three hours' fight the scale
turned against the Austrians. Count D'Aspre repented of his rashness, and
sent for help to Count Thurn at Vercelli. Fortunately for him, Radetzky and
Thurn had marched in that direction as soon as they heard the sound of the
cannon. It was a race between the two divisions. As Radetzky, at the head
of the first army corps, galloped through Nebola, the aged marshal met the
retreating columns of D'Aspre's second corps. Both the first and the third
Austrian corps rushed into the battle almost simultaneously. The Italian
advance was checked. At last, when Thurn's fourth corps arrived at sundown,
the Austrian bugles sounded for a general charge. The Italian line of
battle was overthrown. The Austrian cavalry circled around the flank. While
the Italians fled into Novara they suffered from the fire of their own
artillery. Charles Albert was one of the last who left the Bicocca to seek
refuge in Novara. The town itself was bombarded by the Austrian artillery
far into the night. Standing on the ramparts of Novara, Charles Albert
realized the disastrous nature of his defeat. His losses aggregated more
than seven thousand, of whom three thousand had been taken captive. Of the
Austrian losses of 3,158 men, five-sevenths fell to D'Aspre's corps. The
other Austrian divisions were practically intact. The Italians were in
confusion. Charles Albert, who throughout the day had exposed his person
with the utmost gallantry, had to be dragged from the ramparts by General
Durando. As the Austrian shells struck all around them he exclaimed, "Leave
me, General. Let it be the last day of my life. I wish to die." At last he
consented to send his Minister, Cadorna, to Radetzky's headquarters to sue
for an armistice. Cadorna was received in an insulting manner. Charles
Albert came to the conclusion that his own person was an obstacle in the
way of peace. That night he resigned his crown. In the presence of his
generals he pronounced his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia.
Accompanied by but one attendant he left Novara, and passed unrecognized
through the enemy's lines. Sending a farewell letter to his wife, he went
into exile. A few months later he died at Oporto in Portugal.

[Sidenote: Death of Charles Albert]

As Fyffe has said of this unfortunate Prince: "Nothing in his reign became
him like the ending of it. He proved that there was one sovereign in Italy
who was willing to stake his throne, his life, th