Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-07-28
4tnion aud gmtritau.
SickeninG Scenes.

Everything That reaches US confirms the
belief that in the Sadowa the Austrian army
has been nearly ruined as a military force
for the present campaign. The bravery Of
the men shows forth clearly in every nara
tive. They held their positions with obsti-
macy; they advanced against the deadly fire
Of the needle-gun with all the devotion OF
the soldier. As long a they preserved a
hope Of victory, they fought with a spirit
worthy Of better leaders and better cause.
But even before the great battle doubt and
distrust must have invaded every part of
that immense host. They knew what they
had been promised, and that il had not been
fulfilled. They knew That they were TO
have gone 10 seek the enemy on his own ter
ritory, and they saw him actually estab-
lished on their own.
The system Of c0nccalment and mystery,
which made the position Of the army and
the prospects Of the campaign secret to all
but a knot Of officers could not prevent
those who used their eyes and ears and
judgment from knowing that things were
going III. The secret system conceals facts
only from the unintelligent The enemy
finds out what is going on, the more expe-
rienced soldiers in the army which is COM
manded on that system make al induction
which is generally correct, and the deficiency
of their knowledge only leads them to ex-
aggerate the importance Of any evil signs.
The advance Of the Prussians into Bohemia,
their victories over the corps opposed TO
them, and their Junction in spite Of all the
Austrians to prevent il, were OWNED in the
Austrian army in spite Of all the precau-
lions of General BENEDER and though they
may not have diminished the resistance Of
the Austrians in the great battle itself, yet
when that battle was lost they completed
the overthrow Of the soldiers confidence i'm
his leaders
The description Of the retreat given BY
our correspondent has shown our readers
that the accounts which the telegraph sent
us Of this tremendous conflict were not ex-
aggcrated There have been great victories
won with a comparatively small loss Of life
even 10 the vanquished. An army outma
neuvered or outnumbered has often aban
doncd It's positions and yielded the fruits 0
a campaign 10 the enemy. But the battleO
Sadowa was won step by step, and tEeJPrLs
SLAMS advanced 30 victory over thousands Of
the slain. 1t is remarkable that the losses
of the Austrians are placed higher by those
who are among them than by the conquer
ors. The gaps in the army Of BENEDEK are
only fully discerned by those who knew it
before ii met the enemy.
Our correspondent, wri ting three days af-
ter the battle. when the confusion was be-
ginning to subside, when the men were find
ing their way back to their regiments, and
regiments, or what was left of them, were
again being united into brigades and diyi-
sions, gives the loss Of the beaten army as
probably more than two-fiths Of its whole
number. at may be true,' he says, that
$4,000 men were killed, wounded taken
prisoners, or drowned, and that $50 guns
were taken, abandoned, or thrown into the
river on the retreat" Adding TO these losses
the number Of men who must have thrown
away their arms in the retreat we must
doubt whether 100000 effective men were 10
be found in the Army of the North three
days after the battle.
The retreat was indeed, melancholy and
disastrous. As at Leipsic, we hear of pom
toOns laden with hundreds swept down the
river and overturned with their living car
goes-of artillery and horsemen crashing
down upon and through the struggling in
fantry, jamming them into theuarrow roads
aud hustling them over the bridges into the
waters. la about all that is most horrible
iu warfare was concentrated into this contest
a long struggle, lasting the entire day, the
moving down of whole regiments by the
firing of the enemy, the burning Of villages,
the horrible incidents Of fight through an
inundated country, and finally the long sul-
icrings of the disurganizcd march that sue
cecded, form combination, at which the
Imagination is shocked and saddcned.
Il is dicniult to bring ones self to believe
that such horrors have been enacted in our
own time and in a region so near and SO IA
miiar We had heard and read of such
fields Of slaughter, but they seemed to be-
long 10 an age and n state of human Charac-
ter which could never he revived. Nine
miles Of slaughter, ending with the drown
ing of o mass of terror stricken iugiliyes, are
an event which few years since the wisest
would have pronounced impossible in the
Europe Of to-day.
Unless the course OF hostilitics be stayed,
there is reason TO fear that Sadowa will not
Dee the last though it may remain the most
deadly, of the Austrian battles. The Prus-
slams are flushed with victory, and they know
that the army Of Bohemia, unaided, is in no
condition 10 oppose them. That army must
have lost half its guns, and by far the greater
part Of its military stores. If they have
no other foe before them, they may drive 1t
from point 10 point until they force II to try
its fortune mthc very suburbs oithe capital
perhaps on the fields which the campaign of
1909 made 80 deplorably famous. But on
the other hand, if the Army Of Nenetla can
be transported 70 the northern provinces of
the Empire. If the reserves which are more
or less ready for service, can he brought up,
there must be new battles, in which il is pos
siblc, though hardly probable, that the for
tunes Of war might change
Z
In following mp their victory. They would
probably have displayed even greater ardor
In the pursuit had il not been for their own
heavy losses and the want of provisions from
which an armies suffer Ii is said that the
prus,ians fought the battle of Sadowa with
ont having tasted food since II o'clock in the
forenoon Of the dav before and the Generals
were loud In their circumstances against the
commissariat These difficulties, we may
assume. still continue. The victualing of SO
enormous an army is a task almost beyond
conception, and insuthciency of supplies
means Slowncs- Of advance, Bohemia has
been already, 10 a great extent, eaten mp by
the Austrian army, and the progress of the
prussiau lcgions mus, hc measured by their
means of subsistence. Their dependence
must be ON the railway: and we accordingly
find them establishing themselves nc june
tious and preparing TO follow the course Of
thc rail.
Pardulilz in the present war has been
deemed Of more importance than the strong
est fortress. and when Prague is siezcd IL
will not be 50 much because IL is the capital
Of Bohemia as because IL is the spot where
the line from Bavaria meets the line which
runs north TO Dresden. Surprising then the
campaign 60 continue, the object Of the
pmsSians will doubtless be 20 march along
the line Of rail 10 Britonaud Vienna. Their
headquarters were two DAYS since at Lwittau.
Afer a short rnpoze, the army Is being pushed
ON. the army of Prince FEUnTBICT CHARLES
taking the road 90 Bunn, the Second Army
that 90 OlmutE, and the Army Of the Ebe
taking a more westerly route through lglSn.
As the distance az Zwitiau from NCnetia
Is little more than 100 miles, il need not be
said t,at the capital OF the Empire is in
danger. Unless successfully opposed 10y the
Austrians. the enemy might be before vi
emma In a week. The Austrians, however,
under their new commander, are not likely
10 give up Buun without struggle. II
their army be largely re-enforced from We
Meta, they may fight ono or two heavy bat
ties in Moravia, and though the superiority
Of the Pussians has been too well proved TO
allow as 70 doubt Of the result, yet We may
be certain that the Emperor VIII defend ms