The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-28 00:00:00

GAETA.

The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post
says :—Official telegraph despatches via Turin say
that the Sardinians will be able to enter Gaeta on
the Ist of January. Their siege artillery is must
successful. Nevertheless, King Francis will make

his Bavarians hold out to the last. His Majesty
yesterday went on board a Spanish vessel with
the Ambassador of Spain, in order to avoid the
perils of bombardment. How swift is the judg-
ment! Only a few weeks since, and he ordered
the city of Palermo to be destroyed.
According to the following letter in the Paris
Presse, dated " Holi di Gaeta, Dec. 21," Francis IL
thinks it no longer safe to spend his nights in the
bombarded town :

Since I wrote to you in my last letter, the firing
has only ceased for short intervals on either side.
Beyond a doubt the fire from the place is hotter
than our own, but we are endeavouring to show
these Neapolitan gentlemen that our gunners
know how to handle the rifled guns in the bat-
teries already mounted. Our siege works have
much advanced these three days, and approached
much nearer to the place. We have abandoned
the position of Monte-Cristo, which was a little
too far in the rear, and on that side we have

raised a battery on the heights of Costola.
From Costola the battery extends to the
left towards the Capucini, Monte-Conca, and
Monte-Portola. If you follow these positions
which I have just traced out on the map, you can
easily ascertain the progress we have made and
how the place is already surrounded by a formid-
able line. Our work, however, does not stop there,
for the sappers of the engineers are on the point of
constructing another line still more formidable,
which will soon be finished, I hope. Even if the
famous Cavalli guns, so much spoken of, should
not arrive in the course of the month, we have at
our disposal a goodly supply of rifled ordnance of
every calibre for setting the business in hand.
The besieged, who havebeen already able to con-
vince themselves of the destruction these guns can
commit when they are properly kiimed, have thought
it prudent to dislodge the population of Gaeta, who
inhabit the quarter of Costa Smerga, by turning
them into the dwellings in the Rue San Montano,
which is more on the south side of the town. The
King himself, believing that he is not very safe
in the rooms of his palace, has taken the prudent
resolution of passing his nights on board of the
Spanish frigate lying in the harbour.
There is again a rumour in our camp that your
squadron is decidedly on the eve of quitting the
waters of Gaeta. It has produced the most
favourable effect, for no sooner will the French
vessels have left than Admiral Persano will be
able on his side to attack the place, and thereby
hasten the solution of an affair which it must be
confessed has become rather a bore. Two days
ago the French fleet was seen suddenly to hoist its
flags half-mast high, in sign of mourning. We
were naturally lost in a thousand conjectures, but
this morning a Neapolitan officer who had been
able to quit Gaeta explained to us the reason. It
was the captain of the Redoubtable who bad just
died, and of typhus fever, it was said.
I think I have already told you that the Count
de Sanfront, an aide-de-camp of Victor Emmanuel,
had left last Sunday for Messina, with the mission
of communicating the order to the Neapolitan
General Fergola, that he should surrender the
citadel.

The conditions which General Fanti has just made
to the governor of that place have been communi-
cated to me. They are as follows :-1. The citadel
of Messina, with all its stores, will be given up to
the army of his Majesty the King Victor Emmanuel,
as soon as it shall present itself. 2. The Nea-
politan troops forming the garrison of the citadel
of Messina will leave it with the honours of war,
and will be embarked in order to be coaceyed to one
of the ports of the kingdom, which they will
garrison. 3. The officers, the administrative and

sanitary officials who formed a part of the garrison,
and who belonged to the regular army of the Two
Sicilies, will retain the rank they held on the ith
of September, 1860. 4. The rank held by the
under officers at the time of surrendering the place
will be also recognised, on the condition, however,
of completing their engagement as determined by
the law of conscription in the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies.

At the moment of surrendering the place the
Neapolitan commissioners will deliver up to the
King's commissioners the list of the narrie.t. of the
officers and under-officers, with a statement of the
ranks they hold, also an inventory of the ordnance
and stores in the citadel.
After Count de Sanfront had communicated to
General Pergola these honourable conditions, the
latter convoked a council of war, which I am
assured decided on accepting them. This opinion
was also entertained by the soldiers, but the old
Neapolitan general, being of a contrary opinion,
resisted the wish of the garrison and refused to
surrender.

By this time the operations against the citadel
must have already commenced, and as it will be
attacked by sea and land, it is to be foreseen that it
cannot long hold out. It is therefore at Gaeta
that Francis 11. is going to play his last stake; it
will be, doubtless, a very bloody one, but cannot be
very long, for with soldiers so insubordinate they
cannot defend the place as they would if the gar-
rison were French or Piedmontese.

ARRIVAL OF MR. LOCH AT DOT'ER,

DOVER, THURSDAY.

This afternoon the royal mail packet Alliance,
arriving at this port from Calais, brought to Eng-
land Mr. Loch, with the already anticipated de-
spatches from China. The intelligence that Mr.
Loch was on board, though ascertained only a quar-
ter of an hour before the arrival of the packet,
rapidly spread itself over the lower part of the
town, and on the arrival of the Alliance alongside
the Admiralty pier there was a crowd of eager and
enthusiastic spectators ready to give Mr. Loch, so
fresh from the scene of the recent exploits in China,
a hearty congratulation on his safe arrival once
more upon English soil. On the vessel being
brought to her moorings, Mr. J. G. Churchward,
of the Dover and Continental Mail Service, pro•
ceeded on board, and as an old acquaintance of Mr.
Loch's, offered his congratulations. The Mayor
and Mr. W. H. Bodkin, the recorder of the borough
—the last-named gentleman having fortunately just
arrived at the Lord Warden just at the time the
telegraphic message announcing the departure of
the Alliance with Mr. Loch on board had been
received—also offered their congratulations on his
safe return. The Mayor (J. Birmingham, Esq.)
warmly welcomed him on his safe arrival in Eng-
land. He assured him that the recital of his suf-
ferings had excited the utmost sympathy and com-
miseration of his countrymen. He felt, however,
that those sufferings had induced the vigorous mea-
sures that had resulted in a glorious peace. He
regretted the corporation, in a body, were deprived
of the honour and pleasure of waiting on his land-
ing. Mr. Loch tendered his best thanks, and
expressed his gratitude for all the kindness shown
him. Among the persons assembled at the railway
station were a great number of ladies, including
Miss Birmingham, daughter of the Mayor. All
gracefully welcomed Mr. Loch, who appeared
highly gratified with the reception afforded him.
From the communications made by Mr. Loch, it
appears that at the time he left the scene of opera-
tions in China Lord Elgin expected to follow in
about three months. Two regiments were about to
leave, and 12 men•of--war were also coming home.
As the train moved out of the station the persons
assembled raised a hearty cheer.