The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-16 00:00:00

is as yet most difficult to guess what his intentions
are. The men appear to show a better spirit, than
when here before, towards the local troops. The
latter have shown themselves such thorough soldiers
that every one, not utterly blinded by prejudice,
must honour them. The French have held out
their hands to them with frank and soldierly cor-
diality. I extract the following on the subject
from a Roman paper :
" On Thursday evening the whole staff of the
Pontifical officers entertained at a banquet the
officers of the various French corps which have
come to share with our brave defenders the great
cause of the Roman Pontificate. The greatest
cordiality reigned on both sides. The soldiers of
the great French nation pressed the hands of our
men,. expressing aloud, and in the warmest terms,
the admiration they entertained for the Pontifical
army, which in the space of little more than a
month has given the world such brilliant evi-
dences of their military bravery, honour, and
loyalty. This acknowledgment, offered by the
noble and generous army of France is a first and
welcome recompense to our good and brave sol-
diers, while a more solemn and general testimony
will shortly be rendered them by the most culti-
vated and civilized nation of Europe."
You know by this time that the Italian troops
entered the Pontifical territory at several points,
among others Orte, Civita Castellana on the north,
and Ceprano, Frosinone, and Terracina on the
south, the very day that the French entered Rome,
the 30th of October. Between these positions and
Rome were posted the Garibaldini as the pioneers
of the regular army. At Velletri they organized,
or pretended to organize, a plebiscite under the
auspices of Nicotera ; votes of mere children were
taken, but even so the final result was miserable.

The Garib'ildians were divided into three bodies
—that of Nicotera at Velletri, of Acerbi at Viterbo,
and of Garibaldi at Monte Rotondo, in all more
than 15,000 men. Under Garibaldi were 12,000.
Acerbi and Nicotera gave each other the title of
pro-dit-tatori, of course pointing to Garibaldi as
the dittatore. They issued proclamations, in which
they declared the Pope bereft of his temporal
sovereignty, and gave regulations for what they
called the Ministry of Public Instruction. I have
no such precise information as to the numbers in the
effective detachments of the Italian regular troops ;
but there was this difference in the conduct of their
leaders that they affected an appearance of re-
spect for the temporal sovereignty. Thus at
Civita Castellana they set up the Pontifical arms
which had been torn down by the " patriots ;" it is
true they whispered under breath as they did so,
" Wait a little, our time is not yet come."
Meantime, at Florence it was being published
that these commanders had been assailed by peti-
tions from the Roman population, imploring an
immediate annexation. Of course this is false. if
any such petition was sent in it was from a small
knot of individuals, and not from the population.
The revolutionists do not generally show them-
selves very courageous in this part of the world ;
they never compromise themselves until they have
a certainty they can do so with impunity ; they
remember too well how in 1860, when the whole
province of Viterbo was occupied by the Italian
troops, they had organized a plebiscite producing,
of course, the most prodigious results, they thought
their whole work done. Duke Sforza Cesarini
was already named a royal commissary. Then one
fine morning General De Goyon received orders
from Paris to send 1,500 French troops down from
Rome. Here was a dilemma. General De Goyon,
wishing to hurt no one's feelings, wrote the night
before "Al Signore Sindaco di Viterbo," to an-
nounce that 1,500 French soldiers would arrive on
the morrow, and he would be good enough to ap-
point them quarters. The letter thus addressed
was, of course, taken to the Pontifical Sindaco,
who sent it on to the Sindaco created by the Pied-
montese. This closed the farce, for the next day
there were neither Italian troops, nor Commissary
Royal, nor Piedmontese Sindaco, to be found in
all Viterbo, and the day after the French marched
in without let or hindrance.

On the 2nd of November Garibaldi divided his
men between Monte Rotondo and Mentana. These
two little towns are about two miles apart, on the
left bank of the Tiber, about sixteen miles from
Rome. Monte Rotondo has a population of 2,500;
Mentana not more than 6000. He seems to have
kept up a certain amount of discipline. lie is said
to have had four of his men shot for stealing
sheep, but he seems to have had no regulation
against blasphemy, outraging women, or insulting
and ill-treating priests. His followers kept their
horses in the church of Monte Rotondo, regardless
of the indignation of the inhabitants.
At four o'clock in the morning of the 3rd inst.,
about 5,000 men started from Rome for Monte Ro-
tondo. It was an expedition indeed. There were
about 3,000 Pontificals, commanded by General de
Courten and 2 ,000 French, under the command of
Brigadier-General de Polhes, General Kanzler
holding the supreme command. The French had
only two or three priests from St. Luigi dei Fran-
cesi, who volunteered to accompany them in place
of chaplains ; but each Pontifical corps had one or
two chaplains of its own. In time of war the
Pontifical chaplains ride on horseback, but in
secular dress. They bear on their breasts a silver
custode, containing the sacred particles, so that
they may give Communion to the dying soldier
without spending► time in casting about to find a
church. The French ambulance service and vic-
tualling department was admirably organized, but
the Pontifical carps was badly appointed in both
these respects ; however, several pious laymen,
just arrived from Paris—MM. Keller, Ozanam,
Benoist-d'Azy, &c., had followed the Pontifical
volunteers into the field with Sisters of Charity
and carriages and appliances for the wounded.
With them was also a courageous English lady,
Mrs. Stone. This lady has been seen quietly
attending a group of wounded, paying no more
heed to the balls flying about her than an old sol-
dier.

It would not be worth while to fill up your
columns with minute details of the battle which
happened on the 3rd and 4th, seeing that this
account cannot be published till the 16th. The
following particulars, however, will be interesting
to your readers, as they were collected on the spot,
and will not be found in any other paper.
The Pontifical column marched at the head of
the expedition, and arrived at the scene of action
at 1 p.m., on the 3rd. The French column marched
a few miles behind as a corps of reserve. The
Zouaves marched first. It rained up to eight
o'clock, but without damping the ardour of the
men. They halted at ten for breakfast on a slice
of bread moistened by the rain, and a. bit of meat
which each man carried in his knapsack. lip to
one o'clock they saw no signs of • the enemy ; for,
it would seem, Garibaldi had been informed of the
line our troops were to take. His agent in this
affair is thought to have been Mrs. Mario (White)
again, whom he had sent into Rome as a spy two
nights before (she has now been recommended by
the police to keep quietly in her hotel) ; and thus
he was enabled to establish his outposts very
wisely about two miles on the Mentana-road.
They received the Zouaves with a murderous fire,
and this brave corps had to lament a heavy loss
in dead and wounded ; among the former was
Captain de Veaux. The other corps came up one
after the other ; and while the sixteen pieces of
ordnance brought with them thundered against
Garibaldi's artillery pointed at them from behind
the walls of Mentana, the other Pontificals sur-
rounded the town. The French, who came upon the
place at about half past three, did wonders with
the Chassepot rifle, that day brought into service
for the first time ; and yet, at nightfall, the day
was still undecided, and the night was spent by
both sides in the open field.
The next morning, while a reinforcing column
was on its way from Rome under the orders of
General Dumont, a few rounds of artillery, and a
charge at the bayonet's point, determined the
Garibaldini to surrender. They were utterly de-
moralized by the enormous losses of the night be-
fore, and also by Garibaldi having, as usual, run
away when he found the tide against him. He was
also accompanied by his son Menotti. At nine
the town capitulated ; but the Garibaldini were
still so numerous, that it was found necessary to