The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-27 00:00:00

The following extract is from a letter written by
Colonel H. A. Leveson, of Garibaldi's Staff, an
officer whose experience in India and the Crimea
entitles him to express an opinion on the soldierly
qualities of the volunteer army :
" The Royal Palace, Naples, Sept. 10.
" The first game of the rubber is over. The second
will shortly begin ; and Rome, once more to be' the
mighty city,' will be the stake. Our gallant chief
has triumphed ; and well has he done his work, for
never in the history of the world h&s a noble cause
been so efficiently conducted, or so great an end
attained with so little means. Never has a nation

so shaken off the galling yoke of tyranny as has
the Italy of to-day. Has not the spirit of freedom
flashed like a meteor through the land ? For what
far-seeing politician could have dreamed of wha
was looming in the future, when the standard of
Italy was first unfurled by that gallant band on the
shore of Sicily ; or what military leader, however
enthusiastic in our sacred cause, would have prog-
nosticated success when our scanty few, ill-equipped,
and without a single cannon, or even a troop of
horse, landed at Melita, and our adversary was
known to have 80,000 well disciplined troops to
bring against :us ? Mark our course ! Reggio fell ;
St. Giovanni, Scylla, Torre del Cavallo, capitulated;
Pizzo, Monteleone, Maida, and Torriola were taken
possession of, and at Soveria a corps d'aiynee of in-
fantry, cavalry, and artillery threw down their
arms on the approach of a worn• out force of inferior
numbers, which they could have scattered and
driven into the sea had they been only properly
, handled.
" 'Avanti!" a.vanti !' was ever our leader's cry ;
and in a fortnight from our landing the kingdom
was won, and I am writing from my quarters in
Bomba's palace ! Is it not like a dream ? Turr
has gone on ahead, with about 800 men, to gain
intelligence of the movements of the King, who is
supposed to be at Gaeta contemplating a junction
of his troops with those of Lamoriciere. Little care
we, for the entire nation is roused ; her sons have
girt up their loins to fight, and the Pope's minions
might as well attempt to stay the flow of the Tiber
with their breath as the movement for liberty,
which is spreading like wildfire over the land.
";Were you only to see the faces round me, I am
sure you could not doubt our ultimate success.
Fathers and sons have come from their homes to-
gether to shed their blood for their country's right,
and old grey haired men, with bowed gait and
trembling steps, may be seen struggling along by
the side of beardless boys, whose puny strength is
scarcely sufficient to enable them to support the
weight of their rifles. Yet look what the spirit of
freedom has effected ! The young and the old have
alike made forced marches that would have tried
the best troops of a regular army, and in spite of
their almost desperate condition never lost heart for
a moment. Many who are scions of noble houses,
and have been brought up in every comfort, have
trudged along the greater part of the distance, bare-
footed and in rags that scarcely covered their naked-
ness ; their ordinary fare being a scanty allowance
of black bread, rank cheese, onions, and sour wine,
or the fruits they could pick up on the line of
march, for we have no commissariat, and scarcely
any means for even the conveyance of our spare
ammunition. Yet murmurs were seldom heard, and
when the men have begun to fall out from exces-
sive fatigue and privation, many a time have I
found the name of Italy, or a stave from one of our
Garibaldian chants, sufficient to reinspire them and
cheer them on their way. One after another would
take up the air, and as the chorus swelled the ranks
would be reformed and the column move on. There
is indeed a spirit roused through the length and
breadth of the land that nought can check : even
the women would fight were there need. The name
of an Englishman has become a passport which
everywhere ensures a hearty welcome, for the
Italians are fully cognisant of what the British
people have done for the cause of Italy, and it will
never be forgotten.
" Never do I believe that an army marched
through a country committing so little damage as
ours has done. With the exception of a little fruit
having been plucked by the roadside, the army
have left no trace of their having passed through
the land. I have not heard of a single case of out-
rage or plundering in any one of the many villages
,we have passed. This shows the class of men who
form our ranks, and reflects the highest credit on
the army of Italy and our chief.
" You would have laughed to see us as we made
our first appearance in this glorious city ; our
whole kit consisting of the one red shirt, stained
purple from perspiration, and the grey linen trousers
we wore ; yet we were received with the utmost en-
thusiasm, and in the evening many a dust-covered
travel-worn soldier of Garibaldi might have
been seen rolling along in the carriages of the
aristocracy, surrounded by fair faces ; and loud and
long were the vitas of the crowd whenever we made
our appearance. Night after night the city has
been illuminated, and the furore seems scarcely to
have diminished. We had a funeral ceremony at
Cosenza en the 6th, to commemorate the death of
the Bandiera brothers, who were shot in a ravine
close to the town by the Bourbons in 1838, and who
died like men, crying ' Viva l'ltalia!' The whole of
Turr's division paraded, and several orations were
delivered suitable to the occasion."