The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-05 00:00:00

PRINCE NAPOLEON'S ARMY.

(From a Special Correspondent of the Times)
HEAD-QUARTERS, P ARMA, JUNE 27.
Had I the pen of Xenophon or Count Segur I
could describe an expedition fully as slow and tedious,
though not actually so disastrous and tragic, as the
retreat of the Ten Thousand or the awful break up
of the great French Army of Russia from the Mos-
cowa to the Beresina. We have been travelling at
the rate of 10 short Italian miles 'a
-day. The Tus-
cans had lost much time, from their revolutionary
movement Of the--27th of April to the landing of
Prince Napoleon at Leghorn on the following
month. More time was lost by the Prince in tra-
velling from Leghorn to Florence, and tarrying I
know not how many days in that town, promena-
ding his fine divisions and brigades all along with
him. Fresh loss of time occurred in recalling the
detachments, both French and Tuscan, from the
Filligare and Abetone Passes, where they hadbeen
sent both by General Ulloa and the Prince himself
without any serious thought that they should cross

the Apennines at those points. Still-greater waste
of time was occasioned by the slow march from
Florence to Parma, which even by the circuitous
route the troops have followed might have been
got over in six days, but cost 11 or 12 days' march.
Both the French and the Tuscans cry out that their
etages at all times used to be at least double, and
they upbraid each other with being the cause of
the unconscionable delay. They are asking each
other in mockery whether it is the horses that are
afflicted with the gout, or the soldiers by corns.
They are not aware that the Oth Corps is under the
influence of deep political considerations; that its

chief had a civil as well as a military mission to
ee
fulfil. What that mission was the world may not
have been able to make out as yet ; but the world
must wait. That two months have been wasted in
Tuscany by the Tuscans, and one by their French
allies, is a fact. Explanations will be given' to
whom it is due. Meanwhile here, at last, they all
since
are, or are hourly expected,—the Prince the
27th, two divisions with him or after him, by the
Pass of La Cisa; the Tuscans from Pistoia, across
the Abet one Pass,o homma
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and
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ho
Now, what has the sth Corps been here as-
sembled for? It is said it will remain here or here-
abouts for three or four days; bat even those
will pass, and then it will have to proceed to the
theatre of war. Now, the theatre of war may be
safely laid on the right bank of the Mincio, as the
last victory at Solferino must to a certainty have
swept the Austrians off the open field, and shut
them up in their famous quadrangle ; on the other
hand, it is difficult to say whether or not the Allies
will be able to make further progress before the sth
Corps has had time to come up with them. The sth
Corps will have to cross the Po, and, as there is no
bridge on the Po nearer than Piacenza, the rumour
has spread that Prince Napoleon will lead his forces
thither, and hence to that part of the field which is
most immediately laid out for his own share of the
warlike operations. From Parma to Piacenza is a
distance of three or four days' march. As many
days again, or ten in all, will bring the Prince from
Piacenza by Codogno to Cremona, and hen by
Piadena and Bozzolo to the neighbourhood of
Mantua. From Cremona, again, there is a direct
and not long road to Brescia. It certainly seems
an awkward thing for the French troops, some of
whom, such as the Gth and Bth Regiments of Hus-
sars, were at Voghera and Casteggio, consequently
very near Piacenza, to have to ride almost from the
gates of that town all the way to Genoa, to sail
from Genoa to Leghorn, and hence ride again to
Florence, Pistoia, and Lucca, from Lucca to Sar-
zana, Pontremoli, and Parma, again to find them-
selves before those very gates of Piacenza,
which they could have entered a month ago. Their
murmurs are both loud and deep, I can tell you.
Men and officers both express their minds in no
measured terms. They grumble that they never
were meant to see the enemy ; that the Prince's life
is too precious in the eyes of the Emperor; that, in
order to screen the Commander-in-Chief from harm,
the corps under his orders is marshalled and pro-
menaded about out of the way of all mischief, and is
meant to come in at the close of the war, bringing
up, as the Italians have it, " it soccorso di Pisa ;"
that is, arriving on tke battlefield just one hour
after the fight is won.
I hardly think this would be justice to the Em-
peror Napoleon. He must surely know full well the
extent of the struggle in which he is engaged, and
must be too well prepared for all contingencies