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. *lf lam rightly informed, his imprial 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 thed in attempting the capture of Vienna than
any they have y.et 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 otIT words, they
must refrain from direct attack 42 colun, and trust
more to manoeuvring and working in Ipen 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-
turn 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 letter; 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—GO rounds of ball cartridge, and they
have, it is said, paper, balls, and powder prepared
to make 20 more ; but their firelock weighs, I 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 Moudel Brigade, which fought so well at Pres-
burg, were engaged at Koniggratz and the pre 'ions
actions, and had just made a retrograde movement
from Lundenburg, but its conduct was admirable.
The whole of the Sud 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 Prcsburg a formidable
host was assembled. If there was no General of
transcend ent 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 Edelsheim to, they say, ":on
Teufel." 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
apply resources and means hitherto wasted or ill-
spent to internal improvement. The Piedmontese
in Italy are, they think, sure to come to great mis-
fortunes ; and the Prussians, by their extortions
and wholesale exaction and plunderings, must at
last provoke the
. disgust and indignation of Europe.
So they w ,ntheill, long run, be avenged on their
enemies. The
only dittulty to be apprehended in
the future arises
from question of the Bund.
of
The German subject: Austria cling to their
Germanic nationality, and
of rte he
gard with great dis-
favour the acquiescence Government in the
m
demands of Count Bis
ark for the abandonment
of their ancient relations with the rest of Fatherland.
Hungarian preponderance they never 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
Brune 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-
cause I was told it secured the predominance of