The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-06 00:00:00

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.eves. Arranged on the slope before Palestro,
wards the stream, they were greeted by the fire
of the Austrian battery and by the Tyrolese ehasseurs
ensconced in the high crops. The stream looked
so insignificant that when the order came to drive
away the Austrians the Zouaves threw themselves
into the river, expecting it to reach perhaps to
their knees. Instead of this they found themselves
up to their belts in water, which wetted the car-
tridges they carry in the pockets of their loose
trcusers. They were thus unable to use them.
Nothing daunted by this contretemps or the hail of
grape and rifle bullets which showered upon them,
they ran up to the battery without firing a shot,
and bayonetted the artillerymen and took the guns.
But, in spite of this brilliant episode, which cost
the regiment about 300 men hors de combat it is
again the Piedmonteso who had the greatest share
in the victory.

There have beau hitherto 312 prisoners, not
wounded, brought, in, among them several officers,
and the woundea still continue to arrive. Among
the prisoners the Lombard regiment, which lost so
many men resterday, is again strongly represented.
It seems that when the Austrians determined to
retire to the position chosen by them, they left this
reghnait as their rear guard ; I do not know
w'ilether to show that they could trust their Italian
soldiers, or because they thought their loss the
least important,

The Emperor went out again to-day to the battle-
field and remained there till late in the afternoon.

THE BATTLE OF MAGENTA.

(From the Times )

If we may place implicit reliance on the telegram
which we publish this morning a victory has been
achieved by the French arms which may take its
place beside the most renowned names in the annals
of the First Empire.- The little town of Magenta,
on the Lombardy side of the Ticino, and about two
miles eastward of the Bridge of Buffalora, over
which the Austrian invaders advanced some weeks
since to the easy conquest of Sardinia, is the scene
of this great disaster. The French electric message
boasts of 5,000 prisoners, and of 15,000 Austrians
killed or wounded ; and, if we may believe that the
numbers even approximate to those enormous
figures, it is impossible to doubt that a battle has
been fought which is decisive of the campaign. The
great invading army is now become a flying multi-
tude, more or less kept together by habits of disci-
pline ; but Milan is open, Pavia and Piacenza remain
like Austrian -uplands in a plain flooded by French
and Italian troops, and there can be no pause for
serious resistance on the western side of the great
line of Austrian fortresses. More ample despatches,
and details, at which we cannot now even guess,
may diminish the importance of this imposing
bulletin, and may lessen the numbers of the
Austrian loss ; or we may possibly hear of a
slaughter among the French which may take from
' the decisive tharacter of the victory. But as we re-
ceive it so we give it forth. Thirty hours ago a
despatch left the field of Magenta, and announces
in London that 15,000 Austrians are killed and
wounded, and. that 5,000 prisoners are in the hands
of the victors. These are the only ascertained
facts ; but, connecting them with the statements of
our corresportclents, we are not without some means
of guessing at, the operations which must have pre-
ceded this decisive result.

The letter of our Correspondent from the Head-
Quarters of the Allies, which we publish to-day,
gives a perfect description of the position of the
two armies on the day when that letter is dated.
The French had been for some time previous
massed abouLt Alessandria, and were making de-
monstrations towards Pavia and Piacenza, while
the Sardinians, supported by some Zouave Regi-
ments, were following up the Austrians as they

•etreated from the line of the Sesia and were gain-

ing advantages in every encounter. This -was
scarcely a fair test, for, as the tactics of the Aus-
trians compelled them to retire, the field of conflict
necessarily remained in possession of the Allies, but
that it was sometimes hotly contested will appear
from the details of the affair at Palestro when they
are sufficiently authenticated for publication. The
Austrians appear to have been satisfied that they
had no active enemies to dread at the moment, ex-
cept only the Sardinians and Zeuaves opposed to
their right wing, and Garibaldi and his irregulars
hovering upon their right flank. The great body,
of the French were still, as they conceived, sta-
tioned about Alessandria, as they had been when
General Stadion made his unsuccessful attack 'upon
them. To some enterprising Generals this position
would have suggested the opportunity for a great
blow upon the apparently disunited army. General
Gyulai seems to have seen in it only a facility for
returning to Lombardy. So long ago as Thursday
night the Austrians were in full retreat along their
whole line. They abandoned that position on
th© line of the Po which commencing near
Valenza and extending from that town to the
junction of the Po with the Ticino, threatened
the fortress of Alessandria and the right wing o
the Allied Army. They evacuated Mortara, which
since their retreat from the Sesia had become the
central position of their line, and their retreating
route is said to have been in a south-easterly direc•
tion towards Vigevano, Bereguardo, and Pavia.
The two latter of these towns are on the Lombardy
side of the Ticino, and there could be little doubt
that the object of the movement was to concentrate
the Austrian forces in the neighbourhood of Pavia
and Piacenza, in order to cover those fortresses.
The precipitancy with which this operation was ef•
fected and the abandonment of the stores of grain
which had been collected were not without their
import ; for they indicated that the Austrians had
learnt that the preparations of the Allies were com-
plete, and that they might be expected at an early
period to assume the offensive. The Austrians,
therefore, bad several days ago given up their raid
into Piedmont. It was commenced without any
adequate object, and it was, even when the retreat
appeared open, neither advantageous nor glorious.
When Austria so promptly declared war and moved
her army forward Europe gave her credit for the
conception of a great enterprise, and was prepared
to excuse the precipitancy of the attack on account
of the certainty that a struggle must ensue, and of
the advantage of a decisive blow struck at the com-
mencement of the campaign. When this usually
sluggish Power started so unexpectedly into action
we expected to see her move rapidly upon Turin,
blockade the passes of the Alps, cut off the commu-
nications with Alessandria, and make an attempt
upon Genoa. It was a quick scheme for an Aus-
trian imagination, but if there was no design of this
character, everyone asked what could be the object
of this sudden fit of military ardour. It is, how-
ever, now clear that there was no plan worthy of
being called a plan of campaign ; that there was
nothing better than the old plans of the Aulic
Council, which Napoleon used to read first, and
which the Austrian Generals afterwards received
and clumsily carried out. The Austrians commenced
the campaign of 1859 with a direct infraction of
that rule which is of equal authority in the game of
war and the game of chess-." Avoid useless moves."
Their military policy in this was neither generous
nor chivalrous, nor even :expedient. They wasted
the open country where there was no resistance ;
they avoided the fortresses, they attempted no
serious attack, and they retreated before the first
demonstration made by their enemy in force. We
saw them swarm over the Ticino and settle like
locusts upon the plains ; we heard of them eating
u? all the resources of the townspeople and the
peasantry ; wa were told that they were putting
out foraging parties and exploring parties here and
there, and advancing whenever there was no resis-
tance. Then they took up a position upon the line
of the Sesia, and fortified themselves as though
they had made up their minds to advance step by
step until they had occupied the country. Timidly
and cautiously they felt their way,—once, and once
only, they made an attack, not with a great object,
but simply with a desire to know where their
enemy lay. Meanwhile the allies had actively
utilized the time which the Austrians had been
wasting. The French soldiers as they arrived had
been passed up to the front, and the supplies had
been collected in those convenient stations for
which the railways afforded copious facilities. The
Austrians had tarried in the plains while the allied
force was growing; they began to retreat when
they found it mature in strength. We have already
several times pointed the obvious consideration
that it would be madness for the Austrians to risk a
battle on the Sardinian side of the broad and
swollen frontier river Ticino. It was quite clear
that if they retreated ataallrtday nighthey, would
they reiteiyre
hbaed-
yond that point. On Saturday
reached the banks of the river, and were preparing
to cross it at the fords and bridges they had tra-
versed when they came as invaders. To cover
this movement Gyulai ordered a feint upon
Mortara, which they had just before abandoned,