ainst this defenceless city and her
railway station, whilst two battalions of Tyrolese sharp-shooters occupy
the building. On Sunday they retire, but early yesterday they cross the
Mincio, at Goito and Monzambano, and begin to throw two bridges over the
same river, between the last-named place and the mills of Volta. At the
same time they erect batteries at Goito, Torrione, and Valeggio, pushing
their reconnoitring parties of hussars as far as Medole, Castiglione
delle Stiviere, and Montechiara, this last-named place being only at a
distance of twenty miles from Brescia. Before this news reached me here
this morning I was rather inclined to believe that they were playing at
hide-and-seek, in the hope that the leaders of the Italian army should be
tempted by the game and repeat, for the second time, the too hasty attack
on the quadrilateral. This news, which I have from a reliable source,
has, however, changed my former opinion, and I begin to believe that the
Austrian Archduke has really made up his mind to come out from the
strongholds of the quadrilateral, and intends actually to begin war on
the very battlefields where his imperial cousin was beaten on the 24th
June 1859. It may be that the partial disasters sustained by Benedek in
Germany have determined the Austrian Government to order a more active
system of war against Italy, or, as is generally believed here, that the
organisation of the commissariat was not perfect enough with the army
Archduke Albert commands to afford a more active and offensive action. Be
that as it may, the fact is that the news received here from several
parts of Upper Lombardy seems to indicate, on the part of the Austrians,
the intention of attacking their adversaries.

Yesterday whilst the peaceable village of Gazzoldo--five Italian miles
from Goito--was still buried in the silence of night it was occupied by
400 hussars, to the great consternation of the people who were roused
from their sleep by the galloping of their unexpected visitors. The
sindaco, or mayor of the village, who is the chemist of the place, was, I
hear, forcibly taken from his house and compelled to escort the Austrians
on the road leading to Piubega and Redondesco. This worthy magistrate,
who was not apparently endowed with sufficient courage to make at least
half a hero, was so much frightened that he was taken ill, and still is
in a very precarious condition. These inroads are not always accomplished
with impunity,