The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-09-15

| u
j but 6noootroops. In ehatkf Fec enor, they
lost 10000 men.
In the battle Of Pragu( May 1857, the
Anstrians had about 8o,bo troops. The
Prussians, 10y their own fcount, lost on:
5000 killed and twice thad,uml,rr wounded
- The Austrians, in 'kiiISl, wounded and
prisoners, not less than 2t,o.
| Atthebattle of Minden iji7 81 the French
losr but 1000 men. .
lnose, which have beenhwaged since the
French revolution, have be4n peculiarly de-
structive.-fn the battle oflMareneo, on the
18th June, 1900, the Frenci}.re said by some
| to have had $4,000 infantt, 5000 cavalry
and so pieces or cannon 1.-the Austrians,
rs, 200 infantry, Is 900 csvjlry and loo can
non., The latter are said I'd have lost II 900
including prisoners lis s,andards and so
pieces OF cannon-rhe Fro,ch ) 900 troops
In the battle of Ausserlitz, .tae Russians
are said to have had 10000 troops besides
hustrlans ----the French are said to nave
lost 5000. OF whom 5000 were prisoners.
:; in that pf Jena, on October. 1906, tie
Russians have been rated at l5o,ooo--they
lost between 20 and 10000 PRISONERS, from
Is to so pair of colours, 300 pieces of can
non--in dead and wounded, 10000. The
French lost 10, or 900 killed and 5000
wounded.
In that of Eylau, on February Z, 1907, the
French lost 1,7ooo killed $500 wounded
900 or the Russians we're left On the field of
battle
In the battle of Friedland, l 4di June, 1907,
the Russians lost from Is to 10000, and so
pieces OF cannon--the French 500, besides
1000 wounded. THESE estimates are Ia
| Ken fromthe French bulletins, which in some
points are doubtless carricatured. .
What lsto be inferred from. these facts p
L hat IN respect to the numbers of the Combat
tants on both sides, * the extent of the losses,
most ct the most celebrated battles OF antiqui-
ty are inferior to that of Wagram-the battle
OF Marathon, Themopyle, Canna. and plia-
salia are decidedly nferior-the only ones,
that vie with it, are those of Arbela and Luz
culiIs. OF which the accounts. are 81 eXtraor-
binary and so eXtravagant as almost to defy
Deiief-that since the invention Of Gunnow-
der. when any fair comparison Can be insti,
tuted, there is nothing to compare with the
battle OF Wagram, except the victories per-
maps OF AuSterlItz and Jena-that the famous
Contests OF Minden, of Fontenoy and Prague
are eclipsed-and even as to the battle of
Jena, though more Cannon were taken by the
french, that fewer were employed III the
engagement, fewer combatants we're ell
gagged on each side, and fewer troops were
lost by the enemy. These last differences
proceed upon the superstition that the French
6ulletins are as worthy of credit at one time
as at another.
But why longer diIate upon proprostion
OF tins sorts The rolls OF history comprise
not an engagement, in which there were So
many as from II to 1900 pieces of artillery,
from ) to 100000 Combatants, and the loss
on one side of 10000 troops. The mind
siirinks from this vast combination of the
means OF destruction the heart sickens at
this murderous waste of the human Species
and the American eye lifts itself to the Hea-
vens III thanks, that these scenes of devasta-
ton are not displayed on the fields of our
country. But the understanding will not re
fuse its assent to the proposition which has
been stated.
But the genius of Napoleon is not confined
to the evoiutions of the battle. What shall
we think OF the bridges which are built over
the Danube! When his corps of sailors
from Boulogne assembled The Rhine To Stras-
burg, what said the London Editors9 That
he was so much in want of recruits, that he
was compelled to Change the element on
which they had lived-and turn his sailors
into soldiers. Was this the case9 His pro-
Vldent sagaelty seems to have foreseen the
necessity OF their attendance and when
the bridges OF the Danube were destroyed,
his soldiers and architects were present to
replace them with more convenient substi-
tuteS. Julius Cesar ifas been commence
rated for the bridge, which he built over the
Rhine--and there is not a school-boy, who
does not recolect that famous chapter in his
commentaries, that hons uSinornDt, or as.
scs bridge, as 1t mas been termed, in which
he gives US description of its texture. But
this simple bridge over the Rhine, required
ten days to complete it, reckoning from the
time when they began to bring the timber to
the banks of the river. Bonaparte complet-
ed his three bridges i'll 90 days--Still much
is due TO the resources Of the age, in which
we live, as we'll as to the man who directs
them to his views.
lhere are many errors and exaggerations
TOO, which disappear before these last ac-
counts --Some tine since, the federal
prints treated us with long list of French
Generals, who were killed and wounded ON
the 21st and 22d May. Among the former
are Fouler, Durosnel and Molitor-these
however, are snatched by the long Austri-
an bulletin from the grave the two first are
prisoners, and the last is placed on the list
OF wounded, along with Massena and Lasalle.
With these, tue federal list had placed Gen.
Oudlnot Slight, however, must have been
their wounds, as Massena, Oudinot and
Lasalle are found in distinguished stations in
the action of Wagram.
AS to the Immediate results of the battle
OF Wagram, they are legibie in the terms of