The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-10 00:00:00

THE AURTRIAN RETREAT.

On pining the top of the Lipa slopes the retreating
battalions of the Austrians were seen running acme t a
hollow in the ground which lies between Lipa and the
village of Streselitz, which lies about two miles further
south. The Prussian artillery halted on the summit of
the Lipa hill and fired shell, rapidly, which burst with
terrible precision over the heads of the fugitives. The
cavalry flew forward in pursuit, but the Prince, after lead-
ing a short way, had to go to superintend the general
movement, for the Austrian batteries had taken post
in the Streselitz ridge, and were firing heavily against
the pursuing Prussians. Then the cavalry got out of
d, and by small detachments rushed on the Austrian
battalions, but these, though retreating fast, were not
routed, and in many instances beat off the cavalry,
who also suffered much from the Austrian artillery,
for the shells burst repeatedly among the squadrons,
and killed many men and horses. But the Austrian guns
were driven off their ridge by the heavier fire of the more
numerous Prussian batteries, and then the pursuit was
renewed. Some of the retreating Austrians made for
' the fortress of Kiiniggratz, others for Pardubitz, and
troops were seat in pursuit along both roads. The
wounded who were lying on the ground shrieked with
fear when they saw the cavalry galloping down
towards them, but Prince Frederick Charles took care
I that they should be avoided, and at one time checked the
pursuit, in order to move his squadrons around, and not
go through a patch of standing corn, where several
wounded Austrians had taken refuge. These, when they
saw the lancers coming, thought they were going to be
massacred, and cried piteously, waving white handkerchiefs
as a sign of truce ; but they had no cause to fear. Large
numbers of prisoners were taken, for the pursuit was con-
tinued to the Elbe, and it was not till J o'clock that
all tiring had ceased, but the main body of the army
baited about 7.

On the night of the 3rd, when this letter was
written, every cottage in the neighbourhood that
had not been burnt was full of wounded. Conspi-
cuous in the hospitals, working diligently in their
voluntary labour, were the Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem, by whose voluntary contributions hos-
pitals are maintained in the nearest towns and in
the field.

The battle of Sadowa was a great victory for the
Prussian army ; the troops fought with the most
determined courage, they stood fur hours under a
terrible fire, for there are supposed to have been
nearly 1,500 guns in action, of which 750 were
Prussian. The immediate cause of the victory
was the Crown Prince's attack on the Aus-
trian left flank, which turned the position, but the
attack in front had a great effect on tho issue, as
unless it had been steadily maintained, the Ana-
triami might have repulsed the attack in flank.
It is the opinion of the Prussian generals that
the Austrian retreat was most skilful, and that
their artillery was excellently handled.
The number of troops engaged on the Prussian
side was about 250,000. The Austrians are sup-
posed to have had almost an equal number.

(REITERM TELECRAY.)
AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL MANIFESTO.

VIENNA. JITY 10.
The Emperor of Austria has issued the following
manifesto :

" To my Peoples, --The heavy misfortune which
has befallen my army of the North, notwithstand-
ing its most heroic resistance to the enemy, the
increased dangers thereby menacing the Fatherland,
the calamities of war with which my beloved king-
dom of Bohemia is being desolated, and which
threaten other parts of my empire, and the painful
and irreparable losses sustained by so many thou-
sands of families among my subjects, have
moved to its utmost core my heart, which beats
with so warm and fatherly a feeling for the good
of my peoples. But the reliance which I expressed
in my manifesto of the lith of June—a reliance
on your unalterable and faithful devotion and
readiness for any self-sacritice—a reliance on the
courage of my army, which even misfortune cannot
subdue—a reliance upon God and my good
and sacred right—this has not wavered
for a single instant. I have addressed
myself to the Emperor of the French respecting
his good offices: for bringing about an armis-
tice with Italy. Not merely did the Em-
peror readily respond to my demand, but
with the noble intention of preventing any
further bloodshed, he even, of his own accord,
offered to mediate with Prussia for a suspension of
hostilities and for opening negotiations for peace.
This offer I have accepted. lam prepared to
make peace upon honourable conditions, in order
to put an end to the bloodshed and ravages of war.
But I will never sanction a treaty of peace by
which the fundamental conditions of Austria's
position as a great power would be shaken. Sooner
than that this should be the case, I am resolved to
carry on the war to the utmost extremity, and in
this I am sure of my people's approval. All
available troops are being concentrated, and
the gape in the ranks of the army are
being tilled up by the conscription which has been
ordered, and the large enrolments of volunteers
called to arms by the newly-awakened spirit of
patriotism. Austria has been severely visited by
misfortune, but she is not humiliated or bowed
down.