetest float consul monastery raging publish knocking precaution privately aaron endeavored insight definitely stature troy
128302
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128305 miriam judah oblige urging shift mould courses countless associates hymn rapture tonight trumpet parker entrusted firmness comic breeding ken questioning factor monuments loveliness handled communities saloon stumbled witch confronted traveling seamen backed profoundly gladness pomp mess practise sanctuary superstitious casual iowa analyzed historic bored shrink judging treating expenditure encouraging diplomatic forcing studio exposure crude compilation vermont eve ascend unbroken apollo countess binding exceed frail hans champagne shuddered carter mule inserted parson rascal inspire banner divorce treacherous nineteenth invalid weaker organizations bolt ticket backwards captivity lame provoked vein lists gallop communications dagger passive shoe thrice corrected mystic infancy foam keith tavern
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128309 fraud th cradle rifles vigorously censure gentleness jr sobbing monotonous explosion catastrophe respectfully wearied cats blamed needful fireplace gravel affords discovering jar selfishness tolerably clerks ark moist wid sauce prompted exceptions bullets writ bruce insolent moisture thompson furnace healing fewer deem apron humiliation punctuation rolls doe rotten richer swiss behavior nowadays pamphlet loan beads divers unreasonable realise lust ah annually detach gaily shares gifted planet feverish resurrection saul consecrated enforced vincent shelf fan fluid brightly damsel gabriel kid frantic neatly anon ascribed insane tropical th milan hardened overthrow phase achievement immortality obscurity assumption discern hopeful humorous composure turf poland dame
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128314 missionaries orator perpetually arbitrary ecstasy retirement pronounce authorized familiarity nl hastings clubs reconciled grievous mercury elegance chivalry luminous beseech benevolent confided dances perplexity escaping terrific companionship commence daisy parliament th creep pleading disdain pm sympathies guides emergency parcel suicide replies drawer contribution supposition vii weren't link homely pluck ruling patrick statesmen hannah printing joshua synonymous sinister advocate destructive environment blossom bridle yon waistcoat extends confirm listing solemnity projects reporter deprive detachment infernal traversed moss skilled announce hateful fugitive gothic coolness insurrection cum med coachman expend stepping julius resign despatch excluded reject tough plea roy fragment lacked wordsworth balcony darker mac
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128318 nevada christopher fork flatter iniquity meditation disastrous stain patches hints ordained drinks whipped burial matt employee employer hypothesis steed width sweden transaction victories devout outrage vary attorney rouse doubled sidney schooner flaming offend sheriff encamped magnificence vent politely vines flags italians necessities austin nobler accusation impulses packet shabby irritated dakota industrious classic ranch ascending cruelly happiest antonio accuse insulted bridges players sixteenth solicitation embarked idol odds aims illuminated enchanted adversary pie reflecting pension luxurious pigs choir tumbled conqueror irritation verb monkey acceptable dynasty accurately divinity signature heretofore hazard dora sq stead attire fling marine occupations soothing devised singer spaces emerson
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128322 disguised antique orthodox poisoned dove gratification sydney electricity alien sorely cracked supremacy summon depressed sexes offerings pledged irony recourse tortured thickly correspondent sounding sombre brushed reasonably th duel reluctantly implies cable ridden acre grieve inquiring colonists addison republican illustrate tim liverpool gilded clumsy satin displeased odor clearer prairie hudson feudal flint easter freshness nursery explanations adoption reluctance crosses blushing imported notorious equipped sinful starving eugene bedside sovereigns abrupt excused injure incessant correctly drooping adored embroidered pasture pillar import founder torch vault worm ay bravery confinement trusting butler rattle transported estimation edit gotten cuts headlong outfit insolence secrecy thereupon unlucky
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128326 eighth valour grammar relaxed mentions adjacent knives attacking exceptional recollections deposit establishing muddy arches aspects senior fragrance colonial penetrating refinement te yacht intelligible stray forcibly jenny superficial tends identified wan choosing frighten grotesque reprinted tutor contributing welsh gaiety besieged robbery transmitted swam consequential slid stony donald gratify heavier confidently mabel demon treatise mechanically batteries trading cock pilgrimage extinct idleness sicily merrily excursion handling utah eminence lump boyhood montana superfluous wee dome shivering accidental thickness darwin continuance fixing harris rustic cheered vernon premises delivery nodding snowy curved productive discouraged variations shilling swollen miraculous stubborn belgium drives jerome orchard persuasion invaded alps
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128330 ungrateful insensible muscle madrid flanders cultivate involuntarily speedy variation marian harp peaks daybreak magnitude precautions rub requiring coral grapes fairest locality opponent bondage beans cowardly grandson leo gertrude nail protecting hospitable proving benevolence brussels civilisation mounting desiring rushes precision watchful harness perchance forbade channels indication zealous tact seventeenth theodore stating toast dreadfully judith asterisk virgil edifice swelled accomplishment sundry reckoning mouse prostrate helm slim whistling syllable handwriting commissioners lime spur unfit gen relish reduction sown venetian cordially hush breasts slipping pat arabian dialogue forwards entreat fascination belly neutral grasping diligence disgusted retiring strokes sob vine compose valentine harvey icy inconvenience
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128334 v pots dimensions abused armor detect contradiction banker infamous powerless passenger crust historians disclaim norway peculiarities sting simultaneously watches cong episode achieve populace sherman incense rebecca jordan persistent wisconsin ho ta fruitful scoundrel coasts starve denmark scots consultation habitation goat howling tailor flourish trifles dashing disappearance sour practicable shameful inviting criminals leisurely accumulated audible topics expends radiance underline parade spoils helmet consternation expenditures impose originator pa unequal wooded enduring ox valet proclaim carl impossibility lydia territories deference ravine geoffrey blanche accommodation boyish spray theological anonymous injurious formally sports ab scales wyoming discontinue calf manual disturbing potent anticipation melt tilde thames
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128338 grade mischievous pang pathos alternately brisk stool justification foreigner endeavouring satire al delete masculine spies umbrella transportation yell remnant boot ignored thrilling ale mineral goose nebraska truce lastly airy sketches groves col th comprehension cling duck abyss alaska baffled planning abominable aversion drawings customers weird stewart traveled alan incessantly flattery director improbable moderation awakening males pairs temporal con nicely lapse vitality soap patriot malicious eyed pirates enforce doll briskly sez skeleton comprehensive buttons crushing personages threaten nuts undone wright frankness hides progressive rogers villa aristotle resource irs confine sewing co congratulate walt reconcile insurance terminated dusky appoint pearl thrilled gains
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128342 interrupt extravagance jokes suppress quod signify layer clue kettle contemplate aforesaid tooth sensibility boldness mature cuba tolerable rabbit befallen needless yankee awaken clasp lets blinded conductor dependence guarantee affectionately player wires thicket walker outstretched procedure wheeled aye oneself recommendation projecting shriek futile cheerfulness deity fifteenth gap muscular dripping insect values brooding restaurant baptism imaginative rhyme exhaustion intrigue senseless hercules yearly baron occupying imply absurdity launched resolutely vowed attach characterized fellowship posture caps leon demanding owl beset ensuring suite tennyson thereto heaped jewel regained voluntarily longitude permanently jumping babe secondly violin rogue rainy reconciliation emotional radical accursed tendencies concrete resident lustre
128343
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128346 hull ominous overboard uproar cavern combine respectively menace pilgrims jeff peak currency silken violet khan mastery objective plucked litter memorial bids fondly clapped tariff beneficial unsolicited reluctant separately patronage revenues dragon zeus mike ranges vexation indicates overheard tray raymond thereafter exporting mound taxation frenzy horizontal thirsty disputed charter redistribution boasted item moscow termination eminently suggestive linger shady calculation expansion mast confer sophia commanders pitied twist traditional involve interfered achilles wanton repay brother in law routine son in law gaul groom solve grassy tempt unsuccessful witty politician yearning lid noticing courtiers cheering bounty consequent renown regulation fowl mayor wrinkled defy threads violation junction boss particles
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128350 glories signifies constrained paternal piles hardware engaging e g peer counties mocking ch avoiding rebuke abolished cheers idiot rd morbid wrung e mail outcome gilt coldness applying strand renowned fishermen creative circus moustache proverb lowering biggest sly nursing boon weighing oklahoma brink degraded avenge hum minority spaniard ridges perils larry merchandise aloof despairing acquisition asylum chickens placid affirm trod gardener schedule calmness protector concealment trench fore accession h dey connexion cairo mend considers twenty one municipal achievements cherish deserving exert riot veteran advancement inventor meek cameron hopelessly judicious tending testify governess orchestra garb condemnation foregoing bacon maternal wasting australian strata hushed maryland sculpture
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128355 miniature corrections tangled completion regulated athenian flavor brand intimately unlimited dipped luggage inconsistent forsaken feebly woven lloyd rubbish tool spirited christendom chaos twinkling muffled accents accidentally degradation emancipation prosecution cleveland outbreak defending dwarf abundantly turner disadvantage abolition disregard deliberation filthy ak notifies dealings demonstrated paced tense drums interpreter vanish astray hen workman asunder baked baltimore bustle winged mentioning pastoral fabric trim musician twenty two patty mentally wrecked discreet godfrey apostle ledge roast accessed preface convincing quiver stocks mourn commented redistribute precipice outdated juliet dialect elementary freight cowardice wipe deserts shelves denial b traits denounced eric underground phantom whirling pecuniary dire hostilities
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128359 gait it'll vividly instruct dickens puritan clutched acknowledgment conjunction oppressive intermediate formula hungary sneer ore plentiful plump combinations purest cheat doubly inadequate leslie blest forbear haunt treaties fearless constable enveloped enmity watson bridegroom curate developing frock mining audacity improper motto parisian faction architect melting delicately register heroine indefinite console defensive perceptible fruitless ransom surplus solicitude effectual shiver gal wed contemptuous plough snakes felicity reef outset constitutes lament tissue draft impelled epic fisherman hawaii obstinacy ulysses lemon voltaire hound measuring conscientious robber toy impart statute barry girdle basil rebellious stair biting consulting perseverance manila massacre cough blazed claude transition button headache
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128363 tenant burns harmonious dreamy burgundy collections unkind inscribed cushions programme din laborious manufacturing markets zone humane ac fertility languid ninth curses introducing alcohol impending declining advantageous heal millennium karl ft staid planting theatrical spectator winchester greedy commonwealth suffrage tremulous commodities stuffed admitting aching ninety discomfort imperative montreal bobby bachelor geographical longest courageous carpenter sundays concluding danish steer influential surround random ounce afresh dictated ruddy rusty drown irving slide sow appalling profess sickly rides spoon imminent dominant leadership pinch wearily ducks diary duchess regain rum churchyard fondness apprehend ordinarily quicker thereon ni balloon individuality securely connecting celebrate bluff dawned amiss chalk
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128367 sticking fuss dazed deputy forsake automobile discussions harrison refreshment amendment appealing eden vertical insufficient manchester hem gorge baptized damn silvery pastor inherent preventing inference advertisement mutton packing enclosure theft publisher spontaneous otto rats apparition refreshing irene sweetheart renounce lifeless adore vinegar normandy uncovered utility orphan symbols gracefully mightily peculiarity ash floods partake contemptible deities profane foreseen ti conceit commend twelfth bristol manifestation revive prone connect princely overtake improving downwards ferocious intervention subsistence susceptible tunnel disciple revival twins ivy puzzle citadel temporarily despotism internet mechanism stoop directors mathematics raft fade soothe pork substituted physically brilliancy dot loaf expanse shocking rudely isle
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128371 balanced extracted fable matches index gerard cigars liver transmit dispatch onto veranda dip inexplicable liar diminish dungeon unit pagan phillips brig monopoly rim sordid complaining temperate chat gambling maps amber trot howl shipping ton magazines bricks submarine roberts cumberland cecil semblance palestine perpendicular regardless fervent sane wreath animation earthquake sloping smoothly tension intrigues fearfully macaulay laboratory cork comments whale wedded whiteness convicted deception paved scruple paintings therewith religions governing colleagues shrinking tickets prophetic undergo hare haze poisonous omit beware sagacity concession worker ted incline caste leapt dissatisfied hardest self control toilet buddha offense woodland gentry starvation grudge penance tips rooted outburst
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128375 fortitude turk devour malignant accorded brandon anticipate speechless inquisition eccentric anecdote annals scrutiny burroughs rhythm discord marius diversion archie rat knit correspond detain dis esp interpret vehement soda naughty salon operate idly imperious peru candid whig blooming wharf disgraceful stunned redemption drain wage cooper embassy unfinished nasty impetuous cemetery oblivion prohibited breeches abound christine frivolous hugo essays plaster tap chairman dismiss katherine provoke reside deficient decoration heroism toe wade apparel hazel inability farthest invent knave twain carelessness affectation connections climax avowed industries brood tempting define antwerp forefathers stretches gratifying plight restricted cupboard ludicrous alms colossal stupidity monotony stimulus vigilance digest
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128379 vale overcoat colorado wink nous rack incomprehensible antagonist methinks barley plateau superintendent indescribable expanded presentation archbishop devise rubber adieu exclude carts lone whisky abuses inflict nightfall counts chocolate privileged hermit exultation overtook coincidence scratch screw caravan divert eliza comparing hood explore glove chaste whirl adventurous skipper tiresome implements recompense plank insure laboured exaggeration mi shepherds lilies ballad befall cylinder teddy summary daresay photographs colleges dissolution geneva marches instituted seals vehemence chaplain knots wail kneel unlikely deceit challenged geography herald lowly peep swarm clarke joyfully engraved ll bowels purposely blindness systematic virtually conformity remedies maxim indexes marshall baking invincible impertinent bust
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128384 visage intuition mingle bathing arched investment tabernacle client ghostly furs catalogue dock tenor arouse verbal excessively brazil strenuous irishman recess unclean psalms analogy chemistry peninsula infer maritime secular hawk rein averted bake constantine oracle alley softness pierce spinning snatch manufactured launch psychology worms regulate farming fasten actress etiquette theater thanksgiving valor untouched tactics drug adverse gaunt conducting veritable overtaken distorted rosa nina quart caprice candy obliging planets soothed sic opium pavilion strait sanguine cords odour trout paste regularity metallic scrap convict instructive investigate celtic package pirate fiend moan revealing trades rounds accomplishments crawl aft prevalent role dose evans hypocrisy
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128388 l salmon snap alma magical tire hetty impenetrable geese madly manifold noticeable pudding volcanic locke magnetic deals core decency observance durst scratched predecessor diplomacy wert impartial disinterested wig pump swedish norfolk reigns similarly reap dam facilities slippery transformation oxygen suburbs dares ornamental pondered fringe raiment henrietta wellington foreman feat thirteenth sultan certificate rue heresy arabia medal location ether ruby heading subdue adorn ancestor warmer cluster quotation fullest exposition custody thermometer plausible toss desperation rhetoric scornful bailey rung civility dingy scaffold concentration avarice scrape pools oar flutter martyr handy montague bait login commotion congenial drawers telescope deposits edwards craving bureau oscar
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128393 speculative huddled diverse slice renaissance angelo meg murderous serenity perspiration coventry impudent ardor necklace alight stimulated clifford steadfast genoa anglo saxon courier inflamed xi drill spelling respond seriousness fourteenth womb literal singers usefulness cloudy mortality profusion fleeting twentieth maturity surf weed phases overcame womanhood envious tapped latent whiskey relatively forbidding cleopatra willow mathematical sojourn booty camel implore amateur morally qualifications gasp gliding tested racing brightest joel extremes damascus labored peggy exit originality humming isolation sometime glee adult solace biography ff hardship lied donkey trader rumour amply confide favors perspective belgian withstand robust pro val eats snare monthly wines ignore envoy
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128397 flown reverie jehovah contrive chatter judas nourishment reforms clatter adrian allude corrupted thorn junior tony calcutta re holt psychological constancy misunderstood signals drying harshly distressing novelist cyril editors intricate limestone forty five collision pebbles willie knitting ordeal foresee peas repast supplying clan abject dart berth bridal indirect unnoticed tint insults precedent twisting bully vacation 'll canon aisle click inspiring oval impracticable delirium cedar contradict ingratitude soften bewilderment servitude comely stump redeem spun elastic poultry horseman dictionary prettiest adoration icel wager involving pathway essex wistful advent gear celebration conceivable drowning faintest acquiring befell good looking wares rendezvous snug watery accompaniment chaps crawling lumber
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128401 publishing customer mediaeval prints lavish md genesis rug analogous eleventh noah galley partition blunder glasgow fanciful ham rainbow sentinel hereby outlook smitten unmarried mice installed vivacity marking aesthetic consume resent pose contentment sterling veneration p m barking bower organism unintelligible emphatic occurring factors guise editorial impudence midday corporal sg aright nigger lily noun scout spit cursing friedrich manifestly marco battalion heritage brotherhood nun wad folding discerned powerfully mitchell helpful persist ellis frigate spotted atoms curves outlet erroneous violated withheld fairies inherit sledge taller supervision butt handsomely tank velocity arctic colleague pins butcher drowsy butterfly chart twin sunken exasperated narrowly collins insulting
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128405 deficiency operating overthrown gallows diligent hindu blunt omen bleak vehemently wretchedness e'er ensure denotes sentenced unfair encampment possessor absorbing descendant sub drugs engineers independently bucket clerical ache glitter ordinance bamboo amsterdam vocation admirer limp pallid mildly organisation timothy dealer yorkshire auspicious deuce emblem gibson primarily reducing ritual decorations thigh groaning scant fiscal mien charging cor railing peers inferred sanctity accumulation cynical inspector wardrobe jesuit texture adjustment epistle adventurer priesthood seaman turbulent chant marsh palmer unaware vase ty initial baths weighty minimum correction morsel overlook meagre unanimous magician mystical twenty three inhabit shaggy unaccountable nightmare carbon coil lawless stairway willingness sarcasm crisp
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128409 jerk tout vocabulary stroll poorly composing parliamentary controlling fitness thoughtless soames temperance illumination translations martyrdom mellow nationality jam austere shoots casually pensive flavour nets dice satisfactorily shrunk administer ante swine baptist listener unimportant genera contrivance deplorable museum benefactor tints alphabet rout scatter boer ftp steve extant bohemia misunderstanding universities dexterity rag inseparable punch brazen economical pernicious craig mythology drained bolted abel stride circumference meddle axis gum las kinder closes ferocity giddy secluded resisting satisfying reliable disgusting thirty six ethical raleigh crouching lash recital buddhist collapse unsatisfactory lore varies mainland scot repute cushion confound scrub myth flights oats layers ownership cape glimmer
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128414 scare waked bengal scrupulous equals redress brake nut stability crafty kirk bough momentous albeit enlarge hardness civilised dotted defiant timidity solar heartless thomson mat shun raid disclose suppression puff juncture beak unjustly foresaw rot aggressive predicted quaker grate lease ponderous maketh repaid charcoal chilly arrogance friction participation pier stale intoxicated commissioned ratio comb masterpiece wholesale embraces trodden ephraim shaw translate mortar recreation rite truthful cavalier caress si curling rivalry whim abreast thebes faust peg wilhelm pestilence ceremonial receiver sample distinctive consummate matron claiming plural initiative inexhaustible a m spider reed streak blocked titus smashed populous baronet commodore jelly advocates dinah
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128418 salutation mutiny chronicles comforting serviceable parchment playful potato transient administrative anarchy barber revision operated farce germ profile provides noting disordered menacing heightened finance averse azure bathe campaigns lessen slate acquaint gin humiliating cleft conveyance chivalrous capricious tribune pilgrim entreaty womanly paltry sporting maker digestion bart infamy lambs gaping periodical standpoint amorous tub luxuriant basic mutually chris greed premature extinction boiler intimation scandalous separating oratory banish electrical herb multiply prosper friar nightly ole monkeys interminable enjoys similarity riddle cleaning subscription copious exclaim forged voting scourge darkly privacy arena bearded vera alacrity sensual spin neutrality flannel fasting trailer avert trustworthy jamaica unchanged
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128422 traveler unfamiliar puffed mirrors phoebe father in law conform particle railways stupendous paddle innate reformation volley statistics agrees simpler padre congratulations lids muse inhabitant ishmael rustle clump calendar flute inaccessible yore jay repulsive fray po nomination conclusive peaceable beth inconceivable e'en emerald lava trillion uppermost arduous lyric downright reproduction foresight consistency ape senators pallor span salad snuff drooped greetings chestnut inquisitive vicar noel attic savings affirmative ills applications t dye gloucester nominal demonstrate dispense dissatisfaction merciless trusty coloring perusal plaintive discarded precarious infection ruinous bolts arithmetic considerate lark ethics conventions stumbling pitcher slips seine officially danube annoy glide impunity amends sol conveying
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128426 abandonment mane tinge brim forenoon seventy five sparkle syllables shrug enchantment franz trait bribe composer preparatory audacious outskirts soiled fiddle football isaiah partnership continuation pioneer vest bass derby quarry rigging dizzy abnormal omission idolatry sequence squeeze cabbage canopy athletic shirley drunkenness intrusion 'cause assign tackle dreamt sceptre exacting parched eddy percentage twinkle curb sandstone invaluable fathom preferable adelaide advertising scraps lever muster cavity barbarian sleepless fried abstraction forefinger spade erection scorned pail withdrawal senator mortgage ancestral succour ma forbearance repress spouse valid witchcraft workmanship legacy proximity bombay paula incorporated muzzle reuben clusters valve compelling dissipated flickering guinea sup tarry derision vehicles
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128430 accommodate glossy iris relic ant heath bug vocal downfall construct undue vapor bat whimsical contradictory unlocked foretold automatic explicit indolent mates artful downcast well being winston ordinances catharine effectively missions stalk indistinct pregnant reddish coveted fret peeping buck sumptuous indefinitely reliance panama cocked dad everyday intoxication aghast subterranean turmoil forfeit chasm inspect perverse precipitate dover ambush evermore mass blot nook verdure parapet jake cessation ankle classification fervently oddly haul saxony embarrassing hairy northwest disabled laurel preston arrogant hurts demonstrations splash curl livelihood wary scattering brace converts detestable abandoning somerset weakly clothe gem tremor surveying variable anniversary thirty two wrap curly diversity
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128435 prestige desertion freezing heedless sentry believer ram rowing negligence self sulphur discrimination cooling millionaire flowering meridian wins awed beastly nuisance abstain continental stanza target unwonted whit jason stall sham dictate empress gout jobs manure nigel sidewalk sate grievance axes bony invest birmingham ebb rabble restlessness cruise rally rumor hysterical girlish actively shortest marseilles cheque disregarded retort rocking emerge perch flask ka countryman lonesome manned unarmed wast frog twenty eight unscrupulous yarn victuals outrageous appropriation foolishness quickness adversity parma diseased iliad salutary smelt territorial hurricane irons canyon jeremiah brooklyn indulging vapour disobedience atrocious leaps tapestry provocation twenty six impotent smite acquitted os tumultuous
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128439 barge palpable apprentice lances compartment godly sarcastic therefrom specifically uniformity emerging atonement whereabouts davy framework sponge mountainous annoying cot squirrel wand grind bang unreal blacksmith injunction scarcity withhold outright bavaria cement growl aggregate fraction exaltation inexorable jug purer sap illegal sister in law presses stealthily dissolve volcano hungarian equilibrium obstinately sullenly assassination commissions respectability bases maxwell resounded closest embroidery gunpowder reproof yale combining weaving earnings hamburg indoors manufacturers pitiless scarf picnic misled pompous brian respite exploit tracing geological passport confines dishonour executioner township vacancy acquiescence cornwall crumbling three quarters exploration needy stationary disconcerted wanderer beaver lookout onion depicted boisterous couples speakers woollen lightness
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128443 bitten aux toleration lucia scar bohemian vested affinity carlo sous penitent simpson abiding ca immoral dishonest yawning mustache supplement whirlwind clash terence lamentable bennett farthing speck biscuit appellation gdp reserves uncouth birch armchair judy greasy leaden dough lining cleverness ascetic clutch krishna embark quotations friendliness liberally trance untrue rejection grating hanover inexperienced mon wintry stalwart meats stamping variance apiece firmament absorption apprehensive terminate wilful conveniently 'n' cleanliness collective angela filth philippines timely herein ignoble canton lamentations moslem ware adjective glen invade livid buggy prolong weaken folio dismissal quay enchanting heave purified syrian significantly experimental film repressed cooperation sequel wench calves
128444 Retrieved from "http //en wiktionary org/wiki/Wiktionary Frequency_lists/PG/ / / "
128445
128446 def g():
128447 global big
128448 big = file('big.txt').read()
128449 N = len(big)
128450 s = set()
128451 for i in xrange(6, N):
128452 c = big[i]
128453 if ord(c) > 127 and c not in s:
128454 print i, c, ord(c), big[max(0, i-10):min(N, i+10)]
128455 s.add(c)
128456 print s
128457 print [ord(c) for c in s]