Miscellaneous Prose | Page 6

Alps, and he had no mercy for pursy
followers. I have often said of this life-long student and philosophical
head that he had in him the making of a great military captain. He
would not have been opposed to the profession of arms if he had been
captured early for the service, notwithstanding his abomination of
bloodshed. He had a high, calm courage, was unperturbed in a dubious
position, and would confidently take the way out of it which he
conceived to be the better. We have not to deplore that he was diverted
from the ways of a soldier, though England, as the country has been
learning of late, cannot boast of many in uniform who have capacity for
leadership. His work in literature will be reviewed by his lieutenant of
Tramps, one of the ablest of writers!-- [Frederic W. Maitland.]--The
memory of it remains with us, as being the profoundest and the most
sober criticism we have had in our time. The only sting in it was an
inoffensive humorous irony that now and then stole out for a roll over,
like a furry cub, or the occasional ripple on a lake in grey weather. We
have nothing left that is like it.
One might easily fall into the pit of panegyric by an enumeration of his
qualities, personal and literary. It would not be out of harmony with the
temper and characteristics of a mind so equable. He, the equable,
whether in condemnation or eulogy. Our loss of such a man is great, for
work was in his brain, and the hand was active till close upon the time
when his breathing ceased. The loss to his friends can be replaced only
by an imagination that conjures him up beside them. That will be no
task to those who have known him well enough to see his view of

things as they are, and revive his expression of it. With them he will
live despite the word farewell.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE SEAT OF WAR IN ITALY
LETTERS WRITTEN TO THE MORNING POST FROM THE SEAT
OF WAR IN ITALY FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
FERRARA, June 22, 1866.
Before this letter reaches London the guns will have awakened both the
echo of the old river Po and the classical Mincio. The whole of the
troops, about 110,000 men, with which Cialdini intends to force the
passage of the first-named river are already massed along the right bank
of the Po, anxiously waiting that the last hour of to-morrow should
strike, and that the order for action should be given. The telegraph will
have already informed your readers that, according to the intimation
sent by General Lamarmora on Tuesday evening to the Austrian
headquarters, the three days fixed by the general's message before
beginning hostilities will expire at twelve p.m. of the 23rd of June.
Cialdini's headquarters have been established in this city since
Wednesday morning, and the famous general, in whom the fourth corps
he commands, and the whole of the nation, has so much confidence,
has concentrated the whole of his forces within a comparatively narrow
compass, and is ready for action. I believe therefore that by to-morrow
the right bank of the Po will be connected with the mainland of the
Polesine by several pontoon bridges, which will enable Cialdini's corps
d'armee to cross the river, and, as everybody here hopes, to cross it in
spite of any defence the Austrians may make.
On my way to this ancient city last evening I met General Cadogan and
two superior Prussian officers, who by this time must have joined
Victor Emmanuel's headquarters at Cremona; if not, they have been by
this time transferred elsewhere, more on the front, towards the line of
the Mincio, on which, according to appearance, the first, second, and
third Italian corps d'armee seem destined to operate. The English
general and the two Prussian officers above mentioned are to follow the
king's staff, the first as English commissioner, the superior in rank of
the two others in the same capacity.
I have been told here that, before leaving Bologna, Cialdini held a
general council of the commanders of the seven divisions of which his

powerful corps d'armee is formed, and that he told them that, in spite of
the forces the enemy has massed on the left bank of the Po, between the
point which faces Stellata and Rovigo, the river must be crossed by his
troops, whatever might be the sacrifice this important operation
requires. Cialdini is a man who knows how to keep his word, and, for
this reason, I have no doubt he will do what he has already made up his
mind to accomplish. I am therefore confident that before two or three
days have elapsed, these 110,000 Italian troops,