The same demonstrations would doubtless
have been made by the Neapolitan passengers had they belonged to the
Bourbonic faction, but they happened to be honest traders with cases of
coral and lava for the Paris market, and therefore they merely stood
silent and aghast at the fatal news, with their eyes and mouths as wide
open as possible. I had no sooner got to my hotel than I inquired for the
latest Paris journal, when the France was handed me, and I obtained
confirmation in a certain degree of the disaster to the Italian fleet
narrated by the sailor, although not quite in the same formidable
proportions.
Before quitting the subject of my fellow-passengers on board the 'Prince
Napoleon' I must mention an anecdote related to me, respecting the state
of brigandage, by a Russian or German gentleman, who told me he was
established at Naples. He was complaining of the dangers he had
occasionally encountered in crossing in a diligence from Naples to Foggia
on business; and then, speaking of the audacity of brigands in general,
he told me that last year he saw with his own eyes; in broad daylight,
two brigands walking about the streets of Naples with messages from
captured individuals to their relations, mentioning the sums which had
been demanded for their ransoms.
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