The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-04 00:00:00

advance. The municipal guard now patrols the
streets at night, arresting suspicious characters,
while the police and military patrols remain behind
to be called in only in case of necessity. This is
satisfactory for all parties, as there are some great
scoundrels about and robberies are frequent ; but
if the Austrians were to arrest any considerable
number of persons there would be an instant cry of
tyranny and military violence.

According to Italian journals the Cavaliere
Trombetta has brought from Ancona a huge pile
of papers all condemnatory of Persano, being the
depositions of officers of all grades. The latter seem
to have confirmed on oath the statements which
they made in conversation, and which you had in
my letter from Ancona, and to have rather increased
than decreased their numbers and virulence. It is
said that while at Taranto the Admiral did nothing
towards improving the organization and discipline ;
that at Ancona he did nothing but oppose the orders
of Government ; that he attempted to take Lissa
without the slightest plan of any sort, and without
sufficient knowledge of the batteries, &c., of the
island ; that never once during the war were the
chiefs of squadrons and superior officers called into
council ; that never were instructions, either written
or verbal, given on matters of real moment, but
only on punctilios and frivolous trifles ; that the
manoeuvres of the fleet on its way from Taranto to
Ancona were always executed with the greatest con-
fusion ; that the enemy knew all this by the reports
of their cruisers ; that the evening before the battle
Persano allowed the attack upon Lissa to be con-
tinued without any order, each ship doing what
seemed best in its own eyes ; that no useful disposi-
tion was made for receiving the enemy, although
the Admiral was well aware that he was coming—
that no other officers were called in to give their
views or to take those of Persano, and that no order
of battle was regularly given, though there was plenty
of time after the enemy appeared; that the change
of ships was made by Persano when the Austrians
were close at hand, and in "such a precipitous man-
ner" that the launch of the Re d'ltalia, in which
Persano went on board the Affondatore, had not time
to return to its own ship, the latter being already
in motion, and the fire already commenced ; that the
commanders of most of the ships were ignorant of
the change during the greater part of the battle ;
that the Admiral and those in the Affondatore were,
for their parts, ignorant of the subsequent loss of
the Re d'ltalia, a signal being, in fact, hoisted on
board the Affondatore at 12 30 p.m., after the fire
had ceased, asking where she was, which was
answered by Vacca and Ribotti. Here is a list of
military crimes enough to sink any commander, and
there appear few friends bold enough to defend
Persano. The few who whisper hints in his favour
say that the ships were so badly manned and the
crews so untrained that he could do nothing
with them ; but, if so, why did he not devote all
his energies, as Tegethoff did, to put them in
order. It was true that their artillery practice was
excessively bad, but they had not been spending
their days and nights in practice, as the Austrians
did at first. They were beaten because they had
undervalued their enemy, and thought that good
ships and bigguns would necessarily achieve victory;
and it was a good lesson for them to learn, and one
that may be of the greatest use to them hereafter.
General Revel has just arrived, and immediately
set out to call on General poring ; an enthusiastic
crowd welcomed him, and pursued the gondola,
which was driven along by men in red shirts striped
with blue and white truisers. A Venetian crowd, as
far as I have seen it, is chiefly composed of boys,
while the few older men present catch the infection,
dance, and clap their hands like the veriest children.
Poor people! they are just now indulging a good
deal in the pleasures of imagination.
The cholera seems to have quite disappeared, and
many say that the only real case was that of an offi-
cer who arrived from Trieste already ill. We hear
from Vienna that in round numbers there have been
40,000 cases in Austria, out of which more than
20,000 have died.