The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-31 00:00:00

1 E SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1866.

TEE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

PnESBURG, HUNGARY, July 25.
If the sentiments expressed by the officers around
the person of his Imperial Highness Field-Marshal
the Archduke Albrecht be held by a large portiOn of
the Austrian army, it may fairly be assumed that,
though the defeat of Koniggratz weighed heavily
upon their spirits and produced much discourage-
ment, officers and men as a body are prepared to
continue the struggle, and look on a diplomatic in-
tervention with an unfriendly disposition. There
are two parties in the army—one for peace, and the
other for war. The party for peace is not at all of
the Peace :party, as we understand it in England.
They say—
"We were not ready for war. Prussia was fully pre-
pared, and had been making all her calculations and her
plans at least two years ago. Our staff was ill-organised—
hers was perfect ; our magazines were empty—hers were
full of now stores. She has gained allies or crushed neu-
trals all over Germany—we have lost both one and the
other, and have scarcely any assured friends able to fight
for us. We are armed and manceuvred on the old plan—
she has comeinto the field with a terrible improvement on
the muzzle-loading rifle and w;th a new system of tactics,
which she invented specially to meet and defeat the French
in case of need. Our men somehow or other have lost con-
fidence in their leaders, and our leaders are old and incom-
petent. Their men are flushed with victory, and have un-
bounded reliance in themselves and their Generals. Be-
sides, we have been so unfortunate, and have lost so much
in men and material and territory in the field, that we
have scarcely a hope of success. Let us make peace, then,
on the best terms we may, and using peace as Prussia did
to prepare for war, let us, as soon as we are ready for it,
regain all we have lost in a vigorous and decisive cam-
paign, just as she has won it."

The war party in the army, on the other hand,
say :

",Let us continue the war now or never. Austria is not
lost with one battle. We can avenge Koniggratz and in-
flict a terrible defeat on the enemy which will be more de-
cisive than her victory. We have 60,000 troops who have a
burning desire to meet the Prussian; and at least 100,000
more who have never been seriously engaged. Our artillery
has not suffered, our cavalry is still formidable and full of
contempt for the Prussian horse. Our infantry is fast re-
gaining its old morale, and is still magnificent in physique,
and we can show the enemy very different troops from the
' boy soldiers' of the Kaiser they bore down at Skalitz and
Jicin. We are making breech-loaders, we are learning from
our enemies, and we will no longer trust to our bayonets
and close quarters. Can we be worse off than we are? The
Prussians speak as if Vienna were theirs already now, but
if the war goes on they will find that they have only won
the opening moves of the game. They are far from their
supplies and their bases. We have the command of all the
railways but one. They are suffering from sickness, their
transport is failing, their artillery and cavalry are becom-
ing crippled, and officers and men are anxious to rest on
their laurels. If Hungary is propitiated we can obtain hun-
dreds of thousands of recruits, and even without her we
can fin the ranks of our army, while Prussia has been ob-
liged to call up the second reserve of her Landwehr. Good
generals will come to the front, and even if all goes against
us our existence is a political necessity, and in the hour of
our need States now aloof or indifferent must come in and
cast their aegis over Austria. At all events let us try if the
army before Vienna cannot reverse the decree which Europe
pronounced on our defeat at Custozza."
The best officers, perhaps, belong to this school,
for there is in the Austrian something of the Eng-
lishman. He has faith in his own powers, and can-
not believe he is altogether beaten. Most of the
men, they say, are ready and eager for a continu-
ance of hostility, and although the " croakers" may
be loud and vigorous, it is said they are not so nu-
merous as the noise they make would lead one to
suppose, and that they typify the old fable of the
grasshoppers on the bank. But while we are specu-
lating on these things in Presburg, all doubt as to
peace or war may be over in London, and the result
of the five days' suspension of arms may be already
known. The hour of noon on next Friday will have
passed before this letter reaches England, and you
will be able to determine whether it is to be war or
peace. I had intended to leave Vienna on Monday
afternoon, but a command to dinner from the Arch-
duke Albrecht for my colleague and myself prevented
my departure till yesterday, and as the truce had
commenced there was nothing to do at Presburg
except to visit the field of Blumenau, where the
action took place on Sunday which was suspended
by a parlementaire from the Prussians at noon in the
middle of a warm engagement close to the place
from which this letter is written.

The news of the naval victory had put every one
in the best possible spirits, and if anything could
add to the satisfaction with which that event was
regarded it was the news that Benedek had got
through the defiles and was close to Presburg, though
he had not got off unscathed or without hard fight-
ing on more than one occasion. The Prussians had
already reached the banks of the Danube.
The victory over the Italians was scarcely antici-
pated. They were superior in numbers and in ar-
mament, as well as in the quality of their ironclads.
Nay, more, Admiral Tegethof had reason to doubt
whether his sailors of Italian origin or affinity would
fight ; but, with a courage and skill which have
already no doubt been duly recognised in England,
he led his fleet against the enemy, and in wooden
ships repeated the experiences of Farragut against
ironclads of the best construction, and achieved a
brilliant success, which will, it is argued, go far
to shake the confidence that cuirassed vessels of
war are invincible. The Dalmatians have sud-
denly become heroes, and Tegethof is an Aus-
trian Nelson. The Archduke Albrecht may be
regarded as the head of the war party next to the
Emperor himself, or rather the Emperor and he may
be considered as the most resolute opponents of any
peace which is based on the dismemberment and de-
gradation of Austria. The Archduke has been vic-
torious in the field. The Emperor sees around him
an enormous army and a proud nobility unwilling to
accept the campaign in Bohemia and Moravia as a
final verdict in their trial of strength with Prussia.
The influence exercised by persons and parties iu such
elevated stations would be conclusive if Hungary were
in better temper, and if the people generally were
bent upon continuing the contest. But the attitude
of France is so equivocal, the conduct of Bavaria
has been so dilatory and delusive, not to say dastardly,
Russia has been so cold, and England so little
friendly that Austria feels she must rely on her own
strength and on any weakness displayed by Prussia
for success, and, looking behind and around her,
fails to perceive the union and enthusiasm which
might sustain her in a more formidable crisis.
If there were, indeed, an " insurrection" in Hun-
gary, if there were a popular call for the " Lands-
turrn," if all classes, high and low, rich and poor,
were instant and urgent for war, there can be no
doubt what the result of the negotiations would
be were Austria asked to accept humiliating condi-
tions. And, indeed, to one who does not look
beyond courts and camps, saloons and soldiers, it
would be hard to believe Austria was brought very
low. Yesterday, before I continued my journey to
Presburg, I turned aside to witness a review to
which my companion had been invited, about five
miles outside Vienni Early as the Austrians are,
there were not many people stirring in the streets
as we drove down Karnthnergasse except soldiers,
for the parade was ordered for eight o'clock, and
we were advised to start at six o'clock punctually.
The Nielitschiener (I may as well explain for the
benefit of the curious and puzzled that Nielitschien
is the name of a place where they make a sort of
britska, and the vehicle.in question was one which
belonged to the late Prince Esterhazy, which I pur-
chased out of his vast store of coaches on my arrival
in Vienna) rolled over the stones in a way peculiar
to itself, passing through streets and suburbs, out
of which soldiers' faces were peering from every
window, looking, apparently, at more soldiers on
the pave below them.

I must say that odious as are the contrivances of
many military tailors all over the world, nothing
can compare in ugliness with a forage cap worn by
the Austrians. Those who remember a kind of night
cap, turned up at the sides, with which the Guards
at home were once afflicted—and may be, for all I
can remember—can form an idea, of what this
article is by realizing an ill-made flabby imitation
of it in blue cloth, with turned up flaps at the sides,
and put on anyhow, for if a soldier can put on an
article of dress the wrong way he will do so. And
apropos of that, I may relate a little anecdote of a
captain of Austrian artillery in Italy. His battery
was under a tremendous fire. At one gun there
was only one man left to work. The captain went
and helped him to serve the piece, and round after
round was discharged, till the officer suddenly, in

an interval of loading, exclaimed, " Schmidt ! how
dare you have your shako on your hen in a way
contrary to regulation ?" There I lea . him and
return to the Austrian Welsh wig with an anathema,
for independently of its original kin of ugliness is
superadded a frightful feature—a white bandage of
linen round the head and under the turned-up flaps,
which leaves the top of the cap uncovered, so that
the wearer looks as if he were wounded or just out
of hospital.

In spite of this and the grey overcoat the soldiers
looked well, and swarmed in and out of the houses
in which they were billeted in a quiet, contented way,
as if they were satisfied with their quarters. All the
suburbs were filled with them, and at every few
hundred yards small parties of horse and foot es-
corting baggage or waggons, or busied about some
of the duties which keep so many men in an army
for ever employed in war time, came out from or
went towards Vienna. The fields were dotted with
encampments of trains and waggons, and in rather
a low lying spot we recognised the camp of our gal-
lant Hungarian Col. Von Nadosy (he is partial to
swampy ground), who has brought in the Head
Quarters train lately belonging to the North Army
Haupt Quartier staff in a hard march of five days
from Olmutz, after many hairbreadth escapes.
Although I have used the word encampment, the
Austrians carry no tents ; when they are not pro-
vided with shelter in houses they sleep in their coats
in the fields. Staff officers in gold laced cocked hats
with large waving green plumes, green tunics, gold
laced and yellow sashes, passed along towards the
review ground, and we passed a fine group of led
horses belonging to the Emperor and the members
of the Imperial family, with well-appointed grooms,
bound for the same place. Turning aside from the
highway out of Vienna, which runs parallel for a
short way with the railway towards the south, we
passed through the village of Ober Laa and the
hamlet of Unter Laa, and came out on a prairie-like
expanse of rolling fields, on which the corn had been
cut, so that the men could not damage the crops.
Columns of dust, through which flashed barrel and
bayonet, showed that the various regiments were
still marching to their ground, and we came upon
some of the Archduke Albrecht's staff at a little
church outside Unter Laa. Here we mounted our
horses and rode over to the front of the troops to be
reviewed. They consisted of three brigades of the
Fifth Army Corps commanded by Gen. Hartung
ung
and eight batteries of artillery, but their cavalry
had not yet arrived from the South, though close to
Vienna. As each brigade consists of two regiments
and one Jager battalion, the strength of the force
on the field ought to be by regulation of at least
35,000 men, but it was not, I think, more than
24,000 or 25,000 men. The Fifth Army Corps has
just come from Italy, where it took part in the action
of Custozza, and Hartung is considered one of the
best officers in the Austrian army. Nothing could
exceed the steadiness and order of the troops, and
in stature, bearing, and appointments they were
all that could be desired—except one was fanatical
about breech-loaders, and Garibaldi shirts, and
Zouave breeches. The infantry were nearly, if
not all Hungarian regiments, and as the eye
rested on their bronzed faces, the long lines of clean
white tunics and the well-turned limbs in the tight-
fitting light blue pantaloons, he might be pardoned
for taking them to be as good as any infantry in the
world. The nightcaps and great coats were dis-
carded, and in the shako each man wore a sprig of
laurel or a bunch of green leaves. The white lines
were set off by the plumed bonnets and dark tunics
of the Jager battalions, and as the whole force was
drawn up in columns of battalions, in twolines, to
economise space, there was an appearance of solidity
and strength about it which even the shock of battle
might fail to dissipate. The artillery was in good
order, though the Woolwich gunners might criticise
the lightness of the horses if they did not know how
light the guns were also. General Hartung and his
staff, on the right flank of the corps, awaited the
arrival of the Emperor, and a few peasants—men
and women from the farmhouses and hamlets—
came out to enjoy the sight, and were allowed
to come unvexed of bullying sentries close to
the troops, but did not venture inside the
line of field officers mounted in front. In the plain
in front a party of gamekeepers were training their
dogs for the opening of the shooting season, and
breaking them to the fat hares which started up on
all sides and went lolloping away in a deliberate Aus-
trian sort of way, with their huge ears erect in the
stubble. Presently the faint reports of artillery
announced that the Emperor was on his way, and
two carriages containing members of the Imperial
family drove on the ground. About, half-past 8
o'clock a pillar of dust, which spread out over the
plain, bore rapidly towards us from Unter Laa, and in
the midst, enveloped in an escort of generals, aides-
de-camp, and staff officers, and splendidly mounted,
rode, erect and well in his seat, the Emperor Fran-
cis Joseph, an Imperial Hapsburg in stature, face,
and bearing. He was dressed in a light-blue tunic,
with gold and white and red sash, a gold-laced
cocked hat, with a large waving green plume, and
cavalry overalls ; and, although those who know him
best say he looks altered and is shockingly thin and
worn, I only saw a man, clear-eyed, a calm face,
with a serious expression—an English-looking face
with a heavy light moustache and light whiskers—
with a tall, slight figure, lithe and active. With
him was his Imperial Highness Archduke Albrecht,
his Imperial Highness (his son) Ludvig, the Crown
Prince of Saxony, the Cro vn Prince of Hanover,
and the officers in attendance on them, with their
escorts. It might well be called a " brilliant" staff,
and the effect, as they all galloped down the line, the
colours lowered, the troops saluting, the bands play-
ing " God preserve the Emperor," was one of those
things to be seen and not described, which gratify
some secret hankering after the pomp and circum-
stance of glorious war, and render the eye for the time
the master of the mind and of all the emotions. When
the Emperor had ridden down the ranks he came
round to the front of the corps and dismounted from
his horse. Then, advancing close to the men, he, in
loud, clear, and ringing tones, addressed them ; but
his Majesty was so far in front of his staff that only a
few words of what he said reached them. He
thanked them for their courage and for their victories
and for their devotion to Austria, which might be
again tested, and then, ending with the words—
" Once more I thank you," he proceeded on foot to
distribute to a number of non-commissioned officers
and
ressng
privates
eachdecorationsm
ari
bfyo r tnhaemi re, and affixing cond u c tain
xt
ihneg thefield,
medal with his own hands. The officers who were
promoted or decorated for the Italian campaign
were drawn up apart and acknowledged his ma-
jesty's thanks by saluting three times with their
swords, but did not receive the marks of Imperial
favour directly on the field. There were probably
300 in all who were selected for the various distinc-
tions of orders and decorations, and one could not
help thinking that if these honorary
beenrewar
rewards arele
the
spirit which has
it is a more rational
e vop e
o f
the given
cheap et a° p d
defencee
way to select men from the mass than to give away
bushel loads of medals to all those,whatever be their
merits or demerits, their dangers or their sufferings,
engaged in a campaign ; so that the soldier
mldsicarwohoclaswaps
has
writing in an orderly-room
as the man who stood inside the Sandbag Bat-
tery at Inkerman, and the man who lookedussian
on, and the man who charged into the R
guns at Balaklava wear the same brand. The march
past took place at a swinging pace. The men did
not carry packs, and wore their greatcoats folded
and put round the body over the shoulder, and
looked in all respects as well as any troops could do
in the world. As soon as they had passed each
regiment marched off, and at the close the Emperor
and his Staff returned towards Vienna, and we dis-
mounted and continued our journey to Presburg.
A drive by a country road brought us to the large
village of Schwechat, famous for its beer; and the
Austrians are resolved to defend the establishments
for making their favourite beverage against the en-
vious and marauding Prussians with vigour, if we
might judge by their preparations and the force in
which they occupied the place. What it costs to be a
great military power Above all, -what it costs if the
pretension to be so is not sustained, and if a greater
military Power is able to demand of its unsuccessful
rival, knocking loudly at her doors, themalloneythfeoser
maintaining the two establishments! u

strapping, long-legged, bright-eyed, lithe Hunga-
rians had been in Klum on July 3d, about 2 p.m.,
what a change might have been made in the history
of the world ! And now it is said that one Mr.
Deak, a plain Hungarian gentleman—more potent
in his way than anysoldier-_.has been able to take
a very high tone with the King of Hungary, be-
cause his countrymen in the markets were not on
that little hillock. He is believed here to have told
the Emperor in his interview with his Majesty on
the 19th July that he ought to make peace and to
have adhered tenaciously to his programme of a
Liberal Ministry for Hungary, with the Vice Presi-
dent of the Lower Chamber as President or
Prime Minister. Beyond Schwechat the road
branches, one chaussee running parallel with the
banks of the Danube towards Presburg, the others
striking off to Bruck. Heavy columns of infantry,
cavalry, and guns were visible at intervals march-
ing from Bruck towards Vienna on our right,
which we learnt afterwards belonged to Bene-
dek's army, and several squadrons of horse and
some field batteries passed us with their forces
in the same direction, the men so covered with dust
that their uniforms were scarcely discernible, and
their faces and moustaches were of a pumice-stone
hue and aspect. They belonged to Benedek's army
also. At Fischament, a large village about a third
of the way to Presburg, we halted to feed horse
and man. The little inn was full of soldiers,
and in the court-yard, stretched on the stones,
thinly covered with straw, lay snoring in the
sun the owners of indiscriminate heads, legs,
bodies, and arms, amid stacked firelocks and
lances. The fat landlord uttered a tremendous
grunt of something between indignation and amaze-
ment when we asked him if he had any trout for
dinner. "My God ! trout ! Why there are soldiers
here who devour everything. They would eat the
very sand of the river. Trout, indeed !" And so we
took to a bread soup, and veal and pig instead. The
soldiers belonged to Ramming's corps, which we had
left behind us at Olmutz, and their stained accoutre-
ments and worn shoes told their tale of long march-
ings through the Waagthal. The valley of the
Danube is close to the road beyond Fischament.
Down below us runs the mighty river, in many chan-
nels, so screened with heavy timber on innumerable
islands that the eye seldom catches a glimpse of the
main stream. The right bank is high and steep, the
escarp of a great plateau. The trees below us, high
as they rise, do not come within a couple of hun-
dred feet of the cliff-like bank, and on the other side
the forest stretches out wide and flat towards
Schonau, Orth, Mansdorf, Croatwagram, and other
places now occupied by the Prussians. On one side,
at every quarter of a mile or so, was perched a
white-coated dragoon, en vedette, watching the oppo-
site bank. Here and there a picket of Jagers kept
guard and looked keenly across at the woods ; and
once, and once only, we saw at the other side of a
wide reach of the river some soldiers of the enemy's
pickets near a little hamlet, but their main bodies
were inside the line of the Reuss which flows into
the Danube above Presburg. The scenery along the
whole of the drive was interesting on the left of the
river, but on the right an expanse of cornfields ex-
tending to the blue ridges of the Leythagebirge did
not offer any attractive features. It was to be ob-
served that there were no preparations visible at
the best positions for putting guns under cover to
sweep the river, but the bank is in itself a formid-
able addition to the obstacles presented by the river
itself to the passage of an enemy. Passing through
Elend and Ragelsbrun, we made another halt at
Petronel to rest the horses. Here there are large
Imperial manufactories of tobacco, and the weed is
largely cultivated along the road. Detachments of
troops marching down towards the river and the
parties they relieved returning from duty gave ani-
mation to the scene, and gave the traveller an oppor-
tunity of becoming acquainted with the appearance
of all the different branches of the Austrian service.
Toward evening we reached Hainburg, and the sun
was setting behind the ruined castle which crests the
lofty crag over the city of Presburg before we reached
the bridge of boats over the Danube—familiar to
every traveller from Vienna to Pesth. The river
rushes swift as the " arrowy Rhone" itself, and as
broad as the Thames at the tunnel below the bridge,
the planks of which are well-nigh worn through by
passage of cavalry and artillery. The best hotel in
Presburg was full, and we were fain to put up at the
"Gasthof zum Schwan," in the narrow street lead-
ing to the bridge. Had we lain down in the street
itself we would have had just as much chance, or
better, of sleep. The people of Presburg who swarmed
on the other side of the river, on the " Kavehas"
watching the troops crossing over, had left plenty
of people behind them, and the fair Hungarians—
darkly fair—in pork-pie hats, leaning on the arms
of gentlemen in Hessian boots and steeple hats and
llussar jackets, thronged the place till the moon
rose high, looking at the columns of all arms, which
kept on marching and clattering over the pavement
without intermission, for Benedek's army was in
full march for the other side. The windows cl t-
tered, the house shook, doors banged, officers
shouted, horses neighed all through the night, nor
ceased with early morning, and the first rays of the
sun were greeted by the crash of bands, as regi-
ment after regiment filed down towards the bridge.
The river steamers received them as fast as they
arrived, and, backing down the stream, came
slowly round and sidled across to the opposite bank,
where the men were disembarked and proceeded to
find quarters in the woods and villages. As soon as
we had breakfasted and changed our quarters to the
admirable hostelry of the " Gruneu Baum," we
proceeded to visit Blumenau, the scene of the action
of last Sunday. The road running parallel to the
railway strikes in a north-westerly direction through
a defile with high conical hills ou either side—the
summits covered with wood, and sides and bases
with vines on stout props 4 or 5 feet high.

About three miles outside the town the first traces
of the recent combat were visible—dead horses in
the fields, and a few graves freshly made. The
straw on which Prussian soldiers had slept lay by
the road side, and among the dead horses and the
graves the peasants were busy stacking and drawing
home the corn. Mere the defile opened out on a
plain inclosed by hills on both sides, which receded
to the right and left, and rose in broken irregular
ridges covered with forest. The Prussians had ad-
vanced along these hills on both sides, and their
cavalry had been charged by the Austrian horse in
the plains before us. Blumenau is a poor and in-
significant hamlet, containing about 20 small cabins.
At a miserable cabaret, a group of officers sat at
table in the open air, taking their early dinner, and
when they heard who we were they received us
most kindly, and gave us all the information they
had about the fight. One, an Ober Lieutenant of
Lancers, was on outpost duty the morning of the
action, and was personally engaged with the Prus-
sians. The others had all taken part in it, and de-
scribed their share in the events of the day with
animation and frankness. As they were speaking,
the Colonel in command of the cavalry at Blumenau
came up and asked who we were. " Why," said he,
" you are the two Englishmen about whom my wife
wlaotroLoktieet
dta tomegur.grave
ewl t
ah when
was
sad,s
ah es
,arfnaondr
"yeaosruehnwec were
rdaer.ur es
Thes, t
he
de Colonel
received any intelligence of his wife and children
since he received the letter in which she told him of
her little adventure. While we were talking of the
action, and of various matters—peace and war—an
orderly arrived with the precious sheets which cor-
respond to our Gazette, and for a few minutes every
one turned over the pages with eagerness, scanning
the lists of promotions and decorations, and it is to
be hoped some of them were gratified with the
distribution of Imperial favours, though no congra-
tulations were exchanged. We took our leave and
returned to Presburg, and my companion returned
in the afternoon and reviewed the position. Here,
as everywhere, there
lwas sentimentbeuetonreeeio
gtheir
ex-
pressed by the cavalry
umnoluesnstetdheoyppaorne einotsra.
u'e‘hTghre Prussians
eaterfore never
e.Th face
eyh usave
thesom menetim sometimes surprised a
oaldgettothpeois a
their horses,
nd cu cut
binuton a p
if
we
eartyere
are
at
needle-guns,
lele
dlequale-gaians
aunmdb
actinge r s theyasaliwofaayostrryetirarethfierrintghatoh eai
as
ecaavvaary." T
llryon
the
ee same
taes storyfro m
m the
eeeas from
valryoEndtehleshreigimht's,
and it contrasts strangely with the accounts from

the Prussian army, but I regret to say I have had
no means of independent observation. There is,
however, one matter which deserves to be men-
tioned. I give the anecdote in the very words and
writing of the officer who furnished me with the in-
formation. Here is what he says :

"On the 22d, at ono o'clock, the telegram arrived that a
five days' truce had been agreed upon between the two
headquarters. Some officers of the general staff were sent
to the enemy to acquaint them with this news ; notwith-
standing their waving white handkerchiefs in the air, as
they approached the Prussian positions, they were fired
at by the Prussians Several times, and at different places ;
so were the parlementaires sent by the Austrian regiment
" King of Belgium ;" the chief of the general staff of the
2d corps, Colonel B. Dopffner, and Captain B. Devaux,
of the brigade Ifenriquez, were in the same case. The
Prussians fired at them at a very short distance, whence
they could not have possibly mistaken the generally ac-
cepted signs of peace."

The subject is worthy of notice, as it has excited
so much indignation among some officers here, and
it is all the more strange because the Prussian
officers who came to the Austrian lines and talked
with the officers, expressed their desire for peace
and hoped there would be no more war. It is said,
indeed, that some Prussian officers took such an
extraordinary view of the nature of the truce that
they rode into Presburg and bought books and
maps at a stationer's, and were allowed to return
without any let or hindrance. When we got back
to Presburg the road to the bridge was as full of
troops marching to the other side as it had been in
the early morning. No sooner had the strains of
one band died away than another was heard far
down the dusty road, and hour after hour the stream
of guns, carriages, horses, and men flowed over the
river. Some of the regiments gave token in their
diminished ranks of the terrible ordeal which they
had undergone since they turned their faces towards
the North. One, for instance—the 21st—returned
with only 12 officers left out of 70 who started with
it. Others, such as the 2d Feldjager Battalion and
the 71st Regiment, looked as if they were quite
ready for service at a moment's notice, and the
artillery horses were in better condition than could
have been expected after the tremendous marches
they have been making. Benedek himself with his
staff is within a march of this. The Feldzeugmeister
has had a most difficult and dangerous move-
ment to effect, and has accomplished it with
signal success. Leaving a strong garrison in 01-
mutz and the redoubts which surround it, he
started on the 15th day after we arrived in Vienna,
in pursuance of his orders from the Archduke Al-
brecht, with three corps d'armee amounting to some
75,000 men, to reach the capital. His direct com-
munications were cut off by the enemy, and the right
flank of his army was exposed completely as he
turned southwards. On the day he started the
Prussian cavalry attacked his train and his reserve
artillery, which were covered by a weak party of
Austrians at a place called Traubek, between To-
bitschau and Prerau. The enemy's dragoons wore
white coats, and were mistaken for Austrian
Cuirassiers, nor was the error discovered till they
were on the guns and took 16 of them after a sharp
fight. These 16 guns were, lam assured, retaken
from the Prussians very soon afterwards in an en-
gagement in which a Prussian cavalry colonel and
nearly all his regiment were captured. It seems
rather singular that Benedek should have marched
with the train and guns on his right flank, unless he
thought the Prussians were on his left, as indeed
they were, for on the same day, in the afternoon, he
was attacked on his way near Prerau, and his Staff
had to cut their way through the Prussian horse,
but the enemy were repulsed and retired as reinforce-
ments came up. From 2 p.m. till 11 a.m. next day
the march continued-21 hours through a difficult
country in horrible weather, by Kremser, where the
left column turned to the eastwards by Hillein to
Holleschau, and the right proceeded to Freystadtl—
more than 55 English miles. Thence they marched
by Wisowitz to Slawicin by dreadful roads over a
mountainous country in torrents of rain for 21 hours,
again towards the valley of the Waag. Turning next
day towards the Carpathians, Benedek led his army
by passes so steep that with difficultyeight horse4could
draw a light cart up the hills, and artillery horses
dropped dead on all sides through the defiles of the
Jawnnikberg and the Sieben-thaler-geberge towards
the Waag. The Prussians meantime, supposing that
he was trying by forced marches to turn them,
marched down the Marchthal, by Hradisch, Wessely,
Strasnitz, towards the south, but they do not seem
to have imagined Benedek would strike across the
mountains for the valley of the Waag. From
Goding, on the Olmutz and Vienna Railway, there
is a road leading by Szenitz through the pass of
Fablonic over the Carpathians to Tirnau, in the
Waag Valley, and if they had pushed across the
pass they could, it seems from the map, have occu-
pied Tirnau before Benedek got there. Probably
they were afraid of his coming down on the left
flank of the army, outside Vienna, and hastened to
cover it. Whatever the cause of their movements
may have been, it is certain they made no further
effort to check Benedek's march, or to bar his march
to the Danube, and the Feldzeugmeister reached
Trencsin in the Waag, whence the main ground
leads down the valley of the river by Leopoldstadt
to Tirnau and strikes the railway to Presburg, near
Wartberg. Here he had his right covered by the
Catpathians, and on his left were no enemies. Next
day Benedek's army marched to Neustadt, and then
in successive marches by Strassa and Vagy Kosto-
lau, arrived at Tirnau, whence they proceeded by
Bosing to Presburg.

JULY 26.

Postscript.—At 9 o'clock this morning Feldzeug-
meister Von Benedek entered the city of Presburg,
and is halting for the day at the Grunen Baum.
He came in with a sadly diminished staff, but it
was pleasant to find that the stories we had heard
of the death of some and the wounds of others we
knew were not true. His baggage and rear guard
are now coming in with the Hussars and Uhlans
who covered his march. To-morrow morning early
the Feldzeugmeister and his staff proceed to Vienna
to await the course of events. Austria is now strong
on the Danube.

copper wire. This done the electrical circuit is com-
pleted, the alarm bell in the captain's cabin is rung,
and a flap on the dial plate flying up exhibits a
number which gives the exact portion of the ship's
hold in which the extra heat is generating. The
part in the \lersey's hold selected to test the prin-
ciple on Saturday was the handing room of the
after magazine, the calorimeters there being fixed in
the beams, and their "temperature distance," if the
space between the ends of the copper wire and the
surface of the mercury may be so called, fixed at
154 degrees. Fires were lit ix stoves in the hand-
ing room, and its temperature increased by these
means to 175 degrees, when the calorimeters acted
and transmitted the signal to the alarm bell and the
dial plate in the captain's cabin in a most unmis-
takable manner. The trial was considered most
satisfactory.
The paying out of commission of the crew of her
Majesty's late ship Amazon took place on board the
Duke of Wellington, Capt. C. Fellowes, at Ports-
mouth on Thursday. Commander Hunter, the late
Commander of the Amazon, read a letter to his
officers and ship's company, previous to their pay-
ment, from Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Port-
Admiral and Commander-in-Chief at 'Portsmouth,
in which the gallant Admiral stated that he was
directed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty to express the great satisfaction of their lord-
ships with the conduct of the officers and crew of
the Amazon after the collision of that ship with the
late steamship Osprey, although their lordships
could not but regret the results of the collision.
Her Majesty's 6-gun paddle sloop Devastation,
Commander Wm. K. Jolliffe, ordered home from the
Pacific at the commencement of the present year,
arrived alongside the powder buoy of the Royal
Arsenal at Woolwich yesterday, and having dis-
charged her guns, powder, and other war stores,
she went up to the dockyard, in preparation to be
dismantled and paid off for repairs. 'Three of the
officers only, who joined on her being commissioned
on the 9th of December, 1861, have remained dur-
ing the term of commission, namely :—Lieut. Shat-
tock, Francis 0. Simpson, master ; and William
Carter, assist.-paymaster. After being stripped the
Devastation will be placed in the third division of
the Woolwich steam reserve.

The following district order relating 0 the 31st
Regiment, the head-quarters of which left Ports-
mouth on Sunday for Ireland, and will be followed
by the remainder of the regiment on Thursday, has
been promulgated in Portsmouth garrison :—" Ad-
jutant-General's-office,Portsmouth, District Order.
The 31st Regiment being about to embark for Ire-
land, the Lieut.-General cannot permit it to quit the
South-West District without expressing to Colonel
Eagar the officers, non-commissioned officers, and
men under his command, his regret at losing the
services of so good a corps. The appearance of the
regiment on parade, the steadiness and quickness of
its drill, its good discipline in quarters, and its gene-
ral efficiency on all occasions leave nothing to be
desired. By order, A. ALISON, Lieut.-Col. and
A. A. Adjt.-Gen."