The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-26 00:00:00

it was speedily and easily repaired. As in all the
great encounters of the war, no great advantage
accrued to either party from the obstinate struggle,
except the destruction of the Nashville, which
might perhaps have been effected but for the acci-
dent cf her running aground. It was at the best a
drawn battle between fort and iron-clad, and de-
cided nothing. The problem to be solved is whether
the iron-clads are positively invulnerable if shot of
sufficient weight be properly discharged against
them by rifled guns of adequate calibre, whether
the attack be made from land defences or from con-
tending iron-clads upon the water. This problem
was not solved in the Ogeechee, but much valuable
information was gained that may aid in its solution
at a future time.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION,

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

BRESLAU, March 21.
But too rapidly, I find, have my anticipations been
verified by fact. Langiewicz, surrounded on all
sides, and encumbered by a superfluity of troops,
has found it impossible to continue his old stratagem
of march and countermarch. Unable to fight a
pitched battle, and prevented at length from
evading the fight, his doom was sealed both by the
number of the enemy and his own. Had he been
possessed of sufficient artillery and ammunition it
is only fair to suppose we might have a different
tale to tell.

Though deficient, the particulars received speak
with unmistakeable clearness as to the cause of the
disaster. For a week he strained every nerve to
extricate himself from the meshes of the net. Still,
although ever on the alert, and flitting from position
to position with restless activity, his manoeuvring
ground was drawing together with every succeed-
ing day. As the Russian masses increased in number
they closed in upon the Poles, and by mere bodily
volume blocked up the ways and roads, and shut
up the nooks and corners their gallantry had b( en
unable to stop. Space getting too narrow for the
Dictator, he ultimately found himself face to face
with a formidable artillery, protected by thousands
of rifles, and covered as a third line of attack by a
dense girdle of swarming Cossacks. To force his
way through this living circuit of armed men be-
came as impossible as to evade their front or cir-
cumvent their flanks. Too deep to be thrust aside,
and too widely extended to be avoided, they were
pressing in upon the heroic minority, slowly, gra-
dually, but with the irresistible power of physical
laws. It being a rule in natural philosophy that
two bodies cannot occupy the same place at the
same time, the weaker and, so to say, the more
liquid force had to yield eventually to the momen-
tum of the more solid and ponderous matter. It
was to the law of impenetrability that Langiewicz
succumbed.

For ten days they had tried to catch him in the
south-western corner of the kingdom. Ordering
on their reinforcements from Kielce and Czensto-
chow, they occupied Walbrom to the north and
Olknsz to the south, strengthening simultaneously
their garrison at Miechow to the east of the indomit-
able Poles. Wedged in at three miles' distance on
either side, and surrounded by a force superior to
his own, the Dictator once more succeeded in
threading his way through the hostile maze.
Marching off to the north-west and turning suddenly
to the east, he freed himself again, to the astonish-
ment and dismay of the enemy, from the circle they
had been drawing around him. Early in the morn-
ing of the 16th he reached Xions, eight miles to the
north of Miechow. His intending captors thus
placed to the west and south, he hoped to have the
road to the east free before him. The north, at a
distance of some 30 miles, remained blocked up by
Kielce. To march towards the rising sun appeared
his only means of salvation. Cautiously progressing
with measured steps, he moved on with unusual de-
lay, and on the 17th arrived at Dzialassize, 10 miles
east of Miechow. Pursuing the same direction a few
hours more, he made for Chrobrze, and in the after-
noon of the same day passed the Nida river, near the
village of Zagosciow. It does not appear from our in-
telligence whether at this point he was overtaken by
the Miechow garrison,who came panting after him,
or confronted by fresh troops despatched from Kielce
or Pytzow ; but the fact of Colonel Czengeri being
given as one of the commanders makes the second
alternative the more probable of the two. Here,
then, he had to cope with the second girdle of the
enemy laid down in the rear of the inner circle,
who had enclosed him two days before. There
were the Muscovites arrayed before him in the
plain, 500 strong—guns, Cossacks, and all. Chasing
the Russian vanguard from the hills, aad leaning
his right wing on the ridge, his left was protected
by the river and the wood covering its banks. In
front he had the fields extending between Zagosc
and Krzyzanovice, the baggage being disposed in
the rear, guarded by some infantry and horse.
As usual, the Russian artillery opened the fight;
the volleys of the infantry followed, and, the Polish
equipment proving inferior to the Tula rifles, the
Kossiniaires (sithemen) rushed to the charge. The
encounter terminated in the Russians retreating to-
wards the north. The Poles hastening after them,
captured 500 muskets, together with some knap-
sacks, cartridges, and a score of prisoners. For a
moment the road to Kielce appeared practicable,
should escape become impossible towards Sando-
mierz and the east. At any rate, a diversion might
be attempted towards the north, and the Vistula
reached in a zigzag course.

But if these fond delusions were entertained in
the Polish camp,the sight that greeted their eyes on
the following morning must have dispelled all hope
of success. Once more the defeated Russians showed
fight in front. Word was sent at the same time from
the south that the vanguard of Prince Schakowskoi
had been observed in the rear. The right wing was
thretened from Chmelnik, and in the north lowered
the fortification of Kielce upon the chased game.
Langiewicz, who was now stationed near Busk,with
his front to the north, immediately retreated to a
wood, and for the last time attempted to retrieve
his fallen fortunes. The question was to conquer or
be cut to pieces. Every thing was to be risked in
order to prolong, if possible, the existence of the
corps for a day or a week. Little encumbered with
baggage, which had already disappeared the day
day before, he ordered the Kossiniaires from the
sheltering wood right up to the cannon's mouth. For
some time the fight wavered to and fro. Langiewicz
placed himself at the head of the storming columns.
Capt. Zachert, one of his adjutants, fell at his side,
another having his horse shot under him. At length
the Kossiniaires, escorted by the Zouaves, who par-
ticularly distinguished themselves in this sangui-
nary day, having performed the intermediate dis-
stance between the wood and the enemy, closed in
with the Russian ranks. Before cold steel the Rus-
sians broke, and fled. A large number of prisoners,
among them a lieutenant-colonel and a major, re-
warded the daring attack. The Poles had about 200
killed and wounded, but the day was theirs.
The night was spent at Welce, the Russians hav-
ing returned to Piuczow, and egress remaining as
impracticable as ever for the victors of two succeed-
ing days; that night settled the fate of the corps.
To escape in a body was out of the question. In a
council of war, held in the open air, Langiewicz
determined to break up his force into smaller and
more manageable detachments. Of the army of
8,000 men which he still had with him, four
divisions were to be formed of 2,000 each. One
of them, it was hoped, or perhaps two, might be
able to make good their way to the east, the re-
maining ones being engaged meanwhile, and, if ne-
cessary, destroyed by the enemy. But the morale
of the corps was gone. Hardly were the men in-
formed of the plan when a panic swept through
the camp. Even before the word of command was
given one of the new detachments effected a hasty
retreat to Opatowice, and, passing the Vistula,
crossed over the Austrian ground. The rest may be
imagined from the telegrams.

MARCH 22.

The fame of Gen. Langiewicz, I am afraid, will
not be increased by the tenour of the latest ad-
vices. The council of war the Dictator called at
Grochowiska was held about midnight of the 18th,
12 miles distance from the Austrian frontier. Sur-
rounded by his generals, and with the hostile
bivouacs encircling his position, he made the very
rational proposal of dividing his force into the