"When we viewed the desolation of whole districts- the crops burned and the hamlets destroyed - and continually heard the account of families , once happy and prosperous , reduced to indigence and misery by the destruction of their young men and when we reflected that all this disturbance of the peace of a country every way fitted for the enjoyment of its inhabitants , was occasioned solely by the ambition and insatiable thirst for dominion of one indi- vidual , the Emperor of Russia , we could not re- strain our indignation; we therefore freely took part in the councils of the natives , and gave them the benefit of such knowledge as our experience and reading had afforded us , in counselling them as to the particular species of warfare which seemed best suited for the troops they could bring into the field , and most likely to defeat the tactics of their enemies ; and I believe we may not unreasonably take partial credit to this advice for the heroic achieve- ments which had begun before I quitted the country , and have since been so admirably accomplished in the capture of almost all of the forts which Russia had erected in the country . "