The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-15 00:00:00

ing letters
1, Leiaster•terrace, Hyde-park, Sept. 3.
My Lord,—The sympathy evinced by the Eng-
lish notion for the Italian cause,and more especially
for the question Of Central Italy, has given to the
undersigned the idea of rendering this feeling, for
which they have the most lively gratitude, effica-
cious by the formation of a committee, at the head
of which should stand a name of great authority in
England, and the name which immediately pre-
sented itself to our minds was yours.
We ask for this name, my lord, and we place
ourselves under your guidance in every respect ; be
good enough, therefore, to undertake the formation
of this committee, in which it is our wish that the
Engksh element should preponderate.
It is natural that Italians should interest them-
selves for the emancipation of Italy, but it is
generous for Englishmen to show so warm a sym-
pathy, and it would be of much service to the
Italians that this great nation, which has preceded
every other in the path. of all liberties, should
make it felt in an efficacious manner.
We trust in you, my lord; allow us to keep this
trust.—We are, my lord, very respectfully, your
most obedient servants,
G. F. AVESANI.
G. DEVINCEN'ZI.
L. SERENA.
To the Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury.

B. FABBMCOTTI.
JOHN B. ROCCA.

St. Giles [louse, Cranbourne, Salisbury,
Sept. 12, 1859.
Gentlemen,—The letter Which I have received
from you has conferred on me the greatest honour.
If I could take the same -view as you do of my
position and influence, I should not hestitate even for
a moment to accept the post that your confidence has
offered to me. The claims—nay more, the just de-
mands—of Italy on the sympathy and co-operation
of Englishmen are such that it seems impossible for
anyone, be he great or be he small, to hold back any
support that it might be in his power to bestow. Your
ease and our own are very similar. We long and
ardently desired the blessings of civil and religious
liberty. To obtain them we got rid of our obnoxious
rulers ; chose those who should succeed them, and

established a form of government differing as little
as possible from that to which we were habituated.
All this was done without bloodshed, without
violence, without rapine, without confusion, or even
disturbance of the order of daily life, and simply by
the will of an united people determined to be free.
Your course has been the same. But great as
was our conduct, yours has hitherto been far greater,
We had long enjoyed the form and oftentimes the
exercise of free institutions ; the principle and prac-
tice of them were familiar to us. But liberty came
upon you like a thunderclap, and yet she found you
as orderly, peaceful, ready, as alive to the blessings
she gives and the duties she imposes, as though' you
had been trained to them from your very cradles.
So intense is the effect that simply the lore of
rational freedom can produce on the understandings
and the hearts of men

We were told that you did not care for liberty,
and that you had not courage to assert it. We were
told that you were unfit for self-government, and
that Austrian bayonets were necessary to save your
beautiful land from bloodshed, plunder, and
anarchy, by your own people. We were told that
your mutual hatreds and jealousies were such that
no one state, no one city, could be in harmony with
another. What, in fact, were we not told to your
detriment and dishonour ? Many believed what
they heard. I did so at one time myself, but who
can wonder at it ? What precedent had history
afforded of so apparently sudden a fitness for
the exercise of the greatest of human callings,
the exercise of civil and religious free-
dom ? A nation seemed to be born in a
day—born, at once, in its full moral stature with
all the powers of self-control, without which there
never was, and there never will be, any true or
lasting liberty.
Well, if such things as these will not stir the
hearts of the whole Anglo-Saxon race, in whichever
part of the world any member may be found, I
know not what will. But surely you have no
cause to doubt. You know the sentiments, and you
have heard the eloquence, of many of our public
men ; the people, speaking by the press, show very
unmistakeable signs of their ardent sympathy ; nor
would they, if appealed to, pause longer than might
be necessary to consider in what way they could
best give effect and expression to their feelings.
You have suggested the formation of a committee
consisting of natives of both countries, in which
the " English element should preponderate." This
committee would, 1 conclude, be empowered to re-
ceive such contributions as, the people of England
might be induced to give in aid of the efforts made
by the people of Central Italy to maintain their
rights, and defend themselves against every form of
aggression.
This lino is safe and just, for whatever misgiv•
ings might have been entertained before the late
events of the policy or hopefulness of struggling
for freedom, the thing has been achieved ; and the
Emperor of the- French, true, as Nge hope and be-
lieve, to the principles he has avowed and the issue
he has sought, must, if he be sincere, rejoice to see
that sound and independent action of the people
whom it is his glory to have liberated.
I see no objection to the plan—whatever might
be contributed would be received by the Italians
more as a mark of sympathy than as a material
help in the difficulties that surround them. Let,
however, the question of the chairman stand over
for the present. It is most desirable that one should
be appointed who would be best able to conciliate
friends among all classes, and to disarm opposition.
If, after due search, no better man can be found who
is willing to serve you, I shall then be ready, enter-
taining a firm belief that it will please God to bless
your endeavours with a happy issue, in accordance
with their beginnin g.—l am, gentlemen, your faith-
ful friend and servant, SHAFTESBURY.
Messrs. Avesani, Rocca, and others.

(From the Daily News.)
We are glad to be able to report to-day the first
steps that have been taken for forming a Committee
to serve as a centre and medium of that active and
warm sympathy which Englishmen feel in the
cause of Italian freedom, and in particular in that
of Central Italy, menaced from so many points at
this moment. The offers of generous assistance on
the part of individual Englishmen which we and
our contemporaries have recently published would
have justified the Italian patriots who have taken
the business in hand in moving in it before.; but
they have been restrained by an honourable deli-
cacy. Every one of the gentlemen whose names
are subscribed to the letter to the Earl of Shaftes-
bury has established a title to represent his coun-
try's cause. Signor Avesani, we may mention, re-
ceived the capitulation of the Austrians at Venice
in 1848. The noble letter in which Lord Shaftes-
bury approves their proposals will find an echo
throughout England. His lordship was among the
first in this country to recognise the immense im-
portance of the emancipaton of Italy, and was the
steadfast friend of her cause at a crisis when, owing
, to an unfortunate combination of circumstances, ber
real friends were few. In the attitude and demea-
nour of its people in the actual possession of free-
dom, such as he has drawn them, he and all who
stood by Italy now find their justification and re-
ward. \ire hope to be able to publish immediately
a list of the proposed Committee, so that no time
may be lost in utilising the resources which await
its appeal.
1••••....................

WRECK OFF DovEn.—Between four and five
o'clock yesterday morning the schooner Dove, of Shields,
from which port she was bound to Harfleur, with a cargo of
coals, went on shore a little to the westward of Shakes-
peare's cliff, and about a mile and a half west of Dover
harbour, and in a few minutes became a total wreck. A
heavy gale from the south-west had been blowing all sight
until about two or three o'clock on Wednesday morning,
when the wind suddenly veered to the S.S.E. The schooner
had brought up under Dungeness at 10 o'clock on Tuesday
night, but at midnight she parted from her moorings. The
master then hove the vessel to, keeping her head off until
overtaken by the sudden squall from the S.S.E., when, de-
spite his exertions and the exertions of the crew, she
dTg
uuhaa
rel l
dydmi dseranos vt
oeenr onw
duty,as was
o observedr
ande , and
by tooktheyfrom t
exertions,h the
theground
shore
with
as i
tbahby
otyhtheeestacot.
vesselster ant
do
crew,the
assist-
ance of other persons who were attracted to the pot, line
fyraormdst,haensdtrtanhedmedashore, distance
of
sons, dragged through the surf. in alls a four per-
sons,
CAUCASUS.—The t
cap ure of Schamyl, an-
nounced yesterday by telegraph from St. Petersburg, would
appear to have been preceded by several important victories
by the Russians, as a letter from St. Petersburg, dated
Sept. 3, states that the district of Awares, which was con-
quered from the Russians in 1843 by the Circassian'
now again become subjected to its former masters. and that
officers in the Russian army have been named as Khansf
of
the territory. Information from the bead-quarters o the
Russian army, dated Aug. 19, states that further submis-
sions have been made by the mountain tribes, and that the
fortress of -Ullu-Kalo, together with four g
the chiefs who
uns and m
tions of war has been surrendered. o Among
t the Russians are Scha-
have thus given themselves upli
"m
myl's private secretary, Abdul- en and, after Schamyl,
the most influential man among tho tribes, S_
chachmander-
WM M
Hadschi. The oldest Naib of the mountains,ogola,
has also submitted, and, by way of proof of his submission,
• ed with him the father-in-law and head coun-
he has detain .
cillor of Schamyl, Risehemach-Eddin, as well as another
chief, named Asstan-Kadia Zudachar. The submission of
the Naib Kibit is particularly important for South Daghes-
tan. The strongest place of defence belonging to Schamyl
in this country, the fortress of Ischoch, has been given over
to a the Russians, with three cannons. Schamyl,
stated, was wandering in the mountains, pursued by the
inhabitants nand y the Russians. His own people had for.'
saken him, a the inhabitants had turned their amnia
against him, whilst they
,had despoiled him of his goods
and treasure.