The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-10 00:00:00

TILE 114TTLE OF MAGENTA.

At letter from Novara of the sth, in the Sleek,
referring to the combat at Turbigo, says :—" I
know not whether the Turcos had forgotten their
cartridges, or whether, as on leaving Genoa, they
threw them into the river as a useless incumbrance,
but they rushed towards the cannon without firing
a shot. An officer who was prevent at the affair
states that he never witnessed such an extraor-
dinary sight. 'At the sound of the bugle the
Turcos spread about in all directions, threw them-
selves on the ground, and advanced by bounds
more like tigers than men. At every leap they
raised a shrill cry which drowned the sound of the
artillery. They had scarcely advanced half way,
when the artillerymen, seeing what they imagined
to be black monsters approaching under a fire of
grape, detached their horses and rode off.
The Turcos, furious at seeing a part of
their prey escape them, redoubled their ardour
and fell like lightning on the guns. They
killed the gunners, massacred those within reach
of their bayonets, and returned at double quick
time with the seven guns which they had taken.
The Emperor was present at this feat of arms which
forms the pendant to that of Palestro. Strange to
say, they bad only ten men killed and a few
wounded. I went yesterday to Turbigo. The
three roads which lead to the Ticino were natu-
rally covered with cannon, ammunition waggons,
and regiments on the march. Atfer a walk of
three quarters of an hour through cross roads, I
reached a plateau whence I could see the Ticino,
with it; yellow water running between two
wooded hills. The French troops crossed the
river on two bridges of boats, the head of the
column being on the Lombard side while the other
divisions, which followed, extended as far as the
gates of Novara. The difficulties which an army
meets with when marching in good order will give
some idea of what must be met with by one when
retreating in disorder. On returning in the even-
ing we saw on a height a numerous staff, among
whom I distinguished King Victor Emmanuel. He
was looking through a glass at a particular point
in the horizon. I turned my eye in the direction,
and saw a cloud of greyish smoke rising over the
village of Buffalora. I was informed by a Sardi-
nian officer that fighting had been going on for
several hours on the other side of the Ticino. Up
to this time there had been only combats, but the
4th was to be signalised by a great battle. The
Austrians had executed on the left bank of the
river the same movement that the Emperor had
made on the right. A part of the troops having
already crossed, marching towards Milan, General
Giulay conceived the project of cuttng the French
army, in two while one part was on either side o
the river. The divisions of the Grenadiers of the
Guard, composed of three regiments, and the regi-
ment of Zouaves, occupied an advanced position to the
right of the bridge between Buffalora and Magenta.
This division was only from 8,000 to 9,000 strong,
and only had half a battery of artillery. About noon
50,000 Austrians, with 60 pieces of cannon attacked
this advanced guard. The French stood their
ground extremely well, and repulsed the enemy,
"who, seeing the small number of their opponents,
returned to the charge with increased impetuosity.
The Austrians were repulsed a second and a third
time. For an hour and a half the second regiment
alone had to sustain the shock of an entire Austrian
division, and for four hours the Guard, under a
heavy fire of grape, and having to defend itself on
all sides at once, remained firm, and did not retire
an inch. The simultaneous arrival of Gen. Niel,
who turned back as soon as he knew that the enemy
had attacked his left flank, and of Gen. *Mahon
who came up at the head of two divisions, soon
changed the state of things. The French troops
assumed the offensive, and attacked the enemy with
such vigour that they could make but a feeble re-
sistance. At 8 o'clock thebattle finished by the route
of the Austrian army, which lost 30 pieces of cannon.
The number of prisoners is incalculable ; 15,000
are spoken of. The Emperor remained during the
whole time close to the field of battle."
A Paris letter in the Independance also gives
some particulars :—" The Emperor by a movement
executed with admirable rapidity was able to con-
centrate almost all the effective of the Franco-
Sardinian army, and, by crossing the Ticino, to
remove the theatre of the war into the plains of
Lombardy. The Austrians, on their part, as soon
as they could suspect the diversion effected by the
allies, also concentrated on the left bank of the
Ticino with an activity to which justice must be
rendered •, and they were able to surprise the
Imperial Guard, which was nearly isolated, as ap-
pears from the despatch sent by the Emperor, The
object of the Austrian attack was of the highest im-
portance—the Austrian generals justly conjectured