The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-05 00:00:00

SPAIN.

THE ITALIAN LEGION.

TURIN, Sept. I.—The Times, in a second edition,
says :—Despite the opposition of despots and re-
publicans the Anglo-Italian Legion promises to
succeed, and perhaps none the worse for the oppo-
sition offered by parties which moderate men have
learned to distrust. The Reds pretend to fear the
Legion may be turned against the interests of
liberty. The Blacks share Mr. Bowyer's appre-
hensions of the country being overrun by a licen-
tious soldiery at the end of the war. Both make
it a hardship that on attestation the men should
engage to serve in any part of the world, without
designating the particular enemy they are to
he employed against ; and, as an instance of
what should be done in such cases, it has been
quoted that the Swiss in the King of Naples ser-
vice invariably stipulate that they shall not bear
arms against Switzerland or its allies. Such objec-
tions, on the part of the Retrogrades, can be easily
understood ; and it would be perfectly natural for
the Piedmontese to stipulate that they should not
be called upon to serve against their own country;
hut in no other State of Italy is there the slightest
regard for the present form of Government or
reigning dynasty, and it would be strange indeed
if the Republicans should knowingly try to save
the despots from retribution by the hands of those
they have most offended, although it is by no
moans the first time they have proved their best
allies.
The Board of Officers, under the presidence of
General Percy, for organising the Legion, consists
of Colonel Cavana, of Ferarra, who in the Papal
service was distinguished for suppressing brigandage
in the southern parts of the Roman States, and has
been employed in the Sardinian Government in
forming a Guardia Civile ; and Colonel Ribotti, a
Piedmontese by birth, and originally in the Guardia
Nobile of this country, but a political emigree in
1834, and who since then has served in Spain and
Portugal, and spent upviards of four years in a
Neapolitan prison for assisting in the Sicilian re-
volution in 1818.

This Board has now nearly brought its prelimi-
nary labours to a close. There were at first some
doubts as to the legality of a foreign Government
exercising its own military law in this country,
without a special convention to that effect, so that
it was necessary to have legal opinions on the sub-
ject, and the result is, it has been decided that
the British Government, in accordance with inter-
national law, may act upon its own military
laws and system in all cases where the punish-
ments correspond with those inflicted in this
country, and that for other special cases, as the re-
claiming of deserters or in dealings with civil courts,
AL—.. a commissioner should be appointed by the
Sardinian Government, who will fulfil the duties
of prosecutor or bail as the laws of Sardinia may
require.

There has also been some delay in enrolling
caused by the want of barrack accommodation.
The barrack at Novara, which had originally been
lent to our Government for the use of the Swiss
Legion, but which was never taken advantage of, is
now under repair, and there are so few disposable
quarters in eligible positioins throughout the king-
dom, that there has been much difficulty in fixing
on a place as central depot.

Chiavasso, a town abnut an hour from hence, on
the Turin and Novara Railway, has at 'ength been
chosen ; and as it possesses some large buildings,
and is within a short distance of the Plain of San
Maurizio, where the Sardinian Government usually
has a camp of instruction every year, and where
there are permanent hut barracks, though not in
very good repair at present, it appears in every
respect well adapted for the purpose, and there-
fore it may be expected that recruiting will com-
mence actively forthwith.

The Corriere Mercantile of Genoa remarks that
all the clerical journals of Piedmont, such as the
Patria, the Armoria, and the Catholic°, display
their opposition to the existing Government by
either magnifying the losses of the Piedmontese in
the battle of the Tchernaya, or speaking disparag-
ingly of their valour in the field.

The Giornale di Roma states that Prince Palavi-
cini has sent 1,000 scudi (6,000 fr.) to the Marquis
Da Via, senator of Bologna, for t!tte relief of the
widows and orphans of the victims of cholera.

The King of the Belgians came to Brussels on
Sunday, from Laeken, and gave an audience to
Viscount de Kerchove, who delivered his letters
accrediting him as resident Minister of the Sultan
to the Court of Belgium. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs was present.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Prague,' Prince
Schwarzenberg, is at present at Enghein, in _e_ ict 1
-
giutn, on a visit to the Duke d'Arenberg.

THE AUSTRALIAN MAILS.—The royal mail ship
Lightning, Captain Enright, sails to-day from the Mer-
sey for Melbourne, with mails for the Australian
colonies, 450 passengers, and a full cargo.
METROPOLITAN REGISTRATIONS. Mr. J. F. Mac-
queen, the Revising Barrister, has appointed the follow-
ing times and places for holding his courts t 3 revise the
Metropolitan Lists of Voters :—Westminster—On Fri-
day, Sept, 21, at eleven o'clock, at the Lord Justices'
Court, Westminster. Marylebone—On Tuesday, Sept,
18, at eleven o'clock, at the Court-house, Marylebone,
' for the parishes of Paddington and St. Marylebone ;
and on Wednesday, Sept. 19, by adjournment, at th t
board-room of the Workhouse of St. Pancras, for that
parish. Tower Hamlets—On Monday. Sept. 24, at
eleven o'clock, at the Court-house, Wellclose-square.
Finsbury—On Wednesday, Sept. 26, at eleven o'clock,
in the Lords Justices' Court, Lincoln's Inn.
THE PROBABLE COMMANDER OF THE MAMMOTH
STEAMER.—We have heard upon good authority that
Captain William Harrison, of the Cunard royal mail
steamer Africa, has been offered the command of the
"great leviathan" steam-ship, now building by John
Scott Russell and Co., of London, for the Eastern Steam
Navigation Company. The rumoured amount of remu-
neration to be paid is 1,200/., with other advantages.
This, although apparently a large sum, is not more than
adequate to the amount of responsibility incurred in
taking charge .4 such an enormous property ; and then
can be no question of Captain Harrison 'a fitness for the
office,—Liverpool Standard.

The Madrid journals of the 30th ult. have ar-
rived. A band of armed men, supposed to be
smugglers, bad appeared in the Sierra del. Paular,
province of Segovia, at a short distance from the
palace of San Ildefonso, and an armed force had
been sent in pursuit of it. The Minister of Public
Works is engaged in 'preparing a bill on canals and
irrigation.

A letter from Madrid of the 30th ult., in the
Constitutionnel, says :—" The French in this city,
having inserted a few days ago a malevolent article
on England, on the occasion of the visit of the
Queen to Paris, Mr. Otway, English Charge
d'Affaires, complained to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs on the subject ; but the matter has been
dropped, in consequence of the journalist having
yesterday published explanations in which he dis-
avows any intention of offending the Queen or the
people of England."