On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    bly shed before in the same space of time and country * The great hero went proudly on from conquest to conquest , tili he rushed into the Kremlin , the sanctuary of ( he Russian empire . A scene of horror was now presented to his view , which might even appal that heart , accustomed , as it had bf en , to sights of woe and shrieks of despair . The metropolis of a mighty empire was in a blaze around him . Its own

    inhabitants set fire to the city and consumed the treasures which he vainly called his own . Lord ovej dust and ashes , the prey had escape * him , and he was now placed in the heart of an empire , where every thing threatened

    his stay with ruin . The season of the year and the fatigues of the army did not permit an advance to Petersburg ]! , and nothing but immediate retreat- by the road he came , seemed likely to preserve his army from famine , or a worse enemy , the inclemency of the

    season . The causes of the stay in Moscow are not known , nor is it easy to envelope them . But whatever they may have been , they had the effect of retarding the retreat to the worst time in which it could be made j for though the fine weather was at first boasted

    of , the pinching cold and snow attacked them on their inarch , and the Russians and Cossacks harrassed them at every step . The loss by the weather must have been much greater than by any other cause ; yet the Russians boast of having made between twenty

    and thirty thousand prisoners in three attacks , besides the numbers that were daily brought in of those , who could not keep up wilh the army , or were taken in various skirmishes , or who abandoned their ranks , preferring the chance of nr-ercy from the enemy to the inevitable horrors * of the march .

    Buonaparte was often reported to be taken or slain ; for he was so beset by the armies of Russians in every direction , that it seemed impossible for him to escape . The Russian court issued proclamations of congratulations to

    xheir country and gratitude to Providence , on this great deliverance \ and when we contemplate the mighty preparations against their country , the skill of the general , the discipline and courage of the soldiers , the whole strikes us # s one of those miraculous events , prepared to humble the pride of man . It was not the Russian army

    Untitled Article

    that beat Buonaparte * , he was con * quered by a superior power . Of three hundred thousand men and upwards , that entered into Russia , not thirty thousand will revisit their country . A hundred and thirty thousand prisoners have been taken , besides arms , ammunition and baggage without end . The plunder gained by the French has ail been lost , and their stores accumulated in Poland serve

    now for food and clothing to the Russian army , which has entered East Prussia and is threatening the whole of Germany . Austria has got back its troops into its own territory , and Alexander has issued a proclamation , calling upon the governments of Europe to withdraw fiom ^ the influence of Franceand to labour with him to

    es-, tablish the balance of power in Europe . He promises to make Prussia again an independent kingdom , but he says nothing of Poland , whose overthrow by the tlm e jacobin powers of Prussia ,

    Russia and Austria , was the forerunner and eticourager of all the anarchy that has since prevailed in Europe . It is a great point however that Alexander professes such moderation ; for should he enter with his hordes into Europe , should he establish himself at Paris

    as Buonaparte did at Moscow , many a fair city will be levelled with the ground , barbarism will be re-established , cud the strayers from America will visit tiiis quarter of the earth , as we do the plains of Lesser Asia and Greece , to explore their ruins , and to witness the degradation of the human mind under tyranny and superstition .

    The mighty Emperor of Frantic , that went proudly from court to court , witnessing'the homage of his dependant sovereigns , till he took the command of the most gallant army that the sun perhaps ever shone upon , retraced his steps with the rapidity of the post

    out-stripped the news of his disgraces and , accompanied by a single individual , entered his palace at Paris , unknown and unexpected . Like the arch betrayer of mankind , as described by our great poet , he in disguise mounted his throne . The cannoa announced

    his arrival 5 c < loud was the acclaim , Forth rusird in haste the great consulting peers , Rais'd from their dark divan , and with , like joy , Congratulant approached him . "

    Untitled Article

    76 State of Public Ajfuirs .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1813, page 76, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2424/page/76/