The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-08 00:00:00

STA TE OF _R 0 .11E.

The following is an extract from a private letter,
dated April 30 :—" The party in power are becom-
ing more violent and persecuting every day, encou-
raged in this by the numerous French and Neapoli-
tan visitors and emigrants. As regards the former,
they represent exactly what Coblentz was in for-
mer days, Rome being now the centre of a well-
organised Legitimist conspiracy, the object of
which is to upset, at any price or risk, the pre-
sent order of things in France. I am afraid Napo-
leon 111. does not attach as much importance to
the doings of his disaffected subjects in Rome as
they deserve, though fraught with danger to him
and his dynasty.
" There is little chance of the King of Naples
leaving Rome, if not absolutely forced to do so ; in-
deed, so far is such from his intentions, that he has
taken a palace at Albano, 15 miles nearer the Nea-
politan frontier, where all his ex-court and the
numerous hangers-on attached to his Majesty are
about to repair, to plot and intrigue, and to foment
insurrection, massacre, and pillage in the provinces
bordering on the Roman territory. lamat a loss
to imagine how Napoleon permits the protection of
France being here again applied to such a discre-
ditable service.

" In my last letter I mentioned what had taken
place connected with Dr. Pantaleone's brutal ex-
pulsion, entirely the result of Pius IX.'s own
unchristian and uncharitable vengeance ; but I
was not prepared for the extension of that same
vindictive feeling towards his wife, as you know
a British subject, and her innocent children. Ma-
dame Pantaleone, having been obliged to remain
for some time after her husband's departure, to wind
up his affairs (she leaves to join him to-day),
applied for her passport to the police, consider-
ing herself and her children Roman subjects. In
reply, she received a written message from Mon-
signor Metteucci, stating that to obtain a pass-
port she must attend personally at the police-
office, an indignity seldom inflicted on a lady,
and there sign a declaration that she would under
no circumstances return to Rome without making
a special written application and receiving per-
mission, this condition having been imposed on
the Minister of Police, as he confessed, by a spe-
cial order he bad received from Cardinal Anto-
neili soon after Pantaleone's departure, and the
object of this being evidently to bar Madame Pan-
taleone's return on a future day with an English
passport, which, as a British subject, she is fully
entitled to do. Having taken her place in the
steamer she could not put off her departure, and
was therefore obliged to accept the passport under
the discreditable condition exacted, but under
a formal protest on the part of herself and the
friend who accompanied her to Monsignor Mat-
teucci's office. But this unworthy persecution did
not end here. Some of her Italian friends wished
to accompany her to Civita Vecchia to afford her
the protection necessary for a young and handsome
woman and three young children, one an infant.
Would you believe that the permission to do so was
refused,—one to a very learned ecclesiastic, a Pied-
montese by birth, and another to the physician of
her children, one of whom, being threatened with
croup, required much attention ? In the first case,
that of the padre, I was told that the police knew
the object of his journey to the seaport ; in the
second, Dr. L— was flatly refused, and told, after
Madame Pantaleone had sailed, there would be no
objection to his going at any time be chose. I have
good reason for believing that all this petty vexa-
tion comes from the highest personage in the coun-
try, to whom the name of the hon. deputy for Mace-
rata is hateful in the extreme.
"In the meantime crime is on the increase. On
Friday last Signor Angelini, a man well known to
me, was stopped at 8 p.m. in the Via da Capo le
CM; and 4 Y4lll4ble watch and. chAin, With 41114 c

m ney he had upon him, taken as he was entering
the door of his own house ; the conscientious assas-
sin, however, gave him back his rosary, which he
had produced among his valuables. On Sunday I
witnessed a scene quite characteristic of the system
we live under. Two fellows had a dispute close to
the Piazza di Spagna ; one drew his knife and
plunged it into his adversary, and ran away pur-
sued by Gendarmes (Papal), when, darting into the
church of Et. Andre delle Frate, the Gendarmes
were stopped in their pursuit, it being a crime to
pursue a malefactor into a sacred edifice. The fel-
low got into the adjoining convent, and, of course,
escaped, thanks to this precious right of asylum.
" I went for a couple of days lately to Piumicino,
at the mouth of the Tiber, where the Pope has a
large villa, which I found filled with 200 of the
worst class of Neapolitan and Sicilian refugees,
mostly police agents, including, I was told, the
executioner at Palermo. To each man the Pope
gives 15 bajocchi, to the wives and children 71, so
that they are infinitely better off than the labouring
and hardworking population of the neighbourhood.
"Distress is on the increase, and I greatly fear
there will be excessive misery during the summer,
when there are no longer strangers to give em-
ployment, and when the great Roman families go
out of town, and many of whom will leave Italy
altogether for Paris.
"We have nothing of any importance in respect
to archaeological discovery. Excavations on the
site of the villa of the Gordians, in the Via Labi-
cane, near the Torre dei Schiavi, have led to the
discovery of a Roman pavement in mosaic ; a similar
mosaic but of a better artistical period, has been
dug out beyond the Porta Porteses, where the fine
statue of Venus, now in Russia, was discovered two
years ago. The excavations at Ostia are progress-
ing slowly, not more than 20 galley slaves being
employed upon them; except a rude mosaic in a
niche of a man and a dog, nothing of any interest.
has turned up.

'• In speaking of the extension of crime I have
omitted to mention a curious instance of the inse-
curity of person and property in Rome. Three
nights ago the Tuscan Minister, the Marchese Bar-
gagli, was awoke from his slumbers by a stout
resolute robber, holding a poinard at his throat,
and enforcing absolute silence, and the usual,
"Deliver up, or you are a dead man," which he was
obliged to do to the tune of 500 dollars, the thief
retiring quietly. No one knew how he had effected
his entry into the Palace of the Tuscan Legation
(Palazzo di Tirenze). On the day after a certain
fashionable Jesuit confessor called on Bargagli,
bringing back all the money hee had been robbed of
save 25 pauls, which the fellow had spent before
compunction of conscience led him to confession."

CHBD if N.

A letter from Beaune of the 4th inst. says :
" Mr. Cobden, returning from Algeria, has ar-
rived in Burgundy with the Count do Pina. He is
occupying himself in collecting the necessary in-
formation for the elucidation of the important ques-
tion of a fixed import duty on French wines in Eng-
land. Mr. Cobien, during his residence with M.
Serre, at Meursault, saw all the principal men of
the country, and heard a statement of the legiti-
mate complaints and claims of the proprietors and
dealers. He is quite convinced of the justice of our
demands, and appears disposed to support them."

The Algiers journals publish the following letter
from Mr. Cobden, wrtten before leaving Algeria to
one of the principal landowners in the colony
" Algiers, April 22.

" Dear Sir—l deeply regret not having had the
opportunity of seeing you again before my depar-
ture, which is fixed for to-morrow, weather permit-
ting. I shall be able to speak highly of Algeria
without doing violence to my conscience. God has
endowed this country with everything necessary-
for its prosperity. Its climate, soil, and geographi-
cal position—everything, in fact, justifies the hope
that these coasts of Africa will hereafter become no
less rich and populous than they were in ancient
times, as proved by the majestic ruins I have visited.
Only, in order to triumph over malarial obstacles,
as in the struggles after truth in the religious and
moral world, unfortunately there must be martyrs,
among whom you will allow me to count yourself.
The only consolation I can offer is, that you have
laboured for the happiness and welfare of future
gc..v.rati... Qtal thorn arse snout tl,inPq to be done
even in our own time, and I think that you may
console yourself with the hope that the hardest trials
are over, and that the colony will henceforth rapidly
advance in the path of improvement. Be assured
that I shall never miss any opportunity of express-
ing my opinions as to the advantages and require-
ments of your colony. Among its wants is the
assurance that we shall have no war with France.
I have heard Englishmen here, when discussing the
question of investing capital in Algeria, reason
thus • —' Should there be war between England: and
France, the English fleet would perhaps intercept
communications, and perhaps the native tribes
would revolt,' &e. But these chimerical apprehen-
sions will by degrees disappear, and I labour to that
end. I trust that you will this year witness a
change in the regulations of the ports, which will
give greater liberty to commerce. Free entrance
for capital and facilities for purchasing and occupy-
ing land—such is the programme for a colony. I
shall live in hopes of seeing you again.
" Accept, dear sir, the assurance of my most sin-
cere esteem, " It. COBDRN."