river, the Austrians desired to create the impression that they had
finally abandoned it. It was their plan, which did not lack boldness,
to throw the whole army back upon the right bank, and to perform a
concentric movement on Montechiaro, where they hoped to fall unawares
on the French and destroy them. They were confident of success, for
they knew what a good stand they had made at Magenta, and now that
Gyulai was got rid of, and the young Emperor had taken the field, they
did not doubt that fortune would turn her wheel. To these men of many
nations, the presence of their Emperor was the one inspiration that
could rouse them, for if they were fighting for anything, it was for
him in the most personal sense; it was to secure his mastery of the
splendid land over which he looked from the castle of Valleggio, on
the 23rd of June, whilst his brilliant staff stood round, waiting for
the signal to mount and clatter down the steep road to the Mincio
bridge. The army now advanced along all its line.

Even the soberest writers have not resisted making some reference to
the magnificent scene of to-morrow's battle. On one side, the mountain
bulwarks rising tier on tier, gorgeous with the trancendent beauty of
colour and light of the Italian summer; on the other, the vine-clad
hillocks which fall gently away from the blue lake of Garda till they
are lost in the

............harvest shining plain
Where the peasant heaps his grain
In the garner of his foe.

The 24th of June was to decide how much longer the Lombard peasant
should labour to fill a stranger's treasury.

The calculations of the Austrians were founded on the slowness which
had hitherto characterised Napoleon's movements. Hess thought that two
days might be safely allowed for the Austrian advance, and that the
enemy would remain passive on the west bank of the river Chiese,
waiting to be attacked on the 25th. If the operation could have been
performed in one day, and it is thought that it could, there would
have been more prospect of success. But even then, the original plan
of attacking the allies west of the Chiese could not have been carried
out, as on the 23rd the whole allied army moved forward, the French
occupying Castiglione and Lonato, and the Sardinians Rezzato and
Desenzano, on the lake of Garda. It is not clear how far the allies
believed in the Austrian advance; that they had warning of it from
several quarters is certain. For instance, a gentle