Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-19 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIAUES, THURSDAY, MAY 19 1559

No change of jwportance has taken place in the
disposition of tile* Aiistrian troops. We hear that the
allies occupied Tortona a few days ago, but the mass
of their army is in position near. San Salvadore, be-
tween Casale and Alessandria. Even when the hostile
armies do -meet, • I cannot agree with those who
expect a great and decisive battle to be fought.
The nature of the country is unsuited for such a
battle, being highly advantageous to that party
which acts on the defensive, because rendering the
approach of overwhelming numbers of the enemy on
any one point exceedingly difficult. I must con-
clude this letter, but cannot do so without
first acknowledging the extremely hospitable
reception have met with here. Nothing can
exceed the kindness shown me by all I meet,
from the Commander-in-Chief downwards. You
must not flatter yourself that this is in the slightest
degree due to my being your correspondent. They
would act in the same hospitable manner to
any, stranger bringing a few letters of introduction

FRANCE.

PARIS, Tuesday.—lt is said the French govern-
ment have received information that four Russian
corps d'artnee have moved towards the Austrian
frontier. The Moniteur of to-day gives proclama-
tion, or rather order of the day, from Prince Napoleon
to the sth. corps d'armee. The corps separe, then,
which his Imperial Highness is to command, is not
a myth, as was generally supposed ; it has, or is to
have, a bodily existence. Nothing is said of its
destination, though' Leghorn is spoken of, and the

object of the revolutionising .Tuscany, for the Tus-
cans labour, under the suspicion of being attached
to their Grand Duke, a malady of which they must
be cured. This, however, is one of the rumours of
the day ; I allude to it because it gives the lie to
the conjecture that the "corps separe" meant a corpg
detached on a special mission from the theatre of the
war. The order of the day bears the same forced
resemblance to the orders of the day of the grande
armee which his Imperial Highness' portrait does
to that of his gitat uncle, Napoleon I. One passage
would imply that the liberation of Italy is not the
sole motive for the war which' begins with the
overthrow of Piedmontese liberties by the hand of

M. Cavour, but also to take vengeance on the
Austrians. " The country,"- says the Imperial
General, " which was the cradle of ancient civilisa-
tion, and the modern renaissance, -is about to owe
to you its liberty ; you are about to deliver it for
ever from its masters—from those eternal enemies
of France whose name is blended in one with the
memory of all our struggles and all our victories."
The style in which the Austrian is spoken of in
the foregoing is different from the admiring and

' affectionate terms in which. the Emperor Napoleon
has alluded to Francis Joseph. Not so very long
ago the " gallant . and chivalrous Sovereign of
Austria," &c., was praised in the Moniteur, and pro-
bably in the same page and the same column which
now contains the fierce denunciations of Prince
Napoleon. The appearance of the proclamation this
day, the anniversary of the passage by the first Consul
`Of the Great St. Bernard, is, perhaps, not without
meaning. The regiments appointed to join the army
leave on marching, their tunic and shako at the depot,
and make the campaign with a loose greatcoat and
kepi, or forage cap. This dress, less showy than
the full-dress uniform, is much more convenient in
marching. It was tried in Africa with great success.
It relieves a man considerably, who in campaign
has such a considerable weight of ammunition and
provisions to carry. The soldier finds himself more
at his ease in this loose dress than in a close-buttoned
frock coat and heavy shako. It is remarked that
the troops of the line, who at present perform the
duty of sentinels in Paris, mount guard in heavy
marching order. The object of this regulation,
which is enforced in time of war, is to accustom the
soldiers to carry their arms and baggage. A detach-
ment of 450 men of the 18th Regiment of Infantry,
arrived yesterday in Paris, coming from Arras.
They were immediately incorporated with the war
battalions of that regiment quartered at the new
barracks behind the Hotel de Ville.
It is'announced that the Minister of Marine has
.addressed instructions to Admiral Rigault de
Genouilly requiring him to return to France. with
his entire fleet.

M. Aurilhan, an engineer of the Corps des Ponts et
Chaussees, attached to. the Paris and Lyons Railway
Company, has been sent for by a telegram from
Alessandria. He sailed from Marseilles for Genoa
on Sunday, accompanied by 60 operative carpenters,
in the war steamer Arriege.

- 'the former order, of • things: in that Grand
Austria has' already a great man' irons in thefire;
and the chances are that she-will Soon be obliged to
Withdraw one or more of them. • It must be .well
Understood that the reserve army, which is now
being formed in Istria, Ric., will be composed of men
Who have been eight years in the regular army.
After having served eight years, an Austrian
soldier enters the reserve corps for two years, but
he is not liable to be called on to. render military
service unless the country is at war. Thu:Austrian
'"
reserves " probably consist of some 150,000
men. Such numbers of
.volunteers have . presented
themselves, that the municipalities in several of the
provincial capitals have been obliged to declare that
they cannot undertake to clothe and equip any
more men. The Men now raised in this city join
the regular army; and will, as a matter of course, be
paid by government. Two or three days ago several
of the gamekeepers of the Princes Liechtenstein and
Schwarzenberg, went to the military authorities
and offered their, services to the State, but :they
expressed a wish not to be put into the volun-
teer corps These last will doubtless behave well.
in the. field, but ,they played strange tricks while
here. On Friday morning the 3rd battalion was
completed, and at noon one. of its companies was
parading the principal streets of the city, with false
beards, and lamp-shades instead of head-pieces. ' At
the head of the procession marched half-a-dozen
sturdy fellows, blowing clarionets with might and
main, and in its rear was 'a tremendous crowd, com-
posed of persons of both sexes, and of all classes of
society. The following story will enable your
readers to form a correct idea of the capabilities of
a gamin de Vienne. A Lieutenant-Colonel, who is,
to command the 2d battalion of volunteers, was in-
formed, by his servant that a man -and a woman'
wanted to see him. An order having been
given to let them enter, the servant introduced
into the room a young fellow with a cap,
in which was the recruit's nosegay, on his head,
and ,a pipe in his mouth. The hopeful youth,
who held a stockingless wench by the hand, had
got as far in his address as " This young lady
wishes •to join," when he was interrupted by a
double movement on the part of the officer, who is a
a man of high rank and standing, With the one
hand the commander knocked the volunteer's cap
off his head, and with the other the pipe ont of his
mouth, and then told him to quit • the room if he
did not wish to be punished for • disrespect. When
the 2d battalion was about to leave for Leoben the
MCP insisted that the women, who had been engaged
as sutlers, nurses, &c., should be allowed to travel
in the same carriages with them, but the officers
strongly objected to the proposed arrangement.
At last it was settled that the women should
sit together in one carriage, which was the last
,in the train. The doors having been locked,
and the usual screech given by the engine, the train,
began to move, but without the last carriage, which-
had been unhooked at the last moment by one of the
persons appointed to superintend. the- departure of
the volunteers. "The women were Very indignant at
being left behind, but the men proceeded on their
journey in happy ignorance of their seperation from
their lady loves. .
By an autograPh letter of the 13th instant the.
Emperor empowers the Archduke Reignier, the -
President of the Council of the Empire, to sign
certain things, which will be more nearly defined,
in his stead. Count Rechberg arrived here frOm
Frankfort last night.

ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

The Independence Beige says :

We have now some new and more precise information
than before in connection with the refusal of the English
Government .to guarantee the safety of German vessels, in
the event of a rupture between the German Confederation
on the one hand, and France and Sardinia on the other.
It is now a little more than a month ago since the British
Government stated to Germany the policy it intended to
adopt. The communication which the English Minister at
Frankfort made, on behalf of his government, to the President
of the Diet, was to the effect that England would not interfere
in the war as long as it was confined to the Lombardo-Venetian
provinces, and that even if other States thought fit to inter-
vene, England would not be in a position to guarantee the
Federal ports from any blockade which France might
establish over them. A copy of this document will, no
doubt, have been sent to the French Government.

The Queen's Cabinet still continues at Paris its negoeia-
tions for the neutralisation of the Adriatic, but its demands
have been moderated, and are not, at any rate, in a 6ondition
td be discussed by the French government. It no longer

endeavours to obtain from France an 'aFreement that the
naval forces of that country in the Adriatic shall remain
altogether inactive, but only that the Eastern Coast, from

Cattaro to Trieste, May remain neutral, the part, that is to
say, not comprised within the German Federal territory.
gngland, as an argument in favour- of this course, lays
great stress upon the danger of insurrection in the neigh-
bouring Turkish provinces.