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 resistance, 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 devouring 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,' -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 contend. ing 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 operations 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 Russians 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 con

fusion, 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 mea, sure, to repair the strength of the second army, already exhausted by marches so harassing, and greatly re

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 improving, 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 threat ened 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 difficulty; but the most obvious prudence

VOL. V. PART I.

D

demanded of the Emperor Alexander, that he should do every thing to counteract this insidious policy; to disencumber himself of all his other ene mies, 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 Rus sians had so anxiously desired, and which the circumstances of Europe imperiously demanded, was announ ced. To the impolicy of an administration 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 surprised 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.

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 pasa 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 employed in this quarter, in a few days entered 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, (ordered 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 ef fort 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

neral, become desperate by the unexpected difficulties which he had encountered, brought immense reinforce ments from his centre and left, extended his front, and endeavoured to outflank the Russians. The Russians instantly adopted the only plan by which they could counteract these movements; they also changed their front, and extended their line in a parallel direction to that of the enemy. The battle was once more renewed with great fury; but such was the execution done by the Russian artillery among the assailants, that the latter were broken, and at one time pursued even to the skirts of the wood. The attack was again renewed; six fresh battalions of infantry and several regiments of Austrian hulans and hussars were led on to support it. Night alone parted the combatants, each of whom left on the field about 5000 killed and wounded. The enemy retired to his former position, and the Russians during the night prepared to return to Kobrine, where they arrived the following day without moles tation.

While these events occurred in the south, great exertions were made to strengthen Riga, against which a division of the invading army had been directed. The command of the army destined to defend this city, had been entrusted to General Essen, who proved himself worthy of the confidence of his sovereign. The suburbs of Riga were destroyed, and every thing removed which could assist the approach of the enemy, or interrupt the fire from the fortifications. A strong garrison was posted in the town; and the army stationed in front was commanded by Essen in person. From

this

army General Lewis was detached with a considerable force to occupy Eckan and the neighbourhood. The Prussians, who formed a part of the corps of Macdonald, were more im

mediately employed against Riga, and had already posted themselves betwixt that city and Mittau; the head-quarters of Macdonald himself were still at Yacobstade.-The Prussian General Kliest, alarmed lest the advance of the Russians should interrupt his communications with Macdonald, determined on attacking them; and for this purpose he moved towards Eckan. A lively cannonade and charge of cavalry from the Russians for a time disconcerted this attack; but General Kleist rallied his troops, and pushed forward with great impetuosity. The contest was obstinate; but the Russians finding themselves pressed by superior numbers, retired towards Riga, and effected their retreat in the most perfect order. About six hundred on each side were killed and wounded in this affair.

A month now elapsed before operations were resumed in this quarter. Essen, however, received intelligence that the French forces were increasing very much in numbers; that a strong reserve was advancing from Germany, which would supersede the Prussians in the siege of Riga; and that a powerful battering-train had been ordered up from Dantzic to enable the besiegers to commence operations with effect. He saw the danger of his si tuation, should he leave the Prussians unbroken, till this mass of force should arrive; and he, therefore, determined on driving them back to Mittau. The Prussians were advantageously posted, and had been careful to strengthen a position naturally good, by intrenchments. The town of Eckan protected their right, their centre was secured by a branch of a small river, and a chain ofp osts connected them with Shlock, vill age not far distant. Essen resolved to attack their right; and to conceal this part of his plan he ordered a false attack to be made on their centre. The flotilla of British