The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-05-24

ihE iNfAsioN OF PIEDMONT AND THE PANIC
AMONGST THE AusrRIANs.-" Mastery mac
tivity" Ia military chief ia as much to be
admired as irnpetuosity More battles have beea
won by selfrestraipt than 10y impatient srdor.
Had Wellington been animated by the hair
Drained gallanuy of Murat he would never have
beaten Soult in the Peninsula or Napoleon at
Waterloo La fact the smallest Of the gifts Of
great General is daring; for greater strategical
mistakes are committed from the excess Of this
quality than from its opposite extreme
The position Of Count Gyuiai, on the Pied
montese frontiers, is one difficult to reconcile
with any Of the usual military theories Where
so much was to be gained by rapid advance
nto the enemy's territory, and when the cir
cuInstances all seemed so favorable for it, peo-
pie may we'll feel perpiexed TO account for the
sudden hesitsncy which seized upon the Aus
iriaA commander. The causes Of it were Ger
tainly not TO be found in the formidable charac-
ter of the resistance to be anticipated from the
Sardiniaus, or the chances Of encountering the
French in any large force. Ii Count Gyulai had
pushed on Immediately when he crossed the
frontier, after taking proper measures for the
support of bis advanced divisions, he would vi
present be in possession of Alessandria and Turin
he lost, however, the golden chance which fortune
placed in his way, and now he will be compelled
70 fall back on bis own line of defences, and will
thus transfer the war to Lombardy, instead Of
making the campaign seifsustaining by ievyine
contributions on the enemy's territory.
There is no "masterly inactivity" in this On
the contrary, the prestige lost by it is worse than
the disgrace attaching to half dozen defeats
1t shows that ia entering into this war the Aus
triaus have made no proper calculation Of their
resources; for If at the outset they doubted their
own power Of carrying out u military plan so
simple and so advantageous, what will ii be
when difficulties crowd upon them and they are
beset by the allies in trout and by hordes of iu-
furiated revolutionists in the rear?
Slow and pedantic as are Austrian tacticians
in general, we are satisfied that the blame of
this inaction is not to be laid to the account of
Count Gyuai He is said to be bold and ex-
perienced officer, not easily to be daunted by
difficulties. Besides. there were no military OBJ
stacles sufficiently serious to prevent the accom-
piishment of the plan that had been decided
upon. The flooding of the plains was only par
tial, and could not affect the roads to the extent
of being impossible. The French had not
had time to come up in any force, and one
or two decisive blows might have been struck
before their arrival What, under these circum-
stances occurred to make the Austrian comman-
der euddeDiy renOuuce the advantage Of his no
stion aud recross the Pc? There is but one con-
clusoD to be arrived at and that is that disafec-
ton had begun to manifest itself amongst the
Hungarian regiments. and that this, coupled
with the revOlts III the Ducbies and the prospect
of general rising throughout the Peninsula,
a sudden panic We cannot account for their
faint-besrtedpess by any other hypothesis; and
il derives additional strength from the fact that
Rossuth is in Sardinia, and il known to be lay
ing hs plans for another revolution in Hungary.
He has probably by this time opened communi-
cations With his countrymeD in the Austrian
army, and his appearance in the staff of the
French Emperor, which. it is said, the latter has
promised him as soon as the Confederation takes
up arms against him, will immediately rekindle
whatever remains of revolutionary feeling
amongst the Hungarians. Thus, on all sides
Austria is threatened by an accumulation of ag-
gressive forces; and it, by the epd Of the war; she
still manages to hold her own, she will give proof
OF greater inherent strength than any one OF
present believes she possesses.