However tempting it might be for the French to blame Rostopchín’s ferocity and for Russians to blame the scoundrel Buonaparte, or later on to place an heroic torch in the hands of their own people, it is impossible not to see that there could be no such direct cause of the fire, for Moscow had to burn as every village, factory, or house must burn which is left by its owners and in which strangers are allowed to live and cook their porridge. Moscow was burnt by its inhabitants it is true, but by those who had abandoned it and not by those who remained in it. Moscow when occupied by the enemy
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