THE STATE OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

West Coast Times, Issue 309, 19 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE STATE OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

The " Constitutionuel" of Tuesday publishes the following : —

Letter^ from Vienna, as well as the journals of the Austrian capitil, a^ree in representing the resolution and energy which unite the people and the Gflvern- [ ment since the defeat of the army of the s North. Count Mensdorft", .scut by the [ Emperor Francis Joseph to head-quarters, <, t has addressed a report to his Majesty, . whence it results that 100,000 of the t 250,000 meu of the army of the North . have already fallen back upon. Ohn;:ts. [ With respect to the soldiers belonging to . the corps most severely handled and dis- . persud,*it is estimated that 40,000 have [ been able to re-form and swell the ranks 1 of the army at Olmutz. The number of h dead, wounded, and prisoners reaches 40,000. From the remainder, it is hoped p ■ ( that 00,000 will yet be collected, thus cari . rying the strength of the Olmutz army to - , 200,000 men. At the presentnioraent the v '" five battallions of young! troops, forming :' au effective of 80,000 men, are being concentrated at Vienna. -They will besupi' iportcd by two army corps arrived from Dalinstia 50,000 strong. Besides this, the ,avmy of the South has already &ent 50,000 ■men to cover Vienna; An effective of 160,000 men is thus nqrw assembled in the intrenched camp at Florisdorf, at the north of Vienna. These forces will probably bs increased in a few days by 50,00(f men from the army, in Venetia. Austria will shortly, therefore, have two armiea, available- ; the army of O!mutj: will represent au army of 150,000 to 200,000 veterans, whose spirit has not been impaired by the . various checks suffered in Bohemia. " The promtitudewith which the different portions of the army have rallied after the defeat of Sadowa bears testimony to the excellent spirit which sustains them. The army of the entrenched camp of Florisdorf, consisting of 80,000 young troops, 50,000 old, and 80,000 victorious troops will represent a total of 210,000 men. l Supported by an army of more than 400,000 men,' observes one. of our Vienna correspondents, ' the • Austrian empire is not lost. 1 " A letter from Brunn of the sth gives the following account pf the Austrian army : — "The old capital of" Moravia, although of a more smiling aspect than the town of Olmutz, presents a very lamentable speotacle. "An immense train has arrived here ' full of soldiers mutilated in the combat of Nachod ; for Olmutz is being evacuated, and a part of its population has taken refuge herein thesr flight to Vienna, or even, to Hungary. The capital itself of Austria is no longer regarded as a place of security. There is not a soldier, not a subaltern officer, who is not convinced that treaclu ry has been at work. The inexplicable choice of a. field o£ battle without outlets, the; order given to the troops to fight witif the whole of their equipments, are regarded as proofs of the fact. When the, Prussians took up their position they laid aside their helmets, very inconvenient in the extreme heat, and put on their undress caps. They also got rid 'of thv-ir knapsacks, brought their cartridge-boxes in front, unbuttoned their tunics, and, in a word, made a regular toilette for action. The Austrians remained muffled. up in their capotas, with knapsacks on their shoulders and much iuconnnoded in their movements by the belts and straps of the sabre and cartouche-box, crossed according to the old custom -over the breast — the whole accoutitinent Very heavy and very embarrassing. In spite of thwse disadvantages, the soldiers, individually, accomplished prodigies, but their ranks were neverthe- ■> less broken. Since ye&terday, long files of soldiers, escaped from the massacre have been arriving to rejoin their regimeuts. ' Nefarly all are without 1 arms, their uniforms' torn and stained with mud and blood ; some of them went the Prus--sikn head-piece ; they seem in a- state of ' exhaustion. The $crowd presses around them, eager, to hear all the details.' Now « come the Saxon* soldiers ; the blue uniforms have become grey ; nearly every man weara on his- arm a fragment of stuff torn from some Prussian uniform. They are armed, and seem less cast down than the Austrians. They fonght like heroes, and demand to form a part of the first advanced guard of the new army of the Forth. The effective strength of that army, composed of the relics of the old one without war material or artillery, is estimated at 150,000 men. The day after a vjitory such a force would be formidable ; aver a disaster,, it is nothing at all, especially if a decision is not taken to make a total change of all the superior officers." The -" Ost Deutsche Post" states that the Austrian Ministry t of War lias ordcre-l 50,000 needle muskets for the Austrian army* They are in course of completion, and will be .delivered at the rate of 2000 a day. .Intelligence received ■ from the headquarters of the Austrian"" army in Vienna, announces that the Austrian forces are being withdrawn from contact with the enemy. The fortresses are strongly garrisoned, and sufficiently well armed for defence without support from the army. A large number of the officers of, the former Honvejl army (National Hungarian' army) have addressed a collective petition to the Emperor, expressing their- devotion to the Austrian Throne, aud requesting admission into the Imperial army. v