The National Register. — London, England, 1809-06-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Our itiina, elon,.ltitution, anti 11.“134. No. 76. fiUN D A 'V, JUNE 11, 180). POLITICA', i)is;Q: cv EN-I:Y-101;ft. AUSTRIAN VICTORIES. The public 1:' rd in animated by the Austrian victory in il h . :g.ree rip:portion:de Io •its importance. It is thc se,; : !;{y felt, because, it wn so liiite exw..-cted.• It NV33, in fact. a qing.zilar oleo-6 h.!!!!) of the adage, that the I . ;attle is not alwa‘s to the stro:lg, nor the race to the swift, but that there are occasions, in which, for wise but socret .pin-poscs, Providellft! innnediately interposes, 'lnd diverts the naiut al courie of even!s. We cannot but think that there is something. of this interposition in the late vic tory. Aceording to all !Inman probability, the Anstriaiss had no right to expect it. Every thing was against them, when the happy accident (for such we are convinckl that it was) •intervened, a.;:d not only saved them from present but has aiven a most material torn to the events of the liar. _ There arc tw./.) acconntS before the, Public of this most , ••lorious change in the fortune of our allies • the ene an • tniplicd and itt d icect Mie from the Bulletin 'of the enemy ; the other, founded on the direct information of the Anti trial) d:QpradlCS. In order to arrive at a correct know ledge, and to he enabled to form a suitable judgment of the degree of this success, it is important to compare the two accounts, and, by the collation and comparison, deter mine the respective truth, and respective exaggeration, of both. In this comparison . , it is necessary to be strictly impartial, and_to divest ourselves of the natural bias to- Avaids the inter;!st of ohr allies. It is equally natural for the Austrians to exag - gerate, and even occasionally to fal sify as for the Frencii—a nd we feel ourselves compelled t'; say, that the •trench Bulletins have usually been found by experience tokrably correct ; they 'exaggerate indeed at their pkasure, and without any restraint from modesty, or regard to national and individual honour; but their inlin Nets are usually true. Some credit, therefore, is (1,:!! ei:en to tiw. rr..,izch Bulletins. The most intelligible Intl hod of tnaking this comparicon is to distribute the events under the two bea , ...s --of those which happened on thft Chose w!iic!i occurred mi the 220. • ,tecording to the French :recounts, the Austrians on the 21st atlacketi on all points, having previously sur fertql them to irvs the river uninolesta. The Emperor Nntt;;(cot►, in order to terminate the affair, ordered an at tack on ti - ,e Austrian centre. The centre, says the French arronnt, was broken, and the enemy commenced their retreat k disorder. Arcording to th►: Auctrian- accounts, the Archduke C►iAiu EF decignedly suffered the enemy to pas , ; the river, ana the:i ordered a general attack, the re snit of wLich, say the Austrian aft...omits. wl.;. that the euemy were corinlettly defeated—the Ansf Hans then re tired to their cutrenelirnents fur the nio. r) 9 - ht Mat Ihev rnitrht renew the battle with inerenced spirit.on the day. i'pon the compuison of these statements, there seeni!.: nn material difference. 9he Austrians cluitn the - rictury, 11.—Av. L XX.r iI. Pntcr Jul. the claim the victory, but iieene.' have aey substantial fact to ascertain tie claim. both ar mies retained their positiiMs. '1 tie mference is, that ilaa ~ a , . ”4.riatis had attacked die enemy w t h tie• greatest brave:3', and with mach' effect, and that the attack was only iaterrupted by 111...: night. 'Both :!ccoaais a;;:ree that beth armies retained their positions, from hall it must be neces3arily iaferrcal that nether of them wors:ed. In the existing circumstances of the Austrians, this equality of fortune and ell'ort in aach .a dreadful cacou:Aer, is of itself a most encouraaing circumstance. Let tale Austrian soldiers once.. look the t rench• in the face ; or, iii the lan guage of the sportsman, let them have the taste of blood, and know that their. enemy is -Irainan and vimcilile like themselves, and thefortane of the war will soon change. There is, however, one circumstance in this part of th e A teitrian dispatches, •which merits a few wor(is.—li is stated, that the Archduke Cuauens, DESIGNEDLY, that is to say as a part of his plan, suffered them to , pass • the riser, anti would not attack then) till they • had safely efteeted their p.issage. This is•an absurdity which the clerks at home have itifased into the dispatches. 11 an army can ever be attacked with 2(lyantag,e, it is wh e n th ey are i n the act of crossing a river, and wore riv a river like,thal of the Danube. If the Archduke, theiefere, tLrl not attack them in their passairs, it was for seine bettta• reason than is here assigned. .this circtin.stance, iroa. ever, is oily worthy of being mentioned as u p,culiUr stance of an ass kward garbling of dispatches. We come now to the alledged occurrences of the 22d. On this day, according to the Freech accooets. the French had recommenced the attack, when the Emperor was sud denly ieformed, that the bridges over the il:n a .. jre broken down by the floods, and that his rear and ammu nition were in consequence separated from his front. Froni this unexpected accident, continues the 13:1!ictin, it was fouud necessa rt . to retreat, which the Austrians perceived, by playing upon th e t • renc h and availed themselves of it, armies with 200 pieces or cannon and 'Orly thousand nuts quetrv. The French, however, according to their own statement, effected their retreat to an island in the Da nube, where they have since remained, and re-established their bridges. The Austrian dispatches give a totally difrorent account of the events of this day. The" state that the bridges we, e nut broken down by the aloud, but were set on fve by the Austrians ; that the enernic were, in consequence, defeatcd in all quarters; and that they VIVe tr-cro,rd th e anbe. Upon comr,arison, therefore, of the two accentiti of the eNCIO4 of the :ad, the main point of Sitrerence is, that the French Attribute the removalol the brizirt!s to th e ris.ng of the raver, whilst tho Aust.fiat; dispatches asert thew to have been destroyed by fire. As we have. hc...e Iwo contrary aAertions without any coucon.litznt circums!ancts, it is not %WV CZlgy to determlne to which account the preference is due. For our own r., 1 ., 0;1- e‘er, tee are compelled to acknowledge, that the kr:_mdi v.count is not only more cir:Lunsi,:tiAti - 41 1 but is \