Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-06-09
9ailg 8iraiaiau.


Special Correspondence of tho London Times.
AUSTRIAN llEApQuAErEss. MosrARA,
Thursday, May IL.
hope my letter Of the day before yesterday
reached London in safety, because. though written
hurredly t" catch the post. II contained informA.
hon calculated to undseeive you op one or two
points on which the Piedmontese Press has bssn
mistaken. The Affair VI Frassinetto. for instance,
Was simply ient to draw the attention Of the
alles trom the real passage Of tho river at Cor.
sale. This tho allies must know. for the planks
supplied by Gambia. aud nailed together with 10
much noise on tho Island, were left there, aud
would tell their own story. Had the Austrians
really wished to pnss the river, they would have
have used the pontoon bridge. which they had in
ths,neighborhood, by which they afterwards cross
OIL the Sesia between pexxana and Rivottta, and
which was yet standing the day before yesterday
! am not quito sure whether it s there now or not
! rather think not aud that the bridge ut Vcrcelli
is the only one now existing over the Sesia At
Nercclh there ~ an Austrian corps d'armec. -
When was there. on Tuesday. wa. busy throw
ing up earthworks to form an entrenched cnmr.
for which the position is admiralty suited. This
| will command the road from Turin to Novara and
Milan and will also check any attempto on the part
Of the allied army, now near Casale. to turn tho
Austrian right flank.
see u Turin paper asserts that Novara was
threatened with general massacre by thu Aus
trinns in default ot certain contributions. ! can
assure yOu that tho "rdors to trent the Inhabitants
well nro peremptory, and that they urc ubeyed
willingly. Indeed. the conduct Of tho natives is
such as to secure gAd treatment even from loss
goodnatu fellow than the Austrian soldier cor
tsinly is. Mrst probably the bearing of the sol
diery towards the population induces this rccipro-
cal good feeling. How do the Zouaves aud tho
Pielmontcse peasantry get ont
As an example uf tho high state of discipline in
the Austrian army. may mention that General
Benedek had two men shot for stealing property
worth only II few francs. From other souraes you
may hear different accounts, as 20 or 30 limitations
OF Austrian uniforms were captured at Noyara.
They had been made by certain parties for the
purpose of committing rnbberics and atrocities.
and OF throwing the odium on tho Austrinns. -
Tho same may have been done elsew here. You
must receive with caution every sta, cmcnt coming
kom Piedmonteso source. Ono story, written
from Turin TO Lc Mold. and copied into other pa
pers, hns excited much merr,ment here. A Mar.
quis Colli is there represented rs having, with II
couple Of squadrons of light cavalry greatly dis
tingushed himself in fight Grupelo. In
imitation Of the knights of old. hc is suid have
singled out the commander Of tho Austrian de-
tachment and to have slain him in single combat.
Here nothing is known of any incident at all re-
sembling this, nor has any cavalry officer been
killed as yet.
Som" newspapers express astonishment that
tho Austrnns did not push to Turin. but
surely to have done would have been extremely
dangerous with such a large army on their flank
the allies had between Alcssandria and Cassale
even by the third If this month. ! mentioned in
my last letter that it took three days for the Aus
trian army to cross tho Ticino. This will give you
some idea of the time required to move 100000
men. To have crossed by several bridges would
have been useless. because when in Piedmont
they eau only advance by tho roads Tho fields
are utterly impassIble, except for infantry and
"A ,,trv
by short and slow marches. Every field is bound
ed by ditch full oi water. with u hedge Of trees
about two feet apart each side of H., and fully
one fourth of the country is under winter entirely.
The consequence is. that corps d'drmee OF 1000
men, part cavalry and part artillery, with the
cessary train OF wagons occupies ten Or twelve
miles of road. 1t is evident that to protect the
advance of such column strong positions must
be secured in front oft Thus the line of the
Terdoppio. the Agognn, and the Sesin hal to be-
seized successfully, and. as the heavy rains and
the melting Of the on the hills had converted
enah of these streams into considerable river. it
was impossible TO conceive that they would not be
defended. Besides. haste unnecessary. The
five days start Gland secured for France render
ed il impossible for the Austrinns to reach Turin
in time 40 their advance. so far as it extended,
was simply n reconnaissance in force. The battle
field will most probably be near this place Nor
ta,a,) or ut mll events between the Scsin and the
! to attempt to pass between PAWN and Piaccnzn,
nor cun they well move north between the Dora
Ballen and the Sesia while the Austrians possess
the bridge at Vercclli. The spirits Of the Austrian
army are excellent. The condition Of nearly all
their horses is also good. Tho latter are 6xces
siycly hardy. particularly those bred in Hungary
wish We had in England some really light cav
airy like the Hungarian Ilussars. The Austrian
train is notnriously good; that of this army is
immense. The Pedmontese large two-wheeled
| wagons will, however, have an advantage Of
moving On sood level roads, because they re-
quire fewer horses. Apropos of roads, must
say that. except in Lomtardy, | have never
seen better roads than here, but they are mar ow
Imenioned in my last letter that the peopl Of
! Piedmont were not in favor OF this war. So far
from it they. that nothing would be easier than
to rnlsc the population Of this part OF the country
against the Government. Count Cnvour is detes-
ted, As lor the King, they say "Egii none re; j
they consider him n mere puppet Of Cayour. The
entire power, they say. ia in tho hands OF agitn-
tors principally from Milan. At the first elections
the well. to-lo quiet people, cuntented to leave
well alone did not vote at all. The consequence
was that the violent few carried the day, and tho
FIRST Parliament did the mischief by its talking
This il the opinion have heard expressed by
such men as heads Of large villages. In the
the conquest of the Lomimrdy party has been
introduced, and is used by many who never
| did, nor ever can, form opinion Of their own
and who understand little Of the opinions Of
others.
Some letters have been captured on the road
from Cagliano to San Germano written by recruits
| from the latter place, now near Alessandrin to
their friends They express the greatest dislike
to the war One man congratplates himself on bo-
ing in the third line, and hopes tho first two will
have the fighting to do. Now, there is another
point on which wish to undecsve the British
public The Lombard regiments in the Austrian
service are generally represented rs untrustwor.
Others in England do, that allthe Italian regiments
we're in Hungary or Gallicia, and that all that
nation would be dstrusted, End, on the contra
That nine out Of ten posts of especial confidence