The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-28 00:00:00

peninsula or headland, lies the town. The mount
and the town constitute the whole stronghold,
which has no outworks beyond the isthm
The Neapolitans, who had made so poo, a defence
of Mola on the first onset, ashamed, per aps, of the
manner in which they had yielded their ground before
such disproportionate forces, venturneri on an attack
of the Piedmontese, but were repulse i without diffi-
culty; they crossed the isthmus for the last time,
and allowed their adversaries to take possession
of the whole range of the hills facing the fortress,
as well as of the Borgo, or suburb which, beginning
almost immediately across the isthmus at little
more than 50 or 60 metres from the town gate,
stretches for more than a mile along the sea lining
the bay, and also of an old Roman monument, called
the Torre Adratina, somewhat in the shape of Castel
St. Angelo and Cecilia Metella, a round and mouldy
mass, not unlike a Dutch cheese, but still whole
and solid, not to be battered by cannon. These
positions, the existence of which ought to have been
considered incompatible with the safety of the place,
as they interfered with the free play of its artil-
lery, were taken by the Piedmontese at the very
beginning of the siege, and never relinquished. The
Bersaglieri and other light troops were stationed
in the houses all along the Borgo, the very foremost
of which, although greatly damaged, are still stand-
ing, with those very doors and windows which
served as loopholes for the besiegers to a great ex-
tent unscathed. The siege, therefore, was from the
earliest period reduced to a kind of duel between
the two parties merely separated by the isthmus—
the besiegers, who held the Borgo and the whole
range of the hills that command it, and the be-
sieged, whose domains were limited to the town
and the Roland's Mount, at the base of which it lies.
At the very outset, however, on the side of the
Monte Orlando, the town, and all its bastions were
lined with batteries armed with no less than 400
cannon ; while, on the other side, the ground occu-
pied by the besiegers was wild aid bleak, and almost
entirely impervious. The Borgo was open, and its
buildings of the slenderest and most wretched de-
scription. At the close of the siege the piedmontese
had constructed no less than '49 miles of capital
roads. They had reared batteries on three successive
lines on the hills; they had unmasked other bat-
teries at different points along shore in the Borgo ;
they had mounted at least 80 rifled cannon, and had
advanced their works close on the border of the
sandy isthmus. The fortress, on the other hand, its
bastions and batteries had been to a great extent
put hors de combat ; a great many of the houses in
the town were a mass of ruins, and the capitulation
only anticipated by a few days the fall of the place,
which would infallibly have been taken by storm,
and entered through the breach.
The headquarters of General Cialdini were per-
manently situate here at Mola di Gaeta, a distance
of about 5,000 metres across the bay to Gaeta, out
of range altogether of the guns of the fortress, though
two of the powerful Cavalli cannon, reared at a few
yards from the house where I am writing, sent
their terrible projectiles into and even beyond the
town. From Mola the first attempt to construct a
battery was made at Monte Cristo, a hill on the
right of the besiegers' line, about 190 metres above
the sea level, and consequently overtopping by
about 2.3 metres the summit of the Torre d'Or-
lando, the culminating point within the beleaguered
stronghold. The battery on Monte Cristo did not
seem very efficient, and more deliberate and high-
finished works were constructed on Monte Tortono,
at a height of 148 metres—a height placed at great
advantage over the highest of the town batteries,
as the Batteria Regina, half way up the Monte
d'Orlando, is only 80 metres high. Subsequently
the Piedmontese reared a second very long line on
Monte Lombone, 109 metres, and Cappuccini, 67
metres, by which they found themselves more on a
level with their adversaries in the same measure as
they neared them. The first parallel on Monte
Tortono was placed at about 3,500 metres from the
fortress. The Cappuccini-hill was hardly at half
the distance. A third line was begun and partly
achieved almost on the border of the isthmus, be-
ginning at the Roman round building called Torre
Atratina, 39 metres, and descending to Arena Rossa,
24 metres, almost on a level with the sand. Some
of the Cavalli guns, each of which requires at least
twenty-four hours to place it in position, only
opened their fire on the last day of the struggle,
and the eve of the capitulation. Besides these three
lines of batteries on the hills, the besiegers had laid
batteries along the shore in the Borgo, at Albano,
Abzano, and San Martino.
It is needless to observe that if the fortress of
Gaeta, which cost King Ferdinand so much money
and care, had been built according to the common
rules and usages of war, clearing the ground before
it, so far as the range f its cannon extended, the
Piedmontese could not so easily have lodged them-
selves in the Borgo, the Torre Atratina, and the
other points on the hills, where, behind walls and
buildings, and sheds of every description, they were
able to work entirely unseen, and perfectly undis-
turbed. It was also extremely fortunate for the
Piedmontese that, notwithstanding the numbers of
the besieged, they never, during so long a time, ven-
tured on any sally, so that they never had any
knowledge of their adversaries' movements and
operations, and fired at random here and there with-
out any definite aim or object, in no instance im-
peding or even retarding those works which were
in the end to consummate their ruin. Some of the
batteries in the Borgo were constructed inside
houses which were exposed to the point blank fire
of the place at an insignificant distance ; yet the
whole work proceeded undisturbed behind the
flimsy wall which masked them, and the first hint
the Bourbon troops had of it was in the shape of the
heavy projectiles which shattered their marine bat-
teries.
It has been said, and not perhaps unreasonably,
that the Neapolitan gunners fired well; they could,
it seems, aim correctly, and fire away with spirit,
but there was no method or plan in their cannon-
ade ; they were at a loss to tell on what point their
efforts could lead to the best, or indeed to any re-
sults ; their fire was vague and desultory; it was
inefficient even to leven with the ground or seri-
ously to injury any of the houses in the Borgo, and
I could see but few traces of their missiles among
the batteries on the hills, hardly any on the high
and distant Monte Tortono, and but little of any
consequence even on the heavier and more invul-
nerable Monte dei Cappuccini.
There is no doubt that Gaeta laboured in this
contest under the great disadvantage of inferior
weapons; the Piedmontese opposed by land only
150 cannon and mortars to the 400 guns which
lined the batteries of the fortress, but 80 of the
besiegers' guns, as I said, were rifled ; and the
Neapolitans, whatever may have been said to the
contrary, had hardly any of these modern contri-
vances within the place, and the few rifled pieces
they attempted to cast, or those they received as
presents from their friends, were hardly ready in
time and availed them but little. The Piedmon-
tese were will armed and used their weapons to
good purpose; but men well versed in the subject
speak rather disparagingly of the Cavalli guns; their
fire is, indeed. tremendous, but tle amount of iron
plates by which they are blindes, or made invul-
nerable, has been found unwieldy, difficult to near
in sight of and within reach of the enemy's fire (as
it takes at least 24 hours to mount one piece), per-
fectly useless otherwise, and by no means safe
against the casualties of heavy projectiles falling
upon them. Several men serving one of those pieces
were killed by the fragments of a shell exploding
against the plate and forcing its way through the
embrasure,
All difference in the respective means of attack
and defence was, however, of little importance if we
mind the tem p
side.
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fboantrhours along the works of the besiegers I must say
that I have been perfectly amazed at the activity
and energy displayed by trio troops in so short a
time and with comparatively such limited means.
The besieging army at no time exceeded the num-
ber of about 15,000 men, and not more than one-
third of the number could be turned out daily in
fatigue parties. With these means not only did
they make more than 20 English miles of most ex-
cellent roads in a hilly, rocky country, and construct
three long lines of batteries, earthworks, trenches,
camps and magazines, and all contrivances belong.
ing to such enterprises, but they found leisure to
house themselves in neat and tasteful mud or stone
huts, with fenced gardens, painted and glazed walls,
quaint picturesque gables, and every device by
which they could make themselves at home in the
camp. I myself am no judge whatever of military
matters, but I believe what I am told, that the
Italian Engineers are more precise and particular as
to the finish and solidity of their works than either
the French or any other military nation. Indeed,
it would seem that this fastidiousness is carried
rather too far; that it wastes precious time, and
gives the works rather an over-tidy, finnikin ap-
pearance. The result is, however, highly pleasing,
and must prove most satisfactory in the long run;
and I must say that all I saw here struck me as the
ne plus ultra of military taste, elegance, and prac-
tical ingenuity.
Those of your English connoisseurs who visited
the Sardinian camp in the Crimea were delighted
with the care bestowed by the common soldiers on
their quarters, so as to procure, even to so tempo-
rary a dwelling as a mud cabin, all the comforts
and even luxuries that circumstances would allow.
The fact is these men are trained to look upon con-
stant employment as the main duty and the only
resource of their calling • and when at rest from
their road or trench work they contrive to rid
themselves of the ennui of their long day by im-
proving and embellishing their situation. The
Italian troops, like the French, are drawn by con-
scription, recruited among the ranks of agricul turista