The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

PIEDMONT.

TURIN, APRIL 1.3.
The great question at present is, supposing the
dispute between Austria and Piedmont to take a
more serious turn, what will be the conduct of Eng-
land and France and how can they mediate ? What
is the cause of the difference b3tween. Piedmont and
Austria ? Austria's sole complaint is the liberty of
the Press enjoyed by Piedmont. Can' Louis Napo-
leon, who gags the press in France, who wished to
do so in Belgium, as was _proved by the speech of
Count Walewski at the Congress of Paris, cm lie
take part against Austria in such a quarrel ati
this? Apart from all tl iplomatio trickery, Louis
Napoleon, even to preserve the appearance of
cobs'stenay, must in the present disiuite act alan;.r
with and in favour of Austrii. The whole quarrel,
awarding to •the Emperor of Austrit and Count
Buol, is owing to the personal conduct of Count
Cavour in not restricting the pres in Piedmont.
If,Count Cavour attempted thiS, or even if he was
suspected of trying,to make any ioroatls upon the
constitution, he would at once cease to be,,minister.
The innumerable daily papers published not only in
Turin and Genoa, but in all the provincial towns,
.p.r0v,e1.44, Count -Cavour is only the org,n of ex-
pression of the unanimous feeling of the poput-it
France, to be consistent, must be against Pied-
mont.; and England is bound, not only in honour
but by interest, to support in Piedmont the .same
principles of which every inhabitant- of Great Bri-
tain is prowl. But if Austria attacks Piedmont
and France, and England do not interfere, is Pied-
mont able to defend herself? _ The Sardinian army
of all arms may consist of 50,000 men, which it
is possible to reinforce in less than a month ti
120,000 men who have all served as soldiers. An

occasional correspondent from Turin, in your
columns lately stated that when the Emperor of
Austria was at Milan the feasibility of making au
immediate attack upon Piedmont became a matter
of serious consideration. It is very possible that
the natural ill-temper of the young Emperor
showed itself in such an ebullition, but this must
have been speedily subdued by the cool-headed
science of the officers of the staff of the Austrian
army, perhaps the best educated of any in Eu-
rope. A glance at the map of the north of Italy
shows the folly of such an attempt. Take Milan
as the point from which the Austrians would pro-
bably concentrate to move to the attack. To their
right is Switzerland, and the left of the Piedmon-
tese is secure. From Arona, on Lago Maggiore,
down to Genoa, is a continuous line of railway,
nearly parallel to the frontier, though t. a certain
extent distant. This railway is fed from the railways
of the interior of Piedmont ; thus Alexandria, Mor-
tara, Novarra, are connected with all Piedmont.
Mortara is a great strategic point in possession of
the Piedmontese, and it has now a rail way to
Vigevano, which actually touches on the Lombard.
frontier. The high roads from Milan, Pavia, Pia-
cenza, Cremona, and Mantua, to Turin, pass
through Mortara, which is in fact the strongest
strategic point of Piedmont. Let us assume that
there are upwards of 100,000 Austrians in the
Lomhardo-Venetian states. They require not less
than 50,000 men to hold these slates in su:ljection,
thus leaving them 50,000 men against Piedmont.
To get into Piedmont they must either cross the
Ticino or the Po. If they move upon Novara, the
time they would occupy on such a march from the
frontier would allow the Piedmontese, by the rail-
ways, to muster in great force at Nsavara, from.
Biella and Ivrea in the north, Arona to the north-
east, Sus% at the bottom of Mount Canis, to the
west, Pinerolo to the south-west, the three last
passing through Turin, thence by Vercelli to No-
vena.' While these troops were moving, a large
force could come from- Genoa to Alexandria, thence
to Mortara, thus threatening the left flank of the
Austrians, while from Mortara by railway to Vige-
vano their rear could be attacked. If the Austrians
arrived near Novarra they would thus find their
front, flanks, and rear threatened by a superior
force. The great point is that railways are invalu-
able as a means of defence, and of comparatively •
little use to the invaders. If the Austrians make
their first move towards Motara, they are in a still
more ticklish position, as at this point the whole
force of Piedmont could be upon them in a few
hours. Suppose they were at first victorious, each
step in advance towards Turin or Alexandria would
increase their danger. If they attempted Alex-
andria, they would come upon the best fortified
part of Piedmont, and if they moved upon Genoa
not a man of them would ever return.

The Austrians in Piedmont would be under the
necessity of always moving in a solid undivided body,
as the Piedmontese, with all safety, by means of the
railways at their command, couldcrush de t achment4.

Such in Piedmont would be the force of military
against military. To the Sardinian army, however,
must be added the National Guard ; and, what
would be of still more detriment.to the Austrians,

the intense hatred in which they are held by the
population of Piedmont. Besides this, the moment
an Austrian army left the Lombardo-Venetian
territory, to attack Piedmont, all Ital would be in
a blaze, and the Austrians in Lombardy and Venice
would be obliged to act as the French did in 1813
and 1814, and retire into the garrisons, thus leav-
ing the Italian peoples to find their way to Pied-
mont, not only from. Austrian. Italy, but from
Naples, the Papal States, Tuscany, Modena, and
Parma, who, thus getting into tsle rear of the
Austrian army, would place it in the same diffi-
culty, and expose it to the same destruction, as be-
fell that of Dupont in Spain. If, therefore, France
and England would abandon their deceitful milk-
and-water diplomacy, and leave Piedmont and
Austria to settle their own affairs, the cause of
liberty and constitutional government Would, ere
long, be triumphant in the Italian peninsula.