132 



NAPLES AND SICILY. 



Neapolitan troops. This happened on the seventeenth, 

 on which day about 1500 men were killed and 

 wounded. Thereupon general Naselli sailed for 

 Naples with about 100 soldiers. The Neapolitans 

 who had escaped slaughter, to the number of about 

 6000, were treated as prisoners. At length, a junta, 

 established by the municipality and the heads (consoli) 

 of the communities, restored order, by instituting a 

 guard of citizens, among whom the most distinguished 

 persons, as well as priests and monks, performed 

 service. The persons who had been put in confine- 

 ment, were sent out of the city without arms, and an 

 amnesty was proclaimed. The junta, July 26, 

 summoned deputies from the Sicilian cities, to meet 

 in a national assembly at Palermo ; but Messina and 

 Catanea refused to send any. The junta, at the 

 same time, sent deputies to the government at Naples, 

 to treat concerning the independence of Sicily, and 

 an alliance between the two nations ; but, on infor- 

 mation of the events of the 17th, all the Sicilians in 

 Naples were declared prisoners of war, to protect 

 them from the fury of the people ; and it was deter- 

 mined to reduce Palermo by force, where the junta, 

 though they had concluded to acknowledge king 

 Ferdinand, still insisted on a separate parliament for 

 Sicily. In the mean time, a civil and guerilla war 

 had broken out in Sicily, because particular towns, 

 as Messina and Trepani, opposed the cause of irtde- 

 pendence. After general Florestan Pepe, with 4000 

 men, had landed in Sicily, Sept. 2, other cities like- 

 wise declared for Naples, and the troops of Palermo 

 were almost everywhere beaten. About the 20th, a 

 treaty for the submission of Palermo was concluded ; 

 but the monk Vaglica instigated the people to rebel, 

 removed the junta, and formed another government, 

 under the administration of the prince of Palermo, 

 so that hostilities recommenced. At length, a capi- 

 tulation took place, Oct. 5, according to which, a 

 majority of the Sicilians were to settle the question 

 relating to the national parliament, and the Neapoli- 

 tans took possession of the city and the forts. Flores- 

 tan Pepe allowed a general amnesty, at the same 

 time proclaiming the Spanish constitution, and ap- 

 pointed another junta. But the parliament assembled 

 at Naples rejected this arrangement, and sent general 

 Coletta, with 5000 Calabrians, to Palermo, to super- 

 sede Pepe. He disarmed the inhabitants, and im- 

 posed upon them, as a punishment, the expenses of 

 the war, a fine of 90,000 oncette. The united 

 parliament, consisting of deputies from Naples and 

 Sicily, was opened, Oct. 10, by the king 1 in person, 

 and party spirit soon mingled in the new order of 

 things. The Carbonari saw themselves surrounded 

 by secret enemies, particularly the revived Calderari, 

 who were joined by all the discontented, and the 

 ministers became objects of suspicion. The mon- 

 archies of Europe would not sanction the forcible 

 degradation of the royal power, least of all Austria, 

 which had received a formal assurance of the con- 

 tinuance of monarchy in the kingdom of the Two 

 Sicilies, and the non-introduction of the representative 

 system. The powers of the first rank therefore 

 declined receiving the new ambassadors from Naples, 

 and, Aug. 25, Austria proscribed the Carbonari of 

 the Lomnardo-Venetian kingdom. The forces of the 

 Neapolitan government consisted of 52,000 troops of 

 the line, supported by 219,000 movable national 

 guards, and the standing national guards amounted 

 to 400,000 men. There were also 10,000 gens 

 d'armes, and men employed to guard the coasts; 

 but the spirit of the regular troops was not to be 

 depended on. Many officers left the service, and 

 ill-will arose between the soldiers and citizens, which 

 was increased by the privileges granted to the militia. 

 The administration of the government was inter- 



rupted, and the distrustful people did not share th* 

 enthusiasm of their orators. The deficit in the 

 revenue made a loan of 1,500,000 ducats from Parisian 

 bankers necessary. The new fabric of government 

 had no firm foundation to support it in a contest 

 with Austria, which was collecting an army of 80,000 

 men, under general baron Frimont, in Upper Ituly. 

 Russia and Prussia made common cause with Austria; 

 and, at the congress of Troppau, where the emperor 

 of Austria arrived, Oct. 18, the emperor Alexander, 

 Oct. 20, and the king of Prussia, Nov. 7, together 

 with their ministers of state, and several ambassadors, 

 the principle of armed interference in the internal 

 affairs of a state, to support the (so called) legitimate 

 authority, and the monarchical principle, in Europe, 

 was first declared and acknowledged; but the appli- 

 cation was determined on at Laybach. At Troppan, 

 the three monarchs wrote, witii their own hands, to 

 the king of Naples, Nov. 20, to invite him to Lay- 

 bach. The king of France also advised him to take 

 this step. The appearance of an English and French 

 squadron, at this time, in the roads before the harbour 

 of Naples, to protect the royal family, in case of 

 urgent danger, excited distrust and alarm in one 

 party, and hope and joy in the other. The hall of 

 the parliament, and the lodges of the Carbonari, 

 resounded with heroic and patriotic speeches. There 

 appeared to be a universal confidence in victory : 

 none dared to utter opposite sentiments. Volunteers 

 collected, and oath upon oath was taken. The king, 

 Dec. 5, after receiving the letter of the monarchs 

 assembled at Troppau, determined to go to Laybach, 

 and signified this to the parliament, Dec. 7 ; where- 

 upon this body declared that they could not consent 

 to his journey, unless it was undertaken to obtain 

 acknowledgment of the constitution sworn to. At 

 last the king declared, on the 10th, that his participa- 

 tion at Laybach had no other end than to maintain 

 the Spanish constitution, as sworn to, and to prevent 

 war. The ministers now resigned, and the king 

 named others. The king sailed on the 13th, with 

 his wife, the duchess of Floridia, in a British ship 

 of the line, landed, on the 19th, at Leghorn, and 

 went through Florence to Laybach, where he arrived 

 Jan. 8, 1821. The crown-prince took the constitu- 

 tional oath as regent in the parliament, at Naples, on 

 the 18th. The parliament, Dec. 19 and 21, decreed 

 the abolition of all feudal burdens, services, &c. 

 Entails were likewise destroyed. The army con- 

 sisted of three divisions, in three important situations, 

 the first on the road to Itri, the second in the pass 

 of San Germane, and the third, under general William 

 Pepe, on the heights of Abruzzo. They formed, with 

 the garrisons, a body of 54,000 troops of the line, and 

 from 50 to 60,000 militia, national guards, and volun- 

 teers. A small squadron of frigates and gun-boats 

 was destined to intercept the supplies of the Austrians, 

 in the Adriatic sea. For months before the actual 

 commencement of the war, a general enthusiasm was 

 manifested for liberty and the defence of the country. 

 On the arrival of the king in Laybach, where the 

 emperor of Austria had arrived, Jan. 4, ami tlif 

 emperor of Russia, Jan. 7 (the king of Prussia had 

 returned from Troppau to Berlin, Dec. 21), he found 

 the congress determined to acknowledge nothing 

 which had happened in Naples since July 5. Austria, 

 for the security of its own power in Italy, promised 

 the aid of her troops to carry into effect the secret 

 treaty concluded with the king of the Two Sicilies 

 against the introduction of the representative system. 

 By the treaty of Feb 2, concluded in the name of the 

 three courts of Vienna, Petersburg, and Berlin, an 

 Austrian army was to be furnished to the king, to be 

 supported by him, from the time of its passage over 

 the Po, for the space of three years, the period during 



