The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-22 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The Constitutionnel said, in substance, a day or
two ago, with reference to L'Empereur—Pape,
that it was all a mistake to suppose that in France
there were restrictions on the freedom of the press.
The following is an apt comment on that state-
ment :

" Considering the 32d article of the Organic Decree on the

press ;--

"Considering the judgments of the Bth and 12th of Decem-
ber, 1859 :
" Considering the number of the 12th of November;—
"Considering that this number contains violent attacks
on the constitution and the laws of the country ;
" Considering, moreover, that this journal, under pretence
of defending the interests of religion, makes constant efforts
to excite political passions ;
" Orders,—the journal called the Franee Centrale is sus-
pended for two months.

" The Prefect is charged with the execution of the present

decree. _
" Paris, Nov. 17, 1860.

"BILLAULT.

BOURSE, November 21.—The market has been
rather heavy, speculators appearing to anticipate a
further rise by the Bank of France in its rate of
discount at the meeting of the council, which takes
place to morrow. For the Account, Threes are
now at 70f ; Mobilier, 763 f 75c ; Orleans, 1,385 f ;
Northern, 986 f 25c ; Mediterranean, 910 f; Austrian,
513 f 75c ; Lombard, 485 f. The following are the
last quotations :-
41' per per Cents 96 10
Do end month 96 20
3 per Cents
Do. end month 7O 15
Bank Shares 2945
Credit Mobilier 766 25
Do, Account 770 —‘

Credit Fonder 915
Belgian 4f
Piedmontese Fives BO 50
Roman
Austrian

Spanish Threes 49
Home Debt .. 4B 50

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern
New ditto
Lyons and Meclitorranean 911 25 .. 910
Geneva 3BO .. 380
Southern
Western
Eastern .... .
Sardinian
Austrian .. . 5ll 25 .. 515
Lour fand 486 25 .. 488 75

THE BRITISH LEGION AT NAPLES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—A paragraph in the last letter from your
able correspond ent at Naples, in your impression of
Monday last, in calculated to give great uneasiness
to the relatives and friends of the men composing
the English Legion now stationed at Caserta. I
only returned front Naples last night, and, as I
hal a good deal of intercourse with both the offi-
cers and men of the legion, and am fully acquainted
with the facts of their case, I hope you will give
me a place in your columns to explain to their
friends and the country generally that for the pre-
sent melancholy position of the regiment the men
are not so much to blame.
Before I left Naples the legion was completely
disOrganised ; many of the officers had resigned in
disgust, and the men were leaving it in dozens, I
might almost say in hundreds, and by this time I
dare say there is no legion left. And not without
cause. From the first day the men landed at
Naples, up to the hour I left, they were badly
treated, and all the affairs of the corps were mis-
managed in the grossest manner. Ido not wish to
say one disparaging word of Colonel Peard, who is
as brave a soldier as ever lived; but at the same time
I must not conceal the fact that the unanimous opi-
nion of his own officers and men was, that he was
not just the maxi to command them; and that, had
they been under the orders of Major Styles, things
would have borne a very different aspect. You
must remember that, although a few roughs had got
amongst them, the great majority of the men in the
legion were gentlemen ; many of the men in the ranks
had seen active service in India and the Crimea,
and, animated by a love of adventure or of liberty,
had come to Italy to fight for Garibaldi. Such
men were severe critics of their commanding
officer's acts. To manage them required more than
usual prudence, tact, and judgment. The first
thing which shook their faith in Colonel Peard's
ability to lead them was this :—On the night of the
24th of October he ordered the men under arms at
midnight for the purpose of making an attack upon
Capua. When they had assembled he haranged
them on the glory they should win if they succeeded.
Major Styles and the other officers refused to obey
his orders; but two companies actually followed
the colonel, who led them up to the very bastions
of Capua. For tanately, in the darkness of the
night, they were not discovered by the Neapolitan
sentinels, or evory man of them must have been
sacrificed. I. marched with the legion from St.
Angelo to Teano. The men complained to me that
they had received no pay; many of them were
without shoes, and I saw more than one poor fellow
trudging along with his feet tied up in rags. There
was no commissariat, although it was said Colonel
Peard had been offered one and refused it; there
were no ambulances for the sick ; no medical
stores ; many of the men were dying from diarrhoea,
and Dr. Fairley, the surgeon of the regiment, had
not one ounce of medicine of any kind, and
bitterly complained to me that he could not
get any. On the march back from Teano to
St. Angelo five Englishmen were found looting
a farm house by some members of Garibaldi 's
staff, who sent them under an escort to be
dealt with as Colonel Peard should direct. ,He at
once, without inquiry or trial of any kind,
ordered the men to be shot. The picket told off for
the purpose refused to obey orders, and would not
fire. The colonel sent to Garibaldi for a detach-
ment of Italians to shoot the condemned men as his
own regiment was in a state of mutiny. Gari-
baldi replied that it would be a disgrace to the
English if he were to do so, and asked Colonel
Peard to pardon them. I do not fur a moment justify
the men for looting; but when they had no food,
and were obliged to forage for themselves, they
surely deserved some kind of trial. On the same
march I saw Captain Hampton guilty of an act of
cruelty to one of the sergeants of his company for
which Colonel Peard should have drummed him
out of the regiment, and be was not even repri-
manded. Now, sir, these are a few of the facts
which came under my own observation. I heard of
many others quite as bad, with which I shall not
trouble you. Can you wonder then, that the men
are all anxious to leave the legion, and that many of
them are sorry they ever left England ? Many of
them have joined the French Legion, others have
joined the artillery corps under Colonel Dowling,
while a few have joined the cavalry under Colonel
Forbes. When I last saw the legion on parade at
Caserta, out of 800 men there were not 300 present
on the ground, the others having left the regiment.
That these men were brave and could fight, they
sufficiently proved on the morning of Friday, the
19th October, when, attacked by Neapolitans five
times their number, they drove them back with a
shout under the very walls of Capua, and taught
them a lesson which they will not soon forget. Such,
owieg to mismanagement and injudicious selec-
tions of officers and incompetency on the part of
those appointed to lead them, is the inglorious
ending of the British Legion, which is the more
to be regretted, as a finer body of brave men
were never brought together ; and, led by officers
in whom they had complete confidence, there