The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-29 00:00:00

SICILY

(From the Malta Gazette of the 9th.)
Her Majesty's steamer Confiance, Lieutenant Arlett,
which bad been sent by Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Briggs
to the coast of Sicily, in consequence of advices received
by this Government from the British authorities in the
Sicilian ports as to the state of affairs there, returned to
this island on Monday last, having visited Syracuse, Ca-
tania, and Messina.
The cholera morhus had reached Syracuse, where the
mortality was about sixteen a day. The people, however,
were incredulous as to the existence of any real disease,
and, giving ear to many silly reports, circulated by ev►l-
disposed -persons for the purpose of deceiving them, be-
lieved that poison had been disseminated with a ♦iew to de-
stroy them. This poison, it is pretended, has been dis-
covered in the form of powders and liquids, mixed up
with the food, and even acting upon the respiratory
organs, and affecting the air with a deadly influence ;
and it hexing been declared formally that these ingre-
dients had been found in the house of the Intendant,
that functionary, as well as the Inspecting Commissary
and the Commissary of Police, fell victims to the ignorance
of the populace, and the wicked designs of the agitators.
Martial law had been declared in the town, but the troops
were not sufficiently numerous to subdue the rioters, who
at length carried their excesses so far as to stone a poor
countryman to death, accused of having sown poison in the
fields, and ten other persons, amongst whom was the Cap-
tain of the Lazarette and a priest, were shot in the public
square, just before the Confiance left the place.
At Catania the same attempt to work upon the minds of
the multitude by attributing the appearance of the cholera
in Sicily to poison was only partially successful. No blood
was shed, as at Syracuse, but scenes of riot took place ; the
Magistrates were deposed, the troops disarmed, and the
Royal statues and emblems destroyed. On the 30th ult. a
yellow flag was hoisted as a signal of revolt ; but not being
joined by the neighbouring towns the seditious became more
marked as they proceeded in their mots of violence, and o■
the 3d instant many of them were arrested by the better
classes of the inhabitants, who re-instated the authorities,
and returned to the soldiers their arms. Up to the 6th
inst. Catania was quite free from the cholera.
The advices from Messina are dated the sth inst. That
town and port were perfectly tranquil, and without any case
of cholera.
It is quite evident, from a perusal of the incendiary
papers which were printed and circulated in Syracuse and
Catania, that the promoters of the disturbances in both
towns were actuated by political views. But an expedition,
consisting of four steamers, a frigate, a store-ship, and seve-
ral transports, with 4,000 troops, which had been collected
at Reggio, under the command of the Marquis of Caretto,
was seen by the Confiance making for the Sicilian shores ;
so that probably by this time these unfortunate cemmotions
are quelled.
The communication with the interior was very inter-
rupted, and trade quite at a stand. But we learn that at
Palermo and in the neighbourhood the alarmists had been
very active in creating disturbances, and that in the com-
mune of Misilmeri ten of them had been shot by sentence
of a court-martial, for acts of rebellion, murder, robbery,
and incendiarism.
It is stated that from the 15th of June to the 25th •f
July, Palermo had lost, by disease and disorder, 22,268 of
its inhabitants, and that the deaths by cholera extended to
all classes. It had, however, nearly disappeared at the lat-
ter date, very few deaths having happened immediately after
the 25th. Besides the capital, Trapani, Syracuse, and
Modica seem to be the principal places attacked ; but of
this there can be no certainty, in the present disturbed state
of the country, and the obstruction of the posts.