The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-16 00:00:00

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111ETROPOLI7'AN GOSSIP.—Monday.

The Orange party contemplate a new move against the
Irish Church Bill, which is even more ridiculous than their
threat of disestablishing the Scotch Church in order to pre-
vent the disestablishment of the Irish. They will now
insist that if the Irish Church is separated from the

State there shall be an entire repeal of the
Union. They consider the maintenance of the Irish
Establishment an essential condition of the Act of Union,
and that if a part of that Act is abrogated, the whole
ought to be. It has, therefore, been arranged at the

Church Institute that an amendment shall be proposed

to the Irish Church Bill, to the effect that if this measure is
to be proceeded with it will be better not to do things by
halves, but to repeal the Act of Union at once. As
at present arranged, this resolution will be moved by
Sir Frederic Heygate, ALP. for Londonderry County.
The hon. baronet and his friends du not seem to see
that if their motion were successful it would simply
aggravate the evil they dread—Roman Catholic predomi-
nance ; it would hand over the government of Ireland to
a Legislature of which the great majority, instead of, as
at present, the small minority, would be Roman Catholics.
Wiser counsels prevail in less-excited quarters. The
Bishop of Oxford, for instance, is urging upon his brother
bishops not to vote against the bill should there be a divi-
sion, but to amend it in committee, with the hope
that the House of Commons would accept the
amendments rather than force a quarrel between
the two Houses. Probably the Commons would rejectthe
amendments without forcing a quarrel.
I hear it is not intended to divide against Sir John Cole-
ridge's University Tests Bill, but to let it go into com-
mittee, when Sir Roundell Palmer will move various
amendments. Before these lines meet the eyes of your
readers, the present fate of that bill will have been deter-
mined.

The Bishop of Lichfield preached yesterday morning
a sermon of marvellous eloquence and courage in St.
James's Chapel Royal. The congregation at this chapel
is usually the most aristocratic in London, and the
preachers are generally somewhat courtly and cautious.
But Bishop Selwyn, instead of dwelling upon the sins of
the East-enders, denounced those of the West-enders. He
was scathing in his indignation against those who had two
codes for breaches of the Seventh Commandment, one code
for the man, another for the woman, and said, " Think you
God will have two codes hereafter ?" One does not expect
to see signs of " sensation" exhibited by a congregation of
this kind, but the Bishop's words produced a manifest and
profound impression.
One of our most prolific female novelists is in such a
state of health that she is not likely to write any more.
She has overstrained her mental powers by turning out a
succession of very " sensational" tales with a rapidity
unequalled since the days of the Waverley Novels.

I 7 ALIAN AFFAIRS.

ROME, MARCH 9.

The Pope is remarkably well, and on Friday, being the
first Friday of March, he descended from the Sextine of
St. Peter's, and there prayed before the tomb of the
Apostle, in order to gain the Indulgence of the Station.
This usage dates from the earliest ages, each day through-
out Lent having some one church open to the special
devotion of the people, on which occasion its great relics
and treasures are exposed to public view, and an indul-
gence is gained by persons praying there. Up to the
middle ages a piece of tow, clipped in the oil of the lamp
which, burnt before the altar, was daily carried to the
Pope with the words, " the martyr or Saint A., or
B. salute thee, oh, Pontiff !" and the tow was
preserved to make a cushion, on which lay the
Pope's head, and has laid in state after death.
There was an immense crowd on the present occasion in
St. Peter's—nearly as many as on an ordinary Easter
Sunday, and the nationalities seeming nearly as various.
The Pope was accompanied by his household, and by the
whole Sacred College, now in Rome. He looked extremely
well ; and the reports of his being unwell which have been
renewed have arisen from the Maestro di Camera having
limited the number of private audiences, in order not to
tax the Pope's strength too much before the fatigue of
Holy Week, which is always very great.

The body of Pope Innocent 11. was solemnly transferred
last week to the magnificent marble sarcophagus given by
Pius IX to the church of Santa Maria, in Trastavere.
Innocent was of a Trastaverine family, the Papareschi,
and reigned between 1130 and 1143, and had a great affec-
tion for the venerable church he bad been baptised in,
and which he had restored.

It appears certain that Mr. Edmund Ffoulkes, whose
work has been placed on the Roman Index, will be offered
the choice of public retractation and submission to the
Church, or excommunication.
A fire took place. yesterday at the Vatican, in the Ate-
liers of Mosaic, in consequence of the igniting of a quantity
of mastic and resin used by the artists. Fortunately the
paintings in the adjacent Laggio escaped untouched, but the
mosaics in preparation for the basilica of St. Paul's were
destroyed, with ninny other valuable pieces of workman-
ship of a more minute description. The damage is calcu-
lated at 80,000 crowns.

The news received from the Romagnas and Legations
leads all here to believe that a new war against Rome will
be declared shortly. Ricciotti Garibaldi has convoked a
meeting of the " Reduci," as survivors of the late cam-
paign at the Via Pandolfini, each circular being stamped
with the new watchword of the sect, " VV"—two
entwined, and signifying " Via Vittorio" (Away with
Victor). It is fully understood that Mazzini, who has
recently had lengthened conferences with the chiefs of the
Garibaldian party, has resolved on joining the movement
in a far more decided manner than before, when annexa-
tion to the kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy
was intended. Now that the party of action have frankly
adopted Republicanism as their watchword, the differences
between Mazzini and Garibaldi cease to exist, and it is
certain that a most formidable movement against the
monarchy is setting in. Pietrasolli, llazzini's secretary,
with Menotti, are still travelling through Central Italy,
and their pretext of establishing industrial centres deceives
no one. Here considerable anxiety exists as to what takes
place in Florence, but Rome itself is perfectly quiet.
The brigands who carried off the Vice-Rector of the
Scottish College have been sent to the galleys for twenty
years, and the college porter, their accomplice, for fifteen.
Ajani, Storbini, and the rest of their fellow-conspirators
have been sent to the fortress of Pagliano to undergotheir
sentences.

A letter which appeared a day or two ago in the Nazione,
a Liberal and semi-official organ of the Italian Government,
calls attention to the fearful state of the Neapolitan prisons
of the Viccaria and San Francesco. " There is," says
the writer, " no classification ; and torture is in daily use
even on those imprisoned on suspicion and untried. It is
the rule and not the exception," he says, "and is perfectly
legal, and in the provinces it is even worse." There are
70,000 prisoners in the kingdom of Italy, making above
3.1 per cent. on the population.
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The increase of duelling in Italy is very remarkable
since the law passed abrogating all penalties against it.
Since I last wrote to you, the Marchese Pizzardi has shot
the Marchese Mazzacurata, at Bologna, the adversaries
meeting in a field lent for the purpose by Minghetti, the late
Minister of Finance, and the Marchese Mazza fell dead at
the first fire. Another fatal duel has taken place at Turin,
between two young men of high family in Naples, Signor
Giordano having wounded Signor Balsalmo for having
spoken disrespectfully of the house of Savoy. The former
received a day or two after the Cross of the " Crown of
Italy." When such direct encouragement is given to the
practice, we cannot wonder at its frequency.
M. Pasada Herrera, the unrecognised Spanish Ambas-
sador, has left Rome for Madrid, to take his seat in the
Cortes. The members of the Orleans family have, it is
said here, remonstrated strongly with the Duke de Mont.
pensier against placing himself in candidature for the
crown of Spain, as they anticipate for him the fate of
Maximilian. The Comte de Paris has written very affec.
tionately to Queen Isabella on the occasion.
Don Alfonso, the brother of Don Carlos, who is a pri-
vate in the Pontifical Zouaves, has left for Paris cn cony&
lie will return for the marriage of the Duke of Parma,
which takes place immediately after Easter in the Sextine
Chapel of the Vatican, with Princess Pia of Naples,
sister of Francis 11.
The Congress of Freethinkers is solemnly convoked for
the Bth proximo, in Naples, by Deputy Ricciardi.

A telegram from Dublin states that the coffin and
corpse disinterred a few days since in Westmeath have been
found at the bottom of a lake. Stones bad been placed in
the coffin to sink it.

Her Majesty the Queen, the Royal Family, and
the Court are, it is understood, about to go into mourning
for the father of his Royal Highness Prince Christian. Her
➢Majesty will hold a Council at Winthor Castle on Wednes-
day next.

The testimonial subscribed for by the admirers of
Mr. Roebuck in P,heffield will be presented to that gentle-
man on Friday next by Mr. Alderman Fisher. The largo
Banqueting Hall of the Cutlers' Company will bo used
for the occasion, and the Master Caner (Mr. Mark Firth) will
preside.

In connection with the recent elopement in high
life, it is stated that the Marquis of Waterford has caused a
communication to be made to Captain Vivian, that when
the Judge Ordinary of the Divorce Court shall hive dis-
solved the legal ties which now prevent his marrying Mrs.
Vivian, he will, as a man of honour, make her the only com-
pensation in his power.

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