That the attempt was ill-
conceived and worse-executed, neither your contemporary nor the public at
large has, for the present, the right to conclude, for no one knows as
yet but imperfectly the details of the terrible fight. What is certain,
however, is that General Durando, perceiving that the Cerale division was
lost, did all that he could to help it. Failing in this he turned to his
two aides-de-camp and coolly said to them:
'Now, gentlemen, it is time for you to retire, for I have a duty to
perform which is a strictly personal one--the duty of dying.' On saying
these words he galloped to the front and placed himself at about twenty
paces from a battalion of Austrian sharp-shooters which were ascending
the hill. In less than five minutes his horse was killed under him, and
he was wounded in the right hand. I scarcely need add that his aides-de-
camp did not flinch from sharing Durando's fate. They bravely followed
their general, and one, the Marquis Corbetta, was wounded in the leg; the
other, Count Esengrini, had his horse shot under him. I called on
Durando, who is now at Milan, the day before yesterday. Though a
stranger to him, he received me at once, and, speaking of the action of
the 24th, he only said: 'I have the satisfaction of having done my duty.
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