The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-13 00:00:00

THE NEAPOLITAN PRISONERS.

NAPLES, Sept. s.—The public interest which has
been awakened by the Salerno trials • has seen so
great that the following letter will be acceptable.
It was written by one of the prisoners to a friend
in Naples, and though it gives some particulars
already known, it communicates others which shed
a light on the character of those who are choson by
Government to do its bidding, and displays the in-
domitable spirit by which those lately condemned
are animated.

When we came down from the ". Compress." (pres-
room ?) we found that our Genoese brothers had
already put on tho chain of martyrdom. There
were present at the scene the executioner and his

two assistants, the inspector of police, the
gaoler, and the lieutenant of gendarmes. As soon
as we were ironed we all of us, without exception,
kissed our chains ; and on some of us being asked
by the executioner why we did so, we replied,
" Because after much trial and suffering we
had won the brightest ornament in the world." At
so much intrepidity and self-sacrifice the very offi-
cers were moved, and especially --. Sublime
sacrifice made to liberty in an age of corruption !
Two by two we then descended into the court, where
we met that grieving mother (Madame Poggi) who,
with the courage of a true Italian matron, after
having kissed. all the prisoners, exhorted us to be
firm and fearless in presence of our enemies. Durino-
the short time that we remained we never ceased to
be clicerrul and to sinn-'. At length we moved out
of the prison, and passed through the Strada della
Marina, which was crowded with people, who as
usual did not hesitate to show themselves grieved
at our misfortunes, and some were seen to weep. On
arriving on the beach we passed through a double
line of the rifles, first having been unscrpulously
examined both in our persons and effects, and being
deprived even of our needles. We then entered
five boats, followed and preceded by soldiers in
other boats, besides those whom we had with us.
I have omitted to say besides the chain, we
were fastened with ropes and manacles during our
passage through the city. On getting on board the
steamer, the Stromboli, the Genoese were compelled
to go below, whilst we remained above. At the
hour of night the wheels began to cut the water,
and we bade a tender adieu to Salerno, to our
prison, and to our friends, followed by the looks
of a weeping and terrified multitude, who gazed
with horror on that moving scene. In the morn-
ing we knew that the steamer, was under the com-
mand of Captain Caraceiolo. . . (The orders were,
to treat them with the utmost rigour, and to attach
them to the " puntale," an iron bar). At Messina
we arrived after a voyage of 24 hours, coasting
along by the Calabrias. Here our wounds were opened
afresh by being compelled to separate ourselves film
our dear brothers, IN ho, it is said, have been sent to
the Bagno of Favignana. After resting here a day,
we continued our route to our destination, not with-
out giving our salute to beautiful Sicily, which had
awakened within us tender recollections of the sacri-
ficestty. too Majestic
city, well he
• i
she has made to preserve her
alitbteeis•
city, whose traditions and history
grandeur ! After stopping again ateßre we arrivedindisiand
for
two days coasting along by Cape tec f
,
at Pescara. The captain fired a signal or a pilot,
who, after a few moments, came alongside, and re-
ceiving his orders, returned to land. A large boat,
full of ferocious looking policemen, then made
its appearance. From the steamer we were
transferred to the boat, and packed into a kind
of well, so narrow, that we were as close .to
gethcr as salt herrings. On landing we came in
view of the sallooking building of the Bagno,
which, like the ancient feudal castles, rises dark
and gloomy above the river. Always surrounded
by the 3d battalion of rifles, we entered the prison
amidst the ceaseless clank of chains, and at the
sight which presented itself of shackles and of
sbirri, we could not help exclaiming, " Laseiqte
ogni speranza, voi cli' entrate." But, thanks to the
firmness of our principles, tyranny can never crush
us—the blood which has been shed does no de-
stroy us, but renders us yet more determined. We
passed before our dwelling-place, prepared for us 15
days before, and I assure you that it is a true den
for wild beasts. On arriving in the court, the
keepers'ranged us in two lines and began to search
us in our persons and baggage. They then ad-
dressed us regarding the conduct we were to ob-
serve in the Bagno, directing that we were to take
our hats off whenever we came into their presence.
We observed silence whilst they talked, but did
not obey the direction. After the lapse of half an
hour, the commander of
fortheLa s
aa. o
lo madne his
s
appearance, and asked .
being pointed out to him, he began by giving
him a blow, saying, at the same time, "• Qui.
non si fa it Camorista" (you will not play
the Camorista here.) At this indignity the
young man boldly replied that his principles and
his education protested against the abject cruelty
of oppressing the oppressed, and that he should
have well investigated an intrigue which might
have cast a stain upon him that would have been
extremely injurious. In fact the charge was cleared
up, and it was evident that it arose from the com-
mander's having misunderstood the report he had
received from Salerno, in consequence of being un-
able to read well. At last our irons were taken off,
and other larger
Tacchio, the com-
manderOn fasteninc, the chains upon
,?tmhaekehim rich
and heavier chains were put on.
courageous
by giving him a Tit
haying ordered.tmtohree
sobfilT iron,i to
all treasure." Our
for I value this chain above
youth replied, " 1 ou say. well Signor Commandante,
cheerfulness Ptid our
consciousness,
that s
iirmnessary measureless ; our
exit to us ; since we have thi
chain, fiir from- being a weight, is as a precious or-
nani
it is,not that which criminals wear in expia-
tion of their sin, but that which is worn by illus-
trious martyrs, already marked in the book of im-
mortality. `We have found here 20 of eut,excellent
brothers who salute you warmly, but we have held
no intercourse with them, for we are separated
from all..in the den I have described above, where
we receive light by three air-holes two palms long
and one palm, wide, &v., Sc.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. Edmund Falconer.
Great Success. The New Comedy of EXTREMES ; or,
Men of the Day. Supported by Dirs. A. Mellon (late Miss
Woolgar), Mrs. Weston, Miss Kate Saxon, Messrs. Emery,
J. Rogers, E. Falconer, and Barrett, EVERY EVENING.
To conclude with the New Farce, entitled TOO MUCH
FOR GOOD NATURE. Messrs. Emery, J. Rogers, Mrs.
Weston, and Miss Kate Saxon.
Doors open at half-past 6, to commence at 7. Box-office
open from 11 to 5 daily.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and Directress, Miss Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, NOTHING TO NURSE ; Mr. Swan-
borough, Mrs. Selby.
After which THE LAST OF THE PIGTAILS ; Messrs.
C. Selby, J. Bland, and J. Clarke, &c.
Followed by A ROUGH DIAMOND. Miss 31. Oliver and
)Ir. Parselle.
To conclude with FAMILY JARS. Miss E. Wilton.
Cot:menet., at 7 o'clock.

CANTERBURY HALL, Westminster-road.—
OPEN EVERY ,EVENING.—The following Company
of Vocalists are engaged for the performance -of-Selections
from all the popular OPERAS, MADRIGALS, CHORUSES,
GLEES, DUETS, dm, viz. :—Miss Russell, Mrs. Badsey,
Miss Brunel', Miss Ray, Madame Bartoletti, Miss Montague,
Mrs. Lawrence, and Mrs. Anderson ; Herr F. Jonghmans,
Mr. Renshaw, S. Jones, J. Barker, W. Melling, Senor Antonio,
E. L. Rime, Mr. Badsey, Senor Tiroli, Mr. Cozens, Mr. Bell,
Mr. Barnard, and Mr. St. Albyn. Mr. John G. Forde and E.
W. Mackney. Pianoforte, Mr. Cecil Hicks—Harmonium,
Mr. Courtnay—Direetor, Herr F. Jonghmans. Commence at
7 precisely. Suppers, &c., until 12 o'clock.
NOTICE.—The Proprietor begs respectfully to announce
that in the month of October,
A FINE ARTS GALLERY,
now in course of construction, will be thrown open in con-
nexion with the above Hall.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, SEPT. 12.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
71—highest since noon yesterday.:
66—lowest this morning and during the night.
74—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-4017.
WIND, South-Westerly ; light, with very fine hot weather.
SEPT. 13.
76—highest since noon yesterday.
66—lowest this morning and during the night.
75—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-30' 14.
WIND, South-Westerly; light and clear.

Between four and five months, in all human
probability, must still elapse before the commence-
ment of the next Parliamentary session, before her
MAJESTY'S Ministers are again brought face to face
with her MAJESTY'S Opposition. Defeated and '
dispirited though the leaders of the Opposition
were at the close of the last session, both in the
Lords and in the Commons.4but particularly in
the Commons—let the Cabinet of Lord DERBY rest
perfectly well assured that those chagrined and
discomfited leaders will begin the next session
hopefully and eagerly on the " look-out" for the
very first favourable opportunity. With them the
recess will really and actually have been a time of
leisure—a veritable long vacation in the fullest sig-
nificance of the words—a period of uninterrupted
repose, during which their energies will have been
revived, and their more sanguine anticipations re-
kindled. Meanwhile, as a thing quite inevitable,
Ministers will have been all this autumn and
winter, or, at any rate, during a principal part of
it, fretted, worried, kept always more or less in a
feverish state of anxiety by the toils and cares in-
separable from the office of administrators. A select
few may be will have intermittently enjoyed rare
and brief intervals of leisure—like that secured by
the President of the Board of Trade through his
" run" upon the continent immediately after the
prorogation. But the majority of the Cabinet must
by necessity be kept hard at work throughout the
principal part of the recess, each over the perpetu-
ally accumulating papers of his own particular
department. Solicitous in every way to acquit
himself to the very best of his power of his supremely
responsible duties as Prime Minister, the Earl
of DERBY, it will be remembered, took betimes
a residence so conveniently near to London that it
might almost be called suburban ; at any rate, so
agreeably contiguous to the seat of government
that it involved no toilsome journeying 3 to and fro
between dusty, brick-built Downing-street and the
green country side. The FOREIGN SECRETARY might
Possibly have enjoyed some momentary relaxation
by going to Cherbourg one while and immediately
kfterwards by proceeding up the Rhine another—
but that all the while he was directly in the centre
of the vortex of the wearisome whirl of Court
etiquette. Having been involved in the same
maelstrom of pomps and ceremonies in Warwick-
shire, the HOME SECRETARY, after evading the
same giddy country dance of loyalty and royalty
down at Leeds, is fated to relieve his chief of the
courtly task of participating in the tedium of regal
life at Balmoral. Meanwhile the COLONIAL SEC-
RETARY has, of all the thirteen Ministers of the
Crown, been the most sedulously occupied in keep-
ing the government of his•sixty proconsulates well
"in hand," besides bearing the additional strain
upon his energies consequent upon the self-made
necessity of organising ab initio the complicated ma-
chinery of his new colony of British Columbia
31'otwithstanding the happy maintenance of perfect
European tranquillity, the SECRETARY for WAR
has had enough to do all this while in noting from
afar off the closing of the Chinese struggle, and
watching the progress of Lord CLYDE'S erratic
endeavours to crush out the smouldering fire of the
Indian rebellion, in being constantly prepared for
any emergency nearer home by reason of the
fanaticism here and there along the coasts of the
Levant of various tribes of Mahometans—labo-
riouslv impecting at intervals all the while the
barracks and depots of the army, with a view to
their economic and sanitary reorganisation. The
recently sworn-in fifth Secretary of State, the
SECRETARY for INDIA, has had enough to do in the
earlier stage of his ministerial labours—having,
with a view to their more successful and tho-
rough accomplishment, vacated his temporary
abode as President of the hoard of Con-
trol, and afterwards as Commissioner for
the affairs of Hindostan, at Cannon-roiv, to assume
his place resolutely upon the vacant throne of JOHN
COM.YANY, in Leadenhall-street, wielding from that
Point, in th© name of his SovtnEiGN, the sceptre
Me bid in the grasp, now of 4 --URITNGZEBE, now
of TAXERLANE. The First Lord of the Admiralty,
on his part, has been, according to the state of Pe

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THE SUN.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1858.