proposed a Congress, but there were disputes regarding the admission of Sardinia and nothing came of the proposal. On the 23d April, Austria demanded that within three days Sardinia should disarm, and dismiss the volunteers from other States; Sardinia refused on the 26th, and on the same day the Austrians crossed the Ticino. The French troops which had been massing on the frontier entered Piedmont on the 27th April, and on the 8th of May Napoleon III. made formal declaration of war, announcing his purpose to be nothing more than the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy.
For some two or three weeks there were no actual hostilities, the Austrians being occupied with plundering the part of Italy they had entered, and the French using every exertion to bring up their troops and make ready for battle. The Austrian left wing was defeated near Montebello on the 20th May; on the 31st May and 1st June the Austrians were again worsted at Palestro and driven across the Ticino. On the 4th June was fought the battle of Magenta, in which the Austrians were routed with a loss of about 20,000 (including 7,000 prisoners), the French losing about 7,000 killed and wounded. The Austrians took up a position along the line of the Mincio; the armies of Austria and France were commanded by their emperors in person, and for the next twenty days they were manœuvred in such a way as to bring them in collision at Solferino, whose battle-field has become historic.
On the 23d of June 151,000 French and Sardinians stood facing 160,000 Austrians, the latter having 650 guns and the former nearly as many. The Austrian right and centre occupied strong defensive positions, their left wing standing on a plain waiting to begin the attack. It was intended, since the opportunity seemed to be offered, to push the French out of their encampments beyond the Chiese and up to the base of the mountains. A consider-
