The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-15 00:00:00

PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE SEAT OF

WAR.

VINZAGLIO.—i have just returned with.my camera
and three negatives from Palestro. I had taken five,
but a stupid Piedmontese soldier came and lifted up
my tent, and thrust his head and shoulders in,
knocking down a couple of them which I had stood
up to drain, and completing their destruction by lay-
ing hold of them with his clumsy paws and rubbing
away half the firm. They will not be quite like
what I hoped to send you. You will see many dead
bodies scattered about among the trees, and many
lying side by side, ready to be thrown into the hole
in which they will be interred as soon as it has been
dug, but no bodies of men in actual conflict; I felt
it would be absolutely impossible to get near enough
to pitch my camera, though I was myself able to see
the fight distinctly from beginning to end.
At Torrione the night preceding the battle,
nearly everybody was in the street expecting every
minute to hear the report of guns. I tried to get
some sleep, intending to start as soon as it was
light to see if there was any sign of a battle being
fought, or if the Austrians had continued their
retreat.
There was no time lost after the sun rose in pre-
paring to get away. I threw my glass over my
shoulder, put a piece of bread in my pocket, and
was off with the padre, his brother, and four or
five others. We took the direction of Palestro, and
pursuing our way across the fields, it was not until
we had got near it that we approached at all
closely the allied tooops. We first came upon a
strong force of Sardinians marching along the road
towards Confienza—remained standing in the field
beside the road until these had passd. The appear-
ance of the men and their bearing were such as
to inspire confidence in them. The expression
of their faces was resolute and determined, though
different. Some were smiling, and stepped out with
an air of eagerness, as if they were going to a
dance instead of a fight ; others seemed deadly
pale by comparison with the swarthy faces about
them, and these were not the least resolute-looking.
It sent a thrill through me as they went marching
by, entirely silent as regards voices, and giving no
sound but the regular tramp, tramp, mixed with
the rattling of the scabbards of the cavalry, and
the jingling of the accoutrements of the horses.
As soon as the roadwas sufficiently clear we crossed
- over and continued our wapaerOss the fields, regu-
lating our progress by the march of the troops,
which we could now see moving towards Palestro
in considerable numbers. With my glass I could
distinctly see the Austrians in the last-named place,
and as it was evident that the battle was to be
fought there we made our way to a little group of
tall trees, up which we climbed, perching our.
selves on the branches and waiting for the com-
mencement of the slaughter. It was the most
exciting time I ever spent in my life. My heart
beat at a tremendous rate, not from fear, for there
really was nothing to fear beyond the exceedingly
improbable event of a shell bursting among us, but
there was something terrible in the spectacle of
bodies of men preparing to kill each other.
The Austrians were the first to begin. I hap-
pened to be looking in their direction at the
moment and saw the bright flash, and at the same
time that I heard the roar of the gun, I saw a
slight movement among a body of soldiers who
were ascending the slope, and then the dirt fly up
in little columns behind them until the ball came to
a stop in the field. , Another report followed,
the troops increased their speed, and soon the
air was filled with a confused sound of
reports of small arms, the booming report of
cannon, and the shouting of the men engaged.
There was a large body of Piedmontese, who halted
when within a short distance of the Austrians and
fired, and then dashed forward to charge with the
bayonet. I could see an officer a little in advance
of the foremost rank waving his sword, and bis face
turned rather towards them, I suppose urging them
on, who was struck to the grou..d as if by a flash
of lightning. Another dark•looking figure ap-
peared immediately in his place ; the goal was
gained, there was a concussion, a confused waving
of arms, mingled with rapid flashes from concealed
individuals who seemed to be firing among the
attacking party, who were forced back in a mass,
and retired for some distance—the Austrians fol-
lowing them but a little way and then going back
and giving place to the artillery,which recommenced
firing, and the first few balls making a complete
line through the mass of troops who were mixed
up together in confusion. This was the most pain-
ful spectacle that met my eye during the whole of
the battle. While they were in actual conflict there
was something stirring and exciting, which made
one feel a longing to be among them, but to see
men struck, beaten, and torn to pieces when they
were in a perfectly helpless condition made my
blood run cold. Fortunately this did not last long.
A fresh body of troops advanced to the attack as con-
fidently as if nothing had happened to their comrades.
There was the same scene, but instead of their fol-
lowing the downward course of those who had pre-
ceded them, I could see them pressing closely upon
the Austrians in a dense mass. The Austrians held
their ground firmly and tried to force them back, but
not succeeding they began to give way, very
slowly at first, for those behind pressed those in front
forward, but gradually the backward movement
was communicated to those in the rear, and they
receded more and more rapidly before the pressure
of the allied troops until they were hidden from my
sight by intervening objects.
Looking to another part of the field,. I was sur-
prised to see a body of Austrians almost close to
our post of observation, advancing at quick step in
the direction of a body of French troops, who were
facing about, and in two minutes more were rush-
ing to meet them at a kind of trot. Several men
fell on both sides when they came into collision,
and others were forced into their places • those who
had fallen being trampled upon by both parties
alternately. Some hand-to-hand
fighting ensued,
the French fighting with the ferocity of tiger
cats, and gradually compelling the Austrians to re-
treat, not in a broken and disorderly manner, but in
a compact mass, which rendered it difficult to do
them much harm with the bayonet, but rendered
them an easy mark for the 'French rifles. The
French troops scattered themselves a little, and
fired into the retreating Austrians as fast as they
could load apparently without any orders, and
fighting on the simple
principle of doing the enemy
as much harm as possible. Two or three times
when the French soldiers approached very clOsely,
a portion of the Austrian troops turned at bay, and
drove them back a little, but the
moment they re-
sumed their retreat they were harassed anew. As
far as I could judge they lost ten times as many in
this way as in the actual conflict. It was a horrible
sight ; the contending parties were so close to me
that 1 could distinguish the cries of the wounded
mingled with French oaths, and the rattling
sound of the guns as they came in contact. It
was during this part of the battle that I and those
with me had a narrow escape of being shot like so
many rooks. A thick-headed Sardinian peasant,
whose patriotism exceeded his discretion, had
managed to get hold of a gun somewhere, and
thought it an excellent opportunity of getting a
shot at the Tedeschi. He
was perched on a branch
in the tree next the one in which I was, and had
Just got the gun to his shoulder when the padre's
brother, who was a little above him in the same
tree, caught sight of his operations, and with an
instinctive sense of the danger he was about to
bring upon us, gave him a tremendous kick on the
side of the head which sent him tumbling from
branch to branch almost to the ground.
There was a good deal more fighting than that I
have endeavoured to describe, but it was 'not so
closely under my eyes and by slow degrees the firing
ceased altogether, and we concluded the battle was
at an end. As soon as we descended to the ground
the priest proposed that we should see if we could
do anything for the wounded, and of course
we were all willing to adopt his suggestion. Their
groans would have directed us to where they were
lying, even if we had not been able to see them.
You can form no conception of the sickening sensa-
tion I felt when I found myself in the midst of pools
of blood, which splashed about at every step,
spreading a sickening smell in the atmosphere.
ve
and laid
g gently
on
nThe bodies of the slain were lying pell-mell among
thoevwedouenacdhedinsuccession,r very
few ofwhom were
them able to
nt with-
draw themselves from the horrible contact. We
in
theirl be
aa
vc k n g—t tithe edm te
ha u
sd , du yn it
ig
t,
ha
en dm we
no uwnhdoe
hd
asdi dgeo bn ye
to get some water returned with the patrols who
were out collecting the wounded. No time was lost
in selecting those, who were placed in the ambul-
ance first ; they were taken pretty much at random,
only those who seemed actually dying were passed
over in favour of those whose wounds seemed
slighter.—Phothographie News.

EXTENSION OF THE DIVORCE ACT.—The Govern-
ment have determined to extend the benefits conferred on
the community by the Divorce Act of 1857. The public
will have observed in our law reports the facilities already
afforded by the " full" Court by the absolute dissolution
of marriages no longer tolerable to the parties pc, ining
under their yoke. These facilities are now to be extended.
A bill just presented by the new Lord Chancellor enacts
that all the judges of the three superior courts of common
law shall be judges of the Divorce Court, in addition to the
judges already appointed by the Act 20 and 21 Victoria,
cap. 85. The Judge-Ordinary (Cresswell) and eight of the
other judges of the court are to appoint so many sittings of
the full Court (for dissolving marriages) every year, and at
such times as may appear to them necessary or convenient.
The Court, when it shall so think fit, is authorised to sit
with closed doors. The Court may make orders as to the
custody of children after a final decree of separation or
divorce (1 vineti/o. With a view to prevent fraud and collu-
sion, every petition for dissolving a marriage will be re.
ferred to the Attorney-General.