had come with Charles Albert towards the centre, returned in haste to Bicocca. But here matters were going wrong. Four Austrian Divisions had assaulted and taken first Castellazzo, then Bicocca; and our men were getting into disorder. The Duke of Genoa rallied and put in array three battalions, and, dismounting, sought to bring them back to the charge by marching on foot at their head; but the fortitude and daring of the intrepid Prince were ineffectual against the great numbers of the enemy and his force of artillery, so Bicocca was definitively lost. Thus it became requisite to order a retreat upon Novara ; and, thanks to the excellence of the cavalry, it was accomplished, although the foot had fallen into extreme confusion. At eight o'clock, the whole force which had been engaged at Bicocca had entered the town with the King, who had been present in every affair of the day, and had himself brought up the rear on the retreat.

While our fortunes thus went to wrack on the left, the centre and right remained in a most perilous predicament. Alessandro La Marmora, with ready and acute decision, facilitated the retreat. Bes's Division, when it arrived before Novara, was subjected to the fire of our guns, because such was the darkness that friend and foe could not be distinguished. This mishap greatly disheartened the men, who conceived the city must have fallen into the hands of the Austrians; so that one portion only of them entered it, while the rest took the road to Agognate. Durando was annoyed, while retiring, by the troops of Thurn, but he kept

them in check, and got into Novara without serious loss. A part of the Division in reserve had been sent to meet Bes and Durando, and to support them on their retreat; the remainder, posted on the Vercelli road, had prevented Thurn from taking possession of that city. Solaroli's Brigade was in motion towards Cameri. Round Novara some preparations for defence were made in haste; the gates barricaded, and the guns mounted on the bastions. The night was gloomy and dark; it rained in torrents; the enemy rested. after his victory, the corps of D'Aspre, Appel, and Thurn bivouacking at the gates of Novara, the reserve at Olengo, and Wratislaw at Monticello. We had lost 4000 men in killed and wounded, 2000 prisoners, and twelve guns; the Austrians had lost 3000, besides 1000 prisoners.

More serious and afflicting than the actual discomfiture was the demoralisation of our infantry. Novara was at the mercy of a handful of maniacs who were sacking, and who threatened to burn it. It was imperative to put them down by force, and this the cavalry effected. With the bonds of discipline thus relaxed, it was impossible to prolong resistance, much more to resume the offensive. Charles Albert, who had been facing death throughout the day, and replying to those who urged him not to throw his life unprofitably away, "they should let him die, that sun was his last," called the Generals into council, and since the army was a wreck, settled to send General Cossato, head of the General's Staff, to Radetzki to solicit a truce. The ungenerous enemy harshly re

quired terms intolerable to Piedmont and insulting to the King; for he desired that, by way of preliminary, all Italians who had fought on the side of the Piedmontese should be forthwith driven from the ranks. The King again summoned all the leaders of the army, with the Minister Cadorna, who was in the camp; and having indignantly stated the proposals of Radetzki, he added, "You see, gentlemen, that terms like these are inadmissible:" and he inquired whether it were possible "to resume hostilities and offer any effectual resistance to the enemy." "No," was the answer; not at all because the losses of that day were irreparable, but because the army, previously daunted by the disobedience, or as most deemed it, the treason of Ramorino, and then by the disastrous action at Mortara, was now virtually dissolved: some had disbanded, of others there were no tidings, and, generally, the soldiers would not obey their officers. Hereupon Charles Albert thus resumed:

corps

66

During these last eighteen years, I have made every practicable effort for the benefit of the people; I grieve to witness the frustration of my hopes, not for my own sake so much as for my country; I have failed in finding my death upon the field of battle, as I could have wished: perhaps I may now individually be the single obstacle to our obtaining from the enemy a fair convention; and as there are not the means of prolonging hostilities, I now abdicate my throne in favour of my son Vittorio; flattering myself that the new King, on resuming communications with Radetzki, may be able to make better terms, and

to procure for the country an advantageous peace." And pointing to the Duke of Savoy, he added, “You see your King." He then embraced all present, and dismissing them, remained alone with his two sons.

The new Sovereign, Victor Emmanuel, dispatched General Cossato and the Minister Cadorna to the enemy's camp. But the Marshal told them he must negotiate with the King himself. After hesitation for a while on his part, at last they met near Vignale. A truce was concluded on the following terms: — 20,000 Austrians, maintained by Piedmont, were to occupy the district between the Ticino and the Sesia; a mixed garrison of Austrians and Piedmontese was to hold the fortress of Alessandria; Piedmont to discharge the Lombard corps, and to place her army on the peace establishment; negotiations for a peace on the basis of the treaties of 1815 were to commence forthwith; and Austria to be indemnified for the charges of the war. During these occurrences, General Wimpffen appeared with three Brigades before Casale, and summoned it to surrender on the morning of the 24th. This town is on the right bank of the Po, at the foot of the hills which command the valley of that river. It is not a fortified place; but it has an ancient castle, which was garrisoned at the time with a company of veterans. There were also there no small number of soldiers, who had been stragglers during the days preceding. The honour alike of the intrepid inhabitants, and of that handful of gallant men, forbade them to open their gates to the elated enemy, so they attacked and repulsed him;

and afterwards, when night had fallen, they sallied and gave him much annoyance. Next day Wimpffen had tidings of the armistice, and orders to retire behind the Sesia.

Charles Albert set out from Novara, with a single valet, at midnight of the 23rd. A few miles onward, he was stopped by the Austrians, who all but fired a cannon shot upon his carriage. Being asked for his name, he said he was the Count Di Barge (such was the incognito he had chosen), Colonel in the Sardinian army, and in charge of a special mission. The officer in command would not permit him to pursue his journey without the authority of General Thurn, who came at five in the morning, put questions to the King, and observing that he had a passport from the Commandant of Novara, treated him with abundant courtesy, but stated that he could not be allowed to proceed, unless some one should testify that he really was the Count Di Barge, as he called himself. A Piedmontese sharpshooter who was a prisoner at the place, recognised his Sovereign, and bore the testimony required. At eight in the morning Charles Albert got away. On the 25th he arrived at Nice, and on the 26th at Antibes in France. Thus did the first among Italian Sovereigns, that had attempted the enterprise of national independence, tread the path of banishment! History stands mute in her hallowed sorrow, before the images of fallen Italy and of the venerated exile!