The Sun.
London, England, 1812-10-09 00:00:00

FOREIGN' OFFICE, OCT. 'B, 1812

A dispatch hasbeen received from Lord Cathcart;
dated at St. Petersburgh:the 18th, Sept. Lord-
ship incloSes the•following official account, pub-
lished at' Petersburgh, of the proceedings of the
Russian army from the time Prince Koutusoff took
the counnand,, to the. Bth of :September. His
Lordship -bad not . ascertained 'any subsequent
.moventents, but he understood 01'4. a change of
position was determined on, of the piirticulars of
'which, however; no intelligence had been re-
iezived.

. ,
OFFICIAL IItrfFLLIGEN.C2 FROM TIIF ARMY, tATED
'FRE t3TII.A.EPTEMBER.

•
- !"rhe Prince Koutt)usoif iippointe,l by his
MCi-
jest th9Emperor, Commander Chief of all, his
armies, thrived at the Vead-qup:fers,_at Cvarevo
Salmiseher on .the evening of thei9th of August.
He found the first and the second armies in June-
- tion, but retreating Upon Gehatzk, and a.ban-
doning Wiasma, General • Ear_elay , de Tolli hay-
ing not thoughi that position itvbiirable enough
for accepting, battle. Prince ,Komousoll; on
his part, resolved 'not to ‘battle, until
he should have received, reifiteircements
which be expected frord Moscow
,and

Our assily was thus continaally reinforcing
as it got nearer its
_resources ; whilst the rreuch
armies were getting farther from their reinforce-
Ments,and wekiker as they advanced. . This plan
had been jadged the -most proper in order'to coins
pet sate frsrlhe superiority in lumbers, which the
enetnyolstained by the immense means placed at
his disposal by all the Continental States. It was
not -long.befort this plan, directed and executed
by
.Prince Koutousoff, afforded a grand aNd
brilliant • 'result. .Even before his_ arrival at the
army, he had caused the reserves, comanded by.
General Milloradovitshe, and the Militia of the
Government of Moscow,. under the,. orders,ol,lsieu-
tenant-,Getieral. Count Morcolf, to he directed
upon Mojaisk. The village of Borodin, situated'
12 versts in advance of this -town, is the,point
on which it was deterthined to await the enemy..
The position the village was strong enough
on the right and the centre, covered by a ravine
1 and a deettrivuleC But the left, supported, by
the village Of Sementtifka, did, not afford the,
same advantages. It 'might be turned by the old
road''frimi:SmolenSk Mojaisk. The General
in Chief, to guard against -these disadvantages,
gave, orders for fortifying that wings He ordered
some redam to be constructed on the left of the
Village of Semenoffka, and a redoubt in front of it,
at one cannon shot and a half off. This redoubt
was"chnsidered as an isolated work, wbich,even,
-if lost, would make no change in the system of de-
fence, and was intended more particularly to be
of service in keeping the enemy some tune at a
distance. These points were scarcely fortified,
when the enemy appeared on the sth, and di-,
'meted his vanguard upon the advanced redoubt.---s
A, very sharp action commenced, in the' first
place with the rear guard tinder the orders of
Lieutenant General kanoynitien, which was just
reaching the position, and. afterwards with the
army of Prince Bagration, which formed our left.
The redoubt, which the hardness of die ground
had prevented us from entirely completing, v.-as
vigorously defended from four o'clock in the after -
noon until night. It was taken and retaken four
times by the 27th division, which had thii charge
of maintaining. it, and was not abandoned until'
night.' The 2d division of .Cuirassiers-S 'which
executed several brilliant charges of which
the result has been the capture of eight pieces'
of cannon, particularly distinguished its elf
during that day. The 6th passed in skirmihe
of no importance,— The enemy,- de-filed tos
wards.lais right, the principal part of his forces,
and covered his left,by batteries. The Cominander
in Chief, who had foreseen that his left. would' be.
the principal point of attack,. made the following
dispositions : the 2d, the 4th, 6119, and 7th corps
formed two lines of infantry, behind which were
placed all the corps of cavalry.' That of the
Guards was in reserve between the centre
and the left, which was moreover covered
by the eighth corps.. In order- the better to
:insure the defence of the weak point ~of :the
position, Licatenant-General ToutschkoffS with
the third corps and a. part of the Militia of Mos-
cow was placed it ambuscade behind the brush-
whod at the extremity of the left, with orders
to- aet by the old road from Smolensk°
.upon the
right and the rear of the French, as'soon as they
'shotild attack, and endeavour ,to. tarn our left.
The grenadiers of Count Woronzoff defended the
redans.
"
Prince Koutousoff, immediately on his' arri-
val at this position, had assembled the Generals,
and harangued the Staff; be was received with
acclamations of the warmest enthusiasm. Full of
the sacred cause they had to defend, the army ma-
nifested a feeling, which even' then gave an as-
surance of the glorious deeds of which the day of
the 7th was witness..--At four o'clock in the Morn-
ing the enemy, availing themselves of a thick fog.
began their movement towards our left. Soon
afterwards the battle became general, and con-
tinued until night. The principal efforts took
place on our left. , The attack on the redans was
extremely sharp, and they were most vigorously
defended. - They Were disputed from seven
o'clock in the morning until I() o'clock with an
unexampled obstinacy. It was in this sangui-
nary combat that Major-Gen. Count Woronzoff
was wounded, in a bayonet charge against the
enemy. The Commander in Chief of. the second
army. Prince Bagration was wounded soon af-
terwards. N evertheless, all the attacks which
the enemy made against the left ,of our position,
as well with his infantry as with his ca-
valry, were fruitless, and repulsed with such
loss, that towards night he was
..even forced
to abandon the little ground which he had gained
in the morning. Ills attacks upon the centre did
not meet with better success.' Repulsed -at every
point, he 'retired towards the beginning of.the
night—and we remained masters of the. field of
battle. On the following morning, Gen. platQw,
was sent in pursuit of him, and had come up with
his rear guard, at eleven versts distance from the
Village of Borodin.
Such are the impresSions. which result, from'
the first report dispatched. from the field ofbattle.
The' loss of the enerny is - imniense fir l:illcti,
wounded, and prisoners. Among these last is the
General of Brigade Bonami.. .Our loss has heen
severe : besides- the two Generals above-niens
tioned, the Lieut.-Generals Toutschkoff Prince
Gostchako—ff, and Kanovnitzin ; the' Major-Ge-
ncrals Boehmetieff, Ist and 2d, and Kretoff, are
among the wounded.
" Prince Koutousoff reports; that the, troops
surpassed themselves in valour on this memorable
day : and that it is impossible forhim to do justice
to the courage of the Smolensk and
Moscow."'

On Wednesday, the Dukes of YORK and Ct...x-
REITC2, and Viscount CASTLEREAGH, had audi-
ences of the PRINCE REGENT.
A Cabinet Council was yesterday held at the
Foreign Office, in Downing-street, which sat near
two hours.
Reinforcements for the 65111, 80th, and other
regiments, at Madras and Bombay, have been or-
dered to be in readiness to embark at the earliest
opportunity.
The 2d Battalion of the 6th Regiment has been
directed to furnish 400 men, with two Captains
and six Subalterns, to reinforce the Ist Battalion;
and this detachment is under orders for immediate
embarkation at Jersey, for Corunna,