Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-06-06 00:00:00

.ch may

THE NORTHERN TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 6, 1859

frontiers against a threatened invasion by France
and Sardinia.

But what has done more, probably, than any thing
else to quicken the movements of the contending
forces, has been the extraordinary rapidity, and
Success, with which GARIBALDI advanced into the
very midst of the conflict. His corps, hastily
raised, and without either cavalry or artillery—
which they refused to furnish him with at Turin—
made their way with surprising expedition to Varese,
even by the somewhat circuitous route of Sesto
Calende, rather than by the more direct one of
Angera, which could only have been reached by
crossing the Lago Maggiore, which was guarded
by the enemy's steamers. At Varese, as we all know,
they sustained and repulsed an attack in the
streets; and subsequently, at Malnate, to
which place they had pressed on, they again
defeated the Austrians, and thus opened their
way to Como, of which they made themselves
master, after again repulsing the enemy at Camer-
lata, lately the terminus of the Milan railway.
In po4session of Como, and also of LecCo, at the
southern extremity of the lake, he had evidently in
his hands the key of the Valteline, and was already
within an easy march of Milan. In the Valteline
his near presence soon set the whole district in a
state of ferment. The standard of revolt was no
sooner raised, than hundreds flocked towards it.
Austrian officials and gendarmes were seized by the
people and expelled the country. The chief place of
agsembling of the revolutionary army was Sondrid;
whither the people of the country hastened in great

numbers, from all parts of the ne

zhbourhood. Frou

Como, GARIBALDI set out with a strong derkehment

for Laveno, a fortified town on the Lago

He commenced an immediate attack upon the town,
and maintained it during the whole night, but, was,

-which, was the

in the morning, obliged to withdraw—
first check he had received. Such a progress as this
could scarcely fail to exert a powerful influent
the allied sovereigns ; and it was soon perceptible it
their increased activiti,

It had *obviously been understood in Paris, for a
day or two, that the Emperor had determined to
bring the matter to the issue of a regular engage-
ment. Private despatches to Prince JEROME and
the Ministers, who were at St. Cloud, had prepared
them to expect it at any moment ; and they were
supplied with telegrams from the seat of war every
hour—a great many of which, it seems, were
" Rien de nouveau ;" others stated
" Notre gauche avance,,;" others " Notre droite
recule," and so forth. Of this they were well
assured, that the position of the Austrians was
seriously compromised. Insurrection had broken out
in Lombardy, GARIBALDI threatening Milan, and
VICTOR EMMANUEL bearing down upon them at the
head of his Piedmontese, while the French were
eagerly awaiting the signal for the onslaught,—and,
such a combination of adverse influences pressing, as
they knew, upon the enemy, could not but make the
allies agree to meet him in the field, and force him,
under all those disadvantages, to a pitched battle.

simply,

There is no doubt, we believe, that the allies were
more or less successful in most of the skirmishing
that took place last week ; and the best proof of it
is, that they kept forcing the enemy from his
positions. But the extent of their successes was, as
usual, vastly over-rated ; and the reverses of the
other side proportionately exaggerated. Even
escapes from utter defeat have been blazoned forth
as victories, and wherever they have engaged with
the Austrians, the Franco-Sardinian accounts have
invariably aug.nented the other's forces amazingly.
Such statements, for instance, as this are found to be
gross exaggerations,—" Twenty-five thousand Aus-
trians endeavoured to retake the position of Palestro
the King, commanding the fourth di
and General

.sion in person,
ldini, at the head of the 3rd Regi-

went of Zouaves, resisting the attack for a consider-

able time, and then, after having successfully assumed
the offensive, pursuing the enemy, taking 1,000 of
them prisoners, and capturing eight pieces of
cannon." In almost every account received through

Turin, there has been the greatest falsification of the
details of the several actions. The correspondence
from impartial observers on the spot, or near at hand,
which has come through other channels, has generally
given a very different version of every combat.
The affair of Montebello was enormously misrepre-
sented. Not but that it resulted in favour

of the allies ; but instead of the loss being altogether,
or even principally, on the side of the Austrians, it
now appears that it was quite as great, if not
greater, on the other side. One letter from the
spot says, " I saw six troops (three squadrons) of

the enemy's Lancers making an attack on a detach-
ment of the infantry regiment Hess,' which, in
the twinkling of an eye, had formed a square.
There was a violent shock, a confusion, and in a few
minutes several of the Lancers were prisoners, and
many killed or wounded. The Austrians captured
six officers of Z maves, several other French and
Sardinian officers, and a whole zug' (half a troop)
of Lancers. As many of the Lancers were killed
several horses were tak

i. The spirit and discipline
)f the Austrian troops, qre •admirablei and the
French will probably now acknowledge that they

know hoW to use the biyonet:" This is a v

from ar

that came

tlirouzh Fra-ri

almost all the French and Sardinian accounts of the

fighting, so fa

It is quite possible, however, notwithstanding
these discrepancies, to form a pretty good idea of
the progress of the war ;, and certainly,.as far as it

has gone, Austria has had the worst of it. Now
that they are coming to closer quarters, it will soon
be seen if she is able to turn the tide. If not, she
vid.ent, have to, say farewell to, her

than were the people of New York when the cable
was stretched its full length across, from one distant
quarter of tiie globe to the other, and they were so
enchanted with the notion that they had done it all
Verily, the flattering unction had exercised a potent
spell upon them. Never before had old Manhattan
rung with such loud and enthusiastic .ro Pceans.
Rarely, indeed, have sober citizens been so drunk
with joy.

" As with new wine intoxicated,
They swam in mirth, and fancied that they felt
Divinity within them breeding wings,
Wherewith to scorn the earth."
Yet how soon it all evaporated! How soon the very
fumes of their revelry were dispersed ! " Breeding
wings," forsooth ! Yes—wings, perhaps, were bred ;
but only to fly away with all remembrance of the
luckless cable, and of the maddening influence which
the temporary success of it had exerted over them.
For not a finger have they stirred since to get it
rectified. And even here, we repeat —here where,
although we did not begin to halloo so loudly as we
probably should have done, had we been quite sure
that we were really "out of the wood "—even in
England, the thing has at least seemed to be almost
forgotten ; although it would now appear that the
Company, or rather its Directors, have not been
altogether idle. Still, nothing has yet been done to
the unfortunate cable. There it continues to lie, in
the " dark, unfathomed caves of ocean,"—au ocean of
so great expanse, as to make the very spanning of it
by an unbroken cord. really one of the wonders of
the world,—to say nothing of what it would be, were
its great purpose effected. What may be its actual con-
dition by this time, throughout the enormous length
of its course, in deep submergence, it is difficult to
What the fishes of the sea —what " that levia-
'—may have

.e to take his pastime therein