The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-03 00:00:00

THE AUSTRIAN' ARMY,

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times)
VIENNA, July 28.
The Archduke Albrecht and his staff were ready
to leave Vienna in the middle of Thursday night, so
fully prepared were they for the prolongation of the
war. If lam rightly informed, his inwrial high-
ness started from his headquarters at 1.30 on Fri-
day morning to take the field in person. It is posi-
tive that the officers around him were persuaded the
campaign would be renewed at noon that day by an
active demonstration of the Prussians all along the
line of the Danube. It was calculated, however,
that their second attack on the Austrians, and their
efforts to cross over, would be made somewhere in
the vicinity of Presburg, as the river is narrow,
though deep and strong, in comparison with the
upper stream in that locality. The skill, the cour-
age, and the moral superiority of the Prussians, de-
rived from success, cannot be denied ; but I believe
they would have had a far more arduous task be-
fore them in attempting the capture of Vienna than
any they have yet essayed, and that the Austrians
would have defended their capital not only with
desperate tenacity, • but with more chances in their
favour than they have enjoyed up to this moment
in the nature of the positions occupied by them and
by the enemy respectively, in the character of their
generals, the confidence of the troops, and the dissi-
pation of the panic fear of the needle-gun. Let
there be no mistake on the latter point. There was
really a "panic" among the troops about the wea-
pon of the enemy at the beginning of the war. Its
effects were exaggerated enormously, although no
one in his senses now holds for one moment that the
best form of muzzle-loading rifle is equal, or nearly
equal, to the clumsy, rough, and yet delicate needle
breech-loader. • The Austrians see that the needle-
gun gives such. a rapid fire that they must endea-
vour to reduce its results to a minimum by expos-
ing themselves as little as possible, and by careful
shooting with their own arms; in other words, they
must refrain from direct attack in column, and trust
more to manoeuvring and working in_cipen order.
The ranks of the army are filled with men who
were returned as badly wounded, but who are now
able to serve ; and there is this to be said of the dif-
ference between wounds which disable temporarily
and those which maim altogether—first, that the
former permits men who are trained soldiers to re-
tain to their duty after short absences—indeed,
there were . two officers engaged most gallantly
with their regiment, the Grand Duke of Hesse, at

the action before Presburg who had been wounded at
Koniggratz three weeks previously ; secondly, that a
man slightly wounded can leave the field of his own
accord, whereas a man badly hit requires at least
two men to carry him off ; and, thirdly, but by no
means lastly, that the light wounds needs little care
from the surgeon, while the severe injury demands
much of his time. These points are to be insisted
upon in order that we may not run away with the
notion that small needle-like bolts will do the work
of smashing balls. The Duke of Wellington always
stuck to the ounce ball, and there can be no doubt
he was as right in that as he was in most of the
practical details of the artin which he was a master.
Presuming that the end of war is to obtain a peace
on certain conditions, not attainable without war,
there can be no doubt that the more you can kill of
your enemy the better ; provided always that in
killing them you produce a depressing effect on and
destroy the morale of the survivors. For the latter
point is of the highest importance. Any sportsman
will acknowledge that in the killing of large game a
big bullet is far more effective than a small one—
and the true principle of war would be to regard
your enemy as a wild beast till you had succeeded
in killing or in wounding him—with this proviso,
that your object in killing and wounding is to
frighten the comrades of the sufferers and make
them run away. The people who praise little bul-
lets know nothing of actual warfare, and if it
comes to a question of " cruelty," there can be no
doubt that the pains of small punctured wounds
and perforations causing internal haemorrhage
and a lingering death from elongated cylinders
are severe and protracted. The Prussians
carry—at least, some pouches which were examined ,
contained-60 rounds of ball cartridge, and they
have, it is said, paper, balls, and powder prepared
to make 20 more ; but their firelock weighs, 1 should
think, about 141 b., and it will be easy for us, by
diminishing the load carried by the soldier, to give
him a larger supply of cartridges than the Prussians.
The bore of the present Enfield is as small as can be
for good work in the field, and its effects will be far
greater in every way than those of the needle-gun.

Well. The Austrian army, leavened with the
spirit of the conquerors of Custozza, has been re-
covering from its despondency and apprehension.
The Mondel Brigade, which fought so well at Pres-
burg, were engaged at Koniggratz and the pre rims
actions, and had just made a retrograde movement
from Lundenburg, but its conduct was admirable.
The whole of the Sad Armee is in excellent case
and heart. The Savons, in fine order, are eager to
increase the reputation they earned so well on July
3 by their behaviour on the left flank of the army.
Some brigades of Benedek's army are in as good
condition now as when they marched towards the
Prussian frontier. Thus, when the armistice was
announced, from Linz to Presburg a formidable
host was assembled. If there was no General of
transcendent ability there was at the head of the
army a thorough soldier, a successful leader, the
son of one of the Great Napoleon's most formidable
antagonists, who had the confidence of .the men and
the respect and regard of his officers. The artillery
has been augmented, and is now larger than it was
when Benedek weakened every spirit in the Giant
Mountains with his thunder. The cavalry are
ready to follow Edelsbeim to, they say, " zum
Tellfei." The news, then, of this four weeks'
armistice has produced the most unfavourable
impression on those officers who were proud of.
their profession, jealous of the honour of Aus-
tria, and ready, without any undue elation of pre-
sumption, to await the chances of war, feeling
satisfied that the Prussians were in a situation
which a false step might render desperate. So
loudly uttered and indiscreet was the expression of
their feelings that numerous arreststook place, and
it is averred that a hundred or more are now con-
fined in Vienna for unbecoming language concern-
ing the peace ; for peace they all consider the
armistice to be. Thus the Viennese and the Ger-
mans, who are angered by the consent of their Go-
vernment to retire from the Germanic Confederation,
and the army officers, who desired the prolongation
of the war, are alike dissatisfied, and need restraint.
Some, and perhaps many, officers of the army are
willing to make the best of the situation. Austria
will lose none of her proper dominions. Venetia
was, they admit, a sore trouble and weakness, and
now, divorced from an ill-conditioned, unloving,
extravagant, but beautiful wife, the empire may
Ply resources and means hitherto wasted or ill-
spent to internal improvement. The Piedmontese
_fin Italy are, they think, sure to come to great mis-
rortunes; and the Prussian; by their extortions
and wholesale exaction and plunderings, must at
last provoke the disgust and indignation of Europe.
So they will, inthe
longi run, be avenged on their
enemies. The only d ffieulty to be apprehended in
the future arises from
the
questionf of the Bund.
The German subject Austria cling to their
ands o r
Germanic nationality,
theegard w
of
ith great dis-
favour the acquiescence Government in the
the demands of Count Bismark for
14. e abandonment
of their ancient relations with the r •
sof Fatherland.
Hungarian preponderance they neverL can endure,
but they see it is nearly inevitable at no distant
period, and to the humiliation of defeat by a foreign
enemy is added the fear of becoming subject to a
race they had by foreign aid trampled under foot
and ruled with an iron hand. The good citizen of
Brunn with whom I conversed on my way south-
wards the other day declared that the Hungarians
were the real cause of Austrian improvidence and
extravagance. " They not only require an army to
keep them in order," said he, " but they must have
an army to gratify their taste for military life, to em-
ploy their idle nobles, and to let them indulge their
vanity in fine dresses and uniforms, feathers, lace,
horses, and ribands. I have paid for this army God
knows how much. I was willing to pay for it be-
4ausie I was told it secured the predominance of
•

Art3tria and made, herrespected and powerful ; but
what is the use of an army if it is alw.L3 s beaten
when it has to fight? Now I shall have to pay for
two armies—for that which has been beaten and for
that which is victorious. I think it would be much
better, if our army cannot win battles, to do without
it, and ask Prussia what she wants, and she may be
content with less according to a peaceful arrange-
ment than she would be if she has to take it by force."
Perhaps be has reason to appreciate the distinctions
between the two armies by this time. There is no
great alteration at present in the actual position of
the troops, but the successes of the Italians, who
are forcing their way up to Trent, have led to the
march of a strong column in that direction. Al-
though peace is looked on as all but concluded,
every one foresees great difficulties in drawing up
the actual conditions which shall satisfy the
belligerents, and there is quite as much danger
of a rupture to be apprehended from the pride and
pretensions of Prussia in her treatment of the
small States as from her demands against Austria.
All the world is now adoring the rising sun, or
rather the sun at its zenith, and woe betide the
philosopher who ventures to spy out the maculm sobs
on that brazen, blazing, and radiant visage, which
is said to be very like Count Bismark's. Truces
and armistices have generally turned out to the
benefit of Austria, and, in spite of military discon-
tent, it may be that in the present case the same
rule will hold, even if war should ensue after all the
diplomatists have ceased doing their best. The Feld-
zeugmeister von Benedek has arrived in Vienna. It
is believed he will at once be called upon to give
evidence before the commission of inquiry. " Les"
malheureux comme les " absens out toujours tort."
He may explain how it was that Klum was left un-
guarded; but the day of Koniggratz cannot be ex-
plained away from the page of history. The student
may search in vain for its parallel—for one single
battle with such tremendous results—with the ex-
ception of Jena. There have been many decisive
battles in the world, but they have been the sequels
of a long course of war, or the terminating points of
protracted campaigns. Never before did two great
nations, after years of peace, engage in mortalquar-
rel, and in one day decide the controversy; and yet,
if the armistice be followed by peace, there can be
no doubt the Empire of the Kaisers was overthrown
on that fatal 3d of July. As a pendant to that re-
mark it may be as well to know that on the 22d
June the exact position of every division in the Prus-
sian armies was known at the Austrian headquarters.
The world may yet learn why and how it was Bene-
dek did not use his information. It may be that
allies are as often a source of weakness as of strength
in war. The King of Saxony entreated the Emperor
not to let his kingdom or his capital become the seat
of war or the prize of the victor. The Bavarians
played fast and loose. What else took place the world
knows, but much of the moving causes in the mar-
shalling of events are still secret.

JULY 30.

To Prussia belongs not only the good fortune of
gaining victories, but the monopoly of describing
how she won them, and going over her battle fields
at her leisure. To Austria are left lamentation,
reclamations, protests, and courts of inquiry. On
one point, however, the whole Austrian army is
agreed—that, with a single exception, a surprise in
the streets of a town by the Prussian horse of
a detachment of their cavalry, the former have
never gained a single success of any description
whatever, and have throughout the campaign
evinced an amount of circumspection and regard for
their flanks and rear most creditable to their dis-
cretion, and most conclusive as to the value they
put on their services to their King and country.
When Benedek and his staff were attacked at To-
bitschau by the Prussian Cuirassiers not a man ex-
pected to escape death or capture, but the enemy's
Guards let them off very easily, though they were
two squadrons strong, and Benedek and his staff
and escort all told were not 100 men, and several of
those were in charge of led horses. As the subject
is a large one it would be better, perhaps, not to
open it at present, particularly as there is small
chance of ever arriving at conclusions acceptable to
both sides. There are most important points still
to be determined, and the events preceding and con-
nected with the battle of Koniggratz are only just
coming out of the smoke into the light of day. It
is as well to state the truth at once. The Austrian
army was beaten before the 3d of July. It had lost
morale. Its Generals were disobedient ; they violated
the orders of their chief. They got soundly beaten ;
their men lost confidence in them and in them-
selves, and became filled with despondency. It
may be remembered that in my account of the night
march on Dubenec I remarked how silent the men
were. I did not then consider it significant, because
1 was not acquainted with the manners of the
Austrian army ; but I now know the silence was a
sign that the men were out of heart, and that it was
quite unusual. These men had been either engaged
ith the Prussians or had heard of the result of the
combats at Skalitz and elsewhere. They were
down-hearted ; they were cowed ; and, although
most of them fought bravely on the 3d of July, and
many regiments displayed a courage and endurance
which their enemy thoroughly appreciated, and
which could not have been surpassed by any troops
in the world, on the whole it must be said the army
fought with confidence, and that itlacked spirit and
that sentiment of hope and belief in success which
gives a body of men elan and pervades them like a
soul. Benedek perceived before the battle was
fought that his army was not what it ought to be.
It stands recorded as a solid and singular fact that
when he fought that battle he believed he would be
beaten. (Two days before the battle of Konig-
gratz the Commander-in-Chief sent a messaga to
the Emperor, which must have shaken his very
throne, " Sire, you must make peace !")
It is only the closest student of military tactics
who has by this time recognised the skill with which
Benedek wheeled the whole of his enormous army
into a new line in the short time between the com-
bat of Jicin and the battle of Koniggratz. It was
a most difficult and dangerous operation. The roads
were narrow and bad, the enemy were on both
flanks, the country wooded and close. When he
sent the Archduke Leopold's corps to confront the
Prussians at Skalitz he gave his Imperial Highness
orders not to attack the enemy on any account,
but to retire slowly under the fire of his artillery to
a position indicated precisely for him, in which he
would have been sustained by another corps d'armee
already put in a most favourable line for defence,
hoping thereby to draw on the Prussians from their
vantage ground on the hills over Skalitz, and to pro-
cure for his own men the choice of positions. Had
the Prussians attacked the Archduke, he was to fall
back till he gained the ridge opposite to that from
which they must have descended. His flanks were
well protected, and he had nothing to do but carry
out his orders and see his guns were not taken as he
retreated. Then the Prussians would have had
to attack the Archduke supported by one corps
d'armee, and with two whole corps d'armee in
reserve posted on rising ground, or would have
had to retire again pursued in their turn, and if
ahr at theed p
af rs os
ems i
nt he
to
other army and been driven
tee
r os eupg
whole
Silesia, while Benedek would have been left at liberty
of his victorious
soon afterwards to throw the
army on the Prussians advancing from. Turnau.
But the Archduke Leopold did not obey his orders.
On the contrary, he attacked the Prussians on the
heights and was repulsed and driven back and fol-
lowed towards Skalitz, where the enemy took up
another strong position, from which Benedek sought
to dislodge them in vain. Thus one plan was frus-
trated. Then a fresh disaster occurred. The First
Army Corps, commanded by Count Clam-Gallas,
and the Saxon Army, under the Crown Prince, had
been directed to watch the Prussians on the left
coming from Munchengratz and Turnau, to avoid
an action unless hardly pressed, iu which case they.
were to retire steadily to Miletin, and above all, not
to attack the enemy. Instead of obeying these
orders, the First
Army Corps and Saxons attacked
the Prussians and were defeated. Benedek, who
had taken up a strong position with his centre near
Dubenec, his left towards Miletin, and his right co-
vered by the river and by Josephstadt, found him- I
self in the twinkling of an eye placed in a positir,„
of the greatest danger. His left was " in the ..»
•
• m'?
The Prussians were not only on his left, but in his

rear, and at the same time another great army was
marching to effect its junction with them where he
was altogether exposed. He instantly wheeled back
his left and centre, and then retiring his right took
up a line at Koniggratz at right angles to the line
he had occupied to the west of Josephstadt. An
examination of a good map, and a -consideration
of the distances to be traversed, as well as of the
position of the combined armies of the Prussians,
will give the military reader a better idea of the
magnitude of the, task and of the ability with
which it was accomplished than any amount of
written description. But Benedek did not shut.his
eyes to the danger of defeat and to the tremendous
perils to which his army was- exposcd in the face of
a much superior force, armed with a weapon which
had produced a greater moral than physical effect,
large as his losses had been, on his soldiers. " Sire,
you must make peace !"—and the blow was struck.
And now, indeed, the words were heard above all
the confused voices in the Councils of the Empire—
" Sire, you must make peace 1" So CountMensdorff
is, they say, going to his own chateau of Nikols-
burg, where the King of Prussia and Count Bismark
are lodged, and where the envoys of the peacemakers
are assembled, to arrange the terms which Austria
must accept as the price of her future security. The
Archduke's friends—and they are many and power-
ful you may be sure—and Count Clam-Gallas's
supporters, and the whole of the German nobility of
Austria, disclaim their share in these dreadful dis-
asters to their country. But it is alleged that the
Archduke's misfortunes did not end at Skalitz.
When Benedek was retiring from Olmutz he gave
orders to the corps on his right to march in order of
battle. The corps, however, did nothing of the kind,
but marched with miles of baggage in the midst of
the column, and with the guns so placed that they
could not be defended or supported. When the re-
port of the military commission is made public it is
to be hoped the evidence of the witnesses will be
given in full. The history of a defeat is always in-
teresting, particularly when it was so very nearly a
victory; for, in spite of Benedek's apprehensions, as
near a victory for Austria was the day at Konig-
gratz up to the time when the enemy got into Klum
as any action which ended in a defeat could have been.
The Austrians are very candid in admitting their
defects and shortcomings, and it may yet be disco-
vered who was the guilty blunderer who committed
the fault by which the political map of Germany was
at once smeared out with blood. My remarks are
solely applicable to the military a uestion, for I do not
pretend to say here whether the change effected was
desirable or not, but an Austrian certainly cannot
think it was a good thing to lose the battle of Ko-
niggratz. We hear that there is much anger in the
Prussian camp at the sudden interruption to their
victories, and that the soldiers yearn for an evening
in the Volks-garten. There are soldiers at this side
of the Danube quite as displeased, and the cavalry
declare they will have no peace with the Prussians
on any terms. The troops of the Southern Army
are of the same mind, but General John, the chief
of the Archduke Albrecht's staff, is said to have
altered his opinion on the subject of carrying on the
war since he has investigated the condition of the
North Army, and it is certain many of the latter are
not so belligerent as their comrades of Italy. Whom
is Austria to marry ? The Thanes fall away from
her on all sides. Nikolsburg has become the centre
of Germany for the moment, and diplomatists cogi-
tate on their straw beds in obscure villages on the
disposal of kingdoms, thrones, dominions, principa-
lities, and powers. The castle which belongs to
Count Mensdorff by marriage is occupied by the
King of Prussia, and little is left of Austria out of
the enemy's hands which can be called German.
The success of Count Bismark cannot be equalled
since the days of Napoleon. The Minister of Ba-
varia is supplicating for a separate treaty of peace ;
the Ministers of Wurtemberg and Hesse Darm-
stadt are at Nikolsburg, and the Grand Duke of
Baden and the " Kurfust" of Hesse are awaiting
such measures and conditions as he may be pleased
to assign to them for the purchase of peace. There is
little left now for one but to indulge in retrospect.
Vienna is not changed to the outward eye. There are
more soldiers than usual, crippled men in uniforms
are seen in the gardens and streets, but if thestranger
visited Florisdorf this afternoon he would find no
vast army there. The men are quartered in ham-
lets and villages, and the great columns which could
in a few hours present a wall of bayonets from
Linz to Bruck are not to be detected by a casual
glance. How much all the great phantasmagoria
which has wellnigh vanished cost Austria who can
calculate ? %Vito can say what her glory will yet
make Prussia pay ?
As there is no possibility of seeing a Prussian,
and as the Austrians here are not very attractive, I
intend to shift my quarters. The column of troops,
which I estimate at about half a corps d'armde,
bound for Trent, will be still further reinforced if
needs be. The men who marched through Vienna
yesterday were in no mood to trifle with an enemy,
and unless the Southern Tyrolese be as Italian in
heart as they are in language, the Volunteers will
have plenty of work on their hands if they persist
in the war on their own account. The truce will
soon be over, and although the Austrians may not
hold their present line, they will probably concen-
trate at some place north of Trent, where I trust to
see them speedily.