There was wine, too; the Russian commissariat was a liberal one.
There was much laughter and jovialness in the camps that night.

Of course, the guard and the other veterans expected nothing else, but to the youngsters the brilliant stroke of Napoleon was a revelation.
As the little Emperor rode from division to division, sometimes dismounting and walking through the camps on foot, he was received with such acclaim as reminded him of the old days in Italy.

And, indeed, the brief campaign which he had so brilliantly inaugurated can be favorably compared to that famous Italian adventure, or to any other short series of consecutive military exploits in the whole history of war.
They said that the Emperor had hesitated and lost his great opportunity at Borodino.

They said that he had frightfully miscalculated at Moscow, that his judgment had been grievously at fault in the whole Russian campaign.

They said that he had sat idle during a long day when the fortunes of his empire might have been settled at Bautzen.
They said that, overcome by physical weariness, he had failed to grasp his great opportunity after the victory at Dresden.