The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-17 00:00:00

- ‘z )

;v.( k;; :V
STATE OF THING IS I VVOTYr
17 `' -
- • 0.,,,.. : , , = ~.

The following is an extract of a letter dated-A- S
lermo, Oct. 20 :—" The rejoicings with which we
celebrated on the 4th of July the tidings of the
victory of :Solferino filled the police with
alarm, and from that day we have lived in
the midst of arrests, transportations, domiciliary
visits, and severities of every description. Since
the end of September, however, the violence and
suspicions of the Government havebecome a perfect
frenzy. It would be impossible for me to enume-
rate the names of all those who have been im-
prisoned or persecuted within the last three weeks,
or are at this moment fugitives or in concealment.
It seems now an established rule with the police
that, when a person is sought for or not forth-
coming, his whole family are to be imprisoned,
without reference to age,, sex, or state of health.
Those arrests are effected with much brutality. A
little girl of 12 years old, belonging to the Cristina
family, was seriously. mounded by a pistol shot to
make her desist from crying. The wife of Bodala-
menti was dealt with in the same manner for the
same offence, and now lies in great danger. A poo
woman was suckling her infant when her house
was suddenly invaded by the gensdarmes, who tore
the child from her, and threatened it should die of
hunger unless she revealed where her husband had
concealed himself. Ido not stop to tell you of the
cruel tortures inflicted on the prisoners to make
them confess crimes of which they are often inno-
cent; nor of the domineering insolence of the
troops. Everything betrays a desire to provoke.
an insurrectionary movement, which, with every
conceivable advantage of numbers, arms and forti-
fications, the Neapolitans think it will prove easy to
suffocate in blood. The director and commissaries
of police, as if in momentary apprehension of being
attacked, no longer sleep in their houses, and large
bodies of military are often encamped for nights
together in the streets and squares flanked by ar-
tillery. Indeed, our actual condition has become
so terrible and insupportable that despair will pre-
cipitate us into some fearful enterprise. An indi-
cation of this can too surely be traced in recent
events, events which you moat ibserve did not pre-
cede but followed the iniquitous violence of the
police. On the night of the 11th inst. a handful of
men presented themselves at the village of Villa-
bate, about four miles from Palermo, and endea-
voured to disarm the Guarda Urbana, a sort of
auxiliary to the police there stationed. After a
skirmish, in which gendarmes and troops took a
share they succeeded in retiring to the mountains,
leaving only one of their number mortally wounded.
Next day, the 12th, a proclamation appeared from
the Lieutenant-General ef the garrison, giving his
own version of this affray as solely attributable to
a gang of thieves and disturbers of public order ; at
the same time he intimated to all good citizens that
they must give up the firearms and other weapons
which the Government had hitherto authorised
them to keep. Observe here the contradiction. A
favoured few, considered even by the Government
orderly and respectable citizens, had enjoyed, by
special permission, the priN ilege of possessing a fow-
ling-piece or a hunting-knife, yet now, while in-
formed that public safety is in danger, they are
deprived of means of protecting their persons
or property, even in the remotest country districts.
The whole island is now agitated by anxiety forthe
fate of those "ave spirits who, inpelled by the de-
sire of rescuing their country, have rushed headlong
into danger. It is rumoured that they are strength-
ening themselves in the mountains and that num-
bers are flocking to their standard ; but the
Government maintains an impenetrable silence, and
all is mere conjecture. Meanwhile suspicion, appre-
hension, hope, and fear are universal, none knowing
what a day may bring forth. Yet, happen what
may, it is surely impossible that Europe will allow
such a state of things to continue, which is a foul
blot on the boasted civilisation ef the 19th century.
Men speak of Venice, of Rome, of the Duchies. Are
Naples and Sicilly less important ? Are our wrongs
less flagrant ? Are not the 9,000,000 which form
the population of the Two Sicilics to occupy the
attention of the Congress equally with their
brethren in Northern and Central Italy, or humanity,
reason, intelligence to find their boundary at the
Tronto ? We aro told that the votes of the people
aro to have due weight; have not we Sicilians
sufficiently expressed ours ? Did we not give a
sufficient testimony of our earnestness in 1818, in
1850, in 1856? We Cannot believe that England,
the only really free country in the world, will not,
after the declarations of her Ministers, insist that
Sicily shall participate in the benefits which the
forThcoming Congress will ensure for the Italian
peninsula. If its deliberations are to close the era
of Italian revolutions, the sufferings and the claims
of Sicily must no longer be overlooked.