The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-31 00:00:00

SECOND 1.4-4'DITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST
4 o'CLoCK.

SPORTING INTEL LIGENCE This Day.

--.4.---

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
EPSOM RACES-THIS DAY,
THE DERBY.

G-LADIATEUR
CHRISTMAS CAROL
'ELTIIAM

Thirty ran.

LONDON GAZE rTE---Last Evening.

WAR OFFICE, MAY 30.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to give orders
for the appointment of Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, Esq.,
C. 8., her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in Egypt,
to be an Ordinary Member of the Civil Division of the Se-
cond Class, or Knights Commanders of the Most Honour-
able Order of the Bath.
Her Majesty has also been graciously pleased to give
orders for the appointment of Surgeon-Major William
Munro, M.D., 9341-Regiment, and Surgeon-Major Henry
Bruges Buckle, Ist Punjab Regiment of Infantry, to be
Ordinary Members of the Military Division of the Third
Class, or Companions of the said Most Honourable Order.
FOREIGN-OPFICE, MAY 15.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Col.
Edward Stanton, C. 8., now her Majesty's Consul-General
at Warsaw, to be her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General
in Egypt.

WAR OFFICE, PALL MALL, MA? 30.
Coldstream Guards—Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel Wil-
liam Gregory Dawkins has been placed upon half-pay.

ADMIRALTY, MAY 25.

The following promotions have been made in conse-
quence of the death of Captain Thomas D. A. Fortescue,
viz.:—

Commander Isaac Newton Thos. Sanley to be Captain.
Lieut. Henry Legge Percoval to be Commander.
Mr. Wm. George Le Cocci., Sub-Lieut., to be Lieutenant.
confirming Commissions given to these Officers by Vice-
Admiral Robert Smart, K.C.8., K.H., Commander-in-Chief
of her Majesty's ships and vessels on the Mediterranean
Station, with seniority of 11th May, 1865.
MAY 29.
The following promotions have this day been made :
Mr. James Jones to bo Engineer in her Majesty's Fleet ;
Mr. George Griggs Smith to be First Class Assistant En-
gineer, with seniority of 18th May, 1865.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE—Last Evening.

Amsterdam Short. 11 17
Ditto 3 Months. 11 191
Rotterdam .. — 11 19}
—. 25 45
Antwerp
Brussels
Hamburg
Paris Short 25 15
Ditto 3 Months. 25 42}
Marseilles
Frankfort on the Maine 1201
Vienna — 11 I'i}
Trieste — 11 20
Petersburgh -
Berlin
Madrid ..
Cadiz ..
Leghorn
Milan

11 171
11 19i
11 19!
25 50
25 50
13 9i
-25 221
25 47
25 47
120/
11 22i
11 25
31

471
481-
25 CO
25 60
25 60
25 60
25 GO.
25 GO
51i
olf

25 55

Genoa ...
Naples ...
Palermo
Messina

25 55
25 52}
25 52f
25. 55

Lisbon
Oporto

25 55
51
• 511

Englishmen in the Hands of Italian
Brigands•

Mr. T. C. Murray Aynsley and his wife were re--
turning with another lady and gentleman to Salerno
after a pleasant trip to Paestum, on the 15th inst.
when they were surprised by brigands near Batti-
paglia. In a letter to the 2' bites, Mr. Aynsley, who
writes from Naples, gives the following account of
the unpleasant adventure :
The carriage was stopped, and I and my friend were
told to come down. The brigands immediately hurried
off with us towards the sea, which is at no groat distance
from the road, leaving the carriage with the ladies in it,
untouched. We moved about the woods and fields for an
hour or two, the brigands breaking down the hedges to
make it as easy as possible for us to get through. About
sunset we sat down, and cloaks were given us to put on,
and others to sit upon. When it was quite dark we moved
on again, passing through irrigated lands and over small
streams, the brigands being very careful of us, lest we
should wet our feet. At last we came to a stream, which
it was impossible to cross without wading, and one of
themlcarried us over on his back. We soon afterwards
crossed the road from Salerno to Paestum, and about
one o'clock, a.m., arrived at the banks of a stream
some distance above the plain. The brigands told us to
be down among some bushes, but on our objecting that the
ground was damp, they let us lie down higher up, saying
we must conceal ourselves among the bushes when it was
day. They collected dry roots for us to sleep upon, gave us
an additional cloak to keep us warm, and one of them very
tenderly and gently raised up my head, put some more dry
stuff and a pocket-handkerchief under it, placed another
over my eyes to shade them from the moon, and I think I
should have slept soundly had not my friend whispered
" one of the men felt for my fifth rib," and I kept sometime
reflecting—Can they pet us now, and next minute murder
us ? Do these men indulge all feelings as they rise uppermost?
After a time I succeeded in getting rid of these thoughts,
and slept. At daybreak we moved down under a bank
nearer the stream, the two mon who had the best places
giving them up to us. We had as much bread and sausages
as we liked ; tobacco was also offered. We now asked the
brigands, as we had done before, what they could get by
carrying us off, told them we were not what they supposed,
"rich English milords," but poor men ; that the money
we had we would send them if they would let one of us go
to Salerno to get it. They considered our proposal, asked
what money we had with us ; we took three napoleons
and some silver. The captain of the band at once gave
back the silver, but kept the gold in his hand. I offered
him my watch and gold chain, but he would not touch
these. After a time he gave us back our napoleon. In
answer to our questions they told us they were soldiers of
Francesco Secondo. Many of them said they did not like
their mode of life; few, they said, did; once engaged in it
escape is next to impossible. We urged them to obtain a
general pardon on condition of leaving the country, they told
us they could not trust the Government. We told them that
Englishmen were not their enemies, but the friends of Italy,
and that it was not right to treat their friends as enemies,
and they seemed ashamed. When we told them that in Eng-
land there were no brigands, but that all were satisfied
with the laws, they repeated this to one another, and some
who had not themselves heard it came and asked if this
were so. About half-past nine on the morning of the 16th,
we started again, and walked a considerable distance
through an open and cultivated country in a long line,
with no attempt at concealment. For an hour or more
we saw on our left Monte Corvino, a town of 7,000 in-
habitants; at last we came to the bottom of a high hill,
which we ascended, and about 130 p.m. came to a spring
of water near the summit, where we stopped. After we
had rested and eaten some bread and sausage the bri-
gands discussed what was to be done with us, and with
two peasants, owners or relations of owners of land
in the plain, whom they had carried off also. The captain
of the band began writing letters to the relations of one ;
but he could not write easily, and my friend wrote two
letters at his dictation in the names of the two prisoners,
demanding a ransom, which the prisoners were made to
sign. One letter was worded, "Dear brother,—l have been
taken by the band. Send a ransom of 12,000 ducats, or I
shall be killed." And the other, "Dear father,—I have
been taken by the band. Send a ransom of 9,000 ducats, or
I shall be killed." Our case was then again discussed, and
the brigands agreed to send ono of us (and the lot decided
tihs a I
ht
in shouldNaples,
ao), and
ndinacowlleeeckts,somtiemmeonleay ammtoosnegn
send the hae
letter
to say how much we can collect. I had not left the bri-t
gands more than a minute or two •when, coming to the
brow of the hill, I saw troops and National Guards ap-
proaching. In a few seconds 1 was surrounded by soldiers
with I thought, North Italian countenances, calling out,
.. Are you an Englishman ? An Englishman, an English-
man !" They seized my hand, and one cried, suiting the
action to the word, " I must give you a kiss." The good fel-
lows thought I had escaped on their approach. In a few
seconds firing was commenced by the National Guard. I
hurried up some rising ground, and looking round when 1
got to the top, the brigands called out, "On, on, or we will kill
your companion." I, of course, obeyed, and on reaching
Monte Corvino received an enthusiastic welcome. Had my
friend only escaped when the soldiers came up, I should
now look on the adventure with pleasure, but ho did not,
and my position is one of terrible responsibility, anxiety,
and doubt, for the cruelties committed by the brigands
upon their prisoners aro sometimes horrible, and literally
indescribable. In Salerno a man was pointed out to us who
had lost one ear in the following manner. After his cap-
ture by the brigands, his wife having sent a smaller sum
than they asked, the brigands sent her one of his ears,
with the message that if the rest of the money did not come
his head would follow. The ransom demanded in our case
is one impossible for us to collect.

LONDON BROKERS. —Mr. Moffat has laid before
the House of Commons a bill for repealing the law which
requires that brokers in the city must pay 40s. a year to the
Chamberlain. The bill states that the tax Was imposed in
the reign of Queen Anne in order to provide, -for a city
officer called the garbler of spices or fox the Co'rporation,
ompensation for the loss of certain fees or profits received
by that officer for proceedings then abolished as useless or
mischievous ; but that the Corporation have long, since
ceased to have any garbler, and have received from the tax
on brokers abundant compeuption for the diminution in the
profits of that office. -