SICILIES, THE TWO. 



245 



the Two Sicilies, 12th of December, 1816). July 

 7, 1820, he was forced to establish the new Spanish 

 constitution, in consequence of an insurrection 

 which originated principally amongst the army. 

 He therefore conferred the regency on his son ; but 

 Austria, Russia, and Prussia, determined at Lay- 

 bach, January, 1821, in concurrence with king Fer- 

 dinand, to occupy the country with an Austrian 

 army, and restore the old system, in which they 

 succeeded. (See Acton, Bonaparte, Murat, and 

 Naples and Sicily, Revolution of.). King Ferdi- 

 nand 1. returned from Laybach to his capital, May 

 15, 1821, with the promise of giving a constitutional 

 organization to the government. May 26, a decree | 

 was issued respecting the new constitution, provid- ! 

 ing that the government should be conducted by a ; 

 council of ministers and secretaries of state, under | 

 the presidency of the king or the crown-prince j 

 (duke of Calabria), or one of the ministers; that ' 

 Sicily should be governed separately from Naples, 

 by a distinct council; that there should be two 

 state councils (consulte di stato~), one at and for ' 

 Naples, consisting of thirty members, the other, | 

 consisting of eighteen members, at Palermo, for 

 Sicily, to deliberate on the laws and financial mea- * 

 sures laid before them by the council. The ulti- 

 mate decision, however, was to rest entirely with , 

 the king, who was to appoint the president and 

 members of these bodies out of the landholders and | 

 principal officers of the state, church, law and army. 

 These consulte di stato, did not, however, go into 

 operation until the year 1827, after some altera- j 

 tions, by the decree of 14th June, 1824, which pro- j 

 vided that the council of Naples should not have j 

 more than sixteen members, and that of Sicily not 

 more than eight. In matters relating to both 

 countries, they form a general council. Both have 

 their seat at the residence of the king. A new 

 system of education, projected by the clergy, was 

 introduced by the committee of instruction, to 

 whom was likewise intrusted the examination of 

 all foreign books. The Jesuits were re-estab- 

 lished in their privileges, and received houses 

 and money; and other orders were restored, as j 

 for example, the Camaldulians, in 1822. Con- ! 

 tinual arrests and trials for high treason kept the 

 people in a state of irritation. From all parts, 

 search was made for the adherents of the revolu- 

 tion. A severe law against secret societies had 

 already been passed, 3d October, 1822. Notwith- 

 standing, the conspiracies continued. The govern- 

 ment, in consequence of the increasing number of 

 prisoners, prescribed to the grand criminal courts a 

 new mode of proceeding, January, 1824. During 

 the space of a few years, this was the fourth time 

 that -the king had adopted extraordinary measures 

 by the way of obviating the overcrowding of the 

 orisons. After the death of Ferdinand I., January 

 5, 1825, his eldest son, till then duke of Calabria, 

 ascended the throne as Francis I. In May and 

 June, he undertook a journey to Milan and Turin, 

 by the way of Genoa, and effected a reduction of 

 the Austrian army in Naples. On his return, by 

 the decrees of 18th and 19th August, king Francis 

 permitted all the Neapolitans, who had quitted 

 their country through fear of political persecutions, 

 with the exception of those who were capitally 

 condemned, to return. In consequence of a defi- 

 ciency in the revenue, amounting to ten million 

 ducats, and to reduce the paper currency, the 

 government contracted two loans, in 1821, with 

 the house of Rothschild and the English banker 



Goodhouse, amounting together to twenty million 

 ducats. With a view of bringing coin into the 

 country, the minister contracted a new loan in 

 February, 1824, with the English house of Roth- 

 schild, amounting to three million pounds sterling. 

 The regular troops were now disbanded, in conse- 

 quence of the part which they had taken in the 

 revolution; the militia was also dissolved, and a 

 new army was formed. The dissolution of the 

 militia gave rise to numerous bands of robbers, for 

 the destruction of which, the greatest part of the 

 Austrian auxiliary army marched through the 

 country in moveable columns. A treaty was con- 

 eluded at Naples, 18th October, 1821, between the 

 emperor of Austria and the king of Naples, in re- 

 ference to the occupation of the kingdom of the 

 Two Sicilies by an Austrian auxiliary and pro- 

 tecting army of 55,500 men, for three years. The 

 reduction of the forces therein stipulated was 

 gradually executed, after the formation of the 

 Neapolitan army was sufficiently advanced. Seven- 

 teen thousand Austrians evacuated the kingdom of 

 the Two Sicilies, in 1823, agreeably to the treaty 

 of Naples of 24th April, 1823. The treaty of 31st 

 August, 1824, fixed the number of auxiliary Aus- 

 trian troops in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, at 

 33,500 men, to remain till the end of May, 1826; 

 accordingly, in the same year, 1824, 5000 Austrians 

 left the kingdom. But as the formation of the 

 Neapolitan army advanced but slowly, on account 

 of the aversion of the Swiss to the Neapolitan 

 service, it was concluded in Milan, during the 

 presence of king Francis I., to maintain other 

 troops in Naples and Sicily, even after the expira- 

 tion of the treaty of 31st August, 1824. A reduc- 

 tion, however, of the auxiliary forces was then 

 determined upon. May 28, 1825, it was stipulated 

 that the Austrian auxiliary army should remain at 

 the disposal of his Sicilian majesty, until the end 

 of March, 1827; but it might be reduced to 15,000 

 men, and, in proportion to the augmentations of 

 the Sicilian army, as low as 12,000 men. The 

 troops, retiring by degrees, had all left the country 

 in 1827. In the island of Sicily, confusion and 

 misery of every kind existed in a far greater degree 

 than in Naples. The deficiency in the revenue 

 rose to 600,000 ounces, and the public debt to 

 1,000,000. The duty on flour was, therefore* 

 doubled. This provoked the people to a bloody 

 resistance. To this was added the mischief done 

 by large bands of robbers. But the Austrian 

 general, count Wallmoden, occupied the island 

 with 12,000 Austrian troops, which traversed the 

 country, and soon restored order. About 16,000 

 political offenders were arrested. A conspiracy 

 was detected, 10th January, 1822, the object of 

 which was to murder the governor and cardinal 

 archbishop Gravina, and to compel general Wall- 

 moden to sign an order for the evacuation of the 

 fortresses of the country by the Austrians. After 

 this, the Austrians disarmed the country people 

 and the most turbulent citizens of Palermo. 

 Twenty-eight conspirators were arrested, and nine 

 of them shot. A royal ordinance abolished all 

 guilds and corporations of tradesmen and artisans, 

 as dangerous to the public tranquillity. Thus some 

 time elapsed before the regular course of adminis- 

 tration could be restored. To this was added the 

 stagnation of all the sources of public prosperity, 

 and further calamities. February 23, 1823, Pa- 

 lermo experienced a dreadful conflagration, and, 

 March 5th, a violent earthquake ; Messinu, 14th 



