The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-11 00:00:00

New ditto..

767 50 ..

767 50

Lyons and Mediterranean Bl5 .. 816 25
Geneva 5OO 487 50

Southern

465 -

Western
Eastern
596 25 .. 596 25
Sardinian 370 .. 360
Austrian
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 12}c. ; money,
25f. 9c. ; three months, paper, 24f. 971 c.; money, 21f. 921 e.

THE PASSAGE OF TEE TICINO AND
BATTLE OF MAGENTA.

The lifoniteur of yesterday contained the follow-
ing bulletin of the army of Italy :
Headquarters of San Marto, June 5.
The French army, assembled round Alessandria,
had before it great obstacles to overcome. If it
marched on Piacenza, it would have had to lay
siege to that place and to open for itself, by main
force, the passage of the Po, which at this spot is
not less than 900 metres wide, and this most diffi-
cult operation was to be executed in presence of an
enemy's army of more than 200,000 men.
If the Emperor crossed the river at Valentia,
he would find the enemy concentrated on the left
bank at Mortara, and he could not attack him in
this position unless by separate columns, manoeuv-
ring in the midst of a country intersected by canals
and rice grounds. There was, therefore, on both
sides an almost insurmountable obstacle ; the Em-
peror resolved to turn it, and he deceived the
Austrians by concentrating his army on the right,
and causing it to occupy Casteggio, and even Bobbio
on the Trebia.
On the 31st of May, the army received the order
to march to the left and crossed the Po at Casale, the
bridge of which had remained in our possession. It
immediately took the Vercelli road where the passage
of the Sesia was effected to protect and cover our
rapid march on Novara. The efforts of the army
were directed to the right on Robbio ; and two
combats, glorious for the Sardinian troops, fought
on this side, had also the effect of inducing the
enemy to believe that we were marching on Mor-
tara. But during this time the French army had
proceeded towards Novara, and had taken up there
a position on the same ground where the King
Charles Albert had fought ten years before. There
it could make head against the enemy should he
make his appearance.
Thus this bold march had been protected by
100,000 men encamped on our right flank at Olengo,
in front of Novara. Under these circumstances, it
was therefore to the reserve that the Emperor was
to confide the execution of the movement that took
place in the rear of the line of battle.
On the 2d of June a division of the Imperial
Guard was directed to Turbigo on the Ticino, and
meeting with no resistance there it threw across
three bridges.
The Emperor, having collected notices that
agreed in showing him that the enemy was retiring
on the left bank of the river, caused the Ticino to
be passed at this spot by the army corps of General
M'Mahon, followed next day by a division of the
Sardinian army.
Hardly had our troops taken possession on the'
Lombard bank when they, were attacked by an
Austrian corps sent from Milan by the railway.
They repulsed it victoriously under the eyes of the
Emperor.
On the same day, June 2, the divishn edTspinasse
nthranced 4, roau Lowa
as far as Trecate, whence it threatened the bridge
hoad cif linfralora the enemy evacuated precipi-
tously the entrenchments he had thrown up on this
point, and fell back on the left bank, after blowing
up the stone bridge crossing the river at this spot.
Nevertheless, the effect of his mining-chambers was
not complete, and the two arches he had intended
to destroy having merely subsided without falling
to pieces, the thoroughfare was not interrupted.
The day of the 4th had been fixed upon by the
Emperor for taking definitive possession of the left
bank of Ticino. The army corps of Gen. M'Mahon,
reinforced by the voltigeur division of the Imperial
Guard, and followed by the whole army of the
King of Sardinia, was to proceed from Turbigo to
Buffalora and Magenta, whilst the grenadier divi-
sion of the Imperial Guard would seize the bridge-
head of Buffalora on the left bank, and the army
corps of Marshal Canrobert would advance on the
right bank, to pass the Ticino at the same point.
The execution of this plan of operations was dis-
turbed by some of those incidents that in warfare
must be taken into account. The King's army was
retarded in its passage of the river, and only one
of its divisions could follow at a distance the corps
of General M'Mahon.
The march of the Espinasse division met also
with delays ; and, on the other hand, when the
corps of Marshal Canrobert left Novara to rejoin
the Emperor, who had personally gone to the
bridge-head of Buffalora, this corps found the road
so encumbered that it could only reach the Ticino
quite late.
Such was the situation of things, and the Em-
peror was waiting, not without anxiety, for the
signal of the arrival of General MacMalion's corps
at Buffalora, when, about two o'clock, he heard on
this side very heavy firing of small arms and artil-
lery.
It was the moment to sustain it by marching on
Magenta. The Emperor immediately despatched
Wimpffen's brigade against the formidable positions
held by the Austrians in front of the bridge; the
brigade of Cler followed the movement. The heights
bordering the Naviglio (a large canal) and the
village of Buffalora were promptly carried by the
spirit of our troops ; but they then found themselves
confronting considerable masses whom they could
not drive back, and who arrested their progress.
In the meantime Marshal Canrobert's army-corps
did not appear, and on the other hand the cannon-
ade and musketry fire that had signalled the arrival
of General MacMahon had completely ceased. Had
the general's column been repulsed, and had the
grenadier division of the guard to sustain itself
alone the entire effort of the enemy ?
It is here the proper time for explaining the
manoeuvre effected by the Austrians. When they
learned on the night of June 2, that the French
army had surprised the passage of the Ticino at
Turbigo, they had rapidly sent across that river, at
Vigevano, three or their army corps, which burnt
the bridges behind them. On the morning of the
4th they went before the Emperor to the number
of 125,000 men, and it was against these dispropor-
tionate forces that the grenadier division of the
Guard, with whom was the Emperor, had singly to
contend.
In these critical circumstances, General Regnaud
de Saint Jean d'Angely gave proof of the utmost
energy, as also did the generals commanding under
his orders. The general of division, Mellinet, had
two horses killed under him. General Cler fell
mortally wounded; General Wimpffen was wounded
in the head ; the Commanders Desme and Maudhay,
of the Grenadiers, were killed; the Zouaves lost
200 men, and the Grenadiers sustained a loss no
less considerable.
At length, after a struggle of four hours, during
which Mellinet's division suffered without flinching
the attacks of the enemy, Picard's brigade, with
Canrobert at its head, arrived on the field of battle.
Shortly after appeared Vinoy's division, from
General Niel's corps, which the Emperor had sent
for, and finally Renault's and Trocha s divisions of
Marshal Canrobert's corps.
At the same time General MacMahon's cannon
were again heard in the distance. The general's
corps, retarded in its march and less numerous
than it should have been, had advanced in two
columns on Magenta and Buffalora.
The enemy having attempted to advance between
these two columns for the purpose of cutting them
off, General M'Mahon had rallied the right, with
the left towards Magenta, and this explains why'
the firing had ceased at the beginning of the action
on the side of Buffaiora. In fact, the Austrians,
seeing themselves pressed on their front
and left, had evacuated the village of Buffalora
and advanced with the greater part of their
forces against General MacMahon, in front of
Magenta. The 45th Regiment of the Line rushed
intrepidly to attack the farm of Cascina Nuova,
which is before the village, and which was defended
by two Hungarian regiments. Fifteen hundred
men of the enemy there laid down their arms, and
the flag was taken from the dead body of the
colonel. In the meantime Motterouge's division
was pressed hard by considerable forces that