The Sun. — London, England, 1812-12-08 00:00:00

only fur the purpose of insuring discussion. The apparent attempt to hurry it through the House, had induced him to'come forward, though not qualified to speak as be could wish upon the subject. He agreed as to the necessity of prevent ing delays in their Lordships' judicial- business ; his only doubts were as to a proper remedy. What he was principally apprehensive, in the measvire of the Noble Lord, was, that by it the Lord High Chancellor wouhl be rendered nothing more than a political Lord 'Chancellor (he kneW this.would never be, the ease- while the Noble and Learned 'Lord - now on the Woolsack filled that office), and the.ViceChancellor would become the supreme efficient Judge in the, High Court of Equity. He regarded the present institution of the Chancel lor's office, combining that of a High State Of heels with that of the Supreme Judge in the princi pal Court of Law, to be one of the most salutary institutions in the country. Lord REDESDALE replied at considerable length, and pointed out the transcendant importance and utilities of the Chancellor's office, which arbitrat ed more cases of commercial importance than all the other CoUrts of. Law put, together ; and ex pressed his opinion, that the .presiding in that House, as the dernier resort of the Head of the Law, produced that salutary uniformity and con sisiency of leval decision in this country.. 13y the plan winch he had the honour to suggest, . the eliice of Assistant to the Chancellor, would be no addition to the country. He wasfar from agreeing wit:_ the Noble Lord as to his appre hension of the measure inducing a change in the character of the Chancellor's Oflice.--lt would rather, lw thought,.haVe the contrary effect. The high 'Officer in question was invested with so Many, and so ifivortant duties; he was held out to the public in so conspicuous a poincof view, that no Minister Would dare - to appoint en 'inef ficient map to the station. - With respeiit to the progress of the T,iiL , he had no wish to hurry it unnecessarily ; his wish particularly was, that the measure should receive the fulleSt investigation ' in the other House,' through which he had no anxiety it should pass before the Holidays. L'ord LOLL AND spoke in explanaacm,-aS did the Noble and Learned Lord. The House then resolved into a Committee on the Bill, jn which a few amendments, chiefly of a verbal nature; were made, on ihe suggestion of Lord Itedesdale.. Lord HOLLAND wished to know whether there • Avas a clause in tne Bill to disqualify the principal -y - odieerter be appointed by it,'-from sitting ,in the • other mouse of Parliament 'Lord REDEShALE answered (as we understood his Lordship), that as the office would be one of new creation,;:there was no necessity for such a provision. The Bill being gone through, the f-lOus'c re sumed, ,and ordered the Rep Oft to be received to Morrow. Adjourned at Seven o'clock..; • - [For the Debate in the Hou.,e of Commons see neNt page.] MAILS. 4rlttlvEn-2 Gottenburgh, 1 Guernsey, 1 Jersey, 1 Heligo land, IThiblin, 1 Waterford. DUE-1 Cadiz, 1 Brazils, 1 Dublin, 3 Waterford. PRICE.OF STOCKS rHIs 1155 TIVLLVE WC:GM:K. • Consols. 60„ 1 Red. Ann... • .sBig f Onaniurn .6i THE SUN. SOLE:4 (XIS DICERS FAI 4 SUM AUDEAT ? L 0 N D 0 A T , TUESDAY, DECEMI3tR 8, 1812. We have again to announce the further suc- resses of the Russians, and the utter discomfiture of that immense Army with which BUONAPARTE last Summer, threatened to overwhelm the Rus- sians. Never did Europe behold such a force assemble:l as that with. which that ',T'yrant crossed the Niemen, five months ago, and the wretched remains of it are now flying in despair, abandoned by their 4eader,• without tents, withotit ammu- coition, without artillery, and almost ivithaut pro- visions, pursued by an active and continually in- creasing enemy, harassed by continual attacks, and perishing under the rigour of a Russian win- ter, and from the dreadful fatigues to which .they are exposed. But this is not all; they are still at an immense distance from the Polish frontiers, and they have in their front the armies ofWITTGEN- STEnC, TORMASOW, and TSHITCLTAGOFT, flushed, with =success, and daily increasing in numbers. Under these circumstances, we think we are not too sanguine when we anticipate the complete an- nihilation of the French Army. It-is not, indeed, impossible that BVQNAPARTE himself may escape, but even that we think very unlikely. The last ,French bulletin is dated at Sniolensko, the 11th of November, and the French Papers which arrived yesterday, of the 3d inst: contain no news from Itussia ‘ Now if BUONAPAIiTE had reached any part of the Polish frontiers, be could have communicated intelligence of that event to Paris in nine days, therefwc we may be sure, that as late as the 224 of November, he bad not escaped. The only chance he had of getting off, was by pushing for- ward with his cavalry, before WITTGENSTEIN anti TCHITCHAGOF had formeGt a janction in his front ; that junction, we know, had taken place. The length of the Gazette 'Extraordinary coin- pejs•uS to curtail our observations upon this sub= ject, but, at the same. finie, the details are so clear, that they almost render all comment unnecessary. We, however,' beg to call Coe par- titular attention of our Readers to the intercepted letters of BEAUHARNO I§ ; they describe, in the strongest terms, the miserable state of theTreach army. This morning a Mail arrived from Gottenburgh. Government have not received by it any later in. telligence than that which . arrived yestdalay.—LA number of reports, however, were in circulation at Gottenburgh,' which our Readers will find de- tailed in the folloyiring letter : HARWICH, DEC 7.—The 'King George,packet, Capt. KING, has this morning. arrived in four days from Gottenburgh, and fuliy confirms all .the accounts , brought 'by the Lark yesterday, and farther announces, that BuoNAr4lcrE and MgRAT; accompanied by 15,000 . men, - 1044:13 . 1..4. rated from 'the French Grand Army, at Smolen : sko, and taken the direction of Mohilow, whither TSCHITCItiGOFY had • pursued him, and accord ing to some accounts from StoCkholm, had 'over- taken him, thougl.the result was. 'not known.— That ' UGENE BEAuFARNois, with . 50,000 men, was surrounded completely by the Russians at Smolensko i ; that the Italian Guards having lost their cannon, had'; to a" man, laid dDwn their arms, and fifteen of their superio - r Officers join ed the Russians, The Germans are ,repre sented as deserting by thousands ; and Russia", , • profiting by the circumstance, was about to or- . , ganize an immense German Legion in Finland. That GOUVION ST:CyR was dead : of hi 3 - o.F4mulds; • and that VICTOR who had broken up for the pur pose of reinforcing that °Ricer, having found'his, army completely annihilated by WrTTGEN6TEIN and STEINHILT, was retracing his steps, and that Prussia, unless she alters her polities, - must be completely overrun in the course of a month, the French not being in a situation to give her any assistance. The Russian fleet were to sail from Wingo Sound for England, accompanied by Admirals Hope and Momus, on Thursday last, and, no doubt but they are now on the coast, as the wind has been fair ever since. 'The King .Gcorgc brings two Messengers, and fifteen other passengers. Arrived the Lord Duncan 'packet, 'with a mail and passengers, from Heligoland, and the King George packet from Gottenburgh, with a mail and passengers.—Nothing further was known about the homeward-bound fleet ; a few scattered ships were at Gottenburgh, bitt little hopes were en tertained of their getting to England this winter. The French are still experiencing great reverses : —the Guards of the Viceroy of Italy have laid down their arms. YARMOUTH, DEC. 9.—Sailed his Majesty's ships and Britornart, Beaver and Priiicess of Wales cutter , in quest of the .RusBian Fleet, to render them as sistance, if required. We this morning received some German Papers, frOm which the following are extracts EXTRACT FROM THE DAGLISH ALLETRANDA, OF NOV, 24. The great Russian army, is moving from Jelna to Krasnoc. The Cossacks perform wonders. They not only destroy the. columns- of infantry, but even attack the artillery itself with the greatest bravery. The French 'have lost between 30 and 40,000 men' on their retreat from Moscow. The whole road is covered with the dead bodies of men and horses, atnmunition chests, baggage, and gun-carriages ; in one word there yever has • been an example of such a flight in the memory, of man. All the' valuable articles which bad been plundered, at IVoscow are re-taken ; upwards of 100 waggons have fallen into the bands of the victors. The French are in want oCevery thing; acid are reduced to the necessity of eating horse-flesh ; their cavalry no longer exists, and they are daily losing part of the little artillery they have left.— Fifteen Officers of the Italian Guards have ar rived in oar army, and requested to be taken into our service. We are assured that the strength of the whole Grand 'French Army does not now amount to above 60,000 men. Intelligence received from Count WITTGEN STEIN, stated, that he is at Orelia ; Major Gene ral HARrE, who was sent forward by Count WITT GENSTEIN, reports, that the head of the French columns had arrived at Smoleusko. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM COPENHAGEN., RATED, NOV.. 25. We have• received, accounts here that Prince ECKMTJUL is dead of his wounds„ LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY, 71.11SDAY, ngc. 8, 1812. F6i-eign Qffice, Dec.' 8, 1812. _ . Dispatches, of wilich the fifflowing are copijs, were yesterday received fr6M General Viscount Cathcart, K.l'..his Majesty's,Ambassador Extra ordinary and Plenipotentiary at the -Court of Russia, by Viscount Castlereagh; .one - of his Ala- . jesty's Principal Secretaries of State. MY LORD, St. Petei'sburgh, Noy: 11, 1812. I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, that Buonaparte has escaped. from the Government of 'Aloscov. , , and h'as followed the road to Smo lenskO by which he came. Generals Count Platow and Count Orloff Deni soff have been incessantly in his rear, and on both flanks of his ling of march ; the former attacked a position defended by infantry and cannon, which he carried, taking two colours, twenty-two pieces of artillery, and such prisoners as could be saved. Count Orloff Denizoff has likewH, :.let with re sistance, which he has every wiL2r , ' vApowered, and has taken many trophies an,l qn! , .ntities of baggage, ammunition waggons, with ;aisoners, and some ordnance. •• Front the quantities of ammunition 'Li!IN,VII up tip, by, the enemy, awl_ from the state of the road, deicribed to be covered with the bodies of dead men and horses, the retreat of the rear divisions of the French is stated to have every character of continued flight. On the 3d of November Gen. Millaradovitch, with the column under his command, reached- the main road near Viasma, where he had a sharp en , gagenlent with_ the rear guard, which is reported by the prisoners to have been composed of the di ' visions of Beauharnois_ of Davoust, and Ney ; their divisions in vain attempted to arrest his pro, tress, and, after several brilliant charges by the Russian cavalry, were di iven through the town of Viasma at the point of the. bayonet, and pursued to Facnina by the light cavalry umitr Gen. Pla tow : in this attack,, the infantry regiment of Per noff, led by its Colonel, General TchoglokOff, and by Major-General Parkivitch, formed the head of the coliunri, and charged into the townwith drums beating and colours flying. .The loss of. the .enemy in killed and wounded ; in this affair, is stated to be at least 6009; with 2500 prisoners, among which are General Peltier, of the artillery, and Colonel Mora* Aid-de-Camp to Marshal Davoust. In the course of the pursuit from Viasma, great numbers of the enemy were 1,!(1, one standard and three pieces of cannot were taken, al)] up wards of one thousand Uien made prisoners In the former part of the retreat, 2.arrY,se, Se cretary to the Duke of Bassano, was tA. , :b, with all the Chancery. Referring to the relations which have been re- - gularly transmitted •for more 'minute details of the several. actions, I will briefly recapitulate the few great movements which have taken place since the arrival of the French at-ilfoscow. Marshal Kutusoif continued in his position be hind the River Pokhra till the 28th of October, covering the old road to Kalouga, the Toida and Rezan roads ; but having made occasional move ments on the same line, according as the enemy's operations appeared to point to either flank. In the mean while the enemy, by Ilk own 20th Bulletin, and by his conduct seems to have been for some time uncertain of the position of the Russian army. As soon as it was ascertained, a considerable portion of the army under Murat oc cupied the intermediate country between Moscow anal the Pokhra. I It was presumed that the French, having it in their power to bring forward their ,whole force to either flank .of Murat's position, 'would endeavbur • to manoeuvre so as to induce Marshal Kutusoff to retire behind the, Oka, in order to procure a more extensive theatre of ground, with the convenience.. of moving either on Kalouga or ,Smolensko ; to avoid which, and with a view to preserve a more Certain conveyance 6.n- pro . visicins and reinforce . \ments from the south, and at the -same time to 'hold the command of the Smolensk° road, the Russian army . *began its march to occupy the po sition behind.. the River Nara, changing its front to the right, upon or parallel to the old Kalouga road. This position, strong in itself, and strengthen ed by art, was not likely to be attacked in front; but it was .or course foreseen, that if it were to be attacked, a previous disposition must be made by the enemy on the - new. Kalouga road, to turn the left and rear of this position, and the Marshal professed his readiness to meet the enemy upon that ground.. Th. movement was completed on the 3d of Oc tober ; on-the 4th of October a smart affair of ad- vanced guardtobkplace with most decisive suc- cess on the side orthe Russins which was lowed o n th e sth o f October by the flag of truce sent by Bnonaparte, with an overture to obtain an armistice and to open a negociation, which was rejected. At.thii period several ecnsideraUle (letachruentz Nere.made.t9 harass the enemy, which appear tc) lame been conducted ttjth equal skill anti succOs the_ most important of these was the one ari 9st Tort:ea, which place was taken by assault on the 14th of On cfe 6th of October, several . regiments Of CossacK < : i arrived, -it was proposed - to a ttack attack did not take place till the 10 of C:4-tz!!),.r. The enemy after this affair, of wlikh I had the honour to transmit to Nour LOrdship a rep(ir t in my dispatch, retreated behind the little river Moza. • Buonanarte was not heard of out of TifOsCovr or its vicinity till after this period. .The only d , .:zachme,nt of any impOrtance mall ° by the . French in a northern direction, was Vic one stationed at Demetrioff, which was recfallet t i in great haste, as soon as the evacuation. Moscow was deterthined on. Tie linssians oc cupied the latter citron the 22d of October, wit' the loss of Lieutenant-General Winzingerodel - , most treacherously carried off; With hiS Cinp; - Captain Narishkin, while advanced , vitb, a flag of truce t o r e monstrate aga i nst i p ro t r acteo and unnecessary resistance on the part. of the rear guard._ On the 24th of October, the French army was reconnoitred by an Officer of Cossacks belonging to the corps of Moscow; who saw four camps, eo tt on the new Kaloug9 road near 136rofsk, and three on the left bank of the Protva. In the night of the 4th of October, G en eral Dorocoff was ordered to occupy Mala4aroslalf,' post-town on the new Kalouga. road, between Borofsk and that place: that General alreadY found it occupied in force by a French detach ment; a very obstinate contest immediately tooti place, inthe course of which the troops on both sides were,reinforced,• and the town was take') and retaken eleven times. The Marshal, in the mean while,. put his army in motion by the left; and arrived at Mala-Jaroslaff, establishing his head-quarters two versts to the southward of that town, which was burned, and detaching a consi derable corps under General Platow, to Medinar on his left, where he took 11 pieces of cannon, and left the ground covered with dead. The obstinacy of this contest for Mala-Jarosdr, with other circumstances, tended to confirm the Field-Marshal's opinion, /hat the object of the enemy was to force a passage to the Sonthern Provinces; and although there were also. strong, grounds to believe that' he was prepared to at -7 tempt a retreat upini , SMoiensko, and by Vilna to the Niemen, yet the Marshal deemed .it necessary' to direct his principal attention to the roads pointing .to the southward; and, with ft view to more complete command of them, re tirce ,• osition within forty vetsts of - Kai° usa, that the enemy was moving, by Verret, . Tusk, he again advanced upon Medina, 0 41 ins received intelligence that the French . head quarters were, on tbe3Oth of October, at Co!okit a monastery not far from Borodino, he formed his disposition to attempt to intercept him near Sino lcnsko. Platow and the Cossacks having been detachcd . for the purpose of har:asing and surrounding ae enemy, Marshal Irtioriatireiajore ed enerol laradovitch's corps to upwln.ds of IS,Ofiti .men, and directed him to march by his left twwards,Vi:•s mai, the * Marshal himself proceeded by koi and Celinka, in a parallel direction to that allotted to General Millaradovitch ; .the .main road. form ing an arch, these parallel lines of march we ri shorter, but exposed to greater difficUlties, the 'roads being less practicable: The head of General Millaradovitch:s column reached the main road' first, near Viasma ; the head-quarters of Marshal Kutusoff were establish— ed at the village of Bikovoi, a little to the 'south ward of Viasma. In regard to the French army, it appears by the papers of a Commissary-General, who was made prisoner, that they victualled 120,000 men, but that their efficient force was "educed to &VW, at the period of the evacuation of Moscow, and that Buonaparte had contracted with a company of Jews for a supply of provisionS in the line Of ' his retreat. His ' fruards, and som e se l ec t cor p s , have been nursed with peculiar care, and kept as much as possible out of the . action, and these corps appear to have preceded the retreat of the remaining troops. It is reported that Buonaparte travels in a coach, accompanied by Murat, who has received a con tusion in his knee, and Berth ier.. It is hardly to be conceived that this rear,guara at'least can continue its march without halting, in.' which case, witlrthe assistance of thelight troops, the Russian army will be enabled to overtake them. They have before them the gallant and ac;., tive Count Wittgenstein, Whose character for zeal and entarprize is so well established, and they' have also, on the Minsk road, to encounter Ad miral Thichagolf, with the Moldavian armv,which it is to be,hoped may have time and notice either' to , unite with Count Wittgenstein, to wait for them on the above named road, or to move to either flank. Marshal Kutusoff has sent out, among others, a considerable detachment, which was at Elnee, nearer to Smolenski), under Lieutenant-General Shepetoff on the Ist of November, and which . may have the means of interposing delay. Thus the fruits of .the incursions of the French to . 3Alvseow, at the ,expenee of the lives of so many brave officers and men, seem to have been limited to the burning and destruction or that city, and to.tbe ruin and desolation of the inha bitants and proprietors near, the great road, and iu the vicinity of Moscow ; while, on the other hand, it will, to the latest period of history, retkct lustre on the spirit and patriotism of the Russian Empire. The last accounts from Count Wittgenstein are dated the 3d November, at Tchasnik, two stages east of Lepel. After -the affair of Polotzk, that General detached a corps to observe Mac Donald, whilst he sent General Steinheil on the.road to Vilna, who, after having .cut off the Bavarian corps . from that of, St. Cyr, and entirely disperied it, with the loss pf . cannon and colours, joined Count . Wittgenstein, who proceeded to attack. the' remainder of the French under the 'command of Le, Grand, Marshal St. Cyr having retired on ac count of his wound. This corps was reinfOrcei