The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-31 00:00:00

THE PRISONS OF NAPLES.

<2lnm Leo rfor."-c.spowelenr of' tie .211188.)
NAPLES, JULY 24.
b mealy-mouthedtwhl
eoeAnwp t frtetiowos
bygones
easbndeseseay byetsyhsft
geotsmoshi
ennepwecoeespfoh;t:
hcels
lehfee
en,
must
ruouyersrote
Vicaria,af.
found
thedua nLarasdlesna pskodatof:nr
Wednesday
totos
ht
at
hoyfnhei
raig:
ghmvdi ses, inaotLitmthteyolet.
and religion, it is hoped has passed away, by giv-
ing you a few details. I went with four English
friends, with a special order from the Minister of
the Interior. Gates flew open fo readily that the
walls of the Vicaria were astonished, grim gaolers
smiled, and an old inspector plied us with his
snuff. The first apartments assigned to those of
condizione civile, are not so bad—they have been
recently whitewashed ; but as we got more into
the depths of the prison-house we began to discover
its amiable pecularities. Many of the chambers
were almost dark and very damp, so damp that a
chill struck to the bones ; others were perfectly
dark, and old Cerberus, who was rather anxious
for the honour of the house, endeavoured to give
us the idea that this chamber was merely a
lumber-room ; another was no longer used, and
then a third—it was a mere nothing—it was use-
less to open it. The Commissioner for closing the
Criminali said, " Don't dispute it, they were al
"l
prisons, but speak of them as, ' depositories.
flown, down, many a staircase, past many a
gloomy cell, through the iron-plated doors of which
not a sigh could pass, we arrived at length at
the lowest part of the building: " Useless to
open these doors," said Cerberus. " But open
that," said the Commissioner, and it grated upon
its iron hinges. A small chamber not three feet
wide was visible, and then another thick door with
bolts, which opened into dark vaulted passages,
which stretched away to Castel Ovo, said Cerberus,
that is full two miles off; " but they are no longer
used," he added, "see the rubbish !" I saw, how-
ever, in the freshness of the paint, in the perfection
of the iron plates, of the bolts, and in the new lead
with which the sockets had been soldered, indica-
tions of a readiness for use. The will and the inten-
tion evidently had existed very recently.
From the foul charnelhouses themselves; where,
even after all the cleanliness which has been in-
troduced within the last three weeks, orders had
been given to burn incense as we passed, let me
now turn to the inmates. There were 500 in
all. Some were in cells by themselves, as Manetta,
the celebrated spy, whose oily, hypocritical man-
ner explained to me the reason of hi; easy
access to Ferdinand 11, His son was in another
close by, and another son not far off. Their mat-
tresses were on the damp stone ground, and one of
them complained of the awful stink—it must come
out, no other word will give it—in his cell. These
men merited, however, little compassion, for they
had been the cause of much greater suffering to hun-
dreds. We saw, too, Macario, the friend and spy of
Campagna, as villainous-looking a fellow as nature
ever turned out, and the executioner of Palermo, and
others of the crew, who have been the instruments
of despotism. One felt no sympathy for them, but
only asked for justice. In other rooms we saw 20
or more wretched-looking men sweltering, half-
dressed, in the heat of an oven. " Excellenza,"
shouts one, " six years in prison under the police,
and no trial ! when shall I be liberated?" "20
months" cries another, and " 14 months" another.
" We thought the Constitution would liberate us';
And so we went through a variety of cells, where
supplice were thrust into the Commissioner's hands
and enforced by many a tear and prayer. In one
chamber we came on an old man, half idiot in
manner, who had been condemned to six years' re-
tcwsiltmuoausteielsodno for blasphemy, and if he did not become ten
been dofb
thenetehnabi
nesl agwmsspashhsneap. ms es
In
nie
bebefore
rhhoodi
rsut
tt
eii
amm
eea
stwhmaa stu t Ica ph ,n
hasehwe
yet to be administerd,,tdherew,alls
ng closed. e
isnnturffodbuncxed,anaididtthheosee
white-
washed, offensive smells,
Commissionersitorierse,p"
and many a victim has
differenta called
n d
w thhi
lesemt
the
tohro the worst, removed,
been released
cleanlinessh a ebbueteyjneutsttiocebi
essl'ookeecrMy
past and the present,
friend with the
reassenCteerdbetrwuos
hemseuosft formertbhei
tenderness on his pet relics of antiquity,witha species of
s the latter
was full of hopes of better thin Leaving this
prison, we went to visit the Criminalsg
.of the.Pre-
feeture. There were shouts and cries of " Viva !"
as we entered, and a rush of people. What was
the matter ? The National Guard
just now on
duty
had brought in a policeman. Pale
trembling the wretched caitiff stood
in the midst
of them, and he was r devered over to the autho-
rities, as much for
protection as anything else.
But let us not st
rike a man who is down. Onwards