The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-27 00:00:00

ITALY.

ROME. M ty 20.
The degradation of France is now complete. The
Atheist of the gran& tuition are commanded by
papal sbirri ! What would the great Napoleon ex-
claim, could he fur one moment look upon the doings
of his nephew's army, and behold pintoonm of French
soldiers, not making the tour du mond., but the hut.
prournade up and down the Corso, in broad day-
light, insulting, ill-treating, and arresting peaceable
citizens. Ilbr the shapes of their hats or the colour of
their clothes, and all at the imperious nod and heck
of the papal police satellites! No one is safe from
the ferocious attacks of these legalised ruffians, these
mild instruments of the paternal ecclesiastical govern-
ment. Another English gentlemen, Mr. Brotherton.
was recently overhauled in the Via del Tritone, and
many other foreigners have been insulted in the
streets in the grossest possible manner. The way in
which General Gemeaus h.:Lilco-papal petrels are
conducted is as follows—they usually consist of from
twenty-five to fifty French aoldiers, heatied by two
of the Pope's sbirri in plain clothes, who keep
their eyes fixed on the passers• by, and order the
column to halt as soon us any person excites their
suspicions by the form of his walking stick, the cut
of his hat, or the colour of his dress—white "wide-
awakes" especially, with black ribbons round them,
and black clothes, ate sufficient motives for the
wearers to be beaten or arrested. When any such
unfortunate person approaelms, the sbirri give a wink
of command to the soldiers of the (pawl, notion,
who at once surround the offimder, and allow the
4irri to torment hint within the hallowed circle of
French bayonets, in a manner equally creditable to
both parties. The attentions of the abirri usually-
consist in gross personal epithets and blows, in
breaking the walking-sticks or smashing the hats of
their victims, besides taking them off to prison if all
is not received in good part. All Rouse looks on
with horror and dismay at such proceedings, sanc-
tioned and executed by the "generosity of France."
as General Gemean terms it. Many unfortunates
have complained that they were not aware that
wide-awakes or mourning dresses were prohibited,
there being no edict whatever on the subject,
hut a thump on the head from a shirr. or a French
corporal, is all the consolation they get in reply.
An inoffensive young man, named Nlitinno Petti,
has actually been imprisoned for wearing motuming
for his father! -mourning being construed by the
jealousy of the Papal authorities, and the zeal of the
republican General Gemeau, into an allusion of
grief at the extinction of the Roman )tepublic! A
French gentleman, just arrived in this city, and
staying at the Hotel d'Allentagne, was standing at
the door of the English library, on the Piazza di,
Spagna, two evenings ago, when he was much stir-
prised to see the curt *yr of gbirri and soldiers stop
opposite to him. A black leather strap, which he
wore round his white travelling hat, gave such
offence to the surer that they removed it with their
own hand, taking down at the same time his name
and address, and bidding him mind what he was
about. A party of French officers witnessed the
whole trunsuetion, and when subsequently appealed
to for some explanation of such treatment by their
indignant countryman, could only reply with hope-
less and interminable shrugs.
Foreseeing the great amount of annoyance to which
British subjects would be submitted by being com-
prised in the recent measure of disarming and search-
ing the persons and the abodes of the inhabitants of
this city, as decreed in Gen. Gemeau's proclamation,
Mr. Freeborn, our consular agent, waited on the
French ambassador, Count de ltayneval, on the 13th,
and nquested him to obtain from the General per-
miasion for some of the English residents, such as
hankers, who had valuable property on their pre-
mises, to retain their arms, for the use of which they
had previously obtained license from General Rosto-
lan, as a guarantee fur their personal safety and that
of their establishments. On the following day, how-
ever, M. de Rayneval, informed Mr. Freeborn that
the measure was to be entirely without exception,
that all previous permissions were to be considered
as cancelled, and that General Gemeau was
resolved to carry out his proclamation to the
letter, notwithstanding which he held out
hopes that British subjects should be as
little molested as possible by the domiciliary visits
and the personal researches of the French patrols and
their leaders, the abirri (with what result we have
already seen). A gentleman belonging to au Eng-
lish banking firm in the Corso resolved to see what
could be effected by a personal interview with the
redoubtable Commander-in-Chief, and set out for his
palace with that intention, but, finding him absent,
he went to the Commandant de la Place instead,
with whom he had an interesting colloquy upon the
subject of international rights. The banker exhi-
bited the written permissions, not only for retaining
arms in his possession, many of whic'h belonged to
his clients, but also for carrying them on his person,
granted him by General Rostolan on the oth of July,
1849, immediately after the entry of the French
army, when the city was still full of armed men her
tile to the priests and the French, and when, conse-
quently, things were in a much more critical
state than now, the National Guard having
since that period been disarmed and diasolved,l
I (although the candid Oudinot, that Pecksniff amongst '
soldiers, assured the Romans that it was to be 'mine-
. diately reorganised) the people repeatedly disarmed,
thousands of dangerous spirits banished, and thou-
sands more plunged into the languishing dungeons
of the ecclesiastical government. Having been
deemed trustworthy in such a critical period, and
having given no cause for such confidence in Itun to
be regretted, he hoped that his permission might be
renewed, in spite of the General's recent proelama-
th"
ferent light. He stated that the present moment was
Coinloane,Loryf the
LiTighket Commandantlnfamry) viewed wdedokithrelat.ecase(
proclama-
tion.
one which demanded the utmost rigour on the part
of the authorities civil and military, and that the
General was so firmly resolved to get the very last
gun out of the possession of the Romans, that even the
Roman princes would be constrained togive up their
, fowling-pieces, although, instead of giving them up
in the usual way, they would be allowed to hand them

over to the especial keeping of the French police
commissary, Jf. Mangin.
Our countryman replied that the arms were times-
alley for the protection of his own premises iu the
actual frequehey of burglaries. " We'll protect you
from robbers," saitEthe Frenchman. " I trust so,"
rejoined the banker 7; " but a watchmaker immedi-
ately under me was robbed of everything he had in
the world, a few weeks ago, in spite of the vigilance
of your patrols." With respect to English subjects
being allowed to deposit their arras in the house of
the English consul, the commandant scouted the idea,
declaring that in that case the house of every foreign
consul would become a perfect arsenal, and wound
up by stating with great enew, " The British con-
sul, like every one else, will be subject to the domi-
ciliary visits of our soldiers, and with ate (expletive),
to the decree of a court-martial also, tf
need be." Such a style of argument, strength-
ened by ouch genteel expletives, admitted of
no reply front a peaceable citizen to a man in office,
and therefore the banker was obliged to give up his
arms, and those of his clients, to M. Mungiu, having
obtained subsequently, from the courtesy of the Chef
feat 31,fjor, the privilege of being placed uu the
same ftsding n: the Roman princes. Mr. Freeborn
himself, having gradually accumulated a large depot
of arms belongiag to British subjects in Ins house,
!and not wishing to make it, as the commandant ex-
pressed himself, a perfect arsenal, packed them up in
a couple of cases and sent them down to the Director-
' General of the papal Monsignor Ituilni, who
acknowledged the receipt of theta by an official
letter, and will therefore he bound to restore them
when applied for by the consul.
see that Cardinal Wiseman's portrait in full pon-
tificals has crested quite a sensation at the Royal
Academy. What will people say when they get
Mr. Philips's large picture of the Pope, Monsignor
Talbot, the patriarch of Jerusalem, amid the Sacristan„
which is to be packed off to-morrow for London,
having been must ably completed by the artist after
four sittings grunted ity his lfoliness at the Vatican?
The first of the interviews was under rather painful
circumstances; the Pope being much agitated by an
accident which had just happened iu his private
apartments, where a scaffolding had given way, pre-
eipitating three painters, engaged in restoring the
vault, front a vast height to the ground.