Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-06-02
Austrian Excuses in Piedmont.

The foreign journals are filled with nc.
counts of the barbaritics perpetrated in IT,
very threshold of the war by the Austrian
army in Piedmont. The commander of thr
forces that have crossed the Tlcino, pr.
misses in u few weeks 10 enjoy II rrPu
tation for ierocity and deliberate cruel
ty equal to that which Marshal |IIaynau
wa guilty of in Hungary in ls4S. General
Gyulai, the officer in question, is described
AZ a coarse, brutal wretch, ferocious in up
pearance, and capable Of any deed Of bar
barity. 1t was he who issued the famous
proclamation in Pacenza, beginning-"Tberc
shall be but one kind of punishment
DEATH" and whose name is used by the peO-
pie of Milan to brighten childen with, as the
Scottish urchins were once terrified by the
name of the Black Douglas. Tho cxactions,
c~ruelties and depredations Of the horde Of
savages under the command of this man in
Sardinia, are already arousing the indigns.
ton Of all Christendom. The columns Of
the London and Paris journals are filled
with the details of his rapacity.
From some of the small towns and villages
of Piedmont he has demanded a daily sup.
ply Of 100000 rations of bread, 10000 IA
ton of meat, 100000 rations of tobacco, and
the officers and men allowed To commit
every species Of excuses. Rape, murder
and pillage, have followed the entrance Of
the Austrian forces into almost every city,
town, village and hamlet Of SARDINIA. \
correspondent of the London Post gives an
account of the horrors committed by the
Austrians in every town which they have
visited; atrocities which, a. the progress Of
the campaign infames the coarse passions ot
the combatants, promise 10 equal those
practised by Attila.
y. S.-Since writing the above We have
received the intelligence OF the removal 81
GyuIai from that command of the Austrian
army, and of the appointment Of a sn'-
cessOr.
Baron Henry Won Hess, who supersedr'
Gyulai, has ''done the State some service.
In fact the opinion among the liberals
throughout Germany IL, that he has ser"I
both too long and too well. lie ~ a true
Austrian, born in Vienna in 1888, and has
for some time been Quartermaster General
Of the Austrian army. He served as Mn
lister of War from June, lS49, to July, 100,
and in lSj5-'jG represented the Court If "
emma at st. Petersburg. His mission hniin
view the solution Of the Eastern question,
but only resulted in Il still further cOmplica-
ton of the difficulty. As u reward for thu,
service he wa entrusted with the command
of the fifth army corps in Italy, from which
position he advanced, step by step, until he
now ranks second only to the Emperor. lie
entered the Austrian army in 1905 in the ca
pacity of ensign, and has gone through all the
military grades. In 1894, after thirty-seyen
years service he was appointed field mar
shall. lie has the reputation Of being an
excellent theoretician in the art Of war. lie
was for some time adjutant and principal ad.
wiser to Radetsky, by whom he was highly
esteemed, and who undoubtedly was en-
dsbted to Hess's invaluable aid for not a few
Of the bloody laurels he won in Italy. In
fighting Hess. ut the head Of the Austrian
forces, the Piedmontese have a fine opportu'
nifty TO ayenge Charles Albert's defeat at
Sovara.-RirhmO non ErGN,iHsr.