29 MARCH 1902, Page 14

THE BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ.

fTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sig,—In reviewing (Spectator, March 1st) Mr. Rose's " Napoleon,' I stated that the traditional ice incident of the battle of Austerlitz had been rejected as mythical by Aus- trian experts, as well as by Lanfrey the historian, who enter- tained decided views on the subject. There has now been brought under my notice testimony of another kind. Accord- ing to the " Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna," by Comte A. de la Garde-Chambonas, of which an English translation has lately appeared, that French author was present on an occasion when the Emperor Alexander was being shown a collection of military maps. In the course of conversation, the Czar said :—" Here, at Austerlitz, we might have retrieved the game, but Kutusoff stopped too far away from Mortier, and those frozen lakes of Augezd (sic) and Moritz (sic) in giving way under twenty thousand men and fifty pieces of artillery, completed our disaster." In presence of this additional opinion the matter may seem to deserve further inquiry, and I have reason to hope that the appropriate foreign experts may be now disposed to give it

their consideration.—I am, Sir, &c., YOUR REVIEWER.