The National Register. — London, England, 1812-09-27 00:00:00

.s!)fi and our hoops took a posnien tetween the Dnieper, tl.e village of Pe tit, a, and Doroghoboni. The capture of Smolemila, which was reduced to ashes by the enemy, cost them more than , zu,ooo men. The inhabitants had all lett it previous to the battle. The loss in killed and wounded on our side amounts to 4000 men. The brave Lienerals Skalen and Bulla are amongst the former: We have made a great number of prisoners, and whole battalions 6f the enemy's army were ohliged to. lay down their arms in order tr escape death. Three regiments of Cossacks and three of cavalry over threw sixty squadrons of the ( nemy's horse, commanded by the King of Naples." POSEN SEPT. 2.—They write from Warsaw , that the Etnoeror has appointed the Colonels of nine new regiments of infantry, and four of cavalry, which are to be raised in Li.huania. The s: me accounts speak of a Proclamation by Prince lablonowski, in which we are as sured, that the 30,000 men about to be raised in Poland, together with the regiments which have returned from Spain, and the levies which have already been made, will make the Polish force under arms amount to more than 100,000 men. BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. REPORT OF MARSHAL TIDE DUKE OF RAGUSA, TO THE MINISTER AT WAR. " Tack, July 31, 3811. 41 'Views! zua,—The interruption of the communications with I Trance, since the opening of the campaign, having prevented me from giving you the successive accounts of the events which have passed : 1 Shall commence this report from the moment at which the English began operations; and I am going to have the honour to place bef:;re you in detail, all the movements which have been executed, to the unhappy event that has just taken place, and which wowere tar from expecting He then enters into a detail of the various movement's which The judged it prudent to make at different periods of the campaign. z i nites himself to have been in expectation of succour from the army of the North, but to have been disarpointed, anA describes the means by which he ende:rventred to strengthen him,.elf. Finding at length that it would soon be necessary to send a detachment from his force to meet the army which had marched from Gallicia, he thought it his duty to act without delay,. as thv probability was, that a loss Of time would make his situation worse, and improve the prospects Of the enemy. He then speaks of the movements made on the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th July to deceive the allies, who are de scribed as retreating ; and after noticing the affair of the I Sth and the subsequent proceedings of both armies up to the 2 - 2 d, he gives the following accoant of that memorable day : " On the 2`2d, in the morning, 1 went trpon the heights of Calbaraca ede Azzeva, to reconnoitre the enemy. I found a divit , ion which had just arrived there—others were in march tor the same place. Some tiring took place, for the purpose of occupying the posts of observation, of which we respectively remained ni..sters Every thing announced that it was the eeemy's intention to occupy the position of Tisares, tehich was a league in the rear of' that in which he then was, distant a league and a halt' from Sala:nanca ; they, however, assembled a considerable force upon this point, and as their movement upon Tisares might he difficult, if all the French army was in sight, 1 thought it right to have it ready to act as cir cumstances requited. " Theft were between us and the English some isolated points called the Aropiles. I ordered General Bonnet to occupy that which belonged to the position we ought fo take? his troops did so with promptitude and dexterity. The enemy ordered theirs to be occupied, but it was commanded by ours at g5O wises. distance. 1 had destined this point, in the event of their being a general movement by the 1 .ft, and a battle taking place, to be the pivot an point of support of the right to all the army. 'e The first division had orders to occupy and defend the plain of Catharaca, which is protected by a large and deep ravine. The third division was in the second line, destined to support it ; and the 2d, 4tir t sth, and 6th were at the head of the wood en mia s se, b e hi n d the position of A ropiks, and could march equaily on all sides, whilst the 7th division occupied the left head of the wood which formed a point extremely uneven and very difficult of acce s s, and which i had lined with 2U pieces of artillery. The light cavalry was charged to clear the kit, and place itself in advance of the 7th division. The dragoons remained in the second line to the right of the army. such were the dispositions made towards the middle of the day. " The enemy had _his troops parallel to me, extending his right, of Tej Ares, which always appeared ho plain occupied by the artillery, and which had a more immediate :s. The pos s ession a this plain hould have tnanutuvrrd towards the the enomy's communications en SEPT. S 7. Tamames: This post, which was otherwise well occupied, was inexpugnable, and in itself completed the position which 1 had tak en . It was, besides, indispensibly necessary to occupy it, seeing th t the enemy had reintorced his centre, front whence he might push f :marl en masse on this plain, and commence his attack, by taking this important point. " In to tsequence, 1 gave orders to the sth division to take position on the right extremity of this plain, the fi e from which candy ercssed that from A ropiles ; to the 71h division, to plate it seo n second line to support this ; to the '2 l,tchot the ld headlfin(r)efsetrivice.ocohi4 latter ; and to the lit h, to occupy tir pioi i ii a e teliete a large number of pieces of al tillery were yet remaining. gave like orders to General Bonnet to cause the P22d to occupy a p o i n t, situated between the great plain and the point of A rooks, w hi c h deterded the entrance or the viilage of A ropiles e and finally I gave orders to General Boyer, Ceonmandant of the dragoons, to leave - a• regment to clear the r:glit of the Genera!, and to push the three other regiments to the front of the weed on the tianloof the second division, in such a manner as to be able,. in case the enemy should attack the plain, to attack them by the right of this plain, in the mean white that the l'ght cavalry should charge hi i upon his left. The most part o: ehcae movements were pert omed with irreguiar:ty. The filth !ivision, after having taken the post assigned to them, extended .tsell on its left without any cause or reason. The seventh division, which had orders to support it, marched to its position ; an& in short the second division was still i • the rear. I felt all the Consequences which might result from all these irregularities, and I re:salved on remeying torn) myself rot the spot, which was a very easy matter, the enemy as vet not having made any movement at all. At the same time I received the report of the enemy having caused fresh troops to pass from his left to his right, I ordered the third and fou , th divisions to march by the skirts - of the wood, in order that 1, might dispose them as I found needful. It was half-past fiur o'clock, and 1 went to the plain. which was to be the object of a serious dispute, but at this moment a shell struck me, and broke my right arm, and nude two large wounds on my rieht side. I thus became incapable of takiag any kind of part in the command. " The precious time which I should have employed in rectifying the placing of the troops on the left, was fruitlessly passed. the al - sence of the Commander gives birth to autarchy, and from thence proceeds disorder. Meanwhile the time was running away wilhout the thiciny undertaking any thiog. At length, at five 4)% lot k, the enemy judging that the situation was faveurable, aiticked this in formed left wing with impetuosity. The divisions moved repulsed the enemy, anti were themselves repulsed in their non ; but they ictud without concert, and without method. The division which 1 had called to sustain es:e first, found themselves in the situation cf taking part in the combat without having torseen it. " Every General makes extraordinary efforts to' supply by his own particular d :pos'ttons to such which ate in the %attune tequisite, hut tf h • can attain it in part, yet he cannot effect it completely. The artillery covered itself with glory, performed prodigies of valour, and in the midst of our losses caused the enemy to sutler enormously ; he directed his attacks againet A replies, which was deft sated by the brave 1`20.11 regiment, and was there repoLed, leaving more than 800 dead on the spot. At length the at my recites, evacuates the plane. and retires to the skirts of the wood. here The enemy makes fresh efibrts. Elie division of For, which by the :nature of the business was charged with the covering of the retrograde movement, was attacked with vigour, acid cohstantly repulsed the enemy. This division merits ilia greatest eulogy, as does likewise its General. From this m •ment its •j retreat was etlected towards Alba de. - formes, without being diaturbed by the enemy. Our loss amounts to about 6,000 men, hors de • combat. We have lost none pieces of cannon, which being dismounted. •I could not be carries! off; all the rest et the baggage, all the park of artillery, and all the mi n uet lab belonging to the army have been brought away. " It is difficult, M. Le Due,. to express to you , the different senti. ments which agitated meat the foal moment when the wound which I received caused my removal from the army. I would with delight have exchanged this wound for the certainty of receiving a mond stroke at the close of the day, to have pre,erved the faculty of corn. mand, so well did I know the importance of the events which had just taken place, and how necessary the presenee of the Cenunander. in-Chief was at the moment, when the shock of the two armies ap peared to be preparing to :;rye the whole d . rection of the troops, and fo appoint tlidr movenicot.;.. Thus one unfortunate moment has stroycd the result of six %seeks of wise cOrnbin rtierns of methodical ttilvements ; the of which every thing seemed to presage to us that we should reap the fruit. On the ': l 2d the army made its retreat from Alba de 'formes on Penaranda, taking its direction towards the Douro ; the whole of the enemy's cavalry harassed our rear. com posed of the cavalry of the first division. .1 his cavalry fell bask, sins left the division too much engaged ; but it formed itself in . ecit , t ) a r r , e c i b t; resisted, especially the enemy. One of the in was broken , the others and especially that of the 69th, which killed of the enemy s h push of bayonet. After tin, time they made no attempt on us. I" General Clauzel has the comma •,d of the army, and takes such measures as circumstances require. lam going to have myself trails ' ported to Burgos, where I hope by repose and care taken, to accaver 01 the severe wounds, and which aillict me more torn the dire Wig- by leaning towards the mountain c to be his point of retreat. " T'her was i kola of the ingthe s ' s* ' ' a defonci c ; 1 • -. 4 1 • ' ck I , l 'F ' # ,..,:e - ent: fip .• S II( -'-i- • 4 "" II ' • I: ~ .2. 6 I jig 1. , • it t m • I .64/ 0 ' -t• : - • . ; • '-- .% • • .. 4. 444 t' # ' ':f* \ '_A 4 . / 6-. TIIE NATIONAL REGINTER.