THE LATE MARSHAL RADETZKY. (To the Editor of the Times.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1129, 23 April 1858, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LATE MARSHAL RADETZKY. (To the Editor of the Times.)

Sir,— Will you allow me to modify by some facts the view taken by the writer of the article on Radetzky, in your n timber of the 7th, of the Italian affairs in 1848 1 The writer asserts :—: — Ist. " The number of Austrain troops at Radeteky's command was about 75,000 men.'' The number of tnjops at Radetzky's command was 45 large complete battalions (nearly 1200 men each) ; cavalry 5700; artillery, 800 ; all of these were foreigners. To these must be added 22 Lombardo-Venetian battalions, a battalion of mawncs,A regiment of gendarmes, a battalion of policemen, sorß? thousands of military frontier guards,— some 40,000 armed men in the whole, mixed up with foreign elements, commanded by foreign officers, surrounded by foreign trpops. The ensemble of the forces amounted to 100,000 men and 200 cannons.— (Letter of Radetzky to the Municipal. Council of Milan, March 18 Archivio Triennale. Intercepted despatch from Radetzky to Schonhals, in which hasays that " he expects to rescue him very soon, as he has 100,000 at his disposal."— Official correspondence. — VlceConsul Campbell to Viscount Palmerston, Milan, April 3, 1848.) 2. " After three d*ys fighting.'' The struggle lasted 5 days. It began on the 1 8th of March ; it ended, with the retreat of Radetzky on the 23rd. 3. "He retired in good order to Verona.', None of the soldiers were enabled to take away anything, except what he had on his person at the moment im which the retreat was ordered, liadetzky could scarcely save his decorations (rettete titty mit genager Muhe sein*- Or den), and was compelled to retreat with less than four francs (wndumsste mit vier swanzigern abmarackievnji. The officers left without their cloaks. Dragooas were seen with itt&ntry caps, artillerymen with dragoon hairnets, lieutenants in uniform of generals. All was disorder and confusion.— (Report of an Austrian officer, ' Allgemehie Zeitung, April 9, 1848. . " The Austrian troops are now disorganized .... harassed .... ahort of provisions. The Italian troops in the Austrian service desert dail .''—Official! correspondence — Vice-C>nsul Campbell to Viscount Palmetstou, March 31.) 4. " The descendents ci the men who seven times repulsed Frederick Barbarwsa, instead of acting hand and heart together against the. common foe, lost the golden opportunity in frivolities, banquets, a»id speeches." Tne dcs endenU of the meawhs* repulsed Batbarossa conquered in one week the 1010,000 commanded by Radetzky ; they compelled Zichy to leave Venice for Trieste ; disarmed the garrison of Osopo and Palmanova ; made prisoners the Anstrians at Como> Varese, Monza , drovo them away from Brescia, Bergamo, Coemona ; pushed, guided by military instinct, their volunteers to the TyroJese frontier, j so that, except vrithin the four fortresses, no,t a tingle Austrian soldier was to be seen between the Alps and the sea.

And that was done by the Lombards alone. On the 25th three days after the victory. Charles Albert entered Lombardy : the supreme direction ar/J the fetes of the war were abandoned to him by the Provisional Goverment of Milan : on him rest's the responsibility of the defeat. 5. "It seemed as if the galvanieed o>»p* of Italy had suddenly became embtied with all the old feelings and fears of Guelph and Ghilelbine n ßi»ncM and Neri.' 1 It did not seem io at all times to those who 1 were on the spot. There were no division*, no Guelphs or (Jhibelh'nes. There was an all powerful spirit of union at work ; an immense aspiration towards Italian unity and independence ; and in thmt the long dismembered populations merget? all remnants of old feuds. From Sicily, from Naples from Tu*cany, from the Roman Provin«es, tolunteors hurried off merrily, under the national tolours, to Lombardy and; Venice. It wa« a truly noble and holy crusade. All the official intelligence of that and of the preceding year, the writers of every party, Metternich himself, bear witness to the fact. Bat when Charles Albert entered Lombardy, and the escocheon of the house of Savoy was seen .cross* the tncoloured Italian banner, and his followers substituted the local drenmof an enlightened local kingdon toth* national aim, a damp came on the g'owing enthusiasm ; the fatal duality of Piedmont and Italy, which still checks our onward movement, enthroned itself 'on the wreck of the grand fascinating Italian thought ; and while hope and the bright visions of the future faded away trom the hearts of the patriots, our princes, who had been com* pel led to yield to the mighty Italian wave, gw *>ed eagerly at the offered opportunity for withdrawing. ufhey could not refuse to fight for Italy ; they had a right to refuse to i fight for the agrandizemrnt of a selfish hostile dynsty. | " Until now, my lord, the. greatest union had prevailed i among all classes , but since his Majesty the King of Sardinia has entered Lomoardy two parties have sprung up ; one, the high aristocra-ticnl party, is desirous that I Lombardy and Piedmont should be united, with his Majesty Charles Albert for thefr sovereign ; the other, the middle class, in which I roust distinguish the commercial and literary people, together with all the promising youth, are for a Republic.'' — (Official Correspondence-—Vice-Consul Campbell to Viscount P«ilmerston, Milan, March 3U> 6. " The Lombards became alarmed. ... A panic seized upon them. In vain did Charles Albert extort t!'em to be firm. A retreat was resolved- upon. The retreat became a nigh*." That stogie word " Lombards,'** consciously or uncousciously subatftttted to " Piedmontese," changes the bearing of tlte whole narration. There were no Lombards at the final battle of Valleggio. Thepanic seized on the monarchical Pfedrnontese army. Both retreat and flight were the consequence of faults and worse of Chailes Albert and his staff The help of the Lombards was systematically refused By diaries Albert. They had fought bravely throughout all the- !omb/ardo*Venet~ tian land during the great insurrectionary week, — fought in the Tyrol, fought before the monarchical army, near Peschiera, on IKb. of April, fougM at Trevis&.'and during 18 hours, in May, against an •verwhelmii^ 1 ' force at Vicenza ; but the scheme of the forma'ion of ti£ '.ibrthern kingdom, of which Turin was to be the metropolis, could scarcely he realized by organizing a large Lombard contingent, and by allowing the Lombard population to acquire a deeper sense of its own power and rightt The war was therefore to be won by the Piedmentese regular army alone or lost. The volunteers were dissolved, the organization of the Lombard regiments delayed, their instruction given up to Piedmontese officers out of service,- or even branded by military judgments, and having been cast from the army : the Lombard soldiers, who were by whole battalion,* deserting, the Austrian ranks, were ~nt home to their families z the battalion of Lombard stud-efcW, which had formed itself by voluntary enlistment, wasijever allowed to> fight : thousands of muskets were l(ept coucealed at Milan : all our offers to arm and act were inexorably refused : there was no need. All these facts have been proved, authenticated, and made historical, matter long ago ; they ought not to be forgotten by any impartial writer. c I 7. " Charles Albert endeavoured to defend Milan. He* met with no support. The town surrendered.'' As saon. as the n ws of the diroute reached the town, the town arose j like a Iron from «ie slumbers. A committee of defence I was organized, consisting ot Macnri, Restelli, mid General Fanti , Milan distributed into military districts ; barricades were thrown up in every street ; arms sought for and' giv-en to the citizens; deposits of ammunition and victuals established. Orders and messengers were despatched to Northern Lombardy for levee en masse, and a matf\!Mothe Adda, so as to put the Austrian between two c-rces.c -rces. The working classes were enthusiastically preparing for a sixth day. On the night from the 2nd to the rO " August, Charles Albert, who had already despatched - 1?9 his great artillery park through Piacenza, sort wor- i - he would bend from his natural retreat on Alexandjg, \ l\ come to defend Milan. On the 3rd a Royal Cotnmissaire, Olivieri, baatentu there, dissolved the Committee " Defence, and- assumed all powers to himself. On tht Mh Charles AJbert enteiel MiUn, and swore, with the bases of the capitulation in his po«ket, that he would fight to the fast and &*«e the-iown. The barricades were ]« veiled to the ground; all mean» of defence concentrated in his hands. On the sth, the capitulation was suddenly declared an accomplished fact. On the population rising, ia threatening indignation, he solemnly and again promised, that, yielding to the genera] enthusiasm, he would bury himself uiuhr the ruins of Milan ; aiul the same day he-, concealed among his guards, left Milan. H» army followed. Th«e are facts. Undeniable proof may. be found in the " Statement of the 1 Defence Committee," in the History of Charles Cattaneo, in all the authentic records and documents of that period. But how could the writer of the article forget the evid^ice contained in your " official correspondence." "My Lord, the Committee of Public Defence issued many decree* in the course- of yesterday. . . 1. A levy in mass of all capable ofbearing arms from the tgte of 18 to 40. 2. A syttem of defence of the city of Milan, ' which is divided into sections, -with a regular aerYkse of engineers, artillery, firemen-, and tmbulancy. 3. A. requisition of all horses for mere luxury. 4. A requisition of 20,000 sacks of corn to provision the city, ot Milan. 5. A requisition of all arms »nd ammunitions in warehoutes, shops, and private houses. ** The utmost activity prevails in throwing i»p strong barricades, wider the superintendence of engineers, in the most exposed parts of the city, and in putting thecastle in such state of defence as will offer considerable resistance. For many miles outside the town the Milanese are breaking up- the roads, mining bridges, throwing up barricades, and removing from such places as are intended to be inundated! aril moveable agricultural property. , " It seems- that the inhabitants of Milan, although anticipating the worst, arp determined to make a strong and desperate resistance."— (Vice-Consul Campbell to Viscount Palmerston, Milan, August 2.) And again, — " A proclamatien was issued by his Majesty Charles Albert, dated the 7th instant, from Vigerano, . . in a section of which there is the following assertion :—: — •All the troops were brought by us under its walls (of Milan), ready to make a strong resistance, when we learnt that money, ammunition, and provisions were deficient.' I conceive it my duty, my Lord, to state that there was no want of money, as there were upwards of 2,000,000 current livrei in the treasury, besides the plate belonging to the churches, and that of the richest families here, deposited at the mint ready for coining. There was no wan of provisions, as for some time previous the committee of public defence had taken the most energetic measures, abd had laid in an abundant supply. There was no want of ammunition, as there was sufficient to defend the town for months. In different quarters of the city large quan» tities of ammunition wexu deposited. The principal deposits were the Engineer's Department (Genio), the Church of St. Carlo, the Church Campo Santo, and the Palace Borromeo." — (Official Corret«pondent : ViceConsul Campbell to Viscount Palmerston, Aug. 14.) Tha Sardinian forces concentrated about Milan amouted to between 40,000 and 45,000 men. The Austrians were ab»ut 55,000. — (R. A. Abercroiaby to Viscount Palmerston, 4th of August.) With one-third of those forces we defended in 1849 Rome during three months against the French and Neapolitan invaders. . To brand with a single trait deplume a whole brave population for the sake of exculpating a tingle kingly individual may he very monarchical; it is neither fair nor moral. To characterize on the whole an article which begins with " Austria has lost her Wellington," and ends with '• he possessed that peculiar attraction attributed to Frederick and Napoleon," coolly addressed to men who have, at the exhibition of 1851, gazed in difgnst at the half-Tartar, half-apeish, ignoble physiognymy of Radetzky at the entrance of the Italian department, must be the task of your English readers. I am, Sir, your obedient, JOIEFH MaZZINI. London, January 9.

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