400 



ANNUAL REGISTER, l«l6. 



promise you on tlie faith of an 

 old ofHcer anti fait! if ul subject, 

 that I ;-ha'.l fulfil all the orders I 

 receive from uiyaueiist Sovereign, 

 who gives none but for your hap- 

 piness. 



Charles Frrderick Lecgr 



Declaration of the King of the Two 



Sicilies. 

 " Ferdinand J. by the grace of 

 God, King of the Kingdom of 

 the Two Sicilies, &c. ike. &c. 

 " Desiring to confirm the pri- 

 vileges granted by us, and the 

 Monarchs our illustrious firede- 

 cessors, to our well-beli\ed Sici- 

 lians, and to reconcile the invio- 

 lability of these privileges with 

 the unity of the politirnl institu- 

 tions, we have by the jjresent law 

 sanctioned, and do sanction as 

 follows : 



" Art. 1. All civil and eccle- 

 siastical employments in Sicily 

 beyond the Straiis shall, conform- 

 ably to the capitularies of the Mo- 

 narchs our predecessors, be con- 

 ferred exclusively on Sicilians, 

 without *he other sulijects of our 

 states on this side the Straits being 

 ever entitled to pretend to them, 

 in the same manner as the Sici- 

 lians cannot form any claim to 

 civil and religious employments 

 in our other doiiinions above- 

 mentioned. We place among the 

 number of the | laces exclusively 

 to be given to Sicilians, the Arch- 

 bishopric of Palermo, though our 

 august father, Chailes 111. re- 

 sei ved the disposal of it to him- 

 self, in the gieat charter which 

 he gra ted to the Sicilians. 



" .'^rt. "2. Our Sicilian subjects 

 beyond the Straits shall be ad- 

 mitted to all the gr>?at dignities 

 of the kingdom of the Tk\o Sici- 



lies, in proportion to the popula- 

 tion of the island. 



" The popula'ion being a quar- 

 ter of that of all our dominions, 

 the fourth part of our Council of 

 State shall be composed of Sici- 

 lians, and the other three quarteis 

 of subjects of our other domi- 

 nions. 



" The same pi-oportion will be 

 ob-erved for the places of our Mi- 

 nisters and Secretaries of State, 

 tlie first dignities of the Court, 

 and the places of our representa- 

 tives and agents at foi-eign Coui ts. 

 " Art. 3. Instead of two Sici- 

 lian Consullatori, uho, according 

 to the ( oncession of our august fa- 

 ther, were members of the an- 

 cient .limta of Sicily, there shall 

 be always in 'he Supienie Coun- 

 cil of the Chancery of the Two 

 Sicilies anumber of Sicilian Coun- 

 sellors, according to the propor- 

 tion fixed in the preceding article. 

 " Art. 4. Office.* in our aimy 

 and navy, our royal household, 

 will l.e conferred on all our sub- 

 jects, without distinction of the 

 part of onr dominions of which 

 they a' e natives. 



" Art. .5. The Government of 

 the whole kingdom of the Two 

 Sicilies shall be always about our 

 ])erson. When we shall re.'^ide m 

 Sicily, we shall have as Governor 

 in our states on this side of our 

 Straits a Prince of (mi family, or 

 another personage of distinction, 

 whom we sliall choose among our 

 subjects. 



" If it is a Prince of the Royal 

 Family, he shall have with him 

 one of our Ministeis of State, 

 who shall correspond with the 

 Ministeis and Secr.-taries of State 

 who shall ve>ide near our person, 

 and who shall have with him, be- 

 sides. 



