After a brief, but pleasant, interview with this gentleman, we climb to
the Castle of Sant' Elmo, built on a high eminence commanding the town,
and with its guns mounted, not so as to defend it against an invading
enemy, but to hurl destruction on the devoted subjects of the Bourbon.
We are told that the people Lad set their hearts on seeing this
fortress, which they look upon as a standing menace, razed to the
ground, and its site covered with peaceful dwellings. And it is not
without regret that we have since learned that Victor Emmanuel has
thought it inexpedient to comply with this wish. Nor, in our ignorance,
can we divest ourselves entirely of the belief that it would have been a
wise as well as conciliatory policy to do so.
We are politely shown over the castle by one of the National Guard, who
hold it in charge, and see lounging upon one of its terraces, carefully
guarded, but kindly allowed all practicable liberty, several officers of
the late power, prisoners where they had formerly held despotic sway. We
descend into the now empty dungeons, dark and noisome as they have been
described, where victims of political accusation or suspicion have pined
for years in dreary solitude.
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