The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-24 00:00:00

TILE PAPAL ST,I2Ee.

A letter from Rome, dated November 17, says—
There have been rumours within the last two or
three days of an increased probability of the Pope's
leaving Rome, but as yet they do not seem deserving
of much credit. Some of the Cardinals, it has bees
said, are turning in favour of his departure, allured
by the hope held out of a good position being t -
cured to them under the new order of things. A seat
in the Senate and a large increase of revenue are
talked of as among those inducements. Probably
these reports are at least premature, if not alto-
gether unfounded, but I give them to you in the
absence of more authentic intelligence. This is
the chosen home of fable. Yesterday all manner
of wild reports abounded. The Pope was going, the
French were going, the Sardinians were advancing
from the South, and the French retiring as they ad-
vaneed—such were some of the tales in circulation.'
Many voices declare that if the Pope does not gait
is because he is blind to the fact that the pro-
per time for his departure has arrived. "He
surely," say those who would fain see him
leave, " will not wait until the last crown
in the treasury i 3 exp.,nded, the last
candle burnt out, and till lie finds it necessary to
depart for a foreign land in forma pauperis. His
expenses are Very heavy, and his revenue exceed-
ingly small. Does he reckon on the offerings of the
faithful ? As yet they flow in bueslenderly." A
leading paragraph in a recent number of the Gior-
naie di Roma announced that the Holy Father had
deigned to allow the society instituted in Rome for
the collection of Peter's pence to take the name,
character, and privileges of an arch-confraternity
under the patronage of St. Peter the Apostle, with
the power of annexing other unions and confrater-
nities throughout the whole Catholic world tending
to the same object--to that, namely, of succouring
with prayer and pious works the Holy See. None,
it is added, who are acquainted with the present
private poverty will deem the offerings of 3,132
scudi in September and 4,301 scudi in October,
deposited in the hands of the Holy Father, in-
considerable. Those who may smile at the smallness
of some of the contributions are reminded of the
widow's mite. " Certainly," the paragraph con-
cludes, " these sums are very unequal to the enor.
mous and increasing necessities, butthey afford a pre-
cious and irrefutable proof of the love which the
Romans of all classes profess for their prince and
father, whose danger, if they cannot diminish, at
least they alleviate his sufferings." This is all.
very admirable as a matter of sentiment, but some-
thing more substantial will soon be absolutely in-
dispensable. Set against the expenditure, the
3,000 dols. or 4,000 dols. a month extracted from
the people of Rome will be, even should the
offering continue, as a bucket of water to Luke
Thrasimene, and it is certain that from the
Catholic countries of Europe very little has
as yet flowed in. Austria has not the power';
Spain finds plenty of occupation for her money at
home, she is anxious for material improvements,
she wants to have railroads and a fleet, and her
respect and sympathy for Rome are by no means
so strong as in the days of the petticoat-embroider-
ing Ferdinand VII. Strange to say, the only
potentate who shows a real disposition to supply
the Pontiff with funds is Victor Emmanuel, aelln
would, we are assured, have purchased His
Holiness's renunciation of his lost provinces.
Queen Christina of Spain, it is reported, has
made her offering, and Don Jose de S darnanea,
moved by sudden piety, has it has been rumoured,
followed her example; but, even if this be true, their
resources are but those of wealthy private indivi-
duals, and all that they could give would stave off
but for a little while the exhaustion of the Papal
finances. Meantime the expenditure increases. There
are the Neapolitan troops to support, and the pri-
soners taken in the late war are coming back by
thousands, sent by the Sardinians with, it is under-
stood, the friendly desire of supplying the Pope
with more mouths to feed. Two days ago the
Sardinian corvette Cambria arrived at Civita
Vecchia from Genoa with 1,116 released prisoners
on board, making up about 3,600 that have lately
been sent from the same port. It is certain that to
a portion of those who have arrived (I cannot say
whether to all) arms have been given, so that the
project of a new Papal army is evidently not aban-
doned, although it possibly may be limited to the
carrying out of the suggestion, said to have proceeded
from Lamoriciere, that an army of 5,000 men should
be maintained for the preservation of tranquillity
in Rome in the event of the French leaving. If the
French left, it seems more than doubtful whether
5,000 Papal troops would long maintain the Pope
at the Vatican.

In a former letter I mentioned a nightly demon-
stration, by hissing and applauding, which took
place at the Apollo Theatre during certain scenes
of the ballet of " Giorgio it Negro." As long as
Monsignore Matteucci, the civil governor of Rome,
had the direction of the gendarmerie, that demon-
stration was not interfered with by the police;
it continued night after night, and seemed likely
to do so as long as the ballet was given. But M.
de M6rode, not content with having the whole Papal
army under his direction, had for some time, it
appears, desired to have the Gendarmes also un-
der his immediate control, and he lately succeeded
in obtaining this from the Pope. Thereupon the
frequenters of the Opera one night beheld, to their
surprise, a large number of Gendarmes establish
themselves in the pit, while others filled two of
the upper boxes. The inflexible Merode, who in
the exercise of his functions as Minister of War has
acquired a very high idea of the value of military
discipline, even in the pit of a theatre, had resolved
to put a stop to the harmless demonstration,
which consisted merely of hisses during one scene,
in which an alteration had been made by order of
the authorities, and of applause during the follow-
ing one, in which some liberated slayes were seen
dancing. In spite, however, Of the presence of
the Merodian sbirri, the demonstration took place,
although in a more subdued manner than usual:
The next night the same thing occurred ; the
Gendarmes mustered strong in the central
avenue of the pit, where they were placed
evidently to intimidate the audience, who again
modified, although they did not omit, their
demonstration. But, in the meantime, on these two
nights other demonstrations had been taking place
in the streets of R me, which seemed much less safe
than usual. Malefactors showed themselves; persons
were stopped and threatened, if not robbed; and
more than one sleek Monsignore, returning home on
foot from an evening party, or perhaps from confess-
ing some fair penitent, was startled by the sight of a
glittering knife. This would never do. It was evi-
dent that M. de Merode's talents, however compe-
tent to the direction of the War-office and to the
organization and supply of a large and efficient
army, were not adapted to the proper employment
of a corps of military police. It was indispensable
that the Monsignori should find proper protection
on their evening rambles, so the gendarmes reverted
to their Matteucci, who received them with open
arms, and who, being of opinion that it mattered
very little whether people hissed or applauded a bad
ballet, dispensed them from further attendance at
the theatre ; on observing which the Romans did
of their own accord what they would not do on
compulsion, and entirely suspended the demonstra-
tion. With respect to the nocturnal attacks above
referred to, and which seem to baxe been rather of
an alarming than of a very dangerous nature,
people here of course say that they were got up by
agents of Monsignore Matteucci, with the object of
proving that under his sway alone were the gen-
darmes efficient protectors
Romera ! persons and property
as de
after nightfall. Z'"

Another
GALE.—SHIELDS, F 'd y
ANOTHER
unetisiterday daylighteventihnigs
ind hfeearrfulr-Ylsqua-alis—from S.E.
violent
commenced
it continue to ragee.
enced to blowa
gal, has been experience
the wind
a6,a on the
Lda_niolsvre nen, E'
7i
07-.
nS and.;lh ' :
8 coasto'c o'clock o
southck lastonf
ho coast running " mountains high."
rain also fell, and the night was pitch dark. Be-
i the
et
harbour,the brig
liTind. the sea made-
Union of Ipswich,
i, complete breach over her. With great difficulty the
Tyne pilots were enabled to get the south pier lifeboat out
and pull her through the raging
sea to the rescue of the
crew. After
breakers that a good deal of with the great
came thundering
on to the shore, they suc-
ceeded •in getting alongside the vessel and rescuing the
crew. Between 10 and 11 o'clock last night signals of dis-
tress were noticed further south along the Durham coast,
and it was observed that a large bark had driven among the
rocks to the north of Frenchmen's-bay, and it was feared
that she would break up and drown her crew before as-
sistance could reach them, as it was impossible to approach
her with the lifeboats. The coastguards and pilots
brought the rocket apparatus from Man Haven, and after
numerous fruitless efforts, succeeded in getting a line to the
crew from the cliffs about midnight, and by 1 o'clock they
were all hauled on to the cliffs, though in an extremely ex-
hausted condition. They were ioamediately removed to
comfortable quarters, and were all recovered this morning.
The vessel is the Arno, from Carthagena. She has 200 tons
of lead on board, besides other cargo of copper ore and sul -
phur. She will be a total wreck. she has been 39 days
from Spain, and has experienced fearful weather all her
passage, being ten days in a hurricane in the Chops of the
Channel. The London, Leith, and other steamships are
lying weather-bound in the harbour, which is a good deal
flooded with " freahets.,, The weather is more moderate
this afternoon. Some other ships are (2 p.m.) reported to
be ashore north of here. A brig, the Byzantium, is ashore
on the Scotch coast. The Arno has just capsized and gone
to pieces.
rHE ADVICE OF A DYING EMPRESS.—Ti 6
Iliessager dc Nice, in speaking of the concluding moments of
the Empress Dowager of Russia, bad said that tho last re-
commendation of her Majest-
y to the Emperor Alexander
was in favour of the King of Naples, in remembrance of
the reception which she met with some years ago at the
Court of the Two Sicilies. That journal again reverts to
the subject, and says,_" A private letter from St. Peters..
burg received here confirms the dying words of the Em-
press
Dowager to her son, such as we gave them. OnlA,
after having recommended to the Czar the King of Naples,
the august Princess is said to have added,---` But, above all
things, make no alliance with Austria,' She died soon
after,"