The MINCIO flows out of Lake Garda, at the fortified position of Peschiera. After washing Mozambaro on the right bank, it passes by Borghetto-Pozzolo and Evito, and soon afterwards forms two or three small lakes, one above and another below the fortified city of Mantua, and, leaving these, joins the Po at Governolo. The banks of the Mincio are of unequal height; sometimes they rise on the right, sometimes on the left bank. At certain bends of the river a good defence may be made. The hills of Monzabano and Volta overawe the left bank; those of Salionza and Valeggio command the right bank. Of the eight points where the river must be crossed to attack Verona the chief are Monzabano and Molini. The divided course of the river at this point admits of a cross-fire from batteries which sweep over an unbroken space.

The OGLIO, rising in Mont Tonal, runs towards Lake Iseo, flows past Chiari on the road from Brescia to Milantakes a course parallel to the Po and terminates between Guastalla and Borgo Forte. It is a broad river and intersects the expanse between the Adda and the Mincio, but it constitutes only a feeble line of defence against an attacking army.

The ADIGE finds its source in the gorge of Rescha in the Tyrol on the frontiers of Germany. Flowing south it bathes Trento, the capital of the Italian Tyrol; then Calliano, "a formidable position in a frightful pass;" Roveredo, where Napoleon gained a victory over the Austrians in 1796; Verona; Legnago, a fortified town; Carpi, and so on to the Adriatic at about 3 miles from Chioggia. It is navigable from Trento to the sea, although the navigation is occasionally interrupted by natural obstacles. The main course of the river is protected by the strong fortress of Verona; and its inferior course can be rendered impracticable as far as the sea, by an inundation effected by opening the dykes and uniting the waters of the Molisella and the Po with those of the Adige. Colonel Jackson writes-"The Adige is the best line of protection of the Po and of Italy: it is broad, deep, rapid, never fordable, easily defended, provided one is master of Lake Garda and the Rocca d'Anfo."

The Trebia, or Trebbia, runs from the gorge of Monte Bruno, a little north-east of Genoa, up to Placentia. It is

6

only a mile wide, and fordable throughout. After Hannibal had passed the Po the Romans fell back and disputed the Trebbia with him, but were again defeated by the Carthaginians, who forced them, under Sempronius and P. Cornelius Scipio, to cross the river in the middle of winter.

On the banks of the Trebbia, also, the Imperialists defeated the French and Spaniards in 1746; and in 1799 the French General Macdonald discomfited the Russians and forced them to retreat upon Genoa.

There are numerous smaller rivers in Northern Italy, but as they are for the most part merely affluents of the foregoing, and do not form in themselves serious obstacles in campaigns, they need not be further alluded to.

The chief towns of Piedmont and Northern Italy next claim attention.

TURIN, the capital of Piedmont or Sardinia, anciently called Augusta, the chief town of the Taurinians of Liguria who opposed themselves to Hannibal, stands in a vast plain at the confluence of the rivers Doria and Po. It has a population of 120,000 souls, and ranks with the most magnificent cities in Europe. It contains a superb palace, a picturegallery, numerous squares, spacious streets, 115 churches, beautiful gardens and walks, a university, an arsenal and a military school.* A canal running from the Doria and sluices, which flow through the streets into the Po, keep the town clean and healthy. Formerly Turin was well fortified, but nothing now remains of the old works (which were destroyed by the French after the battle of Marengo) except the citadel. No city has been more frequently besieged, taken and retaken, than Turin. It was taken by D'Harcourt in 1640; and again besieged by the French in 1706 under Feuillade, who, although furnished with an incredible quantity of materiel, omitted to invest the town, and was consequently attacked by Prince Eugène (after the battle of Ramilies) and compelled to raise the siege. In 1798 it was in the possession of the French republicans; in 1799 the combined Russian and Austrian army wrested it from them. In 1800, after the battle of Marengo, the town again surrendered to the French, who held it until the peace in 1814.

*See farther on an account of the Accademia Militare.

ALESSANDRIA, or Alexandria, a place of great strategical importance, holds nearly 40,000 inhabitants. The town is situated on the right bank of the Tanaro, with two fortifications, one on the left bank. In the centre of all the roads of the upper basin of the Po, the position of Alessandria in a war in Piedmont cannot be overrated. The fortifications constructed by Bonaparte were razed in 1815, in accordance with the conditions of the treaty of Vienna-reconstructed a few years afterwards; again dismantled in 1835, and have since been rendered almost impregnable by the Sardinians. The town is pleasantly situated on a wide and fertile plain, 70 miles E. by S. of Turin, and 60 N. by W. of Genoa. The field and village of Marengo are within sight of Alessandria.

PIACENZA or Placentia, the capital of a sovereign duchy, stands on the right bank of the Po. It is an extremely handsome, well-fortified town, with about 30,000 inhabitants, who chiefly subsist by the manufacture of silk piece-goods. The possession of this town is of great importance to the Austrians, because it serves as a pivot of manœuvre on the two banks of the river, and derives its support from its connection with Pizzighittone, which defends the passage of the Adda. In like manner it is protected by Cremona. These three towns constitute, in fact, the three salients of a broad triangle, and operate as reciprocal defences.

MILAN (Ital. Milano), the ancient Mediolezum, the capital of Lombardy, stands in the midst of a wide luxuriant plain between two little streams, the Olona and the Savessa. Possessed of a beautiful cathedral or duomo in the Gothic style of architecture, Milan is a point of great attraction. It possesses a population of 162,000 souls-is surrounded by fortifications (the enceinte forming a circumference of eight miles); and contains many noble streets, squares, and gardens; a splendid amphitheatre, the largest opera-house in the world; a college, and immense libraries, and works of art. Before Milan fell to the Austrians in the sixteenth century, it had successively been captured by the Romans, the Gauls, the Huns, the Lombards, the French, and Frederick Barbarossa. It remained, in fact, in the hands of Austria until the war of the French Revolution, when in the course of eighteeen years it was shuttlecocked between the French and Austrians, and

finally remained with the latter as the capital of the LombardoVenetian kingdom. For a moment the Austrians were expelled from it during the revolution of 1848, but they soon recovered their position, and re-established their authority. No town in Italy is in so flourishing a condition, at this moment, as Milan.

MANTUA, situated on an island in the river Mincio, or rather in a lake, twenty miles in circumference, contiguous to the river, is the capital of the province of the same name in Austrian Italy. Nature and art have combined to render Mantua a place of great strength. Surrounded by marshes, crossed by artificial dams which connect it with several fortified suburbs and outworks, reached only by causeways protected by forts, Mantua is almost impregnable. The French only took it after an eight months' siege, in 1797, and did not relinquish it without a struggle. Napoleon I. was quite alive to the importance of Mantua in the conquest of Italy. "I consider,” said he, "this place is everything to us: the rest of Italy is an affair of war; this place is an affair of politics." The town is well built; containing a cathedral, a university, a gallery of paintings, full of works by the best masters, churches, convents, spacious streets, &c. Near to Mantua is Ardes-hallowed ground, for here was born the author of the Eneid.

VICENZA, on the little river Bacchiliogna, is a fortified town, containing about 30,000 inhabitants, thirty-two miles west of Venice. Like other Italian towns, it boasts of churches filled with fine paintings, and numerous deserted palaces.

VERONA, a place rendered famous by the stories of Boccacio and the poetry of Shakespere, is of great military importance. It has long been the head-quarters of the military commander of the Venetian provinces, and is one of the most remarkable positions in Europe, now that a permanent intrenched camp has been there established. "This camp consists of Maximilian towers, sufficiently near each other for mutual defence, and the intervals between which enable the army within the camp to act on the offensive when the opportunity shall be favourable; flanked on the one hand by the Adige, and on the other by the last heights of the Eugarean mountains. It is almost impossible to force this camp.

In consequence of this camp, Verona is now the key of Upper Italy."

GENOA, situated at the bottom of the Gulf of Genoa, is a large maritime city, covering upwards of two miles of ground, in the form of a semi-circle, and rising like an amphitheatre upon the terraces which ascend to the first summits of the Apennines. It is irregularly but strongly fortified. Commanding the Mediterranean and the entrance into Italy, Genoa, the maritime arsenal of the Sardinian monarchy, is a town of great consequence, although decayed and fallen from the high estate it occupied before the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered. There are about 80,000 inhabitants in Genoa, and accommodation for a very large garrison.

These constitute the principal towns in those portions of Piedmont and Italy which are apparently destined to play a part in the pending war. Other places, which scarcely rise to the dignity of towns, may perhaps engage attention; for battles are often great accidents, and take place in localities scarcely contemplated when the plan of the campaign was chalked out. Generally speaking, however, the same scenes are re-enacted on the same spots, because, to use the words of the Archduke Charles, in his campaign of 1799, "the merit of operations depends on the configuration of the country; for the situation of the mountains and the course of the rivers invariably determine the line and the points upon which armies inevitably encounter each other." The same idea is repeated in Colonel J. R. Jackson's admirable preface to M. Lavallée's " Military Topography." He says:

"In Europe war has been so frequent, that it is difficult to find a spot which has not been crimsoned by the blood of its victims; but the sites of great battles are comparatively few, because the circumstances necessary for the concentration and disposition of large masses depend upon the great features of a country which are necessarily limited in their number by reason of their extent. The requirements of strong columns in motion compel them to follow particular routes, and the importance of certain positions renders their acquisition decisive of the contest; hence, in the great wars of European nations, the same routes have been often traversed and the same strategic points have been repeatedly the theatre of desperate struggles."