The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-10 00:00:00

CAPUA:

Tfieoiiiter de l'Ainice Contains the follow-
ing description of this place, which the army of
Francis 11. now defends :
Capua was already a town of considerable impor-
tance at the time even of the Puuic war. It is situated
in that part of Italy to which the name of Campania
was given, and which is called to this day " Terra de
Lahore." It was a very fertile district. Indepen-
dently of the wealth which it drew from the soil, Capua
had a commerce and trade of great importance. Its
inhabitants excelled in the preparation and dyeing of
leather, and in the manufacture of cloths ; they sur-
passed the people of Tyre in the art of dyeing in scarlet
and in manufactdring purple stuffs. They were the
first to prodtiCe tlidse beautiful vase's lii reddish eafth.
known Under the hate of ttritrian vases.
_*

Nina was situated upon the celebrated Appian way ;
its streets and squares possessed magnificent monuments.
It had, like Rome, a senate 'and consuls, and was go-
verned by its own laws,: At the time of the second Punic
war, and after the celebrated battle of Canute, it declared
in favour of Hannibal, who, in order to attach it to him-
self, promised to make it the capital of Italy. The
Romans took a terrible vengeance upon it. After the
departure of the Carthaginians, they took possession of
Capua, ravaged it, put all its senators to death, and
carried off its principal inhabitants into, slavt!':,
did not tegaid its WEIS-Lit. splendour, until the time of
Julius Caesar, towards the year of Rome 693. At this,.
epoch a numerous colony of Romans. was sent thither,
who parcelled out the teitilary of ,CaniPania dinono•St
fdem, and re-erected a portion Of 'the d*ellings of le
inhabitant*.
bilis Utar restored to the Capuans their ancient
laws and privileges; their town was in a very flourishing
state, when Genseric, King of the Vandals, took posses-
sion of it in 455, and destroyed it a new. Narsis
rebuilt it in 552; but Garibald, King of the Lombards,
destroyed it utterly in the year of our Lord 671.
A new Capua was built in 745, by Astolphus, King of
the Lombards, at about three kilometres from Naples,
upon the left, batik of the Ydlltiiiid. it has ,tvto
Nbeauti-
atone.bridges over this river, is surroiin.ded 13Y large
ditches filled with water, and by a bastioned enclosure,
and possesses an arsenal and several casemated forts. It
haS always been considered one of the most important
places of Italy. Its population is about 10,000 inhabi-
tants, independently of its garrison:
In 950 Capin, fell into the power of the Normans, who
founded..there numerous establishments, and strength-
ened its fortifications. In 1007 the Saracens, having
attacked and taken it, sacked it, after keeping posseision
of it for some days. They besieged it anew in 1056;
but Robert of Normandy came to • the. succour of the
place, compelled the Sarabetis to raise the siege, and
drove then .nat o, Italy:. Latter;Corktad;. Sod the
Emperor Frederick, took it iod ditimintled iti But, in
1511 toliis XII. cailsed it to be restored to the king-
do& of ilatiltg, or which it still forms a part. Its
fortifications, destroyed in 1251, were reconstructed
by Charles V. in 1531, renaiffal 11 eramanci i. in;
1772, and
_,ln.-ovect during the reign of the latter king.
—,,nough these fortifications arrest for
the moment the
Garibaldian troops, they are much less Unportant than
those of Gaeta, a place incontestibly the strongest in .
the States on the mainland, •
Oaptia is the thief plate if Tetra de Labore, the
Most northward the preirinees; ate bordered by
the sea fciir their 4licile Thia ,doni7
prelierichi, asides dapaa aid Santa Maria, which forms
in some sort one of its suburbs; the towns of
Caserta, (celebrated' for its magnificent , castle), Pied-
monte, San Germano, Gaeta, Averio, Arpina, and
Madaloni, . It •is 150 kilometres (93 miles) in
len.gth, by 65 (45 miles) in breadth, and has a popula-
tion of about 700,000 inhabitants. It is, like the
ancient Campania, very rich aud very fertile. The
Terra de Labore is watered by the Volturno, or Vulturno,
which takes its source to the east of Isernia, in the
Moliseo, This Ayer Imes froM the mountains, 'flows to
the southward as far as the eonfluende of the Cetera; then
takes a westerly direction, traverses in serpentine .Wind-
ings the plains of Campania, and falls into the sea at
the point called Castel-volturno. After having received
the waters of the Cal Ore- and several other streams,- the
Volturno acquires a breath of 75 metres (44 miles), and
a depth which no longer permits its being crossed with-
out a bridge. Towards Capua, its course becomes calm.
Above that town; near. the Mills of Trellised, which are
beyond the, iange of tile guns of the , plebe,. thereis a
good spot for the passage cif trodps. The course of the
•Volturno is 140 kilometres, or 87 miles. It forms
between Capua and Gaeta a line of natural defence
somewhat extended, but one from which a solid and
numerous army could draw a great advantage. The
Neapolitan troops have understood this ; the positions
which they have taken, and the dispositions which they
have adopted, are excellent. Should the Garibaldian
volunteers succeed, either by means of a bombardment
or by a coniplete idiestnielit, id 'reducing Capua, the
Royal army might Concentrate itself non Gaeta, and
still Maintain there a protracted deferlte.

DARING ESCAPE AND CLEVER CAPTURE

OF A FORGER.

On Monday a notorious character, named William
Boyce, alias Kelly, alias Haddon, alias Badden, alias
Williams, &c., who was confined in the Sheffield Town-
hall on a charge of uttering forged Bank of England
notes, made his escape from his place of confinement,
and obtained a few hours' liberty. Some time ago the
prisoner uttered two forged £5 Bank of England
notes at Sheffield---one to Mr. Edwin White, hatter,
Pargate, and the other to Mr. Raby, eating-house
keeper, &c., Westbar. It came to the knowledge
of the police that forged Bank of England notes
had been, uttered at Liverpool, Brighton, Leam-
ington, Warwick, Dewsbury, and many other places,
and from the descriptions given there was no doubt the
offences were being committed by the same person.
Accordingly, a strenuous effort was made to capture the
delinquent. About a fortnight ago detective-officer
Airey, of the Sheffield police force, went to Manchester,
and in a street branching out of Lever-street he found
the prisoner, and in the same house a hat which he
obtained from Mr. White when he passed the forged £5
note to him. Airey brought Boyce to Sheffield, where
he was distinctly identified by Mr. White and Mr.
Raby, and the charge of uttering two forged Bank
of England notes was clearly made out against him.
While being confined in the cells of the Town-hall, the
prisoner appears to have devised a scheme by which to
make his escape from custody. He first imposed upon
the officers at the Town-hall by pretending to be ill.
By this move he obtained permission to leave the cell,
and walk about in the Women's yard. The prisoner has
had about a fortnight's experience in the 'Town-hall,
and he appears to have been an apt scholar, and profited
by his experience. He noticed that at twelve o'clock
every day the prisoners were removed upstairs into
the petty sessions room, for examination before the
magistrates, and that the police were at that time pretty
well occupied; and he seems to have determined to take
advantage of the opportunity and make his exit. By
some means he succeeded in forcing back the lock on
the door of the women's ward, which must hare been a
very difficult task, and required great ingenuity, and
thus gaining admission to the watch-house. In the
top of the door in this place, leading to the street,
there are two small panels, secured by iron bars, which
are' placed close together. The bars in one of these
panels he has wrenched out, and then succeeded
in squeezing himself through the aperture, which is
apparently only large enough to admit the body of
a boy. However, he made his escape, and when his
absence was discovered, measures were taken for his
re-apprehension. Airey, who was about to start for
Dewsbury for further evidence against him, put- off the
journey, and again started in pursuit of the runaway.
Officers were sent in every direction—some on horse-
back, others in gigs,—and about six o'clock a telegram
was received from Sergeants Whytell and Walker that
they had succeeded in capturing him at Chesterfield.
The prisoner is a daring,impudent-looking youne.fellow,
and he will no doubt be securely taken care of or the
future.