The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-05-26

trian Lombardy. The line In question,
as everybody is now aware, is consti-
tuted by the river Ticino and by the
Lago Maggiore, through which that
river flows, as the Rhone does through
the Lake of Geneva. On the French
side the border is formed by the Alps,
SO that the seatof war may be regarded
in general aspect as a broad piece of
territory between chain of mountains
and a river. The French had to cross
the mountains, the Austriansthe stream,
and the distance between them, as we
have said, was about 100 miles.
The features of Piedmont itself,
however, deserve particular attention,
as they are regulating the present dis
tribution of the contending armies.
Piedmont is traversed in its breadth by
the windings of the river Pc, and the
division Of the country thus effected
corresponds very nearly with the divis-
ion of the Eastern frontier between
Lombardy and Parma; so that to the
south of the stream Piedmont borders
on Parma, and to its north only on the
hostile Territory of Lombardy. These
two divisions ofthe Sandman Kingdom
differ totally in their nutral characters.
To the north of the river-the district
Immediately exposed to the Austrians
all is level plain up to the foot Of
the Swiss Alps, whereas, on the south
ern side all is mountains, and the whole
space is filled with the shoots or spurs
of the Ligurian Appenines sloping away
from Genoa. In this division of the
Kingdom lie the strong places of the
Sardinians-Alessandria, Cassa.e and
Tortona, and on its western edge stands
Turin itself, sthe capital of the State.
Within or around these fortresses the
Sardinians have collected the bulk of
their army, perhaps some $4,000 men,
leaving the plains of the North COM
paratively open to the incursion of the
enemy.
Before the actual comment of hos
tilities, the Austrians at Milan stood just
about as far from the river as the
French at Briancon did from the noun
tains; and line drawn from one of
these points to the other, would pass
through the common mark of both ar
mies-the Royal City of Turin. Turin,
however, is about as far again from
Bufalora, where the Austrians crossed
the river, as it is from Susa, where the
French halt on crossing the Alps-the
distance being about 20 miles in the
former case, against 33 in the latter.
But this inequality was more than
compensated by the relative difficulties
of the two roads, for whereas, the
Austrians have a plain country to
traverse, the French can only reach
Susa by passing the Alps. In reality,
the advantage of ground so far was on
the side of the Austrians, but their
operations have been influenced by
further considerations arising from the
position of the Sardinian army before
described. The French, as they des-
cend upon Susa and push forward to
Turin, are directly confronting the
Austrians on their march towards the
same point from Milan, and if this was
all, and there were no Sardinians in
the capital, the shock of battle could
be anticipated with great facility.
Sooner orlater, in fact, very soon indeed,
the belligerents would meet, and an
engagement on large scale would
ensue. 1t will be observed, however,
from what we have said, that the Aus
trians in their advance across Pied
mont, from east to west, would have
on their flank the whole concentrated
strength of the Sandman army, res
ting on its inest fortresses. What the
chain of the Tyrol, indeed, is to Aus
tria in the plains of Lombardy, the
chain of the Ligurian Apprentices is to
Sardinia in the plains of Piedmont, and
the parallel can be carried still further,
for exactly as Germany lies in reserve
behind the Tyrol, so does a second
French force gather i'll strength behind
the Apprentices. On the seaboard of
the mountains stands Genoa, which, as
French commands the sea, can be
reached from Toulon with the utmost
facility. The Sardinians, therefore,
while they cluster in force about their
citadels to the south of the Pc, have in
their rear the support of powerful
French army, within fifty miles dis
tance.
The Austrians are thus opposed by
two bodies of the enemy,-one directly
facing them at Turin, and drawing daily
reinforcements from the passes of the
Alps; and another at Casale and Ales-
sandria, thanking their march, and re-
ceiving succors from distinct base of
operations at Genoa. BY crossing
their frontier at its northern extremity,
as they have done, they might occupy
the northern districts of Sardinia; or,
if they descended thence upon the Po,
they might get the Sardinian army in
front of them, but they would then
have the army of the Alps upon their
right. They must, in short, advance
in any case against two lines of foes
posted at right angles to each other !;
and, for simplictity's sake, we may con-
slider these lines to be represented by
the river Dora Baltea, running from
north to south by Ivrea, and the Po, run
ming from west to east by Casale-
Turin being pretty nearly at the an
gle.
All the places named, be it under
stood, lie within comparatively small
compass. From Aroma, the point oc-
cupied by the Austrians in the North