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Chapter 24 - Rostopchín
On the evening of the first of September, after his interview with Kutuzov, Count Rostopchin had returned to Moscow mortified1 and offended because he had not been invited to attend the council of war, and because Kutuzov had paid no attention to his offer to take part in the defense2 of the city; amazed also at the novel outlook revealed to him at the camp, which treated the tranquillity3 of the capital and its patriotic4 fervor5 as not merely secondary but quite irrelevant6 and unimportant matters. Distressed7, offended, and surprised by all this, Rostopchin had returned to Moscow. After supper he lay down on a sofa without undressing, and was awakened8 soon after midnight by a courier bringing him a letter from Kutuzov. This letter requested the count to send police officers to guide the troops through the town, as the army was retreating to the Ryazan road beyond Moscow. This was not news to Rostopchin. He had known that Moscow would be abandoned not merely since his interview the previous day with Kutuzov on the Poklonny Hill but ever since the battle of Borodino, for all the generals who came to Moscow after that battle had said unanimously that it was impossible to fight another battle, and since then the government property had been removed every night, and half the inhabitants had left the city with Rostopchin’s own permission. Yet all the same this information astonished and irritated the count, coming as it did in the form of a simple note with an order from Kutuzov, and received at night, breaking in on his beauty sleep.
When later on in his memoirs9 Count Rostopchin explained his actions at this time, he repeatedly says that he was then actuated by two important considerations: to maintain tranquillity in Moscow and expedite the departure of the inhabitants. If one accepts this twofold aim all Rostopchin’s actions appear irreproachable10. “Why were the holy relics11, the arms, ammunition12, gunpowder13, and stores of corn not removed? Why were thousands of inhabitants deceived into believing that Moscow would not be given up — and thereby14 ruined?” “To presence the tranquillity of the city,” explains Count Rostopchin. “Why were bundles of useless papers from the government offices, and Leppich’s balloon and other articles removed?” “To leave the town empty,” explains Count Rostopchin. One need only admit that public tranquillity is in danger and any action finds a justification15.
On what, then, was Count Rostopchin’s fear for the tranquillity of Moscow based in 1812? What reason was there for assuming any probability of an uprising in the city? The inhabitants were leaving it and the retreating troops were filling it. Why should that cause the masses to riot?
Neither in Moscow nor anywhere in Russia did anything resembling an insurrection ever occur when the enemy entered a town. More than ten thousand people were still in Moscow on the first and second of September, and except for a mob in the governor’s courtyard, assembled there at his bidding, nothing happened. It is obvious that there would have been even less reason to expect a disturbance18 among the people if after the battle of Borodino, when the surrender of Moscow became certain or at least probable, Rostopchin instead of exciting the people by distributing arms and broadsheets had taken steps to remove all the holy relics, the gunpowder, munitions19, and money, and had told the population plainly that the town would be abandoned.
Rostopchin, though he had patriotic sentiments, was a sanguine20 and impulsive21 man who had always moved in the highest administrative22 circles and had no understanding at all of the people he supposed himself to be guiding. Ever since the enemy’s entry into Smolensk he had in imagination been playing the role of director of the popular feeling of “the heart of Russia.” Not only did it seem to him (as to all administrators) that he controlled the external actions of Moscow’s inhabitants, but he also thought he controlled their mental attitude by means of his broadsheets and posters, written in a coarse tone which the people despise in their own class and do not understand from those in authority. Rostopchin was so pleased with the fine role of leader of popular feeling, and had grown so used to it, that the necessity of relinquishing23 that role and abandoning Moscow without any heroic display took him unawares and he suddenly felt the ground slip away from under his feet, so that he positively24 did not know what to do. Though he knew it was coming, he did not till the last moment wholeheartedly believe that Moscow would be abandoned, and did not prepare for it. The inhabitants left against his wishes. If the government offices were removed, this was only done on the demand of officials to whom the count yielded reluctantly. He was absorbed in the role he had created for himself. As is often the case with those gifted with an ardent25 imagination, though he had long known that Moscow would be abandoned he knew it only with his intellect, he did not believe it in his heart and did not adapt himself mentally to this new position of affairs.
All his painstaking26 and energetic activity (in how far it was useful and had any effect on the people is another question) had been simply directed toward arousing in the masses his own feeling of patriotic hatred27 of the French.
But when events assumed their true historical character, when expressing hatred for the French in words proved insufficient28, when it was not even possible to express that hatred by fighting a battle, when self-confidence was of no avail in relation to the one question before Moscow, when the whole population streamed out of Moscow as one man, abandoning their belongings29 and proving by that negative action all the depth of their national feeling, then the role chosen by Rostopchin suddenly appeared senseless. He unexpectedly felt himself ridiculous, weak, and alone, with no ground to stand on.
When, awakened from his sleep, he received that cold, peremptory30 note from Kutuzov, he felt the more irritated the more he felt himself to blame. All that he had been specially31 put in charge of, the state property which he should have removed, was still in Moscow and it was no longer possible to take the whole of it away.
“Who is to blame for it? Who has let things come to such a pass?” he ruminated32. “Not I, of course. I had everything ready. I had Moscow firmly in hand. And this is what they have let it come to! Villains33! Traitors34!” he thought, without clearly defining who the villains and traitors were, but feeling it necessary to hate those traitors whoever they might be who were to blame for the false and ridiculous position in which he found himself.
All that night Count Rostopchin issued orders, for which people came to him from all parts of Moscow. Those about him had never seen the count so morose35 and irritable36.
“Your excellency, the Director of the Registrar’s Department has sent for instructions . . . From the Consistory, from the Senate, from the University, from the Foundling Hospital, the Suffragan has sent . . . asking for information. . . . What are your orders about the Fire Brigade? From the governor of the prison . . . from the superintendent37 of the lunatic asylum38 . . . ” All night long such announcements were continually being received by the count.
To all these inquiries39 he gave brief and angry replies indicating that orders from him were not now needed, that the whole affair, carefully prepared by him, had now been ruined by somebody, and that that somebody would have to bear the whole responsibility for all that might happen.
“Oh, tell that blockhead,” he said in reply to the question from the Registrar’s Department, “that he should remain to guard his documents. Now why are you asking silly questions about the Fire Brigade? They have horses, let them be off to Vladimir, and not leave them to the French.”
“Your excellency, the superintendent of the lunatic asylum has come: what are your commands?”
“My commands? Let them go away, that’s all. . . . And let the lunatics out into the town. When lunatics command our armies God evidently means these other madmen to be free.”
In reply to an inquiry40 about the convicts in the prison, Count Rostopchin shouted angrily at the governor:
“Do you expect me to give you two battalions41 — which we have not got — for a convoy42? Release them, that’s all about it!”
“Your excellency, there are some political prisoners, Meshkov, Vereshchagin . . . ”
“Vereshchagin! Hasn’t he been hanged yet?” shouted Rostopchin. “Bring him to me!”
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1
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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2
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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3
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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7
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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8
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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11
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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12
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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14
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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16
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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17
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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18
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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19
munitions
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| n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品 | |
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20
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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21
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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22
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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23
relinquishing
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的现在分词 )； 放弃 | |
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24
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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25
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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26
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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27
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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28
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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29
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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30
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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31
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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32
ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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33
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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34
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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35
morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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37
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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38
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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39
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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40
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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41
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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42
convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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