The Express.
London, England, 1859-07-12 00:00:00

ITALY.

t
LOMBARDY.

SARDINIAN HEADQUARTERS, MONZAMBANO
(ON !KB MINCH,* JOLT 4.
If I have been clear enough in my description of
the battle of Solferino, which I sent you the day
before yesterday, you must ham seen that the posi-
tions the Austrians held during the action had the
effect of a gigantic " curtain," with the Monte della
Room u • bastion to protect it. The road from
Le Orole to Solferino, San Cassino, Cavriana, and
Volta, the main road from the last-named village to
Cerlongo and Giddies:do in the plain, form right
and left the approaches to the front of these formid-
able positions. About 20 yards from the Rocca of
Solferino, facing the Costa Meseta', where
the cemetery of the village is situated, a
labyrinth of narrow paths makes its way
between the steep gradients of the hills. This
labyrinth, which runs from the centre of
the village east and north in the direction
of Monte San Pietro and Mont Atto, leads to the many
farms, hamlets and fields which dot the country.
You must not forget that in these hilly jorovincesof
Upper Lombardy the land property le divided into
smaller portions than in the plain. Small farms,
fields of two or three acres, with tiny cottages gut-
tered here and there, form, generally speaking, the
territorial division of the 'Veronese and Bresciana
provinces. If you except four or five instances yea
would scarcely find a large landowner in this part of
Italy. Almost all the villagers have got their field,
from which, if the crops of corn, silk, and grapes are
good, they draw incomes of from 301. to 401. yearly,
on which the family live. All these farms and fields
are separated by stone walls of very little height,
bound together by roots of the deep green ivy. Now
mad then those walla end in a picturesque
shape), where some Saint or Madonna has been
appoiuted as protector or protectrix of the
neighbouring fields. It is a sort of shrine, some-
times elegant and cleanly kept, sometimes half de-
molished, according to the degree of devotion among
the people. They are, however, always strong
enough to offer shelter in a day of battle to fighting
parties of soldiers. As you may easily imagine, the
Austrians did not lore the opportunity of annoying
them ; so our troops were obliged to carry them all
at the point of the bayonet. Not speaking of Sol-
ferino, which, as I told you, was the most difficult
position that had been carried by the French, the
fields and hamlets above described were daring the
day the scene of the most deadly contests. I saw
several of them in the vicinity of Le Orole and
Birche which were literally covered with dead
bodies. I have counted more than 200 in a small
field not 400 yards in breadth by 300 in length.
They were heaped together without any clothes, for
they had been stripped naked by the peasants of
the neighbourhood collected there for the purpose
of digging the raves. Some of those peasants
had already exchanged their velvet giacchette for
French or Austrian uniforms. One ugly clown was
clad in an Austrian Lancer's green vest ; another
wore the picturesque Zouave jacket of the Imperial
Guard. Boys and children had put on the short
whir" tunic of some Bohemian soldiers. Clad in such
garments, they looked like to many madonne of Lo-
retto. I persuaded one of these boys to sell for a
few zwanzigers an elegant Hungarian dolmas,
which must have belonged to some orderly officer of
the Austrian staff. What I have said of the defiles
of Le Grote, Barche, Cavriana, and Sol-
ferino may be repeated of those of Tonticello
and San Martino, carried by our gallant Piedmontese
at such an enormou sacrifice of life. In this lad-
named place, which belongs to the Count Tracani,
of Brescia, as well as at the Ceres*, a splendid
country house of Signor Cominelli, of Salo, the
dead bodies were so numerous, that the town council
of Rivoltella was obliged to send about 200 working
men to dig the graves. Yesterday, on my way back
from Deseozeno, I had the curiosity to inspect once
more these two now famous positions, which are not
200 yards from the main road. On my arriving at
the Villa Trecani I was obliged to turn my horse and
gallop away as fast as I could, for the stench was
disgusting and the air was quite infected by it. In
spite, however, of this I could not help stopping
my horse for a few moments to witness one
of the most touching scenes a man could
see. A little to the left of the splendid gardens of
the villa two ladies in deep mourning were kneeling
at the foot of the hillock upon which the country
mansion is built. Their fame, although convulsed
by grief, revealed two of those Italian types of beauty
which delight the world for ever on the canvas of
Raffaelle and Leonardo. To disturb that pious sor-
row would have been a profanation. After a
few minutes' contemplation I left the place. I had
scarcely reached the main road again when I raw a
carriage, which I supposed belonged to the unhappy
ladies. An old servant was waiting on the road, and
I could easily see by the sad expression of his face
that he also was of the same mourning party.
" Who are those ladies ?" I asked him, " and what
are they mourning for ?" The old matt, bursting
into tears, told me that the two Countesses Longhi
had lost their only brother, who was a volunteer in
the first regiment of the Piedmontese Guard. The
Count had a large fortune, and had sacrificed his life
to the national cause. One might come here to see
how dreadful war is, and feel all the guiltiness of
the tyrant who provoked and justified it.
ILLY 6.
The heat is terrible, and our soldiers who are en-
camped in the open fields are almost suffocated. Last
night we hoped for a storm, but after a great deal of
lightning and thunder the clouds dispersed, and the
long-desired rain did not come to refresh the
earth. This morning, at neon, the thermometer indi-
cated 97 deg. in the shade. In spite of the heat, the
unitary condition of the allied armies is satisfactory
enough. The Piedmonteee division to which the
siege operations of Tetchier& has devolved is that
which suffers most, for the men are obliged to work
at the treoches day and night. This morning I
rode towards Ponti, to see the progress made by our
working parties, and found they were progressing
admirably, in spite of the continuous fire of the be-
sieged place. Since the sortie of two nights ago, the
garrison of Peachier& has not stirred, except in some
marauding excursions towards Verona. They were
not, however, successful ; and after a few boars' fight
they retired with loop. As the French have esta-
blished a regular service of balloons, which are
under the intelligent direction of the lemons aeronaut
Godard, the fortresses of Peschiem and Verona are
closely watched, so that we are able to know what
is going on within their walla.
The day before yesterday the balloon of Monsieur
Godard could be seen over Peechiers, much to the
amusement of our gay soldier.. At six o'clock the
serial nounenissance wu over, and the balloon hav-
ing been ureic descended in the vicinity of Castel
Nuevo, Godard and two offinre of the French staff,
who were his companions. hastened to report that
about 70 oxen had been collected by the Austriass
at the Logue of Peechiers. A party of Zouivee
was soon despatched in that direction, and a few
hours afterwards the captured herd made its appear.
ance in our camp. The e'en were tot kept, is the
owners went to the Emperor and told him that the
animals had been stolen the night before by a
marauding party of Rotates. Hue Majesty soon
ordered the herd to be restored to the proprietors,
who went back to the village blessing the name of
the generous monarch. N'icter Emmanuel did
the same thing at Monvamhano ; and se
sheep and oxen had been in this instance carried
away by the suggestion of the deputali of Menem-
bano, he had them dismissed at once. Toe newly-
appoinred councillors are all good patriots, so that
the people here lave applauded the royal decision.
Till our batteries hove opened their fire against the
walla of Tetchier& I shall have but little to report,
for the whole of the allied army is still occupied in
warlike preparations, which are scarcely worth no-
tice. Victor Emmanuel's head-quarters are still
bete, but the village of Monzambano being oo small,
what is called the foreign colony that follows the
operations of the army was obliged to remain at
PozzAengo. Prince Corsini, the Tuscan commis.
sioner, two Russians, and two Spanish officer', toge-
ther with the }Jou. Colonel George Cadorw, are of
this number. A few boors ago I met our gallant
commissioner on hie way to Valeggio ; and in spite
of the suffocating heat of the day, he was looking u
hrignt and gay se if jut going to a St. James's levee.