The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-25 00:00:00

operate on the coast of the Adriatic. I have no
time, however, to test the truth of this report,
which may turn out to be incorrect to-morrow.

OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL FOREY.
PARIS, TUESDAY.
The Moniteur this morning contains an official
report of General Forey, Ist division First Corps
d'Armee, transmitted by Marshal Baraguay d'Hil-
liers. This report, which relates to the battle of
Montebello, is as follows :
" VOGHERA, MAY 20, MIDNIGHT.
•
" Monsieur le Marechal,—l have the honour of
giving you an account of the battle fought this day
by my division.
" Being informed, at half-past 12 this afternoon,
that a strong Austrian column, with artillery had
occupied Casteggio, and driven back from Monte-
bello the outstanding pickets of Piedmontese
cavalry, I immediately hastened up to the front, by
the Montebello road, with two battalions of the
74th, destined to relieve two battalions of the 84th
cantoned along this road in front of Voghera, on the
Madura eminence.
" Meanwhile, the rest of my division took up
arms, and a battery of artillery (the 6th of the Bth
Regiment) marched at its head.
" Arriving at the bridge thrown across the brook
called Fossagazzo, the extreme limit of our front
posts, I caused a section of artillery to be placed in
battery, supported on the right and left by two
battalions of the 84th, lining the brook with their
sharpshooters.
" During this time the enemy had pushed on
from Montebello to Ginestrello, and, having been
informed that he was coming against me in two
columns, one by the high road. the other along the
tramway, I ordered the left battalion of the 74th
to cover the causeway at Cascina Nuova, and the
other battalion to advance along the right of the
road, behind the 84th.
" This movement was hardly over when a brisk
fire along the whole line was opened between our
sharpshooters and those of the enemy, who was
marching upon us, and supporting his sharpshooters
by the heads of the columns issuing from Gines-
trello. The artillery opened fire upon them success-
fully ; the enemy replying to it.
" I then ordered my right to move up to the
front. The enemy retired before the ardour of our
troops, but perceiving that I had only one battalion
to the left of the road, he sent a strong column
against it. Thanks to the vigour and firmness of
this battalion, commanded by Cal. Cambriels, and
to some fortunate charges of the Piedmontese
cavalry, admirably led on by Gen. de Sonnaz, the
Austrians were obliged to retire.
" At this moment, Gen. Blanchard, followed by
the 98th and a battalion of the 91st (the two others

were at Oriolo, where they have had an engage-
ment) rejoined me, and received orders to proceed

to the relief of the battalion of the 74th, charged
with the defence of the tramway, and to take up a
strong position at Cascina Nuova.
"Reassured on this side I again threw forward
my right, and took, not without serious resistance,
the position of Ginestrello. Judging, then, that by
following with the bulk of the infantry the line of
hill-tops, and the road with my artillery protected
by the Piedmontese cavalry, I should the more
easily capture Montebello, I organised my columns
of attack under General Beuret's command, in this
way :

" The 17th battalion of Chasseurs, supported by
the 84th and 74th, disposed in echelons, moved on
towards the south side of Montebello, Where the
enemy had intrenehed himself.

" A hand-to-hand combat then ensued in the
streets of the village, which had to be carried house
after house. It was during this fight that General
Beuret was mortally wounded by my side.
" After an obstinate resistance, the Austrians were
forced to yield to the vigour of our troops, and
although strongly intrenched in the churehyard,
this position they saw snatched from them at the
point of the bayonet, amid cries of Vivo l'Em-
pereur,' a thousand times repeated.
"It was then half-past six. I deemed it prudent
not to push the success of the day any further, and
halted my troops behind the rising ground on which
the churchyard is situated, covering the
whosharpshooters,
wLiAt'he
back the last Austrian columns into Casteggio.

" Shortly after this I saw the Austrian columns
evacuate Casteggio, leaving in it a rear-guard, and
they retired along the Casatisma road.
" I cannot adequately praise, M. le Marechal, the
energy of our troops this day ; all the officers, petty
officers, and soldiers have rivalled each other in

ardour. Nor will I forget the officers of my staff,
who have ably assisted me.

" I shall have the honour of addressing to you
[titer the names of those who have particularly

distinguished themselves.
" I do not yet know the exact amount of our loss;
it is great, especially in superior officers. I estimate
it approximatively at GOO or 700 men killed and
wounded.
" The loss of the enemy must have been consider-
able, to judge by the number of dead that have been
found, especially in the village of Montebello.
" We have made about 200 prisoners, amongst
whom are a colonel and several officers.

" Several tumbrils have also fallen into our pos-

session,

~ As for myself, Monsieur le Marechal, I am
happy that my division has been the first engaged
with the enemy. This glorious baptism, which
recalls one of the great names of the Empire, will

per mio domestico" (the cloak will be useful for in,
servant.) You would scarcely believe that the
Austrian official had the impudence to write to
Count :Bela thanking him for the carriage he had
thus stolen. An old peasant of the farm Azavecchin,
belonging to a Signor Larghi, was shot by a Croat
because he could not move quickly enough. A boy,
15 years old, has been sxbjected to the bastinado at
a place called the Cappuccini, in the neighbourhood
of Vercelli. The poor lad has been removed to the
hospital, and there is but little hope of preserving
his life. At Calcalabio, a small hamlet, three Eng-
lish miles f-ont Voghera, a young girl has been
violated by an officer belonging to the Ugolini Croat
regiment' The poor creature could not stand the
shame of the Sclavonic brutality and threw herself
into a well, out of which she was taken half dead.
The beautiful country house of Marquis Cusani
Botta Adorno has been plundered and devastated at
Branduzzo. The valuable gallery, one of the finest
in Lomellina, has been all destroyed to the last pic-
ture. A famous Madonna of Leonardo is thus lost to
the artistic world. At Pizzale, a village near Voghera,
the church has been plundered, and men and women
barbarously wounded by the Austrian sharpshooters,
screened in a ravine. Every bushel of corn, every
sack of flour, has been taken away, and every cask
of wine emptied and wasted, the poor peasants
being thus left starving and helpless.
If we were to believe our reporters, who came
yesterday from Gytilai's head-quarters of Mortara,
the right: ming-of the Austsions,l4te Emperor Fran-
cis Joseph arrived yesterday at Garlasco, between
Pavia and Mortara, on the right bank of the Ticino.
HiS Majesty was accompanied by General Hess.
It seems also that the Austrian General Benedeek
is dead from a wound he got in the affair of Ver-
celli. The Emperor of the French went yesterday,
only attended by an aide-de-camp, to inspect the
famous battlefield of Marengo. This morning he
has gone to Voghera, to visit the men wounded
during yesterday's hard fight. If I am correctly
informed, Lieut.-Colonel Marchess has left Genoa
on his way to Toulon. This gentleman, who was
in the Venetian navy before and during the insur-
rection of 1848, holds now the place of Director of
the 2interiel of the Royal Arsenal at Genoa.
Rumours are afloat, both here and at Genoa, that
he is gone on an important mission connected with
the landing of a French corps d'armee, which wi