The National Register.
London, England, 1813-11-14 00:00:00

724

the „village of Reidtinz. The promptitude ot Giese inovesntrits restoied
ord. T. The village aas retaken, :tot' the (mealy ail, t u tu'a great dis-
tance. fitld of battle remained entirely iu our power, and the
French army remained siciorious in the Ift Ids of I.eipsir as they had in
those of Wachati. At night-tall, the fire of our cannon had, at all
points, repulsed, that of the .enemy, to the di,tance of a tra:zue from the
field of battlo. The General.; of Jilt i-ion Vial and limehainheati
gloriooly. Our 1%49 on this day iw to' estimated at 4fait) men Lille d
gild wounded ; thxt of the enemy IlaliNt have 'wen in the
extreme. They took no prisoneia front us, and tie took from them 500
men.

At six in the eveoin tie Emperor ottl reti his dispositions for 11,e
following day : but, at s(-s•tiv ()said:. fivi:erals Sot bier and Dulatthly,
commandit:e the :irliqury c f the army of the glia•ds, came to his hi-
•onac to inform him ••I 111, • xpettilitti re (): t 1 c day ; 95.000 c :neon Lahti
bad been fired. Tory informed him that the au-munition in reerve
was 'xlieusted, and that there remained only IC,OOO catno,n-bulls; thot
Ibis would scarcely suffice for it cannonade of Iwo hour:, after ‘A 11101 co
ammunition would remain for ultriiur events; that the army had in five
days fired upwards of ...20,000 cannon-bans, anti that a luither supply
could only he furnished at Magdeburg or Erfurt. ,tale of things
rendered necessary ri prompt movement upon one of the two hrgest ctc
p0t..,. The Emperor decided fur that of Erfurt, for the same reason
which induced him to come to Leipie, to enable hint to uplift date the
defection of Bavaria.

The Emperor immediately gave orders that the baggage, the parks,
and the artillery ehould puss the defiles of Lindeman ; hN gave similar
.orders with respect to the cavalry. and the different corps of the army ;
send then repaired to the Prussian Mk I, in the suburbs of LeipAc, whet e
he arrived at nine o'clnc.k in the cycling.
• This ci:eattistance oblited the F:enrlt army to renounce the fruits of
the tau victories in wlich the y hail, with so much glory, beat, n troop-
gicatly superior in nutobgra, and the rocks P: the whole Continoht„
But this movement was not whiloat From Leipsie to Linde-
Dan there is a defile of two It avt:es, with float Jive t,) six b' ;da('% on the
road. It was proposed to place 6:410 !lien and t.o pieces, Of cannon in
J.e•irsie, which a wallen town ; tt, occupy that town as a fete sir &tile;
• burn its vast sobtiris ;n order to pr,vent the enemy from e tf-cting tt
.1 td!rmetit therein, :nut t give full se6pe for cur artillery out the ran-marts
to pity. ilowever.odioas the trwason of the Saxon army was, the Em-
peror cool.l not resolve to cestrov one of the fine•t cities in Germs:llv ;
Jo deliver a up to the disotrders of -every bind lust-durable from such a
defence ; and that, ton, under the evcs of the King, who had been
pleased to accomp:ory the E:nprror Irons D:e! den, and whin Has so sen-
.sibly afflicted by the conductof his arniy. The Emperor chwe rather
10 expose hirnsell to the loss of a few hundred wig:pue, than to adopt
this burbarcus futaslte.

• At break of day, all the parks, the !magic's, the whole of the arti!.
• lery, the cavalry, tho atinril,, and two-tl.i.ds of the army, had alre:,dy
passed the deli !e. The Doke of Tarentum and Prince Ponintowski were
chargtd to hold the solmrhs, and to defrod them hnig enough to dloss•
the vlort.e to, dehooche, :nid then to execnte, them el Vi." 4, the Das%age of
the defile'townrds eleven o'clock. At six o'clock in the morning the
Magi-trates of Leipsie sent a dep,tati;.n to the Prince of Schwarizen-
• berg, to bed that he would nut niahe the env the scene of an action that
vecould occasion its runt. At ii;oe o'cl,•ek the Emperor mounted his
_lmrse, entered Leipne, and p.:.! a visit to the Ensz. He I. ft this l',ince
•at full liberty to do as he pleased. and riot to quit his dominion,,ftxrvilg
them to be exposed to that sctlithnis spirit which had been totuented
amongst the soldiers. A Saxon b4ttalion had been formed at Dresden,
And j ined to the young guard:. The. Emperor caused it to be drawn
up at Letpsie, in front of the King':‘ palace, lo serve him ns a guard, and
protect him from the hist movement of the enemy. Half an io,or alter,
.the Emperor repaired to Lindenan, there to await the eyaeo.ltion' of
J.eipsic, and to see the 1./St troops pass the bridges before putting him-
self in march.

Aleanwhile the 'news, was speedily apprised that the greater part of,
the army had evacunted Leipsie, coil that there remained there (adv. a
stri4 rear-
,;ward. triskly. attael;rd the Duke of fareatuin
Prince i'oniatowski; they 'were repented!y repuberl ; and in the out
scl derendiflg the:sOurtis, our rear-guard effected its red f.,11. ti„t the
.Baxnus that had; remained in the city fired tiptm the troops froai the
•tampints, wliichmtdigcd titpni to cceleratc their retreat, and ueca-
sitmed sane disorder..

The Emperor foul, orderkd the engineers to form fou7ades under the
grand bridge which• is betwcel Leipsie and knot!, in order to blow
ir up at. the latest women! ; and taus to retard the wilfeh of the clictuV,
'stud give time fur our baggage to fh• otf. General Dulauloy had en-
trusted this operation to Colonel Montfort. This Colonel, instead
of remaining on the spot to direct it, uud to give the signal,
ordered a corporal and four sappers to blow up the bide the
instant the enemy should appear. 'lle corporal, an ignorant
follows and but ill compreheudwg the nature of the duty with which

NOV. 14.

he as charged, upon 'mating the first shot • disehavom from the
ramparts of the city, vet fire to th 4 fritgades and irtew up the hrihe.
•- part of the army waS rttli on the other •side with a park of t3O
pieces of at t il ler y. and same littmiredsuf waggonw The adVfineed guard
()ibis part cf tttr ;only, who were approaching the bridge, seeingit
blow up. conceived it was in the power of the enemy:: A cry of
.lismay from rank to rank--" The enemy are close ••npfin (Mi• rear,
and the htid.es are destroye,-; !" The unfortunate soldit‘rx dispersed
and endeavoitre.l to di( 41 their .escape :04 well as they• could. The
mike rarentwq siel,e;m) thc rivet; Conk Luuristutt,
fortunate. was drowned ; p• Mee l'oniatt,w ski, mounted on a spirited
horse, darted into the wAtt.;', will app. aretino more. The Empercr
was not informed of this di-astei until it via too late to remedy it.
To ready it would have Ewen itnrosscole; Colonel Montfort
and the Corporal of Soupers, have been handtti over to a Court-
martid.

It k impossible as yet t osr•ertain the losses occa4oned by this
unrortimate event ; but they are e:Aiinated it 12,00 c) men, and
several liniulreq W..: gal) •The diEorf4o. wiiielt it has occasioned in
the came has changed the state of atlair,. "lbe'Frenclr army though
yietoriom, is arrkring at El-Huth, as a crefeatol army would have
arrived tlwre. It is inipossis le to docribe 1:e regret which tins
arm; feels for Pritive Poniatov/ski,Ceitot Lauriston,ano all the brave
men who perished in consequence of this fatal event. We have nit
accounts of Gimeral ite2nicr ; 1•1..; not known wlic.:lter is taken
or killed. The profound grief ,f•the Emperor may easily he con-
ceive:l, Who sees from Su:Mention ti' its wide dispositions the
results of so many fatie,ites at:.; labours co,npktely vanishing.
On the 19th the Emperor slept. at IVarkratistaedt ; the I)nke
of Jcp.,gio yet-mined a• Len.leiratt On the 21111 the Emperor
passel the Sai,. at Vieis,eitle:',. On the Ist the army passed
the Thistrot at rreyherg ; Genera'. Bertrand took h position npott
the heights of tocsin'. • On the V.ifl the Emperor slept at the
village of 011endorf. OH the Y 3.1 he arrived at lint. The enemy
who had been struck with eir,:tertivtibii by the battles of the 16th
and ltitis, has, from it ,e disas!er at' the 19th, resurtied the courage
and astendancy of vic'.•,ry. Frencit army, after such brilliant
slice •sse.-s, has lost it:, victorious attitude. We have tound at Erfurt
provisions, minim; t ion, ciothing, all that the &toott in need
cf. The Staff will publish the reports of the different chiefs of the
army as to the officers who•distinguished themselves in the grand
battles of \Vachon and Leipsie.

PAnts, Nov. 1 —Her 'Majesty the Empress Queen and Regent
has received the following accounts of the situation of the army urn
the 31st of Octobrr

The two rc giments of cuirassiers of the. King of Saxony, form-
ing part of the Ist corps of cavalry, remaiaed with the French
army. When the Emperor quitted Leipsic hr (Noised the Duke
of Vicenza to write them Ile subjoined letter, and sent theM back,
to Leipsic to serve as the King's guard
When the Bavarian defe!.tion was certain, there. was Atilt a Fia-
vasian battalion with the alloy. His Mikiesty CallScli the subjoiued
letter to be tvritten to the Commandant of the battalion by the Ma-
jor-General.
The Emperor left ricurt on time 23th.
Our army has operated in tranquillity its movement on the Mien.
Art ivcd at 6einhansen, on the nth, au etiem‘'s corps of 5 or e.. 010
men was perceived. ‘s hide we learnt from the prisoners was the
advanced goard of the Austrian and Bavarian army. This advan.
ced guard was repulsed and compelled to retire. Tl.e bridge
• which tile ence.y had cut (101 i II WM promptly re-established.
We also learned :rout the prisoners, that the Austrian and Ilavasian
armv„ fro:n ea to 79,0U:1 stro;h:, coming from Braman, hail ar-
rived at Hama:), •and thought to block up the road of the French
army.
On the evenhez of the 29th the tirailleurs of the enemy's advan-
ced-guard were pushed beyond the village of Langensboldv; and
at seviei is the evening.the Emperor and his -headNuarters weie in
that vilLge, at the eagle of Issei:homl.
Oa the 3'th, the Emperor mounted his horse at nine in the
morning ; the f)ahe of 1 arentom advanced with 3,000 tirailleurs
under toe orders of Gen. Charpentier. The cavalry of Sebastiatti,
(ku. Friant' division of the t;tiattl, and- the cavalry of the old
plan; fohoweit ;. the re-t of the at'ov was a march behold. The tw-
iny hod placetl six hat taboos at the village of Ruckingen, in order to
intercept all the mints leading to the Rhine. Some cannon-shotand
a chargv of cavalry made their bat talions.retire with precipitation,
Arrived at the skirt of a wood two leagneS from Hanau, the
tirailleurs soon engaged. The enemy was foreeu into the wood to
the point otionetion between the old and new road. Not being
able to oppose the superiority ut our infautry, he endeavoured to