Joseph was anxious, before leaving Naples, to establish institutions of liberty which might be permanent. On the 21st of July, the Council of State received from the King a constitution, which he had drawn up with the aid of his ministers. It contained the clear announcement of the principles which had animated him during his reign, and was founded upon the constitutions in France and in the kingdom of Italy. Though the constitution was not perfect—for the world is ever making progress—it was greatly in advance of any thing which had been known in the kingdom of Sicily before, and conferred immense advantages upon the realm. There was but one legislative body. It consisted of five sections, equal in number: the clergy, the nobility, the landed proprietors, the philosophers, and the merchants. The Council of State chose five of the most distinguished persons, of the various classes, to convey to Joseph their thanks for the constitution he had conferred upon the realm.
QUEEN JULIE LEAVING NAPLES.
Queen Julie leaving Naples.
On the 6th of July, Queen Julie, with her children, left Naples to join her husband in Spain. A numerous cortége escorted her from the city with every testimonial of regret. On the 8th Joseph abdicated the crown, which was subsequently transferred to the brow of Napoleon's cavalry leader, Murat, who had married Caroline Bonaparte.
Summary of Joseph's Benefactions to Naples.
"Here terminates," writes M. du Casse, "our task relative to the short reign of Joseph in Naples. That prince had rendered to that beautiful country services which, long after his departure, conferred blessings upon the realm, which had been surrendered until then to the sad régime of a feudalism crushing to the people. His successor found the ground clear, war extinct almost everywhere, the conquest assured, tranquillity established, abuses reformed, civil administration organized, the monks suppressed, the finances restored, credit consolidated, public instruction and legislation founded upon liberal bases, and wisely adapted to the manners of the inhabitants.
"The army was formed under the shade of the flag of France; the marine commenced to be regenerated. The sciences and the arts, encouraged, were beginning to diffuse themselves; brigandage was breathing its last sigh. There remained for Murat only to reap the fruits of the wise and paternal conduct of the older brother of the Emperor. He inherited a country of rich and fertile soil, with a delightful climate, inhabited by a population blessing the guardian hand which had delivered them from the ignorance into which the ancient Government seemed to have plunged them by design. The task of the new sovereign seemed to be only to complete the work of the philosophic King."
Hostility of the British Government.