New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-06-29

plain. Desaix plunging his spurs into his horse,
outstripped all the rest, and gallopped into the
presence Of Napoleon. As he cast glance over
the wild confusion and devastation Of the field,
he exclaimed hurriedly, sc see that the battle
is lost. I suppose can do no more for you than
to cover your retreat ssBy no means" Ma
poleon replied, with apparently as much compo-
sure as if he had been sitting by his own fire.
side, s' the battle, trust, is gained. Charge
with your column. The disordered troops will
rally in your rear Like rock, Desaix, with
his solid phalanx Of ten thousand men, met the
on rolling billow of Austrian victory. At the
same time Napoleon dispatched an order to Kel-
lerman. with his cavalry, to charge the trium-
phant column Of the Austrians in flank. 1t was
the work Of a moment, and the whole aspect Of
the field was changed. Napoleon rode along the
lines Of those On the retreat, exclaiming, 9. Ny
friends, we have retreated far enough. 1t is
now our turn to advance Reeollect that am
in the habit of sleeping the field Of battle
The fugtives, terminated by the arrival Of the
reserve, Immediately rallied in their rear. The
double charge in front and flank was instantly
made. The Austrians were checked and stag u
gered. A perfect tornado Of bullets from De-
saix' division swept their ranks. They poured
an answering yolley into the bosoms Of the
French bullet pierced the breast of Desaix,
and he fell and almost instantly expired. His
last words wer.,- Tell the First Consul that my
only regret in dying is, to have perished before
having done enough to live in the recollection of
posterity." The soldiers, who devotedly loved
him, saw his fall, and rushed more madly on to
| avenge his death The swollen tide Of uproar,
confusion and dismay now turned, and rolled in
surging pillows in the opposite direction. Hard
| ly one moment elapsed, before the Austrians,
| flushed with victory, were overwhelmed by de-
feat In the midst of this terrific scene, an aid
rode up to Napoleon and said, s' Desaix is dead"
But a moment before they were eonversing side
by side Napoleon pressed his forehead convul-
sively with his hand, and exclaimed mournfully,
tsWhy is it not permitted me to weep! Victory
at such price is dear
If war has its chivalry and its pageantry, it
has also revolving hideousness and demoniac woe.
The young, the noble, the sanguine were writh
ing there in agony. Bullets respect not beauty.
They tear out the eye, and shatter the jaw, and
rend the cheek, and transform the human face
divine into an aspect upon which one cannot but
gaze with horror. From the field of Marengo
many young man returned to his home so mu
tilated as no longer to be recognized by friends,
and passed weary life in repulsive deformity
Mercy abandons the field of battle. The frantic
: war-horse with iron hoof tramples upon the
mangled face, the throbbing and infamed
: wounds, the splintered bones, and heeds not the
shrek of torture. Crushed into the bloody mire
by the ponderous wheels of heavy artillery, the
victim of barbaric war thinks of mother, and
father, and sister, and home, and shrieks and
means, and dies his body is stripped by the vaga
bonds who follow the camp; his naked. mangled
| corpse is covered by few shovels full of earth
and left for food for vultures and for dogs, and
he is forgotten for overland it is called glory
He who loves war for its excitements, and its pa
geantry, and its fancied glory, is the most e1ni
5 nent of all the dupes of folly and sin. He who
loathes war, with an inexpressible loathing, who
will do everything in his power to avert the dire
9 less, in the last extremity, with determined
!, spirit, encounter all its perils, from love OF
, country and of home, who is willing to sacrifice
. himself and all that is dear to him in life, t,
: promote the we'll being of his fellow man, vii
e ever receive the homage of the world, and W,
h also fully believe that he will receive the ap
: proval of God Washington abhorred war il
all its forms, yet he braved all its perils.