The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-24 00:00:00

governmeß!,:. In the hospital at Alessandria I saw
m'vself a poor peasant, in his 60th year, bruised all
rout 41 the body by the effect of the bastinado, to
which iLe had been subjected. He was kindly nursed
by Count Gabrio Casati, the President of the Lom-
bardo Provisional . Government in 1848, who, leaving
the comfort of his ; palace, has enrolled himself in the
capacity of an erseer of the central infirmary. I
learned, both from him and the patient, all the
details of that agonising scene. The poor man was
flogged by order of an Austrian general who wanted
some information which the poor fellow was un-
willing or unable to give.
The Duke de Chartres, second son of the unfor-
tunate Duke of Orleans, has entered one of the
cavalry regiments belonging to this division. Two
days ago his royal highness was ordered on a recon-
naissance in the direction of Trino. The young prince
is scarcely 16 years old, and is very active and
intelligent. Everybody here speaks of him in the
highest terms. He did not meet the Austrians, but
he came back with very useful intelligence about
their movements. The report made by him on this
occasion was presented by the King to the Emperor,
who said he should be very happy -when he could
send to the Duke the gold medal of military valour.
What strange events we are witnessing ! The Aus-
trians are still concentrating on Pavia and Piacenza.
Their outposts in this direction reach as far as
Argine and Broni ,• their extreme right is still
posted at Vercelli. On Monday and Tuesday night
they made an attempt to occupy a Piedmontese post
on the bridge of Valenza, but did not succeed. They
were routed by a company of Bersaglieri, the
bayonets of whom they could not stand. The Croats
of the military frontier of Cronstad are not up to
the mark for such a game. Both Italians and
French are far superior in the bold and bloody
practice of this dangerous weapon. Yesterday
morning at daybreak the Austrians began to
open a tremendous fire on some boats which were
lying on the right bank of the Po near the railroad
which leads from Alessandria towards Mortara.
Their artillery did not, however, succeed in the
attempt, although the fire was not discontinued till
six o'clock a.m.
The positions of the allied armies have scarcely
changed since my last letter. There is, of course, a
constant marching of French and Piedmontese divi-
sions towards the centre of the Austrian lines, but
the movements are so rapid, and are kept so secret,
that it is almoqt impossible to follow them even on
the map. Since the day before yesterday, Marshal
Baraguay d'Hilliers' headquarters have been re-
moved to Tortona. His Excellency has taken up his
quarters in the palace of Marquis del Garofolo, who
was fortunate enough to present the old warrior with
the very map on which the first Napoleon traced
the movements of his army before the battle of
Marengo. You have not forgotten that on that
memorable day the headquarters of the First Consul
were established at Torre del Garofolo, a sort of
country house which belonged and still belongs to
that noble family. In the joy of the victory the
historical map had. been forgotten, and, as may
be easily conceived, it became a treasure with the
family. The arm chair on which Dessaix expired
is also preserved by the Garofolos. The outposts
of the marshal's corps d'armee are now placed at
Casatisma and Casteggio. This is to be regarded
as the extreme position of our right wing. Our
centre is still formed by the different corps which
strongly occupy those positions, which from Tor-
tona lengthen themselves towards Alessandria,
Valenza, Occimiano, Mortara, down to Casale.
The extreme left of the allied armies reaches as far
as Biella, where Garibaldi is posted with his daring
Cacciatori delle Alpi. The well-known General
Cialdini is still at Casale, but his division is in-
specting the country around, and is always to be
found where there is danger.
A powerful corps d'armee will pass through
Turin either to-day or to-morrow. It comes from
Susa, and will be directed either on the Po or on
Vercelli. The allies are thus swellins their number
every day. The enlistment of Italian volunteers
has not ceased, and I have been told that Colonel
Anfossi, a Swiss officer, and General Zambecari, a
Bolognese nobleman, have been entrusted by Count
Cavour with the organisation of two new regiments,
which will be called the " Cacciotori Italiani." A
Piedmontese officer of the general staff told me this
morning that the number of volunteers is already,
30,000. Money is collected for dressing and equip-
ping them. The Marchioness Pallvicino Trivulgio
is at the head of a committee of ladies who collect
funds for the purpose. Marchioness Teresa Doria
does the same work at Genoa. Count Ala Ponzone,
a rich nobleman from Cremona, has sent from Paris
a battery of eight guns, three horses, and 8,000 f.,
to be Given as a patriotic present to the corps of
Garibaldi. This brave general is still the idol of
Italians and the terror of Crofts. He has a good
number of French, Swiss, and even English volun-
teers amongst the men under his command. He
leads his ttalions to the attack, and is always
to be found in the thick of the fire. Your readers
will remember the accounts of him when he
was at Rome. He was then clad in a
most picturesque though eccentric costume—half
Spanish and half Italian of the middle ages. The
manto has been got rid of, and the Garibaldi of the
present day has assumed the elegant uniform of a
Piedmontese general. His men are dressed with a
green tunic with white trimming over the shoulders,
the officers' of silver. The corps of Guides wear a
grey jacket with black trimming on the hussar
fashion, large trousers of the same colour, a sabre,
and a Colt's revolver. They are always ahead on
ti:eir good chargers, and are much feared by
Austrian sharpshooters and Croat marauders. The
spirit of our army could not be better—it is panting
for the day of action.
P.S.—As I am closing my letter I hear that the
Austrians have left Vercelli after destroying the.
tete de pont they bad erected: They have also
retired from Stradella, carrying with them as
hostages the two Counts Pisani, and ten other dis-
tinguished citizens of that town.

TILE LATE EXTENSIVE FORGERIES

UPON BANKERS.

No intimation has yet been given as to the extent
of commutation of punishment that is to be granted
to the approver Chandler, who gave such important
evidence against the Wagner gang of forgers at the
late trial at the Central Criminal Court ; but it is
understood that, whatever the nominal sentence
may be that is passed upon him, measures will be
taken for his removal from this country. The pri-
soner, it appears, is very respectably connected, and
he at one time actually, it is said, realised an income
of nearly £2,000 a-year as a discount agent ; but his
habits of life were so extravagant that he spent
nearly double that sum, and, of course, speedily got
into difficulties, and he then, appropriated the
bills that were entrusted to him for discount to his
own use, and also used to advertise as a money
lender, and obtained possession of bills to a large
amount, and he was known to the police as one of
the gang of bill stealers that existed a few years
ago. This dishonest means of obtaining a livelihood
being at length put a stop to, it seems that Chandler
very soon afterwards became acquainted with
Wagner, and Bateman, his brother-in-law, and
there appears to be very little doubt that the
systematic plan of forgery upon bankers, which
was subsequently carried out, was concocted by
these three prisoners, and that the others, Hum-
phreys, Foster, and Bramwell, were merely subor-
dinate agents, although they rendered active assis-
tance in every respect that was required of them in
carrying out the plans of their confederates. The
public will remember that about three years ago a
man named Saward, who was known among his
fraternity as " Barrister Saward," he having been
actually, at an earlier period of his life, called to
the bar, and also as " Jem, the Penman," who was
the head of a gang of forgers that had victimised
the bankers of the metropolis to a very large amount
by a most ingenious system of forgery, almost equal
to that which has just been developed, was tried at
the Central Criminal Court, with some of his com-
panions, and sentenced to transportation for life.
It has been ascertained that the Wagner gang were
all acquainted with this man Saward, and it would
seem that when he was removed the leadership of
the gang was taken by Wagner, but he, like his
predecessor, kept as much out of active connection
with the forgeries that were committed as possible,
and was principally occupied in giving directions
and obtaining genuine signatures for the purpose
of their being afterwards copied and applied to
forged cheques. After the conviction of Saward,
the bankers of the metropolis appear to have had a
respite from any systematic plan of forgery, but
very soon after the release of Wagner and his bro-
ther-in-law Bateman, in 1856, under tickets of
leave, from the number of forged cheques that were
i'aid
b yt htahte,
presented, and which in too many instances, unfor-
tunately, were
ucpleuinits, inquiry. dialtsourntehde
peculiar circumstances
out to be connected with the forgeries, no doubt
was entertained that another guilty confederation,
similar to that of Saward and his associates, had
been established, and that a m e than ordinary
amount of tact and ingenuity was displayed by the
members of the gang to carry out their. scheme of
Plunder successfully, and at the same time to
avoid detection. It was in vain that every exer-
tion was used by the police to discover the. guilty
parties, and they were for many months com-
pletely at fault. It a forgery was discovered, the
party who presented it appeared by the documents
furnished to him so completely to be an innocent
agent, and the dupe of the really guilty, that there
did not appear to be the slightest ground for de-
taining him, and the only caution that was requi-
site afterwards was, that the same person should
not be employed a second time to present a forged
instrument ; but, having become mixed up with his