The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-11 00:00:00

PRICE.... 4d.
STAMPED sd.

outside the military cafe, and all the square btweeen
it and the grand old Amphitheatre was filled by
the Veronese, listening perforce to the music which
certainly was not the " food of love" in their case.
And, dividing the gay crowd, we made for the
nearest hotel at hand, and set about our plans for
the morrow. It was, like many plans, easier and
finer in conception than execution. The train
for Trent leaves Verona at 630 a.m. We intended
to get up before daybreak, drive out to Somma Cam-
pagna, visit the battlefield of Custozza, drive back,
catch the train, and return to Trent next morning.
But, in the first place, no one can leave Verona till
after sunrise ; and, next, he must have a passport ;
and, thirdly, the battlefield was two and a half good
miles further away than• we anticipated, so the scheme
was finally declared to be quite too splendid to be
practicable. General Kuhn's passport was returned
from head-quarters with General Jacob's visa, and
we engaged a most intelligent and learned vetturino,
who knew, we were told, every inch of the ground,
and could point out the positions of " Piedmontese"
and Austrians, who might but for our official pan-
port have possibly been termed " Italiani" and
" Tedesci" respectively.
There are no two gentlemen of Verona who can
view the present state of affairs with satisfaction, be
they Austrians or Italians. When I went down to
the coffee-room, or salle a manger, or whatever it
was, at the Golden Pigeon and asked for a news-
paper, the man was as much shocked as if I had de-
manded the head of an Austrian General for break-
fast. " Newspapers are not allowed," said he, " for
some time past, but we have these given to us by
travellers ;" and he pointed to some Vienna jour-
nals from three to five weeks old on the dingy table.
" Well, what news have you got ?" " Ah, Signor,
we never have news in Verona. No !no! no news.
What will he have fOr breakfast ?" Steam, tele-
graph, and the march of intellect, notwithstanding,
here is a city of 60,000 people full of intellectual
life—a city famous in the world for its culture of
the arts and sciences beforo the name of Austria
had been invented or discovered, deprived of the
smallest interchange of thought with the whole of
the human race outside the grim forts and silent
earthworks which hem it in and cut it off
from the associations that give such a charm to
the life of modern society. If measures like these
were necessary—if, however odious, they made
Austrian rule in Italy safe or respected, we might
feel the force of them, but it cannot be maintained
that the Austrians have succeeded in making
themselves either thoroughly feared or greatly loved.
The field of Custozza will probably be for ever
memorable as the last battle fought between Aus-
trians and Italians on the Lombardo-Venetian king-
dom. It will be remarkable as an anomalous action,
in which the victors had no locus standi, and in which
the vanquished were fighting to obtain from their
conquerors what they had already given away. Just
as near as the Austrians were to winning Koniggratz
must the Italians have been to winning Custozza or
Monte Croce. If a survey of the ground and the re-
ports of the peasantry in the villages are to be trusted
the Italians should have gained the day, and all the
stories we have heard about the superiority of the
Austrian position over that of their enemies must be
discredited.

The Archduke Albrecht's detailed report, as far as
I know, has not yet been written, or at all events
published, but as the battle lasted from 8 o'clock in
the morning till 6 o'clock in the evening, and as the
Italians did not cross the Alincio till the following
day, it may be conceived that the encounter was
very severe, and that the victory won was by no
means to be considered as decisive. If there were
any doubt on the latter point it would be removed
from my mind, at all events, by the fact that the
Austrians threw up earthworks and made batteries
and abattis in front of their position from the rear of
Somma Campagna to Custozza after the battle, and
remained on the ground for 17 days afterwards
watching the Italian army. I have been spending
some hours of one of the hottest days of an Italian
August among their works, wandering over the
ground on which the battle was fought, and I came
away with the conviction that the Italians had the
best of it, and ought to have won the victory had
they been equal in endurance to the Austrians.

AUGSBURG, Aug. 8, p.m.

In a future letter I intend to give an account of
the battle field, but as I am now in search of the
vanishing fragments of the Bund army before it be
dissolved I have been on the march incessantly, and
this letter is interrupted by the urgent demands of
the departing postman at Augsburg.
In the telegraphic summary of the Allegemeine
Zeitung, which I have just seen seen, it is stated
that the immediate provisioning of Verona is going
on in pursuance of orders, and that the Italian land
and sea forces will be raised to their full strength.
Now, so far from any steps being taken to provi-
sion Verona to stand a siege or become the basis of
operations of an army, I can assert, on the best of
all possible authority, that the Austrian troops in
garrison there have not enough to eat at present.
The authority to which I refer is the actual fact
that when I was coming from Verona, the day be-
fore yesterday, there were several Austrian officers
coming up to Trent and Botzen to buy provisions
for themselves and their men. Their conversation
turned altogether on the scarcity of supplies and the
neglect and shortcomings of the commissariat. One
field officer, who expressed his surprise at the state
of affairs among the troops, said that he had lately
been speaking to the Commissariat Superintendent,
who told him the men were very well off, which pro-
duced a strong and unanimous negative. And, in
fact, one officer got out at Caliano, another at some
other small station, and others at Trent and Botzen,
to look for whatever they could find. If the Italians
hear of provisions being sent down to Verona, as-
suredly they need not take it as a sign of hostile in-
tentions at present, and may spare their outlay on
fleet and army. Just see how Verona is situated.
The Italians are at Vicenza, and cut off all commu-
nication on the east. The demarcation line presses it
on the south, and Pesehiera on the west must look
for supplies to Verona, as the service of steamers on
the Lago di Garda is suspended. All supplies,
therefore, must be carried down by the Brenner
pass, and the intricate communications through the
Tyrol. The news of peace is, in fact, distasteful
to the Italians and to the Austrians of the southern
army. Nothing would please General Kuhn and
many a worthy brother in arms so much as the
opportunity of driving De Medici on the one
side and the Garibaldini on the other out of the
Tyrol at the point of the bayonet, as they believe
they could do, while the Italians are burning
passionate fever to do battle by sea and landbtonva: °
been
Lissa and Custozza. These hasty linesb
diligence,
written during a continuous journey, bb
burg with-
rail, and steamer, from Verona wei
nt hg
repose, for I
out a night's rest, or,of August by rail ;
left Verona at 6 30 a.m.
oanfternoon in time to pro-
arrived at Botzen in the
diligence,
in fact, 6th hour's
reached Landeck at
ceed to Landeck
dgence to Feldkirch, which
in a couple of hours by
13 hours; continued my journey,
7 30 in the forenoboyn te7th of August ; proceeded
to Bregen , z which I reached at 7
without stopping,
o'clock on the morning of the Bth, and thence, went
took no less than
across the lake to Lindau, from which the rail took
me up for Augsburg in time to post these inconse-
quent impressions of travel.

NAVAL ACADEMY.—The annual examination of
cadets who have recently been appointed for admission at
the American Naval Academy commenced on Tuesday
before the Academic Board of that institution. The fol-
lowing named young gentlemen have passed their proba-
tionary examination, viz. : —Nathan Sargent, jun., of
Montana Territory ; Wm. Godfrey Meyer, of Ohio ; Hiram
Hancock, of Pennsylve.nnia ; John D. Keeler, of Indiana ;
Joel Arthur Post, of New York ; Greenlief A. Merriman, of
Massachusetts ; Henry W. Schaeffer, of Illinois ; Frank B.
Veazie, of Massachussets ; Gaspar C. Barnette, of Michi-
. San.