The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-24 00:00:00

THE FAMOUS BANDITT.

(From the." :Mvllloirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes.")
The Pr'ince EAing told me the history of Fra
Diavolo, who boon the subject of so many ro-
mances and mel::dminas.

Fra Diavolo's rcnl name was Michele Pezza, and he
was already famous I'm- his robberies and massacres at
Itri, during the campaign of Naples, commanded by
'Championnett. At the time he harassed the rear of
the French army, ~rganized masses of insurgents in
Upper and Lower Ca!abria, and directed a formidable
conspiracy again r,t the French. He was a native of
Itri (Terra de L or), and in his youth was a goat-
herd. He afterwarcL entered a convent, turned monk,
and, strange took the name of Fra Angelo.
However, his Irld cor•bict speedily caused him to be
expelled from th,2 convent, and he then fled to the
mountains, and ;,nrsned the life of a bandit. He
lived by plunder, awl every day was marked by a mur-
der. He headed a party of smugglers, and spread
desolation thron;hout the country. The Government
of King Ferclinal:(l condemned him to be hanged, and
a price was set nponitis bead.

But Queen 61r01.1112, Ferdinand's wife, was a wo-
man who knew 'low to turn everything, however bad,
to some useful r,,Teitnt. An amnesty was granted to
Michele Pezza, and h was appointed commander of a
corps of freed slaves, who were to attack the
rear of the from Fondi to Garigliano.
When the took Gaeta and Capoua, Fra
Diavolo fixed !-.irtrters in Itri, his native country,
where he cow • ,c.,1 evert imaginable horror. The
inhabitants of ',re tov;r) were plundered of all they
possessed, was soon occupied only by the
followers of Fri . Travellers journeying from
Naples to lio;im, wbo 'entered Itri for a night's lodg-
ing, slept -never to again. The most artful de-
vices Were einplo,-(.1 to allure the victims into the
houses of Itri, v.hich they never came out alive.
General Oii%iv;- •,t that time had the command of
Gaeta. Beira; o.'f.aelf_sfl that a troop of banditti was
in possession of 1“_, despatched a Polish regiment,
*commanded by. vou:iLr, officer, who with chivalrous
courage entered L,,, ri; on the dangerous expedition.
He expelled 1-Yivolo from Itri, and drove him
into the. wood; H7'] brigand, undaunted, returned,
was attacked 1:,.• tIA_! PrAish troops, and frightful car-
nave ensued. f!i,zat,ement took place in the town
of Itri, and me:;: :.f houses were destroyed.
Diavolo was a ,c()A(i. time driven into the ziountams,
and the coun%c ronni Itri was scour;a-of banditti ; a
benefit wh;.ch (Inc to till; energetic measures of
General cifivier.

The Polish had no sooner withdrawn from
Itri, and cornntel!,...!,i th:!ir march to Molo-di-Gaeta,
than two thousand in.iiirt7ents and banditti again showed
themselves. Gr.:n.2rai !.iiivier despatched two squadrons
and a Polish 1-Attainn to meet them, who dispersed
them, and 0fte:.w,;.4.1i remained in possession of Itri.
Fra Diavolo no 'oiler offered any resistance. He
abandoned Term -de-tavora, and retired with his fol-
lowers to infest tlio Ca:abrias, which became the scene
of his depredaticus .111:1 atrocities.
Will future gencmtions ever believe that a man like
Fra Diavolo should ha.ve enjoyed the favour of the
Xing and Queen of Sicily ?. Yet incredible as it may
appear, it is nevertheless the fact. Queen Caroline
sent him a bracelet- ornamented with her portrait ; and
the English Govcln;nent gave him a commission in
the British arinv. 7:6 crown all, his life was spared,
that life of which the hangman, had been defrauded,
and on which a price had so lately been set.
Massena assured me, that the power of Fra Dia-
volo was inconeei-,Able, during the first and second
occupation of Naples by the French troops, for the
inhabitants of the mountains, who were as lawless and
desperate as himself, ioyfullv followed a chief who led
them to plunder. - One day he ventured to make a
descent upon Itri, from which the military force had
been a short interval withdrawn. He entered in the
middle of the night, barbarously massacred all who
resisted him, and ulpde the rest of the inhabitants pri-
soners.

On the second occupation of Naples by our troops,
Fra Diavolo, I)ingr driven from Terra Firma, took
refuge in Capri. He was at length arrested at Sa-
lerno, conveyed to Naples, and condemned without
even the fonn of :1 trial ; " For," as Salicetti observed,
"it was only tiescesary to refer to the sentence already
passed upon him by those just and wise sovereigns,
Caroline and Ferdinand." The English, whose ships
were cruising before the Bay of Naples, sent a flag of
truce to solicit the liberation of the British Major
Michele Pezza, as a prisoner of war, and threatening
if the request should not be granted, to use reprisals
towards all the Ncaoolitan prisoners who might fall
into their hands. Salicetti's answer was that he knew
of no Major in the English army who had been taken
prisoner by his Maieuv King Joseph ; but that, if the
individual referred to were Fra Diavolo, a man hold-
ing no commiF;thon,. and without character, either mi-
litary or political, he had been hanged the night before,
in conformity witll an old sentence passed by the tri-
bunals of King Ferdinand, by which he had been con-
demned as a murder.:r, a robber, an incendiary and a
smuggler !
Such is the true iiitory of Fra Diavolo.

It is doubtful wither any amendments to the Ad-
dress will be tnos- HonEe of Lords, although it was
understood yesterd3•,. that the Opposition party had determined
to propose an amer.(in:Qv:. Should this resolution be carried
into effect, Lord 72,1!_ti:ravo will,- it is said, be the mover.—
Morning Post.

The family of Mr. C. W. Wynn, is thrown into
affliction by the illiwss at ci:e of the Right Hon. Gentleman's
sons. It appears the young gentleman, while pursuing
his studies at E!,, p.,•(.!,,'.er.ta11y sprained one of his ankles,
the inflammatory ,r, ~.ptorr.s from which have so far increased
as to defy the skil:, of the first medical attendants, and he
now lies in a vcr state at the town mansion in
Grafton-street.

On Thursday CV,ning last, a man, after placing his
umbrella and hat upon the Pont-au-Change, at Paris, mounted
the parapet, threw himself into the Seine, and was drowned.
In his hat was found a letter, signed Felix Massonette, a Re-
publican, in which he stated that- money to pay two debts he
owed, one of 70fr., .11,1 the other of 120 fr., would be found in
his drawers, and as,:igned as the reason for his suicide the ma-
chinations of certain persons to implicate him in crimes.

NIMROD'S HUNTING TOUR.—Some excellent
stories are told of Stephen, Mr. Fellowes's huntsman, who has
lived about thirty years in the family, and therefore, in some
degree, a privileged man. It seems, however, that he has
done credit to his master's good keep, and some of it, "as the
sparks fly upwards," has found its way into his nose. On a
friend of Mr. Fellowcs's giving him a hint of its rubicund ap-
pearance, he gave the following ingenious reason for the pos-
session of it—namely, that he caught it by riding after his
master ever the cold moors." " How happens it," said my in-
formant, "that cur master has escaped the same fate?"
" Why, Sir," said Stephen, "master is able to drink his bottle
of port after his dina,r, which will keep the crimson frost-
work out of any man's nose." Another good thing is attri-
buted to Stephen. Taking his hounds to covert one morning,
he was joined by a farmer who was notorious for a good tap of
cider. " Well," said Stephen in his hearing, " I never will
eat no more of those refi herrings for my breakfast, for they do
make me so dry."

ERRATUM.—. In the Letter of Almo, which appeared in The
Sun of yesterday, the word " ell; :en " was, by mistake of
the printer, put for " ciloyen."