The National Register.
London, England, 1812-10-11 00:00:00

tontien.,
SUNDAY, OCT010:4 Lt.

_

eAPTURE OF GENERAL it t)LL ANE)HU4 WHOLE ARMY !
NAVAL DEFEAT:-RUSSIAN ACCOUNT OF 'TM!. BATTLE
OF MOSKAV A.— OCCU PAT lON OF • MOSCOW BY THE'
FR ENCIL—R L;MOU NEGOCIATIONS.—SWEDISH DE. ,

LAYS. •
The firing of the Tower guns on Tuesday morning pre-
pared every mind for an' account of fresh triumphs in the
Feninsula, when the Bulletin issued by Gnvernment only
disappointed expectation, to enciease the public joy at the
humiliation of a new enemy. The capture of the American
General Ilut.t. with fort Detroit and his whole army, little
more than a month after his invasion of 'Upper Canada, by
a force not amutinting to half his, own, and•eomPOSed of as
many Indians as Briti.,h, and the latter 'consisting chiefly of
militia with a few iegtilars, was a most unexpected cause for
exultation, as before the exploit was performed, it WoOld
have been deemed impossible. No doribt was entertained of
the ability of our troops to repel im'asion ; but that a Com-
mander who represented, in a boastful proclamation, at his ar-
ival on our territory, the magnitude of his means, and the-
ftweriority of his force, as capable of bearing down all op-.
.positicn, should not only have fled back before inferior ntmr-
Im•s, but should have surrendered bimselfand all his troops,
wi:b a Nvbo!e American district, without awaiting our attack,
"was se complete though so bloodless a triumph, and so entire
a di, comfiture of the intentions of the enemy upon Canada,
rts to induce a hope that it might lead to the instant tenni-
elation of the war, What • effect i; lias produced on the
public Mind in the United States, we have yet to learn, but
it must have contributed to augment the unpopularity of
the povirnment, and to render the re-election of Mr.
`could this. partisan of
must occasion that of.
lode r ate, whose first act
'nd.

(ere terror of our name,
)ur favourite element,

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rc.T.- I

which at ttrsi-Crealed net little grief and astenishmen'. The
Ames ican Constitutinai frigatk,, captured it single combat the
British frigate. nuerviete, and afterwards destroyed her. An
ocetmeliee .so novel in out' naval annals could
.not fail to
excite indignatinn, but a CzoOl,i6litiry into the superior ad-
vaniage vhich the Constitntion possessed in point of metal,
• and In hei• coinp4m,pt, of men, over the Guerriere, the
accidental shot that cart led. off the masts of that vessel et the
beginning of. the action, and the-bravery with which it was
one-tlii:d of her crew had been killed
wounded, .a 1,4 she had hccoine a sinking wreck, to which t is
enemy wei.e..obiiged to set.;:iire almost as soon as thry had
taken possession of her, completely' exoneratd C-,11-tr.;ll
lI)AcnE- of all blame, and proved that cycn in disclrafiturk
be had worthiltis.ustaineil the honour of the Briiish navy.
The par icn lars arc in The fia.;etie of list night.
Scarcely hadtht-pitblie mind ceased to fiwell on that un-
toward event, %%hen 'the ail ival cif clisp:it(hs f: not our En-

voy at i•:t. Fetersburgh, Lord CA itt6 A it-r• dispe;lcd the pre.
vim]; gloom occasioned 4.1 the French iigh:eentil rtolietin,
and changed itinte universal, but al's short-liven exu!ta-
tion. Ilis Lordship stated-the enemy to have beca com-
pletely defeated in thl! battle of Moskwl, or Borodino, dd...
ven fifteen wersts-from the field of battle, and stiil !Armed
by
.the victorious army, the logs of which was no com-
puted at le,s than-05,000 killed and wounded, wnilst that
cif the French, on account of their flight, was supposed to
he greaten The guns had been 'fired, acd Te Drum sting
at St. lletershiugh, and the :EMPEROR, .to rewalcl the tri-
umphant General, Pi ince KuTusoir, had appointed him
Marshal;General; 'and granted him„ 100,000 rubles, and
five rouhles,to each soldier uho had a share in the battle.
Onfortunatelr, both the CMPittott anti Lord CATHCART
seem to have
_founded ;their exultation on private accourt,
rather than an the official dispatebes of the Commat:der in
Chief, which do not contain any .claim to a decisive vic-
tory, and rather gie an
_intimation of his inability to "
dertake any thing against the enemy" after the battle, un-
less p;werfully reinforced. After describing the streag.th of
'his positron., in which if attacked be felt ConAtient of vie.
tory, the junction of the new levies from Moscow, and
the collections of all his force on the ground he had selected
fur a general battle to retrieve the fortunes of
.the empire,
be gives a short and confused view of •the aetion, which he
represents.as having raged with the greatest fury until the
'evening, the redoubts which he had erected passing continu-
ally from one party to the other, and, concludes by_ stating,
that. the French had 'not been able to gain ground upon.
him ; that be had taken " some prisoners, some guns, and
a General cf Brigade, and that after receiving reinforce-
inents lie would see what he could undertake against the
enemy." -Such' Was the aceount given by the Commander
.in Chief, which, at best, made•the action a drawn hattle,
as no mention whatever was Made of a retreat on the part of
the French and an advance'on that of the Russians. Had
we received such a report from the enemy after a gene-
ral engagement, we should have had no hesitalion in sad in
that they bad been worsted. Tlris,. on reflection, .was pet-
haps felt by the EMPEROR himself, and -we ;find that as a
sort of confirmation to the•more flattering results of the bat-
tle, " the. impressions ariing,from the first reports dispatch-
ed from the field," or, in other words, the private statements
Of the Officers who brought the,dispatchea, were ernhodied
into an official document and published at Sit. Petersburgh as
intelligence from the army Of Ihe same date.as the dispatches
themselves. Now this 'document ffa"lly contradicts Prince
KuiusoyF'S icC4Urit in aevgt7il instances, and itself in others.
ic ehe kpo*lelges .cailifeie a.the advanced iedoubt in front
•


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IVIA pisoN as President doubtful. Shl
Frauce lie 'thrown out of Qice, his fall i
bis party . . ~.': . ,*., ,g. of the mod
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