The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-30 00:00:00

Ntemk.

Extra& Of a -leiter from an Officer-of the 81st
gimenti dated Palermo; Feb. 10, 1812
rr Yott have of course heard of bur wanderings
and dubitations here, which, however,.have ended
in Our 'being quietly settled in Palermo. After hav-
ing been told often enough to make One dithelieve
anything; that the Queen was determited upon
taking her chance in war, we embarked at Melazio
on the i i ih of January. at an hour and a halt's no,
tire; and in- the course of the following day were
joined by the tOth, 2.15t,.27th, the British and 1.fo•
reign light battalions, brigades of mountain . guos,
and two-squadrons; of the 20th Dragoons; in tall
about 8000" men. The Sicilian force was understood
'to be about 19,000, of whom 9000-', were Neapoli•
tans,.and_stipposed to be entirely in_ the Queen's in,
terest. On Christmas-Day, she had called• her
Household and principal•Officers•together ; 'made a
violent appeal to them,.and-asked, would-they not
defend her and her kingdom from the insults.of the
heretics:Bx. Letters.were sent to all the monastic
houses, c riling on them to,rouse. the people Tor the
preservation of their religion. The monastic tousfs
however, left the business entirely to her Majesty.
A council of War was held, which decided, that if
the fidelity of the troops could be ascertained, some-
thing might be done. Not daring to confide in them,
distrusted-by the people, and abandoned by the most
popular and distinguished of. tire nobility, the Queen
deputed the Heir-apparent, as Vicar general, to
compromise. the matter. After being embarked for
5 days, and landed, we again embarked on the 30th
of January, for Palermo. We entered the bay in the
evening, and just as the sun. was setting over the city.
The whole scenery was beautiful ; the sea was as still
as a lake. We were .slowly pas,iiig a retreat about
seven miles from the city,where most of the noblesse
have their country palaces. The architecture looked •
Palladian, the country seemed highly cultivated, and
the shore was green. to the water's edge. Palermo
lay on the right with the whole. magnificent confu-
sion of its-domes and cupolas; a promontory fermi-
Itated the view on that side, and the prosped -was
backed -by a range of almost Alpine hills, -.covered
with snow, ..and lighted by. the rich and dazzling
colours of the sun, that was sinking: behind them.—
You have never seen a snow mouptain, andean of
course have no idea of the effects of sun-beams upon
such summits es are now • befom us, There .was
something striking in the first introduaion of a Bri-
tish force into a -city, where -a week before we
were expected to•march as enemies. The weather
was remarkably- favourable-: we landed at three in '
the afternoon, -and the- day was Sunday. On land-
ing by regiments, we were formed on the Marino,
and made a line of about 3000 men. The Corso was
crowded iiith .brilliant equipages, numbers of them
in the most modern stile of :elegance; a great
many Sicilian officers were-.present ; and the multi-
tude of the lower-orders that came down to see our
exhibition, extteeded.all my previous ideas of Sici-
lian population. Though some of their own regi,
ments are very fine, yet they were obviously strudi
with the appearance of our's; and there is, un-
doubtedly, • a correspondence 'and propriete' in the
arrangements of our's, to which they are UtlaCCUS-
torned. The populace seem very well pleased with'
us 3 but
_till we are better known here, I should pre-
sume our game is a nice one. Lord -William, who
is reckoped here a sensible man, and a good soldier,
rode along the _line. Lady. William was. also on
horseback. - The D.-ke and Docliess were present ;
the Duke, a well-h:oking mane about forty ; 'and
the Duchess, evidently noble, with a countenance as
pale, as striking, and as melarichOlv, as if she had
been a true Bourbon of France. The old Queen
and the Hereditary Prince were in a private car-.
riage, but it was-not known at the time,' andl;ost:
the sight of royalty. Mr. .Howard, the heir of
Norfolk ; Lord Moutgomerie, the Earl of Eglinton's.
son,' the Duke of Leinster and his brother, with a
number of strangers,
.were there. Lthiek, had the
nation been hoStile, we could scarcely have reached
Palermo. -There is no landing place between Me-
lazzo andValermo 3 for we coasted the whole way,,
and I watched the shore, except at about twenty
Miles from Palermo, and there it did not - appear
that artillery could land, or even- if• it could, there
ore passes between it-and Palermo:whisch lire scarce-
ly accessible to a convoy of naules,—a Single com-
pany could check 'an army. The' peasants are
armed from their childhood ; and you may have
some idea of the general nature of the -interior,
when-1 tell you that the 20th dragoons, who are
to make their entrée here to-day in all,their pomp,
It Ave been twelve days travelling, or rather
ing their way among tau miles of -mountains and
precipices. Our regiment are quartered in an im-
mense Dominican Convent 3 and we - have all- be-
haved so amiably in the eyes of the Fathers, that
they have invited us to a .feast in their reledory to-
day. This is• absolutely unprecedented in Sicily.
So much for the English Heretics. •

The Luddites at Nottingham, we fear, have re-
linquished their system of .lianie-breaking only to
commit a6ts of much greater atrocity. Letter's from
thence received yesterday„ mention the loll3,:ing
outrke:—On Monday night last, about- eleven
o'clock, Mr. Trentham, of the house of Trentham,
Tierney, and Motion, in the weaving trade, was
way*-laid on his.return home by two. ruttivl4. Just
as he was about to step u;► to his dool, one of
.ththn
placed himself befOre hint, and presenting a pistol,
shot him through the left breast : the assassins then,
made their escape. The report of,fire-artus. having.
brought the neighbours to the spot,
.surg'cal assist-
ance was immediately procured,. arid .the ball was
extra:Aed from the back, a Lille below the left
shoulder. . Mr. Tienthatn-sbeing 63 years of age,
little hope is entertained of his recovery.: Tite,Cor-
poraiion of, Nottingham have offered a reward of
tool. for the discoveiy orthe villains. • •
The Richmond gun-vessel, Liemenanr BARTHO-
Lomns,v, discovered on theist of March a French
privateer, which, after a chace of three lours, run
her on shore in a heavy gale of .wind.hear Malaga.
The privateer mounted eight guns, and. bad between
50 and 60 men on board ; was from _Algiers to
Malaga, .with ,a cargo, of tour,' for the use of the.
French troops. She soon "afterwards went to pieces.
The pritateer's crew -with difficulty escaped on
shore, owing to a heavy surf, in which one of their
boats upset.