Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-07-19
ian defeat at oustozza, the causes of the
war &C., is extracted from the foreign
nanars

the battle at CustozZa Is not wholly ire
trievable, IL was disastrous In the eX-
IRENE, aud must badly cripple the efforts
of Italy at the onset. The clrcumStan'
ceS Of the battle may be summed up as
| follows:
An Italian army, divided up into three
| corps and reservoir making a force of
| from $4,000 TO 10000 comhatants-after
crossing the Mincio at Goito and 9th
| er points on Saturday afternoon, and
sending accommodating parties toward
Peschiera and Verona, encamped for the
night at some place beyond Roverhella,
equdistant from the two tortresSes. On
the ensuing morning an attempt was
made upon those high positions of Soma,
Somma Compagna, aud Santa Christina,
which command the 10 miles railway
! line Joining the two strongholds, posi-
tiOns which played a conspicuous part
! in the campaign of lS4S. The object OF
the Italians was evidently TO take pos.
session of the railway so as To Isolate
| Peschiera and secure basis of opera
! tious against Verona. The AustrianS,
however who were massed in great force
at Verona, sailed forth from the place at
daybreak, and, anticipating the Italian
! movements, took up their position upon
| those hills, which are now everywhere
| bristlng with bastions and redoubts
! and may be looked upon as mere out
works of the two Citadels, extending
! from the gates of one to those of the
! other. After severe apd bloody-or,as
the Italians describe it, "desperate"
| struggle, which lasted nearly the whole
| day-that longest of Summer days-the
! Imperial army was victorious along the
whole line. They stormed the summit
! of Montevento, where the Italians held
! out the longest, and at the close of the
| engagement, at O'Clock in the afternoon,
| they also carried the position of Custoz-
"a, a spot fatal to Italian arms in their
encounter with RadetZki in July, 1913.
| The victors captured several guns and
about 1000 prisoners, and behaved, as
the Archduke Alberts bulletin assures
US, and IS we may readily believe, with
even more than their ordinary bravery
and endurance. On the same evening
the Italian army was obliged to recross
the MinciO. This signal defeat of the
| Italians renders abortive other move
ments Of the army, as well as the Ital-
ian fleet, which were intended to be
nearly simultaneous, but which failed
to conuect. There is little hope that
King Emanuel with his shattered forces,
will be able to resume the offensive for
some time to come; and there is no ex-
pectation that Austria will be disposed
to trouble him, so long as he keeps out
Of Venetia.
The wild and foolish intrepidity of the
Italians in rushing almost into the iaTSS
of death, excites general CON- oent Ma
stronger fortihcations t Ian those which
Austria held wee ever built. Says the
LONDON Ilr.4es: "An advance across the
MlncF,l right into the heart ofthe Quad
n lateral, is an enterprise which no 9th
er European army would, under such
circumstances, have ventured upon; but
a frenzy TO do something seems to have
possessed the whole Italian nation, ant
the men in command could think o
nothing better than dashing their heads
against those formidable stone walls
There NAV be bravery in so desperate al
ATTEMPT to take the bull by the horns
but IL would be impossible for the klnG
or Ia Marm0ra to say what results the!
expected from tier ill-conceived ant
worse executed attempt III was oat
tie in which they stalk the very exist
ence Of their army, while their enemies
in the worst event, ran ns' other flsi
than that Of safe and leisure, rel[ II,
behind the shelter of their bastlOns. Ia
least that can be said of it is, that, llk'
the Balaklava charge, 'C'etqtt deau, mai
&c u etaH pas Ia qWeye.' Ever since 1874
and 1849 the Austrians have strained
every nerve 10 strengthen chose four cit
adels, ana have extended Sleir outW DIRK
so that the line between Peschiera u
Verona especially is a vast intrenche
camp. There is every probability, also
that the Italians were on this occasion
outnumbered by their enemies tor tn,
Austrians have from 10000 TO $50, 00(
men in Venetia, and as they had in theil
hands that most formidable of engines
of modern warfare, the railway, theJ
had probably massed THREE fourths a
least of their troops in Verona, ready
for the long, expected Italian inroad
The Archduke's bulletins, in fact, never
speak of garrisons, but tell us thai
the Imperial army was in the field"
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR.
The London Globe says; 1t would bt
foolish to look in the documents issueC
by the belligerents for candid state
ment Of the facts which led to the pres
J ent war. The future historian will have
! to 90 to other sources when he enlight
ems posterity on the subject, and he viii
be able to show, far better than cotem
poraries, how it came to pass that II
1866 several Powers combined thei
efforts, if not to destroy, at least Il
diminish, the extent and influence of thu
Austrian Empire. That this is the de
sign of the allied Powers, and those wh'
favor them, no impartial observer cal
doubt. But it is not design which w
expect to see embodied in State papers
That would be an excess of candor. Tn
, causes of war we know to be tn
/ ambition of Prussia, by no means
thing of yesterday, the desire Of ltal,
to deliver Venetia, and the supper
:, which both Powers have found in tn
G speculative views which the Empero
| Noroln,,, hap ~ Nd 70