Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-11-04
THE GAZETTE.
FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER I, 1859

THEL LATE BATTLE GROUND IN ITALY.
The London Times correspondent writing
from the banks of the Mincio. on the 10th
ult says:
"Any one taking the railway at Turn,
and passing over the line by which the Mood
Of war has rolled its waves from the Sesia
to the Mincio, will have some difhcuity IN
convincing himself that ne Is gong over the
country which three months ago was the
theatre of mighty war between three Of the
most powerful military nations oi the CONT
nent. In vain will he look for all those tor
midable traces Of devastation with which he
has been accustomed to couple the idea OF
war. Ruined towns and villages, depopula-
ted districts, fields devastated, and trees cut
down, the absence or misery Of the inhabi-
tants, and flights Of crows and vultures-
nothing of the kind will he see, but a coun-
try smiling, rich. full of small towns and
green fields, the inhabitants following their
ordinary avocations, cattle grazing IN the
well irrigated meadows, or drawing the
peaceful plough. as if war had never ap-
preached this fertile region, or as u every
one had forgotten the mighty changes which
have occurred since the spring. II VIII re-
uure some one who has been here during
the late war to point out to the vi>!ter some
bridge or other which has been blown up
and which has been only temporarily repair
ed with wood, or to draw his attention to
some halfeffaced mounds, indicating the
line of earthworks constructed by the Aus
TRANS during their advance. He will pass
over the Ponto Nuovo di Magenta without
ever imagining the hard struggle OF which 1t
has been the scene Even the railway sta
ton at Magenta would not attract his no
tice we're it not for Il succession OF mounds
surmounted by wooden crosses which I'LL the
hollow on the other side of it. or number OF
boys hawking about shapelcss leaden bui-
let's and small Austrian double-headed ea-
giles in brass, or else windowless house be-
yond the station with some curious round
holes through its walls. From Magenta TO
Desenzano he will find no traces. except,
perhaps, solitary French gendarme at the
STATEN at Brescia. The omnibuses. will be
waiting for the train as Of yore, and those
little nondescript curricles, with their .iaded
steeds, the remains, probably, of some of
the migrating tribes which invaded the
fertile plains Of Lombardy in the beginning
of our era.
cat Solferino the houses Of the village are
as they have been for years. The traveller
will climb up TO the tower, and have mag
nificent view, nothing to remind him OF war
except few holes in the ea'ei"tc Of the
church on the top, and. if he goes on. some
loopholes in the walls of the church yard
This, with few mounds which the oftcous
guide points out as the burial place OF the
heroes Of Solferino, will be all that will re-
mind him of the day on which the second
great battle of modern times has been fought.
He will 20 on to Carriana, to the Mincio,
and come back again, and, if he sums up all
he has seen he will ask himself whether
there ever was such thing as an Italian war
at all, or whether all about it can be already
obliterated and forgotten; whether 1t can be
true that the country has changed masters
not three months ago, and that those few
Bersaglieri who idle about the Mincio or
look down on Peschiera are set there to guard
the frontier against tie former masters of
this country, stongly suspected to have still
q considerable longing for it. In vain you
look for any trace Of the National Guard
which would be more necessary in the e1-
posed Mincio country than anywhere else, II
for nothing else, at least, to make all other
troops available for fighting You see some
caps, blue and red, but nothing more. 50
close to the Austrian frontier, need not
tell you that the people are more anxious
than anywhere else to see this institution es-
tablished; they don't feel comfortable at all
in the vicinity OF the frontier: but there are
no muskets, consequently no drill and no
organization; and yet the Minclo country.
beginning at Tomato and Castiglone, might
easily have 1000 or 5000 men of this local
force.
deprived, then, Of the means of provid-
ing for their own internal security, and for
emergencies, it would be but reasonable to
expect that there was at least an efficient
police force to watch on these exposed points.
No such thing; there is scarcely carblneer
In tie neighborhood: in one of the most ire
uuented points, like DeSenzano, not one man.
The result is, that the latter place, above all,
situated at convenient distance from Pes
chiera. has become the general rendezvous OF
Austrian spies, where they eau hold free
communication with the other agents dis
persed all over Lombardy. And there are
not few Of these going about especially
among the rural population. Such, at any
rate, is the statement people make. But
more astonishing than all this seems the fact
that the whole internal government is still
carried on by the functionaries named by
Austria. The magistrates in the towns, as
we'll as the deputozioni, are all those who
have filled those places cor the last seven or
eight years. and IRON whom naturally 1t
cannot be expected that they should be ylo-
lently in favor of the new regime. 1t the
people Of Milan are bearing with this preea-
rious and provisional state in which things
still are in Lombardy, this is not quite the
case in places nearer the frontier, where they
are most exposed. They can less understand
the reasons which induce the govern ment to
proceed slowly and surely, for they feel that
they night be the first to suffer from 1t. No
wonder"
DONNETS, FLOWERS, RIBBONS RUIZ.
ID CHES. AND MILLINERY GOODS GENE
RALLY would ask the attention of Ladies to
my stock Of the above GOODS. feeling confident
that upon careful inspection Of my goods they
will be convinced that they can have AS good work
done, and find good material OF all kinds in Al
exandria as they can find in the tnited States.
careful inspection Of quality and prices Is all |
ask. ave are prepared to do our part TO retain