The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-09 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 9, 1867.

ROME.

(room oos OWN 00BUSPONDINT.)

ROME, Aram 3.

In a city like Rome, where all the sources of so-
called information are poisoned, and where hardly
anybody even aims at truth, it would be unreason-
able on the part of the correspondent of a foreign
journal to expect to do more than take a succession
of more or less good shots at what is really passing
here. In a recent letter, although I took a most
careful aim, and thought myself fur once dead
certain of snaking a bull'a-eyet I regret to say that
I missed the target altogether. Your readers may
remember that about the middle of last month I
stated it as a positive fact that the Italian troops
were in actual occupation of the provinces of the
Maritime and Campugna, having been called in
to aid the Pontifical troops in the suppression
of brigandage. By the date that I ventured to
communicate it to you as certain, that pies; of
intelligence was already five days stale, and abso-
lutely believed in by the very best informed per-
sons here. On the strength of their belief I over-
came nry own incredulity, and did not scruple to
insert it in the last letter, which I wrote before
setting out for the sea coast. In the course of that
expedition I lust no opportunity of collecting what-
ever information was to be had on the subject in
the districts bordering on the Pontine marshes and
tho Volscian hills, from time immemorial the
favourite haunts of the brigands. At the outset
of niy inquiries I found strong confirmation of the
belief in which I had started from Rome, of the
actual establishment of Italian troops at Frosinone,
in the shape of an account which I received of the
capture by the soldiers of Victor Emmanuel of 76
brigands, who had long set the unaided efforts of
the Pontifical authorities at defiance. Shortly after,
however, it transpired that this wholesale capture
of brigands was a myth, altogether devoid of foun-
dation, which had merely flowed out of what soon
turned out to be a greater myth— the presence of
any Italian troops whatsoever within the Papal
territory. You will observe that in this Roman
mythology there is some logic, if no truth. For,
given, the Italian troops established at Frosinone,
it only seemed the logical sequence that a good
haul of brigands should be the result.
If I was misinformed in stating that the will of
the Holy Father had prevailed to carry through
the Sacred College so benevolent but unpopular a
measure as that of calling in a rival doctor, in the
person of Victor Emmanuel, to cure the plague of
brigandage within his dominions, it is at least true
that the will of the Pope was as powerfully exerted
in that direction as is consistent with the debili-
tated condition of that faculty, which has been so
tampered with by evil counsellors, and well nigh
broken at last by Antonelli. The proposition of
calling in the Italian troops having been with-
drawn, no further concession could bewrung out of
those powers superior to the Pope—Cardinal An-
tonelli and Beck, the general of the Jesuits—but
a renewal of the former reciprocal agreement
between the Italian and Pontifical governments,
conceding to the troops of each free permission
to pursue brigands for a certain distance, to be
regulated by circumstances, across either frontier.
From the lips of Sig. Pulini—the agent of Prince
Orsini and the Polverusi family—who has just been
restored to his friends after passing 27 days and
nights with the brigands in the mountains about
Terracina, I learned the following:particulars of
his captivity :
That he escaped with his life seems to have been owing
to the influence of • handsome young fellow at the head of
one of the numerous bands which acknowledge the
authority of Andreozzi, who is known under the name of
"II Colouello." This young chieftain, who is a great
dandy, and very particular about the spotlessness of his
linen, seems to have taken l'ulini under his special pro-
tection, and to have most effectually silenced the demands
of the more bloodthirsty for the life of their prisoner.
During the 27 days which Pulini passed in their company,
the brigands tasted wine but three times, often lived 012
bread and water, and always slept on the ground, which
was sometimes sprinkled with snow ; so that brigand life
can hardly be so jolly a one as is supposed by some people.
While Pulini was known among them as Signor Paullo—
shortened by them to " Sir Paul "—the brigands like to be
styled "Signori dells montagne," or, in other words,
" Gentlemen of the mountains." So far from having
been maltreated by them after the disappearance of the
ruffians who thirsted for his blood, Pulini was held
in such honour by his captors that they made him judge
over them, and referred their disputes to him. When his
ransom arrived-2,000 xcudi in gold, and about 800 acutli
in silver—Pauli was called upon to divide it into the re-
quired 14 parts, according to the number of the band.
In addition to the payment of this sum of money, the
brother of Pulini, who negotiated the ransom•tranaaction,
was required to fulfil the following COMllliiiiol32 for the
brigands—to get half • dozen of their glass-faced watches
converted into hunter's watches, to bring three new silver
watches, two chains, two gold rings, one field glass, •
supply of soap and razors (evidently for the young dandy),
&c.,

Ten days before Pulini was released, a band of
brigands, acting under the orders of Cima and
Luigiotto, lieutenants of Andreozzi, captured a
gouty old gentleman called Panicci—late governor
of the town of San Lorenzo. Their captive, for
whom they demand a ransom of 30,000 scudi, being
incapable of following the band on foot, it was
found necessary to construct a litter, or chaise-h-
-porteur, in which the unfortunate old gentleman is
now making an involuntary tour over the most
inaccessible parts of the Volacian mountains.
In Rome absolutely nothing is either happening,
or likely to happen. My next letter will probably
be dated from Velletri or Subiaoo.

THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACE.—
The crews took no exercise in their Imola yesterday morn-
ing, in consequence of the low state of the ebb tide ; and
the flood having made at Putney shortly after one o'clock,
the wind, W.S. W., sprang up very squally, which rendered
rowing over the course impossible. As the tide rose the
force of the wind was severely felt, and although report
had it that no boat could live above Hammersmith-bridge,
as there was a perfect sea on, both crews essayed to row,
having had extra wash-breaks put on their boats. The
Cantabe first appeared, shortly after three o'clock. and
paddled up the Surrey Mime, having the labour on the
stroke side 11s far as Hammersmith, where they turned and
came down on the ebb; they then went over the saute
ground again, rowing smartly, creating a very
favourable impression, as they went well through
the rough water at 32 anti 34 strokes per minute. The
Oxonians, more bold, determined to row the whole course,
and paddled to the Aqueduct ostensibly for that purpose :
their boat was tossed about in mid-river, but they stripped
off their outer jerseys and started from the Aqueduct in •
cloud of spray at 31 strokes per minute ; they soon in-
creased to 32, but it was very evident they could not
row through the lumpy water, and Mr. Tottenham, finding
it was futile to attempt further progress, took the boat
acmes the river, and they paddled back wet through.
Having emptied the water out of their boat, they, in their
wet clothes, rowed to Hammersmith, then down to oppo-
site the Rose-bank. back again to Hammersmith, and
finished in good form, being none the worse for the row,
save a good wetting. Betting, 6t04 on Oxford.
METROPOLITAN FREE HOSPITAL, DRVONSHIB2-
SQUARE, CITT.—Tbe aggregate number of patients relieved
during the week ending April 6 was—Medical, 907 ; sup.
gloo], 659 ; total, 1,566 ; of which 719 were new eases.

filttOtt.

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.
Tho following was the selection of pieces per
at the third concert of this society last night :

?ART I.

Symphony, •.
D minor
Camonet. " Tbe Sphit Song," 11.111 e. Dvaidil Haydn.
Concerto hi O. pianoforte, Madame Schumann Beethoven.
Iteeit. au.l Aria, " Crudele ••• " Non ml dB,"
Mane. Esnolutat
Overture, " kgment" Beethoven.

PART 11.
Symphony, in A major
Limit,, "nerliamiognor" semiramide , Siite
Enemaist and illiiiir. Unman

Overture, " Ruler et ei;4;l;ite;

'#ie ,r.

The two symphonies, heard in such near association,
offered a good opportunity for a comparison of the different
characteriatics of two contemporary composers, each of
whom has undergone most irrational and unjust disparage-
ment by uncompromising admirers of the other. The
strenuous partisans of Schumann, by their indiscriminate
admiration of all that he produced, and especially by that
depreciation of Mendelsohn which they most absurdly
considered a necessary consequence of that admiration, have
done more to delay the acceptance and recognition of Schu-
mann's music than the bitterest of his opponents. Neither
Schumann nor Mendelsohn themaelves had anyof this feel-
ing of rivalry which was raised by their extremcst parti-
sans; and which resulted in a reaction unfavourable to I
each composer. Both fulfilled what it was in them I
to do, and the works of each composer should
be viewed from the standing point of his particular in-
dividuality,
end not depreciated because there are qualities
in the one case not to be found in the other. Mendelssohn
possessed a dramatic power which Schumann hail not, or
at least bad but very imperfectly. Mendelssohn infused i
into hie music a tone and character especially appropriate
to the sentiment or situation from which it I
sprang—
witness the difference between the serial grace and delicacy I
of the Midsummer Niyhts Drama music, and the wild, I
impetuous romanticism of that to the Walparois Night ;
with many other similar contrasts that his works
exemplify, among which may be specified that which
distinguishes his Scotch symphony, so full of ,
grand lurid gloom, from the Italian symphony, !
that glowing, genie], musical picture, of sunny
brightness and southern warmth. Now, Schumann !
had not this power, his own individuality is promi-
uent in all his music—intensely northern in character, his j
genies had a general tendency to a pervading sombre tow.
Herne his great cantata, Paradise and the Peri, grand and
impressive as some of the music is, wants that relief and
brightness which the treatment of such a work requires.
Each of his four orchestral symphonies contains much that
is admirable, but also many points of inequality, and fre-
quent instances of labour bestowed on themes of scarcely
sufficient importance. The symphony performed last
night for the first time at these concerts is, perhaps, the
best of the four, as we have said in noticing its perform-
ance elsewhere. Both it and Mendelssohn's Italian syn.
ph my were given with a contrast of light and shade
and a steadiness and justness of tempo that quite proved
the fitness of the new conductor, Mr. Cusins, for the poet
to which he has been so recently appointed. Beethoven's
tragic overture, so full of sustained heroic elevation, and
Weber's romantic prelude, illuminated throughout by
rays of impulsive genius like lightning flashes, were both
capitally given. A special feature of the evening was
Madame Schumann's performance of the fourth pianoforte
concerto of Beethoven, a work as full of genius and as
admirable as the fifth in E fiat, which is generally called
the " Emperor," from its prevalent tone of exaltation and
grandeur. The concerto in G, while containing some pas-
sages of equal sublimity to any in the E flat concerto, has
more of human pathos and sentiment. In the one we are
awed by the assertion of majestic superiority; in the other
we are taken wore into the confidence of the composer.
The one is a work to be reverenced, the other to be loved.
We noticed very recently Madame Schumann's magnifi-
cent performance of the E fiat concerto at one of the ,
Crystal Palace concerts, and have now to record her equally
fine reading last night of that in C, ; her breadth of style
and significant phrasing being Storthy of all praise. The
cadenzas introduced into the first and last movements
were Madame Schumann's own—both cleverly constructed
in their recapitulation and interweaving of phrases of the
concerto itself, and tin display of executive skill. The
vocal pieces are so familiar, and the vocalists stand so
well in public esteem, as to render particular notice un-
necessary, beyond the remark that neither Haydn's
gloomy song, nor the florid duct of Rossini, was so well in
place as Mozart's lovely aria. Their Royal Highnesses
Princess Louise and Prince Leopold were present, and
the room was crowded with subscribers and visitors. At
the next concert Beethoven's choral symphony (No. 9),
with the Ode to Joy, is to be performed.

lOrama.

HAYMARKET.

Mrs. Scott-Siddons, the great granddaughter of
Mrs. Siddons, has beenspeedily promoted from the London
reading platform to the metropolitan stage, and last night
she made her appearance at the Haymarket Theatre as
I Rosalind, in As You Like It—the character in which she
gave most satisfaction in ber late readings at the Hanover-
square Rooms. Mrs. Scott Siddons's neat figure, pretty
face, and pleasing, arch delivery, qualify her for
lightcomedy, and her ease, confidence, and freedom of
gesture show that she has an aptitude for acting. Her
reading of Rosalind is saucy and attractive—reminding
us occasionally of the burlesque princes of the
Strand Theatre, without the " break-downs." She
wants the grand air of the froy.'di.ssr, which
is not always au agreeable air, and many per-
sons, missing this, will vote her unequal to the
embodiment of Shakespeare's lighter heroines. Her re-
ception last night by a friendly audience will doubtless
encourage her to adopt the stage as a profession, and her
sprightliness and evident intelligence will make her path
easy. Her future will depend upon herself, her capacity
for instruction, and the discretion of her advisers. If she
is not exactly the shining star we were led to expect, she is
a very lively and promising actress, who may be as easily
spoilt as improved.
The general performance of the comedy was very good,
Mr. Corapton's Touchstone and Mr. Chippendale's Adam
being, as they always are, admirable.