The Sun.
London, England, 1812-12-05 00:00:00

FRENCH PAPERS.

,OURTHER EXTRACTS.)

SPORT OF. MONS.. THE MARSHAL GOUVION ST.
CYR TO HIS HIGHNESS TER PRINCE MAJOR-GE-

NERAL

, OCT. A.—By my last, of the 17th inst. fin-
formed your Highness that the 2d corps would
probably be, attacked on .'the .foll Owing day
by all the forces united,' under , the ,orders
of Count DE WITTGENTEIN, have :spoke'
to you of the reinforcements, which .he had.
receivedfrom St: Petersburgh, -and which .in all
amounted to• 17,400 men, including in that num-
ber 6 r 8,000 men which had been
.scraped to-
gaber in St. Petersburgh and its• environs.—
Ile has. further received the 21st division, which
wa's , fresh arrived from Finland ; a "part of
this division -only has had an engagement in an
affair against the Prussians. They-have formed a.
junction with the troops under-WITTGENSTEI N, at
• Disna, 8n thel6th, at the moment when he had
destroyed the post which I had placed there.—
On the I.Bth inst. at 6 o'clock in the morning, M.
DE WITTGENSTEIN debouched before •Polotsk,
in four Columns, and extending his troops past my
position, and profiting by the enormous superiori,
ty of which he was posses-sed to take the reverse,
End without any danger, make himself roaster of
the position which I had occupied on the left
bank of the Polota, in the face of that which be
be had before occupied -on 'the Driss7. His first
serious attack was made against a battery a bar-
bette, which. I had caused to be established in an
advantageous position, and which it was neces-
sary, at any rate, to occupy, in order not to ex-
pose to the enemy the weakest part of my posi
.tion, that,is to say, the front ofthe town, which
ckered no other difficulty than a palanka, the
front of which I had covered, but which, not
being• yet finished, Was every whera open, and
principally at the two little bastions whiCh were
to support it, but were as yet scarcely marked out.
,
nevertheless brought some pieces of cannon
there, which did us service. The battery de la
-Thuilleries was taken and retaken three or four
times: It was defended by the troops of the Bth
division, commanded by the General of Division
Maison. The defence of this front of the attack
does him infinite honour, as like Wise to the corps
charged with its defence, that is to say; the 2d
and 37th of the line, and the Ilth of light infan-
;Try, as likewise two squadrons of the 14th regiment
of cuirasiers, commanded by. M. Remberg, two
'squadrons of the light troops' of the Bth lancers,
and twenty chasseurs commanded. by the Chef
d'Escadron Curel, who led the right of the, Bth
division, and whose conduct in all the charges
which he received or made against forces so dis-
proportionate as theirS, merits the greatest cult)-
, giums. Theenemy deployed 'another of his co-
before the- frontof the 6th division COM..
mantled by XL the General Legrand. prin-
eipallydirected his attack against a.battery which
was not completed on the left bank of the
Polota," and which thus became the centre of the
•
„division Legrand.' Three or four times he endea-
.:vetred to obtain possession of it, and'was always
-Tepulse4 with. that loss which is ever experienced
-ken'taich enterprises do not succeed. Up" to the
afteratithithe enerny had not darerl to attack the
fr4nt -of the •right bank of the Polota, some
points of which were tolerably well entrenched
and fiuished-,• but about 4 o'clock they debouched
troin the road of Seibit and Riga, and furiously?
and in a 'crowd, marched -upbn the left flank of
the town,•supported by, the column which de-'
boached from the Neval road. I wished to have
allowed all that fine ardour to have been. spent
.izpontwo redoubts,:constructed and occupied by
the Bavarian artillery anti troops, and necessary
to their defenle, commanded by General Vicente ;'
but the Swiss of the. 2d division,. commanded by
General Merle, as well as the 3cl regiment of
Croates; in opposition to the settled dispositions,
precipitated.theiuselvcs before .the Russians, and
fought with.• fury, remarkable bravery, order, I
and sang froid. We at last brought the Russians
who made this attack, under the wall.of the town,
--where the carnage we caused them, from the Morn-
ing, upon all points of their whole army; only ter-
minated with night. The Rassians, notwithstand-
..ing their superiority; left the ground heaped with
corpses, and did not succeed' in any of
their attacks. Notwithstanding the success ob-
tained on this day, 1 was -uneasy in- the even-
ing respecting the, success my cavalry might have
met with upon the-left bank of-the Dwina,l .On
fiis day 'had deprived myself of the greater part
of my cavalry, to..be easy respecting my,rear.
On this evening General -Carbineau, whose' bri-
gade of horse, extremely fatigued, had not pe,
netrated beyond the. Otischatz, bad met, ac-
cordiag' to his account, but some cavalry and a
few infantry. As he was perfectly satisfied in
this respect, having at his.disposition three bat-
talions of :Bavarian infantry, I waited the fol-
lowing day with much tranquility.
()lithe 19th, at break of day; we saw the- ene-

•
my in'movement upon the line, occnpied in
lying their position, and forming a half circle
'Totuitl ours. -About 'ten in the.morningan Aid-
d Of. General Carbincau arrived, and in-
Brined me he had before ,his briga:ie 6000 men,
;and 12 squadrons of cavalry, I lost not a mo-
Anent in' taking a regiment. out of each Of the
lcl corps; taking in preference those which might
most easily withdmiwn from before the enemy,
- who would not then have failed to renew. his at-
tacks, 'and only waited to: do it, the appearance
of this corps, the arrival of which he invatiently
expected. Towards noon these troops defiled
upon the heights behind Polotsk : the enemy
. clearly pel•ceived the object of this movement, but
thought it was a kind of: reserve behind PolotSk,
I tsseihbled these troops; tinder the command of
, .cr'eneralAiney, and joined to them the 7th regiment
,of cuirassiers, and Ponmer's division, who had

. •
vot hitherto
met the enemy in proceedin.g up, the

-Dw.ina. At the same time, 1 ordered,-that as
soon *as it was, dusk, the whole of, the army
shoidd,cross to the left of the Dwina.,
Towards the fall of day, at the moment in
~hich we began to withdraw, the artillery feom
the advanced works, .some 'imprudent persons set
e to General Legraud's barricits, which in a
-moment commenced through the whole line, and
gave the enemy certain ,proof that we were re-