The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-07 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRANCE.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuesday, Nov. 6.

The accompanying account of the work which
is cut out for Victor Emmanuel and his army,
before they can hope to obtain possession of
Gaeta, and of the various natural and artificial
obstacles requiring to be overcome by the besieg-
ers, will probably prove interesting to your
readers.

The Gatette de kanee states that General
l 3 osed, who ig in Paris, haS announced that
he intends to be at Gaeta on the 13th, and to
restune his command. It is, reported that he has
received, and refused; SeVeral tempting overtures
from Victor Einihannel.

qe,i&ai de Montauban is reported to have been
made a senator, as a reward for his conduct as
commander-in-chief of the French troops at the
Peiho.

Count de Persigny has shortened his stay at
his country seat, in order to be present at the
Lord Mayor's dinner on Friday.
The improvement at the Bourse still continues.
The Rente has risen to 69f. 90eb

THE IMPENDING SIEGE, 0, GAETA:
ITS CHANCES OF SUCCESS,
The numbers. strength, arid abriridarieri of all the
requisite materiel fot the attack of a strong fortress,
possessed by the united armies of Victor Emmanuel uiia
General Garibaldi, doubtless afford fae greatest proba-
bilities of success to the ected siege ; still, the refusal
of the European ;rowers to recognise the blockade of
the
',Lace, which has the effect of preventing any attack
from the sea, goes not a little way towards equalising
the chances on both sides, for the command of the sea
Would be .an enormous hdlp to the assailants.
If the plan which is attributed to the Piednionto-
Garibaldian army be the real one, that aid*, Consisting.
of 80,000 strong, *ill find itself hi very nearly the same
' situation as that in which that of Joseph Napoleon found
itself in 1806, when he laid siege to Gaeta, and when the
i;lege lasted, as is well known, for six months. King
Victor Emmanuel, however, will have this advantage
over the besiegers of the place in 1806—that he will not
have to concern himself with the rest of the kingdom,
and will thus have the whole of his forces at his dis-
Posal for the purposes of the siege. In short, if he bas•
not the sea in his faVour, neither has he it againsthim.
Well, then, let us siippoie that the seige of Gaeta
advances in regular order, that the operations are not
shackled by any political obstacles, the great struggle.
will of necessity take place in a direction west of the.
fortress, upon the narrow neck of land which forms the
Peninsula at the extremity of which stands this last
ienialning bulwark of the Neapolitan monarchy.
but previously to setting down before the place, the
troops of Victor Emmanuel will, to all appearance, have
to fight several other battles, even although they have
succeeded in forcing the line of the Garigliano, It is
a singular characteristic of a struggle such as the
Present, which abounds in singalarities, that the
soldiers of Francis 11., who all, without
exception, appeared to be desirods of abandoning
him at the commencement of the *at, When they might
easily have made head against the Garibaldians, should
return to their standards, and range themselves round
their young Sovereign, exactly in proportion as the
enemy's forces increase and the dangers become greater;
and above all, it is strange that the King should in like
banner, in proportion as his cause becomes more and
more desperate, show himself to be more and mine
decided to face with his troops the perils of the field.
•It is not unreasonable, therefore, to infer from these
Circumstances that the Neapolitan army, so long as it is
animated by such a spirit, and so led, will make every
Possible effort to retard the progress of its adversary.
If we survey the district which borders on Gaeta,
from the right bank of the Garigliano as far as the
Marches, sloping towards the north-west, from Fondi
on the Terracina, a tract of swampy ground will be
found extending for about forty miles along the sea-coast
from the mouth of the Garigliano to the Creek of
/lola, near Gaeta. The average depth of
this strip of difficult land is enormous, and above it,
towards the north, there extends a stretch of ground
Which affords some admirable defensive military posi-
tions. From Mola to the point of Capo-Vento,
Within which Gaeta is situated, the ground is a complete
shingle, and is crossed by a small valley, called the
Conca, which protects the approaches of the place froth
the north-west to the south-east. From Capo-Vento to
Pondi, and on to Terracino, there stretches a portion of
the coast in the form of an equilateral triangle, extend-
ing to about thirty miles, the interior surface of which
is entirely covered with swamps, which are almost
inaccessible.
The first position which the army of Victor Emmanuel
Will have to attack, after it has passed the Garigliano, is
that of Frajetto, unless, profiting by the great numerical
superiority of his troops, the King should cause this
null place to be masked by one of his divisions, while
With the rest of his army he reascends the course of
the Ausente, in order to descend by way of Fratte upon
amount Pretella. Frajetto is a small town situated
Upon a steep " mamelon, " not far from the
treat road which traverses the 11Iola marshes, and
leads from the mouth of the Garigliano to Gaeta, from
the southward. It is the first advanced sentry of Gaeta,
towards the south-east. It has an enclosed bastion,
and may be safely neglected only by an enemy very
Superior in force, which is the case in the present
instance. It is, nevertheless, probable that the Pied-
raonto-Garibaldians will not be desirous of abandoning
the great.natural strategical line of the Garigliano to
Gaeta, and that they will therefore be reduced to the
necessity of attacking the point of Tragetto.
In a northerly direction, the troops of Victor Emma-
nuel will, as they advance, find themselves in the first
instance, before a lofty chain of mountains, the most
elevated point of which is Mount Petrella ; after which,
at five leagues distance from Gaeta itself, they will have
to climb to the summit of a second mountain chain,
amore extended than the preceding, forming the eastern
bank of the valley of the Conca, and which overlooks
Gaeta, from which it is not more than nine miles
distant. The Neapolitan army, if it be well corn-
rnanded, and thoroughly resolute, may thus be able
for some considerable time, in the vicinity of Gae,ta
itself, to oppose obstacles of a very serious kind to the
Progress of the enemy, before the troops shut themselves
up
in th.c, Tho Noapolitan ncwry, no withatcmaing
their numerical inferiority, take up a position behind
the Ausente, between Trajetto and Mount Petrella,
and gradually fall back by way of the valleys
Crossing the lines of approach, upon a second line
of defence, having Mola and Cassellone on the
south, and pxtending to the north from the summit
of the mountain to Mount Setvina. Driven from
these two positions and from the intermediate ones,
Where they can continue the struggle without much dis-
advantage, the defenders might still dispute the passage
by the valley of the Conca ; after which, as their last
refuge, they have the fortress of Gaeta to fall back upon—a
Place strong by nature, strong by its works, well pro-
visioned, well armed, and assailable only from the neck
of the peninsula, upon a line of attack not more than
two miles in extent.
If, as we have already observed, and as there is every
reason to believe is the case, the Neapolitan army has
still between 30,000 and 40,000 men wider arms, it may,
after having defended all the various positions from the
Garigliano to the Conca, as it has already defended that
of the Garigliano, easily establish itself in front of
Gaeta, upon the steep plateau which overlooks the
Place to the west. A few earthworks and batteries
'would enable the defenders to dispute the ground in
front of the fortress, inch by inch ; and in a second line,
before occupying the peninsula of Gaeta, the besieged
have still another splendid defensive position, that of
the plateau of the Atratina Rock.
It will thus be seen that a good army, which has
nothing to apprehend on the sea side, may hold out for
a length of time before it is compelled to shut itself up
in Gaeta ; and should the defenders, after taking refuge
in the fortress, continue to make a stout defence, there
is no reason why we should not be called upon to 'wit-
ness one of the most memorable sieges which modern
history records—always providing there be no further
acts of "friendly" foreign intervention.

ITALY.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
MILAN, Nov. 2.

It is almost certain that before you receive this
the telegraph will have announced the result of
the last desperate struggle that the Royalists are
now preparing to make on the banks of the
Garigliano. It is almost useless to speculate
upon the issue, or to doubt that victory will not
be again on the side of the national army ; still I
and inclined to think that the victory will not be
So easy as is generally imagined, and in this
opinion I am confirmed by the prudence that is
Observed by the King and Cialdini in selecting
arid making themselves acquainted with the
ground and different positions occupied by the
Royalists, before coming to any positive arrange-
kent for a combined attack. The Royalists have
oncentrated nearly all their troops along the
line of the river Garigliano, leaving but a very
atriall force for the defence of Capua. At the
mouth of this river the Royalists have also
organised a strong entrenched camp of their best
soldiers, which I am certain will be hard work
for the Piedmontese to take. The number of
Bourbon troops that have now taken up position,
and wait the attack of the Piedmontese and
Garibaldini, is supposed to be about 40,0000 r 45,000
men. The present position of the Piedmontese
and Garibaldini army is as follows:—The corps
of f Cialdini has by this time taken up a position
"'ear Garigliano, where the King arrived on the
31st ult. This corps is not less than 25,000 men.
General Della Rocca has a division of about
132,000 or 15,000, which has taken up a position
between Garigliano and Gaeta, in order to cut