The Sun.
London, England, 1812-08-18 00:00:00

EN•ERAL I,..I',NNIGSEN.

Levin August.. Theo*lus de r.anteln, Baron
Bei-wig-en, Knight; o!-1,the Orders of St. Andrew,
Alexander liewski, St Wtodimir, St. Anne, St.
George, of the Red and Black Eagle,&c. to whom
the chief command 13f the Russian army has been
recently assigner!, s of an ancient and Noble Ha-
noverian faMily. fle was born in 1745,, and
in
f's, received as page of honour, by the Elector
of Hanover, grandfather to his present Majesty;
ins 1759, be,.was an Ensign in the Hanoverian Foot
, and soon afterwards he attained the rank

-of Captain. •
In :GO, he' married the daughter hf Baron
Semberg-, the Ilanoyerian knba,,,sador at the
Count of Vienna, and resigned his -commission.--,
6horvy after his marriage be .visited St. Peters-'
burgh, where he became acquainted n ith General
Suwarrow ; a circumstance that the
Con of his military fame: liis lady dying in 1773,
he entered the Russian service with the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel, under the auspices of Suwar-
row ; and in
;the following year, the Empress
Cittherine H. gave him the connuand of a corps

of (-'sacks.
• In September, 1774, Bennigsen accompanied
Gerf. Suwarrow on an expedition to quell the re-
bellion of Pugatcbew, Who Was `taken, conveyed
to Moscow, and executed. •
*.After this service, Bennigsen exchanged his
comtrand of the Cossacks for that of the regiment
of Narva, from which he was soon 'promoted. to
the Colonecy of that Kibwie. In the lattet.
regiment he distinguished himself in the :war with
Xoland in 1792 ; on One occasion in _particular,
when the Empress sent him the insirii,aB4-• the
Order of St. Wlodimir, with a-very ilatt4i-let,
ter. His conduct and bravery were also very con-
spicuous in the Persian war. During the
war in Poland,' in 1794, he' was in many skir-
mishes, and was particularly active at the storm-
ing of Wilna, the capital of Lithuania, recently
the head-quarters of Nonaparle'S grand,army,,
In 1795 be married a Polish Lady, of great
beauty and accomplishments. Nearly at the
same time, the Empress Catherine promoted him
to the rank of General "of cavalry ; and in 17.99 he
was appointed civil and military Governor of Li-
thuania.,
In the war of the fourth coalition, he succeed-
ed Field Marshal Count Kamenskoy in the chief
command of the-Russian forces. In November,
1806, the French advanced into Poland; and
Bennigsen, in the hope of anticipating them, -en-
tered Warsaw, and ptislied forward an advanced
guard to take positions along-the river Drzura.---
On the :26th of the month, ~the out posts of the
respective armies fell in with each other, and the
B.usians were thrown into confusion.' - On, the
28th Murat entered Warsaw with his cavalry; and
on the 29th, Marshal Davoust advanced to-the
capital, the Russians haying retreated- across the
Vistula, and burnt the bridge- behind them.-7-
Uri the 16th of December Buonaparte arrived at
Warsawi and on the 26th, he made a grand at-
tacknpon the RUssians at Pultusk. On this oc-
casion, Bennigsen had the satisfaction of driving
the French back with great loss, and had it not
been that the expected succour of General Bitx7
hoyden did not arrive in.time, he would have been
able-to follow up his victory---as it was, the total
want of proyisions and forage y obliged him to re-
•treat to Rozow. Both armies having retired. into
cantonments; no other action of importanGe_oc-
cnrred until February, 1807 ;_ when General Ben,
nig en, having fallen back for the purpose of
choosing a position; posted himself at Eylau:—
Daring four successive days, nis rear guard; com-
manded by General Barclay de Tolli (the officer
who has just resigned the command of the Russian
• "army in favour of Bennigsen, and resumed the
post
,of Minister of War) had to withstand several
vigorous attacks, and at three in the afternoon
(Feb. 7), the battle became general throughout
the whole line of the main army. The contest
- -was destructive, and the night- came On without
the enemy having been able to. gain -ground.—
, Early in the morning (Feb. 8) the French re-
newed the attack, and the -action was contested'
-witl; obstinacy on both sides; hut, towards ' the
ev!_nling the enemy/vas repulsed at every point,
and General Bennigsen remained in possession of
the field of battle. Both parties, however, claimed
the victory. According to the official statement
of General Bennigsen, the took five
thousand prisOners; and twelve stands of colours;
-the r own loss being estimated at 6000; an ,l that
of the French at 12,000 men. The French pre-
tended to estimate their loss at only 5000, while
they insisted that the Russians had suffered to the
e \tent of 20,00.9. According to some calcula-
i us which were made at the time, the French
f i•cc was diminished -in this engagement by more
to 40,000 men. . .
TJe armies again retired within their canton-
ments,- and nothing further of importance occur-
red till May. In the course of that month there
was much. skirmishing between the posts, but no
general action. The Russians attacked the, ene-
my's line on the sth of June, and were successful
a. series .of attacks until when the
French succeeded in crossing the Passage. The
• condicts.lasted till the 1 1 th, at which time the
French were of Ileilsimrg 'and Guitstadt. •Oa the
13th they marched towards Eylau ; and,- on the
14th, the anniversary of the Battle of Marengo,
they out-flanked the Russians at Friedland, and
defeated them in a general action, with immense
loss. 'Buonaparte pursued them till the 19th,
when he reached Tilsit ; and on the 22d an mail-
' 'stiee was concluded between Russia' and France.
On the Secret Articles -of the Treat} :of Tilsit,
Fie existence of which was strenuously denied by
many, the British Government foyntled its justifi-
cation for seizing the Danish fleet, at 'Copenha-
gen. Fortunately for the credit' of Ministers,
Buonaparto• himself. has recently made a full ad-
- mission of ,the existence of the articles. alluded to;
• and --of their object. The unfortunate Count
D'Antraigues, who was assassinated two or three
weeks ago, is understood to have been the r-
- sonerge from whom Ministers obtained a copy of-
the articles ; a service for' which" the Count was
rewarded with a pension- of 30001. a.year.----IS it