and cathedral have been saved. Let us then hasten to pursue this impious enemy, while other Russian armies, once more occupying Lithuania, act in concert with us for his destruction. Already do we behold him in full flight, abandoning his baggage, burn ing his war carriages, and reluctantly separating himself from those treasures which his profane hands had torn from the very altars of God. Already destruction and famine spread confusion before Napoleon, and behind him arise the murmurs of his troops, like the sound of threatening waves. While these appalling sounds attend the retreat of the French, in the ears of the Russians resounds the name of their magnanimous monarch. Listen, soldiers, while he thus addresses you, Extinguish the flames of Moscow in the blood of our invaders.' Russians, let us obey this solemn command; our injured country, appeased by this great vengeance, will then retire satisfied from the field of war, and behind the line of her extensive frontier will take her august station, between peace and glory. Russian warriors, God is our leader!"-This address had great effect throughout the army, and redoubled the zeal of the soldiers to avenge the cause of their country.

While these great events occurred in the neighbourhood of Moscow, some affairs of considerable moment took place in other quarters. A short summary of these events, which may fix attention on the state of the detached corps during the intermediate period, will be necessary to a right understanding of their movements and operations, when they came to act under one great system against the retreating enemy.-The army of General Essen, in the neighbourhood of Riga, for some time maintained the position which it had taken up without molestation, and preserved its communication with the corps of Count

pru

Wittgenstein, which the enemy scarcely attempted to interrupt. The French, however, for a moment weakened their force, and withdrew from Mittau; and Essen, knowing the importance of this station, hastened to occupy it, and succeeded almost without resistance-General D'Yorck, who commanded the Prussians in this quarter, advanced to retake the posi tion. Essen, aware of the great superiority of the assailants, deemed it dent to retire in the direction of Riga, where he endeavoured to unite his army to that of General Steingel, who was acting in front of this place. Steingel's position was at this time threatened by the French, who had assembled in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Petergoff, and occupied a station which gave them many advantages. The Russian general advanced to the neighbourhood of a small village called Garossen, where, on the morning of the 31st of September, a severe engagement took place, in which the French succeeded at first in driving the Russians from their position, but were afterwards repulsed.-A similar attempt was made by the enemy four several times during the day, and the same result regularly fol lowed. These affairs, and the intelli. gence that the Russians had received considerable reinforcements at Riga, induced Macdonald to form a closer junction with the Prussians; and this movement had the effect of liberating the corps which Wittgenstein had sta tioned to observe the French marshal at Dinaburg. The Prussian auxilia. ries did not exert themselves on this occasion with very great zeal; the French already began to abandon the shores of the Dwina; and the Russian generals, unable to comprehend the object of these singular movements, thought that the enemy prepared to unite the whole of his tenth division, and fall at once upon Riga with his

combined forces. The Marquis of Panlutchi, who had assumed the command at Riga, took some additional measures of defence in consequence of these speculations; but far different indeed were the motives which now influenced the enemy's generals from those which were thus ignorantly ascribed to them.

The army of Steingel pursued its march after the advantages which it had just gained; and on the 10th of October found itself in close communication with a part of Wittgenstein's corps near Drissa. Wittgenstein instantly determined to turn so fortunate a circumstance to good account, by attacking the enemy at Polotsk, driving him from his works in that neighbourhood, and forcing him to retreat by Vitepsk, where he must be entirely separated from Macdonald.On the morning of the 18th of October Count Wittgenstein's troops were in motion; by sun-rise the advance of both armies was engaged; and the French right was quickly attacked with great spirit by Wittgenstein in person. St Cyr, who commanded the enemy, and who had done every thing to recover his army that became an able commander, saw his right give way fore the impetuosity of the Russians, and ordered up to its support a strong body of Bavarians, Saxons, and Poles. The fight was renewed with greater fury than before, but the enemy was compelled to yield to the valour of the Russians: the confusion which overtook his right spread rapidly through his other columns, and the retreat became general. The French retired within their intrenchments, and maintained an unavailing cannonade against their pursuers.-At five o'clock in the afternoon of the following day the Russians again advanced, and the enemy began to pour among them a dreadful fire from his intrenchments. The palisadoes, which guarded the city, were

be

quickly carried by the Russians at the point of the bayonet; the battle raged in the streets; and St Cyr, perceiving that all hope of resistance was vain, gave orders for a retreat. General Steingel had in the meantime advanced in a different direction, and had driven the French to the very intrenchments which surrounded Polotsk, so that their retreat seemed to be cut off.— There was no alternative left to the enemy; and by three o'clock of the morning of the 20th of October he evacuated the city, crossed the Dwina, and took the road towards Vilezka, where he hoped to join his broken corps to that of Marshal Victor, who was now on his march to join the grand army with his reinforcements.→→ Thus terminated these sanguinary engagements, in which the enemy_sustained a heavy loss in killed and wounded, besides 2000 prisoners, among whom were 45 officers of different ranks, including the general-in-chief St Cyr. The loss of the Russians was also severe-As the enemy was vigorously pursued in his retreat by the cavalry belonging to the army of General Steingel, the whole country around was soon cleared, and St Petersburgh was happily delivered from the alarm which had been excited by the operations of this part of the invading army.

The Russian general-in-chief had ordered all the armies to advance with the greatest rapidity, around the retreating enemy. And here it is pro

per

to mention, that in the month of September, the armies of the Danube and of Tormozoff, had united in the neighbourhood of Loutsk; while the enemy had again over-run those parts of Volhynia which he had for a time abandoned. The Polish division under Dombrowski once more communicated with those of Renier and Prince Schwartzenberg; and several affairs unimportant, but for the gallantry displayed on both sides, oc

curred betwixt their detached parties and those of the Russians.-On the 14th September, General Hertel attacked the enemy in front of Sloutzk, and pursued him into the town. He afterwards overtook them at some distance from this place, where a battle was fought, which ended in the dispersion of the enemy, who was compelled to seek shelter in the woods.The object of these operations was the destruction of the enemy's magazines in this neighbourhood; and in this object the Russians completely succeed, ed, the whole of the places occupied by the French, with the stores, &c. having fallen into their hands.

When Renier and Schwartzenberg were apprised of the junction of Tormozoff's army with that of the Danube, they decided on retiring. They were actively pursued, however, in their retreat, and sustained great loss, till they reached a strong position in which they entrenched themselves. On the 11th October, Tchichagoff came up with them, and prepared to attack them next day; but as the night was dark, the Austrian and French commanders availed themselves of this circumstance to evacuate their position, and to continue their retreat. The pursuit re-commenced so soon as the Russians discovered that the enemy had retreated, and was continued with such effect, that the allies did not venture to halt at the station which they had originally chosen, but continued their flight towards Bialistock.-Tchichagoff intended by these movements to dislodge the enemy from those districts of country on which his own troops depended for supplies; to cut off their communication with the grand French army, and to facilitate his own with the Russian army of the Dwina under Wittgenstein. In these objects he ultimately succeeded, and thus fulfilled the intentions of the commander-in-chief.

At this juncture, Admiral Tchichagoff received orders from Prince Kutusoff to hasten towards Minsk, and interrupt the retreat of the grand French army; he set out accordingly on the 1st November, and was expect. ed by the 19th to reach the place of his destination. Such were the ar rangements made in this quarter to interrupt the invaders, who had now be gun their flight through the Russian territories.

On the 4th October, the head-quar ters of Kutusoff were at Litachsoka, on the Kalouga road. Before the Russian army took up this position, it had been abundantly supplied with provisions of all kinds from the neighbouring governments, and had recei ved great reinforcements of new troops, which were rapidly disciplined and or ganised. The enemy was in no condition to meet them; he was suffering all manner of privations, and was ha rassed at all points by the troops who were fast closing round him. Before any decisive arrangement, therefore, had been made by the enemy, the Russians had completed their preparations; they had taken by storm the town of Vereya, which had been fortified and provisioned by the French, and formed a depot for their arms, ammunition, and plunder. The enemy, alarmed by the advance of the Russians towards this point, had sent a reinforcement from Mojaisk to support the gover nor; but it arrived too late, and was almost wholly destroyed in retiring. The whole country in this direction was thus cleared; and the great obstacle to the movements of the left of the Russian grand army was removed.

The French armies now began to move on all sides towards the Dneiper; and the intentions of their chief were no longer doubtful. He saw the dif ficulties which surrounded him; he had no confidence in the issue of any attempt to cut his way through the

gathered hosts of his enemies, and he therefore had recourse to an expedient, which, although it threatened to sacrifice one part of his armies, promised to secure the flight of the other divisions, as well as his own personal safety. He sent towards Smolensko his carts, carriages, and waggons filled with plunder, ammunition, and wounded soldiers; and he dispatched a large force under Murat and Beauharnois to attack the Russian grand army by surprise, as if it had been his object to cut his way through it, and reach the Fertile provinces in the south. He endeavoured at the same time to conduct the other divisions under his own immediate command towards Minsk, where a grand depot had been established. Even the partial success of this plan depended on the surprise of the Russian army by Murat and Beauharnois; but the Russian general was not to be so easily outdone. He had intelligence of the whole plan; he determined, instead of being surprised himself, to fall upon the French unexpectedly, and with this view he ordered some divisions of his army rapidly to advance under General Benningsen, and anticipate the enemy. This brave officer set out on his enterprise on the evening of the 17th October, and on the following day, his approach became known to the enemy, whom this unexpected occurrence altogether confounded. One of the Russian columns was commanded by Count Orloff Denzoff, another by General Baggavant, and a third by Count Osterman Tolstoy. The French under Murat and Beauharnois, to the number of 50,000 men, presented an extended front, and waited the approach of the enemy. A terrible fire was opened on the French from the Russian centre; a battery hastily constructed placed the enemy's line in the greatest danger; and the rout was nearly completed by the success of Orloff Denzoff, who turn

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ed the enemy's left flank, and attacked his rear with great impetuosity. The Cossacks made a furious charge; and the French were driven from the field in confusion. They lost 2500 killed and wounded, 1000 prisoners, 36 pieces of cannon, besides ammunition, baggage and plunder, to an amount almost incredible.-The loss of the Russians was not so great; but they had to lament the brave General Baggavant, who was killed early in the action by a cannon ball. General Benningsen also was severely wounded -The conduct of the Rus sian troops on this occasion was much praised by their superiors; their good order and discipline in particular were conspicuous. Prince Kutusoff remarked, "The circumstance in this victory that I dwell on with the greatest satisfaction is, that all the columns performed their movements with an order and tranquillity, more resembling the calm evolutions of a field-day, than the tumultous hour of battle."-General Benningsen said, "I cannot sufficiently express my approbation of the good order and courage with which the troops executed their different movements, and made their attacks. Their coolness and intrepidity, as well as discipline, cannot be excelled. They have covered themselves with glory. In justice to the other part of the army, which circumstances did not permit to join in the action, I must add what is due to them, that the commanding disposition which they took on the extended heights to the left, materially facilitated the brilliant issue of this memorable day."-Of such materials were those Russian armies composed, of whom many persons affected to entertain a very mean opinion.

The plans of Buonaparte had been entirely defeated; and his mind was now filled with despair. He has been blamed for the movement which

brought on this fatal encounter, and apparently with justice. It was his duty, in retreating from Moscow, to have kept as long as possible at a distance from the Russian army, to have avoided rousing it into immediate action, and to have directed the movements of his columns to the northward by the Mojaisk road. By the course which he pursued, he manifestly sacrificed any temporary advantages which he might have gained by the protracted inactivity of the Russians, and at once precipitated his armies upon their destroyers.--But after the defeat of the 18th October, it was too late to deliberate; every thing which was after wards done was prompted by despair alone; for there seemed even at this early period of the retreat to be no longer any hope of escape for the invaders. On the 19th of October, Buonaparte ordered the whole of his army to break up; the divisions under his own command to move directly upon Mojaisk, and those under Murat and Beauharnois to attempt gaining the same point by a more circuitous route. Kutusoff, for a short time, resumed his position at Touratino, that he might direct the movements of his armies according to the intelligence which he should receive of the enemy; and he ordered 25 new regiments of Cossacks, under Platoff, to scour the country in all directions, and harass the invaders.

And now, indeed, a scene of horrors commenced, to which no parallel can be found in history. Flight, disgrace, fatigue, famine, pestilence misery, in short, in all the varied aspects which it can assume, was before the view of the French soldier. At this awful moment there was no ray of hope but for those who were so ignorant and credulous (if indeed there were any such) as to believe the promises of their leader, who had so woefully deceived them. He himself and his generals saw clearly the disasters

that were so fast approaching; yet did they make a thousand efforts to conceal them from their followers, and to encourage the drooping spirits of the soldiers with hopes of plenty and repose, which were never to be realised. So sensible was Buonaparte of the overwhelming difficulties of his situation, that he had already meditated his own escape, and the abandonment of his armies; already did he cease to command men who were no longer entitled to the name of soldiers, among whom discipline was unknown, and military virtue forgotten, unless when they were called forth by despair. To his generals he, in a great measure, abandoned the care of this unhappy multitude, and began to retire from the indignant view of thousands of wretched beings whom he had led on to inevitable destruction. Surrounded by his favourite generals, and accompanied by his guards, he seemed to think only of the means of ensuring his own return to that country which so few of his followers were ever to revisit.

Murat, in the first instance, endea. voured to reach the neighbourhood of Minsk ; but found his advance encompassed by so many perils, that he resolved on joining his forces to those of the main army on the road to Mcjaisk.-Kutusoff ordered his troops to advance; with one part of the army he moved on Krasnoy, and directed the advance under Miloradovitch to move in a parallel direction betwixt himself and the enemy. The Cossacks and light troops sustained, as usual, their harassing and destructive warfare-broke down the bridges in the enemy's line, and contributed essentially to those memorable disasters, which form the conclusion of this eventful story.-A short account of the exploits performed about this period by these savage warriors cannot be unin teresting.