The National Register.
London, England, 1813-02-28 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

530

and his first strokes were irresistible. Smolensk° fell; and
the sanguinari battles of Krasnoi and Valentina, led him
triumphant to the 6elds Of Borodino, where, after causing
the blood of eighty thousand victims to flow, be failed t(.l
destroy his opponent, although he crippled hlin for a time
from offensive operations, and reduced him to the painful
- necessity of abandoning the .ancient capital o,f the empire
- to the ravagiog hordes of an invader.
On entering Mo.-,cow, NAPOLEON thought all his diffi
culties were over, and.the war at an end. Ile le.cl no doubt
but a proposal of peace on his part, attendcd %Yid: a tin cat,
if refused, to destroy the holy city, wou'd be teceived with
joy and accepted with gratitude. For that pit, pose he en-
deavoured to .save Moscow fom the horrors of pilla2;e, but
soon expel iencechtbat it was impossible to conta:n an hete-
rogeneous multitnde with arms and power in their hands.
In former wars he had led the veterans of Fiance to battle
with some dear object in view, the attainment of which, he
had. persuaded them, was just and necessary.. They bad
foUght heartily against Austi ia, both because there rdwass
existed a natural animosity between the people of the two
countries, and because FRANC is having armeet fitst, was re
presented as a breaker of treaties who intended to invade,
and if successful, to dismember France. The Prussian war
was equally popular with them, as Prussia had been the fist
to appear in an offeniive attitude. They were besides almost
all Frenchmen, revenging suppnsed national injuries; but
now the case was entirely reversed. France was evidently
the aggressor, with no other reason for war than the main-
tenance of an abstract commercial principle, bet and the
understanding of her soldiers, and in which therefore they.
' would have felt no interest, had they even heen all French,
but against which they must have been sti singly prejudiceil,
as the-subjects of many countries where
.they had witnessed
the ruinous effects of its operation. The prospect of elms-
der had alone made them willingly engage in the service of
a cause of which they .sectetly disapproved, and they were de-
termined tint to be deprived of their anticipated meed. They
derided the ceders of the imperial Robber whom they fol-
lowed, and rushed upon the defenceless city witls all the vio-
knee of unbridled lust and rapine. This conduct exas-
pet ated the remaining inhabitants to madness. They saw
that non-resistance was no protection for their wealth, their
safety, and the honour of their wives and daughters. They
beheld their dwellings forcibly entered and wantonly de-
stroyed; their palaces plundered, their-sacred temples-
burst
open, their altars stripped and sactilegiously dishonoured,
and they vainly rushed to arms in their defence. Despair
followed defeat ; submission did not. They could riot save
their city frOm ruin—they consummated it themselves, and
thus freed it from further pollution. The hand that was
unequal to wield the sword, snatched the brand and spread
. the flame. The blazing capital was turned into au engine
of destruction to the enemy, who shrunk appalled at the
consequences of his own fury and the exalted heroism of the
people. NAI. 0 L EON himself, sheltered by the high walls of
the Kremlin from the effects of the conflagration, beheld in
its dismal light the signal of his altered fortun.es. His prey
had escaped him, for it had ceased to exist. It was not the
loss of accommodation for his trooiss that he deplored. The
actual annihilation of Moscow had deist ised him of the power
of threatening to effect it ; a menace which he had found
effective on a former occasion, as it had obtained from
of AUSTRIA, alarmed for the fate otitis capital,
1 submission. He had now plunged into a situa;
aralleled danger, relying for security on the
Moscow, whose ransom he thought would be
' this hostae bad perished: he was disarmecieof

ryn..23

all influence over -the Russian Councils ; and apnreben. ion
of the calatni!les he was able to itiflrct, had gtven way amongst
his opponents to the ardent wish of avenuing. them. Win-
ter in all its northern horrors was toweling upouhim: I osts
(if Cossacks and Tartars lately c,‘tne orn the ha, ks of, the
Df.n, bung around, intercepting all his communications ;
the recruited llussimi Crawl Arm% le•.,t;vanced on hi• it ft
flank, and the two formidable armie, of W ITTGEST tart and
Tcu fcti A GOFF, pioNel rennin.. d %vete ',verb, ow intr, Ike
di% idc d corps of al:ics whom he had left to watch and check
t bent, and cbising near th. ce liundo d in h's r-ar. llt
felt Ids perils, but concca!ed lis terra-s, p.oposed pe..ce with
the assumed mrdera!inn of a m *Li wotimous cot,que.. 1, ready
to pui sue his career of victory, at d •everel yr ited on his
own tioops the Amino ntment of whit h their u-brid!ed
lieentioustie,s had been tie nr.ginal cau e. Fut we are in-
formed fon the. trios' au 'wont ti,,sian sou ces, !hat when
NAPOLEON entered Mose, w he and hi:, Mat shals c,•tn.
mand'Over their armv. a..d that all ti e time j.,ottred amid
its tuins, no day passed without fit teen o' twenty nulitary exe-
cutions on soldiers who. had comiwced acts i f plunder and
violence.

Aware of the policy of desaining the Freneh as Tong
possible• in ti.eir exposed ituation, which c‘e‘y hour of
delay rendered still more desperate, the Russian Ceneral
amused them with false hopes of env., ing into a tte.!.ocuition,
until all his reinforcements had art ived, when by a sudden
and spit ited attack. and the defeat i,f thei, advar ced posts
with great loss, be at once awoke t;iem to a !•ens, of the hor-
rors of their situation, and the necessity of seeking for safety
in a precipitate flight.

The crowd of highly important intelligence arrived this week
compels us to delay the conclusion of these obsevratious till
our nest.

GOTTENDURGII MAIL.

OFFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FROII F. ATIMIES.

The Commander in Chief of th- Armies, Marshal Prince Kutosoff of
Smotensko, has prest rated to hes Imperial :11.,j..5tv the c intimation of
the journal of militopy opetati,ms, from the Suth December to dth Jalltb•
Lry (N. S ) which contain as follows,—
•` Dec 18. t 90).—Alajur-General Prince Oronsoir tins, on the 15th
(470) inst. joined the army, with five complete regiments, which are
under his orde: s, and are intended to c•-inplete it.
‘• Major lgnatecti, ot. the 13th (t! th) ins! caused a hat'alion
of liournr,ki infantry, and a detaelinierit of iln• regiment of Lithuanian
Uhlans, to depart from the fcrtress of Bobry tisk her latliternim%
"Dec. 19 (3:).--General Count stat2a, under date of the 17th
('nth), that Lieutenant-Colonel 'l'uninhau, who was at it,gnet with his
detachment, hat lug received ad% ice that a large body of the enemy's
cavalry had shewn themsllves on the road to Tilsit, immediately
put himself in motion to meet them. He discovered four squadrons of
Prussian hussars.. who wore immediately attacked and broken by the
Cossacks. We took from the enemy three eflieers and litt.‘ soldiers.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ttttertborn perceiving that the enemy was rein-
fitehig himself with infantry Hod dragonw, and that be had artillery
with him, retired to Leuken amid p!accd his advanced guard a! Upper Er.
seln. After occupying Gunthinnen and Insterhowg, we took 81 pri-
soiters in pursuing; the enemy as far as ‘Velilati. The Aide-de- anip
General Wasstltz,chikmdf reports, that tour 1-,ginients.of Don Cossacks
had on the 10th CZ-1d) inst. united %% Rh his de tatimment. lie likewise
mentions under date of the I)th (27th), that the Austrian c. rps under
the orders of Prince Sehwartzenl,erg ha./ part, d at i'mkott. lune, and ta.
ken two &Grunt routes; his left wing takes the way of W:lint and
Lomza to Ostrolenka, and he is pulling himself in older to !übile the
enemy with all poi We celerity. Colonel Joussisowitsch, horn he has
in the meanwhile detached with two regiments of Cossacks and Char koira
regiment of atnzoons en the Toad to \Vvsud is iii.ewise mu
pursue the eoeiny and keep cr communication with his coups.
" Dec. (Jvn. 1.)-1.ieut. General Baron `'tin Sackett r,ports, un-
der elate of the 17th (with), that Major-General Count de Liewen, cc
was marching on W,yssukulitovsk, had detuthed Lieut.-Culoncl Mialtaki

the Emperor
uncomlitiona
tion of unp.
possession of
peace. But