The Sun. — London, England, 1814-04-05 00:00:00

I.ONI;ON GAZI:aTE EXTILMni.DINARY. Apt:S, .111.1 I)ispatches,, of • which the following are Copies, liaye been this day received at this Office, from the ltiaht Honourable Lord Byt:GmEtssn, and eotenant-General the Ilan. Sii •CtiAIiLLS VI LI. IA M Stt WAR T Fere Chatilpenaisc, Dlarcli 26, ISM 1 1 \TY Loan,—ln considerable doubt Whether this ci . :spatch will reach you, tstial :atti inxious to sciie the first opportunity olufnforming you of the events which have taken place since my last letters, and which, tip to the present moment,. have been attended with the most brilliant successes. r t jr6.33 t In the morning of the 2.3 d; the different corps of this army were assembled in positions, from whenc.!.." the whole were directed upon Vitry. The lins: , ian light division of cavalry Of the guard, nuder General Count Angcrowsky, advanced trOm Netiercelin to Sommepuis, where they attacked considerable body of infantry, killed and made prisoners a great number of them, and took twenty pieces of cannon. This attack was eon (lute?' with so much talent and rapidity, that the loss on the part of the Russians was inconsider able, file enemy immediately after began to de file from all their positions near Arcis, directing themselves upon Vitry. Count Wreck endea a:oured to intercept their march, hut was unable to do so.. The Prince Royal of Wirtemberg fol lowed them, and did them considerable mischief. 1.337 a Prench Courier taken at the charge of the riussian cavalry at Satutnepnis.,,.it ‘4scer tai ned, that the 'corps of Marshals Ney and Macdonald were in our front filing to join Buonaparte, ‘rho was already at St. Mier. The Commandant of Vitry had been summoned by Marshal Ney, and threatened with the massacre of the whole gar rison, if be did not surrender ; he had, however, refused ; Vitry was still in our possession. ty an intercepted letter of Buonaparte's, Ibe objects of his movements were discovered. Prince Schwartzenberg, in consequence, halted his army on the Marne during the night of the 23d, the French having entirely passed to the other bank of that river. Bttonaparte having placed himself upon our line of communication with the rear, and our junction with the artny of Marshal Blucher being forracd by the arrival of General Winzingetode ft om Cha lons at Vitry, •it was determined that the whole of the two great Allied Armies should march upon Paris. With this object the vaalle army broke up yesterday, and had advanced in one column upon this plane. The corps of Marshals Mar ildont and Mortier appear to have received orders to join Buoilaparte ; they arrived within two leagues of Vitry on the night of the 24th. The advaneed guard of the Prince Royal of Wirtem• berg fell in with them soon after he had corn , menced his march in this direction. • The enemy perceiving a considerable force ad vancing upon him, retired ; the cavalry of the 4th an't 6tht corps pursued. The light cavalry division of Russian guards again distinguished itself ; it 'charged first the enemy's cuirassiers, Post his masses of infantry ; in both it succeeded; e great number of killed and wounded were left on the field of battle, ten pieces of cannon taken, and near one thousand priSoners. Several other charges were made by the AustPian cuirassiers and the Wirteniberg cavalry; the enemy suffered frOm them considerably,. and was pursued, with the loss of above 30 pieces of cannon, to Sezanne. The'results of these affairs are not yet completely known ; I will transmit them to your Lordship by the first opportunity. Upon the arrival of Prince Schwartzenberg at Fero Champenoise, a cannoneer_ was ofisetved Uport oor right; soon after, a body of infantry were sata moving upon the head 7 quarters. The Emperor Alexander and the King of Prus sia immediately' oireeted a train of artillery, which belonged to the fith corps, and which was passing at the time, to 'place itself in position :against this corps. Thi-Wialry, which was in • • recur of this b o dy, was s'otint after discovered to belong to' the -army of :Mtarshal Blucher, which bad been pursuing it during the greater part of the day 7 Prince Schwartzenberg immediately brought up a considerable portion of cavalry from the corps that Were - pursuing Marshals . Marmont an c rmortier ; the Emperor of Russia directed the adVane6.Of the Russian guns ; the whole body of French infantry was surrounded ; they were charged on all sides, under the irnmediate di vections.of the Emperor of Russia, the Ki ng o f Prussia, and 'PAnce Schwartzenhen ; after .. re.; sistance, which does hon.ottr to the enemy's troops, the whole of his twa mastics., amounting to 4800' antry, with t4elli - :P•4 4 s of cannon, were , 'en, 2ny Lord, the tritunplia' nt re- !znits•ol:'yefit;.rclay. Ti troops IfC ali•": - .‘uly Ti(i:. vAlldthis morning, tile cavalr: will arrive tO-day at La Fette Gancliti.. Gen. IVlnzirigerodc, With ;0,000 cavalry', is in Observation of liuonaparte'3 ailty, on. the side of St. Di tier; its direction is not as yet known. It is with the greatest regret I have to ts7liltotinc , ... to your T_crdship, that. Cwupbeli - ‘vfis yestrr (F most tevvrdy woundcd a Coss s. a . ck. Col. cont . inoiog that gallant distinguished course whicll has ever marked his nuilitary carcer,, had cba'rg . ed with the first cavalry which pene trated the French masses ; the Cossacks who came to support this cavalry mistook him for French Officer, and struck I:im to the ground.• From the appearaoces• th is morning, I am however in considerable hope of his recovery. Col. Rapa tel, late :\ide-de-Camp of Gun. :Moreau, was also unfortunately killed. I have the honour to he, &Q. BURGIMRSH, Lient.-Cnl. GA 1106 Viscount Castlereagh., &c. &c. qead-clarters j Fere ChampenolAc, Nlarch 2G, 1814 My Loity—litic;naparte having failed in hiS'at tempt to debouche from Plancy and Arcis Across the Aube, and having abandoned his idea of at tacking PrinceSchwartzenberg in his position at Menil-la-Comiesse, seems to, have been guided in Lis next operations by the desire of preventing the jur.:tion of the of Prince Schwartzen berg and Mandial Blucher. Did he not succeed to the utmost in this Object, it was evidently his best policy to force their union, and their com munications as far to the rear, and to make. it as circuitous as possible. It is further .manifest,. by intercepted letters, that Buonaparte was of opi nion, that the movement Le deffrinirieit on, on the ri g ht of Prince Schnartzenl4crg,. might in duce Litre to fall back t9wards the Rhine, for fear of losing his communication ; that he thus would be able to relieve his places, and be in a better situation to cover Paris. It generally occurs, that manoeuvres are made with the fidme c or the head of an army; but Buonaparte, in his present undertaking seems to. have pushed his object so far, by the passage of the Aube with his whole army near Vitry, as to have left himself completely open to that bold and magnificent decision which was immediately adopted. Duonaparte put his whole army in motion on the evening of the 21st for Vary. That,cight ate remained at Scinunepuis ; on the following day the advanced corps of his army arrived at Vitry, and summoned the place. It had been placed by Colonel in a very tolerable state of de fence, mid it bad a garrison of between three and four. thousand Prussians. Marshal Ney endea voured„.by every menace, to obtain a surrender; but the brave Pruissian Colonel resolutelyrefused, and held the town, which reduced the French Commander to cross the Marne by bridges, con structed near Frignicourt. Buonaparte here pass ed his whole army on the 23d and 24!h, and was immediately ascertained to taken the direc tionof St. Vizier. Three objects might be now in his view, by the movements round our right :—to force us back ; if this failed, to operate upon our communica tions, and even proceed to form a junction with :Marshal Augereati; or finally, by moving to his fortresses of Nett, &c. prolong the war by resist ing on a new line, while he placed us in the cen tre of France, having taken the best precautions is his power for the defence of the capital. The Allies, on the 22d, having crossed to the right of the Aubc, lost no time in adopting the bold resolution of forming the junction of the two armies to the westward,, thus placing them selves between the French army and Paris, and proceeding with an united force of at least two hundred thousand men to the capital of the French empire. In order the better to mask this move ment, the march of the Allied army was made from Pougy, Lesmont, and Arcis, on Vitry ; and his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, by two extraordinary marches of 18 and 12 leagues, established his head-quarters with those of the Field-Marshal At Vitry, on the 24th inst. A very brilliant capture of several pieces of can non, fifteen hundred prisoners, and a large num ber of caissons, was made byGeneral Augerauski, of the Cavalry of the Russian guard, on the 23d ; and on this day and the preceding, several. ad .vanced guard 'affairs took place between Genera! -Wreck's corps, the Prince of Wirteolh4g*, and the enemy. At 'scion -as the ,Marshal took this' decision, he made his dispcisitions accordingry,.l by lOrming a -corps on the Bar-surAnbe line, which he has committed to the care of General Ducca, to pro tect the . head-quarters of the Emperor of Austria, 'his. supplies, 4c. and. carry, them, if.necessai-y, ,to wards the army of the south, and also,. by vigo rously pressing forward in his operations towards tlio 'capita); to see'dre lids rear, lc iic piti-stv.':',l his ohicct ins front. VIC combined army marebCd in three columns to Feh‘ Cliampenoise on the 25th. All the ca valry of the army forffied the advance, and *ere to ;in,,11 forwahl to Sminne. The Gth and 4th corps funned the advance of the centre colnmn ; the ithwas on and the 3d corps, and th re'elve: , and the Gnards, on the left. Marshal Bluche'r was reported to have arrived with a grzat part of his army'at Chalons. Gene ral XViti.ingerode and Gtooral Czernichetr, with all their cavalry, entered stritry on the 23d, and were immediately detached to follow up Buona parte's march to .'3 t. threatening his rear. General Winzingerode's infantry had remained at Chalons with - .711a1 - shal Blucher, together with Ge neral \Voronzotl's and Zachen's corps. General Bulow had marched to attack Soissons, and Ge nerals Yorck awl Kleist had moved on the line of Montmirail. By these general movements, your Lordship will perceive, that had litionapai te even not crossed the Aube, and passed between our two armies, he probably would have found himself in a similar position to that at Leipzig, and the re suit would have been, I have no doubt, of the same nature. The army was to Irave bivouacked on the 25th at Fere Chainpcnoisc. It appears the corps of Marshal Alarmont and Monier, who had been retiring from before Mar.- shal Blucher,- were moving down towards 'kitty, to connect themselves with BuonAparte•s opera tions, ignorant of his intentions, which may not have been fully formed until he found himself too far committed : these corps of his army were in4:ch perplexed on finding themsel►es close to Prince Schwartzenberg's artily, ►vhen they expected to meet theirown. It is a singular but a curious fact, that Mar shal Marmont's advance was within a very short distance on the night of the 24th to Vitry, without the enemy's knowing it twas in the occupation of the Allies., On the morning of the 25th, the sixth corps, under General Henske, fell in with their advance, drove them back to Connantray and through Fere Champenoise in the former place a large number of caissons, waggons, and baggage, were taken. In the mean time, on the left, the Russian cavalry of the rvserves, under the Grand Duke Constan tine, was equally successful, charging the CHM v, taking 18 cannon, and many prisoners. But the principal brilliant movement of this day occurred after the Allied troops in advance had passed through Champenoise ; a detached colmunn of (.1! C eurttry, of five thousand men; under time command of General Ames, had been making its way, under the protection of Marmont's corps, from the ncighhou rh • mi of ,Montmivail, to ipi n Napoleon with his grand arms'. This corps had in charge ahirumense convoy with 100,000 rations of bread, and ttnununition ~ a ;td was of g reat import ance, by the force attached to it. It had left Park to proceed to Buonaparte, ai!d the cavalry of Marshal Blucher's army were the first to discover and observe this corps on their march frosa lons. Aid•-de-Catnp,' Captain Harris, was fortunate enough, looking out with sou:Cossacks, to give the first intelligence to Mtrrshal Blucher of their position. The cavalry of Generals Kort and Basitschikoff Corps were immediately detached after them, and they were driven upon Fere Champenoise, as the cavalry of the grand army was advancing. attacks of the cavalry were made on this corps, who formed themselves in squares, and, it is but jpstice to say, defended themselves in the most gallant Manner, although they were young troops, and gardes nationales ; when they were completely surrounded by the cavalry of both armies, some officers were sent to demand their surrender, but they still kept marching on and firing, and did not lay down their arms ; a battery of Russian artil-• lery opened upon them, and renewed charges of cavalry completed their destruction ; and Generals Amos and Pathod, Generals of Division, five Bri gadiers, 5000 prisoners and 12 cannon, with the convoy, fell into our bands ; ATarmont and Mor tices, rear-guards seeth to have drawn off in the direction of Seaanne, and it is difficult to say whe ther they will heable to effect their escape. Every disposition is making to harass and surround them; but themoment is so eventful, and every intelligence Some gives rise to such new conjectures, that I can only btg your Lordship to excuse the very imperfect manner in which I am obliged to detail. The grand army marches to-day to Mai Here : Head-quarters at r ireffau, and the advance is to push as far as La Perte.Gaucher. Marshal Blu cher, who was last night at Etayes, is to advance against Montrinirail. Your Lordship will, I am sure; lamentto•learn, that that very deserving Qfficer, Colonel Neil Carspbell, was twfortun - iltely woun.dcd by a Cos c-re'ek;' in -'itr - e in6Me of rife being known : the pilie was run iuto :nut he is doing well. lam also particulait' s i:ry to re : poll: the Lath of Col. Rapatel, who was shot Ito : inn up to one of the columns with a flag of trdec• The los:, 'Of an b lccr, so much and 30 loved in this army, from his attacrtnent to 3loreau, iris excellent qualities, awl his ti€:vor.:•011:- to the good cause; has bc:asioned regret. CHAS. STEW:ART, Lielo taNtkrengli, &c. Sze. Irefni-Clithrters, colo:nier;, march ( 2 7,151 4 ' Lottn,--Th'e .snorts from the diiiintn t , corps not hating been r'cceired when I writ my dispatch of the 26th, adderi to the the moment in which it was written, must be I% apology for having much under-rated the, s ll ' cesses of the 2Lth instant. . Upon the retreat of Marmont's, Arrighi's corps before the several columns Of armies, whose junction had been effected betwc' 3 here Cbampeuoise and Chalons, ;Ibove zit) picc ° of cannon, besides the convoy alluded to in 10 - dispatch of the 2611, and a great number of Cll sons, fell into our hands. The guns - were tinned in all directions bv'the enemy in the rapt retreat, au.d Were enptured not only by the -ea'' ry of the Grand Duke Constantine and aen er '' Count Pablo), but also by the corps of Genc °l Reifslty and the Prince Royal of Whtemberg• Generals D'Vnrck and Kleist, who had 111 0 ' e ` from Montnnrail on La-Ferte dawdler, " 14r '; they arrived on the 26th, very pjeltly atigniel lte( the enemy's discomfiture ; Geticral D'Yorck's vs' ry 6, erioudy tinged with the ent , al7'; rind ti)(" 1 1500 prisoners at the latter place ; and he fairly eFtituateci that this part of 8u0n0 47 ! ' army has been so rotigli 7 o bandlo one-third of its efliciency in p617-ti o f nornbers., with nearly all the arHi l t;'e brlon , 4 ln r: to it. thing but continued forced trzlrches coal' W I enabled any part of the corns above !Ir .A to elude trteir victorl'o;is pursners ;• ari d ‘ r be!' • detail to your Lord3hir, that Marshal . army was Fismes on th e "4th, and. - -.ras O f' ing. at Lit-Ferte-Gailchel- on tire ' - ' l 6th. march of 2G leagues, i: wilt be trident that t ' physical exertious can eNceell those th a t the P i./ sent unexampled crisis brings into action. The Grand Army was in position at Lthiii!crct& The nntrei,t was continued in thorns from Fete Chainpenoise : the b e ,..,;(f of the Emperor of Russia and Prince ;:: berg were at Trefrin ; the.cavalry of Coant ben were pushed on beyond La Petrie • joining Generals a Yorck an a l T . 4:l:cist ; ::!t' , •' n. and the reserves were:)ivottnalled at d }tic On the right of the !..;reat roa , l; the Gth ;v 1 corps were in the centre ; the sth o n the it'll' ° c the $d rcrpizined in the re:,:- to cuter Ali tit c ar!..iliery, parks awl train, and to 11 0.-; march of the whole compiler. Gent..fal Sal:s°,,,a rid cr Ledarin's partizan co r p s occu pi e d an d Lb' cd the count; y about Ards and Troves, b€ l ‘ :- • the 26th. the :Nlarne ond Seine r ; vcrs. I titeniger)ce was received fi.ow Gencv . :ll s 2inerode zlnd Czernieheff, ho continued 1.-(fr ,,o • 1r1:'1 - ;:non:Ipw-tei rear tea thoasaiiii and forty pieces ()Ie.:1111ton, that be by Ihienne to Ear•sur-Anhe and Troves., lug hack to the capital the utitto,,t Lion a plain detnoustration (if auy were ‘v'''''' clt }4 ,. .. that supeliority of t . n :ma:Au-ring, as we'd sill) riority c,f force, were in his adversaries' . &" Ic. ir l' The Prince Ficid-:\larshai continuer 4 11'. . 14 1+ till 4- day without interruption ; the h:.-.4a- e ° werc'established at Coloroicvs ; the tit!? c0rP5,,,,c;7 rived at Manson ; Count Palilen's eavatl'Y' 0 4 the Prince _Royal of \Ville:ll4r , , .who 5 :0 1 to turn the enemy's right, followed o ne P 3r e; the corps bet Ore us, which seem e d nor( 1?t• I ti separated to Crecy ; while Generals 1.)1 - "° ;-- k Kleist pushed the other by advancing Forte. Gaudier to Ikaux, wdrere they 'vi a the passage of the Mitro.e for At t r=hat 1311 : .c army ; the .sth corps took up its grot 111 ": ‘ , of Chailly ; the 3d at Maveillon ; and thet i 9 theznard, the guards, a n d reserves , 11 09(' ' place-. 1,1• co 1 0C - Marshal Blachcr's head-qu a rt e rs areru -n La.Ferte J ounrrc , an d to-t00.T0.,v „ , )( 1 Pass the Marne ; which I -apprehend arniy will do at Lagny; thus conccntrat io g their whole force on the right haul: of and taking Position on the heNhts Martrc. tliA tt 11;311 I arn as yet ignorant of the motive. fe°"t; have directed the corps of the cneniy whether a p a rt J ois fallen ba c i; . tc, : torin - ft '" be r to the, national guards, at Par;s ;.• 11.". rit st %rid' some of these they .wiDdispotEr rri ` ifir: „ c4l ,f t :ob e ; the passage of the Marne to-morrio".;,'";` tiler the other, paa u m vi na ,by FrOVO - ri ta i iiiP e " Buonaparte, remains to b e s ' eei ,, but in tbc instance to he rrehendedvt Wllatcver way pp be the t;ltimate rest ft A