THE LOSS AT SOLFERINO.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 202, 27 September 1859, Page 3

THE LOSS AT SOLFERINO.

A letter has been received in Paris from a non-coraiiiissioned officer of a regiment of light bavalry, who was present at the battle of Solferino. He says that his regiment was one that suffered least, and that still there were two chefs d'escadron, (majors) killed. He adds that there are some ofthe French infantry regiments abimes, meaning1 that they were nearly cut to pieces. As for the Piedmontese army, he says it suffered so severely that it is incapable of forming a line of battle. There is little exaggeration in what is stated on good authority to be the real loss in killed and wounded on that terrible day at Solferino. The loss appears to be from 16,000 to 18,000! It is divided thus:—Marshal Niel's corps from 6,000 to 7,000 ; Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers', nearly 5,000; Marshal M'Mahon's, 2,500; and Marshal Canrobert'a I,ooo—-whiclv with casualties in the special corps, such as the artillery, will make up the number. It is reported to-day that Pescheira is invested, and that fighting has been resumed. It is rumored, but not on authority that General Dieu has died of his wounds, and that General Ladmirault lies in a very dangerous state. A touching story is told of. three -brothers who served in the army, one as Lieutenant-Colonel, one as Major, and the third as Lieutenant,- of whom the first was killed at Montebello, the third at Magenta, and the second at Solferino. The Great Quadrangle op Fortresses in Lombardy. We observed the other day a paragraph in a French paper which stated that nothing else is thought of or talked of in Paris at present but the " Quadrilatdre." When a Parisian takes up his newspaper in a morning, the first word which meets his eye is the Quadvilatere. On meeting a friend, instead of greeting him with the everlasting " How do you do ?" his first question is, " How about the Quadrilatere ?" We are not quite so bad as this in London ; but nevertheless, the "Quadrangle" is an object of great interest at the present moment and much, talked of, and therefore it is desirable we should all know something about it. Under these circumstances, we cannot do better than give our readers some account of this celebrated position, to which the Austrian forces have now retired, and which all military authorities agree in regarding as a stronghold. The famous Quadrangle ia defended by the four fortresses of Mantua, Peschiera, Legnano, and Verona, Mautua is built on a small island formed by the Mincio. The superficies of this is upwards of 100 acres. Close to this island there is another of about the same extent. The two islands are completely encircled by the waters of the Mincio, and situated about half a mile from each bank of tho river. Mantua can be entered only by crossing dykes or passing along very narrow causeways, of which there are two on the left bank and three on the right. These five passages are each defended by a bastioned fort. A broad canal intersects the city of. Mantua in its whole breadth. This canal is navigated by boats from the Po, by which the transit of merchandise is effected. The city of Mantua contains about 30,000 inhabitants; it is well built; the houses large and the streets broad. Two suburbs are connected with the city by fortified bridges. These suburbs are called the Borgo di Fortezzo and the Borgo di San Giorgio. Of the defensive works which surround the fortress the most important is Ceresa. The Palace of Ceresa was built after plans and designs drawn by Giuli Romano. The Emperor Napoleon I. took possession of Mantua in the year 1796. During the French occupation the fort of Pistola was added to the other fortifications. Mantua is considered to be the key of Italy, but an account of its geographical position rather than its means of defence. Marshal Serrurier remarked that "the difficulty is not to take Mautua, but to approach it." Peschiera contains about 3,000 inhabitants. Like Mautua, it is a small town situated on an island formed by the Mincio, at its outlet from the Lake of Garda. Peschiera commands the right bank of the river. Its principal mission is to watch and defend the Lake of Garda, and the sluices which hold in reserve a current of water ready to submerge any works which an enemy may construct, or to carry away the pontoon bridges he may throw over the Mincio. During the French Republican war the fortification of Peschiera consisted merely of a pentagon. .Subsequently a mamelon, named "La Mandeltrr," was raised on the left bank ofthe river. On it were constructed three lunettes or forts, defended by a broad natural fosse, on the right bank of the Mincio. A defensive work of considerable magnitude, called the " Salvi" covers the immediate approaches of the river. The fortifications altogether may be capable of containing one division of troops. In 1848 Peschiera was carried by the Sardinian army after a three weeks' siege. Nevertheless it was Peschiera that checked the auocess of King Charles Albert. After the taking of Peschiera, Charles Albert crossed the Mincio, intending to encamp temporarily on the heights of Rivoli; but, soon becoming sensible ofthe danger of that isolated position, he again, though not without difficulty, fell back on the Mincio. Legnano is situated on the Adige, at an equal distance from Mantua and Verona. Legnano and Peschiera are situated at two opposite points, and are of nearly equal importance. The former is not really a strong place, but as a strategical position tha town is of vast importance, on account of its two fortified points constructed on the Adige, which enable the garrison to manoeuvre with facility on both banks. Moreover, it is from Legnano and by Legnano, that the garrisons of Verona and Mantua oan obtain supplies of troops and provisions. Verona, which is divided into two parts by the Adge, contains about 30,000 inhabitants. During the campaigns of the armies of the French republic, Verona was only a fortress of secondary importance, but since 1848 it has undergone considerable military development, and the Austrian Government has spared no expense to render it a fortress of the first rank. Formerly, the part in the direction of Lombardy was almost without any means of defence ; '-. all the strength of the place was concentrated in that part which faced the direction of Austria. But this fault has been remedied,, and Verona is well equally now fortified at all pouits, Th^Qi^wa]J*l*Yeuud.ergQ^i;epair > aa,d

bastions have been raised; casemates, half-moons, and ouvrages a comes have been constructed; 20 forts (13 .of which are external, on the plan of the fortifications of Paris) are mounted with thousands of guns.. In short, nothing is* wanting. Austrian gold and military skill have converted Verona into a most redoubtable stronghold. The Battle ■ Rehearsed. Several maps were found at Piacenza, in tho rooms abandoned precipitately by the Austrian officers. One of them, which is beautifully executed, represents the whole field of tattle of Solferino, and a series of manoeuvres made in the camps of instruction are exactly indicated. The positions occupied by the Austrians, and the movements made by the troops, precisely correspond with those maps, and the battle would thus appear to have been studied by tho Austrians during, perhaps, 40 years. It? is as though the French had given battle on the site of the Camp of Chalons, or at Satory. The Fatal Cannon. It will be remembered that at the battle of Magenta the Austrians became master of two French cannons. One was recovered, but the other was carried off by the vanquished army, and was safely conveyed to Verona, where, being the only trophy which the Austrians could "shew, it became the object of universal admiration, was crowned with 'flowers, and exhibited to the public in the court-yard ofthe palace inhabited by the Emperor. Here it was daily visited by great crowds of curious persons, not only on account of its pecular construction (it is one of the new rifled cannons, the invention of the French Emperor), but also on account of the curious circumstance of its oapture, and successful retention by a defeated and retreating army. One morning the following distich, according to report, was found attached to the cannon in question :— " Parmi, che caro piu che bello cia Une cannon, che costo la Lombardia!" " Too dear the cannon seems to be * That cost its owners Lombardy." The True Version. The Austrian was right. His first account of the great battle of Solferino, summed up in sixteen lines, and read in London a short time after, told the exact truth. He was defeated, bufc not destroyed; and: the French official account, though much more abundant in details, merely confirms what we all knew a. week ago.. A bloodier battle has not been fought within the memory of living man. After an agonising delay of seven days, the French nation learns that on the evening of Friday^ the 24th of June, 12,000 Frenchmen, rank and file, lay killed or wounded in the valley of the . Mincio; that 720 officers had fallen victims to' the deadly aim of the Tyrolese riflemen, 150 being killed, and 570 wounded. Add to this five .generals wounded, seven colonels and six lieutenant-colonels killed, and we can at length appreciate the terrible nature of the struggle which lasted from sunrise to sunset.of a summer's day, and thus estimate the cost, .at which so meagre a victory was purchased. Of the Sardinian loss we have, as yet, received no official return, but it can scarcely have amounted to less than from 4000 to 5000 killed-and wounded; nor is it probable that the Austrians suffered less severely in proportion, although we have no* authority for stating their loss at more than 1900 killed, and 8100 wounded in all.— Southern Times. Lighthouses.—An English engineer has published a paper of much interest on lighthouses and their improvement, and containing the general principles and many details of art admirable system for distinguishing lights by causing them to shew their numbers by rapid eclipses and flashes of light. Any digit may ba expressed by an equivalent number of occupations and restorations of light—thus one eclipse and one restoration would stand for the number one. The value of the digit, whether belonging to the units, tens, or hnndreds' place, might be indicated by occultatiohs preceded by shorter or longer intervals of light, as three occupations, at intervals of a second, would express three units, then a pause of several, say three seconds, then five occupations, would express five in the ten's place, then a pause of say three seconds and two occultations would express the hundreds; then a longer space of, say ten seconds, would shew that the number was complete. Thus the number of a lighthouse might be repeated more than once in a minute, even where the figures are quite high, and each lighthouse would continue the repetition of its own. number. Such lightß can be seen at least as far as others which are not temporarily obscured, and by arranging the number of lighthouses along a coast, upon such a system that the adjacent shall have very different numbers, the figures representing units, tens, and hundreds of the number not recurring in the adja» cent lights, the distinctions can practically be made very complete. A Tasma!nian Buntip.—A utrange amphiI bious animal which had been disporting itself for several days in the waters of the Tamar, in its endeavors to return whence it came, had succeeded in getting down near Fresh Water Point on Wednesday, on its way to the heads, when it was observed on the flats, and-Mr. John Griffiths, jun., accompanied by Captain C. Smart, and others, gave chase. The rapidity cf the creature's movements from one side of tha river to the other, prevented the near approach of its pursuers for several hours, but at length Mr. Griffiths brought his gun to bear upon tho stranger at a reasonable distance; he fired, and the shot entered the animal's neck just behind the skull, perhaps the most vital part in the animal's whole body. After some struggling, it coiled itself up, and died. There must have been great difficulty in getting the prize into the boat, as it measures fully nine feet long, and oannot weigh much under six cwt. Its pursuers were under the impression while in chase, that it was a sea lion or lioness-—we are not sufficiently up in natural history to say which. Its head is most like that of a calf than any carnivorous animal we know of, but it has no visible ears, and the skull is rounded more like that of a seal. The tongue is of immense size in proportion to that of the head. Its dorsal fins, or short-webbed arms, have five divisions, the bones in each division; being jointed like those of a hand, and each terminates with a narrow claw or nail. It measures, nine feet in. circumference at this portion of the body, from which it tapers rather gracefully to the tail, which terminates in a short bony appendage in the centre, with an immense one on each side ; these, when extended, measure two feet in breadth. They are each divided by five webbed fingers like the;dorsal fins, each boae or division terminating with a nail or claw. Its skin, which on the back is quite black, is covered with a fine silky coat of shorn ha« of a* steel. j£ej<_olQi^^

Twenty bottles of madeira.. AN ANECDOTE OF THE "WIZARD OF THE NOKTH*. lam a digger at the Turon. This month last year I was a passenger in the ship which brought Professor Anderson" from England to 'Madeira. We came put together on board the Monsoon, and we landed at Sandridge at the same time. One had better luck than the other. He is coming to Bathurst to play, and I am staying at the Turin to dig. ... It has just- struck me, however, that the good folks of Bathurst who go to see him would like to hear a little story that I have to tell in connexion with our voyage. If the Professor accomplishes in the theatre anything half so wondrous as that which he did on board the ship, he'll create some astonishment, I assure you. It was on the 23rd of" March, for I noted the date; we were thirteen days out from England; the weather was warm; and beautiful; the evening was one of the most pleasant of our voyage. We had left Old England on a cold frosty night; the snow sixlnches deep at the new landing-stage, at Liverpool, and the sleet drifting in our faces as we went down the Mersey in -the early morning. All the rigging of the vessel was covered with snow, and large flakes of it fell from aloft upon us as we paced the deck. Thirteen days had passed away, and winter had changed into summer. The sea was smooth, the air balmy, and the night beautiful. There were ripp.es. on the water, and every ripple seemed to be a silver round in one great ladder of light, one foot of which was at the,stern; of our vessel, and the other far away over the sea up under the moon. lam not much of a reader,, hut I remembered two lines of Milton, and thought I understood what..he meant:—« " The sounds and seas with all their finny drove Nov/ to the moon in waving morrice move." By* the by, we had just had a dance on ; the deck; not a 'morrice' one, but that fine old; glorious.one Sir Roger de Coverley. .We were a little tired of our dancing, and were lolling over the taffrail on the port side, when the captain directed our attention to what seemed at first a dark cloud in ■ the distance on the horizon. ; ' There's Madeira,' said he. ' Well, come, that's jolly, 5 observed the merriest man of. pur party—- ' a martial Hibernian. :' We do get a sight of land, at any rate. Won't you put in there to-morrow, and let us have a scamper over the vineyards, captain ? We'd have such ripping fun.' ' And I'm so fond of Madeira wine,' chimed in a lady passenger. 'There's none on board, captain. Cannot we call and procure some ?' The captain shook his head. 'We shall fro no nearer than twenty miles or so,' he replied. 'As for the wine, I really do not know how you can get any, unless Professor Anderson can conjure some on board.' The Professor was standing at our elbows and heard the captain's reply. Accepting the challenge, he at once surprised us by saying, 'when a lady is so. anxions, captain, I. regret that you are not in a position to oblige her. What you cannot do, I will. Madam, you shall have twenty bottles of Madeira by to-morrow morning,' ' Twenty . hott/es!'we exclaimed. ' Oh, pray do not endanger your life in a •boat to oblige me, Professor,' said the lady .kindly. 'Not much fear of that,' remarked the captain. 'I am not going to let Mr. Anderson, nor any one. else have one of my boats to "loose by attempting to row thirtymiles. If he gets the Madeira at all,'he must get it by magic. There is no other . way.' - : ;..;...- ' 'Precisely so,' said Mr. Anderson. 'By magic you shall have it. Be pleased to watch my performance: Here is the steward. He will be good enough to oblige me, no doubt, with twenty empty. wine bottles., Port, sherry, or champagne ones will not' matter much, but let them have corks to £t.' ;' r .'-.', .; ;.;: ; : The steward promised; to oblige, .and de-.. parted on his errand. y ' Well, this will be a stunning experiment if it succeeds,' observed our jovial passenger. '* What a ripping thing to be a /wizard and to be your own wine merchant. How jolly 1' - The twenty bottles were brought. We ■were invited to examine them and ascertain if they were empty. As we did so they v/ere corked up one by one and placed in,a row on the deck. «How far, Captain, do you reckon Madeira to be from here ?' asked the Professor. The Captain paused for a moment and then answered: 'That high point that.you see is Mount Pico Ruivo, and as it is about 6000 feet high, I should judge from how much.we see of it that it is from thirty-five to forty miles distant. ' Very good,' said Mr. Anderson, ' then my bottles have at least thirty miles to go. I must take care that they find their way.' The professor took up bottle after bottle, and seemed to write the word Madeira on the side of each with the tip, of his forefinger,, after doing which; he let each drop over the side of the vessel into the phosphorescent'sea. Empty as they were, they floated with their necks projecting above the water and we saw them move off in a, line straight towards Pico Ruivo. Their hlack heads could be seen bobbing in the moonlight when they were a good mile beyond the ship. 'And do you really suppose that X we shall ever see.those bottles again ?' enquired the lady, addressing the Professor. "; ; '/.. 'Madam,' he answered, 'Iprbmised you twenty bottles of Madeira, and you shall have them. Obligeme by-waiting till ithe ; . morning.' ■'. • ,: yfe did wait, and not only did. we,wait, ; hut I watched. I had some suspicion that some men would be: sent off in a boatj so I. i kept my eyes on the boats all-night through.. • Whenjmdriiing came I felt satisfied that no one had left the ship. Madeira was'still in- '■' the distaiftee, b'uta strong breeize had sprung; up and 1 we'werjq-*^ ;At breakfast there 'Was qonsideraftl#'fun,;abou?t!

the magic bottles, and Mr. Anderson had to endure a fair share of banter. Presently one came running down the companion to apprise us that there were porpoises ahead. 'We'll go and see the' porpoises' said Mr. Anderson, rising from his seat- «Ladies and gentlemen will you accompany me V ;" ' Prom the smiles which we saw lurking in the Professor's eye, we expected some fun, and all went on deck immediately. Sure enough, over the port bow of the vessel, there were black shiny things moving on the water, whicli at first sight appeared like the backs of porpoises.' 'They always follow in a line in that manner,' observed the captain. 4 And how fast they move towards •unremarked one of the passengers. 'Dear me, are those porpoises ?' ' More likely to be bottle-nose -fish,' suggested the Professor with emphasis. I 'Some one take the grhans, and go down in the chains, ordered the captain. 'We may contrive to catch one.' *Be careful what you are about, 1 called out the professor. ' Captain, be pleased to let the mate go, I have a reason for it. He is a careful man. Let any one else accompany him who pleases.' The mate went. The black shiny things came on towards the ship at a great rate in a double row. 'Why,'it's not fish at all,' suddenly exclaimed the captain, 'its 'It's bottles, sir,' roared the mate, down in the chains. < Take care, take care!' cried Mr.' Anderson,'its the Madeira. Heave up the ship to the wind, captain, while we take_.it.on board.' I True enough it was the Madeira. Twen-; ty bottles corked and sealed, and attached to. the trunk of a banana tree, so that they might float on : the water, Ten .oil one side ot the banana, and ten on the other. 'Please to .observe, ladies and gentlemen,' said the Professor, 'they were empty bottles and with no seals to the corks when I sent them adrift last night, They'are now full, and each sealed with a! yellow seal. Will some one oblige me by opening any one .of them aiid handing to this lady a glass of Madeira ?' ' ,'.'.'. We had glasses round, and I, for one, can confidently assert that it was the best Madeira 1 ever drank. So said all on deck.. 'Dash my buttons! It's jolly to be a wizard!' exclaimed our merry .friend as he drained his glass. - '[ y ' It's very nice, wine—very nice indeed,' declared the lady, 'but I—l—l hope.it is not supernatural, Professor ?' ' Madam, does it taste as if it were ?'• was his reply. This was the magic trick I saw the Wizard do on our voyage. Where lam most puzzled is, to understand how the green banana trunk could have come from Madeira with the bottles, if the bottles did not first go to Madeira for the banana.— Communicated to the Bathurst Free Press. ~Washing up Dishes.—A little girl assuming matronly airs as she dusts her furniture and washes'her dishes, with a significant rattle, sings the following'kitchen maid's song :— Oh, how I wish ' y . , Each kettle and dish Could be washed by some Yankee machine; • For 'twould save such'a sight Of toil from morrr to night, Just to have one that would churn,-bake and clean. - " There's machines,to cut grass, -'• And machines to cut glass, Machine's to fulfil all the men's wishes ; Bufc they never once think; While their own health they drink, Of the poor girls who wash up the dishes..' ; Frightful- Railway Accident.— An accident, not in itself seriousybut resulting indirectly in the death, of one:of the passengers, occurred on Tuesday to the £.15 express train from So.uthporV to Manchester. The train-was approaching the Dixohfold station at a reduced speed,.in'order to stop at the Clifton Junction, when the guard's'van, which was m tho rear, got oft the rails. • > The accident: was. immediately'discovered by ; the officials, iand the train ..was, stopped, the guard having previously jumped from his: van, which had been swinging against a bridge, and considerably, shattered, The van was then uncoupled, in order to permit* the first portion of the train to proceed; without delay to Manchester. ■' Whilst this Avas being done,. Mr. Jplly, of Appley-j bridge,1 vVho was in a second-class carriage, ; looked out to see what had Happened, and.i his hat blew off. He attempted to .open the .door to fetch it, }aut was strongly urged by the other passengers' tq remain 'in the carnage. He persisted, however, in getting out, and while:he .was-walking, towards his hat on the down rails, a train from Manchester came by at a rapid speed, and he was literally dashed to peices.' With the exception of the guard's van, the "train '.sustained very little damage.' 'The brake rod underneath the carriage next to the van'was broken, but the injury to the carriage itself'! was very trifling. \ ; - ' '.':....-..'.'.'.'.' George Fredrick 'Cooke's passion ;for strong drink was r so great,' that when; he,' was without money,'he has-been known! to;' ; go to a pawnbrokers, and to say, j I .want i .five, guineas, but*L;haye* nothing to;p^edge but myself— give me the money, they'll be. : sure to redeem:,me vvhen theyr want mci.: .And having sent word to the theatre'of hissituation, he hag--frequently 'been- found seated on the pawnbroker's counter, With (a' duplicoat pinned to hisbuttoh^holev:1 '•■;■■ [: • A hrOnzeystatue of Lord Give, the* hero-; of Plassy, by'.MarOchetti,;; hasi! been placed temporarily irTthe Privy Gardens;' White^ hall.■ ."lit is'alwell-mpuMedigure,, equally freefroni affectation ans jnot ; distinguished , by" . any!.^arkqcL_,character \_ nor does tfre. likeness appear very happy. y : y y A legacy-;o£ £500 has: just .been,i-left }o K . the Printers' .Pension ,Society by::the! late; Mr. Gi Jigge, the' original proprietor tof the ■Family' Herald. The same =gentleman-has also r bequeathed # legacy r;of --€100} id \ the5 Printers' Almshou_e-Society* and $W)ptd'