The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-10 00:00:00

OCTOBER 10,

1860.

who long for the freedom of Italy at any cost ; you have
proved it in these two days of battle. _ .

" Yesterday victory crowned our efforts on the whole
line. To-day at Caserta and on the hills one of those deeds
of arms was achieved which will be written down in his-
tory among the most fortunate.
" The brave and disciplined soldiers of the North, under
the orders of the valiant Major Luigi Soldo, have shown to-
day what Italian valour joined to discipline can accomplish.
If this ancient queen of nations were again to be trodden
down by foreigners, the world shall see what her children
can do if they be unanimous and all come forward together
to the rescue of their land.

" G. GARIBALDI."

MR. EDWIN JAMES ON THE PRISONS

OF NAPLES.

No decree issued by Garibaldi after his entry
into Naples produced more unmixed joy among all
classes than that which proclaimed,—" All prisoners
for political offences are henceforth free."
This bold edict was not merely the sudden im-
pulse of a generous heart, feeling for unfortunate
humanity, nor the grateful policy of a successful
chief towards those who were suffering in his cause,
but a simple act of justice done to men accused
without a crime, convicted by perjury, and
sub-
jected to the horrors of an incarceration which
none can imagine and few pens can describe. Of
Neapolitan State trials and Neapolitan courts of.
justice the people of England are not entirely
ignorant.
Nine years since occurred the mock trial, the
unjust condemnation, and the subsequent martyr-
dom of Carlo Poerio, a statesman and an orator,
a man whose only crimes were a determination of
purpose which no threats could alter and an honesty
of principle which no power could corrupt.
The pen of Mr. Gladstone rent asunder the veil
which concealed the terrible but exquisitely ar-
ranged machinery by which the King and his Mini-
sters had removed not only this gentleman, but
all who had become obnoxious to them—the
sudden arrest, the long and severe imprisonment
before trial, the hired informer ready with his
false tale, the skilfully forged document to corro-
borate the lie, the corrupt and subservient judges
prepared to pronounce the doom, the subterranean
dungeon, formed to do more slowly, but as cer-
tainly, the work of the executioner—and exposed
to the eye of the civilised world the horrors of Nea-
politan tyranny. The truth of the picture drawn
by his fearless and eloquent pen, though denied,
was never disproved, and it had indeed been asserted
in Naples that the system, so far from being miti-
gated, had been increased in severity.
I was anxious to see the interior of these dun-
geons, to judge for myself whether their horrors had
been exaggerated, and eagerly availed myself of the
opportunity of visiting them with an order which I
had obtained through the influence of the new
Minister of Police.

I visited the cells at the Prefettura and the dun-
geons at Santa Maria Apparente, the Vicaria, the
Castles of St. Elmo, the Ischia, Procida, and the
Castel Ovo. The scenes which some of these pri-
sons presented have been graphically described in
your columns by Lord Llanover, who was of our
party.
I can add my testimony to his description, and
the three prisons, the Vicaria, Proeida, and Castel
Ovo, which are not described by his pen, are not
one jot inferior in horror and misery to the unhappy
inmates than those which his lordship has so vividly
pourtrayed. The appearance of the dungeons spoke
for themselves, and the information we with diffi-
culty obtained of the mode of treatment of the in-
mates may be credited, as we had to extract the
truth from men rather anxions to conceal it than
prompt or eager to colour and exaggerate. In one
instance, at Ischia, they refused to show us the pri-
son of the political prisoners, and asserted that the
gaoler had gone info the interior of the island with
the keys. We declined to leave the fortress until
we had seen them, and in half an hour both autho-
rities and keys appeared.
I will not intrude at more length on your columns,
nor linger in detail over the cruelties of the Bour-
bon who has lost his throne. In one dungeon in
the fortress of Ischia, a young Sicilian noble passed
11 years of his existence, and beneath a small aperture
which formed the window, and into which the spray
from the waves ceaselessly dashed, he had carved in
the rock these words :—" 1849, 1860. Reo senza
delitto." This touching expression of his wild de-
spair was, I thought, but the history of thousands
who have been immured in similar dungeons, and
were equally " guilty without crime."
Punishment, not for guilt but from fear, was the
policy on which the Bourbon relied, and on which
rested the security of his throne. In what has this
resulted ? In a day—almost in an hour, and with-
out a blow—the doors of these horrible Bastiles
were thrown open, and the buildings now stand
but to perpetuate the misdeeds of a cruel and per-
fidious reign.

711 E SUNKEN TREASURE OF THE

ROYAL CHARTER.

Within the last few days public attention has
been drawn to a notice inserted in the daily jour-
nals at the instance of the Marine Department of
the Board of Trade, announcing that a quantity of
jewellery, watches, and other valuable property,
recovered from the wreck of the ill-fated Royal
Charter, had come into their possession. The various
articles were described in order that they might be
claimed by their owners, the necessary application
having to be made to the Secretary of the Marine
Department. At first this notice gave rise to an
impression that the divers had resumed work on the
wreck, and that the jewellery in question was the
result of their labours ; but on inquiry we ascer-
tained that the property alluded to was recovered
as far back as November last, and that since the
divers were withdrawn from the spot in January
last the wreck has to all intents been abandoned, so
far as regards the operations for recovering the
treasure. This suspension seems the more unac-
countable from the circumstance that it is believed
that there is still between £40,000 and £50,000 in
sovereigns and gold buried in the sunken wreck,
some or most of which no doubt could be readily
recovered by the divers. Even up to the last day
of the operations, almost every bucket sent up
yielded gold to a considerable extent. The reason
assigned for suspending the work was the great
expense of the steam tug-lighters and other attend-
ants on the divers, and eventually the underwriters
sold the wreck for £l,OOO to Messrs. Gibbs, who
were to undertake the recovery of the remainder of
the treasure, deducting the working expenses, &c.
Tugs and lighters were brought round from Liver-
pool to the wreck, and some operations took place
with a view to getting up the iron work, &c., of
the ship, but nothing has been done towards
recovering the gold. The bankers who had the
largest consignments in the Royal Charter admit
that all belonging to them has been recovered, but
the underwriters assert there is from £lB,OOO to
£20,000 in sovereigns, covered by policies of insur-
ance, to be regained, while the owners compute the
gold and money in possession of the passengers to
have amounted to at least £40,000, which is in the
wreck.