PARIS, _June 11, 1859_.
I do not expect to stir from the city. If your brother is still at the
head of a besieging battery, I fancy he will not leave Grenoble until
the Austrians are driven back into their famous triangle or rectangle,
whichever it is. According to the opinion of the soldiers, this will not
occur until after another battle near Lodi, for it appears that there
are certain places which have the privilege of attracting the armies.
But no one seems yet to understand the meaning of war with the aid of
railroads, telegraph lines, and rifled guns. I have lost faith in
everything and am consumed with anxiety.
The great politicians, burgraves, and others, people as imbecile as the
old military men, announce that all Europe is preparing to interfere,
with entreaties and threats, between the _Adda_ and the _Mincio_. This,
indeed, is highly probable; yet I do not see very well how it is going
to mend matters. After the famous phrase, _Sin all’ Adriatico_, how is
it possible to abandon Italy half delivered? How can one expect that an
emperor of twenty-four, obstinate and under Jesuit influence, beaten,
moreover, will confess that he has acted like a fool, and plead for
forgiveness? Is it not to be expected that the Italians also, who up to
the present have acted with discretion, pending the negotiations, will
commit every folly imaginable?
If we have all Europe at our heels, how shall we get out of it without
having recourse to our last trump, which is a general revolution,
supposing even that such a proposition would meet with approval? It
appears that Austria intends to send her last soldier to Italy.
Everything looks very gloomy, with little to reassure us, but it is one
reason more why we should gather strength and courage for the
misfortunes which may befall us....
I am thinking of this warm weather and of the green leaves. This time
last year I was in Switzerland, far from imagining all that has happened
and all that is still to happen.
Good-bye. You know that I am waiting impatiently for your letters. Do
not fail to be precise and clear in explaining your intentions.