The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-17 00:00:00

THE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN NAPLES.

( From the Times.)

What is the difference between the solitary con-
finement to which the King of Naples has con-
demned his prisoners of State, and that solitary
confinement to which he has condemned himself ?
In the dungeon of the prisoners there may well be
found more suffering of body, but in the Royal dun-
geon there is assuredly far more anguish of mind.
We know what manner of place is . Montesarchio,
in which Poerio is confined, with a hackine cough,
with blindness imminent, and with the fell hand of
consumption already busy with the more vital parts
of his exhausted frame. where he lies, poor man,
with his chain upon him, and the Neapolitan Mo-
narch will not lighten them by a single link. The
prison, we are told, is very damp, the vaults are
deep, the windows narrow, the cells without venti-
lation or fresh air. Judges, advocates, writers lie
chained near each other, though apart. One of
them is motionless from rheumatism, another is
struck with paralysis, several are afflicted with con-
sumption ; but they wear their chains when dying,
they wear them still when dead. Let them but
utter a word or a groan, and they are summarily
cast into the -reekine•e• underground vaults and
chained to the floor. This is but a sorry state of
things, and yet it is much to be doubted if the King
who keeps his fellow-creatures in such sufferings
might not envy the condition of the most suffering
among his prisoners. If the reports we receive from
Naples be true King Ferdinand is constantly in
terror lest the assassin's knife should catch him un-
awares. For this reason he avoids the capital city
of his dominions ; for this reason he refuses to tra-
vel by the railway, lest treason should reach him
there in some new and startling form. He seeks to
secrete himself in his remoter palaces, and to
avoid all contact with those upon whom his pre-
sence falls like a shadow. Nor can it be said that
apprehensions are destitute of-foundation. No
one can know as well as himself the dark secrets
that lie hid behind that scowling brow and within
that unfeeling heart. Who could tell so truly as
King Ferdinand himself the fearful extent of the
vengeance he has provoked ? For a moment, at
the review, when the assassin dealt him the stab
which was meant to be fatal, he seems to have
acted with courage and self-possession. It is,
however, one thing to pass with decency through a
danger which is at an end almost as soon as it
exists, and quite another to spend long nights lis-
tening for the stealthy footstep, and staring hard
for the shadow of the uplifted hand against the
wall. The King is well aware that danger is around
him on every side •, sometimes a ship, sometimes a
powder-magazine blows up near where he is, and
no man can say how it came to pass. The ground
is mined beneath his feet, and he knows it. In
whom can he put his trust ? His Swiss Guards
may preserve what is called the public tranquillity,
but they cannot guard him from the unseen death
which is ever preseht to his mind's eye like the
pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by
night. He can have no confidence in his own
native troops. They inspire him, probably, with
more terror than any other class of bis subjects;
Now it is necessary to put one regiment, and now
another under surveillance. They cannot be trusted
at all events. Such being the state of things at
home, whither can he turn to look for support from
abroad ? There is not one of the leading nations
ofjEurope which has not addressed to him earnest
remonstrances upon his reiterated barbarities.
There is not one of them which does not regard his
reign as a revival of the worst times of the old
Roman Emperors as far as his power extends.
It is no wonder that it should be so, and we
must ever regard it as one of the most afflicting
proofs of the fallen condition of Italy that such a
power can be supported by the strong arms of a few
mercenaries from the Swiss mountains, and by the
blackguard Lazzaroni of the capital. Is it that
there is something in that impulsive cringing
Southern race which delights in the union of cruelty
and power, although every one in turn may feel
the lash of the gaoler upon his own back--the halter
of the executioner upon his own neck ? We gather
from the commuuicatlons made by Mr. Petro to
Lord Clarendon that he believes the order given to
Captain Acuti, the ex-Commandant of Procida, to
inflict 50 strokes each upon 54 of the prisoners
really did emanate from the King himself. Con-
ceive an English Sovereign taking delight in ap-
portioning the exact number of stripes which should
be inflicted upon any of his enemies who might
have fallen into his power. We need not, however,
insist upon this part of the case. The atrocities
which have been perpetrated on the King's behalf
in the State prisons of Naples and the Islands are
so incredible, so degrading to human nature, that
the meanest wretch in the British Islands may,
when lies ho down to rest, humbly thank his Maker
that ho is not as Ferdinand, King of the Two Sici-
lies. But, admitting all this, it may be urged in
argument, what had we to do with the sufferings of
the Neapolitan people Why should we thrust
ourselves into concerns with which we had no
direct interest I—or,1—or, having gone so far, why
did we not go farther ? The King of Naples
has been enabled to treat the two greatest
Powers in Europe with contempt, because they
uttered threats which they hesitated to carry
into execution. We much question if the King
of Naples has really had any such feeling as is
imputed to him • at any rate, his acts appear to
wear a very Afferent complexion. Nothing
more abject or fawning can well be conceived
than the note which M. Carafa wrote on
the 28th of August, by his master's direc-
tion, to do away with the effect of bis former
petulant communication. The French and English
embassies are gone. By recent advices we are in-
formed that the King of Naples has actually adopted
measures by which he hopes to get rid of his poli-
tical prisoners, and procure his own readmission
into the comity of nations. So long as the remon •
strances of the great Powers were merely remon-
strances, we heard nothing even of so extremely
modified an act of clemency-as the deportation of
the State prisoners from their fetid dungeons to
the interior of South America. The greatest Power
in Europe cannot sustain political isolation for any
considerable time, and how much less a little paltry
kingdom like that of the Two Sicilies. We deny,
then,•that the demonstration involved in the with-
drawal of the French and English missions has
been unattended with effect. Still less can it be
doubted that we had a perfect riglct to carry inter-
ference up to that point. If the King of Naples
would continue to administer the internal affairs of
his kingdom in so barbarous a fashion, and his
subjects had not the spirit to withifraw their necks
from the yoke, at any rate we were not obliged to
stop and look on. There can be no reason why an
English Minister should be maiatained at Naples
to listen to the groans from Montesarchio, and to
hear the appalling screams of the poor wretches
who were receiving the "King's allowance" in.
Procida. If evil resulted from all this to the sta-
bility of Ferdinand's throne he had nobody to blame
for it but himself.

• The correspondence relating to the affairs of
Naples has just been presented to both Houses of
Parliament by the Queen's command. In these
State papers the whole progress of the affair is
traced from May 19 of last year, when Lord Claren-
don first desired Sir W. Temple to remonstrate with
the Neapolitan Government, until the 15th of
November, when Prince Carini, the Neapolitan
Ambassador in London, received his passports and
his conge. It is impossible to read these papers
without, seeing that it was originally the intention
of the English Government to push matters to a
sharper extremity than has actually been done. It
must be remembered, however, that we were not
acting alone in the matter, and are sometimes com-
pelled to accept the drawbacks in return for the ad-
vantages of a powerful and honoured alliance. Nor
should it be forgotten that, in consequence of the
political complications which ensued upon the mis-
understandings about the Treaty of Paris, this
country and Austria were drawn together far more
closely than has been usual for some time past.
The consequence was that one of the perils which
wore most apprehended when these remonstrances
were first addressed to the King of Naples passed
away. An insurrection in Italy became an nnpos-
sibility, and therefore the justification for interfe-
rence in the internal affairs of Naples pa,sed away
too. Thera is, however, one ground for interference
which could never crumble beneath our feet—and
that is the ground of humanity. We can never
regret that the Governments of France and Eng-
land solemnly marked their disapproval of all those
hideous scenes which are enacted in the dungeons
of the Neapolitan King ; and the sternest reasoner
can scarcely maintain that we are bound to keep
an official representative at Naples when his very
presence would bo construed into a tacit sanction
of such atrocities.

APPREHENSION OF A GANG OF BURGLARS.—Two
men and two women were on Thursday brought before
the Earl of Darnley and the other magistrates at Ro-
chester, charged with having entered the d eve ling-house
of Mr. Stephen Collison, farmer, at Staplehurst, on the
night of tho Bth inst., and stolen therefrom three
sides of bacon, some hams, a donne-barrelled gun, and
other articles. The prisoners gave the names of James
Miller, W. Green, Mary Anne ilaselton, and Cordelia
Greensted. Superintendent Everist informed the ma-
gistrates that ho had received information which left no
doubt that the prisoners were implicated in numerous
other burglaries. They were remanded.
The continuance of the appeal from the Arches Court,
Liddel v. Westerton, on Monday, depends in a great
measure upon the health of Lord Wensleydale, who has
been attacked with gout both in the hand and foot, and
should it not subside tire further hearing of the appeal
will be postponed, as the presence of the noble lard is
considered indispensable.