LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 400, 30 July 1859, Page 3

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

May 18, 1859. The French squadron ■• despatched to the Adriatic is said to be before Venice.

A despatch from Trieste, dated May 15, says : — " The English merchant steamer Douro has arrived with the East Indian mails and passengers. When passing Avlona, in Turkey, she was boarded by the boats of a French ship of the line. A French squadron, consisting of two ships of the line and a frigate, have captured four Austrian merchant vessels."

The Company of the Austrian Lloyd's have already ceased to run their steamers. It ia obvious that they could run them only at the risk of seeing them captured.

Prince Xapoleon, who accompanied the Emperor of the French to Genoa, has issued the following order of the day to his corps d'armoe, which the ' Monitenr ' of yesterday states will be ready to take the field in about a week : —

"ARMY OF ITALY. — FIFTH COEPS d'AKMER.

" Soldiers of the Fifth Corps of the Army of Italy, — The emperor calls me to the honour of commanding yoii. Many of you are my old comrades of Alma and Inkerrnann. As in the Crimea, and as in Africaj you will sustain your glorious reputation. Discipline, courage, tenacity — such are the military virtues which you will once more display to Europe, which is attentively watching for the great events in preparation. The country which was the cradle of ancient civilisation, and of modern renaissance, is about to owe its liberty to you ; you will deliver that country for ever from its oppressors — from those eternal enemies of France whose name is associated in our history with all our struggles and all our victories. The reception which the Italian peoples give to their liberators bears witness to the justice of the cause which the emperor defends. Vive I" Emperor! A r ive la France! Vive lTndependence Italienne!

" The prince command ing-in-chief the sth corps of the army in Italy.

Napoleon. (Jerome)"'

The latest bulletins from the seat of war throw little additional light upon the plan of operations contemplated by either of the contending armies. From Alessandria, where the Emperor Napoleon is busy with his generals, we learn by telegraph that the rain falls incessantly, but that the bad weather has not prevented the troops from moving.

An official bulletin published at Turin o:\ the 16th of May states that an engagement between a body of Sardinian cavalrj' and a detachment of Austrian hussars had taken place, near Voghera. It appears to have been a very insignificant one. Another bulletin published in the same city yesterday thus summarises the operations of the Austrians: —

" The bridge of Stella has been threatened by the Austrians. The waters of the Po have risen. Women and children of the country are compelled by the eaeruy to labour at the works.

"The Mayor of Barbianello, a village in the district of Alessandria, and other mayors of the province of Voghera, who refused to comply with the demands for contributions, have been arrested.

" Austrian workmen have been assembled on the right bank of the Po, and at the bridge of Stella, and other workmen have been collected between Urone and Stradella."

The Duke of Grammont left Rome on May 15 for Genoa, by telegraphic order from the emperor. It is reported that a popular movement has taken place at Cesena. Home U tranquil.

The ' Presse' of Vienna states that in Piedmont " the Austrians pay for everything in ready money, and, consequently, bad inspired with the greatest confidence the population of the provinces occupied by them." The " population," however, give a vcr} r different account of this.

The Count de Cavour is collecting evidence of the depredations of the Austrians in Piedmont, and purposes, it is said, to make them the object of a circular which shall protest iv the face of Europe against acts which transgress the ordinary limits of the right of war.

The Austrian flotilla has received orders to run into Trieste, which port is, by treaty, under the protection of the Germanic Confederation, and here it is believed that the French vessels will not venture to penetrate. In any case the blockade of the Adriatic will be very strictly maintained by the French by means of four large steam-frigates and two ships of the line. The order has been sent, as is customary, to all the commandants of the different naval stations in France to respect the Austrian frigate, the Xovara, which ia executing at this moment a scientific voyage of circumnavigation. v

The celebrated Count Ciesar Balbo has left five sons, all of whom are enrolled beneath the Piedniontese banners. "One of them," says the Ami de la Religion, " the Count Casinier Balbo, wap, unhappity, severely wounded in the first skirmish with the Austrians."

It is not without interest at the present moment to point out what are German and' what the non-German provinces of Austria. The Austrian empire comprise a total superficies of 12,120 square geographical miles, or about 682,000 square kilometres, with a population of 37,000,000 of inhabitants. -In a ter- "j ritorial point of view, the above extebtuiaybedivided into four parts— the Italian countries, 47,000 square kilometres and 5,000,000 inhab- - Hants; Hungary and dependencies, 354,000 and 14,500,000; Poland, 79,400 and 5,000,000; and the German countries, 199,500 and 12,500,000. These l^|K>ne form part of the Germanic Oonfederatidn.ffand they alone are • placed under the guarantee of the federal compact. They are the Archduchy of Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian Silesia, Salzbourgv the Tyrol, Cariuthia, Styria, Gambia, Trieste, and its territory, the counties of Gorits and Gradiaca, and the county of Nitterburg^and the i^dship of Castua in Lstria. The ndn-, GerraWprovinces of Austria arc, Galicia, the *B^k||i|§|, Hungary, the Voividina, Transylvam§yi!j|!|patia, iSclavouia, Dalmatia^a large par^^T'istria, and the Lombardo- Venetian, - *^s.

(See Supplement for remainder ofwws.)