The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-14 00:00:00

HIGH WATIM AT LONDON BRIDOIL

Tun DaiLliornrnig,4l;l9;----Aftie IX Vs
To-Maiutow—llorning, 46. 64a4 Aftersaak 06.

_ .
LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 14.

To bear the trials and misfortunes of our friends
with equanimity is proverbially easy ; to persuade
them that their trials are sent fur their good, and
that their misfortunes are blessings in disguise, is
a task from which even affection may shrink with-
out reproach. Public spirit in Italy is at present
in that sore and sensitive condition which refuses
to be comforted by the sympathy of dispassionate
bystanders who calmly contemplate the patient's
wounds, and pretend to dissuade him from his
pain by protesting that while they feel for and
feel with him in his sufferings, he has no reason to
be suffering at all. It is ill arguing against heart-
aches which all the skill of medicine and surgery
cannot reach or root out I All this we know full
well, and yet not without a little hesitation per-
haps, we shall venture to say to our friends
beyond the Alps that the pain they feel at the
loss of some illusions, and the diaapiiointment of
some expectations, will be wholesome in its bitter-
ness and strengthening in its severity, if it be the
discipline of a sounder and healthier national
life in the future, when the irritations of conva-
lescenoe have Failed away, and the serious

duties of manhood have succeeded to the
hazards and the agitations, the dreams and the
dramas of youth. Certainly, the situation o'
Italy at this moment is exceptional. After years
of almost ruinous effort and preparation for the
decisive struggle, of exhausting war-budgets and
armaments, the great occasion came suddenlyat last,
and Italy found herself an auxiliary in the field
to the forces of a powerful ally, who seven years
before, on the eve of the peace of Villafranc.a, was
looming sullenly in the distance as an enemy in
reserve. Italy opened the campaign of 1866
against her ancient foe by a movement in advance,
planned with almost unexampled rashness, and
fought against tremendous odds, with a fury and
tenacity which no army in Europe could hat e
surpassed, resulting in a victory which might
have been mistaken for a defeat, and a defeat
which so nearly resembled a success, that six
weeks after discerning critics were wondering how
the fortune of the day was let slip by an army
that had at least held its ground in spite of the
blunders or the follies of its chiefs. Custoaza was,
beyond all doubt, one of the most unequal battles
ever fought, and it is evident that the immense
advantages of the defensive position were increased
by the hasty and headlong generalship of the
assailants, the utter want of combination, compre-
hensiveness, and coherence in their strategy, of the
moat ordinary prevision and circumapect;on in
their tactics, of vigilance and carefulness in
those most important branches of military
administration which bring a force into
the field in the best condition. The
battle of Custozza was lost, inasmuch as the
Italians had failed in an impossible attempt,
and fell back next morning behind the river
they had crossed, and because the movement of
the army of the Po in support had to be aban-
doned ; and owing, as it is angrily rumoured,
to the jealousy or the obstinacy of the
Commander-in-Chief, or to his deference to
foreign counsels other than those of the strong
ally who, in the course of a single week's march,
was about to prove what skill and courage
together could effect against courage without skill.
The plan of campaign advised by Cztunutn and by
the Prussian Generals was only resumed when
Austrie was already prostrate in Germany, and

had thrown Venetia with Pirthian canning

the " armed mediation " of France. This
sudden close of a campaign begun with
such high hopes and eager expectations was scarcely
less intolerable to the national pridithanif they had
discovered that theiryoung army was unequal to the
encounter with Austrian veterans. Nor were the
operations of the Volunteers in the mountains
altogether encouraging or satisfactory. GA-
RIBALDI was himself, indeed, full of his old re-
source
and of daring tempered with prudence ;
but he had to conduct operations which he
had not planned, with raw bodies of the trash of
towns, unfitted for fatigues and unused to arms,
and tasking to the utmost the patience of
a staff of officers of splendid quality,
who in every skirmish were condemned
to throw their lives away. And for all
that the Government had done to provide these
patriotic legions with food, clothing, or serviceable
muskets, they might almost as well have been
serving as a free corps in Cochin China. Yet
such was the inspiring energy of Osmium:it that,
wounded and discouraged and sick, he was
working this raw material of enthu-
siasm and self-denial into the stuff of
which heroism and victory are made, with
the brilliant aid of his old comrade, Mania,
at the head of a division of regular troops ;—he
was forcing his way to the heart of the Tyrol,

newly Emperbit will fi left alone amongst his
people.Mt Mao essilkteassoe o rule depended au the
suffregas of his imbjeete, we might hope that he would be
enabled, though unaided, to mined* hie position in
Mexico ; but when we cell to mind that he is now almost
entirely without funds, and that the pay of allgoet every
individual engaged in the administration of the State is in
• • '

&mar, it must be confessed that his situation is one which
amply justifies the grave apprehensions to which the un-
expected visit of his consort to Europe has given rise,
The " Water Supply of the Metropolis," " The Bank
of England Rate of Discount," and " The Cholera," are
the other principal topics of remark or comment in the
i journals of this morning.

Abii.