The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-23 00:00:00

744LABRIA. to hit the boat. Such are the faithful defenders of
Bourbonic tyranny.

MALTA, AUG. 17.

Garibaldi has 250 men, selected for being good
shots, armed with Colt's revolver rifles, which were
delivered in Sicily at 196 francs each, and are de-
scribed by an Englishman who has used one of
them as the very best weapon he ever fired out of.
He came to Malta to purchase arms, but found them
very much dearer than those sent from France and
Belgium, so could make no purchases, but sent to
France for the supplies be needed. There has been
a good deal of lint and old linen purchased at Malta,
and sent over to the hospitals in Sicily.
There is a very strong desire among the men of
both services to go over and join Garibaldi, and
many cunning devices have been resorted to to carry
out this wish, but generally unsuccessfully, for any-
thing leaving Malta can be so easily seen. Still
some have vanished, no one knows how. A man of
the 23d Regiment being missed, strong suspicions
existed that he had got on board the Dutch Com-
modore's ship, and the commodore was politely asked
if the authorities might search for him. This he
indignantly refused, and was much annoyed at the
suspicion. I understand that the missing man's
comrades have since had letters from him, and that
he is in Garibaldi's camp, roughing it, but delighted
with camp life and its excitements.
It appears that sailors make the best soldiers
with Garibaldi ; they are more ready at expedients,
happier, better foragers, and have more dash; and
sailors from our navy have always been foremost
in all Garibaldi's fights, A grey .headed old Scotch
merchant had made a fortune, and was living on
his means in Sicily, but the fever of fighting is
catching, ani he could not resist its influence. At
Melazzo, to use his own words, he "he was old fool
enough to take his double-barrel and fight with the
rest." Old as he was, and unused to fighting, he
was among the foremost, and got two wounds for
his pains. Garibaldi saw his daring, and after the
fight publicly thanked him. There is a free-
masonry among brave men, and they were at once
friends ; by the way both were masons.
The authorities have been pretty severe on the
soldiers they have caught, and the sentence on some
that tried to escape from their regiments to Sicily
has been the loss of all claims for previous service.
Disgrace and 184 days' imprisonment must be
rather a cooler to their thirst for military glory.
With Garibaldi it appears that a man is valued
for his services, and that he has a fair chance, if he
distinguishes himself, of rising to any position how-
ever high.
By the French steamer from Sicily we learn that
the Calabrias are in open revolt against the King
of Naples and in favour of Garibaldi. Several par-
ties of his troops from Messina have crossed over to
Calabria and effected a landing, principally at
Palmi, a little to the north of the Straits.
The Neapolitan steamers, seeing they could not
prevent the landing, are reported to have returned
and anchored at Reggio. Garibaldi had left Mes-
sina in a fast steamer, but his destination was not
known.

The following is an extract from a private later
The writer—an Italian, and like his chief both sol-
dier and seaman—has staked everything on his
country's cause :

Palermo' Aug. 16.
Here all goes marvellously, although surrounded
by a lot of thieves and assassins of all nations who
rob us. What of that ? Let liberty come, and
Italy is rich enough to fill the mouth of these .t'er-
berri, which invade us from all parts to devour dog-
like, with their ever hungry mouths, the small gains
of the poor artist and of the widow. Que voulez
vouz ? They are unavoidable things in times of
revolutions. When hereafter we shall no longer
satiate the foreign Cerherri, and when that which
we produce remains to us alone, we will forget the
misery and will revel in abundance. In a few days
hence will commence the second act of the most
divine tragedy, and a run on terra firma will restore
equilibrium to our legs now suffering from the un-
dulations of that sea which caused the ship Sicily
to roll and pitch. I trust very shortly to write you
from Naples, and shortly after from Civita Vecchia
(I making my journey by sea). However you can-
not imagine how much younger I have become
amongst these events. I can scarcely give you the
least idea of what I feel. Imagine that there fell
into my hands, almost to increase my frantic ecsta-
cies, the " Prophecy of Dante" by Byron. What
were poets but prophets ? Line by line I see fore-
told what is now going on under my sight. Read
and judge—it is Byron who talks for Dante in the
end of the Second Canto of the Prophecies.
" When there is required but a single blow
To break the chain, yet—yet the avenger stops,
And Doubt and Discord step 'twixt thine and thee,
And join their strength to that which with thee copes ;
What is there wanting, thtu' to set thee free
And show thy beauty in its fullest light?
To make the Alps impassable; and we,
Her sons, may do this with one deed unite."

And in the other canto, 19th terzina, after having
said all that which an Italian would not dare to
say of his own country, adds (after enumerating all
the great men who were) (in regard of Garibaldi),
June 21, 1819:
" Oh I more than these illustrious far shall be
The being—and even yet he may be born—
The mortal saviour who shall set thee free,
And see thy diadem so changed and worn
By fresh barbarians, on thy brow replaced ;
And the morn sweet sun replenishing thy morn,
Thy moral too long with clouds defaced,
And noxious vapours from avenues risen,
Such as all they must breathe who are debased
By servitude, and have the mind in prison."
Could any one describe with more truth the
redeemer of Italy ?