I write you from a villa, only a mile distant from Gonzaga, belonging to the family of the Counts Arrivabene of Mantua.  The owners have never reentered it since 1848, and it is only the fortune of war which has brought them to see their beautiful seat of the Aldegatta, never, it is to be hoped for them, to be abandoned again.  It is, as you see, ’Mutatum ab illo.’  Onward have gone, then, the exiled patriots! onward will go the nation that owns them!  The wish of every one who is compelled to remain behind is that the army, that the volunteers, that the fleet, should all cooperate, and that they should, one and all, land on Venetian ground, to seek for a great battle, to give the army back the fame it deserves, and to the country the honour it possesses.  The king is called upon to maintain the word nobly given to avenge Novara, and with it the new Austrian insulting proposal.  All, it is said, is ready.  The army has been said to be numerous; if to be numerous and brave, means to deserve victory, let the Italian generals prove what Italian soldiers are worthy of.  If they will fight, the country will support them with the boldest of resolutions—­the country will accept a discussion whenever the Government, having dispersed all fears, will proclaim that the war is to be continued till victory is inscribed on Italy’s shield.

As I am not far from Borgoforte, I am able to learn more than the mere cannon’s voice can tell me, and so will give you some details of the action against the tete-de-pont, which began, as I told you in one of my former letters, on the 4th.  In Gorgoforte there were about 1500 Austrians, and, on the night from the 5th to the 6th, they kept up from their four fortified works a sufficiently well-sustained fire, the object of which was to prevent the enemy from posting his guns.  This fire, however, did not cause any damage, and the Italians were able to plant their batteries.  Early on the 6th, the firing began all along the line, the Italian 16-pounders having been the first to open fire.  The Italian right was commanded by Colonel Mattei, the left by Colonel Bangoni, who did excellent work, while the other wing was not so successful.  The heaviest guns had not yet arrived owing to one of those incidents always sure to happen when least expected, so that the 40-pounders could not be brought to bear against the forts until later in the day.  The damage done to the works was not great for the moment, but still the advantage had been gained of feeling the strength of the enemy’s positions and finding the right way to attack them.  The artillerymen worked with great vigour, and were only obliged to desist by an unexpected order which arrived about two p.m. from General Cialdini.  The attack was, however, resumed on the following day, and the condition of the Monteggiana and Rochetta forts may be pronounced precarious.  As a sign of the times, and more especially of the just impatience which prevails in Italy about the