THE EXTINCT KINGDOM OF UPPER ITALY.

NOTWITHSTANDING the enthusiasm and excitement that heralded the insurrection in Northern Italy, and the imaginary triumph obtained by the retreat of the Austrians to the line of the Mincio and the Adige, our own opinions upon the question have never varied. In the New Monthly Magazine for May we stated that Field-Marshal Radetzki, not having been willing, or, as it since appears, not having had the means, to bombard the city of Milan, he had withdrawn his troops to the central strongholds of Verona and Mantua, with the Adige in front of his line. The reaction that may be anticipated, we added, will be fearful. German Tyrol has risen to a man to repel the spirit of insurrection that has so suddenly animated the not very warlike Italians. The Austrian provinces will send their countless numbers to the struggle to protect those imperial rights that have been guaranteed by treaties innumerable, and ages of possession, many times insured by the spilling of the best blood of Austria on the plains of the Po, the Adda, the Oglio, and the Adige.

In June we remarked that the progress of events in Northern Italy exhibited a singular inaptitude for war on the part of the Italians, that Radetzky had now been too long suffered to occupy his strong positions almost unmolested, and that he only waited to act upon the offensive for reinforcements; and in July we had to remark that while the fall of Peschiera was one step in advance for the Italians, that still that success was a very trifle compared with what still remained to be done, and with the defection of the Italian allies, which threw the whole weight of the war upon the Sardinian army.

The catastrophe which then became inevitable was not long in being foreshadowed.

Padua and Treviso having fallen almost simultaneously with Vicenza, General Durando retired on Ferrara, while the rest of the Italian troops east of the Mincio took refuge in Venice. To the west of the same river the army, after an absurd demonstration on the 14th of June in the vicinity of Verona, retired to its old positions, extending from Goito to Rivoli. It seemed as if Charles Albert was screwed down to the line of the Mincio, and settlements being at that time in active progress on the permanent base of the Adige, it appeared for a long time likely that this war would terminate pretty nearly where it began. Further countenance was lent to this supposition, that at a great council of war held on June 26th, the proposed plan of crossing the Upper Adige and operating against the forts of Verona on the north, was rejected as infeasible.

Negotiations which were opened at Milan towards the end of June for the conclusion of peace were reported to have been broken off, on the grounds that the Provisional Government would not consent to the annexation of Venice to the Austrian dominions, nor take charge of any portion of the Austrian debt, said to amount to 100,000,000 florins. It is even said that the Provisional Government claimed the Italian Tyrol.

At the time of these interrupted negotiations, General Sonnaz defended Rivoli, and observed the Upper Adige and the road from Verona to

Peschiera with 15,000 men. The Duke of Savoy with the reserve10,000 men-was stationed at Roverbello, and Goito, before Mantua ; while the king, with the grand corps d'armée (35,000 men) was taking up a position at Isola della Scala, with the view of attacking Legnano on the Lower Adige. The division of the Duke of Genoa had a smart affair on the 2nd of July with the Austrians at the fort of the Montebaldo and the right of the Adige, but no result of importance ensued. Charles Albert had, however, by this time become so sensible of the great fact, that a mere explosion of national enthusiasm was not sufficient to dissipate at once the regular forces of the Austrian government, that he is said to have made an application to Marshal Bugeaud to assume the command of the Sardinian forces. General Cavaignac, however, refused his assent to this arrangement, being naturally apprehensive that a general at the head of a successful army abroad would have an incalculable advantage in public opinion over those who would remain to support the burden and the unpopularity of government at home. Early the same month the National Assembly of Venice voted, by 127 to 6, the immediate union of the Venetian territory to the kingdom of Upper Italy on the same conditions as Lombardy.

Although much marching and counter-marching had taken place, no actual advance towards the Adige had been made up to the 13th of July. It soon became evident, indeed, to the merest looker on, that any actual advance was not possible. The long talked over forward movement was manifestly to terminate in the blockade of Mantua, and King Charles Albert, instead of making the best of his way to Legnano and the Adige, stopped short at Castellaro, a small place eight miles north-east of Mantua.

In the mean time, the Austrians, who had concentrated their forces at Verona, despatched a body of 5000 men to occupy Ferrara, which they did on the 14th of July, without opposition. The Austrian troops crossed the Po at two points, one above, and one below Ferrara, on which city they marched at once, without experiencing any resistance. Their object was to victual and reinforce the garrison of the citadel, which accomplished, the Austrian general engaged to recross the Po within two days, and without committing any hostilities, provided his own march was left free from interruption.

On the 18th of July, General Bava attacked 3000 Austrians, who were intrenched at Governolo, a village on the Mincio, near the confluence of that river with the Po, carried the bridge by a charge of cavalry and flying artillery, and took 450 prisoners, two standards, and four pieces of artillery. This successful affair raised the spirits of the Italian army exceedingly. A slight manifestation attended with no results, had been made the day previous on the Pass of the Stelvio, the scene of so many struggles. The king had removed from Roverbello to Marmirolo, four or five miles from Mantua, which fortress was, by General Bava's success, blockaded on all sides, while at the same time, the only passage across the Lower Mincio held by the Austrians, fell into the possession of the allied army.

An ordinance, issued by Charles Albert on the 11th of July, decreed the immediate union of Lombardy and the provinces of Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, and Rovigo, already voted by the people! These provinces were to constitute part of the imaginary kingdom of Upper Italy.

On the 21st of July, while Charles Albert was blockading Mantua, or in the words of the Italians, "keeping that city and its garrison in awe,' the Duke of Genoa was investing Verona with a corps of 25,000 men; and the Duke of Savoy was covering the approach to the Due Castelli. The Austrians repeated their skirmishes upon the Stelvio, but according to Italian reports, the cannon of the allies forced them to retire from the heights of the Rocca Bianca, which they had occupied, and after twelve hours fighting they were obliged to retire on Trafoi. These frequent diversions upon the Stelvio, and the slight demonstrations made along the whole extent of the lines of the allied forces from Rivoli to Soma Campagna, were, however, soon followed by a general movement of the Austrian forces of a far more decisive character. Field-marshal Radetzky having at length received reinforcements, and accumulated a large body of troops at Verona, after having so long acted on the defensive, assumed the initiative as a sequence to the various reconnoissances previously effected in the direction of Rivoli, and the heights between the Upper Adige and Mincio, and which, when effected, were always reported by the Italians as so many attempts made to break their lines, and so many repulses for the Austrians.

The mist of vain-glory which blinded the Italians to the real state of things, was finally dispelled on Saturday, July the 22nd, when the Austrians advanced across the Upper Adige at the foot of the Monte Baldo, a mountain which overlooks Rivoli, and is a kind of guardian giant of the river. This effected, they descended on La Corona, driving before them the Piedmontese stationed there, and after a vigorous resistance they carried the plateau and all the lines of Rivoli; the Piedmontese, who defended them, being driven back upon Soudra, where the head quarters of General Sonnaz had been for some time past established.

Upon hearing of these successes, General Aspre was sent forward the next day from Verona with an Austrian force, 25,000 strong, and advancing by the several roads that lead along the right bank of the Adige, and by the Strada Reale, between Peschiera and Verona, he made a tremendous assault in front on Soma, Soma Campagna, il Bosco, and the whole line of heights which extend from Bussolongo on the Upper Adige, to Vallegio, on the Mincio, and which overlook the vast plain on which the great fortress of Verona and Villa Franca are situated. The force which had been so successful at Rivoli the previous day, made a simultaneous attack upon the right flank of General Sonnaz. All these positions of the allies, which it had taken them so long a time to secure, were forced by this combined movement, the Piedmontese were driven from all the country between the Upper Adige and the Lake of Garda, and from the plain of Verona and Mincio, across which river they retired to Villa Franca and Peschiera.

The victorious Austrians, after driving the Piedmontese in one day from those positions which it had taken Charles Albert two months to establish him in, covered on Sunday night the 23rd of July, the whole line of the left bank of the Mincio, down to a hill called Monte Vento, two miles from Vallegio, their videttes being pushed within half a mile of the latter place.

On Monday morning, the 24th, General Aspre followed up his successes by throwing a bridge over the Mincio, about three miles to the south of Peschiera. The passage of the river and the pass of Mon

zambano approaching to it, are said to have been bravely defended; but the Piedmontese were no longer in strength to resist the advancing Austrians, who occupied the same night Ponton, three miles on the right bank from Peschiera. The Sardinians, who defended the river, unable to maintain their ground, fell back on Peschiera, but, it is said, that the commander of that fortress refused to open the gates, even to his own friends, and that a general sauve qui peut flight took place in the direction of Dezenzano and Sonato. Thus the left wing of the allies was annihilated, and the centre dispersed on the 22nd and 23rd of July, while the right, under the king's personal command, remained uncertain how to act at Villa Franca.

On the 25th, the right wing of the Piedmontese, under the Dukes of Savoy and Genoa, advanced to give battle to the Austrians, and a decisive engagement took place, which was, according to the Italian reports, carried on till noon of the 26th. During this prolonged struggle, the allies took a body of Austrians, 1200 strong, prisoners at Staffalo, and the Austrians driven from the steep heights of Cutozza, were obliged to retire towards Ponton, on the Adige, till Radetzky brought up further reinforcements, ordering at the same time an attack upon the Piedmontese flanks by the division under General Welden, and the allies were ultimately obliged to retire on Villa Franca-a retreat which was effected in sufficiently good order to enable them to take their prisoners with them. Finding, however, that it would be impossible to hold the position of Villa Franca, the king ordered the entire army to concentrate around Goito. The Austrians did not follow the retreating army, but having re-crossed the Mincio in strong force, they took possession of the heights of Volta, which overlook the position of Goito, whither the king had retired with his beaten army on Wednesday night by the road of Roverbello. Thursday the 27th, at an early hour, General Sonnaz was despatched to engage the Austrian division that occupied the heights of Volta. It is said, that success attended this movement at first, but certain it is, that the Sardinians were obliged ultimately to retreat upon the main body at Goito. The king upon this gave orders that the head-quarters should be removed to Bozzolo. Charles Albert had previously intimated his intention, in case of defeat, of placing the river Oglio-nearly as wide as the Mincio and running parallel with it-between him and the enemy, and of retreating in case of need to Cremona. That intention was, at once, carried into effect, a brigade having been detached to occupy Asola on the Chiese, to secure the passage, at the junction of that river with the Oglio. The Austrians were, at the same time, directing a train of heavy artillery against Peschiera, to effect the reduction of that placethe only remnant of Sardinian ascendancy.

tions.

Field-Marshal Radetzki describes in his despatches the affair of the 25th, as the Battle of Custozza, that place being the centre of his operaThe battle was fought under a broiling sun, most destructive and fatiguing to the soldiery, and raged without intermission from ten in the morning till seven in the evening when the Italians fell back upon Goito. The Austrians lost from 500 to 600 soldiers, and 100 officers killed or wounded in this decisive engagement, which the Italian reports prolong to the noon of the 26th.

On the 29th of July the Austrian Hussars having crossed the Oglio, Charles Albert retreated on Cremona. The Italian army was completely

broken up and could no longer be united, although great efforts were made to collect such detachments as had retired to Brescia, and other outposts, and to unite them with the division which was immediately with the king's person, and which consisted of the remains of the brigade of Aosta, of Guarda, of Savoy, and Corry, the major part of the artillery, and about 2000 Lancers. It was in vain for the king to attempt with such a broken up and demoralised force to make head against a victorious army flushed with success, well supplied, and handled with consummate skill.

There is every reason to believe that under these circumstances, the king sent proposals for an armistice to Radetzky, and that the latter expressed his willingness to grant it, provided that the Piedmontese recrossed the Tessin at once, and submitted to a mediation for a definite peace. Charles Albert accepted the latter condition, although he refused at first to accede to the former alternative-an alternative, however, in which he was soon left no choice. The fact of this mediation having taken place before the capture of Milan will, however, materially facilitate future negotiations. Scarely two months had elapsed since the Austrian government had offered to the King of Sardinia terms of the greatest liberality, which would, if accepted, have led to the immediate termination of the war with an equitable division of the public debt of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom. At the same time M. de Hummelauer was sent to this country by the Cabinet of Vienna to endeavour to obtain the mediation of the British Government on the basis of the Adige, since it was obvious that it would be easier for Charles Albert to accede to such terms upon the recommendation of England, than by his own will alone. Lord Palmerston refused, however, to accede to this arrangement, upon the extraordinary, yet possibly wise principle, that the bitterness of defeat and the terror of conquest and subjection were necessary to bring the vain and demoralised Lombardians to any thing that was reasonable and just, and to convince them that the terms offered for their acceptance were far more liberal than any they could attempt to extort by the force of their own arms, from the Imperial generals. Events proved, to a certain extent, the accuracy of these views, and the conduct of the people of Milan to the heroic king, who had so bravely fought for an independence of which they all along showed themselves so unworthy, and whom they never backed with ought but empty shouts and bravados, attested that even at the moment of reconquest, they were neither prepared for, nor equal to, self-government.

Charles Albert having retired on the 1st of August to Codogno, he was there joined by Mr. Abercrombie, the British Minister at Turin, who arrived with new proposals of mediation which must have come not inopportunely. The Sardinians were by this time thoroughly disgusted with their boastful allies—the Lombardians. Since the retreat from Goito not a single Lombard had moved in aid of the army of Liberation.

No sooner did the city of Cremona find that the king was marching in that direction, than the Provisional Government dissolved itself, and the National Guard decamped. No preparations were made for the supply of the troops, they were left without wine and provisions, and to all appearance, they were in an enemy's, not in an allied country. This reception made a profound impression on officers and men.

While affairs were in this untoward condition in Northern Italy, an