The National Register. — London, England, 1813-05-23 00:00:00

rim r 'NATIONAL REGISTER. 332 We shall now consider the Ravian account, which, though I . it has on ,v appeared in The i.f.mlito-g- Correcpondenteii, seems it entitled, from the manner in which it is written, and the • a details which it presents, not only of movements, but of the intentioni thet ;. , ave them birth, to he considered au of ficial document. II v.:as published under the unassuming title of " Parrieul:n - Statement of the Battle at Gross Gorchen, on the Cd of May," alcl states:—'That the arrival of NA Po LEON, and the junction of his army with !hat of.the VICE- ROY, at Nan mburg, as well as tlnir passing the finale in force, being known at General WIT roENsTE)N's tread-quarters, Ile resolved to anticipate him, and by a bold attack "to ob afflict him in his dispositioni, and • to rest ain his offewsive . operations." The Emperor ALEXANDart and the King of Paussta repcired to the army, to animate their troops by their presence; and on the Ist of May a reconnoi-sance made by General kVINZIYGERODE, brought on " a very severe engagement,' which confirmed the intelligence of the main ft - n-ce of the enemy being in the vicinity of Weis senfels and I dozen. The Allies, then resolved "to fall on such part of his force as was, on his side, considered to be his best troops ; in order, ;I'ter melt a stroke, to give . larger since for the operations of the flying corps, ot er whom the enemy kid latterly ceouired a superiority." The intentions of the Allies, in attacking NAPOT- EON arc there fore c.early given: Tbey were " to obstruct his disposi tion," reduce him to the defensive, and enable the Rus sian and Prus , ian flying corps to harras him on n. greater va riety of points." Tiow far they have been realized, nece,s•t rily gives us the measure of their success, or of their failure ll The liu , sian account, then, describes the action as most obstinately cc;ntested. Some of the vi!hges in which the 'French received the attack, were several times taken and re taken, and for several hours both parth.s fought at the di stance of only 100 paces, with altcril:lte afivant.y;e. At last, about seveu o'cloc k in the evening, the enemy t brought a new corps on the right of the Alliec, and the Russian mcrve was advanced to sustain the " The. most des percte engagement was now c,:ntinned till night came on, and put ,an end to the battle." _ Both armies, it . Oar, according to the Eeport, slept on !be field, the Allies still occupying the villages which they had stormed, and the French in possession of Leipsic, which they had taken during the action. The rest is involved in obscurity. The A we are told, manoeuvred in consequence of the enemy being at Leipsic; but afterwards learnt that he had quiccd it, (which does not seen; to have been the case) as well as Halle; that he had lost 15,000 killed and wouvAled, and that many of Ids cannon were dismounted, and a number of his powder waggons Mown. up ; then that their light de tachments wcre again at liberty to harass Lim and to prose • cute the advantage , ;aincd, that they consequently kept the field of battle, and that the victory was theits and their in tended purpose accomplished. "The enemy was to be at tacked the following morning ;he Sd of :\lav,"—but no rea son ,is given viry that attack was not node, or why the Allies retreated, instead of prosecuting the advantage gained, especially as the corps of MILORADOWITCiI is stated to have arrived at the close of . the action, and Z.) - 0,000 of their best troops not to have been engaged. • It is remarkable that no account whatever from the head quarters of the allies has been published to a later. date than the 3d inst. although we have had Berlin Papers to the 9th • mentioning the arrival of couriers from the army, news from I-lamburgh to the 13th and from Heligoland to are 15th. The French Papers supply this chasm, and inform us that NAPOLEON after some trifling actions with the rear of the allies, entered Dresden on the Efth at noon, and LAVRI:TOII, hith Af A Y 23. Meissen, Lower do wn othhe Elbe, the Russians having crossed to the right bank. NE Y . WAS on his march to Tmgau, in which 1.4,000 Saxons were shut up, who Were • expected to' join the French, Bu ON AP ART E having never ceased to consider the King of SAXONY as his ally. Should this expectation be realized, it could not be too much lamented that the allies should, by their retreat, have enabled the ene my to acquire an addition of farce, equal to the losS he had incurred in the battle of the 2d. But we think it will prove otherwise. Saxony seems to have taken the attitude of a neutral, and we trust- no successes of the French will not make her once more join a cause, which it has already cost her so much blood to supporj. having reached Dresden, we think NAPOLEON will en deavour to penetrate through Lusatia into Silesia, be hind the Allies, so as throw them hack upon Bei lin, and in terpose between them and Poland, thus cutting off all their communications and reinforcerneutg, whilst he would den ve additional support for his army from the fortresses be still possesses on the Oder and Vistula. To defeat such a plan, it is necessary either to try immediately the fate of a second general battle, or to fill limber bark in the direction of Si•• lcsia and Poland. The latter, ai the more prudent, is likely to be adopted by Wur TG ENST N ; for by so doing, he will be able to join the powerful reinforcements that have already ar rived at Posen, under Gen. A act. Y E TOL LY, and to turn on the enemy with encreased, and perhaps superior strength. A fortnight might he sufficient to form that junction, by forced marches. We should, therefore, see no cause for despondency, should we hear by the next advices, that the allies have continued to retreat and the French to advance. towards the Oder, and that Berlin and the western parts Of Prussia have been left to be defended by the newly ordered Levy en Masse. Neither should we be surprised to bear, that the great battle which will probably decide the fate of the Continent-has been fought about the 20th of the present month, in the vicinity of on. the Oder. Duman .calculations are so nit ettain, that it is impo , sible to anti cipate its issue. Rut the determined valour and eminent skill which the allies have displayed at Lutzeu, create the most pleasing anticipations for the time when they shall re turn with all their united forces to the field. RELIGIOUS PISSENT;ONS IN SPAN. From a Manifesto recently published by the Spanish Go vernment, it appears that the'toPL's Nuncio has been in triguing with the Spanish Bishops, or rather attempting to do so, for, much to their credit, they were not to be cor rupted by his arts. Ile endeavoured to excite them to re sist the law for abolishing the Holy Inquisition. Had he succeeded in doing this, and in procuring the re•establish meta of the Inquisition by the tortes, he would have per formed a worthy servlce fur fluor:A PARTE, and have con tributed largely to a.e subjugation of the Peninsula. Hap pily it was discovered in time by the Spanish Government. In the Manifesto issued by the Regency the conduct of this meddling Priest is strongly reprobated, but we are concerned to add, this is the only punishment inflicted on him. From the discovery of the treachery of this Prelate, those who think there is no danger in conceding to the Catholics all they- want, will perhaps pause before they commit the safety of the Constitution to this belief. What might not the good offices of such a character effect in Ireland ? It is true that he has been exposed and resisted in Spain, by Ca tholics themselves ; because they deemed it not improper to maintain the authority and integrity of their Constitution againstdesigning priestcraft. But what are we to expect of those sowers of disscution amonggt the Irish Catholics, ~.