The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING JUNE 20, 18M.

line of battle. Smith, commanding the Irish Bri-
gade, was placed in support. The left was protected
by refusing it, the third brigade being disposed so
as to cover that flank. The formation of Gibbon's
division on the right of Barlow was similar. Tyler's
brigade (heavy artillery) holding the right, Smith's
the centre, and Owen's the left—M‘Kean in rear
of Tyler's centre, in two lines. On Hancock's line
there were but few places where artillery could be
used with effect. Barlow had directed that his
attacking brigades should, previously to the assault,
be moved out, and formed just in rear of the picket i
line. From this point they advanced for half a
mile through woods and over open intervals under 1
severe square up to the enemy's works. That por-
tion of his front where the right of Miles's brigade
joined with the left of Brooks's—the same brigades
that so brilliantly carried the famous salient
in the lines of Spottsylvania—succeed in a similar
splendid coup here ; they got over and into the
enemy's parapet, capturing his guns (four light 12-
pounders), his colours, and 500 or 600 prisoners„
about 300 of whom were secured by promptly pass-
ing them to the rear. The storming column, in fact,
were just turning the enemy's guns on the retreat-
ing rebels, when powerful reinforcements from the
second rebel line appeared advancing. The first
rebel line was held by Breckinridge's troops and
was carried, but Lee is too good a General to leave
a point so important thus weakly defended. B reek-
inridge's men were placed in the fore front to re-
ceive the baptism of fire, but behind these jay the
veterans of Hill's corps, and it is these we now see
dashing forward to retrieve the honours we had
snatched. Barlow's brigades—stout hearts not
used to pale before the greatest odds—could have
held their own under conditions the least short of
desperation, but the situation in which they now
found themselves overleaped its limits. It
was not merely the overwhelming front that came
pressing down upon them, of that they had no fear,
but the position they had gained placed them in
advance of the ','hole line of battle, and gave the
rebel artillery the opportunity for a deadly enfilad-
ing fire. Besides this, they had lost the directing
heads of two of the chief commanders. Brooks and
Byrnes, ' souls of courage all compact,' fell mortally
wounded, and all the organizations had suffered
fearfully from an unparalleled loss of officers. In
this state of facts they fell back, bringing with them
the prisoners they had taken, and a captured:colour,
but not the guns. They fell back, but not to their
original position ; to a position far in advance of
that they had held, and at different points not more
than 50 yards from the enemy. Here they intrenched,
and here I leave them to pass on to Gibbon's division
of the same corps on the right, and which was en-
gaged at the same time. Gibbon's advance was si-
multaneous with Barlow's, but in moving forward he
came upon one of the swamps of the Chickahominy
which had to be turned or overpassed, in the process
of which it became very difficult to establish the
connection between different parts of his line. This
overcome, however, his troops pressed forward with
the same vigour that marked the conduct of their
companion division on the left, Parts of the bri-
gades of Tyler and 0 wen gained the rebel works,
but for reasons identical with those that forced back
Barlow's troops they also were compelled to give
up what they had won. Gibbon's division, too, lost
very heavily. Gen. Tyler, before reaching the works,
was carried off the field, shot in the ancle. One of
his regimental commanders, Colonel Porter, of the
Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, was killed ; im-
mediately after, Lieut.-Colonel Bates fell dead. An-
other of his regimental commanders, Col. M'Mahon
of the 161 th New York, was struck while planting
his colours on the rebel works, and was
left a prisoner in the enemy's hands, his troops not
supporting him after he was wounded. Owen's
brigade lost two entire companies taken prisoners
inside of the enemy's intrenchments. In giving
way, Gibbon's division also was fir from losing all
the ground it had gained. It took an advanced
position close to the enemy, and just over the crest,
the rearward slope of which was held by the rebels.
This position it has retained during the day, and
M'li.an's brigade has held all day a position within
15 yards of the enemy's works. Not until the splendid
attack of Hancock'scorps had been made,not till after
its blood-bought victory had been wrested from our
hands, was he or any man in this army aware of the
supreme importance of the position this morning
carried and lost. The key-point of the battle of
Gaines' Mills, two years ago, it is strange and morti-
fying that no one should have appreciated its value.
This position is a bald hill, named Watts'-hill,
dominating the whole battle ground, and covering
the angle of the Despatch-road. Along this ridge
the rebel works formed a salient, and in front of it
was a sunken road. Of this road Hancock got pos-
session, and the brigades of Miles and Brooks ac-
tuully struck and carried the work directly on the
salient I Had we held this point, we would have
had a position whence the entire rebel line might
have been enfiladed ; and I think it is not too much
to say that the day would have been ours, and Lee
pushed across the Chickahominy. Had we even
known in advance its commanding importance
very different dispositions for attack would have
been made ; we would have massed on the left, and
made the victory a certainty. These considerations
certainly inspire bitter regrets; but who does not
know that it is on such contingencies that the fate
of battles often hangs ? Simultaneously with the
attack of the Second Corps, the Sixth, under
Wright, connecting on the left with Hancock, made
a general advance at a quarter before 5 o'clock—
each division assaulting on the entire line. 01
this corps, the Second Division (M'Neill) held the
right, the Third Division (Rickets) the centre, and
the First Division (Russell) the left. Five batteries
under charge of the Chief of the Artillery of the
Second Corps. Colonel Tompkins—namely, Adams'
First Rhode Island Battery, Cowan's First New
York (Independent), Hahn's Third New York (In-
dependent), INl'Curtin's First Massachusetts, and
Rhode's First Rhode leland were planted in good
positions and did effective service in covering the
advance. The assault of the Sixth Corps was made
with the utmost vigour, and succeeded in carrying
the first line of rebel rifle pits along its entire front,
and got up within 250 yards of the main works.
Smith's corps, connecting on the right with the
Sixth, had advanced in conjunction with it; but
the left division, that of Martindale, who led the
attack in heavy, deep columns, got disarranged,
and was repulsed. General Smith made three
different attacks to relieve Martindale, but his last
supports did not get up in time to allow him to
hold on, The effect of this repulse on the left of
Smith had a disastrous effect on the position of
Wright. It uncovered the right flank of the 6th
and exposed Rickett's division, which was stoutly
holding the advanced position, to a savage fire on
the prolongation of its line. In this state of facts
to retain possession of a position somewhat in ad-
vance of his point of starting was the utmost Gen.
Wright could possibly do. Operations along the
fronts of Warren and Burnside were of on impor-
tance quite subordinate to that of operations on the
left. No results were achieved except the carryiny
of the line of rifle-pits occupied by the rebel skir-
mishers. The Fifth and Ninth Corps nowhere
struck the enemy's main work. Burnside kep
up a furious cannonade for some hours, bu
:"-

it was nothing--vox et preterea nihil. From
the tenor of one of Burnside's morning de-
spatches it was at one time hoped that he would
b© able to turn the enemy's left, but this hope also
was doomed to disappointment."

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The Late General Dembinski,

The funeral obsequies of a man who probably was one of
the best specimens of the Polish patriot and soldier since
the time of Kosciusko, says the Paris corms-pendent of the
Times, took place on Wedneecley afternoon in the church
of Notre Dame des Cle-ateps, Henri Deminski was born 80
years ago in the palatinate of Cracow. His hither was De-
puty to the Diet of Poland, and was one of the most atelent
supporters of the independence of his country. bembinski
received his military education the Military Schools of
Vienna, and on complutiug his studies was offered a com-
mission in ,the Austrian service. He declined it, and
joined at 3 private volunteer the ranks of the national army
cf the grand duchy of Warsaw, and subsequently entered
the Polish Legion in the service of France. He went
through the campaign of 1812, and received his captain's
commission and the Cross of the Legion of Hone& from
Napoleon after the battle of Smolentko He was present
at Leipsic, where he greatly distinguished himself. On the
fall of the Empire he returned to Poland, baffled like so
many others of his countrymen, in his hopes of the recon-
stitution esf r2oland as an independent State by the man
wltoai they had faithfully served. He was elected member
el the Diet in 1825. When the Revolution of 1830 broke
out Dembinski was named Colonel of the regiment which
he had raised in the palatinate of Cracow, and on his ar-
rival at Warsaw with his men was promoted by the Gene-
ral-in-Chief, Skreyneck, whose-aide-de-camp he had been
when in the service of France, to the command of a bri-
gade of Lancers, at the head of which he greatly distin-
guished himself. His conduct in the affair of Oatrolenska,
the combat of Raygrod, and the successful retreat of Kurs•
zawy (July 1831), procured for him the rank of General of
Division. On his return to Warsaw, after 26 days' con-
stant movement, during which he marched 300 leagues,
baffling when he did not beat his enemy, he was received
by the population with the greatest enthusiasm, and the
Chambershad
unanimously
voted that Dembinski and his
army
deserved evell of the country. He was soon after
named to the command-in-chief of the national army.
With a view to put a stop to the dissensions which had
broken out among the Poles, caused by their own rivalries,
and fomented by Russian agency, he aimed at a military
dictatorship—but his attempt failed—he lost his popularity,
and fell from power. When Warsaw surrendered Dem-
binski took refuge in Prussia with the remnant of Rylinaki's
corps, but in consequence of the remonstrances of Prince
Paskiewitch, he was soon forced to quit the country. He j
retired to Dresden, and finally took up his abode in France,
where he published an account of the campaign in Lithu-
ania. In 1833 he set out for Egypt, and took service with
Mehemet Ali. In 1835 he returned to Paris, and published
a work in the Polish language on the state and prospects
of his native country. The revolution of February caused
him once more to leave France; he went to Breslau and
Prague, and was present at the Congress of the Slave
patriots held in those cities. He proceeded to Hungary,
and offered his services to the Maygar Government, then
menaced by the army of Windischgrata. He was appointed
by Kossuth to the command-in-chief of the insurrectionary
army, and drew up a plan of campaign, but did not succeed
in obtaining the adhesion of Georgey, whose tardiness in
joining him occasioned the loss of the battle of Kapolna on
the 28th of February, 1849. Forced to retreat behind the
Theiss, he resigned his powers, which were transferred to
Georgey. He stayed two months at Debreczin, aiding by his
counsels the Magyar Government, which had definitively
broken with Austria. He earnestly advocated the neces-
sity of uniting the cause of Hungary to that of Poland, and
urged an expedition to Galicia. His plan being rejected,
he refused to take the command of the army of the north,
but at the approach of the Russians accepted the post of
Quartermaster-General, under Messaros,who had succeeded
Georgey in the command of the army in July, 1849. The
army retreated on Szegedin, where the Government
was then installed. An engagement took place at
Szdreg on the sth of August, in which he was defeated.
He at once marched on Temesvar, and in front of that city
fought his last and unsuccessful battle with the Austro-
Russian army. The retirment of Kossuth from the Dicta.
torship and the capitulations concluded by Georgey at Vela-
gos on the 13th of August put an end to the struggle, which
indeed had long become hopeless. Dembinski, with other
chiefs, sought refuge on the Turkish territory, reached
Widden, then Shurela, and finally was claimed by the
French Embassy at Constantinople as a naturalised French-
man, He returned to France, and in 1850 fixed his abode
in Paris, where he remained till the day of his death. He
is said to have occupied the last tight years of hie life in
writing a history of the war in Hungary. Dembinski was
a sincere and disinterested patriot, but kept apart to the
last from the democratic revolutionists, with whom he never
had the slightest sympathy. He was greatly respected,
and is regretted by all who had the advantage of knowing

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

I.

LONDON AND NORTII-WESTERN.
The adjourned Wharneliffe, meeting of this company was
held on Saturday, at the Euston station ; Mr. It. Moon, the
chairman, presided.
Mr E. STEWART, the secretary, having read the
notice of adjournment,
The CHAIRMAN moved a formal resolution approving a
bill for conferring additional powers on the London and
North-Western Railway Company for the construction of
works, and otherwise in relation to their own undertaking,
and the undertakings of other companies, for authorising
the abandonment of certain railways and for other pur-
poses.

Mr BLWWN-WESTHEAD, M.P., seconded the motion, and
it was earned unanimously.

On the motion of the Cir.A.rroci.N seconded by Mr
BROWN-WESTHEID, the following bills were unanimously
approved :—A bill for the construction of railways in the
county of Lancaster, to be called " The Lancashire Union
Railways" and for other purposes; a bill for vesting the
undertaking of the St. Helen's Canal and railway Company
in the London and North-Western Railway Corisq any; a bill
fur authorising a lease of a portion of the undertaking of
the Company of Proprietors of the Lancaster Canal Naviga-
tion to the Company of Proprietors of the Canal Navigation
from Leeds to Liverpool, and of the remainder thereof to
the London and North-Western Railway Company and for
other purposes; a bill to authorise the construction of rail-
ways or tramways from the town of Ilolywell to Greenfield,
in the county of Flint, and to the Hollywall sta. ion of the
Chester and Hollyhead railway, and for other purposes;
and a bill for conferring further powers on the Great
Western Railway Company for the construction of works
and the acquisition of lands, and otherwise in relation to
their own undertaking, and the undertakings of other com-
panies and persons, and for other purposes.
The meeting was then adji.urned to Wednesday, the 29th
inst., at noon, when it was hoped the business of the \Vharn-
cliffs meetings would be included.

It appears that the directors of this company had resolved
to allot to their proprietors rateably, at par, additional ordi-
nary stock to the amount of about £1,300,000, equivalent to
about 5 per cent. on the ordinary capital. The allotments
will be made to the proprietors registered on the 18th inst.
in the form of ordinary
stock, to be fully paid up on Aug.
1
1 next, but carrying ordinary dividend from July ,
186 k.