The Sun. — London, England, 1812-12-23 00:00:00

L O'N D 0 IV, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1812. MOST IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE FROM FRANCE. JTH FRENCH BULLETIN.. DREADFUL SITUATION OF THE FRENCH ARMY. We have this day to announce the hrrival of French Papers, containing the Twenty-Ninth Boiled - 11 of the - French Aray, detailing such an. account of disaster and misery as, we believe, was never before officially published.—We hasten to lay it before our Readers it requires no corn- nient. TWENTY-NINTH BULLETIN OF T:IE GRAND ARMY NioletletAch no, Dec. 3. To t`lif,. Gth is.iovembzr the-weather was fine, and the movements of the Army executed, with the greatest success. The cold weather began on the 7th from that moment wt: every ni;ht lost several hundred horses, that died in consequence of bivouacking. Arrived at Smolensk°, we bad aiready lost many cavalry and. artillery horses. The Russian army from Volhynia was opposed to our right. Our right left the Minsk line of operations and took fer the pivot of its opera- tions the Warsaw line. On the 9th, the Emperor was informed, at Safoiensko, of this change in the line of opera,- tions, and conceived what the enemy would However hard it appealed to biro to. put liiniself in movement during so cruel a season, the new state of things demanded it. Ile expected to arrive at Minsk, or at least upon. the BeleSinn, before the enemy. On the 13th he qpitted'Sm.o.- I(m,-k ; on the 16th, he slept at Krasnoi. The cold, which began on the 7th, suddenly in- .creased, and on the 14th, Isth, and leth, the thermometer was 16 and 18 degreesbelow the freezing point. The roads were covered with ice , , the cavalry, artillery, :And baggagehorses, perished every night, only by hundreds, but by thousands, particu- lady the German and French horses Ina few dAys more than 30,000 h : orses. perish-. ed ; our cavalry. were on foot,. our artillery and our baggage were without correyitnee, wNs . necessary to abandon aid destroy. a good part of ouz cannon, ammunition, and pro- He surrounded Attie cokunts with his cossacks, wl:o carried off, like the Arabs in the deserts, the trains and carriages which separated. This contcniptible cavalry, which only makes noise s and is not capable of penetrating through a company of voltigcurs, rendered them selves formidable, by favour of certain 'cir cumstance ' Nevertheless, the enemy had to repent of &1 the serious attempts which he wished to undertake ; they were overthrown by the Vicroy, before whom they were placed, and lost many men. The Duke of ELCHINGEN, with 3000 men, bad blown 41 p the 'ramparts of -Smolensko. He was surrounded, and found himself in a critical posi- tion, but lie extricated himself from it With that intrepidity for which he is distinguished. After having kept the enemy at a distance from. him daring the whole day of the 18th, and con- stantly repulsed him, at night he made a me‘:ernent on .the right, passed the Borysthenes, and d-e -ceived. all the calculations °ls the enemy. On the 19tia, the Army passed the . Borystbenes at Orza, and the Russian army being fatigued, anti having lost a. great number of men, ceased. from its attempts. The army of Volhynia, had in dined, on the 16th, upon Minsk,, and marched upon Borisow. General nOMBROWSKI defcnded the bridge head of Borilow, with 3,004. men. On the 23d he was fo;'ced and obliged to. evacuafe this position. The enemy the: passed. the Beresina, marching - upoll Bohr. ; the. iivision LAMBiAT formed . tile a:trance:l-guard'. The 211 corps, commanticAby the Duke of REGozo,, which, was at Tocher- ein, bad received orders toonarcb upon Borisow, to secure to the ortny the passage of the Beresina. Oil the 24th, the Duke of 11,tooio met the division LAnBEnT four leagues from, Dorisp,w, at- tacked and defeated it, took 200 a pr4.aners, six pieces of cannon, 500 baggage waggons, of the Army of Valhvnia, and threw enemy on the right bank of the Beresina. General BERKEIM,.wi th the 4th cuirassiers, di3- tinguished himself by a fine charge.. • The enemy could only secure his safety by burn ing the bridge, is more than 300. toises in len!,-,tll. Nevertheless, the enemy occupied all the pas sages of the Beresina; this river is forty toises wide ; it had much floating ice en it, but its banks are covered with marshes,, three hundred Wises long, which present obstacles in clearing The enemy's General had placed his four divi sions at the different dehouches,' where he pre- sumed the French army would attempt to pass,, On the 26th, at break of day, the Emperor, al-. ter leaving deceived the enemy by different move ments made during the, day Of the 250, trrarehed le . a - gues in th:s, dixeetiat, • that during the night, and benumbed with cold, it rallied at seeing the ene my's fires, which it mistook for those of the French army. - Thus surrounded, it was taken. This cruel Mistake must have caused us a loss of 2000 infantry, 300 cavalry, and three pieces of artillery. Reports state, that the General of Division was not with his column, awl had marched alone. All the army having passed on the morning of the 28th, the Duke of BELLUNO guarded the tete du-pont upon the left bank ; the Duke Of 1-tim;Gto, and behind hint all the army, was upon the right bank. Borisow haying been evacuated, the armies of the Marina and Volhynia communicated ; they planned an attack on the 28th, at break of day. Ile Duke of I4GGio caused the Emperor to be informed that he was attacked. Half an hour af terwards, the Duke of BU.LUNO. was so, on the left bank. The Duke of EtcHINGEN immediately followed the Duke of REGGio, and the Duke of TitEiso the Duke of ELCIII-NOEN. The battle be , 7aine warm•. The enemy wishing to turn our right, General Dowirine,, commanding the sth division of cuirassiers,. which, made part of thud. corps that remained on the Dwina, ordered a charge of cavalry by, the 4th and nth regiments of cuiras siers, at the moment when the legion of the Vis tula was engaged ip the woods, to pierce the Centre of the enemy, who. was defeated and put to. the rout. With the enemy's.cavalrywhich cause to. the assistance of its infantry, 0,000 prisoners,. tw o. standards, and six pieces of cannon fell into our hands.. On, this. side the Duke of BELLI/NO vigorously and successfully charged th.: enemy, defeated Wm, took from five to six hundred pri soners, and did; not sulfer him to advance within the teach of the cannon of the bridge. General FouaNIER waded, fine charge of cavalry. Iu the battle of the Berisina the army of Vol, hynia suffered much. The Duke of REoolo was wounded, but his wound, is not dangerous ; lie re ceived a ball in his side. The next day, the 2gth, we remained on, the field of battle. We had to make our choice be tween two routes, that to Minsk and that to Wilna„ The road to Minsl led through the middle of a forest, and of • uncultivated marshes, where it was impossible for the army to subsist itself. the contrary, the road to Vilna leads, through a very fine country. The army being without cavalry, deficient of ammuni tion, and horribly fatigued by 50 days merch, car rying in its train all the sick and wounded of -so many battles, stood greatly in need of getting to its magazines. On the 36tb, the head-quarters were at Plectinitsi; on the . Ist Deceember at Siaike ; and on the 3d, at Molodctshna, where the army received the first convoys from \Vilna. Tile whole of the woundedthficers.and soldiers, and whatever else could be of embarrassments, with the baggage, &c. were sent off to NVilna. To say that the army stands in need of re-esta blishing its dicipline, of refreshing itself, of re motuiting its cavalry, completing its artillery, and its material ; this is the result of the ExpesC, which has just been made. Its repose is of the first necessity. The material ar ticles and the horses are eoming in ; General 8014.1 ER has already more than 20,000 remount horses in different depots. .The artillery kas al ready repaired its losses. • had still a li9rae, reinainiug, in order to form four ceropanies of one hundred men each, The Generals there performed the functions of Captains, and the Colonels those of subalterns. This sacred squadron, commanded by General GROUCHY, and under the.ordcrs.ot the Kiug of NA iLEs, did not lase sight of - the Emperor in all these movements The health of his Majesty was ne ver better.—Monitenr, Dee.. 17. PARIS, Dec. 18.—On the sth December, the Emperor having called together, at his head quarters, at Smorgony, the Viceroy, the Priace of NEUFCHATEL, and Marsbals Dukes of EL - CHINGEN, DANTLIC, TREVISO. the Prince ECKI•CHL, and the Duke of ISTRIA & acquainted them that he had nominated the King of NAPz,gs his Lieutenant General, to command the arry during the rigorous season. His Majesty, in passing through Wilna, wat employed several hours with the Duke of BAS-' visions. This Army, so fine. on. the 6th, was, very dif- ferent from the 14th, almost without cavalry, without artillery, without. transports. NVithout Cavalry we could not reconnoitre, a quarter of lengue'adistance ; without artillery, we could not risk a battle, and firady await it; it was re- quisite. to march, in order not to, be. con- of munition prevented ns from desiring ; it was. requisite to occupy a certain , space not to be turn ed, and that tog without cavalry, wbich led, and connected the columns . . This . difficntty, j o i ne d t o a cold, which tldcnly' came on, ren: dered our situation Those, men whom nature hail .not sufficiently fortified to be above all the chance 3 of fate, awl fortune, appear-, ed shook,' loft their gaiety, their good humour, and cireamed, but of misfortunes and catastrophes those whom she has creatcc superior to every, thing, preserved their gaiety and their ordinary manners, and saw fresh glory , ln the different dif- ficultie3 to he surmounted. The enemy, who saw upon the roads traces of that frightful calamity which. , had overtaken the rreach army, endeavoured to take advantage of it . upon the village of Stut:icania,, and caused, in .s,pite of an enemy's division, and in its presence, two bridges to be thrown over the river. The Duke of IILGGio,-, pakse4, attacked the enoiay, and led him fightinz tivo hours the, enemy re tired upon the tote-du-punt of 80r050n7., General LZG 4AND an , officer of the first rate merit, was badly, but not clangerously„rounded. Thp flute of 8r.T,T,YT,44), commanding the 9th corps, had received orders to, follow the movement of the Puke. of REGGIO, to (oral the rear-guard,, and keep in check the Russian army from the Pwina, which followed 11;n1. PARTAuNAux's division formed the rear-guard of this corps. Oat the 27th at noon, the Dulte of BELLUNO arrived with two divisions at the bridge. of Studeziania. PARTAUNAUX'S diVlSiop set out at n,lght from Borasow. A brigade of this division, which formed the rear-guard, atr; which was charg ed with burning the bridges, marched at seven in the evening. It arrived between 10 and 11 o'clock sought its fit brigade, and its General, who had departed two hours before, and which it had not met with in route.. Ilis r - searches ,were in vain ;--some uneasiness was t!en conceived. All we have since been able to learn, is, that this first brigade set out at five o'clock, missed its way at six, •vent to the right in plfic of pro ceeding to the left, and marched two Oir three The Generals, Officers, and Soldiers, 'have suf fered greatly from want. Numbers have lost their baggage. by the loss of their "horses, and se veral by the effect of the Cossacks' ambushes. The Cossacks have taken numbers of. isolated persons, of geographicatenginecrs, who were tak ing positions, and of unattended officers, who were marching with precaution; preferring running the risk to marching slowly, than going with the "con voys. The reports of the General Officers com manding the different corps,, will make known what Officers and soldiers have chiefly distinguish ed themselves, and the details of their Memorable events. - in all these movements, the Emperor has con tinually marched in the middle of his Guards, the cavalry commanded by Marshal Duke of ISTRIA, and the infantry commanded by the Duke of DANTZIC. His Majesty has been well satis fied with the fine spirit shewn by his Guards ; they have always been rea;ly to sh,ew themselves every where that their presence was needful; but circumstances hm;e always been such, that their appearance alone was sufficient, and that they never were in a case which required them to charge. The Prince of NEUFCHATEL, the Grand Mar shal, the Graud Equerry,. and all the Aides-de camp, and Military officers of the Household, have always accompanied his Majesty. Our cavalry was dismounted to, such a degree,. that it was necessary to collect the officers who ANOTHER LETTER, SAME DATE. Arrived the Pembroke, 74, Captain BRISBANE, - ftoni the Noye Thistle and Bermuda from the S. W. In the course of the last night a boat arrived from the other side, and brought over a series of Moniteurs and other French papers, Nviiich were immediately forwarded by Express to London. The boatmen stated, that NAPOLEON had got back to Paris, accompanied by one of his Generals, nearly dead with anxiety and fatigue, and com plaining .in the most pathetic. manner of the verse of fortune he has undergone. PLYMOUTH, DEC. 21.—Arrived the French ship privateer, called the Sans Souci, belonging to St. Makes, of 1 . 6 guns . and 106 men, captured, on the 17th instant, after a, very. smart. chase,• which, continued during the clay, .by his . Majesty's ship Briton, a new frigate, commanded by Captain Sir THOMAS STAINES ; the privateer is a small vessel ot, her class, but an amazing fast sailer. Arrived the French schooner La Desiree, from NaTitz, with a cargo of staves, &c.. bound to Bourdeanx, capthred a few days since by the Con. 4tant gun-brig. Yesterday his Royal Highness the Commander in Chief transacted military business with the PRINCE REGENT at Carlt6n-House for a consi derable tune. Afterwards the Royal Duke went to his Office in . the Horse-Guards, and held a Military Levee. It is said. the, QIJEEN intends. to hold a DrawiQg Room on the 21si of January. MAILS. • An3lvEr-1 Dublin, 1 Waterford. Due-1 Cadiz, 1 Lis bon, • 1 Gottenbuig,b, 1 Guernsey, 1 Jersey, 1 Bran's, Waterford. PRICE OF STOCKS Tilts DA Y AT JWE LV o'C LOCK • Consols. 6 7.1G1 Red. Ann COM TH F SUN A SOLI 1::s DICE RE CAJM ACPLAT ? SANO. His Majesty travelled incognito in' a single sledge, with and under the name of the Duke of VICENCA examined the fortifications of;" Praga surveyed Warsaw, and remained there, several hours unknown. Two hours before his departure, he sent for Count POTOCKI, and the Minister of Finance of the Grand Duchy, with whom he had a long conference. His Majesty arrived on the 14th, at one o'clock in the morning, at Dresden, and alighted at the house of his Minister, Count GARA. He had a long conference with the King of Saxony, and immediately afterwards Itursued his journey, tak ing the road of Leipzig and Mentz. M. de Mox-rEsorou, Aide-de-camp of the Prince of NEUFCHATEL, dispatched by the Dn. peror from his head-quarters at Selitche, on the 2(1 of Deeember.iwith dispatches for the Empress, arrived, at Paris ast REPORTED RETURN OF BUQNAPARTII TO PARIS. Accounts were received yesterday evening, both at Deal and Dover, from different parts of the French coast, of the return of BUONAPAETE to Paris. Admiral FOLEY, the Port Admi ral in the Downs, has, we tmderstand, trans 'ttted to Qave:nment intelligence to the same. effect, which was brought to Deal by sonic smugglers who had arrived from Gravelincs. Lt was this morning reported in the City, that there had been a firing yesterday on the French Coat.t, Our. Deal letter. does not mention the circum - atance, and it is not likely that IkoNAPARTr. would order rejoicings for his return in his pre sent miserable plight.—He is said to havc arrived at Paris on the 20th, NAVAL 1% S. DEAL, DEC. 22.—Yon, have no doubt cre, this. seen the. French accounts which arrived to-day, viz. the official statement of BUONAEARTE'S return. to Paris, and his account of the dreadful state hi which;he left his army,,almost ht a state of starv ation•,. men and. horses dying by thousands. This army, from its great insubordination, is no longqr an army,_ but a large mass of despairing fugitives. Such an account was never before heardin France, where consternation seems almost to have reached its height.