The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-27 00:00:00

THE POPE'S OWN.

The following story of one of the Pope's dupes is
,old in a Dublin paper :---A young gentleman pos-
sessed of an independent income was induced by
the Pope's clerical recruiting officers to join the
grand army of invincibles which was to pre-
serve the Papacy in spite of itself. He was
guaranteed a commission, and dreamt of a
marshal's baton. He furnished himself, at the sug-
gestion of the tempter, with a very handsome uni-
form, green and gold and so forth, and he left our
quays in the confident belief that honours and rank
were open to him. Yesterday we had an interview
with him, and it was, indeed, difficult to recognise
him. He was lean, ague-stricken, feeble, and
squalid. He was dressed like a decayed acrobat
whose properties' had been seized. As long as he
travelled through France and Austria, and his
money lasted, he managed to live ; but once he
reached the Papal territories he had a more vivid
idea of purgatory than any dogmatic theology could
give him. At Macerata, a town most appropriately
named, his splendid uniform was taken forcibly
from him and sold by auction. In exchange he was
furnished with an old flannel shirt and an indescri-
bable pair of knee breeches. That was the uniform
of the Pope's Irish brigade. He had reserved a
second coat, and was once, unfortunately, tempted
to display it, when that, too, was sold by drum-
head auction. He found that remonstrance only sub-
jected him to extra drill and threats of the bastinado.
The drill was more severe even than the Austrian,
for it was a discipline involving such severe punish-
ments for disobedience that numbers of Irish
have already been shot down by Lamoriciere,
others have been flogged, and many have been
sent to till the sands of Algeria. Once he
had, with others, to march thirty miles with
nothing to eat or means to procure any. Every
day he was given by an agent of the Pope four
copper coins, about the size of a halfpenny, bearing
the arms of Pio Nono on one side, and an inscrip-
tion testifying that its value is one bejocco on the
other. Even in the Roman territories little could
be got for four bajocci. The recipient was, at the
utmost, able to procure some maccaroni and salt, no
very pleasant food to an independent Irishman.
His health naturally gave way, and at last he
managed to procure his release. The man who
went away in splendid uniform, full of hopes, and
in robust health, was landed on Monday on our
' quays, in the remains of the flannel shirt and knee
breeches, so worn down that nobody could identify
him.
2

THE MARONITES AND THE DRITSES.—A letter
from Paris, just received, says the apprehensions of the
Turkish Government of a general massacre of the Chris-
tians in Asia Minor in case French troops land on the coast
of Syria appears to be an additional reason for some definite
measures to be adopted towards a Government which is
confessedly unable to save its subjects from the fury of
those barlarians. The notion of a " treaty of peace" being
signed, as alleged, between the Maronites and Druses is
created as absurd. A treaty of peace between the mur-
derers and the survivors 1 Cabinet Councils meet hers
every day, and will probably do so until the Powers have
come to an understanding as to what is to be done.