ITALY.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 360, 5 April 1861, Page 4

ITALY.

(From the Home News, January 26.) Our latest intelligence relating to Italian affairs is contained in the following telegrams :— Gaeta, January 23.—The fire of the Sardinians is vigorously continued, and is slowly replied to by the batteries of Gaeta. Naples, January 24.—Prince Carignan has held a review of the National Guard, by whom he was received with enthusiasm. The batteries of Gaeta slackened their fire yesterday. This morning a powdermagazine exploded in the Sardinian camp, killing 20 persons. General Sonnaz has defeated the insurrectionary bands at Tagliacozzo and Cusamare. The victory was complete. Prince Carignan will proceed to Mola di Gaeta. The confidence in the government is increasing.

Paris, January 25.—1t is stated that the ship Solon, now at Toulon, is about to sail, and will touch at Mola di Gaeta. Her mission is for the present a secret. It is confirmed that the typhue fever is making great ravages at Gaeta. [This despatch is forwarded by a Paris correspondent of the Post.]

Paris, January 25.—The Patrie gives a denial to the report that the French troops are preparing to leave Rome. The Paris papers publish a telegram, dated Naples, January 22, according to which orders had been given for the trial of some Neapolitan paval officers before a court-martial for having refused to take part in the seige of Gaeta. The same telegram states that two Neapolitan war vessels only are employed at the siege of Gaeta.

Rome, January 22.—Riotous demonstrations of a most serious character have taken place in the Apollo Theatre. The performance of 11 Trovatore has been prohibited. Some students have been expelled from the university for having distributed tricolored cockades.

"We learn from a well informed correspondent," says the Gfbbe of last evening, " that King Francis 11. consulted those members of the corps diplomatique who waited upon him at Gaeta as to the expediency of continuing the defence of that place. The representatives of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Bavaria, and Portugal advised his majesty to hold out, but the Russian and Prussian ministers, after urging their opinion, immediately left the besieged town." The Turin correspondent of the Times writes as follows on the 22nd of January :— " Agreeably to the latest information received irom the headquarters of General Cialdini, General Manabrea had, in consequence of instructions forwarded by Count Cavour, been setit as a jtarlemerdaire into the besieged place at the moment of the expiration of the armistice, on the 19th. Offers were made to Francis 11. of Bourbon that he should leave the fortress with all the honors of war both for himself and all his troops; that, as the French fleet had already left the waters of Gaeta, two of the royal frigates, under the orders of Admiral Persano, at the Bourbon's own choice, should be ready to convey him, his family, and all such people as he choose for his suite, to any place he might wish to betake himself; that all the native Neapolitan troops within the fortress, men and officers, should be received in the service of the Italian kingdom, each in his own rank and standing, and with three months' pay by way of indemnity; that Bavarian and other foreign troops should be conveyed at the expense of the Italian government to the frontiers of their respective countries where would also receive three months' pay. General Menabrea was further instructed to receive and accept any counter propositions which the ex-king might make, with the only reservation of the sovereign rights of his king, Victor Emmanuel, as established by the plebiscite of the people of the Two Sicilies. The ex-king, yielding to suggestions from the foreign dipiomatists stiill abiding with him, refused to listen to these terms, or, indeed, even to receive the messenger; whereupon Admiral Persano proclaimed the blockade of Gaeta, and the Spanish fleet weighed anchor and left the bay. General Cialdini has sent no further despatches, probably because he waits till he can give the final results of the bom- i bardment, which had already commenced."

The Brussels Independance gives the following account of the reasons which influence King Francis 11. in remaining provisionally in Gaeta:—

"On the 16th a grand council of war was held, at which General Ulloa (not the de-

fender of Venice), who had returned from Paris, was present, as was also the young queen. At this council it was assumed that the place could resist for some time yet, but, nevertheless, there was a difference of opinion as to what should be done. The majority wished that the command of the place should be given to a general, while the king retired with the queen, who has decided to make the campaign with him, into the Abruzzi. The king, however, did not take this view. The generals feared that if the blockade became too rigorous the king would find himself caught in a trap. Francis 11. resisted, his principal argument being that by leaving the place he should discourage the garrison. His majesty told all those who were afraid, or who wished to leave for other reasons, that they were at liberty to go, and the next day about 150 soldiers, 10 non-commissioned officers, and 3 officers accepted the offer. They said, however, that they were going to the Abruzzi." • A correspondent of the Messager dv Midi communicates to that journal the following, as the conclusion of a short letter which Francis 11. recently sent to the Emperor of the French :— " I shall defend my rights to the last moment; if I am killed, my death will be my greatest glory in the remembrance of posterity. It I am made prisoner, the example ot Francis I. has taught me that my honor would be safe; and I shall have yielded none of the rights of my successors." The correspondent of the Times at Rome (Signor Gallenga) writes as follows :— " That intrepid soldier-priest, the reverend and gallant Monsignore de Merode, still manoeuvres his men-at-arms along the frontier of his master's present narrow dominions. It seems beyond a doubt that some enterprise in the nature of a coup de main has been in contemplation; but it either hangs fire, or, what is more probable, has been frustrated by the vigilance of the Italians. A report has been circulating in Rome since the night before last [this is dated Jan, 19], that there has been an encounter between the Papal troops and a detachment of Sardinians or volunteers; in which the former had been worsted. Some people went so far as to name M. Becdelievre (one of Lamoriciere's lieutenants) as the Papal officer who had received a check, and at the present moment I believe that many persons are convinced that some omnibuses and other vehicles which lately arrived here contained wounded Papal Zouaves. I suspect this will prove to be one of those discoveries which the Roman gossips make among the grounds of their coffee-cups. It is the old story of the three black crows. A single sick Zouave returniug into Rome would account for the convoy of wounded which nobody has seen, though everybody has heard of. According to the latest reliable information 1 have received, the Papal troops have had no fighting. At a recent date the 400 Zouaves who recently left Rome were partly at Frosinone and partly at Nerola and along the pass of Correse, close to the Umbrian frontier. With them were two pieces of artillery. The troops were sent from Rome in the most secret manner. M. de Merode did not even inform the Intendenza Militare whither they were going. A sum of money was given to their commanding officer for the wants of his men, and also, it is supposed, to stimulate reaction along the frontier. General Goyon knew nothing of their having left Rome until he was informed of it by the chief of the French gendarmes, who himself had been informed of it by the National parly. The movement of these troops seems to have coincided very nearly with the despatches of reactionary agents to the Neapolitan frontier."

Letters from Turin state that the Princess Clothilde, whose arrival there with Prince Napoleon is expected in a few days, will probably pass the winter in the capital. The belief is that the prince is intrusted with some mission or secret negotiation relative to the evacuation of Rome. Both the government party and what is called the party of action in Italy seem to have their attention diverted at present from Venice to Rome. Some important step is evidently expected at an early date with regard to the latter city. The Paris correspondent of the Post writes:—

" The friends of Italy must not be disappointed if they do not hear of the immediate success of the Italian fleet and army which now invest Gaeta. The naval forces will not be able to act if the wind is unfavorable, as there is only one position the squadron can take up without being exposed to the formidable seaward batteries lately constructed. The Russian war taught us what fortresses well managed could do against wooden ships, and Admiral Persano reports considerable difficulties from the waters of Gaeta. The land side of the place is as hard to take as Sebastopol. The garrison consists of 8000 picked men, nearly all foreigners, and the king has provisions for three months. The sick and wounded have been all removed from Gaeta, and ample provision made for a regular siege. We shall soon learn the effects of the combined attack; but some naval and military men now in Paris, and who have come from Gaeta, declare the place capable to resist bombardment, and that it will compel regular siege operations. At all events it is better not to anticipate a too easy reduction of the place."