PUBLIC OPINION AND ALARM IN NAPLES.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 48, 1 December 1860, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION AND ALARM IN NAPLES.

The Naples correspondent of tiie l imes, writing on the 14th August, says:— The political horizon does not become clearer, and beyond the longed-for arrival of Garibaldi no one appears to look. Garibaldi is the beginning and the end of all things. I do not believe that annexation is practicable or desirable; and I am persuaded that, if accomplished, it will not be a permanent fact. Here, however, they are mad for it, and any one who should pronounce an opinion in opposition is despised as a “ codina.” Public agitation increases from hour to hour, if by agitation be understood talk. As regards the present state of the capital, there exists a degree of apprehension which is most deplorable. A third of the shops in the Toledo are closed, and such notices as “Doinicilio Estero,” “Domicilio Inglesc,” “Domicilio Francese,” are multiplied daily. People are running off in all directions into the country, and this morning I met I know not how many cart loads of furniture being taken out of town. The French Company have telegraphed to Marseilles for another steamer, as they have had 250 more applications for places than they can grant. Meanwhile, arms are being distributed, right and left, and I calculate that 15,000 civilians, at least, have muskets, beeides those which are among the National Guard. 400 have been distributed by the Comitato among the liberals of their way of thinking, and without the knowledge of the Government. It is evident that that mysterious body, the Comitato, has large sums of money at its disposal, and, what is more, uses it freely. Thus there arc many of the population in their pay, at the rate of four carlini a day ; and bodies of men engaged and paid by them, are continually being sent off to Sicily and elsewhere. Another cause of apprehension here is that the troops cannot be depended on —at all events, the artillery and the engineers ) and desertions are continually taking place. Even sentinels have left their posts, and have entered, I have reason to believe, the service of the Comitato, by whom they have been concealed until an opportunity presents itself for sending them off. The last batch was dispatched by the Rotterdam on Saturday. Despite appearance and professions, be assured that great numbers of the lower classes, it they hollowed their inclinations.

would be found among the defenders of the Throne. I have heard some calculations made by the Loyalists as to the force which they can command here in caseVf danger, and they state that, over and above 20,000 native troops in Naples and the | environs, they have 500 Bavarians who would fight, and would endeavour to wipe out the disgrace of their defeat in Sicily. “ I am disposed, however, to think that this is all moonshine, and that the name of Garibaldi and the prowess of his troops will lend wings to the heels of the Neapolitans. Alexandre Dumas arrived here yesterday morning on board the French steamer, and with him he brought 1,500 muskets and pistols, which were intended for Sicily. Two or three celebrated exiles returned with him. August 14, after Post.—The Count of Aquila and all his family have been sent out of Naples to-day, the residence of the Count here being inconsistent with public order. A. conspiracy Las been discovered in a reactionary sense, of which he was the head. Naples is as sad as a small Scotch town on a Sunday—shops all shut, and people leaving as fast as they can. I have just telegraphed the state of siege. The English in Garibaldi's Service. —There is a very strong desire among the men of both services in Malta to go over and join Garibaldi, and many cunning devices have been resorted to to carry out this wish, but generally unsuccessfully, for anything leaving Malta can be so easily seen. Still some have vanished, no one knows how. A man of the 23rd Regiment being missed, strong suspicions existed that he had got on board the Dutch Commodore’s ship, and the Commodore was politely asked if the authorities might search for him. This he indignantly refused, and was much annoyed at the suspicion. I understand that the missing man’s comrades have since had letters from him, and that he is in Garibaldi’s camp, roughing it, but delighted with camp life and its excitement. It appears that sailors make the best soldiers with Garibaldi; they are more ready at expedients, happier, better foragers, and have more dash ; and sailors from our navy have always been foremost in all Garibaldi’s fights. A greyheaded old Scotch merchant had made a fortune, and was living on his means in Sicily, but the fever of fighting is catching and he could not resist its influence. At Melazzo, to use his own words, he “ was old fool enough to take his double-barrel and fight with the rest.” Old as he was, and unused to fighting, he was among the foremost, and got two wounds for his pains. Garibaldi saw his daring, and after the fight publicly thanked him. There is a freemasonry among brave men, and they were at once friends; by the way both were masons. The authorities have been pretty severe on the soldiers they have caught, and the sentence on some that tried to escape from their regiments to Sicily has been the loss of all claims for previous service. Disgrace and 184 days’ imprisonment must be rather a cooler to their thirst for military glory. —Daily News.