The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

The materiel of the Austrian army was, however
saved by the speedy destruction of flying bridges
on the river below Volta, and as night fell the
Austrians remained in possession of Monzambano,
Valleggio, and Guiddizzolo.
I can give you no adequate idea of the losses sus-
tained on the field of Solferino. These will not be
known for some days. This morning as I left Villa-
franca there was heavy firing in the direction of
Monzambano.

The Emperor and all his Staff are now in Verona.
The cause of the loss of this great battle by the
Austrians is not difficult, I think, to fathom. The
troops are not less brave nor less forward in action
than others. The Croats I observed shrank from
the field, and Count Nugent, who, notwithstanding

his great age, did duty as a volunteer, might have
been heard at a great distance as he abused them in
the streets of Cavriana ; but as for the other troops,
I never saw any that fought better. The cavalry
was really splendid, and the artillery as cool and
collected under fire as possible. But " pluck" is of
no use unless the greatest care is taken in the dis-
p.osition of an army.
_ _

When Solferino was to be saved from an over-
whelming attack the last man was doing his duty.
There was no reserve or covering corps of any kind,
so that when the French broke through at last they
did so like the waters of a sluice, which spread.
themselves at once over the surrounding. country.
I am forced here to close my letter, which I shall
continue to-morrow.

(Fi om another Correspondent.)
The following account of the Battle of Solferino
is from the pen of the same correspondent who has

described the previous operations of the French and

Sardinian armies :

" CAVRIANA, JUNE 25, 4 A.M.
" Another name has been added to the number

of those places in this little hilly triangle which
have been illustrated in the military history of
Italy by a battle. Solferino —a name yesterday un-.
known to most but antiquaries and local curiosity-
huntets—has to-day an historical signification. It

.epresents one of the the greatest battles of modern

days. It was the first meeting, with full force, of
the two great armies which are fighting for the
fate of Italy. In all the battles and engagements

hitherto fought, each side had only part of its forces

on the field, or, at any rate, engaged : yesterday,
both brought up what they could. TA was, then,
the first occasion to judge of their respective power

and ability. Both Emperors were at the head of
their armies, surrounded by all their most expe-

rieneed advisers.

" What the immediate result of this gigantic duel
was you will know long before this letter reaches
you ; what its real influence will be on the warfare

we cannot yet judge ourselves. Except in those few

cases where an army is completely broken up by
defeat, the result of the greatest battle becomes
only clear some time after. Although a great and .
decisive victory, the battle of Solferino does not
belong to those of the former class. The Austrians
were beaten, driven from position to position, but
whether they are able or not to make another stand
in the open field, we have as yet to learn.

" There is some element in the Austrian councils
of war which we don't understand, but which gives
to their operations in this second phase of the cam-
paign just as uncertain and vacillating a character
as they possessed in the first part of it. On Monday
they are in full retreat over the Mincio, and on

Thursday they are back again with all their forces,
have taken up their position, fortified it, and are
waiting to receive us. It may have been a feint for
aught we know, but it is rather too much to sup-
po'se of the credulity of his adversary to be taken in
by an attempt to play at hide and seek with an army
estimated at 180,000 or 200,000 men. Although,
therefore, everything rather indicated that the Aus-
trians intended to withdraw behind the Muncio, not
accepting a battle on this side of it, but preparing
to defend the passage of it with all their forces, the
advance was as careful as if every moment they
had expected to meet the enemy. From point to
point the different corps were pushed forward, one
taking the place of the other, and feeling to the
right and left for the enemy.
" When the Chiese was crossed, and the allied
armies approached the ground where, if anywhere,
the enemy had to make his stand, their attitude
became quite that of an army advancing to the
battle-field. Each body took up the position which
it was to occupy in the battle. You could see this
plainly if you went along the line occupied by the
Allies the day before the battle, as during the whole
advance the left somewhat overlapped the right,
while on the extreme right itself was a detached
corps far enough to the rear to protect that flank,
and yet clOse enough to enter into line in the hour
of battle.
" The day before the battle the position extended
from the shores of the lake of Garda at Desenzano
all along the western edge of the hilly country from
Lonato down to Castiglione, and bending back to-
wards Carpenedolo, touched there the Chiese ; the
Emperor himself, with the Guards, as a reserve,
at Montechiaro, and the Ring, with his Staff, at
Lonato.
" The reconnaissance, as you will remember, was
sent that day in the direction of Solferino, and fell
in with some Austrian posts ; this proved that the
place was occupied, but gave no key as to whether
it was only a detachment left to observe the advance
of the Allies, or whether it was the avant-
garde of tha Austrian army. It looked very suspi-
cious. There was that kind of silence all about the
neighbourhood which you remark almost always
under similar circumstances ; the only sign of life
and movement being clouds of dust in the direction
of the Mincio passage towards Goito and Mantua.
In the afternoon M. Goddard was to have made
another ascent on a larger scale with his balloon,
from one of the high hills which rise close behind
Castiglione. I had to descend before the ascent took
place, so I cannot tell if it came off, and whether it
threw any additional light on the position of the
enemy. At any rate, there was no stir in the even-
ing at Montechiaro, where the Guards remained
still encamped, and the Emperor himself had his
head-quarters.
" Yesterday morning, at 5 a.m., the sound of
cannon showed that at last the enemy had turned
at bey; it was a strong reconnaissance which had
rushed forward and made him show his teeth.
Before an hour had passed the Emperor was at
Castiglione and the Guard on the way there. Be-
fore another hour had passed the dispositions had
been made for the attack. Whether these disposi-
tions were made on the inspirations of the moment,
suggested by tne position of the enemy, or whether
his Majesty knew before that the Austrians had
taken up their position, and were ready to dispute
the passage of the Mincio, I cannot presume to say,
but there is no doubt that the whole had the ap-
pearance of a plan improvised on the spot, and the
orders were given out at the last moment.
" Before I speak of these dispositions I will
attempt to give you an idea of the position of the
Austrians. The Mincio, coming out of the Lake of
Garda, runs due south, while the direction of the
hills on both banks runs at right angles almost to-
wards it, Those on the right bank, with which
alone we have to deal, here come down from the
north-west in a southerly direction as far as Cas-
tiglione, and then making a bend strike the Mincio
in a south-easterly direction. The hilly country
forms thus a tolerably regular parallelogram from
north-east to south-west, the four angles of which
are Lonato, Peschiera, Volta, and Castiglione. This
parallelogram of hills is about 12 miles in length
and nine miles in width, and is divided almost in
its middle by a little stream, which runs into the
Mincio. The hills rise gently from the shores of
the lake, and attain their highest elevation about
the source of this stream, falling off again towards
the Mincio. This is just about the centre of the
parallelogram, at Itondoletto and Pozzolengo on
the left, and at Solferino, Monte Oliveto, and Cav-
riana on the right banks of the stream. These
points were ohosen by the Austrians as the pivot of
their line. The line itself extended from Peschiera,
on which they leant their extreme right, through
thikt pivot, down into the plain of the Mincio, in-
tersecting the great road to Goito. The whole line
was not less than twelve miles in length. Cavriana
was the centre o it, which the Emperor of Austria
had cllosen for his head-quarters, while Solferino