The National Register.
London, England, 1812-11-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

746

cious ADION, that if be wishes to retain his power, it
he net essary to pnt an end to the war, or at least to con-
fine himself to defensive meacules. It is not too much to
ilepe ti,a, even he will ftel hi• false confidence in numbers,
sh:ken by she lessons received from British valour. He
rinst fcel that he makes a most ridiculous figure iu the eyes
of the word, in sending his forces, where victorious they
car, gain no honour, anal where defeated they must be covered
with disgrace. Ni a hunched men arc prisoners to a force
numerically inferior to them. This may astound the en-
iigh.ene►l pi es:dent. but what else could he rationally expect
from sending an undi,ciplined rabble on such an expedition

On our side we have to lament the loss of the gallant
Gen BROCK, than whom, a more prornisinz Officer did not
adorn the se'-vice. fie fell cheering his troops to action.
Ilis deith must be ,incerely mourned by his country, though
fur hi►n a more glorious fate could not have been reserved.

' ULLETINS.
from the twent v.Gixth and twenty-seventh French Bul-
letins received esterdav, and dated the 23d and 27th
'ultimo, it be sN.n the French army is in full retreat.

That his ietr,g,ide movements have been equally precipitate
and disastrous, these will be found sufficiently to prove.
After murdering hundreds of poor wretches whose only
alledged offence Yr.'s that they had obeyed those who had a
ri„bt to command them, we find BUONAPARTE is
lOUs enough to endeavour to gain credit with the world for
humanity. We are told that it was proposed to burn the
bosses which temained within twenty leagues of Moscow,
but to this, his gentle nature would not let him consent.
Nothing. however, is more clear, than that he had not the
means of effreting this, or it would have been done. This is,
in our estimation, fully proved by the advantages which
are set forth in this Bulletin, as likely to result from giving
the Russians such a lesson. Several parts of these Bul-
letins appear to us studiously confused, and it is amusing
eno,igh to mark the swag.2et ing tone in which they tell of
their own discomfiture. The straits they are driven, to put
a good rice on things. may be guessed from the following
sente,iee" It is beautiful weather, the roads arc excellent ;
it is the end c f Au umn, this weather will last eight days
longer, and at that pet iod we shall have arrived in our new
-position." This is delightful!. It is enough to make any
common person wish to be there to enjoy such beautiful
weather Bt'O'APARTC has unexpectedly discovered.
That the pe•iod at ‘vhich the
.Bulletin was written (Oct. 27th)
was the end of Autumn might have been discovered else-
whel e, hut we know no part of the habitable globe, save
that where BUONAPARTE now is, in which it could he
awe. tained that beautiful weather at this period of the year
would c.hntinue for eight days !—Another part of the same
Bulletin is equally interesting. It states, that "At seven in
the nsorning 6000 Cossacks, who had .tepped into the wood,
made a general hu:.?.a in the rear of his position, and took
six pieces Alf cannon whie were parked. The Duke of
IST Ri A -et off a gallop with all the horse-guards ; t' is horde
was sabred. brought hack, and thrown into the liver ; the
artillery it had taken was recovered, and several of its watt-
gore: wee captured; 600 of these Cossacks were killed,
wounded, or t •ken." From which it should seem, that this
lorde t the six thousand Cossacks) were sabred, brought
back, and thrown into the river ; and after this fine state-
ment. we are told that only six hundred of them were killed,
wotsnded, or taken ! !
Besides the 16th ind 27th Bulletins, the French Papers
contain CA Pl' A REL LI'S official reports of the operations of
the army commanded by him and SOUHAM, since the siege

Nor. v).

giving f Burgos was,rai,ed. Some-of these had already
and as the interest of the others would not compensate for
their length, we shall content ourselves with
substance. After pretending that he Castle of Burg-os
built with earth, and would have fallen had it been attaoki.,l
accolding to the rules of aft, CAFFARELLI rlctF.crihe,
several actions with the cavalry of our rear-guard, in one of
which, although he status the French to have been containtly
successful, he rather awkwaidly acknowledges, that " by some
inconceivable fatality, the division of-dragoons which 1 .t saou'u
have sustained some corps that had made a most htilhant
and decisive charge, took itself off to the right, at full
trot, and disappeared." Had not this happened, atl our
cavalry would have been destroyed; nay, Lold WEL.
LING roN and the Prince of ORANGE would have hcsa
surrounded and taken! The falsehood of the first assertion
enables us to appreciate the truth of the latter. The castle
of Burgos, we are assured by an officer employed in the
siege, consisted, even before the additions made to it he the
Fretk h, of three thick Moswish walls enclosing each other.
The space between these was filled up by the enemy
previous to the siege, with blocks of granite, fastened with
iron together, so as to form an impenetrable mass, Nrbich
mines alone could break asunder. As to the result of their
" brilliant and decisive charge," k may be heater knlwn f ,stn
the statement of CAFFARELLI himself, who owes that al-
most all the Officers of the regiments engaged were wounchl.
Notwithstanding this harsh treatment, the enemy beast they
repeated their attacks; and before we had recrossed the
Douro, had taken front us killed, wounded, or received as
deserters, at least 7,000 men. To this they add our sup-
posed loss of 3,000 beforeßurgos, and (3,000 at the ba•tle of
of Salamanca; upon the whole sixteen thousand men,
whilst they assert only 1,000 have arrived to reinforce
our army. The falsehood of those accounts would be evi-
dent ft om the variance that exists between the various
items *of our pretended losses and their grand total, had not
the public been in pessession of theStitish official documents,
in which their true amount is correctly stated. SOUHAM
occupies the line of the Douro, on its right hank from Tudela
to Toro; and CAFFARELLY was on his return to his derrt-
DINA, after having ascertained that the army of Portugal was
no longer in want of his assistance. Both these General;
seemed to be still ignorant of the advance of SOU LT againq
Mad' id.

A mail from Corunna arrived yesterday bringing papers
to the 15th inst. These papers do not contain any sati4,le-
tory intelligence beyond what we have already possesed from
Lord WELLINGTON'S dispatches of the Sal. They arc ti!lvd
with vague, and, in some instances, notoriously fake rumours,
such as a battle having been fought by Gen. 'bit. in La
Mancha, to prevent the entrance of the French into Madrid,
which, from Lord WELLINGTON'S dispatches, we know Gas
not taken place.
The advices from the Peninsula respecting the conduct of
General BA LLASTEROS, will be read with mingled fealiris
of indignation and regret. It is impossible when we see a
General like BALLASTEROS, giving himself up to a mean
spirit of jealousy so far, as to think the salvation of his
country but of secondai y importance, where his own private
feelings are concerned, yet at the same time it is not easy
to contemplate such a. filling off in one of whom we had
been accustomed to think highly, without emotions of sin-
cere regret. The conduct of the Spanish Government, in
depriving him immediately of command, deserves praise;
but the policy of inflicting so lenient a punishment may be