During their stay at Moscow, the battalions quartered outside the walls knew no peace. There existed, as Ségur says, a kind of tacit, informal armistice between the opposing armies, but only in the front. On the flanks and in the rear, not a wagon could pass, not an ounce of forage could be brought in unopposed, so that in reality the war still continued. During the first few days Murat delighted in showing himself to the outposts of the enemy. He was flattered by the respect paid to his appearance, his reputation for courage, and his rank. The Russian officers took good care not to undeceive him. They loaded him with all the tokens of deference calculated to keep up this illusion. He was allowed to order their vedettes about as if they were Frenchmen. If any part of the ground they occupied pleased him, they hastened to surrender it to him. Cossack chiefs went so far as to pretend enthusiasm, and to say that they only recognized as Emperor the Emperor who reigned in Moscow. Murat even believed for a time that they would not fight against him. The Emperor, who was not deceived by these professions, complained bitterly of the exasperating guerilla warfare to which he was constantly exposed. “Had not a hundred and fifty dragoons of the Old Guard met, been attacked, and routed by a horde of these barbarians? And this took place but two days after the armistice on the road to Mozjaisk, his principal line of communications, which connected him with his stores, his reserves, his depots, with Europe itself.” “Every morning,” adds Ségur, “our soldiers, especially the cavalry, had to travel great distances to obtain the necessaries of life. And as the environs of Moscow and Winkovo became more and more denuded, they were obliged to range further and further afield. Men and horses returned worn out, some did not return at all. Each measure of oats, each bundle of straw, had to be fought for, dragged out of the enemy. Nothing but surprises, fights, losses. Even the peasantry began to be troublesome. “We had war on all sides—in front, on our flanks, in our rear. The army was growing weaker and weaker; the enemy becoming daily more venturesome.... At last Murat himself grew anxious. He saw half the remnant of his cavalry melt away in these daily skirmishes.” In Bulletin XXII. Napoleon only says—“The Cossacks attack our scouts.... The Turkish flags, as well as some curiosities taken from the Kremlin, and the image of the Holy Virgin studded with diamonds, have been forwarded to Paris.... Rostopchin is said to have gone mad.... He has set his country-house on fire.... The sun is more brilliant and hotter than in Paris, one might fancy oneself in the south.... The Russian army does not approve of the burning of Moscow.... The Russians look on Rostopchin as a Marat consoling himself in the society of Wilson, the English _attaché_.” Napoleon says not a word about his endeavours to conclude peace.