The Express.
London, England, 1859-06-21 00:00:00

THE EXPECTED BATTLE.

We read in the Nord of to-day :

"We are on the eve of great events. The two
armies are fees to face. All the corps of the Au-
trian army are concentrating upon the line of the
Mincio. The provinces of the empire have been
denuded of troops, and the last columns are arriving
by forced marches upon the scene of the contest.
The Austrian army has chosen its position ; it occu-
pies a line on the other aide of the Chiese, the centre
of which rests upon the heights of Castiglione,
before Patchier& ; the right wing extends to
Lonato ; the left to Castel-Ooffredo. On the 17th

the Emperor Francis reviewed the two corps d'armee
encamped at Lonato.
"The allied armies follow the enemy step by
step, combining their movements. It is possible
that the pivot of their position will be the boarg of
Moots Chiaro, evacuated precipitately by the
Austrian rear guard. A French corpe is advancing
by forced marches in the Valteline, where the
Austrians made a feint of descending from Bormio,to
threaten the rear of the allied armies.

"The ground chosen by the Austrians for accept-
ing battle has been well studied by their generals;
thew positions served habitually for the grand
manoeuvres of the autumn. The latter fact is not
ignored at the French head-quarters and precautions
have been taken accordingly.
"The game then will be played with equal
chances—a terrible game—without precedent in the
military history of modern times."
The Nord also says:
"The day before yesterday Prince Napoleon was
to enter Modena.

"By this time military operations have com-
menced in the Adriatic upon the coasts of Dalmatia.
" It is stated that the Austrians, while the French
army marches to the Minnie, wish to direct a body
of 60,000 men by the Tyrol upon Milan, bat it is not
very likely that the Austrian generals will try one
of these bold =acumen to which they are so little
accustomed. In any case precautions have been
taken."

TRIESTE, MONDAY.

According to reports current the Austrian vessel
Boons, of the class No. 2, which had been captured
by the French, has been given up as free because its
proprietor and its captain are Venetians.

PRUSSIA.
The following telegram was received at Mr.
Renter's office, this morning :

_
" BERLIN, TOVIDAY.
" The Prorissische Zeitung states itself authorised
to declare that the communication of the corres-
pondent of the Nord respecting • letter alleged to
have been written by the Prince Regent to the
Emperor Napoleon on the character of the mobilisa-
tion of the sixth corps d'armee is entirely an in-
yen tion."

GERMANY.
MUNICH, MONDAY.
Major-General von der Tenn has left for Berlin on
a special mission.

COUNT CAVOUR ON TILE AUSTRIAN
ATROCITIES.

The following is the text of a circular just ad-
&weed by Count Osamur to all the Minister, and
representatives of Sardinia abroad, presenting in au
official form intelligence which has already appeared
in the letters of oar special correspondents with the
allied armies:

"TURIN, JVNI 12.
" Sir,—ln a previous circular-despatch I had tne
honour of making known to the legations of his
Msjesty the acts of spoliation of which the Austrian
army wu guilty in the Sardinian provinces that it
occupied. 'ought now to inform you that a judicial in-
vestigation has been ordered by the government into
this mutter. It will prove that Austria has brutally
violated the laws of war, and that the conduct of her
troops is not that which distinguishes civilised na-
tions. The results of this inquiry will be communi-
cated at the proper time to the legations. But there
is now a fact just legally verified by the judicial au-
thorities, and which I ought to point out to the in-
dignation of the cabinets throaghont Europe. Pub-
lished by the press it would perhaps not be believed;
the government ought itself to make it known, and
guarantee its exact truth.

" On the 201 h of May, the very day of the battle
at Montebello, about eleven in the forenoon, some
Austrian troops were encamped on the heights of
Torrioells, • small commune in the province of
Voghera. A patrol having met on the road the
bailiff of the tribunal, and having compelled him to
act u a guide, entered the village and went into the
house of a farmer named Cignoli. There, after a
strict search in every part of the building, the
soldiers ordered all the members of the Cignoli
family and every other individual happening to be
present in the farm-yard, to follow them.

" The search had enabled them to discover in the
house a small leathern bottle containing a very small
quantity of shot for a fowling-piece.

- "The persona arrested were to the number of nine,
via.:—Peter Cignoli, aged 68 ; Antony Cignoli,
aged 60 ; Jerome Cignoli' aged 33 ; Charles Cignoli,
aged 19; Bartholomew Cignoli, aged 17; Antony
Setti, aged 26; Gaspard Riccardi, aged 48; Her-
menegild San Pellegrin, aged 40; Louis Achille,
aged 18. There were, it will be aeon, an old man of
60 years and a child of 14.
" The patrol conducted them to the presence of
the Austrian commander, who was on the main Toed,
on horseback, in the midst of his troops.
" having exchanged a few words in German with
the soldiers who had escorted the prisoners, the com-
mander told the bailiff, who had served as guide, to
remain where he was ; he then ordered the nine un-
fortunate peasants, who could not make themselves
understood and who were trembling in every limb,
to go down into a path on one side of the road; they
had taken but a few steps when the commander gave
to a platoon drawn up on the road the signal to tire.
" Eight of those unfortunate persons fell instantly
dead; the old Cignoli, mortally wounded, gave no
sign of life. The Austrian troops resumed their
march, and the commander, turning to the bailiff,
told him he might go; and, to prevent his Ming
arrested by the troops still in the neighbourhood,
gave him a card which, in case of need, he was to
produce, and which would
, oonduct.

•' This card was a visiting one, which bore under
a coast's coronet this name :

Lin:TENANT FIELD-N(1E81M URIttN:
" This caul is attached to the back of the official
document of inquiry.
" Some time after the inhabitants approached the
spot where this frightful butchery had been enacted.
Old Cignoli, who bad regained his seiner, was con-
veyed to the hospital of Voghera, where he died flee
days later.
" Such enormities require no commentary. That
woe an assassination as cowardly as it was atrocious,
crimples of which could at moot be found
among hect,arians and savages.
You are rquested, sir, to communicate this
despatch to the oinister of foreign affairs of the
government to which you are accredited, and I beg
you at the same time to accept the fresh assurances
of my moot distieguished Ontotdvration."

The Lie's, a protestant journal in France, states
that Matra Lemma. Brtlsr, Munts, Schwab, sad Orth,
uninittars of the rtformel churl, hare horn APPoluti4 b 7
the Ministre of War chaplains in the army of Italy.