"'FOR THE DICTATOR, GARIBALDI.
"'The pro-dictators, N. Mignona, G. Albini;
the secretaries, Gaetano, Cascini, etc.
"'It is ordained: 1. That the authorities shall remain at their posts and actively assist in maintaining order, providing for the proper carrying on of the judicial and civil administration. 2. The acts of the government relating to the civil and judicial administration shall be headed: Victor Emanuel, King of Italy; Joseph Garibaldi, Dictator of the two Sicilies. 3. A committee of public safety is established and a committee of engineers for barricading the town.'
"The fifth article nominates the majors and captains of the national guard. The sixth directs them to form the several corps. The seventh appoints a deputation to see to the conveyance of provisions, etc. The eighth appoints a deputation for providing quarters. The ninth names a committee for attending to the sick, wounded, and prisoners.
"Rumors of the defection of the king's officers were repeated every moment. It was asserted in Naples that General Nunziante had just gone over to Garibaldi. The Duchess of Mignano, the wife of the exiled general, having been ordered to quit Naples, proudly refused to go, and defied the ministers to remove her by force."
During a few days about the beginning of September, the king's ministers, his army and the city, were in a state of the greatest agitation. On the 3d, General Cotrufiano sent in his resignation, but expressed his hope that the ministry would remain in power. The National Guard, who had before communicated with them, then told them that if they did not remain they would commence the revolution in the city.
As circumstances, however, were, the ministers considered it impossible to remain with dignity or advantage to the country, and, en masse, again sent in their written resignation. "We have been called traitors," they said. "We have the troops against us, and no longer enjoy the confidence of the sovereign; we are supported by the National Guard and the people, it is true, and are their ministers rather than the king's; but this is not according to the principles of the Constitution, and we therefore earnestly beg your majesty to choose a transition ministry. Besides, we will not undertake the responsibility of the war against Garibaldi and his followers, for it will be altogether useless." Such, remarks a writer who was at that time in Naples, was the manner in which the ministers addressed his majesty, and put into plain English, it means this: "If your majesty will abandon all self-defence, we will serve you, but if you are determined to risk an action, we will persist in resigning, and then barricades will be formed directly." The choice left to Francis II., then, was revolution or abdication, and this is the end of that vast structure of despotism which Ferdinand II. reared with so much labor, and cemented with so much blood. On Sunday morning, the ministers met in the council chamber, and waited for some decision on the part of his majesty, but none came; but later in the day, De Martino was sent for by the king, and requested to form an administration. This, however, De Martino declined doing, and the king exclaimed, in great sadness, "Then I am abandoned by all." So stood the matter on Sunday night. It was clear that the ministers had no hopes or intentions, even if they remained in power, of doing anything more than keep things together till Garibaldi came. To them, as to all in Naples, it was evident enough that the game was up, and that all they could do for the country was to make the fall, or transition, as easy as possible. Up to that time their conduct was beyond all praise. There was an impression in the city that the ministerial difficulties had been arranged, and, in consequence, on Saturday and Sunday night there was a partial illumination of the city, and bills were placarded bearing the inscription, "Viva Garibaldi!" "Viva Romano!"—the chief minister.
It is impossible for any generous mind to contemplate the position of Francis II. without compassion. Not gifted by nature with much intelligence, kept in gross ignorance, and reared in a school of political despotism and religious bigotry by his father, misguided and betrayed by evil counsellors in the early part of his reign, and finally abandoned by his oldest uncle, and by the contemptible nobility and parasites who supported or tolerated the corruptions of the government so long as they were to their own advantage, he sat alone in his palace, the last sovereign of his family, hesitating as to the moment when he is to lay down both crown and sceptre. Close to his palace crowds were reading and rejoicing in the latest dispatches from the camp of the enemy, who was advancing by rapid marches—an enemy whom he had no force to repel; and not much more distant resided the minister of a sovereign who subscribed himself the "beloved cousin" (or by some similar hypocrisy) of Francis II., at the same time that he was doing all that in him lay to drive him from the throne. The position was a hard one, created by the Bourbons themselves—a fulfillment of the great decree, that the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children.
What a contrast was then presented between the cold, bloody cruelty of the Bourbons and the noble moderation of this long oppressed people! Thousands in the city had in some form or other been victims of revenge or suspicion; and it is truly wonderful that not a hand, nor even a voice, was raised against the unprotected king.