The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 30, 1868.

VOLUNTEERS FOR THE POPE.

A writer in the Weetininster Gazette, says :
Your readers may be glad to learn some
further particulars in connection with the new
regiment now in course of formation for the
defence of the Holy Father and his small pos-
sessions against the attacks with which he is
still menaced.

The formation of this new regiment, " Les
Chasseurs Americains," is due to the perse-
verance of General Carroll Teris, of the Ame-
rican army. Shortly after the battle of Men-
tana, an offer had been made by General Car-
roll Teris and two friends to undertake the
formation of a regiment, to be composed ex-
clusively of at least English-speaking men,
to be supported and armed by money collected
on this and the other side of the Atlantic.
This offer was not for the time being accepted.
General Teris then applied himself to the col-
lection of funds for the use of the Govern-
ment of the Holy Father. His efforts were
soon successful beyond his hopes, and money
flowed in weekly. The General again applied
himself to the task of obtaining the consent
of the Holy Father to the formation of the
new regiment. For this purpose he placed
himself in constant communication with Gen.
Kanzler, the Papal Commander-in-Chief and
pro-Minister of War, whose devotion to the
Papal cause and to the person of Pius IX. is
so well known. Eventually, when all the de-
tails connected with the proposal had been laid
before his Holiness, and explained fully by
General Kanzler, the permission sought for
was granted to General Carroll Teris. The
general details are as follow :
The corps to consist of 1,000 men recruited
in the United States.
Term sf' service, three years.
. .

The officers and non-commissioned officers

to have served in their own army in as high
or higher rank than that which they shall
hold in this corps.
All appointments to be made by his Holi-
ness.

No names of either officers or men to be
proposed to his Holiness which have not been
previously submitted to and approved by the
bishops and priests of the dioceses and parishes
in which they reside.
The arm to be the same as that of the other
regiments, viz., the Remington rifle and sabre
bayonet.
The name of the corps to be the " Chas-
seurs Americains," to ba under the command
of General Carroll Teris, with the rank of
Lie ut.- Colonel.

These give an idea of the new corps which,
it is hoped, or at least a part of it, will arrive
in Rome by the middle of October. Their
uniform will be light bluish grey tunic, troi,v-
sers, and cap with green facings, which will
distinguish it from the Zouaves, who have red

On the 21st of May Cardinal Barnabo
addressed a circular to all the American
bishops on the subject, urging them to give all
the assistance in their power to the move-
ment, and especially their superintendence in
the selection of men and officers. On the 31st
of May Goneral Carroll Tens was honoured
with the following letter and blessing from the
Holy Father :

" Die 30 Maii, 1868

" Benedicat Te Deus et benedicat illos qui
bona voluntate et amore huic S. Sedi libenter
et spontanei arma sumunt pro defensione
ipsius S. Sedis et pro gloria D.N.J.C.
" PIUS PP. Ix."

Fortified with this blessing, General Carro
Teris at once received his final instructions
from the Minister of War, and started by next
mail for London on his way to New York,
where he will arrive in the course of the
present week. Within the last few days a
telegram, dated from Rome, has appeared in
the morning journals to the effect that in con-
sideration of the disapproval of the move-
ment by the American Government, the whole
thing had been abandoned. No faith, we must
hope, can be placed in this, as it is highly im-
probable, and more especially as the telegram
bears no official impress, and gives 1,200 as
the number of the corps, whereas it was
strictly limited to 1,000. Had the source of
the news been official, this mistake would
hardly have occurred.
Before his departure from Rome General
Carroll Teris received a letter from the well-
known Father Franco, the sentiments it con-
tained being such that I cannot abstain from
giving you a translation of it. It is as follows:
Civilta Cattolica, Casa degli Scrittore,
Piazza a Borgo, Nuovo 66.
Rome, 30th May, 1868.
My dear General—Not feeling sure of seeing
you before your departure for America, I de-
sire to offer you my best wishes for a safe
journey and a happy success. You can scarce
imagine what interest my colleagues and I
take in your enterprise. Ah ! if we had had
under the flag of St. Peter last October 1,000
brave Americans, what great things we should
have seen accomplished. A single company
of crusaders was at that time looked upon as
possessing the force of a whole battalion.
When the 5,000 Garibaldians had taken pri-
soners the heroic and brave defenders of Monte
Rotondo, consisting of merely two companies
and a half, and that only after they had fired
their last cartridge, you know we looked upon
this loss as seriously as if the army of the
Holy Father had been deprived of the services
of a whole corps of very great strength and
importance.
And, now, it is not so much the 1,000
bayonets the more we desire to have as 1,000
devoted hearts to testify to the world that the
cause of the Holy See is the cause of Catholi-
city. Tell our brothers on the other side of
the Atlantic that it is not merely a question of
guarding a slip of territory, so small that it
would not add a single star to the American
flag ; but, tell them that it is for the defence
of one of the successors of St. Peter, and to
secure the independence of the religion of
Christ ; that to accomplish this it is necessary
to save Rome from the tyranny of the Italian
Government, and deliver the Holy Father from
the menace of the stiletto. You will remem-
ber how they boastingly glorified themselves
in their journals on the organised attack on
the Vatican Palace, to take place on the 23rd
October last, and how sincerely they regretted
the miscarriage of their concerted plan. Never,
since the time of the Crusaders, has a ques-
tion of such grave importance arisen, in which
religion and human civilization are alike com-
promised. Make your countrymen understand
this ; Europe does understand it, and but for
the action of there volution the question would
have been now solved. We have seen not only
Catholics but Protestants assisting the Pope.
All honourable men amongst the Protestants
of Holland, Germany, and England, applauded
the young Zouaves, who, with the Papal colours
flying from their hats, passed through the diffe,-
rent towns, declaring aloud that they went to
defend their "Father" from the encroachments
and the tyrannies perpetrated by the revolu-
tionary spirits, with the connivance and un-
der the protection of the Italian flag. Even
poor Italy, chained down as it is, has contri-
buted its quota to the gallant little army of St.
Peter, besides a subscription of six or seven
million francs. Did it depend on me I would,
without hesitation, be sati3fied to give you as
your companion and co-preacher in this
crusade, the honourable AI. Guizot, Protestant
as be is.

I would, above all things, that you should
explain to the Catholics of the United States
that no local interest can, however great, for
a moment compare with the all importance
of saving Rome and the Holy Father from
the horrible slavery of the Italian Govern-
ment. Ah, if you only thoroughly understood
the organized brigandage which they call "Go-
vernment "—if you could paint it in its true
colours, I believe that the people of the United
States would cry out with rage, and would,
with all their power, help to crush an infamy
so colossal. What would honest Protest-
antism say, did it know the history of this
self-styled Government, that robs its citizens