The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-21 00:00:00

FIGHTING AT CASTEGGIO.

(OFFICIAL DESPATCH FROM TURIN.)
• SATURDAY, 9.45 P.M.
The Austrians attacked yesterday Montbello
and Casteggio.
Repulsed everywhere with great losses.
Division (French) of General Ebrey behaved
admirably.
Our cavalry (Sardinian) has shown the greatest

energy.
The Austrians since yesterday are retreating.

The following telegrams hadb been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :--

PARIS, MAY 21.
The Moniteur of this morning publishes the fol-

owing :

ALESSANDRIA, Friday evening, May 20.—The
Emperor went this morning to Casale, where the
King of Sardina was awaiting him. The two
Sovereigns then inspectedtogether the fortifications
and the position of the vanguard. The Emperor
then returned to Alessandria, and then went this
afternoon to visit the battlefield of Marengo. His
Majesty enjoys good health, and the sanitary con-
dition of the army is all that can be desired.

LEGHORN, MAY 20.

The Sasel has arrived here this morning with
350 men of the Brigade cofinieres and of the sth
Corps d'armee on board. The General with his
troops disembarked amid thousands of plaudits
expressive of the sympathy of the populace. The
whole town was hung with flags. Other vessels
with troops are expected. The troops who have
disembarked are quartered in the barracks of the
fort Porta Murala (?)

Prince Napoleon will arrive here on Sunday next

DRESDEN, MAY 20.

The Dresden Journal of to•day states the report
of a separate treaty, concluded between Bavaria
and Austria, to be incorrect.

TURIN, MAY 20.

The official bulletin published to-day says :

" Twelve thousand Austrians advanced to-day
from Stradella to.,varcLs Castelreggio, where the
streets had been barricaded since Wedn9,sclay, and
three unimportant attacks had been repulsed. Two
strong columns of our troops marched to-day to
meet the Austrians. Austrian prisoners have
been already brought to Voghera, but all details of
a fight are as yet wanting.
"It is asserted that the Emperor of Austria
arrived yesterday at Milan, and that he departed
directly for Pavia, accompanied by General Hess."

DRESDEN, MAY 20.

A fortnightly transport of Austrian troops to the
Federal fortressess begins on Sunday next with
the first despatch of 31,000 infantry, 4 regiments of
cavalry, 3,900 horses, and 80 pieces of cannon.

BERNE, MAY 20.

The Federal Diet has resolved on prohibiting
the exportation of arms to, axd the collecting of
arms by the inhabitants at, those places in the
immediate vicinity of the Italian frontier, and also
the purchase of arms from deserters. Fugitives,
old men, women, and sick excepted, and deserters
able to bear arms, are to be forbidden to pass from
the territories of one belligerent Power into the
territories of another.

The number of fugitives in the Canton Tessin is

increasing.

A letter from Turin of the 17th, in the Siecle,
says :—" At Stradella, where the Austrians have
concentrated a part of their force, they have not
confined themselves to making overwhelming re-
quisitions, but they have taken possession of the
houses of Count Araaboldi, M. Carlo, M. Moraschi,
and M. Ghislanz oni, the richest landowners of
that part of the country, have transformed them into
barracks, and have pillaged all the provisions and
money ; they have besides exacted a large quan-
tity of wine daily, during the whole of their stay,
and have sent to Pavia' an enormous quantity of
wheat and flour. The Austrians have fortified the
position which they occupy between Stradella and
Broni, on the Po. They are there concentrating
and massing troops to resist an attack. The route
to Piacenza is free, and protected by the troops of
San Giovanni. At Voghera, a short time back, an
Austrian patrol ventured into the interior of the
town to make a requisition. News of this having
reached the Piedmontese camp, 200 Sardinian
cavalry rode immediately to the place, and whilst
some of them were stationed round the town, others
entered. The Austrians being suddenly attacked
endeavoured to fly, but the troops outside prevented
them, and all were captured, except a few who
in the midst of the confusion managed to
get away in safety. Venice is said to be not
without disquietude. The inhabitants, as Italians,
are even afraid tnat the Sardinian army is in
danger. This is owing to the Austrians having
spread absurd rumours in Venetia to influence
public opinion and prevent a national -rising. For
example, they have told the people not only that
the Austrian army has invaded Piedmont, but that
it has gone to Turin ; that the Piedmontese army
is in such a dreadful position that the King has had
to abdicate and retire to Sardinia; that the Aus•
trians are at Susa, where they stop the French
communications by Mont Cenis ; and, lastly, that
at Novi they command Genoa, so as to prevent
relief from reaching the Piedmontese. Such mis
representations will, however, be soon disproved.
At Novara a thousand carts brought from Lom-
bardy have been collected to carry away the booty
which the Austrians hope to obtain, and other
carts taken in Piedmont have been, employed in
conveying booty into the Lomellina, beyond the
Mincio."

A letter from Turin of the 16th in the Indepen-
dance of Brussels says :—" The Austrian generals
act as if the provinces which they occupy were con-
quered ones. At Vercelli they deliver passports for
the interior and for abroad ; persons who are going
into Lombardy are obliged to have passports of the
first class, and those who come to Turin, second
class ones. At the head of these documents is
Empire of Austria, province of La Sesia.' During
the short stay which the Austrians made at Tor •
tona, they effaced the arms of the Cross of Savoy,
which in the Sardinian States is placed outside
every shop where tobacco is sold. Prince Napoleon
has established the head-quarters of the fifth corps
&armee at San Martino, near Genoa. On the 14th
several regiments of this corps began an offensive
movement. Last night they were at Ottone, three
marches from Bobbio. The Prince is daily exp2ct-
jog the arrival of several other Tegiments to com-
plete the effective of his corps."
The Post Ampt Gazette of Frankfort says
4‘ According to all that has transpired relative to
the mission of General Willisen, he was charged to
make known to the Cabinet of Vienna, but with
much precaution, that it must not rely on the
support of Prussia. For the moment, Austria has
only been requested not to urge the Germanic Dist
to adopt any resolution as to the attitude to be
assumed with regard to the war, and to endeavour
to prevent Bavaria and Hanover from insisting on
the formation of a corps d'armee on the Rhine.,
Prussia also declares that it must be left to her own

judgment to determine the moment when she ought
to assume the initiative in whatever course may be
definitively decided on. General Willisen was
received with great distinction, and dined with the
Emperor Francis Joseph.
The Commercial Gazette of Berlin says
"We know upon good authority that the Prince-
Regent has ordered circulars to be addressed to
the local authorities to secure horses for the army
in case it:should be mobilised. The horses are to
be selected and marked at once, but returned to
their owners, who will keep them until they are
wanted, but may not sell them under penalty of
100 thalers. All persons having horses are obliged
to bring them to the committee appointed to make,
the choice."
The Suabian Mercury states that the Austrian
port of Pola .is completely deserted. It is
considered the best military port in Austria, and
the general opinion was that the Austrian navy
and Lloyd's steamers would be placed in
safety there. It appears that Pola was aban-
doned because the fortifications were con-
structed by a French engineer, and it was, feared
that the French Government might possess accurate
information as to all the defences of the port.

MARSEILLES, MAY 19, 8.30 p.m.

The Descartes, which has just returned from
Genoa, is loading rapidly with gun-limbers and
ammunition waggons, to sail to-night or early to•
morrow morning. The horses are also shipped at
the same time, with their drivers; the gunners
appear to have gone in a separate vessel. The Ville
de Paris started recently; and several large steamers,
as well as sailing vessels, which were towed out to sea
by steam tugs, left to-day, heavily laden with artillery
stores, limbers, waggons, and drivers, train wag-
gons and their conductors, besides supplies of all de-
scriptions. The horses nearly always accompany the
limbers and waggons. The grain, forage, flour,
wine, and brandy, which are now being shipped,
are whatla.ve been collected from the Black Sea,
Egypt, Algiers, Spain, and France, during the last
four months. They have been stored in warehouses
in different parts of the town, and give curious evi-
dence as to the veracity of the official declarations,
made only a few weeks back, that France was not
arming, nor preparing for war. The limbers that
have passed through to-day are without their
pieces, which would lead one to suppose that they
were spare ones, intended to replace those that
might be damaged during the campaign, were it
not for the following circumstance :
Along the quays may be seen here and there
stout deal cases, carefully nailed up and branded
" Fragile ;" one part is painted with the word
" Haut," and another" Bas," which is equivalent
to the recommendation, " This side upwards."
People naturally enough imagined that they con-
tained dinner services, or china, or glass ornaments
of a frail nature, intended for the decoration of
the quarters to be occupied by the Emperor and
his Generals. The idea was strengthened by
seeing a few chairs and sofas, with the legs and
backs carefully swathed in packing, scattered
about. But in hauling up one of these cases
the sling broke, and it came down with a run
bursting the woodwork open, and revealing the
" fragile" contents to be a very formidable-looking
gun. This is only one of the many attempts made
by the authorities to mystify the public.
The siege fleet is fitting out with hot haste at
Toulon. Independently of screw liners and frigates
it into consist of 10 screw gunboats, drawing very
little water, and intended to operate in the shal-
lows of the Adriatic. Each is to be armed with a
heavy gun, working on a pivot, on the fore part
of the deck, and behind a semicircular shield
of rolled iron plates, stout enough to resist the
heaviest shots, and so to protect the men work-
ing the gun. The vessels themselves are said
to be constructed of iron plates, possessing
the same force of resistance, so that they are, in
fact, shot-proof floating steam-batteries. It is diffi-
cult to ascertain the exact ealibre of the pivot guns,
, but they are believed to be 50-pounders, similar to
what have been of late years introduced into the
French navy. It is also said, with what truth I
know not, that they are rifled ; if so, they will be
very formidable instruments of war, rendering the
land batteries and forts of Venice and the coast open
to attack with comparative impunity; for it will
be almost impossible to hit them from the shore, as
they will fight the gun steam on, and present
a small surface, which will be kept constantly
in motion. It appears pretty certain that both the
French army and navy are provided with rifled
guns of much larger calibre than the 4-pounders
mentioned in my letter of yesterday week. Five
of the gunboats are made so as to admit of their
being taken to pieces and conveyed overland, with
a view, it is, asserted, of their being ultimately em-
ployed on the Lac de Garda, which forms a portion
of the Austrians' great line of defence, extending
from the famous rectangle of Mantua and Verona
to the Tyrol. Should the French be able to launch
the gunboats on the lake they would dovbtless do
good service, but to get them there will be the
great difficulty, for they will have to pass through
the whole of the Austrian army, which occupies
the country between the lake and the shores of the
Adriatic.

The equipment of the fleet is proceeding with
such rapidity that merchant vessels are left without
crews, except the superior officers, or so short-
handed as to be unable to put to sea. The captains
are entering seamen of all nations, and in some
cases Englishmen. How far British seamen, who
enter French vessels employed in the conveyance of
munitions of war, will offend the Queen's declara-
tion of neutrality it will be for the authorities to
determine. But the men do not enter willingly.
Jack does not relish sailing on a French bottom,
nor obeying orders in a " foreign lingo ;" with
many of them, poor fellows, it is little better
than Hobson's choice. Marseilles is the chief
receptacle for English seamen who have left
their ships from illness or any other cause.
They gradually work their way down here, and
rarely find means of entering a homeward-bound.
Under these circumstances, if orders were sent out
here from the Admiralty to post notices of the
Queen's bounty at the different Consulates, accom-
panied by the despatch of a few small craft to
cruise from one port to another, I think it pro-
bable many able-bodied seamen and useful hands
might be picked up, that a few weeks on board a
troining ship at Malta would make into smart
smart men-of-war's men.

A letter has been received in the town from a
sergeant of the 78th Regiment of Infantry, sta-
tionedat Gari, in which it is stated that the rain's
ceased on the 12th, and that the French advanced
troops are within four or five hour; march of the
Austrians.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY.

A Council of Ministers, at which the Empress
Regent presided, was held yesterday at the
Tuileries. Prince Jerome was present.

The Moniteur publishes a decree establishing a
Prize Court in Paris composed of the following
members :—M. Duvergier, Councillor of State,
President ; M. Bouree, Minister Plenipotentiary,
unemployed ; M. Quern, Commissary General of the
Navy ; M. de Largan, ex-Minister Plenipotentiary ;
Captain de Selva, of the navy ; and MM. Ernest
Baroehe, and de l'Hopital, Masters of Requests at
the Council of State. M. de Clercq is to act. as
Government Commissioner. The duties of ibis
court will be to decide on the validity of all prizes
taken by ships of war, and to decide all disputes
relative to the quality of neutral or enemy's vessels
wrecked or stranded on the French coast, and on
prizes carried into the ports of the French colonies.
The sitting i are to be private, and a decision can
only be come to by the vote of five members. The
awards of the court c tnnot be carried into execu-
tion until one week after they have been officially
communicated to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs
and of Marine. The decisions of the court may be
referred to the Council of State either by the Go-
vernment Commissioner or by the parties interested,
within a delay of three months from the date of
notification. Foreign
consular agents have the
power of making observations to the court in any

matters wherein the ittterests
are involved.

icir countrymen

The Toulonnais state € that the authorities of that
port have received orde rs to prepare the hospital of
St. NI an drier, opposite t; ae. roadstead. This extensive
building will be arranged so as to accommodate
5,000 patients. The Algcsiras screw liner, which
is now in that port, is to shortly leave to join the
squadron of Admiral Tulien Lagraviere in the
Adriatic.

BOURSE, May 20.—Large purchases have been
made in Rente and Mobilier, but prices continued
heavy and the market chill. Threes, after having
been done at 61f. 10c., declined to 60f. 85c.; the
Mobilier from 597 f. 50c. to 585 f.; Orleans varied
from 1,167 f. 50c. to 1,160 f. ; Lyons, 775 f. to '770f.;
Northern, 875 f. to 870 Z ; Eastern, 587 f. 50c. to
582 f. 50c. ; Southern, 427 f. 50c. to 422 f. 50c. ;
Austrian, 357 f. 50a. to 353 f. 75c.; Lombardy,
425 f. to 422 f. 50c.

The following were the closing quotations :
II per Cents. .... 89 —' Credit Foncier 645
Do. end month .. Belgian 44 .
3 per Cents 6l 10 Piedmonteso (5) .. 774
Do. end month 6l 50 Roman BO
Bank Shares — Austrian —
Credit Mobilier .. 590 Spanish Threes
Do. Account ..... 588 75 Home Debt 35/