GENERAL HISTORY. 



[191 



the other, over a native population 

 averse to both, could subsist in 

 tranquillity ; and after the return 

 of Lord William Bentinck, a con- 

 spiracy of spies and assassins in the 

 interest of France was discovered, 

 in the month of December 1811, 

 and its ringleaders, being arrested, 

 were tried by a military commis- 

 sion at Messina, and some of them 

 capitally condemned. The rooted 

 dislike of the Queen to the Eng- 

 lish ascendency in Sicily, and her 

 attachment to the French interest, 

 were sufficiently manifest in the 

 transactions of the last year : the 

 notorious incapacity of the King 

 also rendered him unfit to hold the 

 reins : nothing therefore remained, 

 in order to settle a regular govern- 

 ment, correspondent with the views 

 of the British cabinet, but to place 

 the authority in the hands of the 

 nation at large, supported by the 

 English army. As a step to this 

 change, the fugitive Barons were 

 recalled in January, and were wel- 

 comed to Palermo by a great escort 

 of nobility, to the high displeasure 

 of the Queen. Lord VV. Bentinck 

 was declared Captain-General of 

 all the troops in the island, and 

 gained general applause by his 

 firm and prudent conduct. The 

 King soon afterwards, on the pre- 

 text of indisposition, made a formal 

 resignation of his royal authority to 

 his son. When, upon the motion 

 in the English Parliament for a re- 

 newal of the subsidy of 400,000/. 

 to his Sicilian Majesty, this fact 

 was taken notice of, Lord Castle- 

 reagh assured the house that no 

 fraud or violence had been used to 

 induce the King to take this step, 

 which he chose rather to call a 

 temporary substitution of another 

 authority, than an abdication. 



It now became the great obj ect 

 to frame a new constitution for the 

 island, and the intimate connection 

 which had for some years subsisted 

 between the Sicilians and the Eng- 

 lish caused the British constitution 

 to be adopted as the model. On 

 July the 20th, the Parliament of 

 the Island assembled in the usual 

 manner at Palermo, when they en- 

 tered upon the important business, 

 pursuant to the instructions of his 

 Royal Highness, the Vicar-Gene- 

 ral, or delegate of sovereign autho- 

 rity. They began by fixing the 

 limits of the legislative, executive, 

 and judiciary powers; the first of 

 which they lodged in the Parlia- 

 ment, the second in the King, with 

 personal inviolability, but with re- 

 sponsible ministers. The judges 

 were declared independent, but 

 impeachable by the Commons, if 

 guilty of criminal conduct. The 

 Parliament instead of being, as be- 

 fore, divided into three branches, 

 was to consist only of two houses ; 

 one of Commons, composed of the 

 representatives of the cities and ba- 

 ronies ; and one of Lords, formed 

 by the union of the ecclesiastical 

 and baronial branches. The pri- 

 vileges of these houses, and the 

 mode of enacting laws, were co- 

 pied from the English constitution. 

 It was a proof both of the wisdom, 

 and the patriotism of the barons, 

 that they renounced the feudal 

 privileges which had descended to 

 them through eight centuries, and 

 were confirmed by the laws of the 

 kingdom, and contented them- 

 selves with the common rights of 

 citizens. Thus, apparently with- 

 out opposition, one of the worst 

 governed countries in Europe has 

 acquired the means of becoming 

 one of the best governed, provided 



it 



