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

TIM

.IIST:

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
PRESBURG, 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 new 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 manoeuvred on the old plan—
she has come into the field with a terrible improvement on
the muzzle-loading rifle and with 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 Prussians, 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 canobtain hun-
dreds of thousands of recruits, and even without her we
can fill 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 tegis 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 A rch-
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 parlowntaire 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 bypersons and parties in 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 Prance 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-
turm," 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 Vienna. 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.
TheNielitschiener (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
window, looking,
apparentl peering from every
theme below them.
Y, at more soldiers on
p

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
a propos 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