The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-20 00:00:00

nth SUN LONDO ', MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1868.

SI ATE OF ROME.

ROME, January 4.
On the last clay of the year a solemn "Te
Deum" is sung in many of the churches of Rome
in token of thanksgiving for mercies received in

the year just closed. If in the year 1867 the
Church has passed through a searching crisis, try-
ing the faith of her children in her supernatural
vitality, she can count up also, along its course,
a, far larger measure of glories and triumphs. It
is not necessary to recapitulate them in detail,

in columns where they have been chronicled week

by week ; but the most casual retrospect of the
past twelve months calls to mind three special

triumphs of the Holy See over its enemies. (1)
The religious triumph afforded by the Centenary
of S. Peter and the unanimous adoption of its
celebration by representative Catholics from the

whole world's surface, while the Italian Revolu-

tion was covering its name with reproach by
trampling under foot the first principles of re-

ligious liberty. (2) The political triumph afforded
by the loyal bearing of the Pope's subjects under
the most trying provocations of every kind,

while the Italian Revolution was tossed hither

and thither by fratricidal dissensions, displaying

to the world at the same time the most lament

able spectacle of tergiversation. And (3) the
military triumph afforded by the unvarying suc-

cess of the small but brave and devoted Pontifical

army, while the Italian Revolution strives in vain

to blot out with tears of shame the names of Lissa,
Custozza, and Mentana.
The feast of the Circumcision is commonly
called here the Name of Jesus, and it is accord-
ingly at the Church of the Gesu that the Pope
presides at the singing of the '• Te Deum," on the
eve of that festival. The Senator and the Con-

servatori, in all their array of municipal grandeur.

attend it at the Church of the Ara Cogi, which
adjoins the Capitol. In some other churches
the " Veni Creator Spiritus " is sung, to invoke
the Divine blessing and assistance on the coming
year.
The Gesit was densely thronged in every part
on Tuesday last with Romans of every degree,
who always come to surround the Sovereign Pon-
tiff with this demonstration of affection and sym-

pathy, and there was the usual concourse on the
steps of the church and in the vast surrounding
space, to cheer the Pontifical cortege, as well as
all along its way to and from the Church. Lord
and Lady Clarendon, Lord Hyde, and several
other distinguished English visitors, who have
been spending the Christmas here, were in a
balcony overlooking the Piazza, apparently much
interested in observing the loyal enthusiasm of the
people, of which this occasion afforded a striking
display. Colonel Allet and a knot of officers of
the Zouaves were standing in the midst of the
crowd below.
Lord Clarendon had a lengthened audience of

the Pope on Monday, and is now gone on a few
days' visit to Naples. On Tuesday Count Albert
Crivelli presented his credentials as Ambassador
Extraordinary from the Emperor of Austria,
Baron Iliibner having taken leave last week. These
past days have, indeed, been occupied by a series
of audiences on occasion of the recurrence of the
Christmas and New Year's festivals and the
name-day of the Pope, the 27th of December.
Some of these I have already mentioned. The
Sacred College offers its congratulations on Christ-
mas Day itself, because the Christian year was
once considered to begin cat that day, and on that
day also the Dean of the Sacred College pre-
sents the compliments of its members to all sove-
reigns recognized by the Holy See ; for an ancient
Roman maxim says, " Cardinales non sunt reges sed
regibus mquiparantur. Then the senator and muni-
cipal body and heads of various offices of the
State have each their turn. Nor were the officers
of the French army at Civita Vecchia behind-
' hand with their salutations. The interview was
very cordial, and his Holiness did not even forget
I to express his regret that the accommodation they
have to put np with there is not more com-
fortable.
How long they will have to stay there is a
question often debated, and though there is every
reason to believe that it will be for a couple of
months more, and that then we shall have good
hard work again, yet scarcely a day passes but
one is told of a report on the best authority that
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Of course, all depends on the initiative taken by
other Powers, and it cannot be denied that the
tone taken by the Moniteur of late has been singu-
larly mild and unprovocative.
Meantime the Pontifical army is not idle. The
fortifications in and around Rome are being
steadily carried on. Those of Monte-Mario and
the Monti Parioli will not, probably, be carried
further, as they would entail an inadequate ex-
pense. The chief works are at Castel St. Angelo,
and on the Aventine and Janiculum. The right
bank of the Tiber, too, is being provided with
palisades, and no doubt the work is being well
done, as General Proudhon is giving it his (non-
official) supervision.
The men, too, are hard at work drilling, and
new recruits are arriving by the hundred. The
Irish, whose return it was my painful duty to
mention last week, have been replaced by as many
more of their countrymen from Dublin, said to be
as fine and steady a body of men as it would be pos-
sible to find. Lieutenant-Colonel de Charette
passed them on Monday and expressed himself
particularly satisfied by their soldierly bearing.
Indeed it is hardly possible to keep pace with
the arrivals in providing uniforms, beds, &c., and
thus the accommodation at all the three present
depots is somewhat of the roughest ; yet we have
men used to comfortable and even luturious homes
who accept all the hardships of the service without
a murmur; some even tell you it is "awefully jolly."
" I am quite used to it all now," said one, " and
like the adventurousness of our style of life very
much, but at first I found it very hard to get into,
and could never have endured it but that I know
whatever a Zouave does he may reckon he does
for God, and one may make as much merit out
of accepting those privations as out of offering
one's life in the field."
There is a little obscure office on a third floor
in one of the most untidy palaces in Rome, pro-
bably selected to serve as the office of enrolment
at a time when enrolments were fewer, and with-
out a thought as to any appropriateness in the
site, but which stands facing the stately church
under whose foundations lies the cloaca where the
body of the noble Roman soldier, St. Sebastian,
was thrown after his second martyrdom. Here
day by day there come to devote themselves to the
same sacred purpose of defending the Church as
that with which he came to Rome to enter on the
military career sixteen hundred years before, and
that in all humility as simple soldiers, men whose
names entitle them to a far different rank at home.
Thus there were among them this week Count de
Schmissing-Koersembroeck, formerly an officer in
the Prussian Foot Guards, the story of whose
quitting that service with his brother on account
of their manly condemnation of the practice of
duelling made a great noise in Europe some time
ago. His brother obtained a pass-port of emi-
gration,entered
thewa Imperialsnatural army. H
naturalized an
eAustrianwas
s thussub a
subject, and
on its side in the battle of Sadowa, where he met
with very severe treatment ; for, while lying on the
ground wounded, he received a number of thrusts
from the lances of those who recognized him. He
has recovered, however, and has resumed his post
in the army. There were likewise Baron Krockow,
of Westphalia, and Count Stolberg, as well as
four young Englishmen, three of most respectable
names, and one which is well known in the diplo-
matic annals of our country, and no less honour-
ably represented in both its military and naval

careers. Another Englishman there is lately
arrived who has held an officer's commission in
the Prussian army, and who here insists on taking
his turn with the rawest recruit, and will accept no
exemption from the most toilsome and uninviting
offices. An American officer, too, whose name was
well known on both sides of the Atlantic during
the late war, offered himself a few days ago to
serve as a simple private. I believe, in considera-
tion of his great experience, General Kanzler would
not suffer him to enter with any lower grade than
that of sub-lieutenant.
Nor are those of less illustrious origin less
devoted; the same cheerfulness under difficulties
distinguishes them all. And then, be it remem-
bered, there is no bribing by high bounties—no
" treating ;" so far from it they receive no bounty
at all, and those who only enter for six months
pay down sixty francs towards their outfit. Is this
the way in which " mercenaries " are hired? The
men who would be attracted by bounty-money
are not the men to defend a sacred cause ; we do
not want them, for there is, you see, no lack of
men of a higher order.
Their disinterestedness shows itself in many a
little detail. " I came out to die for the Pope,"
said one, whose want of prudence in the mode of
parting with his private clothes I had chided. " I
have a presentiment I shall not live to want them
again." Yet he is one of the most impatient for the
days of active service to begin. " I don't want a
libretto" (the little book in which the account of the
soldier's pay is kept), said another, instead of
complaining because he happened not to have re-
ceived one. "We have our uniform and our kit,
and our few bajocchi a day, and I am not afraid
but it will be all right."
Then the mutual kindliness and good-will which
reigns between officers and men is most creditable
to the spirit of both. The young Corporal Shea,
whom I have had occasion to mention before, is
quite worshipped by those under him for his
steady patience and thoughtfulness. There is in
the same depot an Algerian sergeant, whom, de-
spite his coffee-coloured skin (" black coffee "
mind), all his men delight to obey, because he is a
very model of good nature, as well as of regularity.
And this is still more the case, if possible, with
the commissioned officers. I asked a man yester-
day how he got on with a certain captain. "A h
caui-la it est bon par exenzple," he replied, " mais
quanta ca ils le sent tons; it n'en est un seul dont on a
en a se plaindre."
If, when worn out at Mentana by the long day's
march and fight, responsibility and danger, keen
air and fast, Lieutenant-Colonel de Charette sent
out the dinner which had been prepared for his
table to those who had been digging the graves
of the slain, his abnegation can be overmatched
by an example taken from the ranks that day when
two Angevin peasants, seeing their captain (now
commandant of the 2d Battalion), whom they had
followed out from France, hard pressed by the
enemy, threw themselves before him, one falling,
dead on the spot, and the other, lying still in hospi-
tal, cheerfully suffering, and never telling those
who come to visit him how he got his wound.
Nor are instances of noble devotion by any
means confined to the Zouave regiment. f could
tell you of many in other corps ; there is one very
remarkable case in the carbiniere esteri, of a Pole
who, his father having fallen victim to Russian
oppression, has been the support of his widowed
mother ever since he was ten. He has been em-
ployed for many years as an engineer in England,
where he is much respected by his employers, who
will gladly receive him back at any time. Now
comes the remarkable part of the story. Being a
steady young man, he picked out among his fellow
workmen for his bosom'companion another equally
steady, wha was also a devoted son of the Church,
he being him' self a Protestant. Fired by the zeal
of his friend, he conceived so great an interest in
the injustice suffered by the Holy Father, that he
accompanied him on the occasion of his coming out
to join the Papal army in 1860. At Castel Fidardo,
he received two sabre-cuts, one in his back, and
one in his head, the scars from which attest that
he has not shrunk from coming to close quarters
with the enemy. At the close of the campaign,
the two friends returned to their work in England,
and at the breaking out of fresh troubles in Rome,
six months ago, they hastened again to join their
regiment. The Englishman was killed at Mentana,
the Pole received a not very severe bayonet-wound,
which has now healed, and he resumed duty two
or three weeks ago. But his labours in the cause
of the Holy See have obtained for him the grace
of conversion, and he is shortly to be received in
to the Church ; it will be seen that he has not ar-
rived at this step by any sudden impulse, but after
the deliberate investigation of years. He appears
very intelligent, and in the course of his adventu-
rous life, which, however, numbers little over six
lustres, has acquired a very tolerable acquaintance
with no less than seven languages. By his profi-
ciency in his profession, he was gaining very high
wages in England, and by his frugal mode of life
he was able, not only to send home a large monthly
allowance to his mother, but to leave in his em-
ployer's hands a sufficient amount out of his
savings for her to receive the same during his
absence.
Is a man who:exchanges such wages for the pay
of a private soldier out of pure love of justice to
be called a " mercenary ?,,
Regard for your space alone makes me leave un-
told many other similar deeds.
Have you seen a little poem of Victor Hugo's,
which, though unpublished, has been pretty widely
circulated, designed to enlist sympathy on the side
of the Garibaldians by claptrap descriptions of their
sufferings ; representing them as mourned by their
mothers, for whom their eyes are still cherub-
blue ; their hair (despite the beard of manhood),
is still in golden curls; their strong, bare hands
still the plump, rosy fingers of infancy ? But why
did not the said mothers keep them at home? why
did they invade the soil of the Holy See ?—and is
not every one of the poor fellows they have
wounded " somebody's darling " too ? Also the
" sinistre vieillard," who has caused all this " &Chi-
rant" misery, may he not be found at Caprera or
Lugano, or in the Pitti Palace, rather than in the
Vatican?
The cherub-eyed, golden-haired, rosy-fingered
gentry have received a severe lesson, it is true,
but they have not yet had enough to make them
keep at home with their admiring mothers. At
Acquapendente, within the very frontier, they have
been seen gathering in considerable numbers ;
their " rosy fingers" busy practising with needle-
guns—and needle-guns supplied from England,
too. Perhaps there are those in England who
consider it safer to place a few thousand rifles
.in the hands of Mazzinians than Fenians, but
let them beware of the recoil. Ifoa hot-bed of
Mazzinianism is fostered in Italy, the half-dozen
Fenians who are wisely hung at home will be
very quickly replaced by a host more from here.
Their agents are even now at work here, endea-
vouring to prepare the way for the next attack ;
for, notwithstanding all the caution with which
they go to work, they find to their cost it is dan-
gerous to tamper with a Roman who does not want
them. The police have been thus put upon their
track in several instances, and it is pretty well
known who and where they are.
Some Gendarmi went the other night into a
café, where they expected to find some of the sect.
The gas was instantly turned out, so that the
faces of the men in the room might not be re-
cognised. By the time the order to re-light was
obeyed, they had evaporated.
I myself
met, a day or two ago, a man who
stalked along
with all the swagger of a would-be
demagogue, wearing very ostentatiously a red,
white, and green neck-scarf. He was surrounded
by some half-dozen rough young fellows, just
emerging from the age of gamin-hood, and looking
much like the troop one sees at the heels of h
recruiting-sergeant in an English town. They
had doubtless been entrapped by fine words and
mysterious promises, and were on their way to
some rendezvous to be " treated," and thoughlit
very fine to follow a leader who carried his
colours through the streets so courageously, and
who yet, informed by a scout's whistle of an ap-
proach of gendarmi, would know how to cut

down a bye-street as cleverly as any under gra-
duate at sight of a university proctor. Probably
he would be allowed to pass on his way just as
leniently. The immense majority of the popu-
lation are known to be loyally and peacefully in-

dined, and. the police seem to prefer the maxim of
letting wheat and tares grow together, over the

warning that a little leaven may extend its in-
fluence over the whole lump.
I am sorry to have to tell you that Mr.
White Binny, the English gentleman who claimed
to be considered no prisoner, but to bear the
sacred character of the Chronicle correspondent,
died on Saturday, at four o'clock. His case was
an instance of several we have had—some among
our own men, of the imprudence of exceeding
the medical regulations. It would seem that in
this climate it is necessary to adopt a lower scale

of diet than would be recommended further North.
Those who have not submitted to this necessity,

have paid dearly for their imprudence. Even
the amputation of the wounded limb has not
sufficed to arrest the mischief produced.
The papers found after his death prove him to
have been a true Garibaldian after all. He was

first captain of a company under Garibaldi, and

was afterwards made an officer of his staff. Thus
his whole story, as well as his inclinations towards
Catholicity, would appear to have been a make-

believe.

There is, as usual, a romantic side to the story
also from which there is no need to withhold our
sympathy. He was, it seems, brought up in St.
Petersburgh, where he formed an attachment to a
Russian lady, to whom he was to have been
shortly united. His burial awaits her arrival,
It is said she did not share his Garibaldian ten

dencies, and had dissuaded him from following
them. ..

The telegrams have announced that the affair
of Cardinal d'Andrea is settled, and that he is
restored to all his dignities. I fear this is not quite
the case as yet. Though he has shown a dispo-
sition to yield, there are still some difficulties as to
the terms of his retractation.

The expected creation of Cardinals will, it is
thought, take pla6e in March, including, besides
those I mentioned last week, that of the Arch-
bishop of Westminster and Mgr. Monaco, as-
sessor of the Holy Office.
There was a meeting of the Roman branch of
the Archaeological Society last Friday, at which
Mr. Parker read a paper on the different epochs
of the art of construction in Rome.

The gold medal bestowed in acknowledgment of
the de'votion of those who, in Rome, Albano, and
some other towns ministered to cholera patients,
and those who were not afraid to bury its dead

last summer, was distributed yesterday. It bears
on one side the profile of Pius IX., executed by
Voigt, the eminent numismatist, with his name and
the year of his Pontificate. On the obverse this
inscription—" Ob Christiamu charitatis officia lue
Asians correptis exhibits," and below the name of
the person to whom it is given. Permission is
given with it to wear it as a decoraticn, for it cele-
brates a courage as heroic as any exercised in the
field. Two of out countrymen have earned this
distinction.
There will be a disiribution of silver medals of
the same intention and design on Sunday. It is
worn on a ribbon of the Pope's colours.
Another gold medal will be given to all those
who have received wounds in the present cam-

paign.
A warmer and more April-like season has suc-
ceeded our bright and sunny, but (for Rome) un-
usually cold Christmas. The poor pfifferari are
gone back to their mountains with the cold weather,
and now they are gone, one feels a touch of self-
reproach for the occasional irritation their wild
music used to excite when it woke one before day-
light in the cold December morning, or burst in on
one's mid-day occupations, or in the later hours
drowned the conversation of one's-visitors. One
only considers now that it was a beautiful thought
so to remind us of the approach of the great Christ-
mas mystery, and that it would be a cause of last-
ing regret if such customs should ever be swept
away. Simple as they are, they call forth a world
of reflections, reminding one of the part Rome
bears in the midst of Christendom—that of being
the focus and living representative of the teaching
of the New Law. And while in other countries
the visible tokens of belief in it are dying out or
degenerating into grotesque parodies of their origi-
nal intention, here they flourish serenely with undy-
ing energy, and shine forth ever the same ; sug-
gesting one—if even it be considered a low ground
on which the most violent Liberal, if at all con-
sistent, ought to respect the inviolability of Rome,
namely that if all opinions have a right to be re-
presented, Christianity ought to .be allowed this
fair field for displaying hers in all the minuteness
of detail and completeness of result she has attained
here.

I have often dwelt, as the seasons have flowed
by, on the appropriateness and harmony of this
system of representation of the doctrines and his-
tory of religion, because it seems eminently cal-
culated to fix those mysteries on the mind, and
because I think they must interest all persons of
taste and feeling, of artistic or antiquarian pur-
suits, as much as the devout. And none of its
acts is more picturesque or full of meaning than
that of this pastoral harmony, in which the special
lesson of humility, involved in the Incarnation, is
brought home to us by the lowly ones of this
earth. They are shepherds and husbandinen from
the poorest districts, and they bring the rustic
melody, which they have learnt from their fathers,
to honour the shrines of the Madonna on the occa-
sion of the celebration of her two great festivals,
the Immaculate Conception and the Nativity.
Their lays are rustic in metre, but are not without
a certain poetic beauty-
-0 Vergine immacolata, e giglio d'amore.

(0 spotless Virgin, lily of love). So begins that
for the first novena, and it will not be denied it is
a pretty line. Their instruments are rustic too,
but far from unpleasing ; and, if they are them-
selves rough and uncultivated in appearance, the
uncovered heads, uplifted eyes, and decent serious-
ness with which they go through their perform-
ance, the dignity and earnestness with which they
utter their benedictions on you when you have
spoken with them, show that their simple function
is sacred in their eyes.
About a hundred couples come up to Rome every
Christmas; the rest of the year they gain a frugal
living by tending sheep or sowing or reaping, for
not all are shepherds. " How come you to sing
the novenas ?" I said to a pair of brothers who
owned to greater conversance with field than pas-
toral labour. " We learnt it from the shepherds ;
may we not praise the Madonna, too ?" they replied
apologetically. Some of them are adventurous fel-
lows, however, and have made the tour of Europe,
all on foot, earning their living as they go by their
minstrelsy, and bringing home a small amount of
savings against their marriage or " a rainy day."
One owned to twenty scudi, another to fifty scudi
between four, but then he was a jollier subject,
and had probably spent more by the way.
Their general plan seems to make for Paris in the
first instance, spending some two months, and
wearing out half a dozen pair of cioccie (i.e., the
pieces of leather cut to the shape of the foot and
turned up all round it by means of elaborate
thongs, which form a very easy and inexpensive
style of shoes) on the journey. The sack of their
bagpipe they renew likewise frequently for them-
selves out of the skin of a young sheep or goat, the
wool or hair shorn short and turned inside. It lasts,
under ordinary circumstances, about two months;
but, during constant playing, such as that of this
season, for example, it gets worn out in a novena.
Arrived at Calais, they are obliged, reluctantly,
to accept a place in the steamer in lieu of their
natural means of locomotion, which they gladly re-
sume at Dover. Partly by tradition from those
who have preceded them in the adventure, and
partly by necessity, they pick up enough of the
language of each country for their simple needs—.
" a glass of beer," " a loaf of bread," " the way to
next large village ?" are sentences which they re-
peat with the glee of a parrot. Belgium, Holland,
Prussia, Bavaria, are visited in turn on the way
home, but England suits them best, because there
alone they have nothing to pay for a licence
,to

perform in the streets. Berlin they find the most
restrictive city in Europe.
The English beer, too, seems to be remembered
with enthusiasm, and the English sheep has taken
a prominent place in their fancy. Their fabulous
recitals of its perfections contain the force of a
whole treatise on the way in which myths and
legends arise. London, with its noise and bustle,

seems to excite more surprise than admiration ;
but the big church, with a cupola "like that of the
Holy Father," did not escape their notice. " But

I didn't want to go into it," said one of them,
"when they said it was Protestant, and I found

plenty of good priests who could talk our language."
The large church of " 'atona gardenna " (unde

which appellation, after several repetitions, I re-
cognized Hatton-garden) they seemed to think as
fine as some in Rome, but that it was so very
white.
What I have said above of the Mazzinian move-
ments has been gathered from private sources.
The following is from a Roman paper of last

night : -
" We have received the following from Viterbo :
"The notorious A. L. has gathered together a
band of about 100 rapscalions, and stationed them
in scattered parties in various localities along the
with orders to hold themselves in readi-
ness for action at a moment's notice. A few days
ago he entertained a score of Garibaldian officers
at the little village of Pecorone, and when the wine
had flowed a little freely they boasted of their con-
quest of the surrounding country as a proximate
event. The news of this has caused quite a. com-
motion of alarm in Acqua-pendente, and fallen like
a bomb amid the merry family parties who were
keeping Christmas in peace and cheerfulness.
" Notwithstanding any masquerading of the
Italian Government, there is no manner of doubt
that it is secretly at work consolidating the party
of action, and encouraging it to be on the look
out for any opportunity to strike some decisive
blow. The heart of the movement is at Terni ; a
number of pieces of woollen stuff have been received
there ready to be dyed red, or any other colour
(colore is used even more commonly than with us to
denote varieties of opinions) in which they may be
pleased to array the encamisados. (This word is
often used for the Garibaldians, because, though
it may be used to denote simply the wearer of a
shirt, it means one who fights under disguise, as the
Piedmontese soldiers did under Garibaldi.)

" Further several hundred Garibaldians are
posted in the various small towns all along our
border—at Castel Giorgio, Castel Vicardo,
Monterubbiano, Viceno,
.&c. They are, for the
most part, Lombards, and they are busy exercising
in the use of their arms, manifestly holding them-
selves in readiness for an order from their Go-
vernment, or from whoever is to pull the strings
for it this time."

P.S.—Since writing the above the most exact
particulars have been brought me respecting Mr.
Arthur W. Binny ; and, as his being a Garibaldian
is denied, it is important you should have them.
He was, then, in the 15th company of the Bth
Regiment of Garibaldians, and it was on the 3rd of
October he was made an officer of the staff.

January 11.

It was rumoured that the fair of S. Eustachio
would be closedthis Epiphany, lest its festivities
should be made a pretext for a disturbance ; it
went on as usual, however, and drew together the
usual good-humoured crowds.
Children's dreams here at this season are visited
by a certain deformed fairy they call la Befana
(a corruption, it will be observed, of Epifania),
whom they suppose to bring them gifts. The
conceit is analagous to " Father Christmas" of
England, St. Nicholas of Germany, the "Enfant
Jesits" of France, but is even more directly con-
nected with Christian history than these, as being
not merely like them, a pleasing mode of cele-
brating a holy season, but actually represents the

gifts of the Magi to the Child of Bethlehem ; the
rather that, by a pretty tradition, the eastern kings
are said to have brought among their offerings toys
and dolci, such as a child loves to receive.
The fair of S. Eustachio holds a very important
place in popular estimation, for it supplies the
cornucopia of Dame Befana, not only for the grati-
fication of infant minds, but also for the inter-
change of tokens of goodwill between children of a
larger growth. Colossal booths are set up all along
the streets running out of the Piazza of S. Eus-
tachio ; a cordon is established round the favoured
precincts, excluding all wheeled traffic for two or
three days ; if, as this year, a Sunday happens to
fall within the time, for that once in the year the
tradesmen of the neighbourhood are allowed, or
take leave, to keep their shops open—suchof them,
that is, as sell any matter or thing which could by
any possibility be made the object of a present ;
gigantic flambeaux keep up a brightness akin to
that of day, and far into the small hours the light-
hearted multitude troops by, spending, meeting
acquaintances, chatting, singing, laughing, eating
sweetmeats, drinking wine (but not often over
much), and making themselves very merry indeed.
The revolutionary party are much provoked that
they cannot disturb the even flow of the Romans'
spirits. Early in the season they issued the cir-
cular they have now been in•the habit of putting
forth for some years, calling on the people to ab-
stain from attending the theatres as usual ; this
has had little effect, except in the case of the
principal opera house, which the timid have been
restrained from frequenting because they have
given out that they have mined its foundations,
and the proximity of the building to the river-bank
affords some reason for believing the possibility of
the report being true. Though the police are on
the alert, and will, no doubt, be able to prevent
actual mischief, the recklessness of the people
under the orders of such committees has been so
fully proved now, both here and in England,
that it is scarcely strange many are afraid to risk
their lives, even for the enjoyment of an opera.
The consequence can only be to deprive Rome of
one of her great charms and prerogatives. The
manager is almost ruined, and native talent is
driven out of its natural market. This is pa-
triotism !

Two individuals have been lately arrested whom
there is every reason to believe were concerned in
blowing up the Serristori barracks. A third,
similarly suspected, has contrived to escape.
The Consistory, for the creation of, I believe,
fifteen Cardinals (the vacant hats are, you know,
seventy-one) is fixed for the 16th of March. Every
one says that if the Archbishop of Westminster
does not receive one this time, it will not be delayed
later than the next, which is to be held in June.
The Archbishop of Cambrai, Mgr. de Merode,
Mgr. Ferrari, Minister of Finance; Mgr. Borromeo,
major-domo of the Pope ; Mgr. Barili, nuncio at
Madrid ; Mgr. Ferrieri, nuncio at Lisbon ; and
Mgr. Bonaparte, the Emperor's cousin, are spoken
of. There seems greater doubt again whether the
Archbishop of Paris will receive the purple. Mgr.
Chigi, nuncio at the Tuileries, also, it is thought,
will remain a little while longer at his own desire
in his present position. Mgr. Bonaparte, it ought
to be remarked, has always shrunk from receiving
any species of dignity from the Emperor. He is
living in Paris, in the quietest way possible for
him.

The following is the published text of Cardinal
d'Andrea's retractation as signed by him the day
after Christmas Day. It is said he has since re-
ceived threatening letters from the Revolutionary
committee :
" The undersigned Cardinal, in obedience to the
orders of His Holiness, declares :
" I. That he asks pardon for disobedience com-
mitted by going to Naples contrary to the veto of
the Holy Father.
" 11. That he deplores the scandal given to the
faithful by his attitude towards His Holiness and
the S. Congregations, by his writings and by his
relations with the ExaminatorB of Florence, the
doctrines of which he reprobates as being held by
the Holy Father to be heretical and schismatical.
" 11E. That he gives his full adhesion to the
Address of the Catholic Episcopate assembled in
Rome in June, 1867.
" IV. That he reprobates the protest and other
his acts done, the publication of the Brief of the
12th of June, 1866, notwithstanding.

"V. That he humbly asks forgiveness of the
Holy Father, and makes excuse to their Eminences,
his colleagues, and of all others whom he may in
any way have offended."

The Cardinal will shortly be restored by a Brief
to the dignities from which a Brief suspended him.
Herr Von Sigmund, the Bavarian Minister, had
the honour of an audience of His Holiness, and
presented his credentials on Monday.
There have been many irregularities in the in-
coming of the post :of late, caused by snows on
the land route and storms by sea. The weather,
though continuing milder, is damp and not at all
favourable for those who are not well protected
from it. The French troops at Civita Vecchia
are suffering terribly in this way ; febris castrensis
has broken out among them. The sick overflow
the hospital accommodation of the place, and
numbers have had to be sent to Toulon, and the
hospitals here are taxed to the utmost to provide
them with linen, &c. It is said that to stay the
inroads of sickness some have been transferred to
Viterbo, and a note of explanation for the neces-
sity of so doing has been transmitted to allay the
irritation the movement might produce in too-sen-
sitive Italy—the cause of all this suffering
The return to Rome of the greater part of the
division is still talked of, though less than pre-
viously. There is no doubt it is dull and uncom-
fortable work enongh at Civita Vecchia, and the
men have long been used to living in large cities.
General de Failly, at his last visit to Cardinal An-
tonelli, explained the necessity of a theatre for a
body of men shut up in garrison with nothing
to do. " Well, General," replied his Eminence,
"Ismiling, will endeavour to turn my hand to this
work next."

Whether their return hither be delayed or not,
there is no sort of thought of their moving France-
wards ; on the contrary, large quantities of winter
clothing, provisions, and war 'materiel, including
artillery, continue tolarrive in port. •
And here, while the wards of the wounded are
gradually getting cleared, those of the sick in the
military part of S. Spirit° are filling with slight
cases of fever, colds, and sore throats. The airy
sala of Pius VI. (with its polished floors, its fifty
scagliola columns, and bright, brass stoves, I can-
not call it a ward), has most of its 400 beds so
occupied. One of our smaller improvised hospitals,
that of S. Nicolo di Tolentino, has " shut up shop"
this week, having turned all its patients into con-
valescents in the most satisfactory way. Two are
gone to France to finish their recovery by help
of their native air, some are resting at Monte
Cavallo, some with private friends, and some have
already returned to barracks. Now, when the ex-
citement of novelty has passed, and crowds of
visitors who at first encumbered the various wards
have melted away, among those who remain on in
patient attendance on the lingering sick, reading
the newspapers to them, or performing any cheer-
ing office by their bedside, none is more constant
than the Queen of Naples. On New Year's Day,
the men clubbed together to send her a splendid
bouluet to symbolize their gratitude and good
wishes.

Foreign Mail Packet List,

MAILS DIIE.

iustralie. and New Zealand, via floathampton......jan. 19.
Ditto, via ItareeiLles .........Feb. 13.

Ditto, via Panama
&UR, Beenoe Ayres, and Monte Video Rob. 3.
Ditto, by French packet
Cape Verde. by Brazil paotet Feb. 3.
.

L;ape of Good Hope. Ascension, and St. Helena Jan. x 7,
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Jan.
Ditto, via Marseilles.
Faikland Islands w... Jan. —.
ilibraltar, via Southampton Jan. 19.
India, via Southampton Jan. 19.
Ditto, via Mars& es * • • • • •• ..... Jan. 22
Malta, Egypt, Sca. .. •••••• • • • • • • •• • Jan. 19.
Ditto, Marseilles.. Jan. 22.
Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope, and Natal, via
Southampton Jan. 11.

DUO, - Marseilles Feb t 9.
Newfoundland e••• • 10
Portugal

Ditto, by p lo ship to UyOCl.O • •
Ditto tto to Lisbon
United States, anada, California, &0., by British

_
packet
Ditto, by L Lited States packet
Ditto ditto 'New York,
Ditto ditto Ntw York)

Ditto dittt (Baltimore)
Ditto, by Canadian packet ........... ..... ....Jan 2i
West Coast of Ain ltadeira, and Te teriffe
West Indies and Pazitic (except Mexico and Balsa-

mae)
Cub t and Mexico

Jan. 28.
J.r. 23.

B ►hunas, via New I.AA

*Feb. 3.

Bermuda, via Ila

. . Feb 3.

The total number of volumes, exclusive of
unbound pamphlets, periodicals, &c., in the Con3r3e-
sional library, is 165,467, of which 23,915 are in the law de-
partment. During the year ending Dec., 1867, an addition
of 9,474 volumes has been made to the library. By a provi—
sion of the copyright law the Government claims one
copy of each publication, for which it grants a copyright
under the operation of this provision ; 1,493 volumes of
books, 1,310 pamphlets, 1,250 pieces of music, 319 engrav-
ings and photographs, and 91 maps were secured for the
library during the year ending December, 1867. Mani-
festly this forced contribution affords no indication of the
actual number of books, pamphlets, &c., copy►ighted dar-
ing the year; copyrights have been obtained on over
4,000 books in the southern district of New York alone
during the past year.

- -
Fenton clubs are being organised in New York
to press the Governor's name for the vice-presic.ency*,
with energy and vigour. Eight were started at Nero
York city in one week, and the Central Fenton Club et'
Albany has elected Borden H. Mills president.
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