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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.
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very day that Buonaparte entered the place : and it is probable that his presence prevented the capture . The plan seems to have been Jaid with great judgment , and had it succeeded , the blow struck would have been
decisive in the campaign ; even iu its failure some advantages were gained , which placed Buonaparte in a different situation from that in which he has hitherto been accustomed to astonish Europe . The French by the military tactics they adopted with their Revolution ,
overcame the powers opposed to them , who persisted in that system , by which they acquired great glory , as it is called , in arms . Thus in former times the Greeks , attached to their phalanx , fell an easy prey to the quickness ef evolutions of the Roman Legion . But the repetition of defeat has instructed
the confederate powers , and in this campaign they have pursued the French method , not waiting for the attack , but disposing their forces so as to act through a great extent of conntry . Thus they have a plan of their
own to pursue , which every where interferes with that formed' by Buoua ~ parte : these chess players are brought nearer to equality than they have hitherto been , and there is no small probability that Buonaparte will be beat at his own weapons .
The river Elbe is the grand scene of all their actions . Various affairs had taken place upou it , which distracted the attention of the French , and the confederates , according to their well concerted plan , marched upon Dresden , and their balls fell in the town *
They were repulsed after a very severe conflict , and a battle took place the next day , the result of which , according to the French account , amounted almost to a complefe rout , and an imjnense loss of men , ammunition and baggage . One fact , however , is certain , that the move made by the confederates was not attended with the
desired success : they were compelled to retreat into Bohemia , but in that retreat , by a fortunate concurrence of circumstance ? , they met with a large detachment of Buonaparte ' s army , which they put to the rout , taking the commander , several generals , and all their ammunition and baggage . On balancing the accounts therefore of the contending parties , there is as
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yet no great occasion to boast on either side . If the churches of France resound with Te Deums on the tw& victorious days before Dresden , the tower guns have announced the successes of the confederates on the following : days , who most probably have addressed the God of Hosts with equal
praise and equal sincerity . But not to have been completely beaten , to have made such a stand , to be prepared for another attack , gives the preponderance in favour of the confederates , who , if they continue to act in concert ,
may drive the potent emperor from the Elbe , and in that case follow np their victories to the Rhine . The charm of invincibility is broken . The Russian winter , if it has not tamed the hero , has diminished the terror of his name .
His legions , brought to act merely on the defensive , will be thinned by desertion , and the fact of the battalions of Westphalia , and of several officers of distin 4 $ on going over to the confederates , must fill his mind with anxiety . Something * more decisive will soon appear , ami Germany will groan for years under a military government of one kind or another . Whether it
will gain by the exchange of French for Cossacks time will prove . In Spain the French have been completely foiled in their attempts to relieve the town and fort of St . Sebastian , which after a very brave defence fell by the assault of the former , and the surrender by capitulation of the latter . The town was made a mass of
ruins , in consequence of the cannonade of the besiegers ; and after its capture the guns of its defenders were turned upon it from the fort . The capture of this place was of great consequence to the allied army , as now Pampluna is the only fortified place remaining in possession of the French in the
northern part of Spain . The ill success of the repeated attacks on Lord Wellington , will damp the ardour of tb © French , and the surrender of Pampluua is hourly expected . The French in the interior of Spain may then be expected to fall an easy prey to the and
conquering armies of the allies , Spain delivered from the French may begin to resume its place among the powers of Europe . The Cortez however have not yet removed from Cadiz to the capital , but it cannot be expected to remain long in its present p oui
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622 State of Publie Affairsl
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1813, page 622, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2432/page/62/
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