incident happened in France which materially affected the future progress of events, tending at the same time in the most remarkable manner to sustain the hopes, at one time almost forlorn, of Europe being preserved from a general war. It became publicly known on the 8th of August, that on the 7th inst. an interview had taken place between the minister of Sardinia and the Marquis of Ricci and General Cavaignac, in which the armed intervention of France in Italy was formally demanded; but that General Cavaignac replied that he had anticipated the demand by opening a negotiation with the British government, the result of which would appear in a mediation to be immediately entered upon. It did honour to the actual head of the French government that, instead of taking advantage of the undoubted pretext which then presented itself for military interference and for plunging France and Europe into the perils and excitement of general war, they adopted a policy of a pacific and moderate character, and openly avowed their wish to settle the affairs of Northern Italy by mediation in concert with the government of this country.

In the mean time, Charles Albert having continued his retreat to Lodi on the 2nd of August, the same night the line of the Adda was abandoned, as those of the Adige, the Mincio, and the Oglio had been previously; and the whole army retrograded upon Milan, Radetzky had rejected Mr. Abercrombie's request for an armistice, the old general was naturally resolved to enter upon no mediations that were not conducted at Milan, the seat of the first insurrection.

Upon the arrival of the Sardinians at Milan, the Provisional Government was superseded by an administrative council, consisting of General Olivieri, Marquis Montezemolo, and Signor Strigelli, and some show was made of getting up entrenchments and other preparations for a definite battle to be delivered without the walls of the city. With this view the Sardinian army was disposed in line, the left resting on villages in front of the Porta Romana, and the right on those in advance of the Porta Ticinese. About two in the afternoon of the 4th of August, the disposition of the Sardinians to oppose the triumphant progress of the Austrians was put to the test, for at that hour a body of Austrian troops, supported by several pieces of cannon and a numerous cavalry, attacked the left of the line, and speedily drove it before them. In consequence of this reverse, an order was given for all the troops to retire into the city. The king took up his quarters in the remains of the ruined citadel, and the troops lined the bastions which overlook and command the country. At the same time the townspeople began very foolishly to erect innumerable barricades.

The same night, at eleven o'clock, two of King Charles Albert's generals repaired, in the company of the French chargé d'affaires and of the British consul, Mr. Campbell, as witnesses, to the head-quarters of the Austrian field-marshal. The party was unfortunately fired at on the way, and Mr. Campbell was slightly wounded. The generals were first admitted, and after an interview, which lasted two hours, withdrew. The consuls then saw the field-marshal, and when they intimated their desire to obtain a forty-hours' truce, Radetzky exclaimed, "For what purpose; why, they have capitulated ?" The French chargé d'affaires is said to have spoken openly against such a conclusion to the war. He

declared the king and the army were alike discredited by it. The English consul is said to have wisely held his tongue.

The terms of the capitulation were that the city of Milan should not be injured, that the Sardinians should have free exit, as also all other persons wishing to leave by the road to Turin up to eight o'clock, on the night of the 6th. That the Austrians were to enter at eight o'clock in the morning, and occupy the city by noon. When the fact of the capitulation became public, the populace became so enraged that they overturned the carriages of the king's suite, constituted him a nominal prisoner in the palace where he resided, and compelled him to the subterfuge of a promise to break off the agreement, and give battle to the Austrians. The violence of the crowd was great; the most insulting language was used towards the king, and several shots were fired at him. At three o'clock in the morning, however, the mob was driven out of the contrada by the discharge of artillery loaded with blank cartridge, and the king left the palace for Turin in safety.

The Archbishop of Milan and the new Podesta went out to FieldMarshal Radetzky; and the latter, in conjunction with Count Salasco, chef of the staff of the Sardinian army, and General Hess, quartermaster-general of the Austrians, ratified the capitulation, and the same morning the Austrian army, very strong and in the finest possible order, entered the city, and in a few hours civil and military occupation was established. The utmost silence prevailed during the passage of the troops through the Corso and principal streets. The city had been deserted by all the nobility, many of the better families, and by an immense number of citizens. On the morning of the 7th a proclamation appeared signed by Field-Marshal Radetzky, declaring the city and province of Lombardy in a state of siege, stating that all offences against good order would be tried by martial law, and nominating the Prince Schwartzenburg military governor of Milan.

Such was the dénouement of an insurrectionary romance than which none have ever been spoken of in such boastful and inflated language. Two weeks had not elapsed since the Austrian army was enabled, by the arrival of reinforcenents, to assume the offensive, than the important battles of Somma-Compagna, Custozza, Volta, Cremona, and Pizzighettone had been won, and on the fourteenth day the city of Milan occupied. The wretched and incapable Provisional Government was overthrown, and the imperial eagle once more towered proudly over Milan and all Lombardian cities.

On the 9th instant a convention was concluded between Field-Marshal Radetzky and General Salasco on behalf of the King of Sardinia. The convention restored the state of things as they existed previous to the insurrection in every respect, and provided for the evacuation of Peschiera

and Venice.

As a matter of policy it may, however, still deserve the consideration of the Austrian Cabinet, whether or not it thinks fit to retain Lombardy or rather the Duchy of Milan in its dependence. That province, as has been particularly shown in this campaign, has no military value, and although it has belonged to the Imperial Government for more than a century, it forms no essential part of the empire. Since the success of the Imperial army under Radetzky, it may be abandoned or emancipated without a shade of disgrace, if any political object is to be gained by

such a concession. It would be highly honourable to the Austrian Government to come to this conclusion for the sake of peace, but although Great Britain and France have coalesced to bring about a mediation on such a basis, and which, if unsuccessful, may be followed by a declaration of war on the part of France, still France must remember that after the withdrawal of the Sardinians into their own territory, the advance of a French army would no longer be an act of intervention but an actual invasion; Great Britain should also remember that the rights of Austria are supported not only by a fine army and a victorious general, but by the sympathy of all Germany and the eventual assistance of the Russian Empire, and both should remember that unquestionably, as at present circumstanced, no power on earth has any right to demand that which France and Great Britain has proposed to themselves as the basis of their mediation. It has been justly insisted upon by Mr. D'Israeli in the House of Commons, that while Lord Palmerston has connected himself with the military government of France in a mediation in Italy based on the pretended cause of liberty; that the claims of our oldest ally based upon solemn treaties and established territorial rights, have been overlooked in the enthusiasm created by a temporary success. The question assumes a very different character when that success has by Italian cowardice, ingratitude, and anarchy, been made to assume the character of the severest discomfiture and disaster. Nevertheless, although the facilities for a mediation successful to the Lombards, are no longer what they were a short time ago, it is still to be hoped it will do much good.

Between Austria and Piedmont the war is over, and Charles Albert in recruiting his army, may have objects nearer home to look to than another crusade for the thankless and sordid Lombards. But in other parts of Italy, the advance of the Austrian troops naturally gives rise to questions of great delicacy. If the state of Rome should become more desperate, they may even advance to the defence of the Pope, who is now completely at the mercy of his unruly subjects. In Tuscany the difficulties are great, and that flourishing little state, which was within the last few months one of the most prosperous in Europe, is on the verge of bankruptcy. In all these states, where Austria has no right to exercise any military or political supremacy, the mediation of France and England may be a salutary check to the Imperial generals, who are in reality wanted elsewhere. The insurrection of the Croats, the insubordination of the Tcheches, and the general spirit of rebellion among all the Sclavonian races, give promise of some employment to the Austrian troops elsewhere than in Italy.

The prompt remonstrance of the British minister at Florence has averted the danger of an Austrian occupation of the Tuscan territory as long as peace is preserved there. It is confidently asserted, that Lord Palmerston has received a very recent assurance from the Austrian government, that it accepted the general principle of the mediation with pleasure, and it must not be lost sight of, that the sooner the forces under Radetzky can be withdrawn from Italy, the sooner will a regular government, supported by a competent military force, be re-established in

Vienna.

At the imperial city itself, in conformity with the declaration made by Archduke John to the Diet, that the war in Italy was not directed against

of

the liberal tendencies of the Italian states, but that its object was to maintain the honour of the Austrian arms, with complete recognition of the nationalities, the minister of the interior has stated, that the advance of General Welden's division across the Po, for the purpose restoring the Duke of Modena to his dominions, was not authorised by the imperial cabinet; and in like manner, his attempted occupation of the Legations and his attack on Bologna, have been promptly disavowed. Such incidents indicate the most extreme moderation on the part of Austria; let there be the same on the part of France and England, and nothing can happen to interrupt peace. Every thing, however, is to be dreaded from France insisting upon terms that may prove irreconcileable with the weightiest interests of the Austrian empire. We shall, in such a case, stand in a false position, for nothing is more certain, than that in the present state of Europe, when it is impossible to tell what strange and terrible events may yet be in store for us, that from Austria we have nothing to apprehend; and further, as it has been justly remarked, that although she is now suffering from the misfortunes of an infirm sovereign, an unsettled cabinet, an unfinished revolution, and embarrassed finances; yet, such is her tenacious vitality, and such the deepseated resources of her military power, that in the event of more general warfare, Austria would probably still be found, as she has been of old, our safest ally on the continent of Europe, if Europe were threatened by military ambition or the excesses of revolutionary violence.

BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ.

THE evening winds are singing,
Singing in the trees;

The ripen'd corn is waving,
Waving in the breeze;
The harvest moon is shining,
Shining in the night;
Bathing hill and valley

In floods of golden light!

The summer time is dying,
Dying in the year;

The autumn nights are coming,

Coming very near;

Every leaf is fading,

Fading day by day ;

The broad sun sets in crimson,

And morning tints are gray.

The swallows come together,
Together from the eaves;
Waiting for the falling,

The falling of the leaves;
All that made the summer
Beautiful to see,
Seems to be awaiting

But the time to flee!

THE OPERA.

WE have often grumbled, not a little, at the unhappy way in which the months have been divided, quoad the productions at the Operahouse. Just at the beginning of the month some startling novelty has made its appearance, and we have been obliged to repress that burning desire of spreading useful information, which is our honourable characteristic, and after a miraculous effort of patience, to come hobbling in with our old news, and entertain our amiable readers with some "QueenAnne's-dead" sort of communication. We believe-(we speak under correction, for we are not scientific in this department; we do not know what the central sun is, nor have we a clear notion of what Kepler really found out, when he discovered that "the squares of the periodic times of any two planets are to each other, in the same proportion as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun," nor do we-but we need not go on exposing our ignorance) —v —we believe, we say, that the moon has something to do with the regulation of the months, and we are the more inclined to believe it, as they are certainly not regulated by the stars, at least not the "stars" of the Opera. Surely the moon might manage better. For instance, what a provoking thing it is that the day on which Mademoiselle Lind makes her first appearance for a season, persists in being the 4th of May. The 4th of May !-there is a pretty day for the editor of a monthly periodical, who has seen his number just launched, and knows there will not be another till the 1st of June, when people will have read all the daily and weekly papers of the metropolis, and have seen every thing with their own eyes, and heard every thing with their own ears, and perhaps will come instructing him instead of waiting for him to instruct them, which is particularly annoying to a literary man.

-We just pause to confess that there is one weakness in the literary character, which we inherit from our intellectual ancestors, the old ecclesiastics. The priests of former ages, it is well known, liked to keep all the learning to themselves, and though the modern literary man is not a miser to hoard up his knowledge, he at any rate likes to enjoy a monopoly in doling it out. He does not like, at any rate, to learn from the layman, that is to say, the non-literary man. Such a state of things seems contrary to the natural order, he begins to feel like a cat, whose coat is rubbed the wrong way-and to think, like the Chorus who witnessed the wrongs of Medea,

ἄνω ποταμῶν, ἱερῶν
χωροῦσι παγαί.

If you doubt the truth of what we say, honest, unsophisticated reader, just go to a theatre on the first night of a five-act tragedy, and when it is over, thrust yourself into one of the knots of professed critics you will be sure to find in the lobby, and boldly fling into the midst of them your opinion of the performance. We only say, good reader, that if you find your opinion received with that respect which you have anticipated, and which, doubtless, its great soundness deserves, we shall be very much surprised.

But a truce to this! Rochefaucauld says somewhere, that we would rather tell of our faults, than not talk about ourselves at all, and we are misled by the candid, though injudicious propensity to which he refers. Let us see-what were we talking about before we came to the literary man and his weakness. Ah, true! we talked about the bad dis