The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-09 00:00:00

THE ALLIED CAMP.

We (Times) have been favoured with the follow
ing letter :

NOVARA, JUNE 3, 11 A.Ar.'
Yesterday in the afternoon the French Division
Camou passed the Ticino without finding atrace of
the Austrians, and yesterday forenoon the Sardi•
minus entered Robbio, on the road to Mortara,
without firing a shot or seeing the Austrians. The
day before yesterday a reconnaissance was pushed
from Vinzaglio towards Confienza by a couple of
Piedmontese battalions, and from the information
gathered'there it was :supposed that the Austrians
were holding Robbio in 'strength, On this,-in order
to come up in line with the rest of the army, which
that day occupied Novara, it was determined to
drive the Austrians out of Robbio.. Two columns
departed in consequence, one from Palegtro, and
the other from Vinzaglio, to co-operate in the tak-
ing of Robbio, where the roads coming from both
places unite. His Majesty the King was, as usual,
with his troops, which had scarcely advanced half
the distance to the place of their destination, when
they met the chiefs of the township of Robbio, who
came to bring the news that the Austrians had
evacuated the place the night before.
" The Austrian plan of operationsovhich puzzled
a great many heads from the beginning, becomes
thus, as you see, every day more an enigma. We
have as yet no news whether the columns which
was to-day to advance in the direction of Mortara
has reached that place, nor, if so, what it has found
there ; but it is scarcely conceivable that the Aus-
trians can have an intention of accepting battle
at Mortara, as they abandoned Robbio, which be

longs to the position. Possibly they may have
confined themselves to the line of the Apo-Tin, river,
which runs about two miles in front of 'sMortara.
But even then, unless they have thrown up colossal
works, or have come to an unknown means of pre-
venting their being turned on their left from
Novara, it is difficult to see how they can hold this
position. The general impression, therefore, is that
Mortara will be found abandoned just the same as
Novara.

" There must have been something which they
heard the day before yesterday, and which induced
them to retreat on the whole line precipitately, for
it is to that date that oue can trace a change of plan.
As they have thrown up earthworks on their whole
line of operations from the Sesia towards Pavia,
not only on the high road. but even on the large
communal roads, especially at the passages of the
numerous little channels of irrigation with which the
country abounds, they cannot have had the intention
of abandoning the line without firing a shot. Their
resistance at Palestro and Vinzaglio, and their
attack of the former the next day, showed, on the
contrary, that they were ready to dispute the
ground foot by foot with the Allies, and now all at
once they seem vanishing into the earth before
them.

"The whole progress of the latter, with the excep-
tion of the two days at Palestro, has been a mere
promenade nzilitaire, strewed with flowers, for where-
ever they pass, not only in towns, but likewise in
villages, the women throw flowers from the win-
dows, and distribute them on the roadside. There
was not even an occasion for. a skirmish, for every-
where the Austrians had an advance of some hours,
and, strange, in the history of warfare, the soldiers
had only one sorrow—namely, that they could not
come up with the Austrians. The warlike spirit
both of the French and Piedmontcse armies is
thorougly raised; all they wish for is a fight. It is
quite amusing to hear the complaints on this score.
" The real solution of the enigmb, will probably
be found to be that the Austrians have been stra-
tegically outwitted by, their adversaries, and while
they concentrated their forces to dispute the pas-
sage of the Po, they found themselves all at once
attacked on another side, and they could not bring
up their forces in tim eto accept battle on the ground
which they had prepared in advance. At any rate,
it is known that large forces were concentrated up
to the I[l4 two days at Stradella, on the road to
Piacenza. They had all the advantages of a central
position, with the allies, who had tO'bring up their
forces and materiel, placed in a semicircle before
them ; they had most of the important passages
both on the Sesia and on the Po in their hands ;
they had, therefore, strategically the superiority ;
yet less than a week, with only two little engage-
ments, was sufficient not only to re-establish the
equilibrium, but to change the respective positions
altogether. Of course it is within the range of
possibility that a battle should change to-morrow
this state of things ; but one cannot help in the
meantime admiring the genius which conceived and
the energy which executed this grand plan, by
which the Austrians were forced to retreat beyond
the Ticino without a battle. Only when the details
of the movement are known will it be pos-
sible to appreciate it in all its grandeur. The way
in which the masses of troops were thrown from
one point to another was really astonishing, and
one must always keep in mind that there are no
requisitions of any kind, that everything has to be
provided berorehand, and then, likewise, that this is
a country where one must keep, to the great roads
in the movement of armies.

" I need not say what confidence this steady ad-
vance causes in the chiefs; the soldiers feel that it
is a powerful hand and a clear head which direct
them, and the whole is done with that air of mys-
tery which is so imposing. No one except the Emperor
himself knows what will be done the next moment.
The order comes suddenly and unexpectedly ; not
even those around him know anythinc, beforelnind,
and everything is done far more quickly than it ever
has been done with other armies, owing to telegraphs
and railways. The clumsy system of field tele-
graphs compared with the electric wire, with which
the country is covered as the Austrians quit it, is
like the vettura of this country to the famous mail
coaches which existed once in England. There is no
danger of difficulties of ground, fogs, and other
conveniences ; the furthest corps can receive a
message in a minute, and execute the order imme-
i “ te
But t is the railway which has done wonders in
dia.
this war', and has not only equalled but surpassed
the expectations formed of its assistance ; and it
must be remembered that the system in Piedmont
is not so extensive as it is in other countries ; many
of the branches ldiael,aey.sonalynda
central station in Alessandria
which occasions a
wherenges.
a- single line of rails,
lines converge from
.all points of the tehToemilepbarg:rsn,ecaihst
scarcely equal in extent to a third or fourth rate
English station ; and yet with these imperfect
means the assistance which is rendered can scarcely
be calculated ; indeed, without it the whole warfare,
such as it was, would have been impossible.
" The whole seems almost magic, You arrive at a
town in the eveninm, and find it full of troops, every
one running about''to find room for himself and his
cattle. You have to put up with a mattress in a
corner ; if you want to eat you have to serve your-
self ; you have to run for a spoon if you want it,
or for a glass or plate; and when you awake next
morning you find yourself the sole occupier of your
room, of your hotel, and the town has assumed the
listless, dead appearance of provincial towns all
over the world.
Novara has been for the last two days one of the
great centres, and its narrow streets and respectable
looking houses, usually so silent, are now animated
by a cro,wd which, mostly attired in uniforms, re-
lieves the monotony of the buildings. The place is
a great resort for the provincial nobility, who in
the district of Novara are unusually numerous, and
its sober, rather morose aspect is quite changed for
the better. A day, or perhaps a few hours, and it
will relapse again into its morgue.
"If it is dangerous to conjecture, it is allowed to
hope, so I hope to write to you next from the left
bank of the Ticino."

THE ENTRY INTO MILAN.
It wa's expected that the King of Sardinia,
accompanied by the Emperor, would make his
triumphal entry into Milan, but another account
says that the entry is postponed. The Austrians
amounted, it is affirmed, to 150,000, and the French
to about as many, at Magenta. The Emperor, it
appears, was in the midst of the Imperial Guard
during the stand they made for two hours against
the Austrians, who, it appears, were aware of the
fact. The French artillerymen behaved with great