The National Register.
London, England, 1812-12-06 00:00:00

TIM NATIONAL REGISTER.

7e, (.;

Ita..-e been unmanned, and carried up to the inner harbour,
tho :men and marines having been hurried off to Nland.

RI;VEATED .")EFEATS AND INCREASING DISTRESSES OF

THE FT \( !T.

The'ninct rapturous exultation wits created last Friday
thuonvhout the inch opolis, by a report, that Capt u
of the r0y.,1 ravv, had luotleq dispatche; from Lord CA III-
( RT, an aCCANIt of the defeat of the French
coc.manded b. BFON AP ART c in person, in a general battle,
milt the loss of 40,000 men, and SO pieces of c;mnon. This
statement, theuglt not correct to its full extent, has, how-
evv, wove(' true to a great degree, as the Bull; tie issued by
ti.e ,Ndatitaltv, and given in another part of our columns,
mil: most sa:isfactorily demonstrate. It consists of the trails-
Ltion of two Russian Bulletins, dated !•:t. Petersburgi', Nov,
and 1 tth, and cif an extract of a letter from Count Pos EN,
dated Stockholm, Nov. 19. The two former mention the
defeat of ST. CYR, at Poletsl, with the loss of 6,000-prison-
ers, nine pieces of cannon, the whole Bavarian baggage, and
nicety powder waggons: the repulse of BCONAPARTE at
l‘laloyaroskavitz, where he boasted in his 27th Bulletin he

bad gained a victory, but which the Russian account states
• Um to have abandoned with sixteen pieces of cannon, after
taking and losing it eight times, upon which he loft his army
to proceed hastily to Smolensko: the capture of two colours
twetty-four guns, by Pt. ATOW, near Kolotsk : the defeat
of VICEROY of ITALY, NET, and DAVOCST, in an action
fought on the 3d ult. tica• Viasma, where the French 2sth
Bulletin conter.ds the Russians were beaten with the loss of

rpat.y prioners, and six pieces of artillery and, lastly, the

ef Admiral TSCiiITCHAKOF Slonim, where he I.
tack a Polish (.eneral, and three regiments of uhllns, prison-
ers, and that of Colonel TCHLRNIKOFF .towards Warsaw.
WIT TGENSTE'N is also stated to have entered Witespsk.
Countßostrt's letter seems to have embodied rumours,rather
than to convey offieial intelligence. His report of the defeat of
ST. Cva and VICTOR probably alludes to the battle of the
igth and 20th of October, and the safe ari'ival.of BUONA-
P A RTE at Smolen-ko on the gth of November, officially an-
nounced in the 28th Bulletin, dated from that town, Novem-
ber I.lth, throws some discredit on the account of his having
been personally met on two different roads, and turned hack
to the main army, first • by General, OraTrt's detachment,
nd anerwards by a divi,ic:n of WITTGENSTEIN'S army ; but
we think it highly probable, that his not having advanced
beyond. Smoleasko, is to be attributed to a very rational
al,prel)ension of falling in with either WITTGENSTEIN,
TO R.M ASOW, or TciIITCHAGOW, ureil the rest of his army
had come up. As he is closely pursued by KuTusorF with
superior numbers, there is no doubt but he will endeavour to
anticipate his arrival, and to cut his way through the forces
which are said to intercept his way to \Vilna, so that. we may
silo tly expect to hear that another desperate battle has been
The admirers of BCON AP A wrc arc at lat obliged to pause
in that strain of paneeyrie in wllinit they delight to indulge,
and'.heir id'l is himself eornpOled to lower the tone of his
gasc ,nade a little, white the poor wretches who follow him
arc fait taking up their winter quarters beneath the soil
th,..irf.otsteps iruve polluted. Cot off by the severity of the
eii.ate, or by the veng4ul s‘vords of ,he Rus,iar.s, they WI
in thou and, around Wm, and, the t% rant hemmed in by hos •
tile armies, will think himself fortunate if he can kad hack,
.disgraced, hdi the to; ces he forme,ly dragged with to
fulfil the det;nics of IZI--sia." The " beautiful weather.:
is now gone; aed, thu,igh it teems from the 2tll Bulletin
that it lasted e!iht- days froin the date of the 27th, by which

DEC . 6,

time' they were to have gained their new position, The
nctich have not been quitc ta-empt from the eyi!s they Ex.
i.ected to escape. The wither, we arc t(11, set in on tip.
(31); and, it is admitted, that the griind army has lust maw:
men by cold aml fatigue. It is now found, that
bi%onacking" (sleeping in the opep air under the frcci'
sky of Russia) is injurious to Frehch soldiers, and all ths.
" furs" and " brandy" found at Moscow, cannot secure tlain
from the inclemencv of the season. The enemy stile pre:eml
they arc successful, when( ver they encounter the flussias;
bit if this Mere to be credited, it would only make the latter
more to be drc4dcd and admired, for how terrible that foe,
which after so Many Leverses dare still advance to battle,
suferior to disaster and undaunted by defeat.

THE DI•PAT(IIES RECEIX I:1) FIIO3I LORI) WELT,INGION,

The dispatches received this week from Lord ‘‘'LLt.is:.-
TON, and dated Piticgua, Nov. 7th, informs us of the etv.r•
mous accumulation of strength with which SouLT awl Sol..
II A:11 prcs,ed Upon his Lordship, to endeavour to.briug him
to a general acti9n before he had re-entered Portug_d, awl if
possible to cut off his retreat. In this the enemy has hum
coo:pletely disappointed. The foresight and skill of oor
Commander anticipated and defeated all his plans, and with
an incon•iderable loss of i,OOO men in killed, %%ntact],
and prisoners has his Lordship retreated upwards of Dv,
miles before double numbers and reznmed his position on the
Agucda, titc strength of which is sneh that the enemy, de-
spairing of success in an attack, is s yid to have taken up
winter quarters at a short distance from the Portuguese Ircu.
tiers, in which his example has been followed by cur
The French in their eagci ness to bring ail their force agaitit
us thought it expedient to evacuate Madrid, which has ktu
taken possession of by the MEDICO, a guerilla leader. The
conduct of the enemy in thus (witting the capital corn be-
rates, what indeed a perusal of the speech of Lord CAST LE-
REA9II will abundantly prove, and that which we have often
asserted in opposition to our contempora:ies, that Madri:i.
a military imition, was not of importance. his
speech, of which we have given a correct epitome, will Lie
found to contain a short but lute' csting history of the wh,c
eamraign.

The American brig Exrress, Captain MortAN, is arrived
from New York ; sailed Nov. 6, bound to Bourdeanx;
captut el on the Soar ult. by the Rover gun-brig. Accoa,es
arc gated to have been received at • New "Yolk, th..t te
Frolic bloop of war was capturtd by
the Amer ican fri ;ate
Hornet, after a most desperate action, in which Ireth ‘vtre
,
distnasted, and complete wrecks, and were soon after farcn
in with by his M.Jjesty's ship Poictiers, and were both elar.
The President's message was exvected at New York the tk:
the Express sailed. It was generally believed that an oidur
for a general embargo would be one of the first acts of Cor•
gress, on account of the itnineiLe exportation of grain and
Hour from the United States, The British ft igate Jtvvi,
with dispwches from Sir .1 B. \V Allnk:N, which bad hccn
at New York about 14 dav,, left it with an answer to to
dispatches about two darts before the departure of the ;kw.
.
vessel : nothing was known of the nature of the dci dis-
patches, or the reply given. The Swiftsure packet was Ns:ill-
ing for dispatches, and shortly expected to sail for
Yesterday afternoon, in conA.luence of two (kink:own
driving down the Strand in a post-chaise and four, alt idca
prevailed that they were Russian MesA'ogers. We can assure
our readers, homever, that they were private gentlemen, :11
that there had been no arrival at airy of the Governtneut
°likes at a late hour last night.

EC. G.

DRAMATIC REGISTER.

DRURY LANE.
Nl;.-PorE and Miss StAITII have appeared at this Theatre.
gr. POPE came out in Lord Tow.i/y, and acquitted himself
ruclt to the satisfaction of the audience. It is unnecessar'
lac to speak of his gcneral meritg, as the whole town most
,sufficiently acquainted with them. Miss SMITH made
ler first appearance in Isabella and was eminently successful.
[his theatle is now much richer than Covent Carden in fe-
rale excellence. We know of no actress on the stage who
ran do so much to console us for the absence of Mrs. SID-
MONS as Miss Shunt.

• COVENT U UDEN.
On Wednesday an operatic spectacle wr.s performed for
fir: first time, called, " The Renegade." Air. REYNOLDS IS
the person held responsible for the merits of this piece, al-
ced as it i; from the " Don Sebastian" of DRYDEN. The
Qom, and decorations, the 'moat essential parts of such a
pelformance, " The Renegide" is inferior to nothing that
the modern stage has produced, and thus far Mr. REY-
NOLDS' new production may be said to be spte;tdidly success-
ful. The practice of taking the works of old authors and
bringing them forward in a modern garb, has been much
condemned by some of the critics of the day. It has been
censured as unjust to the dead and degrading to the living.
For ourselves, however, as we are disposed to take the best
side of things, we cannot help deriving hope from that which
seems to have plunged our contemporaries in despair. We
cannot help pleasing ourselves with the thought, that the
day is not far distant when those writers for the stage, who
so frequently fall under the critic's lash will cease to offend ;
for as they already feel they cannot produce a decent original
performance, it is hardly too much to expect that in time
they may discover, they have not sufficient talent to alter
what another has written to any good purpose. When this
happy day arrives, room will be made for a new set of dra-
matists, and though it is possible the next may not be better
than the present, yet (to imitate the language of Mr. CAN-
NING on another occasion,) we think it impossible for any
roan so to chasten his feelings as not to look forward with
hope. To lose by a change is hardly within the range of
things possible. •
If we were to judge of this piece from the degree of lite-
lary talent displayed by Mr. REYNOLDS, we should not be
likely to p.ronounce a very mild sentence. Its other recom-
mendations,• however, ought to he taken into the account;
and,. this done, it is but fair to admit that it is not altoge-
ther unworthy the applause it received. In some of the
scevies the excellence of DRYDEN still survives, and. per-
haps appears to greater advantage than ever, from the fine
contrast supplied by that which is understood exclusively to
belong to Mr. REYNOLDS. The songs we purpose noticing
next week, if we have room, when we may possibly speak
further of the general merits of the play. At present, from
the mass of important matter which is forced upon us, we
can only say, that if it is not likely to and to the fame of
,
finances
REYNOLDS as an Author,. it bids fair to benefit the
finances of the Theatre, which will be thought by some of
much greater importance.

EnYvARD Ancars of No. 1.1 Cathrrinc•,''reet• Strand (only 4ucressor to
,4
TiinS• nvTLS:Rtoe of the 1ir.1.4f-Sertar B*ls'eaclP,tlt4ir and
n
fi . and alio 111:1 ED r IDLES), I.it%t• to lnfoim
Publi.4? in ge:local, that thm mit) l,r. -nplali.:.l •,viih the
I'l4l eery 'DILA' article of furniture. In any quantity, on iihu4t,,st eutwo.
rl:lhr belt .n(::1 s•*.orrior givilitv, and are i..v:to-.11.3
P.,mt,-Cage,iiiteiided for tl.e centre of a larrc Libr..ry, of v:•ty
!lot rr,,rknimi4;,ip aga Utility.-1111witril Kum; front Li; ion! !leo I
giul,t4ry and CAlart lie-•;1at.4.4, and from tL eNc. hi' 11.0.
4;4'
I°l* 4"Cliitea WILL o...lpeLlia pittaraaze.

THE NATIONAL REGISTELI.

MISCELLA

161

Plotstottrn, Nov. 3.—Arrives
the tranvort Dawn, Caotriiit
Win-dell, from Ushon, With about• V2O sick and wounded sot
In the night of the 2:3d of. Ni.vember, in lat. 4-?. dorira a
!lea, y gale, she came close to a large ship, and it living moon•h nht, :•mv,
ker decks full of men, awl from that circumstance, suppos.d her to be
4 troop ship. She was in a sinking state, and close to the waters•
rdge, and hailed for assistagee, on ,t hich the 1)4 vn wore round with
drat intention, but having lust sight of her soon Laker, it is feared she

COMMODORE RODGERS —On the '26th-inst. the Grower spike the
American ship William. Wilson, from New-York, out Is‘ enty-four days.
with flnur for Lisbon; wit.' infortned that the suttd.on under Couno-
'sore flo4gerv, htt(l proceeded to cruise off 'Madeira ; w4s aim) info Trued
Matt two British packets had been captured, and carried into Sa-
vannah and Philadelphia. It is supposed that the 5...a110w is one of

these.
°Pour°. Nov. 25.--Otsr last ace:stints from the &Hied Army say.
that the headquarters were expected to be in Fuente isle Guitialln
uu
the nth or '2lst inst. where it was (generally :unposed they would re-
main. The retreat is spoken of as a most inasteily one. Unfortunately
the gallant Lieut.-6d. Sir E. Paget was taken prisoner. The Freneis
force is estimated•at 35,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry. It how,'ver.
impossible that they can exist in their present positions, as the country
catinct afford them transport, shelter, or pro% isions; the want of the
latter will be found particularly severe, the whole country from Burgos
bting exhausted.
Government have ordered ten new fricates to he immediately'
built of .fir timber, fin the American seas, some to be ready for sea
iu tweve months.
The CniNert.con of the EXCEIr Qttrr, in the coarse of next ,'•ocki
will bring in Bills to renew the Bank Note Act, the Act to prohihit this
Distillation from Corn, the Grain Starch Act, and the Sugar Brewery
Act.
•Wceru TYSTER Wednesday the Eunittlitis of Terence,
was acted for the first time this Season, by the Kinrr's Sell lars
Westminster School. The audience was numerous and respviaide ;
and the representation was throughout highly judicious and spitted.
•