The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-19 00:00:00

/-

e •,' -

r _~_,,.,

w!:-.3P1-4i PE rt
ec., because a direct negative and d brorreo' rt4pAk
justices like the rest. But let us leave ifipplfeigbii,
to the principal charge. 1 t, "•"'
• z,4....
In Sicily there are ten residents t4v3l.eeee
1013,60,"
Gen. Govone supposes 4,000 in PaleriPc9kiii#ilith
suppositions he includes dead men, woAerfOsygffsrt,ot_
and double names, and men who have aw:l,:,lTltrel.
scripted, in short an entire imaginary continat. jat use
leave for the present, to those who choose to dwell upon it,
an estimation of the ability of our commissioners of conscrip-
tion, and a consideration of the unjust persecution, the
useless suffering which a furious pursuit of these phantoms
has
thestrength
triani
i.ceetfeeir
eed
y L
soldiers,eeft t
hu s
eap;audsisctoh.ocielvt
edesre,g
rai
annadastitilheenne cegefo
otthhcieeihrwuma officesOtuedr,
of the Italian
whattohvecrr
e enemies
the
are
e brieesc
iswsiP.nthegolpnloeef;
eßmrlahorat
anyd pl
ie
existence.ahrecir handstiie w Ab victoriesfotolreaoy
Italy
rate,t aly
can more or less remember, Sicilyeitunber
an
and Sicily
Martiallcarnin 0.1 a3w,e,t"
mare
thoroughly under the rule of General Govone.
Let us speak plainly. If you think to scourge a country,
and
then call on its sous to bearNavirtmhs for you; if you non-
rish its hopes and aspirations
Rome and Napies, and condemn it
ttotthhee
nsiagchretdlyinepaatgreosi oeff
country
,g ives
sbirri and police, if you call fot•
soldiers,
a t.:
apeopeeetyrofouncl sen.-
and 7 make carabi-
neers, if, in a word, you destroy in
timent of justice which make them sYr
ey L eve give
us
our
country cur lives and our fortunes, ourlove, justice, prosperity, and greatness in return
then tell
it f
hope, General, thee, you will coo that people voluntarily
cheerfully recruit the ranks of your army. sou
de-
base, one does not deprave a ceuntry, thend ask na
deeds of virtue; one does not bleed a Irma and the
to fight. The same reason by which you justitl deeelcl
from the Austrian army by the Venetians, and by the'l-N,42:-z—
-ends from the French, the same reason which no4de
term those Italian deserters comrades, who went with 3,°,-;
from Marsala to Maddaloni, and who, in 12 hours, left your
regiment in 1860, when they learned that the promises of
Cattolica had been broken, the same reason may, it not to.
day, one day or another, be valid in thecase of the Duchies,
the Neapolitans, in a word, for all Italians.
However, whatever we may think of it, we are face to
face with the law of resistants, and the Government has put
the whole of Sicily in a state of siege, not even excepting
the Senators, houses. But in what a state of siege ? At the
mercy of the soldiery in their most truculent mood, in a
condition compounded of Link, Kant, and the Holy office.
Yeti will say I exaggerate, perhaps. Hear me. Do you knew
the story of Gen. Serpi? If not, read the Sicilian journals,
and especially the extraordinary, supplement to the Unite
Politico of Sent. 27. No. 215. In the meantime, I will
sketch it for you briefly: An old feud reigned between the
houses of Palezzeli and Bonmariti in Favorotta. Some of
the Palozzoli are arrested on some imputation by the Na-
tional Guard, and on the following day are found dead in
their prison. This murder is ascribed to domestic vengeance,
and the Bothnariti are accused of it, and one of them is
brought up for trial, while two others are stabbed in the
dark, by a hand whose destiny
is easily divined. The inno-
cence
eacdeodt the Bonmariti is made clear, but who can recall
to life ? The Palazzoli,whom
one of is
Favorotta,
,contracts a friendship with Gen. Serpi, com-
mandant of the Sicilian •
Carabincers. The general inter-
feres in the affair of the Ven
gotta and in order to protect
his friends from a lawsuit
finish the feud ells _Figaro, and perhaps worse, proposes to
lie assembles the Bonmariti,
and propses to them that they should betroth their
i
daughter, aged 13, to one of the
alazzali. The Bonmariti
consent, but the daughter refuses. She swears that she will
never give her hand to a man who h
a dshed the blood of her
kin. General Serpi will not acknoxvls-
g
de-
feated, and insists, and threatens the pare imsehnts self to be
place the girl in his hands. Little thenavails.
the
ethillath they
girl that she cries, e.ntreats, and bewails her fate; her e 1.1717
and her life are sacrificed. The general threatensherre y
parents
with a revival of the Palazzolo process if the marriage be
not accomplished. His actions folloWed si:eadity on his
threats. Oa the 21st a column of the 19th Infantry arrived
at Favorotta, arrested the Bonmariti and their adherents,
and carried them off to the headquarters. There they were
confronted with the General, who declared to Vito Bon-
merit°, the father of the girl, " I have come here to cause
the completion of the marriage of your daughter with Palaz-
zolo, and I have made all the necessary dispositions for se-
curing its fulfilment." I omit the arguments, the terror,
the father's prayers. The daughter was dragged away from
the College and was subjected to a last trial. She alone was
brave and refused anew to barter her soul. and took refuge
in a convent. General Govone contented himself with ad-
monishing the parties. As for General Serpi, who could
think of assailing the army, by touching one of its chiefs ?
In the Aquila Latina, a Messinese journal, we read as
follows :

t --I r,
: 0 :.,...h Aljgo
--Y
-41 P-A'

" According to the instructions of the Municipal autho-
rities, some soldiers wore sent to Rocca, to arrest a young
man, aged 18, named Pasquale Sacca, a carpenter, whom
they Lund in his bed, and dying. This circumstance read°
no impression whatever upon his captors, and Sacca was
bteught to Roraella, a two hours journey, over tailian
raads, in such a condition," A few hours later, he died.
Sacca had never disturbed the public scourity. Pied-
montese, Lombards, Sicilians, Tuscans, Metropolitans I
(exclaims this friend of the people) have you heard ?"
Aud you, whose weapon is the pen, you who have not had
courage to confess the truth, when it could be injurious to
your interests—what have you to say ?
The Giornale di Sicilia, the official organ of the Govern-
ment, :elates accordieg to usum Delplani, the Patella So-
prano affair. If the facts were only such as it states them
to have been they would be sufficient to cover us with
shame. But much worse remains to be told. You must
know that a body of men, guided by a delegate of public
safety, and composed of soldiers, care,bineers, and commer-
cial guests, surrounded the house of Petralia Seprana, by
night, demanding a resident. The inmates, who knew no-
thing about him, refused to open the door at that hour, and
hearing the soldiery threatening, and striking the door and
walls, they fired a few shots out of the upper windows. As
it seemed difficult to force an entrance, the commandant of
the troops was sent eff to call the lieutenant, who came im-
mediately, and decided that in such cases the resources em-
ployed by Mouravieff were advisable. They set fire to the
straw in an adjoining stable, and to the door, so that it
spread at once all over the house, the door fell down in ashes,
and they entered by the breach. When the conquerors
reached their victims they were already burnt to ashes, says
the Giornale di Sicilia. They were still alive, say several
'nal. The reader will cry
witnesses, Who shall penetrate the mystery of their suffer-
ings? Tha fact is, that on the bodies burned by the flames
men, women, and children, were found undeniable traces of
wounds inflicted by firearms. The version which have
selected is the mildest; for the entire truth I refer
ait.soua tyait:elt‘lointethtohseemw. hpioact,,_
here
a poor mute, kept
Lankge him feignss
pun.
-te military
thehhoens
hospital
enough—butoarttnotrna
oee ttrn
ahmh eoi
omwths
eaoryo Official
nthsl
re-
sistant, and who the doctors persist h 1 declaring
terrible malady. After many vain efforts to taLfspeak,
to what, think yen, have they resorted ?To fir -
lighted torches to the =d'art 'e again ? They
applied unate s e creatur 'limbs,
they made 40 wounds in his body,
spoken. Torquemada forced itinn but he has not yet
foss sins they had never conmilled-Cent persons to con-
entered the imagination of the l , by fire, but it never
g()
Inqui-
sition to make the dumb Speak And now, you call the
only
Priest of the
Sicilians guilty when. they seek to escape the conscription,
you say they do not love Italthe virtue of self-sacrifle. y, that they do not recognhaiset
they are Arabs. I
will that they are barbarians, t
of two states of siege, answer you for them with a picturea
with citizens and with the gates of Palermo:barrFtt:
senators arrested on the
the nuptial arrangementshighf wSanyc,c Sacca, the
of Serpi, the coo
flames of Petralia corpses
gte of Palermo,
with the army,
froraandthe wounds of the
the
prestige which
made it sacred and whichev eteydo u
thhaev eetran
sade
against the two
strangers who still hold Rome and Venice.
Learn, I entreat you, that Sicily, and I hope I may say
all Italy, is not full of preterians. Employ your arms in
the service of Italy, or you will not have them to guard
your slumbers, and adorn your displays, or having, you
will lose them. Now do not set my words down as the
querulous forebodings of solitary men; the lament of
Caprera has an echo. Read the correspondence of the
Perscverannz from Palermo, on Oct. 17. The letter which
I quote begins with the words "General Govone himself
must know that this state of things cannot continue," and
goes on to advise, as we do, that it be remedied if indeed
they do not wish the destruction of Sicily.
It is imperatively necessary now, that the honest press
should join hands and inaugurate a formal campaign against
the nu
'Mary measures which are pursued in Sicily, demand-
ing the cessation of the state of siege, and of military as-
cendancy, and the restoration of the island to ordinary
laws, to morality, and to justice. If this system of violence
and depravation continue, I conclude as I began—the
Government will destroy Sicily, ants Sicily will destroy
Italy.—Yours, EPPE GUERZONI.

JULES JANIN'S NEw WORE is entitled "La Page
e •et l'quence
CHINESE PIRATE CAPTURED BY A SHEFFIELD
EIO a Rom."
A
CAPTAIN.—A letter has been received from Captain
}Toole, of the merchant steamer 3watow, describing the
manner in which he captured a Chinese pirate. Ho writes:
tt I was bound for Shanghai from Tien-tsin, and when
about 120 miles from the entrance of the Yang-tse, I made
oat two vessels close together. I altered the course, haul-
ing for thorn, when about five miles off, One made sail
and sheered off. I stood on and steamed alongside the
other vessel, and found her totally. disabled,
having her
sails cut and rigging all adrift, and the crew in a fearful
nearly dead with sabre cuts. I i!':
milestate, the captain being
stantly gave chase-to the first craft, and when within a mile
she opened fire, but did us no damage. I steamed fall
"e"r
bang into hßr, cutting her up and ()arriving
her
hseternpit and
pirates
backed astern and at li:tr again amidships. T
were parde-stricken—so taken by sunrise.we
Were in
the meantime sending rifle balls as fastaspinto
ossible
them. The third time I struck her weboarded, when the
pirates actually jumped overboard.
and I think fully that number wel-o
mato, who was
knocked overboard and drowne— killed and drowned.
We had none killed except the
A second
Au Shanghai arc este..
We took 14 prisoners,
fished at a merchant steam taking a pirate. A little
er
her
Majesty's gunb oa to and
'while ago they attacked one of
' nearly captured hen!'