The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-26 00:00:00

NAPLES.

A letter from Naples, dated Feb. 19, says :—" I
was unable in my letter of yesterday to send you
more than a digest of the decrees affecting ecclesias-
tical matters, yet others remain which must at least
be noted. The publication of the constitutional
statute of the Italian Monarchy of the 4th March,
1848, is ordered to be made in Gaeta and the neigh-
bourhood, and the fall of that fortress is to be cele-
brated by the supension of the action of the law for
all political offences, and the pardon of all who have
been condemned for political offences up to this day.
The report of the Legislative Commission is not
yet published, but following out its recom-
mendations, the civil laws, the laws of
civil procedure, those touching commercial affairs,
and the law of expropriation now in vigour will
remain so until uniform codes and laws for the
whole of Italy shall have been drawn up by the
National Parliament. With regard to criminal
laws the penal code of the `zOth of November, 1859,
actually in force in the ancient States of his
Majesty, as also the code of penal procedure of the
same date, will come into operation on the Ist of
July. 1 RRI _

A great number of other and admirable mea-
sures have been signed by the Lieutenant-Gene-
ral, and, if all were executed, the country would
shortly assume a vastly different appearance—
but the difficulty is in getting them carried
into execution. Corruption and feebleness charac-
terize every branch of the Administration, and I
must confess that I have little hope of full justice
being done to the intentions of the Government
until we have a foreign element introduced here
to give a more energetic impulse to administrative
action. I could name many measures, passed
several months since, which are still a dead letter,
and which will continue to be so. Our primary
schools and infant asylums are still to be, and,
though the beggars were swept off by a decree
for two or three days, they now swarm as
much as ever, and stumps of limbs and can-
cerous faces, and every disgusting form of
human ill meets one in every corner. It is with
much anxiety, therefore, that I wait to see how
the ecclesiastical decrees will be carried out. I
fear that we have not the instruments here to do
justice to them. The changes which they introduce
involve the greatest revolution which has ever been
known in this country, and to be successful demand
a strong
Government—strong in physical and
moral force.

Yesterday the short line of railway from Sarno te
Santa Severina was opened with great festivity.
There were present his Royal Highness the Prince
Carignano, the Cavaliers Nigra, several of the Mi-
nisters, and most of the civil and military authori-
ties. Invitations, too, were sent to all the gentle.
men of the press. Throughout the line and at the
extremity vast crowds had assembled, notwith-
standing that the rain poured down in torrents,
there being present among them about 10,000 of the
National Guard from the surrounding districts, and
upwards of 500 priests. As the benediction had
already been given, we may regard this as a political
demonstration on the part of the clergy in favour of
the present Government. There is a tunnel on this
line which was construeted by M. Verdinoisin seven
months and a-half, measuring 1,450 palms in extent.
A splendid buffet had been provided by the
managers of the railway. From what I hear there
has been a succession of festivities in Palermo.
Never was 611011 !X brilliant Carnival, never such
brilliant balls, and those of the Prince Butera and
Count Demerita are especially spoken of. The
new s of the fall of Gaeta drove the people to mad-
ness of delight.

Two thousand of Franeis IL's soldiers have been
sent into quarters in Capri, and 400 Piedmontese
are lodged among the inhabitants as a guard. A
report prevails in town that Messina has capitulated,
but up to this hour nothing is known in official
quarters of such a fact. The Governor had, indeed,
refused to surrender. From Gaeta an official re-
port has just been received, which states that
11,000 prisoners have been taken, from 700 to 800
cannon, and 60,000 muskets.

All Naples is delighted at the ecclesiastical de-
cree, but the largeness of the measure has struck
every one with astonishment, and it must take a
little time to recover from the surprise. There will
be a demonstration this evening in favour of
Ministers.