The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-30 00:00:00

" Dearest Bianca,—Meet me to-morrow evening, as

the vesper bell tolls, at the church of San Martino. Be
careful that your steps are not traced by these who
would be glad to receive the reward offered for the head
of your CARLo."
" It is from him, then, and be is safe !" ejaculated
Bianca. " Here are five grani (about twopence Eng-
lish), it is all I have ;" and she hurried away.
" It is from him, then," repeated Antonio, giving ut-
terance to the powerful feelings which had agitated him
during the reading of Bianca's letter, and which her
presence had hardly been able to suppress. " Yes,
the villain!---the robber, Carlo Bettoni !" continued he
soliloquising, " he seduced my innocent daughter, and
afterwards spurned her. Poor Berta, that was wont to
be the gayest of the gay, now pines in solitude ; her af-
fections have been laid waste, her heart broken, and all
through the villany of this ungrateful scoundrel ; but,
by the Holy Virgin, and all the saints, she shall be re-
venged !" exclaimed Antonio, striking his desk vehe-
mently. . . . " I have discovered him, Berta?"
said Antonio, as be entered his humble dwelling ; " he
is now in my power, and you shall be revenged, my
child !"
As those words, uttered with lamented vehemence
fell upon the dull ear of Bertha, they suddenly recalled
her from the scenes of imaginary happiness, into which
her abstracted mind was wont to wander, to the cold
reality by which she was surrounded ; and her naturally
pale cheek assumed even a deadlier hue, as she beheld
her father's eyes flashing fire, and his whole frame
convulsed with passion. " The villain Carlo Bet-
toni, for whose head a reward of five hundred crowns is
offered," continued Antonio, " will be at the Church of
San Martino to-morrow as the vesper bell tolls ; and so
shall Antonio Lionelli and the officers of justice. Not
a scudo of the reward shall pollute my hands ; but I
shall have revenge ; I shall laugh in his face, and remind
him of his villainy and ingratitude, as the executioner is
preparing his head for the block."
Berta had now entirely recovered her self-possession,
and having been informed by her father of the manner
is which he had acquired a knowledge of the important
secret, she seemed to hesitate as to the propriety of
taking advantage of information obtained in his profes-
sional character. Antonio applauded her sense cf

honour, but would listen to nothing that could balk his

revenge.

Notwithstanding that Berta had been cruelly and
basely deceived by the man who had gained her affec-
tions, still he was her first—her only love, and she was
—a woman. She had, therefore, never thoroughly
hated him ; and now that he was threatened with
imminent danger, he only appeared to her partial imagi-
nation as the ardent and devoted lover who first won
her young heart, then as gay and happy as the joyous
lark that carrollcd in her own native valley.
All this, however, she dared not avow to Antonio,
well knowing his desire of revenge was too deep•rooted
to be eradicated by anything short of the utter destruc-
tion of the invader of his domestic peace—the base de-
serter of his deluded daughter ; she, therefore, offered
no further objection to her father's scheme of delivering
up the notorious robber, Carlo Bettoni, into the hands
of justice.

" Are you mad, Carlo ? to venture
into the city, where placards, offering a reward for
your head, will meet your eye at the corner of every
street ! Profit by your late narrow escape, and let us
be off into the mountains at once."
" I believe I am mad, Francesco, for I must and will
go ; I feel it is impossible for me to abandon this girl ;
she must be informed of the pace of our rendezvous
You must go with me, Francesco, to assist in case of
need, and, if I should be taken-No, I will never be
taken ; but, if I should fall, you shall supply my place,
and lead our brave band into the mountains."

The foregoing conversation took place between Carlo
Bettoni and one of his daring band, among sonic ruins
in the neighbourhood of Naples, on the morning of the
day on which the former was to meet Bianca at the
church of San Martino.

The golden tinge of the sun's departed rays
was fast disappearing from the glorious and far-
tamed, but not overrated, Bay of Naples, and its
surrounding scenery ; and the noble outline of the
towering Vesuvius was becoming more and more faint
against the cloudless sky of Italy ; while the approach-
ing darkness was gradually changing the column of
smoke, that ascended from its summit, into volumes of
flame, as Carlo Bettoni and his _ companion issued from
their hiding place, habited as Dominican friars. Bianca
had taken her station at the place of assignment five
minutes before the appointed time.
" Bianca," whispered a friar who was advancing
slowly towards the spot. " Carlo," replied Bianca,
softly. It seas her lover.

Just as Carlo had partly thrown back his friar's cowl,
a female suddenly turned the corner of the church, and,
before he could avert his face, met his full gaze. Carlo
started. It was Berta !—" Fly, Carlo !" said she in a
suppressed tone, " fly for your life ! My father is
coming with the officers of justice !"
Before Carlo could reply, Antonio's voice was heard,
exclaiming, " There he is ! Take him alive if you can."
And one of the officers seized hold of his gown;
but, disengaging himsipif from his long dress by a
dexterous movement, he laid his assailant dead at his
feet with one plunge of his dagger, and, drawing a
pistol from his belt, shot another through the heart.
Francesco had, by this time, come up to his friend's
assistance ; and, as there were now only two officers to
contend with, the contest was pretty equal. But An-
tonio, fearing his enemy might escape him, snatched a
dagger from the belt of one of the fallen men, and
threw himself upon his foe with the fury of a tiger, at the
instant that Carlo had disabled the third assailant.

Francesco having dispatched his opponent, turned round
and saw that his friend had closed with the only re-
maining enemy. The next moment a bullet from his
pistol passed through Antonio's brain ; but it was too
late ; the old man's dagger had already been buried in
Carlo's heart :—they both fell together.
The noise of this short, but sanguinary conflict, soon
attracted several persons to the spot ; and all the actors
in the tragic scene, except Francesco, who had escaped,
were carried into the neighbouring convent of Santa
Maddalena. It was then discovered that Berta had
been severely wounded in the side by a random shot,
and that two of the officers were still living, and likely
to recover.

Bianca was restored, after much difficulty, from the
successive faintings fits into which terror had thrown
her ; but the two mortal foes, Carlo and Antonio, were
beyond the reach of human aid.
Bianca attended Berta during her illness with un-
wearied assiduity, a common calamity having cemented
the strongest friendship between them ; and, upon the
recovery of the latter, they were both admitted as no-
vices into the convent. They subsequently took the
veil, and were no less remarkable for their charity
and benevolence towards their fellow-creatures, than for
their devoted attachment to each other.

MURDER OF LORD NORBURY.
RESULT OF THE INVESTIGATION.

Costello, it will be recollected, accused Dawson of
having endeavoured,to induce him to assassinate Lord
Norbury, stating that he did not at once bluntly refuse,
but merely let the matter pass over ; that after the deed
was done he met Dawson in the street again, when he
told him that he got his brother-in-law, Patrick Ken-
nedy, to do the job ; that he stayed watching for him
with his breast up against the ditch, until he got a good
opportunity to let fly at him. Upon this information
Kennedy and Dawson were instantly arrested and corn-
. witted to gaol ; Costello, as a matter of course, was
also detained in custody, and an- inquiry was set on font
to ascertain how far his story could be corroborated ;.
and whilst this inquiry was 'actually :pending, Dawson
offered to give the real, inibrmation that would lead,
without any mistake, to tho•coavictioit of all the parties
concerned. Dawson stated that a man named John
Rafter, an apprentice to a stone-cutter near Durrow,
told him that he was the man who shot Lord Norbury ;
that he was not personally acquainted with his Lord-
ship, and that he employed a man named Hennessy,
one of his tenants, to point him out, and that having
watched for him on the day in question, he waited
for a favourable opportunity, and let fly in the same
way that Kennedy was represented to have done by
Costello ; that the shot was fired from a double barrelled
gun which was given to him by a boat driver named
Cassidy, who brought it from Philipstown to Tullamore
on the day Lord Norbury was murdered. Inquiry was
set on foot with regard to the truth of this story,
Rafter, Hennessy, and Cassidy having been first ar-
rested and safely lodged in gaol. It was found That
Cassidy did bring a double-barelled gun from Phi-
lipstown to Tullamore on that day, and that he
conveyed it in the boat which arrived about half-past
three o'clock. On the whole, it was thought that enough
had been elicited to require the presence of the gentlemen
above stated ; and little doubt was entertained that a
clue was at last obtained to this truly mysterious
murder. But, alas ! all that has taken place has only
tended to involve it in deeper mystery. The following
is the sequel of the stories of Messrs. Costello and
Dawson. With regard to Costello's, it was found that
he was driving pigs to Mountmellick on the day the
murder was perpetrated ; and that Kennedy, who was
represented to him by Dawson as the person who ac-
tually fired the shot, was all that day in the court-house
of Tul!amore, where he had some sessions business, and
that, neither on the day or any other day previously, had
he been in the neighbourhood of Darrow:. Then, with re-
gard to Dawson's story, it was ascertained that Rafter,
Hennessy, and Cassidy were not in the neighbourhood that
day, that they were men of most unimpeachable cha-
racter, and that the gun which
.rom a gentleman in
was brought to Tulla-
more by Cassidy was borrowed. f
Phillipstown, and given by him (Cassidy), when he
arrived in Tullamore, into the care of a respectable
Protestant farmer, named Garret, who lives in the
neighbourhood of Darrow, but who did not leave Tul-
lamore until after seven o'clock that evening, he hav-
ing the gun in his possession all the time. Dawson has
gone back of all he said, and states by way of apology,
that he was afraid his life would be sworn away in the
wrong, and that he thought implicating others would
save himself. All the parties accused, with the excop-
tion of the two informers, have been liberated.

THE PROVINCIAL PRESS AND
THE MELBOURNE ADMINISTRATION.

We have taken a rapid glance at a few of the
country Papers that reached us last night in order
to assist us in forming an opinion on the prevailing
state of opinion in the provinces towards the present
Cabinet. The Tory Papers, we perceive, do not
adopt the decisive and exultant tone of men whose
party are believed to be on the threshold of office.
With more than their usual characteristic caution
they appear tremblingly alive to committing themselves
to any declaration from which it might be inconvenient
to recede. The opinions of such of the Liberal Papers
as have fallen under our notice this morning evince,
with few exceptions, an indifference as to the present
Ministers' official existence, which is corrected and
qualified only by some slight alarm lest the' Tories
should ;repossess themselves of office, and then ride
rough-shod over the other more honest sections of the
community. We subjoin a few short extracts :
Discontent everywhere prevails with the present state
of things, and if we go on so much longer a change will
be universally hailed, whatever that change may be,
with the hope that it will help us out of this " Slough
of Despond."—Derby Reporter.
We censure Lord John Russell's determined opposi-
tion to an extension of the suffrage. Whatever he and
his colleagues may think of the matter, and however
satisfied they may be with the present system, they will
find that the people will not submit to be shut out from
a fair participation in the Government of the country.
Something must be done : the present representative
system is thoroughly bad, and will, if not speedily re•
formed, bring ruin on the nation.—Devizes Independent.
Lords Melbourne and Russell, after having long ago
made it no secret to the nation that they were lowering
their standard of Reform, have at length rolled it round
the flag-staff, and laid it on the shelf till after Easter ;
when with all simplicity, they propose to take a vote of
the House of Commons, to decide whether there is in
reality any difference between Russell Reform and Peel
Reform. In other words, Ministers have for so long
a time been refining their notions of consistency and
expediency—so long been thinking upon what mea-

14;VENING EDITION

sures of Reform they may ahatidcli,
once staked their cxiStence-w.bktt

which they once thought Tuoineiitc)usi

what they may oppose, which was once thought to fon
a part of. their very natures, that they have at lengt
met with an incident which must bring their fir qiit
system of legislation to be tested. We have repeveLlq
observed, that truckle to the Tories as much ;-.;

might, no attempts on the part of Micist
]late them, would ever prevent the Tories from tripping
up their heels on the very first opportunity which might
arise, and that opportunity we believe is now at hand.
It is a foolish, but perhaps a characteristic mo,ie of
deceiving themselves, if Ministers think to settle mat-
ters by a mere vote of the House of Commons,ap-
proving of their Irish policy, They may posAbly post-
pone the day of reckoning for a short time, but
koning there must be.—Coventry Herald.
The Slierbourne Journal is of opinion that no better
Government than Lord Melbourne's could be formed.
The fork "Courant believes that the accession of
the Tories to power will accelerate a crisi:> frauzlit
sith dreadful consequences.
Lest the Tories should be too elated on til,;l- pros-
spects, we can inform them that their 1
sadly perplexed what course to take at the present c,n.
sis. They dread a return to -power on an Irish qu
They fear the result of a motion of

a rQz.-

CS are

of confidence. They are not prepared for an assault u2on
office, which would place them in the unpleasant posi-
tion of having forced themselves upon the Queen. They
would wish rather to be called upon by her I.llajesty, in
case of the voluntary resignation, or dismnnherm.:-:;:t
through internal dissension, of the Melbourne Cabinet.

Yet, if they allow the Ministers to triumph or

proaching question of approving or coatlernni

policy, their own inferiority becomes manifest•, a
own troops must be disheartened. We have he
we believe, that Sir R. Pcel regrets And tom,

he cote in the Lords on the Earl of Roden's m

a false move in the game which the Tories, uta
guidance, had undertaken to play.—Hull Adm.
The Kent Herald regards Lord John. Russell
tion as mere clap-trap. If Ministers' would tes

their

popularity, let them ask the House for a vote of ap•
proval in respect of their conduct- on Mr. Villie-rs' mo•
tion,- " Ireland is the favourite battle-field of party—

Whig and Tory always as much as puss:plc avoid com-
ing to close quarters on English ground—such proximity
is inconvenient for many reasons. On Irish questions
they are ever ready for a tilt. The grand affair is to
come off on Thursday, the 15th April, the time being
prudently fixed after quarter-day in case of any tviex-
pected, unlucky, casualty. On that eventual eve both
factions will muster all their forces, and the division will
be big with the fate of Melbourne and of Peel.' The
odds are; however, on the favourite.' O'Connell is,
of course, all alive at the thought. The subject mat-
ter just suits him. It involves no great legislative mea-
sures, no important principles, which he has lobg thrown
overboard as primary considerations, but chiefly turns on
personal favours shown to his partisans and rent-payers.."