The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-10 00:00:00

that the Emperor would be with the Imperial Guard,
And they hoped to capture his Mrijesty. This ex-
plains the vigour of the attack anri the heroism of the
defence. General Clete was only a short distance
from his Majesty when killed. The Imperial
Guard was attacked in flank and in the rear in a
narrow defile, and suffered tremendously. The
Austrian forces were about to again attack the
head of its column, when General de Macmahon,
by a sudden inspiration, the honour of which
belongs exclusively to him, suddenly modified the
plan on which, it appeared, he was to act, and went
to Magenta to meet the new Austrian columns
which were arriving. Aud not only did this bold
manoeuvre succeed, but it gave time to the other
corps d'armee to succour the Imperial Guard. It is
said that the corps of General Niel,iwhich was oP.e
of the first engaged, has sustained severe loss. The
Emperor appears to be greatly affected at the death
of General Espinasse. The general was cut i.n two
by a cannon ball, which had blown off the -head of
his horse."
The following letter, written the me.,,:mine, after
himself, ani
by 'an officer who took part in the bufAle o'3f Ma-
writer natu-
rallycl
gen t a
0,
nis l
only
published
describes
beNnes
vit The
sc
Jr of the engage-
mgives
;n ob id the
far
eomf t hwebgaetnbeer aslacyhsa
ta c t
'All be seen that
the conflict must have been of
a most desperate
description

Battle-field of Magerita, June 5, 4 morning.
" I hasten to inform Yor4 that in the great victory
which the French arms 'lave gained at this place
I have escaped without a scratch, although I was
in the very midst of the fight, from one in the
afternoon to half-pet nine in the evening, in com-
pany with my brave comrades, the Zonaves of the
Guard. On the `..!d, the Voltigeurs of that arm had
received orders to advance to the Ticino and cross
the river below Buffalora, on the left- of Turbigo,
to support Grzneral de M'Mahon's corps. The
next day,, the first brigade of Infantry of
the Guald (Zouaves and Grenadiers), com-
manded by General Clem. received orders to en-
eamp at Trecate, on the Milan road; and, on the
4th, early in the morning, the brigade received
orders to cross the Ticino, and advance on Ma-
genta. On arriving at the banks of the river, we
saw the Emperor, who, after reaching Novara, had
transferred his headquarters to the bridge itself
over the Ticino. In the distance, on the left *tank,
were to be seen clouds of smoke, accompanied by
the thunder of cannon at intervals. When we
reached the bridge, the troops were ordered imme-
diately to put down their havresacks, and advance
rapidly to the right of the road to Magenta, in order
to attack a redoubt in earthwork which the Aus-
tr

ans had established to sweep the Midge of the
Ticino and the road to Milan. The brigade was divided
into two columns. That of the 3d Grenadiers was
designated to form the first column of attack, and
the first three companies of the Ist battalion of the
Zouaves of the Guard were to support the move-
ment. I formed part of these companies. We
had to cross vast iopen meadows where the enemy
could sweep us off with grape. When the word
was given the column dashed forward at full speed,
and in a few minutes after the Grenadiers and
Zouaves were climbing up the redoubt, which we
took with the cry of r Vive l'Empereur !"rhe
movement was so sudden that the enemy had
scarcely time to fire their guns. The Austrians,
driven from the redoubt, returned immediately
after, with a great accession of force, to attack us
in it. We were about 200 Zouaves, and, in spite
of our small number, we made four successive sorties,
crying to each other, Use the bayonet !' Each time
the enemy were forced to retire with considerable
loss. We were not really one to ten, but we made
up by the dash and rapidity of our attacks for our
want of numbers. In tie course of the four sorties
we had unfortunately lost a considerable portion of
our force, and at last we were unable to continue
the offensive with any hope of success. The Aus-
trians, seeing that we were not supported, returned
to the charge a fifth time, and, as their numbers
were then enormous, we were obliged to retire in
our turn. We withdrew in 'good order beyond
the railway bridge and a deep canal. There,
being for the moment secure from attack, I caused
my men to take a little rest which they much
wanted, for during upwards of three hours they
had been engaged. We soon after received the
support of a division of Marshal Canrobert's corps,
arriving in all haste from Novara, and of a brigade
of General de Macmahon, which had passed the
Ticino at Turbigo. With these reinforcements our
troops resumed the offensive, and regained all
the positions which we had previously occupied.
Towards six o'clock, I had just proceeded with
my company to the bridge of the canal, where
the headquarters of General Regnault de St. Jean
d'Angely were established, when a strong column
of the Austrians attacked our right flank, which
they wanted to turn, supporting their forces on a
village, the name of which I am ignorant of, but
which the Austrians hold. I received orders to
advance on the village to neutralise the movement
of attack. We advanced with vigour, and in ten
minutes the village was in our power. But soon
after we were attacked in our turn by consider-
able masses, and forced to give way. Three bat-
talions of infantry of the line were sent to our
aid—fortunately for us, as we were borne down
by numbers. We then resumed the offensive,
and a desparato fight ensued. At last the
Austrians, driven from street to street and. from
house to house, began to separate ; we redoubled
our efforts, and after a hundred band to hand
encounters, succeeded in driving the opposing
column as far as the canal, where a great number
met their death. It was then half-past nine. All
the positions of the enemy were taken, and their
army in full rout, towards Pavia and Piacenza. I
could write you whole pages, had I time, con-
cerning this great battle, in which the Zouaves
of the Guard sustained most admirably their
high reputation. I must, however, draw to a close.
We returned to get our havresacks at the bridge of
the Ticino, and we then went and bivouacked on
the field of battle. It was only at night that we
could reckon up in a rough way our losses. My
chef-de-bataillon had his leg fractured, and in my
company 24 men were killed or wonnded. In the
whole regiment, 250 rank and file are either killed
r
or wounded, and nine officers, one being killed. 1% e
lit immense fires during the night, round which we
slept, as only men can sleep after such exertion.
We had ceffeo and plenty of provisions. It was
only about four in the evening that the reinforce-
ments came up, and they have been arriving ever
since."

The following official bulletin has been received
from Lieut.-General Count von Grunne, First
Adjutant-General of his Majesty and of the army :
" VERONA, JUNE G, 10.40 P.M.

" The battle fought in the neighbourhood o.
Magenta on the 4th inst. was exceedingly fierce and
bloody, and lasted until dusk. The attack of the
enemy, which was made in the forenoon at Turbigo
and Buffalora, was at first directed against two
brigades of the Ist army corps, under Lieutenant-
General Count Clam. The brigades in question were
subsequently E.
Ltlyireechintfeourscteeidnb,s)y at three brigades
re
eisebae s of
divisionthe
(Princeof the 7th (Baron Zobel's) army corps. In the after-
noon the 3d (Prince E. Schwarzenberg's)- army
corps came into action, and the bridge at Buffalora
and the village of Magenta were sometimes in the
en,e,myn'sthhaenindsorannidngofthe sometimes in ours.
I sth, our left wing was
again engaged in the neighbourhood Magenta,
but but detailed reports on the subjectat•e wanting.eta
"The enemy made no further progress (drang
nicht weiter vor), and our army took up a flank-po-
sition (Flanken Stellung) between Abbiate Grasso
and Binasco. The issue of the battle which was
going on being doubtful, Count Gyulai gave order:
that Milan should be completely evacuated. The
sth, Count Stadion's, and the Bth, Baron von
Benedek's, army corps, which were at a considera-
ble distance fr-om the field of battle, were not
engaged.
" Numerous French prisoners are in our hands.
The loss on both sides is great, but exact official
returns on the subject are still wanting. Accord-
ing to the preliminary reports, Lieut.-Gen. Baron
Reiscbach and Major-Generals von Burdina, von
Durfeld, and von Lebzeltern are wounded, as
are Colonel Hubatschek, Lieut.-Colonel Strom-
feld, and Major Merkl, of the regiment Hartmann,'
Lieut.-Colonel Hoffer and Major Walter of the re-
giment 'King of the Belgians,' and Major Morans
of the regiment Count Wimpffen.' Major Kron-
feld, of King of Prussia' Hussars, was killed ; and
Lieut.-Colonel Imbrissenitsh and Major Haas, of
the 2d Banat border regiment, are missing.
" At the same time with this more detailed
written intelligence will be despatched. As the
wires are broken between Milan, Pavi
possible to recei
authentic telegraphic reports from the scene of
action. When news does arrive it will be imme-
diately and conscientiously communicated to the
public."

A letter from Turin of the 6th, in the &alut Public
of Lyons, states that the telegraphic communications from
Novara are interrupted, and that the first intelligence of
the battle of Magenta came through Paris,