Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

FRANC'

PARIS, Thursday Evening. —The scanty and unsatisfactory
account of the battle of Solferino given.. in yesterday's
Wifoniteur, is the only one, except the still more meagre
telegrams, which the public is favoured with as yet. The
War-office acts as if it thought it was no concern of the
tonblic; and perhaps deems it very strange of them to show
any curiosity or anxiety as to the fate of their relatives and
friends to whose valour Victor Emmanuel will owe his large
of territory. It is certain that :much irritation
silence of the official journal. It is ru-
on authority, that General Dieu has died of
d that General Ladmirault lies in a very

story, is told" of

brotheis

"who was' in the army, on

Major,

ad the third as I

killed at Montebello; the third at Ma;

at Solferino. The circular addr

sed by M. Caiour to tt

Sardinian Ministers at foreign Courts

information than we had last January-of the projects-which
were then matured of wresting Lombardy from Austria.
The Papal" States will be left as the last to be devoured,by
the Piedmontese Cyclops, for they are a difficult morsel.
There are, In point of-fact, , two Popes now ruling at Rome
—Generat•Goyon and Pie Nono. To a person who
happened to say not ling ago to' one highly placed in the
Pontifical service, "Now, at least the Popeis a free agent;
it was answered, " No ; the real Pope is the French General.
A Sovereign cannot be said to be a free agent if he cannot
escape." ' A letter has been received in Paris from a non-
commissioned officer of a regiment of light cavalry who was
present at 'the battle of Solferino. He says that his
regiment was one that suffered least, and • still there were
two chefs d'escadron (majors) killed. He adds that there
are some of the French infantry regiments abbne's, meaning
that their were nearly eta to pieces. As for the Piedmontese
army, 11; says it suffered so severely, that it is incapable of
forming 'a line of battle. In a few days will appear a new
-work, to which the great question of the day (now discussed
by rifled cannon and armes du precision on the plains
of Lombardy, and soon by ships-of-war and gun-boats in the
AdriatiC and the laguaes of Venice) will give more than
ordinary interest. It is -entitled
.La Grande Italienne, or,
Mathilde de Toscani, and is from- the pen of M. Amedee
Renee, 'the principal editor of the Constitutionnel, and
already known by his work „Les Nie'ees de Iffazarin. The
subject,, as well as title, was suggested by -the Emperor
Napoleon, who perused the manuscript shortly before his
departure for the army of Italy. The Princess,Mathilde
(th'. Emperor's cousin) contributes to the adornment of the
volume the portrait of her celebrated namesake, copied from
an ancient miniature in her possession. The life of the
Countess Mathilde, about which little is generally known,
forms one of the most interesting episodes in the great
struggle between Hildebrand (Gregory VII.) and 71 e ry
IV. of Germany, on the right of investiture. At this
period the Sovereign not only granted territorial property
to ecclesiastics, but -also exercised the right of investing

them with the ecclesiastical functions 'of their office.
Hildebrand applied Ms whole energy to wresting from the
secular power that privilege, and-endowing the ecclesiasti-
cal authority with investiture .as well as canonical insti-.
tution. In this great struggle 'between Rome and the:
Empire the pope was greatly assisted by three Princesses,
all of them of the Imperial family,—namely, the' Empress
Agnes, the mother of Henry ; the Duchess Beatiii, - his

aunt ; ,and, more especially by the Countess Mathilde, his
cousin-german. Mathilde, who had separatdd from her
two husbands—Godfrey, the hunchback, and Quell V.,
Duke of,.Bavaria devoted herself with the most extraor-
dinary zeal to the Pope, whom .she received, when hard
pressed, in her . fortress of Cavessa, near Reggio, for
Mathilde was then Sovereign ornscanv, 13 also a part of
Lombardy. It was at her castle that Jim ry IV. came to
make his submission, and where he underwent for Three -days
the moat humiliating penance.. On the _fourth only would
_ _

t*regory, at the pressing instance of Mathilde, consent to
receive him; on condition of his laying , aside all his state,
and even his garments, except the tunic of a-pilgrim. This
devoted woman carried on war for years against the
Emperors, lost and recovered 'several of her fortresses on the
Po, and left the whole of her domains to the Pope, to the
detriment of her second husband, whom she had long.quitted.
The Jesuit Mainbourg (Decadence de i'Empire) gives the
following account of the extraordinary influence Gregory
possessed over the mind of this fair enthusiast :--

" Mathilde, being then alone, and absolute mistress of
her States, as the Duchess -Ifelfrlx, her mother, died
shortly after the death of GParey, she attached herself
more- strongly than before to following the counsels
of Gt.egory, who became complete master of her mind,
her 'conduct, and her property. In fact, according
to the custom of these good devotees, who think that all
would be lost for them if their directory was not near them,
and to whom they are sometimesa little too lunch attached,
she did all she could not to lose sight of him. She followed
him assiduously everywhere, she rendered him a thousand
cares and a thousand services with incredible affection.
She acted but by his orders, which she executed with
marvellous exactness ; and, though she was the greatest
Princess of Italy, she preferred to that quality the humble
one of servant and dear daughter, regarding him and
treating him as her father.. and 'her master, with great
respect—in truth, with zeal and devotion, but also, perhaps,
with a little less of prudence and discretion than she ought,
if we may,dare to say so without in anywise diminishing
the honour which ought to be paid to the memory of so
illustrious a Princess."
31.athilda died in 1115, having survived Gregory 30 years.