Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-06-10
Correspondence OF the London POST
rHE HORRORS OF AUSTRIAN WARFARE

The horrors committed by the hordes Of sa-
wages under the command Of Gen. Gyulai ere
only to be cQuallrd in the accounts of the in
vasion BY .Attila. At =! in the morning, or
thcrcabouis, a numerous band Of .iuStrians, in
dirtv and torn attire. entered the city OF Tor.
tona, and took up their position in the castle.
Other bodies followed, so that the town was
soon ovcrrun with these beings, more like wild
beasts than men. Two superior officers called
upon the municipal functionaries 10 demand
food and forage to the amount Of 10000 ra-
tons, but their conduct was not unbecoIning;
on the contrary. they seemed tolcrably polite,
and even the behavior Of the soldiers At first
gave no cause to suspect that they secretly
mcditatcd pllndcr;nS the town. Whatever our
first hope, may have been, they were not dcs-
tined To last long, for very shortly a company
of H0ulans issued from the castle, and dividing,
spread through the town. An alarm spreading
through the population, each shop-hceper hast.
ened TO secure his goods; but before they had
even time to shut their shops and stores, hands
of eight and ten soldiers presented themselves
at different points in the city, some Selling
upon all the goods they could arrive at, others
preventing the tradeslnen from closing their
doors by main force. At the same time the
serscants and corporals entered the shops, and
by threats forced the owncrs To bring out all
the best things they had for the soldiers to
carry oil.
The first goods ~plundered were those of
Madame Scott. modiSte, and Of 4 merchant
named Gallarati; after these came those of the
silyersmitllS, then some provision stores and
~tavcrns. The general bakchouse was plumber
ed also, and several hundred sacks Of the flour
and wheat, besides 4 sum of money, were ear
ricd off: the stables were all robbed, and IN
every street you saw L Croat with NJ OK or 4
horse which lie was leading off to the cncainp-
mcnt, with Il cool iulpudcnce which persuaded
one tina, they never had followed any other
trade than thicviu. Meanwhile, n certain
number of them wcnlcd their way to the sub
urb Of 81. Bcrnardino. and entered the farm OF
Signor Sta'sano, who gave them as much food
and drink As they wished for. In fact, the Ii
bations were 20 cop:Dus and frequent that at
night they all returned in 4 state of intoSica-
ton, bowling like demons, i~ntersperSlng their
bowls with the cpithrt Of ''porca Picmontcsa'
las a welcome 10 any inlabitant they might
meet firing their miskets into the windows of
the houses, and occaSioning a general belief
that the town would be inevitably set on fire.
The citizens had no arms to resist, even had
they been 50 disposed, and now have no food,
and the place is cleared out completely. The
Bishop was assessed ut sc, 1000 francs, some
say 81, 900, for his share Of the war contingent.
In the suburbs of the tow the same horrors
took place; every house was sacked and plum
dcrcd By these ~lcrocioils bruteS, who are styled
the defenders Of public order, sustainers OF
our nationality and our religion Now that
this band Of savagcs has satisfied its appetite,
il is leaving us. An order Of recall has ar
rived from headquarters, and they nrc going
off.
We hear that at OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES vignz-
zio, and Pros>ccurone, the same on.rases were
committed, and by that threat Of firing the
town these bandits cxtortcd whatever they
wanirl from the DOOR terrified trades.people.