STATE PAPERS. 



4K5 



indisposition, and from the advice 

 of the Physicians, to breathe the 

 air of the country, and to withdraw 

 myself from all serious application, 

 I should esteem myself culpable 

 before God, if I did not make 

 such provision for the govern- 

 ment of the kingdom, in these 

 most difficult times, that affairs 

 of the greatest importance should 

 be promptly dispatched, and the 

 public weal suffer no detriment 

 through my infirmities. Wisliing, 

 therefore, to disburthen myself 

 of the weight of government, as 

 long as it shall not please God 

 to restore me to a state of health 

 suitable for conducting it, I can- 

 not more properly intrust it to 

 any other than to you, my beloved 

 son, as well because you are my 

 legitimate successor, as on ac- 

 count of the experience which I 

 have had of you? high rectitude 

 and capacity ; and by these pre- 

 sents, with my free will and con- 

 sent, I constitute and appoint you 

 my Vicar-general in this my 

 kingdom of Sicily, in the same 

 way as you have been already 

 twice Vicar-geueral in my other 

 kingdom of Naples ; and I yield 

 and transfer to you with the ample 

 title of Alter Ego, the exercise of 

 all the rights, prerogatives, pre- 

 eminencies, and powers, which 

 could be exercised by myself: and 

 that this my determination may 

 be known to all, and obeyed by 

 all, I order that this my letter, 

 oigned by myself, and sealed with 

 my royal Seal, be preserved in 

 the archives of the kingdom, and 

 that you direct a copy of it to be 

 sent to all Councillors and Secre- 

 taries of State for their informa- 

 tions, and that they may com- 



municate the same to all persons 

 interested. — Given in Palermo, this 

 16th day of Jan. 1812. 



Ferdinand, 

 Thomas de Somma/ 



Address of the Neiu Spanish 

 Regency to the IS at ton. 



" Spaniariis, — The Regency, in 

 taking upon themselves the go- 

 vernment of the Spanish Mo- 

 narchy intrusted to them by the 

 Cortes in their decree of the 22nd 

 instant, could do no less than fix 

 their whole attention on the cri- 

 tical circumstances in which the 

 nation is placed, and on the im- 

 mensity of their obligations. They 

 do not however entertain for a 

 single moment the horrible idea 

 that the ferocious enemy who be- 

 sets us will ultimately accomplish 

 the subjugation of the heroic Spa- 

 nish people who are now in the 

 5th year of their glorious resist- 

 ance. You raised the cry of in- 

 dependence and of vengeance even 

 when deprived of your Princes, — 

 when your laws and institutions 

 were trampled under foot, — when 

 destitute of resources, and without 

 either armies, generals, or a cen- 

 tral and respectable government. 

 Even then, you conquered : you 

 have continued the contest, and 

 you have gone on progressively 

 ameliorating your institutions so as 

 to assemble the Cortes, to establish 

 a government on the most legiti- 

 mate basis, and through the me- 

 dium of your representatives, to 

 form a constitution, which is to 

 raise you to the prosperity and 

 grandeur of which you are worthy. 

 True it is, that the sacred fire of 



patriotism 



