The Sun. — London, England, 1812-09-09 00:00:00

PRICE OF STOCKS THIS T)AY AT TWELVE n ' CLOIT• 53 60.598 1 Otnnitnn !s THE SUN. ••"11 - 7 sol•En QUIS DICEItg FAT.tit73l MIDEAT ? • .. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, .SEPTEMBER 9, 1812. A Gottenburgh Mail arrived at a bite hour this day. •The following is the only article of intelli gence of importance which it brings : GOTTtNilt/RC;II , 'SEPT. I.—Ccitint WITTGrg sTEiN Oa the 12th August attacked MACDONALD'S Corps, defeated,. -and pursued him to the Dretia.— 'General EssEx, at Riga, ordered some of the English gun-boats up the River; .they dismounted three batteries, and went up as far as Neiten. The Inssian General Px„vrow, on the'27th of July, in skirrni*h, took 'one e'Olonel and fioq prioners. The King of DENMAIIK has declared, it is said, that he will 'enter into no'negociation with Epg land. A Telegrephic - dispatch reached- the Admiralty yesterday evening, but all that could he made out of it was the word " Astorga." his naturally Supposed that it announces the surrender of Astorga, hut nothing further has yet arrived. - Lord 11.1AF.cir arrived this morning at Earl BA THURST'S Office, in Downing-street, With dup:l - Dispatches from the, Marquis of Ntri , J.l.lNo- Tom of his entrance into Madrid. Lord MARCH heard at Corunna,thatAstorga was captured, and 1201 of the eneinY made prisonets. The Marquis of WE1.7./NGTON remained at Ma drd on the 25th ult. We understand that CLAU• zr.r., who took the command of the remains-of MARmoNT's army, hastened, to the relief of As torga, but was a day too late. The arrival of Paris Papers last night to the 6th instant, justifies, our caution in not too hastily .2t taching much importance to the absence of any official announcement in the Moniteur of those successes which were stated in the minor papers to have becn obtained. The Moniteur contains the 'l3th and 14th Bulletins, with several documents anneKed, givin g a detail of the capture of Smolensk, or, rather, of its ruins, and of several actions in which the French claim the victory. In the mass of matter thus laid before us, it is not a very easy task. to separate the true from the false, or to discover, beneath. the high colouring of the French artists, the real events that have occurred. The prominent fact is, that the French succeeded . in their attack upon Smolensk, but certainly not without the sacrifice of a great number of men, and after great bravery had been displayed by the Russians. This is un--4' doubtedly a gain, but it is an advantige which has evidently been dearly purchased. We are - prevented by the length of- our extracts from' entering into a minute examination of the French accounts, but it is evident, that they `have obtained nothing like a decisive victory, and that they have still the main Russian Army to contend with unbroken, and after sustaining little, if any, more loss than that suffered' by themselves. It is scarcely necessary to contradict An absurd report winch got into circulation yesterday after- noon, that the French had entered Moscow, it being absolutely impossible that, even supposing they met with no interruption by the way, they could have marched to Moscow, and the news of their arrival have reached this country in the!interval between the 23d of August," when their own Bulletin leaves• their head-quarters at Smolensk, •and yesterday, the Bth of Septem ber ; nor is it so easy a task as these f-hricators of rumours would have us imagine. These• Papers contain nothing more relative to the meetings of the Conservative Senate. The report.of BUONAPARTE having been wounded, or dead, appears to have been erroneous ; it may perhaps haveurisen from a eon fused rehtion, pass ing through different hands, of the wound received by OuotlyroT (Duke of Reggio). which incapaci tated him from keeping the field, and which is officially stated in the'French Papers. • it is said, that private eletters from Paris state the follol6ng particulars " PARIS, AUG...5.---B.ppnnpute having tong. 1 since resolved to seize iinlmTrussia as a .fief of Prince, it beca: - .te petissary to .have the sanction of the Conservative Senate pro forma ,to that pro ceeding. One. of tbeir first measures has there fore been, formally to declare that the King of Prussia, alias Count leuppin, has ceased to reign ! The defeats of the French armies in Spain have produced the utmost Constcrnation - ; and it is another object of the meetings of the Senate, to supply, if possible; the immense losseS in Spain and Portugal, and to make a last desperate effort in the Peninsula. With this view, the Conserva tive Senate has ordered all the troops of_ the line stationed 'at Brest, Toulon, and -- other important points in the French Empire, to- march instantly for Spain : they are to be replaced by the cohorts of the departments. By .the French Constitu tion, in the absence of the Emperor, no changes in the deitination of the 'troops of the Empire can be ramie without the - consent of the Conscr- ButiYe THIRTEENTH & TOURTEVNTIT FRENCH •BULLETIN. FRENCH PAPERS. [RErEIVED AT A LATE HOUR LAST NIG2IT.I TIIIRTED;CTH BULLETIN GAF THE GRAND ARMY: Smolensk°, Angu.t It appears that in the battle of Alohilow, gain- ed 'over .prince Bagratioii: on the 23d iniy, the, loss of tliC enemy ilas been considerable ; . we here give the report of the Prince - of Bcliniubl.respect--, ing, this affair, The Duke of Tarento found 211 pieces• of can- non in Duuabourg in place of eight, as had been announced ; be obliged several ships laden with more than , 40,000 bombs and other projectiles to retire. An immense quantity of ammunition Was destroyed by,. the enemy. The ignorance of the Ruisians in constructing fortifications is apparent in the works ofiDunabourg and Drissa. His; Ma- jetty gnve the . cornmana of his right to the Prince of Schwirt•:eriburg, by placing glider his orders the second corps. this Prince Tarched against Gen. Tomassow, - thet, and defeatedvhim, on the 'l?th. He pays the ,highest compliments to the Sax . on and Austrian troops. The Prince.of Schwart zenliurg shelved in these circumstances equal netivity and -valour. The Emperor has requested promotion and rewards for the Officers of his corps d'armee who have distinguished themselves.. Op the Bth the Grand Army was placed in the following manner : The Prince Viceroy was at Sourai, with the 4th • - corps, 'his advanced guard occupying Pas vi• ath, and Porulsch. The King of Naples was at Nikaulmo—his ca yalry occupied Lukovo. Marshal the Duke ofElchingen, Commandant of the 3d corps, was at Loozna. Marshal the Prince of Eckronlil, Commandant of the Ist corps, was at Dcitibroinva. ' . The sth corps, commanded by Prince Ponia , - towski, was at Mohilow. The head-quarters were at.Witepsk, • The 2d corps, commanded by the Duke ; of Reg gio, Was upon the Drissa. • The 10th corps, commanded by4the Duke of Tarento, was upon Dunabourgand f ßiga On the Bth, 12,000 of the enemy's cavalry marched upon Inkovo, and attacked .General Count Sebastiani's • division, which for half a league was obliged to fight, retreating; all the day, suffering and causing .equal loss to the ene my. A company of Voltigeurs of the 24th regi ment of light- infantry,, forming a part of a batta lion of that „regiment, which had been confided to the cavalry-to maintain a position in the wood, was -taken. • We had about 200 killed and wound ed, the, enethy may have lost the same number of men. On the 12th the enemy's army having unit ed at Smolensko, ma.rehed by different points with equal slowness and hesitation upon Boreitch and Nadra. _ _ Prince Eckmuhl collected all his forces to march I against the enemy, and take possession of Smo- ' lensko, by proceeding thither by the other side of the Borysthene. . The King of Naples and Prince of Bektnuhl set out from Leonia, and _marched upon the Borys thene, near to the Embouchure of Berezina Op posite KlomenS, where, on the night between the • 13th and 14th, they threw two bridges over the. Borysthene. The Viceroy set out from Soniog, and marched .by Janovitsche to Rassasna, where he arrived on the 14th. General ConntGronchy collected the three corps of cavalry at Rassasna on the 12th. Prince Eckmuhl collectAd all his corps at Dou browna on the 13th. . General Count Eble threw three bridges over the Rassasna, on the lath. ,The head-quarters set -out on the 13th from Witepsk, and arrived at Ras- . sasna on the 13th. Prince POniatowski set out.. from MOhilow, and on the 13th arrived at Ro manzo ; 'on the 14th, at break of day,, ,General Grouchy marched upon Lenobri, chased two re giments of Cossacks from; it, and:there found the corps of General Count Nansouty : the .same day the King of Naples, supported by the Duke of Elm chingen, arrived at Krasnoi. •." The 27th enemy's - divi,,ion, consisting of 5000 infantry, supported by 2000 cavalry and 12 piece's of cannon, was in a position before that town it was, attacked and forced in an instant by the Duke of Elchingen. The 24th regiment of light infantry attacked the small town of Krasnoi with' the bayonet with great impetuosity ; the cavalry executed some admirable charges.: souk, General of Division of the '3d regiment of chasseurs, distinguished himself. ,The -taking. of eight pieces of cannon, 14 caissons," _l5OO pri soners, with a field covered with more than 'lOOO Russian corpses, sere the advantages of the bat tle of Krasnoi, in which the Russian division, consisting of seoo men, suffered a loss of half its number. klis Majesty, on the I.sth, had his bead-quai ters at Kovonitnia. On the 16th, in the morning, the heights' of Smolensk° were commanded. The town presented to our view an enclosure of Walls 4000 toiscs, ten feet thick, and 23 feet high,: intersected with / towers, several of which were armed with can- nons of a heavy calibre. Ppon the right of the liorysthenewe perceived and knew that the ene my faced about, and hastily 'retraced their steps to defend Smolensk°. We knew that the enemy's Generals had received reiterated orders to give battle and save Smolensk°. The Emperor' recoil-, noitered the town, and placed, its army in its, po sition on the day of the 16th. - Marshal - Duke of Elchingen had the left, leaning on the Borys thene, the Prince of Echmuhl the centre, Prince Poniatowski the right, the ward was placed in reserve in the centre ; the Viceroy in reserve on the right, and the cavalry under the' orders of the King of Naples at the extremity of the, right ; the Dude of Abrantes with the eight corps. lost their . way, arid had made a false movement. •••• 7 ?,ir r • The 16th and half of the 17th was tissed in obi-: settrAtion. A fire of musketry Was kept up .alOng thd line. The encnw iiceupied.SMolensk° 30,000 men, and the re ma.; ncer tf their army was formed upon the Rue' positions upon the right batik of that river, opposite to the town, and communicating by three bridges. Smolensk° is eorrsidered as a strong town by the Russians, and the bulwark of MoseoW-. On the 17th, at two in the.afternoon, seeing that the enemy had not debouched, that they were fortifying - themselves , in Smplensko, and that they refused` battle, notwithstanding the orders they had received, and the fine pOsition they might have occupied; their right ,upon Smolensko, and their left:UpOn the banks of the i3Orysthenes. The energy's General wanted resolution. The Emperor marched upon the right, and or-; detect Prince. Poniatowski to change. his front, the right hi advance, and to place his right to the lioristhene, occupying one of' the suburbs 'b'y posts and batteries, to destroy the buidge, and hi tercept the communicatiOn of the town with the • bank. • , During this time' the Prince of tektinbl receiv ed orders tOuttack tivo of .the suburbs, which the enemy had . entrenehed 200 toises distance frown the anTh'Which were each defended by seven or eight thousand men,: arid heavY canum. . General CoulA -Friant Ilini orders to evnapletethe invest . mint, in turniug right towards Prince Ponia,: towski's: corps, and his. left Witte right of the at tack made by the Prince of .Eektuuhl.. At tlVoin the afternoon, Count Bruyeres division of cavalry, after having driven away the Cossacks and ene my's cavalry, and approached the bridgeltighest up the rive.• e a battery of 10 pieces of artillery was established. upon this ground,• and fired with grape-shot upon that part of the: enemy's army, Which was upon the 'right bank of the river, and - quickly obligedthe Russian masses of infantry to evacuate' that position. - • • ' The enemny-then plaml.two batteries of twenty . .pieces of cannon in ,acoaVent,. to annoy the bat, tery which pl:iye , d upon the bridge. The Prince of-Eckmidrientrusted the, attack of the right sub urbs to- Coot: Mbrand, and that of the left to General Count Gudin. . At three, the cannonade commenced. At half past four, a very brisk fire 'of musketry began ; and at five, the divisions.of Morand and Gtidin carried the entrenched enemy's suburbs, with a' cool and rare intrepidity, and pursued them to the covered way, which was covered with Russian dean.' Upon - our left the Duke of Elchingen at• tacked - the position 'which the enemy had 'without. the town, seized•upOn it, and pursued the enemy . to •th glacis. . At' five o'clock ,the communication of the town with the right bank became difficult, and could only be accomplished by . isolated men. Three batteries of breaching 12-pounders were placed acrainst. the walls at six- in the evening, one by iriant's. division, and the two others. by Mp rand and Gmidin's divisions. We drove the ene my froni ,all the towersi by howitzers, which played': on them The- General of Artillery',„ Count Sorbur, rendered the occupation of . the covered way . by the enemy impassable, by two enfiladed batteries. Nevertheless the enemy, who, from two in the afternoon; perceived that we had serious intentions against the town, sent visions and two regiments of infantry of.the guard' to reinforce the four divisions which were in time t own. These 'United forces'composed half of the ussian army ; - the battle continued the whole night ; three hreaching batteries played with the utmost activity. Two companies ,of miners were attached to the ramparts. The town was nOw on fire in the middle of, a. fine August - nig - ht. Smolensk° offered. the French a spectacle similar to: that which an, eruption of Vesuvius pre'seuts to 'the inhabitants of Naples--- An hour after midnight, the enemy abandoned the town, and retired across the river. At two o'clock the grenadiers, Who first led to the attack, no longer found- resistance, the place was 'evacuated ; 200 pieces of cannon, and one of the first-towns in Russia were in our power, and that too in sight of the whOle Russian Army. The combat of:Smolensk°, which we might justly-terra a battle, an hundied.thonsand men having been engaged on the different sides;.caused the Russians a . ..105s of 4,700 men_ left dead on the field Of battle, t:?f . 2800 prisoners, the greater' part ,of'which"' are wounded; aud.of 7 to 8000 wounded. Amongst the dead were. found five RUSSi'an.(eneralo—Ourloss amounts to 700 killed and . 3100 or 3200 Wounded, The General . of brigade_ G:rabousLi 'was killed; and ,the;Ge nerals of brigade -Graucleau and Dalton. wounded. All the troops have rivalled each other in intre-- pidity. The field Of battle has afforded to the view of 200,000 persons who, can , attest it, the sight'of one -French Corpse laying•-•upon the dead bodies of seven or-eight Russians--; Meanwhile the Russians. were protected by the -musketry fire from their trenches during a part of the days of the pith and 17th. On thelBthave established the bridges over the' Borysthene, which the enemy had burnt, bat did . not succeed in quenching the fire, which consuthed the town; until the day of the 18th, the french sappers having worked with great activity. The houses in the city Were filled with Russians, dead .and dying. - Of twelVe divisions, which composed the grand Russian :army, two divisions have been hroken,, ,and defeated ie the combats of Ostrowna ; two. have. met with the same fate in the battle of Mo hilow ; and six in the battle of Smolew>ko. They have only two 'divisions of the Guards which re• main entire. The deeds of bravery which redound honour on the army, and which have distinguished such numbers of soldiers in the battle of Smolensk°, shall be 'the subject of a particular report. Never has the French army shewn greater intrepidity than iu this campaign. iIISLLETIN OF THE GRAND A"E0 10 ., tl. SmolMskoi Aug. .!-Sinolensko may he considered as one of tW: 'finest cities of Russia. Had it not been for (lir cumstances of the war, which, has carried thitbi tha fife, and consumed immense magazines colonial merchandize, and goods of all kinds, tl' city would have been grand resource fOr the Even in its present state it may be the greatest utility in a military point of view/ There are still lairi;e houses reinaining, which 0 fer fine places for the establishment at hospitali• The province -of S:noleasko is very fine 0 4 fertile, and furnished. with. great resources of subsistence and forage. I:he Russians intended according to the events of "the•war, to raise 3 militia of peasant slaves, whom they have a rnica. with bad pikes. They, had alifeacly united alyont fiooo of them at this place; it was an object l raillery and derision even to the Russian Arinii itself. They had already stated, as the order 01 day,: that Smolensk° was to be the grave of t h French, 'and that, altbOugh it had been deitnei. cmi 'neient to evacuate Poland, yet it was nee& sary to give battle at Smolensko; to prevent_thl barrier 41Russia from falling into 'our hands. , The Cathedral of Smoiensko is one of the rno celebrated Grecian Clitirchew.in all Russia. T he. EpiSeopal-Palace forms a hind of toy ii by itself.. • Thelfeat is excessive, the thermometer having risen to 26 degrees. The weather is much hotter here than , in Italy. arniv. ATTLE OF POTOSSK.- After the battle of Drissa, the Dnke ofßeggi° o knowino - that the enemy's General, Wittgensten l i liad been reinforced by twelve third battalion', from the garrison of Dunabourg, and willing tQ draw him to an engagement near the defile belof , I)gtolsk, caused the second and sixth corps to b 5 ranged in,order of battle below Votolsk. General Wittgenstein followed him,- attacked him on tilt 16th and 17th, and was vigorously repulsecl. The Bavarian division of De Wrede, of the 6th c orps, has distinguished itself. At the moment wbe ll the Duke of Reggio was making his dispositions to profit by the victory, and to close the eueilli in the defile, lie was struck on the shoulder by 13iscayan. His wound, which is of a serioils sta ture; obliged him: to cause himself to- be trans ported to Wilna., but it -did not appear that lie made himself in any wise unquiet concerning til e consequences. The General Gonvian St. Cyr 1139 taken the command of the 211 and 6th corps. , 11 the 17th in the evening the enemy retired thr on V the defile. General erdier %VHS wounded ; Ge", neral Maison , has been recognized as General °; Division, and has su-cceeded'him in the corn-van, of his division. • Our loss is- estimated at 1 0 °' Men killed and wounded. The. loss of the ,S- 11 '" ia~is is triple to ours ; We have taken 500 nszil from them. On- the 18th, at four o'clock in tire aft-el - noel General Gouvian St. Cyr, counmzndin E ; . 2d 6th Corps, opened on the enemy, by eausin',7:',• right wing to be atta'cked by the B:avt , ..rian V - 4 tion of Count Vir Count--de rede. the battle mt.,:lit'eto the whole length of the line, andtlie eneutv thrown into complete ',pet, and - puritrett leagues, as long as day light permitted. Twen t y pieces of--cannon, and 1000 prisOners haye r mained in the -power of the French Army. -114 Bavarian General Deroy was- wounded. • ._BATT4.4- OS V . 4 I, E. 24 T ts;. • A . . On the I.9th, at break of day, the bridge be l l finished, the Marshal Duke of Elchingen over to the right bank of the Borvsthene, I'l,l .pursued- the enemy. At one league from t:ir town,. he rencontred the: last column of ti .e enemy's rear-guard. It was .- a division of 4 or six. thousand men stationed on fire heigb ti t i He caused them to be attacked with the baVirled by the 4th •regiment of infantry of the line; O ct by the 72d ditto. The pcisitiOn was err ied; e our bayonets covered the field of - battle with `lca, r Three or' four hundred 'prisonerS fell into 011 hands. The flying,enemy retired on the 2.11 e"' lumn which was posted on tire heights of \ r " I T 1 0. : tina. The first position was carried by the lu of the line, and towards four o'clock in the - Lf t d . e i r ,, noon the musketry fire was kept up against,,Ltia enemy's rear - guard, which presented about 15, " Men. The Duke of Abrantes had passed - the , rystheae, at two o'clock to the right . of lensko, and .he found himself close npofl rear of the enemy he might therefore, by mar,ett" , ing with a division, intercept the great roaa rd MOseoW, .and render the retreat of the rear diffictilt. But meantime the,other columns ofit;'e. stieiny's army which remained to he foreezi , o i nig informed of the success: and 'of the rapidi t Y cc the first:attack, returned back the same way th came. Four divisions then advanced to su t, Pr, their rear-guard, and among others the Oici°_,, of grenadiers, which, until:now, 'had not- 0 11 4 forward ; 5000 or 6000 cavalry formed their rig ? t i - whilst. their left was covered by woods fined `slib, tirailleurs . It As as of the greatest conseq uenceto enemy to keep this position- as hAng as possi bl '4l: being a very fine one, and apparently .irapre-gn" On our.part, we attached no less iinportance`, In order to accelerate his retreat, and save ` tike carriages filled:With wounded and other a tl, o.es, the evacuation of it was prote cted bY, t rear-guard. This . Was what _gave rise to the 0, 7 . tie 'of - Valentina - , one of site finest feats of aria' our military histOry. ," • At siyi.o'doek the evening 'the divisions Gudin, which had been sent forward to suPP„I. the third corps, from the moment we .row great succours the enemy had sent to his guard, pushed forward a column on the centr.e,c ' the enemy's position, .was supported bytbe divis2l, of -General Ledrio, and after an banes con„, forced the pcisition. General Count Gudia ar i ing with his . division, , was, at the commenceri( of the action, struck •4 a bullet, which • cart's off his thigh—he died glorionslV. This I °'''„, o sensibly felt. General Gudin wt . s one of th e distinguilhed officers in the army ; he r agl timable for his moral qualities as much as for,,, bravery and intrepidity. General Ger ard has to the command of the division. We reckon th" l a t e enemy have had eight Generals kilted or wou' oalle of their Generals is taken prisoner,