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

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 pew 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. Oue
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, don 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 lan 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, screwlinesansattle ship, used
las transport, carrying also aboet 1,000 men as rein-
forcements to various regiments—not, however, re-
-1 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
days 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 fot warded 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 canvass
sheets, marked " sabsistances 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 wheels, looking
like some infernal machine when cut out against the
sky. 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
scoldiug 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 Cariamano 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 directly 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 morning, the first word which meets his
eye is the Quadrilatere. On meeting a friend,
instead of greeting him with the everlast-
ing " How d 4 you do ? " his first ques-
cion 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 aceoimt
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
n
encircled by the waters of the Mincio, and situated
about half a mile from each bank of of the river.
Mantua can be entered only by crossing (le whiches or
pawing along very narrow causeways,
there are two on the left
'lo ank and thr e on the
right. These five pas-ages 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. Mantra
is considered to be the key of Italy, but on account
~•ap.nca position rather than its means
of its georyi. • 1
of defence. Marshal Serruier remarked that " the
difficuity is not to take Mantua, but to approach