The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-07-13
Mails by the City OF Baltimore.
THE BATTLE OF SoLFERINo.

York Monday morning. We have the follow
ing additional foreign news by her files:
from tho London Times of June 27.l
THE BATTLE or soLFERIEo.
The tremendous battle which ragged from
sunrise 80 sunset of Friday last had been
looked for, and It's result is not surprise
The position of the contending armies rem
dered tie occurrence of great engagement
certaigSsequence to the last news. and there
was aSsiient expectation prevalent among oil
classes, a sentiment which, although 1t was
seldom spoken, amounted almost to q conyic-
tion. that the event must be what the event
has been. The certainty with which the Aus
trians bad been forced back made us reflect
even while we admired. We had already re-
cognized in the comparatively snail affairs OF
Montebello Palestro and Magenta, the knell
of that Austrian system which was put before
us as pattern 10 Europe OF what highly
disciplined army ought to be, and which was
addnced as an example OF how vast and ire
sistble force n great military monarchy
could produce in the field.
This great machine had been exhibited in
perfect action, and Ii had proved it's capabih-
ties it could endure slaughter with nm infiex-
ible discipline, 1t could retire with unbroken
ranks, it was orderly in retreat, and it was
calm in disaster it was perfect for every pur-
pose except only for that which is alone. the
purpose of an army-it could not win a battle
against an enterprising antagonist. These
We're ths conclusions which We had all arrived
at, from an attentive observation of the Aus
trian power as welded against the force of it's
great military rival. The conviction has now
received lis confirmation in 2 vast and deci-
sive trial. Since the three days of Leipsic,
now six and forty years ago, SO great battle
has never been fought in Europe as that which
only seventy hours since numbered the plains
OF Lombardy with dead. Imagination tolls in
vain to realize the story of more than 300,0
men engaged in mortal conflict over an area the
front of which extended IL 2miles. The common
incidents OF battle, the plunging cannon shot,
the devouring grape, the advance of long drawn
columns, the resistance ofdense masses, the furir
ous charges OF cavalry. the sudden deploy into
lines lengthening in long vista, and meeting in
stern and furious collision, bayOnet TO bayo-
net, are oil, in such mighty battle this,
multiplied TO indigtinctness. We seek i'll vain
to single ont the details of slaughter, and the
mind hovers hopefully over a mist of carnage.
After sixteen hours of laundering sounds and
dense smoke and shrill death -shrieks, and the
rush OF squadrons shaking the earth, and the
measured tramp OF many thousands marching
to death, and of the shouts Of the multitndss
in strong excitement, the turmoil subsidies, and
we are told that upon one side alone Is, 500
killed and wounded are stretched upon the
PLAIN. NO eye can take 1t ali In. for II extends
beyond human vision; no ear can hear it all,
fnr the boom OF the cannon which tears
chasm through the human mass at the wing,
is inauditie at the centre; Il single groan is
lost in such Il chaos Of bu cherry as this. We
arrive at the point where figures cQase to have
power to increase our conceptions OF magni
tude, and where the highest force of numera-
with feeling Of the wickedness of ambition
and the horrors of war
1t Is difficult to come down from the highly
strained emotions that are created by such an
event rs that which we announce to-day, and
to measure ii by the ordinary means of strate-
gy. Ii is not often that we have TO consider
the movements Of such large armies as those
which met face to face on Thursday last; and
we have not many precedents for a campaign
vast as that which on Friday last attained
what must be at present considered as its de-
cisiye determination. The Austrian army,
when 1t arrived on the eastern bank of the
Mlnclo, retreatlng from all points, gaining the
inclosnre of its fortresses, and coming within
the co operation of its reserves, cannot be
timated at less than 10000 men. The French,
increased by continuous stream of reinforce
ments, rapidly pushed up TO the front, was
probably not inferior in numbers. In the
course of the retreat and the pursuit, they had
approached each other until, the pursuers
having passed the Chiese and the retiring
force having passed the Mineio, only the
latter river separated them. 1t was thought
throughout Europe that the Austrians had
reached their chosen battle ground, and the
Continental authorities best taught in the
strategies of The seat of war had confidently
predicted that the line Of the Mincio was the
appointed spot of the decisive battle. The
Austrians, however, with that fatal weakness
of purpose which seems to actuate them in all
their military movements, and which causes
them 10 yasclllate between precipitancy and
timidity, on Thursday night retraced their
steps, re-crossed the Mincio in four enormous
divisions, doubled back upon their pursuers,
and, as the Austrian account states, came upon
a superior body of the enemy on the Chiese.
II this be true, nothing could be more suicidal
in strategy that for an inferior force TO cross
great river in order to seek out superior enc
my. and TO engage him with that river in the
rear. This inequality in force however, was
probably only momentary, and this superior
force OF the enemy, which turned out TO
be the main body of the French army, was
Ill tod j,,yt
Austrians in Lombardy, with the Emperor
Francis Joseph at their head The battle be-
gan AZ in the morning. but at 10 O'Clock, al
lowing thus six hours Tor concentration, the
collision of the two entire armies took place
The left wing seems to have commenced the
attack, and TO have advanced nearly rs far
the Chiese thus, as the Austrian account
rather lnslnuateS than asserts. forcing back
the French right.
1t is claimed also, that the Austrian right
wing had an early success against the Sartiin-
lans, vino We're upon The ground nearest TO
BreScia and Peschiera But. unfortunately for
the Austrians, it happened that while their
TWO wings We're thus victorious. their centre
was broken. The French Emperor directed
MS early efforts against this part of his ene-
ny's line, ana the AuStrlans gently say, The
order of our centre could not be res stOred."-
From that moment the battle seems to have
been lost. 1t was Il matter of course that
when the centre was broken, powerful masses
should be directed against the wing which
had pressed hardest upon the French, and
was still successful against the force opposed
to it. 1t was in accordance also it'll all mil
itary experience that under this pressure, the
losses should be extraordinarily heavy, that
the main body should advance, and that the
army whose centre had been broken and wings
driven back, should retreat. The retreat be-
gan late in the evening. The AustrianS left
behind them, in killed. wounded, and prison
ers, some $4,000 men, according to the first
French account, which we must OF course re-
ceive with a certain amount OF margin, and
-, 1,1t rtny. ~, fha To-, ssa,tt
moderates in the item of prisoners but we ac-
cept il, for the moment, in the absence of any
counter statement on the Austrian side They
recrossed the Mincio, which they had so un-
rand, and Napoleon III. slept in the room
which had been occupied by his brother En-
Deror on the morning Of the battle.
1t is much too early,to attempt criticism up
on the tactics which have produces this great
defeat. or to speculate upon the consequences
1t must produce. Some great facts, however
there are which lie upon the surface, and are
seen even In the misty medium of these tele-
gfaPnlc dispatches. The Austrians have most
candidly admitted sher defeat. History scarce
ly records bulletin in which disaster was
more explicitly avowed. It is said that thay
are prepared 10 resume the contest on the other
slde OF the Mincic, and to be again defeated
with the same stolid bravery and un teachohJs
awkwardness which they have manifested in
ali their previous operations. Among the Dnany
pieces of good fortune which fall to the French
Emperor, it is not the least to have to deal with
such an enemy as this-braye, disciplined and
creditable to beat, but so slow of counsel and
changeahle of purpose, that single intelligent
mind, commanding an army of even only
equal courage and discipline, can count every
battle j victory, and every campaign a con.
quest
THE WAR FEELING IN GERMANY.
The principal members of the two Chambers
of Nassau have issued sort of appeal to the
German nation, declaring that though they
are disposed to combat for Germany, they will
not do so for the maintenance of the treaties
of 1915.
The Cabinet of Saxony has replied to Prince