ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 265, 13 December 1848, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Italy, dffeat of charles albert. There has been a long series of engagements between the Außttian and the Piedroontese forces, terminating very disastrously for the latter. The Austriaus completely surprised the Piedmontese on the night of the 22nd ult. ; they swept the whole coantry before them on the 23rd ult., and were beaten on the 24tb. On the 26th a battle raged between them and the Piedmontese until night, when the latter retreated, carijing with them, however, 2500 prisoners they had made on the 24th. On the 26th July, a great battle was fought on the heights overlooking the plain of Villa Franca and Verona, 25,000 men being engaged at either Bide. The positions were taken and retaken twice by e;'ch party in the courie of the day, and they would have remained in possession of Charles Albert, if Marshal Radetzsky, who seems to have calculated everything like aconsumate general, had not directed, at five in the afternoon, 20,000 fresh men from Verona on the 11 ink of the Piedmontese. This additional force dec ded the day, and ths Piedmontese, exhausted with fa igue and hard fighting in the broiling sun from five in the morning, broke up and entered Villa Franca at nine at night. They were not followed by the Austrians, but the latter at once crossed the Mincio with a great mass of troops, and secured the heights of Volta, overlooking the polition of Goito, to which the King and his beaten army reiired on Wednesday night by the road of Roverbello. A battle was decided at Goito at an early hour on Thursday morning, at which it appears the Piedtnonteie were again ovei powered by superior forces. The King had intimated his intention, in case of defeat, of placing the river Oglio, nearly as wide as the Miv« cio, and running parallel with it, between him and the enemy, and of retreating in case of need to Cremona. Charles Albert appears to have carried that intention partly into effect, as a brigade bad been lent to Asola, on the Chieco, a small river that joins the Oglio, to secure the' passage. The Mincio, both banks, wu in possession of the Austrians, and a train of heavy artillery had already been directed to Ptiehiera, to commence the bombardment of that place, the only remnant of Sardinian ascendancy.

The Times reports that its Paris correspondence of Thursday erening states that the affairs of King Charles Albert are in a worse condition than had been anticipated. Hii Majesty had demanded an armistice of Manual Radetsky, who consented, but on terms which the King would not accept— namely, the surrender of all the fortresses of Piedmont, including, or rather •pecialby naming, Alleisandria. The King having declined those term*, issued a proclamation to hi* troops, in which he resolves to fall, with his sons, at the head of the army, rather than lubmit to conditions so humiliating. '» The result will show thnt he is popular and beloved by bis subjects," say our (Times) private letters, " but it it far from certain that eveu with the aid of a rising en masse he can regain the ground he has lost, or preserve that left to him " The Piedemontese Gazette of the 29th announces that the Chamber of Deputies had on the preceding day adopted the following resolution investing the King with absolute power in consequence of the necessity to defend the country in the most prompt anJ efficatious manner : — •• Resolved that the King's Government be invested duiing the present war of independence with »11 the legislative and executive powers. He may enact laws by simple Royal decrees (the Constitutional Institutions being preserved), and accomplish c\eiy act for the defence of the countiy."

Rome. Reports received in the beginning of the week to the effect that a Proviiionai Government had baen established in Rome, have been contradicted. The Ministry of which M. Mamiani was the head, has decidedly retired, but by the last accounts their successoi s had not yet been appoin'ed. Piivate letters from Rome state that the Pope had asked Count Rossi, who was Ambassador from France at Rome till the revolution of February, to undertake the formation of a Ministry on the principles of neutrality, but that M. Rossi wisely declined the honour. The Chamber of Deputies had suspended its sittings till after the formation of a cabinet.

Spain. Madrid letters to the 2'Jth ult. announce the arrest of Gonzales Bravo, and bib transfer to Cadiz for trasportati^n to the Philippines. His offence was a plot to overthrow Nm vaez. It was rumoured that M. Pidil had been appointed Minister for Foreign Aff-uri, and M. Mon to the Financial Depirtnient. The Duke de Sotomayor had resigned, and would be named Ambassador to Paris. Letters from the frontiers of Cataloaia, addressed to the International of B jyonne, state that Cabrera and his band were so closely puißued by the Queen's troops that they had been obliged to divide into groups of from 25 to 30, and even of 10. The letters add that Cabrera and his officers had had part of their baggage captured by the Queen's troops, and they assert that Cabrera complains bitterly of having been deceived into the belief that fiom 1 5,000 to 2 >,00J were ready to join him, which, alone induced him to re-enter Catalonia.

France. M. Lucien Murat, the son ot the ex-King of Naples, and a member of the National Assembly, left Paris on Sunday night for Italy, on a diplomatic n.ission from the Fiench Government. It is said that his object is to negotiate with King Charles Albert the terms upon which a French army will interfere in favour of Italy, and march at once th ous;h P.edmont into Lombardy, The Moniteur rfa /' Armee announces that a new division is to be added to the army of the Alps to replace the troops which were brought to Paris during tlie insurrection, and which at the present moment 'oraH the camp at St. Maur, under the ordero of General Magnan. M. Ricci, an envoy fiom the King of Sardinia, has arrived in Pans to demand the immediate intervention of Fiance. M Ainalfi, an agent from Venice, has arrived to make a similar demand. They have both been receivtd by M, Ba^tide. It is thought that orders will be sent off immediately forllie entry of the army of the Alpi into Piedmont. Some of she troops about Lyons h ive been ordered to ihe fi on tier of Pirdimnt, and the remainder are kept in reujinfss to match. In the National Assembly, on Monday, M. Bastide, the Minihtdr ot War, made a speech deprecating inquiry into the foreign policy of the French government at this important crisis of affairs. The hon. minister, after abjuring any intention to recur to " dishonest piopagandidin," moved the adjournment of the interpellation) of M Mauguin. !\I. Mauguiu replied in a tedious harangue, and a desultoiy disrussion ensued, which -was u'timately stopped by the president. Citizen Proudhon appears to have incurred blame in the eyea of friends and foes. It will be remembered, that when M. Baibes decreed the robbery of the rich for the benefit of the poor, to the extent of 40,0'"0,000 sterling, on the 15th of May lait, in the National Assembly, a worthy person among the intruders exclaimed, "No I that's not it, B s rbes: two hours of pillage 1" This short speech produced alarm and execration, but wai not condemned by the partizans of the Red Republic. The proposition of M. Proudhon, on the contrary, appears to have excited di*gust rather th in apprehension ainon,' the public in general, and considerable an<cer in the ranks of the Communists and Socialists, whohe cause hai, they feel, been perilled by his placing on record the cold calm pretentions of those classes to plunder such of their fellow-citizens as possess property. The following is a translation of the vote of censure adopted on Tuesday by the Assembly, after the protracted silting and extraordinary discussion on M. Proudhon'i pioposition for a tax on revenue— " Tne National Assembly, considering the proposition of the Cituen Proudhon is an odious attack on the principles of public morality : that it is a flagrant violation of the right of property, which is the basis of social order, that it encourages delation, and appeals to the vilest passions; considering further, that the outline of it has communicated the revolution of February, in wishing to render it an ncoomplice of the theories which he has developed iv the tribune, passes o the order ot the day."