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tained on both sides, the loss of the Russians was not less severe. Three or 4000 on each side were killed and wounded. Count Osterman determined on re-uniting himself with the grand army; but in order that time might be afforded to the commanderin-chief to profit by what had passed, and to make his arrangements for the battle which now seemed inevitable, Lieutenant-General Konovitz was left with a small party still to check the advance of the enemy, which he accomplished in so gallant a manner, that although, during the whole of the 27th, he had to resist the assaults of the French, yet did he not give way till he and his followers were recalled during the night to join the grand army.

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The Russian army waited with impatience for the moment which was to bring their prowess into fair trial with that of the enemy in a general battle. When every thing seemed to be prepared for this great struggle, the plans of the general-in-chief were changed by the receipt of intelligence from Bagration, who had found Mohilof in possession of the French, and had therefore determined to retire by another route upon Smolensk. Barclay de Tolly took his measures accordingly, he determined not to hazard a battle till he had reached Smolensk, and he communicated this resolution to Prince Bagration, while he, at the same time, sent orders to Platoff to put himself in advance of that city, and cover the movements of the army. The first army was now divided into three columns, which moved towards Smolensk. Count Pahlen was entrusted with the command of the corps which was to protect this movement; he distributed his force on the banks of a small river, where he was repeatedly attacked without success; and he afterwards occupied the great road, where he constructed a battery, which made such havoc among the French

cavalry, that they soon relinquished the pursuit, The French, having reached Vitepsk, determined to remain there till they should recover, in some measure, from the unusual fatigues and privations which they already began to

experience. The bulletins of Buo naparte boasted much, about this time, of the excellent state of his troops, and imputed the pause, which was so strangely made at Vitepsk, to the ercessive heat of the Russian climate at this season of the year. It was easy to penetrate this thin disguise; while the delay which the necessities of his situation now imposed on the French ruler, might have proved to him irre. trievable.

While the grand armies on each side were thus reduced to inactivity, the one that it might enjoy some repose, and the other that it might add to its strength by the powerful aid of the se cond Russian army, Count Witgenstein was well employed in the neighbourhood of Polotsk. Macdonald, with part of his corps, had crossed the Dwina, in the hope of joining Oudinot; and flattered himself that he would thus be able to cut off the communication of Witgenstein with St Peterburgh-On the 11th of August, Witgenstein encountered a detachment of Oudinot's cavalry, from one of whom he learned that the French marshal had formed the project of advancing on the capital. The Russians, however, defeated his plan, and compelled Oudinot to retire upon Polotsk, where he was joined by some Wirtemburgh and Bavarian troops, under the command of Gene ral Gouvion St Cyr. Thus reinforced, Oudinot once more resumed his project of marching on the Russian capi tal; but the penetration of Witgen. stein again anticipated his movements, The Russian general advanced with ra pidity; but, expert and daring as were his movements, he could not surprise his able adversary, whom he found pre

pared at all points to give him battle. The arrangements of the French general were masterly; but they availed not against the courage of the Russians, who bore down upon him with such fury, that, after a brave resist ance, which lasted for more than six hours, they succeeded in repulsing him, and remained masters of the field. Witgenstein next day resumed his operations; and Oudinot had improved the few hours of darkness by which the conflict was interrupted, in the manner which might have been expected of an able general. The contest was again maintained with severe loss on the side of the enemy till midnight; but on the third day the Russian general wholly overthrew the French, and drove the fugitives, who escaped from the field of battle, to seek shelter in the French lines before Polotsk. The loss of the enemy, in these obstinate and sanguinary engagements, was estimated at 5000 kill. ed and wounded, and 3000 prisoners, besides artillery, baggage, and ammunition waggons. The Russians confess a loss of 2000 men, officers and privates, among the former of whom was General Kouluff.-The army of Oudinot was thus dispersed; and as Count Witgenstein, from whom the official report of this victory was received, has since become an officer of distinguish ed celebrity, it may not be uninterest ing to quote the description which he gives of the heroic resolution displayed by his soldiers in this the first affair of importance which they had with the enemy on their own soil.-" During the three days of attack," says he," the corps I have the honour to command performed prodigies of valour. Their resolution was not to be shaken; and their ardour, like a deyouring flame, consumed all before it. The particular acts of their dauntless and persevering heroism I can neither describe nor sufficiently

praise. The artillery and the bayonet were equally the instruments of their zeal; for where the one fell short of the mark, the other was pushed with a resolution that overthrew whole ranks of the enemy. Even the most solid columns of infantry and batteries of cannon were compelled to give way to the intrepid motions of our troops.'

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It was the intention of Witgenstein to have next attacked Macdonald but as that marshal had already begun his retreat, the Russian chief determined to remain in front of the enemy's lines at Polotsk.

During these events the march of the second army of the Russians was continued with unceasing activity. At Bobrousk, Prince Bagration crossed the Berezina, and hoped, by keeping the right bank of the river, to reach Mohiloff without interruption from the enemy. On the 22d, his advanced guard, while proceeding on the road to Mohiloff, was opposed by a strong body of the enemy's chasseurs, through whom they cut their way. The Russians soon learned that they had been engaged with the advance of the division of the grand army under Davoust and Mortier, who occupied Mohiloff and the country around. There seemed to be but one resource left for the second Russian army, to cut its way, at all hazards, through the enemy; and this resolution was instantly adopted.

And here it may be remarked, that the genius and courage of the contending parties shone forth with great lustre in the conduct of this memorable retreat. The first disunion of the Russian armies may have been unwise; but their subsequent efforts to retrieve this false step, if it really was such, must extort the highest praise. The skill and valour of the enemy also merit great applause; the object which he had in view was of great moment to the issue of the campaign; he pursued it steadily and skilfully;

at all points he met and endeavoured to disconcert the plans of the Russians, and was foiled at last but by a valour and constancy which seemed irresistible. It is true, he was far superior in numbers; but the nature of his ope. rations required the presence of his armies at all points by which the enemy could retire. Nor must it be forgotten, that the progress of the Rus

sians

was through a country well known to them, and well disposed to render them any assistance which they might require; while the advance of the French was over a country in which every man felt for them the most deadly hatred.-The admirable dispositions and sustained efforts of the enemy must yet be recounted before we conduct Bagration and his army to the neighbourhood of Smolensk, which it had been the great object of all their movements to reach in safety.

Prince Bagration, having determined to cut his way through the corps of the enemy, made the necessary preparations for this desperate enterprise. He formed his army into two columns; and ordered the one to advance by the great road to Mohilof. It reached a small village, where the French were finely posted, and in great strength. A severe contest ensued. The Russians maintained a lively cannonade; and the enemy was at last compelled to retire with loss. Davoust at once saw the importance of these operations, and became alarmed by the successes of Prince Bagration, who threatened to make his way through the formidable masses of the enemy. The French general therefore ordered up his reinforcements, and immediately precipitated upon the Russians a prodigious body of cavalry, which forced them for a moment to fall back. A powerful battery of cannon still saved them from confusion, and carried destruction into the

enemy's ranks; and Davoust, aware of the importance of seizing it, ordered a strong column of infantry to turn the Russian flanks, and carry their artillery at the point of the bayonet. The object of this movement was for a while defeated; the French were forced to give way, but they again returned to the charge in greater numbers, and with more resolution than before. The prince was now aware, from the appearance of the enemy's divisions, that he could not make good his advance, but by a great and unnecessary sacrifice; he accordingly ordered his columns to withdraw, and proceeded in another direction to cross the Dnieper.-This obstinate affair, which lasted for more than ten hours, cost the combatants on each side a loss of from 3000 to 4000 men kill. ed and wounded. The Russians carried off about 500 prisoners, whom they had taken at the outset of the engagement.-Platoff, who had been co-operating with the second army, hastened to gain possession of the road from Mohiloff, that he might check the enemy in his attempt further to molest the Russians in their progress. -On the 6th of August, Bagration reached Nauda, where he took up a position, and thus accomplished the great object of all his efforts—the reunion of the Russian armies.

Such was the situation of the contending parties about the beginning of the month of August. The Russians, concentrated in Smolensk and the neighbourhood, seemed to wait the approach of the enemy, whose head-quarters were still at Vitepsk, but whose divisions were now pressing forward in all directions.-Delay still promised advantages to the Rus sians it was necessary, in some measure, to repair the strength of the second army, already exhausted by marches so harassing, and greatly re

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duced in numbers by the desertion of Poles and other untoward events; while every day promised to add fresh reinforcements to the ranks of an army yet inferior in numbers to its op. ponents. The whole force under General Barclay de Tolly did not, even including the second army, exceed 130,000 men, upon which the powerful divisions of Beauharnois, Murat, Ney, Davoust, Mortier, and Poniatowski, were fast advancing. Had the French been able at this moment to force their enemies to a general and decisive action, the integrity of the Russian empire might have been exposed to very great peril; but the affairs of Russia were gradually im. proving, while every day that elapsed was as the loss of a battle to the fortunes of the invader.

As the Russian government must have been aware of the approaching rupture with France, and could not but form some estimate of the force which would be employed in supporting the pretensions of Buonaparte, the astonishment was general at the obstinacy with which it maintained the war with Turkey.—The interests, real or imaginary, of the Russian empire may, in ordinary times, and when the state of continental Europe can produce in her neither anxiety nor alarm, bend her military genius, as a matter of course, to conquest and aggrandizement at the expence of that feeble despotism; but it is strange that the paltry efforts of such a power could ever have withdrawn the attention of the emperor and his ministers from the more serious task of arresting the progress of Buonaparte, who threatened the independence of all nations. The intrigues of Buonaparte at the Porte, when he perceived that he must soon contend with Russia, no doubt rendered a pacification betwixt these powers a matter of more than usual dif. ficulty; but the most obvious prudence

VOL. V. PART I.

demanded of the Emperor Alexander, that he should do every thing to counteract this insidious policy; to disencumber himself of all his other enemies, and to direct his whole force towards the discomfiture of a far more dangerous foe. It was not, however, till the end of July, when the French armies had been two months in Russia, and had, made the most alarming progress in the interior, that the emperor received intelligence that peace had been concluded with Turkey, and that the fine army, which had distinguished itself so much in the protracted contest on the Danube, was now at liberty to unite in repelling the inva ders of the empire; that peace with England also, which all orders of Russians had so anxiously desired, and which the circumstances of Europe imperiously demanded, was announ ced.-To the impolicy of an admini. stration whom circumstances had for a time elevated to authority in England, and whom fear of the common enemy and distrust of their country, had drawn into measures which sur prised all Europe, had Great Britain been indebted for her unhappy sepa ration from the most faithful of her continental allies. The bonds which their strange policy had burst asunder, the mad ambition of Buonaparte was strong enough to reunite; and if their abandonment of Russia in the hour of danger precipitated her into the treaty of Tilsit, his violence in its turn restored her to her natural alliance with the British empire.

General Count Kutusoff, who be came afterwards so famous in this campaign, had hitherto conducted the army of the Danube to victory, and had by his wise policy hastened that pacification with the Ottoman empire, which it was so much the interest of Russia to conclude. In reward of his services, this brave man had been created a prince of the Russian em

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pire; and as he was far advanced in years, he had retired to St Petersburgh in the hope of spending the remainder of his days in tranquillity. A more brilliant destiny, however, was yet reserved for him; and the closing scenes of his life were to be signally illustrated in the destruction of the enemies of his country.-The army of the Danube was in the mean time commanded by Admiral Tchichagoff, a man of singular and versatile powers, and of a genius for military affairs which was not confined to one element. The first task imposed on him in his new situation, was to conduct his army through a long and difficult march; to bring up his troops from the Danube and the Pruth, to encounter the Austrians under Prince Schwartzenberg, and the Saxons under General Renier, who had reached Minsk, Slonim, and Kobrine. Some brilliant affairs had already occurred in this direction, which it would be unjust to pass over without notice.-General Kaminskoy, with about 8000 men, had, at an early period of the retreat, been unfortunately separated from the second army; he approached Kobrine, and fell in with a small party of his countrymen under Count Lambert. The town was occupied at the time by a party of Saxons under General Kleingel; it seemed to be carelessly defended, and the Russians attempted to take it by surprise. A detachment of the Saxons occupying a bridge in the neighbourhood was first assailed and made prisoners; after which the Russians advanced on the town. An obstinate conflict ensued-the carnage was great on both sides; but the Saxons were at last compelled to surrender. The commander of the Saxon division, 70 officers, and 2500 men, were made prisoners; eight pieces of cannon and four standards were taken. The advance of the army under the Russian General Tormozoff,

which had for some time been employ. ed in this quarter, in a few days enter. ed Kobrine, where they found that their intention of dislodging the enemy had been anticipated.

General Tormozoff resolved to follow up these successes by an attack on Slonim, where Renier with the remainder of the Saxons was posted. This general, however, having heard of the disasters at Kobrine, fordered Prince Schwartzenberg to hasten his junction with him. Tormozoff proceeded to take up a fine position near the town; his right and centre being defended by a morass, and his left protected by a strong battery of cannon. He neglected, however, to occupy a small village and a wood, both of which covered the road to Kobrine, and must have given him great advantages; but he conceived the position which he had already taken to be nearly impregnable. The Austrians, French, and Saxons advanced under Renier and Schwartzenberg; Renier was not slow to remark the errors of the Russians, and to profit by them. On the 11th of August he filled the village with cavalry, and the wood with a strong body of infantry and artillery, and proceeded in concealment to advance upon the Russians. On the morning of the 12th, the attack was begun to the surprise of the Russian general, who lost not a moment, however, in repairing his fault; but by bringing round a heavy battery of cannon, and ordering up his reserves, prepared to withstand the assaults of the enemy. A very warm contest ensued, in which both parties fought with the greatest resolution. Schwartzenberg observing that the whole attention of the Russians was directed to their left, made an unsuccessful effort to pass the morass by which the right of their position was defended,

and to distract on this side the measures of the enemy. The French ge

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