The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDoN. SATURDAY .EVEN.ING, DECEMBER 14, 1867.

R(7IIIAN AFFAIRS.

(From a Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette.)
RO3IE, Dec. 7.

On Sunday, being the first Sunday in Advent,
the Pope as usual bore the Blessed Sacrament:from
the Sixtine to the Paoline chapel, where the forty
hours' Exposition commences on that day, and is
reckoned to open the cycle of that beautiful devo-
tion for the year. On this occasion be is not borne
aloft on the talamo as at Corpus Christi, but walks,
carrying the Alonstrce all down both chapels
and the great Sala legia, which unites them,
through a crowd of clergy of every degree, in their
festal robes ; of guards in brilliant antique and mo-
dern uniforms ; of noblemen, in costumes such as
Vandyke loved to paint; of monks and religious,
in the unvarying habits of their various orders ; and
of faithful from every country under heaven. It
is one of those occasions which seem destined to
supply a symbolic tableau vivant of the universal
character of the Church.

The Holy Father showed himself firm and erect,
but little altered since the first time I assisted at
this office, now many years ago, except that I think,
as struggle after struggle is mastered year by year,
his brow acquires a more majestic serenity. Ile
trod with a step almost rapid in its energy, showing
his spirit as undaunted as at the commencement of
his generalship in the warfare ever waging between
the Church and the world. It is impossible to be
near Pius LX. and not catch a spark of the exube-
rant confidence in Divine Providence which seems
always to animate him.
Yesterday he assisted at the funeral office of Car-
dinal Bofondi, who died on Tuesday, aged 72,
fulfilling the popular tradition that cardinals always
die in triads ; the other two on this occasion being
Cardinal Roberti, and Cardinal Sterckx, Arch-
bishop of Malines.
Among other little acts of attention to those who
have suffered in his cause that I have heard cited
is that of sending a beautifuljpanther skin to Lieu-
tenant-Colonel de Charette, with the message that
it was to cover the wounds of his horse. This
officer, who had had a horse killed under him at
Nerola, had mounted a favourite charger on the
day of the action at Mentana, which he rode till it
was disabled by three wounds ; he was obliged
then to dismount, but continued to fight on foot till
a horse was brought him, captured from a Garibal-
dian officer; his own is, fortunately, in a fair way
to recovery.

I have already mentioned that he has devoted all
the available space in the Qairinal to the service of
the wounded. Two spacious halls —the Sala Con-
sistoro and the next to it—in one of which stands
the curious water organ (like that at the late Em-
peror Maximilian's Palace of Ifellbrunn), presented
by Joseph 11. to Pius Vl.—are at present occupied
by about twenty-five soldiers, who have been
selected from among those whose convalescence is
advancing, as the spacious gardens, more than a
mile in circuit, attached to the palace, are particu-
larly advantageous for their use. The Pope gave
the men in this temporary refuge the consolation of
his visit and benediction on Saturday ; he spent an
hour talking with the men, and was, of course, re-
ceived with the usual enthusiasm.

It is when visiting these various depots,lweek by
week, standing over the painful dissolution or the
tardy restoration of these brave fellows, that the
wantonness of the late attack is specially brought
home to one; the amelioration one had hopefully
watched yielding to a supervening attack of fever ;
the terrible amputation at last declaring itself ne-
cessary where one had hoped to have struggled
successfully against it ; the prolonged flickering be-
tween recovery and relapse of weakly constitutions ;
the final dismissal of fine, well made forms hope-
lessly mutilated for ever, or subjected to chronic
conditions of painful disease ; the silent writhing,
the suppressed groans, the all but worn-out patience
of the most enduring. To observe the bravest as he
endeavours silently to realize a future from which
his late:dreams of glory and promotion are suddenly
blotted out, in which he who anon left his betrothed
full of pride in his bearded manhood, must return
to her a helpless cripple, blind, or halt, or maimed ;
dependent on others' help who would have been
their support and stay. To sec the face which in
the field confronted death without flinching,
blanched at mention of the use of the surgeon's
knife ; or the spirit which shrinks not even from
this yet, quelled in all its high courage by the dire
agony of the actual operation or its consequent
reaction. Still more, to grapple with those strange-
forms of phantasy with which fever invests the
strong man's soul—to calm the rambling imagina-
tion, and withdraw it from its wild and troubled
flights, for truly the flesh is weak where the spirit
is most willing. In the long and silent hours the
thought forces itself home, all this depressing waste
—although borne as we see it here, it is, indeed,
not wasted—of human suffering, whence does it
arise ? From one man's ambition, another's love
of notoriety, another's unbridled violence. Such
horrors rouse one's indignation to the utmost
against the agitators who have come to pour them
out upon us. Especially that the wounds received
even in fight are not always the most distressing.
The splinter of a bomb, the mined barrack, or
treacherous invention, supplies us with some of
our worst, even though isolated, cases.
I saw a victim to a form of special atrocity
brought into San Spirito one day this week. It
was a fine young Spanish Zouave, who, coming out
of a cafe late in the evening, was accosted by one
of the Mazzinian agents ; the Zouave, being
himself a foreigner, had not the advantage of de-
tecting the north Italian accent, which might, pro-
bably, have put a Roman on his guard. After a
few minutes' friendly conversation on different
subjects, the fellow pulled out his cigars, and
lighting his own, offered another to his new ac-
quaintance. Your Zouave never refuses a cigar,
as all who are acquainted with continental customs
are aware, nothing is more common than this little
attention among even utter strangers. So, of course,
he suspected nothing wrong. The stranger bowed
politely and passed on his way, and was out of
sight while the Zouave was striking his fusee. He
had scarcely taken a puff, however, when the cigar
so acquired suddenly burst, filling his mouth with
a corrosive poison, the fumes of which rendered
him insensible for some minutes. It is commonly
observed here that a " special providence " watches
over the Zouave. Notwithstanding the lateness of
the hour, and the remoteness of the locality, a
passer-by found him almost immediately, and
carried him into a chemist's shop, where he was
promptly treated, and hence there seems no reason
to apprehend serious consequences.
It was, however, gratuitously cruel, as it could
not possibly put more than one enemy hors de com-
bat, had it even succeeded. The story, of course,
got repeated in the course of the day through
every barrack in Rome, and the plot can, there-
fore, hardly be repeated. And yet it is not needed,
either, for a few explosive cigars have entered into
the tactics of every former attempt at Revolution.

Yet it is heartless wretches who invent such bar-
barities as these who venture, in the journals in
which they delude V_.e public mind in Italy, to
charge the Pontifizal Government with cruelty in
its treatment of those who have been sent here to
fight with and injure its subjects.

They do not seem to consider that when a man
enters the army he takes the chance of all these
things. A la guerre comnze ala gaerre ; and have
we not suffered irreparable losses through the
neglect with which the Garibaldians treated some of
our woanded? Our own countryman, Collingridge,
died not of his wounds which were not mortal,
but of sheer and probably calculated mismanage..

ment. For while some of the privates, whom they
might have imagined they could gain over by
kindness and attention, were sedulously nursed,
officers like De Quelen and Guillemain were left
to perish in the cold night air, their wounds
untended for hours and till too late to save. People
who admit such tactics into their policy can readily
suspect the same of others.

It is fair to add that only the least respectable
papers indulge in this particular form of falsehood.
No better proof of its utter groundlessness could be
girea, perhaps, than the fearless reproduction of
the charge in its worst form in the Roman papers.
Every one who has any personal acquaintance with

the matter knows the prisoners have had nothing
to complain of, and what is more, that they have
not complained. The pretended difficulty of access
to them has not been discovered by any who
wished to relieve them. And, besides the Romans
who have been forward to do this, there have been
English and Americans who have got up collections
of money, and of various objects which they might
stand in need of, and these also have been constantly
admitted to minister to them. Among otbers, used
to come a Princess della Torre, a Florentine, I be-
lieve, but the above name and title probably as-
sumed, whose liberal opinions were well. known.
She nevertheless met with no obstruction in her
visits to the prisoners. This indulgence h.as been
ill-repaid, for it has since become known that she
was carrying on, or endeavouring to carry on, an
active propaganda among the young Romans, and
was particularly assiduous in her attention's to the
army. She has been requested by the police to
return northwards, and as she refuses to comply, a
gendarme is stationed at her door.
Her house was but one centre of this kind of
plot; there are several others chiefly of an inferior
order, where Mazzinian propagandists carry on
the most strenuous efforts to gain over the soldiers
by all manner of fine promises and flattery. Nor do
they rest on " fair means" alone. They are far
from despising harsh measures. It is not easy, of
course, to acquire a knowledge of all their ma-
chinations, which are sedulously conducted in the
dark in every sense of the word. But I have the
most unimpeachable authority for asserting that
the most tyrannical threats have been held over
many men of the middle class to induce them to
join the movement. Your modern Roman is not
troubled with over much pluck or strength of cha-
racter, and many a man who out of devotion to the
Government would have turned a deaf ear to any
amount of bribing, may not be proof against a
promise of a stab in the dark. And there is no
doubt that for some time before the 22nd of Oc-
tober, the day fixed for the great plot which has
not yet received a title, but which deserves a place
among the most atrocious conspiracies of history,
they did induce a certain number of trembling citi-
zens to assent to cast in their lot with them if
they succeeded. All that time when, as General
Kanzler expressed it, a horde of assassins was
making its way up to the very gates ; when the
principal barracks had their drains stuffed with
barrels of gunpowder, so that it seemed only to
need a few matches to annihilate the army ; when
depots of arms and infernal machines of various
kinds had been contrived in various points of the
city, with which to massacre all who had the
courage to resist ; when various similar preparations
were in readiness, and it only wanted the signal
to be given in order to set the whole in motion
like a turn of the wheel on a box-full of auto-
matons. At that time the Mazzinian and Gari-
baldian agents were so cock-sure of being shortly
in possession of the city, that they inspired awe by
their very self-assertion, and those who could not
be won by a promise of place and fee from the
new Government yielded to the threat of guillo-
tine, confiscation, and lawless ravage without
rescue. There were some such, of whom I know,
who desired the Gendarmi to arrest them ; who
looked on a temporary sequestration as a refuge
against the vengeance of the invaders ; but the
Gendarmi knew them for the most part as well-
affected citizens and they would not.

That plot was baffled primarily by the deter-
mination of one man, and that man, so to speak,
the very incarnation of the idea of the Roman
people—the Senator of Rome. It was reported
to him that the signal which was to set the conspi-
rators to work was the ringing of the Capitol bell ;
and determined to prevent it, he took upon himself
the watch, while the small body of military who
had been hastily called to the spot were keeping
the aggressors at bay, he defended the door giving
access to the bell with his life. It would have been
a grand historic night to have been in Rome ; un-
fortunately, I only arrived a day or two later ; but
I am told by those who were here, that the aspect
of the people was as of those who expected a thing
of terror, and not at all that of those who looked
for a " deliverance." A bomb was thrown near
a shop where a friend of mine was an hour before
nightfall, and he heard the master exclaim, with a
face blanched by fear, " Dio !it has begun !" lle
was clearly one who had been tampered with, for
he knew what was coming ; but he was a genuine
Roman, and there was no triumph in his mien
at the prospect of the success of a " Liberal Go-
vernment."

But the spirit which animated Senator Cavaletti
kindled the troops no less. For a long time three
men bore the whole brunt of defending the broad
flight of the Capitol steps, and until relieved,
succeeded in keeping at bay all who approached to
the attack—some say to the number of 500. I
doubt whether the Garibaldians had introduced so
many of their number into Rome ; but no doubt
there was a crowd far out-numbering the triad of
defenders, and that these did wonders. In fact,
every one who had anything to do that night did
wonders. The whole escape was a wonder, and
perhaps the most wonderful episode of all was the
successful defenc.3 by the Zouaves of the Porto
San Paolo, and their take of arms and money in
the Villa outside it, at the very time when they
ought to have been blown into the air by the explo-
sion of the only barracks where the signal was
not waited for, and which, as it turned out, was just
that one in which there was the least harm to be
done.

Every one, however, of the numerous successes
and deliverances we have had has partaken equally
of the character of a miracle. In fact, to use the
words of one who, by his office, has the means of
seeing the dessous des cartes, and appreciating to
the utmost the crisis we have lived through, " we
have for weeks past been passing literally through
a series of miracles."

All this is a digression from the regular report
of the week, but it is, perhaps, not amiss now and
then to summarize and look at as a whole the
events we have been following piece by piece as
they occur.

To take up the narrative of more recent events.
The English Garibaldian, calling himself Scholey,
but still believed by many to be Peard, died last
week, in spite of the first apparent success of the
amputation. He was a rather fine looking man,
strikingly like Garibaldi in person. His poor
mother was telegraphed for as soon as it became
apparent that he was in danger, and she arrived
just too late to see him alive, and even while the
body was yet warm. She travelled under the name
of Scholey.
We have had two losses among the wounded of
the Roman army also, both of Belgian Zouaves,
Alcantara and Muller by name. Mgr. Borromeo
Arese, maggior-domo of the Pope, administered
extreme unction to them, and sang a Requiem Mass
for them next day at Sta. Maria, in Traspontina.
They had been nursed together at the house of
the Belgian Brothers of Mercy in the Piazza Pia,
and they both died on Friday. The American Col-
lege has received Mr. Larroque, the Canadian, so
badly wounded at Mentana, who, after a severe
crisis, is progressing favourably. The other Ca-
nadian, Mr. Hugh Murray, wounded in two places
in the same arm (above and below the elbow) by
the same ball, is also going on well, and is now
among the convalescents at the Quirinal. He
strikes one a 3 a remarkably fine soldier, and I
think his earnest desire to rejoin his company, as
well as his great equanimity under sufferings and
inconvenience, have had some part in hastening

his recovery.
I should fill more space than you have to spare
if I were to tell you of half the cases of interest that
come under our notice in the hospitals, but the
spirit that animates every individual there gives the
lie to the miserable mockery of calling them mer-
cenaries. One of the most suffering cases is that
of a young man from Nantes—there are so many
from Nantes. He entered two years ago when only
sixteen, though he looks quite a man. During the
whole of this last month of pain, be has never been
heard to utter a word of complaint, everything
seems to come right to him, and he makes every
thing a motive of thankfulness. When his brother
at home heard he was disabled, instead of being
cast down or disheartened, he immediately set out

for Rome and applied for admission to the Zouave
regiment, as he said to replace his brother, that
his family might still supply a defender to the
Pontifical throne.

Near him lies another young Frenchman with a
very deep wound near the collar-bone ; the muscles
are severed, and the wound has to be kept from
closing externally before it has properly healed
within. It is a wearying process, but he consoles
himself with a book and looks bright and gay.
Ile does not complain of the pain of the dressing,
nor of the weariness of a constrained position, nor
the tediousness of the long confinement. He only
frets because the report that the red-shirts are
gathering has reached him too, and he is afraid
that when they come the doctors will not let him
out to join in driving them back (les chasser). " Car
avec eux" he added smartly, "ce West pas on
combat, c'est one chasse et la-bas parmi les buissons
c'e"tait veritablenicnt comme one chasse aux alouettes."

I have had occasion frequently to speak of San
Spirito and some of the other hospitals, but I do
not think I have mentioned the one which is per-
haps the most comfortable of all, that of San
Giovanni Calibata, in the island of the Tiber. Most
of the other hospitals are served by Sisters of S.
Vincent, or by a kindred Italian community of
suore ospedaliere ; under the present emergencies,
too, the former have been reinforced by auxiliaries
from convents in France, Belgium, and Turin. We
are all familiar with the merits of the Sisters of
Charity, and any who have seen them at work may
picture to themselves the character of their arrange-
ments in the sick wards. But the Hospital of S.
John of God is served by religious of the other
sex, whom the people have gratefully named the
beneficent brothers—fate-bene fratelli—and it is a
less familiar sight to observe them engaged in
their charitable occupations. The superior neat-
ness and amenity of the wards might have led one
to guess that the respective regimes were reversed ;
while nothing can be more tender and patient than
the attentions one may see them rendering to the
very whims of their fevered charges ; the gentlest
hand of woman could not handle a quivering
wound more delicately.

The building comprises some nice private rooms
for patients of a respectable class who may yet
lack the means for providing duly against the
exigencies of a long or dangerous illness at home. '
The more public part consists of two wards with
about forty beds in each, well-ventilated, warmed,
and lighted. The floors are of polished Venetian
scagliola which, while it has the merit of being kept
perfectly clean with ease, and well adapted for the
summer heats, has also the advantage by its close-
ness of excluding all possible draughts in winter.
Each bed is provided with every modern appliance
and convenience ; an ornamental locker with a nest
of drawers beside each enables the patients to
entertain a sense of security as to the inviolability
of their letters or other little matters precious to
them. Except in a few instances, curtains are
dispensed with as interfering with the free circula-
tion of air, but a neat valance trims the tops of
the iron bedsteads, and imparts an air of care and
comfort; a glazed door at one end admits to a
spacious lozzia, prettily laid out with plants and
rock-work, where convalescents may take the sun
and snugly smoke their cigar, while there lies
spread out before them one of the nicest views of
Rome. At the other end is an altar bright with
coloured marbles, at which Mass is said every
morning. At night dark blue glass lamps soften
the lights which it is convenient to keep burning,
and the whole place wears a pleasant cheerful
tone. Attached to the hospital is a pharmacy,
where everything is in shining order, and which
enjoys the reputation of being one of the best here.
The " Benfratelli," however, are not the only
men who devote themselves to this good work ;
both they and the Sisters get admirable help from
a number of gentlemen visitors from all nations as
well as Romans, some of them quite young:lads
who yet do not shrink from their share in the mid-
night watch—who are indefatigable in their minis-
trations and even more numerous than the lady
helpers. Among the latter none are more devoted
than the Queen of Naples. One of the French
Zonaves gave me an account the other day, with
great naivetj, of her visiting him while he did not
know who she was. lie asked her to perform
some little service for him, just as if she had been
any other lady, and he would have been, he said,
greatly ashamed when he found what he had done
but for the charming simplicity with which she
complied.

It is gratifying to perceive that the Protection
which guarded our brave little army in the field,
and made the losses in its ranks so inconsiderable,
in proportion to those inflicted by them on the
enemy, is still extending a care in the sick-wards
over lives so precious. It has been calculated by
one who has had great experience on the subject
that the per tentage of recoveries here is something
unprecedented. At Solferino, where it happened
to be unusually low, I understand it stood at 30
per cent., while 40 or 45 is considered a fair ave-
rage, and this was scarcely reached in the Crimea.
Here, even counting as lost some few still doubtful
cases, it is not likely to be lower than 70 per cent.
I have not yet heard to what second cause this
immunity is to be ascribed ; probably in some
measure to the more regular and temperate habits
prevailing arao.ig the men than is usual in other
armies.

Their numbers are receiving a very considerable
augmentation. On the Ist October, when the
Garibaldians first crossed the frontier, the Pope's
army was made up as follows :-
1 Regiment of the Line, comprising 1,200 men.
1 Battalion of Cacciatori
Gendarmi 2,400 ~
3 Squadrons of Dragoons 360 „
Artillery l,lOO „
Sappers
Squadriylieri (a name given to the pea-
sants who have been armed chiefly
for following up brigands) l,OOO „

Sedentarii (that is veterans and infirma-
rians who do not leave Rome) 5OO ~
The above arc almost entirely composed of
Italians ; then there were also of mixed Romans
and foreigners—

A Battalion of foot Carbineers, mostly
Swiss 1,400 „
The Roman (Antibes) Legion, mostly
French BOO „
And finally, the Zowwes of all nations 2,400 „

In all..

11,980 „

Now, the Zouaves arc already raised to over
4,000, the Roman Legion had received several
hundred now volunteers up to the 30th ult., and
this week I am told a yet larger number have
come in, and every day each corps receives
additions.

I am glad to see that Germany is stirring herself
at length to send something like a proportionate
quota to the Papal army. Whilst countries like
Holland and Poland have sent us numbers of sol-
diers, we have had but few Germans hitherto.
The report of the Congress held at Mayence, with
the view of supplying this deficiency, will, doubt-
less, have reached you. It was attended by dele-
gates from all parts of Germany, and I have
hno
doubt, from the spirit of the speakers, that so me
efficient system of subsidizing the Papal army will
be organized.
The petition from Cologne, so numerously
signed, urging that -the support of the Prussian
Government be given to the maintenance of the
temporal power, is also a sign that Germany is
determined not to lose the merit of taking her
sharein the struggle.

Among the latest body of recruits for the
Zouaves came a number of trained soldiers who
had been allowed to volunteer out of the Belgian
army. The Romans, too, are keeping up their pro-
portion well ; they have not failed to observe how
much more disastrous would have been the ra-
vages of the Garibaldians over their country had it
not been for the Pontifical army. It is animated
by the best possible spirit. The garrisoning of
the provincial towns now falls on it alone, and
to its care, under God, we are left now. The last
French soldier left Rome on Tuesday, and the
whole of General Battaill's division is concentrated
on Civita Vecchia, and three or four ,small towns

near. From the tenor of de Ifor.stier's speech in
the Senate, on the 30th ult., and o the orders from
Paris directed to General de Failly, there is every
reason to believe that this divi siaa will take up its
winter quarters on the Pontifical shore, unless, in-
deed, the Conference should cow e off, and should
provide some superior security- for the Papal so-
vereignty.

The French officers were, many of them, very
indignant at the order for turning their backs on
Rome while the enemy was threatening around;
even those who had no special devotion to the
temporal power complained Vial:. it was equivalent
to making them run away front the:fire, or, at best,
leaving their work undone. Creneral Dumont, who
had command of the division that has gone back
to France, indeed, in parting from his friends, as
he went on board, exclaimed aloud—" Au revoir,
et i bientot!" And M. de F silly, as he took leave
of the Pontifical officers, said:—" If you are
attacked, gentlemen, you will bear in mind, as
you stand your ground against the enemy, that the
French flag still waves at Civita. Vecchia, and that
behind that flag stands France." It is also re-
ported that at his final aud.l.ence of the Pope the
General-in-Chief renewed -the assurance " that
France would save the Pontifical throne at what-
ever cost."

I am further told that the quarters occupied
by the troops while here have all been left exactly
as if the officers expected the order to return
shortly ; and so far, at least, men have been left on
guard over each with orders to keep them in their
present condition.

Faithful to its crooked line of policy, the Florence
Government is trying to hoodwink Europe by
publishing in the various journals under its in-
spiration, simple negations of the fact that the
revolutionists are re-forming on the Roman fron-
tier. It is another instance of the shameless ab-
sence of self-respect of the present rulers of poor
Italy that it can be sought to carry on the Govern-
ment of a country by such means. And who does
not remember that the last gatherings were denied
in a similar way? What faith can be expected in
such denials ? Contemporaneously with them, too,
the liberal journals—that is such of them as have
not self-command to enter into the views which
dictate them—are boasting of the very facts
denied. Here are the triumphant prophecies of the
Dorere of Genoa :—" The lightning flash of Revo-
lution shall be kindled again, and a new path of
light shall be traced across the firmament of Italy.
We are far from participating the discouragement
of the weak-minded. The darkness which for the
moment has fallen so thickly upon us shall be
dissipated again in a moment. Let none be silent.
Keep up the cry of " Viva Roma, and out with the
French !"

The official Gazzetta itself, too, boasted but a
day before its first denials appeared, that the police
had seized cases of arms and munitions which were
being transported clandestinely through Florence.
Here, the news arrives by every possible inlet.
Everybody has heard it, and it is in every one's
mouth. Letters from friends in the border dis-
tricts, accounts of travellers passing through them,
and of the peasants coming up to the capital with
their produce. The very hospitals are preparing
for an expected influx of new victims. As long
ago as Sunday evening last, I had an urgent mes-
sage from a wounded soldier for one of the excel-
lent army chaplains. 1 found him on the eve of
starting on a mission of consolation to the most ex-
posed garrisons, where there would be many who
would gladly avail themselves of his ministrations
in the prospect of an approaching struggle. I may
add, par parenthse, that though he had to start in
the early hours next morning, and there only re-
mained a short space before the time appointed
for a night conference with the soldiers at a dis-
tant church, and notwithstanding that he was still
suffering from the effects of the night's exposure
in the field at Mentana, he came with me without
hesitation, and left the poor wounded man con-
soled and at peace. This, by the way—but his
journey and its object show something serious is
expected, and that the report of it is not a mere
newspaper paragraph.

The following mot, attributed to the Pope, too,
I cannot recall exactly on how good authority,
may have an interest in relation to this question.
An ecclesiastic of one of the most active orders,
speaking to him of our late victories, asked if his
Holiness did not:think it would be right to testify
our sense of the signal help so manifestly extended
by Divine Providence in them by appointing a
special thanksgiving with the singing of the Te
Deum. "True," the holy Father is reputed to
have replied, "we have received great and signal
mercies, but there are words in the Mass which we
may fervently apply for them. A much greater
victory is at hand, my son, and after that we
will sing our solemn Te Deuin."
Whatever faith may be attached to such expres-
sions as these—and similar ones are frequently re-
peated in Roman circles—the increase of the army
is a palpable fact showing that in high quarters,
as well as in ordinary firesides, tidings that fresh
red; shirts are weaving, have been heard. And,
as I suppose there are many among your readers
who are not of those who consider that everything
which emanates from the official journal here is
necessarily a fabrication, 1 may mention that the
Giornale di Ronza, of Monday, speaks of a brush
between a band of Garibaldians and the post of
Gendarmi whose barracks they had tried to take
by surprise at S. Stefano, a little place on the coast
inhabited chiefly by tawny-fishers, not far from
Orbitello, on Friday last. It would seem, however,
that recruiting does not go on so fast this time as
last, though the beating up for it is just as active.
It is pretty well known now that the Pope's army
is strong in its discipline, its valour, and its trust
in God, and it is useless to attempt longer the de-
ception that there is nothing for those who join the
Garibaldini to do but to don a red shirt, and put
to flight, by its mere presence, a handful of mer-
cenaries, behind whom there is a store of plunder
to be easily carried off.

Possibly, too, the wholesale arrests which are
going on in Florence may clear away many unruly
spirits who, if at large, would have been driving
on the new invasion hitherwards. And Mazzini's
reported illness may also act as a check. Garibaldi
certainly announced that he should not quit
Caprera till the spring ; and, although he can in
no way be relied on, as it is just as likely to be a
ruse as a true intention, it would not seem likely
that any attack on a large scale could be attempted
during the winter.

Cowardly outrages on a small scale will no doubt,
however, be continued, for the sake of trying to
keep up popular excitement and tiring out the
army. The latter consummation, however, is not
likely to be attained; the men seem inclined rather
to be exasperated at the dastardly nature of the
plots, and the result of all hitherto tried, where
not a failure altogether has been so miserably
small that the conspirators, and still more their Flo-
rence subsidizers, are likely to be tired otit first.
For the moment they are still attempted here and
there.

There are under many parts of Rome subterra-
nean passages which may in ancient times have
been used as drains and sewers ; the entrance to
some of them lies at a considerable distance in a
vigna or a field, and many a vine-grower has stored
his wine in the cellarage afforded by their entrance
without suspecting they extend to any distance,
much less exploring them in all their length.
But where any of these extend under one of the
barracks it is a tempting opportunity for laying a
dastardly and nefarious plot. The outlets and
direction of all these is probably unknown ; but
those who are fond of burrowing in the dark, may
in time trace one such as will suit their purpose ;
it was thus at Serristori and with others which
were found out and rendered harm!ess. But on
Monday night a soldier in the barracks near San
Giovanni dei Fiorentini was awakened by a noise
of workmen driving their picks and spades directly
under him ; the noise was tracked, and found to
proceed from beneath the cella-s, continuing till
daybreak. Something of the same kind occurred
near Sta. Maria Maggiore, and now the key is ob-
tained to this class of attempts they are almost
deprived of their power to do mischief. Another
miserable mode of keeping up the effernisenee is

spreading among the common people—the report
which gets quickly carried from cafe to cafe and
from house to house that in such a day "something
is expected." The nature of the event to be ex-
pected is not explained, as mystery is supposed to
add to the excitement. This week, Sunday art
Thursday (the latter being the day of opening the
Florence Chambers) have both been thus named,
but both passed off without the least attempt at dis-
turbance, and even bomb-throwing seems to be
gone out of fashion.

The towns in the usurped districts hearing the
talk of a restoration of the Pope's territory in its
integrity are taking heart and making loud demon-
strations in its favour. One of the foremost has
been Ascoli, a town on the borders of the kingdom
of Naples. During the performance at the theatre,
which is part of the yearly festivities of the No-
vember fair, there was a great demonstration the
other day, in which cries of " Viva Pio IX. ;
Viva Francisco 11. ; Viva i preti ; Viva it Papa-
Pe" were uttered vociferously. The head of the
police stepped forward invested with his scarf of
office to endeavour to obtain silence in the name
of the law, hut the people were only louder in
their denunciations of the Government which had
imposed itself on them and then reduced them to
such misery, and it was found necessary to stop
the performance and put out the lights in order to
clear the house.

Meantime the peaceful Pfifferari have arrived—
I think in greater force than usual—to remind
us of the advent of the Prince of Peace among
us ; at all hours of the day from the earliest dawn
and in all weathers these hardy children of the
mountains may be seen standing with their heads
uncovered at the corner of the streets gazing up to
the Mother and Child whose festival they are come
to celebrate, with as great devotion as those first
shepherds directed by angels to the Manger, pos-
sibly bearing the same instruments of pastoral
Music and not improbably drawing from them the
same simple and peculiar melody.
Another token, though of a different kind, of a
peaceful winter is the opening of the hunting
season ; the first meet took place on Wednes-
day. This morning it was to be at Cicchignola,
a disused torretta of Leo XII., outside Porta San
Sebastiano, not far from the Tre Pontane. On
Monday it will be at Magliano.
The Giornale di Roma published, on Wednes-
day, the Brief suspending Cardinal d'Andrea from
his rights as a Cardinal, including that of assist-
ing at a Conclave ; and summoning him to Rome
before the 29th of December, under pain of being
deprived of the purple and of his See. It is ex-
pected that he will; come.

Since writing the above, I have been at pains
to see a friend from whom I could learn par-
ticulars as to the treatment of the Garibaldian
prisoners, which would serve to check or confirm .
what I have said above. Ile is a foreign noble-
man who lives in Rome and devotes himself to
useful works, and I know that he goes the round
of the hospitals every day. I spoke to him of the
article in the Unita Italiana, and you will per-
haps value the confutation more if I quote it in
the first instance. " Persons arrived from Rome
tell us of the sufferings, the privations and insults
which the ferocity of priestly vengeance inflicts
on our poor Garibaldian prisoners remaining in
the hands of these cannibals (sic.). About two
hundred of them, shut up in the hospital of Sant'
Onofrio, are treated worse than beasts. They have
no clothes, no linen, not even shirts to wear ;
their food is insufficient, unwholesome and re-
volting, and for drink they have nothing but a
little muddy water flavoured with the juice of
musty lemons ; such is the charity of priests !
Death is mowing them down wholesale because on
account of the filthiness of the hospital, gangrene
is spreading fast among them. It is most difficult
for charitable citizens to gain access to these
wards, at the doors of which, however, you may be
sure there is no great crowd of visitors, for the
cruel mistrust of the Roman Government selfish-
ness, and the dangers of infection, serve to distance
all who are not inspired by a special love of
humanity. And if any, overcoming all the
obstacles thrown in their way, succeed in getting
to see them, they are watched by spies and for-
bidden to distribute money and clothes, under the
pretext that it might enable them to escape. By
means of their keeping them naked and famished,
the Pope's Government can enjoy the satisfaction
of gloating over their lingering agony until death
delivers them from its claws."
He told me he had for a moment entertained
the idea of answering the charge in the Italian
papers, but second thoughts had convinced him
that it was so gross and so vulgar that it carried
its own refutation with it to all who knew any-
thing of Italy, but in England it is different, as
such falsehoods get believed there. "Now, with
regard to Sant' Onofrio," he continued, " it must
be borne in mind that it is not a regular hospital.
That at the time when the building was thus first
adapted we were overwhelmed with the number
of wounded—our own as well as prisoners. The
powers of the vast wards of S. Spirito were over-
taxed, and in the hurry with which this one was
improvised, of course many little appliances to be
found in the regular hospitals could not be sup-
plied in the first days. Nevertheless, good beds,
bedding, changes of sheets, and an ample supply
of medicaments, bandages, &c., and a staff of ex-
cellent surgeons and helpers, were provided with
the most remarkable celerity. Experienced Roman
Sisters, from San Spirito, took charge of the nursing
department; and little by little, everything was
added to put the treatment quite on a par with
that of our own soldiers. A great number of cases
were very bad, indeed. Several wounds dated
from engagements prior to that of Mentana, and
some had been much neglected. Any one who has
ever had any occasion to observe the management
of wounds, must be conscious that under such
circumstances a room full of patients, and one
not built for the purpose, would be likely to be
very offensive at the time of dressing the wounds ;
but I have been round continually with the sur-
geons, watching both dressings and operations, and
can bear testimony that it would not be possible
to pay more scrupulous attention either to health
or cleanliness." He then adverted to the circum-
stance that liberal papers have been forward
enough to assert that some of the medical men here
entertained advanced opinions, and as it is just
those who attend at Sant' Onofrio, it is not likely
they should ill-treat or neglect those with whom
they may be expected to sympathize.
More than this, he had himself gone round and
asked them man by man if they had any desire to
be moved from Sant' Onofrio, if they wanted for
any comfort which could be better supplied in a
regular hospital, or in a smaller house, where it is,
of course, easier to afford individual attention. The
poor fellows have great confidence in him, because,
while yet working among them as a brother, he
yet never disguises his own opinions. Many re-
cognized him from having seen him at Mentana
binding up wounds, and taking him hence for one
of the surgeons, held out their hands to him,
calling him " Signor Dottore," and " Signor Pro-
fessore." But the general answer he received was
in the negative. " We have all we want here,
why should we more ?" they said. Some few re-
ferred to the surgeons of the ward—personally they
were satisfied, but if they thought the change
would be beneficial they would go, if not, they
were quite content where they were. One only
elected to be removed. Many other gentlemen,
also, have been forward in attending to their
needs, and their kindness seems to have been truly
appreciated, and not only laymen, but two or three
Capuchins, a Benedictine, and some other religious
also. In many instances their labours have been
rewarded by the most gratifying results, but in no
case has any attempt at preaching repentance been
forced upon them. Once or twice, when he asked
one of the Capuchins what he thought of the state
of mind of such an one, the answer was, " I have
not spoken to him in that way. I have only been
attending to his bodily needs." But numbers have
come round to the happiest sentiments, and only
three have died without the sacraments, one of
whom was Mr. Scholey, who, of course, had never
been a Catholic ; and speaking even of him, the
others paid, 44 Ah, poor fellow, he was a brave man

it was a pity he never seemed to think about hi
soul !" And, " Ah, it was sad that he should die
without the sacraments, I liked him well, I cannot
bear to think of it."

A young Jew of a good family in Mentana ap-
plied almost on his first entrance for some books
on the Christian religion, a subject to which his
attention had, it would seem, already been drawn.
One day he called the Benedictine to his bedside,
and told him he really thought Jesus Christ must,
after all, be the Messiah, and he had a great desire
to be baptized, but he wished first to have his
mother's consent. He accordingly dictated a letter
to his mother, but urgently rejoined the priest to
baptize him if he should be pronounced in danger
of death before the answer came. It happened that
two or three days after he was going round the
hospital with the Benedictine, they had spoken to
this young Jew on entering, and had passed on to
a fellow sufferer at some distance, when they sud-
denly heard a cry, " Padre, padre, fate presto !"
(Father, father, make haste !) They turned to
see where the cry came from, and at last found it
was uttered by this young man. An internal
hemorrhage had suddenly supervened and he was
already dead ! A Capuchin standing near, how-
•ver, bad heard his appeal and had baptized him.
Another young man of good family, a student
of a north Italian university, who had received a
terrible wound from a rifle ball which had entered
his back and completely traversed his body, finding
his end near and his strength failing, called the
Sister to him, and having exacted a promise that
she would fulfil his last wish, he said solemnly,
" Promise me to write to my parents and tell them
from me that I die fully reconciled to the Church.
Tell them that I acknowledge the folly of the path
into which I have been led, and that my only
desire now is to receive pardon. Oh ! that my
sufferings may be taken as an earnest of my re-
pentance." Poor young fellow ! he was not more
than eighteen, and his sufferings were fearful, in-
deed, both from the wounds I have mentioned
and from others in his legs, both calves having
been injured by another ball. But the elasticity
of youth wrestles long with death, and his agony
lasted a day and night, during the whole of which
it needed gentle hands to hold him ; for as he
writhed and tossed he opened his wounds afresh,
and there was no rest for his back but when sup-
ported in one direction, and in his intervals of de-
lirium the prevailing ideas of his mind showed
themselves in the fancy that he was being tor-
tured, and he cried out " Assassini ! Assassini !"
Then, again, his senses came back, and he recog-
nized and gently thanked those who were attending
him, and renewed his vows of penitence, and then
the delirium took him again ; but he died with the
name of Jesus on his lips.

So far from its being prohibited to give presents
of clothes and relief for their use, these things were
brought and administered in abundance, as well by
persons of known " liberal " tendencieS as by the
Roman Relief Committee, with this difference, that
the latter, seeking only to do good, were content to
have their offerings dispensed by those whose
knowledge of each case enabled them to do so with
good effect, while the former would not yield to
this wise consideration. Not only clothes and ne-
cessaries, but fruit and delicacies of all kinds, in-
cluding champagne and other wines, were supplied
by both. An English physician, accustomed to the
practice of English hospitals, was, ',indeed, scan-
dalized at what he called the laxity with which
injudicious well-wishers were suffered to distribute
such things when they persisted in doing it ; and
there is no manner of doubt that four deaths have
to be ascribed to the want of discrimination in these
matters of their sympathizers.

The fact that so many of them were in such bad
plight as to clothes has likewise to be ascribed to
the fault of their own friends. Many of them have
confessed that it was their own people stripped
them as they lay helpless.

B ORTING INTELLIGENCE

TENBY STEEPLECHASES.
TUESDAY, Dec. 10.

Stewards—Major Kempson, Capt. Knatchbull, Mr. J. S.
Jeffries (9th Regiment), and Mr. 11. Paul. Hon. secre-
tary—Mr. F. Bowers.

Under the auspices of the officers of the Pembroke Dock
Garrison a very fair day's sport was brought off as above
on the Tenby Race Course. The snow covering Wales
towards the end of the previous week had entirely dis-
appeared, and but for two rather severe accidents in the open-
ing chase every gratification would have been afforded to
a largo muster of the denizens of Taffyland. Tho stewards,
ordinary took place at the Royal White Lion Hotel in the
evening. It was well attended, and did infinite credit to
the catering abilities of mine host Bowers, who also capi-
tally discharged the duties of Clerk of the Course. To
keep the game going a pigeon match was got up on Wed_
nesday, for which 15 gentlemen entered, the winner being
Mr. E. C. Leighton, who killed all his birds in good style.
Tho Tenby Stakes of 3 sous each, with 20 added; weight
for ago, with selling allowances ; three miles. 5 subs.
Capt. Turner ns Flatcatcher, by King Tom, 4 yrs, lOst
(40 sous) (llitchings) 1
Mr. Davidson's Minossa, 5 yrs, list (40 sous) (Downes) 2
Chance and The Hawk also ran.

Chance fell after cutting out the work for about a quar-
ter of a mile, but was soon remounted, resumed the lead
jumping the made fence in admirable style. When, how-
ever, half the distance had been gone over she again came
down and sadly damaged hor rider; The Hawk, mean-
while, having also got to grief, and likewise injured her
pilot, each sustaining a fracture of the collar-bone. The
command was then taken by Minossa till deprived of it half
a mile from home by Flatcatcher,;who.won a closely-con-
tested race by a length. The winner was bought in for
40 sovs.

The Garrison Stakes of 3 sovs, with 15 added, for horses
bona fide the property of officers stationed at Pembroke
Dock ; catch weight ; two miles ; 4 subs.
Mr. Douelan's (9th Regt) Gameboy (Owner) 1
Mr. Jeffare's (9th Regt) Ferret • • (Owner) 2
Mr. Fandun's (58th Regt) Jack (Owner) 3
Mr. Leighton's (9th Regt) Barmaid (Owner) 4
. .

Ferret made play, waited upon by Gameboy to the dis-
tance, where the latter was let out, and won by two
lengths.

The Hunters' Stakes of 3 sous each, with 15added ; weight

for age. Three miles. 4 subs.

Mr. Lowis's Spaniel, by Sorvius, 5 yrs, list 71b(Flutter) 1
Mr. Williams's Cardiff, 4 yrs, 11st 71b (Mathias) 2
Capt. Turner's Bandmaster, apt:l,l2st (Hitchings) 3

Spaniel went away with the lead, and at a mile had in-
creased it 200 yards, Cardiff going on second, and reducing
the gap towards the finish, but having laid off too long he
never got up, and Spaniel won by several lengths. Band-
master was stopped at the second mile.

The Innkeepers' Plate of 15 sovs, added to a Selling S weep-

stakes of 2 sovs each, p.p. ; three miles ; 6 subs.
Captain Turner ns Flatcatcher, 4 yrs, lOst 71b (£2O)
(Hitehings) 1
Mr. Waller's Catch 'em Alive, aged, list 71b COO)
(Flutter) 2
Mr. Bishop's The Hawk, aged, list 71b (.£2O)
(Lieut. Alnat) 3
Mr. Gulley's Nettle, 5 yrs, list 71b (£4O) (Lower) 4

Catch 'em Alive made the running, closely followed by
Flatcatcher and The Hawk to about half a mile from
home, when Flatcatcher took the lead, and won a good
race by half a length.

In a Match, 50 each, one mile on the flat, Mr. Bishop's
Sambo easily beat Mr. F. Bowers's Miss Gaunt, and this
terminated the sport. We are happy to state that latest
inquiries report the injured gentlemen above mentioned
to be progressing favourably.