Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-07-11

Meager and vague aS telegraphlc breYity
and technical reserve necessarily make
them, these dispatches reflect great honor
on the truthfulness, moderation and dignity
ofIthe belhgerents on eitherside. There is
no paltry attempt on the part of the Italians
ito, disguise OF. palliate the magnitude of
their disaster, no unseenlly Civilizations on
the part Of the Atistrians, not one word Of
disparagement Ofithe foe. By being just
and even generous toward one another,
these combataqts seem to act upon that
wise maxim which teaches us to deal With
enemies as with men who may at some fti-
ture period become friends oi a1U >a a.
The Italian armys divided into threeeprps,
and areserye;TTmakinGs UP q force Of from,
$4,000 to 10000 c0mbatantsLaft crossing
the Mincio at Goito and other points on
Saturday afternoon and sending reconn0i-
teriDg parties toward Peschiera and Vero-
ma, eneamped for the night at some place
beyond RoVerbella, equidistant from the
two fortresses. Onitheo ensuing morning
an attemptJwas made upon those high po-
sitioDs OF Soma, ySQmma Campagna and T
Santa Giustina, which command the fifteen,
miles railway line joining the two strongp
holds, POSITIONS hichplayed a conspicuous
part in the campaign of l848. The objeetu
OF the Italians was evidently to take pos
session Of the railway, SO as to isolate Pes
chiefa and secure a basis OF operations
against Verona. The Austrians, however,
who weresmassedi 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 every ywherei bristling With
bastions and redonbts, and may be looked
upon as mere outworks of the. two cita-
hels, extending from the gates of one
to those of the other. After a severe
and ]bloody---or, as the Italians describe o
it, ''desperaten- which lasted
nearly the whole day-that longest of sum-
mer days-the Imperial army was victorious
along the whole line. They stormed the
summit of Montevento, where the Italians
held out the l9nGe' I, and at the close of the
engagement at five o'clock in the afternoon,
they also carried the position of Custozza,
a spot fatal to italian arms in their encoun-J
ter with Radetzki in July, lS4S, The yie5s
tors captured several guns and about 1000
prisoners, and behaved, as the Archduke
AlbertS bulletin assures us, and as 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,
The italian accounts of the engagement
present no points of material ditference.--,
According to them, the First Army Corps
was sent forward, to occupy some positions
betWt en- Peschiera and Verona, but being
surrounded by superior forces, it "failed 10
effect its purpose, and the description giv-l
en- of it's losses in the contestleaves US little
doubt that 1t was all but anpihilated. The
Second an Third Corps, unable tO-it is
not very clear for what reason-adVance
to its rescue, were still inthe ''evening al
most intach"l 1t was also stated from Bres-
cia that the army had maintained its posi-
ton but there is little doubt that it had TO-
withdraw across the Mincio later in the
night. The Italians had several of their
Generals wounded, among OTHERS the
| Kings second son, Prince Amadeus, who
has arrived at Brescia.
| The Italians, we are assured, behaved
with great heroisIn, audno doubt. although
they lost the day., they came off without
loss of honor. An advance across the Min
clio, right into the heart Of the Qqadrilater-
al, Is an enterprise which no other Euro
pean army would. under such circumstance
eS,l have Ventufed upvu,uUuG o phronyy tn
do something seems to have possessed the
whole Italian nation, and the men in COM
niand could think Of nothing better than
dashing their heads agaihststhOse fOrmida-
| BILE stone walls. There may be bravery in
so desperate an attempt to take the bull by
| the horns, but we Believe it would be i'm
what results they expected from their ILL
conceived andwOrse executed attempt. 1t
was battle in, which they staked the very
existence Of their army, while their enc
mics in the worst event ran no other risk
thant that of a safe andlleisltTely retreat beI
hindsthe shelter of their bastions. The least
| that may be said of it is that, like the Bala-
klava charge, 'etdit beGt ntdis ce a'etait pas
| Ia qtieyTe." Ever sinceoI84S and l849, the
Austrihns have 'strainedVevery nerve to
strengthen those four, citiadels and, have
extended their OutWorks so that che line
| between Peschie. a and Verona especially,
| isNa vast ihtrenched camp. There is every
probability, also, that the Italiansw were on
| this occasion outnumbered by, their ene5
mics; for the Austrians have from 200,0Q0
to 250O00 men in Veneta, and as they had
intheir hands that most formidable of all
engines OF modern warfare, the railways
they had probably massed three7fourtbs at
| least of their troops in Verona ready for the
| long expected italian inroad. The Arch
| duke,s bulletins in fact, never speak OF
gafrisOns, but tell us that ''the Imperial
array" was in the field, i.-oy ,,c.;,I,,..,.r
The, King of Italy has fallen back behind
the Mncio,, where he is not likely to be
| pursued; but neithery perhaps, will the con-
dition of his shattered army enable him to
resume the offensive for some time to come.
| We have Austrian official assurance that
Cialdinf crossed the Po at Poleselia on the
29d. = d The tidings of the Kings retreaty
however ought ltocdisconeeEt all the plans
| Of the commander of The Fourth Corps, as
| he would at Padua, or anywhere else on
| the line between Verona and Venice, fall
fnswith forces cwithwhich his y6G000 men
would be unable to,cpptend. rThe Italian
| fleet, we learn from Florence, steamed from
| Tarant6 on the 23d; but, if its destination
be Venice, Persano Is not likely to~find any
onentooco-operate with him on the mains
land. The failure of rtte, King, on the Mincio
| eoiM probdblg break dolon The Soh0Le enterprise;
But, although the Italians met With SO
severe rebuke at the very sontset, they
will find that they have not fought in vain,
| The mere consciousness that they have
| taken the field unsupported, and have
| fought not inglofiously, and against terIia
BILE odds, will end by inspiring them with
good confidence, forothe future, and raise
| them in their own and the worlds estima-
| tionn, % No doubt it would have been better
| Tor them, II would have been more condues
I've t0GtheitqinteFna prosperity, rif they
could have pursued apeReetulI policy and
placed themselves in q position TO purchase
from Austria with gold that oyince which
they will hardly ever wrest from her with
iron. HaI,a price, been put On the ransom
of their Venetian brethren, it, Wsuld GER
tainIy have been cheap at the c8sC Of every
penny in Italian purses, or even Of every
masterpiece In Italian galleries. but as 1t
was to be otherwise, It may be as well, per-
hsps, that the, Italians should have gone