The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-26 00:00:00

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Si ATE OF NAPLES.

A letter Trot ii Naples, dated Jan. 19, says :—Had
any one, 1 ein ; a stranger to the ignorance and
superstiti .ons of this population, entered Naples on
Thursda y night, )J.e would have opened his eyes
and ask' ad whethe r the inhabitants had been turned
out of 1 louse and home and were bivouacking before
fires in. the strev its, or whether a second edition of
the riots of Vac summer was being enacted. Large
piles, forme drof all the old furniture and disposable
timber of file capital, were blazing away at every
street corner, and men were feeding them with con-
tributio'as in the form of chairs, tables, and any-
thing, an fact, which was past domestic use. Crowds
clustered round, and hundreds of those little mortars
which are the pest of all quiet-loving people were
banging away in all directions, until your new
arrival might well have been excused had he thought
the people had gone stark mad. But who that lives
here did not know that it was the Feast of St.
Antonio, the God of Fire, the God of the horse, the
donkey, and of every four-footed beast ?
At the head of all these tomfooleries, here re-
garded as religious observances, are that large and
powerful body, the priesthood. They have been
carrying the silver image of the Saint round the
city, stopping at favoured spots to permit the offer-
ings of money, fruits, every kind of eatable, and of
the kisses and the slobbering of women and imbe-
ciles. Fathers of families put confetti into the
mouth of the Saint, and thence transfer them to the
mouths of their wives and children as preservatives
against fire, and so the people are trained in that
spiritual life which so well fills the pockets of the
clergy under the excuse of saving the souls of
the believers. From the slight picture which I
have drawn it must be clear to the blind that
the great enemies of progress and of civilization,
and therefore of the new order of things, must
be the priests, whom it will be impossible to con-
ciliate, inasmuch as their interests are at stake.
It has been the policy of the late Ministry, and
especially of the Minister of Ecclesiastical
Affairs, to hold out the olive branch to these men,
but depend upon it that it will be always rejected,
and that It will be true wisdom to cease from
making efforts which are only laughed at.
I see that the Archbishop of Acerenza and Ma-
tera has sent orders to his clergy to celebrate a Ts
Dom and offer up prayers for the ex-Royal Fa-
mily. Leaving, however, these impracticable per-
sons, let me say a few words as to the elections.
There is a complaint that many whose right, not
claim, to vote has been admitted have neglected to
take out a certificate of that claim, which seems to
be necessary to enable them to register their votes.
Of course, this neglect can be attributed to one of
two motives only, indifference or timidity, senti-
ments whieh I believe divide a considerable pro-
portion of the population. The speedy return of
Francis 11. has been so positively prophesied that
not a few have the fullest expectation of seeing him
again, and I have been asked by several what my
real opinion on the subject is. Such persons, of
course, have much hesitation in taking any step
which might compromise them, as the persecutions
and barbarities which were inflicted on the Liberals
after 1848 are still remembered with fear and
trembling. " What would become of us if Fran-
cisco were to return ?" These words will express
what many feel. The greater proportion of the
people, however, are utterly indifferent to the elec-
tions, don't understand what they mean, and aro
far more interested in securing a dish of maccaroni
than in sending a man to Turin. They are the few,
the heads of parties, the Comitati alone, who take
any interest in these matters, and they are active
and energetic enough.
The Ministerial crisis has passed, and the official
journal of yesterday morning announced of what
elements the Ministry is formed. They are—
, Liborio Romano .. Interior, Agriculture, In-

dustry, and Commerce.
D'Avosso .. Grace and Justice.
Mancini .. .. Ecclesiastical Affairs.
Imbriani .. Public Instruction.
Spaventa • . Police.
La Terza .. Finance.
Obertz .. Public Works.
I believe great difficulty was experienced in
forming this Ministry, and that it would have been
composed in another manner but for refusals on
the most insufficient and ridiculous grounds. The
great stumbling-block now, in public opinion, is
Spaventa, who rendered himself most unpopular by
his illegal arrest of Libertueci, an illegality felt to
be the greater by a large party here for the reason
that he was at one time a Republican himself, and
has now turned round to the opposite pole. So
strong was the feeling against his remaining in office
that a deputation of the National Guard waited on
Cavaliere Nigra, and begged that he might be re-
moved from office, but Nigra replied that it was
too late. There seem, however, to be obvious
reasons for his remaining in office, as he is a good
organiser, is making an effective body of police,
and holds in his hands all the threads of the Bour-
bon conspiracy which he has discovered. But I
doubt much whether he will be permitted to con-
tinue in office. Mancini, who takes a high stand at
the Turin bar, is a man of eminent talents, and,
from his hostility to the priesthood, will deal with
them with a firm hand, Imbriani was in office in
1848, and is a man of high character. La Terza has
acted for some years as the director of an assurance
society, in which he has shown great probity, much
administrative capacity, and without any preten-
sions to be a financier, may manage to keep things
together until Parliament meets. The same may
be said of Obertz, who has acted here, I think, as
a military engineer, Romano's plan of action I
believe will he to provide for the first and material
wants of the people, without troubling himself about
theories of goverament, and so far he is right. Of
the 10,000,000 lire decreed two or three days since
by Victor Emmanuel for the use of the Neapolitan
provinces, he will appropriate 5,000,000 to the
construction of roads, and another 5,000,000 to or-
ganising and providing the National Guard through-
out the country. I doubt much, however, whether
Romano will maintain his popularity here, or, in
deed, any one that could fill his office. The Nea

politans are the most impracticable people on the
face of the earth—criticise everything and do
nothing.

At last the French fleet have left. At all events,
a letter from the French Admiral arrived here yes-
terday for a high naval authority, bidding him
adieu, and announcing his intention of leaving the
waters of Gaeta to-day. The work will now, then,
begin in earnest. Admiral Persano, and all the
disposable force, will go up at once, and the bom-
bardment from the sea will commence without any
delay. There are those who are of opinion that,
while it will take a long time to breach the fortress
on the land side, the work will be not so easy from
the sea as is by many imagined. Great numbers
of foreigners have gone up to witness the opera-
tions, and the Princess, which has been taken up
by the Government and has been carrying up
ammunition for some time, starts to-day at two
o'clock with many amateurs, who pay 1.5 f. for the
trip there and back. She will return on Monday.
The agitation is still great in the Abruzzi, and it is
rather on the increase. On Tuesday night the
telegraph brought intelligence that Lieutenant-
General Luvera, in the service of Francis IL, had
entered the Neapolitan territory near Torre del
Arco with 3,000 men. As you may see, it is not
far from Frosinone. He sent a message to General
'lntent, who In in command there, ordering hinr to
surrender at dt, eretion, or he would put those
under his command to the edge of the sword.
Pinelli, in answer, dared him to advance. Luvera's
troops then engaged with the outposts of his
antagonist, who was obliged to retire in conse•
quence of the inferiority of numbers, and a message
was sent to Naples requesting assistance. In fact,
on Tuesday night General De Sonnaz left this
capital with a brigade, and Cialdini despatched a
ba' tery of artillery from Gaeta. Sonnaz has issued
orders to give no quarter, but to shoot every man
that is taken, and I am already assured that several
hundred taken in arms have been thus treated.
The necessity is a horrible one, but still it is a
necessity, and one which has been created by the
Emperor of the French, who has allowed time for
the Bourbonites to conspire in the Papal States and