NAPLES AND SICILY.
These countries did not escape the revolutionary contagion. Sicily flew to arms, and the revolt succeeded. The English government was desirous to see Sicily separated from Naples; and their emissary, Lord Minto, so betrayed this feeling to the king of the two Sicilies as to inspire him with intense hatred to England, and to confirm him in the opinion that English agency was busy in creating or sustaining the confusion of the continente, Lord Minto had the preposterous folly to suggest to the king that Sicily should only be garrisoned by Sicilian troops! This, of course, was indignantly rejected by both the king and cabinet.
The Sicilians published a manifesto of their free and moderate opinions, which was very excellent. The document was very deceptive, and designed to gain support in England and France. One of the false promises of the manifesto was the entire freedom of religion; one of the first acts of the Sicilians in their short-lived power was a rigorous establishment of the Roman Catholic religion, and this was enacted in terms which disclosed the bigoted feelings of the nation. Sicily wanted to be independent of Naples, but it had not the same wish to be separated from the despotic principle. An independent nation, without a free people, was the highest aspiration of revolted Sicily. England and France left her to her fate, except so far as Lord Minto’s meddling complicated her condition. The temporarily vanquished Neapolitans returned to the contest, and the revolution was ingloriously suppressed.
In Naples the victory of the constitution was as short as the independence, of Sicily. The king acted without sincerity, and the deputies without prudence. The king found an opportunity of resistance, for which he had well prepared himself. He was surrounded by Swiss guards, recruited from the bigoted Roman Catholic cantons of the Sonderbund, or what had been so termed before its tyranny was crushed the previous year. The king had also the lazzaroni on his side; some thirty thousand thieves, assassins, street beggars, and burglars were in his majesty’s royal pay and royal favour. They were enthusiastic for king, church, and plunder. It was alleged that the royal promise was held out to them that if they conquered the citizens they would be permitted to sack the city. The event seemed as if such allegation were true; the united Swiss and lazzaroni conquered, and the city was sacked. The king permitted, and his minions encouraged, the most infamous proceedings: riot, robbery, and debauch filled every street and almost every house, while blood, the blood of the best citizens of Naples, flowed in torrents. There is no knowing to what extent these horrors might have been carried by the “faithful lazzaroni,” had not the French admiral in the bay declared that he would act against the king if these inhumanities were not at once stopped. The lazzaroni must have been at the king’s beck, for the moment he was alarmed by threats of the interference of a French squadron, he called in his bloodhounds, and held the leash until the threatened danger passed.