The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-04 00:00:00

day's work. It was advancing in four divisions, in
the direction of Peschiera from Pozzolengo and
Madonna della Scoperta, when, at seven in the
morning, its advanced guard encountered the
enemy's advanced posts between San Martino and
Pozzolengo. The combat commenced, but strong
Austrian reinforcements hurried up, and drove the
Piedmontese farther back than San Martino, even
threatening to cut off their line of retre'it. A
brigade of Mollard's di'-ision then arrived in all
haste on the field of combat,and assaulted the.heights
on which the enemy had established themselves.
Twice it attained the summit, and possessed itself
of pieces of cannon ; but twice also it had to yield
to numbers, and abandon its conquest.
" The enemy was gaining ground, in spite of some
brilliant charges of the King's cavalry, when Cue-
chiari's division, debouching in the field of battle
by the road of Rivoltella, came to support General
Mollard. The Sardinian troops rushed forward
again with impetuosity under a murderousfire ; the
church and all the works raised on the right were
carried, and eight pieces of cannon were taken. But
the enemy again succeeded in disengaging the can-
non, and in re-taking the position.
" At this moment, the 2d brigade of General Cuc-
chiari, which had been formed in columns of attack
to the left of the Lugano road, marched against the
church of St. Martino, regained the lost ground,
and carried the heights for the fourth time, without
holding them, for, overwhelmned by volleys of
grape, and facing an enemy who was constantly re-
ceiving reinforcements, and incessantly returning
to the charge, it could not hold out till the arrival
of succour from General Mollard's 2d brigade, and
the Piedmontese, being quite exhausted, retreated
in good order along the Rivoltella road.
" It was then the Aosta brigade of Fanti's divi-
sion, which had at first gone towards Solferino to
form a junction with Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers,
was sent by the king to support Generals Mollard
and Cacchiari in the attack on San Martino. That
body was checked for a while by the storm ; but
about five in the evening, this brigade and the Pig-
nerol one, supported by a numerous artillery,
marched on the enemy under a terrible fire, and
reached the heights. They took possession of them
foot by foot, field by field, and managed to hold
them by very desperate fighting. The enemy
began to give way; and the Piedmontese artillery,
gaining the ridge, soon crowned it with 24 pieces
of cannon, which the Austrians vainly endeavoured
to capture; two brilliant charges of the King's
cavalry dispersed them ; volleys of grape threw
their ranks into confusion, and the Sardinian
troops finally remained masters of the formidable
positions which the enemy had defended for a
whole day with such obstinacy.
"On the other side, the Durando division had
been engaged with the Austrians ever since half-
past five in the morning. At that hour, its advanced
guard had met the enemy at Madonna della Sco-
perta, and the Sardinian troops had held their
ground till noon against the efforts of an enemy
superior in number, who at last compelled them to
fall back ; but, being then reinforced by the Savoy
brigade, they resumed the offensive, and, repulsing
the Austrians in their turn, made themselves
masters of Madonna della' Scoperta. After this
first success, General de la Marmora sent the Du-
rando division against San Martino, where it did
not arrive_in time to assist in taking that position,
for it encountered on the road an Austrian column
with which it had to dispute the passage, and when
this obstacle was overcome, the village of San
Martino was already in the power of the Piedmon-
tese. General de la Marmora had directed, on the
other hand, the Pied-montese brigade of Fanti's
division upon Pozzolengo. This brigade carried
the enemy's positions in front of the village with
great vigour, and having made itself master of
Pozzolengo after a warm attack, repulsed the Aus-
trians, and pursued them to a certain distance,
causing them severe losses."

THE FRENCH SUPPLIES.

A letter from Genoa, dated June 29, says :—The

fact I stated in my last letter, that the French
transport service is so little hurried or overworked,
and,its arrangements so complete and well-timed,
that they are enabled to give their attention day
by day to the articles required for immediate use,
receives an additional illustration from their pre-

sent employment. The industry with which fhey
have worked on and off at the formation of a coal

depot on the Passo Nuovo has produced a black
mountain which it seems suffices for the time, and
they are thus enabled to employ without confusion
a considerable number of men in the reception and
disposal of a new supply of siege guns and limbers, of
whibh, owing no doubt to the time occupied in cross-
ing Lombardy, we have had none for a fortnight.

The cannon are, it seems, wanted at once, for,-un-

like the former batch, which lay in the dust an hour
or two before they were moved, they are shifted at
once to their carriages, and dragged to the railway
station without a moment's delay, so that I cannot
say what is the whole number received. I myself
saw two batteries of the same calibre as the last—

12 pounders, namely, rifled for a 24-pound shot, but
from the quantity of ammunition waggons about I
imagine that there may have been double that quan-
tity. For the conveyance of these when entire the
great decked barges, fenced round the edge with
strong rails, which were constructed here originally
for the carriage of huge blocks of stone required for
the new mole, and have been used with great
success for landing horses, are found to answer
capitally ; but masses of spare wheels, axles, &c.,
are piled into new French flat-bottomed boats, just
brought over from Toulon. They are tray-shaped,
deep, and immensely strong, with perpendicular
sides and square bows and stern, and seem ad-
mirably adapted for heavy cargoes, while a bridge,
working on a hinge, enables them to land more
easily their contents of men, horses, or goods. One
of them was alongside a fine steamer, the Loire,
which was pouring into her a stream of small 12-
pound shells by means of a trough, down which
they ran as innocently as so many oranges, a man
counting them aloud as they passed him, others in
the boat pushing and rolling them into their places
and when they reached land pitching them two at
a time into an enclosure, where they bounded
merrily on the stone flags with a joyous clank
at touching friendly soil. The Loire, by the bye,
was, when I saw her, giving a good instance of
French rapidity, working three " whips" (a rope
and pulley from the yard-arm, used to raise and
lower weights) at the same time, besides the above-
mentioned shot trough, so that four barges were
continually alongside, and by the time one was full
another from the shore was ready to take its place.
Six of these landing-boats were brought on the 27th
by the Ville de Paris, screw line•of-battle ship, used
as transport, carrying also aboet 1,000 men as rein-
forcements to various regiments—not, however, re-
cruits, but of the contingent—old soldiers who, in
case of peace, would have stayed at home—a first
instalment, no doubt, of 50,000 men expected to
pass chiefly through this town, and a part over
Mont Cenis. If it is true, indeed, that the Austrians
had 150,000 men at Solferino, and that 78,000 more
are on their way to join them, the allies will want
every man • in fact, they have yet further reduced
the small depots left here, and only yesterday I met
200 of the 4th Piedmontese Regiment marching
down to the station, fully armed and equipped for
the campaign, while detachments from the 26th
and 68th French, encamped during the last few
slays in the Bisagno valley, are giving evident signs
of flitting.
Besides the artillery, the shot and shell, and a
little hay being discharged, there were several ob-
jects of interest on the landing quay, which is being
extended in one part in a very simple way; the
ready-hewn blocks of slaty granite, taken from
the neighbouring quarry, are lowered along iron
piles which mark their position, and are cemented
in their places with pozzolana, or some composition
which, like it, hardens under water. At One spot
some 30 men were loading covered trucks, run
absolutely down to the waterside, with oats ; they
had repaired a turn-table broken by the passage of
artillery and heavy waggons, so that when each
truck was full they shifted it to its place, and three
or four being hooked together, a horse marched
them off straight through the tunnel to the S.
Pier d'Arena station. An enormous mass of stores
might in case of need be forwarded by this means
alone, if worked at steadily, for two lines of
rails run through the tunnel, and tramways are
carried forward to the cranes and fitted with points
or turn-tables along the whole quay. Further on
men were adding to the vast store of flour and corn
sacks piled up in hundreds under great eanvass
sheets, marked " subsistances militaires," and in-
tended.for their protection against the weather; a
crane was swinging up in pairs the avant train,
boxes of cannon, bundles of rammers, sponges,
screws, &c., suspicious-looking barrels, which did
not, I hope, contain powder, for they were landed
and rolled away to wait for the artillery waggons as
unceremoniously as if they were hogsheads of sugar,
and queer-looking bundles of spare wheel, looking
like some infernal machine when cut out against the
ay. A company of the Ist Regiment of the French
Foreign Legion was hard at work landing bales of
coverlets, shirts, and other comforts for themselves,
under the eyes of an officer, who stood above
scolding and calling them lazy pigs, and those of a
good-humoured sergeant, distinguished by wearing
his coat, who stood in the boat and settled the
number of men required for each parcel, made
every one do his share of work, and exhorted
them to make haste and get their soup. Some of
the bundles—all marked, by the way, for the
depot at Milan, a great step in advance—were not
too heavy for a single man, who was thereupon
loaded, and staggered away, much to the amuse-
ment of a knot of Genoese porters, who had come
down to the quay in hopes of a lucrative job, and
were standing idle owing to their own foolish-
ness in not accepting reasonable wages. They
ridiculed the soldiers' awkward imitation of their
own neat way of swinging a load on to the
shoulders, laughed at their unsteady gait and want
of balance and firmness when heavy laden, and at
last began to imitate them, taking their companions
on their backs and reeling over the shingle as if
unable to carry more, so that the officer drove
them off in disgust, telling them that they were
not worth their salt.
More space is required here for sick, or stores, or
both. The San Benigno Hospital contains 5,000
men, and is said to be full ; the National College,
also used for the wounded, has filled its walls with
privates, and established huts for the officers in
the villa or cabbage garden and vineyard attached,
a plan which gives them more fresh air than they
would otherwise get ; no more salt pork is taken to
the University, for the simple reason that that im-
mense place will hold no more ; so that yesterday
one of our papers published a list of convents to be
emptied of their inmates—S. Anna, at the head of
perhaps the steepest ascent in Genoa, and near
our own English hospital ; the very old church of
Castello, in the Carignano district, where the town
took its origin; S. Francesco di Paola, or the great
hospital; one near the public gardens, and the left-
hand one of the twin convents standing above the
port, and d;rectly facing the traveller from Nice or
Leghorn.

THE GREAT QUADRANGLE OF FOR-
TRESSES IN LOMBARDY.

We observed the other day a paragraph in a
French paper which stated that nothing else is
thought of or talked of in Paris at present but the
Quadrilatere. When a Parisian takes up his news-
paper in a morn ng, the first word which meets his
eye is the Quadrilatere. On meeting a friend,
instead of greeting him with the everlast-
ing " How do you do ? " his first ques-
tion is, " How about the Quadrilatere ?" We are
not quite so bad as this in London ; but, neverthe-
less, the " Quadrangle" is an object of great interest
at the present moment and much talked of, and
therefore it is desirable we should all know some-
thing about it. Under these circumstances, we
cannot do better than give our readers some account
of this celebrated position to which the Austrian
forces have now retired, and which all military
authorities agree in regarding as a stronghold.
The famous Quadrangle is defended by the four
fortresses of Mantua, Peschiera, Legnano, and Ve-
rona. Mantua is built on an island formed by the
Mincio. The superfices of this is upwards of 100
acres. Close to this island there is another of about
the same extent. The two islands are completely
encircled by the waters of the Mincio, and 'situated
about half a mile from each bank of the river.
Mantua can be entered only by crossing dykes or
passing along very narrow causeways, of which
there are two on the left bank and three on the
right. These five passages are each defended by a
bastioned fort. A broad canal intersects the city of
Mantua in its whole breadth. This canal is navi-
gated by boats from the Po, by which the transit
of merchandise is effected. The city of Mantua
contains about 30,000 inhabitants ; it is well built ;
the houses large and the streets broad. Two sub-
urbs are connected with the city by fortified bridges.
These suburbs are called the Borgo di Fortezzo and
the Borgo di San Giorgio. Of the defensive works
which surround the fortress the, most important is
Ceresa. The Palace of Ceresa was built after plans
and designs drawn by Giuli Romano. The Empe-
ror Napoleon I. took possession of Mantua in the
year 1796. During the French occupation the fort of
Pistola was added to the other fortifications. Mantua
is considered to be the key of Italy, but on account
of its geographical position rather than its means
of defence. Marshal Serruier remarked that " the
difficuity is not to take Mantua, but to approach

it." Peschiera contains about 3,000 inha- ' the midst of an inquiring age ; the miserable idea
bitants. Like Mantua, it is a small town situated of making a civil despotism more tolerable by ally-
on an island formed by the Mincio, at its outlet from ing it with ecclesiastical tyranny; the pride that
the Lake of Garda. Peschiera commands the right does not disdain bankruptcy; and the obstinacy
bank of the river. Its principal mission is to watch which seems ever in search of fresh misfortunes,--
and defend the Lake of Garda, and the sluices which these, and such qualities as these, have been the ad-
hold in reserve a current of water ready to sub- miration of the worshippers of brute strength, and
merge any 'works which an enemy may construct, the despisers of all in the nature of man that ele-
or to carry away the pontoon bridges he may throw vates him above the beasts that perish. The system
over the Mincio. During the French Republican has been fairly tried, and its strength has turned
war the fortifications of Peschiera consisted merely out to be weakness, its union discord, and its piety
of a pentagon. Subsequently a manielon, named La hypocrisy. The paternal system has been, like the
Mandelta, was raised on the left bank of the river. British Constitution, put upon its trial, but, unlike
On it were constructed three lunettes or forts, de- the British Constitution, has been weighed in the
fended by a broad, natural fosse, on the right bank balance and found wanting.
of the Mincio. A defensive work of considerable
magnitude, called the " Salvi " covers the immediate
approaches of the river. The fortifications altogether
may be capable of containing one division of troops.
In 1848 Peschiera, was carried by the Sardinian
army after a three weeks' siege. Nevertheless it was
Peschiera that checked the success of King Charles
Albert. After the taking of Peschiera Charles
Albert crossed the Mincio, intending to encamp
temporarity on the heights of Rivoli ; but soon be-
coming sensible of the danger of that isolated posi-
tion, he did not venture further, and he again,
though not without difficulty, fell back on the Mincio.
Legnano is situated on the Adige, at an equal dis-
tance from Mantua and Verona, Legnago and Pes-
chiera are situated at two opposite points, and are
of nearly equal importance. The former is not really
a strong place, but as a strategical position the town
is of vast importance, on account of its two fortified
points constructed on the Adige, which enable the
garrison to manoeuvre with facility on both banks.
Moreover, it is from Legnano and by Legnano that
the garrisons of Verona and Mantua can obtain
supplies of troops and provisions. Verona, which
is divided into two parts by the Adige, contains
about 30,000 inhabitants. During the campaigns
of the armies of the French Republic Verona was
only a fortress of secondary importance, but since
1848 it has undergone considerable military deve-
lopment, and the Austrian Government has spared
no expence to render it a fortress of the first rank.
Formerly the part in the direction of Lombardy
was almost without means of defence ; all the

NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF THE
ORTIIFLEET DOCKS.

In addition to the commercial advantages pre-
sented by the Northfleet Docks, their importance is
also very great in a military point of view. An
offer has been made to Government to lease them
tnat portion which is called on the plan the " Re-
serve Dock," and, so far as the negotiation has
progressed, this offer has • met with a decided ap-
proval. If the Government should accept it, there
can be no doubt a military depot and hospital would
be established on the spot. This would not only
relieve tho licensed victuallers of Gravesend from
the annoyances pertaining to the billeting system,
but would add greatly to the comfort of our inva-
lided troops. Again, with reference to the sister-
service—to that increased accommodation for the
Royal Navy, the providing of which is clearly
justified by the present political aspect of Europe
—Northfleet presents such_manifestly unparalleled
advantages, that the Reserve Dock proposed to be
constructed for the Government will not only form
a most invaluable adjunct to Woolwich, but, con-
nected as it is by railway with all the principal
garrison towns, Northfleet may be made the Cher-
bourg of the Thames and the Metropolis. A few 1i!
words in explanation of the advantages just le
alluded to. At one end of the proposed site of
this Reserved Dock we have the vast and valuable
ship-building and engineering plant created by the
Pitcher family during a period of nearly, a century.
Here is an establishment, not surpassed in its caps.
bilities by any of the Government dockyard*
ready formed to hand, so that vessels of war or
all classes—whether built of wood or iron
whether moved under canvas 'or propelled by
steam—can be expeditiously docked and overhauled;
and their engines and boilers be promptly
examined and repaired. At the other end of this
dock we have the town of Gravesend, ahead,'
built, and capable of supplying not only everything
a fleet might require in the way of ship provisiono
and stores, but capable also of furnishing, from it/
extensive population, the particular kinds of 'about
necessary to the development of such an important
naval station and military depot as might be estat
blished at the Northfleet Docks. Before I conclude.
my observations on the advantages of the propose('
site for Governmental purposes, I must call youf
attention to the facilities these Docks would afford
both for coaling and watering a fleet lying withii
their basins. With respect to the former, I con'
sider Northfleet will become the metropolitan enn
pprium for the sea-borne coal of the North and el
Wales ; while, with regard to the latter, withil!
these Docks an illimitable supply of the puree ti
water will be constantly available for the requisite,
purpose.—Lecture by J. L. Tabberner.

strength of the place was concentrated in that part
which faced Austria. But this fault has been
remedied, and Verona is now equally well fortified
at all points. The old walls have undergone repair,
and bastions have been raised ; casements, half-
moons, and ouvrages a comes have been con-
structed; 20 forts (15 of which are external, on
the plan of the fortifications of Paris) are mounted
with thousands of guns. In short, nothing is
wanting. Austrian gold and military skill have
converted Verona into a most redoubtable strong-
hold.—Bulletin.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

YORK.

JULY 2.

The attendance at our market was very thin. The sup'
plies of wheat were fair, and prices same as last week. PI
Spring corn but little business was done.
Wheat, white 4Bs to 50s Beans, Mazagan..—s to --'IS
red 44s to 48s Middle & small 48s to 530
Barley 2Bs to 36s White peas 42s to 440
Oats 24s to 26s Grey.. 42s to 460
Malt, 66s to 68s per qr. ; flour, —s per 20 atone. ~,

LEICESTER—JULY 2.
This day's market was tolerably well attended. Wheai
and flour sold in retail, and we merely repeat previous quo.
tations. Barley and oats at late rates. Beans improved,
and coming freely tohand.
Wheat 47s to 50s Oats.. 29s to 369
I White do 50s to 54s Beans sos to 59
Barley ....28s to 42s I Ditto, old ........—s to -A

NOTTINGHAM—JuLT 2.
A small supply of wheat, which met a slow sale at abort
last week's currency. In spring corn very little passiat
but prices were the turn in favour of the buyer. Beau.
scarce.
White wheat, new, 50s to 64s
Red do. 6os to 63s
Old white sos to 54s
Red do. 4Bs to 60s
Barley, malting 388 to 48s

GLOUCESTER—Juvy 2.
There was rather a better supply on offer, and the lasC
week's prices were improved upon.

DERBY—JULY 2.
At yesterday's market there was a moderate supply of
wheat, and the trade ruled' very firm, at about is per (I_,r*
dearer. In Spring corn little doing at about the raw'
realised last week. In beans the trade ruled firm at rather
more money. The wheat looks healthy and promising.

CAMBRIDGE--JULY 2.
There was a fair supply of wheat to-day, and a mile,
business at the annexed prices :---White wheat, from D 5
Od to 638 Od ; red, 47s Od to 49s per 36 st.; beans, 44s vt,
to 46s Od per 38 at. ; barley, 30s to 32s Od per qr. ; oats, 23'
to 30s per 24 stone.

Barley, grinding 28s to 310
Oats,:old, , 2Bs to 30
New do 283 to 314
Beans. 50s to 661
Beans, new —a to •-•4 *