The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-13 00:00:00

17 ALY .

A letter from Rome, dated August 6, says :
The Holy Father repaired to the Capuchin Nun-
nery of the Santissimo Crocitisso on the 2d August,
and there, after assisting at mass, which was
celebrated on his arrival, made the prescribed visit
to the Blessed Sacrament for the purpose of gaining
the indulgence of the Porziuncula. His Holiness
was most warmly cheered on passing through the
city and on his return to the Vatican, and was
looking remarkably well.

Your naval readers will no doubt have been
greatly amused by the recent incident at Ancona,
where the salute of the English fleet was not re-
turned for the first of the four and twenty reasons
alleged to Henri Quatre on a similar occasion,
namely, that the fort possessed no cannon. Some
of the entourage of the Pope suggested to him, the
other day, that it would be an excellent joke to pre-
sent the city with a cannon bearing the Pontifical
arms, with a supply of cartridges and a message to
the effect that his Holiness was much grieved at the
sorry figure Ancona cut among foreign nations, and
begged to supply the wherewith for returning a
salute on future occasions. The Pope laughed
heartily, saying, " It would give us great pleasure
were we not afraid that, as the present rulers of
Italy are not well up in Latin, they might mistake
a modus ludendi for a modus vivendi."

Rome is rapidly becoming a vast camp, and
General Dumont constantly inspects and advises
the operations of engineering in a way which proves
how deep an interest the French Government takes
in their being carried out effectually. The camp
of Hannibal is in full activity, and the new recruits
are so numerous as to tax the clothing and arma-
ment resources to the utmost. The Infant of Spain,
Don Sebastian, is at the barracks of Sacro Ristiro,
near the Janiculum, and is a model Zouave ; first
in all fatigue duties, and showing an example of
activity, zeal, and camaraderie which has been
attended with the best effects, and has proved that
no covert political design induces him to engage
as a private in the Papal army, but that, as he said
himself on his first audience with Cardinal Auto-
nelli, the Pope had only a Catholic bayonet the
m ore.

The recruits who returned with M. De Charette
are mainly Bretons and Dutchmen, and are a re-
markably fine body of men. Great vigilance is
observed in the selection and admission of recruits,
as the revolutionary party have spar'd no pains to
introduce traitors among the Zouaves, but so far
completely withuul, success.

General Garibaldi has addressed .a letter to the
four gentlemen of Bologna who feted his son
Menotti on his marriage, and which is published by
the Anzico dcl Popolo, of the 29th July :
"My dear Friends,—l hoped much from the
generous people of the Bth of August, to whom I
am bound by love and gratitude. I have heard of
your kindness to my son Menotti and his wife.

" Like yourselves, this life of infamy weighs ou
me to which a handful of scoundrels have reduced
our poor country by bad government. If I had
been seconded, and understood last year by Italians,
you and I might have saved our miserable land from
so many miseries and degradations ; but unhappily,
along with the heroes who have strewed a hundred
battlefields with their bones, without asking other
reward thac to fight the enemies of Italy, there is
always found a mass of canaille, of doctrinaires,
who, the worst of traitors, under the pretext of
principle and purism, abandon their companions on
the day of peril.

" Our people, however, without renouncing the
cure of the body, should think of saving the soul,
for what the devil does such a people want with
liberty (sic in orig.) who prostrates itself every day
before the priest—supporter of all tyranny—and
the soldier, the most atrocious of the tyrants of
Italy. I shall believe that our people wish for
freedom when I see the shop of San Petronio turned
into an asylum for the indigent, and when the
bottle of San Gumaro shall be broken on the head
of the necromancing buffoon.

" However, I shall die very unhappy if, in the
day when you fight for the liberty of Italy—and I
hope that day is near—[ cannot at least follow you
in the atnbulance.—Yours for life,

" GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI."

This is a pretty candid confession of two facts too
precious and too cogent in their bearing on the past
and present crisis not to deserve a passing remark.
First, that the Garibaldian raid of 1867 was disa-
vowed and disapproved by men of principle and
purity of conduct—in other words, by all who were
not prepared to accept its monstrous excesses and
its open negation of decency, religion, and humanity.
Secondly, that liberty, as understood by Garibaldi,
is not desired by the people, and that the masses
are, as a whole, reactionary and Catholic.
None here believes in the canard of the Nene
Freie Presse, but as you will ere thisis printed have
received the Emperor's speech on the 15th, it is use-
less at such a distance speculating on its truth.
The King of Prussia, it is also said, on the other
hand, intends visitingßome this autumn, as a coun-
ter-manifestation to the Von Beust policy, but all
these reports fall into the region of gossip, and have
not taken any tangible root.

Cardinal Silvestri's mission is looked forward to
with little confidence, as, although the Emperor
and the Court are strongly in favour of a good
entente between Rome and Vienna, the revolu-
tionary party are very strong and numerous, and
M. Von Beust is known to be most unfavourable to
a renewal of the Concordat.

The Consistory will be held on the 17th of Sep-
tember, or a few days later, and you will already
have seen that Mgrs.,De Merode, Talbot, Chigi,
Raudi, and Ferrari are to be raised to the Purple ;
the two latter are the Governors of Rome and the
Minister of Finance; and Mgr. Chigi has dis-
charged the arduous duties of the Nuneiature of
Paris for several years, and his appointment wilt
be a very popular one among the Roman Patri-
ciate. Mgr. Talbot has been long destined to this
high dignity, but has always requested it should
be deferred as long as possible, as his elevation
will necessitate his renouncing his devoted perso-
nal attendance on the Pope, by whom he is
greatly and deservedly beloved. Mgr. De Merode's
promotion was also one long decided on, and his
elevation to the Sacred College will be greatly
rejoiced in in Franne and Belgium. The promotion
of foreign cardinals will be greater in the next
conclave than it has ever been before, and will pro-
bably have great influence in the election of the
next Pope. The Cardinal Archbishop of Naples
has issued a pastoral to his clergy, ordering them

t o prepare their flocks for the coming council, and
to instruct them in its signification. He is almost
reluced to poverty, as the Italian Government
have never paid the revenue agreed on, and he
gives his entire private fortune in charity, living
like the poorest of his clergy.
The King of Naples is a daily assistant at the
reviews and manoeuvres at the camp of Rome di
Papa ; but there appears no probability of the Pope
leaving the Vatican this year for more than a day's
visit to the camp.