The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-26 00:00:00

THE IRISH BRIGADE IN ITALY.

The following letter appears in the Times :
Sir,—For several months past the Irish press has
been teeming with news relative to the organisa-
tion, to the progress, and to the (glorious) prospects
of the Irish Brigade. The Nation in particular
seems to be deeply interested in all the concerns of
the brigade, for its columns have been filled every
week with letters and pamphlets and most glowing
productions, both in prose and verse, lauding those
young men to the stars who have allowed them-
selves to be duped by it and other interested par-
ties into forsaking their comfortable homes and
going to Italy. But ad rena. I was one of those
fools who was trepanned by the glow and glitter of
those sweeping assertions that I saw in the Nation
about three months since, when it was suggested
by some enthusiastic supporter of the Papal Tem-
poral Government that it would be a grand thing
for Ireland to send out the pride and chivalry of
the country to Italy for such a noble purpose.
Many others were led astray as well as I was. The
movement progressed most marvellously, until in
the course of a few weeks some hundreds were con-
centrated inside the walls of Macerata, after per-
forming a journey of thousands of miles in an in-
credibly small space of time. I had forgotten to
state that many of us were thunderstrieken on our
arrival in Italy at not finding the thousands of
Americanized Irishmen before us of whom the
Nation had spoken so much previous to our depar-
ture from Ireland. I was but a very short time in
Macerata until I saw that it was not to fight for
religion I had gone out, but for a Temporal Go-
vernment, with which the poor devoted children of
Italy are, in my humble opinion, most deservedly
dissatisfied, and from overturning which they are
only prevented by the bayonet's point. I looked
about me for that flourishing state of affairs which
I had always thought was to be found in the
" beautiful, the brilliant, and the gifted Italy ;"
but nowhere did I find it. I looked from the
slopes of the Apennines over the surrounding
country, but could not find that superior state
of cultivation that I was accustomed to hear so
much of in Ireland. I looked carefully through the
town and villages, but saw nothing calculated to
form a favourable impression of the trade and com-
merce of the place ; on the contrary, the country
seemed more than a century behind Great Britain
and Ireland in agriculture and commerce--i.e., in
the great staple commodities that constitute the
wealth and greatness of any country. However, I
was afraid to trust to my own judgment. I tried
to think well of matters, for fear of scandalising my
neighbours, and I patiently put up with all the dis-
appointments that presented themselves. After a
stay of several weeks in Macerata, we got the route
to Rome, where we arrived after a long and tire-
some march of eight days. By the time that we
got to Rome many of the more intelligent among us
began to get somewhat cool on the subject, and to
wish ourselves once more at home. We had to put
_up with many trials and inconveniences at Rome,
for, as our officers were (with few exceptions) young
men without military experience or training, it may
be easily supposed that instead of order, regularity,
and comfort, we had nothing but confusion, " tossi-
cation," and dismay. Some of us took measures
and steps by which we hoped to be sent home, and,
after a good deal of altercation and delay, we at
length succeeded in getting away, to the number of
16. After our departure from Rome we were de-
layed by passport regulations at Civita Vecchia for
some days. During our stay there we met a batch
of men on their way out from Ireland, the majority
of whom were young men who had been in the con-
stabulary in Ireland for some years. and who threw
up their positions to get out to Italy, full of enthu-
sic sm and zeal for the cause. At our departure from
Civita Vecchia, to our great surprise, we found
ranged along the quays before us, just embarking for
Ireland, the whole body of constabulary who had
gone on to Rome but two or three days previously,
but who were so dissatisfied with the overbearing
conduct—the impertinence, tyranny, and despotism
—of a few of the commanding officers, that they one
and all demanded their passports and expenses
back, and returned home without a moment's delay.
We embarked from Civita Vecchia in a body, and,
though the voyage to Marseilles was to be of
about 40 hours' du ration, we were not provided with
any food or sustenance. We were doled out a few
pieces of Roman coin on the quays of Civita Vec-
chia, but, lest they might be of the slightest use to
us on board, the captain of the steamer issued the
strictest orders against selling either bread, meat,
or vegetables to us, for he said we were Irishmen,
and consequently should be kept underhand. Now,
' this was a French vessel, and the captain was a
rampant Frenchman, so I hope this piece of infor-
mation may reach the Emerald Isle, and act bene-
ficially on the diseased minds of those quasi patriotic,
but in my opinion mercenary vendors of political
wares, the editors of newspapers who lake so much
pains in placing in a favourable light for their de-
luded countrymen the contents of such vile, venal,
and intriguing productions as " La Question Irian-
daise" and " M'Mahon, Roi d'lrlande," thus illus-
trating in the clearest and most forcible manner
the boundless liberty that is allowed them.
On our arrival in Marseilles we were lodged at
an empty French garrison, into which we were
handed supperless, after our long fast of 40 hours
on board the vessel of Imperial France. Some of
us, I may say seven out of every ten, were com-
pletely penniless, for the few coins we got in Civita
Vecchia were not of the slightest use at Marseilles;
accordingly, with tears of desperation in our eyes,
we were forced to lie down on hard straw pallets,
without covering, and try to sleep our hunger away,
We appealed to a French officer who was waiting
to receive us at Marseilles harbour, arid horrified
and indignant and hungry as we were, we asked
him if this was the way the boasted Emperor
of France was accustomed to meet Irishmen ? If
this was the return we should get for the glo-
rious deeds performed by our fathers at Foote-
noy—where, when the armies of Frazee quailed
and fled in dismay before the bayonets of Great
Britain, the honour of his country was preserved
, from an indelible blot by the generous effusion
of Irish blood ? We foolishly imagined aliat such
remarks as these would seiAce to alleviate our
condition, last in a sew minutes we were brought to
oqr qpiws by hearing our hard-hearted eon-
eltic!or mutter with venom and asperity his fearful
and aboniinaisie k'ae•i's i" and iable!" and tell
us in imperfect English that we should "Go to hell
and do with that, or he would soon obtain a change
of circumstances for us"—i.e. that he would hang

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