450 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



bloody and destructive war, have 

 been able to check his ob'stinate 

 design, in which he has shown 

 himself entirely immoveable. With 

 peaceful promises on his tongue, 

 he never ceased to think on war. 

 At length having collected a large 

 army, and strengthened it with 

 Austrian, Prussian, Bavarian, Wur- 

 temburg, Westphalian, Italian, 

 Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish 

 regiments, who were constrained 

 through disgrace and fear, he put 

 himself in motion with this im- 

 mense force, supplied with vast 

 quantities of artillery, and pene- 

 trated into the interior of our 

 country. Murder, fire, and de- 

 struction, were his attendants on 

 the march. The plundered pro- 

 perty, the towns and villages set 

 on fire, the smoking ruins of Mos- 

 cow, the Kremlin blown up into 

 the air, the temples and altars of 

 the Lord destroyed ; in one word, 

 all kinds of cruelty and barbarity, 

 hitherto unheard of, at length 

 prove by his own actions, that 

 they have long been lying con- 

 cealed in the depth of his mind. 

 The mighty and happy Russian 

 empire, which possesses every 

 thing in abundance, awakened in 

 the heart of the enemy envy and 

 dread. The possession of the 

 whole world could not satisfy him, 

 so long as the fertile fields of Rus- 

 sia still were happy. Full of this 

 envy and internal hatred, he re- 

 volved, turned, and arranged in 

 his mind, all manner of evil means 

 by which he might give a dreadful 

 blow to her power, a total confu- 

 sion to her riches, and bring gene- 

 ral destruction on her prosperity. 

 He likewise thought by cunning 

 and flattery, to shake the fidelity 



of our subjects ; by the defilement 

 of the sanctuaries and God's tem- 

 ples, to make religion unsteady, 

 and to strike the national sight 

 with follies and extravagances. On 

 these hopes he built his destructive 

 plans, and with them he forced 

 himself, like a pestilential and mur- 

 derous tempest, into the heart of 

 Russia. 



The whole world has fixed its 

 attention on our suffering country, 

 and inwardly moved, thought they 

 saw in the reflection of the flames 

 of Moscow the last day of the ex- 

 istence of our freedom and inde- 

 pendence. But great and mighty 

 is the God of Justice ! The tri- 

 umph of the enemy was of short 

 duration ; pressed on all sides by 

 our valiant armies and levies, he 

 soon discovered that by his temerity, 

 he had ventured too far, and that he 

 could not, either by his vaunted ar- 

 my, his seducements, or his cruel- 

 ties, inspire fear into the loyal and 

 valiant Russians, nor save himself 

 from destruction. After many fruit- 

 less endeavours, and now that he 

 sees his numerous troops every 

 where beaten and destroyed, he, 

 with the small remains of them, 

 seeks his personal safety in the rapi- 

 dity of his flight ; he flies from Mos- 

 cow with as much fear and de- 

 pression as he advanced against 

 it with pride and insolence ; he 

 flies, leaving his cannon behind 

 him, throwing away his baggage, 

 and sacrificing every thing that 

 can retard the swiftness of his 

 flight. Thousands of the fugitives 

 daily fall to the earth and expire. 

 In such manner does the just ven- 

 geance of God punish those who 

 insult his temples. Whilst we, 

 with paternal tenderness and joyful 



neart. 



