the whole encouraging, inasmuch as the greatly feared armistice has been
repulsed by King William. Some people here think that France will not be
too hard upon Italy for keeping her word with her ally, and that the
brunt of French anger or disapproval will have to be borne by Prussia.
This is the least she can expect, as you know!

It is probable that by to-morrow I shall be able to write you more about
the Italo-Austrian war of 1866.



GONZAGA, July 9, 1866.

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