The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-27 00:00:00

This seems to me very odd language from a
victim to his persecutor. But perhaps Mr.
Clay will tell me that this is but one instance
of the cordiality between Prota and Gualterio.
Well, I take up a later number of the Emanci-
patore, and I find a paragraph entitled "Arrest/
di Borbonici." On looking over the paragraph,
I see that it gives an account of the arrest of
several Bourbonists, among them " a monk "
and a " Spanish priest." The paragraph also
states "that it has been already decided to send
out of the kingdom ten Bishops and Monsignori."
"We applaud these measures," says the per-
secuted Prota, "by means of hich the Govern-
ment seeks to banish the conspirators against
the actual order of things, and the declared
enemies of the Kingdom of Italy." And then
he complains of " the doings of some of the
parochial clergy," and by way of example says
that he " read the day before a placard on
the door" of a church, which " invited the
faithful to the preachings " of a certain Padre
Borghi "in this month of May." The last
word of the question is italicised in the origi-
nal, and the meek, loving Prota asks, "Is this
or is it not that Padre Borghi who has fre-
quently been banished from Naples ? Let the
police keep their eyes open."
And it is this truculent fellow, who rejoices
at the expulsion of ten Bishops, and hounds
on the police against a brother priest for
simply " inviting the faithful to his preach-
ing," whom Messrs. Clay and Meyrick parade
as a gentle suffering martyr ! Mr. Clay speaks
of Gualterio's " aptness to do the work of
persecutor." The above extract shows that
he was, at least, a persecutor after Prota's own
heart, and not against Prota.
Mr. Meyrick's account of Prota's expulsion
is as follows :

"If Mr. Mac Coll were not utterly ignorant
of the subject with which he is dealing, he
would know that the time when Prota lost his
appointment, and was required to leave S.
Domenico Maggiore, was when Ricasoli's policy
was soddenly changed from opposition to the
Papacy to a reconciliation party," resulting
in " the sacrifice of the reforming priests,
and the untying of the hands of their enemy,
the Marchese Gualterio, Prefect of Naples, who
co-operated with Cardinal Sforza in crushing
them. The brunt of the persecution naturally
fell upon Signor Prota and the staff of the
Emanci_patore,"

I wish I could honestly believe that Mr.
Meyrick "is utterly ignorant of the subject
with which he is dealing." Let the facts speak
for themselves. Prota and his staff were ex-
pelled from S. Domenico Maggiore about the
end of August, 1866 ; " Ricasoli's policy was
suddenly changed" in the end of November
of the same year ; and Cardinal Sforza made
his first appearance in Naples on the Bth of
the following. December. And yet Mr. Meyrick
would have your readers believe that the ex-
pulsion of Prota and his staff was the result
of Ricasoli's policy and Cardinal Sforza's resto-
ration !

Nor is this all. In the Anglo-Continental
Society's report for 1866, p. 39, Mr. Meyrick
speaks of Ricasoli as follows :
" Baron Ricasoli having become Premier,
gives good hopes of the latter (opposition to
the Papacy) and better policy being adopted.
There is no statesman in Italy whose eyes are
soopen to the need which his country has of
an independent national Church as Baron
Ricasoli. His return to power we regard as
of the happiest omen for the Church of Italy."
Now, this was published after the expul-
sion of Prota, which expulsion, Mr. Meyrick
now tells us, was caused by the retrograde
policy of Raron Ricasoli. Which am Ito
believe—the Mr. Meyrick of the Anglo-Conti-
nental Report, or the Mr. Meyrick of the
Guardian ! Has Mr. Meyrick, too, possessed
himself of an " historical conscience" to re-
concile his inconsistencies ?

Mr. Clay accuses me of having " either pre-
sumptuously written without a knowledge of
my subject, or else wilfully suppressed all men-
tion" of certain " documents' in which Prota
is highly praised by the very persons who sub-
sequently cut off all connection with him. My
conclusion would be that the gentlemen in
question must have had some exceedingly good
reason for standing aloof from a man of whom
they once thought so highly. But Mr. Clay
has the happy faculty of being able to deduce
any conclusion that suits him from contradic-
tory premises. _ _

‘-‘ The Anglo-Continental Society," Mr. Clay.
says, "is not connected with this (Emanci-
patrice) society, nor with any of its members."
Then, pray, what means the following notice
in the Anglo-Continental Society's report for
1865 ?

" The (Anglo-Continental) Society is desir-
ous of funds for the payment of a resident
agent Naples, whose oeryicee might be of