CHAPTER VII. REIGN OF FERDINAND I. OVER THE TWO SICILIES. PART. II., FROM 1815 TO 1825. Naples. Ferdinand, on his return from Sicily, found his Neapolitan dominions in an improved condition. Agriculture and manufactures flourished under better institutions than formerly. The civil laws, which, in 1805, had been scattered over a hundred volumes, and the criminal laws, which had been lost or dispersed among the public archives, were now collected, embodied, and harmonized; the deranged finances had been reduced to order; taxation had been remodelled; the funding system firmly established; and the internal government, formerly loose and unstable, had been consolidated under the name of a civil administration. The state of the military force was, indeed, deplorable. The army was broken up, and the navy almost destroyed; the country was, therefore, defenceless. The state of public instruction was more satisfactory, as popular education and religious worship had been placed upon better and more lasting foundations. Between Ferdinand's restoration in 1815, and his death in 1825, the progress of the Neapolitan population was slow but steady. From about five millions, its amount in 1815, it rose to 5,034,191 in 1819, and in 1824 it exceeded five millions and a half; thus increasing at the rate of about five-tenths of one per cent. per annum. The prosperity of manufactures was rather fleeting than permanent. Created by the Berlin and Milan decrees, it expired with the parent system. The Neapolitan weavers, unable to compete with the British, either in the quality or price of their goods, dismissed their workmen, sold off their stocks, and shut up their factories. The restoration of Ferdinand was followed by the re-establishment of the bank of the Two Sicilies on a broader and firmer basis, and by the conclusion of commercial treaties with England, France, and Spain. These countries (the shipping of which had been exempted from search for about one hundred and fifty years), renounced their privileges, upon receiving a reduction of ten per cent. upon the amount of duties payable on their respective products imported into the Two Sicilies. The same reduction of duties was granted to the national flag in August, 1823, upon imports of whatsoever origin, upon the plea that foreign flags enjoyed advantage over the Sicilian to which they were not entitled. The plan of government established by the French invaders was suddenly and materially altered, on the 8th December, 1816. By a royal decree, issued from Caserta, it was made known that the Congress of Vienna, having recognized Ferdinand as king of the Two Sicilies, his Majesty (laying aside the title of Ferdinand the Fourth of Naples and Third of Sicily,) would be styled thenceforth Ferdinand the First; that a general chancery should be established for the united kingdom, in which all the laws and decrees should be deposited and registered; and that a court of chancery should be instituted, in which public business, destined to come before the king in council, should undergo scrutiny and discussion. The new institutions, thus abruptly introduced, lasted for about six years. In 1822 the court of chancery was abolished, to make room for a consulta of state. The administration of justice, established by the French rulers, subsisted until 1819, when a new code of laws, modelled, in a great mea sure, on the Code Napoleon, and entitled the Code of the Two Sicilies, made its appearance as the authorized standard of national jurisprudence. The reconstruction of the bench followed the reformation of the laws. The civil administration underwent no material change: the territorial division was slightly altered by the formation of a fifteenth province: the financial system continued the same. The revenue of the state amounted, in 1819, to 21,519,740 ducats, (3,586,623.) In 1817, a sinking fund, endowed with a capital of 600,000 ducats (100,000%.), was established for the liquidation of the national debt. Proper attention was paid to the defence of the country: the army was recruited and reorganized: the line, raised by conscription, was carried by degrees up to 52,000 men; and a militia, composed of landowners, and consisting of twenty-one regiments, was enrolled for the better preservation of internal order. The government of the church was settled on a new plan. By a concordat, made between the king and the Pope in 1818, it was stipulated that the number of bishoprics in Naples should be 109; that each should have a net revenue of not less than 3,000 ducats (5001.) per annum; that the incomes of the cathedral and the parochial clergy should be regulated by circumstances; that dissolved monasteries should be re-established, in so far as was practicable; that the right of nominating bishops should belong to the king, and the right of confirming such appointments to the pope; and, lastly, that the bishops should be authorized to prevent the clandestine circulation of irreligious books. By virtue of this concordat, the monastic orders and the Jesuits were recalled and re-instated in 1821. Sicily. We now turn our attention to Sicily, the relations of which island towards Naples were settled by a second Caserta decree of the 11th December, 1816, or three days after the first. By this decree it was ordered, that all civil and ecclesiastical offices in Sicily should be filled by Sicilians, to the exclusion of Neapolitans, who, on the other hand, should occupy the civil and ecclesiastical offices of Naples, to the exclusion of Sicilians. Moreover it was provided, that the archbishopric of Palermo, the appointment to which had been open to Neapolitans and Sicilians alike, should be reserved for Sicilian ecclesiastics; and that Sicilians' should be admitted to all the great offices of the state, in proportion to the number of the Sicilians to the population of the kingdom. As, therefore, the Sicilians formed only one-fourth of the whole population, so they should be admitted to one-fourth only of the seats in the council of state, leaving the remaining three-fourths to be filled by Neapolitans. It was provided, that the same rule should be observed in the appointments to great offices in the royal household, the departments of state, and the diplomatic service; * that commissions in the army and navy, and minor offices at court, should be given to Neapolitans and Sicilians indiscriminately; that the government of the Two Sicilies should be vested in the king's person; that when the sovereign resided in Sicily, a prince of the blood, or a nobleman of high rank, should be left in Naples to act as lord-lieutenant; and that when the king resided * The principle of separate rights, thus laid down, remained in force until 1837, when it yielded to the principle of common possession, which is now in full vigour. ་ at Naples, the same rule should be observed vice versâ with regard to Sicily: that the quota to be contributed by Sicily towards the revenue of the united kingdom should never, "without the consent of the Sicilian parliament," exceed 1,847,687 ounces (923,8431.) per annum, (that amount having been the sum voted by the parliament of 1813). The last paragraph calls for a few remarks on its nature and tendency. The sum of 1,847,687 ounces, stated to be the sum voted by parliament in 1813, was the gross amount of revenue, from which, if the British subsidy of 560,000 ounces. be deducted, there remains a net amount of 1,287,687 ounces only, which was the sum of all the taxes imposed in Sicily in 1813. The parenthesis, therefore, by insidiously confounding the partial sum of taxation with the gross amount of revenue, involves a practical untruth. Moreover, as no provision is made for the regular meeting of the legislature, the pretended security of parliamentary consent is hollow and worthless. The power of exacting whatsoever “ quota it may choose to fix, is thus given to the general government. In point of fact, the prescribed limit has been repeatedly passed, without the required consent of the Sicilian parliament having been first obtained, or even solicited, by the Crown. The frame of government established by the Caserta decrees was disturbed for a moment by the Neapolitan and Sicilian revolutions of 1820. Upon the restoration of order in 1821, the several institutions of both countries were replaced on their former footing... CHAPTER VIII. REIGN OF FRANCIS OVER THE TWO SICILIES, FROM 1825 тo 1830. Ferdinand I. was succeeded, on his death in 1825, by his eldest son, Francis, whose reign of five years presents nothing remarkable respecting Sicily, and but little concerning Naples. With respect to the latter country, the chief objects of interest are the revival of domestic manufactures, the establishment of bounties for distant navigation, the endowment of a sinking fund, the introduction of the regia, or farming of the taxes, and the taking of a census. Each of these objects deserves brief consideration. A new tariff of the customs, imposing heavy duties upon foreign merchandize, having been published by Ferdinand shortly before his death, the weaving of cottons and woollens started up afresh in Naples. The manufacturers, who were mostly Germans, received great encouragement from Francis. Accommodated with public buildings to be turned into factories, and provided with work-people fed and clothed by the state, they readily placed their establishments on a firm foundation. With the view of promoting navigation among the Neapolitans and Sicilians, reductions of twenty per cent. upon import duties on East and West India goods, and of ten per cent. on Baltic goods (over and above the ten per cent. allowed to the Sicilian flag), were granted to national vessels for the first voyage, provided they took outward cargoes of domestic produce. Under the reigning sovereign (we may mention beforehand), these bounties have been granted to national vessels for the second voyage also, under the same conditions. In 1826, the sinking fund obtained a further endowment, which raised its yearly income to 1,038,470 ducats, (173,0787.) Destined to pay off 2,770,850 ducats of the national rentes in 31 years and 5 months, (leaving the remaining 1,420,000 ducats as a permanent fund for investments and deposits,) this institution has hitherto answered its purpose. A regia, or farming of the indirect taxes, was now introduced. Its principal object, which was to secure to the treasury a certain amount of annual revenue, has been fully attained. Any casual surplus is divided between the regia and the treasury, in the proportion of 55 per cent. to the former and 45 to the latter. The revenue of the kingdom at the close of this reign amounted to 26,669,787 ducats (4,444,964/.), and the expenditure to 27,298,616 ducats (4,549,436/.); so that a deficit remained of 628,829 ducats (104,8057.) At the beginning of 1827, a census was taken of the Neapolitan population. In the published results the males have been divided into two great classes the employed and the unemployed. The first class was subdivided into two sections, viz., people in the public service, and people in private occupations; the first section embraced the army and navy, the regular and secular clergy, the civil servants, and public teachers; the second section included the members of the liberal professions, and persons in productive employments. Their respective numbers are shown in the following table. It appears, therefore, that in 1826 about three-fourths of the male population were variously employed, and the remaining fourth was unemployed. The proportion borne by the latter class to the whole population is undoubtedly large; but to him who bears in mind that this fourth includes the very young and very old, with all those incapacitated by physical or other causes, it will not appear excessive. It is smaller than the reports of travellers, which represent the Neapolitans as a nation of idlers, might have led us to expect. Upon the death of Francis in 1830, Ferdinand, his eldest son, the present monarch, succeeded to the throne under the title of Ferdinand II. In the concluding chapters we shall describe the present condition of the kingdom and of its population. Statistics of the present Depression of Trade at Bolton; showing the mode in which it affects the different Classes of a Manufacturing Population. By HENRY ASHWORTH, Esq., one of the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester. To those who are unacquainted with the practical working of the Cotton manufacture, it may appear an easy task to curtail its production, in order to meet a casual diminution in demand. The spinner or manufacturer, however, four-fifths of whose capital is expended in buildings, machinery, &c., cannot close his establishment without incurring such heavy losses as would be ruinous to him, unless he possessed an ample reserved fund. Even to diminish his production, by working short time, is attended with heavy sacrifices. As great misapprehension has been shown to exist upon this point in influential quarters, the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce have obtained the subjoined estimate, the correctness of which they believe may be relied upon, relating to a mill of 52,000 spindles. Capital invested in land, buildings, steam engines, gas works, ware- Capital for carrying on trade, stock and cotton 12,000%, at 5 per cent.. Insurance upon fixed property £. s. d. 1,000 0 0 500 0 0 1,000 0 0 1,500 0 0 600 0 0 Machinery £15,000 Stock of cotton and yarn A mill containing 52,000 spindles will produce 12,000 lbs. of yarn, the production of which will cost as follows: |