The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-31 00:00:00

THE PAPAL STATES.

A letter dated Rimini, Oct. 23, says :—I embrace
the present opportunity of sending you some par-
ticulars about Garibaldi's new staff. During the
campaigns of Varese and Stelvio most of Garibaldi's
officers, especially the staff, were old, well-tried
friends, who had borne arms with him in South
America, or who had fought by his side in Lombardy
and Rome in 18484849. Since the terrible chief-
tain has been entrusted with the command ef the
Tuscan army, he has of course been obliged to have
Tuscan staff officers attached to his person. Some
of the old ones are, however, still near him, such as
his private secretary and two ordely officers. It is
indeed, astonishing what a magnetic influence his
grave and yet gentle countenance, and his musical
voice, exercise over those who are about him. Like
the great warriors of old, Garibaldi is rnerally
simple and mild in his manners, but when the hour
of severity comes—when he appears among his
men with the brim of his cap pulled down over his
stern brows—there is no officer or soldier who would
not rather face the greatest danger than hear the
sound of his angry voice. His manners are of such
a plain and simple character that when he is seen
among his officers nobody would believe that he is
one of the greatest men of our times.

At eight o'clock in the evening the General goes
to bed, and regularly gets up at two o'clock in the
morning. He then reads for two hours some military
book, and at four o'clock he despatches his private
correspondence. At eight o'clock he has his break-
fast, after which he goes into his office to transact
military business. Garibaldi is never seen in
public, except on duty. Even when he wants to
get the fresh air of the sea he rides out of the town,
taking the shortest and quickest way which leads to
the marina. Loaded with stars and medals by more
than one monarch, he never wears any decoration or
distinction whatever, and when he is obliged to wear
his uniform he does it with such nonchalance that
you would scarcely believe that he is the hero of so
many exploits of almost fabulous daring.
On Thursday last the town council of Rimini
sent to Garibaldi the diploma of Patrizio, or, in
other words, made him and his descendants mem-
bers of the nobility of the town. The Patriziato
Riminese is an institution of the middle ages, which
was in later times confirmed when Rimini passed
by sale from the Malatesta family to the Venetians.
It is merely a title, but to have it is considered al-
most a princely honour, for within the memory of
man it has' only been granted to monarchs and
popes. Garibaldi has not accepted it, as he told
the deputation of the town council, on account of
his personal merit, but as an homage to the noble
cause he serves.

The desertion of the Swiss soldiers increasing
every day has decided Gen. Garibaldi to address to
them the following proclamation :
Noble Sons of llelvetia,—lt is not the first time that your
brothers have shed their blood in behalf of the Italian cause ;
as, unhappily, it is not the first time you have been seen to
fight for the oppressors of Italy. Ten years ago our young
vo:unteers were taught by you how to use a musket and to
march to battle.

At Vicenza you formed the select legions of our army, and
you then added new and well deserved lustre to the pro-
verbial bravery of the Swiss warriors.
Believe me, the Italians are decided to maintain the most
complete order, and to keep strictly to the rules generally
adopted in war. They have proved it during recent events.
There has not been an example of an Austrian prisoner or
wouutled ian not being religiously respected by us, whilst

our enemies have at all times shot our prigolrers and Inas-

sacred our unfortunate wounded.

Yes I we will not lay aside the rules of common warfare".;
but if, instead of obtaining the accomplishment of our rights,
as we hope, our enemies unite themselves again to bring us
back to a state of slavery—if the priests think to rule us as
they did so for many centuries past, I cannot then say that

a war of extermination, which will be our last resource, will

not cccur.

We know that you have been deceived, and that you are
still kept under the dishonoured flag of the priests by vain
illusions. We also know that the Italian troops which are
now at your side, instead of fighting against the sacred
cause of their country, will turn their arms against you in
the day of battle. Well, then, we hope that the gallant

descendants of Moral's heroes will never stain their hands

with the blood of a people who are defending the same
cause which was defended by William Tell and your fore-
fathers—the cause of the independence of the country.
Gallant Swiss instead of marching against us, we ex-

pect you to join our ranks. We shall be really proud to
have such fellow-warriors as you are in the forthcoming
battles for liberty. Italy, then full of gratitude, will not
fail to reward you, and your names shall be added to the
sacred ones of her liberators.
(Signed)
21st of October, 1859.

G. GARIBALDI.

A letter from Florence, dated Oct. 25, says :
A wonderful and pleasing sight it is to see this
man Garibaldi, whom the world had set down as
a rough, harsh, and untutored bandit, display as
much sense and tact and genuine manly eloquence
as he ever showed desperate valour in the field.
Garibaldi is a true-born ruler of men, and civil
government may as safely be trusted to his hands
as military rule. I could fill your columns with
public and private letters, proclamations, and orders
of the day, all by him, from all and each of which
it would result, firstly, that Garibaldi never fails to
hit the nail on the head; secondly, that not one
word falling from his lips is suffered to pass un-
heeded—that his voice and his countenance create
a new heart in all who see and hear him.

Truly, the hour and the men have come together,
Italy is everywhere under the orders of leaders who
are well calculated to work out her destinies. No
one, I believe, can charge me with partiality to the
Italians ; on the contrary, I feel sure I have not
spared them the harshest and most unpalatable
truths. But I must say, for truth's sake, if they
have not all the virtues befitting a nation of free
men, neither are they sunk—never will they sink
to the condition of unredeemable slaves. The seeds
of regeneration are teeming in the land, no longer
to be smothered by all the subtleties of one Empe-
ror, or by all the violence of another. Let France,
Austria, and Europe well consider what they are
about. Let them rise for one instant superior to the
paltry chicaneryof diplomatic botching and cobbling.
Italy must live ; it is God's will that Italy should
live. In order that Italy may live, it is absolutely
necessary that Austria should be bought or beaten,
coaxed or kicked, out of Venetia ; it is of the utmost
necessity that the Pope should cease to be a tem-
poral Prince. Is is unavoiable that the King of
Naples should bend or break. The man to whom
Italy is willing to pay hero-worship must be
a hero indeed. Italy is fortunate enough to have
more than one such. Victor Emmanuel, Cavour,
D'Azeglio, Garibaldi, are all men made on the
mould of Plutarch's worthies,—none of them fault-
less, thank Heaven ! but endowed either with that
vastness of brain, or stoutness of heart, or loftiness
of character, which has power to renew the temper
of a nation.
I have often quarrelled with the slackness and
slothfulness of the Italians, with their constitu-
tional indolence, with their unfitness for hardships
and intolerance of discipline. I have rated them
for grovelling selfishness, for want of truth, and the
consequent lack of good trust in one another. Yet,
if the day of action dawn again, if the men I have
mentioned, spurning all the timid counsels of a time-
serving policy, call the people to arms, I feel sure
Italy will, under their guidance, be capable of
magnanimous sacrifices. There will be a generous
fight in Italy, a fight which may end in disaster, but
not in defeat. The principle of Italian nationality
is unquenchable. It was but a spark six and
forty years ago. A quarter of a century of
trampling, far from putting it out, only stirred it
into a blazing conflagration. Villafranca, Zurich,
and Brussels may patch up a peace ; they cannot
give rest to Italy except by a formal and final and
thorough recognition of that principle. Austria
and France must withdraw; the vote of Central
Italy must be recognised; the Pope must be left to
settle accounts with his subjects ; and if the Catho-
' lie Powers must needs have a Pontiff, and a Save-
' reign Pontiff, they must provide Pius IX. or his
successor with a new See and a new Sovereignty.
I think I have always faithfully represented the
state and disposition of men's minds in these pro-
vinces. I feel convinced that, if ever the restoration
of the Central Italian Princes and the recovery
of the Legations by the Papal Government are
definitely resolved upon, the day in which such
an arrangement is carried into effect, no matter by
what means, will change those gentle, orderly, and
civilised communities into as many dens of wild
beasts.

There is among the recent publications of the
Modena Gazette a document which may well chal-
lenge the attention of the most heedless reader, as
it refers to a shocking abuse of power to which
many unhappy beings yet living and breathing are
at the present moment victims. T allude to the list
of prisoners now groaning in the dungeons of Man-
tua, whether they were conveyed by the T)uke of
Modena at the time of his ignominous flight from
his States on the 14th, 18th, and 22d of April last.
The prisoners are eighty in number, and are
mostly charged with political offences. The Duke
and the Austrian organs attached to his inte-
rests either stoutly denied the fact altogether, or
contended that the number of these unfortunate
captives was greatly exaggerated, and insisted that
the " eight or ten" who had actually been de-
livered over to the Austrian gaolers were by no
means State offenders, but common criminals,
guilty, some of them, of the savage murder of a
priest. The names and condition of the prisoners
appear now in print, and the assertions of the pre-
sent Modenese Government are supported by such
documents as not even the Allycnzeine Zeitung will
have the effrontery to impugn. But, admitting
also that the prisoners thus treated were only eight
or ten, or only one, and that one convicted of the
most heinous offences, by what national or inter-
national law can prisoners be conveyed, be it for
judgment or be it for punishment, beyond the limits
of the State which in their alleged offences were
committed?
" History will judge," I shall conclude with the
Modena Gazette," The conduct of a Prince who,
foreseeing the necessity he would soon be in of
abandoning his own States, took with him his poli-
tical prisoners, as if to solace himself in his exile
by the exercise of sovereignty, though it were
limited to the precincts of the gaol !"