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

THE SUN.
MONDAY, JUNE 6, 1859.

If any reliance can be placed on the statement
made by the Emperor NAPOLEON to the EMPRESS,
and posted on the Bourse, and copied into the
MOniteur, the Austrians have received another, and,
on this occasion, it would appear, almost a decisive
defeat. The scene of action was at Magenta, in
Lombardy, about two miles eastward of the Bridge
of Buffalora, by which the Austrians moved into
Sardinia at the commencement of the war, intent,
as it was then supposed, on the capture of Turin,
and mining off the possibility of French assist.
ance. But the proverbial sluggishness of
the German disposition prevented them from
gaining the slightest advantage, save that
of plundering the unresisting peasantry. They
sought no contest, and it was not until they
pushed their reconnaissance at Casteggio and Mon-
tebello too far that they were doomed to encounter
their first defeat, and that with an admitted loss of
nearly 1,300 men. The result, however, was by no
means so important as that of the battle of Palestro.
The Austrians were enabled to say that they had
accomplished their object, and they were permitted
to retreat in perfect order, with drums beating and
colours flying. It was not so, however, at Palestro.
Their position was there attacked, and they de-
fended it with all their power. But they were
driven from it, and VICTOR EMMANUEL established
himself in the place they had previously occupied.
They were not satisfied with this trial, but again
assailed it, attempting to regain the position they
had lost. In this, however, they were completely
foiled. The dashing charge with the bayonet by
the Zouaves, and the admirable conduct oft,and
the
Piedmontese entirely defeated their hops,
they were driven back with the loss of eight
cannon, many killed and wounded, a thousand
prisoners, and four hundred driven into the canal
and drowned. There could be no plausible pretext
put forward to excuse these two decisive defeats.
They must, therefore, be ascribed to the decided
superiority of the Allied soldiers to their oppo-
nents. It will not, therefore, be quite so easy for
the German troops to march onward to Paris, and
capture the metropolis of France, as the Algerneine
Zeitung seems to imagine.

The last battle at Magenta seems to have been
by far the most important of any that has as yet
taken place. If fifteen thousand Austrians have
been killed and wounded, and five thousand taken
prisoners, or, according to a later account, just re-
ceived, twenty thousand killed, and seven thousand
taken prisoners, there must have been a considerable
number, probably not less than a hundred thousand,
engaged on either side. The Austrians had
altogether evacuated Sardinia. They had retreated
into Lombardy, from which they never should have
departed, unless they had more definitive objects in
view than those which they attempted to carry into
execution. There it was expected that they would
make a stubborn resistance, supported as they were
by the powerful fortresses of Pavia and
Piacenza. The French, however, followed rapidly
in their rear. They seem to have taken the enemy
completely by surprise on the present occasion.
The troops that were supposed to menace Piacenza
were rapidly sent across the Po and moved to the
westward, so as to effect a junction with VICTOR
EMMANUEL and the troops under his command.
The united force then fell on the right wing of the
retreating army, whom they drove across the
bridge of Buffalora and pursued to the village of
Magenta, which will henceforth become a house-