Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-18 00:00:00

STATE OF PIEDMONT

TURIN, May 14.—The Sardinian Minister at Flo-
rence, Signor Boncompagni, addressed the following
communication to the Provisional Government of
Tuscany, under date of Florence, May 10 :
Illustrious Sirs,—By my letter of the 3rA inst., I reserved
to myself to concert with you respecting the assumption of
the functions of Commissioner Extraordinary of King Victor
Emmanuel during the war. All the preliminary acts being
now completed that were necessary to place me in a position
to assume the exercise of that office, I propose to you that
the effective transmission of powers shall take place to-
morrow, at 10 a.m., in the Palazzo Vecchio. Before closing
this letter, I cannot do less than congratulate you on all
that you have done for the benefit of Tuscany while holding
the provisional government, and at the same time' express
to you my gratitude for your benevolence and courtesy
towards myself.—l have the honour, &c.,

C. 130NCOMPAGNI

In consequence of this letter, the result of a pre-
vious correspondence between the Provisional
Government and Signor Boncompagui, in which the
former urged the latter to relieve ;hem, as King
Victor Emmanuel's representative, of the charge of
government, the following decree has been published
in the Monitore Toseano

The Provisional government of Tuscany, wishing to carry
out the declarations expressed in the proclamation of the
27th of last April, decrees The Provisional Government
of Tuscany transmits all its powers into the hands of Com-
mendatore Carlo Boncompagni,_ already nominated by his
Majesty the King of Sardinia Commlssioner Extraordinary
for the Government of Tuscany during the war. —Done at
Florence, May 11, 1859

CAV. UIIALDINO PERUZZI

Avo. VINCENZO MALENCHINI.
MAGG. ALESSANDRO DANZINI.

PROBABLE DURATION OF THE STRUGGLE

BIDDING FOR POPULARITY BY THE EMPEROR

OPINIONS ON THE BRITISH ARMY BY A

FRENCH OFFICER,

I very recently had a long and interesting conver-
sation with a highly-intelligent and unprejudiced

French officer, certainly a most favourable specimen

of the body to which he Mon.'s, and who, in the
confidence of a tete-d-tete, gave his opinion with great
frankness on various subjects of interest at the pre-

sent moment

He declared his conviction that the war would be limited
to the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy, and said, as
his reason for this belief, that the French nation Would not
stand a long war. The idea of the present contest, he
added, had been highly unpopular in France until Austria

sent her ultimatum to -Sardinia. But for that false step, he
believed the French Emperor would not have ventured to
make war, knowing how averse from it was the people he
ruled. The ultimatuni, however, had changed the feelings

,
of,many in that respect. lt had been looked upon as a sort
of defiance, if not au insult, to Napoleon ; and the people,
who had placed him in his high position, resented the
affront to the work of their hands. The Emperor,

moreover, owed something to the army, which had
ever shown itself faithful to him. He owed them the

;iidie;7s- dearbst reward—action, namely, and an oppor-
tunity of distinction and promotion .This would be afforded
by a six months' campaign against Austria, which my inter-
locutor, although no Gaston, evidently thought would
suffice to accomplish the work in hand, and achieve the
independence of Italy. Another of the Emperor's stimu-
lants to war was, he believed, a desire of military renown,
as a means of consolidating his throne and his dynasty.
He has already, said my military acquaintance,

shown himself a' most able politician and statesman—
let him prove himself also a great commander, and his
position is secure in France. If, on the other hand, he
should fail, if disasters instead of triumphs await him,
ma foi, said the speaker, with a significant shrug, it will be
very unfortunate for him. While discussing the Emperor's
character and qualities, his skill in availing himself of every
advantage and means of popularity camp upon the tapis,
and in proof of it the following circumstances were adduced.
After the reserve of the army was recently called out in
France, it was discovered that the whole of it was not
required, and accordingly a large number of soldiers,
married men, and men who had only three or four months
to serve, were allowed to return to their homes, In the
army, or at least by those military men who are in. the
habit of looking a little further than the point of their
sword, this was appreciated as a most judicions move. The
Government knew perfectly well beforehand what men
would be required and might have at once signified
the exemptions afterwards made. Bat the Emperor
preferred having all called out, and then, when
there was lamentation in the land, he suddenly restored
those who could least be spared. "In the town (a large
provincial city) where I am iu garrison," said the officer,
about 300 men thus came back to families and friends who
had bid them farewell with heavy doubts whether they
should ever see them again. You should have seen the joy
and heard the blessings on the Emperor, and yon would
have judged, as I do, that by that single move, seemingly
unimportant, and which would pass unnoticed elsewhere
than on the spot, he won no despicable amount of popularity."
I had been told at Genoa, a very few days before, that an
idea prevailed among the. French .that the war with Austria
was but a prelude to one with England, but the officer whose
ideas I have quoted was evidently not of that opinion. He
thought that if England would leave the Emperor alone, and
allow him to fulfil his self-allotted task of ridding Italy
of the Austrians he would then be extremely glad
to revert to a state of peace, and, indeed, that it would be
perilous to himself to attempt a war of conquest and aggran-
disement, for which. France has now no taste or desire. My
acquaintance has seen a good deal of service, and had been
through the whole Crimean campaign, not without wounds
and honours, and he expressed himself frankly, hut very
fairly, about the English army, stigmatising as "ignoble"
the mal-administration at the commencement of the war,
blaming the plan of giving the soldiere money in a place
where nothing but drink was procurable for it, instead of
taking means to supply them with nourishing food, and
seeing that they ate it, and did not make away with it, ar-b
tering it for spirits, as he said he had often known them to do
in the Crimea. While thus criticising the faults of our system,
he did full justice to the merits of our soldiers, and he made
one remark which, although it has nothing to do with
the circumstances of the present time, struck me so
much as to induce me to repeat it here. " The English
troops," he said, " are incomparable for tenacity of resist-
. ance. I was convinced of that at Inkermann, when the
enemy were literally among their tents, and when they de-
fended themselves to the death, some of them with no better
weapons than picks and shovels. Our men would not have
done what the English did there. They would have given
way. But, if you have that great military virtue, you have
also one grievous military detect, which costs you many men
and some reverses. You are too slow in attack. You march
up at a steady pace and in perfect order, while the enemy
thins your ranks. You give them time to reload, which it
is our principle never to do. I believe that to have been
the cause of your repulse at the Redan, but, whether it was
so or not, that defect in your system of attack is one which
we French are all agreed about, and which you cannot too
soon amend."
These remarks, proceeding from an experienced
French officer, who had learnt to respect our army
while fighting by its side, appear to me well worthy
of attention. The main and guiding principles of
French officers appear to be to render the men under
their orders intelligent, self-reliant, and individually
able to help themselves under all emergencies, and
to obtain rapidity of movement in masses. And it
is the constant attention paid to these objects that
renders the French soldier so excellent a campaigner,
and so formidable an opponent
AUSTRIA.

VIENNA,' May 14.—At eleven o'clock yesterday
morning Count Buol ceased to be Minister of Foreign
Affairs, but it is not yet known whether he tendered
his resignation, or whether he was requested by the
i Emperor to • retire from office. It is not likely
that the deposition of the Austrian Minister
I will produce any great sensation in England, but
it is an event of the very highest importance.
The assistance which .62iistria claimed from England
was, that she shoubl_ declare to the French Govern-
ment, %1i Atl:.:iatic must be considered a strictly

neutral sea. As Lord Mahnesbury declined tll2l do
th's the enemies of Count Buoy made a violent attack
on him, and, succeeded in persuading the Court that
as nothing was to be expected, or even hoped, from
England, it would be wise to make peace with
Russia. In the moment that Count Buol left office
the first step towards a reconciliation was taken, and
it is probable that a good understanding will soon
be established between the Austrian and Russian
empires. Austria will, as a matter of_ course, be
obliged to make many coneessions, but the chances
are that they will be at the expense of Turkey,
rather than her own. If things should progress
favourably between the St. Petersburgh and Vienna
governments, we shall soon see the Kreuz Zeituny
party in power again in Prussia, and; when that is
the case, the re-establishment of the Holy Alliance
may reasonably be expected. A change like that
above indicated will not be to the taste of the
English Liberals, but they will do well to remember
that they, by their tirades against Austria and her
rule in Italy, so cowed the Tory Government, that
it could not venture to offer open opposition to the
policy of the Emperor of the French, which is as
fraught with danger for England and Germany as it
is for Austria. Much will doubtless be said and
written about the dastardly conduct of Austria,
but she has been forced by the other Powers
to bow down before Russia. The position of
Austria is one of extreme difficulty. In Italy
she has to make head against France, Sardinia, and
the National party; in Dalmatia and in the Vojvo-
dina she must be prepared to ward off the attacks
of the Turkish Rayahs, Servians, and Roumans ;
and she now has to place a large army in her north-
eastern and northern frontiers, in order to keep
Russia at bay. While Austria is in this terrible
dilemma, England announces that she intends to
maintain an armed neutrality, and Prussia tells
Germany, that the moment for action has not yet
arrived. Under such circumstances is it to be
wondered at that Count Bac)l has been sacrificed in
order to propitiate Prince Gortschakoff, who has
repeatedly declared that a reconciliation between
Russia and Austria is impossible, "as long as the man
who congratulated Louis Napoleon on the taking of
Sebastopol, is one of the official advisers of His
Majesty the Emperor Francis Joseph ? " Count
Buol-Sehauenstein has ceased to be a man of in-
fluence in Austria, but he will still enjoy the respect
and esteem of all parties, for he is a strictly
honourable man. He is said to be haughty
and passionate, but some of his bitterest ene-
mies have declared that "he is every inch a
gentleman." Count von Rechberg, the Presi-
dent of the German Diet has been summoned
from Frankfort, and it is believed that he will
he placed at the head of the Foreign Office.
The Russians would certainly prefer Count Fritz
Thun, who is one of their ardent partisans, and he
would probably be more agreeable to the Prussians
than Count Rechberg, who was Imperial Comm is-
sary at the time that the recontre took place
between the Austrian and Prussian troops at Bron-
zell in 1850. Prince. Windischgratz is generally
believed to have had something to do with the
removal of Count Buol from office.