The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-26 00:00:00

NAPLES.

The accounts from Naples are truly horrible, and
prepared as we were to expect falsehood and treachery
from a Bourbon, we must confess that we were not
prepared to find even a Bourbon KING openly en-
tering into a compact with avowed and professional
thieves and robbers for the plunder and murder of
the industrious and honest portion of his subjects, in
order that he himself might be permitted to indulge
with impunity in the luxury of perjury. Queen
CHRISTINA of Spain is under infinite obliga-
tions to her brother, the King of NAPLBS. She
is not, after all, the basest of the Bourbons. The
following is the account of the massacre of Naples :
" On Saturday, the 13th, in the morning, the deputies
were assembled in the Salle de Monte Olivetto, in pre-
paratory session, to modify the form of the oath to be
taken at the opening of Parliament. This oath was in
these terms—" I swear fidelity to the King and Consti-
tution of 29th January.' The Deputies were opposed
to this form, because it was not in consonance with the
concessions of 3d April. Saturday and Sunday passed
in negotiations. In the evening, at eleven o'clock, it
was announced that the King would not modify the
form.

" The Deputies, to the number of 80, met, declared
themselves in permanence, and sent a deputation to the
King to treat as to a modification. The King refused. The
national guard went in great numbers to Monte Olivetto
to persuade the Deputies to persevere. About midnight
another deputation was sent to the palace, when die
King demanded time. A modification of the oath was
then proposed, in which a reservation of the rights con.
ferred by the decree of the 3d of April should be made.
" The King pretended to accept this, but the Chamber
learned that the troops had, meanwhile, been ordered
out, and force being thus resorted to, all conciliation
became impossible. Soon after midnight
.the National
Guard commenced constructing barricades. At half-
past one the generale was beaten, and at two the troops
—infantry, cavalry, and artillery—issued from their
barracks, and occupied the spaces around the palace, the
castle, and the market.

" The King, being informed of the construction of
the barricades, ordered the soldiers to withdraw, and
consented to the Parliament being opened without any
oath; this formality was to have taken place with ex-
planations on the subject of the statute..
" The National Guard, however, refused to lower the
barricades, except on the condition of the abolition of
the Chamber of Peers, the surrender of the fortresses,
and the removal of the troops from the capital. This
being declined, the troops were again ordered out, and
the squares of the Palace and 'other places were
covered with armed forces, including a great quantity of
artillery.
" itt nine there was an troops were drawn out
around
ap-
parent movement to retreat, but about eleven o'clock a
tnhineeca os'ctlloe. ck
At the
half-past
pmusket was discharged by accident, when the National
At
Guard, believing itself betrayed, commenced firing.
"The Swiss and the other troops then opened a mur-
derous fire of musketry by battalions, and the artillery
commenced a murderous discharge of grape ,• the con-
flict, in fact, became general. At the barricades of San
Fernando and San Bridgida the National Guards sus-
tained a fire of musketry and artillery for three hours
without yielding an inch of ground.
'• On the commencement, the lower orders seemed dis-
posed to take the side of the National Guard, but being
offered by the King and the troops the privilege of pil-
lage they took the other side. Doors and gates of shops
and private houses were soon forced, and a general pil-
lage and massacre commenced to cries of 'Viva el Rey!'
The signal of attack was given by three guns from the
fort, when the red flag was raised.
" 'Unheard-of atrocities were perpetrated by the lona-
roni and the troops. They rushed into the private houses,
and massacred the inhabitants without distinction of age
or sex, flinging the bodies of their victims from the
windows. In one house were shot a father, mother,
and four children. Other victims were dragged alive
through the streets to be butchered, struck as they went
along, and insulted by the agents of the police and the
soldiers, who compelled them to cry Viva el Rey.'
When they refused, they were pricked in the face by
the points of the bayonets. The royal guard murdered
two sons of the Marquis Vassatori in his own palace ;
the father went stark mad. The palace was sacked.
The emissaries of Del Caretto, and, according to some
accounts,
Del Caretto himself; were employed in goad-
ing on the rabble to these acts of atrocity. Several per-
sons known to entertain liberal opinions were dragged
from their houses and shot.
"The massacre continued for eight hours. The hos-
pitals were filled with wounded. In one Swiss regiment
alone there were 800 killed and wounded, of which 30
were officers. Government was proceeding to disarm
the National Guard.
" The aspect of the city was deplorable. It seemed to
be converted into one vast tomb. -
" The correspondents of the French journals say that
the French admiral, Baudin, expressed the greatest
indignation at the conduct of the King, and announced
that treaties and the law of nations having been vio-
lated by the Neapolitan government, he would give one
hour to stop the disorder and guarantee the inviola-
bility of persons and properties; that otherwise he
would bring his fleet from Castel Mare, and disembark
9,000 men to defend the rights of humanity and nations.