The National Register. — London, England, 1812-12-20 00:00:00

pr,C 20. ississs---- -- war p destroyed his rear, KU TUSOFF moved in a parallel direction with the main body, and WITTGENSTEIN and TCHICIIAGOFF, the former by daring and successful attacks, and the latter by forced marches, drove in the troops that forme , ' the basis of his operations, and threatened to cut him s tf entirely from Poland. In that state he arrived at Smo lessko, where he found about 15,000 men belonging to Vtc- T 0 leS division. Here he waited several days for the rest of his army, and finding that the 4th corps, under BEAUH AR vots, had lost more than half its numbers and all its artillery, probably changed its order of march, as Lord CATHCART mentions in his dispatches that the Italian corps was sent for van', with the imperial guards and the sth, or Polish corps. Being at last apprised of the arrival of Pt incc li uTUSOW in the nsighbourhood of Smolensko, and learning that unless he reached Minsk before Tcwc n A GOF r, he should be placed between two armies without a single passage for retreat, he dispatched the Bth corps, undee JutiOT, with the reserve of guards and the part of the 10th left by VICTOR at Smolen sko, to join the advanced-guard, and forming a strong rear guard of the Ist and Sd under D AVM:ST and NEY, accompa nied them himself until he fell in with MIL ARADOVITC II at Krasnoi, where, preferring his personal safety to their own, anti conscious that the least delay might prevent his rejoin ing the first part and main body of his army, before they had passed through Minsk (of which Tcmcn A GO/ F might take possession after them, and thus intercept him personally), the C real NAnot.Eon fled.bravely from the field of battle, and sacrificed his whole rear, by commanding them to fight the Russians in order to arrest their march and secure his retreat. The total destruction of DAvousT's corps, and the surrender of NEY'S on the following day," with the escape of those two Chiefs, wounded and attended by only a few Officers, form the glorious features of the intelligence communicated in The Exlraordinaly Gazette last Wednesday, and announced by the grateful thunder of the Tower and Park guns. The . eifect which such discomfiture, unequalled in the annals of NON A P A RT ifS career; will prodUce on the rest of his armies, and the fidelity of his Allies, mayAke decisive of the fate of the long oppresed Continent. Whether, as some French pipers rescued at the beginning of the week say, he has suc ceeded with the remains of his grand army (reduced to at least one half of what it was when he left Moscow), in avoiding TCHICHAGOFF, and penetrating to Staroy- Borisow, where he might soon communicate with the corps left in Lithuania ; or whether, as numberless reports have stated, he has perished by the hand of one of his o vn Officers, the next advises from Gottenburgh will alone enable us to ascertain..' If his fortune ha's favoured bhp so far as to save him from captivity, disarmed of half his power and his fame all he could be able s t° effect, would be to reunite his divided corps at Mittau, Wilna, Lepel, and on the Bog, and returning to theNiemen, endeavour to maintain a defensive position on its banks, until the assistance of his allies should enable him' to resume offensive operations, •or their far more probable defection compel him to abandon Poland, and seek a refuge among the Confederation of the Rhine, if not within the fron tiers of France. Lord W A LPOLE has In:en wisely ordered to repair from St. Petersburgh to Vienna, to take advantage of the present favourable opportunity, and endeavour to de tach the Et4PgliOß FRANCIS from the cause of his defeated son-in-law. The crisis o'f NAPOLEON'S fortunes is certainly now come,—but to that oVerruting Providence, at whose command empires rise' and fall, it can only yet be known. AMERICAN MESSAGE. • We give in another part of our paper the Message of the American Pitr.L; DENT to Congress. It is VAUCtiOnt THE NATIONAL 'REGISTER. 795 s omething in the style of what NAPOLEON'S yearly Expose will he, a list of military disasters. The only object on whic), Mr: MADISON has to congratulate his fellow-citizens , is their health. As to their tiafe, notwithstanding the capture of _ a British frigate, and the cruise of Commodore RODG CRS to the chops of the Channel, it has been so unprofitable, that the revenue of the country for the la.t year has not equalled two millions sterling, and had it not been for loans to the amount of nine millions - of dollars, tie public service must have beet* suspended. The defeats on the Canadian fcntiers arc said to have inspired evervwhere fresh ardour and determination, and a fair srecimen of this enthusiastic warlike spit it is given in the refusal of the States of Massachusetts and Connecti cut to fun Irish their Taota of militia. The rejection of our propositious is mentioned, but not accounted for ; and the PRESIDENT gravely adds, that he has sent US proposals in re-- turn. His corrupt partiality for France, displayed as usual by the manner in which he notices her et nduct, may, how ever, experience a sudden revolution, when he learns the dc feat and dangerous situation of his great Paymaster, PIiINCE KtrITA'..OWS SECOND REPORTS. Two fresh reports have been received firma Prince KuTv i..aw, giving a fuller account of the defe.tt of D A VOUST and NEV'S corps than that contained in The Extraordinary (la zette. It appears that Buotr Ar A 'LIE really fancying that be had been fol;owed only by troops of Ces.acks remained eight days at Smolensk°, probably to ref' e.h his men, and thus gave time to the Ru sian grand army to p , ss b e hind him ots the south-west fo - ad to Krasnoi. His advanced guard and main body seem to have crossed to the right hank of the Dneiper and proc,.eded towards Senno, whilst the rear-guard composed of the two defeated col ps were to descend along the left bank to Mohikw. These were entirely surprised and i almost surromulcd at Krasnoi, and Duos AP Alt TB was the first to give the example of flight across the Dneiper, which , was foliowed by I) AVOUST and NEY after the loss of the bat- Itic. The corps of the latter is said to have fought with mote desperation than the first accounts would have led to suppose. At the distance of 2.50 paces," the report states, " they were received with grape shot from fcuty pieces of cannon. 1 The moment was terrible and decisive But far from being l i dismayed at the sight of inevitable desttuction, they only ' grew the more enraged, and with the utmost fury rushed upon our batteries, which, continuing to he Weil served, I carried death and destruction into the enemy's ranks, and rendered all his attempts fruitless." . . . They were reinforced, and made another furious charge at five o'clock in the evening, but finding themselves com pletely :grounded, capitulated towards midnight. The four Generals by whom they were commanded were killed. . Rumours of NAPOLEON'S dtaq) continue to pour in front all quartets. An arrival fro►: the Dutch coast of 11:e 14th is said to have brought a repetition of such a report, with this a&litt , m, that he received his death wound on the 1914 from an (Hiker who accompanied him in Lis 1101 t, wad whom, in one of the paroxysms of rage so common with him, he had reproached with beinA the main cause of his defeat and di-a , ter. B ERT HI E a hai Leen named as the Cf ficer; and he is said to have retorted upon BUONAPARTit with so much bitterness as to have produced from the lat ter a blow, upon which BERT RUA shit him dead. Of course, we have given this as a mere rumour, not having ourselves sten any person or' paper from I lolland, and nut being able either to contradict or confirm it. • , , • The -Emperor ALEX ANDLR has published a Proclamation, deirtibing the attrocities committed by the French, their I ial)!e tsell, n~: , intl. :11 to tirir ce• ~ n ~r~ t ett it ca le 2J' ()reel stray T O com D elle' te sio jar] aq