The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-01
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1fONDAY MORNING. AUGUST !, 1852
IN Late Dasslee-f usare Ones. &c.
II lta1tan Condottiert Of the middle ages
heoueA& defensive armor TO such rerfeeaon'
taaa Il Was no unusual thing for large armies
- leht 3 whole day without killing or wound
ink eiAgie man. Indeed, that was the gene
ri rule In all battles Of the day, ana II
casuAltiss occurred, they were placed In the
eakalOxue Of exceptions. These exceptions, we
are ASSURED, were very rare, and only took
plaee when an unfortunate knight or man-at.
arms chanced To be dismounted and was
smoshered by his armsr.
nidsd cannon and Minnie rifles seem In q
fAir way to bring back the gazette OF slaughter
70 liz erietna, proportions in these latter days
The most ardent admirer of the terrible can
Ind no fault with the list of killed and Grip
Piled, presented by the most insignificant field
stricken during the great French wars. Lodi
CastiGlione, Roveretio, Arcole, Rivoli, Abou'
ksr, Marengo, Hoheniinden, Austerlitz, Je'
M, Eylau, Friediand, Wagram. Talavera'
Darrossa, Saragossa, Salamanca, Nittoria'
Borodino. Lutzsn, Bautzen, Dresden Leip-
Gle, Haynao, Montereau, Bricnne, Ligny'
70 suit the most sanguinary taste. In the war
Of the Polish Revolution, Grochow became
famous; and In our war Of 1872 at Chippewa,
Niagara pIattsburg, and New Orleans, there
was NO deficiency of the real fluid in which
the God of War Is supposed especially to de-
light. In those days, men fought with the
old nint-loek musket, and the old smooth
bore cannon. They did not carry so great a
In al ant "a
harms way, or make him cry out before he
was hurt. II reconnaissance was necessary,
men were sent ont on horses, not sent up in
balloons. II a message to a subordinate Gen.
srai was necessary, NAPOLEON the Great or
WELLINGTON, or ScoTT, or JACKSON, sent it
BY An aid, and not by telegraph. The pres
snt age has Surprising advantages in all these
particulars, and it has another quite As re-
mArkable in the intelligence of the soldiers
The troops Of that rough old period knew
nothing but 10 stand and fight when they were
attacked. II they were ont-man9uvered, II
was the business OF their officers, and none OF
theirs. In fact, fighting away as hard rs they
knew how, blinded by smoke, and deafened by
the thunder Of cannon and rattle of small
arms, they had no means of finding out when
their TANKS were turned, or their rear threa-
tened, or any other advantage gained over
them. And, the fact is, the stubborn old
bruies cared very little about 1t. They neither
Gould have understood their danger if they
had been told OF ii, nor known that they were
whipped, though all the laws of tactics had
bsen appealed to, TO convince them.
Slow In his movements but stubborn when
brought to bay, the Austrian, at Wagram,
withstood for several hours the most tremen-
dous assault upon his centre of which proba-
bly,, modern history affords any example, and
when At last he did give way, it was SLOWLY
reluctantly. in obedience to orders, and with
his face still towards the foe. Unapt TO re-
ceive new ideas, he could not perceive upon
the spur OF the moment, that he was menaced
with humiliation il he Stood and that his
only safety consisted in retreat. The Aus
trian OF Solferino was more quicksighted
than his grandfather of Wagram He saw
sven before his Emperor saw, (and the Empe-
ror was not slow to discern, heavy masses
moving upon his centre, and foreseeinr there
might be danger if he tarried he soon left the
position to take caro- of itself The great OBJ
Ject Of the Emperor seems to have been not to.
lose men, and in efecting this object he was
completely successful. He telegraphs to Vi
n Y l.
emma believes the telegraph, when sho learns
hat, after fighting sixteen long hours he has
lost IL, 900 men out of G0OO-that is 20 saw five
men out OF every one hundred in his army
vienna thought this great Improvement up
on the terrible old fights of Essllng and Wa
gram, fought exactly fifty years before. lust
.eloss TIE river, In fuil view OF all her popu-
lation, when her armies were little more than
nalf a. large, and the slaughter three times as
great.
Inc newspapers contirse TO talk of the ba t.
ne OF Soiferino as magnificent affair. The
'tubnorn resistance Of the b.ustrians. and the
laring valor Of ne Zonav es. are the eyerls,st.
ng themes Of praise. That these highly wro, ,ght
>anecyr.Ss are not des, .ryed. it is only n,.ce
ary 70 look at the lis's of casualties, in ,,rder
q see At glance. indeed, when we TAX. into
onsioeration the forces engaged on both sides
nd compare th's results with those of any of
ne gres- bottles of former times, it appears
~ We been nothing more than a skirInish,
md by no means severe skirmish at that
The praise of valor and efficiency seems to Ills
10 be most ludicrously misplaced. The Aus
lrian army, $50 600 strong, is fighting under the
rye Of its Emperor, to prevent the Austrian
empire from being broken up. 1t is an alta ir
Of the highest possible momentum affair com
Ing home to the bosom of every soldier 1t
concerns him, as involving the very altar on
which he worships, and the very flreside by
which he reposes. 1t is q question, as far as
we can see, which affects the whole Empire,
and every subject OF the Emperor; for if Italy
be Topped away now, where is the rayage of
the pruning knife to stopl Who knows that
the next year may not behold Bohemia and
loravia also torn from the grasp of it's legiti-
mate ruler? He is animated, moreover. by a
most deadly hatred of the French Emperor
He has been taught to believe that his ambition
embraces all Germany, and that he desires to
place his iron hoof ON the neck of Austria as
the first NAPOLEON did before him. lie has
been told Of the horrors of French occupation,
and warned that his valor alone can prevent
Of those horrors. With all this to
stimulate the Austrian army, il goes into bat
tie. and gives up the field, after losing $4,000
men killed and wounded. On the other hand,
the French, who are lauded as the soldiers Of
the irst NAPOLEON never were, number 200,-
COO, night sixteen hours, and put 1900 Of their
enemy out Of condition to fight Was there
ever such a burlesque on war !
In this battle Of Solferino the French killed
and wounded, on an average 700 men an hour
Now, old SAN HousroH had but 600 men, all
told, Ut San Jacinto, and in about five
minutes, he killed and crippled exactly as
many mon a. NAPOLEON killed and crippled
with his 1000 fighters, in one hour. If old
SAM had fought an hour, at the same rate he
would have made way with {, 400 men, If he
had fought sixteen hours, he would have used
mp g., 2uO men. We wish to show how much
greater old General SAN HOUSTON is than
NAPoLEON ILL.,, and we wish some arithmeti-
clan to do 1t by the double rule Of three Here is
the sum: "If 7uU men kill 7U0 men in five min
utes, how many men ought 2oo,o men TO kill
In sixteen hours |" The result will be prodigi-