The National Register. — London, England, 1812-11-22 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTF.R. 72 Russia, viz. that of ensuring good winter-quarters before the winter should come and surprize him." Flom this it should seem that a wise Captain at the head of an immense army in Russia, for the purpose of ensuring good winter quarters, could have no end but to give up to " envious rivals the immense resources presented by the con quered country ;" to quit " the provinces incomparably the most ,fertile, of any in thoss clinics," which produced " in such abundance all the necessaries of life, that from that city, as from a general entrepot, they were spread over the whole empire. Ile could have no end but to let St. Petersburg]) renew its communication with the ancient capital, which was so necessary for the supply of its incessantly returning wants. It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that as the French entered Moscow on the 14th of September, that this was not discovered till the 10th of November. To ordinary understandings, it appears possible that it might have been found out in time to be mentioned in the artible of the 18th of October, from which we will now make another extract. Having condemned the Russians for firing their city, it goes on to ask " Have they prepared our certain ruin, and purchased at the expence of their antient capital the safety and the ho nour of their empire ? No : they have uselessly ruined one of the finest cities in the world. While inflicting a mortal wound on their country, they have done us little or no harm. A few observations will be sufficient to prove this double truth. " Three-fourths of Moscow are in ashes. Doubtless we must deplore this frightful calamity, the effect of bat barism without example; but this misfortune falls entirely upon our • enemies, and cannot endanger the existence of our legions, as some persons, adopting an opinion totally drßtitule of foundation, might for a moment believe. Suppose Paris burnt, could the army, which occupied the Beauce, the Or- leanais, and Picardy, in short, the provinces from which it derives subsistence,—could this_ army want provisions? Cer tainly not. 'Very well : our position is exactly sinil'ar to the case we have now put. But there is one essential remark, which modifies the comparison to our advantage : almost all parts of France are rich and well peopled, consequent ly two hostile armies could there find abundant re- sources. The same cannot be said of Russia. The central territory of that vast empire alone presents the adcantage.s of fertility; the remainder is comparatively a deeit, as ►►nproductive of men as of the means of subsistence. Our entrance into Moscow, and the position of the enemy, driven from all his internal provinces, sufficiently teal how little we have to fear from the threats contained in his ridiculous Proclamations, of reducing us to the most serePe pri;:ations. Far from being ourselves exposed to them, we ale even likely to famish St. Petersburgh this winter; and our army, inter posed between the enemy and his two capita's, already closes the channel of all those supplies, which arc indispensibly ne cessary for its support. But while, amidst resources of every kind, our soldiers enjoy' repose from their fatigues in Mos cow, partially saved by their courage, the Russians, thanks to the skilful manoeuvres of their Generals, will want every thing in their own country." The Journal dc l'Empire of Nov. 10, says, " the move lty th( army it )ed in the 25 th Bulletin, private letters from Mos iy upon that city. and the d have ensured the con 'he rage and despair of a d to him the fi ightful re n bands, one of the capi- NOV. 22. NV hat di fferet, ce (IA this make ? If the wi iter had r- fen ed to the article ( f ;he 1 th October, he would have found that the effects of that conflagration fell entirely on the Ilu,s;a o ., and did the French 'ilt /t or no harm ; the opinion that it might endange their legions, was " totally desaite o f ,foundation." They could no more want provi•ions, than, supposing Paris burnt, that army could which was in ros•es sion of the licauce, the 1 ificriais. and Picardy. The Prrela• mations of Russia were ridiculous, which threatened to !e -duce the French legions to the most severe privations."_ They, on the " contcary, were likely to starve in St. Peters burgh, while their soldiers, amidst mources of every hied, enjoyed repose. at Moscow." All this was after the burning of that city. Whai. then ought we to suppose that to be which induct! Buo NA P ANTE to quit this Paradise ? What does the .foqrnal de l'Empire mean by telling us, that " it was requisite that so considerable a ma s s of men should breathe upon an extent of territory capable of nourishing them." sutely this might have been known before the 10th of November. What, after the statement of the !Atli October, ca.. 4 be meant by that interesting piece of intelligence, which is given with be coming gravity in The :Tournal de t Empire, that " all the movements the army shall make will only have for their ob ject, the ensuring of as tranquil and abundant winter-quar ters as possible?" Where can he find in those climes more tranquillity, or so much abundance, as was described to exist in Moscow ? We can easily believe what follow:, that "to say that the EHPEROR has left Moscow, is only to say this father of soldiers marches whei ever great operations demand his presence ;" but what great operations demand the pre sence of this foliar of soldiers at present. Perhaps his ob ject was to lessen his family. If so, he has succeeded, for he has not so many to feed now as he had while in Moscow. But the last Bulletin tells us, " Moscow is distant from St. Petersburgh 180 leagues of bad road, whilst NVi:epsk is only 150 from Petersburgh;" and this will enable our iibera/ and vagarious party politicians at once to account for the move ments of BuoNA PARTE. It will at once appear clear to them, that having now, for the first time, by good fortune, discovered that St. Petersburg!' is fifty leagues nearer to Witepsk than to Moscow, the crafty NAPOLEON has deter mined to march round by NVitepsk, in order to get to St. Petetsburgh by a short cut. This may satisfy them, but %%awing their liberality and sagacity, we can only see disas ter and defeat to the French in what has lately occurred, as we trust our readers can only see falsehood and contradic tion in the French accounts, too infamous and glaring ts, call fur farther exposure. rnents of the grand army, mention( Were announs•d some Sys ago in cow. Pf .! , t, , : i tki_the arm' irk hrilli ".''' i t .1, \vould / -41 :,-, ...... iIL '. V I e it . ,,. .; yij i f tt 4 ' 1 . 1 t• StC 1 . T . d. V i .1: 6 41 ,-.,. 7 t.) 4 ! OP, i t 1 4 ; $ • . ~.aii , e , ~..rr. owl tais • ~- VP ..) a.. • -vr . . r vl ...SA' I : hl ti ' el' '' F FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. TWENTY-FIFTH BULLETLN OF THE GRAND ARMY. NOILSKCk, ()CT. t'O. All the Sid. who were in the hospitals of Mosci,w, lett them on he 150 9 Ili>h, I7th, and It3th in.t. t‘ .r 51Mai-k mid Smiden•k. I C ar tillery Cittl.S. , ll , ,llie u n >nn:nition talten.a great onai.tity of ciirious 61110, and two tiophie•, were pmeLed up and seat id' Oil the 15111. The army received orders to take bi:•ciiit lor twenty (la% s, and hold it,,elf in readiness to march; in eiteet, the Emit. rm. h:ft tilo,cuw un tho I9th. The head-quarters were the same day at • On the one side, fire Kremlin his teen armed and fortified, and at the same lime, it has beets mined, in order to blow it up. Sonic think the EmpelOr ‘V.I War eh upon Thula and Kalouga, to po's the winter in these pro% isters, and Occupy Moscow, by a garttann in 04 Others siippo.te the Emneror will blow tip the Kremlin, and bran public est.ihiisliments which rt main, kind that lie will approach wittii 3 au hundred leagues of Poland, to esrablish his winter-quar,ers 1114 aciolly country, and near to receive every thing which exists in ne magazines of Duinzic, .Kowno, IN'ilna, and and recover Irani 1