The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-02 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF (JAETA.

A letter from Mole di Gaeta, of Dec. 27, says—
Should your readers look upon our siege operations
as a kind of Penelope's web, which is always said
to be approaching completion and never attains it,
they would, at least in appearance, be not far wrong.
Two months have already elapsed since we came to
this damp and dirty hole of Mole, and the much
talked of bombardment has not yet begun in
thorough earnest. Almost every day one hears
some such gossip as this—" Our fire will most
positively open about the end of next week." The
week passes, however, and the " most positively" is
again adjourned. But though public expectation
has been so often deluded, I think that it will now
be so no longer. The great event is now positively
announced for the sth or the 7th of January, and
everything leads me to believe that General Mena-
brea will keep his word. Yesterday morning a new
battery set up on Monte Cortola began its practice
at 3,000 yards, and drove away the gunners of the
enemy's battery opposite, after about 200 rounds.
The Sardinian engineers every now and then seeing
something to be gained by the erection of a work or
battery at some point or other, set about the task
with an activity which can only be appreciated by
those who are here to witness the daily difficulties
they have to contend with. If, therefore, there
has been a long delay in the completion of the
work, it must be mainly attributed to the impossi-
bility of getting sooner from Genoa the material
for carrying on a siege. The storms which at this
season of the year prevail in the Mediterranean
make it almost impossible for the steamers to arrive
when they aro expected. Accordingly five of the
vessels directed to these shores are due, and they
are loaded with Cavern's guns, carriages, platforms,
powder, shot, shell, gabions, fascines, scaling
ladders, and other siege materials. Our engineers,
if not quite so numerous as they ought to be, are
active and energetic, but the work they have in
hand is of a magnitude to fully account for the
time they take in completing it.
Meanwhile it is gratifying to observe that the
besieging army, severely tried as it is both by the
continuous throwing up of earth works and by bad
weather, is in the enjoyment of The
good health.
men who were sent down to Capua to recover from
disease or wounds are coming back as jolly and
fresh as when they arrived here from the Marches,
and resume their work with that good humour
which is one of the prominent characteristics of
Italian Soldiery. The huts, or rather tents, which
have been provided for them, afford as great an
amount of comfort as can be expected by an army
which is obliged to bivouac in the open air. Pro-
visions are in abundance at the camp, and it must
be confessed that the soldiers occasionally add to
their stores by assuming the ownership of some
stray fowl which is wandering about in the fields,
or of some bottled wine which has been forgotten
in the cellar of an abandoned villa. The other day
a young captain of engineers happened to pass
thro ugh the courtyard of a casino which had been
abw.ndoned by the landlord, a certain count who
hr.% followed the fortunes of Francis 11. The
casino, which stands on a height opposite the
'Regina battery, had been abandoned by the count
since the beginning of the siege ; there was no
mistake about it ; the young captain knew it.
What therefore was his astonishment on hearing
the noise of a hammer coming from the inner part
of the ground floor. It could not surely be the
landlord or any of his servants. They wero at
Gaeta. The young officer hastened to the place,
the gate of which was wide open, and called out
Who is there " Presently two bersaglieri
came up, and the officer inquired the cause of the
hammering, Nothing, sir,"—ltalians when found

in fault never fail to begin their answer with that
word—" Nothing, sir ; we happened to pass here,
and have just been having a look at the :casino.'
" Well, then ?" added the captain. " Well, we have
broken open the cellar and found some bottles of
Capri wine, in which we shall drink your health.
On the captain remarking that marauding in a
friendly country was not permitted, the bersaglieri
seemed to think all objections obviated by their
promising that after they had removed all the
bottles they could find, they would " shut the door
of the cellar as it was before."
The French papers have of late spoken of an
address of thanks sent by the ladies of Mantua to
the Countess of Shaftesbury, who, as you know,
presides over the committee of the Garibaldi Relief
Fund. I have been enabled to get a copy of the
document, which by this time will have probably
reached its destination. Addresses are very easily
written and sent when they are drawn up in a free
country, but there is always a certain amount of
danger in getting them up under the Argus eyes of
the Austrian police. This danger, however, did not
prevent the noble demonstration of the Mantuan
ladies, who are perhaps the most patriotic of Italy.
Here is the address:—

Mesdames,--Our tarn has arrived, and we feel it our duty
to add our thanks to those which the rest of the women of
our dear fatherland have already addressed to you. You,
we feel certain, will accept them with that kindliness which
is the first attribute of a generous mind. Not from to•day
dates the debt of gratitude which the mothers, the sisters,
and the wives of Italy have owed to the women of England.
History, unfortunately, commenced in 1821 to register the
names of those Italian patriots towhom your powerful coun-
try has given a generous asylum. Those of our children,
brothers, and husbands who have returned have not failed to
tell us what gratitude they owe to the women of your country.
But the debt of gratitude thus contracted was increased on
that day on which, by the boldness of an Italian general and
the patriotism of Victor Emmanuel, the despotic power of the
Bourbons was for ever annihilated in the peninsula. It
was then that you took thought of our brave wounded of
Calatafimi, of.Melazzo, and of the Volturno. It was then
that you employed your generous influence in order that
the love of Italy should be redoubled in this classical land
of liberty. Unfortunately for us, we women of Mantua
have nothing to offer you but our gratitude—the only sen-
timent, united with that of love for our country, which the
Austrians have not succeeded in forbidding us the use of.
But, believe us, that sentiment will never decrease, and
this it will be our duty to prove to you in the day of our
deliverance.