THE POPE'S HUSH BRIGADE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1459, 2 October 1860, Page 5

THE POPE'S HUSH BRIGADE.

A letter from Rome published, iv the Natio gives details of the affray, which took place in the Eternal City on the 27th June, between the Papal troops and a portion of the Irish Brigade, enlisted for the purpose of maintaining the Pope's authority against his enemies. Itseerns that a young man, named Laffan, disgusted with the position of" full private," and wishingto be an officer, doffed his uniform, and appeared in plain clothes. He was ordered to be arrested, and au attempt was made by his comrades to rescue him. Though he and his abetters gave themselves up afterwards, considerable commotion was occasioned, in the city. The Irish crowded in groups, excitedly discussing the affair, the crowd being swelled by Swiss and French idlers, all waiting to sec the upshot of affairs ; and at the cross roads, as well as at the Palazzo Albobrandini, there were crowds of Romans looking on in amazement at what all the noise was about. By this time several officers of the battalion begau to arrive on the spot from various parts of the city, and they instantly ordered the men back to their barracks. The men obeyed grumblingly, as the curiosity of all was greatly exciled,and they wanted to learn the result of the affair. By a singular and most fortunate chance, that very evening, by the train from Civita Vccchia, who should arrive but the.Major of the Irish battalion—Mr. Miles W. O'Reilly, of Knockabbey Castle. He barely reached iho hotel from the terminus when he heard of what was going on, and off he hurried to the barracks. He came up at the moment while the Irish were all gathered together outside the barracks, about to enter it. He instantly ordered the men to fall in, and put them through their drill, and made them a brief but beautiful address. You never saw any change so sudden and complete. The men became as docile and contented as possible, and everything wore a most cheering appearance, when a deplorable incident changed the aspect of affiirs. At the end of the file, next the barrack entrance, there was a stout athletic Irishman. I forgot to tell you that there is one division of Belgians and Romans in the same barracks as our men. The Belgian officer in command had at the very first outbreak of the row, drawn up his men under arms, in front! of the barracks. This gave great offence to the Irish, who felt indignant at' being, as they thought, guarded over by Belgians, and the man I have alluded to kept saying, with bitter excitement, to his comrades, "Look at these fellows ; they would sell the Pope and join Garibaldi in the morning, and look at them with their bayonets like seutries to terrify us.' The thing seemed to sting bitterly, and the moment Major O'Reilly gave the order to right-about-face, this private passionately dashed at the nearest of the Belgians or Romans, and with one blow of his fist between the eyes, laid the poor fellow sprawling and kicking in the dust, to the utter amazement and horror of every one. The Belgian officer, with a sad lack of discretion, instantly gave the words " Prime and load— make ready — present — fire." O'Reilly rushed forward, and putting himself between the muzzles of the guns and the position of the Irish, in a voice of thunder countermanded the rash and terrible order. It was a moment of painful excitement. At O'Reilly's voice of thunder — though having so recently arrived he was personally unknown — the Belgians held their levelled guns, but pulled no trigger. Then O'Reilly ordered his men once more into -the. line ; but by this time out poured every Irishman in the barracks, and a strange scene ensued. Though utterly unarmed, they rushed at the armed Belgians, and a regular hand-to-hand, conflict ensued — the Irish, however, merely desiring to disarm the others — wresting away the guns, twisting the bayonets off like twigs, and tossing them in the air by dozens. The Belgian officer drew his sword and made a stroke at an Irishman, which, however, wounded him but very slightly. This was the first actual blow struck. On this another Irishman flung a stove at the officer, which missed him, but hit one of his men. These notwithstanding the serious nature of the whole affair, proved to be the only blows given throughout. O'Reilly's tact, energy, and presence of mind were above all praise. He soon, assisted by his officers, succeeded in bringing the men to their obedience, and iv a few minutes had order once more restored, and by 9 o'clock everything was as orderly as if nothing had occured. Of 1500 out here, only 40 have been rejected on piesenting themselves for enrolment. Some navvies from Youghal modestly askefl £14 bounty, and 2s. a day. Of course they, were spurned. Some 20 men from LimerickVs'eem id have come out in the same mercenary scheme.' I'Jiese, in all about 30, are the only mercenaries tiiat have reached this country from Ireland.

A letter from Rome of June 30, in the Paris Union, says : — " Most of 'the Irish who bave come here to take service under the Popo are fine men, and a certain number of them have already been in the army. ' The passion of the Irish for strong drink is unfortunately too well known ; and three days ago it was the cause of a painful accident. Some of the Volunteers, when in a state of intoxication, attempted to force open the door of a •'• monastery, in order to take vengeance on a monk of .whom they fancied' they had rsason to complain ; but a patrol being sent against them they were arrested. General de Lamoriciere, who is determined that strict discipline shall be maintained among the troops under bis com» mand, has determined that these Irish shall be brought to a court-martial."

A letter from Trieste of the 28th ultimo, in the Presse of Vienna, says: — Forty Irish, who had formed part of a* detachment which left this place last week for Anacona, refused at the last moment to accompany their companions, al» though their places on board the steamer had been paid for. They, however, subsequently consented to go by the steamer which left two days back; but at the last moment they again refused to embark ! The volunteers who left two days for Ancona were 166 in number, of 6 them Irish.

The Dover Chronicle^ says : — Within these last few weeks nearly 120 men have embarked at Dover, en route to join General Lamoriciere's Papal army at Eome. On Wednesday last 40 men landed at our port, on their return home under the plea of "unfit."

Ooe of die Dublin papers give the, following account of the Pope's Irish recruitsV-whoit seems have returned to the old land much sadder, if not wiser men than when they embarked in their precious wild gouse cliaso after fame in the service of a hard-taskmaster: — "At half-past 11 o'clock yesterday forenoon 69 young 1 men, who a few. weeks since, lilled with martial fervour, left this country for the purpose of uniting with other foreign mercenaries to protect the Roman shepherd against his sheep, were landed at the North-wall, having been conveyed from Liverpool by one of the city of Dublin Company's steamers. Tliey immediately, by common consent, preceeded in a body to Lower, Abbey-street and took up their station opposite the Morning News. Their number and toil worn aspect, their cadaverous faces and general appearance of wretchedness* attracted public attention, and in a few minutes they were surrouuded by an inquiring and sympathising crowd. The great majority of them maintained a sullen silence; same only noticed questions put to them by shrugging their shoulders ; some were disposed to be communicative, and spoke without reserve and with indignation. These were soon the centre of groups of people, whom they informed that they had been misled and deceived — that ' all had been ill treated, and that many of them almost starved. The greater pait had reached the Eternal City, the remainder turned back on the way; all were rejoiced to reach their native land, ever; in the destitute condition in which they were. They bad come to Abbey-street, they said in the hope of seeing ' the agent,' and were grievously disappointed on finding that the house was locked up, and that ' the agent' was not to be seen. They had no money to take them back to the places from wheuce they came. 1150 other ' emigrants,' they said, were about the docks iti Liverpool iv the" same unfortunate plight as themselves. The foot and carriage ways were by this time quite obstructed and it required the intervention" of three constables to clear them. The crowd and the great body of the returned emigrants soon 'moved on,' but for some hours afterwards several of them might be seen walking up and down the street, and casting anxious glances at the windows opposite, in the vain hope of catching, the eye of ' the agent,' and of being furnished by him with the necessary ineaus of reaching their distant homes."

We road an account in a letter from Rome of an energetic declaration drawn up by Mr. James M , late of the Dublin metropolitan police, who recently threw up his situation in Ireland and went to Rome, with his young wife at his own expense, in full expectation of receiving an officers 'commission, as he had been led to hope by the' recruiting agent in Dublin. The following is the declaration: — "The Irish Brigade. — A few words of admonition from an Irishman to his countrymen relative to the organization of the Irish. Brigade in Italy : — Fellow countrymen, — I have spent the last two months in Italy, watching all the stages of the progress of the biigade from Anacona and Macerata to Rome. Believe me I have had ample opportunity of seeing how my countrymen who have torn themselves away from all that was near aud dear to them in the world, have been treated. Now, all I have to«'say is this: the poor Irish are treated " after a most disrespectful, cruel, and treacherous manner by the RoJian authorities. They are trampled on by the Government and bated and detested by the people of Italy : and my. solemn advice (to all whom it may concern) is, stay at home and mind your own business, and don't attempt to bear a part in trying to force the poor devoted children of Italy to submit to a slavish rule, for which they have no wish or sympathy whatsoever. — J. F. M., an Irishman."