The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-12 00:00:00

THE eIEGE OF GAETA.

A letter from Mola di Gaeta, dated Jan. 4, says :
An order of the day of General Cialdini has sud-
denly stopped all direct communication between
this Nillage and Naples. Though this measure
me y seem a rather despotic one to Englishmen, yet
it WS rendered necessary by the fact that agents
of Francis 11. came now and then to gather informa-
tion vs to what the Piedmontese were doing, and
when they had got it they contrived to get to Gaeta
by means of some French or Spanish steamer.
This fact having been vr_certained by the Piedmon-
tem Commonder-in-Chief, he wisely thought fit to
throw up a sort of Chinese wall between the centre
of his military operations and the other parts of
the kingdom. So strictly is this order carried out,
that three days ago Mr: Arthur Russell, on his
arrival here from Rome, was arrested, together
with his travelling companions, Mr. Cartwright,
and the Prussian Consul-General at Rome. Mr.
Russell, however, being the bearer of a letter of
introduction to General Cialdini, matters were soon
set right as far as he was concerned. Sir James
Hudson, who had given the letter, having, how-
ever, omitted to mention the names of the other two
gr

;entlemen, they were not allowed to inspect our
works, and went to Naples greatly disappointed.

You will infer from the strict orders thus issued
by CiaMini that we are drawing nearer to the
completion of the siege operations. And such is
indeed the case. I cannot, of course, mention the
names of the places where our numerous batteries
are ; but I may tell you without indiscretion that
they are very near to the walls of the doomed
city. The Sardinian frigate Charles Albert, and
the steamer Count Cavour, have just brought
here the siege materiel which was wanting, so that
both Cavalli's guns and howitzers of the largest
size 'are now to be mounted on the different
batteries, which are nearly finished. It is
generally reported to-day that the French fleet
has at last received orders to leave us alone. I
give this news as, I heard it, without however
vouching for its correctness. Louis Napoleon
has so often deceived our expectations that it is
a very difficult task indeed to know what his
intentions really are. That in spite of the
shower of shells the Piedmontese have already
thrown into Gaeta, Francis 11. still intends to hold
out, may be inferred from numerous facts which
have come to my knowledge. Some letters were
seized by the Sardinian police in which a high
personage of the court of Francis 11. told his
correspondents to be ready for a general rising. This
worthy gentleman openly said that ell depended
upon resisting till next February, when Austria
will declare war against Piedmont, and restore the
dispossessed Italian princes to their dominions.
Another fact which leads me to believe that
resistance a l'outrance has been decided upon
at Gaeta is, that Senor Bermudez de Castro, the
Spanish Minister at the court of Francis 11., has
sent orders to Naples to pay the rent of the apart-
ments he occupies in the Palazzo Craven for six
months to come. The young Queen, who,
by-the-bye, during the last bombardment has
shown great courage, has not as yet left Gaeta, but
on the contrary has sent orders to her milliner at
Naples to send her a new set of riding dresses, a
costume of which she is very fond. This morning
I had an opportunity of talking with a Neapolitan
officer, and he told me that the young wife of
Francis 11. is always to be seen in the place of
greatest danger. During .the bombardment of
the 24th and 25th of December, two officers of her
household were killed in the very room in which
she was sitting, by the explosion of a shell. Al-
though the danger was imminent, the Bavarian
Amazon did not stir from her chair, and gave
orders for the removal of the dead bodies in the
coolest possible manner. The Spanish Minister
had also a narrow escape, for as he was lying in bed
he received the rather unpleasant visit of a round
shot, which smashed the washing-stand opposite.

We read in the Journal des Debats of yesterday :
—The report of the recall of the squadron of M.
Barbier de Tinan has been confirmed. The Pied..
montese have redoubled their vigilance and acti-
vity. Reinforcements have been sent to the
Abruzzi, where Civitella still continues, and
where it seems certain that Count Trapani,
a prince of the royal family of Nr
ap.es, has
The arrest of Crispi at Palermo
just
entered,
is spoken of in consequence of the popular
movements which induced the Turin cabinet to
constitute a new administration in that city. It is
given out that the Sardinian Government are about
to form ten new regiments. In replying to the
congratulatory address presented to him by the
magistrates of the Milanese Junta, the King spoke
with somewhat more decision that when he replied
on New year's-day to the corporation of Turin.
" Having now become a great nation," he said,
"we may be resolute in will without endangering
our destiny."

A letter in the Presse cites, but with all reserve,
the following despatch from Leghorn, in the
Allgernetne Zeitung
Jan; s.—Two Russian ships of the line and
one frigate have arrived in this port, and several
others are expected. Their destination is Gaeta."

Hey AtlssiWs iron paddlewheel steamvessel Tri-
dent, commissinned at Woolwich on Wednesday
by' finder G. W. Beville Nicolas, has
'whole of her crew from the flag;
ship-k-dgard. A few petty officers are still required.
Commander Nicolas and Mr. Willis Price, the
latter officer having been;transferred from the screw
steamship Aboukir, 90, one of the Channel squa--
dren, have joined at Woolwich, and are quartered
at the Ship Hotel, where first-class men are daily
applying, but without success. The Trident is com-
missioned for the South American station.
The Triton, Lieut. Commander Robert H. Bur-
ton, from the West Coast of Africa, arrived at
Wo&wich yesterday to be dismantled and paid
off. She sailed from Woolly ich in November, IBV,,
and captured six valuable prizes during the time
she served on the coast. She detained the bark,
Orion, under American colours, and delivered her
up to the United States' ship Marian: The .Orion
was condemned at the Admiralty Court of New
York by Judge Wyldel and repurchased by her
former owners. She was subsequently recaptured
by the Pluto, with a full cargo of slaves on board..
The Triton also boarded and gave information to
the American Commodore of the slaveshipEmily,
which ship was also condemned and sold at New!
York. The Admiralty orders at present in force
for cruisers on the West Coast of Africa forbid the
boardingtfif any vessels under the American flag.
Messii. Napier have been informed that every
accommodation will be afforded them in Victoria
Harbour, Greenock, for putting the machinery on
board the steam ramp„ Black Prince, which they
1113'4i been. constructing fo.T past.
The paddlewheel ste
Ray-
mond, second master, commanding, having coaled
and received supernumeraries, left Plymouth yes-
terday for Queenstown. -
The paddle-wheel stain sloop Geyser, 6, Com-
mander Jackson, having had defects made good at
D evonport, went yesterday afternoon tiOm Hamoaze
into Plymouth Sound. •

-

The screw steam frigate Narcissus, 51, at Devon.
port, has received her spare spars.
So dense was the fog yesterday at Plymouth
that several boats in Hatnoaze lost their way, and
the gunboat Redwing, tender to • the Cambridge,
was obliged to return to the Sound, outside which
she was going for shell practice.
The undermentioned gentlemen have been nomi-
nated to naval cadetships :—George L. Atkinson,
Edward R. Brietzcka, Arthur Blennerhasset, W.
E. Black, William Farr, Robert W. Heathcote,
Edward Padwick locker, N. G. A. Pollard, the
Hon. H. N. Shore, and Edmund B. Wallace.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Ebenezer Clements, promoted
to the rank of chief engineer, and appointed to the
Cumberland for charge of the Horatio ; Mark
Lambert, first-class assist: engineer, to the Banshee;
and Robert H. Dobney, acting second-class assist.-
engineer, to the Cornwallis, for service in the
Sandfly.