, 1866-08-10

patch than was com paCIOle Win keeping
them fresh to contend with an enemy
whom they might meet on their line of
march. This was illustrated on the first
day Of the Skalitz affair, when the men
were too much fatigucd 10 meet the
Prussians on equal terms.
A court of inquiry will probably soon
decide whether Benedek was well served
by his generals, and to whom the great
est blame of the faScO on the Sd instant
attaches. To a looker-on the Feldzeug-
meister's intentions appeared plain
enough, though it is quite possible that
one may have been mistaken. What
was the disposition of his troops?
Strong on his left, he expected there the
principal Prussian attack. His right
was more or less protected by natural
obstacles, and Joscphstadt was not far
distant. He has been blamed for not
using his cavalry sufficiently, but he had
a reason for keeping them fresh and
intact. I believe that at the moment
when the disaster took place he was OF
the point Of advancing his centre In
fact, some orders to that effect had alrea-
dy been given a great effort was to be
made to break the enemy'S line (Napole-
on's favoarite movemenD, and, while The
left should still hold the Prussian right
wing in check, or even push it back, to
crush the left aud centre with his reserve
artillery and masses of cavalry. But he
suddenly found his own line penetrated
where he least expected, at its strongest
natural point. How this could have been
permitted it is impossible for the student
of this battle to conceive. The advance
Of the 4th and I'd Corps is comprehensl-
BILE enough, but if be true that Klum,
the key Of the position, was left unoccu-
riod, 90 ~oouriod o"Iy by a few men,
"Somebody blundered" indeed.
Even at that supreme moment, how
ever, theGe was hope, and the advancing
lines Of the left and centre need not have
been even delayed, for a portion Of the
reserve which was near ought to have
retaken Klum. But here was introduced
the fourth and chief weakness. Adyanc-
ing in the open, the Austrian soldiers
courage and onward movement is so de-
termined that the enemy hardly dares to
face him. On more han one occasion
we could see from the hill Prussians flee
ing to avoid the bayonet, or rather the
butt of those Eray-coated, Manufactured
battalions. This is not their system,
this up and down, rude, unpleasant kind
of fighting but put them behind a bank
or into a village, let them once get down
on their fronts with a hiIlock of earth or
tuft Of grass in front of them, the cool
butts Of their beloved rifles against their
cheeks, and who is he that will make
them move? And, further, the rapidity
of fire excites the imagination to believe
that the enemy is many times more nu-
merous than he really is, A few Skin
mishers become magnified into a batta-
lion, a regiment into a corps d'Arm6e, the
panic spreads, the post, which perhaps a
few r~esolute men might have forced, and
turned against the approaching supports,
is left untaken, and the day is lost. Lost,
indeed, this time, for it will be recollect-
ed that the Austrian position was in the
form of a salient angle, and the enemy
once on the right flank was also in rear
of the centre. Down the valley, passing
those terrible Prusslans guns where theirs
had so lately been, the army had to re-
tire the artillery of their own left turn
ed against the newly-arrived Prussian