The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-06-18

extremity of his position, and poured INTO the
Prussisn ranks 4 shower of shot ord sheilss-
The shsrp-shooters, attached to the corps post.
"A in the villages. advanced, and brisk nre 81
muske,ry soon commenced between tne Cfosts
and the Prussians, the latter Of whom. not
w;,b.,andiug, still continued their movement
along the road. The advanced guard, leading
the way, succeeded in passing over the four
miles and half which lay between the two
wings of the Austrian army, and wheeling to
the right. after il had passed Kresor, 1.-THE ex.
IRENE right of the enemy,) carried that village.
But the .Prussian army was so seriously en-.
gagged, and the fire of small arms became so
furious. that it was obliged to halt, form upon
its right, and advance with fixed bayonets to
repulse the sharp. shooters. The latter were
sustained, and the efforts of the Prussians to
carry the heights. which were assaiIed at the
same time by their right, proved unavailing.-
The advantage opposition was too decideoiy
in favor of the Austrians, while the attack OF
the Prussians, instead of being the result OF
any previous conception, was entirely unpre'
meditated, and arose out Of circumstances oc'
curing at the moment. They would have
been obliged to scale heights almost perpen'
dicular, by means of paths almost inaccessi-
BILE, and to pass impractcable ravines,in order
to succeed. They performed prodigies ofvalor,
but forced to give way, they lost all their artil-
lery, vast number of killed, wounded and
prisoners, and falling back upon Planian, re-
treated upon Nimbourg on the Elbe. They
had left behind them 1000 men, that is, half
their army, while the Austrians had only lost
5000. IfDaun had followed briskly, he might
have destroyed The Prussian army, but he con-
tented himself with returning to his camp,
where he spent several days in singing lie
Deum. The active spirit of Frederick, never
so formidable as after defeat, employed the
leisure thus unexpectedly afforded him, in ap-
plying the proper remedies TO his disaster, and
in a short time he was in condition to take
the field again.
The cause of this defeat is perfectly obvious.
Being upon the left of an enemy's line strongly
posted, and extending nearly miles, Frederick
made flank march the whole distance, in full
view of him, TO turn his right. To suppose
that he could have succeeded, would have
been to have supposed that the enemy had
neither muskets nor cannon. In q word, he
violated a principle so obvious as to have been
adopted as maxim by Napoleon, that ofnev-
er "making flank march before an army in
position, above all when that army occupies
heights at the foot of which you must defile."
Prussian writers, in their anxiety to apologize
for their great King, have asserted that the
maneuvre failed from the Impotence of a Ma
jor, who, CALLED by the fire of the Austrian
sharp shoe ers, ordered wheel to the right 10
order of battle, aud thus got the whole column
engaged. This can hardly be true, for the
King was present, his Generals knew his
plans, and from front to rear of the column
was only six thousand yards. The movement
was demanded by the most imperious OF all
considerations; the instinct of selfpreseryation,
which forbids man TO stand still and suffer
himself to be killed, while he has the means oil
defending himself, and retaliating upon his en-.
emy,