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THE FORTRESS OF KOMAROM. The Fortress of...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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"Our Correspondent" In Italy. The Person...
sketched a plan , which I put into action only on the day of the steamer ' s departure , and by which , as above stated , the important document was secured . " There were three persons near the Queen in irresponsible situations , to whom it was probable the spirit , if not the letter , of the speech was known , and with all three I was on terms of intimacy and friendship . Beginning , therefore , with the weakest , or least influential , I explained to tiim or her , how much it behoved me taknow in what language Donna Maria would speak of her relations with the British cabinet , and that person being in a rabid state of Anglomania , assured me that the whole cabinet was convinced of the prudence of cultivating the best relations with Portugal ' s ancient and faithful ally , and , in the warmth of argument , repeated to me nearly the words of the paragraph which had been agreed to at a council held the day before .
" Armed thus with the spirit of the discourse , so far as England was concerned , I waited on number two in my ascending scale , and , without letting that person know where I had found my information , prevailed on him or Aer to give me the very words to be used by her most glorious Majesty . " This was a great point gained , and , if there my information stopped , the paragraph would have been a valuable cadeau to the ' Times ; ' but when was man content , and was not our own emboldened by such success , st ill more ardently to pursue his plan for getting possession of the whole speech . I accordingly waited on number one , in whose hands I knew a copy of the document was , and having first led him or her to imagine that I had been furnished with all ' . the .-material paragraphs , by showing the precise words of that relating to Great Britain , contrived to make the individual believe that the interests of Portugal would be materially served by anticipating such satisfactory intelligence , and , above all , that he or she would find such a proof of confidence in me must one day or other be well repaid .
" This reasoning prevailed , not without a discussion that lasted more than an hour , but at the end of which , I was promised a copy at half-past three in the af ternoon . The starting of the steamer was fixed for three ; but though it might be supposed that my friend was acquainted with the fact , and that the hour he or she named was influenced by it , I did not express a word of doubt , but took another mode of making everything right . " Fortunately , the captain of the mail-steamer had , on one of his previous voyages , received some slight service at my hands , and when I asked him if he could not , if I were en retard with my correspondence , drop down the river slowly , and not put to sea until I came aboard , he replied , with a hearty squeeze of the hand , ' I want is to get clear of t he bar before night-fall , and I can spare you an hour , or even an hour and a half , if necessary / 'In that case / rejoined ' our own / ' have paper , pen , and ink , ready in your private cabin , and I will take care you shall be at sea by six o ' clock . '
"At half-past three I received a genuine copy of the speech ; at four I overhauled the packet at the Castle of Belem ; by five the document was translated ^ and fit for the compositors ; and , long before daylight closed , the good ship had cleared the bar , and Captain N » B . C . D . exchanged cheers with me , as I dropt into a shore-boat , whilst he , putting on full steam , convinced me that my despatches were in good hands . " The publication of the speech , apparently within forty-eight hours of its being delivered , made a great sensation in Tjondon , as all the other papers , though pretending to consider it as apocryplial , were glad to copy it on the next morning . But when it came out to Lisbon , on the following Sunday , the steamer having left Southampton on Wednesday afternoon , there was a ferment on the Caes Sodrh , and in the political saloons , that the author o , f the row had not anticipated . I kept my ow . n counsel , however ; so did my partners in the sin ; and every one was suspected of having betrayed a secret of state , save those who had , undesignedly on their parts , been manoeuvred into doing so . " The other is on— THE REVOLUTION OF MILAN . " The Governor of Milan received , on the night of the 17 th March , an account of the insurrection at Vienna , and as such an event could not bo long concealed , it became generally known on the following day , and created , as might be expected , a prodigious ferment . A crowd of persons , composed of all classes , rushed to the palace , the nobles demanding concessions of a political nature only , whilst the citizens in general , arid the republican party especially , insisted on the establishment of a national guard , and an abundant supply of arms and ammunition . " In their route to the H 6 tel do Ville , a patrol was mot with , and it is a question on whose part the first act of hostility , which there occurred , took place . The people say the soldiers fired on them , but I have good reason to know that it was a young republican desirous of bringing matters to a head , who began the attack .
" Prom that instant all idea of a transaction ceased ; the people flew to arms , and in half an hour barricades were erected , and the tocsin began to sound . The first barricade was constructed with the carriages ) of the viceroy , amidst the cheers and derision of the mob . With the speed of thought others were raised , and the < : ontro of the town was cleared against the circulation of Austrian troops ; women and children set to work , the pavement was taken up , and stones carried to every window from whence they could bo hurled , and pots and pans , and every offensive domestic weapon , wore brought to the point most favourable for attack . " Detachments of AuHtrjans attoinpted to check this movement , by taking possqssion of the roof of the Puomo , and of other public buildings ; but as the barricados began to thicken , they wcro gradually withdrawn , their retreat being a signal for a hurricane of the missiles above alluded to . Tho vengeance of the pooplo was principally directed against tho Croats , of which tho main force of tho gnrrison was composed , and it is said that tho office ™ nnd inon of that nation committed cruelties the most revolting , by way of compensation , in all tho houses whore they ontorod . ,
" Tho incessant clanging of tho church bolls , I am told , produced a wonderful effect oii tho ignorant Croats . They felt as if heaven and earth were coming together , and that tho tocnin was a thundorbolt to bo launched from each uteoplo after it had rung their doath-knoll . So far did this superstitious drood of tho tocsin affect thoir imagination , that in tho subsequent retreat onlors were issued in every villngo to mUfllo tho bells , and assurances given , that wherever thoy were rung tho place . would bo abandoned to tho mon for plunder , or hurnt to the ground . " I know not if tho charges made against tho troops in Milan wore true , but it was generally said that in the pocket of one of them , who was shot at the , bastions , thoro was found tho hand of a lady , tho fingers of which woro ornamented with several valuable rings , and ono of my frionds assured mo that all tho members of
a family of his acquaintance were placed on their knees in the centre of their 6 wn drawing-room , the Croats standing in a circle round with loaded muskets , pointed at their heads , while the officer sat down to the j ) iano , declaring that when he came to the allegro of the piece he played , the volley should be fired . " All these cases should be taken cum grano , though I have nO doubt , where popular fury had full sway , that the soldiers' vengeance in its turn fbllpwed ^ " Oil the second day of the revolution the circle of barricades was enlan * e < 3 and the troops excluded from the chief part of all the principal streets . Tb ^ fprnV these barriers , the owners of the adjoining houses sacrificed their carriages , chairs sofas , tables , and many articles of ornamental furniture . The popular feeling could not be trifled with , and eyen the most retrograde among the nobility devoted everything suitable ' -to that use , which their palaces contained .
" These barricades were not such as I haveseen in other towns . They were immense in size , nearly a yard in thickness , and eight or ten feet in height . By the rapidity with which they wereerected , detached parties of the soldiers were cut off , and several of the public authorities intercepted in their retreat to the citadel , or castle , where Radetzky had established his head-quarters . « On the third day the city might be said to be evacuated ; and the whole attention of the Austrians was given to the bastions which surrounded it , and to the several gates leading to the country . A struggle of another kind now commenced , the people directing all then * force to the destruction of those gates , with the hope of cutting the Austrian lines , and , at the same time , opening a communi cation with their friends outside .
" Radetzky , still uncertain as to the resolve of Charles Albert , the first propositions of the regal agent having been annulled by ' . the influence of the republican , party , now sought to temporize , and he sent in more than one message asking for an armistice , first of a month , then of a fortnight , and lastly of four days . He also gained time by a visit of the foreign consuls , who demanded permission for their nationals to retire ; but all this manoeuvring failed , as the leading men of the revolt were determined to carry on their operations with the same vigour with which they had commenced . "The nobility and chiefs of the corporation were willing to treat , but one of the council of war having exclaimed , * In revolution there is no middle turn ; we must either conquer or be shot as rebels / the cry was taken up by the people , and the messenger sent back to the castle with a peremptory refusal . The enthusiasm of the crowd was excited by their unexpected success , and as their barricades were now pushed close to the bastions on every side , it became evident .- ' that the fate of Milan must be decided either one way or the other , before the termination of
the week . " Radetzky was gradually diminishing his outposts , and withdrawing from the bastions touching the Porta Tosa , but no indications of a retreat had yet been made , and to attack him in the citadel , which had been strengthened by several outworks > even the most ardent of the citizens could not recommend . Up to tMs period , the four persons , namely , Jules Zerzaghi , Georges Clerico , Charles Cattaneo , and Henri Cernuschi , who composed the council of war , and so ably directed the energies of the people , and who likewise had turned a deaf ear to all the blandishments of Charles Albert ' s agents , now began to find that the nobility « ' <>«> intriguing against them , and that a . regularbargaitt had been concluded between the municipality and the emissaries alluded to .
" Indignant at such proceedings , and unwilling that after having achieved its liberty , their country should become a mere province of Piedmont , they resigned , and a provisional government was formed , of which Casati , the podesta or mayor , was the president , by whom the bargain with the King was ratified , and by whom the affairs of Lombardy , in the ensuing campaign , were most unworthily conducted . " Immediate notice of this change in the direction of affairs was sent to Turin , and the King hesitated no longer to throw off the flimsy mask he had hitherto worn , or perform the last act of treachery to his ally . These circumstances could not be concealed from the vigilant observation of Radetzky , and no sooner did he become aware of the result of the lost mission , than he determined to retire and gain as many days' march as he could on the Piedmontese army .
" He at once despatched couriers to Verona and Mantua , instructing tho governors of both fortresses of the real state of affairs , and cautioning them against allowing the people to overpower the garrisons , or possess themselves of the principal posts . He then ordered the troops , qiiartercd in all the towns of Lombardy , to march towards tho Mincio , and effect a juncture with him at a given point . Affecting next to invent the city more closely , and ordering his artillery to keep up an incessant fire , he drew off his troops in tho silence and darkness of the night of the 22 nd , and lonir before day broke , all traces of him were lost . "
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The Fortress Of Komarom. The Fortress Of...
THE FORTRESS OF KOMAROM . The Fortress ofKomdrom ( Coniorn ) during the War of Independence in Hungary , »* 1848-1849 . By Colonel Sigismund Thaly , lato Director of Fortifications in Kom & - rom . Translated by William Rushton , M . A ., of Univorsifcy Collogo , Xonclon . Jamos Madden-Comoen is well known in tho history of tlio War of Independence in Hungary , and its importance , as a national fortress , as woU as the bravery and patriotism of tho inhabitants of the town and county from which it derives its name , woll entitle it to a separate history . M \ hon tho great fortressos of Hungary woro falling , ono after another , into tJio hands of tho Austrians , in 1848 , owing to the weakness of the Hungarian
executive , and tho treachery of tho imperial power , Oomorn was savea » y tho courago and watchfulness of its citizens . Every scheme of the Austrian commander was frustrated , and , boforo tho breaking of tho hollow truco between Ferdinand and tho Hungarian Ministry , Comorn was in the possession of the latter . . In tho p lots and counter plots by which tms ovent was brought about , Colonel Thaly ,- then a captain in the komorn National Guards , occupied a prominent place . With raro modesty , blended with a manly self-respect , Colonel Thaly has narratod his own share in the transactions connected with the Sieges of Oomorn , the mai intention of tho present volume ; and ho has kept that personal share , a » was fit lie should , as far in tho background as was consistent witu wj truth . Making all tho allowances needful in such a case , wo am dispose " to give great praise to Colonel Thaly , for the manner in winch ho a »» done this . Not a single instance occurs in which an ill-natured ] J rora j 10 set down against a personal opponent . In foot , the men with w " . hod differences , sometimes v ital differences , are precisely those w £° ~~! r the greatest justice at his hands ; and when his hostility , as in thtf oose ui
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26061852/page/18/
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