The Sun. — 1835-02-24 (London, England)

THE FAMOUS BANDITT.  (From the." :Mvllloirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes.") The Pr'ince EAing told me the history of Fra Diavolo, who boon the subject of so many romances and mel::dminas.  Fra Diavolo's rcnl name was Michele Pezza, and he was already famous I'm- his robberies and massacres at Itri, during the campaign of Naples, commanded by 'Championnett. At the time he harassed the rear of the French army, ~rganized masses of insurgents in Upper and Lower Ca!abria, and directed a formidable conspiracy again r,t the French. He was a native of Itri (Terra de L or), and in his youth was a goatherd. He afterwarcL entered a convent, turned monk, and, strange took the name of Fra Angelo. However, his Irld cor•bict speedily caused him to be expelled from th,2 convent, and he then fled to the mountains, and ;,nrsned the life of a bandit. He lived by plunder, awl every day was marked by a murder. He headed a party of smugglers, and spread desolation thron;hout the country. The Government of King Ferclinal:(l condemned him to be hanged, and a price was set nponitis bead.  But Queen 61r01.1112, Ferdinand's wife, was a woman who knew 'low to turn everything, however bad, to some useful r,,Teitnt. An amnesty was granted to Michele Pezza, and h was appointed commander of a corps of freed slaves, who were to attack the rear of the from Fondi to Garigliano. When the took Gaeta and Capoua, Fra Diavolo fixed !-.irtrters in Itri, his native country, where he cow • ,c.,1 evert imaginable horror. The inhabitants of ',re tov;r) were plundered of all they possessed, was soon occupied only by the followers of Fri . Travellers journeying from Naples to lio;im, wbo 'entered Itri for a night's lodging, slept -never to again. The most artful devices Were einplo,-(.1 to allure the victims into the houses of Itri, v.hich they never came out alive. General Oii%iv;- •,t that time had the command of Gaeta. Beira; o.'f.aelf_sfl that a troop of banditti was in possession of 1“_, despatched a Polish regiment, *commanded by. vou:iLr, officer, who with chivalrous courage entered L,,, ri; on the dangerous expedition. He expelled 1-Yivolo from Itri, and drove him into the. wood; H7'] brigand, undaunted, returned, was attacked 1:,.• tIA_! PrAish troops, and frightful carnave ensued. f!i,zat,ement took place in the town of Itri, and me:;: :.f houses were destroyed. Diavolo was a ,c()A(i. time driven into the ziountams, and the coun%c ronni Itri was scour;a-of banditti ; a benefit wh;.ch (Inc to till; energetic measures of General cifivier.  The Polish had no sooner withdrawn from Itri, and cornntel!,...!,i th:!ir march to Molo-di-Gaeta, than two thousand in.iiirt7ents and banditti again showed themselves. Gr.:n.2rai !.iiivier despatched two squadrons and a Polish 1-Attainn to meet them, who dispersed them, and 0fte:.w,;.4.1i remained in possession of Itri. Fra Diavolo no 'oiler offered any resistance. He abandoned Term -de-tavora, and retired with his followers to infest tlio Ca:abrias, which became the scene of his depredaticus .111:1 atrocities. Will future gencmtions ever believe that a man like Fra Diavolo should ha.ve enjoyed the favour of the Xing and Queen of Sicily ?. Yet incredible as it may appear, it is nevertheless the fact. Queen Caroline sent him a bracelet- ornamented with her portrait ; and the English Govcln;nent gave him a commission in the British arinv. 7:6 crown all, his life was spared, that life of which the hangman, had been defrauded, and on which a price had so lately been set. Massena assured me, that the power of Fra Diavolo was inconeei-,Able, during the first and second occupation of Naples by the French troops, for the inhabitants of the mountains, who were as lawless and desperate as himself, ioyfullv followed a chief who led them to plunder. - One day he ventured to make a descent upon Itri, from which the military force had been a short interval withdrawn. He entered in the middle of the night, barbarously massacred all who resisted him, and ulpde the rest of the inhabitants prisoners.  On the second occupation of Naples by our troops, Fra Diavolo, I)ingr driven from Terra Firma, took refuge in Capri. He was at length arrested at Salerno, conveyed to Naples, and condemned without even the fonn of :1 trial ; " For," as Salicetti observed, "it was only tiescesary to refer to the sentence already passed upon him by those just and wise sovereigns, Caroline and Ferdinand." The English, whose ships were cruising before the Bay of Naples, sent a flag of truce to solicit the liberation of the British Major Michele Pezza, as a prisoner of war, and threatening if the request should not be granted, to use reprisals towards all the Ncaoolitan prisoners who might fall into their hands. Salicetti's answer was that he knew of no Major in the English army who had been taken prisoner by his Maieuv King Joseph ; but that, if the individual referred to were Fra Diavolo, a man holding no commiF;thon,. and without character, either military or political, he had been hanged the night before, in conformity witll an old sentence passed by the tribunals of King Ferdinand, by which he had been condemned as a murder.:r, a robber, an incendiary and a smuggler ! Such is the true iiitory of Fra Diavolo.  It is doubtful wither any amendments to the Address will be tnos- HonEe of Lords, although it was understood yesterd3•,. that the Opposition party had determined to propose an amer.(in:Qv:. Should this resolution be carried into effect, Lord 72,1!_ti:ravo will,- it is said, be the mover.— Morning Post.  The family of Mr. C. W. Wynn, is thrown into affliction by the illiwss at ci:e of the Right Hon. Gentleman's sons. It appears the young gentleman, while pursuing his studies at E!,, p.,•(.!,,'.er.ta11y sprained one of his ankles, the inflammatory ,r, ~.ptorr.s from which have so far increased as to defy the skil:, of the first medical attendants, and he now lies in a vcr state at the town mansion in Grafton-street.  On Thursday CV,ning last, a man, after placing his umbrella and hat upon the Pont-au-Change, at Paris, mounted the parapet, threw himself into the Seine, and was drowned. In his hat was found a letter, signed Felix Massonette, a Republican, in which he stated that- money to pay two debts he owed, one of 70fr., .11,1 the other of 120 fr., would be found in his drawers, and as,:igned as the reason for his suicide the machinations of certain persons to implicate him in crimes.