to Piacenza, to the line of the Sesia, between
Cameriano and Casale. To mask the main operations, the Sardinian
forces were sent to Palestro, on the other side of the Sesia. On the
30th of May, they drove in the outposts of the enemy, and on the 31st
fought the important engagement by which the Austrian attempt to
retake Palestro was repelled, and great damage caused to Zobel's
corps, which was obliged to leave eight guns sticking in the mud. The
French Zouaves of the 3rd regiment fought with the Piedmontese, and
made the battle famous by the reckless valour of their bayonet
charges. Victor Emmanuel, deaf to all remonstrances, placed himself at
their head, in consequence of which they elected him their corporal,
an honour once paid to the first Napoleon.

There is reason to think that after Palestro, Gyulai, having at last
realised what Napoleon was about, wished to evacuate Lombardy, but was
prevented from doing so by strong protests sent by the Emperor Francis
Joseph, who was at Verona. The Austrian army was in full retreat when
it was pulled up near Magenta, with the object of checking the advance
of the French, who had already begun to cross the Ticino by the
bridges of San Martino and Buffalora, which the Austrians had tried to
blow up, but had not succeeded from want of proper powder. In the
great battle of the 4th of June, Austrians and French numbered
respectively about 60,000 men; no Piedmontese were engaged till the
evening, when a battalion of Bersaglieri arrived. The Imperial Guard,
with which was Napoleon, had to bear the brunt of the fight for four
hours, and ran a good chance of being annihilated; not a brilliant
proof of French generalship, but happily the Austrians also committed
grave mistakes. MacMahon's arrival at five in the afternoon prevented
a catastrophe, and the fighting, which continued far into the night,
was from this moment attended by results on the whole advantageous to
the French. Not much more can be said. Magenta was very like a drawn
battle. The Austrians are calculated to have lost 10,000 men, the
French between 4,000 and 5,000. It was expected that the Austrians
would renew the attack, but on the 5th, Gyulai ordered the retreat,
which was the last order he had the opportunity of giving, as he was
deprived of his command immediately after.

At mid-day on the 5th, Milan, which was trembling on the verge of
revolution, made the pleasurable discovery that there were no
Austrians left