The Express.
London, England, 1859-01-27 00:00:00

LONDON. THURSDAY, JAN. 27.

WIITLIF the eteady stream of events seems to set
unmistakeably towards war, and the fickle eddies of
rumour fluctuate confusedly between war and peace,
it may be as well to consider some of the strategic
aspects of the possible struggle. Desirable as the ex-
pulsion of the Austrians from Italy may be, it is idle
to disguise the difficulties which stand in the way of
such a

The end to be attained—the
eviction of the Austrian. from Lombardy—must be
accomplished, if at all, by force of arras. The
Auatrian army in Northern Italy has bees abed to
some 130,000 t it is composed of soldiers in a state
of admirable discipline, and is commanded by
generals of great science and experience, aided by
probably the beet staff in Europe. National maths-
maim is unquestionably a great element of swam ;
but it is not everything. It may therellars be me-
tal to state succinctly the position occupied by the
Austrian troops in Lombardy, and to explain the
strategetical problem which, in the event of war,
awaits solution.

According to some writers, the mere existence of
400,000 men on the master-roll of the French army
Implies war. But is this so ? Let us consider the
matter. The EMPEROR cannot do with fewer than
130,000 in and around Paris; he must maintain ananny
of 70,000 men in Algeria ; he must retain a large Ms*
near I.rmi; he must garrison sufliciently the great
fortresses which guard his eastern frontier; he her
his Boman garrison ; he must protect his dockyards;
and besides all this he must maintain his reserves.
If the EMPIIOII is to continue that system of
government which now prevails in France, he can
hardly do so without an army of something like that
which he now possesses. Indeed, so far from the
mere existence of an army of 400,000 French soldiers
necessarily leading to the anticipation of an Italian
war, it might almost be adduced ea an argument
to prove that NsrotzoN has no real intention of
embarking in any such hazardous undertaking.
Bat let as seams that he is prepared to moss the
Alps with 130,000 men, and that in the plains of
Turin he will be joined by 40,000 Sardinian troopa.
The allied army will then amount to 170,000 nes.
And the thing to be douse is to drive the 130,000
Austrian troops to the teat of Venice.
Now the Austrian provinces of Lombardy are
protected by a tripl- line of defences, every one of
which is of the moat formidable character. In the
first plies there is the line of the Ticino, which ex-
tends from the Lago Maggiore to Pavia, a strong
lbrtress. The distance occupied by this line is about
46 English miles. To convey an army of 170,000
across such a river as the Ticino is by no means an
easy enterprise: but to do so within a space of 45
miles, and in the face of a large army, commanded
by able generals, requires more skill than was dis-
played by any French officer before Sebastopol.
But even after the Ticino is passed, the fortress
of Milan, lying eastward within 20 miles of
that river, must bu captured. Such, then, is the (root
line of defence : a river difficult to cross, flanked by
a lake on the one side and a fortress on the other,
and supported in mor by another strong fortress.
The we, snd line of defence is that of the Minis,
some ninety English miles east of the line of the
Ticino. This line extends from the Lego di Garda,
or rather from the strong fortress of l'eschirra, for
twenty-eight miles southward across the plain of
Lombardy, past the impregnable fortress of Mantua,
to the Po. Even the great NAPOLZON could not
soled,* Mantas, strong in its earthworks, stronger
still in its dams and dykes, strongest of all is the
mortal malaria of its marshes. Pesehterahas recently
been raised to the utmost strength, and is amply
provisioned against reduction by blockade. Such is
the line of the Miucio.

The third line of defence is that of the river
Adige, which is defended by the great en-
trenched camp of Verona. This camp has been
constructed according to the most scientific prin-
ciples. It consists of a eerie, of round forts, so
placed as to command each other, but so numerous

that the whole of them can never be invested. The
consequence is that the Austrians, even if driven
back upon Veriaa, will not only have their retreat
secured—for Verona commands all the wade, north
and east, to the Dannbe and Vienna—but will be so
placed all to compel the enemy to fight them behind
their entrenchments. Every one now knows how
impossible it was to take Sebastopol so long as the
retreat across the harbour was secure, and the Rus-
sians WIT, able to fight behind entrenchments, and
to repair their losses. The lame difficulties will
harass the allied army in Italy, with this peen-
liarity, that there will be no means of cutting off the
Austrian retreat.

Such, then, are the three libel which must be
pasted by an army advancing upon the Austrians
from Novara and the plains of Turin. The ground
which must be traversed is not unknown. Nay, it
is the: very text-book from which every general of
these days has learnt the principles of war : it was
the military parade ground of Itsuirtsne—the field
where, in peace, he constantly manrruvred,and where,
in war he led his troops to victory. It was here that
General HE,. learnt and practised, under his great
master, that science of strategy in which he became
so proficient that in 1849, being entrusted to draw
up the plan of the short, feel campaign, he indicated
Novara as the probable spot en which the decisive
battle would be fought. It is easy for rhetoricians to
talk of sweeping the Austria" he out of Italy, but
no strategist will say that the pluming three lines of
defence such as have bete &merited is a simple matter.
It will need emuusomate skill aid devoted gallantry.
Nee is it probable that as Mader each as NIEL, now

at Turin, will be slow to enlighten his muter as to
the delicacies and the dangers of the attempt.
It may, perhaps, be suggested that the French
army might advance from Rome upon the Po, es as
to avoid the necessity of crossing the Ticino. But
Rome is three hundred miles to the south of the Po,
and the time sonsumed by a French army travers-
ing that distance would suffice to allow the Austrian
army to sesame the offensive. That army might
eras the Ticino in overwhelming numbers, crush the
Piedmontese army, and be ready on the banks of
the Po to receive the French from the south. Nor is
this all. The Po, it must be observed, covers the
left flank of each of the three hoes of defence which
have been described. In order to succeed, therefore,
in turning the Austrians by • flank movement,
the Po must be Grosse& This is a most difficult and
hazardous enterprise : nor should it be forgotten that
even the great NaroLnort never once succeeded in
crossing that river in the face of the enemy. He
was compelled to have recourse to stratagem.
Let it not be supposed that these remarks have
been made from any desire to damp the ardour of
Italian liberators or the aspirations of Italian
patriots. They are dictated by motives the very
reverie of these : the first secret of success is, not
to despise the enemy. If the great enterprise of
freeing Italy from the Austrians is to be accom-
plished, the enterprise must be undertaken with a
due sense of its difficulty. At all events, it is no ex-
travagant idea to suppose that its difficulties—mani-
fest as they must be to the French generals—may
have had something to do with whatever hesitation
say from time to time be apparent in the councils
of the French Florio&

We are requested to state that Mr. Gladstone has
accepted the Lord High Commissionership of the
lonian Wands, though his tenure of that office will
be of extremely short duration. He wee to open
the Session of the lonian Parliament on the 25th
instant. About the beginning of the second week in
February he will be recalled, and his successor ap-
pointed. so that although his temporary acceptance
of office vacates Mr. Gladstone's seat for the Uni-
venity of Oxford, hs will be re-eligible by the time
a fresh election can take place I while the primary
msesuree conaected with the better admin
et the Island. will be introduced with greater ad-
vantage by him than by any eneemser to ha adios.

We are authorised to state that Sir M. Saws,
late puisuk Judge of the Supreme Court at Bombay,
has been promoted to the Chief Justiceship of that
court; the vacant puiant judgeship has been offered
to, and accepted by, Mr. Joseph Arnould, of the
Hams Circuit. Mr. Arnould is well known is legal
and commercial circles as the author of a standard
work ea mercantile law, the " Treatise on Marine
Inetwasse and Average.*

bt Court.

-4.-...

WINDSOR. JAL 26.

The Duchess of Kent dined with her Mijesty
yesterday, attended by lady Few Hewed sad M
Victoria Wortls7. The Priam. Mies ate Maid with the
Qom. The petty tadatted the lenewiag visitors, who
method is the atirlioo4l —The Duke sad Dauber of Rkh-
maid sad Lady Cecilia Gordon Liam; sad Lori sod Lady
Colchester.

Major Elphinatana, R.E., had the honour of being ft
The band of th. Tod Las Gunk played during dinner
Is.daadnzirrust
Delmr.
Dias . .

Her liajesty's prlesei hod adketrerde performed In the
Draviag-reees the followlag pleas :
M
Redeag llorelk awl Leisagitii " Warn,
Ilinellos. 9111Nries la • lMMitu

TY Qom, with Aimee= Mks, woad awl drove Wm
mant (Y SU Bogor park.
The Prima Coral wet oat shooting.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at
the residence of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, la Downing-street. The Ministers present were :
—The Earl of Derby, the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, the
Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl
of Hardwick., Mr. Seenttary Walpole, the Earl of
Malme•bory, Sir E. Bawer Lytton, General Peel,
Lord Stanley, Sir John Pekin ton, the Right Hon.
J. W. Henley, and Lord John

A denlatiaa of Austrialea goattlassa bad is isterviaw
with OW E. Sabra 14ittaa yasbiallay, at liw Calsoisl-aias.

The &pandit= essZnel ei Mr. Y. H. Mardi, M.P., Sir
William IL Masa*, Sir Henry Watson Parker, lb.
Wentworth, Mr. Reeve, Mr. Griffiths, Mr. Glomla, Mr.
Challis, Mr. Plower, Mr. Lama, Mr. Debbi, Mr. Omega
P. Lads, Mr. P. Labs, Mr. Walter Led* Mr. Chalky,
Rae. W. P. Tree,lyea, Mr. Henry His. Dr.
SW* 14r.lehrisk Mr. How*, Mr. J. Walker, Mr. Wil-
liam Walter, Mr. Soak Darbia, Kr. O. A. Lipid, Mr.
Henry Hughes, red Mr. Hoary Stuart Rama. no
deputation was intrelmted by Lord Alfred Churchill, M.P.

Yesterday a Conseil Wu bald at the East India-
bees% mina Jona &amid Mardis, F.R.S., woo ap-
palled rarroiabig Pigskin to Qs Itoceotary of Mato for
IBMs la coma.

His Royal Meow the Doke of Cambridge, se
the goaerel ammeallerta-eldet, held a levee yesterday
_ _ _ . .

abonsta at t HstaGoardo, ;it wbkh than won kup
wisdom et Womb

His Kieslimey the Austrian Minister and the
Coniston d'Apprall till tam the Austrian Isgatke to-
day cm s viait to the Duke sod Durham of Mulborough at
Bleilla4llll Palace, sear Woodstock.

Tin Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury and
family atrived la Artington-stud, Pkcadllly, yeataday
_ _

tease liatflekl•bouse. Hato, for the seism

The Right Hon. the Speaker of the Hoare of
C 001060131,, accompanied by Lady Charlotte Denison, is ex-
pected to smile in town from hie seat in Nottinghamshire on
laceday next. The right hon. gentlemen le invited to dine
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer oa the 2nd proximo.

His Excelling the Minister for the Netherlands
has returned to town from Viscoent and Viscountess
Coentermare, at Co:Ambers Abbey,

The Marquis of Lansdowne is expected at Lans-
downe House, from Bowood, a• Witteastisy next, for the
parleossauu7 estate. _ _ _

The Dui and Coaster of Clarendon will arrive in
town early neat week, ham The Grove, new Walked, foe
the mem.

The Earl and Coaateoa of Digby will arrive in
town on Saar ley toe the seleos. The noble earl has taken
• me•elon is Beigrairequare.

_ .
Tho Earl and Countess of fladdingtou have ar-
rived at the Ewan Natal.

The Countess Ante Mani has arrived at the Bruno-
wick Hotel, aenaroetreet, bora the Continent.

The Earl of Carlisle is expected to arrive in town
early la the meek* week from Cmtle Howard, Ifeekeldm.

Viscount and Viscountess Comberneera will arrive
in tows on Monday from Coentermere Abbey for the opening
of Parliament.

Lord and Lady Foley and the lion. Adelaide Foley
an expected to leave Nice la the early part of next month on
their rotors to Englind.

Lord and Lady Fevershant bare arrived in town
from Dosoorebe Park for t►e mom

The Bishop of Chester left the Easton Hotel yes-
tares, for the Eptecops3 F.ls.s OwMar.

Sir George and lady Grey will return to town on
Mooday seat for the mite.

The Lord Lieutenant if Ireland will lay the
awedesioe Wow of the proposal Nodose! Oalimy for Ito-
laud, at triaster lawn, Dublin, on Saturday fort _

We understand that Mr. Pakingtee, sou of the
First Lori of the A4mlndly, will stead for Best Worcester-
Atlre ea the eoweereallve leterea.

The next examination for direct commissions is
the army by the cosscil of military Mambas maw the pre-
*Macy of Meier Oeseral Cannae. M■Jor•Oeamd Peals*
sad the other aerobes of the coeedl• takes place es the 7th
proutso sad four sacteulire day., at Burlington Hour,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE =GUSH GOVERNMENT AND THE
ITALIAN DIFFICULTY.

The Indipeadaroce Beige of yesterday evening
publishes a statement to the effect that the British
Cabinet has addressed the French, Austrian, and
other governments, with the object of reviving a
project proposed by Austria herself in 1848
to Lord Palmerston for satisfying the require-
ments of the Italians. This scheme establishes
the administrative separation of the Lombardo-
Venetian provinces from the other parts of the

monarchy, and in consideration of certain financial
conditions, wires them a quasi independence and
self government based upon constitutional prin-
ciples. The Itsdependance adds that Russia and
France are willing to accede to this proposal; but a
reply has not, as yet, been received from Vienna.