The National Register. — London, England, 1812-11-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 746 cious ADION, that if be wishes to retain his power, it he net essary to pnt an end to the war, or at least to con fine himself to defensive meacules. It is not too much to ilepe ti , a , even he will ftel hi• false confidence in numbers, sh:ken by she lessons received from British valour. He rinst fcel that he makes a most ridiculous figure iu the eyes of the word, in sending his forces, where victorious they car , gain no honour, anal where defeated they must be covered with disgrace. Ni a hunched men arc prisoners to a force numerically inferior to them. This may astound the en iigh.ene►l pi es:dent. but what else could he rationally expect from sending an undi,ciplined rabble on such an expedition On our side we have to lament the loss of the gallant Gen BROCK, than whom, a more prornisinz Officer did not adorn the se'-vice. fie fell cheering his troops to action. Ilis deith must be , incerely mourned by his country, though fur hi►n a more glorious fate could not have been reserved. ' ULLETINS. from the twent v.Gixth and twenty-seventh French Bul letins received esterdav, and dated the 23d and 27th 'ultimo, it be sN.n the French army is in full retreat. That his ietr , g,ide movements have been equally precipitate and disastrous, these will be found sufficiently to prove. After murdering hundreds of poor wretches whose only alledged offence Yr.'s that they had obeyed those who had a ri„bt to command them, we find BUONAPARTE is lOUs enough to endeavour to gain credit with the world for humanity. We are told that it was proposed to burn the bosses which temained within twenty leagues of Moscow, but to this, his gentle nature would not let him consent. Nothing. however, is more clear, than that he had not the means of effreting this, or it would have been done. This is, in our estimation, fully proved by the advantages which are set forth in this Bulletin, as likely to result from giving the Russians such a lesson. Several parts of these Bul letins appear to us studiously confused, and it is amusing eno,igh to mark the swag.2et ing tone in which they tell of their own discomfiture. The straits they are driven, to put a good rice on things. may be guessed from the following sente,iee" I t is beautiful weather, the roads arc excellent ; it is the end c f Au umn, this weather will last eight days longer, and at that pet iod we shall have arrived in our new -position." This is delightful!. It is enough to make any common person wish to be there to enjoy such beautiful weather Bt'O'APARTC has unexpectedly discovered. That the pe•iod at ‘vhich the .Bulletin was written (Oct. 27th) was the end of Autumn might have been discovered else whel e, hut we know no part of the habitable globe, save that where BUONAPARTE now is, in which it could he awe. tained that beautiful weather at this period of the year would c.hntinue for eight days !—Another part of the same Bulletin is equally interesting. It states, that "At seven in the nsorning 6000 Cossacks, who had .tepped into the wood, made a general hu:.?.a in the rear of his position, and took six pieces Alf cannon whie were parked. The Duke of IST Ri A -et off a gallop with all the horse-guards ; t' is horde was sabred. brought hack, and thrown into the liver ; the artillery it had taken was recovered, and several of its watt gore: wee captured; 600 of these Cossacks were killed, wounded, or t •ken." From which it should seem, that this lorde t the six thousand Cossacks) were sabred, brought back, and thrown into the river ; and after this fine state ment. we are told that only six hundred of them were killed, wotsnded, or taken ! ! B es id es the 16th ind 27th Bulletins, the French Papers contain CA Pl' A REL LI'S official reports of the operations of the army commanded by him and SOUHAM, since the siege Nor. v). giving f Burgos was,rai , ed. Some-of these had already and as the interest of the others would not compensate fo r their length, we shall content ourselves with substance. After pretending that he Castle of Burg - os built with earth, and would have fallen had it been atta o ki.,l accolding to the rules of aft, CAFFARELLI rlctF.crihe, several actions with the cavalry of our rear-guard, in one o f which, although he status the French to have been containtly successful, he rather awkwaidly acknowledges, that " by some inconceivable fatality, the division of - dragoons which 1 .t saou' u have sustained some corps that had made a most htilhant and decisive charge, took itself off to the right, at full trot, and disappeared." Had not this happened, atl our cavalry would have been destroyed; nay, Lold WE L . LING roN and the Prince of ORANGE would have h csa surrounded and taken! The falsehood of the first assertion enables us to appreciate the truth of the latter. The castle of Burgos, we are assured by an officer employed in the siege, consisted, even before the additions made to it he the Fretk h, of three thick Moswish walls enclosing each other. The space between these was filled up by the ene m y previous to the siege, with blocks of granite, fastened with iron together, so as to form an impenetrable mass, Nrbich mines alone could break asunder. As to the result of their " brilliant and decisive charge," k may be heater knlwn f , stn the statement of CAFFARELLI himself, who owes that al most all the Officers of the regiments engaged were wounchl. Notwithstanding this harsh treatment, the enemy beast they repeated their attacks; and before we had recrossed the Douro, had taken front us killed, wounded, or received as deserters, at least 7,000 men. To this they add our sup posed loss of 3,000 beforeßurgos, and (3,000 at the ba•tle of of Salamanca; upon the whole sixteen thousand men, whilst they assert only 1,000 have arrived to reinforce our army. The falsehood of those accounts would be evi dent ft om the variance that exists between the various items *of our pretended losses and their grand total, had not the public been in pessession of theStitish official documents, in which their true amount is correctly stated. SOUHAM occupies the line of the Douro, on its right hank from Tudela to Toro; and CAFFARELLY was on his return to his derrt- DINA, after having ascertained that the army of Portugal was no longer in want of his assistance. Both these General; seemed to be still ignorant of the advance of SOU LT againq Mad' id. A mail from Corunna arrived yesterday bringing papers to the 15th inst. These papers do not contain any sati4,le tory intelligence beyond what we have already possesed from Lord WELLINGTON'S dispatches of the Sal. They arc ti!lvd with vague, and, in some instances, notoriously fake rumours, such as a battle having been fought by Gen. 'bit. in La Mancha, to prevent the entrance of the French into Madrid, which, from Lord WELLINGTON'S dispatches, we know Gas not taken place. The advices from the Peninsula respecting the conduct of General BA LLASTEROS, will be read with mingled fealiris of indignation and regret. It is impossible when we see a General like BALLASTEROS, giving himself up to a mean spirit of jealousy so far, as to think the salvation of his country but of secondai y importance, where his own private feelings are concerned, yet at the same time it is not easy to contemplate such a. filling off in one of whom we h ad been accustomed to think highly, without emotions of sin cere regret. The conduct of the Spanish Government, in depriving him immediately of command, deserves praise; but the policy of inflicting so lenient a punishment may be NO Jon ' own 41111 of rAct COU Con five Fr 2 t;ot s ai and 110. ma tall