Year: 1859

THE CAMPAIGN OPENING.


The London Times thus sketches the
opening of the campaign between France,
Sardinia and Austria 70 those who wish
to keep up with the progress Of the struggle
it will be found Instructive


"Two courses are open to the Austrian
Government. The one is to do no more
than enter the Piedmontese territory, aud
thus commit formal act of war, for the
purpose of bringing matters to crisis, and
forcing France and frances allies to declare
themselves. This step would not preclude
the general plan of the campaign from being
defensive, the invasion being a political and
not q military movement. The other plan
is likely to find much more favor with q
youthful Emperor and an army sore with
provocations. 1t is, of course, to press on
with every available battalion to Turin; to
destroy, if possible, the Sandman army be-
fore the French can come up; to crush the
latter as they descend weary and disordered
from the passes Of the Alps ! in fine, to carry
out such campaign as the Great Napoleon
would have done if he had 120, 900 men in
line, and his enemy's capital had been only
eighty miles away. Whether this bold poll
cy will be adopted is more than we can pre-
tend to say. The Austrians have shown
such contradictory qualities in their militia
ry history that we have no means of judg-
ing how they will act on the present occa-
sion. They may exhibit the slowness and
pedaurry Of 1896 or the energy of 1S49.-
Another week may see them patrolling Tu-
rim, or giving orders for the abandonment
of Milan. A few days since they might
have struck heavy blow; but by the Wed
nesday before Easter, it was known that the
ultimatum was to be presented, and within
twenty-four hours the French began to
move. Then came the three days of grace ).
and consequently the French gained nearly
week, to the disadvantage of their oppo-
nents Yet even now, bold general might
do a great deal before a sufficient body of
French troops could come to the assistance
of their allies. Between the Austrian FROM
tier and Turin, the country is plain; there
are no obstacles to an enemy's march, and
Victor Emanuel would be under the cruel
necessity of abandoning his capitol or fight
ing desperate battle with inferior force a.
gainst one of the most completely equipped
ARMIES of the Continent. In the event of
such determined tactics, it is probable that
the Sardinians will sacrifice everything to
the paramount necessity of saving their ar
my. They would, no doubt, fall back on
Allesandria, and from this base await the
assistance of the French troops, who are be-
ing rapidly transported to Genoa. We may
presume that by this time some forty thou.
sand Sardinians are concentrated at Aless-
andria, and that the rest of the army are re-
treating before the Austrians, endeavoring
as much as possible to avoid a collision
The question of greatest Importance, howev-
er, is the movement of the French armies !;
and here we must pay tribute to- the ma
tion which was so lately our ally. French
men may not be superior to Germans, they
are certainly not equal to Englishmen in
strength, endurance and those qualities
which-courage being supposed equal-are
likely to decide the fate of battles. But in
the great military quality of promptness they
are without an equal. The manner in which
the French troops have been despatched to
the Alps since Good Friday is model for
the study of our officers. The very act of
entering q railway carriage and disposing of
his knapsack and his musket has been taught
to the soldier as part of his drill. We
may be assured that nothing that energy,
science and skill can accomplish for the
speedy concentration of French armies at
Turin and Genoa, will be neglected. But
the difficulties in the way of the Emperor
Napoleon's troops are not few. The season
is backward; Mont Gents is covered with
snow. The vast army of the French has
been pushed forward without preparation,
the commissariat is deficient, the country
they enter is poor, there is very little of
last years corn to be had, and this years
will not be fit for the harvest for three
months at least. In this case there will be
no making the war support the war. Louis
Napoleon must, to great extent, take his
proyisiops with him. or pay for what he re.