The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-22 00:00:00

THE SU N, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENIN G, J UNE 22, 1859,

HEAD-QUARTERS OF 7HE SECOND

AUSTRIAN ARMY.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
SORESINA, JUNE 10.

Nearly all the wounded Austrians are to-day in
safety behing.the Mincio, none but utterly hope-
less cases having been left behind. Poor fellows,
they have had a dreadful week of it. In excellent
health and on horseback, I have found the sun and
dust (the latter especially) almost insupportable ;
what must some of them have suffered, dragged
along ten or twelve hours a day on the springless
ox carts of the country ? I mentioned to you
before that the ambulance waggons are numerous
with this army, much more so than is usual with
any other European army, but they still fall far
short of the exigencies of such a retreat as this.
The heavy baggage is two days' march behind us,
that is to say two days' march nearer the Mincio,
so the roads are now unencumbered ; but at first a
total jamb seemed inevitable. This will not sur-
prise you when you consider that this army with its
trains of artillery, pontoons, ambulances, baggage,
&e., cannot occupy less than 120 miles of road. The
day we left Abbiate Grasso it took me three hours
to reach Castelletto, a village only two miles off,
even on horseback, I having missed the opportunity
of riding with the General, owing to a Croat having
given over the British Commissioner, Captain
Mildmay, to the hands of the Proiost-Martial, on
suspicion of being a Piedmontese. He was liberated
after some little trouble, but at head-quarters they
positively forbad him to run the risk, of riding
back through the town to call for me, as had been
agreed, so he sent a messenger, who arrived about
an hour afterwards, telling me where to join him.
I accordingly mounted and proceeded leisurely to
the saburb where the head-quarters had been, and
where I expected still to find them. I confess I
felt exceedingly uncomfortable when I discovered
that every Austrian was gone, and that my appear-
ance caused such alarm to the Italians that all I
approached to ask the way took to their heels. It
was not till they had closed and locked their front
gates that a dozen of them ventured to appear at a
first floor window to parley, but then we soon came
to understand each other, as they all spoke at once.
From Binasco we went on the 6th inst., by Pavia,
to Belgiojoso ; this journey of under 20 miles, re-
quiring 11 hours, so crowded were the roads,
although the finest and broadest in Europe. Had
the French been in a condition to follow, confusion
must have ensued. That they did not follow proves
beyond the possibility of a doubt that they under-
state their loss at the battle of Magenta, if it be
true, as the telegraph announces, that they pre-
tend only to have had 2,500 killed there. If their
loss was so trifling, why did they pause four days ?
On Wednesday, the Bth, their advanced guard
first came on the Austrian rear guard, General
Boer's brigade, near Malegnano. In the fight which
ensued General Boer was killed, but the next day,
yesterday, Benedek moved out from Lodi and drove
the French beyond the Lambro, whence they, did
not venture to return to molest, as they might have
done, the corps which to-day crossed the Adda.
The head-quarters remained two days at Codogno,
whence they proceeded yesterday to Cavatigozzi, on
the direct road to Mantua, and here to-day, to be in
the centre of the army.
The army has retreated in three main columns,
the first, second, and third corps, and part of the
seventh in the centre, protected by the rest of the
seventh and the eighth on the right flank, and by
the fifth, joined at Codogno by the ninth, on the left
flank. Urban holds Treviglio and Bergamo on the
extreme right. The sixth corps is at Verona, the
11th at Mantua; so the army is approaching its
resources. By this evening the whole will be across
the Adda•—the Bth and part of the 7th corps by
Lodi, where there was a wooden bridge, which is
probably burnt at the time I write. Pontoon
bridges were thrown across at Vinzasca and Fermi-
gana for other corps., and the sth and 9th and the
garrisons of Piacenza and Pavia cross at the fortress
of Pizzighettone. The two former places are already
destroyed and abandoned ; the last-named and Lodi
will be demolished to-morrow, or perhaps next day.
Pavia was given up on the 6th, the day I was there,
but re-occupied on the Bth. Yesterday the place
was again abandoned. Piacenza was almost perfect
as an entrenched camp for about 40,000 men. How
they can have made up their minds to destroy the
result of so much skill and labour I know not. It
must strike all who have watched the events of the
last few weeks attentively that there have been
frequent changes of purpose in the Austrian coun-
cils. There was the resolve to act entirely on the
defensive ; then the threat to overrun Piedmont
after three days ; then that was not carried out at
the request of England ; then a defensive position
was taken in the Lomellina, and abandoned almost
without defence; then the troops crossed the
Ticino so scattered that it must have been intended
either to march straight back to the Mincio, or
else to try some coup-de-main on the left ; the
next day battle was accepted, and the victory
abandoned the day after, when nothing was
requisite to secure it but to remain quiet; then
came the retreat ; then the day before yesterday
Pavia was re-occupied, and Benedek turned so
fiercely on the Frenchman that his outposts ran no
risk of being disturbed for some time to come ; then
yesterday the backward movement was resumed,
and to-day here is the army on the east of the Adda.
I. suppose you look to me for some explanation of
all this, but I can only guess what is wrong, so I
will not risk being unjust by telling you what I
guess, but will mention some facts which will enable
you to judge for yourself. 1. There was latterly
an electric telegraph direct from Vienna to the head-
quarters of the operating army, and messages used
to arrive sometimes every half-hour, even during
the night, much to the disturbance of the superior
staff. 2. General Hess, Count Gyulails superior
officer, met him at Bereguardo on the morning
of the 3d inst., at daybreak. 3. General Hess was
present at the battle of Magenta next day.
Now, whether this retreat is a masterly move-
ment or a most weak one, I think that it will be
unfair, considering these coincidences, to give all
the praise or all the blame to Count Gyulai. Of
course, the whole army is furious ; the Lancers
have torn the flags from their lanced ; the Sagers
have thrown aside the flowers they always carry in
their hats during war. Indiscreet officers give vent
to their feeling. in words ; the more discreet twirl
their moustaches by the hour together; but I must
in justice add that the general tone is that of stern
determination to let the future atone for the past.
The more I see of this huge army the more con-
vinced I am becoming that, whatever Power de-
votes its attention to the perfection of the indi-
vidual soldier will secure an almost incalculable
advantage in warfare by being able to use fewer,
men, who will be more easily fed, and who can
be brought to bear on any one point with much
greater facility. With the Austrian system of
recruiting it is impossible to make really efficient
soldiers. A peasant boy is enlisted nominally for
eigkt, years, but after two leave of absence is
given, and he is not called on again except in case
of war. Three-fourths of this army, then, even of
the Artillerymen, are men of less than two years'
service. To such men the warfare of this country
must be most trying. The trees are so numerous
that they never see their enemy till within a couple
of hundred yards, and they never see their own sup-
ports. That an army so composed can have fought
on equal terms for ten hours with a superior force
of picked French troops proves that with good
management during this campaign the men can be
depended on next year to do anything which sol-
diers have ever done.
Like all allied armies, the French and Sardinians
abuse each other. French prisoners say of their
friends, " Ces . . . la ne se battent pas," and a Sar-
dinian gentleman, carried off by a patrol the day
before yesterday, says the French Guards never
stopped running from Magenta tilLthey reached
Vercelli. 2,000 Austrian soldiers were got together
close to Milan, having straggled so far as that when
their regiments were beaten back on the 4th. Some
of them were seen fraternising with parties of
French who did not know the country and were
walking off straight to Milan. The French having
brandy in their canteens and the Austrians water
may have added to their mutual amiability. The
Commissariat of this army is not good. Clam's men
left Milan for San Martino at daybreak on the 3d
inst., some of them having just arrived from Verona,
and for 50 hours I am assured they did not even
get a piece of bread.
aslAoynndeisw division of the armies is expected shortly,
the Ist and 9th corps, though operating with the
anremary, belonging,Trie s
Trieste,
and to s thealso first.dest
when thoroughly organised.
Each Austrian corps d' arme consistsiil •- 1
sions under a lieute e • 1
nant-general, or lieutenant- ,
field-marshal, as they call bi
it here ; the divisions
generally have two brigades, but some few have
three ; the brigade consists of four b • attalions of
infantry, a troop of cavalry, and a battery of artil-
lery--in all 4,200 men when complete'. Besides
eorldflefwo
ro fourthldty
these there is a force of reserve artillery and a I
cavalry corps, under General Count Mensdorneglected
ff, a
e
alme of the
g letterllic e tor. mßeiit itol thy aeyn,
colonel who led that gallant charge at Ponte
imoostaydalsolsiitn
Magenta. It was Baron Editsheim, with three
troops of his regiment, the Preussen II u3StITS. In
consequence of the frightful
slaughter of officers in
every late affair, the Emperor has ordered that
they
shall wear caps. This will be a great boon to the
Quartermaster-General's Staff, of whom 13 have
fallen already, being so easily known by their light
green plumes. If a battle is accepted on this side
of the Mincio, the Austrians must hurry up more
cavalry. At present they have only 5,000, quite
to
enough for patrolling, but utterly insufficient

manoeuvre on the open country about Montechiaro
and Castiglione.
The people are very frank with the Austrian
officers. They acknowledge that they would prefer
to be under a purely Lombard Government, but
they add that if either France or Savoy attempt to
annex them they will assist the Austrians to come
back.

We are promised the re-establishment of postal
communication to-morrow. It has been quite cut
off for the last ten days, so that I have been much
puzzled how to send my letters to you. However,
I hope you have received them safe.

THE HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE
ALLIED ARMIES IN ITALY.

A letter from Cassano, on the banks of the Adda,
dated June 13, says :
Another promenade militaire has brought us
over the Adda. Although the Austrians have suc-
ceeded this time better than before in destroying
the bridges over tke river, not only at Lodi but
likewise at this place and Vaprio, this measure has,
as you see, not very much retarded the progress
of the allies. Provided as they are with a nu-
merous pontoon train, calculated especially for
this country, with its numerous rivers and
canals intersecting the road, a few hours were
sufficient to re-establish the means of commu-
nication. As for defending the banks of
the Adda, the Austrians could scarcely think of
it, except in a very desperate case. The reason of
this is simple enough. The right, or Lombard bank
of the river, commands the opposite bank almost all
along its course. A crest or plateau of from 40 to
100 feet in height skirts the right bank, now
approaching the river quite close, and now receding
a little distance from it. The other side, on the
contrary, is an uninterrupted plain, which the eye
can follow almost to the banks of the next tributary
of the Adda and Po—the Serio. It is something
like that of San Martino and Turbigo on the Ticino,
with the difference, however, that there is no canal
and corresponding elevation on the opposite bank.
There is, indeed, a canal alongsidethis river, which
fertilises the district of Lodi, but it is on this side
of it, and at this point so close to it, that it looks
more like a little branch than a separate stream,
only a narrow bank intervening between the two.
The Adda is the last line of defence which exists
up, to the Mincio ; there are, indeed, here and there
positions which possess a certain strength, but they
are isolated points only, where the defender may
offer a battle under favourable conditions, if he be
so inclined. All the different roads which come
from north-west and south, after passing the Adda,
unite in two main roads, one in the north by
Brescia to Verona, and the other by Pizzighettone
and Cremona towards Mantua. These two roads,
or one of them, at any rate, must always be the line
of operations for an army marching to the east, but
there are so many byroads and crossroads connect-
ing the two that for an array used to forced marches
nothing is easier than to deceive the enemy on the
object of its operations. The more one approaches
the Mincio the easier this becomes, for the two
main roads converge.
Whether the Austrians will receive us in the
famous rectangle of fortresses, or will meet us on
the road, remains to be seen. We know that they
have received great reinforcements, and likewise
that others are still on the road ; it will probably
depend on whether they are able to bring them up
in time. On the other hand, the allies have like-
wise taken their measures to oppose to these efforts
on the part of the enemy others on their side.
Whatever one may say about the rapidity with
which the French army appeared on the scene of
action in Italy, France was not prepared for the
war; the regiments -which had to leave in hot haste
were on a peace footing, except those which came
from Algeria. They had scarcely more than one-
half of their strength, the rest being on what is
called conge renouvelable—that is, after serving
three or four years, the men are allowed to go on
furlough, which is renewed at short piriods, until
they have served their time. It is only since the
war has begun that these men have been called in,
and most of them have by this time arrived. Their
number alone-will add quite a third to the forces,
and then it must be remembered that these are not
recruits, but seasoned soldiers, most of them dating
from the Crimean campaign.
Thus both parties are preparing with equal
vigour for the great occasion. In the meantime,
until it happens, the allied armies, at any rate,
have an agreeable time of it in this fertile and
beautiful Lombard plain, through which they are
marching. It is like an agreeable promenade in a
park. Although the country between Milan and
the Adda is similar to that further west, yet the
richness of the vegetation, combined with the per-
fection of cultivation, gives it an entirely different
character. Thus you have the long, straight
chaussees, it is true, but they are not those mono-
tonous sunburnt roads, with equally monotonous
rows of willows, or naked, closely-planted poplars,
cropped close as charity boys, but you have a road
protected in most parts by high, full-spread chest-
nuts, poplars, and elms, which impart shade even
at noon-day. Two little ditches, with clear ,flow-
ing streams, on both sides, impart additional:fresh-
ness, and vivify a dense mass of brushwood and
creepers at the foot of the high trees. Besides the
wild vine, which creeps up gracefully under the
branches of its more powerful neighbours, you find
there all the old acquaintances—the nut, the rasp-
berry, the cranberry, and every variety of the
three, while at their feet near the fresh water,
nestle a number of wild flowers in all their varied
garments. The side roads are no longer those tire-
some nursery garden rows, which must have served
as models for the background in the pictures of the
early Italian school. The richness of the vegetation
has transformed them into delicious cool country
lanes. The rice-fields have quite disappeared, and
the corn-fields are much less frequent. Instead of
them the eye roams over large plots of grass, chiefly
thick Lucerne, which is grown in large quantities in
this country, renowned for its dairies. The formal en-
closures beyond are so completely hidden by the rich-
ness of the brushwood and the free growth of the
trees that they seem the borders of a considerable
forest, just sufficiently cleared to admit the grass-
plot. All this mass of verdure is animated by the
song of the nightingale, the blackbird, and lark,
who seem to have forgotten the numerous sports-
men of Lombardy, or, perhaps, think that while
the cryis " lJiorte at Tedeschi'" they, as good patriots,
have nothing to fear. From Milan all along to the
Adda the villages succeed each other with as much
rapidity almost as in the neighbourhood of Lon-
don, only they are picturesque Italian villages,
and not uniform suburban hamlets. Besides these
you almost every moment meet one of the
cascini, or large detached farmhouses, or see them in
the distance, peeping out of the trees beyond the
road. Every one is the centre of groups of peasants,
who seem to have forgotten their work in their
anxiety to have a look at the troops. Everywhere
you are greeted by the sounds of music and glasses,
gaping crowds saluting and crying " Evviva,".
troops reposing and refreshing themselves ; the
whole looks like going to a fair.

And through this jubilee the soldiers have to
march by easy stages. When they arrive at the
halt for the day they encamp in the green fields to
the right and the left, the tents are soon pitched,
there is plenty of wine, bread, and meat, plenty of
wood to cook with, and water everywhere. A de-
tachment goes to the village to fetch clean straw,
and the bivouac is as comfortable as can be. Now
and then, indeed, a shower comes down to spoil
the fun, but no one cares much about this while
there is plenty to eat and drink, and the next
morning the sun does the rest. Not the least im-
portant part of the afternoon's business is foraging
for dainties, which is pleasant work among such
numbers of rich farms; eggs, fowls, and milk are
never wanting, nor is the payment at full market
price only, but often rather more.' , If it goes on
like this, the peasant will soon lose his fear of war,
which, in his mind, is always equivalent to'giving
without receiving.
The stir, animation, and easy life which the army
leads at present are, it seems, contagious, for every-
where you see volunteers, whom you can recognise
by the tricoloured feathers in the hat, and often a
piece of printed paper behind it, with Clacciatori
delli Alpi printed on it. The name of Garibaldi,
the less severe discipline, as it is supposed, and the
romantic character which attaches to his troops,
seem all to be so many allurements, which take
much more than the regular military sorvice in the
regiments. With all this the good people, I think,
rather deceive themselves, for the Cacciatori delli
Alpi have just as much regular drilling to undergo
before they join as if they were regular soldiers of
the line of his Majesty Vittorio Emmanuele 11.
Those who are under the superintendence of the
captain of the depot at Como have, I dare say, found
this out by this time;

The question of a further issue of Victoria .Six
per Cent. debentures is under discuSsion by the agents of
the colony in London, but the joint-stock banks being wil.
Hug to make advances on this security, there is no com-
pulsion from want of funds to bring them out at any path•
cular time.

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THE PEERAGE.

The present Ministers have not yet appealed to
their constituencies, they have exercised no act of
Government, they have scarcely had time to enter
the offices of their several departments, and yet
they have elevated two gentlemen to the Peerage
—Sir Benjamin Hall and Mr. Vernon Smith. It
is, of course, desirable that when a politican has
established an inconvenient claim to office there
should exist some honour which he may be induced
to accept instead of the coveted post; nor can we
doubt that in the cases of Sir Benjamin Hall and
Mr. Vernon Smith the usefulness of the institution
has been properly tested. But it remains to be I
seen how long the Peerage can be made to render
such services without losing its efficiency as a part
of the Constitution. It must be confessed that of
late the privilege of creating peers has been suffi-
ciently asserted. In the memory of living men the
House of Lords consisted of little more than 250
mombers, even counting the 28 representatives of the
Irish Peerage; now the number is about 460, and
there is every reason to believe that in a few years it
will have reached 500. In fact, since the advent
to power of the second Pitt the British peerage has
changed its character. Pitt's policy placed the
greater part of the Tory gentry in the Upper
House, and Pitt's successors kept possession of
power for the first 30 years of this century. The
consequence was that the rural balance of power
was disordered, and in every county there were old,
wealthy, and powerful Whig families in the ranks
of the commonalty, while muchsinferior houses en-
joyed the honours of the peerage. That Earl Grey
and Lord Melbourne should have advised King
William and her present Majesty to remedy these
inequalities was only natural, nor can we blame
them, although from 1830 to 1841 an immense in-
crease was made in the number of the Lords, an in-
crease loudly protested against by the Tories of
that day.
But with the equalisation of honours between
the two great parties this extravagant diffusion of
honours might well have ceased. We are not about
to indulge in any sentimentalism with respect to
the aristocracy and its privileges, but, for better or
worse, the House of Lords is an institution of the
country, and ought not to be tampered with to suit
the convenience, of every Minister. Now, it seems
to us that the making of peers has for the last three
or four years especially been carrried to a length
which is prejudicial to the dignity of the Upper
House. Take first the creatiou of law Lords. Three
years since the house took upon itself to declare that
a peerage for life did not confer the right of sitting
and voting as a peer of Parliament. On the legal
question it is our duty to submit to this high
authority, but, as it is notorious that the oppo-
sition was prompted by other than legal convic-
tions, we may ask what has the House of Lords
gained by this obstinacy in refusing the admission
of peers for life ? There are now sitting on its
benches five ex-Chancellors—Lords Lyndhurst,
Brougham, St. Leonards, Cranworth, and Chelms-
ford. Lord Wensleydale and Lord Kingsdown
have been lately created, Lord Cottenham and
Lord Truro are dead, leaving families to inherit
their honours. So great is the necessary influx
of legal personages that men without sons are
notoriously sought, in order not to fill the house in
the second generation with members of no ancient
lineage and with very slender fortunes. But, with
every endeavour to keep down the number of
ennobled legal families, the Peerage is receiving a
continual accession of them, while the appellate
jurisdiction, the pretext for this yearly creation of
new Barons, is inefficient and dilatory to a degree
known only to lawyers and their unfortunate
clients. But, if veteran judges must perforce be
brought into the house, and their families, rich or
poor, be made part of the Peerage in order to obtain
a Supreme Court, there can be no such reason for
constant creations of country gentlemen and second-
rate politicians. For some time this process has
been going on with increased rapidity.' We have
had the Peerages of Aveland, Fermoy (Irish), Ken-
mare, Chesham, and Ebury conferred on indivi-
duals more or less commonplace ; while Lyons,
Wensleydale, and Macaulay suggest merit of
various kinds. Since Lord Derby's accession to
office we have been favoured, as far as we recollect,
with Chelmsford, Kingsdown, Churston, Clyde,
Elphinstone, Leconfield, Egerton, Tredegar—pretty
well it will be allowed for sixteen months. And
now we have two new Peerages, while other ambi-
tious Whigs will, no doubt, shortly make their way
to that empyrean of earthly greatness—the Upper
House. To this must be added the constant in-
crease by the establishment of claims to dormant
titles, the calling out of abeyance of baronies by
writ, and the sundering of these old dignities from
the higher ones with which they were held. Thus
within the last year the two Scotch Peerages of
Newburgh and Herries have been successfully
claimed; a nephew of the late Duke of Leeds has
succeeded to his barony of Conyers, and no doubt
other events of the same kind have taken place.
The extinctions of Peerages by failure of heirs by
no means counteracts this constant increase, and
it is for the Lords, who have shown themselves so
indignant at the very moderate and reasonable
proposal of creating one or two lawyers Peers for
life, to consider how far the indefinite extension
of their numbers is consistent with their dignity
and usefulness. To us it seems that a change in
the constitution of the Upper House must sooner
or later be the result of this extravagant scattering
of honours..