GENERAL HISTORY. 



[89 



taken in it of the constitution. 

 •• Henceforth (the king is made to 

 say) Sicily has a written consti- 

 tution, destined to estabhsh order 

 in the movements of power, that 

 they be not thrown into confusion ; 

 to assign limits to the various po- 

 litical functions, that they do not 

 invade each other ; to fix the 

 grand point where private rights 

 and public wants should meet ; to 

 protect civil liberty, and the full 

 and entire security of persons and 

 property. Destined henceforth to 

 lay the foundation of the prospe- 

 rity and welfare of the Sicilians ; 

 modelled after that of a great and 

 elevated nation, which has given 

 and continues daily to give proofs 

 of its wealth, its power, and mag- 

 nanimity, this constitution has al- 

 ways been the object of ray affec- 

 tionate and paternal sentiments." 

 The speech proceeds to remark, 

 that this constitution, however, 

 has not hitherto fully answered to 

 the general expectation, which is 

 imputed to the effects of war, 

 and the convulsions usually occa- 

 sioned by great andsudden changes. 

 After expressing a hope of future 

 unanimity, it gives a summary 

 view of the business which is to 

 occupy the present attention of 

 the parliament, of which the most 

 urgent is stated to be providing 

 for the payment of the public 

 debt. It concludes with a com- 

 pliment to his august ally, the 

 king of Great Britain, and to Lord 

 William Bentinck, as captain-ge- 

 neral of the united forces. 



An unfortunate proof of the yet 

 unsettled state of the Sicilian con- 

 ktitution appeared in the disputes 

 which immediately occurred re- 

 specting the elections of depu- 

 tio ; and the representatives of 



Palermo, Messina, Catania, Syra- 

 cuse, and several other towns, 

 were excluded, as having been un- 

 constitutionally chosen. New elec- 

 tions were therefore ordered, and 

 the parliament was adjourned, or 

 rather closed, on the '2;Jrd, This 

 was probably a manoeuvre of 

 party ; for we are informed that 

 after the dismission of the parlia- 

 ment, great discontents prevailed, 

 the government appeared in open 

 opposition to the English, and 

 persons who had obtained offices 

 through English influence were 

 every day dismissed, and some of 

 them arrested. 



The sentiments of the Sicilian 

 court with respect to the possessor 

 of its former continental domi- 

 nions were explicitly expressed, by 

 an order communicated in October 

 from the commandant of the dis- 

 trict of Messina to the commander 

 of the Neapolitan troops in Cala- 

 bria, importing that upon no pre- 

 text whatever, should any vessel 

 bearing the flag of king joacliim 

 be admitted into the ports and on 

 the coasts of Sicily. 



We are destitute of regular re- 

 ports of the public proceedings in 

 this island ; but an account from 

 Palermo, dated November 10th, 

 mentions that the parliament was 

 then continuing its sittings ; and 

 that it had passed a decree recog- 

 nising as a national debt, the loan 

 negociated with Great Britain by 

 the princes of Castelnovo, and 

 Bonano, but without meaning to 

 authorize the illegal conduct of 

 those ministers, who, by contract- 

 ing this debt without the consent 

 of the parliament, had violated its 

 constitutional privileges. If that 

 body manifested a vigorous cha- 

 racter in this point, it gave a proof 



