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Weyrother, who was in full control of the proposed battle, by his

eagerness and briskness presented a marked contrast to the

dissatisfied and drowsy Kutuzov, who reluctantly played the part

of chairman and president of the council of war. Weyrother

evidently felt himself to be at the head of a movement that had

already become unrestrainable. He was like a horse running

downhill harnessed to a heavy cart. Whether he was pulling it or

being pushed by it he did not know, but rushed along at headlong

speed with no time to consider what this movement might lead to.

Weyrother had been twice that evening to the enemy's picket line

to reconnoiter personally, and twice to the Emperors, Russian and

Austrian, to report and explain, and to his headquarters where he

had dictated the dispositions in German, and now, much exhausted,

he arrived at Kutuzov's.