The National Register. — London, England, 1812-07-26 00:00:00

JULY (26. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FOURTH BULLETIN OF THE GRAND ARMY. Wilna, June 30. 1812. On the 27th the Emperor arrived at the advanced posts, at two o'clock in the afternoon, and ordered the artily to advance to Wilna and attack the Russian force at day-break on the 28th if ehey should endeavour foci:fend W ilea, or retard the taking of that place, in order to save the immense magazines which it contained. One Russian division occupied Froki, and another was stationed on the heights of Waka. At d iy.break on the 28th, the king, of Naples moved forward with the advanced guard and the light cavalry of General Count Bruyeres. He was ..neported by Marshal the Prince of Eckmuhl. The Rus. suians every where gave way ; after having exchanged a few cannon shot, the. ha oily repassed the Villa, burned the timber bridge of Vilna, and immense magazines, valued at several million:: of roubles. More than a hundred thousand quintals of meal, an immense quantity of forage and oats, aid coneiderable stores of clothing, became the prey ot the filmes. A peat quantity °farms, of which the Russians are notch in want, together with ammunition, were destroyed and thrown into the Vine. At noon the Emperor entered Wilna. At three o'clock the bridge over the Villa was renewed, all the carpenters of the town undertook with alacrity, and constructed one bridge, while another was construct ed of ionoeins. The division of Bruyeres pursued the enemy nn the left hank. In a slight skirmish, in which the advanced guard was engaged, about titty waegons were taken from the Russians ; we had some men killed and wounded, among whom was the Captain of hussars, Seger. The Polish light horse of the guard, to ode a charge upon the right of the Villa, routed and pursued a body of cossacks, and took several prisoners. On the 25th. the Duke of Reggio had passed the Villa upon a bridge thrown over it, near Kowno. On the 2titli, he advanced towards Janow, and on the 27th, to Chetoui. This movement obliged Prince Wittgenstein, who commands the first corps of the Russian army, to evacuate the whole of Samogitia, and the country situate between Kow.to and the sea. and to take up a position at Wilkomir, after he had been reinforced by two regiments of guards The troops met on the 26th. The Marshal Duke of Reggio found the army in battle a:ray opposite to Develtovo. The firing imme diately commenced. The enemy were driven from post to post, and re-passed the bridge with so much precipitation, that it was found impossible to burn it. He lost three hundred prisoner:, among whom were several officers, anal about tiny killed or wounded. Our lass dues not exceed fifty men. The Duke of Reggio talks highly of the brigade of light cavalry commanded by General Baron Casten, and of the llth regiment of light infantry, which is entirely composed of Frenchmen of the de partments beyond the Alps. The y:ituie Roman Conscripts behaved with great intrepidity. The men) set tire to his great magazine at Witkomie. The inhabi. tants plundered some barrels of meal, part of which we were able to recover. On the 20th, the Duke of Elchingen had a bridge construct .d oppo site Souderva, in order to pass the Vilia. Columns were advanced along the roads of G rodno and Vollivnia, to meet the Russians corps, which had been dispersed in every direction. Willie is a place containing from twenty-five to thirty thousand souls, has a great number of convent and other noble establishments, and its inhabitants are remarkable for their patriotism. Four or five hundred young persons of the university, upwards of eighteen years of age, and of the first families of the place, have asked permission to form a regiment. The enemy is retreating upon the DWllla. A great number of etatfofficers and estafettes are constantly falling into our hands. We clearly discern the exaggeration of all that the Russians have said with respect to the immensity of their resources ; - only two battalions of each regiment are with the army ; the third battalion, of which several returns have been intercepted in the correspondence of the et . - ticers at the depots with the regiments, seldom musters more than 120 or 200 nen. The Court left :Vilna twenty hours after they had been informed of our passage at Kowno, Samogitia, and Lithuania, are almost de livered —The concentration of the troops by. Bragation towards the North, has much weakened the force destined for the dete;e:e of Vulhynia. The King of Westphalia, with the corps of Prince Poniatowski, and the 7th and Bth Corps must have entered Grodno on the 29th. • several columns have advanced, in order to take in Sank the force co:l:weeded by Prince Bragration, who, on the 20th, received orders to etoeeed tiom Prouganoni towards Wane, by forced marches. This v" had Lome withn four days' march of this last-mentioned place, ble he has !.ieen compelled to reAre, and our troops are in pursuit of h;el.--os yet the campaign has not produced much bloodshed—it has closieted chierieof manosuvresoi—We have made in all one thousand pi owlets ; hut :Ile enemy has already lost the capital, and the greater V"..r7.1 1 A. 4,. part of the Polish provinces, which are in a state of insurrection. Ali ill. magazines of the tirst, second and third lines, the produce of two year. of care, and valued at more than twenty millions of roubles, nave been consumed by the flames, or have fallen into our power. Finally, the head quarters of the French army are in the very p lace which was occupied by the court six weeks since.—Among the vast number of the letters which have been intercepted, there are two chiefly remarkable : one from the Commissary-general of the Russian army, which states, that as the Russians have lost all their magazines of the first, second, and third lines, it is necessary to form others with all possible dispatch.—The other is from the Duke Alexander of W ir- I emberg, stating, that after a campaign of a few days, the central pro vinces are already declared to be in a state of war.—ln the present situ ation of affairs, if the Russian army conceived that it had any chance of victory, the deftr.!•ce of Wilna was worth a battle, and in all countries, but particularly in that where we now are, the preservation of a triple line of magazines should have induced a General to risk one.—Mance uvres alone, then, have put the French army in possession of a great part of the Polish provinces, of the capital, and of three lines of maga. Lines. The magazines at Wilna had been set fire to with such pre cipitation, that much of their contents have been saved. FIFTH I3ULLETIN OF TIIE GRAND ARMY, Wllna, July 6, 1812. The Russian Army was posted and organised in the following man ner at the commencement of hostilities : The first corps, commanded by the Prince Wittgenstein, consisting of the sth and 14th divisions of intantry, and one division of cavalry, amounting, in the whole, to 18,000 men, including artillery and sap. pers, had been a considerable time at Chawli. It had since occupied Itossiena, and was, on the 21th of lune, at Reydanoui. The second corps, commanded by Gen. Baggawont, consisting of the 4th and I ith divisions of infantry, and one division of cavalry, con stit utirg the same force, occupied Kovno. The third corps, commanded by Gen:Schomoaloff, composed of the Ist division of grenadiers, of one division of infantry, and a di. vision of cavalry, amounting to 24,000 men, occupied Nov-Trocki. The 4th corps, commanded by General Tutschkoff, composed of the 11th and '23d divisions of intantry, and one division of cavalry, in the whole, 18,030 men, was stationed cn the line from Nov•Trucki to Lida. The Imperial Guards were at Wilna. The sixth corps, commanded by General Doctorow , c onsistin g of two divisions of infantry, and one ot cavalry, amounting to 18,000 men, had formed a part of the army of Prince Bagration. In the mid dle of June this corps arrived at Lida from Volhinia, in order to rein force the first army. It lay at the end of June between Lida and Grodno.—The fith corps, composed of the second division of grena diers, of the 12th, 18th, and 26th divisions of infantry, and two divi sions of cavalry, was on the Stith at Wolkowisk. Prince Bagration commanded this corps, which might probably amount t o 40,000 men. —Lastly, the 9th and 15th divisions of infantry, and a division of cavalry, commanded by Gen Markow, was at the extremity of Vol hinia.—The passage of the Vilia, which took place on the 25th of June, and the movement of the Duke of Reggio upon Janow, and towards Chatoiti, obliged the corps of Wittgenstein to proceed towards Wilkomir and on its left ; and the corps of Baggawort to make for Dunabourg by Mouchnicki and Gedroitse. These two corps were thus cut off tram Wilna.—The third and fourth corps, and Russian L. Imperial Guards, retired from Wi:na upon Nementschin, Swent zianoui, and Vidzoni. The King of Naples pressed them vigorous!) , I along both banks of the Vilia. The tenth regiment of Polish hussars, which were at the head of the column of the division of Count Sehastiani, came up near I.ebowo, with a regiment of cossacks of the party which covered the rearguard, and charged at full gallop, killed nine, and made about a dozen prisoners. The Polish troops, which up to this amount have engaged in a charge, have shewn rare resolution. They arc animated by enthusiasm and passion. On the 3d of July the King ot Naples marc.hsci upon Swenttiani, and there overtook Baron Tolly's rear-guard. He give orders to Ge neral Montbrun to charge, but the Russians did not wait the attack, and retired with such precipitation, that a squadron of Huhians, which was returning from a reconnoisance on the side of Millailetki, fellin with our -posts. It was charged by the 12th Chasseurs, and the vvliote either taken or slain. Sixty men were taken with their horses. The Poles, who are amongst these prisoners, have apulied to serve, and have been taken, full mounted, in the Polish troops. " On the 4th, at day-break, the King c.f . Naples en:cied Swent. ziani, the Marshal Duke of Elchingen entered Maliatoni, and Marshal Duke of Reggio A yenta- Oo the :30th of June, Marshal the Duke of Tarentum arrived at Rossiena : he proceeded beyond that to Ponevieji, Chawlio and Tesch. 'The immense magazines which the Russians had in Samogitia have been burned by .themielves, which has occasioned an enormous loss, not only ro their finances, but still more to the subsistence of people. The corps of Doctorow, however, viz. the 6th corps, was still on the l'ith of June without any orders, and had made no movement. On the 28th it assembled and put itself in motion, in order to proceed , to the Dwrna by marching on its flank. On th e ,s.)01 its advanced guard entered Soleinicki. It was..charied by the light cavalry of . . • THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 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