The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-20 00:00:00

THE AUS T.

bour shrank back and jumped up as if I had the
plague. A little man in grey, with red tenet eyes,
red head and whiskers, and inquisitive spectacles,
tackled my companion, who explained what and
who we were, and why we had cone t( Littau, and
the little man gave it as his deci 1 1 opinion that
we were no better than we ought to be, and that we
had no business to be going about on horseback in
such times at all. Disparaging remarks in Bohe-
mian and Moravian dialects were, we guessed, freely
directed against our proceedings, and Chinese-eyed
gendarmes swelled visibly with importance and in-
dignation. Our passports were exhibited for the
little man, and increased his doubts. And, to cover
all, another literary Lattauite found a tremendous
mare's-nest. Why, my companion's pass was signed
by Henikstein, a traitor, a man .now in prison for
aiding the Prussians ! Mark that ! And mine was
only dated that day. Spies, if ever men were ! There
was a clamour, a grunting, and a growling; win-
dows were thrown up ; old women and children
came forth as if from the earth. At last the au-
thority arrived, in the shape of a gentlemanly, el-
derly man, in civil costume, who proceeded upstairs
to a large, official-looking saloon, with maps on the
walls and tables and chairs, and books and papers of
imposing appearance. We followed under charge
of the gendarme. The authority took his place
at a large table, while we stood before him, and heard
the gendarme's statement. Then he examined our
passports, and proceeded to ask us questions which
showed the real nature of the case against us :
"Were we aware that, even if the papers produced
were genuine, we were only authorised by them to
be with the head-quarters of the Northern army ?
Why were we in Littau, between the Austrian and
the Prussian armies, and close to the Prussian
frontiers ? It was all very well to say we wanted to
see something to write about, but we had no busi-
ness to leave Olmutz." " Had we ever seen the
lady with whom we had spoken before ?" Never."
" What, never ! Did you not wink at her when she
came in ?" (This question I beg to say was addressed
to my military companion.) " Not wink at her ?
Are you quite sure ?" (The gendarme was convulsed
with anger at the negative.) " Well, do you admit
you spoke to her in a foreign language ?" " No, in
German ; the lady only used a word of French, and
spoke only German." (The gendarme gave a sigh
at such dreadful mendacity, and rolled his eyes till
they were quite gone out of sight.) " What were
we three leaning over maps for and talking in a low
voice ? What did we say about the Prussians being
near ?" (Oh, my friend, you were listening at the door
it seems.) As the case developed itself it was
astounding. Here were two men appearing in a
town between the Austrian and Prussian main armies,
on horseback. They come no one knows whence.
They ride up to an inn just as a carriage, in which
is a strange lady, drives up from the Prussian side.
They demand a private room. There the strange
lady joins them. They wink at her knowingly, and
she winks at them. Then a party of Austrian
cavalry dash through the town from the direction
of Olmutz, evidently in pursuit of some one, and
do not know there are two strange horsemen in the
inn. The party are agitated in the inner room. The
lady and the two men converse in a strange Jan- ,
guage. A map is produced, and they pore over it,
speaking in low tones and in an unknown tongue ;
but they are heard to speak of the Prussians and of
their being near. At last the lady goes away ; the
two men prepare to follow her. They are stopped,
and produce passports, one signed by a chief of the
Staff known to be under heavy suspicion and in
arrest, and the other has a passport signed that day.
As we were hearing all this with intense amazement
there was a noise of wheels in the square, and in a

few moments our fair friend entered with wonder
and anger in her face and eyes. "I, the wife of the
Colonel of the 6th Uhlans, to be brought back as if
I were a spy ! What does it all mean, Sir ?" The
authority explained the case, but the lady had proofs
of her identity, and looked as if she felt very sorry
for having noticed two such doubtful people. One
of her husband's regiment was actually in the square
below. A Uhlan, a pleasant, cheery fellow entered,
and stood at " attention" at the sight of his Oberst's
wife. A little polite conversation between the
authority and the lady, and some low dialogue, the
effect, of which was in our favour, followed, and the
lady made a bow (she denied the wink very warmly),
took her leave, and drove off towards Olmutz.

Meanwhile, the gendarme had left the room, and
the authority, who really was a very intelligent and
agreeable officer, though determined to do his duty,
gave us to understand that he had no doubt we were
what we represented ourselves to be, bub that he
could not without serious consequences dismiss a
case presented to him under such circumstances by
the gendarmerie. " See what risks you run. These
people don't understand German. You might have
been seized in some village, bound with ropes',
and dragged away for miles to some military post,
or• been ill-treated," and so on, in a very friendly
way, urging the madness of our thirst for knowledge.
The gendarme returned, and he was informed of the
decision arrived at. We were to go back under an
escort to Olmutz, to be handed over to the officer on
guard. Our names were written on a piece of paper.
A Uhlan was summoned ; it was the same who
had recognised the lady. He received his orders
and we took our leave to the intense disgust of the
gendarme. That worthy, who had accused us of
speaking in English to the lady, was asked if he
knew English when he heard it. No, he did not,
but, as he did not know it, he guessed the language
must be English. As we walked across the square
for our horses the whole disengaged population of
Zittau acted as escort. The Uhlan, who viewed the
whole proceeding with the utmost contempt, busied
himself in quickening the ostler, and grinned all
over his hearty face when he was told we were sus-
pected of being spies. " And do you know the lady
we were talking to?" " I should think I do ! Why,
she is my Colonel's wife !" Well, they took her for
a spy, too !" "My God ; the pigs. Well, they are
capable of it. It was well I was there !" and he
laughed at the idea tremendously ; and so we can-
tered off towards Olmutz. Now, this Uhlan was a
wise man. He had no mind for a ride of some 22

or 23 miles at the heels of two persecuted foreigners.
We broke into a hand gallop on the road outside
the town. And as we galloped the Uhlan fell be-
hind, at last all but the top of his lance disappeared,
and when we rose the brow of the hill and looked
back he was no more seen. May he be borne safely
through the shock of many Prussian lances !
It was nigh 7 o'clock when we reached Olmutz,
having lost two hours and a half in arrest at Littau.
Scarcely had we gained our quarters when the last
of the Teutonic correspondents at head-quarters
rushed in to say we had not a moment to lose. The
enemy were advancing to cut the line ; Olmutz
would be in a state of siege in 24 hours. He had just
seen Benedek, who told him to be off at once if he
wished not to be shut up. Here was fresh trouble.
Our friendly informant bade us adieu, and betook
himself to the station. The intelligence was too
true. At headquarters my companion was told by
the Quartermaster-Geiteral that he could not answer
for our being able to get away after to-morrow morn-
ing ; all trains were stopped except for military
purposes. The telegraph
orwas g
so after to
-morrow,
A:.
posts or mails wouldcome
With the kindliness and courtesy which characterise

all the superior Austrian officers, Gen. Kricz pro-
mised to give passes for ourselves, servants, horses,
and baggage, and we prepared to pack up at once,
while at headquarters an Austrian patrol and guard
rode in with the waggons of a Prussian field-post
which they had captured. More valuable still they
had captured a special correspondent. At first 1

was almost in hopes that some compensation was
about being made to me for my perpetual sufferings
from aggressive Prussians in the capture of one who
was always in pursuit of me, and always
threaten-
ing my communications, putting me in a state of
siege, going about at his ease gaining victories, and
getting and sending off his letters, and I was pre-
paring to be as clement as Titus, when it was made
known to me that it was not your military corres-
pondent at the Prussian headquarters who had been
taken so characteristically defending the post with
his life, but the gentleman who represented the
Kreutz Zeitung of Berlin. As there were copies of
a proclamation inciting the Hungarians to rise found
on him, the correspondent will be sent to Vienna to
await judicial proceedings. This morning early my

comrade and myself proceeded to the headquarters
Staff Bureau to get the pass from Gen. Kricz and
to pay our respects to Gen. von Benedek. The lat-
ter came in while we were with the General, and re-
ceived us with that frankness. and simple natural
I heartiness and directness which gain for him the
hearts of all who come near him. He seemed a
little thinner than he was at Koniggratz, but his
eye was as sparkling and bright, his voice as ring-
, mg, and his action as vivacious as ever. To my
companion his farewell was affectionate, and he em-
braced him on leaving as a comrade on thd field of
battle. No one has ever met Ludvig von Benedek
without liking him, or parted from him without re-
gret, and no braver soldier ever drew sword than
the vanquished leader of the Austrian host at Konig-
gratz, now the commander of a corps, and soon to
be the defender of a besieged camp and city.
The colonel at the station read the order, and
issued his instructions to a captain of artillery to
make room for us, bag and baggage, with a field
battery. We were to be ready at half-past 1 o'clock,
and the train would start at 2 o'clock. It was a new
phase of this Prusso-phoby, from which I have so
long been suffering. They are at Brunn ; they are
moving over towards the line of rail which connects
Olmutz with Lundenburg and Vienna. They are on
the north and east of Olmutz, and on the north-west
and south of it. The very last way of spending a
summer and autumn that any man could propose to
himself, unless he were an enthusiast in sieges,
would be to pass them in Olmutz, with the eternal
Prussians outside ; and all one's dreams of advanc-
ing armies and triumphal progress were come to
this—another retreat, and yet another and another,
and the zundnadel-gewehr behind one for ever.
It was a journey to be remembered to Vienna. At
1.30 p.m, our small retreating column of two cor-
respondents, with horses, traps, and servants, were
at the Olmutz railway station, which was the very
crater of a military eruption, and sent forth train
after train of artillery and infantry to the south.
The difficulty of getting there once more set forth
a defect in the military organisation of Austrian
armies in the field, which must be remedied, or it
will occasion some serious disasters. There is no
adequate gendarmerie to keep the road clear andtbe
trains in order. and all the thoroughfares and
bridges were blocked up with waggons of immense
variety of forms, under the control of drivers of
still greater diversity of speech. The quantities
of objurgatory language and of more cogent instru-
mentalities used on such occasions may be conceived,
but much of their vital force is lost on the wood of
carriages and the passive resistance of baggage oxen
acid stoical horseflesh. When the station was gained
it was not much to have done. As fast as, the trains
of 40 or 50 carriages could be filled they were sent
off with their living cargoes of troops southwards,
and in this part of their work there was no reason
to blame the Austrian administration. The carriages
for the men are wooden boxes closed at the sides,
with doors sliding back or forwards so as to close
them completely or permit air and light to enter.
Longitudinal benches, with a central passage, are
placed on stretchers, and accommodation is afforded
in each carriage for 28 men—at a pinch 30 are put
in--who step out from the line as each carriage door
comes opposite to them, and march in by two under
the inspection of their officers. There are extra car-
riages for officers, staff, and horses. A single train
swallowed up a whole battalion easily. Then its
place within the station was taken by another batta-
lion marching out of the enclosures outside, which
swarmed with men and guns, and so the process went
on as fast as trains could be brought up. But it was
slow work, and it promised to be long before the
battery of field artillery to which we were attached
could be despatched, as one battery intended to go
early in the morning was not sent away till 2o'clock
and the columns of trains, so to speak, are regularly
formed, so that if an enemy were reported on the
way the whole might halt with guns on each flank
and disembark, even in something like order of
battle along the line of rail. For more than an hour
I stood watching the process, and talking de omnibus
with a most intelligent officer of artillery—intelli-
gent as most officers of that arm of the service are
—and he gave me his opinion very freely about all
things on which he conversed. There was a Croat
regiment entering the train -great, heavy fellows,
with heavy faces, dressed like Hungarians—" Are
they good soldiers ?" Pretty well only. They do not
march well, and need strict discipline. As to the
Hungarians, he was not so favourable as many are.
" They are of all sorts. They make better cavalry
than infantry, and are not as good as the Germans
any way." The Poles were certainly bard fighters,
but fickle. The Italians were uncertain ; when good,
very good ; when not that, perhaps worse than in-
different. Roumans et id genus omne he considered
mere mud to build up a wall with. No, the German,
per et simple, was the soldier, and the misfortune was
that they had such a variety of races not German in
their army, or that they had any but Germans at
all. He ranked the artillery first, then the German
horse, then the Hungarian horse, then the Poles, then
some of the Hungarian infantry—the rest were but
leather and prunella. It was 7 o'clock before the
neititscheiner and my companion's van and the horses
were placed on the trucks which carried of No. 3

4-pounder foot battery of the Imperial Artillery
Regiment No. Bto a new field of warfare. All the

interval was spent in looking at the regiments
going off (with an interval in which my comrade,
having advised himself to sketch " Olmutz, as seen
from the river bank," was arrested and carried off
as a spy), and in talking about the great battle of
Koniggratz to various officers. As the only car-
riage of the second-class was filled with wounded

officers, we took our seats in the neititscheiner, and
the only drawback to our enjoyment at getting off
out of the dust and heat was caused by the fact that
our next neighbour on the truck was an ammu-

nition waggon. Now, an ammunition waggon in
the abstract is not to be objected to, but when it is

an open van attached to a train drawn by a loco-
motive vomiting sparks of fire it assumes an im-

portance not attributable to it in its normal condi-

tiou. When, however, the same waggon is covered
with trusses of loose hay, the interest attached to it
is much enhanced, and when the hay aforesaid is
used as a bed by a meditative gunner who smokes a
very long pipe, and sleeps with it in his mouth, it

requires a good deal of " user" in such matters to
close one's eye in perfect indifference. Just as we

were starting a cheerful Austrian officer cantered

up to tell us that we should have to fight our

way through, as the Prussians were at Lundenburg.
_ _ _

At Brodek and Prerau there were considerable

bodies of Austrians lying out in the open fields near

the railway, and the last rays of the sun fell on the

helmets of a body of Cuirassiers, scouring along the

fields as if in hot pursuit of some unknown foe: Be-

fore darkness set in there was a little scene of an-

other nature. In a quiet field near a farmhouse was

drawn up a company of Hungarian infantry on three
sides of a square. In the centre stood a little group
of officers around some man, besides whom stood a

man in black, and women peeped curiously through
the ranks or retired towards the farm with their

aprons to their faces. We strained our eyes and ears
to see the curling smoke and hear the fatal volley,
but a turn in the road shut out the scene, and the
noise of the train drowned the sharp rattle that were
the last sounds the poor wretch would listen to in
this world. The train sped on all night, easing at
each station to hear the news. Lundenburg was
reached
bye
to
at 3 o'clock
inl
pthruessmiaohrialifnogr,thae time
w eebade
being.
the eternal
er na
Before 8 o'clock in the morning the spires of Vienna
g
were in view ; and far and near, inside the
lines of
the defensive works, the white tu ' nics and green
plumes and grey coats swarmed, and the hum of
thousands of voices rose from the cornfields. A
great host is encamped here. Close by are Wagram
and Essling, but is not Aspern near at hand also ?
The heart of Austria is not to be found in Vienna.
See what hordes are camped on the swift Danube to
bar the way to the enemy! Many a Prussian must
find his resting-place in these widespread plai us before
his royal master shall set foot in the palace of the
Kaisers who gave his ancestors their crown. It will
need all Napoleon's genius and Napoleon's fortune
to win the great battles which the King of Prussia
must win at any cost before he stands on the heights
of Mariahilf.

CHARLES FREDERICK HUTH, Esq., is the gentle-
man recommended by the Court of Directors of the Bank
of England to fill the vacancy in the direction, occasioned
by the retirement of the Bight Honourable Stephen Cave.